This episode is part of a course.
Trust the Connection: 20-Day Yoga Retreat Artwork
Season 1 - Episode 7

Day 6: Flowing Back to Self

60 min - Practice
57 likes

Description

Create sacred space for deeper connection to Self. In Day 6, focus on linking breath and movement through mindful transitions in this heart-centered flow. Wade leads us through chest and hip openers, juicy side bends, and enlivening standing postures. You will feel open and present.
What You'll Need: Mat, Block

About This Video

Jan 12, 2021
(Log In to track)

Transcript

Read Full Transcript

Happy day, everyone. Welcome back to the Trust the Connection Online Yoga Retreat. We are on day six. Thank you so much for joining. Today we are going into the connection part of Trust the Connection Yoga Retreat. And I like to think of connecting with that deeper layer of self. So we'll be focusing a lot on the heart energetically, checking back in, listening. Physically we'll be focusing on some heart openers, some hip openers, and lots of juicy side bends today. So all you need today to join me is a block. If you have two, you can put one at the back of your mat and one at the front of your mat. And when we do start, we'll start seated, but I'd like to give you a moment to lie on your back just to release the knees and ankles because we're going to try to sit on our heels today. So go ahead and come and lie on your back. You can immediately hug those knees into the chest and give yourself a little rock from side to side just to feel the lower back. Lower back connects us to the limbs and the torso. We move that energy around just a little bit. Hold on to your left leg and let the right leg move out of the way. And we'll just draw some circles with the ankle exploring and giving ourselves a little bit of range of motion for the ankle, clear things up, and we'll switch the direction. Yeah, perfect. And the idea here is to move the heel close to the hamstring, just so we see if it's going to be feasible for us to sit on our heels or if we're going to use that block. Go ahead and switch legs, draw the right knee into the chest, give yourself a little circle, use a direction, and then circle it the other way. Drawing the heel towards the seat, feeling good with both legs. And then you can either rock and roll forward or backward and we'll come around and sit in Vajrasana. The knees are close together and the toes are untucked. Great opportunity to use a block or a pillow to sit on your heels. Find some comfort and ease here. And remember, if this doesn't feel good, you can always sit cross-legged. Place your palms on top of your thighs and let's check in with the spine for a moment. As you exhale, round the spine, pull the navel up and back, tuck the chin to the chest. And as you inhale, guide the heart forward, a little soft downward pressure with the palms, lift the sternum, lift the chest, and then finally lift the chin as you inhale. Exhale, rounding cat and cow tilts, checking in with the spine. The spine is a scaffolding for the body and also the scaffolding for our energy body. So moving that around and finding space here feels really good. As you come to a neutral spine, after your last cat and cow tilt, place your right hand on top of your heart and then your left hand on top of the right and just check in for a moment. Make sure you're breathing. Make sure the heartbeat is going. Draw your attention inward. We drop from our headspace to our heart space. This is how we really retreat from our busy analyzing cognizing mind. We move into that feeling heart center. Enjoy some natural rhythms of breath, pausing after the inhale and taking your time with the exhale, feeling all four parts of the breath. And remember, Irene, that our focus is always going to bring us back home, back home to the heart today in our practice. So keeping our awareness and our attention here, interlace your fingertips. Perfect. And then as you exhale, press your palms away from the body and round the spine into that cat tilt. As you inhale, flip your palms right back to the heart center, always coming back home. Lift the sternum chest, take a little bit of a cow tilting back bend. As you exhale, send the palms a little higher about the height of your face, round the spine as you exhale.

And as you inhale, take the little back bend, come back home, come back to the heart, lift the chin away from the chest. A little higher this time as you exhale, round the spine, palms about the height of the head are just a little bit higher. Stay there. And then as you inhale, take the little back bend, take the wrist to the sky, lift the heart sternum, lift the chin, lift the chest. Take a little side bend from side to side, a little intuitive movement, feeling your way around, creating a little space for fuller, deeper breath, lungs, intercostals, that help us breathe. And then as you exhale, lower the palms back to the heart, switch which index fingers on top, this could change your whole year. And we'll do that same variation. As you exhale, press the palms away from you, round the spine. As you inhale, take the back bend, bring the palms back to home base, the heart, lift the sternum, chin and chest. As you exhale, palms about the height of the forehead, about the head. And as you inhale, bring it back to the heart space, lift the sternum, lift the chest, cow tilting the spine. One more time, a little higher than the head or about the height of the crown of the head. And then stay here with the palms, slowly inhale for the back bend. Maybe this time, squeeze the biceps by the ears a little bit more. And then take a little bit of an intuitive tilt left and right for the side body. Perfect. The next time you intuitively tilt right with your fingertips, hang out right there, reach the right fingertips out about a foot, foot and a half from the body and slide your right hand forward about the lining up with your knee and lift your hips up. This is going to feel good on your legs. Slide that left leg into an easy side plank pose, reach the left arm up and over the ear and spiral the bicep, spiral the torso and think I'm still waking up on Monday, spiral the torso to your left, push into the pinky toe side of your foot and press strongly down into your right fingertips. As you inhale, rise up to gate pose, left hand down the left IT band, inhale the right hand to the sky and we'll go for a little side pulse. As you inhale, come on back to center, right arm right up and over, exhale, reach over and across, left ear drops towards the left shoulder. So you feel that side bend from your waist, from the top of your hip all the way up and over. Two more rounds, just a little pulse with a breath, creating more space for breath, for prana, more space around the heart. The next time you take your right arm up and over the ear, pause here for a moment, lift your left ribcage, take a nice big inhale and then as you exhale, the right hand cups the left ear. Good. The right elbow drops to the right a little bit and if you want to feel more resistance, drape the left hand around the waist. A little intuitive nod of the chin towards the chest, any little areas to release the trapezius muscle might feel good for your body. Great. Free the fingertips in front of you, in front of the knees, slide the left knee back to meet the right. Good. Lower the seat, interlace your hands over the heart. Exhale, press your palms forward around the spine. Cat tilt. Inhale for the soft back bend, palms back to the heart. Lift the sternum, chin and chest, kind of like a little celebration here. Exhale, palms about the height of your face. Inhale, back to the heart center. Take the back bend. Last one.

Exhale the palms a little higher than the brow towards the crown of the head. Keep the elbows squeezing in. Rise up for your back bend, palms to the sky. Big lift of the heart. A little side bend to your left this time. Reach out with the left fingertips, about a foot, foot and a half. Slide the fingertips forward so they're lining up with your left knee and then free that right leg into easy gate pose or easy side plank. We are going to gate pose soon. Spiral the right ribcage to the right and press into the pinky toe side of your right foot and invite the breath to be fuller and deeper. Really enjoy the inhales when you're inside flexion. It feels so good to create more space. Rise all the way up to gate pose. Right hand, right eye, T-band, left palm to the sky and we'll take our little pulse. Exhale the left arm over. Inhale it back up. Pulsing with the breath. Finding a little bit more areas of space each time you pulse without force. Just letting the body rock into that new spot. The next time you take your left arm up and over the ear, pause, hang out right here. Fully breathe on those inhalations. Really expand the inhales around the heart. Two more just like that. Really lift and expand with inhalations. Exhale. Reach a little farther over. Perfect. And then as you inhale, let the head come back to neutral. Left hand cups the right ear. Take the little trapezius stretch. Move the elbow to the left. Maybe drawing the chin towards the chest for a little intuitive trapezius stretch. Feeling your way around this nice release in the trap. Perfect. Great everybody. Bring your fingertips back to the floor. Slide the right knee back. Broken toe pose. So we're tucking the toes this time as we sit on the heels. Remember if this doesn't work you can sit on your block. We connected with our heart center. Now let's connect our heart center with something bigger than self. The source with a nice soft posturation. Inhale the palms to the sky. Imagine as the palms touch you're drawing the energy from the source. Whatever that means to you. Right down to the brow. Waking in awareness. To the chin. Clarity of speech. To the heart. Living and loving from heart space. And a little bow forward palms reach forward. Offer the practice up. Round up with your next exhale. We'll do one more round. Inhale the palms to the sky. Connect with the source. Draw down. Thumbs to the brow. Waking in awareness. Lips speaking our truth from our heart. And then thumbs right at the heart center. Remembering always to check in the heart space. And then a little bow forward. While you're in your bow forward if you have an offering, a dedication for the practice. Making it about something bigger than self. Set it right now. So many good things we can draw our attention to. Perfect. And then as you exhale slowly roll up to your seat. Let's keep staying connected to the heart center as we flow through this journey together. Swing the legs around for table pose. Palms underneath the shoulders. Knees underneath the hips. Let's give you an opportunity to just intuitively move the spine whether it's side to side or forward and backwards. Flexion and extension. Just wiggle your way around. Check in. See how the spine's feeling. See how the muscles along the spine are feeling.

Perfect. And then from here we'll take our neutral spine. Shifting our weight over to the right leg. Let's draw some circles with the left knee. So circle the knee away from you as you inhale and drop back into the midline. Explore in your range of motion. If you need a little bit more heat and more work today, tuck your right toes under. Lift the right knee off the floor and you can do this work. Build a little bit more strength for the quad, the muscles of the arms and the chest muscles. Two more rounds of these circles. Last round if your knee is off the floor, lower it back down. Keep opening up the left hip and extend the left leg forward. Now keep the left leg off the floor. Draw the left heel as far back as it'll go. Turn your left toes to the right and look over your right shoulder, closing the hip. Flip the left toes back, open the hip, draw the left knee as close to the left tricep as it'll go and keep it up nice and high. Slide it all the way back and then turn the toes to the left. Look over your left shoulder. Two more rounds of breath, opening and exploring a range of motion through the hip. Last one. The next time the left leg is reaching out to the left, lower the foot all the way to the floor. So the left foot's lined up with the right knee. The left hand stays, the right hand reaches to the sky for a nice little rotation of the spine and then thread it under, across and through without touching the floor. Pulse with the breath. Inhale the right palm back up. You might find a little bit more range of motion through the thoracic spine and then exhale, thread it under, across and through. Two more pulses. Last one. The next time you thread under and through, lower the shoulder if you're feeling it. If you don't need the left hand, you can push the floor away with the left fingertips. And if you're sending that left palm to the sky, you can drape it around the waist or bring your palms into prayer and play with this little elbow balance, pressing into your elbow and helping you find a little bit more rotation of the spine. Enjoy the exhales whenever you're in the twist. One more nice juicy inhale all the way to the heart center and exhale, wring it out. Great. If your left hand isn't on the floor, replace the left palm to the floor. Inhale the right palm back to the sky. Exhale lower the right palm next to the left. Slide the left foot to the back of your mat for easy side plank and swing the right toes around. Tuck them under. Inhale the left palm to the sky and simultaneously lift the left leg off the floor for a really soft variation of our half moon pose. We'll do the adult version of this later. This is the kid version right now. Bend the left leg, reach back for the left ankle. Top of the foot. If you're going deeper, you can grab the big toe side of the foot and we're moving the heel away from the seat. If you don't have the foot, just bending it and moving the heel away will still feel really nice at the front of your hip. Give it one more round of breath. Great. Slide the left leg back. Swing the right toes around as you bring the left hand to the floor. Left knee to the floor. Shake out your wrist on that right side. Took a little weight. Give yourself a little circle. Wave to everybody else in the room. All right. Come on back to your table pose. Guide the heart, chin and chest forward for a cow tilt and round the spine for a cat tilt. Just checking back in. Neutral spine and table. We'll explore a range of motion through the right hip this time. Drying the right knee into the chest and circling the knee away and back in. Remember you can keep that left knee on or off the floor if you need a little bit more work today. Hover that left knee off the floor. Circling it in with the exhale and away with the inhale. Exploring your range of motion with the breath.

Two more rounds. The next time you open the right hip, make sure the left leg is lowered to the floor. Extend the right leg forward. The height of your hip out to like, what is that? Three o'clock. Yep. And then send the right leg all the way back. Turn the toes of your right foot over to the left, down and to the left. Look over your left shoulder. Pulse with the breath. Right leg moves forward from six all the way to three. You're going to feel it in the outer glute and then send it back to six, maybe seven o'clock as you look over your left shoulder. One more pulse. The next time you draw your right leg out to the right, lower the right foot to the floor, the right foot and your left knee will be lining up. The right hand stays this time. The left arm is the threader. Inhale the left palm to the sky. Yep. Exhale, thread it under, across and through. A little bend in that right elbow. Inhale it up. Pulse with the breath. Exhale, thread under, across and through. You got two more pulses. See if you can find a little bit more rotation as you inhale it up and then a little deeper across as you exhale. Last one. Big inhale. Open up through rotation and exhale, thread under, across and through. If it's available to you, you can lower the shoulder to the floor. Your right hand is here for support if you need it. You can take it to the sky, around the waist, or play with that little elbow balance that we worked on. Palms into prayer. Press into the elbow. Lengthen and rotate. The inhale helps you find more space to rotate the spine as you press the right palm into the left if you're taking this variation. If you're not lower down with the right hand on the floor, let's lower down and bring the right palm to the floor. Inhale the left palm back to the sky. You might notice a little bit more space there. Exhale the left palm to the floor. Swing the right foot all the way to the back of the mat for easy side plank and then swing the left toes around behind you, tuck them under. Inhale the right palm to the sky and hover that right leg off the floor direction or height of the hip. Bend the right leg. Remember, if you're not grabbing it, that's cool. Just keep drawing the right heel back in space, opening up the front of the hip. If you're grabbing the ankle, outside of the ankle, or bicep facing up, big toe side of the foot, moving the heel away. Looking straight forward, opening up the front of your hip and your chest at the same time. As you exhale, lower the right knee back to meet the left. Swing the toes around. Come up to your fingertips and table pose and we'll work on a little strength posturing in our table pose. Cow and cat tilts on the fingertips. Forget about the palms right now unless you need them down. This will help you strengthen the muscles in the hands and that first down dog is going to feel really good. Last round. Inhale back to a neutral spine. Walk your palms forward. Plant the fingers and palms into the earth. Tuck the toes under. Lift the hips to the sky. Press the chest to the thighs. First down dog, let's check in with the hamstrings. Bend one leg at a time. How are the hamstrings and calves feeling today? Push actively forward with all fingers. Palms are shoulder distance. Feet are hip distance. Ears are by the biceps as you pedal the legs out. Nice and slow. Great. Lengthen the spine for your flat back.

Plank pose. Engage the core. Squeeze to the midline. Bring the knees to the floor if you need to because we're going down for five. Bending the elbows, leaning forward. Remember to bring the knees down. Four. Lengthen forward. Three. Engage the core. I'm a slow counter. Two. And then lower all the way down. Untuck the toes. Replace your palms with your elbows. Slide your ribs forward. Really stretch the front body as you press into the tops of the feet. A little internal rotation. Inner thighs up, drawing up and back. Draw the rib cage forward towards your thumbs and relax the shoulders. Maybe letting one ear drop to one shoulder. One more time. Just kind of checking into the muscles in the upper back and neck. Perfect. We'll be here for another three breaths. If you want to take another variation of a back bend, you can replace the elbows with the palms. As you glide the heart forward, roll the shoulder blades softly down and back. And don't forget to press into index and thumb. Exhale, press back to your down dog. Tuck the toes under, hips to the sky, chest to the thighs. Pedal it out. One at a time. Hip opening down dog. Inhale the right leg to the sky.

Bend the knee. Open the hip. Draw the right inner thigh away from the floor. Draw your right heel towards your left seat. Push actively forward. Remember that plank pose? We're going to do plank again, but keep your hip opening. See if you can place your right foot in tree pose either below the knee or above the knee. Lower down as slowly as you want this time. You don't have to do the whole five count, but you will feel if you slow the count and you can always bring the knee to the floor. Remember that option. Replace your palms with your elbows. So we've got a hip opening sphinx pose. Guide the heart forward. You'll start to feel the front of the hip releasing just a little bit more. Ribs towards the thumbs. Your left hand's going to stay. Your right arm's threading under, across, and through. If this is your spot, stay here. If you can lift the elbow off the floor, this is great. Or push the floor away for a little bit more rotation in your hip opener. And if you want that elbow option, it's always there for you, similar to what we did before. Last round of breath. Now you can choose to press back up to plank with your right leg in tree pose, or you can do the normal way and slide your right foot back to join the left all the way back to hip opening dog. Beautiful. Take a nice big inhale here. And as you exhale, look forward, step your right foot to the front of the mat. Pivot your left heel in, line up the heels, turn the toes in about 15, 30 degrees, like an eighth of a step, right forearm on top of the right thigh, windmill all the way up to your warrior two. Nice way to check warrior two. Bring your hands to your hips. See if you can drop the back hip just a little bit and that right knee is turning right over second and third foot. Second and third toe.

We don't have three feet. All right. Bring your hands back to home base again, back to your heart. And straighten the right leg. Take a big inhale. And as you exhale, send the palms out left and right. Share that energy. Warrior two. Inhale back to your home base. Switch which hands on top, straighten the front leg. Exhale, send the good loving out. The heart is the giving and receiving center. We want to make sure that we are really focusing on both and finding balance. Try two more of these pulses, working on opening that heart area energetically, always coming back home. And then the next time you sink into warrior two, shoulders over the hips, press into your outer left foot, and then option of taking the drishti over your right thumb. Perfect, everybody. Straighten the right leg. Interlace your hands behind the back. Move your wrists slightly away from the sacrum to open up the heart center, the front of the chest, and then bend into the right leg. Bow on top of the right thigh for a humble warrior. Or start to move the wrist forward, slide inside of the right thigh. Let the crown of the head start to move towards the floor as you move the wrists over the shoulders. Three breaths, wherever you find yourself, anchor into your back foot. Last two. When you finish that last breath, bring your palms to the floor inside of the right foot. Lower the left knee to the floor. Heel to your right foot off the mat to the right. Turn your toes over towards two o'clock, and then just let your hips rock from side to side. As your hips rock to the left, that right leg will straighten a little bit. As it rocks to the right, you'll feel the outer right hip and glute. Two more pulses. One more. Excellent. As you come back to neutral, keep the right foot where it is. Tuck the left toes under, lift the left knee off the floor, send your right foot back to the sky for your hip opening dog. Lengthen forward for plank pose. Nice, slow vinyasa. Exhale, bend the elbows, lean forward. Remember, sphinx pose is available for you. Elbows and instead of palms, or glide up into cobra, elbows bent, or start to move towards up dog. Make sure you're not feeling any compression in the lower back. Great. Exhale, tuck the toes under hips to the sky, chest to the thighs, down dog. Shift your weight to your right foot. Inhale the left leg to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, hip opening dog. Push actively forward with both hands. Draw the left heel towards the right seat. Keep lifting the left thigh. Keep the hip opening as you move to plank pose. See if you can play with this idea of tree plank pose. Left foot below the knee on the calf or above the knee for tree plank. Lower down with that right knee as an option, or come all the way down, bending the elbows, lowering all the way into that soft hip opener. Replace your elbows with the palms, or your palms with the elbows if it's available for you. Opening up the front of the hip in sphinx pose. You feel the stretch of the ribs moving forward towards the thumbs, pressing down to the top of the right foot. The right elbow stays, the left arm is the threader this time, thread the left arm under, across and through. We kind of prepared ourselves for this in that wide legged table we did earlier. Remember you can keep the right hand where it is for a softer twist, or place the right palm next to the left wrist, push the floor away, or that little elbow stand that we did, only if it's available to you. Be kind to the front of your hips, make sure you're not feeling any compression in the lower back. As you lower the palms back down by the ribs, we'll set up for our plank pose with the left leg as it is, option two, normal traditional plank pose, left foot next to the right, option one, exhale press. All the way back to the hip opening dog, left leg to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, take a nice big inhale, look forward to the front of the mat, exhale step the left foot between the hands, pivot your right heel, turn the right toes in like an eighth of a step, left form on top of the left thigh, right hand drags the right ribs back up, warrior two, good. Feel your hips, give yourself a little tilt, little tilt down with the back hip if that's okay, knee tracking over second and third toe and then bring your palms back to the heart, straighten the left leg, take an inhale here, think of sending out your love, your good energy, not only to your dedication and offering but out to the rest of the world, exhale send it out, inhale cultivate it, bring it back home, recharge your energies, exhale send it out, three more pulses just like that, giving receiving center for chakra, anahata chakra at the heart space, last one, the next time you bring your palms back, pause here for a moment, interlace your hands the non-habitual way behind the back of the weird index finger on top, move the rest slightly away from the sacrum, bend the left leg and bow the left ribcage on top of the left thigh, this is a great spot to stay right here or you can start moving deeper inside as you move the wrist slowly over the head, crown of the head starts to slide a little closer to the floor, lowers a little closer to the floor, anchor into your back foot, two more breaths, aah, one more breath, perfect, bring your palms to the floor inside of the left leg, lower the right knee to the floor, heel toe your left foot off the mat towards ten o'clock, turn the toes away from you and then just let your hips rock from side to side, so the back toes are untucked as your hips rock to the right, you can straighten the left leg a little bit as your hips rock to the left, turn your shoulders to the right and you'll feel a little bit more of that outer glute in the hip, two more rounds of breath, one more, perfect, the next time the hips are coming back to neutral, tuck the right toes under, send the left leg back to the sky, hip opening dog, inhale and then exhale to your plank pose, lower all the way down, glide forward to the back bend of your choice and we'll press back to our down dog, if you don't have your block at the back of your mat, grab your block and walk your hands back towards your feet, we got a couple options today depending on what you're feeling like today, as you turn the toes out slightly towards that ten and two, we'll bend the knees and for those of you that are less open in the hips or have knee issues, feel free to sit on your block for melasana, it's kind of like you're hatching an egg, you can use the elbows to guide the inner thighs away and it's a nice option for melasana that helps you open up the hips without any force, you can take traditional melasana without the block or if you're feeling a little bit more energetic today, we can do our bhakasana crow pose, we're going to place the block in front of the feet, we're going to place one foot on a block at a time, big toes close to touching and then we'll let the knees turn out to ten and two once again, so with our little perch on the block, the hips are coming up a little higher than they normally would in bhakasana crow pose, so when you plant the palms on the floor, a foot, foot and a half away from you, the knees are just outside of the triceps, as you bend the elbows, lean forward, keep the elbows bent, keep the knees on top of the triceps or just outside and focus on just lifting one foot off the floor at a time, if that feels good, draw one foot up, lengthen forward and then lift the other one up as well, if you're newer to this, you can always put a crash pad underneath your forehead if you're practicing this, when you lower down, take your feet a little wider than the block, come back to malasana, move your block to the side, perfect, we'll walk our hands forward about a foot, we're going to take a little frog hop, feet around the hands, little frog hop all the way to the front of the mat, these will help us for future bhakasanas too, from our frog hop that we did forward, we're going to shoot the legs all the way back to plank pose, so lean forward tops of the toes, bend the knees, walk the legs back to plank or hips to the sky, shoot the legs back, lower down, back bend of your choice cobra up dog, send it back to your down dog, if you only have one block today, slide it forward towards the front of your mat, if you have that block at the front of your mat, keep it there, inhale the right leg to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip, push strongly forward with your right hand, walk your left hand a little closer to your left foot, maybe six inches, maybe halfway, you'll start to feel the hamstring stretch and a deep opening of the hip, great, keep the right hip open as you move to plank just like you did before, but instead of tree pose, step your right foot behind you, kickstand side plank or wild thing, push into the toe pads, inhale the right palm to the sky, push actively down and forward with the left hand, look to the front of the mat, with or without the help of the right hand, step the right foot forward all the way to the front of the mat, pivot your left heel, great, left hand to the heart, right hand to the right quad, perfect, inhale the right palm to the sky, checking back in, peaceful warrior variation, back forward to warrior two, reach a little farther forward for your warrior two, inhale back up to your peaceful.

Just give yourself a couple of moments just to sway, enjoy the connection, maybe even close the eyes and listen for the pulse of your heart. If you're using your block today, you can reach down and grab your block and we'll use our block to help us set up for half moon pose, reach forward with the right fingertips, step your left foot in halfway and as you lift the left leg, notice that left elbow that's pointing down, start to open up the left shoulder, perfect, step back to your peaceful warrior, pulse with your breath around or two before you step into your half moon again. You can keep the block in your hand the whole time if you want to, in fact it's pretty good for your bicep workout, stepping forward for your half moon, roll that left shoulder back. We've got two more of these, keep using your block if you need to. If you need an extra challenge, switch which hands over your heart, uh oh, bring the other hand to your hip, try to keep the torso lining up with the long side of your mat, step your left foot forward and play with the no arm version of half moon pulse.

Step it back for your peaceful warrior. Step it forward with a block, remember without the block or the hand at the heart. Step it back, inhale the right hand to the sky, bend into your right leg, nice peaceful warrior opening up the right side body. If you want to take the left hand up to grab the right wrist and pull it back in space you can't. Breathe into the side body, beautiful, windmill the palms inside of the right leg, lower the left knee to the floor, heel toe your right foot off the mat to the right just like you did before, guide the right inner thigh softly away with the right hand or you can reach back with the right hand, bend the left leg, opening up the front of the hip on the left side, kicking the heel away from the seat, keeping the right toes turned out the knee opening for that hip opener on the right side.

Two more rounds of breath, any little movements in the upper back and shoulders that help you find ease, feel free to explore, one more. Release the back leg, heel toe your right foot across the mat. We're not sitting in pigeon but it's almost going to feel like we are so walk your right foot across the mat, bring your right hand over to the right side of your mat and bend your left leg so you can easily lower that right hip down, swing the left leg all the way around. Good. Place your right ankle on top of your left thigh for a seated figure four, fingertips facing forward.

Good. Keep the seated figure four, take a nice little heart opener here, flip your palms so your fingertips are walking back. You start to notice the pecs starts to open and release. The closer you walk your fingertips towards each other, the farther back you move your hand the more you'll feel and then from here just let the knees winch a wiper from side to side. Relax the muscles of the face, relax the jaw.

One more round of breath. Left hand stays, let your knees drop all the way to your left. So the right foot comes to the floor for a nice hip opening twist, right hand reaches back to meet the left. If you need to feel more, move your left hand towards your left ribcage, push the floor away and you'll feel the hip opening spinal twist and that side stretch. Oh, so good.

Two more rounds of breath. Great. Keep the legs as they are as you walk your hands back. Option two, this is a great opportunity just to set the right knee on top of the left ankle for double pigeon. This isn't available to you.

Keep the right ankle on top of the left knee, come back to your seated figure four and start to walk the hips and the chest closer to the right thigh. This is our last posture on this side, so seated hip opener or double pigeon stacking knees and ankles. Be kind to your knees on this one. If you're in an opportunity to check back with one hand or both hands to your heart to settle back in, there's an opportunity to always keep coming back home. This expression of self resides here, listening, drawing our attention from all of those activities in the outside world and coming back to the inner landscape of the heart.

All right. You ready for side two? You choose how to get there. You can swing the legs around for table. You can take a rock and roll vinyasa.

We'll meet in our down dog, whichever version is working for you. I'll see you in down dog, rock and roll vinyasa, heels move in close to the seat, palms plant in front of the knees, press to the tops of the feet, float back to plank. Remember, you can do this from table, lower all the way down, cobra, up dog. Send it back to your down dog. Shifting your weight to your right leg, inhale the left leg to the sky for hip opening dog.

Stay here with your left hand, but start to walk your right hand a little closer to your right foot. You'll feel more of the hamstring stretch. You can lift the left knee a little farther away from the floor to feel that hip opener as well. Take a nice big inhale, keep the left hip opening as you move to plank. Don't change the left leg at all as you move to plank.

Perfect. Step the left foot behind you, kickstand side plank or wild thing. Push into the right hand strongly forward and down to send the left arm up and over the ear without feeling any wrist issues happening here. Look to the front of the mat with or without the left hand, step the left foot to the front of the mat, pivot your right heel to the floor, left forearm on top of the left thigh, right hand moves to the heart. Rise up to the heart, straighten your left leg, inhale the left palm to the sky, little peaceful warrior variation with the left leg straight.

Bend the left leg, reach as far forward as you can with the left hand. This helps us feel that transition to half moon. Reach it up with the inhale, lengthen and extend. Feel the side body stretch, exhale, reach it forward. One more round before we step into our half moon pose.

Remember your block can be in your hand or by the side the whole time. Reach forward with the left hand, slide your right foot forward halfway. Turn your torso, your ribs to the right. As you lift the right leg off the floor, move your right elbow back in space, sets up the torso nicely for half moon pose. Step back to your peaceful warrior, inhale the left palm to the sky.

So take a little bend, one, two, and then step back into your half moon and play with the transition. Stay connected to the heart though, feel the breath. Listen inside, opening through the side body. We're going to do two more. For those of you that were playing with the other hand on top of the heart, bring the left hand to the heart, right hand to the hip.

Lean forward, step the right foot forward, lift the right leg off the floor, turn the torso softly to the right. Step back, last peaceful warrior, last time stepping forward. Oh, it's so fun to be present and connected to the heart and challenge yourself. When you're ready, step that right leg all the way back, inhale the left palm to the sky, straighten the left leg, right hand reaches up for the left wrist, pull it back in space and then bend into that left leg and breathe like crazy into the left side body. Really inflate your breath.

Go big with the breath. Beautiful guys. One more round anchoring into the back foot, a nice full inhalation and hold. And then exhale, release the arms, windmill the hands inside of the left leg, lower the right knee to the floor. Exhale till your left foot off the mat to the left, perfect.

And then we'll reach back with our left hand this time. You can press the left inner thigh away from you, a soft little hip opener or option two, we'll take that deeper expression, reaching for the pinky toe side of the right foot, helping you get the quad. Remember that leg doesn't have to be held. You can really just bend it and still feel the opening of the front of the hip. Nice opening of the front of the chest too, especially if you grab the pinky toe side of your left foot, right foot, right left.

What year is it? Give it one more round of breath. Good. That's what happens when you move into the heart space. You forget how to think in the head space.

Walk your left foot slowly across the mat as if you're going to go into pigeon, just like we did on the other side. As you bend the hip and let the knee drop, swing the back foot around, bend the right leg so that you're not putting pressure on the knee. And then you can lean into your left hip and swing that right leg all the way around. Perfect. From here, we'll place the left ankle on top of the right thigh.

Easy seated figure four, bend the right leg, inviting that shoulder stretch into the picture as well. Flip your palms, fingertips walking back away from your hips. We start to feel it in the upper back and shoulders. Because this is our second time, you might be able to walk the fingers a little closer together and a little farther back, just so you go a little bit deeper on round two. Remember where you're dropping the knees from side to side, our little windshield wipers to get that massage one more time on that connection area, the sacrum, the lower back, the piriformis, this area where we feel the connection from our torso and our limbs.

Two more rounds of breath, nice little rock from side to side. I like to move my head around too, so I feel this in the upper back and shoulders. Good. The next time you rock over to your right, right hand stays, slowly release your left hand, left inner thigh presses away, left foot comes to the floor, reach as far back as you can with the left hand. Feel the side stretch in the left side body if you want more resistance.

Side your right hand closer to your right hip like a little pushup. Push the floor away and walk the left fingertips forward. Breathe into the left side body, breathe into both side bodies, but inflate through the left side body as you take this nice hip opening twist. Wonderful. As you unwind, slowly walk your palms back, keep the legs as they are, draw the right knee back into figure four.

Option two, easier, just to go right down into double pigeon if you were planning on going there. Option one, keep it in your figure four and just get a little bit closer as you lift the sternum and chest. So choose the option that's right for you, for your knee, and for your hip. If you're doing the second option, flexing the feet, lining up, knees and ankles, fingertips behind you, lift the sternum, chin and chest. All right.

Hips are happy. We don't have to do that vinyasa again unless you want extra credit. So we'll just swing the legs open, nice and wide for upavistha konasana. Using your block underneath your seat will help you with a tall spine. If you feel like you're not able to sit up nice and tall, move your built-in cushions back a little bit, draw the toes up and back.

And as you lengthen forward, take a nice big inhale. Try to get as tall as you can with the inhales. And then whether you're walking an inch or six inches forward with your exhale doesn't matter to me. Make sure that you're slowly doing this in increments so that you feel the breath leading you into the postures. Yeah?

Pulling the toes back as you lengthen the heart forward. Find a spot that feels easy for right now. We'll get to go deeper here in just a moment. Good. As you guide your way back up, we're taking a side stretch over to our left.

But we're going to take a little different variation with the right leg. Option one, bend your right leg, pull the heel in towards the seat and take your left hand to the right shin, left elbow hugs in, right arm up and over the ear or behind the head for a little rotation. Option two, knee really wide, half farasana, knees far apart, same side bend, elbow to the floor, right arm over the ear or slide your left hand underneath your right thigh and reach for your shin. It's a total twister game right here. Right arm over the head, pinky toe or big toe side of the foot as you rotate or a little softer right hand behind the head.

You can use the left elbow as a lever to rotate, lengthen to rotate. Two more rounds of breath, enjoy the space and breathe into that space around the ribs and around the heart, our focal point today. Nice everybody. Whichever leg variation you're in, slowly rise up and we'll switch to the other side. So choose option one, knee to the sky, heel in, elbow inside or elbow outside for the side stretch, grabbing onto the ankle as a nice variation.

Option two, same movement, just a little bit more pressure on that knee and the front of the hip. Your hand can be inside or you can slide it under for this nice little rotation of the spine, lengthening the crown forward and turning softly to the left. One more big inhale and exhale. As you come back to center, we'll come back to our original posture, Babistha Konasana. Remember you could have the pillow underneath you and then this is your opportunity to just melt forward.

Lead with a heart, pull the toes back, soften with each exhale. Lead with a heart, pull the toes back, soften with each exhale. Glide forward, you find a little bit more space on this last round. Enjoy whatever space you're in and give yourself two more rounds of breath. Excellent everybody.

Slowly walk your palms back. Right behind the knees, draw the knees in and swing the toes over to your left or right. We're setting up for bridge pose. Feet in front of the knees, lower down nice and slow, engage your core. Slide your heels so that they're right underneath the knees, pressing our triceps into the floor, lifting the ribs, the sternum, and then lowering the palms.

And as you ground into the feet, press the palms into the floor, lift your hips to the sky. Stay right here or support your lower back, the top of your glutes with your hands. Bring them right to the waistband and hug the elbows in. Push into all four corners of the feet like you're going to lift your waist to the sky and then breathe into the chest and the heart area. Think of this as the rib cage lifting breath, not focusing on the full belly breath.

And two more just like that. One more. As you exhale and lower down, you can straighten one leg at a time. Press into your forearms and help yourself up using your core. Slide your elbows right underneath your shoulders and bring thumb and index finger just around the top of your glutes, supported fish pose, squeezing our elbows in, lifting the sternum in the chest, feet can stay relaxed, or you can flex the toes to really feel the front of the ankles releasing.

Nice supported fish pose, relax the jaw, relax the muscles in the face. Going back to the heart center, om jaya guru om, jaya guru om, calling out the highest expression of self, the guru within, excellent. And then as you exhale, slowly lower down, one more round of bridge pose, heels lined up underneath the knees, triceps, press into the floor, lift the heart sternum, chin and chest, press into all four corners of the feet. You can bring the hands to the floor like you did round one, support or interlace your hands, squeeze your elbows a little tighter towards the midline, press to the pinky sides of your fingers and lift the ribs and go back to that big breath into the heart center. Great everybody, one more round.

Then as you lower down, we're going to revisit fish pose one more time, straighten the legs one at a time, prop yourself up on your elbows. If you'd like to go a little deeper into fish, you can sit on the back of your hands, slide your hands right underneath the glutes, squeeze your elbows in nice and tight, lifting the ribs and the heart, letting the head fall back. The head doesn't touch the floor. No worries. Crown of the head onto the floor option as well, press into your forearms to find a little bit more lift and enjoy the breath from jaya guru om, jaya guru om, bringing my attention to my heart space, listening, inviting connection in, inviting messages, intuitive messages from source to be deciphered.

And then as you exhale, you can lower all the way down one more time. This is the time we're staying down. So bend one leg at a time, flip your palms, give yourself a little windshield wiper from side to side. I want you to feel your way through. Keep your attention at the heart space, close the eyes, feel your way through any last little movements.

Maybe it's the windshield wipers, maybe it's a soft twist, a happy baby. Feel your way into a posture that feels right for you right now without much effort. Take your time with these movements. As we drop from our head space to our heart space, we get more in touch with the energy body that animates the self. We have a clearer mind and we can listen deeper and be more grounded on our path without outside forces interrupting us.

Last little movements for you as you set up for shavasana. Be very comfortable, create space for the most important posture of the practice. If you're deciding to sit in a nice comfortable seat, you can also just sit in a nice meditative state as you check in. Let go of any guidance of the breath, let the body melt into the floor and listen at the heart space. Om Jayakuru Vam, Jaya Kuruam, Om Jaya Guru Vam, Jaya Guru Vam, Jaya, Gurdu, Aum.

Coming back home, back home into the heart for deeper connection. If you're lying down, start to intuitively bring movement back to the body and remember if you want to stay in Shavasana longer, just tune me out. If you're seated, bring your hands over to your heart space and take a moment to reflect, reconnect. You're lying down, start to shift your way into fetal pose with your eyes closed, neck relaxed. Use your left hand to help you up to your seat.

Thank yourself for creating space and time for your practice. Feel the union. Feel the connection that yoga is and the mind's quiet. Then we listen deeply. We're creating pathways of connection and as you bring your palms into prayer, I invite you to inhale your palms to the sky one more time as if you're channeling the energy of the divine all the way down to the brow, thumbs touch the brow, awakening awareness, thumbs to the lips, clarity of speech, speaking our truth from our heart and both palms in front of the heart and prayer, thanking yourself for being open, receptive and finally bowing forward, remembering the offering, the dedication and sharing the love and as rolling on up.

Thank you so much for sharing your good energy with me, for diving deeper into your practice and our journey through this retreat together. Keep showing up if you can. Keep dedicating your efforts to the journey. Namaste. Happy day.

Peace.

Comments

Ali
Ali
2 people like this.
I feel a profound sense of space in front of my heart after this practice. I loved the chanting. Thank you Wade.
Wade
1 person likes this.
Hi Ali thank you so much for your dedication on this retreat!!! So happy you resonated with the heart opening practice!
Lynn-Marie M
Thank you so much Wade. I’ve been teaching yoga for 18 years, now teaching via Zoom. I’m loving the variations of the different poses. It’s bringing new life to me and my students. YogaAnytime is a true gift.
Meaghan S
1 person likes this.
Loved the oscillating bound hands between the heart and outwards at heart/face/above levels. I will take that with me. Thank you
Wade
1 person likes this.
Great to hear from you Lynn-Marie M - we have both been teaching for the same amount of time! So glad you are feeling this and sharing it, Yoga is so needed right now - your students are lucky to have you!
Wade
2 people like this.
Hi Meaghan S hope you are having a great week! One of my teachers in Asia passed that along to me and happy you connected with it too, it feels quite symbolic :)
Glenford N
1 person likes this.
I enjoyed the fun of this practice,  and smiling when I got my hands and feet mixed up during one of the more challenging poses.  Thanks  for your insights, Wade.
Lina S
1 person likes this.
I've really enjoyed this practice. Side bends felt really good. The crow with the block: what a nice tip! Thank you for your teaching.
Julie M
2 people like this.
Thank you for such a heart-felt practice.  I feel stretched in mind and body and my heart is really resonating with all the good in the world.  Thanks for offering this in these challenging times.
Wade
1 person likes this.
HI Lina S so great you are diving into this journey, yes to side bends - I  feel more expansive when I do them :)
1-10 of 22

You need to be a subscriber to post a comment.

Please Log In or Create an Account to start your free trial.

Footer Yoga Anytime Logo

Just Show Up

Over 2,900 yoga and meditation practices to bring you Home.

15-Day Free Trial