Mimosa

Greetings, friends. Welcome back to good morning yoga. What's in your kappa or your champagne flute because this morning is a mimosa. Practice. And love for you to have a bolster in a couple of blocks because we'll slow roll into it. Typically, when we enjoy a mimosa, There's a celebration on hand or a holiday, or maybe it's been preceded by a late night. Who knows what it is? But we'll move into this light and bubbly practice with a little restoring flow.

So let's start on our backs with the bolster underneath your knees. And find a mini Chivasanee here. It's just a mini Chivasanee because we won't be here for long, but it's spread out and open up the palms, let the soles of the feet breathe, take a deep breath in, exhale completely, exhale through the mouth, and allow your awareness to just bubble up into the heart and feel that light opening as you breathe. As an invitation to your practice. Right? Our breath is that through line that brings us internal connects the mind to the body, to the heart, soul, and spirit. So just start to focus on your breath.

And take 3 of the deepest breaths you've taken all morning all day right here. So full inhale. Keeping the lips lightly sealed through the nose, res, and an exhale. Establishing a gentle UJai breathing as you inhale. And as you exhale.

On your next inhale, reach your arms over your head. Reaching through the fingers and toes stretching out to your full length, maybe lifting the feet up off the ground, pressing the back so the knees into the bolster. And exhale, softly bend the knees. Let's lift our hips, and we'll slide our bolster in right underneath our pelvis. So we elevate the pelvis right knee draws in left leg drapes down, coming into a passive so as release here.

So draw the right knee towards your shoulder. And notice that that pulls the pelvis back into a slight posterior tilt, allowing your left femur bone to relax. It's a holiday. It's a day off. At least for this moment. Massaging your right femur bone to the inside and outside of the rib cage, and then bring it across in a little twist, wringing it out a bit.

And let your weight gently pour off the edge of the bolster so that knee might come down below the edge of the bolster if it feels good to you. Come back to the center, float the right foot up, give it a little flex point, and then change sides. Right leg drops down. Left knee pulls in. Gentle massage here as we ease into our body this morning.

Just kinda noticing what's going on. Lengthening through the right heel, pulling left knee in, full body breath, exhale, poured over to the other side. Sample twist. As that top knee drops down towards the bolster or below the level of the boast bolster. Such a great relief and release for the low back and sideways full body breath in right here.

Excel come back to the center extend left leg to sky, give it a little flex point, and then pull both knees into your chest keeping that bolster really well supporting the sacrum and low back and will come into happy baby as you take your feet apart and draw the knees down the support of the bolster gives you a little extra release into the lumbar spine. So the tailbone, the pubic bone is actually curled up, We're in a really deep posterior tilt here and just breathe. And exhale release, draw the knees to the chest. Feet come down to the mat. Lift your hips.

We'll slide the bolster out of the way for a moment. It's coming back soon. Don't worry. And then rock on up to a comfortable hands and knees. And we'll take our bolster back into the situation and incorporate it into our flow. This morning. So come up into downward facing dog.

And depending on you, your head might rest against the bolster, it might float up above it. You can also stack another one on top, but it is nice to have a little bit of contact here with something. So you might even grab a couch cushion and stack it on top of your bolster. And then just bicycle pedal through the feet and knees. Let your tail wag a little bit.

Let it be a little bit loose and playful in the lower body. And we'll start to shimmy the feet up alongside the bolster coming all the way up towards the hands, bend the knees, inhale lift up halfway. It's a generous art of uttanasan. And then exhale release and let it sway a little bit from side to side. Let your hair down.

Relax through the neck. Let the knees bend a little bit and come back to the center, inhale halfway, unwound the spine. Find that brightness, exhale release. And then let's roll up the spine nice and slow. And every so often I teach this wonderful group of kids at the art lab local to where I live. And whenever we come up from our salutations, we have a moment where we clap over our head for mind.

We clap the thighs for body. We clap at the heart for spirit, and then we take a deep breath in. Exhow, and it's a little bit playful. We'll take that together as you, and I'll reach up 1, 2, 3, and then take a deep breath in. And exhale release.

Circle the arms out and at full body breath. Pause here for a moment with the arms wide. Lift up through the chest. Slight backbend here, bubble up through the heart, and then keep it open and vibrant as you exhale big swan dive all the way down, step back to plank. We're hovering right over the bolster.

And then guess what? We're lower down onto it. Oh, back to restorative land. Inhale is supported COBRA. Feels really nice. And then exhale, soften everything down, turn the head the opposite way. Inhale, supported cobra, reach through the legs, lift the heart, exhale, soften, turn the head.

One more time. Inhale. Supported bone supported by the bolster, exhale. Release. And then press back to child's pose. And I love to kinda slide the bolster in, wrap my arms underneath, and you can turn your head to one side or the other and take a moment here.

It's slow roll. Breathing into the low back. Release the breath. And we'll keep it moving. We'll stay in this mellow exploration, but we're gonna sweat out some toxins a little bit.

So let's lift the hips up. And come back into our downward dog. Inhale to your toes, bend the knees, look forward. Nice and light, hop the feet around the bolster. And this time, come down into a little yogic squat. So you can press the elbows against the inner knees, hands to the heart.

It can be a little bit higher if the knees don't like to go that low. But come to the area place that feels good. You might even sit on the bolster for a little support here. Full body breath in. Exhale forward fold spin the feet parallel.

Inhale halfway extend long through the spine. Let it be kind of floaty. Excel release roll up. We get those 3 claps. 1, 2, 3. Take a deep breath in.

It gets your attention. Excel release. Circulate up. Come to that high open v, almost like a champagne flute. And then exhale circulate the arms down. Lift the heart halfway.

Step back to plank and lower down once again. Onto the bolster. This time float your cobra into Shalabasana, lift the legs, reach the arms wide. Palms are facing the earth. And float here.

Feel free to go for a little swim, bending one knee, and extending the opposite arm forward. A nice little bit of work for the back core, kind of a moving down your asana. And then go ahead and reach opposite hand back to opposite foot. See about grabbing it and lift up here through the heart. Lift up through the thigh. Feel that.

Brightness, but the support of the earth beneath you. And as you exhale, we can release and just take a moment. No rush. Relax the center of the forehead down onto your stacked hands. Breathe into the low back.

Exhale. Let it go. Come back up to that floating shalabhasana, lifting arms, chest, thighs, feeling the back core engaged, and then go for a little swim here, bending one knee, sweeping opposite arm forward, feeling the back core engaged, swimming through the bubbles, and then extend opposite arm forward. We'll take the second side here. As we grab. For me, it's my left hand or right foot. Maybe you already did that side and just take a breath of fresh air into the quadricep So as your hip flexors exhale.

Let it go. Deep breath into the back body. Exhale release into gravity. Let's slide our hands right next to the bolster. We're gonna realign the thigh bones to the center.

Tops of the feet flat and inhale start to come up through your COBRA to your upward facing dog. Exhale, float it back to down dog. And we'll kind of frame our bolster here with hands and feet. So it's right in the middle of the mat. Take your right foot to the midline and inhale the left leg to the sky. So we're starting with our left leg.

As you exhale, draw your knee forward, come up high onto the ball of your right foot, and then pivot almost like you're going to fall in triangle. The left leg comes through, and we have a seat. What? We have a seat on the bolster. This feels right. Bring the sole of the right foot to the inner thigh, inhale lengthen, turn your heart towards your left, and then take a bow coming into a bit of a rotated, John Usher Sussima. And you're welcome to completely surrender here and relax snuggling into your left leg or you can keep it a little more bubbly and buoyant, a little more active. It just depends on how you're feeling today.

Maybe it's a combination of the 2, feeling that little articulation through the spine as you lift in lower. One more breath. And then to come out of this, take your arms up over your head, We'll come into a wild thing, but it's it's wild because we're in a different position. Usually, we're lined up with the mat. We're sideways to it.

Going rogue here, take your left hand behind you, come up onto the ball of your right foot, and then flex and go to the edge of the long leg foot. From here, we lift the hips, lift the heart, open up through the chest. As you exhale, sit it back down. Let's take that again. Inhale. Edge of the foot, ball of the foot lift, exhale, melt it back down.

Just floating to the top once more. Inhale. Rising. Exhale. Let's climb all the way back through to our lined up downward facing dog. Shift forward to plank. Lower down.

Ah, surrender. Your choice COBRA with the pelvis supported upward facing dog with the thighs supported, exhale, downward dog, resetting. And just keeping this kind of light playful quality, right leg rises, bubbles up to the surface. Exhale draw the knee through and almost like you're going to fall in triangle because you are. Send it through.

Have a seat on your bolster and open the left knee. We'll reach up on an inhale, exhale turn the spine to the right your choice melting forward and hanging out here completely relaxed or keeping it active, elongating through the spine. Maybe it's a combination of the 2, and there's a ripple, natural intuitive movement, as you breathe and move from an activated spine to a released relaxed spine. One more breath here. Stay for the exhale.

Come back up on an inhale, reach to the sky. We come into that asymmetrical wild thing. The right hand comes down. Come onto the ball of the left foot. And roll to the edge of the long leg foot inhale reach up into your wild thing.

Hey. And then come all the way back down. Twice more. Inhale. Floating to the surface. Light, bubbly, playful. Exhale. Back down.

One more time. Inhale to rise. And we get a little technical here as we climb back to our downward facing dog. No big deal. Hanging out either in your down dog or feel free to return to that supported child's pose.

And coming on back as you're ready, let's change the orientation of our bolster. So that it's perpendicular to the mat. So we have lengthwise now, and we'll come back up into our downward facing dot. So working with it from a different orientation, stepping the feet close together, we're leading with the left leg today, a little bit different, Open the hips, bend your knee, and then circulate your knee forward, turn it out, and land in pigeon pose with your pelvis supported by the bolster. Let's lift through the chest.

Fingertips can come to the bolster and then exhale to melt forward and down. And I love to use a block here to support my head. Give my third eye a little rest. And just relax into this shape. 3 deep breaths.

Last one is you inhale start to rise. And let's gather our blocks and bring them into the the picture here. We'll make our way into a runner's lunge. So curl the back toes under, press into the blocks and see about lifting up into plank. With your knee floating, your foot floating, then step it forward and lower the back knee down. So we just reset everything into a low lunge, turning the blocks tall, lift through the heart, so feel the foundation through your palms as you lift through the chest.

And stay here for a moment. Letting the heart rise up towards the surface. As you exhale, shift your hips back. Straight in front leg, and here's an opportunity to slide and wiggle your way towards Hanuman. So wiggling forward forward forward.

It's a long wiggle. And sliding. Oh, onto the jute rug into your expression of Hanuman. Holy moly. And sometimes it takes some emotion to get yourself into a shape like this.

You surprise yourself that, woah, where am I? What's happening right now? Did that just happen? Any amount. Right? So many of us are not coming down this low. Some of us are staying a lot higher or anywhere in the middle. It's all good. What we're looking for is that sensation, some sensation in the hamstrings, and a little bit of sweetness. So let's be here for a moment or 2 wherever you are. It's nice to have the support of the bolster.

It's nice to have the the hand rest of the locks. And when you're ready to come out of it, use the strength in the upper body, use the lift in your core, pull up and back into your runner's lunge. I forgot to curl my back toes under. So let's do that. Now from here, we shift into a standing split, and we'll take both blocks forward.

Bring your feet together for a moment, and we'll give ourselves a little bit of an assist here by stacking our blocks to create a taller platform. Coming back to what feels like Warrior 3 extending right leg back, right hand is down, And then bend both knees, reach back, and hold on to the big toe side of your right foot, start to lift your thigh. Lift your chest, finding that art of Dania Rossina, same shape we were in laying on the bolster. Exhale. And if you're not grabbing your foot, you can still lift and extend and lower and bend.

It's just like those champagne bubbles bubbling up. To the surface and releasing one more time. Inhale. Nice, big back bending shape. Exhale. Release your feet forward fold. Inhale halfway.

Exhale. Let it go. Bend the knees roll up all the way to standing. We have that little 3 clap opportunity for mind. Bye. Spirit. Take a deep breath in.

This little jazz hands exhale. Bring it down. Inhale. Reach all the way up. Excel forward fold. Let it go. Take your blocks.

Let's play some next to the bolster once again, and we'll step back into plank. So we're on these high blocks for a moment. And just feel into your plank here. Feel some strength through the core, through the thighs, some steadiness through the jaw, Let's float the right leg up just an inch or 2, feeling a little steadiness, and then set it down. Left leg floats up.

Just putting yourself back together here. Exhale. Set it down. Both feet float up. Go. I'm not gonna demonstrate that.

Okay. Lower the knees. Set the blocks to one side. And let's come back up into downward facing dog. We'll take our right leg to the sky because we're mixing it up a bit. Second side is right leg.

Open the hip, bend your knee, and then take a big circulation forward, go across the bolster, towards the left elbow, turn it out to the right and find your pigeon. Oh, here it is. Yes. Feels good to drop back down. Lift through the chest. Turn the center of the backside in and then start to melt it forward and down. And maybe you give yourself that little headrest again.

Relaxing, dropping into that feeling of holiday. Of celebration. What are you celebrating today? Could simply be just this opportunity to take this time for yourself this morning. To dust off for the day, to refresh, to lighten up a bit. Couple breaths here.

On your next inhale, start to lift up through the heart. Walk the hands in. And set both blocks up underneath your shoulders. We're coming up into that powerful plank where we lift and hover our foot. So back toes curl under.

I gotta make a little space here for my blocks. Pore some weight into the hands, lengthen through the arms, lift, and step your right foot forward. Reset the back knee in a runner's lunge. Deep breath in as you lift the heart, feel that foundational back bent, as you exhale straight in the front leg. This is Hanuman right here.

This is a split. Go into it with enthusiasm. That's been one of our key words these last couple practices, enthusiasm. It's one of the keys to happiness. Also acceptance is another one, accepting like, hey.

This is where I'm at. It's good. And then, enjoyment would be the final key according to Eckhart Tole. So wiggle your foot forward to as far as you can to still enjoy it. That's the key. Keep on going.

And hanging out in that place that's appropriate for you. Taking a few breaths there in your Hanuman Getting into the sensation. Just enough. That's the key. Just enough. So coming out of this one, curl the back toes under, press into the blocks, lift up into that powerful runners lunge, And then we shift forward into our standing split moment, taking the blocks forward, lifting your left leg.

We'll step the left foot to the right. Take a moment here to stack your blocks over to the left and then sweep your left leg up once again. So we have that warrior 3 foundation. From here, bend your back knee, bend your bottom knee. Maybe you grab your foot.

Maybe not. It's cool. Either way. And then we string the bow. If you hold your foot, you're lifting it up bow style, softening down. If you're not holding your foot, you're extending and expanding. And then softening back in. Inhale.

Open up. Feel the buoyancy through the heart, through the thigh. Exhale. Soften. Inhale expand bubble up to the surface. Let it be kinda light.

Exhale. One more time. Inhale. Open it up. Let it feel good. And then to come out of this one, will step the feet in front of the bolster, turn the toes out, and have a seat, Malasana, Take a moment here, turn the bolster lengthwise.

Oh, yes. That feels good. And then sit back. And let's float our feet. Finding a little Navasana moment, wiggle your hips into that bolster, make sure it feels kinda even. And then keeping the feet well above the height of the blocks will lower and extend.

And then pull. Oh, wait a minute. Is this part of the mimosa flow? Yes. It is. We're gonna lower it down. Arta Nevassana.

Pull back up. Just saying hello to the core for a moment. Lower down. Anna. And then open the knees. Badakanasana, bringing the soles of the feet together, lift through the heart, pour forward.

Ah, surrender. Here's your head rest. Build it up as high as you'd like so that it feels nice. Like, you can hang out for a while. Enjoy 3 deep breaths here.

Last brass. Slowly come on up to seated. So option before we go to Shavas in a final posture here, for some of us, we'll take the legs wide into a supported wide leg forward fold, opening up adductors. And, oh, hey. Look at this. Got a little chin rest right here. Great. This is one option.

Another option would be headstand. We practice this in one of the previous sequences at the wall or center floor. Headstand is an excellent posture for, we'll call it clearing the morning fog that sometimes we get when we wake up. You know, most days I wake up pretty clear, but there's a time where I haven't had a good night's rest, and maybe I've been a little restless the night before and headstand is the magic medicine. So if you'd like to come up into your sheer sassana, you can set up at the wall, You can set up here. I love to actually give myself a little extra padding and come down and measure this little extra thickness in the mat just makes it feel much nicer on the crown of my head.

So we'll lace the fingers, draw the chin to the chest, perching right on your crown. And I've kinda got my bun right here that I can hold on to as I lift up and walk my toes in. This might be your headstand. You might hang out right here. Maybe one knee might lift as you press into your elbows and forearms.

Maybe the other knee lifts, and that can be your headstand. Doing this at the with the support of the law is fantastic. A breath or 2 could be plenty for you if you'd like to stand the legs long up to the sky, floating like bubbles to the surface through the legs. You're welcome to. Option, if you're center floor and your heads tend to split the legs, One leg reaching into your gaze point, one leg reaching back behind you, and then twisting slightly. Taking the shape of your body. Like, it's this beautiful champagne flute and just twirling it towards one side and then slow motion.

Helicopter, working with control to switch the scissoring of the legs, and taking it over to the other side. These are just options. If you're working with that range of motion in the legs, you can continue to play, working with steadiness, If you're at the wall, you can start to make your way down. Me becoming through baddakonasana, bringing soles of the feet together, the knees open like a diamond, drawing the knees in, and then slowly stepping down and coming into your child's pose once again, unfolding your mat and surrendering. 3 good breaths right here.

Slowly reach the arms forward. Come on up to hands and knees. And let's cross the ankles sit back. Scoot your hips forward. Yes. What? You made it back to Shavasana, where we started.

Only difference here is we'll set up our bolster lengthwise behind us for the very gentle and super delicious supported back then. So scooch your hips forward enough that you can tilt the tailbone under as sacrum is on the mat, and then relax the rest of your spine over the length of the bolster. So that your waist, ribs, shoulder blades, and the back of the head are supported. Arms are wide. Legs are wide. Close your eyes.

And take a free and easy breath into the heart. A light leisurely slow inhale. Exhale. Relax. Enjoying.

Releasing. Slowly start to bring your awareness back into your body. Send a little bit of movement to your fingers and your toes. Ankles and wrists. Stretch your arms over your head behind you reaching along to your full extension.

Excel, bend your knees. Place your feet flat on the mat and take a couple windshield wipers of your knees from side to side. Just kinda walk in your hips a little lower away from the bolster. And the next time your knees rock over to the right, just roll over onto one side and press your off up to a comfortable seat, perhaps sit right on top of that bolster. Wonderful support system.

And thank you very much for being here this morning and joining me with your enthusiasm and your enjoyment. I hope you feel fantastic, light, bubbly. And thank you for being here.