today we have a sequence for the complete beginner. If you're new to yoga or you've

been curious about yoga practice and all its wonderful beautiful benefits, this is a great

sequence for you. You don't need any blocks, you don't need any blankets;

all you need is your body and an open mind. If you have a mat that's great, but otherwise,

open mind, open heart. Let's get started.

OK, my friends and my new friends, we're going to begin in a cross-legged position we call

this Sukhasana, or the easy pose, the pose of ease. Take a second here to check in with

the breath by maybe looping the shoulders a couple times forward, up, and back. Inhale

looping forward, exhale grounding down and back. Just finding a little

organic movement, and then maybe checking in with the neck by maybe just moving one

ear over one shoulder. Then we'll go forward into chest, shaking the head, yes and no.

Coming back to center, we'll bring the head over the heart, the heart over the pelvis.

Take a second to maybe close your eyes or soften the gaze so you can maybe go inward

a little bit as we find alignment; head over heart, heart over pelvis. We life the sternum,

lift the chest, and then again, ground down through the elbows on the exhale.

Find a nice space between the ears and the shoulders. We just come into the moment with

a little integrity, whatever that means to you. For me, it means body awareness, mind

awareness, noticing where my thoughts are, and coming back to that

body awareness. See if you can begin to deepen your breath; nice, long inhale in and a nice,

long, juicy exhale out. Keep that going; nice, long inhalation and a nice, long, extended

exhale out.

Draw your palms together at the heart, take a deep breath in. Each time we come here,

this is a great little beginners' tip: Each time we come to this mudra, we call it Anjali

Mudra, you can think about lifting your sternum or your heart up to your chest. Often when

we get a little bit tired, and we will in our practice, we can have this little

reminder to loop the shoulders and lift the sternum to the thumbs each time we come to

this hands-at-the-heart or this prayer position, Anjali Mudra. Practice that now. Inhale, lift

your sternum up to your thumbs, draw your lower belly or your navel in to meet your

spine. Again, we're just coming into this active

body but with this sense of ease. This is going to be a wonderful tool for beginning

a yoga practice; just finding the balance between active body, strength, engaging qualities,

and then also a softness, an ease, a lightness, a calmness, if you will. Finding a place where

those two can dance and be together is what our yoga is all about.

Interlace the fingertips, follow your breath. As you inhale, press the palms forward, up,

and back. Nice and easy as we climb up the side body, climb up the spine. On your next

exhale, release the fingertips down. Nothing fancy, just checking with the body, checking

with the breath. Inhale again. Forward, up, and back. On your

exhale fingertips release with elegance, with ease; opening the shoulders, opening the chest,

checking with the side body. One more as we ground down through the top to the thighs.

Deep breath and exhale release.

Take your right palm to your left knee, sit up nice and tall. Send your left fingertips

behind the tailbone. As you inhale, lift up, lift your heart, exhale journey towards the

left. Find a gentle twist. Navel draws in towards the spine, and we remember that we

come to the mat to have an experience in our body. Don't crank yourself into the posture.

Have the experience of gently moving into the twist,

maybe closing the eyes for one last breath. We gently release back to center and take

it to the other side; left palm to right knee, sit up nice and tall. This time I'm going

to turn to the side so that you can see my spine. The tendency is going to be

to round forward. We spend a lot of time here all the time, so no worries. In time, we're

going to begin to lengthen tailbone down, lower back becomes nice and long, heart lifts,

shoulder blades ground down, and we find our twist.

What I'm trying to say is don't sacrifice this lift in the heart and this length in

the spine for a deeper twist. This is wrong y'all; it's just wrong. Find what feels right,

what feels good. It might mean that you don't go all the way far back at first. We keep

a nice mindful twist, using that exhale to journey a little deeper, even if it's just

energetically, and then gently releasing back to center.

Take a second one more time to interlace the fingertips with the heart. Inhale, palms reach

forward, up, and back. Long puppy belly we stretch; lift it up high, and then exhale,

release fingertips to the mat. Side body stretch nice and easy, keep grounding through the

legs. The legs aren't just limp, they're nice and active; tops of

the thighs drawing down.

Plant your left palm or left fingertips, beginner yogi's choice. Press into the palms or the

fingertips, and then send the right fingertips up, think up, up, up, up, and then go over.

Careful not to just go over trying to mimic an asana that you've maybe seen before; have

an experience. Inhale, reach it up, keep this lift in the heart,

and then exhale, side body stretch. Here, we're not going to hold, but we're going to

set the tone for our yoga practice and our yoga journey by finding a little self-expression,

finding a little movement. You might sway up and down, front and back, you might close

your eyes, you might stretch your mouth, you might wiggle the fingertips. Draw the shoulders

away from the ears, take a deep breath in, and exhale swiftly through center and to the

other side, creating space in the body, connecting to the breath. Remember, there's no right

or wrong. It's great, just takes the edge off. We're going to learn some basics,

we're going to focus on alignment, but really it's about that self- expression. Find a moment

or two to find a little movement, and then swiftly we come back to center.

We're going to take the palms and dive forwards onto all fours. I'm going to align wrists

underneath the shoulders and knees directly underneath the hip points. I'm pressing into

the tops of my feet; toes are pointing straight back and my palms are spread super-duper-wide,

spreading the palms like starfish. The most important thing I

can teach you at this moment is to connect with this upper current of energy, whatever

this means to you, and that means not collapsing into the bones, but pressing up and out of

the earth. That means connecting to every part of the foundation, all parts

of the body that's pressing into the mat, and then remembering the find that integrity;

head in the heart, heart over the pelvis, but maybe creating a nice tabletop position.

We're not sitting up straight anymore, we've moved our center of gravity, but I can still

work with that alignment: Head, heart, and pelvis in line.

Notice how I'm drawing my shoulders away from the ears and I'm remembering that my head,

this neck, is an extension of the spine. I'm not hanging out here, I'm not crunching here,

but I'm going ahead and taking the gaze down for now and finding a nice, long, beautiful

neck. You might feel a little bit of pressure in the arms and the wrist.

Keep pressing up and out of the palms so that we can begin to build strength

rather than collapse into the bones. From here, one more breath. I'm going

to exhale.

On your next inhale, loop the shoulders, drop the belly, tailbone tilt up

towards the sky as I look forward. A little cat-cow; long neck. Take your

time, no rush. On the exhale, I start at my tailbone, I travel up the

spine, walking up the spine until the crown of the head is the last thing

to release. Take a breath cycle, in and out, letting the weight of the head

go. Navel's drawing up towards the spine. I'm pressing into the tops of the

feet, I'm pressing up and out of the palms. Deep breath in, inhale, looping

the shoulders, heart radiates forward. Then on the exhale, tucking the

tail, drawing the navel up, closing the eyes to really have an experience,

we call this spinal-flex or cat-cow. One more inhale. Pressing into all 10

knuckles, exhale, curling the tailbone in, starting there, traveling up the

spine; chin to chest, crown of the head releases, and then we inhale back

to tabletop position. Curl your toes, walk your fingertips back, a little

yoga for the feet, a little beginners' feet moment.

For some this is no biggie. For others, your dogs are barking at you right

now, so you might just stay here. Others might walk the palms all the way

up. Find that lift in the heart, deep breath in, press into your pinky

toes. This is a great opportunity to roll the wrists out. Stay connecting

to that breath. Don't worry about how to breathe, just continue to play

with the breath; deep in the breath. Then we'll come back to all-fours.

Come on to the tops of the feet again. Inhale, extent the right toes out

long. Go ahead and bring the right toes to the earth. We're just going to

take a couple of seconds to breath into the back of that right leg, breathe

into the calf. Notice I'm not collapsing into my shoulders, but I'm

maintaining that lift so that slowly, I can begin to build that strength in

the arms and just that energetic body, that lift, we call it Hasta Bandha;

the hand-to-earth connection, this upward current of energy.

Notice how I'm rocking a little bit back and forth, just finding that sit

bone to heel connection. I'm working it, drawing my navel up towards my

spine, knitting the lower rib cage and keeping the neck nice and long. Then

release back to tabletop position and take it to the other side. Curling

the left toes under now, stretching out the back of that leg, the calf,

while still maintaining a nice line from the crown of the head to the tip

of the tail. Breath, and then we'll bring it back to tabletop position.

Curl the toes under, walk your palms out, and then slowly, we're going to

walk the knees back here. Elbows are going to drop in line with the

shoulders and in line with the wrists. Then my pelvis is going to tilt up

as my forehead maybe comes to the mat and heart melts down towards the

knees. If your shoulders are having a wake-up call right now, maybe you

pulse in and out of it a couple times. We call this Anahatasana, or heart-

to-earth pose. This is a like a puppy posture, like a half-downward dog.

Take a couple of breaths, sway a little from side to side. My shoulders are

actually a little tight, a little sore from practice yesterday, so I'm

finding a little bit of movement. I'm never sitting in any sharp pain ever,

but using my breath as a tool to move beyond the pain and find some

movement.

Again, notice how the elbows, they're going to want to come out. See if you

can keep them in line with the wrists and the shoulders. One more breath;

heart to earth, pelvis tilting up towards the sky. Then I'll begin to curl

the toes, inflate at the heart, inhale, life the heart, press into the

palms, and then slowly, one leg at a time, nice and slow, I'm going to lift

the sit bones up, dropping the left heel then right, and come into our

first downward dog together. Palms pressing like starfish into the earth,

keeping that upward energy, that upward current up through the palms,

through the arms, so I'm not collapsing my weight. I'm finding this nice

length in the spine. Notice how I have really yet to straighten both my

legs yet. Don't worry about what you think downward dog is supposed to look

like, but my beginner's tip, and this is great for all yogis; we always try

to inspire each other in the yoga world to come back to a beginner's mind.

I think downward dog is a great place to check in with that beginner's

mind, by first maybe finding a little movement, peddling the feet, drawing

the shoulder blades in and together. Take a deep breath in, and then

exhale, come back to the knees, and walking the fingertips back up for a

little rest. Loop the shoulders, maybe a couple of circles of the wrists,

and we dive in for more. Here we go.

Palms to the earth, belly to the tops of the thighs. This time slowly,

slowly building to a nice still dog where we take a second to be with the

breath. Tops of the shoulders are drawing away from the ears. My two big

toes are turned in just slightly, sit bones shining up towards the sky. I

knit my lower rib cage together, I press up and out of my palms, I make

sure my head is nice and loose, not holding in the neck. Tops of the thighs

have this sweet inner-spiral going in towards the back of the mat. I take a

nice deep breath in through the nose then exhale out though the mouth. It's

allergy season here in Austin. Inhale in through the nose and exhale out

through the mouth.

Bend your knees generously, go for a little walk slowly up towards the

front end of your mat, come on to the fingertips when you need to.

Together, we'll land in a forward fold; feel hip-width apart, knees bent as

generously as you need, and we let it all hang. Breathe, breathing into the

lower back, Uttanasana. We might grab the elbows and rock a little side-to-

side, then releasing the arms, bringing them to the waistline, perhaps

using the thumbs to hook behind the back as I loop shoulders, pressing all

four corners of the feet, and slowly rise up coming into a superhero pose

as I loop the shoulders by not lifting the chest. I'm actually going to the

front so you can see me loop me a little bit better.