So coming to your mat,
Lying down in a comfortable position.
You can have your legs extended long or your knees bent if that feels better.
So you can bend your knees.
And allow your knees to fall inward.
You can always bring a bolster under your knees.
Like I have.
If you want,
You can bring the soles of the feet together.
A comfortable position where you can really allow your hips to be heavy.
And your lower back to feel comfortable and grounded.
And allow your shoulders to rest gently.
Comfortably on the mat.
And bring your hands somewhere on your body.
So just starting to bring your hands.
Your body,
You can put both hands on your belly.
Bring one hand to the center.
Heart,
One hand on the belly.
So we just want our hands to spread over our body feeling our breath under the head.
And then when you find your.
.
.
Just start to relax,
Let go of anything you're holding on to.
Soften your jaw.
Soften the muscles of the face Soften your gaze or close your eyes if that feels comfortable.
And just begin to settle in and arrive here.
Arriving on your mat.
Letting go of your day so far.
Bring your awareness to your breath.
Notice how your breath feels.
Notice your body expand as you breathe in.
And soften a little bit more as you breathe out.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Open your mouth and sigh it out.
Let it go.
I'm gonna start off with.
.
.
Three part breathing exercise,
But before we do that,
Bring your attention to your body.
Just noticing how your body feels.
Notice if there's any part of your body that's maybe a little tight or sore that may need a little bit more love to reduce.
Just being mindful of that.
If any of the policies.
.
.
Don't feel right in your body,
Please don't do them.
Come out of the pose and just take a resting posture that works for you.
And then join back when you're ready.
During our practice,
We're going to be holding postures.
For longer periods of time.
So just being really mindful that you're not holding anything.
Pain or discomfort.
And a sharp pulling.
It's always feeling safe and comfortable in the pose.
Listening to your body first.
Now.
.
.
For a breath breathing exercise today.
We're gonna start.
Bye.
Breathing deeply and sending the air all the way down to the belly.
So if your hand is on your belly.
You can feel your belly expand as you breathe in.
Deep breath in.
And then exhale slowly,
Either through the nose or through the mouth if that feels better for you.
Really quietly and slowly.
Breathing all the air out.
One more like that,
So sending the air all the way down to the belly.
You'll be feeling your hand rise as you breathe in.
And then slowly and quietly breathing out.
Adding on to that so sending the breath into the belly.
And then when the belly can't rise anymore,
You send the air into your ribcage.
So feeling the ribcage expand.
And then exhaling slowly,
Letting the air out of the ribcage and out of the belly.
So one more like that,
Inhale into the belly.
Into the ribcage.
And exhaling slowly the opposite way.
So exhaling all the air from the ribcage.
Now continuing to add on,
So this time sending the air all the way down to your belly,
Fill the belly up.
And feel the rib cage expand.
See if you can breathe a little bit more and feel your heart centre expanding.
Center of your chest,
Filling up.
And then exhaling from the top,
Feeling your chest fall,
Your ribcage and your belly.
So we're going to continue up like this but moving with your own breath at your own pace.
So breathing into the belly.
And the ribs.
And the heart center.
Exhaling from the top,
Letting all the air out.
The heart center.
The ribs and the back.
Continue for a few more rounds.
At your own pace.
And at any point if this becomes too much or.
.
.
Just come back to deep breathing.
Valley breath in and out of your nose.
So breathing into the belly.
And then the ribs.
And then the heart.
Out the heart,
The ribs,
And the back.
Do three more like that at your own pace.
When you finish the last one.
You're just going to continue breathing deeply in and out of your nose.
Feeling your body expand as you breathe in.
And slowly soften.
As you breathe out.
From here slowly,
Start to.
.
.
And one knee and then the other.
And just come to lying down with your feet flat on the mat,
Knees bent.
And just pause here.
Feeling your hips.
And your lower back grounded.
Feeling your back supporting you as you breathe.
When you're ready,
Just slowly roll on to your left side in the fetal position.
So using your bottom arm.
As a pillow.
Hug your knees in.
Towards your body.
And just pause here for a breath or two,
Just noticing how you feel.
After.
Our first relaxation and breath work exercise.
And slowly start to push yourself up too.
Comfortable seat.
So we're coming to a seat.
We're going to sit cross-legged,
So you may want to bring a pillow or.
Bolster under your hips.
Just to tilt your hips forward a little bit so you can sit tall.
Just start by sitting here.
In a comfortable position.
So your hands can rest somewhere on your legs or on your lap.
As you inhale,
Roll your shoulders up towards your ears and then down your back.
As you are excited.
Slight tuck of the chin so the back of your neck is long,
You're sitting tall.
Your spine in a neutral position.
Feeling your hips grounded.
Soften your gaze at a spot in front of you.
Close your eyes if that feels good.
Bring your hands by your side.
As you inhale,
Reach your arms all the way up,
Palms touch overhead.
And then exhale to bring your hands to your heart.
And bow your head to your hands.
And think of one thing that you're grateful for today.
Take care.
From here we're going to move into our first yin posture,
So we're going to come into seated butterfly pose.
Sitting tall,
You can bring the soles of the feet together.
So you can bring your feet as far away as it feels good.
So creating a diamond shape with your knees.
So if you have pillows or blocks,
You can bring blocks under your thighs or your knees,
Just so you can bring the ground up to you.
So we wanna make sure we're not holding our legs up in this pose as we hold for time.
So putting something under your legs so you can just allow them to rest and let go so you don't have to hold them up.
If you have a bolster,
You can always bring a bolster under your legs.
And just allow your knees to fall out,
The soles of the feet together.
So taking a few moments to find your pose here,
Finding a place where you can sit in butterfly.
Without having to hold on and support your legs.
With your muscles.
Just letting go.
So starting off here,
Then you can bring your hands somewhere on your feet.
So starting to fold forward,
And this may not be a huge forward fold,
You just may be leaning forward a little bit.
It may feel good to bring your hands under your shins and just grab the outer edges of your feet.
And so.
.
.
Finding a place where you feel comfortable.
And you may be flexible enough to come all the way down bringing your forehead to your feet or if,
Like me,
You can't reach,
You may want to bring a prop under your forehead.
So again,
A block or a pillow to hold yourself up.
So taking your as much time as you need to get settled here.
And wherever you are make sure that you can really let go and soften Nice.
You can allow your body to Just get comfortable.
You probably feel this pose in your inner thighs,
Maybe in your hips.
Maybe in your lower back,
You may feel a stretch in your shoulders.
Just rounding your back.
And as you hold this you want to make sure that there's no pain especially in your upper back.
In your knees,
In your shoulders.
So we're going to be here for a few minutes.
So take as much time as you need to really get comfortable and grounded here.
And when you find your pose.
.
.
Soften your gaze or close your eyes and just go inward.
Focusing on your breath.
So allow your mind to settle.
On your inhales.
And your exhales.
Feeling your body expand as you breathe in.
And soften as you breathe out.
We're in a forward fold posture and forward folds are a symbol of going inward.
So as we hold the pose for time,
You may notice that thoughts or emotions start to come up.
You may notice that your mind starts to wander.
Or you start to feel things that you weren't feeling before.
And if and when that happens.
Just know that that's completely normal.
And see if you can gently and kindly just bring your awareness back to your breath.
Feeling your next inhale fill your body up and see if you can let go of something you're holding on to with the next exhale.
I've been here for a few minutes so you may notice that The sensations in your body are starting to become a little bit more intense.
Maybe you feel this a little bit more in your lower back.
And your thighs.
And just notice that and see if you can breathe into it.
Again,
Making sure that this is still comfortable for you.
You may notice that.
.
.
Maybe he can go a little bit deeper into the pose so you can try it out seeing if you can Maybe fold forward a little bit more.
Or bring your knees down towards the ground a little bit more.
Try going a little bit deeper into the pose and If that doesn't feel comfortable,
Just move back to where you were.
We're going to be here for.
.
.
Much longer.
Just spending the last few breaths to really settle and soften.
Noticing if you're I'm starting to frown or clench your jaw.
Noticing any other parts of your body that you're holding on to.
And see if you can soften with the next exhale.
Leaving room for the next inhale to really fill your body up and then slow opening with the exhale.
Take a deep breath in.
And a long breath out.
One more,
Just like that.
Deep inhale.
Exhale,
Let it all out.
Then really slowly and mindfully.
Start to move out of the pose,
Really gently coming up.
Moving your spine slowly.
Come up to a seat.
Bring your hands to the outer edges of your feet at knee level.
Just close your knees up,
Bringing the soles of the feet to the mat.
And you can just give yourself a hug.
Just noticing if there is a rush.
Of energy.
Moving up your spine towards your head.
And allowing that to settle.
Just breathing into any sensations that you're feeling after this pose.
Okay,
Slowly move your props aside.
And just bring your feet back distance apart your hands behind you maybe your fingers are pointing forward and you're just going to gently windshield wiper in your neck.
From side to side.
Okay,
Moving really slowly and mindfully.
Yet.
Now coming back to a seat,
So finding a comfortable seat,
Sitting with your spine tall.
Inhale to roll your shoulders up towards your ears and then down your back.
Again soften your gaze or close your eyes if that feels good.
And just pause here.
Notice how your body feels.
It's your breath.
Notice any thoughts or emotions.
Now our next posture is.
.
.
Half butterfly.
We're going to extend the right leg long and bring the left foot to the insides of the the right leg.
Again,
Sitting on a pillow or a folded up blanket.
And can really help.
Sitting.
You want to turn your torso towards your extended leg.
One way to do that is.
.
.
Just gently,
Using your hands,
Lift up.
Your right hip up and just pull your hip back.
This helps turn your torso towards your extended leg.
And then from here,
We're just gonna walk our hands forward,
Coming to a full fold.
As you fold,
Your knee will probably start to bend.
And if it does,
Completely okay.
Again,
You can bring a bolster or a block under your knee.
Or under.
And your.
.
.
Your legs.
And just starting to fold forward,
Again rounding your back.
Allowing your head to be heavy so if your head is resting comfortably on your legs that's great.
If it's not,
You can start to Maybe bring a block or a pillow or something so you can allow your head to rest.
The forehead to rest on something.
So taking a few moments to find it comfortable.
Position.
You may need to adjust your blocks a few times.
Just really taking your time so we want to hold this pose again for a few minutes and we want to find a place where our body is settled and comfortable.
Making sure there's no pain or discomfort.
And allowing your forehead to rest on something.
So in other styles of yoga,
We're used to flexing our foot in this posture.
So see if you're flexing your foot and if you are,
You can soften Want to make sure we're not holding or flexing anything.
Just allowing your foot to be comfortable and soft.
And just noticing how this pose feels in the moment.
Your hamstring and the back of your leg.
Maybe in your lower back,
On the left side,
Maybe in your shoulders.
Just allowing your hands to rest somewhere beside your legs.
So again,
You don't need to hold your foot or your toes.
Your hands are just gently resting on the mat.
On the floor.
Bye.
And when you find a position that is comfortable for you.
And grounding for you.
And you feel settled and comfortable.
Just allow your eyes to soften or close.
And come back to your breath.
Coming back to the center.
Pulling the breath in and out of your body.
Noticing where you feel the poles.
And see if you can visualize your breath moving to that area in your body you and with every exhale noticing if you can soften just a little bit more Now you may notice that This close is starting to become a little bit more intense.
Or maybe it feels a little bit lighter and easier in your body.
You just notice how it feels.
And you can make a decision to either back out of the pose a little bit.
Or Go a little bit deeper.
Maybe fold forward a little bit more.
Maybe you can move the prop from under your leg whatever you decide to do.
When you're done with the transition,
Just come back to stillness.
And back to your breath.
Take a deep breath in.
Exhale all the air out.
Slowly start to relax.
Walk your hands towards you and come up to a seat.
Move your process out.
And you're just going to bring your left hand behind you.
Your fingers pointing away from you.
You can point the front toes.
And maybe as you inhale,
You start to lift your hips up.
Reach your right arm back.
Good.
Coming to a full stretch.
Good.
As you inhale,
Lift your hips up a little bit more.
And then exhale to slowly come all the way back down.
And then start to extend the left leg.
And just shake.
Shake your legs.
And you can tap your knees.
Just making any movement in your legs and your feet that feels good.
Before we move to the second side.
So when you're ready.
Extending the left leg long.
To bring your right foot to the inside of your left leg.
Again,
Keeping your pillow or folded up blanket under your hips to help you sit tall.
And then,
Again,
Trying to turn the torso towards the extended leg,
So it may help to just lift that hip up and pull it back,
So it turns your body towards your extended leg.
And we're gonna do the same thing on this side.
So this side may feel different.
So if you used props on the other side,
You may not need them.
If you didn't use props on the other side,
You may need them a little bit more on this side.
Don't expect the pose to look the same on the side.
Just start to adjust your body.
With your props and start to move into this pose.
So taking a few moments here.
To move into the pose.
I'm definitely tighter on the side so I need to bend my knee a little bit more.
To get comfortable.
And then just starting to walk your hands forward,
Starting to bring your forehead down either up or down.
Onto a block or maybe on top of your leg.
Good,
Allowing your left foot to be soft.
And.
.
.
And finding a posture where you feel comfortable but you still feel something in the back of your leg,
In your lower back.
Making sure you feel the stretch,
But it's not too much.
So going in.
To your edge.
And then backing out a little bit.
And take your time to.
.
.
Find your pose here.
And when you're comfortable and settled,
Come to stillness.
Soften your gaze or close your eyes.
And come to a breath,
Breathing deeply.
Slowly and mindfully.
Noticing where you feel the pose on this side.
And sending your inhales to that area in your body.
And allowing the exhale to soften the tension.
You may notice that maybe your body is starting to open up.
And you can go a little bit deeper into your fold.
And if you do,
See if you can adjust your palms slowly and mindfully.
And start to move into a position that Again,
You feel something.
But it's not too intense.
That may mean that you're moving out of the pose a little bit or maybe you're moving deeper into your post Wherever you land,
Come to stillness,
Come back to your breath.
Take a deep breath in.
Exhale all the air out.
Really slowly start to Hold your hands.
Towards you,
Coming out of the pose.
Coming to a seat,
Moving your props aside really slowly.
Bring your right hand behind you,
Fingers pointing away.
Start to point the left.
Have toes and then maybe start to lift your hips up as you breathe in.
Reaching your left or back.
Inhale to lift your hips up just a little bit more,
Then exhale slowly down.
Come all the way down,
Come into a seat.
And again,
Just extending your legs long,
Shaking.
And making any movements that feel Good in your body here And then from here,
We're going to move.
Onto our back.
So just really slowly again,
Making your way to your back,
Bringing your props with you just in case you need them.
So come to your back,
Start by having your feet.
Flat on the mat.
At your knees.
Pointing up.
Bring your hands somewhere on your body.
And just pause here,
Allowing your hips and your shoulders to be heavy.
Feeling the mat support you.
And just notice how your body feels.
You can start to hug your knees into your chest.
Maybe.
Rocking gently from side to side.
Massaging your lower back or maybe making circles with your knees in one direction.
And then the other.
Pet.
Then grab your knees with your hands and we're going to make circles with the knees.
So as you inhale,
You're going to bring your knees towards you and open them up so your right knee goes towards the right,
Left knee towards the left.
And move them away from you and bring them together again.
Inhale forward,
Open.
And exhale back.
Just moving like that with your own breath.
Inhale,
Knees come towards you and open.
Exhale,
They move back.
Continue like that.
With your own breath.
And then when you're ready,
Switching sides.
So inhaling,
Your knees move back and open.
Exhale towards you and close.
Circles in the opposite direction.
Inhale,
Knees move away and open.
Exhale towards you.
Good when you're done your last one hug your knees in Just gently rocking from side to side,
Smudging your back.
And we're going to come into a supine twist.
So for this one,
You may want to cross your legs or you may want to stack your knees.
So you can try them both and see which one feels better in your body today.
So if you want to cross your legs,
Cross the left leg over the right.
And then lift your hips up towards the left side and let your knees fall towards the right side.
So if you're crossing your knees,
You may want to bring something under your left knee just to allow your leg to really be comfortable.
If this doesn't feel good,
You can take a break.
Just stack your knees and allow them to fall towards the right side.
So again,
You may need to bring something under your knees or maybe you bring something between your knees.
A pillow or blanket that may feel really good.
Find an option that feels good.
And wherever you are,
Just make sure.
That you can really ground your shoulders.
So if your left shoulder is lifting up it may feel good to bring a pillow or a blanket under your left shoulder just so you can rest your shoulder on something.
It.
So your arms can be Extend it to the side.
Or you can reach your arms overhead You can come to cactus arms if that feels better.
So adjusting your pose.
To get really grounded.
And comfortable in this twist.
It may feel good.
To turn your head towards the left side.
Do this only if it feels good in your neck.
Make sure there's no pain or discomfort.
And when you find your pose,
When you find.
.
.
Place where you feel the twist.
You can really let go and not hold on to anything.
Come to stillness.
Back to your breath.
Your breath has shifted,
Maybe it's a little bit more.
Choppy.
Little bit shallower.
And see if you can start to deepen your breath again.
Really filling your body up as you inhale.
And softening and letting go as you exhale.
Breathing deeply.
And allowing your mind to settle.
Notice if as we start to Welcome to stillness.
Yes.
Start to be quiet and calm.
If your mind starts to wander.
If you're starting to think about the rest of your day or your week.
And know that if that happens,
It's completely natural.
And allow yourself to relax.
Come back to your breath.
Without judgment,
Without being harsh on yourself.
Just allow your mind to come back to your breath.
Take a deep breath in.
Exhale all the energy.
Holy.
.
.
Start to come out of the pores.
Bringing your knees back to centre,
Uncross your legs if they're crossed.
Just pause at center with your feet flat on the mat.
Your lower back grounded,
Your hands resting gently somewhere on your body.
When you're ready moving to the second side.
So if you want to cross your legs,
Right leg over the left.
Lift your hips up towards the right side and allow your knees to fall towards the left.
And again,
Just.
.
.
Using your problem.
Too.
Really get settled and comfortable.
Maybe turn your head towards the right if that feels good in your neck.
Allow your shoulders to be heavy and grounded.
Breathe into the twist.
Following the inhale.
As they move into your body.
And following the exhale as they move out.
Your mind starts to wander.
Gently bring it back to rest.
Back to this moment.
Allow yourself to be here on your mat.
A little bit longer.
Take a deep breath in.
And a long slow breath out.
Slowly starting to come out of the pose.
Uncross your legs if they're gross.
And just.
.
.
With your feet flat on the mat,
Your hands resting on your body.
Feel the next inhale.
And your exhale.
When you're ready,
Move into Shavasana.
Final resting posture.
So you can.
.
.
Choose whatever position feels comfortable.
Grabbing props or layers,
Anything you need to get comfortable here.
You may bring a bolster or pillow under your knees.
Maybe a pillow or a folded up blanket under your head.
Allowing your shoulders to really be heavy.
Your hips resting on the mat.
Allow your arms to rest gently by your side.
Palms facing up.
Fingers curled in.
Soften your jaw.
Allow your tongue to fall away from the roof of your mouth.
Off in the muscles of the face,
Your eyelids.
Allow your eyes to close gently.
Scan your body from the crown of your head all the way down to your fingers and your toes.
Just notice if there's any part of your body that you can soften and let go of just a little bit more.
Make it comfortable and grounded.
Allow your body to rest here and breathe naturally.
Take in the effects of your practice.
Take a deep breath in.
And then a long breath.
Or more like that,
Deep inhale full and complete exhale,
Let it all go.
Slowly start to bring some movement back to your body.
Wiggling your fingers,
Your toes.
Moving your wrists and your ankles Maybe gently rocking your head from side to side.
When you're ready,
Bend one knee and then the other.
And roll onto your right side in fetal position.
Using your bottom arm as a pillow.
Fetal pose,
After corpse pose,
Reminds us that after every ending,
There's a new beginning.
When you're ready,
Slowly push yourself up to a comfortable seat.
Sitting with your spine tall,
Your neck straight.
Parallel to the mat.
Soften your gaze or close your eyes.
Bring your hands by your side as you inhale,
Reach your arms all the way up.
Aware.
Exhale,
Bring your hands to your heart center.
And thank yourself.
For coming to your mat today.
Spending this time for yourself.
For your practice,
For your breath.
Thumbs to your third eye,
The space between your eyebrows.
May your thoughts be kind.
Thumbs to your lips,
May your words be caring.
And thumbs to your heart center.
May your heart be filled with love and gratitude.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
Namaste.
