Letting Go to Let Be

Hi, everyone. Welcome back. This practice has an emphasis on letting go or maybe letting be, so it's hard to let go. And we'll do a little bit of focus on the exhalation, emphasizing the exhalation to really feel that biology in the body of letting go. So we'll start off with a few breaths. Get comfortable and sit on whatever you like to elevate your hips a little bit. And it would be useful for you to have two thick blocks. And I'm just going to put those at the front of my mat, ready to receive my hands in the lunge practice. So start off by deep inhalation and aligning the head over the pelvis, exhaling everything, relaxing your shoulders. Might even feel good to close your eyes. And next inhale, fill up the lungs. And as you exhale, maybe even exhaling out of your mouth and letting that be a bit of a longer exhale. One more time like that. Inhale and let that exhale wash through you and deepen your breath. And just make a mental note if there's anything that's sort of dragging you down or got a hold of you to leave it at the door. And you can grab it on your way out after this practice if you choose to. So nice deep breath in. And exhale your right ear towards your right shoulder, opening up that left side of the neck. And we'll take our chin down towards our chest and left ear towards the left shoulder. You can roll your right shoulder back and down. And really accentuate that exhalation. Let it drop down through your spine, down into your sit bones, allowing you to feel grounded. And then we'll bring our chin down towards our chest and do some circles with the head. So we're going to lift the chest as we let the head go back. Inhale, exhale as we drop the chin towards the chest. Two one way. And try to stay out of that crunchy feeling in the back of the neck by really lifting the chest to support the cervical spine and rotate the other direction for a couple. Come into the center, roll yourself up. And let your right hand come out to the side, left arm up, out and over. And breathe into that left side. You can look down and curl your sternum down. That might feel good. You can look up and roll your right lung under your left. Even pull your elbow back. That might feel good. And we're preparing our body for a little bit of a longer sit today for about a 10 minute sit. So we're just going to try to get into all parts of the body and gently loosen up the fascia. Up and over, inhale. Exhale to the other side. You might bend your bottom elbow. Let it feel really nice and pleasurable to open up the side. Fill your breath into those tight areas. Maybe roll down and roll up. I like to pull my elbow back sometimes, opening the pectoral. And use that hand to help you come all the way up. And we're going to shift our feet forwards into a diamond shape. So you might pull the skin of your buttocks back. Hands on the shins. Inhale, lubricating the spine. Look up, arc your spine. And exhale and round your spine. Inhale and arc. And nice long exhalation, feeling your sit bones. Let's inhale and arc here. And exhale with this arcing in a back bend, folding forwards in which you'll inevitably start to curl your spine. You can also put your hands up to the sides to brace yourself. More challenging variation is to sweep your hands behind you. Open the front chest and exhale. Come on in any amount. Active feet to support a little bit of tightness around your knees, especially those outer knees. Last deep breath.

And then pull yourself up and out of this. Keeping your feet in this shape, left arm comes across, right hand behind, or maybe even comes behind and grabs your inner thigh for a nice spiral, a revolution of your spine. Open it up to the front. Inhale, exhale, switch directions. Maybe take the inner thigh. Inhale, look forwards. And exhale, look all the way back. Inhale, come forwards here. Cross your ankles in front. I'm going to put my prop over to the side and shift my way into downward dog, hands at the top of the mat, pedaling out the feet. And just from here, really root into your heels and plaster the front of your legs into the back of your legs, opening up your hamstrings. You're always welcome to bend your knees to get that pelvic tilt to release your lower back. Two deep breaths. Just come into this steady, rhythmic breath. Really emphasize the exhale any time you need to exhale out of your mouth. Feet together at the back of the mat. Inhale your right leg up. Come high up onto your left toes. Bend your right knee, right hip over top of the left. Maybe look under your right armpit. And then exhale, we're going to shift our shoulders over the wrists and take your foot forwards into a low lunge. And this is a place where you might use your blocks for a little bit of support. Breathing into the strength of the back leg. Try not to sag your hips. Instead, lift and shoot your sit bones to the back of the mat and your skull forwards. Nice and easy in the neck. Two, three deep breaths. Three. And then we're going to climb up out of the lunge. You can use your knee for support or squeeze your inner thighs together. Come on up. I'm going to bend my back knee to neutralize my pelvis and stay as long as I can in the lower back for three deep breaths. When I have that neutral pelvis, I'm going to start to straighten my back leg. See how that feels for you. Two. Maybe even look up for the last breath. Test your balance. Three. And on your exhale, bring it all the way down. And you could use your blocks, but I'm just going to use my hands. Walk all the way around to the left. Pigeon toes slightly through your feet. Big toes in, heels out. And start to walk my hands back. So the fingers line up more with the toes. Aim my skull for the floor. And I actually need a slightly shorter stance for space for my spine, but you might also need a wider stance in between your feet. Press three to A. Elbows squeeze together. Shoulders lift. Spine long. Two. And three.

And walk my hands forwards here. Bend your knees. Take your hands to your hips. And inhale. Come all the way up to standing. Relax your shoulders. Move your feet and your knees out to the sides and sink into a wide squat. And I'm just going to lean side to side. See how that feels for you. And turn your fingers down so that your shoulders are internally rotating a little bit. You're encouraging your femur bones out and back. Try to have your knees over your second toe. So not rolling in too much. And then scoop your tailbone and your pelvis through your inner legs so you're getting a beautiful stretch on the inner thighs. Two. One more deep breath. Three. And then roll your right shoulder down and let it slump inwards and roll your left shoulder on top of that looking over your left shoulder. Inhale into the center. And exhale the other way. This is one of my favorite twists. And I got a little crack there. Inhale into the center. Exhale, twist. Right up into the upper spine. Inhale into the center. Exhale, twist. Inhale into the center. So we're going to see if we can walk our hands either down our legs a little bit or fingertips to the floor, maybe to your blocks, and shift into your right foot. So your right sit bone comes towards your right heel. Some of us might come up onto the toes to just give more freedom in the hips. And then I'm going to kick my left toes up and slide out. So see how that feels for you. Drop down into your right heel if you can and use your hands to support you. So there's nice deep flexion of your right leg. And then I'm going to use my hands. You can use your hands to move you all the way over to the other side. So you might be up on your toes or kicking your heel out and breathe into that nice deep flexion of your ankle, knee, and hip joint. And this beautiful stretch in your inner thigh and the underside of your right leg. Maybe the knee will be a little bit bent for you too. And then come back into the center. Turn your toes back in. Exhale, bend your knees. Let your head go hands to your waist. Inhale, come all the way up. And exhale, relax your shoulders. Turn your right foot in towards the front of the room. Knee to, left foot in, left knee in a little bit. Warrior too. Inhale, reverse your warrior. And exhale, windmill your hands on the inside of your right foot. Turn your right foot and your right knee a little out to the side. Come up onto your left toes and come forwards into a squat. So be prepared with a one-legged squat. You might be up on your toes because that's how you're organized a little bit more. Or your heels down. Wherever you are, let your tailbone sink. And you can have your hands forwards, elbows on the insides of your knees, hands in prayer. One that I like here too is actually rounding forwards and placing the hands on the back of the head.

And the loss of preparation. Fingertips to the floor, lift your hips, parallel your feet, soften your knee joints, and dangle in a forward fold. I'm going to take my big toes with my peace fingers, so you can try that. Or some of you even take your hands underneath your feet. Inhale and exhale and allow yourself to fold forwards in your version of a forward fold, shifting the weight a little bit into your toes. Opening up the backs of the calves, backs of the knees. Think about widening your hamstrings. And deepen that exhalation. Hands behind the floor. Inhale, come up. Exhale, downward facing dog. We'll try that whole thing on the other side. Feet together at the back of the mat. Inhale, your left leg up. Bend the knee, open it up. Maybe revolve your upper spine. Exhale, shoulders over the wrists. Low lunge. You could use your blocks here. And for me, it feels really good to use the blocks, giving me a bit more space in the belly. You could even use them on their high level. Energize the back leg. Lift the hips. And shoot the skull forwards. Shoulders back. Two. Three. Muscular action in the inner legs helps you come up. Bend the back knee, neutralize your pelvis, and then lift up through your spine, straighten your back leg. One. Slow deep breathing. Emphasize that relaxing exhalation phase of the breath. Two. Maybe look up. Three. And let it come all the way forwards. So you can choose to take your blocks with you or walk all the way around to the right. Toes in, heels out. This time, bend your knees. Maybe take your hands to your waist. Or behind, interlock your fingers. Inhale and exhale, aim your skull for the floor. Maybe even tuck your chin. Adjust your feet. Pull yourself up a little bit. Inhale. Walk your hands to the floor. Exhale here. Bend your knees. Feel your feet. Feel your grounding. Hands to your waist. Inhale all the way up. Turn your feet out. Knees out. Deep inhalation. Try to keep your knees over your second toe. Come on in. With your hands, encourage your femur bones out and back. With your tailbone, encourage your pelvis through your inner legs. Maybe a little shifting side to side. Animate your feet. Get grounded. It's okay if your shoulders come up around your ears. That actually feels really good. Lengthening the sides of your waist. Hands turn in, slumping a little bit. Turn right shoulder down, left shoulder up. Beautiful twist. Inhale into the center. Exhale. Turn the other direction. Inhale into the center. One more time. Exhale to twist. Inhale. Exhale. Fully twist. Pause at the end of your twist.

Rotate your skull. Come into the center. Start to walk it down to the floor. Shift into your right side. Maybe come up off your toe or off your heel. Slide that leg out any amount. Left leg toes up. Maybe sink down onto your heel. Finding that one-legged squat. You can even try putting your hands in prayer or even binding your hands around your right leg. And you could try to move onto the other side without using your hands even. It's a little bit more intensive on the legs. Sink into that side. Heel up or heel down. You can always use your hands. Using that muscular action in your legs to support your spine to release your palate. Walk it all the way back. Toes in. Bend your knees. Exhale. Hands to the waist. Inhale your way up. Relax your shoulders. Left toes to the front. Left knee to the front. Right knee in. Right toes turn in a little bit. Warrior two. Short visit. Inhale, reverse your warrior. Exhale your hands onto the inside of your foot. Turn your toes and your knee out. Inhale into a squat. You can come up onto your toes. You can sink onto your heels. Inhaling in. Or staying upright. Some of you could even use your blocks for under your heels for a little support to really weight down through your heels. Sink your tailbone.

Exhale deeply. And maybe you catch a little crow in there before your dangle. You could choose to interlock your elbows, your forearms, catch a hold of your big toes, slip your hands under your feet. Exhale it all out. And if you can't let go whatever's hanging on, just practice letting it be. Touching it for a brief moment and then coming back to your embodiment and your breath. Back of the skull drops. I'm going to come up, inhale, and exhale make our way back into downward facing dog. Stretch out your dog like you're yawning through your entire body getting that length and stretch. And just for a moment here, bend your knees. Maybe take your feet a little bit wider. Lift your sit bones and allow your armpits, chest bones, forehead to drop a little bit. Strong press into the fingers. Feel the intensity of this back bend downward dog. And then really lift your armpits like there's helium underneath your armpits. Widen them. And bring your knees down to the floor. Move your blocks out of the way and just keep one block within arm's reach. And however you do, end up on your back. I'm going to take my arms over my head. That feels good. See how it feels for you. Walk your feet the distance of your mat. Toes turn out a little bit. And then let your knees fall to the left. So let the weight fall onto the inner edge of your right foot, the outer edge of your left foot. And breathe. And we want to shoot the right thigh away from your hip joint. So you're really extending that right knee. And there's a couple variations for you here if you like. First one is taking your left foot and placing it on top of your outer right knee and kind of scrubbing that knee away from your armpit. So you're doing that same action of lengthening the femur bone out of the hip socket. It feels so good. And if you like, you can curl up, bend your right knee so you would unhook your left foot, tuck your toes. Your right hip is going to come up a little bit. Suck your ankle in and stretch that knee. So this is a really beautiful quadricep stretch. And if you want to take it a little bit more into more sensation, you can tuck the toes, put the top of the foot on the mat, engage your right glute towards your hamstring, and extend there. It's okay if your right side of your body comes up a little bit, allow it to happen. Let your abdomen really sink into the back of your body. Inhale deeply and exhale nice, long, smooth, steady exhalation. We're going to unhook that side if you have that. Come up and over to the other side. You can choose one of those variations if you like. Ankle on top of the knee. Simply reaching the knee, letting that left hip come a little bit more off. Bringing that foot in, you can kind of curl up to do that. Grab a hold of your ankle, tuck toes. It's a little less intense. Sucking your ankles in towards your hips. Or top of the foot on the floor, engage your left glute, drag it down. Three more deep breaths wherever you are. Exhaling, letting that exhale wash through you. Letting go or letting be. This ever changing body and mind. We're going to unhook that, roll back to center, draw the knees in, knees nice and wide. Like a supine child's pose. Last thing here for your upper back again. Feet down, we're going to roll over to a side just to place your block if you have one. So that it's vertical to your spine. And come down on top of that block so that your shoulder blades hug right around the block. And your feet can be planted. Hold onto your head, especially if you have neck stuff going on, to really ease your neck. You could also let your head fall back, which isn't for everybody, but for some people it feels really good. Interlock all your fingers except for your index finger and your thumb and reach. I really like to extend my legs here so you could play with that. I'm doing a little bit of a tuck of my tailbone in this extension. Three deep breaths. So your feet planted if that's better for your back. Holding your head if that's better for your neck. Seeing if you can bring that back bend right up to the base of your throat. And if you straighten your arms a little bit vigorously, you're going to feel that lengthen your upper rib cage. Exhale, bring hands back to head. Support head to come up. Feet plant. Roll over to the side.

Move your block out. And again, supine child's pose. Knees a little bit wide. Lower back kisses the floor. Deep exhalation. Neck soft. We're going to set up for our seat. So rolling over onto one side and making your way up. Grabbing the props that support you in a comfortable seat. Few shoulder rolls. Maybe one way and then the other. Until you feel that place in your shoulder joint that's a little bit more neutral. Pick your favorite hand position. And if it feels good for you, close your eyes. And maybe take a few breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling out of your mouth. Letting that exhale really wash through your body. Allowing your jaw to let go. And then this idea of letting go. Scan your body of those little niggling tensions that you might have become aware of in your practice. And wash your exhale over those places. Feeling the tissue respond to the work with your doing there with letting go. Something that is useful for me that you can try is allowing the corners of your mouth to turn up just a little bit. One of my teachers calls it the Mona Lisa smile. So it's not like a goofy grin. It's just a little bit of a lifting. Like a little facelift for the corners of the mouth, for the palate, for the dome of the skull. That almost feels like it's supporting the lift of the spine. And it's like your central nervous system can hang down like the legs of a jellyfish. Easy fluid. Soft. Uncompromised. Making space for yourself in this letting go. Of tension. Of expectation. Of assumption. In meditation the letting go process can be and often is a letting go of the struggle of needing to control the outcome. Needing to know the answer. What would it feel like if you had the mental pliancy to not have to know the answer? Inhale deeply. Exhale it all out. You're doing a great job. And come back to the breath, the ease of the inhalation. The relief of the exhalation. What would it be like if you could hold two different parts of you simultaneously without needing to attach one to one. Porous, open, suspension of opinion. Soft, open heart. And strong, assertive spine. Soft, open heart. Soft, open heart. And strong, assertive spine. Soft, open heart. Soft, open Thank you.

Relaxing your shoulders on the exhalation. Certainly coming back to the breath, the exhalation. Resting in the space that you've created. You've created that space all by yourself. Relaxing your shoulders on the exhalation.

Last few moments here, feeling the weight of your lower body. As if you were buried under the earth from your belly button down. And just start to allow some deeper breaths come into the body, into the back of the body. Letting your chin drop, your eyes drop a couple of degrees. And letting your eyes slowly open.

If it feels good to you, let your hands come at your heart center. And let's take one sound of Om together. Deep inhale. Deep exhale. Inhale for Om.

Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed that meditation as much as my baby did. Namaste.