Calm and Connected

Good morning. Welcome to our practice. So this morning's practice is a bit slow and it's a bit more about stretching and opening our hips, not a whole lot of weight-bearing and sometimes that's really nice just to leave that out. And my hope, my intention is that at the end of the practice you feel calm and connected. Would be good to have a couple blocks and a strap and a blanket. Let's start on our backs. And once you are on your back, go ahead and bend your knees and bring your feet a little bit wider than your hips and just for a moment turn your feet in slightly, let your knees come together and place your hands on your belly and then take three deeper breaths. So as you're breathing in allow your belly to rise and as you're breathing out allow your belly to fall. Pausing at the top of the inhale and pausing at the bottom of the exhale. Maybe the last breath here you can choose to sigh out the exhale, maybe make a sound if that feels appropriate. And then bring your feet in about hips width and parallel your feet, separate your knees about hips width. Then reach your fingertips up towards the ceiling. Imagine you're holding a block between your hands and then inhale stretch your arms overhead towards the floor. Just nice and easy. And then as you exhale bring your arms forward and down by your sides. Now do two more. So inhale, stretch your arms overhead towards the floor and pausing at the top of the inhale. And as you exhale bring your arms forward and down by your sides. Just one more on your own. So deepening your inhalation and lengthening your exhalation. We'll start to add on. So inhale, stretch your arms overhead once again pausing at the top of the inhale. And as you exhale start to press your lower back into the floor and lift your head and upper back up off the floor. So a little bit of abdominal work. As you inhale stretch your arms overhead lower back down. And as you exhale press your lower back into the floor lift up reach your fingertips towards the space in front of you. Just two more times. So inhale lower back down pausing at the top of the inhale and exhale lift back up pausing at the end of the exhale as you press your lower back into the floor. One more inhale lower back down and exhale lift back up. Inhale stretch your arms overhead and then as you exhale as you bring your arms forward bring your knees into your chest and just grab your shins and very gently draw your knees towards your chest. Now flex your ankles and then as you inhale stretch your legs vertically up imagine you're standing on the ceiling and then reach your arms overhead. And as you exhale as you bring your knees into your chest and feel free to separate your knees and feet hips width you're going to curl up into a little ball you can reach your hands around your shins or extend your fingertips straight ahead. And again inhale stretch your legs vertically up arms overhead and exhale curl back up. So let's do two more synchronizing movement with breath inhale reach your arms overhead stretch your legs up and exhale curl up into that little ball again. One last one inhale deep full breath in and exhale curl back up and just wrap your arms around your shins or just grab your shins hug your knees into your chest bring your forehead towards your knees as if you're giving yourself a nice kind of morning hug. And then slowly lower your head and then separate your knees and feet as wide apart as you can with the arms to the inside of your legs so like an upside down frog position. And take a couple of deeper breaths here again come back to the belly breath allow your belly to rise as you're breathing in and to fall back down as you're exhaling just allowing gravity to open up your hips a little bit. And then when you're ready any amount start to straighten the right leg out to the side just aim for a good inner thigh stretch and just keep in mind it's morning you're going to feel a little bit stiffer a little tighter be here for a few breaths and just noticing sensations. Bend that right knee again and then straighten the left leg out to the side any amount you're just aiming for a good stretch. One more breath here and then bend the knee again and then bring your knees back together hug your knees into your chest. Now set your left foot down and bring the outer right ankle on top of your left thigh and then squeeze the right knee away from your chest lift your left foot reach your right hand through the triangular space between your thighs now you can either hold around the back of the left thigh or hold around your left shin but if your shoulders come off the floor and your head kind of tilts back just hold around the back of the left thigh. Do the best you can to press the back of your pelvis into the floor as you bring your left knee in closer. Flex especially your right foot to stabilize your right knee. On your next exhalation lift your head and upper back and that typically intensifies the stretch a little bit and relax your shoulders breathing smoothly in and out through your nose and as you gently draw the left knee in closer squeeze the right knee away from your chest and then slowly set your left foot down and just take a moment and stretch your right leg vertically up set your right foot down and bring the outer left ankle on top of your right thigh and then either hold around the back of your right thigh or around your right shin. Flex your left foot especially and as you press the back of your pelvis into the floor gently move your right knee in closer towards your chest relax your shoulders and notice where you feel sensations.

On your next exhalation lift your head and upper back and as you move the right knee in closer maybe squeeze the left knee away from your chest relax your shoulders soften your facial muscles just one more breath and then slowly lower back down and now stretch both legs vertically up and then take a gentle happy baby pose you can grab your lower legs or your ankles or the side edges of your feet just make sure you're not forcing you're not going beyond where you ought to be this morning you're just simply receiving the stretch noticing sensations just one more breath here bring your knees back together now you can either roll over onto one side or if you prefer you can rock back and forth and then slowly sit up okay let's come on to our hands and knees and we're going to do some cat and cow I personally love to do those in the morning so coming into a tabletop position and then as you inhale start to lift and open your chest lift your sitting bones feeling a nice opening a stretch to the front of your torso and then exhale curl your tailbone under around your back scoop your belly in and up and let your head dangle inhale open up your chest lift your sitting bones kind of pull your chest through the upper arms cow pose and exhale curl your tailbone under scoop your belly in puff your mid back up let your head dangle just one more so inhale cow pose pausing at the top of the inhale and exhale cat pose pausing at the end of the exhale and then coming back into a more neutral position of your spine and walk your hands forward a few inches and bring your hands as wide apart as the width of your mat and turn your hands out a little bit bring your feet as wide apart as the width of your mat and then moving into downward facing dog and pedal your feet a little bit maybe sway your hips a little bit from side to side so i like this variation of down dog because you're giving your shoulders back hamstrings a bit more space and if you're ready to come into a more static position please do and again you might feel a bit tight in the morning and you might be better off bending your knees a little bit so that you can more easily lengthen your spine just one more breath and then slowly walk your hands back to your feet we're going to come into a squat so bring your heels in a little bit closer feet will be turned out at this point and then squat down bring your hands together in front of your chest if your heels don't meet the ground you can roll up the back of your mat or you can put a blanket underneath your heels very gently squeeze your knees apart lift your sternum i'll be here just for a few more breaths and if this is too much to your inner thighs groin area hip area you can always sit on a block or two now we're going to do an open twist so bring your left hand down and reach your right arm up and just twisting gently to your right if it feels okay on your neck you can look up towards your right hand there's one more breath here you can use the left arm to gently squeeze the left knee back and then as you exhale next time bring the right hand down and extend the left arm up and just very gently twisting to your left okay i feel if it feels okay on your neck you can look up up you can use the right arm to gently squeeze the right knee back and then next time you exhale bring your hand down parallel your feet and bring your feet in about hips width coming into a soft uttanasana just grab a hold of your elbows bend your knees let your head dangle and place your hands back down onto your mat and slowly walk your hands forward back to adho mucus vanasana downward facing dog and then from your down dog inhale raise your right leg behind you leading with the inseam of your right leg maybe stay here for a few breaths and the next time you exhale step your right foot up between your hands so i would like for you now to use two blocks so i have a block under each hand and i'm choosing the highest level of the block check that your right knee is above your right ankle press your left thigh strongly up towards the ceiling as perhaps you bend the right knee a little bit more and reach your sternum away from your navel slowly start to straighten your right leg and come up onto your right heel so you're flexing your right foot and you're staying up onto the ball the back foot okay kind of draw the outer right hip back and in spin the left inner thigh up and then slowly go back and forth you're bending the right knee coming into the lunge and then when you're ready you straighten the right leg and you just kind of go at your pace between the lunge and the hamstring stretch and this morning if one position just feels more needed or feels maybe really nice stay there a little bit longer otherwise you can just simply go back and forth in a more dynamic way so really get into the feeling of the stretch and do the best you can to keep your spine nice and long that's where the blocks really help out okay so next time you're in the lunge take your right foot and move the right foot a few inches to your right and place your right hand with the block to the inside of the right foot now i'm going to choose to lower the blocks to the lowest height that works for my body i can still keep lengthening my spine and you may want to stay right here for some of you it might be interesting to come onto the forms right not necessary see how it feels this morning continue pressing your left thigh up towards the ceiling as you sink your hips down for some of you maybe not using blocks could be an option but it's not like one way is better than another way but one way is better for you one way is a better fit now you could choose to stay like this or you could bring the left knee down point your toes hug the right knee gently against the right shoulder couple more breaths here definitely saying good morning to your hips when you're ready find your way back into your down dog right side will feel very different from your left side now inhale raise your left leg behind you're leading with the inseam of the leg stay here for a breath or two and when you're ready step the foot up between your hands so again i'm choosing to use the blocks at the highest level and then staying here in the lunge first for just a few breaths checking the alignment is the left knee above the left ankle okay better for your left knee press your right thigh up towards the ceiling and perhaps squeeze your hips down a little bit more lengthen your spine slowly straighten your left leg and flexing the left foot so you come up onto the left heel you're going to feel it more in your calf muscles and staying up onto the ball of the back foot lengthen your spine the best you can and then slowly bend your left knee again so you can go back and forth more dynamically or you can choose to hold one position longer to kind of feel your way into each position noticing sensations big part of yoga is you know building that relationship with our bodies paying attention getting more in tune okay so coming back into the lunge and and then take the left foot a little bit more to the left a few inches and take your left hand to the inside of the left foot and i'm choosing now to lower the blocks and for me it works okay coming onto the forearms see how it works for you and then gently hug the left knee against the left shoulder press the right thigh up maybe squeeze your hips down just a little bit more okay so a few more breaths here and if you're on your forearms your back will round a little bit but see if you can still reach your sternum breastbone forward just one more breath and bring your right knee down soften to the pose a little bit we'll be here for a few more breaths so again noticing sensations noticing what's going on in your body and then just slowly find your way back into downward facing dog and your down dog likely feels a bit different and then come on to your knees come into child's pose for a moment and now press your hands into the floor and please sit up and you're going to move your hips to one side and stretch your legs out in front of you for the next little sequence i like to sit on a blanket it's just easier to keep your spine torso nice and tall so i encourage you to do the same so bending your knees and then take your outer right ankle on top of your left thigh so just the same way that you're lying on your back doing thread the needle pose and sitting as much as you can onto the center of the sitting bones and that's much easier when you're sitting on a blanket so keep that in mind and without letting your hips wiggle so press your sitting bones into the floor squeeze your right knee away from your chest so as you're sitting here you might realize this is plenty especially when i'm sitting as tall as i can if you don't feel this enough you can always make it a little bit more compact walk that left foot in closer get a bit more compact and you might feel it more or i'm going to give you a bunch of options you can wrap your arms around the right shin as if you're reading a book and then straighten your left leg out in front of you and if you do that i need to wiggle forward a little bit so that i can be more to the center of my sitting bones and this might work for some of you okay so it's about getting a stretch not to squeeze yourself into some image of a pose right you can also put the foot into the crease of the opposite elbow but continue flexing your right foot and you're kind of cradling the right leg so even though i'm doing these variations i'm still working on sitting up as tall as i can so just a few more breaths here you can rock the leg back and forth a little bit and then bend your left knee again if you straighten out that leg and then i just typically take a moment and i straighten the leg out the right leg and then place your right foot down and let's change sides and bring the outer left ankle on top of your right thigh place your hands behind you get as much as you can onto the center of the sitting bones and lengthen your spine so you have options you can make it a little bit more compact you can also reach your arms through the space between your thighs pick up the leg as if you're reading a book straighten out the right leg wiggle on to the center of the sitting bones you can also put the foot into the crease of the opposite elbow you can rock the leg back and forth a little bit and sitting up as tall as you can so just a few more breaths here and then you bend the right knee any amount straighten out the left leg and set the foot down and set the foot down let's make our way onto our backs please have a strap nearby and also have your blocks nearby because we are going to use them in a little bit once you find your way onto your back grab your strap wrap the strap around your right foot and extend the right leg up straighten the left leg out onto the floor bring your left leg to neutral so the toes are pointing straight up towards the ceiling relax your shoulders just a few breaths here getting into the hamstring muscles flexing your right foot as much as you can put the straps into your right hand left hand on top of your left thigh and then slowly bring the right leg to the right I like to bring my right elbow down and do the best you can to keep the top of your left thigh heavy so it's really not about bringing the right foot on the floor so keeping the hip points kind of equal distance from the ceiling slowly bring the right leg back up take the straps into your left hand bring the right thumb into the hip crease and then use the right thumb to lengthen the outer right hip towards the front of the mat turn the right leg out a little bit and then without moving the back of the pelvis off the floor start to bring the right leg across the left getting into more of the lateral hamstring the IT band that runs from the outer knee to the outer hip maybe feeling it in the outer hip a little bit so just one more breath here and then inhale bring the leg back to center you're going to take the strap off for a while put it to the side and then bend your left knee bend your right knee and just briefly come into um threat the needle pose again now you can stay and threat the needle pose or figure four it will feel different than in the beginning of the class you can also bring your arms through the triangular space wrap your arms around your right shin as if you're reading a book and then you can straighten the left leg out in front of you towards the floor you can also do that cradling position right foot into the crease of the opposite elbow just pause here for a moment so again one pose is not better than the other but one is a better fit and then slowly release wrap the strap around your left foot extend the left leg up straighten the right leg out onto the floor one strap in each hand flex your left foot as much as you can bring your right leg to the right leg to neutral so just one or two more breaths here pressing the back of the pelvis into the floor put the straps into your left hand right hand to the right hip and then slowly bring the left leg to the left and your left elbow can come down so just a few more breaths here getting a bit more into the inner thigh muscles so noticing sensations bring the leg back up put the straps into your right hand hook the left thumb into the left hip crease and then use the left thumb to lengthen the outer left hip towards the front of the mat turn the left leg out a little bit and then bring the left leg across the right without lifting the back of your pelvis continue flexing your left foot so a couple more breaths here many times refer to this pose as an interesting stretch and then inhale bring the leg back up take the strap off the foot bend your right knee and then coming into figure four threat the needle pose and again we'll feel a little different from the beginning of the class and you're more than welcome to stay right here i'm quite happy staying here but i will show you the next few options so some of you will take your arms through the triangular space between your thighs again that idea of reading a book and then straighten the right leg out in front of you and in fact i did have a student who used to read a book in most poses that she was in it was it was quite impressive you can also cradle so put the foot into the crease of the opposite elbow just a few more breaths here and then please release okay so we're going to come into bridge pose briefly supported bridge pose and then into supported bridge and legs up viparita karani so bend your knees have your feet hips width parallel your feet start with robot arms press your elbows into the floor lift your chest tuck your shoulders under lengthen your tailbone forward lift up into bridge pose and then come up onto the ball of each foot lift your hips higher feel free to interlace your fingers to wiggle the shoulders under a bit more and then take your your block or blocks underneath the back of your pelvis and you can stack one on top of the other or side by side see what works best for you but make sure they're underneath the back of the pelvis and not your lower back okay and bring your heels down you can stay in supported bridge pose you can also extend your legs vertically up viparita karani keep pressing your arm bones and shoulders into the floor keep that nice buoyancy lift in your chest take some nice deep long breaths here soften your throat soften the space between your eyebrows one or two more breaths one foot at a time bring your feet down lift your heels again lift your hips move the blankets uh the blocks out of the way you could have used blankets too underneath the back of your pelvis now inhale stretch your arms overhead staying up onto the ball of each foot and then very slowly lower down one vertebra at a time and whenever you're back down just walk your feet forward a little bit bring your feet a bit wider turn your feet in slightly rest your knees together and place your hands back onto your belly the way you did in the beginning of this practice and take a couple of deeper belly breaths notice if you feel a bit calmer a bit more connected to your body and to your inner self now feel free to hug your knees into your chest if you feel the need to do that to soothe your lower back you can come into shavasana if you like stretch your legs out in front of you or you can join me back in a seated position so i'm going to roll over onto my right side and then please sit back up and change the crossing of my legs to the non-habitual crossing i hope you feel more calm or connected and that your hips feel nice and open thank you so much for joining me in this morning's practice have a wonderful day namaste