Deep Stretch

I'm gonna start us here.

Oh,

Lying on the backs.

Yes,

I love those initial sighs,

Right?

Let's let go.

So,

This is an opportunity for you guys in this hour that you've signed up for,

That you showed up for,

That you're present for,

To listen to your body,

To stretch your body,

To unravel the stress that life can sometimes throw at us.

What we do with stress is that we bring it into the nervous system and the muscular system and we hold on to stuff.

So,

In this class there's a great opportunity for you to let go of that stuff.

You might have a release because we're gonna hold these postures for a little while and you're gonna have an opportunity really just to be with your body and see how the body and the breath work together.

As always,

This is a individual experience here,

So take care of yourself.

I'm up here just suggesting and guiding ways to twist your body and move your body,

But if it does not feel good,

Please come out and just breathe.

The three-part breath.

So,

When you breathe in,

Breathe through in through your nostrils from your belly first.

Take it deep into the belly,

Up into the ribcage and then up into the chest and feel really full,

Even into the shoulders and neck.

The breath goes and then exhale out of the shoulders,

Chest and the belly last.

That's the rhythm of the breath that I teach.

It's called three-part breath.

The inhale comes back into the belly,

Super deep,

Coming up,

Floating up into the chest,

Holding full.

Exhale out of the chest and let the belly squeeze out any of that last bit of exhale.

That's a nice little detoxifier right there.

We squeeze that,

Push that air out.

Inhale deeply through the belly,

Ribs and chest.

Hold full.

Exhale out of the chest.

The belly is last.

Beautiful,

Guys.

So,

Finding your own rhythm is important.

So,

Continue to breathe that deeply,

That long,

That consciously.

And when you activate this conscious breath,

You're doing a lot of things,

But most importantly,

You're giving your mind a place to come back to.

That part of our mind that's that conceptual,

That thought base,

Let it be on the breath and on how your body feels right now.

So,

Give yourself just a few more of those deep breaths before we start to move into our stretch.

Good.

Now,

Let's take in another inhalation,

Maybe together.

Inhaling,

Belly,

Ribs,

Chest,

Holding full.

When you exhale,

Take your right knee in towards your chest.

Either grab in front of the knee or behind the knee.

If you have any knee challenges,

You might want to grab behind the knee.

And if it feels okay,

Keep that left leg long and strong on the floor.

And then,

Check in with your shoulders and neck and jaw.

And if you can relax more into that,

That would be great.

Now,

Let's flex and point the toes,

Both toes,

Both feet,

Moving at the same time.

It doesn't have to move with your breath.

Let's just point and flex and just getting some initial movement in those ankle joints.

Continue those deep,

Diaphragmatic,

Full,

Three-part breaths the whole time.

And let's end up in a flex where the toes are pointing up towards the sky.

And with your right hand,

Cup the knee,

The right knee with your right hand and send it out to the side of the body.

Your left hand will drop down either on your left hip to keep it grounded or beside the hip.

We are isolating this inner thigh stretch and unleash some of that tension in that tight,

Tight muscle.

Beautiful.

So,

We'll stay here.

Great opportunity to breathe into your body and start to feel where the tightness is in the body so that you can then release it.

If we're unaware of some of this tightness in our body,

We'll never be able to release it,

Right?

So,

That's why we do these things.

Keep the breath going.

And if it feels okay,

Add a little movement to this.

Kind of like you're taking it back and forth with your knee,

Guiding it towards the shoulder and away from the shoulder.

Just a little up and down kind of movement.

That is really awesome little massage for the outer hip.

Just a little up and down.

A few breaths here.

Good.

All right.

Now,

We're going to assist this knee up towards the chest and across the body for a knee down spinal twist.

Take your left hand to cup the knee next.

Your right arm reaches out to a T.

Look over your right shoulder as your knee drops down to the left side of your body.

And allow it to drop down until your shoulders come off the ground.

We want those shoulders grounded.

So,

That's about where you start is when your shoulders start to pop off the ground.

We want to hold at that place until you're nice and loosened up by the breath and by being here long enough to get that nice unraveling twist going here.

Wringing out the spine.

Opening up the chest and shoulders here.

And even a little stretch in the neck.

So,

While you are with this stretch,

Emphasis with the breath being in the belly.

Make sure you're pumping the belly breath so that you can massage the diaphragm.

Massage the digestive system.

This is really excellent for digestive wellness.

These twists.

These lower back twists where you can really massage the belly here.

Yoga is really a healing modality.

It's not just about what we're doing with our body.

The breath and the movements and the twisting can really create some amazing benefits for the whole system.

Stay with this.

Feeling the twist.

Start to open up a little bit.

And on your next breath,

Let the exhale come out of the body completely.

Out of the belly.

So,

You hollow it out and firm up around the core to guide that knee back up safely in towards the chest.

And everybody grab behind the knee of the leg.

You can go lower down the leg as we start to straighten the right leg up towards the sky.

And if you have a strap available,

You are welcome to use a strap here.

But we're just gonna not worry about what it looks like.

Our legs are gonna bend.

They're gonna eventually start to loosen up.

We're just gonna be with where we are.

Just what's available for you.

All right.

Now,

Let's take a little roll of the ankle joint here.

So,

Make circles around the sky with the toes.

Just circles around that ankle joint.

Feeling that connection from the heel all the way down into the hip.

Awesome.

Now,

Let's take it around to the other side as you continue to move this ankle joint.

Breathe deeply.

Good.

Now,

Let's take this foot in a flex.

So,

Bring the toes towards the shin.

Nice flex.

Press up and extend out through the heel.

Now,

Take the arms out beside the hips.

Keep the leg up.

Breathe in and out here.

And then slowly lower the leg.

Slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly.

And as we lower the leg with nice control,

Where I want you to end up with this leg is on top of the left leg.

So,

That's right leg over the bottom leg.

Good.

And once you're grounded with both feet,

Start to move both feet to the left side of your mat.

Literally,

Keep your hips where they are.

And we're gonna take your right arm up and overhead and stretch the whole side of the right side.

We're in a crescent pose.

So,

We're wiggling our shoulders towards the left side of the mat.

We're staying grounded in our shoulders and our hips.

And we look like a crescent moon.

Stretching the entire right side from ankle to hip to armpit to shoulder.

And if this does not feel good with the right arm next to the ear or above the above the head,

Then please just bend at the elbow.

Deep breaths.

And notice the breath now carrying into the side body.

So,

You can close your eyes if that feels okay.

And direct your breath all the way up the right side of the body.

Feel how the inhale works as a stretch mechanism.

It feels stretchy and opening.

And feel how the exhale works like a muscle relaxer.

It relaxes you into this stretch.

Every time you breathe out,

You can release and stretch a little more deeply.

You stretch.

What really matters is that it feels really good.

That's what we're here to do is feel good.

Mostly in the moment,

But definitely when you leave.

All right,

Guys.

Let's move out of this slowly.

So,

Let the arm come down first.

Easy.

Wiggling those shoulders back to the midline of your mat.

And then take the right leg off the left leg.

Keep those legs wide from each other and let the arms come out wide from the hips.

Just in a little corpse position for a moment,

Just to feel everything here.

So,

If it's comfortable to close your eyes,

I invite you to close your eyes and just notice maybe a little difference in the right and left side.

Maybe not.

But just attempting to be curious on how the yoga is releasing and working.

Good.

Now,

We're going to do everything we just did on the left side.

So,

Let the legs come a little bit closer together.

Inhale deep here.

And when you exhale,

Take the left knee in towards the chest.

Either grabbing with the hands in front of the knee or behind the knee.

Relax into the shoulders,

The neck,

And the jaw.

Getting a little traction on the spine here with the knee in towards the chest.

Feels great.

And while we're here,

Let's flex and point the toes.

Flex and point the toes.

As you breathe deeply,

Rhythmically.

Same as that first deep breath we took at the top of the hour.

Beautiful.

Now,

Let's keep a flex in both feet.

And cup your knee with your left hand and take it out to the side.

Left side stretch here.

Your right hand can come to ground your right hip or beside your hip.

Allow this right leg to be really long and strong.

So,

Activated.

So,

That it'll keep you grounded in the hips and we can isolate this inner thigh stretch.

Great job.

Keep the breath flowing.

Keep anchoring your mind back to the breath.

Back to what you're feeling.

You know,

When there's no music,

There is noise.

And that's okay.

It's maybe an opportunity for you just to go a little deeper into your practice.

Kind of practice not allowing the outside to affect you on the inside.

That's a pretty deep practice and challenging.

All right.

As we stay here,

Let's move the knee from up and down just with the hand guiding you.

Just give a little massage to the outer hip joint here on the left side.

Just moving that knee however it feels good.

Up and down.

Good.

Now,

Let's come across the body and cup the right hand to the knee and cross the body with that knee down spinal twist.

The left arm reaches out to the side.

Stretch into the chest and pecs.

Doing great,

Guys.

How's your mind?

How's your breath?

Stay focused on the stretch as we release into this.

A few more breaths.

Allow this next breath to be your final one here as you let all of the exhale come out of the belly and come up safely out of this twist.

Drawing that knee back in towards your chest and grab behind the thigh.

And on an inhale,

Straighten that right the left leg up towards the sky.

And rather than straighten,

I'll say extend.

Extension through that heel best you can here.

Does not matter what it looks like.

So while we're here opening up the hamstring,

Let's take circles with the ankle joint as a little healthy distraction on how tight this hamstring muscle is.

They're the tightest muscles in the body typically for most people.

So we just have to be patient and also practice stretching those hamstrings.

Really daily is what it takes to really get those hamstrings to unlock.

Some people's just won't.

So just anatomy.

All right,

Circle those those toes around the other way.

Beautiful job,

Guys.

Now let's end this with a nice flex and a big press up through the heel towards the sky.

Keep your low back nice and locked down on the ground as you let the arms go.

So this engages your core to keep the leg up.

Engaging your core.

Engaging that leg.

And as we lower it down,

You engage even more into the leg and core.

So slow and controlled.

Lower that leg all the way down towards the ground.

And when you get to a cross,

Start to cross that straight leg over the bottom leg.

When you are there,

We're gonna move into crescent pose.

So taking your feet to the right side of your mat,

Both together,

Crossed.

Your hips stay the same.

Your left arm comes up and over here overhead towards the ear as you wiggle the shoulders over towards the right side of your mat.

Like a crescent moon or a banana shape.

That's what we're making here.

So if it feels like an amazing stretch all the way up your left side of the body,

You're doing it right.

How deeply can you breathe and how much can you feel the breath working within the stretch?

The expansiveness of that inhale,

The releasing,

Relaxing quality of the exhale.

All right,

You guys.

Let's come out of this nice and easy.

So let's allow the arm to come down first,

Then the shoulders.

Come back to midline of the mat.

And then moving the top leg across the mat to the other side,

Letting those legs go long and wide from each other.

And the arms come out beside the hips.

Maybe close the eyes.

You can do this whole class with your eyes closed,

By the way,

Or not.

But closing your eyes helps you to go even deeper into your own body and feel the effects of the practice.

As we pause here,

Let's take a breath or two.

Great.

Now start to move those legs a little closer together to touch.

Take an inhale here.

When you exhale,

Draw both of your knees in towards the chest at the same time,

Grabbing either in front of the knees or behind the knees.

Yeah.

And just feel how good that feels on your low back.

Maybe you want to rock from side to side,

A little gentle massage on the low back.

Excellent.

All right.

So let's take our spine neutral on the mat and take your interlaced hands at your left knee and straighten your right leg up towards the sky.

And exhale the right leg long to the floor,

Lowering the leg and then lifting the leg back up.

So right leg lifts.

So we're moving nice and slow and efficient.

So we don't have to do 50.

We're just doing about 10 or 12 of each side.

So just go slow.

Keep your low back grounded on the mat.

That activates your core.

These leg lifts are amazing for improving the range of motion in your hip and also your hip flexor strength and your core strength.

Awesome job,

Guys.

Keep it up.

Keep breathing.

Keep moving.

The legs coming up and the leg is coming down,

Not hitting the floor,

Just hovering and then lifting back up.

A few more here.

Okay.

Let's let this be this last lift up towards the sky and then lower this right leg all the way back down to the floor.

Great job,

Everyone.

Let's take half happy baby with the left foot.

So with your left hand,

Take your either your ankle or your shin or the outer edge of the foot,

Wherever your hand grip needs to be to let this half happy baby movement happen where our left knee is out away from our ribcage and pressing down towards the floor.

And let's get this right leg long and strong on the ground.

And if it feels okay,

Extend your right arm up overhead as well and get a whole lengthening happen on your right side while we happy baby on the lift.

Keep that breath up.

Move that tension out.

That's what we're here to do.

All right,

Guys.

Carefully take both knees back in towards your chest.

Slow and carefully transition back to knees together and towards the chest.

Give yourself a squeeze and then take your both hands to your right knee.

Extend your left leg up.

Leg lifts on the left side.

Here we go.

Down,

Hover and back up.

You can use your breath to make the movements here.

The inhale can can raise the leg and the exhale can lower the leg.

If that's not coordinating with your time of breath,

Don't worry about it.

Just move mindfully long and strong through that whole leg.

Extending and lifting and lowering and hovering.

Improving that core strength and the range of motion.

All that good stuff.

Now let's check in with our shoulders.

I just noticed mine were up towards my ears.

So relax those shoulders.

Relax the jaw,

Neck.

Those areas like to to really carry the load for us and that's appreciated but it's not necessary.

So just relaxing into the shoulders when we can.

A few more here.

Nice and controlled,

Guys.

Doing great.

So let this be your last leg lift up and the exhale lowers the leg all the way grounded to the floor.

Now let's transition into half happy baby with your right hand coming to your ankle or your foot.

Wherever it's going to be for you to take that half happy baby shape on your right side.

Let your left leg be long and strong.

So active and then if it feels okay in the shoulder,

Reach the left arm up and overhead and get a full open stretch in that left side as we're here in right side happy baby.

Awesome,

Guys.

Flow that deep breath.

Good.

Now let's take that arm back up and down towards the hip and then let's release both feet to the floor.

Knees up towards the sky.

Let's just take a little moment for ourselves here to feel.

Everything we've done so far is really bringing that blood flow into the hips and the legs and that's really healing for the muscles.

It's really amazing for blood flow in general.

Super healthy stuff happening here,

Guys.

All right.

From here we're going to take the bridge pose.

So if you have a support underneath your neck,

Please remove that for now and take your head onto your mat nice and flat and keep looking up towards the sky.

So don't move your neck in this posture,

Please.

Take your hands beside your hips and press into the feet to lift those hips up as high as you possibly can in this healthy back bend and keep lifting until your chest is lifting and expanding as well.

And maybe you can move your shoulders underneath the body.

If none of that sounds good or interesting to try,

Don't.

Just keep lifting the hips.

Keep lifting the chest and creating this super awesome stretch in the front of the body.

Notice the stretch in the neck as well.

It's amazing there,

Too.

Nice lengthening happening in that neck.

Squeeze the glutes.

Activate the thighs.

Lift just a wee bit higher if you can.

Inhale.

When you exhale,

Roll that spine down,

Each vertebrae hitting the floor one at a time.

Nice and easy.

Controlled back to your mat.

Awesome.

Beautiful.

Now when your back is nice and grounded,

Separate your knees and bring your soles of your feet together in Cobbler Pose.

Arms out to the sides or in goalpost arms.

So that's bent arms like goalpost with the fingers pointing away from the body.

Deep breaths here.

Good job,

Guys.

Opening up the front of the body here.

Super important.

We are rounded forward all day long.

All of our daily habits are rounded.

So great opportunity to open the front of the body.

A few more breaths here.

Okay,

Let's move over to your right side in the fetal position.

So that left leg just comes on top of the right and we're on our sides.

Stay in that fetal position for a few breaths.

We've been on our backs for a moment,

So we're just going to integrate here.

Not to rush.

Good.

Now let's push up with the strength of our upper body to come on to hands and knees.

Tabletop position,

Please.

And when you get your tabletop position here,

The point is to have the back flat like a table.

So we want to stack our joints with our wrists under our shoulders and our knees underneath our hips.

All right.

From neutral,

Let's take dog and cat.

So the first position is dog.

As we inhale,

Lift the tail,

Lift the head,

Drop the belly down towards the floor.

When you exhale,

Round like a cat.

Tuck the tail,

Tuck the chin,

Press the top of the back towards the sky.

Big press there.

Inhale slowly and completely come back into your dog tilt.

Let the exhale be long and slow and complete.

So go slow here.

Feels amazing to wring out that spine.

It holds so much tension.

And again,

If we don't take the opportunity to go a little bit slower,

Then we can't release those those tensions.

We certainly don't even know they're there.

Beautiful.

Let's complete one more full breath cycle.

Inhale dog,

Exhale cat.

Good.

And when you come back to your next inhale,

Just come to a tabletop position.

Tuck your right toes and just extend your right leg.

So we're getting a little calf stretch here.

Tuck your toes on the ground and extend through the heel.

And you can even press away from with your hands.

Press away and press back through that heel.

Nice.

Those calves get pretty tight too.

Breathe into this and then bring that those knees back together.

Take the other side.

Press back through that left heel,

Extending the best you can.

Good.

Now bring both knees back together and then walk your hands towards your knees to come up onto your knees.

All right.

So we'll take a mini camel pose or a little backbend pose where we take the hands behind our back,

Maybe at the buttocks or maybe right at the low back,

Fingertips pointing down.

And the best you can,

Hug your shoulder blades.

That's the first movement there.

And then lift your chest slightly.

Keep your chin tucking in like you're making a double chin and then you can start to lift the chin up slightly.

And so we're stretching and opening up the front of the body.

This is an amazing counter pose to forward folding,

Forward bending,

Forward moving.

Take a few breaths here.

This is a lot.

You're doing great.

Opening that heart center.

One more full deep inhalation here.

And when you exhale,

Firm up around the core and come up.

Good.

Now let's come right down into child's pose.

So you can place your hands to the floor first and your elbows and then your head and take your hips as far back towards the heels as they will go today.

The hips do not have to hit the heels.

Not necessary.

Just make this posture feel great for you.

While we're here,

Let's take side child's pose where we're simply just gonna move the arms,

Both arms,

To the left side of your mat until that right arm is a little bit longer than your left and you're just stretching a little bit more into that right side.

Beautiful.

Take your deep inhales into that right side rib,

The back ribs.

Feel the inhale and feel the release on the exhale.

Great job,

Guys.

Let's walk it over to the other side nice and slow.

Just the arms and torso to the right side of your mat.

Extend your left arm a little longer than your right and relax into this.

Deep stretch in that side body.

Great job,

Everybody.

Come back to your center and eventually come back to tabletop position.

Sweep both feet to one side and come down to a seated position with your legs coming out straight.

Both legs straight and you can move yourself,

Your whole body,

Up to the top of the mat where your heels are at the top of your mat.

And let's just rock from side to side a little bit to feel both sits bones even on the ground.

Mm-hmm.

So that's where we know where we can sit up nice and tall.

We've done a lot of upper upper body,

Front body bending and opening,

So let's do a nice forward fold.

So stretch into your feet,

Lift your toes up towards the sky,

Lift your arms up towards the sky as well.

Breathe in deep and exhale,

Head towards a forward fold with your hands maybe coming to the shins,

The ankles,

The toes,

Wherever they land.

You can bend the knees slightly and allow your head and neck to completely relax,

Please.

Shoulders away from those ears.

Breathe into what you're feeling here,

The backs of the legs,

The back of the body.

Lots of tension here probably,

So great opportunity to let it go.

Each breath,

Let it go.

Complete your next exhalation.

Let all the breath out of the belly so you can hollow it up and we're gonna inhale,

Roll the spine up.

Slide those hands up the legs,

Shoulders down and back as you exhale.

Good.

Just wiggle those legs out.

Good,

Good work.

Alright,

Let's come back onto our backs.

Why not?

Arms out in front and roll the spine down.

All the way down we go until we crash and then we're in our corpse pose for a moment with the arms down beside the hips and just check in again with this nice supported lying on our back pose.

There's just really nothing better.

Alright,

Now let's bend the knees so the feet are on the floor and let's take sleeping pigeon on the right side.

So your right ankle comes on top of your left thigh or left knee.

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

And this is the first expression of the pose.

We can stay here with both legs just in this in this shape.

You can take your right hand and you can press the knee away from the body.

That might be enough or you can bring the legs towards the chest keeping that shape.

You can keep them there or you can take the hands interlaced behind the left thigh.

So the right hand threads through the center of the legs to meet the left hand at the left thigh and you can continue to gently move those legs in deeper towards the chest.

As long as your shoulders are relaxed and your jaw is not tense,

This is a good position for you to be.

Let's breathe into it.

If you've tried the full extension of the pose and it feels like a lot of work and it feels terrible,

Please come back into that first expression of the pose.

Deep breathing.

Remember the anchor for our mind.

Giving that mind a break.

Giving the body a break here.

It's starting to really feel that relaxation,

That parasympathetic portion of the nervous system taking hold.

Feels good.

All right.

Now let's keep the shape of this posture but take the left foot back to the floor if you have legs in towards the chest.

So the left foot is on the floor.

The right foot is still crossed.

Now let's take the legs even more crossed.

Take the thighs so that they touch.

Mm-hmm.

Let the arms come out to a T or a little lower and take the knees down to the right side of your body.

Now this top leg is going to become like an anchor.

If that's too much on your on your left hip,

Too much weight there,

Then just uncross the legs and just come into this as a twist.

This is a deep,

Deep pose opening that hip flexor.

Breathe into it,

Guys.

Good,

Good.

Now let's bring those knees back up safely.

So ignite the core.

Pull the breath out of the belly so that you can come up safely with those knees.

Now with the knees staying crossed right here,

Take the knees up towards the chest and maybe you can take your hands to those knees or maybe you just keep the knees there.

Good.

You can hold behind the thighs,

Too.

Excellent,

Excellent.

All right,

Let's let these legs go and separate with both feet to the floor.

And for a moment,

Just let the legs come in and out.

Just kind of release the hips here.

Just in and out,

In and out.

Mm-hmm.

Grounded lower back.

Keep your,

Take your left ankle on top of your right knee for sleeping pigeon.

Remember,

This is the first phase of the pose.

So you can press that knee away from the body and stay here or you can take both knees in towards the chest in this shape.

You can grab,

Interlace the hands behind the right leg.

Good.

Shoulders relaxed.

Not too much work here.

If you happen to keep the shoulders off the ground,

Then maybe just,

Just let the legs do most of the work or come back to that first expression of the pose.

Each side of the body can be really,

Really different.

So this might not feel as great to come in towards the chest than it did on the other side.

So just listen and do what you need to do.

Doesn't matter what it looks like.

Matters what it feels like.

Slow,

Mindful breaths.

Just like we started.

The top of the class hasn't changed.

Unlocking the last bit attention that we might possibly have in those hips and taking the legs in this shape back to the floor.

So take the right foot to the to the ground.

Keep the shape of the legs here.

Releasing out of that,

But take your thighs to touch.

So take a little tighter cross of the legs.

Mm-hmm.

Now open the arms out to the sides and take the knees carefully down to the left side of your body.

Again,

This is a really big hip opener or hip flexor stretch.

So if this top leg feels a little too heavy on the bottom,

Please just uncross the legs.

Close your eyes.

Soften your face and breathe in to the body.

Allow this next exhalation to be complete and firm up around the core so you can carefully transition the knees back up.

Take both knees into the chest crossed if that feels okay.

Just a couple of breaths there.

Both legs in towards the chest.

Now let's release the legs.

Feet to the floor.

Hands down beside the hips.

Bend your knees in towards the chest and then extend both legs up towards the sky.

And what I want you to feel here is that pressing point that happens in the low back.

This is like legs up the wall,

Which is one of my favorite postures of all time.

So you could imagine the wall being right behind your thighs and holding the legs up or supporting the legs.

This is a great posture.

Legs up the wall.

Try it at home.

And it's amazing for so many things,

But getting that fresh blood that's in the feet and then the lower bodies down into the hips and into the back body,

Which supports the adrenal glands and the kidneys and all kinds of good stuff.

So legs up the wall.

Try it at home.

All right.

Now we're gonna bend those legs and next pose is relaxing pose.

Corpse pose.

Take your time to extend your legs down on the mat.

Nice and long.

Arms come away from the body enough to where your palms can be flipped up towards the sky.

Before we get into this deep state of relaxation,

Let's check in with your body with a nice little activation and release practice that we can use our breath and our bodies to get us completely relaxed here.

So we're breathing in and breathing out.

And when you have your next inhalation,

Take it into your feet and spread the toes.

Activate the toes.

Activate the feet.

And when you exhale,

Let the feet just fall out to the sides and relax.

On your next inhalation,

Carry it up into the legs.

Make some action into the legs,

The knees,

The thighs.

A little action there to hold.

And then exhale,

Release.

Beautiful.

Next inhalation is coming into the glutes.

We squeeze those muscles together,

Holding full,

Holding some tension there to finally release the tension out of the glutes and the low back.

Next inhale comes into the belly.

So balloon your belly up full of breath,

Full of air.

Hold it full.

Hold.

And exhale all the breath out of the belly.

Nice.

Now we're taking that breath next up into the chest.

Inhale,

Fill that chest up full of breath.

Hold.

Expansive breath into the chest.

Feel the muscles expanding.

Hold.

Exhale.

Let that chest relax.

Relax.

Good.

Now next inhale,

We're bringing those shoulders up towards the ears.

Squeeze the shoulders.

Hold full.

Exhale.

Relax those shoulders down,

Way away from those ears.

Release.

Good.

Next inhale is into the fist and arms together.

So hold the fist.

Activate the arms.

Hold the breath in full as you breathe.

Then hold tension.

Exhale.

Relax and open those arms and palms up towards the sky.

Beautiful.

Next is your neck.

So just move your head from side to side as you breathe in,

Holding your breath full.

Awareness of the neck.

Then exhale the neck back into neutral.

Relax the neck.

Next inhale into the face.

Squeeze all the facial features in towards the nose.

Make a scrunchy funny face.

Hold breath full.

Exhale.

Let it go.

Let that jaw relax.

Let the eyes soften.

Now you are ready to relax for a few minutes here together.

We're practicing being still,

Quiet,

And focused on this deep sense of relaxation.

Stay focused and concentrated on being here.

Not upstairs or anywhere else.

Stay present with your body for just a few minutes here to integrate all that we've done in this hour.

Integrate into our nervous system so that we can carry this practice with us throughout the day,

Maybe even the weekend.

This pose helps us to remember how to come back to just being.

How to come back to this really,

The truest essence of ourselves.

This place where our bodies are relaxed and calm and supported and our mind gets a break from the thinking mind and the agendas and list.

So this pose is just as important to practice as any of the other body movements so that we remember that this feeling is available for you anytime you need it.

Come back to when you're stressed.

This is your reset.

Guys let's wiggle the toes and the fingertips coming back to your body awareness.

Maybe take a little stretch with your arms overhead or maybe your knees in towards your chest,

Whichever feels good just to bring the body back.

Rolling over to your side to the fetal position for a breath or two.

Not to rush out of this relaxation but to eventually come into seated.

And when you come into seated please keep your eyes closed just one more moment so we can stay in to close our practice.

To close our practice I like to invite you to take the hands to the heart center.

It's a simple gesture of gratitude.

Gratitude that is so important to aim towards yourself first that you showed up for this class and this opportunity to practice something really,

Really amazing and to come into this place with me and trust me to guide you it's just an absolute honor and I'm so forever grateful for this opportunity to share with you guys.

Thank you,

Thank you,

Thank you.

Namaste.