Expression

Welcome, and thank you for joining me for this throat chakra practice. So when this area of the body is blocked, we can feel these emotions of stuckness of depletion or this feeling like we can't speak or express our truth. So in this practice, we'll explore postures that gently open up this area of the body using breath, using movement, and really tap into that feeling of expression and personal truth telling. So please join me in a seated position. We'll start there.

Any comfortable cross leg seated position, and just take a moment to settle Maybe swallow a few times as you start to feel if there's any stuck energy in this area of the throat. And if it feels safe to close your eyes, take a moment to soften and close your eyes, letting your gaze shift to the internal space. And just overall notice just how you're feeling today. Any emotions that are present for you in this moment, allowing whatever is here to be here. And then gently shift your awareness to your breath.

The rise of the inhale. That fall and letting go quality of your exhale. And we'll start to tap into ujai pranayama, ujai breath, yogic breathing, allowing the breath to start to move in and out through your nose, and there's a slight constriction in the back of the throat. So as you inhale, feel that gentle sound in the back of the throat, like the sound of the ocean. And then exhale out the nose.

That same audible sound of the ocean in the back of the throat. And then start to allow that breath to move evenly in and out through your nose inhaling and exhaling. And with attention to the breath, just notice if there's an intention that you'd like to set for our practice today. Beautiful. And then as you're ready, you can gently blink the eyes open. We'll move into some seated cat cow. So as you inhale, just start to reach the heart forward, draw your shoulders back, and then lift your gaze so you feel that opening in the throat chakra.

And then as you exhale, tuck your chin toward your chest, round your spine, and tilt back. So feel the opening in your back body. Good. And then we'll take that a few times. So inhale coming into this seated cow, and then exhale rounding. Kinda like the shoulders around a bit.

Tuck your chin. Feel the opening in the back body. Got a couple more inhale. Come forward. Feel the opening in the throat. Lift the chin, the gaze.

Exhale round. Got one more inhale, tilt forward, draw the shoulders back, lift your gaze, and then exhale rounding back. Beautiful. And then start to take this into some circles. So it's some souffy rolls as we start to feel into our hips and open up the spine. Can take these circles in either direction.

Just notice what feels good, linger anywhere. It feels good to linger. And these circles can be as big or as small as it feels good in your body. And then start to let the circles become a little bit smaller as you come back to center. And then let's make our way to tabletop. So coming to all fours.

And then as you come into tabletop, let your shoulders come over the wrists, hips over knees, and then just moving into some easy cat cows here as you inhale, arch the back, look up and lengthen. And, again, feel that opening in the throat, and then exhale tuck your chin around, let the tailbone melt down. You might shift your weight back a little bit. Feel the opening in your back body. And then 2 more like that. As you inhale arch the back, look up lengths in, as you exhale rounding, maybe press back, even toward a child's pose, feel the opening in the back body.

Good. And then one more inhale arching and exhale rounding. Good. And then find a neutral spine. So come to that place between cat and cow. From here, sweep your right arm open to the right. Let the chest open up to the right, and then thread your right arm under your left coming into a little twist here.

Let the right side of the face come down on the ground. And then maybe walk your left hand forward, or you could take the left arm behind your low back and find a half wrap. Good. And then let your hips stay level. Let the weight yield to the support of the as much as you can. And then just feel into your right shoulder.

A couple of breaths into that right shoulder. Notice how it feels. Good. And then take your time. We'll press our way back up to tabletop. Let the left hand press you back up and then right hand down.

Good. You could shift the weight around a little. Let go of that side. And then we'll move to the second side. So as you're ready, inhale, sweep your left arm up, open the chest, the gaze to the left, and then thread your left arm under your right arm. Come onto your left shoulder in the left side of your face.

And then, again, you might walk your right arm forward or take it behind your back finding a half wrap. And as you find that half wrap, you draw the right shoulder back, let your hips stay level, and just yield to the support. Beneath you, allowing a few full deep breaths here on this side. Beautiful. And then take your time press into your right hand and your left hand, and we'll meet in downward facing dog. So tucking the toes, lift your hips up and back, maybe start to pedal it out through your feet, bending one knee, and the opposite knee.

Maybe sway your hips side to side and see if you can gently tuck the chin. Let the back of the neck be long. Let your head hang heavy. Press through the hands. Evenly.

So the inner and the outer hand. Good. You might soften your knees a little bit. Just finding some length in your spine, some spaciousness, letting your sitting bones reach up toward the sky. Beautiful. And then take your time. Walk the feet to the front of the mat, walking your feet up towards your hands.

And then as you get there, step your feet about hips distance, soften your knees a lot, let your tailbone meltdown And then if it feels okay, interlace your hands and take them to the back of your neck, you can just use that a little bit as traction to draw the neck long. Let the head hang heavy. Maybe shift a little weight toward the balls of your feet. Feel that opening in the back of your legs. Good. And then release your hands down toward the earth. Walk your hands up onto your shands.

And lengthen your spine. Arta uttanasana. Feel that opening in the heart space. And then as you exhale soften and just fold back in uttanasana. We'll do that two more times with the breath.

Inhale come halfway up, Arta uttanasana. Umji breath, exhale out the nose, uttanasana, good inhale lift halfway and lengthen, and exhale hill. Really soft knees roll up nice and slow. One vertebra at a time letting the head be. The last thing to arrive.

You can bring your shoulders up towards your ears. Roll them down the back and then just take a moment. To pause, feel your feet grounded in tadasana, mountain pose. Beautiful. And then we'll move with some moon salutations. So as you're ready, take your time to sweep the arms out and up, feel that length in the spine may be gaze up, and then draw prayer in front of your heart as you come back to your forward fold.

Step your left foot to the back of the mat, let your back knee lower down. Just come up onto your fingertips. You're welcome to have a couple blocks under your hands, but lift your gaze in your low lunge. So feel that opening in the throat and your left psoas. Good. And then from here, plant your palms and step back to downward facing dog.

So right foot meets the left. Then lower your knees down to the earth start to bend your elbows and lower the chin and the chest down as well. So keep the hips lifted and then glide your way into low cobra, bhujangasana. Feel the length in the back of your neck as you lift. Beautiful. And then exhale, press back through hands and knees, tuck your toes, and come into downward facing dog. Good. And then on your next breath in, sweep your left leg up and back.

Gaze between your hands, take a big step through, and come back to low lunge. So let your right knee lower down this time. Come onto your fingertips. Lift your gaze. Good. And then tell your right toes and step to the front of the mat.

So we'll come back into forward fold. Right foot meets the left. On an inhale, reach the arms forward and up. Gaze up, lift the heart, and exhale draw your hands to your heart sector. And then we'll take that to the second side.

So as you're ready, inhale, arm sweep up, exhale out the nose forward fold, prayer in front of the heart. Good. This time step your right foot to the back of the mat. Let the back knee lower down. Come up onto the fingertips. Lift the heart and the gaze.

Good. And then plant your palms. Step back downward facing dog. Left foot. Meets the right, lower the knees, the chin in the chest, hug the elbows in as you lower, glide through into cobra, draw the shoulders away from your ears as you lift up and lengthen. Good. And then press back through hands and knees, tuck your toes, downward facing dog.

Flute your right leg all the way up and back. Knee towards your nose, step all the way through. Let your left knee lower. Come on to your fingertips. Lift the gaze in the heart.

Good. And then step your left foot to meet the right. Come to forward fold. Front of the mat. Route down to rise. Arms sweep up.

And then exhale draw your hands to your heart. And just take a moment. Notice where that movement lands. Come back to your ujae breath in and out through your nose. Beautiful. And then from here, let's sweep the arms out and up this time. Feel that lift through the heart space, exhale dive forward, uttanasana, soften the knees, any amount on an inhale lift halfway.

Feel that length through the spine. Reach the heart forward. And then plant your hands and just step it right back into your downward facing dog. Good. A couple of full deep breaths. Maybe take a lion's breath as we clear any stuck energy in the throat, inhale through the nose.

And then open up the mouth, stick out the tongue. Pellet something though. Beautiful. And then from here, floating the right leg up and back, step through between your hands. This time stay on the ball of your back foot. You might widen your stance a little. Well, set up for crescent pose.

So find that stability in your legs. And then once you feel that stability, sweep your arms all the way up and just take a moment to land. So let your back knee soften, let your tailbone, melt down. And then just notice if the shoulders are kinda creeping up towards your ears, can you soften the shoulders just a bit? And then take that interlace with your hands to the back of your head or neck? And then lean back a little bit. So it's kinda like you're hanging out on a beach and feel that opening of the chest as you lean back. Good. And then from here, we'll open it up to warrior 2.

So let the arms Open up wide, spin the back heel down, and then bend toward 90 degrees front leg. Good find your drishti over your right hand, soften the shoulders a little bit. Good. And then from here, flip your front palm. Keep the shape with the legs and just tilt back for reverse warrior, feel the length, and your right side body, and then come forward into extended side angle. So either letting the elbow rest on the right thigh, or maybe your hand comes to the inside of your front foot, and maybe there's a block there, reach the left arm over your ear, or maybe take the left arm into that half wrap, just to encourage that left shoulder to start to draw back.

And then feel that nice length through your spine, through the crown of your head. Beautiful. Find your breath. Ujaei. Good. And then rooting down through the feet. Come all the way up and out of there.

You can straighten your right leg for reverse triangle. Reach it up and back. Could soften your right knee, circle your hands down to the ground. And then stepping back to downward facing dog, right foot meets the left, taking a big full breath in. And a long breath out.

I'm just taking that to our second side. The inhale sweep the left leg up and back. Exhale. Look forward. Step through. Between your hands, and we'll set up for crescent.

So maybe step your right foot to the right a little to widen your stance. And then once you have that stability, reaching the arms up, and then just take a moment to sink in and land. So softening through the right knee, again, tailbone, melting, notice your shoulders, softening through the shoulders and energizing up through the fingertips, and then take that interlace to the back of the head and just maybe the base of the go and lean back, let your elbows go wide. Maybe take the gaze up. Nice. Big full breath in.

And as you exhale, open up warrior 2, face the side of your mat, let that back heal spin down and then bend a lot through that front leg, soften the shoulders, and just take a moment to land in warrior 2. Find your breath. You're drishty. Good. And from here, we'll flip the left palm, tilt back, reverse warrior, feel that length in the left side, and then keeping that length, coming to extended side angle, elbow to thigh, or fingertips, to the inside of your front foot, taking that right arm over your ear, or maybe take that half wrap. So letting the right arm come behind your back can bring that right hand to the hip crease, And then again, just using that as encouragement to draw the right shoulder back and then find that line of energy from crown to back heel. Find your breasts.

Breathing in through the nose, out through the nose. Beautiful. And then rooting down to rise, reverse triangle. Straighten your front leg. Reach up. And then soften your left knee and step back downward facing dog, cleansing breath, injure your nose, and then maybe side out and let something go. Nice work.

So we'll take this one more time on each side, just adding on just a bit, coming back to the right leg, inhale sweep your right leg up and back, exhale to step through, coming up to crescent pose, inhale arms sweep up, take a moment to sink in and land, find that interlace behind the back of the neck, lean back, big full breath in, exhale open up warrior 2, flip your front palm and tilt back, for an inhale reverse warrior. And then coming into extended side angle, maybe taking a full wrap this time, or you could stay with that half wrap. You're taking the full wrap, just finding that interlace, finding that length through the right, crown of the head or through the crown of the head, through the back heel, through the spine. Maybe he gaze up. Beautiful. Find your breath.

And then from here, release the arms, come back up to reverse triangle, big full breath in, and then we'll transition into half moon. So you might shorten your stance a little. We'll put a bend through the right knee. Look forward and then let your right fingertips find the earth under the right shoulder, float your left leg. Reach the left arm straight up so the shoulders are stacked.

And then flex your left foot a lot. Like, you're stepping on the wall behind you. And find one point to focus your gaze, your drishti, maybe softening the right knee a little, embracing the wobble. Nice. And then from here, just as slowly as you can, stepping back right into that reverse triangle, big breath in, soften your right knee, circle your hands down, a little step back to downward facing dog. Nice work. Big breath in and a long, full deep breath out. Beautiful. And then coming to the left side, inhale sweep your left leg up, exhale to step through, setting up for crescent pose, inhale arms sweep up, Find that interlace, lean back, elbows wide, heart lifts, and then exhale open up to your warrior 2.

Flip your front palm to tilt back reverse warrior. Exhale extended side angle. Again, maybe you're taking that half wrap or you're reaching that left arm underneath the left leg and finding that full bind. Draw the right shoulder back. Maybe gaze up. And breathe.

Find some spaciousness in your breath, your spine. Couple more breaths. Good. And then take your time to come out of there. Straighten your front leg, reverse triangle, and then softening through that left knee, maybe stepping that right foot in a little as you transition into your balance, half moon, bring the weight into your left foot, and really press through the ball of your left big toe and then lift up and out of the shape. So really reaching through the right fingertips, flexing through the right foot.

Couple more breasts off in the left knee a little finder, drishti. Good. And then softly step back for reverse triangle, and then circle your hands down to the earth. And step back to downward facing dog. Good. And then let that all go. Big full breath in through your nose.

Let out a sounder a sigh as you clear the throat, exhale. Good. And then lower your knees to the ground. And just take a moment. We'll set up for Anahatasana hard opening pose. So coming up onto your fingertips, let your hips be over your knees.

And then keeping the hips lifted, start to walk your hands forward. If it feels okay, you could bring the forehead to the ground, or maybe the chin comes down as you let the chest kind of melt down toward the earth. Feel that big opening in your shoulders in the heart space. Big full breath in. Let something go on your exhale.

Okay. And then just come up out of there a little bit. We'll bring the forearms down and let the hips melt down to the ground for sphinx pose. And you can bring your elbows a little in front of your shoulders and then reach the heart between the arms and then really engaging through the leg. So pressing into the top of your feet finding sphinx, feel that hard opening. You can start to look up a little, lift the chin, and then drop the chin toward your chest.

Looking straightforward, release the arms on either side of the body, let the forehead or the chin come down to the earth. Right. And then from here, reach the arms back actively setting up for Shalabhasana, start to peel the chest up off the earth, lift the legs, and the heart, gently engage the core to protect your spine. And, again, to feel that length from crown to heels, to toes because you exhale soften, bring the right cheek down to the earth. Let everything just release. Enjoy the residue of that lifting of that movement maybe sway your hips side to side.

Good. And then as you come back through center chin or forehead to the earth, one more time as you find Shalabasana lift up lengthen Good. Find that length in the back of your neck. So gently tuck the chin. Big full breath in. Good. And then bringing the opposite cheek to the earth. Maybe sway your hips side to side.

Let that go. Big breath in, exhale, release something. Good. And then coming back through center. One more time, you're welcome to stay with Shalabasana or start to bend your knees. Reach back for the feet or your ankles.

And then same actions start to kick your feet into your hands this time, draw the shoulders away from your ears, coming up into bow pose, Dan Yurasana. Good. Feel that opening through the heart space, big full breath in. Good. And then exhale. Let it go. Maybe reverse windshield wiper, your knees.

Side to side. Good. And then letting your hands come to the side ribs. Press back into child's pose for a moment. Letting your hips sink back towards your heels. Reach the arms forward.

Let your forehead rest on the earth. And then maybe just rock your head side to side, massaging through the third eye. Take a moment to ground, release, feel the opening in the back body. Good. And then take your time to just roll up. We'll shift the weight off to one side.

Come on to, that seated position with the legs out in front of you, setting up for forward fold. So sit up nice and tall on your sitting bones, reach the arms up, feel the length in your spine, and then Pashi Motanasana forward fold. Just letting your hands fall wherever they fall. Feel that opening, the hamstrings, the back of your legs. So welcome to stay right here in this forward fold, or maybe you take this up and over into plow pose, bringing the legs all the way up over your ears. And, essentially, you're in a forward fold. Just in a very different position on your back.

And you could stay right here in plow or support your lower back with your hands. And come up into shoulder stand, reaching one leg up, and the other, keeping the gaze straight up. Try not to move your head from side to side. Keep that natural curve in the back of your neck. And then you can start to bring the legs back into plow.

And then as you lower out of here, bring the palms of your hands to the earth so that they land underneath you, slowly roll down one vertebra at a time. Let your legs be straight if that feels okay. And then coming into fish pose, come up onto your elbows, lift the heart, bring the head to the earth, and then feel that big opening. Through the neck, through the throat. You can breathe into wherever you feel this.

Big full breath in. And then exhale, you can release everything. Let the arms come out from underneath you, bringing palms to face up on either side of the body, just setting up for that final rest. And definitely just take a moment to whew, release the effort, the body, the breath, the mind, maybe swallowing a few times, and just notice any changes from when we began welcoming your new now, how you're feeling, noticing any emotions. And just allow yourself this gift of letting go and letting be just rest. Fill your body with breath, allowing your next inhale to be a little bit longer than the last.

Welcome to stay here as long as you'd like, just enjoying this time, or start to invite any movement back into the body, the fingers, toes, ankles, and wrists. And reach your arms up over your ears to stretch through the whole body, big breath in, exhale, release, hug your knees into your chest for a moment, give them a squeeze. And then make your way to where we started. So finding a comfortable cross leg seated position. Just taking a moment to land.

Feel the length in your spine. Just any opening in the throat. Swishing you at this time to find that personal expression to be able to express your truth. Thank you for sharing this practice. Namaste.