Yoga Sess 07.26.24

The speaker begins by guiding the listener through a yoga practice, starting with child's pose and moving through various poses and stretches. They emphasize the importance of deep breathing and connecting with the body. The practice includes movements like hip circles, tricep stretches, and knee-to-nose poses. The speaker also encourages the listener to set intentions and send positive energy to someone or something that may benefit. The practice concludes with a seated kneeling position, neck stretches, and a forward fold. The speaker emphasizes the importance of letting go of anxieties and worries and finding peace in the present moment. The practice ends with a deep breath and a moment of gratitude. So we are going to start actually in child's pose, I'm going to pin myself, and we'll get started. So, letting the knees be as wide as the mat, having your knees as wide as the mat and sending your fingers all the way forward, relaxing the head. Putting some attention to that belly button, and just noticing if it wants to move towards the back as I always encourage, belly button to the back, just a little sense of noticing. Relax your forehead back and forth. Taking a deep long inhale, imagining your spine extending, extending all the way past that frown. As you exhale, invite, just a gentle invitation, sending that belly button forward this way. Continuing to deepen that breath. And let's take a stretch of the triceps, so bend those elbows if it's available to you, and palms can come to pair position. Taking a stretch of those triceps, and as you're here, perhaps sending an intention, a sankalpa, into which the energy we create together can be sent for someone or something that may benefit. And let that go, envision that sankalpa has completed, and gently press up onto all fours. If it feels good, you can tuck those toes behind or keep the top of the legs flat on the mat, and let's take some gentle hip circles to the left. And to the right. If it's available to you, flip over that left palm, pressing the back side of the hand on the mat, and walk forward and back for three seconds of breath here, connecting intimately to the breath, breathing in. And exhale. Really stretching those fingers, deep breath in. And deep breath out. Last one, long breath in. On the exhale, flip that palm over, and now we're going to take a deep stretch of that right wrist, so flipping the right hand over and again. Maybe this time let's rock those hips side to side, just to give a different kind of stretch, but sending as much weight as feels comfortable on the top of that hand. Breathing in, and releasing. Long breath in. How does your breath feel today? And on the exhale, last one, breath in. Maybe with a smile, come to press those palms back to regular tabletop position. Let's touch those toes, take a deep breath in, and press into the balls of those feet so much so, belly button goes all the way to your spine, and we're going to lift into floating tabletop, knees an inch off that mat. Deep breath in. Relaxing the lower jaw, exhale. Rotating the front of those elbows towards the mat, deep breath in. Exhale. Nice. One more breath in, press up into downward dog. Heels are reaching towards the earth, if not touching the earth. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. Exhale. Deep breath in. We're actually going to meet again on all fours. Send the tip of the nose up to the sky, into cow, deep breath in. Maybe you hear your vertebrae crack and exhale into cat. Nice. Really distributing in all of your spine, your lower back, mid back, cervical spine as you move through cat and cow. So distributing the bend, right? So if you feel a lot more bend toward your shoulders, just invite a little bit more movement to where maybe you're not feeling so much bend. Great. A lot more time. Dive in. And exhale. Cat. Nice. Let's send that right leg behind us, up in the air. And let's tap it across towards the left side of the body, our left side, and then bring that leg to tap the right. And we're going to go three, tap, two, tap, one. And one more for good luck. Nice. Let's come to stretch that left arm out, right leg out. Deep breath in. And bring that elbow towards that right knee. And two more. Long spine. Extend the limbs. And bring it in. Squeeze. As if your core you could rinse like a towel. Breath in. And exhale. Rinse out all the toxins. Nice. Come back to neutral. Take a brief child's pose. And send the hips towards the back. Forehead to the mat. One more breath in. Exhale, come back. All fours, maybe with a smile. And now let's send that left leg out. And we're going to tap those toes to the opposite side. So right side and left. Two more. Three more. Last one. Tap, tap. And extend that left leg behind if it's available to you. Reach that right arm. And exhale. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Rinse out that core. Extend those limbs. So imagine energy beyond that middle finger, beyond your heel. And come in. Inhale. And everything in. Great job. Let's press into those palms. Tap those toes. Come into floating tabletop to press all the way back. And reach again. Downward dog. Bend that right knee. And switch. Bend that left knee. Nice. Let's bring those feet to touch behind us. Lift that left leg. Three-legged dog. Take ankle circles one way. And pressing and spreading those toes, spreading those fingers and ankle circles the other way. Imagine that you're stretching your deep core, your psoas muscle. It attaches to the vertebrae in your lower spine. And also the inside of your pelvis. Nice. Bend that knee. Bring your knee to nose. Exhale. Bend three-legged dog. Exhale, knee to nose. And one more. As you bring your knee to nose, let's actually cross that leg. We'll come into variation of wild things. So it's almost like a side plank. My left leg is in front of the right. Let's take three cycles of breath here. I know, breathing in. Pressing those hips towards the sky. Pressing away from your palm. Exhale. And breath in. And release. And one more breath in. Strong arms, strong legs. And come back. Knee to nose. I know, I'm just trying. Knee to nose. Three-legged dog. Come to downward dog for a breath. Collective inhale in. Collective exhale out. Great job. Let's lift that right leg up. Three-legged dog. Pressing into the palm. Sticking ankle circles with that right ankle. And switch direction. Bring up all those toes as well. Nice. When you're ready, inhale in. Exhale, knee to nose. Come back. Three-legged dog. Knee to nose. Three-legged dog. Last one. Exhale. Curve that spine. And cross that right leg over to the left side body. Come into variation of wild thing. Just a little bit like plank. And we take a big breath in. And release. Imagine just finding peace and trust in your breath to trust yourself even more. One more breath in. And come back. Knee to nose. Three-legged dog. And downward dog. Take a moment. Let's come to a seated kneeling position. And just shake the right arm. Shake the left arm. For a second, gently touch that left ear. And take a stretch to the side of the neck. Switch to gently pressing that left palm over that right ear. Stretching the side of the neck. And come back. Shake those shoulders a little bit. And let's come back to meet in downward dog when you're ready. And get ready for a little bit of a flow. Shake that head and nose. Now that head, yes. And when you're ready, step or hop to the front of that mat. And release into a forward fold. Imagine that all your anxieties and worries are tumbling out of the top of your head. Okay, so let's roll up vertebrae by vertebrae. Relax the base of the head and send that belly button to the spine as you roll up to meet in mountain. And take a deep breath in. Arms up overhead. And gentle back bend. Taking those palms away with the arm. Gentle back bend. And press one leg down. We're going to step. Let's step actually that left leg back. Take a twist with the lunge with that right leg in front. Deep breath in. Looking up towards the ceiling here. Okay. Let's meet in shadow. And let's send that right leg back into plank. Press gently down. And come to meet in upward facing dog. And down. Nice. And step or hop to that front of the mat. And let's press opposite elbows and sway the upper body one way or the other way. Nice. Let's take a flat back up, pressing those palms into the shin. Activating the belly button to the spine. Long back of the neck. Release. Reverse. Long back up this time. Meeting with the nose. Looking up, up, up. This is hands to parallel position. Let's pause here for a moment. Connecting to the breath. Noticing how you feel. Acknowledging any thoughts and letting them go. Perhaps find one thing that you're grateful for in this present moment. Nice. And let's take a deep breath in and bring those arms one more time up overhead. Stretch forward like that. Fingertips to the mat. Flat back up. And this time we're going to send that right leg back into a lunge with that left leg. And start taking a twist. Looking towards those left fingertips. Pressing into that right palm. Perhaps you're sensing a deep stretch in the front of that right leg. And come back. We'll meet. Chaturanga. If you want to take a single leg Chaturanga, put both feet on the mat. Bend those elbows. Lift. Upward facing dog. And exhale. Down we go. Beautiful work. Beautiful work. Take three collective breaths here. Breathing in. And releasing. Pressing into the earth. All ten fingers, all ten toes. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. And one more breath in. And release. Great. Let's tiptoe to the front of the mat. We'll come to bring those legs together. I'm going to step back, but you can stay on the top of the mat. We're actually going to reach those arms up into chair position. Sending your belly button towards your spine. Maybe you can see all your ten toes spread out. You wish you could bring those hands to prayer. Deepen, deepen a little bit more. And let's send that knee to the left side. So much so you're twisting that spine, that maybe you tap that right elbow, just for a brief moment. Breathing in. And come back to neutral. Let's stand up for a moment. We're going to pull a little bit of balance and send the weight towards the ball of the feet, lifting those ankles up. Squeeze those heels together. And bend those knees to left chair position. And extend those legs, if you wish. All the way, extend through those ankles, come onto the ball of your feet. And one more time. And pull, press, press. Extend through those hips. Extend through those knees. Extend through those ankles. Nice. Come back. Tick. And through prayer, deep breath in. And breath full of gratitude out as you twist towards the right. And really think of twisting each vertebrae. So it starts at the base of the spine, the tailbone. And imagine my clockwork. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. You're twisting each vertebrae, each vertebrae. So much going on. And maybe you bring that left elbow across, really pressing into those palms. Deep breath in. For me, I'm feeling a release in the back of my left shoulder blade. And come back to neutral. Stand up. We're going to get out of the top of the mat, and we'll take a long dive down. Flat back up. And send weight into those hands. Either step or hop to the back of the mat. And let's pause here and take three cycles of breath here. Imagining again. We've got long spines, so we're not piking at those hips up, but we're also not letting those hips drop. So we have a long one. 180 as we tuck, activating that lower abs, but also just acknowledging how it feels. Breathing in. And exhale. Relax those shoulders. And I'll give it to you that I was talking for that first cycle of breath. So one breath in. Exhale, press into a downward dog. And step or hop towards those hands. Gently roll up vertebrae by vertebrae. We're going to explore today a standing balancing pose. It's a step back called Eagle that perhaps some of you are familiar with. But before we do that, let's take some wrist circles so we don't feel any little bit of pressure on those wrists. And wrist circles in. Send that weight into that left leg. Push that right leg up almost like it's having a marionette string and come up towards the sky. Come over as if you were taking a seat. With that leg crossed over. Chest is chosen. You want to get that full bind behind the chest. And send that right arm underneath that left. You come into, you can't really see it, but it's like a bind where you're touching palms and you kind of twist in. Take a deep breath in here. You fall and run back in. Deep breath in. Where is your focus? Where is your attention? If you want a little challenge, maybe touch that elbow to your knee. Come back upright. And just walk that out. So walk through the front of the mat. Deep breath in. And walk backwards. Send that weight so much into that right leg that the left leg can lift up like it's being pulled by a marionette string. And bend that right knee just slightly so that you can cross that leg over, maybe do a full bind with the toes coming behind that chest. And swing that left arm underneath the right. We're resting with palms. Connecting to that breath. And a little movement to add a challenge. And release. Good. We're slowly going to make our way towards the mat, lifting up those legs. Send those arms up and overhead as if you were going back into chair. And I invite you to bend at all of your joints. We're going to try to get as low as we can to the earth. Release. As if you have magnets so the knees are glued together. Bend those knees. Bend those hips. Bend those ankles. Bend, bend, bend as much as you can. And we'll come to meet in full posture for three cycles. And rest here if you want a challenge. Straighten those legs. Deep breath in. Long breath out. Can you feel the shape when I do a deep breath in? Exhale. Long breath in. Hear the voice that I'm thinking. Exhale. Deep breath in. And when you're ready, release into Shavasana. Back all the way on the mat. Placing those palms either on the belly or maybe that left arm on the heart. Hold when you're done. So it's been all the movement. And our body is still experiencing, even though we're so still. We're breathing through our wrists and knees. Our heart is pumping blood. So I'm sending that breath. I'm imagining that breath is like soft, like flowers. And by doing that, I'll be changing those teeth. If you have time, feel free to stay there as long as you wish. If not, begin to wiggle those fingertips and those toes. Sending the ankles, the wrists, the elbows and knees. Maybe you have a yawn come for a long sigh. Roll over to one side and if you wish, we can maintain a seated position. Palms facing up or facing down. Touching that nose slightly to lengthen the back of the neck. I'd like to offer gratitude for myself and for each and every one of you for joining. It's not easy to take time out of your day to experience this journey. It always feels like I'm a new person after class. So thank you.