This session will be focused in on neck,
Shoulder and spinal releases.
So first things first,
Found an elevated,
Comfortable seat.
So grab your cushion.
Raise the pelvis up so it's above the knees and the ankles.
And then reach back and grab your glutes and pull them straight back.
As you're doing that,
Feel your sit bones.
And then assert them into the cushion.
Into the ground.
We'll begin with a minute of silence just to arrive.
Namaste.
So to begin,
Bring your fingertips to either side of your cushion.
And as you exhale lean back the spine realm.
As you inhale,
Lean forward.
Towards the pubic bone and arch.
Exhaling,
Leaning back.
All the breath out.
Inhaling,
Arching.
Opening the spine.
Two more times.
Find a full complete exhale.
And then using the breath in the back of your throat,
The oceanic breath.
Match the length of your inhales to your exhales.
On the next inhale,
Raise your arms up over your head Palms touch.
As you exhale press up.
And down Inhale,
Arch your spine.
Exhale,
Press the pumps forward,
Navel back.
As you inhale,
Arch your spine.
And then exhale,
Releasing a wide arc.
There's a little exhale left over after your fingertips touch the ground.
When the inhale begins,
Raise the arms.
Palms touch over your head.
Exhale,
Press up and down.
Inhale,
Arch your spine.
Look up.
Exhale,
Press forward,
Navel back.
Inhale,
Arch the spine.
Exhale,
Release in a wide arc,
Like you're clearing your field.
Little bit of exhale left over after the fingertips tips touch.
Inhale,
Raise the arms.
Alms touch.
Exhale,
Press up and down.
All the way out.
Inhale,
Arch your back.
Look up.
Exhale,
Press the pumps forward,
Navel back,
Full evacuation.
Inhale,
Arch.
This time exhale,
Twist to your right.
All the way out with the breath.
Inhale back to center,
Palms touch.
Exhale to your left.
All the way out.
In our center.
Palms touch.
Exhale to the right.
Inhale to center,
Palms touch.
Exhale to the left.
Inhale.
Back to center.
And then exhale,
Twist to the right.
Now keep your gaze and your chin lined up with the right knee.
So we're not turning the head yet.
We're focused on the lumbar spine.
Each time you inhale feel the spine lift and lengthen Exhale the twist matures.
Like there's a string in the top of your head lifting as you inhale.
Exhale,
Feel the twister to come a little higher towards your root cage.
Now when you feel the twist start to come into your neck,
That's when you want to turn the head and reach for the right knee with your left hand.
As well begin to twist all the way into the optic nerves.
You're going to look as far right as you can.
Keep a hold of your right knee with your right hand.
Lean over.
Both sit bones stay grounded.
It's like you're hanging off of the right leg.
And opening through the right side of your flank.
Full breaths.
Allow the stretch to appear.
Not chasing anything,
We're discovering.
As the inhale comes lift up tall and then exhale,
Twist to the left.
Now,
If you find that you're up too high,
I've discovered I'm up too high come right down to the floor Everything's always adjustable.
And in the same fashion twist to the left.
Try not to turn the head.
Initially.
We want to discern the difference between looking.
And actually wringing the spine out.
Twisting is like fluffing the pillows on your couch.
If the discs between your vertebra were the cushions,
We'd be fluffing them by first compressing them.
Go ahead and reach for the opposite knee.
Once the twist comes into your neck,
Then look to the left.
Take the eyes as far to the left as they can go.
You feel it all the way into your optic nerves.
You lean over,
Keep both sit bones grounded.
And as long as the neck is comfortable with it,
You can look up.
If it strains the neck at all,
Just look in a comfortable direction.
Inhale up tall.
And exhale hands down.
From here,
Take one foot in front of the other.
For siddhasana and then hands behind you.
As you inhale,
Lift the pelvis,
Open the spine,
Look up.
And exhale down.
Switch off the order of your feet.
As you inhale again,
Lift the pelvis,
Draw the shoulder blades back,
Look up.
And exhale.
Come down i'm going to turn to the side so you can see Right from here.
Allow yourself to bow forward.
Let the head drop.
And feel the sensations of the breath,
Meaning.
.
.
The shape change in your body as you breathe.
In the back box.
And then slowly walk your way back out.
From here Come back up onto your seat.
Into the lower back.
Knees and ankles are comfortable.
So with your arms,
Think of the arms as wings.
Basically five bones in the fingers four and the palm three in the wrist two in the forearm and one in the upper arm so it's like a wing i mean there are more bones obviously than that but generally So we're turning the tip of the wings up.
Inhale,
Look up.
And as you exhale,
Ring it out.
Palms face up,
Head down.
Inhale,
Open your wings,
Look up.
Exhale.
Bring it out,
All the breath out.
Inhale,
Open,
Look out.
And exhale.
Bring it out.
Two more.
Inhale,
Open.
Exhale,
Ring it out.
Last one,
Inhale.
Open.
And exhale.
Ring it out.
Then come back to neutral position.
We're going to come into Eagle.
So you're going to take your right arm under your left.
And if possible,
Let the fingers of your right hand come to the palm of your left.
That's not possible.
Just cross the right elbow under the left.
As much as you lift your elbows,
Draw the shoulders down.
Bringing your breath attention right to where you feel it.
Good amount of time to hold the pose.
Between five to eight breaths.
The breath is never held.
The breath is always moving.
As it is our primary nutrition.
The inhale comes again open the wings And then left arm.
Under the right.
As you lift your elbows,
Draw the shoulder blades down.
Continue to lengthen the exhales more than the inhales.
One more breath here.
On the inhale comes,
Open the wings.
And then.
.
.
Exhale the hands to your knees.
So this is gonna work the patient's muscles.
The intercostals are these little guys between your ribs.
So if you ever eat ribs,
You're eating intercostals.
Yummy all right so you're going to push your left knee away and flare open the flank of your left side.
Flare it open and then Deepen the breath sick there.
So the shape change in that area is pronounced.
And then switch sides.
Push right knee away.
Open your right flank.
Let your head drop.
For those of you who are aware of the subtle body networks,
Directly addresses the side channels the right and left the sun and moon or the masculine-feminine polarities.
Inhale back to center.
Good.
From here,
I'm gonna take the hands behind the head.
Right,
Like you're chilling.
Draw the elbows back,
And as you inhale,
Take the gaze up.
And as you exhale,
Let your chin drop and let the elbows drop,
But we're not pulling on the head.
It's just the natural weight of the arms enhancing it.
As you inhale,
Lift your heart Open the elbows.
Look up.
On the exhale,
Getting all the CO2 out of your animal.
Full evacuation.
La purga.
Again,
Inhale open.
And exhale.
Full evacuation.
Couple of breaths here with the head down.
Find where the shoulder blades are fully dilated apart.
So that the shape change of your breath again can open that canvas and fluctuate it,
Space behind the heart.
On the inhale open,
Lift.
And then you're going to take your right fingertips to the ground.
And the left middle finger.
Comes to your ear.
For the right collarbones,
Nice and broad.
And then without pulling,
Just allow the left ear to come towards your left shoulder.
There's no pulling,
We're feeling for the sweet spot.
And breathing.
Where you feel the body's been holding,
As my friend says,
Non-functional tension.
These funny shapes allow us to see where the body's been holding tension.
You know,
Not necessary anymore.
So that our full energy is available to have powerful immune system,
Perfectly tuned nervous system.
And a positive emotional outlook about all this stuff that we are encountering throughout the day.
So now you're going to bring your left hand behind your ear towards the round part of your skull,
Gently.
Allow your chin to come towards that left collarbone.
You can play with the angle a little bit again to find where the sweet spot is.
But not pulling.
It's just a subtle enhancement of the weight of your head using your arm.
As we're in these asanas,
These postures,
There's a spirit of loving kindness towards the cellular communities that make up.
Our animal.
And all this magical machine puts up with to keep the show called you.
Going.
Now keep the weight of the hand on your head.
Slowly lift your head up.
And then gently release the arm down,
Fingertips to the floor so you have the full broadness of your collarbone.
Right middle finger across the ear.
Without pulling just allowing the right ear to come towards the right shoulder.
Four complete breaths.
After the next exhale,
Slip your hand behind your ear.
Towards the rounded part of your skull let the chin start to drop and feel you'll find it This sweet spot where you want to stay and breathe air.
The functional tension of our body is very important.
It's our integrity.
It's our core.
It's the.
.
.
Intensity.
The inner tensions.
And keep us buoyant and light.
Keeping the weight of your hand on your head,
Slowly,
Slowly lift the head up.
Back to neutral.
And then down.
The next aspect is to draw circles with the chin.
So we'll start clockwise.
So as you bring your chin down to six o'clock.
And then slowly bring it up and around towards 12 through 9.
12 and then down and around towards three o'clock,
Six o'clock.
A few circles like that,
Nice and even.
Keeping the breath moving,
Not forcing through anything.
We'll do three in that clockwise pattern.
And then three,
And a counterclockwise pattern.
So if you're coming from any injuries,
Be gentle and consider the first few movements as diagnostic.
Well away from your challenge threshold and well within your comfort.
Zone.
It's very possible to damage the body with asana.
There is nothing safe about these practices.
So.
Respecting their power and respecting the limitations,
Even as you push the frontier of your boundaries.
This is self-love.
From here,
Remove If you're sitting up on a cushion.
Take it out to the side.
And then bring your legs forward.
You like and these are essential yoga props you can put a block between your legs And what we're looking for is perfect symmetry in the knees.
So there's no twist at all in your knees.
Ankles.
Or sacrum,
Back where your pelvis meets your spine.
Block is optional.
From here,
Bring the hands into prayer.
Gazing up with the neck nice and long.
Full breath.
So even as the pose is taught,
And buttoned up,
The breath always moves.
Keeping that lift in the chest,
You're going to turn to the right and twisting.
Inhaling into the chest.
And exhaling into the apple.
Keep breathing.
As you inhale,
Come back to center.
Hence the prayer.
Nice lift in the heart.
Spine is in.
And then exhale,
Twist to the left.
There's a very seasoned yogini named Vanda Scarvelli.
I think she was in her late 80s or 90s.
And she said that The source of youth,
The fountain of youth is the spine being in the body.
Absorbed rather than fallen out.
We never want to straighten the spine.
That would be like taking the shock absorber.
And frankly,
The sexiness of the body out.
We don't want to do that.
Those curves are important.
But we want generally the spine to be coming in towards the core.
And back to center.
Hence the prayer.
And then you can bring your fists behind you like this if your wrists are comfortable with it.
Flat money's my fist.
Let the feet come nice and wide.
Here I'll show you from the front.
Forgive the man spread.
And then you're going to drop the knees together.
So this decompresses the back of the sacrum.
Let your chin drop,
Let your spine round out,
Navel back,
Breathe into the back of the spine.
Back of the heart.
So right now it's the opposite shape of what I was just encouraging.
And as you inhale,
Come up,
Bring the knees parallel and come up to tabletop pose.
Equal weight in your hands and feet.
Oh my God,
I'm cramping,
Cramping.
Happens to the best of us.
Inhale to your highest point.
Look out.
And exhale.
Come down.
From here,
We'll come into Tara asana,
Star pose.
So the feet are about a foot from the groin.
Hold on to the ankles.
Inhale,
Lift your chest.
And as you exhale,
Hold loosely under your feet.
We don't want to pull up.
If anything the feet press into one another.
So there's a sense of the hips and groin opening.
And then as your spine lengthens through each breath,
You fold forward.
Then see the face into the feet.
Keep that pronounced Ujjayi breathing,
So the heat.
An interoception meaning your inner sense of where things are.
Are as bright as your Extrospective awareness,
Your sense of wherewithal,
Set and setting.
You would not be startled if someone tried to sneak up on you.
Good inhale come back up And then from here,
Do some these are called horse rolls in the tibetan system i guess horses do this i've never seen it but i'd be open to it You hold your shins and you're going to rock up and down the length of the right side of your spine.
Some momentum.
And allow the pose to be strong enough that it actually moves your breath.
Again,
This is working the right channel,
The pingala nadi.
Right channel tends to support hostility towards the present moment.
Refusal of what is.
Come up and down the left side.
Left channel is the sister of the right.
It's wanting more than the given reality.
Nostalgia,
Addiction,
Obsession,
Longing.
Okay,
Now on your next rock up.
You're going to cross your ankles.
Hands down.
And then and your down dog.
Assimilate everything.
Don't worry about holding still at all.
Integrate all the things that we've done.
This is a short practice.
It's good for before bed.
You just want to chill.
Shake off.
Stress of long periods of sitting at the desk.
Inhale forward to plank,
Shoulders over the wrists.
Move the feedback.
Exhale back to down dog.
Lift up through the hips.
Inhale to plank,
Shoulders over the wrists.
Exhale back to down dog.
Nice and high to your sit bones.
One more.
Inhale to plank,
Shoulders over the wrists.
Exhale.
Back to Dumb Dog.
Then inhale,
Bring your knees to the ground.
And then sit back on the heels for Vajrasana.
Again,
If this is too much on your knees.
Use a block and have a seat on it.
Just fine.
I am comfortable with that,
So I'm going to sit like this.
So i don't know what these are called i saw a runner do this years ago and i've always done it it just feels so good on the spine so hands under the solar plexus right about here the exhale I'm going to drop the head around and all the co2 out And the moment the inhale sparks,
Lift the head.
Arch the spine,
Back bend.
The moment you feel the exhale start itself round.
Get all the CO2 out of the animal.
Everything out.
When the pranavayu sparks our true spine.
Pranavayu is a technical term for the impulse to inhale.
And then just keep moving like this,
Very sensual.
Do six of these.
It may help with the interoception to close the eyes so you have an inner,
Sensual picture of where your animal is.
Within itself.
This movement also helps to raise the core temperature.
One more breath.
Good,
And then coming up.
I'll turn to face you and then.
.
.
Reversing the hands here.
Some poses charge us up.
They bring more energy.
Poses recharge us like restorative poses and some poses discharge.
This is a discharge position.
Just like walking barefoot on the ground.
Having the hands in this position opens up the inner meridians of the arms.
In Chinese,
Medicine is to be the heart-lung constrictors.
So stay in the pose,
Keep breathing.
Basically,
Anytime we try to fill the void,
We're biting our nails,
We smoke,
We look at our phone,
We've looked at it 50,
000 times already,
Eating when we're not hungry,
Drinking unconsciously.
Filling the void.
This position is entering the void.
And discharging the unconscious.
Place between impulse and reaction.
And then come up and wrap your fingers around your thumbs and start to circle the wrist.
I think vices are wonderful.
To have vices is to be human.
But to have unconscious vices that rule the psyche.
And encourage patterns of behavior that may be arrested development you know this is to be examined in the practice so that We have control.
Over our impulses.
So from here,
As it is a short practice,
You could finish with Shavasana,
But we'll finish seated.
I'm in a silence just to feel.
The effect of the practice.
So again,
Once you sit,
It's a good practice to reach back,
Grab your glutes.
And deliver the sit bones into your home world through the bedrock.
And then a minute of silence to just feel the afterglow of the practice.
Bring the hands into a bowl in front of the heart.
We offer the benefit of the practice into your hands like a light.
And imagine it rushing out across the arc of the planet in every direction.
Healing.
The ecosystem.
All of the flora and fauna,
The plants and animals.
And offering deep gratitude.
For all the causes and conditions that allow us to live these human lives on this precious jewel.
Namaste.
