Gratitude for Life

Namaste friends, welcome to your practice. We'll start on the back today in Supta Baddha Konasana and sometimes it's nice to offer a block. We'll use the block later in the practice as well, but just under the shoulder blades. Bring the soles of your feet together and really puff up your heart here and then let your arms play out to the side and let your head drop back. Take a deep breath in and let it go.

Again, a deep breath in and let it go. One more big inhale, fill up into your heart and let it all go. Now pause here and breathe in and out only through your nose and just experience gratitude. Start to list off the things in your life that already exist where you feel love and joy and peace. For example, this moment right now, the gift of your practice.

One more, full deep breath and slowly start to come up, engage your belly a little, use your arms. If you're on a block, go ahead and come off the block, lie back flat on your back and bring your legs together here, scoot myself down and squeeze the block between your inner thighs, let your knees be at a right angle with your toes pointing straight up. And then take your hands behind your head, interlace your fingers and point your elbows towards the sky here and keep your knees directly over your hips. Squeeze your block and suck your belly in towards your back. Take a deep breath in and as you exhale, lift your chest, shoulders and head up, squeeze your block.

Inhale slowly, lower back down. Exhale lift, chest, shoulders, head and inhale slowly, lower back down. So we'll stay with this movement, exhale lift, belly in, inhale lower. Really squeeze your block, exhale lift, inhale lower. Keep your gaze up so your neck is long, exhale lift, inhale lower, exhale lift, really fire up through your core, squeeze your block, inhale lower, last five, exhale lift, active feet, inhale lower, exhale lift, squeeze, inhale lower, exhale lift, squeeze the block, belly in, inhale lower, last one, make it count, exhale lift.

And slow lower, inhale, place your feet on the floor, relax your arms alongside your body, move the block off to the side. And just some slow bridge lifts, so press down through your palms, really hug your arms close to your body, heels directly under your knees, inhale lift your hips, lift your heart and slowly lower, exhale. And inhale, lift your hips, heart towards your chin, and slowly lower down, exhale. Three more, inhale, press through your feet, lift your hips up, slowly lower, exhale, inhale lift, and lower, exhale, last one, inhale lift, push through your feet, push through your arms, and slowly lower, exhale. Grab behind your knees, hug your knees into your chest, start to rock forward and back.

And just finding a little massage here on your spine and see if you can get enough momentum to come up to a forward fold, hang over your legs, grab your elbows here, and just rock side to side. You can bend your knees as much as you need to, nod your head yes and no, and then relax your hands down, come halfway up as you inhale to a flat back, and fold, exhale, release. Two more like that, inhale, flat back, shoulders away from ears, and fold, exhale. One more, inhale, and exhale. And then from here, just bend your knees, slowly ragdoll yourself all the way up to stand.

Once you come up, take a few shoulder rolls up to your ears, down your back, and then we'll meet at the front of the mat, hands in prayer, big toes together, and inhale, reach your arms all the way up, exhale, bend your elbows, goal post arms, lift your heart, inhale, reach back up, exhale, interlace your hands behind your back, inhale, lift your heart, exhale, bend your knees, and fold forward. Take a full breath here, and then relax your hands down to the earth. Inhale for a half lift, exhale, step back to plank, and slowly lower, either halfway down or all the way down. Inhale for cobra or upward dog, lift your heart, and exhale back to downward dog. Take about three breaths here, your first down dog, maybe pedal your feet.

Slowly connect to your breath, and slowly walk or lightly hop your feet forward. Halfway lift, inhale, and fold, exhale. Inhale as you rise up and reach through your arms, exhale, bend your elbows, lift your heart, inhale, reach back up, exhale, interlace at your lower back. Inhale, lift your heart, exhale, forward fold. Full breath here, hands down, inhale, half lift, exhale, step or float back, chaturanga, maybe lower all the way down.

Inhale for cobra or upward dog, lift your chest, downward dog, exhale. And three breaths, go inside your body, find more length, soften your face. As you're ready, walk or lightly float your feet to your hands, inhale, half lift, exhale, fold. Inhale, rise up, reach through your arms, exhale, bend your elbows, and lift your heart. Inhale reach back up, exhale, interlace, inhale, lift your heart, exhale, forward fold, pause for a breath, let your head hang, and relax your hands down to the floor, half lift on your inhale, exhale, step or float, chaturanga.

Inhale, lift your heart, cobra, up dog, exhale, down dog, three breaths. Come here, stretch your right leg back in the air, inhale, exhale, bring your knee to your chest, round your back, inhale, right leg back, exhale, knee to chest, shoulders over your wrists, inhale, right leg back, exhale, step your foot forward, warrior one, spin your left heel down, rise up, inhale, exhale, interlace your hands at your lower back, inhale, lift your heart, exhale, humble warrior, take a full breath here, and slowly rise back to warrior one, inhale, exhale, prayer to your heart, and shift to the ball of your left foot, come about halfway down, and then shift into warrior three, bring the weight in your right foot, left leg into the air, find your balance, steady gaze out in front of you. Maybe the arms reach forward, last two breaths, and then forward fold, feet together, fold over your legs, inhale, halfway lift, exhale, optional vinyasa, maybe step back, maybe just go to downward dog, stay with your breath. From here, left leg reaches back, inhale, exhale, knee to chest, coil and round, inhale, left leg back, exhale, knee to chest, one more, inhale, back, and exhale, step forward, warrior one, rise, inhale, and exhale, hands interlace behind your back, inhale, lift your heart, exhale, humble warrior, pause for a breath, and rise back up, inhale, exhale, hands to prayer, pivot to the ball of your right foot, hinge forward about halfway down, and rise into warrior three, lift your back leg, stay with your breath, make sure you're not locking out your left knee, really root through your left foot, maybe the arms reach forward, and feet together, fold over your legs, inhale, halfway lift, exhale, chaturanga, or step back, and slowly lower, inhale, lift your heart, downward dog, exhale, right leg lifts, inhale, bend your knee, open your hip, option to flip your dog, right foot over, lift through your heart, take a couple breaths here, really push the floor away from you, offer up gratitude, and then come back, right hand down, pivot on your left foot, step your right foot forward, warrior two, spin the left heel down and come up, settle in for a few breaths here, really hug your legs towards each other, lengthen through your spine, lift through the top of the head, and then start to straighten your right leg from here, hinge at your hips, come into triangle pose, little pops always a good thing, you might feel that, open your heart, look down, bend your right knee, you're welcome to reach for your block and place it out in front of you, coming into artichandrasana, so maybe the left hand comes to the hip, lift your left leg in the air, maybe the left arm's up, if you want to challenge yourself today, you could look up at your palm, your left palm, keep breathing, find your balance, find your breath, maybe the right fingers even float off the earth, and slowly and controlled, please step back, warrior two, reverse your warrior as you inhale, and exhale hands to the floor, step back to plank, optional vinyasa, inhale lift your heart, cobra, up dog, exhale downward dog, left leg in the air, open your hip, bend your knee, and a flip, root through your right palm, lift through your heart, take one more breath, come back, left hand down, left knee to your chest, step forward, warrior two, inhale, pause, really root through your feet, energy through your fingers, lift long through the top of the head, tailbone down, slowly straighten your left leg, reach forward and down, maybe shorten your stance just an inch or two, open up your chest, strong legs, deep breaths into your body, and then option for artichandrasana, so bend the left knee, and take your right hand to the hip if you'd like, lift your right leg in the air, flex your right foot, maybe the right arm reaches up, maybe play with your gaze, maybe play with that floating left hand, and slowly please step back warrior two, reverse your warrior, inhale, and exhale hands down to the floor, step back to plank, and lower exhale, inhale for cobra or upward dog, always your choice, exhale back to downward facing dog, full breath in, full breath out, float or walk your feet to your hands, and inhale for a half lift, exhale as you fold, inhale to rise up, exhale bend your elbows, lift your heart, inhale reach back up, exhale interlace your hands behind you, inhale lift your heart, exhale forward fold, let your head relax, take a full deep breath, and then release your hands down to the floor, step your right foot back, lower your back knee, flatten the top of your foot and reach your heart forward as you inhale, exhale pull back your hips and straighten your left leg any amount, then inhale bend the knee and reach your heart, and exhale pull back, maybe there's even a little bend in the left knee, do that a few more times inhale reach forward, exhale pull back, inhale forward, and exhale pull back, nice, bend your left knee, tuck your back toes, lift your back knee, keep your right hand on the floor and just a simple twist inhale the left arm up, pause for a couple breaths, suck your left hip back, engage your belly, one more inhale, and exhale the left hand down, inhale rise to crescent pose, exhale bend your elbows here, lift your heart, inhale reach back up, exhale bend, inhale reach back up, one more exhale bend, interlace your hands at your lower back, and just lift here through your heart, tailbone down, belly in, start to hinge forward. So kind of like a humble crescent pose here and just finding a little bit more balance as you hug your legs towards each other.

Take two more breaths, try to pull your arms apart from each other, just feeling a little more action here as you create space in your chest. Slowly release your hands to the floor and just step forward to fold, inhale half lift, exhale fold, inhale rise up, reach through your arms, again exhale bend your elbows, lift your heart, inhale reach up, exhale interlace, inhale lift your chest, exhale hinge at your hips fold forward, take an extra breath, relax your hands to the floor, step your left foot back, lower your knee flat in your foot, inhale reach your chest forward and exhale pull your hips back and fold over your right leg, inhale bend your knee, reach your heart, exhale as you pull back, three more inhale just riding your breath, exhale inhale and exhale, bend the right knee, tuck your back toes, lift your back knee and sweep your right arm up for a twist, draw your right hip back, engage your belly, spin the right ribs towards the ceiling, take another inhale here and exhale hand down, inhale rise up to crescent, find your gaze, exhale bend your elbows, lift your heart, inhale reach back up, exhale bend your elbow, inhale reach up, exhale bend, interlace your hands behind your back, draw your belly in tailbone down, start to hinge forward and just feel your legs get nice and strong, try to pull your arms apart here so you're feeling lots of traction in the shoulders, in the chest, even in the upper back, one more breath and your hands come to the floor, forward fold, inhale halfway up and exhale fold, however you want to get to downward dog, maybe you want to step back, maybe you want to take a slow vinyasa to get there, find your way, commit to your breath, gently lower your knees down, coming into dolphin pose, your elbows come to the floor right under your shoulders, you might interlace your hands here, you might keep your hands parallel to each other and one way to kind of work that action is to even use your block since we have it might as well. From here let's tuck the toes and lift the hips up for dolphin, so it's just like downward dog but you're on your forearms and let your head relax here, press your heart back towards your knees, so as though there's a hand between your shoulder blades pressing your upper back and then draw your belly in, tailbone up, heels extend down towards the floor, any amount, they definitely, well they may touch but probably not. And then you're welcome to stay here, otherwise a little more challenge, we'll come into a forearm plank and just feel our core engage, gaze slightly forward towards your thumbs, towards your block if there's a block there and press the floor away from you, push down into your elbows and your hands, you're welcome to lower your knees at any point and then from here we're gonna just keep both elbows down and stack your feet so the outer edge of the right foot comes to the floor and your left foot comes on top and you're gonna start to feel this in that yummy side core and then come back through center and other side, so stay with your breath and maybe come back to the idea of gratitude here right, so how lucky are you to do yoga right now, how lucky are you to be so strong, one more to the right just because that feels so good, keep your belly in, keep both elbows down, come back through center, stay with your breath, whatever you're doing is beautiful, if you've taken a break, great, honor that, come back to center, take two more breaths, belly in, feel the shaking, feel the burn, grateful for that and lower down, knees, hips, sphinx pose for a moment, just feel this beautiful stretch in your belly, shoulders away from your ears, maybe roll out through your neck a few times, maybe big circles, sometimes it's nice to move your jaw, your mouth, take one more breath, slowly lower down and just stack your forearms and rest your forehead on your forearms, from here let's take a twist on the back but we're going to come in through the belly so just listen carefully, you're going to extend your arms forward, lift up through your chest, thread your right arm under your left arm so the back of the hand touches the floor, then bend your left knee so you're kind of like in a tree pose on your back, sweep your left arm up and all the way over and voila, you're in a supine twist, breathe, so you can keep your right hand where it is or maybe just grab your left knee and just feel this more maybe in the chest and shoulder as your left arm hangs in its own weight and your left knee is possibly touching the floor. Take about two more yummy breaths and slowly come back onto your belly, straighten both legs, extend your arms out in front of you, lift up through your chest, other side, the left arm threads under and you bend your right knee like tree pose as you roll the right arm open, maybe the left hand is on your right knee, feel your right shoulder just hang in its own weight, two more luxurious breaths and slowly make your way back onto your belly.

Take your hands by your rib cage and cross back to child's pose, maybe your knees are a little wide apart for this version of child's pose. Breathe into your back, gratitude for your breath and from here just gently come onto your hands and knees and you'll make your way onto your back, just kind of flip over make sure your blocks nearby, lower down and bend your knees here, take your block under your sacrum bone, the flat bone at the base of your spine and right at the top of your buttocks there and just find a comfy spot where you can rest in a restorative bridge. Sometimes alongside your body, heart, just open. It's so easy to get into patterns of woe is me, I don't have enough, I'm not enough, but you are enough and you have enough. As you're ready, slowly lift the block away from you, lower down, bring your knees into your chest and grab your feet for happy baby, maybe a gentle rock side to side, just feeling a return to innocence here, just like when you were little and didn't have any cares in the world, bring your knees back together and just squeeze into a little ball, give yourself some love, a big hug and release, shavasana, legs out, arms out, let your fingers just naturally curl, let your shoulders be away from your ears, maybe move your head side to side and pause in that perfect spot where the head can rest and settle and just simply witness the natural ease of your breath, experiencing each breath as a gift.

Welcome to stay here, you can just start to make your way back into your body, deepen your breath, start to bend your knees, roll over to one side, press up, find a comfortable seat, palms together in prayer at your heart, bow your chin as a gesture of gratitude for this practice and for the time you spent on your mat honoring your body, deepening your breath and connecting to your spirit, namaste.