Grounded Warrior 3

(waves rolling on shore) Nice to see you again. In today's sequence, let's begin to explore our balance. So, I'm going to use a brick. If you don't happen to have a yoga block at home or a yoga brick at home a really large book might work or if you happen to have a set of stairs near you, you could also use that. Okey dokey.

So, bring your left foot up onto the brick. Now, absolutely key is that you let yourself find a spot to focus on. So, while that could be the computer screen you'll have more success if you just find something stable in your room. Okay, left foot up on the brick. Inhale, here.

Exhale, step up. Inhale, exhale, step down. Inhale, exhale, step up. Inhale, exhale, step down. Now, on this next one we're gonna stay.

Inhale, exhale, step up. Now, stay on your brick, and just start to get a sense of rooting a little bit through that foot on the brick. Now, as you root through that foot let your leg gently firm but avoiding locking out the knee. Okay, keep this left foot on the brick, inhale, exhale, step down. Inhale, exhale, step up.

Now, this time, root down through that foot, feel your heart blossom, and as you root down through that foot and you feel your heart blossom, we've been exploring this, right? There's this natural generosity here. Let this region also feel receptive, super nice. Inhale, exhale, step down, keep that foot on the brick. Inhale, exhale, step up.

This time, this last time, root through the foot, feel your heart blossom, and see if you can let your mind feel lighter. So, let your skull align, so that your neck tension is not necessary, just a wee bit of vulnerability up through the collar bone. Okay, inhale here, exhale, step down off the brick, stand on both feet, in Tadasana, pause, big deliberate inhale, exhale let it happen, soften down into the belly, let the knees ease. And just see if you can let your awareness run down through this left leg, like really can you feel from the leg all the way to the foot, beyond the foot? Excellent, let's tune the other side.

So, bring your right foot up on that brick. Find your spot to focus on, we call that a drishti, focal point. Inhale here, exhale, step up, keep that right foot on the brick as you inhale, exhale, step down. Inhale, exhale, step up. Inhale, exhale, step down.

We're going to hold on this next one. Inhale, exhale, step up, root. So the play is to start to get a sense of rooting down through that foot, and a little sense of firming the leg without jamming into your knee joint, so it's firm but still pleasant, in fact that's one of the sutras, sthira-sukham asanam. The posture is both, sometimes it's defined as relaxed and awake. Good, keep that right foot on the brick, inhale, exhale, step down.

Inhale, exhale, step up. Now root, and tune the feeling from pushing into the foot out through the heart, feel the heart generous and receptive, nice. Inhale, exhale, step down. Inhale, exhale, step up, root, blossom, and now tune the alignment of the skull, so she feels light. So, usually there's this widening at the base.

Soften the jaw, a little more vulnerable in the collar bones, nice. Inhale here, exhale, step down. And stand on both feet. The play here is as you inhale and exhale, let it happen so that there's a softening in the knees, a softening in the low belly and there's a willingness, like we've been practicing, a willingness to feel supported. We're trying to tune the feeling of grounded.

Okay, and we joke, the joke, right, is the best way to feel grounded is to feel grounded. So, notice, and then just a little bit tune, being able to root through the feet just enough so that as you feel the heart in her receptive, generous state, and tune the alignment of the skull so that she feels balanced, Tarasana. Okay, so this feeling, this feeling tone, this is our blueprint for the practice. 'Cause as we work towards playing with balance it's nice to have something to reference. Okay, nice job.

So, I'm going to move the brick out of the way and the next piece is that we're going to do a few little shoulder openers. So, we've done some of these in earlier sequences, so you'll recognize them. Let your arms come out to the side, soften the owl pose, inhale here and as you exhale let the shoulders roll forward so that you're rounding in the back. Inhale, let the shoulders roll back, so the elbows are drawing under and you're getting that lift in through the heart, nice. Exhale, round, curl the sit bones under a little bit.

Inhale, arch, roll the shoulders back, let the elbows bend. Let's do that at least one more time. Exhale, get round, nice. Inhale, roll the shoulders back, let the elbows bend, arch, gorgeous, exhale, let the arms come down along the side. Now inhale, squeeze the shoulders up and around the ears, exhale, drop.

Inhale, roll the shoulders up and around the ears, exhale, drop. Nice, let's get a little bit more room, we've done this before, interlace the fingers in front of you, turn the palms up and go up through the arms. Now, soften the elbows, and we've explored this before. What I like to do is soften the elbows enough, so you bring the hands down onto the top of your head, squeeze your shoulders up and around the ears, exhale and drop the shoulders. And you keep the shoulders that dropped as you stretch up through the arms.

Okay, wobble a little bit side to side so you can get long in that side waist, nice. Inhale here, exhale, release the arms wide, rotate the shoulders forward, let the arms come behind you, interlace the fingers, wiggle the shoulders then back and down, maybe the heels of the palms come towards each other. Inhale here, exhale, bend the knees. As you bend the knees, chest finds the thighs, head drops, arms reach up, out and over the top of your head. Some of you might be teasing that into the hamstrings by rolling the weight into the balls of the feet.

Nice, let the hands come back to the hips. Let the hands come down towards the Earth and let's play with this. Bend the knees like you're sitting in a chair. Okay, now as you bend the knees like you're sitting in a chair, do you remember that feeling of grounded? Curl the sit bones under, reach the arms into the center of the room, soften the elbows so the shoulders roll back and down.

Now, keep it low in the legs and as you inhale stretch your arms up, enthusiasm through the fingertips. Inhale here, exhale, press into the feet, come all the way back up. Nice, inhale, exhale everything, beautiful, so nice. Let's touch in a little bit with what we're going to be doing with our shoulders. Let the left arm come out to the side, rotate that shoulder forward, bend the elbow, bring this hand behind your back.

Now, as you bring this hand behind your back, let the shoulder depress a little bit, send this elbow towards your navel side, and then just get used to this and then just see, like we've done before, just kind of schnuggle this hand up the back a little bit, depressing the shoulder, sending the elbow forward. When I say forward, I mean towards the belly button side, that is the technical term. (giggles) Okay, last few moments, soften the jaw. Beautiful, inhale here, exhale, release that arm, shake it out a little bit. Nice, inhale, right arm out to the side, soften the elbow, rotate that shoulder forward.

Let the elbow bend bring the hand behind you. Now, as you bring that hand behind you, depress the shoulder a little bit, send the elbow forward and then only as it's correct, you'll schnuggle that hand up the the back a little bit. Okay, and when I say forward, again, I mean towards the belly button side. Spread the toes, big deliberate inhale, exhale, let it happen, let yourself feel grounded, super nice, beautiful, gorgeous, inhale here, exhale, release. Shake those arms out a little bit.

Inhale, squeeze your shoulders up and around the ears, exhale, drop, inhale, roll the shoulders up and around the ears, exhale and drop, nice. So, now we'll take some of this grounding and just some of this opening up through the upper arms and some of that little bit of balance we've already played with, towards the sequence towards Warrior Three. So, turn on your mat so that you have the ability to step forward. I'm going to start with my left foot. So, step your left foot forward, step your right foot back.

Now bring your hands on your waist, big deliberate inhale here, and exhale let a happen and soften. Can you feel yourself grounded? Beautiful. Now, from that sense of grounding, inhale, reach the arms out to the side, now rotate both shoulders forward, let the elbows bend, and bring your left hand into your right palm. So, let me just turn so I can make sure you can see that.

Bring your left hand into your right palm, pause, to press the shoulders, send the elbows forward. And for many of you this is gonna be deep enough, but what some of you are gonna do, is your gonna bring your fingertips to touch behind you and you're going to start to play with schnuggling your hands up the back. Okay, as you schnuggle your hands up the back you're coming into reverse prayer. Now, I've turned to make sure that you can see it, press into the palms, let the shoulders relax, send the elbows forward. Again, if that's too much, if bringing the hands up in reverse prayer is unnecessary then go back to supporting one hand in the other.

Press into the feet, feel your heart generous and receptive. Inhale here, exhale, just fold forward a little bit. Now, for most of you, bending this front knee is going to be the way to go. Okay, inhale, let the heart lift a little bit, exhale, just fold forward a little bit. You're just trying to get used to tipping your heart closer towards the Earth, letting the back of the neck get long, press into the feet, lengthen.

For most of you this is probably enough. Some of you might be designed that it makes sense to dip in a little bit more, but really, only about here is as far as you need to go for it to be preparation. Okay, press into the feet, let an inhale draw you back up, exhale, release the hands down the back of your body and inhale, circle your arms up towards the sky. Now stretch up through the arms, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, feel a sense of length, inhale here, exhale, bend that front left knee a little bit and just like when you were stepping up on the brick, bend that front knee a little bit, root, root. And as you're ready, root, inhale, lift off.

Now, pause here, and for some of you, touching that big right toe onto the floor is gonna be the better idea. But for some of you starting to let that right leg lift, as you reach, couple more moments here. This is just stage one of what we're moving towards. Nice, inhale here, exhale, release that right foot back down to meet the left and pause, big deliberate inhale, exhale everything. So nice, hands on the waist, we'll try that on the other side.

So, left foot steps back, right foot forward. This is a variation of what the Yogis sometimes call Parsvottanasana, Pyramid Pose. Inhale, reach the arms out, rotate both shoulders forward, and as you bring the hands behind you, again for some of you, you're going to rest the left hand in the right hand, just to show. Okay, you're going to rest that left hand in the right hand or, like on the other side, you bring your fingertips to touch and you start to schnuggle the hands up the back of the body. As you schnuggle the hands up the back of the body, you're moving into what the Yogis usually call Reverse Prayer.

Press into the hands, rotate the shoulders back, elbows slightly forward. Big deliberate inhale, exhale let it happen, ground. Inhale here, and as your ready, on an exhale, you'll just start to root. A little bit of a queue of the alignment as you slightly let the right hip draw back, you slightly let the left hip draw forward, you start to come forward. And for most of us, this is far enough.

This is the preparation. If that hamstring on that front legs like, "Waah." Let her bend a little bit. Okay, you're pressing into the palms, you're getting a sense of letting your heart stay generous and receptive, easy in the back of the neck. Nice. Press into the feet, let an inhale bring you back up.

Exhale, release the hands down your back, shake them out a little bit. Inhale, circle the arms up. Now, soften the elbows a little bit so you can wrap the shoulders back and down and then reach. Okay, now find that spot to focus on, that drishti. Find that spot to focus on, inhale here, exhale, root.

Root down through that right foot just like when you were stepping up on the brick. Root and then lift. Some of you might keep this big toe on the Earth. Okay, some of you might reach a little bit more. You're just getting used to rooting down through that right foot, lifting up through the heart, last few moments.

Beautiful, inhale here, exhale, release left foot back down to meet the right, pause. Nice, Uttanasana, inhale here, exhale, bend the knees, slide the hands down the legs, little Forward Fold. I'm going to step back a little bit on my mat. And for some of you, Forward Fold, Uttanasana is the best. We've been working on squat for this season so some of you might toe-heel the feet a little bit wider and come down towards a squat.

If that's available it'll feel nice because in these standing single leg postures we're strengthening the hips and this'll give it a little bit of a break. Uttanasana, roll the sit bones up, turn the toes forward, bend the knees, hands on the legs, chin into the chest and slow roll on back up, feel the belly, feel the heart, feel the throat and the face. Let's take that a little step further. So, left foot forward again, right foot back, spread the toes wide, inhale, circle the arms up, soften the elbows so the shoulders roll back and down. Now, find that spot to focus on, that will hold you steady.

If you need it to be harder, close your eyes. (giggles) Inhale here, as you exhale, root down through that foot, and inhale, lift off. Now, pause. And for some of you this is enough, maybe even keeping this big toe on the Earth, but for some of you it's going to be fun to start to practice, to start to tempt a little bit, okay, like what's it like to sort of tip forward, and as you start to play with tipping forward, you've got to reach back through this back foot, twinkle your toes. If it would be nicer to bend that front knee a little bit, let that happen, last few moments, reach, nice, inhale, we come all the way back up, exhale, hands come back down along your side.

Inhale here, exhale everything. Pause and like feel the effect. It's good to know why we might do these things. Like rarely is it motivating, rarely do we think, "You know, I'd really like to stand on one leg and extend my arms and my legs." But what's motivating is the results. Okay, right foot forward, left foot back, spread the toes.

As you're ready, inhale, circle your arms up, soften the elbow, shoulders back and down. I'm gonna step back just a little bit on my mat, inhale here. Exhale, let it happen and ground. Find that spot to focus on, root down through that right foot, just like when you were standing up on that brick, root and lift. And for some of you, keeping the big toe on the Earth is the best idea.

Okay, root and lift, root and lift. Now, the play here is reaching through the fingers as you reach back through that back foot. If that back leg is heavy, it will feel heavy. You have to reach, reach (giggles) lengthen, only come down as far as feels good, and while keeping your arms out in front of you is more demanding on the back, so some of you might wisely let your arms come down along your sides, that's more supportive. Twinkle the back toes, it helps a lot.

Nice, inhale, circle the arms back up, and exhale, release. Now, pause, stand Tadasana and just notice why you might've done that, big deliberate inhale, exhale everything, let it happen. Nice, inhale here, exhale, Uttanasana, Forward Fold. Stay in the Forward Fold if that's nice enough or if it's available, squat, toe-heel the feet out and sink in. And as you sink into your squat it's like, "Aahh." And it should feel like relief, maybe.

(giggles) Beautiful, okay, Tadasana. Hands land, toe-heel the feet towards each other, let yourself fold forward. Now, for Uttanasana, bend the knees, chin into the chest, slow, let yourself roll all the way back up. Feel the belly, feel the heart, feel the throat and feel the face, so nice. Gently find your way towards the top of the mat and the plan here will be to move through a sun salutation towards the Earth and then relieve all that strength building we've done in the hips with a few hip openers.

Stand with the hands at the heart, spread the toes, inhale here, exhale everything. Hold the hands at the heart, inhale, exhale, press your hands towards the Earth. Inhale, circle your arms open, exhale, swan dive forward, Forward Fold, over the legs. Now, let an inhale create a half arch and as you exhale, step your right foot back, let your left knee bend, wiggle back through here, curl the sit bone under and just sink that knee towards the Earth. Now, if that's asking a little bit much, if you happen to have a blanket you might put it underneath there.

Inhale, draw back a little bit, exhale, sink in. Inhale, draw back a little bit, exhale, sink in. We're just gonna be here for a few beats as you draw the sit bones under, just getting a little bit of opening through the inner groin. Nice, then lift up through the back of the right leg, kind of rock and roll, step that right foot forward, half arch, and then exhale, left foot back, right knee bends. Curl the sit bone under and sink in.

Inhale, back off a little bit, exhale, sink in. Inhale, back off a little bit, exhale, sink in. Maybe one more time. Just to start to get the hips used to coming towards the Earth. Super nice, now the transition here will be back into Downward Facing Dog, if that's not going to work out for you today, meet us in Child's Pose, we'll be there in a moment.

Otherwise, lift up through the back of that left leg, step the right foot back, spread the fingers wide, lengthen through the sit bones, let the heels get heavy, couple moments here, soften the jaw, and then we'll meet in Child's Pose. Let the knees drop down, let the hips come back towards the heels, arms can stay out in front of you or arms can come back along your side, as your forehead comes towards the Earth. Soft down through the knees as much as possible, heavy through the hips, a little wobble, super. When you're ready chin into the chest, let yourself roll back up, sit Vajrasana if your joints are willing, heart lifted, nice. Now, as promised, to sort of work out some of the tension that gets created when balancing on one leg, we'll move into a hip opener that usually gets called Pigeon.

It's not for everybody though, it's one of those postures that almost all yoga teachers everywhere think is awesome and almost all new yoga students everywhere think is terrible. I'm going to show how you can use a blanket. Now, I find that one of the easier ways to come into Pigeon is actually from all fours. So, I'm going to bring my left knee forward, and as I bring my left knee forward, my left heel is close into my groin and I start to come down towards the Earth. Now, the closer my heel is into my groin, the less demanding the stretch.

But if when you come down, that hip isn't quite in the Earth, that's not a bad thing, but if you put some support underneath that hip it gives that hip a chance to relax. Okay, now if you happen to be one of those naturally bendy types, it's more dramatic in the hip to bring the heel away from the groin. Okay, so this is sort of your lever of salt to taste. Press down a little bit through the foot behind you, lift up a little bit through the heart, and if you're using the blanket but you wish you weren't and you don't like it, then you remove it. Okay, so no forced prop usage.

Some of you might stay right here, this might be deep enough. A little tune back through that back foot really feels good. If you're allowed to come forward, you start to come forward, you let your elbows come down onto the Earth, you'll allow that receptivity of the hands that we've been practicing this whole season, soften the low belly, kind in the jaw. This'll be deep enough for some of you, sometimes it's nice to support your head and this is going to sound funny until you try it but digging the thumbs gently up into the eye sockets, (giggling) like right where the brow is, you kind of create this little, "Ahh." There's a little pressure point there that you can lean into, that feels quite good. I'm yammering on and on because we're going to be here about two minutes.

You might come down onto your elbows. If you're allowed to, if your body lets you, some of you, it might feel quite nice to come all the way down head on the hands. I find this not as pleasant as this. You choose. Only about half a minute more, soft in the mouth, easy in the jaw.

Absolutely key to this posture is, do you remember how we practiced grounding when we were standing? Can you practice that again here? Okay, awesome. Hands underneath the shoulders, chin into the chest, let yourself roll back up. And there are a couple dismounts, some of you, Downward Facing Dog might feel good, I'm going to show just the simple dismount of lifting up and finding Child's Pose, letting the knees find each other, letting the hips come back towards the heels, forehead towards the floor, wobble, nice.

Okay, same idea, other side. You come up onto all fours. I'm bringing my right knee in front of me. Now, as I bring my right knee in front of me, the closer I keep that heel into the groin, the safer, the less intense, as I schnuggle back through that back leg. Again, if support underneath that right hip would feel good put some support there.

If it feels good to have a little bit more leverage then you will bring the leg a little bit more forward. Okay, all these postures, you make them work for you. Okay, you make the shape work for you as opposed to you working for the shape. Okay, lengthen, and again, some of you it makes more sense to stay here, as you soften the mouth, and you soften the jaw, wobbling. Some of you, it might feel good to come forward, coming down onto your elbows.

You're going to find, there's a lot of variety here because we're practicing assuming that we're sort of just beginning this journey together, to show all the variety might be confusing. But just trust and know that if something's not quite right then that's good information. Again, some of you might come all the way down onto your hands, some of you might try the thumb in yield eye socket trick. (giggles) Okay, the key as we come upon this last minute, the key is that you let yourself feel grounded. Soft in the belly, easy in the jaw.

Again, we're counterposing all that strength work we were doing earlier. Nice. For the last handful of moments, try this: soften the low belly, see if that softens the sacrum, and see if you can taste that connection up through the tongue, soften the tongue. Nicely done, beautiful, to get out of here, hands come underneath the shoulders, roll on back up, again, you might choose a dog pose, I'm going to show Child's Pose, wiggle back through, soften the knees, use your hands out in front of you, maybe this one just to kind of help get some length, awesome. And now just so that we get a little bit of action in the low back today, we're going to bring ourselves all the way onto the belly.

Okay, as you come all the way onto the belly, start with your hands underneath your forehead, elbows wide, and just bend the knees and wobble the legs a little side to side. And just see how this feels in your low back, okay. And so for some of you this might feel just right and this might be enough action in your low back today. This is a super sweet, you get this nice little rotation in the sacrum, you get this nice lift, and so, this might be all the action you need. But we're going to play with just a little bit of strengthening, just a little bit of opening.

So, let the legs come back behind you, some of this is familiar from our earlier sequences. Let the hands come underneath the shoulders, forehead on the floor, squeeze your shoulders up and around the ears, roll your shoulders back and down, and begin to peel your heart forward, gooey in the back of the neck, little baby smidge of a Cobra. Stay here or add the low back strengthening by bending the knees, lifting up through the thighs. As you lift up through the thighs, now start to slowly stretch back through the legs, Locust, soft in the mouth. Either keep the hands along your side or release them back towards the toes, enthusiasm through the toes.

And usually what feels good is if you bend your knees again, lift your legs a little higher and then reach. Play with this a little bit here, it helps. Play always sustains the relationship. Okay, inhale here, exhale, lower land, ear down to the Earth, as an ear comes down to the Earth, resting, super nice. Hands underneath the shoulders, face on the floor.

Now, this time we're going to have the option of coming into Cobra, which may or may not be correct for you. So the steps will be the same, if staying in the strengthening is better than going into compression, you'll do that. Start with your hands just a little bit in front of your shoulders, squeeze your shoulders up around the ears, roll them back and down, baby little smidge of a Cobra. Stay here or add the back strengthening, bend the knees, lift up through the thighs, slow, slow, slow, let the legs reach back. Now, as the legs reach back, some of you it might be the best to stay right here.

If appropriate, you let your legs start to get heavy and you start to press into the hands, shoulders back and down, and you start to let yourself come up into Cobra Pose. Pressing into the hands, letting the heart blossom, do you remember how to feel grounded? Can you feel grounded down through the pubic bone? Can you feel generous and receptive in the heart? Do you remember the alignment of your skull so that you barely notice her?

Yeah, nice job. Inhale here, exhale, lower all the way back down, opposite ear to the Earth, rest, arms maybe down along your sides, wobble. Super nice, hands come underneath the shoulders, we're making our way to Child's Pose, round your back. Child's Pose usually feels super good after a little baby back bend, press into the hands, wiggle, nice. Okay, chin into the chest, and slow, let yourself roll all the way back up, feel the belly, feel the heart, feel the throat and feel the face, pause, Vajrasana.

Beautiful, now slide up onto your left hip. I'm going to rearrange myself a little bit. So you're going to slide over onto your left hip and let your right foot come across. Okay, but now I'm opposite of you, so sorry about that. So your bottom knee is bent and your top knee is open.

Hold onto that top knee, root through the sit bones, let your heart bloom. Okay, so big deliberate inhale, exhale, let it happen. Now, if as you're sitting here this hip isn't quite touching the Earth, then work with a straight bottom leg. If that hip's not quite touching the Earth, work with a straight bottom leg. Otherwise that knee is bent.

Inhale, lengthen, and as you exhale, see if it makes sense, begin to hug the knee, and you bring that other arm behind you. So the same arm of the knee that's bent towards the sky, inhale, root and bloom. And as you exhale, navel back to the spine, begin to twist. Okay, inhale, bloom, exhale, twist. Okay, now couple key points, can you feel grounded again?

Can you feel generous and receptive in your heart? And can you feel gooey in the back of your neck? Beautiful, inhale here and as you exhale, slow, lead with the gaze, let yourself unwind. Pause, nice, other side. So you lean back and you switch the cross of your legs.

Schnuggle down an inch. Schnuggle is a technical word from long, long, long ago. Hold onto those knees, inhale bloom, exhale let it happen. And just here like tune to that generosity of heart, tune to the ease in the back of the neck. Okay, when you feel ready, you'll eventually find an inhale, and as you come to that exhale, you'll wrap, you'll bring that back arm behind you.

There's a little bit of a squeeze as you lift, and as you exhale, you begin to twist. Okay, inhale, lift, and exhale, twist. And remember a sense of grounding, and remember a sense of generosity in the heart and remember a sense of ease up through the mind, beautiful. The play here is there's a delicacy because our biceps tend to be stronger, our arms tend to be stronger than those little delicate postural muscles at the interior of the spine. And so, we just want to be careful.

Okay, inhale here, eventually, lead with the gaze. Let yourself come back, nice. Now, we want to find a forward fold that suits you, and so for some of you it might be a wide Baddha Konasana, this is one of my favorites, my heels slightly away from the groin and then I'm going to round over. But this isn't for everybody. You might be much more inclined to something more like Upavistha Konasana.

We haven't done almost anything to help you do this today so this would have to be very quite natural and some of you might be much more inclined to Paschimottanasana, just letting your legs go straight. So just take a few moments and see which one seems the shiniest for you. Okay, like one of the things we're trying to do is just start to trust what feels correct. So I'm going to do Baddha Konasana with the heels away from the groin, I'm going to wobble a little side to side. And then, just let your back start to round.

So, whichever one you've chosen, whether legs are wide or out in front of you, casual. Just kind of let your back round, it's just becoming more comfortable with letting things feel good is actually one of the purposes of these practices. Most of us are so much more intimate and familiar with things feeling tense and stressful and fearful that we start to think that's what we're seeking. So, letting yourself get more used to things being just, (sighs deeply) feeling good. And really let yourself round, you let your head drop, let your back round.

We'll be here about another half a minute or so. If you're efforting in it then I have not been clear in my instructions. Let it be more casual. You could walk your hands forward but the difficulty with walking the hands forward is suddenly there starts to be a sense of wanting something, grabbing towards something. So, if you just let your elbows bend, palms turn up, and your feet might be a pillow, maybe, maybe not.

Last few moments. Okay, awesome. Chin into the chest, slow, let yourself roll all the way back up, feel the belly, feel the heart, feel the throat and the face. Now, we're going to close our practice today with a sit. If you'd rather lie down, Shavasana, you could.

I'm going to sit up on a blanket because it makes it so much more comfortable and I'm going to sit with my heels in line with each other, you might have a different method. Schnuggle in a little bit, big deliberate inhale, exhale, let it happen and soften in your belly. Really let yourself ground because this is the skill we've really been tuning today, ground. Yeah. And like you'll know you've really grounded because the mind goes quite quiet.

And like just the essence of a rooting, just the essence of rooting through the sit bones, so your heart can find her natural, receptive generosity. Like generosity is a wonderful result of abundance. (giggles) And like only when we really start to grok, how really abundant our lives are. Okay, like when you really start to see, like how rich it is in here, then it's so much easier to let your elbows bend, and your palms open for real and it's so much easier to find the alignment of the skull where the neck tension is no longer necessary, good. It's much more, well in the beginning the practice is, particularly meditation, you can feel like a bit of a warrior.

The stages of this practice, we move from a warrior to that of a lover, but you really know you're sitting in the sauce when you feel much more this quality of the beloved, when you can really let yourself feel held. Sweet. Few more moments, soften the jaw, lips are tender. Please feel welcome and encouraged to sit here for longer. Namaste.