Practice 1: Lets Begin

Welcome to day one. Nice to see you. Let's begin. So for this practice, we'll use a blanket, two blocks, and a strap. So join me on your back. You might want a blanket right underneath your head for support. As you come onto your back, let's start with the soles of our feet wide and let our knees rest together and bring your hands onto your belly. And then take a few moments to bring your attention towards your breath. You might keep your eyes open or you might close your eyes. And as you bring your attention towards your breath, you might begin to notice the feeling or sensation of the breath in the hands. Let's take an inhale together and exhale. And beginning to move with our breath, draw your right knee into your chest, interlace your fingers around the top of the knee or maybe the back of the thigh.

And as you inhale, let your knee move away from you. Let your arms move towards straight. And as you exhale, draw the right knee into your chest. Inhale, knee moves away, arms straighten. And then exhale, draw the knee into your chest. Let's do that two more times. Inhale, knee moves away, exhale, draw the knee in. One more time. Inhale, knee moves away, exhale, draw the knee in. And take a moment to pause here as you draw the shoulders down the back, relax through the face and the jaw. Good. And then release the right foot down. Just take a moment to pause. Maybe hands rest on the belly and notice. Allow for an inhale and exhale. Let's draw our left knee into our chest. Inhale, let the knee move away, arms lengthen. And then exhale, draw the knee in. Inhale, knee moves away, exhale, draw the knee in. Two more times. Inhale, lengthen the arms. Exhale, draw the knee in. Last time, inhale, knee moves away. And then exhale, draw the knee in. Good. Relaxing the shoulders down the back. And then release the left foot down.

Take a moment to notice. Allow for an inhale. And exhale. Let's bring the right ankle across the left thigh, flex the right foot, and then let the knee move away. Feel the hip begin to open here. And then as you inhale, draw the knee in towards your chest. And as you exhale, send the knee away as the hip opens. Inhale, draw the knee into the chest. And then exhale, let it open. Let's do that one more time. Inhale, draw the knee in. And then exhale, let it open. Now you might stay here. This might be a strong enough stretch in your right hip. As you want to feel more, begin to draw the left knee in for reverse pigeon. And here's where having a strap can be really nice to extend the length of your arms. So you might fold your strap in half and bring the strap behind the back of that left thigh as you draw the shoulder blades down the back. You can also interlace the fingers around the back of the thigh or top of the left knee.

And then taking a few breaths here, keep flexing the right ankle, send the knee away, let the hip open. You might even rock a little bit from side to side. Just notice where you can relax a bit through the eyes, through the mouth, through the shoulders and the fingers. Let's take an inhale together. And then exhale, release the hands, release the strap, let the left foot come down to the floor, and then release the right foot down. And hands might rest on the belly, and take a moment to notice how you feel. Notice the feeling through the right hip. Let's take an inhale, and exhale. Spine that on the other side. Bring the left ankle across, flex the foot, and as you inhale, rotate the knee in towards your chest, and then exhale, send the knee away, let the hip open. Inhale, draw the knee into the chest, and then exhale, send the knee away. One more time. Inhale, draw the knee in towards the chest, and then send it away.

And you might stay right here. If and as you need to feel more, draw the right knee into your chest. Again, you might bring your strap around the back of the right thigh, or bring the hands around the back of that right thigh or top of the shin, and then draw the knee in as you need to feel more. And then notice again the quality of your breath here. Notice where you can relax through the face, the jaw, the shoulders, and you might even rock a little bit from side to side in reverse pigeon. Nice, let's take another inhale, and then exhale, lower the right foot down, release the left foot down, and observe. Take a moment to relax the effort. Allow for an inhale, and exhale. Let's draw our knees into our chest. So as you're ready, roll to your side, and use your arms to come up, and we'll transition onto all fours. And you might bring your blanket under your knees for support here, to support your knees.

And then as you approach all four, spread your fingers wide apart, and let's tuck our toes under to open and stretch the bottoms of the feet. And then as you inhale, moving it into an extension, rolling the pelvis forward, arching the back, and then as you exhale, begin to round your spine and release your head. You might feel a dull, achy stretch here in the back. And then as you inhale, roll your pelvis forward, arching and lengthening, widening through your collarbones. And then exhale, draw the belly up into the spine, get round, and let the head release. We'll do this a few more times together. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, lengthening without pinching the neck to look up, just maintaining some length.

And then exhale, get round, and release the head. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, lengthening, heart draws through, and then exhale, get round. Let's do this two more times together. Inhale, binding an extension, and then exhale, rounding. Let's take that one more time. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, drawing the heart through, finding an extension. And then exhale, curl, and get round, releasing the tops of the feet, and we'll press back towards a child's pose any amount as your knees and hips allow you.

So drawing the hips back towards the heels, forehead towards the floor, and stretching the arms out in front of you. I'm taking a few breaths here together. With an inhale, come back onto all fours, and we'll experiment with downward facing dog. Tucking the toes under, spread the fingers wide, and then nice and easy with the toes tucked under, begin to lift your hips up as you lengthen your spine. And keep the knees bent here a lot as you reach your sitting bones up towards the sky, pressing through the fingers, and releasing the back of the neck. Breathing. Let's take an inhale, and then exhale, lower the knees down. We'll do that two more times.

Spread the fingers, tuck the toes, and lift up, lengthening your spine, bending the knees as you reach and lengthen through the sitting bones, releasing the back of the neck. Let's take one more inhale, exhale, lower the knees, nice work, and then one more time, bearing weight on our hands, tuck the toes, and lift up, lengthen the spine, release the head. And as you bend the knees, it will give the hamstrings a break here, a little bit of a break, lengthening the spine, and releasing the back of the neck. And then from downward dog, walking the feet towards the hands, or the hands towards the feet, bending the knees a lot, and we'll meet in a standing forward fold. Let the head drop, let the knees bend, and the hands might find the elbows here, taking a moment to dangle.

And then from here, as you're ready, we'll roll up together, bend your knees a lot, keep your chin into your chest, and then slowly roll up, take your time, keeping the chin in, and then feeling the heart draw up, the shoulders might roll up, back, and down. And then I'm going to fold my blanket, bring it off to the side, and we'll come into a side stretch. So bring your feet about hips distance apart, and let's inhale our arms up towards the sky, interlacing the fingers. And then begin to lean over to the right, pressing down through the left foot, find a bit more length through that left arm, you might look down towards the floor. And then inhale back up and exhale over to the left, maybe looking down as you press through the right foot, reaching up through that right arm, and then back up, and let's just take it side to side, finding a bit more length through the side body. Nice, inhale back up to center, and then exhale, release your arms down, let's inhale and draw our shoulders up, and then exhale, drop them down.

Alright, let's find mountain pose together, and this will really serve us throughout our practice coming into this state of inner alignment. Okay, so take a few moments to press down through the balls of your feet, lift your toes, like you mean it with some enthusiasm, spread the toes, and then bring the feet down to the floor. And can you get a sense of lifting up from the inner arches of the feet a little bit? Let that inform and lift the inner arches of the legs, lengthening up through the spine, and let's let our palms open to encourage the front of the body to open here, drawing the shoulder blades down the back, and then draw your head out like a turtle, and then draw it back in. Can you get that sense of lengthening through the back of the neck here in mountain pose? Maybe there's a soft bend in the back of the knees, feeling the feet on the earth.

You might keep your eyes open or closed for a moment here, and notice your breathing, the quality of the breath, and then let's find this together at the top of the mat and add on. So you might bring your two blocks with you, and then I like to use a blanket for the back of the knee, so set yourself up here as we come into some lunges. Let's find mountain pose together at the top of our mat and begin to move with our breath. So spreading the toes, lengthening up through the spine, bring the hands together, and let's take an inhale together, and then exhale, press the hands down towards the floor. With an inhale, circle the arms up towards the sky, lengthening up, and then exhale, draw the hands back to the heart.

Let's find that again, breathing in. Exhale, press the hands down towards the floor, the earth. Inhale, circle the arms up, find length in your spine, and then exhale, hands together. More time like this, breathing in. Exhale, press the hands down. Inhale, lengthening the arms up, reaching, and exhale, hands at the heart. We'll add on finding half sun salutation, so breathing in. Exhale, press the hands down.

Inhale, circle the arms up. This time, exhale, bend the knees, hinge at your hips, and come into a forward bend, releasing the head and releasing the arms. The hands might find the blocks. On an inhale, draw your hands up your legs and lengthen your spine, half arch. Exhale, bend your knees, forward bend. We'll roll up together, chin into the chest, and then on an inhale, circle the arms up to the sky, reaching up, and exhale, hands at the heart. Let's do that one more time together, breathing in. Exhale, press the hands down. Inhale, circle the arms up, find length here. Exhale, bend your knees, hinge at your hips, release the head, release the arms.

Again, hands might find the blocks. As you inhale, lengthen your spine, half arch, and then exhale, bend your knees here. Slow, chin into the chest, roll all the way up, taking your time, keeping the chin in, and with an inhale, circle the arms back up, find length, and then exhale, hands at the heart. Let's just take a moment together to pause, observe how you feel, and then we'll add on together, finding some lunges. Again, moving with our breath, hands at the heart, inhale, exhale, press the hands down towards the earth. Inhale, circle the arms up towards the sky, exhale, bend the knees, hinge at the hips, forward bend, release the head and the arms.

Hands on the block as you inhale, lengthen the spine, and this time we'll exhale, bend the knees, and step the right foot back into a lunge. And then reach back through the ball of your right foot as you lengthen forward, looking down to let the back of the neck release, and then slow lower the right knee down to your blanket here, down to the floor. Taking a moment here to pause, relaxing the jaw, relaxing the shoulders, and now this might be quite intense on the back thigh and the hip. Tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, and then begin to play with rocking forward and back on those toes, the back toes, and together we'll spring forward, step the right foot forward to meet the left, bend the knees forward fold. On an inhale, half arch and lengthen your spine, exhale, bend your knees, let's step our left foot back into the lunge, let the right knee bend.

And you might reach back through the ball of your left foot, looking down, let the back of the neck release, and then lower the left knee down. Taking a moment here to draw the shoulders down the back, relaxing through the face, just become aware of what you feel. Tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, and then let's rock forward and back a little bit. It's waking up the toes, and with momentum, step forward, bend the knees, release the head. We're going to bend the knees and roll up to standing chin into the chest, and slowly take your time to roll up.

Shoulders, roll up, back, and down, let's let the palms open for a moment, letting the blood drop back down into our feet. And let's take another round together, hands find the heart, let's inhale, and then exhale, press the hands down towards the earth. With an inhale, reach the arms up towards the sky, exhale, bend the knees forward fold, release the head and the arms. Inhale, lengthen the spine, half arch, exhale, bend the knees, let's step our left foot back again, let the right knee bend, and reach back through the ball of the left foot, and then lower the left knee down. You might bring your blocks in a little bit closer, and begin to lengthen the spine, draw the shoulders down the back.

You might work with your balance here, bringing the hands on that front thigh, and breathing. You might stay right here, you might inhale the arms up towards the sky, letting the palms face each other, and breathing here. Let's take one more inhale, exhale, release the hands, reorganize the blocks around that front foot, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, and then rock forward and back, and as you're ready, step the left foot forward to meet the right, bend the knees, release the head, forward bend. Inhale, lengthen your spine, exhale, bend your knees, step your right foot back, let the left knee bend, and reach back through the ball of the right foot, lower the right knee down. Coming into our lunge, bring the blocks a little bit closer to sit up, lengthening the spine, drawing the shoulders down the back, and you might stay right here, you might bring the hands on the front thigh.

Notice where you can soften through the face and the jaw. Stay here, or reach the arms up towards the sky with the palms facing each other, and lengthening all the way up, find the breath here. Can you find a bit more ease through the neck? One more inhale, exhale, release the hands. And so from here, we're going to draw our hips back, bring the blocks off to the side, and come into child's pose or a variation of child's pose, taking a moment to reset, drawing the hips back towards the heels, forehead towards the floor, and stretching the arms out.

So from child's pose, let's transition onto our belly, so you might bring your blanket off to your side, and then find your way down. And bring your forehead to the floor and stretch your arms towards your feet, tops of the hands on the floor, tops of the feet on the floor, maybe about hips distance apart, moving towards locust, as you inhale, begin to lift the chest up off the floor, and then lifting the legs, reaching the fingers towards the toes. Now as you come towards locust, looking down towards the floor to let the back of your neck lengthen. And with an inhale, draw the back body into the spine, strengthening the back, and then exhale, release down. Bring your forehead to the floor or one ear to the floor, taking a moment to rest here.

Let's find that two more times, inhale, lifting the chest, lifting the legs, reaching the fingers towards the toes, and as you rise up, again maintain that length through the back of the neck, drawing the back body in, feeling that strength. Inhale, lifting up, exhale, lower down, opposite ear to the floor or forehead resting down. Relax the effort for a moment, notice how you feel. Last round, on an inhale, rise up, reaching, drawing the back body into the spine, enthusiasm through the fingers, relax the toes, inhale, lifting up, and exhale, lower down. Take a moment to relax the effort.

From here we'll transition onto our back, so roll onto your back, reaching one arm overhead, and come onto your back. You might bring a blanket under your head for support here. Let's draw our knees into our chest. Keep your right knee into your chest as you extend through your left leg. Now you might stay right here, you might begin to curl up, draw the chin into the chest, bring the left hand behind the head, that right knee is more than 90 degree angle, you might stay here, reach your hands towards your left foot, and then switch, draw the left knee in, extend and reach, and then right knee draws in, extend and reach, again you might keep one hand behind the head, and then last time left knee draws in, extend and reach, and then draw both knees into the chest, let yourself rock.

Let's take a full body stretch, stretch the legs out, stretch the arms out, inhale, lengthen through the spine, the fingers to the toes, and then exhale, draw the knees into the chest, let yourself rock a little bit from side to side. Let's take a spinal twist from here to our right, so rolling onto your right side, stacking your arms, stacking your shoulders, and then as you inhale, let the left arm open, and both arms stretching out to the sides, good, and then let the left shoulder soften towards the floor, and find some ease up through the neck, so your head might be turned in one direction or the other, and breathing here, nice, as you're ready, slow, come back to center, and let's roll onto our left side, stacking the shoulders, stacking the hips and the arms, and then inhale, reach the right arm up, and then exhale, let it open, letting the right shoulder soften towards the floor, and you might find your right shoulder and your arm is lifted, you might find with some time the shoulder releases a bit more, letting the belly relax, finding a comfortable position for your head and your neck. A few more moments here, notice the quality of your breathing, and then let's slowly unwind, draw the knees back to center, hug the knees into the chest, let yourself rock from side to side, moving into our final relaxation, Shavasana, so you might, depending on your lower back, you might keep your feet on the floor, soles of the feet wide, wider than your hips, letting the knees rest together, or it might feel nice to just stretch your legs out, and maybe the palms turn open, again drawing the shoulders away from the ears, the eyes might close here, and allowing the back of your body to begin to soften and receive the support beneath it, relaxing any effort with the breath or your attention. Thank you.