Recipe for Vision

Welcome to recipe for vision. For today's practice, we're gonna be using two blocks, and we're gonna begin on our hands and our knees, on our mat. So starting on the hands and the knees, spread your fingers out nice and wide. Let your knees be right under your hips, pull your shoulders back, lift your chest, arch your back, inhale, and exhale tuck the tail, curl and round, and just pause for a moment rounded into yourself. Protracting through the shoulder blades, puffing up even more through the upper back.

And then again, inhaling arch the back, and exhale round. Keep moving. We're gonna begin to pick up the pace. So it becomes inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, in out, in out. In out.

Go a little faster than you want to and see if you can let your head go with you. Relax the shoulders back. Keep going. Stay with it for 10. For nine.

For eight. For seven. For six. For five. For four. For three, for two, and for one, just pause in a nice neutral spine.

Keep the gaze four, shoulders back. Big breath in, and big breath out. Talk your toes, lift your knees, and your hips up and back downward facing dog. Just taking a moment here, going from hand to hand, to foot to foot, wagging your tail a little bit from side to side. And then looking forward towards the top of the mat, let's just slowly walk the feet forward, finding a nice forward fold.

Go ahead and grab your elbows with your hands, let yourself sway. Let yourself to angle side to side. Keep a bend to your knees. I don't want you to straighten the legs completely. And then go ahead and release the elbows.

Stay in the fold. Grab your blocks. I'm gonna place both blocks in the high setting right in front of the top of our mat. Bend your knees a little bit more. Look down at your feet and see if we can guide the heels slightly out.

The big toes and the knees slightly in. So we feel a little more broadness across the sacrum. And then start to walk your blocks as far out in front of you as you can, keeping your heels nice and grounded. May be coming up into the fingertips. Look out in front of you so it'll feel like a half lift, see if we can find the vision moving forward and moving slightly up.

Keep that reach out through the chest, see if you can crawl all the blocks maybe forward one more inch. Keep the reach. Just lower the head down. Relax the head. Relax the neck.

And then take a walk, keeping that reach over to the right. So pass that right upper corner of your mat, reaching out a little bit more through the right fingertips, push down into your left heel and lengthen forward through the spine. Breathing right into the belly. So, hopefully, the belly's connecting here to the thighs. We can feel that compression. We can use that contact to direct the breath into the low back just a little bit more. And then go ahead and come back through center.

And let's go over to the left, reaching out a bit more through the left fingertips, Push down into the right heel, breathe into the right side of the body, feel the contact of the belly to the thigh. And then go ahead and come back to center. Walk your hands back. You can push your blocks off to the side. Take a slow roll up the spine one vertebra at a time.

Let the head come up last, and let your shoulders just roll at the very top. And just take a moment, feel the feet, feel the shoulders relax, keep that soft little bend to your knees. And then interlace your hands to the back of your head. So give your head a nice little basket. Deliver the head into the hands.

Move the elbows in towards one another. Reach the elbows up, send your vision up. So lovingly just pulling yourself apart. So the feet are rooting down. We're reaching up.

We're looking up. We're finding our vision. Squeeze the glutes gently, send the pubic bone forward. Keep lifting up. Very gentle standing backbend as you lean back.

Keep delivering the head into the hands. Very gentle. Two more breaths. And then inhale back up, reach the arms, high to the sky, big inhale, exhale forward fold, come back down. Step your feet back into a high plank, the top of a push up, big full breath in, exhale lower all the way down to the belly.

Push into the feet, lift through your chest, elbows in, bhujangasana, baby cobra, forehead comes down. Again, press the feet, lift through the chest. Four head comes down. Hips to the heels, child's pose. Just come back to the breath for a moment.

And let's come back up into downward facing dog. Take a nice big full breath in. Great big exhale. From our down dog, roll forward into a plank. Keep your toes tucked, finding a tuck toed up dog.

You're gonna start to lower the thighs, roll the shoulders back, push back through your heels, And think that as you push back through your heels, you can lift the chest forward, lift the chest up, send the vision up, exhale fold it back down dog. Inhale roll forward, tuck toed upward facing dog. Exhale back down dog. One more time. Bring it forward. Make a wave. Down facing dog.

Big inhale. Big exhale. Look forward between your hands, lunge your right foot forward, lower your back knee to the earth, and reach your arms up, Anjaneyasana. We're gonna interlace the hands to the back of the head again, giving yourself a basket, lean the head back into the hands, elbows draw in, elbows reach up, feel the rise from the pubis ups of the naval, up to the sternum, lean it back, lift the chest up, and then keep the hands to the back of the head as you come back up. We're gonna twist from the center to your right, so that left elbow is reaching forward, right elbow is reaching back, free your arms up, open up and expand, keep moving the right shin forward, And then slide the right hand down the back of the left thigh. Left arm is reaching up.

We're leaning back. Left hand comes down onto the mat, scoop your right arm up, lift the left knee up, twisted lunge. Go ahead and circle and swim the right arm a few times one way. Few times the other way. And then see if you can take your right hand onto your right knee, keep the hand on the knee.

We're gonna start to roll into the outer edge of the left foot, walk your right leg back, finding a side plank, Vashi Stasana, lifting your left hip nice and high. See if you can start to bend your right knee up towards the sky, right hand finds the right knee, slow transition into wild thing, right foot behind you, lift the hips, lift the heart, lift the belly high. From here, come back into downward facing dog, inhale forward tuck toed upward facing dog, exhale back down dog. Big full breath in, big full breath out. Look forward, lunge the left foot forward, lower the right knee to the earth, Reach the arms high on Janayasana.

Again, interlacing the hands to the back of the head, delivering the head into the hands, elbows in, elbows up, look up, see what you want, find your vision, lean back. Feel that backbend through the rise of the pubis up to the naval, and up to the sternum. Couple more breaths. Keep the hands to the back of the head as we come up. Twist to your left.

So it's really coming from the naval. Right side of the belly over to the left side, then open up your arms. Nice and wide. Left hand slides down the back of the right thigh. Right arm reaches up.

We lean it back. And then right hand comes down. Left arm scoops up, lift your right knee, lift your right thigh, and then circle and swim with your left arm. Few times one way. Few times the other way.

And we'll start to roll into the outer edge of our right foot, bring our left leg back, finding side plank, vasisthasana, lifting your right hip, Bend your left knee, see if the left hand can find the left knee, and then wild thing left foot behind you, lift the hips up, lean back, downward facing dog, left hand comes down. Come forward into a tuck toed upward facing dog, downward facing dog. Think a nice big full inhale. Big exhale. Bend your knees, look forward, step or lightly jump to the top of the mat, half lift lengthen, exhale fold.

Inhale rise, X, help bring your palms together at the heart space. Bring your hands onto your hips. We're gonna start to shift the weight into the right leg. Bring the left knee up into the chest. Option to take the left foot inside of the right ankle, the right shin, or slide the left foot up inside of the right thigh finding tree pose, Rick Shasana.

Maybe the palms start at the heart. Perhaps our hands can find the back of our head. Perhaps the elbows start to draw in, and we start to reach the elbows up. Perhaps the vision begins to move up. Few more breaths.

Bring your left knee through center. Warrior three, float the left leg back. Palms can come to your heart. Keep a nice flex to the back foot, push back through the back heel, reach the heart forward, vision forward and slightly up. And then open up warrior two nice and wide.

Relax through your shoulders. Peaceful warrior, right palm flips up, reach up, reach back. Float your hands down to frame your front foot, step your back foot forward, and fold. Half lift lengthen, fold the exhale, inhale to rise, exhale palms to the heart. Hands to your hips, We'll shift the weight into our left leg.

Start to lift the right knee, option for right foot to come inside of the left ankle, the left shin, or up into the left thigh for tree pose. Palms maybe at the heart. Eyes are locked into something that's not moving. Maybe the arms reach up, maybe the hands find the back of the head. We give ourselves that basket, lean the head back into the hands, elbows in, elbows up.

Vision up. Few more breaths. Right, knee through center, warrior three. Flow your right leg back. Keep the vision forward and slightly up.

Push back through that right heel. Palms to the heart. Two more breaths. Step it back warrior two nice and wide, shoulders relaxed, peaceful warrior, left palm flips up, reach up and back. Flate your hands down downward facing dog.

One last time, tuck toed upward facing dog as we roll forward. From here, just lower to your knees. Sit back on your heels, come to stand on your shins for Ustrasana camel. So knees about a hip bone distance apart. First round, we're not gonna go all the way back.

We're gonna start and find our basket one more time. So from here, head goes back, elbows move in, reach the elbows up. Pick the low ribs up and off of the pelvis. Press into the tops of the feet. Keep throwing the head lovingly into the hands and lean back, pubic bone forward.

Thighs forward. You don't have to go back very far when you feel this lift up and slightly back. Good. And then lift back up. Sit on your heels, chin to chest swallow. Last time come to stand on your shins. This time, we'll bring our hands to our low back, slide the low back down, move the pubic bone forward, feel that rise up through the chest, find your vision moving forward and up, And maybe start to come back a little bit more.

Maybe we get our heels with our hands. If we get our heels with our hands, move your thighs forward. Drop your head back. Few breaths here. Hands to the low back.

Sit down on your heels, chin to the chest. Swallow a couple of times. Find a child's pose, knees wide. Big toes touch reach the arms forward. Just let the low back settle for a moment.

So let's take a few more deep, full breaths, low into the body. And then go ahead and come on up, bringing your knees, bringing your thighs together, sit back on your heels. Find that nice tall spine. Take your left hand to your right knee. Bring your right hand to your low back.

Things that you're throwing your right knee into your left hand, and you're lifting your chest up. So finding even taller spine. Keep moving the right knee forward into the left hand as you start to twist and turn to your right. So that right knee is moving forward, helping us to turn from the left shoulder blade over to the right. Find the vision just peaking up a couple more breaths.

And then come back to center. Right hand is gonna come onto the left knee. Our left hand's gonna find the low back. Move the left knee forward into that right hand. Think that as the knee moves forward.

You can lift up and away from the pelvis. Nice tall spine, and then keep moving that left knee forward into the right hand to turn from the right shoulder blade over to your left, maybe allowing the vision to move slightly up and slightly back. Few more breaths. And then come back to center. Place your right hand, right on your belly, your left hand, right on your heart.

Take a moment, close your eyes, turn your gaze down towards your chest. Ignore your effort today. Your practice, your vision, with gratitude. Thank you so much for practicing with me. Namaste.