Focus on the Trees

(soft ocean sound) Hi, I'm so glad you're here. Today we'll have a practice for focus and balance. So, from here, let's juice up our mountain pose. Look down at your feet. Spread your toes wide, lift your arches, roll your armpits wide and open your collar bones.

That will lift your lungs and give you more energy, more joy, just by doing that. So close your eyes here for a moment. Take a deep breath into your mountain. Picture that central channel moving and flowing through the center of your body. And feel the balance here.

Take a deep breath. From here we'll move into horse pose. So place your hands on your waist, open up your legs wide, turn your feet out, and pretend you're actually sitting on a horse. So sit down in the saddle. Rock a little from side to side.

Balance on your feet. And if you want to feel grounded, feel your feet on the ground. Take a deep breath. Now for fun, hold on to your reigns and ride your horse. Breathing.

Posting trot. Excellent. Sit down in your saddle. Rock. Feel your spine long.

Deep inhale, exhale. Excellent. Push into your feet. Straighten our your legs. And let's turn, one foot open, we'll move into triangle pose.

Notice you're still balancing on your feet. Anchor the outer edge of your back foot. Heel. Open up your arms wide. Length into the side.

Lengthen your side waist. Release your hand to your shin. Maybe even your ankle. Excellent. Breathe up through those top fingertips.

You can even picture the triangles you're making with your body. Perfect. Deep inhale, exhale. Nice. From here we'll move into a balance pose.

Half moons, so place your hand on your waist. Look down at the earth. Step your back foot in and place your hand, your fingertips about six inches in front of that baby toe. Now this might be your pose today. Everyday balance is different.

Take your time, you might stay here, you might even lift your back leg. Notice, and you might even inhale that top form up. The moon moves slowly, take your time. Flex your back foot. Excellent.

And then release back to triangle. Perfect. Reach up with that top hand. Turn both feet in. Take a breath.

Rest on your feet. From here we'll find that to the other side. So turn the other foot out. Open up the arms wide. Lengthen.

So nice. Hand finds the shin, maybe the ankle. For triangle on this side. Breathe wide from your heart. All the way out through your fingertips.

Excellent. From here siding, or I'm sorry, half moon. So hand on your hip, bend your knee. Plant your fingertips. Step your back foot in.

Now remember, this is a balance pose. Balance takes time and it changes all the time. So take a moment here, ground. And then you might lift your back foot. Excellent.

This hand might come up. Picture the moon shining. Spread your toes wide. Take a few deep breaths here. This is a hard pose.

Practice it, it gets easier. Breathing. From here release back to your triangle. And slowly come up. Excellent.

Hands on your waist, walk your feet in and then we'll move into a tree pose. So first, close your eyes, come back to your mountain. Take a breath. Trace that river through your body. And then for tree.

Plant one foot, spread the toes wide. That's your root. You might even picture roots underneath your foot. Bring your other foot in. This is called sappling pose.

Maybe this is your pose today. Stay here, or you might even lift this foot. Take your time, pick a spot on the earth. Eyes focused. Maybe your hands find your heart.

Just do your best. Trees move. Now from here, take your time, maybe you even grow branches. Excellent. From your foot, your root through your trunk.

Your spine, grow tall to the sun. Feel it. Breathing. And then release that foot. Close your eyes.

Come back to center. And then we'll find the other side. So look down at your other foot. Root it, spread your toes. From here find sappling pose.

Eye soft on the earth. Patience. So maybe this foot stays here. Maybe the foot finds the inner thigh. Roll the knee open.

Root. Eye soft on the earth. Excellent. Maybe you grow branches. Every tree is unique, perfect.

Feel your body, a beautiful tree, growing. Blooming. Breathe here. And then release back to your mountain. Close your eyes.

Balancing poses quiet the mind. Sometimes we talk about the mind, like a monkey. Jumping from limb to limb. When the mind is quiet, we can really feel. Take a deep breath and notice.

So one more standing balance pose. This is called Eagle. So we're going to become a giant bird. This is great for your immune system. So if you ever feel like you're gonna get cough or a cold, try this pose.

So open up your arms wide. And we'll cross one arm underneath the left. So this time, let's take a right hand. Put it under your left. Bend your elbows.

This is your beak. Now take your right foot, cross it over, and we'll sit down as if in a chair. Take your time. Eyes on the earth. Now you might stay right here.

This is a great balancing pose. You can play with wrapping that bottom ankle. And even sitting down and perching, like a giant bird. Squeeze your arms, your legs together, like ropes. So good.

Breathe into the shape, squeezing.nnnnn Beautiful. Now pretend you're a magic bird, a giant bird. Inhale, open. And then come back to center. Mountain, notice.

So let's find that to the other side. This time take your left hand. Left hand underneath the right, elbows bend. Maybe your hands even come together for a beak. From here cross that left leg over and pause.

This is perfect, right here. You might stay standing, you might sit down. And you might even wrap that bottom ankle. And you can even play with perching like a bird. Squeeze your elbows together, your knees, your thighs.

Take a few deep breaths. This is for your health. Inhale. Exhale. Perfect.

Now picture an eagle, inhale up, wide, breathing. And hands find the heart. Come back and notice the effects. Feel the health flowing through your body. Health is movement, energy.

Feel it. From here we'll open up the legs wide. Come down into a squat. So here in squat, let's shift to one side. Breathe in to those inner channels of the legs.

And the other side, breathing. Do that a few more times. Nice. And then from here we'll go ahead and sit down. And let's lie down.

So bring the feet forward, tuck your chin. And slowly roll down onto your backs. Nice. We'll find a final twist here to relax the spine. So, hug one knee into your chest.

Straighten our the other leg and drop it to the opposite side, twisting your lower back. Take a deep inhale, exhale soften. Feel the earth underneath you. And notice how your spine is nice and flexible. Warm.

From here bring that leg up. Straighten out to meet the other. And we'll find the other side. So hug the other knee in. Dropping it over feeling the twist in your spine.

Your spine loves this. Spine medicine. Take a deep breath, soften everything. Feel your body supported. And then from here, straighten out that leg, release it.

And we'll pause here and rest. And as you relax here, let all your bones be received by the earth, supported. Breathing. And after the balancing poses, the concentration, the focus, notice how quiet your mind is. Notice how relaxed your body feels.

Let yourself release and relax into peace. Breathing. Stay here as long as you would like. Body needs to relax. When you're ready, roll on to one side, pause, hug your knees close to your chest.

And then use both your hands, slowly sit up. Take your time, keep your eyes closed. Find a comfortable seat. And as your hands find your heart, drop your chin gently. Take a deep breath, feel the quiet mind.

The open heart. The relaxed belly. And say thank you to yourself for practicing, for feeling the yoga. Deep breath in and out. Peace.