Mindful Flexibility

Flexibility is the key for long lasting body. It truly is. We all underestimate the power of flexibility. So, come with me and let's stretch the body and be center our mind and soul. So, bring your hands down to the side of your body.

We're gonna take a deep breath in. We're just gonna reach up over your head and then come back down. And again, reach up and over. This time you're going to reach up, reach your hands together and enjoy that stretch. You're lifting up the sky and pressing your feet firmly into the ground for that elongation of the body.

You're gonna reach up and over into side stretch here. Open up the side of the body. Back to center. Lifting up and over to the side. And then back to center.

This time we're gonna do like a circle with the body circling forwards and back. So you feel that openness through your chest as you circle and then back to the center. Let's go to the opposite direction, circle. Breathing, open up through your chest, shoulders. So, you're making a circle in the sky Like a halo, you're a angel.

Halo on the top of your head. Last time and then hold it here. Reach down towards the floor and see if you can reach, separate your feet just a tad so your feet are underneath your hips. If you can reach the floor, your fingertips touching the floor or your shins and we're gonna just look out onto the horizon in that stretch, sending your tailbone back, dropping your scapula down and elongating through the spine as you reach out through the crown of the head. Plant your feet firmly into the floor and send your tailbone back and in that position, you reach out to the crown of the head.

Now, we're just gonna bend the knees, look out even further. And then come back. And again, bend your knees, look out a little bit further. Shoulder blades pull back and again, two more. Look out and then back.

One more, look out hold here and from here, we're gonna draw those abs in and try and reach out forward, tilt the pelvis underneath as those abs work really hard as you open out your lumbar spine, your lower spine. And from here, we carry on as we lift up and over. Bring your hands into prayer position, forward fold. Reach your hands down. From here, we're gonna walk the hands forwards, step your feet back into a downward dog or we can call this a pyramid position.

You're pressing your heels down to the floor. Now, I want you to look out once again onto the horizon. Pitch your body slightly forwards and then come back. And again, come forwards up onto the balls of your feet and then press back. So, we're not going into a plank position, we're just mobilizing through the shoulders forwards and back.

One more time, forwards and then hold that stretch and that downward dog, hold it there. From here, take your right leg forwards, bring it in between your legs and enjoy that lovely stretch through the quad, your hip flexor. Make sure you knee is directly over your ankle joint. Now, extend that back leg, your back leg is reaching out and you're pressing your pubic bone forward to open up through that hip on your left side. Drop the knee down.

Now, keep squeezing your glutes as much as you can as you press your pelvis forwards. From here, we're gonna try and walk onto our little fingertips and then come all the way up and balance reaching the hands over your head. Hold it there. Shift your weight back just a tad and then press forwards into that stretch again. Hold it here in that stretch as you feel the openness through your hip and your thigh.

Hands come down. Lift that knee up off of the mat. Hold it there. Now, we're going to replace the foot back with the opposite foot. Keeping it simple in that nice stretch here.

Now, knee over ankle, hands on the floor, press your foot into the mat. Now, that back foot is reaching out, that back leg is straight and then you'll press in your hips forwards. Breathe in that stretch. Now, drop that knee down if you can. Tilt the pelvis underneath just slightly.

You can either stay here if you feel comfortable or if we can come up. Reach the hands up and over, elongate, lift up to the sky. As you press, shift back a little bit and then press forwards into that stretch. Breathe. And take the hands down.

Lift that knee off of the mat. From here, press your hands into the mat. Send that front leg back into your plank position. Drop the knees down, press your hips forwards and lift up to the sky. Hold that position.

Now from here, you send your hips back up into a plank position, hold it and then lift your hips back into a downward dog. Feet, press firmly into the floor and we're just gonna lift up and down to releve up and down. Up and down. Up and down. Back up onto a releve into your plank.

Drop the knees down, press the pubic bone forward, drop that scapula down, lift up and look up to the sky. Push away from the floor, draw in through those abs. Lift up back into your plank position passing through into downward dog. Holding it here. Now, take your right leg and open that right leg all the way around.

Your hip is open, the leg is back. Bend the knee. Look underneath your armpit and hold that stretch. Extend the leg, take it back around into your plank position, drop the knees down and then look up. Push away, plank, downward dog.

Heels pressed into the floor. Let's take the opposite leg all the way around, open your hip. Look underneath your armpit and bend the knee. Open that leg. Bring it back around.

Plank position. Drop the knees down once again. Lift up. Now, we're gonna release the feet. We're gonna come down, all the way down, place the hands here, lift up in that nice stretch.

Now from here, we're gonna bend the knees and we're gonna take your right hand around and try and grab the ankle joint and let's try and go to the other side and grab the ankle joints in that stretch. See if we can lift up. If this is too challenging, just do one leg at a time. I'm not coming up too far. It's that little stretch.

And then let one leg down, let the other leg down, bring the hands back. And from here, we're gonna rock to the side, lift that leg up and stretch. And then rock back. Elbow comes onto the mat and stretch. So, I'm reaching that leg around.

Now what I want you to do is try and look and see if you can find your foot. Can you see it? This beautiful stretch through the back. Elbow comes down. Rocking over and looking back.

Now, look this way. And again, let's do that again two more times. Look that way. And then the other one, look that way. And then come back.

Reach your arms forwards, open into a star. Hold it there, bring it back. Hold. Bring it back. Hands down.

Lift yourself all the way back up again, back into a child's pose. From here, we're gonna send your right leg out and side bend over. Come back. Send the opposite leg over here and then reach. Let's try that again.

Knee. Stretch over. And back, one more. That feel good in that lovely stretch? Back to center, feet hip-width apart, we're gonna reach up, press down, lift up, press down, lift up, press down, lift up, bring your hands back forwards.

Curl the toes underneath into your plank, downward dog. Now this time, we're gonna walk your feet to your hands and we're gonna slowly roll yourself all the way up slowly, slowly, slowly. Reach your hands over your head. Come back into your center of your mat, hold here. Bring the right knee into your chest and pull as if you're pulling that knee close to your chest.

Now, we're gonna bend your knee. From here, we're gonna try and shoot that leg back behind, reaching the hands forwards and elongating that leg. Hold and see if we can extend that leg and coming to a T-position. And then lift all the way up. Opposition and bring that other knee in and pull.

Awesome, bend the knee and let's come forwards as you reach the arms and legs back into a T-position. If you can, try and extend that leg and hold that T, hips are square. And then slowly come up, bring the legs down. Back with the opposite leg again. Bend your knee, hold it there.

Now this time, we're gonna reach the leg forwards and hold it there. Extend and then lift up. Bring the arms down. Opposition. Pull, scoop those abs and bend.

Reach the leg out, hip is down. Hold it there. Extend and then slowly lift and come back down again. Feet, hip-width apart. Roll down.

Walk your hands back into plank. Hold it there. Step over, flip in that stretch, back. Step over, flip, stretch and back. Take your right leg forwards and stretch it out.

So you're in that open hip position here and then just rock your hips forwards and back. So you're rocking your hips forwards and back. Take it back to plank, opposition, rock. There you go, open up those hips. Four, three, two and one, back to center.

Drop the knees down once again, last time, in your child's pose. Feet are hip-width apart coming up into your all-four position here. We're gonna go back, scoop forwards, lift all the way up, send it back. And push your chest forwards, lift up into your upward dog and bend back. One more, press, lift up and back.

Roll yourself all the way up. Take your feet all the way out to the side. So, you're in that position here. Try and get both hip bones on the mat, your feet as open as you can, as much as your flexibility will allow. You're gonna flex energy out through the heels.

Now from here, we're just gonna place the hands forwards. We're gonna walk to the front, shoulder blades down and then come down into that stretch. Hold it there. Walk back. Take your right leg across.

Hold that position and then over in that stretch. Now, what I want you to do is hold it there, take the hand behind the head and then look back. It's kinda like a pinup girl. We call this the pinup girl 'cause you're opening around in that stretch. And then come up, switch.

Other side. Arm over. Take the hand back into that pinup. And then back to center. Bring your legs together.

We're gonna spin the feet this way and we're gonna slowly roll down through the spine. Let's bring your right knee to your chest. Take your right knee across your body. Look in the opposite direction and press. So, you're pressing the knee and looking out.

Come back to the center. Switch, opposition knee. Look in the opposite direction to your knee. Breathe in that stretch and then come back. Bring the leg down.

Now, bring both knees up, so you're bending your knees, hands to the side of your body. Take your right leg and cross it. Take your right leg over. Now, take the hands as if you're crossing your body in opposition, the knees are going one direction and your body is going in the other direction. Beautiful stretch to stretch out your lower back, your glutes.

Take a nice deep breath in and out, feeling your heart rate coming back to a normal pace and close your eyes. Focus on your breathing. And then come back to center bring that arm back out. Switch. Cross that leg.

Now, we're going towards the left side, cross the hand and then look forwards. Deep breaths, open up through that side of the waist here and your lower back. Right in here. Close your eyes and breathe. Take the arm out, come back to center.

Bring your right knee, cross it over. Bring the leg into chest, thread the hands through your hips, bring your head down. Now, keep pulling that leg, take your opposite hand and press. If you wanna go a little further stretch, bring that leg up and pull that leg into a chest. All right and let's come back and switch, opposition.

Again, bring your hands through your leg and pull. You can also take your other hand and push that knee out as you press that knee to your chest. Get that nice openness here. So, you're pushing forwards and pressing with the other hand. You can extend that leg, bring your hands up a little bit and pull.

Doesn't that feel good? Awesome. Always stretching as much as you can to release the toxins in your body and also for mobility in your joints. Flexibility is just as important as your cardio, just as important as your strength training. It's the third component that always gets missed, but is just as important as the other two.

Okay, bring your knees back into your chest. Give yourself a nice little hug. Reach the arms and legs out. Place your palms up. Just relax your body.

Close your eyes and just let your body relax into the floor. Let's just take three deep breaths, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth. And again, inhale through the nose, release all that tension in your body and exhale through the mouth. Let it all just dissipate into the mat. Let your body relax, feels heavier.

One more time, inhale and exhale. Slowly bring the knees back into your chest, roll yourself all the way up. Awesome job, guys. How do you feel? You feel good?

You feel relaxed? Awesome. Great stretch. See you soon, bye.