Lessons

Lesson Info

Friday PM: Get Out Of Your Head

Welcome to Get Out of Your Head. In this practice, all you'll need is your yoga mat. All the movements that we'll do in this class will be very simple and repetitive, but will allow you to add in your own flair as you move through. Let's begin. (bright warm music) So let's start the practice just laying down on your back. Find a comfortable position. Won't be here for too long, but you just want to take a moment to get here, 'cause wherever you are, this is kind of the beginning of your experience of this series of classes, the beginning of your time dedicating yourself to yoga, but more importantly, getting ready to explore yourself through yoga. So as you lay here, just take a few nice, simple breaths. Feel your body relaxing for a moment or two, maybe close your eyes, and just begin the process of decompressing. You're just letting things go. Any thought that comes up in your mind, you're just watching it, but then letting it go right by. You're not tied to any of these thoughts in ...

any way. They don't make up who you are, they don't control how you feel. And so, just like cars on a highway, they're just driving past. And maybe one of these thoughts catches your attention for a moment or two, but then you just come right back into yourself, right back into this place, laying on the ground, being subtle, being quiet. Just take another moment or two here. And then wherever you are, just go ahead and reach your arms way over your head, getting as long as you can, lengthening through the fingers, and then reach through the toes, pointing them as far forward as you can. So you're trying to get as much length as possible here, like you're trying to grow a few extra inches. And then exhale, come back into yourself. Extend through the fingers and the toes again, just using these as very simple waking-up-the-body stretches. And release. One more time. Extend. Grow, get longer. And release. Open your arms up like a T or a cactus, whatever works better for you. Bring your knees into your chest, and then just gently drop the knees from side to side. And you're just adding a nice rhythm to these movements here, so just kind of rolling side to side, trying to keep the opposite shoulder down of the way the knees go. So if the knees go right, try and keep the left shoulder grounded. If the knees go left, try and keep the right shoulder grounded. You're not really tied to any specific range of motion here, just kind of gently feeling the knees go side to side, slowly waking up the body. And when you feel balanced out, bring the knees to center. Take a moment, and then reach your hands forward towards the top line of your mat, hug your knees in, and then roll your chest up towards the knees. Taking a few breaths, you're really trying to keep curving the chest up towards the knees. And then exhale, release, set your shoulders down, set your hands down. Gently press your heels down into the floor as the feet land, lifting the hips up for bridge pose. As the hips gently lift, see if you can lightly pull the shins underneath you, which will allow you to curve the tailbone up just a bit more. You're not looking for any sort of maximum amount of height, but just kind of waking up the front and the back side of the body. On the exhale, go ahead and lower the hips back down. We'll take a few more just like this, so just gently pressing the heels down. You could press the hands down too if you'd like, or just work from the legs, exploring the range of motion on the breath up. And on the exhale, you lower the hips back down. One more time just like that, pressing the hips up on the inhale, filling the chest, feeling the legs getting lighter. And then on the exhale, you gently roll your body all the way down. Perfect. Extend the left leg long, bring the right knee into the chest, give it a nice squeeze, pulling the right knee in towards the right shoulder. Then point the left toes, lifting the left heel off the ground. Curve the chest up towards the right knee, holding here. And then your hands are interlaced, they're on the shin. Transition them to be on top of the quad, and then begin to press the leg away as you pull the knee in. So you're here pressing and pulling, just waking up the lower side of the core for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, bring your hands on top of the shin, lean right on to your back. Let your shoulders drop, pull the knee up towards the armpit a bit more. See if you can breathe into balancing your hip. So most likely, your right hip elevated a bit towards the right armpit. Can you keep moving the right knee up towards the armpit, but keep the right hip moving slightly forward? Lift the chest up off the ground again, lift the left foot away from the ground, point the toes if you fancy it, and again, bring the hands on top of the right leg. Begin to press and pull, so you're pressing with the hands while pulling the right knee in towards the chest as much as possible. Fantastic job, stick with it for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, catch the shin, roll right on to your back, holding here, holding the knee up towards the chest, just one more round we'll take on this side, gently waking up your core. My favorite things about adding in this core exercise in the beginning of my practice is I can really give the amount of effort that I have in me at that time. Lift the left foot up, lift the chest, the shoulders up. Bring the hands on top of the leg, and again, begin to press and pull. If I'm already feeling my body's feeling active and warmed up, I can really give a lot of press and pull here, but if it's not, I'm just giving the effort that I have available, and you can do that as well here, so don't put pressure on yourself. Just do what you can for the last 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and on one, release. Let the right leg go long. Bring the left knee into the chest. Catch the left knee, pull it in as much as you can. And maybe you circle the knee a few times. That might feel like a natural thing to do. We're just moving it up towards the armpit as you move the other hip away. So you're moving the left hip towards the inside of the right leg. The more you stabilize the left hip, the easier it is to get a bigger range of motion there. So lift the chest away from the ground, point the right toes, lifting the right heel, and then bring the hands on top of the left leg. Begin to press and pull in, giving as much effort as you have. Being steady here, feeling your lower back press into the floor for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and on one, catch the left knee, or the left shin. Gently lower your body back down on to the floor, moving left knee up towards the armpit. See if you can get longer through the backside of your right leg, maybe pressing that down towards the floor. That might help the top of the leg get a bit more active, be a bit more welcome and invited to the action. Take one more inhale here, and then on your exhale, again, you rise. So lift the right foot, lift the chest and the shoulders. Bring the hands on top of the left leg. Begin to press and pull away. Being steady here for 10, nine, giving of yourself, waking your body up into this practice. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one, catch the left shin, lay on to your back, taking a moment, moving the knee up towards the armpit just a bit more. And then lift the chest, lift the right foot, point both toes. Bring the hands on top of the left leg, begin to press and pull. Feel your arms activating here, feel your core activating here, pressing your back down. Just feel your body slowly coming more and more to life. The last 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, release. Laying down. Close your eyes and just breathe into your core. Take big belly breaths, you want to feel like your belly's lifting up in space. And then exhale, your spine is flattened down. Take two more breaths like this, deep inhale, (inhales deeply) and exhale. (exhales deeply) Deep inhale, (inhales deeply) and exhale. (exhales deeply) So your core may feel a bit more awake after those nice breaths. Hopefully it feels a bit more relieved. Bring your hands back behind your head, and we're just gonna do a few circles here. So think about the elbows moving in a clockwise or counter-clockwise manner. We'll only do 10 total circles, so the first way you'll circle will be the left elbow leading the charge, so you'll lift the left shoulder, the elbow going towards the right. Then you'll lift the right shoulder, circle yourself up, both shoulders lifted, then the left shoulder drops, the right shoulder circles back down, and you come back to center. Moving the opposite way, the right elbow reaches first, then the left shoulder lifts, both shoulders lift, the right shoulder lowers, the left shoulder lowers, that's one. Sweeping the left elbow across, then the right shoulder lifts, both shoulders elevated, left shoulder lowers, right shoulder lowers. Right elbow sweeps left, left shoulder lifts, both shoulders lift, right shoulder drops, left shoulder drops, you're back to center. Sweeping the circle back in the first direction, both shoulders lower, sweeping the circle in the second direction, shoulders lower. First direction, second direction. First direction, second direction. First direction, second direction. First direction, and second. And first, and second. Why don't we do two more circles? Stay with it. There's one, or half of one. There's the second half. And then the final round. Move up, and lift through the other side, and now you're back down. Lie your body to release into the floor, feel the top down motion and the bottom up motion of the core that is now awakened. Cross the ankles, hug the knees into the chest, and then just roll right forward on to hands and knees. So the midsection of the body's a bit awoken. Just roll the shoulders over the wrists a few times, just kinda finding some awareness in how the arms feel today. Maybe they're tired, maybe they feel good, strong, connected, capable. Maybe they feel a bit stiff. Either way, you're just going to use what you have available to you, right? So each day, your body feels a little bit different. You just want to give what you can in that moment, right? We're starting off our weekend of yoga practices with this one right here. We're trying to wake up the body, help it work through the different rhythms that it's been a part of, and how we can kind of change those rhythms. We want to change those rhythms with challenge. We also want to change them with ease and with the opportunity for choice, and for variability. Sway a bit more forwards and backwards, and you're just waking up the hands gently. And then, when you're ready, and again, you could take more time here if you want, or you could just tuck the toes and find your way right back into your downward-facing dog. So when you find your downward-facing dog, be active in the legs. As always, you really wanna feel the legs being the driver, the engager, kind of the motor of your downward-facing dog, how you can lengthen your spine, how you can begin to work the heels, driving backwards. This is going to be a very active practice, though, so if you've taken from me before, you'll know that in a more active practice, I recommend a slightly longer down-dog, or one where you're a bit more on your toes because we're going to be moving, we're going to be active, and if your heels are grounded, like mine are here, it may feel nice for a stretch in the calves, but it also kinda puts you in more of a flat-footed state of mind, or a flat-footed body position. From here, go ahead and roll forward to plank pose just one good time, waking up the wrists, feeling the arms actually engage. If you're ever having a problem getting the arms to engage, focus mostly on the index knuckle grounding down. So as we hold this plank pose here, think index knuckle over everything. You're actively focused on that index knuckle pressing down, if that feels a bit easier, to engage the muscles of the arms, kind of wrapping around the bones that support them, that hold them in place. Notice your core here, and then go ahead and roll right back to downward-facing dog. Beautiful. Walk the hands right back to the feet. Bend the knees a little bit, and have opposite hand grab opposite elbow, but do that behind your knees, so you're giving yourself a hug. You're really connecting the front of your torso with the tops of your legs. And when you get there, begin to press the hamstrings back into your forearms. So the head drops down, you're staying nice and comfortable, nice and close, and you're just allowing the hamstrings to warm up as they would here. Just take a few more breaths. And release. Inhale, rise all the way up to stand. Reach your arms up, be as tall as you can, and then exhale, hands come right to heart. If you'd like to set an intention or a dedication for your practice, now's the time to do that. Your body's active. We're about to begin the movement side of the practice, so take your time here. Maybe you set your intention for the whole weekend of practice, or the whole three days of time that you're gonna give to these movements, that you're gonna give to yourself, more importantly. What can you give of yourself in this practice right now? It doesn't have to be something outrageous or something courageous. It could be something simple, but the more you can come into awareness for who you are, where you are, and how you feel, the more you can find time to be honest with yourself, the easier it is to just be part of the process, to actually be an active participant in your life. And now, reach your arms to the sky, and exhale, fold down. Walk your hands out to downward-facing dog. Press into the palms. You're gonna get active in the legs, pulling the hips up and back. And then lift the heels, bend the knees. On the exhale, walk or float to the top of the mat. Inhale to halfway lift. Exhale to full. Inhale to rise up, reach up, fingers touch, and exhale to hands to heart center. Inhale, reach the arms up, and exhale, fold. And all of our uttanasana where are feet are together at the top of the mat, make sure, for this practice, that they are hips-width's distance apart always. We want to keep our gait in a nice natural position. Inhale, ardha uttanasana. Exhale, fold, step the left foot back. Drop the left knee down, inhale, reach your arms up to the sky, open. Exhale, hands land, tuck the left toes, pull the right leg back straight. Bend the right knee, press the palms flat, step the right foot back, plank pose, chaturanga. Plank, drop the knees, sit the hips back just enough to drop the forearms, curve the chest out, inhale, upward-facing dog, and exhale right back into downward-facing dog. No need to pause here, just get springy on the toes. We're gonna pull the hips up back in space, lift the heels, bend the knees. On the exhale, step, walk, or float to the top, feet land hips-width's distance apart. Inhale, halfway lift, exhale, fold. Inhale, rise up, arms reach, fingers touch. Exhale, hands to heart. Inhale, arms reach up. Exhale, fold down. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, step the right foot back, drop the right knee down, lift the belly as you reach the arms up back in space, lifting the chest. Exhale, hands to the floor, tuck the right toes, lift the knee, pull the left leg back. Bend the left knee, lean the chest out, palms go down. Step the left foot back, lower chaturanga, rise to plank. Knees drop, hips sit back, forearms lower. On the inhale, you pull your heart forward, and on the exhale, you sweep yourself back. No need to pause, press into the palms, pull the hips up and back so you're just breathing enough to get energy in your downward-facing dog. And then lift heels, bend knees, exhale, walk or float to the top. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, fold. Inhale, rise, reach the arms up, fingers touch. Exhale, hands to heart. Inhale, the arms reach up. Exhale, fold down, leading with the chest, letting the hips shoot back a bit. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, hands land, step the left foot back, drop the left knee down. Inhale, reach the arms up, open the heart. Exhale, hands to the floor, pull the left hip back as you straighten the right leg. Bend the right knee, press into the palms, step back to plank pose, lower to chaturanga. Rise to plank, drop the knees, sit the hips back, lower the forearms. Inhale, curve the heart through, upward-facing, and exhale all the way back into downward-facing dog. And feeling the pull of the legs, feeling the energy from the feet, lift heels, bend knees. At the bottom of the exhale, you float to the top of the mat. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, fold. Inhale to rise, reach the arms up. Exhale, hands come to heart center. Inhale, reach the arms up. Exhale, fold. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, hands to the floor, step the right foot back. Drop the right knee down, lift the belly, open the heart, reaching through the fingers. Exhale, hands to the floor, modified pyramid pose is next, pulling the left leg to straighten, lifting through the right leg. Bend the left knee, lengthen the chest out, press into the palms, step the left foot back, lower to chaturanga, rise to plank. Drop the knees, sit the hips back, lower the forearms. Inhale, pull the heart through upward-facing dog, and exhale all the way back into downward-facing dog. And you're getting the rhythm of this. We're gonna do a few more rounds of this exact same thing, so if you want to go faster or a bit slower, or add variation, of course, the option is always yours. Lift the heels, bend the knees, exhale, walk or float. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, fold. Inhale, rise up, reach up, fingers touch. Exhale, just pull the hands right through heart center as you fold down. Inhale to halfway lift. Exhale, step the left foot back. Drop the left knee down gently, lift the heart up, move through the front side of the body to create space in the back side of the body. On the exhale, the hands come flat. Lift the left knee, pull the right leg back. Bend the right knee, lean the chest out, hands land. You can just step back to down dog, or of course, vinyasa, just being simple in your flow, moving away from patterns and habits, trying to be more connected to each movement, more connected to each breath. Look out in front of you when you find your down dog. Lift the heels, bend the knees. Exhale, float or walk to the top of the mat, halfway lift when you get there, fold. Inhale, rise up, your arms reach, urdhva hastasana. Exhale, fold right back down into uttanasana. As the hands land, halfway lift, ardha utanasana. Exhale as you fold, step the right foot back, dropping the right knee down, lifting the belly up, reaching the arms up, lifting the chest. Exhale, hands to the floor. Pull the right leg back to straighten the front left leg. Let that be the driver. Bend the left knee, lean the chest out, press into the palms. Step the left foot back, lower to chaturanga. Rise to plank, drop the knees, drop the forearms, pull the chest through to upward-facing dog, and then exhale all the way back into downward-facing dog. Press into the palms, really pull your hips back in space. Walk or float to the top. Inhale to halfway lift, exhale to fold. Inhale to rise, reach the arms, fingers touch. Exhale, fold right down. Stay in rhythm, halfway lift. Exhale, fold, step the left foot back. Drop the left knee down, feel the belly lifting, reach through the fingers, getting longer. Exhale, hands to the floor. Lift the left knee, pull the right leg back straight. Bend the right knee, reach the chest out. Step the right foot back, lower chaturanga. Rise to plank, drop the knees, sit the hips back enough just to drop the forearms. Inhale, curve the chest through. Exhale right back, downward-facing dog. When you get there, lift the hips. Walk or float to the top. Halfway lift, fold. Rise, reach through the arms. Exhale, hands through the middle as you fold right down. Halfway lift, hands down, step the right foot back, drop the right knee down, lift through the fingers, getting as tall as you can. Exhale, hands to the floor, lift the right knee, pull the left leg back straight. Bend the left knee, lean the chest out, press into the palms. Step the left foot back, lower chaturanga, rise to plank. Knees drop, hips sit back so the forearms lower, and you'll curve the chest through. Exhale, right back into your dog, and just breathing simply in your space, staying with the rhythm of the practice. Lift the heels, bend the knees. On the exhale, you float or walk to the top. Inhale to halfway lift, exhale to fold. Inhale to rise, reach, leading with the heart. Exhale, hands touch, move right through heart center with the palms as you fold back down. Inhale to halfway lift, exhale as the hand slants, step the left foot back, drop the left knee down. Feel the wheels of the heart lifting your chest up, moving through the shoulders. Exhale, hands to the floor. Lift the left knee, pull the right leg back straight. Bend the right knee, lean the chest out, palms go flat. Step the right foot back right into your chaturanga. There's no pause, rise up to plank. Drop the knees, lower the forearms. Inhale, pull the heart through into your bigger upward-facing dog, and then exhale all the way back into your downward-facing dog. When you get back, look out in front, lift heels, bend knees, float or walk to the top. Halfway lift, exhale, fold. Rise up, getting long, getting tall, reaching the hands up. Exhale, hands right into heart center. Inhale, the arms reach up. Exhale, fold down. Inhale to halfway lift, keep the chest out as you bend the left knee. Step the right foot back, drop the right knee down. Lift the heart up, reach through the fingers. Exhale, hands to the floor, lifting the right knee to pull the left leg back. Bend the left knee, lean the chest out, press into the palms, step the left foot back, lower chaturanga. Rise to plank, knees drop, hips sit back, forearms lower. Inhale, pull the chest through upward-facing dog, and exhale all the way back, downward-facing dog. Keeping your rhythm going, adding in just a few variations, lift the heels, bend the knees. Walk or float. Inhale to halfway lift, exhale to fold. Inhale to rise, reach up, get long, fingers touch. Exhale right through heart center, folding down the middle. Halfway lift, ardha utanasana on the inhale. Exhale as you step the left foot back long. Drop the left knee down. From here, reach the right hand back, twisting towards the left foot, and you could just stay like this, reaching the hand back towards the back of the mat, or you could bend the left knee, catch the left ankle with the right hand, kick and twist your chest open. From here, just make sure the right toes and the right knee are pointing in the same direction. Feel some of the warmth of the first variations helping you create more space here. And then exhale, release. Bring your right hand to the inside of your right foot, tuck your left toes, lift your left knee, and all you're gonna do is begin to walk towards your left foot, pivoting your right toes to face the left corner of the mat, pivoting your left toes to face the back left corner of the mat. Flex your right toes. You just begin to sit into a form of a skandasana here. Think about keeping your back long, think about grounding your left heel to the best of your ability, just staying active, and then slowly walking right back over to the top. Press into the palms, step the right foot back, vinyasa. Moving right through, staying in your rhythm, feeling your body completely a part of the process. You're finding the rhythm of your breath, you're breaking away from any sort of mindset you came into this class with. Lift the heels, bend the knees, walk or float to the top. As the feet get there, inhale to halfway lift, exhale to fold. Inhale to rise, reach the arms up, fingers touch. Exhale, hands go right through heart center, folding down, halfway lift. As the hands land, step the right foot back long. You know exactly where you're going. The right knee drops. Sweep the left hand back, reaching towards the right foot. Keep the chest long. Bend the right knee. See if you can catch the foot, kicking to open, peeling through the chest. Really take a moment to notice can your left toes and your left knee point in the same direction? They can and they should. You will feel more comfortable. Just breathe into this space. Of course, explore anything that's speaking to you here, but just notice how you feel in this position. Notice where your body and mind may take you when you're on this journey. What pattern of thoughts come into your mind? Slowly release the right foot. As you let the right toes land, begin to walk towards the right foot with the hand placement, pivoting the right toes to point towards the back right corner of the mat, pointing the left toes up, and just sitting in towards your right hip flexor a little bit, breathing in, actively flexing the left toes up again. Doesn't matter your flexibility, your range of motion. You're just exploring what's open to you here. Gently begin to walk towards your front left foot, trying to sit low. Think about keeping your spine long through all of those transitions, or do the best you can. Step the left foot back, lower to chaturanga, rise to plank. Drop the knees, sit the hips back, lower the forearms. Inhale, pull the chest through, upward-facing dog, and exhale all the way back into downward-facing dog. Press into the palms, look out in front of you, feel your core active, your arms active, lift heels, bend knees. On the exhale, walk or float to the top. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, fold. Inhale, rise up. Reach the hands up, let the fingers touch. Exhale, move right through heart center, folding down, hands land, halfway lift. Again, step the left foot back long, dropping the left knee down. And you may want to lengthen your stance a bit more here. We've explored this space quite a bit. Reach your right hand back towards the back part of your mat. Bend the left knee, catch the foot near the ankle, kick to open here, peeling the chest open a bit more. Breathe into your hard body space. Again, this is a slower moment of a repetitive transition. Just notice how it feels to you. Release the foot. Circle your body around to the left. It's almost sort of a counter-clockwise moment if you think of the top of your mat as a 12. Point the left toes to the back left corner, flex the right toes up, and just kind of sit in as much as you can here. Try and keep your spine long. Feel the inside stretch of the leg. Really have some integrity with the left knee pointing over the left toes. It's just gonna keep you safe and stable. Slowly pivot towards the right foot, coming forward, leaning the chest out. Press into the palms. From here, you can just float the right leg back to plank pose. Lower to chaturanga, rise to plank. Drop the knees, sit the hips back, lower the forearms. Inhale, pull the chest through upward-facing dog, and exhale all the way back to downward-facing dog. Press into the palms, lift the heels, bend the knees. On the exhale, walk or float to the top of the mat. Inhale to halfway lift, exhale to fold. Inhale to rise, reach the arms up, lengthen through the fingers, lifting. Exhale, fold down right through the middle. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, hands to the floor. Step the right foot back as long as you can. Drop the right knee down. Start with a twist. You're opening the chest, reaching the left hand back. Then reach back and catch the foot. You're mindful of each moment, of each movement of this practice. You know this is very straightforward. It's not very complicated. None of this is out of your wheelhouse. It's all accessible. It's all just helping you break away from old thought patterns, from old movement patterns, and just moving into a simple awareness of the most basic parts of your yoga journey. Release the left foot, tuck the right toes. You lift the right knee, pivoting back. And note, even if you have a lack of flexibility, if you can just get to a point where your right knee is pointing in the same direction as the right toes, and the left leg is somewhat straight, that's all you're looking for here. Again, if you have a big range of motion, you can really sit in towards the right foot, but you're trying to have integrity with each part of this process. You're trying to really be so aware and so focused of how your body feels in each one of these spaces. Is it comfortable, is it uncomfortable? Do you feel like you're really thriving, or do you feel like this is something that you struggle with? And either way, you're just trying to be able to identify it so you can move past it. Swivel back forward, press into the palms, sweep the left leg back to plank pose. Lower to chaturanga, rise to plank. Drop the knees, drop the forearms. Inhale, curve your heart through, right into upward-facing dog, and exhale right back into downward-facing dog. Take a moment here, just breathing. (breathing deeply) Feel that rhythm kind of take hold on your body, whether it was fast or slow for you. It was mostly consistent, besides the last few rounds where you took those two variations. And then inhale, lift your right leg up to the sky. Keep your feet at hips-width's distance apart. Bring the right knee to the chest, and then roll forward, sending your right foot to the inside of your right thumb. Rise up into lunge. Reach your arms up. Get long, get tall. Feel your core engaged. We'll go slow on this first round. Lean the chest out. You're gonna reach the arms back, straightening the left leg. Lift up into warrior III. Strong in your warrior III, or your airplane pose, trying to get as much length through the back as possible. And then bend the right knee, step back into warrior II, letting the foot land. Take an inhale on the warrior II. On the exhale, parsvakonasana, side angle pose. The right hand finds the ground, the left arm reaches up. Taking a moment here. And then pull the right leg back, straightening it for triangle pose. Look down past the right big toe. Lean the chest out. Trust yourself, really power up the back left leg, and then find your half moon, ardha chandrasana. And again, if your right hand is on the floor, that's fine. If your right hand is floating, that's fine. Maybe you're really working on leg stability. Maybe you're really working on having a long side body and spine. And then on your exhale, bend the right knee, stepping the left foot back to where it came from, but bringing your hands to the floor. Press into the palms. Reach the right foot back. Roll to the outer edge of the left foot. Reach your right hand up to the sky, vasisthasana, side plank. Taking an inhale here, and on the exhale, your right hand circles over, finds the floor, and you find downward-facing dog. Inhale, lift the left leg up to the sky. On the exhale, the left knee comes to the left rib cage. Sweep the left foot forward to the inside of the left thumb. Rise into your lunge, that's your next inhale. Reach up, grow tall. Again, we're going slow on this first one. We'll pick up the pace as we move forward. Reach your hands back. Lean the chest out. Lift from the belly, sweep forward, warrior III. Try and get long through the spine, try and get active in the back right leg. Bend the left knee, step the right foot back. You'll find warrior II, virabhadrasana II. Comfortably land the legs. Reach through the fingers. Bring the left hand down to the inside of the left foot, or maybe left elbow to left knee. Parsvakonasana, the side angle pose. Taking a moment here, you're really opening up and embracing each posture. Straighten the left leg. You can slide the left hand up on the shin of the foot if you fancy it for the triangle post. Again, when we begin to flow, you're not worried so much about alignment, but most importantly about controlling your body and trying to be as aware as possible of where each part of you is. Bend the left knee, lean forward, look past the left big toe, lift up, ardha chandrasana, the half moon pose. Feel the chest spinning towards the right side. Feel as much action lift through the inside of the right leg as possible. Bend the left knee. Step the right foot back. Bring your hands to the floor. The palms go flat, you reach the left foot back, but it doesn't touch the ground. Roll to the outer edge of the right foot. Reach your left arm up to the sky, getting as long as you can through the side body. And on your exhale, right back to downward-facing dog. Lift the heels, bend the knees, bend the elbows slightly. Pull your body through into upward-facing dog. On your exhale, press the top of the feet down, find plank. Lower to chaturanga, rise back up to plank, and then roll back into your downward-facing dog. So that's our sequence. We'll go through it a few times here. Don't worry about going fast or slow. Don't worry if you want to add in variations, if you want to add in a few inversions here or there. The practice is yours, especially as you get more and more comfortable with the repetitive nature of these movements. But what you're really focusing on is how can I be present through each step of this? How could I give what I have? How could I not feel a need to do more or less, but just need to do just that right amount of effort, just the right amount of ease, being present, finding the difference between presence and focus, right? If you're fully focused, you could lose your awareness of self, but if you're present, you're aware of yourself and the activity. Inhale, lift the right leg up to the sky. Exhale, right knee to rib cage, right foot steps to the inside of the right thumb. Rise into lunge. Reach your arms back, lean forward, airplane pose, lift up. Good. Bend the right knee, step back, warrior II. Side angle pose, right hand goes down, left arm goes up. Straighten the right leg, triangle pose. Bend the right knee, lean forward, look out, airplane, or excuse me, half moon. Bend the right knee, step the left foot back, hands land, roll to the outer edge of the left foot, right foot stays lifted, vasisthasana. The foot stays lifted so you can intensify or modify, right? You could step over if you need to, you could step down if you need to. Right hand to the floor as you pull back into downward-facing dog. Left leg lifts, left knee to rib cage. Left foot steps to inside of left thumb. Inhale, rise into lunge. Lean forward, warrior III, shift your body weight out. Bend the left knee, step the right foot back, warrior II. Left hand down to inside of right foot, side angle pose. Of course, left knee, or of course, left elbow to left knee. Straighten the left leg, triangle pose. Bend the left knee, lean forward, ardha chandrasana, lifting up, playing long through the side body. Bend the left knee, step the right foot back, hands come to floor, roll to the outer edge of the right foot. Reach your left hand up to the sky, getting long. Left hand down, downward-facing dog. Lift heels, bend knees, pull the chest through right into upward-facing dog. Exhale, press the tops of the feet down, plank. Lower chaturanga. Rise back to plank and gently fold back to downward-facing dog. Inhale, right leg lifts. Right knee to rib cage, roll forward, set the foot down to the inside of the thumb, lunge. Inhale, lift. Warrior III, hands back, or arms towards the hips. Bend the right knee, step the left foot back, warrior II. Open up. Side angle pose, landing the right hand down, or the right elbow on the knee. Straighten the right leg, triangle pose. Bend the right knee, lean forward, ardha chandrasana, lifting up. Slowly bend the right knee, set the hands down, sweep the right leg back, find vasisthasana, side plank. Anchor through the left index finger. Right hand comes down, roll on to the toes, pull yourself back to downward-facing dog. Left leg lifts, left knee to rib cage, roll forward, left foot lands. Rise into lunge, reach the arms up. Hands reach down or forward, lengthen out, airplane pose. Bend the left knee, step the right foot back, land into warrior II, opening up. Left hand goes down, right hand reaches up. Perfect, side angle. Straighten the left leg, pulling the hips back in space. Bend the left knee, lean the heart out, half moon pose, ardha chandrasana. Opening from the shoulders, bend the left knee, step the right foot back, hands land. Roll to the outer edge of the right foot, float the left foot, reach the left hand up, vasisthasana. Left hand comes down, pull the hips back in space. Downward-facing dog, lift heels, bend knees, pull the chest through into upward-facing dog, opening the heart. Press the tops of the feet down, lift the hips, plank pose. Lower chaturanga, rise to plank. Pull your way back to downward-facing dog. Right leg lifts, right knee to rib cage, press the right foot forward, lands inside the thumb. Rise into lunge, reach your arms up. Lean forward, warrior III, lifting through the left heel. Bend the right knee, step the left foot back, warrior II. Open your body up, side angle. Lengthen through the left hand, triangle. Move the hips back in space. Bend the right knee, ardha chandrasana, half moon pose. You're essentially moving at one breath per movement here. Bend the right knee, step the left foot back, the hands land. Side plank on the left. Maybe the right foot steps behind the left knee, opens you up a bit more in this variation. On your exhale, just right back into downward-facing dog. You're just touching everything a little bit. Left leg lifts. Exhale, left knee to rib cage, pull forward, land the foot. Rise into lunge, reach up, get tall. Lean out in front of you, warrior III. Getting long, lifting from the right leg, bend the left knee, step the right foot back, warrior II, opening up. Side angle pose, left elbow lands or left hand finds the floor. Triangle pose. Amazing job, you guys, way to stick with it. Bend the left knee, lean forward, ardha chandrasana, lifting from the inside, staying in your own rhythm. Don't worry about losing your balance, just do what you can. Step the right foot back. Hands land, lift the left foot, roll to the outer edge of the right foot. Reach the left hand up. Maybe the left foot steps over and behind, opening the chest and the shoulder a bit more. On the exhale, your downward-facing dog, you know where you're going. Lift the heels, bend the knees, press your body forward and through, upward-facing dog. On the exhale, you find plank. Lower chaturanga. Plank, drop the knees, drop the forearms, that's wrong. Plank, and then pull yourself back to downward-facing dog. Lift the right leg up on the exhale, pull the right foot forward, let it land. Rise into lunge, reach your arms up. Lean forward, airplane pose. Lift the back leg, bend the right knee, warrior II. Open your body, side angle pose. Letting everything land, triangle pose. Creating the softness of the stretch, bend the right knee, lean out, back into the engagement of the half moon. Lengthening through the hands, bend the right knee, step the left foot back, hands land, vasisthasana, any variation that you choose, opening more, stabilizing more. Either way, it's downward-facing dog. Left leg lifts, left knee to rib cage, left foot to the left thumb. Rise into lunge, grow tall, reach up. Hands lean out, warrior III, lifting up. Bend the left knee, step back, warrior II. Feel your body opening in that space. You're so much more comfortable with the movement. Side angle pose, you sweep down. Lengthen through your side body. Straighten the left leg, triangle. Bend the left knee, lean forward, half moon. Bend the left knee, hands to the ground, roll back to the vasisthasana variation that you like taking. Lift the heart, open everything up. Downward-facing dog, lift the heels, bend the knees, pull your way right forward into up dog. From there, press the tops of the feet down, lift the hips, plank, lower chaturanga. Rise back up to plank, and then roll back into your downward-facing dog, the final round. Right leg lifts, right knee to rib cage, pull your body forward. Set the foot down, find your lunge, lift the chest. Lean out, warrior III. Get long through the front and the back body. Perfect, bend the right knee. Step back, warrior II. Be graceful in your movement. Side angle pose, letting it land. Lift through the left side. Straighten the right leg, move the hips back in space. Bend the right knee, lean up and out, half moon pose, working the stability and the flexibility. Bend the right knee, step the left foot back. As the foot lands, the hands land. Vasisthasana, your variation. Open everything up, feel the rotation or the stability. Exhale, downward-facing dog. Elevating the hips back in space, the left leg lifts, left knee to rib cage, roll forward, set the foot down. Rise into lunge, move from the midsection of the body. Lean out, warrior III, keep the arms lifted. Lift the inside of the right leg. Perfect, bend the left knee. Step the right foot back, warrior II, open everything up. Reaching through the hands, side angle pose. The left hand lands down, the right arm reaches up to the sky. Straighten the left leg, triangle pose. Pulling back, bend the left knee. Lean the heart out, half moon. Last round here, peel the chest open. Get long through the front and the back body. Bend the left knee, step the right foot back. Bring your hands to the floor. Reach the left foot over, stepping into your vasisthasana, or your variation of an open heart variation of side plank. Your practice, your choice, of course. On your exhale, you step back into downward-facing dog. Lifting the heels, bending the knees through your body, pressing forward as you pull the chest through into your up dog. Curving out, press the tops of the feet down through reverse vinyasa, so you find plank. Lower chaturanga. Rise back up, and back into your downward-facing dog. Take a moment here, look out in the front of you. Lift the heels, bend the knees. On the exhale, walk or float through to a seat. Ooh. And when you get there, just roll right on to your back, letting your body completely rest for a moment or two. And just feel the effects of the work on your body, right? All poses we did are all poses you knew. What did it feel like to do them at that speed? What did it feel like to take yourself into a routine that's not your own? Set your feet up for a few rounds of back bends. This'll only take three. If you'd like wheel, of course, feel free. I'll stay with bridge for today. But again, your practice and your energy levels are your own. So gently press the heels down, set the hands where they need to be, and then just begin to elevate the hips. I oftentimes say pull the shins underneath you. What that means is move the shins, feel the shins coming towards your butt. That will then allow you, whether you're in the bridge or the wheel, to elevate your hips through engagement of the hamstrings, engagement of the glutes a bit, and activity through the quads. We'll just hold here for five, four, three, two, and on one, release. Then set yourself up for your second round. Feel the insides of the legs rolling down towards the floor. Lift the hips back up. Bind the hands if you're taking the bridge. Feel the action of the heart moving back if you're taking the wheel. Whatever variation you choose to take is your own. It does not matter. You're giving your own efforts, your own connections to each pose. And release, setting everything down. Take one more moment here, one final backbend, and think about spinal articulation here. So don't think about height or aesthetics, but when you think about movement of the spine, what part of your spine feels active, feels connected that you can be aware of? And what part of your spine, you feel like it's kinda like a dead zone? You can't quite understand what's going on there, you can't quite feel it. Try and bring more awareness into that space. Even if you're just barely exploring the edges of it, you're still finding the opportunity to walk into those places, to create more connectivity through your body. Lift the hips, last round. (breathing deeply) And slowly, release down. Reach your hands up to the sky, let your shoulders be flat on the floor. Let your whole back be flat on the floor, so adjust your feet in any way you need to. Take out the natural curve of the spine for just a moment here. And then just let the arms cross over so the elbows point up to the sky, essentially, opposite hand grabbing opposite shoulder, and just take a moment there. If you want, you can bring your arms to cover your eyes, kind of taking an introverted moment on your back, feeling this closed off benefit of your physical movement of your engagement and your awareness of the practice. And then slowly release the arms. Bring the knees into the chest. Just rock up to a seat. Cross your right shin in front of you. Lean over to the right side of your body, and then use your hands to just press down and sweep the left leg back, so you're magically in pigeon pose. After all those work on standing balances, it's nice to take a pigeon or two. If you have any props that you would like to use for your pigeon, feel free. But again, none of that is required here. One of the things that might be smart to do, though, is just make sure that your body is going to be on the mat. So you may want to scoot back a little bit, depending on where you were when we began the rise up. Go ahead and fold forward as much as feels good to you. Close your eyes, begin to surrender into the space. And as you're here, right, you're just noticing the rhythm of this practice, and maybe the way we did things in a slightly different order than you would normally do them. Something as simple as towards the end of the practice, where we did the more flowing full-body sequence, we did our vinyasas almost opposite. We went from downward-facing dog into upward-facing dog. From there, we found plank, and the chaturanga, before going back to down dog. That simple rewiring of your system, that simple change of a rhythm can give you so many opportunities for exploration in the body, 'cause you're taking something you do all the time. If you practice yoga all the time, you commonly do vinyasa one specific way. What does changing that do? What does it do to your mindset? When the foundations of what you do change, how do you react? How can you create more awareness through change? How can you create more comfort in change? How can you create more honesty through this yoga practice? What are you looking for when you come on to the mat? What do you need from yoga? What about this practice is beautiful to you? What about putting yourself into these various postures makes you feel amazing? When you're in a funk, how can you use some of these poses to change your mindset, to bring you into a place of happiness, a place of joy, place of being content with the self? Slowly walk your hands back underneath your shoulders. And any way you choose, you'll just switch the side of your pigeon, so the right leg will go back and the left leg will go forward. When you get there, begin to settle in, and you can stay upright, you can fold as much as you want. Just gently move away from all the effort, all the work. And again, as you sit into this space, pigeon, place you've been so many times before, how does it feel different today? What about your physical state, your mental state, your emotional state, changes the way you feel about this posture? 'Cause you may do yoga for many reasons, but one of those reasons is that it brings you some form of happiness. It's incredibly important to take ownership over your happiness. You are responsible for your own happiness. Your friends aren't responsible for it, your partner's not responsible for it, your parents are not responsible for it, you are. It's important to watch where you give your happiness away. What takes your joy? Notice if you give your happiness away to such simple things, like somebody cutting you off on the freeway, or your favorite teacher subbing out a class that you wanted to take, or being late to a dinner you were supposed to attend, or if a store clerk is rude to you, or a boss is rude to you. Who takes your happiness? Just take a few moments here and just kind of reflect on the fact that no matter what, you own your happiness, you own your attitude, and you own your effort. You can't control anything else. Everybody else does their own thing, but you can control your attitude and your effort. Don't give them away for free. Slowly walk your hands back underneath your shoulders. Roll on to your left hip, swing your right leg forward, crossing the right shin in front of the left. If you'd like to take double pigeon here, or if you would like to take lotus, by all means, feel free. Of course, you can stay in sukhasana as well, that's where I'll be. And again, you could sit upright in your sukhasana, or you could just fold over, just kind of closing off from the outside world, moving away from stimulation, moving into your introverted state. And often, in the practice, it's easy to want to reflect on what you did or did not do in the class. So as you take a moment here to maybe do that, don't think about how well you did or did not do any of the poses. That's irrelevant. Instead, just think about, or try and connect with, was your body in harmony during the course of the practice? Did you feel part of the rhythm of movement that you took? Did that rhythm begin to take you out of your head space? Did that rhythm begin to put you more into the essence of your own being, part of you that's not tied to any one thought or idea, but the part of you that's just here, that's connected, that's present, that's finding time for the yoga practice? If you folded forward, lift your body back up, and you'll just switch the cross of the legs. So if it's the right ankle that's on top, you'll move and bring the left ankle on top of the outer knee. If you're in the lotus, you'll switch the cross of the legs. If you're in the sukhasana, you'll bring the left foot in front of the right. Lifting the chest, and again, you have the opportunity to sit up tall here, working on the length of your posture, or folding forward, closing off, moving into that introverted place. But again, this point of the practice, I'd strongly recommend be introverted in your nature. Allow yourself to quiet down. Allow yourself to let go of thought, to let go of control, and to just move into being present. Let your breath cycles get a bit longer, the exhale a bit longer than the inhale. Feel any of the tensions kinda moving out of your system. If you ever lost your breath during the course of the practice, at this point, you found it again. Inhale to rise back up. Extend the legs out in front of you. Gently roll on to your back. Bring the knees into the chest, drop the knees over to the left. And you could just stay here, having your left hand on your right knee, we'll hold the position, or you could begin to reach your left foot back. You could catch your left foot with your right hand, and just kind of gently open up a little bit more. Notice the similarity between this shape and the pose we practiced a few times. Then slowly release. Find your way back to center, switching your side, so the knees come into the chest. You'll roll on to the right hip, dropping the knees over. And you could stay here, right hand on left knee, or, just like we did on the first side, you can reach your bottom leg, that being the right leg, and catch the right foot with the left hand. Ground the left shoulder as best you can, and just kinda feel this nice twist, gently opening up the hip flexor, adding a bit of depth to the posture. And at this point, you don't need to be in any more effort. These are just options. Sometimes, the biggest struggle is just allowing yourself to do less, allowing yourself to relax, allowing yourself to completely let go. And slowly twist back to center. Ground the hips into the floor. Reach the feet up to the sky, bring the toes overhead like plow pose. If you need to bend the knees, of course, that's okay, but when you get there, catch the back of your Achilles tendons with your hands, and just hold here, or reach the hips forward. So it's like you're taking an inverted paschimottanasana, or supta paschimottanasana. But really, feel the closing off here. Don't feel the need to do more poses or more stretching. Mainly just feel that your posture is helping you move away from stimulation, that your posture's helping you find a little bit of ease. Keep the neck long. Feel most of the pressure just at the bottom tips of your shoulder blades. That's the biggest point of contact with your ground and the floor. That's the biggest point of contact with your body and the floor, your body and your yoga mat, that space just at the very bottom of your shoulder blade. Gently press your femurs up towards the sky above you. You're not looking for much effort here, but just enough to keep you present for a few more moments. And slowly release. Take your time bringing your heels back to the floor, letting the feet land as lightly as possible. As the feet land, you'll naturally bring the curve back to your spine. Your arms can stay wherever they are, moving to a comfortable position for shavasana. And as you find your shavasana, just take one or two more deep breaths here. So deep inhale, filling all the way up into the belly, as much as you can. And exhale. (exhales deeply) Then one more deep inhale. (inhales deeply) and exhale. (exhales deeply) You've completely let go. Body is quiet, your mind is quiet, but you're still aware. We're gonna use that awareness to bring a warm sensation, a warm and comforting sensation, to the entire body. So we'll start with the toes. Feel a warm sensation comforting your body, entering your toes. That warm sensation moves up the feet, moves into the heels, into the ankles. The warm sensation moves into your lower legs, into your knees. Bring all your awareness to that warm sensation entering your upper legs, comforting you, entering your hips. Your whole lower body's comfortable and warm. Feel that warm sensation move into your fingertips. And from your fingertips, it moves into your hands, into your palms, into your wrists, your forearms, your elbows. That warm sensation moves into your upper arms, and your shoulders. Warm, comforting sensation into your armpits, down your side body, touching the tops of your hips as it connects with the warm sensation of the lower body. It gently moves into the belly, and the chest. From the chest, it moves into the collar bones, and the neck, from the neck to the chin. From the chin, it reaches up through the entire face, the mouth and nose, the ears, the eyes, the forehead, the top of the head, the back of the head, and then trickles down through your spine, the upper back, the mid-back, the lower back. Your whole body is entirely warm, comfortable, released. You're perfectly content just as you are. You're perfectly aware just as you are. You're simply allowing the sense of lightness, sense of awareness, this warm and comforting place of being, to help you completely relax. Feel free to stay as you are for as long as you need. Thank you for joining for the practice. Namaste.