Yoga Live Recording Of Yoga For Strength And Grace

This is a recording of a live yoga class here on Insight Timer. It begins with an opening passage from "The Untethered Soul" by Michael Singer for reflection and self-inquiry. Enjoy this 45-minute slow flow holding poses of 5-10 breaths. The class ends with hip-openers and savasana. Challenging enough to feel the strength postures in this asana practice. Variations are offered to practice at the level that suits the practitioner.

The theme of letting go reminds you to invite grace, acceptance, self-love, and compassion into your practice and in your life.

Optional props: blanket/towel (for padding under your knees), blocks, and bolster.

Feel free to ask Amelia questions in her Insight Timer group: Spiritually Fit Yoga.

Transcript

You might have heard me share from this book some untethered soul.

So I'm going to read this this quote this paragraph and I'm going to leave you with an inquiry question.

In yoga we practice something called svadhyaya which is self-study and it is also self-inquiry and that's really that's what yoga is.

It's not just an exercise right?

That's just a third limb of yoga which is asana but it's also a big part of it is discovery.

It's a journey to the discovery of yourself.

All right so go ahead and listen.

You can keep your eyes open or your eyes closed.

Don't fall.

Let go.

No matter what it is let it go.

The bigger it is the higher the reward of letting go and the worse the fall if you don't.

There really isn't anything in between so let all of your blockages and disturbances become the fuel for the journey.

That which is holding you down can become a powerful force that raises you up.

You just have to be willing to take the ascent.

I just sit with that a little bit.

Take a couple of breaths.

You know energetically I just randomly I open up a page and I see you know what is what did the page open up to and that's what I shared.

Maybe this is resonating with somebody here personally.

I know I can relate to it and go ahead and take a couple more breaths inhale expand and exhale let something go.

Continue that a couple of more breaths.

If you haven't yet begin your ujjayi breath.

Inhale through the nostrils and exhale through the nostrils.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Continue get settled into the body.

Settled into the breath.

And greet yourself exactly as you are today.

Right here in this moment.

With acceptance,

Self-love,

Compassion and bring to mind any intention your sankalpa for today's class.

So I'm going to call our sankalpa our intention and our intention is to be able to be able to our sankalpa our intention is where we set our attention that's where our energy flows.

Where we send our attention that's where our energy flows.

Where we send our energy that's how we energize our intentions.

So bring your attention there.

Set your intention and at the same time let go of attachment of outcomes and results.

So that's the fine line setting the intention towards manifesting and at the same time let go of attachment of outcomes and results.

I'll tell you a quick story before we start.

My daughter who is a senior in high school she applied for a lot of colleges and her number one college has been on her vision board for probably eight months and she's been looking at it every day.

She's been praying about it.

She's been focusing.

The color was purple.

She was wearing the colors of the school and she did not get into her number one choice and it crushed her.

It crushed her and you know I just let her feel you know what she felt and you know it's hard to hear.

It's like sometimes life gives you what you need even though it's not what you want right.

So she was in this practice of acceptance and you know the first thing I told her though was like be be with it.

Let yourself grieve it.

So in the letting go process let yourself feel everything.

You may be saying you know thank you for serving your purpose but now I'm ready to let you go and then eventually you move on you know instead of instead of so black and white.

So if there's something that you might be struggling to let go of today it might be something big.

It might be something small.

It might be an attachment to a reaction that you wish you didn't have to a person or a situation or a circumstance that you find yourself in today and see if you can bring in that grace that softness that softness to feel what you feel and if you need to be in a space of loss to let something go allow that to be and trust that the process in time in time then you'll be able to let it go and you might be letting go of things all your life sometimes that's how it is and it's okay.

All right get your yoga mat.

Let's start our asana practice.

Child's pose and I'm going to get to the back with you.

Knees out wide.

Forehead to the ground.

Ujjayi breath.

Inhale through the nostrils and exhale through the nostrils.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Exhale.

Continue expanding with the inhale.

Emptying out with the exhale.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Stay here in child's pose and now walk your arms over to the right and breathe into the left side of the body.

Back to center.

Take a breath in here and exhale.

Walk your arms over to the left.

Breathe into the right side of the body.

Back to center.

Take a breath in and a breath out.

Let's share this variation.

Palms together.

Bend your elbows.

Thumbs touch behind the neck and gently this is a modification of the neck and gently this is a modification of a melting heart pose.

Typically melting heart poses with your hips up but we're stretching the back of the triceps.

Gently opening up in the front of the chest.

The front of the shoulders.

Take a couple more breaths.

Slowly straighten the arms.

Let your palms be down.

Take one more breath in child's pose.

Sigh.

Let something go.

Slowly come up into tabletop.

Hips stacked on top of the knees.

Shoulders stacked on top of the wrists and slowly move through a couple of cat cows.

Just feel into the spine.

Feel into the shoulders and the neck.

You might be taking another variation.

You might be twisting at the side.

Maybe looking to the sides.

Just listen to what your body would like today.

Just open up with some freedom and it might look different.

It might be some circles.

You might be circling the hips one direction.

I just suggest if you're doing one direction to also do the other direction.

Just warming up the body in a way that feels good for you.

Allowing yourself to have the permission to move in the way that suits your body today.

Then come back to the center and then sit back on your heels and then face the camera.

Let's stretch out the wrists a little bit.

Interlace the fingers.

Palms in front of you.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Press the palms forward.

Round the back.

Inhale.

The arms up.

Exhale.

Relax the arms down.

Let's do the cat.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Round the back.

Stretching through the wrists.

The forearms.

Inhale.

The arms up.

Exhale.

Relax the arms down.

Do that two more times.

Warming up the body.

Connecting with the inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Last time.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale up.

Exhale.

Relax.

So if you feel like you would like to do any other wrist stretches,

Any release at any time,

You can take that during the practice or right now.

And of course,

Please practice ahimsa.

Take any modifications or any breaks that you need.

And let's come back into tabletop.

Tuck your toes.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

So before we go into downward facing dog,

Lift the front of your pelvis up towards your belly button.

Start bringing some strength into the core.

Press your hands down into the mat like you're coming into a cat pose,

But you're not totally coming into cat.

Just spreading those shoulder blades apart.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Keep that core engaged.

Inhale.

Exhale.

One more.

Inhale.

With your exhale,

Tuck your toes.

Downward facing dog.

Adho mukha svanasana.

I want you to bend the right knee and left knee.

Pedal out through the feet.

Stretch through the arches of the feet,

The toes,

Stretching through the side body,

Maybe shaking out the head.

Open your eyes and look back towards your mat.

Come up high into the balls of your toes,

Your feet.

Exhale.

Breathe the heels down.

And as you do this,

See if you can keep the shoulders where they are instead of inhaling going forward like a plank.

So just get curious.

See if that's possible to keep the attention right now in the back body,

In the legs.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Heels down.

They don't have to touch.

One more.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Look forward.

Step your feet together.

Reach your right leg high and then step your right foot on the inside of your right thumb and shift forward and back on the back toes.

Relax the shoulders.

Relax the face.

So you may want a cushion underneath that left knee.

So I know I have a blanket right here.

I don't feel like I need a cushion,

But if you want,

You can put some type of a cushion underneath your knee.

I know in class sometimes people will roll the mat on the inside if they feel like they need a cushion,

If they don't have a blanket.

And then once you're set up,

Bring the top of your left foot down onto the ground.

Fingertips.

I like to put fingertips like spider fingers on the ground.

If you have blocks,

Maybe your hands are on blocks.

And then again,

Engage your core like we did in the tabletop.

Pull the pit of the belly button up and back towards the spine,

Lengthening the spine from your tailbone out through the crown of your head.

And now let's bring conscious awareness to your focus with your eyes.

Setting your drishti,

Your point of focus.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Keep your right foot where it is.

Now interlace your fingers on top of your right thigh.

Sink the hips down.

Now feel that stretch in the top of the left thigh.

Relax the shoulders.

Relax the neck.

Stay here.

Five more breaths.

I want to see the comment that somebody typed in just to see if there's something I'm not missing.

Okay,

Good.

I'm so glad that you needed that.

All right,

Stay here.

Two more breaths.

One more breath.

You might stay here or reach the arms up towards the ceiling,

Sinking the hips down,

Keeping that core engaged.

And maybe this time bring attention to the ribs.

Notice if you're flaring the ribs out at all,

Pull them into the midline.

You know,

Sometimes students say,

I don't understand what that means.

And I know it can be very vague,

But there is like getting your mind connected.

It's like,

What muscles would it take for me to bring those lower rib cages in towards the midline?

So it's not like us having to tell you exactly how to do it.

It's giving you the opportunity,

Connecting to the senses,

Connect your body,

Stay here or cactus arms.

I'm giving you different levels,

Different variations,

Relax the neck.

Now with the right foot,

The big toe mount,

Pinky toe mount in the mounds underneath the heel,

Press down and the toes gently lift up just to release any gripping.

Of the tips of those toes,

Keep the head forward,

The gaze forward,

Unless you're ready to go up and back option.

Next option is creating a bind,

Interlacing the fingers,

Reach the index fingers up towards the ceiling,

Maybe sinking the hips low.

So choose whatever variation of the arms that works for you.

And again,

Stay here,

Or maybe you're slightly coming into a backbend,

Five more breaths.

Never forcing anything.

Slowly exhale,

Fingertips down to the ground and shift back into the half splits.

Bring that right foot off the ground.

Inhale,

Lengthen your spine.

Exhale,

Forward fold.

Let it go.

Inhale,

Lengthen your spine.

Exhale,

Melt your chest down.

Inhale,

Lengthen your spine.

Exhale,

Melt your chest down.

Relax the shoulders.

One more.

Inhale,

This time stay lifted.

Bring that right foot back down to the ground.

Tuck your left toes and step.

We're going to switch the feet.

Step the left foot forward.

Let's pause here first in a ragdoll.

Shake out the head.

Sway side to side.

And just shrug the shoulders one direction.

Shoulder rolls the other direction.

And just notice what is the back of the right leg feel like compared to the left leg.

Or maybe you're noticing what you feel in the top of the thigh,

The right versus the left.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Let's switch legs.

We'll come into the same posture.

So you may or may not want to move your blanket or your cushion if you have something or a towel.

So we're coming into the same pose.

Right knee is down this time.

Left foot is forward.

Taking the time to support yourself.

If again,

You want to use blocks,

Spider fingers.

So why,

How do you know if you need blocks?

So if if you happen to be rounding like this,

I would suggest coming up into blocks and you might need to come all the way up.

So bring an awareness and you might not have a mirror and that's totally okay.

It's all about sensing and feeling.

Feeling the energy again from the tailbone out through the crown of your head.

And your gaze is slightly forward beyond the front of your mat.

So instead of looking down,

Because I can block the energy,

We want to gently look forward.

Lengthen the neck.

Sink those hips low.

Top of the right foot down onto the ground.

Three more breaths.

And if you didn't engage the core on this side,

Keep that engaged.

And sometimes I get the questions like,

Well,

How do I breathe?

If I'm like gently engaging my core,

Then you bring more breath into the upper parts of the lungs.

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

Stay here or lift the torso up.

Interlace the fingers.

Sink the hips down.

Relax the shoulders.

And again,

Ground that left foot down into the ground without gripping the left toes.

Gaze on one spot.

And we literally look at one spot,

Setting our Drishti.

We cultivate focus and connection to the present moment.

Stay here with your hands on your upper thigh or reach your arms up.

And adjust if you need.

Like I feel like my left foot is a little bit too far forward.

I'm going to adjust so it fits my body on this side.

Lift the front of the pelvis up towards the belly button.

Check if those ribs are flaring up.

Pull them into the midline.

So you might be feeling some strength in these postures,

Even though we're not flowing like one pose per breath,

But we're holding and breathing.

Just the breath alone can increase the tapas,

The inner fire.

Next option,

Cactus arms.

Next option,

Cactus arms.

And in the cactus arms,

We're looking for,

If we can,

Elbows at shoulder height and opening up like we're opening a door,

Like we're opening up a double door without going too far back,

Just enough to feel the stretch across the front of the shoulders,

Energetically opening up the heart space.

And again,

Still keeping the core engaged.

All right.

Last option,

Stay here or whatever variation you're in.

Option to create a bind.

Index fingers up towards the ceiling.

Keep that core engaged.

Steady gaze.

Stay here.

Maybe you're slightly going up and back.

For some of you,

For some of us,

This is the first backbend,

So please honor your body today.

Then exhale slowly,

Hands down to the ground.

Did you feel that shift back?

Left foot off the ground.

Inhale,

Lengthen your spine.

Maybe you're bringing your blocks with you.

Exhale,

Melt your chest down.

Inhale,

Lift the chest up.

Exhale,

Set the left foot down flat on the ground.

Tuck your right toes and then step your right foot forward.

Doing your best.

Maybe it takes a couple hops or maybe it takes one hop.

Feet hip-width apart.

Let's take that ragdoll again.

Hand grab the opposite elbow and see how you feel.

Maybe shake out the head.

Maybe you're swaying from side to side.

So maybe that was a lot of strengthening for you or maybe that was a lot of stretch.

Inviting grace into the thoughts.

Inhale halfway.

Let's stay here with the ragdoll feet.

Feet about hip-width apart and spreading the yogi toes wide.

Ground the feet down into the ground.

Lengthening your spine.

You might have brought your blocks with you.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Lock your arms to the right and breathing into the left side of the body.

Leave your chest up or if it's comfortable for you,

Knock the chest down toward your right leg.

Notice where you feel this.

Breathe into the body.

Inhale through the nostrils.

Exhale through the nostrils.

Relax the neck.

One more.

Inhale and exhale.

Back to center.

Inhale.

Lengthen your spine.

Exhale.

Walk your arms over to the left and then keep your torso lifted or melt your chest down toward the left leg.

Breathe.

Back to center.

Slowly step your feet together.

Bring one knee down,

The other knee down.

Let's take a pause.

Ground your hands down onto your thighs.

Lift the front of your pelvis up towards your belly button.

Reach the crown of your head up towards the ceiling.

Breathe.

Palms down if you feel like you could use some grounding energy or palms up if you feel like you want to be in a receptive or receiving energy.

Feel that energy from the tailbone up to the crown of the head.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Downward facing dog.

We'll go ahead and move the blanket.

We're not going to be staying down onto our knee as much.

So from your downward facing dog,

Big breath in,

Big breath out.

Reach your right leg high.

Step your right foot forward into a runner's lunge,

Preparing for our low lunge.

This time,

If you want,

You can bring that back knee down or you can keep that back knee off the ground.

So you choose.

So one is a little bit more stretch,

One is a little bit more strength.

And from here,

Fingers on the ground or hands down on top of that right thigh.

So if you're keeping that back leg up,

Energize your back thigh,

Your hamstring.

Press it up towards the ceiling.

Instead of bending the knee,

Unless you're modifying,

Straighten,

Use straight-ish.

It's not totally straight,

That back leg.

Stay here.

Take any variation that works for you.

It might be arms up,

It might be cactus arms,

It might be your bind.

Coming into a high lunge.

Crescent warrior.

Two more breaths.

One more breath.

Option to come up and back.

And exhale.

Slowly plant the hands down to the ground.

Step the right foot back into Adho Mukha Svanasana,

Downward facing dog.

Eyes open.

Look towards the back of your mat.

Big breath in.

Big breath out.

Let something go.

This time,

The left leg high.

Stepping on the inside of the left foot.

Shift forward and back on those right toes.

Pull the pit of your belly button up and back towards your spine.

So again,

Option to drop the right knee down or you're pressing the ball of the right foot into your mat so that your heel is stacked in line with your big toes.

Your big toe.

Not your big toes.

Your toes.

Your big toe and all the toes.

All right.

Lift the front of the pelvis up towards the belly button.

Keep that engaged.

Press that left foot down into the ground.

Interlace the fingers on top of the left thigh.

Sink the hips down,

But still keep pressing that right ball of the foot down into your mat.

Take your variation with the arms.

It can be here,

Arms up.

It might be cactus arms or it might be your body.

You might even be putting your right knee down to the ground.

Just honor your body today.

Focus your gaze.

Notice if you're feeling a little bit of warmth in these strength poses.

Calm the mind.

Focus.

Stay here.

Inhale.

Take a slight backbend or whatever works for your body.

Exhale.

Slowly hands down to the ground.

Step that left foot back downward facing dog.

Take a child's pose and sway side to side.

Okay.

Stay here a couple more breaths and just feel what you feel.

Feel if the body is starting to warm up.

It'll be different for everybody.

Everybody has a different experience physically,

Mentally,

Emotionally,

Spiritually.

Notice if there's anywhere you can let go of tightness and tension in the mind or the body.

Let yourself melt here.

One more breath in your child's pose.

We're going to come into that Anahatasana,

The melting heart pose,

Which we came into earlier with a modification.

You may or may not want a blanket underneath your knees again.

Maybe not,

But I'll just show.

Take the time to sit up.

Coming into tabletop.

This time we'll stay in tabletop.

Last time we did the variation back in child's pose,

But here in tabletop,

Doing the best to line your hips with your knee and then slowly bring the forearms down.

It's like the outside of the forearms,

The bones,

Palms together into Anjuli Mudra,

Prayer hands,

And tiptoe your elbows forward without sending your hips forward.

So get a sense of that.

And then rest your forehead down.

Your forehead might be touching the ground,

Or it might be touching a block,

Or it might be touching a cushion.

All right,

Set yourself up here.

Bend the elbows,

Tiptoe the elbows forward,

Drop in.

This is called melting heart pose,

Anahatasana.

And notice if you're arching a lot in your lower back,

Lift the front of the pelvis up towards your belly button.

Bring the attention to the upper chest,

The upper back,

And melting in between the shoulder blades,

Softening.

Slowly press back,

Come back into a child's pose.

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

Breathe in and breathe out.

Let's come into that pose again.

I'm going to share a different variation.

I'm going to move myself back because I'm getting close to the wall.

So if you want,

Instead of bringing the forearms down,

You might bring the chest and the arms forward and the chin down.

Now,

Sometimes it takes,

It depends on your anatomy.

So if you're open here naturally,

That might be accessible.

If you're really tight here,

Maybe it's not accessible here today,

But I just want to give you the option.

I know for me,

It takes me a little bit of warmup,

Especially in my upper back,

But it's really helped me to bring some softening and opening in the part of my body that tends to be tight.

I tend to hold stress in my shoulders and my neck.

Take five more breaths here.

Take a breath in and a breath out.

Very slowly walk the hands back.

Come back to child's pose.

This time,

Bring the hands back towards your heels.

Take one more breath.

Let something go.

Slowly bring your hands to the front.

Tuck your toes.

Downward facing dog.

Maybe set that blanket aside again.

Take a big breath in and a big breath out.

Step your feet together.

Reach your right leg high.

Bend your knee.

Open up your hip and take three hip circles.

One direction.

The other direction.

Moving through that right hip joint.

Then reach the right leg up towards the ceiling.

Come up high onto the ball of the left foot.

Press your chest towards your thighs and feel yourself lengthen all the way from the right toes up the leg,

Up the spine,

Out to the crown of the head,

All the way to the tips of the fingers.

Exhale.

Step your right foot on the outside of your right pinky.

Shift forward and back on those toes.

The right foot is slowly rotating over to the right.

We're coming into a lizard pose.

I'm not going to stay here too long.

This is just feeling how it feels.

The next time we'll have some time to drop that back knee down.

Take a breath in.

Take a breath out.

Press the hands down.

Step that right foot back and bend the knees.

Shake out through the feet.

Look back towards your toes.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Step your right foot towards the center of your mat.

Reach your left leg high.

Open up your left knee and rotate through the left hip joint.

In the other direction.

In the other direction.

And left leg high.

Stay here for a couple of breaths.

Come up high into the right ball of the foot.

Energy all the way.

Rounding the hands down into the mat.

Feel the energy up the arms,

The spine,

The tailbone,

The leg up to the left toes.

Look towards your left pinky.

Exhale.

Step that left foot on the outside of the left pinky.

Left foot is gently rotating to the left.

Hold here.

See how you feel.

Step that left foot back.

Downward facing dog.

And child's pose.

So this next time we will drop our knees down.

I'm going to stay a little bit longer in lizard pose,

Which is a hip opener.

I'm going to start moving into our hip opener.

So today's class is a little bit shorter than what I normally do.

Normally my classes are an hour,

Sometimes a little bit longer.

Today is going to be 45 minutes,

So I want to get into our stretching poses now.

More of the in.

Alright,

So when you're ready,

Set up downward facing dog.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Reach your right leg high.

Look towards your right pinky.

Step that right foot on the outside of the right pinky.

Take your time to get there.

And then set yourself up.

I need to pull my blanket back so your left knee is resting down onto the mat.

So let's stay here first.

I'm like a proud lizard,

An awake lizard.

So the chest is lifted.

The hands are either on the floor or on the blocks.

The right foot.

So depending on your hip mobility,

The more you rotate the right foot out to the right,

You'll get a little bit more external rotation in the right hip joint.

So notice,

And that might give you more accessibility to stay and hold.

But just notice,

And sometimes I see people taking their foot way out wide.

So it might be a little bit too much,

But just,

Just notice when you're paying attention to your body.

No right or wrong.

As long as we're not doing harm.

Staying connected to the breath.

Stay here on your palms or drop down to your forearms,

Either to the ground,

To your blocks,

To a cushion,

A pillow,

Whatever you can access.

Five final breaths.

Breathe into opening up in the hips.

Opening up in the inner thigh of that right leg.

Relax the neck and the shoulders.

Slowly press the hands down.

Let's take a twist right hand press on against the inside of the right knee and slowly twist the torso towards the right.

Slowly release that right hand down.

Walk the right foot back onto your mat.

Tuck your right toes.

Step that right foot back.

Downward facing dog.

Let's all take a child's pose as a transition.

Let's take a couple breaths here.

Downward facing dog.

So some of you may choose to stay in downward dog.

That's amazing.

Everybody make it your practice today.

Inhale your left leg high.

Look towards that left pinky.

Set that left foot on the outside of the left pinky.

Adjust yourself on your blanket or your cushion if you need to.

Adjust the angle of your left foot.

Left foot going out to the left side.

Starting here with the chest lifted.

Core is engaged.

Pull the pit of your belly button up and back towards your spine.

And dropping in.

So as we stay here a couple of breaths,

Tune into the left foot and the external rotation of the left hip joint.

Like noticing what is the impact of a different angle if you rotate your foot to the right or maybe take it even outside off the mat.

Focus the gaze.

Imagine that you're looking at one spot.

Drop down to your forearms if it's here for you.

We're going to hold here five more breaths either on your palms,

On your blocks,

Or on your forearms.

Inhale through the nostrils.

Exhale through the nostrils.

Inhale through the nostrils.

Exhale through the nostrils.

Inhale.

Exhale.

One more.

Dropping in.

If you're on your forearms,

Slowly press up.

Let's come into a twist.

This time the right hand presses down the left hand on the inside of the left knee and slowly twist towards the left side.

Slowly release left hand down to the ground.

Walk your left foot back onto your mat.

Tuck your right toes and to bring that left foot back without touching the ground,

It takes a little bit of core.

So see if that's here for you if you want to play with that or take a couple of steps to step back and let's come back in to child's pose.

This time palms facing up.

Slowly take a seat.

Go ahead and set your cushion to the side and lay down on your back and keep your knees bent.

And let's start here with the palms open wide.

I don't think you can see me with the table.

Go ahead and stay where you are.

I'm going to adjust my my microphone.

Maybe close your eyes.

Settle the back body into your mat.

So now we're going to come into some gentle heart openers.

So the palms facing up.

Bring an opening.

Breathe across the collarbones,

The front of the chest,

The front of the shoulders.

Stay here.

Melt your head,

The back of the skull,

The upper back.

The space underneath the lower back.

Let it sink in.

Let it relax.

Let the right arm be heavy,

The left arm heavy.

And now windshield wiper the knees side to side.

So we work the hips.

We work the shoulders.

And we're going to come into a little bit of a circle.

And now windshield wiper the knees side to side.

So we work the hips.

We work the inner thighs.

You work the legs and the mind.

Now bring the feet flat on the ground.

Knees are still bent.

This time bring the hands next to the thighs.

So what we're going to do is lift the hips up and bring the arms with us as they reach towards the wall or reach behind you.

Inhale the hips up,

Arms go back.

Exhale,

Roll down the spine one vertebrae at a time.

So to keep that tailbone landing last,

There's kind of a curl to keep that core engaged.

So we're getting into what's called the rectus abdominis.

And bringing in the TVA is the transverse abdominis.

Let's do that again.

Press the feet down.

Inhale the hips up,

Arms go back.

Full breath in.

Slowly roll down the spine.

Last one.

Press the feet down.

Inhale the arms up.

Press those hips towards the ceiling.

Exhale,

Roll down the spine one at a time.

Arms next to your sides.

Step your left foot towards the center of your mat.

Cross your right knee over your left knee.

Take your right arm out and gently guide your knees over to the left.

Well,

There are different variations to take these supine twists.

So this one for me,

I feel it a little bit more on the outside of my hip,

On the piriformis,

Maybe a little bit on the outside of the leg.

If you have a different variation,

Feel free to take it.

So we're preparing for our Shavasana.

Move the front of the body,

The back of the body.

The spine move forward and back,

Side to side.

The spine move forward and back,

Side to side.

Gently twist.

Back to center.

Cross the left knee over the right knee.

Maybe the right foot is near the center of your mat.

This time the right hand gently guides the knees to the right.

If it's comfortable for your neck,

Rotate and look towards the left side.

Slowly back to center.

Uncross that right foot.

So option here,

If some of you have an inversion in your practice,

Feel free to come up into an inversion,

A shoulder stand,

Headstand,

Or handstand.

If you'd like to come into a happy baby,

Go ahead and bring the feet up.

And if you can't grab the feet,

Grab behind the hamstrings,

Grab behind the calves,

And just pulling down,

Reaching those knees down towards the ground.

Lengthen the back of the neck.

The chin gently comes down towards the chest.

And you feel yourself flattening that lower back down into the ground.

If you would like,

Maybe take a straddle on each side.

We already stretched the inner thighs quite a bit,

But it might feel good doing one leg at a time,

Like really like a happy baby.

Or you might take both legs out to the side.

So just notice what works for you.

Then bring the soles of your feet together.

Slowly come into Supta Baddha Konasana.

So reclined,

Bounded pose here.

Palms up.

Close your eyes.

Relax across the forehead.

See if you can maybe let go of any tension in the shoulders or the neck.

Relax the jaw.

Soften the eyelids.

Back of the right shoulder,

Sink into the ground.

Back of the left shoulder,

Sink into the ground.

Right arm heavy,

Left arm heavy.

With this external rotation of the right and left hip joints,

Here in this position,

Just straighten your right knee and your left knee.

Let those ankles flop to the sides.

Make yourself comfortable.

And if you find that the straight leg is not comfortable,

You can always come back to Supta Baddha Konasana.

And you can always set your feet down onto the ground with your knees up towards the ceiling.

Pay attention to your lower back especially.

Arms can be out to a T or you can bring them to your sides.

Palms up or palms down.

Whatever feels more relaxing to you.

So I'll keep watching the time.

A couple more minutes staying here in Shavasana.

Let the back body get completely heavy.

Back of the head relaxed.

Arms relaxed.

Receive these final minutes in silence and stillness.

Shavasana.

Gently wiggle your fingers and your toes.

Place your hands on your hips.

Place your hands on your belly and your heart.

Acknowledge this breath,

This vitality,

This life underneath your palms.

And acknowledge something about yourself today to say thank you,

Gratitude towards your body,

Your mind,

Your spirit.

And ask yourself what from today's practice would you like to bring into your life off the mat?

Relax the arms and take a full body breath with your legs straight.

The arms reach up from the fingertips to the toes.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Sigh out.

Relax,

Let go.

Roll over to your side.

Take a pause.

Curl up into a ball.

Maybe even pull your knees up towards your chest.

When you're ready,

Gently press up to a seat.

And if you would like,

Join me in Anjali Mudra,

Thumbs at your heart.

Bring to mind your intention again.

Maybe there's a new intention.

Maybe there's something else or someone else that you would like to send your attention.

Bring that to mind with an inhale.

With an exhale,

Sigh out.

Let go of attachment to outcomes or results.

Breathe into your intention.

Release attachments.

If you would like,

Join me in one Aum.

Start with an inhale.