Letting Go

Welcome. I'm Brianna, and this is a class on letting go. You'll want to have two locks for our practice today, and you'll find yourself in your comfortable meditation seat. Turning the palms upwards to the sky as a mudra of releasing, of turning the palms wide open and letting go. You can close your eyes or keep a soft gaze when you're ready as you deepen your breath, noticing how you feel in this moment.

And establishing a vision in your meditation of an open window. The open window itself allows wind to blow in and air to blow out with the opportunity of moving through without getting stuck. And as we approach and embark on this practice of letting go, we explore the meaning and feeling of what it might be like to live our lives as an open window, allowing experiences to move through us without getting stuck in us. Take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. Feeling how it feels to be open and clear.

And there's a mantra that goes along with this practice, and it goes like this. Inhale. Exhale. Go. Inhale. Exhale.

Go. Again and again, allowing that to return to you through this practice or the practice of living. Breathing inlet. Breathing out. Go. Brianna the hands to the heart in prayer.

You can set an intention for your practice today. It may include letting go. Take a deep breath in. And bow into the heart as you breathe out. Release your hands and lift your head, let your eyes blink open, and find one block, bring it with you, set it next to you as you come on to your back.

You can set the block right next to you down by your side within arms reach. And as you reorient to this new orientation on the ground, Turpin your breath, You might feel good to move your legs a little bit in that windshield wiper like movement as an assistance and a doorway to arrive into this breath and into this shape. When you come to the center, your feet will be planted firmly on the earth, and you'll take a deep breath in. As you breathe out, press your lower back down into the ground. Little bit of abdominal engaging in the lower abdominal area, breathe in and allow your lower back to lift naturally.

And as you breathe out, press your lower back down into the ground. 2 more like that. Breathing in the pelvis moves and tilts and breathing out lower back presses. Breathing in, it comes to a neutral position. And as you breathe out, press your lower back down into the ground, push your feet into the ground, and slowly start to come up towards a bridge pose.

And then slowly start to roll down one vertebra at a time. Breathe in and slowly start to lift curling tailbone under gently rising. And breathing out slowly lowering down. Breathing in, lifting, and breathing out, releasing. The next time that you breathe in, you'll slowly lift up towards bridge pose and hold here.

Locate the block that you have within reach and slide it underneath the back of your pelvis. Allow the back of the pelvis to meet the block, rest on the block, and you can make any modification with the block as needed. If it needs to be a little higher or a little bit lower, you can feel that out and find where it most comfortably belongs. And then you allow the block to hold you. You allow the ground to hold you, and you might reconnect with the inhale at and exhale go.

Really nice. Letting go yourself and allowing yourself to be here. In supported bridge pose, you might feel some shift, some relief. And you're invited to stay in the supported bridge pose. It feels Nice. Quite good to be there.

And if you'd prefer to join me in the lifting and the legs towards supported shoulder stand, you're welcome to do that. If at any point the block needs to move, make sure you move it, for your greatest comfort. And as your legs lift, if you've decided to enter this shoulder tan stand position, no need to extend or make it anything other than what it is for right now. The effortlessness of being here allows the loom from the fluid and the blood flow to return to the heart from the feet. It's an effortless letting go.

The body knows what to do. You breathe in, and you breathe out. And if there's some movement that calls to you in the feet, you could move your feet, could roll your ankles, And if there's some movement in the legs that you'd like to take, nice and slow, you're welcome to do that. I'm taking legs wide. You could bring the soles of the feet together and the knees wide.

Taking any movement or no movement at all, anything that's calling to you here. It's a perfect pose for this theme because it takes so little effort for this aspect of letting go, for this aspect of releasing blood and fluid back to the heart. And we go upside down in these kinds of shapes. Tends to be quite rejuvenating to giving us a new perspective. We have a few more breaths here.

Make the shape your own. Good. Bend your knees. One at a time or both at a time, you can place the feet back down on the ground. Breathe in.

Let it go out the mouth. Lyft your hips skyward, remove the block, and set it aside, slowly lower down one vertebra at a time. The knees can rock and recalibrate here. Brianna yourself to center, place your right ankle on top of your left thigh. You can interlace the hands behind the left thigh if you would like or leave the legs as is.

Once you've made your choice, you'll rock side to side, and this can be a wide rock. It can go all the way to the right and almost all the way to the left. A few breaths here And whether you are holding the back of the thigh or not, You'll gently bring the entire shape over to the left. It's possible that you uninterlace the hands and hold the right ankle with your left hand. Your right arm could stretch out to the side, so you're in this twisted figure 4 stretch, breathe where you feel the sensation rise, Last two breaths.

And slowly come back up through center, release the right foot down onto the earth, and stack the left foot on top of the right. Here, you can interlace the hands behind the back of the right thigh for a figure for or stay as you are. Begin to rock side to side, to the left, into the right, And then bring it all the way to the right. You can uninterlace the fingers and bring your right hand to the left ankle and allow the left arm to reach wide. So that twisted figure 4 and the knee is turned up a bit, Brianna into the sensation.

Unless two breaths. And slowly unwinds come back to center. Place both feet down on the ground. Take a full deep breath in, and let it go out the mouth. Shake your knees outside to side.

If you'd prefer to shake your legs up towards the sky, you can do that. When your feet land back down onto the ground, roll over to one side and slowly start to make your way up to your hands and your knees. Begin the spinal movement of cat cow, breathing in, and reaching your heart forward and lifting your sit bones up, and rounding your back as you exhale. Feel free to move into other spinal movements besides cat cow, if you'd like. We have 2 more rounds.

And then find your way into a nice neutral tabletop position. You can zip in through your lowest ribs a bit more, stretch your right foot back, curl the toes under and press through the right heel. Calf muscle stretches here. Shift forward as you breathe in and roll towards the pinky edge of the, of the foot and press back once more. So another aspect of the calf stretch. Come forward as you breathe in, and then roll onto the ball of the foot's side as you press back.

Mhmm. Shift forward, spin the heel all the way down to the ground. Spend the heel all the way down to the ground and start to reach your right arm up to the sky for a supported side plank. I can stay exactly as you are, or use the breath to sweep the right arm forward and up as you inhale and sweep it downwards as you exhale. Moving through the shoulder. You can invite movement into the fingers and wrists and elbow too, if you'd like.

Good. And 2 more here. And all at once, letting go coming back onto your hands and your knees. Breathing in, lifting the heart forward, and rounding as you exhale. Neutral spine, the left foot will reach back behind you, and you'll press through the ball of the foot so the calf stretches. Shift forward and lean over to the outer edge, the pinky edge of of the foot and press into the heel once again.

Another aspect of that stretch. Shift forward and turn the heel downwards, but not all the way down as you press back. Shift forward and turn the heel all the way down and stretch your left arm to the sky. A big sweeping motion sweeping down to the ground up to the sky as you breathe in and downwards as you breathe out. Inhaling.

Exhaling. And you can move through the fingers or the wrist or any other way that you'd like. Your breath is the guide here. See, sweep 1 or 2 more times. The top of an inhale, use the exhale to come back onto your hands and your knees and one round of cat cow to ring that out.

And downward facing dog comes next with the toes curling under shifting your hips up and back. Let your knees bend. Come forward to plank pose. So knees bending in down dog takes you forward to plank pose. Pike the hips up and back to downward facing dog.

Again, knees bend, inhale forward, into plank, exhale up and back. Churning motion a few more times. Now we'll switch it up so you come forward into plank posts. Bend your knees, send your hips up and back, down dog. Inhale plank.

Bend your knees downward facing dog. Inhale plank, bend your knees, downward facing dog. Childs pose, lower your knees, send your hips to your heels, and rest. I'm gonna take puppy dog pose instead because my knees are feeling tender, finding a pose to rest for a few breaths. Rise up onto your hands and your knees when you feel ready.

And downward facing dot once again. Plank for the breath in, and you'll lower down to the belly on the breath out. Tend your fingertips to the outsides of the mat and let the elbows lift upwards to the sky for the breath in, and drop your right shoulder downwards to the ground as you breathe out. Look over your left shoulder. In the hell, rise up, an exhale switch once more on each side.

Come all the way up. Bring your elbows beneath your shoulders for sphinx pose. Really similar to cobra in the upper back, but the arms are located in different spots by the elbows being underneath the shoulders, the palms of the hands on the earth, and a gentle pulling down into the ground to lift you up and towards you to bring the heart forward. Consider the shoulder blades sliding down the back. Okay. Something changes this time.

The right hand moves inward. So right form lines itself up so that it is parallel with the top of the mat. Shoulder or elbow's still underneath shoulders here. Your feet might stagger or they might stack. It's interesting because in this pose, there's really a balancing aspect so the left fingertips can be on the mat in front of you, right forum is also here to support you, and you get to make this very interesting motion of dropping your right rib cage down to the floor, really unique side body stretch here.

If you're kinda digging the balance and you wanna stack a hand, the left hand on the thigh, you could give that a try. And play with the orientation of the shoulder. You can even bring the elbow a little further forward so you can get that grippy feeling. The pulling towards you with the forum, just as we did in Sphinx Post. So this Visheniu's couch pose allows us to let the ribs go to breathe deeply.

Good. One more breath. And released by bringing the left hand down and coming back through sphinx pose as a way to reset and prepare for the other side. The left hand turns in. The left arm is parallel to the top of the mat, feet, of course, can be staggered or stacked.

Right hands can be supporting you here as you drop the left ribs down to the ground. And you might find some sort of nice space in between there. You could place your right hand on your thigh. Yeah. Finding a place to let go, even in this position, in space of the ribs. Must couple of breaths.

Relacing the right hand, turning over onto the belly. One last thing exposed. Do you feel quite even, chest broadening, and hands come beneath the shoulders, pressing yourself to hands and knees, and to to downward facing dog. Walk your feet to your hands and perhaps the hands to the feet so that you end up not exactly at the top of the map, but a little further down, letting your feet be as wide as your hips, and slowly rising up to stand. Unfurling at the very Turpin allowing the shoulders to go back and down, turning the palms forward, and taking a deep breath in.

And then in, even more, out the mouth. Bend your knees and drop into a chair pose, reaching your arms forward, and bending deeply through both knees. Breathe in here. And as you exhale, turn the palms behind you and sweep the hands back, because of sweeping your space clean, chair pose, inhale, A sharper exhale this time. Inhale.

Exhale. Good. And you can make a little sound if you want, like sweeping the space around you, like a big auric clearing, a big prana cleanse, clearing out all the space inhaling, exhaling. In that sentiment of letting go clearing out the space around you in unconscious or conscious ways. Notice how the breath itself clears exhale, a sharp exhale that clears you out. Last four Last one, all the way up to stand, palms turn back forward, even through both feet, breathe in.

And out. Notice how you feel, sense of refresh, something opening up, lean all the way into the right foot, perfusing the weight evenly in the sole of the right foot, and allow the left foot to lift and meet the right leg for tree pose. In tree pose, that foot can come to the lower leg. It can come to the thigh. Allow it to lift or kickstand on the ground however you might like.

And you can draw the hands up to the heart. Then you can lift the hands up to the over the head if you prefer if you fall out, no big deal, of course. Growing tall, tall, tall, and noticing how much more capacity we have when we allow things to go right through us like an open window when we allow ourselves to really let things go. And release both feet onto the earth. Do a slow rocking motion side to side from one foot to the other, and then find yourself with weight in both feet evenly lean to the left foot allow the right leg to lift and find tree pose on this side.

Foot connects with the leg. Hands can come to the heart. Strong and steady standing leg presses you down into the ground and springs upward out of the crown of the head as your right knee draws open. Arms could float upwards. Last breath or so.

Then release. Even you now once again through both feet? You can turn your toes out to the sides We'll make our way towards Malasana, the yoga squat. I'm gonna sit on these two blocks, and you can take a squat with or without the blocks. We have them here. If your knee is tender like mine, you're welcome to use the blocks.

Toes are turned out to the sides. Hands can come to the heart, and your elbows or triceps can come to the insides of the knees, if you'd like. Hands come a little closer to the heart widening out through the knees. And the breath deepens. And if you're practicing without blocks and working your heels towards the earth, you can be patient with that.

You can experiment with taking the feet even wider. Last two breaths. Release as you're ready. Come down onto your seat. You'll want the blocks nearby for what comes next.

One block will go on its medium setting horizontally across your yoga map, and the next block will go behind it either on its highest setting or on the same setting. And once you get a sense of where we're headed, think you'll be able to make a good decision about that. Leave those as they are. Turn yourself back the opposite way of the blocks, bring the soles of the feet together, and the knees wide, breathe in, We'll tip ourselves forward into a forward fold before we move into the heart opening posture. A full breath's here.

Slowly rise up from the forward fold and start to come back onto the yoga blocks. You could keep the soles of the feet together and the knees wide, but for precision, consider bending the knees and placing the feet on the ground. The first block hits behind the ribs below the shoulder blades. They might actually be on the show on your shoulder blades too, depending on the the shape of your body, and then the head comes onto the block, the the taller block. So it's a big lift through the chest and a lift through the head. If it feels odd to have the head higher like this, you can turn your block on its side.

Hands can come down by your sides. They can remain on your body. And as your attention meets this moment and meets the breath, elongate your ex sales, elongate your exhales as a means to let go to really draw out the letting go and the emptying out. And as you do so, the shoulders might naturally release And as you do so, the back might naturally release. Some of this can certainly be impactful, even lying on the back.

So if you're uncomfortable in any way, you can shift onto the back. And if it calls you to resume the soles of the feet together and the knees wide that we did when we were seated, you could resume that now. And if the craving comes to open the arms wide, you could do that. The mind feels wild. You can tether it to the mantra, the Inhalelet.

Exhale. Go. Inhaled. Ex he'll go. First thought comes to you that will move in a moment. And then if your knees are wide, you'll draw the knees towards one another. You'll begin to shift the knees to the left and press into your left forearm to ease out of the pose and to move the blocks out of the way.

And then you'll slowly come on to the back. Allow your body to settle and your spine to settle. If there is unwinding movement that needs to happen here, you're welcome to take it. And then begin to extend your legs. To allow the back of the body to spread onto the mat.

And to feel the softening. The releasing, and the opening that follows, finding the possibilities and freedom, when we can live like the open window, allowing things to move freely through us. Shavasana. Take a deep breath and and let it go. Gently move your head side to side.

Move your fingers and your toes. Bend your knees. Stretch your arms up and overhead roll to your right side and allow the head to rest on the right arm. Slowly start to rise up to your seat and turn the palms of the hands upward towards the sky. Allow the breath to deepen.

Feeling for a moment the freedom. The freedom that comes when we're allow, where we allow everything to move within us, without anything getting stuck. And bring the hands to the heart in prayer. We'll take a deep breath in. And bow, inwards to the heart, to the inner light that it has guided us always and always will.

Thank you for sharing your practice.