Yoga Sess 06.14.24

The speaker, Mariela, introduces herself as a research associate and a yoga teacher. She encourages participants to be mindful and present during the practice. She invites them to focus on the "back space" of their bodies, including the spine and shoulder blades. She guides them through various yoga poses, emphasizing breath and movement. She encourages modifications and reminds participants to listen to their bodies. The practice includes poses such as child's pose, cat-cow, downward dog, plank, and chair pose. Mariela also introduces the eagle pose for balance and posture. The practice ends with a moment of stillness and gratitude. thank you everyone for joining once again. My name is Mariela. I am a research associate. I am just going to put myself on do not disturb. I'm a research associate here as you can tell at Fellows of Sapient. I have been teaching yoga since 2021 and it's crazy how fast time flies that it's been three years and counting. So yeah I'm just always happy to be able to share this with everyone here and with that being said I invite everyone to be mindful of the space they're practicing in. I would love to be able to offer any hands-on adjustments but we are moving in our own spaces so I welcome everyone to stay mindful and present if at any point something feels too difficult or uncomfortable you can always go to a child's pose or just take a break. That's always welcome. So let's get started. We are going to get started today in a child's pose. Your knees can be as wide as the mat or it can be lift up one against the other and stand those fingertips out long resting your forehead on the mat. Taking a deep breath in expanding those ribs side to side and a deep breath out. I want to invite you to send your attention to the back space in our practice today. So what do I mean by back space? It means our spine, a shoulder blade, but really just an awareness to the space behind us. Oftentimes I find myself really hyper focused on what's in front of me. It's natural because that's where our vision is and it tends to be our most dominant sense. But as we start to connect to our breath here, what sensations can you find in your spine? How does your belly feel as you inhale? How does that affect your lower back as you exhale? Your mid-back. The space in between your shoulder blades. If you wish you can bend those elbows taking a stretch in the tricep. Your hands can come to prayer position behind your head. What if you lengthen the back of your neck just a millimeter more? And if your hands are in prayer position, I invite you to set a dedication for your practice into someone or something that might benefit from the energy we create today. All right, so when you're ready, let's take a deeper stretch just like a cat might in the morning. Really stretch those fingers all the way forward, maybe sending your tailbone all the way back. And on your next exhale, we are going to slide on up to all fours. Stacking our shoulders on top of our elbows, our elbows on top of our wrists. You can tuck your toes if that feels good. And let's start by taking today some circles to the left with our hips. They can be big or they can be small. If you wish, you can activate the ocean breath or ujjayi breath. Inhaling through the nose. Exhaling through the nose, creating the ocean breath at the back of the throat. And switch, take some circles to the right. Nice, and come back to neutral, send that gaze up to the sky, into cow. Exhale deeply into cat. And inhale, look up. Exhale into cat. Long spine. One more deep breath in. Nose to the sky. And send your gaze to your belly button, cat. Tuck those toes behind you if they're not there. Sending our belly button so far towards our spine, so we're really activating our powerhouse beneath our belly button. And lift those knees as a floating tabletop, just an inch off that mat. Take a deep breath in. On the exhale, let's do some shoulder taps here. So really keeping our tailbone and crown of our head in a straight line as much as we can. Keep going, deep breath in. One more collective inhale. Keep tapping if it's available to you. Nice, and come to neutral. Then when you're ready, exhale, extend those legs. Sending the weight into your heels, into our first downward dog. Shake your head no. And nod your head yes. Nice. And really, if you're shaking your head no, try and relax the weight of your head. And that's in opposition of how deeply your feet are planted and palms are planted into the earth. And nod the head yes, welcoming that intention that you set. Nice, and here we're going to roll through our spine to meet in a plank. So send that belly button all the way to the back of your spine. And send the weight into those arms, so we're just rolling into a plank. And here we're going to tap, let's tap that left, you can see me in the video. You can see me in the video. Tap that left foot on top of the right heel, and then right on top of the left. Just having a little fun here, activating our core. And keep alternating as we connect to our breath. Nice, one more breath in. And exhale. Let's bend our elbows as we try to run. Upward facing dog or sphinx if that feels better for you. And roll over those feet and meet in downward dog. Let's bend the left knee, deep breath in. And extend as you exhale. Bend that right knee. And extend as you exhale. Nice, let's take that one more time. So let's roll through the spine, deep breath in. We meet in plank, exhale, chaturanga. Inhale, upward facing dog. And exhale, downward dog. One collective breath here, breathing in. And as you exhale, walk those palms to the feet, grab opposite elbows and swing side to side. Swing side to side. As we're here, I invite you to find a sense of gooeyness in the soles of your feet. As if you kind of were standing in mud, maybe. How does it feel to kind of relax into that? Letting your heels really kind of sink in a very comfortable way into the earth. Nice, and let's take a flat back, palms to shins, long spines and release down. Nice, let's roll up slowly, bend those knees. And activating belly button spine, roll up through the spine. Take a breath in, arms overhead. Longer down. One more time, flat back, palms to shins. Release down. And let's walk our hands out into plank. And take three collective breaths here, breathing in. And out. Deep breath in. Pressing away in those forearms and shoulders. And exhale. One more breath in here. And exhale, bend those elbows. And exhale, bend those elbows. Upward facing dog. And downward dog. Find a moment of stillness here. And when you're ready, walk back. Forward fold, and this time we'll take a reverse swan dive up. So lead with your gaze and your nose. Look up towards the sky. Let's take a couple steps if you're not in the middle of your mat. Zip those legs together. And send your weight into your heels as you come into a majestic chair roll. So here I'm sensing as if I have two magnets on the inside of my ankles, inside of my knees, and thighs. Send the weight a little further. Bring those hands into anjani asana, pure position. Again, activating the belly button just fine. And go a little lower. Finding a sense of length. Finding a sense of length and spaciousness behind your neck. And straighten those legs come up. Let's take a small arch of the spine. So send the weight more towards the ball of your feet. Hips go forward. And as if you're creating a moon shape with your back, extend your knees back. And swan dive forward. And swan dive forward. Place those palms on the mat. Step the left foot and the right foot back and meet in plank. Chaturanga. Upward facing dog. And downward dog. Let's take three still breaths here, breathing in. Sweet breath out. What can you relax? Breathing in. Oftentimes, teachers tell you to activate things, and I am of the opposite philosophy. What if you focus your attention on what you can let go of as you exhale? And one more breath in. And one more breath in. Nice. Let's step or hop towards our hands. Overtold, relax the weight of the head. Nice. Bring those feet together. And we're going to take a reverse swan dive up again, leaning with the nose like you're coming out of the water. And here. Sending the weight into our heels as we meet in chair pose again. And here, let's explore balance and posture. We don't always do this here. We're going to come into eagle. So send the weight into your left leg, and cross the right foot and right knee over that left. And then send that right arm, twisting, and then you can't fully see me. Underneath that left, if you're familiar with how eagle looks. You can take that full posture, sending your focus, your drishti past those palms, belly button to the spine. Deep breath in. If you wish you can think a little deeper, be balanced like me. And release. Take a breath in. Arms overhead, and relax them down. If you want you can shake it off, step it off. And let's come back to meet in chair posture. As easy as you can. How much bend can you find in those ankles? The more folding of the ankle, the deeper you can take that chair. And let's straighten those knees. Hands come to chair position as we meet in forward fold. Step or hop the back of your neck. Bend those elbows. Chaturanga. Upward facing dog. And downward dog. And downward dog. Let's bend that left knee, taking a deeper stretch on the right side. Both heels into the earth. Bend that right knee. Getting a deeper stretch in the back of that left leg. And down. And both heels on the mat. One collective breath here. And when you're ready, step or hop to the front of your mat. Bring those feet to touch. And let's reverse to a lotus. One last time, send that feet up to the sky. And bend those knees. Coming into our chair. What if you drop those shoulders an inch? Relaxing, finding length in between your ears and your shoulders. Nice, and when you're ready, we'll take eagle on the other side. So, send the weight into that right leg. Cross that left leg over. Bring it back. That left foot behind the calf of the right. Swing that left arm underneath the right. Grasping or sort of touching palms as you're in this twisted position. And if it's helpful to just do the legs or just do the arms, feel free to move at your own pace. Exploring what feels good today. What if you can find a sense of peace as you're balancing here. And when you're ready, release that. Take a breath in, arms up overhead. Press them down. Let the knees and mountain pose. For a brief moment, hands can either come into prayer or stretch side by side. Honoring the present moment that we're sharing together. Noticing the quality of our breath. It's a blessing that we're here, we're breathing. We can practice together. We're here, we're breathing. We can practice together. Imagining your crown connecting beyond your ceiling towards the sun and the sky, receiving all those nutrients. And your heels connecting into the earth, into the mud, into everything. Also, recharging. Step to the front of the mat. And deep breath in, bring those arms up overhead. Really stretch that spine as you swan dive down. Hands come to the mat. Step or hop those feet into plank. Bend those elbows into cataract. Come into upward facing dog. And we meet in downward dog. Downward dog. Taking a moment to find the place in the body that feels extra yummy. What feels good today? I was saying earlier that I invite you to find something you can let go of. So what if you find a place that feels really good? Can you let that feeling travel to a place that maybe you want to let go of tension? Connecting to the breath here. When you're ready, we're going to end with a little bit more stretching today. Lift that left leg up to the sky. And bring that left leg up to the sky. And bring that left leg up to the sky. And bring that left leg up to the sky. And bring that left leg up to the sky. Bend that knee. We'll transition into pigeon if you want. Touch that knee to nose. If you come to place, that left knee behind the left arm. Right ankle behind the right arm. And if available to you, press that upper body down towards the earth. Feel the movement. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Deep breath in. And slowly, when you're ready, walk those arms up. Let's find an active version of this posture. So send those arms side to side, kind of by where your hips are. And if you want, you can take a gentle arch. So send that gaze towards the back. Hopefully finding a deeper stretch in the hip flexor muscles in that right leg. Taking a deep breath in. Long breath out. When you're ready, we're going to meet in downward dog. So tuck the back toe. If you want, you can come to three-legged dog, left leg in the air, and meet in downward dog. Taking a breath here, breathing in. And out. Bring that right leg up to the sky. Transitioning into pigeon posture, maybe you sit on your knee to nose. And you rest that knee behind the right arm, ankle behind the left arm. Sinking in, sending your upper body down towards the earth. Breathing in. Connecting to the breath. Relaxing the space between the upper and lower jaws. Finding awareness of your lower back. And when you're ready, walk those hands up. Send those palms by your side, kind of resting at where your hips are. If you wish, really find an activation here. So you're really kind of pressing into the earth. As you send the tip of your nose towards the sky, maybe arching that back. Finding a deep stretch on the front side of the left hip. Breathing in. And exhale. Bring those palms in front, tucking that back toe. Meeting in downward dog or three-legged dog for a brief moment. Coming back to the ujjayi breath, the ocean breath if you have been there this whole time. Beautiful. And when you're ready, we are going to meet in a child's pose just as we started. Knees as wide as the mat. And here, just take a very kind of lazy child's pose. Exhale. See how the body feels. Hear how the body feels. Inhale. Exhale. And when you're ready, we are going to come to meet either in a cross-legged seated position or you can sit on your heels in a kneeling position. Let's take a deep breath in. Palms can come overhead. Crossing, passing through per position as we take another breath in. Stretching those fingers, belly button to spine as you really send those palms past your center. And one more. Curving the edges of your mouth up towards the sky. Relax those elbows as you come through. Hands in prayer position. I want to thank each and every one of you for taking my class today. Um, yeah. I usually don't end by saying namaste, but it feels proper to say that today. So namaste. And you guys have a lovely weekend.