Mindful Embodied Movement If You Only Have 30 Minutes

Hey you guys,

I'm back.

I decided to record one more little yoga sesh just because I do have a little bit of music in the background.

I wanted something a little bit more,

Just to have more variety.

Let's put it that way,

A little more variety.

Okay,

So I know I like options.

Here's your option for today.

Started with where we're sitting,

Um,

Be cross-legged or really any way that works.

Sometimes it's nice to get a block or even some books in between your heels and just sit back on your shins.

So we'll start in a comfortable seat,

At ease,

Relaxed,

Getting some breath into that body.

Option to have a clear intention or just to breathe,

Just to see what happens today.

Breath is where we have a say,

So start to get in charge of that breath.

Get it a little more deep,

Bottom of your belly.

Exhale fully and again breathe in completely,

Breathe out all the way,

So you breathe into your capacity.

Slight constriction in the back of the throat for that ujjayi breathing.

And then from this moment,

If you have your eyes closed,

Open them but keep your focus on the breath.

Come on to all fours for your cats and your cows.

Inhale fully arching the spine,

Upper back,

Low back.

Exhale,

Look down,

Tail down,

Belly comes in and up.

So just enjoying the movement,

Right,

Let it be a celebration of your flexibility,

Your ability to move around in your body,

Letting everything else from your day be outside,

Outside of your mat,

Outside of this moment,

This space,

This experience.

Coming to neutral,

Neither cat nor cow,

Spreading your fingers wide,

Tucking your toes under,

Bring your knees up a few inches to get the belly engaged.

Take a big inhale,

Exhale,

Move belly towards thighs,

Hips up towards sky,

Downward facing dog.

Let your head dangle,

Wrap your triceps in so you broaden your shoulder,

Your neck space.

Roll on out into high plank,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Roll on back to down dog.

Do that a few more times,

Just like your cats and your cows.

You land in plank,

It's kind of like cat pose,

Lengthen that lower back.

You land in cow,

It's kind of like,

Sorry,

Down dog is kind of like your cow,

Spreading your sit bones.

Good,

Couple more.

We'll meet in high plank here,

Modify with the knees down if you need.

Inhale,

Prepare,

And then exhale,

Come down nice and slow in one piece.

Untuck your toes,

Press tops of feet down.

Inhale,

Heart lifts up,

First cobra,

Shoulder blades squeeze together and down the back.

Exhale,

Forehead down,

Push yourself back into child's pose.

Let that be like your first forward fold here.

You might stretch out your arms,

You might release your elbows.

Inhale,

Return to that tabletop,

You're on all fours.

Exhale,

Down dog.

Let's do that again.

Inhale,

High plank,

Active all over,

Squeeze the legs,

Squeeze your biceps,

Press down.

Good,

Exhale,

Come all the way down to your belly,

Forehead down.

Inhale,

Little back bend,

Stretch your legs back,

Heart forward.

Exhale,

Lower down.

You can come through plank to down dog or through all fours.

Let's take the right leg up and back,

Three-legged dog.

Keep reaching through both hands,

Shoulders are squared.

Big inhale,

Exhale,

Exhale,

Right foot behind right hand,

Runner's lunge.

Come onto your fingertips or grab one block or two.

Try to lengthen your spine,

Keep your eyes slightly forward.

Inhale,

Exhale,

And then take your left foot a little closer to the right for pyramid,

Shorter stance here.

Drape your upper body over your front leg,

Let your head be heavy.

Breathe into your hammies or wherever you need your breath.

Exhale,

Plant your palms,

Take it to your high plank.

You can stay or take another breath.

Next,

Exhale,

Come halfway down.

Inhale,

Move into your up dog,

Shoulders back and down,

Heart slides forward and lifts up.

We'll meet in downward facing dog.

Curl your toes under or roll over the toes if that works.

Some days it does,

Some days it might not for me.

Okay,

Here we go.

Left leg up and back.

Notice your toes are down,

That means the hips are level.

Keep reaching back.

Inhale,

Step forward,

Exhale,

Runner's lunge.

Nice to tent your fingers.

Light on the fingers means you're also stronger,

Likely in your core,

Likely in your left glute.

Hug it in and go ahead and gently place right foot closer to the left.

Shorten that stance,

Pyramid pose.

Find the length first,

Then release your head into the shape.

Let it all be.

Okay,

Got three cycles of breath here.

Make any adjustments you need to feel it.

Plant your palms fully,

Step it back,

High plank to low,

High plank,

Downward facing dog.

Big inhale,

Full exhale.

If you have an intention,

Come back to it.

And if you're just here to be in your body,

Taking care of it,

Or maybe you're just here to breathe,

Look forward,

Float your heels,

Exhale,

Walk,

Step or hop behind your wrists,

Forward fold.

All right,

You can grab an opposite elbow.

If you do that,

Maybe switch your automatic grip.

Nice reminder that we can break habitual patterns and change.

If you have a bind,

Release it.

On your inhale,

Roll up nice and slow,

One vertebra at a time.

On your exhale,

Slide your shoulders down and back.

I like to close the eyes here.

Tadasana,

Mountain,

Standing tall and steady.

Firm up your glutes,

Firm up your belly,

Spread your toes and fingers,

Energize arms and legs.

Inhale,

Reach up,

Upward salute.

Keep the shoulders down,

Exhale,

Fold forward and down.

Inhale,

Come up just halfway.

Exhale,

Flow through your vinyasa,

Up dog,

Cobra or sphinx.

Use your next breath to make it to downward facing dog,

Adho mukha svanasana.

Look forward a slight bend in the knees,

Heels float.

Exhale,

Walk,

Step or hop to the top of your mat.

Notice where your breath is,

Where your eyes go in each shape.

Inhale,

Halfway lift,

You're looking forward.

Exhale,

Fold in,

You're looking down.

Inhale,

Root down,

Rise all the way up.

Exhale,

Mountain pose,

Tadasana.

Bring your focus,

We're adding on.

Big inhale,

Reach up,

Up,

Up,

Feel the length in your sides.

Exhale,

Swan dog.

Inhale,

Hands to shins,

Come up high enough to lengthen the back.

Exhale,

Take it through plank.

Flow through or go straight to your down dog,

Piking up.

We'll meet in downward facing dog,

Take your time.

Inhale,

Right leg up and back,

Three-legged dog,

Reach back,

Lengthen.

Exhale,

Bring your knee to your nose,

Round the spine.

Inhale,

Reach up and back again like cow pose.

Exhale,

Bring that knee into your nose,

Round the spine like cat.

Stay here for your inhale.

Exhale,

Right foot steps down,

Rise on up,

High lunge.

Taking your high lunge and opening it up into warrior two,

Settling into the shape,

Shoulders over hips.

You can sit down quite low,

But make sure you're opening up that right knee towards the right pinky toes.

There's an internal rotation through your left hip,

So the left toes are slightly inward.

Reach through your arms so you feel that idea of being in balance right in between your two legs.

Taking it a notch deeper,

Placing forearm on right thigh,

Reaching your left arm up and over,

Extended side angle.

Find that diagonal line from your left pinky toes to your left fingers.

Keep the shoulders out of the ears,

Breath steady.

Chin is off the chest for these last couple breaths.

Choose where you want to look,

Right?

You could look down for more ease,

Look up if that feels okay on your neck,

And then slowly hands to the ground.

Make your way to down dog,

Take a moment,

Reset.

The breath is still there.

The core is helping you lift the hips up and back,

Then lift your left leg.

Reach through the heel,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Knee to nose,

Thigh into the chest here.

Inhale,

Lift up and back,

Exhale,

Knee to nose,

Lift the body away from the floor,

Make space for your knee.

Stay there on your inhale,

Exhale,

Step it through high lunge,

Take a moment,

Hug the left glute into the midline,

Plant your right heel,

Open up,

Warrior two.

Once you've found the shape,

Settle the eyes over your front fingers,

Bring your warrior energy,

Ground through your feet,

Give it a little more time,

A few more breaths before we take it deeper.

Left forearm to the thigh,

Right arm up and over,

Palm faces you for more ease around your neck.

Stay light on your left elbow,

Find the length on the inhale,

Exhale,

Pivot upper body towards the sky.

Three more breaths here,

Make sure you're not sticking your butt out,

Make sure you're not tuning out here,

Last little bit.

Look down to your mat,

Plant your palms,

Down dog or vinyasa.

We're doing one more side,

Sorry,

One more series of standing poses here,

Getting a little more into those hips,

And doing a bit more for our low back.

So as you're ready,

Find your downward facing dog,

Inhale,

Right leg up and back,

Exhale,

Right knee,

Right tricep,

Lift it high and wide,

Inhale,

Right leg lifts,

Exhale,

Right knee,

Left forearm,

Elbow,

And you stay with it,

Lift it a little higher,

Inhale,

Up and back,

Exhale,

Right foot steps through,

High lunge,

Right away,

Exhale,

Warrior two,

Settle in.

See if it feels the same this time.

Now once you've found that warrior two,

You're reacquainted,

Flip your palms open,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Reach it up and back,

Reverse warrior,

I love the shape,

Really stretching all those muscles around your right ribs.

Inhale brings you to warrior two,

Exhale,

Straighten out the legs,

Shorten up the stance if you want,

Inhale,

Reach forward,

Forward,

Forward,

Forward,

For triangle,

Hips can go back,

And then exhale,

Stack your palms,

Split your arms,

Can rest your hand on shin,

Ankle,

Block,

Or floor.

So you could play with coming up a little higher actually up the leg and seeing if that helps you rotate right side body underneath and through.

Spread your fingers,

Press through four corners of your feet,

Inhale here,

Exhale,

Belly,

And come to warrior two,

Okay,

And then exhale,

Right leg up and back,

Exhale,

Right knee,

Right tricep,

Lift it high,

And then from here stay in your wide stance,

Bring your toes to face forward,

Bring your hands on your hips,

Okay,

Start to hinge forward halfway,

Torso parallel to the ground,

And then place your fingers underneath your shoulders,

Maybe you hold on to the outer shins or ankles,

Get a little tug,

Hips stay over your heels,

Wide forward fold here,

Let's give it four or five breaths to feel into back body,

Right,

Legs and back,

Hands back to your hips,

Inhale,

Come up just halfway,

Exhale,

Come all the way up,

Facing the front of your mat,

High lunge,

Exhale,

Down you go,

Downward facing dog.

So just a note about those knee to nose actions,

When you lift your leg up and back,

You're really in a down dog shape,

Right,

A three-legged dog,

Once the knee's forward you want it to feel like a plank,

So let's really explore that here,

Left leg up as you're ready,

Here we go,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Left knee,

Left tricep,

Move the weight forward,

Shoulders over wrists,

Inhale,

Reach up and back,

Exhale,

Left knee,

Right elbow,

Maybe you come on the inside of that right foot,

Really feel your obliques,

Inhale,

Lift it back up,

Exhale,

Step into your high lunge crescent warrior,

Strong in the legs here,

Open it up,

Warrior two,

Press into the pinky edge of right foot here,

Settle into the shape from the waist down,

Nothing will change,

Inhale,

Flip your palms open,

Exhale,

Reach up and back like you're leaning over something big,

A beach ball or something,

Belly stays in,

Breath stays steady,

Flow,

Breathe in here,

Breathe out now,

Inhale,

Warrior two,

Exhale,

Straighten the legs,

A little shorter stance,

Some people like it in triangle,

Follow your inhale as you reach forward trying to touch something in space,

Exhale,

Stack your hands,

Triangle pose,

Trikonasana,

Imagine you're in between two panes of glass,

Pressing through both feet here,

So there's this sense of strengthening the legs and a lightness to your upper body,

Expand in all directions,

Reach,

Breathe three more times,

This time lift up back into warrior two,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Ten toes,

Face forward,

Hands to your waist,

If you want to do a little bit of a different variation,

You can interlock your hands,

Excuse me,

Fingers here,

Squeeze the blades together,

Inhale,

Lift your chest up,

Exhale,

Slowly fold forward and down,

Hinging at your waist,

Bend your knees if you need,

You could always release your grip,

Walk your hands from the feet,

One side and the other,

Or forward and back,

Taking care to have your hands at least in between the feet or farther back,

Hands back to the hips,

Inhale,

Slowly come up halfway,

Exhale,

Stay,

Inhale,

Come up all the way,

And then face forward on your mat,

Okay,

So balance here,

Let's do tree pose,

Classic yoga,

Bring your right knee up in line with your hip,

And then without using your hands,

Can you externally rotate,

Right knee moves to the right,

Find the inside of your left leg anywhere except for the knee joint,

You could lift your arms up to the sky,

But keep those shoulders back and down,

Looking down for more balance,

Strengthening and lengthening the left leg like a tree trunk,

Release that,

Shake it out,

Let's balance out the body,

So left knee in line with left hip,

Open it up to start without using your hands,

Right,

Left knee all the way to the left,

Right toes point straight forward,

Then maybe use a hand to press left foot into your right leg,

Anywhere but the knee,

Right leg presses back,

Could lift your arms up,

Right,

If you touch your palms,

Especially at the heart space,

It's a little more balancing,

If you close your eyes,

It's a little more difficult,

Even if you fall in any kind of balance shape,

At least you've tried something,

Right,

Remembering that this is our celebration,

We're happy little trees here like Bob Ross,

Nothing too serious,

Refrain from commentary,

And then releasing that,

Shake it out,

Shake it out,

Let's go into a little bit of a warm down,

We'll start with some core,

Okay,

So go ahead and find your way onto your back and bring your knees all the way into your chest,

Your head up towards your knees,

So it's almost like a reclined forward fold here,

You can bring your head back on the mat,

Maybe rock gently side to side for your low back love,

And as you're ready bring your feet straight up to the sky,

Got a two minute song here,

So we'll try to make it two minutes of abs,

Okay,

Hands behind the head,

Elbows are wide,

Drop right leg halfway down,

Inhale,

Lift your chest,

Exhale,

Right elbow towards left knee,

Inhale,

Open up,

Exhale,

Twist,

Inhale,

Open up,

Exhale,

Twist,

Keep reaching through your legs,

Five more,

Four,

Three,

Two,

And one,

Switch,

Come to center,

Take a moment,

Inhale,

Prepare,

Exhale,

Left elbow towards right knee,

Inhale,

Open up,

Exhale,

Reach from your heart,

Not your chin,

Good,

Five more,

Twist,

Twist,

Three,

Two,

One,

Both feet up to the sky,

Plant your feet on the ground,

Widen the knee,

So this is a butterfly,

Right,

Hands are still behind the head though,

Inhale,

Lift the chest up,

Exhale,

Try to touch right knee to right,

Sorry,

Right elbow to right knee,

Inhale to center,

Keep your head up,

Chest up,

Exhale,

Left elbow,

Left knee,

Right,

Like a side bend,

Getting into the sides of your torso,

Side to side,

Move on the exhales,

Side to side,

Slowly last two,

Last one,

Come to center and relax,

Knees together,

Hug them in,

You could draw two circles with your knees,

A little juicier for the hip sockets and then reversing the circles,

Let's take a figure four stretch,

So both feet on the ground,

Right foot flexed over left knee,

Press right thigh away or thread the needle,

Reach in between,

Grab back of left thigh or left shin,

Slower breath can be helpful as we warm down and then relax the left foot,

Keep the connection if that works for you,

Tee out your arms,

Slowly letting your knees fall to the right for a twisted twist,

If you don't want to keep the foot there,

Just do a regular twist,

Stack your knees,

Okay,

Come back to center,

You could tick-tock your knees side to side for a moment,

Find neutral,

Flex left foot,

Take your figure four shape,

Making sure you move your heel across right over the knee,

Flex at the ankle,

If pressing away left thigh is enough,

Stay there,

Otherwise interlace fingers behind right thigh,

So you're pulling on the back of that thigh as the left elbow presses into the left inner thigh,

Big breath into those hips,

That low back,

You could keep the connection where you have it,

Just release the hands,

Right foot's on the floor,

Tee out your arms,

On your exhale letting the knees fall just like that to your left,

Choose a place for your eyes,

Left forward or right,

If you're not unwinded yet,

You can do so,

Come to the middle,

Okay,

Giving you about a minute here just to play,

Right,

If you need a bridge pose,

If you need an inversion,

If you need a butterfly,

Go there now,

Start to make your way into our final shape,

Corpse pose,

Shavasana,

Let go of effort,

Close the eyes,

Tongue rests above the upper space of your mouth behind the teeth,

Candles in the sun,

Down,

Yeah,

See,

See,

See business and governments just watch as the innocent fade,

Mindless bureaucracy fails,

Yeah,

Hindering,

Get your breath bigger,

Ending the way we did the beginning,

Getting the breath more fully in the body,

Releasing it,

Bringing it back in,

Letting it go,

Can wiggle your fingers and toes,

Reawakening,

Could bend the knees or stretch your arms overhead,

Take a moment here,

Rolling onto your side for a fetal position,

This idea that we are constantly dying and being reborn,

Right,

Letting go of something that doesn't serve us and able to choose something new to grow into something new,

Into something more authentic and something closer to our spirit and you feel fully connected to your body,

Fully connected to the breath,

Then start to make your way up to your seat,

Maybe you sit the same way as you did in the beginning but you notice something has shifted and then bring the palms together as a way to honour the effort that you made to show up for yourself,

Right hand presses into the left,

Left hand presses back,

Big inhale,

Exhale,

Fold forward,

Little bow here,

Thank you for sharing your practice,

The light in me honours the light in you.

Namaste.