Power in the Pelvis

(waves lapping) Hi welcome. We're here with Ushi and Kristen and our little ones in our second and third trimesters. And we're gonna do a sequence today that is really focused on mobility, creating mobility in the pelvis. It's useful throughout pregnancy, through all the trimesters and also through childbirth. And it's just a real gentle opening of the pelvis and all the muscles that are active right now and they're going through transition.

So we'll just start by getting comfortable. I find, especially if you're in your third trimester it's really helpful to have some cushion for this beginning part. And just, let's start by dropping into the body, dropping into the breath, closing our eyes. Just starting to feel the breath soften and lengthen. Creating a little more space in the lungs, in the shoulders.

And a little more space in the spine. Grounding through our sit bones and expanding through the spine with every breath. And every breath just feel your face soften a little bit. See how that calms the nervous system, calms the mind so that we can really come into our bodies and give them the attention they deserve and need right now. And we're just gonna gently start to open our eyes.

We're gonna move through a little bit of a pelvic tilt together just linking movement with breath. Just resting the hands on the knees, taking an inhale and just shifting the weight forward gently. And exhale just releasing it back. Just releasing into the lower back. And again inhaling shifting forward.

Exhaling taking it back. Just two more times. See if you can really lengthen the breath out a little bit more. Good and exhaling. And last time inhaling deeply.

Good, and exhaling releasing. And just finding our way back up into a neutral position. We're just gonna loosen things up a little bit. Grounding through the sit bones and just doing some nice gentle circles. Shifting over one direction.

And forward into the other. Good. And still keeping the breath really connected to the movement. So inhaling as you come forward. Exhaling as you relax back.

And just one more big circle. And this one just working your way back into neutral starting position. Good and we're just gonna bring our hands into our practice. Just inhaling reaching up, glancing up at the hands. And just interlace the fingers and rotate and flex them a little bit.

Good. Just creating some space in those hands drawing the shoulder blades down the back. Opening through the chest. Nice deep breath. And then slowly just open those fingers, if you can one by one.

A little rotation in the wrist and just bring it down shoulder height. Palms up into a nice receptive gesture. Really stretching out as far as you can. Finger tip to finger tip. Good, inhale fill the lungs.

And exhale just rest over to one side and stretch through that side body still staying grounded in the pelvis and the hip. And then coming back through the center on an inhale. And working your way over to the other side. Keeping the heart and the ribs open. And just taking it back to the center.

And just taking a nice little pause with the hands in prayer. Closing your eyes just for a breath. (inhaling deeply) Good and just relaxing those hands down. We're just gonna shift our feet. Bring the other foot in front and do a similar sequence, just bringing symmetry and balance to our hips and our pelvis.

Starting with that sensation of being grounded and we're just gonna rock forward, another set of pelvic tilts. Opening through the heart and the shoulders. Exhale releasing through the lower back. Inhaling nice full breath into the belly giving our baby a little gentle ride. Exhaling.

Inhaling. And a little bit further back. And just working our way back up into neutral. And we're gonna go back into our circles in the opposite direction as you did before. Just circling over, staying tuned into the breath and moving just slowly, just relishing in the slow movement.

See if you can feel the opening happening here, through the hips and the pelvis. And last circle. If you like you can make it a little bit bigger and a little bit slower. And just finding your way back into the neutral position. Good and again just a nice big deep breath, reaching up.

This time just bringing your hands straight down into prayer. Good, again just closing our eyes, tuning into the belly, and relaxing the palms down to the knees. And we're just gonna work our way into table top on all fours. So you can remove the pillow or blanket or, if you've been sitting on it. And just bring your knees under the hips and hands under the shoulders.

Yeah. And we're just gonna do a couple of cat cow. Just arching, drawing the shoulder blades back. Bringing the breath into the chest. And then bringing that navel up towards the spine.

Relaxing the crown of the head. Inhaling, arching. Just expanding through the abdomen, creating space for baby. Arching. Just one more time.

(breathing deeply) Yes and when you get through your cycle you can come back just into a neutral position. Again, just checking in, spreading through the finger tips and just creating distance between the wrists and the shoulders, drawing the shoulder blades down the back. And we're just gonna do a couple of hip circles, just in one direction, just rotating around. Staying tuned into the breath. Seeing if you can feel a little bit of relaxation in that lower back as you come around.

(breathing deeply) Good and just to the other direction. Other way. Good, keeping nice space in your chest. Space, creating space and openness in the pelvis. And then just finding your way back into a neutral position.

And then we're gonna do something. We're just gonna walk our feet out a little bit. And these are gonna stay where they are and the feet are gonna open a little. So we can just feel all those muscles and tendons around this bigger bones of the pelvis starting to open in a different way. Just kind of wagging now the tail, side to side.

Getting a little stretch, you can feel it. Should be able to feel it in your glutes a little bit. You feel that ladies? (mumbling affirmations) Yeah. Nice opening here.

Breathing into that pelvis, into that area. Just bringing awareness into all the different ways that we can open the pelvis and facilitate its opening. Right now and as we get closer to childbirth. Good. And coming back into neutral.

Now just bringing our feet together and opening our knees nice and wide. And we're just gonna rock back and forth bringing our shoulders away from the ears and just coming forward on the inhale. Exhale sitting back a little bit. Good. Inhaling.

Feeling that opening. Going a little further with each breath. If it feels good for you. And on the next exhalation we're just gonna sit all the way back into our modified child's pose. Knees nice and wide so you can make room for baby and just spread those hands way out in front of you.

Couple of breaths here just to really relax the lower back, opening the inner thighs. Connecting with baby. (breathing deeply) Good on the next inhalation we're just gonna work our way back up onto all fours. And bring those knees right back under the hips. Hands under the shoulders.

We're just gonna lengthen and straighten out our legs. Just extending one leg behind. Good. And just lift it up a little bit and bend it and float it down just like you're going through some really nice thick water. And the other side.

Extending it way out from the crown to the toes. Lift it a little bit, bend it. Feeling those glutes and that booty get a little bit activated here. And the muscles around the spine. And just keep going.

Nice big slow motions. Using the breath as you go up and exhaling as you come down. And let's make this our last cycle. Good. (breathing deeply) Good.

Now we're gonna tuck our toes and we're gonna just work our way gently up into downward facing dog, if it feels good for you. If you feel like you have any issues that would prevent you from doing down dog at this point in your pregnancy then please feel free to just go into a child's pose for a moment. Otherwise we're just gonna extend the hips up, press down into those heals. Ah, enjoy the feeling of not having any pressure on your sacrum, or your hips. Feel the connection between all the different body parts.

If it feels good, bend one knee and straighten the other one out a little. And just alternate through. Okay. And take a couple of breaths here. Okay we're just gonna bed our knees.

Get a little stretch in the Achilles. And just slowly walk our hands back to our legs. And you may need to open your feet a little bit to make room for your belly. Especially Ushi and I, and Kristen you could prolly take a full forward fold. Take a couple of breaths here.

And just gently start to walk your hands up to your thighs. And bring yourself into a flat back position. And we're just gonna take some pelvic tilts here. Inhaling. Really filling the lungs.

And then exhaling, drawing the tailbone down and crown down. Inhaling. And exhaling. Just two more. Really feeling that pelvis get nice and free.

Good and last one This time we're gonna come up vertebrae by vertebrae. Just walking the hands up the legs. Coming into a full standing position. Head is the last thing to come up. Good, open those shoulders.

Open the hands. Close your eyes just for a breath and feel what it's like now to be in standing. Nice and stable on your feet, expanding up towards the sky. Good. And then we're just gonna bring our hands to our hips.

We're gonna do a couple of pelvic openers standing. So our feet are just a little bit wider than the hips. These movements kind of come from belly dance but don't worry we're not doing any elaborate choreography or anything. Just nice gentle hip circles. So still connecting it with the breath, just leaning over to one side.

And then swaying forward over to the other side and taking it gently to the back. A little bend in the knees, remembering to keep the shoulders and the heart nice and open. It's like your hips and your pelvis are rolling around an axis around your heart center. And just going the other direction now. Keeping the breath nice and fluid, flowing through the entire body.

Good. And this last one we're just gonna come back into a neutral position and just bend your knees, open through your heart, and just sink into your Achilles, give them a little gentle stretch. Good. And then just place your hands on your sacrum, tilt it forward and roll the movement up through your spine. Just a nice body roll.

Ah, good. And extend out through your arms. We're just gonna do some hip slides. Again, bending your knees, nice gentle soft knees. Opening through your heart and your chest and just sliding from one side to the other side creating space.

And a little bit of space in your side body, your obliques, your hips, your groin. Good. Couple more, keeping the breath nice and soft and fluid. Again these movements are good in preparation for childbirth and possibly even during. (laughing) So keep them in your arsenal.

Good. Last time hands to the heart. Good. And just take a couple of chest slides just opening, sliding over to one direction and then just over the other. Just separating, isolating this top half of the body from the bottom.

Good. Last time. And just release it all down. Inhale. Exhale back to the heart.

Now we're gonna open our feet nice and wide and just feel the toes extend out. A little tilt so that your tailbone's extending towards the earth and your crown is extending up towards the sky. And we're just gonna inhale and fill the lungs. And exhale just peel those hands open and start to sink your pelvis down to the Earth. Good.

Inhale, drawing that energy into the heart. And exhale peeling it open. And inhaling. And exhaling. Good.

Feeling the arms get nice and expansive. And then just bring it back up to the center. Now we're gonna turn our toes forward and our heels out slightly. Good. And just inhale, a little upper body arch.

We're gonna work our way down into a fold. So just gently come through a flat back on the exhale keeping the chest and heart nice and open. At the very last minute just release the hands down to the ground. Release the head, the neck. Ah, feel any tension just melt away.

Tilting the tailbone up to the sky, still getting a nice opening in the pelvis. If you need to bend your knees to take any pressure off the hamstring, feel free to do that. This one should just feel nice and good on the whole entire body. Lengthening the spine. Just one more breath here.

Good then start to bring your hands now back to your heart center and extend again out through a flat back. Just pressing the feet into the earth for stability. Bringing yourself all the way back into standing. Good. And a nice breath, just centering.

And then we're gonna open our toes back out once again. And we're gonna feel that same feeling of the tailbone connecting with the earth while the crown connects with the sky. And we're just gonna sink, not quite as deep as we did before, but sink down allowing your pelvis to flow down to the earth. And then just bring your hands onto the top of your legs. Good and we're just gonna do some hip circles right here.

This should feel pretty interesting at first. Just taking it over to one side, and then the front, the other side. Yeah just loosening it up in there. Remembering to breath. Good.

And other direction. Good. And now just tilt it back a little bit and lean forward just ever so slightly. And then tilt it under and just straighten up ever so slightly. Good.

And back, using your breath to just keep the body flowing nice and gently. Feeling a little bit of heat in your legs, that's okay. Good. And just last time. And all the way back up into standing.

Good. We're just gonna rotate our back toes over to one side, front toes, and just bring your hands to your hips and bring your hands, square your hips to one wall and ground through the outer edge of your back foot Yeah just feeling like your torso's extending up straight from your hips, opening through your shoulders. And we're just gonna go into a nice lunge here. First bending the knee. Good.

Extending the arms up into warrior one. And then come up onto your back toes into crescent. And if you need to, you can always place your knee down right here or bend it if that helps. And we're just gonna forward, come all the way forward with the body ring and the hands on the inside of the foot. And walk that foot out if you need to, it's nice and bent, knee right over the ankle.

And deep bend here, yeah good. And if you need to create more space for the belly, feel free. We're just gonna now gently place the knee down. Keeping the spine nice and long. Extending, opening through the chest and you an untuck the toes.

Good and we're just gonna sway back a little bit, bringing the hips and pelvis back up off the leg. Good. Try and see if you can connect your knee to your shoulder just to protect the knee a little bit. Good. Just flowing through, creating the space and openness here.

Keeping the breath alive and active. And then last time. Good. And tuck the toes. And just ground the outer edge of the back foot.

And we're gonna come back into warrior one. Good. And just take a couple breaths here just feeling the strength and opening the hips. Shoulder blade down the back. Face is nice and soft.

And on the inhale just start to straighten that leg. And just rotate that front foot around. Pigeon toed a little bit. Good. And then just sink into warrior two on the other side.

I'm sorry warrior one. Grounding through the outer edge of the back foot. Reaching up through the hands. Feeling the hips opening. And just come up onto those back toes coming into a crescent.

Good. A couple breaths here. If you need to place this knee down or bend it for support feel free. And this next one, we're just gonna float our hands down on the inside of the bent leg, the front leg, and walk that leg out a little bit. Ushi probably, or anybody else with a belly that's nice and full, make room.

Good. And breath and start to lower the knee down. Untuck those toes. Really uncoil the spine, let it lengthen out. Take a couple breaths into that hip flexor.

See if you can start by connecting your knee to the shoulder so that you're not over extending the knee or getting it out of alignment. And then you're just gonna shift the weight that comes into the center and then back forward keeping the breath nice and fluid. Feel the energy moving from the pelvis all the way through the spine and reaching the crown of the head. Just a couple more. Keeping the hands nice and stable on the earth.

Last time. We're gonna tuck the toes, bring it back into a lunge and just ground through the outer edge of the back foot. Just sweep that torso up, coming back into warrior one. Good. And just sinking into the strength of this pose here for a couple of breaths.

And just start to straighten that front leg out on the next inhale. And rotate the toes forward. Release the hands. Find your way back into standing. Good.

And we're gonna work our way back onto the floor now into seated. Just going through a nice, the ever so important yoga squat in pregnancy. So just opening now, the feet a little wider than the hips. Toes can point out a little bit. If you need to use a block or anything for support under your pelvis, that can be helpful.

Just take a nice breath and feel yourself lengthen out before you think. And start to sink down into that squat. Make any adjustments that you need to here. Connect those elbows to the inside of the knees. Open through the heart.

Good. Lengthen through the spine. Get very familiar with this pose. Couple breaths. Breathing in through the pelvic floor.

Just really see if you can bring energy in through that pelvic floor up through the spine. And a couple more breaths here. And now we're just gonna place our hands down. We're gonna work our way back into seated. So if you're comfortable with it, you can just put your hands back behind you.

Remove the block if you were using one and just come down into a seated position. Otherwise you can work yourself into seated through all fours. And we're gonna angle the legs, place one leg in a 90 degree angle. And the other one just extending off the hip. Good and just start to lengthen the spine.

And we're just gonna do a couple pelvic tilts in this one. Just opening the hip flexor and the front of the pelvis. Inhaling, yeah and just rotating little upper body twist with the inhale. Exhaling just letting that right booty just sink into the floor. This one you might feel a little stretch in the quad as well.

On this next one let's just sweep the arm up and reach it around and walk the other one back a little bit for support and just stay here for a breath. Good. And then just coming back. And you can just reach around and take hold of that leg and lean over, rotate it around. We're just gonna extend it out to the side.

Get a nice flex. And just open through the palms, palms up. Fill the lungs with air And just reach over towards those toes. Wherever those fingers fall is perfectly fine. Calf, ankle, toes, beyond the toes.

And if you can, look up to the sky just for a breath. Just bringing your face and your eyes into your practice. Stretching through the side body, opening through your heart. And on an inhale, come back up to center. And fold that leg, extended leg in.

And we're just gonna work the other side. So nice 90 degree angle. This leg extending out from the hip. And let's do our tilts. So just opening upper body twist if that feels good.

Otherwise you can just keep it centered in the pelvis. Breathing into that area. (breathing deeply) And again, let's add the arm for this last one. Just sweeping it around, connecting behind us, opening a little bit more. Nice full breath.

And coming back into the center. And just take hold of that leg, yeah, unwind it, extend it out, good. Connect through both the sits bones. Extend those arms open, flex that foot and reach over like a nice side body stretch allowing those bottom finger tips to fall wherever they may. Just feeling the opening happening in the pelvis and the side body.

Good. And take one last breath. Opening a little bit more. And bring it back up in the center. Good.

And just bringing the feet now back to how we started. And you can either just sit here in stillness or if you're early in your pregnancy you might wanna walk your hands forward and take a nice forward stretch. Not gonna happen for us. So we'll just sit here and watch you. And just taking a couple breaths here.

If you're just sitting in stillness, just notice how your pelvis feels. If it feels a little open and freer hopefully. And breath into it. Trust that it's doing it's job for you right now and it will continue. And if you're in your fold you can start to walk it back up slowly.

Good. And let's just all, with a breath, expand out through the hands again, just opening palms facing up into a gesture of receptivity. And then just bringing those hands together in front of the heart. Closing our practice with just a breath together. Inhale deep into the chest, let it float into the pelvis.

And exhale. Thank you. Namaste, thank you.