Becoming aware.
The quality of our breath.
Does it feel deep or shallow?
Rhythmic or Ragged.
If it helps,
You can bring one hand to your chest,
One hand to your belly to give you a more physical sense.
Where the breath is going.
How the breath is feeling in the body today.
I'll take three.
Full breaths here.
To settle into our bodies,
To settle onto the mat and settle into this practice.
Let's breathe in through our nose.
Exhale gently out of the mouth.
Two more like that,
Breathing in through the nose.
And gently exhale out of the mouth.
One more breath in.
Exhale.
Letting it go.
Bringing the hands back down to the lap or the knees.
Become aware of this urge that you might be feeling.
Noticing where you're feeling it in your body.
Might be a restriction in the throat.
Tightness in the chest.
Maybe it's a little bit of a twitch in your hand or your foot.
This restlessness that is.
Moving through the body.
Really try to pinpoint where you're feeling this.
When you have.
Found that area,
Wherever it might be.
Gently place one of your hands on the area.
Perhaps you start to incorporate a little bit of very gentle movement onto this space.
It's just A very gentle act of soothing onto the body,
Self-touch.
Breathing in gently.
We're doing our best not to resist the urge.
We try and soften into this difficult feeling this difficult emotion.
Difficult sensation.
Start to relax the jaw.
Soften all the muscles around the eyes.
Drop the shoulders away from the ears.
You can continue holding this area.
Very gently,
You can continue.
Maybe softly touching around the area,
Maybe even doing some little massages,
Just squeezing into the fingers and the thumbs.
Maybe you're feeling it down into the sternum.
Feeling of restriction in the belly,
Wherever it is.
Allowing it to be there.
Knowing that this urge will pass.
Staying with it for a few more breaths.
Let's take a nice big inhale through the nose.
And exhale out of the mouth.
More like that,
Breathing in.
And gently exhaling.
One more breath in here.
And exhale.
Start to.
Make these movements a little bit smaller.
Maybe we find some stillness.
With a hand.
If it feels safe and comfortable to do so,
You can slowly.
Remove the hand off of that space.
Noticing how we're feeling.
The urge is still there,
If it feels like you would still like to.
Soften and hold yourself in this area wherever it might be and you're welcome to continue doing so.
We can also go through.
10 breaths together to get to a little bit of a softer space,
A little bit of a calmer.
Regulated.
Sensation in the body.
So we'll be doing two different breathing exercises,
Very gentle breathing exercises here.
I've been doing.
An extended exhale,
Where we inhale for four.
Hold for four.
And exhale for eight.
And then we'll be doing.
Our physiological side.
Inhaling halfway into the lungs.
Taking a moment to pause.
Filling up the lungs all the way.
And exhaling for a count of seven.
We'll be doing five rounds of each breath.
I'll be counting us in and if at any point you feel discomfort.
It feels like you can't catch your breath.
If it feels like I'm going too fast or too slow,
Then you're welcome to.
Either sit it out or just continue breathing at a regular pace.
There's this natural.
Release of tension that happens.
In the body and in the mind as we exhale.
So being mindful of that.
On these nice long exhales to really drop the shoulders.
You can make it dramatic.
Maybe you drop the hands.
Maybe you really sigh it out.
Finding what feels best in your body.
We'll take a breath in here together.
And exhale,
Let it go out of the mouth.
Going into our extended exhale.
Inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four.
For learning.
Hold,
Two,
Three.
Exhale to release.
Three.
Bye-bye.
5,
6.
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale to release.
Three.
Or Hold to breathe.
Three.
Exhale to release.
Or you.
Bye.
Seven.
Inhale to release.
Or a week.
Or Hold to release.
Three.
Exhale to release.
Bye.
Seven.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Oh.
Exhale.
Taking some normal breaths here.
Or we move into our cyclical side or physiological side.
When you're ready,
We'll take a breath in halfway into the lungs.
Pausing at the top.
Filling up the lungs all the way.
And exhaling out of the mouth for seven.
Three.
Two.
Breathing in halfway.
All I see.
Filling up the lungs all the way.
And exhaling for seven,
Six.
Bye.
Three.
Two.
One,
Breathing in halfway.
Aussie.
Filling up the lungs all the way.
And exhaling for seven.
Five.
Two.
Breathing in halfway.
Oh,
I see you here.
Filling up the lungs all the way.
And exhaling for seven.
Bye.
Sorry.
To.
One.
Breathing in halfway.
I want to see it here.
Filling up the lungs all the way.
And exhaling for seven,
Six.
Bye.
Or Three.
Two.
Bye.
Breathing at a regular pace now.
Noticing any sensations happening in the body.
Simply letting them pass through whatever they may be.
Noticing if that urge maybe feels a little bit softer now.
Let's take three breaths here together,
Inhaling through the nose.
Exhaling out of the mouth.
More like that,
Breathing in.
And out.
One more breath in here together.
Exhale,
Let it go,
Drop the shoulders.
Slowly starting to wiggle the fingers and the toes.
Nodding the head side to side,
Bringing your awareness back into the room,
Slowly floating the eyes open.
We'll make our way into some very gentle movements.
To better support this.
Urge surfing meditation.
Let's do some big rolls with the shoulders.
Going in one direction.
And then going in the opposite direction.
Make our way into a side bend,
Bringing the right hand down towards the ground,
Left hand reaches up and over the ear.
Trying to keep that left seat nice and rooted down on the ground.
Breathing in,
Back to centre,
Opposite side.
Left hand comes down,
Right hand reaches up and over.
Taking a nice deep breath in.
And then exhaling to soften.
Coming back to center,
We'll bring our left hand to the outside of the right knee.
Right hand can drop behind you.
We're using it kind of like a second spine to lift through the chest.
And turn to twist open to the right.
Taking another breath in here.
And exhaling as you slowly come back to center,
Arms reach up high.
And exhale,
Opposite side,
Right hand to the outside of the left knee,
Left hand drops behind you,
Breathe in to find the length.
And exhale to twist,
Open to the left.
Coming back to center again,
Reaching the arms up high.
We'll bring our hands down to our knees and if you are sitting on any blocks,
You can gently move them out of the way.
We're going to go into some seated cat cow,
Hands go onto our knees.
We start to drop our belly,
Lift our gaze as we breathe in,
Shoulder blades roll down the back.
And as you exhale,
Bring the shoulders forward,
Tuck your tail,
Tuck your chin,
Bring the belly button towards the spine as you exhale.
Moving through a couple more of these just at your own pace,
Breathing in to open.
Exhale to close.
Inhaling into our cow pose.
Exhaling,
Catting the spine.
One more round here.
We'll meet in a neutral spine,
Coming into a forward fold.
Walking yourself forward,
Hinging at the hips,
Keeping the sits bones down on the mat.
And we just walk ourselves forward as far as we can go.
Taking a nice deep breath in here.
And exhale.
Relax the shoulders,
Relax the head and the neck if you do have some blocks.
Or perhaps.
Some books.
Or something to put your head down on.
You can stop.
Of some blocks.
Back up some blankets or pillows.
Just to relax the head and the neck.
Take one more breath in here.
Nice big exhale.
Slowly starting to walk ourself back into an upright seat.
Moving any props that we have out of the way.
We'll plant our hands down behind us,
Put your feet on the ground,
Soles of the feet flat on the ground,
About hips width,
Maybe a little wider apart.
And we'll just do some windshield wipers with the knees,
Rocking the knees.
From left to right.
And the next time that the knees drop over to the right,
We're just going to let them drop all the way over.
Now we're going into something called a 90-90 pose.
So you're welcome to bring both knees into 90 degrees.
If that is uncomfortable for you,
Then you're also welcome to bring the back heel a little bit closer to your glutes,
The front heel a little bit closer to your pubic bone.
It's just going to give you a little bit of extra space.
We're going to shift.
Ourselves so that we're facing over that right leg.
Take a big breath in.
And exhale as you slowly start to walk yourself forward and down.
Again,
Just going as far as we can go.
Breathing into the right glutes,
All along the right hip crease.
Into the hip flexor,
Anywhere that you are starting to feel this posture.
We want to be able to take nice deep breaths while we're here.
So if it ever feels like your breath is restricted.
Then that is our body telling us to gently come out of this.
Let's take three more breaths here together.
Inhaling through the nose.
And gently exhaling out of the mouth.
Breathing in.
And exhaling.
One more breath in.
Exhale,
Let it go.
Slowly start to happen.
Back upright.
Bringing the hands behind you again.
Going for the windshield wiper side to side.
And then dropping the knees all the way over to the left.
Again,
Setting yourself up that feels nourishing.
And comfortable or at least somewhat comfortable.
We don't want any shooting pain.
And we want to be able to breathe.
So I'm going to do something that's a little bit more folded up.
Take a nice big breath in to lengthen the spine.
And then exhale to start to walk myself forward,
Going just as far as I can go.
Not putting any pressure.
Onto this.
And not just in the physical sense,
But emotionally,
Psychologically.
There is no pressure here.
Very simply being here,
We are moving.
The body to get more focus on our physical self.
We're here to soften into our body.
Not looking to change anything or to fix anything.
Simply be a little bit more present.
With every exhale.
To relax the shoulders away from the ears.
Maybe have a slight tuck to the chin just to lengthen into the neck.
Taking one more deep breath in.
And exhale.
Slowly let it go,
Walking yourself back.
Into an upright position,
Hands come back behind you.
We go for another windshield wiper side to side.
And then we'll make our way onto all fours into a tabletop position.
And coming onto our hands and our knees.
My wrists are underneath my shoulders.
My knees are underneath my hips.
I have my toes tucked,
But if it feels better to untuck the toes,
You're welcome to do so.
And we'll go through a couple rounds of our more traditional Cat-Cow on hands and knees as we arch the spine,
Open up the collarbones,
We take a big breath in.
And as you exhale,
We push the floor away.
Start to dome the spine,
Relax the head and the neck.
And if it feels good,
You can start to incorporate some.
Intuitive movements here.
That is.
.
.
Anything your body is telling you to do.
So if it feels good to stay in your cow a little bit longer.
Or maybe stay in the cat a little bit longer.
Maybe you feel like doing some rolls.
Arching the spine.
To doming the spine.
Maybe you want to work into the wrists,
Fingertips go in opposite directions,
Shifting side to side.
Bringing the fingertips to face you.
If that's accessible,
Being gentle with our wrists here.
Going forward and back.
And then bringing the hands back to center.
Going through one more round of your cat cow.
And meeting in a neutral spine when you're ready.
We're going to step our right leg long back behind us.
And start doing a little shift forward and back.
Opening up the back of the leg.
Pushing the floor away as we do so.
We'll pause in center.
We'll ground our right foot.
And then we're going to kick our left heel off of the mat behind us.
We'll press into the left hand and slowly start to peel our right hand up towards the sky.
Taking a big breath in.
Feeling the expansiveness of this posture.
Feeling the power.
In these small movements.
Next breath out,
We'll reach our arm up and over our ear towards the front of the mat or the top of your mats.
Feeling a nice big stretch all along your right side body.
Take a big breath in.
And exhale as you bring the right hand down,
Left foot comes back onto the mat,
Right knee meets the left.
And onto our opposite side,
Left leg kicks out behind us again,
Rocking forward and back.
And then pausing again in center,
Grounding the left heel.
Right foot comes off of the mat behind you.
Left arm sweeps up towards the sky as we breathe in.
Notice if you've started to collapse into the right shoulder.
Push the floor away,
Feeling nice.
And big and powerful in this posture.
And exhale as you reach the left arm up and over the left ear.
One more deep breath in.
And then exhale as you bring the left hand down,
Right foot swivels back onto the mat,
Left knee meets the right.
We're going to come into a wide like child's pose.
Knees can be nice and wide.
Our big toes touch behind us.
We send our hips down and back.
Walk your fingertips out in front of you.
If the floor feels far away,
You can use a block.
Under your head.
And we're here for five breaths.
Take one more deep breath in here.
And exhale.
Slowly letting it go.
We'll make our way back onto our hands and knees.
And meet in a seated position facing each other.
You can also lay all the way down.
Onto your back.
We'll close our eyes again here.
If you are seated with me,
You can bring your hands to heart center.
Soften the gaze if you haven't done so already.
Doing another check in with the body.
How are we feeling?
It's okay if.
I don't feel great.
Just know that you are taking some beautiful steps.
Two.
Change some pathways in your mind to change some habits.
So please be gentle with yourself.
Let's take three cleansing breaths to close out our practice.
Bowing the head,
Take a big breath in.
And exhale,
Let it go.
Two more like that,
Breathing in.
Exhale out of the mouth.
One more deep breath in,
Filling up the lungs,
Biggest breath of the day.
Exhale.
Turning to wiggle the fingers and the toes,
Coming back into the room,
Gently opening the eyes.
Thank you so much for being here.
I hope that you are well and please take good care.
