Day 1: Clear and Refresh

Hi, everybody, welcome to day one of our 20-day Trust the Connection online yoga retreat. I'm so happy to be here, and we are really happy to support you, myself, Arturo, Alana, Suniti, and Miles for this journey back into deeper connection. So let's get started. We'll play a little bit with how to clear the path ahead of us for our part of the journey, and we'll focus on the hip flexors and the shoulders today as our Asana target. So let's start lying on the back.

You can swing your legs around and get comfortable. Keep your feet hip distance and your knees bent. And as you lower all the way down, find some ease here as you settle in. Place your right hand on top of your heart and your left hand on your stomach, and just be present for a moment, connecting with your breath. And let's start right away with releasing.

So let go with each exhale. Make an audible sigh. Let it go. You can be as loud as you need to be. Start letting everything go that's feeling like it's blocking you or preventing you from being present on your journey today.

Take a couple more intuitive natural inhales and focus on the releasing qualities of the exhales, becoming more and more present with each exhale. And then focusing also on the inhales, using the clearing qualities of the inhalation to cleanse and purify your mind. Hold for a count or two and let that exhale go. Tension be gone. Let's try two more of those clearing with the inhalation to purify the mind.

Holding and enjoying silence and let it go like a wave from the crown of your head over the body. One more round. Nice big inhale, clear and purify. Hold and surf that last wave of the exhalation. Beautiful.

On your next inhale, take a nice big stretch. Reach the arms over the head. You can kind of wiggle from side to side, feeling that lower back lifting off the floor. Nice little curve of the lumbar spine. And then as you exhale, just grab onto your elbows and we'll let the knees just kind of rock from side to side.

So we feel the lower back, the connection to the limbs and the torso, the sciatic area, the glutes, the sacrum. Just give yourself a little leisurely rock from side to side. Day one of our retreat is all about checking in, all about seeing the path before us and just kind of meeting ourselves where we are today, right here, right now, whatever's happening leading up to today. As you come back to center, you can draw the knees back into the chest and then give yourself a nice little hug, giving yourself a little rock from side to side, feeling the muscles along the spine. Thanks for joining me today and creating space in your day for the practice.

The next time you brought back to center, cactus field goal of the arms, we'll take a couple of circles, choose a direction, whatever feels intuitively right for you. The slower fuller you draw the circles, the more you'll feel that connection between the torso, the limbs. Enjoy that soft movement as we start to take inventory how the body's feeling today. When you're ready, circle the opposite way. Exhale the knees into the chest and inhale the knees away from the chest.

Then the next time you draw the knees into the chest, go ahead and extend your legs and just kind of kick your feet. Yeah, it's not really a yoga thing. It's more of a releasing the energy thing and then do the same thing with your arms. Kick your arms, shake it out kind of like a wet dog, you know, let your head turn from side to side, move some of that energy and tension out and then go ahead and hug your knees back into the chest. Give yourself a little rock from side to side, a couple of more massaging rocks forward and backward and then meet me all the way up in the nice comfortable seat.

Give yourself a moment to move the padding back a little bit, slide your palms under your shins and we'll go with that same kind of rocking forward and backward. So give yourself just a rock forward and backward and as you rock backward, round the spine, draw the chin towards the chest. As you rock forward, lift the chin away from the chest, send the heart to the sky and give yourself a couple of pulses just like that, exploring how the spine, how the muscles along the spine are moving today, kind of like a massaging action helps us feel our way around the scaffolding of our body. Give it one more round and then as you come to your neutral spine, inhale the palms to the sky, bend at the elbows, bring your fingertips right to the shoulders, we'll explore a little bit of circular movements here just like we did at the lower hips and the lower back. As you explore, inhale the elbows up, roll the shoulder blades back, inhale the elbows up and roll the shoulder blades back, two more rounds, just kind of feeling your way, one more.

The next time you roll the elbows up and back, interlace your hands behind the base of the head. Give yourself a moment here, lean the head back and then start to tilt the chin up as you inhale, keep the chest high and then just tuck the chin towards the chest, the cat and cow tilts just for the cervical spine. Close with the breath, inhale, separating the elbows, looking forward or slightly up and then exhale, draw the chin to the chest. Waking up the body for the journey today, feeling the energy body and our physical body. The next time you separate the elbows, hang out right here, reach out with the right fingertips, take the left arm up and over the ear, bend the right elbow a little bit and then straighten it.

A couple pulses just like that, feeling that stretch through the left side body, bending and straightening, a couple more rounds. Feeling that little bit of resistance through the left side body and breathe into that. The next time you bend the right elbow, place the left hand behind your head and lean back into it, kind of like you're hanging out in a hammock, you're closing the eyes, you're enjoying the day, you're checking in and breathe fully, slowly, deeply into the left side body. Since we're on a retreat, we've got to throw a hammock visual in there, right? Two more rounds of breath, one more.

Left hand on top of the right thigh, right fingertips behind you, press into the earth, lift the sternum, chin and chest and exhale, softly rotate. Inhale, lengthen the spine, maybe walk the fingertips back, exhale, softly turn. One more round of breath, lift, lengthen and rotate, bring it out. Good, before we explore the other side, free the legs, keep the knees softly bent, a little farther away from the seat, bring your palms to your shins, separate the knees, lift the heart, sternum, chin and chest, going back to the cat and cow tails, but a little bit more core work. So pull the navel up and back as you round the spine, lifting the sternum, chin and chest as you inhale.

Two more rounds, enjoy the breath, one more. And next time you come to that neutral spine, cross the legs the non-habitual way, inhale the palms to the sky once again, bend the elbows, fingertips to the shoulders, this time we'll do one shoulder at a time, kind of like you're backstroking through the air. Explore your range of emotions through the shoulder girdle. Two more rounds of breath, yeah, one more. Both elbows to the sky, interlace the hands behind the base of the head, draw the chin slightly up and back, lift the sternum, chin and chest and then exhale, reach out with the left fingertips this time, inhale the right arm up and over the ear and just that pulsing idea again, straightening the left arm and then bending, maybe sinking a little bit deeper, feeling the resistance on the right side body.

Take a couple more pulses just like that, feeling our way through side flexion, nice movement of the spine. As you take the right arm over the head and bend the left elbow, go ahead and place the right hand behind the head and lean the head back and breathe into your right side body. Give yourself a breath or two here, lengthen the inhales, the pauses and the exhales, press the right sit bone to the floor, excellent everybody. Right hand on top of the right thigh, left fingertips behind you, ground into the earth, lift the sternum, chin and chest and exhale, rotate. Two more rounds just like that, each time you inhale, see if you can find more space, each time you exhale, little bit deeper twist without force, one more, good.

As you come back to center once again, we'll separate the feet, hip distance, heels a little farther away from the seat, hold on to the knees option one, same thing we did before, separate the knees, lift the heart, sternum, chin and chest and exhale, round the spine, draw the navel up and back. You can keep the hands on the knees, option two if you want to build on top of that, reach the palms to the sky and exhale the palms right into prayer, so like a little variation of navasana or boat pose where the core is more of the focus. Two more rounds, enjoy the breath, let it guide you, one more. The next time you reach the palms to the sky, slide them behind you, fingertips facing back, keep your hip distance again, squeeze to the midline, reverse table pose. As you lift the hips, squeeze the shoulder blades towards each other, looking straight forward or slightly up if you have no neck issues, maybe letting the ear drop to the left and the other ear drop to the right, little movement in the upper back and shoulders, just a trick to make you stay here a little bit longer.

And then as you exhale, lower your seat close to the heels, perfect, flip your palms, walk the fingertips back until you feel that stretch in the upper back and shoulders. Once you feel a little resistance, hang out right there. And one more time with the windshield wipers, you'll feel a little differently in the upper back and shoulders than you did when we were lying on the back. So let the knees rock from side to side. As the knees rock to the right, turn your head to the left.

As the knees rock to the left, turn your head to the right. So our little energetic massage as we start our journey today. Two more rounds of breath. One more. Great.

The next time the knees are drawing back to center, draw the knees towards the chest, kick your way forward to navasana, fingertips facing forward, elbows in, lift the sternum chin and chest. You can keep the knees bent as you draw the navel up and back. You can release the arms by the calves or send the palms to the sky, either parallel perpendicular or parallel to the legs. Give yourself two more rounds of breath, firing up the hip flexors. One more round of breath.

I'll meet you in table pose, lower, cross the legs, either swing the legs around or float the legs back. Palms under the shoulders, knees under the hips. Going back to the spine, once again, exploring the spine with these side movements. So let your shoulders and hips turn to the left, looking over your left shoulder, and then let your shoulders and hips turn to the right, looking over your right shoulder. You can let the legs swing as well.

And if you want to, you can kind of just play with this little shaking movement from side to side, going back to that idea of moving the energy out, shaking it out, changing up some patterns here. The next time your knees are swinging over to your left, hang out right there. Keep the knees, the toes over to the left a little bit. Walk your fingertips to the left corner of the mat, and then back up your seat for a nice side stretch. Breathe into the right side body, enjoy the inhale, enjoy the pause, and then exhale.

Once again, let it go. Anytime you want to exhale through the mouth just to get a little bit more release, verbalizing it helps you let it go. Great. As you come on back to center, we'll go back to our side to side movements, drawing the hips and shoulders to the right, looking over the right shoulder, and then to the left. You can do it nice and slow or pick up the pace and shake it out.

Next time the knees are the toes swing over to your right, keep them over there, walk the right fingertips over to the right corner of your mat, and back your seat up towards the left corner of the mat, and breathe into that left side body. Breathe like you're on vacation. It'll get you on the right mindset for the journey, and two more rounds, one more. As you journey back to table pose, we're doing the same thing in down dog, side bending down dog. Walk your hands and palm print forward.

Tuck the toes under, lift the hips to the sky, press the chest to the thighs. As you push actively forward with both hands, bend one leg at a time and feel your way around the calves and the hamstrings. Keep pedaling the feet one at a time like you're walking in place, but just turn your heels over to the right and the toes over to the left so the right toes are moving behind the left. You're going to feel a side stretch on the left side body. Keep the down dog, don't move to plank.

Push actively forward with a right hand, and then if you want to go deeper, walk your left hand closer to the right and breathe into the left side body. That's it. All right, let's try the other side. Left hand back to its normal spot, rise to the tops of the toes, pivot your heels to the left and you can start to walk it out one at a time so your left toes are behind the right heel. Your left hand is pushing actively forward.

The right hand can stay or you can journey it over towards the left for a little bit more side flexion. Breathe into the right side body and enjoy the space you're creating. Perfect. Inhale to plank pose. Lower the knees to the floor, engage your core and take a five count lower.

On the elbows for four, engage your core, lengthen forward for three. Last two. Last one. As you lower down, replace your palms with your elbows. Easy Sphinx pose, guide the heart, chin and chest forward.

Lengthen the ribs forward, invite the shoulder blades to soften down and press to the tops of the feet. So at any time you need a rest, this is a great spot for your back bend. If you're experiencing like, oh, that spine's feeling really nice and open, you can replace your elbows with your palms and rise up to a cobra or an up dog. Just make sure you're not feeling the compression in the lower back. All right.

Meet your back and table, palms under the shoulders, knees under the hips. Come up to your fingertips for these cat and cow tilts. And as you take your cow tilt, guiding the heart, chin and chest forward, and your cat tilt, rounding the spine, move forward and backwards. So cow tilt, back up your seat, look forward. Cat tilt, round the spine, tuck the chin to the chest.

So we start to tap into that rocking movement that we've been working with just to kind of move that energy around. So also builds a lot of strength for the fingers. Last round, we're going to do the same thing in down dog. Find your neutral spine. Walk the palms of palm print forward, place the palms on the floor, tuck the toes under, hips to the sky, bend both knees and look towards your thumbs.

There's the cow tilt, round the spine, tuck the chin to the chest softly, shoulders right over the wrist. There's your cat tilt, bend the knees, look forward, pulse with your breath. Last two, keep breathing. Last one, rounding the spine and then lengthen forward, lower the knees to the floor, come up to your fingertips. Five count lower on your fingertips.

Four, engage the core muscles, fire up the triceps, elbows by the ribs. Three, I'm a slow counter, two and one. As you lower all the way down, slide your fingers off the mat so they're right under the shoulders. Funky cobra, lift and just give yourself a little exploration between the shoulder blades like you did earlier. Take your time here, rolling it around, exploring some of these soft intuitive movements, waking up the energy in the upper back and shoulders.

Lower back down for the back bend of your choice, palms next to the ribs, sphinx pose, cobra or up dog. Meeting you one more time in table pose. Palms under the shoulders, knees under the hips, playing with a little spinal twist variation. We're moving all areas of the spine. Inhale the right palm to the sky, exhale, thread it under, across and through.

Pause and then inhale that right palm right back to the sky. We're going to take five more pulses. If you need a little extra work, you can play with these core stabilizers with me. Extend your left leg, the height of your hip, toes pointing down. Keep it there.

Don't move it and go back to your thread through. Pulse with your breath. Last two. If your knee's on the floor, that's cool. Don't worry.

We'll meet you there. Last one. The next time you reach that right arm under, lower the left foot if it's off the floor take an easy twist, press into the floor with your fingertips giving the wrist a break or send that left hand to the sky and give yourself a couple of circles at the wrist. Lower the left palm back to the floor. Reach forward with your right hand and then lift the left leg off the floor, bend it.

Reach back with your right hand, maybe the pinky toe side of the foot. Given the cow tilting qualities of the back bend, move the heart forward as you kick the heel away, opening up the front of the hip flexor. One more round of breath. Great. And then come back to your table pulse.

We'll do our thread throughs on the other side. Right hand stays. Inhale the left palm to the sky. Exhale thread it under across and through a little bend in the right elbow as you reach across and inhale, send it back up. You've got five more.

If you want to hover the right leg off of the floor, reach that heel away from you. Toes pointing down, squeeze to the midline. Try not to move from your waist down. Core isolators, core stabilizers. Last three.

I may have given you an extra credit one. Last two. One more. The next time you thread under across and through, lower the right foot to the floor if it's off. If comfortable, lower the shoulder to the floor.

Come up to the fingertips if you need support or send the right hand to the sky and give yourself a little wrist stretch. Great. Replace the right palm to the floor. Lengthen the spine. Reach forward with the left arm.

Reach the right leg off the floor. Bend it. Reach back with the left hand. Direction of the foot. If it doesn't grab, don't worry about it, you're still getting all the benefits.

Ribs forward, heart forward, knee away from the floor for your last two breaths. Nice work, everybody. And then exhale, lower it back down to your table. Tuck your toes under, grab a seat on your heels for a second, interlace your fingertips, and we'll do a little wrist stretch. Switch which index finger is on top.

And I send you all some good energy. Let's go to our down dog. Spinal twisting down dogs on the plate now. Tuck the toes under, hips to the sky, chest to the thigh. Bend your right leg.

Walk the left hand halfway to the left foot. Push actively forward with your right hand. Peek underneath the right underarm for the twist. And two, left hand grabs the outer right calf, ankle, or heel for a deeper twist. You've got three more breaths.

If you want to start straightening that right leg, go for it. Two more. One more. Moving to plank pose. Side plank on your left hand.

You can always bring the left knee to the floor, or you can stack, or celebrate with any variation of side plank that's calling you today. Whatever feels good, just keep pushing forward and down with your left hand and whatever variation you're in. Meet you back in plank pose. Lower all the way down. Nice slow count as you engage the core.

Knees are always an option. Untuck the toes, Cobra up dog. Meet you back and down dog. Feel the hips to the sky, chest towards the thigh. Push actively forward with your left hand as you bend the left leg.

Spinal twisting dog. Right hand moves to the center of your mat. Stay here or reach for the outer left calf, ankle, or heel for a deeper variation. Lengthen the spine and then turn the torso to the left, maybe straightening the left leg. One more round of breath.

We'll meet in plank pose, setting up for side plank on the right hand. Remember you can bring that right knee to the floor. You can stack or you can play with whatever variation is intuitively calling you right now. Just keep pushing forward and down strongly with your right hand. Nice slow Vinyasa plank pose.

Then the elbows lean forward, lower all the way down. Good news, you get to stay down for this one. Left arm out to the side like a wing, taking a nice chest opener, rolling to that left straight arm, left palm, the height of the shoulder. The closer the right glute gets to the floor, the more you'll feel on that chest opener. Two more rounds of breath.

One more. Let's roll back to center and explore the other side. Straight arm out to the side like a wing. Roll it on over and open up through the right shoulder. The closer the left hip gets to the floor, the more you'll feel in the front of the chest.

Enjoy the breath. Keep going back to that vacation breath. We're rewiring the mind for our journey today. As you come back to neutral, back bend of your choice, palms right along the spine on either side of the ribs, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest, press to the tops of the feet, guide yourself forward. Intuitive down dog of your choice.

As you send the hips up and back, move around, feel your way around, maybe shrug the shoulders, maybe pivot the hips, something that intuitively feels right for you right now. Simply head from side to side or open the mouth, stick out the tongue. Taking the journey forward at the finale of your next exhale, walk or float your feet to the front of the mat. Lengthen the spine with your inhalation, palms to the shins, flat back. Easy fold, bend the knees, hang out.

Place your hands behind the base of the neck and just give yourself a little traction. If you want to move the elbows from side to side, go for it. Easy forward fold. Great, everybody. With your knees bent, bring your palms to the quads.

Guide the heart sternum, chin and chest forward for a supported chair pose. From that chair pose, round the spine, pull the navel up and back, tuck the chin to the chest, two more rounds just like that. One more. The next time you round up, exhale it all the way up, inhale your palms to the sky, exhale the palms right into prayer. So we're going to play with one more sweeping movement just to get the energy out.

So have a peek if you're not able to follow me by word alone. Inhale the palms to the sky and as you exhale, bend the knees and just sweep the arms. Inhale the palms to the sky, little back bend, bend the knees, let the arms sweep. Move the tension out with the exhale, inhale it up, clearing, two more rounds. I invite you to be as loud as you need to be as you're removing tension, one more round.

Inhale the palms to the sky, draw the thumbs down the center line of the body and give yourself a moment to connect. Being present with the breath, feeling that lightness of being and being very focused and present for ourself on our journey today. I invite you to own with me to the floor on the next exhale, inhale the palms to the sky, the sternum, chin and chest, hinge of the hips. Palms to the shins, lengthen the spine, flat back, bend both knees, step your right leg back into a nice low lunge, lowering the knee to the floor, untuck the toes, keep the hands on the floor, guide your ribs forward. You may need your blocks here if you got them.

We're going to lift the right knee off the floor without tucking the toes under. Guide the sternum, heart, chin and chest forward. Two more rounds of breath, opening up that hip flexor psoas, one more. Lower the right knee to the floor, remember you can always put some padding under it. Left hand, left thigh, right hand to the sacrum.

Soft little pulse forward and backward, a little massaging action, opening up the front of the right hip and tailbones lengthening down, sternum and chest lifting up. Great everybody, one more round. As you melt into the hip flexor, inhale the right palm to the sky, keep the left hand where it is. Take a little side bend over to your left and then pulse back to center, side bend pulse over to your left, breathe into the right side body, inhale back to center. Exhale it over, one more time, pause right here.

Lift and lengthen the spine, place the right hand behind the head, lean the head back so you feel that nice stretch all the way from your hip flexor up to where it connects at the spine. Place the right hand on top of the left and lose the left arm, take the left arm up and over the ear, couple of side bend pulses to the left, squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs, inhale back to center, exhale pulse to your left. Two more rounds, one more. The next time you reach over with the left hand, hang out here, place the left hand behind the head and then lean the head back, lift the sternum, lift the chest, enjoy the stretch. Perfect, left arm on top of the right, give yourself a nice big hug, reach for your shoulder blades, right arm on the bottom, left arm on top, eagle arms, move the thumbs away from the face, only if it's available to you.

Lift the elbows up, lift the sternum up, lift the chin and chest up, melt into the thigh. We're going to tilt forward with a long spine, so don't round the spine, just keep lengthening the spine, keep reaching up with the fingertips, you can stay here, you can go deeper on top of or inside of the thigh if it's calling you. Just three more breaths, keep reaching for it, two more, you're almost there, last one, lower the palms to the floor, place the left hand outside of the left leg, straighten the left leg, easy half split, give yourself a wiggle from side to side. As you move the hips to the right, turn the toes to the left, as you move the hips to the left, turn the toes to the right, so you get that feeling of the inner and outer hamstring. Last round, great, rebend your left leg, right hand to the floor, left hand on top of the thigh, lift the right knee off, lengthen the spine and turn the torso to the left, inhale it up, nice spinal twist, give yourself two more rounds of breath, one more, lower the left hand inside of the left thigh, take the left foot, step it behind the right, supported kickstand side plank, if you need the left hand on the floor, keep it there or send the left palm to the sky, push actively forward with the right hand, then yasa, plank pose, lower it down, cobra up dog, back bend of your choice, be kind to the lower back, excellent everybody, send it back to your down dog.

So we're going to reverse all of that goodness, slide forward to plank pose, step your right foot behind the left, kickstand side plank, your right hand can stay or send your right hand to the sky, take a nice big inhale, step your right foot to the front of the mat, beautiful, place your right hand on top of your right thigh, lengthen the spine and rotate, lengthen and rotate, push back with your left heel, maybe send the right hand to the sky for a couple breaths here, enjoy the twist, lower the right hand, lower the left knee, straighten the right leg, give yourself a little wiggle from side to side, as you wiggle to the right turn the toes to the left, as you wiggle to the left turn the toes to the right so you feel inner and outer hamstring, remember use your blocks if you need to. One more round of breath, re-bend your right leg, right hand on top of the right thigh, left hand to the sacrum, a little low lunge pulse, open up the front of your left hip, wake up these muscles here that get contracted when we sit for too long. We are on our yoga journey, we're getting off the couch and into the practice. Give it one more round of breath, perfect, lower the fingertips to the floor, untuck the left toes, lift the left knee off the floor, give yourself a little stretch, maybe guide the heart, sternum, chin and chest up, beautiful. Opening up the front of that hip flexor, lower the knee down, remember you can pat it if you need to, right hand to the right thigh, left palm to the sky, up and over the ear to the left, side bend, inhale back to center, pulse with your breath, it's kind of like a little dance today, all of these movements are connected with the breath, helping us to be present with each of the moments.

The next time you reach the left arm up and over, hang out right there, place the left hand behind the head and lean the head back and breathe into the side body. Enjoy the stretch. We're back in our hammock now, inhale the left palm to the sky, replace the right hand with your left hand, right arm to the sky, side bend over to your left, pulse back to center, keep squeezing to the midline with the inner thighs. We've got two more, one more, reach over with the right hand, side bend, place the right hand behind the head, lean the head back and you're going to feel this in the front of your left hip flexor. Press the head back, drop the hip forward, perfect.

Take the right arm on top of the left, give yourself a nice big hug, reach for your shoulder blades. You can stay here or you can see if you can find the finger or the interlace, left hand around the wrist, elbows away from the chest, palm to the sky, melt into the hip flexor, lift the elbows up, big breath. Enjoy the opening. Now hinge forward with a flat back, maybe just a little bit. You decide how far you want to go, but keep reaching the palms forward.

Maybe slide inside, two more rounds of breath. One more. Yeah, release the arms, give yourself a moment, plant the right hand outside of the right foot, straighten the right leg for a second, we're reversing it. So we're stepping the left foot forward to join the right, lengthen forward, step the left foot forward to join the right, plank pose, forward fold, two more rounds of breath. Relax the muscles of the face, relax the jaw, if you want to straighten the legs, you can.

One more round of breath, let it go. With your knees bent and head coming up last, roll it up vertebrae, by vertebrae, inhale the palms to the sky, exhale it right into prayer. Give yourself a moment to shake out the legs a little bit, yeah, shake out the arms a little bit. Okay, coming back, the front of our mat, palms into prayer, feet are hip distance, I invite you to own with me on the way down, inhale the palms to the sky, lift the heart, chin and chest, exhale, hinge at the hips, palms to the shins, lengthen the spine, flat back, exhale bend both knees, step your left leg back this time, leading with the right leg, bring your hands to your hips, high lunge, make sure your feet are hip distance, good. Take the left arm on the bottom, right arm on top, back to your eagle arms, elbows away from the face.

Now bend into your back leg a little bit and send the elbows up a little bit, perfect. Keep the elbows where they are, straighten the back leg, you're going to feel this. Turn the back leg, sink a little bit deeper, deeper into the front leg, elbows up a little higher, straighten the back leg, you got it. Slowly straighten the front leg, right leg, unwind to your left, pivot your left heel to the floor, warrior two, turn the left toes in, line them up with the right heel. Give yourself a moment to just wave out the arms, one at a time, move out the energy of the shoulders, hips are nice and even, good, putting a little bit more weight into the back leg, great.

Bring your palms into prayer, right to the center of the heart, bend your right leg and hook the right elbow inside of the right thigh. Give yourself some space to lengthen and rotate, lengthen and rotate, opening the hip, now you can stay here or split the palms. If you'd like to take the left arm up and over the ear, feel free, remember that right hand can be at the calf, can be on the knee or you can slide it down. Lower the left hand to the floor, lower the left knee to the floor, heel to the right foot off the mat, turn the toes out, give yourself a little rock from side to side. So the right toes are turned out to a nice two o'clock opening the hip, it's like a little hip opening lizard pose.

Last round. As you rock the hips to the left, you can guide the inner thigh away softly, for those of you that like the quad stretch, bend the left leg, reach back, even bending the leg without grabbing, it still has a nice effect on the hip flexor, one of our target areas today. Great, release the left leg, heel toe your right foot back to the mat. We're coming back to the front of the mat, so look forward, step the left foot forward to meet the right, lengthen the spine, flat back, exhale, soft fold. You might feel a little different on the right side.

Bend your knees, round up from your supported version of chair if you need the hand or come all the way up. We're going to play with a little balance pose, hip opening chair with the right leg. You can use wall space, you can use a couch, you can use your blocks in front of you, just be safe. If you need to put your hips against the wall, it's there for you if you've got a wall. So the right leg, the one we were focusing on, we're going to place on top of above the left knee, hip opening chair pose.

You can reach back for the wall space, back for your chair, or place the hands softly above or below the knee. This is just like a version of pigeon pose, it's just a little bit more work. If you're going deeper, fingertips to your block or lower all the way down. Hip opening chair with a twist, right hand stays, left palm to the sky for those of you that want a little bit more hip opening with a rotation. Two more rounds of breath.

One more. If you have your flying pigeon practice and you want to do it, now's a great time to go for it. We're not going to break it down today because we're just clearing the path today. All right. When you're ready, come on back up, shake out the right leg, shake out the left.

Great work everybody. I'm going to come to the other side of the mat so I can see you and we'll play with the other side. Feet hip distance, palms into prayer. Give yourself a moment to reconnect with your breath. Let an exhale go.

Try it again. Nice big inhale. Clear the mind. We hold so much tension, we need to constantly clear and purify, especially as we invite ourselves to go deeper inward. Invite you to take an own with me as we bow to the floor.

Next one as we flow, inhale the palms to the sky, hinging at the hips. Palms to the shins, lengthen the spine, flat back. Bend both knees, fingertips to the blocks of the floor, step your right leg all the way back. Keep your feet hip distance for stability and then bring your hands to your hips. One lengthens down, bend into the left leg over the ankle.

Perfect. This time we're going to take the right arm on the bottom and the left arm on top for eagle arms. Move the elbows away from the torso. Lift the elbows slightly and then bend your back leg. Lift the elbows, sternum, chin and chest a little bit more.

Sink into the left thigh a little bit more and then start to straighten that right leg and you'll feel it all the way from your hip flexor. Let's try one more, bending your right leg, elbows a little higher, ribcage lifts, press into that left knee and slowly straighten the right leg. Excellent. As you straighten the left leg, rise up, unwind the arms, turn to your right, pivot the right heel to the floor. Line up your heels, good, and take those arms out.

For any little intuitive movements here, shaking it out, getting rid of some tension. I don't know. Have fun with it. As you find your way into that second opportunity of warrior two, ground into the outer right foot. Bring your palms into prayer and slide that left elbow just inside of the left thigh.

Open and rotate, lengthen and rotate. Remember you can straighten that left arm, you can bring it to the block or floor or move into more of a traditional pose of the right arm up and over the ear. Just keep grounding into the outer right foot. Perfect everybody. Lower the palm inside of your left leg, lower the right knee to the floor, heel toe your left foot off the mat, turn the toes to the left, untuck the back toes and just give yourself a little rock from side to side.

Little massage at the outer left hip, a little release for the front of the right hip. Same thing the next time you rock to the right, you can guide the left inner thigh away or you can reach back. Doesn't have to reach all the way, just that action of reaching will help you open the hip flexor. The left glute is starting to release in this hip opener, the front of the right hip. Perfect and then as you release those arms, heel toe your left foot back to the center of the mat, left hand outside of the left foot and we'll come to the front of the mat one more time, tuck your toes under on the right, lengthen forward, step forward.

Palms to the shins, flat back. Exhale, soft fold. Engage your core. Take an exhale and roll all the way up. Palms to the sky and we'll set up for that hip opening chair on the left side.

Remember you get to use the wall if you need it. Shift your weight to your right leg, the left leg's moving into figure four. Left ankle above the knee, feel free to bring your hands to the wall to help you sit. You can use the side of a couch, you can use your chair, you can use your blocks in front of you. The lower you bow, the deeper you get into the outer hip, make sure this is okay with your knee.

Just a little bit more work in our pigeon pose. Really nice for the muscles of balance, stabilizing muscles. Hip opening figure four, right palm to the sky, moving a little bit deeper into the twist. Make sure if you did any other variations on the other side, for those of you that did your flying pigeon or any other variations, try to even it out on the second side. When you're ready, ground into the right toe pads, roll all the way up and shake it out.

All right, let's move into Melasana and we'll start to lower things down. So take your feet a little bit wider than hip distance, turn your toes out, bring your hands to your hips and just slowly lower. Take the elevator all the way down, knee issues, you can relax your forms on top of your thighs, glutes the height of your knees. If you're coming a little bit lower, you can slide the elbows inside. Lengthen the spine, sink a little bit deeper.

Good. You can use your palms behind you to lower down onto your built-in pillows and bring the bottoms of the feet together for easy Baddha Konasana. Hands behind you, fingertips facing back, hips slide closer to the heels. Give yourself a little butterfly from side to side or at the same time, you might feel a little bit more space in the hip flexors. Nice to sit down and relax a little bit, isn't it?

All right. If you're moving a little bit deeper and going back into the front of the hips, keep the big toes together and fan out the other toes. Fingertips stay behind you, press into the toe pads, the knuckles of the big toes are right next to each other and then you can press the knees forward. It might even come all the way to the floor. Return to the breath.

Remember, that one's totally optional. Be kind to your knees and your ankles. When you lower back down, right leg stays, left leg moves into a little straddle pose. So right leg stays, a nice cross-legged variation. I'll show you from the side.

If you need to sit on a block, put it underneath your right seat. This will take away a little bit of the pressure on the knee. You can walk the hands back slowly as you sink in a little bit deeper. Find the spot where you're being kind to your knee and your ankle. If you're coming all the way down and you want to use that right ankle on top of the left knee to lock things down, feel free.

But remember, we're going back to this idea of clearing and letting stuff go, not adding anything to the list, not letting our ego get in the way. Join our body and meeting it wherever it is today. As you work your way up, right foot back inside. Come on back up. Good.

Bring the right hand behind you. Take the left arm across the body and lift your hips. Inhale the left palm to the sky. Remember same option that we worked on before. Left hand behind the head.

Press the head into the palm and you'll feel this all the way up through the hip flexor, all the way up to the rib cage and push actively forward and down with your right hand. One more round of breath and it's slowly unwind. Good. So as you lower down, that left leg that was on lockdown, we're going to free it just for a second. Go to the outside of the right leg and take a little counter twist to the left, a nice soft counter twist.

Don't force anything. Lift lengthen and enjoy the movements of the spine. One more round of breath. Good. Left leg this time in that easy cross legged seat.

Right knees and straddle pose are half for asana. Remember if you've got knee issues, sit on a block or a bolster underneath your left hip. Left heels right next to the outer glute. You can walk it down a little bit or stay right where you're at. Take your time and whatever movements are calling you.

Remember you can lock it down with that left ankle if you need to feel a little bit more resistance. But while you're feeling the resistance, you're breathing like you're completely relaxing, completely softening into any challenges. Sending a message to the body to, hey, it's cool. We'll just let this go. Melt into this.

Let go of the fight. Because we're only fighting with ourselves. Left foot inside. Help yourself slowly up. Keep the right leg where it is.

Good. Left hand behind you. Fingertips facing back. Right arm reaches across and slowly up. Press the left hip forward.

Left ribcage lift. Right hand to the sky. Or same thing we did on the other side. Place it behind your head. Lean the head back and find a little bit more space in the front of your hip flexor all the way up to where it attaches up the spine.

So good this feeling. So much space. Our body's constantly curving forward. These little backbends go ahead and lower down. They're so beneficial.

All right. I almost wanted to stay there forever. Take your right leg outside of your left. Good. A soft twist to your right.

Lift, lengthen, and rotate. So as we move into some of the counter poses, even more important to soften into each opportunity and reconnect with those exhales and move the tension out before we arrive in our shavasana. We want to be completely clear and present for ourselves in shavasana. Good. As you unwind the legs one at a time.

Good. Keep a little bend in your knees. You can bring your hands to the knees or one last core engagement. As you roll your way all the way down, you can hit a couple of spots along the spine. Slide your heels so that they're right underneath the knees, feet or hip distance.

Press your triceps into the floor. Place your palms on the floor and lift your hips. Easy bridge pose. Two more breaths. One more.

Lower all the way down and as you lower down, inhale your arms over the head and feel the lower back lifting off the floor. Bridge pose number two, if you want to press the triceps into the floor and get a little bit more height, feel free. Otherwise you can keep the palms grounding into the floor as you lift the hips, supporting the lower back by sliding the elbows in. Press into the big toe mounds too so the knees aren't turning out. Lift through the ribs, press into all four corners of your feet actively.

Two more rounds of breath. One more and lower it all the way down. As you lower down, take the arms over the head one more time and feel that stretch of the lower back, ribs lifting. Press bridge pose, press your triceps to the floor, lift your hips to the sky. You can bring the palms down, you can support or in this last one if you want to interlace and squeeze your shoulder blades a little bit closer, pressing the pinky sides of the fingers to the floor as you lift the hips.

Go back to your breath. Try not to let the inhales be compromised. Lower it all the way down. Right leg crosses on top of the left. Move your hips slightly to the right.

Take your arms into a little cactus field goal and let your knees windshield wiper side by side keeping the cross. Last little massaging movement before we slip into shavasana. The next time your knees start dropping to the left, let them drop all the way over to the left. You can place your left hand on top of the right thigh. Breathe in the spine and just soften that right shoulder without force.

Think of each exhale as the opportunity to let go of something, a pattern, a way of being that you want to shift, remove or change and with each exhale, let go of any resistance and any busyness. Great. As you unwind the legs, feet are hip distance once again. Shift your hips slightly over to your left. Cross the left leg on top of the right and give yourself a little rock from side to side.

Cactus field goal of the arms. Melting into these last little movements, you can close the eyes and appreciate. The next time you drop your knees to the right, enjoy the twist. Bring the head to the left if you need a little bit more. Let it go.

Enjoy the space of non-thinking. Just be in those spaces. Let the patterns dissolve into peace. As you unwind, you can find your way into shavasana. Any last little movements that are calling you, find your way into shavasana.

While you're in shavasana, there's a sweet little mantra. Mantras are protection for our mind. As I chant this mantra, if you like complete silence, you might want to turn your volume down. Otherwise, let the magic of the mantra work, calling out to ganesha. Settle in, soften and give yourself space for your shavasana.

Jai Ganesha, Jai Ganesha, Jai Ganesha Pahimam, Shri Ganesha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Ganesha, Shri Ganesha, Gham Gana Patahay Namo Nahama Gham Gana Patahay Namo namah gam ganapatah hai namoh nah bah gam ganapatah hai namoh nah bah Ganesha, a remover of obstacles. Maybe the obstacles teach us something, maybe they don't. We learn so much from that which blocks the way and when we clear, we see the path more clearly. In your own time and in your own way, slowly help your way up to your seat. You can give yourself a moment and fetal pose. With your eyes closed when you do come to your seat, give yourself a little rub between the palms. Create a little heat, create a little energy. Our last little release, a little brushing from the crown of the head over the neck, over the shoulders. Let it go, from the crown of the head over the chest, down the front of the spine, over the knees. Let it go and crown of the head over the back, maybe one shoulder at a time. Maybe reach back all the way down the spine, over the glutes. Let it go, feel that tingle of energy. Bring your palms together in prayer and join me for one Om and one Shanti. Nice big inhale. Om Shanti. Peace, peace, peace. Send it out, feel it, keep it in your heart. And share it with everyone you meet. Thank you so much for joining me today on the first of our 20-day retreat. Trusting the connection. Show up if you can. Keep playing with these ideas and new concepts we're bringing you every week and we'll see the transformation. You will see the connection. Thanks for joining me so much. Namaste.