Yoga Sess 3.22.24

The speaker guides listeners through a breathing exercise and a series of yoga poses. They encourage listeners to focus on their breath and bring awareness to different parts of their body. They start with gentle movements and progress to more challenging poses. The speaker emphasizes the importance of relaxation and setting intentions for the practice. If at any point the audio or visual has any issues, just feel free to let me know. You can raise your hand if you're facing up if you're ready for a feeling you need to receive or down for a sense of grounding. If you're comfortable you can close your eyes. Nod your chin down, so let the tip of your nose kind of tilt down as you sense length in the back of your neck. As you take a deep swallow, activating your parasympathetic nervous system. And I'd like to bring our awareness to how our breath is moving our body starting first with our lower belly and our belly. And sense as you inhale, what is expanding? Is your lower back or your spine moving backwards? Does your belly expand forward? Do you feel maybe an expansion happening in your kicks as you take that breath? And as you exhale, begin to activate your deep core muscles by bringing your belly button to your spine. Begin to bring awareness to the space above your belly, your lower ribs. How do they move as you take a deep inhale in and exhale out. If you were to draw or picture that three dimensionality, your ribs going forward, side to side, to the back. How would that picture look like? Moving up to the chest and clavicle area. How does your breath move your chest as you inhale? And exhale. Finding a sense of calmness and the awareness of coming back to the breath. And I'd like for this last piece of awareness to draw attention to your crown or the space above you. So how in totality maybe is your spine moving as you take a breath in and out? Can you imagine your spine getting longer, reaching towards the sky with no effort at all? Just letting it happen. Maybe finding the space above you allows your shoulders to drop. Finding a sense of relaxation in the shoulder blade. Beautiful. When you're ready, you can flutter those iris open and we're going to take a breath in by moving those arms up overhead. And then bringing them down our center line. Two more. Deep breath in. Belly button to spine as we start moving and stretching our bodies. On this last one, I invite you to set a dedication or some call for our practice into someone or something you believe may benefit from the energy we will share and create today. Alright, when you're ready, let's lift those arms up overhead, releasing that intention and trusting that it will be completed. Let's take an inhale in. Take a gentle twist to your left, placing your right arm across. Behind that left upper thigh. And bringing awareness to each breath, how each breath can help you twist maybe a little further. Moving past that shoulder and come back to neutral. Deep breath in. And take a twist to your right. Sending now that left arm behind that right leg. And imagining all those tiny and very strong muscles that we have that interlace and keep our vertebrae in line. What if you just invite an awareness to the power we have there? When you're ready, come back to neutral. Breath in. And let's transition into a tabletop position. If you arrive here, let's widen those knees a little bit. Activate belly button to spine and take some circles, they can be small or big, to the left. Being gentle as we're getting started. And the other way. Spreading those fingertips. Finding a sense of pleasure in our movement today. Alright, so when you're ready, let's make those knees as wide as the mat and take a brief child's pose, really stretching. So let's think of an active child's pose. We're reaching those fingers all the way to the edge of the mat. Maybe your forehead is on the mat. Really imagine you're sending your energy to that child's pose. Really imagine you're sending your tailbone past your heels. So there's a sense of stretch, like if you see a cat, really stretch out their spine. Alright, when you're ready, come back up into your tabletop and let's take some cats and cows. So on your exhale, release tip of the nose up to the sky, to cow. And then transition into cat. You can move at your own pace. And again, come back to how your breath feels in your body. Does it feel warm? Does it bring a sense of warmth? Maybe a sense of fresh air and coolness. We'll take one more cow. As we do that, we'll tuck our toes underneath. We'll take a cow looking up. On your next exhale, round so much so into cat that you let that belly button lift. Imagine a marionette string lifts you up so you're in a floating tabletop. Just bringing those knees a centimeter an inch off the mat, really pressing away those shoulders, breathing in. And exhale. Two more collective breaths. You got this. Breathe in. Breathe in. Release. Last inhale. And exhale. Straighten those knees behind you. We'll take our first downward dog. Bending the left knee. Long spine. Bending the right. And switch. Really deepen that stretch to send your weight to that right heel. And switch weight into that left heel, bending that right knee. Really pressing away from those fingers. Beautiful. When you're ready, we're going to walk those feet to our hands. When you're ready, we're going to walk those feet to our hands into a forward fold. I'm going to take my sweater off so you can see me a little better. It's always cozy practicing in a sweater, but it just sometimes looks like a big ball. Shake that head no. Now that head, yes. Trusting that the intention we set will be completed. And let's take a gentle roll up. So we'll come and meet in Mountain. Bend those knees. Vertebrae by vertebrae. Activating belly, butt, and torso spine. Roll up. And let's take three collective breaths here. Maybe you bring a smile to your cheeks as you inhale. Inhale. And exhale. Two more. Breathe in. And out. One more. When you exhale, bring those arms up overhead. Just imagine them because you can't see them on this screen. And let's swan dive down. So take a stretch up. Reach those fingers up towards the sky. And then slice the air as you come down. Let's take a full back up. Placing your hands either on your legs or on the mat. And step or hop back into place. Let's stay here again for three collective breaths. Finding awareness and power in our breath. Breathing in. Release. Belly button to spine. Inhale. Long spine. Exhale. Power in those toes. Power in those palms. Breathe in. Your next exhale, slowly come down. Bend those elbows into chaturanga. Either take a full upward facing dog or a sphinx. Whatever feels good. So sphinx, I'm keeping my forearms on the mat. As I stretch the front of my body, finding length in the back of my body. When you're ready, we are going to meet in downward dog. Finding space underneath my arms and my armpits. Sending my energy and weight into the soles of my feet. I'm going to take that one more time a little faster. So walk or hop to your arms. Let's take a couple swings by grabbing opposite elbows. Release the weight of the head. Letting go of any tension. Last exhale. Hands either on the legs or fingertips on the mat. Let's roll up vertebrae by vertebrae. Belly button to spine as we come up. Deep breath in. Arms up overhead. Really stretch all your ligaments, all your tendons. Maybe you look up to the sky and cut through that air. Hands in prayer position. Place those arms down. You can either hop or walk back into plank. Bend those elbows into chaturanga. Upward facing dog if you feel ready. Take a moment here. Breathing in. Feeling a stretch maybe in your lower belly. Activating your shoulder blades behind you. And let's meet in downward dog. Deep breath in. And deep breath out. Let's walk those feet to the front of the mat. And zip up those legs. So inner soles of the feet are touching. And this time let's bend our knees. You can send our arms behind us. And we're going to come into our cosmic chair pose. So what does that feel like if you're sitting on a cosmic chair? Finding an awareness. The space above you, the space behind you. Maybe we send those arms up overhead. And for a challenge here, what if you shift your weight into the bulk of your feet to your toes and lift those heels on your tippy toes. Still in chair, still bending those knees. And release out. Let's actually straighten those legs. Come into mountain for a second. Let's take a breath and imagine lengthening the Achilles tendon. So really extend the heels into the earth. Stretch the back side of your leg. We get ready to bend again. Bend those knees to come into our chair. Maybe swipe those arms behind you. Imagine. I don't know why this gives me a feeling of flying with a cape in the air. But that's the image I'm going to go with. And breathe in. Bring those arms up overhead. If you're ready for that challenge again, maybe send the weight to the bulk of the feet. Lift those heels. Breathing in. Maybe you shake like I do. Belly button to slide. And release those heels down. Stand up. We're going to take that one more time. But again, let's take a second. Really imagining we're lengthening the back of our calves. Descending the weight. Distributing the weight evenly in our feet. And finding space in our ankle. And space above our heel or Achilles. You're going to extend those knees. Extend those arms behind you. Really finding an awareness of how your body feels today. Breathe in. Bring those arms up overhead. You can feel like you want to go on those tippy toes. You can be my guest today. Come on those tippy toes. Maybe you're shaking. Belly button to slide. You feel your glutes. And release down. Let's actually take a forward fold here. Place those arms down. Step that left foot, right foot back into plank. Bend those elbows into chaturanga. Come up into upward facing dog. Beautiful work. And we meet in downward dog. Zip those legs up behind you. Lift that left leg to a three-legged dog. Three-legged dog. Take some gentle ankle circles one way. Still pressing away from the mat. And ankle circles the other way. And let's bend that knee. And imagine you can curve your spine. So you touch knee to nose. And come back. Three-legged dog. Two more of those. Knee to nose. Exhale. Knee comes all the way to your nose. And you'll send it forward into a warrior one. So my back foot is at a 45 degree angle. Breathe in. I really feel the energy flowing today in our process. Bring those arms up overhead. Breathing in. Maybe you challenge yourself by really having a wide stance, but still finding all these beautiful spirals and how your feet are planted into the earth. And yet you pull that left hip crease back, send that right hip crease forward. Warrior one. Bring those arms, one in front and one behind, and open up your spine into warrior two. Really, I encourage you to find space around your joints that you're protecting. No one is sinking their weight into gravity, but rather press away, imagining that maybe you're moving through a different substance that's not air today. Beautiful. And let's come, bring that left arm up overhead into a reverse warrior. Really stretching that side body. And let's wiggle those arms down. We come into a lunge. Take a second to maybe stretch the top of that right leg and thigh. And when you're ready, meet us in plank position. Bend those elbows. Chaturanga to upward facing dog. And downward dog. Great work. Take three to let this breath to your breathing in. And out. Deep breath in. Finding your power in your breath. One more breath in. As you exhale, dip those toes. Dip those toes. Spread those toes and dip the toes of your feet together. Lift that right leg up. Three-legged dog. Pressing away from the earth as you take ankle circles one way. And ankle circles the other way. Warming up those feet. Beautiful. And really stretch to three-legged dog. Stretch, stretch, stretch. Send that heel to your opposite wall. When you're ready, exhale. Imagine you're bringing your knee in. And come back. Stretch. Long legs. Three-legged dog. And come back. Knee to nose. And we'll do one more. Heel to your back wall. And really stretch. Bring that knee to nose. Come forward. And rotate on that back foot. And we'll lift up into a warrior one with the right leg in front. Ninety degree angle of our front leg. Sensing the power we have in our breath, in our strength. Spread those toes. Spread those fingers. Really sensing how you can pull that right hip crease towards you. And you can send that left hip crease forward as you keep those feet planted in the earth. Maybe with each exhale, you can drop those shoulders just a millimeter more. And on your next exhale, twist. Bring those arms side to side. Can't see them. And come into warrior two. Really here, I encourage you to find length in your side body. So bring awareness and attention to your left side, your right side. Really focusing your drishti, your gaze at that middle front finger. Lengthening from middle finger to middle finger. Lengthening from the tip of your head to your tailbone. Beautiful. And we're going to take the reverse warrior. So turn that right arm up overhead. Stretching your right side body maybe. Finding more length in between those ribs. Really stretch, stretch, stretch. Bend that front knee. One kneel down. Take a second to stretch the front of that left hip. The hip flexor that we love to use when we're sitting down. And when you're ready, come to plank. Bend those elbows to turn around the upward facing dog. Maybe you smell your favorite perfume. Imagine. And let's meet in our resting posture. Downward dog. Breathing in. And out. Shake that head now. Not had that head yet. On your next exhale, you can walk those feet to your hands. I'm going to rotate to turn the camera, but bend those legs. Open up those feet so we can come into a squat, malasana position. Maybe your legs are as wide as your mat. And come to prayer position. And here, just imagine. This might sound funny, but you have a weight at the bottom of your tailbone. And what if you just relax? Let go into that feeling and let your hips sink towards the earth. If you press your legs away, your forearms. Beautiful. Let's open up. If you're ready to give a hug. Tilt to your left side and send your gaze up to your right finger. Creating a long line. And pressing that left leg back. So you find a sense of push and pull in your body. And come back to hands to prayer position. Open them up like you're ready to give a big hug. Tilt to rotate. Look to your left fingers, right arm on the mat. Really opening both your front body and back body. So no, don't focus on crunching your back. But really just opening up your fingers. Maybe your senses, just taking in your environment. And come back to neutral. Let's take some Mr. Cornet of our class. Where we gently straighten our legs. But please, I encourage you to move at your own pace here. So let's lift those arms up overhead. Deep breath in. Imagine that someone that you love is guiding you up to the sky. Deep breath in. They help you up. And then the weighted feeling in your tailbone. Let that guide you down. Gently. And sink into prayer position as we come back. Okay, sink into prayer position as we come back. Same thing, we'll walk to another squat position. Two more. Arms up, look up. Someone you love is helping you come up. Deep breath in. And exhale. Weighted feeling at our tailbone. Let that sink you down. Strong legs. Deep breath in. One more time. Exhale, arms up overhead. Looking towards where you're going. Someone you care about. Saying, come up to me. And on your last one, we're going to meet in a seated position. Arms in prayer position. Weighted feeling in our tailbone. And however gracefully you would like. Just come back into a cross-legged position. Maybe closing your eyes. Returning to how we started. Perhaps sensing how the body feels more open. In new places. And coming back to our breath. I offer you the space to continue your day and your weekend with no judgment. As I came back to my breath, I recognized just how easy it is just to inhale and exhale. Placing no judgment. No expectations. If you feel you would like to bring your hands back into prayer position. Bring your thumbs to touch your forehead. Your lips for honesty and your heart. I would like to thank each of you for joining me today. These classes fly by.