Lying supine for forward bend and little boat.
Our only objective is to find out what our bodies like doing,
To become more and more aware and to use imagination where awareness hasn't quite developed.
Experiencing the pull of gravity and its connection with the breath,
Bringing the spine to life,
Awakening the core while relaxing the outer body,
Undoing the grip of dominant muscles to invite other muscles to come into play.
So lying on your back with knees up and feet resting on the ground,
Become more and more conscious of your points of contact with the ground.
Let go of the big surface muscles that we use most of the time.
Draw your attention to your breathing to notice how fast it is,
How deep it is.
Notice the arches of your feet which give us a foundation when we're standing and a spring in our step when we're walking.
Become aware of or imagine your spine lengthening along the ground,
Not by pushing,
Not by doing anything,
But by undoing everything.
Become aware of or imagine the space between your shoulder blades and also space across the front of your body.
Feel very wide and flat.
Supine,
The whole body,
Especially the upper body,
Is well supported compared with sitting and standing.
The stability of the pose allows grounding through the shoulders,
The hips and the feet.
Now,
Unfolding from the center,
Not stretching,
You lift both feet off the ground,
Bringing your knees back towards your head.
When they come towards your chest with your hands gently wrapped around the front of the knees,
Become aware of your breathing.
It's a forward bend position so that the in-breath creates space in the hip joints and you may notice the knees go away from your face.
On the out-breath,
The thighs may move down towards your ribs with your heels exploring the space above.
Ensure weight goes into and through your hip socket which is pinned to the ground,
Staying rested,
Keeping your mind quiet.
But you're not pulling,
You're not doing anything,
You're undoing.
You're folding at the hips and you can locate the hip sockets with your fingers to help your awareness.
Notice how the spine is contacting the ground.
It's free to move,
But the tailbone doesn't lift off the ground very far and you retain a feeling of width.
If you find that the spine is too much in contact with the ground,
Try to release it into a sleeve of muscle surrounding it.
Bring your attention to the muscles around the spine to cushion it.
Then with hands on your knees and staying in tune with the way you're breathing,
Let your knees float away and then on an exhalation let them return and flex your feet.
You're not forcing your legs to your chest.
Continue in your own time with the breath,
Allowing the soles of the feet to go perhaps a bit further back and smile at the ceiling.
As you exhale,
The legs can go wider to the sides of the chest rather than squashing,
So the tailbone can lengthen away on the floor.
Continue in your own time for several more breaths.
Then bring your knees together and on an out breath allow them to drop slightly to the left as your head makes a tiny turn to the right and feel a tiny twist in your spine.
With the out breath,
Repeat on the other side and continue moving with the breath.
It's a small personal movement.
Feel how your spine is massaged around one or two particular vertebrae.
You can adjust the position of the knees to reach particular vertebrae you want to massage more.
Moving the knees away massages further down and holding the knees closer massages higher up.
Do it as often as you continue to feel benefit as your body enjoys it.
Also the pose doesn't matter,
It's more about feeling inside the body and undoing tension.
At the end,
Hug your knees to your chest,
Then gently lower your feet to the ground.
And finally,
Releasing your arms to your sides,
Go into constructive rest.
Relaxing the outer body awakens the core and brings the spine to life.
Explore the movement of where you are and this might take you somewhere else.
You can't define it and pin it down.
It doesn't belong to anybody and it isn't one person's discovery.
It's your yoga.
