Believe in Yourself

Hi, and welcome. I'm Laura. And in today's class, we're going to really work on believing in yourself. So I'm gonna ask you to do some challenging things and just work on that confidence and knowing that you can do so many things you can create beautiful things, and you can do challenging things. You have that inner power within you. And today, we're gonna go ahead and get started on our So come onto your back with your knees bent up.

And you can rest your hands onto your one hand onto the heart and one hand onto the belly, discarding into this grounded shape. And for the first few moments as we tune in, just allow yourself to think Are there thoughts that you have that hold you back? Is there any ways that you don't believe in yourself as strongly as you can Now are there any other outside voices as well that kind of keep you down? And can you quiet those voices? Your own inner critic and the outer critic as well, and allow yourself to believe in your full power.

And take a full breath here, big inhale through the nose, sigh it out through the mouth, let it go. I'm gonna start up warming up with some core, also the house of the 3rd chakra, that fire, that inner fire that helps us to believe in our fully. So from here, start to reach your arms all the way back behind you. And as you reach your arms back, take a big inhale, stretch back through the fingertips. And as you exhale, we're gonna crunch up, reaching the arms forward, lift the head, neck, shoulders off the floor, let the arms hover.

And then start to extend your right leg up towards the sky and flex through your right foot. Tose are pulling back towards your shin. And extend your left leg all the way forward flexing through the left foot as well. Your left foot can be onto the ground with the heel or you can let it hover to activate a bit more core. And from here, inhale, take your arms, reach them all the way back.

You can let the head, neck, shoulders, touch down. Lase up your fingers behind you and take Cali Mudra releasing the thumb and pointer towards the back of our space. Take one more inhale. And then as you exhale, we're gonna crunch up towards the right, take your arms to that right, to the outside of the right leg. And feel that twist. And we'll do this with the breath now as you inhale, reach your arms back, point the fingertips back, exhale crunching up, and over towards the right.

3 more inhale reach back, exhale crunching up. 2 more inhale reaching back. Excel crunching up and towards the right, and one more inhale reaching back, exhale crunching up and towards the right will hold here and take 5 pulses lifting up a little higher for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Let it go head, neck, shoulders down, hug your knees into the chest. Take a moment.

Take another full breath in. Through the mouth, let it go. Platten your feet back down. Reach your arms all the way back once again. And as you reach your arms back, start to extend your left leg up towards the sky now flexing through the left foot, extend your right leg forward, flexing through the right foot as well.

Both legs are really straight and strong feet are flexed, toes pulling back, and you can keep your right heel grounded, or you can find that hover, lift the foot just an inch or 2 off the mat. And as you reach your arms back now, find that collie Mudra again, lasing up the fingers, but releasing the thumb and pointer finger towards the back, take an inhale. And then as you exhale, we're gonna crunch up and across towards the left arms to the l outside of the left leg. And then inhale, draw the arms all the way back. Exhale crunch up and over towards the left.

3 more inhale reaching the arms back, exhale crunching up and over towards the left. In hell reach back, exhale to crunch, and one more inhale reaching back, and then exhale crunching up and a cross hold here, pulse up a little higher for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Lower down, hug your knees in towards the chest. Take a moment. Let your head. Next. Shoulders. Relax. And firing up that core and see that you can do these challenging things. Breathe into it.

Take another full breath in through the mouth. Let it all go. Take your hands to the space behind your knees, and we'll start to rock forward and back a few times lengthwise along the spine, rocking up and back. And we'll use this momentum to come into a tabletop. So you can either cross your shins, roll over your knees, or you can just sweep your legs around as you come to your tabletop.

Wrist underneath the shoulders, knees underneath the hips. So we'll stretch the core just a couple rounds of cow and cat with your inhale, lower the belly open through the heart. Exhows you round through the spine. To see a couple more rounds on your own, stretching all through the spine, stretching out through the core that we've started to build some heat in. And make your way back through a neutral spine.

And from here, take your right arm, stretch it up to the sky, opening your chest towards the right, and you're gonna sweep your right arm underneath you over towards the left But let it hover. Let your shoulder. Let the side of your neck hover. Left elbow might bend as you find this reach. And we'll do that a couple more times, and he'll sweep the arm up open through the chest.

Exel, sweep the right arm underneath you, reach it over towards the left. Let your body hover close towards the floor. One more, and he'll reach the arm all the way up And this time, as you thread the right arm through, you can set the right shoulder right side of the head down to the floor. Hold and breathe here. And next inhale, start to reach your right arm back up towards the sky, and then we'll plant the right palm back down to the floor.

Coming into the other side, take your left arm, stretch it up and back as your chest opens towards the left, and sweep your left arm underneath the body over towards the right as you string it over towards the right, hover your shoulder, the side of the head off the floor. Inhale, reach the arm all the way up and back. And find that hover again as you reach the arm through. One more, and he'll sweep the left arm all the way up and back. And this time, as you thread the arm through, You're gonna rest the left shoulder, left side of the head down to the floor. Take a couple of breaths here.

Pressing into your right palm. Take your left arm all the way back up towards the sky. And bring your left hand down to the floor. Back to your tabletop, go ahead and walk both of your hands just a little bit forward of the shoulders. Tuck your toes. Lift the hips all the way up and back downward facing dog.

Take a couple of breaths in downward dog. Any movements that you like here, you can bend your knees in one at a time, walk me down, or you can lift and lower the heels if you'd like. I'm pressing back into your down dog finding stillness. From downward facing dog. Take your right leg, float it all the way up and back, reach back through the heel.

I'll guarantee into the pass and step it all the way through between your palms. And gently lower your back left knee down to the floor, coming up to a low crescent, inhale sweep your arms all the way up towards the sky. And as you exhale, bend your elbows, taking your fingertips behind your head, and feel the energy of opening through the chest and keeping the elbows wide. Inhale, taking a tall spine, energy up through the crown of the head. And then as you exhale, keep your arms just like this.

Rotate your chest open towards the right side. As you find this twist, try to keep your elbows wide, keep the chest open, feel the shoulders releasing away from the ears, drawing down the back. Breathe here. Feel the muscles wrapping around the spine, and then split the arms, take your right fingertips, reach them back, take your left fingertips, reach them forward, widen across the chest into this twist. And your gaze can beat towards the side, maybe you look back towards your right thumb, and breathe as you rotate, revolve around the spine, and take your back right hand to the back of the left leg and sweep your left arm up alongside the ear, finding this exalted version, relax the shoulders as you lift through the sternum, and still finding that twist as the right shoulder wraps back. Take one more inhale.

And we're gonna bring it up to a standing split. Circle your fingertips in front of your right foot. Press your left leg up towards the sky, find your balance just for a moment, and step your feet together to a forward fold at the top. Rise up halfway, inhale. Fold as you exhale, come into chair with Katasana, bend your knees, sweep your arms up and sit down low. And feeling the weight shift back into the heels, drawing the hips back, and keeping your core strong.

Arms are strong as well. The shoulders have a little softness, resting them away from the ears. Pressing to your feet will rise all the way up to stand, touch your palms, exhale, bring your hands down to the space of the heart. Inhale, sleeping your arms all the way up lifting up through the body. And with your exhale, hinging up the hips, folding forward, melting in.

Rise up halfway inhale, exhale and fold, plant your palms, and step it back to plank position. And take a Vinyasa, Our first Vinyasa, take any variation you'd like. You can lower halfway down or all the way to the floor. Toast point back and you can come into a cobra. Or press your arms straight to an upward facing dog.

Tuck your toes, lift the hips all the way up and back to your downward facing dog. Coming into that. On the left side, take your left leg, float it up and back reach back through the heel, and use that core strength to step your foot all the way through between your palms. Lower your back right knee to the floor, and we'll rise up to your low crescent on this side, sweep your arms all the way up. And as you exhale, fingertips behind the head, elbows come out wide. And breathe here.

Feel the openness through the chest and the fronts of the shoulders. And steady breaths take one more inhale. Feel the tall length of the spine. Keep that and keep the elbows wide as you find that rotation over towards the left. Evolving around the spine, still keeping the elbows wide still working to keep the heart open.

And then start to take your left fingertips, reach them back behind you, take your right fingertips, reach them forward. I guess adjust the gaze as needed. You can keep looking towards the side. Maybe you look back towards your left thumb. And breathe here in this wide open twist. Take your back left hand to the back of the right leg and sweep your right arm up alongside the ear, feel that stretchy the front of the body, still rolling your left shoulder back.

Take one more inhale as you feel this lift and length, and then circle your hands down in front of your left foot. Press up to your standing splits. Press off the ball of the right foot, float it up to the sky, melt in, and then step your feet together to the top of your space back to your forward fold, rise up halfway. Exhale fold, and come back to chair, utkatasana, bend your knees, sweep your arms up, sit down low. Feel the strength in this pose. As you're being challenged, can you believe in yourself?

Know that you can do this. Press into your feet, rise all the way up to stand, touch your palms, bring your hands to the heart. We're gonna add on a little bit more to that flow. So from standing at the top of your mat, read through the feet, and he'll seat your arms all the way up. With your exhale hinging out the hips folding forward, folding in, rise up halfway to lengthen the spine, Excel in full plant your palms, you can step or float it back through a vinyasa, always the option to go straight into downward facing dog.

From down dog, take your right leg and float it up and back, reach back through your right heel. Cut your knee into the chest and step it all the way through between your palms. Set up your feet hip width apart. You can have a little bend in your back left knee as you rise up to high crescent, so you have your arms all the way up. Take a moment to find your balance here, the strength of the legs.

Outer hips are hugging in to create stability. Lower belly, lower ribs are hugging in as well, and find that line of energy from the sides of the waist extending all the way up through the arms, see the fingertips. Take one more inhale as you reach up, maybe touch your palms and lift your gaze up. And then as you exhale, take your elbows wide againsting your tips to the back of the head. Open through the chest.

Keep the elbows wide. Take another inhale for that length through your spine, And then as you exhale, rotate over towards the right, find your twist, still keeping the elbows wide, and steady breaths here in this twist. Elbows wide, hard open, feel the shoulders, releasing away from the ears down the back, and then start to find that split in the arms, reach your right fingertips back, reach your left fingertips forward. Your gaze, again, can be anywhere that helps you balance. It can be forward.

To the side or back towards your right thumb. We'll find that exalted version taking your right hand to the back of the left leg leeping your left arm all the way up alongside the ear, and circle your hands down to your standing split's fingertips down. Press your left leg up towards the sky as you find your balance and you can stay here fingertips grounded, or you can bring one or both hands to your right ankle or calf, play with balance a little bit more. Be in that edge where you're challenging yourself and creating that inner strength, and start to bring your fingertips back down. If you were playing with any balance, you can step your feet together to the top of your space folding in.

Rise up halfway to lengthen, exhale folding back down, and then coming back to chair, bend your knees, sweep your arms up and sit down low. And press into your feet, we're rising all the way to standing, touching your palms, overhead, exhale bring your hands down to the space of the heart. Inhale, sweep your arms all the way back up towards the sky. Fold forward with your exhale. Rise up halfway with your inhale.

Exhale and fold plant your palms, stepper float back through your vinyasa or downward facing dog. And breathe in down dog. We'll take that flow to the other side, take your left leg, reach it all the way up and back. Using your core strength, knee to chest up through between your palms, so you're about hip width apart. Little bend in your back right knee as you rise up to your high crescent, reach your arms all the way up.

And again, take a moment here, balance, focus, strength, finding that inner fire that determination, that belief in yourself, take one more inhale. And as you exhale bending the elbows fingertips, come lightly behind the head. And keeping elbows wide chest open. And find this shape, take one more inhale, lengthening up through the spine, and then exhaling revolving over towards the left. And breathe here as you find this twist still working to keep the chest, the shoulders open, Helen, you can split the arms, take your left arm back, take your right fingertips forward, opening up.

And breathe into your twist. Take your left hand to the back of the right leg. And he'll sweep your right arm all the way up along the side of the ear, feel that reach up and back, lift through the chest. Coming into our standing split, circle your fingertips down, press right leg up towards guy folding your chest in. You can stay grounded here.

Maybe you balance 1 or both hands to your left ankle or calf, even for a moment. See what it's like to challenge yourself and believe that you can do it. And bring your finger back down. Step your feet back to the top of your space. Back to your forward fold rise up halfway.

Fold with your exhale. And coming back to chair, bend your knees, sweep your arms up and sit down low, touch your palms. We're gonna take a twist over towards the right. Breathing here, hook left elbow to the outside of the knee. Take a couple of breaths. Try to keep your knees and hips in line.

I'd stay in chair, inhale arms and co let arms and chest come up, and then touch your palms to us over towards the left, hooking right elbow to the outside of the knee. Breathe here. And still keeping the knees bent in her arms and chest reach back up through center, press into your feet will rise all the way up to stand, touch your palms, exhale, bring your hands down to the space of the heart. Pause. Take a breath. Feel free to let your eyes relax clothes as you find your tall spine rooting, grounding through the feet.

Feel the openness through the front of the body, feel the shoulders relaxed, take a full round of breath together here, big inhale through the nose, Side it up through the mouth, let it go. Just knowing you're doing such a great job. You have so much power within you. If you had your eyes closed, you can open them back up, inhale, circle your arms all the way up towards the sky, and fold forward with your exhale melting in. And rise up halfway, inhale, exhale, and fold.

You can plat your palms, step or fluid it back through your vinyasa, or down dog. And from downward facing dog, take your right leg, fluid it up in the and then hug your knee into the chest step through between your palms. Lower your back left knee down to the floor will rise up to a low crest and sweep your arms all the way up. Don't touch your palms overhead, bring your hands to the space of the heart, and keeping your hands to the heart, keeping your spine upright start to find that rotation towards the right, turning your chest open towards the right. And then from here, start to hinge up the hips forward, hooking forward.

Take your left elbow to the outside of the knee. Press your right palm into the left and feel this deep twist, feeling the lower belly, rotating up and away from the top of the thigh, I'm feeling the hips gently pressing forward and breathe here into your twists, steady breaths in and steady breaths out. And maybe even a little bit more power into your exhale, feeling that real energy of wringing out of deepening your twists. Last few breaths here. And unwinding as you inhale, reach your arms all the way back up towards the sky, feeling that lift, exhale hands down to frame your front right foot, tuck your back toes, lift your back knee up, and step it back, vinyasa, or down dog.

Coming into that deep twist on the next side, take your left leg, float it up and back. Need a chest, step it through between your palms, lower your back right knee to the floor, rise up to your low crest and sweep your arms all the way up, touch your palms overhead. Excel, bring your hands to the space of the heart. Take another inhale, long spine, tall spine, at tell. Keeping your spine up right twist over towards the left side. Use the muscles around the spine to help you find that twist.

And then start to hook your upper body forward, hooking right elbow to side of the knee. And as you get into the twist, feel elbow knee pressing into each other. To deepen the twist, feel left palm pressing into the right to rotate the chest open, and then breathe it here. And as you find your breath, as you find this deep twist, Again, maybe a little bit more power into your ex health. And then starting to unwind inhale, coming all the way back up, reaching up through the arms, fingertips, Next, helping your hands down around your left foot.

Tuck your back toes. Lift your back right knee up. Step it back to your plank position. Vinyasa, or straight back to your downward facing dog. And take a few breaths here in downward facing dog.

Take a moment to reset. Just reflecting on the challenging shapes you've made, the challenging moves we've done, just building that strength, building that confidence in yourself. You've done it all, and you can do it again. From your down dog, you can step or hop your feet up to the top of your space, coming up to your forward fold at the front of your mat. Rise up halfway with your inhale.

And take a deep fold with your exhale. And from this forward fold, go ahead and grab your block. So you'll need a block for this next shape take your block to the top of your mat on the highest height, take it slightly in front of your mat, and a little bit left of center, maybe slightly in front of your left foot about a foot or so. Just have that there there so it's ready. It'll take a reset in how lift up halfway to that flat spine exhale fold back down.

When rooting through your feet, we're gonna rise all the way up to stand, sweep your arms up, touching palms overhead at the top of the breath. And with your exhale, bring your hands down to the space of the heart. And sit back into a chair, utkatasana, bending your knees, keep your arms up, and sit down low. And from your chair, take your fingertips behind your head, take your elbows out wide, find that energy again of opening across the front of the chest, the shoulders. And from here, we'll press to stand, balancing on the right foot.

So as you press your right leg toward the street, hug your left knee about to the level of the hip, and flex you the left foot. As you find your tall spine, keep your chest open, keep the elbows wide, keep your core strong, take one more inhale here, And then as you exhale making our way to warrior 3, start to take your chest forward and kick the left heel all the way back in space. Try to keep the hip points level, keep your left foot flex all those toes pointing down towards the floor. And keep lifting through the elbows trying the shoulder blades together and down the back. And then from here, split the arms open out to its e with your palms facing down, and steady breaths.

We'll slowly find a twist towards the right. The rotate your chest to the right, your left hand will land onto the block underneath shoulder, adjust it as needed, and keep rotating the chest open towards the right, stacking right shoulder over the left, reaching up through the fingertips. To this twisted warrior 3. See if you can feel a little lift higher through the back left leg, and find your breath. Take one more inhale, opening up, and then as you exhale, we're gonna step back to warrior 2. Take a bit into your front They step back with the ball of the left foot.

You're going to circle your arms up and back as you spin the left heel down to the floor, breathe into your warrior too. Take a moment, open up through the chest, to get deep into the shape, find your gaze, your focus forward over your front fingertips. And flip your right palm to face up, reach it back to reverse warrior, circle your hands all the way down around your right foot, plant your palms, Step it back through your vinyasa or straight back to your downward facing dog. Take a couple of breaths here again in down dog. Or are there any voices in your head that were discouraging you during that challenging sequence? How are you having that strength built from the inside out believing in yourself? I'm leaving you.

We'll do it again on the other side, step or hop your feet back up to the top of your space, rise up halfway, and fold back down. Just move your block over right of center on the highest height again. So we have it set up for the next side. Root that your feet rise all the way up to standing, touching palms overhead at the of the breath. Next, I'll bring your hands down to the space of the heart. Coming back to chair, bend your knees, seat your arms up, sit down low, And from your chair, utkatasana, fingertips behind your head, elbows out wide.

The finding the shape, opening through the chest, keeping your core strong, strengthening into the body into the legs, and we'll find balance now onto the left leg. So as you press the left leg straight, hug your right knee about to the level of the hip and flex you the right foot. Take another inhale tall spine open through the chest through the elbows. And as you exhale, make your way to warrior 3, taking your chest forward. And threading your right heel all the way towards the wall back behind you flexing through the foot, try to keep the hit points level, Keep the chest open, keep the shoulders drying back, keep the elbows wide.

And then start to split your arms open out to a tee, palms facing down, feel that wide, open stretch across the chest. Take one more inhale here as you balance opening up, and then find that slow twist towards the left, let your right hand, right fingertips come to the block as you rotate your chest open towards the left side, stacking your shoulders, and opening up into the twist. Find length from heel to the crown of the head. Find length from bottom hand to the top hand. And again, see if you can lift your lifted right leg a little bit higher, steady breaths.

Taking one more expansive inhale. And as you exhale slowly toward your 2, bend into your left knee, they step back with the ball, the right foot, circle your arms up and around as you spin the back heel down, land into your warrior 2. Pause and breathe into your warrior 2. Come into reverse warrior, flipping the left palm, inhale stretch it all the way up and back. And then circle your hands down around your left foot, plait your palms, step it back to your plank position, and coming through your last Vinyasa, or straight back to your downward facing dog.

Take a couple of breaths in downward dog. We'll take a full round of breath here together. Take a big full breath in through the nose, through the mouth, sigh it out, let it all go. I'm gonna step or hop forward coming to seated. And as you come down to sit, extend your legs forward.

We're just sitting towards the middle of your mat and coming into a forward fold Pashimotanasana. Extend the legs forward, flex through the feet, ground through the sitting bones. And as you inhale, reach your arms all the way up alongside your ears. And then as you exhale, fold forward hinging out the hips, reach your arms anywhere onto the legs, to the outsides of the legs, to the bottoms of the feet, It's fine to have a tiny bend behind the knees. You can even take your arms behind the legs, behind the knees, and hug in.

And the stretching into the backs of the legs, into the back of the body, try to soften the shoulders away from the ears, breathe into this fold. You can use your hands to press yourself back up to seated, coming back to sit upright, and reach your arms forward out in front of you. Are gonna slowly roll down the spine, keep your core hugging in, slowly roll down vertebrae by vertebrae, lower back, mid back, upper back. Shoulders, neck, head, arms come all the way down to the ground and start to hug your right knee in towards your chest. And give yourself a little squeeze, a little compression, getting a stretch into the right hip as well as you do this.

You'll keep your right take your right arm out towards the right and keep your left hand onto the leg. We use your left hand to twist the knee across the body, coming into a spinal twist. You can keep your gaze neutral, or you can look over your right shoulder. I'm gently coming back up through center. Hug both knees into your chest for a moment, and then keep your left knee in as you extend your right leg all the way out.

I'll switch sides. Take your left arm out towards the left. Use your right hand to guide the knee across the body over towards the right, maybe looking over your left shoulder. Head and knees come back up through center. And shift your hips back to the center if you adjusted them at all, and then take your time extending out for your final rest of Asana.

Extending your arms out, extending your legs out, finding your most comfortable, grounded shape. Feel free to let your eyes rest closed. Take one more full breath here, inhale through the nose, side out through the mouth, let it go. Allow yourself to rest fully and completely and believing in your inner strength, in your inner fire, your inner power, your ability to create great things, do great things and your abilities to do that all throughout your life. If you'd like to stay in Shavasana longer, feel free to do so. If you're about ready to close-up your practice, start by deepening your breath.

And then taking a nice, long stretch, reaching your arms back, reaching forward through the toes, bending your knees up, gently rolling through over to one side, passing through, a fetal position and then making your way up to your meditation seat, your most comfortable seat, whatever that looks like for you. As you find your seat resting your hands to the tops of legs, finding your tall spine, give yourself this moment notice any shifts or changes you might have experienced through your practice. It'll take one more full round of breath together here, big inhale through the nose, sigh it out through the mouth, let it go. You'll that release. Bring your palms to touch in front of the heart.

I wish you confidence and strength through the rest of your day, through the rest of your days. I thank you so much for sharing your practice with me.