Matters of the Heart

Hi there, welcome. So happy to be here together. First a shout out to the team, Jeff and Julie and Alana. It can look like I'm here by myself, but I'm intimately and continually supported by a great group. The practice today is going to be easy-ish. Those of you that have practiced with me for a while, it will be familiar. So really all you need is your mat, maybe something that you like to sit on, maybe something to pad your knee if you're not on a white fuzzy carpet like I am. The play today will be to draw us closer to what is intimate and true for each of us. We'll do that by tuning into our longest lasting relationship, this relationship between our beating heart and our breath. So that's the goal. So we're going to start supine. So let yourself lie down. I'm going to move this Zafu out of the way. You're going to lie down on your back, let your knees bend, reach your arms out and let yourself roll on back down. And as you roll on back down, keep your knees bent, soles of the feet on the floor and reach your arms up over the top of your head. Soften your elbows a little bit. Back of the neck is easy and just begin to make your way into what we usually call windshield wiper. So as you inhale, your knees are center. And as you exhale, your knees come to a side and as you inhale, your knees are center. And as you exhale, your knees come to the side and just do this for a handful of rounds, just kind of getting in the mood and the more attention you put towards coordinating the movement with the breath, the more your mind will start to be tethered into what's happening right here and right now. The play is, as we connect into our breath and the relationship between the breath and the heart, the play is to really discover that only when we are really inspired do we have the juice that we need to accomplish what it is here to accomplish. Okay, next time your knees are over to the right and you feel a stretch on your left side, let your left arm stretch a little bit more so you can feel that opportunity through the left rib cage, down through the left tip and the waist. Maybe give a little action through that left thigh bone so that you can reach a little bit more. And like, as you do that, now tune your awareness into that left lung and begin to let the left lung help tether you towards the breath. So feel how the inhale fills that left lung and feel how the exhale softens and it'll be easier to attend to the front or the side, but can you get into the back of the lung a little bit, the bottom of the lung? Yes, super nice. Let an inhale bring your knees back up center and as you exhale, let the knees come over to the left, stretch that right arm over the top of your head. So now you're on the right side, you can feel this nice, beautiful long line you have. You can feel your action through that right thigh, you can kind of go after it a little bit. Lengthen out through the fingertips so you get this beautiful long line and now use your breath and your, excuse me, use your attention to bring your focus into that right lung and let the breath and the physicality of it help focus you. And so you can feel the front of the lung, the side of the lung, the back of the lung. Yeah. And just to propose this question, this is a question we play with often, but you know, like, is it obvious as you're here in the right lung, is it obvious to you that your right lung is bigger than your left lung? Okay, nice. Inhale, bring the knees back up center, exhale knees come back over to the right. So as the knees drop over the right and you lengthen through the left side, now you're back in the left side. Okay, so the right lung, which has three lobes, the left lung for most of us has only two because it sacrificed one of its lobes to make way and room for your heart. So as you're here in your left lung, you're aware of your breath, you're aware of the action, but can you start to allow your awareness to be keen enough and interested enough to start to become aware of the placement of your physical heart. So while the physical heart sits in the center, she leans left and is snuggled in between the in the in the lobes of the left lung. Yeah, let's just go side to side one more time. So inhale knees back center, exhale knees back over to the left and reach up through the right and now as you're aware of the right lung and you're aware of the breath, like, is it obvious that this right side is bigger? Like is it available to you that you have three lobes here? The practice of yoga is designed to help us see more clearly for us to cut through the ignorance and yet rarely do we even notice what's right underneath our nose. Okay, nice. Inhale, bring your knees back up center, exhale, pause, let both arms come down to the side, widen your feet a little bit, let your knees fall together, big deliberate inhale and exhale everything. Let's do that again. Inhale and exhale and then let's tune our awareness. So now we've become aware of the physical heart. We're going to be here supine for a little bit.

So if it's more comfortable for you to have your feet together and your knees wide, then go ahead and do that. And so let your awareness like come down into your left lung first, like just be aware that what you bring your attention to your awareness, your breath, like it will follow. So be aware of this left lung space and can you be aware of where your physical heart sits? I'm hoping that we can be in agreement on the physical heart. Like I'm hoping that we don't need to argue about that today. If it helps, you can bring a hand on to it and just be aware like this heart, this heart that we take so for granted. And so you might, this physical heart, we can agree on this and you might have a really potent relationship right here to where this heart sits. But for some of you, it will make more sense and it will feel more potent actually to move your awareness slightly to the center. So just slightly to the center of that physical heart. So you're more in the region of the breastbone and sometimes just kind of sitting behind the breastbone is, is, is a little bit sweeter. This spot between the physical breastbone and the back shoulder blades, this spot that the yogis refer to as the spiritual heart, the anahata. For some of you, this will be stronger and more of a tether point than the physical heart. There's no need to try to figure out why that may or may not be today. Yes. So we have the physical heart. We have what we're going to call the energetic heart. Let's just drop in one layer deeper for some of you. So drop below that energetic heart towards the region of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is this amazing dome shape muscle that's attaching up here to the fifth rib. Okay. Like this big dome. And then she reaches her fingers all the way down into that lower sacrum down into that low back. And of course, because it's connective tissue, it's really attached to everything. But she's also intimately attached to the pericardium of the heart, the pericardium, the protector of the heart. And so as you drop down into the diaphragm region, some of you will start to feel this energetic moment just right in the center of the diaphragm below the breastbone. But some of you, it'll just be natural to kind of go more to the left so that you're more in the region of the diaphragm just underneath the heart. And there's this little place here and you'll know if you found it, it'll feel like a lonely, hollow place that's been waiting for your attention this whole time. This is what our Taoist brothers and sisters call the true heart. The yogis refer to this spot as the wish fulfilling tree. And if you're not finding it, no problem. Go back to the energetic or the physical heart. Like just call me crazy. That's what everybody else who knows me does. So just, you might find it and then this might be the spot. This might have your attention. Okay. Yeah, so for the next, the next, maybe two ish, three minutes, you're going to have your focus on either this energetic heart, the spiritual heart or the physical heart. Be comfortable in your legs. So feet together, knees wide or feet wide, knees together. Be comfortable in your legs. And then we're just going to play with dropping what I'll use the word mantra. You're going to play with dropping in a mantra into the inhale. And so I'm going to suggest the word freedom. So as you come upon your next inhale, can you mentally hear the word freedom as you inhale? And as you exhale, let it be quiet. And as you inhale, hear the word freedom. And as you exhale, let it be quiet.

Yeah. And just tuned to this, what we're playing, we're looking for a relationship between what the mind is aligned with, with how the breath responds. So just noticing what the word freedom might do to your breath. Yeah, a couple more moments. You're in your own yogi scientist experiment. Beautiful. Okay. Let that go. Big delivered inhale. Exhale everything. Hug the knees into the chest and wall. Yeah. Cross your ankles, inhale, roll back, exhale, roll up to sitting. Okay. And let's just, we'll keep playing with this. Okay. So I've suggested this word freedom, but as we make our way in through this first seated, simple Sukhasana seated practice, when and if you get the tune to find a different word, like trust yourself, like as our friend and teacher and dear guide, Schiffman always says, self trust is the advanced practice. So I'm in Sukhasana shin to shin and just kind of lean in like you're in conversation with a dear friend, elbows, find the knees and soften the jaw a little bit. Let a happen. Remember that the absolute key skill in conversation is listening. So you got to have a little less to say. And then the play here is, is, is feel the feel as you come across the inhale, hone in on your words. So for me, that's freedom for you. That might be love. It might be safety, might be joy. You're looking for the word as you, as you come into it, maybe the hands come forward. You're kind of, you're exploring through the, the word, the logos that inspires the breath easily. And that's what you're honing in on. And not everybody is so the word words don't work for everybody. So if you're really struggling, if the word and the breath aren't finding each other and you know, and you wish you were given permission to imagine a color or a place choose you, the information is coming through. Okay. Last couple of moments here in this forward fold on this side. And then we're going to make our way to a side bend. So you're going to start to walk your hands over to a side. You're going to let whatever forearm of the arm on the side you're on drop down. For me, it's the right, this zoom thing reverses the image. So it's not obvious for me circle the top arm in front of your face, let the left top arm bend a little bit. And then as we usually do let the knee and elbow come towards each other and then roll the knee in the arm. Let the knee and the elbow come towards each other and then roll those away. And you might choose to reach it more forward to get more into the back body. You might choose to reach it more behind you to get more into the front body. A couple more moments, just like, let it feel good. And by moving in and out, what you do is you communicate back into the nervous system that it's not forever. You can get out of this situation and then it's more willing to relax. But eventually you're going to come into a spot that feels pretty good to stay in and as you kind of roll that bottom hip away and reach that top arm away and bring your awareness back into that left lung and tune back into your mantra. If you let it go, just let the mantra hold you and be the wind of the sail of the breath. Okay, take a look down at the hand on the floor and let an inhale bring you all the way back up and pause and absorb the effect of that side bending feels so good. Like just, yeah, switch the cross of your legs and then lean in. And like we talk about, lean in like you're in conversation with a dear friend. I'm going to bring a little support underneath my knee. Soften the jaw, raising the eyes and tune into the mantra. So like it's go inward to help establish a relationship of a himsa. So a himsa, which confusingly sometimes gets defined as non violence. And if a himsa meant non-violence, then the entire classic epic of the Bhagavad Gita would make no sense at all. A himsa, our teacher, Ravichy has defined this for us as non-violation. Non-violation within the very pertinent clear truth coming through each of us. And this, I'm just going to put a little asterisk. This requires multiple footnotes. So what I did not say, your truth is your truth. Let's be clear on that. Walk over to the left or whatever side that is. Continue on, let that forearm come down to the floor, tip over. Let that top arm reach up out and let that elbow and knee come towards each other, let them reach away. Let that elbow and knee come towards each other, let them reach away. Let this happen a couple times. And again, like maybe reaching more forward, get more into the back body. Maybe reaching more back, getting more into the front body. Let this feel good. And so the Bhagavad Gita, just to be clear, the Bhagavad Gita is a story that takes place in the field of Dharma. Find that spot that feels good and allow your breath to open and reach and create space in that top lung and tune back into your mantra. And in the field of Dharma, each one of us has the responsibility to help maintain order. Take a look down at the earth, let an inhale bring yourself all the way back up. Nice, pause and let that kind of sink in. But in the maintenance of order, each one of us is always in a struggle of discovering which order we serve. And the layers of order, the order of our family, the order of our community, the order at our job, the order of the planet, the order of the cosmos, there's always going to be a natural tension. And the practices of yoga are designed to help us serve the highest order that we have capacity to serve and is correct for each of us in each moment. This is Dharma. Okay, make your way into Uttanasana. Standing forward fold, bend the knees a little bit so it feels good and let one knee bend a little bit more and lean over to that side. Let that opposite leg straighten and then lean over to the other side. So I'm letting one knee bend as the other leg straightens and then let the other knee bend as the other leg straightens. Beautiful. Gorgeous. A couple more moments. Okay, bend both knees, chin into the chest, roll and I'm back up. Feel the belly and feel the heart and feel the throat and feel the face. Super nice. Okay, so find your way into, we'll call it Uttanasana for now. And I'm just noticing that I'm sorry for the darkness of the shadows. We have a little bit of clouds here in Ojai today and I have to do a little bit of something about my lighting. Not that you noticed, but I did. Interlace the fingers. Okay, palms facing up towards you. Turn the palms forward and go up. And just kind of lean a little bit side to side, like climb up out of yourself, like sort of feel how you can get some length there. And then I like to let, like, so I'm going to let my right knee bend. I'm going to kind of stick my hips out to the left and then I'm going to lean over the low ass like that. That's nice for me. And then we're going to come back to center. I'm going to bend the opposite knee stick. So I'm sticking, I'm bending my left knee, sticking my left hip out and then I'm going to lean. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sticking my right hip out, leaning over to do that again. Another side. Interlace. Nice. Release your hands behind you. Roll the shoulders forward, interlace if that feels possible. Rolling the shoulders back and down, bend the knees, chest finds the thighs and let it hang over. It drops. Gorgeous. Really nice. Let the hands come back to the hips, let the hands come down towards the feet, bend the knees like you're sitting in a chair. As you sit down in this chair, let a little bit of a, curl the sit bones under, reach your arms out in front of you. Keep it low in the legs. Reach your arms up towards the sky. Enthusiasm through the fingers. Inhale here. Exhale, press into the feet. Come all the way up. Super nice. Let's do that again. Interlace the fingers. Weird knuckle on top. So it feels like you have someone else's hands. Turn the palms forward, go up. Wiggle it a little bit side to side. Let one knee bend and lean over.

Let the other knee bend and lean over. Yeah. I'll do that again. Other side. Gorgeous. Release the arms, rotate the shoulders forward. Weird knuckle on top. So as you interlace your fingers, if that's available this morning, put the weird knuckle on top. Wheel the shoulders back and down. Bend the knees. Chest finds the thighs. Head drops. Feel the arms reach up out and over. Beautiful. Let the hands come back to the hips down towards the earth. Knees bend, chin into the chest and roll it on back up. Feel the belly. Feel the heart. Feel the throat and feel the face. Nice. All right. Let's do a little experiment. Feet separate about hip distance. Big deliberate inhale. Exhale, let it happen. Nice. Now the experiment here is this. Drop the project of the mantra for a moment and just know as if somebody told you to breathe more deeply, just try to breathe deeply. Make an effort to breathe deeply. Use whatever actions you can find to breathe deeply. And if you're doing this, can you notice or do you notice, do you notice the effort? Do you notice the strain up across the chest and through the throat? Can you feel the stress of trying to breathe deeply? Okay. Drop that effort and just a big deep inhale. Exhale everything. Let it happen. Spread the toes and let a little bit of a happen. So soften the knees slightly so you have the support of the earth. And now instead of trying to breathe deeply, can you just simply connect your mind to the word that is inspiring for you today? And so as you feel the beginning of the inhale, you're finding that word, whether it's freedom or joy or vastness, safety. I'm checking with this for a few moments. I just noticed. Okay, beautiful. Big deliberate inhale. Exhale everything. Forward fold. Slide your hands down the legs.

Down the knees. Okay, chin into your chest slowly. Roll it on back up. Feel the belly and feel the heart and feel the throat and feel the face. And say your name out loud. I'm sorry. Say your word out loud. Just say it out loud so that you help connect with it. Because this is the thing, right? Like, what is it? What is the breath? Like, what is the breath connected to? One really central fact of the breath is that she loves to be inspired. Okay. And so now just like as an opposite experiment, okay, find your tadasana, big deliberate inhale. Exhale everything. This is in the name of yogi science as an opposite experiment. Now close your eyes, close your eyes or find a spot to focus on. Just gently find your latest favorite worry. Just like find your latest favorite worry and then just begin to play it like a greatest hit. I just begin to like let it do its thing. Okay. And now really just, can you notice what's happened to your breath, to your body, to your face, to your throat, to your chest? You notice what's happening. Okay, drop that big deliberate inhale. Exhale everything forward fold, bend the knees and fold over. The responsibility to maintain order takes immense energy. Bend the knees, chin into the chest, slowly roll it back up, feel the belly, feel the heart, feel the throat, feel the face. We need you, we need your help and worry will not bring the capacity in order to help. We must tune into that which it is that we serve, love. And it has peace, freedom, equality. Okay, so as we practice this morning, here's the play. We're going to move through some asanas to kind of just like move this and really connect it in. And the play for you is to really do your best to practice staying committed to that which inspires to that which motivates the breath to that which allows us to show up. Okay, because right rarely during the day do we skip around thinking freedom, joy, equality, peace, we think about these worries. Okay, so you're good. Are you with me? Okay, come to the top of the map. Separate your feet about hip distance apart, big delivered inhale, exhale, let it happen. Soften the knees and lay. Press into the feet, feel that natural blossoming of the heart, feel the alignment of the skull and tune into the mantra. Again, peace, equality, freedom. Whatever the word is, and you know, sometimes the word is anger. Sometimes it's okay, like just whatever ever motivates you right now, whatever you can feel the breath moves to. Yeah, hands together at the center of your heart. And what we'll do is we'll move through pretty simple standing lungy kind of situation, just to like bake this in for the day. As you're ready, inhale, circle the arms up and exhale, forward fold. Inhale, half arch. Exhale, step your right foot back, let your left knee bend, come into the shape of the lunge. Now feel your ability to reach back through that right heel, feel your ability to lengthen out through the heart. Now really tune into the mantra. As long as you're tuned into serving something higher, something bigger, something you can't even quite explain, you're going to be taken care of. Spin that back right foot, you know, so it's at that 45 degree-ish angle and begin to play with letting that front leg draw straight and then bend again. Let that front leg draw straight and then bend again and do that a couple of times, just letting the hamstring and the hip and all those parts know what's coming. It's just, it's polite. It's like, hey, I'm coming. Okay. Next time the knee is bent, bring the right hand up onto the right hip, bring that left forearm up onto the left thigh. Now pause here and just kind of like make sure that you're, you're organized. Tune into the breath. If you tune into that higher principle that inspires the breath, you will be organized. Circle this arm in front of the face and up and then slow. Start to let this left knee draw straight. Let that left hand find itself onto that left leg or the floor or a brick. So you're in Trikonasana.

Drop the left ear down to the left shoulder, circle this top arm back behind you in front of the face and forward. So you're inside triangle, pars retrykonasana if you're fancy, rolling. Wiggle. Yes. Maintain that as that left knee bends again. Maybe the elbow comes back onto the thigh. Maybe the hand finds its way behind or in front of that foot for side angle. Wiggle. Yes. Inhale here. Exhale. Windmill back down to the shape of the lunge. Curl the sit bone under. Let that right knee find its way to the earth and introduce yourself. Inhale, draw back. Exhale, sink in. Inhale, draw back. Exhale, sink in. Inhale, draw back. Exhale, sink in. Now sink in. Let a bit of a haaaapen. What I like to do, I like to roll it a little bit to one side and roll it a little bit to the other just to kind of find that front thigh. And if this feels perfect, kick it here. If it would feel good to get a little bit more action, bring your hands up onto that front left knee, sink in a little bit more. This might be the perfect spot. Otherwise, perhaps interlace the fingers, turn the palms forward, go up through the arms, let a bit of a haaaapen wiggle up and find your mantra again if you forgot it. Find that mantra. Let that mantra hold you. Yes. Inhale here. Exhale. Windmill the hands back down onto the earth. Walk your hands back. Little hamstring stretch action. Flex the foot. Dig the heel into the earth and a little cat cow. So as you exhale, round the back. And as you inhale, roll the pelvis forward.

Stay here. Kind of lengthen a little bit. Gooey in the back of the neck. Easy in the eyes. Stay close to that which you serve. Yeah. This is part of how devotion works. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. Bend that left knee. Hands come around that front foot. Lift up through the back of the right leg. Rock and roll a little bit. We're going to make our way back to Uttanasana. Step the right foot forward. Inhale, half arch. Exhale, forward fold. Soften the knees. Then let the knees bend a lot. Sit down in your chair. Curl the sit bones under. Reach your arms forward. Let a bit of a hum. But trust me, helping maintain cosmic order takes mad capacity. So here you are. If you're going to get tired out, unless you've got support from something bigger, find your mantra. Stay close to that. Reach your arms up. Yeah. Inhale here. Exhale, person in the feet. Come all the way back up. Beautiful. Big, deliberate.

Inhale. Exhale. Let aha. Separate your feet. Hip distance. If you're Uttasana, big, deliberate, inhale. Exhale. Let aha happen. Sink in. Feel the ground. We've been playing a lot over the past few months with feeling the support of the ground. Trust. Trust. Trust is essential. And part of trust is turning yourself over. Find your mantra. And if it's changed, it's okay. This isn't an exercise in force. As you're ready, inhale the arms up. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, half arch. Exhale, hands plant. Step the left foot back. Let the right knee bend. When we go back to the left foot, lengthen back to that left heel. Feel your heart blossom into the mantra. It'll help prevent distractions. Spin onto that back left foot and then play with this front leg. Let it draw straight and let the knee bend. Let the leg draw straight and let the knee bend. Do this. Straight and bend. Yeah. Super nice. Beautiful. Eventually, you're going to find a spot that feels pretty good with it bent. Find that top arm, that left arm on top of that hip. Bring that right forearm up on top of that right knee. Yes. Slow, slow. Start to let this right leg draw straight. Let the right hand find its way to the leg or some of you a brick. Circle the top arm up out and over. Drop that right ear down to the right shoulder. Circle the left arm in front of the face, up out and over and reach. Feel that beautiful long line. Tune back into the mantra if you forgot it. Yeah, really nice. Keep the reach. Let the front right knee bend. Maybe its forearm back onto the thigh. Some of you a tan to the inside or the outside of that foot. Yeah. Gorgeous. Inhale here. Exhale, windmill. Back down to the shape of the lunge. Spin up onto the ball of that foot. Let that left knee bend and drop. Introduce yourself. Inhale, back it up. Exhale, sink it in. Inhale, back it up. Exhale, sink it in. Inhale, back it up. Exhale, sink it in. Now some of you staying low and here and kind of rolling it around a little bit is where the action is. Get here. A couple of you, it's going to feel good to bring your hands up onto this front right knee and sink in. Yeah. Stay here. Interlace your fingers if it feels good. Weird knuckle on top. Turn the bums forward. Go up. Reach up through those arms as you let that left sit bone draw under. Gooey in the back of the neck. Be in the mantra. Let the mantra hold you. Yeah.

Inhale here. Exhale, hands come back around the front foot. A little hamstring stretch. Walk the hands back. Flex the foot. Dig into the heel a little bit. Inhale, roll the pelvis forward. Exhale, get round. Inhale, roll the pelvis forward. Exhale, get round. Inhale, rolling the pelvis forward. Dig the heel in a little bit. Gooey in the back of the neck. You can focus on your personal hamstring situation. That's one way to do this. Or you can connect yourself to something bigger. One of the most amazing feature sets of the human being is the ability, then this is going to get tricky, but the apparent choice of where we place our attention. And now of course, choice is also the result of freedom and practice and habit and context and conditions. Okay. Let that front right knee bend. Hands around the foot. Lift up through the back of the left leg. Now kind of rock and roll a little bit. Lift the left foot forward. Inhale, half arch. Exhale, forward fold. Toe heel the feet next to each other. Sit down like you're sitting in a chair. And you could focus on the work in the thighs and the work in the butt and the work in the ankles. That's fine. You could focus on the very singular actions of this, or you could start to tune into the mantra and stay with your mantra and curl the sit bones under and reach your arms forward and let the mantra support you as you reach your arms up. Yeah. Inhale here. Exhale, press in the feet. Come all the way back up. Keep your feet together. Big deliberate inhale and exhale. Let us do that again. Inhale. Exhale. Let us have it. This is our last Tadasana. Spread the toes wide. Let the heels get heavy. Let a bit of a happen. If you're really feeling shaky, separate the feet about hip distance, that will help you. And as you exhale, trust.

The more you can trust in that exhale, the more opportunity of the inhale. And we allow ourselves to align with principles larger than ourselves. Then we're given the clear action list. We don't have to worry about what to do. It's going to come through. I'll warn you that when the action list comes through, when you're aligned with something bigger than yourself, it's not always what you want to do. Alright, one more round. Inhale, circle the arms up. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, half arch. This time, exhale, step the left foot back again first. Let the right knee bend. Spin onto that back left outer edge. Let that left hand find the left waist. Bring that right forearm up onto that right thigh and Trikonasana again. Let that right leg draw straight. Let this right hand now find its way to the leg or the earth. We're going to get a little bit more opening this time. Circle the left arm in front of the face and up. And this time now, see how it feels to let that arm start to fall behind you. As it falls behind you, reach it a little bit forward, just to kind of help create that length and opening. And then just if it would feel good, bend the elbow, bring the hand behind you. It might just gently rest behind your back. If you've got longer limbs, if you were given longer limbs when you, you know, were baking in the womb, some of you might wrap that hand around that front thigh. Feel your ability to really focus on that left lung for a moment, that top lung. And then for the last minute here, what happens when you breathe into the right lung? Like what happens when you try to bring some breath and air into the underbelly? Into the part that's like not quite so obvious? Yes. And with that awareness on that underside, can you find the mantra again? Yeah. So nice. Beautiful. Maintain that as you let this front knee bend and maybe it's forearm onto the thigh or maybe it's hand on the inside of the foot. Yeah. Beautiful. Slow. Free that arm back up towards the sky. Exhale both hands on the inside of that right foot. Spin up onto the ball, the left foot, let the left knee drop down. Sink in. So now both hands, if it's okay. And then just kind of roll onto the outer pinky toe side of that right foot. So you're, you're kind of singing. Let a bit of a hop. Yeah. Let your head be easy. I like to lean a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Slow back off a little bit. Turn that right foot toe heel. Okay. Come back into the shape of the lunge. Lift up through the back of the left leg. Rock and roll. Step the left foot forward. Inhale. Half arch. Exhale. Hands plant. Step the right foot back. Same idea on the other side. Left knee bends. Spin onto the outside of that right or edge. Bring that right hand up onto the waist. Bring that left arm up onto the left thigh. As you're ready, let the left leg draw straight. Left hand finds its way to the leg or the earth. Circle the right arm in front of the face and up towards the sky. And then if it's okay, start to let that arm reach behind you. I like to let the elbow bend a little bit and I like to reach it slightly more forward. It just, that feels good for me on the, on the waist. Yes. Roll the shoulder forward, bend the elbow, bring that hand behind you. And maybe it simply rests near the sacrum. Depending on your limb length, maybe it wraps towards being around that thigh. And now feel as you, as you're rolling this open, feel how you can emphasize the top right lung. Like feel how you can, you can tune your awareness there and emphasize that. And now be deliberate. Emphasize your awareness to the underside, to the, the, the lung that's actually supporting here, but tends to get squished and compromised. And as you bring your awareness into that left lung, now, once you have that, also bring the mantra. Also bring your mantra of freedom or equality or peace or safety or happiness, whatever that is. Yeah. Maintain that as you bend that front leg. Elbow maybe finds that thigh. Maybe the hand comes on the inside of the foot. A few more moments. Allow yourself to open. Gorgeous. Free that arm, bring that hand down to the foot, both hands on the inside of that left foot, toe heel the fat out to the side, spin onto the ball, the right foot, let the right knee drop down, back up a little bit and sink in and back up a little bit and sink in and roll onto the outer left edge and sink. Leave a little bit. Yes. Okay. Back up a little bit. Toe heel this left foot and tuck the back right toes under. Actually I'm lying to you. Tuck the back right toes under, but we're going to move a little bit differently instead of coming forward. Okay. Towards that Uttanasana we're going to come back. So draw the hips back. Let the left knee meet the right knee. Wobble it a little bit. Let the toes find together and make your way towards child's pose. Sending the hips back as you walk your hands forward. Yeah. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Nice. Now we're going to make our way onto our backs again. So you're going to slide forward all the way onto your belly and then roll onto your back and then hug your knees into your chest. And so here's the play, you know, for our last 15 minutes together. The play is we're going to make our way into a rolling bridge and we're going to make our way into that rolling bridge to find the bottom of the exhale because now we've been exploring the inhale. The other piece to being inspired is to be able to get quiet enough to listen accurately. And one of the quietest places in the breast cycle is the bottom of the exhale. Okay. Step one, arms up over the top of your head. Okay. Arms up over the top of your heels in line with your sit bones and we're going to roll our bridge. So big, deliberate inhale. Exhale everything. Nice. And inhale again.

And as you exhale, press into your feet, curl your sit bones under and draw your hips up. Uh-huh. Stay here on the inhale. And as you exhale, come up onto the balls of the feet and roll back down on your exhale. Upper back, mid back, low back, hips land and heels land. Do that again. Inhale. And as you exhale, press into your feet, curl your sit bones under, draw your hips up. Stay here as you inhale. And as you exhale, come up onto the balls of your feet and roll it on back down. Upper back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land. Do that three more times on your own. So feel your inhale. As you exhale, you press into the feet and you come up. You stay in the shape as you inhale. When you're ready to exhale, you come up onto the balls of the feet and roll it on back down. Super nice. Two more on your own. Now, I have my arms up over the top of your head, but if that's causing mischief, change that situation. Yes. Beautiful. Nice work. Nice work. One more probably for most of you. Yes. Soft in the eyes, easy in the jaw. Nice. When you come to that last one, hug the knees into the chest and wobble. And then it would feel good to extend your legs up, flex your feet and lengthen through the hamstrings because that can be cramping for the hamstrings. Okay. So listen, as you're kind of stretching your legs out, listen to this, this last piece. We're going to do that exact same pattern. Okay. Where we come up on the exhale, we hold on the inhale. This is the change in the second pattern. We will hold on the exhale. We'll stay, keep that same shape as you hold the shape as you exhale everything. Then we're going to come back down on empty. That will result in a really strong stretch of the diaphragm, which will create what some of you know, is udi ada bandha. It might surprise you if you've never done it. Okay. Arms up over the top of your head, heels in line with the sit bones. As you're ready, clearing breath, big inhale, exhale everything. Yeah. As you're ready, inhale, exhale, press into the feet, draw your sit bones under and lift. Now stay in this shape as you inhale, stay in this shape as you exhale everything, like get fully bonafide, a hundred percent empty. Once you are really sure you're empty, up on the balls of the feet and roll back down, slow on empty, upper back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land. You have a strong stretch in that diaphragm.

Now relax the grip in the belly, relax the grip in the throat, allow for a big inhale and exhale everything. Nice. Okay. That can be somewhat shocking if you've never done it before. One of the reasons we have our arms up over the top of the head is it helps create the jalandara bandha, the chin lock, which supports the navel lock. We'll do it again together twice and then we will rest in the resulting space that comes from emptying the heart because an empty clear heart is a big open heart. Okay. As you're ready, snuggle the feet in, big deliberate inhale, exhale everything, inhale and as you exhale, press under the feet, curl your sit bones under and lift up. Nice. Now stay in the shape as you inhale and now stay in the shape as you exhale everything like fully bonafide, a hundred percent country fair, blue ribbon award winning empty. Once you're really empty, up on the balls of the feet and roll on back down, upper back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land. As you're ready, release the grip in the navel and the chin, let an inhale occur and exhale everything and tune into the space, the resulting space in the heart region. Yeah. Okay. Maybe one more like that. If you're like Kirk, if you're just like out in the meadow of that field, hang out there. Otherwise, one more together. Clearing breath, big inhale, exhale everything. As you're ready, inhale and as you exhale, press in the feet, come all the way up. Stay in the shape as you inhale, stay in the shape as you exhale everything like chest. This, this is impossible. You will not have capacity unless you're willing to exhale everything. And then when you're ready, up on the balls of the feet and on empty, roll on back down, up back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land. Stay in the shape and then release the contraction that the elbow soft and fill up with an inhale. Allow the exhale to come. If it feels good for your soles of the feet together, knees wide, the elbows are bent. Either palms are open and receptive, but if it would feel safer for you to bring one hand onto your belly and one hand onto your heart, do that. And let the spacious quality that results from that in your heart occur. Like tune into the result of being totally empty. And for some of you and the particular spine and structure you're working with, you're fine to just continue to lie here, but for most of you, it'll feel good to let the knees come together and hug the knees into the chest a little bit. For some of you, it'll be useful to curl up a little bit. For some of you, it'll feel good to take a spinal twist, maybe arms out wide and just bring both of the knees over to the left, right palm on top of the left bone. And then circle that right arm back to the right. I like to let the elbow bend. Letting your awareness just kind of rest in the natural rise and fall of the breath now. All that effort just to come back to what's been here the whole time. Because there's a couple facts about the breath and one fact is she's been here this whole time from the beginning. Okay, leave with the top right leg, let the leg come back, pause and then other side. Organize left palm on top of right circle. And so your breath, your breath has been here this whole time and yet without our necessarily noticing her. She's been here this whole time and yet fact number two, she responds immediately. So soon as you bring your attention to your breath, she's right there with you. At your beck and call of attention. There's nobody else in your life like that. She's been here the whole time. She responds immediately. Fact one, in fact two, fact three, she's never asked for anything. Okay, unwind, hug the knees. Feet come down to the floor and if it would feel better to keep your knees bent, feet wide, knees together, if it's okay, one leg draws straight, the other leg draws straight, arms come down along your side, rest your head. Close your eyes or let them be soft, big deliberate inhale, exhale everything. She's been here the whole time. She responds immediately. She's never asked for anything.

And she loves to be inspired. Can you consider for the last few moments in Shavasana, is it possible to consider that your breath loves you? She's always loved you and she's here to support you and guide you. If you'd prefer to lie here in Shavasana for longer, by all means do so. If you'd like to make your way up to sitting now, bend the knees, reach an arm over the top of your head and roll to that side and pause. Let yourself gently start to press back out, making your way towards the seat, big deliberate inhale and exhale everything and just feel that natural quietude. Eventually, you're gonna let your hands find each other in the center of your heart, thanking yourself for showing up. Thank you to the others that are here with you showing up and gently committing to what it is you need to do today. Namaste.