Twisting Core

(waves crashing) Welcome, my name is Sarah and this is the Power Hour. In this practice, we're gonna be doing a lot of twistings and more kind of rinsing postures for the body. Ideally, it's a morning practice, but if you're doing it in the evening, that's also fine. One breath at a time, so once we start to move, we probably won't stop, although take your time, it's okay if you do. So, yeah, let's get started.

Come onto your hands and your knees and generally speaking, it's best if you can get your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees, whether you tuck your toes or press them into the floor, whatever feels best for you. And then just wiggle a little bit. Get comfortable, you can twist looking over one shoulder and then the other, rocking all the way back, rocking all the way forward. Just getting some organic movement in your body, waking up a little bit. And then as it feels comfortable, moving towards the center, spreading the fingers nice and wide on the floor.

On an inhale, drop your belly towards the floor, lift your gaze, roll your shoulders back. As you exhale, round your spine like you're pressing it towards the ceiling, let your head drop, push your hands into the floor. Inhaling to tilt and exhaling to round. Taking your time, you can even close your eyes as you do this so that you feel like you're moving a bit more organically with your own rhythm, not necessarily with me, starting to coordinate how you're breathing with how you're moving. At some point, on the exhale, see if you can pull your belly button towards your spine so that you feel just a tiny (sucking) up.

As you're moving back and forth through these two movements, we call them a cat cow, this is the cat with the spine rounded, the cow is with the belly dropped. See if you can maintain that (sucking) in the belly. The next time you are in the cow, tuck you toes, press your hands into the floor and just lift your hips up into a downward facing dog and walk your dog. Wiggling a little bit, side to side, maybe deeply bend one knee, press the opposite heel into the floor and then change sides. At some point, it's gonna feel good for you to move into stillness in your down dog, pressing your hands evenly into the floor, lifting up through the hip crease and trying to send your thigh bone back towards the wall that you can see when you drop your head.

Take a few breaths here, in and out through the nose. Pressing the heels back. If your hamstrings are tight, totally fine to bend the knees. Your butt will feel like it's a little bit higher, that's okay. At some point, maybe the heels go down.

On an inhale, maybe walk your feet back a little bit to give yourself some space and roll forward into a high plank. Again, we want the shoulders over the wrists, and extending back into the heels, belly towards the spine, that same (sucking) feeling. And just look towards the top of your mat and take a few deep breaths here. Imagine the tops of your thighs are lifting up so that your legs are engaged, maybe your butt cheeks very gently squeezed together and the shoulders are moving back, almost as through you feel like you have chopsticks in your armpits, so you're squeezing something in. On an exhale, push back to dog.

And we'll do that a few times. Just inhale, roll forward to a plank, and as you exhale, push up down dog. Inhale forward to plank, exhale down dog. Inhale forward to plank, exhale down dog. One more time, inhale to plank and one more time exhale down dog.

From your dog, take your knees to the floor, big toes touch, bring your hips to your heels and your forehead to the floor. Let your belly relax. Stay here for a moment. You can widen your knees if you like, if that's more comfortable, and set an intention for your practice. Whenever you're ready, there's no rush, look forward, coming back into a down dog and then just walking your dog up so that your feet are behind or between your hands, bend your knees.

Opposite hand, opposite elbow, sway a little bit side to side, let your head relax. And then start to engage just a little bit between the ankles and the calves, letting go of the elbows, keeping the head relaxed and roll slowly up a little bit at a time, stacking the hips over the knees, the shoulders over the hips until your head lifts. Pause here, turn your palms open, close your eyes for a moment and just acknowledge how you feel, where you feel the energy moving in your body, taking the deeper breath. Then, as you're ready, opening your eyes. I'm gonna step out with my left foot, but you can continue facing the direction that you're in.

We want the feet to be slightly separated about hip distance. Inhale, reach your arms up, interlace your fingers and turn the heels of your hands open, and then exaggerate what you're doing. Scrunch up by your ears and then exhale, release back down. Pull your lower ribs towards one another as though you're wearing a corset that's tightening. Take an inhale and as you exhale, lean your arms to the right, push your hips slightly to the left.

You can look up or you can look straight ahead. Pull the ribs in, pull the belly in, that (sucking) feeling is helpful here. Inhale, back up and exhale other side. Try and keep some energy in the legs, some energy in the elbows, shoulders away from the ears. Inhale, back to the middle and I'll turn back this way.

As you exhale, press your palms together, fold forward over your legs, bring your peace fingers to your big toes. On an inhale, look up, pull your shoulders back. And as you exhale, use your grip, pull your torso towards your legs, let your head drop. Belly continues to move away from the legs, in towards the spine. Take a couple of big breaths here.

On your next inhale, keep your fingers where they are, lift your gaze, place your hands on the mat, middle fingers go forward, step your legs back into a high plank. Energetically squeeze your elbows towards one another, remember that feeling of the chopsticks in the armpits, the lower ribs pulling in, the legs are nice and engaged. Take a couple of breaths here trying to breath horizontally into your ribs. You should feel a little bit of heat in the body, maybe a little bit of wobbliness in the belly and that's fine. On your exhale, lift your hips, downward facing dog.

Bring your left leg a little closer to the center, and as you inhale, bring your right leg straight back. You can flex your heel, you can point your toe, or you can floint, which is doing both at the same time, but try and keep it active in the air. On an exhale, round your back like we did for cat, bring your knee to your nose. Inhale back out, exhale knee to nose. Inhale back out, exhale knee to nose.

Look forward, place your right foot between your hands. Stay on the ball of your left foot, so your left heel is lifting, snuggling the right foot into the floor, and on an inhale, lifting up into crescent lunge. Right knee moves forward, the left heel pulls up towards your butt, a little (sucking) in the belly. Take a moment, get comfortable here pressing into the heel of the right leg. Take a big inhale reaching up, and as you exhale, right hand moves behind you, look over your right middle finger and think about your breastbone and your belly twisting as your hips and right knee move forward.

Take a big inhale, and as you exhale, send your left hand to the floor inside of your right foot, right arm reaches up. You can look up or you can look down, whatever feels best for you. Belly continues to move in towards the spine, shoulders away from the ears. Exhale, bring your right hand to the floor. Take your right leg up and give it a shake like a dog at a fire hydrant, letting the knee relax.

And then looking forward towards your hands, roll your shoulders over your wrists. Press the outside of your left foot into the floor. Lift your hips, reach your right arm back up. This is side plank. If you want to look up, great, if not, look down.

Taking an inhale, exhale right hand to the floor, separate your feet. Pushing forward slightly, bend your elbows, chaturanga. Inhale up dog, exhale down dog. From your down dog, look forward, bend your knees, give yourself a little bounce. Press into your hands, jump up and sit down and roll onto your back.

Pressing your feet into the floor like you would for a bridge, take your hands to your hip bones and move your hip bones towards your ribs so that your lower back presses into the floor. Take your belly button towards your spine and float your legs up. Pelvic floor muscles pull up, lower belly pulls down. Float your head and your chest up and keep your gaze trained at your belly so that you can see it moving away from your shirt. Shoulders away from your ears and just take a moment here, feel your core start to turn on a little bit, continue to press down into the floor, a little energetic squeeze between your thighs.

Take an inhale and exhale back down. We'll do that one more time just to set up the belly muscles for success later on. Hip bones move towards the ribs, belly pulls down, pelvic floor pulls up, so that the more work you do here, the easier it is to float your knees over your hips. Take an inhale, exhale head and chest lift, gaze goes down and we'll stay here for one, two, three, four, five. Continue to press your sacrum into the floor and then imagine you're hanging onto something with your hands.

Roll yourself up here in a little baby boat. And then see if you can imprint down a teensy bit at a time. Belly scoops in, squeeze inbetween the thighs, back down. One more time, rolling up take an inhale and exhale up to your baby boat. And then let's make it easy on ourselves, take a hold of your knees, rock and roll, give yourself some momentum.

Plant your feet, come all the way up. Exhale to release. And again, I'm gonna step this way so that you can see me, but you can continue to face the direction that you're already in. Inhale, reach your arms up, do the weird finger first, turn the heels of the hands open. Belly towards the spine, take an inhale.

Exhale, move a little deeper to the right and take your core muscles with you. (sucking) Inhale back up and exhale to the other side. Super strong in the legs. Again, you can look up, you can look straight ahead. Inhale back to the center and, again, I'm gonna turn this way. As you exhale, folding forward over your hips.

This time, step on your hands so that your toes are at the crease of your wrist. Bend your knees if you need to to get there. Take an inhale looking forward, exhale, fold. Keep your head and your neck relaxed, there's nothing to hang onto. A little push up into the feet will help keep the shoulders active.

On your next inhale look up, place your hands on the floor, step back into a plank. Stay in shape, squeezing the shoulder blades in. Take an inhale, exhale lift your hips. Same thing on the left side. Bring your left leg in the air.

Point, floint, or flex, exhale, knee to nose. Inhale, back out, exhale, knee to nose. Inhale, back out, knee to nose. Look forward, left foot steps up. Make sure that you feel stable here, that your legs are strong, a little squeeze between the thighs as you inhale, lifting up.

Take a moment, make yourself comfortable, find your breath, big inhales and exhales through the nose if possible, back heel pulls towards your butt. Belly goes in towards the spine, the lower ribs try to connect a little bit, hips and knees stay forward, exhaling to twist. If you want to look over your left hand, great, you can look forward. Try and relax a little bit in your face, we don't need to use those muscles. Stay in shape in the legs and in the belly.

Take an inhale and as you exhale, right hand goes to the floor, left arm reaches up, back leg stays nice and strong. Try and tuck your right shoulder blade underneath you. And then from here, bringing your left hand to the floor, step your left leg back and open your hip, like a dog at a fire hydrant once more, letting gravity do some of the work. And then rolling forward as you stack the left foot over the right ankle, lifting up in the hip and peeling the left arm up for side plank. Engaging in the side abdominal muscles, tucking the right shoulder blade underneath and using that left hand to really reach up.

From here, making your way back, finding a plank. Inhale, exhale to chaturanga. Inhale, up dog, exhale, down dog. When you get to your down dogs, take a moment, notice how you're breathing, how the body feels. On an inhale, looking forward, jumping up, sitting down.

Knees in, roll to your back, once more, pressing the feet into the floor, hip bones towards the ribs so you feel this heaviness here, belly towards the spine. Float the knees over the hips, interlace your fingers behind your head. Elbows are wide here and let's try and keep them wide. Take an inhale, exhale, lift up. Left elbow towards the right knee.

Inhale back, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Go nice and slow trying to coordinate so that you're rotating on your exhale, squeezing between your thighs and not bringing your knee anywhere near your elbow. At some point maybe going a little faster so that you're just exhaling. (exhaling loudly) Continue like this, or maybe some of us want to start extending the opposite leg.

Belly towards the spine, continuing to press the sacrum towards the floor. (exhaling loudly) Don't worry about getting contact, that's not the point. Come back to the center, roll yourself up back in our baby boat. Chest lifts. Taking a moment to (sucking) here and then once more imprinting slow and steady to the floor.

Inhale, exhale. Making it easier on ourselves, hands to the knees, rock and roll, giving yourself some momentum and then we want to sick our landing, feet to the floor, coming all the way up. Exhale to release. Stand with your feet together. Take an inhale, and as you exhale, sit back into chair pose, reaching your arms up.

Whether your palms touch or hands are wide, up to you. Try and sit your hips back and then see if you can take your belly towards your spine as you move your hips back and then wiggle a little bit, kind of like you're dancing or like you're using your belly muscles to fill out the space in your low back. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle and then on an exhale, fold forward. Inhale, looking up, exhale, bend your knees, step or jump back. Inhale, up dog, exhale, down dog.

Bring your right leg in the air. This time, exhale knee to right elbow, inhale back. Knee to left elbow, inhale back. Knee to nose, right foot forward. Left heel stays lifted.

Inhale reaching up, we're back in our crescent lunge. Taking the time that you need to get comfortable in the legs. Take an inhale, exhale back to our twist, right arm reaches back. This time, the right hand touches the left leg, left arm reaches back. Taking a moment, committing to the lunge.

Reaching back, take an inhale. Exhale, left elbow over your right knee, palms pressed together. Keep the back leg nice and strong and think about taking your abdominal muscles with you into your twist. Big breath here. Looking down to get your balance, step your left foot up to meet your right.

Squeeze your knees and ankles together into a prayer twist, belly towards the spine. Take an inhale, sweep your arms up, back in our chair. Exhale tadasana. On your next exhale, bend your knees once more, seep your biceps up by your ears finding that chair pose again and seeing how your core muscles can help support you in the pose. Wiggling a little bit again here, just getting comfortable, sinking the hips back, feeling the legs.

Take an inhale, exhale fold. Inhale look forward. Jumping back is optional, it's fun if you'd like to try. Bending the elbows in, keeping your gaze forward, exhale. Inhale looking up and exhale rolling back.

Inhale left leg lifts back, exhale knee to left elbow or tricep, inhale back. Exhale left knee to right elbow or tricep, inhale back. Exhale knee to nose, left foot forward. Set yourself up for success, make sure that your feet are firmly snuggled into the floor as you inhale lifting back up into a lunge. Take an inhale, and as you exhale twisting looking over the left fingertips, belly towards the spine and really committing to your lunge.

Take an inhale, exhale reach back. What you do with your gaze is up to you. And then exhaling right elbow outside of your left knee, palms pressed together. Really firmly press into your left heel, keep the hands really strong and maybe try looking up. Again, thinking about using your belly muscles to help support you here, facilitating this big twist.

Look down, step your right foot up to meet your left, snuggle the knees towards one another, and again maybe looking up. Take an inhale, exhale fold. Inhale looking forward. One more opportunity here, hands to the floor, jumping or stepping back. Inhale up dog, exhale down dog.

Think about what you're doing in your down dog to find a little bit of rest here. Head and neck heavy, equal work in the arms and legs. As you're ready, looking forward jumping or stepping up, floating your legs up back in our baby boat. You can keep your hands here, that's totally fine, maybe you want to bring your hands together. Take your right elbow outside of your left knee barely towards the spine.

So we were just here a moment ago, nothing much as changed, (sucking) in the belly, looking pleasantly over your shoulder. You can stay here or maybe you want to even reach back. Come back to the center and let's try the same thing on the other side. So you want to stay really firm and centered in the hips and belly, and then twisting, keeping the chest open, maybe reaching back. Coming back to the center, pull your knees in.

Come onto your tiptoes and maybe even starting with your knees on the floor to give yourself a little bit of support. Staying here (sucking) we're gonna use our core to try and lift the legs in a moment. Squeeze your thighs together, find your prayer twist and then sink back just a teensy teensy bit. Bring your right elbow outside of your left knee. A lot of action in the chest and belly.

Option one, stay here, and I'm gonna flip so that you can see me. Option two is to continue to squeeze really strongly in the legs, place the hands on the floor, make a little shelf for your legs, dip forward using your belly to bring your legs up. Chest is moving forward, belly towards the spine. Tipping back, let's try the other side. Squeezing into the center, twisting first, left elbow over the right knee.

I find that this is harder than the actual arm balance because it's hard to stay balanced on your toes. You can use the full space of your hand on the floor, elbow moves in towards the right hip, leaning forward and maybe picking your legs up. Still chopsticks in the armpits, chest is broad. Some people find more success with the legs out because your weight is more evenly distributed. As you like.

Coming back, whoops (laughing), to the center and transitioning into a down dog, letting your head shake, maybe wiggling a little bit, getting comfortable again. From your dog, stepping up, keeping the feet a little bit separated, lengthening. Exhale to fold. And like we did in the beginning, rolling up slow and steady. I'll step this way so that you can see me.

Starting in a tree pose, once more balancing the right foot inside of your left calf or perhaps thigh. A little bit of (sucking) in the belly so that we feel that we're rooted, and then some people like to lift up, some people like to stay here. As you like. And then from here, moving into a twisting balance pose taking your hands to your hips so that you have some support. Once more, the knee lines up with the hip.

The breastbone and the belly button go to the right, the left hand hangs outside of the right knee and the right arm just casually reaches back. Follow your fingers with your eyes, breathe deep. Coming back the way we came in, exhale to release. And we'll try the same thing on the other side. The left foot place inside of the ankle, calf or thigh.

It's important to remember that your body is different on the right side compared to the left. We're not looking for symmetry, we're looking for balance, so it's okay to do something different. Perhaps you'd like to keep your hands here, perhaps you'd like to lift up. Alternatively, you can bring opposite hand to opposite elbow or even reverse prayer behind your back. Keep the stability in the belly, pressing the right foot into the floor and maybe even very gently pushing back into your left foot.

There's no rush. When you feel like the balance is there, hands go the your hip (sucking) to bring the knee back out in front of the hip. The right hand hooks over that left knee and then again extending back opening the chest, looking over your left hand. Taking your time, feeling centered while at the same time extending and reaching back. Slowly moving back the way you came in and stepping back into tadasana.

I'm gonna stay facing this way for you. Take a step out on your mat about a leg distance so that your toes are slightly moving in, a little bit of a pigeon toe, interlace your fingers behind your tailbone, lift your chest, take an inhale and as you exhale, fold forward over your legs. Let your head and your neck relax, I like to kind of sway a little bit when I get here. Keep a little bit of integrity in the legs, let gravity do the work in the shoulders. When you're upside down, it's a little bit easier to exhale.

You are upside down right now, take advantage of that. Release a little. If you're comfy the way that you are, stay here. Some people might like to turn the hands open so that your knuckles move towards your body. Slightly different stretch.

Whenever it feels like it's time, bring your fingertips to the floor, turn your hands towards the front of your mat. Make your way back into a plank. Notice how this plank feels compared to the first. The body is a little warmer, a little more intention in the core, a little more intention in the breath. Take an inhale, exhale lower all the way down to the floor.

Kick your left foot into your left hand. Whatever grip you like is fine with me, I go to the inside. The right forearm comes out in front of you and then use your left hand to push your left heel towards your butt. And then we'll do the same thing on the other side. Left forearm in front of you, the right foot kicks up.

And flavor to taste. For some people this feels really nice, for other people it's kind of a meh. Could be good, could be hard on the knees so take your time with it, there's no rush. And then gently releasing. Lay your belly and your chest on the floor and kick both of your feet into your hands.

Again, whatever grip you like is fine, I'm going on the inside. Take a big exhale and as you inhale, kick into your hands, try and keep your knees and thighs on the floor. So the force of your kick opens your chest. Belly moves towards the spine and exhale release, keep your grip. Take an inhale and a big exhale.

(sucking) on your next inhale, we lift the legs and the chest, rocking onto the soft part of the belly, kicking firmly into the hands. A little bit of core work here so that your belly moves away from the floor. And exhale to release. Make a little pillow for yourself and look off to whatever direction feels comfortable. Wiggle your hips a little.

We'll try one more floor bow. Reaching the hands back, kicking the feet into the hands and remember the force of the kick is what helps open the chest. After all that twisting, a little (sucking) in the belly towards the spine. Lifting the chest, reaching the legs back up. And it's okay to rock back and forth so that you're on the soft part between the ribs and the hips.

Trying to keep your knees moving towards one another. Don't look up, just look straight ahead, breathing here and exhaling to release. And then tuck in your toes. Placing your forearms on the floor, once more, just a little bit forward of the body. And using your fingers on the mat or on the floor to pull the chest forward, belly towards the spine.

Press the knees down, roll up and imagine your lower back lifting up towards the ceiling and then slowly moving back into your sphinx. We'll try that a couple more times. Squeezing the elbows in, the belly lifts up first, lower back presses towards the ceiling, and then slowly bringing yourself back. Two more times. Exhaling, rolling up.

Inhaling, pressing back down. Last time like this. Rolling up and then from here, the toes are already tucked, lift your legs. Squeeze your elbows in, squeeze your butt towards the center line, thighs engage, belly towards the spine. And then slowly coming back down.

Press the toenails into the floor. Reach your left arm out and start to roll so that you're stacking your right hip over your left. Let your head rest. Whether your palm on the left side presses down or faces up depends on what you feel like. Right arm reaches up, maybe the hands find each other.

It's okay to let this right arm hang out in space. Maybe the right knee wants to bend, perhaps the left as well. Flavor to taste for your body right now. It's not important to look like me. Starting to relax the breath a little bit, softening the belly, very slowly rolling back.

Give yourself a moment in the middle to acclimatize. And then moving to the other side, the right arm reaches out, palm up or down, up to you, rolling onto your right hip. It's important to let your head relax. There's nothing to hang onto here. Left arm goes up.

If it's out in space, that's great, maybe, (laughing) oops, maybe it reaches for the bottom hand. Again, perhaps the knees bend. This is a pretty big torque, take your time. You can also keep your hand like this. Belly is softening, the breath is relaxing.

As you are ready, rolling back. Once more, wiggling a little bit, adjusting, listening to your shoulders. And then placing your hands underneath you, roll yourself back into a child's pose. Forehead towards the floor, taking a moment to really ground here, letting the body get heavy. When it feels like it's time, bringing yourself up.

I'm going to flip directions, but you can simply keep your direction and send your legs out in front of you. Adjusting so that you're comfortable in your body, maybe pulling the fleshy bits away from the bony bits so that you feel a little more grounded. Toes towards the face, reach your arms up, think long in the side of your body and as you exhale, peace fingers to your toes. Some of us need to bend the knees to make it more comfortable. As you like, as you need.

Inhale to lift and exhale to fold. Let your head drop, try and keep your legs nice and strong. Take deeper breaths. Try and send your breath towards the back of your body, the lower back ribs. Whenever you're ready, looking up, inhaling to straighten.

Place your hands on the floor and making sure that you have the space, just roll onto your back, adjusting in your shoulders so that you're comfortable. Bring your right knee in towards your right armpit, take your right hand to the knee interlacing the fingers, give it a little snuggle towards your armpit. And this is the part of the practice when we don't have to do any work in the belly, there's no more (sucking) there's no more contracting, there's no sucking in, just releasing. Breathing deep into the top of the right thigh and at the same time paying attention to that left leg so that we feel grounded and stable. Very gently, cross your right knee to the left side, stacking the hips once more, maybe even adjusting so that you're comfortable.

Stack the shoulders as well so that we get fully organized. Take an inhale, and exhale, peel your right arm back out. Generally speaking, the closer the right knee is to your shoulders, the more comfortable you'll be. For some people, both knees need to bend, that's totally fine. You can close your eyes.

Relaxing the right shoulder into the floor. Thinking of yourself as a wet rag and getting to rinse out a little bit here. There is no rush to move. We'll go back through the center, keeping the left leg, sending the right leg down. Pulling in towards the armpit, taking some time here, listening to how the hips feel, the heaviness in the right leg.

And then again, just pulling that knee all the way across, making sure that you're comfortable in your hips, getting organized on one side so that you feel really heavy. Take an inhale and exhale peel open into the twist. You can use the opposite hand to hold the leg, adjusting so that it feels sustainable, it feels comfortable. And closing your eyes, starting to allow the body to relax. Incorporating the work.

Pulling your knees back in towards the center, giving yourself a little squeeze, opposite hand, opposite elbow over the tops of the knees. Take really full breaths here, pushing your belly towards your legs, relaxing the muscles and trying to move a little deeper into the hip on the exhalation. Take your feet towards the ceiling, peace fingers to your big toes, elbows inside of your knees and use your elbows to separate your knees and press your shoulders into the floor. This is happy baby. The key to a happy baby is to have really passive legs and really active arms.

We've done all this twisting in the shoulders, really broadening in the top of the body, use that to your advantage. Press down and out and allow the hips to open slightly. I like to rock a little bit side to side, keeping the legs passive, the arms active. You can also drive the bus a little bit here, pulling the feet up and down, swiveling a little bit, but keeping the length in the spine. Bringing the knees back together, rolling a little bit on your lower back, making sure that you're comfortable.

Cross your right ankle over your left knee, move your right knee away from you slightly, maybe keep your right foot flexed for a little bit of support, threading your right arm between your legs, reaching the hands over the left knee. Try and keep your tailbone pressed into the floor and then just pull in a little towards your belly. You can close your eyes here, again, we're on the downhill slide. Relaxing into the lower body a bit, softening the belly. Switching sides, just taking the left ankle, crossing over the right knee, guiding the left knee away from the body, threading the hand between the legs and flavoring to taste.

The deeper you pull, the more you're going to feel in your left hip. It's okay to stay further away from the body, it's okay to pull the knees all the way in. Do what feels right for you right now. Feeling grounded in the shoulders and in the tailbone and focusing your energy on the breath, evening the inhale with the exhale. Untie the arms and the legs, hands to the knees.

Once more wobbling a little bit, making circles on your low back, widening the base a bit. Bring your feet together and your knees wide. Give yourself a little bounce, make sure that you're comfortable. The closer the heels are to your body, the more intense this will be. Making sure that it's sustainable.

Turn your palms open, close your eyes and imagine the back of the body moving towards the floor. The knees are relaxed, the tailbone is heavy, the shoulders are heavy. This is the part of the practice when gravity and time do the work. Let your eyes start to roll back a bit. You're welcome to stay here for a few more moments.

When it feels like it's time, the knees go together and the feet separate slightly, maybe even a little bit of a windshield wiper, clearing the slate. Extend your legs to the floor. A little wider than you would normally, lift your tailbone up and flatten back down. Lift your chest up, slide the shoulders underneath, widen your arms and release into your final posture, your shavasana. Letting the heavy parts of the body sink down, touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth even just once so that you can feel what it's like to relax your jaw.

It's impossible to stop thinking, it's impossible to think only nice things. Don't worry about that. Just feel your body on the floor, acknowledging the heaviness, the softness, acknowledging what's around you, what you have as an anchor to keep you here. And when your mind does start to take you away from me, from here, this moment, just come back to the breath, the rise and fall in the belly. I'll leave you here for a few moments and I'll let you know when it's time.

Take the opportunity to relax. There's no rush to move. When it feels natural, wiggle your fingers, your toes, take bigger breaths, at some point reaching your arms up over your head. Pull your knees in and roll to one side. Stay there, get a little snuggly.

Gently pressing yourself up, taking a comfortable seat and close your eyes when you get there. Letting your belly relax but sitting with integrity in the body. Thank you for sharing this practice with me. Namaste.