Yoga Goddess Springtime Yoga Flow

It’s Springtime and I’m excited to share a yoga flow that’s inspired by the Maiden Archetype; a flow that is vivacious, confident, and active.

The Maiden brings a get-up-and-go energy, ready to take on new ventures, outline goals, develop new ideas, and take action on the guidance you received in your Wise Woman phase.

I invite you to connect with the youthful, vibrant part of you that’s full of energy and possibility – whether that’s the sassy, sexy playgirl or the confident, optimistic mother-to-be.

Maiden Flow here we go:

1. Cat-Cow

Come to a tabletop position on your hands and knees: place your hands directly under your shoulders and spread your fingers wide. Maintain the alignment of shoulders over elbows and knees in line with the hips, knees hip-width apart.
Press firmly into your hands and the tops of your feet.
Engage your core and draw your navel toward your spine.
As you inhale, come into cow by lifting the head and the tailbone and opening the heart.
With the exhale, transition into cat pose by lowering the head, tucking the chin into the chest and rounding through the spine (arching your back like a cat).
Continue for 15 – 26 repetitions.

2. Arm-Leg Extension

Come onto your hands and knees: maintain the alignment of shoulders over elbows and knees in line with the hips, knees hip-width apart.
Spread your fingers wide. Curl your toes under or keep them straight if you prefer.
Inhale and press with more pressure into your left hand and right knee, as you raise your right arm and left leg to hip height.
Find your balance.
Exhale and return them to the starting position. Then inhale, press with more pressure into your right hand and left knee as you raise the left arm and right leg to hip height, then exhale and lower them down.
Continue for 15 – 26 repetitions.

3. Downward Dog

Come on to your hands and knees.
Walk your hands in front of you about 6 inches and spread the fingers wide.
Curl your toes under you as you begin to hinge your hips back in space and lift your heels. Then begin shifting more of your weight into your hands.
Press down through your hands, engaging your fingertips and suction-cupping your hands to the mat.
From here, lift your hips toward the sky, making the shape of an upside-down V.
If your hamstrings are tight, that’s okay. Your legs don’t have to fully straighten and your heels do not need to touch the floor.
From here you can pedal your feet to warm up your legs. You can also put a generous bend into the knees, bringing your belly to your thighs and re-extend into your “V,” creating a long, straight line from the wrists to the tailbone.
There should be no tension in the neck. You should be able to shake your head yes and no. Gaze is toward your navel.
Hold this pose for 15 – 26 breaths.

4. Kundalini Frogs

Come into a squatting position with your hands and feet on the floor.
Keep your toes on the floor, and lift your heels up off the ground keeping your heels
touching.
Place your fingertips on the floor between the knees, with your head looking straight
to start.
Inhale, raise the buttocks toward the ceiling and lower the forehead toward the
knees and maintain the heels off the ground.
Exhale, come back to the original squatting position, head lifted.
Continue with deep breaths 15-26 times.
To end, inhale up, then relax down onto the heels.

5. Archer

Come to a standing position, feet parallel and hip-width apart
Step the right foot forward, so that your feet are 2-3 feet apart, and place your left foot at a 45-degree angle.
Ground down with the foot through the left leg, keeping it straight as you bend into the right knee, being careful not to extend the knee beyond the toes and keeping the tailbone in line with your spine.
Extend the right arm over the right knee and parallel to the ground and make a thumbs-up sign with your right hand.
Reach your left hand towards your right hand and then draw the elbow back towards your left shoulder, as if you were pulling back a bow and arrow.
Pull your left arm back until the fist is at the left shoulder.
Maintain your left elbow at shoulder height and relax your shoulders away from your ears.
Keep your gaze straight ahead as you look towards the horizon just over your left thumb nail.
Continue breathing in and out long and deeply through your nose for 15 – 26 breaths.
Relax your arms and repeat on the other side.

6. Tree

Stand with your feet hip-distance apart.
Begin to shift your weight onto your right foot.
Find a drishti, or focal point, in front of you. This will help you maintain balance.
Lift your left leg, bending it at the knee, and draw it towards your chest with your
hands.
Hold for a few seconds.
Then, externally rotate your left leg, and place it on the inside of your right ankle, calf, or thigh (avoiding placing any part of the foot on the knee).
Bring your hands to heart center in a prayer position, and when you’re ready, grow your tree by extending the arms up and overhead. Hands can be parallel, or arms can come into cactus arms, or other variation of your choice. You can also keep your hands in prayer position at heart center.
Actively lift up and out through the torso while you ground down through your feet.
Hold the position for 15 – 26 breaths.
When you’re ready, gather the energy together with your hands, bringing them back down through heart center.
Slowly release your foot back to the floor and repeat on the other side.

Take a few deep breaths here and notice how the Maiden energy is coursing through you:

Are you feeling energized?
Do you feel an impulse to run outside?
Are you motivated to take action on a project or goal?

Before you do anything, just notice the energy flowing inside. Sense the growing power of the season and feel into what you want to grow in your own life.

The Maiden wants to help you nurture your dreams so they can flourish in the garden of your life.

But this is big energy, and you want to harness it rather than let it run wild without a clear direction.

That’s why I created two more yoga practices that follow the Maiden Flow: The Kriya for Shakti Energy & the Adi Shakti Mantra.

The Kriya for Shakti energy is one of the most energizing practices in Kundalini Yoga and it calls on the feminine divine herself – shakti. This aerobic sequence of poses harnesses the energy of pre-ovulation, springtime and the waxing crescent moon to enliven and empower you.

You’ll be clapping, chanting and jumping in this kriya and your vibrancy will reach superpower heights.

Once you experience the vitality of Maiden energy—its liveliness and its deep undercurrent of seemingly limitless power, you’ll follow it up with the Adi Shakti mantra meditation, which uses the Kundalini Bhakti mantra to evoke that female-power energy and direct it towards your dreambox of desires.

The mantra you’ll chant describes four qualities of the feminine aspect of creative power:

the power that gave birth to all creation
the power that is forever
the power that cuts through darkness
the nurturing power of the mother

It can be chanted powerfully from the heart or sung out loud.

Both these practices complete the Maiden Yoga Flow can be found in my Moon Goddess Workbook.

⇒ And just until May 31st, take 25% OFF my Moon Goddess Workbook!

You’ll get immediate access to ALL 5 special yoga and meditation practices, 90 minutes each plus 1-year’s worth of menstrual-moon cycle tracking and journaling pages to unlock the healing powers of each of the feminine archetypes: the spring Maiden, the summertime Mother, the autumn Enchantress and the winter Wise Woman.

For every phase of your menstrual cycle. For every phase of the moon cycle. For every season. With a bonus practice for female fertility. Moon Goddess is a yoga and meditation practice like no other.