So take a moment and gather the things you will need for your morning practice.
Perhaps a block,
Bolster or a pillow and come on down on your mat in a supine position lying down.
Support the backs of your legs if you like with the bolster or a pillow.
Let your body land on the ground.
Notice the parts of your body that are making contact with the ground.
The back of your skull,
Your shoulder blades,
Your tailbone,
Your sitting bones,
Backs of your thighs,
Calves and your heel bones.
Splay your heel bones open and your toes will relax.
Palms of your hand are facing the ceiling and open and begin to settle in and welcome yourself.
Welcome yourself to your practice.
Welcome all of you.
The parts that you may like of yourself and even the parts that you don't like.
All of your being is welcome here.
Begin to notice your breath,
The parts of your body that move with your breath.
You may notice your belly rising and falling,
You may notice your chest opening or moving.
No right or wrong,
Just noticing.
We'll take a couple belly breaths.
So inhale,
Replace your palms on your belly.
Inhale and rounded your belly like a balloon.
Inhaling and exhaling,
Belly descends towards the spine.
Inhale,
Belly fills with the breath,
The air coming in.
Exhale,
Belly descends.
You may even notice your ribs curving inward slightly.
One more time,
Big belly breath in,
Expanding all directions of your belly.
And then exhaling,
Releasing,
Belly deflates like a balloon back towards the spine.
And then returning to your normal breath.
We're going to grab with our fingertips our right leg just below the knee.
So bringing the knee in towards the chest and letting your interlaced fingers rest on your shin.
We're going to do knee circles.
Flex your foot and we're going to do inhale on the first half of the circle and then exhale on the second half.
So moving in a clockwise position with our knee leaning towards the right,
Inhale and exhale,
Second half of the circle.
Inhale,
First half of the circle.
Exhale,
Second half.
Two more times like that on your own.
And we'll do the same thing but moving in a counterclockwise.
So inhale,
Knee towards the left and exhale,
Second half of that circle.
Inhale,
Exhale,
Second half.
It's a small circle.
Two more on your own like that.
And from here we're going to do some ankle circles now.
So your foot is still flexed and we're going to inhale,
Full ankle circle clockwise,
And then exhale on the counterclockwise circle.
Inhale,
Clockwise.
Toe is leading the movement.
Exhale,
Counterclockwise.
Two more like that on your own.
From here,
Interlace your fingers on the back side of that right thigh and slowly extend the sole of that right foot towards the ceiling.
And you may not straighten your leg.
Keep a bend in that knee just to accommodate the morning stiffness.
And we're just going to point and flex our foot.
So inhale,
Point your toes.
Exhale,
Flex toes towards the ceiling.
Inhale,
Pointing.
Exhaling,
Flexing.
Couple more like those on your own.
And release.
Release your hands and let them come down,
Palms face up on the ground.
And we're going to slowly descend our right leg towards the floor.
When it gets almost to the floor,
Let it hover.
Take a breath in and then exhale,
Slow descend.
Let it land alongside your left.
And just pause here for a moment and notice the difference between your right and your left leg.
We're going to balance that out and we'll repeat the same series on our left leg.
So left knee comes in towards the chest.
Fingers will interlace with both hands resting on your shin bone.
And we'll begin those circles clockwise.
So inhale,
Knee towards the right.
Second half of the circle is an exhale.
You may notice differences between your circles from your right and your left side,
And that's completely normal.
So two more of those on your own,
Inhaling clockwise,
And exhaling second half of the circle.
One more time on your own.
And we'll do the same thing now counterclockwise,
So to the left.
So inhale,
Knee towards the left.
Exhale,
Second half of the circle.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Two more times like that on your own.
And we'll move on to those ankle circles.
So inhale,
Toe leads the movement.
Inhale,
Clockwise.
Exhale,
Counterclockwise.
Inhale,
Clockwise.
Exhale,
Counterclockwise.
Two more like that on your own.
And we'll place our fingers and interlace them behind that left thigh.
Sole of the foot slowly comes up towards the ceiling.
And inhale,
Point toes.
And exhale,
Flex.
Inhale,
Point.
Exhale,
Flex.
Nice bend in your knee.
Couple more like that on your own.
And then you can remove your interlaced fingers.
Sole of the foot is towards the ceiling,
And then a slow descent towards the floor.
And when it gets almost to the floor,
Let it hover.
Take a breath in.
And exhale,
Let it land on the mat alongside your right.
And again,
Just splay open your feet.
Palms are facing up,
Resting alongside your body.
And take a moment and just notice the energy,
The feelings from doing those rotations.
From here,
We're going to bring both knees into the chest.
So shins are parallel to the floor.
And then we're going to extend the soles of the feet towards the ceiling.
We're going to do leg lifts.
So you can do double leg lifts or alternating single leg lifts.
Do what is best for you.
So breath in.
And exhale,
Letting both legs lower or alternating,
Just doing one leg at a time.
When they're getting almost to the ground,
Let them hover.
Breath in.
And exhale,
Brings them back up.
Breath in.
Exhale,
Slow descent.
Let them hover.
Inhale.
And exhale,
Soles of the feet back to the ceiling.
So we'll do three or four more of those on your own,
Your own pace.
Soles of the feet towards the ceiling.
Wrap your arms maybe around the backs of your knees.
And let's just move side to side,
Offering our back a nice little massage.
From here,
We're going to make our way into Sukhasana.
So easy cross-legged sitting pose.
You can place a block under your sitting bones or a pillow to elevate your hips.
And we're going to practice a connection breath here.
So sitting tall,
Spine long,
Fingertips on either side of your body,
Just outside of your hips.
So inhale,
Palms touch above your head.
Exhale to heart center.
Inhale,
Arms out in front of you and wide.
Exhale,
Arms meet,
Palms touch out in front,
Bringing back to heart center.
From heart to the sky,
From the sky to the earth.
A few more times.
Inhale,
Arms up,
Palms touch overhead.
Exhale to heart center.
Inhale to open,
Arms wide.
Exhale,
Palms touch out in front,
Back to heart center.
From your heart to the sky,
Inhale.
And exhale from the sky to the earth.
Inhale,
Arms up.
Exhale,
Heart center.
Inhale to open,
To offer,
To give what you can.
Exhale to receive what serves you.
Bring it to heart center.
From your heart,
Inhale to the sky.
And exhale from the sky to the earth.
Fingertips on floor.
Pause for a moment.
Notice.
And let it go.
From here,
We're going to make our way into mountain pose.
So coming up slow,
Coming to the top of your mat,
Placing your feet hip width apart or a little bit more.
Lift your toes for just a moment and then let them fall down.
Lift your toes again and let them fall down.
And just notice,
Notice how much balance and strength our toes give us.
Relaxing your knees.
And your knees are facing forward.
Your hips are shining forward as well.
And you're not putting weight onto your right side or your left side more than the other.
It's balanced.
Chest is lifted.
Chin is parallel to the floor.
And the crown of your head is shining towards the ceiling.
Palms are open and arms are along your side.
This is your mountain,
Your Tadasana.
Close your eyes.
And notice the strength.
Inhale,
Sweeping your arms out and up above you.
Exhale,
Hinging from the hips,
Releasing into a forward fold.
Knees are bent.
Inhale,
Hands to shins or thighs.
Elongate your spine.
Exhale,
Slow release,
Fingertips graze the earth.
And sweeping your arms out and wide,
Hinging back up,
Palms overhead,
And releasing into prayer pose,
Thumbs on breastbone.
One more time like that.
Inhaling,
Sweeping your arms out and up.
Exhale,
Hinge from your hips.
Slow descent towards the earth.
Fingertips graze the mat.
Hands to shins or thighs.
Lengthening your heart out,
Long spine.
Releasing towards the earth.
Sweeping up,
Arms out,
Hinging back up into full mountain.
And thumbs land on your breastbone.
Let's take a breath in and a sigh out.
Inhale,
Sweeping your arms up overhead.
Exhale,
Slow release towards the earth.
Inhale,
Halfway lift.
Palms to shins or thighs.
Long spine.
Exhale,
Slow release.
Stepping your right foot back to a low lunge.
The heel pushes back and your front body,
Your heart,
Pushes forward.
Coming into downward facing dog.
Left leg steps back.
Lift your sit bones towards the ceiling.
And then let your heels slowly descend towards the earth.
They do not need to touch the mat.
Inhale and exhale in your downward facing dog.
Stepping your right foot in between your hands.
Back heel reaches back.
Chest and heart reach forward.
And then stepping your back foot to meet your right.
Inhale,
Halfway lift.
Hands on thighs or shins.
Elongate your spine.
Exhale,
Release.
Fingers graze the earth.
And inhale,
Sweep.
Inhale,
Sweep out and up.
Palms touch overhead,
Maybe a little back bend.
And thumbs land on breastbone.
One more time.
Inhale,
Arms out,
Up.
Exhaling,
Hinging from your hips,
Lowering towards the earth.
Fingertips graze the mat.
Inhale,
Halfway lift.
Hands on thighs or shins.
Long spine.
Release.
Stepping your left foot back.
Heel pushing back.
And chest and heart are reaching forward.
Stepping that right foot back.
Coming into downward facing dog.
Lift your sit bones high towards the ceiling.
Slowly descend your heels.
Breath in.
And exhale.
Left foot comes up in between your hands to the top of the mat.
Right heel reaches back.
Chest and heart are forward.
Reaching forward.
Back leg comes up to meet the left.
Release into a forward fold.
Releasing the weight of your mind.
And coming up into halfway lift.
Inhale,
Hands to shins or your thighs.
Exhale,
Release.
Inhale,
Sweep your arms out,
Hinging from your hips.
Slowly back up.
Hands overhead.
And exhale,
Bringing your thumbs to rest on your breastbone.
Back into Anjali Mudra.
Pause in here.
I'd encourage you to close your eyes and just feel how your body has come out of a restful sleep and is now ready for a day,
A new day.
May you feel gratitude for the gift of this new day.
Thank you so much for practicing with me.
I wish you a beautiful day.
The divine in me honors the divine in you.
Namaste.
