Slow and Steady

Hi. This is slow and steady. It's considered a luxury to slow down in the world that we're living in today. So I wanna offer that to you. What you need for this practice is, and these are all optional, a block, a blanket, you can grab pillows, whatever you have at home, I'm gonna be using the wall today, but you can use your couch, your bed, whatever works for you. So let's go ahead and set up in this position, Verasana.

I'm gonna go ahead and use my block. I'm placing this block the wide way in between my ankles for my bones. And then on top of that block, I'm gonna put a blanket just to give myself more support. So if this is not comfortable, you can always take a different position lying down on your back or just seat it. When you're ready, you can close your eyes.

Just notice the space you're in. Temperature and sounds. And then start to notice your body and this posture, whatever posture you're in. Begin to inhale more deeply. And exhale more fully.

And we'll just do that a few more times. Inhaling, slow, filling up all the way to the top of your lungs, pause, An exhaling, completely emptying, emptying, emptying. And one more. And then blinking your eyes open, we're gonna go into one of my favorite breath practices called Nadi Shodina, and it means alternate nostril breathing. I do this breath every day, and it really does help soothe your nervous system, reset, regulate.

So you're gonna use your right hand to fold your index and middle finger into the palm of your hands. If that's not possible, use your thumb and your index finger. We'll bring the elbow just on top of the chest for some support. Place your thumb just slightly against the right side of your nose so that you can inhale through your left side. You'll take your ring finger over to the left side, lift the thumb, exhale through the right.

Inhale. Right? Exhale. Left. You can close your eyes in how left. Excel. Right.

And how right? Excel left. Keep going at your own pace. As you become more and more comfortable with this breath practice just starts to notice your breath on the inhale slows down. And then as you exhale, it's not a forced exhalation, but also one that is slow.

And gentle. When you exhale through that left side, lower your right hand and just take a moment. Breathing again through both nostrils. Perhaps even feeling that slight shift that takes place when we focus on our breath, and we do these breath practices that really support that mental shift, emotional shift, into the present moment. So from here, blink your eyes open.

Let's make our way onto all fours. So we're in a tabletop position. Once you're in your tabletop position, your hands are gonna be separated, shoulder width apart, spread your fingers. Your knees are hip width. On your inhale, draw your chest forward.

And as you exhale around your spine, In hell to arch. Exhale as you round. Couple more times. Nice and slow in held chest forward. Maintained just a slight lift of your waist, your abdomen towards the spine.

And as you exhale around your spine, one more inhale. Round the spine exhale. And then from here, let's come into child's pose to separate your knees a little bit wider than your hips. Take your sit bones back towards your heels. You can rest your elbows to the mat.

You could even place your hands underneath your forehead. Just stretching out your hips. I think of child's pose as the ultimate surrender pose. So really taking the conscious effort here to surrender whatever it is. You wanna offer it to your vet, to the posture, release.

And then from here, lifting your gaze, arms stretch out forward. So your elbows are off the mat. We're gonna come into downward facing dog from here. Tuck your toes, lift your hips up and back downward facing dog. Do whatever feels good in your body in this moment.

Feel your palms anchoring into your mat, your inner arms lifting, from your outer upper arms towards the arm bones. Find a little more stillness for one full cycle of breath. Then inhale as you come up high on your toes, bend your knees, look forward, and step up to the top of your mat. Your hands can come to your outer shins as you lift up pathway inhaling. And exhale fold.

Firmly press your feet into the earth, inhale rise. And exhale hands to your heart. We're gonna do a little bit more movement in how to reach up breathe and forward fold exhale. Come up halfway inhale. We're gonna step back with our right foot so your fingertips can touch down onto the mat as you bring your right foot back.

I'm gonna say maybe move your left foot a little bit to the left, so you're not in a tight rope. Your back knee lowers to the mat. You can always fold your mat on that rate side. If you have any sensitivity on your or you're on a hard surfaced floor. And then from here, let's lift the arms coming into a low lunge.

Just lifting here a little bit of your low belly towards the navels. You're not compressing into your lower back. You wanna track your knee either above the ankle or slightly behind it, not too far forward. Lift your arms, lift your gaze, take one more breath, inhale. And as you exhale, lower your hands to your mat, lifts that back knee step back to plank.

If you're not into Dewey and Chaturangas today, you can always just go back to downward facing dog. Otherwise, inhaling here. Your niece can lower to the mat if you need more support as you exhale all the way to the mats. Point your toes back in hell for cobra, lift your chest. And then exhale downward facing dog.

Hi, toes, inhale. Step your right foot forward as you exhale. Place the left knee down on the mat. And make sure you're not in a tight rope. Your back toes can be curled under or you can always do toes on the mat.

If you want your back foot flats, pad that back knee if you need that extra padding and then inhale to arms up. And you wanna protect your lower back. There's that slight lift of your hip points towards your two bottom ribs, and then your two bottom ribs are drawing down towards your hit points. You can lift your gaze and hail here at exhale as your hands lower to the mat. Lift your back knee.

Step your left foot forward. So you're at the top of the mat. Inhale to lengthen halfway up shifting a little more weight forward towards your toes, exhale refold, And how as you rise, exhale hands to your heart. Reach up, breathe in, forward fold, breathe out, Halfway up. Shoulders pull back.

Step your left back again. Left knee lowers. Inhale into that low lunge. Exhale your hands. Come down to the mat.

You can step back for a plank pose or a downward dog. Those of you who are shifting forward for Chaturanga, you can lower all the way down or halfway. Choose your preference in how cobra or upward facing dog. I'm choosing up dog. So press your hands into the mat.

Press the top of your feet into the mat, exhale downward facing dog. High toes and nail. Step your left foot forward. Place your right knee on the mats. On your next breath in, rise to a low lunge.

Exhale your hands to the mat, lift your back knee, step your right foot forward unfolds halfway up lifting inhale. Fold exhale. Rise on your inhale. Hands to your heart. We'll do that one more time, and I'll reach up breathing in.

Exhale folds. Inhale halfway up. We're stepping the right foot back, lower the right knee to the mat, like a crossword puzzle for the brain to remember which foot goes back inhale, exhale, lower your hands, lift that back knee, plank pose, or down dog in Helen Plank, shift forward to lower all the way or halfway. Cobra or upward facing dog, fill your lungs, shoulders back, exhale downward facing dog. Hi, toes, inhale.

Right foot forward, left knee lowers as you exhale. Inhale. Low crescent, exhale hands to the mat, step your left foot forward fold. Halfway up inhale, forward fold, exhale, rise, breathing in, Join your palms to your hearts one more time, stepping that left foot back and nail. Arms up.

And exhale fold. Halfway up, breathing in. Feel so good to move our bodies, left foot back, left knee lowers in hello, lunch. Exhale hands return to the mat, your choice, Vinyasa, or downward facing dog. The last time with the left foot inhale high toes, Left foot forward, right knee lowers, inhale reach up, exhale your hands, come down to the mat, Left that back knee and step up top of the mat.

Halfway up, breathe and forward fold, breathe out. In hell as you come up. Hands to your hearts. And just pause for a moment. Let your arms rest alongside your body and just feel your heart, your pulse, your breath, and we're gonna step out wide.

So taking your feet about one legs distance apart on your mat for prosarita, You're gonna pigeon toe your feet in slightly. Press the feet down from the outer ankles in. So you wanna feel like your inner legs are lifting up. Hands are on your hips from here in hell as you lift your chest, draw your tailbone down and your pubic bone up. Gonna lift your gaze.

And as you exhale hinging from your hips, start to forward fold. So naturally when we do this pose, or hips go all the way back, but you actually wanna feel that you are shifting more weight forward towards the mountains of your big toes and peaky toes. Once your hands touch down, you can decide either hands stay underneath your shoulders if that's a better alignment for you. And those of you who wanna walk your hands back so that your fingertips along or alongside your toes and your arms look a little bit more like Chaturanga arms. So your elbows can bend.

If you're feeling like you can take your feet out a little bit wider. You can do that. Let your head hang. Your neck is relaxed. Think here of, like, firm and your side hips towards the midline of your body.

Maybe your head touches down onto the mat. It's certainly not the goal. We'll take 2 more breaths here. And then if your hands are back, walk them forward so they're beneath your shoulders. We're gonna come up halfway, inhale, maybe your feet need to come in so you can heal, toe them in a little bit closer together, hands on your hips, and from here, from your side hips to rise.

And step your feet in. So you're in mountain post, tadasana. From here, let's move to whatever wall space you have. So if you don't have any wall space, many times I've done this post by just taking my feet over the couch and getting as close to the couch as I can. So depending on what your space looks like, if you can get to a wall, you're gonna move your mat there and align it right up against the wall. From here, best way to get into this against the wall So if you're using another if you're using a couch, just swing your legs over.

But otherwise, if you are gonna be using the wall, just get as close to the walls you can. You're going to lie down on your back and then from here, swing your legs up the wall. So we're coming into the burrito Karani. Just Literally just lays up the wall pose. I like to place my sit bones against the wall so I get as close as I can to the wall.

But if that doesn't work for your body, you can always scooch back. You can also bend your knees if you have, tight hamstrings. Once you're here, your arms can rest alongside your body. Another way to position your hands is just clasping your fingers over your abdomen, which could feel really nice just to have some weight over your your abdomen over your navel. So choose the best position for your arms.

And when you're ready, you can close your eyes. And just start to feel what is happening in your body, just the feet, You have any, like, tingling sensation in your feet as we're reversing the flow? The natural, blood flow of our body. So it's going in the opposite direction. Feel the touch points of your body that are making contact with the mat or the floor.

So allow the upper body to be heavy to drop in to the support that is beneath it. Bringing your attention to the nostrils and your breath. Just feeling the air of your inhalation, touching the nostrils, moving in on the breath in. And feeling the air moving out on your exhale. And if it resonates with you to join me in practicing mental, alternate, nostril breathing.

You can imagine that you're inhaling through the left nostril. And exhaling through the right. Imagine inhaling through the right. And exhaling through the left. And just continue on your own.

Release the alternate nostril breathing, the mental alternate surprating. Just come back to regular breath in and out through the nose. From here, if your eyes are closed, blink them open. We're gonna join the soles of the feet together. So the knees are parted wide.

Is this a nice way to open the hits? If you have a lot of space and you'd rather take your legs out wide, you can do that if you have a lot of wall space. But either way, whether your soles of the feet are together or your legs are straight and out. This is just a nice way to open the inner thighs, outer hips. Dropping into that luxury of slowing down.

Creating this steadiness and ease. And the mind and the body. And before transitioning out, so you'll take a full breath to breathe all the way down into the pit of the belly to filling up all the way. And complete full exhale. If your legs are out straight, just bend the knees, and we'll place the feet on the wall. Or if you're on your couch, you're just gonna scoot yourself back.

So with your feet on the wall, scoot yourself away from the wall. And then your feet will lower onto the mat. We're gonna cross the right leg over your left and take a twist, shift your hips over to the right, drop your knees to the left. You're welcome to extend your right arm to the right. And then back to center, switch the crossing of your legs, left over right, hips to the left, knees to the right, Come back through the center, bring your knees into your chest.

We're gonna end class seated today. I'm gonna invite you to sit against the walls so you have that support of the wall. You can also sit on your blankets. If you don't have a wall, just sit on your mats. Whatever is available and just take a moment in stillness.

Imagining that your body is a container. And that you've just filled your container with all of this life force energy. Sustainable energy. Imagine it for and abundantly flowing through your whole body. And for the remaining part of your day, Just going into it with the awareness of knowing who you wanna share that energy with.

How, when, and on what? So really being discerning, or making the choices that really align with how you want to share your energy. Let's join our palms together in front of our hearts merging the right and left sides together. Finding our center bowing the chin towards your heart. Elena, deep gratitude for choosing to slow down.

Inhale deeply. Excel fully. Namaste.