Foundations

Hello. My name is Jason, and welcome to foundations. Today, we're gonna focus on really finding the basic foundations of our practice doesn't mean easy. It just means that we're really gonna take time to focus on each pose Find our breath and find where we connect to the ground and find our length. But at the same time, The number one coach that we're gonna listen to today is ourselves. Honor your practice.

Honor your body. Which means that if something doesn't feel comfortable in your body, if something is causing you to tense, it's okay to back off. It's okay to take a breath. So again, honor your practice, honor your body. I do recommend that we do have some props today.

Do have blocks, two blocks, I do have a blanket or something to pad underneath our knees, and we are gonna utilize our strap today if those work for you in your practice. So let's find our way to our back, and we're gonna get started. Make sure you grab your strat because you're gonna want that handy. Take a moment. Place your hands if it feels comfortable for you.

One hand on your heart, one hand on your belly, or hands can be at your side. And just take a few deep breaths in and exhale. And as we take these deep breath in and exhale, Feel your connection to the mat, to the earth. Take another deep breath in. And as we exhale, bring our knees up into our hands, and a little gentle rock.

And as you continue to take those nice deep breaths in, We relax and exhale gently pull the knees in towards the chest and inhale release just a bit. And exhale. It just gives a nice wake up to the back one more time. Inhale. And exhale. Allow the feet to come to the mat and locate your strap. You don't have to have a loop in your strap right now.

Just make sure that you have a strap what's a nice, long amount of range to be able to grab on to that? Let's bring the right leg up. And wrap it right around the ball of the foot and reach that right foot up towards the sky. Flex the toes back towards the knee and reach through the heel and you start to feel that stretch through your hamstring, and that's perfectly fine. What's happening with your left leg?

Now if you have any tightness in your lower back, you can keep that left knee left knee bent. Or if it feels good in your practice, go ahead and extend that left leg all the way out. We're gonna do a little bit of light twisting. So, again, keeping those toes pulling in towards the knee, reach through the heel. We're gonna take that strap in our left hand, both straps in the left hand. And anchor your right hand down to the ground.

Take a deep breath in, and as we exhale gently bring that right leg across. And you may feel tightness to your hamstring or through the IT band. That's exactly what we want. Keep those toes pulling in towards the knee. And actually reach through the heal.

And remember what we said back at the beginning, let's honor our practice. It'll inhale and exhale to extend. Really work to keep the rib cage and that right shoulder connected to the ground. Beautiful. Bring it back to center. Switch hands, bring that strap into the right hand and extend the left hand out.

That's your anchor now. Take a deep breath in. And exhale. Let's open that right leg out to the right side. Keeping the left hip connected to the ground. So whether you've got that leg bent or extend it all the way out keeping it connected to the ground.

Really feel the right rib cage. I'm sorry. The left rib cage and the left shoulder reaching down towards the ground. Bring it back up with a breath in. Switch that strap again into the left hand. Anchor with the right and exhale bring it across.

Take just a single breath here. Exhale reached the heel. Beautiful. Bring it back up. And one more time, exhale it out. To the right side.

And as you start to warm up, you may bring those toes up a little bit more towards the head side of the mat and really reach through the heel, feel that left hip reaching down. If we bring it back to center, and let's remove that strap. Make some nice big circles with that right leg. And let's bring the right leg back down to the mat. Again, you can bend the knee or you can straighten it out, and we're gonna bring the left leg up. Wrap the strap around the ball of the foot and reach through the left heel.

Choose whether you want to extend that right leg out or keep it bent. We take a moment. Don't rush into it. There's no need to rush into it. So take that breath, reach through the heel, start to feel all those muscles through your hamstring, on that left leg starting to loosen up.

And we're gonna take it across our body. So bring the strap into the right hand, left hand anchors you down and exhale. Bring it across just enough so you start to feel that stretch. Through the outside of that left leg through the back side of the left leg, reach through that left heel, Inhale up, switch hands, bring in the strap from left hand, exhale it out. Remember to keep that right hip down.

We don't want that leg extending out to bring that hip up, so reach it down towards the ground. You can bring it back up, switch back into the right hand, and exhale take it across. We take that extra breath here. Remember, the more the toes reach up to the head side of the mat. And the more you reach through the heel, the more you're gonna get deeper into that stretch. Bring it up. And one last time, open it up.

On that exhale, bringing the toes a little closer to the head side of the mat. People bring it back to center, bend the knee, and let's take that strap off. You can take that strap and just fold it up, put it off to the side of your mat, and make some big circles with that left hip. That creates a little synovial fluid flow in your joints. Just make sure joints flow a little bit nicer and easier.

Beautiful. We're gonna bring both feet to the mat. We're gonna take a deep breath, and we're gonna drop both knees down to the right side. You may actually even move the right hip a little more center. Keep both knees stacked. We're gonna warm up now the upper half of our spine. The thoracic, even the cervical. Reach the right hand out. Take the left hand and reach it all the way across.

You're rolling onto your shoulder keeping the knees stacked and try to keep them connected to the ground. Take a deep breath and reach the left hand up and exhale. Left hand goes all the way back. Remember keep the knees connected to the ground, inhale bring it up, and reach across, and inhale bring it up. And exhale open.

Inhale up. And exhale reach. See if you can get those left fingertips to reach just a little bit further and exhale, open it all the way up and hold here for a moment. Maybe turning your gaze out towards the left fingertips, keeping the knees connected to the ground. You have to come back to center, and we're gonna switch over to onto the other side. So roll over onto the left hip, maybe bringing the left hip a little more center.

Keep the knees stacked and take them down towards the ground. Reaching both hands out. Here we go. We're gonna take that right hand, reach it up. Reaching up with a breath in. And exhale across and inhale up and exhale open.

One more time if it feels good. Inhale. Reach it up and exhale across. Really reach through those right fingertips. Inhale up and exhale open. If I bring the feet back to the mat, one more thing we're gonna do here, and then we're gonna start to work ourselves up to our flow. Take those hands, reach them up over your head. Again, your feet can be on the mat.

Extended straight out. Whatever feels most comfortable for you, I love to get a nice stretch through the back side of my body. So I reach through the heels and up through the fingertips. Exhale bring those elbows down towards the rib cage, reaching the fingers up towards the head side of the mat. Take a big breath in as you exhale, reach the fingertips up towards the sky, and as far forward as your shoulders might allow. Inhale bring it up, exhale reach, inhale bring the elbows down towards the rib cage, Beautiful, and exhale reach one more time. All this beautiful shoulder mobility, just warming up the shoulders, and exhale.

Lovely. Bring it back. One more time. Reach up, reach through the heels, And as you exhale, either walk the knees up, walk the knees up, feet on the mat, or grab hold of the knees. And we're gonna find our most comfortable way up into a sitting up position. And now for me, I'd like just to tip right over onto my knees, but I want find whatever is the most comfortable way for you to find your way onto your knees. And here's where a blanket would come in really handy, maybe a double fold of the mat, just so you have a little bit of extra cushion underneath the knees. We're gonna come into a tabletop.

And as we come into our tabletop, spreading our fingers nice and wide, pressing down to the palms roll the triceps in towards the rib cage so you feel very sturdy as your shoulders are stacked directly over the wrist knees directly beneath the hips. A little cat cow just to continue warming up through the thoracic spine and through our lower lumbar spine. As we take a deep breath and allow the belly to drop, heart to rise, eyes rise, think length back through the tailbone. And as we exhale, take your gaze, look right between your legs rounding your spine pressing the hands into the ground, inhale allow the belly to drop eyes come up and exhale. Looking right between the legs, rounding the spine one more time, inhale bring it up, and exhale. Be able to come back to neutral, keeping your hips perfectly over your knees.

So nothing here is gonna move. Start to walk the hands forward. Allow the chest to come down towards the ground and exhale relaxing the elbows down towards the ground. Maybe if it feels good, you can bring your forehead to the ground. If the ground is a little far away, Go ahead and put a block there and place your forehead on there.

On each exhale, sink the armpits just a bit lower. Beautiful. Take a deep breath in, lift up onto the hands, bring the hands back underneath the shoulders. And now we're gonna start to straighten the back and exhale bend the elbows halfway down, keeping the knees on the ground. Beautiful inhale press up and exhale walking the hands forward, tailbone directly over the knees. Puppy post.

If you have a puppy at home, you'll see them do this a lot. Feels good. In help bring it up. Walk the hands underneath the shoulders. Keep those triceps in towards rib cage and inhale up.

And one more time, take it back into puppy pose. Walk the hands back underneath the shoulders. We're gonna move the block off our mat for a moment, but keep the pad right where it's at. Before we move into this next sequence, I'm just gonna take a moment. I'm gonna tuck my shirt in because I really want you to notice when I'm demonstrating what we're gonna be doing with our front hipbones.

So, again, bring the hands directly underneath the shoulders, extend your feet back. So we're coming into a plank pose. In our plank pose, we root down through our palms, roll those triceps in towards the rib cage, and at the same time, a little lift of the front hip bones and a drop of the tail bones towards the heels. That little lift engages all the muscles in the mid section and makes you strong and stable through your core. Exhale halfway down, Chaturanga. Remember, you can always keep the knees down and lower yourself all the way to the ground.

Keep the hands in line with the sternum or the the breast bum. And pull the shoulder blades back towards the feet, un unleash or, bring the toes up off the ground. And reach him back. Elbows reach him back, take a deep breath, and lift the heart, lift the head. Little baby cobra just to warm up the lower back and bring it down. You can bring your chin to the ground or your cheek.

Or your forehead. And we're gonna do that one more time. Reach back through the toes. Elbows reaching back. Think of the shoulder blades tucking down towards your lower back. And as we inhale, we lift the head, lift the heart, and now see if you can take some of the pressure out of the hands. So the hands can stay connected to the ground, but just very, very lightly and really squeeze the glutes, feel the muscles in the lower back engaging.

Beautiful and bring it back down to the ground. We're gonna press into the ground, and here's where you have the option. You can keep the knees on the ground as we start to go through this flow, or you can extend all the way back into your plank. And we take it, exhale halfway down to Chaturanga, turn the tops, the toes over, inhale up dog. And exhale back into our down dog.

Pedal out. And this is where I like to really bring blocks into my practice, to bring the ground up a bit it's gonna reduce the the sharp angle on my wrist, be a little bit nicer on my wrist, allow me to get all this length allow you to get all this length as you press your hands into the blocks and you reach the tailbone up you can keep a slight bend in the knees, paddle down the heels. Beautiful. Take a deep breath in, shift forward to plank. Pull the front hip bone up, let the tailbone drop, feel nice and strong, pull those triceps in, exhale halfway down, shutaranga. Turn the tops of the toes over for your up dog.

Pull the shoulder blades down the back and exhale back to down dog. Let's do that one more time. Again, on your knees or in this standing position, shift forward to plank. Exhale halfway down chaturanga. Inhale up dog or cobra. And exhale back to down dog or puppy pose.

The mat the little pad is still on our mat, because we're gonna bring our knees right back down. We're gonna bring the right leg, this right leg, right and lefts are hard sometimes. We're gonna bring that up. Blocks, still keeping it here on the mat, and I'm gonna show you why because this is gonna come in really handy as we go through this bit of a ground flow. Bring that right heel just slightly in front of the right knee, and you can keep your hands on top of that right knee. And lift the heart.

You can hold here, or if you'd like, bring those hands all the way up. Ship the hips just slightly forward till you start to feel that stretch. But in that same way, notice my shirt is still tucked in because I'm lifting the front hip bones and dropping the tailbone. And on our exhale, and this is where blocks come in very handy. Hands come to the ground or to the blocks.

Roll back on that right heel, pulling the right toes up, and reaching back through that right hip bone. I'm gonna say butt cheek or your bum. Beautiful inhale. Bring the heart up. Member hands can stay on that leg or bring it up.

And as we exhale, reach back with that right hand and open up. Maybe a little tight still through the shoulders, but reach the shoulder blades back, reach for the back of the room with that right hand, inhale sweep it up, and exhale shift it back. Half split or half hanumanasana. Keeping those toes reaching up. And if you're like me with super tight hamstrings, take a little inhale and then exhale lengthen.

And one more time, and he'll bring it up and exhale. Open. Can you lift through the crown of the head and feel nice and tall? Inhale, bring it forward and exhale, shift it back. Now there are so many options for what we're gonna go into next. As we plant that right foot down, we're gonna tuck the left toes. Find the way that is most comfortable for you to come into a standing position.

Maybe it's gonna be the hands on top of the right knee maybe it's bringing your blocks high and using them to stand up into a forward fold. And in this forward fold, Creating that length through our hamstrings, but again, still a little soft bend in the knees. Perfectly fine. If your hands do not reach the ground, you can keep your hands on your shins. You can bring your hands onto blocks, remember bringing the ground up.

Is just being nice to our body and exhale. As we inhale for this first one, walk your hands up your body, keeping as much length in the spine as you can and squeezing the glutes until you come into a standing position, take a deep breath in, and exhale. Let's take it back down. Dive down into a forward fold. Again, hands can be on blocks. On the ground, on your shins.

Listen to what your body wants. Inhale halfway at lengthening the spine, reaching through the crown of the head and back through the tailbone and exhale forward fold. Inhale to rise, either walking your hands up your legs or squeeze the glutes, lengthen the spine, reach all the way up to the sky. And one more time, let's exhale forward fold. Inhale halfway.

And as we exhale, hands will either come to the ground or to the blocks, and we're gonna take the right leg back knee down to the ground. So that we can work through the left side. Again, keep those blocks close because we're gonna need them when we go back into our half split. The left heel is just a little bit forward from left knee, inhale bringing it up, either pressing into that left knee that allows you to get that nice length through your spine reaching to the crown of the head, maybe bringing the hands up. And as we exhale, we just shift the tailbone back.

Blocks are my best friend. Blocks can be your best friend too. Lift the left toes towards your knee and think of the left hip bone reaching back towards the back of the mat. Inhale coming all the way back up. If you'd like to lift those hands up towards the sky, and this time as we exhale, left hand reaches towards the back of the room and feel the shoulder blades reach back towards center.

Inhale. Sweep it up and exhale. Ship it back. Loud breathing is accepted. It's good for your body, and it helps you to just really calm yourself into these poses. Inhale. Bring it up.

One more time. Nice tall spine. And as we exhale, we rotate shoulder blades pulling back, shoulders away from your ears, your ears and your shoulders, they don't get along. So let's keep the shoulders away from the ears. And here we go in. I have one more time. Exhelt. Take it back.

And this time as we come forward into our standing position, choose tucking the right toes, whether you wanna put your hands on the knees or the blocks, or use a little bit more strength to lift yourself right up into a forward fold. You've inhaled halfway, exhale forward fold, big breath in all the way to stand and exhale forward fold. Inhale halfway and exhale forward fold. Inhale all the way up to stand, exhale hands to heart. Take a moment.

If you plan to bring your knees down to the mat, you might wanna keep that pad. I'm gonna go ahead and move my pad off to the side, but I'm gonna keep my blocks. They are gonna be very handy as we start to build up into our flow. So come back here. Hands at heart, take a deep breath in, and exhale forward fold.

Now you have the option you can stay standing and you could just meet us back in Tadas in a mountain pose or take a deep breath in, inhale halfway up. Exale hands come to the ground. Let's step back into our plank for this first one, planting those hands down, bringing the front hip bones up, Halfway down, shutter wrunga, inhale, updog, and exhale back to down dog. With the next inhale lift that right leg nice and high for 3 legged dog. As we exhale, we bring that knee into our chest and step the right foot through.

Feel free to help that right foot up so that the right heel is directly beneath the right knee. Using the blocks or pressing into that right foot, we're gonna step up. Now this is where you have many options. You can take that block and bring it up high, bring it up low, and use that as a bit of a kickstand. So let's all start here with our toe on that block, but really focus on that pressing down to the right foot and the engagement of the right leg, the engagement of that right glute muscle.

Remember what we talked about, the lifting of the front hip bones and now think of all the muscles in the abdomen reaching in towards center. If you're feeling nice and strong, see if you can lift that left leg just to about hip height, knee to hip height, flex left foot standing up nice and tall. Beautiful. We're gonna take that left foot, and we're gonna reach that left foot back, rolling the left heel down. And open up into our first warrior 2. In this first warrior 2, that right knee directly over the right heel. How do we know we're balanced?

Try lifting those right toes off the ground and still feeling very strong and balanced. Energy through the back edge of the left foot, lifting the left arch and feel all the muscles in that left leg engaged. Lift to the front hip bones, drop to the tailbone, extend the hands out. Shoulder blades roll down your back. Beautiful.

On the next inhale, both hands reach up, and we're gonna turn the right toes to face the back of the room. Or to face the back wall. Take a deep breath in, hands come to your hips for this first one. And as we exhale, reach the tailbone back, but the weight shifts forward into the balls of the feet. Again, a block may come in really handy as the hands now come down to the ground for our prosarita forward fold. And in this forward fold, Whether your hands are on the ground, reaching out towards the ankles, or focused on a block, we're gonna keep the elbows nice and soft. We're gonna take the energy into the outer edges of the feet and lift through the arches. Take another breath And if you feel that you're gripping to the back of your legs, send the exhale there and relax the muscles to the back side of the leg.

Beautiful. To come up, bring the hands to the hips, inhale halfway up. Exhale, inhale all the way to stand, hands go all the way up to the sky, turn those right toes back to face the room, and maybe reach out a little bit with that left heel and come back into your warrior too. Checks and balances from the ground all the way up, dropping the tailbone, the muscles of the admin engaging in towards the center, the shoulder blades down, inhale reverse that or reaching the right hand up, left hand can reach down the left leg or maybe back to the tailbone. And as we exhale, we're gonna bend that right elbow and bring it right on top of the right knee for side angle pose. Left hand reaches straight up to the sky.

Now so many times we think we're gonna lead with our hand, but we wanna be straight from our right shoulder to our left shoulder, to our left fingertips, and think of the left ribs opening up just a bit more to the sky shoulder blades down the back? Are we still getting a little bit of extra pressure through the outer edge of the left foot? Beautiful. Your gaze can be straight ahead or maybe reaching up towards the left fingertips. Beautiful. As we take a big deep breath in reverse, and here's where blocks are your best friend. And as we exhale, bring the hands down either to the blocks or to your hands to the ground.

Spin onto the ball of that left foot. Bring the right leg back. Plank member knees can come down if that feels good in your practice. Exhale halfway down, chaturanga. Inhale for your up dog and exhale back for down dog.

At any point, If going through this ground flow just doesn't feel good to you, then from side angle, step forward to the front of the mat, and we can all meet back here. With that inhale, left leg goes high. Exhale. Bring that knee in towards chest. Step the left foot through, making sure again, help it up heal directly between, above the knee and heel directly beneath the knee. Spin the right heel down and come on up into warrior 2.

I get to see you. Before we're gonna go through those checks and balances again to make sure lift the toes on that left foot and feel very strong and balanced through the left heel, put a nice soft bend. In that in that left knee as we reach down through the outer edge of that right foot and lift through the arch and we feel that activation through the right leg. Can you feel your tailbone drop down just slightly as you lift through the front hip bones, reach through the fingertips, but roll the shoulder blades down and back? Your gaze can be over your fingertips, can be straight ahead. Close your eyes. As we inhale bring the hands up, turn both toes to face the right side of your mat.

And as we exhale, you can keep those hands long, hands at the heart, hands at your hips, find what works best for your load back as we exhale, hinge halfway down. Remember, you can bring the ground up with a block or exhale, hands to the ground, keeping the elbows as soft as possible. And you may decide in your Proserita forward full. Jason, I could go a little deeper into this. Alright.

So as we reach a little deeper into it and the pressure goes into the outer edges of the feet, we activate through the arches. Again, keeping all this activation through our legs. We take another breath in, exhale, release through the hamstrings and through the glutes. And to come back out of this, press into the ground, start to lift, hands can go to the hips, And as we inhale, we come back up, reach the hands up, and turn the left toes to face the front of the mat. And we're back in our warrior too.

And you might find after Proserita a little bit deeper in my warrior too than I originally started. Inhale reverse the wire reaching that left hand up, opening through the left ribs. And as we exhale, bend that left elbow, bring it on top of the left knee, reaching the right hand up towards the sky. Remember, we wanna be a straight line from our all the way from our left shoulder up through our right fingertips. So pull the shoulder blades back. And on the big breath in, we reverse.

And as we exhale, think big cartwheel, hands all the way to the ground, spinning onto the ball of the right foot. Let's bring the left foot back into our plank. For this one, I'm gonna bring my knees down. It's gonna feel good. Exhale halfway down, shut arunga.

Upt dog or cobra. And exhale back to down dog. Beautiful. Love that. Let's go through this one more time each side paying attention to your breath and going with what feels good, sometimes you just find a pose and say, I'm gonna hang here for an extra moment, and that is okay. That's your right.

Do that. So let's start with a big breath in on the right side, 3 legged dog, exhale, knee to nose, step it through, help it up if you need, Don't rush it. Left foot spins down. Come on up into warrior 2. Sometimes we move so quickly through our poses that we lose those beautiful nuances But but what we really wanna get out of each pose, good hands reach up for star, turning the toes to face the left side of the mat.

Choose whether the hands are gonna go on the hips, reach them out. This is gonna be a little bit more, pressure, a little more difficulty on the lower back. So just be nice to lower back. As we exhale forward fold. Take one more big breath in and then exhale hands to the ground or onto blocks. Allow the head, allow the chest to just hang for a moment.

Think strength from the ground, but lift away from the ground. Beautiful as we come back up Halfway breath in, exhale it out, inhale all the way up, reach the hands, turn the right toes to face the front of the room, warrior 2. Inhale reverse that warrior. Choosing whether to extend the hand down the left leg or on the tailbone. And as we exhale, bring that elbow to the top of the right knee, or if you'd like to take a block and place their hand right on top of that block, just to the inside of that right shin and exhale left hand to the sky.

Still making sure that her shoulder blades are away from our ears, and we roll with an exhale. The left ribs a little higher. On the next inhale, lift to reverse, and on the next exhale, hands come to the ground onto the ball of that left foot, bring the right foot back, and take it through your flow, or maybe straight to down dog. And exhale back. Let's finish up the left side Inhale. Left leg goes high.

Exhale. Need a nose. Step the left foot through. This is my favorite part because I get to see everybody. Come on up into warrior 2.

Be your own coach. Decide. This feels good. Lifting the front hip bones. Maybe I can go a little bit deeper, shoulder blades down, inhale reach the hands up, turn the toes to face the right side of the mat.

Take a big breath in it. And as we exhale hinge forward, think of the tailbone reaching back, but being as long as you can, through the crown of your head and exhale. Press arena forward fold. And always when I come into this press read, I'm like, I can go just a bit deeper because that feels good in my body, one of my favorite stretches. Take an extra breath here and exhale it out.

On the next inhale, start to lift halfway up. Hands can come to the hips. Or reach all the way up star and exhale back into warrior 2. Left lead. With that inhale, we reach all the way up, reverse, and exhale for side angle pose.

Either elbow on the knee or just bring that block right up. And do you feel like you are straight from where your hand is reaching to the ground or the elbow is on the knee straight line through the fingertips. On one more exhale rolling those right ribs up towards the sky and allowing left ribs to come underneath the body. You've overcome all the way back up one more time for reverse and exhale. Cartwheel all the way down spinning onto the ball of that right foot, pressure in the hands as we bring the left foot back Oh, for this last one, I'm gonna bring my knees down, exhale halfway down, inhale up.

For updog and exhale back to down dog. We're gonna bring our knees down to the mat. So this may be a good time. If it feels good to bring that pad back to the mat, knees are gonna come nice and wide wider than the hips just a bit as we bring our big toes in. We're gonna take the blocks off our mat for a moment, but keep them close by because we might utilize those again. Take a deep breath in, shift the hips back.

Now for some people, child's pose, this may not be the most comfortable pose on your knees, on your hips. So you do have options. You can take a bolster and put a bolster between your calves and your thighs to give you just a little bit more support and space. If it's not comfortable on your knees, you can also always just turn over onto your back. We're all gonna meet there in just a moment. Allow the head to just drop, and think of length through the fingertips reaching forward, the elbows relaxing just slightly.

The tailbone reaching back towards the heels. And when you're ready, walk the hands back towards the knees. We're not gonna be on our knees for very long. So go ahead and take that pad if you have it and move it off and roll over onto your butt. I'd like to turn sideways on my map because we're gonna come into a wide legged pose.

Now when we come into this wide legged pose, again, you could be sitting up on your blanket to give you a little bit more space again lifting the ground. And just allow the feet to open wide. If you wanna go just a bit deeper, take the hands, press them into the ground and lift the hips up off the ground and shift just a bit forward. But there's no need to go to the point where you feel any pinching or discomfort. Lyft through the spine.

So feel your sit bones press down as everything else lifts up in a way. Make yourself just an inch taller. Take a deep breath in. And as we exhale, let's start with the right hand. Reach the right hand out towards the right foot.

Maybe it comes on to the shin. Maybe if you can take your index finger and your forefinger and wrap that right toe and exhale left hand up and over. You can use this hook on this toe or this hook on this foot to press the toes away and actually bring you just a bit deeper into the stretch. And as we talked about many times through our practice today, we exhale and we're gonna lift those left ribs just a bit higher to the sky. Inhale to center and let exhale opposite side, left hand reaching out, can be right there on the shin, hooking the foot, grabbing the toes, patting Gustavasana, x sale across.

And as we take that breath in, we think length, and exhale the right ribs just a bit more to the sky. Remember, I said, keep the blocks close. I'm gonna show you why. Inhale come up. I'm your tight hamstring friend.

Forward folds are quite challenging for me. So I take a block and I raise my ground a little bit. Because I wanna keep as much length in the spine. So find what's gonna work best for you to keep as much length in the spine as we exhale and walk the hands forward, try not to allow ourselves to round, but instead to lift through the heart, lift the sternum high and keep that length through the crown of our head. These calm, as soon as these calm poses, sometimes are the most challenging.

So feel the muscles in your legs. If there's anything that's tensing, take a breath and relax. Walk the hands back. Block can go underneath the tush if it feels good or a a bolster or a blanket, we're gonna bring the soles of the feet in towards the center. Take the hands, hold onto the ankles, or to the outer edges of the feet, and as exhale, think of the knees reaching down to the ground. You feel your sit bones pressing into the ground and again lift the heart.

I love to say proud across the chest, lift the heart high. Take just a pause here. Big breath in. And exhale it out as we come towards the end of our practice today. Bring both feet on the mat. Notice the heels are down and the toes are up. Hands come to the ground.

And, again, that little bit of fluid movement in our joints just exhale the knees down. Right or left doesn't make a difference. I have a tendency to go left even though I'm a righty and down to the right with an exhale and an up and over and inhale up and over. Come back to center. And I'm gonna turn towards you, but you can choose whichever direction you want to be in. I'm also gonna take a block I'm gonna place a block right underneath my tush.

This is how my body feels good. How does your body feel good? For the end of our practice where you come to your calm, you close your eyes, You feel openness and space in your body, but you feel an immense amount of satisfaction and pride for the work that you put in. You honored your body. You honored this time on the mat. And so I'm gonna leave you with a quote, a thought.

And it's from the ancient Chinese philosopher. Hopefully pronounced correctly. Lao Hsu, who says that a journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step. And so for today, your practice was to honor what works best for you. You showed up on the mat.

And so whether today was the 1st or just one day along the journey. Find immense amount of pride that we made it this far. Thank you for joining me. Be healthy. Be happy. And, hopefully, we get to see you again to practice again the other. Namaste.