Happy Hour

Welcome to happy hour. This is an alternative to the traditional happy hour. Kind of a late afternoon, early evening practice, somewhere around after work, and a transition from work life, sometimes the stress, or if you've been sitting at a desk all day, and to be able to ease your way back into personal time or family time. I know I really needed, if I feel really depleted, that decompression time is so important for me between one and the other so that I can be fully present for my family or fully present for friends. So it contains inversions, it contains heart openers, and then we're going to begin to move into some deep, calming forward bends to prepare to move into the quieter time. So make sure that you're comfortable and maybe even slide your mat over to a wall since we are going to be doing some inversions and a couple blocks might be nice to support your practice.

And we're going to take the Earth Witness Mudra. It was Buddha's gesture, thought to be Buddha's gesture, that he took when he decided to forego his final liberation to stay on Earth and be able to serve others. So maybe sometimes you feel like, after a long day, you want to forego staying here on Earth and take off. But the choice to stay, to connect to our material world and those in our lives to be able to serve. So with your right fingertips, really root them into the ground so that you can begin to sit up tall.

This allows you to become nice and present and grounded. And then in this variation, you can just take your left hand to your heart. We're going to start by taking a few deep breaths in, this time with the focus on the inhale. So the inhale is the nurturing breath. It's the nourishing breath that we can give back to ourselves so we can fill up.

So you can breathe in to your heart. Nurturing that space, filling back up. You can even pause and be held full and fed. And then as you exhale, you can let it all rinse and clear away. And just take a few more breaths like that, breathing in.

Feeling nice and lifted up and in the chest. And then exhale. And taking a couple more just like that so that we return to our capacity to love, to care, and to serve. And take one more breath like that. And then exhale everything out.

And then now we're going to do the reverse. And now we're going to do some cleansing breath with your hands onto your belly. And the focus is going to be on the exhale. So this is clearing out anything that's been built up, anything that you want to let go of at the same time. So big inhale into your belly.

And then the focus is on those sharp exhales and a cleansing out, clearing out from the sinuses, from your nose, from your mind, from your body. Great detox. So inhaling, and then exhale, draw the navel back. And do one more like that, breathing in, just so that you can feel how as you breathe out, you're pumping the belly back. And we'll begin to pick up the pace a little bit and do around 20, 25 pumpings.

With your eyes closed, your lips gently closed, the action is in the navel. And so we'll start breathing in. Keep it going about 10 more times. Five, four, three, two, and one. Hold the breath out, drop the chin in towards your throat.

That great space and clearing. And then take a big breath in. And even let out a sigh from your mouth. And right from here begin to come forward towards the center of your mat. You can take a blanket, especially if your knees are sensitive towards the center, to pad up your knees.

And then we'll begin with a full body breathing exercise to bet in breath. So it's even like a moving prayer. You begin to slow down the breath, also clear everything out, giving expression. So the inhale, you'll begin to rise up, but allow the chest to open up. And then the exhale can even be a great hug around yourself as you let the head drop.

Begin to rise up again. A big inhale, and then exhale. Begin to dance with your breath a few more times so the arms can express themselves in any way that you like. Put a little bit of you into it. Rising up.

You move with the rhythm of your breath. So it can pick it up, or it can be really slow, depending on what you need. And then the next time you rise up, pause for a moment. Fill up as you breathe in, and then as you breathe out, you're going to have a seat on your heels to take a little twist over to the right. So if your hand doesn't touch the ground, you can place a block there, and then begin to twist open, ringing out through the spine, looking back.

And from here, tent your left fingertips back so that you can begin to lift the chest with a big breath in, tip backwards. You can even begin to float the hips up and arch backwards. And as you release your hips back down, you'll crawl forward onto your hands and your knees and take your right arm up to the side and then begin to weave your right shoulder to the ground and extend your left arm forward so that you can really drag your right hip back, melt any tension away from the shoulders and the neck, and then slide your left hand back. You'll peel your right arm back up to the sky, and this time extend your right leg back with it. You're in a supported side incline plank.

Your right arm can extend up to the sky, and as you draw the ribs in and the belly in, maybe you can find your balance and float the right leg up. Take a big inhale and then circle the right hand down and even draw the right knee in towards your nose so that you find that little lift up from the belly. From here, stretch the right leg back, stretch the left leg back, and then you'll release both knees to the ground as you breathe out. Bend your elbows for your chest and chin. Point your toes, slide your chin in towards the throat a little bit, and then lift your chest up.

The first cobra, I like to kind of move from side to side. Big inhale. And then exhale, you can walk your shins forward back onto your blanket for child's pose. We'll do a few more of those, breath of joy, big inhale, open up. Exhale in, inhale and rise, and then exhale.

You can even put on your favorite happy hour music if you like for this one. One big breath in, and then breathe out. Rise up, pause so that you can fill up and get long through the spine before you have a seat. And take your twist over to the left side. So sitting up tall as you inhale, exhale to wring it out.

And circle the right hand back so you're tenting all of your ten fingertips again to open your heart and your lungs. And then you can begin to press down to lift the pelvis up if it's comfortable. As you release your hips down, crawl forward onto your hands and knees, place your right hand center, and then peel the left arm straight out to the side and this time weave your left shoulder to the ground and your ear to the earth. And extend your right arm forward as you draw the right hip back a little bit. Breathing into the left shoulder and the right side waist.

And slide your right hand back. Peel your left arm to the sky, and this time extend your left leg straight out so everything can widen. You can take an inhale and just enjoy the stretch of your body and your skin, your mind, and then you're welcome to try lifting the leg up. Circle the left hand down, and you'll exhale just for a moment to climb in with your knee in towards your nose. Stretch back into your plank pose and hold for the breath out.

And then take your knees to the ground followed by your chest and chin again. Point your toes, rise up cobra. Hug the elbows in. And then exhale. This time your way back into downward facing dog.

You can pedal out through your feet. I like to twist a little bit from side to side. You can see how that feels in the side waist. And then release your heels towards the ground. And sink down a little bit deeper, allowing the crown of the head to release.

And then look forward towards your hands. You're going to step forward, and you can even keep the blanket here, so maybe you'll step over your blanket. You can walk right past it. As you come towards the top of the mat, this is a great time to let the head go, flutter through your lips. Any tension in the jaw, in your face.

And then drop your hands. Begin to slowly rise up to sit. Stand vertebrae by vertebrae. Take a couple moments to arrive. Arms by your sides, shoulders back.

Bring the crown of your head, reach up. And even coming back into your body, you can play with all four corners of the feet, so you're fully grounded and present. Coming back. And then with your hands to your heart center, we're going to do a variation on the sun salute, actually called a moon salute. So the back knee is going to drop.

It's going to have a little bit more of this heart-opening expression to it. So you'll start with your hands to your heart. And as you rise up, it'll be a little bit of a back bend, a standing back bend as you open up. And then come forward over your legs as you breathe out. Lift your right leg up, step it back behind you into a lunge, and then you're going to soften the back knee down.

So we'll come into crescent moon on a breath in. You can arch back, exhale your hands down and step into downward-facing dog. Inhale forward into your plank pose, and then release your knees, your chest, and your chin to the ground. Cobra as you breathe in, downward-facing dog as you breathe out. Inhale your right leg high.

Take a big step forward. You can always help it along with your hands if you need. And then again, the left knee is going to come down. So we rise up in the same way through crescent moon, arching back a little bit as you breathe in. Exhale your hands down.

Tuck your back toes under so that there is a little bit of a momentum to step forward. We'll rise up that little back bend. Put my hands back to your heart. We'll do one more round on the left side. Hook your thumbs, reach forward, up and back.

Come forward over your legs as you breathe out. This time it's the left leg that steps back. Release the left knee. Forward up and a little back. Exhale right into downward-facing dog.

Inhale forward into your plank pose, knees, chest, chin, or your variation of your vinyasa. Cold breaths as you breathe in. Downward-facing dog as you breathe out. It's the left leg that lifts up as you breathe in. Step forward as you breathe out.

Release your right knee, crescent moon. Exhale your hands down. Step forward. Rise up to stand. Exhale your hands back to your heart.

Hook your thumbs to reach forward, up and back again. As you come forward, interlace your hands behind your back. You can move a little bit from side to side. Again, get behind the shoulders. You can massage it in any way in your body that you need here.

Taking a couple moments. And then bend your knees to take your arms up into ukkatasana. Fold forward over your legs as you breathe out. And then you can step into a plank pose and lower down or right into your downward-facing dog. It can be in one piece.

Rising up as you inhale. And exhale into downward-facing dog. Breathe your right leg up to the sky. Step forward between your hands again, but this time seal the back. Heel down.

Draw the right hip back so you rise up into warrior wand, this great grounding uplifted pose. Then interlace your hands again behind your back so that you can lift the chest. I like to call this sequence happy hips as you drop down and now releasing anything there in the hips, knee tightness, as you bow your head. And again, right into your heart. From here, you're going to switch the right toes in.

So actually, you're going to come right into a nice straddle forward bend. You can bend one knee and then the other. The point is, again, to just melt away, release any tension in the body. As you press through, your feet rise up. Swing your arms up to the sky.

Then lift your right leg up. Spin the right leg out. And then sink down into a warrior two. You can allow the right knee to open up. So you sink down and then there's that great lift up from the low belly into the heart.

And then you can generously offer yourself up. Peaceful warrior as you inhale, arch all the way back. And exhale your way down into downward dog or move your way through a vinyasa nice and slowly in the evening. It doesn't have to be so fast. Inhale your left leg high.

Step forward between your hands. Seal the back heel down. Root through all 10 toes as you rise up. And then interlace your hands behind you. Draw the left hip back, the right hip forward.

Take a full breath in here. And then begin to bow your head down. Steer the left hip back as the head drops down. And again, you'll parallel the toes right into a straddle. You can move a little bit from side to side.

And then press into your feet to rise up. It's a warrior too as you breathe out. Tip backwards as you inhale. Circle your hands down. Lowering slowly.

That you can enjoy each movement being nourished and cleansed with every exhale. We're going to take one more round and we're going to add on just a couple more poses into that same sequence. You'll rise up into your warrior one again. Interlace your hands. Exhale into your devotional warrior, your humble warrior.

Parallel your toes. Rise up to stand. This time turn your toes out, your heels in. And this is called the goddess pose. So your arms begin to open.

You can sink down. Move a little bit forward, backward. And then the right arm comes underneath the left. This is the fierce goddess. So you can't see me but you're going to stick out your toe and breathe out through the mouth.

Letting anything go. So warrior two again to the top of your mat with your right leg out, your left toes in. Peaceful warrior. Circle your hands down. I'm going to step right into downward dog and you can move through a vinyasa here or stay and take a couple of breaths there.

And then let's take it over to the left side. Breathe your left leg high and step forward. Seal your back heel down and it's one long breath to rise up. Interlace your hands and then breathe out. Again, not rushing anything.

This is our time to slow down. You'll parallel your toes. Move a little bit from side to side again. And then rise up with your arms high. Draw your heels in, your toes out.

And then bend through your knees into the goddess pose. Again, this nurturing, nourishing gesture as you sink down. And then from here it's your right arm underneath your left and then stick out your tongue and breathe out. Rise up on an inhale. And then it's warrior two again to the front of your mat with your left leg out, your right toes in, sinking down.

Peaceful warrior as you breathe in. Circle your hands down and step into downward dog, remembering it any time to come into a child's pose if you need to rest or to reconnect with your breath. From here take a look to the top of your mat and you can take a big step, you can hop, you can walk to make your way forward. Put a little bend in your knees to lengthen the spine and look up and then fold over your legs into uttanasana. Rise up to stand as you breathe in and slide your hands to your heart.

I'm going to take a couple balancing poses here. So we'll start with tree pose. You can start with the right heel, especially sometimes after a long day balancing can be difficult. That's why they're good to do for grounding, calming, bringing the mind back into the body. So you can start with the right heel up the left ankle.

So find your balance, shifting your weight into the left leg. And then you can begin to slide the right foot up a little bit higher and then maybe reach for your right ankle to place your right foot all the way up to your inner left thigh. The hands to the heart is a more grounding variation where you can first find your balance and staying with the breath so that you're like roots of a tree drawing up all the strength from the ground, reconnecting. From there your arms can open up. It can be that same kind of joyful movement.

And take one more breath in. And then draw the right knee center. And then you're going to wrap your right leg around the left once or twice for eagle pose. Your right toes can be on the ground. And then weave the right arm underneath the left again as you arch back and come forward into eagle pose.

Begin that balance between nourishing and then cleansing. So this is like a squeezing out of everything, breathing into the back body, the kidneys, the liver, the back of the heart, allowing the head to release. And then you'll just unfurl and rise back up into mountain pose. Shift your weight over onto the right foot, slide your ankle up, slide your heel up your ankle, the left heel. Explore being on the right foot a little bit and then your foot can slide up higher and maybe all the way up.

Press your right thigh into your left foot, your left foot to your thigh and then find the lift up from the lower abdomen. As the tailbone anchors you to the ground, roots you. Once you've found your steadiness, you can lift your arms up. Play a little bit with your balance, you can sway over to the side. And then draw your left knee high up and then you'll squeeze everything out, give yourself a big squeeze.

So it's a left arm under with the left arm over and then come forward to that contraction as you breathe out. If you look back into, come back into our lives with a clear vision, not taking anything with us from our day. Rise up, big breath in. Then release your arms by your side. So we're going to take a couple more standing poses and balancing poses.

You're going to start with the left leg coming up into your chest and then begin to extend it back. So it's going to move into a high lunge from a warrior three. So it's a little variation as the chest begins to come forward, lengthening up and then begin to slowly reach your left leg back behind you as your arms come up to the sky. I like to put a little bend in the left knee to really open up that left hip flexor and then reconnect with the inner thigh reaching back as you sink down. Your hands are going to come to your heart to take a twist.

So the blanket is still here to support you and to cushion up the knee as you begin to find your revolution. Remember again, this great ringing out of the body, the cleansing. You can twist open through the chest and then again the variations are going to meet you right where you are, meaning you can lift your knee up again, maybe your arms can expand wide. You can rejoin your hands to your heart and then we're going to transition to a revolved Ardachandrasana. So if you do have blocks, I strongly encourage you having them near you for this pose.

So you'll take a block right underneath your left hand and then find that same flavor of warrior three underneath with your left leg lifting and your left hand down and then begin to rotate your chest open. So there's lots of energy through that left leg, peel the right arm open, breathing. So stay for one more breath in here, extend open through the right arm, reach as much as you can through the back leg and then fold over your right leg. You can bend the left knee and even take your block somewhere center towards the top of your mat and then you're going to lengthen the left leg up to the sky. So again, breathing into the backs of the legs, hamstrings, folding into the right leg, balance is up to you, maybe one hand, maybe two hands.

And then from here, you'll spiral all the way down so you have to tuck your left knee all the way behind your right ankle for seated spinal twist. Ardhamatsyandrasana as we begin to make our way down to the ground. So a hug of your right knee in towards your chest with your left arm that you're dropping the hip down and then take your right fingertips to the ground and twist all the way to the right, sitting up tall and then exhaling, ringing everything out. You come through center, counter twist to the other side let your head bow to the earth and then as you come through center, you're going to see if you can almost unwind the same way that you came down. So you'll press down into the ground, your blocks hopefully are here and then just plant your left foot down to meet the right.

You can flutter your lips, shake out your legs, let out a big sigh any time and then let's rise up and take it on over to the left side. So for the left leg forward, you're going to hug the right knee in towards your chest, find your balance and then send your right leg back behind you. You can find a block for balance to drop the outer edge of the right hip down and then step back into your high lunge, that little micro bend into the right knee, drop the pelvis down, drop the front ribs down a little bit and then see if you can keep it there as you reengage to that inner right thigh. Reaching up, hands to your heart, twist to the left, your right knee can find the ground again. The exhale is the cleansing breath that you use.

You inhale that nurturing. You can take any steps you did on the other side, your leg can lift, arms can open and then we'll transition into that revolved half moon from here. So we can just shift the weight forward, find that same warrior three flavor in the back leg lifted. You can play with the different heights of the block here. Maybe this one's better.

And then see if you can spin open with the left arm. It's a very challenging pose as you begin to reach up. The moon representing our emotions, opening up and then release both hands down before you're standing split, breathing into the backs of the legs, allowing your head to drop. Tuck your right knee behind your left ankle and slowly spiral around yourself. Your left hand to the floor, drop your left hip.

You can always straighten the right leg if this is uncomfortable and then hug your right knee in towards your chest, sitting up tall on the breath in and ringing everything out as you exhale. One more breath in and a breath out. Spiral to the other side. Let your head bow down. And this time as you come up, take your blocks a little bit out to the side, hug your knees in towards your chest.

And we're going to make our way into boat pose or navasana. So you can start with your shins parallel and your hands supporting the backs of your knees so that the chest lifts. Maybe you can let the arms go as you rock a little forward to the front of your sitting bones. And then finally you can begin to lengthen the legs as far as they'll go. Hanging it for one breath in and then begin to plant your hands behind you, your feet in front of you to lift your hips up and one more breath out the mouth.

That cleansing breath. And from here, come on forward and you're going to perch onto your tippy toes. We're going to take one more or a couple more somewhat dynamic challenging poses because it's good to channel whatever type of frustration I need to always work it out. Just like Gandhi was said that he used his anger, he used his frustration to fight for freedom and liberation. So whatever is in there, it's so great to begin to give some expression to.

So we'll take it, you can remove your padding over to the side and props are even nice to use. Sometimes using blocks are nice and this is all for you to experiment about what would feel better for you. If this is kind of scary, then don't use it because you're perched up high on your tippy toes. And then you're going to take it into one more twist. This is side crow.

So your hands can find the center of your heart. And then from here you can begin to release your hands to the ground. So it may be a little bit of a drop, but you're going to get a little bit of a lift so that your knees can come to the outer edge of your left elbow. Then you can just play with shifting the weight into the hands and allowing your focus to come towards the ground. And then you can play with lifting the feet up, maybe one, maybe two, hold for just a breath.

And then you'll release it. So you can use the block again if you want it to come off the block and try it. You can take it over to the side and then check it out on the other side. So you'll twist so that you find a prayer on the outside of the left thigh. And this can be a great place to hang out.

The twist is so cleansing and really gets the deeper part of the sideways. You can open up your arms. If you'd like to move on to the second side for side crow, your hands in line with your elbows and your shoulders, and then shift the weight forward and just play with rocking back and forth. Maybe lift your feet. And then release down.

You can have a seat on your heels. You can kind of flamenco your wrists. Releasing them. And now we're going to flip it upside down. So do make your way over to the wall.

You can slide your mat a little bit closer. So you're going to want to come onto your hands and knees and face the wall. We're going to come into forearm stand or peacock's tail. This is one of the most gorgeous, generous expressions, the peacock's tail. So you're going to come forward and release your forearms to the ground.

So I even like to start here with my elbows underneath my shoulders and first even take a couple of breaths so I don't forget about the inhale and the exhale to really move into the back of the heart a little bit more, kind of where it gets stuck, the thoracic spine. And again, the back of the heart that we don't pay so much attention to. And then we'll begin to make our way into dolphin, a nice, magical, beautiful creature that all of these poses symbolize and reconnect us to that magic. So as you lift your knees, you can begin to let the chest spill towards the tops of the thighs, take a couple moments to arrive. There'll be probably quite a bit of sensation.

And then you can begin to lengthen your legs just as far as they'll go without having the shoulders slide forward again. So you always want them in line with those elbows. And you can play a little bit with lifting one leg up and down. The other leg can come up and down. From here you can release your knees down, definitely checking in with how your shoulders are feeling because we're going to play with kicking up.

And just using that breath, so every exhale, you're going to use the power of your breath to lift you up. So we're coming up without too much resistance or conflict here and reawakening to that happy hour of flavor or feeling of joyfulness. So reach the right leg up, put a little bend in the knee, play with hopping up on your exhale. Maybe it's just a couple hopping, little jumps, maybe after one or two, both heels will come up the wall. You can just hang upside down.

The chin move in towards the chest. Front of the ribs can move in. Lengthen the legs, it energizes even through the toes. Maybe you'll play with a balance. And then come on down.

Let your hips move back towards your heels. Even slide up and you may take it into a little bit of a back bend, a counter pose. And then come on up for one more. Using the opposite leg. You can lift the right leg.

Or did I use the right leg? I'll use the other one. And then there's a couple hops. Maybe there's two. And one more. Again, the option is to just hang upside down, use the support of the wall.

Play with a little bit of a balance. On your way back down. Have a seat on your heels. And then rise on up to sit. Just enjoy the great rush of energy through the mind.

Great clearing, peace. And then turn around to the front of your mat and we're going to set up for Virasana or hero or heroines pose. So padding is really essential, really nice. Even blocks are nice. If there's any sensation in the knees, you want to protect them.

And then the padding comes right underneath your sitting bone. So this is a little experiment again. You want to roll to the tops of the feet with your knees together. Gently drawing the calves down so that you're creating space to have a seat. And then just checking in to how high you need your padding.

So you can fold it over once or twice, lifting up the hips. As you roll the ankles out. I'm going to take a couple of moments here. After all that dynamic movement to arrive back in the space, power of these practices. Feel the mind a little freer, heart a little bit more open, spacious, joyful.

You can even begin to take your left hand behind your head to open up through the chest, heart and the shoulders for a variation, shoulder stretch. You can even take your right hand back, maybe pull on your t-shirt a little bit, which opens the heart. If you reach your fingertips, you can reach for your fingertips. Even as the chest lifts, maybe you can knit the front of the ribs in just a tiny bit and feel the back of the heart as well as the front. You can take a little bit of a bow forward and then rise on up to switch your hands.

So it's the right hand that comes behind the heart. You can use your left hand to inch the right elbow down just a little bit more, breathing into the triceps. Massaging the back of the shoulders, any opportunity to massage knots you may have. And then you can use your left hand to again maybe pull on your t-shirt, drawing the front of the ribs in to integrate. And again, a little bow is nice before you come on up.

And release your hands down and slowly begin to walk your legs back behind you. You're going to need your blanket as we come towards pigeon. So maybe place it halfway towards the center of your mat as you tuck your toes under and happily lengthen out the legs. You'll feel a lot of energy moving through the backs of the legs, the tops of the feet. Breathe your right leg up behind you and put a little bend through the knee and peel open through the hip.

Press down equally through the hands. Then you'll slide your right shin forward for pigeon. So again, as much padding as you need, sometimes you can even fold over again. Whatever it is that your body needs, you're listening to, so that you can be nurtured on every level before you nurture others. So you can lean back a little bit.

You can stay here to breathe into the back bend. And depending on how your knees are feeling, your quadriceps, we open them quite a bit earlier on in our moon salutes. You can begin to reach for the left foot with the left hand, but see if you can still twist the chest forward in both hips and then maybe lift the right arm up. And for our back bend today, you can arch up and back and then release it and let it go for a few breaths. And allowing the weight of the body to sink down.

I even like to walk over a little bit over to the left to open up the right hip and right side waist a little bit more. You can experiment. This is your practice. And walk back towards center. Tuck your left toes under.

Press into the right shin to lift your hips. Step the right foot back. And this time lengthen the left leg high, pressing through both hands equally. Open up through the hip. And slide your left shin forward.

Check out what this hip needs and maybe something different. Roll the right hip forward. This hip for me needs a little bit of extra lift. You can walk your hands back. And again, maybe you'll reach for your left foot and extend the right arm up.

You can arch backwards, you can bend through your elbow. And then let it go. And come on through center, and this time you can put the weight into the left hip and swivel the right leg out and in front of you. So padding is always nice to have for forward bends. You're going to take the soles of your feet together.

And again, blocks are really nice. I'm going to reach for mine to support the knees because we want the feeling to be that our body's supported in these poses. Again, so we can be that same source of support for others. I really like my shins to sink in to the blocks and then a little bit of padding underneath my sitting bones which allows the chest to come forward. So it can be a gradual process.

Again, you can kind of dance into it. You can sway a little bit, especially if there's anything still stuck. And then take a few breaths, coming forward over your legs. Another block could come underneath your head if you had three. Let your breath still be nourishing and cleansing.

And your eyes up to sit. And then you'll open up the legs wide for a straddle. So your blocks can move out to the side. Reposition yourself, opening up your legs. It doesn't have to be very wide, just what's comfortable for you.

But you do want to engage the legs and turn them out, the tendencies for the legs to sickle in a little bit, especially if we've opened them up too much. So walk your hand. If you come forward and the knees turn in, the knees really want to point up. And then you can begin to walk your hands forward. I've got my blocks.

You can take them, again, experiment for how far, how high you need them to be. Keep drawing the inner thighs outward. And then a few deep nourishing and cleansing breaths. And slowly begin to walk your way up. I could stay there all day.

It's really nice. And then a couple more restorative poses we're going to take on our way to Shavasana. These great chill out poses. So the first one is goddess pose. As you lower down onto your back, you can come pretty close in towards the wall since we're going to transition to a restorative inversion with our legs up.

And then your blocks will be nice again to place underneath your knees. And your blankets can come right underneath your spine. And so it's a passive heart opener and hip opener. You can make a little pillow if you need for the back of your head. Then you can take your right hand to your belly and your left hand to your heart.

And then we'll explore both of those qualities of the breath. The nurturing inhale and then that cleansing exhale. Inhale to your heart for about a count of four. Slight pause. And then exhale for a count of four.

The slight pause. Inhale. Pause. Exhale. And pause.

One more time, light that breathing in. And if you can stretch out the exhale a little bit more, breathe all the way out to make room to re-clear everything out. And for the next nurturing breath in, filling up. And then you can release your hands. Draw your knees towards each other.

And then you're going to scoot forward towards the wall. Blocks can come out to the side. And then your blanket is going to come close between the wall and the floor. Inch your hips in a little bit closer. And then you'll take your legs up the wall.

For a restorative inversion, balancing those active ones with restorative. So this yin and yang. And then with your legs up, you can point the toes, you can twirl the ankles, whatever you need to do. Allow the body to fully release. Reset, restore, replenish, rejuvenate.

And actually feel a little bit of a rebirth. And you're welcome to stay here for a couple more minutes while you're enjoying this restorative pose. Or you can begin to inch your way back into shavasana, lying down onto your backs completely. And you're going to choose to stay here for a few more moments. Thank you.

And slowly begin to bring your awareness back to your breath. Move your fingers and your toes, bend your knees and give a big hug of your knees into your chest. You can rock over onto your right side. And then slowly rise up to sit. You can slide underneath your sitting bones.

Take a couple more moments. You're replenished from the inside out. You can draw your hands into your heart center. And then take a deep breath in and then bow forward.