Hip Opening Flow 45 mins (Intermediate)

madeo with honor yoga princeton here to give you an energizing flow i've got katie fanning one of our teachers here let's get started so come into child's pose knees can be apart forehead on the mat make sure your shoulders are wrapping back and around and you're starting to feel your hips open and your low spine draw in and take a deep inhale and an exhale good just take this moment to surrender to your body and your practice inhale come on up to table top position shoulders stack right over wrists knees hips distance apart and we'll warm up with some cat cows inhale tilt the pelvis forward gaze shifts up exhale pull the belly to the spine shoulder blades draw away from the spine and continue on finding your own rhythm following your own breathing pattern it's always an exhale when you round the spine good beautiful return to that neutral spine and just draw little circles with your shoulders over your wrists so when you do this you start to wake up your wrist joint and switch directions beautiful walk your hands out just a little bit farther in front of you curl your toes downward facing dog so lift from the sit bones and press the chest back good so find a long spine here ears line up with the biceps bones lift up feel the backs of the legs start to release and bend your right leg straightening the left leg a little deeper it's called walking the dog and switch and getting deep into those calf muscles beautiful but keep lengthening the low spine lifting the sit bones up good settle back into downward facing dog on an inhale wave forward to plank pose nice high plank which means the shoulder blades draw away from the spine and exhale back downward facing dog keep lifting from the sit bones we'll do that two more times inhale it's a wave forward and exhale press back good again inhale and exhale beautiful start to walk your feet all the way up towards the hands for a forward fold good and if your legs don't straighten no worries just bend the knees feel the hips stack over the heels let the crown of the head release and create some space in between the shoulders and the ears here and breathe inhale half lift draw the shoulder blades towards the spine crown of the head forward exhale fold do that one more time inhale squeeze the quads try to straighten the legs exhale fold good ground the feet inhale all the way up to stand hands in prayer good release the hands we'll do a few rounds of sun sal inhale up sun sale exhale fold hinging at the hips inhale half lift exhale fold step one foot back and then the other for plank pose shift forward and down arms at a 90 degree angle and sweep it up we'll start with cobra pose to start waking the spine up arms are bent good curl the toes downward facing dog good take a full inhale a full exhale good and then step the feet to the front of the mat good feet ground down inhale half lift exhale fold inhale all the way up good hands come into prayer we're going to do that two more times and i invite you to take any kind of variation that you know that you practice exhale fold if you want to jump back or jump forward inhale half lift exhale fold maybe you're ready for up dog at this point or you're going to stay with cobra pose when you find your down dog you're taking a breath and then preparing good one more to go following your own breathing pattern it's an inhale and an exhale to fold inhale half lift exhale fold okay and when you get to tadasana just close your eyes a moment feel the effects of the sequence maybe your heart's beating a little faster your body's getting warmer good open your eyes sweep your arms up going back down exhale fold inhale half lift exhale fold good step back downward facing dog walk your feet in a little bit inhale sweep the right leg up without opening the hip good three legged down dog get a long spine exhale knee to nose push the floor away rounding the upper back inhale long extend the leg exhale pull the knee in one more inhale exhale hold here good try to get that right heel closer to your right hip and place the foot in between the hands drop the back knee low lunge arms sweep up good front knee doesn't pass the ankle and you're looking for that back leg to extend nice and long so you can get deep stretch of your left hip flexor good and release the right hand down take a side body stretch here left fingertips reach over to the left good pelvis still stays neutral and then switch direction so right fingertips come up side body stretch good both arms sweep up exhale release the hands curl the back toes under runner's stretch so straighten the right leg getting into that hamstring now good we're going to be opening up our hips throughout this practice getting into some fun arm balances so we'll start right here bend the front leg and walk the right foot over to the right a little bit bring the hands to the inside of the leg work into lizard pose so getting the torso down you can make your forearms to reach the mat they're parallel to the side edges good and roll to the outer edge of the right foot let the right knee go to the right sweep the right arm up good stack the shoulders beautiful one more breath exhale release the hand down plant the palms step it back downward facing dog you can sweep that right leg up exhale release the leg down inhale forward to plank pose exhale down chaturanga sweep it up find your flow here exhale down downward facing dog good keep that breath moving second side left leg sweeps up hold lengthen and exhale knee to nose inhale leg up exhale knee to nose pull the belly in push the floor away inhale leg up exhale knee to nose good hold here get that left heel closer towards the left hip try to place the foot without lifting the palms back knee drop setting up for low lunge arms sweep up good scissor the legs in towards each other lift the sternum up fingertips up and side body stretch release the left hand down right fingertips to the right good and switch getting into different areas of the body challenging our balance here good release the hands sweep both arms up good runner stretch curl the back toes under straighten the front leg good make sure your pelvis is nice and level so the hip points are level might need to slide that left leg back a little bit and fold good bend the front leg walk the left foot out to the left a little bit slide the hands to the insides of the legs and you're working your torso low to the earth good to start hug the left inner thigh in towards the left side body for a moment make sure your right forearm is parallel to the side edge of the mat and then spin to your outer left foot feel the legs start to externally rotate and take a turn here left finger tips up shoulders stack one on top of the other good one more breath and release the hand use your core to transition downward facing dog you can sweep the left leg up and release the foot we'll take a flow in between sides coming into plank chaturanga up dog or cobra downward facing dog good