Sun, Sun, Sun Salutations

Hello. Welcome to day one of our winter Ayurveda challenge. I'm so excited to have you here to practice today. What we'll need is a block and a blanket for our practice today and we're going to start right away with our block and add that in a standing meditation, the block in between your upper thighs. I have it in the medium position and I'm going to bring my legs as close as I can to keep steady contact with the block and as soon as you feel the contact of the block with your legs, slightly bend your ankles and knees to keep your knees from locking or hyper extending and rest your hands over your belly area. See if you can feel those shoulders drop down slightly down your back as the front chest lifts. As you look out beyond your horizon line, imagine you've got a book or a block on top of your head you're balancing and then keep your gaze just out beyond the tip of your nose, maybe slightly looking down towards the floor as a way to start gradually decreasing the light you're bringing in through your eyes. Feeling your feet sink into your mat, legs hugging the block as we keep the knees bent and then as we potentially close the eyes or leave them open but a soft gaze, just take a moment to feel your balance here with your eyes closed or taking in less light. We took a moment and feel that firmness of the ground underneath your feet that we can press into, that we can send those tap roots down into to maintain a more perhaps comfortable upright position, a more energized upright position as we root a little deeper through our feet and our legs. As we might notice a little swaying in the body, that little ebb and flow through the pelvis, through the spine, through the head. Just let yourself ride that subtle wave back and forth and see if we can find just for a few moments a little solace in this darker time with perhaps the solstice or maybe this is an evening practice or early morning. Take a moment and have an appreciation for this perhaps darker time where we get to renew ourselves before again the light starts to come back. Our productivity starts to maybe increase. Just for this few moments can we feel this period of rest, this moment of rest while maintaining your connection to that stable earth, aware of that water element that keeps us slightly shifting as we stand a little ebb and flow back and forth. And then keeping that posture awareness so energy flows evenly between your body from your head to your feet as we feel our place here between the earth and the sky. One more exhale grounding into your first seat, grateful for that moment to refresh and renew ourselves. Let's begin as you're ready to straighten your legs. If your eyes were closed let them open and then let your arms rest at your sides. We're going to do a little head tilting to your left side, forward, right side and back and we'll make some simple little circles. And as you make those little movements for the neck, we'll see if you can release your lower jaw from your upper palate and also encourage your belly to soften. Let's go the opposite direction, whatever you started, just a few turns the new direction. Perhaps still a slight bend of the ankles and knees. We'll get ready for a practice with lots of sun salutation variations to get this water body moving today. Let's pause. Now a few shoulder shrugs, we're going to go up and back. If it's chilly where you're at, you might move a little bit faster than I'm suggesting, but find that pace that helps you perhaps decrease some stiffness in these joints. And we're going to slide our fingertips to the top of our shoulder area and then go up and forward with your elbows. Still again warming up that shoulder area before we start doing the weight bearing part. Let's flip it around and go the other direction. Getting this water body moving. All right, now after that direction, let's go ahead and let your arms open out to your side and then turn your right palm up, turn your left palm back, and then flip it around so we're feeling our arms move in the ball and socket joints. That's okay if your shoulders shift a little side to side, if you get your side waist a little bit more awake. You have those arms moving in the shoulder joints, how's the shoulder blade moving on your upper back ribs. Now let's lower your arms down to your side and we'll start to do a little twist to your left side. Right arm bends in front, left arm bends behind, and you might go a little bit more quickly. Arms bend as we're doing our little standing twist. Relax the belly as best as you can. Hoping for the belly eventually to relax so it's a little easier to turn side to side. All right, let's go ahead and pause in the center. Leave your arms down at your side and something that's nice in the winter is to keep this belly area nice and warm and every day a little bit of contraction and relaxation to keep good flow into the belly area. Good energy as we bend the ankles, knees, swing your arms up by your ears. Keep your legs in the slightly bent position. I'm going to turn where it's easier to see me. Audible exhale as we press the hands against the legs and let your belly drift a little deeper into your back. Oodiana if you're aware of this practice. The belly drops straighten your legs, swing your arms up overhead and then again exhale engage those inner legs. Hands press against the thighs, belly in towards the back. Take a short pause. Straighten your legs, inhale arms up and maybe an audible exhale through the mouth. Squeeze the block with your legs, press hands on thighs, pull the belly in and back as you lower your chin. That's a soft pulling in of the belly. You know come up so it doesn't have to feel as you finish exhaling like you're kind of punching yourself in the belly. You're just slightly hugging the belly in. Soften the belly out on inhale. One more time sweep your arms up and exhale all the breath out. Hold the belly in slightly towards your back. Relax your belly and we'll come all the way up straight legs, arms up in the air and let's keep your hands now in front of your chest. We're going to step closer to the top of the mat now if you've gone a different place and we'll start our first cycle of one of the sun salutation variations. We're going to keep doing multiple variations so that they're a little bit more meditative. If we start with Tadasana the block still between your legs believe it or not, hands in front of your heart center. As you're ready please inhale sweep your arms up by your ears and then chair pose as you exhale squeeze that block with your legs, ground your feet. Hands slide down to knees or shins with slightly bent knees this first few rounds touch the floor it's okay if the knees are really bent. Come back through chair posts swing your arms forward and up by your ears up to straight legs and then hands back in front of your chest. Once again inhale arms up over the shoulders sit back into your chair seat squeeze that block with your legs squeeze as your hands come down to your knees your shins or maybe slightly straighter legs as we touch the floor. Bend those knees chair pose bring your arms up your favorite way all the way up to straight legs hands in front of the chest exhale. Inhale arms come up it's a big inhale chair pose hands apart sit back into your seat forward fold exhale and your rhythm might be slightly different than mine. Bend the legs chair pose bring your arms up your favorite way could be alternating straight legs hands in front of the chest. Two more sweep those arms up by the ears sit back into your chair seat squeeze your block as you're folding forwards maybe even touching the ground with maybe straighter legs and then come back with bent legs chair pose arms up straight legs hands in front of your chest exhale. Last one in that first set sweep your arms up to your ears it feels good look up and look forward chair pose send the hips back forward fold hands meet the earth top of the head points down and then coming back through chair pose squeeze that block firing up those inner legs all the way to straight legs and then hands in front of the chest as we exhale. Now we'll get rid of that block and that's kind of a nice little warm up for sun salutations if we keep your feet maybe hip distance aparts more or less look straight ahead and now we'll start our next round again so we're doing them maybe about eight times so that it's a little more meditative. Let's sweep your arms up towards your ears as you keep your feet grounded exhale hands come down the center line we touch the floor let's step back with your right leg into a high lunge put your right knee down on the floor lightly and then sweep your arms in front of you and come all the way up with your torso arms overhead and circle your arms down and back as you lean forward lift your back right knee left leg back into your plank position lower knees belly chest and we'll point the toes back as we lift the chest up inhale cobra and then back into your downward facing dog exhale. Swing your right foot forward towards the back of your wrist left knee comes down to the floor swing your arms in front of you inhale come all the way up with your arms and torso circle the arms down and back and then we're going to step that left foot forward and come to our forward fold with bent knees hands touch the earth top of the head points down and come up with straight legs circle your arms out to your side we're back to standing and then hands in front of the chest okay and hopefully with the repetition that will be more meditative arms circle all the way up on inhale take a long exhale as you fold over the legs maybe with slightly bent knees right leg will send back first lower your right knee to the floor inhale in take your lunge raise your arms up in the air circle your arms down and back and we'll set up into plank pose send the left leg back from plank lower knees belly chest and then we'll inhale and lift your chest as you press your feet down cobra downward facing dog exhale and take a step forward with your right foot lower your left knee to your low lunge raise your arms up in front of you arms sweep all the way up in the air and then arms go down and back big exhale let's step your left foot forward come into your forward fold inhale arms out to the side come all the way back up to stand hands meet above your head and then hands in front of the chest okay so at this time of year like to encourage people to do their practice with their eyes open so let's see if we can keep the eyes open as you sweep your arms up eyes open as we fold forward and touch the floor eyes open as that right leg goes back into the high lunge and then the low lunge with right knee down inhale arms sweep up towards the ceiling eyes open as they sweep down and back we'll come through plank pose looking down lower knees belly chest inhale cobra full breath in exhaling back into your downward facing dog exhale step your right foot forward towards the back of your wrist left knee down raise your arms in front of you eyes open as we lift the arms arms circle down and back and then step that back left foot forwards forward fold on exhale press down to come up inhale eyes open so we sweep the arms above the head hands in front of the chest on exhale now let's do a few more and hopefully as we sweep the arms up it starts to feel a little bit more rhythmic in your body exhale fold forward and down it's meant to walk up a little bit right leg back lower your right knee to the floor inhaling arms sweep up exhale arms down and back as you reach forward come through plank pose left leg back lower knees belly chest coming through cobra exhale move yourself back into your downward facing dog step forward with your right foot when you're ready left knee comes down to the mat inhale arms sweep up overhead exhale arms down and back let's step that left foot forward come into your forward fold with bent knees or straight legs imagine you still have a block between your thighs as you inhale all the way up to straight legs arms overhead hands in front of the chest exhale all right together let's do a few more inhale arms up try to keep some energy flowing as you fold forward and down touch the floor lift your head right leg goes back into the high lunge lower your right knee hopefully this feels familiar now inhale arms up overhead arms circle down and back as you touch the floor transfer through plank pose lower knees belly chest inhale through cobra toes stay down chest curls up and then coming through your downward facing dog right leg will come forward towards the back of the right wrist left knee to the floor and your rhythm might be slightly different than mine sweep your arms up and exhale arms down and back step that back leg forwards slightly bent knees fold over your legs exhale inhale straight legs will come all the way up towards standing and exhale hands in front of the heart center let's do one more make sure we're warming up sweep the arms up overhead look up feels good fold forward and down it's okay to bend your knees step back with your right leg into your lunge and then low lunge as we take the arms overhead slightly look over the tip of the nose arms down at your sides transfer through plank find that pause the knees belly chest come down to the floor cobra find your rhythm downward facing dog and step forward with that right foot it's meant to be a warming sequence inhaling arms up overhead arms down at your side as we get ready to reach forward step your left foot forward and we'll find that forward fold with maybe slightly straighter legs press down through your feet to lift up to stand arms overhead and take a moment with your hands in front of your hearts looking down over the tip of your fingers with your eyes a little bit open just notice any change in your heart rates your core temperature just so we're feeling the effects of our sun salute practice is it warming us is it decreasing some tension stiffness does our mind feel more awake and clear all right the answer was no we're gonna do a few more so maybe that will help wake us up a little bit now as we bring the feet a tiny bit closer together for surya b so we bend the knees brush the fingertips against the floor and then circle them wide as we come up through chair fold forward on exhale over your legs and coming towards that forward bend step back with both legs into plank pose take a pause and let's lower the knees to the floor then lower your chest and then slide on through into a little cobra or if you like a little further into an up dog and i always keep my knees down belly engaged downward facing dog on exhale right foot comes forward right away into warrior one it's a relatively short stance press down into the feet as the arms circle up over the shoulders it's kind of a fast round bring your hands down in front of you part at the right knee touch the floor left leg back then right leg back plank pose lower knees come down to the floor either cobra or come up into your up dog variation downward facing dog exhale left foot comes towards the back of the left wrist right foot comes in so we can turn the heel down to the floor front knee stays bent warrior one circle your arms up overhead bring your hands down past your left knee to the floor right leg back left leg back plank lower down knees belly chest we slide on through cobra a little more of those back bends to warm us up or upward dog back into your downward facing dog and we'll hold if it's better for you to be down on your elbows come down onto your elbows one more inhale bringing more aware of that inhale aware of the exhale where we might be letting go of some tension let's walk your feet up between your hands with your feet close together bend your knees ankles and sweep back up into your chair pose from chair all the way up to straight legs and then hands in front of your chest exhale again chair pose squat down brush your fingertips against the floor then circle back up come through your forward fold exhale head down towards the earth as you lift your head and spine step back plank pose feel our rhythm come down to the floor through cobra or through a little upward dog keep lifting the chest back through your downward dog on exhale right foot comes forward into your warrior one plant your feet as you sweep your arms up overhead look towards that light bring your hands back to the floor plank pose lower knees belly chest come down and then press your feet down as you curl chest up going back into your downward facing dog on exhale left foot comes forward warrior one plant your feet circle your arms out to the side and up hands come down past that left knee to plank pose lower yourself down knees belly chest inhale cobra use those back muscles more than your hands back into your downward facing dog you could drop down to your elbows come down in some variation of child's pose if you wish for a little more rest in between some of the cycles right and as we're here one more moment again the intention to have an invigorating practice at this turn from the darker time of the year towards the lights something that might keep us more energetic and bright in our minds come forward a little bit more positive bend your ankles and knees and come up through chair pose I know when I hit the winter blues doing more dynamic movement can be really helpful up to straight legs hands in front of your chest so quick movements can be helpful chair pose let's sweep through that again from your chair come into your forward fold focus on the breath long spine as you step back into your plank pose lower knees belly chest come through cobra just the breath exhale back into your downward dog right foot when you're ready comes forward plant your feet warrior ones meant to be quick exhale with eyes open come down touch the earth plank pose come down to the floor as you're ready coming through that cobra like shape or upward dog belly engaged back into your downward dog exhale left foot forward back foot turns down warrior one coming up and exhale hands back to the earth and come through plank pose lower knees belly chest come down to the floor and go through that cobra or up dog and into your downward dog as you exhale breath in again you might come down to your elbows you might come down for that rest and one more cycle here let's walk your feet forward to the space between your hands bend your ankles and knees and sweep your arms out to the side and up chair pose let's come all the way up into straight legs and then hands down in front of your chest one last one let's really sync up with your breath rhythm chair pose last one come forward into your forward fold exhale step back into your plank pose and then ease your way down to the floor come down to cobra or upward dog heading back into your downward facing dog with that quick shift of the right foot forward warrior one plant those feet sweep the arms up and coming back down through plank pose so without a pause without a hesitation we keep moving now down to the floor curl the chest up on in breath back into your downward facing dog and then left foot without a pause comes forward warrior one plant those feet as we sweep your arms up and the hands last time come down in that way plank feel your strength lower down knees belly chest feel the belly on the earth as we curl up open the chest back into your downward dog exhale or perhaps elbows come down into a different variation take one more moment as you are here let's bring the feet forward between your hands bend your ankles and knees and sweep your arms out to the side and up as we come through chair pose we'll come all the way up into straight legs and let your hands end up right down in front of the chest on exhale maybe we're looking down over the tips of the fingers and just noticing again any changes in your breath beating of the heart your core temperature attitude okay so it's meant to be something to wake us up bring a little bit more strength to the outer body and movement to front body and back body the water body the meridian lines for kidney and bladder that we might want to circulate a little bit more in the winter right now let's drop the arms down at your side and take a step out and face the long end of your yoga mat okay so maybe your feet end up a little bit wider than your shoulders open up in this new way and do some of the more lunar salutes with the heels in and the toes turned out we hold on to your legs as we ease ourselves a little bit more into that squat position bend your arms up to the side at 90 degree angles and as you're ready to inhale straighten your legs lift your arms up and look up towards your hands maybe an audible exhale maybe even lion's breath as you open your elbows wide and squat inhale go up and lion's breaths where you'd stick your tongue out eyes wide open and release any tension in the facial muscles so two more inhale go up and exhale audible exhale or maybe your lion's breath stretching those muscles of the face last one going up and then exhale coming into that goddess squat you know please stay here straighten your legs and shift your feet to the right we're going to drop the right hand down the leg and send the left arm up towards the ceiling from that triangle pose we start to bend your right knee and take your hands in front of your chest we're going to bow down into the inside of that right leg look towards the earth and then adjust your toes you're going to shift your feet from the right to the left to bow down to the left take your left hand to your left shin and your right arm sweeps up towards the sky so we're back to triangle now on your new sides let's rebend your left knee gather your hands in front of your chest and bow down to the left use your feet to help you turn to your right side almost like warrior two and bow forward right hand back to your right chin as your left arm circles back and up to triangle pose then come back to bent arms heels in so we can find that goddess squat straighten your legs inhale look up maybe your hands touch above your head exhale elbows wide as we squat okay let's take your arms out to your side turn this time to your left we'll start with your triangle tip to your left sides bend your left leg gather your hands in front of your chest and bow forward towards the inner left leg let the toes adjust as you turn and face to the right side like you're doing warrior two right hand on right shin left arm circles back and up into the air and then we'll come back around to gather your hands at your chest and bow back to the inner right leg that's your feet help shift you back over to the left and bow down to the left as we reach left hand on to left shin bring right arm up towards the sky all the way back up with your feet a little closer together so we can come to that squat and let your arms bend to 90 degree angles let your arms again straighten out to the side turn your right toes out we'll start to lean back to your triangle on your right sides and your right knee gather your hands and bow down to the inner right leg feet help you start transitioning to your left side bow to the left left hand on left shin right arm sweeps up into the air triangle pose bend your left leg gather your hands back in front of your chest bow down to the left adjust your feet turn to walk back to the right sides right hand on right shin left arm sweeps up into the air and then we'll come back up arms parallel to the floor heels gather in and come back to your squat with your arms bent 90 degrees let your arms go to the side turn your feet again to the left tip into your triangle pose right arm up in the air bend your left knee gather your hands in front of your chest and bow forward to your inner left leg let your hands and feet adjust over to your right side bow over to the right right hand on right shin triangle pose left hand up in the air bend your right knee gather your hands back in front of the chest and we bow forward and down that's one more time take your bow over to your left side left hand on left shin come back up to your triangle with your right hand in the air all the way up arms parallel bring your feet closer and come into that squat with your arms bent take a big audible exhale squat inhale legs straight arms up big inhale exhale elbows wide audible exhale inhale going up audible exhale out all right let's take your hands down to your legs straighten your legs and let your feet adjust so they come parallel give your legs a little shake out upper body little shake out I'm going to find where your blanket is and this will be the time where use your blanket about the middle of your mat for some padding for your knees and let's come down to put your knees on the padding and have your knees about hip distance apart face the short end of your mat with knees under the hips spine nice and tall like you're still in Tadasana mountain pose we'll begin a little kneeling salute as we take the arms as you're ready all the way up towards your ears bring the hands down the center line front of your chest as you tip forward let's come into tabletop position as you arch and look out in front of you round your spine as you sit back as far comfortable towards your heels forehead comes down towards the floor and we'll swing the body forward as we come through our upward dog with the knees down move your hips back over your knees and get ready to swing your arms all the way back up in the air above your shoulders look up a little back bend and we'll gather the hands back in front of the heart again raise your arms straight up in the air lift your back waist lift your chest hands come down your center line as we set up in tabletop inhale look forward exhale slight round as you sit back towards your child's post and you might be adjusting your hands a little further forward we swing our body forward come through the gateway of the arms as you go towards your up dog with knees down as we move back to tabletop raise your arms up in the air inhale arching looking maybe slightly towards the ceiling hands back in front of the chest exhale okay so as we do these backbends if you can still press your feet down ankles down as you lift up hands pass through the center line come back to your tabletop look forward cowl a little bit of cat pose as we send the hips back walk the hands potentially forwards and then swing through the arms as we inhale little mini up dog back through our tabletop and we'll inhale again swing your arms up overhead lift the back waist as we look up hands in front of the chest on exhale let's do one more inhaling lifting that back waist as you lift your gaze hands come down in front of the heart as we tip down to our tabletop position look forwards slightly rounding as we exhale hips go back as the hands might wiggle a little forward we'll swing through that little modified dog knees down belly hugs in towards the back as we go back to our tabletop position slide your knees out perhaps as wide as your blankets as wide as your yoga mat bring your big toes to touch if you will and send your hips back towards your feet and if your knees don't bend all that way just far as they're comfortable going and then send your hands even more forwards as we lower the chest closer to the ground then pull your hands in underneath your forehead so you've got a little pillow to rest your hands or maybe one fist in one hand but there is helpful in resting your forehead on something as your hips gradually sink back towards your heels okay so we've done that invigorating part to help hopefully increase your circulation and heat and warmth in the body perhaps even wake up the mind a little bit or maybe calm the mind in doing some repetitive movements oftentimes those sequences get better when you do them more often so they become more familiar so if it felt like a lot to take in today it might be nice to try it again and again maybe at least three times and then maybe you'll know when you want to use that type of practice if not every day let's go ahead and shift forward now and we're gonna come down onto your belly so the blanket is a nice place to put your pelvis if you like that extra padding and as you come down let's see if we can have room to point your toes back and stretch your arms straight out from your shoulders so your belly makes contact with the floor drop your forehead to the ground and then maybe we bring the palms together into more of a traditional prostration pose the forehead might be just above the ground or on the ground if you're wearing glasses you might want to take them off for this pose so you might enjoy again lengthening from fingers to toes while encourage your your belly to press into the ground on inhale and can we feel a little hugging in of the belly towards your back on exhale just come back and feel that belly area that we tended to in the earlier part of class you pull the belly slightly and toward the back soften the belly out on inhale let's bend your elbow so your forearms can tip up off the floor fingertips point towards the sky and with your forehead down can we slightly press the sides of the chest towards the floor here can you feel slightly more space between your shoulder blades let's take another breath here we're going to stretch your arms back down to the floor and take your left hand down in front of your chest as you tip yourself to turn a little bit more over now onto your right side so let's say we're on our right side and to bend your knees so your legs are about 90 degree angles and if it's not enough padding height to rest your head on your right arm you might either bend your arm or grab your blanket to put between your arm and your head from here please stretch your top left leg forward and flex the ankle as it kicks out point your left toes as you swing your leg back flex your ankle kick your leg forward point your toes and swing your leg back again flex the ankle kick the leg forward point your toes and swing your leg back flex the ankle kick forward and this time as we go ahead and swing that leg back bend that leg and if you have access to grab your top left foot maybe you squeeze that and give a little of heel press towards buttock as you open your upper left chest if you don't catch that foot easily hold the top of your hip bone and perhaps kick your leg and inch or two back knee forward leg back so it's a way to strengthen from all the stretching that we did in our sun salutes okay maybe we're doing that stretching of the front of that left thigh one more second let's go ahead and release and as you release we'll go ahead and tip over onto your back for a moment and take a pause just for a moment on your back and invite both of your knees to come in towards your chest then move your knees forward so your hands are right on top of a kneecap and we're going to circle your legs around with your hands holding the knees as we make these circles and let's go ahead and move the other direction with those circles right so you can feel what it's like when your hands are holding the knees now rest your arms at your side so palms pressed into the floor as we circle the legs now with your arms at your side let's circle around a few times see if we can tune a little more to the abdominal area circle your legs the opposite direction and the further your knees move away from the chest the more you might feel up into your belly area hopefully that feels good and let's come back to center and put your feet down and we'll come around to do the other side just so it's more easier for you to see me I'm going to flip around and we're going to be on our left side with knees bent lower arm might be bent as your pillow and when you feel ready we're going to take your top leg I hope it's your right leg now and flex the ankle as you kick your leg forward point your right toes as we swing the right leg back ankle flexes as we kick forward that's the stretching part of the hamstring point your toes and when your leg goes back notice how that feels in your right glute and hamstring go back and forth hopefully we appreciate a little bit of that strengthening work after all the stretching parts we did now maybe next time your leg goes back we'll keep that leg back and when it's back please bend your right leg if it's accessible catch your right foot with your hand maybe squeeze a heel toward the buttock or press foot into hand or hold onto your outer hip we're going to kick your knee back and forth so that you feel that right glute starting to engage so just a little bit more energy around strengthening if that's better for you without holding onto your knee let's go one more all right then we'll put the knees back down together and then roll onto your back again as we stay on our back now for this next part it's your feet be down on the floor and with your feet together knees together drop your arms this time out to your side and let your knees drop out to the side so we're in that recline cobblers shape here on your back so when your legs are dropped in that way to recline cobblers take a moment now and lift your right foot towards your face see if you can keep your right leg in that external rotation and then put your right foot back down bring your left leg for a moment towards your face and then back down so my foot is really actually only over my belly but I can see my foot with my eyes as I look up right leg down and bring left leg up and one more time lift your right foot towards the direction of your face keep that external rotation right foot down and then left foot down and then back to center now just let both of the legs try that maybe feel a little heavier maybe the outer legs drop a little bit more towards the floor as we stretch a little deeper into the front of the hips and maybe take two more exhales encouraging a little bit more release in our back body alright let the knees tip in towards each other maybe in little one inch increments so we're not rushing to bring the legs together and then as your legs come closer together let your legs separate maybe a little bit wider than your hips arms might stay out to your side shoulder height this will do that little wind sure wiper move for the knees to one side and then the other try to use this as a way to number one massage around outer buttocks outer hips and then see if you might get a little bit more stretch at the front of your pelvis or quadricep area down towards your knee as you're making your subtle shift side to side and the more we start moving the legs maybe we start to turn your head the opposite direction of your knees so we can feel perhaps we enjoy more tuning into the spine and how it moves in the shape so ultimately we're kind of moving out any tension along the axis of your spine over the next time and we're going to tip back to neutral and give your knees a little hug in towards your chest and the squeeze your knees and if movement feels like what you want to do rock or just hold the knees and we'll take a few more conscious breaths here letting the shoulders relax back towards the floor and sometimes after doing a lot of backbend forward band it can be nice to drop into a few twists so if we let our hands transfer over to your right knee and drop your left leg all the way down to the floor for a moment and if we open your right arm out to your right side left hand holds the right knee and you might roll towards your left side just a few inches and that outer right buttock just starts to leave the ground the spine just starts to leave the ground and roll back up and again let's roll back to your left side maybe a little bit more or maybe that first amount was just right roll back to center two more kind of little in and out little mini vinyasa heading towards your twist and back to neutral and this last time as you move toward the twist finish exhaling will roll on to your back and then take your right leg towards the ceiling arms are still out to your side now take your right leg please and roll it to the left and keep the legs straight feels what's different right leg back up right leg rolls to the left on exhale and comes back up when your right leg goes to the left decide you want to keep your legs straight or is it better if you bend your knee and see if we might tip a little bit more to that right left side maybe left hand beats the right leg and invite your right leg to move a little further down towards the floor you might back up and put your right foot on top of your left leg as an anchor point kind of tip your hips a little bit more as a team as you roll to your twist let's see if there's a slightly different angle for your right arm that helps you connect and feel a little bit more into your upper right chest and shoulder energizing that reach of your right hand actually away from your chest let's try to take a big breath down that right side of your chest to your waist maybe even into your lower back and slide your right arm down to your side if you feel ready to come out roll onto your back and just have a neutral place for a moment with your feet on the ground legs bent I feel the effect of twisting on that side it will switch out then and grab your left knee and take your right leg all the way down to the floor if we hold on to your left knee with your right hand left arm opens out to the left and now let's begin that little mini twist to your right side and then roll your left but it back to the floor left but it starts to roll and maybe each time we have a little more access to roll to your right and back to neutral and again we'll practice rolling to that right side it does not need to be very far to be effective and what feels best in your body last time with the bent knee see what that feels like to roll to your right come back to the ground and now stretch your left leg towards the ceiling arms at your side or arms reaching out from your collarbone line let's roll with your left leg straight roll to your right swing your left leg back up and again roll towards your right on exhale come back up and maybe we've had enough in and out of the twist so you might sense which versions better straight left leg or bent left leg right hand might come down to meet that left leg and maybe add a little bit more grounding a little bit more weight to move that knee towards the floor right now if your left shoulders popped up off the floor that's fine see if you can find an angle to sweep your left arm out at some angle that helps you again feel deeper into your upper left chest shoulder waist outer left hip there's so many places you could feel this are you having some positive experience connecting to this left side of your body and if not continue making some little micro adjustments you perhaps one more moment settling into your pose here we'll take that left arm down to your side and as you tip onto your back start maybe with your bent legs arms out to your side and you might keep your feet on the ground legs bent just for a few more moments as you make more contact with the ground under your head shoulders arms if you sense there's any movement your body might appreciate before Shavasana please make any little micro adjustments or add layers of clothes if you want to let your knees drop in towards each other and do that type of resting pose more constructive rest or make full contact with your legs on the ground Shavasana so explore again what's the right position for you today and finding that a shape that encourages your eyes to settle a little bit more into the face being in that position to welcome support underneath you perhaps again that appreciation for turning our awareness in away from the light for a moment and come back into this rest period after a very active practice so we can feel maybe the benefit of an active practice to build heat to release and to build strength get the water body moving and then we can also appreciate for a moment hopefully the grounding practices calming practices and perhaps the wisdom to know and when to use the active practice or calming practice to maintain balance maintaining balance in particular of the earth element and the water element so there's a healthy relationship and good flow as we move perhaps into this darker season or to this later part of the day perhaps it's evening so see if you can please tuned a little bit more in if your body's comfortable to that subtle ebb and flow of movement that's occurring as you breathe even though it looks like your body's absolutely still you notice there's still a little ripple of movement eventually those waves could even calmer until we can feel like we've found that spot where there's just clear reflection we're able to drop in to our true nature underneath the thoughts the busyness the movement water unifying all our parts and soak in your presence just about a full minute together in silence take three more moments where you are appreciating support underneath your body as we gradually take slightly fuller more conscious breaths in and out not staying down on our back too long so we don't get cold or sleepy after building all that energy and heat let's make little movements with your joints wrist ankles eventually now please bend your legs and we'll turn over to any sides perhaps keeping your eyes closed as you transition on transition to your sides keep your awareness tuned in as you make your shift up towards sitting perhaps folding your blanket in or grab a prop for you to sit and a moment with your hands potentially up in front of that heart area eyes turned inward or soft external gauge just to feel the effects of the practice what muscles you might be feeling general overall tone or energy you feel after a sun salutation oriented practice big breath in big breath out and thank you so much for being here for our first day may others always benefit from our practice namaste alright so we made it through the most energetic of the practices I believe or most dynamic in that way for sun salutations hopefully that's helpful to help increase your your warmth if you find yourself chilled when you're when you're considering what practice to do you might know what warms you up and so for our are you beta self-care challenges this week I want to introduce what I feel like might be the most important one which is try to orient toward going to bed by 10 o'clock so as we're in this darker season I know we're going towards the lighter days now but while it's still dark outside there's usually an invitation to try to wind down your day earlier so there's that old saying early to bed early to rise so the idea is that we go towards bed or are in bed by 10 o'clock with lights out to try to get an uninterrupted seven eight hours sleep so that we maintain the best immune health brain health and digestive health during this season that a lot of people might find more challenging because there's not so much sunlight maybe not as much activity outside to warm us up the way we do when we're exercising in the summertime so sufficient rest so important especially in this covid time to keep our immune system strong rest is so linked to your immune health I hope you find ways to get closer to 10 o'clock if 10 o'clock feels like an impossible goal consider 15 minutes earlier each night for this week and just try it out you don't have to marry it but just see if you might notice actually in the morning that you feel a little bit more awake or excited about doing your practices so ideally we're more productive in the day wind down sooner and hopefully are tired by 9 o'clock and do your self-care go to bed by 10 and then the other thing I want to encourage us to do this whole week is to have some warm water in the morning with a little squeeze of lemon so because it's typically chilly in the morning we want to introduce warm things into the body to help with circulation and to help clear your mind and wake you up so that you make good choices for the rest of this day the little addition of of lemon in your water will generally help wake up the digestive system so that you might get hungrier sooner than later so perhaps within an hour of being awake you might have appetite for breakfast so a little bit of water helps to wake you up the water with the lemon helps create the warmth for the digestive system and then if you stick with the program for the five days I'm going to introduce this some version of sun salutation into each class and that's the third piece to practice for the winter self-care so in bed by 10 some warm water with lemon and some dynamic movement like sun salutations every day for maybe five to ten minutes and if you join me tomorrow again in the rest of the week we'll insert those into some of the other classes so we'll get to check that off together and start growing our self-care practice off the mat and into your life so thanks so much for joining me today and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for day two of the winter self-care challenge have a great rest of the day namaste