Welcome and thank you so much for joining me here at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden.
Let's go ahead and dive right into our practice together.
So we'll get started by coming to laying down on our back.
And squeezing into your knees.
And then just starting to check in with how you're feeling.
Through your breath.
Noticing this next.
Full breath as it enters your body.
And then gently sawing it out.
And then we'll bring our feet back onto the mat,
Feet directly under the knees,
And then reaching your arms out to the sides,
We're going to start to windshield wipe those knees gently side to side.
Keeping your feet separated the distance of your hips or maybe even a little bit wider.
And then once you're ready,
Dropping the knees over towards the left side,
And you can stay here with both feet evenly on the mat,
Or you can go ahead and bring your left foot outside of the right knee for a deeper stretch of that right hip flexor and psoas.
And then for this practice,
Notice that you can always skip something that doesn't resonate with you.
Really listen to your internal guidance.
And then we'll experience one more deep breath in.
And slowly exhaling with sound in the back of the throats.
On the next exhale,
We'll switch sides.
Letting the knees gently come over in the other direction and then noticing once again do you want to stay here with both feet on the mat or See if you want to place that right foot outside of the left knee.
Notice how that opens up along that left hip flexor and then find your breath.
Starting to let go of your story.
In order to experience more of your inner landscape.
One more full breath here.
Exhaling with sound in the back of the throat.
With your next exhale,
Come back to the center.
And then go ahead and leave your right foot onto that left knee.
And if you want,
This is enough for you.
You can stay right here.
If you want to take the practice a little bit deeper,
You'd be sending your left heel up towards the sky and interlacing your fingers behind that left thigh.
And then check in.
Notice how it feels to start to point and flex the toes or rotate through the ankle.
To start to really wake up your subtle body through the legs.
Stretching the lower back.
One more full breath in.
And then as you exhale,
Bending into that left knee and notice if you want to catch over that left shin and knee and maybe gently go side to side.
And then rediscovering your breath.
Inhale slowly.
And exhale,
Whispering sound in the back of the throats.
Last breath here.
And then we switch sides.
We'll go ahead and bring the right foot onto the mat,
Left foot comes onto the knee.
Check if you want to stay here.
Or if you want to send that right heel up towards the sky,
Interlace fingers behind the right thigh and then start to move the feet,
Point and flex toes.
Check back in with your breathing in order to let go of the thoughts,
The stories that keep you from your center.
Another full breath here.
Sound in the back of the throats.
Bending into that right knee and seeing if you want to go ahead and interlace fingers over that right shin and knee.
And maybe gently going side to side,
Massaging the lower back.
Offering your body some kindness.
One more gentle breath in.
And then have a little bit of fun rolling all the way up.
And maybe back down.
One more time,
And then we're going to come all the way forward into our tabletop position.
Right away,
Some cat cow.
So hands directly under shoulders,
Knees directly under hips,
And on the inhale,
Dropping through the center of the spine and opening up the throat.
Exhale,
Chin to chest,
Tailbone all the way under.
With your eyes closed,
Letting yourself attune to your inner landscape.
Maybe sensing if you want more organic movements.
Shimming the hips gently side to side,
Open up through the waist.
Or staying in your Cat-Cal,
See what's best for you,
Listening to that internal guidance.
And then we'll gently come back into our first child's pose.
And actively reaching your fingers all the way towards the top of the mat.
And as you do,
Slide your shoulder blades down so you feel that balance of opposites.
Plugging the shoulders away from the ears,
Take a deep breath into your lower back ribs.
And scion out.
Once again,
Just like that.
And here we'll go ahead and start to link breath and movement.
Inhale,
Bringing the hips forward,
Gently arriving in an upward dog,
Opening up the throat and chest.
Exhale to take it back into your child's pose.
Two more times.
Inhale,
Coming forward,
Upward dog.
Exhale to take it back.
Child's pose.
Last one.
Inhale elevate the front of the heart maybe this time pressing onto the tops of the feet lifting through the knees sending the shoulders further back and exhale taking it back into your child's pose reaching your hands back by your feet And then notice if you want to stay here with your hands by your feet and breathe as if you could breathe into the space between the shoulder blades or if you want to interlace your fingers and start to reach your hands up a little bit higher towards the sky,
Maybe gently side to side.
And then another full breath here.
Gently releasing your hands,
Reaching your hands all the way back toward the top of the mat,
Into your tabletop position,
Where we'll send our right heel back behind us.
Reaching your right heel back behind us,
Go ahead and pivot your left foot off the mat so you can drop your right heel in.
Inhale,
Reaching your right arm all the way up and maybe over.
And feel into the balance of opposites,
So you're not dumping into your left wrist.
Really elevate that right side body.
And then notice if you want to send the right leg parallel the earth.
And if you want to bend into that right knee,
Maybe even catch that right foot.
Push into your hands with your foot if you've caught it to really activate along the right side body.
One more breath.
Gentle for the release.
Moving through a cycle of cat-cow to release any rigidity.
And then we'll send that left leg back behind us,
Pivot right foot off the mat,
Drop the left heel in,
And reach the left arm all the way up.
Balance the opposites by pressing through your left foot as you reach your left arm up and over.
And then notice if you want to stay here or balance.
Put it into the hands.
Pressing the foot into the hand if you've caught the foot.
One more breath here.
Gentle for the release,
We'll go into our very first downward dog.
Bending into the knees nice and deeply to try to feel your abdomen connecting towards your tops of thighs.
And then every single time you exhale,
Notice if you want to send the heels just a little bit closer to the earth.
But we're looking for a really nice long straight line from your wrists,
Shoulders to hips.
So we're trying to lengthen through the spine,
Pull shoulders away from the ears.
One more breath.
Bringing the knees back onto the mat,
We're gonna bring our right foot forward outside of the right hand and then deeply lunge forward so you're opening up that left hip flexor and pressing the right palm on the inside of the right thigh.
Looking towards your right shoulder,
Can you elevate along your right side body so it's not so heavy on your left wrist?
One more breath here.
Exhaling back to the center and we'll inhale,
Reach the left arm all the way up and over towards the right side,
Deeply stretching that left psoas line,
Hip flexor.
One more breath.
Exhale,
Gently releasing that left hand,
Sliding that right foot back behind you,
Downward dog.
Feel free to skip the downward dog and stay in some cat cows.
One more deep breath in.
And we'll bring the knees back onto the mat.
Bring the left foot forward outside of the left hand,
And then lunging deeply into that left side,
Roll towards the outer edge of your left foot and press the palm on the inside of the left thigh,
Elevating to that left side body.
Breathing more rhythmically.
One more breath.
Exhaling,
Straightening through the spine in the center and then coming up with that right arm and over towards the left side.
Left elbows on the left thigh,
Opening up along that left hip flexor line.
One more breath.
Right palm reaches back down.
Send the left leg back behind you,
Downward dog.
If you want a vinyasa,
You can go through a vinyasa here.
Feel free to skip that if it's not calling you.
So if you want the vinyasa,
Inhale to your plank.
Exhale,
Lower down.
Inhale,
Lift through the heart,
Slide shoulder blades down.
And exhale downward dog where we will come forward to our seated position.
So gazing forward at the thumbs Bring the feet forward.
And coming to laying down on your back.
Once again.
So then as you arrive on your back,
Feet hips distance or maybe even a little bit wider.
And then as you inhale,
We're going to slowly bring the hips.
And the arms all the way up.
As you inhale,
Linking breath with movement,
And exhale,
Gently reconnecting the spine onto the mat,
Bringing the arms back down.
Two more times.
Last one,
Full breath in.
And maybe you stay here for a little bit longer.
Notice if you want to attempt to go into your full wheel by bringing your palms by your ears,
Fingers pointing towards shoulders and straightening through the arms.
Or if you want to play with just bringing the crown of the head onto the mat.
And staying there.
But just letting yourself notice.
The internal guidance coming through.
We'll take one more breath wherever you are.
And then gently reconnecting the spine onto the mat and your choice,
Either little circles with the knees.
In multiple directions or maybe a happy baby.
Squeezing the outsides of the feet,
Bringing the knees close to the earth.
One more breath.
And then your choice of either bringing legs directly over hips,
Staying here,
Allowing that fresh blood to move into the heart,
To move into the brain.
Or if you want to take it into a little bit more strengthening,
You can slowly bring your hips up.
And place your hands as high up towards the shoulder blades as you can reach them.
So see if you can bring your hips in a straighter line with your heels and shoulders.
And then if you're in your shoulder stand,
Maybe you have a little fun playing around.
Last breath and then if you're in shoulder stem bringing knees to your forehead or maybe the ears.
And then letting the toes go past the head to slowly come all the way back down.
And elevating the heart for your fish pose.
So in our fish pose,
What we're looking for is not to put so much of the weight on the forearms,
Although we might start there.
And then we're trying to do that by lifting through the chest,
Sliding the shoulder blades down,
Touching the very crown of the head onto the earth.
Instead of hanging and dangling the head,
Make sure that the head is placed on the mat.
Keep lifting through the heart.
One more breath.
And exhale gently coming back.
And then this is your option to either move through one final vinyasa if you'd like it,
Or you can let yourself take rest before your rest pose.
Maybe you shake out any tension that you're carrying in your wrists,
Forearms,
And your calves.
Shake,
Shake,
Shake,
Shake,
Shake,
Shake,
Shake.
Let go,
Let go,
Let go.
Release.
And moving into your final posture of Shavasana so that we can integrate.
Our experience that we just had on our maps.
So letting yourself take your space on your mat.
Letting your arms find the posture that feels best,
Either resting on the belly.
Or one towards the heart.
Maybe you straighten through the legs.
If you have your knees bent,
Then separating them the distance of your hips.
And maybe letting them turn inward or directly over knees,
Heels under knees.
And then we'll go ahead and take a deep breath in.
Hold the breath in,
Sip a little bit more air,
Hold it,
Gather your awareness,
The center browse,
And then sigh it out.
One more breath,
Letting yourself settle.
As you wake up your internal landscape.
And then exhale,
Side out,
Letting your whole body get even heavier.
Noticing if it's possible here to soften through your eyes.
To feel the warmth that surrounds your eyes.
Feeling the skin of the forehead and temples.
More easeful.
Relaxing the inner ears.
The roof of the mouth.
Jaw moves side to side,
Soften the tongue,
The throat.
And then as you're returning to your natural breath,
Let yourself sense how soft your breathing can become.
And notice yourself following sensations of your breath.
Giving yourself these last few moments of nurturing awareness.
Of embodiments.
Choosing to release narrative in order to feel yourself more fully awake from within.
The arms more relaxed.
All the muscles of the legs more easeful.
And at the same time being able to witness this aliveness from within.
Every exhalation becomes softer.
And every end of exhalation is an opportunity to land more deeply in our essence,
Our true nature.
And then before coming back into your day to let yourself notice what it would be like to bring in this quality of presence into your interactions today.
The sense that it's possible to feel into a breath cycle before responding.
To witness what it's like to be soothed by an exhalation.
To be more connected to this inner realm of our being.
Our true nature.
And then sensing embodied gratitude.
Feeling this gratitude,
Not just in the analysis or in the thoughts,
But feeling it in your body.
Grateful for this breath.
And the next breath.
Thank you so much for your practice.
Enjoy your day.
