Thanksgiving Yoga For Gratitude

How do we move through obstacles to find our way to gratitude and thanksgiving? In this sequence we use yoga and essential oils to feel a release from our stresses and concerns — if but for a small moment.

Transcript

Welcome and thanks for joining today, A back bending, Chest opening, Heart opening, Full of gratitude experience on our yoga mat. Every time we bend back, We open up the front of the body, Which might elicit a feeling of love, And gratitude for the things that we have. So let's close our eyes for a moment. And just recognize and move into the Ujjayi breath in and out. Through your nose. Gratitude is a simple yet powerful form of meditation. That deepens our connection to the beautiful things. Beautiful people. Beautiful places. That we enjoy in our world. Embracing, Embracing thankfulness. Can improve your mental and physical health. It can build happiness. Reduce depression. And enhance relaxation. So as we move through our backbending sequence today, Let's also open up our heart to gratitude and thankfulness. Open your eyes. Let's take a breath together. Bring your arms by your side. Inhale, Lift up. Following with your gaze if you'd like. Exhale, Fold forward. It's a very simple forward bend. It's going to start stimulating our hips and right in between our low back, That's called the sacrum. You can just drop your head down and relax your shoulders. And feel the length across your spine. Should just be saw. And somewhat simple. Lift up. Switch the leg that's in front so that you start to stimulate your opposite hip this time. Beginning with our breath. Inhale. Exhale, Fold forward. Come on down, Relax into it, Feel those hips open, Feel that space in the sacrum open right in between the hips. And just relax your gaze and your jaw. Slow and steady breathing. To release tension in the back and in the hips hopefully. And let's lift our way up. Just come to all fours so we can keep moving through our spine. As we move our body, We might notice things that we're grateful for in our body. There's always something to be grateful for, So look for it. Drop your belly down, Shoulders roll back. Inhale, Send your gaze up. Exhale, Round through the spine, Pull and lift, Tucking your chin, Tucking your hips, Really creating space across the whole vertebrae. Inhale, Arch, Belly drops down, Send the gaze up. Exhale, Round, Pull and lift. Inhale arch, Belly drops and the gaze up. Exhale round, Pull and lift. Inhale arch, Drop. Exhale round. Come back to neutral. Let your knees open a little wider than your hips and sit back. Take a child's pose. Arms reach forward, Hips draw back. Drop your head to the floor and just relax. The neck, Shoulders. Across the spine, Up through the hips. Breathe deep and steady. Hip opening poses off and release tension in the low back. So that's something to enjoy. Lift up onto all fours and come to your feet. So hang forward. In a forward bend. First one of our day. So you might want to bend your knees and kind of ease the back here. Or maybe it feels good to have the knees straight and you're feeling your hamstrings. Your hands do not have to be touching the floor. They might, But they don't have to. Just let everything be loose. Relax your jaw. And start to roll up through your spine one vertebrae at a time. As we come up to the top. Our shoulder blades roll back. Step near the top of your mat and we'll begin Sira Namaskara A to move our whole body. And just be grateful for your body. Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. Here we go. Inhale, Lift up, Open the chest, Feel that gratitude. Exhale, Fold forward. It's lovely on our back to bend all the way down. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift. Exhale, Hands come to the mat. Step or hop back to a plank. Feel free to drop to your knees here if you want. Take chaturanga elbows, Then see if you can hover. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog. Feel that squeeze in the back. Exhale, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog. Release the heels down, Stretch through the backs of the legs. Pull in through the center of the body. Feel free to pedal the feet if you need to release calves and ankles, Something just like this. Is perfectly fine. My hands are slipping today. Bend your knees, Look forward, Inhale step or hop up to the hands. Exhale, Fold down into your legs. Relax your jaw, Your chin, Your neck. Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Reach up to the sky. Exhale, Samasthiti, Arms by your sides. Let's take it again. Inhale, Lift, Reach up. Exhale, Swan dive forward, Move down. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift Exhale, Hands down, Step or hop back to plank, Drop to your knees if you want. Chaturanga, Elbows bend, Hover just for a moment. Inhale, Urvamukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog. Exhale Adho Mukha Svanasana. Downward Facing Dog. See if you can get your mind and body to settle here. We do this sequence to heat ourselves up. Heat up the spine. Connect the breath to the movement. So vital to our practice. Bend your knees, Look forward, Inhale step or hop up to the hands. Exhale, Fold down into your legs. Inhale, Reverse swan dive, Reach up to the sky. Exhale Samasthiti. Good, Let's do one more. Round it off with three. Inhale, Lift. Exhale, Float forward. Inhale, Look up, Halfway lift. Exhale, Hands down, Step or hop back, Chaturanga. Inhale, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana. Exhale, Adho Mukho Svanasana. Breathe deep. Very nice. Hopefully your body's feeling warm. Activated that connection of the breath and the movement together. And now, Let's move on. Inhale, Lift your right leg up and back behind you. Three-legged Down Dog. Exhale bring it through in between your hands and stay on the toe of that left foot so as we raise up just a little bit of a balance here. In Ashtachandrasana. Take your chest open, Lower your shoulders. And feel that expanse through the chest. It's a slight backbend. Inhale. Exhale, Release the left heel to the floor and open to Virabhadrasana V. Once again, Settling those shoulders down. And feeling this link and shift and open through the center of our body. Whatever our troubles and challenges may be. It's important to pause from time to time. To appreciate all we have. On every level. So just feel those hips. Keep the right leg bent, Drop your left hand down and pull your right arm up and over. Feel that draw, That length through the entire ribcage and torso. Inhale, Lift back up to warrior two. Let's take our hands behind us, Clasp them together back there. Press into your fingers and look up. Inhale. Exhale, Fold forward. Lean yourself down toward that right leg, Right hip, Right knee. And maybe you could pull your hands away from your back. Everything stretches here. They put some good pressure. Into that right hip. Good. Also our upper back, We can feel that, Yes? Hope you can. Inhale, Lift all the way up. Exhale, Release our arms, Return to warrior two, Take a breath, Inhale. Exhale, Windmill your hands down to the mat. Step yourself back to a plank and let's lower all the way down onto our stomach. A little back strengthening here with cobra pose. So pull your elbows back right by your ribcage, Shoulder blades drawing back. Lift up, Inhale. Exhale, Lower down. We're going to do five of these. So that was just one. Inhale, Lift. Exhale, Lower. Inhale, Lift, Squeezes the back, Opens the front. Exhale lower. We've got two more. Inhale, Lift. Exhale, Lower. Nicely done. One more. Inhale, Lift. Exhale, Lower. Very nice. Press up onto your knees. Let your knees open. Come to Child's Pose once again, Just for a moment, To create that space once again in between your hips. And feel that lengthening in the back. Lift up to Adho Mukha Svanasana. Inhale. And exhale, Press those heels back down to the mat. Very nice. Let's move on to our left side. Inhale, Lift the left leg up and back behind you. Exhale, Swing it through in between the hands. Stay on the toe of that right leg. Lift up. And let your arms open, Slight back bend. You simply just look up to the sky. You'll feel that chest. Opening sensation. And just take a moment to think. If we are grateful for what we have. We will end up having even more. Inhale. Exhale, Open to Virabhadrasana B, Warrior two. I'm going to switch sides real quick. So that I'm still facing you. Good. We've got our left leg bent. Knee, Everything open, Everything expanded through our chest and heart center. Keep the bend in that left leg, Drop your right hand down and pull your left arm up and over and feel that side body. The side body connected to our, You know, It's our trunk, Our whole trunk. So side body, Front of the body, Back body, That's all part of our energizing today. Inhale, Come back to center. Exhale, Take your hands behind you, Clasp them together. Press into the fingers back there. Send your gaze up. Inhale. Exhale fold forward leaning toward your left leg now Let your hands pull away from the back if you can. Another way to do this is to put a strap in your hands so you can widen that gap. Sorry I didn't say that on the other side. Pulling away. And pressing into that left hip there. Beautiful. One more breath. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, Come up. Yes. Exhale, Release your hands. Take a breath, Inhale. Exhale, Windmill the hands down to the mat. Step back to your plank. And lower once again to your stomach. This time let's move into sphinx pose. We're going to press our elbows to the floor. So you've got your elbows and your shoulders stacked right on top of each other. Propped up through your back. This is a great backbend. You can feel it squeezing the low back and stretching the front of the body and we're also involving the strengthening of the forearms and the shoulders. Little bit of the upper back as well. Now stay on your left elbow, Left hand. Let's see if you can reach back with your right hand and grab your right foot and then press. So this is gonna pull the right shoulder back. And press. Into the floor. Toward the floor. You can see that my leg is not touching the ground. Some people can do that. Not me. But I can certainly feel my quadriceps and my hip flexor and my shoulder and my back. Do your best, Yeah? Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Nice job. Release it. Switch arms. So now our right arm is on the mat and we're reaching back with our left hand for the left foot. Press toward the floor. Feel the shoulder on that left side, Shoulder and chest. Feel the quadricep and hip flexor. And push the ground away. So that you are strengthening the right shoulder. There's a lot going on. We are not just simply laying on the floor. We're doing some good intense work for our body. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale. Release your feet. Nicely done. Again, Child's pose. Every time we bend our back one way, We want to stretch it out the opposite way. So relax your head on the floor or on a block. Knees slightly opened from the hips. Breathe it out. Good. Inhale, Lift up. Let's shift our legs. Straight forward on our mat. Or Janu Sirsasana. Now I will talk about using a strap. Since I didn't mention earlier. Let's bend the right leg, Open up through that hip. And the left leg just extends directly out from your foot. From your hip. Take the strap around your left foot. If you are able to reach your toes, You're not going to need the strap, But it's an option if you have a hard time reaching your toes. Sit tall. Inhale. Exhale. Exhale, Reach forward if you can grab your toes greatly. Pull your way forward. Draw your shoulders down. Let your head fall down. And enjoy Janu Sirsasana. This is one of my favorite poses. That's going to target our head. Our low back and our hamstrings all at once. Feels so nice One more breath. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale lift up, Nicely done. Exhale open up to the side. Now again, If you're using the strap, It might help you here. We're going to lean toward our legs, So bending that elbow, Pull the right shoulder open toward the side body. I'm going to extend that right arm. Some of us will just reach. We don't want to squeeze and squish here. So we want to stay really open. Others might be able to go deeper and maybe reach your toe. And so then you may not need the strap. You've got your hands around that left foot. All options are fine. The emphasis is on this deep, Deep wink. We did a little bit earlier with our reverse warrior. This is just so much deeper. You can really feel it originating deep down into that right side of the hip there. It feels so great. Inhale, Lift up, Nicely done. Exhale switch sides. So we're going to start back where we began. With the left leg bending this time, Right leg stays straight. Place the strap around your right foot if you are utilizing it. It's a tall inhale. Exhale, Fold forward. And maybe just notice something to be grateful for in this pose. It might just simply be that it feels really good. To fold and to move into your body. The attitude of gratitude. Is the highest way of living. Each breath takes us a little bit deeper. Inhale, Lift up. Exhale, Release the foot, Open up to the side, Shift and change. Again, I'll demonstrate with the strap. So now the strap is around the right foot and you'll lean toward the right side, Bending the elbow there. If you can reach your toe, Great. Left hand to the hip. Draw the chest open. Pull that shoulder back. Reach your arm and see how far you can go without allowing yourself to cave and squish. All the reach. If you're able to get your toe great. If not, That's not our primary focus. It's more of this link. Through the side body. And that reach into the torso. And just be grateful that you can breathe and that you can bend. Take one more breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, Come up. Let's unwind the strap there. You can set it off to the side, Have it close by in case you need it again. And we'll bring ourselves to our back. So lay down on the floor. Knees bent, Arms by your side, Ready to do bridge poses. We're going to dedicate these three bridge poses to something to be grateful for. So from the base of the spine, Start to roll up one vertebrae at a time. Take your hands underneath, Either just press to the floor or you can clasp your hands underneath. And feel. A little more open through the chest, That heart space. With your open heart, Your bent back. Think of something that you own that you treasure. Maybe it's something that's been passed down to you. Maybe it's something that. . . Was recently given to you with love, Whatever it is. Think of that scene. And how much you love it and treasure it and are grateful for it. It enhances your life. It makes your life better. So to show gratitude. Is the best course of action. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale, Release your hands and lower yourself down. Just to ease our back, Pull your right knee into your chest. And place the foot on the floor. And pull the left knee into the chest. And place the foot on the floor. Let's take it again. From the base of the spine. Inhale, Roll up one vertebrae at a time. Take your hands underneath, Cross them together. Shimmy to the edges of those shoulders. And now think of someone in your life. Who you love. Who do you treasure? And your life is better because of that person. Send some love out to that person, Some gratitude. Some thankfulness. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale. Release your hands lower down one vertebrae at a time. Good. Again, We'll care for our back. Bring your right knee into your chest and give it a hug. And release. Bring your left knee into your chest, Give it a hug. And release. Our final bridge pose, You can do it, You can change it up if you want. Here's some options. Maybe you have a block, You could place your block underneath your hip. And just rest. On that block. I think that's the course of action I'm going to choose today. You can do simply another bridge, A third bridge. Or if you'd like to do a wheel pose, Urdhva Dhanurasana. You can take your hands back behind your shoulders. Once they're there, Press up into the hands, Into the feet. So choose your option. Like I said. . . I'm going to go a little gentle today. I'm going to utilize the block, But you choose your way. With your breath. Inhale, Roll up. And this time, Think of something that you love about yourself. We are often too negative on ourselves that we have negative self-dialogue. What do you love about yourself? Feel gratitude for yourself. Your qualities, Your attributes. And give yourself a little love. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale. Gently release from the blocks if you're in wheel pose. Tuck your chin as you come down. Let's all find our way back to flat on the mat. And this time pull both knees into your chest. And give them a hug. Pressing that curve of the spine to the floor. Releasing tension in the low back. Let your legs drop over to the right side. Take your arms out to a T. Your legs can relax onto the ground. And turn your head over the left. So our hearts open. We're doing one more twist through our low back, Through our hips. This pose utilizes the entire spine. So it's very energizing for the nervous system. But at the same time we're laying on the floor. So see if you can relax. Your breath. Relax your body. Relax your gaze even. Let heaviness settle over you. Inhale, Come back to the center. Exhale, Lower the legs down and turn your gaze again. We're on the other side now, So our legs are to the left and our gaze is to the right. And you're doing what you can to relax. Just be grateful for the rest in the body. Be grateful for the things your body was able to do today. And you know that it's going to make you feel all the much better later. Take one more breath. Inhale. Exhale Inhale, Come back to the centre. Exhale release your legs. One leg to each end of the mat. To be relaxed, Calm. Peaceful in your body and in your mind. This is Shavasana. Get comfortable. And as you settle into your Shavasana, I'll leave you with this quote, This thought. It is not joy that makes us grateful. It is gratitude. That makes us joyful. Let your thoughts and your body drift away for just a moment. I will wake you up with the sound of a bell. So have no cares. And just absorb the good work that you've done. Start to wake yourself up. Rotate through your wrists and your ankles. Point and flex your feet. Stretch your arms overhead to lengthen through your entire body. And roll over onto one side in fetal pose. Press up to a comfortable seated position. And bring your hands to heart center. We'll close with this quote by Brigitte Christian. Gratitude has a way of bringing us into the present moment. Allowing us to be with what is. We are content. Thank you very much for your practice today. Namaste