So let's sit with a nice tall spine and soften and close your eyes and take some slow deep breath.
Just feel the easy flow of your natural breath.
As you breathe,
Just feel.
Softening in all those tight areas in your body.
Just let go of any tension in the chest.
We'll be back.
Shoulders,
Neck,
Breathe it away and soften.
And now let's just take a moment to set an intention for today's practice.
It can be a positive word or affirmation.
That you stay aware of along with your breath.
Now we're going to just use some sound to bring some sound into our pranayama this morning to really settle down the nervous system a little bit.
So let's start.
If you like,
You can take your hands in front of the heart center.
And let's say four ohms.
You can say them on your own.
Ah.
Really feel the vibration through your whole body.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Ah.
When you finish your own,
Just relax your hands in your lap.
You can take them on the knees and we're going to do bumblebee breathing now to another beautiful sound breath.
So we'll do six of them just with the hands,
Relax,
And then we'll add the mudra with the hands after that.
So just go ahead and begin.
We'll do six of them.
Remember you're humming and the tongue is on the roof of the mouth just behind the feet.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Hmm.
Mmm.
And maybe just pause for a moment and notice if you feel a little bit calmer.
And now let's add the mudra.
The thumbs are going to go softly in the ears,
The index fingers just above the brows,
The middle fingers,
Kind of mid-nose,
The ring fingers above the lips,
And then the pinky fingers are going to go in the dent in the chin.
So let's do six rounds.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Hmm.
When you finish,
Just relax your hands down and just pause to check in for a moment.
And if you feel more calm,
Just know this is a form of panayama that's available to you and you can do it anytime.
Now let's roll through some cat and cows here,
Just rounding the spine.
And then bringing the belly forward.
And just know that throughout your practice,
That you can just tune in and do what's right for you today.
Yoga is really all about self care.
We challenge ourselves a little bit mentally and physically.
But we're always approaching it with compassion.
So if something isn't working well for us on any given day,
We can adjust and that's okay.
Okay,
Now let's come up to the top.
And let's just do some torso rotation.
Nice and easy.
Remember,
If you want to do something different with your legs,
You want to stretch your legs out in front.
Put the soles with feet together.
Whatever feels good to you.
I like sitting in the cross-legged position because it stretches out my hip.
And now let's go the opposite way.
And coming back to the center,
Let's inhale,
Stretch it up.
Exhale,
Open to the right.
Inhale off the center.
Open to the left.
One more each way.
And now let's tip to the right and stretch that left arm over,
Possibly laying the hand on the head if the shoulder is uncomfortable.
Just melt the tension away from that right hand.
Try to relax your shoulder here.
And come up to the center,
Inhale stretch it up,
Exhale open to the left.
I don't know if you guys can hear the waves in the background.
There's kind of a nice surf.
Today.
I'd love it if you could hear that during the practice.
Okay,
Now come up and tilt over to the left.
Stretch the right arm over.
Yeah,
That's another thing.
If you have the insight timer app,
There's a lot of sound things on there,
Soundtracks that have music and ocean waves and things like that.
But a lot of times just listening to nature sound.
Can help you to feel a little bit calmer when you're feeling anxious.
You know,
Let's come back to the center.
And now just walk the hands forward and let your hips and lower back stretch.
And now slowly come up.
And now let's change the lead foot.
And then let's come back over into that lower back hip stretch.
And then let's slowly come back up and let's come over onto the hands and knees.
Let's start by coming down into child's pose.
And then maybe rest the elbows on the floor and bring the fingertips to the upper back.
You can even walk the elbows forward a little bit more if you want one more stretch.
Scratch the arms back out.
And now that's.
.
.
Let's just do a little something for the elbows here.
So just lower your.
.
.
Elbows so the arms were parallel to the sides of the map.
And just hold it for several seconds.
Keep breathing.
Let's slowly walk the hands in and come up to kneeling mountain.
Take your arms at 90 degrees and just turn the palms up and down.
And now just squeeze,
Make a fist and release it.
And now take your arms out and just pull the elbows in toward the middle of the back.
So just stretch the arms out like this.
Out.
And then just bring the elbows in toward the middle of the back and just squeeze that space between the shoulder blades.
One more time.
And then take the hands on the shoulders.
And then just bring your elbows toward each other,
Gazing down.
And then open the elbows and raise your gaze.
And now just draw some circles with the elbow.
And for any reason kneeling doesn't feel good to you,
You could come down to hero or you could stand up.
You always have options.
Let's reverse directions.
Nice job.
Relax.
The arms down.
Now tilt the head to the right and then slowly roll forward and over to the left,
Starting to melt away any tension that we're experiencing in the back of the neck.
One more each side.
And come back to center.
Nice job.
Now let's take a big step forward with the right foot.
And you can slide it forward.
Really try to think about getting a stretch through the psoas.
You might want to have blocks down on either side.
If you want to put your hands down,
You could possibly have your hands on the thigh or you could have your arms up.
Just kind of tune in to what's feeling right to you this morning.
Take that right hand on the right knee,
Left hand on the back of the left thigh,
And then just gaze over the left shoulder.
Come back to the center.
Take the hands down,
Start walking the right foot to the outer edge of the mat.
We're going to come down to lizard.
You can stay up.
Or you could possibly use a block and come down on your forearms.
You know,
Different ways,
However it feels good.
Try to let that knee open so you feel very open through your hips.
Your inner thigh.
Now let's slowly come up and walk your foot back to the center.
And start walking your hands back and flex up your left foot.
Maybe you want to have blocks on either side or have one block here to help lengthen your thoracic spine.
Really lengthen all the way from sacrum to crown.
Try not to hunch over in the thoracic.
You want to draw the shoulder blades down.
I'll slowly walk forward.
Curl the left toes under,
Lift up to lunge,
And take the right leg back.
And let's hold a plank position.
Stay here for a few breaths.
We'll take an inhale,
Exhale,
Chaturanga.
Inhale,
Cobra,
Upward dog.
Exhale,
Downward facing dog.
Stay here for a few breaths.
Take the knees down,
Tops the feet down,
Melt down into extended trials.
I'll slowly come back up.
I just interlace the fingers behind the back and open the heart space.
Now release it and roll the shoulders up and around a few times.
Now let's take a big step forward with the left foot.
I mean,
Into our psoas strap.
Remember,
You can have the hands on the blocks on the floor.
On the thighs,
Or you can bring the arms up.
Lots of ways to do this.
Just listen to your body.
And I'll take that left hand on the left knee.
And take your right hand around the back of your thigh and just sweep your gaze over the right shoulder.
Come back to the center.
And now let's take the hands down on the floor and we're going to walk.
The foot to the outer edge and come into your lizard.
Open that knee.
Find your comfortable position here.
Keep the spine nice and long.
Make sure you keep the back of the neck engaged.
And let it slowly come up.
Walk your left foot in toward the center.
Walk your fingertips back.
Relax up your left foot.
Maybe you want to have your hands resting on the earth.
Maybe you want to have a block underneath here.
Maybe you want to have two blocks,
One on each side.
Just tune in and see what feels right for this poke.
So they walk the fingers forward,
Curl the right toes under.
Push up to lunge.
Take the left leg back to plank.
Stay here for a few breaths.
We'll take an inhale,
Exhale,
Chaturanga.
Inhale,
Cobra,
Upward dog.
Exhale.
Downward facing dog.
Go ahead and take the blanket out.
Stay here for a few breaths,
Maybe moving in this pose.
Maybe you want to pedal the feet,
Nod the head.
Whatever feels good to you at this moment,
I invite you.
To just do what.
.
.
Your body is calling you to do at this moment.
Now let's start to walk the feet toward the hands.
Let's come into a forward fold.
The hands can rest on the lower legs,
The feet.
A block,
Or the floor.
However it feels good to you.
Soften or bend the knees as much as you need to for comfort.
In your low spine.
Soft knees,
Inhale,
Tall mountain.
And exhale,
Bring the hands in front of the heart center.
Excellent.
Let's take the right foot in front.
And the left foot in back.
Now let's come to a warrior one.
Really connect the soles,
The feet with the earth.
So often when we're feeling anxious and worried about things,
We need to come back and ground.
Your lower chakras are involved in security and safety.
And so anytime you connect the soles of the feet to the earth,
Anytime you open the hips,
And bring energy into the Root chakra,
You help.
To remind yourself.
Now let's open.
To Warrior 2.
Walking barefoot on the earth.
Is another wonderful way to do that.
Now let's bring your thumb up,
Your right thumb.
Inhale look at your thumb Exhale,
Look past it.
Inhale look at your thumb Exhale,
Look past it.
Inhale,
Look at your thumb.
Exhale,
Look past it.
Now do the same thing,
But you're going to move your arm.
So inhale,
Look at your thumb as the back arm comes forward.
Exhale,
Look past it as you sweep the arm back.
Inhale look at the thumb Sweep the arm back,
Look past it.
One more time.
And float the hands down.
And I reverse the warrior.
Bring the arm up.
Look at the palm.
And then look.
And then drop your gaze down.
Look at the palm.
And then drop your gaze down.
Without moving the head.
Look at your palm.
Drop the gaze down one more time.
And now come back to the center.
I was turning the feet 180 degrees.
Left foot in front coming into warrior one.
Really connect to the earth.
Now it's open to warrior two,
Looking at the left middle finger.
And now turn the thumb up.
Inhale,
Look at the thumb.
Exhale,
Look past it.
Inhale look at the thumbs I actually look past it.
Inhale,
Look at the thumb.
Exhale,
Look past it.
Inhale,
Bring that arm forward.
Look at the thumb.
Exhale,
Look past it.
Sweep the arm.
One more time.
Load the hands,
Reverse the warrior.
With that.
Inhale look up Exhale,
Drop the gaze.
Inhale,
Look up at the palm.
Exhale,
Drop the gaze.
Two more times.
One more time.
And now let's come to the center.
And take the toes in front of the heels,
Hands on the waist.
Take an inhale.
Exhale,
Drop the hands down to the earth.
Just feel those hips and lower back stretching.
Now,
Just staying here.
Sweep your gaze over without moving the head,
Sweep your gaze over to the right heel.
From the inhale and then over to the left heel on the exhale.
Right heel.
Left heel.
Right heel.
Left heel.
One more time.
Right heel.
Left heel.
Slowly walk the hands in and slowly come back up.
Take the hands on the waist.
Just squeeze the elbows toward the middle of the back.
And while you're here,
Raise your gaze up and drop your gaze down Raise your gauge.
Drop your gaze down.
Raise your gaze up.
Drop your gaze down one more time.
Nice job.
Now walk the feet in.
Come up to the front of the mat and take the hands in front of the heart center.
Nice long spine.
Just feel that connection to the earth.
Take a moment here to notice.
Feel that energy coming up through the soles of feet.
Through your lower leg.
The Earth's magnetic field.
Coming up into your body.
A couple of days ago,
We started the spring solstice.
I can never say that word.
This is a time where the planets are moving in a direction where there's going to be transformation and change.
Just allow the transformation to happen in your life,
The change to happen,
That you need to happen.
Just use that energy.
To bring uplift and enlightenment to your being,
To your life.
Let's inhale and stretch to the sky,
Raise the gaze.
Exhale,
Dive down to your forward fold.
Just inhale like that.
Exhale,
Hands to the earth.
Step back to plank.
Stay here for a deep breath.
Take an inhale and then exhale,
Lower the chest to the mouth.
Excellent.
Now let's fold the hands one on top of the other.
Bring the soles,
The feet in.
Let's do some braggis to strengthen our hip joint.
Exhale,
Tighten the glutes,
Squeeze the soles of the feet together.
Inhale release.
Exhale tight,
Tight.
Inhale at least.
Just continue on your own.
Engaging those gluteal muscles.
Feeling all those tissues around the glutes activating.
Stabilizing.
Stretch the legs back.
Stretch the hands back.
Come into locust pose.
Really lengthen your spine,
Lengthen your whole body.
From toes to crown.
Stay with your breath.
You know,
One of the beautiful things about yoga practice is that we clear out the clutter in the mind so we come closer to our authentic self.
To remember the real you doesn't have anxiety and worry and panic.
And fear.
All those things start to melt away.
Okay,
Now let's lower down.
Take the hands alongside the ears.
Let's exhale,
Lift the head,
Turn to the right,
Bring the left heel in.
Inhale,
Lay the ear down,
Lengthen it out.
Axle,
Turn the head the other way.
Right heel comes in.
Inhale,
Stretch it back.
And one more each side.
I'll slowly take the hands alongside the ears.
Let's push it up.
Shift over onto our seat.
You can sit on a blanket if you want for a little elevation for the hip.
And just lengthen your legs out and place your hands next to your hips.
We're going to come into staff pose.
And we'll take a little time to pause and work on the bond as today.
So just start by flexing the feet,
Engaging the thighs,
And really lengthening the spine.
Start by just feeling the flow of your breath and moving up through your chakras,
Moving down through your chakras.
So we go all the way from root to crown and from crown to root.
Nurture those subtle body energy centers and nurture your Flexises.
Now start by bringing awareness to your root.
To your root chakra,
Your mula bandha.
Your root lock.
Just engage your pelvic floor muscles.
As you breathe.
And now let's start to notice the Uddiyana Banda.
You can keep the pelvic muscles engaged if you want to or just bring your focus here and you don't need to worry about that right now.
So as you inhale,
You're going to feel a little swelling in the belly.
And as you exhale,
Draw the navel in and upward.
That's the Uddiyana.
It kind of gets that last bit of old energy out of your body.
We want to get all that old energy out,
Right?
You don't need to hang on to it anymore.
And now you can release awareness from the Uddiyanda and then come to the Jalandhara,
The chin lock.
So you're just going to slightly tuck your chin while lengthening the back of the neck.
And now if it feels comfortable,
See if you can engage all three bondos.
It's just a way to store promise in the body.
The prana is that life energy,
That vitality that we feel.
You know,
Sometimes when we get older,
We think that we can't have any more prana anymore.
We have to be tired.
Nope.
We can take it in.
Just breathe,
Eat healthy food,
Go outside.
There's plenty of prana available to people,
No matter how old they are.
Okay,
Now just release your focus on the bandhas.
Take an inhale,
Stretch it up.
Exhale,
Melt into a seated forward fold.
The earth is really here to renew you,
To revitalize you.
To enable you to feel in harmony and balance.
Now let's slowly come up.
And let's bring the right foot into the center.
Lift up and settle into the sit bones.
Flex the left toes.
Engage the thigh.
Inhale up.
Exhale.
Melt forward.
Director gaze at the big toe.
That's your Dreshti.
Your point of focus.
Stay lengthened through your whole spine.
Now slowly come up.
We're going to come into deer pose.
Just kind of sweep that left leg around the back.
Your sole of your right foot connects with your thigh.
And you can come over to the floor,
Rest on your forearms.
Or you could come over and rest on a block.
Whatever feels good for you here.
Slowly come back up.
Stretch the legs back out and now bring the left foot into the center Lift up,
Settle into the sit bones.
Inhale up,
Exhale,
Melt forward.
Looking at the big toes.
Slowly come up.
Now sweep that right foot around the back.
You can come over however it feels good,
Down on the floor,
On the block.
And slowly come up.
Lengthen the legs back out.
And I bring the right foot in.
Wrap the hands around the thigh.
Lengthen the spine,
Flexing the left toes up.
And now sweep that right hand around the back and take that left.
Hand or elbow on the knee.
Gently.
Rotate into a twist.
Keeping the spine lengthened.
Staying with that easy flow of your breath.
Now release it.
Stretch the leg out.
Bring the left foot in.
Wrap the hands around the front of the knee and elevate the spine.
Feel that length in the spine and just memorize that so you can stay with it all day.
Remember,
You're always going to bring more prana into the body when your alignment is good.
And we restrict the breath a lot when we hunch over and slouch.
Sweep that left hand around the back.
Take that right hand or elbow on the outside of the knee and look over your shoulder.
Coming into that spinal twist very gently,
Very mindfully.
Now release it.
Lengthen the leg out.
Now bring the soles,
The feet together.
Bring the heels toward the center,
And bow forward,
Coming into Baddha Konasana.
And slowly come up and then push the feet out a little further,
Making a diamond shape with the legs.
And then allowing the head to drop toward the feet.
Slowly come back up.
And now bring the feet down.
Let's come down onto our backs and start by taking the knees in toward the chest.
Maybe you want to move a little in this pose.
I invite you to do this lower back stretch however it feels good to you right now.
And now just let the feet float down.
Ankles are under the knees.
Rest the palms and slowly lift up the bridge.
Eyes rise to the sky.
Slowly melt down one vertebrae at a time.
Now let's come into modified shoulder stand.
Take the knees in and the feet up.
Or you can come up.
To bridge and put a block under the sacrum,
Orient it however it feels best.
Remember,
Only do a shoulder stand if you have no neck problems and know how to do it safely without pressure on the neck.
Now slowly come out of the shoulder stand and take the knees back in toward the chest.
And now just release the knee.
And start to settle into a comfortable position for shavasana for you whatever you need to do to find comfort here.
Feel free to put your feet up on the wall or on a chair.
Just find comfort.
And then find stillness.
Allow your body to be reborn.
Take a moment to do whatever you need to do to become just a little bit more comfortable.
Maybe you need a subtle little shift.
Now let's allow your mind to visualize.
Take yourself to your Ashraya.
To your sacred place,
Someplace where you feel safe and happy.
And start to create in your mind visual images of this place.
Hear the sounds.
Notice the aroma.
Even feel things.
Like breathe.
Or sun,
Or water.
Whatever it is.
It's representative of this play.
Immerse yourself.
And relax here.
You can imagine you're sitting or lying down.
Or walking,
Whatever feels right for you.
And now slowly bring your awareness back to the room where you're lying.
And know that you can come back to your Ashraya.
Anytime you need to.
It's waiting for you to restore and renew you.
Feel the support of the earth underneath you and feel the air and space around you.
Now bring some slow movements into your fingers and toes.
And when you feel ready,
Roll over onto your right side for a couple of slow,
Deep breaths.
Relax and rest.
And from there,
Slowly make your way back up to seated.
Let's take the hands in front of the heart center.
And let's close today's practice with an OM.
We'll take a deep inhale.
And we'll say,
Oh.
Deep inhale.
Ah.
The divine light in me honors the divine light in you.
Namaste.
