Standing Free

Hello, welcome to your practice, and today's practice will be exploring standing in our power and our freedom. We'll get started at the top of the mat. So beginning with your feet hip-width distance apart, and you might even take a look at your feet and just check to see if your feet are nice and parallel, and we'll begin with some arms solutes. So you'll release your arms down, and then on your next inhale, bring your arms up overhead. The hands will come together, and as you exhale, you'll tap the back of your heart and bring your hands through towards the front, and so we're going to do that two more times.

So releasing the arms down, inhale, sweep the arms up, exhale, hands together, tap the back of the heart, and down to the front. One more, releasing the arms, inhale, exhale, tap the back of the heart, and then bring it down to the front. Beautiful, let's release the arms, inhale, sweep the arms over your head. This time we'll forward fold, so as you exhale, tap the back of the heart, and you'll fold all the way in to a forward fold. Hands can release, inhale, halfway lift position, arda uttanasana, exhale, plant your hands, let's step back to plank together, one step, and then your second step, nice and strong in plank.

Take an inhale, exhale, chaturanga, or lower down slow. Inhale, up dog or cobra, exhale, downward facing dog. Couple of breaths here, really find a nice, strong, powerful dog, arms are strong, triceps wrapping towards the earth, inner thighs rolling back. And then on your next inhale, let's float the right leg high to the sky with a deep breath, exhale, step your foot between your hands, crescent lunge, high lunge, so the back heels off the mat, inhale, taking the arms up to the sky, big, expansive breath in. Now we're gonna do that same arm salute, as you exhale, hands together, they'll tap the back of the heart, and then we'll go right into our twist, left elbow to right thigh, hands in prayer, nice and long through the spine, feel the power of the front leg, take a deep breath here, if you like, gazing towards the right edge of your mat, exhale, take your hands to the mat, downward facing dog, step it back.

Take a nice inhale here, exhale, inhale, take the left leg high to the sky, and then exhale, step your left foot forward, back heels lifted, nice and strong in the legs, inhale, feel the power of your legs as your arms sweep to the sky, exhale, hands together, tap the back of the heart, crescent twist, taking right elbow to left thigh, you got it, back leg is nice and strong, low belly can hug in, feel the power of the back leg, take one more breath in again, you can gaze towards the left edge of your mat, and then exhale, hands to the mat, step it back, downward facing dog, couple expansive breaths here, and then on your next inhale, let's lift the heels, look forward, exhale, bend your knees, if you like, step or jump or walk to the top of your mat, halfway lift, exhale full, let's bend our knees, and you'll interlace the hands behind the back, now you can grab a towel or a strap here if you like, nice soft grip, you can keep your knees as bent as you like, we're gonna bring the arms up and over towards the floor, the belly can stay on the thighs, or if it feels good, straightening the legs, shaking your head out, couple of breaths, and then gently releasing the arms, you'll bend your knees, and the arms can release down like a rag doll, you'll slowly roll your way to standing, nice and slow, beautiful, and then we're gonna grab our blocks, so you'll grab your two blocks, and set those towards the top of your mat, and then we'll set our feet wide on the mat, as you inhale you'll bring your arms up and over, exhale, hands tap the back of the heart, you're gonna fold into a wide legged forward fold, beautiful, and then the hands can release to the blocks, so we're gonna start bending the right knee, and your right hand is gonna stay on your block, you can keep that right arm nice and strong, you can have your thumb on the inside of the block, the left hand will find the upper hip or sacrum, now as you inhale expand through the heart, get nice and long, and as you exhale you'll twist towards the left edge of your mat, you can stay here if this feels great, really bend into that right knee, option is to bring that left arm up towards the sky, and then slowly reversing your path, so bend both knees and take the left hand to the block, keep your left knee nice and bend, and then when you're ready you'll take your right hand to your upper hip or sacrum, and then you'll lengthen on your inhale, and as you exhale you'll twist towards the right edge of your mat, and you can stay here if this feels great, or you'll bring your right arm up, twisting towards the right, and slowly reversing your path, coming back to center, bend your knees, slowly roll your way to standing, and then we'll set our blocks to the side, so you can take your blocks and set those to the side, we'll find our way back to the top of the mat, so this is tree pose, left leg will lift first, and so right leg is nice and strong, you can use your hand if you like to place your hands to the heart to begin, and then on your inhale bring your arms wide, so feel the power of your standing leg, palms will turn up, exhale draw your navel in, draw your belly in, and bring your arms up overhead, tree pose, big breath here, nice and steady, and then on your exhale hands together at the heart, big lunging step back with your left leg, so you'll inhale lift the left leg knee and then you'll step it back for crescent, so finding the strength in that front leg, and then we're taking three pulses towards Virabhadrasana three, so as you inhale you'll take a deep breath, you'll bend your back knee, and then you'll spring forward, little mini warrior three, and then hands to heart you'll land your back foot down, beautiful, let's do two more, inhale bend your back knee, spring forward, warrior three, exhale hands to heart landing a big lunging step back, one more, bend your knee, inhale spring forward, exhale hands to heart, crescent lunge, now from here take a breath, inhale, exhale twisting into your lunge, heart's nice and long, right leg is strong, feeling the power of that front leg and the freedom of the breath, right so really twisting through the heart, take one more breath here inhale, if you like gaze down and when you're ready inhale open into Virabhadrasana two, really feeling the power of that front leg, and settling into the freedom around the heart and the chest, and then on your next breath in we'll straighten the front leg, you'll turn all your toes to face the left edge of your mat, inhale get long hands to hips as you exhale, prasarita inhale we'll lift through the heart and then forward fold on the exhale, you're welcome to grab your blocks here for your hands, you're also welcome just to set the hands on the mat, inhale to lift and lengthen, maybe shift into the balls of the feet a bit more, then exhale folding in, the hands can settle under the shoulders nice and long through the chest and the heart, breathing in and out through the nose, gathering your energy up through the feet, up into the heart, and then on your next breath in nice and strong in the legs, the arches are lifting, we'll find our halfway lift inhale, take your hands to your hips, on your exhale low belly tones, and then inhale come all the way up, beautiful and then we'll turn our toes, step to the front of the mat, hands of the heart samastitihi, and just taking a moment to arrive, gather your energy, settle your breath, the tree pose, this time the left leg is down, right leg lifts, so if you like using your hand to support yourself as you gather your tree energy, drawing energy up through that standing leg, hands can start at the heart and then again we'll inhale take the arms wide palms up, as you exhale the low belly tones and then inhale bring your arms up towards the sky for tree, if you like here really feel that standing leg rooting into the earth and then drawing energy up through the low belly, take another inhale, exhale hands to heart, your lunging step back with that right leg, so you'll draw the left knee in or right knee in and step it back, crescent, so get steady in the front leg, feel the power of the back leg, we'll take our three lunges towards warrior three, inhale take a deep breath, exhale bend the back knee, spring forward warrior three, hands to heart, step it back, two more inhale take a deep breath, exhale spring forward, you got it, nice and steady and stepping it back, crescent last one, bend the back knee, inhale spring forward, warrior three, exhale stepping it back, crescent lunge, so hands with the heart, strong in the back leg, inhale lift and lengthen, exhale right elbow, left thigh prayer twist and again feeling the freedom of the breath right, reclaiming your energy from the legs, so really drawing that energy up through the legs into the heart, take one more breath in and then gazing down, inhale open it up, Virabhandrasana two, warrior two, nice and steady, couple of breaths here continuing to lift the arch of the back leg and then on your inhale straightening the front leg, turn all toes to face the right edge of your mat, arms can stay wide, inhale lift and lengthen, interlace the hands behind the back as you exhale, soft grip if you like or a little bit tighter, again you can use your strap here if you need it, inhale lifting and lengthening, heart can lift, exhale folding in, Prasarita Padottanasana C, so forward fold with the hands and your legs again, strap if you like it, relax your head, play with shifting your weight into the toes, couple of breaths here, feeling the freedom around the back of the heart and then when you're ready gently releasing your hands to the mat, inhale you'll find a nice halfway lift, heart nice and long, exhale take your hands to your hips, draw your low belly back and then inhale come all the way to standing and we'll step, turn the feet, step to the top of the mat. So now we're going to head into pyramid pose, we're going to use our two blocks, so go ahead grab your two blocks, you'll set your two blocks up at the top of your mat, you might go the highway to begin and then from here you'll bring your feet together, hands at the hips and then on the next breath in you're just going to take a big step back with your left foot and we'll start to really square the hips towards the front of the mat, it's not too essential but just be checking in with your back ankle, the toes are at an angle and you can bend your front knee and bring those blocks in closer if they are too far forward, okay. So from here we're really studying the front leg and the elbows can point back, strong legs, inhale lift through the heart, exhale you'll start to fold in about half way and then when you're ready the hands will find their way to those blocks. Now this is a great place for an ecology check, checking in with your back leg and your front leg, you might find yourself micro bending the front leg, totally fine otherwise extending strong, inhale lifting and lengthening through the heart as you exhale you might fold in. I like two little pulses here so we're going to add that in, you'll find a little halfway lift on your breath, exhale let's do one more like that, inhale halfway lift, exhale fold, beautiful so you can stay here, you can go down a notch on your blocks if you like, couple of breaths in, folding in.

You might find yourself just really working to lift the arch of the back leg. Now one option here if you're really cozy we'll start to add in our revolved triangle pose and so you can use this same block with your left hand, you can set one block forward if you like and from here what we do is check in with the back leg, you might step it in maybe three to four inches or so and my left hand stays on the block nice and strong, my right hand goes to my hip or my sacrum, so you might find your right hand high on the hip there, inhale lengthening through the spine and as you exhale you might start to twist towards the right edge of your mat, you can stay there or bring the arm up. Now an option here if you feel more open is to set that block to the side, you can have the hand on the inside of the foot, on top of the foot, on the outside of the foot, really hugging the midline, finding some spinal length, maybe the arm reaches up. And then reversing your pass, hands can go down, hands to the block, look forward, lift your back heel, bend your back knee, step it forward, halfway lift on the inhale, bend knees, exhale fold and then gently roll your way to stand, beautiful, let's do second side, so let's set the block slightly farther back and then from here we'll step the right foot, a big lunging step back, nice and long through the spine, elbows back, inhale lift through the heart, exhale begin to fold in, again the front knee can bend, if you need that, hands to the blocks, let's start with the high level, both hands on the blocks nice and strong, nice and long in the heart, inhale to lift and lengthen, exhale to fold, so finding your pulse, your rhythm, inhale, exhale. One more inhale, lifting and lengthening and then exhaling folding into your degree, again you might find yourself going down a level as you bow in, hugging the midline, finding that center and then on your next breath in, go ahead find halfway lift, we'll set the back foot in again about three to four inches or so, you might set one of your blocks to the side and you can use one block on the inside of the foot, so my right hand, your right hand on that block, left hand a hip or sacrum, inhale to lift and lengthen, really find the midline with the inner thighs, so they hug in, find some spinal length and as you exhale begin to twist, stay there or reaching the arm up, now you can stay here or again if you felt comfortable hand can go on the inside on top of or even the outside of that foot and then from there reaching the arm up, and then when you're ready reversing your path hands down, bend your back knee, lift your back heel, step your back foot forward, front knee forward fold and then we'll slowly roll our way up to standing, beautiful, let's set our blocks to the side, so you can set those to the side and find your way back to the top of your mat, feet are about samasthiti, so toes together, space between the heels, so we're going to head towards the chair pose of the variation, so on your inhale you'll bend your knees, lift your arms, utkatasana chair pose, now as you exhale you'll interlace your hands behind your back, so you can stay here or as you inhale create space, since you exhale you'll fold in a little bit deeper, so the thighs become more parallel to the mat, stay here and you start to really bring the thighs and chest together, maybe curl in, maybe the arms up and over towards the front of your mat, couple of breaths, then gently releasing, inhale halfway lift, exhale plant your hands, step it back, plank, let's take a vinyasa, inhale plank pose, exhale chaturanga, inhale upward facing dog, exhale downward facing dog, we're making our way onto our back, so as you next inhale you'll take your knees to the floor and then you'll sit down and lie down on your back, feet are hip-width distance apart, so let's grab a block for bridge, grab one block and you can go the the medium highway or the highway, yogi's choice, feet are hip-width distance apart, you'll lift your hips and set your block under your sacrum, that bony triangle around the hip area and then from there you can readjust the shoulders if you like lift the chest and then bring the shoulders under the back a bit and the arms can stay nice and wide, option here the feet are nice and hip-width distance apart, if it's available to you can take an interlace if that's available, otherwise the arms stay by your sides and really feeling the power of the legs and seeing how the power of the legs can free up the chest and the heart, so you might even feel that activation with your breath, nice and strong in the feet and then when you're ready you'll lift your hips and remove the block and you can set that to the side, we're going to do two more rounds of bridge and so you're welcome to use a block if you like for those two rounds, otherwise we'll do that same interlace that we did before, so the feet are hip-width distance apart, nice and strong in the legs as you inhale, exhale, low belly tones, you might even feel like you're scooping your pelvis a bit and then inhale lift the hips and then from there maybe you interlace the hands behind the back shrug the shoulders, you find that same interlace of the hands that we've practiced earlier and then from here again power the legs, heart lifting really feeling the freedom that comes from the breath, soft eyes and jaw, you might even find a little depth to the pose, couple the breaths, feeling the power in your legs, freedom in the heart, nice work and you'll slowly release your arms, lift your heels and then just roll your way down and you can pause with your knees together if you like, take another moment and we'll take one more round, so feet are hip-width distance apart, really feeling solid in the legs, inhale, exhale, low belly tones and then on the next inhale lift the hips, again interlacing hands, shrugging shoulders under, lifting through the heart, freedom in your breath, see if you can find space around the front ribs, power the legs, stay spacious, and when you're ready you're releasing, lifting the heels, arms lift, you can slowly roll your way down, nice work and then let's draw your knees into your chest, give yourself a nice hug upon Asana, both knees are going to stay together and using your right hand you'll bring both knees over towards the right, you can tee out your left arm, look to the left, the palm can face up, really spacious in the chest and the heart and then on your next breath in we'll bring the knees up through center and then using the left hand, take both knees over towards the left, you can lift and shift your hips if you need to, right arm reaches to the right, palm can be up, nice soft gaze, allowing the breath to feel free, then inhale bringing the knees to center, give yourself a nice hug if you like even curling your forehead towards your knees, then exhale releasing the legs, we'll release the legs wide on the mat setting it for Shavasana, before we go there just cupping your head and your hands if you like, rocking out any tension that you might have and then lying on your back, arms are wide and feeling the freedom in the chest here, Shavasana I like to lift the chest off the mat, shrug the shoulder blades under the back, then release the chest back to the floor, taking that last big breath in and then settling down for Shavasana, closing the eyes, letting it all go.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm just becoming aware of your body and space, feeling the air on your skin, your body, beginning to deepen your breath, maybe begin to wiggle your fingers and your toes.

On your next inhale, you might stretch your arms out and your legs out, then bending the back, that helps you roll to one side and you'll pause there for a moment on your way to a seat. Once you're ready, finding your way to your seat. Hands can be at the front of the heart. Let me close the eyes. Thank you so much for sharing your practice today.

Namaste.