Strong Back, Receptive Heart

Good morning. Welcome back. Nice to see you. In this practice, we're going to play with the themes of developing a real strong supportive back and a more kind of spacious, receptive heart. So we'll find a few lunge salutations or variations of Surya Namaskara at sea in preparation for some back bending in bow and camel. So join me at the top of your mat. Take a few moments here, spread your toes, let the palms open, finding your tadasana, your mountain pose. Soft through the back of the knees, invite a quality of length up through the spine, nice and easy up through the base of your skull. So you might feel the head drawing back a little bit. And can you feel the sense of the shoulder blades drawing towards each other a little bit, just kind of hugging into your spine. Beautiful. And then drawing your attention towards your breath, bringing the hands together at the heart. Taking a few moments here to feel, you might imagine your lungs, feeling the breath, gently expand and then release. Together moving with our breath on an inhale, circle your arms up to the sky. Take a moment, linger here, pause and lengthen. This feels so nice. With an exhale, pull the navel into the spine, hinge at the hips forward fold, nice and easy. Maybe a soft bend through the knees, releasing the head. As you inhale, feel a half arch. Feel your spine lengthen, stretching the back of the legs. Exhale, we're going to bend our knees. We're going to step our right foot back into a lunge. Keep the left knee bent.

Back right leg is up off the floor and just wiggle back through the ball of that right foot. Feel the length forward through the heart. Now you can hug that left hip in a little bit. Here's where you might want to blanket underneath your right knee. We're going to lower it down, come back a little bit, stretching through the front leg and exhale, sink in. Two more times, as usual. Inhale, draw the hips back and exhale, sink into your lunge. One more time, draw the hips back, extend through that left leg, exhale, lunge forward and then as you're ready, inhale, rise up, reach the arms up towards the sky settling down as you lift and find a bit more space through your rib cage. Maybe there's a soft bend through your elbows to make space for your shoulders, to make a bit more room around the heart. Inhale, exhale, bring the hands around that front foot. Tuck the back toes, lift the back leg. We're stepping back into our downward facing dog, our first one. So you might just pedal your feet, walk it off, stretch the back of the legs. Just notice what you're working with this morning. Every day's a little different. As you're ready, we're going to inhale and just stretch the right leg up towards the sky and then with an exhale, we're going to step the right foot through between the hands. We go back through the ball of that left foot, lengthen forward through the heart, kind of hug that right hip in, nice and easy through your neck and then lowering that left knee down. Inhale, draw your hips back, long through that right leg. Exhale, bend the front knee, sink into your lunge. Two more times, inhale, draw the hips back. A little hamstring action, bend the front knee, lunging. One more, inhale, draw the hips back and then exhale, go ahead and bend your front right knee, find your lunge and with an inhale, sweep the arms up to the sky. Feel how you can lift your ribcage away from the pelvis, easy up through the shoulders and the neck, breathing, just opening up that back thigh. Inhale, exhale, sweep the hands down to the floor, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, rock and roll, step the left foot forward to meet the right. We're going to inhale, half arch to lengthen, exhale, inhale, forward fold, strong through the legs, with an inhale, sweep the arms up to the sky, reach up, lengthen, with an exhale, hands together at the heart, taking a moment to pause here. Again, as you're ready, inhale, circle the arms up, reach up, exhale, forward fold, releasing, inhale, half arch to lengthen, exhale, we're going to step our left foot back, right knee bends and lower that right knee down. As you're ready, inhale, rise up, reach the arms up, feel that space and length, exhale, release the hands, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, step back into your downward facing dog and you might walk it off. As you're ready, inhale, lift the left leg up to the sky, exhale, step it through for your lunge, reach back through that right heel, wiggle, lengthen, lower that right knee down, as you are ready, inhale, rise up, low lunge, exhale, release the hands, tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, go ahead and step yourself forward, right foot meets the left, inhale to lengthen, exhale, forward fold, bend the knees with your inhale, sweep the arms up, feel that space and length, exhale, hands together at the heart. Let's take another round building some heat, inhale, arms reach up, exhale, dive forward and in, releasing, inhale, half arch to lengthen, exhale, bend the knees, step the right foot back, left knee bends, lower the right knee down to the floor, inhale, sweep your arms up, exhale, release your hands, tuck the back toes, lift the back knee and step back downward facing dog. With an inhale, sweep the right leg up to the sky, exhale, step it through between your hands, wiggle back through that left foot and lower the back knee down, as you are ready, inhale, sweep your arms up, low crescent lunge, exhale, release the hands, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, rock and roll, left foot steps forward to meet the right, inhale, half arch, exhale, forward fold, release the head, strong through the legs, inhale, press through the feet, circle the arms up, exhale, hands together at the heart, one last side, inhale, arms sweep up to the sky, feel that energy, exhale, dive forward and in, ribs in, navel to spine, releasing, inhale, half arch, exhale, bend the knees, step the left foot back, right knee bends, wiggle on back and lower that back left knee down, as you are ready, inhale, sweep the arms up, beautiful low crescent, exhale, release the hands, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, step the right foot back, downward dog, pedal the feet, walk it off, as you are ready, inhale, left leg lifts, exhale, step it through between the hands, wiggle back through the ball, that right foot, lengthen forward through the heart, right knee lowers down, inhale, arms sweep up, exhale, hands lower down, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg and step the right foot forward to meet the left, inhale, lengthen, exhale, forward fold, strong through the legs, inhale, circle the arms up to the sky, reach up, exhale, hands together at the heart, taking a moment here to pause, just feeling that internal heat through the body, the heartbeat, making our way down to the floor with the sun, salutation, inhale, arms reach up, lengthen and exhale, dive forward, releasing the head, inhale, half arch to lengthen, exhale, bend your knees, plant your hands, walk your feet back into downward facing dog, just nice and easy and spreading your fingers, spreading your toes, taking a few breaths here in your downward dog, lengthening, let's inhale forward into a plank pose, bring the shoulders over the wrist, strong through the core and exhale, downward facing dog, we're going to lower our knees, couple rounds of cat cow here, inhale to arch, exhale to round, inhale, rolling the pelvis forward, lead with the heart, arching, exhale, curl, stretch the back and round, one more like this, back into child's, inhale, arching and exhale, slow curl and round, sink your hips back towards your heels for a moment, resting the forehead towards the earth, and you just might sweep the arms alongside the body, resting the shoulders, from your child's pose, when you feel ready, bring your hands underneath your shoulders, chin into the chest and just slowly roll yourself up, okay, for this next thing, we all want to block, so go ahead and grab one, you don't need one, but we're going to use it just for this, so bring your hands around the block like you're doing a karate chop, and then elbows are really in line with the shoulders, you're drawing the hips back and bringing the forehead down towards the floor, you feel like you can press the hands into your block here and just feel the outer lats, right, your shoulders, the back muscles begin to wake up and engage, we're going to keep our elbows on the mat on the floor and just begin to lift the block up off the mat, nice, and then you might even play with bringing the block towards the back of your head, feeling that length through the underarms, the forearms, and really waking up those back muscles, the shoulder blades, the outer lats, nice, and then just slowly lower the block down for a moment, and then lifting it up again, pressing the hands into the block, bringing the block towards the back of your head, and then just slowly lowering that block back down to the floor, nice, keep the forearms on the ground, inhale, just rise back up, we're playing towards a bit of a dolphin plank, so keep the shoulder blades drawing down the back, and then extend through the legs, we're going to find that core work here, so reaching back through your heels like you would in a plank, lengthening forward through the heart, you want to really energize your legs, draw the deep low belly into your spine, and the tailbone reaches back towards your heels, that's right, breathing here, easy through the neck, so you can look down towards your block, inhale, and then exhale, we're going to walk our feet towards our block, coming into a dolphin dog, right, so bend the knees a lot, just to assist, and then begin to lengthen through your spine, so you're drawing the chest towards the floor, as you feel that opening through the shoulders, the back of the body, nice, can you bend the knees a lot as you reach and lengthen through the sitting bones, through the spine, the neck is soft and just lengthening, beautiful, you're pressing the hands into the block, so you feel those shoulder blades working, feel the outer arm bones, the lats, nice, and then when you feel ready, you're just going to lower the knees down, and then sink the hips back towards the heels, rest in child's pose, and then you might even reach the arms down again alongside the body, and just resting the shoulders for a moment here, nice, good, and then palms, hands underneath the shoulders, chin into the chest, just slowly rolling up again, sitting on the heels if that feels okay for your knees, nice, okay, and let's take a few rounds of cat-cow, just kind of washing that all through the spine, exhale, let your back round and stretch, and inhale, move into your extension, exhale, curl and round, stretch the back, oh that feels nice, and inhale, lead with the heart nice and wide through the collar bones, sitting bones, long through the neck, let's take one more round, exhale, stretch the back of the heart, the shoulder blades, and then inhale, moving into your extension, nice, neutral through the spine, plank pose, let's see how plank feels after that dolphin plank, which I find is quite challenging, so reaching back, lengthening forward, feel how you can lift out of the wrist joints a little bit, buoyancy through the heart, exhale downward dog, one last time, inhale back into plank pose, from plank we're going to lower onto our bellies, nice, setting up for sinks, stretch the arms forward, and then rise up onto the forearms again, nice, arms are parallel with each other, legs are about hips width apart, and then feel like you can draw the chest forward a little bit, so you're using your arms to kind of find that traction through the back body, or through the spine rather, shoulder blades drawing down the back of the body, nice, and you might keep your head where it is, you might kind of release the weight of the head a little bit, sometimes here in this shape it can feel nice to get into the neck a little bit, so you might soften the chin towards the chest, and maybe roll the right ear towards the right shoulder, getting into that left jaw and throat, and then rolling the chin back to the chest, left ear towards the left shoulder, nice, and just slowly releasing the head back into the center, and when you're ready exhale just melt the forehead onto the hands, elbows wide, just resting the forehead on the hands for a moment, bend the knees, little windshield wipers with the legs side to side, relaxing some of the effort through the back of the body, and setting up for a few rounds of cobra, so stretching the legs back out on the floor, palms underneath the shoulders, draw the elbows in, feel the shoulder blades draw up the back and down, and as you're ready with an inhale gently press the palms into the floor and lifting up through the chest, drawing the elbows in, lengthening wide through the chest and collarbones, lead with the heart, lower down, let's take two more, inhale press through the palms, lifting up cobra, and lead with the heart, lower down, last one, press through the hands, inhale lifting up cobra, and lead with the heart, slow lower down, bringing the forehead onto the floor, stretch the fingers down towards the toes, back of the mat, and then spin the inner thighs towards the sky, moving towards locust or shalabhasana, when you feel ready inhale begin to lift the chest, lift the legs, and lift through the arms, and you're drawing the back body into the spine as you lift, yes neck is long, inhale brings you up, exhale lowers you down, maybe it's forehead or one cheek and ear to the floor, nice full exhale, nice last one if you'd like to join in, you might find previous variation or you might interlace the fingers around the sacrum area rolling the shoulders down the back, as you're ready let the inhale inspire a lift through the chest, lifting the thighs wide through the chest, breathing real strong through the back body, soft through the chest and the heart, the inhale brings you up, up, up, and the exhale lowers you down, melting the forehead towards the floor or one cheek and ear, nice full exhale, finally moving towards our bodhana rasana, so you might take a previous variation or you might join me in bending the knees, hands find the ankles or tops of the feet, and then make sure the knees are in line with the hips, so you're not splaying the legs out, nice and then as you're ready feeling that support up through your pelvic floor and with an inhale begin to lift up through the chest and maybe you're lifting the thighs and you're kicking back into the feet and breathing here, your legs drawing towards each other, lifting up, inhale and exhale just slow gracefully lowering down to the earth, beautiful palms lie underneath the shoulders nice and slow, make your way into a child's pose rounding slowly, feeling that gentle traction through the low back, back, child's pose, arms might stay where they are, you might sweep the arms alongside the body, few breaths here into the low back, into the back of the pelvis, and take your time with this, when you feel ready to transition bring the palms underneath the shoulders chin into the chest and we're slowly rolling up again sitting on the heels for a moment and pausing, we're all warmed up for our ustrasana, camel pose, you might want to grab a blanket it'll totally depend on your knees or you might have a fold your mat up underneath your knees, always customize it for your body the way you like it, bring the feet about hips width apart and we're going to rise up, so so much of back bending is the play of lengthening the front of the spine right so lengthening up through lifting up through the pelvic floor lengthening the spine and then keeping the pelvis relatively neutral right so the tailbone is drawing under as the spine lengthens and think about your camel it's more of an opening for the front of the body so the back bend is more in the upper back okay so the back is strong and the front of the body is lengthening very spacious and receptive so let's bring the hands onto the hips roll the shoulders down the back feel that space through the chest lifting up through the pelvic floor again slight draw the tailbone down inhale to lengthen and then exhale lifting up and you might keep your chin into your chest kind of squeezing the elbows towards each other you might feel that extension and laying from the chest into the throat maybe the head is dropping back beautiful and then you just lead with the heart to come up and then sink the hips back towards the heels let things settle for a moment ah we'll find one more round if you'd like to join in lifting up onto the knees again it's up to you you might prefer tucking the back toes under that might feel better for your knees you might prefer tops of the feet on the floor i'm going to keep the tops of my feet on the floor let's bring the hands together at the heart inhale lifting up through the heart and exhale moving towards the shape of camel right tailbone drawing under lifting up you might stay right here you might prefer to bring the hands back if that's available and maybe the hands are finding the ankles the heels and keeping the chin in or maybe you're opening the chest beautiful breathing in whatever shape you're in and feeling that lift and support up through the pelvic floor when you feel ready to release if your head is dropped chin into the chest slowly keep the chin in and then bring one hand onto the back of the pelvis and the other hand back onto the pelvis you're using your core muscles to come up and then sinking the hips back towards the heels child's pose might feel nice here settling and releasing the back big full breath into the back body exhale softening through the front body the belly and take your time to slowly walk the hands up and we're going to take a seat and find some hip opening so you might want to sit up on your blanket and from here we're going to stretch the legs out we're going to move towards a gomukhasana so you might keep that left leg straight as you bring the right leg across right so this is one option staying here or moving towards a forward fold so you're stretching the hamstring and the hip here okay the other option is to bend that bottom left leg and stack the knees on top of each other coming into this gomukhasana stretch nice and then just taking a moment to lengthen the spine so you really want to customize it for your body your hips and just taking a few moments to settle into the sensation through the hips yes you might stay upright and just like let the chest open and oftentimes coming into a side bend can feel really nice here so we're stretching away from the bottom leg so with that bottom left leg underneath us reaching that right arm out inhale stretching that left arm up oh this is so delicious you feel that length and space breathing oh and just slow come on up you might stay here you might slowly fold forward and listening to your hips and when you're ready just slowly roll on up nice and then lean back untangle the legs shake them out shake out the hips the legs we'll find that on the other side so bring that right leg straight bring the left leg across then you might stay here right in this hip opening holding forward or staying upright okay you might bend that bottom knee bring it back and stack the knees on top of each other and do your best to kind of wiggle that bottom foot out settling into your sitting bones and you might lean back and just lift up through the chest feeling how the sitting bones can kind of settle and drop you might stretch over so reaching the left arm out inhale reach the right arm up towards the sky little side bend action here opening through the ribs and the chest breathing nice inhale come on up you might stay right where you are or fold forward really pausing when you first feel the stretch and then allowing the body to you really invite you in or out so settling take your time no rush just rounding your way up and then untangle unwind the legs stretch them out shake them out we'll come into a forward fold nice and easy settling into the sitting bones inhale to lengthen and exhale folding forward keep a soft bend through the knees let the inhale lengthen the spine and then exhale just rounding softening through the belly the heart the front of the body just letting the body rest in this neutral position here and then just slow rounding your way up up knowing the heart feeling the shoulders and feeling the head nice from here you might lie down on your back and just stretch out for shavasana that might be the perfect thing after back bending depending on your day and your mood you might join me to close in a seated meditation be sitting up on your blanket just allowing the breath to gently align you from within knowing the inhale to inspire a quality of length and with the exhale there's a softening and settling through the belly and the pelvis and the sitting bones you might lean or wiggle ever so slightly into the back of your body be feeling the shoulder blades gently hug towards each other so the back body is strong and supportive without being rigid right the front body is is supple, soft, receptive finding that space between the eyebrows nice and easy through the base of your skull taking a few moments to draw your attention towards the nostrils check and notice the quality of the breath through the nostrils notice how this draws the attention more towards that central channel of the spine the yogis call this the shishumna nadi that gracious and a river channel of energy up through the spine where the quality of the breath through the left nostril and the right nostril inhale through the nose and exhale out of the mouth beautiful when you're ready joining the hands together at the heart will close with the sound of aum breathing in namaste okay thank you for your practice