The Power of Activation

Hello, and welcome into today's practice. We'll begin in the seat, and you're welcome to sit on a block if you'd like to raise the hips up a bit. Now go ahead and close the eyes if you'd like or keep them open. We're gonna reach the arms up to a big wide fee. Flip the palms up, let the shoulders slide down the back, grow the tall spine, but root the tailbone into the earth of the block.

Take a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. We're gonna begin with some breath of fire. So seal the lips and begin to pump the breath and focus on the exhales here. So it sounds like And you'll keep going about 20 more rounds, keeping the arms out to abide a wide v. Good. Take a deep breath in.

Love the hands come on to your lap as you exhale, soften the arms, soften the finger pads, and return the awareness back into your tailbone, your seats. We'll do something similar, but a variation of that. So bring your left hand, your fingertips right onto your heart, and out stretch your opposite hand into that v. We'll move with the breath of fire, but we'll switch the arms. So as you exhale, you'll switch into a and you'll keep going.

Fill your heart lift up towards the fingers that are tapping onto your sternum and keep breathing. Here about 10 more rounds of breath. Let the arms fly. Good. And then return the arms to a wide t or a wide v. Take a deep breath in. Hands to the lap as you exhale soften.

Hands will stay on your laps. They can also cup your knees. It'll take some big, so if you roll. So start to stir the torso around into a big pot. You can really roll the heart forward as you come forward and roll the heart back as you lean back.

Take a few circles in the opposite direction as well, feel your pelvis connected onto what you are seated upon. Let the circles become a little bit smaller and smaller until you come back into stillness centered onto your seat. Grab onto your knees or your shins, pull the heart forward, arch the tailbone back for a seated cow. As you exhale round and curl, tuck the chin in, think about tucking the tailbone underneath you and spread the shoulder blades apart, and then we'll move with the breath. So seated cow as you inhale seated cat as you exhale.

Your breath to explore your body keep moving. Lank and help the exhale. The neutral spine when you're ready. If your eyes are closed, gently blink them open. We'll meet in a tabletop.

So you can take that block away, place it off to the side if you'd like for down the road, come into all fours, flip your fingers towards your knees for a moment, bend your elbows softly, and take some circles with the palms and the weight shifting forward back. Through your shoulders. A couple circles in the opposite direction as well. And fingertips flat back forward, walk the hands in front of you. Drop the belly for a moment, tuck the toes into a cow shape.

As you round and curl, you're gonna fold into downward facing dog. So press the hips high, the heart towards the thighs, give a nice walk to your dog. Say hello to the back line of the legs. Hello to where the brush can move now a little bit deeper through your side body is expanding the lower back in between the shoulders. Settle into some stillness.

Let the tailbone be high, but gaze forward into your hands. Walk or step your feet towards the top of your mat space. Let the head be heavy for a moment, rag all it out, but keep the arms separate and just kind of sway side to side, maybe a little shake of the head. No one, yes. Find a halfway lift just gently gaze forward.

Bring the feet a little wider so you can bring your heels in and your toes out. Think about sitting into a half frog. So start to bend the knees, sit the hips back, lean the heart up as you breathe in. We'll come into a fold as we exhale. So hips go high.

Think about pressing the feet into the earth as you round into the spine. Inhale into that half frog, bend the knees, hips low. Exale into your fold. One more time, get a little bit more dynamic, bend the knees, lift the hearts, exhale into your folds. Bring the feet underneath you.

Find a halfway lift as you inhale. Exale bow the heart down. Come on up to stand, extended mountain as you breathe in. Bring the hands into your heart and let yourself pause with the hands at heart center, pray your mudra. Soften into the knees so the feet can ground into the earth and lift the heart up towards the thumbs.

Big sweep of the arms inhale extended mountain. Exale as you forward fold. Find your halfway lift at the bottom, plant the palm, step the feet back through a high plank pose. So your knees can be lifted or lowered onto the ground here, shift forward to the toes, lower halfway as you exhale through a chaturanga, cobra or upward facing dog with the knees lifted. Downward facing dog will roll the hips up and back. Right leg will go high into a three legged dog.

Take a moment if you wanna bend your knee here. Open up the hip or circle the ankle around. Maybe even spread the toes really wide. Feel air between each little toe pad. And then square the hips, reach the right heel high as you breathe in.

Step the right foot forward and through as you exhale. Come on up to high lunge, rise with the back knee lifted. The fingers grow tall to the the sky and settle into the sturdiness of that right foot. Right arm will go back and left, arm will go forward into an open arm twist. And see if as you open out the arms, you can also press the left heel back.

So that left leg is just as active as the right leg here. One big exhale. Open up into a big wide star stance. So spin the left heel down, get really broad through the arms, and bring the right toe to parallel next to the left. I'm gonna find warrior two into the back of the mat.

So pivot the left toes, bend the left knee and open the arms wide to a tee. And then we can settle just for a couple of exhales, feel the feet, your foundation holding you. Keeping everything the same, but reaching back into reverse warrior, left hand will go high to the sky. One more breath into yourself. Hands will travel to the back of your mat space.

We'll step to a high plank. Last foot comes back, shift forward and lower halfway or all the way. You can find cobra or up dog with the knees lifted, peel the heart up. Follow the hips back into your downward facing dog. Same thing as the other side.

Left leg will lift up to the sky, bend the knee, open up the hip. So we're getting wiggly through this practice today. That's why I invite you kinda roll up the ankle, feel the toes, spread wide, and then square the hips and find a deep breath in, step the left foot on through and set up for high lunge crescent. Finger tips reach to the sky. Feel yourself, grow tall.

Fill the strength of your legs. Sync the hips down. Open arm twist, left arm will go back. Right arm goes forward. And as you do, squeeze the right heel back.

See if the shoulders can soften down the back as well. Star pose as you breathe in, spin the right heel down, pivot the left toes in to parallel the right, deep breath in to grow tall, Right knee bends warrior too as you exhale. Right toes, pivot forward. Study gaze, see if you can find one point with the eyes. Keep the right knee bent.

Reach back reverse warrior. Couple breaths here. Sliding the right shoulder down the back. A breath in. The hands will come down to the earth as you exhale.

Step the right foot back, play with the Chaturanga, lowering all the way or halfway, cobra or up dog, big breath in, shine the heart forward, fold the hips back downward facing dog. So steady foundation will take a moment and pause. I'm just gonna feel where the body's starting to light up. How the breath is moving within us. And then we'll flow.

Right leg will lift high to the sky. Bend the right knee and step forward as you exhale. Inhale high lunge. Right arm will go back as you exhale. Big star shape. Open on up.

Warrior two into your left thigh, pivot through the left toes. Reverse warrior, left arm goes high, hands to the earth as you exhale. Find your high plank, your chaturanga of choice. Back bend of choice. Down dog is always home.

If you wanna skip the back bend and just shift the hips right on high. Inhale with the left leg on up, exhale strong step through. High lunge, crescent, full breath in. Open arm twist as you exhale. Big star shape, big breath in expand.

Warrior two into your right leg. Reach on back, reverse warrior. Plant the hands on down, journey your way into downward facing dog. Maybe there's a chaturanga there. Maybe you come right into your downward facing dog.

Couple breaths, settle there. So we kinda like turn the burner up on the stove to heat the body to move things around. See what's stirred up. Bend the knees and gaze towards your hands from here. You can step or hop to the top of your mat.

We'll meet in a forward fold. We'll find a halfway lift as we breathe in, exhale as you forward fold back down. UTkatasana chair pose, sit the hips low, sweep the hands forward. Okay. Here, find some steady exhales.

Notice where the body is. It's a little shaky. Is it feeling calm? No right or wrong. Just your experience to be curious about.

As you exhale next, the arms will sweep behind you. Let the chest come down a little bit more. So in this, like, sweeping chair, hips go back, belly can come down towards the thighs. Then we'll stand into extended mountain from here. So reach tall, straighten the legs, big breath in, Come back to that chair sweep as you exhale.

Stand tall, extended mountain, chair sweep as you exhale. And then we'll keep going. Let the arms now become even looser. Like, you're sweeping something off and out of your mat. Maybe two or three more times.

Last one. Stand tall through extended mountain. Forward fold as you exhale. Take it slow on the way down. Find a halfway lift as you breathe in.

Right foot's gonna step up and wide. Left foot steps back. Drop your back knee down runner's lunge. You can untuck your back toes. And then we kinda take this moment to feel a little bit of softening.

So with the hips side to side, notice that the neck built any tension to the flow and those active chair sweeps. And choose if you wanna stay here. You have an option. This block can become really handy for the left palm if you want. You can take this right hand to your right thigh if you'd like and press it wide and rotate on up.

If it's in your practice and you wanna explore a quad stretch, you can bend this back knee and reach your hand towards your foot. And then see if the hand can just anchor onto the foot as you drop the hips down. Give a gentle pull of that left foot towards your glute. And one last full breath in here. And when you feel ready, you can release that foot if you have it.

Bring both hands to the mat or that block if you have one and shift the hips back and forth. It's gonna rock and forward back to straighten and bend that right leg. We'll meet back in our lunge. If you have a block, you can gently walk it off to the side. Lift the back knee and walk the hands slightly in front of you so you can step this left foot up and wide heels in toes out back into that frog squat melasana. And this time, you can pause with the hands at heart.

And the knees pressing wide against the elbows, soften the belly, soften the shoulders. And when you're ready, hips go high into your forward fold. So this left foot is set up for us To step the right foot back and drop your back knee down, runner's lunge. Just a moment here to sway the hips outside to side. And if you want that block for your bottom hand, you can take it there and place your right palm on the block. Left hand can come to your left thigh. You just kinda hang out, rotating the heart up, enjoying this twist through the spine.

If you like on this side, you can bend that back knee See if you can reach for the foot. If you have the foot, let the foot kind of press heavy into the hands. You can roll the heart up and sink the hips forward and down. Yeah. One more breath in. Right foot can release when you're ready.

Shift the hips back and forth, straighten and bend the left legs, giving that left legs some love. And then we'll crawl through our lunge, walk the block off. This time, we'll tuck the back toes so we can step into downward facing dog. So plant the palms, left foot meets the right. You can be in stillness here.

You can kinda chatch out the hips side to side, bending one knee and the other. Palms will get rather light as we do this. So bend the knees softly and then gently walk the hands to the back of your mat towards your feet. Let the head be heavy for a moment. And let the feet come wide again.

So last time that we'll visit this melasana shape, we'll get a little playful with it. So, palms will guide us. We are going towards the top of our mat space. How do we do that? We get a little fun and funky to plant the palms and hop the feet. So let them come far enough in front of you, ground through the palms, hop the feet through your frogger, feet step forward.

Then we do it a couple more times. So palms plant, feet hop a little bit, keep going, let it become maybe a little bit more dynamic faster, all the way to the top of your mat, and then sink into your frog one more time, bring the hands into the heart. And press the knees wide. So the feet will become a little bit more active. This is where we find this heat again through the body.

Start to lift the hips just enough so they hover a little bit more. Lift the hips maybe one or two more inches. Keep pressing the knees wide. Breathe as you go one or two more inches up. Stay in that little bit of edge, drive through the heels.

Little a little bit of shake come in as you start to stand, stand, stand, and then hands by the sides, and start to shake the legs on out, and let the feet be rather, like, loose. So start to kick in front of you, and let the arms start to sway as well. So you can kick and sway through the feet, or you can just keep the arms here. This might feel really nice to you. If you would like, you can add in these little bit of hops.

You'll start to get light on the toes and start to hop side to side and let the arms swing side to side with you. And as you go, let the shoulders go up and down, maybe a little horse flips breath. And then let the feet land. You can stop the hops. Let the toes be rather light.

Take the hands and flick the fingers like you have water on them. So when we kinda activate through the body, we create heat that mobilization where we feel ready to go and a little bit more adrenaline, we can discharge. So shake the hands again, and it's like you're clearing off energy from your field. That we can release on out. One more time, kick the feet.

In front of you, take this right foot and just kick it a few times. Let it be really wobbly. And then left foot kick it on out. And then both feet come down. Take both arms up to the sky as you breathe in.

Find your forward fold as you exhale. Maybe go a little bit slower than before. Find your halfway lift as you breathe in. Plant the palms and find a high plank pose. So rather sturdy.

We just moved a lot. We had to shake to let go of what was kinda stirred up inside of us. And then we pause, press the palms into the earth, squeeze the heels back, breath in, shift to the toes, come down to your belly as you exhale. Untuck the toes, bring the hands behind your back, and release your fingers. Your feet can stay on the earth if your lower back feels a little tender today.

If you wanna play with a bound flying locust, you're gonna lift the heart on up. And then lift the feet on up. Breathe as you go. See how long you can get reaching fingers, back toes, back crown of the head forward. And a really deep breath in, fly a little bit more, see how much space you can take up, release the heart down, release the hands, bring the palms beneath your shoulders, and press your way into a child's pose.

Beautiful reset for the spine. Soften exhale. Remember the life within you and the inhale. One more exhale just to let everything go as much as you can. We're coming back down towards stillness towards the earth. I'm gonna return to our bellies.

So roll on forward through a tabletop and then ground the elbows, ground the belly, untuck the toes, and bring the arms out to a wide cactus. Your right cheek can gaze onto the earth. Set your cheek down and then slide this left knee up into a half floor frog. It's like this really sweet invitation after the or active frog shapes that we took for everything to stay open through the hips and the lower back. But where we create this permission and signal to our body that it can really soften in.

Doesn't have to effort anymore. Let me see how the body speaks back to us. It still feels a little bit activated. We stay present with the sensations. Unless slow, exhale.

Keep your left knee right where it is. It start to turn your gaze through center, paint a press and walk onto your forms, and then thread this right arm underneath you. So now this becomes a threaded floor frog. And this left hand, take it as a little fist and just rest the side of your temple on that fist. See what happens now in the shoulder.

So just adding on a little bit of a layer. Full breath in and out. This left hand will now leave where it is. It's gonna reach out all the way up to the sky. You can kinda shift onto that right side of your hip and start to roll all the way into a supine twist.

This beautiful contrast now that we can open up towards the sky. Let the shoulders be really heavy. One more breath in. Start to close it down when you're ready after you exhale roll back to your stomach. Slide the left knee down.

Let's bring both palms underneath our forehead. Create a little pillow for the forehead. And then bend the knees and give a swish of the feet side to side and see if you can bring awareness into, like, the pelvis and the hips as they rock side to side on the earth. These rocking sensations can be super soothing to our nervous system. So just let the feet be heavy, swing side to side.

When it's time for you. You're welcome to lay the feet down. Take your left cheek onto the earth, the arms out to a wide cactus and slide the right knee on up into that half floor frog. When you're ready, you start to inhale and rise the chest on up. Keep the right knee where it is.

Walk the elbows underneath you. Just enough so you have space to slide this left arm and thread your half floor frog. And for a moment lay the head down, creating a gentle fist with the right hand. Let the temple relax onto that hand and start to peel the right hand all the way open to the sky, rolling towards your left side body, maybe taking a moment to just scooch and shimmy the hips through center. I'm opening up into your supine twist.

Okay. So a full breath just to stir yourself back up a little bit. This time, we're gonna scooch all the way onto our back. So it might take a little effort just to roll onto the spine, shimmy yourself so you're comfortable on your mat space, hug both knees in, bring both knees wide into a happy baby. You could hug the back of the thighs, you could reach the hands up the calves or to the feet. But here, again, just like we did with those sways of the feet with our knees bent, I invite you to rock side to side.

They could be really small. They could get really big. You could invite a big open mouth exhale or stick out your tongue as you exhale a big And when you feel ready, bring the knees to close, wrap the arms around your shins and bring the forehead up towards the knees. We create this really, really tight hug and really squeeze inward. Like, like, you would squeeze a loved one. And take a deep breath in, feel, and receive this hug inwards.

Accale into a shavasana shape. Can extend the arms and legs long. You can take a moment, kinda shimmy the shoulder blades underneath you. And let a big exhale go like you're landing from a long day. So honoring that through this active practice, things may have stirred up.

And they may linger a bit as we slow and attune back in. And it's through this practice of the breath and presence that we've been building together, where we feel a little safer to stay and be curious and compassionate to what rises within us. Knowing that it is messages from the body, the physical, the emotional, the energetic body that holds us and does so much for us throughout the day. No more work to do just to release and get a little heavier into gravity. The industry, the breath back to the surface of the body.

Swirling the awareness, wrapping head to toe. Bring a little wiggle to the fingers and toes, and take a moment and roll to one side in supported fetal. You can bend your knees, curl yourself, knees to chest. Rest your bottom arm, rest your head on that arm, feel that opposite hand, press on the earth to rise you into a seat. You can bring your hands into heart center, palms to touch. And as we seal this practice together, we honor the breath and health of the nose.

Big exhale out. You're welcome to bow forward as I bow to you in so much gratitude, namaste.