Day 4: Sensing the Subtle

Welcome back to Day 4 of our Shavasana Challenge. You may have noticed throughout these practices that as you bring your attention towards your breath, the quality of the breath naturally begins to change and move. Today we're going to explore more subtle sensations and layers of the breath. Our yogi friends refer to this as prana. And in the Chinese system, you may have heard of qi, referring to the more subtle energy in the body. So we'll begin on our back supine. You can bring a blanket under your head for support. Roll onto your back. I'm going to start by drawing our right knee into our chest. Just take a few moments here. Notice how it feels through your right hip. See if you can soften your face, your shoulders, your jaw. From here, extend your right leg up towards the sky, and then come into that external rotation. You can even bring your hands onto your thigh, turn your foot out, and then bring your right ankle on top of your left thigh. And let's move with our breath. Inhale, knee draws towards your heart, and then as you exhale, send the knee away. We'll do this a few times. As you inhale, rotate the knee in towards your heart, and then from your hip, let it open. Let's do this two more times. Inhale, knee draws in. With your exhale, open. Inhale, knee draws in. Exhale, let it open. This might be enough sensation through your hip. Begin to draw your left knee in for reverse pigeon or eye of the needle. You can stay with this, or weave your hands through the legs as you find the back of the left thigh or shin. Again, softening the shoulders down the back. You might even flex your right ankle. And step one, notice the quality of your breath. Let your mind, let your awareness drop into your right hip joint. Begin to breathe into where you feel the sensation. Most likely there's a physical sensation, a stretching feeling through that right hip. And as you breathe into where you feel the sensation, can you simultaneously find that ease through the back of the eyes, through the back of the heart, and through the hands? It's softening through the jaw. You might stay here for a few more moments, maybe even rocking a little bit from side to side. Let's take an inhale together. Exhale, release your hands. Lower your left foot. Just extend your right leg up towards the sky. Flex your foot, and then slowly lower and lengthen all the way down to the floor. Take a moment, free your left leg. Just pour your attention, your awareness into the pelvis, into the legs. Notice how you feel. You track the sensations through the right leg. Allow for an inhale. And nice full exhale. You're ready, bend the knees, and we'll draw the left knee into the chest. Take a few moments off in the jaw, the face, the shoulders, and we'll extend the left leg up towards the sky. Find that external rotation, and then bring your left ankle across your right thigh. With your inhale, rotate the knee in towards your heart, and as you exhale, let your hip open a few more times. Drawing your attention into your left hip. Inhale, knee rotates in. Exhale, open. Let's do this one more time. Rotating the knee in, and then exhale, letting it open. And you can stay with this, or draw your right knee in towards the reverse pigeon shape, and stay with this, or bring your hands through the back of the right thigh or the shin, and then softening the shoulders down. Let your attention go to where you feel the sensation, and can you get a sense of breathing into it? If you were sending your breath down into your left hip, and perhaps allowing your inhale to create a bit of space, the exhale helping to soften or release any tension through the left hip.

You might stay with this, or rock a little bit from side to side. And finding that ease through the eyes, the back of the heart, the hands. We'll take another inhale. Exhale, release the hands, lower your right foot for your left leg up. Flex the foot, and then slowly lower down all the way, keeping that connection from the center through the heel. As you lower down, free the right leg. Take a moment, let the palms turn up in the shape of shavasana, and let your awareness pour through the left leg, through the hip, the knee, the sole of the foot. If you can sense the subtle sensations or streams current through the legs. Allow for an inhale. Nice, we'll exhale. Draw your knees into your chest. We'll take a twist over to the right, wrapping the left leg over the right leg for the eagle wrap. You can roll everything over onto your right side, stacking your hips, your shoulders, and then letting your left arm open. Finding the length for your neck as you draw the shoulders down the back. Breathing into where you feel the sensation, maybe your shoulder, your ribs, your hip, your back. One more breath. Exhale. As you're ready, just slowly let your body unwind back through the center. Draw the knees into the chest, let yourself rock. We'll find the other side, wrapping the right leg over your left leg and that eagle wrap variation, and then rolling onto your left side, stacking the shoulders, and then opening the right arm. Feeling the whole rib cage open. Let your mind go to where you feel the sensation, and then allowing your breath to follow. Perhaps noticing how it naturally begins to respond. Maybe it's on the shoulder, the ribs, the hip, the sacrum, your right arm. Let's take another inhale. Nice, full exhale. When you're ready, slowly let your body unwind. Draw both knees into the chest and just let yourself rock. From here, we're going to bring a bolster under the soles of our feet. Set yourself up. This is an elevated Supta Baddha Konasana. Which is a fancy way of saying, bring the soles of your feet together. Let your knees fall wide. The bolster is supporting, it's right under your ankles. Take a few moments. Let your hands rest on your belly. You might soften your eyes. From here, we'll bring the hands together and just begin to rub your palms together. Like you're warming your hands on a cold day, rubbing the palms. Rub, rub, rub. Good, and then bring one hand to rest on your heart, one hand to rest on your belly. Allowing your heart and your belly to receive the warmth and vibration through your hands. Kneeling or sensing perhaps the more subtle aspects of that subtle energy. Brah, prana. From here, we'll gradually transition into our Shavasana. You might stay right here. You might begin to stretch your legs out over the bolster. Allow yourself to get comfortable. I'm going to make my way up. As you begin to release into the shape of Shavasana, allow your palms to rest on your heart or your belly or reach out and open onto your sides. Just allow your awareness to pour through the body.

You allow it to feel a bit more kind of soft and relaxed through your lower back down through your sacrum. Be a bit more spacious through your pelvis after opening the hips and drawing our breath and attention there. You feel the support of the ground or earth beneath your sacrum, beneath your pelvis and then tune back up towards the base of your skull. You feel that quality of support and length through the base of the skull, through the back of the neck. Allowing yourself to be held here in these areas, base of the skull, pelvis, pelvis. Continue to relax any effort through your physical body. Relaxing any effort around your breathing. Relaxing any effort with your attention. Relaxing any effort with your attention. Relaxing any effort with your attention. Relaxing any effort with your attention. What would it feel like to allow the ground, allow the earth to have even more of you? Relaxing any effort with your attention. Relaxing any effort with your attention. Relaxing Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As you gradually begin to draw your attention, your awareness towards your breath. As you draw your attention towards your breath, become aware of any sensations through your body.

As you're ready, slowly inviting movement back in your fingers, your toes. You might stretch your arms overhead, lengthening your spine, or allow your head and neck to move. Taking your time to bend your knees, roll to your side, allow yourself to pause there and curl up. Giving yourself permission to savor and rest here for a few moments. When you feel that inner stirring to come up, keep the weight of your head heavy, that's key, and use your hands to just slowly transition up.

Take your time arriving, sit up on support, just allow yourself to come into a comfortable seat. Allowing yourself to settle here, drawing your awareness towards your heart, joining your hands together. Let's take an inhale. Exhale. Namaste.

Thank you for your practice today, for your effort, for your willingness to explore and investigate a bit more. I look forward to continuing this journey in day five.