Generous Heart

Welcome. This is a heart themed practice designed to inspire a flow of embodied awareness and presence. We play with feeling both grounded and open in and allow for a bit more mobility through the upper body. It'll be nice to have two blocks, a blanket, and a strap nearby. And we'll begin in, a shape I call impressing the heart, working with two blocks This is not the most comfy position to be in, but it's pretty effective to really feel that quality of opening through the front of the body and create a bit more breathing room. So if you'd like, start with the block at the highest setting under your head.

And then the second block at the lowest setting, supporting the shoulder blades. Turn and face away from your block. Start with your knees bent as you ease your way down, feeling your shoulder blades connect with the block. And then positioning the highest block right under the head, right at the occiput. So you feel a nice traction and length through your neck.

Take your time to adjust the blocks. So it feels just right That second block is directly beneath the shoulder blade. So it's not in the mid back or the low back. It's a little higher up, actually. And you might start in constructive rest.

So bringing the feet just slightly wider than your hips and allowing your knees to fall towards each other. If you'd like, allow your arms to open wide. Allow for an inhale. And as you exhale softening the face and the jaw, begin to allow the weight of your body to melt and release towards the support. You might feel and sense your gaze.

I'm pouring inward towards the heart. Really allowing the heart to rest here. Lowing the heart to feel both held and rooted as you exhale. Drawing your awareness towards the breath. Allow for a generous exhale.

You know how the front ribs can soften down and in. Really giving yourself the time to settle into your practice. I noticed how this shape might create a bit more breathing room around the lungs and the heart, offering a kind of a counter to the forward rounding of the shoulders throughout the day. If this shape feels too intense or not quite right for your body in this moment, you might just simply release onto your back or work with a bolster instead. If you're happy here, you might keep your head right where it is.

You might experiment with lifting your head and lowering the block under your head towards that second side. Placing it a little higher up so your neck can lengthen. Arms might stretch out wide or alongside the body. More moments here. Can you might allow for a deliberate sigh and exhale?

You might keep your legs in constructive rest. Do you might choose another shape? Maybe baddha konasana, bringing the soles of your feet together knees wide or simply stretching your legs out long on the floor. A few more moments here, tuning towards the exhalation. Might even explore allowing your head to gently roll to one side, back up and over to the other side. Being yourself permission to move, adjust, or just simply rest in stillness? Honoring your timing, your energy, your mood as we move through this practice together.

You are welcome to stay longer. You feel ready to transition, allow your knees to bend round your feet. Reach one arm overhead, and we'll roll towards that side, taking a moment to pause. Bit of an awkward transition coming off the blocks. We'll bring the blocks off to the side, and we'll meet on our back.

Our little windshield wipers. As you arrive on your back, you might have a folded blanket under your head. Easing your way down. Take a moment to pause, notice, feel the support beneath you, and bring your arms out wide. Now you might even catch to steer arms a little bit, feet as wide as your mat, windshield wiper side to side.

Just allowing for some nice fluid movement through your spine, releasing your hips. Is stretching the back. Your head might roll away from your knees as you draw your awareness towards the breath. Me allowing the breath to inspire the movement, the pace, moving from a a gentle and loving place. Full of ease and sweetness.

You might stay with this a bit longer. You might draw your knees into your chest, rock from side to side. When you feel ready, we'll roll to our side. Press your way up and we'll transition into a tabletop position. Moving on to the hands, the knees.

You might bring a blanket under your knees for support if you'd like that. Once you spread your fingers wide, stacking your shoulders over your wrists, legs about hips width apart, we'll begin with some cat cow movement here just to warm and wake up the spine. As you exhale, let your back round and stretch enable the spine, releasing your head. And as you inhale lead with your heart, feel that length in space, act sail, press the floor away, round and stretch when you're moving through the spine as you draw your hips back towards your heels. Sholders over the wrist lead with the heart feel your extension.

A few more rounds at your own pace, you might explore tucking your toes under. You might circle through your hips, moving up through your rib cage, your shoulder blades, your neck. You might keep your hands where they are. You might experiment with spinning the fingers out a little wider or even spinning the fingers towards the knees wrists away, which can be quite flavorful. So finding as always your edge of sensation, Nice.

And then coming into a neutral position tabletop, extend back through your left leg. We'll move into a side plank variation here. So feel how you can ground through your right hand. And your bottom left foot, turn it out a little bit as you begin to transfer the weight into your right arm, and then stacking your shoulders, stacking your hips, left hand finds the hip pause here. You might reach the arm towards the sky and feel how you can reach and open.

You might stay here. You might sweep your bottom, your arm down and overhead. Feel how you can root through the outer left foot as you lengthen, be revolving the heart towards the sky inhale, exhale, release the left arm down, come back into your tabletop, maybe a few more rounds of cat cow or child's pose would feel good. Moving with the breath or easing towards stillness. Eventually, we'll meet in tabletop towards the second side, extend back through your right leg, and then turn your left foot out transfer the weight onto your left arm, root through the outer edge of your right foot as you stack your hips stack your shoulders.

Reach the right arm up. Feel how you can reach from your heart into your hands. Breathing. You might stay here. You might sweep your top arm down and overhead root lengthen. And then maybe revolve the heart, the lungs towards the sky. Hell here, exhale sweep your top arm down.

Come back into your tabletop. Few rounds of cat cow might feel good, inhale arching, lengthening, exhale, curl, and round, hips towards the heels, inhale to lengthen, exhale to round. Coming back into neutral, we'll lower down for a backbend series here. We'll start in sphinx pose. Reach the forearms out in front of you.

Arms about shoulder width apart, point the toes, And feel how you can use your arms to help draw your heart forward. And feel how you can, as you draw your heart forward, you can lift and lengthen out of your lower back, finding more of an active sphinx here. Find some ease in your neck. A few more moments, Sarah, you might allow for a exhale. You might keep your hands where they are.

You might experiment with bringing your fingertips around your elbows in sphinx pose. You might experiment with bending your knees here and shortening your hamstrings. If this feels too much on your lower back, you might extend reextend your legs and point the toes, inhale to lift, exhale to lower. Let your elbows go wide. Rest your forehead on your hands.

Moving into an active cobra, keep your arms where they are and then lift up. Sofia, you can lift the chest. As you lift the chest, tuck your toes under. And stay active with your legs. So as you tuck your toes under, feel how your knee caps can lift, your quad muscles engage, you're drawing your heels back, and you're using your arms to help traction and draw the chest forward. Stay long through your neck.

You might look down here as you traction through the spine, really feeling the strength of your back body, feeling the strength of your paraspinal muscles, your hamstrings, your glutes, inhale and exhale lower down, forehead finds the hands, taking a breath into the back body. Last round here, bring your hands down alongside your body, bring your legs in a little closer, finding that internal rotation, forehead on the floor, moving into locusts as you inhale ground for your pelvis keep your feet on the floor, lift your heart, lift your head. Feel that grounding stability through your pelvis, connected through your feet as you broaden through the chest. Heart lifting, back body strong, inhale, exhale lower. When you're ready, slide your hands underneath your shoulders, tuck your elbows in, tuck your toes under. Inhale.

Exhale, press up and round back towards child's pose. You might bring your knees wide. Nice full exhale. You might support the weight of your head with your hands. Maybe a little sway from side to side.

Take your time with this. Eventually, we'll meet in a downward dog, spread your fingers wide, organize your knees, tuck your toes under. Inhale. Exale lifting up. In your downward dog, you might pedal out through your feet stretching for the back of your legs. Feel the back of the neck releasing and feeling connection from the heart into the hands.

You might settle for a few breaths as you bend your knees, lift your sitting bones up, feel your thighs draw back and up long through the spine. Take your time walking your hands, your feet towards each other, coming into a standing forward fold. We'll roll it together through the spine, bend the knees a lot, chin into the chest, draw the tailbone under, and then slowly round your way up stacking the bones, feeling the heart. Feeling the shoulders, feeling your head, pause here, letting your blood, letting your awareness drop back down into the legs, into the feet. Nice. From here, we'll find a bit of side body opening, spreading the toes as you're ready inhale.

If your left arm up, you might wrap your right fingertips around your rib cage, ground through your feet, Find a side bend over to the right. Find a place where your neck feels good. Reach with your top arm, inhale up, and then inhale the right arm up, exhale over to the left. You might wrap your left fingers around the rib cage as you feel the breath. Find some ease on your neck. One more time, inhale up and over to the other side.

Reach and lengthen. Inhale up and over to the other side. Creating space and room through the side body. Let's take a few shoulder rolls up back and down. From here, we'll bring the hands together, bring the arms forward.

We're gonna sweep the arms over to the right. As you extend for your right arm, let your left hand retrace the inner arm. And across the chest, across the collar bones, left hand retraces the inner arm back to center and over to the left. Right arm traces the inner arm across the chest, and then back, slide back to center. If you time side to side, keeping contact with the skin, as you move from side to side, I live awakening the lung channels, the heart, pericardium, this feeling this, the sweetness, this connection from side to side.

Nice. Let me come back to center and then let the arms open. Nice. Arms release few shoulder rolls might feel nice. We'll make our way towards the top of the mat. Might be nice to have a block with you on either side.

So two blocks at the top of your mat. And then set up so you have a blanket for your knee as you eventually arrive in a lunge, make our way towards the top of the mat, spreading the toes, taking a few moments, draw the hands together at the heart. Inhale. Nice full exhale. Moving with the breath through a lunge salutation variation will inhale reach the arms up.

XL forward fold, releasing the head, bend the knees. Inhale half arch length in the spine, exhale bend the knees, we'll step our right foot back into a lunge, let the left knee bend, pause here for a moment. Feel you can reach back through the ball of your right foot, forward through the heart. Gonna lower the back right knee down to the blanket, and how draw the hips back extend for your front le left leg exhale bend. Two more times, easing into the hamstrings, hips draw back.

Exhale sink in. Last one, hips draw back. XL, stay low in your lunge. Hands might stay on the blocks. Hands might find the front leg.

Feel how you can back out a little bit. Draw the tailbone under. You might inhale reach your arms up towards the sky, feeling the essence of cobra in the back of the heart. Inhale, exhale, release the hands, tuck the back toes under, lift your back leg, set up for warrior one. Pivot onto the outer right edge of the foot, left knee bent. As you're ready, hands might find the hips as you rise up, warrior one, might inhale reach your arms up towards the sky revolving your ribs forward.

Arms might stay reaching. You might bend the elbows, cocked does the arms open the chest? And how reach the arms up, exhale hands, find the block, spin onto the ball of your back foot, lower your back knee again, and draw your hips back, extend through your leg, hamstring, stretch Bend your left knee, tuck the back toes under. We'll kinda rock and roll, and then step the right foot forward. Inhale half arch length in your spine, exhale bend your knees forward fold.

Strong for your legs, bend your knees, inhale sweep your arms up. Exail hands together at the heart. Take a moment to pause. Notice how you feel. Second side, inhale arms lift, exhale forward fold, release the head and the arms, inhale half arch length in your spine.

Exhale bend your knees up your left foot back, find your runner's lunge, pausing here, reach back through your left heel, forward through your heart, and how exhale lower the left knee down. Together, inhale, draw your hips back extend through your front right leg, exhale, low lunge. Two more inhale, drawing back, exhale lower. Last one inhale, hips draw back, exhale lower stay low. Hands might find that front thigh as you back out a little bit.

Lift up. Draw the tailbone under. Arms might reach towards the sky as you can feel the essence of cobra in the back of the heart, arms lifting, feeling the connection from the heart into the hands, inhale. Exhale release, hands to blocks, tuck my back toes, lift the back leg, pivot onto the outer edge of your left foot, rise up into your warrior one. Hands might find the hips, strong legs, arms might sweep towards the sky. You might stay here. You might cactus your arms, bending your elbows, feel the generosity of the heart, that sense of groundedness through the legs.

Nice. Reaching the arms up, exhale hands, find the block spin onto the ball of your back foot. Lower the back knee, and let's find some relief. Draw the hips back extend for your front right leg. Half split. Nice, slow, find the shape of the lunge, tuck the back toes, lift the back leg, rock and roll a bit, step the left foot forward, inhale half arch to lengthen, exhale bend your knees forward fold.

Bend the knees strong through the legs, press through the feet, inhale sweep your arms up. Exhale hands together at the heart, taking a moment to pause, and notice. As we transition down with a sun salutation, go ahead and bring your blocks off to the side. We'll keep the blanket where it is. Hands together at the heart, inhale.

Nice full exhale. When your in house circle the arms up, exhale forward fold, release. Inhale half arched to lengthen. XL, bend your knees. This time, bring your hands to your mat and just walk your feet back until they arrive in your downward dog.

And reorganize your hands, your feet. Again, you might bend your knees, wiggle your sitting bones up, feel the back of your neck releasing. And how here, and exhale lower the knees. From here, we'll explore a variation of camel pose, if you'd like to join me. Nice to have a blanket underneath the knees.

You might have your toes tucked under or releasing down. And for this variation, we're gonna bring our hands to our low back. Just above the sacrum, finger fingers pointing down, feel how you can roll the chest, the shoulders, roll back and down, feeling the support of your abdominals, your core muscles, Well, inhale, lift the spine, lift the heart, and then exhale. Just a gentle opening. You might feel your hip straw forward.

You might keep your chin in towards your chest. Exploring what it feels like to open the front of the body in this extension, and then lead with the heart inhale. Come back up. You might sit on your heels or take a child's pose. We'll explore that one more time together. When you feel ready, rise, bring the hands behind you, fingers pointing down, inhale lift the heart lift the chest, lengthen the spine, and exhale.

So gentle opening here. Find a place where your neck feels good and connected. The sense of rooting down through the legs, through the pelvis, And then inhaled with your heart to come back up, lower down. You might find a child's pose if that feels good for your body. You might bring support underneath your head. You might simply roll on to your back.

Hug your knees into your chest and rock from side to side. Allow for an inhale and exhale. Nice. Taking your time. We'll meet on our back.

You might have a blanket, a folded blanket under your head for support and have your strap nearby. We're gonna use it in just a moment. Lowering down. Once you arrive, hug your knees into your chest and rock. And then reach for your strap, wrap your strap around the bottom of your right foot.

I'm gonna bend and extend a few times. And eventually move towards extension if you'd like. You might keep your left knee bent for more support on your low back or you might extend for your left leg. Bring the strap into your right hand. And then from your right hip, just easing from side to side and explore the landscape of sensation through the inner outer leg lines.

Through the hip. It might stay with a side to side. You might open your right leg to the right. Notice what you choose to do with your left hand. It might stay on your hip.

You might stretch your left arm out from the heart, taking a few breaths here, breathing into this expansive shape. Now as you're ready inhale back, the center passes, wrap into the left hand, stretch your left leg long. If it's bent, reach your right arm out. Bring the right leg across the body just enough to feel a stretch. You might even bring your right thumb into your right hip crease to just kinda lengthen a bit.

Stay here or spiral into a twist. As you bring the right leg across the body towards the left and find some ease in your neck, breathing here into the shape with eject sail softening through the belly, relaxing the organs. You are welcome to stay longer. In now, come back. Remove the strap.

Flex the foot lead with the heel slowly lower. Take a moment to pause and consciously rest in the space you've created through the hip and leg. Allow for a clearing breath. Exale everything, bending your knees, draw them into your chest, and then wrap your strap around the bottom of your left foot. Ben and extend a few times using back into the hamstrings. And if your lower back is wanting more support, keep your right knee bent.

Eventually extending your left leg up, might extend your right leg long, bring the strap into your left hand. And then just side to side, feeling into sensation, breathing into it. Notice where you can soften and relax any unnecessary effort or tension. You might stay with this. You might let your left hip and leg open out to the left.

Maybe reaching your right arm out from the heart, feeling the expansive shape here. Reaching from the right heel to the crown of the head, breathing. Eeping your right hip and thigh bone heavy and you feel ready in hell, sweep your left leg up and bring the strap into your right hand, stretch your right leg long, left arm stretches out from the heart, and begin to explore the IT band, feeling into that outer leg line sensation, you might stay here or spiral into a twist. Bring the left leg towards the right shoulder. Feeling that spiral up through the spine, ease in the neck, allow for an inhale, exhale softening the belly.

You more moments here. You are welcome to stay longer. You feel ready to unwind, inhale. Your left leg back up, and then remove the strap. Flex the foot, lead with the heel, and let it lower all the way down.

Pause and notice how you feel. Hearing breath inhale. Generous exhale. Might draw your knees into your chest. As always, if there's anything your body is craving for calling, please tune in and listen.

When you feel ready to release, might stretch your legs long on the floor for Shavasana, you might find a constructive rest, bringing the feet wide, knees together, or maybe at baddha konasana soles of the feet together, knees wide. Kinda notice what you choose to do with your hands. You might bring one hand to the heart, one hand to the belly, relaxing the effort. Just allow yourself to rest in a quality of being. As you exhale, allowing the heart to soften and root.

I feel like this connection. Taking your time. Might stay longer. Gradually, you might draw your knees into your chest, giving yourself a hug. Rolling to your side, you might pause there.

Cur a lot. And it's savoring the transition. Head heavy use your arms to press yourself up. If you are up, we'll take just a few moments to sit together. Getting the alignment of your body just right for you might bring the hands together at the heart and sharing the sound of ohm breathing in.

Namaste. Thank you for your practice and your presence.