Life As It Is

This is a Michigan style slow flow pratice that begins on the back. We will work into the body slowly and gradually deepen the breath and postures : warming-up, Sun Salutation A, standing/holding postures, floor stretching, savasana. The theme today is inspired by a Wayne Dyer quote... "Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be."

Transcript

All right,

Since we're all in the back this morning,

Let's begin on the back.

You might untangle some things,

Fingers,

Hands,

Legs,

Belly back,

And just kind of relax as much as your body allows.

And then take that familiar deep breath all the way in,

Breathe it in through the nose and sigh it out of the mouth.

So there's a quote that I wanted to begin class with today and it's by one of my favorite authors,

Wayne Dyer.

And he says this,

He says,

Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is rather than as you think it should be.

And I'll read that one more time just to let it sink in a little.

It says,

Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is rather than as you think it should be.

This quote is not only applicable to our lives but also to our yoga practice,

To our bodies,

To the way that we show up in the world.

That we have to have somewhat of a letting go of expectations so that we can embrace or be okay with things as they are.

And so the best way to practice this is meditation.

Is the practice of mindfulness,

Observing things non-judgmentally as they show up in every moment.

And although we'll practice this laying down meditation for a few moments,

Guys,

I want you to recognize,

I want you to know that your yoga practice,

This hour long practice that you do is absolutely a practice of meditation,

A practice of mindfulness.

So you are getting a bigger dose than you think.

But let's start here on the back,

Things comfy cozy as they need to be.

And then just start noticing.

Start noticing the breath.

Notice the body.

Notice the temperature of the room.

Notice the taste on your tongue.

Maybe there's a particular smell in the air.

Notice what you hear.

And in all of that noticing,

Also notice if there's a tendency to automatically judge what you hear or see or feel.

And instead come back to just that,

Come back to hearing,

Seeing,

Smelling,

Feeling.

And if it's too difficult to do that outside of just noticing the breath,

Come back to just noticing the breath.

Just a few more moments trying to sit in that place of equanimity,

Of finding peace regardless of how things are on the outside.

And then take another deep breath in yogis.

Draw it in through the nose.

Let it go out of the mouth.

Go ahead and start to tug the knees one by one in toward your chest.

Go ahead and give them a squeeze.

You might start to sway side to side because often in the beginning of our day and the early morning,

Our backs and our hips and our shoulders could be tight.

So getting a little movement to bring some circulation into those areas,

A little pressure.

Right left,

Right left.

And then we're going to rock forward back,

Yogis,

Forward back,

And so you can rock all the way onto your belly.

So as you rock upward,

You might stop in that seated position for a moment,

But then eventually rock all the way forward where the legs go back behind you and the belly lowers down toward the floor.

So your head will be toward the top of the mat,

Toes toward the back of the mat,

Laying yourself down and just take a resting breath there.

So it might be head to the back sides of the hands,

Or maybe the arms go by your side and the cheek just turns down toward the floor.

How many times do we show up in our day or show up in our lives or even show up in our practice with a sure knowledge of how we think things should be?

And then when they don't go that way,

We are like a roller coaster of emotion,

A roller coaster of emotion.

And so the practice today,

Yogis,

Finding that calm,

Finding peace,

Choosing peace over and over again.

From this belly position,

Sliding up into Sphinx Pose,

Sliding up onto forearms,

Elbows and palms,

Tucking the shoulders,

Or tucking rather the elbows underneath of the shoulders so you get this little lift of the chest.

And then all together,

Guys,

Draw your chin toward your chest,

Just kind of let your head hang forward.

And then gently roll right ear toward your right shoulder,

Stretch out that left side.

Softly bring your chin back toward your chest.

Pull the left ear over toward the left shoulder now.

Bring chin toward chest first,

So just so you're in the middle part,

Guys,

And then draw your head up to neutral.

Take two more breaths here,

Just in this lift.

Maybe you can concentrate on opening the chest a little more or pulling the shoulders back.

And then rest all the way down to the floor.

Bring the chest,

Lower the head,

Take a resting breath.

And then start to tuck your hands underneath of your shoulders,

Maybe even a little back toward your chest.

And we're going to press down through the palms.

Listen,

Guys,

Bring the elbows back toward your ribs,

So let your elbows point backward instead of out to the side.

And then press through the palms and start to lift the chest,

But keep a bend in the elbows here at first.

So if your tendency is to always lengthen and straighten the arms,

Try this lift with elbows bent,

Like a little baby cobra.

Good,

And then lower all the way back down.

See if you can touch the forehead to the floor.

And then pop up again,

Press through the palms,

Elbows keep pointing backwards,

Lift the heart,

Lift the chin,

And then lower all the way back down.

And just try these little lifts,

Guys.

Every time you lift,

Maybe you lift a little bit higher,

You're pointing your toes behind you,

You're lifting up into a cobra-like posture.

So you're getting this back bend,

But also a chest and heart opener.

And as you're here,

You might notice the breath getting deeper,

And there might be this opportunity to start to move with the breath,

So that as you're lifting your heart,

You're taking an inhale,

And then as you're lowering down,

Maybe touching the forehead to the floor,

That can be your exhale.

Please.

Just try to two to three more times,

So two to three more lifts.

I know it can get exhausting pretty quickly here when we're working in the upper portion of the body.

And on that second or third time,

Whichever feels right to you,

I want you to pause at the top and really press through the palms.

Now this is a good opportunity to lengthen through the arms,

If that's your posture,

To kind of straighten the arms in cobra.

Do that here.

Send the breath into the lower back.

Nice,

Guys.

And then press all the way back to child's pose.

So sinking hips toward your heels,

Come all the way back.

Lower the chest.

Maybe again,

Your forehead touches the floor,

Palms extending out in front of you.

And if it feels good,

Guys,

And your forehead is down on the floor,

You might sort of roll the head side to side like a little frontal cortex massage,

A little massage on the front part of your head.

Notice the breath here.

Let it be that one thing that tethers you back to that place of peace,

Of noticing the moment as it is over and over again.

And start to pull up hands and knees,

And we're going to just catch a threaded needle here before our sun salutation A.

So pressing through your left palm,

I want you to extend your right arm and hand up toward the ceiling.

Just get a big lift.

And then listen,

Guys,

Before we actually thread,

We're going to take a couple of fake threads.

So I want you to start to weave this right arm underneath of your body,

And you can actually touch the right shoulder to the floor as you weave it through.

But then I want you to pull back up.

So lift the chest and reach your right arm back up toward the ceiling.

And do that two more times.

So weaving the right arm underneath of your body,

Right shoulder toward the floor,

And then reaching it back up into the air.

You're threading the arm through.

You lift it up for that last time.

So lift it,

Lift it,

Lift it,

And then bring it into a threaded needle for real,

Right hand behind that left wrist,

Kind of tucking the arm underneath of the body,

Right shoulder lowers down.

And start to press through the left palm to lift.

You'll lift the chest,

Make enough space to lift the right arm up into the air,

And then just get a couple of wrist circles while you're there,

Guys.

So moving the wrist around in different directions.

We use them a lot during our yoga practice.

And then bringing right hand down next to left,

Just tabletop pose.

Let's change sides.

So left arm lifts,

Left fingertips reaching up toward the ceiling.

Keep this length as you start to tuck left arm underneath of the body.

You reach the right fingertips to the left and then touch your left shoulder down,

But come right back up,

Guys.

So we have a couple of these sweeps.

You bring it down,

Lower down.

Nice.

Reach up,

Reach up,

Reach up,

And you get that one more time.

So you tuck underneath of the body.

It's sort of a fake threaded needle.

You get that last lift,

Really opening up the heart and chest,

And then weave it on through.

Left hand behind right wrist,

Arm extends underneath of the body as the left shoulder comes down.

Rest the head.

And then your breath here.

Beautiful yogis.

Right palm presses.

Left arm starts to unwind from underneath of the body up into the air.

Stretch the left fingertips up and then get a couple of circles with that left wrist.

One direction and then the other,

Just loosening it up.

Beautiful.

And then bring left hand down next to right.

Keep the neutral spine for a moment as you reconnect with your breath.

I want you to listen and feel for your own inhale and exhale,

Because that's the rhythm I want you to take and use for your cat-cows.

You have to know the rhythm first.

You have to sort of hear the music,

Right,

And then dance to that music.

On the inhale,

Lift the chin,

Lift the tailbone,

Drop the belly.

On the exhale,

Round through the spine,

Tuck chin and tailbone under,

Cat pose.

Do it again.

Inhale,

Expand through the heart,

Lift the chin,

Gaze up if your eyes are open,

Or just lifting and then rounding and tucking chin and tailbone under.

A few more times like this.

And add the rhythm of your own breath.

Beautiful work,

Yogis.

So two more times through these cat-cows,

And then I just want you to sink back for a moment into child's pose.

So you'll sink hips back,

Back,

Back toward your heels.

Lower the chest.

Extend the arms.

Lower the head.

We build the breath,

And then we build our sun-salutation A's.

Let's pull forward from here,

Guys,

All the way into plank pose.

So think about lengthening the body here,

Tucking the toes if you can.

Get long through the spine,

So long through the entire body from head to hips to heels,

And then take that length and bring it into downward-facing dog.

Lift the hips and drop the head.

There might be some adjusting in feet or fingers.

And then rise up onto tippy toes and take a little walk all the way up to the top of your mat.

Slide halfway up,

Breathe in.

Fold back in and exhale.

We're going to take a little twist here at the bottom in our sun A's today,

So I want you to put a bend into your left knee.

Keep your left hand down onto the ground and reach your right arm straight up into the air,

Just like you did with that threaded needle,

Like opening up your chest.

And then bring your right hand down,

Bend into your right knee,

Change sides.

Left arm goes up.

Nice.

Left hand comes down,

You're back into that forward fold.

Let's start to roll and rise up to standing.

A little bend in the knee if you need it.

Stretching the arms wide and tall,

You're going to touch the palms above the head.

Touch them together and bring them down to your heart and finish out that exhale,

Guys,

By dropping the arms by your side.

Palms turn forward.

On an inhale,

Go ahead and reach up,

Up,

Up.

And on an exhale,

Forward fold,

Fingertips come down toward your toes.

Beautiful.

Halfway lift,

Breathe in.

We'll go into that plank pose,

So that upper push-up position,

Palms here and feet back.

Pause for a moment and then sink it back into child's pose,

Guys.

Knees go down,

Hips toward heels.

And then just like we did before,

Pull forward again to plank pose.

Pull all the way forward from that child's pose.

Then we're going to lower down through the push-up.

So bending the elbows,

Lower down.

Pull your heart through and it might be that sphinx or it might be cobra like we practiced at the beginning of class.

And then I want you to go into your downward facing dog.

So tucking the toes,

Lifting the hips,

Dropping the head.

So just a few modifications to our sun salutation A's today.

I want you to rise up onto tippy toes,

Take that walk step or a hop all the way up to the top of your mat.

Halfway lift once you get there,

Breathe in and then fold back in and exhale.

Put a little bend into your left knee.

Left hand stays down,

Right arm goes high.

Try to straighten out your right leg as much as you can.

And then bring your right hand down,

Change sides.

Bend into your right knee,

Left arm goes up,

Left leg goes straight.

Good,

Left hand comes down and then you're going to ride the wave of your breath.

Inhale,

Draw yourself up to standing,

Sweep the arms wide and tall.

Touch the palms together,

Bring them down in front of your heart on the exhale but finish that exhale with arms dropping by your side.

On the inhale,

Reach up fingertips towards ceiling.

On the exhale,

Fingertips toward your toes.

A little different here guys.

Take a halfway lift,

Breathe in,

Top of the push-up so your palms go down and step back.

Now if you want to throw in an extra push-up actually,

You can do that.

Otherwise knees drop down,

Sink your hips toward your heels.

Child's pose.

Child's pose begins and ends this unsalutation A.

When you're ready,

Plank pose,

Top of the push-up.

This time you lower down to sweep through.

So you might lower all the way or just halfway.

Bring it through to cobra or sphinx or up dog and then downward facing dog.

You can give it a breath or two.

And then when you're ready,

Rising up onto toes,

Getting yourself to the top of the mat once more.

Halfway lift and fold in.

Two twists here at the bottom guys.

Left knee bends,

Right arm reaches.

Right hand comes down,

Left arm lifts,

Right knee bends.

The left hand comes down and then it's a slow roll all the way up to standing.

You'll sweep the arms,

Touch the palms.

Bring it down to your heart and then open the arms,

Drop them by your side.

On an inhale,

Reach and extend upward,

Full length of your body,

Taking up space and then forward fold,

Dive over top of the thighs.

Take a halfway lift,

Top of the push-up.

So your exhale is stepping back and maybe taking a push-up.

Otherwise you stay for the inhale and exhale as child's pose.

And you'll stay here as long as you need to.

Sometimes we need to stay longer on different days.

When you're ready,

You'll pull forward,

Back into that plank pose and actually take a vinyasa that leads you to downward facing dog.

When you move through these sun salutation A's a few more times,

Moving to the rhythm of your breath,

Find your own cadence.

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath in,

Breath out.

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath out.

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath out.

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath out.

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath out.

Beautiful movement,

Yogis.

Just a little bit longer here in our sun salutation A's.

And getting connected presently with that breath.

Take it back a little bit more,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe out.

You are blue Why do I feel so blue?

Tell me babe I need to know What we have is it sure I need to know what's on your mind Is this for real or something else?

To keep your thoughts on yourself I need to know what's on your mind What do you love me like you say?

You are blue I know I feel so blue If you love me like you say You are blue Then why do I feel so blue?

If you love me baby Why am I lonely baby?

I am only black from me And if you want me babe I call you every day You can give it all I believe it If you love me like you say You are blue Why do I feel so blue?

So blue I just need to know what's on your mind I feel so blue Why do I feel so blue?

Just giving it a couple of breaths with chest resting toward the floor.

Notice your heart beat.

Notice any kind of dewiness of the skin.

Notice the nature of the mind.

It's a very chaotic,

Monkey mind and so you might just notice that it's hopping around from thought to thought but know that you don't have to adhere.

You don't have to grip onto any of those thoughts.

It can just be this observation of the thoughts like it's an observation of the breath.

Like it's a noticing of the body.

In the same way we can just notice the thoughts.

We don't have to become them.

Give it one more full breath here.

And then pull up.

Guys,

Tabletop Pose and meet me in Downward Facing Dog.

So pulling up to tabletop,

Tucking the toes,

Lifting the hips.

We're just going to send our right leg.

Send your right leg up into the air for Three Limb Downward Dog.

And I want you to draw right knee toward your right elbow.

Give it a squeeze and shift your weight forward as you do.

Beautiful guys.

Send the right leg up into the air.

We're going to do that same thing with your nose.

So coming through the midline of the body,

Squeeze.

Send it up into the air and then one time cross the body.

Right knee toward your left elbow.

Maybe even touch or maybe come really close.

Send the left leg or right leg up into the air and then step the right foot forward.

Just come into regular Warrior A.

So pivoting and planting the back foot.

You're just going to rise nice and strong.

So trying to keep your hips as square as you can toward the front of the room and that might take a little bit of finagling with your back foot.

Sometimes again we have this expectation of what we think it should look like.

But it's so much more about how it feels.

So notice the body.

Notice what needs to be adjusted in order for you to sink down into the edgiest part of this posture.

Beautiful work yogis.

Stability and strength and focus.

That focus we call Drishti,

Your gazing point.

Not only out in front of you but internally as well.

What are you focusing on?

Where is your attention?

Let's turn open Warrior B.

So turning the chest to the left,

Opening arms front to back.

Keeping that bend into the front knee although sometimes we have to kind of shimmy or shift that front foot to make sense of opening up the hips.

Listen guys,

Before we move into the next posture,

Keep holding this.

I just want to talk it out.

We're going to move from this Warrior B toward a ninja toward the back of the mat.

Now if your body doesn't come into ninja very easily,

I want you to really slow it down and instead just take a lunge toward your left foot.

But let's try it.

So essentially you're going to straighten the right leg.

You might even turn the right toes in and then start to bend into your left knee.

You could absolutely drop left hip toward your left heel or just put some weight into that left side so your hands could even prop up onto that left thigh.

We give this right leg a break.

It's been kind of bent for a while now we're stretching it out.

Beautiful variations.

And then here's the good one guys.

Press back up to Warrior B toward the front foot toward that right foot.

Turn the right toes out,

Bend into the right knee,

Spread up and open through the arms.

So lifting the fingertips at least as high as your shoulders.

Bring it down to extended side angles.

So dropping the right forearm down onto the right thigh,

Lifting the left arm up and over.

Try to get extension here so that the left fingertips reach toward the front of the room so it really lengthens the left side of the body.

So listen,

From this extended side angle we're going to go revolved triangle.

I want you to bring your hand,

Your left hand or maybe both hands down toward your right foot.

Step in with your back foot and straighten the legs.

You're going to keep your left hand down and reach your right hand up.

So it's like taking your triangle and twisting it and often when we do that our stance has to be a little shorter,

A little closer together.

Beautiful guys.

And then just bring it into pyramid pose by dropping the right hand and folding over that front leg.

Now we're going to try from here to open to regular triangle pose but it's going to take some adjustment guys.

So you're down on the floor,

Shimmy that left foot back a bit and start to turn open to the left.

Right hand stays low,

Left arm goes high.

Low doesn't always have to mean down to the floor.

It doesn't have to be down toward your foot.

It can move up toward your shin.

As you're here,

I want you to tuck your left arm around your lower back,

Press through the feet,

Sky archer,

Lift on up with straight legs.

You're going to lift up to standing and draw your right arm up and over top of your ear.

Now listen carefully yogis.

We're going to take the next breath in and when you exhale you're going to bring the hands down toward the back of your mat to come into plank pose.

So take your inhale and as you exhale,

Hands cartwheel down,

All 10 toes turn toward the back of the mat,

The hands come down and you're going to step to the top of a push-up.

So it means stepping back.

You're there at the top of the push-up.

Take a breath.

And then just like your sun a come down into child's pose first,

Drop the knees,

Sink the hips toward your heels.

Good guys.

And then pull forward top of the push-up once more,

Plank pose on the palms.

Lower down through your push-up all the way or maybe just halfway pull through into cobra or some version of heart opening back bending and then downward facing dog.

Tuck the toes,

Lift the hips.

So we're facing the back of the mat.

I want you to lift your left leg up into the air.

Come on into three-limb downward dog.

And from there we just kind of get a little bit of belly work here guys.

Left knee to left elbow,

Give a squeeze,

Shift the weight forward.

Take the left leg,

Stretch it high up into the air.

Knee comes in toward your nose straight through the midline of the body.

Good.

Left leg goes up into the air and then left knee crosses toward that right elbow.

Give a squeeze.

Beautiful.

Stretch the left leg up into the air and then step the left foot forward.

It's warrior A here first.

So left foot up in between the palms.

Plant the back foot flat as you rise.

Hips squared toward the back side of your mat.

Nice.

Arms reaching.

Have this continuous willingness to choose breath,

To choose breath,

To choose breath,

To choose now.

You can get so wrapped up in expectations of moving beyond the moment that you're in.

We're thinking about other things.

It's what happens when we're looking for our phone and it's in our own hands.

It's what happens when our mind is totally saturated in other things instead of this moment.

Be here.

Let's start to turn open warrior B.

So chest opens to the right,

Arms open front to back.

Now that little bit of instruction,

Guys,

Before we go,

We're going to move from this warrior B toward Skandasana toward the back foot.

So we're moving into ninja toward the right foot.

And again,

If ninja isn't in your practice,

Move into a lunge.

You'll straighten the left leg,

Maybe turn the left toes in and start to bend into the right knee.

So weight shifts more into that right foot than left foot.

You could absolutely start sinking right hip down toward your right heel and play with that structure a bit.

Or maybe it's hands to right thigh to just use that support for your weight.

And then here is using the strength of the legs,

Guys.

Press back up warrior B toward your left foot.

Press through that right foot,

Turn the left toes out,

Bend the left knee and open up the arms.

Beautiful.

And then let's come down extended side angle.

So the platform for it is already there.

The left knee is already bent.

Bring the left forearm down onto the left thigh.

Reach and extend those right fingertips so you get extension through the right side of the body.

And then moving from here into revolved triangle,

Hands can come down.

You're going to step in with the back foot and try straightening both legs.

Your right hand will stay down and your left hand starts to peel your chest open to the left.

So left fingertips up toward the ceiling,

Which opens up your chest.

Think about lengthening through the spine here.

Sometimes we automatically want to collapse in toward ourselves,

But think length through the spine.

Maybe that means using a block.

And then catching a little pyramid pose by bringing the left hand down and just folding over top of that left thigh.

Just fold in.

And then let's make a little adjustment,

Guys,

To open triangle pose,

Regular triangle pose.

That means right foot might have to step back.

It may have to shimmy back a bit.

Left hand will stay low.

Right arm reaches high,

So your chest starts to turn open to that right side.

Length through the spine here as well.

Length through the legs and length through the arms as the right hand pulls away from the left hand.

And then right arm's going to loop around the lower back,

Press through the feet to rise up,

Sky archer.

So you're coming up to standing and leaning a bit toward the right foot.

Left arm goes up and over top.

And even as you're here,

You can kind of feel the energy pulling you toward the front of the mat.

Don't you move?

Don't move quite yet,

But just feel that.

And then we're going to take an inhale,

Guys,

And when you exhale,

The hands are going to cartwheel down toward the front of the mat and we're going to go into plank pose.

So let the inhale come.

When the exhale comes,

It's all the way at the top of the mat,

So the front of the mat.

Hands come down around that right foot.

Right foot steps back to meet left.

You're lowering down into child's pose from that first plank.

So you'll just drop your knees,

Drop the chest,

Drop the head.

And then last time into plank pose.

So you're pulling up top of the push-up.

Press through the palms and if you can,

Tuck the toes.

And if you need a little extra support,

Stay on the knees.

But be willing to pause here for a moment.

Don't collapse quite yet.

Don't come down quite yet.

And then listen,

Guys,

It's a slow and soft lowering down all the way or maybe halfway.

You're going to pull your heart through into cobra or up dog or sphinx.

Good.

And then take it into downward facing dog.

You'll tuck the toes and lift the hips.

Get a big backside stretch of the body.

Beautiful breath work here.

And then all I want you to do is start walking the fingertips toward the toes.

So it's a backward walk all the way to the back of the mat.

Slide halfway up.

Breathe in.

And then fold back in and exhale.

Nice,

Guys.

Wiggle the feet a little closer together.

Go ahead and bend the knees,

Sink the hips and come on up for chair pose.

So lifting the chest away from the thighs,

Extend the arms.

See if you can sink the hips just a teeny tiny bit lower.

Keep the weight into the heels.

You might even try picking up all ten toes and finding a little bit of balance there.

And then keeping your arms lifted,

Come to standing so that when you come to standing,

Arms and hands are stretching upward.

Step the feet about hip distance apart.

And then go ahead and bring the hands behind the lower back.

Interlace the fingers.

Give a tug down of the hands.

Lengthen the arms.

Open up the chest.

Lift the chin.

And then on an exhale,

Forward fold,

Keeping those fingertips bound as much as you can.

Let the head drop.

Give it one more breath with fingertips interlaced or fingers interlaced.

And then go ahead and drop the hands downward toward the floor.

Nice,

Yogis.

Put a bend into that left knee.

Left hand is going to stay down and twist open just like you had in that sun salutation A.

Right arm,

Right fingertips reaching up toward the ceiling.

And then let's change sides.

Right hand comes down,

Right knee bends,

Left arm goes up.

So you can try straightening out that left leg.

And then left hand comes down.

Just let the arms hang for a moment.

Let it be that neutral position in this forward fold.

And then start to walk hands away from feet,

Guys,

Into downward facing dog.

So don't go all the way through to plank.

Instead,

Stop when the hips are high and you get that nice V.

And then rise up onto tibby toes.

Let the knees drop down to the floor,

Child's pose.

Let the knees come down underneath of the hips.

The hips go back toward the heels.

And then pull up hands and knees,

Tabletop pose.

We're going to get another threaded needle,

But a little different variation this time,

Guys.

Start the same way.

Press through the left palm,

Reach your right arm up into the air,

So big stretch.

And then take that arm underneath of the body just like you would.

Left hand behind that right wrist,

Right shoulder,

Right hand behind the left wrist,

Right shoulder to the floor.

And then once you are here,

Try extending your left leg back behind you.

So getting that left leg straight,

But tuck your toes.

Now if some of you want to practice balancing and lift the left toes up off of the floor,

You could do that as well.

Otherwise,

If you need stability and support,

Guys,

Left toes tuck.

Give it a couple of breaths here.

And then if those left toes are lifted,

Bring them down,

But keep that left leg extended.

We're going to unwind just like this.

So press through the left palm,

Lift up the heart,

Lift the chest away from the floor so the right arm goes up and you come into this twist.

So you're unwinding from thread and needle into almost a low twisted lunge on the knee.

And then bring right hand down,

Left knee next to right.

Catch a couple of cat cows here,

Guys,

Between sides.

So lifting the chin and tailbone,

Rounding through the spine,

Tucking chin and tailbone under.

Beautiful.

And then bringing yourself to a neutral spine to press through the right palm.

Left arm lifts,

Left fingertips go up and then they go under,

Threading the needle.

So left hand behind the right wrist,

Left shoulder tucks to the floor.

And then once you're there,

Maybe extending the right leg back behind you.

You could keep the toes tucked or you could practice a little bit of balancing by lifting the right toes up off of the floor.

Now if the right toes are lifted,

Yogis,

Set them down,

Tuck them against the floor so you can press through your right palm and unwind.

Lift up the chest enough so you can lift the left arm out from underneath of you,

Up toward the ceiling.

Big twist here.

Beautiful breath work.

Left hand comes down,

Right knee next to left.

Once more,

Just a couple of cat cows here loosening up through the back,

Getting any last lingering tension toward the spine.

So this is what we've had a few times through.

We're just going to let it lead us into seated.

So moving into a seated position.

Instead of taking the legs straight out in front of you,

Get them straight guys,

But take them really wide.

So think wide V with the legs.

Nice.

Now before we forward fold,

We're going to get a side bend first.

So I want you to take your right hand and sort of slide it down your right thigh toward your knee toward your shin,

Maybe toward your ankle and lift your left arm up and over top.

Keeping the chest nice and open toward the front of the room.

So don't let it collapse.

And slowly come back through center,

Changing sides.

Drop the left hand now down on the left thigh.

Start to slide it away from the midline of your body toward your left toes,

Right arm goes up and over.

Beautiful yogis come back through center,

Take both arms,

Stretch them up into the air,

Take a big inhale and then exhale forward fold.

Let the hands drop toward your mat,

Tuck your chin in,

Fold.

And then starting to slowly roll the upper body to the top.

And then from here guys,

Bend the knees and just crisscross your ankles.

So just come into that crisscross applesauce or easy pose.

Both hands go behind you onto the floor and I want you to press in to your palms.

So press into your palms,

Lift your heart open like a backbend,

Lift your chin.

Some of you might be able to draw your hips up off of the floor and press through your knees to get a little gap.

Sometimes it doesn't feel so good.

So just depending on how your body feels,

It might just be this really subtle backbend leaning into the palms.

Give it one more breath where you are.

And then lowering the hips if they're lifted and then bringing yourself to neutral guys.

We're going to go all the way down onto the back.

So you may untangle the legs first out in front of you.

You might scoot the hips forward to lower back and then draw the knees in toward your chest.

Give them a nice tight squeeze.

Just like at the beginning of class,

You might get a little rock side to side if that feels nourishing.

And then go ahead and let the knees drop over to that right side.

And it might be this really simple twist of just knee to knee.

But if you have some other things in mind,

If you need to kind of weave the thighs together or extend a leg,

If there's something that you need other than this simple twist,

You are always welcome to take it.

Otherwise,

As the knees turn right,

Maybe the chin turns left and the heart stays open.

And then bringing these through center yogis,

Tip them over to the left side.

Bring the knees back through center.

Get one more good squeeze and like it's a reset for your entire body.

And then extend the legs,

Drop them to the floor,

Extend the arms,

Drop them to the floor.

Prep yourself guys,

Take a really big inhale,

Draw it in full breath.

Let it go.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Shavasana.

Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is rather than as you think it should be.

Take these next few moments,

These next few breaths to just be with the moment as it is.

To be with your breath as it is,

To be with your body as it is,

To be with your emotions as they are.

And then just really slowly,

Go ahead and take the thumb of each hand and just slide them gently across each finger and back again,

Just creating a little sensation there in the hand.

Give a little wiggle to the toes,

Wake them up.

And let's slide arms up over top of the head and lengthen through the legs,

Just finding that stretch top to bottom,

Bottom to top.

And then drawing these in toward your chest once more.

If you need that side to side of rock again,

You can take it,

But otherwise rocking a few times forward,

Back,

Forward,

Back,

And just meeting me at the top of the mat seated with palms together in front of your heart.

Meditation becomes the training ground for mindfulness.

This practice that you do of yoga,

Of becoming aware of the moment over and over again is the training ground for doing it more outside of these doors.

May you be successful at that.

Take a big,

Nourishing breath in and out.

Namaste.