Phase 6: Mood Enhancing

Welcome. Today's sequence is a mood-enhancing sequence. So for a lot of women, this can be kind of a frustrating process, trying to conceive. There's a lot of pressure on mom, or we put a lot of pressure on ourselves. And sometimes it doesn't happen right away, it takes a little bit of time, and that's normal. It happens for a lot of women that it doesn't happen the first couple tries. So this is just a sequence that can hopefully help lighten the spirit, give you a bit of energy, get you out of a funk, and help give you a bit of peace along the way. So my blessings to you all out there. We'll start with a strap, and we're going to do a little bit of shoulder opening, mainly because the shoulders and the chest, that's the heart channels. So that can help a lot with mood. So just take the strap to a comfortable size, and we'll just reach the arms up overhead. And then we'll start to take them back until you get that nice stretch across the pectoral muscles. And you may need to adjust your strap a little longer or shorter, depending on your range of motion. We'll just stay in that area, in that stretch and breathe. Breathe into your chest, into any areas of tightness. And send yourself some love. You're amazing, you're doing fantastic. And take a few more breaths here. And then we'll take the arms back up in front of us. And I'm going to turn to the side so you can see what I'm doing better. And we'll take the strap in the right hand, and you'll just bend your elbow and wrap the outer upper arm around towards your face. And then reach the elbow up towards the ceiling. And then with the left hand, you're going to take the palm away from your back and grab a hold of that strap. And then from there, you'll start to walk the hands together. And maybe you don't even need the strap. Maybe you can lose the strap altogether and clasp your hands. And get the stretch in both shoulders, both arms. So on the right side, it's underneath the arm, around the armpit, and on the left side, more in front of the shoulder. And just slightly pull the front rims in and lift up through the sternum and up through the crown of the head. And take some nice deep breaths in and out through the nose.

And then release that. And let's change sides. So we'll take the strap into the left hand, bend the left elbow, reaching the elbow to the ceiling and wrap the outer arm towards your face. Take the back of your right hand behind you and then start to walk your hands together on the strap or just clasp your hands if that's available to you. But keep working the outer upper arm around towards your face. And just slightly pull the front ribs down and in. And then we'll release that. You can lose the strap for now. We won't need that again. And we'll just take the arms out to a T. Take the right elbow underneath the left elbow, bend the right arm and then just move the arms across to your right side. Now you'll get a nice stretch through the left deltoid. Maybe start to tilt your right ear towards your right shoulder, add a bit in for your neck. Get rid of some of that shoulder tension. And then we'll release that and take the right elbow over top of the left, bend the left elbow, turn the palm towards your face, drop the right shoulder down and then take the arms over to your left and possibly take left ear to shoulder. And then we'll release that and then we'll come into a puppy pose. So take your hands about shoulder distance apart. Walk your knees back like you're going towards child's pose but it's going to be a much longer child's pose. So then your hips are going to be high up over your knees and then we're just going to start to reach the chest towards the floor. Get a bit of a stretch in your upper back and shoulders. Maybe your forearms start to come down to the floor. You can stay looking slightly forward as long as it's not too much on your neck. Maybe inch your fingers a little further forward so you get a little bit more sensation in your armpits. And then we'll come up out of that and we'll come into downward facing dog. So you'll curl your toes under. You may need to shorten your stance a bit and come to down dog. Just pedal the feet out for a few breaths, starting to slowly open the backs of the legs and then we'll settle in center and breathe. Then from downward facing dog we'll walk our feet to our hands. With inhalation we'll lengthen, exhale and fold and inhale come all the way up. Reach your arms up overhead and exhale arms down alongside the body. Inhale arms reach, exhale hinge at the hips and fold forward. Inhale and lengthen, exhale step or jump to chaturanga. Exhale cobra or up dog, exhale downward facing dog and breathe. We'll take a few breaths here. Full inhales and exhales through the nose. Press the heels to the floor, press your upper thighs back, hips back. End of your next exhale we'll look forward and step or jump your feet to your hands. Inhale to lengthen, exhale to fold and inhale to come all the way up and exhale arms down. Inhale arms reach, exhale and fold. Inhale to lengthen, exhale step or jump to chaturanga. Inhale to cobra or up dog and exhale to downward facing dog. Keep pressing the roots of the fingers, all ten of them, into the floor and as you do that the forearms will lift up a bit and then the outer upper arms wrap around towards your face and push the floor away from you to get lots of length through the side bodies and open up through the shoulders a bit more. End of your next exhale you'll look forward and walk your feet to your hands. Inhale to lengthen, exhale to fold and inhale to come all the way up and exhale arms down alongside the body. Last one inhale arms reach, exhale and fold. Inhale lengthen, exhale step or jump to chaturanga. Inhale cobra or up dog and exhale to downward facing dog. Just take two breaths here in downward facing dog and then we'll set up for a forearm plank. So you can either drop your knees to the floor or just lower your elbows from here. We'll have the forearms level parallel, inner hands pressing down to the floor. Shoulders are directly over your elbows and from there you're going to straighten your legs back behind you. Pull your belly in and breathe. You can stay here or bring your right knee to the floor. Angle your right hand in about 45 degrees and come onto the inner edge of your left foot and start to balance on your right side.

That's one option or you just keep the right fingertips pointing straight forward, straighten your right leg and then possibly even stack your left foot on top of your right. Take a few breaths here opening the chest and then we'll release that. Bring the left hand to the floor, set the left forearm down and move onto the left side. You can bring the left knee down, maybe even move the left hand a little more to an angle and raise the right arm up or you can keep the left leg straight and stack the feet. Breathing in all variations and then we'll come back to center. We'll take both forearms down to the floor and then set the knees down for one child's pose for a moment. And then set up again, curl the toes under, come into your forearm plank and then we'll walk the feet into dolphin. Press the inner hands flat and press the upper arms, upper shoulders back. Then walk the feet in a bit more if you've got it in you. Take three more breaths here, release deep breaths, really opening up the shoulders and the chest, building some strength and then we'll rest. Bring the knees down to the floor, sit the hips back, stretch the arms in front of you and breathe. Come onto hands and knees, step your right foot forward. You'll go right into a low lunge here, bring your hands to your right knee, drop your shoulders down, lift your chest up and maybe even reach the left arm up to the ceiling. You can stay here or if you'd like you can bend your left knee and reach back for your left foot. Add a little more intensity to open up the left quad, left hip flexor. Drop your shoulders down your back and breathe into your chest and then we'll release that side. Step your right foot back and your left foot forward, bring your hands to your left knee, lift your chest, relax your shoulders, either stay here or reach the arms up. Then you also have the option to bend your right knee and reach back for your right foot. Breathe into the front of your chest, front of your quad and then we'll release that back foot down. Curl your toes under, set your hands down, step back coming into a downward facing dog. Pedal out your feet, take a deep breath in and exhale it completely. Then look forward and bring your feet to your hands. With inhalation we'll lengthen, exhale fold and inhale come all the way up. Exhale hands to prayer. Surinamaskar B, bend your knees, sit your hips back. Inhale, Utkatasana, exhale and fold forward. Inhale and lengthen, exhale step back, shift forward and lower. Inhale, upward dog or cobra, exhale downward facing dog. Step the right foot forward, pivot the left heel down and with inhalation we'll come up into warrior one and with exhalation we'll release that, bring the hands to the floor, step back and lower. Inhale, cobra or up dog and exhale downward facing dog. Step the left foot forward, pivot the right heel down, inhale coming up into warrior one. Exhale, release, set the hands, step back and lower. Inhale, cobra or up dog and exhale downward facing dog. Cool down your breathing, see if you can slow the breath down. Take a few deep breaths on your own. And if your next exhale, look forward and walk your feet to your hands. Inhale to lengthen, exhale to fold, bend your knees, sit your hips back, inhale to chair and exhale, stand up tall. Bend your knees, sit back, inhale and exhale fold. Inhale lengthen, exhale step back, shift forward and lower. Inhale cobra or up dog, exhale downward dog. Step the right foot forward, pivot the left heel down, inhale warrior one, exhale step back and lower. Inhale to upward dog, exhale to downward dog. Step the left foot forward, pivot the right heel down, inhale warrior one, exhale, set your hands, step back, shift forward and lower. Inhale upward dog, exhale downward dog. Hold and breathe. Take one more deep breath in, exhale completely, look forward, bring your feet to your hands. Inhale to lengthen, exhale to fold, bend your knees, sit your hips back, inhale to chair pose and exhale samastitihi. Utthita trikonasana, will step open to the side and turn your right toes out, left toes in for triangle pose. Reach your arms out to the side, take a deep breath and with exhalation you'll drop your right hip and fold out over your right leg. Setting your right hand anywhere along the shin or the floor. Whatever feels right for you today. Pull your shoulders back, reach your chest forward and breathe. You can either look straight to the side or look up to your left thumb. Just keep a slight bend in your right knee if you have a tendency to hyperextend, we don't want to lock it out. Take one more deep breath in, exhale completely, with your next inhalation you'll come up, turn your left toes out, right toes in and exhale will come on to the second side. Setting your hand wherever it belongs on your shin, on a block on the floor. Either looking to the side or up at your thumb. Keep pulling your shoulders up. On your next inhale you'll come up and exhale, parallel your feet. You may need to widen your stance a bit here, we're going to go into Parsvakasana. Turn your right toes out, left toes in, inhale will reach the arms up, exhale will bend the right knee so that it's over the ankle. Then either take the right elbow to the knee or the hand to the outside of the foot or extended side angle. Left arm can stay reaching to the ceiling or it can come up overhead in line with the ear. Try not to strain your neck at all, you can just look straight to the side and breathe. Inhale, reach the left arm up, press your feet down, inhale come all the way up and exhale will change sides. Left toes out, right toes in, relax your shoulders but lift your chest, inhale, exhale to bend your left knee and then set either elbow to knee or hand to the floor and the right arm up overhead and breathe. Being mindful of the neck, keep firming the left hip in and pressing the knee out so it stays centered over the ankle and keep pressing your right leg straight. Then inhale reach the arm up, press down into your feet and come up the rest of the way, exhale parallel your feet and step to the front of your mat. Release the arms down alongside the body, inhale reach the arms up, exhale hinge at the hips and fold forward, inhale lengthen, exhale set the hands, step back, shift forward and lower. Inhale to come into cobra or an up dog, exhale back to downward facing dog and from downward dog we'll come down to our knees and then just come down to your back. We'll bend the knees to the ceiling, separate the feet about hip distance and take the arms alongside the body, press the back of your head and roll the outer arms underneath you, lifting the chest to the ceiling and then press down into your feet, start to reach the knees forward and slightly towards midline as you lift the hips up towards the ceiling and you can keep your hands where they are or interlace your fingers to give yourself a little more lift through the chest and we'll hold and breathe there as you push down into the feet you'll lift the hips up higher and we just want a lot of space in the low back so that's why you really need to reach the knees forward as you lift the chest to the chin so that you're not compressing your low back. One more deep breath in and then exhale, release your hands, lower your hips down. Take a resting breath here with your hands on your low belly. You have the option to repeat bridge pose or you can come into Urdhva Dhanurasana with me. If you're going on to Urdhva Dhanurasana you'll bring your hands up by your ears so that your fingertips are pointing to your shoulders. You press the hands, press the feet and come up onto the top of your head. You can stay here or squeeze the elbows and knees into midline and press the hands and feet and start to lift up into an upward facing bow shape. Have the option to stay there or walk your hands in towards your feet. Whatever feels right for you today. Breathe in any variation and then we'll exhale, look to the ceiling and come down. From there let's draw the knees into the chest, wrap the arms around the legs giving yourself a nice hug and just roll around a little bit on your low back from side to side letting the legs shift and sway side to side. Then switch the cross and the ankles and sway a little side to side. Either rock up to seated or roll to your right side and come up to seated. Straighten the legs out in front of you, toes pointing to the ceiling.

Take one deep breath to reach the arms up and exhale, hinge at the hips and fold forward reaching for your shins, ankles, feet. Inhale, lengthen the chest forward and exhale to fold and breathe. Release any tension in your neck and even move your head from side to side to make sure you're not holding anywhere. Stay here a few extra breaths just to really counter all the back bending and shoulder opening and to cool you down before Shavasana. Inhale, straighten the arms and exhale, release. I'm going to use a bolster underneath my knees for Shavasana. If you have a bolster, you're welcome to use that as well. We'll just take the bolster. Blankets and pillows work great too. We'll lie down on our backs, turn the palms open to the ceiling, set yourself up so the shoulder blades are on the floor, your chest is nice and open, belly is open and relaxed. Let's just for a moment bring our hands to our heart, acknowledge yourself, acknowledge who you are, send yourself love, feel the support around you. And either remain with your hands at your heart or take your hands, your arms alongside the body. That's how I do it. You can choose to stay here. It's feeling good and you need a bit more time, or you can start to reach through your fingers and toes. When you're ready, reach your arms up overhead, and then bend the knees and roll over to your right side.

From there, press yourself up to seated. Press the ankles, bring your hands to prayer position, gently bow your head. Thank you for joining me today. Namaste.