Practice 3: Lengthen & Release

Welcome to our third practice. Nice to be together again. Let's begin on our back. So we'll continue with two blocks, a strap, and maybe a blanket. So find your way there, and we'll move right into windshield wipers. So as you come onto your back, bring the soles of the feet wider than your hips, maybe as wide as your mat, and then stretch your arms overhead. Take a moment to lengthen your spine. Take a nice full breath in. And with an exhale, let your knees fall over to the right, finding the edges of your feet here.

And with an inhale, draw your knees through the center, and exhale over to the left side. Nice. With an inhale, draw the knees to center. Exhale to the right. Inhale, knees to center. Exhale to the left, and do a couple on your own at your own pace with your breath, finding the edges of the feet. And as you move here with your breath, you might explore reaching and lengthening through the arms, beginning to open and stretch the side body here. Two more rounds. Inhale, knees draw up. Exhale to a side. Inhale, knees up. Exhale to a side.

Nice. Let the knees come back up to center. Bring the feet about hips distance apart, heels in line with your sitting bones, and then reach your arms down along your sides. And let's bring our right ankle across our left thigh for reverse pigeon. The first step is we inhale. We'll rotate the hip and knee in towards the chest, finding an internal rotation here. And then exhale, setting the knee away as that hip opens towards an external rotation. And then inhale, draw the knee into the chest. Find that internal action through your hip.

And then with an exhale, send the knee away, moving towards an external. One more time. The knee draws in, and then send the knee away, opening the hip. Let's stretch our arms right out to our sides. And then begin to rock from side to side, rolling onto the inner outer edge of your left foot, similar to windshield wipers. Exploring this range of movement through the lower back, through the spine. Finding some ease up through the neck. You might find here your right knee wants to fall towards the floor.

Maybe your right foot moves across the body towards the floor. And a few more rounds. Maintaining that external rotation through your right hip so the knee is moving away. Now you might continue this. You might take it through center and draw your left knee in as you want to feel more of a stretch. Again, you might use your strap. Find the back of your left thigh or weave your hands through your legs. Find the back of the thigh or the shin towards reverse pigeon. And then drawing the shoulders down the back.

You might rock a little bit here from side to side, letting the back of the neck lengthen and notice your breathing here. Let's take an inhale together. And then exhale, relax the jaw, relax the eyes. Good. One more inhale. And then exhale, release the hands, lower your left foot, and let's stretch our right leg up towards the sky. So port the back of the leg with your hands. And then point and flex your right foot. Stretching the top of the foot, draw the toes towards the face. Good.

Make some circles with that right ankle in one direction and in the other direction. Nice. And then let's draw the right knee back into the chest and then release the foot down to the floor to meet the left. Let the palms turn up and take a moment to just observe and notice how you feel here. Nice. Let's take an inhale and exhale. Let's find that on the left side. Bring the left ankle across the right thigh, flexing the foot, and then draw the knee into the chest, coming into an internal rotation in our left hip, and then send the knee away, moving towards the external rotation.

On an inhale, draw the knee into the chest and then exhale, send the knee away. One more time, internally rotating that left hip as the knee comes in, externally rotating as the knee moves away. Stretch the arms out to the sides and then begin to rock from side to side, rolling onto the inner outer edge of your right foot. Keep sending that left knee away. And then exploring the range of movement on this side. Just rolling onto the inner outer edge of that right foot.

You might find your left foot wants to touch the floor, maybe the knee falls towards the floor. And just a few more moments here. Again, maintaining that ease up through the cervical spine, up through your neck, through your eyes. Now you might continue this. You might come through center and draw your right knee in a bit closer. And you might bring your strap through your legs behind the right thigh or you might bring your hands through the legs.

Find the back of the right thigh or maybe the top of the shin. If you find your head is lifted or there's strain in the neck and shoulders, tuck a blanket underneath the head. And then as you flex the ankle, that left ankle, you might rock a little bit from side to side. Okay, the key is to notice where you can relax any effort. Like for me, it's usually the eyes, the mouth, the shoulders, the fingers. And then breathe into where you feel the stretch.

Let's take an inhale together. And exhale. Good. Lower the right foot down. Stretch your left leg up towards the sky. Bring your hands around the back of the left thigh. And then just point and flex your left foot a few times. Stretching the top of the foot, drawing the toes towards the face.

Feels pretty good. And then make some circles with the ankle in one direction. And in the other direction. Draw the left knee back into your chest. And then release the foot to the floor. Take a moment with the palms up.

Notice how you feel. Observe. Inhale. And exhale. Draw the knees into the chest. Let yourself rock a little bit from side to side. From here, we'll transition onto all fours.

You might roll to your side. Press yourself up with your hands. And then find your way into a tabletop, all fours. Again, you might tuck a blanket under the knees for support and tuck your toes under. Moving into Cat-Cow with an inhale, let's find our extension.

Rolling the pelvis forward, leading with the heart, widening the collarbones. Again, without pinching the neck and looking up. So lengthening the back of the neck. And with an exhale, curl and round. Ooh, that feels nice.

And then inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, finding that length. And exhale. Get round. Release the head. A few more rounds. Moving here with your breath at your own pace. You might even close or soften the eyes here.

I'm tuning towards any sensation through the back body, through the spine, through the hips, through the neck. As you inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, arching. And then exhale, curl and get round. Good. Let's come into a neutral position and then find our way into Plank Pose again. Spreading the fingers wide apart.

And then again, we'll drop into our shoulders. So we know what that feels like. And then press through the palms. Find that length between the shoulders and the ears. Again, you might stay here.

You might tuck your toes and stretch through the back of the legs, coming into Plank Pose. Nice and active. Reach back through the heels as you lengthen forward, looking down a bit. Inhale. And then exhale, we'll press back into Downward Facing Dog.

Just taking a few breaths here, lengthening the spine. Again, you might bend your knees and reach your sitting bones up towards the sky, releasing the back of the neck. Let's take one more breath here. And with an exhale, begin to walk your feet towards your hands. Let's meet in a standing forward bend.

Bend the knees a lot. Release the head. Arms might dangle, or you might find the elbows. From here now, bend the knees a lot. Release the hands towards the floor.

Let the head stay heavy. Chin into the chest. Let's roll up nice and slow. Take your time to unfurl here, as if you're stacking the bones of the spine. Feeling the heart rise up, feeling the shoulders roll up, back, and down.

Let's just take a few moments here in Mountain Pose. Letting the palms open, spreading the toes. Let's take an inhale, and exhale. Good. From here, let's grab our strap, and we'll find a bit more opening through the side body.

So as you open your strap, fold it in half, and bring your strap between your thumb and your index finger. And you might bring your feet slightly wider apart for a more wider, supportive stance. And then bring your hands about shoulder width apart, maybe a little wider if you're working with broader shoulders. Keep a soft bend in the back of the knees, and let's inhale together and stretch the arms up towards the sky. Take a moment to lengthen up through your spine, and then pull the hands apart a little bit.

Draw the shoulder blades down the back. Find that action of drawing the tailbone under. Finding that length, inhale, exhale, release the arms. Let's do that a few more times. Inhale, reaching up.

Find that length up through the spine, reaching. Drawing the lower ribs in a little bit, tailbone lengthening, and then exhale, release. One more time, adding on, we'll inhale the arms up towards the sky. This time we'll take it up out and over towards the right. You might look down towards the right foot, press through that left foot, reach through that left arm, and let's take a breath into the left side.

See if we can find that. With an inhale, let's come back up, and up, out, and over to the left. Looking down, press through the right foot, reach through the right arm, get long, and lengthen. With an inhale, come all the way back up, and with an exhale, release the arms down. Let's inhale and draw the shoulders up to the ears, and exhale, drop the shoulders down.

We'll bring the strap behind our back, and come into our mountain pose. Feet about hips distance apart. As you're ready, inhale, begin to lengthen your spine, roll the shoulders down the back wide through the chest and collarbones. You might stay right here. You might lift the heart, bend the knees, hinge at the hips, and come into a standing forward bend.

We've been here before. Release the head completely. Release the back of the neck, and then the arms might begin to stretch up, out, and over. Breathing here. You might spread the toes and play towards rolling some weight towards the balls of your feet.

Good, let's take one more inhale together. Exhale, bend the knees a lot. Drop the strap down by your heels, and then release the head, release the arms, standing forward fold. Knees bent, chin into the chest, head stays heavy, we'll roll up nice and slowly, pressing through the feet, feeling the shoulders roll up, back, and down, taking a moment here in mountain pose with the palms open to reset. From here, let's bring our feet wide on our mat.

Let's find our warrior too again. So bring your left foot and your right foot out, right heel in line with the left inner arch, and just let's go ahead and bend our right knee. Remember that external rotation in the right hip as you send the knee away and back, about over that second or third toe. See how that feels as you stretch your arms out, softening the shoulders, let the palms open, and with an inhale, we'll press into the ball the right foot, reach up, find that length, and exhale, bend the knee and open. Warrior two, inhale, reaching up, exhale and open.

Two more times, inhale, lengthening, exhale, strong legs opening. Last one, inhale. This time, exhale will hold for a breath or two, softening through the shoulders, relaxing through the face, you're feeling the support through the legs and that mountain pose through the spine, drawing the tailbone under a little bit. Press into the ball the right foot, bring the right foot and left foot out. We'll find that on the other side.

Let's bend the left knee and take a moment to look and see where the knee is landing and tracking, feeling that external rotation through your hip so the knee draws back a little bit. Good, reach the arms out to your side, sink down, and with an inhale, press into the ball the left foot, find that length, and then exhale and open. Let's try it again, inhale, reaching up, lengthening, exhale and open. Two more together, inhale, exhale. Last one, inhale, reaching up, exhale will hold here again, softening the shoulders down the back, heart floating over the pelvis, softening the shoulders, softening the face, finding the mountain pose action through the spine.

Good, press into the ball the left foot, bring the feet parallel to each other. You might toe-heel them slightly closer. Inhale, lengthen the spine, and exhale, forward fold here, releasing the hands towards the floor, releasing the back of the neck. You might keep your hands right where they are. You might walk the hands out further in front of you as you reach your hips away from your hands, finding a variation here of hammock, releasing the back of the neck, strong and active through your legs.

As you're ready, walk the hands back underneath the shoulders, toe-heel your feet right underneath your hips again. You've been here quite a bit, bend the knees forward fold, chin into the chest, we'll find our rolling action up, nice and slow, taking your time, head comes up last, heart rises up, shoulders roll up back and down. And coming back into our mountain pose foundation, toes spreading, spine lengthening, shoulders softening, palms open. Notice your relationship with the back of your body and right up through the base of your skull, right up through the occiput, letting the back of the neck lengthen. Good, from here we'll add on with our two blocks.

From here we'll bring our feet wide apart again, like we're coming into warrior two, so bring your blocks on either side of your foot. Let's bring our left foot and our right foot out again, right heel in line with the left inner arch, coming back into our warrior two, right knee bends. Take a moment to find that pause again, and moving towards a blueprint side angle. So the left hand is going to come on to your left hip, the right forearm finds the right thigh. Take a moment to pause here, feeling the feet and the legs, draw the left shoulder down the back, feel that right shoulder drawing down the back.

So you might stay right here, you might begin to bring the left arm in front of the face and reach it towards the top of your mat, rooting through the left outer edge of the foot, all the way up through the fingers, drawing the right shoulder blade down the back and breathing, finding that length through the side body. From here let's move towards triangle pose, pressing into the ball of the left foot. Now from here your left hand might come on to your shin, or you might bring your hand on to your block here, lengthening the left side body, drawing that right shoulder down the back. You might keep your arm where it is, or you might float it up towards the sky, rolling, drawing the bottom ribs up, finding that rotation as you lengthen, finding a place where the head and neck feel comfortable, maybe it's straight ahead, maybe it's down towards the floor. Let's take two more breaths here.

Now to come up strong through the legs, we're going to reach with the top left arm, on an inhale come all the way back up. Let's bring the right foot in, the left foot out, let's find that on the other side. Organize your feet, left heel towards the right inner arch, right hand finds the hip, bend the left knee, coming into our warrior two here. From here blueprint side angle, so left forearm finds that left thigh, finding that opening through the hip, that external rotation there, taking a moment to pause and find your legs. You might stay here, sweep the right arm in front of the face, and find the side angle stretch, drawing the left shoulder down the back and reaching through that right arm, outer edge of that right foot really presses, breathing.

You might stay here, you might press into the ball of left foot, moving towards triangle pose, left hand finds the shin or your block, as you find that length on the right side. Again, it might feel nice to lengthen here or reach the right arm up towards the sky for triangle. You can find a place where your neck and head feel comfortable. Maybe it's straight ahead, maybe it's down. Let's take two more breaths here.

Strong for the legs, on the inhale we'll reach with our top right arm, let it carry us back up. It's a long journey back. Let's toe heel our feet a little closer together, coming back into a wide forward fold. This time with your two blocks, bring them out in front of you, lowering them down. We'll inhale, lengthen our spine, exhale, hinge at our hips.

This time the hands might find the blocks, the head might come towards the floor, or again you might find a similar variation of hammock with the hands on the blocks now. Lengthening the spine and releasing the back of the neck, acting through the legs. From here as you're ready, draw the blocks in closer, toe heel the feet back underneath your hips, bend your knees a lot, forward fold, let the head release, let the spine release, and then chin into the chest, slowly roll that head last as we come into mountain pose, drawing the shoulders up back and down. Taking a moment to pause here, feeling our feet, and then let's move the blocks off to the side, and we'll move towards a tree pose. So working with our balance here, spreading the toes, let's find our mountain pose.

Lengthening up through the spine, rooting through the feet, working with our balance as we ground through the left foot, opening the right hip. So finding that external rotation through your right hip as you bring the heel towards the inner angle. Finding a spot to focus on, maybe in line with the heart. Your hands might stay on your hips here, you might bring your hands to your heart, you might reach your arms up towards the sky if that feels nice. Notice the quality of your breathing here.

Let's take an inhale, and then exhale, release, and you might shake it out or walk it off. Let's find that on the right side, grounding through that right foot, spreading the toes, strong through the standing leg. Open your left hip, finding that external rotation. Left heel towards the right inner angle as you open the hip. And as you find a spot to focus on, hands might find the heart here.

You might reach your arms out to your sides or up towards the sky, enjoying that length through the spine. You can allow for movement here, which is strengthening, right? Notice the quality of your breath. The quality of your gaze, your attention. Let's take one more inhale, and then exhale, release, and you can shake it out, walk it off.

And let's take a moment here in mountain pose again with the palms open, feeling our feet, our legs, the spine lengthening, the widening through the base of the skull, drawing the chin in slightly. Coming towards the top of our mat, we'll come into a squat pose, bending the knees. And as you bend the knees, we're going to feel our hips here sinking down. So the feet might be wide apart here, at least as wide as your hips. Now, for you, you might find your heels are way up off the floor.

You might find your heels are towards the floor, sinking into the hips for a moment here. Making your way onto the ground, one option is to bring the hands behind you and with control, lowering onto your sitting bones or find a safe way there that feels good for you. I'm going to roll from the other direction so you can see me, and then let's roll onto our back. So find your way onto your back, and let's draw our knees into our chest. And just let yourself rock a little bit here from side to side.

From here, let's bring our feet to the floor for bridge pose. So bring your feet about hips distance apart, spread the toes, heels in line with your sitting bones, arms down along your side. We'll visit that action again of drawing the tailbone under towards the heels. This time we'll press down through our feet and lift our pelvis up. So you feel the back body begin to lift as the front of your body begins to lengthen, arms reaching down towards your heels.

As you feel the front body lengthen, notice where you can soften through the face, relax the butt here, really feeling the work through the legs, nice and strong. And you get a sense of the inner thighs drawing towards each other. Good, from here, let's come high onto the balls of our feet, lift the heels up off the floor, and stretch the arms up towards the ceiling. We'll round our back down, rolling down nice and slow, feeling each part of the back and the spine release, and then lowering the arms. Draw the knees into the chest, you might stay here, you might draw the chin in as you bring your forehead towards your knees again, get round and curl up, and then lower the head.

Let's roll onto our right side for a spinal twist, stacking the shoulders, the hips, the arms, and then inhale the left arm open. As you inhale, rolling that left hip away from the shoulder, finding length, and then exhale, relaxing through the belly, finding a place where the neck is comfortable. Let's take one more breath here. And with an inhale, draw the knees back through center, and then over to the left side, stacking your shoulders, your hips, your arms, and then reaching the right arm up, and letting the shoulder release towards the floor, the arms out to your sides, and then finding length on the right side, and relaxing the belly, taking a few breaths here. Okay, one more inhale, exhale, on your inhale roll back, rock back up through center, and as we come into our final relaxation, feet might find the floor with the knees together, or stretching the legs out for our final relaxation, shavasana, palms open.

And you're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like. And you feel ready to move and transition, draw the knees into the chest. Roll onto your side, taking a moment there, keeping the eyes soft. When you feel ready, make your way up towards the seat. Thank you for your practice today. See you in the next practice. Namaste.