Hello friends,
Welcome to this spinal wake-up series.
Start by getting nice and comfortable in your seat.
Close your eyes.
Bring your awareness inward.
We always start our practice with a centering pose.
Allowing ourselves to arrive here more fully.
And giving us a chance to connect to the breath.
So,
Breathing in a relaxed way through the nose.
With each exhale,
You soften your shoulders and arms.
Really your whole body here.
And then you become aware of your spine.
From the root of your body,
All the way up the tailbone,
The length of the spine,
Up to your crown.
Breathe with awareness into the spine.
Allow each breath to get more smooth,
More relaxed.
And then we'll use this incredible breath to guide our body as we move and wake up the spine.
So,
Let's come to table position.
All fours.
Spread through your fingers.
We're going to move through cat-cow,
But I want you to have the eyes closed and awareness on the spine.
So,
As you inhale,
You lengthen the front of your body.
Lift your heart.
As you exhale,
You start to round through the spine.
Chin draws in toward the chest.
And then repeat.
Inhale.
Lengthen through the front of the body.
Exhale.
Round the spine.
And allow your breath to guide the movement.
So,
Your body moves at the pace of your breath.
Aware of the entire length of the spinal column.
And then either staying with this or you begin to rotate.
So,
These big circles with the hips.
Your shoulders relax.
And you come into this kind of a figure eight motion.
And allow this to open up and evolve.
Maybe your movement's a little bit different.
But you become even more curious with the spine.
It's a great way to work with the spine.
We've got the support of our table.
Good.
And then we'll start to rotate in the opposite direction.
Big rotations at the hips.
Spine is free to move.
And we're still following the intelligence of the breath.
The mind is resting at the inner space of the body here.
Good.
And when it feels like you've done an equal amount on both sides,
Come back to center.
And there's these little lateral movements.
So,
You're going to look back over your right shoulder and then go in the opposite direction.
At the same time,
You experience your spine nice and long.
And get this nice little lateral movement.
Lateral rotation.
Just a few times from side to side.
Good.
We'll come back to center.
We're going to bring the knees wide.
Send the hips back.
Nice child's pose.
Balasana.
Arms extend.
And then keep your hips drawing back as you start to walk your hands over to the right side.
Getting a nice lateral extension for your spine.
The breath is nice and relaxed.
You'll come back to center.
And then go to the other side.
So,
Hands over to the left.
Breathing here.
Good.
Slowly come back to center.
Let's make our way back to a seated position.
Comfortable cross-legged position.
Sitting up nice and tall.
And then bring your fingertips up onto your shoulders.
So,
Your forefingers are in front.
Thumbs are in the back.
Elbows are going to stay at shoulder height.
We'll start nice and slow.
We're going to inhale to the left.
Exhale to the right.
Inhale left.
Exhale right.
Using a breath in and out through the nose.
And then you decide what pace you want to move at.
You can stay just like this.
If you wanted to speed it up a little bit,
That's also an option.
Keep those elbows lifted.
Inhale left.
Exhale right.
Might feel nice to close the eyes.
I like to bring awareness to the third eye.
The center of the mind.
The home of our intuition.
Inhaling left.
Exhaling right.
Nice spinal twist.
Good.
Slowly come back to center.
Relax the breath.
And a little bit of lateral movement.
So,
Same thing.
Inhaling to the left.
Exhaling to the right.
Inhale left.
Exhale right.
So,
Here,
Think about extending the spine up as you bend over to the side.
So,
It's as if the spine keeps its length and you start to open through the side body.
Getting this nice lateral extension for your spine.
Just a few more times on each side.
Good.
We'll come back to center.
Relax the hands.
Any comfortable arm position.
And then working with the cervical spine.
Bring your chin down toward your chest.
And then you're just going to do these half circles.
So,
Your right ear toward your right shoulder.
And then chin to chest.
Left ear to left shoulder.
And go on that pathway a few times.
Coming to center.
And then one ear to one shoulder.
Pausing anywhere that might feel really good.
Releasing tension through the neck.
And only if it's comfortable and you wanted to,
You could do full neck rotations.
Just a few times in each direction.
Alternating.
Going to the opposite direction.
Good.
Come back to center.
Let's come into some forward bends.
So,
We're going to extend our right leg.
Left foot comes to the inside of the thigh.
So,
Coming into head to knee pose.
Janu Sirsasana.
We're going to lead with the heart and just start to walk the hands forward.
You're also welcome to bend that front knee.
When you go as far as feels good,
You're just going to slowly release your head down and shoulders.
We'll just simply stay here and breathe.
Good.
Release when you're ready.
And we're going to switch sides.
Left leg extends.
Right foot to the inside of the thigh.
Spine nice and tall.
Then you lead with your heart.
You walk your hands forward over this extended leg.
When you've gone as far as you can,
You just soften down.
Just breathing here and recognizing that our bodies change from day to day.
Personally,
Right now,
I've got quite tight hamstrings from a long cycling ride recently.
So,
Just allowing the breath to help soften any tension in the body.
Any of that sensation in the back of the leg or the low back.
Good.
Slowly rise.
And then extend both of your legs forward.
This time,
Maybe you inhale,
Arms overhead.
And then same thing.
Lead with the heart.
Exhale,
Fold forward.
Finding any comfortable position for the hands.
And then softening down.
Trying to lengthen just as much as you fold.
So,
You're extending forward as you release down.
And your breath is nice and relaxed.
Good.
Slowly release.
Come back up to center.
Let's come into our seated position.
Just spend a few moments here.
So,
Allow the eyes to close.
Bring the awareness back inward.
Any comfortable position for your hands.
Release any tension in your face and your throat.
Allow your breath to be nice and relaxed.
Release any effort in your breath.
And with each breath,
Continue to soften your body.
Your shoulders and arms.
Your face.
Relax your hips.
And as if you're observing somebody else,
You begin to notice how you feel.
Sensing any shift in energy.
Any shift in the body,
In the mind.
And spending a few more moments to really enjoy this peace that we've cultivated through the practice.
Stay here as long as you'd like.
Whenever you're ready to close,
You can bring your hands to prayer and gently bow the head.
Taking a moment to really honor yourself here.
May the light of this practice illuminate your mind and illuminate your body.
And may you share and shine that light with all those around you.
Om.
Shanti.
Shanti.
Shanti.
Peace.
Peace.
Peace.
Namaste.
You can rub your palms.
Eyes are still closed.
Warm up your hands.
Get some nice heat into the hands.
And when they're nice and warm,
You cover your eyes.
Allow that warmth to nourish the senses.
And then as you're ready,
You release your hands down.
Open your eyes.
Thank you so very much for joining and I hope to see you very soon.
