Awaken, Strengthen, and Stretch

About This Class

Bryan Kest leads this wide-ranging flow class that lives up to its "Awaken, Strengthen, and Stretch" title. The session opens in child's pose and downward facing dog before moving into multiple rounds of a warm-up sequence that layers standing forward bends, chair pose, plank, cobra, and crescent lunge with breath synchronization. From there the class moves into one-legged standing balances (warrior three / bird pose, bent-knee balancing) and a deep squat with bind before building into a fuller lunge series featuring elbows-to-ground hip openers, twisting low lunges, triangle-like side-angle stretches, and a progressive hamstring/quad forward-bend approaching vertical splits. A shoulder-opening standing backbend and standing forward-fold with arm wrap offer transition moments. The floor sequence includes abdominal crunches with leg cycling, shoulder stand (supported inversion), supine figure-four hip stretches, and spinal twists before closing in savasana. Throughout, Bryan emphasizes gentleness, breath awareness, ego management, and tuning practice to individual sensation rather than depth or performance.