Chair Opening (10 Minutes)

So welcome. We're going to move into some simple stretching to help open the neck, the shoulders, and the hips to prepare your body to sit more comfortably. So for now, just even on the sit bones, feet under the knees, kind of a balanced, steady seat. Rest your hands wherever they're comfortable, and let's just take an easy breath together. So a big inhale, and exhale, let it go, good, and then rolling the shoulders a little.

So as you inhale, lift them up, draw them back, and exhale, ease them down, a couple more like that. Inhale up, and exhale back and down. Once again, inhale, and exhale back and down, and let's just change direction. So inhale, draw them back, lift them up, and exhale, ease them forward and down. Inhale back and up, exhale forward and down.

Once again, inhaling back and up, and exhale forward and down, and let's move that opening into the spine with a little seated cat cow. So again, hands just at rest, and as you inhale, lift up through the heart. As you exhale, round, release the head, a couple more, big inhale, lifting the heart, and exhale, round. Once again, inhaling, heart rising, and exhale, rounding the back, releasing the head and neck, and then with your next inhale, let's come back to a neutral spine and start to shift into the hips a little. So keep the left leg as is, foot grounded, and draw that right leg up, and just cross the ankle over the knee, and aim to keep that right foot flexed, that will engage the leg muscles and protect the knee joint a little bit.

If this is fairly intense, enjoy what you've got, just relax here. If you'd like to kind of sway a little side to side, play with lifting the knee, lowering it a little, just kind of finding the edge of the stretch in your body, and maybe even easing the upper body forward, coming down onto the forearms. Once you've found the depth of the stretch, pause, and let's take a couple breaths here together. All right, big inhale, and exhale right into the hip, and again, inhale, and exhale. Good, and then if you are in the fold, inhale, let's lift up out of it.

Again be nice to support the leg as you release it, kind of lift it up and place it back down, and then just move to the other side, so root down through the right foot, pick up that left leg, cross the ankle over the knee, again, foot is flexed, and start just resting the hands and kind of easing over to the left a little, maybe back to the right. Notice where the edge is, and breathe into that. You can even find a little arch in the spine, if that's enough, honor what you've got. If you'd like, you can start to ease forward, resting on the forearms, and then just find a steady, soft gaze, and a few breaths right into that left hip together, so big inhale, and exhale, keeping the neck, the jaw, the shoulders soft throughout, again, inhale, easy, exhale. Once again, fill it up right into the hip, inhale, and exhale, good.

If you're in the fold, inhale, come on up, and then we'll all release the leg together, pick it up, place it back down, and kind of find that equilibrium through the sit bones again, and then moving deeper into the shoulders. As you inhale, let's lift the arms out and up, gently lift the gaze, and then just draw the hands to prayer at the heart center, nice and simple, a couple more like that. Inhale up, and exhale back to the heart, and think about spreading your wings, opening it up, lifting towards the sky, and then drawing the energy back home to the center of your heart. All right, pausing here, take a breath, and then to deepen into the shoulders, we're gonna use a strap here, if you don't have a strap at home, you can grab a towel or a belt or anything you have handy. Don't have to worry about buckling it, just take it out wide, and clasp with the hands.

We want the clasp a little wider than shoulder distance, lift them up to the sky, and start here with just a big inhale, and exhale, ease the upper body to the left. If you're not feeling much, take the hands a little closer together, and deepen it over to the left, if it's too intense, take a little more space between the hands. And as you ease over to the left, keep opening the whole rib cage up to the right, you might even gaze up and under that right arm, big inhale, grounding exhale, again, inhaling, and exhale, and then let the inhale draw you back to center, and exhale to the other side, over to the right, pull the right hand down, reach out through that left arm, wherever the gaze feels best, maybe taking it up and under to the left, breathing into the left side body, pausing here together, big inhale, and exhale, and again, inhaling, and exhale. With your next inhale, let's come on back up, and then with the exhale, ease the arms back behind you, and again, open the hands a little bit wider if you need the space, and when you feel that edge through the front of the chest, through the front of the shoulders, just pause there, keep the spine tall, you can ease just a little, side to side, breathing right into the resistance, couple more breaths, soft gaze, mind and brow and eyes and jaw are soft, big inhale, and steady exhale, and then inhale, reach the arms up, and as you exhale, let's draw the arms forward and kind of gently round the back, easing into the mid and the upper back, just one big inhale here, exhale it out, and then inhale, draw the arms back up, and exhale, simply release and place the strap back down on the earth. All right, and then just a little bit more for the neck, so come back to neutral for a moment, take a big inhale, and as you exhale, let's ease the right ear over towards the right shoulder, and if you'd like a little more intensity, you can take the right hand to the side of the head, and then reach the left arm out, and keep that left arm neutral, or you can roll the palm open, take a breath, maybe roll out through the wrist a little, and then roll the palm down and back, take a breath, and roll out that wrist, and then release that, let the hands come back to neutral, chin towards the chest, and simply shifting to the other side, so left ear to the left shoulder, keep it neutral, or take the left hand to the side of the head, just a little added weight, and then reach the right arm out, and roll the right palm open, maybe roll through the wrist a little, take a breath, and then roll the palm down and back, and another breath here, and gently release that, take the hands back to the legs, chin to the chest, and then just draw the head back to neutral, and roll the shoulders back once again, find that steady seat, check in with the spine, check in with the neck, the shoulders, hips, notice that sweet opening, take a deep inhale, exhale, let it go, beautiful, thank you.