Loose and Light-Hearted

First off, always thank you so much to Julie and Alana for being here, for Elizabeth. You know, nothing is happening alone. This is one of the essential learnings and understandings to realize the nature of selflessness is to realize how truly supported and interconnected we all are. For today's practice, optional, not required, but optional, two bricks, because we're going to be working on the hamstrings and if you're anything like me, two bricks helps a lot. I like to have a blanket for underneath my knee.

And then you might also like to have something to sit on if we end up in seated meditation at the end. I can't promise that just yet, it's just that kind of day. So we'll start like we did last week. We'll start with some easy arm circles, a la Shiffman. So I'm going to step one foot forward and one foot back and then start to swing one of your arms.

So I'm swinging my right arm, which with the zoom technology, sometimes it mirrors, sometimes it doesn't. You just kind of inhale, reach up, exhale, let it come back, inhale, reach up, exhale, let it come back and then do this, like continue like this, like let it just kind of feel good and casual and easy. One of the best ways to not practice your yoga is to make it too hard. You know, what absolutely essential to getting along with yourself and others is to just simply lower your standards a little bit. Okay.

Eventually, if it feels good, come in, let it go up, out and over. Oh, I see that Jacqueline just joined us. Hey there, Jacqueline, up, out and over and let that happen a couple of times. Up, over, just like let it feel good. And then maybe if it feels all right, let it reverse.

Super nice. Just a few more rounds here. Just like, yeah. Okay. Nice pause.

Take it out a little bit and just notice, just notice the results of just that because really helpful to notice the effect of little small things. Okay, opposite foot forward, opposite foot back, and then start to swing your other arm. For me, that's my left one. Just easy breezy, lemon peasy, reach, and then let it come back. And again, just a shout out to Shiffman, Papa Shiffman, our main teacher and so many others.

Heart teacher, reach, yeah, and then just only as it feels good. I mean, everybody's got a different shoulder joint, only if it feels good and safe, let it come all the way around and I've got kind of a casual pace. You might have more of a warm up if you've played softball or baseball in your youth. Yeah. Okay, if it feels appropriate, maybe start to reverse the direction.

Yeah. So, our play today, we're going to be offering a little bit of opening and opportunity for the shoulders and the neck area because there's a lot of confusing things happening right now. And tension is a way that we imagine that we're in control and a lot of that confusion in the head tries to lodge itself in the neck and the throat. Okay, shake it out a little bit. All right, stand with your feet about hip distance, big deliberate inhale, exhale at a half and let one of your arms come out, let the elbow slightly bend and then just start to rotate the shoulder forward and rotate the shoulder back.

So we usually call this flossing the shoulders. Okay, I'm working on my right arm, you might be on your left, but you're rolling your shoulder forward and rolling the shoulder back. So in the old days, we used to call this forward action swamp monster and we used to call this under the elbow hallelujah. Swamp monster and hallelujah. I think those names are still okay, you know, you have to kind of check your language continually.

A few more rounds, just like, oh yeah, beautiful. Okay, next time that you're in hallelujah, so next time the shoulder is rolling back, elbow rolling up, relax that arm, shake it out a little bit and then the other side. Rolling that shoulder forward, rolling that shoulder back, somehow I always get internal and external rotation confused in the shoulders. So swamp monster and hallelujah are what work for me, you know, it's just as long as we're in agreement about what the naming is, we're good, meaning as long as you can rotate your shoulder forward and rotate your shoulder back, you're in, yeah, yeah, beautiful. Okay, next time the shoulder is rolling back, elbow up, let the arm relax and then inhale, squeeze your shoulders up and around your ears and exhale, and inhale, roll your shoulders up around the ears and exhale, nice, okay, let's add the neck.

So inhale here and as you exhale, chin into your chest, roll your chin down and pause, let your shoulders roll back and down and right here, let a bit of a happen, soften the knees and just feel the opportunity of just this, right, justness. And if this is enough, stay here, the neck is delicate. So only as it feels okay, start to roll, I'm gonna roll my left ear to my left shoulder, so roll one of your ears to that shoulder and then let that ear get heavy, let that shoulder, that left shoulder drop, okay, and now start to become active in the opposite fingers, so the right hand for me, reach down through the right fingers and start to feel that through the right side of your neck, like, oh, yeah, and right here for some of you might be enough, just kind of activating down through the pinky ring, middle, index thumb and if it would feel interesting to start to explore, start to let this arm lift a little bit, let the elbow bend and with that left ear heavy, start to floss a little bit, rolling the shoulder forward, rolling the shoulder back, yeah, rolling the shoulder forward, rolling the shoulder back, beautiful, nice, next time you roll the shoulder back, hallelujah, let the arm relax, roll the chin back into your chest, pause, press into the feet, let the belly open, heart open, face brightens, pause and just like check in, make sure that's okay, inhale here, exhale, drop the chin into the chest, other side, so roll your opposite ear to the opposite shoulder, so my, that's my right ear to my right shoulder now, start to get down and groovy through the fingers on that left arm, so you're activating down through the arm on the opposite side that you're dropping your ear, feel how you can reach through different fingers, you can reach to the pinky, the ring, the middle, index, this might be enough, okay, this might be enough action, keep it here and allow your awareness to move towards where you feel the tension and when you find that tension, just relax about it is more the instruction than relax the tension itself, like soften the jaw, yes, stay here or start to soften the elbow a little bit, let that arm lift, that right ear still drop into that right shoulder and now start to floss with the arm, rolling the shoulder forward, rolling the shoulder back, elbow up, so you're kind of finding that swamp monster action and then that hallelujah action, yeah, beautiful, again like it's, you're interested, be interested, bringing your interest to something, your curiosity to something and then your affection to something allows the more of the mystery to be revealed, okay, next time the elbow is up and the shoulder is rolling back, let that arm relax back down, roll the chin back into your chest, pause gazing at the feet and then press into the feet, let the belly open, heart open, throat and face, super nice, slide the hands down the legs, bend the knees, let yourself roll forward and bend the knees so the hamstrings aren't taking it too much and then let the head wobble a little bit, like nod yes, okay, dunk your shoulders around your ears, like dunk your shoulders, sorry tectine but that might kick and then roll your shoulders back and away and dunk, roll your shoulders back and away and dunk and then chin into the chest low, let yourself roll all the way back up, feel the belly, feel the heart, feel the throat and feel the face, okay, let's do that one more time and add the wise guy, some of you know this, might be new to some of you, drop your chin into your chest, roll your left ear over to your left side, pause, this might be your bus stop, get off here if this is enough, okay, start to reach down through the fingers, activate that opposite arm, so activating your right arm, okay, this might be enough, for some of you it's going to feel interesting to start to let the right arm lift, let the elbow bend a little bit, palm is up and then if it's useful you start to add the wise guy, you start to draw your right chin away and then you're really stretching through the front of your neck, okay, it's like you're trying to pull the bottom lip of all the top of your face and then you start to fluff, rolling that shoulder forward, rolling the shoulder back and like notice how you can play there a little bit, like you can really like stretch up through that neck, yes, a couple more moments if it's like what, then drop it, if it makes sense you'll know it'll feel amazing, okay, roll the shoulder back, relax the wise guy, left ear drops to the shoulder, okay, soften that right arm back and down, roll the chin into the chest, press into the feet, feel the belly open, heart open, face lifts and pause, okay nice, last one like this, other side, drop the chin and roll the right ear over to the right shoulder, this might be enough information, start to get active down through the left arm, tingling through the fingers, this might be the spot, otherwise soften the elbow, let the left arm lift a little bit and with the palm turned up start to reach that left jawline away, like lengthening, uh-huh, like you're trying to pull that bottom lip about and over and then you can let the shoulder floss a little bit and you're like looking for the opportunity, like really like pull that bottom lip up and over, yeah, uh-huh, nice, roll that shoulder back and down, relax the wise guy, right ear drops down to the chest, so release that left arm back and down and then slow roll the chin back into the chest, take a look at the feet, press into the feet, the belly open, the heart open, the throat and the face, beautiful, you should feel a little bit euphoric and kind of like whoa, nice, interlace the fingers, okay, palms face towards you, turn the palms up and go, okay and bend that right knee and as you bend that right knee and stick that left hip out, start to reach up out and over to the left, so you're reaching to the side that you're sticking the hip out, it's a little bit different than usual and then length and maybe roll it a little bit forward, maybe roll it a little bit back, maybe let it roll a little bit forward, maybe let it roll a little bit back, last couple moments come into something like the center and reach and then inhale, come all the way up other side, bend the opposite knee, so I'm bending the left knee, sticking my hip out and then reach and maybe roll it a little bit down and maybe roll it a little bit up and maybe a little bit down and maybe a little bit off and then find something in the center and lengthen, beautiful, inhale, come all the way back up, release the hands, roll the shoulders forward, interlace the fingers, turn, wiggle the shoulders back and down, inhale here, exhale, bend the knees, chest makes its way towards the thighs, head drops, head drops, arms reach up out and over, let the shoulders get heavy, just let them kind of fall around the ears a little bit and you might keep your knees bent and or you might start to roll the weight into the balls of the feet and play with drawing your sit bones up and then bend the knees again and then roll the weight into the balls of the feet, draw the sit bones up and then oh bend the knees again, like do that a couple times just to kind of be like you know it's letting the hamstrings know what's coming, yeah okay, release the hands back to the hips down to the floor, release the interlace, bend the knees a lot like you're sitting in a chair, let a little bit of a happen, okay, now gooey in the back of the neck, reach the arms forward, soften the shoulders, like even let the elbows bend, get low, keep it low in the legs, reach the arms up, enthusiasm through your fingertips like we were playing with before, inhale here, exhale, press into the feet, come all the way back up, pause, nice big deliberate inhale, exhale, okay, let's do that one more time, so interlace the fingers one more time, weird knuckle on top, okay, so it feels a little bit like you have somebody else's hands, turn the palms forward, go up, stretch up out of yourself, a little bit side to side here, excuse me, a little bit side to side here, okay, and then bend that right knee, stick that left hip out and reach it up out and over, yeah, roll it a little bit forward, so you get more into the back body, roll a little bit open, so you get more into the front body, you're just like there's, I think most of you, probably if you like the way I practice, you're probably old enough to finally have gotten to the point of realization that there's no right way, there's no perfect way, there's what's exactly correct for you in each moment, okay, press into that left foot, inhale, come all the way up, exhale to the other side, bending the knee, lean over, you're either old enough or just naturally wise enough, just kind of looking, yeah, okay, look down at the earth, press inhale, bring it all the way up, release the arms, roll your shoulders forward, weird knuckle on top, interlace, wiggle the shoulders back and down, bend the knees, chest finds your thighs, head drops, just let the shoulders like kind of like dunk around the ears, it'll just feel good, see if you can have the arms feel heavier, and then only if it feels good, start to roll the weight into the balls of the feet, draw the sit bones up and then bend the knees, and then roll the weight into the balls of the feet, draw the sit bones up and then bend the knees, just do that a couple times, yeah, beautiful, beautiful, bend the knees, hands come back to the hips, release the arms, bend the knees a lot, sit down in the chair, let a bit of a happen, shoulders easy, back and down, gooey in the neck, keep it low in the legs, reach the arms forward, soft in the elbows and the shoulders, keep it low in the legs, reach your arms up, a little bit more enthusiasm through the fingertips, inhale here, exhale, press into the feet, come all the way back up, beautiful, big deliberate, inhale, exhale, let a happen, soft in the knees, nice, land down through the feet, sit bones relaxed, shoulders, like feel the natural, feel the natural, like once they're given the opportunity, feel the shoulders sort of naturally want to roll back and down, and this is a lot about anatomy, but see how it feels to pay a little bit more attention to letting your palms turn forward, let it feel wider at the base of the skull, nice, and let that upper soft palate down, beautiful, beautiful, let's take some of this opportunity we have through the shoulders and the neck, and let's move through a sequence of lunge to some standing postures, as I mentioned blocks are optional, but I'm really wanting my blocks today, so I'm going to set my blocks up at the front of the mat two blocks tall, again they're not necessary, I just lately I'm looking for all the support I can get, so top of the mat, feet about hip distance apart, big deliberate inhale, exhale, let a happen, and soften the knees again, like just let the shoulders naturally kind of drop back and down, let the elbows be easy, let the palms turn forward, and look for the alignment, like look is the word that gets used to describe all the senses, it's unfortunately kind of the ends up being the dominant one, like this word avidya, not seen clearly, really it's not sensing clearly, not perceiving clearly, and look is the word that gets used, we're seeing, so can you sense the alignment of the skull, so that there is not so much need for neck tension, this is this is kind of the play here, is tension is a way of feeling held, but when we can find the proper alignment and proper being specific and unique and contextual to you in each moment, then the tension isn't so necessary, upper soft palate don't, gorgeous, okay, let's move a little bit, hands at the heart as you are ready, inhale, open, exhale, swan dive forward, inhale, half arch, exhale, plant your hands on your blocks, step your right foot back, let your left knee bend, come into the shape of the lunge, wiggle on back through that right foot, and then let's just get into the hamstrings a little bit, like we've been doing, so press into the ball that big right toe, reach across to the pinky pad of the pinky toe, and then slow start to play with drawing that left hip back, and then letting that left knee bend, drawing the left hip back, and then letting the left knee bend, do this a couple more times, nice, gorgeous, gorgeous, now next time that left knee is bent, step the right foot a little bit more forward, turn the right foot out, so you're more in a stance like you were going to want to go into pyramid, and then let that left leg draw long, press into the ball the big left toe, feel like you can draw that left hip back, feel your heart bloom soft in the shoulders in the back of the neck, and right here might be enough for you, some of you might lower the blocks a little bit, and let yourself start to play with folding over that leg, back of the neck is easy, gorgeous, yes, so nice, inhale, let it come all the way back up, exhale, spin onto the ball of the right foot, wiggle on back through that right foot, let the left knee bend and draw the right sit bone under and sink in, and do the same thing again, draw the hips back a little bit and sink in, draw the hips back a little bit and sink in, yeah, now sink in, curl the sit bones under and let a bit of a happen, and so that as you start to find yourself into this front lunge, let yourself roll a little bit right, roll a little bit left, like feel how you have landscapes through there, gorgeous, gorgeous, beautiful, keep that right knee on the earth, draw that left sit bone back, bring your bricks with you if you're using, flexing the left foot, dig the heel in a little bit, and just get to see how you can use your pelvis a little bit more here, so as you exhale you curl the sit bone under and you can kind of round, and as you inhale you roll your pelvis forward and you can arch, exhale curl the sit bone under and round, exhale roll the pelvis forward and arch, one more time like that, round, arch, keep the arch, dig into the heel a little bit, and then feel what your neck and your shoulders are doing, like you've got tension happening in your hamstrings, the tension in your neck and your shoulders is not helping, soften, gooey, and just fold forward as it feels good, keeping it easy, slack in the jaw, nice, take a look forward, let the left knee bend, bring your bricks with you, we're coming back into the lunge, lift up through the back of the right leg, kind of rock and roll a little bit, step the right foot forward, inhale half arch, exhale step the left foot back, so shape of the lunge, and from the shape of the lunge play with the hamstring stretch, draw the right leg back, bending the right knee, draw the right leg back, bending the right knee, yes, yes, playing like hello, what's happening right hamstring, how you been, yep, I understand, me too, bending the right knee now, step the back left foot forward, spinning it out a little bit, and then start to draw that right leg back, press into the ball the big right toe, pulling the right hip back, shoulders easy back and down, gooey in the back of the neck, for most of us this is enough, for a couple of you out there, it might feel good to change the direct, the lowering the bricks or bringing the hands to the floor and folding over, sometimes a little bit of engagement around that quadricep can feel good, yeah, nice, gorgeous, let this front right knee bend, come back into the shape of the lunge, wiggle back through that left foot, curl the sit bone under, let the knee find the earth, and then same idea, introduce yourself, drop back, and sink it in, and drop back, and sink it in, and then a couple times, we talk about this a lot, just like letting the body know it's coming, okay, once you find a good spot, sink in, roll a little bit forward, roll a little bit back, see if you can kind of like wiggle in there, let a bit of a happen, and feel the shoulders soften back and down, feel the heart brighten, yeah, nice, beautiful, okay, from here, keep that left knee on the ears, draw the hips back, bring the bricks with you, if it feels good, flex the right foot, kind of see how you can dig that heel into the earth, and then sort of start to understand how you can round your back, and curl the sit bones under, and stretch the back body, and you can roll the pelvis forward, and draw the heart open, and you'll feel it more in the back of the leg, round, feel it more in the back body, and then roll the pelvis forward, feel it more in the back of the leg, nice, one more like that, round, roll the pelvis forward, feel it more in the back leg, and now feel like, as you're feeling, it's a cooperative effort, right, so as the shoulders in the neck, feel the tension in the hamstrings, it's as if they get tense to help, it's not helping, soft in the shoulders, easy in the back of the neck, so it's kind of like part of our play is, there's a natural empathy that occurs when things are difficult in one part of the body, the rest of the body responds, just think when you hurt your knee, your hands go to your knee, they go to support, so when there's feels of the tension in the play in the back of the leg, the neck and the shoulders are like, we're gonna be with you, soft, and a couple more moments, some of you might fold over, yeah, okay, beautiful, inhale, take a look up, exhale, bend that front knee, walk the bricks forward, lift up through the back of the leg, rock and roll, step forward, inhale, half arch, exhale, forward fold, we're gonna be making our way back to standing through Utkatasana, so bend the knees, sit down, low in the legs, curl the sit bones under, reach your arms forward, nice, those great jewels, keep it low in the legs, reach your arms up, inhale here, exhale, pressing the feet, come all the way up, nice, big deliberate inhale, exhale, let it happen, soften the knees and ground, feel the natural vibrancy up through the heart that starts to occur, like the practices of yoga are quite stimulating, just like the Asana, shoulders back and down, and now tune into the alignment of your skull, yeah, gorgeous, now we're going to get a little fancier, we're going to add a little bit of a passarita padottanasana to the mix, oh my gosh, yeah, next game, okay, separate the feet as you're ready, inhale, arms up, exhale, forward fold, inhale, half arch, exhale, this time step your left foot back in the right knee, bend shape of the lunge, from the shape of the lunge now, draw the left leg back and start to walk your hands in towards the center as you turn your toes in towards each other, nice, keep your hands under your shoulders, if your bricks would be helpful, bring them with you, and then just start to lean a little bit side to side, so kind of lean the weight one direction, lean the weight the other, you'll start to find the inner groin and the thighs more, yeah, beautiful, if this is enough, keep it here, okay, if it would feel good to enhance that, you might bend one knee and kind of lean and just like find the inner line of the opposite leg, lean back to the other side, bend the other knee and lean, beautiful, let this feel good, you know, hands can be there for your support, so place the hands where it feels really fun for you, yeah, nice, couple more like this, just like getting in that inner thigh, letting it sink in, if that's correct, okay, yes, so nice, so beautiful, let the hands come back underneath the shoulders and then walk your hands back around towards that right foot, spin up onto the ball that left foot, nice, rock and roll, step the left foot forward, nice, inhale half arch, exhale other side, plant the hands, step the right foot back, let the left knee bend, okay, now this is where I really rely on my crew there so that we don't get ask hands, so from here then nice, walk the hands around, going towards the right foot, turn the toes in, and so again same idea with the hands underneath, you just kind of start to lean a little side to side, like lean a little one side, lean a little to the other, so you can feel the inner groin opportunity, yes, I'm going to take this opportunity to tuck my shirt in, gorgeous, now from here this might be enough, but some of you are going to start to bend the knees, you're going to start to bend one knee and lean to that side, oh it's still a little ask hammy, sorry friends at home, bend that knee, lean to the other side, lift up, bend the knee, leaning on that side, yes, lift up, bend the knee, lean to the other side, gorgeous, yeah, sink in a little bit, let it feel good, place the hands where it feels supportive, really nice, okay, eventually come back up to center, walk your hands back towards that left foot, spin up onto the ball, that right foot, you're going to rock and roll, and then you're going to step forward, inhale half arch, exhale forward fold, toe heel to feet wide, bend the knees, this will be our last utkatasana, bend the knees, sit down like you're sitting in a chair, let a bit of a happen, keep it low in the legs, curl the sit bones under, reach the arms forward, you don't need all that neck tension, soften the elbows, soften the shoulders, keep it low in the legs, reach your arms up, inhale here, exhale, press on the feet, come all the way up, beautiful, okay, it's our last utkatasana, big deliberate inhale, exhale, let it happen, soften the knees, I'm like, yeah, let the ground have you, this has been a theme for us lately, let the ground have you, press just enough to feel that natural effervescent enthusiasm in the heart, shoulders easy, elbows easy, palms up, and now allow the skull to find her proper alignment, and it's an allowing, a hymn size, this word, this word that our teacher Ravi translates as non-violation, as in not in violation with the true alignment that's trying to occur, dumb, up through the upper soft palate, yeah, okay, so beautiful, so nice, we're going to put that wide leg and that hamstring stretch together now for our last sequence of standing asanas, let the feet about hip distance apart, as you're ready, inhale, arms up, exhale, forward fold, inhale, half arch, exhale, step your right foot back, let your left knee bend, okay, wiggle on back through that right foot, feel how you can reach and drag that heart forward, and then we're gonna walk it to the right, hey Julie, walk it to the right, turning the toes in, thank you, not much so, inhale, open, exhale, passarita, padottanasana, hands underneath your shoulders, okay, dropping the head, drop the shoulders a little bit, like let them dunk, and then roll the shoulders back up and away, and feel, you can bend your knees a little bit here, or you can kind of roll the weight into the balls of the feet and feel your sit bones lift, gorgeous, okay, bring your hands to your legs, bend the knees, chin into the chest, and now I'm going to roll up to standing, so as you roll up to standing, chin into the chest and slow, slow, slow, slow, slow, beautiful, okay, from here reach your arms out wide, roll your shoulders forward, interlace your fingers, wiggle your arms back and down, passarita, padottanasana, see, inhale here, exhale, forward fold, bringing the top of your head down towards the floor, let your arms get heavy, this is like old school, soften the knees a little bit, roll your weight forward, draw your sit bones out, I'm just remembering my friend Sivan right now, Sivan and I in Russell Yamaguchi's Ashtanga class with Marc Sierra, way back in the day, Palo Alto, yoga source, oh my god, the yoga trajectory, okay, slow, let your hands come back to your hips, uh-huh, let your hands come down towards the earth, bend the knees, chin into the chest and slow, let yourself roll all the way back up, Julie, I am going to say we have to go to cam one now, okay, hands on the weights, turn your left foot forward, you go, step your back right foot forward slightly, okay, so the feet are slightly wide and begin to play with rolling that left hip back and that right foot forward, okay, do you remember this shape? Okay, so here we are, we're going to make our way into ye olde parjvotanasana pyramid pose, reach your arms out, roll your shoulders forward, let your elbows bend and bring your hands behind you to clasp your elbows to begin with, so like this, if that feels doable and and like the right place to stay, keep it here, but what some of you might choose to do, okay, is release your arms again, roll your shoulders forward and as you bring your hands behind you, bring your fingertips to touch and start to wiggle your hands up into the reverse prayer, palms press, if this feels like twang and all sorts of nerve and red lights are going off, drop it, go back to holding onto the elbows, press into the palms, roll the shoulders back and down, big deliberate inhale, exhale, let it happen, nice, okay, press into the feet and begin to hinge forward a little bit, now pause and check your pelvis, remember you can tuck your pelvis under a little bit, when you can roll your pelvis forward and draw your sit bones back, like just kind of see that you have an option there, find the place that's somewhere in between there for you, press into the foot on the earth, press into that back foot, lift up through the inner arch and fold a little bit more, right here might be the spot for some of you, what's happening in your shoulders, what's happening in your neck, ease up a little bit and as you're invited, you might let yourself sink in a little bit more, if that front knee wants to bend a little bit, bend it, goodness by all means, make the appropriate adjustments, make the appropriate adjustments, a couple more moments, buoy in the back of the neck, easy in the eyes, yes, keep it low in the legs, free the hands back down your back, let them come back down to the floor or your bricks, inhale, lengthen, exhale, fold in, beautiful, inhale, lengthen, exhale, front left knee bends, lift up on the ball, that back right foot, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle back through there and I'm going to put some support underneath my knee this time, sink that right knee down to the earth, sink in a little bit, back off a little bit, sink in a little bit, back off a little bit, now sink in a little bit and for some of you, staying low here, it's going to feel the best, it's just going to feel good to like, but for some of you what will feel really natural is to bring your hands up onto that front knee, interlace your fingers like we were doing before, turn the palms forward and go up, up, reach the arms up as you sink in, wiggle it a little bit longer, gorgeous, inhale here, exhale, release the hands back down onto the bricks, I'm going to move my bricks slightly out of the way, the suggestion here is that we come back to down dog, so tuck the back right toes under, lift up through the back of the right leg and step the left foot back downward facing dog, get long, really nice, beautiful, beautiful, okay from here we've got one more side, step the right foot forward, okay so you're in the shape of the lunge, from here walk your hands around to the left, turn your toes in, passarita, padatanasana, inhale, lengthen, exhale, walk your hands back, you know maybe in line with your feet, maybe not, and then exhale, forward fold, sometimes it's nice to bring the hands back a little bit, let your shoulders relax down and drop and feel like you can roll your shoulders back and away and draw the elbows in, maybe bend the knees a little bit or maybe roll the weight into the balls of the feet and draw the sit bones up, bending the knees a little bit, rolling the weight forward and draw the sit bones out, let that feel right for you, beautiful, gorgeous, okay let the hands find their way to the legs, bend the knees, chin into the chest and roll all the way back up, feel the belly, heartless, yeah reach your arms out, roll your shoulders forward, hands come behind you, interlacing again, weird knuckle on top, wiggle the shoulders back and down, inhale here, exhale fold over, letting the weight roll forward, letting that head get heavy, letting the arms reach up out and over, yeah again maybe bending the knees, sometimes I can just feel good, if you bend the knees you can kind of roll your weight a little bit more forward, draw the sit bones up, let the head wobble, beautiful, couple more moments, if it would feel good, can you have a sense of reaching the hands a little bit away from you as they also get heavy, gorgeous, let the hands come back to the hips, let the hands come, I'm realizing down towards the earth, beautiful, knees bend, hands on the legs, chin into the chest and roll it all the way back up, yes, turn that right foot forward, step the left foot forward, come into that stance for your version of parsvottanasana, so again reach your arms out wide, roll your shoulders forward and for a lot of us bringing the hands behind and simply clasping the elbows is action enough, it's the perfect amount of opportunity, for some of you it might feel good to release the arms again, roll the shoulders forward and find that reverse prayer, fingertips touch and you kind of snuggle, snuggle, snuggle, snuggle the hands up, press the palms together, spread the toes wide, inhale here, exhale begin to hinge forward just a little bit, you know that front right knee might want to bend a little bit, you might want to widen your stance a little bit, you might press into the ball the big right toe, draw the right leg back a little bit and then see what your pelvis is doing, notice that you could curl your sit bone under and then notice you can roll your pelvis forward, it's like notice that you have that choice, and once you notice you have a little bit of choice then it's easier to tune into the proper alignment, there's this saying the free man has no choice, lengthen, let all happen, it's accredited to Krishnamurti, press into the heels lengthen, and while that's true, there's a difference of having no choice because of habitual stuckness and having no choice because there's only one clear alignment that is the way to go, okay some of you are folding in a little bit, breathing, yeah okay beautiful, so you're going to release the hands, you're going to find your hands down on your bricks or the earth, spin up onto the ball the back left foot, wiggle on back, bend that front right knee and sink down into a low lunge, supporting that back knee if it would feel good, drop back a little bit, sink it in a little bit, drop back a little bit, sink it in a little bit, and for some of you staying low is really going to be the way to go, okay for some of you it's going to feel good to bring your hands to that front knee, let a bit of a happen, and for some of you interlace your fingers, okay weird knuckle on top turn the palms forward and go up, let a bit of a happen, lengthen, gorgeous, inhale here, exhale release your hands down, maybe move the bricks slightly out of the way unless you like them for down dog, lift up through the back of this left leg, move the blanket out of the way if helpful, and step back downward facing dog, gorgeous, beautiful, okay let it in now find you forward into plank pose, pause, widen the shoulders a little bit, now soften the elbows just a little, let the shoulders roll back and down and see how you can kind of root through the hands and allow the shoulders to be back and down, feel the reach back through the heels, let a little bit of a happen in the sit bones, and can you let it feel easy in the neck, nice, inhale here exhale lower all the way down, let your knees help you if useful, tops of the feet to the floor, let's start in sphinx pose, bring the elbows underneath you up on the forearms, roll the shoulders back and down and pull like get a little traction action as you draw that back, feel the heart drag forward, let a little bit of a, once you have your heart in place like let the chin drop, sure feel like you can find that same sort of neck stretch that we were doing in the beginning, and kind of lean your head a little bit side to side, mm-hmm, dragging the hands back, dragging the heart forward, beautiful, inhale here exhale lower down, elbows go wide, head rests on the hands, bend the knees and wobble a little side to side, nice, gorgeous, one more like that sphinx pose, let the legs come back, tops of the feet to the floor, come back up onto the forearms, and maybe turn the hands out a little bit as you turn the hands out a little bit, sometimes that can help the shoulders roll back and down and just see if you can feel the shoulders kind of drag back and down and drag yourself forward a little bit, let a little bit of a happen, so your sit bones draw under, and for most of you sphinx poses where the action is today, but for some of you give a little bit more juju through the legs, press into the hands, and if it would feel good start to snake on up towards more of a cobra like shape, pressing into the heels of palm, rolling the shoulders back and down, and then if it would feel good, whether you're in sphinx or in cobra, drop your head, shoulders are rolling back and down and like let one jaw line lengthen, let the other jaw line lengthen, yeah, okay keep the shoulders back down, last few moments press and see if it feels okay to let the heart bloom, let the face brighten and let yourself look forward, gorgeous, inhale here, exhale elbows bend wide, rest your head bend your knees and wobble, so beautiful, the suggestion here is to make your way onto your back in preparation for a bridge pose, so just be easy about it, roll onto your back and pause, and for most of you it'll feel good to hug your knees into your chest there wobble, yeah, now this is where again if you have bricks, great, you'll have the option of making your way into a supported bridge, but if you don't have bricks it's not going to be a big deal, we'll take an active bridge first, so we're all on the same page, heels in line with your sit bone, toes point straight forward, arms down along your side, big deliberate inhale, exhale everything, let it happen, nice, inhale here and as you exhale press into your feet, start to draw your sit bones under and pause, cue into how it feels through your throat and your neck and your shoulders, and then you might like lean to one side and kind of draw one of your shoulders underneath you a little bit, and then lean to the other side and draw one of your other shoulders underneath you, just kind of wiggle it a little bit from side to side and from here then it can feel really nice to start to press through the pinky side of the arm, letting your hips lift soft in the throat, easy in the eyes, if it would feel useful since we've been playing with this this whole time, some of you might interlace your fingers, press down into the arms and lift up through the hips, yes, gorgeous, beautiful, okay up on the balls of the feet, release your arms out of the way, reach them up towards the sky and roll on back down, over back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land, arms come down along your side, palms up, big delivered inhale and exhale everything, nice, some of you are going to choose to take an active bridge on this next one, some of you are going to use one or two of your bricks, okay the suggestion is press through the feet, draw the sit bones up and lift and if it feels okay bring one of your bricks, you're bringing it under that lower two-thirds of the sacrum and then pause, letting that sacrum, the sacrum is the triangular bone at the base of your spine, it's one of those words that I just we just sort of take for granted that people know about, usually you only learn about it when you've injured it, okay that might feel, this is like for some of you the perfect height, if you happen to have a second brick, if you've raided your local closed yoga studio and you have a second brick, press up through the hips, let them lift even more and then place that second brick on top and then rest, wiggle your shoulders underneath you, check my time because I could stay here all day, let it happen, soft in the throat, easy in the eyes, if it's too much you'll know it's too much because it'll feel like too much, it'll feel like too tight in the throat, if it feels too tight in the throat it is, lower one of those bricks, this is like a, there is technically the definition of inversion in yoga is that you're like your pelvis is above your heart, your head is below your heart, so technically you're in an inversion right now, I'm pretty happy here but sometimes it can feel good and some of you might be inspired to let one knee come into your chest and then reach it up to the sky and then let the other knee come into your chest and reach it up to the sky, now you're in technically what often gets called viparita karate or strangely translated as candlestick, let it happen, your arms might be down along your side, easy in the eyes, this is also your opportunity to bemoan the loss of pedicures or to think about all the money you've saved, okay a couple more beats, nice, beautiful, if you found your happy place and want to be here longer please feel free, otherwise one leg at a time you carefully bring one foot down and then you bring the other foot down, now the dismount here if you are using bricks, the dismount is one brick at a time, so you're going to press into your feet, lift your hips up, move one brick, lower your hips down to that first brick and pause, put one brick to one side, like you're re-acclimatizing, then press into the feet, lift your hips up again, remove the other brick to the other side and pause, yes, and then if it feels good bring the soles of the feet together, let the knees drop open and then you can use your bricks underneath your knees, uh-huh, if you don't have your bricks, you know maybe if you've been in a more active situation, like you've been in a more active bridge pose and it would feel good to bring your knees into your chest or offer an abdominal do that, otherwise the soles of the feet together, knees are dropping wide, resting on your bricks, let it happen, hopefully this feels amazing, so we've been doing a lot of straight and narrow and forward postures, so allowing your situation to open can feel really good, yes, and notice we haven't been focusing on the floor of the pelvis, but just like we've been attending to the ease and the neck and the shoulder area, can you offer the possibility of the floor of the pelvis easing up a little bit, yes, yes, super nice, if this is supremely comfortable you might stay with your legs like this for shavasana, but if you prefer shavasana the more classic shape then you gently release one of your bricks and let the legs straighten, pause and then release the other brick, let the opposite leg straighten, big deliberate inhale, exhale, let it happen, soften the shoulders, palms are turning up and if there was another little something you'd wish we'd done before shavasana like a little twist or such, well just go right ahead sweetheart. I'm imagining that through this time here that we get to be at home, I'm imagining that your home practice is blossoming, your home practice which is there to help support what feels absolutely correct for you, and now once you've kind of organized and your shoulders are underneath and your palms are turning up, let's again I mentioned this last week, I think I stole this from Richard Rosen, notice which knuckle of your left hand is resting on the floor, I've noticed, I'll just switch knuckles really dominating, and then just let your right hand match, yeah, yeah, let the back of the heart widen, let the base of the skull open, in, jaw is slack, back, eyes kind, in, in, in, and the instruction is not so much relax, as it is relaxed about what is, it's a big delivery now, exhale everything, it might feel good to wiggle the fingers and the toes, and for most of you it'll feel good to stretch your arms over the top of your head, bend the knees and hug the knees into the chest and wobble, you might be a side roller, but if you're not a side roller across your ankles roll back a little bit, roll up, find your way towards the seat, make deliberate inhale, exhale let a soft in the belly, effervescent in the heart, and aligned in the mind so less tension is required, so wonderful to be together today my friends, so grateful for your time, our special guest next week is our friend Robert Sedoti, can't wait to see you there, and have a wonderful rest of your day and weekend, namaste.