Throat Chakra: Shoulders & Neck

Good. Hello, everybody, and welcome. All right. Today's practice, I'm going to walk you through a sequence. It's just going to help us balance and emphasize a little bit of the muscles in the shoulders and neck. All right. So if you want to grab a strap, that might be helpful towards the end of practice. But if you have your body, you have some space, you have everything you need to begin. So when you're ready, you're just going to join me on the seat. All right. And before we move, I just want you to bring your hands to your thighs. All right. Take a moment, you're going to close your eyes, and just take a few seconds to ground before we start to make our shapes and move through the sequence. All right. And as you arrive, let this be just a moment in your practice for you to ground, slow down, and just take a beat before we get into our motion. All right. Feel that little bit of connection to the seat and the mat. So maybe you ground down a little more through the hips. All right. And as you inhale, you might lift the heart a little bit. Feel a little bit of length in your spine just to extend in that part of your body. All right. Soften the shoulders away from the ears, and feel a little space around the neck, especially today. You want to keep that space open. And just breathe a little slower than you were just a second ago. So maybe a smooth inhale in. Smooth exhale out. Nice. Okay. And from here, eyes flat open. All right. The right hand is going to come to the right side of your body. So legs can be crossed if that feels comfortable, or if you feel a little better in any other position, it's all good as long as you're in a seated space. All right. You're going to walk your right hand as far out to the right as you can, and then let your head fall over to your left shoulder. Nice. So feeling as if with the right hand, you can press down and into the floor. Use that effort. You're going to pull your right shoulder down and into the mat as well. So just open in that space in the right side of your neck a little bit more. And then you're going to take your left arm, stretch it up and over, and then place it on the right side of your head. All right. So with that top hand, I don't want you to pull too much to like crank the neck, but I do want you to add a little bit of weight. Okay. So feel as if with the head, you can lift up against the hand, but that hand is just giving you a little bit of weight to counteract that action. Okay. So keep that press in the right hand, draw the shoulder down. And again, with the head, you lift up against the hand and that top hand is just giving a little bit of weight to make some space in the neck. All right. Take a deeper inhale. Add a little smoother exhale. Last one, deep breath in. Nice. Deep breath out. Nice. All right. Lift the head. Come on back to center. Left hand comes down. You're going to do the same thing on the other side. So left hand as far out to the left as you can. All right. Press down into your mat, draw the shoulder down, lift that press. All right. And then let the head fall over to the right. Right arm is going to reach up and over. You place it on the left side of your head. And again, I don't want you to like crank the neck. Be nice. Okay. Let the head lift up against the hand and that hand is just giving it a little weight so you can make some space in the left side of your neck. So press down into the mat, draw the shoulder down. And again, the head lifts up top hand, just giving a little bit of pressure. All right. Breathe deep enough that you might feel that space in the neck. You can feel that little bit of opening. Nice. Okay. And then head comes on straight. Relax the arms down by the sides.

All right. And then just take a moment. I want you to roll your head forward and around just to move the neck around, give yourself a little more space. All right. And then take it in the opposite direction. So swing it to the left and then take it all the way around. Nice. All right. Pause when your head passes through middle. All right. You're going to inhale, bring the arms up and over your head. And then bend in the elbows down into the sides. Give a little more attention to your upper back. So maybe you feel those shoulder blades just activate a bit. You might squeeze the biceps. All right. Take a deep inhale and lift the chest. And as you exhale, you're going to swing the arms out in the front. Let the elbows touch. All right. Do that one more time. Inhale, arms open up and unspread. Good. And as you exhale, swing them back to the front. Let them touch. All right. And the last one, inhale, arms open up. Exhale, swing them to the front. Let them touch and then keep them there. Press the elbows in towards each other and feel like you can separate the wrist just a little bit. Even if it's not that far, just give yourself that effort. And with the elbows pressed in, lift them a little higher to the face so you can feel that little space across the upper back to show the blades move just a bit. All right.

Hold that spot. Take a deep breath. Nice. And you're going to bring the right arm on top of left so you can set up for an eagle wrap arms. Okay. So with that grip, just make a few small circles just to continue to open that space. But now you're giving yourself that bind without the just, you know, pressing the elbows together. You have a little more connection and support. Okay. Press the arms forward off the chest. So there's a little bit of space between the elbows and heart and then a little lift in the arms just to replicate that feeling in the upper back. Nice. All right. Take a deep inhaling. Nice. As you exhale, release the arms, take them down to the sides for a moment. All right. Just feel that effect in the shoulders. All right. These first few moments of class are just taking time to just warm up the deeper details that we're going to, you know, explore later in the sequence. All right. So one more time. Arms lift overhead, bend the elbows down into the sides. You have to do three this time, but take a deep inhale. All right. And as you exhale, swing the arms together, feel that same connection and press. All right. Push the elbows in, pull the hands apart just to feel that work. And elbows lift a little higher to the face to feel that space in the upper back. All right. Breathe into that space. Nice. And then take the left arm on top of right, find an eagle on the opposite side. Okay. So if it feels good, you move that little bit of emotion just to make that space in loosen up the upper back. Okay. And then pause in the middle, press the arms forward, lift the elbows a little higher off the chest. Feel that open space in the back. All right.

One more deep inhaling. All right. And as you exhale unravel, hands come to the sides. And then take your time. You're going to transition into down dog on your mat. Nice. Okay. So moving a bit in down dog, just take some time to explore any other part of your body that needs a little love right now. So maybe you start with the legs. You can press the heels into the floor. You can bend the knees as deep as you need to. All right. The chest might relax to the floor, giving yourself some space across the spine. You also might press the hips a little high to the ceiling. All right. Shake the head. Yes. No. Give yourself a little bit of room around the neck and just continue in that focus throughout class. We're just making room up top. All right. Spread the fingers, press down through the palms. Anything that feels like it could use a little bit of motion right now, make some space. Good. All right. And you're going to bend your knees, look forward, and then slowly walk your feet in between your hands. You come into a forward fold. All right. So once in forward fold, try to relax everything in your upper body right now. All right. And again, if you want to start with the legs, maybe you bend the knees. You can take that one at a time or both. All right. Sway a little bit in the upper back and that might feel nice just to release the spine. All right. For today, you might also interlace the fingers behind the head and giving yourself that little bit of added weight just to free the neck. Let all that be loose up top. All right. And also might feel good to release that. You might just shake the head, yes, no, to open. Nice. All right. Next inhale, you're going to come into a half lift. So hands resting your thighs and calves. And again, just emphasizing the focus today. Feel that space around your neck. So draw your shoulders back and away from the ears. And if you feel like you can stretch through the crown of your head a little more room around that space of the shoulders. All right. Take a deep breath in. And then as you exhale, fold forward. Relax your body. All right. So as you inhale, you're going to stand all the way up a mountain. Reach the arms overhead. Nice. And as you exhale, bring your hands down into your socks. All right. Pause it for a moment just to take a deep breath in. And then just a smooth exhale out. Nice. Okay. So for this next section of class, we're going to move through solutations just so we can pair the breath with the movement.

So literally if you can just focusing on your breath, make that match every movement we do in this next section. Okay. So half solutations first. You're going to inhale, stretch the arms up and overhead. All right. And as you exhale, fold forward over the legs and just relax. All right. As you inhale, come into a half lift. All right. As you exhale, fold forward and soften one more time. Nice. Mountain pose. As you inhale, stand all the way up. Stretch the arms. Right. As you exhale, bring your hands down into your socks. All right. One more time. Try to breathe a little deeper. Inhale, mountain. All right. As you exhale, take your time on the breath, but slow things down as you fold. All right. As you inhale, half lift. Good. Exhale, fold and soften one more time. Nice. All right. Mountain pose. Take that entire inhale up. So no need to rush. Good. As you exhale, hands come down into your socks. All right. One more time. Maybe you close your eyes. As you inhale, feel that reach through the fingers. Good. As you exhale, feel like you can let something go. So just a little softer. Nice. As you inhale, half lift, feel that space around your neck. All right. As you exhale, fold forward and soften one more time. Nice. Mountain pose. As you inhale, all the way to the top. Good. Exhale, hands come down into your socks. Nice. Okay. So we're going to move through more salutations, but we're going to add low lunge and also move through sphinx. All right. So one more time. As you inhale, mountain, reach up. All right. As you exhale, fold forward, soften down over the legs. All right. Inhale, half lift. Feel that chest lift. Good. As you exhale, fold forward, step the right foot back and bring your knee to the mat. All right. As you inhale, stretch the arms all the way overhead, low lunge. Nice. Exhale, hands to the mat, step the front foot back for down dog. All right. Inhale, chest over hands for plank. As you exhale, come all the way down to the body. All right. So sphinx pose, bring the elbows underneath the shoulders, forearms down. All right. You're going to inhale, lift the heart up, soften shoulders. Good. As you exhale, tuck your toes, lift the hips up and back, down dog. All right. Take a deep breath in. All right. As you exhale, step right foot forward, left knee comes down to the floor.

Good. All right. Inhale, stretch the arms up. Feel that lift through the hands. Nice. Exhale, hands on the mat, step your back foot forward, come into forward fold. All right. Inhale for half lift. Exhale to fold and soften. All right. Mountain pose as you reach up, deep breath in. Good. Exhale, hands come down to your sides. Nice, y'all. All right. Same thing on the left side. All right. Inhale to reach up. All right. As you exhale, fold forward and just let something go. Nice. Inhale, half lift, draw the shoulders back. Right. As you exhale, hands on the mat, step your left foot back this time. Drop the knee. Right. As you inhale, lift up from the mat. Nice. As you exhale, hands to the mat, step your front foot back. Nice. Inhale, plank pose. Exhale, all the way to the body. All right. Sphinx pose one more time. We're going to pause here for a bit. All right. So as you press the mat, feel as if you can draw the shoulders down and back. All right. And just like we did at the start of class, you're going to let your left arm, left, left head, let your head fall over to your left shoulder. All right. And then with the right arm, give yourself a little press into the mat. All right. Feel that little bit of space that you can create around the neck. So the shoulder pulls down and in. Open up the neck to the right side. Nice. All right. Bring the head on straight and do the same thing on the opposite side. So head falls to the right. Pressing down through that left forearm, draw the shoulder down and back. And again, a little more space in the left side of the neck. Nice. All right. So bring the head on and then let the chest come down. Down dog. Press the hips back.

Good. All right. So staying in the rhythm. Deep inhale. Exhale. Left foot in between the hands. Right knee comes down. All right. Inhale. Stretch your arms up from the mat. Nice. As you exhale, hands down, step to the top for a fold. All right. Inhale for a half lift. Exhale to fold and soften. All right. Mountain pose. As you inhale, deep breath in. Exhale. Hands come down to your sides. Nice. All right. Staying for a breath. Deep inhaling. Good. Smooth exhale out. All right. One more time. Inhale. Stretch the arms up. Nice. As you exhale, fold forward. Soften one more time. All right. As you inhale, crown to the head forward. Space in the neck. Exhale. Hands on the mat. Step both feet back. You're going to pause and plank this time. Okay. So if you need the support, all right, knees come down to the mat. Give yourself that extra leverage. All right. You can use that in plank or if you want to use that as you move through flow, welcome to have the knees on the ground. All right. Take a deep inhale wherever you are. All right. As you exhale, come down halfway. All right. Up dog. Chest to the front. Shoulders relaxed. And again, just emphasizing that space around the neck. So make sure you have that room. Open the shoulders. Good. And as you exhale, down dog. Tuck the toes, hips up and back. Nice. All right. So let this be a space where you collect yourself from the breath. Or maybe you also remind yourself throughout practice. Like if the goal is to open our neck, the goal is to release that tension. Let that go in your down dog too. All right. So maybe you shake your head yes and no, just to remind yourself you got some room. But feel that space. Feel the shoulders kind of relaxed instead of creeping up and tight. All right. So from down dog, you're going to bend your knees, look forward. All right. And then slowly walk or hop your feet in between both hands. All right. As you inhale, come into a half lift. Exhale to fold forward one more time. Mountain pose as you inhale all the way up. Exhale, bring your hands down into your sides. Okay. So as much as we can, we just want to keep the breath with everything you do. So just keeping that pace, staying with that rhythm. Okay. Last one. Inhale, stretch the arms over the hip. All right. As you exhale, fold forward, soften one more time. Inhale, half lift, space around the neck. Exhale, hands on the mat, step both feet back. And from here on out, you're going to take the flow that feels good to you. So as you inhale and you come into plank, you might come halfway down, up dog if that feels nice. Or maybe you come all the way down to the body. Sphinx pose on the belly or any other variation that feels good. Whatever you choose, space in the neck. Okay. Deep inhale. Exhale, down dog, tuck your toes, hips go up and back. Good. All right. Just check in the boxes. Okay. How are you breathing? Right. If you can make it a little smoother, is that possible right now? Right. And then maybe you just free up a little bit of space up top and whatever that tension is, whether it's the neck or shoulders, you can just find a little space, a little space. Good. Okay. Take an inhale, stretch the right leg up and back. All right. And you're going to bend your knee, turn your hip open to the right side of your mat. All right. And if it feels good, you can roll the ankle a few times, you can flex the toes. All right. Big circles in that right leg might feel nice, but whatever helps you get into that little bit of space in your leg, you move things around just to open. Okay. And as you inhale, stretch the top leg back. Exhale, step the right forward in between the hands. You're going to set up warrior two. So back heel down, chest opens to the side of your mat, hips open to the side of your mat as well. Okay. Arms out to the side. Nice. All right. So pausing just to feel a little grounded in your warrior two, right? Allowing yourself to breathe deep here. So again, you're in the pose, but you also want to pair the breath with that as well. All right. And then just like we did at the start of class, you're going to take your right hand, front hand, reach it up and over the head, and then let your head fall over to your right shoulder. Okay. So again, that little bit of weight, it's going to give yourself that pressure in the head. Left hand is going to swing down and back. And then the top of the hand is going to press into your lower back. Okay. So as you push forward with that back hand, feel as if you can draw the shoulder down into the mat like you did earlier. And then the head is going to lift up against that top hand. Top hand is just giving a little bit of weight to open up this next space. Okay. Breathe with that for a moment. Nice. All right. And you're going to release the hands, head on straight. Take a deep inhale, stretch through the fingers.

Good. As you exhale, both hands to the mat, accept the right foot back for down dog. All right. And as you inhale, chest over hands, halfway down or all the way, up dog, down dog, or any other variation. Good. All right. Collecting yourself. Take a moment. Good. And in the second side, when you're ready, inhale, left leg lifts up, bend your knee, turn your hip open, make some space. Good. All right. So roll what you need to roll, flex what you need to flex. All right. And try not to let that other stuff creep up. So again, loosen up, open space. Good. All right. Inhale, left leg straight back. Exhale, warrior two, step forward. Good. Okay. So pausing in warrior two, again, just to collect and breathe a little deeper. And then even remind yourself in this warrior two, like you're not holding that tension, but you got some room to open up and relax as well. Okay. And then that left hand, front hand stretches up and over the head. You're going to let the head fall over to your left shoulder. All right. And then that right hand is going to swing down and back behind you. And then pressing the top of the hand, fold into your back, give yourself a little bit of pressure there. All right. And then draw that right shoulder down into the mat. And then the head is going to lift up against that hand with that top hand just providing a little bit of weight. Good. Space around the neck. Breathe. Nice. Okay. Release the hands out to the side. Take a deep inhale to open. Exhale, hands to the mat. Down dog, step back. All right. Inhale, chest over hands. Halfway all the way or maybe you skip it. All right. Sphinx pose, up dog, any variation that feels good. Down dog, tuck your toes, hips go back. Good. Take a moment. Nice. All right. You're going to bend your knees, look forward, and then slowly walk or hop your feet in between the hands, come to the top of your mat. All right. As you inhale, half lift. As you exhale, fold forward and soften. Nice. Mountain pose as you rise to the top. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Nice. All right. Stay for the breath. Deep inhale in. Smooth exhale out. Good. All right. So from here, you're just going to open up your feet a little wider on the mat. All right. And as you inhale, stretch the arms over the head one more time. All right. And as you exhale, forward fold all the way down. All right. So for this next section, if you want to use a block, you're welcome to it. But you're going to bring your right hand in between both the feet, either to the mat or that support. You're going to bend your right knee deep, stretch your left arm up towards the ceiling for a twist. Okay. So from here, feel as if you can ground down through that left foot a little bit more.

But think like half lift with your spine. So instead of like rounding, lift your chest up. Try to find that length a little bit more. Okay. And then from here, you have options. So left arm can reach behind the back. You can set up for a half bind. You grab the inside of your thigh. All right. And if you want to try a full bind, right arm might sneak in between the legs to catch the fingers behind the back. Okay. Whatever you have, long spine, like half lift. And then releasing that top shoulder a little bit, you're going to draw that upper shoulder down and back. Feel that space across the front part of your shoulder. Right. It also might feel good to release the neck here. But again, that shoulder, you're just making some room. All right. Take a deep inhaling. Exhale, release what you have. Forward fold, you soften. All right. And again, maybe you shake the head, yes or no. Give yourself a little bit of room. All right. And we do the same thing on the opposite side. So left hand between the feet, bend your left knee. All right. Right arm reaches towards the ceiling. You find yourself in a twist. All right. Grounding that right leg a little bit more just for some support. And as you press the foot, you lift the heart, lengthen through the spine. All right. Coming into whatever bind feels nice. So maybe that right hand comes behind the back, grabs the inside of your thigh. Maybe the left arm sneaks in between the legs and catch the fingers behind your back. Okay. Whatever you have, remind yourself to get long through the chest. And then freeing that top shoulder, soften it down and back. Roll your chest towards the ceiling. Right. If it feels nice, you relax the neck, drop the head. Again, whatever you can do to make some space in that front shoulder. All right.

One more inhale. Exhale, soften down and fold. Good. All right. And then before we move, I want you to take your hands behind the back. All right. So interlace the fingers. And then feel as if you can punch up towards the ceiling. All right. And then just a subtle feeling with the grip of the hands. Feel as if you're trying to pull your hands away from each other, but that grip of your fingers is not allowing your hands to come apart. So you stretch the arms, pull them apart, let your upper back shoulders soften down. Okay. So the front of your shoulders are opening a bit, but that little bit of a pull is just allowing you to just engage a bit and feel that emphasis. All right. Take a deep inhale. Exhale, relax, soften down and fold. Nice. Inhale for a half lift. Exhale to soften down, bring the hands to the mat, step back in a down dog. All right. And then taking yourself through a flow and maybe you skip it, chest over hands, halfway down, all the way down, up dog, sphinx pose, any variation. Down dog as you exhale, hips go up and back. Good y'all. All right. And slow things down a little bit. All right. So if you feel rushed in your breath, take a moment to bring that cadence back. All right. Not feeling like you need to rush into the next pose, but you can pause and just find that grounding for a minute. Soften. Nice. Right. As you inhale, stretch the right leg up and back. Good. Exhale to step forward in between your hands. You're going to set up warrior one. So back heel down, inhale, reach the arms up and overhead. Nice y'all. Okay. So pause it for a moment just to ground. Right. Instead of being super active in the arms and shoulders right now, feel as if you can like soften shoulders down, but keep that active reach through the fingers. All right. So again, not tensing up. All right. And then your hands are going to come back and down. Right. Maybe you grab for the elbows for a minute or you might grab the wrist fingers.

And then feeling as if you can press your forearms into your back, draw your shoulders down to the mat and then lift the chest up just a bit to create that little arch, but space in the front shoulders one more time. Good. You can keep this grip if this feels nice or maybe you release the hands back behind you, interlace the fingers like you just did in that forward fold. All right. Take a deep inhale, lift the heart up, squeeze the shoulder blades. Right. And as you exhale, dive forward inside that front leg. Humble warrior. All right. And then you've been here before, right? So just replicating that feeling, press the hands towards the ceiling, give yourself a little pull apart, but those fingers are so grip tight that they're not allowing your hands to come undone. Nice. All right. Take one more inhale. Right. And as you exhale, release the hands to the inside of your front leg, left arm up for a quick second inside ankle. All right. And again, you come back to those options. So left hand behind your back, you grab the inside of your thigh or you might press the top of the hand into your low back, half bind. Right. If you have a full bind, right arm reaches underneath that right thigh, you catch the fingers. All right. Whatever you have, lift the heart up. And then you're finding that space in the top shoulder just a little bit more. So draw the shoulder down and back. If you have that grip and bind, you're punching the hands back, slightly pulling the bar. Nice. Okay. Deep inhaling. Good. As you exhale, release the hands to the mat, step the front foot back for down dog. All right. Inhale, chest over hands. Exhale, halfway, all the way. Maybe you skip. All right. Up dog, sphinx pose, any variation. All right. As you exhale, down dog, tuck your toes, hips go back. Good. All right. So stay smooth. All right. Deep inhale, left leg lifts. Exhale, step the left foot forward, warrior one. All right. Arms lift over the head just to ground for a moment. Right. And even though we're doing some stuff where the body might feel like, okay, we're working now, don't let that extra work make you work extra. Okay. So again, shoulders are not lifted. Soften the energy. Keep that space. All right. Hands reach down and back behind you. You're going to grab for the elbows, wrist, or maybe just fingers. Okay. And then pressing the forearms into the back. Draw your shoulders down and in, lifting the heart up. Good. Keeping that if that feels nice. Or maybe you stretch the arms a little further back to catch the fingers. All right. As you punch back towards the back foot, squeeze the shoulder blades, lift the heart up a little bit more. All right. Inhaling. Exhale, dive forward inside that front leg. Humble. Okay. So again, punching up that grip is keeping the fist tight, but maybe you pull apart a little bit just to emphasize that engagement in the front of shoulders, but make a little more space. Nice. Right. As you exhale, release the hands to the inside of that front foot. That arm reaches up for a moment. And then top hand comes into any bind that feels good in the body. So maybe you grab the inside of your front thigh, or you could also just press the top of the hand into your back. That half bind might be where you go. If you want left arm underneath the thigh, you get that full bind. And whatever grip you have, you're relaxing that top shoulder down and back. All right. Punch the hands towards the back foot if you have that full grip. And then feeling that effort of like a little bit of a pull. Nice. Okay. Deep inhaling. Exhale, release the bind. Step the front foot back.

Down dog. Nice. Inhale, chest over hands. Maybe you skip it. All right. Halfway, all the way. And in any variation for the heart to lift. Good. Down dog. Tuck your toes, hips go back. Slow it down. Relax what you can relax. Soften what you can soften. Good. Bend your knees, look forward, and then slowly walk or hop in between your hands. Nice. Inhale, half lift, shoulders come back. Exhale, fold forward and soften. All right. Mountain poses you inhale all the way up. Exhale, hands come down into your sides. Nice. Pause in for a breath. Deep inhaling. Smooth exhale out. Good. Okay. So from here, feet can stay where they are unless you want to make them a little bit wider. All right. And we're going to take eagle arms, but we're not going to add the legs just so you can focus a little more on the upper body. Okay. So arms over the head one more time. All right. And then right arm underneath the left, cross elbows, cross wrists. Okay. And again, if this still feels like a little bit of a crunchy space, right? Small circles start to slowly loosen things up. Okay. And then just to emphasize, right? We did a lot of like front shoulder openings and now we want to get the back of your shoulders to get open. Press the elbows forward. See if there can be like a little bit of space between your arms and your chest. And in a slight lift like you did earlier, lift the elbows up towards your face. Right. You can stay right here. Maybe you explore just a little bit of a tilt back in the backbend. All right. But feeling as if you can lift the arms up off the chest, maybe up towards the ceiling, broaden that space across your back. Nice. Okay. Deep inhaling. Exhale. Come back to neutral. All right. Release the hands over the head for a breath. Exhale. Hands come down to your sides for a moment. Nice. All right. Everybody do me a favor. As you inhale, shrug the shoulders up and into the ears. And as you exhale, draw the shoulders down and back. Good. Okay. Do that one more time. Inhale, shoulders up and in. Exhale, draw them down just to soften and make space. Okay. Same thing. Second side. Inhale, arms overhead. Nice. Left arm underneath the right this time. So crossing elbows and wrists. And if this grip is ever crazy in your practice, don't feel like you have to force her. All right. Big things that were opening shoulders. So maybe the grip of just grabbing your shoulders are fine. Okay. Keep what you have. Small circles just to loosen. And again, you're going to stretch the elbows a little forward off the chest just to make a little space. And I feel like you can pull the chest back a bit too. So there's just some broad space across the shoulders. And the elbows lift up. Keep in that space. You can pause here or maybe you take this into a slight backbend just to see how that feels. All right. And as if you're trying to get the elbows up off the heart, push towards the ceiling, broaden that space and upper back. Nice. Okay. Slowly come down. Unravel the arms. You're going to inhale overhead. Nice. As you exhale all the way down, forward fold, you soften. Good. Inhale for half lift. Exhale hands down to the mat. Step both feet back. Down dog. All right. Chest over hands to float. Halfway all the way. Your choice. All right. Sphinx pose. Any variation. Up dog. Good. All right. As you exhale, everybody meet back and down dog. Nice. All right. So from down dog, you're going to bring the knees to the mat and then come on to the belly and heart. And then keeping the right hand close to your chest, don't just stretch your left arm out to the side. All right. But give yourself like a little microbend. So you don't want to be like fully flat out. I don't mind you being like 90, but maybe you find that space in the middle. All right. And then before you roll, which is what we're going to do, give that left hand a little press into the mat. So press the inside of your arm down into the mat. Feel that little bit of engagement and you're going to push the right hand to roll over your left arm. So you start to stretch that front shoulder one more time. Okay. And then if possible, continue that, press to your left arm. All right. So big thing for me is that you protect your shoulder. And then sometimes when you're going over a loose passive muscle, especially in this delicate part of the spotty body, you might cause a little more injury than it is to actually stretch and benefit you. So that little bit of engagement is like putting the brakes on and allowing yourself to support yourself, but also, you know, guard the shoulder as you stretch. Okay. Feel as if you can lift the heart up a little more for the mat. You take it as far as you want to go. All right. But keep pressing down. All right. Deep inhale. Nice. As you exhale, come on to the chest. You're going to do the same thing on the opposite side. So left hand close to the heart, right hand out, microbend, give yourself that arch. All right. And as you press into the left hand, roll over the front of your right shoulder. And again, you're grounding through that right shoulder. So press down into the floor, feeling that little bit of a squeeze. So you engage in that stretch to support your shoulder. Okay. Heart lifted up. All right. Feel in that space. Breathe as deep as you can. Nice. All right. Slowly come on to the chest. All right. Both hands to the body. And you're going to slowly press up to the knees and then swing your legs out from under you and then come into a seated position. Okay. So we're going to move through cow face. And I'm just going to turn this way so you can see me from a different point. Make sure you can at least visually see everything that we're getting into. Okay. And then start with the right hand first. I want you to make a fist, stretch your arm out in front of you and reach up and over the head and then bending the elbow to stretch as far down your back as possible. All right. Left hand, you're going to stretch down and back. All right. And then reach it up the back, but try to resist that urge to like wiggle your arm up or like catch the fingers first instance.

See how far you can go with just trying to push your hands towards each other. Okay. So explore that range of your body pushing itself into a position without any extra leverage or extra support. All right. Just noticing the space in your shoulders, just noticing how much range you have in your body. Okay. And if you want to add a little extra support, you can catch with the fingers. If you want to grab a strap, you can take that as well. And now you add that leverage. You grab what you have and then give it like a slight tug to relax the shoulders. All right. Head might press back against that top arm if that feels nice, but just noticing that difference of like, this is where I go on my own and this is where I go with the help of an object or a little tug, right? A little more space around the neck. Take a deep inhale just to feel that. Nice. And as you exhale, release what you have, soften for a moment. All right. And then the second side. So left arm, you're going to make a fist, stretch it forward. All right. Reach up and over the head. And as you bend the elbow, just reach as far down the back as you can. And just accepting where that goes. It's all good. All right. Same thing, right hand, make a fist. You're going to draw it down and back, bend the elbow, and just see how far you can go. And it's not a competition. Like you don't want to feel like you have to get somewhere. Just notice where you are and just breathe with that acceptance, right? And then just hold the knot. Punch the hands towards each other. See how much of a range you have with this position. Right. And if you want to add that support, use the strap. Maybe you catch the fingers. And in this one, you give yourself a tug and just go as far as you need to go to feel what you need. All right. So that little bit of a pull, opening the shoulders, give your shoulders a little space as you draw them down. And in that space around the neck, and I usually like to press my head back against my top arm. Good. All right. Take one more inhale. Maybe you lift the heart up. Right. As you exhale, release the hands. Pause in for a moment. Just feel that release. Nice. Okay. And you're going to lay all the way down onto your back. All right. Bottom of your feet to the mat, bend both knees.

And then your arms are going to come down by your sides. All right. So open up your feet a little wider than the hips. And then you're going to ground down through the feet, setting up for bridge pose. Take a deep inhale in. And as you exhale, lift the hips up from the mat. Pause. Okay. So if it's possible, walk the arms a little more underneath the body. You're going to interlace the fingers if that's a grip you can take. And then just feel a little more of the weight into the upper back. So shift the weight up, feeling that space across the shoulders, little bit of tension in the neck. All right. So it's okay to kind of give that little bit of pressure, give yourself a little bit of engagement, but don't feel like you're overloading the neck. Like you don't want to push and like bear all the weight of your body. Right. A little bit of work is okay. All right. Press the upper back down. Take a deep inhale in. Nice. As you exhale, release the hands. Let the hips come down. You pause. Okay. And then last pose shoulder step. All right. So I invite you if you want to grab a blanket just to pat up the neck, you're welcome to it. Okay. And then when you're ready, you're just going to slowly rock into your upper back, kick the legs up towards the ceiling and catch low back in both hands. All right. Once you got that grip, walk the elbows in a little closer into the body. So you support that lift. And then the same thing in bridge, right? You're going to shift the weight into your upper back and then it's okay for your neck to have a little bit of pressure. All good. But again, it's not neck stand. It's shoulder stand. Right. So the weight is in the shoulders. Press the neck, press the head, give yourself a little bit of weight. Right. You can hold here. If you feel like you want to explore a deeper plow, you're welcome to let the legs go over the head. All right. And maybe the knees come down to the sides of the ears. You can release the hands to the mat. You also might interlace the fingers. Nice. Whatever you have, you're going to come out the same way you went in and slowly roll the back onto the mat. Pause it for a moment. Bottom of the feet on the mat, knees back. Right. And for the last bit of practice, you're going to stretch your legs out. Arms can stay by the sides or if they feel comfortable on the body, you can let them stay grounded there.

And then just take it a moment just to feel the results of everything you push yourself through in your practice. All right. So take a moment. All right. You're welcome to stay here as long as you need to ground yourself before you get back into your day. But when you're ready, he's going to bring a little bit of movement to the hands, a little bit of movement to the feet. Maybe you flex the fingers, move the toes. All right. Rock the head a little left to right just to move that space around in the neck. And again, just feeling that effect of everything we've done today. All right. You're going to slowly draw the knees up into the chest. All right. Grab the arms around the legs. Maybe the elbows or wrists. All right. And just a little tight squeeze just to literally hug yourself and feel that connection. All right. And roll over to the right side of your body for a pause. All right. Try to keep your eyes closed. You're going to press yourself to a seat and try to stay soft. All right. Hands can rest in your thighs or if it feels good to honor your practice hands at the heart, you're welcome to it. And just take a deep inhale maybe to just to feel that space of a pause, that little bit of connection that we work towards before you get into your day. All right. I'm super grateful to share just something I am deeply passionate about with you and then thank you for this moment. Namaste.