Chair Opening (5 Minutes)

Welcome, this is a brief opener that can really be done anywhere on a chair. We're going to open through the neck and the shoulders, the hips and the spine a little bit, just to help prepare you to sit more comfortably. So grounding down through the sit bones, make sure the feet are essentially under the knees, rest the hands wherever they're most comfortable, and let's close the eyes for a moment and just take a big breath together through the nose, big inhale. Go ahead and open the mouth, exhale, let it all go, and then gently open the eyes, we'll take a seated cat cow, so as you inhale, lift up through the heart, shoulders down, as you exhale, round, pull the belly in, release the head, just a couple more, inhale, lift through the heart, exhale, round, and again, inhale, lift the heart, and exhale, round. Then drawing the spine back to neutral, opening through the neck a little, let's just ease the chin to the chest and kind of roll the right ear over towards the right shoulder.

You can keep this if it's enough sensation, or you can draw that left arm behind the back and ease the chin down towards the chest a little, a couple more breaths, then if that left arm is behind the back, release it, roll the chin down towards the chest and just ease the left ear over towards the left shoulder, and again, you're free to stay right where you are or take the right arm behind and just play with easing the head down, the chin a little closer to the earth or the chest, and breathe into the right side of the neck, and if the right arm is back, let's release it, and chin to chest, and then just roll the head back up, all right, circling the arms a little, warming through the shoulders, so as you inhale, lift them directly up and draw them back, two more like that, inhale, reaching up and back, once again, inhale, exhale, and then just reverse direction, so inhale, reach back and up, breathing right into the shoulders, exhale, forward and down, inhale, back and up, exhale, forward and down, once again, inhale, and exhale, good, and then just kind of shake out the arms and the wrists a little bit, rest the hands where they're comfortable, and then draw the right ankle across that left knee, keeping the right foot flex, kind of protecting the knee joint a little bit, and again, if this is enough sensation, just keep what you've got, if you'd like, you can start to kind of ease forward and lift the heart up, breathing into that right hip. Let's take three breaths here, one more breath, and if you're in the fold, inhale, draw it up, gently release the right leg and switch to the other side, left ankle across the right knee, gently flex the foot, stay upright, or start to ease forward, breathing into the left hip and glute muscles, lifting the heart up a bit, it's going to deepen the stretch, three, two, yes, if you're in the fold, inhale, come on up, exhale, release that left leg, and then just a little more love for the spine, take a big inhale, lift up through the heart and the arms, and then exhale, let the whole upper body fold forward over the thighs, release the hands to the earth, drop the head and the neck, take one breath here, and slowly inhale, rolling all the way up, exhale, let's release the shoulders down the back, and one breath here together, inhale, and exhale, beautiful, namaste.