1.

Begin by standing in mountain and feel your feet rooting into the earth. Stand as evenly as possible on the right and left feet, and also on the triangles of the feet (under the ball of the big toe, little toe and center of the heels). Lift the arches upward, engage the legs, align the pelvis, lift the spine to the sky.

2.

Extend into forward standing fold and hang (keep your knees slightly bent if you need to - think about pouring your torso over your legs).

3.

Step or walk into down dog . Think of downward dog as liberating your spine - raise the sit bones to the sky and press the legs and hips as far from the roots of your hands as you can. Don't worry about getting your heels down, especially if your sit bones don't lift and your hamstrings are tight.

4.

On an exhale, lunge your right foot forward towards the outside of your right hand, place the left knee on the ground. If your elbows can go to the floor - great - bring your hands together in prayer position and place the thumbs under your third eye and pull your shoulders back away from your ears. If your elbows don't touch the ground today - great - just stay up on your hands with your arms straight.

Step back to dog, and lunge to the other side.

5.

Bring the right leg forward as shown, and come into pigeon . If this causes any discomfort in your knee, bring the thigh and knee towards the mid-line of your body. Exhale to fold forward. If it's too deep to bring your forehead all the way down, no worries, stay up on your elbows.

Step back to down dog and pedal the feet to bring circulation back into the knee then step the left foot forward and do pigeon on the left side.

Step back into dog, pedal the feet and feel the difference in the dog pose after practicing pigeon.

6.

Lunge the right foot forward towards the right hand, then turn the left foot out 40 degrees as you come into standing lunge . Balance evenly on the triangles of both feet - not just the front one!  Activate the legs, straighten the right leg and fold as deeply from the right hip hinge as you can. If your hands don't touch the floor, hold onto your shin. Keep your breath slow, even though it may be uncomfortable...remember it's helping to loosen tight hamstrings which will help to free your back. Also, slowing the breath in times of physical discomfort trains the mind to slow the breath in times of emotional distress.

Step back into dog: while in dog, notice the difference on the right side! If you keep your mind on the feelings of spaciousness, or just sensations in your body, it will wake the body up, bringing renewed consciousness to the entire body. (When the mind leaves the body, there's no one home to bring awareness in!) When you're ready, repeat standing lunge on the left side.

7.

Step back to dog then lunge the right foot forward and turn both feet to the left preparing for standing split. Align the outer edges of your feet to your mat. Press your inner ankles toward the outer ankles, activate the legs, lift the sit bones towards the sky, allow your spine to float freely out of the hips, align your hands and arms as closely to what you see in the photograph as you can. Bend your right knee, pulling it to the right as you firmly root the outside of the left foot. Switch sides and do the same, do this a few times to open your legs.

Turn your right foot forward, then the left and lunge the right foot back to down dog.

8.

Walk or step your feet to your hands and hang for a minute before you roll up.

As you stand in mountain, notice your feet again. Notice your body, breath, mind and heart. It doesn't take a lot to refresh and awaken - a few things done with presence of mind is far better than many things without the mind participating.