Welcome back to my channel.
My name is Kristen.
Thank you so much for practicing with me.
And for today's practice,
Let's get started by coming into a comfortable seated position.
You can place your palms on your thighs and close your eyes,
Taking a moment to settle in,
Feeling your shoulders relax back over your hips,
And drawing your head over your pelvis,
Feeling into the full length of your spine,
The base of your body fully supported by the ground below you,
Letting the body rest on the ground,
And feeling the expansiveness of the sky above the crown of your head,
The spine rising up from the earth to the sky,
Your body held and contained in the space of your practice.
And from this space,
Notice how your breath naturally arises,
Deepens,
Feeling the breath moving in through your nose,
And expanding through your belly,
All the way up into your ribcage and chest,
And the long exhalation as you notice all the breath leaving the body.
Only to return again on your next inhalation.
Your breath is ever-present through your practice,
Expanding through your whole body,
Your whole body alive with sensation.
And in your practice today,
Simply noticing what's present in your body,
What sensations are present,
What thoughts,
Emotions,
And can you hold space for all that arises breath by breath from one posture to the next.
And let's take one more full breath,
Inhaling through your nose,
Gathering breath into your chest,
Pausing,
And then exhale with open mouth.
And you can open your eyes,
Reach your fingertips back behind you,
Lean back for a moment,
And lift up through the back of the heart between the shoulder blades.
Look up and feel the broadness across the collarbone and then opening through your throat.
And then exhale,
Perhaps taking some small movements through your wrists.
You can stretch out your legs,
Shaking out your legs,
And preparing your body for your first yin yoga posture.
So we'll start today in dragonfly pose,
Bringing our legs into a straddle and softening the muscles along the leg lines.
And let's take a moment to close our eyes here,
Feeling your toes relax,
And the weight of the leg bones drop into the earth,
And your pelvis settled on the ground.
Letting your chin drop towards your chest,
Breathing into the back of your neck,
And then allowing your shoulders to roll forward.
As you start to gradually drop the weight of the body into the pull of gravity,
Allowing your body to come to a natural stopping point.
So resisting the urge to pull your body down,
And instead you're yielding to gravity.
And supporting and propping your body when you come to a natural stopping point,
When you're feeling into some restriction through your tissue.
You can take a moment now to add bolsters or blocks underneath your forehead,
Or perhaps supporting your chest and your forehead.
And as you bring support to your body,
Noticing how this support allows your breath to expand and open,
And how this support allows your breath to expand and open,
As your muscles begin to melt and relax,
Your whole body heavy.
Stay attuned to your breath,
And notice for the last full minute of this hold,
Can you remove props and allow your body to drop deeper into the pull of gravity?
And letting your breath guide you into this space.
And we'll make our way out of this posture very slowly and mindfully,
Bringing our fingertips back underneath our shoulders,
Feeling into the support of the ground underneath you as you start to roll up one vertebrae at a time,
Your head lifting last.
As you roll up,
You can pause for a moment,
Noticing the sensations arising in your body,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
And taking a moment to simply be with what you're feeling.
And then you can open your eyes,
And we'll bring our body into butterfly pose,
Bending at our knees,
And bringing the soles of our feet together.
And again,
Just closing your eyes,
Drawing the heel of your foot towards your chest,
And bringing the heels away from the groin,
So that you can settle through your hips,
Feeling into the thigh bones and your knees,
Dropping into the pull of gravity.
And you might be supporting your thighs or your knees with blocks or bolsters.
And then as you inhale,
We're turning our body over to the left.
So you're rotating the torso over the left thigh,
And you're feeling down into your right hip.
So you're anchoring into the earth through the right side of the body,
And you're letting the whole body fold to the left,
Bringing any support you need underneath your forehead,
So that your whole body can begin to melt into the shape,
Relaxing tension through both shoulders,
And feeling into subtle sensation through the side body.
And again,
Just closing your eyes,
Drawing the heel of your foot towards your chest,
Pull body heavy,
Sliding away support from under your forehead,
If that feels good for you.
For your last few breaths,
Feeling the bones of the body,
Breathing into the sensations that arise,
Fingertips underneath your shoulders,
As you roll all the way up.
Coming back to center,
And breath expanding into your chest.
And continue to follow the sensations of the body,
As you rotate your chest over towards the right,
Dropping back into your left hip,
And then draping your body over your right thigh,
Supporting your forehead with any extra blocks or cushions.
And perhaps taking away extra support for your last few breaths,
As you deepen into this posture.
Feeling into the support of the ground below your body,
And taking your time to roll up.
Finding your breath,
And pausing for a moment,
Finding the spaces between each posture,
And perhaps beginning to notice a connection between sensations in the body,
Thoughts,
Emotions.
And then you can slowly draw the body forward,
We're folding through the center now,
Adding support for your forehead and your chest,
As the body is moving forward.
As the body comes to a natural stopping point.
And for the last several breaths of this posture,
Can you let go of any holding through the muscles?
Perhaps taking away props,
And allowing your breath to fully expand through the whole body.
You may even slide your forearms underneath the calf muscles,
Palms facing down,
And taking your time to slowly unwind and make your way up.
You can open your eyes and walk your palms behind you,
Lean back,
Lift through the back of the heart,
Broaden across your chest and look up.
And then exhale and relax your shoulders,
And we're coming down onto our back with your feet on the floor and your knees bent.
Take some time to attune your body to the ground,
Feeling the full length of your spine,
Supported by the earth below you.
And the muscles through the back body softening.
The base of your skull heavy,
And your pelvis heavy.
Breath expanding from the belly,
Into your chest,
All the way to the upper lobes of the lungs.
And then let's bring our palms open into a T-shape,
Palms facing up.
You can roll each shoulder underneath you,
And we'll rock our knees like windshield wipers from side to side.
Turning your head in the opposite direction of your knees.
Pausing with both knees to the right,
And then taking your left thigh straight down the center of your mat,
So that your hip and your knee are in line with each other.
And your left heel is drawing towards the hip at a comfortable distance,
Making sure that you're not feeling any tension in your knee.
And you can stay exactly as you are,
Or you can always take your right heel on top of the left thigh,
Adding a little bit more pull to the top of the hip flexor,
To the thigh bone.
Feeling not only a stretch through the front fascial line of the body,
But also feeling a little bit of compression in the lower back on the left side.
You can also take your left arm straight behind you,
Your fingertips reaching towards the back wall,
And your right hand taking a hold of your left wrist.
Closing your eyes for a few breaths.
And feeling your breath expand through the whole front body.
Relaxing your right heel,
Releasing your left arm,
And then bringing your knees back to center.
Pausing for a moment with both feet on the ground,
And your spine at rest.
Your breath nourishing and supporting all the newly opened spaces in the body.
Noticing what your body needs to feel supported in this moment.
And then you can drop both knees over to the left,
Bringing your right thigh down the center of your mat,
Right knee in line with your hip,
And the right heel hugging a little bit closer towards the hip.
Being aware of your knee,
Perhaps adding the left heel on top of the right thigh,
If that's okay for the knee and the back.
And you might also extend your right arm behind you,
Taking a hold of the right wrist with your left hand.
And finding your final breath here.
Relaxing the heel off of the thigh,
Relaxing your arms,
And bringing your knees back to center.
Floating each knee towards your chest and squeezing the thighs towards the abdomen.
And rocking your body from side to side.
And we'll take a few moments at the end of our practice to fully integrate through the nervous system.
And to allow our nervous system to embody and experience a space of rest.
You're welcome to stay in resting pose with your knees bent and your feet on the floor,
Or you can move into Shavasana.
Extending your legs to the ground,
Bringing your palms open alongside your body,
And taking a moment to rock your head from side to side,
And then back through center.
Softening the space between your eyebrows.
Feeling the bones drop.
Sensing where the back of your body meets the ground below.
And where the ground below supports your body.
Imagining the cool,
Soft waters of the earth holding your body.
And noticing where your skin touches the air.
And where the air moves through your body.
Over the top of your skin.
Imagining a clear blue sky above the body.
And the cool waters of the earth meeting the expansive blue sky.
Together as one sensation through your whole body.
And you can stay in this space of rest for as long as you need,
Allowing your nervous system to fully integrate this experience of rest.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
Namaste.
