Sweet Intervention

Namaste, I'm Ali, and this is going to be a sweet intervention for you. So remember that the sweet taste is associated with earth and water, the elements of earth and water. So this would be a great practice for you if you're feeling a little overheated, if you're feeling ungrounded, life has gotten a little crazy. This will just be something to cool you down and get you feeling connected to the ground. All right, so we're actually going to start in a squat.

If the squatting is not so great for you for right now, you can put a block underneath your bum or a blanket underneath your heels. Otherwise pressing the backs of the arms to the insides of the thighs, just taking a moment to get low, connect, take a few breaths here. And then open your left arm out to the left and reach your right arm up and I'm coming into an easy twist here, rolling the left shoulder back. Take a few breaths and then bring the hands back together, coming through center and take your twist over to the other side, right hand down, left arm up. And I'm still working to keep that left thigh open and not let it drop past the midline.

Feet stay active, come back to center, back into that prayer. And then hands down, hips high, you're coming into Prasarya Dapadottanasana. And the legs don't need to go super wide here, just about as wide as your mat, letting the head hang. And then walk your hands over towards your left leg, hold on to your left ankle with both hands and bend your right knee. And as I'm doing that, I'm trying to roll the inner right thigh away from the inner left thigh.

So get some space in the pelvis there, take a couple of breaths and I'm reaching across and then coming back through center and walk over to the other side. Hold on to the right ankle with both hands and bend the left knee. And still moving the sitz bones apart from each other and getting a little space for the hips. And then come back into center, walking your hands more towards center. Keep the right leg wide and step your left foot back into a lunge.

Now if this is enough for you, you'll stay there, otherwise drop the back knee and start to come down into your lizard pose, so bringing the forearms down to the ground. And if this feels like too much, a block underneath the forearms is a great place to go. And breathing into the hips, especially if you've been sitting all day. And then you're welcome to stay there if you want. Reach back for your left ankle with your right hand and let the hips drop even more.

Now as I'm doing this, I'm crawling the right hand to the outside of the left foot and flexing the left foot for a little extra there. Drawing the left heel in a little bit closer and then let that all go. And walk your hands back up, and none of this has to happen fast, right? You can tuck the back toes under, look forward, and then step forward. And come right back into your squat.

Palms come together. Right hand out to the right, left arm up. Take your twist. And then come back through center, and left hand down, right arm up, just taking it into a little bit more of a flow. And back through center.

Bring your hands down, lift your hips up high, lengthen out your legs, drop your head. Walk your hands over towards your right foot to start, and bend your left knee. And back through center, taking it over to the other side, and bend your right knee. And back through center, keeping your left leg where it is this time, step your right foot back. And drop the back knee.

And the left toes are slightly externally rotated here. Left leg is slightly externally rotated. And there's always going to be one side that feels a little different than the other. So just breathe into whatever's happening here. Even let the belly soften.

And then if you took the variation on the other side, reaching back, catching a hold of your foot or your ankle, and you can hold onto the outside, flexing the foot, letting the hips drop. There's a pretty deep bend in the left knee. And then let it go, let it go, let it go. And walk your hands back up, tuck the back toes under, straighten out your back leg, and then step forward. Left foot comes outside of the right hand, folding forward.

Have a moment there. You can hold onto the elbows and sway, changing the crossing, doing it again. And then release your arms, bend your knees a little, tuck your chin, roll your way up to stand, pushing the feet down. Let the tailbone drop, roll the shoulders back, and step the feet together to come into Tadasana. Now, in Tadasana is often a shape that starts off a practice, but for this intervention we're actually going to end here.

Such a powerful pose. Feel the weight of the pelvis dropping down. Eyes lifting up, feet are spread. Take a full inhale, and a really sweet exhale. Thank you for joining me, namaste.