All right,
Yogi,
So we're going to begin on the back today.
And of course that means beginning on the back however that feels okay.
So it might be legs extended or it might be knees bent,
Arms dropped,
Whichever,
Which way that you need to.
And then just have this moment of getting connected,
Right?
Getting acquainted with yourself,
Whatever that looks like,
Whatever that means.
And then take a full breath in through the nose and just sigh it out of the mouth.
And then just let these next couple of breaths pass without any kind of control.
Maybe it's just you paying attention to the breath.
Noticing where it goes,
Noticing how it feels.
Last class before this one was all about breath because breath is so important.
We do it 24 hours a day.
It is the first thing that we do when we're born and it is the last thing that we do right before we slip away from this world.
And so it's really important,
Right,
To pay attention to our breath and how it's circulating through the body and maybe not circulating through the body.
Just practice of noticing,
Just notice.
And if there's a tendency to grab hold of the breath,
To start to control it or push it or force it,
Just kind of open up the hands,
Relax the body and continue to just pay attention to the next inhale and exhale.
If your mind has slipped away,
If it has put something above the breath,
If it has kind of made a list of things,
Of priorities and something else comes above the breath,
I want you to shift priorities.
I want you to make the breath most important right now,
The most important thing that you can pay attention to.
And when you walk out of this room,
Things can change.
But right now,
Let the breath take precedence.
Be here feeling the breath come in and go out just for a few more moments in this stillness.
We're going to use the breath guys to sort of do a short cleansing.
So sometimes we take that big breath in and that big breath out just as a normal cleansing.
But the important piece here,
Especially when you're cleansing,
Especially when you're kind of pushing things out of the body or letting things flow out of the body is actually the exhale.
And so we're going to take a big breath together.
But before we do,
I just want you to tell yourself that you're going to take the biggest exhale that you can.
So you're going to work to really lengthen this next exhale after our big inhale.
So let the next breath roll out of your body just nice and sweet and simple.
And then take a really big inhale,
Full capacity of the lungs,
Breathe it in,
Breathe it in,
Breathe it in.
And then let it go,
Let it go,
Let it go,
Let it go,
Keep letting it go,
Keep pressing it out every bit of air,
Every bit of air,
Every bit of air,
And then just let the next inhale come naturally after all of that air is out.
Just let it come back to its normal rhythm.
And it might start big at first,
But then it'll settle out,
Settle down.
Let's stretch both arms up over top of the head,
Lengthen through the legs,
Especially if the knees have been bent,
Point the toes,
Get the legs nice and straight and pulling and tugging top to bottom.
And then go ahead and draw the knees in toward your chest,
Give them a little squeeze here.
You can get a little rock side to side as we often do,
So using those hands to kind of grab on and rock a little right,
Rock a little left,
Rock a little right.
And then bringing yourself back to a neutral position,
Yogis,
Set your feet down into the floor so that the knees point up.
And we're just going to wiggle the feet about hip distance apart in case they're really close or really wide apart.
Drop your arms by your side.
Then I want you to take your right leg and stretch it straight up into the air,
So toes up toward the ceiling,
And just get a little movement here.
So think about rolling the toes in different directions.
Maybe it's kind of like a circle,
Maybe it's just pointing and flexing,
So toes point and then heel presses.
And then let the foot become neutral,
So let it just be up there with the legs.
So right leg extended,
Left leg stays where it is,
Left foot into the floor.
With the arms by your side,
I want you to start to tuck chin toward your chest,
Lift the head up off of the floor,
And then see if you can lift the shoulders up off of the floor.
Put your fingertips toward the front of the room,
Let them hover so you're using a little bit of your core strength here,
And release the jaw.
Like release the teeth clenching if that's going on.
And then so slowly,
Yogis,
Start to lower the head and the shoulders and the hands back down.
We're going to slip it right into reclined pigeon.
So I want you to bend the knee,
Bend the right knee,
And bring right ankle on top of your left thigh.
You can keep it just as it is with the left foot down or you thread your hands through and around that left thigh.
So the right hand would go through that little triangle left hand around the outer edge of your left leg,
And you might pull and tug those pieces in toward yourself.
A little bit of floor warm up here today before our sun salutation is.
Go ahead and bring that left foot down to the floor if it's lifted,
And I want you to keep the legs as they are.
Just peel open your arms.
So take the arms out to the side and let the left knee tip to the left side,
And as the knee tips to the side,
The right foot kind of catches on the floor,
So you take that little gentleman style position and tip it over.
Maybe chin goes to the right side.
We spoke in the last class about the breath,
And we spoke about how important it is to breathe into all parts of the body,
To breathe into the parts that we know really well and the parts that we may not know at all,
To breathe into the parts that we absolutely love and maybe even the parts that we've been taught to hate.
We breathe into the parts that feel good and stretchy,
And we breathe into the parts that maybe have a little bit of pain,
A little bit of tightness,
Or a little bit of healing to go through.
We breathe into the whole of our being,
The whole of our body.
Come back through center,
And as you do,
Untangle the legs,
Take them into a wide V up into the air.
So think about peeling right foot away from left foot.
You kind of just spread the legs a little bit.
Nice.
And then zip the legs together,
Yogis,
So draw them together,
Thigh to thigh,
Foot to foot.
Bend the knees,
Squeeze them in toward your chest,
So give them a little squeeze like you were before.
If you need that rock side to side,
You can absolutely take it,
But then we're going to set the feet down into the floor.
So feet about hip distance apart,
Arms can drop by your side.
It's time.
We're going to keep the right foot down and lift the left leg straight up toward the ceiling.
You may get a little movement there in that left foot,
A little point stretch,
Flex.
And then holding the left foot still so it becomes neutral,
I want you to tuck your chin toward your chest.
Start to lift your head and shoulders and then your hands up off of the floor so the fingertips stretch toward the front of the room.
Think about pressing your lower back down into the floor and pulling your belly in toward your spine a little bit here.
Little engagement,
Little engagement.
And then a soft landing,
Yogis,
Bring it on down.
Keep that left leg lifted because we're going to put it into reclined pigeon.
The left knee,
Left ankle to the right thigh.
Again,
You can keep this right foot down to the floor or you might deepen it by weaving those hands through and around,
Giving a little tug in.
And then if that right foot is lifted,
Just gently set it down,
Release the arms and the hands,
Take them out to the side and then let the knees and the feet go to the right side,
Just as they are.
So that right knee tips to the right,
The left foot might catch on the floor.
You might turn your chin in the opposite direction,
So turning the chin toward the left shoulder.
Give it two more breaths here.
And this twist.
And then come back through center and start to untangle the legs into that wide V.
So think about pulling foot away from foot like you're making the V up in the air.
Get a little stretch.
Give and roll both sets of toes around now,
A little flex point.
Nice,
Your gaze.
And then from here,
We're going to go into a little happy baby.
So starting to bend the knees and slide your hands up,
Up,
Up,
Or rather maybe it's down,
Down,
Down toward your feet,
Toward your ankles or the back sides of your thighs.
Tug those knees down toward the floor.
Tug them down toward your underarms.
And then slide back into that wide leg position.
So as you release the hands from the feet or whatever you're holding onto,
Take the legs wide first and then bring them together.
Zip them up,
Thigh to thigh,
Foot to foot.
Please come in toward your chest,
Give a little squeeze,
Give a little tug.
Maybe that side to side sway,
Maybe a little right left,
Right left.
And then get a little forward back and get a forward back a few times,
Guys.
Get a little rock forward back until you can come up to seated.
And when you get there,
Just find a soft place to land.
Back straight,
Maybe eyes closed.
Tune in,
Tap into your breath again.
Just this.
And if your mind tells you different,
If it tells you more than just this,
Give a little grin.
Know that you have a choice and draw your attention back to your breath.
Meet me in child's pose.
So tumbling over top of the legs or sweeping them out from underneath of you,
You're going to sink hips back toward your heels.
Lower the chest toward the floor,
Extend the arms.
You might walk the hands out in front of you.
And when our breath moves inside of us,
There are places where it stops,
Where it just does not go.
That means the life force,
Right?
The prana,
The life force within us also stops and we get aches and we get pains and we get held and cramped up emotions and sensations.
And so I want you to work.
I want you to work at breathing into your entire body today from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
Even if it's a place that you've been avoiding for a long time as a,
And as a matter of fact,
Especially if it's a place that you've been avoiding for a long time,
Send it deep into those places because it's those places that often need it most.
Let's pull up to hands and knees.
And just in your own yogi style,
Guys,
Without much instruction,
I want you to get a couple of cat cows.
So typically we lift chin and tailbone,
Drop belly and then round through the spine,
Tuck chin and tailbone under,
But maybe it looks a little different on your body today.
Maybe there's some kind of stretching that needs to happen between the two postures.
Maybe the postures don't look exactly like they normally do.
And it's just really about digging into all of these places.
As we begin to move the body,
It gives us an opportunity to send the breath to some of those spaces that might have been blocked off or might be blocked off in our regular day.
It's like shifting the scene just a little bit to open the door,
To crack open the door,
And then the breath comes in.
And then just find a neutral spine,
Guys,
Neutral body here.
We're going to get a little intermission by lifting the right arm up into the air and threading the needle on through.
We'll come back to those cat cows,
But first thread this right arm underneath of the body behind that left wrist,
Right shoulder coming down to the floor.
And then left palm presses start to unwind.
And as you unwind,
You might kick the left leg back behind you and tuck the toes against the floor so it becomes a little bit of a twisting aspect here.
Gives you a little more space to open up the chest,
But it also incorporates that twisting into our warmup.
And then softly,
Guys,
Bring right hand down next to left,
Left knee next to right,
And go right back into that practice of cat cow.
Go right back into that wave-like motion through the spine,
Or maybe it's a little circular,
Maybe it's a little moon-shaped,
Crescent moon,
Or maybe it's more like a full moon.
Get a little movement with the breath.
Get a little building of the breath.
So as you're here,
Starting to work into nose breathing only.
Good.
And then bring yourself to that neutral spine so we can try this left side for threaded needle.
Left arm lifts high,
Right palm presses.
You're going to weave that left arm underneath of the body behind your right wrist,
Left shoulder to the floor.
Take a few breaths.
And then right palm presses to unwind.
Lift the heart.
Lift the left arm up into the air and maybe kick that right leg back.
Extend the right leg,
Tuck the toes against the floor.
Little bit of a twist here.
And then left hand coming down next to right,
Right knee next to left.
I want you to take just a couple of cat cows,
Guys,
To enter into your first downward-facing dog.
So no specific number,
Just something that feels good into your body that allows you to be led into that downward-facing dog.
The fingertips will spread,
The hips will lift,
The heels will kind of work their way toward the floor,
That big upside down V,
Taking up a lot of space front to back.
And dropping the head in between the shoulders,
Just give it a little shake side to side.
So for our sun salutation As today,
They're going to be really simple,
But we're just going to work our way a little frontwards and a little backwards.
So we'll do some sunnies at the front,
At the top,
And then we'll do some sunnies at the back and we'll vitiate between the two.
I want you to start at the front.
So rise up onto tibitos,
Take a little walk all the way up to the top of the mat.
So you catch yourself in this forward fold and then halfway lift as you inhale,
Fill the lungs,
And then fold back in,
Chest toward your thighs.
And slowly rise up,
Especially this first time,
Just taking the time guys all the way up to standing arms,
Sweep wide and tall,
Touch the palms together above the head.
And then we're going to complete that circle by bringing the hands down the center line of the body and dropping the arms by the side.
So open heart and open hands.
And then on the next inhale,
Take the arms up again,
It might be straight out in front of you or straight up beside you.
Great fold fingertips toward your toes.
Good,
Take a halfway lift,
Breathe in.
And come on into down dog this first time.
So palms down and feet back,
Knowing that you can always do that.
We'll add a vinyasa,
But that's always available to just step back or kind of walk forward.
From here,
We're going to take the trip all the way to the back of the mat.
So think of walking fingertips toward your toes.
And then just like you did at the front of the mat,
Take a halfway lift,
Breathe in,
Fold back in and exhale.
Rise up to standing,
Big sweep of the arms,
Touch the palms above the head and then draw them down the center line of your body,
Drop the arms by your side,
Full exhale.
On the next inhale,
Reach the fingertips straight up toward the ceiling,
Lengthen through the body and then forward fold fingertips toward your toes.
And when you're at the back of the mat,
Guys,
No halfway lift needed here.
Instead,
Use the inhale to walk your hands forward,
Top of the push-up.
So hands and fingers walk all the way up to the top of the mat,
Lengthening through the spine.
You're going to lower down through that push-up,
Elbows bend close to the ribs.
When you get to the bottom,
Either sphinx or maybe cobra.
So rooting down through forearms,
Elbows and palms or palms to lift the heart,
Point the toes.
Beautiful.
And then downward facing dog.
So it might be sort of a backing up onto hands and knees.
And then down dog,
You could back up hands and knees,
Cat cow to down dog.
You have some options there,
As always.
So we did a little forward,
A little backward.
We come to the front again,
Rise up onto tippy toes,
Take that little walk all the way up toward the fingertips,
Halfway lift,
Breath in,
Fall back in toward your thighs,
Exhale.
Come on up to standing,
Sweep the arms,
Touch the palms.
Complete that circle by bringing the hands down the midline,
Dropping your arms by the side.
When you're ready to inhale,
Reach up again,
Big inhale,
Forward fold,
Gaze in toward your belly as your chest comes toward the thighs.
Take a halfway lift,
Breathe in,
Top of the push-up now,
You're stepping or hopping back,
You could always skip this piece.
Forward down through the push-up,
Heart comes through,
You gain some distance between the mat and your chest as you lift and then downward facing dog.
Beautiful work,
Yogis.
So again,
Moving forward to back,
So the next one you do is at the back of the mat,
Fingertips start walking.
It's a halfway lift to breathe in and then a forward fold as you exhale,
Rolling,
Rounding your way up to standing,
Circling the arms,
Completing that circle by touching the palms to one another,
Drawing them down the center line,
Bring them down,
Down,
Down,
Finish the exhale with arms by your side and then inhale again,
Reaching fingertips straight up,
Forward fold,
Forward fold.
So halfway lift,
Meet it at the bottom here,
Instead of straight walk forward,
Top of the push-up,
Lower down and take a vinyasa.
You pull your heart through cobra or sphinx,
Maybe even up dog and then downward facing dog.
And we roll through this a few more times at the rhythm of your own breath.
When you're ready,
It starts again at the top of the mat,
You walk fingertips toward fingers,
Half lift and fold in.
All the way up to standing,
Touch palms,
Complete that circle,
You know,
Start to follow the intuition,
Start to follow that natural rhythm of inhale and exhale.
Let the breath breathe into all parts of your body,
All parts of your body.
Lighten you up,
Breathe,
Lighten you up and breathe.
Lighten you up,
Breathe,
Lighten you up and breathe.
Lighten you up,
Breathe,
Lighten you up and breathe.
Lighten you up,
Breathe,
Lighten you up and breathe.
Lighten you up,
Breathe,
Lighten you up and breathe.
Beautiful work,
Yogis.
Let's go one more full time through,
Whether it's the back of the mat or the front of the mat,
Take it through one more sun salutation A.
And as you finish the sun A that you're working on,
Our landing spot,
Guys,
Our meet up point will be a forward fold at the top of the mat.
So maybe a little walking up,
Maybe you're at the top of the mat and instead of taking a vinyasa,
You'd rather just meet me there.
Let the hands and head drop once you get there.
Maybe a little movement side to side.
There might even be some bending of one knee and then the other.
Let the hands drop.
If they're lifted,
Yogis,
Take a halfway lift,
Breathe in and then fold back in and let it out.
Good.
Put a big bend into your left knee.
Keep the left hand down toward the floor and stretch your right arm up into the air.
Just take a nice little twist here.
Let's change sides.
Right hand comes down,
Right knee bends,
Left arm lifts.
Maybe that left leg can go straight.
Good.
And then left hand comes down.
Once you're in that forward fold,
Let's wiggle feet a little closer together underneath of you.
Maybe big toes touching.
We're going to slide right on up to chair pose.
So start to bend the knees,
Sink the hips,
Lift the chest,
Lift the arms.
Beautiful.
Halfway forward,
Reach back,
Ardha Utkatasana,
Half chair.
Nice,
Yogis.
From here,
I want you to come all the way to standing and extend both arms straight up above the head.
We're going to just work on a little bit of balance here.
So I want you to start by grabbing right hand to your left wrist.
Grab a hold of that left wrist with your right hand.
We're going to take a side bend,
Guys.
We're going to take a lean to the right,
But as you do,
See if you can crisscross left ankle behind right.
So that as you tug to the right,
That left ankle kind of sweeps behind.
You might notice that you feel a little tiny wobbly because you're not balanced as normal,
So you're working on a little bit of balance,
Just a little bit.
Good.
And then come back through center and just step left foot next to right.
You can release the grip on the wrist,
But keep the arms and the hands extended straight up.
And then shift the weight into your right foot.
Go ahead and pop your left heel up off of the floor.
So you're just on your left tippy toes,
And maybe that's where you stay,
But maybe you lift the left foot completely off of the floor for marionette left knee popping up in front of you.
Find one place to gaze.
Nice,
You'll gaze.
And then do this.
Keep the arms dropped by your side and step this left foot back just about two to three feet.
So the legs are straight,
Little bitty gap.
We're going to take a bind behind the lower back.
So it may be bending elbows and grabbing a hold of the opposite elbow.
You could do a little fist bump behind your back or interlace your fingers.
You might even flip your palms together and upward like reverse prayer.
Take an inhale,
Lift your chin and try to create a little bit of a back bend here,
A little lift in the chest,
And then forward fold over top of your right thigh,
Pyramid pose with a bind.
If you get down there and you feel too wobbly,
You can always drop your hands,
But if not,
Then try to keep the bind a couple more breaths.
And then if you're bound,
Let the hands come down toward that right foot.
Just let it drop.
Take an extra breath here.
So from here,
Yogis,
We're going to move into a low twisted lunge,
Which means we need a bigger stance.
I want you to start to bend the right knee,
Shift a little weight into that right foot and slide your left toes back behind you,
Kind of wiggle them.
Once you have that lunging structure,
Then send the right arm up into the air.
So big left up,
Right fingertips stretching toward the ceiling,
Chest opening to that right side.
And before we come out of this posture,
I want you to know where we're going.
So we're going to a ninja-like pose,
A Skandhasana,
And we're going to stay at the top of the mat,
Guys.
So I want you to bring your right hand down and start to turn your right toes toward the long side of your mat.
So start to turn them to the left.
And you can sink down low.
You can bring your right hip down toward your right heel,
Or you might pop up with right forearm to your right thigh.
Lots of different variations here.
So lots of different heights that you can choose from.
Your hands can stay down,
Or you could lift them up in front of your heart.
Couple of breaths.
Breathe into all parts of the body,
The parts that allow you to do things,
And the parts that kind of stop you from doing things,
Injuries,
Bones,
Joints,
Mobility.
And then whether you're really far down,
Guys,
Or lifted up a little higher,
We're going to press from here to warrior B to the back of the mat.
So you're going to press up,
Lengthen the legs,
Left toes turn toward the back of the room,
Left knee bends and arms open.
So chest open,
Fingertips extending out from the shoulders,
Maybe a little higher.
From this warrior B,
Bring the left forearm down,
Extended side angle.
You'll rest the forearm on top of the left thigh and reach the right arm up and over top of the right ear.
Reach it toward the back of the room,
Right where we are,
Reach,
Reach,
Reach.
Nice.
And then letting your body know again where we're headed,
Guys,
Before we head there.
So you're going to move from here to a supported side plank on the right side.
So try this.
Try circling that right hand down to the floor.
And when your hips start to turn,
Drop your right knee.
Maybe the left hand doesn't even come down.
And you're going to turn open,
Left leg extending back,
Left arm reaching up toward the ceiling.
The weight shifts entirely into that right side body.
And then we come up for a little gate pose.
So if the left foot is lifted,
Set it down.
Left hand comes to your left thigh.
You pop up onto that right knee and reach your right arm up and over.
It's almost like a sky archer on the knee,
Right?
It's opening up through this right side body.
Beautiful breath work.
Full capacity of the lungs.
Taking that inhale really deep,
Extending the exhale.
Let the next inhale come,
Yogis.
Let the next breath come.
And then on the exhale,
Cartwheel the hands down and we're going to step the back foot,
That left foot,
All the way up between the palms,
Warrior A.
So as soon as that left foot steps up,
Pivot and plant the back foot.
You're going to press down to lift up.
So root down through the feet and then reach up through the fingertips.
Last posture of this flow,
Of this side.
Give it a go,
Right?
Give it your all.
And deeply into that left knee.
One more inhale.
On an exhale,
Bring the hands down around that left foot.
We're going downward facing dog.
So you'll turn onto the right toes.
Step the left foot back to meet it.
Hips pike up high.
And if vinyasa is calling your name,
You might pull forward to plank,
Sweep it through,
Or you might just stay here in downward facing dog.
We all meet up in the same place,
Whether it's here in down dog or shavasana at the end of class.
Lots of space and steps in between.
Let's rise up onto tibby toes,
Yogis.
Walk your feet up toward your hands.
So walk your feet up toward your fingertips.
And when you get there,
Just halfway lift,
Breathe in.
Fold back in and exhale.
This time,
Let's bend the right knee and lift the left arm first.
So take a little twist here,
Just like we did at the beginning of the last flow.
Changing sides.
Left hand comes down.
Left knee bends.
Left knee lifts.
And then right hand drops down.
You're going to wiggle the feet a little closer together underneath of you.
Chair pose from the bottom.
Rooting down to rise.
Rooting down to lift up.
Lift the chest and the arms.
Expand and elevate the breath.
Halfway forward,
Reach and extend the arms back behind you.
Little half chair.
And then rise all the way up to standing,
Lengthen the legs,
Reach the arms straight up.
So fingertips toward the ceiling.
Again,
Working on balance just a little bit here,
Guys.
Left hand to right wrist this time.
Give it a tug to the left.
And as you do,
Maybe you can sweep right ankle behind left ankle,
This sort of crisscrossing.
So right ankle behind left ankle,
Leaning to the left side.
And then come back through center.
Step right foot next to left.
Reach the arms and the hands up.
You might let go of the wrist.
And then I want you to shift the weight into your left foot.
Just pick up your right heel.
Start there.
And then maybe that's where you stay or maybe right foot coming off of the floor entirely.
Mary in that pose.
Right foot.
And then all together,
Yogis,
Hands and arms drop down by your side.
You're going to step this right foot back just about two to three feet.
Make the bind behind you.
Arms,
Hands,
Fists,
Palms.
Find something that works.
Open up your heart by lifting your chin.
Create a little bit of a back bend.
And then start to forward fold.
Chest over top of your thigh,
Pyramid pose with a bind.
It might feel a little wobbly,
You have to press extra firmly with the feet into the floor.
And then drop the hands down toward that left foot.
Just hang for a moment.
We have to create space for a low twisted lunge,
Guys.
So starting to bend into the left knee,
Kind of scoot that right foot back,
Slide it back,
Wiggle it back.
When you catch the lunge,
Then left arm goes up into the air,
Lifting high,
Chest turning to the left side.
Now here's where we give instructions to our mind before our body.
So knowing that you're going to come into some sort of ninja posture here at the back of the mat,
Start to bring the left hand down and you're turning to the right side so your left toes turn to that long edge of the mat.
They turn to the right.
Stay here at the back of the mat and you can sink down,
Left hip toward left heel or maybe it's left forearm to left thigh as you get a little lunge on the left side.
Find something that is suitable for your practice for your body and not your body in general,
How your body is today because it's different today than it was yesterday.
It's different today than it was 16 years ago.
It's different today than it will be tomorrow.
And then from here,
Whether you're low or a little bit higher,
Guys,
Pressing to warrior B toward your right foot toward the front of the room,
Toward the front of your mat.
So lengthen the legs,
Turn the right toes out,
Bend deeply into the right knee,
Open up your arms,
Just peel open your heart as the right hand pulls away from the left hand.
Your chin can turn toward those right fingertips.
Continue to find your breath even when it's challenging,
Especially when it's challenging.
Start to bring right forearm down onto the right thigh.
Left arm lifts up and over,
Extended side angle.
And then again,
Directing the mind before the body,
Guys,
Knowing that you're going to move from here to supported side plank.
See if you can take this left hand and just sort of circle it down toward the floor.
When it catches on your mat and your hips turn,
Set your left knee down and then start to stretch open with the right side body.
Right hand might not even touch the floor.
Right leg extends back behind you,
Right fingertips reaching up toward the ceiling.
And then if the right foot is lifted,
Go ahead and set the inner side of that right foot down,
Gate pose,
Right hand to right thigh.
You pop up to standing on that left knee,
Reach,
Extend that left arm up and over.
Again,
Like sky archer on the knee.
And then here's that last big posture,
Guys,
Of this side.
Take an in breath,
Take an inhale.
On the exhale,
Cartwheel the hands down,
Step your right foot,
That's the back foot,
All the way up between your palms.
Pivot and plant the left foot now,
Warrior A.
Extend that left leg,
Bend deeply into that right knee,
Arms reach up and you almost have this stacking of hands to shoulders to hips.
Just a little go.
In yoga practice,
We often come across sensations and feelings.
We often come across injuries and places that we've been incubating things that we don't necessarily want to pay attention to.
And the breath comes up against those things and sometimes we turn it away,
Sometimes we push it away,
But instead,
Guys,
Let the breath penetrate those areas in your body.
Let it push through like water pushes through and moves debris through a river.
Take one more inhale here at the top,
Arms reaching.
And then on your exhale,
Hands come down around that right foot down,
Dog,
Turn onto your left toes to step the right foot back,
Pike the hips,
Drop the head.
And this time,
Guys,
All together pull forward,
Top of the push-up plank pose.
Start to lower down through that push-up,
Elbows bend close to the body,
Pull your heart through,
Sphinx,
Cobra,
Up dog,
Some kind of heart opener,
Back bend,
Feel the strength and the softness through the backside of your body.
And then child's pose,
Sink it back,
Hips toward heels.
Pull up hands and knees.
And just like you did at the beginning of class,
A little intuitive cat-cow,
Just to kind of wring things out before we get down onto the back.
So a little forward tug of chest and lifting chin,
A little curling in of tailbone and head.
And then once you've had a few times through,
We're going to come to seated first and then roll all the way down onto the back.
So you might crisscross ankles,
Roll over,
Or sweep them out to the side,
But lowering all the way down onto the back.
When you get there,
Tug the knees in toward your chest,
Give them a squeeze.
And then set the feet down into the floor just like we did at the beginning of class.
Feet go down into the floor,
Knees point up,
Feet about hip distance apart.
Little different version of what we had in the beginning,
Guys.
Right leg goes up into the air,
Give it a little lift here.
So right leg stretching straight up,
Feet or foot,
Rather,
Toward the ceiling.
And this time I want you to press down through your left foot and try to get a little one-leg bridge pose here.
So if it feels a little wonky,
You might want to wiggle that left foot a little closer to your midline,
But then press down to lift up.
Lift the hips up off of the floor,
Gain some distance between your back and your mat.
So create a little distance there.
Nice breath work.
And then slowly,
Slowly lower down.
Keep that right leg lifted though.
Draw your left knee in toward your chest,
Give it a little squeeze.
Nice.
Keep it pulling in toward your chest,
Guys.
And then do this.
Tuck your chin toward your chest,
Pull your head and shoulders up off of the floor again,
Just like you did at the beginning,
But now you have sort of this knee and shin to hold on to.
And then keep that right leg extended,
But try to lower it down toward the floor and just hover your right heel off of your mat,
Just about an inch or two.
Little engagement here in the core,
Pressing your lower back into the floor,
Drawing your belly in toward your lower back.
And then first take your right leg back up into the air.
Stretch it up high.
Lower your head,
Your shoulders,
And that left foot down to the floor.
Let's revisit reclined pigeon.
So bending the right knee,
Right ankle on top of your left thigh.
Again,
You can stay where you are or take it deeper by weaving the hands through and around.
You can make it clasp behind the left thigh and tug inward.
And then if that left foot is lifted,
Gently set it down onto the floor.
A little bit deeper twist here.
Yogis,
Try wrapping right thigh over top of your left thigh,
So kind of squeezing them together and then letting those knees tip to the left.
Arms can open up here like a little cactus or strong tea,
Maybe chin turning toward that right shoulder.
And then coming back through center and tingling the legs wide feet just like we did in the beginning.
Take the legs wide up into the air,
Foot away from foot,
Big stretch.
Draw the legs together and then draw the knees in toward your chest.
Give them a good squeeze.
We've got one more side to go.
Gently set the feet down into the floor,
Knees bent.
We're taking the left leg straight up into the air.
Good,
You might get movement there in the toes and the ankles.
I saw some of you.
And then we're lifting up to a one leg bridge pose first,
Guys.
So if you need to move that right foot a little closer to the midline,
You can do that.
Otherwise pressing down through the right foot,
Lifting the lower back,
Lifting the tailbone up off of the floor.
Just some space.
Beautiful breath work.
And then slowly lowering all the way down but keeping that left leg lifted.
Draw your right knee in toward your chest.
Give it a squeeze.
Little bit of belly work here.
Start to draw chin toward your chest,
Head lifts up off of the floor as well as your shoulder.
So there's engagement there.
And then you're going to start to lower that left leg down,
Down,
Down toward the floor.
Just hover it like an inch or two if you can up off of the floor.
Last little bit,
Last little bit,
Last little bit.
Keep breathing.
And then left leg lifts up first,
Guys.
Left foot up toward the ceiling.
Drop the head,
Shoulders,
Release the hands,
Set the right foot down,
Reclined pigeon so the left knee bends,
Left ankle on top of right thigh,
Staying where you are or tugging it in a little more deeply.
And if that right foot is lifted,
Gently set it down,
Gently set it down.
We're going to try to wrap left thigh over top of right thigh and let those knees tip to the right side.
Arms can open in your own way.
And you can turn toward that left side,
Completing the twist.
And then rolling onto the back,
Untangling the legs.
Take them really wide and really tall,
Foot away from foot,
Guys.
Big wide V up into the air.
And just one more time,
Catch a little happy baby here.
So sliding the hands down,
Down,
Down toward the feet,
But it's kind of upward,
Up toward the feet when you're on your back.
Pull the knees downward,
So toward the floor,
Toward your underarms.
And then release the bind that you have.
Take the legs wide first.
Zip them together,
So legs up the wall pose.
And from there,
Just a really soft landing into Shavasana.
One leg at a time,
Lowering down to your mat,
Lowering down,
Lowering down,
Lowering down.
Drop the arms by your side or in any way that feels suitable,
Yogis.
See if you can soften through the entire body.
See if you can send that breath into the entire body as we take one more full,
Full,
Full inhale and sigh it out.
Shavasana.
Shavasana.
Shavasana.
Shavasana.
Shavasana.
Shavasana.
Shavasana.
Shavasana.
Start with the breath.
Start with just noticing.
Maybe in that noticing,
You find places where the breath somewhat stops.
Maybe where it's challenging to take the breath to.
Maybe there's parts of your body that don't want to be breathed into.
But often,
And I will say most often,
Those parts need it the most.
And so seeing if you can allow your breath,
Instead of stopping at those points,
Just penetrating into those places.
And these next few breaths,
Let it get just a little bit deeper and let it feel like that breath is concentrating on all parts of your being.
Like it is feeling all parts of your body.
And then instead of getting really tall or stretching wide or peeling apart,
Guys,
I want you to just turn onto your right side,
Bend the knees,
Maybe the elbows,
And just draw yourself in closer toward yourself.
And pressing up to seated and sealing in practice together.
Drawing the palms right in front of your heart,
Maybe even touching your heart space as you get there.
May this practice help us to keep turning inward.
May this practice allow us the available space to sink into those places that may not be saturated with prana,
With breath,
With loving kindness and acceptance.
May we keep learning,
May we keep growing and healing.
And may that practice that we practice also allow us the space and freedom to grant that to others inside and outside of this room.
Take one more really cleansing breath in and out.
Namaste.
