Splits Practice: 40 Minute Practice Along

hey friends Kathy Madeo back with another video this one a full splits practice for this video you'll need a set of blocks and something to pad your back knee grab your props and let's get started we'll begin in child's pose widen your knees big toes touch gently placed your forehead on your mat arms can be wider than shoulders distance close down your eyes if that feels comfortable and just tune into your body and your breath here you can feel here how our hamstrings are released and relaxed we'll be giving them lots of attention today and I'll remind you from time to time to just check in with your body listen to Sensations you might feel tension throughout your body or discomfort as we move into our splits as long as it's not sharp burning or tingling discomforts actually a good sign that we're moving towards growth in our body we'll take one more breath here next inhale let's lift up into a tabletop position we'll begin to work into the hips by doing some hip circles so take your right leg bend it and just circle it in One Direction through what we do here switch directions as we're getting into the synovial fluid in the hip joint to make it more mobile next time it goes out to the right straighten it place the sole of your foot down and we'll walk our hands forward for a kind of mash up here so we're getting into the inner thighs and the medial hamstrings we have four different hamstrings in the back of our legs some towards the outer side some towards the inside one more breath next inhale lift up so this is gate pose sweep your arms up grab hold of your left wrist and we'll take a side Bend towards the right leg keep your left hip moving a little bit to the left so you're really stretching here through the lateral side of your left side one more breath set your hands back into tabletop sweep the right leg around have your right toes curled under and we'll Rock forward and back so now we're stretching the Achilles heel and the calf so just bring your attention there and feel that stretch as we pull the right heel back and we'll hold here couple more breaths straighten through the knee joint lift your right leg up cross it over to the left and peek over your left shoulder so you'll notice this deep stretch through the outer right hip and right side body and we'll Rock forward and back a couple of times and then hold as the right heel reaches back come back to our starting point and we'll simply switch sides so big hip circles through your left leg left knee is bent nice and easy switch sides keep the left knee out to the side straighten your leg place the sole of the foot down walk your hands forward and just getting a nice stretch here send the sit bones back behind you next inhale we'll lift the Torso all the way up sweep your arms up use your exhale to side bend over towards the left leg you go as deep as you can keep your chest facing forward we'll set the hands down swing your left leg back curl the toes under and we'll Rock forward and back and again we're just trying to connect body and mind here so bringing your attention to where you feel the most sensation so we'll hold here with the left heel drawing behind us keep your neck nice and long so crown of the head reaches forward lift your left leg up cross it behind the right peek over your right shoulder and rock a couple times here and then we'll take that hold as we send the left heel back and next inhale we'll come back to tabletop walk your hands about a hands distance forward curl your toes under and we'll move into downward facing dog now we'll bend the left leg and as you do that work towards reaching the right heel down it doesn't have to touch and we'll switch so again deepening the stretch here through our gastrocnemius that's your calf muscle and the Achilles heel and the next time we'll do that so right heel working towards the ground you can separate your big toe in the second toe and place it there behind just above the heel and almost like you're pulling your right heel down with your left foot and then we'll do that on the other side keep lifting the sit bones up come on to your tippy toes walk the feet up towards your hands feet hips distance apart we'll take a rag doll so grab opposite elbow here scoop the low belly in and you can sway easily side to side and just let gravity and the weight of your head here stretch this whole posterior line of your body and again maybe observe where you feel the most stretch release your hands we'll roll up one vertebrae at a time and come into a mountain pose so stand nice and Tall reach the sternum up we'll bring our feet together bring your hands to prayer and bend your knees into your chair pose so holding here just creating some heat now in our legs we'll shift the weight to our right foot hover your left foot hinge forward through the Torso and we'll begin to pulse the left and right the left leg into the right and keep your right knee bent here it's taking several pulses we'll land the left foot back separate the feet so that their hips distance apart reach your arms up for a lunge pose dip down through the back knee and pump back up and doing this several times as well don't worry about how many times you do it just moving your body and now let's hold our lunge pose and go a little bit deeper so bend through your front leg send the left heel back and that's kind of where you might feel some tension right so how deep can you bend the front leg while sending your left heel back another breath here and we'll release the hands down step back to a plank pose we'll come forward all the way down to the belly tint your fingertips press the tops of the feet in for a serpent Cobra coming down and as we do this we're starting to stretch your front body engage your glute muscles and last one here release the hands curl the toes under you can push back up into your downward facing dog we'll come up high into the tippy toes halfway lift exhale fold let's take three breaths here so feet can be hips distance apart use the front muscles of your body to compress your torso to your legs and inhale will rise all the way up and meet in Mountain pose and we'll just switch sides so bring your feet together hands to prayer hips back chair pose hold shift your weight to your left foot we're pulsing the right foot several times so right knee goes in towards the left left knee stays bent you're gazing at a spot on the floor nice and focused place your right foot behind you feet hips distance apart arms come up and we'll start bending the back leg and lifting it up just creating a little bit of heat here for our muscles Dynamic stretching okay now we'll take a nice hold here so reach your right heel back and Bend forward through your front leg reach your right heel back and again bend a little bit deeper through that front leg two more breaths exhale release the hands down step it back plank pose take an inhale exhale chaturanga inhale to Upward facing dog pull your chest