Core Values Hatha Yoga Full Hour Class

Creating core strength is the aim of this practice. You will need a block for sitting and a blanket to pad your knees. Please work at your own level. Participation is subject to and governed by English law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.

Transcript

Welcome to today's session we're going to start laying down so let's find a nice comfortable supine position maybe have a little wiggle perhaps allow for knees to be bent or maybe legs to be outstretched whatever feels more comfortable for your lower back at this moment in time And let's just allow ourselves to give up any effort. Just surrender the weight of your body down to the earth. We're going to start to just allow for our awareness to come to our breath. So let's let that inhale gently draw in. Through our nose if that's comfortable and allowing the exhale to leave. Once again through the nose. So just letting that breath come. And go. And perhaps You'd like to allow your next few breaths to feel like they're drawing in a sense of spaciousness to the body. On the exhale. Maybe let in any tension, Anything in the body that you don't want to keep with you at this moment. Just leave with that exhale. So let's inhale. Finding the space. Exhale. Allowing maybe tension, Whatever it is, To leave. Let's stay with another couple of those breaths. Gently comes and goes. And with your next exhale, Let's take our awareness down to our feet. Just checking in with our toes and soles of the feet. Tops the feet. Their ankles. Noticing how our calves and shins are feeling. Checking in with knees. And thighs. And then let's work up further still to our hips and our pelvis, Just noticing how that feels today. Then let's take that awareness up to. . . Our lower back. Wrapping that awareness around the front of the body, To the sides of the waist, And then to the navel. And then to the solar plexus just above the navel. Just pause in here for a moment, Taking a few breaths. Feeling the rise and fall. Of that solar plexus. And then allowing that awareness to move up to our chest. Feel the awareness wrap around the rib cage, Through the sides of the body, To the back of the body, And become aware. The whole of the back, The spine. And then let's take our awareness back to our fingertips or down to our fingertips, To our hands, The palms, Back to the hands and our wrists. Taking it to our forearms and then to our elbows. Up to the tops of our arms. And then further still up to our shoulders. Allowing for that awareness to move to next. The front, The sides, And the back of the neck. And then allowing it to come to the lower jaw. And the base of the skull at the back of the head. And letting that awareness move up the entire head past features of the face, Past the ears, Past the back of the head, All the way up. The very crown of the head. And then releasing that focus. I'm just going to invite you for a moment. To just pause. And notice the rise and fall at that area just above your belly button, Your solar plexus. If you want to, You can rest your hand there to actually physically feel the rise and fall. Let's stay with that breath. Inhales and exhales, Just noticing that sense of the breath drawing in. The rise. On the exhale, Notice that area just above the belly button gently falling back towards the earth. Let's take another breath that way. And then. . . Gently releasing. That focus, Maybe bringing hand back down to the earth. From here, If you chose to close your eyes, Let's gently blink them open. And if legs are outstretched, Let's bend knees, Placing feet onto the U. We're going to draw knees into the chest. And you can hug around the shins or between calves and thighs. And let's take a little rock from side to side. It's just feeling. That nice sense of. . . Allowing for the back of the spine to get a little bit of a massage. We can rock quickly if we want a little bit more invigoration. Sounds like something on a bubble bath. We can rock slowly if we want a little bit more massage. Let's take a moment here Really nice. And then coming back. To neutral. Let's bring feet down here. So from here, You may like to allow legs to lengthen out. And let's take a nice big stretch. Any tweakiness in the lower back, Let's engage buttocks. And reach arms overhead. Feel that length through the front of the body. I'd just like you to take your awareness to that area near the belly button, That solar plexus. Feeling that sense of length, That stretch, That release. And on the exhale, Let's allow arms to gently float down by the sides of your body. Lovely. So from here, Taking a bend into our knees, Placing feet onto the earth. So I'd like you to take your hands to that area just north of your belly button, Or one hand even, That solar plexus. And just allow the spine to be neutral. So you might feel like there's a little curve in the spine, Almost like a little arch underneath that mid-back between the back and the floor. What I'm going to get you to do is rather than pushing through your feet, I'm going to get you to draw that solar plexus back and notice the sense of the whole of the spine imprinting onto the earth. So if we're on sand, We would leave a whole imprint of the whole of the spine. On the inhale, Let's release. So you might notice that little arch and the pressure releases from the mid back on the floor. Exhale, Hugging that solar plexus back. We're not going to push through the feet as we do this, But we are pushing down with that. Solar plexus into the earth now let's release so we're going to use that same engagement that same feeling of imprinting spine onto the earth when we are taking a single leg raise now when we take single leg raise we might think that the power comes from the hip actually the core strength is really working for this so we're going to work nice and slowly we're not going to worry about arms today if you want you can have hand onto that solar plexus or maybe hands onto hips but let's allow for our left leg to lengthen Now, I don't mind if you have your knees soft. I don't mind if you point your toe or flex your foot, Whatever feels good for you. But let's try and keep hips level. So from here, Let's really hug that solar plexus back imprinting the spine onto the earth. Take a nice inhale. And on the exhale, Let's allow for that left straightened leg to rise up towards the sky, Just as far as it wants to go for you. We don't have to go fast. And then on the inhale, We're going to take it back down to the earth, Nice and slowly. So it's a good controlled movement. Lovely. Keeping that solar plexus engaged, Let's take three more. In, Exhale as leg rises up. Inhale. As that leg gently comes down. Really good. Let's go with one more. Inhale. And exhale have we worked three times or four times that side i don't know should we go for one extra just for fun one more nice and slowly inhale and exhale And then just allow for that leg to rest down. Release. That solar plexus hugging back and we're going to lengthen both legs out So from here, Let's take a bend into our left leg. Place that foot on the earth and right leg still outstretched. From here, Let's engage solar plexus, Imprinting the whole of the spine onto the earth. We're not pushing through the foot to do that. On our next exhale, Let's allow leg to slowly lift skywards. Really nice keeping that engagement on the inhale let's bring that leg back down Go with three more. Hopefully I can count this time. Nice and slowly working, Keeping that engagement. Really good. And then by my calculation, We have one more to do. If you don't think you have, You don't have to do that. Exhale as we come up. Inhale as we come down with nice control, Nice and slowly. Really lovely effort, Everybody. And then let's allow for that leg to rest down. So we're going to lengthen both legs out here. Let's take a nice big full body stretch. Arms reach overhead. And again, We've been. . . Really focusing on drawing solar plexus back. Sorry, I had to yawn then when I stretched. So this is a good stretch into that core area at the center of the body. And then exhale, Releasing arms down by the sides. So let's take a little bend into the knees, Placing feet on the earth once more. And we can take arms into a big T shape with palms facing up shoulder height. You can take cactus arms, Whichever is more convenient or feels best for us. So we're going to take a little spinal twist. We're going to work dynamically and we're going to use that solar plexus to help us come back up to center as we always do. So when we're ready, On the exhale, Let's allow both knees to gently float down to one side. Doesn't matter which side. A little engagement in that solar plexus as we inhale, Those knees come to center. And on the exhale, Allow them to gently come over to the other side. Little solar plexus hugging back as we draw them up. Working with this dynamic movement. And when we're drawing that solar plexus back, It's really helping to power those legs up. If we were just trying to do it with our lower back or if we were trying to do it with our hips, It wouldn't be nearly as effective. So a lot of our strength when we're walking, When we are bending, When we're carrying things. Actually comes from our core strength. So legs alone. Don't allow you to walk, Legs and core allow you to walk. Carrying shopping or whatever it may be you're carrying with your arms. That isn't just the arms, That is core strength helping to support us as we carry that shop in. So there are a lot of very practical everyday applications that need a good strong core strength. And besides, It helps to keep our spine nice and healthy when we have nice core strength in the body. Let's go over to the second side just once more. And then on the inhale, Come into neutral. We can release that effort. And we're going to allow arms to come up towards the sky now. And let's circle into wrists. So we can have soft elbows for this. You can make fists or you can allow hands to kind of. . . I'm going to say be witchy like you're casting a spell. That's a very niche reference there. But, Yeah, You can let hands be however you want to, Witchy or otherwise. And then let's change direction. That sounds like I know some witches. Mind you, My best friend, Who some of you may have met, And she's very goth. And a child, Once in a supermarket, Who was sitting in a trolley, Pointed at her and exclaimed very loudly to their mum, Look, Witch! And it made her day. She was very pleased. So let's change direction once more. And then let's hold the sky up. So pushing those palms up to the sky, Let shoulders relax down. You might feel that tingling. Don't worry. And then let's flip. So we're holding the hands up. Let's hold this guy up with the back of the hands. Lovely and then let's give those arms a little shake off okay Great stuff. So from here, We're going to find our way up to seated and then we are going to find our way into a tabletop position. So I don't mind if you want to rock and roll up and down the spine. I don't mind if you want to roll to one side. However you choose to get there, Just make sure you get there nice and comfortably. So with our. . . Solar plexus in mind, We are going to think about taking a little bit of cat cow today. Now, Quite often with cat cow, We kind of lead from the tailbone and we allow that to move first. But what we're going to do today is we're going to think about solar plexus. So we're going to sort of start from the middle and allow the movement to kind of radiate out. So let's make sure knees are underneath hips. Hands can be underneath shoulders or a little further forwards if that feels better into the wrists. Your knees let's allow ears to move away from shoulders so we feel that length through the spine before we go anywhere and when we're ready let's take an inhale and allow solar plexus move towards the earth maybe the sitting bones come up maybe that chest kind of shines forwards a little On the exhale, Draw that solar plexus skyward so we get that natural round in the spine. Sitting bones might point down. Maybe we'll round through the shoulders, Perhaps looking towards the knees or the navel. Let's keep with that breath out. Inhale. Solar plexus, Almost like it's drawn by a magnet down to the earth. And on the exhale, It's drawn by a magnet up to the sky. So let's stay with these breaths. Just nice, Easy inhales. And exhales and maybe just focusing on that sense of the movement originating from the area just above our belly button If we move from there, What tends to happen is the rest of the spine tends to intuitively move. Afterwards to that same kind of shape of cat cow because it kind of knows where it needs to be Solar plexus invites the rest of the spine to come to particular places. So let's take one more. Now inhale. There's no rush. Now exhale. And then on the inhale, Let's come to neutral. I'm going to invite you now to draw back into child's pose. If you want to take wide leg child's pose, By all means, Please do. We can release off into the wrists if you feel you need to. And maybe stack the fist and rest the head onto the hands or a prop, Or you can allow head to rest onto the earth. Perhaps allowing arms to just rest down with soft elbows, Or maybe even sweeping arms by the sides of the body. See what feels good for you. And we're going to take some nice deep breaths into the back of the body now. Really feeling that sense of expansion in the back body. Expanding through the sides of the rib cage expanding into the back and the size of the waist. Maybe you almost feel like you can breathe and expand into that lower back area too. So when we're talking about core strength, We're not just talking about the front of the body, We're talking about some core strength deep within the body. So it's not our six pack. Because that's not in the core, That's on the outside. It is that strength that is invisible. Let's take another breath. Really nice. And then from here, I'm going to invite you maybe to come up to a kneel, If that's comfortable, Or a high kneel, Just so you can see where we're going to go for our next moment. So I'm going to bring myself back so that everything's nicely aligned and stacked. And we're going to take a little variation on a tiger stretch. Now, When we take this variation, I'm going to give you a couple of options. If you feel that the first option isn't for you, Then we can take a second option. So first option. Solar plexus engages, As always. Shoulders move away from ears. We're going to kick that leg out. So we're not going to come too high, Just body height. On the exhale, We're going to allow that knee to draw close to our nose. Solar plexus moves up, So we're really hugging it back. Inhale as we move out. So we're going to take that three times. Want to do that what you can do is you can allow for knee to stay down maybe come into the chest and then take it down so whatever feels best for you so one's slightly less strong than the other so let's find that engagement In solar plexus, Shoulders move away from me is long spine. Let's allow for right leg to come back, Kicking that heel away. And when we're ready, On the exhale, Drawing that knee towards the nose as we round through the spine, Solar plexus hugs back. Inhale, Kicking back out. Don't allow that spine to drop. Really nice. Two more. Exhale, Knee to nose. Inhale, Kicking out, Keeping solar plexus engaged. One more if you're up for it. Exhale, Knee to nose. Inhale, Reaching out. And then let's bring that knee down. So we're going to work the other side. So when we're ready, Let's kick left leg out. Solar plexus hugging back. Exhale as we bring that left knee to nose. Inhale, Kick out. Keep the solar plexus coming back, Hugging back so we're not dropping through the spine. Two more. Exhale. Lovely effort. Inhale. And can we go one more? If we're up for it, Exhale. Inhale, Kicking back out, Bringing that knee down. And then I'm going to invite you to come back to Child's Pose with a sigh of relief. Maybe release those wrists off, Perhaps give them a little bit of a rub or a little bit of a wiggle because it can be quite strong in the wrists, Especially when we are pushing through those hands. And let's take a couple of breaths here. And once more, Taking that space into everywhere in the body that we feel wants a little bit of space. Take another couple of breaths. Nice inhales. And exhale. And then when you're ready, Just gently find your way up. And we're going to come to a seated position now. So you might want to have yourself onto the edge of a block or. . . A blanket, Whatever feels good. And let's allow those sitting bones to really root down. So from here, We are going to take what I sometimes call secret hula hoop. So we are going to move our waist round and round, But everything else is going to stay quite still. So it's a very focused kind of motion. And also what you might find is that you might have to go slowly. So when we're ready, Just this area around our waist moving, Let's start circling round one direction. Okay. And it might just be a really small movement and you might feel the muscles in your back having to work hard. You might feel. The core muscles at the front or the solar plexus area working hard and also at the sides of the body. So it's almost like you've got some sort of corset holding everything in to help with that control. Really good. And then let's change direction. And I was teaching my chair yoga class today. I said, It's like a corset. And I had two fellas in the class. And I said, I guess not everybody has worn a corset. And one of them fellas went, I have. And I was like, Oh, Where's this going? And I was like, Oh, Right, Okay. And then he went, No, No, No. He said, It's because I had a bad back. I had to wear it for work. And I was like, Okay. I said, Yep. I was going to say what you do in your own time. That's fine. But, Yeah, It did make me chuckle. Luckily, He had a sense of humor. But he did volunteer the information. So let's change direction once more. Lovely. And then coming back to neutral. Oh, We can breathe a sigh of release and maybe have a little bit of a wiggle. And now, If it feels good, Let's make some big circles because they somehow help to release. That different kind of sense of our secret hula hoop. And then let's change direction. Work in that way. Really nice. And then coming back to neutral. If you want to go once the other way, Please do. And from here, We're going to change across the legs if we haven't already. So we're going to work with a little bit of a twist. And when we twist today, We're not going to allow hands to help us around at all. We are going to just use the waist to do this. So let's rest hands at the heart. Shoulders soft. Let's get nice and tall. Solar plexus hugging back. On the exhale, Let's take a twist over to the right, Just as far as feels good. Inhale, Coming back through center, And then exhale over to the left. Let's take one more each side. Inhale to center. Exhale as far as our body will take us to the right. Inhale back to center. Exhale as far as our body will take us to the left. Inhale back. The center. And then let's gently. Release. Okay. From here, We're going to come to standing. I don't mind how you do that. However you wish to get there. So let's allow for those feet to align. Maybe they want to be sitting bone distance apart. And we're going to work with just a little bit of movement into the knees. So we're going to start to just kind of gently walk on the spot. And you might go slowly you might go a bit faster East May. So you might notice like you're bobbing up and down if that's how you want to do it. I've got someone joining you for a walk there. Let's go along and along, Really nice. Amen. When we're ready, Let's allow for both feet to come down and maybe give the legs a little bit of a shake. Okay. So from here, We're going to come to Tadasana, To Mountain Pose. And when we find our Mountain Pose, I'd like you to. . . Take an alignment today. So we're going to really focus on a certain alignment. So I'd like you to imagine that your pelvis is like a bowl, Okay? Now, If I poke my bottom out, Which is my kind of natural way of wanting to stand, I've got quite a big backbend, I might be spilling water out the front of my bowl. If you're someone who tends to tilt their pelvis the other way, You might be spilling water out the back of your bowl. Like you to use a combination of knee softness and solar plexus engagements to bring that bowl so we feel it's quite level so we're not going to spill water out front or back okay you can always use hands as a reference just to help can really be useful. Okay then we're going to think about our ribs now sometimes it's very tempting to flare ribs out or to allow ribs to come kind of too far back What we're going to do is we're going to imagine if our pelvis is half of that kind of sphere, Bowl, Our rib cage is the other half. And if we brought them together, They would make a perfect sphere. So we're going to allow for our rib cage to line up. Directly over our pelvis. And it might feel a bit strange. You might have a little bit more bend in the knees than you usually do. You might be having to really moderate that solar plexus engagement. So maybe we'll really hug it back. Maybe it doesn't need that much today. So let's allow ourselves to find out Dristy, Releasing those hands down, If that feels good. And I'd like you to think about that sense of length through the spine. So on the inhale. Excuse me, I've got a tickle. Draw in that breath from feet up to the crown of the head. On the exhale allowing for that sense of the breath to come down. So on the inhale, Even though we are nicely aligned, Can we allow ourselves to feel like we're growing a little bit taller from the hips to the ribcage, Extending that space in between? Exhale. Let's take three more breaths here. Really nice so i've taken that next exhale Let's release. That alignment and come back to our kind of more habitual way of standing and just notice whether we spill water out the back or the front. When we do that, Maybe you've got perfectly level pelvis when you stand. It doesn't matter, But just kind of just noting kind of what we habitually do. So from here, We're going to take that sense of alignment and that sense of length and that sense of engagement into a very, Very traditional yoga pose, Which is our triangle pose. So just a couple of notes on triangle pose. We don't want to worry too much about. Legs today because we're thinking more about the top half of the body but we allow for one toe to turn out now when we come into triangle pose a lot of teachers cue being between two panes of glass we don't have to be between two panes of glass if you start leaning over and one hip comes forwards and the bottom hip comes back that's absolutely fine we don't worry about that this is just how the spine and the hips and the knee and the lower back be so we kind of let let the body um do what it wants to a certain extent so let's allow ourselves to find that nice wide stance if that feels good sides of the feet parallel with the short sides of the mat Really nice. So from here, Allowing for your left toes to turn towards the short side of the mat. And we're going to take hands to hips. Okay. Maybe your hips want to point a little bit towards the inside of that left leg. That's absolutely fine. Now from here, I'm going to get you to really engage solar plexus. So we're going to lift. Feel like we're expanding between hip bone and bottom rib. Solar plexus hugging back. So we've really, Really engaged tall. On the exhale, Let's take a little lean to the left. Maybe bottom hip comes under. Maybe top hip comes over. Doesn't matter if it does. Okay. Come too far we don't want to collapse but let's keep that length through the crown of the head down to the tailbone really engaging all this area okay so maybe you want to allow bottom arm to come down palm face in front maybe that top arm comes up so we're asking a little bit more of the body here so really engaging you might notice that you get a little bit of a shake on that's absolutely fine let's keep breathing muscles need the oxygen to work keeping that engagement And if you want a little bit more challenge, Option to bring the both arms overhead, Reach into the left. Let's keep that breath flowing. This is an option. You don't have to take it. One more breath. Beautiful. Then let's bring hands back to hip. On our inhale, Just softening that left knee, Coming back up to center. And then we can lengthen through that front leg, Turn all of our toes towards the long side of the mat. So that sense of really keeping the length really having to work that solar plexus area, That core strength, And also at the back of the body too. So from here, Let's allow for right toes to turn towards the short side of the mat. Again, Hands on hips, Maybe those hips want to point a little bit towards the inside of the right leg. So the plexus engaged. So we're really making space between hips and bottom rib. Lengthening. On the exhale, That little lean over to the right. Doesn't matter if one hip tucks under. So we're really finding that length. We're not collapsing down. On the exhale, If you want to, Bottom arm can come down, Top arm can come up, Palms facing the front. Let's keep breathing. Really nice. Really engaging that solar plexus, Feeling that length. As long as we hug that solar plexus back, We are nice and strong here. And it doesn't matter if you get a little shake on. Let's breathe. Keep that breath flowing. Really nice. Option to bring arms above the head over to the right. See how it feels. Nice. Inhales, Exhales. Steady breath. Lovely effort. Beautiful options. Exhale. Let's bring hands down to our hips. Softening through the front knee and let's inhale gently finding our way up I'm just allowing for the front leg to straighten parallel in feet. And from here, You can jump your feet together or you can heel toe feet together. So from here, We're going to take warrior three. So we took a little bit of warrior three last week. Same rules apply as last week. I'm saying principles, I should say. When we come into it, We kick through that back heel. This is warrior three. This is warrior three. This is warrior three. I don't mind if you use a bit of wall, If you use a bit of furniture. But what I would like is I would like that core strength happening, Kicking through the back heel. So we're really working strongly today with our warrior three. So let's find that nice stance. Solar plexus hugging back, Taking weight into our left leg. Back with the right foot. Really engaging solar plexus. And then if it feels good, Starting to hinge, Hinge, Hinge. Now we're going to keep those hips level if we can. So we're only going to come as far as feels good. Solar plexus really hugging back. If we want to come further, We can. Remembering we don't have to balance. We can use something to prop us if we need to. Let's take another breath here. Really kicking, Feeling strong. Solar plexus engaged. And then softening through that front leg. Inhale. Allowing ourselves to come. Really nice. Let's take the other side, See what the story is this side. So when we are ready, Again, Solar plexus engages. Taking that weight over into our right leg this time. Left leg starts to kick back kicking through that heel and when we're ready maybe starting to take that little hinge hinge hinge hinge as far as feels good keeping that nice line solar plexus engaged hips level let's keep breathing Inhale. Exhale. Really nice, Steady breath. Looking good. And then softening through that standing leg. Inhale, Finding our way back up. We can have a little gentle shake out, Just a little wiggle. Okay. Are we all right? Good stuff. So from here, We've done enough standing. We're going to sit down. So let's find our way down to the mat. Don't put yourself onto a block yet if you normally sit on one. We're going to have legs lengthened out. And we're going to work into a little bit of boat pose because we cannot do a core strength class without a bit of boat. When we are ready, We're going to think about our sitting bones, Those bony parts of our bottom. And I'd like you to make sure they're in contact with the earth. You can take a little bend into the knees. Maybe feet come flat, Maybe feet are flexed, Whatever feels good. So a couple of options with boat pose today. Wherever we're going, We're going to inhale, Lengthen through the spine. Exhale, Hinge back. Arms can be like this. If you want to keep fingertips gently on the floor, You can. But this is quite a nice option. This is number one option. Number two option. Allowing legs to lift. Number three option, Gently allowing toes to tap. Now, If boat feels really strong, But you would like to tap toes, Then you can always keep toes on the earth and do it the other way around. So let's come to this together. And we're going to try and hold our boat pose for maybe six breaths. But if you need to come out sooner, By all means do. So sitting down with those sitting bones, Solar plexus engaged, Arms reaching out, Shoulders soft, Exhale, Little lean back. Okay, Keeping that sense of length through the spine. If you want to, Allowing for those feet to lift, Feet can flex or point toes, Whatever feels good. Let's keep breathing, Long through the spine. If you want to, Let's tap. One tap. Two taps. One tap. Two taps. One touch. Two tap. Can we allow those legs to hover? Let's keep breathing. Beautiful. Exhale to. . . Exhale three. And then maybe bringing feet down. We're going to inhale as if we're reaching up and over those knees. Maybe the knees come out to each side and we slouch down over our legs, Rounding down. And just take a few nice breaths here. So we're releasing. That. Sense of Effort releasing that sense of tension. Directing breath towards the back of the body. So we're really finding. That expansion in the back of the body. Nice inhales and exhales. Hmm. Lovely. And then from here, I'm going to invite you to come up to a seated position once more. Maybe have a little roll back of shoulders. And I'm going to show you where we are going to go next. So it's easier seated because it's going to be a supine movement. Now, If you do want to before you come down, You can go on extra layers because we aren't going to be sitting back up before relaxation. So we're going to work into a little core strength once again. And right at the beginning of our session today, We thought about hugging back that solar plexus. So we're imprinting our spine onto the earth. Same for this movement. However, Instead of bringing legs up, We're going to bring legs down. So we allow knees to draw into the chest, Hugging that area down, And then we lengthen legs up to the sky. So you can have hands on solar plexus, You can have hands on hips, Wherever feels good. On our exhale, We allow for that really good hug to happen. We bring one leg almost down. Inhale, Bring it up. Exhale, The other leg almost down. Inhale, Bring it up. Now, What you might notice is once you've done this a few times, I don't know if you can hear it in my voice, But you start to sound like you're sitting on a washing machine on spin cycle, Okay? You might have enough after two each leg. You might have enough after three each leg. I don't mind. Do as many as feels good. Then afterwards, I'm going to hug those knees in. And then we will take the most glorious stretch. So it's going to feel good after crunching all these muscles up to stretch them out. So let's find our way down onto the earth. Just a note, If this feels too much with legs straightened, You can always take it with knees bent, Just bringing one knee down at a time. But the same thing applies as we really engage through that solar plexus. So let's come down. Solar plexus hugging back knees bent and then let's draw those knees into the chest okay so really hugging back with that solar plexus If it feels good, Let's extend legs skywards. And really hugging back with that solar plexus. On our next exhale, Allow one of your legs to lower almost to the earth. And on the inhale, Let's bring it back up, Keeping that solar plexus engaged. Exhale, Other leg lowers. Inhale, Back up. Really nice effort. Two more each side if you're up for it. Exhale. Inhale. Really nice. Working at a good pace so that you're not rushing through so we're really having to work those muscles now my calculation is we've got one more each side if you're up for it Oh, I'm really getting a shake on now. Lovely. And then when we're ready, Those legs in the air. Hugging those knees in. Take a moment there. Oh. And then let's gently bring legs down, Feet down to the earth, I should say. And let's lengthen those legs out. And let's reach arms overhead and take that glorious stretch. So all those muscles in the front of the body have been crunching up, Doing a lot of work. Now those muscles are getting a good stretch out. Let's take a few breaths here. Really feeling that sense of expansion. Lovely nice inhales and exhales steady steady breath Oh, Lovely work. Then with our next exhale, Let's release I'll stretch. And I'm going to invite you to draw those knees in towards the chest once more. We're going to have a little rock through the back of the body. So just allowing for. Nice. Kind of sense of ease come to the back of the body so we've been putting a lot of effort in now is the time where we start to relinquish the effort. Just allow for the ease to start creeping in. Mind you, It makes it sound like a bad thing, Creeping in, But that ease to start easing in, Shall we say. So let's come back to neutral. Bringing feet down to the earth. We're going to take a nice supine twist just to complete that sense of. . . Movement into that middle center of the body middle center into the middle of the body the center of the body let's take arms into either a big t-shape palms facing up or cactus arms and when we're ready on our exhale let's allow knees to move down to one side and shuffle in bottom and feet however you need to to get comfortable in that position So maybe you'd like to close your eyes here. Maybe you'd like to turn your head in the opposite direction from your knees if it feels comfortable in the spine. Let's stay with those breaths. Inhales. And exhales Stay with the inhale. Stay with the exhale. Really nice. And maybe just allow that sense of ease to come in to that centre of the body. Then gently bringing the head to neutral if we chose to turn the head. Just a soft engagement in the solar plexus as those knees come up to center. If we shuffled, Let's realign the spine. And on the exhale, Gently allow them to come over to the other side. And again, Shuffling anything you need to feel comfortable. Shoulders nicely nestled down onto the earth. Maybe turning the head in the opposite direction to the knees, If that is comfortable for your neck. If not, Just keeping head and gaze up towards the sky. Maybe closing your eyes and again, Just allowing for that sense of ease, That sense of softness. Nice inhales and exhales. Again, Just let in that sense. And softness happen. And gently bring in hair to neutral. A little solar plexus gently engaging as we bring those knees up to center. And then from here, I'm going to invite you to take any movements you feel that you would like. Before we come to Shavasana today. So maybe hugging knees in, Maybe taking a little rock, Maybe taking a stretch. I couldn't yawn without stretch without yawning today. And then. . . Just allowing yourself to prepare for Shavasana. So maybe you want to pop on some extra layers. Perhaps you would like to change your lighting or your playlist, Whatever feels. That's going to make you as comfortable as possible maybe you'd like to allow knees to be bent when you for your position in the shavasana maybe you'd like to bring feet up onto a piece of furniture or legs up onto a piece of furniture maybe you'd like to allow legs to just lengthen out and let feet. Gently roll out to each side as you release into hips whatever feels good for you at this moment in time. Let's allow for Everything does start just gently feeling like it's settling down. Allowing for the breath to flow in. Allowing for that breath. To leave. And as you feel the breath draw in, As you feel that breath leave. Let in spaciousness. And ease, Come in with the inhale. Maybe that spaciousness and ease come into your body, Anywhere in your body that feels like it wants it. Little bit more. Space or ease. Or maybe into your mind. Feeling a little bit more kind of expansion, A little. Clearer, A little less cluttered Maybe allowing each exhale to let any tension that maybe residing anywhere in the body. Or the mind. To just gently Be exhaled with that breath. Inhale. Ears, Exhale, Any residual tension. So if you wish, I'm going to invite you to. Join me for a visualization today. Perhaps you'd like to allow yourself to become aware. Of that area just above our navel once more, That solar plexus. Energy center. In your mind's eye, Maybe picturing. Deep within that energy center. A golden glowing sphere of light. Golden like sunshine. Maybe you can. . . Visualize the energy. That soft, Gentle energy swirling around. In that glowing sphere of light. With each inhale. Perhaps. Personal energy center that all of light starts to expand a little. Maybe allowing your next few breaths to let it expand. As big as you'd like it to be. Maybe football size, Maybe beach ball size. Whatever feels good. And when You've expanded that golden glow. I'd like you to allow that glow to feed. Kind of gentle energy. To everywhere. In your body and your mind. Maybe imagine that energy flowing through you. Gently re-energizing. Oh-yo. Parts of your body, Legs, Arms. Gently re-energize in your mind if we feel what we've worked or thinked. Thinked too much today, Done too much thinking. Maybe this energy can just feed into the mind and allow us to feel a little refreshed. Having new mental energy. Going to invite you to allow yourself just to bask in this. Energy as it flows through you from That solar plexus chakra energy center. For the next few moments Now just allowing for that. Wall of golden light to shrink in size. Letting it get smaller and smaller until It's no more than a little pinpoint of light residing deep within of that solar plexus. I'm going to invite you now to allow for that gentle energy that. . . We've got flowing around the body to start to let your fingers move a little. And it lets your toes move a little. And then maybe just take in any kind of movements you feel you want to. Bringing yourself back to a refreshed movement place. And then when you feel ready to. Perhaps hugging the knees in or taking a stretch, Whatever you wish to do. And we're going to find our way back to a seated position to close our practice today. So let's allow for that length through the spine, That little engagement in our solar plexus once more, Just a soft engagement. And come to the heart space, Nice soft shoulders. Let's inhale as we reach up and out. Exhale as we bring those hands back and we can let them rest at the heart. Namaste. Thank you so much for practising with me today.