Hello everyone,
And welcome to our gentle yoga practice.
Today for this session,
You will need two blocks and your yoga mat.
Let's begin by finding a comfortable spot where you are.
You can come into any comfortable shape that feels best in your body.
Perhaps sitting on a block,
Cross-legged.
Maybe no block.
Or extending your legs to the bottom corners of the mat.
Whatever shape you choose,
Feel grounded in your sit bones and gather some length.
Through your spine.
Settling in,
Let's take three full breaths where we are.
A deep inhale through the nose.
Exhale through the mouth.
Again,
Inhale.
Exhale.
One more time.
Inhale Exhale.
Placing our hands over our knees,
From here we'll begin a Sufi grind.
We'll rotate the upper body over our legs and back in space.
Just getting ourselves grounded.
Getting ourselves comfortable where we are.
Just move in any way that feels best in your body.
Perhaps taking the opposite shoulder to the opposite knee.
Maybe rocking side to side.
Or going in the other direction.
Connecting with your breath.
Let's make our way back to center.
Feeling rooted in our sit bones,
We'll take a deep inhale,
Sweeping the arms up to the sky,
Maybe palms touch.
Exhale,
Hands to your heart center.
Two more at your own pace.
Inhale.
Exhale.
At your heart center,
Let's interlace our fingers and on your next exhale,
Press the palms away from the body,
Rounding the spine,
Tucking the chin towards the chest.
Stay embraced.
For one.
Two.
And three.
On your next inhale,
Sweep the arms up towards the air,
Sitting up tall.
Drop the shoulders,
Create space here.
Stay and breathe.
Filling up the ribs.
Filling up the lungs.
We'll take a deep inhale where we are.
As you exhale open and twist to the right side.
Placing the left hand to the right knee,
The right hand behind you.
Sitting up tall,
Maybe you can look over your right shoulder.
Take three full breaths here.
For one.
And three.
We'll inhale,
Sweep the arms up to the sky,
Maybe the palms touch.
Exhale,
Open and twist to your left.
Placing the right hand on the left knee,
The left hand behind you.
Stay and breathe.
On your next inhale,
We'll sweep it up.
Exhale,
Ground it down.
Great work,
Everyone.
From here,
Let's extend our knees if your legs are crossed or if you're sitting on a block.
And we'll plant the soles of the feet onto the mat.
Taking our hands behind us for some support.
Let's come into a windshield wiper.
Dropping the knees over to the left.
And then sweeping the knees up.
Dropping them to the right.
Just warming up our hips.
And as you continue to windshield wiper,
We'll slowly make our way to the top of the mat.
Coming into a Milossima squat.
Now we won't be here for long,
But if you choose to have a block handy for some support,
You can place the block beneath you to raise the floor.
In our Malasana squat,
We want to begin to just find our grounding here.
Maybe rocking from side to side.
Planting the heels down.
Let's bring our palms to prayer,
Using our elbows to help widen the knees.
Stay and breathe for one.
Lengthening through the spine.
To transition,
We'll plant the palms.
And we'll make our way to tabletop.
Arriving in table,
Do what feels good in your body.
To begin,
We'll place the palms directly underneath the shoulders,
Knees underneath the hips.
You can choose to tuck or untuck the toes.
Starting off by maybe rocking side to side.
Maybe taking it into circular motions.
Just do what feels best in your body.
At this time.
No rules.
No instruction.
Just listening to the body.
If you like,
You can come into an upward facing dog.
If that feels good for you.
Maybe rocking side to side,
Maybe gazing behind one's shoulder.
Gazing behind the other shoulder.
Hip circles.
Making our way back to tabletop.
We'll get into our cat-cow flow.
On your next inhale,
Roll the shoulders back and down,
Sink the belly,
Lift the chest and heart forward.
As you exhale,
Round the spine,
Puff up your back body,
Chin to chest,
Head heavy.
Flowing in.
Inhale.
Exhale.
One more where you are.
Making our way to a neutral spine.
We'll ground through the right palm.
On your next inhale,
Sweep up left,
Stacking the left shoulder over the right shoulder.
As you exhale,
Thread the left arm through the right side,
Releasing all the way down.
And you can choose to take your right hand over the head.
Or behind your back.
Stay and breathe.
For one.
And three.
From here,
We'll ground the right palm.
Pressing back up into table.
Going on to the other side.
Inhale,
Sweep upright.
Exhale,
Thread it through.
You can take the left hand either overhead.
Or behind the back.
Stay embraced.
From here we'll plant.
The left palm pressing back up.
Into tabletop.
From our tabletop,
Will extend the right leg behind us.
Really press into the balls of the right foot,
Stretching out the calf,
The ankle,
The hamstrings.
And then from here we're going to take the right foot off to the right side.
Grounding the soul here.
Tucking the left toes under.
Let's rock back onto our left heel.
And then we walk forward.
Rocking back,
Flowing with our breath.
And coming forward.
One more time.
I'm getting a deep stretch here.
And then coming forward.
From here,
We'll rise to gate pose.
Taking a deep inhale,
Extending the arms out into a T.
Exhale,
Side bend over to the right side,
Left arm over right ear.
Really reach with the left pinky for one.
And three.
Slowly coming up on an inhale.
We'll bring the palms close and plant them down into tabletop hands.
From here,
Watch carefully.
I'm going to ask you to lift the left heel and place it under your sit bones as you come to seated.
Ta-da!
We'll take a deep inhale,
Extend our arms out into a T again.
Exhale,
Side bend over to the right.
For one.
And three Slowly coming back up to a neutral spine.
Let's plant the left palm behind us.
Flip the right palm to the sky and lift the hips up.
A deep inhale.
Get a good stretch here.
Exhale.
Coming on down.
If you choose,
Maybe reach for that right foot.
Planting the left.
Inhale.
Exhale.
One more time.
Inhale rise.
And maybe if you choose taking that right arm into three full juicy circles.
From here,
Will circle the right palm towards the floor.
We'll make our way back to tabletop hens.
And we'll come to table.
From here,
We'll rest in a child's pose.
Before we do the opposite side.
Bringing the big toes to touch,
Taking the knees wide.
Walking the hands away from the body.
Ground the chest,
Ground the heart.
Round the third eye.
Taking one more full breath where you are.
Let's make our way back to tabletop for the left side.
Coming back to our table.
From here,
Let's extend the left leg behind.
Pressing into the balls of the left foot,
Stretching out through the calf,
The ankle,
The hamstrings,
Back of the thighs.
And then we'll take that left leg off to the left side,
Grounding the sole of the heel.
Tucking the right toes under,
Let's sit back onto our right heel for one.
Coming back up to tabletop hands,
Let's rise to gate pose.
We'll extend our arms out into a T.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Side bend over to the left,
Right arm over right ear.
Reaching here for one.
Slowly coming back up into a T.
Bring your arms forward.
Planting them onto the mat.
From here,
We'll lift the right heel.
And place it beneath us.
As we can.
So seated.
Extending our arms out into a T,
Take a deep inhale.
As you exhale side bend Two,
Really reach with that right pinky,
Ground the right knee.
And three.
We'll come back up to a neutral spine Taking the right hand behind us.
Left palm to the sky.
Inhale,
Rise.
Exhale,
Ground.
Maybe reaching for that foot.
Inhale,
Rise.
Exhale,
Ground.
One more time.
And maybe we'll take this.
Left arm into three full juicy circles.
Opening our chest and heart towards the sky.
From here,
We'll plant the palm.
Slowly making our way.
Back to tabletop hands.
Back to table.
From table,
We're going to leave the knees exactly where they are.
Your choice to tuck or.
.
.
Untuck the toes.
From here we'll come into extended puppy or melted heart.
Walking our hands forward,
Mounting our chest and heart towards the mat.
So if you choose,
You can bring your palms to touch.
You can bend the elbows,
Taking the thumbs to the back of the neck.
Stay in breathe.
Breathe into your side body.
Breathe into your tailbone.
From here we'll release the arms.
Planting the palms onto our mat.
Let's make our way onto our belly.
You can stack the palms,
Taking the elbows out wide.
Ground the third eye.
Stay and breathe.
And so from here,
We're going to take our fingertips to the top corners of the mat.
We're going to tent our palms,
Elbows to the sky.
Let's draw the legs to touch.
On your next inhale,
Peel yourself from off of the mat.
Exhale,
Melt yourself down.
Elbows up to the side.
Again.
Healing up.
Melting down.
We'll inhale,
Peel out.
And as you exhale,
Let's roll that right shoulder towards the center of the mat.
And then we'll roll the right shoulder up towards the air and down.
Roll the left shoulder to the center of the mat.
And roll the left shoulder up towards the air and down.
Healing down.
Stack the palms.
Round 3.
As you rest here think about sending the breath to your back body.
As you inhale,
Feeling your back body rise.
Exhale from body grounds.
From here,
We're gonna make our way into our next posture.
Which is locust.
Taking the hands directly underneath the shoulders and grounding the third eye.
From where you are,
Take a deep inhale,
Fill up your back body.
Exhale ground your front body.
On your next inhale.
We're gonna lift from the waist.
Down to the toes.
For one Breathe.
Three lift,
Lift,
Lift.
Four,
And relax,
Release.
Breathing here,
Maybe turning your cheek to one side.
And then going a little deeper here,
We'll come back to the third eye.
Taking a deep inhale,
Filling up.
Exhale,
Grounding down.
On your next inhale.
We'll lift the head.
We'll hover the palms and we'll lift from the waist.
Down to the toes.
Really squeeze the shoulders in,
Squeeze the elbows in from one.
Four lift lift lift And five,
Release.
Maybe turning your head to the other side.
Stay in breathe.
Coming back onto the third eye.
This time we'll clasp the hands behind the back.
Drop the shoulders away from the ears.
Take a deep inhale.
Fill up your back body.
Exhale,
Ground your front body.
On your next inhale,
We'll lift the head.
Press into the fist.
Press them away from the body.
Lift from the waist down to the toes for once.
Three.
Four And release.
Take a moment.
To just relax in.
Hmm.
Nothing to do.
Nowhere to go.
Just allowing yourself to be in this moment.
And so from here,
We're going to slowly make our way into down dog.
If you choose,
This would be a perfect time to grab a sip of water.
No rush.
Being gentle with self.
And then your down dog,
You can choose to pedal it through,
Bending one knee towards the chest.
And then bending the other.
Maybe as you inhale,
Coming high onto your tippy toes.
As you exhale and grounding your heels.
Stay and breathe.
For one.
Two.
And so.
.
.
I'm your down dog.
We're going to come high onto our tippy toes.
And we're going to tiptoe to the top of the mat.
Arriving at the top of the mat,
Bend your knees so your tummy rests comfortably over the thighs.
Let your head be heavy.
On your next inhale,
Hands to shins.
Lead with a chest and heart flat back.
Exhale,
Forward fold.
Again,
Inhale.
Exhale.
One more time.
Inhale,
Lengthening.
Exhale,
Forward fold.
In your forward fold,
You can choose to grab a hold of your elbows,
Creating a box over your head.
And then you can sway from side to side.
Maybe forward and back.
Just doing what feels best in your body.
Hmm.
From here we'll release the arms.
Grounding into the soles of our feet.
Let's slowly stack the spine.
One vertebra at a time.
The head is the very last thing.
To rise.
So arriving in our mountain pose.
At the top of the mat.
We'll take a deep inhale,
Sweeping the arms up.
Exhale,
Hands to your heart center.
Two more at your own pace.
We'll inhale,
Sweep it up.
Exhale,
Grounded down.
On your next inhale,
We'll sweep the arms up to the sky.
We'll grab a hold of the left wrist.
Take a side bend to your right.
Inhale,
Sweeping up.
Grab a hold of the right wrist.
Take a side bend to your left.
Inhale,
Sweeping up.
Exhale,
Clasp the hands behind the back.
Take a deep inhale,
Press the fist into the floor,
Shine your chest and heart to the sky.
And as you exhale,
Bend the knees.
Come into a forward fold.
Take your fist.
To the sky.
To the air.
From here,
Let's release the hands to the little box.
We'll plant the hands onto the mat.
Taking a deep inhale,
Fly back.
Exhale.
Step both feet back and come into plank pose.
Let's hold our plank for one.
Find your breath.
Two and three.
We'll slowly lower the knees.
We'll untuck the toes.
And we'll lower the chin chest towards the mat.
On your next inhale.
Lengthening through the chest and front body as we come into an upward facing dog.
Exhale.
Child's clothes.
Stay and breathe for one.
And three.
From Child's Pose,
We'll come into our table talk.
And in table,
Let's walk the knees towards the hands.
We'll sweep the legs over.
Coming into.
Grounding through the soles of our feet,
Let's make our way onto our back body.
Just stay here for a moment.
Take a moment to feel.
Take a moment to notice.
And so from here,
We're going to hug the knees into the chest.
From here,
You can choose to rock side to side.
Maybe stay in stillness.
Maybe take your knees into circular motion.
From here,
Let's hug the right.
And extend the lap.
Let's take the right knee close to the right under pit and the ankle into a few circles.
Stay unbreathed.
When your body is ready.
Coming to a half happy baby.
Right side.
Grabbing a hold of your big toe,
Bending the knee towards the earth,
Sole of the foot to the sky.
And if you have the space and flexibility,
Maybe extending through the right leg.
Stay and pray.
For one.
A soft bend in the right knee will come back to center.
Let's take the left hand to the right shin,
The right hand reaching out to the side.
A deep inhale in center.
As you exhale,
Cross the right knee.
Over your body.
Stay and breathe.
Take three full breaths into your belly.
From here we'll slowly uncoil.
Coming into figure four.
Taking the right ankle.
To the left knee So you could choose to stay here.
You could also choose to hug the left knee into the chest.
Do what feels best in your body.
Stay and breathe.
From here,
You can ground the left sole.
Keeping the right knee where it is,
We're just going to rock over to the left side,
Grounding the right sole.
And you could do what feels best in your body,
Maybe bringing the knee into the body,
Maybe pushing the knee away from the body.
For one.
And three.
Let's come back to center.
Heighten the knees in towards the chest.
Rocking side to side,
Circular motion.
And just feeling any subtle differences between the left and right side.
From here,
Let's hug the left.
Extend the right.
Taking the left knee close to the left underpit and the ankle into a few circles.
When your body is ready,
Half happy baby,
Left side.
And if you have the space and flexibility,
Extending through the left leg.
One more full breath here.
The soft bend in the left knee will slowly come back to center.
Hugging the left knee into the chest,
Let's take the right hand to the left shin.
Left hand reaches out to the side.
A deep inhale in center as you exhale.
Cross the left knee over the body.
For one.
And three.
Slowly uncoil.
Figure four.
Left side.
Choosing to stay here,
Right soul grounded.
Choosing to hug the knee into the chest and maybe you might find that one side is a little different than the other.
Just listen to the body.
Do what feels right.
One more full breath here.
From here,
We'll slowly ground the right sole,
Keeping the left where it is.
Lower towards the right side.
Grounding the left sole.
You could choose to draw that left knee into the body or away from the body.
Stay and breathe.
For one.
Two.
And three.
Pivoting on to our right soul.
We'll come back to center,
Hugging the knees into the chest,
Maybe lifting the forehead towards the knees,
Lengthening the back of the neck and spine.
And then lowering the head back down.
We'll drop the soles of the feet onto the mat.
We'll take our hands to our side.
From here,
We'll press into the soles of the feet,
The tops of the shoulders,
As we lift up into bridge pose.
Chin to chest,
Knees parallel.
On your next exhale.
Slowly come down.
Inhale,
Root to rise.
Exhale,
Ground.
And if you choose,
You can incorporate your arms.
Inhale,
Lengthening through the spine,
Side body.
Exhale.
Coming on down.
Let's add a flow to this.
We'll inhale.
Sweeping a bridge Exhale.
Rounding down.
Inhale.
Hug the knees into the chest.
Exhale.
Lower the souls down.
Inhale,
Bridge.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Two more at your own pace.
As you're completed,
You can just ground the soles of the feet onto the mat.
Take a moment for self.
Notice how good you feel in this moment.
Notice how the body feels in this moment.
And so from here,
You can choose to bring the soles of the feet to touch,
Knees wide,
Maybe grabbing your blocks for some support for your knees.
Or you can come into our classic Shavasana,
Extending the legs to the bottom corners of the mat.
Taking the hands away from the body.
And so as you rest here,
You can take a gentle body scan.
From the crown of the head to the tips of the toes.
Just becoming aware of self in this present moment.
Notice the sensations.
In the body.
The rhythm.
Of your breath.
Your back body.
Grounded.
Front party.
Soft and receiving.
Stay and breathe.
Resting here.
For five.
Four minutes.
Enjoying the stillness.
Enjoying the time taken for self.
To just be.
And receive.
Two minutes here.
And slowly.
Coming back into this place and space.
You can take a deep inhale through the nose,
Filling up.
Exhale through the mouth,
Letting go.
Again,
Inhale.
Exhale.
Clearing out both channels.
Inhale through the mouth.
Exhale through the nose.
One more time.
Inhale through the mouth.
Exhale through the nose.
You You can wiggle your fingers and toes.
Rotate your ankles and wrists.
Oh,
My.
We'll bring our ankles to touch as you inhale.
Sweep your arms up and overhead in a long body stretch.
Maybe pressing into your heels,
Pointing at your toes,
Reaching with your hands.
And then soften.
When your body is ready,
You may hug the knees into the chest.
Give yourself some love,
Some gratitude for giving the body exactly what it needed today for prioritizing self.
The body.
The breath.
From here,
We'll roll over onto our right side,
Coming into fetal pose.
Taking a breath or two where you are.
Grounding through the left palm.
We'll slowly make our way up to seated.
Hmm.
Thank you.
Thank you so much,
Everyone,
For joining me in this safe space as we connect with self.
I hope you all enjoyed the practice.
And with that being said,
The light within me.
Honors and humbly bows to the light within each of you.
Go in peace.
And namaste.
