Week 3: Air Body

Hello. Welcome to week three. Today we're going to build on our previous two weeks where we explored earth and then we explored water and today we'll be inspired by the element air. So let's begin laying down and we'll bring some curiosity to our breathing bodies. Lay down and make that X shape that we visited before where the legs are as wide as the mat or even wider and your arms are back behind you. So again you're making the shape of a letter X or it could feel like a starfish. Drop into your own experience. We get to have our own experience and notice your breathing body. When we breathe we change shape. Our whole body changes shape with each breath. Notice what you notice about your breathing body. What happens when you inhale? What happens when you exhale? What do you notice getting long? What do you notice condensing? Do you feel movement on your skin? Do you feel movement underneath your skin? And now imagine that you're inhaling and exhaling from the navel. So when you inhale from your navel you start to grow into your edges, into your hands and into your feet and when you exhale there's a quiet condensing tone bringing you back towards your navel. So when you inhale you're feeling into an expansion from your belly out through your legs, your tail up through your head and your arms and as you exhale follow a condensing tone that leads you back towards your navel and we're going to exaggerate that movement. So when you inhale really stretch through your arms and lengthen through your legs. As you exhale bring your knees into your chest and bring your hands to your shins. So you're drawing everything back into the navel and let's do that again. So inhale spread back out into your x shape and exhale draw back in towards your navel bringing your knees into your chest and your hands to your shins. Inhale reach your feet out and your arms out coming back to your star. Exhale bring your knees into your chest and your hands to your shins. One more time like that. Inhale spread back out lengthening into your edges and exhale bring your knees into your chest hands to shins. This time as you inhale reach your feet up towards the sky and reach your arms back overhead letting the backs of your hands touch the floor. As you exhale bring your knees into your chest reach your hands straight forward and lift your head off the floor bringing your forehead close to your knees. Inhale reach your feet back up and your arms back overhead let the backs of your hands touch the floor. Exhale knees into the chest, forehead towards the knees, fingertips straight forward and we'll do that again. Inhale from your navel stretching out into your edges lengthening. Exhale drawing everything back into the navel knees bending fingertips reaching forehead forward forehead to knees.

Inhale feet up arms back and exhale knees into the chest fingertips straight forward. Two more times inhale exhale knees into the chest fingers reaching forward inhale feet up arms back exhale knees into the chest fingertips reach straight forward. And this time on an inhale extend right back out to your x shape lengthening the legs out and lengthening the arms out. Come back to noticing your breathing body changing shape and again imagine that breath is coming in the navel and out. On an inhale lengthen back out reaching to fingers and toes. On an exhale experiment with rolling to your right side body bringing your knees close to your chest. On an inhale extend back out to your x and on an exhale experiment with rolling to your left side body drawing your limbs towards your navel. On an inhale extend right back out to your x shape and let's do that side to side one more time exhale rolling to the right and inhale extending back out to your x. Exhale rolling to the left. Inhale extending right back out into your x and exhale pause here and feel the ground. We are initiating from the breath. The breath comes in it fills us up and it inspires movement.

As you inhale extend more dynamically through the left side and exhale simply pause. Inhale extend more dynamically out through the right side and exhale release that. Inhale open your hands really wide and stretch through your fingers. Exhale let your fingers curl in and make a little fist. Again inhaling opening up your hands stretching through the fingers and exhale let the fingers curl in and make a little fist. And now we're going to experiment even more and we'll let our bodies move however they like to move. So ask yourself what do you want to do on your inhale and what do you want to do on your exhale? What comes up for you when you inhale? And what wants to happen on your exhale? So this is improvisational just for a minute experimenting with moving how you wish on your inhale and moving how you like on your exhale.

It can be really subtle you can open your hands close them or maybe it's a little bit more dynamic. Think of your body almost like a balloon letting air come in creating movement letting air move out again allowing for movement. This is a fun exploration to do when you're just waking up. And now extend back out and find your x shape and pause for a moment to notice how you feel. Come back to noticing subtlety your body changing shape with each breath. Bring your knees into your chest hug your legs in roll yourself all the way up to your seat and now turn around to find all fours and begin to move through some cat cows initiating from the breath. So when your inhale comes in let your head and tail reach up towards the sky lengthening the front of the spine.

Exhale root down to lengthen the back of the spine drawing the belly back. Inhale comes in let that inspire a lengthening to the front of the spine. Exhale comes in let that inspire a lengthening to the back of the spine. Find your own rhythm with this inhaling head and tail up exhaling head and tail move down again we're letting the breath initiate our movement. Exhaling head and tail move down as you're ready tuck your toes head back to downward facing dog and walk yourself forward to a standing forward fold. Once folding forward over your legs release the weight of your head and shift your weight back onto your heels shift your weight forward towards the balls of your feet until you feel your spine release towards your head and begin to notice how your spine moves when you breathe. So you may find that when you inhale your spine moves slightly away from the floor and when you exhale your head moves slightly towards the floor. As you inhale your head moves slightly away from the floor and when you exhale your head moves slightly towards the floor so once again we're with the movement in our body from breath. Bend your knees drop your tail roll up your spine let the inhale lift the arms up towards the sky and as you exhale release your hands down to your sides feel yourself standing into dasana mountain pose when we're standing here we're standing in sky feel the space around your body and feel breath inside your body on and inhale reach your arms skyward as you exhale fold forward over your legs as you inhale step your right foot back to a lunge and lower your back knee down pause here for a moment find more padding for your back knee if you need it on an inhale breath hover your hands up off the floor as you lift the top of your sternum as you exhale release your hands down and let your pelvis go back so you're elongating the front leg maybe even straightening it as you inhale bend your front knee and again hands can hover and the top of the sternum can rise as you exhale release your hands down and let your hips go back just a couple more times like that so inhaling knee bends sternum rises exhale hands lower and the pelvis moves back back inhale bend your front knee hover the hands lift the chest exhale release your hands let your hips go back and we'll pause here for a few breaths notice movement coming from the breath and bring your attention all the way down to the belly notice how your belly moves when you breathe notice how your pelvis moves when you breathe and begin to soften the left hip crease as you send the pelvis back bend your front knee tuck your back toes lift your back knee off the ground bring your hands to the floor push down into your hands to step back to plank inhale exhale lower all the way down to your belly inhale rise into low cobra pops of the feet come down exhale lower back down lowering your chest and your head inhale breath come back up into low cobra and exhale lower your chest and your head back down a few more times like that letting your own breath initiate inhale coming up exhale coming down down inhale inspires the lengthening of the front of the spine we come up exhale inspires the lengthening of the back of the spine as we come down inhale we rise exhale we lower tuck your toes lift your thighs press into your hands come up to plank exhale downward facing dog a few breaths here here and again noticing what happens when you inhale what happens when you exhale inhale reach your right leg up towards the sky exhale come forward to plank and bring your right knee towards your right upper arm and now inhale here and exhale bring your right knee closer up to your armpit inhale glide your knee down closer to the elbow and exhale hug your knee up to the armpit inhale glide the knee down and exhale knee right up to the armpit on an inhale reach your right leg back up high to the sky exhale step your right foot forward between your hands this time bring your heel down preparing the legs for virabhadrasana a warrior one as you're ready root down into the feet to come up to your warrior one feel into your front foot and now push down into your front foot to straighten the leg and let the arms go back as you exhale bend your front knee and let your arm circle down and forward inhale root down into your front foot straighten the leg let your arms go back that may inspire a back bend exhale bend your front knee and let your arms come forward inhale foot roots down leg straighten arms move back exhale front knee bends as the arms come forward a couple more times like that inhale arms circle back exhale arms come down and forward inhale arms circle back exhale arms come down and forward pause in the diagonal be with the diagonal line between your back leg your torso and your arms push into your front foot one more time straighten your leg find the back bend at the top filling up filling up with your inhale and exhale bring your hands down plant your hands to frame your front foot and step back to plank inhale here exhale lower all the way down to your belly inhale rise into shalabhasana lift your legs lift your arms back and feel your length th tuck your toes bring the balls of the feet to the floor hands to the underneath the shoulders push down rise up to plank and back to downward dog inhale reach your left leg up towards the sky exhale come forward to plank and bring your left knee to your left upper arm inhale glide your left knee down closer to your elbow and exhale draw it right back up to your armpit inhale glide it down towards the elbow and exhale draw it up to the armpit inhale knee to elbow exhale knee to armpit inhale lift your hips lift your left leg up skyward and exhale step your left foot forward between your hands bring your back heel down organizing your legs for warrior one and inhale rise up feel your front foot touching the earth rooting down move down at the left foot let that inspire a lengthening to the left leg lengthening to the heart center reach your arms back exhale let your fingertips go down and forward as the front knee bends inhale push into the foot to straighten the leg lift the chest roll the arms back and exhale bend your front knee and let your arms come forward inhale straighten your leg inhale straighten the leg lift the chest arm circle back exhale front knee bends as the arms come forward two more times inhale and exhale knee bends arms come forward inhale front leg straightens as the arms go back and exhale knee bends as the arms come forward pause on this diagonal notice the relationship between the back leg and the torso lengthen through the sideways to the fingertips push into your front foot once again find that back bend let your arms come back fill up with your inhale and exhale bend your front knee release your hands forward lift your back heel and step your back foot forward to meet your front foot finding your forward fold noticing your spine move as you breathe release your head bend your knees drop your tail roll up and reach your arms up to the sky exhale release your arms down for tadasana inhale arms rise exhale fold inhale halfway rise and exhale step right back to downward facing dog inhale breath come forward to plank and now choices you can lower down for cobra or flip to the tops of your feet push down through the tops of your feet find the strength of your legs keep that as you transition to your up dog and then root through the hands lift your hips high downward facing dog inhale right leg rises exhale step your right foot forward inhale rise up for high crescent lunge and exhale come slightly forward on the diagonal reach through your hands reach from your sideways to your fingertips put a little curiosity in your hands keep reaching let that shift more weight into your front foot until the back foot leaves the earth for warrior three you can be on a diagonal or you can play with lifting the back leg to lower the torso bring your left foot to meet your right foot stand up tall and exhale fold forward inhale halfway rise exhale find your downward facing dog full round of breath here options you can stay here you could pause and child pose you could come forward for cobra or you could come forward to plank and once again flip to the tops of your feet and once again head into your upward facing dog a couple of breaths here push down into your hands lift your hips high downward facing dog being with your breath notice what happens when you inhale and what happens when you exhale inhale left leg rises exhale left foot steps forward inhale arms rise high crescent lunge and come slightly forward in the diagonal feel the reach of your arms sideways to fingertips keep reaching like there's something you desire out there keep reaching for it let that inspire the back leg to lift a moment here in warrior three maybe lifting the back leg to come down a little bit more and right foot meets the left foot stand up tall irvahastasana and exhale fold forward inhale halfway rise and exhale fold bend your knees drop your tail roll up your spine roll up your spine reach your arms up exhale release your arms down send your left arm up and over your ear finding a side bend root down through both feet lengthen the side waist all the way up towards the left arm and hand on an exhale bend both knees and round down through center as you inhale push through both feet and let your right arm reach up and over as you exhale bend both knees and round through center as you inhale push through your feet and let your left arm go up and over breath initiates exhale knees bend we round through center inhale right fingertips up and over exhale knees bend rounding through center inhale left arm up and over and this time push through both feet and find a little back bend at the top and exhale reverse it left arm up and over bend both knees around through center inhale right fingertips up and over push into the feet lift the chest little back bend and exhale reversing in rounding down through center left fingertips up and over push into the feet a little back bend at the top and left fingertips up and over bend both knees round through center right fingertips up and over and open up into a back bend right fingertips up and over bend both knees round through center and forward fold bend both knees drop your tail roll up your spine inhale lifts the arms and exhale find standing find both feet rooting them down inhale arms rise exhale bend both knees utkatasana try sitting down nice and low practicing your squat push down into your feet come up to stand big inhale circles the arms and exhale we lead from the chest to fold inhale lengthen halfway up exhale step back to downward facing dog walk your hands all the way back towards the back of your mat so you're in a forward fold at the back of your mat now bend your knees and roll all the way up reach your arms up as the arms lift keep your neck free and release your arms down bend your knees and let your arms swing in opposition and as your arms swing begin to feel the air on your skin so we're changing tempos i'm using my knees and my feet to invite the arms to move feeling into air on my skin reach both arms up towards the sky and release your arms down down shift your weight into your left foot and we're going to step the right foot forward and this has some momentum to it i'm letting myself have an experience of falling so as my weight moves into my right foot i roll down my spine and let my hands find the floor and that's going to lift the left leg and now i'll push into my hands to roll back up the spine and come up so there's a bit of a casualness to this and i'm really thinking about falling can i fall so shift the weight to the right foot let the left foot come forward and then roll down your spine and trust that your hands will catch you to lift your right leg up and now push into your hands to roll back up to stand where you were so you'll do that a few more times for yourself or you can play with a little hopping and with the hopping there's no agenda to balance in handstand it's really just about the play and again kind of playing and feeling with some momentum in the air on your skin so shifting weight to the left right foot comes forward rolling forward let the hands catch you to find a little handstand and then it brings you up left foot steps forward little hop rolling up to come back up and again you can see my feet are moving i'm just i'm not thinking about a shape i'm thinking about some momentum catching a wave oh catching a wave to ride up feeling my body in the space whoo maybe that happens and that's okay a couple more times each side as best you can letting the hands find the floor letting there be little hops notice what you're looking at if possible really release the weight of your head head so the next day is really free open up your legs a little bit wider when you're feeling balanced side to side and let your arms go to the right and to the left and i'm really letting this movement come from the ground so my arms are loose and easy and again i'm letting myself feel the wind the air on my skin i'm letting myself feel my breath the wind inside my body and now slow that down i notice what you notice really showing up for your own experience noticing the echo inhale reach your arms up towards the sky exhale fold forward step on back to downward facing dog and lower both knees to find child's pose think of child's pose like a breathing spot like you just climbed up to the top of a mountain and you have a really great view and you're pausing to breathe and take it all in walk your hands in and start to come all the way up and we'll transition now to lie down on our backs x making our way back to our x pausing to feel ourselves extending and spreading out back to that first shape that we were in and notice if anything has changed do you feel any different from the beginning of practice once again inhale and spread through your fingers and toes take up space find your whole size and exhale bring your knees into your chest bring your hands to your shins draw everything into the navel and now release your feet down knees bent finding a constructive rest so here our spine is easy it has all of its curves and notice the movement of your spine when you breathe here you might even find some movement down in the pelvis bring one hand towards the heart bring one hand to the belly and notice the movement underneath your hands and you may also find that when you inhale your hands move slightly apart and when you exhale your hands move slightly towards each other so inhaling hands move slightly apart and exhale hands move slightly towards each other bring your fingertips up so they're facing up towards the ceiling and begin to root down through your feet and root down through the upper arm bones and begin to lift your hips to come into a bridge pose set to bandhasana rooting again through the feet and the upper arms and let that inspire a lift to the chest and a lift to the pelvis and gently release your pelvis back down and we'll play with that one more time so again rooting down through your upper arms and rooting down through your feet begin to rise up through your pelvis and again think of this more like a movement than you are a shape so as you enter in here feel movement that's coming from your breath be with the groundedness that lifts us up towards the sky and gently release your hips back down um pause and feel your breathing body hug your knees into your chest send your legs over to the right for a supine twist let your left arm open up wide to the side be with your breath and notice the movement of your spine what happens to your spine when you inhale and what happens when you exhale you may find that the exhale allows us to move deeper into the pose or release into the shape so we oscillate a little bit in and a little bit out as we become or as we experiment with being deeply in relationship to our breathing body transition back onto your back find the second side and again settle into being with your breathing body be with movement notice what it's like to inhale here what happens when you exhale and you don't have to know what's happening or know what's going to happen rather we can settle into present time when we're with the breath we're with movement and roll onto your back bring your knees close to your chest and now bring the soles of your feet together let your knees open up wide and wrap around hold on to your ankles or you can hold on to your shins and then we'll straighten our arms for supta bhada konasana and make sure that your weight is about at the middle of your sacrum so if your sacrum is really leaving the floor bring your hands a little bit closer up towards your knees with the arms straight you might feel some lengthening to the sides of your neck and your upper shoulders a couple more breaths here hug your knees into your chest once again and begin to extend your legs out preparing your body for shavasana hmm settling in to being right here we've carved out this time so that we can be right here with our bodies in present time so feel your breath passing the walls of your nostrils you might find a cooling on the inhale and a warming on the exhale and now begin to notice your breath at the tip of your nose and again you may find a temperature change so and now send your attention an inch or two in front of your nose and begin to feel into the dialogue with air or a dialogue with space and when we inhale space exhales and when we exhale space inhales when we inhale space exhales when we exhale space inhales when we inhale outside air expands in when we exhale inside air expands out when we inhale outside expands in when we exhale inside expands out and now let your attention widen to feel your whole body and we'll rest here for a few more minutes so so feel breath be with breath and notice that as you breathe your body changes shape begin to explore a little bit of movement that feels good to you again movement that is inspired by the breath maybe it feels good to stretch through your hands and your feet or extend your arms up overhead and as you feel ready transition to your side body and rest there press down into your hands and come all the way up to your seat and let's find a comfortable seat so find something to sit on so that you're sitting on your sitting bones rather than your spine finding a comfortable seat inhaling and exhaling again being with movement and the exchange of inside and outside and when we inhale outside expands in when we exhale inside expands out gently open up your mouth and experiment with inhaling and exhaling through the mouth feel your breath passing the walls of your mouth perhaps one of the most sensuous experiences is the feeling of breath we're actually being touched on the inside it might even feel good to find a couple sighs breath made audible is sound and gently allow the lips to close and continue to explore breath moving in and out of the nose and when we breathe we change shape let your attention stay with the body let your learning come from being with the body let your research be in the body let your curiosity be in the body continue to feel your breath and the movement of breath and expand to include your skin your covering like the soil of the earth and feel your skin touching the air and the air touching your skin consider the support of air and consider the support of gravity so if your eyes were closed gently allow them to open and let light come to you so the eyes are soft and be with the air be with the space feel your breath inside and the exchange with the outside as we inhale outside expands in and as we exhale inside expands out and gently relax your body let yourself sway a little bit find any kind of movement that feels enjoyable and now find your piece of paper and your pen and take some time to write about your experience of being in your body breathing write about your sensations around what you notice what you feel and sometimes as we're with our breath there are things that arise that are a little bit uncomfortable or there might be a little edge or maybe you're finding a lot of things that are quite pleasurable and just give space for whatever is arising to be the practice we don't have to change our experience we're just learning how to be with our experience so take some time and and write and for this week our our homework assignment is to be with the air and what I was thinking is you could take a couple of maybe three times this week to go for a walk and change tempos so walk slow and then walk really fast and feel the air on your skin and notice what it's like to breathe in the city notice what it's like to go for a walk in a park and breathe the air in the park maybe you live in the country notice what the air is like in the country and just again like experimenting with your body in different places in different environments and the effect that has on you let's bring our hands together in front of our hearts and this time we're going to open up our hands a little bit wider so our hands are about as wide as our shoulders or even wider and then gently bring your hands closer together and maybe they'll touch and now we'll include the breath so when you inhale feel your hands meeting and when you exhale let your hands move apart so we're describing the heart space when we inhale our lungs move in towards our heart and when we exhale our heart expands into our lungs when we inhale our lungs come in and we feel into the heart exhale spreading the hands apart feeling the heart spread into the lungs a couple more times like that inhaling hands together exhale hands apart inhale hands together exhale hands apart and now spread your hands out even more can your hands still feel their relationship to each other and to the heart and to the lungs and now slowly slowly bring your hands towards each other letting the elbows bend bringing your hands closer and closer feeling the shifting space sensation shifting at the skin you might even feel a shift of the interior of the hands eventually the hands will come all the way together to touch and when they do feel them touch follow the touch of the hands all the way back to the heart and we'll close our practice today with a bow thank you