Letting Go of Attachments

Hi. Welcome to today's practice. The theme is letting go of old attachments. So going to be doing a lot of twists to detoxify the body and ring things out. And the idea is to practice letting go on the mat so that we can take it off the mat. So clearing space, letting go of attachments to people that no longer serve us, to thoughts that bring us anxiety and hold us back.

So as you're ready, come to a comfortable seat with the eyes closed. Taking a moment to just feel the breath, come and go, allowing the exhale to be just as easy as the inhale. That exhale's cleansing and clearing and the inhale allows you to receive and then join the palms together in front of the heart. Taking a moment to ground and set any intention for your practice. Maybe there's a specific letting go that you can find.

Once you get clear, take a deep breath, lift the heart, bow the head, release the palms, and allow the eyes to open. And as you inhale sweep the arms out and up, get tall, exhale twist to the right, right hand back behind you, left hand holds the right knee lift a little taller, move the lumbar spine in. And then as you exhale, revolve a little bit deeper, rolling the right shoulder back, but try to keep the right sacrum forward. So pelvis is stable and then slowly unwind and inhale the arms and up, exhale twist to the left. And again, lumbar in sternum up, as you exhale, revolve a little bit deeper.

Taking a final breath here. Slowly unwind back to center, and we'll make our way to a tabletop for cat cow. Always like to start the practice like this to link the breath and the movement. So as you inhale lift the chest, and x help press and round. Either continue moving like this, or you can start to add a little bit of a hip circle.

So just find an organic movement that feels good for you. And then if you took the hip circles, go the other way. Good. One more. Come to neutral. Lift the chest.

Tuck the toes downward facing dog. Take a moment to feel into your down dog. And then walk your hands a little bit closer to the feet, bring your right hand to the outer left ankle, start to revolve underneath your left armpit reaching both hip up and back, taking a little twist, and come back to center. Bring your left hand to the outer right ankle. Press out of the right hand to turn.

And come back to center, walk out to plank position, shoulders over the wrists, belly pulls in, swivel the heels to the right, little twist in your plank, cart forward. So keeping the upper body in plank, the lower body in that twist, come back through center, swivel the heels left, pull the heart forward, try to lengthen the torso, and the tailbone back. And then come to center, shift forward, lower through Chaturanga all the way down to the ground, point the toes, lift to a low cobra, pulling the heart forward. Exhale lower down. One more time. COBRA may be lifting a little bit higher.

And exhale up and back downward facing dog on an inhale extend your right leg up and back. Exhale step to a lunge, lengthen and twist right arm to the sky, Keep the chest broad, reach, and extend up through the top arm, and then try to wrap the right hip back, lift the left thigh. Last breath. Release the right hand and the left knee straighten the right leg. If you need blocks here, you can take blocks.

We'll extend the heart forward. Left hand to the ground, maybe fingertips if you need some space, right arm to the sky, adding the twist here. I'm gonna press the palm down so that the shoulder blade can help turn my twist a little deeper. One more breath and then release the right hand, rebend the front knee, plant the palms, inhale step to plank, Shift forward, exhale halfway Chaturanga, and then up dog, or you could always stick with cobra. Hips back downward facing dog on an inhale lift your left leg up and back.

Exhale step your foot forward, lengthen the spine, and then twist. Right shoulder blade down the back. Try to level the pelvis and turn the ribs. Good. One more breath reaching wide open. Across your wingspan and then release the left hand and right knee to the ground, straighten the front leg, Artahanaman.

Lengthen, wrap the left tip back, right fingertips are palm down, open twist, Notice if you're turning from the right shoulder head, can you keep the shoulder blade down the back? The heart open and expansive and turn. Good. Release the left hand. Horibend the front knee. Inhale step to plank, shifting forward exhale chaturanga, inhale to your backbend, exhale hips back downward facing dog.

Take a breath. Full exhale adding on a bit here. Right leg lifts on an inhale. Cross the knee to the left elbow heart pulls forward. Stretch it back three legged dog.

As you exhale step your right foot forward, lower the back knee and inhale reach your arms up towards the sky on Janaasana. Draw the belly in, bring the palms to the heart, hook the left elbow outside the right thigh going a little deeper here, try to create space away from your right thigh. If you'd like, tuck the back toes under and extend along through the back leg. Keep pressing out of your left arm to lift and rotate your chest and then pin the outer hips in and imagine that you're standing on a wall behind you with your left heel. One more breath. Good. Slowly unwind hands to the ground of blocks if you need them, hop the back foot in about a foot or slightly less pyramid pose.

Length in both sides of the waist. So twists are all about finding the space to revolve a little bit deeper. And then fold down the legs. 2 more breaths. There's a slight turning of the navel to the right.

One more breath knowing that anything can be overdone. So especially when we're letting go, it can be, like, a slow process too. Doesn't have to be all at once. Throw it all away. So lengthen the spine bring your hands to your hips and rise all the way up to stand and then reach your left arm up towards the sky.

Get long. Reach forward, come about halfway pin the outer hips. We wanna stabilize something to turn the upper body. Left hand to the ground or block inside or outside the foot, right hip crease pulls back. If your palm is down, use your outer wrist into the shin to help revolve you deeper and then extend the top arm up.

Keep linked through the spine. Ground through the feet and turn with ease. So instead of forcing, can we allow this twist to happen? So in letting go, there is a choice and allowing kind of like a natural flow. One more breath.

Good. Release the right hand. Step back to plank, inhale shift to the tiptoes, exhale lower chaturanga, keep the chest broad, inhale upward facing dog, exhale downward facing dog. Take a moment to pause. And then inhale the left leg up and back exhale knee crosses to the right elbow heart forward. Inhale three legged dog, step your left foot forward, lower the right knee, and inhale reach your arms up on Jana.

Back out slightly, like your feet are trying to switch places, bring the pumps together in front of the heart, and then start to turn to the right hooking the right elbow past the left thigh. Think of that outer left tip wrapping back as the heart pulls forward. And then stay or tuck the back toes under. And as you reach the heart forward, extend through the inseam of the right leg. Good. Take a breath.

Try to create space away from your right thigh. And a stability in your pelvis. Good. One more breath. Slowly unwind to frame your front foot, hop the back foot in slightly, spin the back heel down, and straighten both legs. Staying here for a couple breaths, but also there's the little element of the twist.

So naval turns slightly left. And even in the forward bends, we're finding an essence of cobra in the upper back, so we don't wanna be rounding in the upper back. Trying to open the thoracic spine. Take another breath here, drawing the navel back as you fold deeper and then come up halfway, anchor through the feet, bring your hands to your hips, and rise all the way up to stand. Extend your right arm up and then start to fold halfway.

So reach a little longer. Pin the outer left tip back and in and then release the right hand down inside or outside the foot. I'm gonna shorten my stance a little bit. Wrap the left tip back, press through the right palm. And then once the pelvis is stable, start to revolve, try to stand into the back leg, hug the shin bones into the midline, and then turn.

Keep the chest broad. The heart open. One more breath. Release the hands down to the mat. Step back to plank.

Your Vinyasa shifting forward exhale to lower. Inhale upward facing dog, exhale hips back downward facing dog. Take a full breath in. Clear it out the mouth. One more breath.

Spin the inner heel back, but hug the shin bones in on an inhale lift to the tiptoes. Bend your knees, look forward, step or hop to the top, inhale, arm to lengthen. Exhale fold, pin the outer hips in. Bend your knees, utska Tassana, chair pose. Rise tall to stand and arms by your side, Tedasana.

Take a moment to breathe. Adding on here, bend your knees in healthy arms up utkadasana chair pose, find your seat. So all of this is about creating some stability so that we can move from an anchored stable place. And we wanna do that off than that as well. So bring the palms together in front of the heart, twist right. Pajva, Utskathasana, left elbow outside the right knee.

Notice the tendency for the left knee hip to wanna come forward. Move the weight back even if the the hips have to lift up and then down unless you're working around any back issues. Option to stay here in the twisting chair or come down to a toast stand, the prep would be to just take the hands down or up like an air side crow. So if you're going into your full side crow, plant the palms on the mat, I like to move the right elbow a little bit further. Use the left elbow to nudge your knees away from you.

So you're turning your upper body, lengthen, lift the hips to stack the elbows over the wrists, start to tip forward slowly bending the elbows, and you're in your crow side crow. Take a breath here, have fun with it, and then come back to center. Forward fold, step the feet about hip distance, inhale lengthen, and then either hook the peace fingers around your big toes for Padangustasana, or take a wrist stretch if you took the arm balance. Taken inhale and an exhale to fold. One more breath.

Link then inside the hands out. Step the left foot back to a lizard lunge just briefly here. Take an inhale. Okay. So from your lizard, pivot around to the left all the way to the left foot. Step your back foot forward and full. Bend your knees.

To the heart right into the second twist. Right elbow hooks outside the left thigh. Again, notice if this is happening. That's okay. Plug the right thigh bone back into the hip socket pin the outer hips in and turn the upper body.

Feel free to stay right here. Or to come to your toe stand with the twist. So this is kind of like our twisting crow. I like to use my right elbow to nudge the knees so you're turning deeper left by nudging the knees right and then plant the palms. Link them through the spine, create space start to tip forward, wait into the fingertips.

We're not hopping into it. There's just a little tipping point for these armed balances. Take one more breath with joy. And then come back to center. Step the feet about hip distance and fold.

Once again, either peace fingers or wrist stretch, maybe the peace fingers go all the way under the heel. You wiggle the toes up into the wrist crease. And that diipre extend the knees as you tip the weight forward, one more breath. Inhale lengthen. Take the hands out.

Step the right foot back just briefly in your lizard lunge. Pivot all the way to the right, all the way to the right foot. Step the left foot up, turn the heels in. Why didn't your feet yoga squat. Press your arms into your legs, squeeze the legs into the arms, and lift energy up through your pelvic floor.

So we're just opening up into the hips for a moment. Take a breath. Release the hands. Straighten the legs. He'll toe the feet into the midline and fold.

Bend your knees. Catasana chair pose, heat building practices, the tapas, the discipline that we're burning through all those impurities, and then rise all the way to stand, tadasana arms by your side, take a full breath, and exhale. Let it go. Alright. Now coming on to the right foot, we'll bend the knees and take a figure 4 chair. This will be our hip opening and then bring your left hand down to the ground or a block. So option a, your arm connects with the shin.

Still the hips are moving back and down, and you can turn the upper body like this. Option b, you could even reach up. Option b, I like to take the right hand to the sole of the foot. Gonna scoot a little left. And move it back.

So you're getting deeper into that left tip and then deeper into the twist. Maybe that left arm comes to the sole of the left foot, sink the hips, move the weight back into the right heel, and extend the right arm up. This is a pretty deep hip opener and twist. It's also grasshopper prep. One more breath.

Good. Release that twist. Cross your left ankle over your right and fold Press your right shin into your left calf so that you're not hyper extending and take a breath. Maybe back out to find some room and then fold deeper. Come to the tip toes, high onto the balls of the feet, start to walk your hands, to the right, swivel, swivel, swivel, heels down and fold. Length and halfway.

Bring your hands to your hips. And rise all the way up to stand. Okay. I'm just gonna take a step forward so I'm center on the mat and then shift the weight into the left foot cross your right ankle on top of your left thigh, figure 4 chair. And then, of course, we're adding the twist so you can turn here. You can take the right hand down. And I like to move the shin into the arm, arm into the shin, and then weight back towards the heel.

Option a. If you wanna take it deeper, press the left hand into the sole of your right foot. Start to reach your right arm a little more left so that it comes into the sole of the foot. Use that to turn your upper body and extend your left arm. Keep length in the spine.

Joy in your heart. Sometimes the letting go process can be really challenging. Even if it's stuff that we wanna release, It's like a comfortability thing where we're used to having it. So let go of what you don't need. One more breath. And then unwind the twist, step your right foot outside your left.

You can have a little bend in the knees, folding here. Just to even it out, I've gotta do the swivel on the other side. You can come with me if you want lift tie into the balls of the feet. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. Here we are. And then let's come into a toast stand.

Face you. You can take a moment to balance. If you need to, you can put a block under your knees. Maybe find a mudra centering yourself for a moment. Alright.

So Finding balance and your toe stand. And when you're ready, we'll pivot around, have a seat and come into Nevasa. Find your sit bones. If you need to, you can keep the knees bent or hold on to the backs of the thighs. If you'd like to extend through the legs, you can do so, or extend the arms long, lift the spine, take an inhale, squeeze the shin bones in, exhale lower inner groin rolls down, inhale lift, exhale lower, pull the navel in, twice more inhale to lift tall, exhale lower, 1 more inhale up tall, Exhale lower pause.

Bring your hands behind your head. Yoga bicycles. Right elbow left knee. Left elbow right knee. If you need to, you can always tap the feet or pause center. We're here for 8.

7, 6, user exhales to twist. 5. Try to keep the shoulder blades up. 4. 3. 21. I think I started on the left side. So we'll finish on the right, lower down, take a pause, check-in.

Take a full breath, clear it out. When you're ready, hug the knees in. You can rock up to seated. Batoconasana soles of the feet together, knees apart, Lyft the chest and bow forward. Take a moment to breathe.

Slowing down. One more breath. Come all the way back up. Extend the right leg and the left leg out. If you need to prop yourself up, you can And if this already feels like too much, bring your hands back so that you can keep the torso upright. If you'd like to scoot the hips forward a little bit further, you can.

And then we'll take a side bend to the right. Right hand can come down to the shin or reach across the body. Left arm extends up and over. It's okay if the left tip lifts a little bit, but then try to root it down and maybe turn the gaze up. Take a breath, extend long through both legs, inhale back up to center, We'll see how the other side feels left hand down the shin. Maybe it reaches in front of the body, right arm up and over, maybe the right hip lifts a little bit and then try to anchor it and reach long through both legs.

Take one more breath. Come up through center. Let's walk the hands forward. If you need to, you can close the legs a little bit or stay upright and breathe. It can point or flex the feet. Point and do something different.

Notice if the thighs are rolling inwards, try to keep wrapping the outer hip down. Ankers if someone's pressing your seat down, again, always wanting to move from a stable place. One more breath. Slowly walk your hands back in. And you can lean back to bring the legs together.

And then let's roll on to our backs. For a bridge pose. If you have a block, you might wanna take a supported bridge. It should be really nice. So give your shoulders a little tuck ground your feet and lift the hips. Sometimes if I have the space, I'll take the heel of the hand to the sacrum and lift the outer hip points up with my fingers.

Almost like you're trying to wrap the hip points together and roll the inner grind down. So the sacrum is widening. Take an extra breath. Full exhale. If you have the hands supporting you, slowly release down, take the feet wide, and then just drop the knees over to the right.

You may move the left foot back a little bit more, so it feels more like a virasana leg. And you might even take that right ankle on top of your left thigh. If you'd like, you can cactus the arms. Take a deep breath. Full exhale slide the foot down, bring the knees back to center feet wide, knees go left. And then again, you can move the right foot, right, or back.

So it feels a little bit deeper of a stretch. Maybe the left foot comes on top of the side directing the right knee forward and slow the breath. Truly letting go of anything you don't need to carry for the next few minutes. Release the foot. Come back to center.

Let the knees knock in. Bring a hand to the heart and one to the belly. Take a breath. Let everything sort of assimilate. Digest.

And when you're ready, extend the legs, extend the arms, set it up well. Take a deep inhale, full exhale, And one more deep breath. Complete, exhale. And then let go of any breath control. That goal of any mask that you might wear in the different areas of life.

Just completely let any facial muscles soften. Shavasana. In your own time, begin to bring your awareness back to the breath, back to the body, back to your space. And if you have the time to stay a little bit longer, please do. Otherwise, I invite you to bring small movements to the fingers, toes, ankles, wrists, take a big stretch, reach the arms, gently bend the knees roll to one side, moving slowly.

Press to seated, finding your comfortable seated position, taking a moment to just check-in to notice if there's anything that you've set down that you can leave there. Sometimes even the lightest things, if held up for too long, can be feel heavy. So putting things down, setting them aside, clearing space can be a really valuable practice for our body, for our minds, So join the palms together in front of the heart, taking a moment to honor yourself for showing up and carving out this time. To truly let go to detoxify, clear space, take a deep breath in, bow the head towards the heart. Namaste.