This is Malou,
Our beautiful little half-kelpie,
Half-katahoula,
And she might be joining me this morning or evening,
Whenever you're practicing.
We might start off with a little bit of breath to start off with.
So if you want to just find a comfortable seat,
I have a block but you probably won't need any props.
That's totally up to you whether you want to use some or not.
It'll be a fairly simple flow and we'll keep it nice and short.
So have a block,
Sit on a block just to keep your hips a little bit higher than your knees.
Shut down your eyes.
Allow the breath to become a little bit deeper Tune into your surroundings.
And listen to the sounds around you.
See if you can identify all the little particular sounds that are happening all around.
And then eventually starting to draw that focus back in.
Focus on your breath.
And just allowing one more deep inhale where you are.
Maybe opening the mouth,
Letting it out.
I'm blinking open the eyes.
We're going to start off in tabletop,
So if you want to bring your hands underneath your Knees underneath the hips,
Spread through your fingers so they're nice and spread.
You've got a nice base.
And we're just going to start with figure eights.
So whether you want to keep your toes tucked or tops of the feet on the mat,
Choice is yours.
And see if you can move the weight and shift it throughout,
Moving the weight around your fingers.
Your heels of the hands.
And move a couple of ways one way and a couple of ways the other way.
Eventually,
Let's find stillness in our tabletop.
Flick around the fingers so that they're pointing back towards the knees and just for a little bit of a wrist stretch maybe even act as a pendulum moving from left to right.
And if you'd like a little bit more,
Maybe tucking the chin in,
Lifting the spine to the ceiling.
And eventually finding stillness in the center,
Tucking the toes if not already and moving the hips back towards the heels.
So you'll find a nice stretch in the forearms.
And the wrists Eventually releasing,
Bring your hands back to face the front.
And we're going to take the right hand and cup the right ear using the elbow to draw little circles moving around.
Don't forget to breathe.
Change direction,
Going the other way.
Next time it's dipping down towards the floor,
Use your inhale to lift the arm and stretch it up towards the ceiling,
And then thread it through underneath the left arm as you exhale,
Drawing the right shoulder down,
Right ear.
Now you can choose to leave your left hand where it is to support you,
Otherwise straightening it,
Reaching for the front of the mat,
Coming onto the pads of the fingers.
Alternatively,
If you feel comfortable with the weight on the floor of your ear and shoulder,
Take your arm around the back into a half bind,
And you can tuck it into the thigh.
Right thigh and pause just breathe for two one,
Releasing the left hand down underneath the left shoulder.
Use your inhale to lift that right arm up towards the ceiling.
And then point it forward or reach it forward to the front of the room.
Kickstand your left leg,
Come onto the toes,
And then as you open the body,
Can you stretch your right leg towards the back of the mat,
Come onto the blade of the foot.
And open up,
Pushing the hips forward.
Use an inhale to maybe lift the right foot off the floor.
And then as you exhale,
Draw the top elbow to top knee to touch.
Inhale,
Stretch it.
Use your shift of weight to come with the right hand down.
Unkickstand the left foot,
Keeping the right leg kicked out to the back of the room.
Flex the toes to the pointing down and use an inhale to reach the left arm forward.
Exhale to draw the elbow to knee underneath the body.
Inhale,
Open.
And exhale,
Tuck it in.
One more time,
Inhale,
Open and stretch,
And then bend through the right knee,
Reach around with the left hand to grab your ankle.
And then opening out that left side,
Maybe gazing forward.
Hold for two.
Release the right foot and bring the left hand down.
We're going to step that right foot all the way up to the top of the mat and then toe heel it in so it's in between the hands.
Use an inhale to lift both hands to the ceiling.
And then find cactus as you exhale.
Bending through the arms.
Inhale,
Lift the arms to the ceiling.
And then straightening through the right leg,
We're going to find our half Hanuman.
Keep back foot tucked so that you've got a little bit of balance there.
Otherwise,
If you feel really open,
You can bring the top of the foot down and then lower the hips.
And pause just for two.
And one bend through that right knee we're going to take our left our right hand and bring it behind our left thigh tuck through the back toes and then lift the left arm to the ceiling opening up into a reverse twist maybe looking over your right shoulder Release the hands down,
Framing the right foot.
And step it back to your tabletop.
Just have a moment to create little circles with the shoulders around the wrists.
Again,
Just shifting that weight around.
And changing direction,
Going the other way.
Now I'm just going to switch sides so that I don't have you towards my back.
But we're going to move on to the left side.
So take your left hand and cup it around your left ear.
Elbow pointing down,
And then start to create those circles around.
Change direction going the other way And the next time it's pointing down,
An inhale lifts it up towards the ceiling,
Stretch.
And thread it through underneath the right arm as you exhale,
Drawing the left ear down,
Left shoulder.
Choose what you want to do with the right hand.
Please see if you can mirror or follow through what you did with the other side,
So that they're the same,
Staying for two.
One,
Releasing the right hand underneath the shoulder.
Inhale,
Lift that left arm to the ceiling.
And as you exhale reach it forward towards the front of the room.
I'm going to kickstand the right leg and reach the left leg back.
Still keep it connected to the floor as you open up the hips.
And then using an inhale to lift that left foot off the floor.
And then exhale to bring the top elbow to knee.
Inhale,
Open up.
Exhale,
Drop the left hand down and kickstand the right leg.
The left leg is still lifted.
Use an inhale to reach the right arm forward.
And allow the elbow to touch underneath with the knee.
Inhale,
Reach.
And once more,
Touch underneath.
Last time reach.
And then we're bending through that left knee,
Reaching around,
Grabbing the ankle.
And opening up the chest.
Hold for two.
Hold for one and gently release.
Bring the right hand down.
We're stepping the left foot all the way to the top of the mat.
Toe heel it in.
Use an inhale to lift both arms.
Andhra Niyasana.
And as you exhale,
Cactus.
Inhale,
Reach.
And half Hahnemann straightening through the left leg.
Hello little girl.
Keep your left toes flexed and hold for two.
Hold for one.
And then bending through that left knee.
Hopefully you don't have a dog in the way.
That left hand is going to come behind the right thigh.
Tuck that through the back toes and lift the right arm up towards the ceiling.
Find your reverse Twisted reverse.
Hold for two.
One and windmill the hands back down to frame that left foot.
Step the left foot back and this time I'm going to keep the toes tucked,
Lift the knees off the floor and find your plank.
So maybe adjusting the feet,
Making sure that they're about hip width apart,
Pushing through the mat,
And maybe protracting through the shoulders.
Hold.
I'm going to invite you to do some scapular push-ups.
Your knees may need to come down.
It might be early,
It might be late.
Dumping through the shoulders,
Keeping the arms lengthened and straight.
Push back up through the arms so we're pushing the spine up towards the ceiling.
Now if you want a little bit of a challenge,
Tuck through the toes and lift the knees off the floor and repeat the same thing,
Dumping through the shoulders and then pushing all the way up.
Complete five in your own time.
Making sure you're continuing to breathe.
So that's three for me.
And once you've completed your five,
Allowing the knees to come wide to the edges of the mat,
Untucking the toes,
Bringing the tops of the feet down and stretching through the arms.
Align the forehead to rest,
Finding child's pose,
Balasana.
I'm going to hold here just for three breaths.
Hold for two.
And run.
And then making our child's pose a little bit more active,
Lifting the elbows off the floor.
Let's stretch forward as far as we can.
And eventually coming onto the pads of the fingers walk the hands over to the right hand side maybe coming off the mat Option 2,
Interlace the left on top of the right and see if you can lower yourself down,
Making sure that left hip doesn't rise.
Release the interlace,
Walking the hands back through center,
Over to the left hand side.
Again,
An interlace is welcome.
And eventually walking the hands back to center releasing the elbows down to the floor keep them hip width apart or shoulder width apart bring the palms to meet and then slowly draw them behind the head and lowering the forehead to the floor.
This is a really nice shoulder stretch.
I'm just pausing here just for three to.
.
.
One,
Releasing the hands down to the floor,
Coming to your tabletop.
We're going to make it nice and easy,
Dropping the hips down to the floor and swinging yourself around.
And then eventually lying down onto your back,
Draw the knees into the chest,
Give yourself a hug.
I'd like to invite my students to,
If you are there and you can get your knees in,
Maybe draw your shoulders off the floor,
Give me a kiss.
Release the knees,
Lower the shoulders,
Open them out,
And then draw your arms through your knees,
Grabbing the blades of the feet.
Happy Baby.
I had to keep it a little bit heavy.
And releasing the blades of defeat.
Feet down to the floor,
Keep the knees bent 90 degrees.
Take the feet out to the edges of the mat,
Arms down at shoulder height,
Palms facing down.
And then just move the knees from left to right.
So imagine you're windshield wipering them.
Cleaning the windshield.
Next time they are on your right.
Allow them to rest.
And as we find our twist here on the ground,
You can choose to have a bit more by taking the right ankle on top of the left knee.
Keeping the right toes flexed and maybe even turning the head to the left hand side.
Make sure both shoulders are connected to the floor.
You're just holding for three.
For two.
And one move your head first come back to center and then release the ankle of the knee take the knees over to the left hand side and again maybe taking the left ankle on top of the right knee left toes flexed maybe turning the head to the right hand side Start with moving the head back to center,
Release the ankle off the knee,
Bring the knees back to center.
Now this is a short practice,
So I'm gonna give you the option to finish off here.
See you later if you are.
If you're staying with me just a little bit longer,
Can you bring the soles of the feet together,
Opening up the knees,
Bring your right hand to lower belly,
Left hand to your heart center,
Allowing the elbows to rest on the floor,
Keep the eyes closed and just breathe.
That's a really nice way to end a practice.
Feeling into the body and feeling that life force underneath your hands.
And because the palms are facing down,
We are feeding that life force back into ourselves.
I might leave you here to end the practice.
Feel free to end it as you are,
Press that stop button.
Otherwise allow a pause.
And give yourself this time to rest,
Maybe for a few more minutes in your shavasana.
And once you're done,
We're going to close off the practice in a seat.
So pause it if you'd like a little bit more time And continue playing if you'd like to end it here.
We're going to slowly bring our hands up towards the ceiling,
Just give the fingers a bit of a shake.
Wrist a little bit of a twirl.
Bring the knees into the center,
Take them over to one side.
Draw yourself slowly up to a seat,
Facing the front.
I liked saying that,
But you're facing the camera I suppose,
Or the screen.
Come and find a seat.
Allow the palms to meet and bring them into the heart center.
And as you're sitting tall,
Allowing the breath to flow all the way from the top of the head,
The crown.
Down through the spine to the base.
Let's take a deep breath in together through the nose.
Long breath out through the mouth The lightning may cease.
It honors.
And respects.
The very same lighted season each and every one of you.
Especially you.
Namaste.
