Breath and Balance

Hi, welcome. I'm Patti Lewis and today's practice will be about breath and balance and seeing if we can keep our breath steady, even as we try a low balance to the floor. So it won't be a standing balance. Let's start. You don't need any props for today's practice. We'll come onto our backs and start with your knees bent, your feet flat on the floor. Bring two hands to your belly. You could close your eyes. You might walk your feet wider than your hips. Turn the knees, the feet slightly in so the knees drop against each other and pause. So notice here how your mind is, the quality of your mind. If there is a lot of movement in the mind, just give a light scan through your body, seeing if there are any places where you can tell you're holding, where you're tight and then going to your breath. Notice if the breath is high in your chest or deep in your belly. It might be moving through your nose, your mouth, your nose and your mouth. Take an inhale in through the nose and feel your belly lift. Open wide and exhale out. Take one more of those. Inhale in through the nose. Feel the belly lift. Open wide and exhale out and then let the lips touch. Inhale in through the nose. As you exhale out through the nose, notice the belly sink towards your spine. Release your arms down by your side. Take one more breath in here. As you take your next exhale, bring your knees into your chest. Bring your hands on top of your knees or behind your knees and then keep hold of your left leg. Straighten the right leg all the way out onto the floor. Press the top of the thigh straight down. Notice your knee and your toes. Can they point straight up to the ceiling? As you take your next exhale, bring the right knee in. Keep hold of the right leg and straighten the left leg all the way out onto the floor. Have the toes, the knees pointed up towards the ceiling and press the top of the thigh straight down. And then bring the left knee in. Bring your hands to the tops of your knees. Circle your legs around in the hip sockets. Take hip circles. You can think of making circles on the ceiling and make sure you go in both directions, making your circles. And then coming into center, keep hold of your left leg. Straighten the right leg out and onto the floor. And then straighten the left leg out and onto the floor. Supta Tadasana. Release the arms down by your side. Press the tops of the thighs straight down. Your knees, your toes point up. Send your tailbone towards your heels. Take a breath in here and exhale. Bring your left knee into your chest. Bring your hands on the top of the knee. Inhale, straighten the left leg on the floor. Exhale, bring your right knee in. Hands around the right knee. Inhale, straighten the right leg on the floor. Exhale, bring the left knee in. Inhale, straighten the left on the floor. Just releasing the arms down by your hips. Exhale, the right knee in. Straighten the right on the floor as you inhale. Exhale, bring both knees in.

Hands on top of your knees. And then let's exhale, bring your head up to your knees. Curling into a little ball. Inhale, back down. And one more. Exhaling. Press the navel. Press the lower belly down. Lift up. Inhale, back down. Keep hold of your left leg. Inhale, straighten the right leg. Let it hover off the floor. Knee and toes point up. And exhale, switch legs. And then exhale, switch legs. Exhale to switch legs. Bring that left knee into your chest. Roll to your left side and use your top hand. Press yourself up and come onto your hands and knees. So come into tabletop where your hands are shoulder distance and your shoulders are right over your wrists. Your knees are hips distance underneath your hips. And notice if you collapse in your lower ribs, draw your lower ribs in. Draw the navel, lower belly in. And again, moving on the breath, cat-cow. As you take an inhale, move the chest forward. Feel the shoulder blades slide towards your spine as you arch. As you exhale, let your head drop. Let the tailbone drop and round. Inhaling the chest moves forward. You're opening the front of your body into the cow. Exhale, rounding the back of your body towards the ceiling into the cat. Inhale, come into center. Just bring your hands a little forward. Wrists in front of the shoulders. Curl the toes. Press your hands. Come into your first downward facing dog, maybe of the day. And pedal your feet out, opening the backs of the legs. You want to bend one knee and release the other heel. And switching sides. And switching sides.

And then take a moment and let both heels release towards the floor. Take a breath in through your nose. Open wide and exhale out. Lips touch. Inhale, lift your heels. Exhale, lower down to your hands and knees. Come back to tabletop. Hands shoulder distance. Your shoulders are over your wrists. Knees under your hips. And then inhale, pull the chest forward to arch. Exhale, press your hands. Press the tops of the feet. Lift the navel, lower belly round. Inhaling into the arch. Spread the collarbones. Exhaling to round. Inhale, come into center. Walk your hands forward. Tuck the toes. Press into downward facing dog. Adho Mukha Svanasana. Inhale, come forward into plank pose. Pause here, this first plank. You could put your knees down. You want to lift the front of your body into the back of your body. So lifting the lower ribs. Lifting the navel, lower belly.

Soften in the face. Is your breath steady? Exhale, back into downward facing dog. Take one more inhale, come forward into plank. Bring your gaze forward. Press the palms. Lift the front of the body into your back body. Exhale to downward facing dog. Inhale, lift your heels. Lower down to your hands and knees. So here's our first balancing. And it's on our hands and knees. So hands are shoulder distance. Your shoulders are over your wrists. Knees under your hips. And then straighten your right leg back. And send your tailbone towards the back heel. You want to lift the front of your body into your back body and reach your left arm forward. So long from your left arm to your back right heel. So the heel reaches back, your arm reaches forward. Draw your front ribs in. You might keep the back leg down. You might lift it slightly off the floor. Lift the navel, lower belly. Exhale, release. Inhale, straighten the left leg back. Pause, send your tailbone towards your heel. And then inhale, reach your right arm forward. So you want to lift the front of the body into your back body, but you want to keep your face soft. You want to keep the breath steady in and out through the nose. You might keep the back leg down. You might lift it. And then release. Curl the toes under. Press your hands. Lift your hips. Come into a downward facing dog. Inhale here. At the end of your exhale, let your knees bend. Walk your feet towards your hands. Keep the feet hips distance.

Slide your hands to the sides of your shins. Lift your chest. As you inhale, artha, half uttanasana. And then let the knees bend a little. Fold over your legs. Let your head hang into soft uttanasana. Breathing here. Allow your knees to bend just a little bit more. Tuck your chin towards your chest and go ahead and roll all the way up through your spine. Coming up one vertebrae at a time. Your head is the last thing to come up. And then you're standing in tadasana. Spread your toes. And you want to press the base of your big toe, your little toe, your inner and outer heel. So you really root your feet down. Lift the kneecaps. Lift the thighs. Allow the front of your pelvis to lift so your tailbone goes towards your heels. And then drop the arms down by your side. You can rotate the arms so your palms face forward. You could have your palms face your thighs. Your chin is parallel to the floor.

Pause here. That sense of rooting down through the feet. Lengthen up through the spine. And then the sense that the front of your body moves towards your back body. As you inhale, raise your arms overhead. Keep them shoulder distance. And then as you exhale, a little bend in the knees. Hinge at your hips. Fold over your legs. Hands on the sides of the shins. This first one. Inhale. Lift your chest. Come into artha, uttanasana. Exhale. Go back to your legs. Root down to rise up as you inhale. Reach the arms overhead. And exhale the arms down. One more. Half surya namaskara. Inhale the arms overhead.

Exhaling up and over your legs. Uttanasana. Maybe your hands come to the floor. Inhale. Lift your chest. Broaden the collarbones. Exhale. Fold back to your legs. Root down to rise up as you inhale. Reach the arms all the way overhead. You're moving on your breath. Exhaling the arms down. Keeping the breath steady. Inhale the arms lift. Exhaling up and over your legs. Uttanasana. On your inhale, let your chest lift. We're going on.

As you exhale, bend your knees. Step the left leg back. Pause here. Deep bend in your front right knee. Bring your left palm flat to the floor. And as you inhale, rotate to the right. You can reach your right arm up. Maybe you can look up. Press the bottom hand. Reach tall through the top arm. Exhale the top hand down. Step into plank pose. As you're in plank, you want to lift the front of your body towards your back body. Shift the shoulders forward. Exhale through chaturanga. Come to your belly. Tops of the feet to the floor. Lengthen out. Lift your chest. Lobujangasana. Lift the shoulders away from the floor. And then press back into downward facing dog. Inhale. Lift your heels. Exhale. Let your knees bend. Walk your feet towards your hands.

You might bring your big toes to touch here. Lift your chest as you inhale. Fold into the legs as you exhale. Root down to rise up on the inhale, arms overhead. Exhale your arms down. Inhale, lift your arms overhead. Exhaling up and over your legs. Inhale, lifting your chest. Exhale, bend your knees. Step your right leg back. Pause. Deep end in the front left knee and then bring your right palm flat to the floor. And as you inhale, you're going to turn to the left. Reach the left arm up. You might look all the way up. You might not. And then exhale the top hand down. Step into plank. Shift the shoulders. You may lower all the way to your belly. You might stop halfway in chaturanga. Inhale, lift your chest to low cobra or to upward dog. And then exhale into downward dog. Pause here. Take a breath. Exhale, your knees bend. Walk your feet towards your hands. Big toes touch. Maybe inhale, lift your chest. Exhale into your legs. Inhale, brings you all the way up. Arms overhead. Exhaling the arms down. We're going to flow on two surinamaskaras. Inhaling the arms overhead. Exhale, fold up and over your legs.

Inhale, your chest lifts. Exhale, knees bend. Step your right leg and then the left leg back. Lower to your belly or stop halfway. Chaturanga. Inhale, lift your chest upward facing dog. Exhale, into downward facing dog. Inhale, your right leg lifts off the floor. Exhale, your knee towards your nose. And step your right foot between your hands. Look forward. Step your back foot up to meet your front. Inhale, the chest. Exhale, fold into your legs. Inhale, all the way up. Reach your arms up to the sky. Maybe join your palms and look up.

Exhale, the arms down. Last one. Inhaling, arms overhead. Exhale, up and over your legs. Inhale, your chest lifts. Exhale, knees bend. Palms flat. Step the left leg back and then the right. Lower to your belly or stop halfway in chaturanga. Inhale, into up dog. Exhale, into downward dog. Soften in the face. As you inhale, lift your left leg up off the floor. Exhale, the knee towards your chest. Step the foot between your hands. Look forward. Step your back foot up to meet your front. Lift your chest as you breathe in. Fold into your legs on the exhale. And then as you inhale, come all the way up. Reach your arms overhead and exhale, find tadasana. All right, come into the middle of your mat and we'll take warrior two into parsvakonasana. So step your feet apart and then reach your arms wide. Have your ankles underneath your wrists. So it's pretty wide stance.

Keep the arms out and deepen your right hip socket. You want to rotate your right leg open and allow the back leg to shift onto an angle. On an exhale, bend your front right knee. It moves out over the middle of your foot. Inhale to straighten. Exhale to bend and inhale straighten. So we're still moving on your breath. Your exhale, bend your front knee. Press a little more in the front heel. Inhale, press to straighten your front leg. And holding this one, exhale, bend and pause. So your front thigh shifts a little more, little toe side of your foot and attempting to draw your right buttock bone under. Press the back thigh straight, lengthen the sides of the torso and allow the left ribs to shift back. And then bring your right forearm to your right thigh. Bring your left hand to your left hip. You might stay here or bring your right hand, little toe side of the foot to the floor. Reach your left arm alongside your ear. The bottom leg shifts back towards your arm.

You might draw your top ribs a little more towards the ceiling. Press the feet down. Inhale, into warrior two shoulders over the hips and then straighten your front right leg. Interlace the fingers behind your back and turn the right leg forward. Pause here. Move the shoulder heads back. Draw the shoulder blades towards each other and reach your hands a little away from your hips. And then release. Bring your arms out to the side. We'll take the other side. So rotate your left leg open deep in that hip socket. 90 degrees and allow the back leg to shift. Whoops! Reach your arms out. Even warrior two can be a balancing pose. Exhale, bend your front left knee and then inhale, straighten. So as you bend, the knee moves out over the middle of the foot. Just the alignment. Inhale, straighten the alignment to help keep your mind on your mat as you exhale, bend. Inhale to straighten. We'll hold this one. Exhale, bend and pause. Press the front heel. Allow the front thigh to shift a little more little toe side of your foot. Try to draw the buttock bone under. Press down through the feet. Lengthen up and then send the right ribs back. Left ribs move a little forward. Bring your left forearm to your thigh. Bring your right hand to your hip. So pause here. Stay with your forearm on your thigh or you might take your hand. Little toe side of the foot. Reach the right arm alongside your ear. The alignment of the bottom leg. It shifts back towards your arm. Draw the buttock bone under. Send your tailbone long towards your back heel and you might look up. Let your chest move up. Press the feet down. Inhale back into warrior two. Press and straighten your front left leg. Interlace the fingers. Turn the left leg forward. Pause. Switch the lacing of your fingers. So switch the pinky finger. All the other fingers. Move the shoulder heads back. You might reach your hands away from your hips and then release. Bring your hands to your hips. Bend your knees and step your feet together.

Come back to the top of your mat. Come into tadasana. Your feet are together or hips distanced. Rooting down four corners of the feet. Press the tops of the thighs back. Send your tailbone towards your heels. The front of your body moves into your back body. Releasing the arms. Inhale the arms up and overhead. Exhale folding up and over your legs into uttanasana. Forward fold. As you take your next inhale, allow your chest to lift and then exhale. Bring your palms to the floor and you choose. Step one leg back and then the other. We're coming into plank. So pause in plank. Press your hands into the floor. You may need to press a little more index finger. Thumb side. Lift the front of your body into your back body. Bringing your gaze forward. And then exhale. Shift into downward facing dog. Pause here. Steady your breath. And then lower down to your hands and knees. So we're taking a little alternative to artichandrasana. Straighten your left leg back and send your tailbone towards your back heel. And then you can line your right wrist up with your right knee. Lower the back foot to the floor and bring your left hand to your left hip and pause here. So check in with your breath. Here's a balanced pose. Keep your breath steady. Keep your gaze maybe soft. Keep your face soft. Keep drawing the front of your body into your back body. It's a lot. So maybe just breathing steadily. Stay here. You might reach your arm up. One last little thing. You might shift your weight forward and lift the back left leg. Send your tailbone towards your heel. And exhale. Come back to tabletop. Tuck your toes under. Press your hands. Lift your hips. Come into adha mukha svanasana between sides to come up off your knees.

And then inhale. Lift your heels. Exhale. Lower down. Hands and knees. Come back into tabletop. Shoulders over the wrists. Keep the gaze forward. Straighten the right leg back. And send your tailbone towards the back heel. And then take the left hand. You can line the left wrist up with the left knee. Lower the back right foot to the floor. Inhale. Bring your right hand to your right hip and pause. So you want to keep the breath moving in, moving out through the nose. You want to soften in the face. A lot of times across the forehead between the eyebrows. Reach the right arm up. Stay here. Or maybe shift a little weight forward into that left hand. Lift the right leg. Send your tailbone towards the back heel. Draw the front of the body towards your back body. Keep the breath steady. Whoops! And then come out of the pose. Fall out of the pose. Tuck the toes. Press your hands. Lift your hips. Come into downward facing dog. Inhale here.

And exhale down to your hands and knees. Bring your knees a little wide. Tops of the feet to the floor. Come into a ballasana. Into a child's pose. Send your hips back towards your heels. Bend the elbows to the sides of your mat. Just rest your head on your hands for just a moment. And then bring your hands to the floor. Sit up. And come sit on your hips and bring your legs forward. Even yoga teachers fall. Bring your legs wide. So we'll take upavishta konasana. The legs are apart. Your knees, your toes point straight to the ceiling. Bring your hands forward. Take a breath in. And then as you exhale, start to walk your hands forward. So stopping at any point. You might bring your palms flat. You might come onto your forearms.

You want to keep the knees and toes pointed up. As you take your next exhale, root down the sitting bones. As you inhale, lengthen the crown of your head away from your tailbone. Exhale, rooting down. And then inhale, walk yourself up. Come into sukhasana. Cross your shins. Have your heels underneath your knees. Lightly flex your feet. Pause here just a moment with the eyes closed. That sense of a low balance. Even breath. Noticing its effects on the quality of your mind.

Maybe noticing how your body is. Feeling right now on your mat. And then as you exhale, let the eyes open. And we'll come down onto our backs. Rolling down. Have your heels close to your hips. Have your feet hips distanced. Spread the toes. Press the feet down. Come up into a bridge pose. And walk your shoulders underneath you. Interlace your fingers underneath your hips. You want to keep pressing your feet. Allow the hips to lift. Notice if the thighs move out towards the sides of your mat.

I'm going to keep the thighs parallel. And exhale, releasing lower down. Pause. Take a breath in. Take a breath out. Press down. Inhale. Lift your hips up. And again, walk the shoulders underneath you. That sense of the shoulder blades pressing up into your back ribs. Interlace. Switch the lacing of your fingers.

Send the back of your pelvis towards the backs of your knees. And exhaling out of bridge pose. Pause. Walk your feet wider than your hips. So out towards the sides of your mat. Take a breath in. As you exhale, drop the knees to the left. And maybe reach your right arm alongside your ear. You might bend it.

And then as you exhale, bring the knees up towards the ceiling. And then drop both knees to the left. You can bring, while you're dropping your knees to the right, bring your left arm alongside your ear. Pause here. And then inhale. Bring the knees up to the ceiling. And bring your knees into your chest. And because it's one of my favorite poses, let's take Happy Baby. Flex your feet.

Hold on to the outer edges of your feet. You could rock side to side or be still here, allowing the lower back to release into the floor. And then drop your feet flat to the floor. And slide one leg straight. And then allow it to roll open. Slide your other leg straight. Allow it to roll open. Release the arms down by your side. Let the eyes close. So there was a lot of effort in lifting the front of your body into your back body. And now you can allow the front of your body to release with gravity into your back body as you begin to release into Shavasana.

Resting pose. Soften the face. Letting go of the belly. And being here in Shavasana. You might start to notice the rise and fall of the breath in and out of your body. Start to move your fingers. Move your toes. Moving the wrists and the ankles. Let the knees bend and bring your feet flat to the floor.

Roll to your side. Use your top hand and press yourself up. Come into a seated cross-legged position. And you bring your palms together in front of your chest, Anjali Mudra, or you could have your hands on your thighs. Let the eyes close so that last moment on your mat, noticing the body, noticing your breath, noticing the quality of your mind. Sometimes it's nice to set an intention here for the rest of your day off your mat. And then inhale, lifting your chest. Exhale, bringing your chin to your chest. And I thank you for joining me in this practice today. Have a great day.