Hello,
I'm Zeb from Yoga Factory.
Today we're going to do a quick breathing exercise and just a little bit of neck,
Wrist,
And shoulder opening.
For this breathing exercise,
Imagine that your lungs were broken up into three separate sections.
One section that ends just below the base of the ribcage.
One section that ends right at the top of the ribcage,
Right at the collarbones.
And the third section,
And here you have to use a little bit of your imagination,
The third section goes all the way up into your skull,
All the way up to the crown of your head.
We know that there's no actual lung in your head.
But for this breathing exercise,
We're not only moving air and oxygen,
We're moving energy.
We're helping to calm you down,
To de-stress,
And to re-energize you for the rest of your day.
Start in a comfortable seated position,
Whatever is good for you.
Bring your hands to your knees.
Palms can face up or down,
Whatever your preference is.
Let your shoulders drop down away from your ears.
Stretch the top of your head up towards the ceiling.
Take a couple deep,
Clearing breaths right here.
Deep inhale,
Fill up your lungs.
Open mouth,
Exhale.
Everything out.
Again,
Inhale,
Fill up your lungs.
Exhale.
Empty everything out.
Mouth closed.
Slowly inhale,
And imagine the air filling up all the way to the base of your ribcage.
Exhale,
Empty out the lungs.
Do that again.
Inhale,
But isolate the belly.
Let the air,
The energy stop right at the base of the ribcage.
Exhale,
Empty everything out.
One more time.
Inhale,
Just to the base of the ribcage.
Feel the energy swirling around the lower abdomen.
Exhale,
Empty out your lungs.
This time,
Inhale,
Fill up to the base of the ribcage,
And then go higher.
Take it all the way up to the top of the second section.
Can you inhale all the way to your collarbones?
Exhale from the collarbones down to the base of the ribcage,
And then all the way out,
All the way to empty.
Inhale to your belly button,
To the base of your ribcage,
To your breastbone,
All the way up to your collarbones.
Fill up your lungs.
Exhale to the breastbone,
Down to the base of the ribcage,
Down to the belly button,
And then empty everything out.
Again,
Inhale,
Belly button,
Base of the ribcage,
Breastbone,
All the way up to the collarbones.
Exhale,
Breastbone,
Base of the ribcage,
Belly button,
Empty out your lungs.
This time,
We go all the way to the top.
Inhale,
Belly button,
Base of the ribcage,
Breastbone,
Collarbones.
Keep inhaling.
Imagine the air,
The energy going all the way up to the crown of your head.
Fill up your whole body with breath.
Exhale,
Back down to the collarbones,
To your breastbone,
To the ribcage,
To your belly button,
All the way empty.
Inhale,
Belly button,
Base of the ribcage,
Up to the breastbone,
Up to the collarbones.
Now fill it up.
Can you imagine the air polishing inside,
On top of your skull?
Fill your whole body with breath.
Exhale,
Back down to the collarbones,
To the breastbone,
To the base of the ribs,
To the belly button.
Everything out.
One more time.
Inhale,
Belly button,
Base of the ribcage,
Breastbone,
Collarbones,
To the throat,
To the center of your forehead,
To the crown of your head,
Your whole body bursting with energy.
Exhale,
Back to the third eye,
Center of the forehead,
To the collarbones,
To the breastbone,
To the base of your ribcage,
Down to the belly button.
Empty out your lungs.
Inhale,
Let your shoulders rise up towards your ears.
Exhale,
Draw the shoulder blades together behind you,
And then down the spine.
Again,
Inhale,
Let the shoulders rise up.
As you exhale,
Pull the shoulders back,
Shoulder blades touch,
And then draw the shoulder blades down your back.
Roll out your head,
Your neck,
Your shoulders,
Whatever you need.
The final exercise we'll do is a wrist stretch.
My teacher,
Emma Forrest,
Says,
If you have arms,
This posture is for you.
Right hand,
Stretch out in front of you.
Bring your palm to face the wall directly in front of you with your fingers pointing down.
With your left hand,
Reach forward,
Take your little finger,
And slowly draw it back towards you,
Just to the point of sensation.
Push your palm forward,
Pull the finger back.
Switch,
Grab the ring finger,
Spread the fingers wide,
Inhale,
Push the wrist forward.
Exhale,
Draw the ring finger back.
Keep the fingers spread wide,
Switch to the middle finger.
Use your left hand,
Slowly draw it back towards you.
Spread the fingers out,
As much space between your thumb and your little finger as possible.
Inhale,
Push the heel of your palm forward.
Exhale,
Draw the finger back.
Switch to the pointer finger,
Spread the fingers out,
Inhale,
Push the wrist forward.
Exhale,
Draw the finger back.
Reach under to grab your thumb.
Here's a little bit different.
As you inhale,
Pull the thumb away from the little finger from the rest of the hand.
Exhale,
Slowly draw the thumb back.
Big,
Strong muscles through the thumb.
Nice,
Juicy stretch right here.
One more inhale,
Push the palm forward.
Exhale,
Pull the thumb back towards your wrist.
Change,
Shake out the right hand,
Let that go.
Other side.
Left hand forward,
Palm facing up.
Point the fingers down towards the floor.
With your right hand,
Grab the little finger,
Spread the fingers out wide,
Deep inhale.
Exhale,
Slowly pull the finger back towards you.
Switch,
Grab the ring finger,
Deep inhale,
Push the palm forward,
Heel of your palm towards the wall in front of you.
Exhale,
Draw the ring finger back.
Change,
Grab the middle finger,
Spread the fingers out wide,
Inhale,
Push the palm forward,
Open up through the wrist.
Exhale,
Draw the middle finger back towards the underside of your wrist.
Switch,
Grab the pointer finger,
Inhale,
Spread the fingers out,
Push the heel of your palm forward,
Exhale,
Pull the pointer finger back towards you.
Inhale,
Grab the thumb,
Pull it away from the rest of the hand.
Exhale,
Slowly draw the thumb back towards you.
Inhale,
Push the palm forward.
Exhale,
Thumb towards the wrist,
Spread the fingers out,
And then release.
Shake out the left hand,
Let that go.
Hands back to the knees.
One more deep inhale,
Fill up your lungs.
Open mouth,
Exhale,
Let the shoulders drop down away from the ears.
Ready to move on with the rest of your day.
Namaste.
