Hi everyone,
Thank you for joining.
My name is Catherine and today's chair yoga flow is to embrace the season of autumn.
During this fall equinox flow,
We'll go through some balancing.
Poses,
Everything will be seated in the chair.
So there's no reason to stand unless you want to do some of the balancing standing.
Everything will be done in a chair.
You'll just want to find a chair that doesn't have wheels so you're nice and sturdy.
You don't need a yoga mat underneath or any special props,
But as always blocks or a blanket or a strap are welcome if that is supports your practice.
So we'll begin with a couple mindful breaths.
As we take this transition,
You might start to.
Soften the eyes,
Moving the hands to wherever they're comfortable.
Maybe the tops of the legs or the heart.
Breathing in fully.
Welcoming the autumn season in the Northern Hemisphere.
Exhaling deeply.
Letting go.
Of anything that is no longer serving you.
No longer bringing you joy.
Peace or gratitude.
Taking a couple more intentional breaths in that way.
Inhaling.
Thoughts of gratitude.
Exhale,
Releasing.
Tension.
Tension in the mind.
Tension in the body.
In the next breath,
We'll begin to bring awareness back.
Taking your time to flutter the eyes open,
Reaching the arms wide out to the sides.
And then if it feels good,
Reaching the arms up towards the ceiling.
Exhale,
Lower the hands to your heart center.
Start to lower the chin towards the chest.
Finding a nice little stretch in the back of the neck.
Begin to lower the right ear towards the left ear.
Right shoulder,
Keeping the hands at heart space.
Lower the chin back towards the chest and then take.
The left ear over towards the left shoulder.
Opening up a little bit of space in the neck,
Coming back to center.
And then over towards the right again.
Finding the breath that matches the movements.
Start to bring the left ear back towards the left shoulder.
As we celebrate this equality between day and night across the globe.
Bring your hands back to center.
Bring your chin back to center.
Gently start to press the fingertips together,
Reaching up towards the sky.
Exhale,
Take the right hand down to the side of the chair,
Maybe even hold on,
And reach the left arm up and over,
Finding space through the side body.
Start to maybe look up.
Or down.
Each of our directions supports the head.
Try not to fold or collapse in the side that you're reaching to.
Think of lifting up tall.
Stretching long.
On the next breath,
We'll sweep the arm back down,
Nice and gently sweep the arm down.
And reach both arms back up again.
This time taking the opposite hand to the side of the chair,
Your left hand probably,
And reaching the right arm up and over.
Inhale to lengthen,
Exhale to reach with the fingertips.
And the next breath.
Start to sweep the arm back down,
Bring both arms up.
Maybe the gaze follows this time.
Exhale,
Lower the hands to heart center.
Start to shift the hands over towards the right side.
And then shift the hands towards the left.
Feeling a little stretch through the shoulders.
On the next round,
We'll bring the gaze into it.
So we've gone two times to each side.
Now,
As the hands come to the right,
Start to bring the gaze towards the left.
Switching sides,
Let the palms of the hands press together towards the left,
Gaze over the right.
Back to center once more,
Each side.
Evening out our left and right,
Finding the balance throughout our body,
Knowing that each day We might feel a little bit tighter on one side.
Hands resting together,
You can interlace the fingers and start to take a couple circles of the wrist.
Switching direction to go the other way.
And then with the fingers interlaced,
Turn the thumbs to point down and start to gently press the heels of the hands away from the body.
The hands might be a little lower than chest level.
They might be all the way up towards chest and neck level.
Find where it feels nice in your arms,
In your back.
And then you might start to even arch at the back a little bit as you do this and then round.
Make a cat-cow movement as you press the hands up and lift the heart forward.
If it's too much with the hands interlaced,
Just take the hands down to the lap.
Lifting the heart,
The gaze.
And then rounding.
Your choice with the hands resting on the tops of the legs as you take a few rounds of Cat-Cow or keeping that interlaced movement.
Finding a little bit of a difference.
In the body.
Having that autonomy to decide what feels better,
Maybe even a combination of both.
And then on the next cat,
As the spine rounds,
Maybe you come more towards a child's pose,
Reaching the fingertips a little bit further down the legs,
Letting the back of the neck stretch long.
Inhale,
Bring the hands back to the tops of the legs,
Roll the shoulders back down and away.
Find a nice,
Strong mountain pose here.
Maybe resting the gaze,
Feeling the heart stack over the hips,
The shoulders over the hips.
Nice tall spine.
Good,
We'll add on from here.
Let's add a twist,
Taking the hands down to the sides.
Palms might face out a little bit here.
We'll inhale,
Reach the arms up towards the sky.
Exhale,
Twist to the right.
Bring the gaze with you.
Feel a nice lift through the spine.
Three full breaths here as you twist to the right.
Inhale to lengthen and exhale to twist.
Another full breath on the right side.
And then slowly start to bring the torso back to center,
Realign the shoulders to face forward,
And twist to the other side,
Coming to the left this time.
You can reach for the side of the chair,
The opposite hand can come to the top of the knee.
Lifting the top of the head up nice and tall.
Feel the feet ground down,
Feel the spine stretch long,
Feel the ribs guiding you towards the left side.
One more breath on this side.
And gently start to unwind back to center.
Come right to the other side,
One more on each side,
This time two breaths.
Hand can rest down by the side,
Opposite hand to the knee,
Shoulders are down away from the ears.
The spine is nice and long.
And the twist is coming through the center of the torso.
Not going too,
Too far in distance.
Inhale,
Come back through center and straight down to the other side.
One more breath.
To the left in the twist,
And then we'll come back to center.
Maybe the arms reach up one more time.
Exhale,
Lower the hands to the heart.
Pause here.
Great,
Let's come through a seated sun salutation,
Greeting the sun.
Welcoming with gratitude this new season ahead.
Start to reach the fingers up as high as you'd like to the sky.
Keep the seat grounded.
Make sure both sitting bones are solid.
Exhale,
Open the arms wide and allow the heart to melt down towards the tops of the legs.
Maybe they reach the tops of the legs,
Maybe you just float over them.
Let the arms and the head hang down,
Seated forward fold.
Maybe it feels stronger to hold on to the sides of the chair.
Inhale,
Half lift,
Bring the hands to the shins or the thighs.
Exhale,
Fold fully again.
Inhale,
Root to rise,
Feel the feet root down like a tree,
The arms reach up like the branches.
Exhale,
Hands come down to the heart.
We'll take that one more time.
Inhale to reach the arms up.
Exhale,
Float down nice and slow.
Let the heart melt down towards the legs.
Let the head come down towards the floor.
Arms can let go here.
The head,
The neck can let go.
Inhale to half lift.
Exhale to fold.
Reach the arms out to the sides.
Use the core to lift you back up.
Ground down through the feet.
Reach up through the arms.
Exhale,
Take the hands to the heart.
Okay,
Bringing the hands down to the sides,
We're going to come to a warrior two.
Let the right foot come forward.
You might shimmy onto the chair a little bit more.
Findings a stretch through your back leg.
So the right foot's forward,
The right knee is bent,
The left foot is back,
Or either side,
We'll do both equally.
So whichever way you want in your chair,
We'll do the other side next.
Reach the arms along,
So the fingertips are extending in opposite directions.
Feel if you're leaning a lot forward,
Maybe you come back a little bit more,
Finding this nice strong lift.
Up through the torso as you gaze over the front fingers.
The direction of the bent knee.
Pause here and breathe.
Feel grounded.
Fear of balance.
Feel held and supported by the chair beneath your seat.
Start to flip the front palm.
And maybe reach the left hand or the back hand towards your leg and start to reach the front arm up any amount.
If this doesn't feel good on your shoulder,
You might just bend the elbow and take the hand behind the head.
Let the gaze go where the neck is happy.
Breathe here and feel this nice opening through the front body.
One more breath as we slowly with control come back down to our warrior two,
Gazing over the front fingertips.
Bring the hands back into the center of the chair or to heart center.
Bring the knees forward and turn right away to face the opposite direction.
So the opposite foot is bent.
Don't worry if there's a little bit of a bend or any amount of a bend in your back leg.
If it's uncomfortable in the knee or the shin or the calf,
Just let the knee go where it feels safe.
Reach the front fingertips to face forward,
Gazing over the front fingers.
Feel the support of the chair beneath you.
Feel the feet grounded.
Breathing here.
And the next breath,
We'll flip the front palm,
Reach the arm up.
Maybe the hand comes down to the back of the head.
Inhale,
Reach the arm forward.
Use the core to lift you back up.
Take a full breath here.
Nice and strong through the arms.
Bring the hands back into heart center or to the seat of the chair,
Walk the back foot in,
Bring both feet to meet.
At the front.
Even out the hips to the chair so you're back to where you started.
And we're going to come to a seated tree pose.
If you want to work your balance and come standing behind the tree,
You could also do this standing.
I'm going to demonstrate in the chair.
So if you're in the chair,
We'll keep the right foot down and lift the left foot to come to either the shin or let the foot stay on the floor.
Maybe just the heel comes up.
So we're going to lift the foot wherever it feels comfortable and then let the hands rest at heart center.
If you feel more comfortable with the hands holding the chair,
Stay there.
And if you want to work the balance even more,
Start to lift the hands.
Breathe here and find a gazing point straight ahead.
We call that the Drishti point.
Maybe the arms are out.
Like wide branches here.
Keeping the spine nice and tall.
Find your gazing point.
Breathe here in our seated tree.
Know that it's okay if you're swaying.
If you're.
.
.
Lowering the foot and lifting the foot.
Whatever's happening is.
Perfect.
Just how it is.
We're working our balance,
We're working our stability.
We're working our strength.
Take three more breaths here.
Wherever the arms are,
Wherever the foot is.
Slowly with control,
Lower the hands down if they're lifted.
Lower the foot.
Maybe circle out the hip or the knee a little bit.
And then we'll switch to the opposite leg,
Grounding the other foot down.
This is your rooted anchor of the tree.
Let the other foot come up to any height.
Maybe the toes are resting down or even on a book or block.
The hands could come to heart center.
Maybe you start to test lifting one arm and keeping the other hand down to the chair.
Maybe you come to the wide cactus arms again.
Find what supports this side of the body and then find that gazing point and rest there for a few breaths.
Take two more breaths.
Wherever you are in the tree pose on this side.
And then slowly with control,
Lowering the arms.
Lowering the foot.
Shake out the knee or the hip a little bit.
Lower the hands,
Roll the shoulders back down in a way,
Maybe forward.
Maybe taking the hands to the shoulders.
Taking a couple gentle circles here.
Releasing wherever else you can release,
And then beginning to soften the gaze or close the eyes,
Maybe letting the hands rest at the tops of the legs.
We're resting over the heart.
Inviting in gratitude.
To this new season.
Celebrating fall equinox with balance.
Taking this time to feel grounded.
Balanced and secure.
In your practice,
In your body.
With your breath.
Taking time to set an intention for this next season ahead,
If that feels right for you.
Or maybe the statement of gratitude.
Is your intention.
With the next breath,
You might flutter the eyes open or if you'd like to stay here in meditation for a little bit longer.
Take as much time as you'd like.
When you're ready to end the practice.
Take your time coming back out and into the day ahead.
With so much love and gratitude.
Thank you.
