Floor Opening (15 Minutes)

Welcome, we're going to take some simple, deep stretches to help open through the shoulders, the spine, and definitely the hips to help prepare the body to sit comfortably. All right, so let's go ahead and lie down on our backs. And as you arrive, hug the knees in towards the chest, and just wrap the arms around the legs and let the body rock a little side to side, setting the tone for the body of ease and release. One more breath here, and then keep the knees bent, plant the feet on the earth and let the arms rest alongside the body. And then just a simple windshield wiper with the knees, so let them fall gently to the right a little or a lot, and back to center, over to the left, just once again, each direction, center and to the right, and center and left, but then deepening that a little bit.

So draw the knees back in towards the chest, take a nice big inhale, and let's twist to the right, take the knees all the way over, just let them fall, maybe take that right hand to the top knee for a little added weight, and then reach the left arm out to the left, extending through the fingertips, heavy through the left shoulder, and breathing down the length of the spine into your lower back and your sacrum, and three, and two, and releasing, nice breath there, and then let the inhale draw you back to center, and move the hips to the right a little bit, hug the knees in, and let them fall over to the left, take the left hand to that top knee, reach the right arm out, and follow those right fingertips with a soft gaze so the neck completes the twist of the spine, and notice if there are any kind of tight or sticky spots, take the breath directly there, starting to open it all up, and three, two, let it all go, and then inhale, draw yourself back to center, and then exhale, just plant the feet on the earth, and we'll start to move into the hips a little, so simple figure four, take that right ankle across the left knee, flex the right foot, keeping the knee protected, and then you can loop the hands either around that left thigh or even the left shin, and start to hug the legs in towards the body, and as you draw the legs in, kind of ease the right knee away, that'll deepen the stretch through the right hip a little, maybe even easing the whole bowl of the pelvis over to the left, slightly, and a few more breaths here, right down into the right hip, and glute muscles, three, two, and come on back to center, and with your exhale, release that, and plant the left foot, just interlace the hands behind the right thigh, reach the right leg up, notice how it feels, breathing into the back of that right leg, drawing it in, no strain, no effort, just a little breath for the back of the right leg, maybe roll that right ankle, one more breath here, inhaling, and then exhale, bend the right knee, and plant the right foot back on the earth, and let's take the other side, cross the left ankle over the right knee, keep that left foot flexed, and then loop the hands either around the right thigh or the right shin, and hug the legs in towards the body, easing the left knee away, and kind of easing the hips over to the right, just a little, that'll help deepen the stretch on that left side, breathing into it, and three, and two, and then exhale, release the right foot back to the earth, and extend the left leg up to the sky, holding, interlacing the hands behind the thigh, or up towards the calf, or you can kind of transition between the two, again, no strain here, just opening the back of the left leg a little, and circle the left ankle a little, and a couple more breaths. Big inhale, and exhale, let it go, plant the left foot back on the earth, let's take a big inhale here, and exhale, then draw the legs back in towards the chest, again gently rocking the body a little side to side, massaging the spine a bit, and then holding behind the thighs, start to rock the body a little forward and back, and gaining a little momentum until you're all the way up, and lift to the hands and the knees. If you'd like padding under the knees and the shins, feel free to grab your blanket, and then plant the hands under the shoulders, fingers spread wide, and warming the spine, simple cat cow, as you inhale, lift the tailbone, ease the belly down, lifting through the heart and the gaze, and as you exhale, round the back, tuck the tailbone, tuck the chin, pull the belly up towards the spine, and again inhale, lifting through the heart, exhale to round, let the head go, relax the neck, inhale, reach it up, and exhale round, let's just do two more cycles here, together, big inhale, heart rising, shoulder blades down the back, and exhale round, let the head fall, draw the chin to the chest, belly to the spine, and then as you inhale, draw yourself back to neutral, and as you exhale you might open the knees a little bit and just sink the hips back towards the heels for child's pose. If you prefer the knees together, feel free, if you like the arms back alongside the body, feel free, wherever you are, sink the hips towards the heels, heavy and grounded through the foundation, and then long spine, deep breath into the low back, settling here for a few breaths, couple more breaths, just consider laying it all down in child's pose, whatever you're holding, carrying, just offer it away, and then inhale gently, come back to the hands and the knees, and then exhale, let's come into an easy seat, maybe grab the blanket and slide it under the sit bones, okay, so comfortable seat, easy cross-legged position, whatever feels best for you, maybe start with the right leg in front, and then let's inhale and reach the arms up, interlace, exhale, take a big inhale, lift through the heart, and then exhale, let's release the left hand down to the left and just reach that right arm up and over, heavy through the right sit bone, gazing down or up and under the right arm for three, roll that right wrist a little, two, and inhale, come on back up and just switch, take the left leg in front and exhale the right hand down, again reaching out through the left arm, left fingertips, gazing down or up and under, roll that left wrist a little for three, two, and inhale, let's draw it back up, and then just take a breath to settle the legs, be comfortable, whatever's best for your body, and with the inhale reach the arms out to the side, and with your exhale swing the right elbow underneath the left, and maybe just draw that left arm across the body, kind of hooking the right hand to the shoulder, or if Garuda arms are available you can take the backs of the hands or the palms to touch, interlacing the forearms, and inhale play with lifting the elbows, the arms, maybe with the exhale rounding a little, curling the elbows in towards the solar plexus, breathing through the back of the shoulders, across the upper back, two more full breaths, come to neutral as you inhale or reach the arms out wide, and as you exhale take the left elbow under, and again you might just draw that right arm across the body, resting the left hand to the right shoulder, or interlacing the forearms and backs of the hands or palms touch, lift the elbows, inhale, play with rounding a little on the exhale, enjoy this for a few more breaths, keep it neutral, keep it simple, lift and lower a little, and come to center, exhale extend the arms out wide, and as you exhale simply release, take the hands back to the legs, and just take a breath to settle, and a little more love for the hips, let's take Baddha Konasana, soles of the feet together, start with a tall spine, big inhale lifting up through that central channel, if this is intense you're welcome to stay right where you are, if you'd like to start to ease forward just go gently, take it to your own edge, and a few breaths here, and three, and two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and two, and if you're in the fold inhale draw it all the way back up, and exhale just release that, come to your comfortable seat, rest the hands and just once inhale lift the shoulders, exhale draw them back, ease them down, and ground and settle here, namaste.