Ground and Center

Thank you for joining me for this Grounded Earth Flow where we'll tune into the support of the earth beneath us through postures that are grounding, supported, and we'll focus in on the feet, the ankles, and the legs as we move through this practice. So let's begin in Child's Pose. So if you'll meet me in Child's Pose, we'll bring the big toes and heels together, knees together or wide, whatever feels best for you, and then just start to walk your hands in front of you, so pressing through the palms of the hands, maybe letting the forehead rest down on the earth, and just taking a moment as you arrive here to really feel that supported connection beneath you. So noticing the parts of the body that feel connected, the palms of the hands, the shins, allowing a very big full breath in through the nose, maybe let out a sigh as you let something go. Letting the exhale bring you a little bit more into the support beneath you, so allowing a big full breath in, exhale to ground, one more like that, big full breath in, exhale to ground and let go, letting the body yield into the support beneath you, maybe start to tune into Ujjayi breath, allowing the breath to move in and out through the nose, or just coming back to the natural rhythm of your breath.

Perhaps setting an intention for your practice today, and maybe it's one of just feeling that support, feeling grounded and rooted, knowing that the earth is here to hold you. A couple more breaths here, beautiful, and then as you're ready, just start to roll up to tabletop position. So we'll come to all fours, letting the shoulders land over the wrists, hips over knees, pressing through the hands and the shins, start to move into Cat-Cow. So as you inhale, arching through the spine, lift the heart, lift the gaze. As you exhale, draw the navel into the spine and press the earth away from you.

And then we'll do that a few more times as we move with the breath. So let the inhale bring you forward, breathing in, and let the exhale bring you back, breathing out, starting to link the breath with the movement. One more like that, inhale, gliding forward, arching through the spine, exhale, press the floor away and round, feel that opening through the back body, so nice. And then meet me in a neutral spine, so come to that place between Cat and Cow, and then let the forearms come down to the earth, so shoulders over elbows, pressing through all ten fingers, inner hand and outer hand, and then stretching both legs back, coming into an early forearm plank, so really tuning into the core here, engaging through the legs, pressing back through the heels, and at the same time reaching forward with the crown of your head. Good, and you're always welcome to lower the knees here, we'll just hold for a couple full deep breaths, breathing in, stay for the exhale, good, big full breath in, and then this time as you exhale, let your hips lower all the way to the earth, so coming into Sphinx Pose, and you might walk your hands forward a little bit, letting the elbows come just in front of the shoulders, and then reach the heart forward, maybe lift the gaze a little bit, press into the tops of the feet, so you're engaging through the legs and the core, good, big full breath in here, and as you exhale, replace your elbows with your hands, so sliding the hands back next to the side ribs, let the forehead come down toward the earth, and then on an inhale, start to peel the chest up, keep the chin tucked as you come into Bhujangasana, Low Cobra Pose, think about lengthening as you lift, beautiful, and then as you exhale, lower down, good, two more like that, inhale, rolling cobra, peel the chest up, good, exhale, lower, one more, inhale, peel the chest up, maybe coming up an inch higher, keep hugging the elbows in, feel the hips connected to the earth, good, and then exhale to lower, good, press back to all fours, and then tuck your toes, and lift your hips up and back, we'll come into our first downward facing dog, good, and then really feeling the hands rooting down, inviting any movement into the body here, maybe pedaling it out through the feet, letting your sitting bones reach up toward the ceiling, good, finding your drishti, so that one point on the earth to focus your gaze as you start to open up through the back body, nice, and then as you inhale, glide forward to plank pose, top of a push up, we'll pause there for a moment, let your hips be in line with your shoulder blades, and then start to shift your weight forward a little bit, let the shoulders come over the wrists, and then hug the elbows in and slowly lower all the way back down to the belly, beautiful, and then cobra pose, draw the shoulders back, press through the tops of the feet, lift the heart, exhale, right back into down dog, so you're welcome to come up through plank pose or hands and knees, whatever feels best for you, good, big full breath in here, exhale to release, and let's move through that a couple times as we just start to warm the joints, good, so inhale back to plank pose, let the exhale bring you all the way to the belly, on an inhale, peel the chest up cobra, exhale right back to downward facing dog, nice, one more like that flowing with the breath, inhale glide forward, exhale slowly lower all the way down, inhale peel the chest up cobra pose, lengthen as you lift, good, exhale meet me back, in down dog, nice work, let's float the right leg up as we're here, start to draw the knee in towards your nose and then gaze between your thumbs as you step your foot all the way through between your hands, come up onto the fingertips for a moment, and then let your left knee lower down to the earth so we're in a low lunge, on an inhale sweep the arms forward and up on Jainyasana, take a moment as you come up pressing through the left shin, the sole of the right foot, let your shoulders soften, energize up through your fingertips, good, slight engagement in the core to protect the spine, big full breath in, and as you exhale let your hands frame the front foot, shift the weight back coming into Arda Hanamanasana, half split as you lift the toes up off the earth, reach the heart forward lengthen through the spine so really feeling that opening in the back of your right leg, maybe spread your toes, beautiful, and then inhale as you re-bend through the right knee, tuck the back toes and lift the back knee up and we'll set up for warrior one, so spin your back heel down, when you find your alignment root down through the soles of the feet to lift up, arms sweep up, warrior one, and just take a moment to establish your connection with the earth as you come into warrior one, so sinking down maybe a little deeper into that front knee, let the shoulders relax as you energize up through the fingertips, beautiful, and then start to straighten through your front leg for a moment, feel the lift in the heart space, as you exhale open it up to face the side of the mat, warrior two, so again just really feeling the feet firmly planting down, so sealing the outer edge of the back foot, bending toward 90 degrees and that front leg soften your shoulders, beautiful, maybe sink down just a little bit deeper, feel into the legs, what's supporting you here, good, and then flipping your front palm keep the shape, tilt back for reverse warrior, you might bend a little deeper into that front knee, beautiful, and then circle your hands down to the earth, plant the palms, step the right foot back to plank pose, shift your weight forward, lower halfway or all the way down, your choice chaturanga, inhale maybe stay with cobra, maybe come into upward facing dog, good, and then roll over the toes, lift the hips all the way up and back on your exhale downward facing dog, beautiful, big full breath in here, as you exhale, sigh it out deepening your connection beneath you with the earth, taking that to the left side, inhale left leg lifts, exhale step through, beautiful, come up onto the fingertips, let your right knee lower to the earth, anjali asana, inhale arms sweep up, we'll hang here for a breath or two as we sink in a little deeper, so there's that rooted connection with the earth and at the same time you're lifting up through the heart space, up through the fingertips, beautiful, big full breath in, exhale hands to the earth, shift your weight back, half split, artha hanumanasana, toes up off the earth, breathing into the back of your left leg and you can always again keep as much of a bend in that left knee as you need to or just feeling into the sensations in the back of your left leg, nice and then re-bend through the left knee as you're ready, tuck the back toes, lift the back knee up, setting up for warrior one, spin the back heel down, once you find that solid connection beneath the soles of the feet, lift the arms up, sink in a little deeper and find your intuitive alignment, so you're drawing that left hip back, let the right hip roll forward, hug the ribcage, beautiful and then start to straighten through your left leg, feel the lift in the heart space and then open it up to warrior two facing the side of the mat, find your drishti over your left hand and then see if you can really center your weight as you drop in, feel the support of the earth, breathe more than anything, find the breath, beautiful, keep the shape, flip your front palm tilt back, reverse warrior, maybe bend a little deeper into the left knee and then let the exhale bring you through your vinyasa, so stepping left foot back, lower halfway or all the way down chaturanga, inhale cobra or up dog, exhale downward facing dog, beautiful, holding for the inhale, stay for the exhale and then rise up onto toes, big bend in the knees, look forward, step or lightly float your feet to the front of the mat, feet to hands, on an inhale lift halfway, maybe walk your hands up onto your shins, exhale soften and release and then we'll roll up nice and slow, one vertebra at a time, as you get to the top of the mat, maybe roll out your shoulders and just take a moment as you find, stand tadasana, mountain pose, really this beautiful posture of that connection with the earth beneath you, let the soles of the feet feel grounded, nice and then bring the attention to your right foot, so really spread through the toes, ground down through the right foot and then we'll move into tree pose, so find your left ankle, bring the foot to the inner upper thigh, the calf or you can kick stand toes down to the earth, whatever feels best for you, take a moment to land, hug everything into the midline, draw your hands to your heart space, find your drishti, maybe reach your arms up, just a breath here as you find and play with balance, beautiful and then as you release that, left foot meets the right chair pose, utkatasana, bend the knees deeply, beautiful and then draw your hands to your heart, we'll take a twist, left elbow on the outside of the right leg, draw the prayer in front of your heart, let your knees stay level as you sink the hips down a little deeper, feel that downward flow of energy, big full breath in, exhale, let that all go, just let everything melt down over the legs for a moment, soften the knees a little bit, nice and then slow roll all the way back up to where we were, maybe draw the shoulders with you, let them roll down the back and again just take a moment as you ground here to feel that rooted connection with the earth, awareness to the left foot, start to bring the weight into the left foot, find your right ankle, foot to inner upper thigh, calf or kickstand to the earth for tree pose, then just noticing if this side feels a little different, most likely notice if you're a little wobbly like me today and then see if you can hug everything in, maybe reach the arms up, find your gazing point, beautiful, feel the connection through the soles of the feet all the way into the core of the earth and then as you release right foot meets the left, utkatasana chair pose, bend the knees deeply, hands to heart, twisting to the other side, right elbow on the outside of the left prayer in front of your heart and just make sure the knees are level as the hips sink down a little bit, breathe, notice if you hold your breath when you hold the poses, big full breath in, exhale, let that all fold over the legs, let it go, good and then have a seat, so bend your knees, you're welcome to use your hands and let your sitting bones find the earth, lift the shins up off the earth for a moment, lean back, feel the length in the spine for boat pose, big breath in, good, as you exhale start to straighten the legs, lower down, hover for a moment, engage the core, heels up off the earth, shoulders up off the earth, nice and then hug your knees into your chest, we made it, we're on our backs, rock a little bit from side to side, massage through the spine, good and then let the soles of the feet find the earth, let your feet be about hips distance, really rooting down through the soles of the feet, press through the palms of your hands, just coming up into a gentle bridge pose, lifting the hips up, let your chest come toward the chin and you could keep the hands pressing into the earth if you would like to interlace, you might draw the shoulders down, interlacing behind the low back, try to release any clenching in the back body and just feel that nice grounded opening in the front body, breathing in and out, slowly release one vertebrae at a time as you let your hips come down to the earth, reach the arms up over your ears, step your feet a little bit wider than your hips and just let both knees drop to the right side, take a nice easy spinal twist, breathing in, feel the support beneath you as you breathe out, good and then inhale, knees back through center, exhale drop both knees to the left and you might gaze over the opposite shoulder, just feel that nice spinal twist that release that letting go, nice and then as you inhale come back through center, one more time knees drop to the right, inhale through center, exhale knees to the left, windshield wipering the legs and as you inhale we'll meet back in center, hugging the knees back into the chest and then maybe taking a happy baby here holding on to the outsides of the feet, the ankles or the shins, bending the knees deeply, letting the tailbone melt down, shoulders relaxed, just letting as much of the spine release onto the earth as possible and you might rock a little bit or just hold here, breathing into the hips, beautiful and then as you're ready hugging everything back into center and you draw your nose up towards your knees, hug everything into a tight little ball, big full breath in, long breath out, release, we did it, coming into your final resting pose we'll move into just a nice supported shavasana if you want to remain into the hips or you want to stay with the hips, maybe soles of the feet to the earth, letting the knees open up wide and you can finish here in Supta Baddha Konasana, whatever feels best for you as you just let your hands rest on the earth, palms facing up for receiving energy, allowing the integration of your practice, be here now, let the body feel supported and held, just rest.

Feel free to stay here as long as you like, otherwise we'll draw the knees back into the chest, you might roll to one side or just simply roll up to seated, we'll meet there in a comfortable cross-leg seated position, drawing hands together in Anjali Mudra in front of the heart, thank you so much for sharing this practice with me today, namaste.