Yoga Sess 02.23.24

Yeah, we'll get started with this slow. I do like reminding everyone when we start to be mindful of how they're moving in their space. I wish I could personally be there with everyone, but we're practicing remotely. So just to be mindful of how you're moving. So yeah, we're going to get started in a cross-legged position. Either hand facing down or up. Up if you're ready to receive. Down if you feel the need to ground. Feel your energy. If you're comfortable, begin by closing your eyes. Arriving into this space. Lengthening the back of your neck. And imagining with each exhale, you allow a thought to pass through your mind. Releasing anything that's on the floor. And welcoming a sense of presence. If you feel comfortable and willing, you can set a dedication to this practice. Someone or something that you feel may benefit. When you're ready, you can open those eyes gently. Take a deep breath in and send those palms up overhead. And just exhale, bellybutton to spine. Bring those hands to third position. And another deep breath in. And exhale, bellybutton to spine. Just imagine. And last one, breathe in. And stretch the space in between those fingertips. Nice. Let's release that. Take a gentle side bend. Take a gentle side bend to either the right or left side. And how this is mirrored. If you feel comfortable, you can place that elbow on the mat. I really encourage that opposite hip bone to stay on the earth. And gently come back. Take three breaths in again. Breathe in. Slow inhale. Exhaling. Activating that core, protecting our spine. One more. And release. Do the other side. For me, it's my left palm, left elbow. Really sensing the stretch in the side ribs. So I want to imagine that I'm also creating space on the side I'm going towards. Lift your hand if that feels good. And gently come back and we'll transition into the third position. When we arrive here, spreading those fingers so we create almost a web-like sensation between those fingers. And just gently rock. Just touch your toes and rock back and forth to wake up the soles of the feet. And untuck those toes, look up into cow position. And exhale into cat. Creating space, imagining space between each vertebrae. And move at your own pace, just waking up that spine. Imagining that on this next inhale, you're smelling your favorite flower. Great. And let's come back to neutral. I'm going to invite us to practice the Kalabhati Breath of Fire. If you're familiar with that, you're going to inhale and exhale through your nose. When you inhale and exhale through your nose, the exhale is intentional and the inhale is passive. If you've never tried it before, it kind of sounds like... I don't know if you can hear that. You're forcefully exhaling through both of your nostrils. And we're going to try that. If you feel like you want a challenge, into a floating tabletop. And we're going to do it 28 times. So I'll count for us. So ready, let's take cleansing breath in. And out. When you're ready, lift an inch off the mat and begin. And breathe in. Beautiful. And release that. Let's take a child's pose for a moment. In the breath of fire, you can sense your belly moving in and out. And that's wonderful activation for the digestive system. Stay in child's pose for three breaths. Inhaling in. And out. Activating belly button is fine on that next cycle of breaths. And out. Letting go of any tension in that forehead. Breathing in. And on that next exhale, we're going to crawl back up and make your way into downward dog. So tuck those toes however feels good. And start to stretch. Go over the feet. Really imagining that you're pressing away from the palms, from the heels. You're creating length in your lower back. Stretching out those hamstrings. And let's lift that left arm up if it's available to you. And touch the opposite side. And let your knee or down by your ankle. And just take a second to find that cross position. Can you look underneath that armpit and come back to neutral? When you're ready, lift that right arm up and take it to the other side. Crossing to that left leg. Can you look underneath that armpit? And come back to downward dog. Step, hop or jump to the front of your mat into a forward fold. Grab opposite elbow and let's take a gentle swing side to side. Alright, when you're ready, flap back up, press away. Maybe at your shin. Release down. And we're going to lift up. Start a little bit of a vinyasa flow. Look up to the sky, bring those arms up overhead. Breathing in. And let's go on back down. Hands on the mat, lift up, flap back. Step or hop to the back of your mat. And we'll take a first chaturanga. So just bend those elbows, come down, release to the mat. You can either take a full upward facing dog. Or I like to start with a sphinx position to wake up my body. So when you're ready, however it feels good, come back. This time let's walk down our midline of the mat. Come down to a forward fold. And if it's available to you, place one palm underneath one foot. And the other palm underneath the other foot. Take a forward fold here. Shift your weight towards the ball of your feet and spread those toes. It's going to feel a little sweaty. So release that weight of the head down. Bend your knees if that feels good. Beautiful, release that. And come up again. Flap back and release. Let's roll up this time. Just bend into that vertebrae by vertebrae. Keeping weight in the balls of our feet. Breathing in, arms up overhead. Big stretch up. Exhale, release down. Flap back for a brief moment. Really extending from those hip joints. Palms onto the mat. Step or hop back into chaturanga. If it feels good, you can take a full upward facing dog. And when you're ready, gently come back into downward dog. Take three cycles of breath here. Breathing in. And release. And release. Stretching those toes and those fingers. Imagining we're sending energy beyond our heels. Breathing in. And exhale. Sending energy beyond our crowns. Long spine. Exhale. And release. Nice. When you're ready, bring those feet to touch behind you. Lift that right leg up in the air. Bend the knee if that feels good. And we'll take some circles of that knee. Today I encourage you to come through that midline. So gently grab one knee with the other. So touch those inner thighs together. You're welcoming maybe a new sensation. Taking circles out at whatever pace. That side. And then reverse that direction. And bring that knee. Beautiful. And then three-legged dog. Really push away. And let's bend it to take a gentle stretch of the front side of that right hip. I feel a deep stretch in my core muscles. See those shoulders squared? Gently release back. It takes a while. You're going to come up. Touching away from that earth. Right palm. Face to the sky. Let's actually take a couple pulses here. So rest down onto the earth. And then reach back up. Okay. Strong arms. And exhale. Relax down. Two more. Last one. Stretch. And when you're ready, gently come back. However it feels good. Back to downward dog. Let's actually bend those knees. Transition between that floating tabletop. And we're going to take a couple passes here. So looking up. Exhale. Reminding ourselves that we have little joints in between each vertebrae. We have intervertebral discs between the vertebrae. So what does it feel like to move with that awareness? Two more. Breathing in. And release. One more. Looking up. And then go. And press those toes. We're going to stand back up. Into downward dog. Bring those feet to touch behind you. This time we're going to lift that left leg up into the air. Bend that knee. And we're going to take those gentle circles. Finding hip movement. Gently pressing the inside of our left knee to the right knee. And reverse that direction. Creating length in our arms. And our armpits. Strong shoulders here. And when you're ready, release back. To really go straight in that leg. And then bend the knee. So feel like the weight of that left leg is almost taking you to your right side. But you stay firmly planted with your upper body. And feel that stretch. And feel it deeply in the front side of that left hip. And when you're ready, just gently come to fall down. And we'll come into a wild thing on the other side. Lifting up. Really imagining that arch in that spine. And we'll pulse again. So gently come down. Inhale. And exhale, reach up. Really imagining that you're on stage. You're on stage. You're doing a contemporary shoulder dance. Lifting up. And down. And last one. Inhale. Exhale. And when you're ready, let's transition back. Just crawling over into downward dog. And let's take three cycles of breath here. Breathe. And out. Slow inhale. Savor that exhale. Gentle inhale in. And savor that exhale. We're going to take one more vinyasa. If you want to hop it, just step to the center of your mat. Release into forward bend. Come up, flat back. Breathe in, release down. And fall back up. Looking up to the sky. Let's get a gentle back bend. So here imagining my upper body. Stand back. Breathe. Lifting up in your lower back. And gently contract down. And breath in. Flat back up. Release. Hop or step to the back of your mat. And chaturanga down. Upward facing dog. Just look to the left of your feet. Maybe smile. Look to the right. And when you're ready, gently come back up. Downward dog. Next time, let's step that left foot on the outside of our hand. Right foot on the outside of our right hand. I'm going to turn to face you into a squat position. Malasana. And she comes to prayer position. If it feels good, you can close your eyes. Taking a second to find awareness. Our belly button going to our spine. And our lower abdomen. Your next exhale, let's release those arms up overhead. And we're going to take these gentle deep squats. So let's move as slowly and consciously as we can. But we're going to stand up, imagining that someone is helping you up from your hands. So gently come up. Gentle as you can. Stretch up. And drop the weight. So imagine your tailbone has a weight to it, like an anchor. And gently come back down. I hear cracking in my hips. And on your next exhale, one more time, imagine your loved ones pulling you up from those hands. Strong core. And release down. Imagine gravity, that weight, pulling you down. And we'll take one more. Breathe in. And one more. Breathe in. And release. Come up. Let's actually take a wide forward fold. So bring those feet parallel. We can spread them out a little more. And just gently, let's place our hands right in our hip joints. So you can find them. You can find them. We tend to place them here, on our iliac crest, but our hip joints are actually a little bit lower. And just gently press there with a flat back. You can come down into a wide legged forward fold. Maybe your elbows go on the mat. Maybe the crown of your head goes on the mat. If you feel adventurous, and you're comfortable taking a headstand, this is the moment to do so. So you can pull yourself through. Great. And let's actually bring those heels in towards each other. So we'll turn out and we're going to come up into bodice pose. We can bring our index and thumb to touch if that feels good. Breathing in. And exhaling. Sensing the strength and power in our legs. Maybe on this last cycle of breath, you can take a challenge and lift those heels up for a moment. And release down. I'm bringing the feet parallel again. And just, if it's available to you, heel toe those feet together. And let's bend those knees generously. And take a gentle hug wherever feels good, behind those legs. Maybe shaking the head no, nodding the head yes. And if you'd like, stretch those knees. You're hugging yourself. You can really sense the pleasure of what a stretch feels like. Releasing that long spine towards the earth. Maybe shifting the weight here as well with the feet. Take a couple breaths here. Breathing in. And letting go. Long spine is pulled. Give yourself a tight mouth breathing. And out. One more, breath in. When you're ready to release that, we're going to slowly roll up to mountain pose. We're going to take a breath here together. And release. We're going to explore three postures here. To send that weight into the left leg, lifting that right knee up almost as if it's on a marionette strike. Take some gentle ankle circles, one way or the other. Maybe wiggle those toes. And when you're ready, grab that ankle and you can either place it right at the base. Where your leg starts. You can place it wherever you'd like, just avoid placing it right on the knee. Chances into preposition. Bring your twist to your focus. Finding that softness in your breath. Really sensing the inner sole of the foot. How it presses into the inside of that left thigh. If you want a little bit of a challenge, place that right hand on the right leg. And take very gently and very slowly a side bend to stretch the left thigh bone. Side bend. When you're ready, come back. Release that. You can shake it off, shake it off. Take it to the other side. To send the weight into that right leg. Lifting that left knee as if it were on a marionette string. Taking some ankle circles, one way or the other way. It's kind of funny just seeing my lower body here, but we're going with it. Great. When you're ready, place that foot wherever feels good. Wherever it is, recognize how beautiful it is to be working with your body today. Placing those hands on your heart center. Maybe try to close your eyes. If you want to open up those arms or those thighs. If you took that, it's a good idea to stretch the other side. Try it to the side. Letting that elbow rest at the feet. Letting that elbow rest at the feet. If you fall off, that's okay. Shake it off. And we're gently, we're going to transition back onto the floor, and let's bring those feet to touch. And we're going to practice our chair position. Coming all the way down to the earth. So let's start by bringing those arms up over the thighs and knees. And soar at the ankles and at the knees. And then you'll begin to sense how the hips move back. And explore how far you can reach your tailbone to the mat before lifting those heels up. So you can bend at the ankles. You can bend at the knees. Continue bending at the hips. And keep going as you can as you pick up. Take a boat posture with three breaths in and in. And out. Maybe straighten those legs a little. Picking up those legs as strong as you can. If you're shaking like me, that's wonderful. And out. On your last one, just grab those knees and come to rest flat on your back. Maybe you take a twist to the right side, dropping those knees. Take it to the other side. If you have time in your day, this is a moment to rest. In Shavasana, meditate. Closing your eyes. Otherwise, if you need to get back to the day, I would like to thank you for joining me. But please stay laying down if that's useful. If you have any questions, you know how to reach me. But yeah, let's take one last breath in. Even if you're laying down, breathe in with us. Inhaling in. And exhale. Maybe bring those palms to touch. Touching that forehead, the third eye, the lips, and the heart. I want to thank each of you for joining me today.