yoga
refreshed and good. i once heard that youare only as young and as happy as your spine. so hop into something comfy, and let's get started. (upbeat music) okey-doke, my friends, let's begin in a nice,comfortable seat, cross-legged. you can lift thehips up if you feel like
already your spine is kindof collapsing to the back. totally normal with kind ofthe habitual things that we do in everyday life, so go easy on yourself. just give yourself littlesupport from the start by sitting on a blanketor a block or a towel. you can pause the videoto do that if you need to. and then when you'reready, come into your seat and place thepalms on the knees.
now trust me, trustyourself, trust the video, take a momentto close your eyes, so you can openthem whenever you want to peak at the video, but to begin here, we'regoing to close the eyes, and let go of the day thus far, trust that thisis time well spent, especially today's practice. and take a moment to relax,
relax your shoulders. again, relax the mind. give the thinking mind alittle bit of a break here. and then we're going to supportthis really yummy movement, this exploration of thespine today with the breath. so close your eyes andstart to notice your breath. and then with thepalms on the knees, we'll begin to move the spine, again with the breath.
so inhale, nice and slow. begin to lift thechest up towards the sky and imagine your shoulder blades melting down the back body. so the shoulders anchor down and the heart lifts up. then take anotherdeep breath in here, and then usethe exhale to contract, so chin to chest,naval to spine,
slow your roll,slow the tempo down today. we bow head to heart, feel a nice stretch inthe back of the neck. and then on a big breath in, start to roll through, onceagain, lifting the heart. i invite you to close your eyes so that you canreally slow it down and feel your waythrough this movement as you lift the heart, we grounddown through the shoulders,
the elbows, open throughthe throat chakra, and then exhale, chin tochest, rounding through, naval to spine. so starting withthe slow tempo today can be maybe a littlefrustrating for many people, so i just inviteyou to notice that, notice what's coming up asyou inhale with the heart, and then take this as afriendly, loving, beautiful challenge toreally slow things down.
feel it out, chin tochest, as you breathe out. a'ight, let's do onemore inhale, lifting up. close your eyes. create space. and exhale, after the expansion comes the contraction,chin to chest. beautiful inhale, liftthe head over the heart, the heart over the pelvis, and we'll squeeze theshoulders up to the ears
as we breathe in here. nice big full breath, and exhale, melt them down. again, creating space,we inhale, loop the shoulders,lift them up. and try to keep your heartlifted as you relax and down. great, one more time, inhale, squeeze and lift. and exhale, let it go.
all right, take the lefthand to the right kneecap, seated twist here. we swim the rightfingertips around, use your breath,inhale, lift your heart, and exhale,naval draws in, and we twist. you gotta bring the breath here. big inhale to lift, and exhale twist. and one more time,big inhale, lift and lengthen,
and exhale to release. other side, right handto the left knee, left fingertips swim behind. we inhale, lift the heart, and exhale,journey into your twist. wiggle your toes. feel your feet, inhale. and exhale, twist. make sure you'renot cranking here.
just let the breath moveand support you, inhale. and exhale to release, awesome. we're going to comeforward onto all fours. take your time getting there. enjoy this time for yourself. spread the palms super wide. wrist underneath the shoulders, knees rightunderneath the hip points. take a secondto just feel it out.
go through your checklist. find your tabletop position. and take a momentto close your eyes, or to just visualizethis line of the spine. so if the neck isa bit disconnected, the head might be hanging down, or maybe looking up, or obviously looking atthe video when you need to, but take a moment to reallysee this beautiful line
from the crown to the tail, and remember that the neckis an extension of that. so sometimes theawareness kind of stops at the base of the neck, and so extensionthrough the crown here. take a couple more breaths, just going throughyour checklist, maybe drawing thenaval up to the spine, lengthening the lower back.
bend your elbows. press away from your yoga mat. notice if the hands arekind of willy-nilly here, really sense someattention to detail throughout every fingerprint. and then it'sfrom this strong base, this strong awarenessthat we'll start to move. inhale, drop the belly. slowly look up.
again slow your roll today. nice and steady, and then on your exhale,rounding through. tailbone lengthens down. cat-cow here, so youcan close your eyes and start tomove with the breath. inhaling, drop thebelly to look up, and exhale, rounding through chin to chest.
nose towards the naval. and then continuea couple more rounds. again, soft gazeor close your eyes so you can really start toslow it down and feel it out. this is something we doall the time on our mats. see if you can find another essence if you would,another sensations, just slowing itdown a little bit. and after this last one,
we'll come back to neutral spine and take a deep breath in and a long breath out. awesome, curl theright toes under. curl the left toes under. again, press away from youryoga mat with your palms so you're not collapsingin the shoulders. so kind of lifting upthrough the upper back body. then we'll slidethe right toes out.
you can rock a littlefront, rock a little back get a nice stretchin the leg there, and just try tokeep this super strong loving awareness on the spine from the crown to the tail. when you're ready, again notcollapsing into the wrists or collapsing in theshoulders, pressing away, when you're ready,we'll slide the right toes all the way over towards theleft side of the yoga mat.
you can uncurl your lefttoes for more stability, yogi's choice, and then take alook at your right heel. grow long and tall in the spine. deep breath in, then exhale, slide itall the way back through, and draw knee to nose here. again, important to pressaway from your yoga mat, waking up the musclesof the upper body.
breathing deep here, in and out, nice big, full breaths. take one more breath, squeeze, connecting to the musclesof the abdominal wall here, and then release, awesome. bring the two big toes together, knees as wide as your yoga mat, and send the hips on back,child's pose. just a moment here to comeoff the hands and the wrists
so you can rotate the knucklesone way and then the other. some wrist circles here. then we'll come right backup to your tabletop position. again, going throughyour checklist, finding that mindfulnessin your practice. that awarenessthrough the spine. then curling the lefttoes, then the right. deep breath in, long breath out. on your next inhale, extendthe left leg out long,
and then same thing,just check it out here. finding a little stretch inthe calves, the achilles. and remembering tokeep the awareness all the way through the crown, so not just tothe base of the neck, but all the way out. notice if yourbreath has gone away, that nice full, consciousbreath that you started with, so return to the breath,
and when you're ready,we'll send the left toes all the way over towards theright side of the yoga mat. pressing away,finding that length. turn your gaze to look at yourleft toes or your left heel. big breath in, long breath out. inhale in, exhale,slide the left toes all the way back through center, and then we'lldraw knee to nose,
squeezing up throughthe abdominal wall. notice if you'reclenching in the face. see if you can soften the face. relax the shouldersdown the back body. one more big breathcycle here, you got it. and then release, awesome. this time, kneestogether, arches together, send it back, fingertips back, palms face up.
for a little love in the wrists, you can actuallylift the fingers and walk the wristsback and forth here. nice long refreshing breaths. keep it going. it is a practice. awesome, then slowly reachthe fingertips back up, we'll come back to all fours. and whenever you're ready,
send it up todownward facing dog. curling the toes,taking a deep breath in, lifting up through the hips on your exhale. when you arrive, take amoment to feel it out. maybe take yourdog for a little walk. and then comeinto a place of stillness, hug the lower ribs in, connectto your upper abdominals, tops of the shouldersexternally rotate,
we take a deep breath in, and a big cleansingbreath as you draw the heels down to the earth. they don't have to touch. big inhale in. and exhale, empty it out. awesome, on your next inhale, draw the naval up to the spine, and start to slowly findarticulation through the spine,
as you slowly shift allthe way to plank posture, strengthening pose here. find that support,so lift the front body up to meet the back body. then shift forward on the toes, we're going to go backto down dog here. nice and slow,connecting to your core. inhale, same thing. finding articulationthrough your spine.
draw the naval up, roll forward onto the toes. plank pose,take a deep breath in, then exhale,downward facing dog. one more time, you got this. nice and slow,draw the naval up, slowing finding thatarticulation forward. take a deep breath in, pressaway from your yoga mat, and then exhale,downward facing dog.
beautiful, inhale, look forward, and exhale, make yourway to the top. clasp the elbowswhen you arrive. bend the knees generously, and then just take a couplemoments to freestyle. find what feels good,soft and easy movement. and when you're ready, we'regonna roll up to mountain, as slow as you can go. feeling that beautifulconnection in the feet.
maybe you close your eyes ifyou're feeling adventurous. starting by bending the knees, tucking the chin, and slowly making your wayall the way to mountain. and so lots of awareness as you stack up through the staircase of the spine. just maybe even usingyour creative mind or your imagination to visualize
what it might look like, paying attention towhat it feels like as you stack head overheart, heart over the pelvis and come into your best andmost beautiful mountain. reconnect with your breath here. now on a big inhale, we'll spread the fingertipsand reach all the way up. big full body stretch. exhale, turn the left fingertips
towards the backof your yoga mat, soft bend in the knees here as you reach the rightfingertips forward, then inhale, open the chest. so bring the palms way back, think kate winslet titanic here. and then release,fingertips down to come up, inhale, full body stretch,reach for the sky. and exhale, right fingertips
toward the backedge of your mat. soft bend in the knees,and we open up to the right. open the chest by pullingthe backs of the hands slightly back as you inhale, open the chest, then exhale, fingertips come downto come up once again, big full body stretch. inhale, reach for the sky. connect, connect, connect.
and then exhale,we float it down. moving with the breath,my friends. inhale, halfway lift, palms on the tops of thethighs for this first one. find length through the crown. deep breath in,and then exhale, release, forward fold. inhale, reach for the sky, fingertips reach, reach,reach, reach and spread.
exhale, hands to heart. soft knees, inhale,reach for the sky. exhale, turn to the left. pull the backs of the hands back so you can openup through the chest, soft bend in the knees. fingertips go down to come up. inhale, reach for the sky and exhale,turning to the right.
fingertips go down to come up, big inhale as youreach for the sky and exhale, forward fold. so we're looking for abit of fluidity here. inhale, halfway lift. this time, palms on the shins. find length, create space, and then exhale, forward fold. root to rise, inhale,spread the fingertips,
moving with the breath we reach. fingertips kiss up and overhead and then exhale, hands to heart. exhale, gentle turn to the left. inhale, and exhale dropping the fingertipsdown to come up. big breath in,reach for the sky. and exhale, turn to the right. pull the hands backopen through the chest,
deep breath in, and exhale release. awesome,inhale reach for the sky. exhale, down we go. awesome, this time play withthe fingertips on the mat. so bend your knees and inhale. find length. exhale, soften and bow. this time we're goingto plant the palms,
step it back to our plank pose. we've been here before,strong foundation. inhale, shift your gaze forward. come on to your toes. hug the elbowsinto the side body. light up through the backbody, through the front body, and then slowly lower down,all the way to the belly. draw the hands backin line with the ribs. press pubic bone to the earth.
press into the tops of the feet. heels are in linewith the hip points. then moving with the breath, start by tucking thechin into the chest, so really finding anarticulation here in the cervical spine as you press into your foundationand slowly roll up, slowly lifting chinparallel to the earth, baby cobra.
inhale, exhale, release, niceand slow, in control. tuck the chin into the chest. inhale, slowly roll it up. again the challengeor the invitation is slow it down today. and exhale, release. do one more withyour eyes closed. pull the elbows back.
open and exhale, releasing all the way down. curl the toes under. lift the kneecaps. send your heels towardsthe back edge of the mat, inhale in, and then exhale,power up. plank pose. here we go, inhale,shifting forward. exhale, send the hips,
really moving fromthe hip creases here, all the way up and back,downward facing dog. a little bit of strengthening,here we go. naval draws in and up. we roll through the spine, really finding as mucharticulation in the spine as possible as we makeour way to plank. inhale, gaze forward,shift forward, and exhale, downward facing dog.
again, hug the lower ribs in. naval draws up and in. uddiyana bandhaas we roll through coming to plank, nice and slow. then inhale, shift forward,tippy toes, and exhale, downward facing dog. one more, you got this. naval draws in. we find articulation.
take your time. inhale, look forward, and exhale downward facing dog, beautiful. exhale, empty it out. inhale, look forward, inhale, halfway lift,do your version, so you canchoose where you place the fingertips or the palms. and then exhale, forward fold.
awesome, root to rise, inhale, spread the fingertips, try to create a hundred percentfull body experience here, maybe lift your toes, and exhale, hands to heart. take a moment hereto close your eyes and observe your breath. maybe tap into alittle inner smile here. and that inner smileis a little reminder
just of your own innerguidance, your inner light. and exhale, open the eyes. we're going to come to anice, wide-legged stance, and then we'll take itdown to the ground. so go ahead and bringthe legs nice and wide. if you're new to the practice,let me just remind you that you don't have... focus on the sensationover the shape. you don't have to stepsuper wide or anything.
your body will tell you what's a good length. traditionally forthis next posture, you can take the arms outand kind of measure where the ankles kind ofalign with the wrists, and that's kind of a good thing, but you know,every body's different, so you kind of have to practicelistening to your body. everyone, though,lift up through the front.
find this upward current ofenergy through the front body, supporting the spine, and then groundthrough the back. turn the toes in just slightly. so you're reallyfeeling that connection to the outer edges of thefeet here super strong. then hands cometo the waistline here, and we're gonna draw some energy up from the arches of the feet,
engage the inner thighs. so you're kind ofpulling up energetically from your foundation and all the way up through. we come to a littlepower pose here, ah, where the brainand the body connect and have a conversation. super important to remember that as we practice,
how truly powerful these poses, this experience can be. let's take one more breathhere, big power pose, just notice if you'recollapsing anywhere or if you're reallysort of able to embody and evolve theembodiment of a posture. and if you're like, what isthis woman talking about, don't worry about it. just breathe deep,enjoy this time for yourself.
when you're ready,we'll take it into a full by inhaling andlifting the chest. lifting, lifting,lifting from the sternum. think about whenwe started practice on the seated position opening up throughthe chest here. inhale, then exhale. keep this openness in the chest, you might even thinkabout drawing your elbows
back towards one another, and send it forward,nice flat back, soft, micro bendin the knees here. tuck the chin to thechest and find length. hug the lower ribs in. if you like forone big breath cycle, we'll send the fingertips out. and exhale. great, fingertips comeback to the waistline,
and we continuethe journey down. now, fingertips can come tothe earth here, or hands, or you can bring themto a chair or a block. standing wide-leggedforward fold. notice if you'velost connection, communication with your feetand that drawing of the energy up through the inner seamhere, or through the arch. and then reconnectwith your breath. remember whenyou were in table top,
not collapsing in the shoulders, but finding this powerfulawareness from crown to tail. and if you're startingto shake and feel heat, that's the ticket. this is the ticket. stay focused. and nice and slow, left handor left fingertip's gonna come right below the chin, and we're going tomove into a twist,
again soft microbend in the knee here, as you inhale, open theright fingertips all the way either to the side ormaybe up at a diagonal. one day, maybewe'll be able to get, maybe stacking the shoulders,but don't have to push it. nice and easy, we inhale,open the chest, and then exhale,right hand replaces the left. lots of integrity, maintainingin the shoulders, stability, nice and strong.
and when you're ready,we open to the left. big breath in,again it doesn't have to be all the way stacking, we can let it evolve. inhale, expand. exhale, come through center. inhale, press awayfrom the earth, expand, and exhale back through center. inhale, find expansion,slow it down,
and do one more on each side, inhale, moving with the breath. exhale through center. last one, you got this. inhale, open your chest,lengthen through the crown, and then exhale,release, awesome. hands are gonnacome to the earth. we're actually gonna heel,toe, heel, toe the feet all the way in, hip-width apart,
so you should land ina nice forward fold. toes pointing forward. swim the fingertipsaround to the calves, and bend the knees asgenerously as you need to. take one moredeep breath in here, and then exhale, release. we're gonna bend the knees. use the fingertipshere to guide you as you lift the heels.
we're gonna come into alittle toe stand here, be fun. toes come together. use the fingertips to guide you. i'm gonna find thatconnection to my core by lifting up fromthe pelvic floor. i'm gonna start to balancefrom the toes here. have some fun with it, really lifting upfrom the pelvic floor, squeezing the knees together,
eventually huggingthe lower ribs in. so we find this strong lift up through that center plumb line. this is a challenge, in orderto hold your balance here, you have to be reallylifting up through that mid line through the spine. hugging the muscles in to the bone. stay here, if you need breaks,
you can comeonto the fingertips. we're gonna take a little twist, so we'll inhale, handstogether at the heart, and exhale, start todial your heart center towards the left. options here are youcan repeat this opening of the wings we've been doing, you can take the righthand to the outer edge of the left thigh,
find a little deeper twist. now what's goingon with the knees is a goodindication of the hips, so keep lifting upthrough that pelvic floor, this is tough. and then exhale, hands to heart, take a little breakif you need to by lifting the hips up,forward fold, and then when you're ready,sending it to the other side.
little bit of a challengetoday, you got this. drawing up fromthe pelvic floor. squeezing it all in together. so good, so now we're finding a little strength and stability. just take it with a grainof salt if you feel like, you're not here yet orthe feet are too tight, just let it evolve. all the more reason toreturn to this practice.
hands come to heart,deep breath in, and then exhale,we dial it to the right. can stay here or inhale, find that expansion from before. big breath in, and then maybeouter edge of the left hand comes to the outeredge of the right knee. we breathe deep here,one more breath. lifting up fromthe pelvic floor. support all through the spine,
this is gonna feel awesome, a total rinse in the legsas you come to sit back and send the legs out long. great, take a second tojust shake the feet out. fingertips are gonna comein line with the hips or maybe slightly back. we'll loop the shoulders, find that lift in the chest, once again come to dandasana,
stick pose, or the staff pose. firm down throughthe tops of the thighs, press into your heels, maybe so much just for a moment, so you can find the action that they lift upoff the yoga mat. and then just notice ifyou're kind of leaning forward or collapsing back. now would be a goodtime to lift the hips,
even by doubling up on youryoga mat if you need to, if you need that support. i'm gonna actually behere for a couple breaths, so breathing in deeplythrough the nostrils, and then exhaling outthrough the nose or mouth. head over heart,heart over pelvis. if the palms come to the earth, they can,more traditional version. i'd like to invite youto close your eyes here
as you breathe deeply, active legs, toes pointingtoward the sky. start to lift upfrom the pelvic floor. hug the lower ribs,the upper abs connecting, finding that containmentor that zipper effect, that zipper sensationthrough the front body. lengthen through theback of the neck, tuck the chin slightly. one more breath, you got this.
and we release. awesome, take thriller arms, pressing the baseof the right forward, and then we'llbring the palms together, interlace, just kindof steeple grip here, arch to arch here, inhale, lift your heart, and exhale, see if youcan really articulate through the spine here,
if it helps to point thetoes so you have more support in the lower body,please go for it. i'm gonna point my toes, and we slowly, slowly roll down. and as you returnto this practice, you can close your eyes here. again use the video if you need, but you can close your eyesand really start to feel all this beautiful articulation
all the way downthrough the spine, working the core, and eventually we comeall the way down and send the fingertips out, big texas t, left to right. take a deep breath in, then use a big exhaleto sigh it out. feel the support ofthe earth beneath you. when you're ready,we'll draw the knees
all the way uptowards the chest. scoop the tailbone upso the lower back is nice and flush withyour yoga mat. and then snugglethe shoulder blades underneath your heart space. should feel awesome. great, inhale, draw theknees in towards the chest and exhale, slowly meltingthe legs towards the left, but see if you cando it nice and slow.
should get a nice little massage if you do it really slow here. keep the palms rooted,shoulders rooted. and there's lotsof variations here. we can turn to the right ear, we can extend the top leg, we can even reach around and use the left fingertipsto grab the left toes, excuse me, the right fingertipsto grab the left toes,
so coming in toa little bend here, and use the left handon the right thigh. so lots of options here. breathing deep. reclined twist. then moving from your center, draw the naval down, release, we'll come allthe way back through, take a deep breath in,
and then other side, melting the knees to the right, finding yourreclined twist on this side. sending big buoyantbreaths to the belly. taking any variationthat feels good. extending that top leg, maybe you reach aroundto grab that bottom foot. take a deep breath in here. fill the lower belly with air.
and then exhale,all the way back, ending with a bridge pose today. so we'll take the kneesup towards the sky. soles of the feetrooted to the ground. fingertips reachdown towards the heels. about where the heelsand the fingertips meet, that's kind of a good gauge, but again everybody is different, then squeeze a littlebit of energy between,
you can imagine having a blockbetween the inner thighs, so we're not splaying out here, but really starting atthe feet, connecting, finding that liftup from the arch. imagine squeezing a block inbetween your inner thighs. snuggle the shoulder bladesunderneath your heart space and as slow as you canroll today, my friend, starting to peel up fromthe coccyx, the tail, and articulating all theway up through the spine.
and so by inviting youto slow the tempo, we're just kind of openingourselves up to a new experience. allow whatever wants to happenin the arms here to happen. maybe they stay palms down, or maybe theygently blossom open. press into the ball jointof the big toe here, keeping the kneessafely in here. all the way up, and thenuse the exhale to fall.
nice and slow, finding thatmassage in the spine. i'm getting superzenned out doing this. this works, this is working. and again, inhale,lifting from the tail. and this time when you comeall the way to the top, you have the option here ofeither grabbing your yoga mat and snuggling the shoulderblades a little bit more under, just grabbing the edgeof your yoga mat, sorry,
or you can interlacethe fingertips and snuggle thoseshoulder blades together, finding that lift. lift your chest up to your chin, and then lift your chinup towards the sky. again, lift your chestup towards your chin, and your chin uptowards the sky. send the sittingbones energetically towards the backs of the knees,
take one more deepfull breath in here, and then with control,exhale, release the arms, and let it slowly float down, nice and slow. fabulous, bring the solesof the feet together, knees nice and wide. take the base of the palms tothe front of the hip creases, give yourself alittle massage here. inhale in and exhale,open the hands.
take a moment to consider why you rolled out your mat today. and just feel your spine,that which holds you up, feel it supported byyour yoga mat, and by your practice, by this time thatyou took for yourself. gently slide one leg out, and then the other. if your body's asking forany other little movement, go ahead andgive it that, listen.
and then we'll cometo settle in savasana. stay here for aslong as time allows, but make sure you spenda couple moments here, just giving thanks, residing in a nice, soft breath, and a very powerful stillness, letting the body rest. thanks so muchfor sharing your time and your energy andyour practice with me
and the yoga with adrienecommunity. we'll see you next time. namaste.
Post a Comment for "yoga"