Solar Plexus Chakra: Twists

Hello everyone and welcome. So in today's sequence, we're going to be continuing our work with the solar plexus, but we're going to continue to emphasize those muscles of the core. Okay. So as I previously said, usually when we think of core, there's sometimes this only focus of the front of the core belly, but I want us to continue this work to emphasize this entire region. So we're going to work on lengthening through the sides of the body, but also work on that part of the core that helps us rotate and carry ourselves into our twists. Okay. So when you're ready, you're going to grab a block. You're going to join me in a seat. As we begin, you can bring the hands to the thighs, or if you feel comfortable with the hands and the belly, you might bring some attention back to the space of your body. You're going to close your eyes for a bit and just take a few breaths to ground. All right. Feel as if you can ground through the seat just a little bit more. And then as you inhale, you're going to lift up through the heart. So there's some length through the sides of your body. You feel that extension through the spine. All right. Draw the shoulders down and away from the ears. Give yourself a little space around your neck. And then just take a moment just to feel that space, just to breathe a little deeper before we begin. Nice. Okay. And then when you're ready, float your eyes open. All right. You're going to stretch the arms over the head. And palms can stay open if you feel good flexing the fingers, you're walking to close your fists, but you're going to bend the elbows down into the sides. All right. Feeling that continuous lift, I want you to give a little attention to the core. And again, drawing the belly button back and in, feel a little bit of lift in the ribs. And with that engagement, you're going to twist your body as far as you can towards the right side. Okay. So you might not go super deep, perfectly fine, but I want you to feel the end range that you have with just using the core alone as your support for the twist. Okay. Holding this for a moment, take another inhale, lift the heart up. All right. And you're going to bring your left hand to the right knee. Right hand is going to set up behind your seat on the mat. Right. And then as you inhale, you're going to press the right hand, lift the heart up. And then as you exhale, now you're going to use that left hand to pull and look over your right shoulder. All right. Keeping all that containment in the core. Take another inhale just to lift up, pull the belly in. And as you exhale, you take it a little deeper, look over the right shoulder. Nice. Right. As you exhale, slowly come back to center. All right. Hands on your thighs. Take a moment just to rest in neutral. Okay. And then we do the same thing on the other side. So stretching the arms over the head, you're going to bend the elbows down into the sides. Right. And again, feeling that core and letting it support your twist. Pull the belly up and in as you inhale. And as you exhale, you're going to turn to the left as deep as you can. Okay. So essentially you're just allowing yourself to see how far you can twist without leverage. Just using the muscle of your body on its own to get you as far as you can to the left. And then now we add the leverage. So right hand to the left knee, left hand comes to the back of the seat. All right. And now as you inhale, lift the heart up, keep that engagement. You're going to turn and look over your left shoulder. All right. So with the leverage, you might go deeper, but it's awesome just to figure out like how far you can go without pulling your flexibility or pulling yourself in the flexibility. All right. One more time. Take an inhale, chest up. Right. As you exhale, turn and look over your left shoulder. Just a little bit more. Nice. Slowly come back to the center. Release the hands on top of the knees. You're going to pause for a bit. Feel neutral. All right. And you're going to slowly transition onto your hands and knees setting up in all fours in the tabletop. Okay. So setting up the hands right underneath the shoulders, bring the knees underneath the hips. All right. Spread the fingers a few times and it might feel good just to slowly move around and make some space. Okay. If it feels good, you can bend the elbows a few times. Right. Give yourself a little space to kind of swing the hips back. You might rock the hips a little forward into the mat. Good. All right. And you're going to pause in neutral. All right. So from all fours, we're going to take ourselves through a few cat cows. So as you inhale, let the belly come down. You're going to lift your heart and chin up from the mat. All right. And as you exhale, draw your belly in, you're going to round your upper back towards the ceiling. All right. Do that one more time. Inhale, belly comes down, chest and chin lifts. Right. As you exhale, pull the belly in as you tuck your tailbone around yourself. All right. And then take a few more of those on your own. So every inhale you find yourself in a new shape. And every exhale you bring yourself into something different, but following that rhythm of your breath. Nice. And then when you're ready, you're going to pause through neutral. Bring your left hand to the center of your mat. You're going to inhale to reach your right arm up. Right. And as you exhale, send the right arm underneath the body, drop the shoulder onto the mat, let your ear relax. All right. So left hand can stay where it is or if it feels good to stretch it, crawl it a little more towards the top of the mat. You're welcome to it. All right. But give yourself a little press through that right arm. So feel as if you're trying to press the matter way through that forearm and hand. And using that effort, you're allowing your chest to open up a little more towards the ceiling to feel that twist. All right. Taking a moment to breathe and just feeling that rotation in the spine. Okay. And then when you're ready, you're going to inhale, send the right arm back up. As you exhale, bring the right hand down to the mat. Pause. Okay. Pause to feel that space. All right. And then second side, the right hand comes to the middle. Left arm is going to open up as you inhale.

And then as you exhale, send the left arm underneath the body, left ear down, left shoulder on the mat. Nice. Okay. So again, that right hand might stay where it is. You might crawl it up a little further. If it feels like it makes some space, you can go there. And in that bottom arm, that left arm, you're pressing it down into the mat. And then feeling that effort of pushing the floor away to turn your chest towards the ceiling. Okay. Next inhale, slowly unravel, send the right arm towards the ceiling. Good. As you exhale, left hand down to the mat. Okay. So last little bit, if you want to move through some cat cows or anything unique, you're welcome to it. All right. This still is like the first phase of class where we're like warming things up and kind of planting the seeds for the stuff we're going to develop later in the sequence. Okay. You know, when you're ready, hands underneath the shoulders, knees underneath the hips, tuck your toes under your feet for a moment. And you're going to slowly lift the knees a few inches off the mat, not that high. Okay. You're feeling like you can draw the belly up and in one more time, feeling that engagement of the core, just so we can feel that awareness. All right. Press the mat away, round the upper back just a bit. Take a deep inhaling. Exhale, straighten out the legs. You're going to find down dog. All right. And a little bit of movement in down dog before we step to the top. Pedal out your heels, bend your knees as deep as you need to. Good. Okay. Bend your knees. Look forward in between both hands. You're going to slowly walk your feet to the top of your mat, coming to your forward fold. So as you arrive in your forward fold, allow this to be a space where you can let go just for a bit. All right. If you want to continue that work in the legs, it might feel nice just to pedal out through the knees just to give yourself a little bit of movement in the legs. Right. You could also sway the upper body left to right. And it's common for us to maybe grab elbows. You could also interlace the fingers behind the head just to add some leverage. All right. But feel a little bit of that release in your spine. Feel as if you can kind of just lengthen the body and feel that feeling of getting longer throughout. All right. And as you inhale, you're going to come into a half lift. So hands, see your thighs and your calves. All right. And again, bringing a little attention to the core, draw the belly button backing in and then using that space to stretch the ribs towards the top of the mat. All right. Take a deep inhale. As you exhale, fold forward. You're going to relax the body over legs. Nice. Next inhale, you're going to stand up for mountain pose, stretch your arms over your head. Right. And as you exhale, draw the hands down into your sides. All right. Take a moment just to feel a deep inhale in and in a smooth exhale out. Nice. So we're going to move through half salutations just so we compare that movement and create that rhythm and pace for the practice.

Okay. So as you inhale, stretch the arms overhead. As you exhale, fold forward and bring yourself over the legs. Nice. Take an inhale for half lift. As you exhale, fold forward and relax your body. All right. As you inhale, mountain pose, stretch your arms overhead. Exhale, draw your hands down into your sides. Okay. One more time, try to breathe a little deeper. Inhale, stretch up. Right. As you exhale, you're taking that entire breath into a fold, no rush. Good. As you inhale, half lift, stretch your chest forward. As you exhale, fold forward and soften one more time. Nice. Mountain pose as you inhale, stretch all the way up. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Nice. One more time, maybe you close your eyes. Take a deep inhale to reach up. Good. As you exhale, feel that feeling of softening down. You can let go of that. As you inhale, feel the core and belly come in. Exhale, you're going to fold forward and soften again. Nice. All right. Mountain pose as you inhale, feel that lift through the sides of your body. As you exhale, hands come down into your sides. Good. Okay. So keeping that pace, I'm going to continue with high lunge side mutations, but we're also going to add strength pose in a forearm plank. Okay. So one more time, take an inhale to reach up. As you exhale, fold forward and come down over the legs. Relax. Nice. Take an inhale, feel the length through the sides of your body. As you exhale, fold down, hands on the mat. Step the right foot back for high lunge. As you inhale, reach the arms over the head, high lunge. Good. As you exhale, bring the hands down to the mat. You're going to step back for down dog. Inhale, chest over hands, plank pose. As you exhale, come all the way down to the body. All right. So sphinx pose, elbows underneath the shoulders, bring your forearms down. And as you inhale, press the mat away, lift the heart up. Nice. And you're going to inhalate the fingers for a second. Tuck your toes, lift the hips off the mat, forearm plank. Okay. Feeling as if you can press the mat away, draw the belly button up and then round your upper body. Good y'all. All right. Hips down on the mat, stretch, sphinx pose. Take an inhale to lift. Good. Down dog, tuck your toes, lift the hips up and back. Go for it. Nice. Okay. Take a smooth inhaling. Exhale, your right foot is going to step forward, high lunge. Inhale, reaching up from the floor to stretch. Good. As you exhale, bring your hands to the mat, step to the top of your mat to fold. All right. Take an inhale for half lift. As you exhale, fold forward and soften one more time. Nice.

Mountain pose as you inhale, feel stretched from feet to hands. Exhale, hands all the way down by your sides. Nice. All right. Same thing on the left side, just smooth out the rhythm. Inhale to reach up. All right. As you exhale, fold forward and soften something in your body. Nice. Take an inhale for the half lift. All right. As you exhale, hands down to the mat, step your left foot back this time. Heel up. Inhale, stretch towards the ceiling, feel that high lunge. Good. As you exhale, hands to the mat, step back for your down dog. All right. Plank pose as you inhale, come forward. Exhale, take your time to your body. No need to rush yet. Good. All right. Forearm plank, interlace the fingers right away this time. Excuse me. Sphinx pose. Press the mat away. Take a deep inhale, lift the heart up. Good. Tuck your toes for a forearm plank, lift the hips up. Good. Okay. And again, drawing everything up and away from the mat, press the mat away, feel a little bit of that engagement in the core. Good. Hips come down. Chest up. Sphinx pose for a breath. Good. Down dog, tuck your toes. Hips go up and back. Nice. Stay smooth in your rhythm. Take a deep inhale in. Exhale, left foot in between the hands. Keep the heel high. Inhale, reach up from the mat, feel everything lift. Good. As you exhale, hands to the mat, step to the top of your mat, forward fold. All right. As you inhale, half lift. As you exhale, fold forward and soften. Nice, y'all. All right. Mountain pose all the way to the top. Deep breath in. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. All right. Pause in for a breath. Take a deep inhale in. Smooth exhale out. Good. Okay. One more time. Mountain pose as you inhale. Good. As you exhale, come down over the legs, find that space to release. Nice. Inhale half lift, draw your shoulders back a bit. Good. And as you exhale, both hands to the mat, you're going to step both feet back to pause and plank. Okay. So if you need it, and this is always a suggestion, right? Knees might come down to the mat for any support throughout plank or any flow that you might take. But if you can, just to build that core strength, keep the legs straight, press the mat away and lift everything up. All right. Take a deep inhale in. Exhale, come halfway down. Nice. Up dog, you're going to inhale, lift your chest towards the top of the mat, let the shoulders soften. All right. And then down dog, tuck your toes, lift the hips up and back. Good y'all. All right. So pause it for a moment just to collect yourself. Feel like you can breathe a little deeper than you were just a second ago. All right. As you exhale, feel like you can draw the shoulders away from the ears. So that space is just letting go of the tension, letting go of the breath. All right. And keep that focus for a bit. Good. Bend your knees, look forward, and then slowly walk or hop your feet to the top of the mat. Nice. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold forward and soften. All right. And as you inhale, mountain pose, stand all the way up. Exhale, bring your hands down into your sides. Good. All right. So just keeping that pace, trying to stay with the breath through everything we move through. All right. Take one more inhale, stretch up. Good. As you exhale, fold forward and soften one more time. Nice, y'all. Take an inhale for half lift. As you exhale, fold forward, hands to the mat, step both feet back. And then from here on out, it's your flow. So if you feel like you want to come forward and come halfway down for up dog, cool. You might come all the way down, give yourself a sphinx pose if that feels a little better in your body. All right. Whatever you choose, meet back and down dog, hips up and back as you exhale, we all come back to the same place. Good. Take a moment. All right. Reestablishing that connection, feeling like you can just ground your attention and how you're breathing right now.

Good. All right. As you inhale, stretch the right leg up and back. All right. And you're going to bend your knee, turn your top leg open to the right side of your mat. All right. If it feels good, you roll the ankle a few times, you can flex the toes. All right. Big circles with that right leg is welcome, but just allowing yourself to just be guided by what feels good in your body. Okay. And then from here, stretch the right leg back. As you exhale, step forward in between your hands. You're going to set up high lunge. All right. So hands come to the heart just to start. Good. I didn't mean for that to rhyme, but it's perfect. All right. Bend that front knee a little bit and your hands are going to come to the belly just so we can emphasize and feel a little bit of that sensory feedback. Right. So instead of it being forward, come back a little bit, draw the belly button back and then, and then feeling like you can lift through the ribs. So you got all that space in the core, all that length through the sides of your body. Okay. Reach the arms up over the head. And then just like we did at the start of class, I want you to flip the palms and then bend the elbows down into the sides. Nice. Keeping all that lift through the core, all that containment as you lengthen through the spine. Turn your body as far as you can to the right just to feel that rotation. Okay. And again, without that leverage, seeing how far your body goes, just using the muscles of your core to make that rotation. Right. As much as you can, chest might open to the right and then just feeling that space where your body stops, you're going to hold, breathe, lift up through the core. That's amazing, y'all. All right. Slowly come back to the front, take an inhale to reach up through the hands. Right. As you exhale, hands come down to the mat, step the front foot back, down dog. Right. If you're taking a flow, take an inhale, come to a plank pose. All right. As you exhale halfway or all the way down, and you're going to take up dog, Sphinx pose, or any on the belly variation that feels good. Good. Nice. Exhale down dog, hips up and back. Good, y'all. All right. Take a moment. Allow yourself to come back to that consistency. So nothing rushed in your breath, nothing too forced.

Good. And as you inhale, left leg is going to stretch up and back. All right. Bend your knee, make a little bit of space. Okay. So as you're making space in that leg, continue to allow yourself to have space in other parts of your body too. So the shoulders didn't creep up a bit, you still have that space in the neck. Shake your head. Yes. Nerve, remind yourself. Okay. Take an inhale, left leg goes back. As you exhale, step forward, high lunge one more time. Good. So hands at the heart. All right. Pause in for a moment just to feel stable in the legs. All right. And the hands come to the belly just to bring some awareness to the core. All right. And again, bringing everything back in. So as if you can contain that middle, like you're pulling everything back and in, and then lifting up a bit so you get that length, you get that engagement in the core. All right. Arms reach over the head. Try not to lose any of this. This is all you right here, all the support. All right. Bend the elbows down into the sides and then rotate into the left as much as you can. Turn the upper body is far left.

Good. Okay. So allowing yourself not to lose the bend in the knees. So you might bend deeper into that, but finding that edge as much as you can, turning your body as far left as you can without any support. Good. Okay. Take a moment, come back to center, reach the arms up over the head for a breath. Good. As you exhale, both hands to the mat. Down dog, step back. All right. You might pause here. If you want to move through a full flow, take your time to do so. We all meet back and down dog. Good. Bend your knees. Look forward. Slowly walk or hop your feet in between the hands. Good y'all. All right. Take an inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold and soften. All right. Mountain poses as you inhale, stand all the way up. Exhale, hands come down into your socks. Nice. Take a deep breath here just for a moment. Inhale. Good. Smooth exhale. Good. So from here, you're going to bring the feet together at the center of the mat. We're going to come into Thunderbolt, but before we do that, I just want you to press the palms together in front of your body. Okay. So feeling as if you can stretch the arms forward and pull the chest back, broaden your shoulder blades a little bit, but round the upper back and do the same thing with your core. Belly button pulls back and in. All right. Keep that effort. You're going to sit down and back. All right. And then slowly, I want you to lift your arms up above the head, but if you get to a point where the shoulders start to squeeze behind you, that might be too high. I'm just going to ask you to slowly lower down and keep that extension to the arms. All right. Press the palms together. Feel that work in the hands. And as you sit low, lift the heart up. Good. Taking a moment to focus on the breath. All right. Just notice that like in a spot like this, it's super easy to get into your head about how things show up, how things feel, what's going on. When is this going to end all this stuff? All right. Try to practice how to direct your attention. Feel that smoothness of an inhale. Stay for one more exhale. Good. Deep inhale. Exhale, forward fold. Let the body relax over your legs. Good. Okay. And effortless. No tension in your neck.

No lift in the body. See if you can practice that opposite. Like you can work. You know you can, but feel that feeling of, all right, I don't have to work right now. I can soften. All right. Taking an inhale for half lift. Good. As you exhale, hands to the mat. Step both feet back. Down dog. All right. Plank pose as you inhale. Coming down for a flow either halfway or all the way to the mat. All right. Sphinx pose. Up dog. Any variation. Good. Down dog. Tuck your toes. Hips up and back. Nice. Okay. Smoothing it out. All right. Open the space between your hands a little bit more. Try to soften around the neck. All right. And then as you inhale, stretch the right leg up and back. All right. As you exhale, step the front foot in between the hands. Come in a high lunge one more time. Hands at the heart. Nice. Okay. Feeling that containment. Just reminding yourself every time we come in a high lunge, this is a part of the high lunge too. All right. Stretch the arms over the hood. Elbows bend to the sides. And then one more time, you're going to twist to the right. But this time you're going to lower as if you're going to bring your elbow to your knee. But instead of hooking right away, just find that space to hover above the knee. Okay. So stand long through the sides of your body. Keeping the core contained. Now you're using that core to rotate, but allowing yourself to find that twist without the leverage. Nice. Now we add the leverage. Left elbow hooks on the outside of your right knee.

Palms are going to press together. All right. And then with that leverage, you press the hands together. You might allow yourself to twist a little deeper towards the thumbs, but just noticing that difference, right? This is the flexibility. You twist as deep as you need to go. All right. Take one more inhale just to feel that rotation. Good. As you exhale, hands come back to center. Both hands to the mat, step front foot back. All right. Inhale, chest over hands. Taking a flow halfway all the way. Up dog. Good. Down dog. Tuck your toes, hips go up and back. All right. Smooth it out. Good. Same thing on the left side. Y'all just feeling that rhythm. Inhale, left leg up. Good. As you exhale, left foot forward. All right. High lunge, hands at the heart to start. Nice. Okay. So instead of leaning too far forward, we will get there. Feel like you can come up a bit and enjoying everything back in it. Okay. Strong through that back leg, reach to your arms over your head. Bend the elbows down into your sides. Okay. And then rotate into the left as far as your body goes. Start to take it down over that knee and then resist that urge to rest. Let your core work. Feel that rotation. Okay. Nice. And an elbow to the knee. Left hand on top of right and then pressing the palms together, using that effort to twist the chest a little more towards the thumbs. Find that twist. Okay. Again, you notice the depth when you have that leverage. Press the hands together. Give yourself a little bit of that twist and then lengthen through the sides of your body. Good. Y'all take another deep breath in. Exhale, come back to center. Both hands down. Step back for down dog. Good. All right. Take a flow. Maybe you pause, but I just want to remind you, you have options if you need to take a different approach.

Good. Bend your knees. Look forward. Slowly walk or hop in between the hands. Good. All right. Half lift as you inhale. Forward fold as you exhale. All right. Mountain pose all the way to the top. Good. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. All right. Stand for the breath. Deep inhaling. Smoothest exhale ever. Good. Okay. Feet come together. So one more time with the thunderbolt.

All right. Press the palms together in front. Just starting with the hands straight out front. All right. And then sit the hips down and back. Slowly lift the hands to that point where you can keep that space across your back, but you feel that effort in the hands and arms. All right. And then slowly bring the hands to the heart. You're going to take an inhale. Lift through the chest and then twist it one more time. Left elbow is going to hook on that right knee, just like you did in high lunge. Okay. So once you get that grip, try to keep the seat lower than the head. So instead of you tilting forward, feel like you can sit down and back. And then adding that leverage, press the top hand into the bottom hand. You're going to turn the chest towards the thumbs. Good. All right. This might feel good to stay. If you feel like you want to fly away, you might stretch the arms away from each other. All right. If you feel, you know, you want to have a little more fun. Right hand might come behind the back. You can grab the inside of that front thigh just to help with that leverage. All right. Press whatever you have. Twist the chest up towards the ceiling. Good. Release that back hand if it's there. Slowly bring the hands back to the heart. You're going to stay for an inhale.

Exhale, fold forward, soften down. So just like I said earlier, practice in that space of a pause. All right. You know, like you can work, you can twist, you can put yourself in the shapes to engage. But feel what it feels like to do the opposite, to let go, to release, to feel that feeling of softening. Good. All right. Second side. Hips down and back. Straight away, hands come to the heart. All right. Stand low through the seat. Feel lifted in the chest. Take a deep inhale. Exhale, right elbow over to left knee. Okay. So when you make that switch, keep the knees in line as well. It's usually common for a knee to buckle out, right?

Keeping that together so you have a strong foundation, press the hands together, turn the chest towards the thumbs. All right. Stand low in the seat. Right. If it feels good, arms might separate. But keep pressing that bottom arm against the legs to help you find that rotation. All right. If you want to explore a little deeper, left arm behind the back, you might grab the inside of that right thigh. But whatever you have, you're pressing the elbow into the knee to help you twist the chest up towards the ceiling. All right. Take one more inhale. Good. That exhale finds the left arm open and you're going to swing back to the top. Deep inhale in. Exhale, forward fold and soften. Nice y'all. All right. Soften everything. Feel that space. Good. Inhale for a half lift. Exhale, bring the hands to the mat, step both feet back. Okay. Down dog. Taking a flow if it feels necessary. Chest over your hands, halfway, go all the way down. All right. Sphinx pose, up dog or any other variation. Good. Down dog as you exhale. Tuck the toes, hips up and back. Nice y'all. All right. Smooth out the rhythm.

So from here, you're going to lower your knees down to the mat. All right. And then just setting up a block for this next one, just so it's not too far out of reach. All right. And then finding your down dog one more time. Hips up and back. Good. All right. As you inhale, stretch the right leg up. Good. As you exhale, step the right foot forward. You're going to find high lunge one more time. So hands at the heart, pausing for a moment just to recheck those boxes. Right. So again, belly button drawing up and in. Feeling that length through the sides of the core, but that whole extension in the midsection. Okay. Keeping that effort, slowly leading the body forward. So you load up that front foot.

You're going to take your time to gently get up off that back leg to balance on the front warrior three. All right. Feeling that extension through the back leg, keeping that work through the course and not too slouched, but belly button in your long through the midsection. Okay. And then taking that rotation into another part of a practice, another pose, revolve half moon. So left hand is going to come either all the way to the mat or block and it feeling like you can lift the chest towards the right side of the room, getting yourself that extension and rotation. All right. Right arm is going to reach up from the mat. All right. If it feels good, you might also bring that right hand to the hip just to focus on twisting. All right. Using your quarter lift, that left hand is there for support, but eventually you might find some space to like float that left hand up. All right. But turning and focusing a little more space in that top shoulder. Feel like the chest can rotate up. Take one more inhale. Good. As you exhale, both hands to the mat. Step back for down dog. Nice. All right. Taking a flow if you need it. So chest forward over hands. Exhale, come halfway or all the way. Up dog, Sphinx pose, anything that feels good. Good. Down dog, hips up and back. All right. Smooth it out.

Nice. Okay. So second side, left leg comes up as you inhale. Good. As you exhale, step forward, high lunge. All right. So back heel stays lifted. Hands at the heart just to feel that containment. Good. Everything in, everything lifted. All right. Feel in that space. Good. Okay. Load up that front foot. Staying long through the midsection. Taking a moment just to gently float off that back leg. Okay. And again, there's no need to rush. So balance usually helps when you move slow. So take your time to get those movements to feel grounded. Okay. And in right hand, block the mat, twisting towards the left. Good. Okay. So stretching that top arm up as high as you can. Or maybe that left hand comes to the hip just to focus on that core rotation. Feeling as if you can lift up from the mat. Stretch. Okay. Again, light arm, light on that right hand. All right. Finding that rotation. If your top arm is up, feel that reach. Okay. Softening through the shoulders. Take a deep inhale, lift up. Good. Slowly bring left hand down.

Step back for down dog. Good. Moving that block. If it's in the way, pause. Good. All right. So from down dog, you're going to slowly bring your knees to the mat. And then just swing your legs out from underneath you so you can set up in a seated position with the legs out long. Okay. And then for a moment, just tap the thighs a bit on the mat just to give them some some motion, a little bit of movement to wake them up. All right. And then stretching both legs out long. You're going to stretch the arms over the head for a breath. And as you exhale, dive forward to catch whatever you can grab, whether it's ankles, you can take the piece fingers around the big toes. Maybe you grab the entire outer edge of the foot. Okay. As you inhale, lift the heart up a little towards the toes and then keeping some of that length, I'm going to slowly fold deeper into the legs. Good. So even if you think about it in forward bends, allow yourself to use the core to extend here too. So again, feeling like the belly is lifting up and away from the thighs, stretch your chest forward, get that length through the sides of your body, and then take that into your fold. Okay. Once you're there and you're long, it's okay for the spine to round, but that extension is super beneficial. Good. All right. Release the feets, come up to a seat. From here, you're going to bring your left foot in. All right. You can stay here in this first position. This is perfectly fine. Or if you feel better with the left leg crossed over right, that might feel nice. And if you're anything like me, you might want to draw that back leg in. Just for me, it gives a little firmer support in my base and just allows me to feel good in my twist. So left hand is going to come behind the seat. You're going to inhale to reach the right arm up. And then as you exhale, I want you to twist, but without adding that elbow into the knee for a bit, just feel as far as you can go without the leverage. Okay. So again, you might let that elbow hover above the knee. All right. And now anchoring that left elbow, hooking it on the knee, press the mat away, press the knee away, take an inhale, lift through the heart, feel the core, and then rotate in with that engagement. All right. Try to go to a space where you can take a full breath. So let that be a part of your twist, right? Inhale, lifting up through the chest. And then as you exhale, you're taking that exhale into a deeper rotation. Nice. All right. Slowly come back to center. All right. Release both the legs. Let both the arms come down for a minute. You pause. Okay. Before we just turn ourselves into another shape, allow yourself to be a neutral so your spine can reset a bit. All right. And then second side, left foot comes in. First position, cool. If you want to come a little into a different space, right foot over left. And again, that bottom leg might come in if you're anything like me. Okay. Right hand comes behind the seat, left arm stretches up and over. Right. And again, before you get into that leverage, just see where your body goes on its own, which we've been twisting throughout this entire practice. This might feel like a lot of space or might've changed over time. All right. But now you give it that extra support. Press the left elbow onto the knee. You're going to inhale to lift the heart up, draw the belly in. And then as you exhale, feel that rotation with the core engaged. Good. All right. Take one more inhale to press through that back hand, lift the heart. All right. As you exhale, looking over your shoulder, twist. Nice. Okay. Slowly come back to center, release the legs. You're going to lie all the way down on your back. Nice. All right. So last little bit. All right. Bottom of your feet on the mat, knees are bent. Let the arms rest by your sides for a moment. Good. And then slowly bring the knees up in the chest.

Bring the hands to both your knees. And just a little motion, allow yourself to make some small circles with the hands on the knees. All right. Feel as if every time you can like roll through your knees, you press a little bit of the sacrum into the floor. So grounding your low back, give yourself a little massage in that bottom side. Nice. All right. And then take your time. Legs along onto the mat, setting up for a little rest in your shavasana. All right. Hands on the body. Maybe hands come down. All right. Good.

All right. All right. Nice. Okay. So feel in this space for a moment. Stay here as long as you need to allow yourself to feel grounded before you're ready to move. And when you're ready, take your time, bring a little bit of motion to the body. So you can start with the feet. Maybe you flex the fingers in your hands.

All right. Maybe you rock the head a little left to right, just to find a little more space up top in the neck, but just gentle movement. And then slowly draw your knees up into the chest. Hug the arms around the legs just for a little squeeze. And then roll over to the right side of your body just to pause on that side for a bit. Take a beat.

And then slowly press yourself to a seat. Maybe the eyes stay closed, but try to stay gentle. And then the hands can rest in your thighs. You might pull them together at the heart. Maybe the hands come to the belly just to bring some awareness into that space. And in no rush. All right. Take your time. Maybe you breathe one big breath or two just to feel this space before you transition, but really take that pause before you get into the motion of your day. Nice, y'all.

Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing yourself today. It's always a blessing. Namaste.