Protection

Welcome, thanks for joining me. We are going to use two blocks and I'm started seated in hero's pose with a block between my heels. In today's practice we're going to look at self-talk and finding a protective energy as support. So I'm curious, what do you say to yourself about yourself? I'm sure you can relate to an experience of feeling really good in your body and then seeing a picture of yourself and being flooded with negative self-talk. Self-love is a journey and it's a practice so it takes time and it's a practice that you'll be in for your whole life. And so we're going to look at what do you say to yourself about yourself and the more you love yourself the more you'll want to find some protectors, some boundaries so that you can protect your precious being, protect what is sacred, protect your vulnerable heart. Okay so let's start seated and we'll pause for a moment to be with breath. As you breathe notice the turnings. So when does the inhale turn to become the exhale? And when does the exhale turn to become the inhale? In these turnings you may find that thought begins to settle. Experience the turnings of breath, settling into them, expanding into them. And now begin to include your spine. So as you inhale begin to lengthen the front of your spine and as you exhale lengthen the back of your spine. Couple times like that inhaling tip your pelvis forward lengthen the front of your spine. Exhale tip your pelvis back to lengthen the back of your spine and we'll add the arms. Inhaling allow your arms to open up wide to the side. As you exhale bring your hands together in front of your heart and find your bow. A couple times like that inhaling opening up feel the very top of your inhale. Find the turning to the exhale letting that bring you into a rounded place into a bow. Hands to come together in front of your heart and a couple more times. Inhaling and exhaling. Finding your intention to listen. Inhale open open open. Exhale hands to your heart finding your bow. Inhale opening your arms and this time exhale release your hands down. Bring your chin down to your chest and roll your head over to the right. Gently reach through your left fingertips breathing all the way up into the left shoulder into the top of your left lung up through the side of your neck. As you exhale release your chin down towards your chest and roll your head over to the left reaching through your right fingertips. Big breaths all the way up behind your right collarbone. Gently release your chin down to your chest one more time each side rolling your head to the right. Big breaths up into the top of your lungs. Release your chin down to your chest roll your head to the left and another nice big breath and release your chin down to your chest. So root down through your sitting bones to lift your head back up to neutral and come forward to all fours. Finding your hands wiggling out your pelvis and then begin to move your spine however you wish. So this could be cat cows you could also start to move through some side-to-side movements some circles maybe even some spirals. So heading into a little bit of a freer movement what feels good. Swing side to side and again listening for what you say to yourself and find neutral spine. Extend your right leg back behind you send your left shin to the side right heel down you might need to reorganize your left hand underneath your left shoulder to reach your right arm up to the sky and send your right fingertips up and over for a side bend noticing the length length length to the right side body. Root down through your right foot to reach through your right hand and coming back to all fours. Right into the second side so left leg extends follow the foot down and then heel down right shin to the side left arm up and reach your left fingertips up and over. Push down through your right hand to find the length through your whole left side body. Notice the length between your left foot and your left hands. Find one more inhale and on an exhale we're coming back to all fours.

Walk down to your forearms. Start to root down through your forearms. Hug your elbows slightly in towards each other and then begin to walk your knees back and you might choose to stay here on your knees or you might choose to tuck your toes and lift your knees up off the ground. Forearm plank. So a few breaths here and I invite you to really find your power like an inner power an inner heat close to your spine. If your knees are lifted really explore the length and strength of your legs. You might even experiment lowering your hips just a little bit so they're the same distance from the floor as your shoulders. Lower your knees down and press back to a puppy pose. So here your hips can be over your knees. We'll release the forehead down. Bring your hands together. Bend your elbows and your hands can either face straight up towards the sky or your thumbs can come back to touch the back of your head. A few breaths here. Extend your arms out again coming back to all fours. So we're going to have the hands on the ground. Feel your thumbs on the ground then begin to lift your two thumbs up and then pat them down and we'll do that quite fast. So thumbs patting up and down up and down patting the mat and your palm will stay on the floor and then have your thumbs down and tap your pointer finger up and down up and down up and down and then release your pointer finger down and find your middle finger. A few big breaths here up and down up and down up and down and then middle finger plants and pat your ring finger and sometimes when I arrive to an experience that's a little difficult I'm just noticing what do I say to myself about myself. Ring fingers patting and then ring fingers down pinky fingers patting up and down up and down up and down trying to pat them at the same time. Okay and then have a seat on your heels shake out your hands a little bit. It's a surprising heat in my forearms and then coming forward to all fours to find your downward facing dog. Feel your fingers again and find each finger rooting down into the ground. Maybe you can even find the midline of each finger. Find a nice big inhale and a full exhale again finding the turnings in your breath. When does the exhale turn to become the inhale? When does your inhale turn to become your exhale? And make your way towards a standing forward fold. Lengthening partway your hands can be to the floor or your shins and fold forward. Root down into the ground come all the way up to stand lift your arms up to the sky and release your hands down. Begin to shift your weight into your left foot hug your right knee into your chest feel the weight of your leg the strength of your lifted leg and swing it back to a warrior two. So if you're here in warrior two connect to your fingers again and feel the lengthening of your fingers in the direction of your fingers reaching out out out into space. Simultaneously have a sense of your spine the core of you your vertical access going up going down and connect to your eyes the way you are here seeing being here seeing the space around you. A couple more breaths here to feel a warrior spirit a protective spirit your strength your power to protect what is sacred. Release both hands down and bring your hands onto your blocks and step back to downward facing dog with your hands on blocks. So now with this extra arm length you might get to release your pelvis a little higher or a little more easeful. A few breaths here keep pressing down through both hands lift your right leg up to the sky find a nice big inhale as you exhale come forward to plank bring your right knee into your chest press forward with your right shin to hover your right foot forward maybe it gets right between your hands. On an inhale reach your right leg back up high to the sky and as you exhale come forward right knee into your chest press your shin forward to hover and again inhale right leg rises find your power find your strength exhale coming forward hovering your right foot forward this time set it down bring your back heel down to the ground and rise up for warrior two second side. Exploring the length across your collarbones and the length across your shoulder blades including that in the reach of your arms so collarbones shoulder blades reaching with arms and then again finding your spine the core of you you're down into your legs and include your eyes how are you seeing what are you seeing? Connecting to your strength connecting to your strength to meet what is here. A couple more breaths experiencing breath release both hands down push down into your hands step back to downward facing dog inhale lift your left leg up towards the sky exhale come forward left knee into your chest hover your left foot forward inhale reach your left leg back up high to the sky exhale come forward left knee into chest pressing forward to left shin to hover your left foot forward inhale reach your left leg high to the sky and exhale hover your left foot forward to set it down this time step your right foot forward to meet your left foot you can move your blocks off to the side and find a standing forward fold rise all the way up to stand lift your arms up to the sky bend both knees and find your utkatasana keep the length of your arms as you bend your knees push down into both feet to extend your legs reach your arms up and back little back bend here fold forward utkatasana inhale again lengthening halfway exhale fold forward inhale rise all the way up to stand rooting down rising up arms skyward and exhale release your arms down shift your weight into your right foot hug your left knee into your chest feel the weight of your left leg the strength of your left leg and send your left leg back for warrior two once again just a brief stay connecting to the warrior of you the warrior in you and release both hands down this time to the floor push back to a downward facing dog inhale lift your left leg up to the sky exhale step your left foot forward between your hands bring your back heel down rising up for a warrior to short stay find a nice big inhale and exhale release both hands down step back to plank we'll find an inhale here and on an exhale lower your right forearm down to the mat and then your left forearm down to the mat inhale come up to right hand and then left hand you're welcome to do this on your knees if you need to so exhale right forearm and left forearm inhale right hand and left hand exhale right forearm and left forearm inhale right hand and left hand exhale right forearm and left forearm and then pause let's bring the legs together root back through the inner heels and again find your midline lower your knees down or your thighs down find sphinx push down through your forearms let the belly belly belly drop back little roundness here and then coming back into your sphinx lengthening the front of your spine and again push down through your forearms let the belly drop back fill up the back body and then finding the length again at the front of your spine one more time pushing through your forearms to round and exploring your sphinx again tuck your toes lift your pelvis and maybe lift your knees and then bring your left hand to the mat and your right hand and lower your left forearm and your right forearm bring your left hand to the mat then your right hand and your left forearm and your right forearm left hand right hand left forearm right forearm and then we pause again again finding your midline reading down through your forearms notice your back body as much as your front body notice the space above you find the turnings in your breath and lower your knees down your thighs down in the tops of your feet coming back to sphinx push through your forearms at the belly drop back fill the back body and then finding your sphinx again two more times root through your forearms belly drawing back and find your sphinx root through your forearms belly drawing back and find your sphinx open your elbows wide and bring your hands to stack rest your forehead on your hands a moment to pause a moment to listen noticing the inner dialogue if there's one here and finding the commitment or the interest in taking care of yourself bringing your hands underneath your shoulders will press back up to plank and find a downward-facing dog lift your right leg up to the sky step your right foot forward between your hands step your back foot forward to meet your front foot lengthen halfway arda uttanasana and fold forward rise all the way up to stand rooting down rising up arms skyward feel the length of your arms keep that length as you bend your knees uttanasana few breaths here like a lightning bolt letting your feet really find the earth knees traveling forward hips traveling back spine on a diagonal and then push into your feet coming up little back bend here to fold forward lengthen halfway arda uttanasana and then wiggle your feet apart turn your toes out heels in and start to bend your knees to come into a squat walk your hands back behind you have a seat and find your navasana look at your toes taking your toes I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about their toes it's a moment to be with your toes and of course the strength in your belly so we're going to inhale here you're welcome to stay if you have the interest you can begin to increase the angle between your legs and your torso and then with a strong exhale coming back to navasana then again increasing the angle and coming back increasing the angle and coming back a couple more times maybe the low back and touch the floor here and coming back and increasing the angle and coming back and bring your feet to the floor hands to the floor to press back into your version of squat bring your hands to the floor hips up high to find your standing forward fold lengthen halfway arda uttanasana fold forward rise all the way up to stand root down rise up arms skyward release your hands down to your sides widen your feet again and come into a squat your version of course so you might be up a little bit higher you can come down a little bit lower so feel the ground and imagine that you have all the support of the ground or maybe you're feeling that like the earth has me I have the support you don't have to do it alone so you're gonna root down into the ground to come up to stand and you can reach your arms skyward with that and then we're gonna come back down and as you come down feel the space around you and now root down into the ground it's like the help of the ground to come up and feel all of space infinite space as you come down so you have the ground coming up and you have space as you come down one more time like that you have the ground as you come up and you have all the space as you come down okay so let's come all the way up to stand with the support of the earth and release your arms down lift your right arm up to the sky so this is a protector move and your left hand can kind of reach down low I'm gonna widen my feet just a little bit here and this is a slicing move so let's just look at it with the arms first so the right arm is gonna slice and the left hand comes up just a little bit so this this move has the quality of like a no like no I will not talk to myself that way and yes I will protect what is vulnerable delete the legs your legs can be a little casual so there's a little bend and it's a little casual so you can bend them as much or as little as you like sometimes I even like to make that exhale add a little drama but also clearing like I'm slicing through the air I imagine that my hands are like daggers connecting to power strength my protector and a few more times like this so we're inhaling lengthening lengthening lengthening feeling the earth in our hands and exhale slicing through the air inhale we have the ground ground ground ground ground like the whole earth is in your hands and as you exhale slicing and again inhaling being with your strength your power your heat and exhale and again inhaling exhale slice and then coming up and releasing powerful move we're gonna try the second side so your hands fingers like knives left arm up right arm down widening your feet a little bit feeling the ground beneath you and again it's like you've brought the earth all the way up to reside in your hands feeling that strength that power your heat we're gonna inhale and on an exhale slicing a little bend to your knees inhaling reaching finding the earth beneath you exhale slicing bringing the whole ground with you as you rise inhale and exhale inhaling so in a way it's like you're saying yes to being with you exhaling and then there's also this quality of protection being able to say no inhaling arms rise exhaling slicing inhaling we rise protecting what is vulnerable protecting what is precious inhaling we rise protecting what is sacred last time we rise rise rise and and then we rise rise rise to release your hands down in a moment to turn your palms forward feel your whole size your whole size the height of you the width of you the length of your arms the length of your legs it's like you're standing down in your full power your full size full breath here lift your arms up to the sky noticing the length between your feet and your hands bend both knees for your Utkatasana again finding your fierce posture it's like you're a lightning bolt now push down into your feet to rise up to stand exploring a little backbend and this backbend has the support of the whole earth and fold forward Utkatasana lengthening halfway for Arda Utkatasana step your right foot back to a lunge and lower your back knee down to the ground you might want to bring your hands onto blocks here so that you can begin to extend your front leg as much as is reasonable for you today with your hands on the floor or blocks begin to root down through your hands to release your pubic bones back behind you your pelvis can release back some breaths here to feel how your spine moves in relationship to your breath noticing what's arising in you so many times in yoga asana I can just be small little things like I'm so tight today oh there's a problem here it's gonna be so small so tiny and yet impactful so we're listening for that and being experimenting with being really kind coming back to your lunge tuck your back toes lift your back knee up off the ground and reach your left arm up to the sky exploring your twist again being in the aliveness of this posture the movement of this posture include the reach of your collarbones and shoulder blades know the lengthening of your top arm life to your fingertips release your left hand down so we're gonna come into a couple of balance poses and again this invitation to notice what you are saying to yourself about your balance about yourself so starting to bring your back foot in the first one will be half moon begin to lift your right leg up off the floor so this might be a great place to take your blocks with you will begin to bring the right hip a little higher and then when you're ready starting to reach your right arm up to the sky for your half moon artichondrasana so feel the ground beneath you and then begin to spread out through all of your edges begin to reach through your right inner thigh spread out through your collarbone scapula all the way up to your strong right hand a few breaths here so again this requires a fair amount of focus and then we're adding the subtlety of noticing what we're saying to ourselves find a full round of inhale exhale here and release your right hand down so we're gonna turn the right hip down so that the right leg becomes parallel again right toes facing down to the ground we're coming towards revolved artichondrasana so this is a big big ask right I'm gonna tip my block up a little bit higher so that my spine can still be quite long without dropping the right hip here starting to revolve through your low belly we're turning over to the left maybe you can get some revolve in your heart through your lungs maybe through your gaze maybe your left hand can start to reach up to the sky for your full expression of revolved half moon a few big breaths here and releasing coming back to uttanasana bend your knees a little bit here and then drop your tail start to roll up your spine coming all the way up to stand lift your arms up to the sky bend your knees coming back to your fierce pose push down into your feet extend your legs reach your arms up explore a little back bend here and fold forward uttanasana lengthen halfway art at uttanasana bring your hands onto your blocks and step back to your downward facing dog and lower your knees down tuck your toes grab a block and bring a block between your heels and your pelvis and have a seat a moment to pause a moment to listen a moment to be experiencing the sensation here in your feet being tender with yourself being gentle with yourself and releasing coming forward transitioning back to your downward facing dog stepping forward to find your standing forward fold lengthen halfway art at uttanasana fold forward bend your knees find your Utkatasana root down into your feet to extend your legs reach your arms up and back a little back bend here and fold forward uttanasana lengthening halfway art at uttanasana and step your left foot back to a lunge lower your back knee down hands to the floor or your blocks to begin to extend your front leg feel your hands touching the floor or blocks and gently push them down and then that may inspire a release of your pelvis back you can still let your front heel move down and then some big generous breaths here again always listening and staying close to what you value bend your front knee tuck your back toes lift your back knee up off the ground and lift your right leg right arm rather up towards the sky for your spiral keep rooting down through your inner legs so feel the ground and then expand through your arms and now you know we're heading towards a revolved half moon so kind of feeling the quality of the twisting spine here and the strength coming from your legs release your right hand down walk your back foot in a little bit we're climbing towards our balances walking your hands forward bringing the blocks with you if you like and starting to come into your artichandrasana so we're gonna lift the left leg up lift the left hip we're externally rotating the legs and then beginning to open up through your left arm root down into the ground to expand out through your hands and out through your legs even reaching through your inner legs lots going on here but you're still listening in your balance release your left hand down we'll start to lower the left hip to bring the legs back into a parallel rotation adjusting your blocks as you need for your revolved half moon so left hand can come to any level on the block that you need so that your spine can still be long and then from here we're going to start to spiral to the right without dropping the left hip connecting to breath rotation in your spine right arm can eventually lift if you like breathing lengthening through your inner legs I mean I'm definitely wondering why I put this in here a couple more breaths and releasing your hand down such a challenging pose for me finding your standing forward fold lengthening halfway arda uttanasana and we will fold forward bend your knees drop your tail and slowly start to roll all the way up your spine lift your arms up to the sky finding your utkatasana push down into your feet to then extend your legs again explore your back bend and releasing your arms down so moment to stand moment to listen moment to connect to what is here and feeling your heat your strength to be here it's like you're standing down in what is here and finding the quality to protect what is valuable to you what is precious what is secret and then one more time for a squat so we're gonna widen the feet turn the toes out heels in coming down nice and low for your squat and we're rising up to stand like we're taking the whole ground with us and again bending down coming into your squat feeling space and then rooting into the earth to come up and traveling into your squat feeling space right down into the earth to come up and this time we'll travel into our squat and make our way to a seated position so coming down to your seat transition on to your back and prepare your legs here for bridge so your knees will be bent feet on the floor push down into your feet and you might start to feel some activation at your lower glutes and upper hamstrings so that's great I'm gonna keep that going as you lift your hips up and for today's version of bridge let's bend the elbows so your fingertips are facing up towards the sky and begin to root down through your upper arms notice what that offers your heart so when I root down through my upper arms I feel a little more floating through my heart or a little more expanse through the front of my heart continue to root down through your inner feet find a couple more breaths here and release your hips down let's do that just one more time so again finding your feet rooting down through your feet again looking for the activation of that at the upper hamstrings lower glutes and then lift your hips elbows bend fingertips pointing up towards the sky root down through your upper arms expand through your heart we're here for a couple of breaths and release your hips down hug your knees into your chest rock out a little bit side to side bring your feet back down to the ground grab hold of your two blocks and bring the soles of your feet together let your knees open up wide bring your blocks underneath your knees for a bada konasana souped about a konasana let your fingertips reach up towards the sky and then cross your left elbow over your right to give yourself a little self-hug here and lift your arms back up towards the sky bring your right arm in front of your left bend your elbows hands release towards the floor and a few breaths here bring your arms up to the sky and release your arms down alongside your body with the palms face up a few more breaths feeling the contact with the ground connecting to the support that is here and available for you right now and receiving that support remembering that self-love is a journey and it is a practice bring your knees into your chest again again rock out a little bit side to side and begin to extend your legs to find your shavasana listening for what is arising and also finding the space between breaths find a little bit of movement and eventually letting that movement grow until you transition to your side body root down to come all the way up to a seated posture find a little twist to the right and a little twist to the left finding center inhale open your arms wide find your expansion find your full size as you exhale let's close with a bow bring your hands together in front of your heart and round bowing with your whole spine come back up and release your hands thank you so much for practicing today thank you