Unwind and Release

Hey everybody, welcome back to Joyful Flow season 2. We are on week 5. If you did week 4, I hope you enjoyed our massaging movements and our slower pace. We're going to pick up the pace just a little bit today, but there'll be some nice treats along the way as well. I'm going to talk a little bit about our theme later when we come back to our seat.

We'll be starting lying down today on the back. You may need two blocks and a strap. We can improvise if you don't have one. So let's get comfortable lying on the back. You can settle on into the backside.

And today we're going to bend the knees and we're going to bring the bottoms of the feet together. Supta Baddha Konasana or Cobbler's Pose with the knees turning out. Let your palms move a little farther away from your waist. As you close the eyes, just let the knees intuitively rock left and right. Give yourself a little rocking movement, waking up the muscles that are supporting the lower back, the connection to your limbs.

As you release the glutes here a little bit, you'll feel this massaging wave going up and down the body. We're going to connect with this feeling of waves of the tide as we connect with our breath. So once you get settled in, you can close the eyes and listen to the rise and fall of your breath. Breathe loud enough so that you can hear the breath. The breath is your personal soundtrack and it helps you come back home, back to the sense of that inner self.

Cross the awareness from the outside world back to the inner workings of the mind, the heart. Take your time with the inhales, enjoy a little pause before you exhale and let the exhale move out any tension, physical, mental or emotional through the breath. As you inhale, listen to the sound of your breath. Enjoy a pause, stillness and silence and as you exhale, enjoy the sound of your breath. Enjoy the rhythm of the breath, kind of like the tide rolling in, the waves rolling out, feeling that sense of connection, not only to sound but to the deeper qualities of your breath, the expansiveness of the inhales, the relaxation, letting go of the exhales.

On your next inhale, we'll ride the wave and send the arms over the head, feeling the ribs lower back softly lifting off of the floor and as we exhale, release your arms, kind of reach for the inner thighs halfway between the inner thighs and the knees and just lift the head and shoulders softly off the floor with a little core navel to the spine. As you inhale, riding the wave once again, arms over the head, feeling the ribs lifting, the lower back lifting and as you exhale, it's just a soft movement. Let the head come up last so the core engages first, the shoulders lift up and the head comes up. Close with your breath, these are really subtle cow and cat tilts, inhaling, finding that extension of the spine and exhaling a little flexion, a little contraction, a little core work. Give yourself three more rounds.

Wonderful everybody, last two. That's the pulsing going on today in our practice. Lots of opportunity to connect with the breath. The next time the arms are reaching over the head, keep the hands reaching back, straighten your left leg, keep the right foot close to the left leg. Take a little side bend in your standing, your reclining tree, kind of like you're standing to the left.

So arms move to the left, maybe the left hand pulls the right wrist over to the left and then invite the breath to be slower, fuller and deeper into the right side body. You can flex the left foot like you're standing on the leg, invite the right inner thigh to drop towards the floor. Two more rounds of breath. One more. As you release the arms, slide the left foot back to meet the right.

On your next exhale, palms reach for the calf muscles as the head and shoulders lift off the floor. Inhale, inhale, heart, chest, ribs lift up and expand with the inhalation. Exhale pulse. One more time. The next time you inhale the arms over the head, keep the arms reaching back, straighten just your left leg, keep the right leg bent and we'll take that side stretch.

Oh wait a sec, we did this leg. Let's do the other leg. Straighten gesture. It's going to be a fun one today. Straighten just your right leg, keep the left leg bent and we'll take the side stretch over to the right.

Right hand pulls the left wrist over to the right and invite more breath, more prana, more expansiveness into the side body. Wonderful everybody. Come on back to center with both arms. Good. Let's keep the left leg where it is and place the left ankle on top of the right knee.

As you bend that right knee, lower your hands back to the floor. You can keep your hands supported by your figure four circles. We're going to draw the knees away from us and then back in towards the midline, circling the knees away, feeling a nice little massage for the outer glutes, the lower back, the connection to the sacral area and the hips. Enjoy another round of circles and then switch the direction of your circles. This might give you a little reminder of our exploration into the massaging movements last week.

So nice to release the body before we go deeper into the practice. Draw the right knee towards the midline, reach through and grab onto the back of the hamstring, pressing the sacrum to the floor. You can extend the right leg to the sky a little bit or a lot, depending on how the hamstring is feeling today. Feel free to stay here for your five breaths or if you'd like a little bit more core work, release the arms, keep the leg lifted as you exhale, reach as you inhale lower. Try to look straight up as you exhale.

Instead of using the muscles in your neck, try to use more core muscles. Last five, pulse with your breath, four. If you're holding on to the hamstring, you got a couple more breaths, enjoy. A softer experience, two and one, great. Bend your right leg, lower the right leg to the floor, cross the left leg on top of the right.

Once a little bit to your left, drop your knees to the right. Take that left arm over your head like you're going to reach the fingertips to the floor. And then from here, just take a little bend in the left arm, cactus field goal, and then circle it towards the body all the way up and over, and then rebend it into your cactus field goal. We're exploring our range of motion in the shoulder, if fluidly enjoying these movements, creating space with the movements, being kind to the body. Your body's so cool all the way it supports you.

The next time you cactus field goal the arm and open it, hang out right here, invite a couple of inhales, pauses, and exhales to help you melt into the posture without any force. Wonderful. When you're ready, unwind, make sure your hips draw back to the midline, and this time we'll straighten the left leg, placing the right ankle on top of the left thigh, drawing the left knee into the chest, arm free, circles with our figure four. You can bring the hands by the side or get them out of the way, just exploring your range of motion at the hips, nice little massage for the outer glute for the lower back. The next time you draw the knees into the chest, switch the direction of your circles.

Let the breath guide you, exhaling the knee into the chest, inhaling the knee away from the chest. Next time you draw the left knee into the chest, pause here, reach through, grab onto the left hamstring with both hands, press the sacrum to the floor and start to slowly extend the left leg. It doesn't have to straighten all the way, just listen to the hamstring, listen to the calf muscle. Remember, you have your five breaths to hang out here, or if you need a little bit more core in your life, exhale, pulse up, looking straight up, inhale, lower halfway down, exhale, lift, inhale, lower, pulse with your breath, more work with the core, less work with the neck, so we don't want to be looking forward, looking straight up, so it guides us deeper into the core muscles. Last three, last two, last one.

Great, keeping the right leg on top, lower the left leg, shift your hips to the right just a little bit, cross the right leg on top of the left, let the knees drop over to your left, and then take the right arm over the head, fingertips reach for the floor in front of you, and then as you exhale, just bend that right elbow, let it cactus feel, go out to the right, and then circle it across the body, over the head, so you're just kind of giving yourself a little windshield, wipe over the head, kind of a little windmill, yeah, give yourself a couple of slow, full circles, exploring your range of motion. One more round, there you go, and we'll settle into wherever we arrive here, you can look straight up, or take your drishti, your focal point over to the right a little bit more, see if you can soften with each exhale. As we force the twist, and the twist, it just feels good to help the body relax and melt into the experience without force, wonderful. As you're ready to unwind, slide your hips back to neutral, cross the legs, one chin over the other, give yourself a little rock forward and backward, think of this more as you're massaging rock forward and backward, giving yourself a little more momentum, and feel that stretch, the traction for the back body, and then rock your way all the way up to your seat, good. Find a nice comfortable cross legged seat, and we're going to explore our theme today, which is bringing in a contemplative mantra that helps us connect to the breath, and the mantra is really simple, so hum, and we just keep chanting so hum, the so is the inhalation, the hum is the exhalation, so means I am, hum that, in this case that could mean all of creation, universal consciousness, the one that breathes everything, so think of bringing your awareness and your attention to this mantra and the mystery of your connection with source, whatever that means to you.

The mudra, the hand mudra that we're going to use here is left hand over the heart, right, kind of more to the center of the chest, and right hand on top of the left where the thumbs are touching. This is the, the sva-ba-va, I always have trouble saying that sva-ba-va mudra, it's the wings of the heart, and we're going to place the palms right here, and first we're going to take a couple of rounds of so, inhaling, hum, exhaling, and just connect the sound, the feeling of the inhale to so, and the exhale to hum, I am that, I am all, I'm connected to all. Now we're going to keep our elbows bent, but release the mudra with the next inhale, so take the palms away from each other, keep the elbows bent for a little upper back bend, and then hum, bring it back to home, I am home, that sounds good to me, I am home, connecting to source, so take it out, little squeeze opening of the shoulders, hum, bringing it back in, give yourself two more rounds, we'll keep connecting with this mudra throughout the practice today, hum, one more so, keep the arms out, of course just say hum but keep the arms out, place the right palm out to the right, explore that left arm reaching up and over the ear, give yourself a soft little turn to the left, lengthening the spine and softly rotating, big inhale, lengthen and rotate, place the left hand on top of the right knee and we'll go back to that little pulse that we were working on, keep the left hand there, inhale the right arm to the sky, so exhale, swing it back, hum, find your rhythm, so hum, it's like a little lullaby that brings us back to source, so hum as you rock from side to side, you'll feel the sit bones shifting weight side to side, waking up, mula dada chakra, that base chakra, great, the next time you take the right arm up and over the ear, pause here, anchor the right knee down, lift and lengthen the side body, soft turn to your right, give it one more big inhale and then exhale, place the right fingertips behind you, plant the fingers into the earth, lift the sternum chin and chest and exhale soft rotation to your right, maybe walk the fingertips a little farther back, nice big inhale, exhale, take it out, nice little twist, ring it out, nice big inhale, soft turn. As you come back to center bend both elbows, send the palms away from each other, lift the heart, sternum, chin and chest, go back to the mudra, svabhava mudra, hum, inhale it out, exhale, bring it back home, inhale, you are connected to everything, that essence of everything is right there at your heart, the deepest essence of who you are is connected to all that there is, last one, the next time you separate the palms, pause right here, take your left palm to the floor, little side bend, right arm over the head, keep that right elbow bent and just roll that shoulder back in space, lengthen the spine, soft twist to the right and then you can start to straighten that arm as you anchor down through the right sit bone, go big with the breath here, especially as we breathe into the side body, we want to expand the breath and we will go to our pulses again, left hand stays, right hand reaches up, inhale, exhale, over, hum, pulse with your breath, remember the tide, remember the rhythm, we are all a part of that pulsing rhythmic creation, that pulsing prana that animates us, all arriving from the same source that fuels our breath, last two, next time you take your right arm up and over the ear, pause right here, breathe slower, fuller and deeper into the right side body and then place the right hand on top of your left knee and we will inhale the left arm up and over the ear, we will go for a couple of little pulses here, I think I gave you a little extra pulsing credit without the right arm down, so we are pulsing away today, just keep pulsing with me, you get a little lost in the so hum and you just don't want to stop, beautiful, reach the left arm up and over the ear, breathe into the left side body, lift and lengthen, place the left fingertips behind you, fingertips to the floor, lift and lengthen the spine, soft rotation to the left, lift and lengthen and rotate, one more, see if you can grow a little taller and then wring it out, perfect. As we come back to the heart space, let's go back to our mudra, left palm on the bottom, right hand on top, give yourself a moment here, if there is a wish or a dedication and offering that you would like to send out for the practice, to set for the practice, set it now, wonderful, thanks for being on the journey today, let's find some movements in table pose, you can swing your legs around and we will place the palms underneath the shoulders, knees underneath the hips, traditional cow and cat tilts, as you glide the heart forward, lengthen the spine, extend, look forward and up, as you round the spine, push down into your palms, pull the navel up and back, round the mid-upper back, perfect, pulse with your breath, lengthening forward with the inhale, rounding with the exhale, we are going to keep continuing here but we are just going to add a forward and backward movement, so take a cow tilt, toes tucked under, back up your seat, look forward, lift the chin, as you take your cat tilt, rounding the spine, lean forward and press into each finger, push forward and down as you round the spine, back up the seat, glide the heart forward as you back up the seat, look up, round as you exhale and you can bring a little bit more creative movement to it if you want to, a little rounding of the spine, a little shrugging of the shoulders as you glide forward, feel free to interpret whatever feeling needs to happen here as you explore the movements of the spine, last round, good, come to a neutral table, once you find the neutral table, shake out one hand at a time, move the energy around, place that right hand forward to palm print, shake out the left hand, move the energy around a little bit, place the left palm forward, we are going to explore the same movements in our down dog, so tuck the toes under, once you have pedaled the legs out one or two times just to free up the hamstrings, we will go into those cow and cat tilts in our down dog, bend the knees, look forward, round the spine as you exhale tops the toes, pull the navel up and back, as you inhale back up the seat, bend the knees, look forward, exhale rounding the spine, feeling kind of like that wave movement again, bending the knees, pulling the hips back, looking forward, rounding the spine, two more rounds, really waking up the muscles of the back body and the front body, kind of creating space for both sides of the body, the next time you bend the knees, look forward and then let your left ear drop towards the left bicep and right ear drop towards the right bicep and then free any tension in the neck and slowly straighten the legs, wherever they are straightening for you today, give yourself two more breaths, push actively forward with both hands, one more, glide forward to your first plank pose, try to lower the seat below the shoulders, engage the core muscles, squeeze to the midline with the inner thighs and then as you exhale, bend the elbows, lower all the way down, once you get down, replace your palms with your forearms, sphinx pose, heart moves forward, shoulder blades soften back, press to the tops of the feet, glide your heart forward, this is a great spot to feel the first back bend, if you'd like to move a little deeper, press into your palms and lift the elbows slightly off the floor and make sure to move your ribs and your heart forward, gives you more space for the lower back, also being active in the legs, one more round of breath wherever you find yourself and then exhale, lower back down, replace the elbows with the palms, tuck the toes under, pass through table or plank on your way back to your down dog, pedaling the legs out one at a time, a little intuitive movement, feel your way around, great, shift your weight to your left leg and inhale the right leg to the sky, toes pointing down, squeeze to the midline, press actively forward with both palms, take a nice big inhale, look forward as you exhale, step your right foot to the front of the mat, lower the left knee to the floor and bring your hands up to your hips, if you need to tuck your mat under or put something underneath the knee, we're going to be on the knee for a little bit so set yourself up, go back to that little pulse that we started earlier, inhale rising, exhale sinking, so inhale the palms to the sky, take a little bow forward, arms by the side, pulse with the breath, so great opportunity to really find connection even in the movement that sometimes take us away and back into our mind and out of connection, so when we play with a soul hum, we stay a little bit more present, we have that opportunity to feel our connection to source a little deeper, the next time you drop into the front of the right leg, slowly inhale the palms to the sky for your low crescent lunge, any arm variation that's calling you right now, I'd love for you to close your eyes and just move around freely whether you're bending the elbow, shrugging the shoulders, straightening the arms, feel your way around any of these little movements right here just for a couple of breaths, kind of ignites the intuition that also takes us a little bit deeper into that center of self, great, bring your palms inside of the right leg, swing the left toes around behind you and then as you walk your right foot forward, line up your right foot with your left knee, good, once you find yourself here, bring your hands to your hips and we're going to take a little internal rotation with the right arm, so bring the back of the right hand just behind your waist right here, just to the front so you can see part of your hand and then draw the elbow forward a little bit or a lot, let your shoulder tell you where to go, this will help us set up for binds later, we'll see how it's feeling, this is easy for you and the elbow slides inside of the thigh, feel free to stay here, either way let's draw the left rib cage back, breathe into that and if your left arm is free you can send it up and over the ear, go back to your breath, lengthening with the inhale, soft rotation with the exhale, nice big inhale and exhale, two more, great, bring the left hand to your left IT band, keep the left hand here, as you straighten the right leg, turn the right toes to the left, turn them forward so they're lining up with your left hip, a little variation of gate pose with the right leg straight, right arm over the head, this could be a perfect spot to hang out and press into your IT band, if you've got a block handy or your fingertips are able to reach for the floor, press into the pinky toe side, feel the side stretch through that whole right side of the body and then go back to your breath like it's the only thing important, back to the breath, feel the rise of the tide and the pulling back of the tide, when we stay connected to our breath we find so much peace and ease even in postures that may be more challenging today, one more big inhale just like that and then we'll exhale and come all the way up, as you come up once again turn your right toes to the right, bring your palms inside of the right leg and let the left foot swing around behind you, walk the right foot off the mat to the right, keep the knee bent, a little soft pressure maybe this is it, perfect, if you want to feel more walk your hands across the mat to the left and shift your hips to the right and give yourself a little bit more for the outer hip and the outer glute, this is an area where you might need your blocks, keeping them handy if you're using them, walk your hands back, as you straighten the right leg we're gonna keep it over here to the right so it's a little bit more of a hip opening hamstring experience, you might want to put your hands on a block here as you straighten the legs, so one hand on each block, if you're not using the block or if you are using the block walk your hands a little farther to your left away from the midline and see what it feels like to pulse your hips to the right, you're gonna feel that in the outer hip, outer IT band and also the inner thigh if you keep your right foot flexed, if you want to feel more softly turn your toes to the right to open, oh there it is, to open the hip a little bit more and as you pulse and feel your way into these places and spaces you'll feel a little resistance just breathe into and enjoy the resistance, pulse into it, soften into it, you're rocking that muscle, rocking that muscle so it falls into a state of ease, alright walk your hands back to the right foot, bend the right leg, three legged dog what's on the right leg too, the sky, bending the knee, opening the hip, same thing remember those little intuitive movements you did in your low lunge, feel free to explore some movement with the right leg, you can circle, you can shake it out, whatever feels intuitively right for you right now in your three legged dog, lengthen forward to blank pose, engage your core, lower the hips below the shoulders, hold for three, inner thigh roll, crown of the head moves forward, press back into your heels for two, press the floor away strongly with both hands, and the elbows lower down, if sphinx pose is calling you for your back bend stay in a lower experience, if you're coming into cobra or up dog elbows by the ribs make sure the heart is lengthening forward pressing into the tops of the feet, maybe a little shoulder roll something intuitive that helps you open up in the mid and upper back, wonderful, you'll meet in down dog, tuck the toes under or pass through your plank pose if you need a little extra upper body strength today, pressing back to your down dog, shifting your weight to your right leg, inhaling the left leg to the sky, toes pointing down for this left leg, draw the chest towards the right thigh, push actively forward with both hands, go back to your breath, two more rounds of full inhales, pauses and exhales, one more look forward, step the left foot between the hands, remember we're gonna be here on this knee for a while so if you want to double up your mat or put something under the knee that might be a great opportunity, we're going back into that pulse sinking into the foundation the psoas and then squeezing softly to the midline as we rise up, now just let your arms join the pulse, inhale it up, lengthen forward just a little bit, a soft bow as your arms come by your side, enjoy the rhythm of life, that pulse of life that you are a part of deeply connected to, all the suffering in our mind and in our heart comes from the feeling that we're separate and then we come back to this present moment, this idea of we are connected to universal consciousness, source, whatever you want to call it, brings a little bit more lightness to our life right, the next time you lower into that hip flexure, the opening of the front of the hip, keep it there and then inhale the palms to the sky, this is your opportunity to move and explore a little bit, just keep what's happening from the waist down, feel your way around the upper back and shoulders, maybe a little side stretch, maybe a shoulder shrug, give yourself some opportunity to find a little freedom in your body, wonderful, lowering the palms to the floor inside of the left leg, as you swing the right toes around behind you, walk your left foot forward so your left heel and right knee are lining up, easy side angle pose, the fingertips of the left hand come right to the top of the obliques, the hip, the waist and we pull the left elbow in a little bit, hang out right here, this is a great spot to be just to feel that internal rotation of the shoulder or you can slide it inside, draw the right ribcage back and send the right palm up and over the ear, go back to the breath, find ease in the breath, if you want to feel more sink into the posture and then lengthen and turn softly to your right, wonderful everybody, as you unwind the left arm, free it, thank you left arm, right hand to the right IT bend, left palm to the sky, turn the left toes forward or for your visual to the right so that they're following your hips, left heel lining up with the right knee, a side bend easily supported with the right hand at the IT bend or you can bring your hand to a block or the floor as you reach a little bit deeper, lengthen through the right side body as well as the left side body and really push to the pinky toe side of your left foot, get long and let the breath be full and active, go big with the inhales and expand, one more, left hand reaches up, right hand reaches up, turn the left toes to the left, open the hip, walk your toes slightly to the left, bring your hands inside and swing the right toes around behind you, heel toe your left foot to the left off the mat for a soft hip opener, this could be a spot just to release the outer gluten hip or you can go deeper and walk your hands to the right and pulse your hips to the left, that way we get that nice side body stretch that we've been working with a lot today, that feeling of expansiveness through the side body really helps open up around the heart center, wonderful.

Here your next pulse, walk your hands back, we're going to try this with a straight left leg, so straighten the left leg, remember you can use your blocks here, your legs still a little turning out so it's more of a hip opening experience of the hamstring stretch, walk your palms to the right, guide your hips back and to the left and then come on back to center, you'll start to feel that where the glute hamstring connect outer hip area hamstring connection, you also feel a little bit on the inner thigh and the calf as you pulse back, one more round, excellent, excellent, walk your palms back, bend your left leg, three the left leg, three legged dog, send it to the sky, you get to move around intuitively once again, what needs to be felt, what needs to be explored, what needs to be celebrated right, wonderful everybody, glide forward to your plank pose, hold it, we're still holding, press the heels back, hips lower than the shoulders, press down strongly, pull the navel up and back, two more rounds of breath, push actively forward and down with your hands, you got this, one more and then lower all the way down, untuck the toes, swing pose, so bringing your elbows right under the shoulders, we're gonna play with a little hip opening swing pose, I'm gonna slide a little bit to my right so you can see left leg comes into tree pose, perfect, keep the left forearm where it is, glide your heart forward, feel the little back bend here first, the left hand is gonna stay, the right arm is threading under, across and through, you can replace your left elbow with your left hand and we'll feel that little twist here, rolling to our left, rolling to our left, at one point you can free the left arm for a deeper expression of the twist, opening up through the lower mid-back connection, from here we're setting up for reclining Buddha pose, you're gonna bend your left leg right in front of your right knee, I'm gonna slide a little bit more this way so I'm moving to the left side of my mat, you might wanna do that so we stay on the mat, stay on your right forearm, easy figure four, left hand slides around the waist up the spine, try to find that spot between your shoulder blades or somewhere mirroring that, so just to give you a visual what's happening on my left side, my hand is up the spine, if this doesn't happen just drape it around the waist, left hand stays, slide your right hand forward, you're gonna feel this just slowly lower back onto your left palm, nice internal rotation of the shoulder helping us with the binds, the left foot stays on top of the right thigh, if you wanna go deeper, bend your right leg and heel toe your right foot off the mat to your right, so that when you drop your knees to the left, you get a little added pressure on the left shoulder, even deeper rotation, feel your way through it, after a while your hand just kinda goes to sleep on you, just breathe your way into it, wonderful, the best part is releasing from this, so slowly release the legs, unwind, free your left arm, good, let's try coming back and seeing what the other side feels like, so we'll bring the right leg into tree pose, guiding the heart, the ribs, the chest forward, little back bend, in our version of sphinx pose with a hip opening tree, right elbow stays, left arm is the thread, threads under, across and through, slowly release into twist, such a nice release for the mid lower back connection, the lumbar spine where it connects to the thoracic spine, wonderful, and then let the right knee point up towards the sky, keep the right foot flexed, easy figure, come up to your left elbow and then slide your right hand around the waist, up the spine, or whatever your version is, if you're hanging out here that's gonna be okay, you're still gonna feel that same stretch, okay, from here slowly unwind, lower onto your back, onto that right palm, you'll feel this in the top of your shoulder, the little internal rotation of the shoulder, remember that opportunity to bend your left leg, and heel toe your left foot over to your left, as you drop the knees to the right, heel toeing the left foot to the left, you'll get a little bit more resistance, so really help us with the bind when we move into our standing posture, one more round of breath, freedom is coming, slowly unwind the legs, unwind the arms, free that right arm, shake it out, I hope you're all still with me after that one, untuck the toes, glide up to your cobra, your up dog, and send it back to your down dog, let's see how that helped us as we move into our standing hip opening postures, inhale the right leg to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, bow towards your left shin, exhale, step your right foot between the hands, setting up for warrior two, pivot your left heel, lining up the heels, windmill your palms up, good, bring your hands to your hips for a moment just to keep the shoulders lining up over the hips, drop the left hip, lift the right, going back to our mudra, remember our spa bhava mudra, left hand on the bottom, right hand thumbs touch, good, straightening the leg as we inhale, and then bending the leg we send it out with our exhale, inhale so, back to the mudra, exhale hum, pulse with your breath, inhale, I am connected to all there is, keep pulsing your palms can be facing up or traditional warrior two down whatever feels right for you just anchor into your back foot, nice everybody, last two, warrior two arms are T, left hand comes to the left thigh, flip your right palm to the sky, straighten your right leg, reach up with that right hand, find a lot of length and a lot of space, lift through your left side body, find a lot of length, a lot of space, reverse triangle pose, reach up and back for two more rounds of breath, really feel the side stretch, go back to two rounds of the soul hum breath, feel the wave of energy rising up the right side body, wonderful, and then from here bend your right leg, so we've got that right arm ready for a bind, if you use your strap for the bind, grab your strap into your left hand and drape it around your waist, right hand threads under and through for your fingertips or the strap, so strap the left hand behind the back around the waist, slide under, to feel the bind, draw your hips forward first, lengthen the spine second and softly twist and rotate third, so make sure that turning to the left is the last experience here, wonderful everybody, whether you're bound or not bound, if you've got a strap, keep the strap in your left hand, free it, if you're bound without a strap, free it, step your right hand right next to your right foot, look forward and step your left foot forward, good, so we're prepping for bird of paradise, if you have a block or two and you want to play with an easier lift, place your foot on top of the block, right foot on top of the block, go back to your bind, maybe this is where you're hanging out today, lengthening and then softly rotating, if you're taking the bind, shift your weight into your left leg, come up to the toe pads, look forward, a little bend in the left leg will help you get the right foot off of the floor, stay here with the right leg bent or explore a little bit of extension, straightening the right leg, bird of paradise, when you come down be very mindful if you've got a block in the way, you might want to release the hands first so that you don't land on the block, place your right foot to the floor, good, move your blocks out of the way and let's step that left leg all the way back, let's see what the left side has in store for you, right leg to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, maybe shake it out, maybe a celebratory flip of the dog, pivot your left heel, left heel to the left, step the right foot behind, lift the ribs and lift the chest, lengthen forward to plank pose, I'm going to be nice and just let you lower down from plank and not hold for five breaths, bend the elbows, lower all the way down, untuck the toes, glide the heart, sternum chin and chest forward, exhale, press back to your down dog, shifting your weight to the right leg, inhale the left leg to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, push actively forward with both hands as you draw the chest towards the right thigh, take a nice big inhale, exhale, look between the hands, step the left foot between the hands, setting up for warrior two, pivoting the right heel, lining up the heels, windmilling the palms up, bringing the hands to your hips for a moment, drop the back hip, lift the front hip a little bit just so the shoulders are stacked evenly aligned with the hips, go back to your mudra, left hand on the heart, right hand thumbs touching, so straighten the left leg, hum, bend the left leg, extend the arms, so nice tall spine anchor into your back foot, lift the sternum and chest, keep anchoring into the back foot, hum, reach the palms out, flow with your breath, feel yourself connected to that universal matrix, that energy that supports all of us, that connects all of us, pulse with your breath, last round, I don't want to stop, extend your arms warrior two, right hand comes to the right eye, T-bend, flip the left palm, straighten the left leg and really reach and lift through the left side body, lift through the right side body, so you find a little bit more side flexion to your right as you reach the left hand back, go big with your breath, inflate the inhale, hold and exhale, inflate and hold, exhale let it go, beautiful, bend your left leg, place your left elbow on top of your left thigh, this is where we play with the bind, if you're using the strap, strap is in your right hand dropping it behind the back, left hand reaches for the strap or your fingertips, when you move into a bind first, draw your left hip forward, lengthen the spine second and then rotate last, try not to rotate first that's too much compression on the lower back, give yourself a couple of breaths anchoring into the back foot, lengthening the spine and softly turning to your right, right hand stays in the half bind, left hand next to the left foot, walk your right foot next to the left foot, keep it a little bit farther behind so it's easier for us to set up for our bird of paradise, slide your blocks next to your left foot, place the left foot on top of your block if you're using it, easier for that lift that's why we're using the block, back to the bind, establish the drishti, a little bend in your right leg, come up to the tops of the toes, lift by pulling the navel up, engaging the core, lifting through that left hip flexor to get you up a little higher, stand tall, you can keep the left leg bent or you can start to straighten it for your finale bird, remember you may want to release the hands if you're coming down next to your block, we don't want to fall on the block so get the release happening first and then move blocks out of the way, palms to the floor, step the right leg back, two gold stars for two bird of paradises, left leg to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, maybe shake it out or flip your dog, lift, open, celebrate, one more round of breath, I'll meet you in plank pose and we'll lower down from here, untuck the toes, cobra, up dog, great, so we did a lot of binding today, a lot of internally rotating the shoulders, let's give those shoulders a little break and do the opposite, a little external rotation, stay in your sphinx pose, bend your left leg so right hand stays, make sure when you're turning your left palm you're flipping it up so the bicep is facing up, externally rotating, not down, flip it up, there you go, grab onto the big toe side of your foot, glide your heart forward and then the action is kicking the heel away to help you open up through the front of the chest, be right here if this was what feels good for you, if you want to feel more, press into the right palm, lift the ribs, draw the ribs towards the right thumb, if you still want to feel more lower all the way down, replace your right elbow with your right palm and you'll get a little bit more of a back bend, same action, moving the heel away from your seat to open up the front of your shoulder, front of your hip as well, excellent everybody, go ahead and lower on down, back to your sphinx pose, bend the knees, give yourself a little rock from side to side and go back to your breath, release the left foot and bend your right leg and we'll reach back for that shoulder opener, so turn your palm up as you reach back for the big toe side of the foot, left elbow on the floor, softer experience, as you kick the heel away you'll feel that front of your chest starting to release a little bit, remember you've got a couple of options, lifting the elbow off the floor, keeping the left hand where it is or replacing your left elbow with the left palm, a little bit more of a back bend, make sure your lower back is okay with this, keep the heart gliding forward as you kick the heel away and whatever version you're in, so we don't get any compression in the lower back, wonderful, go ahead and release your right leg, let's all come up to table just for a moment, from your table pose we'll replace the palms with our forearms, a little interlace of the fingers as we back up the hips, just to release the upper back and shoulders, if you need more of a shoulder stretch just back up your knees a little bit more, looking down softer on the neck, looking forward, deeper back bend for the upper back and shoulders, settling in, wonderful, isn't life wonderful, we have to keep remembering how cool it is to be a part of life, walk your hands back to where your elbows are, swing your hips over to your right or your left, whatever feels easiest for you to set up for your bridge pose, remember if you got lower back stuff you want to keep a softer bridge, put a block underneath your sacrum, I'm going to use a block for this first one, feed hip distance, as you lift the hips the block and go low, medium or high underneath your sacrum and this just gives us a little time to really take a little time to be in the posture without as much effort, for this one let's flip our palms up and squeeze the shoulder blades a little closer towards the midline, so we're enjoying that external rotation of the shoulders the opposite from our binds, keep on opening the shoulders the front of the chest, go back to the rhythm of your breath, go back to riding the wave of your breath, clearing and purifying with the inhale, enjoying stillness and listening for that exhale to follow, listen to the sound of the surf, one more, great, press into your feet if you're using a block, lift off of your block, we've got one more opportunity for our bridge pose, if you'd like to go a little bit deeper you can interlace your hands underneath the waist, so first press into your triceps, press into four corners of your feet, lift the hips off of the floor, walk your fingers together, interlace and squeeze the elbows a little bit closer, press the pinky sides of your fingers to the floor and then as you push into the toe pads lift the hips, for those of you that don't have really long arms, like I don't, you might be able to bend the elbows and bring the knuckles all the way up to your sacrum for a little bit more of a supported variation of bridge pose, if you have long arms don't even bother with this one, if you got little penguin arms like me then this could be your pose right here, we've got to take advantage of some of the areas where we may feel a little bit of our shortcomings, two more rounds of breath, one more and then go ahead and release and lower down, when you lower all the way down just let your feet move a little bit wider and let the arms come into an easy cactus field going will rock the knees from side to side, little release, good, walk your feet together this time and then keeping the left foot where it is, cross the right leg on top of the left so the knees are nice and lined up, we're going to go into a little windshield wiper from side to side with the right leg on top, focus more on rocking to your right to begin with, so as the knees rock to the right you're gonna feel the front of the hip flexor and the outer IT band on the left side, it gives you a nice little stretch, if you want to cheat a little bit heel toe your left foot to the left as the knees drop to the right, once the knees drop to the right and you're comfortable with that spot take the arms over the head and we'll take a little side stretch to the left, left hand pulls the right wrist over to the left, if you still want to feel more you can keep walking that left foot off the mat to the left and really open up lower back area of the IT band area, the front of the hip area, go back to the rise and fall of your breath, go back to riding the wave, I think I'm gonna want to go surfing after this, see that we can't do that in Chicago, all right keep the right leg on top of the left, cactus feel, go the arms, walk your left foot back to the center and then walk your left foot a little bit over to the right, shift your hips to the right so that you can easily drop your knees over to your left for a deeper twist, for this version today bring the right hand to your rib cage, more like the middle of the, not too high up to below the chest, lower rib cage is there and then with each exhale just softly pull the muscle, the fascia, the ribs back and to the right a little bit, use the exhale it's a really soft experience, two more rounds of breath enjoy the feeling of a little bit more space and rotation without force, it's like a gentle adjustment, nice, then all you have to do is come back to center with those legs, switch which leg is on top, hips move over to your right just a little bit, walk the right foot over to your right a little bit, left leg is on top and we'll go into those easy pulses to the left, arm variation of your choice as you close up the hip after all those nice hip opening postures we did today. The next time you let the knees drop over to your left just be right there, hang out, if you want to feel more walk your right foot off the mat to the right a little bit more, I like to think of my right knee and my right hip lining up for a little bit more depth if that's what you need for this nice cross-legged IT band stretch, if you're going deeper arms over the head take your side bend to the right mirror whatever you did last time right hand grabs the left wrist or do whatever you did with those arms last time and then invite the breath to be your soundtrack so ride the wave again let the breath and maybe even closing the eyes bring you a little bit deeper inward that mystery of how do we connect with source how do we connect with everything there is sense of wonder remember that sense of wonder we had when we were kids every day was a new fresh day can we invite that back in good walk your right foot slowly back take your hips a little bit to your left and drop your knees to the right left palm left fingers pull the left ribcage softly down and to your left enjoy a moment or two here melting into the floor and then when you release the arms just release the legs let them let the hips move back to center extend both legs turn the toes out give yourself a little wiggle a little shake melt into the floor be free of any doing drop from your head space to your heart space where you feel connection if you would like to stay into your shavasana for a couple more minutes if I were you I would do the same feel free if you'd like to join me in a comfortable seat feel free to explore that to any intuitive movements that help you move to your seat give yourself a little time here maybe some time in your fetal pose helping yourself up keep the eyes closed left hand on the heart right thumb touches the left right hand on top of the left the wings of the heart may they always be free to open and have that sense of liberation and flight when we connect to source how can we not feel the sense of celebration wonder and joy yourself a moment or two to open the eyes thank you for practicing with me today be well be happy be peaceful namaste