Breathe Easy

Welcome. Nice to be together. This floor practice is designed to help us breathe easy. So we'll focus on some spinal extension, side body opening, hips and hamstrings. But first we'll start with some breath awareness. So you'll want a strap for this practice. And I'm seated in Virasana, our hero's pose. Come into a comfortable seat. So depending on your knees, your hips, your feet, it might be something like this. It might be just a simple cross-leg position or even seated in a chair. If you're coming into this shape, you might find one to two blocks are useful bringing it underneath your sitting bones or propping yourself up if you're coming into just a simple cross-legged position. Okay. So go ahead and grab your strap. And mine's a bit long, so I have it folded in half. We're going to bring our strap behind us. So just below the shoulder blades and wrapping our strap around our rib cage, around the back of the diaphragm. And then you're going to cross your strap just in front of you, creating like a simple X when you look down. Yeah, make sure it's in the right spot and the strap is nice and comfy along your rib cage. And then with the support of your strap, begin to draw your spine into your back. Yeah. And then you're drawing the hands apart as you draw the shoulder blades down the back. You might feel the collarbones broaden and spread a bit here. And you want to create just enough support pulling on the strap without strangling yourself. So you just offer a little bit of support so you get some feedback. Nice. So you might keep your eyes open or closed. And from here, begin to bring your attention towards your breath. And as you do this, can you begin to feel the breath wide through the rib cage and stretching into the strap. And then feeling how the lungs empty and stay with this for a few moments. Relaxing through the eyes, the jaw. Feeling how the lungs gently stretch into the side body into the rib cage, expanding while keeping it relaxed through the shoulders, the upper chest and the neck. Can you even feel the breath in the back of your body? So the back of the ribs. A few more moments here. I find this strap offers a nice bit of feedback as we come into relationship with our breath. So oftentimes the tendency is to breathe up into the shoulders and the neck and the jaw. And so here we're drawing our attention down and wide into the rib cage, beginning to awaken the diaphragmatic breathing. And without any force or pushing or strain. Recognizing how the breath responds with your attention. Allow for an inhale. Allow for an exhale. When you're ready, releasing the strap and we'll bring it off to the side and then we'll stretch our legs out. So coming into a tabletop position. So finding your way onto your hands and your knees. And I have a blanket under my knees. So you might find that feels good and offers just a little bit more padding and support. And then as you arrive, hands about shoulder width apart, knees about hips width apart. And then go ahead and extend back through your right leg and tuck the toes under. And then draw your heel back towards the back of your mat and then press through the ball of the foot as you stretch the toes. And then drawing the heel back and then pressing through the ball of the foot, stretching the toes and a few times forward and back. You can look down just to let the neck release and relax. Stretching the back of the leg, the heel, the calf, the back of the knee. And then switch, extend back through the left leg, tuck the toes under and then just press through the ball of the foot, rocking forward and back. Nice. And then as you're ready, we'll move into cat-cows. So just allow for an inhale. And as you exhale, let your back round and stretch, releasing the back of the neck. And can you feel the strap there right around the back ribs? That's it. And then as you inhale, move into your extension. So lead with the heart, feeling that space through your collarbones, your sitting bones, dropping the belly. And then exhale, pull the navel towards the spine, stretch the back, feel it. You can press the floor away as you release the neck. And then inhale, shoulders over the wrist, leading with the heart, finding your extension. Stay long through the neck without looking up and pinching. And then a few more rounds, exhale, let your back round and stretch. And then inhale, roll the pelvis forward, wide through the collarbones, shoulder blades drawing towards each other. And just continue to find your own rhythm, continue to move at your own pace. And really whatever breathing pattern feels good for your body, moving through extension, arching and lengthening, and then rounding and stretching the back as you release the neck. A few more rounds here. You might close your eyes and just visualize the movement through your spine, the bones moving. And then coming into a neutral position. So shoulders over the wrist. And we'll find a side plank variation from here. So extend back through your left leg again, and then we'll transfer into our right arm. So stacking your shoulder over your wrist, extending through your left leg. And that bottom hip and foot might open more like a kickstand. And then from here, you might reach your top arm up towards the sky and feel that you can reach from your heart into both hands. That's it. You might stay here, sweep your arm down by your back leg in front of your face, and then reach it overhead. So you're kind of rooting through the outer edge of your left foot up through your fingers. Take a nice full breath into the side body. Find a place where your neck feels good. And then on the next cell, release your arm down and then just slow spin onto the ball of your back foot. Draw the knee back in a few more rounds of cat cow here, just moving that through the body as we move towards the second side. Nice. Arching and then rounding. Good. Coming into neutral, and then extend back through the right leg. As you're ready, transfer into your left arm. So the shoulder's stacking over the wrist. Readjust your bottom foot and hip, and then maybe you're reaching that top arm up towards the sky, and then reaching from the heart into both hands. You might keep the top arm towards the sky or float it down by your back leg in front of your face, and then reaching it overhead, rooting, reaching, letting that whole side body stretch and open. And finding a place where your neck feels good. One more inhale, and then exhale, slow release that top arm down. Slowly spin onto the ball of your back right foot.

Draw the knee in, and then last few rounds here of cat cow, just moving that through. Exhale to round and curl. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, and then exhale round from here, tucking the toes under, lifting the hips, moving towards a downward facing dog. Keep a soft bend through the knees, spread the fingers, and then reach your sitting bones up towards the sky, feeling that extension through your spine, feeling the back of the neck release. And can you feel the sense of the breath in the back body, back of the heart? Nice. One more inhale, exhale slow, let the knees lower down. And let's come onto our belly from here. So just lowering down, drawing the elbows in, we'll set up for Sphinx pose. So stretching the arms forward, and then coming up onto your forearms. So the elbows are gonna just in front of the shoulders, feet are about hips width apart. And then from here, get a sense of feeling of dragging your heart forward. So notice how this creates a bit of length and traction through your mid upper back area, nice and wide through the collarbones. And then the play here is to soften and relax through the face, through the buttocks, through the legs, and finding a place where your neck feels good. So maybe it's lifting and extending from the base of the spine or maybe it's releasing. Notice how this shape feels through your spine, right? This backbend. One more inhale. As you're ready, exhale, let your elbows go wide and let your forehead rest on the top of your hands. You might shimmy your hips a little bit side to side just to relax the effort through the back. Beautiful. And then moving through a few rounds of cobra. So go ahead and slide your palms in line with your shoulders and draw your elbows in towards your ribcage. Forehead down towards the earth, roll the shoulders up and then back down. Feel that space through your collarbones. And then from here on an inhale, press the palms into the earth and begin to just lift the chest coming into a baby cobra. Really feel those back, the back muscles engaging as the elbows draw in, lifting up and then slowly with the heart lower down. Take a few more rolling cobras, press through the palms. Inhale, lifting up. And then exhale, lead with the heart, lower down. Beautiful. One more like this. Inhale, press through the palms, lifting the upper body and then exhale, slow lower down. As you're ready, tuck the toes under, draw the elbows in, press yourself up onto your knees and we'll round our way back into a child's pose. Let the knees go nice and wide and then sinking the hips back towards the heel. So any amount and you might let your forehead rest on your hands or you might even stack your fists underneath your forehead. And taking a few moments here, letting the back release after back bending and noticing how this shape feels through your hips, your lower back, your feet. Nice. From child's pose, as you're ready, begin to walk your arms forward. We'll round our way back into tabletop and come into one last downward dog. So one last inversion with a variation. So as you're ready, spread your fingers, tuck your toes, lift your sitting bones up towards the sky, finding downward dog, soft, bend through the knees and then walk the feet in a little bit and we're going to walk the feet wider than the mat. So nice and wide. And then begin to shift your weight back towards the back body, towards the sitting bones. So you're going to feel how you can draw and lengthen through the spine. So you're drawing the hips away from the hands and then begin to soften and release the heart, the chest towards the floor. The back of the neck is nice and soft and releasing and keep a soft bend through the back of the knees here for the hamstrings. And as you press through the fingertips and the palms, can you feel the sense of the breath in the back of your body? A few more moments here. You might begin to bend your right knee and just shift the hips over to the right a little bit. Come back through center, shift, bend that left knee, shift the hips to the left. Maybe a few times like this side to side, just waking up the inner leg lines. And coming back to center, we're going to walk the feet back into our downward facing dog shape and then go ahead and lower the knees. And then one last time rounding back towards a child's pose, just sinking the hips back towards the heels. And maybe you're stacking your hands or your fists, letting the forehead release. Nice full exhale, feeling the pelvis releasing towards the heels. From child's pose, we'll slowly transition up and come into a seated shape. So you might reorganize. You have a folded blanket under your sitting bones and we're going to climb forward and we're going to stretch our legs out. So you might want to block nearby as well, a block and a blanket. So we're going to sit up on our blanket just to help elevate the pelvis and come into a staff pose, also known as dandasana, extending out through the legs. You might keep a soft bend through the back of the knees and we're going to bring our hands towards the floor of the blanket, grounding through the sitting bones. And as you inhale, feeling the spine lengthen a bit, feeling that length through the front of the body, the chest, the shoulder softening down the back. And I find this is not an easy pose. It requires a lot for the hamstrings, the core muscles, feeling the spine draw into the back. Nice. And then from here, we'll take our hands underneath our left knee, draw the foot in and then bring the sole of that left foot towards the left inner thigh, coming into Janu shirshasana here. And then as you let that left knee fall towards the floor, you might find bringing a block or a blanket underneath the knee makes sense for your body. And then taking your time, you might stay right here. If it feels right for your body, you might begin to hinge at your hips and begin to walk the hands forward. Now, working with that extension through the spine, you might come up onto your fingertips and with an inhale, just lengthening through the spine, drawing the heart forward, feeling that space across your chest, your collarbones, the neck is soft and flexing that right foot a bit. Nice. What I like to do is bring my right hand underneath my right ribs and just gently kind of draw the belly back. Feel how that kind of draws the left ribs forward.

And you might stay with the extension or it might feel good to just round and stretch your back as you release the back of the neck. And now here in this shape, can you recall or remember that feeling of the strap in the back of the ribs? Let the back of the ribs be nice and full with breath. Breathing into where you feel the sensation or the stretch. And noticing how the sensation changes with a bit of time here. Just a few more moments. When you're ready, just slow chin into the chest, rolling your way up and take a moment to pause. And we're going to bring our left hand underneath our knee and just draw our knee back up and toe heel the foot just a little bit wider. We're going to come into a seated spinal twist from here. Here's where a block might be useful underneath your left hand. So inhale, reach the right arm up towards the sky. And with an exhale, we're twisting towards our knee. So towards the left, maybe wrapping the hand, the arm around the knee. And then your left arm reaches down towards the floor. Maybe there's a blanket or a block there. And then as you inhale, grounding through your sitting bones, feel the spine draw into your back. Feel that length. And then with an exhale, just a gentle twist to the left. And just finding a place where your neck feels comfortable. Nice and wide for those back ribs. So oftentimes what can happen with spinal twisting is the back can kind of harden up. I find that's true for me. So as you lengthen up through the spine, allow for that bit of softening. Good. And then stay in the twist and just let the head and gaze come over towards the front shoulder facing the front of your mat. Good. And then just slowly unwind the upper body. Beautiful. Lean back, free that left leg and just shake the legs out. Nice. We'll find the other side, bring the hands underneath your right knee, draw the knee in, grab ahold of your ankle, close the knee and then sole that foot towards the left inner thigh. Again, you might find on this knee and this hip you'd like support underneath it. And then begin to inhale, lengthen up through the spine and you might stay right here. You might begin to slowly walk the hands forward. So you're hinging at the hip. Feel the lower belly lengthening the front of the spine lengthening. And you might pause when you first begin to feel a stretch. I know I feel a lot of sensation through the hamstrings, the back of the leg, the knee, the hip. You can come up onto your fingertips and just draw and traction the heart forward, feeling that length. And you might stay with this. It might feel good for you today to just round the back, releasing the back of the neck, keeping that extended leg and foot engaged. You might bring your left hand underneath that left side of the ribs, the belly and just kind of pull and drop back. And notice the quality of your breathing. So it's common to hold the breath or you might notice the breath feels a little bit shallow as there's more sensation in the shape or the posture. You allow the breath to be smooth and relaxed and softening through the eyes and the jaw. And then as you feel ready, chin into the chest, just slowly round and roll your way up, taking a moment to pause. Right hand underneath the right knee, draw the knee towards you and then just to heal the foot a little bit wider. And you might reorganize your block behind you. We'll inhale, reach up through that left arm and then exhale, twist to the right. You might wrap your left arm around the right, right hand towards the floor on a block and inhale, drawing the spine into the back, feel a leg. And then exhale, gentle twist to the right, keeping that left leg engaged. And then once you arrive, take a few moments here in the spinal twist. You might turn the gaze over the right shoulder and feeling the inhale lengthen the spine and the exhale gently twist the body. You might even visualize this rotation, the spinal twisting from the tailbone all the way up, one vertebra at a time. Stay on a twist and then as you're ready, just let the gaze, let the head come over the front shoulder, stretching the neck and then let the body unwind. Nice. And then just free the legs and take a moment, shake the legs out. And we'll come into a little bit of a boat pose. So go ahead and you might slide off your blanket here, bend your knees and then scoop the back of the knees up with your hands, draw the shoulders down the back, feeling that space through the collar bones, the sitting bones, using your abdominal muscles here to hold you up. You might stay right here. You might play with leaning the weight back into the sitting bones and then reaching the legs up, supporting the back of your legs with your hands and smiling. Nice. If it feels okay on your back, you might play with extending your legs towards this, towards straight or keeping them bent. And then I'd be tapping one foot down and lifting it up and tapping the other foot down and lifting it up. Then play with this a few times, tapping, lifting, tapping, lifting. Good. And then come on up. Nice. From here, we'll roll onto our back. So setting yourself up on your back. You might have a blanket under your head or under your spine.

And as you come onto your back, draw your knees into your chest and just rock a little bit from side to side here. Move into windshield wipers. Let the feet come down nice and wide. So maybe as wide as your mat, your arms might stretch out to your sides or maybe over the top of your head. And then just letting the knees go over to one side. So you're cruising onto the outer edges, inner edges of the feet, and then back up through center, and then exhale over to the other side. And then continue side to side. Nice. Staying present with your breathing and your head might want to rock in one direction or the other. Finding this fluid movement through the pelvis, through the hips. Next time your knees come over to the right, keep the knees to the right. And then go ahead, if it feels all right for your shoulder, just reach on up through your left arm. Feeling that long line from the fingertips all the way down for your left thigh. Taking a nice full breath here into the side body. Notice you can tether your attention into the left lung. And feeling how the breath responds with your attention. And slow, let the knees come back up through center and over to the left. And then stretch on up through that right arm. Lengthening through the fingers, down through the right side body, through the thigh. And finding a place where your neck feels comfortable. Dropping your attention into your right lung. Feeling how the breath responds. All right. And then bring the knees back up. Nice. Hug the knees back into your chest and rock a little bit side to side. Bringing the feet down to the floor. Let's bring the soles of our feet together, knees wide. So coming into a butterfly or bound angle shape. And letting the hands rest on the lower belly. Feeling the front ribs draw down towards the floor as you make contact with the back of the body and the floor. The tailbone draws under. And for a few moments here we're just allowing gravity to assist in this opening. Stretching through the hips. You might keep the hands on the belly connecting with your breath. You might choose to stretch your arms over the top of your head and maybe hands by the elbows. Opening through the shoulders. And smoothing out the forehead, the space between the eyebrows. And then slow releasing the arms. Scoop your knees up with your hands. And then bring the feet wide and let the knees rest together. So finding the opposite shape. Constructive rest. This internal rotation through the thigh bones, through the femurs. And hands might rest on the belly or you might reach the arms out. Noticing how this shape feels on your lower back. Your sacrum, hips. And you might choose to stay here for Shavasana for a final relaxation or you might choose to just stretch your legs out for about a minute or so. Just really allowing yourself to take up space on the floor. Any support that would feel nice under your legs or under your head or on top of your body.

Letting the back of the eyes soften. Feeling the back of the body releasing towards the earth. As always, you're welcome to stay in your Shavasana as long as you'd like and have time for. When you feel ready to transition, drawing the knees into your chest, inviting movement back into the body and then rolling onto your side, you might pause there. And just keeping the way to the head heavy. When you feel ready, press the hands into the floor. Keep the head heavy. Just slowly make your way up towards the seat. And you might bring a blanket underneath you or block, whatever you have. Let's take a few moments to sit together. So just coming into a comfortable seat. And a wobbling in a bit, feeling that quality of length up through the spine. Shoulders softening down the back, in the back of the neck, the base of the skull, feel relaxed and spacious. From here, allow for an inhale. Nice, full exhale. Joining the hands together at the heart. Thank you for your practice. Namaste.