Outside Your Comfort Zone

All right,

Sweet yogis,

We're going to begin on the back this morning.

And if beginning on the back is just a no-go for you,

If you feel like,

Oh,

There's a more sustainable place for me to be,

You can always move in that direction.

Beginning on the back and just loosening your grip a little bit.

And so that might mean opening up the palms,

That might mean closing the eyes.

As you come into that space,

You don't have to do it all together,

But when you're ready,

Take a big breath in and just sigh it out.

I was listening to a talk recently and the man was saying that one day he was fired from his very good corporate job.

And he was so upset,

He was absolutely devastated from this experience,

But he was talking about how those moments of discomfort are the moments that we grow the most.

As a matter of fact,

It's only in discomfort,

It's only outside of our comfort zones that we grow.

And it's really,

Really easy to stay in the familiar.

It's really easy to choose comfort.

It's doing the same thing over and over and over again.

And there's something super beautiful about it,

Right?

There's something super beautiful about building a routine,

About finding particular habits.

However,

If we are looking to grow,

Whether it's expanding our knowledge,

Whether it's learning to choose a different reaction,

That growth comes with discomfort.

It comes with stepping outside of that comfort zone.

And it's not an idea that only applies outside of this room.

It absolutely applies to your yoga and asana practice.

It says that you need to step out of your comfort zone.

You need to do things that might make you a little uncomfortable to actually slip into that space of growth.

If that already makes you comfortable,

I get it.

Take a big breath in and just sigh it out.

Good.

I want you to get really long through the body like we sometimes do at the end of class,

Stretching the arms up and the toes down,

Just getting a big belly body stretch.

And then I want you to turn onto your right side and kind of curl up into a ball.

So you could curl yourself in before rolling,

Or you might roll a little and then curl yourself in.

But just take a little pause.

Don't feel like this is meant to be any kind of stretch.

Instead,

It's to soothe the stress.

And then start to roll onto the back and get long again.

Ladies,

Arms up and toes down,

Lengthening through the body.

Nice.

And we're going to turn onto the left side.

So kind of curling up,

Knees come a little closer to your chest.

You roll onto that left shoulder.

Nothing super fancy.

And then instead of coming back through center,

I just want you to press all the way up to a seated position.

Crisscross the legs,

Drop the arms by your side.

Sit really tall.

I guess you could drop your hands in your lap as well.

It doesn't have to be by your side,

But just kind of sitting tall,

Rolling the shoulders back,

Finding some length from the top of your head to your tailbone.

Instead of taking a deep breath,

Go deep or into your breath.

So noticing the breath and that expansion of the lungs and the way that the air trickles into your body but goes and moves throughout your entire body.

And then one more time,

And this time,

Together yogis,

Big breath in through the nose.

Big sigh out of the mouth.

Good.

Let's wrap hands around the front parts of your knees,

And we're just going to go into a small practice of seated cat cow.

I know most of you know this movement pretty well,

But let's do it together.

I want you to start to lift the chin and kind of move yourself forward a bit,

Just leaning forward a little bit,

And then start to lean back a bit.

You might even begin to round through the spine and tuck chin toward your chest.

And the next time you pull forward,

Your chin lifts,

The chest presses forward,

Maybe your hips press back and your shoulders pull back,

And then round through the spine and start to pull back,

Tuck your chin toward your chest.

Now it might be little baby kitty cat cows,

Like little baby cows,

Little baby kitty cats at first.

And then you might exaggerate that movement where you're kind of pulling forward and really bending into the elbows as you open up the chest.

And then when you pull back,

That full lengthening of the arms to stretch the shoulders,

So much so that the hands kind of keep you from falling over or tumbling backward.

Getting a little rock,

Forward back,

Forward back.

We have some movement in the back spaces in our sun salutation A's today,

So really sending some big love to those muscles that run along the spine that help us to stand and back bend and forward fold.

Try just a few more breaths here.

Find a few more rhythms,

Forward and backward,

Forward and backward.

And then bringing yourself to that neutral spine we began in.

And we're going to go all the way to a belly position.

So as you tumble over top of your legs,

You're just going to lay all the way down into your belly.

So sometimes we go child's pose and sometimes we go tabletop,

But this time just resting all the way down,

Thighs,

Tops of your feet,

Belly,

Chest,

Head,

Maybe hands.

Just finding a couple of restorative breaths.

Our sun salutation A's today include a little half camel,

So we're just working to warm up the back,

Warm up the spine.

From this belly position,

Come on into sphinx pose.

So coming up onto forearms,

Elbows,

And palms as you lift the chest and think about stacking shoulders over top of elbows somewhat,

Palms turned down and pressing.

You can keep your toes pointing so the tops of the feet rest on the floor and then find a little bit of softening in the lower back area.

Give it three more breaths here.

Maybe your chest pulls open a little bit more.

And then lowering all the way down to the floor first,

Let's use the palms to press into child's pose.

So when you're ready,

It's a little lifting of chest away from the floor to sink your hips back toward your heels.

Another way that we can think of the comfort zone,

Sometimes we draw a little circle and we say comfort zone in the middle and outside of that comfort zone is all the growth space that we can imagine.

Another way that we can think of that circle is your fear sphere.

Step outside of the fear sphere.

The comfort zone is where we feel comfortable.

It's where we feel always safe and outside of that is kind of like this beautiful place.

It's like the unknown,

But it's absolutely where we grow.

And so we stay in that comfort zone.

We stay in that fear sphere.

Like we do not want to be afraid.

We do not want to step into that unfamiliar,

But that is absolutely the place that we expand,

The place that we grow,

The place that we break boundaries and often guys,

The place that we heal.

I want you to keep this child's pose just for a couple more breaths and walk the fingertips over to the right side,

Just so we're kind of starting to move toward that half camel.

But really it's just a side bend,

Just a side bend.

And then bringing fingertips back through center,

Go ahead and walk them over to the left side.

Okay,

So you guys bring it back through center,

Regular child's pose.

So you can pull up tabletop pose and I just want you to take whatever movement you need to get into downward facing dog.

So for some of you that might mean that you take a couple of cat cows like this.

For others,

You may go right into it,

You might tuck the toes and lift the hips.

Maybe there's some side bending involved.

Maybe it's just the movement in the head that you need before that head drops in between the arms.

That fear sphere,

The not allowing ourselves to step out often has to do with judgment and expectation.

Sometimes we don't step out of that fear sphere because we are fearful of what other people will think.

And so we somewhat have to set that aside and if it's only today guys,

If it's only in this class,

If it's only on your mat in this moment,

Do it just this class,

Just for this moment.

At least it's something,

At least it's just a toe outside of that line.

From this downward facing dog,

Rise up onto tippy toes and take a little walk all the way up to the top of the mat.

So feet meeting your fingertips in a forward fold.

And all together,

Halfway lift,

So get that spine nice and long.

Peek out in front of you and then fold back in.

Let the habit drop toward the shins,

Toward the knees.

Pull your way up to standing.

We're going to take the arms really wide and touch the palms together above the head.

Bend the elbows and just bring hands down in front of your heart.

Now as you get here into this position,

Hands to heart,

Elbows bent,

I want you to think about rolling your inner thighs backward a bit.

Tuck your tailbone under a little bit.

Lift up through the chest and kind of pull your shoulders back.

You might even lift your chin a tiny bit.

This is really prideful,

Proud standing position,

Really strong.

Listen for your own breath.

And the next time that you're ready to inhale,

Reach the arms straight up into the air,

Fingertips toward the ceiling.

On the exhale,

Forward fold,

Fingertips come down toward your toes.

Nice,

Yogis.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in,

And come to the top of a push-up.

So push-up position,

Palms down and feet back.

Instead of taking a vinyasa this first time,

I want you to drop the knees,

Child's pose.

Go ahead and sink it back.

And then from this child's pose,

Go ahead and walk the fingertips over to the right side.

So create that little side bend,

But let's take it a little deeper now.

So I want you to sweep your right hand back toward your right hip or even your right heel and then pop up onto the knees,

Half camel on the right side.

So you're pulling your glutes away from your heels,

Lifting the left arm up and over.

You're pressing your hips forward a bit.

Good,

Guys.

Child's pose.

Come on down through the center.

Next time through,

We can kind of swing it to the other side,

But find the stopping point in the middle.

Walk the fingertips over to the left first.

So you create that side bend.

Then sweep your left hand back toward your left hip or heel.

Pop up onto the knees.

So come to standing on the knees.

Right arm reaches up and over.

It's a little back bend,

Kind of side bend.

Beautiful.

And then child's pose.

Come on down.

From child's pose,

Pull up,

Tabletop.

And again,

We're headed to downward facing dog.

So if there's any movement that you need before you actually tuck the toes and lift the hips,

Take it.

Drop the head in between the arms.

God,

Beautiful breathing.

Rise up onto dibby toes.

Take a little walk all the way up to the top of the mat.

Later on,

You might be stepping.

You could absolutely hop.

But for now,

Guys,

Halfway lift,

Breathe in,

Peek out,

And then fold in and peek in.

Peek in toward your belly.

Peek in toward your knees.

Peek in toward your thighs.

Start to slowly roll your way up to standing.

Sweep the arms.

Touch the palms together above the head.

Bend the elbows.

Bring the hands down in front of your heart.

And just be there an extra breath to do those things.

Roll the inner thighs back.

Tuck your tailbone under.

Puff up through the chest.

Roll the shoulders back.

Maybe lift the chin.

And then inhale.

Reach the arms straight up into the air again.

Get long.

Exhale forward.

Fold fingertips toward your toes.

Beautiful.

Take a halfway lift from the bottom.

Push up position.

So plank pose on the hands.

Hands here.

Feet back.

And this time,

Let's lower.

Bend the elbows real close to the ribs.

Lower down.

Belly and chest to the floor.

When you get to the floor,

It might be sphinx,

But maybe cobra.

Maybe you press through those palms that are still there,

Lifting up through the heart,

Pointing the toes.

And then you head back into child's pose versus downward facing dog.

We'll go one more time together just to take it through at one breath,

One movement.

But here's how it goes,

Guys.

Instead of walking into that side bend,

I want you to go right into half camel on the right side.

So sweeping the right hand back for something.

Hip,

Heel,

Floor,

Left arm up and over,

Standing on the knees.

And then sweep through the center.

Maybe the hands graze across the floor as you sweep over to that left side.

Right arm up and over.

And then use the exhale to come down,

Child's pose.

Beautiful.

Pull up tabletop pose.

That's your inhale.

You might lift the chin.

And then downward facing dog.

If you need extra movement there,

There is lots of space for you to do that.

Rise up onto tibitos as you inhale.

Exhale,

Make your way up to the top of the mat.

Halfway lift when you get there and fold back in as the exhale.

Roll your way up to standing.

Come on up to standing.

Arms go out and up.

Touch the palms together above the head.

Bend the elbows.

Have that standing position of hands to heart.

Take that extra breath.

Find your direction,

Right,

In your mind and your body.

Arms reach up into the air.

Big breath in.

Exhale,

Forward fold.

Fingertips come down.

Take a halfway lift.

Make some space.

Top of the pushup.

Palms here.

Feet step or maybe hop back.

You're going to take a vinyasa by lowering down through that pushup.

Pull your heart through at the bottom.

Cobra or a sphinx.

And then child's pose.

It's that resting hips toward heels.

This posture of child's pose is where it ends and begins.

So when you're ready,

A little half camel on right side.

You'll swing through.

Half camel on the other side.

Beautiful.

Eventually child's pose that leads to tabletop and then downward facing dog.

And there's lots of little spaces in there,

Guys,

To move in your own way to add what you need.

When you get to down dog,

It's just back to our regular sun salutation A.

Making your way to the top.

Half lift,

Fold in.

Few more times through.

Rhythm of your breath.

Sometimes just the act of slowing down is stepping outside of your comfort zone.

Sometimes just showing up fully tends to be outside of our comfort zone.

Choose these things,

Guys.

They will help you grow.

You're one of the few things that I'm sure of.

You know I'm just your boyfriend.

Come closer.

Come closer.

Come closer.

So as you finish up what you're working on,

It might be the full sun salutation A that you are a part of.

Maybe it's just your particular pose.

Guys,

When you finish up with your working on child's pose,

Let's meet up there for a moment.

When you find that child's pose,

Let there be a little bit of sense of surrender.

The place of being in our comfort zone is a place of being able to control things.

It's that predictability.

When we step outside of the comfort zone,

It's unpredictable.

That's what makes it so uncomfortable,

As we can't predict what's going to happen.

And so being outside of our comfort zone,

Being outside of our fear sphere,

It takes a little bit of surrender.

It takes a little bit of letting go.

It takes a little bit of fluidity versus rigidity.

Let's be a little fluid in our breath,

In our body,

In our practice,

In our lives.

Come on up,

Tabletop pose,

Downward facing dog.

And we're finished with sun a's,

Guys,

But we're going to start this flow,

This sequence of postures at the top of the mat.

So I want you to rise up onto tibby toes and take a little walk all the way up there,

Feet up toward your fingertips.

You're still in this forward fold and I want you to halfway lift just like you did before.

Fold back in.

Excellent.

Now put a big bend into your left knee.

Keep your left hand down and let's turn open,

Right arm reaching up toward the ceiling.

So we come on into this twist.

Beautiful.

Now don't come out of it.

Instead,

Take your right arm and wrap it around your lower back.

And I want you to think in your mind,

Standing half camel.

So it's going to have the same sensation as that half camel on the knees.

Come to standing,

Keep that right arm tucked around the lower back,

And lift your left arm up and over so you get a little bit of side bending,

A little bit of back bending.

It's almost a little bit of twisting.

I want you to turn your chin toward your right shoulder.

So if it's turned in the other direction,

We're kind of going to this right side.

Nice.

And then just come to center and drop both arms by your side.

So that left arm that was lifted comes down,

The right arm that was tucked around your back comes down.

Shift your weight into your back comes down.

Shift your weight into your right foot and just try pulling your left heel up off of the floor.

We're going to marionette if you know it.

And you might stay here just practicing lifting the heel up off of the floor,

But if you can,

Pick up your left knee,

Pick your left foot up off of the floor entirely.

You might even take your arms out to the side or up above you.

Nice.

Keep practicing balance here,

Yogis,

And we're going to try to take a version of dancing Shiva while we're here.

So I want you to try,

Just try,

Because even trying is outside of our comfort zone sometimes.

Take your right hand and place it on top of your left knee,

And then try taking your left arm and kind of opening it up behind you.

And if you're super brave,

You can look toward your left shoulder or toward that left hand and you might fall a million times,

Right?

That is stepping outside of your comfort zone.

If we stayed in that position,

Right,

That would be the comfort zone and we wouldn't grow,

We wouldn't get stronger,

We wouldn't learn to balance a little bit more.

Good.

Give it one more good try.

You guys are good at trying.

I love it.

And then come back there,

Center,

Try to keep this left knee lifted.

Even if it came down,

Try to lift it up again.

Try to lift it up again.

And you're going to step this left foot all the way to the back of the mat,

Guys.

Hands come down around your right foot so you just find yourself in a lunge.

And as soon as you lunge,

Drop your left knee,

Straighten your right leg,

And make it half splits.

Just go ahead and lean over top of that right leg.

Nice.

We do this little thing where we kind of tiptoe out of our comfort zone,

And we're like,

As long as no one's looking,

We'll try to balance.

And then the moment we find someone sees us fall or wobble,

We're like,

Oh,

Back in the comfort zone,

We're just going to put our foot down,

Right?

We do this silly thing as humans.

We don't want people to judge or see.

It's that vulnerability piece.

But to grow,

Guys,

We have to do that.

Bend into your right knee.

Come onto supported crescent so the left knee is already down.

You're just going to try reaching your arms up above you.

Let the shoulders roll down the back.

Yeah,

Right knee bends.

Your left hip flexor presses forward.

Or another way you can think about it is drawing your right glute toward your right heel.

It kind of is this down forward motion.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

One more time,

Half splits.

So the hands come down and you straighten out that right leg.

Give it a little break.

Holding over top of that right thigh.

And this time we're going to go low twisted lunge.

So come back into that lunge.

Bend your right knee.

But this time tuck your back toes.

Pull the left knee up off of the mat and reach your right arm up into the air.

So you're twisting open to that right side.

And then as your right hand comes down,

We're going to walk to a wide leg forward fold.

Guys,

So walk the hands to the left.

Right toes turn in,

Left toes turn out,

And both legs become straight.

You're going to fold right down in between those thighs.

Beautiful.

Now I want you to take a halfway lift so you get a little bit of space underneath of you.

And then just put a little bend in your left knee.

Lunge over to that left side.

Now some of you might want to take it down into ninja and you can absolutely do that.

But otherwise just kind of lunging on this left side you'll feel the weight shift more into your left foot than your right foot.

And then we're going to take that same lunge on the right side.

So you can kind of pop the hips up through the center.

Walk the hands over.

A little lunge on the right side.

So a little bend into that right knee.

That full expression of ninja is always available.

You can do that.

That's where kyogi is.

And then back into your forward fold.

So both legs going straight,

Head dropping in between the legs.

I want you to power up through the legs.

So press down through the feet and start to roll yourself up to a big strong T position.

That big strong star pose.

Arms go wide.

Legs are already lengthened.

Turn your left toes to the back of the mat.

Bend into your left knee and come on into warrior b.

You can settle right down into that left thigh.

Good.

Lots of space between the feet here.

So if you find that you don't have a lot of space what happens is we end up lunging over top of our left ankle.

And some bodies can do that but for some bodies it makes it really unstable.

So we want to be stable here.

Nice.

Chest open and arms extending out from the shoulders.

Listen for your own breath.

Sometimes just recognizing our own strength,

Like paying homage to our own strength is outside of our comfort zone.

Notice how strong you really are.

How powerful you really are.

What a beautiful thing to recognize.

Guys,

Sky archer from here.

Straighten out the left leg.

Take the left arm and arc it over top of that left ear.

You could take the right hand and set it on your right thigh or wrap it around the back.

You could even grab a hold for the left wrist and give it a tug.

Find an expression of this pose that makes sense for your body.

And then extended side angle.

So re-bending the left knee.

Bring your left forearm down onto your left thigh.

Reach and extend your right arm up and over.

So pulling that arm long so you have length from your right toes or your right foot to your right fingertips.

Chest stays open here.

Beautiful.

Give it one more inhale.

On an exhale,

Bring both hands down around your left foot and turn onto your back toes.

So it just becomes a lunge here toward the back of the mat.

And then do this,

Yogis.

Set your right knee down underneath of your right hip.

We're going to go three limb tabletop.

So I want you to take this left foot that's in between the palms,

Extend it back behind you.

Pick the toes up off of the floor.

So sometimes we set the toes down,

But pick it up so it's that three limb table.

And then I want you to draw a knee in toward your nose.

Give it a squeeze.

As you do,

Tuck your right toes under.

Three limb downward dog.

So as you kick that left leg back,

You have to pull your right knee up off of the floor.

Make sure it's your left leg that's lifted.

Sometimes we get a little funky there.

And then we're going to step this left foot up in between the palms again.

But warrior A this time.

Pivot and plant the back foot.

Arms reach strongly up into the air,

Just like that supported crescent.

Fingertips go reaching and shoulders roll down the back.

Bend just a little bit deeper into that left knee if it's available.

And if it's not available,

See if you can sink deeper into the pose by just being or becoming more conscious of the pose.

Give me one big inhale.

On an exhale,

Hands come down top of the push-up.

So as the hands come down,

Step the left foot back to meet right.

Let's lower down through the push-up,

But real slow,

Take a cobra or sphinx.

Good.

And then child's pose or downward facing dog.

So dependent on the yogi body that you're in.

Sometimes we need a little more restoration.

Sometimes we need a little more activation.

So eventually yogis will all meet in downward facing dog.

So when you're ready,

You'll pull up tabletop.

And just like we did in sun salutation A's,

If you need a couple of movements to get you there,

You can take that.

And then rise up onto tippy toes.

Get a little walk all the way up to the top of the mat,

Which is really the back of your mat,

But up toward your fingertips.

Slide halfway up,

Breathe in,

And then fold back in.

Exhale.

Nice.

Put a little bend into your right knee now.

Right hand stays down and left arm is going to lift up.

So we start with this twist.

Chest opening to the left.

Okay guys,

And then instead of coming out of it,

Keep that left arm lifted.

Just wrap it around your lower back.

You're going to root down through the feet and come on up for half camel standing.

So right arm goes up and over.

You're turning your left shoulder back and then turning your chin toward your left shoulder.

So you get a little back bend.

It's almost like a little side bend and a little bit of a twist.

And then turn your chest through center.

Both arms drop by your side.

I want you to shift your weight into your left foot now.

Pick up your right heel.

So you're balancing on your tiptoes of the right foot.

You might stay there or you might try picking that right foot up all together.

A little version of marionette.

Arms might go out or up.

You could absolutely put them on your hips.

Find a couple of breaths here and then we'll try that version of dancing shiva.

So sometimes in dancing shiva,

Or usually in dancing shiva,

We're extending the right leg,

But this time I want you to keep the right knee bent and just try left hand to right knee and then right arm reaching and opening behind you.

And it might take a hundred tries to just kind of get one second of sticking this posture.

It might take a million tries to what we would call maybe master this posture.

And the mastering of the posture isn't necessarily holding it.

It's doing it with a smile.

That's mastering the posture.

Okay guys,

Come back through center.

Try to lift this right knee,

This right foot,

Even if it came down.

Just kind of reorient and then get that right foot up off of the floor.

And we're stepping really far back.

So take the right foot all the way to the back of the mat.

Hands come down around your left foot so you're in a lunge.

And then right away drop your right knee,

Straighten out your left leg,

Half splits.

Beautiful breath work.

I hear your breath and the person beside you hears your breath.

And your own mind feels and hears that breath.

Let's pull forward guys,

Supported crescent.

So as you bend into that left knee and walk the hands forward,

You might walk yourself upward as well.

Fingertips reaching up toward the ceiling,

Shoulders settling down your back.

And then hands come down,

Half splits a second time.

You're just going to stretch out this left leg.

So as the hands come down,

That right hip moves slightly back toward your right heel and you're folding over a straight left leg.

And then dragonfly twist guys,

Low twisted lunge.

Pull forward,

Bend into your left knee,

Tuck your back toes under.

So try to get that right knee up off of the floor and then left arm goes reaching up into the air.

It's a twist,

It's an opening to that left side.

And then from here,

Standing wide leg forward fold,

Left hand comes down and you're going to walk those fingertips to the right.

Left toes turn in,

Right toes start to turn out,

Legs go straight,

You drop the head.

He's halfway lift,

Breathe in.

And then a little lunge on the right side.

So I just want you to bend into the right knee and it might be a little,

It might be a lot.

You can keep your hands on the floor as you work yourself over to that right side.

You shift the weight more into the right foot than the left foot.

So whatever that looks like for your own body.

Let's go to the left side.

So a little lifting of the hips in the center,

Shifting the weight over to that left foot,

Little bend into the left knee.

Some of you might take that full version of Skandasana,

Ninja pose on the left side.

And then bring it into a forward fold.

So you lift the hips but drop the head,

Both legs are straight.

Let's take a slow roll all the way up to standing.

So pressing through the feet,

Reaching the arms out and open.

This time yogis right toes turn to the front of the mat,

Bend into your right knee,

Warrior B here toward the front,

Toward that right foot.

Sometimes the comfort zone or stepping out of the comfort zone is finding stillness.

It's like the moment we're still and a little bit quiet then we start to heal that,

Hear that real conversation in the mind.

Because when we keep ourselves active,

When we're always doing something,

Sometimes we don't notice that conversation.

This is real and raw noticing of self,

Noticing of our own storylines,

Noticing of our own strengths,

Maybe our own weaknesses.

I put those in quotes.

From here bring it on into that sky archer,

Straighten out your right leg,

Take the right arm up and over and then play around where you put your left hand.

It might be on the left thigh or wrapping around the back,

Might be grabbing a hold of that right wrist and giving a little tug.

And then all the way back down,

Extended side angle,

Rebend the right knee,

Use that little table,

That little platform to set your right elbow or your forearm down or maybe you sneak your hand to the floor but chest stays open,

Left arm reaches up and over.

It's this big stretchy line from left foot to left hand.

Beautiful variations,

Beautiful variations.

Give it one more inhale.

As you exhale,

Both hands come down around your right foot,

Turn onto your back toes so we're in that lunge and then set the left knee down underneath of the left hip.

Three-limbed table guys,

We're sneaking this right foot that's in front all the way back behind the leg,

That right leg extends and the toes pop up off of the mat.

So start there,

Fingertips are strong,

Palms open and spread.

One time draw your right knee in toward your nose and as you get there,

Tuck your left toes under,

Big lift all the way up into three-limbed downward dog.

So as the right leg extends and lifts,

The left knee picks up off of the ground.

And then let's step the right foot up again between the palms,

This time to come into warrior A.

Pivot and plant the back foot,

Last big standing posture,

Big bend into that right knee as the arms sweep up.

So sink just a little bit deeper into the posture,

It might be physically,

It might just be consciously.

Give it one more inhale.

As you exhale,

Hands come down around that right foot,

Top of the push-up,

So left toes are already back there,

You just step the right foot back to meet left.

Stay strong here at the top of this push-up,

You could be on toes,

You could be on knees.

Nice work,

Bring it down to the bottom.

Let's go cobra,

Sphinx,

Or maybe you could go up dog,

But lift open your heart,

Find that nice back bend,

Hold for an extra breath here.

And then we're going to come into warrior A.

Pivot and plant the back foot,

Lift open your heart,

Find that nice back bend,

Hold for an extra breath here.

Nice yogis,

And then child's pose,

Go ahead and sink it back.

Sometimes to come out of our comfort zone,

All it takes is a little permission.

Maybe you've been waiting for that,

For someone else to give you permission to come out of your comfort zone,

To do things that you've never done,

To think thoughts you've never thought,

To try things you've never tried.

You've been waiting for someone else to tell you,

But really the permission you're waiting for is from yourself.

There's no external source that can give you the permission that you actually need from yourself.

Take a really big breath in,

Yogis,

And just sigh it out.

I want you to pull up,

Tabletop pose.

We're headed to seated.

If you need a couple of cat cows to get there,

Please take them,

Please loosen up,

And then come to seated and we'll take both legs straight out in front of us here first,

Because we were in that child's pose,

So just finding some length as your heels come away from your glutes.

Just stretch them out in front and sit tall.

Give yourself a moment here.

You can kind of twiddle the toes or move the feet around.

You could point flex even here as you're seated,

But our forward fold is actually going to be soles of the feet together.

When you feel like you've had the legs kind of stretching out for a moment,

Bend both knees,

Bring the soles of the feet together.

You might scoot your hips toward your heels instead of bringing heels toward your hips.

Take an inhale and then exhale,

Fold right into that version of C.

So bound angle,

Letter C,

Rounding through the spine and dipping your head down toward your toes.

And then slowly start to roll your upper body to the top.

We're going to place both hands behind you.

Turn your feet into the floor.

Guys,

Knees point up and feet about hip distance apart.

So we're going for a reverse table here.

I want you to press through the palms,

Press through the feet,

And start to lift the belly.

So starting to lift those sit bones up off of the floor.

Lift them high and we're going to do this three times.

So lift here and then I want you to start to lower to where you just barely touch the sit bones down.

You might stay at the bottom for an extra breath if that feels good,

But then come back up.

Lift up to that reverse table.

Spend a breath there at the top and then lower back down.

Just get a little tap,

Maybe an extra breath at the bottom,

And then up,

Up,

Up you go.

Lift,

Lift,

Lift,

Lift,

Lift.

Good.

And then lowering down for good.

I want you to try to keep your feet as they are and come all the way down onto your back.

So feet into the floor,

Knees pointing up.

And you can use your forearms to kind of lower yourself down.

And when you get down there,

Go ahead and take the feet a little wider,

Like hip distance apart.

Wider than hip distance apart and start to windshield wiper those knees side to side to side.

Yeah,

Moving both knees to the right and then moving both knees to the left.

And a few more times each side.

Sometimes we're just here for a small little second,

But let it work deeper into those hips,

Especially if you're kind of holding onto some things there.

Let them work their way out.

Sometimes coming out of our comfort zone is facing those places in or on our body that are experiencing pain or tightness or kind of trauma,

But facing them in a new way,

In a way that's unfamiliar.

Bring those knees back through center yogis.

Go ahead and tug them in toward your chest.

Give them a little squeeze.

And then I want you to bring your hands to your knees and you're going to use them as little guides to make circles with the knees and just feel your lower back kind of roll against the floor as you make these circles in the air.

Choose just one direction here at first.

And then get those knees rolling in the other direction,

Just a couple of circles the other way.

Bringing them through center,

Let's open up the arms and let those knees tip over to the right.

Come on into a little twist here.

And And then bring the knees through center and let them tip the other direction over to the left side.

Very easy.

And then coming back through center,

Give a tug of knees in toward your chest one more time.

Just give them a sweet squeeze.

And then extend the legs down onto the mat,

Heels to the forearms by your side.

Welcoming this place of rest and then taking a big breath in,

Draw it in,

Draw it in,

Draw it in.

And let it out,

Relax,

Release.

And rest.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Are no longer tiptoeing outside of that fear sphere.

Mm.

Mm.

Embracing the unfamiliar,

The chaos,

The unpredictable.

Mm.

Mm.

Feel the next breath come in just a little bit deeper.

Mm.

And let it go.

Mm.

And then just like at the beginning of class,

I want you to stretch really long.

I want you to take arms up and toes down.

Get length through the belly and the chest and the legs.

And I want you to just turn onto your left side.

So you might do it before you curl up or you might curl up and then turn to the left side.

Just this little pause.

And then one more time,

Yogis coming back through center,

Finding that length stretch top to bottom.

Let the toes point and the legs stick together as you get this big body stretch.

And then turning onto that right side this time.

Turning onto your right shoulder and your right hip,

Curling in toward yourself.

And let's press all the way up to a seated position,

Drawing the hands together in front of your heart.

You could dip your chin slightly toward your chest.

You might close your eyes.

All together,

One more cleansing breath in and out from my heart directly to yours.

Namaste.