Yogi's Lunch Break

Welcome to Yogi's Lunch Break. This is a mid-day nourishing hip opening practice that's really meant to be that mid-day time either before or after lunch. You can do it when the body gets a little bit depleted. So just like maybe your mid-day lunch you don't want it too filling because you have to get back to work. So a balance between it still being uplifting and then also grounding and nourishing and calming. So we'll start by taking your hands onto your knees and sitting up tall and we're going to start with a cooling breath. So this is called Chitali and it's really meant to be kind of like sipping on something cool and refreshing and replenishing. Whether or not it's hot outside this breath is very very replenishing to the body and kind of hydrating. So it looks a little funny which may be nice halfway. Funny and funny looking. You want to make a straw with your tongue and then sit the breath through the straw of your tongue and through your mouth and then the exhale comes out through the nose. So that's midday is the in, yogic wisdom is the hottest time of day no matter what. So we do tend to get a little bit fired up. So you exhale out through the nose. This releases any excess heat through the nose and then again you inhale through the tongue and then you breathe out through your nose. If you can't curl your tongue like this, the little straw, you can sit the breath in through your teeth and you're gonna feel a little bit of saliva. So the mouth does water up and that's the whole point. So we're just gonna do it a few rounds to cool off to really get into the mood and intentional using our practice to replenish. So again sit up nice and tall. You can just play around with your tongue and see if you can curl it or purse your teeth and then we'll breathe in. Slide the tongue back and then exhale through your nose. Again you'll stick out your tongue a little bit, curl it, sit the breath in. Savor it and then exhale through the nose. A few more times. Last time. And breathe out through the nose. You can breathe out through the mouth and then with your hands still grounding down onto your knees, you're gonna begin to take a few wide circles with the spine. So the inhale is gonna draw the chest forward and then you'll exhale back. So again these are these nourishing circles right in the hips. Just meant to be the creative watery center of the body. Just swirling it around even breathing out into the kidneys and the low back. You can move into the other direction and just swirl and enjoy the movements. Like you would slow down and enjoy a nice lunch break. Swirling the energy all the way around and then as you come on up through center breathe your arms up to the sky. Just sipping in the breath in that same way and then exhale to twist over to the right. You can sit up tall on a breath in and then exhale to twist. Breathe your arms up and into the sky and then twist over to the other direction. Just a simple sitting up tall and then the breath out to ring everything out. One more breath in and then breathe out looking back. Right from here you can come towards center. Come forward onto your hands and your knees. You're padding out to the side and then make your way into child's pose. Take a couple breaths allowing the crown of the head to release towards the ground. You can even open up your knees a little bit more so it's that same flavor in the hips. You can walk a little bit over towards the left. Walk a little bit over towards the right. Come on through center for a few spinal flexes and movements towards cat and cow. So again slowing the breath down which is these simple movements. The inhale drops the belly, drops the heart, the gaze lifts and then with the exhale you round in. So you can even rock a little bit more. You can inhale the chest forward and then exhale the hips back. Inhale the chest forward and exhale the hips back. Really anything that feels nourishing for your body right now. So you may move your hips, you may move your head into circles to release any tension from the neck or in the shoulders and then spread the palms wide as you inhale to look up. Tuck your toes under. Let your chest rest towards the tops of the thighs towards a puppy dog. You can really allow the crown of the head to sink and breathe into the chest and then slowly lengthen the legs so that the bones are still reaching up towards the sky as you begin to lengthen the heels towards the ground to breathe into the backs of the legs. Roll to the outer edge of the right foot, twisting from side to side. From here come forward into a plank pose. Breathe in, stay for the exhale and then even another breath in. So you're receiving the great strength from the pose. Asana really does have its own nutritional value as you take one more breath in and then from here take your knees to the ground followed by your chest and chin. Shtanga namaskar as you hug the elbows in, lift your tailbone up and then drop the pelvis, chin in towards the chest. As you press down through the feet, lift the chest. You can even lift your hands up but engage the legs and then replant the hands down. Tuck your toes under for downward facing dog. You can step your left foot a little bit towards the center of your mat so that you can breathe the right leg up to the sky. You can take a moment to peel open through the hip. You can circle your ankle around a little bit, circle through the hip a little bit, peel open and then as you come forward you're gonna aim your foot towards the outside of the right hand. You can help it along with your hands if you need to. It can be off the mat, it can be on the mat and then you're gonna begin to allow the left knee to come down towards a lizard lunge. So your finger tips can be on the ground, just allow the pelvis to sink. See if you can keep drawing the right hip back and pressing down through the right foot, maybe you can engage the left leg. If you'd like to explore coming a little bit deeper, your forearms can come down to the ground and again by letting the hips drop, you'll begin to energize that inner left thigh by reaching it up and sending the chest forward and it rockings can happen, breathing, any movement here in the poses to make it truly replenishing. Walk your hands back, see if you can step the right foot towards the center of your mat and then right away switch the feet so that you can extend the left leg high, put a bend through the knee but keep dropping down through the left shoulder. So there's even a little bit of a twist, circle, move your ankle around and then begin to come forward to step the left foot wide. You can come onto your fingertips, allow the pelvis to sink, move a little bit from side to side, breathe open through the chest and then maybe sink a little bit deeper and finally explore lifting the inner right thigh but see if the hips can continue to sink down, rock a little bit from side to side.

Walk your hands back, you can even step the left foot back a little bit so that as you kind of shift the weight into your hands a little bit, you can press off the right toes and you're gonna come into malasana or garland pose. So here the hips really sink towards the earth. If your heels aren't on the ground or this is uncomfortable in your knees, you can roll up a blanket. This is a wonderful way to practice it. In most other cultures this pose is a norm. We've just lost so much mobility in our hips from sitting in chairs and standing and driving. So this is reclaiming our natural connection and towards the earth and so it's grounding. Allow the hips to open and you're welcome to take it into a twist. Taking the left arm up, the right hand down and then swirling over to the other side. One more inhale to lengthen the spine and then plant your hands back down. You'll begin to slowly lengthen your legs, parallel your toes. You can move your blanket out to the side. Just hang over your legs, it can be a little wider forward bend and rocking. Then allow the head to drop as you begin to slowly roll, round up vertebrae by vertebrae again like sipping the breath. Right up through the soles of the feet, our roots where your feet really do draw up a great energy nourishment from the ground. Take a couple moments to even rock from side to side and then from here you can come into the center of your mat. Re-plant the left foot into the ground as we come on up into tree pose. So you can begin to shift the weight into the left foot. Maybe just come onto the ball of the right foot, play with the exchange of the energies. We find a little bit of balance and strength and you can begin to slide the right foot up towards your inner left thigh. If you have a wall next to you it's nice to use to help with your balance but it awakens all when we lift up one foot it awakens all the other muscles to engage and help to keep us lifted. Take that inner right knee wide again as you allow the shoulders to melt down the back. Your hands can come to your heart. This is a more grounding position but if you'd like something a little bit more uplifting the arms can open and even if you wanted to explore the extended tree your leg can open. Bend through the knee release your foot and then switch it over to the other side. So you'll come onto the ball of the left foot. Shift the weight into the right foot. First feel equal weight between all four corners of your feet. Before you slide your foot up it can be a whole journey into it. It's like I think we're meant to chew our food something like 30 times before we actually swallow. Hanging out in the poses for a little while longer really helps you receive its benefits. So we chew on it breathing a little bit deeper through really feeling all the effects. Everything that's happening in our bodies we're receiving energy and then if you'd like to explore on this side extended tree variation you can play with lifting up your foot. Do drop the left hip down and then there can be some extension. Open up if you fall that's great and then begin to slowly make your way back down. Shake it out a little bit and then you're even gonna jump your feet out wide. Keep the heels for this one in line with your toes and you can even roll to the outer edges of your feet. Sometimes there's a tendency to move in the knees can get a little bit strained so we're awakening up the energy of the inner thighs and zipping them up by lifting up the arches. The arches are kind of like you can sip the energy up sort of like nostrils you're breathing up through the inside of your feet. Then you can breathe your arms up to the sky and inhale. You come forward there can be a slight bend in your knees as we come into our straddle. You can pause halfway. I like to really twist open through my shoulders and again move to the outer edges of your feet as much as possible as you begin to lengthen your legs. The crown of the head can move towards the ground. There's all sorts of variations blocks and props so you can lift the floor to meet you. I'll even show you here. You can take it as far high as you need two blocks even but it's nice to let the head ground so that you can move into the back of the body a little bit. Allow the head to drop and from here you're gonna begin to rise back up by pressing into your feet and then turn your toes all the way out and your heels in as we begin to rise on up. So this is called the goddess pose and again the goddesses are nourishing. You can move a little bit from side to side. The hips move and kind of sway. Open up through the chest and breathe in and then straighten the legs again heels high. You're just gonna make your way forward and down again. Allow the head to release and then rise back up as you press down through the feet arms high. You're gonna turn your right leg out, your left toes in for warrior two. So allow the pelvis to really drop. Again you're working towards opening up that inner right knee as you stretch the left thigh back keeping the inner arches engaged and then tip backwards for a peaceful warrior just flowing still sipping the breath you can imagine through that straw and then come towards center for your extended angle. You can even flow all the way up and back pressing into the right foot but this time straighten out through the right leg and then begin to reach for your block underneath your right hand. Explore with the different heights for triangle pose. Press your right hand down. Peel open through your left arm. Draw the chin in towards your throat and you can take, usually it's about five breaths is nice for each pose to receive its nourishment. And then we're going to begin to transition into Ardha Chandrasana. So your left hand can come to your hip, there can be a little walk back and a bend through the right knee again so that you can reach your left, your right hand forward onto your block then begin to peel your left leg up. Flex through the toes. Allow the hip to roll open and put a little bend straighten and then expand upward with the left arm. You can take your gaze up. Play with your balance and then look back down at the earth as you begin to swing back towards center. Let the head drop. Rise up. This time turning the left leg out the right toes in and then land into your warrior too. Even as the legs are coming out there's this feeling that you're drawing muscularly the thigh bones into the pelvis so everything's not just reaching out. It's strengthening at the same time that you're expanding outward. Tip backwards for peaceful warrior. Exhale come right into an extended angle just with the forearm to the thigh. Flow back up and straighten the left leg and then it's triangle pose on the other side so you may have to reach back for your block and again find it underneath your hand to peel open.

Bend in the knees so that the thighs are engaged. As you twist open, lengthen the spine but still breathe deep and full and enjoy the tastes and flavors. Slide your right hand to your hip. Put a little bend in the left knee. Walk forward a little bit. Shift the weight into your hand so it's almost like another foot at first. To begin to peel everything open and then maybe the balance can begin to happen. A little play with it. Strengthen the left leg and then swoop all the way down. Let the head go. Walk to the front of your mat and step into downward facing dog. Move your hips a little bit from side to side. Step your left foot center again so that you can stretch the right leg up. We'll still play with that hip opening flavor for today. You're gonna begin to make your way towards pigeon. Right knee can come forward again but see if you can swing the shin a little bit towards parallel towards the top of your mat. However high you need to elevate your hip. You have props if you have a block or a pillow or a blanket so that you can create some symmetry here in the pelvis where you're rolling the left hip forward but it's the right hip that's opening up wide. You can use blocks to find a back bend. You can reach back for the left foot but roll the left shoulder forward a little bit. Maybe you can extend the right arm high and then move your block out to the side as you pour yourself forward. You can be back on your forearms as you roll the left hip towards the right ankle. You can even release your left shoulder to the ground to take it into a bit of a twist so your palms would come together out to the side. Maybe you would twist open through the right shoulder for a variation. You used to eat the same thing every single day no matter what. And then variety as they say is a spice of life. So we can begin to explore these new sensations. Breath in, step into downward dog. Take your right foot center, lengthen the left leg high. Slide the knee wide so that you can swing your shin forward. Reach your right leg behind you and then again reaching for your padding and maybe a block so that the back bends really supported. Again you can play with heights. Lift the chest. You can even lean a little bit so you can reach for your right foot. Open at the top of the quadricep, this back bend and hip opener. Extend your arm up. Sway a little bit from side to side. Release the right shoulder. Twisting a little bit. Maybe reaching back behind you and come on back towards center. Press into the ground to rise up and then you can just swing the right leg out and in front of you. Spin towards the center of your mat. Your padding can scoot right underneath your sitting bones. Take a little delicious, nice, wide forward bends. Blocks are really nice to have with you. You can sit onto the edge of some padding which again can help to lift the sitting bones a little bit and release the pelvis into your forward bend. So many different ways to support yourself in the shape to be able to really enjoy and release. One of them is to take blocks so that you can rest your chest onto the blocks. Maybe spin the inner thighs out so that your feet are pointing up and actively rotating out and then the spine can come forward. Exhale completely and then rise on up to sit and you're gonna swing yourself towards the center of your mat and you're gonna end a nice restorative hip opener and heart opener so you can roll your blanket even into a tiny bit more of a bolster so that you can drape your body, your spine over it and then your two blocks are gonna come underneath your knees so you can start by taking the soles of your feet together. You can come forward a little bit if you'd like but really just gonna take it back, allowing the knees and the thighs to be supported and then you can allow the weight of your body to melt down and be supported by the bolsters. It's very passive expansion through the lungs and the chest. I like to take your hands onto your belly so it really is like being nourished by what we take in, the thinking, our lives, our friends.

So slow down the breath. It's deep and full belly breathing. You can even stay here for your final relaxation or your shavasana. If this is uncomfortable in any way you can lower down onto your back, remove the props out to the side. I think I'm gonna stay here for a few more moments. You can let go of the breath. Take a couple more moments. It can even be a little bit more aware so you allow yourself to enjoy, to be present for. It's great nourishment.

You can begin to draw the knees together if you're still in goddess pose and then roll over onto your right side. Move your plucks out to the side, come into a fetal position, press them to the ground so that you can rise up to sit nice and full. Plant your hands to the tops of your thighs and to be present. You take your hands to your hearts. We're even going to end today's practice with just one sound of om. So you'll breathe in and then breathe out. Paint your entire exhale the sound of om. Inhaling together. Bowing down together. Namaste.