Yoga Sess 07.19.24

We arrive into a cross-legged position, palms facing down, chest is grounding, and up, first tense is breathing. And slowly begin to connect to your breath, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the nose. Maybe you drop the chin slightly, lengthening the back of your neck. Exhaling through the nose. We're going to use today to explore what we call the H.I.V. breath, or in English we kind of call it the ocean breath. So take a deep inhale through the nose, and exhale, your lips are close together, your tongue is touching the top lip of your mouth, and you exhale as if you were clogging a mirror, creating almost like a Darth Vader style in the back of your throat. Let's do that a couple times, breathing in, and out. Deep inhale. And release. And the last one, deep breath in. And exhale. Inhale. And exhale. Just open those eyes, bring those palms to touch up overhead, and almost as if you're cutting something with your elbows in the air, that level of precision. As those palms come to heart center, I invite you to set a dedication or some kalpa for your practice today, and to summon something that may benefit from the energy we create today. Hold that thought, and then let it go as if a cloud is passing through the sky. Let's analyze those fingers and take some photos of those. We're going to explore some different kinds of movement today that we usually don't do, and then go the other way. Like one way is always easier than the other way. Just play around a little bit. Okay, and release that. Let's bring that right arm overhead, taking a deep stretch at the left side of the neck. Maybe you send your gaze up to that left corner. And take a stretch at the back diagonal of your neck, holding down. And switch. So bring that left hand to the right ear, shifting the right side of the neck gently. And switch to the left diagonal. And here I encourage you just to explore that sense of touch in. As your fingers, the tip of your fingers are touching, maybe just in on the back of your neck. How does that feel? And release that, and take a deep breath in. And ocean breath at the back of the throat. And let's transition onto all fours. So, spread those fingers as wide as you can, and pull up into those tops of the feet. Let's release that tailbone and look up into our first cow, and exhale to cat. And inhale. Have a feeling that you're okay. And exhale. So one more. Cow. And exhale. Okay, so keep those circles of the hips to the right. They can be small, they can be big. They can be slow, they can be fast. And the other way. To the left. So notice here how you're shifting weight from the right palm, left palm, left knee, right knee, right knee. So we're not only warming up those hips, but we're sensing the weight transfer. And let's come to meet in a three child's pose, knees as wide as the mat. Stretch those fingers to the foot. Deep breaths in. Deep breaths in. Expand those ribs right in the back. One more, deep breaths in. Long squats. Nice. And come back. All fours. Touch those toes behind you. And press so much into the heels of those hands and fingers. Fall to the feet that you lift off. Floating table top. Three cycles of breath here, breathing in. Two more. Pressing away with those shoulders, breath in. And one more, deep breaths in. On your next exhale, come to release into our first downward dog. Send that right knee to remove it. And then that left knee. Come to a neutral position. Again, spreading those ten toes, spreading those ten fingers. It almost feels like you're squeezing something, an imaginary something, in between those arms. So you're activating them, almost like you're trying to get the front of those elbows to look to the front of your mat. Great. And let's bring those feet to touch behind us. Lift that left leg. Three-legged dog. And bring knee to nose, exhale. Back to three-legged dog. And again, knee to nose. Three-legged dog. And one more, knee to nose. Exhale. And let that foot rest in between those hands. Drop that back knee. And we're going to take it onto the Asana, or lunge position with that back leg down. However feels good. If you want to keep those hands on the mat. Or if you want to press into that left leg. Or maybe you can bring those arms up overhead. Whatever you feel called to do, honor that. And activate that belly button, this side. The further you deepen that stretch, the further you want to think you're sending that belly button as far in so that you're protecting all of your muscles. If you wish, take a gentle back bend. So reach up overhead, up, up, up. And maybe send your feet to the back. And come to knee and lunge, tuck that back toe. Taking a gentle twist, right palm on the earth. Left finger just to the side. Left side. Good. And come back to a lizard position. So both of my hands are inside of that left leg. And it's locked back and forth. Good. And I usually don't teach arm balances, but just for fun today. If you want to take a funky arm balance, bring this left arm underneath. I never know what people's levels are, but maybe you want to try it. Bring that left arm underneath that left leg. If you wanted to let that verify on top of your triceps, bring the other arm into a Chaturanga arm. You'll bend this knee. And just take a floating moment where you lift that back leg. Left side of the bed. And wherever you are, we'll come to knee in an upward facing dog. Down, breath in. Especially just a couple breaths here. Two more. Breathe in. And out. One more. Nice. And roll back however feels good to me. And downward dog. Good work. Thanks for playing with me. You'll have a chance to try that on the other side if you want. Sending energy past those heels, past those toes, past those fingers. And when you're ready, bring those feet to touch behind you. We're going to lift that right leg now. Up towards the sky. Three-legged dog. Your next exhale, bring that knee to nose. Three-legged dog. Knee to nose. Three-legged dog. And knee to nose. Nice. Bring that foot in between those palms. Relaxing the back leg on the earth. Finding what feels good. Breathing. Breathing. Again, the ocean breath at the back of the throat. Nice. Again, we're pressing firmly into that front foot, firmly into the top of that back foot. If you wish, take a gentle back bend. Inhale and exhale. Lengthen the spine. Lengthen the front body. And come through into our illumination of a lunge. Tucking that back toe. Pressing so much so that left arm that you rotate the right knee up towards the sky. Nice. And then come to me in lizard. Pressing that right palm from the inside. That right front leg getting off. Back and forth with that feeling good. Say hello to your hip. Maybe you haven't said hello in a long time. So if you want to try this arm balance on the other side, we're going to bring the right arm underneath the right leg. You want to create a shelf for the inner right thigh. You're going to come eventually to Chaturanga arms. So by Chaturanga arms, I just mean that you're bending those elbows. The elbows are coming right next to your body. And you begin to bend this right leg. You just send your body weight forward. Maybe you can just step back for a brief moment. Just explore. Play around. When you're ready, come to upward-facing dog. And downward dog. Nice. Let's take them over. Bend those knees. And spread those arms to the front of the mat into puppy posture, resting the forehead on the earth. Honoring all that exploration and play. Two of ourselves with each other. Really imagining that you're stretching the underside of your shoulders, right? Nice. And next exhale, just swing through. So come to put your weight on those elbows. Touch those back toes when we meet. And elbow plank. We're going to take three collective breaths here, breathing in. And exhale. Deep breath in. And release. And deep breath in. And one more for good luck. Breath in. Nice. Nice. And this time, we're going to take a variation. Come into dolphin posture. So walk those feet towards those hands. And for me, for example, my heels don't touch the mat like they do in downward dog. But here in dolphin, there's a lot of thinking. Again, pressing into those wrists, those fingers, those palms and elbows. Extending through those shoulders. So that means that I'm stretching the space underneath basically where my armpits are stretched. And you're sending energy into your feet. Deep breath in. And exhale. Deep breath in. Nice. One more breath in. And when you're ready, just walk up onto those hands and we'll meet in downward dog. Step or hop towards your hands. Press opposite elbows and just play, releasing the weight of the head. Nice. Come flat back, pressing those palms into those shins and knees. And slowly roll up. Deep breath in. Let's bring those palms to heart center. Take a moment to remember. Respect and honor yourself, also. And one more breath in. Let's go on downward dog. Hands come to the ground. And flat back up. Fingers just raise the mat. Step or hop to the back of that mat. Let's take a slow turnaround. Slow bend of the elbows. Slow bend of the elbows. Activate belly button to spine. And we go three, two, one. Slide through upward facing dog. And when you're ready, downward dog. Shake that head no. Not that head yet. Good. Hop to the middle of that mat. And hop to the front of that mat. And let's place that right hand, if you wish, in a little funky, underneath that right foot. Left hand underneath that left foot. Just giving yourself some posture massage. Giving yourself a massage here. Good. You wiggle those toes. Wiggle those fingers. Rocking to the front. To the back. Side to side. Nice. This feels kind of neat and different. Rolling the ankles to one side and the other. When you're ready, let go of that. Press this trunk into those thighs. Flat back. And reach. And let's reverse slow bend up this time. Leaning towards the side. Raising up, up, up, up, up. Deep breath in. And long breath out. You may hear a crack in your back. So I'm going to do this slowly. And flat back up. Let's send those arms by ourselves. Long arms. Adrienne's new. Adrienne calls them arms. Airplane arms. And when you're ready, again, let's come the same way we did. Hop to the middle of the mat. Hop to the back. We meet in place. Chaturanga. Upward facing dog. And down the dog. Bend our right knee. Switch. Bend that left knee. When you're ready, let's form tippy toes on our back. And slowly, like you're taking baby steps. Let's take baby steps towards our hands. Nice. And release the weight of the head down. Maybe interlace those fingers just fluttering your neck. Really just releasing any tension. I'm going to do that. Hopefully tension in between my shoulder blades. Nice. And release that. Flat back up. Arms wherever you choose. And release. We're going to bring that vertebrae by vertebrae. I'm bending my knees and ankles. And deep breaths. Arms up. Take a gentle backbend. Press into those heels. All the way. Create a little arch in that spine. And then slow that down. Spread those toes. Roll back up. Roll into the spine. Release. And however you wish, get to the back. Get to the back. And all the way to the back. Let's take a little chaturanga here. Deep breath in. Exhale. At the bottom of the exhale, you will rise to the end of your chaturanga. And release. And upward facing dog. And downward dog. Let's take three breaths of silence here. Breathing in through the nose. Long exhale through the lungs. Deep breath in through the nose. Long exhale through the lungs. Deep breath in through the nose. Deep breath in through the nose. Deep breath in through the nose. Deep breath in through the nose. Deep breath in through the nose. Deep breath in through the nose. Deep breath in through the nose. And when you're ready, just bend those knees and meet in a seated position. Take a seated forward fold. Shake those legs out. If you wish, bring those palms to the sides and just do a little gentle tapping. The insides and outsides of those legs. Those feet. This might look crazy, but Pilates teaches you to do this. And people from my Tai Chi practice have taught me to do this to help reduce tension. Kind of warm up the body. As if you had magnets all along those legs. Lift them up from the heels all the way to the base of your pelvis. Breath in, arms up. And reach wherever you are. I commend you and honor you for even being here. If you're touching your knees, that's great. If you're touching past your toes, that's great. Drop in the middle of the head. Keep the head low. Lower the head, yes. Great. Go all the way back up. And just a brief stretch to either side. Bending that left knee. Sinking that right arm from the left side. Reach up and over. Switching the left side body. And again, we're keeping that left foot going as much as we can. So let's get to the earth. And come back to neutral. Switch on that right knee. Place that left palm on the right side. And if you're painting something up overhead, paint, paint, paint, paint, paint. And stretch the right side body. Nice. Again, you're sending that right foot going into the earth. Deep breaths in. And slowly come back. If you have time in the day, feel free to lay down. Just a full Shavasana meditation. Otherwise, you can come across those legs just as you started. Palms, wherever feels good. Just give me a prayer, resting on those knees. Tuning in to a sense of noticing. You're going to find a quiet awareness that you build. And practice noticing. Observing for the body and the mind to feel, perhaps to feel more calm, less cluttered. And then tuning in to some of the kind of quiet parts of our body, such as your heartbeats. Or maybe on your lungs feeling. And you can bring those hands up overhead to prayer position. This is just two more times. Kind of just feeling those hands through. Deep breaths in. And last time. Reach beyond those fingers. Touch the forehead. And touch your lips. And touch your heart. And I thank you guys for joining me today on this Friday.