We'll start by placing the right hand on the ground.
I'll be mirroring you for this movement.
Lift the left arm up and over.
We'll just start by getting some stretching in the side body,
Some length in the side of the abdomen.
Bend the elbow.
Place the hand on the back of the head.
And as you inhale,
Lift and lengthen the chest up towards the ceiling.
Exhale.
Spin the elbow down towards the ground,
Keeping the left hip bone in contact with the ground.
Inhale,
Lifting and lengthening the elbow up towards the ceiling.
Exhale,
Release.
One more breath in.
And breath out.
Coming back up to the side body stretch,
Reach the left arm high.
And then coming back out of the posture,
Take a breath in center.
And a breath out.
And we'll place the left hand on the ground,
Reaching the right arm up and over.
Encouraging some length in the side of the body.
Breathing into the abdomen,
Maintaining connection with the right hip bone on the ground.
Now bend the elbow,
Place the hand on the back of the head.
Inhale,
Lift the chest up towards the ceiling.
Exhale,
Release the elbow down towards the ground.
Inhale lifting.
Exhale,
Twisting.
Feeling the abdomen as you do this.
One more breath in.
And breath out.
Coming back to a side bend.
Restraightening that top arm.
And coming up and over,
Taking a breath in center.
And breath out.
For these next postures,
I will not be mirroring you because it's going to get too confusing.
So you'll start by extending your left leg out in front of you.
Let's go back a bit.
And you want to bend the right.
Foot kind of towards your pelvis,
So bending the right leg in.
You're going to wrap the right arm.
Within and around that leg.
So you kind of have to bend forward a bit.
You'll take your left hand and reach it around and back grabbing for those left or your right fingers.
So it looks like this from this side.
Two options here.
So you can.
Spin the chest towards the side and continue to pull that knee.
Into the torso.
Or if you want,
You can kind of slightly bend that left leg and release the forehead.
Towards the knee.
Is going to deepen that compression into the abdomen.
Or maybe you can do it with a straight leg too.
Wherever you choose to be.
Let's take two breaths,
Exhaling the air from the lungs.
Taking a deep breath in.
Breath out.
Pulling that leg in.
One more breath in.
And breath out.
Good.
Releasing that bind,
And then you're going to place the right foot outside of the left knee.
So I'll spin to face you again.
And then bending the left leg,
Left foot outside of the right hip.
Of course,
You can keep the bottom leg straight if that feels better for you.
But we're gonna take a breath in.
Left arm reaches high.
Exhaling,
Finding a twist.
So again,
I'll spin.
As if you were looking at me at the front of a classroom.
You're going to place the right hand behind you.
And then twist.
Take a breath in.
Exhale,
Twist.
Another breath in.
And breath out.
Good,
Coming back to center.
Go ahead and shake it out.
There's a lot of twisting and binding in that.
Right abdominal cavity.
So we're going to switch it out,
Extending the right leg straight this time.
And bending the left foot.
In towards the pelvis.
Reach the left arm around front and behind.
And then grabbing the left fingertips with the right hand.
Good.
So finding that bind,
Pulling.
The leg in towards the torso either twisting the chest towards the side or You can maybe bend that right knee a little bit in place.
The forehead on the knee.
Or even maybe with a straight leg,
But finding an expression,
Feeling the bind,
Feeling the compression in the torso.
Exhale the air from the lungs.
Take a breath in.
Breath out.
One more breath in.
Breath out.
Good.
Now you're going to take that left foot.
Place it outside of the right knee.
And maybe bending.
The right knee as well.
You'll place the left hand at the base of the spine.
Inhale the right arm high.
Exhale,
Find a twist.
So.
Pressing down into the ground to feel that lengthen the spine.
Pull the navel back.
Breath out.
One more breath in.
Breath out.
Coming back to center.
Go ahead and shake it out.
We have an animal friend right here in case you haven't noticed.
We're going to find our way to our hands and knees.
And then I'm going to find puppy dog pose.
This is going to really lengthen the belly.
So you'll walk.
Your hands out forward as far as they'll go.
Forehead on the ground.
Hips stay over the knees.
So I might not be able to hold this because of the mic.
But holding that posture for just a couple of breaths and really feeling the length in the belly.
This can feel really good after you've had a really big meal.
To just give the abdominal area some space.
Consciously bringing the breath into the belly.
Good,
And then hips to heels for just a moment in child's pose.
And finding your way all the way onto your belly.
We'll set up for a cobra pose,
Propping yourself up on,
Actually we'll do sphinx first.
So prop yourself up on your elbows.
Palms on the ground.
Feed our butt mats with distance.
Just be here for a breath or two.
Feeling some compression in the lower back.
Softening the jaw.
Softening the eyes.
And then release.
Stacking the forearms,
Resting the forehead on the stacked forearms.
Let's find our way to cobra pose.
Zip the legs together.
Place the palms on either side of the shoulders.
Forehead on the ground to start.
And as you inhale,
Lift the chest off of the ground.
Slide the shoulders down the back.
Little to no weight here in the palms of the hands.
You do want to make some contact.
But it's more of a pulling the heels back to send the chest forward.
This will offer some compression in the abdominal region.
Hold for the breath out.
One more breath in.
Exhale,
Release back down.
Forehead to the stacked forearms,
Letting the heels flop open.
Feeling a release in the back.
You're welcome to take another set of Cobra.
Otherwise,
I'll cue floor bow.
Bend your knees.
Grab the outside of the ankles with the hands.
And then you'll start to kick the ankles into the hands.
Letting the chest lift from that connection.
You want to roll the weight forward into kind of the soft part of the belly here,
Pulling the knees towards each other.
Notice how this invites compression into the abdomen.
Take a breath in.
Breath out.
One more inhale.
Exhale,
Release,
Finding crocodile once again,
Stacked forearms,
Forehead rests on them,
Heels flop open.
It might feel good on the lower back to bend at the knees and just sway the ankles from side to side to feel a little release in the lower back.
Now we're gonna come onto the side of the body.
And you'll kind of bend your knees in towards you.
Not a ton,
But just like straight out.
And release your head on the ground,
Your bottom arm straight out.
And then you'll place your right hand on top of the left.
You're going to take an inhale,
Reaching the fingers forward.
Up.
And then exhale,
Find an opening into spinal twist.
We're going to flow that just a couple of times.
Inhale,
Arm reaches across the body.
Exhale,
Opening.
Inhale,
Reaching through.
And out.
Exhale,
Open.
One more.
Inhale.
And exhale,
This time holding.
Holding the spinal twist.
Consciously inviting the breath down into the area of the belly.
You might let the eyes blink closed.
You're going to come onto your back.
Hug the knees into the chest for a moment just to reset the spine.
And then let the knees fall in the opposite direction.
The right arm extends out,
Left palm on top of the right palm.
You probably can't see me right now,
But we've done this motion before.
So inhale,
Reach the left fingers forward.
Exhale,
Finding an opening.
Inhale,
Reaching.
The left hand across the arm out.
Exhale,
Open.
Again,
Inhale.
Feeling this act of twisting in this really gentle and nourishing way.
Exhale,
Twist.
You can kind of follow the movement of the hand with your eyes.
Inhale,
Reach.
Exhale twist and this time hold.
This is a really gentle twist to hold.
Part of the way we can stimulate our digestion is by bringing our breath into this space.
So much movement that happens.
With the invitation of breath in different areas of the body.
And coming on to the back.
Let the arms be by the side.
And bend the knees,
Soles of the feet on the ground.
We're going to lift the hips up for bridge pose.
And you're welcome to stay here with just the soles of your feet on the ground.
Or lift the heels off of the ground.
This is really going to help.
Lift the hips even more.
And this provides a really nice kind of compression.
In the lower back,
In the organs that reside there.
It also re-energizes.
The heart bringing fresh blood flow into this space.
So holding and breathing.
Lift the hips a little higher.
And release heels down listen slowly uncurl top of the spine to the bottom Rolling the spine down.
Letting the knees flop in for a moment,
Placing.
One or both hands on the torso and just letting the body breathe.
All right,
Last posture we'll take.
Extend the left leg long,
Bend the right knee into the chest and release all 10 fingers on the shin and pull the knee into the chest.
It's his wind removing pose.
So we're feeling compression in the ascending colon on the right side of.
.
.
The abdomen.
Your right leg is literally like a tool.
So you don't need to activate it.
Soften it as much as possible and then use it to find compression in the right abdomen.
Pull.
And release right leg down,
Bend the left knee into the chest.
Interlace all 10 fingers on the shin and pull.
The knee towards the armpit,
Feeling that compression.
Completely relaxing the left leg.
You could engage the right leg to make sure that it stays on the ground.
Feeling that compression in the descending colon.
The abdomen.
Squeeze the elbows in towards the waist.
Feel the breath meet the legs.
And release.
Now bend both knees into your chest,
Wrap the arms around the shins,
Grabbing opposite elbows.
As you pull the knees into the chest,
Press the knees back into the shins.
Feel the lower back lengthen on the ground.
Feel the hip flexors compress.
The abdomen compress.
Keep the back of the head on the ground,
But kind of tuck the chin to the chest and feel some length in the neck.
Pull and breathe.
And tuck the chin to the chest,
Forehead to the knees.
Take a deep breath in.
Exhale,
Release,
Arms out to the side,
Legs out long.
Finding a moment of rest here.
I will guide you out of Shavasana,
Out of this resting pose.
In about a minute or so.
I will say,
One of the best ways to support our digestion is by finding moments.
Stillness so that the parasympathetic nervous system,
The part of our nervous system responsible for resting and digesting quite literally.
Can be activated and turned on.
So give yourself this gift of stillness.
And let those systems within the body start to express themselves.
You might even feel movement in the abdomen.
And the digestion,
You might hear little sounds.
Let the awareness be there.
You are more than welcome to stay here.
And let the body continue to find that state of rest and digest.
You'd like to be guided out.
Starting to bring the breath back into the body.
Feeling it in the abdomen.
Finding small intuitive movements to wake the system back up.
Extending the arms over the head and the legs out long,
Finding a deep,
Long body stretch.
And rolling onto either side for a few moments in fetal pose.
Push yourself up to have a seat.
Replacing a hand on the chest and a hand on the gut.
Feeling these powerful energy centers.
These powerful nervous systems.
They hold our instinct,
Our intuition.
Let's just take one breath together.
Exhale.
Take a breath in.
And breath out.
Thank you for sharing this practice.
Happy digesting.
