So welcome,
Jump on your mat and we'll get started shortly.
As always,
Please don't push to the point of pain or strain,
Listen to your body,
You know what to do and you can always take a break whenever you want to.
If you want to pop on some background music,
Then feel free to do so.
And then afterwards make your way to a comfortable seated position,
Perhaps sitting up on a block or on a cushion to raise your hips just a little bit.
And then go through your seated alignment,
Just rock forwards,
Pull out the flesh from underneath your sit bones.
Sit up nice and tall and press your fingers into the floor to lengthen the spine.
Imagine you're reaching the crown of your head upwards,
Lifting the sternum.
Now keep this elongation and then rest your hands on your knees or on your lap.
And if it's comfortable,
You can go ahead and close down the eyes.
Give yourself a moment to arrive on your mat and become aware of the space around you.
Listen out for any sounds.
Can you feel the air on your skin or perhaps the weight of your clothes?
Begin to retreat from this external world and go inwards to your breath.
And as you breathe in and out through your nose,
Follow the air in through your nostrils,
Down your windpipe and into your lungs.
And as you breathe out,
Follow the air back out the same way.
In through the nose,
Down through the nose,
Down the windpipe.
Fill up your lungs.
And as you release the breath,
Allow the air to travel back out.
Lungs,
Windpipe.
Continue to breathe at your own pace,
Observing the breath as it enters and as it exits your body.
Through the nose,
Down the windpipe and into your lungs.
Now imagine you are breathing in infinite loving kindness.
In through the nose,
Down your windpipe and into your lungs.
With every inhale,
Filling your cup with infinite loving kindness.
Keep breathing in infinite loving kindness,
Allowing it to flow through your entire body.
Feel the energy begin to build.
Now breathe out infinite loving kindness.
Spreading infinite loving kindness to the room that you are in,
Spreading it through your home to anyone else that's at home with you.
And the infinite loving kindness spread through your city,
Through the whole of Cambridge,
To the whole of England,
The United Kingdom.
Letting the infinite loving kindness spread over to Europe,
To Africa,
To Middle East,
Ukraine,
Russia,
China,
The rest of Asia,
To Australasia and then over the ponds to North America,
Alaska,
Central and South America.
Sending infinite loving kindness to anywhere else in the world that I may have missed.
Now imagine you're zooming out into outer space,
Looking back at the globe and breathing infinite loving kindness out onto the entire world.
Now turn around and gaze up at the stars and the planets.
Send infinite loving kindness to the entire universe.
Now turn back around towards the earth.
Locate Europe and begin to zoom in.
Good.
So to the United Kingdom,
To England,
Zooming in to East Anglia and then Cambridge,
Rocking off at Paradise Street and coming back into the space that you're in,
Into your study,
Coming back into your body.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Place both hands on your chest and feel the warmth beneath your palms penetrate your heart space.
Today's intention is infinite loving kindness for yourself but also for others.
Let's take two deep breaths together.
And again.
And on an inhale,
Open your eyes and we will begin.
Inhale,
Reach your arms out wide and as you exhale,
Give yourself a hug,
A nice big bear hug.
I'm going to do one more.
Inhale,
Arms out wide.
Cross the arms over the opposite way.
Give yourself another great big hug because you send yourself a little love and then release.
Place your fingers on top of your shoulders and begin to circle the elbows forward.
It's warming up the shoulders.
Excellent.
Keep your head lifted.
Exactly.
Now switch directions.
Try to make the circles as big as you can.
Good.
And then release.
Interlace your hands and we'll begin to warm up the wrists.
So just circling the wrists in one direction and then switching direction.
Okay.
Extend your right arm out in front of you and flex your right hand.
And with your opposite hand,
Just apply a little pressure.
Keep your right arm straight if you can and breathe deeply.
Now switch hands.
And once again,
A couple of deep breaths here.
Now point your right fingers towards the ground and again with the opposite hand,
Apply some pressure.
Stretching out the forearm and the back of the hand.
And then switching over to the other hand.
Yeah.
Excellent.
Make a fist ball with your hands and then spread your fingers out nice and wide and we'll do this a few times.
So fist bumps.
And your arms might start to get a little bit tired here but keep holding them on.
We won't stay here too long.
Okay.
Last one.
Imagine you are grabbing onto a jam jar and you're trying to open the jam jar.
And then you try to close the jam jar.
Excellent.
Okay.
You can release,
Shake it out.
Help your knees up.
And then fold forward.
Give yourself a great big hug.
If you're sitting on a cushion,
Remove the cushion.
And then keeping your feet glued towards the floor,
You're going to reach your arms forward.
Activate your core and then roll down nice and slowly.
As slow as you can.
And when you come all the way to lying down,
Walk your feet backwards so that your knees are stacked over your ankles.
Reach your arms overhead,
Grab onto opposite elbows,
Relax the shoulders.
And we'll begin with a few pelvic tilts.
So begin to tilt your pelvis backwards so that your lower back becomes flush to the mat.
Press your navel into the mat gently and then release.
Allowing the pelvis to tilt forwards again.
So repeat this a few times,
Rotating the hips backwards so that the low back comes flat onto the mat.
Gently pressing the navel towards the floor,
Holding for a moment and then releasing.
Switch the grip of your elbows and do this a couple more times.
It's really just a micro movement.
Moving slowly and mindfully.
Good,
Release your arms down by your side.
Tilt the pelvis backwards one last time.
Press the hands and feet into the earth as you begin to peel your low back off the ground,
Your mid back and your upper back coming into bridge pose.
Take a great big inhale and exhale.
On your next in-breath,
Reach your arms overhead.
Allow them to rest on the floor behind you and as you exhale,
Lower down vertebra by vertebra.
And when your hips reach the floor,
Bring your arms back down by your side.
We're going to do this a couple more times.
So inhale,
Press your hands and feet into the earth,
Lift the hips,
Bridge pose.
Exhale.
Inhale,
Arms overhead.
Bring your arms by your side.
Inhale,
Bridge.
Exhale,
Hold.
Inhale,
Arms overhead.
Exhale,
Lower down.
And then bring your knees to your chest.
Give yourself another great big hug,
Sending yourself some infinite loving kindness and find some stillness here.
Connect to your breath and direct the breath to your lower back.
Notice how your lumbar spine begins to press into your mat.
As you observe it,
Expand and contract with the breath.
Come to an upside down tabletop.
So your legs are at 90 degrees and your fingers are pointing up towards the sky.
Activate your abdominal muscles and as you inhale,
Extend your right leg and your left arm comes overhead.
Exhale,
Back to centre.
Inhale,
Extend the left leg and the right arm.
Exhale,
Back to centre.
So repeat this movement.
If you're not too sure,
Take a look at the screen.
We're extending opposite arm and leg and then coming back to centre.
Inhale to extend.
Exhale to return.
Good job.
We'll do a few more of these.
Once more on each side.
And then bring your knees to your chest,
Hands on each knee and separate the knees.
Keep your feet and legs floppy here.
Press your lower back into the floor and perhaps at this point you can wriggle from side to side to massage your lower back if that feels good.
Bring the knees together.
Roll over onto one side and make your way to a tabletop position.
Hands shoulder width apart and knees hip width distance apart.
Spread your fingers out nice and wide,
Pressing all 10 finger pads into the earth.
So no collapsing here.
Press the floor away from you as you protract the shoulders.
We'll take a few rounds of Cat-Cow.
So looking towards your knees,
Lift your bum,
Lower the lower back down,
Mid-back,
Upper back.
Relax the shoulders,
Slight bend in the elbows.
Inhale,
Drag your hands along the mat.
Reach your head diagonally forwards and up,
Straighten the arms for Cow Pose.
Exhale,
Begin to round through the low back,
Mid-back,
Upper back.
Gaze towards your knees,
Press into the floor,
Cat Pose.
So continue this movement at your own pace.
Perhaps you close the eyes to withdraw and go inwards,
Really feeling into your body.
Noticing all of the sensations.
Yoga is all about breathing in each of the poses,
Connecting the movement with the breath.
Breathe and move.
Let's meet in Cow Pose with your back arched.
Press the floor away from you and shake your head from side to side,
Loosening up any tension in the neck and shoulder.
Come to a neutral spine.
Extend your right leg backwards and bring your right foot to the back left corner of your mat.
Look over your left shoulder as you stretch out your right side body.
Return to all fours.
We'll move to the other side.
Cat Pose.
Extend your left leg long and bring your left foot to the back right corner of your mat.
Look over your right shoulder.
Breathe into your left side body.
Return to centre.
Walk your hands forward,
Spreading the fingers wide.
Tuck the toes.
Press into the floor as you lift your knees and your hips up and back to find Down Dog.
Keep the head relaxed here.
Knees soft.
Remember,
It's more important to have a straight back than to have straight legs.
So keeping the knees bent here,
On an inhale,
Press the floor away from you.
Lengthen through the spine,
Lifting your sit bones up and back.
Keeping the legs soft,
As you exhale,
Gently push your shoulders towards your heels.
And we'll hold here for five deep breaths and out through the nose or the mouth you choose.
And as you breathe,
Repeat the following affirmation after me,
Silently in your head.
With every breath,
I let go of anything that does not serve me.
What do you want to leave behind in 2022?
Breathe it out.
On your next exhale,
Bend your knees.
Take your gaze forward.
Step your left foot forward,
Followed by your right.
Feet hip width distance apart.
Let your head hang heavy,
Arms floppy.
For standing forward,
Bend Uttanasana.
And take a moment of stillness here.
Becoming aware of gravity in the body and noticing how the weight of your head gently lengthens your spine and your neck.
Place your left hand on the floor in front of your left foot.
If your hand doesn't come flat onto the floor,
You can come onto your fingertips or maybe place a block underneath your hand.
And as you inhale,
Reach your right arm up towards the ceiling.
Press the left hand into the floor.
Spiral the chest open,
Keeping the knees soft here.
Reaching the fingertips up towards the sky.
And then exhale,
Lower the right arm down.
Grab onto opposite elbows.
Hang here for a moment.
Perhaps you bounce up and down or sway from side to side.
Remembering you always want to lengthen the spine to create space between your vertebrae before you twist on the other side.
Okay,
Release the arms.
Right hand in front of right foot or take whichever variation you took on the other side.
Inhale,
Sweep the left arm up towards the sky.
Press your right hand into the floor.
Open the chest out towards the left.
Remember,
Knees unlocked here.
Does this side feel tighter?
Exhale,
Lower the left arm down.
Once again,
Grab onto opposite elbows.
Hang for a moment.
And when you're ready to roll up,
Release the arms,
Bend the knees,
Shift your weight back into your heels and roll up nice and slowly.
Turn your palms to face forwards.
Press your feet into the earth and reach your arms out horizontally.
Exhale,
Squeeze the shoulder blades together.
Inhale,
Arms reach,
Reach,
Reach,
Reach up.
Interlace the hands and release the index fingers,
Keeping your arms by your ears here.
Inhale,
Grow as tall as you can.
And as you exhale,
Reach up and over towards the right.
Hold it here,
Keeping the shoulders relaxed.
To come back to through centre,
Engage the core,
Come back up.
Inhale,
Grow a little bit taller and then exhale up and over towards the other side.
Activate the core,
Come back through centre.
Release your arms down by your side,
Palms face forwards.
Close your eyes and find your Tadasana,
Mountain Pose.
Find even weight balance across both feet.
If you have a tendency to hyperextend the legs,
Then gently unlock them.
Tuck the tailbone,
Suck the belly in.
Lift your sternum,
Chin up.
Press all four corners of your feet into the earth,
The crown of your head reaching for the sky.
And then gently flutter the eyes open.
Okay,
So coming to the top of your mat,
Feet hip-width distance apart.
Step your right foot about a metre behind you.
You want your heel directly over your toes,
Hips facing forwards.
If this is uncomfortable,
Then you can amend the distance between the feet,
Either sliding it backward or making it a little bit closer.
Look towards the ground.
Exhale,
Press your hands towards the floor.
And as you inhale,
Reach the arms forwards and upwards and your hands follow the movement of your,
Your gaze follows the movement of your hands.
Okay.
Inhale,
Reach the arms all the way up towards the sky and take a slight back bend,
But stop bending when you stop elongating.
If you feel any twitching sensation in your low back,
You've gone too far,
So come back up again.
Reach your chest and your gaze diagonally forwards and up and keep pressing into the right ball of your foot.
Hold it here.
Three full breaths.
Reaching the fingers upwards.
Once you've taken your three breaths,
Bring your palms to touch,
Draw them down to your heart centre,
Lower down your right heel,
Bend into your left knee and then lift the right foot up for warrior three.
Now,
Perhaps your warrior three looks like this,
Or maybe you tilt forwards a little bit as far as is comfortable for you.
You can flex the back foot,
The toes pointing downwards.
This ensures that your hips stay parallel.
And if you fall out,
No worries.
Just jump straight back in.
Your ability to balance isn't tied to your self-worth.
Remember infinite loving kindness.
Bend your left leg and step your right foot with control all the way to the back of the mat.
Release the hands.
You want to make sure that your front knee doesn't overshoot the ankle.
If it does,
Then slide your back foot back.
Inhale,
Reach the arms forwards,
So diagonally away from your back leg.
Keep pressing your left foot into the floor.
Nice strong legs here.
Push your right toes into the earth.
Hold it for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Lower your fingers to the mat.
Step your left foot to centre.
Plant the hands and step your left foot back.
High plank.
Stay in high plank or take an option to drop your heels over towards the right for a side plank.
Right shoulder stacks over right wrist.
Reach your left arm up towards the ceiling.
And perhaps you reach your left arm over towards the right.
If this is too challenging,
Then you can bring your left foot in front of your right knee and your left leg at a 90 degree angle.
And then we're going to come out the same way we came in.
So roll back up onto the balls of your feet.
Lower the left hand down.
Drop the knees to the mat.
Shift your weight forwards.
Bend the elbows backwards,
Not outwards.
Lower down chin,
Chest,
All the way onto your belly.
Untuck your feet and come onto your forearms.
Point your thumbs upwards and grab onto opposite elbows.
Take the diving motion,
Chin to chest.
Pull your elbows along the mat.
As you imagine you're ducking under a wave,
Reaching your chin diagonally forwards and up.
Nice strong shoulders here.
And then exhale,
Lower back down onto your belly,
Bringing your hands to either side of your ribcage.
Press into the floor.
Sit your bum back towards your heels.
Tuck your toes and come onto your fingertips.
Now here you're going to lift your bum away from your heels just a little bit and crawl the fingers forward.
Crawling the fingers forwards,
Drawing the hips backwards to really lengthen the spine.
So a variation of active child's pose here.
Breathe into the back of your ribcage.
See if you can create some room here.
And then plant the hands,
Make your way back to your down dog.
And perhaps you walk it out here.
Walk your feet slightly forwards for a bit of a shorter down dog.
Inhale,
Press the floor away from you,
Lengthen through the spine.
And then reach your right hand to grab onto the outside of your left ankle,
Shin or thigh.
Look underneath your left armpit for down dog twist.
And then check in to make sure that you're not tipping too far over onto one side.
You want your weight evenly balanced across both of your feet and your left hand.
Return to down dog.
Lengthen by pressing the floor away from you,
Drawing the hips back and then switch sides.
Left hand grabs onto the outside of your right ankle,
Shin or thigh.
Look underneath your right armpit.
Keep pressing the floor away from you with your right hand.
And then return to your down dog.
Bend your knees,
Look forwards.
Step one foot forwards,
Followed by the other.
Uttanasana.
Taking a moment to play around with any movements that your body is calling for.
You can experiment with gently rocking forwards and backwards.
Maybe you bend into one leg,
You bend into the other.
You might grab onto opposite elbows and just bounce or sway from side to side.
Give yourself permission to experiment.
And meet your body wherever it's at today.
Right,
On your next exhale,
Bend the knees,
Shift your weight back into your heels,
Roll up.
Turn the palms to face forwards,
Press all four corners of your feet into the earth,
Reach your arms out wide.
Imagine you're pushing your hands out in opposite directions.
Inhale,
Arms all the way up towards the sky.
Exhale,
Bring your hands to Anjali Mudra.
Allow your thumbs to rest on your sternum and close your eyes for a moment.
Feel the prana,
Your life force energy,
Flowing through your body.
Raising your vibrations.
When you're ready,
Flutter the eyes open,
Release your arms by your side.
So keeping your arms nice and heavy and floppy,
Look downwards and then begin to roll down vertebra by vertebra,
Allowing the weight of your head to gently pull you downwards.
Keep the knees soft and relaxed.
Hold here.
Now there's no rush,
So move as slow as you can.
Once you reach the bottom,
Hang out here for a few moments.
Perhaps scanning your body for any areas of resistance and then choosing to send your prana,
Send your breath to that area.
We're going to roll up the same way we came in.
Bend the knees slightly.
Roll up vertebra by vertebra,
Arms and head heavy.
Your head is the last thing to come up.
When you reach the top,
Take a few circles with your shoulders,
Reaching the shoulders up towards your ears and back and down.
And then switch directions,
Rolling them forwards.
Okay,
Come back to the top of your mat and we'll go to the other side.
So feet parallel,
Step your left foot about a metre behind you.
You want your heel directly over your toes.
Hips facing forwards.
Look downwards.
Ground the feet and as you exhale,
Press the hands towards the floor.
Inhale,
Reach the arms forwards and upwards.
The gaze follows the hands.
As you inhale,
Reach the arms up and back,
Elongating the spine.
Remember not to go too far.
Reach your chest and your gaze diagonally forwards and up.
Keep pressing into your left foot,
Reaching the fingers up towards the sky as if you're trying to touch the clouds.
Keep the back leg straight if you can.
Bring the palms to touch,
Draw them down to prayer or to heart centre.
Lower your back heel,
Bend into your front knee and then lift your left foot off the ground for Warrior III.
Hips facing forwards.
Your Warrior III doesn't have to be a complete T-formation.
Just focus on your balance.
Find your Drishti,
Focusing your gaze on a point in front of you and maybe you tilt forwards if that's available to you.
Remember you can flex the back foot just to check that your hips are parallel.
And when you're ready,
Bend into your front knee,
Step your left foot all the way to the back of the mat for your high lunge.
If you need to,
You can slide your left foot backwards.
Ground the feet and then reach your arms forwards,
Diagonal from your back leg.
Press the left foot into the floor.
Strong legs here.
Reach your arms forwards,
Bend into the front knee just a little bit more,
Stacking the knee over the ankle and we'll hold for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Lower the finger to the mat.
Walk your right foot to centre,
Plant the hands and step your right foot back,
High plank.
If you took the option on the other side to come to side plank,
Then this time drop your heels over towards the left,
Stacking your left shoulder over your left wrist,
Reach your right arm up towards the sky.
If you need extra support,
You might place your right foot flat on the mat in front of your left knee,
So your right leg's at a 90 degree angle and perhaps your right arm reaches over towards the sky towards the left.
We're going to come out the same way we came in.
Roll the feet,
Roll back up onto the balls of your feet,
Lower the right hand to the mat,
Drop the knees to the floor,
Shift your weight forwards and lower down,
Chin,
Chest onto your belly and tuck the toes.
Keep the hands beneath the shoulders this time for locust pose.
Press the tops of the feet into the earth,
Engage your core,
Lift the chest,
Squeeze the elbows together and perhaps you lift the hands off the mat.
Hold it.
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
And lower down,
Bring your right ear to the mat.
Arms by your side,
Palms face up and take a moment of rest.
Maybe you move your hips from side to side.
Now gaze forwards,
Turn your palms to face downwards,
Come up onto your fingertips.
Once again,
Pressing the tops of your feet into the earth,
Engage your abs,
Lift the chest,
Press the fingers into the floor and reach the crown of your head diagonally forwards and up.
Hold it here.
Nice strong legs for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Lower the left ear to the mat,
Palms face upwards,
Rest.
Turn your gaze forwards and now bend your legs so your legs,
Your feet are pointing up towards the sky.
Lift the chest and imagine you're grabbing onto your ankles but don't grab onto them.
We're doing an unbinded bow pose.
So reach the hands back,
Lift the chest.
Hold it for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Lower the feet,
Bring your hands to the floor,
Make a pillow with your arms.
Rest the back of your,
Rest your forehead on the back of your hands and move your hips from side to side.
Bring your hands to mid-chest,
Press into the floor,
Set your bum towards your heels,
Bring your knees a little wider than hip-width distance apart,
Maybe even as wide as the mat,
Big toes come to touch.
Sit back for a wide-legged child's pose.
Walk the hands forwards,
Maybe your forehead rests on a block or on the mat and this is an active pose.
So press the floor away from you,
Draw the hips backwards,
Really feel that lengthening in your spine here.
And then come up onto your fingertips,
Walk the fingers back,
Propping yourself up to a kneeling position.
Grab onto your hands behind your back,
Straighten the arms as much as is available to you to open out the chest.
Grab onto the hands in front of your body,
Turn the palms to face forwards,
Round the back,
Gaze towards the floor.
And then inhale,
Reach the arms up towards the sky.
Reach,
Reach,
Reach,
Reach,
Reach your arms parallel to your ears.
Good job.
And release your hands onto your knees.
We're going to take a few neck circles here.
So just looking downwards and then rolling the head from one side to the other.
And if you come across any knots,
You know what to do.
Hang out here,
Hover,
And maybe gently wriggle from side to side.
See if you can loosen up a knot.
Now bring your head back to centre.
Drop your right ear to your right shoulder and with your right hand,
Apply a little pressure by placing it on top of your head.
And then the left back of your palm,
Back of your hand,
Comes behind your back here,
So like a chicken arm,
And then push your left elbow downwards to stretch out the left side of your neck.
So one hand on top of your head and the other hand behind your back.
Just pressing the elbow downwards.
Exactly.
And help your head back up again and you're going to move to the other side.
So left ear to left elbow or whichever side you haven't done.
Use your hand to apply a little pressure and then the opposite hand behind your back,
Press the elbow downwards.
And then gently help your head back up again.
So come back to your kneeling position.
You can use your blocks here.
I think I've left mine over there.
So come up onto your fingertips or come up high onto your blocks.
We're going to come to baby camel.
So you want your shoulders stacked over your wrists or your blocks and as you press into the floor with your hands and your knees at the same time,
You're going to lift your hips upwards.
Look up towards the ceiling.
And hold this for three to five breaths.
Working back bends today,
Chest openers.
So you might feel a stretch all the way down the front of your thighs and the whole of your front body.
So keep your thighs pressing diagonally forwards and your chest reaching diagonally backwards.
And don't worry if your hips don't lift too high.
It just means that your hip flexors are a bit tight.
Go as far as is comfortable for you.
And then when you're ready,
You can lower the hips down again.
Walk the fingers forwards and then slide the legs in front.
Feet hip-width distance apart.
Pull out the flesh from beneath your sit bones.
If it helps,
You can sit up on a cushion in this position and then bring your hands just behind your hips on your fingertips and press into the floor as you begin to rock forwards and backwards.
So in this position,
What we're really looking for is to maintain the integrity of the spine so you're not looking towards the floor.
Keep your head in alignment with your spine and you're hinging from the hips,
Tucking the pubic bone and leading forwards with your chest.
Okay,
If you want to go deeper,
We'll turn the palms to face forwards.
Exhale,
Press the hands downwards.
Inhale,
Reach the arms out wide.
Exhale.
On your next inhale,
Arms come up towards the sky.
See if you can lengthen,
Grow a little bit taller.
And as you exhale,
Hinge from the hips.
Stop before you start to round the back.
Point the thumbs downwards,
Lower your fingers to the floor.
Keep the feet flexed here.
And remember,
You're not looking towards the floor.
Keep your head in alignment with your spine so your gaze is towards the top of your mat.
And take a few long,
Deep breaths.
In through your nose,
Down your windpipe and into your lungs.
Breathing in,
Infinite loving kindness.
And breathing out,
Infinite loving kindness.
Maybe you go a little deeper by crawling the hands forwards,
If that's available to you.
Or choose to stay where you are.
Listen to your body.
Honour it.
And accept without judgement.
To come out,
Relax the head.
Walk the hands backwards to prop yourself back up to a seated position.
Help your left knee up.
And bring your left foot.
You can have a palms distance between your knee and your foot.
Or if it's available to you,
You can bring it over the knee.
What you want is the foot flat on the mat and the knee pointing upwards.
If your foot is lifting off,
Then just keep it in front of you.
That's fine.
Flex the right foot and pull your bum cheeks out so that you can sit up nice and tall.
Bring your hands over towards the right.
And as you inhale,
Sweep the arms over towards the left.
Point the thumbs downwards and lower the arms.
So your right arm wraps around your left knee.
Your left fingertips on the floor,
Thumb pointing backwards.
So you've got a slight bend in your elbow.
This gives you the space to press into the floor,
Grow taller.
And then look up and over your left shoulder.
Gently begin to unravel from the hips.
Low back,
Mid back,
Upper back and shoulders.
Straighten your left leg.
And then we'll come to the other side.
So help your right knee up.
And take whichever variation you took on the other side.
Keeping the left foot flexed,
Pull out the bum cheeks.
Sit up tall and bring your hands over towards the left.
Inhale,
Sweep the arms over towards the right.
Reach and lengthen.
Turn the thumbs downwards and then lower the arms.
So this time it's your left arm that wraps around your right knee.
Right fingertips on the floor.
Press into the floor,
Grow taller.
And then look up and over your right shoulder.
So you're not leaning back here.
Try to keep the back as tall as possible.
And then gently unravel to face the front.
Straighten the right leg.
Scooch the bum forwards.
Feet flat on the floor.
Grab onto the backs of your thighs.
Sit up tall.
Engage the core and then lean back to create a V formation.
When you're ready,
Lift the feet up parallel to the mat.
Option one,
Supported boat pose.
Option two,
You can release the arms.
And option three,
You can straighten the legs.
So just pick whichever one works for you.
And no rounding of the shoulders here.
Draw the shoulders back.
Lift the chest.
And we'll hold it here for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Excellent.
Grab onto the backs of your thighs.
Lower the feet to the floor.
Sit up.
Reach the arms forwards.
And keeping the feet glued to the floor,
Roll down nice and slowly.
All the way down.
Bring your knees to your chest.
Wrap your arms around your shins.
And maybe gently rock from side to side.
Come back to centre.
Reach your hands up towards the ceiling.
Slide your hands in between your knees and grab onto your heels.
Flex the feet.
And then lift your heels up towards the ceiling for happy baby pose.
Now if you find that your lower back is lifting,
Instead of grabbing onto the heels,
Maybe you grab onto your ankles or anywhere along your legs.
And if your head is lifting,
Do make sure to place a cushion underneath your head or a block.
Just so you're not straining your neck.
Go back to that sensation of infinite loving kindness.
Maybe bringing a smile to your lip.
And recall the sensation of freedom and payfulness that you felt as a child.
Maybe you begin to rock from side to side.
Straighten one leg,
Straighten the other.
Play around.
Heels to your butt cheek.
And then bring the soles of your feet to touch.
Interlace your fingers and then wrap your hands around the outside edge of your feet.
Fall on like a butterfly pose.
And then reach.
As you press your feet together,
Reach your knees backwards to stretch out.
The psoas muscle.
You might even bend your arms and reach your elbows towards your knees,
Your shins,
Pressing against them to go a little deeper.
Good,
And then release.
Bring your feet to the mat.
So we're going to do an inversion.
You can do a bridge pose that we did at the beginning of class.
If you're a little bit tired,
Perhaps you bring your legs up against the wall or you can join me for shoulder stands.
So if you want to do shoulder stands and you know you want to do plow afterwards,
You can come up against a wall to help you.
So if you want to do shoulder stand,
You're going to bring your knees into your chest and as you press your hands into the floor,
Lift your hips and place your hands onto the back of your lower back.
Walk the elbows in and then lift the feet up towards the ceiling.
And then wherever you are,
See if you can hold your inversion for 10 to 15 breaths.
If you're in shoulder stand,
Then perhaps you lower the feet to the floor for plow pose.
But if the feet don't touch the floor,
Then don't hang here.
Come back up to shoulder stand.
And then when you're ready to come out,
You can release the hands onto the floor,
Press the palms into the floor so that you can control your descent,
Allowing you to roll out nice and slowly.
Good job.
Okay,
So wherever you are,
We're going to take one final pose.
Straighten the legs,
Come up onto your elbows,
Press your hands down towards your feet,
Point the toes,
Reach your chest backwards and lower down nice and slowly.
Reach your left arm diagonally up towards the left.
So not just out towards the side,
But as far as you can up towards the left,
Palm facing downwards if you can,
If not,
Palm facing upwards.
Bend your left leg and then with your right hand,
Grab onto your left hip crease,
Thumb on the inside,
Index finger on the outside.
Bring your left foot onto your right knee and then roll over onto your right as you look towards your left hand,
Making sure that your left shoulder doesn't lift up.
Now,
If you feel like you're falling out here,
Then come back to the starting point and then scooch your hips over towards the left before you roll over towards the right.
Once you're in position,
Press your right wrist down and then diagonally towards the right.
So you're diagonally pushing away from your left hand.
Perhaps you slide your left foot down your leg just a little bit until you find that sweet spot.
And to come out,
Bring your head back to centre,
Lower your left hip to the floor,
Keeping your left leg bent,
Slide your left hand down to meet your left knee for sleepy tree pose.
Take a breath here.
And then straighten your left leg.
Come back onto your elbows.
Lengthen the lower back again by pressing the hands down towards the feet,
Point the toes,
Reach the chest backwards,
Lower down.
Your right arm comes diagonally up towards the right,
This time palm facing down.
If not,
Palm facing up.
Bend your right leg.
And if you had to scooch your hips over towards the left last time,
Then move them over to the right this time.
If not,
You can grab onto your right hip crease with your left hand,
Thumb on the inside,
Index finger on the outside.
Bring your right foot onto your left knee and then roll over towards your left as you gaze towards your right hand.
Make sure the right shoulder doesn't lift off and then press your left wrist down and towards the left.
Take agony away from your right hand.
Perhaps you slide your right foot down just a tad to find that sweet spot.
And then to come out,
Bring your head back to centre,
Lower your right hip to the mat.
Keep your right leg bent as you slide your right hand down to meet your right knee,
Bringing your right knee out towards the side for Sleepy Tree.
And then straighten the right leg.
Come back onto your elbows one last time,
Making our way into Shavasana,
Our final resting posture.
Pressing the hands down and towards the feet,
Point your toes,
Reach your chest backwards,
And slide all the way down.
And if you would like to,
You can take a variation.
Maybe you bring the soles of your feet to touch,
Knees out wide for Supine Butterfly Pose,
Or maybe you grab a cushion and you place it underneath your knees if you're feeling any discomfort in the low back.
Allowing the feet to flop out wide,
Palms face up.
And when you're ready,
You can close down your eyes,
Sense the air beneath your nostrils,
And enter through both nostrils,
Go down your windpipe and into your lungs.
Breathing in and out,
Infinite loving kindness.
Take a moment now to ponder what you want to leave behind in 2022.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Slowly begin to calm down.
Come back into your body.
Begin by finding some gentle movement in your hands and in your feet,
Moving your head from side to side.
Bring your head back to center and take a nice deep breath in through the nose.
Open your mouth and sigh it out,
Make a noise.
And again,
Deep breath in.
Reach your arms overhead,
Point your toes and stretch it out.
Maybe even take a yawn.
And sigh it,
Curling up into a little ball.
Taking a moment here to offer up some gratitude to your body for showing up today.
When you're ready,
Use your left hand to press up and make your way to a seated position,
Keeping your eyes closed.
Become entirely still.
If you were to choose one word for 2023,
What would it be?
Embracing the love and compassion that you've created in your practice today,
Bring a smile to your lips,
A smile to your heart,
A smile to your ears,
And a smile to your mind.
Let's bow to one another.
