Balancing Strength and Ease

Welcome to balancing strength and ease, or if you really wanna impress your friends in their yoga circles, and Suka. More on that to come. For now, grab two Blocks and grab a strap, and then come meet me on your mat if you're not already there. We'll start out today in my favorite place, lying down. Have your block, at least one of them, in reaching distance.

Bend your knees. Place your feet on the ground as wide as your mat. Turn your toes slightly in and invite your knees to fall toward each other. If you're feeling any muscular effort through your inner thighs, take one of your blocks and place it between your inner knees so your legs have something to rest against here. If you feel a little stuck in your lower back, try looking your feet a little bit further forward until the little things soften till they let go. And then invite your arms to fall wherever you feel the greatest ease.

If your mind is busy or a little scattered today, consider resting your hands on your front body to anchor you a touch more. Your choice you can close your eyes, or if you prefer find a point to softly focus on, now that you've physically arrived, Give yourself a moment to do so mentally. Observe the quality of your breath. Expanding its reach with each cycle. So that your in house take up a little more space and your ex house stretch and length to match.

And as you settle into self, maybe take a moment to set an intention for the practice ahead. Why this now? Once you have that gathered, you can either join me in an opening home or simply take it in. Nice full breath in. Blink your eyes open if you close them.

If you place the block between your knees, set that block off to the side. And then heel toe your feet toward each other until they're about the distance of your front hit points. Open your arms straight out to the sides as you parallel your feet. And then teensy tiny little movement here just starting to open those areas where we get stuck through the shoulders, through the chest, reach your right hand to the right, and then relax that effort. And again, tiny little movement here.

Reach to the right, and relax. And do this a couple times at a pace that feels right in your body. Unsticking those areas through your chest, through the top of the arm, that sometimes feel a little stuck. And relax. And let's do the same thing to the second side. Reach, left arm to the left, and relax.

Continue at your own pace. And remember, this movement is very little. Not enough reach to pull your body off of the midline it's on right now. Just getting into the stuck places. And release.

Lower your arms down by your sides, and we'll do the same thing here. Only now, reach toward your feet and relax. Small movement. Again, not enough to pull your body to the side. Just bringing your shoulder gently away from your ear.

Take 2 more. And then rest the right side as we work the left. Reach left hand toward the feet. And relax and continuing the movement. And I love little small movements like this, and this beautiful reminder of The big difference that small changes, small adjustments to our life, to our body, can bring.

Relax, reach both of your hands up to the sky, and now clasp pulled of opposite elbow. And now imagine that your arms are like a little typewriter. I say this, but some of you may have never seen a typewriter before. Am I dating myself bring your elbows over to the right. And this is the typewriter. You know, you're typing one direction.

And now it's time to reset and come back center. Do that same thing over to the right. And come back center. Continue this movement at your own pace. No rush.

And now we're getting the outer upper back. In the outer border of the shoulder on the left side. Take one more of this direction. And come back center. I guess now we're gonna type the other way, bring your elbows over to the left.

And back center. Continue moving this direction a few rounds. Again, just getting now into those sticky edges through the back of the upper arm, the outer border of the shoulder. And come back center. Reach your hands up to the sky, switch the clasp of your forms, opposite elbow on top, creating a bit of balance here.

Scoop the pit of your abdomen in to create some length and support in your lower back. Draw your front ribs down and in, and they'll slowly forearms as close to overhead as your body will allow without strain. And just depending on your proportions, and the mobility through your shoulders, the arms may come a little overhead. For some of us, they may be resting more on the forehead. As you meet your end range of motion, notice if you arched in your low back.

Can you scoop your abdomen in once again, draw your front ribs in? And then bring your forearms back up. Stretch your hand straight up to the sky. And rotate your arms so palms face each other. Again, draw your front ribs down as you reach your arms overhead. Such nice and long through the sides of your waist. Rule carefully onto your right side.

Use your right arm like a pillow and put your left fingertips down in front of you. Press into your left hand. Look to the floor as you slowly bring yourself upright. Grab a block. Have your second one in reaching distance, just in case you decide you'd like a little bit more support.

And grab your strap. Take your block wide between your inner ankles. I like so. Add as much height as you need under your seat in order to take any pressure or strain off of your knees. And as always, if adding height isn't helping your knees, comes at cross leg during any position that you can comfortably maintain here for a little bit.

And look back at your feet, hug your outer ankles in until you see your big toes pointing straight back. Take the heels of your hands, put them on the top of your thighs. Press forward and down with your hands like you were gonna sluff the meaty part of your thigh right off of your legs. And as you press down and forward with your hands, you may feel the lower belly wants to follow. As you press your hands down, bring your abdomen away from your thighs, creating some support and length for your back.

Lift your heart and give a roll of your shoulders up and back. We imprint it, take a mental picture, try to hold it, and they'll grab your strap. Take your hands wide enough on your strap that you don't have to bend your elbows or squiggle in your shoulders at all in order to bring your arms behind you. Pause a moment here with hands about the height of your shoulders and notice if the belly spilled forward, if the ribs poked out. So saucy.

Right? Instead, scoop your abdomen in. Again, bring the lower belly away from your thighs. Draw your ribs in. As you lift and expand your chest. And then inhale, take your arms up and exhale lower in front of you. We'll do that again.

In house sweep your arms up. Try to contain your front body isolating the movement through your shoulders. And this time, take the arms all the way down behind you. Root down in how arms up. So we call these shoulder humblers.

Just continuing to get unstuck through the shoulders, through the chest. And lubricating now the shoulder joint. Only a 100 more of these should do. Or one, whichever we get to first. Set your strap to the side.

Come off of your block and set that to the side as well. Come forward to your hands and your knees. And if at any point throughout the practice, anytime we're on hands and knees, if the knees were feeling a little tender, please feel free to open a blanket underneath them. You can double up your mat for a moment, do what you need to protect your body. Plant your hands right under your shoulders.

Your knees right underneath your hips, and spread your fingers evenly wide. Shut your right leg back. Tuck your toes under and give a rock forward and back. Releasing the knee joint. And offering a bit of a stretch through your calf muscle.

And then set the knee back down. And let's do the same thing on the second side rock forward and back. And then set your knee down. Draw your heart forward through your arms. Open your chest.

And exhale push the earth away round through your back. This is Marjariasana cat pose. And then inhale up the front of your body. Once again, open your heart. Be it again.

Push the earth away. Hollow your front body. And inhale, lift, and length, and all the way up the front of your body. One more round. Really push the ground away, round it out, like a cat.

And inhale. Bring your heart through your arms. Open your chest. Return yourself to a neutral spine, tabletop, varmintasana, and then walk your hands about 3 inches ahead of your shoulders. Parallel the creases of your wrist to the top of your mat. And spread your fingers evenly wide.

Inhale, glide forward. Lift your heart once again. Open your chest like cow pose. Exhale. Tuck your toes. Lift your knees.

Take your hips up and back. Downward facing dog. As you've come into this first down dog of our practice, you can pedal your heels up and down, or even shift your hips side to side. Using a bit of movement here can sometimes help us return to the stillness with greater ease. So over your next few breaths, settle into stillness And if you're feeling like you're rounding through your spine or pulling through your hamstrings, bend your knees generously.

Keep the bend and try to reach your sit bones to that space where the wall and ceiling meet behind you. Look forward, walk your feet forward, and take as many steps as you need in getting there. Come to fingertips or hands lightly on your shin. Stretch your heart straightforward. And then exhale fold it.

Feel free to bend the knees. If you're feeling strained through back or hamstrings, and then press down in how with the length and spine rise up, reach up. And exhale join your hands at your heart. Lower your arms by your sides. Grab your strap.

And come meet me standing in the center of your mat or wherever you can best see me right now. Take your strap and place it over your right shoulder. Alexo. Reach your right arm straightforward and then send your thumb to the wall behind you. Take your hand to your tricep, to your upper arm, and wrap outer arm toward your face until your palm faces the wall at your back.

Bend your elbow and place your hand at your upper back. Take your free hand. Bring it to your elbow. Try to draw your arm in line with your ear and notice if your ribs poked out. Smooth your bum down.

Scoop your abdomen in. As you try to lengthen your arm in line with your ear. As you try, those are the key words in that phrase. If the arm doesn't go there with the ribs in, prioritize ribs in so your back is protected. This elbow can come a little more forward.

Right? Take your free arm open to the side. Rotated internally so your palm faces the wall at your back. Send the left arm behind you. Forgive me. I'm gonna turn my back to you for a moment, but I just want you to see what I'm up to back here. Slip your forearm along your back waist And you can hold here, left forearm parallel to the floor holding the strap.

Maybe you crawl your fingers a little closer to each other, And for some bodies, just depending on the mobility through your shoulders and chest, the hands may clasp, you may be more like me and keep a little bit of space here. Alright. We call these gomukastana arms, cow face arms. Before we go on to get peeked down at your feet, adjust as needed so that your feet are parallel. Spend your inner thighs back so your, knees point forward and then scoop your abdomen in sending your bum down. And notice when you've got that connection to your core, for a lot of us, there's a tendency to lose the lift in the heart.

Yoga is just really a big game of jingle with your body. So draw your ribs in, draw your abdomen in as you stretch your heart skyward. Is that enough to think about? Exhale, shift your hips to the right, lean to the left, separate your hands, or let go of your strap. Reach an opposite directions, and if it feels alright in your neck, maybe you turn and gaze skyward.

Press down, stand yourself up, sweep both arms up. And as you exh, how low were your arms by your sides. Take your strap, move it over to the second side. And this time, reach your left arm forward and up. Wrap your outer arm toward your face.

To palm faces the wall behind you, and then bend your elbow. Put your hand at your upper back. Take your right arm out to the right. Rotate it internally, so palm faces the wall at your back, bring your arm behind you, either forearm parallel to the floor. You can crawl your finger to up your back, trying to clasp fingers, or hold your strap to make up any gap in space.

Bring your abdomen in smooth your bum down as you lift through your heart center. Acts how shift your hips to the left this time lean your upper body to the right. Revolve open through your chest. And if it feels alright in your neck, turn your gaze skyward. If your neck says, but only if it said it exactly like that.

Bring your gaze forward. Separate your hands. Reach long in line with your ears. Press down slowly. Stand yourself back up.

Sweet. Both arms up and exhale. Lower them down by your sides. Remove your strap from over your shoulder, and set your strap off to the side. And now, come meet me at the top of your mat if you've ventured from that point. Once again, separate your feet, the distance of your front hit points.

Spin your inner thighs back to your feet parallel, and then bring the pit of your abdomen in. Join your hands at your heart center this time And now sit heavy into your heels. In fact, pick your toes up as you bring your bum back and down. Reach your hand straightforward. And as you try to touch the wall in front of you, can you sit back a little more?

Draw your front ribs in, lift your heart, lift your hands, only as high as you can go without spilling your lower belly toward your thighs. Katasana, chair pose, or in literal translation, fierce pose. Acts how folds to your thighs thin straight in your legs, any amount you can manage without strain, as you let your head and neck go. Inhale to fingertips or hands on your shins, reach your chest straightforward. Bend your knees enough to get your hands down and step back with your right foot. Put your back knee down if the knee feels tender, You can fold the side of your mat over, give yourself a little more cushion, or grab a towel or blanket to put underneath.

Uncurl your toes and climb up your front leg. If you feel a little wobbly here, heel toe left foot over to the left and inch or two wide in your base for added stability. Press down through the top of your back foot, the shoelay side as my friend Florence taught me to say. Root down and try to drag your back and forward and your front heel back. And when we do these in conjunction, Eventually, ideally, we reach a place where front hit points are parallel to the wall in front of you.

Put a hand on your lower belly, one on the top of your bum, Scoop in, and then press down in how reach up. Arda Anjaneyasana, half crescent pose. X, I'll take your hips forward. Bring your hands down. Tuck your back toes under.

Lift your knee and hop your back foot up to meet your front foot. Inhale to fingertips or hands lightly on your shins, pick the option that lets you fully lengthen your spine. And now, ex how bend the knees enough to get your hands down. Step back with your Left foot this time, she says, with great certainty. It's true.

Put your knee down. Patted if it's tender. Take a moment to climb up your front leg and same thing. Give yourself more space if you feel a little unsteady here. Press down to the top of your left foot.

Try to draw the action forward in your front heel back until your front hit points parallel to the wall in front of you. Bring a hand to the top of the bum, one to your abdomen, scooping, and smooth your bum down. Can you hold that shape as you circle your arms up and overhead? Arda Anjaniasana, half crescent. Exhale hips forward, hands down.

Instead of stepping forward this time, bring your front knee back just briefly moving through tabletop, Shift your feet off to one side and bring them out in front of you. Grab one of your two blocks. And come lie on your back. Bend your knees and walk your heels toward your bum. If you can raise your heels with your fingertips, don't come in any closer than that.

We're just trying to find a place where it feels like the knees are lined over your ankles. Take your block narrow between your upper inner thighs. And then bring your feet as close to the distance of your front hit points as your body will allow with that block in place. Okay. Thumbs on your bottom front ribs, middle fingers on your front hip points.

Draw your front hip points toward your bottom ribs like you're putting tiny suspenders on. Lengthen your lower back a little closer to the earth. Can you keep that scoop, that coil of your low belly in and now bend your elbows so your fingertips point up to the sky. And we're not aiming for a huge lift here. Just press into your heels and lift your hips maybe an inch off the ground.

Exhale, slowly set it back down. We'll do that. I once again, start with your spenders. Draw your front hit points toward your bottom ribs coil your abdomen in, lift your hips maybe an inch a half this time. And now imagine you could draw the block into your body. And then slowly set it down.

One more time. Put your suspenders on. Press into your heels, roll the block down, and then imagine you could draw it into your body, creating a little pelvic floor lift, and exhale set it down. Remove the block from between your inner thighs and place That block underneath your right foot. And if you need to roll to your side and come up to set this, please take care of yourself. Alright? Again, heel is close to aligned under your knee as you can feel in your body and as feels right in your body.

Parallel your feet so all of your toes point toward the top short end of your mat and come back to your robot arms. Scoop your abdomen in, press down through both heels, lift your hips, and imagine you could smooth your bum to touch the back of your knees. You may feel your glutes and your hamstrings wake up a little more. You're welcome. Excel.

Roll yourself back down. I hope that you all entertain yourself as much as I do myself. It's really a a joy in life that it can scoop abdomen in Yes. Into your heels. Lift your hips and roll it back down. Okay. Take your right foot off of your block. Grab the block, and let's move it over to the second side. Pick up your left foot.

Set your block underneath your heel. Even though they're on different heights, as close as you can parallel the feet to each other. Put your suspenders on, elongate through your low back. Drive down through your heels, through the back of your arms, lift your hips. If your knees start to wander, spin your inner thighs down, like you're still holding a block between the thighs, and then roll back down to the mat. One more time, press into your heels, lift your hips, smooth your bum away from your waist.

And exhale lower down. This other block you have has been feeling very lonely. So grab it. And now place it underneath your right heel. So both feet are on your blocks. And if the feet feel really far away, you can sort of pick your head up and give a look see or roll to your side and reset. If your feet are longer than your blocks, prioritize having your heels on the blocks.

It's okay if your toes hang off a little bit. And adjust as needed, so knees, again, are as close to feeling like they're aligned over your ankles as you can manage without pain or strain. Bend your elbows, making these little robot arms and press into the back of your arms this time. Walk your shoulders underneath your chest so you get a dome shape in your upper back. The heart rises.

You may notice when you got the lift in your heart that many of us over arched in the lower back as well. Can you keep the lift in your heart and now scoop your abdomen in, put your tiny suspenders on? Hold on to that. Press down through your heels and your arms, lift your hips. Imagine the block between the inner thighs.

Roll your inner thighs down to keep your knees pointing forward as you lift through your hips, rolling a little more towards the top of your shoulders. And then exhale roll right back down to the mat, one little bone at the time. If you felt any pressure or discomfort through the front of your knees here, you can walk your feet a little bit further away from your butt. If your feet felt really far away, maybe scoot your bum in a little bit closer to your blocks. So adjusting to what works for you. This time, instead of the robot arms, grab the sides of your mat, walk your shoulders under your chest, scoop your abdomen in, press into your heels, lift your hips.

Spend your inner arms toward your outer arms. So that if we weren't holding the mat, you'd rotate your arms until your palms faced up to the sky. Imagine here you could rip your mat in half hoping to open the chest and keep a little space between your shoulders. I'm gonna exhale roll it right back down to the mat. One last time, if this didn't work for you holding the sides of the mat, this time instead, come back to your robot arms.

Otherwise, We're gonna lower arms straight down by the sides with an optional add on for this last round. Press into the back of your arms, find the lift through your heart. Then the scoop of your lower belly in supporting the length through your back. Drive down through your heels. Imagine that you had a block in between your thighs.

Try to draw the block into your body. You can grab the sides of the mat. You might interlace your hands below you. Walk your shoulders under your chest a little more. Straight into the arms.

If the arms are like, I'm not going straight, either come back to the grab or rotate your arms so your palms face the sky. Press down through the length of your arms, the top of your shoulders, breathe into the expanse of your heart. And then exhale, separate the hands if they're bound, roll to the earth one little bone at a time. Rest. You can step your feet off of your blocks.

Move the blocks out of the way. And, again, if it's not accessible to reach for them, you can roll to your side. Come slightly up. And move your blocks out of the way. So that was set to banda Shah Vendasta. Very fancy way of saying bridge pose.

Bring just your right knee into your chest and then take the knee wide, like you're trying to frame your rib cage. Bring your left knee into your chest and then take the knee wide. Bring your arms inside your legs, find the front of your shins, and now draw your feet toward each other as you send your knees away from each other. So after all the neutrality in the body, it's nice to give a little opening through the hips to balance things out. If holding the front of your shins is not a thing, hold your knees or even rest your hands at your outer thighs.

If you're at a comfortable edge of resistance here, stay here. If accessible without strain, grab your right big toe with your first two fingers and thumb, and maybe straighten your right leg, just exploring. Meet your edge, exh how we bend, return right hand to where you got it from, and do the same thing on the left side. So I mentioned at the top of this practice, 2 Sanskrit words, Exhale. Repend your left knee. Draw your knees toward each other.

Give yourself a hug. Maybe drawing head towards the knees hold in a little ball, and then put your head and shoulders back down. Place your left foot down. Place your right foot down. And as we come to our final resting shape here today, you are welcome to come into a classical Shavasana here.

If you'd like to continue with a little hip opening, Grab your two blocks. Take the soles of your feet together. Open your knees to the sides, and place your props underneath your outer thighs. At any height that feels supportive in your body. Okay. Rest your hands, wherever you feel the greatest ease.

And one more time, walk your shoulders slightly under your chest. Welcoming a subtle lift to the heart as the rest of your body melts into the support of the earth below. Sashira means strength, stability, steadiness. And Souka comfort sweetness, ease or spaciousness. And these two words come up when we're talking about the 3rd limb of yoga.

Asana, the postures, And so there is an invitation that every posture should be a balance between strength and ease. And that game of Jenga, I mentioned We press one part of the body in and something pops out. When there is a balance of strength and ease, We hold steady in the midline, and a back bending shape like we built to today. We're trying to find strength through the core to protect that vulnerable area, the lower back, as we seek to find spaciousness opening through the heart. While this is maybe a little more obvious in back bins, it's something that we do in every posture throughout class.

So that, hopefully, as we learn to find that balance in the physical, it travels with us beyond the mat. What we're really seeking through practice is the ability to find balance of strength and ease in our life, in our minds. So that we can continue this journey. With peace and balance. If you'd like to stay here longer, please do lean into the ease.

Otherwise, take hands to outer thighs if the knees are open. Support your legs, draw your knees toward each other and place the base of your feet on the ground. If you have a block off to your right, said it out of the way. Sweep your right arm in line with your ear and roll on to your right side. And pause for a breath or 2.

And then look to the earth as you press the floor away. Confind a comfortable seat for your body. Enjoy your hands at your heart. Lift your chest. We bow our chins and gratitude.

Namaste. Thanks for sharing your practice.