The Power of Presence

Hello, and welcome to today's practice. We'll explore what strength and stability can feel like through this thirty minute class. You'll need a block down the road. You can place it to the top of your mat and meet me in a child's pose. You can bring your big toes to touch and your knees as wide as you'd like.

Start to sit the hips back towards the heels, walk the fingers as far forward as you'd like, let the forehead bow down towards the earth. Allow any sort of fidget that need to arrive you into your mat space to happen, then see if stillness can wash through the body. And through this stillness, the breath becomes very potent. So feel the breath in rise, the chest expand the rib cage, and the exhale to soften the belly, soften the face. And another inhale through the nose and a full exhale out.

Start to roll into a table top, stack your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees. We're gonna tuck our toes and right away find our first strong stable shape. So spread the fingers really wide. Start to lift the knees just about one or two inches up off of your mat space into a floating tabletop. We'll hold here in stillness first.

See if you can picture, like, you're turning two jars with your hands outwards and wrap the triceps backwards. Reach the crown of the head forwards a little bit more and then see if the belly button can pull in a little bit more. Big inhale and exhale. I'm gonna go for a little bit of a bear walk. So this right hand can step forward and your left foot forward, step the left hand forward and the right foot forward.

And then go in reverse motion, step it back and back. And maybe you take maybe two or three more steps, the length of your mat, still floating the knees, Come forward, forward. Do it one more time backwards. Feel the breath. Heat rises in the body a little bit. Walk the hands forward.

You're still in your floating tabletop. Hands towards the top of the mat, and then even out the feet, big breath in, hips high into your downward facing dog. You can give a little walk of your dog sway the hips side to side. Fill the palms, press into the earth grounding you into the study foundation. With a breath in gaze forward and walk your feet towards your hands, We'll find a ragdoll shape.

So you can keep the knees rather bent and the feet rather wide. See if you can bend the knees enough where you can create space to reach the hands behind your back. Interlace your fingers together and then draw the knuckles down and away maybe up towards the sky. Let the head drop down towards the earth. Enjoy a really full breath in, and a big exhale.

Release the bind and slide your hands down the back of your legs. Bring the feet a little bit further underneath you. Take a slow roll to stand. Let your head be lost. Just curling vertebrae by vertebrae.

Once you're up there hands can be right by your sides, crown of the head lifts, roll the shoulders up, down, and back. So right foot will stay as your foundation. Left knee is gonna start to left. We're in this one legged tadasana with the right foot down. Bring the arms out to a wide cactus.

So this is powerful breath, and I want you to picture like you're really kicking and pressing forward. As you breathe in, open the arms even wider, As you exhale, press the hands forward, kick the left foot forward and see if you can round the spine just a little bit. Inhale, open it back up, bend the knee, cactus the arms. Exale to push and press away from you. Big inhale kick back.

Open up. Biggest exhale. Yep. Big press of the palms and the foot. Good. Come back to your cactus, then the left knee, you're gonna step into a high lunge. So left foot comes all the way back, fingertips to the sky.

Adjust your feet as much as you need so you feel stable. Settle. We'll bring the arms to a cactus one more time. This time, a big breath in straighten the right leg and press the palms in front of you as you exhale. So similar, but with right foot as grounded, bend the knee, open the elbows up, exhale to press, straighten the right leg.

One last time, bend the right knee, open the heart really broad, exhale straighten the right leg, press the hands in front of you. Cactus the arms, bend the knee, and then place the hands down onto your mat. Step the right foot back. We're gonna find a high plank pose and just hold right here. Ground the palms down.

Squeeze the heels back. One breath in, downward facing dog with your exhale. Alright. One more time. We'll take the gaze forward. Travel your feet towards your hands, top of your mat space.

Take a slow roll all the way up, head comes last, breathe, and as you rise, and as you exhale roll the shoulders down and back, hands by the sides. Left foot is your foundation, right knee will lift in that one legged position. Bring the arms to a wide cactus, puff up the heart a little bit more as you breathe in. Press and push right foot in front of you, hands in front of you. I mean, you're around the spine slightly.

Inhale, kick open. Arms go wide. Big exhale to press and push. Big inhale, open up. Biggest exhale. Yeah.

Big press and push. Really strong. Then the right knee cactus the elbows. Step the right foot all the way back into a high crescent. Let yourself be soft as you land, gentle with the mind. Settle yourself into the left heel.

Cactus the arms, find a breath in, straighten the left leg, press the hands in front of you. Then the left knee open the elbows wide. Cactus and press in front of you. Then the elbows, inhale. Straight in that left leg, press in front of you exhale.

Coming back to that lunge or the cactus arms and then fold the chest down. Plant the palms, left foot steps back. This time, let's find a chaturanga. So wrap those elbows in. Your knees can ground, but will shift forward through the heart and the toes.

Lower halfway down as you exhale. Inhale cobra or up dog with the knees lifted, exhale downward facing dog, fold the hips up and back. Give a little walk and sway. It can be really loose and free here. These next few postures will hold a little bit longer.

We'll kind of explore what happens in the body and the mind as we sit in stillness with strength. Start to reach your right leg high in a three legged dog. Step the right foot on through as you exhale. High lunge is where we'll go. Big breath in rise on up.

Bring your hands into your heart. Pause in here. Perhaps even feeling the heart connected into the thumbs. Soft end of the left knee, that back knee, That's gonna help spring you into our one legged tadasana that we are just visiting, left knee up. Strong press of that right foot into the earth.

Point your left toes down towards the earth, start to turn the left knee out and wide. We're gonna set up for tree pose. So left foot can place onto your calf. They can kickstand onto the earth. That left foot could come up a little higher.

It's your journey, your exploration, but play with the wobbles. Play also with the arms coming out to a wide tee. And it's like you're creating this big stop with both hands. As you press through the palms, squeeze both glutes. Draw the left knee back and wide if you can a little bit more.

So all of this structure, the stability that we've created in the body, is a container for us now to settle into the breath and be resilient through our presence. About five exhales here. Gays can settle. K. Arms come back through center, palms to touch. Turn the left knee in.

Keep the left foot hovering. Start to kick back into that crescent shape of the legs again. So left toes land. We're gonna keep the heart forward. Hand stay at heart. Slide that right hip back, reach both arms forward.

As you do, feel the left heel squeeze back. So it's like this tug of war, like, arms reaching forward, fingers forward, left heel back. Resiliency doesn't mean being completely like a statue and never wavering through life. It's turning our gaze inwards to see where we can believe in ourselves to stay in a little bit of edge and to pick ourselves up when we come out. Find one more deep breath in.

I'm gonna fold open to warrior two. Left heel spins down. Oh, nice job. Open, bend the right knee, kinda surfing it out. So the arms go wide for the heart proud. Keep the right knee bent.

I'm gonna start to reach forward forward forward with that right hand. And then right hand comes down, you can rest your elbow on your thigh or inside the right leg for extended side angle. So you have options to play here. Right? You always have choice and agency in life. Your left hand can stay up to the sky. It could reach over your ear if you wanna play with a half utica.

If this is feeling like quite enough, you're at your edge and you honor and you breathe from there, and that's where you expand your edges. If you'd like something different, the right arm can reach forward. So both fingertips reach forward. And it's that same tug of war. Fingers forward.

Left heel squeezes back. Five breaths here. We dig deep. Good one or two more inhales exhales. And then we'll rise to a big star shape.

Straighten out the right leg, parallel the feet for when with the hands come by the sides, get a little loosey goosey. So we can find that freedom between the contrast of our stability and strength. And then heels will come in, toes will come out. We'll set up for some goddess shapes of the legs. You reach your arms out to a big tee.

And then as you exhale, bend the elbows, bend the knees. We'll pause here. Tailable and sinks down towards the earth. If you have a steady gaze to center on with the eyes, I invite you here. It's like this fierce drishti.

This purpose with the vision. Your legs will stay the same. Bring the arms out to that tee again. Big breath in. As you exhale, stick out your tongue for a lion's breath.

One more time, inhale arms to a big wide tee, elbows in, tongue out. Straighten the legs, reach the arms to your tee, parallel the feet, and then lead with that heart into prosorita. Wide legged forward fold. You can place the hands on the earth. If you wanna reach for your calves or the outside edges of your feet, you can create a little grip.

Just allow the head to relax. This is a moment to pause. Notice the efforts that you put into that right side or that feeling of gratitude can exist within the challenge. Right? Feeling grateful for the challenge. It can be hard sometimes.

One more breath here. If you have a bind, gently release the palms halfway lift the heart. We're gonna turn towards the back of our mat to our left foot. Set up for a high crescent. So maybe widen the feet feel a steady foundation as you start to grow tall and rise.

Hands will come into your heart. Maybe connect the heart to the thumbs. Gentle bend of the back knee. That's gonna help us bring into our one legged tadasana, press the left foot, rise the right knee up, and steady with the gaze. Right toes point down.

Turn the right knee out. Open up the hip. Place your right foot where it feels curious to explore. It might be the earth. It might be on your calf or your thigh.

You got some roots that you can grow into the earth with that left foot. Open the arms out to a big wide tee. Sometimes we just gotta say, stop to the outside world. Right? It's like this pause of what's outside your mat. And with that strength and that empowerment of the hands, we can bring awareness into our center. What's existing here with us, with our breath?

One more big breath in. Hands come together in that prayer mood or as you exhale. Right knee will lift. If you fall, it's just the opportunity to notice how you can carry yourself back into effort. Right? Believe in yourself.

Right leg kicks back, right foot steps down, keep the hands at heart, keep the heart leaning forward. Feel the left hip shift back slightly. Arms will reach forward, holding in this reaching crescent. Right heel squeezes back. Someone's giving you a really encouraging pull of the wrist or the fingers forward.

So you can grow even longer through the spine. Study the breath with two exhales. Warier two right heel will spin down, open it on up, maybe surfing out that left leg. Okay. So we'll keep the wet legs in warrior two.

You know, reach forward forward forward and then reach down into extended side angle, bring that right arm to the sky. Will that tailbone shift towards your back heel. And then no, like, once we set up the stability, we don't need to seek perfection. You can kinda let go of what the cues or what the body should look like and just start to feel. Feel maybe if you wanna reach the right arm overhead.

You could play with the left arm reaching forward. You could feel like no way. You could always bring it back down. If you're there, you stay, and then let's land together in a shape that we can breathe into, that we can trust the shakes and wobbles. Two breaths out here.

Doing great. Big star shape when you're ready. Rise on a pivot left toes in, let the hands come by the sides. Take the hands behind the back for a moment. Just hold that bind to draw the knuckles down and lift the heart up.

It release the hands. Heels in toes out. Arms come into that wide tee. Elbows come in, knees bent. Two times. Same thing with that lion's breath.

It's rather powerful. So let the exhale be rather forceful. A big breath in arms to a tee, exhale tongue out, arms to a tee, inhale elbows in, exhale. Straighten the legs, arms to a big wide tee, prosirita, forward fold. So we can be strong and soft all at once in different moments.

In different ways. You have a couple of exhales here in proserita. If you wanna shake your head gently knowing yes, If you wanna sway your hips side to side. One last breath out. And then a halfway lift of the spine.

Bring your feet closer together. Just walk them towards one another on the mat. And then bend your knees squat enough so you can come onto your seat and swing your legs around. Okay. So a seat and this left leg can straighten out in front of you. Your right foot can come across your left thigh.

Start with a hug. Just wrap your arms around that right shin and grow the spine tall. This left hand can stay on, a wrap of your front thigh. The right hand will start to reach behind you into a seated twist. Just press the palm down into the earth and feel a tailbone ground into the earth.

Face might soften a little bit more as we find these last couple of exhales. And come back up through center. Kick your right leg out in front of you, bring your left foot in, wrap your arms around that left shin, and then give yourself a nice squeeze. You can grow tall through the spine. And keep a hug of your right arm around that left leg.

Just place the left hand behind you and find that seated twist rotating the heart to your heart's desire. And come on back through center. Wanna find our block now. Take it with us as we come down to our spine. Once you lay down there, keep your knees bent and plant your feet on the earth, lift the hips just enough so you can slide this block right underneath your lower sacrum.

And then hands, they can rest wherever they want. If you wanna connect your palms to the earth, that might feel rather grounding to you. If you'd like to place your hands on your hips or your belly, please feel free. They'd like you to feel the block underneath you. And the way that we can switch the contrast and the perception of having to hold ourselves all the time, right, we experience that quite a bit through class of having stability and strength and building empowerment within ourselves, but that sometimes it just feels really good to be supported by something else.

And that block is there for you to receive to let the lower back relax and the belly relax. Stay right here on the block. Just invite you. Start to take the right foot up to the sky and let the left foot meet it. So we can hang out in this restorative shape of legs up the wall.

If you're right next to a wall, you wanna place your feet on it. You're welcome to. We're gonna be here eight to ten breaths. Not thinking too much about being perfect to believe in ourselves that we are right where we're supposed to be and that our efforts are just enough. Smooth, slow, inhale to the nose.

Easy releasing exhale out. Plant one foot at one foot at a time onto the earth. Lift your hips on up off of that block, slide the block off to the side and lower your sacrum, your lower tailbone to the mat. Bring your feet wide and you can knock your knees together here for a resting bridge. I invite you hand to belly.

If you like a hand to heart, you're welcome to place it there as well. Start to separate the knees and bring the feet further underneath you. This right leg will wrap over the left. Create this little pretzel shape of the legs. And then pick up both feet.

You can hug your knees here if you feel a good stretch in your glutes. If you'd like, reach down for your ankles. Flex your toes actively towards your face and hang out in this supine Gumu Casana. And we'll start to release the feet or the knees if you have them. Unravel the legs, and then just switch.

The left leg will cross all the way over, bend your knees, give them a hug or reach down for the ankles or the feet. And gently pull the thighs a little bit closer towards your chest. Start to unravel the legs. Plant the feet onto the earth. You're welcome to find a supta baddha konasana for your Shavasana today.

If you'd like the legs extended long, you are also welcome to find a more traditional style Shavasana. If you'd like to close the eyes and they're not there already, breathe them down. Or soften the gaze up to the sky above you. Begin to open up the imaginary mind just for a moment. And if you could see a house sitting in front of you, what structure does it have to it?

Are there bricks stacked upon one another? Pillors, stucco walls? You can see this beautiful home that hosts safety, sense of nurturing to those that walk inside of it. As you look a little bit closer, there may be pieces that are needing some extra love or awareness. Like, does the roof need a little tending too? Does the house desire more paint or color? Is there a space that's lacking a little stability where you can support bring in that structure so it can hold well.

All that's inside of it. If you can, no matter what you see, feel a sense of honor to this home. It holds as a space for a sanctuary to those that walk within it. And no matter the tending to or the quote fixing to offer it that it is a home. And what a gift?

Wash the awareness of the body. See you or there's still a little bit of tension residing, and if you can let go with a few more exhales. Welcome in some easy inhales and exhales. Welcome in the observations that you had about that visual sense of a home and that maybe as you step off of your mat, there is inspiration to tend and nurture to the home that holds you, this body, for the spirit that resides within you. And if resting is a way to tend to that vessel, please stay.

I will seal us with a breath together as our time comes to a close in half of the nose. Let a deep breath go. Thank you so much for joining today. Namaste.