Mindful and at Ease

Hi, welcome. We'll start in just a moment. Take the time to gather up your props, whatever you like for this practice. Be nice to have a blanket nearby for our seated meditation. I'm here near Ojai, California in my little cabin. It's rather chilly this morning. I love that we're gathering and practicing from all over the world. So welcome to Yoga Anytime Live. For this practice, we're going to start on our back just with a kind of a slow opening to ease into our hips and hamstrings and begin to turn our attention inward towards the breath and sensations in the body. Then we'll move into our seated meditation. I want to make sure we have time to get it in and not leave it until the end. Then we'll move and gradually make our way towards a standing flow, some standing shapes, balancing postures, and then make our way down for some back bending in a closing sequence. Sound good? Again, thank you so much for showing up and being here today with me. Let's find our way onto our back. So onto your back. It might feel nice as you come onto your back just to begin to draw your knees into your chest and just rocking from side to side. Such a nice slow way to ease into the body, into your practice. And with the rocking from side to side, you might take the knees in a circular direction, just beginning to feel into your lower back and your sacrum, massaging the kind of perimeter of the sacrum, outer hips, down through the tailbone. You might take that circle in the other direction and eventually let the knees bend, let the feet find the earth and take a few moments. Feel your toes. And let's open the arms up in the shape of cactus or goalpost arms. So we're going to begin with some gentle cat cow through the spine. So keep our pelvis, our hips on the floor. And with your inhale, go ahead and just begin to roll your pelvis forward. So you're tilting your pubic bone downward as you arch the back, arching the lumbar spine, coming into a back bend here. And then with your exhale, keep your pelvis on the floor, feet on the floor, just curl the tailbone under. A little navel to spine action, scooping the belly. And then with your inhale, relax the belly, roll the pelvis forward, arch your back, soften the chin downward towards the heart. And then with your exhale, keep the pelvis grounded, curl the tailbone under. Notice how the head rocks back a little bit. Then just continue to find your own pace, your own rhythm for a few rounds here. You might inhale, arch the back and soften the chin downward. And then with the exhale, curl and scoop the tailbone under, letting the head rock back. A couple more rounds here, just beginning to, on a warm and wake up the spine and spreading your awareness between the movement of your skull and the movement of your pelvis. This nice cranial sacral rocking here, opening out through the lungs, nice and easy through the base of your skull. Good. And then just go ahead and relax the effort for a moment. And let's bring the right ankle on top of that left thigh. You can stretch your arms out to your sides, opening up through the right hip. We're just going to start to rock from side to side, nice and easy. And rocking onto the inner outer edge of your left foot. And you might play with letting your head rock away from your knees there. Yeah. Maybe playing with that right knee falling towards the floor and the right foot falling away towards the floor to the left. A couple more rounds here. Just feeling into your whole body, your spine, your low back, through your hips. It might feel nice to pause on one side or the other. And let's actually go ahead and tip it over to the left. So grounding the sole of that right foot down on the floor. You can bring a block underneath it. And let's go ahead and stretch up through our right arm. So let your right arm be more at a diagonal. And then as you ground through that right foot, begin to kind of send the knee away.

Let the hip open here. And can you feel the sense of the back of your right lung softening downward towards the floor. Find that ease and length in your neck. And let's work with our attention now. So begin to draw your attention into your right lung. And as you draw your attention into your right lung, notice how the breath responds. And then from your right lung, begin to draw your awareness up through the pathway of your right nostril. Notice the sensation of the breath through the right nostril. Finding the space between the eyebrows and really the base of your skull. So this is a practice of darana, really honing and cultivating this steady single pointed attention, which can actually be very restful for the mind. Tether the attention into the right lung and up through the right nostril. Just a few more moments here. Just gently relaxing the effort of your attention. And with your inhale, let the shape come back up through the center. Without your hands, begin to draw your left thigh in towards your chest for figure four. Flexing your right ankle there, send the knee away. So you feel that stretch through the outer right hip. And then you might weave your right hand through the window there. Finding the back of your left thigh or maybe it's the shin. And let yourself rock a little bit from side to side. Just meeting yourself right where you are. Might be a lot of sensation you're working with through the outer right hip area. As you breathe into where you feel it, notice where you can soften. Maybe it's the back of the eyes. Maybe it's a bit through the shoulders, the jaw, even the fingers. Last few moments here, you might play with tipping it over to the left a little bit as you find a little bit more length through the outer right hip area. And then just slow. Let it rock back to center. Nice. One more inhale. Slow with your exhale. Go ahead and release the hands. Ground the sole of that left foot. Let's stretch the right leg up to the sky. Bring your hands around the back of your right leg and let's point and flex the right foot out. Maybe circling it out through the ankle in both directions. Just nice and easy. Waking up the hamstrings and warming up the ankle joint. Nice. You might stay with this. You might extend out through that bottom left leg. You might stay low or you might on the exhale draw your chin into your chest. Do a little sit up here as you lift your forehead towards your right shin bone. Yeah, you might even play with lifting your left heel up off the floor and maybe stretching your fingers towards the back of your mat. And then doing a little pulse action here. Kind of a scissor action through the legs. Beautiful. And then just slow rolling your spine down and then flex that right foot. Lead with the heel. We're going to slowly extend and lengthen through that left leg. You might even bring your hands onto your lower belly to kind of stabilize the pelvis as you extend from the center. Nice work. And then just take a moment, relax the effort. Check and notice how you feel. Yeah, and just allow for a clearing breath. Nice, full exhale out of the mouth. Feel into the other side. As you're ready, bend the knees, ground the soles of the feet. Let's bring that left ankle across the right side. I'm going to open up through the hips, stretch your arms out and just begin to rock from side to side again. Easing onto the inner outer edge of your right foot. Feeling that ease all the way up through the neck so your head might rock away from the knees. Just exploring a range of movement that feels good for your body. And then eventually we're going to tip it over to the right. Letting the whole shape come over to the right as you ground that left foot down towards the floor. And then reach your left arm more at a diagonal line. Aha, reaching through the fingers and then feel how you can lengthen down through the left side body. And as you ground that left foot, kind of roll the knee and the hip open. Yeah. With your exhale, let the belly soften and can you feel the back of your kind of left lung shoulder blade releasing towards the earth. From here, let's draw our attention into our left lung. Noticing how the breath responds. You might even feel the sensation of the breath moving into the intercostal muscles. Feeling up the ribs. Really awakening the primary muscles of breathing. So our diaphragm, intercostals and abdominals. And then from the left lung, gently draw your attention up through the pathway of your left nostril.

Feeling the sensation of the breath through the left nostril. Without forcing or pushing the breath. The primary action here is we're working with our attention. And just noticing how the breath, the prana, that subtle energy, how it responds. How it wakes up. Yeah. Take your time relaxing your attention. When you're ready, inhale, let the whole shape come back up to center. And then without your hands, just begin to play with kind of drawing that right knee into the chest. Increasing the stretch through the outer left hip. It might rock a little bit from side to side. Flexing the left ankle just to protect your knee joint area. Nice. And you might weave your left hand through there. Finding the back of that right thigh or top of the shin. Eye of the needle thread. And just rocking from side to side. If you find your head is dropping back quite a bit, you might tuck a blanket underneath the head for support so the shoulders can really soften. Notice the quality of the breath. Yeah. Breathing into where you feel it. And you might play with rocking it over to the right a little bit as you find a little bit more space and length through the outer left hip. Yeah. Keep that length through the outer left hip as you rock it back through center. A few more moments here. Allow for an inhale. And with your exhale, release the hands. Brown the sole of that right foot. Let's stretch our left leg up towards the sky and bring your hands around the back of the left leg as you point and flex the left foot out. Nice and easy. Waking up the toes and circling out through the ankle. In both directions. Nice. From here you might stretch and extend out through your right leg. You might stay here. You might on the exhale draw your chin into your chest and begin to lift up. Maybe lifting that right heel up off the floor. Maybe stretching the fingers towards the back of the mat. Little scissor action here. Maybe a few pulses. Drawing the upper body towards the legs. Beautiful. And then let's slowly roll the spine down. Flex that left foot lead with the heel and just begin to stretch and lower that left leg slowly. Feeling that stability through your pelvis. And then we're relaxing the effort for a few moments. A big clearing breath. Inhale. Nice, full exhale. From here let's go ahead and bend the knees. Bring the soles of the feet together. Knees wide for a few moments here. Feeling the hands might rest on the lower belly. You might stretch the arms overhead and maybe bring the hands around the elbows. Nice. With an exhale feel how you can let the front ribs soften downward a little bit. Find a little bit more length through the low back and the tailbone. Be spacious through the throat and between the eyes. From here begin to notice the relationship with the back of your lungs and the earth. You feel a sense of fullness through the back body and the back of the ribs. Really listening inwardly. Nice. And you are welcome to stay here a bit longer. When you feel ready just slowly release the hands. You might scoop the knees up with your hands and draw your knees into your chest. Rock from side to side might feel nice. From here we are going to transition up towards our seated meditation. You might roll to your side or rock and roll up however you would like to get up. We are going to come into a seat. Might at this point grab something to sit on. Maybe a blanket, bolster, pillow and just find a comfortable shape to sit in. Letting yourself settle and getting the alignment of your body just right for you. Nice. And allowing your inhale to invite a quality of length through your spine and allow the exhalation to really encourage and invite this feeling of settling. Letting the mind begin to settle. Letting the body gradually settle. Finding the placement of your skull where it feels really balanced over your spine. And I know for me usually I need to kind of draw the skull back a little bit. Like a turtle drawing its head back. You might imagine the base of your skull gently lifting back and up as the chin softens down a little bit. Really relaxing through the mouth, the jaw, the lips, even down through the lower belly. A few more moments of just arriving and settling. Notice what might have your attention. It might be sensations happening through the body. Might be an ebb and flow of emotions swirling in. And then with this we're going to begin to turn our attention inward towards the sensation of the breath in the nostrils again. Begin to notice the sensation of the breath evenly through both nostrils. Really allow this investigation to be soft and tender. Noticing how your attention helps to illuminate the sensation through the nostrils without needing to breathe in intensely. Feeling the space between the eyebrows and the base of your skull. Even notice the quality down through your hands. With this let's draw our awareness into our left nostril. Holding your attention in your left nostril as you notice again the sensation of the breath. There might be more sensitivity towards a certain part of the nostril. Maybe the back of the nostril. The inner outer or front of the nostril. Holding your attention here wholeheartedly for a few more moments. Then slowly gradually begin to draw your awareness into your right nostril. And it might take some time for the attention to travel. Really begin to hold your attention here. Notice the sensation of the breath through the right nostril. And allow this to be soft. Notice if there's more sensitivity in one area of the nostril. You might even notice that one side feels a bit more open than the other. Right now with my allergies one side usually feels a little bit more stuffy. And then gently let your awareness travel into both nostrils again. You can hold your attention evenly. You may feel a sense of how drawing the awareness into the nostrils brings our attention more towards the central channel of the body up through the spine. And then gradually relaxing the effort of the attention in the nostrils.

Just rest in the experience of being here for a few more moments. Really alive, awake, aware in this present moment. Even allowing your awareness to gently soften and expand a little bit. Moving beyond the nostrils. Aware of the movement of the breath in the entire body. You might even feel a sense of the lungs and the heart gently moving and expanding together. The lungs and the heart are interwoven. Feeling the fluid like nature. The lungs and the heart. So in meditation it's not like we're doing anything specific. It's like we're creating the conditions for the possibility of meditation to occur. To meditate is to really listen with a receptive heart. Just allow for an inhale. Maybe a clearing exhale. I could sit here all day with you. When you're ready let's start to transition. Move around a bit more. So make your way into a tabletop. Mistake your time. You might pad your knees with a blanket. And let's continue our cow movement here. Spreading the fingers wide it might feel nice to tuck your toes under. And at your own pace with your breath we're all arriving at different times. When you're ready go ahead and drop your belly. Lift your sitting bones and your heart arching. And then exhale. Curl and round. Stretch your back. Release your head. Inhale. Dropping the belly. Moving into your extension. And then with your exhale curl round. Find that deep flexion in the spine. Usually it feels kind of good to draw the hips towards the heels. Getting into that mid-low back. Find what feels good for you. A couple more rounds here. Inhale to arch and lengthen. Keep the length in the neck without looking up and pinching. And then exhale. Curl round slowly.

Kind of traction back. And you might take this into circles with your hips. You might find some what we call kind of barrel roll movements through your rib cage. Leaning a bit from side to side. Forward and back. Finding those areas that might feel sticky or tight through the outer hips. Ribs, shoulder blades and neck area. Nice. Eventually when you feel ready just bring your spine into a neutral table top position. And let's stretch out through that right leg. Tuck the toes. And I love this one. Just begin to kind of rock forward and back. So we're stretching through the back of that leg line. And waking up the toes and the heel. Nice. And then let's do that on the other side. Extend. Tuck the toes. Rock forward and back. Nice. Making our way into a plank pose. And you can always take plank on the forearms if your wrists are feeling tired. Softening the shoulders down the back and extending back through the legs. Reaching back through your heels. Feel how you can lengthen forward through the heart. We're drawing the deep low belly up towards the spine. Pressing the floor away. The buoyant through the lungs and the heart. Inhale. Exhale. Let's take it back into our downward facing dog. Nice. And let's just start by coming high up onto the balls of the feet. Waking up the toes. Waking up the legs. Nice. And then begin to let the heels get heavy towards the floor. It might feel nice to bend one knee and stretch through the other leg. And then bend through that knee and stretch through the other leg. Nice. Eventually setting into a neutral position through the legs. Bend the knees. Really lift the sitting bones up. Root through the fingers. Let the spine lengthen. Back of the neck soften. Let's take this back into our plank pose. As you're ready, inhale. Shift the shoulders over the wrists. Drawing through the legs and the deep low belly. Exhale.

Lower the knees. Keep the elbows in. And slowly come onto the belly for a few rounds of rolling cobra. Release the tops of the feet. Roll the shoulders up the back. And as you're ready, inhale. Press gently through the palms. Lift the heart. Maybe cobra. Elbows draw in. Using the upper back strength here. Broad across the chest. And then lead with the heart. Lower down slow. And as you're ready, press through the palms. Inhale. Lift that cobra. And exhale. Lead with the heart. Lower down. Take one more rolling cobra. Press through the palms. Inhale. Lift the chest. And exhale. Lead with the heart. Lower down. Tuck the toes. Draw the elbows in. Press up. And child's pose. Nice and slow. You might bring the knees wide. Big toes to touch. And just let the hips wobble little side to side. Softening the hips towards the heels. Can you feel the sensation of the breath in the back of your body now? No wrapping wide around the mid back. The ribs. Kidneys. Down into the lower back in the sacrum. Take your time. You might stay here a bit longer enjoying child's pose. It feels good on the body. As you're ready, inhale. Rise back up. Let's fan the fingers out a little wider. It's a variation of downward dog that I'm enjoying lately. Tuck the toes under. Lift up and bring the feet as wide as the mat. We're in a wide, almost like a hammock, wide downward dog. And bend the knees. Reach the sitting bones up towards the sky. And as you extend and lengthen the spine, feel how you can play with drawing your thigh bones back a little bit. Yeah. Deepening the fold there. The hip crease. And continue to let the weight of the head release. Neck softens in this inversion. Right? With the head below the heart. Breathing. Take your time. The direction we're moving is bringing the hands towards the feet. Turning the heels and coming into a squat. Like shape. So finding what feels right for you as you come into your squat. Yeah. Easing into the hips. Maybe a little side to side. You might bring the hands together at the heart as you draw the elbows towards the inner legs and feel how you can kind of lengthen out of the low back. Soften the jaw.

Finding this real downward flow of energy. Super grounding. Right? Nice. You might take it into a twist. Grounding the left hand and how to reach the right arm up. Opening that right hip. Maybe circling out that right ankle. Now you feel good to look down or up. Beautiful. Inhale. Exhale. Ground the right hand. Let's take it over to the other side. Inhale with the left arm up. Maybe circle out through that ankle. Or through the wrist rather. This is a wrist. Maybe looking up. Maybe looking down. Beautiful. And then slow release. Forward fold. Toe heel to feet. Underneath the hips. Soften through your knees. Upanasana. Forward fold. Hands might find the elbows. Might do a little sway from side to side. Maybe shifting some weight forward into the balls of your feet. Yeah. Feeling that kind of dull, achy stretch through the back body. Through the hamstrings. When you're ready, release through the fingers. Soft bend in the knees. We're rolling up slowly unfurling the spine. So chin into the chest. Taking your time to slowly stack the bones. As you curl the tailbone under. Head last. Chin into the chest. Press through the feet. Feeling your heart. Feeling your shoulders. Feeling your head. Nice full exhalation down into the legs. Down into the feet. Taking a few moments. Especially if you feel a little light headed when coming up from standing. From here we're going to come into one of my favorites bow and arrow action. So stand about. Hips width apart. Spreading your toes. Let's stretch the arms forward. Out in front of you. And we're going to begin to pull the bow back with our right hand. Let that right hip open. Reach the left fingertips forward and then maybe you're stretching that right arm back. Nice. And then ground through the feet. Lift and lengthen up through your spine. And you might play with looking back towards the right hand. Straight over the heart or maybe towards the left hand. A few more moments here. As you lift and lengthen what would it feel like to draw your left lung back and your right lung forward? And a deepening that twist through the mid back. Easy through the neck. Inhale. Exhale. Sweep your right hand down to the floor and back up to meet the left. Other side. Reach through the right fingertips. Draw the bow back with that left hand. Feeling that spinal twist. Maybe stretching that left arm back. Root through the feet. Inhale. Lengthen through the spine. You might play with the turning of the head back and forward. And as you reach lift and lengthen what would it feel like to draw the right lung back, the left lung forward? Feeling that movement through the pelvis. Maybe floating the gaze right over the heart. Inhale. Exhale. Sweep the left hand down to the floor. Bring it back up to meet the right. Let's press through the feet. Inhale. Reach the arms up towards the sky. Feel that lift and length. That energy all the way up through the body. And draw the front ribs in again. Lengthen the back body. Let's cactus the arms. Bend the elbows. Opening the chest. Press through the feet. Inhale. Stretch the arms back up to the sky. And then turn the palms away from each other. Roll the shoulders forward. We'll interlace the fingers behind our back. Lift the chest. Inhale. Exhale. Bend the knees. Forward fold. Hinge the hips. Releasing the head. Stretching the arms up out and over. And you might play with shifting the weight forward into the balls of the feet. Maybe lifting the shoulders up a bit. Freeing up the cervical spine. Beautiful. And then slow bend the knees. We're back into our forward fold. Go ahead and ground the hands. Bend your left knee and bow and arrow with the right hand. We're going to stretch the right arm up towards the sky again. Reach from the heart into the hands. Maybe look down towards the floor. Maybe up towards the sky. Lengthening. And then slow release that right hand down. Release the head for a moment.

Other side. Bend the right knee. Ground that right hand. Bow and arrow the left arm up towards the sky. Reaching from the heart into the hands. Easy up through the neck. Opening up through the ribs. The lungs. Inhale. Exhale. Sweep that left hand down. Forward fold again. Slow chin into the chest. We're rolling up. Rounding the back. Head last. Pressing through the feet. Feeling the heart. Feeling the shoulders. And feeling the head. Let's work. Let's make our way towards the front of our mat. Moving a bit more here through some sun salutation variations and lunges. Nice. Let's bring the hands together at the heart. Drawing the awareness back towards the breath. Moving with this breath. As you're ready on the inhale stretch the arms up to the sky. Exhale. Navel to spine forward fold. Diving forward and then release the head. Inhale half arch. Lengthen the spine. Exhale. Bend the knees. Let's stuff the right foot back as the left knee bends. Let's go ahead and lower that back right knee down. So you might bring a blanket underneath the back knee. Inhale. We're going to draw our hips back. Extend through our left leg. Exhale. Lunge forward. Bend that front knee. Feeling the back thigh. A few more times forward and back. Extending through the front leg. Bending the front knee. Feeling the back thigh. Maybe one more time like this. Easing into the hamstrings. Once you come into your lunge you might stay low with the hands on the earth. You might rise up. Hands onto that front thigh. Lengthening the spine. Softening through the shoulders. Beautiful. You might stay with this. It might feel good to inhale. Sweep the arms up towards the sky. You can wiggle and lengthen a bit more through the arms. You might stay with this or play with cactusing the arms again. Bending the elbows. Scooping the elbows under and up as you open through the heart. The lungs. The chest. Inhale. Arms stretch back up towards the sky. Exhale. Release the hands down. Let's draw the hips back. Extend through that front leg. Half split. Nice, full exhale. Nice, slow. Take your time. Bend that front knee. Tuck the back toes under. Lift your back right knee. Let's step back. Downward facing dog. Take a few moments. Finding your down dog. You're welcome to stay here. Join me in a plank. Inhale. Shift the shoulders over the wrist. Draw through the legs and the belly. Exhale. Let's lower down for a cobra. Top of the feet on the floor. Roll the shoulders up and back. Cross through the palms. Inhale. Finding your cobra. Nice. Exhale.

Stay with the heart. Lowering down. Tuck your toes under. Press your way up and back. Downward facing dog. A few moments here. Moving into a leg lift. So aware of what's behind you. Let's inhale. Stretch the right leg up towards the sky. Go ahead and square the hip there. Yeah. Feeling that stretch through the back of the left leg. Inhale. Right leg up to the sky. Exhale. Need a note. Step it through. Finding a lunge on the second side. Wiggle back through the ball of the left foot. Lengthening forward. Lower your back left knee down. We'll move forward and back a few times. Inhale. Draw the hips back. Extend through your right leg. Exhale. Bend that right knee. Think in. Inhale. Draw the hips back. Extend. Feeling into the hamstrings. Exhale, lunging. Maybe there's one or two more like this. Eventually, bending that front knee. You might stay low or rise up. Hands on that front thigh. Option to stretch the arms up towards the sky. Lengthening. Maybe you're playing with the cactus as you bend the elbows. Opening up through the lungs. And breathing. Find that ease in the neck. Saw through the back of the eyes. Now arms reach back up. Exhale. Hands lower down. Let's draw the hips back. Extend and lengthen again through the back of the leg. Nice, full exhale. As you're ready, bend the knee. Tuck the back toes under. Lift the back knee up. This time we're just going to rock and roll forward and back and step the left foot forward to meet the right. Inhale. Half arch. Lengthen your spine. Hands might slide up the shins.

Exhale. Bend the knees forward. Fold. Release the head. Bend the knees. Reverse swan dive. Cross through the feet. Inhale. Sweep the arms up. Lengthen. Lengthen. And exhale. Hands together at the heart. Taking a moment to pause. Move towards the second side of lunge salutes. As you're ready, inhale. Arms sweep up. Exhale. Diving forward. Diving in. Releasing the head. Inhale. Slide the hands up the shins. Lengthen your spine. Half arch. Exhale. Bend the knees. Step the left foot back again. Right knee bends. Lower that back left knee down. Again, you might stay low here. You might rise up onto the hands. You might inhale. Sweep the arms up towards the sky. This time you might play with the variation of bringing the hands behind the head. Opening out through the chest and the lungs. Elbows wide. Head resting in the hands. Breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Release. Setting up for a twisting lunge. Tuck the back toes under. Lift the back knee up. Ground the left hand. Inhale. Sweep the right arm up to the sky. You might toe heel that front foot a little wider. Making some room for yourself. Easy through the neck. Maybe looking down. Maybe circling out through the top wrist again. Good. Sweep that right hand down to the floor. We'll step back. Downward facing dog. And you might stay here and down dog for a few breaths. You might inhale and join me in a plank again. Shoulders over the wrist. Strong through your legs. Lowering down onto the belly for cobra. Whoever you'd like to get there. As you arrive, inhale. Press through the palms. Lift the heart. Cobra. Exhale. Lead with the heart. Lower down. Tuck your toes. Press up. We'll meet in downward facing dog. Finding a leg lift on the left side as you're ready. Lift the left leg up behind you. Square the hips. Lengthening through that right heel. Inhale. Exhale. Need a nose. Step it through for a lunge. We go back for the ball the right foot. Lengthen forward through the heart. Lowering that back right knee down. You might stay low in the lunge. You might rise up. Hands onto the front leg.

Or maybe inhale. Sweep the arms up again. Feel that lift and support from the back of the heart. Maybe find the interlace. Opening. Be a little smile here. Notice the quality of your breathing. Really balancing the ease and the effort. Nice. Inhale. Arms reach up. Exhale. Release the hands. Draw the hips back. Extend and lengthen for a moment. Releasing. Bend the knee for twisting lunge. Ground the right hand. Tuck the back toes under. Lift that back right knee up and maybe toe heel that front foot a little wider as you sweep that left arm up. Reaching from the heart into the hands. Maybe circling out the top wrist. Inhale here. Exhale. Release that left hand. We're just going to rock and roll and step the back foot forward to meet the left. So step that right foot forward to meet the left. Inhale. Hand slide up the shins. Half arch. Exhale. Bend the knees. Forward fold. Release the head. Strong through the legs. Inhale. Sweep the arms up. Reach and lengthen. And exhale. Hands together at the heart. Take a moment to pause. Notice how you feel. Nice.

From here let's go ahead and step our legs out wide on the mat. Come into Trikonasana triangle pose. Feet parallel. From here let's find triangle over to the right. So internally rotate your left thigh and foot. Externally rotate the right thigh and foot. You might look down. Notice your right heel is in line with the left inner arch. And then inhale. Reach the arms. Feel that internal lift through your spine out through the crown of the head. Inhale. Lengthen. And then exhale. Begin to extend and reach towards the right. Think about lengthening your bottom right ribs. Lengthen, lengthen, lengthen. And then bringing the hand towards the shin. You might pull in a block here. Bring the hand towards the ankle. As you float that top arm up towards the sky. Beautiful. Feel that bottom side. That bottom right lung lengthening. Finding a place where the neck feels comfortable. You might keep your arm reaching towards the sky. You might sweep it down towards the floor. Reach it overhead and extend. Rooting through the outer left edge towards the fingers. Few breaths here. Reaching that arm up towards the sky as you're ready strong for the legs. Inhale. Come up. And then turn that right foot in. Turn the left foot out. Moving towards our second side. As you're ready, arms stretch out. Feel that internal lift and length. And then we're extending and reaching towards the left. Think about lengthening the underside as you reach across the room. Rooting through the outer edge of the foot. Keep that length in the spine. And then begin to hinge. Bring the hand towards the shin. Ankle, block. Whatever you like, top arm might reach towards the sky. Find a place where your neck feels good on this side. Might be different on this side. Hand might stretch up towards the sky. You might sweep it down to the floor and extend it over the ear. Finding that play of that internal rotation through your shoulder blades. The pinky finger reaching down towards the floor. A few more breaths here. Really active in your legs. Yeah. Nice. As you're ready, reach that top arm up. Strong for your legs. Let the inhale bring you up. Nice. Hands on the hips. Bring the feet parallel, facing forward. You might toe-heel them a little closer together. Inhale, reach your arms out. Exhale, internally rotate the shoulders. Interlace the fingers behind the back. Inhale, lift the chest. Exhale, hinge at the hips, forward. You might bend the knees here as you release the head downward. Stretching the arms up out and over. Maybe play with extending the legs a little bit more towards straight. From here take your time. Slowly, safely releasing the hands down by the sacrum. Crawling them out in front of you for hammock pose. Just find that release in the shoulders and the spine. Let the heart soften towards the earth. A few breaths here. Nice. And then we'll slide the hands underneath the shoulders. Let's toe-heel the feet a little closer again for malasana or squat. Heels and toes out. Finding the squat that works for your hips, your feet, your heels. And hands might find each other at the heart. Maybe another exhale through the mouth. Nice. And then forward fold. Toe-heel the feet a little closer together. Release the head. Soften through our knees. We're going to roll up through standing. Chin into the chest. Nice and slow. Stacking the bones. Feeling the heart, the shoulders, the head.

Open the palms and let the energy settle. Feeling the blood. Move down. A few moments here in tadasana before we move into tree. We'll begin to draw our awareness back into our nostrils. Very gently. And this quality of laying through the spine. Maybe the palms open. Really feel the space between the eyebrows and that widening feeling at the base of your skull. Nice. And just allow for an inhale. And exhale. Nice focus. Let's take this into our tree pose. Combining some of the elements of our tadasana. Alignment. And the nostril work. And the hip work. Let's start with the right foot. Start by grounding through that right foot. What does grounding mean? Draw the awareness into the soul of that foot. At the bottom of the foot, open towards the earth. Spreading the toes. And we'll externally rotate the left hip. Bringing that heel towards the inner ankle. Maybe it's the calf or the thigh on the side. Really finding a spot to focus on. Maybe that spot that Drishti is in line with your heart. You can always work near a wall if you have one nearby. You might bring one or both hands to the heart. You might reach the arms up towards the sky. Really firming the hip of that standing leg. Yeah. And the wobbling. That movement is actually quite strengthening. Not only on our concentration but on the entire body. So allowing the energy to move through the body. Just allowing the shape to reveal itself with time. Let it evolve. You might fall out of it and come back in. Or inhale. And then as you're ready, exhale, release and just shake it out. Might like do a little letting it go. Let's feel our way into the other side. So grounding through that left foot. Let the bottom of the foot open. Yeah. And then opening up through the right hip. Bringing the heel towards the inner ankle. Or maybe it's the calf or maybe it's the upper thigh on this side. Who knows? It's a different side. Yeah. Finding that steadiness. You might tune back in towards the nostrils. Drawing the awareness inward. You might bring one or both hands to the heart or reaching the arms towards the sky. And finding that stream of ease within the effort. Beautiful. Nice. Inhale. Take your time. Releasing. Shake it out. Allow for a... Let's make our way towards the front of our mat. We'll find a sun salutation to the earth. Hands together, the heart spreading the toes. Take a clearing breath. Inhale. Nice, full exhale. With the inhale, arms circle up. Lengthen. Exhale. Forward fold. Releasing the head and the arms. Inhale. Slide the hands up your shins. Lengthen your spine. Exhale. Bend your knees. Let's step back into downward facing dog for a moment here. Pedal out the feet. Releasing the back of the neck. Lengthening.

Nice. From here, let's go ahead and lower the knees. Sink the hips back for child's pose. Just for a moment here. Releasing towards the earth. Beginning to draw the energy downward. Take your time. You might stay here a bit longer. When you feel ready, just go ahead and join me on your back. We'll find a few rounds of back bending. Bringing the heels in line with the ankles. Heels in line with the sitting bones, rather. Arms down along your side. We're going to set up for a few rounds of bridge. So if you have a blanket under your head, you might remove it. Remember that cat cow movement for the spine. You might find that a few times before you scoop your tailbone under into bridge. Inhale, curl the tailbone under. Press through the feet. Lift the pelvis up. Feeling the length through the front of the body. That kind of stability for your pelvis. Now the palms might press down into the floor. You might roll and tuck your shoulders under your back if the interlace would feel nice. Just feeling the space through the throat. Mmm, thigh bones. Drawing towards each other in that direction. Internally rotating. We're spreading the effort evenly through the body. So notice if there's any gripping in one part of the body. For me, it's usually around the glutes. So see if you can relax a little bit through the buttocks. Really feel the work of your legs. Might stay up a bit longer. When you feel ready to release, just slow, release the hands. Round the spine down. Upper back. Mid back. Lower back, sacrum. Take a moment to pause. Maybe a clearing breath. Second round. Inhale. Exhale. Curl the tailbone under. Press through the feet. Lift the pelvis up. And palms might press down. Reaching the fingers towards the heels, you might roll and tuck the shoulders under the back. Finding that interlace again. Feeling the length. Feeling the heart rising towards the chin. Always allowing the neck to stay straight ahead without turning the head in this inversion. Beautiful. Just a few moments. Stay in the shape to see if you can soften something. You're keeping the integrity of bridge through the shoulders, through the feet, through the legs. But softening a little bit. Beautiful. This time to release, let's come high up onto the balls of the feet.

Lift your heels up. Stretch your arms up to the sky. We're going to round the body down. Reaching the upper back first. Lowering the mid back. Attractioning through the low back and letting the arms and the pelvis release. Take a moment. Notice how you feel. Let's windchill wiper the legs a little side to side. Cruising onto the inner, outer edges of the feet. Beautiful. Nice. From here, might feel nice to just stretch out for your shavasana. Taking as much time as you'd like in shavasana. You'd like to join me in the seat to close the practice. Just gently rolling to your side and using your arms to come up. If you have the time and the space, I encourage you to take a nice long cozy shavasana. Join me in closing the practice. Taking a few moments to settle and center. Joining the hands together at the heart. Let's take a clearing breath. Inhale. Nice, full exhale. Vowing the head towards the heart. Namaste.