Spacious Spine

Hey. Welcome. So glad you made it to this session. We're gonna twist it out today. We'll start lying on the back I have a block and a strap. It'd be nice if you did too. If you don't, there's definitely a workaround.

So lying on the back, knees together, feet as wide as the mat, they're parallel pointing forward. Open the arms out to the side. Hands are shoulder height. Inhale. And as you exhale, let both knees drop to the left windshield wipers, and then breathe in hold the knees up to center.

And as you breathe out, drop the knees to the right. So you're on your own. Moving, maybe quickly or slowly, sort of borrowing your way into the body, into this time, kind of carving out this nest for yourself, this space to drop into, away from the activities of the outer world and to feel into the inner body. So as you continue to rock the knees left and right, See about rocking on the back edge of the heel. Sort of tracing the circumference of the back edge of the heel.

And you're gonna keep doing that only with the legs straight. So, you know, in your own time, you'll slide the legs out maybe wider than the mat. Let your feet point to the left. And then keep them there and bring your right hand to your right chest to your left chest, slide across your left arm, right hand on top of left hand, and then go even further, maybe your right leg reaches back and you'll unslide or reslide back onto your back, left hand, tracing the left arm, left chest, right chest, and open. Heels down. Point both your feet to the right. Left hand to the right chest, sliding across, reach past your right hand, And then unravel.

And you'll do this a few more times. So really nice to have it be very slidey and glidey. The nervous system loves to slide and glide. Maybe you've heard of a pinch nerve, but the whole nervous system likes to have space. It likes to be hydrated, and it likes to move almost like an underwater plant flora fauna. You can imagine that.

We do one more ending with this. I'm gonna call it a twist to the right, so you're feet are pointing to the right and then lying on your back and just take a breath and feel. Maybe you feel some kind of exhale, some kind of release. Yeah. Great. Then the knees, feet to the floor, knees together, ankles together, and then go ahead and bring your knees up, lift your feet up, and, you could have your knees quite well bent.

Take your knees to the left. And this time, lift your left arm and bring your left arm to your right knee. Like you were doing, side crow and then come back to center Move your knees to the right, lift your right arm, and touch your right arm outside your left knee. So you can do one arm at a time. You can keep both your arms up if that feels right.

And each time you twist, keep going. See if you can bring the knee further down the arm so closer to the armpit. It's not that your knees are trying to twist closer to the floor as much as they're trying to come closer to your arm and then down to the armpit. When you breathe out, that's when the twist happens. And when you breathe in, you come to center.

Let's do 2 more. Ending on the right side and then come on back to center and put the feet down. If you can hold your ankles, if you can touch your feet, or maybe even slide your hands under your feet. Do that. We'll take Chatus Padasana.

So heels down, lift your hips up, Tuck your shoulders underneath you. It's like bridge pose. Only your hands and feet are touching or your hands are holding your ankles. And we'll go ahead and take 3 sips of breath here moving the chest to the chin. So go ahead, breathe out, empty out, tailbone towards your knees, and then inhale a sip chast towards your chin, inhale a second sip, really broadening across the widest part of your chest, and the 3rd inhale like your collar bones rolling to the floor like you're getting on the top of your shoulders and then exhale.

Take a regular breath, and we'll do one more 3 part, voloma 1 interrupted in how. And a long exhale. Great. Release your feet. Roll down your back. So nice.

Roll up. Come to your side. Roll up to sit. And then sit in Sukhasana. So cross your shins. Doesn't matter which one.

And lean towards your right side, Maybe maybe you'll want a block? I don't know. Put a block outside your right hip in case you want it. You'll lean on to your right side so that you can ground your left elbow onto the floor. And again, we're looking to move the knee closer to the armpit than the elbow. It's totally okay if your left butt is off the floor. Your right hand on the block.

It doesn't have to be you could be on the floor breathe. And and as you exhale, push into the block and see about grounding your left buttock, while you keep the left elbow on the floor. You could keep your right hand on the block. You could bring your hands to prayer and take 2 more breaths here. So the elbow down, the knee and the arm are touching, and each exhale rolling the right ribs back and letting the left ribs go down and turning.

One more breath. Great. Sitting up, breathe in, and move the block to the other side. If you're using it straighten the legs, change the cross. And then again, so like a side bend and a twist, lift your right butt, ground your right elbow on the floor, left hand on the tall block, breathe in, And as you breathe out, again, there's a lengthening of your right sideways.

So the right buttocks drops down as the right ribs roll up. You might even be able to make a very small adjustment with your right arm to move the knee closer to the armpit to wrap some of the skin, the outer right tricep muscle around the bone, kind of an external rotation of the muscle. Maybe even your right palm turns up. One last breath. Move your left shoulder back, your left elbow back. Take your left ribs back as you inhale.

And then as you exhale, spin the skin of the belly, the flesh of the abdomen across the left thigh. Sit up. It gives you a nice breath. You know, you can imagine all of these twists like spiraling, you know, spiraling up, spiraling down, this kind of the way a tornado whirlpool would widen. Okay. Great. Let's sit on a block, sit on a block, grab your strap, make your strap into a big loop, like the length of your legs.

So you can measure that. You can put the strap on your foot and see this this strap is too long for me. I'm gonna have it, like, mid thigh If you have tighter shoulders, you're on the longer strap, and if you have looser shoulders, you know, bless your heart, Okay. Once you get that set up, so sitting on a low block, bend your right knee, and have your heel close to the block as you can get it. And then the strap is gonna go over the left foot and the right hand is gonna go behind the back. And hold the loop. We'll start with the left knee bent.

So if you can't get your right hand into the loop, you need to adjust the strap. You can have a little bend in the left knee, lift your left arm up, breathe in, And as you breathe out, kick your left foot forward and twist to the right so you could hug the front of the right knee you could drop the elbow to the outside of the knee like we have before. You might even be able to extend the arm touch your fingers to the floor. And some of you, you know, you could step on the hand, like you're stepping on the gas. See about getting the arm closer to the hip, the knee past the arm, breathe in, And then your right arm can move away from the body as you twist.

It's hard to breathe in a twist. So it might be like little sips. Nice to give yourself a moment here. Even if your initial instinct is, I can't, It might shift into, oh, I am. And then look over your left shoulder, inhale, and release.

It's wonderful. These kinds of poses squeeze out one side. And then when we release it, there's a soaking. The blood rushes in. It's really hydrating for the organs, for the spine, the discs between the vertebrae, Okay. So left heel at the block, right leg is straight.

You might need to adjust your strap you know, on the second side. That's totally cool and normal. Left hand goes in the loop, and it's nice to get your baby finger in there too. Not to be so exclusive in how the right arm lifts. And as you exhale, kick the right foot forward and turn to the left.

So again, you could just be hugging the front of the knee, elbow crease around the front of the knee, You could take the elbow to the outside of the knee. You might be able to extend the arm. You might be able to slide your fingers under the foot. So you can see on this side, there's a capacity to find some mobility in the shoulder. By moving the right hand away, the left hand away from the right hip, and deepening the twist, Give yourself one more breath.

Lift the chin. Lyft the chest, see if you can get breath into the top of the chest, like when you began in that bridge pose. Keep that as you exhale in turn. And then look right, breathe in, and release. Great.

Downward facing dog, you can move your strap aside, your block aside, And make your way. Maybe hands and knees, cat cow, so nice after the asymmetry of twisting to find this symmetrical shape. And you might feel both left and right side of the ribs, of the lungs widening as you breathe in. Sometimes I imagine a banana leaf, the way a banana leaf has that stem in the middle and the sides, unroll, open, inhale, and the front of the ribs rolling together, belting together, belly to the back as you exhale. Great. We're gonna lift the right leg.

If you need to move your left leg, you know, more to midline, do it, right leg lifts. Keep this internally rotated. As if I was pulling you by the right heel and see if you can find length in your right lower back, like really or if I was pulling you by your right ankle. And then can you make the left lower back feel the same? Kind of a wrapping of the outer left hip back.

Some of you might even feel it like a tailbone towards the left heel. Breathe in and then go ahead. Step your right foot between the hands. Drop your back knee down on Janayasana. Lift both arms up inhale.

We're gonna twist here. So take the left elbow to the outside of the right knee and hit pause. Your hands can be in prayer. Actually, put your right hand on your right hip and push the right hip down. Push the right side down.

Do internal rotation of your right leg. And see maybe even by rolling the inner groin towards the floor, you can get more armpit to the knee. You might have a block outside your left under your left hand outside your right foot, or if your hand can reach the floor, it's fine without it. You could stay like this absolutely in turn. Hands and prayer or right hand on your back waist.

You might also look down, tuck your back toes, lift your back knee. You might also sweep the right arm over ear, Pareta Pajva Konasana. Great. Both hands come down straighten both legs, hop your back foot forward just a bit enough to get your left heel down. You know, if your hands reach the floor, great. If not, do use blocks, two blocks.

I'm sorry I didn't say that initially. If you have just one block, I would put it a little bit more towards the front of your right foot and have both your hands go that way. You're still in the same, wheelhouse landscape of twisting So since wherever your hands are that you're finding length on the inhale, the ribs, and hips separating, And as you exhale, there's just a slightest turning. Right? Hip goes back and abdomen navel over the right 5. Great. Look forward, elongate, flatten the back, chest forward, breathe in.

And then you'll just pivot your feet to the left. Turn both your feet to the left, wide stance, prasadapatanasana straight in the arms as you inhale. And fold. Put your head on the floor or on your block as you exhale. You could have your hands between your feet elbows towards each other and shoulders up. You could hold the outer edge of the foot.

You could interlace your fingers behind your back. You're here for 3 more breasts. Let your shoulders go up, your kneecaps lift, Even the sides of your waist, the belly button goes up. And then walk hands under your shoulders and how lengthen look forward, pivot to the right, runners, lunge, exhale, step back to plank, breathe in. We'll meet in downward facing dog, If you like a vinyasa, you're welcome to take it.

Otherwise, just set your feet down and reach your hips back. We'll lift the left leg up if it helps step the right foot to the midline in the and pull the left heel back, the left ankle back, elongate the left lower side of your back. And see if you can create some symmetry in the right lower side of your back. Almost pushing down from the hip to the heel, bringing the tailbone down towards the floor. Keep the internal rotation of your left leg.

Inhale and step forward as you exhale. Drop the right knee down on Jana Asana, lift both arms up, breathe in. Twisting to the left, bring the right elbow outside the left knee as you exhale. And then just hit the pause button. See if you can do that manual manipulation.

Turn the inner thigh down with your left hand. Sink the right elbow lower towards the calf. Maybe you even move the flesh of your abdomen off the left thigh. And then, you know, you could put your right hand on the block if there's one there. You could touch the floor.

You could put your left hand on top of your right. Or put your left hand on your back waist. And you could stay low. It's easier to touch the floor when you're low with your right knee down. If you're interested in the balance, you could tuck your right toes and lift your right knee.

You know, classically, the right heel is down. You could keep it lifted for today. Breathe in and take the left arm over your ear as you breathe out. Both hands come down, parsva tonasana. Parshva tonasana.

Hop your right foot forward a little bit enough to plant the heel, extend the arms, walk the rib cage over the left thigh, inhale. And folding as you exhale. Not just folding. Maybe the tendency is for the right ribs to lift up, but folding with this scent of a twist with this suggestion, this hint of a twist, maybe even just walking your left hand to the left, To remind the left ribs, Come halfway up. Hands under your shoulders.

Breathe in. Pivot to the right, prasadapatatenasana as you breathe out parallel your feet wide straddle arms straight, flat back, elongate the torso, breathe in. And then fold, put the top of the head on the floor as you breathe out. So you could stay again like the first side just like this. Or if you're interested, keep the hands between the feet.

I have my thumbs kind of dialed out. My fingers kind of turned away from the midline. To help with external rotation of the arms so that the elbows move towards the midline. If sheer sausana bee headstand practice is in your wheelhouse or interest to you today. You can begin to lift your heels and take your legs up. And you're welcome to stay just like this.

Or maybe invite in a twist, legs together, turn your feet left, turn your legs left, turn your hips left, it might even feel like you let your left leg go back a little bit. To help wrap the outer right hip around the pelvis towards the midline. Come back through center, breathe in. Shoulders up, tailbone lifted, and twist to the right as you breathe out. Keep turning. Turn turn. Turn.

Let your left outer hip go up. Wrap around. And then come through center, breathing in, open the legs. You might even explore landing with your heels first. Walk your hands forward under your shoulders, breathe in, and lengthen, look up.

And he'll toe your feet into the midline right under your hips as you breathe out. Hands to the hips, inhale and stand. And then you'll go ahead and sit on your block. Take it medium height, medium height block, Be cool. Ask your heels.

Like in burriti asana, have your heels close to the brick, knees together and we'll twist to the right, Lyft your left arm up, breathe in, go for length. And as you exhale, take the elbow outside the knee. Again, I'm doing this manual manipulator to get my leg more under my body. It's pointing my knees more leftward. But then, see, can you use your knees to turn your torso more right word? Maybe you put both hands on the floor on your mat and use the knee pressing into the arm to turn more chest towards the right.

And you can stay just like this. This is delicious. You're welcome to take a half bind or a full bind. You might even consider taking an arm balance, parsvabakasana, planting your hands. You can hip hop move your hips a little bit more onto the block towards the left and just lean lean forward.

You might not even lift your feet. You might just lift your feet and have that be all. You could lift up off the block completely. Turn the belly to the right. Maybe even like you're straightening the right arm.

And then sit. Be cool. It's exhilarating this kind of primal energetic movement of twisting, like DNA, like the way the sun and the moon spiral. It's like the shape of life force of infinity. You know? It can feel very uplifted. Okay.

That was a pep talk for the second side. Lift your right arm up. Breathe him. And twist to the left, elbow outside the knee as you breathe out. Tapping the elbow down, down, down, moving the knee up into the armpit.

Maybe stay like this. Maybe both hands to the floor. Press the knees to the left. Turning chest, abdomen, leftward. You could stay. You can plant your hands.

Again, I'm dialing my fingers out to help with that external rotation. If your knees are not, you know, up to your armpit, as as long as they're on your tricep, You're in a good place. Maybe you do the hip hop and just lean forward. This would be the great first step. Some of you might decide to take flight, maybe lift your feet, or go for it.

Like you're straightening the left arm. And then land. Take a breath. So nice. We're gonna finish lying on the block strapping the ankles. I like the strap to be.

You could strap the feet also Sometimes that's really nice strapping the feet or even the thighs. Today, I'm strapping the ankles. You'll lie on your back put the block under your butt, extend the legs forward. I kind of like tilting the block a little bit or sliding my shoulders back so that my hips drop off the back edge of the block. So that the lower back can be really long and will take our next Pranayama here, which is, Antara Kumbaka. I'm sorry, Avaya Kumbaka.

It's the space of empty. You're just tapping into the space of empty and lingering there. So breathe in and exhale. And you might even need to exhale a couple more little puffs or, again, like, a squeeze to squeeze out more oxygen, more, carbon dioxide, is it, from your lungs to get more empty? And then once you find the place of empty, just linger there.

See if you can spread wide on the inside. Maybe it feels like a vacuum of the belly to the back. You'll take a regular breath in and out. When you need to. And then you'll do it again.

So it's a single exhale or a series of exhales to get really empty. And then in that space of emptiness, like a floating or a spreading of your wings of your diaphragm. Take a regular breath and easy breath. You'll do it one more time. Kumbaka is a pot via the bottom, this open space like a pot and then take an easy breath in and an easy breath out.

Set yourself up for either a final rest or a seated meditation. Nice to be genuinely comfortable. In a shape that you can be both very relaxed and also very upright alert, awake, I didn't mean upright. I mean alert and awake. And see if you can feel into your spine whenever you find your shape into this central column You can imagine a spiral staircase in that central column that holds each stare like a spoke coming out from the center of a wheel.

Maybe you feel the very top vertebrae The one that your skull is balanced on all the way down the curves of the spine to the very tail. Sometimes in our frenzy of going and doing, it can feel like the mind gets A tornado up above. And so now use this spiral to burrow down almost the way the water out of a tub would go down And into the mind stream, simply sprinkle in these phrases as you breathe in. I am And as you breathe out right here, inhale, I am Exhale right here. There is no better place to be Then right here, no more important time than right now.

You could alternately say, I am, as you breathe in home, as you breathe out. I am home. Settling from the spiral right down into where you are right now. If you have more and lavish in this easy experience of being with yourself in this very moment, in your body. And if it's time for you to move into the rest of your day or night, You're welcome to place a hand on the heart or the belly or to touch your hands together.

Maybe bowing if you're sitting up or simply sighing if you're lying down We'll take one last collective breath together, inhaling. And exhaling. Thanks for being here and doing this. Much happiness. Shanti.