Hello and welcome.
I'm Carolyn.
I'm so happy to share a spa yoga practice with you today.
We're at peak summer here in Vancouver,
British Columbia and I'm going to share a quick practice with you.
It's great for a morning wake up or for a midday kind of boost and the focus is on inner thighs moving,
Flowing gently with breath and to simply help you really connect to your body and really feel what your body's holding and what your body might want to release.
If you do have a block handy,
I encourage you to grab one for the practice but it's not entirely necessary.
Okay,
We'll get right into it.
We're going to come into a squat with our feet about mat's distance apart.
Have your feet in a bit of turnout.
I'm going to sit on the block.
If you do have a block or even a few books that you could sit on,
Just prop them underneath your sitting bones.
If there's no block available,
Then simply having your bum on the ground and your feet pretty wide apart with knees bent up to the sky is also great.
Now from here,
We'll start to purposely round and walk our fingertips forward on the ground.
Let your chin drop into your chest to open the back of your neck and as you start arriving into this posture and surrendering the weight of your head down,
Begin to notice what's alive in you right now.
What's alive in you today?
To anything that's feeling a little bit frenetic or unmanageable,
Offer it a sweeping inhalation now and a nice open mouth exhalation.
Let's do that again.
Really round in,
Cinch your front waist in to all that you're feeling,
All that you're bringing into the practice.
Inhale,
A nice big exhale,
Unlock your jaw,
Ungrip the muscles in your mouth.
One more deep inhale,
Long exhale.
What matters is that you're here.
Thank yourself for choosing to be here.
Remembering that all of you is welcome here.
Bringing in your entire self to the practice is the point.
Now start to shift more weight into your feet.
You've got that block,
You can move it to the side,
Lift your hips up and we'll come into a standing forward fold with your feet still mat width but turn your feet towards parallel.
Softly shake your head,
Perhaps hold opposite elbows,
A few deep breaths here.
Keep your knees unlocked,
Permission to sway a little bit.
Really inviting in full,
Full breaths into your whole body,
Your whole vessel,
Feeding it with this breath,
This life force.
This is really what's needed.
Not that you're here perfectly or doing it all the perfect way.
What's really needed is breath.
And then you can just let your hands come down and just walk into a little bit of a halfway lift,
Fingertips tented on the ground,
Or you could put your block underneath your hands if that's better.
And just start to bend one knee and the other knee,
Nice and slow.
So that's the always the name of the game with me is slowness.
I talk about that a lot because I need it too.
It's bending and extending opposite legs a few more times.
Dig into your heels,
Feel your front ribs pull up into your body,
Keeping that long spine.
Okay,
And then from here,
You can set your block aside,
Step your right foot all the way back,
Tap your back right knee down so that you have your hands on the ground inside your front foot.
Your front foot is quite wide and start to take little circles with your pelvis.
So circling,
Little tailbone circles,
And you could start to increase that circumference,
Making circles a bit bigger.
There's no rush at all.
Still paying attention to your breath in and out.
And then just coming into a little bit more stillness with knee over ankle,
Climb your left hand upon your left thigh,
Bring your right arm up and reach both arms up in the sky.
It's quite a wide lunge with your front foot over to the edge of your mat.
Grab your right wrist for a little side bend,
Go up and over.
Feel the stability of your front foot.
Feel the rhythm of your breath in and out.
Good and take two more full breaths.
Feed the whole right side of your body with breath,
This big arc up and over.
One more big breath.
And then gently set your hands down inside your front foot.
And now lift your back knee off the mat,
Crawl both hands around to the right for a wide legged forward fold straddle.
So your feet are parallel,
Second toes are parallel,
Begin folding down in between your legs.
Seal the inner and outer frames of your feet into the ground.
Perhaps shake your head no,
Let the weight of your head hang,
Feel your breath and feel your entire body.
Notice if you can make your breath a little longer,
A little slower.
Really just easing into our inner thighs.
Just take your time with this.
Be patient with yourself if possible.
Be gentle with yourself.
Got one more big breath here.
Bowing down.
And then you can start to walk your hands back to your right foot back at the back of your mat.
And I'll get you to lower your back left knee down and widen your right foot.
So now your right foot is wide to the edge of your mat,
Hands are inside your foot.
We'll take some little circles with the tailbone.
Just enjoying a couple of those little lunge postures on the other side.
Remembering there's no perfect way to do this.
You're just kind of coming into more awareness of what your hips are holding,
More awareness of how your breath might get stuck,
Easing into the practice.
And then you can just find a bit of stillness with your knee over your ankle and bring your hands up and reach all the way into the sky for a wider low lunge.
With your front foot wide,
Grabbing your left wrist and go up and over into a side bend.
Without any movement,
You're attempting to drag your back kneecap forward.
Give your left side so much breath.
One more full inhale and really empty exhale.
Gently lowering your hands inside your foot,
Lift your back kneecap,
Take your hands around to the left.
So now we're back in that straddle shape with feet parallel.
And we'll lift into a bit of a halfway lift,
Lengthening your spinal column,
The top of your head forward away from your seat.
Start to bend your right knee.
One deep breath here.
And then dig into the right heel to slowly extend that leg and switch to the left.
Widen your sit bones apart.
Wave your spine forward to increase the stretch for right adductors and then straightening your left leg and go to the right.
And switching really heavy in both your heels.
Keep flowing side to side at your own pace.
Sensing your body.
Sense how your body's feeling,
How are your thoughts,
How's your mind,
And can you really tether your mind to every single breath you take.
Think about breath.
It absolutely helps slow everything down.
It absolutely helps bring us into the present moment and feel and connect your breath.
And then the left knee bending,
That can be the last side.
And then start walking your hands up to your left foot up at the original original front edge of the mat and tap as you turn your toes forward.
Lower your back knee down and now widen your left foot a little more to the left so we have our hands inside the front foot again.
And now really bend your front knee as you inhale and straightening your leg as you exhale flip onto your heel.
Just a couple more times.
Bending,
Chest open,
Exhale back on your heel,
Bow inside your left leg two more times.
Remembering this is all for your inner thighs today.
Not always a crowd pleaser,
But definitely a body pleaser.
Excellent.
Okay,
Now keeping front knee bent,
Look at your back knee and swivel your back shin around so both your feet are over at the left side of your mat.
I will take my block inside my left foot for my left hand to rest upon,
But if you'd rather not use the block,
No problem.
Climb your right hand upon your right hip.
You can just explore bending your front knee a few times,
Pulling back,
Bending,
And then start to roll your right shoulder back.
Firm your front ribs in.
Don't want to flare open.
Knit them in.
Either right arm all the way up,
Lean back,
Or maybe arm over ear,
Side stretching.
Have a good breathe.
Feel your left glute activated,
Tucking down and underneath you.
Lean back,
Align yourself back over your left thigh.
Take one more breath,
Big stretch,
And then gently lower down your right hand.
Move your block to the side.
Spin your right foot back and straighten both your legs and start walking your hands around to the right so we're back in our straddle shape now.
And now pivot just the heels in and climb your hands up on your thighs so you're in a higher goddess squat.
Once you're up,
You might readjust.
Just be sure knees are over ankles,
Kneecaps essentially pointed the same direction as your toes are.
See if you can sink your hips a little lower.
See if you can breathe a bit deeper.
Feel your knees widen apart.
Press your knees wider.
Just three breaths remaining.
Let's make the last breath a clearing lions.
Inhale through your nose,
Sticking out your tongue.
Take care to lower your hands as you extend your legs straighter.
Pivot the heels out,
Hang down your head for one full breath,
Folding in.
And now you'll want to,
If you have a block,
You'll want to move it back by the back of your mat because we're going to walk our hands back to our,
We're going to walk our hands back to our right foot back at the back of the mat and tap that back left knee down.
And widen your right foot.
So now your hands are inside your right foot and then you'll bend and extend.
Shift your hips back.
Exhale.
Bend as you inhale,
Chest up.
Exhale,
Pull back.
Toes flex to shin bone.
Just two more times.
Flossing your hip,
Rocking.
Last one.
And then bend your leg and look at your back knee and bring your back foot all the way around like a little kickstand.
So both feet are at the right side of your mat and your block can land inside your right foot.
Bending a few times,
Pulling your hips back,
Bending.
And then bring left hand up on left thigh.
Notice what it's like to roll your left shoulder back without straining your neck.
And perhaps left arm goes right up to the sky.
Option to reach your top arm over your top ear.
Notice where can you stabilize.
Feel your glutes engaged.
Feel your front ribs knitting in.
Feel your breath in and your breath out.
Soft jaw.
One more cycle of breath.
Take care to lower your hand down.
Swing your left foot back.
And one more time we'll crawl our hands to the left for that straddle shape.
But coming into that goddess squat.
So toes in turn out to bend your knees generously and bring your hands up on your thighs.
So now we'll add in a little bit of mindful movement with breath.
So on your next exhale,
Dip your right shoulder down.
Look over to the left.
Inhaling to center.
Exhale,
Dip your left shoulder down.
Push that left knee back behind you.
Inhale to center.
Right shoulder down.
You got it.
Couple more times.
There's no hurry.
You're always welcome to go at a different pace than I'm guiding you through.
The last side would be the left shoulder coming down,
Turning towards the right.
We'll come back to center.
Stay here if you can for a lion's breath.
Breathe in.
Stretch your tongue out long.
Gently lower your hands.
Feet parallel.
Hang your head for one breath.
Take your block with you as you walk your hands up to the front of your mat where your left foot is and come back onto hands and knees and into a child's pose.
And just let that settle for a few deep breaths.
Let all that integrate,
Remaining with steady inhales and exhales.
Can you let the weight of your body sink more heavily with your next exhalation?
Let go.
Let your thighs go.
Let your belly go.
Gently start to rise up.
Now set your block a few inches in front of your knees.
If you have it,
You don't need a block here,
But you might want to have a block or a pillow or a book.
Now for any pregnant goddesses,
We'll stay in regular child's pose.
For anyone where this is causing extreme pain,
You can stay in child's pose,
But this is a great way to offer yourself a bit of a myofascial release from any digestive upsets or any kind of psoas gripping,
Any kind of psoas that's locked.
We have psoas on either side.
It's a stress response muscle.
This is a great way to release that.
So you take two fists like mine and place them pretty low in your low belly,
Not under your ribs,
But even below your floating low ribs.
You're right in the flesh with your fists pretty low.
Round over your fists and take your forehead onto a block or cushion or the ground.
And the breath is a little lighter,
A little more breath up into the mid-back.
And you explore any kind of massaging or pressure of the fists up or just allow the fists to be as they are in your belly or kneading them gently into your low belly.
And let yourself really feel,
Knowing that feelings come and go,
Not here to resist them.
We're not here to run away from them.
We're here to breathe through all that we're feeling,
Remembering that it's impermanent.
Option to rock from one shin to the other shin gently,
Taking three or four more breaths in this delicious little belly massage.
Feel free to remain there for longer or slowly rise up.
You can sit back on your heels.
Option to flutter your eyes closed.
Sense your belly.
Sense yourself absorbing whole body,
Absorbing all that information,
Your gut absorbing that information and releasing anything that it had been holding onto unnecessarily.
This belly worthy of love.
We will now come to lie down on our backs.
We're nearing the end of this brief sweet practice.
So lying down with me,
Feet flat on the ground,
Bend your legs and cross your right ankle over your left knee for thread the needle.
You can keep your left foot down or pick it up and interlace your hands,
Perhaps behind your left hamstrings.
Now some care and breath for your outer hips,
Your outer glute.
I always love rocking on my low back,
Left to right.
Extra slow with extra breath.
Now keep the shape of your legs.
Keep this figure four,
But then clasp your hands so that your left foot plants down and tip your legs all the way over to the left.
So it's not quite an eagle twist.
It's more of a TFL twist with your right knee pointing up towards the sky.
Reach your right arm back beside your right ear.
And if you can reach with your other left hand,
Grab hold of the front of your shin or your ankle and work your top knee away from your face.
So top knee is pushing away from you.
Reach your right arm back and offer up some massive breaths into the whole right side of your body,
Right ribs,
Outer right hip,
Right quads.
It's as though your low back could touch down on the floor.
That's the direction of the low back is going down.
Let's take three more breaths here.
So committed to feeling all of this,
Feeling all that your body is trying to tell you and communicate with you.
And there's no hurry at all.
Okay.
So you can just take sweet time to gently untangle yourself from that and switch for figure four on the left side.
Now,
Left ankle over right thigh.
We'll hold this outer hip opener for a few breaths before we arrive into that TFL stretch,
Perhaps a little sway on your low back,
Side to side.
Take time.
Allowing every breath to slow even further.
That's good.
Let's take one more breath in and breath out.
Simply release the grip of your fingers.
So your right foot comes down.
Take this figure four shape all the way over to the right.
Legs tip all the way over to the right.
Extend your left arm back.
Maybe reach with right hand and send your top knee cap away from you,
Your low back down towards the ground.
Present with the rise and fall of your breath.
Present with your whole body.
What a special thing it is.
What a sacred thing it is to willingly be here,
Willingly connecting to your body because it's not always comfortable.
It's not always a joyous practice to be here with the body,
But it's vital.
It's vital if we're looking for healing,
If we're looking for just more space to pause and to be.
One more breath.
And then ease yourself out of that.
And you can either stretch your legs straight on the floor or I'll recommend butterfly legs with the knees and wide out to the sides.
And we take our palms down onto our low abdomen.
If that doesn't feel safe or comfortable,
Then you can take a deep breath in and And then you can hover your palms and inch off your belly,
Or you can keep your arms really wide at your sides.
If you have palms on belly,
Feel your palms rising and falling as you breathe.
Breath is becoming quieter.
Breath is soft.
You're going to open up your low belly as your hands gradually rise.
And on the exhale,
The palms just come back down.
Inhaling to balloon your belly open,
Palms rising.
And extended exhale,
Allowing your palms to come down.
So just into your low belly,
Breathing with awareness,
Few more cycles.
If you have more time today to remain as you are,
Please stay on your back and rest a while longer.
If you're gonna complete the class now with me,
Then you could hug both knees into your chest,
Bringing in some mindful movement,
Reawakening to this day before you gently make your way up into a seated position.
Honoring yourself,
Honoring your body.
Notice how you're doing now after spending just a little bit of time with yourself.
Letting yourself be,
Letting all the feelings come and go.
What a simple and important practice this is.
Inhale with me.
Exhale it out.
Thank you.
Thank you for all the teachers we have in our lives.
Thank you for pausing with me on the mat.
Please feel free to come back anytime you can.
Hope to see you again soon.
Thank you.
You
