Surrender to the Miraculous

Hi, and welcome. I'm Lara. And in today's class, we're going to be playing with this idea of letting go of control surrendering and getting into this idea, the art of allowing. So today we'll start on our backs and seep the botta canasana. So as you come down onto your back, you'll bring the bottoms of the feet to touch and have the knees open. You can place a hand onto your heart, a hand onto your belly, and take a moment here to just ground down, tune in to Any places that need extra care or attention for your practice today, anything you need to do.

And as you ground down, allowing yourself this space and time for your practice, and we'll start by taking a deep full breath together and through the nose, feel your lungs fill up, and side out through the mouth, let it go. And in this meditative moment, just think about the places where you tend to grip and control. And can you allow yourself to go with the flow a bit more to have fun? And in doing that, you leave space for the unexpected and you leave space for the miraculous, allowing things to happen, and oftentimes, they might even turn out better than your initial plan. From giving yourself that space to find the flow. So from here, you can start to open your eyes you have them close, you can use your hands to help bend your knees up, plant your feet down to the floor.

And bring your knees in towards your chest. Give yourself a little squeeze for a moment. Can rock side to side a little bit if you'd like. And with your knees into the chest, take your hands to the space behind your knees, and we'll start to rock forward and back a times, lengthwise along the spine. We'll rock all the way up to a tabletop position.

Setting up onto your hands and knees, on to all fours, wrists underneath the shoulders, knees, and feet about hip width apart, starting with a few rounds of cow and cat your inhale. Let your belly drop down. Take your gaze for it and open up through the chest. As you exhale, round up through the spine to cat pose, chin to chest, belly draws in. And do this flow with your breath in how lowering the belly, opening up across the space of the heart, exhale pressing into the palms rounding through the spine, and just go ahead and do one more rounds on your own.

Let your next round be complete. Come back to your neutral spine. And now from your tabletop, shift your shoulder forward beyond your wrist, drying the heart, the crown of the head forward. Take a big circle with your body over towards the right, dry your hips around, and then back towards the heels, and then over towards the left and we'll make these big hip circles, big circles with the body. Feel the stretch into the joints, into the outer hips as you circle around. And then the next time that your chest pulls forward, take a brief pause, and then seamlessly switch directions start to go in the opposite way.

And feel this stretch, feel this flow moving into the other side, just balancing the movement into both sides. And then start to make your way back through stillness, back through all fours, coming back to your tabletop position, And then start to walk both of your hands just a couple inches forward of the shoulders. Tuck your toes, lift your hips all the way up and back to your downward facing dog. And in your down dog, as you settle in, you can do any movements that you like pedaling out through the feet or lifting and lowering the heels. And settle into your stillness in your downward facing dog, spreading through the fingers while I press down into the palms. With your inhale, take your right leg, extend it all the way up and back.

And as you exhale, stack your hip open and bend your knee. Take a moment to open up through the front of the right hip. Keep grounded into the palms, keep strong through the shoulders. And on your next inhale, extend your right leg straight back so the hips level out and shift for a top right knee to upper right arm. Of your shoulders forward over your wrists. And he'll extend it back. And 2 more times, knee taps the upper right arm shifting forward.

And one more inhale extended back. Right knee to the upper right arm, and now step your right foot to the outside of your right hand. Inkling your right toes a little bit more towards the right, lower your back left knee down, you can come to point the left toes back. Rise up to your fingertips. Always an option to use blocks here as well.

As you inhale, drawing the chest forward, lengthening the crown of the head forward as well, as you exhale, shift the hips back as you start to straighten through the right leg, may not come all the way straight, but you can try to straighten it flex through the foot, and we'll do this with the breath. So as you inhale, re bend the knee, pull the hips, the heart forward. And then as you exhale shift the hips all the way back straightening through the leg flexing through the foot, just one more with the breath, inhale drawing forward, pressing forward through the hips, Excel shift the hips back as you straighten through the leg. Let's start to re bend into your right knee. From here, you can plant your palms down to the ground, tuck your back toes, lift your back left knee up, and we're gonna step the left foot to the outside of the left hand, stepping up to Malasana, stepping up to your squat, Sit your hips low.

You can always sit on a block here as well. Bring your hands to the space of the heart, and breathe here. So in your melasana in this squat, if you like you're pressing down into the feet as if you're about to stand up, we're not going to stand, but just feel how the hips turn on a bit more as you do that. And take a breath, take an inhale, and then as you exhale fingertips down, press your leg straight as you fold forward, turn your toes forward. And he'll tow your feet back to about hip width apart, rise up halfway, lengthen the spine, exhale and fold.

And we'll rise all the way up to standing, sweeping your arms up, touching palms overhead, top of the breath. And with your exhale, bring your hands down to the space of the heart. Reading through the feet, inhale sweep your arms all the way up, and fold with your exhale melting in, and rise up halfway with your inhale, Exhale and fold plant your palms, take it back through a Vinyasa, take any variations you like, lowering Chaturanga, cobra or updog with your inhale, exhale to downward facing dog, pressing the hips all the way back. And root into your downward facing dog. From here, take your left leg, float it up and back And then start to stack your hip open bend your knee gently turning the hips open towards the left side, letting that stretch through the front of the hip into the quad.

And still grounding through the palms, strengthening through the shoulders. With your inhale extend your left leg straight back and level out through the hips. Shifting forward, tap left knee to upper left arm, shoulder shift over your wrists. And he'll extend the left leg back, and 2 more times, tap left knee to upper left arm. And he'll extend it back.

And one more, tapping left knee to upper left arm now lightly step your left foot to the outside of the left hand. Lower your back right knee to the floor. You can point your right toes back. You can come up to your fingertips here or use your blocks. Take an inhale. And then as you exhale, shifting the hips back nice and slow, straightening through the left leg, flexing through the foot as you pull back We'll do this nice and fluid with the breath, re bend into the knee, pulling the heart forward gaze forward, exhale pressing the hips back as you straighten through the leg, pull the toes back And one more with the breath, re bending to the knee, pulling the heart, the hips forward, and press it back.

And then start to re bend into your left knee. You can plant your palms down, tuck your back, right toes, lift your back, right knee up, pressing off the back ball of the right foot, you're gonna press it up to your melasana, stepping the right foot to the outside of the right hand, sit your hips down, bring your hands to the space of the heart and breathe here. You can even close your eyes, go into a bit more inward space. And allow yourself to be present. And again, that's idea of surrender, letting go of control, letting go of expectations.

Not the easiest thing to do, but such a great practice. Take one more breath in, fold forward, exhale straighten the legs turn your toes more towards the front. He'll tow your feet back to about hip distance rise up halfway, lengthen, deep fold, and exhale. When rooting through your feet, sleep your arms all the way back up to the sky, touch your palms overhead at the top of the breath, and exhale bring your hands down to the space of the heart. Routing through the feet and how reach your arms up, exhale fold forward, and rise up halfway with your inhale, Exhale in full, plant your palms, step or float through your vinyasa, we'll meet in downward facing dog.

And from your down dog, take your right leg, float it up in back, reaching back through the heel, hug your knee to chest, step it through between your palms, spin your back left heel down to the floor as you rise to warrior 2, circling your left arm all the way back. Take a moment here to find your alignment and pointing your right toes forward, back foot angled in a bit, stacking shoulders above the hips, and finding your gaze, your dristy forward. And press your right leg straight, sweep your arms all the way up alongside your ears, reset, turning yourself towards the left side, heels in toes out, bring your hands through heart space as you bend into your knees, and then bring your hands to the tops of your thighs, sitting your hips low. Take an inhale here, And then as you exhale, we'll twist the chest towards the back of your space. Dip your right shoulder in as you rotate your chest to face towards the back.

And breathe here, getting this twist into the spine, getting into the hips, the inner groin. And with your inhale lift back up through center, then we'll twist towards the front, dip your left shoulder in as you turn your chest towards the front of our space, and breathe here. And come back through center. And press your leg straight, sweep your arms all the way back up alongside your ears, reset your feet back to warrior 2. Turning your right toes forward, angling your back foot in, and bend into the knee as you float your arms back out to a tee, back to warrior 2.

And flip your right palm, inhale reach it back to reverse warrior, big, long stretch back, then circle your hands down around your right foot, platten your palms, step it back to your plank position, Vinyasa or straight back through into your downward facing dog. Left side, take your left leg, float it up and back, hug your knee to chest, step it all the way through between your palms, spin your back, right heel to the floor. Warrior 2 opposite sides, turning your chest open, and steady breaths here, again, finding your foundation, stacking the shoulders above the hips, lengthening through both sides of the waist, and extending that energy across the heart, across through the fingertips, the arms. Finding your gaze forward, finding that focal point, and then pressing your left leg straight soothe the arms all the way up alongside your ears, touch your palms overhead as you reset your feet, heels, and toes out, coming down into your squat, slide your hands down through heart space, and then land your hands to the tops of the thighs as you draw the hips back, lean your chest forward, we'll take that twist towards the back again. Dip your left shoulder in as you rotate your chest towards the back of our space.

Breathe here, breathing into this stretch. In how lifting the chest back up through center, we'll twist towards the front now dipping your right shoulder in. Inhale, coming back up through center, and press your leg straight once again, sweep your arms all the way up, reset for warrior 2, left toes forward, back right toes turning in, float your arms out to a tee back to your warrior too. And then flip your left palm, reach it back to reverse warrior, long stretch back. And circle your hands all the way down around your left foot, planting palms, step it back, flowing through a vinyasa, or making your way to downward facing dog.

Take a couple of breaths in down dog. We'll go through that flow one more time on each side, breath, and movement connected together. It's a little bit more flowy, a bit more fluid. Allow yourself to practice that energy of going with the flow. So from down dog, take your right leg, float it up and back.

Hug your knee into the chest, step it through between your palms, back left heel spins down as you rise up, open up to your warrior too. Press your right leg straight inhale, sweep your arms up, heels, and toes out towards the side, hands through heart space as you come into your goddess squat, line your hands to the tops of the thighs. Take an inhale as you lengthen the spine, exhale twist towards the back if your right shoulder in. Inhale, come back up through center, lift the chest. Exhale twist towards the front.

And we'll do one more in each side inhale lift through center, exhale twist towards the back. Inhale lifting through center, and twist towards the front. I had come back up through center, pressing your leg straight, sweeping your arms all the way back up, warrior 2, bending into your right knee, floating your arms back down, inhale to reverse the warrior, and then exhale circle your hands all the way down around right foot, step it back to your plank Take your Vinyasa or a downward facing dog. And as we come onto this flow on the left left side, it's really have that energy again of moving breath and movement going with the flow letting go of control, letting yourself just have fun with it. Take your left leg, float it up and back.

Have your knee to chest step it through between your palms, spin your back right heel down as you open up to warrior 2. Press your left leg straight, sweep your arms all the way up, touch palms overhead, reset feet heels and toes out, come down to your squat, slide your hands through the heart center and take your hands down to the tops of the thighs, leaning the chest forward. Take an inhale here. And then with your exhale, dip your left shoulder in as you twist towards the back. Inhale coming back up through center and we'll twist towards the front your right shoulder in.

Take one more on each side inhale, lift the chest, exhale twisting towards the back. In how lifting through center excel twists towards the front. Good. Press your leg straight so you have your arms all the way back up, reset your feet to warrior 2, flip your arms back down up to a tee. And then flip your left palm inhale reach back to reverse warrior long, stretch back. Circle your hands down around your left foot, platten your palm, step it back to plank, and make your way through your Vinyasa.

Or straight back to downward facing dog. And from here, start to walk your hands back towards your feet. Walk your hands towards the back of your mat coming into a forward fold at the back of your space. Rise up halfway with your inhale, lengthening the crown of the head forward, fold back in with your exhale. And then rooting through your feet, rise all the way back standing, sweep your arms up, touching palms overhead at the top of the breath, and exhale, bring your hands down to the space of your heart.

God, so standing at the back of your mat, we're gonna come into tree pose, balancing on the left foot, and opening your right knee towards the right. So different options in tree, Vkshasana. You can have heel to the ankle with your foot grounded for more support, more balance, you can bring your foot to the calf, or you can use your hand to bring the foot to the inner thigh. Send tall out of the left leg, find your tall spine, feel the openness, view the chest, And maybe you start to reach your arms all the way up, finding that balance, that extension through the arms, and steady breaths here. And if they're not already there, go ahead and bring your hands back to the space of the heart.

And keep this balance on your left foot and start to unhook the right foot from the inside of the leg and turn your right knee forward. Take another inhale here and as you exhale extend your right leg out forward in front of you flexing through the foot Take one more inhale, see if you can lift this entire right leg a bit higher, and just take a natural step forward landing onto your right foot. Let your arms relax down. With your inhale, sweep your arms all the way back up towards the sky, and we'll come into a standing spits, bring your fingertips down towards the middle of the mat onto the floor and floating your left leg up. And you can take any version of balance here. You can keep your fingertips grounded.

Maybe you take one or both hands here, right ankle, or calf. Take your lifted left leg, step it down to meet the right. Forward fold somewhere towards the middle of your mat rise up halfway with your inhale and fold with your exhale. Coming to chair near the middle of your mat, then into your knees, sweep your arms up and sit down low. And I'll give you a bunch of options here.

So from chair, You can come up to the balls of your feet lifting the heels up, and you might come all the way down to sit towards your heels coming into this toe squat. Bring your hands to the heart. And if that's too much for you, you can always separate your feet out, come back into Malasana. One more option, if you wanna play with an arm balance, you'll widen your knees open here. Bring our palms down to the floor, lift your hips up high.

You can take your knees behind the triceps. Elbows will start to bend. You'll shift the weight into your hands, more towards your fingertips, keep your gaze forward, keep your core strong, and then your feet, your toes might lift off the mat, and you can squeeze your heels up towards your bottom. Finding your balance. Okay. And if you're in that Crow pose, make your way back down.

We're all gonna meet in a forward fold. And just bring your fingertips down. Press your legs straight, turn your toes forward. Come back to your forward fold, somewhere near the middle of the mat. Rise up halfway with your inhale, then fold back down with your exhale.

Start to walk your hands forward towards the front of your mat, ground into your palms, and then walk your feet back. Making your way to a downward facing dog, pressing the hips all the way back. Can stay right here in your down dog, or you can take a vinyasa if you'd like. Shifting forward and healing to plank. Axhelling through Chaturanga, rising to COBRA or upward vasing dog, tucking your toes the hips all the way up and back to your downward facing dog.

Ground here. Take another full breath in. Through the mouth, let it all go. And start to walk your hands back towards the feet, coming back to your forward fold at the back of our space. And rise up halfway with your inhale.

Take a deep fold with your exhale. Root through your feet rise all the way back up to standing, sweeping your arms up, touching palms overhead at the top of the breath, and exhale, bring your hands down to the space of the heart. We'll open up to tree pose, Rick Shassana, other side. So feel your weight shift more to your right foot. Open your left knee towards the left, and you can take again here heal to the ankle.

You can bring your foot bottom of the foot to the calf. You can use your hand to help you place the foot to the inner thigh. Is placing your left foot above or below the knee, standing tall by rooting into the right foot, opening through the chest, maybe start to reach your arms all the way up. Find your balance. Right. And then touch your palms back together to the space of the heart if they're not already there.

And start to unhook the bottom of the foot from the inside of the leg and turn your left knee forward and keep balancing here, standing up tall. Take an inhale. As you exhale extend your left leg forward flexing through the foot. Keep this left leg nice and straight and strong inhale. See if you can lift it a little higher and then take that natural step forward with the left foot.

Relax your arms down, alongside the body. With your inhale, sweeping the arms all the way up, alongside your ears, Excel to your standing splits, fingertips down to the ground, and floating your right leg up towards the sky, melting in, take a balance of your choice fingers can stay grounded, or maybe take one or both hands, your left ankle, or a calf. And bring your fingertips back down if you were using them. You'll then step your feet together forward fold towards the middle of your mat, rise up halfway, exhale and fold. And coming back to that chair, Utasana Benjarnies, sweep your arms up and sit down low. And again, fighting your options here. So in chair, you can start to lift up to the balls of the feet, lift your heels up, And then take your knees forward as you sit your hips down towards the heels.

You can bring your hands to the heart coming into this toe squat. You can also come back into meloxicin as we did earlier. If you're craving that arm balance once again, keep your heels lifted, open your knees out wide, bring your palms down under the shoulders. Hips lift up nice and high as you take the knees behind the triceps, hugging in core strong, heart forward, feeling the weight shift towards your fingertips, have fun, play, let go of expectations, see what happens, and give yourself that space for something cool to happen. Maybe it's the first time you're getting into this. Maybe it's happening now.

And I come back down. Let's make our way into our forward fold from wherever you are, turning your toes forward, letting yourself fold, and rise up halfway downhill. Exhale and fold. It'll take a moment in your fold. You can let your arms hang down, or you can hold on to your elbows.

Relax the back of the head and neck. We'll take a full breath in this word full, take a full breath in through the nose, side up through the mouth, let it all go. If you had your hands to the elbows, you can bring your fingertips back down. Start to walk your hands forward towards the front of your space. Ground into your palms, walk your feet back, coming back to a downward dog, as you root through the feet, nasally all the hips, pressing up and back.

And again, you can stay here in your down dog, already here, or you can take 1 more Vinyasa shifting forward to plank, lowering Chatsoranga. Rising on an inhale to your back, bend, cobra, or updog, exhale down or facing dog, press the hips all the way back. From downward facing dog. We're coming into pigeon neck. So from down dog, take your right leg, float it up and back, reaching back through the heel.

And you'll shift your right shin forward behind your hands onto the mat, angling your right knee slightly more towards the right, lower your left knee down, point your left toes back. You can walk your left leg back a bit. Take a moment to lift and lengthen through the front of the body and keep that length with you as you start to fold in. You can come down onto your forearms, use any props that you need. Some of you might be able to fold your chest all the way to the floor.

In this deep hip opener, notice the places that you might be clenching or holding or tightening the body and again, invite that energy of surrender of release, allowing space for flow, allowing space for magic, applying space for the unexpected to happen, breathe into it. And start to definitely make your way out of the shape starting by walking your hands back, pressing into your palm, so lift your chest back upright, tuck your back, left toes under, lift your left knee up. Right leg will come all the way up and back to your 3 legged downward dog. You can stack your hip open and bend your knee for a moment. And come back to your down dog as we set up for next side. Take your left leg fluid it up and back.

And shift your left and forward behind your hands, angling left knee more towards the left, lower your right knee down, point your right toes back, can adjust your right leg back as you lift open through the front of the body. And as you exhale starting to fold your chest in any amount, going to your level. Take your time as you settle in. And then the shape on the second side, you might notice if it feels very different from the first. We often have one side that's more open, one side that's a little bit tighter, just breathing into it, noticing the difference, allowing yourself again, that space to surrender into this shape. I'm starting to come out of Pigeon on this side and walking your hands back, pressing into your palms to lift your chest up, and tuck your back right toes under, lift your back right knee up, and take your left leg all the way up and back to your 3 legged downward dog. Again, you can stack your hip open and bend your knee.

Make your way back to your downward facing dog. And you'll step or hop through coming into seated, sitting towards the middle of your mat and then coming all the way down onto your back again with your knees bent up. On your back with your knees bent up, go ahead and walk your feet a bit wider about as wide as your mat a little wider than your hips. Open your arms out to the sides to a tee or you can bend your elbows out to the sides, and keeping the base of the feet wide, drop both of your knees over towards the left side. And you can let your knees fall to the left.

If you want to take one more variation here, you have the option of taking the left foot to the top of the right thigh, to weight down into the twist a little deeper. We feel this stretchy the front of the hip front of the quad as well as getting that twist into the mid and low back. If you have the foot crossover the knee, you can take that down. And keep your feet wide as you draw your knees back up through center, and then keeping the feet wide still, let your knees drop over towards the right side. And you might take your right foot to the top of the left thigh to weight down a little bit heavier into the twist and breathe here.

If you have the foot to the top of the thigh, release that. Bring your knees back through center, coming back up, Just hug your knees into the chest one last time, give yourself a little squeeze, a little love, and then set up for your final rush of a center your arms down and relaxing your legs down, taking your time to set up for your most comfortable, cozy rest. Feel free to let your eyes relax close, and we'll take a nice full breath in through the nose, sigh it out through the mouth, let it all go. Feel that full release, letting go of effort, letting go of control, dropping into ease, dropping into surrender. And let yourself rest and relax here as if that's all you know how to do.

If you have the space and time to linger in Sebastian, You're welcome to do that. And if you're about ready to close-up your practice, start by taking a deeper fuller breath in and out. Allowing the breath to re wake in the body. You can bring some movements back into your fingers and toes, and then find that nice, long, opening stretch from end to end, reaching your fingertips, your arms back. Then your knees up, plant your feet down, roll over to one side, just passing through a fetal position, and then using your hands, your arms to press yourself up to your meditation seat.

And as you come up to your meditation seat, resting your hands to the tops of the legs, sitting up tall, and find these last few moments of slowness of silence. And gather your palms, to touch in front of the heart, and thank yourself for showing up for this practice. Thank you so much for sharing your energy with me today. Namaste.