Just show up.
That's what this class is all about.
Just show up.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do in practicing yoga or any form of physical practice is to show up and do it.
Ms.
Class.
Is about showing up and doing it so let's get on our mat and get doing it just show up Have fun.
Take care.
All right,
So as you come to your mat.
I like to start in a seated position,
Seated in a way that your knees can be slightly lower than your hips.
This helps to just make everything nice and settled and allows your spine to be nice and tall.
Begin by taking first the big inhale.
And a long exhale settling.
Sighing,
Closing your eyes if that's comfortable.
I'm syncing.
Your awareness down and into the base of your body.
Feeling a sense of heaviness,
A sense of rootedness,
Sense of presence even in your body.
Noticing any of the obvious tensions or gripping that you might be experiencing through your jaw,
Your shoulders,
Your hips.
Shaking it off a little bit if you need to and settling into more deeply an awareness of your own breathing.
Rise and fall of inhales and exhales.
On every exhale,
Try to soften just a little bit more.
So softening into those areas of resistance or tightness.
And just landing right here.
Onto your mat,
Into your body,
Into your breath.
Feeling that gentle rise and fall.
Now you've done the hardest thing.
You've shown up.
Let's begin our practice with a shared breath.
Take a nice big inhale.
And a long sigh And welcome once again to your yoga practice.
Really great to have you all here today.
On your next inhale,
Open your eyes,
Reach your arms up overhead.
Interlace your fingers,
Press your palms up,
Stretch up.
Oh yeah.
Twist the one side,
The other side,
Round and around,
Whatever feels right to you.
A little bit of funky movement.
And then slowly tip forwards,
Keep your legs crossed,
Walk your hands as far forward as you can,
Just compressing into your hips a little bit.
We're not trying to hurt ourselves here,
Just folding forwards a bit.
Waking up into the hips a bit more.
Nice,
And then slowly,
Slowly draw your hands back,
Remove whatever you were seated on.
And we'll tip forwards and tuck your toes at the back.
And then maybe just kick out one leg,
Lift it up,
Kick out the other leg,
Lift it up,
Stretch it out.
Shake things off and we start with good old cat cow breathing.
Fingers spread nice and wide,
Tops of your feet nice and active.
And as you inhale,
We're lifting your head,
Lifting your tail,
Sending your heart forwards.
And as you exhale,
Just round,
Tuck your tail in,
Roll your belly in,
Tuck your chin,
Press into the mat.
And follow your breath pattern here.
Inhale to lengthen through the front side of your torso.
A nice back bend.
And exhale to round.
I'm tugging on the tops of my feet,
Pressing with my hands,
Nice and strong.
And again,
One more time,
Inhale to lengthen.
And exhale to round.
Glutes nice and active as you press your pelvis forwards and then inhale to a neutral position pause and we'll build a little bit of heat here with your toes tucked Get your hands,
Fingers spread nice and wide,
And then hover your knees off of the ground just a tiny bit.
You can take some movement left,
Right,
Front,
Back just to get a sense of certainty into your foundation here.
And then from that place,
Move your bum towards the back of your mat.
Let your bum lift up,
Your head drop down.
And this dreaded downward dog pose.
Bend and straighten your legs.
A little bit side to side.
Waking up the back line of your body.
Head down nice and low.
And then just keep that walking motion.
Walk yourself forwards to the top of your mat.
Drape yourself over your upper thighs.
Let your head relax down.
Give your head a shake.
Your shoulders a shake.
Just loosening up through your upper back,
Your neck,
Your shoulders.
Oh,
Yeah.
Nice.
Just give it a good shake.
And then as you inhale,
Come about halfway up.
As you exhale,
Fold,
Bend your knees.
Again,
Inhale,
Half lifting.
Exhale,
Folding,
Bend your knees quite generously.
And then rooting into your feet,
Inhale,
Swoop your hands out wide,
Stand all the way up,
Reach to the ceiling.
And as you exhale,
Wash your hands down the front of your body.
We'll take a couple breaths here.
I like to have my feet together but that's not necessary.
Inhale your hands all the way up.
As you exhale this time,
Bring your hands down the midline,
Interlace your fingers,
Press your palms down towards the floor.
And keep your chest nice and proud.
As you inhale,
Send your hands forwards and up to the ceiling.
Fingers interlace the whole time.
Stretch up nice and tall.
Exhale,
Hands out wide to the sides of your body.
Two more like that,
Inhale,
Inhale.
Inhale,
Inhale.
And then exhale.
As you come down the midline,
Your fingers are in a lace again.
Keep them tightly woven together.
Press your hands down.
And then as you inhale,
Send them forwards and up.
Towards the ceiling,
Really stretch up nice and tall.
Excel hands out wide.
Feel your outer hips squeezing into your inner hips.
Inhale your hands all the way up nice and strong through the foundation.
Exhale,
Hands come down,
Fingers interlace one more time.
And then inhale,
Hands forwards and up.
Stretch all the way up.
And exhale,
Hands out wide to the sides of your body.
Movements of your spine come next inhale hands all the way up And exhale,
Settle your shoulders.
Here I like to interlace my fingers,
Point my index fingers,
And then stretch up nice and tall.
Biceps squeeze towards your ears.
Inner thighs squeeze towards one another.
Inhale,
Reach up taller.
And as you exhale,
Side bend over to your right.
Keep your hips and shoulders.
Square with the front of your mat.
Inhale,
Come up.
Exhale,
Reach to the upper left.
So not collapsing,
But more reaching to the upper left.
Hips go a bit right.
Side to side a couple of times.
Inhale,
Up.
Exhale over,
Belly drawing in.
Inhale,
Up.
Exhale over.
And again,
Inhale up.
Exhale,
Reach to the upper right,
Stretch.
Waking up the.
.
.
Sides of the spine,
Inhale up.
Exhale to the left.
Nice inhale come up as you exhale Turn to your right and release your hands,
Palms face up,
Entering into a twist and look to your back hand.
Inhale,
Hands over head.
Exhale,
Twist to the left,
Palms face up,
Thumbs rolling open quite strongly.
You'll feel this through the shoulders.
Again,
Inhale,
Up.
Exhale,
Twist to the right,
Roll your thumbs.
Shoulders rolling externally.
One more time.
Inhale,
Up.
Exhale twist to the.
.
.
Wake up those shoulders.
Inhale,
Come up.
Exhale,
Bring your hands to your heart.
Stabilizing your foundation here and then Begin to push your hips forwards.
A little squeeze of the bum.
Push your abdomen forwards.
Lift your chest up.
Look at the ceiling.
Create this lovely back bend.
And then,
Once you've established a back bend,
Neck nice and long.
Send your arms way up overhead.
Biceps by your ears.
Hips keep going forwards.
Chest keeps reaching up.
Biceps squeeze towards your ears.
Breathe.
And then inhale,
Come up and exhale.
Bring your hands down to the sides of your body.
Nicely done.
Take your feet a little bit further apart and then as you inhale,
Swoop your hands forwards and let your bum sink down.
As you exhale,
Simply rise back up.
Waving a blanket over the ocean.
So inhale,
Swoop your hands forward,
Your bum sink down,
A little fling at the end.
Exhale,
Rise up.
I definitely got sand in my towel this weekend.
I was swimming.
It was a beautiful inhale.
Fling.
And exhale.
Rise up two more times inhale sitting down nice and far Reach forwards as your bum goes back.
Exhale,
Rise up.
And one more time.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Nicely done.
Hands on your hips.
Shake it off a little bit.
So here,
Time to challenge your balance.
Root into your left foot.
If you need,
You can lean on something here.
Take your right ankle on top of your left knee as you bend that left knee.
Flex your right toes back towards you,
Hands on your hip.
And then if that's comfortable,
Take your hands out wide,
Palms face forwards.
And tip forwards a little bit more,
Offering a nice compression into the right hip.
And challenging our balance in the left leg here.
Just find a few breaths here.
Standing figure four.
And then as you inhale,
Hands up,
Foot down.
As you exhale,
Hands come down.
Hands on your hips again.
Bend your legs a bit.
Balance on your right leg.
Take your left ankle up.
On top of your right knee.
And make sure that left foot is awake.
So draw the toes back towards your knee.
The left knee drives down.
Bum sticks out a bit.
Hands,
Palms,
Face forwards.
Maybe you tip forwards a bit.
Challenging that poor old left hip there So a little bit more and.
Find your composure,
Find your presence.
Beautiful,
And then inhale,
Hands up,
Foot down.
And exhale,
Bring your hands down.
I'll move into some lunges now.
As you inhale,
Bring your hands all the way up.
As you exhale fold all the way forward.
Inhale to lengthen and exhale,
Right leg back,
A long step,
Right toes tucked.
Drop your right knee down to the mat and then Bring your hands onto your left knee and find the sense of stability,
Right hip forwards,
Left hip back.
Feet nice and strong.
Outer hips activated.
Lift out of your belly.
And then bring your hands all the way up overhead.
Settle in.
Hold on to your your right wrist with your left hand.
Reach up.
And side bend over to the left.
Trying to avoid collapsing.
Maybe easier for you to see this way.
Try to avoid collapsing through the left side of your torso.
Reach out to the left side as well.
Find a good sense of extension.
Yum.
Then inhale,
Come up and exhale.
Bring your hands down.
Walk your hands back,
Let your left toes lift.
Finding a half monkey shape here.
And just gently fold over top of that left leg.
Draw your left toes back towards you.
Engage the muscles of your left leg.
Folding in here a little bit.
Oh yeah,
Engage muscularly wherever you feel this stretch.
Passive stretching,
Not as effective as active stretching where you're using the muscles to resist the sense of stretch.
This builds more mobility and strength.
Slowly step forward to the front of the mat,
Half lift,
Exhale to fold.
And then again,
Inhale,
Lengthen.
And exhale,
Take your left leg back a long step,
Left toes tucked,
Left knee down.
Hands on your knees.
So much going on.
You're doing great.
And again,
Stabilizing this lunge.
Right hip back,
Left hip forwards.
Outer hips strong.
Lift out of the pelvis.
Nice.
Bring your hands up.
Settle your shoulders in.
And here we'll hold on to your left wrist with your right hand.
Reach up.
Side bend over to the right this time,
Creating that extension through.
The side of the Left hip.
A left rib cage,
Left lung.
Nicely opened up here.
Stretch.
And then inhale,
Come up.
Exhale,
Bring your hands down.
Walk your hands back.
Let that.
Right toes,
Right foot lift.
And again,
Find half monkey folding over top of the.
.
.
Right leg engaging muscularly wherever you feel a stretch like fire those muscles up You can do it.
You showed up.
Now do the work.
Nicely done.
Oh,
Yeah.
And then slowly slowly Step forwards,
Half lift.
Exhale,
Fold,
Bend your knees,
Drop your bum down into the chair,
And then inhale,
Swoop your hands up overhead as you stay seated in the chair.
Building a little bit of heat here,
And then inhale,
Stand up.
Exhale,
Hands come down.
Let's take a cleansing breath.
Not trying to get too aerobic here.
Inhale,
Hands up.
Exhale,
Wash your hands down.
Let's continue into a couple of more lunges.
Inhale hands all the way up.
And exhale,
Fold all the way forwards.
Inhale to lengthen,
Half lift.
Exhale,
Right leg back again,
Right toes tucked,
Right knee down again.
Bring your hands onto your knees.
Square up your hips,
Left hip back,
Right hip slightly forwards.
Bring your hands up overhead this time.
Now keep nice and strong in the low body.
And twist to your left.
Palms face up,
Just like we did in the standing twist,
Except sustaining at this time.
I want that left hip back and in,
Palms face up,
Gazing back towards your left hand,
Maybe,
Maybe not.
Nice,
And then inhale,
Hands over head.
As you exhale,
Lean forwards,
Lift your back knee.
And flare your hands into,
I call this a leaning lunge.
So nice long line from your right heel all the way up through your head.
Nice long line.
And then as you inhale,
Hands come up,
Back knee drops just about to the ground,
But not quite.
And then exhale,
Lean forwards again.
Or do that two more times.
You can do it.
Come on,
Let's go.
Inhale.
Exhale.
And again,
Inhale.
And exhale.
From this place,
Inhale your hands overhead,
And as you exhale,
Tricky movement.
Step to the front of the mat,
Swing your hands behind,
And inhale,
Rise all the way up.
And with a big open mouth,
Nice.
Inhale all the way up.
Do that again.
Exhale.
Nice.
Inhale up.
And exhale,
Dive all the way forwards.
Inhale to lengthen,
Half lift.
Exhale left leg back,
Left toes tucked,
Left knee down.
Hands on your knees,
Square up your hips,
Right hip back,
Left hip forwards,
Back toes nicely tucked.
Get confident,
Bring your hands up.
And again,
Twist this time to your right.
Palms face up.
His right hip moves back and in.
So nice strong foundation,
Lift up out of your pelvis,
Even into the twist here.
Oh yeah,
Feels good.
And then inhale,
Hands up.
Keep your back toes tucked.
Lean forwards,
Lift your back knee.
You might shorten your step,
That's perfectly fine.
And three little knee dips from here.
Inhale your knee just about to the ground,
Hands up.
Excel lean.
Two more,
Inhale.
Exhale.
And again,
Inhale.
Exhale.
They're here for those big breaths Inhale your knee down,
Just about touches.
Exhale,
Step forwards,
Hands swing behind.
Inhale all the way up and nice open mouth.
And again,
Inhale up.
Exhale.
Good.
You can inhale all the way up.
Exhale,
Wash your hands down the front of your body.
And take a cleansing breath there.
Inhale hands up.
And exhale,
Wash your hands down.
Nice Bring your hands onto your hips,
Adjust your clothing if you need to.
I'm gonna challenge your balance again.
Again,
You may.
.
.
Have a chair or a counter next to you if balance is a bit of a challenge.
Let's bring your right knee up Hold on to your right knee with your right hand.
Lift it up nice and high.
Flex your right toes back towards you.
Find your balance.
Be confident in that left foot.
If you do fall out,
Whatever.
It's a practice,
Right?
It's not a perfect.
Come back in.
Grab your knee again,
Lift it up nice and tall.
Toes flex back towards.
Open your knee out to the side so it's nice and high.
And wide and your right foot is active,
Belly drawn in.
Little extra kind of spice for this.
First finger and thumb touch.
Of the left hand,
Send it out to the left.
And try to get more distance between your knee and your hand.
And if you want,
Gaze towards your left hand for even more challenge.
Nice.
To come out,
Gaze forwards.
Hand to hip,
Knee forwards.
Foot down shake it off Other side.
Root into your right foot.
Get confident and strong there,
Left knee up.
Bring it up even higher.
Use your left hand.
Wobble.
Take your knee out to the side,
Keep it nice and high,
Nice and wide.
Left foot is active,
Belly's drawn in.
Chin mudra with the right hand.
Send it out to the side.
Lots of distance between knee and hand.
Face relaxed.
Wobble if you need to.
That's fine,
It's happening for me.
And then hand to hip.
Knee forwards and foot down and shake it off.
Turn to face the long edge of your mat and stand roughly in the middle of the mat.
Your hands on your hips,
Bend your knees,
And.
.
.
Jump your feet apart.
Your toes turned ever so slightly inwards.
Keep that slight internal rotation.
Of the foot pivot on your left heel.
So lift your left toes.
Then pivot your toes to face.
The front of the mat and sink down,
Or it could be the back of the mat.
Sink down into that front knee.
Left knee bent.
Right leg straight.
Right leg strong.
Press your left foot down.
The foot's rotating into the mat.
Torso is erect,
So we're not leaning forwards,
Not leaning back.
Corso erect,
Bring your hands up,
Palms face the ground.
Or maybe not.
Then gaze forwards out over your left hand this is warrior two sustain this really strong foundation as we move into exalted warrior inhale Left hand up,
Right hand to the back leg.
Again,
Another extension through.
The side of your body.
You can look up.
You could hold the back of your head if you like.
Offering a bit of resistance there.
Nice.
And then inhale,
Come back up,
Warrior II.
As you exhale without unbending that poor old front leg,
Lean.
On your left knee and take your right hand.
Up to the ceiling.
Look up at the ceiling as you stretch up.
Reach up.
Optional extra drop your left hand inside your left shin The fingers don't quite touch the floor,
So nice and expansive through the upper body,
Challenging.
Inhale,
Come back,
Warrior two.
Straighten your front leg.
Pivot on your left heel.
Toes are turned slightly more inward.
Dive forward.
Bring your hands to the ground.
And relax,
Spine stays nice and long.
It's in a half lifted position.
Dangle her for a moment And keep your left hand on the floor,
Maybe on your left fingertips and inhale your right hand to the ceiling.
Twisting the spine.
Try to sense that your pelvis remaining square you could touch Your low back,
Just a sense into that.
And then bring your right hand down.
And then inhale your left hand up.
Notice the tendency for the right hip to drop.
Keep your hips square.
Just try to isolate this as a twist of your spine.
Maybe you look up.
And then bring your hand back down.
Hands back on your hips.
Inhale,
Stand back up.
Exhale pause.
One of the joys of yoga,
You always have to do the second side.
Your toes are turned slightly in.
You lift your right toes off the mat,
Pivot on your right heel,
Bend your right knee.
Sink into it.
If it feels like your legs are too far apart,
Well,
Shorten the step.
Not here to hurt ourselves.
Torso nice and erect.
Nice and tall.
Hands out.
Either direction and your gaze out over the right hand.
There's Warrior II.
Nice and strongly lifting out of your pelvis.
And here,
Exalted warrior again,
This time right palm turns up.
Right hand up,
Left hand to your back leg.
Maybe you hold the back of your head and press.
Head to hand,
Getting a bit of extension through the triceps muscles here.
Oh yeah,
Feels good.
And then inhale,
Come back up.
And on your exhale,
Lean on your right knee,
Palm face up.
Left hand up to the ceiling,
Look up at the ceiling,
Stretch up.
And maybe you drop the right hand toward the floor,
But don't touch the floor.
Press your arm to your leg,
Your leg to your arm.
Find that good expansiveness.
Engaged from fingertip to fingertip.
And then inhale,
Come back up.
Straighten your front leg,
Pivot on the right heel.
Bend her knees a little bit here.
Dive forwards.
Now your head relax down a bit more than the other side and then go a little bit side to side.
So it's like an ice skater.
Stretching the inner right leg on one side.
Now walking your hands across,
Stretching the inner left leg.
You can pivot on your heel if you like as you go side to side.
Just getting that.
Adductor stretch on the inner thigh.
Side to side a few times.
Feels good.
And then pause,
Let your head drape down,
Relax your shoulders completely.
Just dangle there,
Engage the muscles though on the backs of your legs.
Meet the stretch with activation as usual.
Nice.
And then inhale,
Half up.
Hands to hips,
Inhale the rest of the way up.
Exhale to pause.
Bend your knees.
Jump your feet together and go side to side.
A couple of times.
One more balance here.
Tree pose.
Feet together,
Heels touch a slight.
Pivot on your right heel so your right toes turn out a bit.
This opens up.
Right hip socket and then place your foot either a little kickstand against your ankle against your calf,
Across your knee joint.
On your upper thigh perhaps.
And there's a good sense of pressure.
Between your foot and your leg.
Keeping their hips.
Nicely integrated,
Not collapsing in the left side there.
Hands can come to your heart.
Your face relax.
And then bring your hands up if you like again.
Maybe separate your hands,
Integrate your shoulders.
And just be here,
Just be a tree.
Your right knee maybe is moving a little bit away to the back of the room.
Getting a bit more dynamism in the lower body.
Take a big inhale.
Exhale,
Hands to heart.
Inhale your knee forwards.
Exhale,
Bring your foot down,
Hands down.
Shake it off.
And take it to the other side.
A slight external rotation of your left hip.
Bring your left foot.
To a place that's appropriate for you place your foot against your leg leg to foot outer right hip,
Nice and strong.
And then hands can come to your heart.
Finding your balance,
Wherever that is.
And then you can lift your hands up.
Separate your hands,
Settle your shoulders in.
More challenging is to look up or.
.
.
Goodness knows,
Close your eyes and don't fall down.
I can't do that.
But maybe you try.
There's always something that we can challenge our vestibular system,
Our visual system.
By adding in these little nuances,
These little challenges from time to time.
Nice big inhale.
Long exhale,
Hands to heart.
Knee forwards and boom,
Bring your foot back down.
From here,
Let's take your feet about as wide as your mat,
Assuming you're facing forwards now.
Heels in,
Toes out a little bit.
Inhale your hands up and exhale.
Down into your version of the squat.
What is your version?
As low as you can go with your feet flat,
Whatever that is.
Maybe your feet are narrower,
Maybe your feet are wider.
Just sink into it,
Sink into it.
Sustain.
A bit of pressure between your knees and your forearms.
Elbows are pushing,
Knees are squeezing,
Chest lifting,
Bum sinking.
The dreaded squat pose.
Here we are.
And then slowly from here.
Put your hands behind you.
Sit down.
Send your legs out front,
Give it a little bit of a shake.
From here,
Feet as wide as your mat.
Knees bent.
Leaning back just a bit and then From here,
We'll take both knees over to the left,
Trying to get both knees to touch down.
And then come back through center,
Both knees to the right.
Down.
Go side to side a few times like this,
Windchill wipering our knees.
Waking up our hips through internal.
And external rotation.
One more time each way.
Hmm,
That feels nice.
And now let's go over towards the left.
And find a.
.
.
Roughly 90-90 degree shape with your legs.
Try to sit up a bit taller and then start to turn your entire torso towards your left femur,
Your big bone of the upper leg.
So stay nice and tall there.
We won't do mobility work here,
Just moving into deer posts.
As a more of a repose,
A relaxation place.
So turned over top of that left leg.
Right hip turning down and in.
Walk your hands forwards.
Folding yourself as best you can over top of that left hip.
Maybe you come down onto your elbows.
And then just.
.
.
Relax here.
Spend a bit of time.
In this compression of your left hip,
The internal rotation of the right hip.
Deer pose this is called A nice option for pigeon pose,
Which is not necessarily accessible in all bodies,
Particularly if you've got any kind of knee stuff going on.
I find deer pose much more accessible in more bodies.
But just as juicy,
Just as good.
Take a few breaths there.
Nice.
And then let's slowly walk our hands back in.
Rotate your knees all the way to the other side.
So right hip now is externally rotated,
Left hip internally rotated.
90,
90 degrees shape roughly in your legs.
And we'll rotate.
Your torso over top of that right femur.
Nice and proud,
And then walk your hands forwards.
Offering a bit of compression now into that right hip.
And quite an interesting sensation in the left hip as well as it rotates down and in.
Maybe you come on your elbows,
Maybe not.
Maybe you rest your forehead on your fists.
Some blocks or something or maybe just stay upright Finding the juicy spot for you.
I practiced with A gentleman once called Eric Schiffman.
And he had this analogy of washing the windows.
His father used to get him to wash windows with newspaper.
And you have to get the newspaper right into the corners.
Get those windows clean right into the corners.
So find that spot where you're cleaning the windows of your hips.
Get in there nice and.
.
.
Tight make it nice and precise Nice and clean.
Yum.
And then that's slowly,
Slowly.
Come back up,
Find that 1990 shape again.
Be a few flip-flops.
And then we'll bring your feet together,
Knees wide.
Sit up fairly tall.
Hold on to your shins or your feet.
And then fold forwards,
Keeping your chest fairly proud for most of this.
We're trying to fold into our hip creases as best we can.
And then drop your chin.
And look down.
Initially not much effort here,
Just finding a place that you can rest into a bit more passively.
You could use your forearms to press your shins down a bit more,
Offering some isometric resistance there.
So as much as your elbows push down,
Your knees try to resist and lift up.
That's more of a dynamic stretch.
Offer resistance to any kind of efforting that you're including.
Or maybe you're just relaxing.
And then slowly,
Slowly,
Let's sit back up again.
Bend your legs way out front.
Give them a good.
.
.
Shiggle a good stretch Keep your feet together.
I don't know if you can see them past my mic or not.
Feet together,
Toes back towards you.
Sit up nice and tall.
Inhale your hands up.
Lead with your sternum,
Look forwards,
Look forwards,
Look forwards,
Attempt to grab your feet,
Maybe that's not possible,
Grab your shins or the mat.
And just fold forwards,
Keeping your chest proud,
So not rounding our back here.
It's more an extension through the back line of your legs.
Holding forwards.
Folding forwards.
Nice,
Intense westward stretch.
Feels good.
Getting rid of the crankiness,
The tightness,
The stuckness.
Relax into this shape.
Find a slow breath pattern.
Nice.
And then slowly,
Slowly sit up.
Position your bum roughly in the middle of the mat.
And then simply lie down on your back.
You can let your knees come in.
Give them a good squeeze.
Keep your back of your head on the mat,
A nice tuck of your chin.
Keep squeezing.
Kind of imprint your low back onto the mat,
Decompressing our.
.
.
Lumbar spine just a wee bit here through this squeezing action And then drop your feet to the mat and keep your feet a little bit separated.
Excuse me.
But your feet close enough,
You can just touch your heels with your fingertips.
Rising and falling bridge pose is what I call this one.
As you inhale,
Press with your feet,
Lift your bum off the mat and send your arms way up overhead until the backs of your hands touch the ground way overhead.
So your pelvis is up nice and high.
You're pressing your hips up.
Arms overhead.
And then as you exhale,
Gently unwind your spine and let your arms come back,
Hands back beside your bum as your bum touches down.
So we'll do that three more times with your breath.
So inhale,
Bum lifts,
Hands reach,
Press with your feet,
Inhaling the whole time.
And exhale,
Unwind your spine.
Arms come back down to the sides of your body.
Two more times.
Inhaling,
Waving the spine up.
Pressing with your feet.
Exhale,
Waving back down.
Now,
One more time,
Inhale up.
And exhale back down.
Oh yeah,
That felt good.
And then just simply pause.
Stabilize yourself.
Find a sense of calmness.
And bring your feet together now.
And shift your hips a little bit to the left.
Drop your knees towards the right.
Maybe your right hand holds your knees down.
Send your left hand out to the side,
Palm face up,
And look to the left,
A spine twist.
Keep your hands on your knee,
Helping yourself to linger into this twist.
Dissipate any kind of sense of still stuckness or resistance.
We're trying to be fairly relaxed,
Yielding into this shape.
The best indicator of yielding and relaxing is your exhale breath,
So your ability to exhale calmly and long.
As the best indicator of just yielding and softening.
Let your face relax.
Focus on your exhales.
Just keep on dissipating tension wherever you experience it.
And now from here,
Unwind again.
Square up your pelvis momentarily.
Ah,
Feels good on your back.
And then shift your hips a little to the right,
Knees go left.
Right arm extends,
Gaze goes to the right.
I won't look to the right just because otherwise I won't be able to see you.
Allow yourself to linger into a twist here.
Generally gazing to the right.
And again,
Feeling the rise and the fall of your breathing.
Letting Your exhale breaths predominate your awareness.
Letting your body relax every time you exhale.
Simply being present here and now.
Simply being present here and now.
Nowhere to go,
Nothing to do,
Just relax.
Mm-hmm.
I know.
Unwind again.
One more movement before we get into savasana.
Both arms,
Both legs up to the ceiling.
Lazily dangling there.
Rotate your wrists and ankles slowly.
Great big circles.
Get a few cracks in there probably.
Go the other way.
And then spread your fingers and toes,
Squeeze your fingers and toes,
Spread,
Squeeze,
Maybe a squeeze and twirl.
And you spread and twirl,
Whatever it is,
And then shake it all off.
Shake those wrists,
Shake those ankles,
Those toes.
Give it a good shingle.
Shake it off.
Arms down,
Legs down.
Big inhale.
Along,
Exhale,
Sabhasana.
And sync again into.
.
.
The sensation of your breath rising and falling.
Letting your exhale breathing.
Be longer than your inhales.
And on every exhale,
Softening just a bit more.
And as you rest here in savasana,
Bring an awareness towards the center of your chest,
The area of your heart.
Maybe you place a hand there if you like.
Maybe one on your abdomen,
Center of intuition.
And develop a sense of gratitude here.
Thankfulness.
And accepting and sending that gratitude to yourself today.
For showing up.
For doing the work.
For taking the time.
To connect with this precious soul of yours.
This precious being of yours.
Well done.
Well done,
Well done.
Take a nice big inhale here.
And a long exhale to sigh.
And thank you so much,
My friends,
For sharing your practice with one another today.
So lovely to have you here.
I hope you have a beautiful week ahead of you,
A beautiful day ahead of you.
Namaste.
