Moving Meditation - Gentle Yoga Flow For Spinal Mobility

Audio recording from a live studio class in September 2025. This practice focuses on the spine. We begin on our backs and take a slow journey through forward folds and gentle twists to rejuvenate your spine from head to tail.

Transcript

All right,

So go ahead,

Arrive on your back.

Relax your arms at your sides,

Palms face up,

Allow your feet to completely relax.

Close your eyes.

And let's take a big breath in all the way through the crown of your head,

Lengthening.

And then exhale,

Just send the breath all the way down the spine,

Past the shoulders,

The low back,

The hips.

Go ahead,

Take another big inhale,

Filling up.

Focus on your third eye this time.

And then exhale again,

Send the breath down the body,

Down the spine,

Past the neck,

Shoulders,

Hips.

One more time,

Let's take a big inhale,

Fill up your chest all the way through your heart space.

And as you exhale,

Just release into the earth beneath you.

Let's come back to this nice,

Even breath that we're cultivating here together.

Inhaling through your nose,

Exhaling out your nose or mouth.

And I encourage you this morning to exhale out the mouth whenever it feels nice.

Just help to calm your nervous system.

Also ensuring that you fully expel the breath.

Sometimes when we exhale out the nose,

We don't fully release all of the breath.

So an audible exhale out the mouth can help complete the breath cycle fully.

And then while you're breathing here,

Let's go ahead and see if we can identify an intention for our practice this morning,

Maybe for the day ahead.

Maybe it's something in the physical body,

In the mental body,

Or maybe it's something a little more personal,

Just for you in the emotional body.

Let's take three more deep breaths.

Just sealing our intentions in,

Letting go of anything that we carried with us here this morning that we do not need to keep through the practice.

And now let's go ahead,

Let's wiggle the fingers and the toes.

Just very softly start to rock your head side to side,

Bringing some gentle movement into the neck.

Perfect,

Nothing fast,

Just a slow rock.

Maybe circle wrists and ankles if you haven't done that yet,

Yeah.

And then go ahead,

Just relax your arms alongside your body,

Bring your head to neutral.

We're going to reach both arms up and overhead on a big inhale.

Point through the toes,

Squeeze every muscle in toward the bone,

Get really long.

And then exhale out your mouth as you lower your arms down to your sides.

Soften your feet.

Big inhale,

Reach the arms up and overhead,

Point through the toes,

Lengthen out like you're being pulled from end to end.

And then big exhale,

Fully release,

Arms at your sides.

Perfect,

One more time,

Big inhale,

Reach those arms up and overhead,

Point through your toes,

Lengthen,

And exhale,

Lower your arms,

Relax.

Now take your arms,

Flip them so the palms face up,

Guide your shoulders down your back.

Excellent,

We're going to move through our angel arms.

So let's take a big inhale,

Just sweep your arms out to the sides and overhead like you're making a snow angel,

Point through the toes,

Reach through the fingers,

Perfect.

Exhale,

Slowly lower your arms down,

Relax through your feet,

Excellent.

Inhale,

See if maybe you can even slide your knuckles along the floor as you sweep your arms to the sides and overhead,

Great job,

I did sweep it this morning.

And then exhale,

Slowly lower your arms,

Relax your feet,

Perfect.

Let's do one more of these,

Inhale,

Reach the arms to the sides and overhead,

Lengthen fully,

Point through the toes,

Exhale,

Relax the arms,

Relax through the feet.

We pause here at center,

Take a big breath in,

Let it go.

And now let's draw the right knee up and into the chest,

Interlace your fingers behind your thigh,

Softly flex through your right foot,

Perfect,

Or your left foot,

Excuse me,

As if you're standing on the earth,

And let's inhale through the crown of your head,

Lengthen through the neck,

And exhale,

Soften your shoulders down and away from your ears.

Big breath in,

Lengthening,

And this time send the exhale all the way down the low back.

Let's do one more breath in here,

And a big breath out.

Now,

Right or left hand,

Excuse me,

To right knee,

Go ahead and just gently move into your twist,

Guide your knee across your left side body,

Perfect,

Reach your right arm out at your side,

Palm face up,

Gaze over your shoulder.

And let's see here,

So we do feel this definitely in the low back,

But hopefully you're also feeling it from the neck all the way down,

Because we're starting here from the top of the spine,

And we're just gently releasing all the way down.

So as you inhale,

Focus on the crown of your head,

And as you exhale,

Just send the breath all the way down the length of the spine,

Perfect.

Let's take a couple more breaths here.

Is that okay?

Okay.

Big exhale,

Perfect.

All right,

One more inhale,

Hold for your exhale,

And then let's gently bring the head to neutral,

Draw the knee back to the center line,

And we're going to actually reach for our straps.

So let me grab yours a little closer here,

Yes,

Bring the strap around the ball of the right foot,

And we're going to send the right leg straight up in space.

So bring the foot roughly in line with the floor and the ceiling.

You're probably a little tight,

We're just getting started this morning,

So keep a little bend in the knee if you're a little tight.

Let's inhale,

Focus on pressing the foot up,

And as you exhale,

Relax down the hamstring.

Big inhale,

Lengthen the leg up,

And exhale,

Soften down.

One more big breath in,

Exhale,

Soften.

Now we're going to move through our yoga bicycles.

So with one end of the strap in each hand,

Let's take a nice breath in,

Press the foot up toward the ceiling,

And then exhale,

Slowly lower the leg down in front of you,

But don't let it touch the earth,

Let it hover over the mat,

Perfect.

Inhale,

Draw the knee up and into the chest,

And then exhale,

Straighten the leg up to the ceiling,

Perfect.

Hold here,

Breathe in.

Exhale,

Straight leg lowers down and hovers.

Inhale,

Knee to chest.

Exhale,

Straighten that leg up,

Hold here.

Take a big breath in.

Exhale,

Lower the straight leg down.

Inhale,

Knee to chest.

Exhale,

Straighten your leg up.

Perfect.

Hold here,

Breathe in,

And we're going to reverse that motion.

So exhale,

Knee to chest.

Inhale,

Grow the leg forward and long like you're pressing the foot into the mirror,

And then exhale,

Lift your straight leg up and back.

Perfect.

Hold here,

Breathe in.

Exhale,

Knee to chest.

Inhale,

Grow your leg forward and long,

And exhale,

Straight leg up and back.

Hold here,

Breathe in one more time.

Exhale,

Knee to chest.

Inhale,

Lengthen the leg forward and long,

And exhale,

Lift your straight leg up and back.

Now hold here.

We're going to take three breaths,

Inhaling the foot toward the ceiling,

And as you exhale,

Guide the toes toward your forehead.

So find that trajectory,

That line of energy.

I can hear you breathing.

That's perfect.

If you want to fire up the Ujjayi breath,

You're welcome to exhale out the nose with that little audible catch in the throat,

Whatever feels good.

Now bring both ends of the strap into your right hand,

Take a big breath in,

And we're going to exhale,

Open the leg over to the right,

Reach your left arm out at your side,

And breathe here.

I'm going to bring your block over in case you'd like to place it underneath the calf.

Sometimes with a little support there,

You can relax even more into the stretch.

Is that okay?

Is that any support?

Yeah.

Okay,

Perfect.

All right.

And then the toes,

Again,

Are angling toward the forehead.

Yeah,

There we go.

And then just completely relax.

And you can keep your head neutral here if you like.

Just getting nice and expansive.

Yes.

Let's take a few more breaths.

Keeping the breath slow and steady this morning.

Two more deep breaths here.

Now,

Before you move anything,

Find your belly button,

Uddiyana Bandha.

Let's anchor it down.

Press your foot actively into the strap and lift your leg up.

Don't pull it with your hands.

Lift your leg up on your inhale.

Perfect.

Bring the strap into your left hand.

And as you exhale,

Only lower the leg about 60 degrees.

Six inches.

Very shallow.

We'll move deeper eventually,

But pause here for a moment.

Reach your right arm out at your side.

Gaze over your right shoulder.

And now,

If you like,

You can start to move deeper with that leg.

But find your edge where the IT band starts to wake up a little.

Perfect.

And so we are getting a little bit of a twist here.

So continue to inhale through the crown of the head.

And exhale down the length of your spine.

Let's take three more deep breaths.

One more inhale.

Hold as you exhale.

And then again,

Make sure you're lifting from your leg.

You're not pulling with your hands.

Inhale to center.

And then exhale,

Knee to chest.

Set your strap aside.

And then send that right leg forward and long.

Bring your right hand to your belly,

Your left hand to your heart.

Completely relax through your feet.

Take a big inhale through the crown of your head.

And then send the breath all the way down the body,

Feeling that long right leg.

It should feel a little longer than the left.

Inhale into your third eye.

Exhale.

Send the breath down the body.

And then one more time.

Inhale into your heart space.

Exhale,

Release.

Now gently bend your left knee.

Draw it up and into your chest.

Interlace your fingers behind your thigh.

And then let's pay a little bit of attention here to the finer points of our alignment.

Right foot gently flexes.

Crown of the head extends toward the wall behind you.

And the shoulders relax.

The shoulders love to creep up by the ears.

So whenever you establish a new shape,

Always find the shoulders and let them relax.

Let's take a big inhale.

See if you can exhale and soften your face,

Your brow,

Your jaw.

Inhale.

And exhale,

Release your spine.

Let's do one more breath here.

Let it go.

And then move at your pace.

Allow your right hand to come to your left knee.

And the next time you exhale,

Move into a twist.

Left knee across the right side body.

Left arm reaches out at your side.

And again,

Gaze over that shoulder.

Bring the twist into your neck.

Perfect.

Find your breath again.

And just soften down your spine.

Let's take a couple more breaths.

And then go ahead and draw that right knee back to center.

Let's reach for our strap.

And bring your strap around the ball of the left foot.

Sending the left leg straight up in space.

Aligning the sole of the foot with the ceiling.

Making sure that right foot of that straight leg that's on the earth is engaged.

And let's take three breaths.

Inhale.

Press the foot up toward the ceiling.

Exhale.

Soften down the hamstring.

Inhale.

Lengthen foot to ceiling.

Exhale.

Soften.

One more.

Inhale.

Lengthen foot to ceiling.

And exhale.

Soften.

Now we're going to start to add some movement.

So inhale into this long leg.

And then exhale.

Keep the leg straight as you lower it down in front.

Let it hover over the earth.

Inhale.

Knee to chest.

Exhale.

Straighten that leg up.

Hold here.

Breathe in.

Exhale.

Lower your straight leg down and hover.

Inhale.

Knee to chest.

Exhale.

Lengthen that leg up.

Hold here.

Breathe in.

Exhale.

Straight leg lowers down.

Inhale.

Knee to chest.

Exhale.

Straighten up.

Perfect.

Hold here.

Breathe in.

And let's reverse.

Exhale.

Knee to chest.

Inhale.

Grow the leg forward and long.

Exhale.

Lift your straight leg up and back.

Hold here.

Breathe in.

Exhale.

Knee to chest.

Inhale.

Grow your leg forward and long.

Exhale.

Lift your straight leg up and back.

Hold here.

Breathe in.

One more time.

Exhale.

Knee to chest.

Inhale.

Straighten that leg forward.

And exhale.

Lift your straight leg up and back.

Now hold here.

Breathe in.

Foot to ceiling.

Exhale.

Toes toward your forehead.

Inhale.

Exhale.

One more time.

One more inhale.

Maximum exhale.

Now as you inhale,

Bring both ends of the strap into your left hand.

And as you exhale,

Open that leg over to your left.

Take your right arm out at your side.

And breathe here.

I'll come around if you'd like a block under this side.

Yes.

Perfect.

And then you're welcome to just keep your head neutral.

If you are going to turn the head,

Bring it over the opposite shoulder.

Let's see.

That's a little too low.

How's that?

That good?

Okay.

Perfect.

And then toes.

Yeah,

There we go.

Lovely.

Soften here.

Take three more deep breaths.

Last inhale.

Exhale.

Now inhale.

Lift your leg up to center.

Bring the strap into the right hand and just start with a few inches.

Lowering the leg over to the right.

Take your left arm out at your side.

Gaze over your left shoulder.

And then if your body wants to move deeper,

Start lowering that leg a little more.

Yes.

Great job.

So finding that beautiful length in the IT band.

There should be a little resistance there.

Breathe through it.

And you're also getting a very gentle twist through your spine.

Let's take two more deep breaths.

Now again,

Inhale.

Lift the leg up.

Don't pull it.

Come back to center.

Bend the left knee into the chest.

Set the strap aside.

And then send that leg forward and long.

Right hand to belly,

Left hand to heart.

Relax through your feet.

Let's take a big breath in.

Fill up belly,

Chest,

And ribs.

Hold the breath at the top.

Big exhale.

Let it go.

Pause at the bottom of the breath.

Inhale.

Fill up belly,

Chest,

And ribs.

Hold at the top.

Exhale.

Let it go.

Pause at the emptiness.

And one more time,

Inhale.

Fill all the way up to the top of your lungs.

Hold it in.

And exhale.

Let it go.

Pause one more time here.

And then take a big breath in at your own pace.

Filling up.

And a nice fluid exhale.

Letting go.

Now we're going to bend the knees one at a time.

Plant the feet.

And we're going to reach for,

Let me bring your blocks a little closer.

We're going to put one block right in between the thighs.

Perfect.

And we're going to have the other block ready at hand for our supported bridge.

But we're going to start with a full bridge.

So just put one block in between your thighs.

Perfect.

So you have that anchor point.

Press your palms.

Keep your gaze at the ceiling.

Find the four corners of your feet.

And then from the four corners of your feet,

Start to lift up.

Lift your hips.

Press yourself up.

Chest to chin.

Get as open as possible.

Feel your belly fire up to support this shape.

Feel your hips engage to lift a little higher.

And open through your chest.

Lift your chest to your chin.

Keep pressing up from your feet.

We're going to hold here for three more breaths.

If you'd like to make a fist with your hands underneath,

You can.

Rolling your shoulders open even more.

So sending the fist toward the heels.

Excellent.

Great job,

Agata.

Perfect.

You've got this.

Lift a little higher on your next inhale.

And then very slowly with control,

Use your core to help slowly descend one vertebrae at a time down the whole length of your spine.

Let your tailbone touch the mat.

And then pause here.

Take a breath in.

Take a breath out.

And then reach for your block.

Gently inhale.

Lift your hips.

And slide the block under the sacrum at the low position.

Let your palms relax,

Facing up at your side,

Shoulders down your back.

Let's take three deep breaths.

Inhale.

Relaxing fully on your exhale into that block beneath you.

Big breath in to your expansive heart space.

Chest to chin and exhale.

Soften.

One more inhale here.

Exhale.

Release.

Now keep the block under the sacrum.

Remove the block in between your thighs.

And then straighten your legs out.

See if you can angle your toes toward the corners of your mat.

Just allow them to flop open.

Allow the hips to externally rotate.

And relax your arms.

If you need to adjust the spot where your block under your tailbone is,

Adjust a little bit so you're comfortable.

And then close your eyes.

Take a big inhale.

And a full exhale.

Three more deep breaths.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Now gently bend your knees.

Plant your feet.

Lift the hips just enough to remove the block.

And then with control,

One vertebra at a time,

Lower down the length of your spine.

Take a breath here once you arrive.

Big breath out.

And then let's walk the feet to the outside edges of the mat.

Let the knees fall in together to touch.

And take a breath here in neutral.

Inhale.

Exhale.

One more breath in.

Big breath out.

Now gently heel-toe your feet in so they're hip-width apart,

Knees open,

Hip-width apart.

And then just softly rock side-to-side on the sacrum.

Nothing too crazy.

Keeping the belly engaged so you don't flop over to one side.

It's a nice controlled rock.

And then bring the knees to center.

Engage the belly.

Hug them into your chest.

You can always roll to one side and press yourself up or we're going to bring hands behind the thighs.

And we're going to draw the nose toward the knees.

Get nice and round.

Curl in.

And then you can start to rock front-to-back.

See if you can take three rocks along the whole length of your spine.

Have a little fun with it.

And then when you do arrive,

Yeah,

Come all the way up.

Send your legs forward.

Take your blocks.

Let's put one in between the thighs or the knees.

Calves.

Second one on top.

We're going to start with a really high position here with the blocks.

Plant the hands under the shoulders.

Big breath in.

Sit up tall.

And then exhale.

Hinge from the hips.

Walk the fingertips forward.

Keep your spine long.

And then when you're ready,

Go ahead and bow.

Let your third eye come to the blocks.

If you want to lower them right away,

Go for it.

Otherwise,

We're going to take five breaths.

And at any point when you feel like you can lower them,

Feel free to do so.

And no pressure if you don't want to lower them.

This is great.

Let's bring the palms to face up alongside the legs.

And just focus on using the breath to lengthen through the spine a little more so that we resist the temptation even to pull the earth.

We like to pull ourselves forward with our hands.

So really lengthening from the belly up the spine and softening down.

Let's take three more deep breaths.

There you go.

Perfect.

That's annoying when the blocks aren't quite where you want them to be.

You're like,

Wait,

I need a height in between this.

Perfect.

Let's do two more breaths now that you're resting on that block.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Now root your palms into the earth.

Engage your belly.

Lead with your heart.

Slowly rise up.

Just let your hands slide back.

Perfect.

Let's set the blocks aside.

And then we're going to cross the ankles.

You can swing the legs to one side if you prefer or cross the ankles,

Roll over your seat,

Whatever's best.

Perfect.

Find tabletop.

So grab your knee pad if you like.

And we're just going to move through a few cat-cows.

So root the tops of the feet down.

Let's inhale.

Drop your belly.

Lift your heart.

Lift your tail.

And then today in particular,

As you exhale,

Pull up from the belly,

But also focus on pulling up in between the shoulders.

Get really round through the spine.

And then inhale.

Drop the belly.

Lift the heart.

Lift the tail.

Open.

Exhale.

Pull up.

Slowly round.

Just think of taking a slow journey through the spine.

Inhale.

Belly drops.

Heart and tail lift.

Perfect.

Exhale.

Pull up from the belly.

Pull up from the shoulders.

Curl in.

Two more.

Inhale.

Open.

Exhale.

Round.

One more.

Inhale.

Open.

And exhale.

Round.

Now find that nice neutral spine.

We're going to thread the needle.

So we're going to reach the right arm forward when you're ready.

Big breath in.

And then as you exhale,

Take that hand under the left shoulder right ear to the mat.

Keep the left palm planted for a moment.

So find your edge here.

And then if you'd like to,

Start to inch the left arm forward.

Maybe finding a bind.

This is all optional.

So just see what feels good in your body today.

Yes.

We think this is just kind of a shoulder stretch,

But you're also getting this nice twist through the upper back.

So see if you can not only exhale through the shoulder,

But also pay a little attention to the spine.

Let's take two more deep breaths.

And then go ahead and replant the right arm.

And then we're going to take a deep breath in.

And then we're going to take a deep breath out.

And then we're going to take a deep breath in.

And then we're going to take a deep breath out.

And then we're going to take a deep breath out.

Shoulders down the back.

Lovely.

And then right away,

Let's pull up from the belly.

And I want you to feel your spine as it slowly rounds.

Your hips make their way to your heels.

And you arrive in Extended Child's Pose.

Perfect.

Moving the spine in all directions.

Let's take a couple of breaths.

Now engaging your belly.

Inhale,

Lift back up to tabletop.

And then we're going to switch sides and thread the needle.

So on your next inhale,

Reach your left arm forward.

Lengthen.

Big breath in.

And exhale.

Thread the needle.

Left ear,

Left shoulder to the mat.

Plant that right palm.

And then when and if it's okay,

You can inch the right fingers forward.

You can also wrap that arm,

Back of the hand,

Against the left hip.

That might be a little intense though depending on how much tension you have in your left shoulder.

Perfect.

Three more deep breaths.

Remembering that as we exhale,

We deepen our twist a little more.

So really use that breath.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Now replant the right palm.

Engage your belly.

Inhale.

Slowly unravel.

Lift your left arm up.

There it is.

Awesome.

And then lower that hand down.

And then right away walk your palms forward,

Hips forward,

Shoulders over wrists.

Inhale.

Nice long spine.

Exhale.

Lower.

And then inhale.

Open up.

Cobra.

Right away from Cobra.

Pull up from your belly.

Slow journey through the spine.

Start to round.

Bring the knees as wide as the mat.

Big toes touch in the back.

Hips to heels.

Wide-legged Child's Pose.

Take a breath in.

Take a breath out.

Now walk both hands over to the right side of your mat.

Stack your left palm on top.

Soften down that left side body.

Three deep breaths.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Walk the palms through center and then over to the left side.

Right palm stacks.

And soften down the side body.

Great job.

Couple more breaths here.

And then walk your palms through center.

We're going to engage the belly.

Inhale gently.

Lift ourselves up for Tabletop.

Bring the knees underneath the hips.

There we go.

And then we're going to walk the palms forward.

Send the hips forward.

Shoulders over wrists.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Slowly lower down.

Inhale.

Lift your heart for Cobra.

And this time as you exhale,

Pull up from the belly.

Start to round.

Slow journey through the spine.

Curl the toes under behind you.

And eventually send the hips up and back.

Let's take a Downward Dog.

Hips up and back.

Pedal through the feet.

Perfect.

You've got to shake out the head and the neck.

So find a little movement.

Everything move a little bit.

And then settle into stillness.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Let's take a few more breaths.

Soften the knees a little more.

Does that feel okay?

Okay.

Does that feel okay?

Okay.

You have very petite heels.

I like it.

Okay.

One more inhale.

Big exhale.

Now slowly inhale from your belly button.

Ripple forward.

Plank on your toes.

I want you to think focus on your spine through this sequence.

As you exhale,

Pull up from your belly.

Hips up and back.

Downward Dog.

Great job.

Inhale.

Slow ripple forward.

Plank.

Journey out that spine.

There you go.

Exhale.

Hips up and back.

And one more time.

Inhale.

Slow ripple forward.

And exhale.

Pull up and back.

Downward Dog.

Hold here.

Breathe in.

On your exhale,

Slowly lower your knees to the mat.

Walk your hands back a little for Tabletop if you need to.

Release the tops of your feet.

Inhale.

Drop the belly.

Lift the heart.

Lift the tail.

And then exhale.

Pull up from the belly.

Round through the spine.

Hips to heels.

Extended Child's Pose.

Take a breath in.

And then as you exhale,

Let your hands come all the way back by your heels.

And take the full expression of Balasana.

Excellent.

Three deep breaths.

Let the shoulders just relax down.

Think of breathing into the upper back.

And exhaling into this little egg shape.

One more breath in.

Big breath out.

Now go ahead and slowly extend your arms back forward.

Engage your belly and roll up your spine so you're sitting on your heels in Thunderbolt.

Perfect.

Let your hands rest on your thighs.

Take a breath in.

Take a breath out.

And then we're going to lower the fingers to the mat.

We're going to curl the toes under.

And we're just right away going to move into a Standing Forward Fold.

So when you're ready,

Just go ahead and lift your hips.

Walk your hands back.

Grab your opposite elbows.

And completely release through the head and the neck.

Sway a little side to side.

Let gravity take over here.

Completely relaxing through your spine.

Excellent.

Lovely.

Perfect.

So lifting from the hips.

And softening down.

Alright.

One more breath in here.

Big breath out.

And then find some nice soft knees.

Release your opposite elbows.

Lead with your heart.

Big breath in.

Arms to the sides and overhead.

Rise up.

Exhale.

Slowly release the arms.

Let's just take a big breath in here in Mountain Pose.

Big breath out.

And then inhale.

Arms to the sides and overhead.

Exhale.

Hinge from the hips.

Fold through center.

Take a big breath in.

Hands to thighs.

Halfway lift.

Lengthen.

Exhale.

Soften back down into your fold.

Find a gentle bend in your knees.

Bring your hands to the earth.

And we're going to walk ourselves forward to Downward Dog.

So walk the hands forward to Downward Dog.

Pedal through the feet again.

Arrive.

Take a big inhale.

And a big exhale.

Now we're just going to move the feet here.

So keep them still at center for a moment.

Take a big inhale.

And then your hands are planted.

Everything stays the same.

We're just going to let our feet rock over to your right.

So kind of like you're moving into a side plank.

Just let your heels swivel to the right.

Yes.

Breathe here.

You should feel this in that left side body.

Breathe out.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Lift back to center.

Establish your center.

Your Dog Pose.

Exhale.

Take one more inhale.

As you exhale,

Let the heels swivel to the left.

But keep your palms grounded.

Just breathe into that right side body.

Yes.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Swivel back to center.

Hold for your exhale.

And then inhale.

Ripple forward to your plank on the toes.

We're just going to exhale lower to the knees.

And then all the way to the belly.

Perfect.

Awesome.

Okay.

Now go ahead and slide your palms forward.

Elbows under shoulders.

Let's move into Sphinx Pose.

Relaxing the low back.

Neck following the arc of your spine.

And then we're going to take a big breath in with the head at center.

And then as you exhale,

Draw that line with your nose.

Look over your left shoulder.

So let's just check in with the neck.

Take a big breath here.

Let it go.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Draw that line back through center and over your right shoulder.

Hold here.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Come to center.

Breathe in.

And now exhale.

Bow your head,

But don't let your shoulders roll forward.

Let's take three breaths here.

Draw a line with your nose to look up on your next inhale.

Perfect.

Let your elbows go wide as you exhale.

And just let your forehead rest on your hands for a moment.

Let everything release.

Take a breath in.

Take a breath out.

Alright.

We're going to move into one more back bend.

This one happens to be my favorite.

So we're going to reach the arms alongside the body.

And then the first option is a locus pose where you just lift your heart,

Reach your fingers back.

So if you'd like to do that,

You can.

But we're going to move into a slightly deeper version.

We're going to bend the knees and we're going to reach the hands for the outside edges of the feet.

And then when you peel your heart up,

What drives that motion is that you're pushing your feet to the wall behind you.

That lifts your heart up.

Yes.

Great job.

Yeah.

This gets that spot right between the shoulders.

The mid-back,

The upper back,

Neck follows the arc of the spine.

Lift a little higher.

Yep.

There you go.

One more inhale.

Bow pose.

And then exhale.

Slowly lower down.

Let everything release.

Forehead to one ear,

The other to the earth.

And then just shake the hips side to side for a moment.

Let that low back release.

And now plant the hands under the shoulders.

Elbows hug in.

We're going to inhale.

Lift to plank on the knees.

Just the knees.

Bring the knees as wide as the mat.

Big toes touch.

And then pull up from the belly button and slowly start to round.

Slowly start to round through that spine.

Let the hips come all the way to the heels.

Perfect.

Extended child's pose.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

For the next two breaths,

Flip your palms so they face up.

Relax the shoulders.

And then replant your palms.

Engage your belly and slowly roll up your spine.

Head comes up last.

You're sitting on your heels.

And then come onto one hip or the other and swing your legs forward.

Perfect.

Go ahead and bring your feet near the top of your mat.

Reach your arms forward.

Plug your shoulders in their sockets.

And then when you're ready,

You know what?

Let's do a nice forward fold before we lower down.

We didn't really do a proper counter pose there.

So lift your arms all the way up.

Big inhale.

And then exhale.

Fold all the way down.

Hands to shins.

Ankles are the feet.

Or just let them rest on the mat.

Palms face up.

Let's take three full breaths.

One more inhale.

Exhale.

Now engage your belly.

Reach your fingers forward and up to the ceiling as you rise up.

And then lower your arms down shoulder height.

Plug the shoulders in their sockets.

Big breath in.

And then use your core.

Exhale.

Slowly lower down.

Perfect.

Reaching the arms up and overhead when you arrive.

Pointing through the toes.

Full body stretch.

And then go ahead and lower your arms down.

We're just going to bend the knees.

Plant the feet.

We're going to take a nice reclined pigeon.

So we are going to do one hip opener here.

So bring your right foot over your left thigh.

Interlace the fingers behind the thigh.

Hug that knee in.

Yes.

Arrive here.

Just soften the shoulders again.

Especially here in reclined pigeon.

Those shoulders like to creep up.

So just relax through the hip.

Let's take a couple more breaths.

On your next exhale you can lower down.

Lower the right foot down.

And then bring the left foot over the right thigh.

Interlace your fingers and draw that knee in.

Moving into reclined pigeon on the opposite side.

Just take some nice deep breaths into this hip.

One more inhale.

And then lower the right foot down to the mat.

Lower the left foot down as well.

Bring the soles of the feet together.

Let the knees open wide.

Bring right hand to belly and left hand to heart.

So a nice neutral position for the spine here as we wind down today.

Inhale into your heart space.

Exhale through the pelvis.

Three more deep breaths.

Now bring your hands to the outside edges of your thighs.

Draw your knees in.

And then go ahead.

Whatever feels good for you.

Maybe roll to one side.

Just press yourself up.

We're going to move into Shavasana.

And I'm going to set you up with the bolster today.

Perfect.

So we're going to bring this right up on your tailbone.

So keep your sits bones down.

And then just slowly lower down.

You can extend your legs if you like forward.

Bring your arms palms face up.

Soften down the shoulders.

There you go.

Get nice and open here.

There we go.

Perfect.

Close your eyes.

Relaxing through your feet a little bit.

There we go.

Perfect.

Let's go ahead and arrive in our Shavasana.

So if you'd like to do one more inhale maybe into your third eye.

And then just exhale completely into the support beneath you.

Let's just enjoy a few moments of stillness.

Now take your time when you're ready.

Just find a little movement.

Fingers and toes.

Circling wrists and ankles.

And then bend your knees and plant your feet on the mat.

And to come off of that bolster you're just going to roll to one side.

So rolling onto your side when you're ready.

Just roll off of it.

Perfect.

And then gently lift yourself up.

And take your time.

And if you would like to you can even sit up on the bolster instead of sitting on blocks.

If that feels nice.

If not,

Skip it.

Perfect.

Alright.

Back to the hands on the knees.

Thumbs to forefingers.

Close your eyes.

Shoulders down the back and right over the hips.

Ears right over the shoulders.

Bringing that chin back in space.

And then let's close our eyes and take a big inhale through the crown of your head.

Send the breath down the length of your spine.

And then from Mula Bandha inhale.

Pull energy up the spine.

Inhale.

Sit up tall.

And exhale.

Send the breath back down.

Now bring your palms together in front of your heart.

Let's take a nice inhale.

Pulling energy up.

Recalling our intentions today.

And as you exhale,

Gently bow forward.

Thank you for joining me.

Namaste.