Heart Chakra: Backbends

Hello, everyone. Welcome. What we're going to get into in today's practice is just a preview to some of my favorite backbends in our practice today. So this is just a little introduction to what I would consider like a heart chakra flow, but we're going to do a lot to open up the heart space and explore just some deeper backbends or just backbends in general and just cover those across the board. Okay. You don't need anything too much in today's practice, but if you want to grab a strap, that'll be super helpful for the end. But other than that, if you have your body, you got some space in your mat, you're all good to go. Okay. So when you're ready, join me in a seat and that's how we're going to begin. Okay. So taking a moment in your seat, hand can rest on your thighs or if you feel good with hands at the heart, that might feel like a good place to start. Okay. And then bring in a little attention to the heart space for a moment. Allow your chest to lift up as you inhale. All right. Shoulders can relax a little bit as you exhale just to feel that space around the neck and upper chest. All right. But feel that rhythm every time you breathe just a little bit of lift in the heart. And as you exhale, you can just soften everything around that space. All right. Take that one more time. Inhale just to lift through the heart. Good. As you exhale, soften everything around that space. Okay. And we're going to transition. So extend your legs out straight in front of you. All right. And in keeping the legs long, you're just going to bring the hands to support your back a little more into the mat. All right. So flip the hands, or excuse me, flip the fingers to face the back of the mat for just a minute. And you're going to slowly start to crawl the hands out back behind you. All right. And then turn your fingers so that the hands face the outsides of the mat. So left fingers out to the left, right fingers out to the right. All right. And then you're going to bend your elbows in and back. Lowering your back just a little bit more. And then once you feel like you're at that point where the front of the shoulders are opening, lift the heart up and away from the floor. Okay. It's just a small little back bend, feeling that lift through the heart space one more time, but freeing up that space in the front of your shoulders. All right. You might press the floor away, but feel like the elbows can bend in as you do so. All right. Take it a moment. All right. Take one more inhale to lift through the heart. You might press the mat just a bit. Good. As you exhale, slowly turn the hands out and walk them back to the body. Good. All right. And you're going to cross your legs, roll forward onto the knees, setting up in a camel. Camel set up. Okay. So bring the hands to support your low back and then take them in a little deeper. And I want you to grab for the elbows if you can. If you have that body type that allows you to bring your hands into a prayer, you go for it, but you don't have to go that hard at the start. All right. And even if you can come into a full camel, like a deep back bend for this first one, I don't want you to go so far. I just want you to feel a few things just to set yourself up in the mind space of just to support it. Back then. Okay. So ground down through the tops of the feet. All right. Squeeze through the glutes a little bit more. Feel like you can press the hips forward. All right. And then draw the belly button up and in and lift the ribs away from the floor. Okay. So for me, the depth of your back bend isn't so much of an importance as the protection of your lower back. So feeling as if you can lift the heart up so you're not crunching in that lower spine. Feel like you're trying to lift your body up and over the forearms just for a moment. All right. You don't have to go that far back to feel a little bit of that bend, but feel as if again, instead of crunching back to go back, you're lifting up to extend through the spine.

All right. Release the head back a little bit if that feels okay. Shoulders soften and again, just not that deep, but just a little bit of an arch. Nice. All right. Take one more inhale. Good. As you exhale, slowly come back up. Pause with the seat on the heels for a moment. You can release the arms. Good. All right. And in transitioning into the down dog, send the hands forward, step the feet back in and lift the hips. Nice. Okay. So you're moving around a little bit in your down dog just to free up some space. All right. Allow yourself to move through anything in the legs that feels a little welcoming right now. So knees can bend, you can pedal out through the heels just to move those muscles of the legs. Right. If it feels nice, all right, you can take both knees a little deeper and you might extend up through the hips just to feel that length through the spine. All right. But free up anything that feels a little tight and tense right now. So soften through the shoulders, soften through the hands and give yourself that extra space just to make some room. Good. All right. And then as you bend your knees, you look forward in between the hands and then slowly walk your feet to the top of the mat, come into your forward fold. Nice. All right. Pause in your forward fold just to release everything down to your mat for just a moment. Okay. So again, another space in your practice where you're releasing that tension, but feeling that feeling of letting go. Right. So let go of the spine, feel the upper body relax down to the floor. All right. Let go of the neck so it might feel good to just shake your head a little yes, no, just to free up that space. All right. Release low back and legs. So again, if you want to continue that work of the knees, give yourself a little bit of motion in one or both. All right. And if it feels good, you might let go of a breath as well. So open the mouth, give yourself a sigh or just any exaggerated exhale just to like let something go physically, mentally, and in the breath. Nice. All right. And as you inhale, come into a half lift. All right. Press the thighs back a little bit as you stretch your heart forward. And if feeling that space around your neck, draw the shoulders back, but that little bit of lift in your chest towards the top of the mat, take that in. All right. Deep inhale. Good. As you exhale, fold forward, soften the body away. Soften the body and fold. All right. As you inhale, stand all the way up from mountain pose, reach your arms overhead. And as you exhale, draw the hands down into the sides for a moment. All right. Take a deep inhale in just to feel that breath. And as you exhale, just smoothly press the breath out. Good. Okay. So taking a few solutations just to carry that big breath into a little bit of motion. So half solutations just to start, but we're creating the pace and the rhythm for class. Okay. So as you inhale, stretch the arms up. Good. As you exhale, fold forward, you're going to relax over the legs. All right. As you inhale, come into a half lift. As you exhale, soften and fold one more time. Right. As you inhale, mountain pose, stand all the way up, reach your arms towards the ceiling. Exhale, bring your hands down into the sides. Nice. Okay. One more time. Try to breathe a little deeper. Inhale, mountain. Right. As you exhale, take your time when the breath, but see if you can go the duration of the exhale. Nice. Inhale, half lift, feel that space. Exhale, fold forward and again, relax. Mountain pose all the way up again, that entire breath, you rise. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. All right. One more time. Maybe you close your eyes. All right. Inhale, stretch the arms over here.

Right. As you exhale, feel that release one more time. So softening everything down to the floor. Right. As you inhale, half lift, feel the heart lift towards the front. Right. As you exhale, you fold forward, you soften one more time. Nice. Mountain pose all the way up. So stretching through the hands all the way to the top. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Nice. Okay. So keeping that same rhythm, we're going to add low lunge and also move through cobra pose. All right. One more time. Inhale, stretch the arms up. Nice. As you exhale, fold forward, soften your body and relax. All right. As you inhale, half lift. Good. As you exhale, bring the hands to the mat. You're going to step the right foot back. Let the knee come down. Right. As you inhale, stretch the arms over the head, low lunge. Nice. As you exhale, hands down to the mat, down dog, step back. Nice. As you inhale, chest over hands for plank. Good. Exhale is going to bring you all the way down to the body. Okay. So as you inhale, come into cobra pose and I want you to be light on the hands. But for today, I want you to also lift the legs up with that. Okay. Feel as if you can squeeze through the glutes so you can press the hips a little deeper into the mat and then let that lift everything else a little higher. All right. Deep inhale. Good. As you exhale, down dog, hips up and back. All right. Stay in your rhythm. So deep breath in. Good. As you exhale, right foot forward, left knee comes down. All right. Low lunge. Inhale, stretch up from the mat. Nice. Exhale, hands to the mat, step your back foot forward for a fold. Good. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold forward and relax.

Good. All right. Mountain pose as you inhale, stand tall, stretch your arms. Good. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Okay. Same thing on the left side. Just deepen the rhythm. Exhale, reach up. Good. As you exhale, fold in and feel in that space to let go. All right. Inhale, stretch your chest forward. Nice. Exhale, hands to the mat, left foot back this time. Drop the knee. Good. Inhale, lift the ribs as you reach up. Good. Exhale, hands to the mat, down dog, step back into it. Nice. All right. Inhale, chest over hands. Exhale, come all the way to the body. All right. Cobra pose with that leg lift one more time. Just feel your lower back. Good. Down dog, tuck your toes, hips go back. Nice. All right. Stay smooth in the pace. Deep inhale. Exhale, left foot forward, right knee down. Nice. All right. Press the back leg into the mat and lift up. Nice. Exhale, hands on the mat, step to the top for a fold. Good. All right. Half lift as you inhale, fold as you exhale.

All right. Mountain pose all the way to the top. Take that entire breath. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. All right. Pause it for a moment just to feel that deep inhaling. All right. Slow, smooth exhale out. Good. Okay. One more time. Inhale, arms reach over that. All right. As you exhale, keep the spine long as you come down. Nice. Inhale for a half lift. Good. Exhale, hands on the mat, step both feet back. And then we're pausing in plank. Okay. For anybody who needs it, just a reminder that the knees can come down to the mat for any extra support. All right. So whether you're taking flow, whether you're holding this plank, use your knees. Okay. Spread the fingers a little more into the hands. And as you press the mat away, a little bit of rounding in the back. Good. All right. Deep inhaling. Exhale, come halfway down. Right. As you inhale, over the toes, lift the heart towards the front, draw your shoulders down and back. Good. Down dog, tuck your toes. Hips go up and back. Good, y'all. All right. So pausing for a bit in your practice just to hold, but to establish that awareness around the breath. All right. If you can, just a little smoother than it was just a second ago. So just a deeper inhaling. All right. Smooth exhale out. Good. All right. Bend your knees, look forward. Slowly walk your feet in between both hands, come into a fold. Nice. All right. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold forward and soften. All right. Mountain pose all the way to the top. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Okay. So keeping that cadence, keeping that rhythm as much as you could. All right. Last one. Inhale, arms reach forward and up. Good. As you exhale, fold forward, soften the body over legs. All right. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold forward. Step both feet back for down dog. All right. And from here on out, it's on you. So coming forward over the hands, however you want to flow, you might come halfway down or all the way down you can give yourself a cobra. All right. Maybe you're moving through up dog right now, but whatever you feel you need to get that little arch in the flow, go for it. And then meeting back in down dog, hips go up and back. Nice y'all. So stand for a moment. All right.

And just resetting the focus. All right. Always reference this as just like the reset button just to reconnect. Okay. So wherever you were in your mind, wherever you were in the body, reset the focus. How does your breath feel right now? And if you can consciously create that awareness around the smoothness and take your time. Nice. All right. So as you inhale, stretch the right leg up and back. All right. And if it feels good, you're going to bend your knee, turn your hip open to the right side of your mat. All right. And then moving around anything in the leg that feels inviting right now just to make space. So the ankle might move, toes might flex. All right. And maybe some big circles in that right leg just to move the hip around. All right. So also maybe you extend like that right leg long with some circles might feel really good too. All right. As you inhale, stretch the right leg back. Exhale, step the right foot in between both hands. You're going to drop the left knee down for a low lunge. Okay. Let the hands come onto that front hip. All right. And then something that we did previously in an earlier class, I want you to rock the weight back so you're a little stacked above that left knee. Okay. Big thing for backbends is that a lot of this space in the front hip releases the spine for you to kind of take more space in that arch. So crawling that front foot a little more towards the top of the mat. Left hand comes to your left glute. Right. And as you press down to the top of the back foot, squeeze the glute so you feel some engagement in that back leg. Okay. And then with that effort in the back leg, create the feeling like you're trying to pull your back leg forward. And as you do so, you might sink in the hip. Nice. All right. Keep that strong back leg. You're going to reach the arms over the head and the legs to fingers. Okay. And then similar to what we did earlier in camel, I want you to draw the belly up and in, squeeze through the glute, lift the heart up. All right. Even if it's just a little back bend right now, let the head go back. You might find some space. And then however you want to go, press through that back leg. Take your body as far back as you feel you need to go today. Right. Open it up to the heart space. You might drop the head back and look. Nice. All right. Slowly bring the hands back to the center. Release the hands down to the mat. Step back for down dog. Pause it for a moment. Right. And as you inhale, you're going to take yourself through a flow. So come to plank. Exhale halfway all the way down. Up dog, cobra pose and any other on the belly variation. All right. And as you down dog, tuck your toes, lift the hips up and back. Nice. Okay. And then same thing on the left side. Just take your time.

Inhale left leg up and back. All right. Bend your knee. Find some space. Okay. So as you inhale, allow yourself to make some space in the leg. Try not to let any extra like work creep up in the body. So feel that space around the shoulders. Feel a little bit of openness in the knuckles and fingers. All right. Inhale, extend that leg back. Exhale, step forward. Low lunge. All right. So back knee down. Hands on that front hip. All right. And it's setting it up the same way. Right. Rock back onto the knee. Right hand to the glute just to feel a little bit of that sensory feedback. All right. Press down to the top of the back foot. Squeeze through the glutes so you get that front hip to open. And if feeling as if you can keep that back leg strong and pull forward, drag it to the top. Nice. All right. Sink the hip a little lower. And if you want a little more space, take that front foot as far forward as you need to. Okay. Stretch the arms over the head and the legs to fingers. And again, that same feeling is like you're checking the boxes. Glutes in, belly in, heart up. All right. Even if it's just a little bend, take yourself into a bend. All right. It may be just to explore some more space. Head might go back. Keep the heart space open. You go as far back as your body needs to go. Nice. Elbows come in. Slowly come back up. Hands to the mat. Down dog. All right. So if you ever feel like you need to like pause and down dog, you might skip a flow. Go for it. But if you're going for it, chest over hands, halfway, all the way. Cobra pose, up dog, anything to get the heart open, and then down dog. Nice, y'all. Okay. So stay in with the rhythm. Every time you feel like you're a little checked out, whether that's mentally or just physically, what if I told you your yoga practice was just about managing your breath? All right. Keep that awareness. Keep that mind space. All right. Bend your knees, look forward, and then slowly walk or hop your feet to the top of the mat. Good. Inhale for a half lift.

Exhale to fold forward and soften. All right. Mountain pose as you inhale, stand tall and reach. Exhale, bring your hands down into the socks. All right. Stay in for the breath. Keep inhaling. Smooth exhale out. Nice, y'all. Okay. Take a moment. You're going to bring the feet together at the center of the mat. All right. And stretching both arms above the head. Eagle pose, you're going to take your right hand, making sure you know what your right hand is. Swinging the right arm underneath your left, or just I know what my right hand is, right? Crossing the elbows and wrists, giving yourself that double wrap. Okay. If this is too much in the arms, you might grab for the shoulders. But whatever you can do to make some shoulder space, that is really important for every back bend, just to feel that space up top. Okay. So whatever grip you have, make a few small rotations. All right. A little more space in that upper back, feeling the shoulder blades move just a little more. Good. Okay. And then sit the hips down and back. Weight is in that left foot. You're going to slowly float the right leg high and up and over the left leg. You're going to find eagle in the legs. Good. Okay. So stand low through the seat. Feel as if you can stretch the elbows, fold off the chest. There's a little bit of space. And then slight back bend, not like super crazy, but feeling that little arch in the spine to go back. Nice. All right. Stay low in the seat. Lift the ribs, lift the heart space just a little bit more. Nice. All right. Right foot to the mat, stand tall. As you inhale, stretch the arms over the head. Exhale, bring the hands down into the side just to pause for a bit.

Okay. Feel the after effect of the pose without feeling like you got to get too much into that involvement. Like you can let things be there. You can breathe and you can watch the effect. All right. And the second side, when you're ready, inhale, reach the arms up. All right. As you exhale, left arm underneath right this time. So crossing the elbows, crossing the wrist. Okay. Few small circles. Here we go. Okay. So anything just to make a little more room in the shoulders and upper heart, upper chest, upper heart, same vibe. All right. Lift the hips down and back. Weight into your right foot this time. Left thigh high and up and over. Left leg high, up and over right. All right. Stay low in the seat. And even if it's just a little bit of a stretch, press the elbows, fold off the chest so there's some room, and then lift the arms a little more towards the face. Lift the heart up so there's just a slight back bend. All right. A little lower in the seat. A little taller in the chest. Nice. Left foot down. Stand tall. Inhale, arms overhead. Good. Exhale, hands come down into the sides. You're going to pause. All right. Take a moment. Nice, y'all. Okay. Coming back into that salutation. Inhale, arms overhead. Good. As you exhale, go forward and soften down and fold. All right. Take an inhale, half lift. Nice. As you exhale, hands to the mat, step both feet back. Down dog. All right. Moving through a flow. Inhale, chest over the hands. Exhale, halfway or all the way down. Cobra, up dog or any variation. Nice. All right. Down dog, tuck your toes. Hips go up and back. Nice, y'all. Okay. Spread the fingers and the hands a little bit more. All right. Notice those spaces in your body that you might not be conscious of that might creep up, you know, and allowing yourself just to let go of that extra work. Like imagine just tensing for 24 hours of the day or at least all the time that you're up. Allow yourself in your practice just to feel like you can soften those muscles just even if it's a second. Nice. Inhale, right leg up and back. Nice. Exhale, step right foot in between the hands. You're going to set up a high lunge with the hands at the heart to start. Nice. All right. Feel in that space. All right. Front knee a little more over that front foot. And then you're going to bend that back knee just a bit. Okay. Ground down through the ball of your foot and then create that action similar to the low lunge that you're trying to pull your back foot forward so you get that front hip to work. All right. Any amount that you can, squeeze the glute, straighten out the back leg. All right. Arms over the head for a moment just to feel that in high lunge. Good. And we're going to take a transition into eagle pose, right? So left arm is going to set up underneath the right crossing elbows and wrists. All right. Feel in the eagle arms with the low lunge, excuse me, high lunge on the bottom. All right. And then taking your time, you're going to slowly lean the weight over the front foot and then gently float off that back leg. You're going to swing your back leg forward to cross left eye high and up and over the right for eagle. Nice. All right. Smooth transition, our help. Right.

Stay low in the hips. Stretch the elbows a little over, forward off the chest. So the eagle that you just did, you just want to recreate. Elbows a little higher to the face. Slight little back bend. Good. All right. And then coming back into that high lunge set up, take an inhale. Good. As you exhale unravel, send the left leg straight back. Good. And then once the foot reaches the floor, you can release the arms or keep them in that eagle wrap. But I want you to lift the heart up and take a back bend with whatever you have. So reengage that left leg, glute in, belly in and then take your heart up and back to any amount that feels nice in the spine. Good. All right. Slowly come out of it. Release the hands down to the mat and then down dog, step your front foot back. All right. Taking yourself through a flow. Inhale, chest over hands. All right. Any halfway, all the way. Heart opener, slight back. Good. All right. Down dog, tuck your toes, hips up and back. Nice. Okay. Same thing on the left side. Inhale, left leg up. Good. As you exhale, step forward, high lunge one more time. All right. So hands to the heart. Good. All right. So take a moment in your high lunge just to feel stable. All right. Whatever we do furthermore from here wouldn't matter too much if you don't have a firm foundation, right? So set yourself up and pause to reground. All right. And bend your right knee. Press the ball of your foot into the mat. A little bit of effort. You're pulling to the top. All right. Squeeze that glute. Straighten out the leg. Sink into that front hip to make some space. Nice. Arms over the head. Feeling that feeling of grounding down to lift up. A little bit of space. All right. An eagle. Right arm underneath left. Cross elbows under the wrist. And then taking that into the same thing we did on the right. Lean forward. And then slowly start to float off the back leg. Send the leg forward to find eagle with the thighs. Good. All right.

So stand low through the seat. Press the elbows forward. Just a slight little back bend. Nice, y'all. All right. Take your time. Send the right leg straight back for that high lunge. All right. And then again with the arms together or over the head. Lifting up through the heart space. Squeeze from the bottom to the top. All right. And instead again crunching them back. You want to lift up. Push the elbows as if you're trying to make some space between your arms and your chest. And then wherever your chest, your spine allows you to go, you want to explore. Nice. All right. Slowly come back up. Release the hands. Down dog. Good, y'all. Okay. We're working. All right. Take an inhale chest over hands. Halfway all the way. Up dog or cobra. You do your thing. Nice. All right. Down dog. Tuck your toes. Pause. Nice. All right. So as you exhale, bring both knees down to the mat. And then set your hands up so they're like stacked right underneath the shoulders and your knees are right underneath the hips. All right. And then instead of like a child's pose vibe where you're like seeking the hips back on the heels or you're like rocking forward, think like you want to keep the hips exactly where they are. Don't let them move. All right. And then coming into puppy pose, I want you to crawl the hands out in front of you and bring your chest and chin down to the mat. All right. If the chin on the mat is too much crunch in the back of the neck, you might bring your forehead down. But feeling as if like you can send the heart and the hands forward. And then you want to press the hips back away from the body. Okay. Good. Giving yourself a little more of a restorative back bend. Depending on your body, restorative is a subjective. But allowing your heart to relax, feeling that space up top. Me personally, when I'm in this, sometimes I press up on my fingertips just to lift the elbows up. That might feel nice and upper back too. Good. And then when you're ready, you slowly pull the heart forward, come down onto the belly. Okay. So taking another back then, this one, bow pose can be strenuous if it's a challenge for you. So any other variation you want to take, you're welcome to it. You might give yourself a, like a locus pose. If you want to reach the arms out, forward is good. But if possible, bend both knees and I want you to grab the feet from the outsides of the, of the feet. So pinky edge side. All right. And then keeping the knees together and in, and that's like super important if you want to keep the focus in the lower back, squeeze the elbows, relax the shoulders. All right. And then kicking in your hands just to turn it on a little bit without lifting up, feel like there's just a little bit of a resistance. So you're pulling back against that kick. All right. And then squeezing through the glutes, lift the heart up, look up for a bit and you might roll over a little more into the belly. Okay.

If your knees start to spread out super wide, see if you can contain them, keep them pressed together so you get all of that work in low back and then lifting through the heart, softening the shoulders, kick to the hands and lift. Nice. Take a deep inhaling. Nice. Exhale, release everything down, legs along. You can release the hands by the sides, right? Maybe the ear comes onto the mat, you can pick right or left, either or works. All right. And in chin to the mat, you're going to press up onto the hands, send the hips up and back for down dog one more time. All right. Only when you're ready, send the right leg forward for pigeon. All right. So right knee by the right hand, leg is across the mat and then just checking with the back leg really quick. So it's not super far left or it's not all over to the right. Like you're conscious enough to set it up in a space where it's supportive and that's more so maybe at the middle. Okay. And then pause in here for a moment. I want you to give yourself a little bit of space just to work through that hip, right? So press the hands into the mat, press the front leg into the mat so much so that there's a little lift. All right. And then as you make that effort, slightly pull back through that right hip just to feel that outer hip start to open. All right. Stay in here for a moment. This might be a cool space to pause. And if you want to continue some work or some back bends, I invite you to bend that back knee. Right hand might reach back to catch the foot. All right. So this is going to help you get into the front hip. But if you want to take it into more of a in-depth back bend, flip the palms so that you grab the inside of the big toe. Okay. And then with that effort, keep pressing through that front leg so there's a lift. You're going to bend the elbow in elbow, elbow in towards you, pull the foot in and then start to slowly work that elbow back up and over. Head drops back just to feel that arch. So again, heart space is open, but the same vibe of pressing down into the mat, pulling the belly in to lift the heart high away from the floor. All right. And however you want to explore, you take yourself where you need to go. Nice. Okay. Release the back foot. Hands come down to the floor. Pause for a moment. All right. And you're going to tuck your back toes in the right leg back for pigeon. Nice. All right. So stay in for a bit just to regulate. Right. It might feel good to drop the chest a little lower, feeling that feeling of arching up or back like we've been working with. And then when you're ready, pigeon on the left side. So left knee by the arm, hand, back leg behind you. Right. Again, it's not all over the place. You're a little more conscious of it. It's somewhere supportive. Right. And then pressing through the hands, pressing through the front shin just a little bit. Feel that space to lift out of the hips. Okay. And then a little bit of work in that front leg, press into the mat and just a little bit of rotation. Right. Drag that left hip back just a bit. Good. Keep that effort. Stay here. Right. If you want to explore a little bit more in the back, then bend that back leg, reach back to catch the floor. Okay. So even here is just a good space to pause. You could also continue that work to stretch the front of the hip. You're making space just for backbends in general. If you want to go a little further, flip the hand, grab the big toe. Right. Bend in the elbow. You're slowly working that arm over and then drop the head back. Right. So it helps, again, not to sink too much in the hips, but to press to lift up. So you feel a little bit of that extension from the hip all the way through front body. Right. And in any amount that you can, you drop the head back, pull the foot in, find your space. Nice. One more inhale. Good. Release the back foot. Down dog. Set it up. Nice. Good y'all. Okay. And then let the knees come down to the mat. You're going to slowly transition to laying down on the back. So whatever way you make your way there, you're welcome to it. All right. Bottom of your feet to the mat. Let the knees bend for a moment. Bring the hands to the body. Okay. Open up the feet a little wider than the hips. Okay. So setting up for last few backbends. Okay. First one, bridge pose. A little lighter on the body, but same kind of feeling. I just want you to check all those boxes that we've been working with throughout the sequence. Okay. So release the hands down by the sides. We're going to move through the last little bits of our back bends just to wrap things up. So feet are going to open up a little wider than the hips on the mat. And then maybe you turn your toes out just a little, just to give yourself a little free space to just kind of explore a wider set up. Right. And then grounding down through the feet, take a deep inhale in. And as you exhale, press the hips up off the mat. Good. Right. And then if possible, you want to walk the arms a little more underneath the body. And maybe you interlace the fingers similar to what you did in locust pose, and you're going to stretch the hands and fingers down towards the feet in the amount. All right. And then as much as you can, just check in those boxes, right? Squeeze through the glutes, press the hips up towards the ceiling to feel that space in the front part of your body.

And then let the belly draw up and in. And in any amount that you can lift the ribs away from the hips, you go for it. Good. All right. Take a deep inhale in. Exhale all the way down to the body. Pause for a bit. All right. So lift it up for one more back bend. If you want, you can set yourself up the same way to take bridge one more time. Or maybe you explore wheel pose with me. You can bring the hands up by the ears just to add that extra bit of work in the arms. Okay. And then spreading the feet a little more on the mat. Ground down through the feet. If you're with the wheel, ground down through your hands. Take a deep inhale. And as you exhale, press the hips up off the mat. The entire body lifts up. Okay. So wherever you are, same boxes, right? Glutes a little more engaged so you can send the hips a little higher from the mat. And then let the belly come in to support your back bend. And in chest, this is going to stretch as far away from the hips as you can allow. All right. Feeling that arch. And again, not for the sake of crunching low back, but to extend and get some space in the spine. All right. Deep inhale in. Nice. Exhale all the way down to the body. Nice. Let the arms come down by the sides. You just pause for a bit. Good. Okay. And for this next section, we're just going to do a little bit to just reverse all the things that we've been doing. So we did a lot of back bends in today's sequence. So for this next section, we're just going to try to take it forward a little bit just to give ourselves a little bit of the opposite. Okay. So grabbing the strap. All right. You're going to take a loop, big loop, small loop, however way you want to set it up and hook it around that right foot. And then allowing yourself to more so bring that leg to you rather than feeling like you got to go to the leg. Right. So laying down flat in the back, keep the spine long. If it's not too crazy, you might extend that left leg down to the mat. Okay. And then using that right hand to support, extend through the leg, pull your foot to your face. Good. Holding a bit longer and just feeling like you can ground the sacrum a bit. So that lower back is just pressed down into the mat. Nice. Okay. And then switching over to the left side. So maybe simply just stepping that left foot in a loop or however you want to transition over, you're welcome to it. All right. Right leg can stay with the foot on the mat, knee bent, or if it's not too crazy, you stretch that left leg all the way down. Right leg. Excuse me. And again, just allowing yourself to take it in the opposite direction. So the knee is kind of lending out, but that hip is kind of coming to you now. All right. And instead of making space, you just want to open up the opposite side. All right. Take one more inhale. Good. As you exhale all the way down, release that strap and just move it out the way. All right. Bring the bottom of your feet together for a moment. Let the knees open up. And then hands are just going to rest in the heart for these last little bits of the practice. All right.

All right. Take a moment. All right. Allowing yourself to stay here as long as needed just to help you feel grounded and you move when you're ready. All right. But eventually you want to draw the knees back in together. All right. And then pull them up into the jaws. All right. Arms wrap around the legs. You grab for the elbows if that's an accessible grip or maybe you grab the wrist of your fingers. All right. Relax the head. Tight squeeze in the legs. See if you can press the low back down just a little more. All right. And roll over to the right side of your body. You're going to pause on that right side just for a second. All right. And then slowly come up into a seat. Try to stay soft and let the eyes remain close. All right. Hands caress on your thighs or since we've been focused around the heart space you might press the palms at the heart today. All right. And just take a moment just to feel that little bit of space and the results of the work that you've done in your practice. All right. It's a blessing to share with you. I'm really grateful to have you. All right. Namaste.