Recipe for Your Bones

Welcome to recipe for your bones. Let's go ahead and get started on our backs. So come to lie flat on your back, on your mat, let your legs spread out nice and wide. Let your arms open up. Palms flipped up to the sky.

Close your eyes. And just allow your awareness to move down and into the body as it releases into the earth. Just beginning to sense and notice any tension in the back of the body. Allow that tension to relax so we start to feel the whole spread of our low back, making contact with the earth. Let every muscle of your face relax.

Soften your jaw, soften your shoulders, relax your toes, soften through the low belly. And then allow yourself to begin to deepen your breath. Just breathing in through the nose, draw the breath into the belly. So just sensing the belly rising and falling as we inhale and exhale. See if we can allow that rise to get a little bit bigger for the next few inhales.

And then start to wiggle out your fingers and your toes. Just shift your head very gently from side to side as your eyes start to open. Guide your knees into your chest, give yourself a nice big squeeze, rock a little bit side to side, drawing some gentle circles. And then grabbing either the outer edges of your feet, backs of the thighs, or the big toes, start to open the legs up nice and wide for happy baby. Go ahead and rock side to side.

Maybe blow through the lips. And then you're gonna keep your feet and your legs as they are and just release your toes. And we're gonna do a fun pose called unhappy baby. So you're just gonna literally start to kick the legs, kick the arms, shake the hands, move the head from side to side, just get some energy moving through the body. And then squeeze the knees back in, and allow yourself to begin to gently rock and roll, forward and back.

Forward and back along the length of your spine until you have the momentum that you can come up into a tabletop on your hands and your knees. Hands under the shoulders, knees, under the hips, just a few rounds of cat counsel, inhaling arching the back, dropping the belly, send the heart forward. Exhale tuck the tail, curling around. Couple more times, inhaling arching. Exhaling rounding.

One more time. Inhale arch and open. And exhale round. Go ahead and send your hips back to your heels, finding a child's pose, reaching the arms forward. Just for a moment.

Give your head a gentle sway from side to side. And then go ahead and slide forward onto your belly, bringing your hands back by your chest. Press and connect into the tops of the feet so much that your kneecaps lifts so we feel the quads engage, lift your chest, baby cobra, inhale. Exhale forehead comes down. Again, push into the feet, kneecaps lift, chest lifts, forehead comes down.

Dip your hips back to your heels, a moment of child's pose. And let's come up into downward facing dog, tuck your toes, lift your knees, send your hips up and back. And just take a moment here. Move the head up and down side to side, keeping that nice gentle bend to the knees. Fingers spread out nice and wide.

Big breath in through the nose. Big sigh out. One more time. Inhale. Exhale. Very slowly begin to walk your feet forward to meet your hands at the top of the mat.

And slowly rise up one piece at a time. Head comes up last. Roll your shoulders a few times up and down, forward and back. And then just pause into Das enough for a moment. Take a moment to look down at your feet, bring your heels out slightly, your big toes slightly in.

Notice if we are locking out the knees, see if we can keep at least a gentle bend to the knees. Arms rest by the sides. Keep the bend to the knees. Draw the low belly in towards the spine. Feel the sternum rise up.

Let your gaze be straight out in front of you. So notice if we're looking way up or if we're looking down. Find somewhere in the middle so that we can start to sense the sides of the neck getting nice and long, shoulders dropping down, and breathe right down into the belly. So even as the naval draws into the spine, keep those deep breaths moving directing the breath to move all around the low back and through the sides of the body, and take five more rounds here. Inhale reach the arms high.

Exale, bend your knees, roll yourself down into a fold, and then roll yourself right back up one piece at a time. Keep the knees bent. Squeeze the glutes. Roll the shoulders. Bring your feet together.

Your big toes are gonna touch your heels. They're gonna come slightly apart. So your knees are in their thighs are going to come together. We're going to sit back into a nice long chair pose, utkatasana. So reaching the arms up. See if we can allow the biceps to frame the ears.

Think knees forward. Think thighs back. Think butt back. Shift your weight into your heels. Move the shoulders down away from the ears.

Keep the low belly drawing in. Keep the gaze neutral, so not too high up, not too far down, little more straight ahead. Spread through the fingers. Sit back just a bit more. Draw the low belly in a little bit more.

Breathe. Relax all the muscles of your face. About 10 more breaths. Big in hell. Exhale fold.

Inhale rise. One piece at a time. Roll your shoulders and just pause into Dasana. Reestablish contact with the feet, keep the knees bent, just ever so slightly, navel into the spine, shoulders relaxed. Bring your hands to your hips.

So important here that we find a soft gaze in the direction of something that isn't moving right out in front of us. So we find our drishti. From here, we're gonna shift the weight into the right leg. Tree pose. You're gonna bring the left foot either inside on the right ankle, inside of the right calf. Or perhaps guide that left foot up inside the right thigh.

So start here with the hands and the hips. Just finding your balance, plugging into the right big toe. Outer right heel, right pinky toe, inner right heel. Try to relax those shoulders. If you fall out, just come right back in.

And feel that right thigh working and engaging, feel the stability here of that right leg supporting you. Keep moving through the breath. And if your foot is wobbling side to side, it's normal. You're finding the balance. You're building that deep strength in the bones.

This feels good. You could bring your palms to your heart, lift the heart up into the thumbs. Pushed into the big toe of that right foot. Last 10 breaths, if you'd like. Play with reaching the arms up. If that right glute is burning and doing it right, bring your palms to your heart if your arms are raised.

Hands back to the hips, release the left foot down, arms by your sides. Just pause. Keep your drishti, keep your gaze, shift the weight into the left leg. Start to bend the right knee. We'll take the right foot either onto the left ankle, up into the left calf, or perhaps guide the right foot inside of the left thigh.

Hands can stay at the hips. It's finding balance through that left big toe. Outer left heel, left pinky toe, inner left heel, lift the chest. Feel that left quad supporting you, feel your stability, breathe. Maybe guide the palms to the heart, lifting the heart up into the thumbs.

Soft in the face. Maybe stay here or perhaps reach the arms up high. 10 more breaths. And if the arms are reaching up high, bring the palms to the heart. Bring your hands to your hips.

Release, inhale the arms high. Exhale slowly fold forward through bent knees. Inhale slowly rise back up. Roll the shoulders to pause for a moment. From here, bring your hands to your hips.

You're gonna step your left leg back. We're gonna come into warrior two. So really wide stance. Make sure that your right knee's stacked right on top of your ankle. Your right thigh is rolling out.

We're pushing into the ball of the back foot, open up your arms, bring all of your fingers together so we activate the muscles of the arms, gaze is forward past the middle finger of that right hand. Just pause here. Draw the low belly in. Lift the ribs up and away from the pelvis. Keep the shoulders soft.

Stay connected to the balls of both feet. About five or six more big full inhales long exhales. And then straighten your front leg, push into the ball of your right foot to keep that little bend to the front knee Reach forward and lengthen. Right hand finds your shin. Left arm finds the sky for triangle.

You can turn your gaze up towards the left fingertips if it feels okay on the neck. Stay connected to the balls of your feet. And breathe. Roll your right shoulder back, lean back. Few more breaths.

And then go ahead and bring it up. Warrior two, bend your front knee. Turn your right toes in. We'll take it to the other side, warrior two to the back of your mat. So the same alignment here.

Fingers are together. Left knee is moving forward. Left thigh is rolling out. Push into the ball of the back foot. Push into the ball of the front foot, try to draw the low belly in, lift the lower ribs up and away from the pelvis.

Feel yourself rising up and out of your strength and your stability. Keep breathing. And then pushing into the ball of the left foot, reach forward forward forward with that left arm, left hand to the shin, right arm to the sky triangle. Keep that soft little bend to your left knee by pushing into the ball of the left foot, Stay connected into the ball of the right foot. Turn the heart up.

Lean back. If it feels okay in the neck, gaze up at the right fingertips. Few more breaths. Go ahead and bring it up. Warrior two.

Left toes turn in. Spin back towards the top of the mat. Step it forward and fold. Half lift lengthen. Exhale to fold.

Step it back, high plank, just pausing in our high plank just for a moment. Move your shoulders back, push back through your heels, squeeze the inner thighs in towards one another. Slight tuck of the tail, puff up through your upper back, and feel as if the crown of your head is reaching forward without you looking so far forward that you're lifting the head and the neck. Keep the chin softly tucked into the chest. Stay with it for six, for five, for four, for three, for two, lower down into the knees child's pose for one just for a couple of breaths. Go ahead and come on up.

We're gonna come into a nice cross legged easy seat crossing one chin over the other. From here, take your left hand onto your right thigh or your right knee, bring your right arm behind you, lift your chest get nice and tall as you inhale, and exhale twist to the right. Couple of breaths. Go ahead and come back to center. Switch side. So right hand left knee or left thigh.

Left fingertips or hand come behind you. Lift through the chest as you inhale, get nice and tall, and then exhale twist to your left. Come back to center. Place both hands, right on the center of your chest. Take a moment, turn your gaze down towards your heart, seal in your efforts, seal in your strength today with gratitude.

Thank you so much for practicing with me. Namaste.