Balance and Stability

Welcome. My name is Hattie Bluestone and this yoga sequence is designed to cultivate stability and balance. To begin, come down onto your back. Take your feet mass distance apart and let your knees knock in toward one another. Place one of your hands on your belly and one of your hands on your chest or rib cage. Allow your eyes to close and begin by taking a deep mindful breath. Inhaling and exhaling. Just arriving in your body and in this present moment. Two more breaths like that. Breathing in. Breathing out. Last one. Inhale. And exhale. Come into the starfish position. We're going to do this shape a lot during today's balancing process. It's like an X shape. Your feet are wide apart, your arms overhead with the hands wide apart. From a bird's eye view, it's an X shape. Breathing in, reach through your right fingertips and your left toe tips. Reach so much so that maybe that hand and foot lift off of the ground. As you exhale, just relax that. Inhaling, reach through your left fingertips and your right toe tips. Reach them so far apart from one another that maybe the hand and foot lift off of the ground. And then exhale and relax. Just two more times on each side. Inhale, right arm and left leg. Feel a diagonal connection across your body. And exhale to soften. Inhale, stretching your left arm and your right leg. Feeling that diagonal connection. And exhale to soften. One more on each side. Right arm and left leg. They lift and reach apart from one another. Exhale, relax. Inhale, the left arm and the right leg. Lifting, lengthening. And exhale, relax. Good job. We're going to come to hands and knees for Cat and Cow. So rolling to your side and then pressing your way up. Coming to hands and knees. And then as you breathe in, draw your heart forward and lift your sitting bones up. And as you exhale, round your spine. Cat pose. Let your head hang down. Inhale, gently draw your heart forward, sitting bones up. And exhaling, push your hands and knees straight down into your mat to round your spine. Inhale, draw your heart forward. And exhale to round. From here, come to a neutral position. So just somewhere between those two extremes. Push your hands and your knees straight down into the mat. And for our first balance challenge, take your right arm forward and your left leg back, but reach them out on a diagonal. Much like the starfish position we did before. So your right arm is reaching forward and to the right. Your left leg is reaching back and to the left. Take an inhale here, reaching your fingers and your toes apart from one another. And as you exhale, put your hand and your knee back down. Second side. So left arm and right leg. Inhale, they reach out on a diagonal. Take up as much space as you can. And exhale with a sense of control, slowly hand down and knee down. And inhale, right arm and left leg stretching apart, lifting up. Exhale with control, placing the hand and the knee back down. Inhale on a diagonal, your left arm, your right leg stretching. And exhale, feel the strength of your belly that helps you come down with control. One more on each side.

Inhale your right arm and your left leg apart from one another. Exhaling slowly, hand down and knee down. Inhale, opposite arm and leg, stretching and reaching. Take up a lot of space here. And then exhaling, hand down and knee down. Come down onto your belly and set up for the same shape. So we're going to come into that same starfish. Your feet are wide apart. Your arms are forward and wide apart. Same exact flow. So inhale and lift your right arm and your left leg off of the ground. Lift your chest off of the ground and reach your fingertips away from your toes. Feel that diagonal connection between your right arm and your left leg, the strength of your back. Slowly release and set up for the second side. So lifting your left arm, your right leg, your chest lifts. Feeling the diagonal strength across your back. Breathing in, reaching through your fingertips and your toe tips. And exhale, soften and release. Let's make this a flow. Inhale, right arm and left leg. They lift and reach. Exhaling, softening down. Inhale, right leg and left arm. Reach and lift. Exhale, slowly release. This is a big strength thinner for the back. Inhale, right arm and left leg lift. Exhale, slowly release. Last one. Inhale, left arm and right leg lift. Exhale, slow release. Press your hands into the mat. Press yourself back towards child's pose, bringing your hips toward your heels. Take a breath here. And now make your way into downward facing dog. Tucking your toes under, reaching your hips up and back. And pausing again for a breath. A mindful breath. Feeling as the breath flows in. Feeling as the breath flows out. From downward facing dog, step your feet forward toward the top of your mat and then roll your way all the way up to standing. Rolling your shoulders up, back and down. From here, draw the palms of your hands together at your heart as you stand in mountain pose with your feet hips distance apart. Breathing in, sweep your arms out and up and also lift your heels off of the mat. As you exhale, draw your hands back to your heart, landing your heels on the mat and also sitting back into fierce pose. So inhale, press the balls of your feet down, lift your heels up, stretch up really tall. And then exhale, heels land, knees bend, hips sit back. Inhale, sweeping your arms out and up. And exhale, slowly sitting down. To make this easier, gaze at a steady spot in front of you the whole time. Breathing in and then breathing out. To make it a little bit harder, inhale and lift your gaze as you lift your heels. Try to look upward and then exhale, slowly bring your gaze back down. Two more of your favorite version. Inhale, sweeping your arms out and up. Exhaling, heels land and coming down into that squat. Last one, inhale, take up a lot of space. Exhaling, coming down into fierce pose. From there, press yourself up to standing. For this, turn toward the side of your mat. And again, we'll start with our feet hips distance apart. We're going back to those starfish shapes. Press down into your right foot and lift your right arm up on a diagonal as you reach your left leg back on a diagonal. So same thing we did on our belly. Inhale, lifting the arm and leg, feeling the fingertips reach away from the toe tips. And as you exhale, coming back to standing. Inhale, your left arm and your right leg apart from one another, lifting your chest. And exhale, slowly back down. You could keep your gaze steady. Inhale, right arm and left leg. You're balancing on that right foot. Get tall, take up space. Exhale, back to the center. Inhale, left arm and right leg lift. And exhale, back to the center. Keep on going. To make this harder, inhale, right arm and left leg. Look up and to your right. Look in the direction that you're reaching.

Exhale, back to the center. Inhale, left arm up, right leg back. Looking up and to your left if you need that extra challenge. And exhale, back to the center. One more on each side. Breathing in, expanding. And then with control, exhaling, coming back to standing. Inhale, expand, opposite arm and leg. And exhale, slowly release. Okay, take a moment of break. We're going to add on to that sequence. Press your feet into the ground. Lift your heart, right arm and left leg. Inhale, lifting your right arm and your left leg, expanding. This time as you exhale, take your right hand and see if you can touch your left thigh. So you're going to bend your left knee. Inhale, expand again. And exhale, slowly release. Inhale, left arm and right leg. As you exhale, try to stay balancing. Touch your hand to your thigh. Inhale, expand. And exhale, release. Same thing again. So inhale, right arm and left leg. They reach on a diagonal, lift your chest, and then draw your knee and your hand toward one another. Maybe they touch. Inhale, stretch them apart from one another, staying balancing on that right leg. And exhale, slowly release. Inhale, left arm and right leg. Lift and lengthen. Exhale, the knee and hand move toward one another. Maybe touch. Inhale, stretch them back apart from one another. And exhale, release. Okay, take a break. I'm going to add on one more challenge. So come with me. Right foot is our base. Inhale, lift your right arm and your left leg. Same inhale. Exhale, hand toward thigh, gentle tap, just like before. Inhale, stretch out on that diagonal. And this time, reach your right hand behind your back and bend your left knee. See if you can maybe touch your foot. Inhale, gentle expansion again. And exhale back to standing. Same thing, second side. So inhale, lift your left arm and your right leg. As you exhale, take the thigh and hand toward one another, tap. Inhale, expand. And then that add on. Reach your left hand back, bend your right knee. Maybe you touch the foot. Inhale, expand. And exhale back to the center. Just one more time on each side. Inhale, right arm and left leg, expanding and stretching. Exhale, hand toward thigh. Inhale, stretch. It's okay if it's wobbly. I feel wobbly too. Reach your right arm behind your back and exhale, bending that left knee. Maybe touch your foot. Inhale, just stretch open. And exhale, release. Second side, inhale, expanding as you reach through your left arm and your right leg. On your first exhale, take your hand toward your thigh.

Inhale, reaching your arm and leg apart from one another. And then exhale, reaching behind your back. Maybe touching your foot. Inhale, open. And exhale, slowly release. Nice job. Take your hands to your hips. Step your feet a little bit apart from one another and just circle your hips for a moment. So we're just going to take a moment to stretch out the hips before our next movement. Change the direction of those circles. Okay, this last movement puts those two movements together. Step your feet wider apart from one another. And we're going to stretch our hips by just moving them in a circle. So this is a little bit like tracing out the shape of a hula hoop with your hips. Keep your knees pretty straight for right now. Reaching your hips back to the side, forward and to the side. And then change the direction of those circles. Just circling your hips the other way. Stretching the inside and outside of the hips, the backs, the fronts. One more circle. Okay, from there, we're going to come into a short goddess stance. So that means your toes are out and your heels are in. Bend your knees. We're going to try a little bit of bouncing here. So you'll breathe in and straighten your arms, reaching them up. And as you exhale, just feel a sense of bouncing in your knees. Inhale and exhale two bounces. Breathing in, stretching open and breathing out. You want to feel like you have slinkies in your ankles and your knees and your hips. So it's really good for our joints. Inhaling, lifting and exhaling, feeling a bouncy sensation in your joints. You're two more like this. Again, expanding your body and then feeling a sense of ease and bounce, fluidity. Bring that to a close. And now we're going to put those two movements together. Bring your weight to your right foot, lift your right arm up and your left leg back. That's our inhale. As you exhale, we go into that goddess stance. Toes are out, heels are in, double bounce and to your second side. So inhale, lift your left arm and your right leg. Inhale, expand. And as you exhale, toes out, heels in, a light bounce and then inhale, take off right arm and left leg. Exhale, lightly bouncing through the center. Inhale, left arm and right leg reach. Exhale, bouncing through the center and inhale. Starting to move to the pace of your own breathing. Inhaling as you expand. Exhaling as you bounce. Inhale. As you exhale, moving through goddess stance again. So your toes are out, your heels are in, bouncing to the second side and pausing here. Breathing in to expand. As you exhale, hand toward thigh. Inhale, expand. Reach behind your back and exhale, bending your knee, maybe touching the foot. Inhale, just stretch open. And then exhale, just bounce it out at the center for a moment. Feel that sense of fluidity in your joints. And release. Coming into a wide leg forward fold. So turn your toes toward the edge of your yoga mat and then hinging at your hips, start to fold forward, placing your hands on blocks or on the floor, maybe letting your head hang down. So that was a lot of bouncing energy. So starting to ground here. Inhale through your nose. Exhale through your mouth. Two more breaths. Inhale. And exhale. Feel your feet on the earth breathing in. Relaxing your face and jaw, breathing out. Take your hands to your hips and stand up. Step your feet back together and we're going to prepare for tree pose. So pushing into your left foot, set up in a tree pose that feels like the right amount of challenge for you. So option one is to keep your right foot on the ground, toes on the earth and just turn that right knee out to the side. So your tree pose can be right here. Option two, stepping that right foot just on top of the left foot. Option three, if you'd like, you can come up into tree pose with your foot a little bit higher. I'm going to choose the medium variation today. So standing up tall, drawing the palms of your hands together at your heart. This is tree pose, but we want to challenge our balance in slightly different ways. So within your tree pose, start to turn your gaze and look to your right, standing up nice and tall, lifting your chest up toward your thumbs. Then gently turn your head back through the center and turn your gaze over to your left. Two more times. Bring your gaze through the center, turn and look over to your right. Turn your gaze through the center and turn and look over to your left. Last time, gazing through center, over to the right, gazing through center and over to the left. Nice job. Slow release. Setting up for the second side, push your right foot down into the ground. Instead of letting that right hip go out to the side, really hug it in, standing up tall and choose your variation with the leg on the second side. Your hands can come together at the heart as a way of remembering to lengthen your spine. Same challenge on our second side. So turn your gaze over toward your left, breathing here as you go, turning the gaze over to the right and slowly looking toward the left side of the room where you are. And then looking over toward the right side of the room where you are. Maybe even taking in the scenery around you, looking over to the left. And then turning and looking over to the right. Good. And slowly release. Okay, same thing, but a different challenge. So our left foot is our base. Find your tree pose for today, drawing the palms of your hands together at the heart. All right. From here for a moment, see if you can close one or both eyes. As you close your eyes, tune into your breathing. We're taking away the visual information, so it makes it a lot more challenging to balance. This is really nice practice, for instance, for the evenings when we don't have as much visual information. Standing up really tall here. Two more breaths.

Being really kind to yourself if this is challenging. That's actually what we want. Our brain and our bodies adapt when we're outside our comfort zone, when we wobble or have to step down. That's where so much of the growth is. Go ahead and release and we'll switch sides. So our right foot is our base. Left leg comes into your version of tree pose, drawing the palms of your hands together at your heart. When you're ready, closing one or both eyes. Feeling your foot on the earth, the crown of your head reaching up toward the sky. Noticing if it's possible to stay relatively calm on the inside, even though there's a lot of wobble on the outside. Lifting your heart toward your thumbs. Just two more breaths. Hang in there. Offering yourself kindness. One more breath. And slowly release. Okay, last version. Bring your weight to your left foot. Find your version of tree pose. Palms of the hands come together. This time we're messing with our vestibular system a little bit. Standing up tall and slowly take your left ear toward your left shoulder. Good. From there, lift your head up toward the center and slowly take your right ear toward your right shoulder.

This is challenging because we're playing with our inner ear. Slowly lift the head. Two more times on each side. So taking your left ear toward your left shoulder. Bring your head to the center. Take your right ear toward your right shoulder. Bring the head to the center. One last time. Left ear toward left shoulder. Head to the center and then right ear toward right shoulder. Nice job. Come to the center and release. Last side. Right foot is our base. Find your version of tree pose standing up tall. Feel your foot on the earth and from here we'll start to tilt the head. So slowly taking your right ear toward your right shoulder. Bring your head back to the center and then take your left ear toward your left shoulder. Two more times. Lifting the head. Right ear toward right shoulder. Lifting your head up and then left ear toward left shoulder. It's a different kind of balance challenge than we usually do in yoga. So bring yourself to the center. Right ear toward right shoulder. Bringing your head to the center and then left ear toward left shoulder. Good. Bringing your head to the center. Nice work. Take your feet wide apart from one another. We're going to come back into that forward fold. Here in this forward fold we're going to invite in a sense of grounding. We are done with the balance challenges. We're going to stretch it out from here. So as you come into the forward fold let your head hang down. Your hands could be on blocks or on the floor. And as you breathe in sense energy running from the backs of your heels up the backs of your legs. And as you exhale feeling your spine lengthen. Feeling your head get heavier.

Let's take a few more breaths here. Drawing in a sense of stability and steadiness from the earth. Two more full breaths. Last one. From this forward fold start to make your way to a seated position on your mat. Coming into cross legged. Take your time. And then as you arrive in seated lengthen your spine. Take your right hand to the earth on the right side and reach your left arm up and over. Find a comfortable position for your head and your neck. And tune into the sensations of your breathing along the left side of your body. Feeling an expansion of the left side ribs and waist as you breathe in. And a softening there as you breathe out. One more breath. Mindfully aware of the sensations in your body. The sensations of your breathing. And we'll switch sides. Taking the left hand to the earth right arm reaches up and over. Settling in with a comfortable position for your head and neck. Feeling as the right side of your body receives the breath expanding. And the dissolving away of that expansion as the breath flows out. Coming all the way upright. And we'll come into a twist. So just gently turning your spine to the right. Taking your left hand to your right knee or thigh. Rotating your heart. You might close your eyes here. Noticing how it feels to breathe when your body is in the shape of a twist. After that balancing sequence, feeling the support of the earth underneath you. The stability and steadiness there. And switching sides. Rotating now to your left. Gently placing your right hand on your knee or thigh. Lengthening your spine breathing in and gently rotating as you breathe out. You might soften your gaze or close your eyes. And bring your awareness to the sensations of your breath. Gentle ocean waves expanding as the breath flows in. And expanding as the breath flows out. There's a kind of soothing rhythm to your breathing. Two more breaths. And last one. Bring yourself back to the center and now come down onto your back. After that balancing, we want to stretch out our hip muscles. So just crossing your right ankle across your left thigh for figure four stretch. Drawing the left thigh in toward the body. Feeling a sensation of stretching your outer right hip. And switching sides. Setting your feet on the ground. Cross your left ankle across the right thigh. Gently drawing the right thigh in toward the body. Feeling a sense of stretch in your outer left hip. And slowly release. We'll come from here right into final relaxation. So extending your arms and your legs. And again, after that balancing sequence, it can be so comforting to really feel the stability of the earth underneath the body. A sense of steadiness there. And the gentle waves of your breathing. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you have longer to rest today, you are welcome to stay just where you are. If you'd like to close today's class with me in a seated position, start to roll to the side of your body.

Press yourself up to a comfortable seat. As you arrive in seated, you can allow your eyes to be closed, perhaps drawing the palms of your hands together at your heart. Bring your awareness inside your body. And just feeling another breath, feeling the expansion as you breathe in and the softening as you breathe out. Thank you so much for your practice today.

Namaste.