Springing into Handstand and the Shoulders to Hold You

For this class you will need resistance bands, blocks and a blanket, and a chair.

In the reclining warm up we wake up the body and prepare to work up to more challenging moves in the standing poses. We use the resistance bands to aid in should strengthening and mobility. Then find your strong legs and hips. From there you might find you can just hop right up into handstand! This class was filmed live September 25, 2021.

Standing Splits and Handstand

For this class you will need some wall space, a slider, and two matching blocks (or books) and possibly a chair.

In this sequence we start lying down with our feet on the wall for the breathing reset and hip stretches there. Then try out some new wrist strengtheners while balancing blocks on your hands. We then warm up the shoulders more while standing. Sliding work helps to warm up and strengthen the hamstrings while simultaneously stretching them. From there we try three legged dog possibly on the wall as a variation on standing splits. This class was filmed live August 10, 2021.

Wrists, Shoulders, Hamstrings, and Inversions

For this class you will need a long blanket, a mini loop band and yoga blocks, and a spot at the wall. We start out warming up our wrist and hand grip strength while stretching the legs. The chest opener helps to start working on shoulder mobility. From there we do core work support a strong foundation going forward. We use the mini loop band for traction on the wrist, this can open up new space in the wrist joint and more easy in wrist extension (needed in handstand). We work on sliding moves to light up the hamstrings and glutes. And then put it together with inversions. This class was filmed live August 9, 2021.

Anterior and Posterior Body Working in Balance

For this class you will need one weight you can lift over head, wall space, a blanket and blocks.

We start off with breath work at the wall using your weight, a block between your knees and optional blanket under your head. Using a weight in this move actually makes it easier to find breathing in the back body. We continue to come back to this awareness in different shapes and orientations to gravity throughout the practice. We use a block for some fun and engaging core work to find stability in the anterior abdominal wall (whew!). We use all this stability to support us in challenging balance work; heal lifts from utkatasna and in short lunges. Hello calves, hamstrings and glutes! We save time to handstand work and then a long rest. This class was filmed live May 24, 2021.

Hip Glides and Yoga Flows

For this class we start at the wall. You will need one or two blankets or a pillow, and two yoga blocks.

We start off this class with breathing work to reset the diaphragm and the hip glides to get the hips set up for the rest of class. We work on some new hip moves to get the femur to sit deeper back in the hip joint. This helps activate the glutes. We then try some unique entries into the spading poses to get a little deeper into the hip work. Give handstand a try at the wall and enjoy some time upside down. We then take a long rest to really relax and prepare for savasana. This class was filmed live May 10, 2021.

Yoga with Sliding Part 1

For this class you will need two blankets, two yoga blocks and possibly a chair or wall space. You will need plastic bags if you are practicing on carpet.

For this class we start our assessing our curtsy lung and then mobilize the ankles, knees, and hips with blanket work and standing poses. At the end of class we try some playful moves to encourage us to get a little bigger range of motion in the curtsy squat, sometimes play is just the missing ingredient we need for more range of motion in our bodies. At the end of class we take time for handstand and possibly full shoulderstand. This class was filmed live March 8, 2021.

Hello Hamstrings Part 2

In this class you will need wall space, blocks and possibly a chair and bolster or two blankets.

We continue the work from Part 1 to find hamstring strength and then integrate it with foot, calf and hip strength. We explore this at the wall and then transition to standing poses. Get ready for warm hips and some core activated inversions! We end class with a variation of shoulderstand that highlights the importance of the back body. This class was filmed live Feb 22, 2021.