Phase 4: Luteal

Welcome. So today's practice is to support phase four of your menstrual cycle. And you may remember this is called the luteal phase, named after the corpus luteum. And this is the time where the corpus luteum starts to secrete more progesterone. So we see a rise in body temperature, which is good. So we're going to generate a bit of heat today and we'll do some inversions. If you don't already have an inversion practice, you'll want to supplement with just a dolphin pose or worse comes to worse, you don't even feel like going up into dolphin pose and child's pose as well. This is also the time where you're potentially implanting and you may be pregnant. So this is something to consider. Of course, always listen to your doctor's advice. If they've recommended that you don't do any exercise or any movement, then don't do any and just stay with that advice. But if it's new and you're not really sure, then feel free to join along and just listen to your body and go at a pace that feels appropriate to you. So we're going to start out on hands and knees for cat cow. And your wrists are going to be underneath your shoulders, knees underneath your hips. And just to start, start to sway the hips back and forth, just bringing a little bit of movement through the torso and imagine the spine a little bit like a serpent. Relax through your neck and shoulders. And then we'll settle in the middle, find your breathing in and out through the nose. And then with inhalation, we're going to open the chest through the upper arms, tilt the pelvis forward and look forward. And with exhalation, we're going to tuck the tailbone under, pull the belly in and round your back. And inhale, tilt the pelvis forward, reach the chest through the upper arms, upper arms down away from the ears, look up and exhale, tilt the pelvis under, round the back. Take a few more rounds like this with your own breath, really lengthening the breath, make it smooth, even enjoyable. If you feel any stuck spots and you want to spend a couple more breaths in that shape, just letting things move and open up, feel free. And then we're going to turn this into little circles. So with your next inhale, we'll just come to a neutral shape in the pelvis and in the torso. And with exhalation, you're going to press your right hand and push the hips back towards your left heel. Then we'll swing the hips around towards the right heel and then bring the hips forward coming into like a sloppy upward dog. And then move them across to the left side, take them back towards your left heel, then the right heel and then inhale coming forward. And just like before, when we were doing those little sways with the hips, go ahead and take this at your own pace and spend extra time any place where you feel stuck. Do a few more rounds on your own and then in a moment we'll go to the other side. Even let the head and neck kind of release and sway with the rest of the body and then switching directions. So left heel, then coming forward into your upward dog over to the right and back to your right heel and to the left and then coming forward. And then really getting into this movement and going as slow as you'd like. And extra breaths wherever you'd like to. And just one more round. And then we'll settle in the middle and lift the hips up, curl your toes under and we'll come to downward facing dog. And switch, bring your weight from heel to heel, so you're pedaling out your feet just to open the backs of the legs for the first downward facing dog. We're in a slight inversion here. Just keep the breath nice and smooth and even. And then settle in the center and breathe. From downward facing dog, we'll look forward and walk our feet to our hands. With inhalation, you'll look up and lengthen. Exhale, we'll fold leaning forward as you fold. And inhale, come all the way up. Reach the arms up overhead and exhale the arms down alongside the body. Srinamaskar. Inhale, arms reach. Exhale and fold forward. Exhale and lengthen. Exhale, bend the knees, set the hands, step back and then lower down. Feel free to bring your knees to the floor if you'd like. Inhale, take it into a cobra or an up dog and exhale back to downward facing dog. And settling into your breath again.

Let the breath be nice and soft. And just try to keep your mind focused on the sound of your breath, which will bring you more internal. Reach out through your heels, press your thighs back. End of your next exhale, we'll look forward and walk the feet to the hands. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to fold. And inhale to come all the way up. And exhale, arms down. Inhale, we'll reach the arms up. Exhale and fold forward. Inhale to lengthen. Set the hands, step back, shift forward and lower. Inhale, cobra or up dog. And exhale to downward facing dog. From downward dog, we're going to step the right foot forward inside of the right hand and bring the left knee down to the floor. And let's come up into a low lunge. We'll just take the hands to the right knee, lift the front hip bones up, drop the tailbone down, and then relax the shoulders down away from the ears. You can stay here or reach the arms up overhead. Really lengthening the side bodies, lifting the chest up. If you feel like you want to go a little deeper, snuggle your right foot forward a bit and then start to sink deep into the right knee. Take one more deep breath in and with exhalation, we'll reach the hands down to the floor, curl the back toes under, step your right foot back and come to downward facing dog and just pedal your feet. And then we'll go right into the other side. Step your left foot forward, bring your right knee down, point your right toes and inhale, bring your hands onto your right knee. Drop your tailbone but lift your front hip bones up, lift your chest up. You can stay here or with your next inhalation, reach the arms up. And then you also have the option to bring your left foot a little more forward and bend a little deeper into that left knee. Any variation, make sure that you can breathe and that you can slow down and relax your breath. Let's take one more deep breath in and exhale, release, set the hands to the floor, curl your back toes under, step back to downward facing dog. And we'll look forward, walk our feet to the hands, inhale to lengthen, exhale to fold and inhale to come all the way up and exhale, arms down alongside the body. Surya Namaskar B. We'll bend the knees, sit the hips back like we're sitting into a chair and inhale, come into Utkatasana. With exhalation, we'll fold forward straightening the legs as we fold. Inhale, you'll lengthen, exhale, step back and lower to Chaturanga. Inhale, cobra or up dog and exhale back to downward facing dog. From downward dog, we're going to step the right foot forward, pivot the back heel down towards center and inhale, let's come up into a warrior one, reaching the arms up overhead. And from there, we're going to go right into warrior two. So we'll open up to our left and as you do so, just heel toe your right foot a little more to the left and then make sure that your knee is pointing to your second toe. So we don't want it to collapse in and we'll look out over our right fingertips. Keep your left leg nice and straight, but bend your right knee. Take two more deep breaths in and out through the nose. And then with your next deep breath in, we're going to reach through the right fingertips and exhale, bring the elbow to the right knee and sweep the left arm up overhead or just straight up to the ceiling. Either works. You also have the option to bring your right hand to the floor outside of your right foot. Continue to breathe in and out through the nose. And with inhale, we'll come back up into warrior two and exhale. We'll bring the hands down to the floor, step your right foot back, shift forward and lower. Inhale into cobra, up dog and exhale to downward facing dog. We'll step the left foot forward, pivot the right heel down and with inhalation we'll come up into warrior one. Exhale, we'll go right into warrior two on the left side. Start to open up to your right and just adjust your left foot and let your left knee be directly over top of your ankle. Reach out through both arms and press your right leg straight. Take a few deep breaths in and out through the nose. Continue to lift up through the crown of the head. Your next inhale will reach through the left fingertips and exhale will take the elbow to knee or hand to floor your choice. Right arm can go straight up to the ceiling or come up overhead and breathe. And press down to your heels. Inhale, you'll come back up to warrior two and exhale. Bring the hands down to the floor, step back, shift forward and lower. Inhale to cobra or up dog and exhale back to downward facing dog. Take a few deep breaths in and out through the nose, somewhere three to five breaths on your own. And then at the end of your next exhale, we'll look forward and walk the feet to the hands. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale to fold. Bend your knees, sit your hips back.

Inhale to chair pose and exhale, stand up tall. Let's do one more just flowing through those poses. Bend your knees, sit your hips back. Inhale, chair. Exhale and fold. Inhale and lengthen. Exhale, set the hands, step back, shift forward and lower. Inhale to cobra or up dog. Exhale to downward facing dog. Step the right foot forward, pivot your back heel down. Inhale, warrior one. Exhale, open up to warrior two, adjusting your stance. Take a deep breath in. And with your exhale, you'll come into Parsva Konasana. One more breath in to come back up to warrior two. And exhale, we'll windmill the hands down to the floor. Step back, shift forward and lower. Inhale, cobra or up dog. Exhale, downward dog. Step the left foot forward, pivot the right heel down. Inhale, come up, warrior one. Exhale, we'll open up to warrior two. Inhale to reach. And exhale to Parsva Konasana. Inhale, come back up to warrior two. And exhale. Take your hands to the floor, step back and lower. Inhale, cobra or up dog. And exhale, downward facing dog. Hold and breathe here. Be connecting with your breath. Inhaling and exhaling through the nose. Take one more deep breath in. Exhale completely. Look forward, walk your feet to your hands. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale fold. Bend your knees, sit your hips back. Inhale to chair. And exhale, samastitihi.

Utthita hasta padangusthasana. Bring the feet together, hands at the hips. With an inhalation, we'll take the, bend the right knee and take hold of the right knee. So you can stay here with this variation, just holding the knee as we go through the different stages of this pose. Another option is to hook the right finger, middle and index finger around the right big toe and then start to extend the right leg straight. Take a few breaths here. Press your left thigh back and drop your outer right hip down. Continue to breathe. And then with your next exhalation, we're going to take the leg out to the right. You can either stay looking forward, or you can start to shift your gaze out over your left shoulder. And breathe. Take one more deep breath in and out. And with your next inhalation, we'll take it back to center. And then exhale, release. Bring the hand to the hip. Maybe straighten your leg out in front of you. Let's just hold for two breaths. One more deep breath in. And exhale, release it down. Shake out your legs for a moment. And then we'll do this on the other side. So we'll take the weight to the right foot. Inhale, grab a hold of your left knee or left big toe. Find upright and then possibly straighten the left leg out in front of you. We'll take a few breaths here. Breathing. Steady your gazing point on something that doesn't move. That'll help with the balance. On your next exhalation, you're going to take the left leg out to the side. Drop the outer left hip down and keep pressing your right leg straight as you do so. And breathe. And inhale to come back to center. Exhale, release your left leg, point the toes and breathe for two breaths. And then exhale, release it down. And then we'll just come to the front of our mat and we'll just bring our hands to prayer position. Breathe in and out through the nose and release the arms down alongside the body. Inhale, we'll reach the arms up. Exhale, hinge at the hips and fold. Inhale to lengthen. Exhale, bend the knees, set the hands, step back, shift forward again and lower. Inhale, cobra or up dog. And exhale back to downward facing dog. From downward facing dog, let's come down to our knees and set up for either headstand or dolphin. So this is the point where you may want to stay with dolphin or legs up the wall is another option with a minor inversion gives you the benefits of an aversion. If you're taking headstand, make sure you already have a headstand practice and you know that it's safe for you, especially during the times of like conception or pregnancy. We really don't want to start anything new. It should be something you've already been doing for a long time. So if that's a possibility, then you really don't want to start something new.

If you need a wall, go by the wall. We're going to press the outer edge of the entire forearm down into the floor. If you're taking dolphin, you can do it with your knuckles together or forearms parallel your choice. If you're coming into headstand, you'll bring the back of the head into the palms of your hands. Curl your toes under and then you can lift up either coming through a tucked position or lifting both legs together. Please don't kick up. And then we're going to hold here. Reach the fingertips of the toes to the ceiling tailbone to the ceiling and just breathe. If you feel like you need to come down at any point, please do so. Keep your legs nice and strong. Exhale. And whenever you need to come down, you'll come down and just rest in child's pose. And slowly start to make way down into child's pose.

You can either straighten your arms out in front of you or keep them alongside the body. If you chose legs up the wall, then just roll over to your side. You can join us on your mat in child's pose. Continue to breathe, relax. We'll just take a little bit of a twist here.

So we're going to lift the hips up over top of the knees and stretch the arms out in front. And then just thread the right arm underneath the left and you'll start to look underneath the left armpit. And then we'll undo that. Take the right hand forward, thread the left arm underneath the right armpit. And we'll inhale, come back to center. One little stretch here, pressing the hands and starting to reach the chest towards the floor. Get a little opening in your upper back and shoulders.

And then we'll come down onto our backs for Shavasana. If you'd like a blanket or bolster, feel free to grab those now. Otherwise, you'll just lie down on your backs, palms open to the ceiling, feet turned out, legs turned out. Close the eyes, relax the face, the jaw, the eyebrows. Take a moment to put everything in its place so that you're really comfortable. Relax the belly and the hips, the thighs.

Relax the belly. Relax the belly. Relax the belly. Relax the belly. Lately reach through fingers and toes.

And when you're ready, you'll reach the arms up overhead and bend the knees and start to roll over to your right side. From there, you'll press the left hand to the floor, come up to seated, across the ankles, bring the hands to prayer position. Thank you for joining me today. Namaste.