My name is Cassandra and I'm going to take you through this short morning yoga practice.

This is a good mix of strength, stretch, as well as balance.

No props are required and I would say it's probably best for intermediate or beginner to intermediate students.

So if you're looking for a little bit of a challenge, this is a good one to try out.

Let's begin in child's pose.

So you can bring your big hands apart and just bring the knees as wide as is comfortable so that you're getting some kind of a stretch through the inner thighs.

And as you walk your hands out, we're going to lift up onto our fingertips to keep the elbows off of the mat just for a few breaths so that you can really feel this reach and the lift that we have through the shoulders.

And at the same time, it's almost like we're trying to press the shoulders and armpits down.

Using the power of your breath here as you inhale, feel your rib cage expand front to back, side to side.

See if you can crawl those fingertips out a little bit further forward and then relax the arms down, palms flat to the mat.

These morning classes are a great opportunity to set the tone for the day, to maybe choose a one-word intention.

So one more big deep breath in and out through the nose.

And we'll make our way up into our tabletop stance on hands and knees, walking the hands in, bringing the knees back in.

Let's take three rounds of our cat and cow, so flexion and extension of the spine.

As you inhale, drop the belly, lift the gaze, curl tailbone up.

And on the exhale, reverse this motion as you push the floor away from you and broaden through your upper back.

Twice more like this, inhale and exhale.

Last one, inhale and exhale.

Now we're going to continue to do the same thing, but adding the legs.

So as you inhale, your right leg, the knee, the toes all reach up towards the sky.

And as you exhale, tap your knee to your nose as you round and contract.

Twice more, inhale and exhale.

Bring it in, really engage your core.

Last one.

And now lift that leg up once again.

You're welcome to just hang out where you are.

If you want to challenge your balance and flexibility, you can reach back with your left hand, grabbing a hold of that right foot for your tiger pose.

I'm kind of kicking my foot into the palm just to get a little bit of a deeper backbend and to also stretch through my left shoulder.

One more breath here.

Keep your gaze steady.

Bring your left hand back to the mat.

Straighten your right leg and roll to the inner edge of that right foot.

Right arm extends up towards the sky.

So this is your modified side plank Vashisthasana.

We're going to do five toe taps.

So point out through your right toes.

You're going to inhale, squeeze and lift that leg up.

Exhale, tap it down.

So four, three, two, and one.

Hold when you're lifted.

Go ahead and bend into your right knee.

This is a side tiger variation.

You're grabbing a hold of your right foot, this time with the right palm.

And just like before, see if you can kick the foot into the hand to arch through your back a little more and to stretch through your shoulder, trying to keep our ankle, knee and hip all in one line.

Big breath in here.

And let's release cat pose.

So from tabletop, just round and contract to release this into the second side.

So three rounds of cat and cow, adding the left leg.

Inhale, drop the belly, lift the gaze, reach through your toes.

Exhale, squeeze and contract.

Two more like this.

Last one.

And exhale.

Lift that left leg back up and either hold where you are or come into tiger.

This time my right hand is reaching back.

Stay super strong and stable through your left arm.

So my elbow is straight.

Try to keep your gaze steady on something that's not moving to help with balance.

Into your modified side plank, your right hand comes back down.

Straighten that left leg, roll to the inner edge of that left foot and extend your left arm up towards the sky.

As we point through the toes, we're going to do five lifts and toe taps.

So inhale for five and down, four, three, two, and one.

Hold where you are, bend into your left knee and see if you're able to grab a hold of that left foot and maybe start to push the foot into the hand.

So there's a little bit of a backbend here, balancing on the right hand and the right knee.

Tabletop to your cat pose, round and contract, broaden through your shoulder blades.

Let's find downward facing dog.

So hands can be a little bit past your shoulders.

Tuck the toes under and lift your hips all the way up and back.

Bend your knees as much as you'd like here.

Don't worry about whether or not your heels are touching the floor.

It truly doesn't matter.

Instead focus on lengthening your spine and really stretching out through your arms.

Stretch your right leg up towards the sky, bend your right knee, open up through your hip.

So really squeeze your heel in towards your glute.

Let's come to warrior two.

Right foot steps forward to the top of the mat.

Back heel spins parallel to the shorter edge of your mat and then push into the feet to lift on up.

Palms facing down and just make sure that back arm doesn't drop down.

You want to have it as high as the shoulder.

Keep sinking a little deeper into that front knee.

And let's straighten the right leg.

Toe heel, that back foot in just a couple inches to narrow your stance.

We'll come into triangle pose.

Your hips go back.

You can slide that right arm forward and then drop the right palm down.

Left arm reaches up.

If you need more support in this pose, just grab a hold of your shin to prop yourself up.

Otherwise you can work on strengthening your obliques by kind of just hovering and pushing your palm into your calf.

Get more of a side bending stretch as you reach that left arm up overhead.

Continue to roll it down.

Bend into that front knee.

Come into a low lunge.

So my back knee is going to come down to floor.

This is your first option.

If you'd like to add on, you can add your quad stretch.

My right hand is going to reach back.

I'm bending into my left knee and I'm going to pull my heel in towards me.

Keep melting your hips forward and down.

Very carefully release the hold of the back foot and step back.

Downward facing dog.

Setting ourselves up for the second side.

In this down dog, go ahead and reach your left leg up.

Bend your left knee.

Open up your hip.

Push down into that right heel.

Warrior two.

Virabhadrasana two.

So left foot steps to the top of the mat.

Spin that back heel so you can really be grounded through all four corners of your right foot.

Opening out through your arms.

As you bend into that left knee, think of squeezing it open so your knee is still aligned towards that second and third toe.

Reach out a little longer.

Now let's straighten that left leg.

Bring that back foot in just a little bit.

Let's do this.

Hips go back.

Really stretch your left arm and your chest forward before sliding it down your left leg.

Right arm up to the sky.

Trikonasana, your triangle pose.

Really think of rolling that right shoulder back as if you were leaning against the wall behind you.

Pushing into both feet evenly.

Start to reach your right arm up and overhead.

Look down to the mat as you bend into that front knee coming into your low lunge.

So my back knee comes down to the mat and maybe you hold exactly where you are or you can add your quad stretch.

Left hand reaches for that right foot.

Pulling it in.

Very carefully release the hold of that foot.

Downward facing dog.

Adho mukha svanasana.

And from here we'll take a little vinyasa.

So from down dog come forward into plank pose.

Lower all the way down to your stomach.

Point your toes.

Push into the tops of the feet.

Push into your palms.

Cobra.

And now let's find child's pose.

Press back.

Hips towards your heels.

Keep your arms out in front of you and fold here.

Five deep breaths.

Back into that pose we began in.

Notice if it feels a little bit different.

And again really using this time to ask yourself what your intention for the day is.

Like what's important to you today.

What you want to focus on.

And we'll walk our hands in.

So usually in my morning classes I like to finish with just a seated meditation rather than shavasana just so that you don't fall back asleep.

So take a comfortable seat.

You can rest your hands on your knees.

Close your eyes.

And just take a few deep breaths here.

Relaxing your shoulders down.

Melting away any tension from your facial muscles through your jaw, your neck.

Really softening and settling.

Seat bones grounded.

Choosing your one word intention for the day.

Let's close our practice together by joining our hands together at the front of the heart.

And we'll chant Aum one time together.

Inhale to chant breathe in.

Aum.

Thank you so much everyone for doing this short morning yoga practice with me.

I hope you feel really good and ready to begin your day.

Before you go let me know what your intention is.

Please subscribe and hopefully you'll join me on the mat again tomorrow morning.