Side Plank & Gate Pose: Advanced Arm Balance

The theme of the class, the kind of spiritual or philosophical theme of the class is the reason why you're mediocre is because you underestimate yourself. If you feel mediocre like average or worse it's because you underestimate yourself. We will come back to that theme a few times but that's the essence to it. Stop underestimating yourself.

Grab the belt in the right hand and let the left leg fall out to the side. I like supporting my leg first to get a nice side stretch. My left hand is supporting my left leg and then I slide out until I start falling over and then I stop and then you release the belt so that you can place your right biceps on your ear and your elbow overhead. So you're in this position laying on your back not with the arm in front but the elbow overhead and then take a few breaths here.

We need some hamstring flexibility in today's class and we need some side stretching and some power in the arms and perhaps more important than anything else is that we keep breathing nice and steady through our nose as often as we can remember. Switching to the first to the second leg so switch the legs so right foot is up grab the belts with both hands and breathe. The code word for advanced classes for me is messy but fun. The class is supposed to be messy.

Don't expect a crazy class with almost impossible poses to follow a certain script. It's messy, it's sweaty, it's nicely disgusting but it should be enjoyable and fun and people should smile when they're falling. That's my goal for where I want the students to go. Messy but fun.

Grab the belt with the left hand, support your right leg with your right arm and then start adjusting so that your left elbow comes overhead. Big old side stretch banana stretch through the left side and let the right leg fall so much down that you feel it in that hamstring and in your thigh as well. Take another breath and then come back to center unhook the leg put the strap to the side at the top of the mat and then move your wrists and ankles freestyle on your back and rock and roll up and down and then sit up on your butt wide legs windshield wipers from side to side. Nice and then sitting cat-cow so cross your ankles inhale chest up exhale round your spine.

A few of those. Nice and then both pose sit on your butt balance grab the left foot with the right hand stretch hover the other leg over the ground and then twist your torso open. Straighten the arms the top leg does not have to be straight but straighten everything as much as you can and then switch. Keeping the balance trying to not keep the foot in the ground for too long and then switching again.

Some core stabilization workout some hamstring stretching and the twisting action. We will come back to this one as a surprise later in the flow but in another position. One more on each side then cross your ankles all fours freestyle cat and cow move your spine around and since I'm talking so much when we're doing the actual flow I'm trying to let the warm-up be a little bit more quiet. So enjoy the piece while it lasts this is a calm before the storm.

Nice all right we're gonna save time by doing three things at the same time back bend side stretch and twist. So lift your hips for camel pose but now we're grabbing the left hand to the left heel and then we're side stretching twisting and opening our spine at the same time but since we're doing so much let's flow from side to side so that it's not too intense but try to get all those actions going. Start with the back bend then side stretch and twist. Roll your shoulders open maybe roll the arm all the way around.

Feels good. Good stuff all right back to all fours and then diagonals right arm forward left leg back right arm forward left leg back lift the right arm lift the left leg do a few crunches inhale stretch out exhale crunch nice and then right hand down no keep the left hand where it is lift your right arm and turn into side plank just side plank with the right arm up. Nice normal vinyasa down dog first rolling forward maybe coming down to the ground or just finding a back and then take three breaths in each back bend today because we're not doing many back bends in the flow let's get the back bends into our sun salutations and the warm-up. Back to down dog.

All fours second side left arm forward right leg back lift the arm lift the leg and then crunching elbow and knee together on the exhale stretch out on the inhale nice and then side plank left arm up stack the feet we are using the power of the pushing in the bottom arm a lot later so be really strong in the arm and then vinyasa three breaths in the back bend locust cobra or up dog and let's meet on our knees interlacing the fingers behind your back this first one is usually the toughest one we're coming back to this one again and we're binding our arms around our legs later so we really want to try to get our internal rotation of the shoulders all the way so lift the arms and then let's add on some neck stretching put the top of the head in the ground and really try to lift your arms high maybe roll on the head warming up the skin on the skull not because we use need it but because we do it rarely it's good to do stuff that we don't often do and rabbit pose is not a pose I see people doing in the street release the arms shake your head and come back to download normal Sun salutation a to take your time to walk forward hands to feet take a couple of inhales lift halfway up and exhale fold move your strap to the top of the mat so that you have it for later and your block as well and then roll all the way up to standing taking two full breaths in mountain pose and then start flowing inhale arms lift up stick your butt out exhale fold half lift straight back inhale exhale plank pose inhale your back then take two extra breaths today and then back to down dog and really work your hamstrings to push back into the calves and hamstrings trying to say get them to say good morning and then when you need to look forward on the exhale step or jump have flipped inhale exhale in hell all the way up and exhale hands to chest some salutation see inhale arms up slowly fold on the exhale half-lift inhale hands down stepping your right leg back back knee down left arm up roll your shoulders in place this is like the side plank and then straighten both legs slowly take a breath then placing the knee down again and touching your left your back arm to your right foot so try to touch the heel back bend side stretch twist and then let's flow between these two poses if it's difficult because of your proportions use a block for that reverse triangle and then flow back to the half camel the first couple are really wonky and weird close your eyes not really it's very difficult to close the eyes but close your eyes in your inner eye and just flow between the poses and three is about enough vinyasa on your own from now on meeting down dog move the block to the other side stepping the right leg forward lifting the right arm up for a twist roll your shoulders in place and then stretching both legs for reverse triangle and then finding that flow with the touching of the back heel with the right hand I really like the block so some positions our bodies just say no to because of our proportions and that's why we use props like straps and blocks so that we can it's a cheat it's a cheat so that we can do the pose anyways and feel great in it we don't want to adjust the body to the pose we want to adjust by using props so that everybody can do the pose all right stepping forward half lift inhale exhale fold inhale all the way up and exhale mountain pose one more round different flow inhale arms up exhale fold inhale half lift and then yeah so block is still on the left put your left hand on the block and then touch move the left leg back to a standing splits but grab your foot bending and grab the foot with the right hand so the leg is behind you and then you grab the foot and then you try to lift the foot if this is it is a lot easier than you think like most people get stuck where it's hardest and then if you just go a little further it's easier but you could potentially use the strap for this grab but then you would have to switch it a lot so the best is to just grab it as much as you can as well as you can and then release the foot and kick it forward grab the foot here and try to kick the foot as high as you can in front of you so flowing between these two whoop and whoop it does not have to be pretty it does not have to be big you just need to find this flow where you balance with the block this is why the block is crucial this is so easy with the block almost impossible without all right stepping back to a dog rolling through your vinyasa enjoying these backgrounds while they last and back to them stepping the left foot forward moving the block to the other side standing splits first and then grabbing the right foot with the left hand and trying to get it all the way back it is easier than you think whenever I help people and I just people in real life everybody does it like perfectly they're over here and then I just come and touch them and they do this which means they can do it flow between poses they can do it they just don't know it I never saw anybody be too stiff to do the pose they just thought they were too stiff because like here everybody's stiff and then you need to get past that point and suddenly whoa that was a lot better it's really goddamn intense but it's really really good as well right feet down half lift inhale exhale fold take a couple of breaths in a forward fold before we continue our sun salutations with sudden salutation be some classics and then bend your knees roll all the way up and then sit down into chair pose three breaths in chair pose really deep but really far back arch your spine and inhale look up and exhale fold half lift inhale and exhale maybe a crow why not this is a semi advanced class so throw in a crow if you have it and then step through your vinyasa and let's meet in down dog take a big inhale and let it out let's go right leg out behind you inhale exhale knee to nose two more inhale curl exhale final one inhale and exhale put the foot between the legs and come up into warrior one so wide legs get everything in place arms up take a breath and then interlace the fingers behind your back and open up aren't you glad we did the rabbit pose at least once before we're trying this inhale lift your chest and exhale fold slowly the block could help here to place your head on actually so if you place your head on the block in the right place ah stable nice pose it's like a rabbit pose but standing up nice and then releasing the hands down moving the block come through stretches like this going from side to side getting into the hips and legs and everything and then stopping with the left knee in the ground right leg straight holding on to your shorts or pants or whatever leaning with the left hand towards the right foot this ain't happening but you are trying to open roll your chest open and then going sideways and then you stop and switch sides this is just teasers prep work so we're not madly reaching for the foot we're kind of playing with the ID that if our arm was really long we could grab the foot switch one more time and then switch again and then minyasa plank pose back then and download one more time second side left leg out behind you bend and open inhale exhale knee to nose three-legged dog stretching your hamstrings exhale curl final inhale and exhale setting up for warrior one less words more breath interlacing fingers behind the back trying to switch it up maybe place the block there if you liked having a block under your head and then humble warrior keep your legs engaged keep your knee pointing out on the left leg and keep stretching the arms as high as you can one more breath hands come down block comes away and then go from side to side a couple of times and this time try to sit down on your butt and if you have ankles that says no you could sit on the block here I'm gonna do the other side so you can see so you could sit on a block your left knee bent grab the left shin their ankle with your right hand so you're crossing and grabbing and now using that this leg you don't let it follow you try to move the leg the other way and now you reach for the foot so now this foot walking away is actually helping you to stretch even deeper into the pose by countering the movement nice switching sides bring the block if you use it sit on the ground or on the block grab the opposite ankle walk the foot away and then reach for the other foot when you do it with the right intensity even the most advanced poses feel super nice because you're not attached to the goal of grabbing the foot you're almost doing it and you're feeling almost perfect release vinyasa enjoying the last part of the warm-up before the standing part take three breaths wherever you are and then bend the knees and kick yourself literally in the butt with your heels three times jump up kick yourself in the butt and land one more and then land softly in a squat and release your wrist alright so sit down in your butt classic core work inhale with your chest exhale straighten your legs and lower down your lower back rock up back bend inhale exhale round five more and three and two and last one and roll down in your butt on your back legs up lift your butt you might have to look at me while you're doing this hard to explain lift your bottom place your hands under your lower back or sacrum you're holding on to your butt and then no yeah and then you're trying to get one leg down to the ground while you're doing this almost so you try to balance on your elbows and splitting legs and then you're switching yeah so you're holding on to your lower back and then trying to touch the foot to the ground but not really learn to place the hands in the right place so that your wrist don't hurt too much but you can balance on top of your hands like an arm balance but not really but still and then roll up to a squat check it out right then come all the way up to standing stand up in mountain pose lift your left foot and grab the foot like we did in the splits grab your left ankle with your right hand so maybe you have to squat down and grab it and then standing like classic soccer football stretching yeah and then lift the foot behind you holding the left arm out for balance and now you kick the foot into the hand tense up for a standing reverse dancer whatever it's called doesn't matter five four three two and one release check it out second side left foot left hand the right foot stacking the body over the foot so that you can balance without too much effort it is difficult that's the point if you think it's hard to do hard stuff try doing easy stuff all the time that's really hard long term it's really hard on you long term to just do the easy stuff and avoiding the difficult situations see where that leads you just try it for 20 and then release on your own let's meet in down dog move through us on you know the drill you've done it hundreds of times let's meet in down dog move that block to the left side and move the strap to the right side I think that's right we will see maybe I messed up but do that block on the left strap on the right and then stretch your right leg out behind you inhale exhale right knee to left elbow let's do that one more time inhale leg out knee to left elbow look left and place the foot in the ground left arm up stay here for one second and then try to lift the foot and slap it and then lift open place the foot down and do that slap three times nice back to three legged dog and then roll the foot on the outside of your right hand and place the block on the inside of your foot lift the left arm straighten the right leg and bend it so move into normal classic triangle supported triangle with the block straightening and bending the right knee nice and then let the block stay there turn sideways to a straddle position and just relax on exhale if this is hard then inhale half lift exhale fold a little bit and do spinal rolls here if you feel fine drop down and be static if your head is touching the ground walk your feet closer it's not supposed to touch the ground today I see yeah the block should be on the outside again so move forward move the block to the outside again I messed up one time that's fine now yeah yeah okay so right arm comes under the leg so you're putting on the backpack this is why you need a bit flexible hamstrings today and push put the hand on the block you can lift your back heel if you want we're doing airplane pose so you can try to not use the block and stay in airplane here it's really tough for the front leg you can try and then if you want to try to wrap around and grab the arms around your right leg you can try that for five four three two and one release and place the back knee into the ground you're in low lunge okay and then coming up with the arms taking a couple of breaths dropping the right arm to your left heel behind you and then switching left hand to left heel and switching again keep going one more on each side and then grab the belt with your both hands stand up and hook the left leg with the belt I messed up the belt hodl on press pause hopefully you messed up too so that we can be in this together hook the belt with hook the foot with your belt and grab the belt with the right hand both belts with the right hand and then left arm back standing twist just like we did in our butt in the beginning when we did a switch from side to side here is the position and now difficult try to move the leg out to the left grab the belt with both hands I'm gonna move so you can see both hands in the belt and then lift as high as you can and balance it really helps to have a wall on the left side that's cheating but it's smart cheating if you have to cheat place something in a wall so that you can balance and I have to check the next pose is because I forgot I'm focusing on doing too much yeah stay for three two one nice and coming down we'll just take a break move the block to the left the block was supposed to be on the left now and we're grabbing the bed we're keeping the belt in the foot placing the left hand on the block sitting down in a toe squat or you can keep the heel down whatever you want like for me it's easier to do this but you can stay with the heel down and then you try to lift the elbow and look towards the left under your right armpit staying for five four three two one sit down on your butt keep the belt we can hook both feet in the belt and do a supported supported both pose nice now we know kind of where we're going at least I know kind of where we're going I'm gonna cue you through the other side but first let's try this pose that we just did on our back combined with it with the ones we did before that makes no sense but doesn't matter roll up and place your left hand place your both hands under the hips and then drop the right leg almost down to the ground and roll everything into your left hand so you're holding the belt with the right hand and then you're trying to stack everything over the left but on your left hand this one is so easy and nice when you know it and you have the right proportions but it's really hard or difficult or impossible the first time you try it all right forget that ever happened and do a vinyasa roll up to a squat jump back through vinyasa and let's meet in down dog switching the belt and the block so the block is on the let's see the block has to be on the right side and the strap on the left side yeah okay take a breath in down dog and just live with the craziness of this class and then let's do another round left leg out behind you inhale exhale knee to right elbow inhale leg out behind you exhale knee to right elbow place the foot in the ground and lift your right arm up fallen triangle three slaps on your foot slap the foot once open slap the foot twice open slap your foot thrice and then back to three-legged dog roll the knee to your nose place the foot between the hands and place the block on the inside of your left foot push the left hand into the block lift your right arm for triangle and then pump it pump it bend left knee straighten the left leg and then turning sideways if you want to come up and interlace the fingers behind your back and do this interlaced fingers for fold straddle do that if you like the last round I want to repeat it do that instead and breathe release the arms and place the block on the outside of your left foot no we're waiting with that one that's coming soon yeah hold on yeah yeah the block is on the outside of the left hand and then left arm comes under left hand on top of the block for airplane pose so here or here so arms out to the side or hand on the block if you want to try binding grabbing the left grabbing the right hand with the left hand you can try that for five just stay here and breathe two three five four three two one release back knee down coming into a low lunge up dropping your left hand to your back heel switching arms switching again switching again and then one more nice and then grabbing the belt standing up hooking the belt around your right foot catching the belt with the left hand right arm back for a standing twist and this is when the block should be on the right side yeah it's hard to manage the blocks correctly all the time so put the foot down move the block towards the right lean into the block and sit down in a chair pose where you lift the elbow overhead and look towards the left gate pose chair pose and then place the foot down step the left leg back the standing no we never did that one yeah okay yeah good so sit down on your butt I was really confused because I changed the sequence right before so feet together lift the legs both pose really work the back but now that you have support from the arms and then roll back into plow pose keep the strop around your right foot place a right hand under your sacrum bend the left knee and roll open you really need to manage where you're placing yourself for balance here and also your right wrist so you don't hurt but it is a truly amazing pose when you get it right don't have to get it right today that's what I said in the beginning it's not about performance but stop underestimating yourself because you are a lot more talented than you give yourself credit for release everything rock and roll on your back and then rock all the way up through a vinyasa and back to down though right peak pose time step your right roll your right knee to your left elbow place the foot down and then from fallen triangle grab your belt around your right foot it's okay to sit down here in straddle but you need to stay in that with that arm when you want to do the pose so you can place the block under your right arm for some height that can help but what we're doing is doing this overhead while we're lifting the foot inside plank so you can wrap the belt and lift it we did the slapping and we did the triangle now we're trying to bring the foot forwards the knee can bend but you're trying to really lift the elbow really lift the and when you have it count to five five four three two one and then place the foot down keep the strap where it is bring the block up into warrior two and reverse the warrior and take three four in reverse warrior nice and then place the block back on the lowest point in the same spot but now we're going yeah now we're going with the hand on the inside like we did before we're wrapping the arm on the inside and if you did the pumping and you need to pump to prep then wrap the butt and then straighten and bend straighten and bend to prepare and when you think that you are ready for full gate pose hand on the block left hand in the strap and this can be more than enough just being here but if the hamstring flexibility is there which it is for me right now I use my head and I push my head into my arm and I split legs and I look super serene and calm even though my body is screaming not from pain but from intensity and then sit down on your butt but keep holding on to the strap and then we try compass pose which is a seated variation of what we just did so the arm stays you can place the hand on the block or the floor so like this and then you try the same thing seated yeah like this looking on their left armpit stretching the left they're stretching the right leg and you all have deserved a surprise so now we'll lay down on our back and do sleeping pigeon pose right ankle to left knee thread needle interface your fingers on the shin and relax good stuff release it rock and roll up and down whoop and then one more vinyasa we're probably not doing another one so enjoy the last vinyasa and then left leg comes to the left knee comes to the right elbow setting up for the fallen triangle hooking the belt on the block should be over there so hook the belt maybe place the hand on the left hand on the block and try fallen triangle lifting the foot with a strap you don't have to go all the way the left leg touching the left arm but you try to lift it high lift the elbow and press your head into your biceps five four three two one foot down block comes up warrior two boom and reverse the warrior good stuff guys block comes back wrap the left arm around your left leg try to grab behind your back maybe pump it here use this as a prep to get the hamstring ready for the challenge coming this one is a lot harder than the one we just did this is the most difficult gate pose variation inside plank so grab the belt lift leg and if your leg is touching the ground so what that's great you're still doing the goddamn pose like this do it like this if your hamstring is stiff then do an extremely extended triangle with some help and maybe you can lift the foot off the floor that's perfect three two one keep everything where it is but sit down so the left arm stays under the left thigh and then compass pose same pose seated two more breaths and then sleeping pigeon pose ankle to knee threading needle relax when I teach a class like this live I observe the students very carefully to see what they need do they need the comfort and cuddles or do they need challenges and slaps in the butt that we always have to consider in advanced classes if this was a class where people needed a more challenge and a kick in the butt I would add this as the last sequence you can just sit on your butt and enjoy watching or you can join me but only if I see that this is what people need right now so elephant trunk this is a way to get back from this sequence after we roll back so we can stay here with now I'm doing both sides at the same time we can stay here with the arm connected under and using this as a lift for the butt so that we do elephant trunk which is this pose all right so here and if you have two blocks or you can sneak your left foot back we can use this as part of the vignasa yeah to come back here okay so you did a compass pose and you did relax and then you come back to compass pose and you just release the foot lift everything up off the floor and then boom back okay last challenge if you see that you have three crazy strong girls or guys in class you give them to the boss on which is both at the same time you squat down walk back sit down and then boom this one it's like a crow but your butt is low and then jump back to vignasa right enough is enough lay down on your back relax nice and long cool down we will do just a twist today knees over to the side oh we did a lot of twisting but still we use so much power that will get a super nice release when we relax and breathe while you lay here and twist I'm gonna finish my speech that I wrote for the beginning but that fits better now you underestimate yourself and that's why you're mediocre in other words you grossly underestimate your own abilities are you really stiff or is it a conviction because it's the things that you're not open-minded about that will take the longest to change only when you open your mind about for example your stiffness only then can you start to unstiffen yourself are you really weak or is that a belief is it a fact or a belief because nobody can stop you more successfully than your own views your beliefs and your convictions aren't you weren't you ready for this class or this pose or is that an underestimation so long story short if you feel mediocre it's because you underestimate yourself switching sides twisting the other way if I tell myself I am stiff and weak it doesn't make my muscles different weaker empirically but it's strengthened my belief that I am that so it's a self perpetuating thing I am stiff I am weak therefore I stay stiff and weak even if I'm not really stiff and weak come back to the center happy baby pose or butterfly pose and then Chavasana awesome job guys so so good job that you completed the whole class and you weren't one of the people who clicked stop and just went for something easier you actually tried everything you had and I am certain that you surprised yourself with something you did today one last inhale and exhale relax into Chavasana please stay for another five minutes at least ten is perfect turning the video off see you in the next one