The Nowness of What Is

Hi. Welcome to today's practice. My name is Erin, and the idea is that we are going to find the nounness of what is meaning finding presence on the mat so that we can take it off the mat and into our lives, into our relationships, into our jobs and just to really enjoy the fullness of life as it is. So today's practice, I will be using Two Blocks And if you'd like to begin in a comfortable seat on your block, you're welcome to. And let's close the eyes and just begin to notice your breath. Notice how it feels in the body. Notice how your physical body feels.

And join the palms together in front of the heart center, taking a moment to ground through your seat, Sort of this root chakra energy. And if you have any intention for your practice, go ahead and set it here. Maybe it's just to be present and curious. Let's take one more deep breath all the way to the top. And as you exhale bow the head towards the heart, release the palms, softly allow the eyes to open, taking in the light, And when you're ready, I'm gonna move off of my block and extend your right leg out to the side for Parevita, Janus Sheershasana, take the right hand down to the shin or ankle, and then start to revolve the chest up towards the ceiling. If it feels good for you, extend the left arm up and over.

And as you do, start to rotate the chest up towards the ceiling a little bit more. Confirm your right thigh and then ground for your left seat. Take one more breath here. And let's come back up to center. Extend the left leg out and bend your right knee. Bring your left hand down inside the leg, shin, or ankle, and then start to side bend over.

Stay rooted through your right hip. And then if you'd like, extend your right arm up and over, turn your chest up towards the ceiling and maybe go a little deeper on your exhale. Good inhale, back up to center, bring the soles of the feet together, knees apart, lift the chest, notice the difference from side to side. And then if you'd like, start to bow forward. Good. Breathe into the inner groin.

Breathe all the way to the chest and just allow yourself to land here in the present moment. One more breath. Maybe the forehead comes all the way down and then slowly come back up and we'll come to a tabletop position, hands and knees for cat cow. So spread the fingers. I want you to root through the palms evenly stretch back through the toes and inhale to lift the chest and sit bones, exhale press and round through the spine, lift and through the core.

And again, inhale, open the chest, exhale press and round the back, Once more, inhale to lengthen. Exhale round. This time, bring your big toes to touch knees slightly apart, sit the hips back into child's pose. Walk the fingers forward. And just begin to breathe into your back ribs. Take one more deep breath here.

And then when you're ready, we'll find our way to downward facing dog, have the index fingers forward, tuck the toes lift the hips back to downward facing dog. If you're rounded in the spine, put a little bend in your knees. You can extend up and back through your seat a little bit more. And then feel free to pedal the feet, but do so mindfully. So straightening one leg at a time and then go ahead and switch. Good. One more each side if you're pedaling the feet or allow yourself to come right in distillness.

Stay connected to your breath. Good stretch the hips high, and then lift your heels and let's round forward to plank position. This is about the length of your down dog. So if you need to adjust do so, Take a moment to firm your thighs, extend the heart forward. For the first round, let's lower knees, and then chest and shin to the ground.

Good. Pull forward. Point the toes roll the shoulders back COBRA. This can be really low or even a little bit higher and then lower all the way back down. Twice more, shoulder heads back inhale to cobra, extend the legs long. Exhaled to lower down once more. Shoulder heads back, sternum forward, and that maybe let the chin follow.

And then downward facing dog as you exhale. Take a moment to breathe. You can always do knees chest chin or cat cow instead of your vinyasa. And then on an inhale, let's extend the right leg up and back. Exhale, step your foot towards your right thumb tip.

So you're gonna lunge, lengthen, and then twist right arm to the sky. Take a deep breath here and exhale release the right hand, lower the left knee I'm gonna use blocks. You don't have to. Frame your front foot with the blocks and then straighten the front leg, Artahanman. Take a deep breath here and exhale to fold.

If the back is rounded, come up a little bit higher or microbend the knee, and then feel this sit bones untucking as if they're moving back towards the wall behind you and see if you can go a little deeper last breath. Good. Rebend your front knee. Sync into this lunge for a moment. Move the blocks to the side if you're using them, tuck the back toes, lift the knee step to plank, inhale to the tip toes, optional chaturanga or knees chest chin. This time, if you're ready, roll over the toes up dog, shoulders over the wrists.

And exhale hips back downward facing dog, take a pause for a moment to land. On your next breath, lift your left leg up and back. Step your left foot towards your left thumb. Take a breath here to lengthen. Pin the outer hips in and twist left.

Draw the right shoulder blade down the back. Take an inhale across your wingspan. Exhale left hand down. Again, I'm using blocks, lower the right knee, and straighten the left leg. Good. If the left sideways shortens here, I didn't mention on the first side, drop the outer left tip, wrap it back.

And then again, try to untuck the tailbone. Pull the heart forward, inhale, and fold, press a little bit more through the inseam of the leg. Take another breath, lengthen. Exhale folding deeper, draw the navel back one more breath, pin the sit bones into the midline. Good. Read your front knee.

Move the blocks to the side. This time tuck the back toes under. Step forward and fold. And again, if your back is rounded, put a little bend in the knees, if you're fairly open, maybe the palms flatten towards the floor. Take an inhale to lengthen the spine.

Arta uttanasana chest broad. Exhale fold, spread the toes, work from your base of the feet all the way up the legs. And then inhale to rise, urge the arms tall, exhale arms by your side. Good, sir. You see just a half round. Inhale. Reach up.

Exhale. Bow forward and fold. Inhale lengthen. Step the right foot back. Lower the knee this time. Reach your arms up towards the sky for a little bend on Janiasana, exhale the hands down with the back knee step to plank, take an inhale to shift forward, elbows in Chaturanga lowering halfway roll over the toes inhale to up dog.

Exhale hips back down dog, take a breath, firm the thighs back, wrap the outer arms back and in. Good. Step your right foot forward. Lower the left knee. Inhale. Reach the arms up little backbend at the top. Hands to the mat step forward and fold at the top.

Inhale lengthen. Exhale fold rise to stand, reach the arms all the way up big breath. Exhale palms to the heart. Close the eyes. Just land. Full exhale coming back to your intention.

So we're going to come to the center of the mat We're coming into a balancing pose, tree pose, Rick Shassana. So ground through your right foot, open the left knee. I internally rotate at the thigh bone and then slide the heel up to the ankle, calf, or above the knee. And I'm going to also ground myself by gazing down. So just find a point that is not moving.

And then join the palms together in front of the heart, lift through the heart center. And, optionally, you can extend the arms up. Rolling the biceps to the cheek, draw the navel in, and just feel into what is. If you're feeling a little bit wobbly, if it feels a little windy, keep hugging your outer right hip in, press the left foot into the right thigh and roll the inner groin back. Take one more breath.

Bring your left knee center and then step down, reach a little taller, and release the arms if they were lifted. Take a moment to pause. And then let's see how the second side goes. So root through your left foot, open the right knee, hug the left tip in, and then slide the heel to the ankle, calf, or above the knee, gazing at a point that is not moving, and keep the hip points straight ahead. Once again, either palms come to the heart, Yahoo.

Lifting through the heart space and extend the arms up if you did so on the first side. Get hug the outer hips in. Sometimes the most simple things can be the most challenging. So just without judging notice what you notice. Take an extra breath here. And then you can bring the knee center, step down, reach a little taller, and release the arms down by your side.

Alright. Step to the shortage of the mat, stand tall, and then we'll take a round of Syria aided down dog. So inhale to reach up, Exhale bow forward. Uh-huh. Inhale. Arda lengthen. Step or jump, if you're jumping, land in bent elbows, Chaturanga, press the toes, back lift the heart up, upward facing dog. Hips high downward facing dog.

Take a pause. On an inhale, let's lift the right leg up and back. Wrap the outer left tip back, firm your arms in, and then step your right foot towards your right thumb tip. Ground the feet, feel the earth beneath you, and then with a little bend in the back knee rise up to crescent pose. And pin the outer hips in as you lift tall, and then sweep the arms behind the back, interlace the fingers right thumb on top, lift the chest and then bend the elbows and wrap the interlaced fingers to the right hip, broaden the chest.

See if you can draw your elbows towards one another and any amount straightened through the back leg, take a breath here. And then let's spin the back heel down and open up warrior 2. The front knee tracks right over the ankle. Extend the arms wide, flip your right palm, and inhale to reverse warrior. Good. First, we're coming into a modified side angle. So forearm to the thigh, if you need to shorten the stance, you can rotate the chest open and extend the left arm up and overhead.

Good. Turn the palm forward. Sweep the arm up and over. So you're grounding through the back heel and finding a long line of energy all the way through the side body past the fingertips. Use this right forearm to press your femur bone down and rotate your chest up a little bit more.

Come on up reverse streak on asana straighten the legs. Reach up and back, and then re bend going deeper. So option to take the forearm again, I'm gonna bring my hand to the ground inside the foot, You can use a block if you'd like. Hug the right hip under, extend the top arm up, wrap the inner arm to the cheek, as you extend all the way through the side body, Utita hasta, parsva Konasana, take an extra breath here, ground through your heal bones. Rise up, reverse triangle.

Big breath. This time, option a, forearm to the thigh, as you reach the top arm up, wrap the arm behind the back. Option b, slide the hand down to the ground or block, c, we can go for the full bind, arm inside and under the leg, Class, either the fingertips or maybe catch hold of that left wrist, start to lean back and breathe. Good. One more breath here.

And then unbind, reverse triangle, big breath, come up through center, pivot the right foot to face the long end of the mat, hands to hips, inhale lift the chest, exhale bow forward, prasarita, pottetanasana. Lengthen, hug the outer hips in, and then fold down deeper. If you have the mobility, your hands can slide in line with your feet. The crown might come towards the floor, and the arms are hugging in like chaturanga arms. If you're really bendy, hug the outer hips in and lengthen the spine from there.

And if you need a little bit more mobility in your body, you might bend the knees to try to lengthen the spine. Lift the inner shoulders and root into the earth. Feel into the now, which changes moment by moment. One more breath. Straighten the arms, find a flat back, inhale, and then pivot to the left foot plant the palms step to plank, optional knees chest center vinyasa shifting forward lower slowly.

Over the toes, updog, and exhale hips back downward facing dog, spread the toes, take a moment to land. And then when you're ready, lift your left leg on your inhale, wrap the outer right hip back and extend long through the side body. As you exhale, step your left foot forward, ground the feet. Anchor down as you inhale rise up, put a little bend in your back knee. Take a moment here.

And as you go down, feel that grounding energy. Sweep the arms back interlaced the left thumb on top this time. And then as you bend the elbows wrap the hands towards that outer left tip, broaden the collar bones, and then any amount start to straighten the back leg. Take a breath. Good. Spin the back heel down, line up heel to arch, and let's open up to warrior 2. Yeah. Take a moment.

So these standing pose really get us into our legs and into our body. And help us to land in the now, flip the left palm, inhale reverse warrior, and then modified side angle to start. So bring your left forearm to the thigh. Pin the pinky edge of the back foot rotate the chest open, extend the right arm up, and then send the tailbone towards the backs of the knees. Rotate the top palm and extend the arm up and overhead.

And then as you do, dig roots through your left heel, turn your chest open, and firm into the back leg. One more breath. Rise up, reverse streak on Asana straight in the front leg, reach up and back. Second time around, stay here, or bring your left hand down to the ground or block. Use your left shoulder this time or forearm to nudge the knee open, turn your chest up towards the ceiling, extend across your wingspan.

And then as you rotate the top arm up and overhead, feel that link from the back heel rooting, all the way through the side body out past your fingers. Good. One more breath. Reach up, rise back to reverse triangle, big breath. This time we have the option for the bind. So forearm to the thigh, top arm extends option to half mind, hand can come to the sacrum, shoulder head rolls back, option to bring your left hand to the grounder block, anchor the pinky edge of the back foot, or reach the arm under clasp fingertips, maybe catch the right wrist, start to turn the chest open.

Try to keep the knee tracking over the second toe, over the ankle, and the spine long. Got one more breath. Unbind, if you did, reach up, ground the feet, reverse streak, Ganesana, This time, pivot around to this long end of the mat, turn your heels and toes out, bend your knees, sumo squat. You can come to hands if you'd like, or forearms, and maybe just shift side to side. Take another breath.

And then straighten the legs, turn the toes in, heels back, and fold just to find center. Take a breath here, lift the inner shoulders, lengthen through the crown, elongate the spine, pivot back to the left foot, step to plank, And then side plank on the left hand, Vashi Stasana, outer edge of the left foot, right arm up, option to modify with your knee down, or option to step up into tree pose. Lift the bottom waist. Draw the left shoulder blade down the back. And take a breath.

Good. Find plank. Pause. Spend to the outer right foot, grab the right shoulder blade down the back, lift your left arm, option to step up into tree. Try to stack hips and shoulders, root through whatever's touching the earth, and elongate through the spine, last breath. Okay. Find your way back to plank.

Lower the knees. Let's take a brief child's pose again. So sometimes when we come back to a pose that we've done in the past or a situation we've done, we've learned something. So just become aware of what might have shifted or surfaced. One more breath.

And then come to a tabletop position. We'll take thread the needle. So open your left arm up towards the sky. Thread the arm under the body, coming to the outer shoulder, outer ear, either keep your right palm down or fingertips And then turn the chest open. Good breathing here.

If you have any variation that you'd like to take, go for it. Make sure the next stays long. One more breath. And then press through your right palm to come back to center, neutralize, and then extend your right arm up. Thread the right arm underneath the body.

Back of the shoulder ear comes down. Press out of your left palm or fingertips to rotate. And make sure your next day is long. Take a breath. Press through your left palm.

Come back to center. Let's take a cat cow. Exhale round. Once more. Inhale lengthen. Exhale round, and then sit back onto your shins.

If it's okay on your knees and ankles, and come into. For a moment, just close the eyes, return to your breath, Alright. So grounding through the shins, again, finding that rooting energy to land in the moment. And the first option is a modified camel pose. So bring your fingertips back behind you. Start to lean back, open the chest, and then lift the hips lengthen the tail towards the backs of the knees.

Open up through the collar bones. Any amount. Keep spreading the toes. And take a breath here and then slowly lower the hips back to the heels and come back to Vedrasana. You're welcome to repeat another one of those.

If you have two blocks that you'd like to use for full camel or Estrasana will come up to kneeling, and you could set the blocks just to the outer edge of the feet. You could also tuck the toes here. So take the fingertips up the back. So use the fingers to lift the back ribs and then the heel of the hand to lengthen the buttocks flush down. Lift the chest tall.

Start to feel as though there's a bar just below the bottom tips of your shoulder blades that you're going up and over, you're welcome to stay here or try to evenly bring the hands back to find those blocks, lift the chest, root through your shins, If you wanna take it a little bit deeper, you might find your heel bones. Send the tail towards the backs of the knees. Try to spiral the inner groin back as you lift the chest. And once the heart is open, you might extend the head back. Take a breath.

Lead with the sternum as you rise all the way back up. And then once again sit back onto your shins and pause and breathe for a moment. Alright. We're gonna come into, Mauricio, a variation. So bend your right knee step the foot forward if this bothers your bottom leg for any reason you could extend it out, walk your left fingertips forward try to get your right arm in front of your right shin. Option a, we're here.

Option b, You can wrap the arms behind the back and drop the forehead down towards the mat. I am rooting through my left shin and pressing the right arm into the right shin to lengthen and go forward. One more breath. It upright. And then we'll move the left foot out so you can find a seat option to keep your foot in front of the shin or step it outside the right hand back for Artematze andrasana, left arm up, hook the elbow, and turn.

Good. Take a breath here and use your exhale to revolve a little deeper. Slowly unwind. And then if you came to the first shin or you stayed on the shin, let's come to the right shin, step your left foot forward, walk your right fingertips forward. We're reaching the ribs inside the leg and then the left arm in front of the shin. Press through the fingertips, a, push through your right shin, b, wrap, And then press the arm into the shin to go a little further forward.

Keep broadening the collarbone. So even though we're going forward, We're not trying to round too much. Keep the chest broad. Notice what you notice. Slowly come back up.

Move your right foot out so that both sit bones can root. Either keep your foot in front of the shin or step it outside the thigh. Left hand back, right arm extends up, hook the elbow outside the thigh, move the lumbar spine in the chest up, and use your exhale to turn. Try to anchor through both seats and your left foot. One more breath.

Maybe on empty, you turn a little deeper. Slowly unwind. Extend both legs out, and let's come into Shavasana. So lying back, give your shoulders and hips a little tuck. Let the fingers curl back.

The legs naturally rotate open. Feel the ground beneath you. Just notice the journey that you've been on from the beginning to the end and notice what's shown up. Take a deep inhale. Full exhale, clear it out, letting go of any gripping in the body, or the mind and allow yourself to completely relax.

Drop into your Shivasana. Softening the face, the eyes, the tongue. Letting go. Feel free to stay here as long as you'd like or begin to bring awareness back to the body. Wiggle the fingers and toes and take a big stretch up overhead.

Bending your knees. Use your right arm as a pillow roll to the right side. Gently press up to seated, finding any comfortable seat. Allow yourself to land and check-in. As you join the palms together in front of your heart and connect to your breath.

Hopefully, the awareness that today's practice has brought to you. You might have learned something. You might feel more anchored in the now to move through your day with presence. So in gratitude, take a deep breath, bow the head towards the heart, Thank you for sharing your