Welcome to this short seated practice.
This is a stay low floor flow where we won't leave the ground very much.
In this short seated practice,
We'll move your spine through the six degrees of freedom and we'll stretch most of the lower half of the body.
This is perfect for you on days where you're feeling low on energy or if you're in active recovery and taking a break from a more intensive practice.
That's in a comfortable seated position.
As you exhale,
Relax the shoulders down.
And as you inhale,
Grow the back of your head all the way up to the sky.
Keeping this length through the whole of the seven chakras in your spine.
We're going to begin by drawing some small circles with your spine.
And we'll do about five of these in each direction.
Feel free to start with small circles,
Then start to move your shoulders,
Your wrists,
Your elbows,
And the whole of your spine.
When you've come to five,
Change the direction of the circling movement.
I like to breathe in to come up and breathe out to lean forward.
See if this breathing pattern works for you.
And when you come to five on each round,
Gently and slowly,
Let's settle back into the center.
As you inhale,
We'll sweep the palms all the way up to the sky.
As you exhale,
Spiral and let your right hand come towards your left knee and your left hand come behind you.
Press down through your left finger pads to find lift through the spine as you breathe in.
And as you exhale,
Let your heart spiral open as you look beyond your left shoulder.
We'll stay here breathing in and out for three.
To One.
Now slowly and gently,
Keeping everything the same,
Let your gaze look forward.
Your right hand is still on your left thigh and your left hand is behind you.
Now we'll cross your left hand over to the opposite thigh,
Your right thigh.
The first option is to bend both elbows to give yourself a hug,
A squeeze.
The second option is to begin to.
.
.
Move the spine left and right,
Creating a little bit of a slinky movement.
And the last option is to come into Garudasana,
Eagle arms.
You might let the elbows touch and start to move the back of the arms towards each other.
You might even let the palms touch if that is possible and accessible for you.
And lift the elbows so it comes right in front of your chest at the height of your collarbones.
Finding some lift as you breathe in and finding some softness as you breathe out.
We'll stay here for three.
Two.
One.
Now with the next breath in,
Inhale,
Lift your elbows slightly higher.
So you come a little bit into a back bend in this position.
As you breathe out,
Round the spine and draw your belly in.
Let's try this two more rounds.
Breath in to find a lift.
And breath out to find some rounding,
Some spaciousness in the back.
One last round like this,
Breath in and up.
And breath out and in.
With the next breath,
Slowly and gently when you finish that last round,
We come to the starting position.
We move the hands apart and we slide them open.
Imagine you're spreading your eagle arm wings.
Turn your palms face up.
Spread every single one of those feathers and reach your arms back to shine your heart forward.
And as you exhale,
Let the palms gently release.
Let's try the other side.
Breath in,
Arms sweep up.
Breath out,
Turn towards your right side.
Your left hand finds your right thigh or knee and your right hand,
The finger pads come right behind you.
As you press through the right finger pads,
Find a lift through your spine.
And as you exhale,
Look beyond your right shoulder,
Spiraling your heart open,
Letting your heart unravel.
We'll stay here for three.
Two.
And one.
Now keeping everything the same,
Letting your gaze trail forward.
Will now reach y'all.
Right hand which was behind you and cross it to the opposite side,
The opposite knee.
The first option is to come back into that hug.
The second option is to come back into that slinky sideways movement.
And the last option,
If it feels good for you,
Is to come into Eagle Arms.
Now on the other side.
You might stay with simply your left elbow below and your right elbow on top.
And all you might bring the forearms closer to each other,
Even let the palms touch if that is accessible for you.
And on this side,
Same thing,
We're going to lift the elbow so it's slightly in front of the chest area.
And you lengthen the spine as you breathe in.
And relax the shoulders down as you breathe out.
We'll stay here for three.
Two.
One.
Now with the next breath in,
Inhale,
Let your chest,
Your heart shine as you lift it up.
As you breathe out,
You round the spine and draw the belly in.
A rebreath in,
You find a lift.
Spaciousness through the front of your body.
Every breath out,
You feel the back of your body expand.
Let's try this one last round at your own pace.
Your own time.
When you come to the end of that last round,
We come back to the starting position.
Flutter your wings.
Unravel them as you let the wings spread apart.
Turn your palms face up.
Reach them as far back as it is accessible for you and take a deep breath in.
As you breathe out,
Let everything wash away.
Good.
Now from here,
We're going to reach sideways.
Press down through your finger pads on both hands and begin to lift your right hand all the way up to the sky.
Start to slink your left fingertips away from you while anchoring down through your right sit bone.
And feel that spaciousness all through your right waist,
Hip,
Intercostal muscles,
Your underarms,
Your arm,
Your wrist,
And even the fingers of your right hand.
Staying here for three.
To One.
Now with this hand,
Wiggle it out.
We're going to reach in front of you.
Imagine you're touching the surface of a lake.
We're going to trace that surface of a lake with your right hand all the way to the opposite side.
And breathe in.
Both hands sweep up.
Breathe out both hands.
Float down.
Let's try the other side.
Press down through the finger pads.
Breathe in.
Find length.
And inch towards the right side as you let your right hand reach up.
And the other fingertips come to the side.
We'll stay here,
Breathing in and out,
Creating spaciousness through the whole left side of your body.
As you anchor down through your left hip,
The side of your waist,
The intercostal muscles,
The underarm,
And the side of your arm,
Your wrist,
Your palm.
See if you can breathe more through the left side of your body.
One more full breath in.
And out.
Nice.
Now with this hand that's in the sky,
We're going to reach in front of you.
And the same thing,
We're going to trace horizontally across.
And when you come to the end,
Breath in,
Both palms reach up.
Both palms come down.
Nice.
Now we're going to come into an all false position.
Turn sideways so you come into an all-force position and let your hands come right underneath your shoulders and your knees come right underneath your hips.
As you breathe in,
Arch the spine and look up towards the sky stretching the belly.
As you breathe out around the spine,
Looking towards your belly button to create spaciousness in the back of your body.
Let's keep going for the next.
Four more rounds.
And you might be moving faster or slower than me.
Follow your own pace,
Your own rhythm.
When you come to the end of that last round,
We'll reach your left knee up towards the sky,
Keeping the knee bent.
Round that knee into the nose and slowly step the foot forward so it comes right underneath your left shoulder.
And from here,
Begin to shift the hips slightly forward.
So you come into this lunge position.
Press down through your right fingertips and lift and turn towards your left knee.
Sweep your arm all the way up to the sky.
We'll stay here in the lunge twist position.
Make sure the hips are slightly forward so you really feel that lunge.
Your fingertips are up to the sky.
Here you have the option to tuck the back toes under and lift the back knee off the ground if you'd like to also engage that back leg.
We'll stay here for three.
To One.
Now,
If your back knee is up,
Let it drop down.
Let the palms frame the front foot.
Breathe in,
Sweep the arms up.
Come into low lunge position.
If you wish to,
You can interlace your fingers and push the sky,
Finding a little bit more lift through the sides of your lungs,
The back of your shoulders.
Staying here for three.
Two.
One.
Exhale to release.
Now we'll come into a half split position.
Tuck the back toes under.
Lift the toes of that front foot and slide that front heel slightly forward.
Press down through the fingertips and you can use yoga blocks if you wish to find further support.
Breathe in to find a little lift.
And as you breathe out,
Fall forward and feel that stretch underneath the whole of your front leg.
Feel the spaciousness underneath your thighs,
Your calves,
Your hamstrings.
Of your left leg.
Staying here for three.
Two.
One.
Now softly bend through that front knee and step the knee back.
Let's try the same on the other side.
Pressed on through the palms.
And slowly lift this time your right knee off the ground.
Keep your buttock muscles firm and draw the belly in as you round the knee into the nose.
Softly step the foot forward and let it come right underneath your shoulder here.
From here,
We'll press down through your left palm and reach your right palm all the way up to the sky.
Lunge twist position.
Finding that stability and that openness through the sides of the waist.
Option to stay here.
Option to tuck the back toes and lift that back knee and activate that back heel and calf off the ground as well.
Staying here for three.
To One.
If the knee is up,
Drop the knee down.
Let the palm come down.
We'll frame the front foot with the palms and rise up into your low lunge position.
Anjaniyasana.
Find that spaciousness and lift through the chest,
Through the crown of your head as you breathe in.
And find that softness through the shoulders,
That openness through the heart.
If you wish,
You can interlace the fingers as we did just now on the other side to find that connection with the palms,
With the arms,
With the sky.
One more full breath in and long breath out here Now softly let both palms frame the front foot.
We'll tuck the back toes under and begin to slide into a half split position.
Let the heel of that front foot really anchor down to the front and lift the toes.
As you breathe in,
Find a little bit of length through the whole of your spine.
Draw the belly in.
As you breathe out,
Find a little bit of softness and surrender.
We'll stay here,
Breathing in and out,
Connecting with the whole of the back.
Of this front leg.
Feel the lengthening of the muscles underneath.
Your hamstrings,
Your calves,
All the way towards your heels.
One more full breath in.
And exhale.
Now,
When you're ready to release,
Softly replace the foot back into that position,
The starting position,
And step the knee back.
Coming into an all-force position.
From here,
You'll widen the knees and set your bum towards your heels.
Reach the palms forward,
And we're going to come into child's pose position.
If your forehead doesn't quite touch the ground or reach the ground,
You're always welcome to stack your hands into fists.
To form a pillow for your head to rest on.
You can also let the palms stack one on top of the other and let your head rest down.
Now,
If your palms can reach forward,
You also have the option to turn the palm space up.
And this will stretch through the back of your shoulder blades,
Your underarm area as well.
And we'll stay here for about five breaths.
Softly and gently,
If your palms are faced up,
Let them turn face down.
Press down through the palms to find that lift.
And come into hero pose as we sit in hero pose.
And we'll close this practice with a short.
Seated position here in hero pose.
Let your eyes close.
If it feels good for you,
You can let one palm rest on top of the other and connect the thumbs with each other.
Relaxing your shoulders down.
And lengthening the crown,
The back of your head up to the sky.
And as you linger here,
Let your intention be.
To allow sufficient time for your body to restore.
To energize,
To replenish.
Let your intention be to connect.
With yourself.
With that sense of gladness,
That sense of.
.
.
Humility.
For having this.
Blessed opportunity to be here to practice.
And lastly,
Perhaps letting that intention be.
To enjoy every single moment.
Of this wonderful journey that is your life.
From here,
You're very welcome to transition into your meditation practice if it feels good for you.
If you feel ready to conclude this practice.
You're welcome to join me as we bring our palms together in a gesture of prayer of gratitude.
Let this prayer of gratitude.
Rest right in front of your chest,
Your heart.
And then let your head bow down towards your heart,
Taking a moment to send gladness to everyone and everything that made it possible for you to be here today.
Thank you so much for joining me for this short practice.
I hope you enjoyed this and looking forward to seeing you in the next one.
