Warm Up, Clear Out

Thank you all so much for being here. It's such a joy to return to the practice with you. And to those of you who have been practicing online down the road, it's lovely to see your comments and stay connected in that way as well. So thank you in any form that you're joining. It's a joy. So this morning, this evening, this afternoon, depending on wherever you are in the world, we're going to be working with kind of bringing some heat, some energy, some blood flow into the legs, the hips, the foundation, and then kind of warming and opening them. From what I've heard, a lot of us are walking, running, hiking, cycling, in an attempt to work with all the energies at play. So I thought we'd give our foundation a little bit of support this morning, right? If you have a block and a strap, great. If you don't, we'll improvise. All right. Let's just ground and transition for a moment or two. So settling into a comfortable seat, whatever that means for your body, rest the hands up or down on the knees, maybe palm and palm, base of flat, soft gaze or close your eyes. And then rooting down through the syphilis, feel all points of contact with the earth, get really steady and rooted. And then let the length of the spine rise up and let it lift energetically through the crown of the head and shoulders even knocking down. Just kind of notice your breath, its own natural rhythm, where it's landing in the body, its pace, its quality. Just kind of curious and compassionate, no right or wrong, just bringing your awareness there. And then begin to expand the breath, inviting the inhales to fill the rib cage, the heart, the back of the heart, letting the exhales just kind of soften and settle you. Deep, full, steady ujjayi breath. Yeah, let's take the hands to prayer at the heart center and open this practice together with a gentle home. Exhale, empty all the breath out. And then through the nose, really big inhale. And in that stillness, consider your intention. Anything you want to clear out, anything you want to welcome in again and again and again, being really mindful about where we place our energy and our focus determines so much. So distill that down, let it root in the body, give it a really tangible physical home. And then when you're ready, just nice and easy, get your eyes open and let's transition into child's pose. So knees together or wide, arms reaching out or drawing back alongside the body, whatever you feel for. If you want any support, maybe blanket under knees and shins or bolster or pillow between hips, sit bones and heels, make it comfortable and then just lay it down. Really feeling into the foundation, feeling into your connection with the earth, your root, your legs, your hips, and letting yourself sink down into the earth for a little while. All right, and just know that this is available to you at any point throughout the practice. If you spend the entire hour here, beautiful gold star, releasing down, breathing in, moving the breath down the length of the spine into low back and sacrum, maybe we'll wiggle a little through the hips, through the root, another breath or two. We start really slowly and intentionally. Stay as long as you'd like, just really gently as you're ready. Let's inhale, lift up onto the hands and the knees and exhale ground and settle here. Knees directly under the hips, hands under the shoulders, and then into cat cow. With your inhale, lift, tailbone, heart, gaze. And with your exhale, round the back and really draw the belly up to the spine. Feel that engagement through the center. Yeah, again together, a big inhale, lifting, tailbone, heart, gaze by the shoulders down the back. And exhale, rounding belly to spine, relax through the neck and the jaw. Let's take three more cycles. Inhaling, heart rising. Exhaling, rounding belly to spine. Again, inhale, reach the heart up. Exhale, round and curl in. Last one, big inhale, warming the spine, opening central channel and exhaling round. Good, belly to spine. Okay, then inhaling, come back to neutral. Exhale, just ground and take a moment here to really connect with your center. Draw the belly in and up, supporting and lengthening through the low back. Keep that engaged. And then with your next inhale, reach the right leg straight back. Actively press through that heel. Keep the leg awake. Keep the spine long, belly engaged. And with your next inhale, reach the left arm out. Keep the left shoulder blade down the back. Good. Feel that long line of energy extending through the arm, back through the leg. Breathe into that. And then stay for your inhale. And with your exhale, draw elbow to knee, knee to elbow, let the back round, belly to spine. Couple more. Inhale, extend it up. Exhale, round and draw it in. Inhale, extend. Exhale, curl it in. Good. This time, inhale, extend and then totally up to you. You might stay here. You might just release or take the left hand back for the right foot or your strap or your towel, whatever you have a handy. And then begin to let the leg lengthen and reach up, opening through the chest and the left shoulder and beginning to kind of warm breathe into right quad muscles. Three, two. All right. Slowly with your inhale, you're just going to reach the arm and the leg out again. And with the exhale, release. Hand the knee to the earth, circle the head soft through the neck. All right. Back to neutral. Second side. Re-engage the belly, lift it up to the spine. Inhale, extend the left leg straight back, press through that heel, keep the leg active. And then with your next inhale, reach the right arm out, keep the right shoulder blade down the back. Feel into that length, that expanse. Stay for a big inhale. And then exhale, rounding. Elbow to knee, knee to elbow. Inhale, reach it out. Exhale, draw it in. Really lift, belly to spine. Good. Inhale, reach it out. Exhale, draw it in. Then inhale, reach it out. Pause. Again, it's your choice. You stay here, you release, or right hand goes back for the left foot or your strap or your towel or whatever you've got. Then opening through the chest, really reach that leg to the sky. Breathe into right shoulder, breathe into left quad muscles. Three, see what's there. Two.

All right, slowly with control. Inhale, extend the leg back, the arm out again. And exhale, release, hand and knee to the earth. Good work. Circle the head, soft through the neck. Just let it go. And then come back to a neutral spine, reconnect through the hands, root through base of thumb on the first finger. Take a big inhale, tuck your toes and exhale, downward facing dog. Adho mukvashvana sana. Ease into this, right? Start to say hello to hamstring muscles and the calf muscles. Let's give it four, five, six more breaths. Take what you feel for. Four. Continuing to lengthen the spine, and really moving it into the backs of the legs. Yeah, three. Soft through the neck, let the head go, let the mind begin to soften. Two. Yeah, and instead of yourself in your down dog, let's lead with the heart. Inhale, rippling forward into plank pose. And just pausing here, generating a little internal heat.

Shine through the heart, press through the heels, breathing. Three. Two. And then with the exhale coming all the way down, knees first, your chaturanga style is totally up to you. And then inhale to cobra, lift the heart, melt the shoulders. Exhale, let's release all the way back to the earth. Then inhale, lift to hands and knees, tuck the toes. Exhale, go back to downward facing dog. Take a big inhale and let it go. Exhale. Yeah. Again on the inhale, let's ripple forward, plank pose, pause. This time, stay where you are or lift the right leg. Keep both legs strong and active. Again, really drawing the heat and the energy into foundation. Three, belly in and up, heart shining out. Two. And then with the exhale, release that right foot. Again, lowering all the way down, knees first or chaturanga style. Inhale to cobra, lifting the heart. Exhale, melt it back to the air. Inhale, press up, hands and knees, tuck the toes. Exhale, take it back, downward facing dog. One breath, inhaling. Good. Exhaling. And again, inhale, roll it forward, pause, engage the whole body and then lift that left leg, just a little. Press out through both heels, reach through the heart. Three, two.

Yeah. And then release on the exhale, lower all the way down. Inhale to cobra, just as high as feels. Good. And then exhale, melt it back to the air. Inhale, up to hands and knees, chock the toes, exhale, downward facing dog. Take a big inhale through the nose and open the mouth. Let it go. All right. Slowly on your inhale, just walking the feet forward to the front of the mat. When you arrive, easy forward fold, uttanasana, feet hips distance, hands drop or hold elbows, gentle bend in the knees. Give this about five or six breaths, really let yourself unwind. Trey, we're all holding so much these days. Every opportunity to kind of let go, drop and release. So let this be soft and supple, just kind of easing more and more into back body. Yeah. Let's give it another breath. And then if you're swaying, find your center. If you have any bind, just gently release it.

Keep the gentle bend in the knees, keep the head heavy. And here we go. Slowly on the inhale, just roll all the way to stand. Feel the opening of the spine as you rise. And when you do arrive, let the shoulders roll down the back, opening through the heart. Shake it out a little bit, let it go a little bit. And then feet together, hands to prayer, heart center through the nose, inhaling, and through the nose, exhaling. Good. Surya A, inhale out and up, belly in flat back, exhale bow out and down. With your inhale, lengthen halfway, root the hands, hop or step it back with your exhale, lower knees or chaturanga nasana with your inhale, cobra or upward facing dog. And then exhale all the way back, downward facing dog. Breathing here for three, forming the whole body, synchronizing the breath and the body, and continuing to drop in. Good. The bottom of your exhale, soften in the knees, hop or step to the front of your mat. As you arrive, inhale to lengthen halfway. Exhale, deepen into the fold, strong through your center, flat back, inhale to rise all the way up, reach it out and exhale, hands to the heart. Two more, inhale, reach and rise. Exhale, bow in full, just halfway, inhaling, root the hands, hop or step it back, exhale to lower as you choose. Inhale, lift the heart. Exhale, downward facing dog, long spine, deep breath, just for three. Okay, be in it too. The hand, bottom of the exhale, soften in the knees, hop or step it forward, inhale to lengthen halfway and exhale, bow in full. From your center, flat back, inhale all the way up, exhaling, hands to prayer, heart center again. Inhale, reach up, exhale, bow in full, inhale halfway, root the hands, hop or step it back, exhale to lower as you choose. Of course, you can skip it every now and then if you prefer, inhale, heart up and exhale, downward facing dog. Again, three breaths, long spine. Letting these opening sun salutes draw you deeper into the breath, shedding those initial layers of thought, connecting with body and breath. Okay, in a moment, we're going to build the pace a little, moving through a few high lunges, intentionally building the heat and the energy in the legs. As always, of course, just kind of tune in, listening for your own rhythm, slow it down as much as you'd like to, right? Keep rooting through the hands. With your next inhale, reach right leg to the sky. With the exhale, simply step right foot forward between the hands, strong through the legs. Inhale, rise, high lunge, crescent pose. Exhale, sit way down into it.

Good. Stay for the inhale, lift the heart. Exhale, release hands to the earth, step back into downward facing dog. Inhale, left leg to the sky. Exhale, step it forward, high lunge on your inhale, take it up. Exhale, sit a little deeper. Good. Big inhale, heart up. Exhale, release hands to the earth, downward facing dog. Two more, your pace. Inhale, right leg up. Exhale, step it forward. Inhale, rise up, high lunge. Exhale, sit bones to the earth. Good. Stay for your inhale. Exhale, hands to the earth, downward facing dog. Inhale, left leg to the sky. Exhale, float it forward, ground through the feet. Inhale, rise. Exhale, deepen. Good. Big inhale. Exhale, hands to the earth, step back, downward facing dog. One more full cycle.

Inhale, right leg up. Exhale, step it forward. Inhale, rise. High lunge. Exhale, sit a little deeper. Good. Big inhale. Exhale, hands to the earth, step it back. Inhale, left leg up. Exhale, step it forward. High lunge on the inhale, rise up. Exhale, sit a little deeper. Good. Big inhale. And exhale, release, hands to the earth, step it back. Nice work. Big inhale through the nose. And then open the mouth. Let it go. Let's keep the feet where they are. With your next exhale, walk the hands to the back of the mat. We've got a couple breaths here just to let it go again. Easy full surrendering into it. Yeah. Then heel to the feet together. Take a really deep bend in the knees and inhale, rise up. Wood katasana. Exhale, sit down into it. Draw the belly in and up and draw the belly back a little, especially if you're super back bendy. And then let's hold steady. Five. Use your breath. Four. Come from your intention. See if that changes a little bit.

Three, two. Excellent. Press through the feet. Inhale all the way up. Exhale, open the arms and lift the heart. Inhale, reach up. And then exhale, dive out and down. Return to your fold. Good. Inhale just halfway. Exhale, just fold. And we're going to play with this a little bit. Pick up your left foot and just cross the left ankle in front of the right. Yeah. And then slowly start to ease the hips a little over to the right as the upper body walks to the left, just as far as is accessible. Breathing, outer right hip, maybe even into the IT band a little bit. Yeah. Again, warming, strengthening, and opening the foundation. Give this a few more breaths. And the IT bands do so much for us. Don't get enough love. Right? So as you're ready, inhale, just walk it back to the center and exhale unwind feet parallel. Big inhale. And then exhale, just cross right ankle in front of the left. Let the hips ease a little to the left and walk the upper body over to the right. Notice where you feel it. Breathe into it. Explore within it a little. Three, two. Excellent. Inhale, come on back to center and then exhale, unravel from the cross. Take the feet back to parallel. Open them about. Hips distance. Inhale, just lengthen halfway. And as you exhale, walk it back into downward facing dog. You might keep rolling through a Vinyasa and you might just pause. Always honor your own energy. All right. Now that we built all that heat and started to open, let's deepen into it. Keep grounding through the hands.

Inhale, reach right leg of the sky. Exhale, open the hip and the knee for a breath. Yeah. And then inhale, reach it back up. And with the exhale, step the right foot forward. Release the back knee. You can pat it if you'd like. Low lunge. And let's actually start with the hands on the front thigh. All right. Just interlace the fingers and start to ease the hips forward because you really want to be focusing on the left hip flexors up into deep abdominal muscles. So as the hips ease forward, we pull the belly in and up and we actually take the torso back a little bit, focusing right here. Left hip flexors, deep belly, left quad muscles. Just see what's going on in the foundation. Three. It's working hard to hold us steady these days. Two. All right. Just for some expense, keep the foundation. Take a big inhale, lift the arms up and then exhale, release hands to the earth. Let's tuck the back toes, lift the back knee. Foundation is strong. Then inhale, rise. High lunge with crescent pose. This time we get to stay here. So settle in, sit bones towards the earth, deepen the bend on the front knee. And then bend the back knee a little, dropping the tailbone, pull the belly in and up. Feel that deep in the stretch through left hip flexors. Keep all that through the pelvis and lengthen the back leg again. Deepen in. Three. Two. And then with the exhale, release hands to the earth, lower the back knee, and then just pull the hips back. Let's release a little here through the back of the right leg. Inhale, extending through the heart. And exhale, deepen into the full. Yeah. Three. Any variation, make it yours. Two.

All right. Slowly with the inhale, just easing forward, bend the front knee, and then exhale, tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, step straight into plank, pause, belly to spine, inhale, and exhale, lower knees or chutter. Inhale, lift the heart, and exhale, take it back, down dog. Give yourself a breath or two here. Back to center again and again. All right. Second side. Inhale, sweep left leg up. Exhale, open the hip. Just one breath. Inhale, reach it up, and with the exhale, step left foot forward, and release the back knee, simple low lunge with hands on the front thigh. Ease the hips forward, soften through the shoulders. And as you lift that deep belly, feel the right hip flexors opening a little more. And ease the torso back a little, just to your own edge. Feel into that opening. Another breath. Steady through the foundation. Just one big inhale, reach the arms up, and then exhale, release hands to the air. Tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, legs are super strong. With the next inhale, rise up, high lunge, press and pause. Exhale, settle in. And then to deepen it, bend the back knee, really drop down through the tailbone as you draw the belly in and out. Keep that through the pelvis, and then lengthen the back leg again. Oh yeah, right hip flexors, right quad muscles. Breathe into that. Three, two.

Exhale, release hands to the air, lower the back knee, and pull the hips back. Heart shines out with the inhale, and we deepen on the exhale. Good. Deep full breath. Three, and again, of course, any variations. Two. Mm-hmm. With the next inhale, come forward, bend the front knee. Exhale, tuck the back toes, lift that knee, step straight into plank, and pause. Big inhale. Exhale, lower.

Inhale, lift the heart, and exhale, go back. Downward facing dog, really strong work. Take a few breaths here, come back to your center. Just kind of feel into it, check it out as the body opens, warms. Then we keep deepening, and keep grounding through the hands with your inhale, reach right leg to the sky. Exhale, open the hip and the knee. Inhale, let it rise again, and then exhale, step right foot forward between the hands, spin the back heel down to the earth. Left arm opens you on your inhale, warrior two. Earbudrasana two, settle in. Five breaths, strong through the legs, steady foundation. Good. Three, two. Keep the foundation. Take a big inhale, reverse, reach it back, breath into the side body. Just one more breath here. With your inhale, rise. With your exhale, lengthen the right leg, reaching out and down, triangle pause. Any placement of the right hand, and then soften a little through that left root cage and reach, left arm up, trikonasana five. Beautiful opening and strengthening simultaneously for the legs. Feel another three, two. Then we can exhale, let's wrap the left arm behind the back, find the hip crease or the sacrum, and roll that left shoulder open a little bit more.

Yeah. Okay. Of course, always you can stay right here or turn the gaze down to the earth, start to ease the back foot in and then reach the right hand out and a little to the right for artichandrasana. Left arm stays bound, hand to hip or arm to sky, and press through that left heel. Okay. Totally up to you. You can stay right where you are, enjoy it. Or the left hand reaches back for the left foot. Again, you can use your strap or your toe, whatever you've got for tapasana, which is going to move it back into left quad muscle. Find your variation and breathe. Feel free to play with it. Feel free to fall, two. Okay. If you do have the foot, very gently let it go. Drop the prop if you have it. Extend the left leg straight back, left arm up. Stay for a big inhale, and then exhale very slowly. Start to bend that right knee and float the left foot all the way back. Warrior two. Take a moment, settle in. Bend a big inhale, reverse it. And with the exhale, all the way back to the earth, step into plank and lower. Inhale, cobra or up dog. And exhale, downward facing dog. Give your body a moment to breathe. All right. And then playing with the second side. Inhale, left leg up. Exhale, open the head. Inhale, reach. Exhale, step left foot forward. Root the back heel, right arm opens you. Inhaling, warrior two. Exhale, settle in, and then just be with it. Five breaths. Feeling into the steadiness of your foundation. That support always beneath you. Three, two. All right. Big inhale, reverse. Reach it back. Take a moment here.

Now with the next inhale, just rise and then exhale, lengthen left leg. Reach out and down. Triangle, second side. Good. Breathe in and out. Soft and right rib cage. Extend out in all directions. Stretching and strengthening and opening all at once. Three, two. Yeah. With your exhale, wrap the right arm behind the back, find the hip crease or the sacrum. Full breath to open right shoulder. And of course, you can stay right there or turn that goes to the earth, ease the back foot in.

And here we go. Artichandrasana, second side. Reach that left hand out, reach the right leg, straight back, pressing through the heel. Keep right arm where it is, hand to hip or arm to sky. Yeah. And then stay where you are or right hand holds right foot, moving it into right quad muscles. Shine through the heart. Breathe. Three, two. Mm-hmm. If you have the foot, gently let it go, reach it straight back, arm goes up. Take a big inhale and exhale slowly, floating it back, warrior two, grounding, big inhale, reverse.

And exhale, hands to the earth, step to plank, take the vinyasa or let it go. Good. We meet in downward facing dog. Take a really big inhale and exhale, release. Knees to the earth, hips to the heels, just sinking down for a moment here, offer it all the way, whatever it is. And check in how the legs, the foundation have changed since the opening of your practice, more energy, more heat, more warmth, more opening. All right. Tending to our foundation. Okay. Again, stay here as long as you'd like. When you're ready, inhale, just lift up onto the hands and the knees and then stay on the knees and exhale, just take the hands to the hips and inhale, rise up for ustrasana, camel pose. Okay. Those of you who like a little more padding for the knees, you can fold the mat over and take any other support. Before we move into the back bending, I really want to zero in on the core a little bit. So just take one hand to your belly and one hand to your low back, drop the tailbone, lift the belly, and then this long line of energy from the knees up through the legs, through the torso, out the crown, stay straight for now. No back bend quite yet. All right. So just explore, kind of easing back. Yeah. Feel the quad muscles engage. Feel the core engage. We've done a lot to wake that all up. And then exhale, come back up.

Inhale, knees back. Exhale up. Good. Inhale back. Exhale up. Just switch the hands. Inhale back. Exhale up. A couple more. Inhale. Exhale. Last one. Inhale. Exhale. Okay. So that's putting you in contact with the strength of the legs and the core that's needed for the back bend. Let's start with toes tucked and hands to hips. Drop down through the tailbone. Inhale, lift the belly, lift the heart, and ease back. We're going to do three. So this first one just kind of be a taste. Don't need the max out. See what's there. And then inhale to rise and exhale. Just sit down. Toes tucked or untucked. If you want to stretch this hold with feet, keep the toes tucked. Let everything settle for a moment. Notice how that felt. If it was just right, stay with it. If you feel you could go a little deeper, explore that. If it was a little too much, ease out of it. Okay? Constantly listening inward.

Right. Toes tucked or untucked. Hands to hips. Let's move forward. Shoulders roll back. Personal preference, whether you drop the head all the way or keep it lifted a little bit. This is enough. Let it be enough. Otherwise, reach for the heels. Really keep shining through the heart. Three. Two. Use the strength you contacted and legs and core. Inhale up. Exhale, sit back. Keep the toes tucked if you want to stretch the feet. Just settle. All right. Last Ustrasana, last camel. So as you're ready, come on up. Toes tucked or untucked.

Obviously, if the toes are untucked, it's going to be a little deeper, a little more distance to cover if you're going for the heels. Your choice. Start with hands on hips. Drop tailbone, lift belly, lift heart. And then maybe pause, maybe deepen. Five. Four. Three. Heart wide open. Two. Strong foundation, strong center. Inhale, rise. Exhale, sit down and settle. I love this relationship of building a strong foundation physically and energetically to support the opening of the rest of the body, especially the heart. You need to build the steadiness and the support structure first. Okay. Really beautiful work. Take it easy here. Just come up onto the hands and the knees, tuck the toes, and let's go back into down dog. If you really want the vinyasa, go for it. Otherwise, just pause. And we're going to balance that out with a little pigeon. Inhale, reach right leg to the sky. And exhale, draw right knee, right shin forward. Take your time with a foundation. Nice and rooted. And then a big inhale. And exhale, just walk it out and down. Yeah. Opening through outer right hip and glute muscles. Breathing into lower back and inner thighs. Another beautiful way to counter deep back bending.

Settling in. Okay. And then we'll get a little choose your own adventure this morning. Those of you who are ready to start slowing, settling, grounding, you have a lot going on in your hips and you want to give it lots of space and focus. When you stay here, if you're feeling for a little more back bending and a little more quad opening, you keep the foundation. You just inhale, walk the upper body back in and up. And then same principle, keep the belly drawing in and up to support the low back. And then bend the left knee, left hand reaches back, or strap or towel. Use that right hand for support. Keep spine tall, belly in and up. That's enough. Beautiful. If you'd like, slide the foot into the left elbow crease, reach right arm up and reach it back. Maybe the strap or the towel for this spine. Breathe. And linking it all together. Strong, steady, open, spacious foundation to allow for a wide open heart.

Three. It's all connected. Two. Okay, gently. If you're in that king pigeon variation, release the hands and then gently release the back foot. If you're in the fold in pigeons, slowly walk yourself back up. And then we'll meet here. Tucking the back toes, lift the back knee, and just step back into down dog. Some of us love to sail that right leg up and shake it out a little bit. So that's not so much. Do what you feel for a couple breaths. All right, see how that second side is doing the inhale left leg up. Exhale into pigeon on the left. Support it as much as you'd like. We know this, but sometimes we need a reminder. When this left hip glute area is hovering in space, the body obviously has to kind of brace itself and it doesn't get the same release. When it's making contact with a mat or a blanket or whatever you've got, then it can surrender. All right, let's all take the fold first. Big inhale. And exhale, walk it out and down.

Breathing in the hip and glute muscles. Breathing into low back and inner thighs. And whatever you find. Again, if you're feeling for grounding and settling, stay here. If you'd like, inhale, walk upper body back up. Keep the foundation steady. Move that left hand, palm or fingertips. Take the right hand back for the right foot and see how that feels.

Well, while we've done all that quad opening, preparing for this, if this is enough, stay there. Otherwise just slide the foot into right elbow crease. Lift the left arm and maybe reach back. Belly is engaged. Breathe into it. One, two, three, two, very gently unravel. If the hands are bound, let that go. And then slowly let that right foot slide back and all the way to the earth.

If you're in the full hold and position, walk it back up and we meet here. Really deep, really strong work. Excellent. Then tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, and just step back into your down dog. Again, if you love to shake the leg out, feel free. We'll meet in down dog and give it a couple of breaths. Okay, here we go. From your down dog, nice big inhale. And then with your exhale, you're just going to release down onto the knees in preparation for Virasana Heroes Pose. I'm going to show the block variation first. You may or may not need it, but let's try it. The knees are together. It can be super helpful to hook the thumbs inside the calf muscles and roll them out of your seat to a little space and then sit down. Good. If you're super tight here through quad muscles, shins, if you want two blocks, let's stack a boat. No pain in the knees. And then just rest the hands, steady the gaze, see how it feels. For some of us, this is super intense and plenty. If that's you honor it, just enjoy what you've got. If there's not much of a stretch here through the quad muscles, you're going to lift up, remove the block, and then sit down between the heels.

No pain in the knees. So if you feel like you've gone too far, back off, maybe take a thin book rather than a thick block. Okay. The grand finale of quadricep opening. All right. So this might be enough. It's so beautiful. Just stay where you are. If you're feeling pretty groovy, you can start to ease down. Supta, Virasana. Supta just means reclining. Maybe just onto the shoulders. Those aren't shoulders. Just onto the elbows. If you want to get really fancy, you can tie the legs together with a strap so they don't pop up or fall apart. We want knees together and down. If you've taken it this far, try this. Lift the hips just a little. Send your tailbone towards your knees. Feel how that stretches the front of the legs a little bit more?

You might keep making that subtle adjustment. This is enough. Stay here. Rise up when you're ready. If you feel pretty groovy, come all the way down and just gently let the arms rest alongside the ear. Excellent. Okay. I'm going to be here for a moment. Whatever variation you've chosen is exactly where you belong. There's no better, no worse. Nothing magical happens when you touch down in full Supta Virasana. We know this, but again, just a reminder, meeting the pose right where you are, letting it be enough is really the deeper practice. Our mental approach, our energetic approach, that's the subtle layer. It really makes a difference. The rest are just shapes. Okay. Let's give this at least five more breaths. The quad muscles are huge and strong and they do so much for us. Really giving them time to stretch. Some say we hold a lot in our hip muscles, hip area. Definitely seems to be true. We also hold quite a bit in the quad muscle. Really give it space to release and if anything gets stirred up, loosened up, liberated, energetically, emotionally, just allow that. Create space for it. Go gently with yourself. One more now.

Okay. If you found Supta, we're going to slowly rise up together. You can either, when you take the arms alongside the body, you can either hold the outer edges of the mat or you can kind of hold onto your feet. Root down through the elbows and the forearms to press the upper body up and then you're just kind of wiggling up out of it. All right. Excellent. Let's emerge slowly. Be really kind to the knees. Lift up onto hands and knees. And then just one leg at a time. Let's do right leg first. Extend it back. Gently tuck the toes and then kind of press through the heel. Let the blood start flowing through that knee joint again. Okay. And then release it and extend the left leg back gently. Tuck the toes, pressing through the heel, a little bit buoyant, moving back and forth on the ball of the foot. Excellent. And then just release back to hands and knees. Just for the transition, root the hands. Take a big inhale. Tuck the toes and exhale. Lift it up and back.

Downward facing dog. Again, if you really want the vinyasa, go for it. Otherwise pause. We'd like to inhale to plank. Exhale to lower. Inhale, lift the heart. And exhale all the way home. Downward facing dog. Excellent work. Big inhale. Bottom of the exhale, soft bend in the knees. Up or step all the way through to sit. Simple dandasana. Extend the legs out. Root through the sit bones can help to move the flesh out from under or maybe take support. Simple blanket or pillow underneath the sit bones. Hands rest just outside the hips or if your arms are longer than your torso, welcome back.

Okay. Root the hands into the air. Lengthen through the central channel. Gaze at the tip of the nose, top of the thighs, or close your eyes. Just kind of gathering it all in and finding grounding energy again. And then inhale, reaching the arms up and exhale. Pashimottanasana to close. All right. Take the feet, the ankles, the shins. Take your strap around the ball, the feet, and slowly draw yourself forward. Any bind that works for you. And then once you have it, inhale, really reach out through the heart and exhale. Hold.

Hold. Hold 10 breaths. Encountering all the back bending and also just offering gentle turning inward as you slow down. Once you reconnect with your root, warming, clearing through the backs of the leg. Okay. Three, two. Mm-hmm. Good. Keep your grip. Inhale, lengthen it up. And then exhale, release.

Great. Nice and easy. Bending the knees, slide forward, and then gently roll yourself all the way down onto the back. Hug your knees in towards your chest and let yourself rock a little side to side. Yeah. It's that final release. Yeah. Happy baby. Take hold of the ankles or the feet. Keep this neutral. Let yourself rock a little side to side here. Maybe play with lengthening one leg and then the other. Yeah. And then just letting stillness. Take a big inhale and exhale, release. Shavasana. Extend your legs out. Let them roll open from the hips. If any other final posture is better for your body, maybe feet on the earth, knees falling in, obviously, please always take that. And if you want to support the knees, if you want to cover the body or cover the eyes, the idea is to be comfortable and supported so that the physical body can relax. Yes, absolutely. But so the nervous system and the subtle body really drop as well, right? So we can let go of all that we're holding and sustaining and just offer it away for the time being. Comes at rest. Palms roll open. The eyes close. Stay really soft here. Just gently together through the nose. Take a big inhale.

Hold it in and open the mouth. Let it go. Just rest. Really, really, really let yourself rest. Integrating all the benefits of the practice. And letting the rest fall away. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Nice space. And you'd like to remain and show us some of these. So when you feel ready, gently deepening the breath. And then you can inhale, reaching the arms up and over, extending through the fingers on the tool. And then the exhale, bending the knees, feet to the air.

You can roll to either side and maybe you'd like to stay there for a little while. Just when you feel ready, inviting yourself all the way up to a comfortable seat. Prop up the sit bones if you'd like. Get nice and rooted. Feel the sit bones grounding. Feel the length of the spine rising. And then just soften the gaze or close the eyes and move your arms down into the feet, the legs, the hips. And notice that there's just a little bit more heat, more vitality, more opening through the foundation of the body. Because we all navigate these profoundly uncertain and unstable times. We look for our own root. We look for our own foundation and sources of support whenever possible. So a few moments of stillness here together. Hands at wrath.

Staining that soft gaze or keeping the eyes closed. And just being with your breath. And then as you're ready, taking the hands to prayer at the heart center again and again and again. Thank you all so much for joining me live or recorded down the road, near and far, wherever you are. Thank you so much for sharing the practice. Let's close together with a gentle arm through the nose, inhaling. Let me inhale and a soft breath forward in your exhale. Namaste.