Compassionate Flow

Well, today, and I'll try not to say this morning, because I know people are everywhere right now, but today we're going to continue moving up the chakras as we have been building from the ground up, and we're going to move into the throat chakra, which quite admittedly is not an easy one for me. So this is the place of communication. It's a place of not only speaking our own truth with compassion, but also, and probably more importantly, especially right now, listening, listening with compassion. And the element, which actually feels very appropriate right now, is the element of sound. And if you can hear anything that's going on outside of my window, the wind is whipping, and the trees are making a lot of noise. The studio that I'm teaching in is shaking a little bit, so hopefully it doesn't knock my internet out. But we'll move into sound more so in a way that we'll use our breath to start to focus the mind on the sound of the breath with Ujjayi and Lion's Breath, and just allow our mind something to focus on as we start to open up through the throat chakra. So if you would, please join me on our back. So we'll get started there. And as I come onto my back, I'm going to step my feet as wide as my yoga mat this morning today, and then let your knees just knock in to touch. So right away, everything just starts to kind of move inward. And you can rest your hands on the low belly if that feels comfortable, or just take the arms on either side of your body. And then if it feels safe and appropriate to close your eyes wherever you're at, let the eyes soften closed or just find one point to focus your gaze. And then begin to shift the gaze to the internal space, taking a moment to observe, observe what you're showing up to your practice with, physically, energetically, emotionally today. As you do that, just allowing yourself to begin from wherever you are, every time we show up, it's going to feel a little bit different. Start from that place. Let's begin with a few cleansing breaths together. So allowing a big full breath in through your nose, filling up. And then open your mouth, let out a sigh, let something go. And again, inhale through the nose, fill up. Let out a deep sigh. Beautiful. And then that same ha sound on the exhale, but this time we'll start to move the breath into ujjayi pranayama. So inhaling through the nose, same ha sound on the exhale out the nose, feel that slight constriction in the back of your throat as you do that. So right away, massaging through the throat as you come into ujjayi, letting the breath be even and deep. And that audible sound just allows the mind something to focus on. Starting to heat the body from the inside out, taking just a few more breaths right here. Beautiful. And then we'll start to move with the breath. So step your feet hips distance, start to walk the heels in towards you. So the ankles are right under your knees and we'll set up for some rolling bridge poses. So pressing the palms face down on either side of the body. And then as you inhale, start to reach the arms up over your ears and then press through the soles of the feet, lift the hips up any amount so the chest comes up toward the chin. And then as you exhale, let that all release back down to the earth. So arms lower, hips lower. Good. And then again, inhale, arms lift up over the head, press through the soles of the feet, lift the hips and then slowly roll down the spine as you come back to the earth. Take that just a couple more times. The inhale brings you up, bridge pose, the exhale brings you all the way back down to the earth. One more inhale, arms lift, hips lift, maybe lifting the hips a little bit higher this time. And then keep the arms up over your ears and just slowly lower your hips, one vertebra at a time. Good. And as you get down to the bottom, maybe step your feet a little wider again, let the knees drop to the right side, allowing an easy spinal twist. So you start to breathe into the left side body. So feel that opening through the outer hip, through your spine. Beautiful. And then as you inhale through the nose, knees back through center, exhale up the nose, knees drop to the left side, just taking a nice easy twist as we often begin this way to start to warm the body, warm the spine. Beautiful. And then with your breath, start to windshield wiper your knees from side to side. So the inhale brings you through center, the exhale drops the knees to one side. And you can just take that a few times with your breath, moving at a pace that feels appropriate for you today. If I'm going too fast or too slow, feel free to adjust accordingly. Let this be about you.

This is your practice. Beautiful. And then as you get back through center, so finishing up on maybe the left side, we can hug the knees into the chest for a moment and start to rock a little bit from side to side, massaging through the low back. Notice how the back body is feeling. And then maybe take your knees in circles in one direction. And then the other letting this be massage on the low back. Good. And then start to take your rocks up and down along the length of the spine. And you can take that a few times to build momentum and we'll make our way into a tabletop position. Just take your time, no rush to get there, crossing at the ankles and setting up with the shoulders over the wrist, hips over knees. And we'll start to move into some cat-cow and then we'll add some sound to the breath as we do it. So let's just start with simply dropping the belly, lift the heart, lift the gaze, coming into cow. And then as you exhale, navel to spine, press the floor away. Let's do that a couple of times. So the inhale brings you forward, the exhale brings you back into cat pose. One more inhale as you come forward, arching through the spine. Exhale navel to spine and round. Good. This time on your inhale, we'll come back to cow pose. On the exhale, stick out the tongue and take a lion's breath. Really press the floor away as you do that. Let's do that two more times. Inhale through the nose, into cow pose. And then exhale, tongue out, lion's breath, cat pose. One more inhale as you come forward. And then exhale, tongue out, round. Let it go. Beautiful. And then just find that place between cat and cow. So we're neutralizing through the spine. And then let's drop the forearms down to the earth. So bringing the shoulders right over the elbows, pressing through the hands. Start to stretch your legs back, coming into an early forearm plank. Good. And just engaging through your core. But can you let this be about opening the throat? So gaze between your thumbs. Maybe swallow a few times. Feel into the throat. Good. Active in the legs. Just one more big full breath in. And then as you exhale, lower the hips down to the earth. Untuck your toes for sphinx pose. Just walking your hands forward a little bit, letting the elbows come just in front of your shoulders. And then you start to draw your mat back. Maybe start to lift up through your gaze, either gazing in front of you or even slightly up a little bit, but keep the core engaged so you're protecting your spine. And then just feel that opening here in the throat chakra. Ujjayi. Beautiful. And then replace your elbows with your hands. Let's come back to child's pose. Letting the hips sink back toward your heels as you reach the arms forward actively. Letting the elbows lift up off the earth. Breathe into the back body this time. Feel the expansion in the back ribs. And let's just take a little side body stretch here. So tenting your fingertips so the elbows start to lift up off the earth. Start to walk your hands over to the right side. And as you do that, maybe let a little weight shift off towards your left hip. So you're breathing all the way through that left side body. Good. And then take it on over to the other side. So walking your hands back through centers. Walk it over to the left. Let a little weight shift off towards your right hip. Notice if this side feels a little different. Stay rooted with the breath. Beautiful. And then come back through center.

Meet me back in all fours. So coming to your tabletop. Then we're going to work with keeping the hips lifted, bend the elbows, bring the chin and the chest down to the earth so you're gazing forward. And then stay nice and low and just kind of scoot your way through into a baby cobra. So drawing the shoulders back, hugging the elbows and staying active in your legs as you lift up. Engage the core. Beautiful. And then we'll reach it up and back coming through all fours. Tuck the toes, lift the hips up and back into our first down dog and take whatever you need here to settle in. Feel into the back body. Maybe come up high onto the toes a few times or pedal it out. Sometimes it feels nice to shake the hips side to side, shake the head yes and no. Just whatever you need. And just make sure you're pressing through the inner hand as well as the outer hand so you're evenly distributing the weight across your hands. So nice. And then on your next breath in through the nose, come forward into plank pose. So top of a push up for a moment. And then again we're going to work with this knees, chest, chin thing just to feel that opening in the throat. So lower the knees down, hug the elbows in, let the chin and the chest come down. And then glide your way through bhujangasana, cobra pose. Feel the length in the spine as you do that, open the throat. And then pressing it back through your hand, the knees, tuck the toes, lift the hips up and back down dog. Beautiful. Big full breath in. Long breath out, maybe sigh it out. And we'll just take that a few more times. We're going to start to warm the body a little bit, building a little more heat. Come forward to plank pose on your inhale. Lower knees, chin and chest on the exhale. bhujangasana, cobra pose. Inhale, draw the shoulders back. Exhale, press it on back. Downward facing dog, tucking the toes, lifting the hips up and back. Beautiful. One more like that. Moving with the breath. Inhale, plank. Exhale, knees, chin and chest. Inhale, bhujangasana, cobra pose. Exhale. Nice work. Downward facing dog. You start to pick up your hands, walk them back to your feet. Finding just a gentle forward fold at the back of the mat and feel free to bend your knees deeply here. And maybe today we're interlacing the fingers and bringing the hands behind the back of the neck to start to traction down. Feel the length through the back of the neck. Let the crown of the head melt down. Maybe sway a little side to side or any forward fold that feels nice for you this morning today. Good. And then let your hands find the earth as you're ready. Nice everyone. Take your time. Feel the hands walk forward to your downward facing dog. And we're meeting there, allowing a big full breath in. Let the heels get heavy. Maybe open the mouth, side out, let it go. Good. On your next breath in, rise up onto your toes. Put a big bend in your knees and then step or you can lightly hop your hands to your feet. Come to the front of your yoga mat. Beautiful. And then just walking your hands up onto your shins for a moment. Come halfway up. Offer the heart forward and then fold back in, Uttanasana. Good. And then bend the knees deeply. Roll up slowly. One vertebra at a time. As you get to the top, the shoulders come up towards your ears. Roll them down the back. Take a moment to find your mountain pose, Tadasana. And again, if it feels okay, maybe close your eyes, go inward and check in for a moment with an intention or a dedication for our practice together here today. Anything you'd like to call in, anything you'd like to let go of, it's allowing your practice to have a deeper meaning. And then holding that with you, we're going to move into some moon salutation.

So still working with this kind of grounded throat opening energy. As you're ready, sweep the arms all the way up. Pick a big full breath in. Good. And then as you exhale, fold all the way in, Uttanasana. Good. Step your left foot all the way to the back of the mat and then lower your left knee down to the earth. And just come up onto your fingertips for a moment. And we'll hold this one for a couple breaths. First time in the lunge. So feeling into the left psoas into your right hip. Might wiggle a little bit from side to side. Nice. And then we'll step it back to down dog. So planting the palms, step the right foot back to meet the left. On your inhale, lie to plank pose. And then same thing here. Exhale, lower knees, chin, chest, hug elbows in. Cobra pose on the inhale, lengthen it up. Meeting back in downward facing dog. Lifting the hips all the way up and back. Good. Float your left leg up to the sky. And we'll just pause here for a moment. Maybe roll out your foot a few times in one direction and then the others. Waking up the ankle, the toes, the foot. Beautiful. And then gaze between your thumbs. Step your left foot all the way through. Coming back to a lunge. We'll come onto the fingertips. Lower the right knee down this time. And first time on this side, just take a couple breaths. Breathe into wherever you feel this. Maybe wiggle a little bit from side to side and breathe. Good. And then this time we're tucking the back toes, lifting the back knee. Step your right foot to meet the left forward fold at the front of the mat, uttanasana. Good. And then root down to rise. Come all the way up to stand. Arms sweep out and up. And then hands to heart. So that was one half of a round. We'll move now to the right side and just start to pick up the pace a little bit so that we're flowing with the breath. One breath per movement. Inhale, arms lift. Maybe the gaze lifts. Exhale, forward fold. Soften in. Step your right foot to the back of the mat. Lower the right knee down. Lift the heart. Lift the gaze. Downward facing dog. Left foot meets the right. Good. Inhale to plank pose. Top of a push up. Exhale, knees, chin, chest. Good. Inhale, cobra pose. Draw the shoulders back. Lengthen back. Beautiful. Exhale, tucking the toes. Downward facing dog. Good. Floating the right leg up. And just take a brief pause here. Maybe roll out your foot a few times. Feel into this side for a moment. Beautiful. And engaging forward, step the right foot through. Lower the back knee down. Lift up.

Good. And then exhale, forward fold. Front of the mat. Left foot meets the right. Root down to rise. Inhale, arms sweep out and up. Hands to heart. Exhale. Beautiful. Let's take one more full round. Again, flowing with the breath. Picking up the pace just a bit. I'm going to simplify the cues so that we're moving with the breath. So inhale, arms lift. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, step the left foot to the back of the mat. Lower the back knee down. Find your lunge. Exhale, downward facing dog. Right foot meets the left. Good. Inhale, plank pose. Exhale, lower knees, chin, chest. Inhale, cobra. Good. Exhale, downward facing dog. Staying with the left side. Inhale, the left leg up. Exhale, step it through. Lower the back knee down. Come on to the fingertips. Big breath in. Forward fold. Front of the mat. Good. Root down to rise. Arms sweep out and up. Hands to heart. Exhale. Last side. Exhale to the right. Inhale, arms lift. Gaze lifts. Exhale, soften and fold. Your right foot to the back of the mat this time. Back knee lowers. Big breath in. Down dog. Left foot meets the right. Good. Plank pose. Inhale, lower knees, chin and chest. Cobra. Inhale. Down dog. Lift it up and back. Beautiful. Right leg lifts. Big breath in. Step it through.

Come on to the fingertips. Back knee lowers. Forward fold. Front of the mat. Good. Root down to rise. Inhale, arms sweep out and up. Inhale, gathering hands to heart. Take a moment to pause, to breathe, to arrive here. Maybe bringing one hand to heart, one hand to belly. Just tucking the chin down toward your chest, going inwards for just a moment. Notice where that all lands. All that movement, the energy. Even just that gentle movement might not feel so gentle. Even that quick 10 minutes of movement wherever we're at can change so much. Taking that moment to realize, to allow. Good. We'll start to move on. As you're ready, when you're ready, chair pose at the front of the mat. Utkatasana. Weight into the heels. Reach the arms up to sit the hips down toward the height of the knees. When you're drawing the shin bones back, lengthen up through the spine, allowing a big full breath in here. Then exhale, face into your forward fold. Utkatasana. This time, inhale, lift halfway up. Either hands on shins or fingertips might stay on the earth. Then plant your palms. Plate pose. This time, maybe the knees stay lifted as you lower halfway or all the way down. Cobra, if you feel ready for up dog, straighten out the arms. Firm the thighs up off the earth. Draw the shoulders back. Good. And then meet me in down dog, rolling over the toes and lifting the hips up and back. And we'll hold here just a couple breaths. You're in need of a child's pose. You don't even have to need it. You might want it. Feel free to lower the knees or can you allow your down dog to be a resting pose? Lean back to your breath. Back home for the present moment. Beautiful. And then as you're ready, float your right leg up to the sky. Gaze between your thumbs. Step it through. We're going to come into extended side angle from a different angle today. So spin your back heel down to the earth so you have your warrior two stance. And then bring your right arm on the inside of your right foot. You can also bring the forearm right up to your right thigh if this feels like it's too deep. And then you start to peel that left arm open so that the chest opens up to the left. And then if it feels okay, you might take your gaze up toward your fingertips. If that doesn't feel good in the neck, just look straight forward. And again, you might be up a little bit higher with the elbow on the thigh. Good. And if it feels okay, you can start to bring that top arm over your ear for a breath. Beautiful. And then land in warrior two. So the arms reach open and you bend toward 90 degrees in that front leg. You're taking your gaze over your middle finger as you sink down into warrior two. Feel your legs. Hello legs.

Good. And then flip your front palm. Keep the legs how they are. Just tilt back a little bit. Reverse warrior. Hold for a breath. Really feel that length through the right side body. Maybe sinking down a little deeper into that front knee. Good. And then circle your hands down, pausing in your runner's lunge. Come onto the ball of your back foot. Now let's take a twist here. So planting your left hand down right under your left shoulder. Sweep your right arm up. So you're twisting from the navel up and coming into your twist. Keep hugging that right hip in. Stay active in your left leg. Maybe roll out your wrists a few times. Nice. And then we'll lower the right hand down. Step it back. Plank pose, your vinyasa, or feel free to skip it. And just come right into down dog today. If you're lowering through on your inhale, you're coming to cobra or up dog. Exhale downward facing dog lifting the hips all the way up and back. Nice everyone. Big full breath in. Maybe stick out the tongue and take a lion's breath. Let something go. Beautiful. And then we'll move to the left side. Inhale the left leg up. Exhale, step it all the way through. And then we're setting up from the ground up. So spin the back heel down like you're setting up for warrior two. Take your left hand on the inside of your front foot or elbow to thigh. And then you start to peel the right arm up and open. And now here we are in extended side angle. You can keep the right arm lifting straight up or perhaps you're taking it over your ear. Feel that one long line of energy. From fingertips to back heel. Beautiful. And then strong in the legs as you root down to lift up to warrior two. And just take your time. Take your time to arrive there. You might need to adjust the stance a little bit. Find your own alignment. Good. And then relax the shoulders a little bit more. Maybe notice if you're holding on to some tension in your face. Let that go. Beautiful. Keeping the legs how they are. Flip your front palm. Tilt back reverse warrior. Hold for a breath here again. Just feeling that link through the left side body this time. Good. Big breath in. Exhale. Circle your hands down to the earth. Come on to the ball of your back foot. And then we'll set up for our twist here. So planting your right hand down underneath your shoulder. Sweep your left arm up. Good. And then again, just hugging that left hip in. Stay active in the right leg. Maybe roll out your wrists. Gaining your wrists a little bit of relief here. Nice. And then lower your left hand down. Plank pose. Your vinyasa or skip. Inhale cobra or up dog. Good. Find your down dog. And then let's take a moment to lower the knees. Coming into child's pose. Let your hips melt back. Coming back to your breath. And again, just taking these brief pauses between our flow. Between the movement. To really notice what's coming up for you. You can stay here with the arms reaching forward.

Or it might feel good while staying in your child's pose to gaze forward. Arm, elbows lift up. And then you can thread your right arm underneath your left arm. Just kind of let the right side of your face melt down toward the earth for a shoulder stretch. Breathe into that. A couple full deep breaths. Good. And then if you're taking that twist, take it to the other side. So reaching the right arm forward. Red your left arm under your right. Coming on to the left side of your face. Taking a peep under that right arm and breathing. Beautiful. And then meet me back through center. When you're ready, we'll come to down dog. Moving on. Adding on to what we've already started to create here. So coming back to the right side. Sweep your right leg up. Big breath in. Good. Step it through. Setting up for extended side from the ground up. Spin the left heel down. Right hand to the inside of the front foot. And start to peel your chest open. Left arm lift. And maybe take that top arm over your ear for a breath. And then come all the way up and back. Reverse warrior. Start to straighten through your front leg. So feel that length through the left side body as you come up and back. Good. And then keeping that length, hinge forward. Draw your left hip back. And then the right hand will come below the knee for triangle pose. Lifting your left arm up. And lean back a little bit. And maybe take your left hand into a half wrap. So drawing it behind the back. Maybe allowing that to draw your left shoulder back. Again, if it feels okay in the neck, you can take your gaze up. If it's too much, don't do it. It feels a little cranky to me. Good. And then we'll come into half moon from here. So take your gaze down to the earth. Put a nice bend in your right knee. And then with your right hand, reach forward. So the right fingertips come right under your right shoulder. Lift your left leg up. Flex the left foot a lot. And then opportunity for chapasana here. If you'd like, you can bend that left knee. Reach back with your left hand. Start to kick your foot into your hand. Or maybe not. Maybe that's too much. That's the case. You're reaching that left arm straight up. Breathing. And then start to soften your right knee as you step back to warrior two. And then we'll bring the hands to the hips. Straighten through the front leg. Parallel the feet. Moving into prasarita.

Wide leg forward fold. Start to draw the elbows back as you lift the heart. And then keeping the legs engaged with the long spine. Just release a couple full deep breaths here. Maybe your hands find the earth. Maybe they find your ankles. Just be at a place where it feels really nice. Sending the breath to the backs of the legs, creating some space, some ease. Lovely. And then come on out of there as you're ready. Walking your hands forward. Come back to the front of your mat. Find your runner's lunge. And again, let's take another twist. So plant that left hand down. Sweep the right arm out. Maybe it comes over your ear for a couple breaths. Oh my goodness, there's a dove right out the window. You can see him. Good. And then lower your right hand down. Step back plank pose. Lower through. I'm going to stay with knees, chin, and chest just to find that opening in the throat. Draw the shoulders back, cobra or up dog. Meet me in downward facing dog. Beautiful. Big breath in. Open the mouth, sigh it out. Let it go. Beautiful. You got this. Second side, left leg lifts, big breath in. Step it through. We're building our extended side angle. Left hand to the inside of the front foot. Back heel spins down. Sweep your right arm up. Maybe take it over your ear. Find that energy, long line of energy. Good. And then strong in the legs. Come all the way up and back. Reverse warrior. Straighten through that front leg and then hinging into triangle pose. Left hand below the knee. Right arm lifts. Welcome to stay right here or right hand behind the back. You're flipping the palm to face the wall behind you and then taking that right arm behind the low back. Maybe you find the top of the thigh or the hip crease. Draw the right shoulder back. Lengthen through the crown of your head. Beautiful. And then setting up to play with our balance. Gaze down. Put a nice bend in that left knee. Reach forward with your left fingertips. Float the right leg up. Flexing through the right foot a lot like you're stepping on the wall behind you.

Maybe you're bending that right knee. Reaching back with your right hand, finding the foot or your ankle for chalapasana. Be here for just a couple more breaths. If you fall out of it, no worries. Come right back in. It's meant to challenge us. Good. And then softly bend for your left knee as you step it back to warrior two. And then draw your hands to your hips. Straighten through the front leg. Parallel the feet. I'm just going to spin around to face you. And then maybe take your hands behind the low back. Start to draw the shoulders back. Lift the heart. And then find prosaureta. If it's too much in the shoulders, just try something different with your hands. You might find peace fingers to big toes. As you inhale, lengthen. As you exhale, find that sound. That sound in the throat. Remind something to focus on. Good. Letting the mind rest on the sounds. Beautiful. And then come on out of there as you're ready. We'll come back to our lunge. Let the front of the mat setting up for a twist. Plant your right hand down. Sweep your left arm up. And then maybe take that left arm over your ear. Find that line of energy from fingertips to back heel. Go nice. Lower your left hand down. Step back, plank pose. Your vinyasa, maybe knees, chin and chest. Gliding through, cobra, or up dog. Long in the back of the neck. And then meet me back in down dog. Lifting the hips all the way up in back. And then just take a moment. Lower the knees if it feels okay. This time we'll sit back on the heels. If that doesn't feel good in your knees, child's pose is great. Again, just taking these brief pauses between each round to observe. Not as a way of checking out, but as a way of checking in. Yoga can happen after the movement. Beautiful. And then meet me back in down dog whenever you're ready. Tapping the toes, lifting the hips up in back. And we'll move through one more round. A little bit different this time. Still with the intention of opening up through the throat. So sweeping your right leg up. Take a big breath in. Look forward. Step it through between your hands.

This time stay on the ball of your back foot. Maybe step your left foot to the left a little bit. And then we'll set up for pressing pose. Reaching the arms up. And as you come up, maybe soften your back knee a little bit. Let the tailbone melt down. And then release the hands behind your back. Either finding an interlace or if that's too much on the shoulders, you can just reach the arms back actively. And then we're transferring the weight into the front leg, moving into warrior free. So coming halfway down, lead with the crown of your head. Transfer the weight into the right. Lift your left leg up. Play with your balance. Let your hips stay level. Nice everyone. And then fingertips to the earth, standing split at the front of the mat. And don't worry about the height of that left leg. You're just lifting and standing up on the right leg. Might be screaming a little bit. And then we're going to take some lunges here. So on an inhale, lengthen. As you exhale, you're going to bend both knees and just kind of tap your left knee to the back of your right calf. Good. And then the inhale brings you back towards standing split. And the exhale right back to where you were. Bend both knees, squat down. One more inhale, sweep the leg up. This time, bend both knees. And then the left knee is going to come behind your right ankle as you sit down for a seated twist. A little tricky of a transition, or at least I don't think I described it very well, but hopefully you can see me and you landed. And we're hugging that right knee in, bringing the right fingertips behind you. Sweep your left arm up, sit up nice and tall. And then twisting to the right, either hooking the elbow on the outside of the right leg, or a little bit softer, you're hugging the right knee in. And then with every inhale, find some length in the spine. Every exhale is ease without force into your twist. A couple of deep breaths here. Letting something go with every exhale. Nice. And then gaze toward the front of your mat to counterbalance, bring both hands to the outside of your left hip. Soften the elbows and just let the crown of the head melt down. Should feel pretty good. And come on up, step the soles of the feet to the earth. We're setting up for Navasana, boat pose. So sit up nice and tall, spine long, bring the hands to the backs of the knees, and then start to lift the legs up. You can parallel the shins toward the earth and you spread your toes. And if there's anything going on in the low back, just keep holding onto the backs of the knees. Otherwise, if it feels okay, reach the arms forward, draw the shoulders back, really lift up and lengthen. Maybe close your eyes. We're just holding here for five, four, three, two, good. On one, lower the feet down, reverse tabletop. Bring your hands behind you, let your fingers face in towards you. Take a big breath in as you lift the hips up. Maybe let your head release back. Stick out the tongue, lion's breath. And that one more time, big breath in, tongue out, lion's breath. Good. Release your hips down to the earth and we'll just cross at the ankles and just step it back to downward facing dog. We'll meet there. If you want the vinyasa, please feel free to honor that. I'm going to hang here and breathe, letting the heels get nice and heavy, let the backs of the legs start to open up. Beautiful. And then we'll move into the left side as you're ready. So inhaling the left leg up to the sky, step it all the way through between your hands. Good. Setting up for press and pose, you might step the right foot to the right a little bit, find that strong base and then sweep your arms up. Take a moment to arrive here, let the tailbone melt down, let the shoulders relax. And then hands behind the back, either pressing back actively, find that interlace. And then coming halfway forward, keep the length in the spine, lead with the crown of your head, transfer the weight into your left leg as you float the right leg up.

You can soften that left knee if you need to, try not to lock out the joints. Beautiful. Standing split, hands find the earth, reach your right leg up and just hold there for a few breaths. Letting really everything release down, feel that downward flow of energy, you're in an inversion. Nice. And then just a couple of those squats, strengthening the legs, big breath in, bend both knees, tap the right knee to the back of your left calf. Inhale to lift back up, standing split. Exhale, bend both knees, gazing forward. Good. Inhale it up. And then again, this time we're bending both knees, finding our seat, the left knee comes behind or the right knee comes behind your left ankle. And then just take a moment to wiggle in, find your sitting bones, rooting down, sit up nice and tall. You can always straighten out that right leg if that feels a little less restrictive in your body. Left fingertips come behind you, sweep your right arm up, lengthen up, and then hooking your right elbow on the outside of your left or hugging that left knee in, whatever feels best for you without force, lengthening up through the spine and twisting a couple breaths here, bringing it out. Finding one point to focus your gaze, your Drishti. So nice everyone. And then gazing forward, unravel, bring your hands to the outside of your right hip, let the head, neck and shoulders relax. Good. And then coming back through center, bring the soles of the feet to the earth, sit up nice and tall, wiggle in. We'll take one more Navasana boat pose, lift the shins up, parallel the shins to the earth, reach your arms forward if that feels okay. And then draw the shoulders back, feel the length and the lift in your heart. And if it feels appropriate in your body, you can straighten out the legs, just so easy with the hip flexors there. And then maybe close your eyes, hang here and breathe for five, four, three, two, one, lower the feet down to the earth. So you can stay with that reverse tabletop. Otherwise, you might straighten out the legs. And then same idea will bring the hands behind us, fingers facing in towards us and then press through the arms actively as you lift your hips, let your toes melt down toward the earth and then you can lift the gaze, feel the opening in your throat, big breath in, pong out, lion's breath. And then lower your hips down and just start to crawl your hands forward, coming into a nice easy forward fold, Paschimottanasana, letting your hands fall wherever they fall. Just letting the breath be slow and deep. Let the heart beat slow a little bit. Beautiful. And then rising up as you're ready, we'll cross at the ankles and step it back right into Dandang. You want the vinyasa, feel free to take it or just land, let the heels get heavy. Feel that big opening in the backs of the legs. So you're really pressing the heels down toward the earth. They definitely don't need to touch, but just that action of being heavy. Beautiful. And then let's lower the knees down. Take a moment. We're going to set up for an inversion here with a dolphin pose. So we'll bring the forearms down to the earth. Let your shoulders land right over your elbows, press through all 10 fingers, especially the inner hand, and then tuck your toes, lift the hips up, me walking my toes in toward you. Feel the opening in the backs of your legs. And can you let the neck be nice and long here? You might even gaze between your thumbs. Just a few breaths. So nice. And then walk your feet out. So we're back in the forearm plank, just briefly. Again, shoulders right over elbows, strong in the core. Gaze between your thumbs, lengthening forward and back at the same time. Big breath in and right back into sphinx pose. Lower the hips, walk your hands in front of you a little bit. Let your elbows come just in front of the shoulders. And then if it feels okay, drop your chin down toward your chest this time. So we're just finding a stretch in the neck. And you can let your right ear come over toward your right shoulder, breathing into the left side of your neck. Keep the legs engaged, core engaged. And then coming back through center, left ear, left shoulder, back through center, hands replace the elbows, child's pose, hips to heels. Take a beat here before we set up for our expansive camel poses to really feel into that opening in the throat chakra. So as you're ready, you can roll up, sit back on your heels. Now for me, this is definitely one of the biggest kind of throat opening poses. It can feel a little bit vulnerable, at least it does for me. So I'll give progressions as we go into this and just feel free to stop anywhere along the way. You can also completely skip it. No one can see you. All right, so come up on to stand on your knees. You might have some padding under your knees. You don't have a blanket. You can always kind of curl the sides of your mat and put your knees onto that for a little extra padding. Bring your hands to your lower back, bringing the fingers to face up or down, whatever feels more natural to you. But the idea is to keep the hips directly over your knees so that you're not dumping too much into the lower back. So just for this first one, hands to low back, hips over knees, start to lift from the sternum, lift from the chest. Maybe take your gaze up toward the ceiling. Feel the throat open. Maybe swallow your be in a place where you can breathe deeply. And this might be where you stay. So come out of there, moving from the core as you sit back on your heels. Take a moment to just pause. Maybe close your eyes and just observe where the energy lands after that. You might be here for a few more breaths, or if you're ready to move on, we'll progress into a deeper variation, but feel free to stay with where we just were. So I'm going to stand up on my knees, tuck the toes, bring my hands to the low back, letting my hips land over the knees, hug the elbows back, lift the sternum, lift the gaze. Maybe reaching with the right hand to find my heel, left hand to find my heel or ankle, and then keep lifting. Feel the opening. Good. And breathe. You get a place where you can still have a deep breath.

Nice. And then as you come out of here, move from the core as you come up, and then we'll just sit back on the heels. Take a moment to land there, softening, observing, breathing. Good. So again, stay here if you'd like, or one more variation, we'll go a little bit deeper. Stand up on the knees. This time I'm going to keep my toes untucked so the tops of the feet are on the earth. Hands to the low back, hug the elbows in, stay anywhere along the way, lift the sternum, lift the gaze, reach back, find my heels or my ankles, keep reaching the hips forward. Feel the opening, find the breath. Good. And then lifting from the core as you come out of there, sit back on the heels. Counterbalance. How are you doing? Hopefully you're okay. Take a couple of breaths here. Good. And then just letting your weight shift off to one side, bring the legs out in front of you, soles of the feet to the earth. We're going to lower slowly. So lift the gaze, reach the arms forward on the count of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Hug your knees back into your chest for a moment. Rock it side to side. Feel a nice massage on the low back. And we'll find a hip opener on our back. So stepping the soles of the feet to the earth, setting up for thread the needle, cross your right ankle on top of your left knee. Find that figure 4 shape with your legs. And just start to draw the legs in towards you. Any amount. Interlacing on the shin or behind the left thigh. And letting that right knee draw away from you as the left knee draws in and you soften the shoulders. Breathe here. I love this quote by Pima Chodron. She says, compassion for others begins with kindness toward ourselves. Compassion for others begins with kindness toward ourselves. Where can you be? A little bit kinder to you today. Switch sides whenever you're ready. Take your time, soles of the feet to the earth. Left ankle on top of the right knee. Find that figure 4 shape, draw the shape in towards you. Notice where you feel this. Breathe into that. Maybe swallow a few times. You can tuck the chin slightly so the back of the neck is nice and long. A couple more full deep breaths right here. And then as you release that shape, an invitation to come into plow pose here on your back. So if that's not in your practice, you can hug the knees in, maybe take a happy baby. Otherwise, draw the knees in, take the legs up and over your head. So you're basically in a forward fold, but in a very different way. You can stay right here in plow. If you have a safe shoulder stand practice, you might bring hands to the low back, supporting the low back. If you're doing that, just make sure your neck, the natural curve of the spine stays there and your gaze stays straight up. Maybe you're lifting the legs up, supporting the low back. Breathing, chest to chin. A couple full deep breaths here. Beautiful. And then we'll all land back in plow. And then as you come out of here, we're in a land in fish pose. So bring your palms of the hands to face down on your mat. As you start to roll down, you're going to let your butt land on top of your hands so that the hands are pinned underneath you, legs come straight. And then lift up on your elbows, lift the chest, maybe bring the crown of the head down on the earth. Again, just feel that opening in the front body. Good. Big breaths in. Really get out of there. Wiggle your hands out. Give your right knee a hug into your chest, and we'll just come into one last twist here. So hug it in. With your left hand, draw the right knee across the body. And you can reach your right arm out to the right. Maybe take a gaze over your right shoulder, bringing it out, breathing. Nice. And then take your time to unravel and just take a moment between the two sides to neutralize. Observe. Good. And then hug your left knee into your chest. Give it a squeeze. With your right hand, draw it across the body, reaching your left arm out to the left, bringing it out. If there's another twist that you prefer, feel free to take that. Letting that left shoulder melt down. Let everyone in unravel, knees into chest, maybe happy baby or any last posture that your body is asking for in this moment. Checking in. What do you need to feel complete in our practice together today?

Hug the knees in. Draw your nose up to your knees. Hug everything in. Big, full breath. And then open them up. Sigh it out. Let the legs go long on your mat. You can bring the palms to face open on either side of your body. And we'll move slowly into Shavasana. It's just a very brief awareness meditation. So finding your supported shape here. Feel safe. Close the eyes.

Start to bring your awareness to the sounds in the space around you, specifically those that are kind of in the distance. So what's going on outside of the walls where you're at? Can you hear the wind? Trees? Birds? Maybe someone's snoring. Without being attached to one sound versus the other, just kind of naming them silently to yourself and then moving on to the next sound. And then as you reach for the sounds outside of the space, you can start to bring them to what's obvious, what's in your space. And then begin to come to the sound of your breath, any internal sounds. Maybe it's just the sensation of the energy in the body. And as you move deeper inward, can you allow the sounds to become one, one symphony of sound?

Letting go, letting be. Just rest. And coming back to the sound of your breath, beginning to deepen your breath. Maybe rock your head from side to side, massaging through the neck, through the throat. And then as you're ready, you can interlace the fingers. Press the palms toward the wall behind you, lengthening, allowing a big full breath in here, full body stretch. And then open the mouth, sigh it out. Let something go. Let the soles of the feet find the earth, rolling over to either side. If it feels okay, you can pause on this side and just take a moment to check in. And then as you're ready, take your time and just make your way to your comfortable cross-leg seated position. And as you do that, drawing your hands together in Anjali Mudra in front of your heart. Just taking a moment to bow in with kindness, with compassion towards yourself. Thank you for showing up for you today. I can't wait to practice with you all again. Thank you for being here. Namaste everyone. Have a beautiful rest of your Monday, whatever day it is. Take care.