Theme Class #2: Spine Flow (59-Min Full Yoga Class)

And then all the way around down the hips and back to hands together. So as you inhale you peel and roll your spine open. And as you exhale the arm starts dropping down towards the hips and back hands together. Let's do three more.

Inhale, roll open. And exhale, roll back. Two more in your own tempo. Feel the spine twisting passively.

So you're not trying to push yourself into the position. One more on your own with your breath. Nice. Slowly switching sides.

Scoot back to your back. Hip escapes towards the left, knees to the right. Circle your left arm overhead on the inhale. And as you exhale back.

Let's do four of these inhaling. And exhaling. Nice. And inhale.

And exhale. One more. And exhale. Nice.

Back to center. Arms overhead, bend your knees. Peel your hips off the ground. So tuck your tailbone and lift the hips.

And then lift your lower back and then lift your upper back off the floor. And then reverse this. So first your upper back. Then you kind of crunch the ribs and push the lower back and then the hips down.

So you're peeling off the floor. So roll the hips and lower back and spine off the floor. And then reverse that motion so the hips are the last thing to come down. And then when you get the hips down you can press down into the hips and arch your spine.

And then tuck your hips completely. So you're trying to go to the extreme here. But since we're not under any kind of pressure or load you can go really hard. As long as you go slow there is no risk of you feeling any pain.

So just take yourself to the limit in this really gentle exercise. Trying to go all the way up and all the way down. Really engaging the front. If you get a strong and good core then you can really help the lowest part of the back.

I know what I'm talking about from personal experience. If you can really push down into the lower core then you can really get some motion into the deepest part of your spine. Nice. Do one more.

Nice. And then arms out to the side, knees together, feet off the floor. And then knees over to the right. And then as you inhale you roll back to center.

And then knees over to the left without you lifting the shoulders off the floor. So try to keep your chest and upper back in the floor when you're twisting from side to side. Go in your own rhythm but go with your breath. So inhale as you come to center and exhale as you twist.

Waking up your core muscles as well. And getting some nice movement into the spine. And one of the big mistakes I see people make is they are anxious and impatient and they try to get the nice effect immediately. But if you do it progressively instead, if you start at 20% and then you increase by 5-10% every reps, then it's such a nicer practice to do than forcing yourself and holding your breath from the first repetition.

Nice. Let's meet in center and grab the back of our thighs and start rolling up and down if that feels good. Or just come up to seated. But if you can rock up and down and that feels good, it always feels good for my spine.

That's why I always do it. Nice. And then stretch your both legs straight in front of you. Sit on your butt.

And try to use your legs to kind of use your hamstring and push your knees down. And then almost like you're dragging your heels back to lift your chest. Because this is what it looks like if you don't do this. You're sagging and it's really hard to breathe here.

So you have to really engage and push your chest up and your knees down. And then when you have this position more or less, inhale arms up. And as you exhale you lean forward as far as you can until you can't go any further with a straight spine. Then you place your hands down and round your spine.

So you stay straight for as long as you can and then chin to chest. Let's do this again. Arms up, engage everything you have. Inhale.

And as you exhale keep your spine straight. Fold forward until you can't fold any more. Then you round chin to chest. Nice.

Two more. Inhale arms up. Exhale forward. Stay strong and straight.

And then you let go more and more and completely relax for a moment. One more. Inhale. Lift high.

Maybe look up, chest up. Exhale, lean forward and stay here for a full breath this time. And then come back up. Place your left foot on your right inner thigh.

And then right hand to right shin or ankle or wherever you can get the right hand. Maybe the inside of somewhere on the leg. And then left arm overhead. And try to lift both sides first.

And as you exhale you lean as far as you can to the right. Maybe even tap the foot if you have the proportions. And then back to center. Left hand in the ground behind you.

Side stretch the right side. And then back to center. Inhale in center always. And exhale as you go sideways.

Yes. And then inhale center. Variation here. Exhale.

Go back. So either do the first one or lift your hips and go higher here. Sit down. You need to breathe slowly if you want to do moves like this.

So inhale in center and exhale side stretch. So typically we breathe like two seconds on the inhale and two seconds on the exhale. But if you want to do moves like Stine is doing here you have to slow it down to three, four, maybe five seconds in order to enjoy the movement. Otherwise you will just feel like you're stressing from position to position.

Nice. Do another one with the left hand behind you. Either just sit here or lift up high. And then come back to feet together, straight legs.

Do the same sequence on the second side. So right foot to inner thigh. Left hand on the inside of the left leg somewhere. And then inhale as you lift your arm up, right arm up and then exhale as you lean towards the left.

And then inhale center. Right hand behind you. Exhale side stretch the left side. Back to center.

Inhale. Exhale right side. Inhale. Maybe lift the hips for a little flash dance move.

Inhale center. And keep this flow. If you have found the flow, keep the flow. If you haven't found the flow yet, keep looking for it because the flow with the breath and the movement is there for everybody.

No matter what limitations you have, you can always flow with the breath and that will always feel good when you find it. Nice. Inhale center. Exhale left side.

Inhale center. Exhale right side. One more with the right hand behind you. Maybe lift the hips or stay down.

Very good. And then back to center. Both legs straight. And then come over to all fours.

Freestyling it on all fours, moving the spine in any directions. Maybe cat and cow or maybe tumble dryer. Just move your lower back, your upper back and your neck freely. Take a few breaths here.

Good. And then tense up your center. So straight spine, strong core. Left leg out behind you.

Right arm forward. Stay with straight arm and right leg. Stay with the straight leg and the right arm. And then tap your toe and your hand to the ground and round your spine.

So keep them straight. And then as you inhale, you lift your chest and look forward. Lift arm and leg. Exhale, tap and round.

Core, core, core. Inhale one more. And exhale, tap. Nice.

Inhale, lift up. And then elbow to knee. Crunch. Two more.

Inhale straight and long. Exhale, crunch. Inhale, straighten. Exhale, crunch.

Nice. Inhale, straighten. And now bend your back knee and grab it with the right hand, either on the inside of the foot or outside of the foot. Take three breaths here.

Stretching your front of the chest, the core and hips and the thigh and everything. And then slowly release. Back to center. Same thing, second side.

Right leg out behind you. Left arm forward. Inhale here. Exhale, tap.

Not knee to elbow, but tap. Round the spine. Inhale, lift high. Archer back.

Exhale, tap. But try to keep your core engaged while you're doing this. Inhale, lift. So don't just sway the back.

Exhale, tap. Stay engaged. Inhale, lift. And then knee to elbow.

Squeeze. Inhale, stretch long. Exhale, tuck round and squeeze. Inhale, stretch long.

Keep engaged. Exhale, squeeze. Inhale, stretch. Bend the right leg.

Grab the foot or the inner ankle. And lift. And try to equalize this really asymmetrical pose. Try to create some kind of sense of symmetry for another breath.

Nice. And then release. Walk your butt back over your knees or walk your hands forward so that you're in a back bending position with your hips over your knees. If you don't know where your hips are, look and make sure they're stacked over the knees.

Top of the head in the ground and arms are just like in down dog. Strong, strong connected arms. And then look forward and see if you can tap your chest to the ground on the inhale. And as you exhale, you round the spine and tap the top of your head to the floor.

So as you inhale, you back bend. And as you exhale, you tap the top of the head. So cat cow, but in a more tricky position. This is a lot more difficult to do than on all fours, but it's really good for our spine.

So we're focusing on the upper spine here. One more. And take three breaths the next time the top of the head is in the ground or the chest is in the ground if your neck can tolerate it. So a really intense but still passive back bend.

You have no load, no force going through your spine here. So you should be able to take it unless you're really recently injured. Nice. And then let's meet back on all fours and isolate the lower back by holding your chest and your upper spine perfectly still.

And then draw a small circle with your tailbone. Imagine that your tailbone is a pen. And then draw a round circle in the air behind you. So small, small hip movements.

But you try to move them as much as possible. But if you move too much, then you're probably involving the upper spine too. And then you miss out on the good stuff. So to get some movement into our lower back, this doesn't look like anything.

But when you do it correctly, you can really feel muscles that you'd normally never move. Go the other direction too if you didn't switch directions already. So at least five. Like these movements are subtle.

So it takes a few reps to get into it and understand what it's really about. Take another circle. Good. And then step back to our first plank pose and then into dog pose.

So lift your butt up and back. Take your dog for a walk. Bend one leg. Stretch the other.

Another bend, another stretch. And then lift both heels and drop your heels over to the right. And then bend both knees as much as you need to get a huge side stretch to the left side. So your whole left rib and your waist, maybe even your hips and armpit feel this stretch.

And then switch sides. Heels to the left. Bend your knees. And then do one more on each side.

Big left stretch. And big right stretch. Nice. Now start a long walk towards your hands.

Small steps. Stretching the back of the legs as well as the back. And eventually you will reach your hands. So walk your feet to hip-width distance and bend your knees to a squat.

Wide knees. Take a moment here. You can choose if you want to reach your arms all the way overhead or just in front of you depending on your shoulder flexibility. Take an inhale as you lift your chest.

Exhale hands down, head down, butt up, forward fold. So inhale, squat, arms forward or overhead. Exhale, squat and stretch your legs. Find the flow.

When you inhale, you lift. When you exhale, you fold. And this was preparation. So now you can go for it.

Just follow your flow. Do a couple more. And then sit down in a squat. Right hand to the ground.

Left arm up. So tuck your shoulder on the inside of the knee and then twist open. Look up towards your left hand if that feels good for your neck. Take another breath here.

And then switch side. Left hand down, right arm up. Snuggle in on the inside of your knee. And then hands down.

Bend your knees. Straighten your legs. Head down and then roll like a ragdoll all the way up to a standing. So keep your feet in a comfortable distance.

And then bring both arms overhead. And then drop your right arm down the right leg and side stretch the left arm over. So a big side stretch. As you inhale, as always, back to center.

Exhale, second side. And then bring your feet up. So a big side stretch. As you inhale, as always, back to center.

Exhale, second side. Inhale, back to center. And before we do the next round, bend your elbows like a cactus. Shoulder blades together.

Elbows together behind your back. Lift your chest high. So strong on the back side, open on the front side. Again, inhale, arms up.

Exhale, left side stretch. Inhale, center. Keep your hips exactly where they are. Do the same thing, right side.

Don't move and follow with the hips. Inhale, center. And cactus, really engage the back side hard. And then let's do a full round, more round.

We will do lots of cactuses this class. Exhale, left side. Keep your hips where they are. Inhale.

Exhale, side stretch. Inhale, center. Big cactus. Bend your elbows as much as you can.

Nice. And then inhale, we're done here. Fold forward on the exhale. Normal sun salutation.

Inhale, half lift to 90 degrees. Exhale, stepping back to a dog. And from a dog, roll forward to a plank. And take your normal vinyasa, maybe down on the knees, maybe down to a low push-up.

Cobra, locust, or a bigger back bend. And let's meet back in down dog for three breaths. Keeping your knees bent if you want to. Keeping the legs straight.

If you want to focus on the back or the hamstrings, just feel around. Check out your dog today. And then start to walk forward again. Walk your feet towards your hands.

And then do a little half lift. And then exhale as you fold forward. Do another one of those. Inhale, half lift.

Exhale, fold. Alright, let's twist a little bit. So right hand forward on the fingertips. Bend your right knee.

And lift the left arm up on the inhale. And then exhale, circle it down. Same thing on the second side. Bend the left knee, left hand down.

Inhale as you come up. And exhale, right hand down. Same thing again. Inhale, look left.

Exhale, down. So you might have to bend both knees a little bit. But try to get a big twist to your upper spine. Nice.

And then walk your hands all the way up to your knees. Keep a slight bend in the knees. Not too much. And make sure that your chest and head is over the level of your hips.

This is called a 90 degrees position. We will do this one shortly. So remember this position, we will get back to it. And then come all the way up.

Arms overhead. And then lean forward into this position we just did. And then cactus your arms. Shoulder blades together.

And then arms overhead. And come all the way up. Big inhale here. Exhale, arms forward.

Inhale, cactus. Exhale, arms forward. Very good. One more round.

Exhale, forward, strong core. Inhale, cactus. Exhale, forward. We're done here.

Inhale, arms up. Exhale, fold all the way down. Half lift, inhale. Stepping back through your vinyasa.

Stepping back to...no, yes, yes. It's still some salutation. Back to dog. Rolling forward into your knees.

Or low push-up or back bend of choice. Back to down dog. Take another three breaths in dog. If you feel some kind of pinching stuff going on in the shoulder, just widen your hands a little bit.

Just modify around the problems. That's not avoiding the problems. Just avoid where you feel, you know, unnecessary tension and pain. And then walk both feet forward.

Inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold. And roll all the way up to standing. Nice.

Feet hip-width apart. Bend your knees for chair pose. Both hands on your knees. We're doing some cats and cows here.

Make sure your knees are bent, but not too much. And then chest open on the inhale. And as you exhale, stay with your hips and legs where they are around your spine. So inhale, upper body moves.

Exhale, round. But you're not really moving your legs so much. Inhale, open. Exhale, squeeze it.

Inhale, open. Exhale, squeeze. On the next inhale, stay open. And either hands in front of your chest or arms overhead or in front of you.

Chair pose, three breaths. Notice how your knees want to move around. How you just feel generally uncomfortable here. But stay absolutely still for another full breath.

And then look up, inhale. And exhale, straighten your legs, fold. Good stuff. Inhale, half lift.

Step your right leg back and place your knee in the ground. And stack your hips over your right knee. So come up with your hands so that you're balancing on your right knee and your left foot. So left knee over ankle, hips over right ankle.

Left hand to your knee, drop your elbow and forearm to the thigh. And then right arm up and overhead. Side stretch like we did before. Yeah, usually we tend to drop forward here into a deep lunge.

But then we miss out on the good stuff with the side stretch. So both the hips and spine can feel really good here if you stay stacked. So everything is more or less stacked over the right knee. The left foot is just there for balance.

Take another breath. And then grab your head with the right hand. And instead of pulling, yeah, straighten up. And instead of pulling the head, push the head into the hand.

So you're activating the left side of the neck. Pulling it into the hand, you can drop the left arm out to the side to get an intense neck stretch that's not harmful or dangerous in any way. Really nice. Take another breath here.

And then release the neck. Right hand down, left arm up with the knee in the ground. Just open the twist. So it's important to stack your weight over your right hand correctly so that you're not getting the right shoulder to the air.

But strong right shoulder. Very nice. Inhale here. And then exhale, drop the hand and step back to a downward dog.

Coming through your vinyasa in your own rhythm. So plank, push up, up dog or all fours. And if you are pregnant, you can do just a cat cow. And let's meet back in down dog.

Same thing on the second side. Stepping the right foot forward. Stack everything over your left knee. So the back knee in the ground, come up.

Stack everything over the left knee. Right hand to your knee. And then side stretch the whole left side without compromising and back bending or deep lunging here. So stay straight and try to reach up.

Imagine that something is in the ceiling that you're trying to grab. And then you lean over. And inner thighs and core is on. Otherwise you're only kind of stretching where you're weakest.

But when you keep everything integrated, you can stretch everything at once. Another breath. And then straighten posture back up. Grab your head with your left hand.

And then push your head pretty hard into your left hand. Right hand can drop out in the air. Stretching your right trap muscle. Usually something that's killed on Jiu Jitsu players.

Nice. Release the head. Left hand down. Right arm up.

Back knee is still in the ground. Twist open. And try to imagine there is a kind of more or less straight line through both arms and the shoulders. So you're not wonky or S-shaped.

Everything is, yeah. Yeah, exactly. So everything is not straight but straight-ish. Straight-ish.

Take another breath. And then drop your hand down. Step both feet forward. Inhale, half lift.

And exhale. Yeah, right. Squat down. Sit down in a squat.

Sit down on your butt. Roll back to your back. Or even all the way to upside down guard. And roll back to a squat.

Very nice. Back to chair pose. Bend your knees. Hands to knees.

Do the same thing we did before. Inhale lift your chest. Exhale round your spine. Use some power right now.

So inhale. Use your back muscles to open up. Exhale. Use your core muscles to round your spine.

Maximum force in a slow tempo. One more. And then as you inhale, arms overhead or in front of you. Chair pose.

Three breaths. So bend your knees. Stick your butt out behind you. Make sure you can see your toes.

So you're not leaning into your toes. You're leaning back. Take another full inhale. And on the next exhale fold forward.

Half lift. Inhale. This time stepping your left foot back. Come all the way up to standing crescent pose.

Keep a slight bend in the back leg. And really squeeze your core and your hips. And keep your hips absolutely level. Don't move the hips.

Hands out in front of your hands together. And then open your left arm as far to the left as you can. And look back towards your left hand. Without turning your hips.

And then back to center. Hands together. Keep your hips where they are. Same thing on the right.

Right arm back. Look towards the right hand without turning the hips. Nice. With a breath.

Inhale center. Exhale turn to the left. Don't move the left hip. Inhale center.

Exhale twist. So this is difficult even though there is no load. Inhale center. Exhale twist.

One more inhale center. Exhale twist. Back to center. Inhale.

Arms up. Hands down. Left hand down actually. Right hand touches the right foot.

Straighten the right leg. And then bend the right knee. Open the hips. Open the chest sorry.

And then as you exhale touch the foot and straighten the leg. So inhale twist open. Bend the right knee. Exhale tap the foot and stretch.

One more inhale. Exhale tap the foot and step back to your dog and do Avinyasa. Forward to plank on the inhale. Lowering down on the exhale.

Bending your back squeezing your elbows in. And then let's meet back in down to the doggy. Nice. Take a breath.

And then step the left foot forward. All the way up to crescent pose. Standing up. Balancing.

Bend your right knee. Arms out in front of you. Hands together. Inhale here.

Look towards the right. Twist as far as you can without moving the legs. Inhale center. Square.

Exhale twist. So independently trying to move your upper spine as much as you can without moving the lower spine. Almost impossible. But that doesn't stop us from trying.

Exhale twist. Inhale center. Exhale twist. Inhale center.

One more. Exhale twist. And then inhale both arms up. Right hand down.

Left hand to left foot. Straighten the left leg. And then bend the knee. Inhale twist open.

Exhale straighten and tap. Inhale twist. Exhale tap. Unumas.

Inhale twist. And exhale tap and step forward to your hands. Half lift. Inhale.

And then take three breaths in a forward fold here. Just staying folded. Straight legs or bent knees is your options for today. And then rolling all the way up to standing.

Start by placing your feet together. Or hip width apart. Just so that you can balance on one foot. So begin by leaning into the left foot.

Lifting your right knee up. Keeping your knee bent. Some of you might want to straighten the leg but then there's a lot of hip flexors involved. So just keep the right knee bent preferably.

Hands out in front of your chest. Straighten your right leg back behind you for warrior three. And then try to cactus your arms as much as you can here. And then round your spine like a cat.

And then cactus your arms on the inhale. On the exhale cat pose. One more inhale. And exhale cat.

Stepping back to crescent pose. With the back heel down. Maybe spread your feet a little bit. Take three breaths in what we call warrior one.

Which is a crescent pose with the heel on the ground. And then interlace your fingers behind your butt. Take three breaths here where you lift the chest. Keep your neck in a non-tense position.

We tend to tense the neck a lot when we do positions like this. So keep your arms engaged. You can straighten or bend the left knee preferably. But try to stay with your legs connected.

And really lift your chest and make your spine half a millimeter longer. Because now we will start to fold forward. Some people can drop the head all the way down to the floor. But it's not a competition here.

So drop your head down and lift your arms back behind you for another two breaths. And don't release the hands. Move them to the butt first. And then slide the hands slowly down with control.

Straighten the left leg. Hold here for a breath. And then place the left hand on the foot, ankle or shin. Or maybe even thigh depending on your flexibility.

You want to find a place where you can twist. So you're starting to lift the right arm. And if you feel compromised go even higher. The more flexible you are the lower you can go.

Yeah, you don't want to be too low because then you will tear your hamstrings. So open up and inhale. And as you exhale right hand tap it to the left foot. Do that again.

Inhale as you open. And exhale as you tap the foot. Let's do three more of those. Inhale open.

Exhale tap. Inhale open. And exhale tap. One more open.

Now stay open for three breaths. Maybe place the right hand behind your head if that feels good. Or just keep the arm up straight up. Two more breaths.

Nice. And then arm up, inhale. Hands... Yeah, no, no, not coming up to standing.

Both hands down. And let's put in another vinyasa here. Stepping back to dog. Rolling forward.

Doing a back bend on the inhale. And then let's meet back in down dog. Let's take two breaths in down dog before we start walking it forward again. Good stuff.

Walking your hands, feet to your hands. Inhale half lift. Exhale fold. Coming all the way up to standing.

Starting over balancing on your right foot. So lift the left knee. Take a couple of breaths. Preparing for the cactus cat flow.

Stretching your left leg behind you. Warrior three. Keep your left hip down. And then inhale as you draw the elbows and shoulder blades together.

Exhale hold the balance around your spine. Two more. Inhale squeeze. And exhale round.

Inhale squeeze the shoulder blades. And exhale round. Stepping back to a crescent pose with the back heel down. AKA warrior one.

Take three breaths in warrior one. When you get everything stacked correctly. So you shouldn't feel one part of the ribs or spine or hips or leg. You should feel everything integrated as one.

Which is really difficult and subtle. But over time we will develop this skill of feeling like one strong unit in one. And that's what we're going to do. So let's get started.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow.

So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. So we're going to do the cactus cat flow. Very nice. And then arm up, inhale.

Exhale, hands down, stepping forward to the front of the mat. Exhale, hands down, stepping forward to the front of the mat. Half lift, inhale. Exhale, fold.

Coming all the way up to standing. Again, balancing on our left foot, Again, balancing on our left foot, Grab the right foot with your right hand behind you. So bend the right knee. foot or ankle or outside and then lift the knee as high as you can lift left arm forward and now lift the right knee up balance, balance, balance hold the position don't hold your breath three, two, one stepping back to warrior two so attach the right foot down behind you find a good position between the legs and then side stretching here lift the left arm up and back reverse warrior inhale and as you exhale elbow to thigh side stretch we did a hundred side stretches so flow from side to side we tend in jiu-jitsu to most of the time we just fold over and we squeeze and we hug our knees in that's why we're focusing so much on side stretches and twists and back bends because we tend to not do that in jiu-jitsu and we need that to have a healthy spine we can't just flex and fold all the time we need some extension twists and side stretches as well.

Next time you come back to center stay there and straighten both legs parallel your feet arms overhead inhale exhale straddle position straight legs relaxed spine your legs are strong your spine is relaxed. That's called economics in jiu-jitsu you need to be able to squeeze your legs hard while you're while you rest your hands when you're in the middle of a fight. Yoga is the same we engage the legs super strong and Stina's neck and lower back is completely relaxed that's efficiency that's the opposite of the white belt tendencies which is squeeze and tense everything for three minutes and then gas out take another breath here and then hands on the chest lift up high all the way up to warrior two and then circle a step forward to standing same thing on the second side lift the left foot bend the knee grab the inside or the outside of the foot with the left hand dancers pose staying up with the arm up and the knee down is easy the more you lift the knee the harder it is to bounce take some skill patience and being able to not beat yourself up mentally take another breath and then slowly release the foot stepping back to warrior two same side stretch flow here inhale as you stretch back and exhale as you tap your elbow or forearm to the thigh find the flow and keep the flow that's your only mission for a class like this find the flow and keep the flow movement with breath nothing tricky nothing fancy very basic but it takes a long time to learn still and next time you come back to center straddle your legs but this time interlace your fingers behind your back open and lift on the inhale and as you exhale you fold and if this is too much of course you can place your hands in the ground but try to keep your spine relaxed but really move your shoulders away from you move your hands away from your lower back legs can be straight and can be slightly bent or you can freestyle and move a little bit but don't overdo it don't go crazy do like 50% of what you think feel like doing and do it 50% slower really good and then drop your hands down walk your hands forward to your right foot do one final vignasa dog plank back bend back to dog and then let's throw in one final pose I will demonstrate this one so prop yourself up in Sphinx pose on your elbows like a lazy forearm plank and then bend your back leg your right leg and then grab the inside of the ankle or foot with your right hand and then lift up high here and lift the right knee so you're drawing in with the foot with your right hand trying to lift your thigh off the floor this is level one level two is keeping this engagement and lifting the back leg and the left arm three really hard to do that pose and talk at the same time two one and release take half a second and then do the second side prop yourself up on the elbows bend the left knee grab the inner ankle or foot and then lift and engage the leg as much as you engage the arms don't just push the foot into the hand do both and then maybe lift the back leg and lift the front arm three two one release and after back bends like this it's nice to re-engage the core tuck your tailbone a little bit re-engage the core and then push back for obvious reasons this is not healthy for student to do that's why I showed it let's finish the class by sitting down on our butts arms legs out in front of us oh yeah left foot to inner thigh so left foot to right inner thigh and then yeah right hand behind us and left arm up then reach for the outside of your right foot with your left hand so if you can't grab the foot then you grab the pants if you can't grab the pants then you just hold on the outside of the of the right leg and do a little twist so if you grab the foot and it's both twist and side stretch if you're further up then it's more twist let's take five here and then on the next inhale come back to center instead of doing the second side we will lift the left knee place the foot in the ground grab the outside of the left of the left foot with the right hand keep the knee bent and then you can either press the thigh with the left hand or keep the hand behind you whatever feels best so the last one we did is more a lower back waist stretch this is more of an upper back stretch so this is more for the for the 50 percent the the uppest part of the spine my english is really bad thoracic thoracic spine the thoracic thoracic spine that's it take another two breaths and then release before we do the second side just notice the difference between the sides there is a subtle difference between your right and left side small different sensation and then the right foot to inner thigh right hand to the outside of the left foot reach up on the inhale and exhale grab the outside of the foot or the pants or wherever you can grab a mix between a forward fold a side stretch and a twist which is not something we can do in the beginning of a class because we didn't do all those forward folds back bands twists and side stretches but now that we did all of them several times progressively we can do all of them at the same time and you can probably find 10 positions in jiu-jitsu either here or upside down or twisted in a weird way where steeney would find herself in this position in jiu-jitsu and she would not get injured and maybe she could even turn around a really bad position into a counter attack because her spine was able to generate power from a really weird and awkward position without her nervous system like shutting down and and you know injuring herself and on the next inhale get out of the pose lift your right knee and place your right foot in the ground grab the outside of the foot with the left hand and either push the thigh or place your right hand behind you and you can you can lift your spine straight and when you have the spine straight you can kind of round a little bit to get those rhomboid muscles and all that stuff and then you can change the focus between muscles and spine when you do like just a small difference in either rounding or lifting can make a big difference for where you feel the stretch so that's it for the next video and if you enjoyed it please like and subscribe to my channel and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a comment below and I will see you next time How are we time wise? Come back to center straight legs if your hamstring is an issue just open your feet a little bit lean forward and just drop down into it hands on chins hands on ankles hand to feet or hold prop yourself up with your arms if your back is giving you trouble and if you have enough flexibility to fold forward you can do that count from 10 to 1 with your breaths it's simple it's it's not simple it's it's easy to have the tendency to to keep your neck engaged but simply relaxing your neck and dropping your head makes the neck relaxed but it also makes the stretch more intense for both for the hamstrings and the lower back and the upper back because the weight of the head is pulling the pose deeper when you lift your face a little bit it's takes away some of the stretch so really drop your head down because your body can take it after 15 minutes of yoga it's impossible to be injured from a position like this so even if it's super intense and awkward and parts of your body feel like throwing up it's not dangerous by relaxing you are forcing your nervous system to trust you you're not really stiff your nervous system is protecting your joints but by doing this class you have proven to your nervous system that you are in control and that you won't do anything stupid to your own body take another two big breaths deep long breaths in and out through the nose nice come first come up and then roll all the way down to the back let's finish this side stretch back bend and twist focused spine class with a little bit of a stretch and then we'll go to the next one which is the back bend and twist focus spine class so we're going to do this with the back bend and twist focus spine class now we're going to do the back bend and twist focus spine class with another twist so move your hip escape your hips over to the right left leg straight right knee bent and then roll over to your left side and find a balanced twist there are three ways to do a twist like this either with a knee in the ground or the elbow in the ground or both you know balancing in the center and one of them will definitely feel better than the others you just have to figure out which one that is and if this is all killer if this all is all is killing you then just place your knees together over to the left just like i said with the with the knee and elbow the same thing with the neck some people feel better looking towards the left being centered or looking to the right but you cannot there is not not anything physical that you can do to help this stretch become more effective the more you try to push yourself into it the more your nervous system will retract and hold back but there is one thing a little trick that we can do to improve state of matters and that is inhale through the nose hold the breath for two seconds exhaling through the nose holding for two seconds and then doing that again and again without any effort without any force resistance any friction just letting that happen as natural as possible without any intervention of your ego on your or your mind that helps matters a lot not only the pose but everything else too yoga is the bridge between what we call our mental and what we call our physical so if we want to connect what we call the the thoughts and the joints and everything is connected on a deeper level but to get there we need to breathe take another breath and then don't rush come back to center slowly neutral for a breath or two before you set up the second side hip escape to the left straighten your right leg roll over to your right hips steve is actually so flexible she can have the knee and the elbow in the ground at the same time and this is a good time to just discuss that we should never look at someone else and try to mimic or copy or clone someone else's behavior because we have a different body from anybody else that we see we're all the same but we're at the same time all different and comparing usually doesn't take us anyway you can be inspired but you should never compare yourself to someone else because we are all different and starting at different starting points find this comfortable position for your lower back your upper back and your neck and get out of your head and get into your breath and then slowly inhale through the nose inhale slowly through the nose hold the breath for a couple of seconds and then nice and slow exhale through the nose we flowed before with the breath and movement now we can just flow with the breath and stillness take another couple of breaths in this deep nice passive twist and when you feel ready to come back to center neutralize maybe lift the hip a couple of times with the feet in the ground setting up for the finishing part of the class if you have lower back problems it's nice to take shavasana with the bent knees and knees together like a tent if you're fine straighten your legs straighten your arms out starfish position relax in your shoulders and hips let go of even your breath don't hold anything just let your eyes be closed relax your face relax your fingers relax your spine so so so and then from your backwards holding the dog pose find your way back up to seated find a comfortable seat where you can keep your spine tall and relaxed stacking your head and neck over your shoulders in a healthy natural way and then let's circle the arms overhead inhale and then exhale hands down thank you for today there's a saying that goes you're only as young as your spine is flexible and for me personally I feel 10 years older every morning when I wake up I don't know if it's my bed or if it's something I do but I feel older in the morning because my spine is stiff when I do yoga I feel like I'm reversing those 10 years and those 10 years of reversal can take place in less than 60 minutes so that's the power of that yoga has it can make you feel 10 years younger or at least not 10 years older every time you do yoga and that's why the potential is so great and not only for your private body but also for your official body your jiu-jitsu body we can't even begin to compare how good it feels when you do yoga compared to when you don't so thank you from Sebastian Stine and Sassy she wanted to be part of the teacher training and see you guys in the next video