Supported Strength

This practice is a grounding practice to help you feel supported and connected to your strength. We'll start with a bolster and a block and a mat, right? But if you don't have a bolster you can always use a pillow maybe from the couch or you could actually just do this whole thing from the couch. Just watch from your couch and absorb it and it'll all count as yoga, right? So this is comfy and we'll recline. The block will go underneath, actually I'm going to slide it down a little bit further so it's more in the center of the bolster so I have this kind of seesaw effect happening and this nice opening through the chest. See your hips right on the floor but snuggled up against the bolster and let's bring the soles of the feet together in a butterfly position, sliding the tail and any any flesh out of the way so that you can traction down and then lie back because you lie back you'll feel that the the heart is the highest point in the head, the throat just opening up and falling back. Unfolding the arms out to the side and settling into a nice deep clearing breath. Maybe part the lips inside out to start, clearing a path for your practice here. Since the waves of breath rolling up from the belly, the ribs, the chest and at the peak of the wave there's a slight suspension where you're hovering. As you exhale, empty out, the chest softens, the ribs integrate, the navel drains and there's a still point at the bottom of the exhale where you're clear. Stay with this easy wave flowing up the body, suspending and pouring back down like an undercurrent at the bottom of the exhale. Be still and invite the support beneath you. If you want to deepen this, you could take the arms up and sort of sweep them overhead, interlace the hands behind your head and then let the weight of the skull drop back. Feel the breath rolling up the sides of the rib cage up into the armpits. As you exhale, relax your armpits and feel the breath rolling back down towards the outer hips. The third variation here, if you want to go a little bit deeper still, is to take the hands underneath the bolster, interlace and then lean back with your heart lifted. Belly, ribs, chest starting to live into that space between at the height of the inhale, exhale the undercurrent, chest, ribs, belly draining a little deeper into the stillness, the space at the bottom of the exhale, and two more breaths. Then rewind this, bring the hands back underneath the head, relax the jaw, the throat, soften behind the eyes, and then release the head, arms unfold. Feel the forehead smoothing out, your temples breathing, and wiggle the fingertips. Exhale, draw your hands to your legs and bring the legs together with that little assist. Plant the feet in the earth, maybe walking the feet in a little bit towards a bridge setting, and then get ready for the ride. You'll take the hands maybe underneath your head to support this for the first one, but as you press down through the feet, catch a wave in the hips and then lift your hips and seesaw back and down. So it's a nice little ride. Oh, it feels so good. And then as you exhale, keep your head supported and come on back down. Curl the chin towards the chest. Oh, it's it's a little sit-up, but it's so easy. Oh, I like that. Let's do a couple more. And then you'll press down through the feet as you lie back, lift the hips overhead, let the arms release towards the earth, and then come back up, tail down, a little tip of the scale here. Tuck the chin to the chest, curl up, spinal contraction. Last one. This time, maybe you consider letting the arms go, let them just pour overhead, lift the hips a little higher, try to pull the heels back towards your hips. Deep, full body breath, belly, ribs, chest. Exhale, articulating through the spine, tractioning back down, hand underneath your head, and curl the chin towards your chest. From here, when to wiper the legs to the left and then to the right. One more time, each side. And the next time you shift to the right, roll off and come towards seated. Inhale, reset yourself so that you'll organize the block, maybe taking it a little bit higher, a little more towards the the head of the bolster. It's still in the center of your mat there. And our partner yoga continues, right? At this point, you might want to name your bolster, and there's a connection here. As you come forward and lift and shift towards all fours, take an easy lowering, aligning the hands underneath the shoulders. Take an easy lowering, so you push forward, and then the hips and the heart find this support. Yeah, man, it's like your body surfing here. Keep the tops of the feet on the floor and then sweep and fly the arms back. You might interlace them, or it's enough to just feel like you're floating, you're flying here. Exhale, hands to the floor, press back, child's pose with a little support. Yeah, feeling grounded. And then inhale, all fours again, curl the toes under, coming into a supported downward-facing dog. So the third eye could rest on the bolster. You're not like sinking down into it, right? But just sensing that your third eye is a kiss in the bolster, and you can wag a bit, move in a way that feels good to you. And this is our flow. Yeah, it's supported. We press into the strength of the arms, we lift through the core, and then we come on down. You're already in cobra, so there's no drama through the neck, the shoulders, and you can fly into shalabhasana. Maybe interlace, lift the belly, lift the heart, plant the palms, press back, zipping up through the front body. And again, bow, humble, snuggle the shoulders down the back, try your legs on, take a little walk into the feet here, and maybe there's a moment where you can surrender the length of the spine. Let the spine kind of draw through the collarbones. Imagine your outer arms are gonna pick the bolster up. Yeah, you're scooping the elbows together, so it's a little more, a little bent through the arms in your down dog, so you're not locking anything out. Inhale, shift forward. This time, pivot. You're gonna swivel and take your knees to the right. Ah, your knees to the left, actually, so your right hips down. And then you're stacked for a little twist over the bolster here. Inhale, lengthen, exhale, come on down onto your forearms, looking in the same direction as your knees. Or lengthen and rotate and turn the other cheek here, taking the twist into the cervical spine. Belly, ribs, chest, suspend, feel that peak of the wave, and then chest, ribs, belly, empty out, still. Inhale, pressing back up, building through the foundation, and then curl the toes under, and you'll just twist it out, dance it off a little here, and then in between sides, down dog, roll through the waves, knees come down, pitch out over the edge, chest is supported, cobra energy, hands free, super mellow. Inhale, exhale, pressing back, knees bend, child's pose, bow, downward-facing dog, and now we'll pivot, bending through the knees, knees go to the right, left hip comes down, and then you snuggle in, knees are stacked, 90 degrees, inhale, lengthen, exhale, either rotating your gaze towards the knees, or catching that big wave under the body and rotating across, yeah. Forearms down, smooth and easy, ringing out through the low back, through the lungs, clearing any congestion, moving into the cervical spine, clearing where the body and the mind connect, and any tension you might be carrying around the neck and the shoulders. Deep breath in, and then exhale, coming back up, and plant your hands, crawl back into your down dog, tread it out, inhale, downward-facing, on the next wave, shift it forward, take your flow, knees down, chest suspended, inhale, this time as you reach the arms back, can you bend through one leg, and then release, like you're just swimming now, yeah, you're swimming, what, what, yeah, that's fun, let's do that again, yeah, just keep kicking, drawing the heels in towards the hips, one more, and then pulling out your hands, lift up, breathe back, and curl the toes under, child's pose to down dog, this time from your down dog, simply step your right foot forward, so the right foot's gonna go where your right hand was, and then adjust your stride so that you can rest your knee on the bolster as well, so you might have to kind of sneak it forward a little bit, now you have this nice ramp here to support this lift, in a hip opening, interlace the hands across the knee, and then rise up and spill forward a few times, this runner's lunge, just let it kind of move with the tide of your breath, and if you need you've got this, whoo, a little bit of support there as well, now walk the the left toes under to support the knee, and then thread back, coming into a little hamstring stretch, you could even use your right hand to pull the toes back toward you, but feel and sense that this this ramp is here to help guide you forward, and then shift it forward, maybe reaching the arms up, and then exhale fingertips to the ramp, bring those toes back toward you, find that dog tilt through the hips, one more, inhale, pull it all the way up, and then thread back, toes come to you, lift and square off, exhale, from the runner's lunge step on back, high on your fingertips, and then crawl back towards plank, towards down dog, wag your tail, inhale, catch that wave of transition, knees down, cobra, lower, and then swim again, this time the left leg, whoo, we're moving through it now, and then the right leg, oh and I found the flowers, and whoo who put those there, they're gorgeous, and then one more, curl the toes under, press back, down dog, left leg gently, you can tent your left fingertips, and then step that foot and replace it, as you need, right knee to the bolster, and then shift into your runner's lunge, stacking the left knee over the left ankle, so this one is so nice, interlace the hands for the nervous system too, because that little bit of cushion underneath the knee, comes you into maybe going a little bit deeper into this, it's not aggressive, it feels really good, and safe and supported, inhale, reach out, and then exhale, fingertips to the ramp, oh yes, get into that outer left hamstring, and then shift it forward, and then exhale, peel back, catapult the chest forward, last one, big wave, exhale, pulling back, shifting forward, and then point your fingertips, step back, build through plank, nice and strong, so supported here, drop off any judgment, moving nice and slow and easy, roll through those waves, knees down, shrug it off, now feel this ramp, feel supported, pull the belly up and out of the earth, and then sweep the arms back, bend through the right leg, make sure your knees are on the floor, and then the left leg, so I'm gonna shimmy it back, so I'm making sure my knees are on the floor, so I can really press the pubic bone down, fly the legs back, and then maybe, oh I found them, try not to like look back and get all off-center to find it, let the legs come to you, from here kick back, let the tailbone move down, the heart rises up, and you might even let your head drop off, so there's this wonderful release through the neck and the shoulders, inhale, exhale, kicking, rising, and then releasing, you might just chill here for a moment and wag it off, and then build back into center, hands under the elbows there, pressing back, child's pose, downward facing dog, come back to your twist, inhale, bend the knees, knees shift left, knees and toes to the left, right hip down, second pass at this twist, this time walk your fingertips, or walk to your fingertips and kind of shrug this up and back, so create even more length through this spine, the top leg, left leg is gonna come behind you in that same little bow position, right leg unfolds, oh thank you hamstrings, that's why, that's why we did that, you'll inhale and lengthen, and then as you exhale, come on down, any amount, you can turn your gaze to one side or the other, and then smooth it out, perhaps holding on to the right toes with your left hand, you might even hold on to the left toes with your right hand, but that is a lot, thank goodness I have all the support, yes, getting me through, just shifting the angle on this and having just that little bit of lift out of the earth makes this a little more accessible than it might if you were flat on the floor, come on up, inhale, fold the legs back in, gather, coil in, wash it off, you could stay in down dog or perhaps there's this tidal surge, belly, ribs, chest, suspend as you float, make sure your knees are downhill and then swim on back and around, chest, ribs, belly, kick and come on up, inner thighs spiral towards one another, kick the shins away from you, maybe the head dangles, but it's the kick of the legs that creates the traction and that heart expansion, grounded, pull the belly in and up and then exhale, let it go, maybe even let your head hang and then build it back up for the second side, toes curl under, press back through child's pose, chill out as you come into your down dog and let your spine pour down, your mind just run off, bend the knees, pivot knees and toes to the right, settle your left hip down against the bolster, unfold that right leg back behind you in that 90 degree angle, lengthen, sort of glide up and out and then as you start to fold down and twist the left leg extends, lengthen, rotate the abdomen towards the bolster and then either right cheek of the face, left side of the face, right hand to straight leg, perhaps and then the left hand just waves that back foot, unless you can bring it to you and still breathe evenly, freely into that space between the breaths, belly, ribs, chest, chest, ribs, belly, fall into the emptiness without slingshotting the leg, let it go, pull your hands, the legs come back to the center, push up, inhale, curl the toes under and build back into the center, downward facing, one more, flow forward, knees, heart, lower down through your chaturanga, swim on out, hollow the low belly in and up, just one generous breath as you kick back and then gently surrender this whole shape to child's pose, inhale, exhale, transition from here, float to down dog and then adjust your bolster, so let's use one hand to switch it up, yeah and then the other hand to switch it up so you're even, there you go and then take the knees back down, the block might come in really handy if you move it out just a bit in front and then on your inhalation you're welcome to take the right leg high and step it through, come around the bolster for a deep lunge that joyously transitions as you walk your right leg towards the left side of the bolster, come up and over and rest your pelvis on the bolster and then you'll snuggle the left hip forward and down, maybe even use your hand to kind of adjust this, walking the block in and up and then you have options, yogis always options, you might stay here energizing pulling the legs back into the center, feeling supported at the pelvic floor as you lift up, you might take that left arm and kind of swim it back around and come to bend through the left leg, so you're holding on to the inner left ankle and then kick the leg into your hand staying square, lifting up through the roots of the pelvis and then sweeping, maybe the block, maybe just stay right there feeling nice and grounded or sweeping that right arm up, kicking the leg away from you, so lots of playful places to go, yay you, right, drawing the knee in towards you, into the nook of the elbow, lassoing, whoo that's deep, okay, and then let it go, all the energy you just found, let's do this, oh yeah, pigeon, with that third eye supported again, right, so here's a place to hang out and rinse off or you could stay here the whole time, yeah, skipping the back bend, plant your hands, lift up, zip it up, come on back, downward facing and then gently step the left leg forward, come into your lunge, back knee down, inhale, walk the foot across for pigeon, shifting out and open, 90 degrees if you can, this always requires a little bit of finagling, right, like oh where am I, got to turn the back leg in and down, the front leg externally rotates, got to breathe, don't want to feel too forward or top heavy in it, want to sense this lift into a nice long spine and then go swimming, take that right arm back behind you as you bend the right leg, square it off, pull in and up, kick into that back leg, create the traction, this is enough right here, breathing, if you want to play tap the back of the heart, make sure you're breathing, perhaps slide, it's a perfect nook at the elbow there for the top of the foot and then you could clasp hands, kicking the, you don't really kick your head, I hope you don't kick your head but you could press your skull into that top elbow and kick the leg away simultaneously and it brings you up and out, releasing slow motion, coming back down, squaring it off, exhale and pour it all down, shifting the block as you need and massage your mind here, couple easy breaths and then gather your energy pressing back into the hands, stepping back, tread it out, one last little flow here just to cleanse your palate, we clean this late here but you still got the bolster there to use so place the knees down, lower the hips, make sure the pubic bone is sort of downhill here and then you can scoop up into that same bow variation, bending through the legs one at a time, this might be enough, right, making sure the pubic bone is downstairs and you can lift through the front ribs, maybe both legs, one leg at a time, inhale, kicking up, knees stay down, heart rises, exhale, let your head go, inhale, kick back and up and the bolster just brings you up, it does the work for you exhale, okay we did a little bit of work but the bolster did most of it and then wiggle it out, inhale, feel the roots of the earth coming up into your navel spreading into the low back, exhale, drain it all out, coming back up towards Sphinx and shifting back towards Child's Pose to transition, arms can hang on the bolster, you might even sort of tip the bolster up and you get this really nice free space across the shoulders, the heart and then gently coming up, the bolster did another flip, okay, reset, setting the bolster so that it's in line with the mat and depending on your body, the history in your knees, your day, you might consider the bolster and the block on its second level, yeah, I'm just going to put that more under the head of the bolster, not the middle but the head and then as we begin, we'll come to sit cozy with the bolster, the right leg will turn in and down, so you're on the top of the right foot, for some of us this may be crazy talk, the knee may not do this and if not you could come into a side lying position here and you'll get this really nice release across the quad, the hip flexors as well, even resting your head in your hands, side lying holding on to the elbow, nice release, if it's in your body today to shift and square it off a little more, then you can recline straight back on the bolster and unfold the arms, feeling that internal rotation, this free open space across the front body, third variation, a little deeper still is to take the left leg across in a half lotus, figure four, energy to traction a little deeper stretch and cross the right leg, yeah, maybe try a few variations on, see what you feel the most at home in, most connected to, the arms could even sweep overhead again and rest behind the head, inhale, exhale, sigh it out, probably need to stay in this pose about three days but will come out, massage the ego that lives in the knees there, turn the legs in and out, feel all the energy you've unlocked flooding down towards the soles of the feet, inhale, chest opens, exhale, you roll a little bit to the right side and then you can, well, you know what, hey, let's sit up, why not, let's sit up, sit up and come back at it, a little fresh start here, because you don't know, you never know, this left knee may have a whole different plan, so the leg comes in close, side lying if it's friendlier, yeah, across the knee joint, no stress, you could just lie down and find that traction, so good for the organs of digestion, sort of how we process life, creating space here in the quad, in the low belly, second option, bringing it in a bit, left thigh, the knee comes up, it's too much, so stay in the side lying variation or build your fort of support a little higher, yeah, and then there's options as you come into that four-part breath, the leg could come to figure four, half lotus, yeah, using the hand to support it or using the pelvic floor and activating, find which feels the best in your bones, yeah, arms reach up perhaps, behind you, interlaced, let's come into this beautiful yoga recliner, yeah, deep belly breath, rises like the tide, crusting and crashing with the waves, and roll towards your side, sit on it, we'll take our shavasana here with the legs just flowing out long, and the heart lifted, yeah, yoga recliner, I could stay here all day, lift and separate maybe, the cheeks, and turn the corners of your mouth upward as you feel this openness, a smile across your face, your heart, all of your energy open, flowing, you can surrender to the support beneath you, and sink into the space between your breaths, yeah.

Inhale, wiggle the feet, inhale, wiggle the fingers, the toes, catch the next wave all the way to the peak, exhale, stretch the whole body, arms overhead, plant the feet, roll to your side, and then gently come towards seated, drawing the legs into a comfortable cross-legged position, and stretch the arms out, you're so grounded, reach up, then pull a prayer down into your mind, your heart, thank you for gracing me with your practice today, namaste.