Ground and Soften

Welcome. I'm so glad you're here. This class will explore the concept of grounding and safety. And to begin, we'll start in a seat So if you would like to join me here, you're welcome to sit on a block as an option for underneath your sits bones. Allow yourself to get comfortable, hands can rest on your thighs, palms down, or palms up. And if it feels alright, go ahead and breathe the eyes closed.

Just begin to swirl the awareness around the pelvis and your legs and are connected onto the earth or the block you're sitting on. Washing the awareness up the body through the arms, in the chest, the top of the head. Dropping into the breath. Taking a few natural rounds of inhales and exhales to yourself here as you land. And as we begin this concept of safety, embodiment and grounding through our practice.

You can welcome in that safety might not just be a thought or a word, but a felt experience. Where the body can exhale just a little bit more and find the earth underneath you a little bit more. I invite you into a few rounds of box breath. So we'll we'll inhale for four, and hold the breath for four, and then exhale for four counts, and I'll guide us through. So let's find a nice full breath into the nose.

And open your mouth and let that breath go. And four counts, breathing in. Holding full for four. And exhaling for four counts until you're empty. Hold empty for four counts.

And breathe in again for four. Hold full for four. Let the breath go softly for four counts. Empty for four. And inhale for four.

Hold full. And as you exhale for four, see if the body can soften any way in the shoulders or the face. You hold empty for four. If you'd like to stay with that rhythm of breath, I invite you a few more rounds. We see here that stopping isn't just slowing down.

It can be this experience of attuning in words. Lowing yourself to arrive with each breath just washing onto the shore in front of you. And one more deep breath in and a full breath out. Blank your eyes open when you're ready. And slowly come back to the room in front of you.

Inhale reach both thumbs up to the sky. Axale as you place the right hand onto the mat and reach the left hand up and over. Stay here a couple of breaths. Just laying that left hip sink down come on up through center and plant your left hand onto the earth right hand up and over. Couple inhales and exhales feeling the rib cage expand outwards.

We'll go two times with the breath. So as you inhale reach both arms up to the sky, as you exhale reach the left hand up and over. Come on up as you breathe in, reach the right arm up and over. One more time, big breath in, big reach, Exale up and over towards the right. Back up through center, exhale lean it up and over.

Come back through center, and then we'll start to plant the palms in front of us. You can swing over the legs. Or roll right on through into tabletop. So we'll meet in all fours. You can take that block if you have one to the top of the mat for the side, and then start to drop the belly and lift the heart into a cow pose for you then.

Round and curl as you exhale into a cat. Cal pose as you breathe in. Cat pose as you breathe out. Just one more time, breathing and dropping the belly. Rounding and curling with each exhale.

Neutral spine as you're ready toes, we'll talk. Spread all 10 fingers wide and then start to fold the hips up and back into Autamucosha and asana. Downward facing dog. You got time and space to bend one knee and the other. You're gonna feel the hips cha cha side to side a little bit of freedom if you wanna kinda shake the head, nor yes.

Once you're ready to land into stillness, find a gentle bend of the knees, reground into the palms, and then see if you can lift the tailbone up towards the sky a little bit more as the heart presses towards the thighs. Full breath in, full breath out. Gaze will come forward, high onto your toes, and then walk your feet towards your hands. We'll land a big ragdoll stance. You can keep the knees really bent let the torso rest over the thighs.

And then here, perhaps grab opposite elbows and take a gentle sway right and left. And the breath here is that thread that helps us connect in the body and the mind, right, returning into that safety of your heart. Letting one more exhale soften you down. Release any bind that you have, then find a halfway lift, plant your palms towards your shins, lengthen the heart forward and the tailbone back. Axail as you plant the palms, right foot can step slightly forward, left foot back, and we'll lower the back knee inhale arms up into a crescent moon, low lunge. You can fill that right big toe.

Just gently press into the earth. And then maybe pinky fingers wrap inwards so the shoulder blades can slide down the back, and there's so much space for the heart to reach up towards the sky. A breath in here. As you exhale hands to the earth, half splits, shift your hips back, straighten out your right leg any amount. You can flex your toes up towards your face.

Couple exhales just to allow your chest about inwards towards that right thigh. As you inhale start to crawl forward through your lunge, we'll plant the palms, keep the left knee grounded here. So this right leg is gonna slide back and hover. Kick the right foot back. And then think about like you're in high plank.

You're gonna shift the heart forward slightly, bend the elbows, lower halfway down. So it's like a grounded chaturanga. Ground your right foot lift the heart, lift the knees for an up dog, peel the heart to the sky, and then fold the hips up and back into downward facing dog. Couple exhales here. If you wanna wiggle and waggle, re land into home base.

One more time, we'll take the gaze forward. You can tippy toe your feet or big steps back into that ragdoll. This time, take your peace fingers and your thumbs, grab onto your big toes, bend your knees even more, and then let the elbows bend and bring them wide as you pull your chest down towards your thighs. Fill the crown of your head drop down towards the earth. So you release any tension through the neck.

A full breath into your lower belly. Full breath out. Release the grip of your hands. Find your halfway lift once again, heart forward, tailbone back, exhale as you fold and step the right foot back. The left foot can step slightly forward.

So we find our low lunge, crescent moon. Peel the heart on up, ground through the left heel on the back line of that right leg, and then just see where the breath can take you here. Maybe you lean up or gaze up slightly. We'll find half splits with an exhale so hands come down to the earth. If if you have blocks and you want them for the hands, that's amazing.

Left leg straight ends. It's a gentle shift of the left hip back. And those exhales are like medicine. They just allow us to soften, bow inwards a little bit more. When you're ready, crawl back through that lunge, plant your palms, the left leg will slide back, and it'll hover. So it's like a grounded Ekapata Chaturanga. Shift the shoulders forward, bend the elbows halfway.

Set your left foot down, peel the heart up, straighten out the arms, and then fold the hips back into your downward facing dog. Feel your breath. Feel the palms on the earth. The feet connected to the earth and the tailbone high of the sky. So we'll take that into a flow, but we'll lead in a three legged dog.

So go ahead and lift the right leg up to the sky as you breathe in. Step the right foot forward and through as you exhale. Back knee down, crescent moon, arms to the sky inhale. Half splits as you exhale hips back, right leg straightens. Crawl through that lunge.

Slide the right leg back, hover it, shift the heart forward, lower halfway as you exhale, inhale into your covert or up dog, exhale into your downward facing dog. Left leg will go high inhale. Left foot steps forward as you exhale. Back me down, inhale crescent moon. Exale into your half splits.

Crawl through your lunge, plant the palm, slide the left leg back, hover the toes, shift forward and lower halfway through the elbows. Up dog as you breathe in, straighten the arms, exhale downward facing dog. Let me just kinda pause to feel what's happening through the body and the breath. Knees will bend, gaze will come forward once again. We'll travel our feet towards the top of our mat and our fold.

Feed can be hips with or to touch. Let's find a halfway lift as we breathe in. Exale as you forward fold. Utkatasana chair pose, start to sit the hips back, sink the weight into the heels. You can feel the fingers reach forward.

Then gaze can settle here. And breath can settle one more inhale. Forward fold as you exhale. Bring the feet mat with distance, heels in toes out, start to bend the knees and set the hips low into a Malasana frog squat. This is a great place.

If you wanna go a block and sit on it, you're welcome to underneath the tailbone. But see if the palms can press together and your elbows on the inside of your knees, press the palms, press the elbows wide, and then lift the heart, see if the heart can reach towards the thumbs. One big inhale and exhale here. Hit forward fold when you're ready, plant your palms, straighten out the legs, bring the feet back underneath you. This right foot will stay forward, and the left foot will step back.

This time, we'll find high lunge. So go ahead and rise, take your time. Arms can reach up to the sky. And then weight starts to settle even more into that right heel. In your center, where is it, breath right into the belly, into the heart space, and you, right on your mat.

Full breath in. Via badrasana too is you exhale. So warrior two, left heel will spin down. You can kinda adjust your stance so your front heel and lines up with the arch of your back foot. And then just allow the strength of the legs to hold you here. Sync into the right thigh.

Now the arms spread nice and wide. We'll find a reverse triangle. So start to straighten up the front leg. Can reach this right hand up and back, and then see if the hips can bump back and the right hand reach back even more. So you're just trying to find as much length as you can to that right big toe up through the right middle finger.

Let's start to explore through trikonasana triangle pose. So if you wanna shorten your stance, sometimes that feels a little bit more stable, at least in my body. You're gonna start to shift the hips back and then reach forward forward forward. When you can't reach anymore, start to reach down. And you can grab one of those blocks if you have it nearby for your right hand. Your left hand can start to reach up towards the sky.

So when we think about the shape of a triangle, it's rather sturdy. It has this base point, the two points that are connected to the earth, your right and left foot, and that top peak point of the left hand. Where are you in the center? Or can you find the breath running through the belly and the chest? K. Just one more inhale.

Stay for the exhale. Softly bend the right knee. We're gonna sweep all the way to cross the readouts. Let the left hand come down, turn the right toes in, parallel the feet. And then let the head go low again.

The hips go high. Take a little shimmy the hips side to side. Maybe a little shake of the head. No. And a big shake of the head. Yes. And start to halfway lift the spine.

You can turn the toes slightly out, and then start to bend into the right knee a little lateral lunge, and bend into the left knee a lateral lunge. I'm just gonna move side to side here with your breath. If you wanna play with that opposite foot flexing up, your toes could come to the sky in Skandasana. And, but when you're ready, come back through Prosperita. We're gonna turn towards the back of our mat space.

Plant your palms. This right foot's gonna march to meet your left in a forward fold. And we'll find a halfway lift as we breathe in, exhale as you forward fold. Uttka Tasana one more time, chair pose, sit the hips back, sweep the hands forward and settle right into those feet, see if the feet can almost pull apart on your mat space, and then wrap the inner thighs back towards one another. About two breaths here to seeing where you can sit the hips back a little bit more.

One more breath in. Forward fold as you exhale. Halfway lift, we'll skip the frog on this side and step the right foot back setting up for that high lunge, crescent, go ahead and rise, drive the left foot, and feel the fingertips reach up. So when we start to get into these shapes that feel like a little bit more wobbly or a little bit more activating, we can really come back to the breath and trust that our feet have us, even when we wobble. There are exhale is there to ground us.

One more breath in. War your two right heel spin down as you exhale. Take your time kinda setting up your feet, that front heel online with the arch of your back foot, and then allow the weight to sink into the left thigh. Grow the wings really wide. Big breath in, Big breath out.

Reverse triangle when you're ready, straighten out the front leg, reach this left hand up and back. And then if you want on this side, you're welcome to toe heel or right foot in a little bit more. Hey. Find first this length through the left side body. So pressing the left toe into the earth, reaching through that left middle finger and just finding one or two big breaths in and out. Left hand is gonna start to reach forward forward forward hips bump back setting up for Chico Nasana triangle pose.

The left hand, again, it can come onto a block if you have one nearby, or maybe it's just hovering right inside that left calf. We start from the foundation in our base. So left foot on the earth, right foot on the earth, right fingertip up towards the sky, and your steady grounded triangle. Fill that triangle with breath. We have two to three more axles here.

Keep hugging your belly button in towards your spine. And it's softly bend the left knee, reach all the way to prosorita, come into your wide legged forward fold. Take another moment to sway. You can kinda shift the hips side to side or bend one knee and the other like we did on the first round in that lateral lunge. We're gonna hang out in prosterita for just an extra moment. So when you're ready, start to straighten out both legs, you can get a soft bend of the knees if you'd like, and then start to gaze in front of you and walk the hands all the way out in front of you.

See if you can almost like walk out out of your hips so the spine lengthens even more, tent your fingertips so your palms lift up, and then drop the gaze down and let the heart drop down towards the earth. This can feel almost like an extended down dog. If the legs are really, really working here, maybe shorten the stance, maybe bend the knees even more. Allow the belly to be soft. We'll go for about three rounds of a hoarse lips breath.

So it will be like a big bubble blow of the lips, an inhale for the nose. And then exhale with a two more times. Inhale. XL. One more breath in. Horace lips. Slowly start to walk the palms back underneath your shoulders.

Find your halfway lift, and then walk yourself towards the right foot. Palms will plant the same strong march of the left foot to meet the right. And then your hands can walk in front of you. You'll bend your knees, lift the heels as you do. We'll come into this crouch and curl so you can keep the hands on the earth round through the shoulder blades and allow the chin to drop in towards the chest here.

Find a breath in. A soft easy exhale. And one more breath in, feel the belly almost press against the thighs, and a big breath out. Lift your gaze slightly and then walk your hands back behind you gently, gently lower onto the bum. And then we'll bring our feet together and our knees wide setting up for a butterfly shape.

So I'll invite you to find something, a little bit more spacious today with the hips scooting back away from your feet. You still have this butterfly shape of the legs. And then if it's accessible to you, you can take your hands and slide them underneath your calves. You can kinda use this as a leverage to pull. If you have a leverage of the forearms to slide underneath your shins and your calves owned by you to just let the top of your hands rest onto the mat. And then use that grip of your forms to pull and reach the heart a little bit closer towards the feet.

In here, full permission to be really lazy. So let the shoulders round. Let the belly relax. And be that cup for the breath to pour into. Waves of the breath just smoothing out on the shore.

And one more breath in, and then a big breath out. Start to unfold, unhook the arms from the legs. And then we'll set up for deer. So you can plant your feet about hips width or maybe a little bit wider. Your knees are bent.

Hands right by your sides. Start to just switch the knees side to side for a moment, and I feel out the hips right and left. I'll let the knees fall over towards the right next time they're there. I like to sometimes take this back and just slide it a little bit. So I create a ninety ninety with this hip knee and then foot. And same thing with this front shin.

And sometimes I'll lift the hips and just slide them back a little bit. Great. And then you can lift the heart, feel a tall, proud chest. Think about walking the hands forward and keeping the spine long when you feel like you've hit that juicy, just enough sensation through the right hip. You can fall down. Maybe elbows come to the earth.

Maybe you have blocks underneath you for your forehead. Allow everything again just as often into the earth. So no true exerted effort needed here. Right? That stopping or stillness doesn't necessarily mean that we have to be a statue and frozen and a perfect meditator that we're just attuning We're slowing down enough to hear the wisdom of the body and to remember the grace of the breath. I invite you just to notice in these last couple breaths if your feet are tensing anyway, if they can soften the toes soften.

Even the fingertips can soften. With your next breath in, slowly gently roll the heart on up. Press to your palms, start to take them behind you and swing your knees all the way into center, shift them over towards the left setting up for deer. Kinda take a moment. Create the shape that supports your body, maybe shift the hips back slightly.

Proud heart, proud spine, but soft shoulders, and start to lean and walk yourself forward over that left shin. Alright. Safety as the invitation, not the demand. Sometimes it doesn't feel rather safe or comfortable to drop into a shape. Drop into an experience. It's this place in our mat where we can cultivate the felt sense of what it can be like to surrender and trust, to exhale even more to let go and be held.

With your next breath in, start to rise the heart back up, press on to your palms. Swing the knees through center. We're gonna have that block and take it with us as we come down to our spine. So just set it off to the side of your mat, guide yourself so you have enough space to lower all the way onto your back. Plant your feet once you're down there.

Let your knees bend. And then take this block. Lift the hips just enough so you can slide that block underneath your lower sacrum right around where your tailbone lives. And if you get here and you settle and your lower back speaks to you and it's like, this is it. This is just enough. And you can say.

If you feel like extending the legs, you're welcome to walk one foot forward and the other, But, right, sometimes our body is like this is not safe. This does not feel good. It's just a boundary that your body is offering you. And we wanna honor if this feels like too much, you can walk the feet in with the knees bent. Let the hands rest by your sides, perhaps palms face up.

If it feels alright, eyes can close. We'll come back to some steady breaths. So if you liked that box breath, you're welcome to revisit it to yourself. If breathing naturally here and some deep diaphragmatic breath into your lower belly suits you, I invite you discover what helps you feel held. And through your mind's eye, take a moment and bring the awareness to the top of the head.

Wash the awareness through and down around the ears, the brow. The back of the ears and the jaw, the cheeks, her eyelids, and see if any of those spaces can soften just a little bit more. Washing the awareness through the left shoulder down the left arm. The right shoulder, the right arm, the left collarbone, the right collarbone. Down through the heart into the belly, feeling the lower back soft, and the pelvis soft, the right thigh, the left thigh.

The right knee, the left knee, down the back of the thighs, the back of the knees, through the calves, top of the shins, The left foot, the right foot, the left big toe, right big toe. Left and right pinky toes. The entire bottom line of the body. Relaxed onto the earth. And where you let go, you can invite in space for the breath.

Space for the mind to settle. We'll be here in this supported bridge. If at any point you wanna slide the block away and seal your practice in rather formal Shavasana, you can always take that moment, bring the block off to the side and rest easy. I highly encourage you to stay in your mat as long as you like soak in this sweetness that you've cultivated for yourself. And just for our own time together, I invite you a breath in through the nose, and a big breath out. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining today.

When and if you feel ready to move off your mat space, know that I am wishing you so much peace grounding and trust through the rest of your day. Namaste.