Welcome to your practice.
Beyond our limits.
We can steal from our source of energy when we don't choose to breathe properly,
When we don't look after our bodies in the ways that we need,
And if we struggle to find gratitude for the way that life is.
We take from ourselves when we choose to lack understanding or compassion during times of ill health,
Sorrow,
Or significant change.
We steal from ourselves when we choose to look outside of our own innate wisdom and seek answers from others.
And I personally believe that we steal the most from ourselves and from others when we choose to move away from the present moment.
When you focus too much on the past or you focus too much on the future,
You really disconnect yourself from the gifts that are available to you in this moment.
The practice of our stay asks us not to take more than we need or to move beyond our limits.
It's a practice of self-care and allowing.
We start with the fullness of what we have and we move from there.
Being here for yourself,
Connecting to the present moment,
Allowing yourself to feel grounded in who you are with what you have,
Is honestly one of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself.
So if you haven't already we're going to begin in a comfortable seat.
I'm here cross-legged with two blocks underneath my legs.
You might like to take a similar variation or choose any position that allows you to be comfortable to start your practice.
We're going to close down the eyes,
Lengthen up through the spine,
And then take a moment to connect to the breath,
Finding a slow breath in.
And then a slow breath out.
And then one more like this,
A nice slow breath in.
And then a slow breath out.
And then just start to settle into your natural rhythm of breath.
And as you do,
Give yourself a moment to become aware of all of the details of your breath that you notice.
So maybe even asking,
How do I know that I am breathing?
What is it that you can feel or sense about your breath?
See if you can focus on breathing in and out through your nose.
And as you do,
You're gonna start to deepen your breath now.
Finding an inhale that feels a little fuller.
And an exhale that feels a little slower.
And then just start to cycle through a few rounds of breath like this.
As you remain connected to your breath.
I want you to take a moment to reflect on this question.
What am I giving in this life?
Where am I genuinely generous?
And where may I be holding back?
When we trust.
That there is enough to go around.
We lose the tendency to crave or seek more than we need,
And we fortify our relationship to abundance.
We're going to start to explore the breath a little deeper now.
So moving through our box breathing,
This is where you inhale for a count of four,
Hold for four.
Exhale for four and then hold for four.
Let's prepare with a slow breath in through the nose.
And then a slow breath out through the mouth.
Now start to inhale through your nose for two.
Three.
Full.
Hold.
3.
Fall.
Exhale to release.
Three.
Fall.
Hold.
Two,
Three.
Fall.
Inhale to release.
Hold.
Fall.
Exhale to finish.
Fall.
Hold.
Two.
3.
Fall.
Inhale to release.
Three.
Fall.
Hold two fall.
Exhale to release.
Fall.
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four.
You can release the breath technique now and just come back into your natural rhythm of breath.
And as you do,
Just give yourself a little moment just to check in to notice how you feel.
Become aware of any sensations within your body.
Maybe acknowledge a feeling or an emotion that might be sitting with you today,
Regardless of its nature.
Not feeling that you need to attach a right or wrong label to your experience.
Maybe you're simply noticing.
A thought or a story that's drifting through your mind.
I'm just allowing it to come and to go.
It's like the passing of the clouds within the sky.
Start to take a slow breath in and as you do find a gentle pause at the top of your breath.
And as you exhale,
Let it go out through the mouth with the sound.
Nice,
Slow,
Deep breath in.
Gentle pause at the top.
And let it go with a sigh.
As you feel ready,
You can start to open your eyes.
And bringing a little bit of movement back into your body.
So we'll start with a little bit of movement in a seated position.
So if you're not already cross-legged with your sit bones directly on the mat,
I would invite you to find this shape.
You can keep blocks underneath your knees if you like.
I find this is quite helpful for my low back.
Or,
Of course,
If you prefer,
You don't need to have the blocks.
We're going to start with A few rounds of our seated cat-cow.
So bringing your hands onto your knees,
As you find your next in-breath,
You're going to pull on your knees,
Lift your heart to the sky,
Allow your eye gaze to lift.
As you exhale,
Chin to chest,
Drop your head down and just start to round through your shoulders.
Inhale,
Pull on your knees,
Lift your heart to the sky.
Exhale,
Chin to chest,
Round and drop your head down towards the earth.
Inhale,
Pull on your knees,
Lift your heart to the sky.
Exhale,
Chin to chest and round.
And then just take a few more,
Moving at your own pace.
See if you can let the breath invite the movement.
So the breath leads and then the body follows.
Take one last round.
And then as you finish off,
Start to realign your spine once again.
From here we bring our arms down by the side.
As you find your next in-breath,
You're going to float your arms up,
Allow your eye gaze to follow.
As you exhale interlace your hands and then start to ride the exhale down as you draw your hands towards the earth.
A few more like this,
Inhale.
Exhale to release down.
And how to lift.
Exhale to release down.
Last one in,
Huh?
Now as you exhale,
Bring your right hand to your left knee.
Left fingertips onto the floor behind you,
Finding a seated twist.
So root down through your sit bones,
Lengthen up through the crown of your head,
And then see if you can start to take your eye gaze towards your back shoulder.
Slow steady breath.
Now start to bring your left arm back up to the sky and what you're going to do is you're going to drop your right shoulder towards your right knee as you lean and you're going to send your left arm up and overhead.
So a little side body stretch here.
You can keep your eye gaze up.
If that's okay for your neck,
You can take it down.
Just letting it settle wherever it feels most comfortable.
Slowly come up.
Sweep your arms up to the sky.
And let's twist to the other side.
So left hand onto the outer edge of the right knee.
Bring your right hand behind you to support you.
Ground down through your sit bones.
Lengthen through your spine.
Lift up through the crown of your head.
Maybe take your eye gaze towards your back shoulder.
Slow steady breath.
Now lift your back arm up,
You're gonna drop your left shoulder towards your left ear.
Your right arm will come up and over,
So little side body stretch.
Let the neck and eye gaze fall wherever it feels most comfortable.
See if you can breathe into your side ribs.
And then slowly come up.
Inhale your arms through center.
And then exhale,
Bring your hands to breath.
Take a moment here just to feel into the energy of your body.
Really attuning your awareness to the present moment.
From here,
You can release your hands.
If you've got blocks,
Just shift them to the side.
Bring your hands behind you to support you,
Walk your feet forward.
Feet or hip distance are a little bit wider.
You might like to bring them to the edges of the mat,
Depending on how you're facing on your mat right now.
And then we're just going to take a few rounds of our seated windshield wipers.
So you'll drop your knees over to one side.
See if you can focus on rolling to the edges of your feet.
Come through center and then take it to the other side.
Use your hands to support you and then just start to find a gentle floss,
So moving side to side.
Slowly come back up and then from here extend your left leg long.
Bend your right knee and bring the sole of your right foot inside of your extended leg.
You might like to bring a block underneath your right knee to help with a little bit of internal rotation.
I personally find this more comfortable for my spine.
Of course you choose the variation that works for you.
See if you can square your heart off towards your extended foot.
Bring your hands either side of your leg.
As you inhale,
You're gonna lift your heart.
And then as you exhale,
You'll just melt your heart down towards your leg.
It's not about how deep you can go.
It's just looking for a sense of sensation through the spine.
As you inhale,
Lift up.
And then exhale,
Ride the breath down.
One more inhale.
And then exhale to fold.
This time we'll stay here for a little bit of time.
So see if you can keep your left leg soft.
Drop your shoulders down,
Release tension through your neck.
Find a slow,
Steady breath.
As you feel ready,
Slowly come up.
And then we'll take it to the other side.
So switching out your leg.
Option to bring your block underneath your bent knee.
You want to square your heart off towards your extended foot,
Hands by the legs,
Either side of the legs.
As you inhale,
You're going to lift your heart.
And then as you exhale,
Writing the breath down just for a little fold,
See if you can keep your kneecap bent.
So try not to lock the knee out.
So we want to support this flow of energy that moves through the legs.
As you inhale,
Lift your heart.
As you exhale,
Fold.
Last one in and then exhale to melt.
We'll stay here for a few rounds of breaths,
See if you can soften all of the tissues of your muscles.
See if you can soften all of the tissues of your muscles.
As you inhale,
Begin to lift up.
And then we're going to transition towards a tabletop position.
So coming onto our hands and our knees.
So as you find your tabletop,
I'd like you to just explore a little bit of organic movement here.
So you might like to sway your hips from side to side.
Bring a little bend to your elbows.
Maybe you'd like to just kind of take a few rounds of your cat and cow similar to what we did in our seated position.
And then I want you to come back to a neutral spine.
Start to walk your hands slightly forward of your shoulders.
Wider than your shoulders so you have space to come down onto your belly.
We're going to take a few spinal waves.
So you're going to tuck your toes,
Sink your belly towards the mat.
As you do this,
Lift your heart to the sky.
Keep the curve and you're going to glide all the way back towards your heels.
When you arrive,
Drop the crown of your head towards the earth.
As you inhale,
Keep your chin tucked,
So that's around your shoulders.
You're going to shift your weight forward and you're going to keep moving forward until your shoulders come over your wrists.
And then you're gonna wrap your elbows in a little bit and just find a bit of control as you lower your belly and your chest onto the mat.
As you come down,
You want to untuck your toes,
Make sure that your hands are by your chest.
You're going to push down through the tops of your feet,
Magnetize your inner thighs and then wrap your elbows in.
So finding all of this energy to support the spine.
And then as you inhale,
Keeping that,
You're going to lift your heart to the sky just for a little cobra.
As you exhale,
You'll release.
And then when you're ready,
Tuck your toes,
Push into your hands.
You're gonna glide all the way back towards your heels.
As you do this,
Find that curve through your spine.
So it's a slow,
Controlled movement.
Once you arrive towards your heels,
Drop your head towards the earth.
We're going to take two more like this.
Inhale,
Keep your chin tucked,
Round your shoulders forward.
Shift your weight so your shoulders are over your wrists.
Slowly bend your elbows,
Lower yourself all the way onto your mat.
Untuck your toes,
Root down through the tops of your feet,
Wrap your elbows in.
Inhale,
Lift your heart up towards the sky.
And then exhale,
Release.
One more round,
Tuck your toes,
Push into your hands,
Glide all the way back towards your heels.
As you arrive,
Drop the crown of your head down.
Inhale,
Keep your chin tucked,
Roll your shoulder blades forward.
Slowly start to bend your elbows to lower your belly onto the mat.
Untuck your toes,
Wrap your elbows in.
Inhale,
Lift your heart up.
And then exhale,
Release.
From here,
Bring your big toes together,
Take your knees out wide.
Glide back towards a child's pose.
So your sit bones come down towards your heels.
Your chest comes onto the mat.
You can rest your head,
If you like,
Onto your forearm.
So you cross your arms and then rest your head.
Or if you prefer,
You can also place your head onto a block or directly onto the mat.
We won't be here for too long,
But as you settle,
Just give yourself an opportunity to reconnect back to your breath.
Notice if your mind started to wander away to thoughts of the future or thoughts of the past.
And notice what happens is when we start to drift away,
We start to.
.
.
Surrender and release a lot of our life force,
Our energy.
And it's in this way that we start to move away from the practice of a stay out.
We start to steal the potential of energy that we can cultivate by being in the present moment.
Take a slow breath in.
And then a slow breath out.
If you've got a block underneath your head,
Just shift it to this side.
From here,
You're going to walk both of your arms over to the left side of your mat.
So we're going to find a little bit of a side body stretch in our child's pose.
I like to come onto my fingertips but you might place one hand on top of the other if this feels more supportive.
Your head can be a little bit lifted or you can also press your head down into the earth.
Start to shift your hands over to the other side of your mat.
Finding the side body stretch on the other side.
Slowly come back through centre journey up towards your tabletop.
Bring a little bit of movement here into your hips,
Maybe sway side to side.
Make sure that your left hand stays grounded down.
We're going to inhale our right arm up to the sky.
As you exhale,
You're going to weave your right arm underneath your left to bring your shoulder down just for your breath.
Define your next inhale,
Sweep your right arm up to the sky.
Exhale to lower.
Last one inhale and then exhale to lower.
This time we'll stay for a few rounds of breaths.
So you want to make sure that your right ear comes down onto the mat.
You can walk your left arm straight if you like,
If you feel that this is supported.
Or if a half bind is in your practice,
You can place the back of your left hand over towards your right hip.
Finding a slight pull back of the left shoulder.
If you're in your bind,
Bring your hand back down onto the mat to ground.
You're going to slowly circle your right arm to the sky.
And then as you do this,
Tuck your left toes.
Send your right foot to the back of your mat so it's parallel to the short edge of your mat and then start to rotate towards your modified side plank.
Eye gaze up towards the sky,
Maybe notice a little wobble of the body as you find a sense of stability.
Slow,
Steady breath.
Stay here or send your right arm towards the top of your mat.
Imagine that you're creating a little rainbow with your side body.
Then bring your right hand down,
Square off towards your tabletop position.
Take a slow breath in.
And then a slow breath in.
And then let's move into the other side.
So inhale,
Left arm up.
As you exhale,
Weave your left arm down just for the breath.
Inhale to lengthen.
Exhale to lower.
Last one,
Inhale to lengthen.
And then exhale to lower.
This time we stay for a few rounds of breath.
Bring your left ear down onto the mat.
Option to walk your right arm straight or bring it into a half bind if you did it on the other side.
If you're in your half bind,
Bring your hand down into the mat to support you.
Circle your left arm to the sky.
Tuck your right toes and then send your left leg back and then make sure that your foot is aligned to the short edge of your mat.
So once again we're finding our modified side plank.
Eye gaze can be up or down towards the earth.
Notice maybe the little wobbles of your body,
Your body working to stabilize and support you as you ground down into the earth.
Stay here or start to extend your arm up and over and think about creating a little bit of a rainbow with your side body.
Slow steady breath.
Then bring your left hand down and then realign towards your tabletop.
Let's take one round of our cat and cow.
So as you inhale,
Lift your heart,
Drop your belly down.
Find a curve through your spine.
As you excel.
Chin to chest as you round your shoulders up towards the sky,
Pushing to the earth.
And then slowly come back towards a neutral spine.
From here we're now going to move towards a downward facing dog,
So bring your hands slightly forward.
You're going to tuck your toes,
Lift your knees and then send your tailbone to the sky.
We're looking to create an inverted V shape.
Something to be mindful of is you don't want to lock your kneecaps out.
So bring a micro bend to your knees.
Your hands and your feet are about hip width apart and shoulder width apart.
You want to push down into the earth to lift your tailbone to the sky,
Ensuring that you keep that bend of your knee.
Start to breathe into the back of your heart.
Now from here,
You're going to step your right foot to the top of the mat.
You can take one step,
A few steps.
Or a whole step to bring your foot up and then you're going to lower your back knee down onto the mat.
Now your hands can be on the floor,
If you do have your blocks you can place your blocks either side of your front foot.
I like to keep my back toes tucked.
This is just a personal preference because I find it helps with my balance.
If you prefer,
You can also bring the top of your foot down.
You just choose what feels best for your body today.
So you can stay here.
Feeling grounded down through your feet and your hands or if you're ready you can send your arms up to the sky to find our low lunge.
As you come up,
It's a slow,
Steady breath.
Slowly bring your hands down.
Onto the floor onto your blocks.
You're going to walk your right foot to the edge of your mat.
And then you're going to bring your hands inside.
So as you find this shape,
Make sure that your hands are underneath your shoulders.
You want to lift your collarbones forward.
Breathing into the hip space,
Taking time here to really feel the energy that's moving through your body.
You can stay here or you can start to send your hips back just a little bit to come onto your front heel.
Your toes will point up.
And we're just going to move back and forth between these two shapes.
If this is a lot on your back knee,
You can also bring something underneath to support it,
Or you can also just fold your mat up a couple of times.
So just at the knee,
Just to create a little support.
When you're ready,
We'll transition now towards our tabletop position.
Shift blocks off of your mat if you've got them.
Take one round of our cat and cow,
So lift your heart,
Draw your tailbone back.
Exhale,
Chin to chest,
Round your shoulders,
Push down into the earth as you lift the back of your heart to the sky.
Come back into your neutral spine,
Take a slow breath in.
And then a slow breath out.
Journey towards your downward facing dog.
Keep a little bend of your knees,
Ground down through your hands and your feet.
Feel the movement of energy up into your body.
And remain connected to the present moment by bringing focus to your breath.
Now you're going to step your left foot to the top of the mat.
Lower your right knee down.
Once again,
Hands to the floor or if you've got your blocks,
Just bring them to frame your front foot.
Take a moment here,
Just find stability through your low body.
And then on your next inhale,
Send your arms to the sky.
Slowly bring your hands down,
Walk your left foot to the edge of your mat,
Bring your hands inside of your legs.
Once again on blocks or you can bring them towards the earth depending on what you have today.
Reach your collarbones forward.
Find stillness here for a few rounds of breath.
Or you can start to send your hips back to straighten your left leg.
As you do,
You're going to come onto the heel as you send your toes up.
And then there's just a little flossing here,
So shifting forward.
And then slowly gliding back.
Always being mindful of how things feel within your body.
If your experience today just doesn't feel right.
Like you would like it to,
In the sense of maybe there's a little bit of stickiness,
Maybe a little bit of paint.
You just adapt into whatever way that you need.
We talk about this idea of a stayer and not stealing,
Non-stealing.
And this can also relate to where we choose to focus our attention in relation to how we want to be guided.
So I'm here to offer some advice.
That you know your body better than me,
So I trust that you listen to what you hear.
Your body is asking from you today.
When you're ready,
We're going to journey towards our tabletop.
Another round of our cat and cow,
Lift the heart.
Exhale,
Chin to chest round to the spine,
Pushing to the earth.
Come back to a neutral spine.
Take a cycle of breaths.
Slowly come to sit onto your sit bones.
Bring your legs forward.
And then take your legs out nice and wide.
Wide as you can go.
Now if you come into this position and you feel quite tight through your hips,
The back of your legs,
Your low back and you kind of feel like you're pulling back Just kind of bend your knees and then plant your feet.
And then.
.
.
I want you to focus on lengthening through your spine,
So either with this variation of your legs or this variation with your legs.
And then you're just going to fold forward.
We're gonna work with the breath a little bit.
So inhale,
Lift the heart.
And then an XL fold.
Inhale,
Lift the heart.
And then exhale forward.
This time as you come down we'll stay for a few rounds of breaths.
As you feel ready,
Slowly start to rise.
You're going to bring your right leg in front,
So bend the knee,
Your shin will be parallel to the top of your mat,
And with your left leg you're just going to sweep it out to the side.
You can come onto the edge of your foot,
So you're on the side of your foot if this feels better for your ankle and for your left knee,
Or if you're open to it and it feels alright,
This can be a little bit on the ankle,
You're going to bring the top of your foot down onto the mat.
You wanna make sure that your left knee is joined with your right foot.
And then you can stay here if this feels like a good stretch for your legs or.
.
.
If you would like to fold forward you can,
Either towards the mat,
You can bring your arms onto the floor or onto any props that you might have,
Blocks,
Pillows,
Cushions,
Blankets.
All the good stuff.
We won't be here for too long,
But as you come down,
I want you to surrender just into a space of softness.
Start to deepen your breath.
And then as you're ready,
Gently come up.
And then we're going to move into the other side.
So switch legs.
Opposite leg.
Comes to the top of the map.
Once again,
The leg that is swept out to the side,
You can make sure that you're on the edge of your foot.
So this is a little less through the ankle and the knee.
Or you can bring the top of your foot down onto the mat.
You might stay up here in this position,
This might feel quite nice,
A good stretch through the lower body.
Or of course we fold forward.
Either onto our props or onto the map.
Take a moment to check in with your shoulders,
Your face and your jaw.
If you can.
Let go within any of these spaces.
Start to deepen your breath.
And then as you feel ready,
Gently come up.
Sweet props off of the mat.
Bring your legs forward.
Hands by your side,
Maybe take a moment just to winch or wipe your legs side to side.
We're going to start to come onto our backs now,
So make sure that you have enough space.
Slowly start to lay down.
As you come onto your back,
Draw both of your knees in towards your chest.
Give yourself a gentle squeeze.
Keep your legs together and then start to drop them over towards the left side of your mat.
You want to anchor in through your opposite shoulder,
So your right shoulder,
So that you can start to encourage a nice supported twist.
Let your breath soften.
Notice how your spine wants to unwind.
Start to deepen your breath.
Slowly come through center.
Maybe reset by drawing your knees in towards your chest,
Giving yourself a big squeeze.
And then guiding the legs over to the other side.
Anchor through your opposite shoulder.
If you need to bring your legs onto a prop,
You can,
Of course,
To allow your pose to feel a little bit more supportive and stable.
Start to slowly release.
Come back through center.
Hands on the knees,
You pull the knees down towards you and then just take your knees out wide,
Or happy baby,
So you can grab onto your ankles,
Taking your feet up to the sky,
Or maybe you'd like to grab onto the edges of your feet.
You might like to explore a little roll.
Gentle massage of the spine.
And then from here,
Take your legs up towards the sky,
Your arms up towards the sky,
A little gentle inversion.
Try to keep everything nice and heavy.
You can shake if you like.
And then land into some stillness.
Notice the energy that's moving through your arms and your legs.
Take a slow breath in.
And then as you exhale,
Lower your arms down,
Lower your legs down.
Come all the way into our final rest,
Our Shavasana.
So ensure that your body is nice and comfortable,
Maybe windshield wiper your feet from side to side,
Maybe broaden through the back of your heart to create space.
Take a moment to close down your eyes.
Start to find a slow breath in through your nose.
And then a slow breath out.
One more like that,
Nice slow breath in.
And then a slow breath out.
And then as you settle in,
Just allow your breath to flow back into its natural rhythm.
You don't need to control your breath in any way.
But I'd like you to keep your awareness focused on your breath.
Use it as an anchor point.
A place in which you can start to settle your mind.
And if you notice at any point in time,
Your mind starts to wander away.
The thoughts of the future or thoughts of the past.
And it's very,
Very normal for your mind to wander.
When you do notice.
Slowly,
Mindfully,
Compassionately,
Just bring your focus back to your breath.
This process will feel like a gentle ebb and flow.
At points in time you might get a little lost.
But whenever you do,
When you notice that you veered off the path,
Just bring your focus back to your breath.
Start to deepen your breath.
Bring a little bit of movement into your body.
Maybe reach your arms up and overhead,
Finding a full body stretch.
Gently roll to one side.
And then start to come up towards a seat.
Take a moment to close your eyes down.
And as you settle here,
Just become aware of how you're feeling.
See if you can tune into the rhythm of your breath.
Maybe the gentle beating of your heart.
Just giving yourself an extra moment to sit in the stillness that we've cultivated.
And then to close our practice off,
We'll start to find a slow breath in.
And then a slow breath out.
You can slowly start to open your eyes.
And a question that I'd like to leave you with before you finish off your practice.
Is Where am I genuinely generous within my life?
And where am I choosing to hold back?
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Hope to see you again soon.
