Quiet and Spacious Heart

Welcome, so glad you're here. Let's transition into our practice by exploring the sound of Aum to kind of wake up the lungs, clear some energy, and find a bit more breathing room around the heart. So find yourself in a comfortable position. I'm sitting up on a block, but you might find a cushion or even a chair. And bring your hands onto your belly and begin to bring your awareness towards the breath.

Again, you feel and sense the movement of the breath in your belly. And together we'll break down the sound of Aum and begin with the sound ah, resonating in the belly together. As you're ready, exhale everything and breathe in ah. From the belly, bring your hands up towards your chest and you feel and sense the movement of the breath in the upper lungs, the chest. Together the sound ooh, like it's oozing out of you.

Exhale everything. Breathing in. And drawing your awareness and your hands up into your head, together we'll find the sound mmm, like a buzzing bee in the springtime. Breathing in. Mmm.

Mmm. Letting your arms release and blending these sounds together, the sound Aum. Exhale. Breathing in. Aum.

Perhaps noticing the resonance, the sound afterwards. Now for an inhale. Nice easy exhale. As you feel ready, we'll transition, finding our way into a tabletop. Take your time transitioning and you might bring a blanket under your knees for padding.

Spread your fingers, spread your toes. You might tuck your toes under and we'll begin with Cat-Cow to wake up the spine, the back body. On your inhale, feel your extension, your ability to length, spread the collar bones. And then as you exhale, feel your ability to really round and stretch. It might feel good to linger here as you draw your hips back.

Nice wide breath across the back into the kidneys. Now dropping the belly and take a breath in, exhale, curl and round, stretch your back. Continue at your own pace. A few more rounds here. Notice the quality of your gaze.

Your eyes softly focused. Are they closed? You might take your Cat-Cow in different directions, circling the hips, bringing it up into your ribs, your shoulder blades, into your neck. Just exploring this freedom through the body and any kind of sticky spots along the way. Now let yourself be curious.

Eventually begin to extend back through your left leg and let's just begin to wake up the back of the leg here. The toes stretching through the heel, back and forth and feeling the weight through your hands. Let's take this into a side plank variation, ground through your right hand and as you inhale, sweep your left arm up to the sky. Feel how you can reach from your heart into both hands. Sweep your left arm down in front of your face and find that whole side body opening.

Feel so good to root through the outer edge of that left foot as you reach on up. Inhale to lengthen, exhale, sweep that left arm down. Back into your tabletop, a few more Cat-Cows here and washing that through your spine. As you're ready extend back through your right leg, tuck the toes and just begin to roll forward and back, waking up the back of your leg, the Achilles, calf, hamstrings. As you're ready, root through your left hand, side plank variation, sweep your right arm up to the sky, reach from the heart into both hands.

Find that ease in the neck. Sweep your right arm down in front of your face and reach it overhead and again feel your ability to root through the outer right edge of your foot as you find a bit more length opening up through the side body, ribs, up into the fingers, inhale, exhale, sweep your right arm down, come back into your tabletop, a few more Cat-Cows here, moving, breathing, stretching and creating some space. Take this into a plank pose as you're ready. You might keep your knees on the floor, you might lift the knees, feel you can reach back through your heels, lengthen forward through the heart, drawing the deep low belly up and in and then exhale back into your down dog. And in this first down dog, just begin to walk it off, walk it off, stretch out the back of the legs, feel the back of the neck release, feel your connection through the hands, it might feel nice to come high up onto the balls of the feet, wake up the toes.

And then as you're ready, inhale back into plank pose, shift shoulders over wrists, strong here, press the floor away. Just lower on to the belly for Sphinx pose, stretch the arms forward and come up onto your forearms, arms about shoulder width apart and feel how you can kind of traction through the spine here by drawing the heart forward. Find space through your collar bones, find that ease in the neck, you might stay with your neck kind of extended, you might release the chin and maybe roll the right ear towards the right shoulder, taking a breath, roll the chin towards the chest and left ear towards the left shoulder. You might do this a few times side to side, breathing into where you feel the sensation and maybe stickiness, a few more moments here in Sphinx pose, softening the face, the jaw. As you're ready, exhale, lower, slide the hands underneath the shoulders, draw your elbows and tuck your toes under, press up and round your way back into a child's pose, your version.

Feel how you can kind of wiggle and shimmy the hips back towards the heels, it might feel good to stretch your arms forward, spread your fingers wide, breathing into the back of your body. With each exhale, softening the belly, settling. Take your time, inhale back up into table, let's meet in down dog, tuck the toes under and lift up into your down dog, soft bend through the knees, feel how you can reach and lift your sitting bones up towards the sky, beautiful. From here, let's walk our hands towards our feet, nice and easy, turn the toes out, heels in towards the squat, malasana, bend the knees, find your version of a squat today. Mindful of your knees, your ankles, your heels, ground through your right hand, inhale, let the left arm lift and it might feel good to circle out through your ankle, through your wrist, breathing, inhale, exhale, release, inhale, sweep the right arm up and circle out through your wrist, maybe open up through the right hip, just let it feel really good.

Beautiful, and release, come into your standing forward fold, toe heel your feet under your hips, soft bend through the knees, release the head. As you're ready, bend your knees a lot, curl the chin in, curl the tailbone under as you slowly round and roll your way up towards standing and take a few moments, let yourself settle, feeling the blood, the energy, move back down into the feet and let's rub the palms together, feeling that heart-hand connection, rub, rub, rub and then bring one hand to the belly, one hand to the heart, find that ease in your neck and from here let's find a walking meditation towards the top of our mat, feeling the soles of the feet, open to the earth. Once you arrive at the top of the mat, bring the hands together at the heart, we'll begin to move through a few rounds of lunges and honoring your timing, your rhythm. As you're ready, on an inhale, sweep your arms up and on an exhale, soft bend through your knees, forward fold, release, inhale, half arch to lengthen, feel your ability to lift, exhale, bend your knees, step your right foot back, let your left knee bend, runner's lunge, twisting lunge, ground through your right hand, inhale, sweep your left arm up to the sky, feel how you can reach back through your right heel, lengthen forward, of course find that ease in the neck as you breathe, inhale, exhale, sweep your left arm down, lower your right knee again, you might pad it with a blanket, inhale, draw your hips back, extend the front leg, exhale, bend the knee and sink into your lunge, inhale, hips draw back, extend, front leg, exhale, bend. One more time, inhale, hips draw back, exhale, bend, hands come up onto the front leg, from here you might inhale, sweep your arms up, low crescent lunge, feel that lift from the back of the heart, from here bend your right arm, left fingertips onto your right elbow, inhale, lengthen, back of the head lifts and exhale, maybe a side bend over to your left, opening up the right side body and breathing.

As you're ready, inhale, back up to center, arms stretch up, exhale, hands release, draw the hips back again, extend, bend your front knee, tuck your back toes, ground your hands, step back into your downward dog. Stay here or on an inhale join me in plank, shoulders over the wrists, on an exhale lower all the way down, on your inhale shoulders roll up, back and down for a cobra, lift the heart and exhale lower, tuck the toes, press up, downward dog. On your inhale stretch your right leg up to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, inhale, stretch your right leg up to the sky, exhale, step it through runner's lunge, take a few moments to ground in your lunge, we'll twist it out, ground the left hand, inhale, sweep your right arm up to the sky, reach back through your left heel, forward through your heart, again that ease in the neck. Sweep your right arm down, lower the left knee nice and slow, stay low, inhale, draw the hips back, extend your right leg and exhale lunge. Two more inhale hips draw back, extend, exhale lunge, last one inhale back, exhale lunge, hands come up onto the front leg, inhale arm sweep up into your crescent, feel your ability to lift from the base of your spine, pelvic floor all the way up, bend your left arm, right fingertips onto the left elbow, inhale lift up and exhale side stretch to your right, breathing, softening the face, the jaw, inhale back to center, arms reach up, exhale hands release, draw your hips back, free that right leg, bend the right knee, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, let's just step the left foot forward to meet the right, as you arrive, inhale half arch, lengthen, exhale bend your knees to fold, ground through your feet bend the knees, inhale sweep your arms up, lengthen and exhale, hands together at the heart, a few moments here to pause, notice, feel, adjust, wiggle, adding on for our second side, as you are ready inhale arms reach, exhale to fold, inhale half arch to lengthen, exhale knees bend step the left foot back right knee bends, twisting lunge ground your left hand inhale right arm sweeps, reach back to lengthen forward, inhale exhale right hand lowers, left knee lowers, stay low or inhale rise up low crescent, arms reach up, inhale exhale cactus your arms, two more inhale arms reach, exhale cactus, inhale arms reach, exhale cactus and open, inhale arms reach, turn the palms away, maybe find that interlace behind the back, inhale open the chest, breathing, exhale release the hands, draw your hips back extend through your front leg, making your way into a high crescent lunge, bend your right knee tuck your back toes, low and strong in the legs, hug into your midline, arms lift, inhale reach the arms up, we'll keep it simple today, drawing the tailbone under and feel like you can lift the spine, creating space, energy through your back leg, your fingers, might feel some wobbling and exhale release the hands, nice work step back down dog, breathing, stay here inhale into plank, exhale lower the knees or chaturanga, inhale to cobra or maybe it's an upward dog, exhale back into down dog, from down dog inhale lift your left leg up open the hip bend the knee, long through the neck, stretch your left leg up to the sky, inhale, exhale step it through twisting lunge, ground your right hand, inhale sweep your left arm up, reach back to lengthen forward, feeling that reach from the heart into the hands, inhale exhale release the left hand lower your right knee, inhale arms sweep up low crescent, exhale cactus the arms, two more inhale reach, exhale cactus, inhale reach, exhale cactus squeezing the shoulder blades towards the spine, inhale one more time, turn the palms away, maybe opposite knuckle on top, feels a little weird, opening the chest and breathing, spacious in the throat, soft in the face, slow gently release the hands draw the hips back, free that front left leg, making our way into high crescent bend the front knee, tuck your back toes, strong legs, as you're ready inhale rise up, you might bend the back knee, draw the tailbone under and feel your ability to lift and lengthen up through your spine, feeling that freedom, the strength, the wobbling, that inner heat, nice, one more inhale as you are ready exhale release, from here rock and roll and step the back foot forward to meet the front, inhale half arch to lengthen, exhale bend the knees to fold, ground through your feet, inhale sweep your arms up to the sky and with an exhale hands together at the heart, pausing, really feel the inner flow, the inner warmth, any little pulsations through the body, the subtle energy, from here let's play with this little pose called dancer's pose, so you might stand near a wall or a chair, we're gonna start by shifting our weight into our right foot, right hip and like a flamingo, maybe let your left foot lift, now you might work with a strap looping it around that left foot or if it's available you might reach back, feel your ability to draw your tailbone towards your heel, yeah lengthening the thigh bone, if you feel stable you might reach the top right arm up to the sky, now you might stay right here just work on lifting and lifting you might play with beginning to kind of hinge at your right hip and leaning forward, steady the gaze and inhale come back up and exhale release and shake it out, how did that go?

What did you notice? Let's try the other side, shift the weight into the left foot, find your flamingo with the right foot, you might stay right here, you might loop a strap around the top of that right foot, you might reach back, again tailbone reaching towards heel, lower abdominal area lifting, maybe that top arm is reaching and just go for the reach, go for the length and maybe you play with kind of hinging forward and lifting, you feel that cobra action through the back of your heart, steady gaze and inhale come on up and then gracefully release, shake it out, nice full grounding exhale, from here let's step the feet wide and find a little bit more space in the hips in goddess, so go ahead and bend your knees, feel that external rotation grounding through the outer edges of your feet and we'll take some goddess squats, so as you inhale press through the balls of your feet, straighten the legs, arms reach, exhale release, bend, inhale up, exhale bend, one more inhale up, this time as you exhale bend bring the left arm underneath the right, give yourself a hug, side to side, you might stay here, you might find eagle wrap, with the arms feel how you can round and stretch and breathe into the back of the heart and feel how you can lift, you might play with that a few times or taking it into circles, exploring and coming back to center inhale arms reach straightening the legs, exhale bend right arm underneath, give yourself a hug, stay here or maybe play with the bind, eagle wrap, and you might round and draw in, stay low in the legs as you lift up, and then explore leaning from side to side, breathing into the shoulder blades, coming back to center inhale arms reach, exhale bend, inhale reach, exhale bend, one more inhale reach, and then turn the toes forward, hands on the hips, inhale lift up through the heart, exhale hinge as you fold forward, hands release, inhale half arch to lengthen, and then exhale begin to bring your head towards the floor, you might shake the head out gently, hands about shoulder width apart, feel how you can lift your shoulders up towards the sky, soft bend through the knees perhaps, as you bring your head towards the floor or block, breathing, nice, and take your time, walk your hands back underneath the shoulders, we'll toe heel our feet back into a squat, heels turn in toes turn out, squat pose, malasana your version, maybe bring the hands together at the heart, and then forward fold, toe heel to feet under the hips, soft bend through your knees, and we'll round up together slowly, curl the tailbone under, press through the feet, and feeling the heart, the shoulders, the head, and take a moment to pause, feeling yourself arrive. Let's make our way towards the top of the mat, hands together at the heart, we'll find a sun salutation towards the earth, inhale arms reach, exhale forward fold, inhale half arch to lengthen, exhale bend your knees, find your way into your down dog, few moments to pause and down dog, from down dog lower the knees, easing our way here into camel pose ustrasana, coming up onto the shins, again you might support your knees with a blanket or fold your mat, and let's bring the hands behind the back, fingers pointing down, you'll feel you can lift and lengthen your spine as you draw the sacrum down and in, beautiful, inhale to lift and exhale begin to open up through the back of the heart, front of the heart, inhale to come up, and exhale release, sit the hips back, pause, we'll play with some variations coming up onto the shins, you might tuck your toes, keep your left hand where it is, inhale reach your right arm up towards the sky, feel how you can lengthen and open, nice, and then right hand comes down, inhale left arm reaches, you might stay with this variation, you might play with bringing the left hand onto the ankle, inhale the right arm up, bend the knees, sit back, right hand to the heel, left arm reaches, back down, maybe one more time, inhale right arm reaches, lower down, inhale left arm reaches, and lower back down, take a moment to pause in your child's pose, you might bring the elbows wide, forehead on the hands, little wobble, take your time, we'll transition onto our back as you're ready, you might have a block nearby, move our way towards a round of bridge, just to balance the hips here, heels in line with your sitting bones, arms down alongside the body, feel the tailbone draw under as you inhale, exhale, curl, press, and lift, then you might stay here in your bridge, right, just strengthening, feeling the inner thigh bones draw towards each other, the buoyancy in the chest, you might play with bringing a block underneath your sacrum, maybe about lowest setting, second setting or highest setting and pause, if the pelvis and sacrum is releasing to the block, you might stay right here, you might play with drawing the knees in towards the chest and stretching your legs up towards the sky for an inversion here, feeling the blood and the energy, gonna drain from the feet, the ankles, nourishing the pelvis, the heart, the brain, might even feel a little shaking in the legs, juice through the balls of the feet, might feel nice to stay here a bit longer, when you feel ready to transition, find your blueprint of bridge, ground the feet, press down, lift up, and then just slowly remove your block, lowering down and pause, toe heel your feet wide for windshield wipers, stretch your arms overhead, side to side, feet nice and wide, cruising onto the inner outer edges of the feet, nice and fluid through your spine, find that ease up through your neck, might feel nice to kind of linger on one side, breathe and lengthen, linger on the other side as you breathe and lengthen, yeah, you might stay with your windshield wipers a bit longer, you might begin to draw your knees into your chest and maybe play towards a little happy baby, releasing the low back, opening up through the hips and the pelvic floor, and massaging the spine, if your head is dropping back, you might tuck an extra pillow or blanket underneath your head, and it might feel nice to stay with this a bit longer, you begin to ease your way into your version of Shavasana, taking a few moments to let the bones drop, receiving the support beneath you, and just resting in the space you've created, might stay in Shavasana all day, or a bit longer, when you feel ready, taking your time, and then casually, mindfully making your way towards the seat, and honoring your timing, your rhythm, joining the hands together at the heart, sharing the sound of Aum, exhale, breathing in, Aum. May this practice support you in your day, namaste, thank you.