Hi.
Today I'll be taking you through three rounds of sun salutations.
These sun salutations might be a bit different from what you're more familiar with.
They're an accessible version that I was taught by my teacher,
Catherine Anne Flynn.
Find a tall,
Confident position at the top of your mat and let's begin.
Bring your hands to a prayer position or maybe fold it over your heart.
Without changing your breath,
Notice your inhales and your exhales.
Notice what's going on in your body today.
Close your eyes if you'd like.
And let's take a deep breath in and a slow breath out.
On your next inhale,
Reach your hands overhead and take any big stretches you'd like here.
Maybe reaching from side to side,
Some circles.
Relax and then hinging at the hips,
Fold strongly over gentle knees for a forward fold.
Drag your hands up to your shins and pull your rib cage forward for a halfway lift.
Release back to the ground,
Plant your hands and step back to plank.
Take a full breath here,
Lowering your knees if needed.
Lower your chest slowly to the mat.
Shrug your shoulder heads back,
Lift your shoulders,
Neck,
Then head and slowly lower back to the ground.
We'll do this two more times.
Again,
Shrug your shoulder heads back,
Lift your shoulders,
Neck,
Then head.
Lower back to the ground.
Last time,
Shrug your shoulder heads back,
Lift your shoulders,
Neck and head.
Pause for a full breath at the top.
Release back to the ground.
Press your hands up into hands and knees,
Into table position.
Curl your toes under,
Lift your hips up and back,
Maintaining a slight bend in the knee.
Press down through your palm and fingers,
Broaden your shoulders away from your neck and draw your shoulder blades towards your waistline.
Go ahead and alternate bending one knee then the other.
Remember to breathe here.
Lift your hips up and lift your heels so you're on your tiptoes and take tiny steps up to your hands as if you were trying to walk into handstand.
Inhale to half lift.
Then bend your knees,
Lower your bum and take your hands overhead for chair pose.
Pause here for a full breath.
Stand up,
Reach overhead and then bring your hands to your heart.
Close your eyes and take a deep breath here.
Notice what's changed in your body,
What new sensations are coming to the forefront.
We're going to do two more rounds of this and for these rounds try to focus on your breath.
On your next inhale,
Bring your hands together overhead.
Hinging at the hips,
Fold strong over gentle knees.
Place your hands on your shins,
Pull your rib cage forward and press your thighs back.
Release and plant your hands and step back to the top of the push-up position.
Slowly lower down to the mat.
Roll your shoulder heads back,
Lift your shoulders,
Neck and head.
Release slowly to the ground.
Again,
Roll your shoulder heads back,
Lift your shoulders,
Neck and head,
Release slowly to the ground.
Roll your shoulder heads back once more,
Lift your shoulders,
Neck and head and take a full breath here.
Release to the ground.
Press up on your hands and knees into tabletop.
Curl your toes under,
Lift your hips up and back into downward dog.
Draw your shoulders towards your waistline.
Remember to relax your head and neck and check in here with your breath.
Lift your hips and your heels,
Tiptoe with as many steps as you can to the top of your mat.
Inhale to half lift.
Take a generous bend in the knees,
Bum down,
Hands up for chair and pause here for a full breath.
Notice where in your body the heat is building.
Stand up,
Reach to the ceiling and then bring your hands to meet at heart center.
Notice your breath here.
On your next inhale,
Reach your hands overhead.
Hinge at the hips and fold strongly over gentle knees for a forward fold.
Drag your hands up to your shins and pull your ribcage forward for halfway lift.
Release back to the ground.
Plant your hands and step back to plank.
Take a full breath here.
And then lower your chest slowly to the mat.
Shrug your shoulder heads back,
Lift your shoulders,
Neck then head and lower slowly to the ground.
Again,
Shrug your shoulder heads back,
Lift your shoulders,
Neck,
Head and lower back to the ground.
Last time,
Shrug your shoulder heads back,
Lift shoulders,
Neck,
Head and pause here for a full breath.
And release to the ground.
Press your hands up to hands and knees.
Curl your toes under and lift your hips up and back into downward dog.
Keep a little bend in the knees.
Press down through your palm and your fingers.
Broaden your shoulders away from your neck and draw your shoulder blades down towards your waistline.
Notice your breath.
Lift your hips up,
Lift your heels and take as many tiny steps as you can to the top of your mat.
Inhale to half lift.
Take a generous bend in your knees,
Lower your bum and take your hands overhead for chair pose and hold here.
Notice the quality of your breath.
Stand up,
Reach overhead and then bring your hands to your heart.
Close your eyes if you'd like and take a deep breath here.
What's going on in your body now?
Can you just sit with those feelings,
Not judging them?
Let's take a deep inhale together and a slow exhale.
If you have a spot set up for your seated meditation,
Go ahead and head there now.
Finding your seat,
Sit up tall and find a purposeful place for your hands.
Maybe taking some time to bring your shoulders up to your ears,
Back and down.
Making some circles and then reversing the direction.
Then bringing your shoulders back to neutral.
Turning your head from side to side.
Slowly,
Gently taking your chin down to your chest.
And your left ear over to your left shoulder.
Rolling back to center and then taking your right ear over to your right shoulder.
Bringing your head back to neutral.
Go ahead and close your eyes if you'd like.
And we'll take five minutes here to just focus on the breath.
Noticing here where you feel the sensation of the breath the strongest.
Sit in your nostrils,
Your chest,
Your belly.
And taking your attention there.
Taking special care to notice the beginning and the end of your breath.
And your mind will begin to wander away and that is perfectly normal.
What counts is that you gently bring your attention back to the breath.
And it will happen again and again.
And that is the work of meditation.
You may want to silently keep your eyes closed.
You may want to silently count your inhales and your exhales.
We'll label them inhale,
Exhale.
Noticing if you've begun to lean forward or sit back.
Maybe sitting up tall again.
Staying relaxed.
Let's take a deep inhale together.
And a slow exhale.
Take your hands and place them over your heart.
Noticing the movement you feel beneath your hands.
Can you bring to mind something you feel supremely grateful for?
Notice how that feels in your body.
Use that feeling of gratefulness to thank yourself for prioritizing you today.
Take two more breaths.
And then gently open your eyes.
Be gentle with yourself as you move into the next part of your day.
I'm grateful we're on this journey together.
Have a great day.
