Focus on Yourself

Welcome. My name is Devon Sisler and I am so excited that you are here taking time for your body and your practice. Remember, if you only get one relaxing breath, you've done it right and you've succeeded your goal and you are benefiting both yourself and your child. I'll give you the option during this practice to put in some sounds if that makes it more playful and intriguing so that your child joins along, but don't worry about them. Focus on yourself. We'll start on hands and knees in table position. Place your hands on the ground. You can tuck your toes and as you inhale, reach your head up and your belly down as you exhale around your spine to the sky. Continue to flow linking your breath and your movement. Come into cow, rise up into cat. Take that twice more. Let your breath initiate the expression in your spine and then come back to table. Touch your toes together. You may take your knees a little bit wider and press back into child's pose. If your forehead doesn't come to the ground, you can make a pillow with your hands and rest here for three full breath cycles. Come back up onto table and we'll add in a little sound. Child's pose I also call little mouse pose. You can say squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, and then slide forward into little cobra. Press your toes and your hands down lifting up. From here, make your way back to a downward facing dog. Knees in, hips lift high. Make an upside down V with your body and then you can say woof, woof, woof, woof, woof. Once more just like that. Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof. We'll flow one breath, one movement. Inhale. Exhale. Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak. Little pose and then downward dog. Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof. Breathing here. You can take your dog for a walk by bending one leg. Straighten that. Bend the other leg.

Straighten that and then slowly walk your feet to meet your hands. And as you arrive towards the top of your mat, I invite you to take opposite elbows, bend your knees, let your head be heavy and take a sway from side to side in your forward fold. Roll up through bent knees. Take three shoulder rolls right here. And then sweep your hands to the sky. Switch each finger up. Forward fold through bent legs. Halfway lift, breathing in, shoulder blades to the sky. Push your legs away. Forward fold. Inhale, sweep your arms out and up and overhead. And we'll take that twice more. Half sun salutation. You can take this any time of day to get in a little bit of yoga while you are waiting for your coffee to brew. I really like injecting mindful moments, mindful movements into my day. Now we'll take a body scan. And during this body scan, you reach your fingers to the sky, you hinge at your wrist, and then look at your fingers coming in front of your body. And you can imagine energy pouring into yourself all the way down to your feet. This body scan as you reach your arms out and up and overhead, hinging at the wrist, taking your hands in front of your body is also an opportunity to check in with the sides of the head, the shoulders, the torso. How are you feeling in all the little parts of the body? Hands reach down towards the ground as the legs bend, sweep your hands to the sky. One more body scan, checking in. Then I'll step to the top of my mat, place your hands on your hips, and step your left foot back and behind you. Anchor down through your back heel and make sure your toe is pointing towards the upper corner of the mat. And then your front knee can bend over the middle of your front ankle, reach your fingers to the sky for warrior one. You can also take cactus arms if that feels better for you. So there's space between your head and your neck and your shoulders. This is a stance that we might find ourselves in spotting someone else to keep them safe. So you can slide forward and back, feel your full range of motion while you stay rooted through your feet. From here, draw your right toe in, step your left foot out, bend into your legs for a horse stance. You can slide from side to side right here. You can come up a little bit, sink back down, take that a few times and feel the strength in your legs. Hands can be on your hips. You can also reach them back up. Take one more little squat and then straighten your legs, bring your toes in, click your heels out. Opposite hands take opposite elbows, lift up to the sky and then bow your head to your heart and your heart to your body for a relaxing forward fold. Take two full deep breath cycles right here. As you breathe in, come back up to standing and then face the back corner of your mat. So your left toe will point forward, front knee will bend and you can step your back foot in, hips come towards parallel. Keep anchoring down through the back right heel and then sweep your hands to the sky for warrior one on this side or take your arms out to the side, whichever feels most opening and expansive in your upper torso. Hands back on your hips, we'll come to horse stance again.

Heels in, toes out, sink down nice and low, slide from side to side. See how much movement you have even though your feet are grounded. And then heels of the hands onto the tops of the hips, press down, your shoulders may come towards your ears, that's okay. And you may feel a little traction in the lower back. This is a release that we can find both here and in some of the restorative flying poses that we'll share later. Come back up to standing, step your back leg forward, sweep your hands to the sky, exhale forward fold. Inhale halfway left shoulder blades to the sky. Place your hands on the ground, step your right foot back and behind you, place that foot on the ground, knee on the ground, inhale up into low lunge. Kids also like to call this dragon pose. So you can imagine your hands like dragon wings lifting up, lowering back down. You can inhale with me to a big roar. Palms come together. Your right hand can come to the inside of your front foot, left hand on your hip. If this doesn't feel like enough of a twist for you, you can take your right elbow to the outside of your leg. Look over your left shoulder. Inhale length through your spine as you stay in the shape. Exhale, deepen into the twist. Release both hands in front of your front foot. If this feels like a good stretch for your hip, you can stay right here. If you'd like a little more, you can walk your foot out to the side, keep your knee in line with your big toe. That'll keep your knee safe and you might want to bring your forearms onto the ground. Your back knee may click back a little tiny bit and we'll take five breath cycles here in a lizard lunge, opening through the hip. Walk your hands back in towards your heel. Bring your toe in if it was out a little bit and then try to thread your left shoulder under your leg. We're going into a low airplane pose. So just taking the hands out to the side, that may be enough of a stretch. You can then lift your back leg and if you're ready for a little bit more, you can fly nice and low by lifting your hands off the ground. Play here just a little bit and if you fall over, it's okay. The ground is not too far away. Hands come back to center. Step your back leg forward in space. Halfway lift. Forward fold, breathing out. Step your left leg back and behind you. Place your back knee on the ground. Inhale, sweep your hands to the sky. Tap your dragon wings. Inhale, sweep up. Exhale, press down. Inhale, lifting up. Get ready for your roar. Palms come together. Left hand will come to the inside of the front foot as you twist open towards the right. You can also take the elbow to the outside of the knee. Listen to what feels good for your body. And then lizard stretch, unwinding to center. Place your hands to the inside of your foot and then you might walk your foot a little bit forward. Take it a little out to the side and you can stay here or bring your forearms on the ground. This side might feel really different than the other one, so don't worry if you need a little more support on one side or the other. Your job is to listen and breathe here.

Walk your hands back in. Walk your foot back in. Let's take low airplane on this side, so try as best you can to take your shoulder underneath your leg. Arms plant out to the side first. Lift your back knee and then lift your arms. Drop your hips as low as they can go and if you want to add in an airplane sound right here, that would be really reasonable. And release back to center. Come back to hands and knees. Inhale, cow. Exhale, rounding to cat. Downward facing dog. Take one full breath cycle right here. Let your shoulders soften towards your knees. Let your hips lift high to the sky. And then make your way to seated. You can step, hop, or float your way all the way there. And then knees come together. We have a couple different layers that we can play with here in boat. So listen to your lower back and your core. Round one is tenting the fingers and simply lifting the legs. You can stay right here. You can also reach one hand up and the other hand up. If that feels really good, you may extend your legs to the sky. And then we'll go down to low boat. Come back to high boat. Go down to low boat. Come back to high boat. Come down to low boat. And then you can roll onto your back and come into a bridge. I'm going to do a little turn. Reach your fingers towards your own ankles and then lift your hips to the sky. Squeeze your glutes so that you can release your hip flexors. And if you're ready for a little more, you can interlace your fingers. Walk your shoulder blades in. Keep rooting down through the big toe as you breathe here and enjoy a gentle opening in the front of the body.

Lace your hands. Walk your shoulder blades out from underneath you and then try to roll down vertebrae by vertebrae. Nice and slow. Hug your knees in towards your chest and take three circles in each direction. Giving a gentle massage to your low back. Roll onto one side. Press your hands into the mat to come to seated and extend your legs long in front of you. Reach your toes to the sky. Hug your belly in towards your spine. Place your hands at your sides. This is actually a beginning forward fold. And I was here for about a year and a half before I could really relax and release forward at all. So you could stay right here. We'll take Janu Shirshasana, so head to knee pose. Place one foot to the inside of your thigh and then twist towards the extended leg. You can forward fold over the extended leg, placing your hands at your sides, at your ankle, or maybe touching your foot. It doesn't really matter if you touch your foot. Enjoy a little release, a stretch in the lower back and breathe your body fully. Together inhaling and exhaling. Once more just like that. Come all the way up and we will take both legs out to the sides. Wide legged pose. Keep your toes reaching towards the ceiling. Press your knees down to the ground and just like that seated forward bend, you can stay right here. Shoulder blades on the back. If you do decide to forward fold, let your sternum, let your heart lead. So don't allow your shoulders to come in front. Keep them integrated on your back as you slide forward ever so slightly. I'm going to stay right here today. Join me in three breath cycles. Breathing in together and out together. In together and out together. Once more just like that. Come back to that L shape and then draw your left leg in for Janu Shershasana. Head to knee pose on the other side. Twist towards the extended leg as you exhale. Inhale lengthen your spine. And then if you'd like to take a forward fold, hands can rest at your knee, at your calf, at your ankle or take your foot. Imagine the crown of your head is reaching towards your extended toes. Inhale all the way up. Take both feet in together. Take the bottoms of your feet and press them towards your midline. Inhale lifting up. Exhale gentle forward fold. Again allow your sternum, your heart center to lead you forward as your shoulder blades stay integrated on your back. Inhale all the way up. Extend both legs out in front. You can run your knees a little bit. Press your hands at your sides. Toes stay lifted and engaged towards the ceiling. And if you'd like to one more time forward folding, allow your palms to reach up towards the sky. This is a position of receptivity and allows a softness into your forward fold. Inhale all the way up into seated. We will now set up for a headstand preparation. I actually don't want you to extend your legs and I want you to listen. If you have any head, neck injuries, ask a doctor before you do this or consult with a real life yoga teacher and you can skip this part if it's not right for you. Interlace your fingers. Place your forearms on the ground and think about your forearms like a little nest. Place the top of your head in that nest of your forearms and then tuck your toes. Lift your knees to the sky. So this is level one right here. It should feel like a massage on the top of your head and if it doesn't, come down to rest in child's pose. If you feel strong, you can bring one knee in towards your ribs. Place that down. Take your other knee in nice and tight. Place it on down. We will all meet in child's pose. We have one more pose before Shavasana. I highly recommend a good block for this one. It can also be nice to simply take your legs up the wall and I bet you have a wall at home. So taking the block, placing it underneath your sacrum, lift your knees in towards your chest and extend your legs to the sky. You should feel supported from the block and like your legs can simply rest and relax right there. This is a gentle inversion which is good for the circulatory, lymphatic and respiratory systems and can be very rejuvenating if you've had a trying day. It's one of my favorite things to do before I teach a kid's yoga class and I need a little extra lift. I encourage you to press pause on the video and stay here as long as you like up to eight minutes. You can listen to the sound of your heart beating and your breath breathing as you rest here.

When you feel complete, bring your knees in towards your chest. Place your feet back on the earth. Take a few breath cycles in a restorative bridge pose. Engage your glutes to lift yourself off of the block. Place your pelvis back down. Take a gentle twist from one side to the other. Once more just like that. And then Shavasana. You can stay with your feet on the ground and your knees reaching up towards the sky if that's more relaxing for you or you can take your legs long. Close your eyes. Let go of your breath and relax into this moment. You can allow the back of your head to relax into your mat. Allow your shoulder blades in the back of your arms to surrender into gravity. As you exhale, sink into your back. Allow your spine to rest and be held on your mat. Let your hips and your pelvis be heavy. A gentle hug of gravity holds you close to the ground. Feel the backs of your legs and your thighs rest and sink. Your knees can soften. Your shins and calves heavy. Let your feet rest. Roll onto your right side. Hug your knees in towards your chest. Press your hands into the ground to bring you up into seated and find a comfortable position that works for you right here. Bring your palms together and let your own gaze fall to your own fingertips. I invite you to simply listen or join me in three alms as we close our practice today. Breathing in.

Om Shanti Peace Namaste. Thank you so much for practicing with me today and listening to your body.