So when we want to support Pitta,
We want to support the heat leaving the body,
And that can be mental heat,
That can be physical heat,
And we also want to support softening the edges and that harshness that can come with a Pitta,
A high Pitta energy.
And so a way to do that is to twist,
Is to open the sides,
The front and back of the body,
And to also try to move with fluidity and a little less harshness.
So keep that in your mind as we move through our practice today,
Our sadhana,
And we'll close with a supportive pranayama and a supportive mantra too.
You're going to want two blocks for your practice today,
They're going to be very helpful.
And let's start right away on all fours,
With hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips,
And you can start with just a couple rounds of regular cat-cow,
Inhaling as you drop the belly,
And exhaling as you round the back.
And maybe right away instead you go to more fluid movement,
And you try to find some fluid circles with the hips,
So that you invite roundness into your body rather than square and rigid and hard.
And notice as you're making circles with the hips,
And you can go in both directions,
You can alternate once in a while.
The circles are not just in the hips,
They're also in the wrists,
In the shoulders,
There's fluidity there.
You can also play with dropping the belly and making the belly go in circles and the spine go in circles.
There's really no right or wrong way to do this,
All we're trying to do is to invite some fluid movement.
And so if something else that I'm not demonstrating is calling you,
Go for it.
Might be some cracking and popping as you move fluidly here.
Can you bring even more softness to your movements?
Can you let it be even more fluid and less rigid?
All right,
And then bring your hips back to your heels,
And reach your arms in front of you.
You're going to place your forehead to the mat,
And you're going to reach your arms,
I'm going to lift my head just so you can hear me,
But keep your forehead onto the mat.
Your arms are as far forward as you can while reaching your hips back.
And then once you have all that length,
Go ahead and walk both of your hands towards the left,
So we're finding a little bit of a side bend here.
And your belly might start to move to your left thigh a little bit more.
The intensity of the twist is up to you,
But I'm going to encourage you to not be too intense to find some softness there.
You don't need to go to the extreme of the stretch you can do.
Just notice the opening that's happening on the right side of your body,
From your fingertips to your right hip.
It doesn't matter how far you go,
That opening is still happening.
Can you breathe a little bit more into your right lung,
A little bit more into your right side waist,
A little bit more into your right hip.
And then once you're ready,
Bring your hands back to center,
Take a moment here.
And then walk both of your hands towards the right side.
And again,
Notice the tendency maybe to go to the biggest stretch I can find.
Back out of it just a tad.
That's the practice today.
That's the sadhana.
That's the tuning in.
Belly a little bit more to your right thigh,
Just for support.
And then we're opening and creating space rather than striving.
In this practice,
Any exhale out of the mouth is recommended,
Again,
To support the heat coming out of the body,
To support the release of anything stuck inside that's too hot.
Walk your hands back to center,
And then come back to all fours,
And find downward facing dog,
Please.
So bring your hips up and back.
If you need to move in your down dog a little bit,
Do that,
But can you move with fluidity?
What would it mean to not move in a harsh way here?
Does it mean opening the mouth,
Exhaling out of the mouth?
Does it mean bending the knees and being a little softer and maybe not pushing as hard?
Does it mean just hanging here for a bit?
And maybe for today,
You lose a little bit of that structure in the chest,
And you bring the chest a little bit more to the heart,
To the ground.
Great.
And then come back to a regular down dog,
So pretty even.
And you're going to walk your feet a little bit to your hands,
Just enough so that by bending the knees,
You can center the left hand and grab your left ankle with your right hand.
So left ankle with right hand.
It's a little bit of a twist.
I hate this pose,
Just so you know,
But it's a really nice twist.
And so you can play with lengthening one leg at a time.
That left leg is going to be a little bent.
So it's that down dog twist.
We're finding,
Look under your left armpit,
Big breath in,
Smile.
I know.
Bring your right hand back to center.
Take a moment to readjust.
So your stance is a little shorter.
Otherwise,
You can't reach your ankle.
And then center your right hand more.
Grab your right ankle with your left hand.
And then by pressing on the right hand down and lengthening through the left leg,
You're finding that twist.
You're finding the gaze under the right armpit.
You're still smiling.
Both hands down.
Drop the knees and then sit back on the heels for a second,
Just for a second.
Close your eyes.
Contemplate life.
Notice the shift of energy.
Just a tad more space in the body already.
It's a little bit,
Little bit.
OK,
Open your eyes.
And then find yourself at the top of your mat standing.
So we'll go through a few lunges with side bends to continue opening up the sides of the body.
And then we'll switch to something different.
So really soft and fluid loving practice today.
Start with your feet at the top of your mat,
Your hands to your heart center,
And close your eyes,
Please.
And find this intention to really be welcoming towards more softness,
More love,
More kindness.
And if you feel that these are already in part of your life,
More.
There's always more.
More kindness,
More love,
More softness towards yourself,
Towards other.
More forgiveness,
More space,
More freedom,
More capacity.
Open your eyes if they're closed.
Reach your arms up.
Take a deep breath in.
And then go ahead and flip your right palm up towards the ceiling.
Grab your right wrist with your thumb and second finger.
And then you're going to lean towards the left side.
And you can have a little bend in the low back.
Try not to exaggerate it too much.
Because what we're really trying to do is find all that space on the side of the body.
And so if you compensate by the low back,
You don't find it as much.
And again,
Are you going for the biggest,
Craziest,
Most intense stretch?
Or are you going for more softness and for more space for the heat to come out of your body and your mind?
Just check in.
And then that right hand is going to continue to lean until you fold all the way down.
Lift halfway up.
Inhale.
And then step your left foot back into a lunge place,
High lunge.
So both that left knee is up.
Bring your arms up.
Take a deep breath in.
Bend that left knee a little bit.
Again,
We're not going,
You know,
We could go straight.
But that's not what we're after.
We're after a little bit more fluidity,
A little bit more softness.
So do bend that knee.
Arms up.
Big breath in.
Keep your right arm where it is.
And then bring your left hand down and start to lean towards the left side.
And you might re-bend that right knee as you do that.
Big breath in.
More space.
Both arms up.
Inhale.
And then switch.
Keep your left hand up.
Drop the right hand down.
Lean towards the right side.
Notice which side you like better.
Both arms up.
Inhale.
Bring your hands down.
And then step your right foot back.
Drop your knees down and lower.
And then fluidly bring your hands outside of your mat.
And then we're going to do some waves.
Coming up,
Inhale.
And then down,
Exhale.
Two more times.
Inhale,
Chin to chest.
And then open the throat.
Exhale,
Lower.
When you're down,
Chin to chest.
Inhale,
Lift.
Open the throat.
And then lower.
Plant your hands next to your ribs.
Tuck your toes under.
And then find downward facing dog.
And then step your left foot forward.
Keep your right knee up.
Come up to a high lunge.
And again,
Don't straighten that right leg.
That's not what we're after.
Softness,
Fluidity.
So get steady and reach your arms up.
Take a deep breath and keep your left hand where it is.
Drop the right hand.
Lean towards the right side.
Both arms up.
Inhale.
Keep your right hand where it is.
Drop the left hand and lean towards the left side.
Rebend that left knee just a tad.
Come back up.
Inhale.
Bring both hands down.
And this time,
Step your right foot to the front of your mat.
Fold over your legs.
And then use your arms to lift up.
Inhale,
Reach.
Same thing.
So flip your left palm.
Grab your left wrist.
Lean towards the right side.
And see what you want to do.
Do you want a little curve in the low back?
Or do you want to tug the tailbone under?
Are you going for the biggest stretch ever?
Or are you finding space on the left side of your body?
And then as you're pulling a little bit with that right hand,
You're going to start to fold forward.
Lift halfway up.
Inhale.
This time,
Step your right foot to the back of your mat.
And then reach your arms up.
Inhale.
So you know how it works.
Keep your left hand where it is.
Drop your right hand.
Lean towards the right.
Both arms up.
Inhale.
Right hand up.
Left hand down.
Lean to the left.
Soft.
Just let everything drop.
No hard work.
Both arms up.
Inhale.
Hands down.
And then step back to plank.
Drop the knees and lower.
Moving through water.
Hands outside of your mat.
And then chin to chest.
Just those little cobra waves.
Inhaling up.
Exhaling down.
I like to close my eyes here.
So you're welcome to do that.
As you move to encourage even more softness through the gaze.
Last one.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Plant your hands next to your ribs.
And then a soft down dog.
Great.
Step your right foot forward.
Come up to a high lunge.
Bend that left knee.
Keep right hand where it is.
Drop to the left.
And then lean to the left.
Both arms up.
Inhale.
A little playfulness too.
Drop the right hand.
It can be a little rigidity when pitta gets high.
We get super serious.
Both arms up.
And then we're going to step to the front of the mat.
And fold.
Beautiful.
Come back up.
Inhale.
We'll do that one more with low lunges this time.
So grab the right wrist and lean to the left.
And then all the way down to fold.
Lift halfway up.
Great.
Step your left foot back.
Drop the left knee down.
Andhra Nyasana.
Reach your arms up.
Inhale.
Drop the left hand.
Lean.
So it might be a little bit more intense here.
You might want to come a little higher.
Just super soft.
Both arms up.
Inhale.
Drop the right hand.
Lean to the left.
This can be a little intense on that.
And maybe that right hand reaches the ground.
You can have some support here.
Both hands down.
And then you're going to bring your right knee next to your left.
And this time,
Cat-cow.
Drop the belly.
Inhale.
And round the back.
Exhale.
Drop the belly.
Inhale.
This time,
Walk your hands forward.
Tuck toes under.
Down dog.
Exhale.
Beautiful.
Step your left foot forward.
Drop your right knee down.
Andhra Nyasana.
Inhale.
Reach up.
Keep your left hand where it is.
Drop the right.
And then lean to the right.
Both arms up.
Inhale.
Drop the left.
Lean to the left.
More space.
More opening.
Back up.
Inhale.
Bring your hands down.
And then step forward to the top of your mat.
Fold forward.
Fluid,
Loving,
Kind fold.
And then get a little momentum.
Reach your arms up.
Inhale.
Last one.
Grab the left wrist and lean to the right.
Inhale.
Up.
And then fold forward.
Lift halfway up.
Step your right foot back.
Drop the right knee down.
Same thing.
So you know how it goes now.
Inhale.
Reach your arms up.
And then drop the right hand.
Lean to the right.
Come back up.
And switch.
Notice each time a little bit more space is created.
Hands down.
And then hands and knees,
Cat-cow.
One.
Exhale.
Two.
Inhale.
Three.
Exhale.
Down dog.
Four.
Big breath in.
A little softness.
Soft bend the knees.
I know,
A little reminder.
Step your right foot forward.
Drop the left knee down.
Reach up.
Drop the left hand.
Lean to the left.
Arms up.
Drop the right hand.
Lean to the right.
Exhale.
Beautiful.
And then reach your arms up.
And this time,
Bring your hands down and bring your right knee to your left.
And sit back on your heels for a moment.
Just a second.
Notice how you feel.
Just a little bit more space to breathe.
We're going to go to a twist.
But we're going to go to a soft twist.
So what I'm going to ask you to do,
I'm sitting on my heels right now.
So go ahead and do that.
And then you're just going to sit outside of your feet.
So both feet are next to my left hip.
Not super structured.
You're noticing that theme,
Right?
We're not going for a ton of structure.
So just plop right down.
Reach your arms up.
Big breath.
Enjoy this.
Open.
And then twist to the right.
So the left hand is going to come to that knee.
And there's going to be a hand behind you that is supporting the chest to open.
Again,
Not the biggest,
Most structured twist.
Just finding space.
Release the head.
And let's do this together.
Take a deep breath in.
And on your exhales,
Take your tongue out as you open your mouth.
Do that twice more.
Last one.
Great.
Come back to center.
Inhale.
And then go ahead and plop to the other side.
So both feet are on your right side.
And then inhale,
Arms up.
Just a gentle,
Gentle little twist.
Gentle,
Soft little twist.
The right hand is on that left knee.
All that space created in the belly and the chest.
Let's do lion's breath again.
Inhale through the nose.
Stick your tongue out.
Exhale.
Two more times.
Inhale.
Last one.
Great.
Come back to center.
And we're going to transfer,
Transition to Parivrtta Janushasana,
Which is a side opener.
And it's somewhat of a twist,
Too.
So we're going to start.
I'm going to mirror you with your right leg out.
And your left foot towards your groin,
You know,
Roughly.
And you're going to want a block outside of that right hand,
Outside of the knee.
And I'm going to encourage you to flex through the right foot.
And you're going to try to keep those toes up.
So this is the only place where we're finding a little bit of structure here.
So toes want to stay up and not out or in too much.
And that block can kind of help keep that structure.
And both hip points forward,
Both arms up.
And then without twisting the torso in any way,
Just plop towards your block.
Take a deep breath in.
And then see with space and openness how much can you get on that left side.
So for some of us,
Hand on the head and then leaning back is great.
And then you get kind of a nice,
Great stretch here,
Too.
And then for some of us,
You're going to be able to reach the foot.
Maybe not.
It's kind of tricky for me on this side.
And or you might need to go lower if you wanted to reach the foot.
Big breath.
You could also have that left arm inside of the right leg.
Big breath in.
You want to try as much as you can to keep that left hip grounded.
Not super crazy,
Just with the intention of more space.
And then lift yourself back up.
Glorious side openers.
Switch sides.
Lengthen the left leg.
Bend the right knee.
Take a moment to adjust yourself.
We're not staying long enough that you want to overachieve.
That's another thing with Pitta,
You know,
Wanting to do more and go further.
So if we stayed longer,
We'd want to increase,
Increase,
Increase.
And that's really not the goal.
Both arms up.
And then plopping just straight to the side.
Seeing,
Reaching for the arm,
How much space is there.
And that right knee tends to lift up a little bit at first.
That's fine.
Just let it ground again.
And then you could be into head.
Or you could start to lower a little bit more.
But only if you have the space,
Not because you want to go further necessarily,
Just for fun.
Oh,
I have so much more space to breathe on my side when I do this.
Take a big breath.
And then gently lift yourself back up.
Take a moment.
Notice how your body feels.
These side openers,
They can be pretty challenging,
And they feel so good energetically.
There's just so much that happens when we find them.
All right,
So we're going to come to the back to a supported bridge.
So make sure you have at least one of your blocks with you and make your way to your back.
I just need to check on the time real quick.
So find your way to your back and see if you can have a soft chest down.
Soft belly,
Soft face.
And then when that feels good,
Go ahead and press down.
Lift your hips and release your hips down onto a block.
And you really want to start to surrender onto your block.
So you might be at a higher setting.
You might be at a lower setting than me.
You could have two blocks at a low setting on top of each other.
Just noticing what this supported inversion is doing for us.
Hips are higher than the heart,
So there's more blood flow coming to the heart because of gravity.
There is more capacity for expansion of the heart here.
What does that mean for you?
Let yourself breathe.
There's nothing to do here.
There is nothing to do here.
There is nothing to do here.
Nice.
And then when you're ready,
Press on your feet.
Lift your hips.
Remove the block,
But keep it nearby because you're going to need it.
All right.
Lengthen your left leg,
Please.
And bring your right knee into your chest.
And just give your knee a little squeeze.
Noticing the squeezing before we extend,
Before we twist,
Before we squeeze some more.
Your left leg is going to stay long,
And you're going to open both arms next to you in a T-shape and let your right knee drop to the left.
And this is where your block might be useful.
The chest is really open.
And I would say if your arms are strongly in a T-shape,
Bring a little softness to your elbows.
Could you have that right leg just a little bit higher than you want to?
So you're not in the fullest twist you would want to be in.
Just a little higher.
Soften your face.
Release your jaw,
Your forehead,
Your eyes.
One more cycle of breath here.
And you can come back to center.
Grab your block with you.
You can place it on the right side.
Lengthen the right leg and squeeze your left knee into your chest.
Give it a little squeeze first.
Maybe an exhale out of the mouth,
Maybe a sound.
Letting anything that needs to come out,
Come out.
Then open your arms again,
T-shape with a soft bend in the elbows.
And I wouldn't say cactus here.
I would really have a T-shape with soft elbows.
And let the left knee drop to the right in that alligator twist.
A little less of the twist than you want to be in.
Notice what that does to you.
Does it make you upset?
Does it feel like,
Yeah,
All right,
I'll try it?
Notice your response.
Does it feel like,
Oh,
Yes,
Permission to not do 100%?
Thank you.
And then one more cycle of breath here.
Inhaling,
Exhaling.
Wonderful.
Come back to center.
And then give yourself just a second.
Feet down,
Knees up.
Place your hands on your body.
So your hands on your body.
Maybe one hand to the heart,
One hand to the belly.
Come back to that intention of love,
Love,
Love,
Love,
Love.
Kindness.
Happiness.
And then go ahead and roll to your side and press yourself up.
And sit on something.
You could sit cross-legged.
I like to sit in Virasana for pranayama because that's my more comfortable shape.
So go ahead and get settled.
And when you're ready,
Close your eyes.
And I would say rest your hands softly somewhere that feels really loving,
Loving and kind.
And we'll do,
You can have your eyes closed for this because you know how to do it.
We've done it.
We'll do three lion's breath.
So inhaling through the nose and then sticking the tongue out,
Exhaling out of the mouth.
Inhale.
And for the next two ones,
If there was a lot of intensity in the first one,
If you just really went for it,
That's great.
And see if you can soften it as you get to the third one.
Inhale.
Normal breath in.
Normal breath out.
If you're unfamiliar with alternate nostril breathing,
You can open your eyes.
If you are familiar,
You can find the mudra in the hands.
So second and third finger to the base of the thumb.
The thumb is used to close the right nostril and the fourth finger is used to close the left nostril.
So listen carefully because it's not our regular Nadi Shodhana.
What we're going to do is inhale only through the left nostril,
Which is that lunar energy,
And exhale only through the right nostril,
Which is that solar energy.
So we're inhaling,
Bringing in lunar energy,
That softness,
That darkness,
That yin energy,
And we're exhaling,
But in a gentle way,
The solar energy,
Too much fire,
Too much heat.
So take an exhale out of both nostrils,
Please.
And then close the right,
Inhale just through the left.
Close the left,
Exhale just through the right.
Then switch,
Inhale just through the left.
Exhale just through the right.
Inhale just through the left.
Exhale just through the right.
Continue at your own pace for a few more cycles.
So inhaling just through the left,
Exhaling just through the right.
And see if you can slow that down.
Notice if your head kind of shifted to the side,
Just gently bring it back to center.
Notice if your face got really serious,
Bring some softness there,
Soften the edges.
Bring one more cycle of breath,
Inhaling,
Exhaling,
Before you let it go.
And as you sit here with your eyes closed,
Bringing lunar energy in,
Letting solar energy out,
Maybe the mantra that starts to resonate within you,
Within your heart center,
The heart chakra mantra is yam.
So as you breathe,
Maybe you hear within you yam,
Yam,
Yam,
Yam,
Yam.
And it starts to reverberate throughout your entire body,
Your entire system.
The softening of the heart,
The opening of the heart,
And the beautiful balance between yin,
Yang,
Moon and sun,
Fire and water.
Notice that within you.
I'm going to encourage you to stay here a few more moments,
So that you can really make it yours.
Maybe you stay a lot longer.
You get into the rhythm of yam,
Yam,
Yam.
And if you're ready,
You can open your eyes,
And have a great day.
