Let's begin in a seated position.
You can grab a block and place under your hips if that feels more comfortable.
Place your hands on your knees and close your eyes.
Shift your attention to your breath,
Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Continue to put your focus here while also relaxing the body and releasing any tension in the face,
Shoulders,
And back.
Continue with a steady breathing and start to think about an intention for this class.
It can be an intention or mantra for your ceremony or something simple just to clear your mind and calm your body.
Repeat your intention or mantra and allow it to sink into your cells while you move and breathe throughout class today.
Allow your mind and heart to connect through the stillness in the body.
Take the next few moments to sit with this intention in your breath.
Slowly begin to open your eyes.
We're going to fold over our shins.
So bring your right shin just right in front of the left,
Still in a seated position.
Sit up nice and straight and then begin to fold forward and feel that slight stretch in the outer hip.
Just allow your head and your neck to hang here,
Coming back to that breath and focusing on your intention.
Just allow the body to surrender and relax a little bit more.
Slowly begin to push yourself up and we're going to switch sides.
So bring that left shin in front of the right,
Still in the seated position.
Sit up nice and straight and then walk your hands forward,
Relaxing your shoulders and your neck and your head.
Feeling a steeper place of surrender as you continue to breathe in and out,
Noticing how your body subtly begins to sink a little bit deeper with every exhale.
Begin to make your way up,
Walking your hands back.
You're going to extend both of your legs out,
Coming into a wide-legged stance.
If you need a block,
You can place that under your hips right now.
And then slowly begin to walk your hands forward,
Relaxing your head and your neck as much as possible.
If you have a block or a pillow,
You can place that under your belly or underneath your forehead.
Just find the space that's comfortable,
That's not too easy or too difficult,
Just in between.
And just ask yourself,
Can you find your center and ground yourself in your breath when you experience moments of discomfort?
So allow yourself to breathe deeply here and just soften around the eyes and the mouth and the shoulders and the body.
You're going to swing both of your legs forward so they're both straight out in front of you.
You're going to bend your left knee into your chest,
Take your left arm behind you,
Sit up nice and straight,
Reach your right arm up towards the sky and twist to your left.
Every inhale,
Think about lengthening through the spine,
And exhale,
Twisting just a smidge deeper.
No need to force,
Just close the eyes and enjoy this gentle spine opener.
And coming back to center,
Switching sides,
Straighten the left leg,
Bring the right knee into the chest.
Your right arm goes behind you as you lift your left arm up and twist over to the other side.
Straighten the spine here,
Using your breath as a guide to inhale,
Lengthen,
And exhale,
Go just a little bit deeper.
And cross your legs,
Make your way into a tabletop position,
And then from here,
Tuck your toes under and push your hips up and back into downward facing dog.
Just deeply bend your knees and just walk the feet out a little bit here,
Moving your hips from side to side,
Pushing away from the ground,
Pushing those hips up and back,
And just finding movements that nourish the body and breathe deeply into those spaces that feel a little bit tight.
You can keep the knees nice and bent if you need to,
So just find your position that feels right in your body.
Look to the top of your mat,
Start to walk your feet all the way up to the top of the mat.
Inhale,
Halfway lift,
And exhale,
Fold forward.
Take a deep bend in your knees,
And just begin to pedal your knees out a little bit here.
Keep one leg straight and the other bent,
And just go back and forth as you push your hips from side to side,
And keep your head hanging.
And inhale,
Lift your arms all the way up towards the sky,
And exhale,
Fold forward.
Towards the sky,
Exhale,
Hands to heart center.
You're going to bring your feet a little bit farther than hip distance apart.
Bring your hands by your sides,
And we're just going to begin to swing the arms around,
Almost like you're just gently tapping your back as you swing your arms around.
Keep your eyes nice and closed as you do this.
Continuing to open the spine here.
On every inhale,
Just continue to lengthen that spine,
And every exhale,
See if you can twist a little bit deeper,
Until eventually you come to a standing position with your arms by your sides.
And we're just going to release a little bit of energy here,
So shake the hands,
Shake the arms,
Start to bounce on the heels.
Any movement that feels good to release that energy.
You can keep your eyes open or closed,
And just dance around a little bit here.
Think about animals,
They do a little bit of this too to shake off some energy,
So just give this a try and see how it feels.
And step up to the back,
Or to the front of your mat.
Take a deep back bend,
Hands to heart,
Lower your hands to the ground.
And inhale,
Lift your arms all the way up to the sky,
Sink your hips back into chair pose.
Keep your arms nice and long.
Step your left foot back into a low lunge,
Take a little back bend here with your hands together.
And then exhale,
Place that left hand on the inside of your right foot,
Reaching your right arm up towards the sky for a revolved low lunge.
Release your right hand down to the ground,
Start to straighten out your right leg,
Shifting your hips back into a runner's lunge.
Relaxing your head and your neck here,
Keeping your toes pointed towards the sky.
And sink the hips forward,
Walk your foot over to the right,
And bring your hands to the inside of your foot,
Coming into lizard pose.
So here,
You can hang out just on your hands,
If you'd like you can roll into the outer edge of your right foot,
Or even come onto your elbows.
So find what feels good in your body,
And hang out here,
Coming back to that breath,
Coming back to that intention that you set at the beginning of class.
Reminding you to stay centered and grounded,
And bringing everything in.
So if the mind gets distracted,
Or things outside or external begin to distract you,
You always have this anchor,
Your breath and your intention is always your anchor to carry you through.
Slowly start to make your way back up,
Coming into tabletop.
Tuck your toes under,
Push your hips up and back into downward facing dog.
Feel that stretch in the backs of your legs.
Walk to the top of your mat,
Walk your feet all the way up.
And inhale,
Lift your arms up,
Sink the hips down into chair pose.
Pick your right leg up,
Extend back,
Drop that right knee down to the ground,
Bring your hands together,
Lift up and back.
Pushing the hips forward,
And then bring that right hand to the inside of the left foot as you reach and extend that left arm up towards the sky.
Lower that left hand down,
Push your hips back as you straighten out that left leg,
Bringing your toes up towards the sky,
And relax your head and your neck here as much as you can.
Breathing deeply here,
In these moments of discomfort we always come back to that breath,
To that anchor.
Start to bend that front leg,
Bring your hands to the inside of your left foot,
Into lizard lunge.
You can roll onto the outer edge of your left foot,
You can also come all the way down onto your elbows or your forearms,
Finding a position that feels good in your body.
And just allow yourself to surrender and soften just a little bit more.
Start to lift your head up,
Come up onto your hands if you were down lower,
Swing that left leg around back into tabletop.
You're going to bring the knees apart and your heels together,
And shift your hips back onto your heels,
Extending your arms forward,
Coming into child's pose.
If this is too much you can always bring your knees together or place a block underneath your hips.
If you're feeling any tension in the shoulders or the hips,
Just become aware of those areas of your body and see if you can soften a little bit more as you breathe deeper and deeper into those areas.
All the way up into tabletop.
And you're going to drop down onto your right hip,
And slowly swing your legs around,
And we're going to come all the way on.
And hug your knees into your chest,
Give yourself a nice hug,
Rocking side to side,
Just enjoying this movement in your body.
And just drop your left foot to the ground,
And bring the outside of your right ankle over top of your left knee.
So we're coming into this reclined figure four.
You can reach behind your leg or in front of your shin,
So take your variation that feels good in your body.
You can flex those right toes.
If this feels too intense,
You can always drop that left foot down and get a little bit more of a gentle stretch here.
And drop your arms out to the sides,
And then drop your legs over to the left,
Still in that figure four position,
And turn your head over to the right.
Feeling this nice outer hip stretch to center.
You're going to release that right leg down,
And then you're going to bring your hands by your sides.
Feet are going to be about hip distance apart.
Slowly lift your hips up towards the sky,
Coming into a bridge pose.
Walking your feet back closer,
Point your right foot on the ground and bring the outside of that left ankle over top the right knee.
Bring those legs in closer.
Reach for behind the leg or in front of the shin.
Finding your variation.
You may be a little bit tighter or looser on the side,
And that's completely fine.
And being gentle with ourselves in the process.
So drop your legs over to the right this time.
Bring your arms out to the side and turn your gaze over to the left.
Finding peace in these final stretches before we make our way into Shavasana.
Gently rock from side to side,
And then release your legs down.
You can keep your legs nice and straight with your arms by your sides.
If you want to go a little bit deeper,
You can bring your feet together and drop your knees out and to the side for reclined butterfly.
If you'd like to place your hands on your belly or your heart or even over your head,
You can do that too.
All of these are optional and just a way to explore what your breath,
Your intention.
Take everything in.
Begin to come back into your body.
Bringing your knees together if you were in butterfly.
Coming onto one side of your body and just curling up here for a moment.
And gently pushing yourself all the way up to a seated position.
And place your hands on your heart,
Eyes closed,
And check back in with your intention.
Feel it within your body,
Integrating it deeper.
The medicine will always guide you to what you need,
So feel the calm within and release any fears or expectations.
If you're ever overwhelmed,
Come back to your intention.
Open your eyes,
Take a few deep breaths,
And feel your body on the earth.
Know you are always held and supported.
And take a big inhale here.
Take another big inhale here.
Thank you so much for choosing to include me in your journey to know and understand yourself more.
This path is not for everyone and it takes a lot of courage to step into the unknown.
So enjoy the ride.
Thank you so much.
Namaste.
Namaste.
