Chill and Still

Hey there. Welcome to yoga anytime. My name is Robert, and I'm really excited to offer this class. This class is all about, calm, balance, relaxation. When I think of vitality and, like, living a life of energy and feeling alive, like, you know, we've gotta build strength and go and go and go, but we also have to balance it with this type of practice, which is really encouraging us to slow down and pause and reflect. So we're gonna start sitting up on a block if you've got it. We're gonna breathe a little bit. Alright? One of my favorite breath exercises, a little alternate nostril breathing.

So take your right thumb, to start. Press on the right nostril. You can open your eyes or close them and take a few moments to simply breathe in and out of the left nostril. Just kinda see where you are with that. And think about like three seconds in three seconds out as a general number. Take one more. Nice. I hope that feels pretty clear.

Take now your ring finger and pinky finger and close off the left side. Keep the right side open and now see what it feels like to breathe in and out of the right side. Nice. A couple more. And one more time. Breathing.

And out. Now, close the right, release the left, inhale. Close the left, open the right, exhale through the right. Inhale through the right, close the right, exhale left. Inhale left.

Hold the left, exhale right. Inhale right. Hold the right, exhale left. Inhale left. Hold the left, exhale right.

Inhale right. Hold the right and exhale left. Close your eyes. Bring both hands down. Sit up nice and tall.

Inhale through both nostrils, three seconds. Exale three or four seconds. Inhale, and exhale. Inhale, and exhale. One more time together.

Breathe in. And breathe out. Good. So as we move through the practice, see if you can manage some kind of relaxed inhalation, three or four seconds, exhalation, three or four seconds, and I'll encourage you along the way. And if that breath, feels or felt a little bit anxious, you know, it's totally normal.

But I encourage you to work on it, especially when you feel like you're really up and, anxious or a little stressed. If you can really get that breath down, Man. It will assist you in calming and relaxing. Okay. We're gonna move into tabletop. Alright. Okay.

From tabletop, toes curled or not, walk the hands over to the left, as far as you can, keep the hips over the knees, maybe emphasize the reach through the right arm, and pull the right hip back. And once you find the shape, maybe in and out with the breath. So you move away from the stretch, breathe in three seconds. And then you move back toward the the stretch, the feel of the stretch, breathing out of the nose or the mouth. For another three seconds.

And again, inhale and exhale. One more time. Breathe in. And exhale. Let it go. Okay.

Taking your time. Come back to center and start to mosey on over to the right side. So ground to the right hand, stretch through the left. Now, the reason I like to come out of it a little bit is so you can kind of find more space for a full inhale. So you move away from the stretch, breathe in, and exhale lean into that stretch. Good breathing, and exhale. One more time, inhale.

And exhale. Okay. Slowly back over to center. Back into a tabletop. Slide the left foot or the left hand a couple inches forward and reach the right arm high, breathe in. As you breathe out, take the right arm underneath the left and work toward dropping the right shoulder down onto the ground and maybe slide that left hand out a little bit farther for some support.

Move away from it. And exhale back into it. Let's see if you can rest your head. Find a stretch that feels sort of useful and meaningful to you. One more time, breathe in.

And breathe out, soften that right shoulder down. Look for that full deep stretch. Now take your time to come back out. When you come out, get that left hand under the shoulder a bit, give you more stability to reach up and open up, breathe in. Breathe out, back down into table with that right hand forward a little bit.

Just to create some space for the left arm. So breathe in, reach up and open. Breathe out, weave that left arm underneath, and take your time to kinda like wiggle around and find your alignment so that you can soften the left shoulder down. Come out of it a little bit, reset, breathe in. The exhale is that softener opener And you find a place to rest your head possibly. The nice thing about practice like this, and I'll say it again later in the practice is it just gives you time.

To not feel rushed and to explore the different sensations you may have, the different thoughts you may have, time to reflect or just be in the moment. Okay. With control, you're gonna come back out. So we wanna get that right arm underneath us to give us a little more height to reach the left arm high. A little counter pose, breathe in. Breathe out, bring it back down into table, push back into child's pose.

For the first child's pose, we bring the block down out and where your head would be typically. If your forehead drops down to the mat, no problem. Go for it. Wherever your forehead is, roll it from side to side. Little self care there. Relax the arms.

This pace also gives you time to breathe and really embrace the fullness of an inhale. And the the empty and clearing feeling of the exhale. Okay. Move that block back out of the way, come into table, and let's drop the hips down. Not so far down that your low back starts to get cranky, but just enough to drop the hips from side to side.

Look over the right shoulder. Look over the left shoulder. And lower all the way down, reverse it back up through a cobra, and hinge back into your child's pose. This is like a daily thing that I try to add in every morning. Flow through table.

Allow the hips to drop. Bend the elbows, reverse up dog cobra, forehead touches the mat slowly. Inhaling up. And exhaling back for that full stretch through your dog pose or through your child's pose. And again, back through table, hips down, bent elbows slowly down, move the block a little bit.

I'll start with the left arm. Take the left arm out. Crawl the fingers as far to the left as you can so the left shoulder grounds, roll over onto your left side, right foot back behind that left leg, You can keep the head lifted or set the head down. We'll stay several breaths. Say five, six, seven breaths. So again, you've got the time to make those subtle or big adjustments to make the pose.

Your own. And when I say make the pose your own, it's based on sensation, right? If it's too much, back away, if it's not enough, where can you get a little more Little more stretch. A little more sensation. Slowly out. Try the other side and slide the right arm over.

And again, like really as you're rolling over onto that arm, keep sliding it over so you can access more of the front of the shoulder, and then step the left foot back behind the right. Your head can rest on the ground, or a pillow, or a block. Just make sure you find a place within the pose that allows you to not feel overwhelmed, stretches deep enough to feel, like something's happening, and you're able to breathe and chill out. Refill the tank here. Okay. We won't hold it as long because it is a little more intense, but it's necessary.

And I think I'll I'll so you can see more clearly, all I want you to do is bend that right arm. Into like a 90 degree position. So same exact thing as you're rolling over, slide that elbow and arm over as far as you can, and now step or try to step the left foot back behind. Now it's going to be a little bit more into that upper right chest where those muscles meet the shoulder. You may not go as far.

Don't worry about it, but it is a a region worth giving some attention to. You can straighten your left leg. Keep it bent. Okay. Let's try it on the left side. Don't rush out. Right? Take your time to kind of, like, let the muscle or the blood kind of flush out.

Bend that left arm. Slowly slide that left arm over, bent 90 degrees or, you know, your own version of bent and roll over. Wow. That this one's got me here. So interesting, right, right to left. Sides.

But what you don't want to do in this position is fight it. Like, move away from it a little bit if it's a lot. Breathe in, and you come back into the conversation with the muscle, relaxed and calm. You're not pushing. You're not fighting. Okay. I'm slowly back out.

But the blood resurface and flow around cobra inhale tabletop exhale. Slide the left foot over to the left a bit. A little stretchy side plank here. One of my favorites. So reach the right arm high.

Now slide the right foot back behind you quite a bit. Push the right hip forward. Make sure this left shoulder feels okay and reach the right arm overhead. You can even take, it's like almost like a backbend in a way, hip opener, backbend, right palm facing down, stretch long. You can reach back even more.

Big circles through the right shoulder. Nice. Let's try the other side. Right foot kicks over really for, like, for balance mostly. Left foot.

Slides back behind you, heel up or down, you choose. And then that left hip wants to kind of push upward and open, left arm overhead. Remove any and all tension from the neck, look up, look down, look all around. Big circles through that left shoulder. Good. Back over to tabletop.

Child's pose once again. Table, that reverse cobra, told you it was one of my faves. Okay. Now here, if you take your right hip, Open that right knee out to the side. So your leg is bent like 90 degrees.

Then push up through the left arm. Take your right arm underneath like you thread the needle again. The left arm can come forward to give you some extra stability or you can place it alongside the body. So you get the passive hip opener there. A little shoulder, love, and the opposite way we were opening it before.

Keep the shoulder stretch. Switch the legs. So now open the left side up. Now, take the left arm and press the left palm toward, like, into the right palm, and now open the left arm all the way out to the Sidoti. So you're in like a spinal twist now.

Reach the right arm out. Keep the twist, but bring that left arm all the way over like you're trying to high five left hand and right hand. But now half circle the left arm up back behind you. So reach all the way up, back behind you, and open into that full t position again. One more time, left hand meets right.

Stretch the upper back, open up, reach up back behind you, and all the way into that twist. Good back over. All the way on to the front of your body. Release the right arm. I'll go for the left arm.

So take that left arm underneath you. Okay. Take the left leg out to the Sidoti little hip opener there. The primary stretch would be that outer left shoulder, we'll say. Steady with the breath.

Give these shoulders some extra love today. Switch the hip opening. Take the right hand to the left, maybe even take it over a little bit further. Now here, before we do the circles, slide it across the forearm across the chest and all the way open to the right. Wow. Take the right hand, reach it all the way over.

High five. And see if you can really reach long to get that upper back stretch and slide the right hand up. It's like a half circle all the way over into the twist. Reach up and over. Reach up and back.

One more time. Reach. Slide it up and over and open into the twist. Bring yourself back. Over stretch both legs long.

Release the arms back into a forward position. Take a moment before we continue to stack your hands and bring your forehead to the mat or up to your the tops of your hands, actually. Think a few breaths like a deliberate pause. Okay. Slide the hands into cobra, lift gently and all the way to down dog.

Lift the right leg up. Breathe in. Breathe out. Set yourself up for pigeon. So we'll take the front leg to the front of the mat. I am going to drop my right hip over to the side and bend the left leg a little bit. If you prefer, quote, unquote, the full version, Keep the back leg extended, level the hips.

Please do so. Otherwise, we're going to reach, reach, reach, and fold over the inner right thigh. Bend or straighten the back leg as much as you'd like. I just find personally that the more I lean over, it just takes the pressure off of the knee, and I still get a fantastic pigeon stretch. Grab your block, rest your head on the block, and stay a minute or so.

Just see you where in your body you can soften and relax. Aware of the breath. Okay. Press up. Move the block out of the way for a moment.

Good. Now we'll exit back up into three legged dog. Take the right leg, lift it up nice and high, and let's get the hip opening. So the right leg is bent, and it might feel just a nice complimentary sort of counter stretch. In the hip. Okay.

Bring the right leg down. Let's see what it feels like on the left side. So, bring the left leg up, inhale, exhale with control, send the left leg through, set yourself up for your pigeon pose, As I did on the right side, I'll do it on the left, sitting on the left hip, bending the right leg a bit, might straighten it, block out in front for the forehead. So access the stretch. That sensation feels nice. My knee is good.

Walk the hands forward. Bring the forehead down toward the mat or toward the block. And I'll stay on the outside of the left hip, but extend the right leg back. Relax your shoulders. Really peaceful in the hands and a practice of embracing the pause, the quiet, the stillness.

Long luxurious exhalations will assist in you grounding. Let's take one more full breath together. Inhale. Excel let it go. Great.

Press up onto your hands. Move the block out of the way. Keep it nearby. Use a little energy and effort to come up into three legged dog pose, bend that left knee, open the hip, maybe even come up onto the left fingertips, access a little more space, a little more Countor stretch. Perfect. Let's walk toward the middle of the mat.

Move into your half lift. Now take your hands like the heels of your palms into your hip creases, bend your knees quite a bit. Almost like you're really just trying to push the hip bones back. Lengthen the spine, take a generous breath in. And with knees bent, fold your body over forward fold.

You can grab hold of opposite elbows. If your body has the space, take your hands underneath your feet. So your toes are actually stepping on the the palms or the wrists. It's a nice wrist stretch and a way to push into the hand straighten the arms and get the stretch into the shoulders and upper back. Feel free to straighten your legs if your body allows.

Keep them bent if you'd like. Release the neck and find a flow of breath. Slowly release the hands. Okay. Stay low. Bring your feet out toward the edge of the mat. Prepare for Malasana.

Set the seat down. And then slowly start to lift the head up. Open the shoulders and neck. Your heels can be lifted or grounded in this Malasana. Squat pose.

Table. I'm gonna bring the block into play here. Come on to your seat. Lower down to your back. Okay. Lift the knees.

Grab hold of like the shins where the shins and knee meet or wrap your hands around the tops of the knees. And grab some circle, your circular motion, side to side, circles is something that massages the low back. And bring the feet down. Grab your block and place it. This is gonna be a personal placement for you, but somewhere around that sacrum That flat bone at the base of your spine.

Okay. Once you find that, arms alongside the body maybe the feet as wide as the mat and the knees draw toward one another. Just some really subtle little as if you were going to come into windshield wiper movement, but you're not. You're just kind of massaging the low back while it's lifted here and supported by the block. Try stretching your legs one at a time.

Okay. If one feels good, maybe both. So with the block lifted, lifting your hips, you feel that opening through the hips there. If you want a little higher, if you're a bendier person, let's say, put the block a little higher. And allow the inhalation to really bring in new, new perspective, positivity, optimism, and allow the exhale to remove anything that blocks you from feeling those qualities. Or blocks you from feeling alive and excited about the moment, the future. So bring the good stuff in, exhale away what you don't need.

You've heard that four, I'm sure, but here's the chance to practice it. Okay. Stay here or bend the knees. Now, bring the block a little farther forward. Again, this will be a personal thing. We'll do a supported shoulder stand.

So that just means your legs are going straight up with the block supporting. I like to bring the legs back a tiny bit And in this case, the block is kind of like I'm leaning my low back into the closest edge of the block. It gives me some balance, so I don't have to do much with the legs. You could roll your ankles a little bit, spread your toes, gently shake the muscles of the thighs. Begin to add the elements of, like, Shavasana to this this posture.

So just use enough muscular effort to hold the shape, let everything else kinda go. You can stay here if this feels amazing. Or you can exit. You can move the block out of the way. You can keep the block there for For a restorative bridge pose, or bring your low back all the way down and stretch your legs out.

It'll take a few moments to relax. Allow the palms to be open, arms spacious away from the body. Breath moving gently in and out, life happening moment by moment. And you're quiet enough and present enough to be fully immersed in it. Please take as much time as you'd like and as Shavasana.

It may be exactly what you need today. You can join me to sit and close. I'll move the neck around a little bit. Bring the hens to your heart, making that no pressure pledge to continue to take care of yourself, to slow down when you feel like you need to refill And we'll end with, thank you, Anamaste. Have a beautiful day evening.

We'll see you next time.