Heart of Calm

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Heart of Com, a restorative class. And, this class, you'll need lots of goodies. And I'm gonna say a bolster, a blanket, two blocks and a strap, and anything else that you would like for comfort. We're gonna begin on our blocks today.

So grab one and place it at the top of the mat. At the highest height. That's where your head is gonna go. And the second block is about one block distance away from that one and that's at medium height. So when you're ready, you'll place your shoulder blades, the bottom tips of the shoulder blades onto the mat to the first block.

You may have to adjust it a little bit higher or lower. The other block goes under your head. If you're comfortable, you can join the soles of your feet together, let your knees part wide. If you're needing a little more support, just bend your knees. Keep your feet on the mat.

And just allow your body to drop into those two blocks, the upper body, the upper thoracic, the back of your skull. Sometimes initially, when we come into this, there's a little resistance. But just let your body mold to the blocks. We're gonna go into a breath practice. This breath is called the calming breath, and it's one that you can take with you anywhere in the world, anywhere you go.

Any circumstance you're in. It's super simple. So begin by first, breathing in through your nostrils. And letting that out through the nostrils slowly. Breathe in through the nostrils.

Now purse the lips, exhale out through the purse lips. Like you're blowing out a candle. And you'll continue this pattern in through the nose. Out through pursed lips. Keep going at your own pace.

Building your heart of calm. Please do one more When you've completed that last round, if your eyes are closed, blink them open, we'll place the feet back onto the mat if your knees are parted. There's no real elegant way to come out of this. So Just push your forearms, your elbows down, lift your head up, tuck your chin in to make sure your neck is supported, and just lift up off those two blocks. You'll set them over to the side and reach for your strap now.

So once you're back down, bend your knees, take your right foot into the strap. We're going into supta Padangusthasana. So we'll get this nice stretch in the back of that right leg, and even in the right side of the low back. So you wanna get the strap just right underneath the mound of the right big toe. So slightly above the arch of your right foot.

I'm not gonna over instruct this today. I just want it to feel good in your body. And now you're really cultivating that yogic breath in and out through the nose. You're welcome to extend your left leg straight. Aligning your left ankle with that left hip point.

Notice if you're really tugging on your strap. Just as your upper back and the back of your head were molding into the blocks, think of the foot right? The sole of the right foot, that part that's touching the strap molding into the strap. So we'll do a more restorative version of this practice here. You're gonna take both ends of the strap into your right hand. I'd like you to bend your left knee if that leg is extended and hold the left shin with the left hand.

So we wanna put weight on the left side of your body. Take your right leg over to the right. So having your left thigh and shin over the right, the left side of your body really anchors that side. Sometimes when we take the leg out, we tend to roll to the hip of the leg that's extended. But you want to feel that your body weight is even in both sides.

Deep in hell. Full exhale. Gide the leg back to center. Set your left foot down, extend the left leg straight again. Grab both ends of the strap in your left hand and guide your right leg to the left.

Your right arm can reach over to the right, opening up that shoulder, either gaze up at the ceiling, soften the gaze, or you can gaze over your right shoulder. One more inhale. Deep, full exhale. Bring your leg back to center. Remove the strap from the right foot place your right foot on the mat.

And then slide your left foot back on the mat. So both knees are bent. Feel your lower back, support it. Switching sides, place the strap just above the arch of your foot holding both ends of the strap in each hand. Just beginning here, lightly pressing your left heel to the sky, lightly tugging on the straps.

Your right leg can extend forward. Keep coming back to your breath over and over again. And bend your right knee. Draw the right knee to your chest. Hold the right shin with the right hand, put both ends of the strap in your left one, and take your leg over to your left.

Draw your tailbone forward here so the low back is rooted. Right side of your body is rooted. You have some leverage now to really straighten and stretch through the left leg. Breathe here, inhale. Exhale guide the leg back to center, place your right foot down, restrate in that leg, switch hand strap goes into the right, and your left arm goes to the left.

We're not judging any tightness if you're feeling particularly tight. It's just good information. Maybe this is a stretch you can incorporate. Into your life more often. And then back to center.

Rebend the bottom knee first. Just place the right foot down and then lower your left foot to the mat. I've both knees into your chest, and we'll come into happy baby pose from here. So grab either the shins or your ankles or maybe the outer edges of your feet. So now let the whole spine mold to the earth, to the surface beneath your body.

Take another breath in through the nose. Through the nose, let it go. And lower your heels, bring your knees into your chest. Let's roll up to set up for a supported Shavasana. So what you'll need here is, first of all, your blankets.

You can use your blanket as a pillow. I'm gonna keep mine folded like a rectangle, but you can always open yours up if you need. And the bolster. So the bolster is placed right under the thighs and tucked under the knees. If you need anything else, For supported Shavasana, please grab what you need.

And in this practice here, in this moment, in Shavasana, we'll go through a guided relaxation. So placing your body like you have throughout this practice already in this special way. Now let the backs of your knees and your thighs mold to the bolster. In the back of your head, to the blanket. We'll take a tension release breath, so inhale deeply through the nose, to pause at full.

You're gonna fill up a little bit more, sipping a little more. Open the mouth, exhale. Letting the weight of your body, the whole body sink onto the earth. Take a moment to scan the parts of the body, the different touch points of the body. Making contact with the earth.

And then scan the front of the body starting at the tops of your feet, allowing the front of the body. To soften, towards those touch points in the back body, better resting on the earth. And now draw your attention to the opening of the nostrils. And we'll begin to count backwards from the number 12, such as inhale 12, exhale 12. Inhale 11.

Exhale 11. You'll continue on your own. Noticing your breath, arriving at zero, you can release the counting of the breath. Releasing the counting of your breath. Trying your awareness to the center of your forehead, relaxing the center of your forehead.

The center of your throat. Relax the center of your throat. Heart center. Naval Center. Center of the pelvis.

Route of the spine. Draw your attention now to the center of your heart. Take three breaths in the center of your heart. Now take a breath into your whole body. Exhale from your whole body.

Move your toes again and your fingers. We're gonna bend the knees to make our way into a fetal position. You're gonna rest over to whichever side you would like. Picking aside, Using this as a transitional pose, you place one hand to the floor and make your way up to a seated position. So we'll join in sukhasana with the hands at the heart.

I'm just pausing here, drawing your chin towards the center of your heart. The calm that you've cultivated from within, and imagine that your inner space is a deep well. Filled with rituals, filled with every practice that you've ever taken that lives within you that is not dormant, but alive in you. And you can pull from that well of calm and peace from all of those practices and rituals wherever you are in the world. Take a breath and through your nose.

Big exhale. Thank you for sharing your practice with me. Namaste.