Climbing Up and Up to a Beautiful Plateau

About This Class

This 90-minute vigorous Sunday flow with Bryan Kest is structured as a long, progressive ascent—three layered warm-up sequences (a basic flow, Salutation B, and a highly dynamic lunge-twist series) that build heat, cardio, and full-body strength before arriving at a gentler "plateau" of deep stretching, inversion, and meditation. The class opens in child's pose and down dog, eases into one-armed down dogs, side plank variations, and baby arm balances, then cycles repeatedly through cobra, plank, crescent lunge, core twists, and "awkward airplane" balancing. Floor work includes locust/shalabhasana variations, wide-legged seated forward folds, plow/halasana, supported shoulder stand, fish/matsyasana, and supine spinal twists. Standing sequences include camel, kneeling backbends with gomukhasana arm variations, and lateral side stretches. The class closes with a sustained gratitude meditation in a comfortable seat and an extended savasana. Bryan consistently emphasizes breathing through the nose, hyper-gentleness, working to a personal degree, and quieting the mind—framing the physical practice as a vehicle for awareness and inner stillness rather than performance.