Peaceful and Fluid

Welcome to Yoga Anytime Live. Thank you so much for joining me in these live sessions. This is our last episode of season two. So just thank you so much for showing up and joining me. For this practice before we begin, it'll be helpful to have a blanket for our seated practice, as well as a strap or belt. If you have one nearby, you can have it handy. So welcome. Our practice today is a fluid practice. We're going to focus on some deeper hip opening, some twisting, and some gentle kind of back bending chest and shoulder opening to help us align with the energy of peace and loving kindness. So we'll begin our practice seated, bringing some attention towards our breath. We'll start to move and flow a little bit slowly, and then ease our way down towards a seated loving kindness meditation. Kim, thank you so much for joining me. Let's begin. So come into a comfortable seated position. And as you come into your seat, and you might rock a little bit forward and back on your sitting bones, just find a gentle circle, just allowing your sitting bones to map the support beneath you. And with your next inhale, invite a quality of length and inspiration through your spine, up through your heart, your throat, and allowing the base of your skull to gently float back and up as the chin softens down just slightly, and relaxing the muscles of the face, the eyes, the jaw, taking a few moments together to arrive and settle in our practice, in our body, and gently drawing the awareness inward towards the inner landscape. Notice the quality of the breath.

The breath. If you find your mind is quite busy and active and making the transition, might begin to tether your attention towards just the quality of the breath through the nostrils and out of the nostrils. Just keeping the mouth closed, the lips soft. And so you tune towards the sensation of the breath in the nostrils. And you allow the inner ears to gently open, becoming aware of the inner sounds and sensations, vibrations. For the last few moments here, as we arrive and settle, allow yourself to be as relaxed as you can be. So allowing for this deeper physical relaxation and, even more importantly, this feeling of emotional relaxation and ease. Letting the heart feel generous and receptive. I read a quote this morning, generosity, generosity brings joy and honesty brings peace. And bringing the hands together at the heart.

For our practice together, you might set an intention or even dedicate your practice towards someone or something. Allow for an inhale, soft bow forward and in with the exhale. When you feel ready, we'll transition, making our way into tabletop for some movement. And you might have a blanket under your knees for support. And as you ease into cat cow, let your fingers spread wide. You might tuck your toes under here to get into the soles of your feet. And as you're ready, drop the belly, lift the heart and the sitting bones. And as you exhale, curl around, stretch your back, releasing the weight of your head.

And inhale, dropping the belly, broadening your collar bones, lifting your sitting bones. Exhale, navel to spine, press the earth away, get round and stretchy in your back. Inhale, dropping the belly to extend and lengthen, might soften the gaze inward. And as you exhale and round, take a nice full breath into your kidneys. Nice. Continue a few more rounds at your own pace with the breath. Any movements that would feel nice, the circling of the hips, moving up into your rib cage, your shoulders, your neck.

Mm hmm. Dropping the belly, lifting the heart on the inhale. And exhale, round and release the head. You might stay with this for a bit longer. When you feel ready, bring your spine into a neutral position. We'll find a little bit more space through the side body, moving into our side plank variation. Extend back through your right leg. Transfer your weight into your left arm, stacking the shoulder over your wrist. Begin to turn and open your ribs, your lungs, your heart. That bottom left foot is open like a kickstand. And then reach your right arm up towards the sky and feel how you can really reach from the heart into the hands. Easy out through your neck. You might stay here. Sweep your top arm down to the floor. Reach it overhead. Feel how you can extend and then reach it back. Maybe one or two circles moving from the shoulder joint. Nice fluid movement. Next time you stretch your arm back up towards the sky, you might stay here. You might play with floating your right foot up off the ground. Full balance. Play. Inhale. Exhale, tap the right foot down. Release your right arm. Spin onto the ball of your back foot.

Draw your right knee in. Cat-cow a few times through the spine. Inhale to arch. Exhale to curl and round. One more like this. Inhale, drop the belly. Extend. Lengthen. Exhale. Round and flex. Right second side. Float shoulders over wrist. Extend back through your left leg. Transfer the weight into your right arm, stacking the shoulder over the wrist. Be floating your top left arm up to the sky. Readjust your bottom right leg. Reaching from the heart into both hands. Let it feel nice as you expand. Stay here. Float your top left arm down to the floor. Reach it over the head. Extend and lengthen. Opening. Maybe there's a few more circles through that left shoulder. Creating space. Breathing. You might play with extending that left arm back up to the sky and maybe lifting that left leg up. Drawing the abdominal muscles in. Balancing. Easy through the neck. Tap the left foot down. Sweep the left arm back down to the floor. Spin onto the ball of your back foot. Draw the left knee in. Cat-cow a few rounds. Back into child's pose when you're ready. Exhale. Curl. Round. Sink the hips back towards the heels.

Forehead might rest on the hands or you might stretch the arms far out in front of you. Wobble and lengthen. Breathing into the back of your body. Taking a nice full breath into the kidneys. Back ribs. Low back and sacrum. Softening the jaw. Beautiful as you're ready. Round your way back up into your tabletop. Stack the shoulders over the wrists. We'll move in the direction of plank. You might keep your knees on the floor. You might begin to extend back through the legs. Tuck the toes. Lift the knees.

Reach back through your heels as you lengthen forward through the heart. Draw the deep low belly up into your spine. Feel your strength here as you press the floor away. We'll inhale together. Exhale. Downward dog. Shifting the hips back. Soft bend in your knees. With that soft bend in the knees feel how you can kind of wiggle and lengthen up through your sitting bones. Finding a bit more length through your spine. Again head releases. You might feel a nice long traction through your neck. From down dog stay here or inhale back into your plank. You can lower the knees for plank. Let's lower onto the belly. Exploring a cobra variation. So first step just bring your elbows wide. Forehead rests on the top of your hands. Now keep your upper body right where it is as you tuck your toes under. A lot. And as you tuck your toes under feel how you can activate energize your legs. So keeping the legs engaged. The knee caps are lifting. The thigh muscles are lifting. The heels are reaching back away. Now let the pelvis feel grounded and heavy. Arms stay where they are as you begin to inhale and lift your chest upward. Press the palms down. The elbows are wide. This is a variation of cobra. Really strengthening the paraspinal muscles. And now from here can you feel your ability to draw your navel forward. Draw the belly button forward towards the hands a little bit. If it feels like it like too much it is. So back it off a little bit. Lowering down. One more inhale. Keep the legs engaged and active. Exhale. Release everything. Forward the hands. Untuck your toes. Maybe a little shimmy side to side with the pelvis would feel nice. Let's take one more round of this variation. Tucking the toes. Reach back through the heels. Energize your legs. Lift the knee caps. The thighs. Heavy through the pelvis. As you're ready press through your forearms. Elbows wide. Lift the chest.

Yeah. And then drawing the navel forward. Feeling that nice traction through your spine. Feeling the strength of your back body. Right. Hamstrings. Glutes. Inhale. Lengthen. Lift. Exhale. Release everything. Nice. Shimmy the hips a little. From here forehead comes down. Slide the palms in line with your shoulders. Elbows in. Tuck your toes under. Press up. Let's round back towards the shape of child's pose. Maybe it's like an act of child's. As you tuck your toes. Feeling that nice sweet traction through your low back as you release. New breaths here. As you're ready. Inhale. Rise up and we'll find our down dog variation. Spreading the fingers wide. Feeling that external rotation through the shoulders. Drop the belly. Tuck the toes under. So you're in this cow pose. This back bend. Or this arch in your spine. Keep that as you begin to lift your knees up. Reach through your sitting bones. Feel that nice extension. And then really release your head and neck. So you're looking towards your thighs or your navel. Now walk your feet as wide as your mat. Yeah. This is like our down dog slash hammock variation here. Bend the knees. Wiggle and reach your sitting bones upward towards the sky. You'll be feeling that deep draw of the navel up and in. Last few moments here.

Just take a look forward towards your hands. Reroot through your hands. And then begin to press. Extend and release your head and neck. A few more breaths here. And this inversion. Really bringing the blood downward. From the heart into the head. Thigh bones drawing back as the sitting bones lifting up. From here you can walk your feet back into your down dog shape right underneath the hips. And just walking the hands towards the feet. Or feet towards the hands. Coming into our Uttanasana standing forward bend. Bend your knees a lot. Let the head release. And let your arms dangle here. Together we'll roll up slowly as you're ready. Bend your knees. Chin into your chest. Keep your chin in as you slowly roll up. Press through the feet. Stack the bones. Feel the heart. The shoulders. And the head. With the neck exhale let the blood, the prana, the energy settle downwards into the feet and into the earth. Coming into Tadasana. Spreading the toes. Know that lift from the inner arches up through the inner lines of your legs. Feeling that quality of lift and generosity within around the heart. Let the palms open. And that gentle lift of the base of the skull back and up.

Chin softening down. Smooth through the face. Keep a soft kind of micro bend in the back of the knees as the low back widens. Be relaxing the belly a little bit as the tailbone descends. More moments here. Again with the lips closed, draw your awareness towards the sensation of the breath in the nostrils. You need to align with the inner currents.

The shishumna nadi runs up and down the base of our spine upward. Beautiful. Keep this as you make your way towards the top of your mat. We're walking meditation. Make our way into some sun salutations and variations here. So hands together at the heart, spreading your toes. Feel that inner lift. And as you're ready with an inhale, reach your arms up towards the sky. Enjoy the length.

And with your exhale, navel to spine. Soft bend through your knees as you hinge forward at the hips. Release the head and the hands. On your inhale, slide your hands up your shins. Find that length in your spine. Exhale, bend your knees, bring your hands to the mat and step your right foot back into like a runner's lunge. Let your left knee bend. We'll pause here for a few moments. So feel you can reach back through that right heel and lengthen forward through the heart again. You're drawing that left hip crease back. Energize the back leg nice and full through your back ribs. We'll lower that right knee down for a low lunge. You might bring a blanket underneath that right knee. Inhale, draw your hips back. Find the hamstrings. Exhale, bend the left knee and lunge. Let's do two more. Inhale, draw the hips back. Exhale, lunge. Lift the heart. Last one. Inhale, draw the hips back. Exhale, bend the front left knee lunge. You might stay low on your lunge. You might rise up onto the front leg, feeling that inner lift from the base of your spine, the pelvic floor towards the heart. And if it feels good, inhale, stretch your arms up towards the sky. Feel how you can wiggle and lengthen back of the heart lifting, spacious in the throat, reaching with enthusiasm through your fingers. Nice. One more inhale. Exhale, release the hands, twisting lunge. Tuck your back toes. Ground your right hand. Maybe toe heel your left foot a little wider as you bring that left thumb into your hip crease. Feel how you can reach back through your right heel, forward through your heart.

Maybe stretch that top left arm up to the sky. Again, energize the back leg. Breathing. And find a place where your neck feels good. One more inhale here. Exhale, sweep the left hand down. Let's pivot over for hammock, over to the right. So walk your feet so they're parallel. And then walk your hands out. Shift the hips back away from the hands and let the heart soften towards the earth. Nice and long through your neck. And it feels overwhelming in the legs. You can just bend the knees a little bit here. Maintain that length in your spine. Breathing.

The surrendering. The hamstrings a bit. Nice. When you're ready, walk the hands back, shape of the lunge. So travel back to the top of the mat. We're going to lower the back right knee down again. Toe heel your left foot a little wider for a little lizard action here. So hands on the inside of your left foot. And from here you might begin to lean a little bit from side to side. So exploring the sensation through that back right thigh. Through the hip flexor and groin. You can stay up onto the hands. You might feel nice to lower onto your forearms if you need to feel more sensation. Or bring blocks underneath your hands or forearms. Few moments here. Releasing. Softening. You might stay with this. You might play with grounding your right hand or forearm as you bring your left hand onto your left thigh bone. And feel how you can begin to kind of twist here and lengthen. Breathing. And lengthening out of the low back.

Just enjoying this nice yummy stretch. When you feel ready, we're going to come back. Toe heel that front foot back into the midline. And then draw the hips back again. Tuck the back toes. Extend through your left leg. Hamstring stretch, Ardha Hanumanasana. Extend and lengthen. Take your time. Bend your knees. Tuck your back toes. Lift the back knee.

So step back into downward facing dog. You might pedal the feet. Walk it off. Stand down dog. Lower the knees child. Or inhale. Float the shoulders over the wrist for plank pose. Again draw the deep low belly up and in. Feel your strength. Lower onto the belly. This time for a round of locusts. Rishalabhasana. So forehead on the floor. Stretch your fingers towards the toes. And with your inhale, lift the upper body.

Lift the lower body. Reach through the fingers. Draw the back body into your spine. Spacious through the chest. Yes. Inhale. Exhale. Lower down. Hands underneath the shoulders. Elbows draw in. Tuck your toes. Press up. Round. Downward dog. Few breaths here. Take your time from down dog. Walk or step your feet towards your hands. Once you arrive, inhale. Slide your hands up your shins to lengthen. Exhale. Bend your knees to fold. Bend the knees. Press through the feet. Inhale. Reverse swan dive. Reach the arms up.

Lengthen. Gather the energy. And bring it to the heart. Take a few moments here to pause. Notice how you feel. Check in. Heart rate. Circulation. Warmth. Flush. Energy. Moving towards our second side as you're ready. Inhale. Arms sweep up. Exhale. Forward fold. Hinging at the hips. Maybe a soft bend in your knees as you release the head. And that'll slide your hands up your legs. Lengthen your spine. And exhale.

Bend your knees. Step your left foot back. Right knee bends. We'll pause in the runner's lunge. Reaching back through the left heel. Forward through your heart. Drawing that right hip in. Feel the energy in your legs. We'll lower the back left knee down. Again, you might pad it with a blanket. Inhale. Draw your hips back. Extend through your right leg. Toes draw towards you.

Exhale. Right knee bends. Lunge. Drawing the heart forward. Draw the hips back two more times. Exhale. Lunge. Last one. Inhale. Draw the hips back. Extend. Exhale. Lunge. Might stay low. Might bring the hands up on that front leg. Or inhale. Circle the arms up. Low crescent lunge. Lifting from the base of the spine upwards. Find that ease in your neck. Breathing. More inhale here. Exhale. Release the hands.

Twisting lunge. Ground your left hand. Tuck your back toes. Lift the back knee. Might draw that right thumb into the hip crease as you reach back. Lengthen forward and twist. Maybe stretch that top right arm up. Reach back. Breathe. Heart the hands. So nice. One more inhale. Exhale. Release your right hand. We'll walk it over for hammock. Right? So feet parallel. Hands walk over to the left. As you walk the hands forward, shift the hips back away from the hands. And then melt the heart towards the floor easy in the neck.

A couple of breaths here. You might play with a little skandhasana action as you bend the knees. Side to side. Bringing it a bit deeper into the groin, the hips, the hamstrings. Nice. When you feel ready, we'll walk it back to the top of the mat. Shape of the lunge. Toe heel your right foot a little wider. And we'll lower the back knee down for a little lizard action here. Hands on the inside of your right foot.

Or you might lower under the forearms. And we're just exploring the landscape of sensation through that back left groin, hip, thigh. Feel gentle with the knee. And you might lean a little bit side to side. You might be inspired to lower down. Each side feels different. It changes day to day. So it's really an opportunity to meet ourselves right where we are. Breathing into where we feel it. Practicing our skills of deep inner listening. Self-love and compassion. You might stay with this. You might ground your left hand. Maybe bring your right hand onto your right leg. If it feels good, you might explore the twist here.

A little low lizard twist. You can certainly grab the back foot if you'd like to. Another breath or two. Softening the jaw. Always useful. Then take your time. When you're ready, no rush. Draw your hips back. We're going to just toe heel our right foot back into the midline. Draw the hips back. Extend through the right leg and lengthen forward.

Allow for a... Take your time. Bend the front knee. Tuck the back toes. Lift back. Step back to houndward facing dog. Again, pedal the feet. Walk it off. You might stay in your down dog. Lower to child's or inhale. Shift shoulders over the wrist for plank pose. Lowering down onto the belly for locust. Shalabhasana. Forward on the floor. Sweep the fingers towards the toes with an inhale. Rise up. Looking down so your neck can lengthen. You might reach and lengthen through the fingers, the toes. The inhale lifts you up and the exhale lowers you down. Nice work. Bring the hands underneath the shoulders. The elbows draw into your ribs. Tuck your toes. Press up onto your knees.

You might enjoy a child's pose or a downward dog. Couple of breaths here. Taking your time. Walk or step your feet towards your hands. And once you arrive, inhale. Draw the hands up the legs. Half arch. Lengthen. Exhale. Bend your knees. Forward fold. Bend the knees. Reverse swan dive. Press through the feet. Inhale. Sweep your arms up. Feel your ability to lengthen. And exhale. Hands together at the heart. Take a few moments to pause. Check in with the inner landscape. Sensation, circulation, heart rate, temperature. These sun salutations are designed to generate heat and warmth in the body. We'll find one more round of standing shapes. As you're ready on an inhale, sweep your arms up. And exhale. Forward fold. Uttanasana. With your inhale, draw your hands up your legs. Half arch. Lengthen. Exhale. Bend your knees. Step your right foot back. Left knee bends. This time we're moving into a warrior two. From the ground up. Pivot on to the outer edge of your right foot.

Keep the left knee bent. And with an inhale, reach that top right arm up like a reverse cartwheel. And then reorganize your feet for warrior two. Bending the left knee. Finding that length through the inner thigh. Let's move into warrior dance. With an inhale, press into the ball of your left foot. Straighten the legs. Arms reach up. Exhale. Left knee bends. Warrior two. Inhale, press through the ball of the foot. Arms reach up. Exhale. Warrior two. One more round. Inhale. Reach up. Exhale. Warrior two. Pause in your warrior two. Can you feel tadasana up through the central spine. Central channel. Heart to hand's ease. The lining with the energy of peace, equanimity. From here, reverse. Slide the back hand down. The back leg. Inhale. Reach the top left arm up. Keep the left knee bent as you open up through the rib cage. You're feeling that opening through the intercostals. The lung. Inhale here. Exhale. We'll cartwheel the hands down. Spin onto the ball of your back right foot. Step back downward facing dog. Pedal the feet. Walk it off. Lower the knees or inhale. Plank pose. Shoulders over the wrists. From your plank, we'll lower onto the belly. Setting up for a locus cobra transition. So from here, keep the hands underneath the shoulders and we're going to rise up locus alabhasana. Drawing the elbows into the ribs.

Really drawing the shoulder blades towards each other. And then go ahead and kick through the feet. Press the palms down as you begin to lift the chest and lift the heart. You can use your hands to help kind of drag and draw the chest forward. Inhale. Exhale. Beautiful work. Lower down. Take your time. Tuck your toes. Press up. You might round into a child or a downward dog. And a few breaths here. Take your time. Walk or step your feet towards your hands. Once you arrive, inhale. Half arch. Hands drop the legs to lengthen. Exhale. Bend your knees forward fold. Bend the knees. Press through the feet. Reverse swan dive again. Arms sweep up. Tailbone descends. Exhale. Hands together at the heart. And taking a moment to pause.

Being a pulse of the inner space. Last round. As you're ready, inhale. Arms sweep up. Exhale. Diving forward and in. Soft bend through the knees releasing. Inhale. Draw the hands up the legs. Half arch. Find length. Exhale. Bend the knees. Step your left foot back. Right knee bend. Setting up for warrior two. Pivot on to the outer edge of your back left foot. Strong legs. Stay low as you inhale. Sweep the left arm up. Finding your warrior two. Heel in line with the left inner arch. Lengthening that inner right thigh. Settling in. Feeling tadasana up through the spine. As you're ready, warrior dance. Inhale. Press through the ball of your right foot. Right leg straightens. Arms reach up. Exhale. Right knee bends. Warrior two.

Inhale. Press through the ball the right foot. Reach up. Exhale. Warrior two. Last one. Nice and fluid. Inhale. Arms reach. Exhale. Warrior two. Pause. Finding this standing meditation. You tap into quality of ease through your body. In the effort. Moving into peaceful reverse warrior slide the back hand down the back leg. Inhale. Sweep your right arm up. Feeling that space and opening through the right side.

Inhale here. Exhale. Cartwheel the hands down around the front foot. Spin onto the ball of your back foot. Step back. Downward facing dog. Pedal the feet. You might lower the knees and chiles or join me for one last vinyasa. Shifting the shoulders over the wrist. Lowering the knees or lowering onto your belly. Let's explore that locus cobra variation again. Hands stay where they are. Inhale. Begin to lift up locus. Drawing the shoulder blades towards each other. Kick through the feet. Press the palms into the floor. Cobra. Drawing the elbows towards each other. Lifting the chest. Finding your edge. Exhale. Lower down. Let's meet in child's pose. Tuck the toes. Press up. Round your way back. Knees might be together or knees might widen. Take a moment or two here. Let yourself arrive and settle. Feeling the support beneath you.

Gratitude for our ability to move and breathe. To engage and to let go. Nice. You might stay here a bit longer. Slowly begin to rise up. Exploring with me a few rounds of camel. You might bring a blanket underneath your knees for support. From here you might choose to tuck your back toes under if you'd like to. As we come in towards the back bend, think about lengthening the front of the body. Feeling this lift from the base of your spine upwards. Tailbone descending. Low belly gently lifting. Let's bring the hands together at the heart. As you're ready, inhale. Begin to draw the heart towards the thumbs. Chin might stay in towards the chest here. Drawing the sacrum in.

Tailbone descends. Think about really lengthening the front of your body. Lengthening the front of your body as you lift up and back. And as you're ready, gently lead with the heart. Come on up and maybe take a moment to pause. Sit back on your heels. The child's pose would feel nice. You might move in that direction.

Or join me in one last. Lustrasana, camel pose. Coming up onto the shins. You might bring the hands together at the heart. You might experiment with bringing the hands behind you. Fingers pointing downward. Again, inhale to lift and open. And then with your exhale, sacrum draws in. Tailbone descends. Feel that lift and generosity through your heart. Chin might stay in towards the chest. Or if appropriate for your neck, you might begin to bring the gaze up. Hands might stay right where they are depending on your low back. If it's available, maybe. Hands reach back towards the feet or the heels. Breathing. Feeling the stability through your legs, your pelvis.

Beautiful. When you feel ready, bring the hands back onto the lower back and rise up. Nice. Take a moment. Sit back on the heels. Pause. From here, we'll move into a forward fold to release the back. So just shift over. Release your legs. Stretch your legs forward. We're going to come into Paschimottanasana, seated forward fold. Moving into a twist. You might have your blanket handy. If you have a blanket or a bolster, you might sit up on it. We'll stretch the legs out.

Pull the flesh out from underneath you. Nice. Then inhale. Stretch the arms up. Just feeling our ability to lengthen again. And then release the hands. Slide the hands down the shins any amount. Let's start with length. So we'll just lengthen the spine here. You can keep a soft bend in the knees if you'd like to. You might stay long. You might begin to round your back. Let it release and stretch. And hands might be resting on the shins, the ankles, the soles of the feet.

Breathing into the back of your body. Breathing into the kidneys, the adrenal glands. You might feel a kind of a dull, achy stretch through your spine, through the back of your legs. Part of the human experience. Another breath or two here.

This is such a simple shape, yet so effective. Forward folding, forward bends are calming and soothing on the nervous system. There's this introspection, this drawing inwards. Beautiful counter pose to the back bending, which tends to be energizing, stimulating, somewhat stressful on the nervous system. Counter posing with a forward fold. Then take your time to slowly begin to round and roll yourself up. Take a moment to pause. Let the blood come back down. Moving into Marchyasana C or three. We're going to keep the left leg long and then go ahead and bend the right knee and bring the heel up close towards the sitting bone. Here's where you don't need a strap, but lately I've been playing with the strap and it's been pretty awesome. I'm going to bring the strap around the towards the heel. I'm going to arch the heel of that left leg. And then from here, we're going to just bend the left knee a little bit. And then as you bend the left knee, we're going to reach that right arm around, bring the hand around that left hip, grab a hold of the strap. And then as you press through and extend that left leg and reach through the heel, it's going to begin to twist you towards the right. You might bring that left hand and kind of wrap it or hook it around that right knee. So we're moving deep into the seated twist here, feeling the energy through your left leg. As you feel the ribs revolve and turn the heart, leave the head in the gaze. Now, if you feel any pinching or impingement in that right shoulder, just release the strap a little bit, back it off, or bring the fingertips down towards the floor.

A few more breaths here. Inhale to lengthen and exhale, deepening the twist and ringing out the organs. And then keep the twist. See how it feels to bring your head and neck forward towards your left foot. Finding a little counter-rotation through your spine. Beautiful. Inhale, exhale, slowly unwind. And then stretch that right leg out. Take a moment to pause. Feel the breath come in and release. Let's feel into the other side. If you're working with a strap, we're bringing it around the heel of that right foot. Bend your left knee, bring that heel close in towards your sitting bone. You might even toe heel that left foot just a little bit wider to give your pelvis a little bit more space. From here, we're bringing that left arm forward, internally rotating, and then beginning to wrap around the low back. Bend your right knee. If you're working with a strap, you're just going to bring it into your left hand. And then as you begin to extend through your right heel and leg, that'll help twist you. Maybe wrapping your right arm around your left knee, or you might pin it with the elbow. Lengthening on the inhale and deepening on the exhale. Feeling that inner spiral through your spine as the ribs, lungs, and the heart, the gaze, turn. Again, if you feel any nervousness or pain or impingement on the left shoulder, you'll just release the strap a little bit or just release the fingers towards the floor. If you've been looking back towards the left shoulder, you might explore how to floating the gaze forward towards your right foot. And finding this counter rotation through your spine, breathing into where you feel it. More inhale here. With your exhale, slowly unwind and stretch that left leg out. Release the strap, bring it off to the side. From here, let's find our way onto our back. So let's begin to transition onto your back. Once you arrive, draw your knees into your chest. Feels good. A little rocking from side to side. We'll do a little abdominal work. So go ahead and ground the soles of your feet. We're going to interlace our fingers behind our head. And just start with some arching and curling. So we're going to start by arching our back. So lifting the lumbar spine up as you open the lungs. And then with your exhale, keep your feet grounded. Curl the tailbone under, lift your head up as you draw the elbows towards each other. Tailbone draws under. And then slow on the inhale, arch your back, open the lungs.

And with your exhale, curl up, lift up, gentle squeeze, elbows towards each other. And again, lower down on the inhale, arch the back, open the elbows and the lungs. Exhale, lift up, curl up, squeeze. Let's do one more round. Arching the back, inhale, exhale, lift up, curl up, squeeze, lower down. Inhale, arch, we're going to add on. So this time as you exhale, lift up, bring the left elbow towards the right knee. You're just going to lift that right foot and knee up and rotate to your right. Lower the foot, lower down, arch the back, inhale, exhale, right elbow, left knee, lift the knee towards the elbow. And more down, arch, inhale, exhale, left knee, right elbow, cross the body. Lower down, inhale, arch, exhale, lift up, right elbow, left knee, lower down. Let's do one more round on each side. Exhale, left elbow, right knee, cross the body, lower down, arch. And last one, exhale, right elbow, left knee, lower down, helps to smile with abdominal work and release. Nice. Let's toe heel the feet wide, windshield wiper the legs side to side. Arms might stretch overhead, you might stretch the arms out. Nice fluid movement through the pelvis. Just feeling the thigh bones, the femur bones kind of float in the hip joints. Nice and easy through your spine, letting your head rock away from your knees. You're stretching your arms overhead, you might let the knees fall to the right and then just begin to stretch and lengthen through that left arm. Opening up and stretching through the left side body, down through the diaphragm into the psoas. Yeah, you might even bring that right ankle on top of the left thigh, if that would feel nice, offering a little bit of traction there and length. And then releasing that right ankle, let the knees come up, exhale over to the left, stretching up through that right arm, feeling your ability to lengthen, opening, stay here, bring that left ankle on top of the right thigh.

Yeah, soft face, spacious throat. And taking your time releasing the left ankle, inhale knees up, few more round side to side. Nice and then from here, let's bring the soles of the feet together, the knees fall wide into Supta Baddha Konasana, arms might rest overhead, and then a cactus opening, you might bring the hands onto the belly, one hand onto the belly, one hand on the heart. Allow for a settling exhale, inhaling with support beneath you, feeling the weight of the body, the weight of the bones, sinking towards the earth, the back of the eyes softening into the skull, feeling the weight of the pelvis, sinking into the earth. Just rest in the experience of being here, just awake, aware, and at ease.

And from here, you are welcome to stay here as long as you'd like. You might choose to stretch your legs out one at a time for a nice long sweet Shavasana, really depending on your energy and your mood, be setting up with support. If you'd like to join me in a seated meditation and take your time, roll to your side and find your way up towards a comfortable supported seat. Our loving kindness meditation slash exploration and you can do this work on your back in Shavasana. Nice, and take your time to get settled, giving the alignment of your body just right, supported by the quality of length up through the central channel, up through the spine. Feel your fluid body, feel your fluid body again, let the base of the skull feel spacious, relax, gently lifting upward, very soft. Notice the quality through your hands.

Notice the quality of your gaze, softly focused, the inward. Begin to draw your awareness towards your heart, heart space. Just begin to notice the physical beating of your heart, the mechanics of the heart, the pulsations, sensations. And our lungs and our heart are interwoven. You might feel the presence of your lungs in there. There, draw your awareness towards what the yogis call the kind of subtle energetic heart.

It is the anahata chakra, anahata meaning unbroken, unbeaten, unstruck sound. The chakra is an energetic vortex or wheel, energy, whatever resonates with you. Feel the quality of the breath here in the heart space. Exploring the words, the mantra for our loving kindness meditation. And beginning with ourself, may I be filled with loving kindness, may I be well, may I be peaceful and at ease, and may I be happy.

Are there any other words that resonate with you, the images? You might hear, say these words internally or out loud. May I be filled with loving kindness, may I be well, may I be peaceful and at ease, may I be happy. Breathing into where you feel it. Continue, may I be filled with loving kindness, may I be well, may I be peaceful and at ease, and may I be happy.

You might continue yourself. You might call in a, or imagine a person or a being whom you have a deep, easy affection for. You might be a small human, an elder, a loved one, an animal creature. The awareness in the heart space, in the mantra, the words, may you be filled with loving kindness, may you be well, may you be peaceful and at ease, and may you be happy. Or any other words that arise, may you be filled with loving kindness, may you be well, may you be peaceful and at ease, and may you be happy.

And noticing the sensations within and around the heart space. Might continue with this mantra, holding this being close. Might be other beings that come in, may you be filled with loving kindness, may you be well, may you be peaceful and at ease, and may you be happy. Feeling the breath, the sensation around the heart space. Might stay with this a bit longer.

And tapping into this boundless flow of loving kindness, and again, expand outwards towards your community, in the world, all beings and creatures everywhere, just resting, resting in this feeling. And join me in bringing your hands together at your heart. Feeling your hands join and unite and touch. And feel the rise of the inhale and soft bow forward and in with the exhale. Thank you so much for your practice. May it ripple out.

Much love. Namaste.