All right,
So come to a standing posture.
Come meet me here on your mat.
And separate your feet any comfortable distance so you're nice and grounded.
And then from that groundedness,
Really reach up.
Extend out through the crown of the head.
Relax your shoulders down and back and then allow your eyes to close or soften your gaze.
Take a moment to.
.
.
Ground down through the feet,
So really make sure you're supported under all four corners of the feet.
And then bring awareness to your breath.
So start to establish your yogic breathing.
Nice and smooth and even.
In and out through the nose.
And it's a relaxed effort.
So each breath becoming more relaxed,
More effortless.
Gradually lengthen your exhalation.
And deepen your inhalation And it's a softening.
It's a relaxing.
So you're grounded down through the feet.
You're fully supported.
This breath is our source of nourishment,
Our source of life.
As much as you can throughout the practice keep coming back to the breath Stay with this inward focus as much as it feels good.
Awareness on the breath.
And then bring your hands together at your heart.
Sense the connection between your hands,
The uniting between the left and right side of your body.
Feel the stability under the feet connecting to the ground.
As you're ready you can release the arms allow the eyes to open Get some nice gentle movements here.
Start to roll out the shoulders.
Rolling the shoulders up and back.
We're just breathing deeply here,
Not necessarily combining breath to movement here.
Stay nice and relaxed through your joints.
So you can allow that circular motion to come into the elbows a bit.
Circling in both directions.
And then you can really get into the elbows and the wrists.
Nice big circles,
Nice and gentle.
Breathe deeply.
Circling in both directions.
Really nice.
Take your time and slowly begin to sweep the arms forward and back.
Allow your low body to do whatever feels good.
So sometimes it's nice to sort of.
.
.
Rock from side to side or shift the weight from one foot to another.
You can bend your elbows or straighten your arms.
Just getting into a nice rhythm.
Joints are nice and relaxed.
Just freeing up the body here,
Freeing up the more subtle body,
Actually,
The pranic pathways,
The nadis.
So we're allowing energy to flow more easily.
Keep breathing,
Keep moving,
Keep circling at the joints.
Nice,
Really good And then come back to center,
Keep your stance a little bit wider.
And then using the elbows,
Twisting from the base of the spine.
Start to get a nice spinal twist.
And as you do that,
Lift up your opposite heel.
This will support your low back,
Support your knees.
Breathe here and notice where you might feel,
You might even hear places of release in the spine.
Keeping the spine young keeps us nice and young and vibrant.
Good.
You can stay with this or you can extend that arm behind you.
So one arm comes toward the heart.
The other arm extends.
Same thing,
Lifting up that opposite heel.
This variation gives you a little bit more leverage,
Allows you to deepen.
The twist get a little bit more opening for the chest.
Good.
Gradually come towards center.
Bring your hands to your hips now.
And begin to circle Keep your upper body,
Your torso upright,
Circling just at the hips here.
Still breathing,
Still feeling things out.
Inviting some energy into the body and really also releasing stagnation.
Any of that morning inertia,
Little by little.
Letting go of that Good.
Come back to center.
Give yourself some room.
We're going to do some arm swings.
This time we're going to use a nice strong breath in and out through the nose.
So more of a sharp exhalation and a sharp inhalation.
And you can make this as big or as small of a movement.
So knees are nice and soft.
So the inhale arms come overhead.
And then on an exhale,
You sit the hips back as you bend the knees and sweep the arms through.
Inhaling up.
Exhaling down So nice,
Sharp inhalation and exhalation.
And just move to your capacity.
So whatever that feels like for you.
Make sure that you're sitting the hips back and bending the knees.
Keep going.
Find a nice little rhythm for yourself.
Just a few more.
Good.
Gradually come back towards center.
Begin to cross the arms,
Switching.
The top arm each time Really nice And then extend the arms out and just begin to circle.
Nice circles here.
Keep breathing.
Really just tune in.
Notice how things are feeling in your shoulders.
Upper back.
Go in the opposite direction.
Make these circles a little bit bigger.
It's really good.
And then extend your arms in front of you and then make some tight fists.
Squeeze.
And release.
Squeeze.
And release,
And then squeeze and hold,
Circle.
Really get into the wrists and the forearms.
Both directions.
Beautiful.
Release as you're ready and then go ahead and shake it out.
So at the risk of looking a bit silly.
Really shake it out.
Maybe even some little hops.
Shaking out the shoulders,
The arms,
Relax to the joints.
Shake out the legs.
Any remaining tension,
Any remaining inertia.
From your rest,
Just shaking it out,
Letting it go.
Really nice gradually.
Come back to center.
And then let's find stillness.
So allow your body to get completely still,
Ground down through your feet.
Extend up through the crown of the head.
Relax your shoulders.
And then either close your eyes or soften your gaze.
You've lost that breath rhythm,
Just gradually lengthen the exhale,
Deepen the inhale,
So come back to a nice smooth breath.
And notice how you feel.
Just a small check-in here.
And then come with the eyes open very nice let's continue to wake up the body build a little bit of strength build some heat So let's make our way to the front of the mat now.
And aligning your movement to your breath.
So one breath per movement.
And the movement follows the breath.
So you might be a little bit faster,
A little bit slower than my movement.
We'll just start with some squatting salutations.
So we're going to inhale,
Arms overhead.
And then exhale,
Fold forward,
Bend the knees,
Keep some bend through the knees.
Inhale,
We're going to sit the hips back and extend the arms in front.
Now stay here if this isn't available you might bring the arms behind you your hips might be lifted a little bit higher so take any whichever variation On your next exhale,
We're going to fold forward,
Release down.
Inhale rise back up arms overhead extend look to the fingertips And exhale,
Lower the arms.
Beautiful start again inhale arms overhead Exhale,
Bend the knees,
Fold forward,
Keep the knees bent.
Inhale,
Lower the hips,
Extend the arms.
Come into your squat.
Exhale,
Fold forward.
Look back at the navel,
The low belly.
Inhale rise up arms extend Exhale,
Lower the arms.
Do two more of those at your own speed,
At your own rhythm.
So just following your breath here.
Nice and supported,
Maybe in some ways slowing down the movement if possible.
Linking one movement to one breath You'll see the movement also takes on the qualities of the breath.
So when your breath is smooth and even,
Your movement becomes smooth and even.
Next time you come into a forward bend,
Let's stay there.
So release down.
Soften your head and your shoulders.
Good,
And then step your feet back.
Come into downward dog.
Lift the hips,
Press through the hands.
Look forward.
Let's step the right foot in between the hands.
And then go ahead and lower the knee,
Untuck the toes,
Bring your hands to your thigh.
As you exhale,
Start to bring your hips forward toward that front heel.
Just be mindful of the bend in the knee.
Knees over the ankle.
And then if it's available,
Extend your arms overhead.
Nice and gentle here.
At the same time,
Draw in at the navel,
So activate at the low belly.
Exhale,
Release the hands down.
You might come onto blocks.
That's more comfortable.
So we're going to inhale to look forward.
Exhale,
Start to shift the hips back,
Straightening that front leg.
Or at least unbending that front knee.
It doesn't need to be perfectly straight.
And we'll do that a couple times.
So inhale brings you into your lunge.
Exhale extends out through the leg When you're done there,
Let's go ahead and step back to downward dog.
Good,
Lift the hips maybe a little bit higher this time,
Keep pressing through the hands.
Bring some awareness to the navel,
The low belly,
Just below the belly button.
As you exhale engage,
Draw the low belly in.
And as you inhale,
Release.
And do that a couple times.
Engage on the exhale.
Release on the inhale.
Let's look forward,
Step the left foot in between the hands.
We'll come into the low lunge on the second side.
Untucking those back toes starting with hands on the thigh.
As you exhale,
Bring those hips forward toward that heel.
Finding just the right placement that feels good for you.
Hands can stay down or hands extend up.
There's a natural slight backbend,
But at the same time,
Keep some integrity,
Keep a little bit of activation at the root of the body.
You can lift through the pelvic floor if that's available.
Breathe here.
Breath is smooth and even.
Let's lower those hands down.
Inhale to look forward.
And then bending and extending.
So as you exhale,
Start to shift.
Those hips back as you inhale coming forward Let's make our way up and back to Downward Dog.
So hips lifting,
Really create length through the spine,
Press through the hands.
And find that navel activation so as you exhale engage drawing in at the low belly as you inhale release And do that a couple of times.
Engaging as you exhale.
Releasing as you inhale Good.
Look forward.
Step both feet in between the hands.
Bend the knees.
Keep the knees bent.
And then extend the arms up,
Coming into chair pose,
Utkatasana.
And breathe here.
Same thing,
Keep drawing in at the navel,
Just a little bit of activation.
So you're lengthening through the low back.
Inhale,
Rise,
Up arms,
Head,
Slight back bend.
Exhale lower the arms Pause for a moment here.
Allow yourself to reconnect to the breath.
So inhale arms over head.
And then exhale,
Let's sit the hips back,
Keep the knees bent.
Chair pose once again,
Utkatasana.
Stay here.
Breathe.
Exhale,
Fold,
Forward release down.
Inhale rise back up,
Arms overhead.
Exhale,
Lower your arms.
Start again.
Inhale,
Arms overhead.
Exhale,
Sit your hips back.
Utkatasana.
Stay here.
If you'd like,
You can add some navel activation.
So as you exhale,
You draw the belly in.
At the same time,
Just draw the shoulder blades together.
Inhale,
You release the belly as you lengthen the arms.
Just a few rounds.
This is definitely a challenging posture.
Really powerful for shifting energy,
Waking up.
Energizing the body.
Release down.
Pause and breathe.
Soften through your shoulders through your neck Let the breath fill the abdomen.
You can gently rock your head side to side,
Forward and back.
Beautiful.
And then step the feet back.
Downward dog.
And then bring the knees wide and send the hips back.
Coming to Child's Pose,
Balasana.
So you want to be resting your forehead onto something.
So if it's not the floor.
.
.
Maybe using a block.
Or using your body so you can stack your forearms,
You can stack your fists.
You want to release that head down onto something.
So that you're able to relax your head and your neck.
Breathe here.
Allow the breath to fill the abdomen.
Feel the support of the floor.
And bring awareness to the navel,
So just below the belly button,
That low abdominal region,
That energy center,
That pranic center of the body.
Keep awareness there as you rise up into a table pose.
Spread out the fingers,
Ground down through the palms.
Get nice and stable.
If you need to put a blanket under the knees feel free to do that.
But when you feel stable,
Bring that awareness back inward,
Back to the navel point.
We're gonna work here.
With the energy at the navel And important to keep the awareness there.
Where the awareness goes,
The energy flows.
So as you exhale,
You're going to engage.
Draw the navel in toward the spine.
Allow that engagement to help guide.
Rounding of the spine chin comes in toward the chest as you press through the hands Inhale,
Relax the navel,
Lengthen through the front of the body,
Lift the chin.
Just like that.
Exhale,
Engage.
Draw in at the navel.
Round the spine.
Inhale as you release the navel.
Lengthening all across the front of the body lifting the chin So move with your breath.
Really let this be an inward focus.
Staying with awareness at the navel.
As you exhale and draw in,
You might even start to draw the inner thighs together a little bit.
Maybe even finding a gentle lift through the pelvic floor.
As you inhale everything relaxes softens Stay with this.
We're gaining more access to prana.
The energy of the body,
The vital force.
And it's More access to our own personal will,
Our ability to.
.
.
Transform.
To transcend.
Move through our day with more resilience.
More vibrancy.
Gradually come back towards center.
And as you're ready,
Press your hips back,
Come back into Child's Pose,
Balasana.
Relax here.
Really allow yourself to be supported.
And just notice your experience.
Let's rise up make our way down to seated Bend the knees,
Place the feet on the floor.
Bring the arms behind you for support.
And then just gently.
Releasing the knees from side to side,
So internally and externally.
Rotating the thighs See you next time you.
.
.
Knees go over to the right.
Sit up and then twist in that direction.
So from the base of the spine,
Twisting toward in the same direction as your knees.
Keep lengthening through your spine.
Relax through your shoulders.
Breathe into the abdomen.
Gently untwist,
Come back to center,
Recenter your hips.
And then lower both knees in the opposite direction and take that twist to the second side.
As you inhale,
You might sense Your spine creating a little bit more length reaching up through the crown.
As you exhale.
Connecting more deeply to the twist.
On twist,
Come back to center.
Go ahead and make your way down onto your mat.
Just a gentle moving bridge so feet are about hips distance apart.
Arms alongside the body.
You inhale press through the feet lift the hips up toward the ceiling As you exhale,
Lower the hips down.
And continue just like that.
Inhaling as you lift.
Exhaling as you lower.
Moving at the speed of your breath allowing your breath to guide and dictate the movement Next time you lift the hips keep the hips lifted Stay steady through the legs.
Keep an openness through the neck.
Connect to your breath here.
If it's available,
You might start to walk those shoulder blades together,
Maybe clasping.
Hands underneath you Maybe you also use a block for a supported bridge.
Just hold this as long as it feels good.
So when it stops feeling nourishing.
Just allow the.
.
.
The hips to lower and back down.
And all together,
We'll release down,
Lower the hips.
Extend the right leg on the mat and draw the left knee in toward the body.
Get a nice stretch,
Relax the shoulders stay here or on an inhalation we're going to extend the left foot to the ceiling and then draw that leg in toward the body the knee can be bent Then begins a circle,
Nice big circles with the ankle in both directions.
Gradually soften relax and switch sides so lengthen out through the left leg Draw the right knee in.
So either grip clasping the shin or the back of the thigh.
Keep those shoulders relaxed.
As you breathe.
Stay here or extend that right foot toward the ceiling now.
Blasping the thigh,
Drawing the leg in toward the body.
And circle the ankle on this side Both directions.
Go ahead and release down.
And then extend your arms overhead.
You have enough space behind you Full extension.
Press down through the,
Out through the heel so your legs are active.
And then clasp the palms together.
Press the palms up and away.
Fingers clasp,
Palms pressing up and away,
Lengthening through the body here.
And then draw the knees in toward the body,
The chin in toward the chest.
Give yourself a nice squeeze.
And then release and relax down.
Come into Shavasana.
So your final resting position.
Separating the feet a comfortable distance,
Just allowing the feet to naturally relax out to the side.
Burning the arms from the body,
Palms face up traditionally.
Slightly curling the fingers.
Maybe you can walk those shoulder blades together a little bit And relax here.
Allow your body to settle with each breath.
Your body is relaxing and settling more fully into the support of the floor.
Bring awareness to the natural rise and fall at the belly.
Stay here i'm just going to sit up so i can guide you for another minute or so Your breath is effortless.
Completely held.
Remaining completely still,
Bring your awareness up to the very top of your head,
The crown of your head.
And breathe all into that space.
Soften scalp forehead.
Allow your eyebrows to relax.
Relax all the muscles of your face,
Your cheeks and your jaw.
And relax your tongue entire face your entire head is fully relaxed And then keep softening through the neck and the shoulders,
All the way down your arms to your fingertips.
Back up your arms to your shoulders and your neck.
And then travel awareness down to the.
.
.
Center of your heart.
And pause and breathe.
Breathing into the heart space.
As you inhale,
Sensing the nourishment that comes in.
And as you exhale,
The cleansing,
The releasing.
Often down your abdomen,
Your rib cage.
Your pelvis and your hips.
Down to your feet.
All the way to the tips of your toes Your legs are completely relaxed.
Follow that awareness back up the body,
The legs.
The hips and the pelvis.
The abdomen and heart center.
Throat center Eyebrow Center and back to the crown of your head And for a few breaths,
Become aware of your entire body.
Sense that as you breathe your whole body is breathing.
Every cell nourished.
Energized as you breathe in.
And cleansed and relaxed as you breathe out.
You can stay here as long as you'd like.
Or we can go ahead and close together.
Just gradually deepen the breath and.
.
.
Invite some small movement.
Through your fingers and your toes.
Chantly wake up the body.
Reach arms overhead once again,
Lengthening,
Get a nice stretch.
And then roll over onto your side using your bottom arm as a pillow.
And then use your arms and press yourself up.
And find a comfortable seat any cross-legged position or sitting on a chair.
You can use some propping,
Sitting on a block or a bolster.
Settle into a nice stable and comfortable seat and as you do that Sit up nice and tall.
Aligning the crown of the head with the tailbone so your spine is nice and straight Relax your shoulders.
And bring your awareness back inward.
Keep settling,
Keep softening this pose.
And move towards stillness.
So find stillness in the body.
But it's beyond a physical stillness.
Move toward that stillness that arises from within And breathe into that deep sense of inner stillness.
Relax your face,
Your tongue.
Sense the effortlessness of your breath.
Inhalation just seamlessly flowing into the exhalation.
Continue breathing into stillness.
And then take a moment and notice how you feel.
Enjoy the peace and presence that you've cultivated through your practice.
And recognizing that Anything that you've cultivated has come from within you.
Is always available through your practice.
Comfortable bring your hands together at your heart maybe gently bowing the head to the heart Take a moment to offer gratitude toward yourself for showing up,
Being here for your practice.
Greater balance to your mind and body.
And resolve to carry the fruits of your practice into the rest of your day.
Maybe exercising a little bit more patience.
Being mindful of all of your inputs.
Through your eyes,
Through your ears,
Through your mouth.
Doing your best to only take in nourishing things.
Nourishing food.
Nourishing conversations,
Nourishing media.
Resolve to be a light in your own life and a light for those around you.
Om Shanti Shanti.
Shanti.
Namaste.
