Day 2: Exhale Everything

Welcome to day two of our Shavasana challenge. Let's begin to build on our skills from day one. Bring our attention towards our breath and now moving with our breath with the purpose of becoming a bit more familiar and comfortable with our exhalation and perhaps touching what our Buddhist friends call the ground of emptiness. So becoming more comfortable with the bottom of the exhalation. So we'll start on our back and I have a blanket here underneath the spine so you might set one up but have your feet on your mat and we'll start with windshield wipers. So begin to stretch your arms overhead, inhale, lengthen your spine a bit more and exhale let your knees fall to the right just finding the inner outer edges of your feet. With your inhale feel like you draw the knees up through center and with your exhale over to the left side. Inhale drawing the knees up through center, exhale to the right. Moving with the breath, inhale, knees up and exhale to the left. Let's do this about three or four more times. Inhale and exhale to the right. Inhale and exhale to the left. These last two rounds just finding your own pace with your breath. Inhaling up and exhale to a side. Let's take one more inhale up and exhale. Drawing the knees back up through center, bring the feet underneath the hips and bring your right knee into your chest for Apanasana to release the fingers around the knee and we'll move with our breath. Inhale, let your knee move away from you so your arms begin to lengthen and then exhale draw the knee in towards your chest. Inhale, let your knee float away, arms lengthen and exhale right knee into the chest. Three more like this. Inhale lengthening creating space and exhale drawing it in. Inhale, knee moves away and exhale draw it in. This last one is the knee moves away and you lengthen. As you exhale receiving the knee in towards your heart, softening the mouth, the shoulders and then we'll extend our leg up towards the sky stretching out the foot pointing and flexing. You might feel your hamstrings here and we'll circle the ankle in one direction and the other direction. Draw the knee back into your chest and lower it down. Allow for an inhale and exhale. Find the left side, draw the left knee into your chest, interlace the fingers, Apanasana, knee moves away, arms lengthen and exhale draw the knee in. Inhale, knee moves away, exhale, knee draws in. Three more moving with your breath. Inhale, knee moves away, exhale, knee draws in. You might visualize or imagine your left hip as you draw it in and then last one inhale, knee moves away, exhale, receive the knee into your chest and then extend your left leg up towards the sky. You can bring the hands around the back of the leg and then just point and flex your left foot. Feeling your hamstrings, your leg might be shaking and make some circles in one direction and moving in the other direction. Just waking up the ankle joint and then draw the left knee back into your chest and release the foot down.

Take another moment here to pause and notice. Allow for an inhale, nice clearing exhale. From now let's take this into rolling bridge. So bring your heels in line with your sit bones, feet about hip distance apart and just spread your toes, reach your arms down alongside your body and we'll begin to move with our breaths. So you'll curl the tailbone under towards your knees, press through your feet and on your inhale rise up into bridge. Reach the arms up over the head. Take a moment to pause in the full expression of your bridge pose lengthening the front body and then with your exhale we'll lower everything down starting with your spine, your upper back, your mid-back, low back and arms. Two more rounds like this. Inhale rise up into bridge, lift the pelvis, lift the arms over the top of the head, lengthen a spacious through your throat and with your exhale lower everything down slowly through the spine, the arms. Feeling your low back, your sacrum, your hands. Last one, inhale rise up and lengthen in your bridge and exhale like a spinal wave to the earth lowering down spine, sacrum, the arms, the hands. From here we'll add on with a slightly different breathing pattern. Okay so when you're ready you'll inhale arms up, lift the pelvis, find the full expression of your bridge pose, stay in bridge as you inhale and stay in your bridge as you exhale everything. So just allowing your breath to fully empty, stay on empty as you lower down. Keep your arms overhead, upper back, middle back, low back. Take a moment to pause holding the breath out as you're ready. Breathe in and exhale release and notice how you feel. Alright so most likely you might feel it might feel like a new sensation or a strong stretch in your diaphragm and you might even feel it in your throat. This is what we call the Udiata Bandha, the navel drawing towards the spine and then Jalandara Bandha. So let's try it two more times together. As you're ready, arms overhead, we'll inhale curl the tailbone, press through the feet, lift the pelvis up, come into your bridge, take a moment to lengthen, find your legs, let's stay in bridge, inhale and stay in bridge, exhale everything, empty the lungs and only as you exhale and empty lower down, upper back, middle back, your low back and sacrum. Pausing at the bottom and then allow for an inhale and clearing, exhale. Again taking a moment to pause and notice how you feel. At any point if the breathing feels overwhelming to you, drop the technique and just notice what you find yourself doing. Are you breathing in? Are you breathing out? It's common that when we begin to investigate and work with our breath we can feel the sense of kind of panic. So if you're feeling overwhelmed, just become aware of that, relax the technique and we'll start again. So let's try one more round together. So both arms overhead. As you're ready, inhale curl the tailbone under, press through the feet, lift your pelvis up and find your bridge. Stay in bridge with an inhale and stay in bridge with an exhale, arms stay overhead, fully empty the lungs. Once you're empty, lower down without breathing, upper back, middle back, low back. Be as relaxed as you can be. Wait for the natural rise of the inhale to occur and exhale. Notice the results. And then as you're ready, draw your knees into your chest and just allow yourself to rock from side to side. It would feel nice to take a spinal twist to release the back a bit. So let yourself just roll over to your right side. You can stack everything, shoulders, hips, knees, and then let your left arm open. Finding a place for your neck and head to feel comfortable. So allow for an inhale and as you exhale, allowing the belly to soften. And as the belly softens, let there be space between your eyebrows and the base of your skull. Keeping it soft around the throat. Stay with observing the quality of your breath or the movement of the breath in the body. With our inhale, we'll slowly unwind. You can leave with the top leg. I press down through the feet, reset your hips, draw your knees back, and let yourself rock. When you're ready, rolling to your left side for a spinal twist, you can stack your shoulders, your hands, your hips, your knees, and let your right arm open and release towards the floor. You might start with an inhale and then exhale against softening the belly. With each exhale, you might feel your right shoulder and upper back releasing towards the earth. Observing the movement of the breath in the body. Gradually with your inhale, lean with your top leg, roll back up, knees drawn to your chest. We're going to set ourselves up for Shavasana. And yeah, if you'd like to have a bolster under your legs for support, it can be quite nice and comfy. So kick your bolster underneath your legs and then begin to extend your legs over the support and getting the placement of your body just right for you. Your palms might open, shoulder blades drawing down your back.

Like the back of your neck can lengthen a bit more. Allowing the back of your body to receive the support beneath it. As you lie here in Shavasana, begin to become more interested and intimate with the quality of your exhalation. You might begin to notice or track your exhalation all the way to the bottom. And feeling that natural rise of the inhale. And then again tracking or following the exhalation all the way to the bottom. Might even pause or rest at the bottom on empty. Feeling that natural spontaneous rise again. And following the exhalation. Becoming curious. And as you tune towards your exhalation, you feel the exhalation in the belly. You feel that sense of grounded emptiness through the belly. Noticing and staying with the ebb and flow of the breath. If you are standing at the seashore watching, the tides moving out. As you feel the exhalation in the belly, you feel the exhalation through the heart. Softening through the face, the fingers.

And from the bottom of the exhale, feel the exhalation in the belly. The exhale, feeling the gentle rise of the inhale. Feeling out the lungs and the belly. And gradually invite movement back into your fingers and your toes. Roll your ankles and wrists. I'd stretch the arms overhead, lengthening the whole body, the spine, finding a full body stretch. Keeping the eyes soft, allowing your knees to bend. And allowing your transition to be an extension of your shavasana as you roll to your side and pause. Letting your head rest on your arm. Just feeling the weight of your skull. If and when you're ready, use your arms, keep the head heavy, drag your head up. Make your way into a comfortable seat. You might keep the eyes soft, and allow for an exhale. Face off, belly soft, and this grounded quality through your body, through your being. Bring your hands together at your heart. To check in, how are you feeling at the bottom of the exhale? What are you noticing? How are you responding? How did it feel in your belly? How did it feel in your heart? We'll continue to explore this in day three. Namaste.