Grounded and Grateful

Hi, everyone. Welcome to grounded and grateful. This class is great. If you're feeling overwhelmed or feeling as though you're not doing enough or being enough in life, So this is really going to drop us into that energy of gratitude and appreciation for what we do have. You're gonna start seated in Sukhasana.

You can grab a blanket if you need 1 or a block. That's optional. So sit with whichever shin you wanna have in front whichever is more comfortable for you, and take your hands place them on your thighs, and we'll begin with our eyes closed. Just feeling the space that you're in currently. And maybe you're lucky enough to be practicing in nature. You have a beautiful background that can connect you to nature or being outside because any time that we can connect with nature, it really does ground us and even brings us into a state of gratitude.

So as you're seated here, just bring your attention to your sit bones and imagine that your You had roots growing from the sit bones into the earth. So really anchoring yourself In fact, as you exhale, allow your sit bones to become a little heavier. As you inhale, see if you can find just a little bit more length in your spine, lifting your chest, feeling all four sides of your waist lengthening. Begin to cultivate your yogic breath as you breathe in and out through the nose. Now you're gonna turn your palms to face up.

So they're positioned in a place of receptivity. To experience gratitude, we have to be able to also receive to be receptive of the gifts, the blessings, whatever it is that you have in your life. That you do appreciate. I'm now drawing your palms together in front of your heart just to set your own personal intention here. And then lowering your hands back down to your knees.

We'll blink open the eyes if they're closed and then just begin to circle your toe torso in any direction. And linking your movement with breath. So I'm gonna suggest that you inhale as you're coming forward. And Excel as you go back. And then back to center, we'll just switch the crossing of the shin.

So Perhaps this feels a little bit more like the funkier way for you to sit and then reverse the direction. So inhale as you go forward, Excel as you go back. This is really nice too. Just feel anywhere in your body where you might feel a little bit stiff, like the stickier areas. I know for me, it's right in the lower back, hips, And then pause at center.

Let's move on to our hands and our knees table top position. So in this tabletop position, you wanna have your hands just shoulder width apart and slightly in front of your shoulders. The knees are gonna separate a little bit wider than the hips so that we have space to do our hip rolls on oral 4. So you're gonna just start to circle your hips again in any direction. There's no right or wrong way to do this. So if you feel more comfortable to close your eyes, you can. I like to linger in modified, like, variation of updog as I come forward.

Feels good in the hip flexors. You can also take it back and linger in, like, a child's pose to just feel notice the parts of your body that just need a little extra attention. And then reverse. Nice. And then back to center and pause here, bringing your needs in a little closer together from here, tuck your toes, and lift your hips up to your first downward facing dog. Take a look at your feet so they're hip width apart.

Spread your toes on the mat. Again, just grounding anchoring onto the earth. Notice your hands Your fingers are spreading white. You're rooting down through the mound of your index and thumb fingers. And while your palms are pressing down, there's this rebound effect happening in the arms as they're lifting the inner arms or lifting towards the sky.

You're welcome to straighten your legs or keep a soft bend in your knees. Take 2 more breaths. Just feeling the appreciation for the and an appreciation for an exhalation. Walk your hands all the way back towards your feet coming into uttanautsana at the back of the mat. So soft bend in your knees just to close some of that gap between your chest and your thighs.

You can grab a hold of your elbow here to give you a little more traction to stretch out your spine. You wanna shift more weight forward, so you're not so heavy in your heels. This is just gonna give you a little bit more stretch through the back of your legs. Let your head hang heavy. And then releasing your hands.

You can place your fingertips on the mat alongside your toes or hands to shins as you come up halfway, lengthening your spine, inhale here, shrug your shoulder heads back And then exhale, bring in your hands onto your hips from the side hips into the midline of your body and inhale to rise. So coming up to the top of your mat here in mountain pose, Tedasana, which, for me, it really is, like, that reminder of, like, standing on your 2 feet on this earth really anchoring yourself. I am here now. So feeling your feet in all four corners pressing down really activating the soles of your feet, the thighs firm, and press back. You can draw your tailbone towards the earth and find that slight lift of your low belly towards the navel and lifting your chest.

We'll do a few rounds of sun salute a, a inhale as you reach up, breathing in hinge from your hips, exhale forward fold. Halfway up on your inhale. You can place your hands to your shins. Step back to your first plank so that you're on top of a push up. Your shoulders are aligned over the creases of your wrists.

Firm your thighs so they're strong. Lift the sides of your belly up towards the spine. Your gaze is forward. A breath in, you can always drop your knees to the mat if you need to. As you exhale, you're gonna shift forward to lower either all the way down to the mat or maybe just halfway.

Cobra or upward facing dog pressing the palm of your hands and the tops of your feet onto the mat. If you're an up dog, lifting the shins in the thighs, exhale to downward facing dog. Take a breath in through your nose. Big breath out. In how is your high on your toes, bend the knees, and at the end of the exhale step, you can also hop to the top of your mat, if you wish, halfway up, breathing in.

Full deeply as you breathe out. In how the feet firmly press down as you rise. Draw your palms to your heart. We'll do that one more time. Inhale. Reach up.

Exhale. Fold. Halfway up, lifting. Step back to plank. You can always skip these vinyassas as you shift forward, you lower Chaturanga, your elbows draw in, inhale cobra or upward facing dog, shoulders pull back. Exhale to downward facing dog.

Press your thighs back and down dog. Draw your floating ribs in towards the back of your body. Maninhale as you stretch back. At the end of your exhale, looking forward, stepping, Oregon, hopping to the top of the mat. Halfway up, Ardo Utanasana, full deeply Utanasana.

In hell rise. Draw your palms to your heart. From here, let's move into tree pose. So in tree pose, just like in mountain pose, you wanna feel your feet pressing down starting in Tadasana. You wanna place your hands on your hips just to feel where your pelvis is in space. So your hit points are pointing forward.

We're gonna start with the, right foot on the mat. So you wanna anchor through all four corners of your right foot Bending your left knee. You'll turn the left knee out to the side, but make sure that when you do that, you're affirming your right hip in at the same time. From here, you can place your left foot inside the right inner thigh or calf and then joining your palms together in front of your heart. It's always nice to, feel good on those days for your balance, right, where you have your balance, but if you're finding that you're falling in and out, it's really okay.

Just come back. If you wanna reach your arms up and lift your gaze, you can do that. Just testing your balance further, especially if today is one of those days where you feel really balanced. And then joining your palms back together in front of your heart. Draw that left knee forward and set your left foot on the mat. Arms by your sights.

We always wanna reset and come back into mountain pose. Feeling your left foot, so rooting down through all four corners. Your hands come onto your hips, bending through your right knee, turn your right leg open to the right. So this is called external rotation of that right thigh in the socket. From the outer left hip in.

And then from that point, when you feel pretty stable, you can place your right foot into your thigh or your calf. Hands joining in front of your heart. Lifting your gaze, if you wish. Maybe even your arms go up. Staying really connected to that grounding foot.

Your left foot. Your balance is there. Lift your gaze. And then join your palms back at your heart space, reach that right knee forward, and lower your foot. Mountain pose.

Inhale, Surianamaskar a arms go up. And exhale fold. Take your time. Reaching your chest forward, breathing in. Shoulder shrug back.

Step back. Make your way to downward facing dog however you wish. Just following the breath. In how high it goes, we're gonna step the right foot forward between the hands. So we're gonna set up for that second warrior. Spin your back heel flat, you wanna align your right heel to your back arch.

And then from here, open up to second warrior. Severe. And just like that leg in tree pokes, that right leg is externally rotating. So the thigh is Turning out from the hip sockets. Track your right knee over your ankle.

It should be gazing over the second or third toe. You can draw your right hip back a little bit from an end to the midline of of the mat. And then that back foot, you're really sealing into the edge of your back foot. So the arch of your foot is rebounding. You wanna feel like that back leg is an anchor.

Steady your gaze, steady your breath, From here, we're just gonna move a little bit dynamically. You're gonna reverse it. Go back as you inhale. Keep your left hand light on that leg. And as you exhale place your right form on top of your right thigh, reach your left arm up and over.

Inhale back up into your second warrior and pause. Wait for your exhale. It will do that again. Inhale reverse it. Exhale side angle.

In how warrior 2 and exhale lower your palms to your mat. Your choice back to down dog if you wanna lower halfway or all the way, you can shut that on the upward dog or cobra. Can feel the tops of your feet and your hands pressing down, exhale downward facing dog. High toes and heel. Step your left foot forward between your hands, spin your back heel flats.

So line up heel to arch with your feet, warrior 2. So there is that Left leg that's externally rotating. You're tracking the knee over the ankle. Back leg is firm and strong. We'll move from here.

Flip your left palm in how reverse it. Exhale to side angle. So your left forearm is gonna land on top of that left thigh. You can press down a little bit onto your thigh with your elbow. Top arm up and over, inhale back up warrior 2. Stay for your exhale.

Reverse that inhale, side and go exhale. Warrior 2 inhale, circle your hands back to your mats, either through a vinyasa or straight back to down dog. And we'll meet there gift down dog as, like, the ultimate reset post. So from here, come up high on your toes. Bring your right knee towards your chest.

We're gonna set the right shin onto the mat. We're gonna set up for single pigeon here. So once you're here, you might decide that you need that blanket depending on what day it is or just what I'm doing in my life, some days I really do need that support of the blanket, especially if you're tighter. So one thing to be mindful of when you come into single pigeon is just where your knee is on your mat. You want it more at an angle. And slightly to the side versus right underneath your body.

So your shin is angled down. You can point your right toes. Your back leg is extending. And then from here, you can lower onto your forearms, and that's optional. So if you have any injuries or this is just not a a pose that you like to do, you can always come onto your back and take thread the needle.

But just notice how perhaps that energy of overwhelm or that energy of not feeling enough. Has less and less of a tug on your mind, an effect on your body. We're gonna be here just a little bit longer. So if you wanted to lower all the way down, you can. Stay anchored in your breath.

Inhaling gratitude, exhaling gratitude. And after this exhale, please come back onto your hands. If you have, a blanket underneath that thigh, slide it out to the side. We're gonna transition a little differently. So leaning into that right hip you're gonna grab the back leg and swing it forward.

So coming into Janu Shashasana, which is similar to that tree pose that we did earlier standing. But now you've got your left leg forward. Your right foot is in the right thigh. You can also place the blanket underneath the sit bones if you need a little bit more support. You need to take your hands and just tent them on the mat alongside that left thigh and lift your chest.

Coming back to that vision or imagery of the roots at the sit bones as you ground your sit bones to the earth. You're welcome to stay here or inhale for length. And as you exhale hinging from your hips, you can start to fold over your right thigh. Your fingers can crawl forward. You can grab a hold of your left foot If you are folding forward over that thigh, there is a slight twist in Janu Shashasana, a. So inhale as you lengthen here and as you hail folding over that thigh a little bit more. You're wrapping the right side of the rib cage towards the left inner leg.

Take 2 more breaths. And if your hands on your foot, release sit up, cross at your ankles, you're just gonna roll over back onto all fours, and make your way into downward facing doc. Notice the right site. The right hip, right leg, high toes, inhale, bring your left knee towards your chest. We're gonna set the left shin down for single pigeon on the left side using that prop if you need it.

The blanket under the thigh thread the needle if that's better for you for options. And then, again, angling that left shin. So you're not resting on top of the left knee. The left knee is slightly out to the left. Drop onto your forearms, if you wish, or all the way.

Sleaning into simply being grateful for the opportunity to move your body to take deep breaths. And if you did lower all the way, let's place the hands back on the mat so we can transition out of this side Move your prop to the side, lean to the left side, and bring your right leg forward. Again, similar to tree pose. Gonna flex your right foot, bring your left foot in the right inner thigh. Tent your fingers alongside your right thigh on your mats just to give you a little bit more leverage to sit up tall and how deeply Stay here or exhale folding over your right thigh.

You can grab your foot shin or ankle in Helen again, reaching your sternum forward. And going into that subtle twist, just the left rib cage drops towards the right inner leg. Take one more breath. And then inhale as you come up. Bring your left knee in.

We're gonna straighten the left leg forward for Pashimotanasana. Again, you can always set the blanket underneath the sit bones if you need. But ground your sit bones, reach up, stretch up, breathe in, exhale as you hinge from your hips, You can grab ahold of your shin's ankles or feet in how reaching your sternum forward And Excel as you fold. Drawing your chin in towards your heart. Just imagine that you're putting a lid on top of a jar, and you're just sealing in all of that good energy, that grounding, in gratitude energy inside. And then inhale as you rise, lifting your chest, and setting up for Shivasana.

So lying down on your back. Any way that is comfortable for you, Just imagine that your gently placing in a special way your body onto the earth. Layne the backside of your body. So that the front side of your body can release and soften towards the back side of your body. Release any control of your breath.

Soften the expression on your face. Begin to deepen your breath. Bring movement into your toes and fingers again. Start to bend your knees and make your way to a seated pose unless you prefer to stay on your back. You can.

Well, meat seeded and coming back to the same way we started practice earlier. Bringing your palms together in front of your heart, just spowing your chin in gratitude for showing up for doing something That is so good for your mind, body, and soul as you inhale into your heart space. Gratitude to feel the expansion of your breath and your chest and your heart. And as you exhale, gratitude, just a for everything that you have in your life, all the love, strength, The inspiration to show up, your breath, your body, We'll take one more inhale through the nose. Big exhale.

Namaste.