Strong, Sweet, Complete

About This Class

Bryan Kest leads this sweeping flow class that balances muscular challenge with deliberate calm, reminding students throughout that the true goal of yoga is to stay present and at ease amid difficulty. The class opens in child's pose with an extended focus on deep, fluid breathing before moving into a warm-up of downward dog, cobra, and locust variations. A dynamic standing sequence follows, building through crescent lunge, balancing lunge, warrior/hero pose (held for a full minute on each side as a deliberate "calmness muscle" drill), triangle, extended side angle, and the "crunch" (core-muscle lunge). Dolphin pose and flowing three-legged dog variations with knee-to-elbow core work thread through both sides. A long low-lunge hip-flexor stretch (lizard/pigeon-prep) is held for one minute per side, framed as an opportunity to soften the mind around sensation. Heart-opening backbends — cobra, locust with interlaced hands, and bow pose (Dhanurasana) — round out the active sequence. The class closes with a supine core series (scissors/boat variations), spinal twists, knee squeezes, a rolling transition to seated, and an extended Savasana guided into gratitude meditation and breath awareness. Props such as blocks are offered as options throughout. Cautions are gentle and implicit; no formal contraindications are stated by the instructor.