Intermediate Hatha Flow - Build Strength & Focus (70min)

An intermediate Hatha Yoga practice for students with prior experience. We begin by energizing the navel center and activating the core. The practice includes dynamic lunges to build strength, flexibility, and focus. We close with guided relaxation and seated meditation.
Originally streamed live on Insight Timer.

Transcript

So we're going to start off lying down. If you can make your way onto your back. And you can choose. It can be sort of a shavasana or if you wanted to bend your knees you could place your feet down and take any arm position. So just do what feels good. You might just inch the shoulder blades together a little bit and start to settle into the floor. I'm just going to be here for a few minutes to center. Right away just really start to relax your body. Let your body soften. Let yourself be held and begin to breathe in and out through your nose. Start to establish that nice yogic breathing which is just smooth, Even, Relaxed. And there's these amazing qualities of inhalation and exhalation. The inhale is nourishing. It brings energy into the body. As you inhale, See if you can perhaps sense that subtle quality. And the exhale is deeply cleansing. The exhale carries away the carbon dioxide. So as you exhale, Also see if you can connect to that essence of cleansing. Nourishment and cleansing with each breath. And on the exhale you can maybe even start to sense that you're able to soften your body. Your breath becomes more relaxed. Your body becomes more relaxed. Take a few more moments to observe yourself here as you relax and breathe. And notice what is coming up for you in this moment. Maybe you feel very peaceful. Maybe you feel agitated. Without any judgment, Just kind of be aware of where you are right now. I know we've got full moon, But we're going to do some crescent moon stretch while we're here on our back. You can choose to keep the eyes open or, Excuse me, Keep the eyes closed or open. You're going to bring your legs closer together. Then we're going to reach up and extend the arms overhead. Let's clasp the fingers. Press the palms up and away. So feel first really a nice full stretch here along your side body. You can stay like this or you can have a little bit more of that crescent moon shape. So you would walk your feet over toward the right and your arms as well a bit over toward the right. The whole left side of your body really getting a deep stretch. Stay here and breathe. And then center. And then go to the opposite side. So your feet to the left, Hands to the left. And you're especially pressing up through the right palm, So you really feel length in the right side body. Then we're going to come back to center. You might just take a few rounds of just circling the feet, The ankles. And you could also release the hands. Do the same thing with the wrists. Good. Release the arms down. Let's bring the knees up. Low back is still still on the ground. Also sides of the waist toward the ground. Arms here to come out to a T. If you can have the knees together, That'd be great. And as you exhale, You're going to go halfway down over to the right. You're going to pause about halfway, Maybe a little bit lower. And you'll inhale to center. Nice engagement at the navel, The low abdomen. And then you'll exhale to the left, Just going halfway. Feel navel activation, Low abdomen. And inhale to center. And keep doing that. Your exhale brings you halfway down. Really keep awareness and engagement at the navel. Your inhale brings you to center. Just alternating from side to side. Shoulders relaxed. The whole upper body, No effort. Keep going, Especially you want to sort of find where you've reached your comfort zone. It starts to get really challenging. And then push a little bit beyond that point. Almost done, At least with this portion. But we're really going to be waking up the navel here, This power center, This pranic center of the body. We'll come to center. If you need to lower your feet at some point, Feel free. You're going to inhale, Extend your right leg, Keep it above the ground. Exhale, Draw the leg back in. Inhale, Left leg. Exhale, Draw back in. Keep going like this. You can release the arms down if that's more comfortable. Again, Low back, Sides of the waist. Keep drawing those down toward the mat. Upper body stays relaxed. And there's some awareness here at the navel. Because where we bring our awareness, That's where the more subtle energy begins to flow in that direction. Where the awareness goes, The energy flows, As they say. Keep going. If you wanted to, You can change it up a little bit, Too. You can do more of a sort of this bicycle abdominal work. But just work to your capacity. Even here, The breath is still relaxed, Right? There's definitely work happening. The abdomen, The whole navel region, Really starting to light up. Good. Come back to center. And you can go ahead and place the feet down. Walk the feet out nice and wide. And then while we're here, Let's take the knees from side to side. You might check in with the navel region, That low abdomen, Just sensing how it feels after waking up. Good. We'll come to center. Let's bring the knees in toward the body, Chin in toward the chest. So you can imagine the spine's going to just be slightly rounded. You keep the chin in, And then we start to roll forward and back. So you can imagine like the legs of a rocking chair. And we're just rolling along the muscles that are around the spine. We're not really affecting the spine in a negative way at all. Keep that chin in toward the chest. Good. And then let's roll up to table pose. I've just got my microphone here. Good. We're going to keep working with the spine, And we're going to keep working with the navel center, Which is really, Again, That's our place of power. This is our energy center given to us by life. Spread through the fingers, Ground down through the palms. As you exhale, You're going to draw the navel in, Tuck the tailbone, Chin comes in. Nice cat pose. As you inhale, You relax the navel. Pelvis tilts in the opposite direction, And you lengthen. Exhale, Gather at the navel, Maybe even the pelvic floor, And draw in. Inhale, Relax that effort and lengthen. And just like that, Keep going. Same thing here. Can you bring your awareness inward? Can you focus at the navel point? Good. Let's come back to center. It might feel good to just take a few side-to-side movements. So, If you had a tail and you were trying to look back and see your tail, Work the spine laterally a little bit. Nice. We'll bring the hands a little bit more forward, And then we'll circle. We'll still kind of have a cat-cow movement here, But as we exhale, We're going to bring the hips down to the left, Around to the right, And come forward. Exhale, Left over to right as you're inhaling. Up. This, You can really get your head involved, Your shoulders, Relax through the shoulders. More of this sort of barrel roll movement. Really just working the spine here. We'll go in the opposite direction. Noticing how things feel, Just checking in with the joints. You might sense your knees, Your hips, Your shoulders, Your wrists. But all fours is a wonderful way to work with your spine, Because you've got support. You're fully supported. You can move in every direction. Good. We're going to come to center. Let's tuck the toes, Lift the hips, Downward dog. Start with the knees bent, And feel free to take any movements that feel good for you. You might pedal the feet. You might even lift one leg, Lift the opposite leg. Feel free to just take a few moments to kind of explore downward dog. Sometimes it's kind of fun to bring the knees lower, Extend up. You're still breathing. Good. We're going to keep building some core strength. So, As you exhale, You're going to engage the core. Bring your body forward. Plank. As you inhale, You'll lift up and back. Exhale, You engage. Find like you're gathering at the navel, Also through pelvic floor. And then it's the support of the floor that brings you forward. Inhale back. Do that a few times. And again, It's less about what it looks like from the outside. You might even lower the knees. But can you feel an integration between your movement and your breath? Next one, We're going to hold. And then knees, Chest, And shin. Let's lower ourselves down. Untuck the toes. We're going to come into a sort of variation on cobra. We're just going to bring the arms out to a goal post, Ground down through the pubic bone, And then just a low, Low cobra here. If you wanted to have arms behind you, That might feel a little bit better. You can choose. We're going to release down. Go ahead and lift up and back. Downward dog. We're going to take three-legged dog. So, Right leg up and back. And here you can open up. You might even look under the right arm. If you can relax through your shoulders, Keep your breath relaxed. Let's look forward. Right foot's going to come forward. Left knee comes down, But keep your left toes tucked. Inhale, Low lunge. Arms come up. Let's stay here for a few breaths. The tailbone coming toward your front heel. Exhale. We're going to bring the body forward. Bring the arms behind us. Inhale, Lift the back knee, And then rise up into high lunge. Check in with your hips. See if you can get a little bit more stabilization. So, Right hip back, Left hip forward. Good. Let's release for now. Lower yourself all the way down. Chaturanga, Or knees, Chest, And chin. Inhale through backbend. Cobra or upward dog. Exhale. Hips up and back. Downward dog. Relax your breathing. Three-legged dog. Left side. Left leg. Feel free to open up here as well. It's almost like you're placing this left foot on the right side wall. Forward. Left foot comes forward. Right knee comes down. Coming into low lunge. Take your time. Hips are forward. Tailbone coming toward that front heel. Arms come up. Steady your breath. Hold the posture. Exhale. Body comes forward. Arms come behind you, And then lift through that back knee. Strong through the back leg. Rise up. High lunge. Good. We'll be here again in just a few moments, But stay here just for a couple breaths. Good. Release down. Flow through a vinyasa. So, One exhalation, You step back as you lower down. Inhale. Nice backbend. Open through the collarbones. Exhale. Downward dog. Good. Let's clear the breath a little bit. So, Inhale through the nose. Open the mouth. Release all the breath. Do that a couple times. Open the mouth. One more. Good. Go ahead and inhale. Right leg up and back. This time, Step forward. We'll come right into a high lunge. We're just going to rise up. Good. This time, A little bit of movement as you exhale. You're going to squeeze the shoulder blades together. Inhale. Extend the arms. Exhale. Engage. Inhale. Extend. Good. Two more. Good. Release the arms. Commit to being here. Hands come to heart center. Then we'll come into a twist. Now, If this doesn't feel good, You can take a twist just like this. Otherwise, Hands to heart. You bring right elbow toward the left thigh. Extend up through the crown and then twist from your base. So, That navel point, You've got a nice long spine. Relax and breathe. Good. Stay strong. Ground down through that right foot. Rise up. High lunge again. Very good. Fingertips down to the floor. If you need to lower the back knee, Feel free. Otherwise, Extend your front leg, Which means you might come onto the heel and then bend into the knee. And let's repeat. Extend and bend. Really getting a nice stretch. Get into the hamstring, The hip. Good. Beautiful. Flow through another vinyasa. So, One exhale, You step back, You lower down. Inhale through your backbend. And then exhale, Downward dog. Check in with the spine when you're in down dog. You want to get length in your spine. Shoulders relaxed. Head is relaxed. Inhale, Left leg. Look forward. Let's step that foot forward. And then right up into our high lunge. You can get some of that hip stability. So, Left hip draws back, Right hip forward. Just a small action. And then from there, Arms come up. Good. Exhale. Squeeze shoulder blades. Inhale. Extend. Exhale. Squeeze. Engage. Inhale. Extend. Two more. Good. Release the arms. Let's find our twist. So, Andhra mudra. Right elbow, Left thigh. Inhale. Extend the spine. At the same time, Press through that back heel. As you exhale, Twist from the navel area, The lowest part of the abdomen. You really want to keep a long spine as you twist. Find your breath. See how, Sense how everything's gathering toward the midline here. Left thigh. Good. Nice and strong. Arms come back up. Good. Let's release. Hands come down. Let's extend and bend that front leg. It feels good to come onto the heel and then bend into the knee. Do that a couple times. Beautiful. When you feel ready, Step that foot back, Lower yourself down. Inhale through your back button. Exhale. Downward dog. Good. Stay here and breathe. Good. One more round of high lunge first. Do three-legged dog. You can, A couple options. You can open up. If you like, This time you can also flip the dog. You're driving up through your hips. Good. We come back to three-legged dog. Right leg's extended. Look forward. Right foot comes forward. And one more high lunge, On this side at least. Good. You might need to adjust your feet here. You're just going to bend the back knee and then press through the front leg. So, This sort of one-legged squat, Just a bit, Just a couple times. Pressing through the front heel, Especially as you press your body back up. Good. Come and stay. And then we're going to come onto that front foot. We're going to balance. So, We're going to shift the weight forward. Come off the heel and then rise up. Warrior three. Take any arm variation. Maybe it's Anjali mudra. Resteady your breath. See if you can find a little bit of relaxation. I know we're doing some challenging work. Good. We're going to come back to our high lunge. So, Left toe's down, Arms up. And then release on an exhale. Step foot back and lower yourself down. Inhale, Backbend. Exhale, Downward dog. Good. If you need to pause, You can take a break. Child's pose. No worries. Stay with it. Inhale, Left leg. Option to bend and open. Option to bring that left foot behind you, Nice and slow. Driving the hips up, Extending. Stay here and breathe. Good. Come back to center when you're ready. Left leg is up. Look forward and let's step that left foot forward. And you guessed it, High lunge. I promise we'll be done with the high lunges soon. And just that little bit of movement. Again, You might need to adjust your feet a little bit. But you start to lower the back knee. Keep it about halfway and then you press through that front foot. It's a little squat action. If you needed to lower the arms, That's a nice option. Let's see if you can press through your discomfort just a bit in a way that's a little compassionate. Good. High lunge. We're going to lean the weight of the body forward. Weight comes into that front foot and then we rise up into your version of warrior three. Good. Try to steady your breath. We're going to come back to high lunge. I think this will be the true last high lunge. Hold a little fib earlier. Good. And then lower yourself down. Knees chest and chin, Chaturanga. Inhale through your back bend and then exhale downward dog. Let's bring the knees nice and wide and then send your hips back. Come to child's pose. Settle into this pose a little bit. We'll be here for a few rounds of breath. Relax your body. Surrender to the floor. Gradually find some relaxed breathing. Lengthening your inhalation and exhalation. Good. Take your time. Come through a downward dog and then we'll eventually make our way to the front of the mat in a standing forward fold. And to start, If you can bend your knees enough so that you can rest your abdomen on your thighs. Just let the head, Neck, Shoulders relax. Breathe with awareness the space of the abdomen. You can stay here or if you'd like you can hook on to your big toes. Inhale, Find some length and then exhale. Guide yourself down. Be mindful not to sort of tug yourself too much. Just use a little bit of maybe assistance there but feel nice and relaxed. A couple of breaths here. Good. And then I'd like you to bend your knees as much as you need to so that you can lift your feet and then place your hands underneath your feet. The tops of your hands are on the on the mat. Maybe your knees are really bent. The bottoms of your palms are on the bottoms of your feet. If you're standing on your hands, The weight is going to be a little bit more toward the wrists. And then nice forward bend here. Good. Release the hands from underneath the feet. And then a nice flat back. You're going to rise all the way up. Come up to stand. Reach your arms overhead. Exhale, Hands together at the heart. Let your shoulders relax. Pause here for a moment. Nicely done making it through that sequence. Let your breath continue to soften. Keep your awareness inward. Let your arms relax. Just that nice simple grounding movement that we've done many times before. Awareness is still inward here. And then as you inhale, Your arms are simply lifted up by the inhalation. And as you exhale, The arms are released back down on the exhalation. Inhale, The arms sweep up. Feeling that expansive nourishment that comes with the inhale. Exhale, The arms lower. Keep going. Keep repeating that. Knowing that you're grounded through all corners of both feet. Really getting in tune with the entire space of your body here, Your inner world. Maybe feeling a little bit more access to that more subtle part of yourself. That subtle body. The energy system, The prana. That is so deeply nourishing and guiding for us. Connecting to that part of yourself, Which is vibrant, Powerful, And capable of all things. Next time the arms lower. Let's just keep the arms down. Find a bit of stillness. Resist the urge to fix your shirt. I know it's so tempting. Just find stillness. And see what arises in the stillness. Pause and breathe. You perhaps feel a little bit more in alignment with your own unique energetic blueprint. If that's not your experience, That's okay too. Noticing through your action, Through your movement, Your breathing, That you have shifted the way that you feel. What a superpower. I'm going to open your eyes. Lovely. Begin to roll the shoulders. Really roll all of the joints. Just let the elbows get involved, The wrists. If it feels good, You can get into the knees, The ankles. Nice and gentle here. Just moving and circling in both directions. So now supporting the subtle body in our effort to connect more fully to that subtle energy system. Good. And we'll sweep the arms, Starting with the elbows bent. Sweeping the arms forward and back. You can stay like that or you can alternate. You can extend the arms. Get a nice little rhythm for yourself with the mindset of energizing the body. Got any more inertia, Tiredness? Shaking that away here. Being present. You can stay there. You can get the low body involved. You inhale, Arms up. Exhale, Sit the hips back. Sweep the arms through. Inhale up. Exhale through. Inhale up. Exhale through. Just get into a rhythm. You might have a nice sharp breath in and out through your nose. Good. Eventually come to center. Start to cross the arms now. You can experiment. You can bring the arms a little bit higher maybe. Beautiful. And then with a wide stance, Starting with the elbows, Come into a spinal twist. If you can really use the elbows to generate some a release through the spine. Get some momentum. And you might feel nice to extend the arm here. As you open to the right, Your right arm comes behind you. You open to the left, Your left arm comes behind you. Taking care of the spine. Beautiful. Come to center. Good. Just a nice little shake. Not too much. Not too much today. Roll the shoulders. Shake the arms. Maybe a few little hops here. Just a shorter version than we're used to. Shake for a little while longer. Breathing fully. Really get into those hands, The wrists. Keep rolling the shoulders. Good. When you feel like you've done enough, You can release. Beautiful. And from here, We're going to sort of march in place or what looks like a march. And we're going to just lift one knee and the opposite knee nice and high. Good. Same time, You're extending up through the crown, So your spine is lifted, Chest is lifted. Good. You can stay like this. You can bend the arms. Keep the elbows at shoulder height. Stay like that. Or you can alternate by extending the arms. And here, Try to keep your elbows at shoulder height. Good. Let's do this for 30 seconds. Now you might start to feel your shoulders. Your mind might start to kick in, Thinking like, Yo, What's the deal? When are we going to be done? Just see if you can stay with this a bit. We'll do 15 more seconds, Because I know you're enjoying this. Just a few more seconds. Inhale, Extend the arms. Reach as much as you can. And then as slowly as you can, Start to relax. Keep breathing. Fully release the arms. And then pause. Relax into the pose. Maybe eyes are closed. Just taking a moment, Checking in with how you feel. Noticing how those sets of movements, Perhaps, Have had an effect on your mind and your body and really your entire system. Keep gradually lengthening the breath, So that you find it returns to a nice effortless rhythm. And you can come with your eyes open now. Let's get into the legs a little bit more. Let's take a wide stance. And you might point your toes outward, And you may need to just adjust a little bit here as we start to go. But we're just going to begin to get some side-to-side movement. So take your time. You can explore different hand variations. It might feel nice to rest the forearms down. Just check in. As you move, Your knee is going to move in the direction of your toes. And again, You might need to adjust. Maybe go a little wider, A little bit more narrow. Eventually, You want to be getting to a place where you're starting to get some inner thigh opening, Some groin opening. Have some fun here. Move freely, Side-to-side. Strong through the legs. Good. Come to center. Feet come a little bit more parallel. Walk the fingertips off of the mat. Extend through the spine. And then as you exhale, Nice forward fold. Hinge down. Here, There's many arm variations. You can clasp your toes, Your outer edges of your feet. It might feel nice to clasp hands behind the back. You choose. But eventually, You want to find that you bring your awareness back inward and settle on the breath. Your arms are behind you. You're going to release down. Bring fingertips back forward. Lift halfway. And then shift to the front of your mat. Pivot. Send your front foot back. Now we're going to come into pigeon pose. If you know that you like to use a support, Sometimes it's nice to have a little bit of support underneath the hip. Feel free to grab that. A pillow, A block, A rolled-up blanket. When you feel ready, You can extend the right leg up and back. Look forward. The right knee goes toward that right wrist. And then you start to sit the hips back. Again, It might feel nice to have some support. If you wanted to take a reclined leg cradle, You can do that on your back. Otherwise, Settle into the pose. You can choose. You can stay upright. If you wanted to start to hinge down, You can do that as well. But you should likely be feeling this in the right side hip. Soften your face and your jaw. Relax and breathe into the posture. Good. Take as much time as you need. Eventually, Start to release out of the pose. Start to walk your back knee closer. Eventually, You feel that you can lift back into downward dog. It might feel nice to pedal the feet a little bit here. Get a nice little stretch. And then as you're ready, Left leg up and back. Left knee toward that left wrist. And then you start to glide back. Just check in for a moment. So your right foot is going to be directly in line with that right hip. The leg is coming straight out through the hip socket. And you can choose to stay upright. Or maybe at some point you hinge forward. Just being aware of the stretch now in the left side of your hip as you soften and breathe. Do the same thing. Release when you're ready. Slowly walk that right knee forward. Reset in downward dog. Maybe pedal out the feet. Go ahead and bring the weight of your body forward from here. Plank pose. And then we'll lower down. All the way onto the abdomen. Really good. Start to ground down through the pubic bone. And then let's bring arms behind us. When you're ready, Lift your shoulders. Reach back through your hands and lift your legs. You start to energize through the whole backside of your body here. If you wanted to, You could clasp your hands as well. Start to draw shoulder blades together. Keep lifting the legs. You're only doing this if your breath is still relaxed. Release for a moment. Back the hands or forearms. Just rest the head. Take a few resting breaths. Good. We'll prepare for that again. If you wanted to, You could come into a bow pose as well. Bring your legs maybe a little bit closer together. Reach back for the tops of your feet. Be really gentle if you're here. Shoulder blades draw together. Then you start to press the feet into the hands. I always like to take this a little bit lighter. Only if this feels good. Otherwise, Stick with the first version. The lift is coming by drawing the tops of the feet and using the strength of the legs, Kicking into the hands. Release down when you're ready. Stack the hands or forearms. Take a few resting breaths. Bend the knees. Rotate from side to side. Circling at the knees. Go in the opposite direction. Very good. Let's make our way to a seated posture. We're almost at our relaxation. We're going to come into a twist. The left knee is bent. Left foot towards the right hip. Cross your right leg over. Left knee is on the bottom. Right knee is up top. Resettle into your seat. Left arm hooks onto the right knee. Sit up nice and tall. Twist from the base. Think about keeping the spine nice and long the whole time. Right arm for support comes behind you. Relax and breathe. When you're ready, Slowly unwind and then switch sides. Uncross the legs. Right foot towards your left hip. Left foot crosses over. In the second side, Position your feet. Find what feels good with the anatomy of your body. Right arm hooks onto the left knee. Inhale, Spine is long. Exhale, Find your twist. In any twisting posture, It's important to keep length in the spine. From the crown of my head, There's some kind of subtle force that's helping to extend the spine all the way out through the crown. Continue to breathe while you're here. Very good. Let's come back to center. Uncross and make your way down. A few more stretches before we settle into our Shavasana. Start with your feet nice and wide. Arms come out to the side. Release from side to side. Come to center. Left leg extends down. Draw your right knee in toward your body. A little bit out toward the side. Bring that knee into the underarm on the right side. Shoulders stay down. Nice and relaxed. Circle your right ankle here. Let's extend that foot up and start to draw the leg in. It might be nice to circle the foot on this side. Release and switch sides. Right leg extends, Left knee draws in. Upper body still perfectly relaxed. Circle the left ankle. Good. Extend that left foot, Clasping the thigh. Point and flex the foot. Circle on this side. Beautiful. Let's release the leg down. Let's find our resting posture. Come into Shavasana, Corpse pose. I really encourage you to take as much time as you need to settle in. It might even mean adjusting the lighting in your space. It's really nice if you have a thin shawl, A thin covering, You can cover the body. Maybe even a thin blanket for underneath the head. You want to make this the most luxurious Shavasana that you've had in a while. Adjust your body a few times as you need. Eventually you get still as you fully relax into the floor. Take a moment to sense where your body is touching the floor. The back of your head, Shoulders, Backs of the arms, The buttocks, Legs, Feet. Sense that when you breathe out you're able to release the weight of the body into that support. Check in with your head and your face. Notice if there's any tension there. Begin to soften your face, Your forehead, The eyes, The eyebrows, The jaw, The cheeks, The tongue, Sides of your neck. Keep softening your shoulders, Shoulders, Arms, Hands, Back, All across your chest, Your ribs, Your abdomen, And your back. Relaxing the face around the pelvis and the hips, The buttocks. Down through both legs all the way to the ankles and the feet and the toes. Sensing that each time you breathe out you're releasing more fully, Finding a deeper state of relaxation. From the toes all the way back up to the legs, Your hips, Your abdomen, Your heart center, Throat center, Center of the mind, The crown center, The top of the head. Just let your awareness rest in the entire space of your body, From crown to toes, And everywhere in between. Awareness fills the space of your body. And you connect to the deeply nourishing aspect of your breath. You're aware of the more subtle energy of the breath, The life force the pulsation of consciousness which is prana. That life force is giving life to the breath, Which is giving life to the body. Allow yourself to be nourished by this very real, Very potent energy system that's supporting your entire mind and body. And just a few more moments here. In the gentlest of ways, You start to wake up the body a little bit, Moving fingers and toes. Eventually you might extend your arms and take a full length stretch. Bend your knees, Place your feet down. Roll over onto your favorite side. Pause on your side. We're going to transition to a seated posture for meditation, So if you can do that in a way that's going to be the least disturbing to yourself. Maintain this inner focus, This inner awareness that you've cultivated. Rest yourself up. Come to your meditation seat. It could be on the floor, It could be in a chair. Wonderful if you have a cushion to sit on. Ideally we just want to elevate our hips above our knees whenever possible. It opens up the hips and makes it for a more comfortable, More stable meditative seat. Take your time to settle in. Really start to settle into your hips. Then you start to find spinal alignment, So all the way from the root of the body, Through the center of the heart, All the way up to the crown of the head. There's sort of these three alignment points. When we can get those stacked, Then we can relax the shoulders and have a really nice base of support. Any comfortable hand position. Let the eyes close. Just like we did in Shavasana, Take a few moments to really settle, Adjust your physical body. The goal of the body is, Not the goal, But we're just looking to have the physical body fade into the background. The least amount of effort that we can have to hold up the body, The better. Keep relaxing and softening into your posture. Begin to release any tension through your face and your shoulders, All the way down your arms, Your legs, Your torso. Your awareness continues to draw inward. We begin to arrive at a place of stillness. Use your awareness to sense this experience of stillness. The stillness that is within and without. The physical body becomes more still. It's also a stillness that seems to arise from deep within. Softening the physical body, At the same time maintaining that nice energetic spine. Continue to settle. Let the awareness shift to the breath. Sense the intelligence of the breath, The intelligence of this entire system. The body's breathing effortlessly. Notice the quality of the breath. Continue to soften. Continue to find an effortless posture, Effortless breath. Let the awareness keep traveling upward, To the opening of the nose. As you breathe, See if you can sense the breath moving in and out through the nose. If you don't initially feel the breath in the nostrils, You can do a few rounds of a slightly more forceful breath, In and out through your nose, So that you really feel that sensation of breath. And then you rest your awareness on that place where you felt the sensation. The outer edges of the nose, The very inside edges of the nostrils. Let your awareness rest there. Keep softening and keep breathing. Notice if you've gathered more tension through your physical body, Your face, Your jaw. Soften. Let that awareness keep traveling upward, In and up to the center of the mind. Whatever is real for you, The center of the mind. For me, It almost feels like the space behind the eyes. Continue to rest your awareness at the center of the mind, And breathe into that space. As you breathe, You're also softening effort in the body, In the breath. And slowly, Start to gently deepen the breath. Take a few moments to transition out of the practice. Let's stay here, And notice how you feel. Sense your entire inner world, The inner space of the body. Notice your mind, Your emotions, Your breath, Your overall energetic self. Notice how you feel. Notice if you feel any different than when we started. And really remember that it's through your action, Your movement, Your breathing, Your dedication, Or your own action that you've been able to shift the way that you feel. You always have that power. You always have that ability. If you'd like, You can bring hands together at the heart and bow the head. You can take a moment here to close out your practice any way that feels meaningful for you. A prayer, A gratitude offering, Recognizing the incredible aspects of yourself, These more subtle aspects of you, The deep wisdom that resides within you, Within each of us, That guiding force, That life force. And choosing to make this a good day. Choosing to look for the positive, Choosing to be grateful for the small things, And doing your best to keep moving forward on your beautiful life journey. If you'd like, You can rub your palms together nice and fast to generate some heat, Really warm up the hands. And when they feel nice and warm, You can cover the eyes. Get that nice nourishment into the senses, And then you can release the hands down. So glad you joined. Thank you so much.

Reviews

I liked the challenge I feel energized yet peaceful 🙏💫