Practice 6: Slow & Steady

Welcome to practice six. So glad you're here. Let's begin. So we're starting standing. Just start by bending your knees, feet a little wider apart. We're going to come into a standing forward fold. So hands find the legs and then bend your knees and then just begin to fold forward. Let your head release. Maybe the arms begin to release here. Maybe the hands find the elbows, right? So right away we're coming into an inversion with our head below our heart. Knees might be bent a lot and then spread your toes and see what it would feel like to roll some weight towards the balls of the feet again. Maybe you lean a little bit from side to side here. Let the back of your neck lengthen and let the head be heavy and you might even nod the head a little bit like yes and no, just to make sure the head is releasing. Nice. And then bend your knees, release the hands towards the floor, chin into the chest and we'll slowly roll up. Very slow head last, keeping the chin in, taking your time here as you feel your feet, feel the front of your body begin to lengthen, keep the chin into the chest as you roll the shoulders up, back and down. And we'll just take a few moments here just to let the blood come back into the feet and the legs. If you feel a little light-headed, it's totally normal. And then let's find some opening through the shoulders and the neck. So reach your arms out to your side. We'll find that flossing action again of rolling or finding that internal rotation and then the external rotation and do this a few times. So you're moving, you're initiating the movement from the shoulder joint out through the arms and the hands. And you might emphasize the movement a bit through the spine, through the upper back, moving from that internal rotation, the shoulders to the external rotation. Good. And then come in neutral, let's press and reach. So reach from your heart into the heels of your palms here, spread your fingers wide and press, draw the shoulder blades down your back and then draw the fingers in and stretch through the top of your wrists here. Maybe the back of the knees are soft and bent and we'll inhale again and then exhale, release the arms down and let's inhale, draw our shoulders up around our ears, exhale, drop them down and then interlace the fingers, reach the arms up towards the sky, lean a little bit here from side to side, finding that length through the side body, pressing down through the feet and legs. Good. Coming back up through center and then release the arms down. Let's reach our right arm out, find that internal rotation and then bring the back of the hand to rest right at the lower back, the sacrum area. Maybe the hand draws up between your shoulder blades as you draw the elbow into your side body and then from here draw the chin towards the chest and bring your left ear towards your left shoulder, finding a bit of a neck opening here, neck stretch and you might stay here, you might gently look up and investigate a little bit, breathing into where you feel any sensation, where you feel the stretch.

Relaxing through the face and the eyes. Good and then bring the chin towards the chest and release that right arm and let the head lift. Let's take a moment to notice. Just a moment. We'll reach our left arm out, find that internal rotation. Again, bring the back of the hand to rest and the sacrum here, the low back area or maybe up between your shoulder blades as you draw the elbow into the side body there. Together, we'll bring our chin to our chest and then bring the right ear towards the right shoulder. So we're stretching away from that left arm here. And you might start by looking down towards the floor and then maybe you begin to explore some movement through the head. Wow, looking up maybe and notice the quality of your breath here. And where can you relax any sort of effort or tension through the face? And staying connected down through your feet, your legs.

Good. Let's take one more inhale. When you feel ready, exhale, let your chin come to your chest, release your left arm and then let your head lift. Inhale, draw the shoulders up and then exhale, drop them down. Again, we'll interlace the fingers, reach the arms up, lean a little bit from side to side, find that length again through the side body. Good. Coming back into center from here, release the arms, find that internal rotation as you perhaps interlace the fingers or bring your strap behind your back like we've done before. And then stay here as you inhale, lengthen up through the front of your spine, widen through the collarbones, begin to bend your knees, perhaps a forward bend here, head, arms release. And again, you might play with rolling some weight forward into the balls of your feet. Maybe the knees are bent, breathing. Let's take another inhale and then exhale, bend the knees a lot, drop the strap or the hands down to the floor, and then chin into the chest, slowly roll your way up towards standing, keeping the chin in, take your time. Again, feeling the heart rise up, the shoulders roll up back and down. Let's find our way towards the top of our mat, coming into some lunge salutes. Again, set your, set your station up, maybe two blocks, maybe a blanket for your knee for padding. Come into our mountain pose, taking a few moments to feel our feet spreading our toes, palms open, feeling that lift from the inner, inner arches of the feet all the way up through the legs, the spine, brightening up through the heart, lengthening the back of the neck, and then bring the hands together. As you're ready, we'll inhale the arms up to the sky, finding length, and then exhale, forward bend. Maybe the knees bend here as you release the head and the arms. With an inhale, lengthen the spine half arch, exhale, bend your knees, step your right foot back, let your left knee bend, lower the right knee down for the lunge. Again, we've been here before, you might stay low here with the back toes tucked, you might come on to your left thigh as you balance, drawing the shoulders down the back, you might inhale the arms up towards the sky, bending the elbows and finding that cactus variation, scooping the elbows under and up, inhale, reach the arms back up to the sky, exhale, release the arms down, tuck your back toes, lift your back leg, rock and roll, step your right foot forward, bend the knees, release the head, inhale, half arch again, exhale, bend the knees, step the left foot back, let the right knee bend, and then lower the left knee down. Welcome to stay low or come up, arms might reach up towards the sky for that big reach, you might find that variation here of cactus as you bend your elbows and scoop them under and up, brightening up through the chest, find that ease in the neck, inhale, reach the arms up, lengthen, exhale, release the hands to the blocks, tuck your back toes, lift your back leg, rock back and forth, and then step the left foot forward, bend the knees, release the head and the arms, from here moving into chair pose, bend the knees a lot, spread the toes, strong legs, inhale, the arms alongside the ears, draw the belly into the spine, strong legs, inhale, exhale, press down through your feet, rise up as you find length, exhale, let's release our arms down along our sides, wow, take a moment to notice how you feel, perhaps feeling some heat, some inspiration, let's find that again together, hands at the heart, as you're ready, inhale, the arms up to the sky, exhale, forward fold, releasing your head and your arms, inhale, lengthen your spine, half arch, exhale, bend your knees, let's step our left foot back, let the right knee bend, lower the left knee down, stay low, or bring the hands on your front thigh, or inhale, your arms up, hooking the thumbs, inhale, palms facing forward, pull the thumbs apart if they're overhead as you draw the shoulder blades down the back, breathing, beautiful, inhale, exhale, release the arms, find that internal rotation, maybe the hands interlace here, maybe the strap comes in useful, and then roll the hands away from the heart, ah, inhale, exhale, release your hands, let's draw our hips back for a moment and stretch the hamstrings there, come on to your right heel, good, bend the front knee, tuck the back toes, lift your back leg, rock forward and back, and then step the left foot forward, bend the knees, release your head, inhale, lengthen the spine again, last one like this, bend the knees, step the right foot back, left knee bends, lower down, stay low, or come up, stay here, inhale, the arms up, hooking the thumbs again, with an inhale, reaching up, spread the fingers, pull the thumbs apart, yes, ah, inhale, exhale, releasing the hands, find that internal rotation, opposite finger and knuckle on top, or use your strap, and then inhale, roll the heart up, ah, press into the ball of your front foot there, inhale, exhale, release the hands, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, rock forward and back, as you're ready, step your right foot forward, bend your knees, release the head and the arms, we'll come up through chair pose, bend the knees, spread the toes on an inhale, arms alongside the ears, draw the belly towards the spine, find that length through the low back, through the tailbone, good, inhale, exhale, press down through your feet, rise up, lengthen, and exhale, release your arms down, and we'll take a moment to pause here, mountain pose with the palms open, nice work, so now we'll revisit warrior two to side angle to triangle, so if you have a blanket, move it off to the side, and bring your two blocks with you, bring your feet wide apart and set your blocks down, now bring your left foot in, bring your right foot out, so the right heel is in line with the left inner arch, coming into warrior two, bend the right knee, and you feel that external rotation through your right hip as the knee moves back, about over your second or third toe, stretch your arms out, press into the outer edge of your left foot, let the palms open, we'll dance in and out, inhale, press into the ball of the right foot, exhale, let it open, inhale coming up, lengthening, exhale, and open, two more times, inhale coming up, exhale warrior two, inhale, and exhale warrior two, from here bring the right forearm onto the right thigh, and then sweep the left arm in front of your face for blueprint side angle, root through the outer left edge of the foot as you reach through the fingers, notice what's happening with your right shoulder and can you get a feeling of drawing that right shoulder blade down the back, nice, inhale, exhale, moving towards triangle pose, press into the ball of your right foot, now your right hand might find your chin, it might find your block as you stretch your left arm about and over, draw the right shoulder blade down the back, press through your feet and see if you can find length even through the right side of the body, that underside, beautiful strong through the legs on an inhale, reach with the top arm, come all the way up, nice work, let's find the other side, bring the right foot in the left foot out, we'll come into our warrior two, so that left heel about in line with your right inner arch, reach your arms out and then bend your left knee and just take a look at it as you kind of bounce in and out, feeling that opening through your hip as you send the knee, tracking over about that second or third toe, it's a big opening in the hips and then reach the arms out to your sides, let's open the palms again as we dance in and out, inhale, press into the ball of the left foot, arms reach up, exhale and open, nice, three more, inhale, exhale and open, two more, inhale, exhale, open, last one, inhale, rising up, lengthen, exhale and open, from here moving towards blueprint side angle, left forearm finds the left thigh, let's bring our right hand onto our right hip as we draw the shoulder down the back, stay here, sweep the right arm in front of the face and then begin to extend and lengthen, root through the outer right edge of the foot, reaching through your fingers, breathing, moving towards triangle pose, press into the ball of the left foot, left hand finds the shin or your block as you reach the right arm overhead, draw the left shoulder blade down the back and maybe you play with drawing the heart towards the sky, breathing, strong through your legs on an inhale, let's rise all the way up, reach with the top arm, nice work, bring the feet parallel, hands line the hips, we'll find a wide leg forward fold, inhale lengthening the spine, exhale hinge at the hips and release the hands towards the floor, release the head towards the floor here and again you might bend the knees here and just let the head dangle a little bit, you might nod the head yes and no, from here we'll toe heel our feet right underneath our hips, bend the knees a lot, release the head, chin into the chest and slowly rolling up towards standing, keeping the chin in, pressing through the feet as you rise all the way up, heart, shoulders roll up back and down, letting the palms open for a moment in mountain pose, taking a few moments to reconnect with our feet, feeling the length up through the spine, and then we'll move towards tree pose and apply some of the elements of mountain pose, warrior 2 and extended side angle, so clear your mat and let's start with our left foot, so start by grounding through your left foot and we've done this before together, spreading the toes, we'll open our right hip, so feeling that again that external rotation, now today your heel might be towards the inner ankle as you really press to let the hips open, that right hip, you might play with bringing your foot up your calf, a little higher up, maybe, just maybe you might work the inner thigh, but finding a spot that feels right for you today and then finding a spot to focus on in your room and the hands might find the heart, you might reach the arms out to the sides or maybe up towards the sky, yeah, good, really strong through the standing leg, let's take one more inhale and then exhale, release that right foot down, nice work and shake it out, alright let's see how the other side goes, right foot ground, spread the toes and then open the left hip, feeling that external rotation, again the heel might be towards your inner ankle as you press, we've been here before, you might explore bringing it to the calf or maybe the upper thigh and the hands might find the heart, you might reach the arms up, finding a spot to focus on can be useful, I'm looking at you right now, nice, okay, notice the quality of your breathing, one more inhale, exhale, release shake it out, nice work, beautiful, let's come to the top of our mat, alright we'll make our way down to the floor with a sun salutation, hands with the heart spreading the toes, feel your mountain pose, on an inhale reach your arms up to the sky, that feels so nice, exhale bend the knees, forward fold, releasing the head, this time we're going to plant our hands on the floor around our feet and just nice and easy casual walk your feet back towards your downward dog, and we'll take a few breaths here, spread your fingers wide apart and lengthen your spine so you're reaching your hips away from your hands and you might even look up and see where your hands are placed, make sure they're even and then reach and lengthen, release the back of your neck, nice work, and then we'll lower our knees and we'll come into a child's pose just for a moment, alright from child's pose, inhale come up and let's lower on to our belly for locusts, so bring the forehead to the floor and slide the palms just underneath the shoulders, draw the elbows into your ribs, and then as you inhale begin to lift the chest, maybe the hands lift up, maybe the legs lift up, looking down to let the back of the neck lengthen, as you inhale draw the back body into the spine, lifting up, and then exhale lower down, bring the forehead to the floor, nice, let's do that again, inhale lifting up, coming into locusts, you might stay here, you might play with pressing the hands to the floor as you move towards a baby cobra, feet might come towards the floor as the heart lifts up, inhale and then exhale lower down, take a moment to pause, let's try that one more time together, locusts, inhale lift the chest, lift the hands, lift the legs as you draw the back body into your spine, again looking down, stay here or maybe play with pressing the hands, coming into a baby cobra and maybe the feet come down towards the floor, drawing the shoulders down the back, inhale exhale lower down, let's bring the elbows wide and let the forehead rest on the hands, bend your knees and a little reverse windshield wiper action, let the knees go side to side, good, stretch the legs out, stretch the arms out, let's roll onto our back and find bridge, find your way there and have a block nearby because we'll use it in a moment, so we'll revisit the actions of bridge, so spread the toes, feet hips distance apart, arms down along your sides and then begin to draw the tailbone under as you press down through your feet and lift your pelvis up off the floor, low back, mid back, maybe the upper back lifts as the front of your body lengthens, you might reach the hands towards your heels or maybe you're rolling the shoulders under the back and interlacing the fingers or using your strap here as you press down through the feet and breathe, feel a bit more space around your throat, relaxing a bit through the butt, yeah feeling that work through your legs, nice, let's take one more inhale and then exhale, release your hands if they're interlaced and slowly roll down starting with your upper back first, your middle back and then your lower back, nice, taking a moment to pause, alright so we'll find that action again this time with the support of a block and we'll add on perhaps, so press down through your feet, find your block and bring it right underneath your sacrum, there, take a moment to settle drawing the shoulders down the back, hands reaching towards your heels, so you might stay right here, you might draw one knee into your chest and both knees into the chest, notice how this feels, you might experiment with bringing both legs up towards the sky and the knees can be bent here or you might work to press into the balls of your feet and maintain that opening through the chest and the shoulders, so here we're in an inversion, right, with the head below the heart, you might keep your eyes open, you might even soften your gaze a little bit, letting the back of the neck lengthen, you might stay here for a little bit longer if it feels nice, when you're ready, bend your knees, bring your feet to the floor as if you're coming into bridge, so find that placement of your feet and then press down through the feet, lift your pelvis up and then remove the block and then slowly release your spine all the way down, nice, draw the knees into your chest and then hands behind the back of the head and gently curl up into a ball, good and release, let's take a spinal twist from here, let's roll onto our right side, stacking the shoulders, stacking the hips and then inhale open the left arm and maybe the shoulders releasing towards the floor here, arms out along your sides and taking a few breaths and finding a place where the neck and head are comfortable, as you're ready, inhale the knees back to center, hug the knees into the chest, rock a little bit and then roll onto your left side, stacking the shoulders, the hips, the knees and then inhale your right arm up, follow it as you open and maybe the right shoulder gets heavy towards the floor and breathing on this side. When you're ready, slow, draw the knees back up, hug them into your chest, let yourself rock and then coming into our final relaxation and maybe feet on the floor, knees resting together with the hands on the belly, you might bring the soles of the feet together, let the knees go wide with one hand on the belly, maybe one hand on the heart, might stretch your legs out, maybe that feels nice and releasing the arms.