Week 2: Mindfulness at Home

Hi everyone, welcome back. Glad to have you here for week two of the Green Yogi Challenge. For class today it'll be helpful to have a blanket and a block and I want to encourage you to fold your blanket up so it's tall enough that you can sit in a comfortable seat. You might include a little jostling around to get yourself settled. And I'd like to introduce you to another mudra called the Ushas Mudra where your fingers are just gently laced. Turn the palms towards the ceiling as you allow your hands, the back of your hands, to drop down towards your thighs. This hand gesture, this mudra, is to help bring a little more focus, concentration, and blessings for this beginning of week two adventure. And maybe we meet this week with curiosity, with compassion. And let's the eyes close or lower so we're taking in a little less information in the external environment and become a little more attuned to your inner landscape.

And now taking a few deep, full breaths can maybe feel like that the beginning of a cleansing. Through the exhalation, letting go of perhaps a little bit of tension in the body. The end of that exhale bringing us to perhaps a little pause where there's maybe a little more space in the mind. We feel into those fuller inhales, that nourishing breath, full of life energy, and we pause at the end of inhale to celebrate our life, this moment. Exhale, letting go of whatever tension we might be able to release, shoulders, back, knees. Find a moment of pause at the end of exhale. A new cycle of the breath in your own rhythm, celebrating that vital energy moving into your body.

Pause to appreciate life and we exhale. And a few more cycles, just appreciating our belonging here in your room, in your home perhaps, in this landscape, and feeling a little bit more connected perhaps to the landscape and remembering our true nature and connection to the elements. If you're ready, if the eyes are closed, let your eyes to slowly open, allow a little bit of light in. Hopefully still comfortable in the home of your body as you look forward, and now we're going to lift the hands up and then let the fingers lace a little bit more as you push your hands out in front of you, and then to bring the hands back. Now let's unlace your fingers and then lace them again, maybe now a little bit more tightly, and push your palms in front of you and then bring them back in. Palms in front of you, spread shoulder blades and bring them back in facing the hearts. Pressing forward, spread shoulder blades, hands closer to the heart. One more time pressing out and as you come in we're going to have the hands face the floor and start to lift your right elbow.

As you drop your left, your fingers are still laced and you're squeezing your fingers together. As you flip it the other way, maybe we get a little wrist stretch as we go from one side to the other. What eventually starts to make a little bit more of a wave, having fun kind of playing with that wave fluid motion through your arms. There's no way to do it right or wrong, but getting those elbows to move, shoulders to move, maybe still getting a little bit of a wrist stretch. All right, as our wave starts to slow down to a little bit more of a ripple, back to our center and we'll turn the hands again forward away from your chest. Take the hands and arms up as high as you can towards your ears and let's consciously mindfully squeeze those arms in towards your head and get more lift from your waist up through your ribs into your shoulders. Ribs to the right now, ribs to the left and a little bit of shimmy side to side with your ribs. Hands still pressing up towards the ceiling, waking up the upper body and then as you unleash your fingers take your arms behind you and maybe behind the blanket fingertips land and we're going to root the fingertips as you lift your chest and maybe look up towards the ceiling with the intention to have that sternum lift up away from the abdomen. One more opening this front spine and then back to neutral. Let's cross the legs in the other way so you have the other ankle in front. Bring the hands back in front of you and see if you can lace your fingers your non-habitual way so not the way that you favor but the unusual way. Press your hands out in front of you again. Take your arms up and consciously mindfully squeeze those arms in towards your ears shimmy those ribs up and then a little bit of ribs press to the left, ribs press a little bit to the right. I'm trying to actually move your rib cage.

Upper body is going to follow along as you move your ribs and creating more space in the body. And then from here let the arms as your fingers unleash reach behind you like we did before. Touch the ground, lift your chest and maybe lift your gaze a little bit more towards the sky, towards the ceiling above you as you lift your chest up away from the abdomen. One more breath enjoying the space through the upper chest. And then we'll settle forward. Okay whatever you're sitting on let's slide that back out of the way and send your feet over to your left sides. If your left knee is the tight one please go with a straight left leg. If you can bend that left leg tuck your foot under your pelvis. You will have the right hand out to the it will have the right hand out to the side and left forearm up parallel to the ground. Let's follow your left hand to the right and let that left hip lift as you reach over to the right side of the room. Pull your right elbow back and we'll open up that left chest. Reach again over to the right and then pull the left elbow back open your chest. So your pace might be a little faster or a little slower. Let's see if you can feel that you're gradually making a little bit more room in your left side of your body whether it be the chest, side body, the hips. Okay the next time that we're bringing that left hand to the right let's bring the arm back to neutral and pause and take your left hand behind you and your right hand behind you.

Fingertips on the ground and maybe if you lean back put your palms on the ground. Squeeze your elbows in towards each other. Lift your chest here and look up. Some of you might enjoy bringing your hips up off the floor for a moment as you look towards the ceiling. If that doesn't feel good come back down. Okay we'll lower the butt back down and swing your hands back over to the right about shoulder distance apart. Legs are in the same position and as you try to turn to look to that short end of the mat we might meet some stiffness around the diaphragm, the base of the rib cage. Notice how that feels. Then we're going to take the left leg straight. We're going to flip around to plank pose as you separate your feet about hip distance apart. Shift your weight a little right, shift your weight a little right, left or forward and back to feel like you're dialing into a plank where you feel like your bones are doing more work maybe than your muscles so you're standing on the bones so your muscles are soft and wide. Take one more moment as you are in your plank and then shift your hips up into the air for our little downward dog with your head down and taking that first read of your legs torso and shoulders.

And then from here rolling a little bit forward back into your plank with eyes turning a little forward in front of you. Swing the hips up and back as you look back through the legs. One more time a little tipping through that plank. Maybe your eyes look a little bit in front of you. The hips sink down maybe an inch or two and then we're going from that downward dog to knees on the ground under your hips and you might walk your hands towards your knees for a moment to stretch your feet but also to give your hands a little break, shoulders a little break. We're going to spend a bit of time in the upper body. Prepare for whatever heavy lifting we might be doing this season or today. Let's walk it back out to tabletop if you're ready and rest the ankles down on the floor. Stabilize yourself with your right hand down and now let's bring that left arm out in front of you. Swing your left arm out to the side and then tuck your left hand into your lower back. We can reach that left arm back out to the side in front of you and then left hand down. Right arm reaches out in front of you stabilize with your left arm. You might look to the right as your arm swings to the right. Bend your elbow rest your hand in your lower back. The right arm reaches back out to the side back out in front of you back to neutral tabletop. Again let's go left arm reaching out stabilize with right arm. Left arm to the left look left. Hand in the lower back maybe we roll up in that chest. Left arm out left arm forward left arm down. Right arm comes out in front of you stabilize with your left arm. Look to the right as your arm goes out. Rest your hand in your lower back look right. Swing your right arm back out to your side right arm in front of you. And both hands back on the floor in neutral. So let's pause here now and go back to where we started with our right hip on the ground and we're going to come off the hands and face straight ahead with bent legs. Let's pause with your knees together. Give our wrist a break by holding our opposite elbow. Do a little rotation to the right and just notice how you're turning from the middle of the body from the diaphragm and base of rib cage back to center. Turn from the bottom of the rib cage to your left back to center. A couple more times looking to the right find your center and to the left. So really turning from the middle of the body back to your right center center and to your left and center. Let's bring the hands back to the floor now and send your feet to your right side and if your right leg is the tight one the knee go straight right leg or tuck your foot under your pelvis. We'll have your left hand to the left right forearm up and please follow that right hand over to the left and really reach let that right hip lift lift pull that right elbow back open the chest reach out to the right to the left and then pull that right elbow back open the chest. Okay so your pace might need to go slower or faster and give yourself permission to move in that way that's creating more space in the right side of your body whether it's the chest the right side or maybe all the way down to your hip or lower back as the case might be. How can you make yourself more comfortable in the home of your body? The next time that right arm comes in front of you let's pause and then take both hands behind you and just feel for the ground with your fingertips lift your chest some of you might put your hands flat if you prefer and go to straight arms look up and lift your hips as you look towards the ceiling that's not good in your shoulders your knees your back come back down place the hips down on the floor and swing your hands back over now to the left and just take a moment with your hands maybe about shoulder distance apart the legs stay the same and we're just turning from the waist to look towards that short end of your mat and just see if you meet some tightness or resistance in the middle part of your body the middle earth so as you're looking down exploring again the feeling in the middle part of your body middle earth we'll go to right leg straight and we're going to slide into plank pose take your left leg back okay the first place you foot your feet might not be the best spot so shift your weight left to right front to back whatever helps you dial into the feeling like you're doing your mountain pose in plank meaning you're really engaged in your bones muscles a little bit softer and wider as we ask more of the bones now knees bend let's swing the hips up and back and then go to straight legs down dog try to bring your heels more to the floor bend your knees a little bit as you tilt forward and look again a little bit out in front of you bend those knees swing your hips up and back and then mindfully sink your heels towards the floor bend your knees shift your weight forward doing lots of upper body strengthening today bend your knees hips back and then mindfully sink your heel heels and pause let's lower the knees now curl the toes under walk your hands towards your knees maybe up your thighs if you're able to just to give again the wrist a break and shoulders a break maybe make a few little circles and when you're ready we'll walk it back out to hands on the floor relax your ankles now we'll stabilize with your left hand and reach your right arm now out to your right and this time perhaps even higher up towards the ceiling and follow your right hand to the left bend your left elbow so you're able to bring the side of your head and right outer shoulder to the floor reach back out to the right look to the side or up and then follow that right hand over to the left outer arm right side of the head touches down again going up notice if there's some stiffness through the side body mid body in middle earth and we touch down and we touch down one more time out to the side and up get yourself situated in a comfortable enough position where you can drop that outer right shoulder to the floor shins press down feet press down if you felt stable enough here that left hand might reach around your back and slide around to maybe touch or connect with your outer right thigh can you position your head so your neck doesn't feel tight or grips in this pose press your shins down press the back of that right arm to the floor let's take that left hand back in front of your face press your left hand down and as you come back to neutral do a little cat cow so maybe something familiar and comfortable for the joints of your spine back to our neutral tabletop and then this time let your left arm drift out to the side or up towards the ceiling follow left hand to the right like you've dropped something under the couch and you're kind of reaching under the couch with your left hand follow that left hand back out to the side or up follow your left hand back over to the sides still something under the couch you got to grab reach back out which is why we got to do our spring cleaning at home all the things that dropped under the couch over the winter time one more lift and lower and this time find that comfortable spot to let more of the outer left shoulder press into the floor maybe some of you will be stable here in a way that you can take your right arm and reach it more around your back we still mindfully press the shins down maybe make a little bit of rotation from the ribs opening that right chest just a little bit towards the ceiling the arm bone moving away from the collarbone then maybe we'll take that right hand back down in front of your face and come back up to that tabletop with your toes curled under let's press the knees up and come into one more downward dog here with the heels up shifting back into your plank that goes into a little bit if you like a little bit of up dog with knees can be on the ground swing the hips up and back maybe one more knees lightly touch the ground a little up dog warm up and then let's stay with that downward dog and walk your feet from here up towards the back of your wrist and see that your feet are about hip distance apart as you give a generous bend of the knees we're going to grab opposite elbow and let the head point down as we maybe sway in our torso a little bit side to side at some point we'll settle the swaying side the side point we'll settle the swaying side the sides and as you're ready let those knees perhaps bend a little more sweep your arms out to the side if that feels good we'll rise on up to standing reach for the sky and then lower your hands in front of your chest okay and if your arms are at your side we'll start to maybe shake out the arms as we turn towards the long side of your mat and this will be helpful to grab our block as we turn through the new side and separate your feet once you've got your block wider maybe than your shoulders and we'll come into that kind of famous straddle horse persons pose with the block turned into that wide position so we're going to bring the arms up just for a moment and see if you can guide that block down to the back of your head so the flat part of the block to the back of the head and your hands are figuring out the way to hold the block here so our elbows are sticking out to the sides now let your tailbone and pelvis swing a little bit back as you open your elbows so it's like you're doing maybe like a bit of a back bend as we tuck the pelvis a little forward bring your elbows more forward towards your head pelvis might tilt back as elbows go wide chest lifts we might lift the gaze pelvis might move forward as we squeeze elbows in so you let your pelvis go back elbows back squeeze in hips forward hips back elbows wide hips forward elbows squeeze in then we go back out now let's find neutral hold the block press your head lightly into the block so that i'm kind of having my my fingertips holding that block in place tilt a little bit to your right sides feeling like that left elbow has the opportunity to lift up come to your center press your head lightly into your head so your ears are lined up with your shoulders as you tilt a little bit to your left side and let that right elbow try to reach up it might not move very much it's just the idea as we drop right elbow down left elbow goes up and your head presses into the block so your ears are still lined up with your shoulders so we're trying to avoid letting the the head go forward of your spine let's try one more up to the left dropping and then back up to your center okay now one more thing now try to turn from your waist here look a little bit to the right to the horizon line back to center the head is lightly pressing into the block to keep that lift in the back of the skull turn a little bit to your left it's not a big move come back to center and see if one side feels easier as you turn a little bit through the bones of the rib cage eventually turning the eyes to look one ways center and then go to your right left side and back to your center let's take that block up in the air and then down in front of you and then let your hands perhaps rest on that block as you go a little bit deeper into your squats and that might mean shifting your weight side to side finding that comfortable angle for your feet see if you can keep your head about the height of your pelvis and really strong straight arms pushing into the block the same amount you're pushing your hands into the block press your feet into the earth invite that strong stable firm quality of the earth into the bones of your legs straight strong arms long torso take one more moment as you are here and then we'll grab that block and hold it as we come up to straight legs and then turn your toes forward and heel toe your legs and feet and give your legs a little bit of a rest i'm going to set the block down towards the maybe back space behind you and then come back again to face the long side of your mat you know invite your feet to go a little bit wider than where we were before and we'll think of kind of triangle pose legs if you're used to that pose we'll do a little more clearing of the legs and inner legs in particular as we turn the right toes out first see if you feel stable where you are let the arms reach out to the side and a little bit reach through the chest out into your arms as you ground your feet towards the earth keep pressing your feet down as you tip to the side and touch your right knee with your right hand left arm in the air and then come back out neutral reach a little more to the right touch your shin perhaps reach up with your left hand then come back out one more time reaching out to your right and let your hand slide down to the low point could be your shin area mid shin left hand in the air and i want to have you slide your hand up your leg back to your right knee so you get longer through your side body slide your right hand back down your leg till you meet that right hamstring stretch slide your hand back up so you're really tall through both sides of your waist and slide down warming up that right hamstring slide up and one more time going down now as you slide up we're going to stay in that taller position so it'll be easier for you to take your left hand to your outer hip or to tuck that arm around your back towards the top of your right thigh so we're trying to get left arm bone away from collarbone let's turn our gaze now towards the right foot and do a little bit of clearing through that left side of your jaw chin area neck area upper left chest and if you feel you're in a good spot and are curious about what would happen with right hand going down more does it add more value more joy to slide that right hand down your leg if so start exploring bringing the hand further down without losing the openness of the left chest and slide that left right hand up your leg open those arms out to the side and turn your right foot in turn your left foot out just the angles of the feet when we reach to the left touch your left knee right arm up in the air come back to neutral reach a little further to your left see if you can touch your shin and then bring the right arm in the air above your head back out to arms wide one more time reach out to your left and maybe you touch your shin or go a little further right hand in the air tip out and then this last time we're going to reach out and stay where you touch the kind of lowest point you can go slide back up towards your left knee and this is to make it easier for your right hand to hook around outer hip or right hand to go around that back so that we can open this right upper corner of the chest and then turn to look towards your left foot and see what angle we want to place that chin the nose so that you start to clear the right side of the jaw the ear the neck and upper right side of the chest okay breathing some of those deeper spaces in the neck chest area you know as we slide halfway up and we let the arms go wide lift up your back right heel we're going to pivot and cartwheel around to reach for the front short end of the mat and then step back into plank pose and give us a moment to get here together and then up into your downward dog we go from downward dog tip back into your plank and working different ways into bringing more arm strength in back to your downward dog and then let's walk the feet up towards the back of your wrist with your knees bent circle your arms wide don't come all the way up to standing looking forward or a little bit up and then hands in front of your chest and we're going to do a little bit sun salutation and have some play with that as we reach up bend your knees and as we reach up bend your knees fold forward touch the ground step back one leg at a time into that push-up of plank and this time lower your knees lift your feet i like to cross my ankles and we're going to do a little mini chaturanga where we slide the elbows in towards the ribs and lean forward and then push back to straight arms lean forward slide the elbows in towards your ribs push back so i'm really only lowering a couple of inches lean forward and push back now uncross your ankles let's make room to lower all the way down to the belly slide the hands beside your chest and then as you're ready let's lift the face and chest up on inhale and lower the nose back to the floor inhale again lift the nose the chest as you look down and lower back to the floor again inhaling up kind of waking up upper mid-back lower and this last time as you curl up press back to your tabletop and then into your downward facing dog step your feet a little bit closer together slowly raise your right leg up towards the ceiling and kick back strongly through your right heel let's bring your right knee towards your right elbow bring a little more upper body strength and then that right leg kicks straight back bring your knee towards your elbows you tilt forward and go back you could do this on your elbows forearms if being on the wrist doesn't work for you today kick that right leg up bring your right foot down and let's switch out and re-spread your hands as you slowly stretch the left leg up and then really kick back through that leg left knee to left elbow kick straight back tilt forward bring your right knee to right elbow kick straight back hope you feel like you're warming up left elbow to left knee left elbow to left knee kick straight back and as your left foot lands walk your feet towards the back of your wrist fold forward and catch that opposite elbow again the shoulders slide towards the ears in a general direction and then with bent legs circle your arms out to the side let's come up from chair legs into straight legs and then hands down in front of your chest one more cycle going up reach for the ceiling and bend the knees as you fold forward over the legs make contact with the earth step back one leg at a time into your push-up position of plank and then what's it like here if you lean a little forward with straight legs lower down push back straight arms lean a little more forward you can put your knees down if you like bend your elbows in towards your waist back up plank one more little tilt forward straight arms then we'll lower knees belly chest and this time take your hands off the mat in line with your chest so you're on the fingertips versus palms lower the nose just above the floor when you're ready inhale lift your face and chest engaging a little more the upper back and we lower down inhale lengthen rise up and lower down one more time curling up and lowering down perhaps bring the hands in by the chest so when you curl up it's a little easier to push back to tabletop and in this way one more of our downward dogs walk your feet towards the back of the wrist from here fold forward grab opposite elbow little treat for the shoulders here bend your knees we'll come up through chair legs into straight legs and then arms down at your side let's take a little turn towards the long side of the mat bring your feet in as close together as you like for your standing balance pose and have you slide your hands up towards your waist as you give a little bend to your ankles and your knees okay in a different area and the shoulders we'll get to in a moment as we shift our weight a little bit over to our left use your arms there to help you balance and let's cross your right leg over your left leg so we can bend the left ankle more drop the hips a little bit towards the earth make yourself at home here then take your left arm up by your ear and reach that left hand towards the base of your neck take your right hand now towards the lower back area or reach up towards your left hand and see if you might connect your fingertips it's okay if you're keeping your hand in the lower back okay now from here the one other alternative that can feel nice if those don't work is grab your left elbow and lift the elbow into your right hand all right so which one really makes you feel more at home we'll try to drop into the legs while lifting up through your left elbow take one more moment keeping your legs engaged spine tall left elbow towards the sky let your arms reach out to the side come back to straight legs arms down and shake everything out then we'll come back to tadasana hands at the hips and again a little bend of ankles and knees cross your left leg over your right leg and then drop your hips an inch or two towards the earth and from here take your left arm right arm up by your ear take your right hand towards the base of your neck and left hand lower back or reach your left hand up for your right hands okay we might try to reach that right elbow up towards the ceiling if neither of those worked for you you might grab your elbow and lift your right elbow into your left hands okay those are just some different ideas working around whatever shoulder issues you might have now let's sink down into the legs we're asking quite a bit of the legs here as we reach up through that right elbow can you make yourself at home here we're going to visit this arm position and a few other shapes so let's release the arms out to the side and down right now let's come down to have a seat and when we come down to have a seat i want to encourage you as you sit to find your block and we're going to end up putting the block underneath your hips so you have a little bit of lift as we start doing that same pose here on the floor let's tuck your right leg under your left leg and take your left foot over to the outer right leg so the left knee is on top here if you prefer to sit on the ground without a block you might head that direction so we're going to repeat the arm position where we'll take the right arm up towards the ear right hand towards the base of your neck and that left hand into that lower back area or walk your hands towards each other okay at some point once you feel comfortable and at home that lower left foot might wander a little bit more to the side look straight ahead and try to create a little lift from that right waist up into your right elbow so create a little more space in that chest and shoulder area on the right sides okay how might we make ourselves a little bit more at home here as you wiggle around clearing out some tension and that right shoulder chest area perhaps take one or two more moments as we get into maybe more um cleaning in our homes we might notice we have to hunch forward around forward to do a lot of our cleaning and washing so nice to do some chest opening um in between moments where we're maybe cleaning release that sides and take your arms down let's lean back so we can uncross the legs and have your right leg on top and left leg tucked under we might then allow your feet to wander further towards the edges of your mat so that you're settling in your hips in a good way to lengthen your back take your left arm up by your ear left hand to the base of your neck and that right hand in that lower back and we might walk the hands up towards each other encourage that left elbow to move towards the ceiling and then wiggle as you need to forward and back so that you feel again at home stable maybe even learning a little something about this side of your body and eyes open or closed as you take the last few moments just diving into that left shoulder left side of the chest and how different it may feel from the first signs great counter pose to modern life as we release the arms let's go ahead and get ready to brace ourselves as we lift off the bolt the block and let's move that block out of your way and we'll come all the way down onto your back and invite your feet to come with you so your knees end up a little more over your belly chest area do kind of a basic twist i love to do every day with arms wide press your hands into the floor please as your legs drop a little bit to the right without touching the floor and look to the left bring yourself back to center so again we're moving from the middle part of the body again legs tip to the left and eyes look to the right come back to neutral and maybe the legs drop a little closer to the floor on the right as you look left center one more time legs to the left and eyes look a little bit to the right and then back to your center okay let's hold on to your left knee and take your right leg now all the way down to the floor press the shoulders back towards the ground as we stretch that right leg long i'm going to invite you to bring your left foot to land somewhere on your right thigh right hands got that left knee and take your left arm back by your ear i'm going to start to twist as much as you're comfortable over to your right side and some of you would have your knee on the floor some of you will have your knee parallel you could put the block between your knee and the floor if that's helpful for you so look up towards the ceiling when you found the right place for your twist with your left knee somewhere stable sweep your left arm down to your side like you're making a snow angel with your left arm and maybe your hand can brush along the floor and maybe you're realizing that's a place that needs some cleaning if you'll get to that with some of your new cleaning products hands sweeping along the floor celebrating that mobility that you have now in that left side of your chest and shoulder area maybe this last time find that comfortable place that you might pause and treat yourself to a few deeper breaths in some area of that left inner arm left side of your chest and then eventually left arm all the way down as you move on to your back both legs bent let's switch out and hold on to your right knee and stretch your left leg to the floor energize the stretch of that left leg down as we take your right knee over to the left and rest your right foot somewhere on your left leg as you go to your sides and take your right arm by your ear and wait for that place where your right leg feels stable as we sweep your right arm down to your side like you're making the snow angel on the right side okay maybe you feel your the back of that hand brushing along the floor and at the same time working at clearing some stiffness or tension in that right side of the chest inner arm shoulder and then where might we find that angle this next time we do that exploring where we kind of hold for a moment that arm at some angle where we get to drop a little deeper into the tissues muscles through the chest into your inner right arm and then we're going to come back to the chest and we're going to come back to the chest and we're going to come back to the chest and we're going to come back to the chest into your inner right arm let the weight of the shoulders literally fall back in towards the ground we'll slide that right arm when you're ready down to your side as you roll onto your back bringing both knees towards your chest and we're going to lift the forehead towards your knees curl into your ball and then put your feet down let your arms stretch wide into kind of a an x shape if you were looking down at yourself from the ceiling grab your knees curl into your ball and maybe you go to straight legs with your arms wide so you're in that x position you might curl into your ball whatever leg position works best for your body okay choose that one that's most suitable for your back as you go between your x's and your o's a couple more times and then let's pause over this next time with your feet on the ground let's take a moment with your palms facing the sky shoulders relaxing back towards the floor you know from here i want to invite you to really make yourself at home and comfortable by grabbing your blanket today as a little treat and as you open your blanket to make yourself really comfortable and to add that blanket as an extra layer to ground you here so if you take that blanket and cover the body separate the legs noticing your body going thank you for a little bit more warmth and grounding as you let your legs separate arms separate where you're comfortable arms separate where you're comfortable now do you feel a little more at home here all right so for all the hefty heavy lifting that we need to do in our day-to-day lives let's give the arms full rest soft hands a open chest and once you've made yourself comfortable here you do feel now more comfortable more at home eyes open or closed and then trying to have soft hands relaxed arms and shoulders from all that they've done for us today for all that they do on a regular basis let the hands the arms the shoulders rest and it might take a little time for the arms to be willing to drop back a sense of responsibility to melt off the shoulders the arms and shoulders feel stable you can feel a little bit more wind of the breath moving in and down towards the chest towards the belly maybe delight and that wave of movements going in and down towards your belly towards your hips maybe welcome the way that full comfortable exhale might feel like we're doing some inner cleansing letting go of a more hidden tension worry or stress inhale bringing in renewed energy and vitality for nourishment and keep welcoming yourself to arrive at the top of your body and keep welcoming yourself to arrive here celebrate being present and dropping into silence for a short time together so so so so over the next few moments consider making some little movements with your fingers toes wrists and ankles as you slide your feet back onto the mat and you might keep that blanket with you now as you curl over into your fetal position whatever side is easiest for you to roll towards take a pause there from our side fetal pose come on up towards sitting and you have your block if you like as an option for something to sit on and your blanket to stay super cozy wrapped around you if that's helpful just to add that extra layer of weight to literally ground you here in this moment okay as you find you're settled in your seats perhaps we remember the hand mudra we created at the beginning of class okay might you let your hands come on out and let your fingers lightly laced together rest the back of the hands on your thighs with your palms open look to your horizon for a moment and just feel your place here in your home sitting between earth and sky and let your eyes perhaps close or soften if you're looking outwards i'm feeling into this new week and opportunity for more learning in ways that we take care of ourselves and also ways to learn to take better care of ourselves and also ways to learn to take better care of mother earth may we be open and curious to learning keeping that in mind as we maybe bring your palms together if you like that gesture and in closing may others also benefit from our practice thanks so much for doing the practice today and in addition to the asana practice which i hope you do again throughout the week we have a few suggested homework practices for you one of the suggested homework practices this week is to become a little bit more mindful in your home of your use of water as a precious resource no matter where you live it's a precious resource so we might consider in our shower as one place to have a bucket where we collect water as the water is warming if you happen to have a yard or some green space where you can toss that water and repurpose it that's one way to reuse that water that usually goes to waste i also encourage you to think about when you're washing dishes to maybe even get a little container in your or a tub in your sink that you keep sudsy warm water in or water in and wash all your dishes in that tub and then rinse only use the running water to rinse your dishes we might consider doing laundry when we have a full load to do the laundry versus small batches which also might use a lot of water and then when you're brushing your teeth can we turn the faucet off versus keeping the faucet on the whole time so those are a few ways for water we might also be aware of electricity and trying to keep track of what lights are on and to try to turn off light switches every time you leave the room and maybe doing a little inventory around your house to see what's plugged in and always has a light on and can you unplug some of those things if you're not using them that regularly have a light on so i think of different chargers or even thinking my printer at home that you know uses that electricity in the night when i'm sleeping so what things might we unplug that we don't need on all the time the second assignment is to do a little inventory of your home cleaning products you might need to use what you've already purchased but in the future or even for this week you might enjoy looking at some of the recipes i've listed to create some of your own cleaning products that are chemical free and use things like lemon for scents or roseberry sprigs the foundation and base for a lot of the cleaning products that i've suggested that work really well use things like vinegar and baking soda so kind of eco-friendly products that you can make at home with ingredients you probably already have and then another area you might look at at your house is to minimize single-use products and look for ways to start to repurpose and refill things like honey which oftentimes you if you look at your grocery stores or health food stores you could buy honey in bulk or oils of all kinds your sunflower oil your olive oils coconut oil are often found in bulk sections of grocery stores so if you haven't looked at your stores or look for a natural food store in your area you might be able to take the containers that you already have and just simply keep reusing them to minimize the the waste from using those single-use products which kind of a fun thing to notice there's you know almond butter that you could make vinegars that you could reuse tamari soy sauce things of that nature you might also find refillable things in your local health food store the last thing i want to encourage you to think about is reusing and recycling so maybe you already do this and maybe we can up the challenge by thinking about the plastic bags that you might have at your house that you use and how many times can you use one plastic bag and i want to encourage you to keep using that one plastic bag wash it out drape it over your water kettle or a glass or your coffee grinder so that plastic bag can dry out so let's reuse the plastic bags we have and not use any more plastic bags and also consider the jars that you might use and normally throw away maybe you can use some of your jars to use as bases on your table or maybe you can use them and create new little lids and give them away as gifts with little plants in them for your friends so what might be some fun ways that you repurpose things that you would normally throw away and also considering repurposing our clothes by either donating our clothes if we're going to do a spring cleanse as part of our home cleaning highly recommend that that we donate or maybe there's some clothes that you might cut up and make some little house wipes and instead of buying anything new that you reuse what you already have so those are a few ideas of ways that we might go through our house and do a little cleaning and repurposing of our products and make the space a little bit more eco-friendly and also maybe make it a little more inclusive for others who are more affected by chemical smells right so a little more food for thoughts thanks for being part of the challenge and I wish you well I wish you well in your adventure this week namaste everybody