Intermediate Yoga for Grapplers: 41-Min Full-Body Flow

Place your feet in the ground, lift your hips, stretch your arms overhead and come up to your toes. Engage your back, your lower back, your buttocks and your hamstrings. Push your thighs up. And then roll all the way down.

Grab your hamstrings, roll up and down. And then stop in both poses. Find the connection with your center, the center of your body. And then half both.

Lower down and press your palms into your thighs, chin to chest, stretch your neck, wake up your belly. Get up to a squat, interlace your fingers, stretch your wrists and fingers and neck. All fours, spread your fingers, cat cow. Stretch your spine.

Turn your fingers backwards, stretch your wrists, ear from shoulder to shoulder, side stretching of your neck. This starting poses should feel good. Even if you're stiff, do it in such a way that you can breathe and feel good about it. Even though the body might be protesting, your mind should feel like, yeah, I'm doing yoga again.

This feels good. Set back to down dog. Let's rock back and forth between dog and plank. So inhale when you go forward, exhale back.

Stretch your calves and hamstrings. Go forward to plank and do a super slow push up. So down through low push up all the way down. And then push half an inch off the floor and then levitate all the way up.

Get back to down dog and walk your hands back slightly. Grab your right hand to your left knee, drop your head and twist slightly. Your left butt is pulling back, your left hand is pushing away. Switching sides, left hand to right knee.

Roll forward to plank again, lower all the way down and interlace your fingers behind your butt. Lift your chest, take five breaths. Squeeze your butt and your lower back. Try pulling your fingers apart without moving them.

Nice and hands down, cobra inhale, exhale down. Up dog inhale, down dog. Alright, let's start this class. Ladder flow, stretch your right leg out behind you, bend your knee, open your hips.

Let's take it super slow on this first one. We're just going to do two plank poses, like poses from the plank or two dog poses, you can call them what you want. This is just a prep. Roll your knee forward into pigeon pose, so place your right knee down behind your right wrists and stretch your right butt for two breaths.

This is pose one, we're going to start the flow every round with this pose. Right leg out behind you and then move into plank but try to place your right foot on the back of your head, scorpion plank. Three legged dog inhale, roll your right knee forward and place your foot between your hands. On your fingertips, just on the first round move your hips up and down and from side to side, finding a good base with your feet, correct engagement with your inner thighs.

Then arm circle up and then hands in front of your chest. Let's do a couple of those, inhale arm circles, exhale center. Inhale, exhale center. One more inhale, exhale center.

Next pose is one legged chair pose, knees together, lift your heel to your butt, bend your right knee and take a couple of breaths here. Lift your chest and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Then stepping back to low lunge, inhale arms up, exhale hands down. Vinyasa on your own.

Let's meet up in down dog for the second round. Left leg out behind you, three legged dog bend and open and breathe. On your toes roll your knee forward for pigeon pose. You can lift your gaze and drop your hips.

Three legged dog, inhale here, exhale scorpion plank. Engage the hamstring, lift your head and try to touch the head to the foot, foot to the head. Inhale three legged dog, exhale foot between the hands. Take a couple of breaths here, up and down and side to side, move your hips.

Find good connection under your feet so you're not wobbly, you're stable before you get up. Arms circle up, inhale, exhale hands down. Inhale circle, exhale center. One more.

One legged chair, squeeze your knees, point your toes, heel to butt, bend your left knee. You should be shaking, your left thigh should be shaking here. Lift your chest, squeeze your shoulders back. And to finish, step back into low lunge, inhale, exhale vinyasa.

That was round one, prep round. We're going to do the same thing, just add on. So start by stretching your right leg out, inhale, exhale pigeon pose. Try to put some weight into your thigh.

Lift your leg back, inhale, exhale scorpion plank. Get as deep as you can. Inhale stretch, exhale right foot on the outside of your right hand for half splits. Place your back knee down and slide your heel out to 130.

So not 12 o'clock but half past one. Take a breath here. And then three legged dog, inhale. Flip dog when you exhale, so through side plank, touch the right foot down, keep your left leg perfectly straight.

Take two breaths here and bend your back backwards. Lower your hips for a second and then all the way back to three legged dog, roll your knee all the way forward, crescent pose. Arms up, inhale, exhale center. One legged chair pose.

One legged chair. Then cross your left knee behind your right and sit down into a cross legged squat. So you should feel this in the outside of your hips. And then karate kid pose, stretch your arms up, left leg forward.

Take three breaths. Bend your legs and flex your foot. Lean back without bending your standing knee. Bend your left knee, funky chair pose.

It's a one legged chair but with a funky variation here. Make sure your left hip isn't dropping, interlace your fingers behind your back. You can fold forward if you want to and lift your arms. This is intermediate so no complaints are allowed.

Back to karate kid pose, inhale, exhale standing splits. Left leg as high as you can go, try to look up to your left leg with your eyes. And let's do a couple of handstands here. Jump up and land softly.

Jump up and land softly. Two more. And then step through your vinyasa. Let's meet in down dog.

Second side, left leg out, inhale. Exhale pigeon pose. Look up, inhale. Exhale push back.

Lift your left leg, inhale. Exhale scorpion plank. Inhale three legged dog. Exhale half splits, foot on the outside of the hand, back knee down.

Slide your heel to 10-30. Get your hips down. You should not only stretch the hamstrings but the front of your right leg. Inhale look up.

Exhale slide back. Inhale open, three legged dog. Exhale flip dog. Right leg stays straight.

Lift and breathe. Your chest should be moving upwards not downwards. Forward the hips for a second. And lift all the way up and roll the knee all the way to the hands crescent pose.

Inhale circle. Exhale center. One legged chair. And then cross legged squat.

Get as deep as you can. Get your hips. And then squat back up to karate kid. Right leg as high as you can go.

Lift your chest, keep your balance. Breathe. Funke chair pose. Interlace your fingers the weird way behind your back.

Go deep or fold forward. Back to karate kid. Inhale. Exhale standing splits.

Look up to your right leg. And do a couple of handstands. Two more jumps. And down dog.

Alright we're halfway through. Walk back to a squat. Stretch the back of your wrists. We do a lot of planks and handstands.

It's nice to stretch the back of your wrists in the middle of the flow. We did four rounds. Two on the right side, two on the left side with neutral hips. We're going to do the same sequence again and go through the neutral hips and then extend this area into open hips.

Let's get back to dog and get started. Same sequence. Right leg up, inhale. Exhale pigeon pose.

Look up, inhale. Exhale lift. Inhale open. Exhale scorpion plank.

Inhale stretch. Exhale half splits. Look up, inhale. Exhale slide back.

Three legged dog, inhale. Flip dog. Inhale here. Exhale three legged dog.

Roll the knee forward and step the foot between the hands. Inhale crescent pose. Exhale one legged chair. Cross legged squat.

Take a breath here. Karate kid pose. Lift your leg. Inhale.

Exhale funky chair. Interlace your fingers behind your back. Take one breath here. Left hand to left knee.

Lift the leg. Kick the leg out to the side. If you can catch your foot, catch the foot. Lift your chest.

Be as straight as you can. If you hold the knee, still keep the leg straight. Make sure the leg is not forward but completely out to the side. Your hips are still pointing forward.

Super open hips. Now let go of the leg. And slowly step back into warrior two. Keep a generous bend in the right leg.

Keep the back leg strong. Make sure you're not leaning to the front or forward but keep your head straight over your hips. Kung Fu stretching from side to side. Alright, to the front.

Standing splits again. This time switch leg handstands. Jump up and land on the second foot. So switch the legs in the air.

Try to do it with grace. Two more. And vinyasa. Second side, left leg out, inhale.

Exhale pigeon pose. Look up, inhale. Inhale lift. Three legged dog, inhale.

Exhale scorpion plank. Inhale. Exhale half splits. Inhale look up.

Exhale pull it back. Inhale. Flip dog exhale. Exhale.

Exhale roll the knee forward. Crescent pose, inhale. One legged chair, exhale. Cross legged squat.

Go as deep as you can. Try to touch the knee to the ground. Karate kid pose. Inhale.

Trunk chair, exhale. Interlace your fingers the weird way and fold if you want to fold. Catch your ankle, your calf, your knee or your foot. Stretch the leg out to the side.

Keep it there. Keep gazing at one spot and breathe. Let go of the foot without dropping it. And then slowly step back.

Warrior dos. Be present, relax your face. Breathe through the challenge. Kung Fu stretching from side to side.

Put the hands in the ground this time. Try to spread your knees. Stretch your groin. Standing splits.

Do a couple of switch legs. Try to get your hips over your shoulders but keep your core and your fingertips engaged so you don't fall over. One more. And vinyasa.

Okay final round. Let's flow with the go. Right leg inhale. Pigeon exhale.

Look up inhale. Exhale pull back. Inhale open. Exhale scorpion plank.

Inhale. Exhale half splits. Inhale pull back exhale. Inhale open.

Flip dog exhale. Inhale. Exhale roll the knee to face. Inhale crescent pose.

Exhale single leg chair. Cross your knees. Deep squat. Karate kid.

Lift your arms. Inhale. Exhale funky chair pose. Take a breath here.

Catch your leg. Open up. Inhale. Exhale release the foot.

Stepping back to warrior two. Slowly once from side to side kung fu stretching. And then right hand forward. Move into half moon pose.

Left arm over your right arm. Back leg straight. Take three breaths. If you want to go from intermediate to advanced.

Catch your ankle with the left hand. And push your front of the hips open. Hands down neutral hips. On the fingertips of your left hand.

Right hand to the lower back. Twisting half moon. So don't drop the leg. Take your back leg so your hips are neutral.

Right shoulder turns back back back back. Try to get your right arm to the ceiling. Everyone flatten your left palm. Catch your left ankle with your right hand or your foot with your right hand.

And then slowly see how far up you can go with the left knee. You can keep looking down like you're doing a handstand on one arm. If you want to go super deep then you twist into the half moon again. Twisting your standing leg hip.

Release the foot. Sit down into a squat on one leg. Catch the left leg and try to keep the balance. You can have one hand in the floor.

Pistol squat. And now everyone's new favorite pose. Reverse plank with the left leg up. Five.

Four. Three. Two. One.

Sit down. Inhale arms up. Exhale catch your toes. Drop down.

Fall back to upside down guard aka plow pose. Try to stay here without having any pressure in your neck. If someone were to stack you here you would want your weight to go from your hips straight down into your shoulders. So if you can keep your spine a bit straight here instead of being completely round then you might be completely fine when you fight a spassy heavy white belt that tries to slam his weight on top of your hips here.

This is only a dangerous pose if you're not prepared. Okay roll up to squat crow pose. Put your feet off the ground and hold here for three breaths. And then before we jump back try to touch your knees together.

The pose is called lull asana because it's lull. Shoot back into chaturanga. Inhale up dog. Exhale down dog.

Take a breath. Last round left leg up. Inhale exhale pigeon pose. Inhale look up.

Exhale lift. Inhale open. Exhale scorpion. Inhale exhale half splits.

Inhale exhale slide. Inhale exhale flip dog. Inhale exhale knee to nose. Crescent pose inhale.

Exhale single chair. Standing squat. Karate kid. Funky chair.

Grab your leg out to the side. Inhale exhale let go of the foot. Forward two. Once from side to side.

Deep single squat. Left hand forward. Right arm up half moon pose. Alternative to grab your ankle or your foot and push.

And breathe. Hands down on your right fingertips. Left hand to lower back. Make sure your hips are not tilting either way.

Try to keep them flat. Maybe lift your left arm. Twist and breathe. Right leg straight.

Flat hand. Right ankle behind your left knee. Catch and slowly you can go much deeper than you think. If you do it slowly and you really go for it.

I think you can go pretty deep into this pose. If your left hamstring is killing you just stand on your toes. Pistol squat. Right leg out in front of you.

And then your new favorite pose. Left leg up. Five. Four.

Three. Two one zero feet together. Knees out. Inhale look forward.

Exhale relax. We are finished. If you're still with me good job. Lay down on your back.

Catch your right leg. If you need your belt just grab your belt. Lay down here and relax. Relax your eyes, relax your forehead and your jaw.

We're going to do the same pose that we did after the funky chair. So grab your ankle. First arm out to the left and then slowly let your right leg fall out to the right. Same position but now we're not standing on our left leg.

If you have a wall to the right that might be a perfect way to do this for a longer period of time. Can be really nice to place your foot on the exact perfect spot on the wall. Back to center. Keep the leg up.

Switch hands so your left arm is grabbing your right ankle. Right hand is catching your left foot. You can stay here or you can slowly relax into a twisting hip stretch. You should not feel this in the lower back.

You should feel it everywhere else. You can feel it in the lower back but you should not feel pain there. Not intense pain. Back to center.

Windchill wipers from side to side. And a super quick happy baby. And let's do the second side. It's on our back.

Use your breath to relax more. You can't really relax more. You can just resist less. All to the side with the left leg.

Switch hands. Catch your ankle and your foot. And go slowly. One side is always less flexible than the other.

One side is tasty. The other one can be bitter. Back to center. Shavasana always feels good after a really tough class.

And let's do the third side. And let's do the fourth side. And let's do the fifth side. And let's do the sixth side.

And let's do the seventh side. And let's do the eighth side. And let's do the eighth side. And let's do the eighth side.

And let's do the eighth side. And let's do the eighth side. And let's do the eighth side. And let's do the eighth side.

And let's do the eighth side. And let's do the eighth side. Inhale. And exhale.

Hug your knees to your chest. Up to seated. Fold your palms in front of your chest. Lift your shoulders, inhale.

And drop them down, exhale. Namaste. Good work. This class is not easy, so if you feel like you mastered this class, good for you bro, I'm proud of you.

If you don't master it yet, just do it a hundred times. It's like doing a hundred jujitsu classes, you're gonna do it in what, half a year? Just do it all the time and you're gonna do this process like nothing. This is the intermediate program, so this is the same step as from going from a fresh blue belt to purple belt.

It's the same things, but it's a completely different league. So thank you guys and stay tuned for the next four videos in this program. Us!