All right,
So welcome to your practice.
Take a tall seat.
And then either soften your gaze or allow your eyes to close,
Whatever feels right to you in this moment.
Take a few deep breaths and allow yourself to land here.
And now.
This body.
This breath.
This moment.
Now inhale again,
And as you exhale,
Allow the exhale to have a ha sound.
And listen to the sound as it comes out of your body.
Does it sound like.
A full release.
Does it sound jaggedy held back?
Does it sound forced?
Just be curious about the quality of your ha.
And as you do it a few more times.
Notice if it shifts the changes.
And now simply.
Notice your breath.
Your inhale.
And your exhale.
There may be a temperature.
Or a texture,
A depth.
Just allow yourself to notice.
Notice your body with breath.
Perhaps there's movement.
This body,
My body,
Here and now.
So the theme of tonight's class is awareness.
By befriending the body,
You become more aware of your body in different situations.
You might notice.
A tightening here.
Perhaps it.
Makes you think of resistance.
You notice a softening there and perhaps it means an allowance.
With awareness of these sensations,
We're able to see where things are showing up in life.
And with that awareness,
That leads to more choice,
More empowerment in how we choose to be in each moment.
So continue to notice.
Notice sensations of the body and the breath.
There's nowhere to go.
Nowhere to be.
No need to change or fix,
Just be.
Now with an awareness of the sensations you feel,
Begin to move your body.
Move with sensation in response to sensation.
There might be a sensation you want to explore deeper.
There might be a sensation you'd like to back away from.
Stay curious and notice.
And depending on how this is for you,
You may begin with small subtle movements or you may have already begun some big movements.
Maybe it involves your head and neck,
Your shoulders,
Your torso.
Maybe you're stretching tall or leaning forward or twisting.
Just notice,
Where do you intuitively go?
When all options are available.
And is there any movement that you'd like to exaggerate right now?
And know that stillness can also be exaggerated.
Continue to explore this movement until you feel ready to come to your hands and knees.
And I'll just remind you that if you've decided that you need to be lying down or sitting in a chair.
You can move your mind through these movements just as much as your body.
So as you come to all fours,
Notice foundation.
This is a steady foundation from which you are able to be with and explore breath,
Body,
Sensation.
And again,
Begin to move,
Exploring.
Flex and extend your spine.
Move your ribs from side to side.
Perhaps you exhale strongly and push the floor against or push against the floor and arch your spine towards the ceiling.
And then as you inhale,
You squeeze your shoulder blades behind you and lift your chin as high as you can.
Let's notice the movements you're making.
Explore from this foundation.
And whenever you feel ready to move towards the next shape,
Step one foot forward into a lunge shape.
Your back knee is still down.
You're just stepping one foot forward.
And you might want to wiggle it wide so it's outside of your hand.
And even further forward if that feels right to you.
And then let yourself just ease forward and backwards,
Forward and backwards.
Cushion your back knee if you need it.
Notice sensation in your hips,
Your inner thighs,
Your hamstrings,
Your glutes.
Quad,
Perhaps hip flexors.
Let your head be heavy.
And as you move,
Is there any place you'd like to pause and stay and explore that sensation?
And is there any way that you could deepen the sensation of this pose?
Maybe releasing a little more.
Maybe tightening.
And stay here exploring long enough until you feel like it's time to explore the other side.
And when you do,
Just take your front leg to the back so you have both knees down.
And then move the other foot forward.
All the time just observing what choices are you making based on what you're aware of.
Or what new awarenesses are coming to you.
So again,
Continue exploring.
You may wish to deepen into the pose.
You can release your head and neck.
You may want to hold yourself back from the pose just notice we're always looking for what I call an edge.
And it's an edge of sensation.
Where you can hold it,
But you may not want to.
It's something to explore.
And so keep exploring until you feel complete on this side.
And when it's time to go to the next side,
Tuck your toes under or bring your two feet back.
So your knees match and then tuck your toes under,
Press your hips high.
Alternatively,
You can walk your hands in front of you instead of pressing your hips high.
And so you're in more of an inverted V shape.
And once you're there,
Explore that,
Maybe send one heel down and then the other.
Just walk through it.
Maybe you feel sensation in your ankles or your calves,
Your hips.
Maybe one hip is tighter than the other.
Just be curious.
And when you're ready,
Walk your feet towards your hands.
Let your feet be wide,
Your knees bent,
Grab your elbows.
And just hang.
Sway side to side,
Nod your head yes and no,
And ask yourself here,
First,
What are you aware of?
As you hold yourself here with your head or your heart over your head.
And then notice what parts are you releasing.
And what parts are you holding on?
And when you're finished being upside down,
Go ahead and rise up slowly.
Come all the way up to standing.
And once you're standing,
Adjust your feet so you feel steady on the ground and bring one hand over your heart space.
With your eyes soft or closed.
With this body,
This breath,
And this moment,
What are you becoming aware of?
Good,
Now reach your arms high.
Reach as high as you can and interlace the fingers above you.
So it's a steeple grip,
Two fingers go straight up and reach.
Get as long as you can,
Take a big breath in.
And as you exhale,
Lean to one side.
And so,
As I said,
We're looking for an edge and edge of sensation and edge of strength,
Something that you can hold you may not want to hold it too long.
Just notice what happens as you hold yourself here.
What comes into your awareness.
How long do you stay?
You are empowered to release whenever you need to.
And then explore the other side and maybe take it deeper on the side.
What are you aware of here that you're holding?
How do you hold yourself there?
You choose to go deeper.
Do you choose to go back away or do you choose to stay with it?
And are there any connections to life with holding?
Or a stain.
When you come out of this shape,
Again,
Bring that hand over your heart.
And just notice this body,
This breath.
This moment,
What is in your awareness?
And so now reach your arms up towards the ceiling again,
Get as long and tall as you can.
And this may get a little bit more vigorous and please do what you need to do to take care of your own body and your own self,
But breathe in and reach tall.
And then with an exhale,
You're going to fall all the way forward with a ha.
A big ha breath,
Release all the way forward,
Hands towards the floor,
Head hanging.
And then when you're ready to inhale again,
You're going to reach back up towards the ceiling,
Reach as long and tall as you can.
And exhale,
Fall forward.
So always having choice how far into this edge to move.
You can exaggerate anything.
Maybe it's the reaching.
Maybe it's the falling,
Maybe it's the hanging.
Maybe it's the pace you get a little faster,
It can get really fast like a.
Huh.
Or it can be slow and sustained.
Again,
Notice the choices you're making.
Awareness is everything.
And whenever you're complete with this movement,
Come back to stillness and standing,
Hand over your heart again.
If you got really active and vigorous,
You'll probably notice your breath is faster.
Your heart is pumping.
All right,
Now noticing.
Has an active and focused quality.
Can you expand it now into awareness?
What are you?
Becoming aware of now.
So now take your arms above you again,
Interlace,
So you have that steeple grip.
And I want you to get as long and tall as you can root down into the floor.
So you're really connected to your foundation and your feet.
And then without moving your head,
Just slowly start to draw a line along the ceiling with your fingers backwards,
Backwards,
Backwards.
Notice when there's pressure in your low back,
That's far enough.
How long do you stay there?
When do you give yourself permission to come out?
Or to do something different.
And when you do,
Just come to a standing.
Hand over your heart.
And when you're ready,
I want you to fold forward towards the floor again.
Plant your hands and step back so your body's in a long line,
Your hands are on the floor.
You can always drop your knees.
Notice how your body responds.
If you're holding a plank pose,
You may feel some shakiness.
You may feel some tension in the belly holding you up.
Again,
You get to choose how far you go into that based on what you're aware of.
And when you're finished with this.
Shift your hips back towards your heels,
Your knees on the floor.
Your forehead to the floor.
And you can either walk your hands in front of you or take them back beside you.
Breathe into your body.
This breath,
This body.
My body.
Your end now.
And then as soon as you're ready,
Go ahead and take yourself into a resting shape.
Whatever that looks like feels like for you.
Come into that resting shape.
And allow yourself to just be.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
What are you aware of?
Allow your breath to deepen.
Finding its own flow.
And then allow that flow of the breath to reawaken the body.
Perhaps with some subtle movements of fingers,
Toes,
Ankles,
Wrists.
Eventually,
Maybe you move into a yawn stretch.
Breathing in from toes to fingers,
Fingers to toes.
And open your mouth and just allow the breath to exhale.
When you feel like you're ready to move to a seated position,
Roll to one side.
Use your hands to help guide you up.
And give yourself a moment to sit.
Before moving on.
