Practice 5: Revolve to Evolve

Welcome to practice five. Glad you're here. Let's begin. So start in a seated position. You might want a blanket for this underneath your sitting bones and two blocks. And come into a cross leg position. It's kind of simple here. And then bring your hands onto your knees or your shins. And we'll work a bit again with our tailbone and our pelvis. So as you inhale, begin to roll your pelvis forward, rolling onto the front of the sitting bones. Feel the spine lengthen a bit. And then with an exhale, curl the tailbone under and roll towards the back of your sitting bones. Let your spine round. Maybe your head releases. And then with your breath on an inhale, roll your pelvis forward. Draw your heart through, wide through the chest. And then exhale, get round. Maybe the head releases. Feeling that stretch in your back. One more time with an inhale, rolling the pelvis forward. And then begin to hinge at your hips. And you might begin to walk your hands out a little bit further out in front of you. Flexing your ankles a little bit here. And then notice where you can relax a bit more through the face and through the jaw. You might stay right where you are. You might begin to let your spine round. Maybe your head begins to release. And notice what you choose to do with your hands. Maybe the palms are down or facing up. And then taking a few breaths here, you might feel a dull, achy stretch through the back body, through the hips, through the lower back. I know I sure do. And then slowly as you're ready, use your hands to walk yourself up. Hands might find your legs there. And take a moment. Let's take a breath in. And then exhale. Let's find that again. But lean back and switch the cross of your legs. So bring the opposite shin in front. Hands on the knees or the shins. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward. And then exhale, rounding your spine. Let the head release. With an inhale, rolling the pelvis forward. And then exhale, rounding your back. One more time. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward. Lengthening.

Again, stay here or begin to hinge at your hips. Walk your hands forward. Maybe leaning a bit from side to side. And then eventually rounding your spine, let your head release. And you get a sense of breathing into the back, into the back of your body. Then relaxing through the jaw. Maybe softening a bit through the belly. Slowly walk your hands back up towards your legs and take a moment as you sit up to pause and notice. Allow for an inhale. And then exhale. And let's lean back. Switch the cross of our legs again. And then come into a side bend. Side stretch. So reach your right arm out. Maybe in line with your hip. And then inhale your left arm up towards the sky. Now draw the right shoulder blade down the back. Root through the sitting bones as you reach and lengthen up through that left arm. And usually it feels good here to lean a little bit forward and back, finding length on the left side of your body. So you might stay here. You might tip toe your right fingers out as you soften your elbow and stretch your left arm up out and over towards your right. Again, drawing your right shoulder down your back. And can you get a feeling of rooting through your left sitting bone, your left hip as you lengthen through the fingertips.

Take a nice full breath into the left side of your body here. And find a place where your neck feels comfortable. Maybe it's looking down towards the floor. Maybe straight ahead. Good on an inhale. We'll reach all the way up with the top arm. And then exhale. Let the palms maybe turn up and take a moment again to notice. Let's find an inhale together. And exhale. And then we'll lean back. We'll switch our legs again. Find the opposite shin. And stretch your left arm out in line with your hip. On an inhale, reach your right arm up. Root down through the right hip and sitting bone as you begin to find some length through the right side. It might feel nice again to lean a little bit forward and back, lengthening out of the waist here. Drawing your left shoulder blade down your back. Stay here or begin to walk your fingertips out. Maybe you bend the elbow and stretch your right arm up out and over towards the left. And you might play here with reaching through your fingers as you let that right hip and knee draw towards the floor. Taking a full breath into the right side, into your ribs. And you might look down towards the floor to release the back of the neck or straight ahead or maybe up towards the hand. With an inhale, reach all the way back up. And exhale, release the right arm. Again, let the palms turn up. Allow for an inhale. And exhale. One more. We'll find a twist. So lean back, switch the cross of your legs again. And then as you inhale, begin to lengthen your spine. So rooting through your sitting bones and lengthen up through the spine. And we'll twist to our right. Bring that left hand on the right knee. Bring the right hand behind you. As you inhale, lengthen your spine. And as you exhale, begin to twist towards your right. Maybe looking over that right shoulder. And take a breath here. Good. Find a place where your neck and head is comfortable. One more inhale, lengthening the spine. And then exhale, slowly release the head back to center. Release the body and the arms. Take a moment to notice. Find that clearing breath. Inhale. And exhale. We'll find that on the other side. Lean back, switch the cross of the legs. Inhale, lengthen the spine. And then exhale, twist to our left. Bring the right hand on the left knee or leg. Bring the left hand behind you. Ground through your sitting bones as you lengthen up through the spine. And then exhale, twisting over towards the left. You might even look over your left shoulder there. Breathing. Let's take one more inhale. And then exhale, slowly let the head come back to center. Unwind the body and take a moment here. Good. From here, let's transition onto all fours. Coming into a table top. And you might bring a blanket under the knees for support. And we've been here before.

Spread the fingers wide, shoulders over the wrists. Again, you might tuck your toes under. And with an inhale, moving into cat-cal, finding length through the spine as you arch. And then exhale, curl and round the back. Release the head. Hips might draw towards your heels. And with an inhale, rolling your pelvis forward, drawing your heart through, widening through your collar bones, keeping it easy in the neck. As you exhale, round your spine. Let the head release. Again, inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, arching. You might close your eyes here. And then exhale, round. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, arching. Exhale and rounding. Let's take two more rounds. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, arching the back, and then rounding. Let the head release. Last one. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, heart draws through, arching. And with an exhale, curl and round the spine, the back. Good. Come back into neutral shoulders over the wrists. We'll move towards plank pose. Draw the shoulder blades down your back. Stay here. Tuck your toes under and reach back through your heels, lengthen forward through the heart, strong through the legs, looking down, relaxing the neck here. Good. Let's take an inhale together. And with an exhale, press back into our downward facing dog. Root through the fingers. Feel that length happening in the spine. Again, you might bend the knees as you find a bit more length in your spine. Releasing the head completely. Good. Let's take one more breath here. Inhale, exhale. Nice. Bend the knees. Walk the feet towards the hands. Bend the knees a lot. Forward bend. Head releases. Hands might find the elbows for a moment, allowing yourself to dangle here with the head below the heart. Okay. From here, release the hands. Bend the knees a lot. Chin into the chest. We'll roll up. Take your time nice and slow, keeping the chin into your chest. Pressing down through the feet. Feel the heart rise up. The shoulders roll up around the ears and back down. Good. From here, we'll find a bow and arrow action with the arms in preparation for a standing twist. So reach your arms out. Find a comfortable about hips distance stance with your feet. Reach your arms out and then begin to draw the bow back as if you're drawing a bow back with that right hand and the hand might stay at your heart here. You might draw and reach and lengthen that right arm. Now reach from your heart into both hands. Remember that action of drawing the tailbone under towards the heels a bit and find a place where your neck is comfortable. You might explore drawing the right hip back. It'll naturally want to follow that right arm. You might play with drawing that right hip forward, squaring your hips. Let's take one more inhale, reaching. Feels nice. And then exhale, release the right arm to meet the left. We'll find that on the other side. Draw the bow back with that left arm and the hand might stay right at the chest or heart. You might keep extending and reaching that left arm. Reach from your heart into both hands. Spread the fingers wide apart. You can find that maybe a subtle action through the tailbone of drawing it under a little bit, lengthening the lower back. Inhale, reaching. And again, notice where your hips are. You might work to draw that left hip forward.

Notice how it draws back. Good. Let's take one more inhale as we reach and then exhale, release the left arm back to meet the right. Release the arms down. Shake it out. We'll inhale and draw the shoulders up to our ears and exhale, drop them down. Let's find our way to the top of the mat for some lunges now. You might want your two blocks on either side of your feet as we come into mountain pose and maybe placing a blanket for your knee. Coming into mountain, press down through the balls of the feet, spread the toes. Let's open our palms wide across the chest, feeling that length up through the spine and then widening through the base of the skull. So the occiput there, drawing the chin back slightly. And let's bring the hands together at the heart and we'll dive right in, moving with our breath. All right. Inhale, reach the arms up to the sky. Find that length in your spine and your arms. Exhale, bend your knees, hinge at your hips, forward fold. Release the head and the arms. With an inhale, lengthen your spine, half arch. And with an exhale, bend your knees, step your right foot back into your lunge. We've been here before. Let the right knee lower down. Inhale, draw your hips back. Come onto your left heel as you find the hamstrings. And then exhale, bend the left knee and come into your lunge. And we'll do that two more times. Inhale, draw the hips back. Come onto your left heel. Exhale, bend the front knee. Ooh, find your lunge. One more time. Inhale, draw the hips back. Wow. Find your hamstrings and then exhale, bend the front knee. Feeling that back thigh perhaps. And you might stay low here. You might come up. Hands resting on that front thigh. As you're inspired here, the arms might reach up towards the sky. Going down through your feet as you reach and find a bit more length through the side body. Beautiful. Inhale. And then exhale, release the arms down. Tuck your back toes, lift your back leg, rock and roll on those back toes. And with some momentum, step forward. Nice. Bend the knees forward, fold. Knees soft. Chin into the chest. We'll roll up to standing. With an inhale, reach the arms up to the sky. And with an exhale, release the hands. Again, inhale, reach the arms up to the sky. Exhale, forward bend. Release the head and the arms. With an inhale, hands might be on the blocks as you lengthen your spine. And exhale, bend the knees. Step the left foot back. Let the right knee bend and reach back through the ball of the left foot. Lowering the left knee down. We'll find the hamstrings again. Inhale, draw the hips back. Find that right heel. Hamstrings. And then exhale, bend your front knee and find the lunge. Inhale, draw your hips back. Lengthening here. Find those hamstrings. Exhale, lunge.

One more time. Inhale, draw the hips back. Exhale, lunge. Stay low in your lunge. Hands might come up. Or you might reach the arms up towards the sky. Fingers active. Breathing here. And one more. Inhale. Exhale, release your hands to your blocks. Tuck your back toes. Lift your back leg. Again, rock and roll a few times on the back toes. And then step forward. Bend the knees. Release the head completely. Release the arms. Knees bent. Chin into the chest. We'll roll up to standing. And with an inhale, circle the arms up to the sky. And with an exhale, hands to the heart. Taking a moment here to pause and notice. From here, we'll add on moving towards a twisting lunge. As you're ready, inhale, reach the arms up towards the sky. Exhale, forward bend. Releasing the head and the arms. As you inhale, find length in your spine. Half arch. Exhale, bend your knees. Step your right foot back into a lunge. Let your left knee bend. Good. Lower the right knee down to the floor. So your right hand might stay on your block or you might prefer to bring your right hand to the floor as you draw that right shoulder blade down the back. With your left thumb, you might draw it into your left hip crease and begin to pull and lengthen here. Stay here or tuck the back toes. Lift the back leg. Find that length in your spine. You might stay here. Reach your left arm up towards the sky as you find twisting lunge. Breathing. Find a place where your neck and head are relaxed. Good. We'll take another inhale. And then exhale. Lower that left arm. Lower the right knee. Find your lunge. Tuck your back toes. Lift your back legs. Step your right foot forward. Bend the knees forward fold. With an inhale, lengthen your spine and exhale. We'll step our left foot back into our lunge. Let the right knee bend. Lower your left knee down. Again, you might keep your left hand on your block or you might bring it to the floor inside that right foot.

You might bring your right thumb into your right hip crease as you begin to twist towards the right. Stay here as you draw that right shoulder blade down the back or lift your back left thigh coming into a twisting lunge. Press into the ball of your right foot. Your right hand might stay right where it is or you might reach your arm up towards the sky. Nice work. Inhale. Exhale. Lower the knee. Lower that right hand. Find your lunge. Tuck the back toes. Lift your back leg and step forward. Bend the knees forward fold. Knees bent. Chin into your chest. Slowly roll up towards standing, keeping the chin in. Press down through the feet. With an inhale, reach your arms up to the sky. With an exhale, let the hands come together at the heart. Now we're going to look at revolved or twisting triangle. If you have a blanket, bring it off to your side. We're going to leave our two blocks at the top of our mat. I'm going to bring one out in front of me so you can see my feet. We'll start with our feet in mountain pose. From here, let's bring our right foot back so our left foot is forward and coming into our pyramid stance. You might toe heel your left foot slightly wider. The back foot is at about a 45 degree angle. You'll want your right block on the inside of your left foot. We'll inhale our arms up towards the sky here. Draw your left hip back, finding that length, and then bring your left hand on your left hip. As you inhale, lengthen your spine. We'll find that bow and arrow action as we begin to root through our feet. Keep drawing your left hip crease back as you lengthen through your spine. Find a place where your neck is comfortable here. You might bend that front left knee, and the hand might find the block here. Wow, keep pulling that left hip crease back as you root through your feet. You might stay right here. You might play an experiment with reaching your left arm up towards the sky. This is a big twist here. Breathing and lengthening. Find a place where your neck and head are comfortable. Good. Take an inhale. Exhale. Let the hand find the hip. Square the hips down towards the floor. Bring both hands to your block as we find pyramid here. Press through the ball of your left foot, and then you might begin to round and release the head towards the shin here. Breathing. Good. And then we'll inhale, lengthen our spine, bend the front knee, and then step the right foot forward. Bend both knees, release both arms, release the head, and we'll roll up to standing. Chin into the chest, feeling the heart, the shoulders, and the head. Alright, let's find that on the other side. We're going to step our left foot back, right foot forward, finding your pyramid stance. Again, you might toe heel the right foot slightly wider, and then pulling that right hip crease back, really rooting through the outer edge of your left foot. Let's inhale, reach our arms up towards the sky, finding length. Bring the right hand on your right hip, and then as you inhale, begin to lengthen. Breathe through the outer edge of your left foot. Pull your right hip crease back, finding that length in your spine, and then your hand might come onto your block here. I'm going to lower the block down. The block is on the inside of your right foot. Keep rooting for your feet as you pull and lengthen that right hip crease back. Stay here, begin to twist to your right. Again, you might keep your right hand right on your hip as you draw the shoulder down the back, or reach the right arm up towards the sky. Breathing, finding a place where the neck and head are comfortable here. Let's take one more inhale in Twisting Triangle or Revolved Triangle, and then exhale, release the right hand down to the floor, your block, coming into Pyramid, releasing the hands, maybe releasing the head towards your right shin. Good, and then as you're ready, bend the front knee and step the feet to the top of the mat. Bend the knees, chin into the chest, and slowly roll up to standing, keeping your chin in, letting the shoulders roll up, back, and down, and taking a moment here in Mountain Pose, just to notice how you feel. Making your way down to the floor with a squat, you bring your blocks off to the side, bring your feet wide apart, and then go ahead and bend your knees here, coming into a Squat Pose. As you transition down to the floor, you might bring one or both hands behind you, coming onto your sitting bones, or find your way there. We're going to bring the soles of our feet together and let the knees go wide. So you might bring a blanket and bring it right underneath your hips, your sitting bones, as you bring the soles of the feet together and knees wide.

You might stay right here with the hands on your ankles and just work to really lengthen your spine here, draw the shoulders down the back, let the knees fall towards the floor, or you might begin to round a little bit forward, letting the knees get heavy and letting the head release, stretching the back and the hips for a few breaths. Good, and then slow as you're ready, walk your hands back up, and we'll find our way onto our back. So make your way there, roll onto your back, and we'll find reverse pigeon from here. So as you come onto your back, you might bring a blanket underneath your head, bring your right ankle across your left thigh, flexing the foot, opening the hip. Again, you're welcome to stay right here in the Sip Opener, or draw the left knee in. Hands might find the back of your left thigh or top of the shin. Again, you're welcome to use your strap here, and then drawing the shoulders down the back, maybe a little rocking from side to side, and breathing, breathing into where you feel the stretch. Nice, let's take one more inhale, and then exhale, lower your left foot, and slowly lower your right foot down. Let's find the left ankle across the right thigh, flexing, and then opening the hips and the knee away. Again, you might stay right here on the side, or begin to draw the right knee into your chest. Again, bring your hands behind the back of the right thigh, the top of the shin, or maybe your strap is helping to lengthen your arms, and see here if you can begin to draw the chin towards the chest and let the back of the neck lengthen, maybe rocking from side to side, and notice the quality of your breathing. Notice where you can relax any effort through the face, through the shoulders, the fingers. Nice, let's take one more inhale, and then exhale, release the hands, lower the right foot, and lower the left leg. Let's draw both knees into our chest, and let yourself rock a little bit from side to side here. You might continue rocking, you might curl up for a moment, bringing your forehead towards your knees, getting round, stretching the back of the neck, and then lowering down. Again, as we come into our final relaxation, knees bent, feet on the floor, or stretching your legs out, might feel nice, and drawing the shoulders down the back, and you might soften your eyes here, and begin to relax any effort with your attention, your breath, or in the body. Good.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Gently allow your breath to lengthen, inviting movement into your fingers and your toes. It might feel nice to find a full body stretch as you lengthen through the arms and the toes.

Draw your knees into your chest, roll onto your side. You're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like. When you're ready, gradually press yourself up towards the seat. Taking a moment to settle. Let's inhale and exhale.

Hands find each other. Thank you for your practice today. See you in the next practice. Namaste.