Input = Outlook = Behavior

This is a Michigan style slow flow. We begin the flow on the back and after a few warm-up stretches make our way to Sun Salutation A. The middle of the practice is holding bigger postures : chair, warriors, etc. Then we make our way down again ending in savasana on the back. The focus of today's class is what we put in/allow in most often changes our outlook/intention and in turn changes our behavior. What are we allowing in? Join me as we flow slow, breathe deep and rest easy.

Transcript

So today for practice we're going to start on the back and just kind of lay yourself down so as long as it feels okay,

Legs extended and arms dropped by the side,

We'll bend the knees in a little bit here so you want to have those legs nice and long.

And as we often do,

It's almost like that little familiar piece of your yoga class.

Go ahead and take a nice deep inhale through the nose and sigh it out of the mouth.

So today for class I just wanted to talk a little bit about this idea that input changes outlook,

Changes behavior.

And so I was thinking of the best way to describe this because sometimes,

At least for me,

I know I work better when I visualize something.

So I want you to think of having the most magnificent oiled machine that runs on gasoline.

And this machine could do anything.

It could scrub your floors,

It could do your dishes,

Whatever machine you want to envision.

But imagine that it runs on gas and it just so happens that the gas in the tank isn't very clear.

It has some sediment,

It's really old,

And so you find that your machine isn't running quite well.

Maybe it's malfunctioning or maybe it's just not running top notch.

And so you recognize this and you start adding pure gasoline into the tank.

You start to add good gasoline into the tank.

So it starts to replace that bad gasoline and eventually as the gas burns off,

It's only good gasoline in there.

You've used up all the other stuff and before you know it,

Your machine starts to run again just as it did before.

It starts to do all the things that it was supposed to do.

It starts to do them in a really good and efficient way.

And this happens to our own bodies.

It happens in our own life that what we put in changes us.

It changes our outlook and our outlook changes our behavior.

And so sometimes it is just the fuel that we put into our mouths sometimes.

But we are getting information from everywhere.

We are getting information from the things that we see and watch and from the things that we hear and smell and the things that touch our skin.

All of this is sending information into our bodies.

So I want you to just pause here at the beginning of class and assess what's going in.

Because what comes in often dictates what goes out.

And as we practice,

We'll try to put quote unquote good things in.

We'll try to put positive things in.

Worthiness and kindness,

Enoughness,

Lovingness.

We'll try to infuse the practice with all of those things.

But know that you also have to play a part in your own mind.

With the conversation,

With the storyline that you speak in your mind.

That can be input.

Start again,

Yogis,

With a deep,

Deep inhale.

And just sigh it out.

We're not going to move much.

I just want you to bend the knees and slide the soles of the feet together.

Let the knees tip outward so it becomes reclined bound angle pose.

You can rest your hands beside you or onto your belly anywhere.

Really that feels good.

And then start to play with the breath here a bit,

Drawing that inhale and exhale in and out of the nose.

And know that too sends information to your body.

When we start to breathe in and out of the nose,

It helps us to calm down.

It helps our nervous system to find and choose that peacefulness.

It says we are safe.

We are here.

And then soles of the feet turn down into the floor as the knees come together.

And just take that little counter pose of feet walking really wide and knees tipping close together just for three breaths here.

You can kind of toe heel the feet a little closer together.

Let's give the knees a squeeze.

And so tugging the thighs in toward belly,

Give it a nice,

Tight squeeze.

And then just for a moment,

We're going to take the legs straight up into the air.

So coming into that legs up the wall pose.

You might play around with the toes here.

Anytime they're kind of freed up,

It's a good place to move them and kind of wiggle them around,

Especially at the beginning of practice,

Just kind of working into those ankles.

You might hear some cracking and popping.

Then draw the knees back in toward your chest.

And we're just going to go right into a soft twist here.

So arms can open or maybe little cactus arms and then knees going to the right side.

And as the knees turn right,

You might keep your head neutral,

But it might feel good to turn the chin over toward that left shoulder.

And then bringing the knees back through center,

Go ahead and tip them over to the left side.

Good.

And then come back through center and just give those knees a squeeze in.

And as you squeeze them in,

You might kind of circle the knees or even sway them side to side just to get that massage on the lower back,

Kind of prepping it,

Giving it a little bit of warmth.

It's like that sensation when someone takes their hand on your back and just gives it a quick little rub and you're like,

Oh,

That's nice.

That feels good.

That's warm.

And then bring it back to neutral guys.

We're going to rock back and forth,

But pause a moment because we're going to rock a little bit different than we usually do.

So I want you to start to create a little rock here,

Forward,

Back,

Forward,

Back.

But then I want you to rock all the way up to seated and draw the soles of the feet together,

Knees tipping apart,

Just like you were on your back.

But then rock back again,

Rock right onto the shoulders and then rock up again.

You come up to that seated position,

Soles of the feet together,

Knees wide,

And you just keep doing this.

A little rock back,

A little rock forward.

And when you go back,

You might almost make it similar to a plow pose.

But a good way to do that is arms up over the head and it stops you from crunching in on yourself.

So rocking back onto the shoulders,

Rocking up to seated takes a little momentum.

Rocking back onto the shoulders,

Rocking up to seated.

Nice.

Good.

A few more times.

Put a little play in your practice today.

I know our adult minds say this is too childish.

I know.

But it is so good for our bodies not only to do movements that we don't always do,

Right,

But to also put that little play in our practice for sure.

The next time that you come up to seated and the soles of the feet are together,

Go ahead and just fold,

Bow over top of those feet.

Hands might come to ankles or toes.

And then as you slowly start to roll yourself up from that forward fold,

We're going to catch a little backbend.

We're going to catch a little reverse table.

So I want you to plant both hands behind you.

Fingertips might be in toward your glutes,

Turned in,

Or maybe turned out,

Just depending on your shoulders.

Feet press down into the floor.

Knees point up and then you lift the hips up.

You lift the glutes up off of the floor and try to make a nice table with the chest,

The belly,

And the thighs.

You could dip your head back,

But just being cautious of the neck,

Make sure that you keep breathing.

Good,

Yogis.

Try two more breaths and before you come out of this,

I just want you to know where you're headed.

We're going to go from this reverse table into a low yoga squat at the front of your mat.

So your sit bones might not even touch down.

It's almost like a little crab walk of fingers toward feet and you shift the weight into the feet and the hips stay low.

And before you know it,

You're in that low yoga squat.

Toes might turn out here and you could absolutely be only on your toes.

You could be flat foot if that feels better.

You could use a block,

But we're just here for a couple of breaths.

Left hand is going to stay down here onto the floor.

Right arm going up into the air.

Let's create a twist.

And if you can,

Make a little contact between that left arm and left thigh,

Like you're kind of peeling it open a little bit.

Okay,

So we're just going to change sides.

So right hand comes down inside of the right foot and thigh.

Left arm lifts up toward the ceiling.

Again,

Maybe making some contact so that you're pressing right arm against right thigh and pulling it open.

And then as your left hand comes down,

Make it a forward fold.

Just start to lift the hips and drop the head.

Toes will turn forward.

You can kind of wiggle it out if you need to.

A little sway,

A little bend of one knee and then the other.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

In the center,

Take a halfway lift.

Breathe in and then fold in and exhale.

Let's take a slow roll all the way up to standing.

So when you're rolling up,

I want you to stretch really wide first.

Get your arms pulling away from one another and then stretch really tall,

Fingertips pulling away from your toes.

Go ahead and draw the palms together and slide them down that midline of your body.

We're going to pass down through the face,

The neck,

The heart,

The solar plexus,

The belly button and drop the arms by your side.

Now this first time,

I just want you to take a shrug.

Go ahead and pull shoulders up toward your ears,

Squeeze and then roll them down your back.

Good.

On the inhale,

Reach fingertips up again.

So lengthen the body and on the exhale,

Forward fold,

Bring the fingertips down low.

Take a halfway lift at the bottom.

Breathe in.

Come to the top of a push-up.

So that plank pose,

Palms here and feet back instead of taking a vinyasa or a push-up,

Yogis were just going child's pose.

Knees come down,

Hips toward heels.

Just soaking it up.

We'll just take child's pose this first time,

But noting in your mind that it's always available.

Let's pull up hands and knees.

And when you get to hands and knees,

Just take a couple of cat cows here.

Just a couple of cat cows that lead you into down dog.

You'll lift chin and tailbone,

Stretch the belly down toward the floor and then round through the spine.

Tuck chin and tailbone under.

Few times that helps to kind of loosen things up before you tuck your toes and lift the hips and make that upside down V with the body.

And as we start to exert the physical body more,

There might be this little control of the breath in and out of the nose,

But also slight constriction at the back of the throat.

Rise up onto tippy toes and then take a little walk,

Guys,

Into that low yoga squat.

So think about walking hands,

Or rather feet around your hands,

Sinking your hips,

Bending the knees.

When you get there,

Left hand is going to stay planted on the floor.

Right arm reaches up,

Right fingertips drawing up toward the ceiling.

And then right hand comes down and you repeat that step on the left side,

Left arm reaching.

Good,

When the left hand comes down,

Forward fold,

Let the chest fall over the thighs as the legs straighten.

Turn the toes forward and take a halfway lift.

Breathe in,

Fold in,

Let it go.

Good,

Roll your way up to standing.

Remember,

Stretch wide first,

Get the arms way out to the side and then way up toward the ceiling.

Touch the palms together and draw that line down the center of your body until you can drop the arms by your side.

On the inhale,

Reach up again,

Fingertips toward the ceiling.

On the exhale,

Forward fold.

So you're diving over top of those legs.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in.

Top of the push-up plank pose,

Palms and toes,

Or maybe it's palms and knees,

And then you're going to lower down through that push-up with elbows close to the ribs.

Come on down,

Catch a sphinx or maybe a cobra here from the bottom.

Nice yogis,

And then downward facing dog instead of that child's pose.

But again,

Child's pose is always available throughout the entirety of our practice,

So if you need to take it,

Take it.

You'll give it a couple of breaths in downward dog.

And then we'll go again.

So rising up onto tibitos,

You'll walk or step or maybe even hop around those hands.

Low yoga squat at the front of your mat.

Left hand goes down,

Take a twist to the right.

Right arm draws up,

Maybe even a little bit toward the back of the room,

And then right hand comes down,

Change sides.

Beautiful.

Left hand comes down,

Forward fold.

Lift the hips,

Drop the head.

Halfway lift when you're ready.

Hold it back in.

Roll your way all the way up to standing.

Sweep wide and then tall.

Take up a lot of space.

Draw the hands together and then draw the line down your body until arms drop by your side.

On the inhale,

Reach up,

Feet to fingertips,

Really,

Really reach,

And then fingertips to feet,

Forward fold,

Hinge at the hips.

Take a halfway lift and then we vinyasa.

So plank pose,

Lowering down,

Lowering down,

Lowering down.

Heart comes through,

Softness through the back.

Sphinx cobra,

Up dog,

And then downward facing dog from there.

Nice yogis.

And then same thing,

You'll give it a breath,

You'll give it two breaths,

Just depending on what your body needs this morning.

Maybe you need a little more movement than stillness and we start to trust that.

You'll rise up onto tibitos,

Take a little walk,

Step hop,

Low yoga squat is where it starts at the top of the mat.

To twist,

You'll open right and open left,

And eventually a forward fold.

We start to move at the rhythm of the breath.

We'll take it a few more times through on your own.

Eventually a half lift,

Fold in and rise to standing.

You touch the palms,

Draw the line down the center of your body,

Arms drop by your side,

And then you reach up again to fold.

Half lift and vinyasa.

A few more times.

We'll take it a few more times through on your own.

So every little thought is a good to you,

Can't do all the things that I can do on my own,

Can't do all the things that I can't do on my own.

And I had to lie awake with the sheets soaking wet And the friend turned me on into the mirror I'ma hear from you Cool my eyes out I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I slide someone to the nerve of the edgy dog Got a six inch body to the middle of my soul And I had to lie awake with the sheets soaking wet And the friend turned me on into the mirror I'ma hear from you Cool my eyes out I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire I'm on fire Beautiful work,

Yogis.

So we're going to meet in a standing forward fold at the top of the mat.

And so you might come into that from that low yoga squad or maybe from this sweep out and up.

You might come into it from downward dog.

Up,

You might come into it from downward dog,

Just stepping or hopping forward,

But just let the head and the hands hang maybe a little bend into the knees as you go.

So we have that little metaphor of good gas,

Bad gas,

And machinery.

And sometimes we get into situations like that where the machine isn't working great and we just keep putting this kind of poor fuel in there,

Like really old and sediment filled and we don't realize we're doing it.

We just keep doing the same thing and we get the same results.

So our yoga practice helps us to kind of open our eyes and see what we're pouring in.

Not only from the outside world but also within ourselves.

What kind of self-talk do we have playing all of the time?

What kind of storyline are we tapping into all of the time?

This is our yoga practice.

This is our listening practice.

From this forward fold,

I want you to take a halfway lift.

Breathe in,

Fold back in,

Exhale,

And we're going to come into chair pose from here.

So feet might wiggle a little closer together underneath of you.

Bend the knees,

Sink the hips like you're sitting back into that invisible chair.

Let's get arms reach up,

Biceps by your ears,

Unless there's a different variation that you'd like to take this morning.

A couple of breaths here.

And then give me a little half chair guys,

Ardha Utkatasana,

Halfway forward reaching the arms back behind you.

Now it's like skiing down a hill,

Right?

We might pop up onto the toes.

If your thighs are close together,

You may even squeeze the thighs together.

A little bit of activation.

And then come all the way up to standing.

Extend the legs,

Reach the arms,

And separate the feet about hip distance so you have a nice foundation there.

Go ahead and forward fold fingertips toward your toes,

Nice.

So I want you to take a halfway lift,

But don't fold back in guys.

Halfway lift,

And we're going to step the left foot all the way to the back of the mat,

Coming into a lunge.

So right knee will bend,

Left foot goes back,

Drop your left knee onto the floor,

And then come on up supported crescent.

So you're in this lunge and the arms start to reach,

Chest lifts.

You could just reach fingertips up toward the ceiling.

You might make cactus arms to pull the chest open.

You could certainly bring hands to hips,

Or even bind hands behind the back.

Take a version,

Stick with it,

Stay with it,

Breathe.

Give it one more inhale here.

Also guys,

On the exhale,

Bring the hands down around that right foot.

I want you to tuck your back toes under and pull your left knee up off of the mat.

We're going to walk to the left for a wide leg standing forward fold.

So just walk the hands to the left,

Turn the right toes in and the left toes turn out.

Drop the head right there in between the legs.

Nice,

Facing the long side of your mat now.

You're just hanging the head and the hands and the heart down low.

And take a halfway lift,

Breathe in.

We're going to walk it to the back of the mat guys for a low twisted lunge or dragonfly twist.

So as we walk the hands to the back,

Bend into your left knee,

Turn all 10 toes around so you're swiveling onto those back toes,

And then left arm goes up into the air.

The right hand stays down for support.

Beautiful breathwork yogis.

Half splits,

Left hand to the floor,

Right knee drops.

Left leg will straighten out as you fold over top,

Your right hip sort of pulls back toward your right heel.

Before we move out of this half splits,

Just putting it in the mind guys,

We're headed for warrior C,

Which is a balancing posture.

You can use your hands as much or as little as you need to.

We're going to start to read them the left knee and walk the hands forward.

And then you're going to use the back toes,

The back leg to kind of kick off and balance up into the air.

So you might come all the way up where only your left foot is touching and your chest and that right thigh is sort of hovering parallel to the floor.

Maybe the fingertips come down and they're like little baby kick stands at the bottom to help you stay where you are.

Give it two to three more breaths,

Even if you're just trying,

Even if it's a bunch of falling over and then beginning again,

Isn't that life?

Falling over and beginning again.

And if we can do it here,

We can do it out there.

Forward fold,

Step your right foot up next to left,

Head down toward your knees,

Just fold in toward yourself.

Maybe a little sway if you need it,

A little right left knee bending sway.

And then come through center guys,

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in,

Fold back in,

Exhale.

We have chair pose here at the back side of the mat.

So you might wiggle your feet together.

Come on up with a big bend into the knee,

Hips sinking,

Arms reaching.

And then a little halfway forward reaching back,

Ardha Utkatasana.

Like you're skiing down a slope.

And if we were skiing down a slope,

We couldn't tuck our head in because we kind of have to see forward,

We have to see where we're going.

So find length through the spine all the way up through the top of the head instead of folding in.

Beautiful yogis all the way up to standing,

Arms reach,

Legs lengthen,

And then just separate the feet about hip distance so that we can fold with stability.

So fingers come down toward your toes,

Hinge at the hips.

When you get to the bottom,

Take a halfway lift and pause there because we're stepping the right foot all the way back behind you.

Bend into your left knee,

Drop your right knee to the floor,

Supported crescent.

Arms reaching up so you're in this lunge and you're pressing that right hip flexor down and forward.

That version with your arms that suits your body today,

Right?

Maybe stretching straight up or maybe bending the elbows or finding stability on the hips or the thigh.

And give it one more inhale here.

On an exhale,

Hands come down around that left foot,

Tuck your back toes and pull the right knee up off of the floor.

We're walking into a wide leg forward fold,

So you have to walk your hands to the right,

Turn the right toes out and the left toes in.

Good,

Your head drops in between the legs,

We're sort of facing that long edge of the mat.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in.

Start walking to the front of the mat,

Low twisted lunge,

All 10 toes turn,

Bend into the right knee,

Swivel onto your left toes.

Left hand will stay in contact with the floor,

Right fingertips lifting up toward the ceiling so the chest turns open to the right side of the room.

Half splits,

Right hand comes down,

Left knee touches down,

Right leg straightens and you fold over top of that right leg.

Before we move out of this posture,

Just reminding yourself we're going into that balancing pose of warrior C.

Maybe even take a deeper breath in,

Like okay,

We've got this.

And then starting to re-bend your right knee,

Walk the hands forward,

Kick off of your back toes,

Give it a little push off the back side of your mat and come into that warrior C.

Balancing,

It's like airplane,

It's like a little airplane in the air but with your right foot in contact with the floor.

Beautiful guys,

Give it a good go.

Give it three more deep breaths.

Beautiful variations.

And then step it into that forward fold,

Left foot next to right head comes down toward the knees,

Toward the shins.

Get a little sway here first,

A little side to side sway.

Good,

And then come through center halfway,

Lift,

Breathe in.

This time stepping to the top of a push up or stepping back to plank pose.

Hold yourself strong there.

You might even drop the knees.

And then we're going to lower down through that push up.

Pull your heart through cobra or up dog or maybe sinking lower to swings.

And then downward facing dog.

So head and tuck the toes,

Lift the hips.

Nice work,

Yogis.

Notice the sensations in your body.

Notice that mental chatter and maybe what you're willing and not willing to pay attention to.

You're willing and not willing to believe.

See if we can keep pouring pure and wonderful gasoline fuel into our bodies.

Right leg lifts up into the air.

Give it a good stretch into three limb downward dog.

You might bend,

Wiggle,

Sway like we often do.

That right foot's in the air so the right foot might move around for a moment.

We can use movement to deepen our stretch but we can also use movement as a distraction.

So choosing to move it out of deepening the practice.

Right foot steps all the way up between the palms,

Warrior A.

Here as you pivot and plant the back foot,

Big bend into your right knee.

Get a nice big lift.

This moment of holding steady.

Making contact with both feet on the floor.

And pressing down through what some people call all four corners of both feet.

And then turning open to warrior B.

Our chest will turn open to the left,

Arms open front to back.

Sometimes there's that little adjustment in the feet as you go from hips forward to hips open.

Final focus,

Yogis.

From here,

Sky archer,

Just straighten out that right leg.

Draw the right arm up and over top of that right ear.

Find a landing spot for that left hand or arm around the back to the thigh to the wrist.

Just the stretching out so we can keep the length and come down,

Triangle pose.

So right hand starts to drift down toward your right foot.

Left arm lifting up into the air.

You get this nice extension from right fingertips to left fingertips.

So long,

Long arms.

And then as you're here in this triangle pose,

I want you to take your left arm and reach it up and over top of your left ear.

So toward the front of the room.

Just get nice and long.

You want to keep that left arm long.

So sometimes we want to bend it or do funky things,

But keep it long.

Make your actively stretching toward the front of the room.

And then guys,

We're going to take this left hand and bring it down inside of your right foot.

Turn the chest and hips.

Step in with the back foot.

We're going revolved triangle now.

So right arm goes up into the air.

So you take that big step in with the back foot.

You might even have to track your feet a little wider apart side to side in order to get that twist.

Nice.

Yes,

Blocks are such a great useful tool in this posture.

Beautiful breath work.

From here,

I want you to bring your right hand and your left knee down onto the floor.

So right hand,

Left knee.

We're going to go three-limb table,

Guys.

That means right leg that's in the front is going back behind you.

So you're pressing through palms,

Left knee,

And then that right leg extends back.

And I just want you to lift the right toes as high as you can for a moment.

Just lift them up away from the floor.

And then we're going to bring right knee next to left and sink into child's pose.

Just a sweet little sinking back of hips toward heels.

Take a big breath in and just sigh it out.

In this child's pose,

Pull forward into plank.

Go ahead and lengthen the entire body.

Tuck the toes.

If that's available,

Press through the palms,

Shoulders over wrists.

And instead of taking a vinyasa or a push-up,

Unless you absolutely need a push-up,

Guys,

Downward facing dog,

Just lift the hips and drop the head.

Let's send the left leg up into the air for three-limb downward dog.

Bend,

Wiggle,

Sway.

All of the things that you might need to do in order to get this stretch open and big.

And then stepping the left foot all the way up between the palms,

Warrior A,

You're going to plant that back foot flat.

Big bend into the left knee.

So you're rooting down through the feet as you lift up through the heart,

As you lift up through the hands.

And you might even get a little lift in the chin here.

It's kind of our proud peacock pose where we are just so open in that front body.

And making that turn open,

Warrior B,

Turn the chest to the right.

Draw the arms apart front to back.

You keep that bend into the left knee.

You may have to wiggle your left toes a little bit to find the alignment in your own body.

See if you can turn your chin toward your left fingertips.

Take it down to a point where it gets that little bit of edginess.

Sometimes we can't really see what we're putting into the tank until you sort of rip the blindfold off,

Right?

And sometimes getting deep into the postures that we take is just that.

From here,

Sky archer.

Give that left leg a break by straightening it out.

Left arm goes up and over.

So you're leaning toward your back foot,

Toward the right foot.

We're just going to use this length to come into triangle pose.

So think left hand toward your left foot,

Right arm reaching high.

These are just directions.

You keep the left toes pointed forward and you start to lower down.

Chest nice and open.

And then as you're here in this triangle pose,

I want you to take that top hand,

The right hand,

And lift it up and over top of your right ear so you're reaching the right fingertips toward the front of the room,

Kind of getting a little length on that right side.

Beautiful.

And then we're going to take this right hand and bring it down to the floor inside of that left foot.

Step in with the back foot as the hips and chest square and then left arm goes lifting for revolved triangle.

You're twisting your triangle open.

Nice.

And then slowly bring that left hand down and right knee to the floor.

We're headed into that three limb table.

So as the right knee comes down,

You're going to take the left foot that's in front and kick it back behind you.

Extend through your left leg,

Left toes pulling up off of the floor,

Pulling up as high as you can.

Keep pressing through the palms,

Trying not to bend the elbows.

Keep pressing,

Pressing,

And then left knee next to right,

Guys,

Child's pose.

Go ahead and sink it back.

From this child's pose,

Just pulling up,

Tabletop pose.

So hands and knees position.

We're just going to prep for threaded needle,

So left palm pressing,

Right arm extends up,

Right fingertips straight up toward the ceiling,

And then you're going to make space,

Guys.

Weave the right arm underneath of the body behind that left wrist,

Bringing the right shoulder down to the floor.

Good,

The left palm presses,

Right arm unwinds,

So you lift the chest.

Get the right arm up into the air.

When you get there,

Just take a big circle each direction.

So kind of swing it around like the hand of a clock one way and then the other,

A little loosening of that right shoulder.

And once you have one circle both ways,

Guys,

Right hand comes down and you're just going to change sides.

So left arm goes up,

Peel the fingertips up toward the ceiling,

And then threaded underneath of the body behind that right wrist,

Lower your left shoulder down,

Down,

Down to the floor.

And then starting to unwind,

Right palm pressing.

It's your contact with the floor,

Lift the heart,

Lift the left hand,

Get it up there into the air,

Two big circles,

One way and then the other.

Nice.

And then slowly just bringing left hand down next to right.

And when you get to that tabletop pose,

Yogis,

Take a couple of cat cows here,

Loosen everything up,

Just like we did in the beginning of class,

We used those cat cows to get into our first down dog and we'll use these cat cows to come into seated.

So after you've had them a few times,

You may crisscross ankles and roll over the legs or sweep them out to the side,

But you'll eventually make it to a seated position.

And we're going to take legs straight out in front of you this time.

Sit tall here at first,

You could just drop your arms by your side,

Feel your shoulders roll down your back.

Strength through belly and back as we sit tall.

On the next inhale,

Reach the fingertips upward,

Reach them toward the ceiling.

And then the exhale forward fold fingertips toward the toes,

Toward the toes.

And then start to slowly roll up from the knees.

From this forward fold and we're just going to revisit tabletop pose.

So both hands go behind you,

They plan into the floor,

Bend into the knees,

Feet down into the floor,

Hip distance apart,

And start to get that lift,

Get a little lift,

Belly pressing up,

Up,

Up toward the ceiling,

Head can drop back.

Take a couple of breaths,

Really stretch the shoulders here by puffing up,

Kind of opening,

Feeling open the chest.

Nice,

Yogis.

And then slowly,

Slowly bringing the sit bones down and as you touch down,

Go ahead and lower all the way to the spine,

All the way onto the back.

Draw the knees in toward the chest,

Give them a sweet squeeze.

Little bitty rocks side to side,

Little right,

Little left,

Little right,

Little left.

And this time we'll use those rocks to rock right into a twist.

So after you've had a couple of rocks side to side,

You can toss open the arms,

Just let them rest by the side and then let the knees fall over to the right.

And then drawing the knees through center,

If you want a couple of rocks to get to that other side,

You can take that or otherwise bringing them through center and letting them tip over to the left side.

And then starting to bring the knees back through center.

We get a nice tight squeeze there.

Nice tight squeeze,

Wrapping the arms around the shins or around the ankles,

Wherever you can grab to hug tightly.

But then loosen up that grip,

So create some space between thighs and belly so we can take a really big breath in.

So all together guys,

Big,

Big inhale.

Let it go.

And then just start to lengthen the body onto the mat.

Legs extend,

Arms drop by the side,

Finding that sustainable place to be here.

Companion.

You You You You You You You Our practice of yoga becomes a really great place to ask ourselves What we are fueling our machine with What are we putting into our system in all?

Kinds of ways not just the food that you eat but the things that you watch and The conversations that you hear the conversations that you take part in What comes in our input Often changes our outlook or our intentions and most certainly changes and dictates our actions our behavior I want you to just Slowly slowly guys blink open and close with the fists Just like you would blink open and close with the eyes like closing The fists in tight and then opening them up and you could certainly do that with your eyes you could certainly kind of close them tight and softly open And take that movement down to the feet down to the toes a little squeezing in and releasing squeezing and releasing And then Drawing the arms out to the side and legs out to the side as well almost like you're making an axe or like Part of a snow angel getting really wide here first And then that little pencil pose top to bottom length So arms up over top of the head and then toes down legs together Draw the knees in toward the chest give them a sweet squeeze You can rock side to side and I just want you to rock onto your right side And then press all the way up to seated palms coming together in front of the heart Do anything that you need to do with the eyes or the head or the hands that helps you to Create a symbolism for honoring your practice honoring yourself We honor self we fill our own cup so that it overflow it to the people in the room send them love and honor to And then maybe even out into the world And then maybe even out into the world One more deep nourishing breath in together breathe in and out Namaste