Balanced Warrior

Welcome to a balanced flow. Not only are we gonna be working on physical balance, but we're gonna be working on balancing strength and subtleness in the body, especially in the hips and the shoulders. Today, you might need a bolster two blocks and a strap. So get them handy and get prepared to join me in child's pose. Will take the knees a little bit wider than the hips and bring the big toes together. Walk your hands forward.

And back up your seat and allow yourself to settle in. If the brow touches the earth, you'll feel that connection And this is a really wonderful opportunity to move a little bit deeper inward. It almost feels like the child's pose is calling you to move a little deeper inward. Notice your breath. You can breathe easily here through dimensional breath with the belly expanding in all directions.

So you feel the side body, the back body, and the front body in child's pose. A lot of freedom and the breath here. Check-in, enjoy all four parts of your breath, the inhale, the pause, the exhale, and that short pause before you continue with that cycle of breath again. Allow the inhales to cleanse and purify your mind. Enjoy stillness and let the exhales move out any physical mental emotional tension. As you move a little bit deeper inward, enjoy this opportunity to concentrate on the present moment unfolding before you, and we'll keep connecting with that theme throughout our balancing journey today.

Good. Grab your block and place your block right between your hands so that your hands are on either side of the block and your palms pressing the sides of the block. We're gonna do a little side stretching child's pose. Push your palms together, and then flip the right hand up so that you're starting to open the right side body. The more the right hand stacks on top of the the more you feel through that right side body, breathe into the space where you feel the resistance, And if your hand's not all the way on top and it's halfway there, that's okay. As long as you're feeling the side stretch, give yourself 2 more rounds of breath.

Breathe into the side body. And then slowly lower the right hand back down, and then press the left palm into your block. Flip the block up so that the back of your right hand is on the earth, and the left palm is lifted and give yourself a little side bend to your left. Invite the breath to be full. You're actually breathing into the resistance here, creating more space for the area around the lungs so the lungs and the breath can expand.

Enjoy 1 more full inhale, pause, and exhale. And then go ahead and replace your block Keep it handy. Come up to your table pose where your knees are a hip distance. Replace your palms with your elbows. Come into a little forearm variation so that your middle fingers lining up with your elbows, elbows underneath the shoulders.

We're gonna play with forearm cat and cow tilts guide the heart forward as you inhale, look forward as you exhale, push down into your forearms around the spine tailbone lengthens down chin tucks to the chest. Lengthen the heart forward as you inhale and exhale engage the core and round the spine. Same movements just a little bit different. As you inhale and look forward, back up your seat and squeeze your biceps towards the midline to stretch the deltoys and upper back and shoulders. And as you exhale round the spine, imagine the crown of the head moving towards your thumbs as you pulse forward, draw the navel to the spine. Inhale back up the seat.

Belly softened heart moves towards the thumbs. Exhale round and engage the core. Follow the rhythm of your breath for the next two rounds. Guiding the heart forward on the inhale, and rounding on the exhale. Feel out that last round.

And when you're done, stack your shoulders right over your elbows, Shift your weight to your left leg. Extend your right leg the height of your hip. Slide the right foot over to the left side of your mat. Think 5 o'clock or 4 o'clock pinky side of the foot to the earth and look over your left shoulder, a little hip closing, it band stretch. And then lift your right foot, open the hip, turn the toes to the right, keep the foot off the floor, feel that in the outer glute.

Turn the toes down, close the hip, slide it over to your left, look over your left shoulder, and inhale lift the hip Turn the toes to the right to open. Puls with your breath. You've got 2 more rounds breathe into it. Last round, you feel that strengthening of the hip as you close on the opening of the hip as you open. Slide that right foot over to the left and take a moment with a pinky toe side of the foot on the earth.

Look over to your left side and take a little lean over to your right, feeling that outer hip, it band, glute area, and then go ahead and lift your hip Open the hip, turn the toes out to the right, lower that right foot so it's in line with your left knee. Shift your weight to your left elbow and inhale the right arm to the sky for some little hip thread throughs. Right arm threads under across and through. The right hip stays open. And held the right palm to this guy.

So we get a nice little twisting action here. Really nice for the organs of the abdomen, the abdominal cavity. Fill out your last pulse. The next time you send the right palm to this guy, go ahead and pause, either keep the right hand stacked or take it over the head or behind the head to open the shoulder. Have a couple breaths right here.

Lower your right form back to the floor. Slide your right knee back to join the left. Go back to your cow and cat tilts with the forms on the earth inhale looking forward, backing up the seat. Excel rounding the spine. Feel out one more round just to clear the side.

And then with a neutral spine, shoulders over the elbows, shifts your way to your right foot extend your left toes back, lift the left knee off the floor, cross over the right, pinky toes side of the left foot to the earth over towards, like, 4 o'clock Look over your right shoulder. Lift the hip, open the foot to the left. Take it over too. You're 7, 8, 9 o'clock, and then close the hip, slide it back over, feeling that IT band stretched from the closing of the hip. We'll play with these two movements right here, playing with that balance of opening and contracting. The next time you slide the left foot outside of the right heel, hang out with the pinky toe side of the foot on the earth, maybe lean to your left just a little bit.

Feel that in your outer left hip, it band. Lift the heel. Inhale. Open the hip. Good. And lower the left foot to the floor. Line it up with your right knee, inhale the left palm to the sky.

Exhale thread it under across and through that right armpit. Inhale, back up, pulse with your breath. Ex. I'll thread it under across and through. Enjoy this movement in your mid spine. Fill out the last round of breath.

The next time you send the left palm to this guy, go ahead and pause. Either keep that left palm stacked over the right elbow or take it over the head or behind the head and have a moment to open the shoulder. Great. Lower the left forearm to meet the right. Slide the left foot to the back of the mat. Keep the left leg straight.

Press into your toe pads. And then straighten the right leg, draw the heels away from the head, lower the hips, the height of the shoulders, or lower for forearm plank. Engage the core. Walk your big toes together. Pivot your heels to the left.

If you need to slide that left forearm around, for a forearm side plank, feel free, fingertips to the earth or send that right palm to the sky. Same option of taking that arm over the head Whichever you're doing, push down into that left forearm to lift the left side body. It's a great one to strengthen the obliques. Lower the right forearm to the earth. Try not to lower down.

Stay in your forearm plank. We'll walk your big toes together, and we'll take it over to the right. Same option. Take the right arm across or stack or take that left palm to the sky. Push forward and down with your right forearm to lift your hip, left arm variation of your choice. Lower the left forearm to meet the right forearm plank and then come all the way down to the earth untuck the toes where your palms are, replace them with your elbows.

Drag your ribs forward towards your thumbs and really stretch the front body. Have a moment right here. Blace your palms over the eyes. Take a moment to move back into that space of concentration. Clearing the mind, allowing each moment to unfold without your mind interjecting and creating stories.

Beautiful. Go ahead and release your hands by the side body, push down into your palms, tuck the toes under, lift up through table or plank, and set up for your first down dog. Petle the legs out one at a time. Push actively forward with both hands. Shift your weight into the right leg, inhale the left leg to the sky.

Take the left knee across the body as if you're going to tap the right tricep. Swing it over to the left tricep, and then press up and back to hip opening dog. And we're gonna create these little hip opening and closing circles. Left knee, right tricep, all the way forward, up and back as you press down into that right heel. Take 2 more building strength in the upper back shoulders, chest, triceps.

Last one, the next time you send that left leg to this guy, take a moment and pause and the hip opening dog. And as you exhale, step your left foot right between the hands. Lower the right knee to the earth. Bring the left hand inside of the left leg and heel toe your foot just a footprint to the left. You may wanna use your blocks on this one, placing your blocks underneath your hands. We can do a little hip flossing here.

Let that left knee slide out softly to your left as you lean to the left and then slowly straighten the leg, pull the toes back on the left foot and then bend the leg, draw the left knee towards your left tricep. So we're making a little bit of circular movement here as we work into the hip and hamstring connection here. Drawing the knee towards the tricep, opening the hip, you'll feel this in the front of your right hip flexor, and then pulling the toes back. Fill out those last two rounds. Last round.

Good. Keep the left leg bent. Walk that foot back a footprint. Place the left hand on top of the left thigh, and then bring the right hand to your sacrum. We'll take a couple pulses right here to open up the right hip flexor. This is where we're gonna set up with our strap.

So, as you grab the strap, open the strap And give yourself plenty of space for this first round. Take this strap so that your shoulders, your arms are able to expand out nice and wide. Give yourself a little test and take the arms over that head and behind, and then forward Give yourself a little pulsing here. If this is easy, walk your hands in. Over the head, you're gonna feel a little opening lift.

The heart and right back. 2 more, if you need to tighten up, tighten up, you should feel a little bit of resistance but we're just starting to open the shoulders, so it shouldn't be a lot. Alright, there. That's where I felt it. Good.

Release the strap, place it by the side, and then see what it feels like to take the interlace of the hands behind the back. Moving the wrists away from your sacrum. Hang out right here or about on top of your left thigh for a little humble warrior variation. If you're playing with a deeper humble warrior, place your block a little higher up and bow inside, moving the wrist forward over the head. Squeezing the palms together if you need to feel more.

Great, everybody. Lower your palms to the earth. Move the blocks to either side of your mat. Inhale the left leg to the sky and shake it out. Mini intuitive movements.

Lengthen forward for plank pose, lower all the way down. Untuck the toes. Elbows back, heart forward, low cobra pulse, lift with the inhale, lower with the exhale. Elbows back hard forward. Lift with the inhale.

Lower with the exhale. Last one. Lift. And hold. Just don't hold the breath. Any intuitive movements right here that help you find space as you move the heart forward, softening the shoulder blades down and back. Tuck your toes under.

I'll meet you in down dog. Press actively forward with both hands. Peddle the legs out one at a time. Shift your weight to your left leg. Inhale the right leg to this guy.

Exhale. Tap the right knee towards your left tricep swing it over to your right tricep. And as you back up into dog, open the hip and swing it back forward again. Tapping to the left, in your plank over to the right, open the hip back into your dog, dig 2 more pulses just like this. A little closing of the hips as we cross and an opening of the hips as we slide out to the right. The next time you find your right leg lifted, in the hip opening dog. Take a pause right there.

Push actively forward with both hands. Nice. Begin, look forward. Excel, step the right foot right between the hands. Lower the left knee to the floor. Walk your foot out a footprint out to the right.

Take your blocks. We'll do that hip flossing again. So it could keep that right knee bent, lean your hips to the right, pull the hips back to straighten the leg, and then over to your left as you bend the leg, right knee, right next to the right tricep. You're gonna feel this working at the outer hip, ball socket, opening the hip and working on that hamstring stretch at the same time where the hips and the hamstrings meet. Feel out that last round.

The next time you bend the right leg, pause right here, walk your block in just a little bit, and walk your right foot in. Bring the right hand on top of the right thigh, left hand to the sacrum, give yourself a little low lunge pulse here, freeing up some space, for that back left thigh. Now, you can use your strap once again if it helps you to open the shoulders Or if you're feeling open, you can go right into that interlace of the hands, right? Try the non habitual interlace the opposite index finger on top. Move the wrist away from the sacrum as you lift your heart into that low lunge. And we'll bow on top of the right thigh.

Or if you're bowing inside, you can use that block right underneath the forehead to keep you balanced in the posture. So you can actually focus on opening the shoulder and hugging the right inner thigh to the midline while keeping the balance. Humble warriors, that's opportunity to check-in again, just like we did in child's pose. Clearing the mind, taking your time, Moving out of your story. Good.

Rise up, release the arms, and then go ahead and move your blocks out of the way. Place your palms next to the right foot. Send that right leg to the sky. And shake it out. Length and forward for your plank pose, bend the elbows in a nice slow.

Lower all the way down to the earth. Place your right hand right on your sacrum. We're gonna do a nice pec opener. Keeping the palm on the sacrum right elbow facing up, roll to the right until you catch the elbow. You want to go deeper, you can bring the left foot to the floor.

If you're still enjoying this, you can bring the hand behind the head or place the block right underneath your head, and have a moment just to open up the front of your chest. Same thing we've been working on, breathing into the resistance where you feel that stretch and then softening into that space. Great. Slowly unwind. Let's see what's happening on the other side. Lower back to the earth left hand to the sacrum, press into the floor with your right, roll to your left until you catch the elbow. Right foot can be your support here with the neck and so shoulder soft one.

You can use the block underneath your head. And if you're enjoying that shoulder stretch, You can take the right hand behind the head and open the shoulder. Always these great little opportunities to check-in with the breath. Remember we're watching on each moment unfold before us. This gives us a break from our story. Really creating a retreat space in our practice.

Slowly unwind. Place your palms next to the ribs, untuck the toes, guide your heart forward, cobra updog, Maybe the elbows stay bent as you move the heart forward or press down to the tops of the feet and lift the heart, pushing into index and thumb, so that you're really moving the ribs and the heart forward. Send it back to your down dog hips to the sky. Pedal the legs out one at a time. At the finale of your next exhale, bend the knees, look forward, a walk, or a float to the front of your mat.

Lengthen the spine, flat back. Excellent. Free free to use your blocks underneath you for your forward fold. Drawing in the navel to the spine, allowing the muscles of the face, and the neck to relax. With your knees bent and your head coming up last, engage the core, engage the quads roll up to a nice stand, inhale the palms to the sky, and exhale and ride in a prayer. Take a moment with your eyes closed to check back and excel out any busyness, cleanse and purify with the inhale.

Remember to connect with each moment unfolding before you, especially as we move into some of these fun balancing areas, inhale your palms to this guy. Lift the heart, look up, exhale hinge at the hips forward full. Inhale the palms to the shin's length and the spine flat back. Been both knees, bring your fingertips to the floor. Step the right leg all the way back.

Make sure your feet are hip distance so that when you set up for high lunge, bringing your hands to the hips, You've got a nice space and balance, lengthen the tailbone down, and take a bend in your back, right leg. Interlace your hands behind the back move the wrist away from the sacrum, and then slowly press your right heel back to straighten the right leg. And then rebound the right leg. As you rebound the right leg, move your wrists a little farther away from your waistband and then straighten the right leg. We got a couple more of these.

Bend your right leg. Lift the wrist. Straight in the right leg. Last one, we should be getting a little lower each time. Bend the right leg wrists away.

And straighten the right leg. You're gonna feel the power in both of those legs. Straighten the left leg, pivot your right heel to the floor. Turn your torso a quarter turn to the right So your heels are lining up per perpendicular to one another. Bend the left leg and bow inside back to our humble warrior. Remember, you can rest on top of the left thigh, or you can start to slide inside of the left thigh, but keep hugging the left inner thigh towards the midline as you move the wrist over the head.

Push into the pinky toe side of your right foot. Have a moment just to be president of the posture. Go back to your breath. Keep the interlaces. You rise up straight in the left leg.

Move your wrist around your left waistband. Right hand stays. Inhale the left palm to the sky, flip it to the sky and reach up and back stretching the left side body. Then into your left leg, Left hand cups the right ear for a little trapezius stretch, draw the right shoulder down, maybe chin towards the chest to release some of that tension. Alright. Our balance posture is coming.

Are you ready for it? Release that left arm. Find your block with your left hand, slide your right foot halfway, and then lower slide your block forward either low, mid, or high And we're moving into half moon. Push into that left leg. Draw the right rib cage back. Keep looking forward and down as you extend the right arm. Half moon posts.

Keep that right leg active, lengthen, and softly turn to the right to facilitate that hip opener. As you exhale, bend the left leg. Step the right foot forward to meet the left. Keep both knees bent. Place your blocks right in front of you.

I'd start at the highest level. And then with your knees bent core engaged, roll up to a stand. If you need the wall, for figure 4 chair, feel free to go to the wall space. Otherwise, place your blocks right in front of you. The right leg is the standing leg, left ankle, on top of the right knee. Bend and sit into your chair.

You can bring your hands to your quads. Or you can bring them all the way down to the blocks. To open the hip, the idea is to lower the seat So listen to your knee. Lower the seat as much as you need to to feel the posture. If you're enjoying this, you can take the hip opening twist right hand to the sky.

If you need more, lower your seat. Last one. Good. Lower your hands to the floor. Step the left foot next to the right.

Bend both knees. Keep your strap ready. If you're using your strap for big toe hold. Strap the toe pads of the left foot and then lift the left foot up. If you don't need your strap, Draw the left knee up into the chest.

If you don't have a strap, you can hold on to the back of your left hamstring, calf, or grab onto the big toe. Make sure you've established your drishti point, your focal point, and then open the hip out to the left. Keep guiding your right inner thigh towards the midline. And if you're enjoying this, draw the left shoulder back. And if you wanna feel really yogi, bring index and the thumb together in Chinudra.

How's it going? 2 more breaths if you can hold it? One more and then go ahead and shake it out. This is the dance party between sides. So don't forget the dance party.

Everybody needs a dance party. If you wanna give yourself a little smack, you can release that outer glute and hip. It's very therapeutic. Come to the front of your mat with your feet hip distance. Your block should be ready for you.

Inhale the palms to the sky and get the hips forward full. Inhale lengthen the spine, flat back. Exale, bend both knees. Step your left foot back. Keep your feet hip distance.

Length in the spine. Deep bending that right knee. Bring your hands to your hips. Lengthen the tailbone down and bend the left leg. When you interlace your hands, do it the non habitual way, Move the wrist away from your sacrum, lift the heart, sternum and chest.

Keep that right leg bent, wrists away, slowly straighten the left leg. Bend the left leg again, move the wrist away from the sacrum, and then slowly straighten the left leg. You feel the power of that left quad. We've got 2 more bend, wrist away, heart lifts, straighten. Last one.

Bend, wrists away, and straighten. Good. Straighten the right leg, pivot your left heel to the floor. You're taking a quarter turn to your left, and then bend the right leg and bow on top of the right thigh, easy variation of humble warrior. Or inside of the right thigh. There's a tendency for your glue to really lean out to the right.

Keep hugging it back into the midline and press into the big toe of your right foot. This will help you keep the balance. Fill out your last two breaths. Try to find some ease in this posture. That's a real challenge.

And then as you rise up, keep the interlace straight in the right leg, move your wrists over to your right waist band, Left hand stays right hand to the sky. Easy reverse triangle reach up and back with your right hand, and then bend right into the right leg. Right hand cups to the left ear. Draw that right elbow towards the right knee until you feel that trapezius stretch. This is just a feel good moment here.

Enjoy it. And then we're attempting our half moon on side 2. Reach forward with the right fingertips. Place the right hand on your block, slide your left foot forward. Slide your block forward so that it's underneath your shoulder as you lean forward Make sure your hip and ankle are aligned.

Lift your left heel. Soft turn of the torso to the left. Keep your focal point steady. Remember that concentration is what helps us in our balancing postures. Bend your right leg.

Step the left foot next to the right. Keep the knees bent. Get your blocks handy. Engage your core and roll all the way up. Alright. We made me a little shake of the legs out side too. Setting up for a hip opening chair, establish your focal point, left leg is the standing leg, right leg, is the hip opening figure 4 chair, right ankle on top of the left thigh, bend that left leg, lowering the hips for chair, you can bring the forms on top of the right thigh to the blocks high, medium, or low.

Let your hip decide how deep you bend into this spot year. If you're enjoying this, you can keep your right hand here and then nail the left palm to this guy. Lower the left hand? Roll all the way up and shake out the right leg. If you want to take a little smack on that right hip, left hip, to release the outer glute before we set up for our big toe hold.

Remember your strap, strap the toe pads of the left foot Or if you don't have a strap, you can hold on to the back of your hamstring, establish your concentration point, your drishti. Draw that right knee up into the chest hole onto the back of the hamstring as you extend, calf, or big toe. As you extend the leg, open it out to the right, hug the left inner thigh to the midline, and then lift from your waist up. Keep squeezing to the midline with your left thigh. You can keep the left hand at the hip or bring index and thumb together.

Try to be with it for 3 more breaths. Enjoy the single pointed concentration of the balancing pustures. If you can feel a little bit more length send this the crown of the head to the sky and lift up a little higher. Alright. Relief and shake it out.

I think we all deserve a little, yin, after this posture. So go ahead and take a moment at Hadasna. So that everything kind of feel its way through the body. Once we feel that integration from all the flowing movements, we can start to slow the practice down a little bit. Take your feet a little wider than hips distance.

Turn the toes out, 102, and then bend the knees for an easy melasma. The hips should feel nice and open after the seated figure fours. Bring your hands to the earth, lower all the way down. This is where you'll need your bolster. So go ahead and set your bolster up.

We're going to take a nice little variation We'll keep your bolster happy. Let's do some forearm roles first. Go ahead and bend your right leg. If you wanna sit on your bolster, you can. It'll help with a little bit of the lift. Bend your right leg and take the side of your forearm, the bone part of your forearm with your thumb facing up and press straight down into your thigh, and then roll your palm to the sky and push forward and down.

This is a tie massage technique. It's going to help release the hip, move the forearm about an inch towards the knee, press down, roll, until the palm is facing up. So we're rolling the muscle away from the hip. We've got three spots, depending how long the legs are, maybe four spots. And we'll come on back to the top of the thigh, lean in, press down, roll away.

Lyft, lean, and roll. It's a little TLC moment for your adductors to release them. Good. You can choose how much power you want to do in that leg. This is our last role. This is our 3rd round.

Good. As we set up for our bent like upa Vista Kannasana, we'll keep the right leg as it is and take the left leg out. For many of us, this is all we need right here. A bolster on top of the left thigh and take a side bend away from the right leg. The bolster nice and high helps you find some ease in space.

If this is really easy for you, you'd like to go a little bit deeper. Swing the right foot around. Keep the knees moving away from each other. And start right here with a bolster on top of the thigh, taking that side bend over to your left and rotating to the right. And as you feel your way into this posture, think about feeling a little bit more than thinking when you're in your yin postures.

This might be your spot to just settle in. If you're moving deeper, bolster inside of the left leg, And the closer your elbow is towards your hip, the easier the posture. So why don't we just start with sliding that left elbow forward an inch or 2 and seeing where we end up. Find a spot where you feel some ease. And if you need to move a little deeper, let your breath take you there.

Enjoy the space and the side body. Keep lengthening the left body and softly turning to your right with your exhale. If you find yourself all the way down, you can grab the pinky toe side of your left foot and use your left tricep on your bolster and just let the focus be on opening the shoulder. Relax the muscles of the face, relax the jaw. Concentrate on your breath.

Concentrate on the pause after the inhale and enjoy this silence, these moments of silence you can expand. Beautiful, everybody. As we come up, come up really slow. Take your time with the movement. Great.

Thank your right leg. Free the right leg. Move your bolster over to the right side. Bend your left leg. We'll take our little 4, our moles using the bone part of the form, press down, and roll until the palm is facing up, and then release, find a new spot about an inch towards the knee, press and roll.

This is gonna help us open the hip so we can take the sideband the other way. We'll do 2 more rounds, increasing the intensity if you need to feel more. Fill out that last round of your role. And then setting up the same way, taking the knees a little farther apart from one another, starting with the bolster on top, right elbow on top move away from the bent knee. If this feels easy for you and you want to swing the leg around, opening the hip, same thing knee away from the bend.

From the right leg. The spine is lengthening and softening to turning to the left. If you feel like with those long, slow inhales pauses and exhales, You're finding more space. You can move the bolster towards the knee, the shin, or you can slide the bolster inside of the right leg. Remember the closer the elbow is towards the groin, the easier, the posture is.

So start easy. Don't force anything. As the spine starts to lengthen and rotate, if the elbow needs to move, then you can slide it forward. Soften into the deeper experience when you're in a yin posture, and enjoy those spaces where there's holding There's letting go. That left arm is softening and relaxing.

Feel your side body. Feel that soft twist to the left. Take your time. If you need to feel more roll, that left shoulder back. And once again, those moments of listening after the inhale, those spaces of quiet and peace and ease melt into those spaces.

That's our retreat space. When you're ready to come up, come up really slowly. Place your left hand on the floor on the bolster and slowly rise up. Free the left leg. Take your feet as wide apart as they will go.

Move the flesh a little bit farther back and then hang out with the bolster right in front of you with your elbows on the bolster. This is our little finale for. Same thing, but this time we're moving straight forward. With each inhale, if you find more space, pull the toes back, and move the elbows forward. Try to enjoy this opportunity to lengthen the body, stretch the hamstrings, but without force.

Without this sense of doing, move back into that feeling part. And when you move into the doing mind, come back concentrating on those moments of stillness after the inhale, expanding those and exhaling out any busyness Enjoy those last couple of moments here. And then slowly rise up. So we did a lot of hip opening. We're gonna do a counterbalancing hip closing posture on our back.

So you can move the bolster So that's along your spine. Make sure that your seat is on the earth. As you lie back into this heart opening, restorative fish poles, make sure your head is on the bolster. The hips are on the earth and walk your knees together to close the hips after all that hip opening. Or at least the arms and take the arms out to the side and find some stillness.

Bringing that awareness and that concentration, bringing it all the way down the legs to the feet. And feel your feet really grounding into the earth connected to the earth. Move into a little guided meditation focusing on the feet. Visualize the feet in your mind's eye connecting to the earth, and that earth is your path. Visualize yourself standing on your path.

Notice what you're wearing. Notice what your path looks like. Notice the time of day and start to look forward to the path ahead of you and slowly step by step walk down your path, create the environment around you. Maybe it's your favorite place to be as you walk on your path, something that makes you feel really connected and present. Notice the time of day. Notice the the elements around you.

Are there plants? Is the path winding, or is it straight? And as you feel yourself deeply connected into the path. The path is gonna make a little left turn as the path makes a left turn. It opens to a body of water in front of you.

Visualize the body of water, whether it's a lake in the ocean, the pond, a stream, And as you visualize that body of water, see the perfect seat for you in front of that body of water. Walk to the seat and make yourself really, really comfortable. As you're looking out over that body of water, take a moment to reflect on that concentration that you are working on, that moment to move out of your story, and into this sense of peace and calm and stillness in your heart. Let the body of water reflect the calm and stillness that you'd like to experience in your life. And allow yourself to meditate on that body of water.

Creating a retreat space in your heart that you can come to. Moving out of your story into the space of pure ease and silence. And peace. If thought patterns take you out of this piece and this retreat, let them dissolve into peace take a moment to visualize that body of water again and that calmness and stillness. And move back into your meditation.

Enjoy connecting to this space and place a little longer if you would like to stay in your meditation. If you're joining me as you move out of the meditation, slowly lift off of your seat, and start to turn away from the body of water as you walk back down your path. Look over your shoulder one more time and remember the space that you've created in your mind and your heart so that you can come back here. And as you move back onto your path, take a couple more steps and look down into your feet. And then feel your feet connecting to the earth on your mat in the present moment right now.

Fill your legs and your hips, the rest of your body, and bring some intuitive movements back to the body. Take your time with these intuitive movements. Let them be intuitive so they don't disrupt this creative space that you've been exploring in your heart and your mind. In your own time and in your own way, you can roll to the right or to the left. And help yourself up to an easy comfortable seat with your eyes closed.

Enjoy that feeling of balance that you feel connected to that inner world, that source while living in that outer experience in your story. Remember that we can come back and tap into and integrate both of these experiences. Living in our story, grounded, and connected, and balanced in our heart. May you go out into the world and share your story with an open heart, bring your palms together, rub your palms together. Once again, place them over your eyes.

Take a moment. And then allow the palms to slowly lower to your heart. Let it take you 2 or 3 breath before the eyes fully open, integrating back into your story, but with a memory of that retreat space in your heart, May you go there often and reconnect, and thank you for joining, connecting, and sharing with me today, I must stay.