Sacral Chakra: The Hamstrings

Hello, everyone, and welcome. Thank you for joining today. Today's sequence, we're going to be focusing on a bunch of poses that's going to help us emphasize the muscles on the backs of the legs, aka your hamstrings. All right, so grab what you need. You're going to join me on our back. So starting with the left leg long, you're going to bend your right knee and stretch your right leg straight towards the ceiling. Try not to add any extra support to this spot. So without pressing your hands into the floor or grabbing your leg, try to extend that right leg as much as you can towards the ceiling. A lot of today's practice, we're just going to focus on getting that length on the muscle behind the leg. So even if it's not too high, just allow yourself to find that extension to the bottom. If possible, you might flex the toes back towards your face, press the heel a little more towards the ceiling and allowing that muscle to just work a bit. Take your time. Feeling that work. Take one more in to stretch the leg straight up. And as you exhale, bring the bottom of your foot to the floor, let your leg rest. And we do the same thing on the second side. So you might bend that left knee in, stretch the right leg out. And as you inhale, left leg straight towards the ceiling one more time. For me, I'm not particularly interested in how high you get the leg, but I do want you to get as much length in that hamstring as much as you can. So one more time, just straighten out the knee, flex the toes back towards you, press the heel a little higher to the ceiling. This is not a pose where you don't feel that effect of your leg working. You definitely feel it after a while. But allow that to be a space where you can hold so you build some strength. Take two more breaths here. Nice. All right. Next exhale, left foot down to the mat. Slowly pause for a moment. Let that left side register. Okay. And then from here, we're going to transition into down dog. All right. Nice. All right. And then taking your time in down dog just to move around a bit. All right. So these first few moments of the practice, I really want you to just move and make space. So starting with the legs, it might feel nice to pedal out the heels. You can bend your knees as deep as you need to just to move things around. Right. You could also drop the chest a little deeper into the floor if it feels nice to lift the hips up from the mat. You're welcome to extend as well. All right. Shake your head yes and no. You might give yourself some space around the neck and the fingers can open up just to allow some extra room. Whatever you do, again, just take your time. All right. We're just getting started. All right. And then from here, you're going to take a deep breath in. All right. As you exhale, step the right foot forward for a low lunge. Drop your left knee down. And then you're going to straighten out that front leg. Lift the toes away from the mat just to get that bottom side of the leg to lengthen. Okay. So really quickly in this pose, I want you to engage a bit. So instead of it being like a passive stretch, I want you to bend your front knee just a bit. And with the heel, I want you to press down into the mat so you feel a little bit of that engagement. And then create the action like you're trying to drag your front foot back behind you. So you feel the back of that leg work just a little bit more. Okay. Keep that effort in the amount that you can.

You're going to straighten out the knee, but press the floor away as you pull back. Nice. All right. So as you're lengthening that front leg, you're creating a little bit of engagement so you build some strength as well. All right. Stretch your chest a little forward towards the top of the mat, but keep that effect in the right leg. Nice. All right. Take one more inhaling. As you exhale, slowly come onto that front foot, step back into down dog. Nice. All right. Taking your time. So no need to rush to the other side. If it feels good to kind of move a bit in this space, you're welcome to stay here for a moment. Okay. And when you're ready on the left side, you're going to exhale left foot forward. Right knee comes down and it's straighten out your front leg one more time for that half split. Okay. So again, my big thing is that you just don't lock your knee. So maybe you just micro bend just a bit. All right. Free up that space in the hamstring and you're going to press the heel into the floor and feel that feeling of dragging your leg back. Okay. Keep that effort any amount that you can straighten out the knee. All right. Bring that attention to that feeling in the back of your leg, but breathe with that sensation. Nice. All right. If it feels like you can inhale chest forward just a bit and then take some of that length deeper into a fold. Okay. Press the floor away. Take a breath in. Good. As you exhale rock forward onto the foot, step back for down dog. All right. So last little bit in down dog. If you want to move around in anything unique that feels necessary in the bottom, you have some time. All right. And then when you're ready, you're going to bend your knees, look forward and then slowly walk your feet in between the hands, come into a forward fold and as heavy as you can be in forward fold, allow your body to soften and relax.

All right. So taking a moment in your forward fold just to allow yourself to release any part of your body that might be a little tense or held right now. Okay. So starting up top, it might feel good just to shake the head a little, yes and no, just to release the neck. All right. It also might feel good to sway a bit. And if you want to grab the elbows as you do so, that might feel nice across the spine and back. All right. Maybe you take a couple of big bends in your knees and that's whether you want to take them together or if you want to alternate, that's all your call, but feel this feeling of letting go. Like wherever things are held, wherever you're holding tension, soften, let it go for a bit. Even if that's like letting go of a breath, that might feel nice just to pause and our size things out a bit. Good. Okay. And then as you inhale, you're going to come into a half lift. So hands to your thighs or your calves. All right. Feel the belly come in and if possible, try to straighten out your legs as much as you can just to get that length on the hamstrings that we've been working with. All right. Take a deep inhaling. Good. As you exhale, fold forward, relax your body down. Nice. As you inhale, stand all the way up for mountain pose, reach the arms towards the ceiling. Nice. As you exhale, bring your hands down into your sides. You're going to pause for a bit. Nice. Take a deep breath in. Nice. Deep breath out. Okay. We're going to build on that breath with salutations just to match the rhythm of our breath with the movement. Okay. So half salutations first. We're going to inhale, reach the arms forward and up. All right. So as you exhale, fold forward, let your body relax over the legs. Nice. Take an inhale for half lift, stretch your chest forward. Right. As you exhale, fold forward and relax your body one more time. As you inhale, stand all the way up for mountain, reach arms overhead. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Nice. Okay. One more time, try to breathe a little deeper.

Inhale, mountain. Good. As you exhale, take that entire breath into a fold. No need to rush. All right. As you inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold forward and you relax one more time. Nice. Inhale, mountain pose. Take that entire breath to the top. Good. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. All right. One more time, maybe you close the eyes. Inhale, stretch up. Good. As you exhale, feel that feeling of letting go. So you want to soften down. Nice. Inhale, half lift, feel the chest stretch forward. Exhale, relax and fold one more time. Nice. Inhale, mountain pose. Take your time as you rush. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Nice. Okay. So keeping that rhythm, you're going to add high lunge, but also add in locust as well. Okay. So one more time, as you inhale, mountain. Nice. As you exhale, fold forward, relax your body over legs. Inhale for half lift. Exhale, bring your hands to the mat. You're going to step the right foot back, keep the heel high. All right. Inhale, arms forward and up. High lunge. Nice. Exhale, hands down to the mat, step back for down dog. All right. As you inhale, chest over hands for plank. As you exhale, all the way down to the body. All right. Locust pose in the arms back. Inhale, chest and legs lift up. Good. As you exhale, hands on the mat, tuck your toes, hips go up and back. All right. So stay in your rhythm. Deep inhaling. Exhale, right foot forward, back leg strong. All right. Inhale, reach up from the floor. Nice. Exhale, hands to the mat, step your back foot forward for a fold. Good. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold and soften. All right. Chest and pose as you inhale, all the way to the top. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Nice, y'all. Same thing on the left side. Okay. Inhale, reach up. Nice. As you exhale, fold forward and take your time. No rush. Nice. Inhale, half lift, draw your shoulders back. Exhale, hands to the floor, left foot steps back this time. Inhale, stretch up from the mat. Good. Exhale, hands to the mat, down dog, step back. All right. Plank pose as you inhale. Exhale to the floor. All right. Locust pose as you inhale. If you want to interlace the fingers, you're welcome to it. Soften the shoulders. All right. As you exhale, hands on the mat, down dog, step back. Nice. All right. Deep inhale. Exhale, left foot in between the hands. Keep the heel high. Nice. Inhale, belly in a bit. Just stretch out. Nice. Exhale, hands to the mat, forward fold, step to the top. Good. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold and soften. All right. Mountain pose as you inhale, slow rise. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Nice. Stay for the breath. Deep inhale in. Smooth exhale out. Good. Okay.

One more time. Inhale, arms forward enough. Exhale, forward fold, relax the body down over legs. Inhale, half lift. Good. Exhale, hands to the floor. You're going to step both feet back this time. Okay. So if you ever need some support, whether it's in plank or moving through any flow, the knees can come down for that extra, you know, leverage on the mat. But if you can, you might stay up on the hands. Keep the legs straight. Spread the fingers a little more in the hands and as you press the mat away, round your upper back towards the ceiling. All right. Take a deep breath in. Exhale, come down halfway. All right. And then up dog, inhale over the toes, lift your chest towards the front of the mat. Shoulders relax. Nice. And then down dog, tuck your toes, hips go up and back, pause. All right. So use this as a space in your practice where you just recollect your focus. All right. Feel that rhythm of your breath. Even though you're in a spot where there's no motion, you can be conscious of the motion of your breath. So just a smoother inhaling. Deeper exhale out. All right. But keep yourself in that cadence, that smooth rhythm, nothing forced. Good. Okay. Bend your knees, look forward. You're going to slowly walk or hop your feet to the top of your mat. Nice. Inhale and half lift. Exhale, fold and soften. All right. Inhale, all the way up to mountain. Exhale, hands come down into your socks. Nice. Okay. So the big ask is that you just stay with your breath and incorporate that with everything we do. All right. Last one. Inhale, reach up. Good. As you exhale, take your time on the fold, come down. Inhale for half lift. Exhale, hands to the mat, step both feet back. And then from here on out, it's your flow. So if you want to inhale and come halfway down, take up dog, down dog. If it feels good to come all the way down, that's your choice as well. Locust or any other on the belly variation is perfectly fine. All right. Down dog when you're ready. Hips go up and back. Good. Okay. And again, closing a little bit just to reset. All right. So allow the breath to be a little deeper than it was just a second ago. And if you can relax the shoulders, free up some space around your neck, give yourself that feeling of letting go. A little softer, a little smoother. Nice. Okay. Take a deep inhale. You're going to stretch the right leg up and back. And then you're going to bend your knee, turn your hip open towards the right side of your mat. All right. If it feels good, you might roll an ankle a couple of times, you flex your toes if that feels nice. Big circles in that right thigh are welcome. If it helps you get into the hip, take your time. Okay. This is like free movement, but you know what you need to feel in your body. So you give yourself what you need. Okay. Take an inhale, stretch the right leg back. As you exhale, step forward in between the hands. I'm going to pause. All right. Keep the hands at the side of that front foot. You're going to twist your back heel down. And in any amount that you can, straighten out the front leg pyramid pose. Nice. Okay. So revisiting the idea that we started during class, I want you to take a little micro bend in that front knee. So not to lock it, but to free up that space. And then feeling that front foot, I want you to ground down into your mat and then create that feeling like you're trying to drag your front foot back behind you. So similar to what we did in that half split, you're going to feel that engagement in the back of your leg. All right. Keep pressing the foot. Any amount that you can straighten out your knee. Nice. Okay. So now you feel like that part of your body talking to you right now. Let yourself listen, but breathe with that space as you sit with the sensation. Nice. All right.

If it feels good, take an inhale, chest, the lips a little more towards the top of the mat. Keep some of that length and you're going to refold forehead close to the knee. Nice. Breathe in deep enough to let this space just open up a bit. Good. All right. Take a deep inhale in. As you exhale, rebend into that front knee and then step the right foot back down dog. Okay. And you're going to take a flow. So inhale, chest into plank. You either come halfway or all the way down. Locust, cobra, up dog, any variation. Good. Down dog, tuck your toes, hips up and back. Okay. And then take a moment and allow yourself just to reconnect with the breath and just remind you like breathing is a part of everything that we do. So taking a moment just to ground yourself in it. And then when you're ready, you're going to inhale, stretch the left leg up and back and then bend the knee, turn the hip open towards the left side of the mat. All right. So one more time, you can roll what you need to roll, flex what you need to flex, but allow yourself to kind of be guided by your body. All right. So whatever feels nice, it's literally like, oh, this is, this is where my body needs me to go today. All right. And you're going to inhale, stretch your top leg back. Exhale, step forward in between the hands, twist the back heel down for pyramid one more time. All right. And any amount that you can straighten out the front knee. All right. But not so much that you're locking the knee, but you have a little bit of free space so you can open up and engage back here. All right. Press down through your front foot. And then feel that feeling one more time of pulling your front foot towards the back of the mat, right? Any amount that you can straighten out the knee, but keep that press through your front foot so you're engaged. All right. And then feel that effect in the back of your leg.

All right. If it feels like welcoming, inhale, chest a little more towards the top of the mat. Keep some of that length and you're going to refold one more time over the front knee. Nice. Press the front foot, drag back. All right. Take one more inhaling. As you exhale, bend over that front foot, down dog, step back. All right. Inhale, plank pose. Exhale, halfway all the way, whatever you need. Nice. And then down dog, tuck your toes, hips go back. All right. Stay smooth in your breath. All right. And you're going to exhale, bend your knees, look forward, and then slowly walk or hop to the top of your mat. All right. Inhale for half lift. Exhale to fold and soften. All right. Mountain poses you inhale, stand all the way up. Exhale, bring your hands down into your sides. Okay. Stay for the breath. Deep inhale in. Smooth exhale out. Nice. Okay. So setting up your feet a little wider on the mat, we're going to balance a bit. So starting with the right leg first, you're going to shift the right foot over and lift the left knee up off the mat to balance, literally. Okay. So for me, in this part of the sequence, I don't mind how high you get this left leg, but I do want you to get as much length on that bottom side as much as possible. Okay.

So again, the whole goal is getting that length out. So ground that standing leg a little bit. All right. Lift this leg a little higher. Take a deep inhale in. As you exhale, stretch the left leg as straight as you can. All right. Inhale, pull it back in. Exhale as straight as you can for number two. All right. Last one. Inhale in. Exhale, straight for three. You're going to hold three seconds. Okay. Two seconds. Lift it up a little higher because I know you can. All right. Take one more inhale. Get that length. Kick. Exhale, left foot down. Pause. All right. Feel that for a minute. Let your left foot rest on the mat. Let it register. Okay. And then when you're ready, same thing on the second side. So wait until your left foot, right leg comes up. All right. So again, just reminding you like that length is important. So don't get into your head about like, how am I kicking? Can I get it as high as I could? No. Length, hamstring, whole goal. Deep breath in. Exhale, right leg as straight as you can kick. Nice. Inhale, pull it back in. Exhale, straighten it out number two. Nice. Last one. Inhale. Exhale, straight for three. Hold it. Good. Two seconds. All right. A little higher. Straighten it out one. Deep breath in. Exhale, all the way down. Nice y'all. Okay. Let that go. Feel both your feet on the mat. You might shake that off. All right. And when you're ready, inhale for mountain. Exhale, fold forward. You're going to soften down. Okay. So taking a forward fold for a bit. I want you to take your peace fingers. You're going to hook them around the big toes. All right. If it feels a little better to slide your entire hand under your foot, you're welcome to take gorilla. But either or, peace fingers, hands cool. Bend your knees so that your chest is like flat on the thighs. All right. Keep that connection as best as you could. You're going to bend the elbows out to your side. Drop the head. Drop the chest. All right. Pull on the feet.

Take a deep inhale in. And as you exhale, straighten out the legs as much as possible right now. All right. So forward folding, but feeling like you can keep the chest a little close to the thighs. Let the hips lift. Pull on the toes. Pull on the feet. All right. And just stretching that entire back chain from the back of your legs all the way up through your spine right now. Soften and relax. Good. For a moment, if you can release that tension in your neck, soften. All right. And all too often, we might be like super tight here, but allow yourself to release. Nice. All right. One more inhaling. Exhale, fold, release the hands. All right. As you inhale, find half lift. Exhale, bring the hands to the mat. Step both feet back. Down dog. You take yourself through a flow. So chest over hands, halfway or all the way. All right. Locust, cobra, up dog, any variation. And then down dog as you exhale. Good. All right. Stay smooth. So from down dog, just take a moment. Come down to the knees. You're going to grab a block just to bring it close to the mat. And we're going to use that for this next part of our flow. All right. So hips up and back when you're ready. All right. Take a moment. Nice. All right. Take a deep inhale, stretch the right leg up and back. And as you exhale, step forward in between the hands. You're going to set up warrior two. So back heel comes down. Chest and hips are open to the left. Let the arms come out to the sides. All right. So take it a moment just to settle into your warrior two. Before you make moves, you still have space to kind of pause and gather yourself. All right. And then from here, you're going to straighten out the front leg, stretch the right hand forward. All right. And then the right hand is going to come either all the way down to the mat. You can use the block for some support. Or if possible, you might take your piece fingers, hook around the big toe like you did just a second ago. Okay. Showing you on a block. So as you set yourself up, try to keep this part of your body open. So hips open, chest open. But come back to that first feeling that we did in pyramid pose in the flow. So ground yourself through that front foot. Feel a little bit of that effort of dragging backwards. But use that effort to lift the ribs a little higher from the floor. All right. So again, that front leg is working. You're engaged in that back leg just so you can get that strength. But feel in that support throughout the rest of the body. All right. Relax your top shoulder a bit. You can bring your hand to the hip or maybe you keep the left arm up. Nice. All right. Take one more inhale. Nice. As you exhale, bring your left hand down. Slowly step back into down dog. All right. Take an inhale, chest over hands. Halfway, all the way. Or maybe you skip the flow today. All right. And then down dog when you're ready. Hips up and back. All right.

So stay smooth. All right. No rush. Deep inhale. Exhale. All right. So from down dog, take an inhale, stretch the left leg up and back. Nice. As you exhale, step forward in between the hands. Warrior two. All right. So again, a moment to collect your breath. Stay in your rhythm and just let it not be a part of everything we do. All right. And then from here, straighten out the front leg. Left arm reaches towards the front. And you're either taking your left hand to a mat, using that block, or piece fingers you hook the big toe. Okay. With the hand down, try not to rest so much in the hand. Like it's there for support, but it's not there to bear weight. So ground that front foot. Feel that feeling of pulling backwards, but using all that effort in the front leg to lift a little higher from the mat. Nice. Okay. Feel the engagement of the hamstring. All right. Hands can stay up. If it feels a little good to bring the hand to the hip, you're welcome to it, but turn the chest. Feel that little bit of space in your top shoulder. All right. Take one more inhale. Press the floor away. Nice. As you exhale, both hands down to the mat, step the front foot back. Nice. Inhale into plank. Exhale halfway or all. All right. Up dog, cobra, any variation. Nice. Hips up and back. All right. Stay smooth. Nice, y'all. All right. Bend your knees, look forward, and then slowly walk or hop to the top. All right. As heavy as you can be for a bit. Inhale into half lift. As you exhale, fold and soften one more time. Mountain pose as you inhale, stand all the way up. Nice. As you exhale, bring your hands down into your sides. All right. Stay for the breath. Deep inhale in. All right.

Smooth inhale, smooth exhale out. We're going to move through another balancing pose. All right. So shift the weight over into the right foot. You're going to lift the left leg up off the mat. Okay. So as we move through a progression, you can stop anywhere along the process that you like. But if you can move through the entire sequence again, I think it's really nice for you to build that strength and hamstring and also get that strength and standing leg. So left leg up. You can stay right here if you need to balance. Peace fingers. You're going to grab your left big toe if you want to progress a little further. But as you do so, try not to cave forward. Let the chest stay lifted. Let the leg stay long. All right. And if it feels good to progress a little further, you're going to stretch left leg straight out in front of you. All right. Keeping that length on the bottom side of the leg that we've been working with. Right. If this is okay, you want to explore a little bit more. Left leg might come straight out to the side. Okay. Keeping the heart open. Keeping the shoulders relaxed. All right. Slowly swing left leg back to the front and then keeping the leg where it is, release the hand. You're just going to hold for three. Relax for two. Left leg a little higher. Get that length out kick. Exhale all the way down.

Left hand down. All right. So take it a moment. And again, we're all at different spaces in our practice. So pausing along any one of those steps is perfectly fine. All right. But if it feels good, challenge yourself. Okay. Second side. Waiting to your left foot. Right leg is going to lift up off the mat. Okay. So big focus on the standing leg a little bit. Allow yourself to kind of ground through the foot, but squeeze the thighs so you have that solid foundation. Right. If it feels good to progress, peace fingers. Big toe. Okay. Grabbing that stay lifted in the chest, stay strong in that standing leg. All right. And then right leg is going to stretch straight out in front if you allow. Keeping the chest lifted, getting that length on the bottom side. All right. And then slowly coming out to the right, keeping that leg extended, staying strong in that standing leg. Good. Right leg back to the front. All right. Release the hand. Three seconds. No, you got three seconds.

You just did it on the other side. I've seen you. Take one more inhale. Lift the right leg up. Kind of seeing you. Nice. Right foot on the mat. Right hand down. All right. Pause for a moment. Let that register. Feel that feeling of like you did the thing. You can let it go. Back to your breath. Okay. Take an inhale, stretch the arms forward and up. Nice. As you exhale, forward fold, relax the body down. All right. As you inhale, find half lift. Exhale, hands to the mat. Step both feet back. All right. Take a good flow. So chest over hands, halfway or all the way. Locust, up dog, any variation. Nice. Down dog as you exhale. Hips come up and back. Nice, y'all. Okay. So allow everything to smooth out. Again, no rush. Making sure you have your breath with the movements. Okay. So from your down dog, you're going to come forward into a plank. All right. Bring your right hand to the middle of the mat and roll over to the right edge of your foot. All right. And then from here, you can pause. If you want a little extra support, you might step your left foot to the middle of the mat. And again, if you want to progress a little further, you might try what we did earlier. Piece fingers, you grab your left big toe and then stretch your legs straight out in front. And it may be eventually you lift it up towards the ceiling.

All right. Wherever you are, you're going to press the hips a little higher from the mat. Take a deep inhale just to lift. Nice. Left leg goes back. Left hand comes down. Down dog. All right. Feel free to flow if you feel that's like good for the body right now. If you feel like you need to pause, again, you have options whether you need to skip the flow throughout the practice. Okay. And then you're going to get that second side. All right. Chest forward. Left hand to the center. Roll over to the left edge of your foot. Okay. And again, if you need that support, right foot might step to the middle. And this is super good for the outer hip. Super good for that left arm. If you want to go a little further, piece fingers, big toe. Stretch forward and then slowly lift it away from the mat. All right. Whatever you have, press the floor away. Lift the hips higher. Nice. Right leg back. Down dog. Pause. Nice. And everybody do me a favor. Come down to child's pose. Knees come down. Hips onto the heels. Soften the forehead to the mat for a bit. Allow yourself to settle back into your breath. And if you notice yourself just being a little attentive to this, what's floating around in your head, that's perfectly fine. But practice that feeling of directing your attention and just feeling the flow of an inhale. And then soften back to the flow of an exhale. Okay. So from child's pose, you're going to slowly shift into all fours. All right. And then grabbing both of the blocks and setting them up somewhere at the middle of your mat to support our next pose. You can set them on a second setting so they're not super high, but also not flat and super low. All right. And you're going to step the right foot forward as if you're coming into like a low lunge, but I just want you to take it like a little different than the traditional and then step your right foot all the way off to the right side of your mat. All right. So much so that it's actually like off the right side of your mat and then bring both hands on the inside of that front leg, setting up on the block. All right. So straighten out the front leg like we did earlier in class. You set up for your half Hanuman, half split. All right. And you can pause here.

This might already be a lot for the hamstring. You can stay. All right. But with that support into the hands, press the heel down into the mat. You're going to drag your foot towards the back one more time. Okay. If this feels like it's manageable, you want to go a little further. You might take this into a full, but keeping that same feeling of a wider setup than traditional, instead of it being like a front split, it's a little wider. Okay. Keeping both hands on the block, ground down through that front foot, create a little bit of that engagement as you pull back. Okay. Keep the chest lifted. Stay for a breath. Nice. All right. Take one more breath here. Good. As you exhale, slowly pull it back in. Step the right foot back. Okay. And then pause it in all fours just to hold for a minute. All right. I'm going to do the same thing on the left side. So step in the left foot outside the block. And again, walking it all the way off the left side of your mat so it's completely off, but allowing your legs to just be a little wider so we can get it a little deeper in the hip. All right. And you're going to straighten out the front leg, heel on the mat, toes lift up. All right. And then one more time, you're pressing the heel down into the mat and then feel that feeling of pulling back behind you. Nice. All right. Keeping that engagement in the front leg, you stay right here. Or if you want to progress a little further setting up that full Hanuman, letting the left leg extend out to the side, but keeping it off to the left. All right. Both hands stay on the inside of the leg. You press the floor away. Nice. All right. Ground the heel. One more time. Pull back, lift up. You're going to slowly bring yourself back to all fours. So left knee comes back. You're going to move those blocks out the way so they're not in your way. All right. And then sweep your legs out from underneath you so that your legs are long on the mat. You find yourself on a seat. So give yourself a moment. I want you to bounce the thighs a couple of times on the mat. All right. We've been doing a lot of work to stretch these muscles in the back of the legs. So allowing them to still be free, but not overwhelmed. Okay. All right.

And I want you to ground down through your thighs so much so that the knees are straight, but your heels might lift up, toes might flex towards your face. Okay. As we move forward into a bend, I want you to try to keep your legs as straight as you can without letting the knees lift up or bend. Okay. So ground down into the thighs and then you're going to slowly walk the hands straight out in front of you. And if you feel like you get to a point where your knee wants to lift up, don't let it. You stay right there and then ground down through the thighs one more time. All right. So allowing yourself to keep that length in the hamstrings as you crawl and eventually hands might rest on the ankles, calves. You can grab the outer edges of the feet. Maybe you grab your piece fingers in the toes or your full like gorilla, like we did earlier, hands over the soles of your foot. All right. Whatever you can take yourself into a bend, go for it, but not at the expense of like going deep for the sake of going deep. All right. Still keeping that integrity and allowing yourself to stretch the backs of your legs, ground the thighs one more time. And however far you go, you go. Okay. So you might sacrifice like a little more of the depth for that feeling in your legs and for the goal of today's practice, that's perfectly fine. Nice. All right. Take one more breath in. Right as you exhale, release the feet, slowly crawl on up. And you're going to transition along your back. Nice. All right. Pause it for a moment just to feel that connection to the mat. All right. And then you're going to grab that strap so you can have a little support in this next phase of the clock. All right. And then taking the strap, you're going to hook this around right foot. All right. And stretch right leg straight towards the ceiling. All right. Left leg can extend if that's not too inconvenient in the body, but allowing yourself to get this length on the bottom side of that right leg one more time. So everybody do me a favor. Lower your leg down towards the mat just a bit. Find that spot where your knee is straight and the heel is extended one more time, keeping that length. Now you want to give yourself some lift to find that edge in your stretch. Okay. So again, if you go to a point where your knee wants to bend, allow yourself to find that space where the knee is straight so we can continue to lengthen that hamstring and get in that space. All right. Ground yourself through a little bit of the sacrum. All right. Keeping that support through the strap, soften the head, soften the shoulders. Nice. Okay. And you're going to do the same thing on the second side. So switching the feet and maybe you just lift the left foot over to step into the loop. However way you transition to the opposite side, you're welcome to it. Okay. Right knee can be bent or if you want to extend through that right leg, let it be long. Okay. And again, lengthen it out. So again, you might start low, get yourself that space to stretch and then slowly start to lift it up until you find that edge. All right. Once you find that edge, you just want to hold and breathe. All right. Soften the shoulders for a moment. Relax the upper body. All right. Take a deep inhale. Nice. Okay. And then slowly come down. I'm going to release that strap.

So just take it from around your foot, push it off to the side. All right. Bend both knees, bring the bottom of your feet to the mat for a moment. Hands can rest on the body and pause. Okay. And then last pose, happy baby. Draw the knees up into the chest. All right. You're going to take your piece fingers. You can hook the big toes like we did throughout class. You grab an outer edges of the feet are perfectly fine, but give yourself a little bit of a kick, right? So you're going to kick the feet up against the hands, but with the hands, you're going to draw the knees down into the side. So you give yourself a little bit of work in the hips, right? If it feels good and you want to continue that work with your hamstrings, you might extend right leg all the way out to the side. Left leg, if you want to take it that way, or if you want to do both and you got some space, you take advantage. Okay. Allow yourself to take a big breath before you rest. So you might open your mouth for a sigh or just exaggerate an exhale or whatever you need. Okay. And stay here as long as you may need. All right. And then set up a moment for rest. All right. Shavasana. Legs long, hands can be on the body or you might rest your hands down by your sides.

All right. And then whatever you like, feel you're holding onto in this space where we don't need to hold on. Allow yourself to slowly soften and settle into your rest. All right. So take a moment. All right. Allow yourself to bring a little bit of gentle movement back into the body. All right. So fingers may move, toes may flex. All right. And you're going to gently draw the knees up into the chest. Okay. Give the arms a little squeeze around the legs. All right. And roll over to the right side of your body. Pause on that right side just for a bit. And then stay gentle. Try to keep your eyes closed. You're going to press up to a seat, legs across. So if you feel better with the legs long, you're fine. All right. Let the hands rest in your thighs and you might pull the palms together at the heart. All right. And before you move, before you continue today, take maybe just a big breath or two just to feel yourself before you transition. Nice. All right. Thank you all so much for sharing with me today. I hope you feel a little more grounded and just freer in the body. All right. Namaste.