Beginning in mountain pose.
Knees are soft.
Hips over the ankles.
Extending the spine a bit to bring the shoulders over the hips.
Bringing the ears over the shoulders.
And noticing how it feels to breathe standing this way.
And now curling forward,
Dropping the chin toward the chest.
Letting the shoulders start to come forward.
Letting the hands drop toward the floor.
Keeping the knees almost straight.
And letting the body settle.
Noticing the sensations of stretch.
Noticing how it feels to breathe in this position.
On the out-breath,
Checking to see if there's any more give.
Or whether you have already reached your limit.
And now slowly coming back up,
Starting at the hips.
Until you are back in mountain pose.
And next,
Bringing the right hand to the left shoulder.
And bringing the left hand or wrist to the right elbow.
And keeping the feet flat,
Twisting around to the left.
Noticing how it feels to breathe in a twist.
On the out-breath,
Checking to see whether there's any more give.
Not pushing,
Just asking.
And now relaxing back to the center,
Returning to mountain pose.
And noticing the sensations remaining from that stretch.
And now bringing the left hand to the right shoulder.
And the right hand or wrist to the left elbow.
And twisting everything around to the right.
Checking to see whether there's any more give.
Noticing the difference between eyes open and eyes closed.
And now untwisting and returning to mountain pose.
And now with a very wide stance.
Turning the right foot out 90 degrees and the left foot in most of the way.
And turning to face the right foot.
And now raising both arms up toward the ceiling.
And bending the right knee.
And bringing the knee only as far as over the ankle.
Keeping the head high.
If you want to extend the stretch,
Moving the left foot back.
And really feeling the stretch in the left hip.
Noticing which muscles are working,
Which muscles are relaxed.
Noticing how it feels to breathe in this position.
And now coming back up and relaxing the arms.
And noticing the sensations remaining from that stretch.
And now turning around to turn the left foot out 90 degrees and the right foot in most of the way.
Turning to face the left foot.
Raising both arms up toward the ceiling.
Keeping the head high and bending the left knee.
Again,
Bringing the knee only as far as over the ankle.
To extend the stretch,
Moving the right foot back.
And noticing what is happening in the right hip.
Noticing how it feels to breathe.
And now coming back up,
Relaxing the arms down.
And turning the feet forward again.
And now making your way down to table pose.
Hands and knees.
Hands right under the shoulders.
Knees almost shoulder width.
Noticing how it feels to breathe in this stable posture.
Taking a deep in-breath,
Arching the head up and dropping the belly down to extend the entire spine.
Full out-breath,
Dropping the head down and pulling the belly all the way up to flex the entire spine.
And at your own pace,
With each breath moving a lot of air and flexing and extending the entire spine.
Noticing the difference between eyes open and eyes closed.
And now returning to table pose and letting the breath come and go on its own again.
With the next in-breath,
Extending the right arm and the left leg so that they are parallel to the floor.
Noticing which muscles are working,
Which muscles are relaxed.
Noticing how the breath feels.
And when the body says that's enough,
Then that's enough.
And relaxing back down to table pose.
Noticing how the breath feels in this stable position.
And now extending the left arm and the right leg parallel to the floor.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
And when the body says that's enough,
That's enough.
And now relaxing back down to table pose.
Noticing what happens to the breath as the body relaxes.
Perhaps what happens to the mind.
And now turning over and lying back in corpse pose.
Taking a moment to relax everything.
And notice how it feels to breathe in this position.
And now drawing the feet in toward the hips,
Knees up toward the ceiling.
And raising the hips off the mat until the thighs and the lower back are in a straight line.
And relaxing back down.
And now with the arms away from the sides.
Reaching the right hand over to the left shoulder.
Looking to the left and keeping the knees and the feet together,
Letting the knees drop to the right.
Noticing how it feels to breathe in this position.
Noticing which muscles are working and which muscles are relaxed.
And now untwisting,
Knees back up toward the ceiling.
And now reaching across with the left hand to hold the right shoulder.
Looking to the right and keeping the knees and the feet together,
Letting the knees drop to the left.
And now untwisting.
And extending the legs back out to return to corpse pose.
Taking a moment to make sure that everything is relaxed,
That there's no pulling on the hands or the feet.
And softening,
Letting everything sink into the mat.
Relaxing the limbs,
Relaxing the core,
Softening the face.
Noticing how it feels to breathe in this position.
If you feel sleepy,
Perhaps opening the eyes.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
And now when you're ready,
Beginning to move.
Noticing how the mind reacts and how the body reacts as you begin to move.
Beginning perhaps with small movements,
Maybe moving the muscles of the face.
Moving the fingers and toes.
Waking the body back up.
Beginning to move the arms and the legs.
And stretching,
Anything that feels like it needs to be stretched.
And then making your way back up to sitting.
And then standing.
