Grounded and Free

So, welcome to season two, episode one of Slow Flow and Meditation, live on Yoga Anytime. Again, make sure you have the strap or something like that for this practice. We'll start our practice on the floor in a seated meditation, so make sure you have something right now to sit on, just to give yourself a little bit more support. That might be a blanket, a cushion, a bolster, something like that. And this practice is going to focus on finding a sense of grounded freedom, feeling grounded and free at the same time.

With so much going on in the world, with the temperature changing, everything right now, the invitation is to begin to kind of draw our energy downward. So in this practice, we're going to focus on finding a bit more opening in space through our hips and through our legs, really working from the ground up to find a bit more freedom and opening through the diaphragm, the chest, the heart and the shoulders. All right, so join me seated. And as you arrive, take a few moments just to settle in, making those adjustments so you feel supported and just beginning to invite a quality of length up through the spine. Nice.

And as you do this, see how it feels to soften through the face and the jaw, letting the shoulders relax down the back. Just begin to notice the quality through your hands, you might even rock a little bit forward and back, just feeling yourself begin to kind of make the transition into your practice and arrive and settle. And as you arrive and settle, notice what has your attention. Most likely, there are a million things going on in the mind, right? It's pretty crazy, wild, busy and active.

So just let your awareness rest in the mind for a few moments. Maybe just in noticing there's a little bit more space, yeah, even notice the quality of the breath. And then from the mind, draw your awareness down into your heart space and check in. Become aware of any sensations, any emotions in and around the heart space in this moment. Seeing the rise and the fall of the breath in the chest, around the heart and the rib cage.

And then from this space, draw your awareness down into the belly. Keep your awareness down in the belly, listening. And as you listen, notice the quality of the breath in the belly and the rise and fall through the abdomen. You can let your mind, your attention rest in the ocean of the belly, nice and wide through your pelvis, your sacrum. You might even bring the hands to rest on the belly just to begin to feel this relationship.

As you hold your attention down and wide, notice where you can soften through the upper body, keeping it relaxed through the jaw, the throat, and even the upper chest. Just another minute or so here, noticing if and when the mind starts to do its thing and wander and gently tether your attention back down and wide into the belly. Seeing the subtle sensation of the breath in and out of the nostrils. And the tendency of the mind is to be dispersed in time, kind of traveling around between the future, anticipating, planning what's next and the past, ruminating, regretting, whatever it might be. And so in yoga, the breath is really one of the primary techniques to help tether our attention back into the body, into this present moment awareness where life is unfolding.

And there's something quite relaxing about being in this moment. Last few moments here, you might keep your hands on the belly, you might let the arms rest comfortably in the last minute or so here. What would it feel like to allow yourself to be as relaxed as you can be, allowing for not only physical relaxation, more importantly, this feeling of emotional ease and relaxation. Drawing the awareness down into the belly is one of my favorite tools and techniques to help feel a bit more grounded and settled and embodied. Last few moments here, finding space between the eyebrows and the base of your skull.

Getting that natural and spontaneous alignment up through the spine. Still from here, joining the hands together at the heart and taking a few moments to perhaps set an intention for your practice as a way to align with the day, honing your energy, allowing for this deeper inward listening. Allow for a gentle inhale and exhale, bowing the head towards and into the heart. Beautiful, when you feel ready, join me on your back. Find your way there, have your strap handy or something like a strap.

And as we come on to our back, as usual, just start by drawing your knees into your chest, rocking a little bit from side to side, feeling into your back body, feeling into the low back. Nice. And then let's keep the right knee into the chest, go ahead and ground the sole of that left foot, softening the shoulders down the back, a few rounds of Apanasana here. So as you inhale, just let that right knee move away, straightening the arms. And with your exhale, gently draw the knee in towards your heart.

Again, inhale, let the knee float away and exhale, draw the knee in towards the heart. And then from here, let's go ahead and find our strap and bring it around the bottom of our right foot, extending our right leg up towards the sky, into the shape of Supta Parangusthasana. And let's start by bending and extending the right leg a few times, nice and easy with the knee joint, just feeling into the hamstrings. This is one of my favorite, favorite things to do. Easing in, eventually move towards that extension.

You might stay with your left foot on the floor or stretch your left leg out. Allow for a nice full exhale, soften through the fingers and a wiggle the shoulder blades down the back. As you exhale, feel the front ribs connect down into the back of your body. Beautiful. From here, let's bring the strap into our right hand and then slow, let that right hip and leg begin to stretch and open out to the right, finding this heaviness, this grounding through your left hip and thigh bone.

Beautiful. Notice the quality of your breathing here. Really with this invitation to breathe into where you feel it. Nice. Bring that right foot towards the right shoulder rather than dropping right out to the right.

And then from within this, can you feel from your right hip joint that external rotation? So the play is rotating your heel towards the sky and the toes towards the floor, deepening that sensation through the right hip. Beautiful. Stay heavy through your left hip. As you're ready, inhale, draw your right leg back into the midline, pass your strap into your left hand, lengthening through that outer right hip, and then bring the leg across just enough to feel a stretch.

You might feel a lot of sensation through the outer right leg, that IT band area. You might stay with this. You might soften the belly and slowly make your way towards a spinal twist as that right leg moves towards the direction of your left shoulder. Nice. As you inhale, feel that length through the spine and as you exhale, feel the belly relax.

Maybe feeling the internal organs, the ribs, the lungs, the heart, rotating towards your right, feeling that spiral up through your spine and find a place for your neck and head. Feel good. Last few moments here, what would it feel like to draw your awareness into the back of your body? Be feeling the sense of the breath in the back of your ribs, around the kidneys, moving down into your low back and your sacrum. Take your time when you're ready, slow, let your right leg stretch back up towards the sky, reorganize.

Stay here or on an exhale, draw your chin into your chest. Walk your hands up the strap, curl up, lift up, little abdominal action here. Maybe lifting your left heel up off the floor, chin into the chest, forehead towards that right shin bone, beautiful and then just slowly roll the upper back down, pause and maybe one more like this, inhale, exhale, chin into the chest, lift up, curl up, float that left heel and then just slow lower down, nice. Let's remove the strap, keep your right leg high, flex the foot lead with the heel and just slowly with control from the belly lower down. This might come on to the low belly or the pelvis, just stabilize as you reach and lengthen, get long.

Take a few moments, relax the effort through the body and notice how you feel and rest in the feeling tone down through your right hip and leg and perhaps there's a little bit more space and awareness and freedom. Beautiful clearing breath, inhale, nice full exhale out of the mouth. When you're ready, we'll feel our way towards the second side, bend the knees, just start by drawing your left knee into your chest, just to bring some awareness into the left hip joint. As you inhale, let the left knee float away, arms lengthen and with your exhale, hug your left knee in towards your heart, inhale, knee floats away, arms lengthen and exhale, soften the jaw, draw it in, look for your strap or belt, bring it around the bottom of your left foot, not like a lasso, and then just start by bending and extending, easing in. Again, the bending and extending just helps to communicate with our nervous system that there's a way out of the stretch when it's intense, so by bending the knee, it takes the stretch out of the hamstrings a bit.

Simply moving towards that extension, if your low back is a little tender, keep your right foot on the floor or extend out for your right leg and heel, drawing those right toes towards the face. So you feel some engagement here, allow for a saw through the eyes, the jaw, the shoulders. From here, bring the strap into your left hand, ground through your right hip and thigh bone, and then from your left hip joint, slow, make the journey out to your left, bringing that left foot towards the shoulder rather than dropping straight out on the floor, so there's a little bit of resistance there. As you do this, feel how you can kind of turn the belly to the right a little bit, finding a little bit more stability and weight through that right thigh bone. Notice the quality of your breathing, any areas you can consciously soften.

From here, you might play with that deeper external rotation in the hip joint by beginning to rotate your heel towards the sky, toes towards the floor, and you feel that kind of deepening through the left hip joint. Yeah. A few more breaths here. Take your time grounding through that right side, inhale, draw your left leg back into the midline, bring your strap into your right hand, sometimes I like to bring that left thumb into the hip crease there just to kind of lengthen, creating a little bit more space through the outer left hip. You might stay right here, feeling that big stretch down the outer left leg, IT band.

You might stay with this, you might, on the exhale, find the spinal twist, bringing that left leg towards the right shoulder. Inhale to lengthen and then exhale to let the guts relax, feel the belly turning towards the left, the ribs, the lungs, and the heart, maybe even the gaze. And you might bring your awareness into the back of your body here, having a sense of drawing the breath down the length of the spine and wide. It's amazing how each side feels a little different, right? Might stay here a bit longer.

When you feel ready, just slow, unwind, bring that left leg back up to the sky, bring the strap into both hands, stay here, or exhale, chin to the chest, lift up, curl up, navel the spine, maybe floating that right heel, hovering, hmm, I slowly lower down for a moment. Stay here or exhale last time, chin into the chest, walk the hands up, curl up, lift up, floating that right heel, drawing everything into the midline of the body, hug. Take your time, slowly lower down, keep your left leg extended, remove your strap, flex the foot, lead with the heel, hands might find the lower belly or pelvis as you stabilize, and then mindfully extend like you're reaching away, eventually relax the effort, check in and notice how you feel, resting in the space you've created, through the pelvis, the hips and the legs, feel that natural spontaneous clearing breath, from here setting up for a few rounds of rolling bridge, we'll take five rounds together, so organize your feet in preparation for bridge, spread your toes, heels in line with your sitting bones, feet parallel, arms down alongside the body, as you're ready we'll inhale together, exhale, curl the tailbone, press through the feet, lift your pelvis up into your bridge and stretch your arms overhead, now if you happen to have a blanket or something under your head you'll want to remove that, so you can really extend and lengthen, beautiful, and then exhale we're rolling the spine down slowly, upper back, middle back, low back and pelvis, arms might stay overhead or lower alongside the body, four more rounds, breathing in, exhale, curl the tailbone under, press through the feet, lift the pelvis up and lengthen, finding that internal rotation through your thigh bones, so sometimes I like to imagine there's a block there between my legs and I'm rooting a little bit more through the balls of the feet, exhale when you're ready lower down slowly, upper back, middle back, low back and sacrum, three more, breathing in and exhale, curl, press up, bridge, lengthen, spreading the effort evenly through your body and with your exhale rolling down, upper back, mid back, low back pulling this massage through the back of the diaphragm, two more, inhale, with your exhale press, curl, lift, lengthen, saw through the throat and the face, if you find you're pressing towards your shoulders and your neck consider finding a little bit more length through the legs and the knees, when you're ready exhale slow lower, feeling that nice massage and traction through the low back, last one perhaps breathing in, exhale, curl the tailbone, press through the feet, lift up and lengthen, feel the strength in the legs, grounding through your feet, beautiful, this time as we lower down we'll release the arms down alongside the body, upper back, mid back, low back, beautiful, last thing here let's bring the soles of our feet together, knees wide coming into our baddha konasana, hands might rest on the belly, taking a few moments here, letting the jaw soften, feeling that space between the eyebrows and the base of your skull, and you might touch back into the sensation of the breath in the belly, without any force or strain or effort, just noticing how the breath responds with our attention, this in and of itself is a miracle, so you might stay here a bit longer when you feel ready, join me in just drawing your knees towards each other and into your chest, let's rock a little side to side, oh, and then from here we'll transition into tabletop for some cat cow movement, so however you'd like to get up you might rock and roll up, you might roll to your side for a moment and then use your arms to press yourself up, we'll pick up the pace a little bit with some movement, spreading the fingers wide and you might tuck your toes under, starting with cat cow, drop the belly, lift the chest and the heart, sitting bones, exhale round and stretch your back, this feels nice, inhale moving into your extension, into your cow, drop the belly, lift and spread the heart, the collar bones, exhale curl and round, continue at your own pace with your breath a handful of rounds here, you can take this in any direction, circling your hips, your ribs, your shoulders, your neck, let it feel good and customize it for your body, for your knees, your wrists, your back, it's a nice time to really soften the gaze inward, and cultivating this skill of pratyahara, this drawing or softening of the sensory awareness inward where we can really begin to nourish the inner resources, right, the life force, the prana, the chi, rather than leaking it out through our senses, through our eyes, our words, all of that, nice, and just finish up the rounds you're on, we'll move in the direction of our plank pose, so start with your foundation, spread your fingers, draw the shoulders down the back and you can always find plank on the forearms, find that's a little bit more challenging, when you're ready walk your feet back, find your plank, reach back through your heels, lengthen forward through the heart, draw the deep low belly up to the spine, towards the spine, strong here, inhale, exhale back and into your downward facing dog, in this first downward dog, let yourself settle, so it might feel good to wiggle and move around a little bit, bending your right knee and just stretching that left calf and heel down to the earth, taking a breath and then bend that left knee and stretch that right calf and heel down, taking a breath, a few more like this, stay here, join me in a plank pose, when you're ready shift shoulders over the wrists again, transferring, shifting your weight and then let's lower the knees and come on to our belly, elbows in, setting up for sinks pose, walk the arms forward, elbows are just in front of the shoulders, coming into a back bend here and with the tops of the feet on the floor, feel how you can use your arms and your upper body to help begin to drag and draw the heart forward a bit, feeling how you can lengthen out of the low back, broaden through the collarbones and find a place where your neck feels good, maybe it's extending, maybe it's releasing, maybe you're finding a few neck rolls as you roll the right ear towards the right shoulder and your sphinx, breathing into the left side of the neck and then rolling the chin to the chest, left ear towards the left shoulder, breathing into the right side of the neck, pulling the chin back towards the chest, another inhale here in your sphinx and then exhale, you might stay here a bit longer, you might begin to explore what would it feel like to press up towards the shape of seal for a few breaths, turning the fingers out, hands might stay where they are, this tends to bring the sensation more into the mid thoracic spine, you might experiment with walking the hands in a little bit closer, which I find tends to bring the sensation more into the low lumbar spine, the key is to really pay attention and listen to what feels right for you in this moment, which might be child's pose or shavasana, take your time slowly releasing, if you're in seal come back into your sphinx, nice and then slide the palms underneath your shoulders, forehead on the earth, tuck your toes under, elbows into your ribs, press up, let's find a child's pose for a few breaths, knees wide wide wide, big toes might touch, let the arms stretch over and lengthen, maybe there's a little wobbling from side to side, again feel how you can draw your awareness into the back of your body, notice the sensation of the breath down into the kidneys, the low back, the sacrum and the hips, just such a nice way to ground the energy, beautiful, you might stay here as you're ready, you might round your way back up into table top, let's set up for a down dog variation here, the one we've been working with lately, fanning the fingers out, allowing for that natural external rotation, tuck the toes under and drop the belly, lift the sitting bones and the heart again, stay here as you tuck the toes, lift the sitting bones up, coming into a wide downward dog variation, walk the feet as wide as the mat, bend your knees, wiggle and lengthen your sitting bones up, the key is to really begin to let the weight of your head release, finding this nice long traction through the neck, beautiful, feeling the blood that draw down from the heart into the brain, in this inversion, the thigh bones stretching back and maybe you're playing with extending the legs a little straighter, maintaining that lift up through the sitting bones, beautiful work, when you feel ready, the transition is through a melasana, so walking the hands back towards your feet, draw your heels in, let your toes go wide ish, begin to bend your knees and you might pause, right when you begin to feel it, no pain in the knees, take your time, maybe you're dropping your sitting bones down towards the earth, saying hello to the hips, maybe the hands are coming towards the heart, elbows drawing into the inner legs as you feel that downward flow of energy, that uponavayu and that will rise up through the heart, shoulder softening, few more moments here, nice release on the low back, our transition is through a standing forward fold to come up, so as you're ready, hands towards the earth, toe heel your feet under your hips, soft bend in your knees, uttanasana, let yourself round and hang out for a moment here, and we'll roll it together slowly and mindfully, as you're ready soft bend in your knees, chin into your chest, the head comes up last, slowly unfurling your spine, one bone at a time, rounding up, press through the feet, feeling the heart, feeling the shoulders and feeling the head, beautiful, take a few moments standing on your feet, letting the blood and the energy begin to settle downwards, find that natural ease up through the heart and the neck, so there is a spontaneous tadasana or mountain pose occurring without needing to do anything specific, the more we practice, the more it spontaneously occurs, the ease, the alignment, spaciousness, awareness, from here we'll find a walking meditation towards the top of our mat, just find your way to the front of your mat, we'll move slowly through a couple of sun salutations just to kind of move the blood and the energy and some standing shapes, so as you spread your toes bring your hands together at your heart, can you connect with the feeling of the breath in the belly, maybe there's a soft bend in your knees here, really allow the bottoms of your feet to open, oftentimes we think about grounding as like a one-way street, I'm grounding my energy down, yes and receiving the support of the earth, feet opening, feeling that lift through the spine, moving with the breath as you're ready, inhale, sweep your arms up, feel that nice stretch through the low belly, enable the spine, exhale, hinge at your hips, forward fold, maybe there's a soft bend happening in your knees, release your head, release your hands, uttanasana, now with your inhale slide your hands up your shins, find a little bit more length and space through your spine and collarbones, exhale bend your knees, ground your hands, step back, find your way into down dog, couple of moments here, as you're ready from down dog inhale shift forward into plank, shoulders over wrist, strong through the legs, draw the deep low belly in, you can keep your knees on the earth if you'd like to, we're lowering towards cobra, tops of the feet on the floor, roll the shoulders up and back, press through the palms, inhale lift through the heart, draw through the collarbones, elbows draw in, exhale lead with the heart, lower down, tuck your toes, press up, find your way back into your down dog for a few breaths, breathing, from your down dog, walk your feet towards your hands, once you arrive inhale slide the hands up the shins, find length, exhale bend your knees forward fold, bend the knees reverse, swan that, press through the feet, inhale sweep your arms up, feel that beautiful extension, exhale hands together at the heart, take a moment to pause, be feeling that heartbeat temperature shifting, second round with your inhale sweep your arms up, exhale diving forward, diving in, releasing the head and the hands, with your inhale slide your hands up your shins, find length, exhale bend your knees, ground your hands downward dog, find your way back, few breaths here settling, releasing the head and the neck, as you're ready inhale shifting to plank, you might keep your knees on the mat, your knees lifted, shoulders over wrists, exhale lowering onto the belly for cobra, inhale press up, lift the chest cobra, elbows in, lifting, and exhale lower from the back bend, tuck the toes, press up and back, downward dog, few breaths here, as you're ready walk the feet towards the hands, once you arrive inhale slide the hands up the shins again, lengthen exhale bend the knees forward fold, reverse swan dive spread the toes bend the knees, press through the feet, inhale sweep your arms up, exhale hands together at the heart, taking a moment or two to pause, feeling the heartbeat, any changes in circulatory rhythms, flow of blood, lymph, from here as you're ready let's go ahead and step our feet out wide, then come into a few standing shapes here, setting up for warrior two on the right side, so go ahead and internally rotate your left thigh and foot, externally rotate your right thigh and foot, take a look down at your feet, just get situated, so the right heel is in line with the left inner arch, lengthening that inner right thigh bone and take a look at your right knee, checking out your alignment right knee, tracking over that second third toe, beautiful, once you arrive it's a process, let the arms settle in for a few breaths into your warrior two, feeling that alignment that lift through the spine that inspiration, so we're grounded, we're stable, we're connected through the lower body and then inviting this quality of lifting and opening through the central channel, the heart, into the arms, beautiful, from your warrior two let's reverse, peaceful warrior, slide the left hand down the leg and now reach that right arm up, feel that opening in space through the right lung, exhale side angle, right forearm onto the right thigh, sweep the left arm over the ear, beautiful, strong through the lower legs, lower body, inhale back into reverse, peaceful warrior, exhale side angle, arm over the ear, one more round, inhale reverse, peaceful warrior, exhale side angle, dancing, last time inhale reverse, this time press through the ball that right leg, that right leg might be on fire, you might toe heel the left foot in a little bit, lengthening and then exhale triangle pose, reaching and lengthening through the right arm, hand might find the shin or ankle, left arm reaches up towards the sky, about five breaths here, find a place where your neck feels good, the arm might stay reaching towards the sky, you might find a bit of internal rotation through your left arm, bend the elbow and maybe you're wrapping behind the back as you open through the chest, breathing, how are we doing? Strong through the legs, bring your left arm up to the sky with an inhale, reach with that top arm, let it carry you, hands on the hips, internally rotate your right thigh and foot, externally rotate the left, we'll feel our way into the second side, the left side, bending your left knee, check in with your alignment, lengthening that left thigh bone, knee tracking over second, third toe, let's open the arms, maybe opening the palms, few breaths here, finding this balance of effort and ease simultaneously, head in every shape, beautiful, peaceful warriors slide the right hand down the back leg, reach that left arm up, exhale side angle, left arm on to the left thigh, reach that right arm over the ear, beautiful, inhale reverse, reach that left arm up, exhale side angle, one more round, dancing, inhale reverse, exhale side angle, right arm reaches over the ear, inhale reverse, moving towards revolve triangle pose, press through the ball of your left foot, straightening your left leg, you might toe heel your right foot in a little closer, keep that length as you reach towards triangle, reaching and lengthening left hand might find the shin, the ankle, floating that top arm up, finding a place where the neck feels good, might stay here, you might experiment with rotating the right arm, bending the elbow, maybe bring it behind the back or wrapping around the left thigh, notice the quality of your breathing, when you feel ready, release that top arm up to the sky, strong through the legs, reach with your top arm, let it carry you up, hands find the hips, toe heel the feet a little closer together, feet parallel, stretch your arms out, lift, internally rotate, interlace the fingers behind the back with an inhale, feel that lift through the heart, exhale, hinge the hips, strong legs forward full, softening the head towards the earth, stretching your arms up out and over, tap into your legs, deepening that fold with the exhale, new moments here, you might stay here for a few more breaths, if you'd like to transition towards hammock, you can release the hands mindfully down towards the earth, walk the fingers out in front of you a ways and then shift your hips back away from your hands, melting the heart towards the earth, allow for a nice full sigh, when you're ready walk your hands underneath your shoulders, toe heel your feet a little closer in, the transition here is through melasana, squat like shape, heels in perhaps toes out, sinking down, finding your variation of this, whatever feels best on your knees, your ankles and heels and feeling this downward grounding flow of energy into the pelvis, the hips and the knees, beautiful, forward fold, toe heel the feet a little closer, bend the knees, release the hands and then chin into the chest, we're rolling up slowly one bone at a time, pressing through the feet and feeling the heart, feeling the shoulders, feeling the head, pausing here settling, you might connect back in with this sensation of the breath in the belly, feeling grounded and free, let's find tree pose from here grounding through that right foot and you might work near a wall, spreading the toes, opening up through the left hip, so finding that external rotation like our warrior two, heel might press towards the inner ankle, the calf, the thigh, avoiding your knee joint, you might bring one or both hands together at the heart, a little strong through your standing leg and hip, you might choose to reach your arms up towards the sky, finding a spot to focus on, steady the gaze, balancing the effort and the ease, a few more moments here, I always like to remember the wobbling and wiggling is part of coming into balance and it's strengthening, not only on our body but on our concentration and focus, inhale, you bring the hands back together at the heart centering and then exhale release, shake it out, nice work, let's feel our way to the other side, grounding through the left foot, spreading the toes, again remember allowing the bottom of the foot to really open and feel that relationship, hand might find the wall, so you open your right hip, pressing the heel towards the inner ankle, the calf or maybe the upper thigh, each side might be a little different, centering, steady and this is a practice of darana, cultivating the steady single pointed attention, maybe you're reaching your arms out to your sides or towards the sky, let yourself be surprised by what you find yourself doing, the quality of your breathing, your gaze, can you perhaps find a little bit more ease in whatever you're doing, giving yourself permission to fall in and out, to wobble, bringing the hands together at the heart, gracefully falling out of your tree, take a moment, shake it out, let it go, the exhale helps with that a lot, as you're ready join me at the top of your mat, we'll find a sun salutation towards the earth with a deeper hip opening, hands at the heart, spread the toes, as you are ready inhale sweep your arms up, with your exhale navel to spine, forward full, maybe a soft bend in your knees as you release the head, bowing forward in, with your inhale slide your hands up your shins, find that last lift and length, exhale bend your knees ground your hand, step back into your downward block, few moments here, moving in the direction of pigeon, from here as you're ready draw that left knee forward and if for any reason pigeon is not the right medicine for your knee today, you might find this on your back in our figure four shape, right ankle over thigh, settling into your pigeons, maybe there's support underneath your right hip, maybe there's support out in front of you, I like to wobble a little bit here, exploring the landscape of sensation through the hip, make sure there's no pain in your knee at all, you might stay right where you are, if and as you're invited in a bit deeper, might slowly, carefully begin to lower down, now offering yourself to the shape more of a passive receptive way, notice if you choose to support your head, so maybe hands together in prayer, right around the third eye, maybe on a block or releasing to the earth, still allowing the inhale to create space, the exhale to invite a deeper softening settling, letting go, if I'm letting go is a practice and a process, it takes time and it has its own timing, you might stay where you are a bit longer, letting that right hip, all the fascia and connective tissue around the hip joint to stretch and release, when you feel ready to transition up, just slowly begin to walk your hands up, nice, tuck your toes, back toes under and maybe you're lifting back up into down dog, for some of you it's going to feel nice to let that right leg stretch up to the sky, open the hip, bend the knee, shake it out a little bit, maybe circle out through the ankle, good and then as you're ready second side, letting that left knee draw forward if you're coming into pigeon or finding it on your back in the figure four, sometimes we call this eye of the needle on the back and customize it for you, maybe wobble in there, bringing in support for that left hip, make sure your left knee is happy and on board, you might stay right where you are, you might slowly ease your way forward and in, it's all about finding that appropriate edge of sensation, looking to feel that good stretchy quality, nothing painful or sharp, moving into where you feel it, allowing the exhalation to soften the jaw, the eyes and the belly, notice what you choose to do with your arms, your hands and the weight of your head, what you do on one side might be different on the other side, meeting yourself exactly where you are, last few moments you might allow for an exhale, you might stay here a bit longer, savoring this stretch and release through the left hip and as you feel ready to come out, just find your hands, if you're in pigeon you might, tuck your back right toes under, press and lift up towards down dog, maybe you're stretching that left leg up, opening the hip, bending the knee, shaking it out, circling that ankle, snap, crackle, pop there, back into your down dog for a few moments, nice, from here let's go ahead and meet on our back, find your way supine onto your back, whatever support you like underneath you, maybe a blanket under your head, nice, let's ground the soles of the feet here, stretch the arms, overhead windshield wiper the legs, side to side here, feet nice and wide, releasing the back and the hips with some twisting, letting the knees fall to the right, letting the knees fall to the left, and that fluid movement through your whole body, from the tailbone all the way out through the neck and the head, you might want to pause and linger on one side, breathing and opening the side body, minding that on the other side, nice, if a happy baby you would feel awesome, you might draw the knees into the chest, stretch your legs up and find the outer or inner edges of the feet, bending the knees, opening through the hips and the pelvis and rocking from side to side here, sometimes it's helpful to have a blanket under your head and happy baby, this feels like it's too much, nice variation is to grab the inner legs and kick the legs out one at a time, this is another one of my favorite variations, a few more moments, releasing the back, the spine, the hips, beautiful, slow as you're ready, releasing the feet, the legs and stretching the legs out one at a time for Shavasana, if there's anything you'd like to do along the way, please do that, and you might stretch your legs out in the shape of Shavasana, bringing in support, maybe a blanket under your knees or a blanket on top of your body, if you prefer to close your practice with a short seated meditation you might join me and just find your way up towards the seat, it's really honoring your energy, your mood, which might be a nice long Shavasana, which might be a shorter seated meditation, as always getting the alignment of your body just right for you, and allowing yourself to be as relaxed as you can be, allowing for deeper physical relaxation, softening the tensions, gripping the busyness, the deeper emotional relaxation and ease, worries, anxiety, nice full exhale in whatever shape you're in, you might bring one hand onto the belly and maybe one hand around the heart, just rest in the experience of being here now, relaxed and aware simultaneously. If you are settled and cozy in your Shavasana, I encourage you to stay there as long as you can, it's really letting yourself take up space and softening deeper into your Shavasana.

If you're seated join me in bringing your hands together at your heart, it's really honoring yourself for showing up today for yourself, allowing this to ripple out into your home, your family, your community, and into the world, thank you so much for joining me today, much love, namaste.