Dogs and Frogs

About This Class

Bryan Kest leads this expansive flow class with an emphasis on practicing yoga as an act of radical self-care — "making love to yourself," as he puts it. The class opens in Child's Pose with deep breathing to cultivate calm awareness, then progresses through extended Down Dog holds (broken into five creative variations including one-armed twists and forearm dog), Sun Salutation-style flows, and a rich standing sequence that includes Runner's Lunge, Grandma Twisting, Balancing Lunge, Crescent Lunge, Airplane/standing balance, Bent Knee Balancing, and Hero Pose. Hip openers are threaded throughout, including Standing Frog, Butterfly/Bound Angle, and wide-leg forward folds with cross-body grabs. Backbends build progressively from Cobra to full Bow Pose (Dhanurasana) and optional Wheel-adjacent head-to-feet Cobra. The floor closing includes seated wide-leg work, core boat variations, and supine twists before a long Savasana. Bryan consistently coaches students to back off if calm breathing cannot be maintained, to modify freely, and to treat sensation — not aesthetics — as the guide. The overall experience is simultaneously physically demanding and deeply meditative.