Steady Foundation Flow

Welcome. So this practice is going to be a grounding, low-to-the-ground flow that calls in earth energy and a stable foundation. So we're going to start at the front of the mat in Tadasana, so please meet me there. So just take a moment to find your feet and take your feet about hips-width apart, maybe a little bit wider. And then you can just take a moment to rock back and forth a little bit, so you really feel the earth beneath the soles of your feet.

And then just take a moment to pick up your toes off the earth and spread your toes nice and wide, and then go ahead and place them back down on the earth. And if it would feel comfortable for you, we'll just take a moment to check in, so maybe close your eyes and really tune into the support beneath the soles of the feet. So see if you can ground through all four corners of the feet, so big toe to outer heel and little toe to inner heel. And then as you do that, just make sure you soften the knees just a little bit so you're not locking anything out, and then let the tailbone start to melt down, let the shoulders relax, let the spine be nice and long. And at the same time that you're grounding, see if you can feel a lift through the crown of your head, so you're grounded and there's a lightness and an ease in the upper body.

Good, and then with your breath, start to draw your hands up to your midline, so take a big full breath in, you can bring the palms to face up, keep the knees nice and soft, and then start to bend the knees a little bit as you press down on the exhale. So we're just going to move with this a few times, so as you inhale, draw the energy up from the earth, and then as you exhale, soften the knees, press down and really ground. Let's do three more like that with the breath, so starting to link the breath with the movement, exhale as you draw the energy up, exhale as you press down, soften the knees, you can even bend the knees deeply here, and then inhale straighten, draw the energy up, and then exhale maybe out the mouth or the nose, exhale, press it down, and just do one more like that, so inhaling as you come up, and exhaling as you press it down. Good, and then inhale to straighten, draw your hands to your heart, and we're just going to take that similar movement, but this time open the arms wide, so as you inhale, arms open wide, feel the opening across the chest, the knees can stay soft, and then as you exhale, draw the prayer back in front of your heart, soften your knees. Good, and let's move with that, so inhale, open up, feel the expansive energy, and then as you exhale, hands to heart, soften through the knees, good, let's do three more, so you might close the eyes and just tune into the energy within, inhale as you open, exhale, soften the knees, draw the energy in, two more, inhale, expand, exhale, draw everything in, bend the knees, root down, one more, inhale, lengthen, and exhale, draw it in and bend the knees, nice, and then as you inhale, sweep your arms all the way up over your head, lengthen up through the spine, maybe even lift the gaze, but at the same time really root down through the feet, and let's come all the way into a forward fold, so soften the knees, let the spine be nice and long, and then uttanasana, fold over your legs, let the crown of your head melt down, and then maybe play with just shifting your weight back and forth a few times, so again just feeling the earth beneath the soles of your feet, letting the spine be nice and long, you can bend the knees any amount here, especially if your hamstrings are feeling a little tight or it's early in the morning, just put a generous bend in your knees, and then maybe hold opposite elbows, and just take a couple breaths here, feel free to sway side to side, shake the head yes and no, whatever you need, and if you're crossing at the elbows, maybe take the opposite arm on top and just allow for a few more full deep breaths right here, calming the nervous system, bowing in towards yourself, good, and then as you're ready just release your hands down toward the earth, we'll come halfway up, so walk your hands up onto your shins, lengthen through your spine, reach the crown of the head and the heart forward, and then exhale, come right back into that fold and just soften the knees again, and then root down through the soles of the feet to come all the way back up to stand, inhale, circle the arms all the way out and up, and then gather hands together in your heart center, good, so we'll take that a couple times, have some salutations, just starting to slowly warm the body, so when you're ready, linking the breath, inhale, arms sweep all the way up, lengthen up, and then exhale, soften and fold in Uttanasana, inhale halfway up, Arda Uttanasana, either hands to the shins or fingertips to the earth, and then exhale, fold back over your legs, root down through your feet, rise all the way up to stand, inhale, arms sweep out and up, and exhale, draw hands to heart, good, we'll pick up the pace just a little bit with the breath, inhale, arms lift, lengthen, exhale, fold over your legs, inhale halfway up, Arda, exhale, fold back over your legs, Uttanasana, inhale, root down, rise all the way back up to stand, exhale, draw hands to heart, good, one more like that with the breath, inhale, arms lift, exhale, soften and fold all the way in, inhale halfway up, offer the heart, Arda, exhale, Uttanasana, fold in, nice, and then root down, rise all the way back up, circle the arms out and up, and then draw your hands to your heart, and just take a moment here and breathe, and recommit to that grounded energy beneath the soles of your feet, and then we'll move into some low moon salutations, so as you're ready, you can blink your eyes open if they're closed, inhale, arms sweep all the way out and up, keep the length in the spine, fold in, Uttanasana, good, and then step your left foot to the back of the mat, lower your back knee down and just come onto your fingertips for a moment, so you can untuck the back toes or keep them tucked, whatever works best for you, you might even have a couple blocks under your hands here if that feels good, otherwise just hang here for a moment and you can wiggle around a little bit and start to feel into the left psoas, the right hip, good, and then as you're ready we'll step back to our first downward facing dog, so tuck your back toes, lift the back knee, step your right foot back to meet the left, and then in this first down dog just start to peddle it out, any movement at all that feels good, if the hamstrings are tight feel free to step your feet a little bit wider than your hips, maybe even as wide as your mat, maybe sway your hips side to side, shake your head yes and no, just allow the spine to be nice and long, let the head be heavy, just take a couple more full deep breaths right here, good, and then on your next breath in, let's sweep the left leg up and back, and then as you exhale draw the left knee in towards your nose, we're going to step it all the way through between your hands, and then same thing here, just lower your back knee down, come on to the fingertips, lift the heart, lift the gaze, and then just take a couple breaths since we're on that opposite leg, maybe doing what you did on that first side, and just feeling that opening in the left hip, the right psoas, and then more than anything come back to the breath, breathing into the spaces where you might need a little bit more ease, good, and then we'll tuck the back toes, lift the back knee up, this time step your right foot to meet the left, come to a forward fold at the front of the mat, good, and then root down through the feet, rise all the way up to stand, sweep the arms out and up, keep the length in the spine, draw your hands to your heart center, so that was one half around, and we'll take it to the other side as you're ready.

We'll pick up the pace just a little bit so we're moving with our breath, as you're ready inhale arms sweep up, lengthen, exhale fold over your legs, soften the knees, step your right foot to the back of the mat, let the back knee lower down, just come on to your fingertips, take a big full breath in, and then exhale come back to your downward facing dog, take a couple breaths in down dog, again feel free to move if that feels good otherwise maybe start to find some stillness, beautiful, and then sweep your right leg up this time take a big full breath in, draw the knee in towards your nose, step your foot through between your hands, lower your back knee down come on to your fingertips lift the heart lift the gaze, big breath in, and then forward fold on your exhale front of the mat, nice and then root down through the feet, rise all the way up, arms lift, exhale gather your hands to your heart, okay so let's take two more rounds with the breath we're going to add in a couple things as we move, so as you're ready inhale arms lift, exhale fold over your legs, good step your left foot to the back of the mat, back knee lowers this time arms sweep up, anjani asana, good and then soften the shoulders as you lift up through the heart through the chest and then exhale back to downward facing dog, good this time from your down dog let's glide forward to plank pose, top of a push up, and then right away lower the knees down, hug the elbows in bring the chin and the chest down to the earth, and then scoot your way through let the belly drop, untuck the toes, press through the tops of the feet, come up into cobra pose, so start to peel the chest up, draw the shoulders back, lift up, lengthen, big breath in, and then exhale back, downward facing dog just coming through hands and knees as you do that, good and then inhale left leg lifts, exhale step through between your hands, let the back knee lower, inhale anjani asana, arms sweep up, feel the lift through the heart through the upper body and then this time step to the front of the mat, forward fold on your exhale, root down to rise, inhale arms sweep all the way out and up, good and then gather hands to heart, right side inhale arms lift, exhale fold over your legs, good step your right foot to the back of the mat, back knee lowers, inhale anjani asana, arms sweep up, exhale downward facing dog, inhale plank pose, exhale knees lower, chin and chest lower, inhale cobra pose, draw the shoulders back, hug the elbows in, good exhale downward facing dog, inhale right leg lifts, exhale step it through, good lower your back knee down, arms sweep up, inhale gather, exhale forward fold front of the mat, root down to rise, inhale arms sweep all the way out and up and then hands to heart, one more round coming back to the left side, inhale arms lift, exhale fold, good step your left foot back, back knee lowers, inhale arms sweep up, exhale down dog, inhale plank, exhale knees, chin and chest, inhale cobra, exhale down dog, inhale left leg lifts, exhale step it through, back knee lowers, inhale arms lift, gaze lifts, exhale step to the front of the mat forward fold, root down to rise come all the way up to stand, arms sweep up, hands to heart, good last side right side with a breath, inhale arms lift, exhale fold, good step the right foot to the back of the mat, back knee lowers, arms sweep up, take a big breath in, good exhale downward facing dog, inhale plank, lower knees, chin and chest, inhale cobra, exhale down dog, good right leg lifts take a big breath in, last side step it all the way through, back knee lowers down, inhale arms sweep up, good and then take that forward fold at the front of the mat, root down, maybe sigh it out and then come all the way up with the arms, maybe gaze up towards your fingertips and then gather hands to heart and then just take a moment, feel your heartbeat, check in, notice where that movement lands so taking these brief moments of pause to just check in with the residue of the pose, okay so from here let's take a balancing pose at the front of the mat, we're going to take tree pose and there's lots of ways to do tree, so build from the ground up and you pick the one that works for you, so you're welcome to kickstand your left toes down, bring the weight into your right foot and you can find this opening through the left hip here or you can lift your foot up into the calf or maybe the foot comes to the inner upper right thigh, so wherever it feels good for you to balance today and then draw the hands to your heart, find your balance, maybe you don't have it today and that's part of it, so you really want to find your rooted energy even in the balance, find one point to focus your gaze, your drishti, good and then maybe the arms lift up, good and then from here start to draw that left knee in towards your chest, draw the low belly in and up and then we're going to step the left foot all the way to the back of the mat for crescent pose, so find your crescent and just take a moment to bend through the back knee a little bit, let the tailbone melt down, draw the belly in and then find that right knee over the ankle, so you really have this strong base even within a balancing pose here, nice and then when you're ready start to straighten through your front leg, circle your arms back, so there's a shoulder stretch that's happening here and then on your breath in, re-bend through your front leg and reach your arms up, do that two more times, so inhale, straighten front leg, circle arms back and then exhale, re-bend, arms lift up, one more, inhale circle the arms back and then exhale, re-bend through the front leg, arms sweep up, good, straighten your front leg one more time and then we're going to open it up to warrior two, so spin the back heel down, start to bend through that front leg again, let the front knee land over your ankle and then soften the shoulders, reach forward and back with the same amount of energy, good and then find that gaze over your middle finger, take a couple full deep breaths here and maybe sink it down a little bit deeper, I'm feeling it in my legs, good and then from here, keep the legs how they are, flip your front palm, tilt back to reverse your warrior, you might even sink it down a little deeper into that front knee and then we'll come into extended side angle, so bring the elbow to the top of your right thigh, reach your left arm up and over your left ear and then maybe gaze up, good and then feel that length, that long line of energy from your left fingertips all the way to your left heel, good and then just take a few more full deep breaths, really rooting down through the soles of the feet, nice and then root down through the feet on your next breath and reverse your warrior, so come all the way up and back and then just circle your hands down to the earth, come on to the ball of your back foot so you're in this lunge and then plant your palms, step back to plank pose, lower your knees down and then the chin and the chest again, inhale to cobra pose, hug the elbows in, draw the elbows, shoulders back, engage through the legs, good and then come back to child's pose, so pressing up to hands and knees, let your hips sink back towards your heels, let the crown of the head and the forehead maybe find the earth and then just take a couple of breaths into the back body, take a moment to feel the contact with the earth and then just breathe, beautiful and then when you're ready we'll come back up to the table top position, so find hands and knees and then let your shoulders come right over your wrists, let your hips land over your knees and then let's take some cat cows here, so let the belly drop, let the gaze lift, really rooting down as you lift up through the heart and then exhale, navel to spine, press the floor away and round, do that two more times, so inhale, belly drops, heart lifts, arching through the back, exhale, navel to spine and round, one more, inhale, heart lifts, gaze lifts, exhale, navel to spine and round, nice and then find that place between cat and cow, so coming back to your table top position and then stretch your left leg back, so tucking the left toes, maybe even pressing back a little bit, just feeling a nice stretch through the back of your left leg, good and then shoulders over wrists, spin onto your left heel, kickstand your right foot back a little bit and then take the weight into your right hand and reach your left arm up for Ardavashisthasana and then take the left arm over your ear if that feels okay and then just really ground here, so grounding through the sole of your left foot, reaching that left arm over the ear, feel that nice side body stretch, good and then just take a few breaths here, should feel really nice, nice and then as you come out of here, we're going to bring the left knee down, keep that right left arm lifted and then thread your left arm under your right, coming onto your left shoulder and left side of your face for shoulder stretch, hips stay even and then maybe walk your right fingertips in front of you and tent your fingertips if that feels okay and then just breathe into that left shoulder, so again feeling the support beneath you, noticing the parts of the body that are making contact with the earth, couple breaths. Beautiful and then coming out the way you came in, pressing through your right hand, come on back up to your tabletop position and then tuck your toes, lift your hips up and back, coming into downward facing dog, take a couple breaths in your down dog, maybe allowing a big full breath in through your nose, maybe opening the mouth and letting out a sigh, let something go, good and then as you're ready, rising up onto the toes, bend your knees deeply, look forward, take a step to the front of the mat, good and then halfway up, inhale, offer the heart forward, exhale, fold back over your legs, rooting down through the feet, rise all the way back up to stand and then gathering hands to heart, good, so we're back where we started and we'll take it all to the other side, so this time let the left foot start to get heavy and again you might kickstand the toes here, lift the foot to the calf or the upper thigh, just don't want to press it into the knee and then again find one point to focus your gaze, squeeze everything into the midline and then maybe hands to heart or maybe the arms start to reach up, if you really want to play with your balance you might lift your gaze, take a couple breaths, again if you fall out of it just come back in, yeah and then keep pressing through the ball of your left big toe, start to draw your right knee in towards your chest, draw the low belly in and up and then we'll take that transition back to crescent pose, so step the right foot to the back of the mat, let the toes find the earth and then soften through your back knee, bend the left knee, draw the low belly in and up, relax your shoulders and then let's move a little bit to find some ease in the shoulders, so start to straighten through that left leg, press through your right toes and then circle the arms back behind you, on an inhale everything comes back to crescent, arms lift, rebend through your front leg, two more like that, inhale straighten, arms circle back, good, exhale arms lift, inhale straighten, exhale arms lift, knee bends, nice work and then we'll open it up, start to straighten through your front leg one last time and then open the back foot into warrior two, so spin the back heel down, bend through your front knee, soften shoulders, relax your gaze, good and then find your drishti over that middle finger, reaching forward and back at the same time and then just breathe, maybe sinking down a little bit more, reconnect to the soles of the feet, beautiful and then flip your front palm, keep the legs how they are and just tilt back, reverse warrior, maybe sink it down a little deeper into that front knee, maybe gaze up, good, big full breath in and then extended side angle, elbow to the top of the thigh, right arm over the ear and again find that long line of energy from your right fingertips all the way back through your right heel, maybe gaze up if that doesn't feel good in the neck, just look straight in front of you, just be deliberate with the gaze and then come back to your breath, good and then as you're ready we'll root down to rise, come all the way up and back, reverse warrior, take a big breath in, good, circle your hands down to the earth, find your plank pose, step it back, lower the knees, chin and chest, hug the elbows in as you lower, inhale cobra pose, draw the shoulders back, hug the elbows in and lift and then right back to child's pose, pressing up through hands and knees, hips sink back to your heels, let the head relax and then just breathe, take a moment to pause and just check in and notice, nice and then coming up to all fours as you're ready and just take a couple rounds of cat cow, so inhale belly drops, heart lifts, exhale navel to spine, round, inhale cow pose, heart lifts, exhale navel to spine and round, one more like that, inhale belly drops, heart lifts, gaze lifts and then exhale navel to spine and round and then find that place between cat and cow, find your table top and this time we'll reach the right leg back, tuck your toes, press back for a moment, just feel that stretch in the back of your right leg, good and then shoulders over wrists, spin on to your right heel, kickstand the left shin back a little bit, weight into your left hand, reach your right arm up, good and if it feels okay in the shoulder, take that right arm up and over your ear and just feel that length through the right side body, grounding through the sole of your right foot, your left hand, your shin and just breathe, let it feel really good, nice and then again as you come out of here, right knee down, right arm stays lifted and then thread right arm under left, come on to the right shoulder, right side of your face and then maybe walk your left fingertips in front of you, maybe tent your fingertips and then just take a couple of breaths here, breathing into that right shoulder, notice if this side feels a little different for you and just tune in. Nice and then as you're ready, come out the same way you came in, press through that left hand, come up to your table top and again tuck the toes, lift the hips up and back and come into your down dog, allow a big breath in, long breath out, good, rising up onto the toes, big bend in your knees, look forward, step or lightly float to your hands, come to the front of the mat, inhale to lift halfway up and lengthen, exhale fold back in, root down to rise, come all the way up to stand, arms sweep up and then gather hands to heart and just take a moment again to pause and check in. Okay so let's come back to tree, we're going to take the same beginning into our flow and just add on a little bit, so again let the right foot get heavy, find your tree pose, heart or hold this time, couple breaths, maybe the arms reach up, good and then draw the knee in towards your chest, take a big breath in, step back to crescent pose, take a moment to find the earth, yeah really ground here, once you have your rooted stability, start to straighten your front leg, draw the arms back, just one of these this time, feel that shoulder stretch and then inhale, re-bend. As you exhale, open it up to warrior two, good and then from your warrior two, straighten through your front leg, parallel your feet to face the side wall and then toes out heels in, start to bend the knees, eagle wrap with the arms, let the right arm come under the left, draw the elbows away from you and as you do that, maybe sink it down a little bit deeper into the legs and let's hold here for a couple full deep breaths, and let's take a lion's breath, so cleansing breath, take a big full breath in, stick out your tongue and let it go, nice and then come back to your warrior two, so right toes turn out, right knee bend, soften the shoulders, relax your gaze, good, flip your front palm, tilt back, reverse warrior and then just circle your hands down to the earth, step back, plank pose, lower knees, chin and chest, inhale, cobra, exhale, come back to child's pose, let your hips sink back towards your heels, let the head relax down, good and then from here we're going to stand up onto your knees and reach your arms up, so as you inhale, hips lift, stand up onto your knees, reach your arms up and then again circle them back like we did in crescent pose and as you come forward, come back into your child's pose, so reach the arms toward the front of your mat and let the head relax down, let's do that a couple times, so just feeling a heart opener here, as you inhale, stand up on the knees, arms lift, circle the arms back and all the way through to child's pose, one more like that, inhale, hips lift, stand up on the knees, arms lift, heart opens, arms circle back and then come back to child's pose, good, gaze in front of you and then stay low and just slither your way through onto your belly and then from here we're going to take one more shoulder stretch, so reach your right arm out to the right, tent your left fingertips so that the elbow is bent and then roll to your right hip on the right side of your face, bend your left knee and just step your left toes behind you and then just breathe, feel your heartbeat, notice where you feel this, feel the support of the earth, nice and then come back to your belly, bring your hands next to your side ribs, hug the elbows in and press up to plank or hands and knees and we'll come back to downward facing dog, so inhale up, exhale down dog, good and then a couple breaths right here, let the heels get heavy, let the spine be nice and long, head relaxed, beautiful and then as you're ready rise up onto the toes, big bend in your knees, look forward, step or lightly float to your hands, come to the front of the mat, inhale halfway up, offer the spine, exhale fold in and then root down through the feet, rise up to stand, gather hands to heart, exhale, good last side, so bring your weight into your left foot this time and find your balance, find your tree pose, just a couple breaths, hug everything in, root down and then maybe grow your branches up if you want to reach the arms up, draw your right knee in towards your chest and then big step back to crescent pose and you might need to adjust the feet a little bit here, feel free to do that, good soften through that back knee a little bit, bending through the left knee and then one circle with the arms, so inhale straighten the left leg, arms sweep back and then exhale, re-bend, good and then open it up to warrior two, just taking a moment to find your warrior two and then we'll straighten through the front leg, parallel the feet to face the side wall and then toes out, heels in, bend your knees and this time we'll take left arm under the right, eagle wrap with the arms, draw the elbows away as you sink down a little deeper into the legs, get nice and low, we'll be here for a couple breaths and let's take that lion's breath again, so big full breath in, tongue out, let it go, beautiful, good, warrior two, turn your left toes out, come back to your vira two, yeah flip your front palm tilt back, reverse warrior and then just circle your hands down to the earth, plank pose, lower knees, chin and chest, cobra on your inhale and then again child's pose, exhale, hips to heels, arms reach forward, head relaxes down, just a breath or two here and then we'll move into that heart opener one more time, so standing up on the knees, rise up, arms lift, take a big breath in, circle the arms back and then just reach your arms right into child's pose, stay low to the earth, gaze forward, slither through, come on to your belly and we'll set up for that shoulder stretch, reach your left arm out to the left, tent your right fingertips to bend your right elbow and then spin on to your left heel, come on to the left side of your face, bend your right knee, step the toes behind and breathe, notice if this side feels a little bit different than the first side, as much as you can just releasing into the support beneath you, beautiful and then unravel from there as you're ready, come back to your belly, bring your hands next to your side ribs, tuck your toes, maybe coming right up to plank pose, inhale, downward facing dog, exhale, couple breaths, nice and then from here just sweep your right leg up to the sky, take a big breath in, step your foot through between your hands, lower your back knee down this time and then just walk your hands up onto that right thigh and just take a moment in the low lunge and you can stay right here with your hands if you'd like, maybe sweep the arms up and as you do that just soften through the shoulders, maybe lift the gaze, couple breaths and just engaging through the core just to protect the low back and then gather your hands to your heart, keep the length in your spine and we're going to hook the left elbow on the outside of the right leg so just taking a nice twist and a grounded twist so you can really press into that left shin as you twist, good and then big full breath in, gaze down, hands down to frame your front foot and then start to shift your weight back for half split, Ardha Hanumanasana and I like to glide that right foot forward a little bit as I draw the right hip back, scissor that left hip forward and then take a deep breath to lengthen through the spine and then maybe soften the elbows and fold in, couple breaths here, breathing into the back of your right leg, maybe spread your toes, nice and then go ahead and re-bend through your front leg, we're going to step the left foot to the front of the mat, find a forward fold and then chair pose, Utkatasana, weight into the heels, arms sweep up and then just really ground down here so take a look at your toes, make sure you can see your toes, lengthen through the spine, up through your fingertips, maybe close your eyes, take a few full deep breaths, embrace the movement, the wobble, the shaking so that you're really giving in to the support of the earth, let the hips be heavy, take one more big breath in, nice and then let it go, forward fold, heel to your feet as wide as your mat and then let your toes turn out, let your heels come in a little bit, bend your knees and sink the weight down from Malasana, yogi squat and feel free to sit on a block here or if it's not good in your knees you can always come up out of it a little bit and just take it a little higher, no pinching in the knees, hands to heart, lengthen the spine and then again just feel that downward flow of energy, full breaths, good and then hands to the earth, parallel the feet, fold over your legs and then we'll just step it back to down dog, if you want a vinyasa feel free to take it of course otherwise just stepping back and we'll move to the left side, so inhale, left leg lifts, exhale, step your foot through between your hands, lower your back knee down to the earth, untuck your toes and then you start to walk your hands up onto that left thigh letting your left knee stack right over the ankle and then again just engage through the core so you're protecting the low back but soften through the shoulders, relax the gaze, maybe arms lift, couple breaths, as you're ready gather hands to heart, keep the length in your spine, hook your right elbow on the outside of your left leg and then breathe, we feel that support and this twist so pressing through that right shin and big breath in, as you exhale gaze down, let the hands frame your front foot and then again just start to shift the weight back for arthajana manasana, coming onto your left heel, maybe gliding the left foot forward a little bit, drawing your left hip back and then inhale as you lengthen through the spine, lift up and then exhale maybe soften the elbows as you fold in, also a nice place to have a couple blocks under your hands if you prefer that, you can always keep that left knee bent any amount here, so the goal if there is one is just find your own sensation, your own edge and then breathe into that to create space, then go ahead and re-bend through your front knee, tuck your back toes, forward fold at the front of the mat, step the right foot to meet the left, beautiful and then sink it down, one last chair pose, one last push here, arms sweep up, draw the shin bones back, sink it down, breathe, maybe close your eyes, soften the shoulders, energize up through the fingertips, couple more breaths, take a big full breath in and then let it all go, forward fold and then again your vinyasa if you want it, or right downward facing dog, step the feet back and then we'll lower the knees down and just sit back on your heels for a moment, bring the hands to the tops of your thighs, welcome to sit on a block and then just check in, feel the heartbeat and breathe, blink your eyes open if they're closed and then shift your weight off to one side, just bring the legs out in front of you, we're going to set up for a wide leg forward fold, so you can take the legs nice and wide here, flex your feet, sit up nice and tall on your sitting bones and then you're welcome to stay right here, this might feel like enough or you can start to walk the hands forward any amount and just want to feel that nice stretch in the inner leg line, try to keep the sitting bones connected, feet flexed and then if there's the invitation to go a little deeper you're welcome of course to do that and then maybe just let the head and the neck relax, we'll be here just a little bit, I'm taking a nice long full deep breath in, full deep breath out, so you can keep it active with the breath, so with every inhale you find a little bit more length and with every exhale maybe you find a little bit more ease into the posture and then noticing where you might be holding on to something that you can release just a little bit, so that invitation to invite a little bit more ease in where you can, last couple breaths right here, nice and then as you're ready just walk your way back up nice and slowly and then we'll gather the soles of the feet to each other and then the knees will go wide, so we'll set up for bada konasana and you can draw the heels in towards you and hold on to the feet or the ankles and again feel the length up through the spine, lift up through the chest and then when there's the invitation you can start to fold in, so maybe you keep the length in the spine and just gaze in front of you or maybe the chin starts to tuck toward your chest and then you can let the head just relax down, either way is great, just check in with what feels good in your body right now, maybe even using the elbows to gently press the legs open a little bit and then find your breath, beautiful and your next breath in with length in the spine, come all the way back up and then we'll reach the legs out in front of us, flexing through the feet, sitting up high on your sitting bones, wiggling in a little bit and then inhale to reach the arms up, feel the length up through the spine, root down through your sitting bones and then fold in any amount for pashimottanasana, letting the hands fall wherever they fall, again maybe just letting the head, the neck, the shoulders relax and find your breath, a couple more breaths right here, good and then as you inhale come all the way up and just recline onto your back and we'll set up for bridge pose, so bringing the soles of the feet to the earth and then walking the heels in towards you, maybe brushing the backs of the heels with your fingertips, good and then when you're ready pressing through the soles of the feet, press up, lift the hips, press through the palms of the hands and then welcome to hold onto the outsides of your mat or maybe start to roll the shoulders down and interlace fingers behind the low back, let the inner thighs roll down, try to release any clenching from the back body and let's hold for five full deep breaths, letting the chest lift up towards the chin and again feel the earth, be really rooting through the soles of your feet, good, big breath in, release the shoulders if you're interlaced and then just slowly roll down one vertebra at a time and then as you do that, step your feet as wide as your mat, let your knees knock into touch and then maybe bring hands to low belly or to the earth, maybe one hand to the heart, one hand to the belly and then just take a moment to pause and notice how you feel, feel the breath beneath your hands, beautiful and then let's take a half happy baby so stretch your left leg long on your mat, hug your right knee into your chest and then you're welcome to keep hold of the shin and just kind of draw the leg to the right a little bit or maybe hold onto the outside of that right foot and start to bend the knee in as you come to half happy baby, keep your left hip nice and grounded and then just take a couple breaths here, breathing into that right hip and then we're going to take this into a twist so as you're ready we'll draw the right knee back in toward the chest, bring your left hand to the outside of your right knee and then draw that leg all the way across the body and just let yourself roll over to the left side so bringing both arms toward the left, bring the palms together and then you're going to peel that right arm all the way open into your twist so maybe even take the gaze with you over those right fingertips and then just wring it out so feel that nice spinal twist here.

With every inhale feel some length up through the spine, with every exhale ease into the twist just a little bit more, take a few more breaths here, beautiful and as you're ready just unravel, hug the right knee back into your chest for a moment and just draw your nose up toward your knees so hugging everything in, take a big full breath in, squeezing in a little bit more, hold the breath at the top and then exhale, sigh it out, release both legs long for a moment and just feel the right side versus the left, take a moment to notice that pause and then the left side probably wants to balance out just a little bit so gathering your left knee into your chest, give it a squeeze, let the right leg be long and let the right leg be engaged so you might flex your right foot and then we'll take this into happy baby so soften the shoulders and again you can keep hold of the shin and just kind of open up the hip to the left a little bit or maybe you take your hand to the outside of the left foot, bend the knee, bend the elbow, keep that right hip grounded so you might even take your right hand and place it on top of your right hip and then just a few full deep breaths here noticing if this left side feels maybe a little tighter, a little more open, just becoming the observer, noticing and then checking in with the quality of the breath, good and then we'll bring that knee back through center, hug it in and we'll take it into our twist so draw the right hand to the outside of the left knee, draw that all the way across the body and then just let everything come with you so you can bring the palms of the hands together, take a moment to rest on your side, you might stay here for a couple breaths and then whenever you're ready just peel that left arm open and to the left, it's an extension of your left shoulder coming into that nice twist and then again just wringing everything out so letting this be a letting go with every inhale lengthening with every exhale releasing, a couple breaths here, good and then unwrapping and then we'll unraveling as you're ready, again we'll just hug that left knee in, draw your nose up towards your knees squeezing everything in, take a big breath in holding the breath at the top and then sigh it out, let that release and then gather both knees into your chest, give them a squeeze, maybe rocking a little bit side to side, just massaging through the lower back and then let's take both legs into happy baby just to balance out the right and the left side, so again you can hold the shins, the big toes or the outsides of the feet, knees wide, relax through the shoulders and the low back and then you might rock it a little bit from side to side, you might straighten out one leg and then the other, any last movement that the body is requesting here to honor that and let the chin tuck slightly so the back of the neck is nice and long, couple more breaths here, good and then as you're ready go ahead and gather both knees back into your chest, give them a squeeze in and then again let's lift the nose up towards your knees to hug everything in, take a big giant breath in and hold the breath at the top, hug everything in a little bit more creating a little bit of tension here and then open your mouth and sigh everything out, let it go and then we'll set up for our final resting pose, so just taking a moment to transition and stretch your legs long on your mat, letting your feet just roll open like books and then bringing your palms to face up on either side of the body, let the arms fall away from your body, give yourself some space here and then maybe adjust the shoulders, roll them down a little bit to relax, maybe close your eyes, so as you come toward this final shape, we've been working with this earth energy, this grounded energy, can you take a moment to just observe and scan the body and notice the parts of the body that are making contact with the earth, so beginning with the toes and coming all the way up through the crown of the head and beyond, noticing what's making contact with the earth and then inviting that to feel a little bit more held, so that the earth comes up and supports you, greets you as you allow yourself to let go just a little bit more and then as you scan through the body, just let that go, let the body be heavy and just rest, shavasana. Excellent. Yep. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Just begin to tune into the sensations, maybe the sounds around you.

And then bringing the awareness back to the support, to the physical body. Inviting in any movement, the fingertips, toes, ankles, wrists. And then as you're ready, reaching arms up all the way over your head, take a nice full body stretch here, allowing a big full breath in. And then open your mouth and let out a sigh. Bring the soles of the feet to the earth.

Feel the soles of the feet. And then make your way over to either side, just taking a moment to pause on your side. Check in with how you feel. Just notice whatever you notice. And then take your time to press your way up to a comfortable cross-leg seated position.

And as you do that, take a moment to really find your sitting bones, rooting down as you rise up through the spine, through the crown of your head. We'll gather hands together in front of the heart, ananjali mudra, mudra of gratitude. Just taking a moment to bow in towards yourself, toward the teacher within, acknowledging yourself for just showing up for this practice and for you today. One more big breath in, hold the breath at the top. Sip in a little bit more air.

And then open the mouth, sigh it out, let it go. Thank you so much for sharing this practice with me. Namaste.