Flexibility Flow (25 Min Yoga Class)

hi friends kathy medeo here back with another video this one is a flexibility flow we will be doing some arm binding today so if that's a challenge for you make sure you have a strap before we get started i wanted to let you know i just released my latest online series called activate your asana the flexibility edition this is a series where i take a lot of those sensational poses that you see out there on social media and make them accessible and show you how i've practiced to increase my flexibility to get into a lot of these poses these kinds of poses can really show us how to just explore find more creativity on our mat as well as increasing our strength and flexibility so take a quick peek at the description box you'll see a link to my brand new series i'm going to tack on to the end of this class the trailer for my brand new series activate your asana so you can look forward to that let's get started we'll begin in thunderbolt pose just close down your eyes for a moment come into your body come into your practice space and enter into this present moment as we explore different flexibility postures today just set an intention to have fun explore and be open take one more breath here you can bring your palms to heart center as you blink open your eyes reach your arms up open up your hands and your chest and bring your arms to a cactus shape so elbows in and as you exhale will flex the spine inhale open it up exhale flex and last one here inhale open and exhale flex bring your fingertips to your shoulders and we'll rotate the arm bones and the shoulder socket here in one direction and let's go for the other direction drawing big circles with those elbows next inhale sweep your arms up gaze up as you exhale widen your knees and bring your hands down for a child's pose you can place your forehead down from here we'll move into some dancing lions so you can take some big circles shoulders over wrists hips over knees and switch directions come into your table top position we'll bring our right knee out to the side in a fire hydrant position and take some big hip circles in one direction and the other direction so i really like to open up all my joints before i move into flexibility so we get as mobile as possible from here straighten your right leg and place the sole of your foot down walk your hands forward and you can place your chin forehead maybe chest down and if you want to even lean the hips back a little bit so we're stretching into the inner thighs as well as the shoulders walk your hands back and we'll take a side bend in our gate pose so left arm sweeps up and over and as you exhale you can set your hands down and we'll return to tabletop and switch sides so left knee goes out to the side take some big circles in one direction and big circles in the opposite direction keep your knee out to the side straighten your leg flex your foot place the sole of the foot down and walk your hands out so feeling a nice stretch along the side body inner left thigh tilt your pelvis forward sit bones back another breath walk your hands up lift your torso up we'll side bend over so the right arm sweeps up left hand that slides down the left leg and we'll come on back this time we'll take our downward facing dog curl your toes lift your hips you can pedal your feet out here as you stretch the backs of your legs if you want to move your hips a little bit side to side on an inhale we'll sweep our right leg up as you exhale place your right foot in between your hands step the back foot forward halfway lift you can bring your hands to shins or the floor and exhale fold we'll take a rag doll here grab opposite elbows you can sway a little bit side to side keep your right knee bent take your right fingertips underneath the head and then twist open to the left and we'll take a half bind here as we slide the left hand behind perhaps catch the inner right thigh and switch so left knee bends peel the right shoulder open internally rotate the upper right arm bone as you take a half bind and we'll release let's roll up one vertebrae at a time all the way up to mountain pose inhale big sweep of your arms up exhale hinge and fold all the way down inhale halfway lift let's step it back to plank pose breathing here take an inhale exhale chaturanga come down hips down into cobra pose so pull your chest forward elbows are bent alton knuckles ground down bring your chest down curl your toes under slither on back to downward facing dog inhale left leg lifts exhale place your left foot halfway lift exhale fold forward fold this time thinking of engaging your whole front body to fold here and we'll inhale all the way up to stand exhale mountain pose inhale sweep your arms up bend your right elbow so your left hand is on the elbow and take a side deeper side bend here as we pull the right elbow over inhale arms up and we'll switch so this time we're bending the left arm take hold of the left elbow deep side bend inhale reach your arms up open up through the chest bend your elbows allow your hips to come forward and see if you could clasp your hands so you could use a strap here or even just keep your arms open or grab opposite elbows and now stick your seat back so you're keeping that extension in your spine here your lumbar spine especially as you fold so your knees can bend a little bit here and we'll do the same thing here we'll bend our right leg as we peel the left shoulder open with clasped hands and switch and release hands down inhale halfway lift we'll step it back plank pose take an inhale exhale chaturanga inhale upward facing dog chest pulls through press down through your feet on your exhale roll over those toes downward facing dog inhale extend your right leg up and back try to straighten out through the knee joint even if that lowers the leg a little bit exhale place your foot rise on an inhale high crescent lunge so get a nice long stance so feet far away from each other feet hips distance apart so you can really bend through that front leg breathing here take an inhale as you exhale fly your hands back hold place your hands down you can have them on blocks or on fingertips pull your chest through as you exhale straighten your front leg that's why you might need blocks and fold and inhale bend so you're on your right heel right toes reaching to the crown of the head one more bend and push good and we'll hold here you can place your palms down if they reach we're still flexing our right foot take another breath we will reposition our feet for our pyramid stance so right so the soles of the feet are flat now see if you can level your hips so that your sacrum is flat and tint your fingertips and you're really compressing through your front core muscles getting a deep stretch here and we'll allow our hands to walk to the insides of the legs and kind of stick our hips out to the side and then walk the hands to the other side and stick the hips to the left good and we'll bend the front leg