Celebrate Spaciousness

Happy Monday, everybody, or whichever day you are watching this. Thanks for joining today. We are on season two of Joyful Flow, and this is week two. And each week we are just going to try to keep cultivating this experience of joy through our practice with different techniques. Before I get talking about the technique this week, grab a couple of blocks.

You may need them. You may not. We're going to start seated today so you can find a nice, comfortable seat energetically and physically. We're going to be exploring expansion today. What does it feel like to really expand?

It's kind of like when you're on the plane and the door opens up and you can't wait to get off a long flight or being in the car for a long time. That kind of idea of being held in, we are going to expand to the long side of our mat today. And mentally we're going to play with this idea of choosing to celebrate life. And I like to think that part of life's journey is to create good memories. With these good memories, they give us a full bank account of joy that we can revisit.

My parents, as they're entering their last chapter of life and celebrating it, one of their favorite things to do is to reminisce and bring up fun stories and they can laugh about it for hours and this is how we like to connect. And it made me think, we need to just keep creating good memories. This helps us experience joy. So as we go through the practice, I might give you a little opportunity to invite that feeling of a memory of joy or celebration as we go through the journey. So are you ready?

I'm ready. Let's come to a nice comfortable seat. You can move your built-in cushions back a little bit and find a nice, easy seat. Feel free to sit on a block if it helps you to create a tall spine. Take a nice big inhale through the nose and let go of any busyness through that exhale.

So inhale, inhaling through the nose, holding verbally, letting something go. Come on, let it go. Try that one more time. Nice big inhale, clearing the mind, exhale, let something go. Keep connecting with your breath as you slide your hands down to your shins, soft cow and cat tilts.

As you inhale, lift the sternum and chest, breathing in through the nose, hold the breath for a count or two and then as you exhale, round the spine, pull the navel up and back as you round the spine, the arms can be straight or bent. Listen to your lower back, inhale, rise. Hold the breath, exhale, round the spine, draw the navel up and back, engage your core. Short pause before you start that all over again. Let this be your breathing exercise, inhale, lift the sternum, chin and chest, exhale, round the spine.

Two more rounds, a little longer pause after the inhale, inhale, lift, press the knees to the floor, lift the heart, sternum, chin and chest and then exhale, let it out, round the spine. One more long pause after the inhale, inhale, lift, hold, feel the expansion at the heart center and then exhale, round the spine. Exhale for neutral spine, a tall spine, reach your arms out to the side like wings, exhale, give yourself a big hug, right hand wraps on top of the left, reach for your shoulder blades, inhale, extend the arms out once again, tall spine, exhale, left arm on top of the right. We're starting off today with hugs, it's a good start, inhale, extend, exhale, right arm on top of the left, see if you can draw the backs of the hands towards each other. If it feels good, slide the right hand forward and wrap the left foot, left foot, left hand, that could be interesting, around your right wrist.

A little eagle pose here with the upper back and shoulders, lift the elbows the height of your shoulders, drop your palms to your right, let your left ear drop towards your left shoulder and then let the head roll back softly to the left and then back over to the shoulder. Two more rounds just like that, one more, great. Once the arms expand, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest, exhale, hug the left arm on top of the right, squeeze in just a little bit tighter, good, and then inhale, extend the arms, exhale, give yourself a big squeeze, last one, inhale, extend the arms, left arm on top of the right, give yourself a big hug, good, stacking the elbows on top of each other, bring the backs of the hands together, left hand slides out slightly, see if you can go for the right wrist if you got it, great. If you don't, just keep the hands back to back, lift the elbows the height of your shoulders, drop your palms to the left and your right ear to the right and same thing, just kind of rolling back and then back over to the right, starting our day off with a hug and a massage, we're winning already, last two, good, last one. As you come back to center, release the arms, bring your palms on top of the thighs, lean forward and over to the right, some torso circles, lengthening with the inhale, rounding the core with the exhale, lengthening over to the right, getting as long as you can, rounding as you exhale.

As you explore your circumduction of the spine, your circle or torso movements, if you'd like to let the head roll in the same direction, feel free to explore creating a little space through the cervical spine, not a traditional pose, but it does feel good. The next time you bow forward, go ahead and pause and then inhale, start to circle the other way, exhale round the spine, inhale, lengthen forward, exhale, rounding, inhale, lengthen it forward, same thing. You can let the head roll with the same direction that your torso is rolling. Last one, all right. Find your tall spine, inhale the palms to the sky and we're going to keep our arms reaching to the sky, but just let our torso wave kind of from side to side and this is like a first little opportunity to kind of invite in a memory.

I like to think of my arms waving, you know, at my favorite concert and when I was trying to think of the one that came up, I had this vision of me at a UB40 concert swaying back and forth to red, red wine, so that's my little memory as we sway from side to side. The next time you reach over with your right fingertips, place your right hand to the floor, guide that left elbow back in space, give your left elbow a bend and then bend your right elbow and feel the side stretch, lift through the right side body, softly rotate to the left. If you want to put the left hand behind the head and move back in space, feel free or go ahead and extend that arm slowly so you feel a little bit of resistance. Nice big inhale, lengthen the spine, exhale the left hand on top of the right, walk the right fingertips behind you, tall spine, lift, lengthen and switch, turn and rotate. Lift, lengthen, maybe walk your fingertips back a little farther, exhale, rotate.

One more, wring it out softly with the exhale, good. As you come back to center, switch the cross of your legs. We'll send those palms up again and you guys can create your own little memory here as you sway from side to side, maybe it was a concert you went to, maybe it was something that you were feeling a celebratory way from side to side, I'm going to be quiet as you invite your own memory in and feel what it feels like. Right, so we're steering the mind, virtuous direction, reach out with your left fingertips, let the left hand touch the floor, a little bend in that left elbow as you spiral the ribs softly to your right, a little bend in your right elbow and move that elbow back in space so you feel the space at the front of your right torso, right side body. Maybe place the hand behind the head and lean back, once you get that elbow back in space then you can start to send that right arm up and over so you're feeling that resistance and breathe into that resistance and enjoy the breath.

I'm curious what your memory was, so if you get on the forum later, tell me what concert it was or what you were doing. Right hand on top of the left knee, walk the left fingertips behind you, lift, lengthen the spine and soft twist to your left, if you want to feel more, walk your fingertips back behind you a little bit more but make sure to find space before you rotate. The spine loves space before rotation, one more round of breath, let it go, great. As you unwind, swing your legs over to the right, you may want to use two blocks under your hand for reverse table, you choose, palms behind you, fingertips facing forward, block under each hand if you're going for it, lift your hips to the sky with your next inhale. We're going to explore two points of connection, the first one is dropping our seat towards the heels by bending our elbows and flexing the triceps.

The second point after we inhale back to neutral is sliding your hips between your hands, either next to or all the way back, that's where the blocks will help. Inhale lift, exhale bend the elbows, hips towards the heels, inhale lift, exhale slide the hips between, we're creating a little bit of heat for our journey together today, lifting it up and then bending those elbows, lowering the seat, waking up the front of the knees and the ankles, sliding it through, you've got one more round, the next time you lower your seat next to your heels, stay right there. Flip your palms, walk your fingertips back, a little space for the shoulders, the farther you walk back, the more resistance you'll feel and then just let your head soften back, let your head and neck relax as you start to windshield your wiper, your knees very slowly from side to side, you feel this connection between lower back, hips, glutes, sacral area but also this nice stretch for the upper back and shoulders as you explore these movements, waking up the connection between the torso and the limbs, great. The next time you come to neutral with those legs, press your feet forward, lift your heels the height of your knees, press forward, slide your hands forward and flip your palms so your fingertips are facing forward, squeeze your elbows towards the midline and lift the spine as you lift the heels, both pose pulses as you inhale, lower halfway down by bending the elbows and as you exhale, draw the knees into the chest, try to keep the heels the height of the knees as you draw the knees in and try to keep the spine nice and tall as you exhale, you've got four more pulses, inhale, extend, exhale, hip flexure, contract, core contracts, last two, last one, keep the left foot off the floor, lower the right foot to the floor, slide your hands behind the hamstring of the left leg and lift up as tall as you can, start to straighten your left leg a little bit or a lot, you can reach for the calf muscle or the sides of the feet, wherever you are, lift your sternum and chest, if you want to feel a little bit more core action, lift your right heel off the floor and hug the right knee to the midline, if you can't get enough, extend your right leg low, medium or high for the next three, the next two, it's almost there, the next one, lower both legs, back to our reverse table, set up your blocks again, if you were using them, both palms on the blocks, inhale, lift the hips, exhale, bend the elbows, lower the hips to the heels, inhale, send it back up and then exhale, slide the hips between the wrists, option of lowering or passing all the way through, you got three more pulse with your breath, hips to the heels, inhale, neutral reverse table, exhale, slide it between, your arms are going to feel this, we got to get those arms ready for summer, I don't know why I said that, I don't care what my arms look like in summer, but it does feel good to feel the tone and the strength in the body, one more round, the next time you lower the hips, lower your hips close to your heels, second round here as you flip your palms, walk your fingertips a little farther back than you did the first time, give yourself that little spot of resistance, when you feel that little spot of resistance, let the knees rock from side to side, maybe the head and neck release back, soften, good, you should feel this in the upper back and shoulders, one more round, great everybody, and then when you're ready, press the heels forward, second round of our Navasana pulses, hug the elbows in, lift the knees and heels the same height as you inhale, lean back, a little bit more of a bend in the elbows as you exhale, draw the knees in, we've got five more if you want to try these without the hands, reach for your toes when the exhale and then keep the arms by the side as you inhale, it's kind of like going down the luge, that's what I would imagine it to be like, we're going to hold that little option of going down the luge, so either having your hands behind you and bringing your elbows to the floor as you straighten the legs or keeping the core engaged, lower back touches the floor, keep everything engaged, look towards your big toes, a softer expression or look straight up or slightly back and you'll feel the core action, one more round of breath, come on back up to your Navasana, hands to the floor, left toes touch, right leg to the sky, reach for your hamstring, pull the chest in, you can keep that knee bent, especially if you've got hamstrings, they're not warm yet, start to walk your hands up to the calf, slowly lengthen without rounding the spine, lift and lengthen for two more rounds of breath, if you're lifting the left heel off of the floor or lifting it up to join the right, it's a big hip flexor contraction, so see what it feels like, try not to scoop the lower back too much if you have lower back issues, skip this one, lower the left leg, lower the right leg, slide your bum back a little bit, straighten the legs and just pedal them out a little bit, walk the hands forward a little bit and then pedal the legs out a little bit more, so we're not going too deep into our hamstring stretches yet, we'll have a chance a little bit later just see where you are today, see where that soft forward fold feels and move the ribs and chest forward, great, let's meet in table pose, you can swing the legs around or you can cross the ankles, pull the heels close to the seat, slide your palms in front and then float the legs back, knees right under the hips, palms underneath your shoulders, guide the heart, chin and chest forward, big inhale, cow tilts of the spine and then exhale around the spine, as you pulse in between your cat and cow tilts, feeling your way around the spine, just notice any areas to be aware of today on the journey and notice any areas that feel really spacious, nice massage for these areas, the front and the back body, give yourself two more rounds of breath, one more, wonderful. From your neutral table, walk your hands of palm print forward, tuck the toes under, hips to the sky, first down dog, actively press forward with both hands, as you pedal the legs one at a time, feel that stretch in the hamstrings and the calves as you actively push forward with both hands, draw the navel up to the spine and see if you can spiral your biceps forward just a little bit, two more pedals, you might notice one leg feels a little bit more open than the other, that's okay, lengthen forward for your first plank pose, good, try to get your tailbone lower than your shoulders, lengthen the spine, squeeze to the midline, pull the navel up and back and push the floor away looking straight forward in front of the thumbs, two more rounds of breath, one more, lower it all the way down.

Untuck the toes, replace the palms with your elbows, guide the heart sternum and chest forward and soften the shoulder blades down the spine, if you want to feel more press to the tops of the feet, a little inner spiral of the thighs and really move your ribs forward so you get that nice extension of the spine and are being really safe for the lower back, great everybody, as you exhale lower down replace your elbows with your palms, tuck your toes under either pass through table or plank on your way back to your down dog, great, move back to your plank pose and lower your knees from plank so not as close to your hands as table so your knees are a little further back so we can play with some of this hip opening exploration, shift your weight to your right leg and start to circle the left knee away from you and then back into the midline, away and back into the midline. The next time you open the hip we're going forward with the left knee, left knee towards the left tricep, lean forward a little bit and then send the left leg back, open up the hip, guide your heart forward as you move the left toes to the right, exhale left knee to the left tricep, lean forward if you want to bend the elbows, totally optional, some arm strengtheners for us, lengthen the spine forward, cow tilt and move your toes to your right, you've got two more pulses, left knee to left tricep, straight arm or bent arm, open up, lengthen and extend the spine, one more. The next time you open the hip and swing the toes to the left walk hand back one at a time right underneath your shoulders, shift your weight to your left hand and reach back with your right hand, grabbing the pinky toe side of the foot if you're not able to hold the foot just reach and then lift your left knee away from the floor and shine your heart forward. Two more rounds of breath, great everybody, one more, release the left leg if you've got it bring the right hand to the floor, straighten the left leg and pivot your heel to the right for easy side plank, you can keep the right toes where they are, you can swing them around if you need more work today push forward strongly with the right hand and cross the right leg on top of the left. Our finale here is that nice side bend sending the left arm up and over the ear, enjoy the side stretch, great come on back to your table pose and then take a little child's pose, keep the left hand where it is, drape the right hand around your waist just to give that wrist a little release, you can give yourself a couple of circles with the wrists from that side plank, wonderful, and then we'll come back to our table pose, tuck the toes under, hips to the sky, chest to the thighs, pedal the legs out, pull the navel up to the spine, push actively forward with both hands, lengthen forward to plank pose just like we did before, lower the knees to the floor so the knees are way behind the hips, shift your weight to your left leg, explore a couple of circles with the right hip circling the knee away from the midline, little different in plank pose than table, we got to do a little bit more upper body work, the next time you open the right hip swing the toes over to the right and then tap the right knee to your right tricep, lean forward a little bit and then send it back, open the hips, swing it to your left and then tap the knee towards the right tricep, we've got three more, if you want to bend the elbows a little chaturanga arms, as you lean forward hug the elbows to the midline and engage your core, send it back, try not to drop your shoulders below the height of your elbows just for safety, last one, the next time you open the hip walk your hands back into table pose, guide your heart forward, shift your weight to your right hand and reach back with your left hand, so the toes are swinging over to the left a little bit, different variation of this hip flexor release, moving the heel away from you will open up the hip a little bit more and then glide your heart forward, really feel that extension of the spine, left hand comes to the floor, right leg pivots to the floor, easy side plank, you can keep the left toes where they are or swing them behind you, right arm to the sky, if you're working a little bit deeper slide your left ankle on top of the right, cross the legs for a little deeper twist of the little squeeze to the midline of the thighs and then take the right arm up and over the ear as you press actively forward with your left hand, keep breathing, keep smiling, one more round of breath, come to your plank pose and then lower the knees, back the seat up, left hand slides around the waist, you can bring the forehead to the floor and then just give yourself a little circle at the wrist in this little child's pose version, wonderful everybody, all right, let's meet back in our plank pose, so the hands are still kind of far forward, lift your knees off the floor, back the seat up for down dog, slowly walk your hands back to your feet, you may need your bollocks here so grab a block on the way back, that was very graceful and then bend your knees and give yourself a little sway from side to side, so if you are using the block, grab a block, place it over to the left side of your foot, of the left foot as you sway to your left, reach out with your right hand for the block and then start to straighten your left leg a little bit, so we are taking a nice side body stretch for the right side body, the right leg remains bent, the left leg straight, if you don't feel anything slide your block farther away from the midline and then hug the left inner thigh towards the right, even give yourself a little lean to the right, big inhale, pause and exhale, bend both legs, move your block to the other side, the right side and let the torso sway softly from side to side.

The next time you sway over to your right, reach the left hand across the body, remember if you don't have a block just do this on your fingertips, keep the left leg bent, start to straighten the right leg to feel the resistance there, nice side stretch, two more rounds of breath and flate through the left side body, if you want to feel more right leg straight, left leg bent, lean to your left or walk the block a little farther away from you, great, come back to center, bend both knees, engaging your quads and core, roll up with your next exhale, inhale the pumps to the sky, great, taking another side stretch, side stretch over to your right, right hand pulls the left wrist over to the right and then just walk your left toes out, feeling a little playful side stretch, you can keep the toes on the floor or play with lifting them off the floor, touching them to the floor, lifting them off the floor, maybe a little memory comes up of a balancing position, lower it down, arms by the side, inhale the pumps to the sky, me and my brothers used to play on this wall and we'd balance with one leg on the wall about four or five feet above the floor so it wasn't that big of a drop, take your side stretch over to the left and we'd just play with all of these, we thought we were ninjas and so this movement just out of the blue came up and this funny little memory of us playing ninjas on the wall, did anything come up for you? Come on back to center, all right, so these opportunities are just to steer our mind towards joyful moments, remembering those joyful moments creates an opportunity for us to expand on that feeling of happiness or celebration from whatever that event was and it alters and shifts the rest of the day. As you bring your palms into prayer, give yourself a moment to connect. As we bow to the floor, if you'd like to share your energy, we can own together as we bow to the floor, inhale the pumps to the sky, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest, exhale hinge the hips forward fold, palms to the shins, lengthen the spine, flat back, bend both knees, walk your feet just a little wider as if you were going to lower into melasana line, we're going to play with a little melasana version with our fingertips on the floor. Lift your left heel off the floor and use your left hand to guide the inner thigh away from the floor, right heel stays down, good.

Shift your weight, lift the right heel off the floor, lower the left, use the right hand or forearm to guide the right inner thigh away. So we're kind of opening up the knee ankle connection, you can just shift from side to side, left knee out to the left torso turns to the right, similar, find a little rhythm, a little movement from side to side where you feel this connection, great. And then we're going to have a little fun with a frog hop to the front of the mat, walk your hands forward, take an inhale, step or float your feet around the hands, glide it forward, float with the exhale and then see if you can get any hang time on this last one, exhale, perfect, from here, walk or float the feet back to plank pose, lower all the way down, cobra, untuck the toes, slide your ribs forward, let the shoulder blades soften, little cobra pulses, inhale lift, press into index and thumb, exhale lower, inhale lift, exhale lower, we've got three more, if you'd like to come up to your fingertips a little bit more, work for the lower back, strengthening the lower back as you rise, inhale, last one, rise all the way up, press your palms into the floor, your cobra pose, extending the heart forward, tuck the toes under, hips to the sky, press the chest towards the thighs, send it back to your down dog, inhale the right leg to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, exhale, look forward to the front of the mat, step your right foot all the way to the hands, lower the left knee to the floor, heel toe your right foot off the mat to the right, open up the hip, walk your fingertips across the mat, left side of the mat, and then take a little pulse to the right, inhale back to center, exhale pulse to the right, one more time, inhale back to center, exhale pulse to the right, come on back to center, walk your hands back, tuck the left toes under, lift the left knee off the floor, keep the leg bent and hip opening as you send the right leg to the sky, hip opening dog, keep the hip opening as you move the heart forward for hip opening plank, step your right foot behind the left, touch the toe pads to the floor, and lift the right hand to the sky. If you need the right hand for support, you can keep the hand on the floor, lower your left hip, and lift your left hip. If you don't need the hand here, as you lift the left hip, send the right hand to the sky. As you lower the left hip, reach for your left big toe. We're using this momentum to help us step the right foot to the hands in about two more pulses. So lift with the inhale, press forward with your left hand, and lower. Use the momentum with the right hand on or off the floor, rise up and step your right foot forward. How did that work? If not, don't worry, you have another side we'll be playing with. Pivot your left heel to the floor, line up the heels, walk both hands over to the left. Once again, we've opening up the right side of the body, feeling a little bit more expansive here. Straighten the right leg a little bit or a lot, and walk your hands to the left a little bit more.

It's kind of like we're playing Twister. Bend into your right leg. Maybe that brings up a fun memory too. Straighten the right leg, maybe walk your hands a little bit more to your left. Bend the right leg. Give yourself a couple more pulses, just like this, until you feel that deep side stretch on the right side body, and then breathe into it for three more breaths. Invite the inhales to be a little fuller and deeper. Two more. One more. Great. Turn the right toes to join the left. Walk your palms right underneath your shoulders. Turn the toes out a little bit to ten and two to open the hip, and then walk your hands over to the left leg. As you bend into the left leg, the right foot can stay on or off the floor. We're going to shift our weight from side to side, skandhasana, the crouching tiger. If you've got any knee issues, keep the hips a little higher. If you need more work, see how low you can keep the hips and start to take a little weight off of your fingers. Wonderful. Give it one more round. The next time you shift your weight over to your right leg, see if you can lower all the way down. You can use a block underneath your left seat to keep yourself up a little higher as you guide the right inner thigh away. Or if you're comfortable without the block, lower all the way down, guide the right inner thigh away, flex your left foot, and turn your torso over the left leg. Some of you might even reach for the calf or the pinky toe side of the feet, lengthening the spine, soft twist to your left, lengthening and rotate. Two more rounds of breath. Keep guiding the right knee away from you. One more. Bring your palms back in. This is the fun part. Give yourself a little shift forward, a little momentum, and use the left hand to help you come back up to your crouching tiger. Shift your weight over to your left leg, bending the left, straightening the right. And remember, you can put the block under your seat, less weight on the knee, or come all the way down. Using the left form to guide the left inner thigh away, start to turn your torso over to the right for a hip opening twist. This might be your spot right here, or reach for part of the foot. Lengthen with the inhale, fold with the exhale. Keep moving the inner thigh away, lengthen, and fold. One more round of breath. Good. Walk your palm, the left palm back to center. Use the right hand to help you back up to your crouching tigers, Gandasana. As you play with a little bit of movement, side to side, whatever feels intuitively right and celebratory for you for the next breath or two, we'll settle in to a straight legged version of Pasarita, turning the toes forward, palms under the shoulders, lengthen the spine, flat back. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, lengthen the spine. One more time. Get as long as you can through the spine, press into your toe pads, bring your hands to your hips, and rise all the way up. Star pose. Inhale the palms to the sky, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest. If this doesn't help you feel like you're celebrating life, what does? Really expand through left, right arm, lift your sternum, lift your chest, and then we'll take that forward fold. Forward again, bring your hands to your hips, guide the torso forward, lengthen the spine, palms underneath your shoulders, flat back, and then exhale. Take a soft fold. The crown of the head journeys towards the floor. If you want to feel more, slide your hands back, walk them between the legs. Two more rounds. Breath. One more. Wonderful, everybody. Walk your palms back right underneath the shoulders, lengthen the spine, and then turn the right toes back to the right. Left leg stays. If you want, you can turn the left toes in just like a little quarter of a turn. Bring the right form on top of the right side. Draw the left ribcage back for an easy supported variation of side angle. Let the left palm drop forward and circle it up and away. Just like we use the momentum in side plank, we're going to use these circular movements as momentum to rise all the way up to peaceful warrior. Next time you inhale, rise all the way up, left hand, left thigh, straighten the right leg, right hand to the sky. Pulse into the right leg. Keep your right hand reaching up, bend into it, and then as you straighten the right leg, reach a little farther back with the right hand. Keep the extension of the spine, lengthening of the side body. Two more pulses, just like that. Ah, feel some space. Last one. Great. The next time you bend into your right leg, bring the left hand to your left hip. If you're using the block, place the block about a foot in front of your pinky toe side of your right foot, half moon set up, slide your left foot in. Lengthen the spine, hug to the midline with the right inner thigh as you lift the left leg off the floor. If you want to feel more, turn your torso softly to the left and extend the left palm to the sky, stacking the left arm over the right. Pressing into the right big toe side of the foot will help you with your balance. Step back to your side angle, so step the left leg all the way back, bring the right elbow on top of the right thigh again. Or, since this is our second round, slide your right palm to your calf or somewhere inside of the leg, a little easier to help you feel the rotation. Gives you a little leverage. Let the left arm circle down, forward, and up, moving back into those nice shoulder releasers.

And it'll give us a little momentum to rise all the way up to peaceful warrior second round. Come on up, left hand, left IT band, right hand to the sky. Keep the right hand reaching up, inhale the left arm up, make a fist with the left hand, grab the wrist of the fist, press that left wrist to the left and then pulse into the right leg. Each time you straighten the right leg, maybe take a little deeper side bend, safely breathe into it, and then keep it there as you bend into it. Two more pulses, just like that. Anchor into your back foot, maybe squeeze your biceps back in space and bend into the right leg. We'll be finding some space here. One more. Bend into the right leg, breathe into it for two more rounds of breath. Really let the breath be full on the inhale. It's almost like we're exaggerating the inhalations. Left hand, left hip, right hand reaches forward, second time at a half moon. Use your block if you need it. Slide your left foot forward, walk your right hand, pinky toe side of the foot, about a foot, foot and a half in front depending on how long the torso is. Hug the right inner thigh to the midline, and then from here if you'd like to take tapasana variation, bend your left leg, reach back with your left hand and open the hip. Maybe guide the heel away from your seat. When you're ready to step back, shorten your stance by about six inches. Step back, setting up for triangle pose. Slide your right hand just above or below your right knee, straightening the right leg. Bring the left hand to your heart, lengthen the spine, and then turn your torso to the left. Lengthen with the inhale, turn the torso to the left, and then extend that left palm to the sky. Stay here, or if you can keep opening that left shoulder without turning it down, slide your right hand down a little bit more for triangle. Check in with the inhale, get along with the spine, and then soft rotation to the left. You've got two more breaths. If you want to take the left arm over the head or behind the head, reaching for your shoulder blades, and then lean to your left or start turn to your left to open up through the shoulder and the side body. Feel free. Great. Bend the right leg, bring both hands inside of the right leg as you lower the left knee to the floor. We made it. Walk your right toes off the mat to the right. Bring your palms right underneath the shoulders. Maybe slide that left knee back a little bit more to open up the hip flexor. Turn your torso to the right, and then use that right forearm to guide the inner thigh away. Two more rounds of breath. If you're going deeper, bend the left leg, take that little psoas stretch, hip flexor stretch, kick the heel away, but keep moving the right inner thigh away from the midline. One more round. Lower the palms to the floor. Take your palms over to your left a quarter turn. We were here earlier. We played with this little bend of the elbows, knee to the tricep. See what it feels like. Bend the elbows, lean forward, right knee to the tricep. Bend the elbows, lean forward, right knee to the tricep. If you'd like to use that left elbow, hug it in a little bit more. Hug the elbow in, lean forward into your left, and see if you can find the arm balance. Using two points of connection makes it a little bit easier. That's one's a great one to have a crash pad on. Alright, replace your hands. Tuck the left toes under, right leg to the sky. Celebrate side one being done. Open the hip. Lengthen forward for plank pose. Bend the elbows lower all the way down. Glide forward to cobra or up dog pressing to the tops of the feet, shoulders down, heart moving forward. And then come into either child's pose to slow things down between sides. Or if you want to keep the energy up, dolphin, down dog with the forearms on the floor. Or if you know that you love your inversions and you need your inversion today, set up for your headstand, forearm stand, or handstand. We're going to be here for another eight breaths settling in, reconnecting with a breath. So slow the pace down, keep the pace up, or explore Dhrishti in your inversion. Take your time. See if you can connect with all four parts of the breath, the inhalation, the pause, the exhalation, and that short pause before you start all over again. Wonderful, everybody. If you are in an inversion, start to work your way down. If you're in dolphin, come on down to child's pose. From child's pose, look forward towards your thumbs, bend the elbows up to 10 and 2 o'clock. Exhale forward, squeeze the elbows in as you slide forward for your cobra or your up dog. Inhale, press back to your down dog. Exhale, hips to the sky, chest to the thighs. Shift your weight towards your right leg. Inhale the left leg to the sky for hip opening dog. Good. Keep the hip open as you move to plank pose. Step the left foot behind the right for kickstand side plank. Some call it the wild thing. Remember, you can keep your left hand to the floor as you lower your hips and lift your hips. If you don't need both hands, push forward with your right hand. Inhale the left palm to the sky. Lift the right I.T. band and hip away from the floor. And then lower it. Left hand reaches for the right big toe. Two more pulses.

Remember we use this momentum to help us step that left leg all the way forward. One more. Push forward, look forward, use the momentum. Step the left foot forward to the front of your mat. Pivot the right heel lining up with your heels and bring both hands inside of the left leg. We made it. Walk your hands over to the right. A quarter turn, an eighth of a turn. Straighten your left leg. Give it a little release. Walk your hands a little bit more over to the right. Keeping the toes facing forward. Ink knee towards the second and third toe. Bend into your left leg again. So we're taking these little hip opening pulses. Each time you straighten the leg, maybe walk your hands to the right a little bit more. One more. Feel that resistance through the left side body. Beautiful. And then finally turn the left toes to join the right. Slide your palms underneath the shoulders. Turn the toes out to ten and two. Going back to our crouching tigers. Shifting our weight from side to side. You can be a little bit more exploratory now. Now that the knee and ankle joints are open, you can move a little quicker if it feels interesting. Some people like to do this without using the hands. Make sure if you're doing this without the hands that the knees and ankles want to do this without the hands. Not just our little egos that want to do this. Two more rounds of breath. One more. The next time you bend your right leg, same thing we did before. As you lower down, you might use a block under your hip or come all the way down. Good. Use your right forearm to press the inner thigh away. Bring your left hand inside. Flex the left foot and see if you can send that right palm to the sky or take a little bend guiding that right shoulder back in space. If this still feels good, reach the left hand for the right shin. Hug the elbow in. Take the arm over the head. Roll the shoulder blade back in space or reach for the pinky toe side of your foot and roll the shoulder blade back in space. Keep moving the right inner thigh away from the midline to keep that hip opening as you explore side flexion. Spreading out in space, enjoying the space, especially through the right side body and around the heart. Wonderful. As you come back to center, hands on either side of the foot, lift up, shift your weight to your left leg, crouching tiger to the left and then lower all the way down. Use the block underneath your seat. Hand inside, push the inner thigh away. If this feels okay, right hand to the floor, left hand to the sky, bending the elbow option two or reaching into a cross, hugging the elbow in, taking it for that nice side stretch. Keep that knees going to want to drop in. Keep moving it away from the midline if possible and open and roll the shoulder and then enjoy the breath. Inhale, pauses. Exhale, pauses. One more round. Great. And then come on back to center. Press your palms on either side. Turn the toes forward, lengthen the spine, flat back. Take a little bend in your knees as you forward fold, bring your hands to the hips, rise all the way up, back to our little star pose. One more opportunity to celebrate, maybe do something with your arms, with your fists. Happy day, whatever day it is that you're watching this. And then interlace your hands behind the back, lift and lengthen the spine, a little bend in the knees as you bow forward. Squeeze your shoulder blade softly from side to side. Lengthen the spine as you squeeze to the midline. Press into the big toe sides of the feet. Relax the muscles of the face. Relax the jaw. One more big inhale. And then exhale, just let the hands slowly drop to the floor. Palms under the shoulders. Lift the spine. Keep the right toes where they are. Turn the left toes to the left. Left forearm on top of the left thigh. A couple of slow circles with that right arm. Circle it down forward and up. Enjoy the movement in space. The next time you circle up all the way to peaceful warrior, right hand, right IT band, left palm to the sky. Keep celebrating the space on the left side body as you pulse into that left thigh, anchor into the right foot. Lift and lengthen. And then sink into your foundation.

Feel the resistance. Two more. Nice, everybody. One more. The next time you bend into the left leg, reach forward with a left hand. Use the block if you need to. Half moon. Slide the right foot in. Left hand about a foot in front of you. Inhale the right palm to the sky. Lengthen the torso and softly turn it to the right. Anchor into the big toe side of the foot so you don't fall backwards. Step all the way back to your side angle. Left elbow on top of the left thigh or inside of the left thigh. Giving yourself a little bit more depth in your side angle. Three full circles. Circle it up and back. Two more. One more. Windmill it all the way up to peaceful warrior. Left hand to the sky, right hand joints. Make a fist with the right hand. Left hand grabs the right wrist. Bend into your left leg. Two pulses just like that. Reach back with your right. Feel the side stretch and then bend. Breathe into it. One more. Last round in half moon. You got this guy's right hand to the right hip. Reach forward with the left fingertips. Block on the hand on the block if you're going for it. Right leg to the sky. Maybe reach back for chapasana. One more big inhale. Shorten your stance as you step back for triangle pose. Heels line up. Toes softly turn in. Bring your hands just below or above the knee. Great. And then inhale your right arm to the sky. Lengthen the spine and take that right arm either over the head, keeping that side stretching journey together. Take it over the head as you slide the left hand down maybe a little bit or a little bit more. Right hand behind the head if you're opening up a little deeper through the shoulder. One more big inhale. Everybody exhale. Bend the left leg. Lower the hands inside of the left leg. Lower that right knee to the floor. Heel toe your left foot off the mat to the left. Back up your right knee a little bit more. Untuck the toes. Guide the left inner thigh away from you. Option two, bend the right leg. Reach back for the pinky toe side of the foot. Heel moves away. Heart lifts. Opening up that psoas. Opening up the hip flexor. Wonderful. Lower the left hand inside of the left leg. Walk your hands an eighth of a turn to the right. So think like one and three or one and two o'clock. Hug the elbows in. Left knee leans forward. Taps the left tricep. Press back. Left knee. Hug the right elbow in. Press back. If you're flying, lengthen forward. Use that extra elbow, that extra point of connection to support you if you're newer to this. Step back. We did it. Walk the hands back. Left hand joins the right.

Tuck the right toes under. Left leg to the sky. Bend the knee. Open the hip. Celebrate. Side two. Lengthen forward to plank. Lower all the way down. Inhale for your cobra up dog. Exhale. Press back to your child's pose. And then come all the way back to a seat on the heels. Keeping the seat on the heels. Unless you have any issues, just rest your hands at the heart again. Settle into the breath. One more time. Inhale those arms out. A little back bend. A little celebratory back bend as you expand in space. Wonderful. Come back to the heart space. And we're going to finish up by swinging those legs around. Setting up for bridge pose. Feet are hip distance. Lower all the way down. A lot of hip openings. For closing up the hips. Pressing your triceps to the floor. Lifting your hips to the sky. You can bring your hands to the side of the mat for a softer version. You can walk your hands a little closer for an interlace or support the lower back. Pressing all four sides of the feet. Wonderful. As you exhale, lower all the way down. Great. Take your right leg on top of the left for a soft twist. Shift your hips to the right. Drop your knees to the left. And then come on back to center with the legs. Left leg on top of the right.

Shift your hips to the left. Drop your knees to the right. Soft twist. Any last little movements that help you slide into shavasana. Maybe take your arms into cactus field or take them a little farther away from you. Maybe take your legs a little farther away from you and see what it feels to really expand in your shavasana today. Bringing a smile back to the heart just like we did last week. Thanking yourself for being on this journey today. Imagine this sense of joy in every cell of your body. Every cell is feeling joy. Take your time melting into your shavasana. Relax the muscles of the face. Relax the jaw. If you'd like to spend more time in this much-deserved shavasana, feel free to stay there for the next five, ten minutes. Whatever is feeling right for your body today. Or you can start to slowly bring movement back to your physical shape and form. If you're ready to join me, moving into fetal pose and then a comfortable seat. See what it feels like to move slowly like your body is really moving at half the speed that it normally does. Checking back in when you do come to your seat and bringing your palms back to that heart center. Remembering all of the wonderful memories that we have on this journey today and remembering once again who we truly are beyond the name beyond the title beyond the role that we play. When you're ready to open the eyes you can let the hands drop into the lap. Take a nice big inhale and just go ah. So your takeaway today. Building on memories. I would love it if you called somebody up that you have wonderful memories with and call them up this week and reminisce and see what it feels like. See what your body feels like. See how you experience the journey of reminiscing. See where it steers your mind for the rest of the day. And if possible, make an opportunity to create new memories with them. Whether it's a travel buddy, whether it's a friend that you like to have coffee with, whatever it is, be the one to reach out. Create a new memory by revisiting an old one. That's our takeaway today to keep everything joyful. Thank you so much for practicing with me today. Happy day. Enjoy whatever day you're in and celebrate it.