Expectation Management

This asana practice is a Michigan style slow flow. After warming up the body we will work our way up to holding postures and then cool down using some floor stretches. You will find that the Sun Salutation A is guided at first but then we create space and time to flow on your own. The theme of today's practice is expectation management... come as you are!

Transcript

All right,

So we're going to begin on the back today,

Yogis,

If you're not already there.

We always say take your time to get there.

And when you come down onto the back,

I'm going to have you put a bend into your knees,

Set your feet into the floor,

But take the knees really wide or take the feet really wide and let the knees fall into one another so you have the support.

This is a really sustainable way to be on the back.

Sometimes if you have a hard time being on the back and it creates a little arc,

This kind of helps to take the arc out of the back.

You don't have to have a lot of effort to be here.

The knee just lands against the other knee.

Rest the hands,

Rest the arms,

Rest your sweet little head.

Let's take a big breath in,

Draw it in,

And just sigh it out.

Nice.

So I wanted to start today just by talking a little bit about expectations because I feel like that's something we come up against a lot in our yoga practice and really a lot in our lives.

And so I wanted you to imagine just for a moment while we're here on the back,

Not doing much else.

I want you to imagine that yesterday before you came here today,

You received an email from the owner of the studio and she said,

Oh,

By the way,

You can't attend class tomorrow unless you are wearing pink polka dot pants and you have your hair in a bun and you woke up at 5 a.

M.

And meditated today and you brushed your teeth and you ran a mile.

I hope the brush the teeth part is right.

I hope you brush your teeth this way.

But what if she put out all of these rules,

Stipulations and regulations that said you can't come unless?

I think today you would be a little angry or a little frustrated or your heart would sort of push against that.

I would say,

Wait a second,

That doesn't seem right.

Like let me be who I am.

Let me come to my yoga practice.

Let me breathe in space with other people.

Let me be a part of the community regardless.

But the funny thing is that we do this to ourselves.

We recognize it a lot more on the outside when someone tries to tell us who and what to be.

But we do it all the time in our minds.

We constantly say,

OK,

I'm not going to go to the store unless I look a certain way.

I'm not going to call myself a good mother unless I do certain things.

I'm not going to this unless this,

The if and when,

The if and when.

But yoga,

The practice of yoga,

The yogic philosophy says,

Come as you are.

Be who you are.

Come as you are.

Stay on the back,

Guys.

Just drop the knees open and slide the soles of the feet together for this reclined bound ingo pose.

You may adjust the arms if you need to.

So I want you to imagine for a moment that you didn't get that email yesterday and that you decided to walk into this studio without all of those expectations trailing behind you or even leading the way.

I want you to imagine that you granted yourself a little bit of freedom from those boxes that you always try to check.

I want you to imagine that you are free to be exactly who you are as you are,

This most authentic and truest version of yourself.

What does that feel like?

What kind of freedom does that grant you in your practice today?

Because we wouldn't let someone else tell us who to be,

So backing off and not trying to hold ourselves to so many expectations in our own minds.

Take a nice,

Big,

Deep breath in and sigh it out.

Give it three more breaths in this posture,

Maybe with eyes closed,

Maybe with jaw soft.

Listen yogis,

Stretch nice and long.

Take the arms up above the head and straighten to lengthen the legs.

We've had the knees bent for a bit now,

So just peel them apart from top to bottom.

Toes stretch one way,

Fingertips stretch the other.

And then draw the knees in toward the chest.

Give them a nice,

Tight squeeze.

You might rock side to side like we often do,

But then when you find your placement,

When the back feels good into the floor,

Go ahead and set your feet back down into the floor,

But just hip distance apart this time.

You can drop the arms by your side.

We're going to create a little bit of back bending,

But in a dynamic way that moves with the rhythm of your breath.

So first here,

Guys,

Find the texture of the mat underneath of your feet.

Actually feel that.

And then go ahead and press through the feet to lift the lower back up off of the floor into bridge pose.

So lift the lower and mid back up,

Up,

Up.

And then bring it down,

Down,

Down.

Just lower all the way onto the back.

Create a little bit of this.

Up with the inhale,

Down with the exhale.

And at first it might be small.

You might just do little lifts instead of big lifts.

We're just warming up the body.

And then you also might add the aspect of the arms.

So quite often when we're doing this lifting and lowering of the hips in a really fluid way,

You can use the arms here as well in a wave-like motion.

The arms might go up and over top of the head.

And then on the exhale,

They come down by your sides,

Hands drop by your hips.

That might be something that feels good to add.

And then you might do it and you might be like,

No,

That's not for me today.

So you might just stick with hips lifting and back lowering.

The place of that letting go of expectation is cutting through the illusion of the mind.

The illusion of the mind says you'll be happy if and when.

You'll be happy if you show up in this way.

You'll be liked if you show up in this way.

You'll be a better yogi if you can do this specific thing.

But if we cut through the illusion of the mind and come straight into the feeling sensations of the body,

It tells an entirely different story.

Tune into that story.

Two more times just like this,

Lifting and lowering,

Lifting and lowering.

But the second time that you lift,

Yogis,

I want you to lift and hold.

I want you to lift and pause up into the air and work to wiggle your shoulders a little deeper underneath of you,

Lifting yourself up a little bit more.

Pass through the feet just a teeny tiny bit more.

See if you can gain some height.

And then slowly,

Slowly lower the back all the way down.

Feel that.

Just feel the bottom piece.

Feel your back touching the floor.

Again,

Tune into the texture of your mat underneath of your feet,

Your toes,

Your heels.

And then let's take legs up the wah pose.

You can squeeze the knees in first if you need that little reset,

But otherwise legs going straight up into the air.

Find some little movements with the toes and the ankles here at first just to get some motion and movement there,

Some circulation of blood bringing some heat into those spaces.

And then let there be a couple of breaths where the legs,

The toes,

And the ankles are just still.

Draw the knees in toward the chest.

Give them an actual squeeze this time,

Especially if you didn't last time.

And then hands to shins or hands to the back sides of the thighs,

Yogis.

We're going to start to rock forward back,

Forward back all the way up to a seated position.

And when you get there,

I want you to bring the soles of the feet together,

Knees wide,

Just like you had on the back.

And this time forward folding.

So think nose toward your toes.

You're just going to round through the spine and fold in,

Chin maybe coming toward your chest.

And then slowly start to roll up from this forward fold.

Just crisscross the ankles here.

So right in front of left or left in front of right,

Whatever feels best.

Arms go up into the air and I just want you to stretch them up.

The way that we do legs up the wall.

So think arms up the wall,

Like arms stretching.

You could even interlace fingers and flip the palms if that feels good.

But think about this like upper body yawn through the shoulders and the arms and the wrists and the chest.

And then we're going to take this into a twist.

So dropping the right hand behind you onto the floor,

Left hand,

Right knee,

Sit tall and turn toward that right shoulder.

So as the right shoulder turns back,

Your chin turns toward the shoulder.

Come back through center,

Lift both arms up into the air,

Big stretch.

And then turning to the other side,

Guys,

Left hand behind you onto the floor,

Right hand onto your left knee or thigh,

Pulling that left shoulder back as you sit tall,

Turning chin toward your left shoulder.

Coming back through center,

Both arms go up and then you use the arms,

You use the hands guys to create a little momentum to roll forward.

So hands come down and you try rolling over your legs or sweeping them to the side for tabletop pose.

So your hands kind of come down and create that forward rock to find the foundation of hands and knees position.

So I just want you to find the foundation first and then find your breath,

Which is the foundation of your yoga practice.

So physical foundation and then foundation of your breath and let's begin to move.

Cat cow,

Inhale,

Lift the chin,

Drop the belly,

Lift the tailbone.

So rounding through the spine,

Tuck chin and tailbone in and under.

Good.

Inhale,

Lift the chin.

Last night I was teaching kids yoga and we said moo and then you tuck it in and say meow,

Right?

You're rounding through the spine and maybe you don't say those out loud,

But maybe you make the mood of your practice a little lighter by saying it in your mind.

We do not have to take our practice so personally that we are kind of creating those boxes,

Right?

Those check marks,

Like we have to be so dedicated,

So serious,

So absolutely spiritual or so absolutely calm.

It's okay to giggle in yoga.

It's okay to smile.

As a matter of fact,

One of my favorite teachers and mentors used to say the master yogi is not the person that can hold a balancing posture for 20 minutes,

But it's someone that can try holding that balancing posture for 20 minutes and smiling the whole way through,

Right?

The smiling aspect.

As you move deeper into this cat cow,

Guys,

Maybe a little side bending and circular motion through the hips so it becomes multi-directional instead of just that straight forward and back lifting and rounding.

Giving it a few times more,

A few breath cycles more and before we head into sun A's or down dog,

I just want you to take a mini break in child's pose.

So after a few times through,

Just sitting the hips back,

Folding the chest toward the floor.

Let's do it one more time here at the beginning of practice,

Yogis.

Take a breath and a deep,

Deep inhale and let it go.

From this child's pose,

Pull on up,

Tabletop pose and this time to lead you into down dog.

So you'll tuck the toes,

Lift the hips,

Drop the head,

Maybe wag your tail a little bit,

Pedal through the feet.

Not taking our practice so personally,

We make space to get a little curious about our practice,

A little curious about our bodies,

Like noticing what it's like to be in your hips today,

Your hands,

Your feet,

Noticing what it's like to be in this downward facing dog today because it was different or it is different than it was yesterday.

Checking in.

Curiosity might have killed the cat but it doesn't kill the yogi,

It doesn't kill us to get curious.

Tune into your breath and the next time that you inhale,

I want you to rise up onto tippy toes and just take a nice slow walk,

Guys,

All the way up to the top of the mat till you find yourself in a forward fold.

And then from that forward fold,

Go ahead and slide halfway up,

Breathe in and fold back in and exhale.

Start to roll your way up to standing.

This first time,

Keep your arms by your side and just roll up to standing.

We're going to create that shoulder shrug of ears toward your shoulders,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

And then roll the shoulders down the back.

Let's sweep the arms out and up.

So reaching fingertips toward the ceiling and then forward fold,

Come right back into it.

Hinge at the hips,

Fingertips come down toward your toes.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in.

Step back to downward facing dog from here.

So next time we'll be stepping back to plank but step back to down dog first and then pull forward to plank yogi.

Stack shoulders over top of wrists.

Let's lower down through the pushup,

Elbows close to the body and you're going to sweep your heart through into cobra.

So lengthening through the arms,

Press through the palms,

Lift the heart,

Create a backbend,

Point your toes and then slide into child's pose.

Sink the hips back toward your heels.

Let that be an aspect of your sun salutation A today.

And then from child's pose,

Pull up hands and knees,

Downward facing dog.

Tuck toes,

Lift hips,

Drop head.

Play as much as you need to here but make sure that you have some kind of settling,

Some kind of moment in stillness in this downward dog.

And then rise up onto your tiptoes,

Take a slow walk,

Step or maybe a hop to the top of your mat.

Slide halfway up,

Peek out in front of you and then fold back and peek in,

Peek in toward your belly or your knees.

Slow roll all the way up to standing.

Sweep the arms wide right away,

Touch the palms together above the head.

Draw them down the midline of your body and then drop them by your side.

Turn your palms up and open or outward and open.

Shrug the shoulders now,

Shrug the shoulders up toward your ears and then down your back.

On an inhale,

Sweep the arms out and up and we're just going to add a side bend here.

I want you to grab a hold,

Right hand to left wrist but before you lean,

Try lengthening along that left side.

So pull on that left wrist and then lean over to the right side.

Come back through center and go left hand to right wrist.

You're going to pull upward and then lean to the left.

Come back through center,

Fingertips reach up,

Up,

Up and then exhale forward fold.

Hands come down toward your toes.

Take a halfway lift here from the bottom.

Top of the push-up or that plank pose,

Palms here,

Feet back.

Lower down through that push-up real slow and sweet.

Pull your heart through cobra and then we're going child's pose.

So bending the knees,

Hips toward heels,

Chest folds toward the floor.

You can stay as long as you need when you're flowing on your own yogis.

You're going to give it two to three breaths.

And then when you're ready,

Pull on up,

Tabletop pose,

Leading you into that downward dog.

You'll tuck the toes,

Use the core,

Lift the hips,

Press through the palms.

We'll go one more full round together,

One more time through and then I want you to be able to flow with it on your own a little bit here.

So rising up onto your toes,

Get up to the top of the mat,

A little walk or a big old step or a little hop,

Halfway lift when you get there.

Breathe in and then fold in,

Exhale.

You're going to rise up to standing and sweep the arms wide and tall.

Touch the palms together,

Bring them down the midline of your body,

Drop the arms by your side.

Now here's where you shoulder shrug,

Shoulders toward ears,

Exhale,

Roll them down your back.

Arms sweep wide and tall,

Two side bends here,

Right hand to left wrist,

Lean to the right.

Come back through center,

Left hand,

Right wrist,

Lean to the left.

Come back through center,

Take an inhale and on the exhale,

Forward fold,

Fingertips toward your toes.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in,

Top of the push-up,

So plank pose.

With control,

Slowly start to lower down through that push-up,

Pull your heart through into cobra or your own version of a backbend works here too and then child's pose,

You'll sink it back.

And you'll move like this from child's pose back to child's pose all the way through that sun salutation A as a warm-up for your body,

As a deepening of that connection to your breath.

When you're ready,

Yogis,

Pull up hands and knees,

Downward dog and begin again.

If you get a little lost,

You can always peek around or just come back to a regular sun salutation A.

From that down dog,

You rise on toes,

Get up to the top,

Half lift and fold in.

We rise to standing sweep the arms,

Drop the arms,

Shoulder shrug.

Now here you go again,

You say you want your freedom,

Well who am I to keep you down?

I'm not sure how you feel,

But I know you're right,

It's only right and you should play the way you feel it.

Listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness,

It's like a heartbeat drives you mad in the stillness of a memory.

What you had,

What you lost,

What you had,

What you lost.

Thunder only happens when it's raining.

Players only love you when they're playing.

Say when they will come and they will go.

When the rain washes you clean,

You'll know that you will know.

Beautiful movement,

Yoginis.

A few more times through,

Keep following the rhythm of your breath,

Taking as many resting breaks as you need.

It's like a heartbeat drives you mad in the stillness of a memory.

And what you had,

And what you lost Thunder only happens when it's raining Players only love you when they're playing Women,

They will come and they will go When the rain washes you clean,

You'll know And thunder only happens when it's raining Players only love you when they're playing They say women,

They will come and they will go So last time through,

And when you make it to child's pose,

I just want you to pause there.

We'll meet up in child's pose.

I will know,

You will know When you do make it to child's pose,

Just reconnecting with those sensations.

Stepping outside of that story line in the mind.

We can be a comfort Recognizing how your body is today as it is.

Inviting that in all aspects.

The aspects that might be tired and the aspects that might be a little shaky.

The aspects that feel really really strong and beautiful within yourselves.

And then that mucky-ucky stuff that we don't want to often look at.

But it's such an integral part of our healing and growth.

All of it.

Invite it all in.

Come as you are.

Nice,

So from this child's pose,

I want you to pull all the way forward to plank pose.

Stack some bones here.

Stack shoulders over top of wrists.

Have that nice line between shoulders,

Hips,

And heels.

And you might drop your knees here.

You might drop your knees.

As you're here in this plank pose,

I want you to give me one yogi push-up.

So lowering down,

Pressing to the top,

And then meeting me in downward facing dog.

So as you come up to the top of that push-up,

Piking the hips,

Tucking the toes if the knees were down,

Lengthening through the back side body.

Let's take the right leg up into the air,

Three-limb downward dog.

And as much as you lift that right leg,

And that right foot root down through your left heel.

Nice yogi.

So from here,

Warrior A.

Right foot steps all the way up between the palms.

You're going to turn and plant the back foot flat.

Big bend into your front knee.

But the left leg is lengthened.

The left leg is straight.

Hips and chest turn square as much as you can toward the front of the mat,

Arms reaching.

And then have this really soft gaze,

So that your gaze sort of opens up to everything in the room,

At least everything your peripheral vision can see.

So you're not directly gazing necessarily at one thing.

You're expansive.

You're expansive in your eyes and your gaze,

Or maybe the eyes just close.

A little bit of holding here,

But deep breathing,

Deep connection to the breath.

And then take this warrior A,

Guys.

Bring your chest halfway forward toward that right thigh,

And we're going to split the arms.

So I want you to take left arm and extend it out in front of you,

Right arm and extend it out and back.

Now,

Sometimes there's a tendency to turn your chin to the right,

But instead gaze straight out in front of you so everything kind of stays neutral in the center.

Nice.

And then from here,

Sky archer,

You're going to straighten the legs,

Turn your chest open to the left,

Draw your right arm up and over as you come to standing,

And lean toward your left foot.

Keep your right toes pointed toward the front of the mat.

And then just like we did in that side bend,

Yogis,

Think about lengthening first here.

So it's almost as if your right hand pulls toward the ceiling before that right hand pulls up and over top of your right ear.

Good.

Warrior B,

Bend into the right knee,

Open the arms like the hands just float out from the shoulders.

You can turn your chin toward your right fingertips or maybe it's your gaze.

But again,

Soften your gaze.

So if you're gazing over top of your right fingertips,

See the fingertips but also see the things around you just in this really soft way,

Making the expansiveness of this room available for your sweet little eyes.

And then into extended side angle,

Drop your right forearm down onto your right thigh,

Left arm stretches up and over.

There might be a block involved here,

An elbow to your thigh,

Maybe a hand to the floor.

Find your version,

Breathe deep.

And then second time here,

Skye Archer.

So I want you to straighten your right leg,

Left hand can come to your left thigh,

Right arm goes up and over.

Remember,

Length first and then lean.

Lengthen,

Then lean.

And this time from Skye Archer,

We're just going to turn it into a big strong T or X pose.

So arms open,

Right toes turn in,

The legs are already lengthened.

Open up the chest,

Open up the arms,

Maybe even stretch open the palms and the fingertips like you're taking up space.

Okay guys,

Bend the elbows,

Bring hands to your hips and then all together we're going to turn all 10 toes toward the back of your mat.

So maybe one set first and then the other and you'll want to step your back foot in just a little bit so that you shorten the stance.

So all 10 toes facing the back of the mat,

Lift your chin,

Open up your chest,

Try pulling your elbows backward like you could touch them behind your back so you create a little bit of a back bend.

And then Pyramid Pose,

Fold over top of that left thigh.

Now you can keep your hands to your hips as you go or you might drop your hands to the floor for stability.

Or you might drop your hands to that left ankle or maybe even your back calf.

That is absolutely something.

And then if the hands are up,

Bring them down,

Just drop them down.

Just while we're here guys,

Catch a revolved triangle.

Right hand stays down,

Left arm goes up so you're just peeling that left arm open for a moment.

So turning open to that left side.

And then bring the left hand down.

Now stay here,

Try this with me.

Bend into your back knee a little bit and see if you can pop up onto your right toe so your right heel comes off.

We're going to use that as a little springboard.

So feel the weight go into your right foot a little more than your left foot.

And then try pressing into Warrior C.

The hands might stay down and you just pick up your back foot and fly.

So picking up your back leg.

Again,

The fingertips could stay to the floor or you might put your arms out like little jet airplane wings.

I had all the kids doing jet airplane wings and sounds.

I am not a very good sound maker so I'm not going to imitate an airplane,

But maybe you do in your mind to take your practice a little less personally and a little more playful.

Guys,

Get curious about how your body can be in this posture.

Beautiful.

Give it one more full breath cycle.

And then step right foot up next to left,

Fold in toward yourself.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in.

Fold back in and breathe out.

From the bottom here,

Chair pose,

Wiggling or stepping the feet together.

Bend the knees,

Sink the hips and rise.

Arms reach up,

Chair pose.

Come on up to standing,

Drop the arms by your side.

You might bring the feet about hip distance apart if you feel like they're really close together.

And then from here,

We're going to head into tree pose with the left foot glued to the floor,

Guys,

Right foot moving.

So putting a little bend into your right knee and rotating it outward,

You might start and stay with right heel to your inner left ankle.

You also might start to move that right foot up along the inner side of your left leg,

Finding a placement for your hands.

You might go back to your hips like we did kind of with pyramid.

You might go outside of yourself,

Out to the side like airplane wings.

You might go up like branches.

Take a couple more breaths.

And then just step right foot next to left,

Drop the arms if they're lifted.

Give it a little shake out,

Guys.

Legs,

Hips,

Arms,

Shoulders,

Head,

Especially if you're kind of trapped in your mind.

Loosen it up.

Take a big inhale,

Stretch the arms out and up.

Reach for the ceiling and exhale,

Forward fold.

Reach toward your toes.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in.

Top of the push-up or plank pose,

Palms here,

Feet go back.

Lower through that push-up nice and slow.

Pull your heart through like cobra,

Like those sun salutation A's,

And then sink it back,

Child's pose.

Notice if you're already trying to check the boxes.

Little eraser today.

Erase,

Erase,

Erase.

Show up as you are.

Pull forward,

Top of the push-up,

Plank pose.

On toes or dropping the knees,

Try one yogi push-up here,

Lowering toward the bottom,

Pressing to the top,

And then meet me in down dog,

Piking the hips,

Dropping the head.

From down dog,

Send the left leg up into the air,

And as you lift the left foot,

Root down through your right heel.

Let's step the left foot forward,

Warrior A.

So left foot all the way up between the palms.

Keep length through that back leg,

Plant the back foot flat,

Big bend into your left knee and rise.

Stacking shoulders over top of hips.

In some way,

Maybe stacking hands over top of shoulders or finding a different version that calls to you.

You might be here with that soft gaze or maybe even eyes closed,

Turning to that inner drishti.

Beautiful yogis.

Come halfway forward with a chest.

Split the arms.

Right arm reaches out in front of you.

Left hand reaches back behind you.

So your chest is just hovering over that thigh.

You may try to get a little closer.

Make sure it's right hand out in front and left arm out in back.

And instead of turning over that left shoulder,

Just gaze down at the floor in front of you or close your eyes and just teeny-tiny lift your chin so you keep that length in the spine.

And we get a big lift.

Sky archer,

Press through the feet,

Lengthen the legs.

Chest turns open to the left as you draw left arm up and over top of the left ear.

Keep your left toes pointed to the left,

So the back side where we are.

You lean toward your right foot,

But remember lengthening first,

Building length along the left side,

Up through that left arm,

Through the left fingertips,

And then creating the lean.

Giving that left leg a little tiny break,

An opportunity to stretch and then right back into that bent left knee,

Guys.

Warrior B.

Keep the chest open and open the arms here.

And just like we stack in warrior A,

Just like we stack shoulders over top of hips,

See if you can get that same action here.

So sometimes there's a tendency to want to lean toward your left knee,

But instead pull yourself back a bit.

Stack shoulders over top of hips.

Keep breathing.

And then bring it down to that extended side angle,

Left forearm onto your left thigh,

That little platform,

Right arm reaching up and over,

So length along the right side body.

Maybe different variations that you choose here with elbow or with hand or maybe even with a bind.

Keep the chest open as you go.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

Stay and stick with it.

One more time,

All the way up to that sky archer,

Straightening out that left leg,

Left arm goes looping,

Sort of arcing over top of your left ear.

Stretch it out,

Stretch it out.

And then big strong T or that star pose,

That big ol' X with the body,

Arms stretching out,

Left toes turn in,

Legs are already lengthened,

You just take up space.

Bend the elbows,

Bring your hands to your hips,

Turn all 10 toes to the front of the mat now,

So to the right side.

You may have to step in with the back foot,

So stepping in with the left foot to kind of close that gap a little bit.

Lift your chin here,

Lift open through your chest,

Pull your shoulders back and then pull the elbows backward like they could meet behind you.

Forward fold,

Pyramid pose,

Chest coming over top of that right thigh,

And it might include dropping the hands downward toward your right toes.

If the hands are lifted at all,

Yogis,

Bring the hands down toward the floor.

We're going to go revolved triangle,

So left hand stays down and right arm goes high because our legs are pretty much there.

You might need some adjusting.

And then bringing the right hand down and a little bit of play here guys,

I want you to put a little bend into your left knee,

Pop up onto your left toes,

And feel yourself shift the weight a little into that back foot.

You can kind of feel it a little springboard.

And we're going to try to pop up into warrior C or a supported version of that.

So you kind of spring forward,

Weight goes into the right foot,

And you try picking up your back leg,

Picking up that left foot up off the floor.

Nice,

Your own version,

Your own variation.

Good,

Giving it a breath or two more,

And then stepping it up,

Left foot next to right,

Fold your chest over top of those thighs.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in together,

Let it go,

Fold back in.

Chair pose here,

Get the foundation of your feet,

That physical foundation,

And then meet up with the foundation of your breath,

The foundation of your practice.

When we start to make little boxes for ourselves to check,

When we do the if-when,

If-when,

If-when,

We are often holding other people to those expectations as well.

And so when we give and grant ourselves the freedom of showing up as we are,

We give other people permission to do the same.

It's this beautiful ripple effect.

Come to standing,

Drop the arms straight in the legs,

Maybe step the feet about hip distance apart.

From here is where we practice that tree pose,

That right foot glues itself,

It roots itself down into the floor,

Bend the left knee,

Swing it open,

Swing it up to the left,

And maybe place left heel onto your inner right ankle.

Maybe that's where you stay,

Propped up on those left toes or sliding the left foot along the inner side of that right leg,

And then finding a placement for your hands,

For your arms,

For your gaze.

Now whether your tree is sturdy or it's a really windy day in your tree world,

Guys,

Give it two more breaths.

And then just step left foot down,

Next to right,

Give it a shake,

Shake the knees and the shoulders and the hips,

The chest and the head,

Especially the head,

Give it a little shake.

Sweep the arms out and up,

So length through the body here,

Reaching fingertips toward the ceiling,

And then dive forward,

Dive over the thighs,

Fingertips toward your toes.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in,

Top of the push-up,

Plank pose,

Palms here and feet back.

Lower down through that push-up,

Slow,

Slow,

Slow,

Heart comes through,

Cobra,

Back bend,

Lift up,

Lift up.

And then child's pose,

Sink it back,

Hips toward your heels.

Beautiful breath today,

Yogis.

So we're going to keep this child's pose,

But we're going to add the aspect of threaded needle.

So I want you to pull up to hands and knees,

Left hand presses,

Right arm reaches,

So right arm reaching up,

Guys,

And then thread that arm underneath of the body,

Right hand behind the left wrist,

Right shoulder to the floor as it tucks under,

But then sink your hips back down,

Sink back toward your heels.

So it's not only threaded needle,

But it's child's pose as well.

You sink back,

Sink back.

So follow me here.

Start to lift the chest,

Press through the left palm,

Get the right arm out from underneath of you,

Pull up onto your knees,

Right fingertips stretching toward the ceiling,

And then do this,

Guys,

Right hand toward your right hip or lower back,

Half camel on the right side,

So pushing off of the left hand to prop up onto the knees,

Left arm lifts up and over as you lean into that right palm,

And if you need a deeper stretch,

You can always bring right hand to your heel or to the floor or to the crease of your knee.

And then use the core here,

Kind of lift up and come down,

Tabletop pose instead of that child's pose.

Take a couple of cat cows,

Just kind of unwind any sensation in your body.

If it's a little too intense,

Unwind,

Unwind,

And then we're just going to thread it through the other way,

So pressing through the right palm,

Left arm,

Left hand,

Left palm,

Left arm lifts.

You thread it underneath of the body,

Behind that right wrist,

Left shoulder comes down,

And then hips sink back like a child's pose.

Typically,

We keep them up high.

We use the weight of the chest to kind of press down,

But let it be a real restorative way of coming into that threaded needle.

And then let's try this again.

Let's try this again,

Guys.

Lift the chest a bit to press through the right palm,

Lift the hips off of the heels,

Left arm goes reaching,

It unwinds out from underneath of us,

And then you bring your left hand into your left hip or lower back on the left side.

Press off of your right hand half camel on the left,

So you prop up onto those knees,

Right arm goes up and over as you lean into that left hand,

And it might be on your hip,

Or it might sneak its way down toward your heel or some other variation.

And then same thing here,

Use the core,

Lift yourself up first and then tabletop land on those palms,

Take a couple of cat cows or that variation of kind of side to side circular motion.

Know that it doesn't have to be just this lifting of heart and curling in.

Nice,

Yogi,

And we're going to let it lead us into a seated position.

So eventually you'll get the legs underneath of you and out in front of you.

Extend the legs straight and try to bring your sit bones to the middle of the mat so you have space behind and space in front.

With those legs straight and together,

Go ahead and lift the arms all the way up into the air,

Fingertips stretching,

Forward fold fingertips toward your toes.

And then start to slowly roll your way up from this forward fold.

We're going to try one last little push here,

Yogi's reverse plank.

So as you get to the top,

Both hands go behind you.

We're going to try to keep your legs straight and together,

And you're going to press through the heels,

Press through your palms,

And then lift the backside of your body up off of the floor.

So lift your sit bones,

The backs of the legs,

Press your belly up,

Point your toes away from the body like you could reach them toward the floor.

You might drop your head back,

Open up the chest a bit.

Give it two more breaths.

I know it's challenging,

But after this we go all the way down.

Start to lower sit bones and spine down to the floor,

Down to your mat.

Come on down.

Draw the knees in toward your chest,

Give them a squeeze.

You might start to rock side to side to side,

Just let it be nourishing for your nervous system.

And the knees going to that right side.

Make a twist,

Open up the arms or take the arms up above the head.

And then bringing the knees through center to tip them all the way over to that left side.

.

.

.

Bring the knees back through center yogis.

Give them a tight squeeze and give them a really big hug.

And then start to release your body into Shavasana.

It might be legs straight or side or seated,

But it might be where we started.

It might be knees bent and kind of leaning together in that sustainable way.

Once you've arrived,

Take a really big breath in.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Take you onto your left side,

We'll just meet kind of curled up there on the left shoulder and left hip.

And then pressing your way all the way up to seated,

All the way up to a seated position toward the long edge of your mat,

Palms coming together in front of the heart.

Honoring yourself.

Honoring the people around you.

This beautiful practice that links us all together and sending love to all and everyone outside of this room.

Big breath in.

And out.

Namaste.