Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! In today's class, we connect to and honor the Earth element.

Poses include: Warm ups, Sun Salutations, Warrior 2, Goddess Warrior, Triangle, Half-Moon, handstand prep, Ardha Matsyendrasana, Badda Konasana variations, and more.

Recommended props: a blanket, 2 blocks, and a wall

Transcript

All right, So welcome everybody and it's Earth Day. Yay, Yay. So I thought we would do an Earth-centered type of class, Which for me is grounding and hip opening and just being, Feeling that connection to all of everything. You know, Being in that place of yoga. So it's not, You know, It's not just a physical practice as we know. We've all been practicing yoga for years and yes, There are definitely physical aspects and physical benefits to it, But even the word yoga itself means unity and it's like, How do we connect with everything in the world? And on a day like Earth Day, You know, It feels really good. It feels like, Ah, Yeah, I'm part of this big planet and, You know, We need to take care of the earth and be good stewards of the earth and honor our place in the ecosystem. So that makes me think of the five elements, Which as you know, I love to teach about. And the first one is earth element. So let's start with our comfortable seated posture. So you're gonna rotate your thigh bones. Just turn them in so you feel that broadening across the pelvis and you get your low back curve and then reach down to your tailbone. And let's join the index fingers with the thumbs on each hand. Place your palms face down on your lap for that downward flow of feel of being grounded and connected to the earth. Close your eyes and feel the physical sensations in your body. Notice what's going on in your body this morning. Do you have any pain or discomfort? What feels good in your body? Even just sense physical sensation, Like the way your shirt touches the skin of your shoulders or the hardness of the floor underneath your ankles, Like whatever you can sense with that sense of touch or feel. Earth element is solid. It's tactile. It's like, There's that like word, Physical. Some, It's like something physical, Something real. You can touch it. You can smell it. You can taste it. Use your senses to experience earth. We think about earth and the vastness of it. It's big. We're part of this bigger something. It's bigger energy. We all come from the earth. Like the atoms and molecules of the earth are the same atoms and molecules that make up our physical body. And when we take in food, Nutrients from the earth, Like it contributes to who we are and what we can do. Start to observe your breath now. And to make the breath a little more earthy, Heavier, A little more tactile, Let's add the ujjayi pranayama. So lightly engage the muscles at the base of your throat. Start to hear the sound of the breath and feel the sensation. It feels like a scraping action as the breath crosses over the back of your throat and both your inhalations and your exhalations. Even though the earth is constantly changing, There's always something new happening on the earth. There's something growing, There's something expanding. We think of earth as being still and stable and steady, Reliable, You know, It's always there. It's not going anywhere. Feel how that resonates in your body and in your mind. And yes, The earth is changing. And, You know, Being humans here on the earth, Our existence contributes to the change happening in the world on many levels. And so on Earth Day, Let's consider our place in the ecosystem, Both of the natural world and of the societal world and our relationships with the planet and with others. And commit to being a force for good. And with each inhalation, Bring in that sense of commitment. With each exhalation, Just send a wave of your goodness from your heart out into the world. Bring hands together at the heart center. Take a deep breath and we'll chant an om. Om. And as you're ready, Lift your chin, Open your eyes, Offer a gentle bow to everyone who's here today. And let's get moving. So we'll begin on the mat in table pose today. And as you come into table pose, Consider how you place your hands on the earth. To set a clear foundation, The center of your wrists line up with the outer edge of your shoulders. And the creases of your wrists will point straight across from one hand to the other. So they're not turned out, They're not turned in, They're just neutral. And then create an even spread through your fingers and your thumbs so that you can see about the same amount of mat between each finger and even between your index finger and your thumb. And that one's gonna be a little bit bigger than the other fingers, But you don't wanna overstretch the thumbs into the shape of an L with your index finger. You want it more like the shape of the letter J. And that's gonna create a nice steady foundation. And then firm your arms. When we hug muscles to bones, It's like creating more of that cohesive earth steady element. And keeping that, Lift your sitting bones and arch the back, Look forward, Look up into your cow stretch. And with your exhalation, Come into a cat. And flow between cow and cat, Back and forth with a steadiness, A rhythm. Yesterday, We were talking about finding your own rhythm. Or maybe that was Monday, It's all a blur. But find your own slow earth rhythm. Pay attention to all the physical sensations along the vertebrae of your spine, The movement in the pelvis, The way your shoulder blades slide around on the back ribs. Just get into it. This may be the only part of your day where you really focus on how your body moves and what it feels like. And usually it feels good. So enjoy. Come into a neutral spine now. And step your right foot forward. You can bring it to the outside of your hands. So the sole of the foot is on the floor. You can come up to the fingers here, Or if you need more space, You can put blocks under your hands. We're gonna make hip circles. So take that slow, Again, Just slow rhythm. We're not in a hurry. The earth is patient. It's been here millions of years. It's gonna deal however it does with our 21st century existence here. But I don't think the earth itself is going anywhere. So just be in that kind of slow, Mindful rhythm here as we circle around. Maybe think of how the earth orbits the sun. And isn't it interesting that we think of the earth as still in a steady, But it's hurtling through space and spinning really fast. I always get a kick out of that idea. All right, Pause and go the other way. Good, And then come into the place in the middle. You can walk your hands a little farther out to your left. Bend your elbows and come on down. If you can get your elbows to the mat, That's cool. If they don't quite reach, Put blocks under your forearms, Or you can stay up on the palms if you have a block handy. But I'd like the torso to stretch down. Notice how this really opens up that right hip. Your right hip's gonna wanna stick out to the right. So let's bring a little more steady earth element to it. Scoop that right hip under your body more. And yeah, You're gonna feel that tones that are right by. Be with your breath here. In your next inhalation, Come on back up and return to table. Take a breath in a cow, Lift your sitting bones, Lift your chest, And then let's come in a downward dog. So lift the knees up and stretch. You can bend your legs one at a time and walk your feet in place. Stretch through the back of your legs. Open up the shoulders. Observe the sensations in your body. And check your hands to make sure you've still got that good, Solid, Well-aligned foundation in the hands. Nice, Let's bring the knees down and step your left foot up to the outside of your hands. We'll come back to hip circles here. So go around nice and slowly. Mindfully. And pause. Go the other direction. And come to the place in the middle. Walk the hands out a little bit to the right. Melt your heart down, Bend your arms, Bring the forearms down, Or it's fine to stay on the palms, But reach your torso down towards the ground. Get closer to the earth. Let gravity pull you closer to the earth. And then you'll notice your thighs go way back here. So with that commitment, Scoop your left sitting bone under, Oh yeah. Feel the sensations in your leg, Your hip. Keep the heart soft. Keep your breath steady. On your next inhalation, Come back to your hands. Bring that left knee back around and let's take another downward dog. Lift your knees, Lift your hips up. Good, And this time, Just keep the legs mostly straight. Put a little bend in your knees so that you can lift your sitting bones and then scoop your tailbone, Pull your ribs in and push from your heart into the earth. Push down into your hands, Push back into your feet. Heels might come all the way to the floor, But they don't need to, But you're reaching down into the earth. So you get more connected. Then look forward at your hands and walk your feet up to the front of the mat. Once you're there, Rise to the fingertips, Spread your toes, Root down into the legs. Inhale, Sweep your arms out, Reach up to the sky and then release. Bring your hands into your heart center. So come on up to the front of your space. Place your feet now. Feet are now your foundation. So line up the center of the ankles with the front hip bones, Feet parallel to one another. Lift and spread your toes. And notice how that helps the muscles around the shins and even up into the thighs, Engage, They hug in, Hug muscles onto bones. Keep that as you bring the toes back to the earth. You can tuck the thighs back, Tailbone in and then bring your hands to your heart center. And recommit. So you'll be a good citizen of the earth. However that shows up for you, Whatever images that comes to mind, Brings to mind for you. How can you be a force for good in the world? We've all got our own ways that we do it. From your pelvis, Root down into your feet and then stretch up through the spine. Inhale, Reach your arms up to the sky. And as you exhale, We'll hinge forward and bring your fingertips back down to the mat. Take a breath, Look up. And then step your left foot back, Come into lunge. And then with the steadiness of earth, Hug your legs in towards the middle, Root down into the legs and we'll come up for warrior one lunge variations. You can keep the back heel up. If you need more stability, You can spin the back heel down. But with the back heel up, The hips will be more square to the front. Good, Exhale, Release your hands. Place your palms down, Step now to plank pose. Feel that earth quality in your arms and in your legs and in your torso. So scoop the tailbone, Get strong through your core and then bend your arms, Come down. You can bring the knees down first or come down with straight legs. Then lengthen and lift up to small cobra and then push back to downward facing dog pose. Good, On your next inhalation, Lift your right leg up behind you into one-legged dog. And then swing your right foot all the way forward to lunge. Lean into your left hand, Reach your right arm up, Lunge twist, Take the shoulders back, Take your thighs back. And then as we did in that deep lunge earlier, Pull that right hip under your body more. It's gonna feel a little more earthy, Feel a little more grounded. And you open the throat more and send your goodness from your heart into your hands out into the world. Sweet. All right, Bring your hand down, Step your left foot to the front of the mat, Reach down into your feet, Inhale, Rise all the way up. Exhale, Bring your hands to your heart center. And on the other side, Inhale, Reach up, A little back bend if you wish. Exhale, Come forward, Touch down to the earth. Take a breath, Lift your chest. Lunge the right leg back now. And with commitment, With strength, Hug your legs in and then come all the way up, Reach your arms up by your ears. Strong legs, Lift your heart, Reach with the hands, Even look up between your palms. And then exhale and sweep your arms down. Place your hands on the earth, Step back to your plank. Bend your arms, Go through your chaturanga, Dandasana, All the way down to the mat. Point your toes, Get earthy in your legs. So firm the muscles around the legs and then lift the chest, Cobra. Good, Push back, Downward dog pose. Hips go way up toward the sky, But the heels release down. And then stretch your left leg up behind you. And swing your left leg forward into lunge, The left foot in front, Lean into the right hand and twist, Open to the left. And notice how your hips want to swing out to the left, So pull the left sitting bone under your body more. You get more solid, More secure, More of those qualities of earth element, Stable. Steadfast, You got this. All right, Bring your left hand down, Step the back foot forward, Bow over your legs. And inhale, Come all the way up. Exhale, Bring your palms into your heart. Inhale, Reach up and back. Exhale, Fold forward, Touch down to the ground. Take a breath in, Exhale, Fold forward. Exhale, Step, Look up, Slide your left foot back, Let's bring the knee down to the mat and inhale, Arms up for Anjaneyasana. So here, Invite your hips to lower towards the earth and then take the upper body up and back, Beautiful. Good, And then exhale, Release, Hands down. Step back, Come into a table pose now. But shift your hips, No, Don't do that. We're gonna go to knees, Chest, Chin, Because I always think of this one as like a little caterpillar. So lift the sitting bones, Knees are down, Get the low back curve. So this is the eight point prone pose. So the eight points are touching the ground are gonna be your two feet, Your two knees, Your two hands, Your chest and your chin. And then everything else is off the earth. So you bend your arms, You bring your heart down between your hands and the chin comes to the floor. It's like a caterpillar. And then slide your belly forward, Hips come down, Lift the heart up, Cobra. Good, We'll practice that again on the other side. All right, Go on back, Downward dog. Right leg up high, Exhale, Step your right foot forward. Now this time, Let's come into warrior two. So spin the back foot down 90 degrees, Firm your legs, Inhale and come on up. Extend your arms out to the sides. With earth element, Hug your feet toward each other. And then align, Take your thighs back and scoop the right hip under. Then expand out. Awesome, Cartwheel your hands down, Come into lunge up on the toes of your back foot. Step your left foot forward, Fold over your legs. Inhale, Come all the way up. Exhale, Come back to the heart center, Hands to heart. Nice, Inhale, Reach up and back. Exhale, Fold forward. Inhale, Lift halfway. Take the right leg back now, Knee to the ground. Inhale, Reach your arms up, Lower the hips, But lift the heart. Good, Exhale, Release the arms down. Place your palms, Step the left knee back and then tilt the pelvis, The sitting bones lift. We'll go to our knees, Chest, Chin. Nothing else touching the floor, But toes, Knees, Hands, Chest, Chin, And then slide your belly forward. The hips go down, The heart comes up, Cobra. Good, And then Downward Dog. Lift your left leg high behind you and swing it forward. Lunge, Spin the back heel down 90 degrees and then come on up for Warrior II, Yeah. Good, So we're down from your pelvis, Into the earth, Through the legs. From the pelvis, Rise up to the heart, Out through your hands. And then cartwheel your arms back down. Lift the back heel, Step your right foot forward, Bow over your legs. Inhale, Come all the way up. And exhale, Hands into the heart. Great, Let's do one more set. Inhale, Reach up and back. Exhale and fold. Take a breath, Look up. Let's step the right leg back. Spin the heel down, Bring your right hand to your hip and then left hand, You can either keep it down on the floor or bring your left forearm onto your thigh for Side Angle Pose, Your choice. You could also put a block under the hand, Of course. All right, With step fastness, With commitment, Hug your legs in towards the middle and take your thighs back, Scoop the tailbone under and then lengthen your side ribs, Roll the shoulders back and stretch your right arm over your ear. Good, And then with all the goodness you've got inside of you, Just expand it, Shine it out, Send it into the world. The world needs you. And you're here for it and for each other. We're here for you. All right, We're all in this together. Very cool, Look down at the floor. Bring your hands down, Come back to lunge. Let's go to Plank now. All right, And option, You can go knee to knee, Chest, Chin or Chaturanga. Pause and then release. Hips to the ground. Inhale, Come up into Cobra. Push back, Downward Facing Dog. Lift your, Let's see, We did the left leg. So lift your left leg up. Exhale, Slip it forward, Just come into lunge here and then push off with the back foot. Bow over your legs. Inhale, Rise up. Exhale, Hands to heart. Last one, Here we go. Reach up and back. And then bow forward. Take a breath. Step your left foot back into your lunge. Turn the heel down. Get ready for your Side Angle Pose variation. So decide what you wanna do with that right arm. And then engage the legs, Align the hips, Align your shoulders, Align your head with the rest of your spine so your head's not hanging. And then expand. We draw in to our commitment so that we can expand back out and take action. And our yoga then is not just for ourselves. It's not just so that I feel better. It's so that I feel better so that I can make a difference. Come on down into your lunge. Step back to plank. And then again, Chaturanga or knees, Chest, Chin. Hover your chest off the ground if you're in Chaturanga. Hover the hips if you're in knees, Chest, Chin and then come all the way down. Inhale, Cobra. Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Take your right leg up behind you and then big lunge forward. And step your left foot up. Inhale, Come all the way up. Good, And then release. Bring your arms down by your sides. Lower hands to heart. And come into Mountain Pose. And just come back to steadiness, Stillness. Again, Feel the sensations in your body. Notice the heat in your body. Good, And then you can open your eyes if they're closed. All right, So a couple more standing postures today. I wanted to do the Goddess Warrior. I always think of this one as like the Earth Goddess. So we'll all become Earth Goddesses here. Let's take a medium stance with your feet and then turn your toes out 45 degrees. Bend your knees right above your ankles. So if your knees go past your ankles, Then you can probably just take your feet a little bit wider. You wanna get the shins vertical here. So what tends to happen is the knees tend to cave in. So lean forward, Stick your butt out, And then pull your tailbone under and get an outer rotation through your thighs. So your knees press out. Then, That's good, Then take the spine upright and bring your arms to cactus. Awesome. All right, So think Earth, Grounded, Downward rooting, Like root down into the feet, But then lift your heart, Reach up through your head. Yes, Squeeze your shoulder blades onto your back. Press your knees wide. Woo, Inhale, Reach up, Straighten your legs. Bring the feet parallel, And then come on down into Prasarita Padottanasana, Wide leg forward bend. You can widen the feet here to get a different stretch in your legs. Good. Rise to the tips of your fingers for a moment so your spine is parallel to the mat. Lengthen the spine, And then melt your heart. Hug your shoulder blades on your back. Mm, That feels, That feels good. Okay, Then bend your elbows, Bring your head down, Walk your hands towards your feet. If you can reach your ankles or the outer edges of your feet, Then hold on. And then over a few breaths, Let gravity pull your head closer to the Earth. Take some deep breaths. Push down from the pelvis into your feet, And extend through your spine. Maybe the head even comes down to touch the floor. If it does, And you feel like you could stretch more, Walk your feet closer to each other so that the floor doesn't stop you from getting a stretch. Good, And then lift your gaze forward. Bring your hands to the mat underneath your shoulders. Bring your feet in a little bit closer to each other, And we'll come on up. You can do hands to hips and roots out into the feet. Come on up. And stuff your legs in. All right, So I'd like to do one more set of standing poses inspired by photos from Artemis to the moon mission. So we're gonna do half moon pose. So you might wanna block for this. We'll go triangle first, And then Ardha Chandrasana. And I posted on my Facebook page today a picture of like, You can see, You can see like half the moon and then the earth. It's like, Oh, That's so cool for Earth Day. All right, So we'll go to the right first. So take a wide stance with your feet. Open the right foot out. Block if you want it, It's to the outside of the right foot. Tone your legs, Reach your arms up, And then hinge out to the right, And bring your right hand down to the outside of the foot. Let's start with the left hand at the waist so we can get the legs really solid, Okay? So foundation of the feet, You wanna make sure you've got all four corners of your right foot especially grounded. The big toe corner of the foot tends to get a little bit light here. So really push down into the mound of the big toe. Take your thighs back, Scoop your tailbone under, Shoulders back, And then reach your left hand up. And enjoy Trikonasana here. Just expand out, Send your goodness into the world here. Good, And then for Ardha Chandrasana, We're gonna come into it. You can bring the top hand to the hip, Bend your right knee, Slide your left foot forward, Move your right hand forward about 12 inches, Keep the hand to the outside of the foot, And then come on up and engage the lifted leg. Move that leg really strong, Really earthy, Even though it's not on the earth anymore. Again, Thighs go back, Scoop the right hip under, That's gonna help lift the left hip up, And then left arm can reach up. Yeah. Good, Keep a micro bend in your standing leg. And expand out from your center, You're doing great. Keep breathing. Woo! All right, And then to come down, Bring your left hand down, Turn the hips, Come into that standing split. So take your left leg up high. So you fold your forehead towards the right shin. And then bring your lifted leg down to the floor to come into Uttanasana. Cool. If you use the block, Grab it, You can take it with you. And inhale, Come on up. Nice. All right, Let's do the other side. So come back to your wide stance. Open the left toes out to the left, Firm your legs, Reach up with your arms, Hinge out to the left, And come on down into triangle pose first. Align the hips, Align the shoulders. Lengthen, Down into the feet. Push down to the big toe side of that front foot. Send out through your spine, Your head. Send good vibes from your heart, Through your hands into the world. All right, And then here we go. Top hand to hip, Bend the left leg, Step in. Move your left hand forward. And then when you come up, You get a really rooted leg, And then you're down into the left foot, The left hand, The right leg is gonna lift up. And engage the legs. So use earth element to hug muscles to bones, To get steady. And then you can lift the top hand once you're steady in the legs. Nice. You got it. You come out, You just go back in. You got it. Good. Hmm. One more breath. And then look down at the floor, Bring your hands down. Turn the hips a little bit to face down. See if you can lift that right leg higher. So bring your forehead closer to the left shin. And then bring the lifted leg down to the ground. Bow over your legs. Inhale, Come all the way up. And then bring your hands to your heart. Awesome, Awesome. All right, So hope you're feeling good. Yay. We're gonna do our inversion. So you can bring your mat over to a wall space. If you have one, If you have a good wall space, Then yeah, We'll think of something else for you to do. But if you can bring the short edge of your mat up to a wall or even a door. So many space that you really need. So we, That do a wall space, We're gonna come into kneeling posture, Table pose, Either on the forearms, As I'm gonna do, Or on your palms if you prefer to work on your handstand. Or you're gonna take downward dog away from the wall if you don't have a wall space. All right, And then we're gonna lengthen the side ribs, Just melt the heart down. And then with that confidence and conviction, Pull your tailbone down, Pull your ribs in so you get strong in your center. And your body just feels more solid, More earthy, Less watery, More strength. Okay, Lift your knees and hips up. And then root from your heart down into your foundation. Lift the sitting bones higher and you can walk the feet up on the wall, Come into your L shape. Or if you're not at the wall, Then take one leg dog and bend the knee and go into a twist there for a wild dog. Very good, And then if you are at the wall, You can take one leg up. And then the other leg up. And then come down and everyone come down and rest in child's pose. And for child's pose, Surrender to the earth. Let gravity pull you. There's a great quote, I think it's from Sri Aurobindo that says, Gravity is the earth pulling you towards it with love. Something like that. It's like the earth lovingly pulling you towards it. I love that. It's like the earth adores you, Wants you to be close. That's why we have gravity. Super cool. All right, Good. Come on up. And then we're gonna go again. So if you're doing wild dog, You're gonna do the other side. If you're doing here, This way at the wall, We're gonna go up again, Do the same thing. Or if you wanna turn around, You can kick up into either your dolphin inversion or your handstand or your pinch vajrasana, Okay? So just one more inversion. Choose one and make it good. Enjoy it. Remember that you are strong and powerful and these poses help us build our strength, Build our confidence, Remind us that we are capable and that we can do really cool stuff. So firm your arms, Melt your heart, Engage your core, Lift the knees up and then step in, Swing up, Step your feet up, Whatever it is that you're doing. Go for it. And then once you're up, Hug to the middle. Good, Root from the heart down into your foundation. Your heart extend up into the hips, Into your feet. Yeah, Nice, Looking good. Yay, Metta, Good job. I love how you used the bolster, It's so great. All right, Awesome. And come on down, Everybody. And again, You can come into child's pose and rest. All right, And then come on up and we're gonna come to the floor and we'll do some seated poses. So a blanket to sit on can be helpful. Your knees don't tend to like to come all the way down to the ground. All right, So just fold your blanket, We'll sit on it. We're gonna start with bound angle pose. So get that sitting bones up on your blanket, Bend your knees, Bring the soles of the feet together and the knees go wide. And then you can either support your knees with your hands, You could wedge blocks under the shins, Or you can hold your ankles. So which one do you choose? If the knees are up high, Then it's good to give yourself the support either with the blocks or just with your hands. And that extra support helps the thighs not tense up so much. So you need that, Please support yourself. If the knees are at the height of your waist or lower, And it doesn't feel like too much strain in the inner thighs then holding the ankles is fine. And it's actually kind of nice because it lets you really lift your heart. This is a little bit harder to do when you're using your arms here. So choose your arm variation and how much support you need in the legs. And then the sensation of your feet, The soles of your feet touching each other, I think that feels so nice. It's like, It's very grounding, Right? It's earthy. So bring your awareness into that threshold, That connection between the soles of your feet. And if you wiggle your toes a little bit, You can really feel it. Oh, It feels so good. Send energy from your pelvis down into the earth. From the center of your body, Expand out through your knees. So think of widening the knees rather than bringing them lower, Think of expanding out. And then from the pelvis, Rise up through the spine, To the heart, To the head. Maybe even think of yourself like a little plant growing out of the earth. The lower body is the roots of the plant, You root down. And then the upper body, What's it called? Seedling, That's the word I'm looking for. A little seedling coming up out of the ground. Feel your breath flowing through your body. Enjoy the steady rhythm of your breath. The earthy feel, The sound of the ujjayis. Come back to our ujjayi if you've forgotten that. And this idea of forgetting. We forget, We forget about the earth. I mean, Even though we're here on it all the time, We're not always thinking about it, Right? We forget that we're part of the ecosystem. We forget how important and strong and beautiful we are. And so it's great when we can remember. We have this holiday, Earth Day, To really think about and contemplate the earth. We have our yoga practice. Our consistent practice helps remind us of our strength and our power and our beauty. Let's take the hands now to the knees if you're holding the feet or ankles, And gradually draw your knees in. Ooh, Okay, Good. And then hug your arms around the legs. Give yourself a gentle squeeze. All right, Terrific. Let's take Ardha Matsyandrasana. So if you're sitting on a blanket, Turn it so that you're sitting on the corner of the blanket. And let's see, Take the left ankle and fold it under your right hip. So your knee is forward. And then step the right foot across. And if it doesn't come to the outside, You can just keep it in front, Which is fine. But if you can get the foot over to the outside of the front leg, That's gonna make a deeper twist for you. All right, And then hold onto your shin and take a breath, Lift your heart. Good, I'm gonna twist. So bring your right hand around behind your back. And then as you exhale, Pull against the right knee and turn your chest to the right. You can turn your head, Look over the right shoulder. And then root down into the hips, Again, Like sending your energy down to connect to the earth through the lower body. Then the upper body, Lift your chest, Lift your head. And then if you wanna take the elbow across the knee, You can come into Abhaya Mudra here with the hands palm facing out. And remember, Abhaya means fearlessness. So no fear, Or fear less, Right? We know, We know, There's always gonna be some fear. We remember our strength, The fear takes the backseat. It's good. All right, Keep twisting. Each exhalation, Go a little more. Each inhalation, Lift up. Up. Like your shoulder blades on your back. Yeah, Especially the right one. Yes. Good, And then as you inhale, Unwind your twist, Lengthen up. Ooh. All right, Now lean back, Uncross your legs. Good, Let's do the other side. So right ankle comes under the left hip. Step the left foot across. Get all four corners of that left foot on the ground, If you can. Sometimes you're more on the outer edge of the foot, But you're gonna anchor that big toe side down towards the floor if it doesn't quite reach. Hold your shin, Take a breath. Lift up. And then exhale, Twist to your left. Bring your left hand around. You can continue to hold the leg with your hand, Or you can cross your elbow over the knee. Good. And turn your head, Look to your left. Each inhalation, Rise up through the spine. Each exhalation, Take your twist another millimeter around. Just deepen it a little bit at a time. Hug the left shoulder blade in towards your spine on back. Remembering the heart. And on your next inhalation, Unwind your twist, Come back to the middle. Good, Lean back and uncross your legs. Seek them out in front, And just lean back on the hands and log roll your legs back to the center. And back and forth at the sides. Good, Then take omega pose. So bend your knees, Come back to bound angle, But instead of having the feet enclosed, You're gonna bring them out in front. So your legs make more of a square or diamond shape. And then take a breath, Lift your heart. Hinge forward and then slide the hands toward the tops of your feet now. Your forearms may rest on the shins and you can bow your head, Look down at the earth or at your feet. Hold and breathe, Feel the gentle stretch through your spine. The shape of your back here is like child's pose, Nice even rounded shape. Good, Lift your head, Walk your hands in. Come on up, And once again, Bring the knees together. All right, So I'd like for us to take a pigeon pose. And you can do this more as like a forward, Bendy, More relaxing pigeon. You could even use a bolster for your pigeon today. So we're not gonna do it as a big backbend, But also like just as another way to get closer to the earth. So if you have a bolster, You can use that or you could stack some blankets up and put your props lengthwise along your mats. And we'll bring that right knee up by your right wrist and the right foot somewhere in the middle. And then you're gonna lay down. So you're either on your forearms on the floor or if you've got blankets or a bolster, You can rest your head and your chest on the blankets. So more of a restorative type pigeon here. Now it's interesting with your belly up on something, Your hips might not be totally level to the ground and we're gonna let that be okay today. So I invite you to, Again, Feel that pulling downward, That force of gravity. Feel the love of the earth, The love that you have for the earth and the love that the earth has for you. We're gonna hold this for about two minutes. And as you hold, You can focus on your breath. You can also consider how do you wanna show up in the world today, This week, This summer? How can you bring forth your unique self to serve? And it doesn't have to be like a chore. Usually the things that you love to do are the things that the world needs more of. So it can be easy. Like, Oh yeah, I love to garden, Right? So get out there, Plant some more beauty. All right, Let's bring palms to the floor. Lift your head and let's just breathe. And curl your left toes under, Slide your right knee back and come to table. And then we'll go to the other side. So left knee comes forward. Bring your torso down, Turn your head. Rest on the forearms or rest your chest onto your bolster or your blankets. Enjoy the slow, Steady rhythm of your breath. You can also start to slow that breath rhythm down. Make your exhalations longer. All right, And then again, Bring your palms to the mat, Push down into your hands, Lift your head up, Slide your knee back, And let's come down onto your back. You can move the props out of the way. Take your arms out to your sides. Stretch your left leg down on the floor and shift your hips out to the right a few inches, And then come over into a twist. So bring the right knee across. You can hold onto it with your left hand. Turn your head out to the right. Just a little quick twist. We'll just hold for a few breaths. And then come on back to center and adjust. Adjust your hips, Stretch the right leg down, Shift your hips out to the left, And then twist the legs, Go to the right, Turn your head to look out over your left hand. Few breaths on this side. And come back to the middle. Center your hips on the mat, And let's take one last symmetric stretch. You can do either knees to chest or happy baby. Maybe you can rock a little bit side to side if that feels good in your body. Nice, And then bring your legs down, And we'll take a few minutes for Shavasana. So surrender your body to the earth, Let the legs come down, Arms down by your sides, Turn your palms to face up. Rest on the earth now. Feel how it supports you from beneath, From behind your back. Remember that the earth has your back. It's here to support you. You're here to support it. Just rest now in this beautiful union. As you remember your connection to the bigger energy, Not just of the earth, But of the entire universe. Bring your attention to the sensations in your body. Feel the pulsation of your breath. Start to take longer, Deeper inhalations. Start to move and stretch your arms and legs. And as you're ready, You can bend your knees into your chest and roll to your side. Just stay close to the earth as long as you can. And then gently come on up to a comfortable seated position. Bring your palms together in front of your heart. Send a wave of gratitude out to the earth for its nurturance, Its support, Its steadiness. And if you choose to, You can commit to using your energy to help support the earth or the world. You do it all the time anyway. But it's like on a day like Earth Day, We just wanna go that extra little step. So if you think of one thing, One small thing, That you can do today or this week to help even a little bit more. With gratitude for our practice of yoga and for the support of our community, Let's chant Aum together. Take a full breath in. Aum. Delighting you. Namaste. Aum.