Yoga Playtime

Hi everybody welcome to your practice. So today we're gonna do some yoga poses that are linked in a way where we can really explore parts of the body that maybe usually we neglect and More importantly, we're going to kind of go into these poses with total Beginner's mind. So we're gonna think about it as oh What pose again? Oh that pose How do I do this again? And then we're just gonna go into it bit by bit step by stop And we're not gonna have a preconceived notion of what it's supposed to look like so the honest truth is My face would not look like your face and my bones would not look like your bones. So anytime anybody in front of a Yoga camera on a yoga magazine is doing some shape. It doesn't mean that your body is supposed to do that So first of all, we can just take that whole concept of my body is supposed to be like that in order for me to do yoga well and just Crush that whole piece of paper and toss it into the bin. So we're done with that So we don't need to care about that and in that case, we're just going to go into our yoga poses The first one that we're gonna do is supta virasana reclined heroes pose so for a lot of people reclined heroes pose creates huge question marks like well WTF am I gonna get into this pose? So basically You're supposed to have your knees together your heels apart and you're supposed to sit between your heels And then you're just gonna lie back So that might seem like Shangri-La for people who do not sit at a table and work or who do not have normal lives But um, or you might be really flexible and that's totally cool, too but on the other hand for those of us who might be feeling that going backwards with your knees together and Sitting down between your heels seems a little impossible Then we're going to make the impossible possible so we're gonna build with the props that we have a Beautiful Shangri-La for you to recline on so that you get the benefits of this pose So heroes pose is actually really great as a restorative pose and also as a pose that improves your digestion So we're gonna take a block and two bolsters. You're gonna put the bolsters on top of each other and as well if you have a blanket you can take a blanket and put it on top of Your bolster so that can be your little pillow We're gonna see how it goes and for different people you might want different heights for your blanket and then I'm just gonna take my feet apart and aim for my sit bones to land onto the block and So now that that has happened. I'm gonna adjust a little bit more to make sure that my shins are flush onto the yoga mat I Try to keep my knees together, but if they don't keep together, there's probably a really good reason for that So we don't have to force them to be together with all the yoga poses. We're just trying to go with the suggestion of the shape So the suggestion is that we go this way. We're gonna take the hands back. You're gonna lift into the pelvis You're gonna extend your tailbone Forward between your knees and then you're gonna rest your body down again and gently just move on back So you're gonna take the pillow that you've created and you're gonna just take it Right where your neck might be needing the support and then we're just gonna relax the arms So this is one way for you to be in your reclined hero's pose and if for you this is comfortable and this is accessible, then we're gonna stay in this for the next couple of minutes and If for you this seems like overkill, which it could also be you can simply reduce the amount of props Or in fact, you can even put one more bolster. So have yoga your way So I'm just gonna show you with a little less props You can still do the same thing So you're still lifting your pelvis extending forward and then making your way down making sure that you're comfortable keep your chin tucked That's really gonna make things a lot easier and then once more just rest in this So the blanket is still good. It's really just feel for yourself. What works then lengthening your thigh bones forward towards your knees and Just allowing yourself to feel that lengthening from the very tops of your shoulders down your chest across your Belly all the way down to the legs and then almost feel like there's this circuit Going from the top of the body all the way down and around through the shins and back up the back of the head so it's almost like there's this circuit going on and we're gonna try to breathe in this and Remember, we're not trying to look like anybody else in a yoga pose So if right now you feel like this is not comfortable again, the greatest thing you're learning for yourself is to modify so Let's just stay here for another 30 seconds Allow the eyes to close allow yourself to maybe relax into something that you feel is a little challenging So Is it possible to be relaxed and challenged at the same time and I'll say if yoga has taught me anything valuable that might be it Beautiful and Then just breathing in drawing your belly button towards your spine a little bit more. Let's come on to the elbows tuck the chins tuck the chin and then walk your hands back and We're just going to come forward into Child's pose if you have to bolster there and you like to use it feel free So have the knees wide apart the big toes together and then just come on down and rest in your child's pose let Your lower back lengthen let the weight of your hips draw down towards your spine and let your chest simply relax So we're just gonna feel the effects of the pose before in this rather passive position And then we're just going to gently remove our bolster Let's have it out of the way and coming on back down into child's pose And we're going to slowly just allow the body to sway over to the left again resting the forehead down So keeping the rest of the body in child's pose. You're just taking your body to the left and walking your right arm a little more forward and as you do that really feel that lengthening along the outer edge of your little finger all the way down to your outer hip and Breathe into that area And Then coming back to center Then taking your time, let's make it over to the other side and This time walking your left hand forward a lot more And still drawing your left hip back and breathing into that lengthening left side body Nice and then slowly walking the fingertips back to the center You know walk the hands back to its ourselves coming on to a force and Then just a little bit of cat and cow Inhaling lifting through the heart and the tailbone exhaling rolling the upper back to the skies and just flexing and Flexing and then taking it into swishy cat and cow Looking back and jutting the hips out to one direction and then the other Following with your head And then just rocking rolling that cat and cow again Ah Coco loves yoga And then the other way Hmm And Then we're just gonna go from here tugging the toes coming into downward dog for a second Pushing back through the hands and the heels relaxing the chest to its the thighs and exhaling we're just gonna walk the feet forward crossing the legs and Sitting facing forward and from here we're just gonna inhale lift and lengthen through the heart and Exhaling we're just gonna take one hand on a knee and twist looking back So The key is not how far you can twist But how relaxed can I be? coming into this going through the process of spiraling into this and And can I do this without any huge end goal and then inhaling we're just gonna lift and lengthen and Exhale, we're just gonna turn the other way So one hand onto the knee the other hand behind you Pressing the back hand into the ground lifting through the chest and as you exhale just gently spiraling through the spine Nice and then slowly release and from there, we're just gonna come into Dandasana So we're gonna press the balls of the feet forwards your balls of the feet You want to project them forward and your outer feet you want them to push back So it's almost like your toes are naturally pressing back You're gonna tense a little bit into the quadriceps So they're just gently gripping the muscles into the bone and pressing down with the bone Then you're gonna take your fingertips behind you Elbows drawing in and then pressing down the fingertips really feel that lift through the spine So feel the connection of the crown of your head all the way down the spine to your tailbone And then we're just gonna rock left and right a little bit. You're gonna feel where your sit bones are And then we're gonna really ground into the sit bones Nice and then from here, we're just going to bring the legs to its ourselves Inhale lift and lengthen through your heart take your hands under your knees and press away with the balls of your feet and extend through the fingertips If you like you can straighten your legs And then crossing the feet we're just gonna press back into downward dog Pressing away with the hands drawing up with the quadriceps and gently drawing down with your inner heels Let go the head And just take a breath here And then inhaling looking forward, we're just gonna walk the feet forward Fingertips drawing on the mat inhale lift and lengthen through your heart and exhaling folding all the way in Pressing down into your feet. Keep the knees soft inhale. Bring it all the way up and Pressing the palms together bringing the palms to your heart Really nice So we're just gonna come into Tadasana We're gonna relax the arms and we're gonna take a look at our feet just rolling forward and back onto the feet feeling for a sense of Equilibrium equilibrium It's a sense of feeling balanced Nice Pressing down through the balls of your feet relax all your toes and then we're just gonna roll the shoulders a few times Fingertips onto the thighs And then just going the other way Nice and then inhaling we're gonna lift and lengthen Exhaling opening all the way up coming forward Inhale lift and lengthen exhale, which is gonna step back downward dog And from downward dog, we're just gonna come forward to plank and From plank drop your knees elbows to your ribs chin chest down roll on up So you can choose to roll up to just a gentle baby cobra Or if you like to go a little deeper if it's available, then you can go a little higher and it's really up to you And exhale press back downward dog and then we're just gonna bring the right foot forward And we're gonna turn both the feet forward and in Take your hands on your hips lengthen the chest forward and then we're gonna extend out with both the arms Let's interlace the arms pressing the arms back up and exhale rest your head on coco She's a very good prop Nice and then exhale slowly release we're just gonna walk the feet in and we're actually gonna come to kneeling Nice coming to kneeling we're going to do parigasana. So you're gonna have your knees together and You're gonna attack your back toes and we're just gonna take that right foot out to the side So take your right hand onto your right thigh Slide it down a little bit and maybe turn the palm up So see if this feels like it's a good direction for you to go in and if you feel like right now I would really love a little support then take it So we're gonna grab the block and the block can go behind your knee and then inhaling we're just gonna bring that left arm all the way up and Exhaling, we're just gonna slowly slide over to the side so pressing into the foot and And lengthening into the fingertips and then breath by breath if possible Just notice how you're going to the pose if you went into the whole hog already, let's pull a little bit back and then explore Hmm. Is it kind of nicer here? And if it's nicer here, why am I not here? Why am I trying to go there? So let's just try to be happy with where we're at and breathing into this Nice and I'm pressing into the feet inhaling coming on back up and Just bringing your knee in if you're using a block take the block to the other side Hands under the hips just once more trying to get the thighs vertical and then stepping that left foot out to the side and Then inhale lift and lengthen You can be sliding that left hand down Just facing the palm up as you come down or using the block breathing into this and then again This is such a neglected area of our body that even most of the time I feel like I have Uhu glue or super glue which is in that whole area So if it's super stuck e sticky sticky, let's back up a bit. Oh, that feels better And then let's play within that Maybe a little more and if that feels nice breathe So just breathe into it And then slowly see if you can allow your heart to open up a little bit more And then exhaling let's come on back And we're just gonna go back to the front of the mat and coming into downward position Tuff the mat and coming into downward dog Pressing up through the sit bones. Let's just go on our tiptoes pressing away with the arms Lift up from the very middle of your palms as if through all the arm bones all the way up to the shoulders And then let's soften into the knees bring the belly onto the thighs and then just gently pull it all back Nod And then turn the head left and right See if again in downward dog we can find that place where We can be a little more comfortable Beautiful inhale looking forward. We're just going to step the right foot forward dropping the left heel Both hands onto your hips inhale lift and lengthen through the heart Very nice coming into warrior two Pressing down through both feet and as you press down you feel that buoyancy of the body wanting to kind of come on up So use that and then extend out through your arms Relax the shoulders relax the shoulder blades and again just breathe into this Let's play again with can we do a little bit less so instead of really trying to open That hip or trying to lunge really deeply. Can we lunge a little less deeply and can we let that hip relax a little bit more? Shoulders too Is that a warrior too that you prefer? So again your choice and then play within that And find where you're just kind of dancing on the edge Very nice and then inhaling we're going to extend into that right leg keeping it very straight And exhaling coming forward coming into trikonasana triangle Take a block if you prefer a block under your hand and open up through the heart So breathing in getting the breath to go all the way from the tailbone to the palate of the mouth Breathing out the breath traveling all the way down Very nice and then from here, we're going to soften into that front knee coming up again into warrior two Then we're going to take the right elbow onto the right thigh Extend the left arm up turning the left palm and bringing it overhead So we're still lunging into that front leg We're still pressing away with that back leg and we're still kind of in a place where we're kind of in a place And we're still kind of in a place where we're coming into these poses just with curiosity And then breathing into this We're gonna take the left hand down towards the ground. We're gonna turn the back foot up And we're gonna come on down to a low lunge From here we're gonna lift and lengthen through the heart you're gonna take your left elbow outside your right knee you're gonna bring the palms together And extending the elbows away from each other just lift your heart Very nice and then exhale, we're just going to release into downward dog And again in your downward dog, let it all go And let's try to find even a little bit of a cat and cow movement with a downward dog Kind of rolling up and folding it back. See if you can initiate that movement with your pelvis Nice and then looking forward, we're just going to walk the feet forward Inhale lift and lengthen through the heart and exhaling folding in Take your hands to your opposite elbows and just allow yourself to hang out And then pressing into the feet inhale, let's bring it all the way up Exhaling bringing it all the way into the heart Nice and then from here we go to the other side inhale lift and lengthen exhale open and fold And inhale we're going to open up again exhale stepping back downward dog Then we're going to inhale just take the left foot forward between your two hands and dropping your right heel both hands on your hips coming on up So I'm just going to turn so it's easier for you to see me So we're just going to come into a warrior two again pressing down through both your feet turning your back foot the hip of your back foot out a little bit more lunging forward and again playing with that feeling of does that actually feel comfortable? So you have a choice amazingly yoga is all about you finding your yoga So now we're going to just tweak a little maybe that back hip in a bit more out a bit more We're going to lunge a little deeper or not and then taking that feeling of grounding enough just enough so that the buoyancy is feeding up through the body we're going to lift and lengthen through the arms keep the shoulders soft and then inhale lift and lengthen exhale look over your front arm and then inhaling we're going to lift and lengthen through that front leg exhale let's come into triangle opening up through the chest and opening up through the top chest A really good way to check in with whether your practice is working for you is your breath So just notice again if you have created a really peaceful conduit for your breath to flow from the very top of where you're breathing in to the very bottom of your tailbone just flowing in and out and in and out very nice and then pressing into the feet slowly coming back to warrior two then we're just gonna bend the left elbow taking it onto the left thigh inhale lift and lengthen through the top arm and bringing it over your ear and just breathing into this and then we're just going to take it forward right hand comes to the floor we're just going to turn so that our back knee is onto the mat and then we're going to lift and lengthen through the heart coming on up inhale bring your right arm up exhale we're just going to twist and connect your elbow to outside your knee pressing the palms together and turning through the chest breathing into this beautiful exhaling slowly release step it all back back downward dog and then walking all the way forward inhaling lifting through your chest exhaling floating in so you can just let your arms go if you like take blocks nice and then exhale pressing into the feet inhale bring it all the way up and palms together palms to your heart very nice and then we're just going to step the feet wide apart you're going to take your arms and taking your right arm under your left you're just going to intertwine the arms pressing the palms together we're going to extend the elbows forward we're going to soften into the knees and then we're going to just draw the elbows forward as we come all the way down into prasarita padottanasana hello coco and just taking a breath here again if this feels like a shape that feels a lot more comfortable if you have blocks under your elbows that'll be a good idea so a couple more breaths in here we're just going to unwind the arms open up to the center and exhaling we're just going to switch the arms intertwine and coming on back down again beautiful and then from here we're just going to walk our hands over towards the front of the mat step the feet back into downward dog and then coming onto our knees just sitting back nice we're just going to extend the legs forward so coming into dandasana we're just going to bend the knees bring the knees towards ourselves hands are going under your knees we're just going to bring the shins up you can have the shins parallel to the mat and if you like the arms forward see if we can lift our chest a little bit more so let's bring the elbows back and lift the chest and then bring it forward so if this is a good feeling navasana for you you want to stay at this height if you want to move a little bit more you're going to move back get your legs to come to straight and then come back and then we're just going to be in a moving navasana and i kind of recommend that we just all try anyway so lifting into the heart moving forward and back just getting a bit more yoga juice into neglected parts of the body nice and then we're just going to take the right knee and extend the right knee forward taking your left foot outside the right knee and then holding on to the shin inhale lift and lengthen exhale we're just going to wrap the arm around and gently look back and just move deep breaths in here nice and then exhale let's release extend it back out lifting up through your heart and we're just going to bend the left knee facing the left knee forward right foot outside the left knee again wrap your arms around your leg inhale lift and lengthen and exhale we're going to spiral through the spine you can even try to look forward again just to relax that twist and then check into actually how much you want to twist so often when we just twist the whole way the entire body just stops because we believe we're at some kind of maximum but again that's just a limitation of thinking where you're going instead of just going where you're going beautiful and then exhale we're gonna release and we're gonna come to lying down with the knees bent so lying down with the knees bent we're just going to take the right ankle on top of the left thigh and inhaling we're gonna bring the thigh in you can interlace your hands behind the thigh or maybe in front of the shin whatever feels better flex through both feet and then we're going to come down to the right knee whatever feels better flex through both feet and then we're just going to relax the entire torso actually so closing your eyes just breathing into that hip and if you can you're going to gently see if you can peel that right knee right outer thigh right hip towards your left heel and then if that feels good and coco has moved out of the way for me especially so that i can drop over so we were in reclined pigeon you keep everything the same and you're just gonna roll on over with the legs still attached see coco is doing a good job left hand onto the right ankle right arm out to the side and again we're just gonna relax here so you're gonna breathe in your reclined pigeon twist or you can look over towards your right arm and then inhaling we're just gonna bring it all the way up lift and lengthen through both your legs and then maybe set them both down then bend the legs in and this time have your left ankle on top of the right thigh and then we're going to take the hands under the right thigh or over the right shin whatever feels better and then again just inhale bringing it in and exhaling breath by breath and actually by every out breath would be where you want to gently peel your left outer hip your left outer thigh your left knee to it's your right heel so just breathing into this and then keeping everything the same so the ankle is gently glued to the thigh slowly just rolling on to the side if your right hand can reach your left ankle we'll do that and then we're just gonna draw the arm out to the side and this is where I love practicing with Coco she's always comforting me and then gently we're just gonna maybe turn our head to the side away from the legs you can even close your eyes just smooth deep breath and then inhaling we're just gonna bring everything back up extend through the legs exhaling you're gonna open your knees apart pressing your feet towards the sky and then you're gonna take your hands outside your feet if the hands don't reach outside your feet you just take a belt over your feet and you draw down on the belt and we're just gonna relax and happy baby hi puppy yay and then we're just gonna relax the lower back towards the mat keeping the shoulders nice and soft very nice and then exhaling we're just gonna wrap the arms around the shins rolling left and right gently and whenever you're ready we're just gonna come on back to shavasana the resting pose so just tuck your shoulder blades under and have your legs slightly apart your arms comfortably apart so just allowing yourself to melt into the ground almost as if you're a pool of oil that's just gently being poured and just feeling that spreading out that ease and the sense of letting go and we're just gonna drink this in integrating our practice in shavasana for the next few minutes so and for those of you who might have to get on your way just gently start deepening your breath feeling the breath swimming into the body feeling yourself perfectly relaxed and perfect just as you are and then taking your time just gently bring the knees in and slowly roll over to your side and then from there taking your time pressing your hands into the mat and slowly coming up to a seated position so you can have your hands together at your heart and just feel again the beauty of a life lived where you're not so exacting of yourself or a practice that is enjoyable when you allow the little surprises to happen namaste