Ignite Your Fire

Welcome to Ignite Your Fire. For today's practice, we will need one block. We're gonna begin seated in a supported virasana. So we're on our shins with a block beneath our sits bones. Reach back. Let your hands cup your heels.

And from the hands, cupping the heels, lift the chest up so you tip your pelvis slightly forward. Close your eyes. Take a nice big full breath in through your nose. XL out your mouth. And again, inhale.

And exhale. From this position, just start to become aware of the body. Noticing places in the body where there is a lot of effort, where there may be holding or squeezing, and see if you can invite softness into those areas so that we become fully available. Relax all the muscles of your face. Soften your jaw.

And with the eyes closed, just invite yourself to open up your imagination. We begin by imagining a golden thread running all the way from the universe, through the top of the head, down the throat, down the chest, down through the belly out the perineum straight into the earth. In yoga, we call this the Sutra Atman. It's also known as the tai chi, the great ridge pole, or is the plumb line. But it is the alignment connects us to both the personal, to the here and the now, and to the universal.

So feel yourself right at the center. In front of you is your potential, behind you is your past, and you are in the middle mediating those two polarities. Start to notice your breath. And just begin to gently deepen the breath, drawing the breath fully into the belly, letting it expand up to the ribs, and then finally letting it reach the chest. Breathing out through either the nose of the mouth, but emptying from the chest, from the ribs, from the belly.

Let's take a few more rounds just like that. And then let the breath return to a natural steady rhythm. Keeping your hands connected to your heels. I'm just gonna blink your eyes open, and we'll start to tip the pelvis forward and back. Forward and back.

Start nice and slowly, and just sensing as space begins to open up, noticing where there may be tenderness, giving yourself a moment to bring consciousness and bring awareness to that sensation. So it's something like we're striking a match. Right? Just rolling the perineum forward and back on our block. And then we're gonna let it get a little bit faster. And we're gonna start to put breath to it.

So that as we tip forward, it becomes an inhale as we go back, it's an exhale. Inhale and exhale. And just keep moving in that inhale and exhale can be in through the nose out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the nose, in through the mouth, and out through the mouth. But let it get a little bit faster. So as we start to free things up, we just start to stoke a little fire.

Okay. So just keep moving. So the body is divided up into three sections, the bottom, which is from the hips down to the feet. It's like our basement. Right? This is our stability. This is sort of where the furnace is in our basement, and we're just kinda getting that furnace going so that we can get some heat going so that we'll rise up to the 2nd Floor, which is our ability.

And then our ability gives rise to our vision. So just keep moving pump the breath in, out, in, out. Now I wanna encourage you to go a little bit faster than you want to. And kinda let your head be free. Alright? So that the head slightly goes up and down, up and down. The torso gets a little bit more involved. May start to feel a little bit warmer.

Stay with it and keep going. That's it for six. For five, for four, for three, for two, and for one, just pause and stillness, close your eyes, drop in and just notice. Just notice what you feel. Then you can open your eyes and we're gonna start to stir the pot. So we're gonna begin to circle.

Alright. So I'm still tipping the pelvis forward as I come forward. I'm tucking tails. I go back. I like to imagine, and I'm sitting on this three-dimensional clock. I'm just trying to hit every single number of the clock. Right? And again, you might go really slowly at first, right, especially if there are places where you feel stuck, where you kinda wanna skip a couple of numbers in the clock, give consciousness and awareness to those places. And then when you can, let it go a little bit faster.

Right? Start to find that freedom through the hip joint, through the pelvis. And I I like to say that it's kinda like think of yourself as that great salsa dancer with really free, really wild hips just going and moving. And then we move the breaths. So we're stirring our waters. We're waking up the kidneys.

We're creating some steam. And then we're gonna go counterclockwise. So you're gonna go to the left. And just notice if you need to slow down, if going counterclockwise feels harder, if it feels a little bit easier. And then you'll notice that you get a little bit more fluent with going counterclockwise, and maybe we can go a little bit faster.

Just stirring. And as we come forward, maybe the chest can reach forward a little bit more. And then we come back to center and we tip the pelvis forward and back. Forward and back. So we just make sure that fire is still stoked. It's still moving. Stay with it for six.

For five. For four. For three. For two. And for one, close your eyes, pause.

Notice breathe. I'm gonna take your fingertips onto your shoulder. So if you can cup your shoulder heads with your fingertips, lift your elbows up. And from here, we're gonna inhale to the left. We'll exhale to the right. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, in out. So giving yourself a nice little rinse, moving from the liver side of the body to the heart side.

Keep going and go a little bit faster and notice if your feet are lifting up and off of the earth, see if you can push all 10 toenails down into the mat. Keep lifting through the chest. Maybe the vision can rise up ever so slightly. Keep going. Stay with it for six. For five. For four.

For three. For two, Hans come down into the lap for one. Pause eyes open or close. Just notice, feel, and sense. Take your left fingertips right to the center of your sternum. Open your right arm out nice and wide.

Make a little cup with your right palm. And we're gonna go out, out, out, out. Out, out, out. So it's on an exhale. Keep going. So I like to imagine I'm just throwing out whatever I don't need, whatever sitting. Really heavy in the center of the chest.

Just take it out. Toss it out. You don't need it. Get it off of the chest. Go a little bit faster. Out out. Out out.

Out out. Out out. For +1 0987654, three for two, and for one, palms face down, eyes open and close, just reconnect to yourself. Feel that stirring. Feel that energy. Interlace your hands to the back of your head.

So we've stoked the fire. We've stirred the water. We've taken out what we need to take out. And so now we're gonna let that steam rise up and we open up our vision. So deliver the head back into the hands.

Almost like you're leaning back as you're watching a movie and just relaxing. Lift the chin slightly up. We're gonna inhale to the left, exhale to the right, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Keep moving. And notice that the tendency is for your vision to move down, your head to drop down. Keep the vision up.

Trust in your civility to give rise to your ability and then to that vision to the dream and to the goal go a little bit faster in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, for six, for five, for four, for three. For two. And for one, come back to center. Keep your eyes open for that one. Just pause.

Soft gaze forward out in front of you. And then reach your arms up into a nice big v, v for victory cupping your palms. That way, if by chance, some grace might rain down on us from above, we can actually capture it and hold it. Take a big breath in. Big exhale. Fill up halfway, Kapalabhati breath of fire, 50 rounds, exhale, exhale, exhale.

So whether it's out through the nose or out through the mouth, it's like you're blowing out a candle. If you love it, slow it down. Save it. Right. If you hate it, go a little bit faster. So you start to manipulate time and just keep pumping the breath keep the shape of the cups with the palm. Stay with it for 10. For nine.

For eight. For seven. For six. For five. Four. Three.

For two, hook your thumbs, take a big breath in at the top. Hold the breath. Reach up. Reach up. Reach up. Maybe there's room for two more sips of air in. Hold the breath. Be full.

Exhale, pop the cork. Rain of grace all around your circumference. Close your eyes. Just take that pause one more time. Just notice how you feel.

And then we'll open our eyes and we'll make our way onto our backs. So go ahead and come onto your back, bring your feet onto the mat. About hip bone distance and just windshield wiper your knees side to side. Take a moment to extend your legs long to reach the arms up overhead, flex point your toes, circle your feet, and then bring your arms down by your sides. Feedback back to the earth.

Thums on your tummy button index fingers pointing down towards your pelvis. So very similar to what we just did on the block. I want you to arch the back, feel the low back lift up, and then exhale tuck the tail pushing the low back down into the earth. And let's just go forward in and back. And again, let this be nice and slow.

Let your knees, let your thighs be stable. So if they're wanting to move a lot, just try to stabilize them into stillness by pushing down into all 10 toes. And just go forward and back a few more times. And the next time the low back's arch, let's take a nice big circle around the right. So going around that clock face just like we just did knees and thighs stable.

And then let's go counterclockwise. Good. And then go forward and back one more time. So we find that lift, and then we find the tuck. And then let your low back just relax so there may be a little piece of it that's lifted. Take a nice big inhale, and exhale.

K. Bring your arms down by your sides. Bring your heels back up just slightly so your middle fingers can kinda touch the backs of the heels. Draw your shoulders beneath you. On an inhale, we're gonna tuck the tail, squeeze the glutes, lift the hips up and pause. So just imagine your knees moving forward, the glutes are squeezing, the front ribs are drawing down towards the pelvis.

And then we're gonna lower down articulating from the top to the middle to the low back. Okay. Inhale lift up. And exhale lower down. One more time just like that. Inhale lift, push down through the center of the heels.

And exhale lower. Now this time we're gonna reverse the breath. We're gonna go a little bit faster. So you're gonna take a big full inhale. On your exhale, tuck curl and lift.

Inhale, bring it down, exhale, lift, inhale, and exhale up and down. Keep moving. Keep your toes. Connected to the earth. Keep pushing down through the heels. Exylation is as we lift up.

Maybe exhaling out through the teeth so you find that noise. Up and down, up and down, up and down, and just keep moving. Squeeze the glutes. We want to stoke a little fire here in the glutes largest muscle, giving us some support Up and down. Up and down. Keep moving.

Two more just like that. Next time the hips are up, I want you to pause and you're just gonna pulse. Pulse, pulse, pulse, keep squeezing the glutes, keep pulsing the hips up, up, up, you can exhale on each pulse, So the bun should be burning just a little bit here or maybe a lot keep pulsing up, up, up, up, pause, squeeze, lift a little bit higher. Lift your right heel, lower the right heel, lift the left heel. Right heel lifts, left heel lifts. Right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, left, a little bit higher.

Squeeze the glutes. Keith both heels lifted and then again pulse up. Up. Up. For ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Keep the heels up, lower down. Bring it up.

Down and up. Down and up. Down and up. Roll the inner thighs in towards one of just a little bit more. Keep going. Exhaling up.

For 10, for nine, for eight, for seven, For six, for five, four, for three, for two, and for one keep it lifted. Three more breaths, squeeze and lift a little more, and then lower your heels, slowly lower the back and the hips down, feet wide knees together, hands and the belly just pause. Three more breaths. Just feel that fire. And then go ahead and windshield wiper your knees side to side.

Now from here, interlace your hands to the back of your head. So really giving the heads some support. Bring your right knee in. Bring your left knee in. Squeeze the inner thighs in towards one another. Try to lift up and away from the earth as best you can.

Take your right elbow to your left knee, press your right leg forward, point the toes. Come back to center. Switch sides. And just take a moment back and forth, slow or fast, stoking a nice little fire right in the core. Stay with it.

For six, for five, for four, for three, for two, And for one, lower the head down, windshield wiper the knees, side to side. Take a moment, bring your feet wide and knees together hands to the belly. Just reconnect to the breath. Bring your knees in. Give yourself a little squeeze. So knees and thighs are together.

You're gonna lift up off of the shoulder blades, drawing your forehead towards your knees towards your thighs, and then extending the legs out reaching the arms up and back overhead. Bring it back in, give yourself a squeeze, reach back, and just go back and forth. Nice and easy. For 10, for nine, for eight, for seven, For six, five, 4. For 3, keep going.

For two. Last one. Squeeze. And then bring your feet down when she'll vibrate your knees side to side. Hans to belly one last time, biggest fullest inhale.

Big exhale. Inhale fill up, exhale sigh it out. Slowly gently roll over into a little fetal position on your right side. Use your left hand. Press yourself up into a tabletop on your hands and on your knees.

Hands under the shoulders, knees, under the hips. Inhale arch the back, drop the belly lift the gaze, exhale round. And we're gonna speed it up. So it's inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Keep going.

You're ten nine eight seven six five, four, three, two, move right back into child's pose for one and pause. Just notice. And then slowly come back up onto your hands and your knees. Tuck your toes, lift your knees. Send your hips up and back.

Downward facing dog. Peddle out your feet. Find stillness. And just take a big full breath in. Big exhale.

One more time. Inhale. Inhale, we'll bring us forward into a high plank, exhale come all the way down to the belly. Push into the tops of the feet, lift your chest, bojangles and a baby cobra shoulders back hard for. A exhale forehead down. Again, press the feet, lift up baby cobra lungs forward.

A exhale forehead comes down. Hips back to your heels just for a breath child's pose. Downward facing dog, hips up and back. Inhale the right leg high. Take the right knee, tap the right elbow, inhale the leg high, knee to the left elbow, inhale the leg high.

Knee of the nose, step the right foot forward between your hands, coming up high lunge, reaching the arms up to the sky, right hip back, left hip forward. Find the ball of your right foot. Push into the ball of the right foot, inhale straighten the front leg, exhale bend the knee, inhale straighten. Exhale bend. Last time, straighten, and bend.

Open up wide, way or two. Sholders relax. Low belly draws in. Tuck the lower ribs down towards the pelvis, flip your right palm up, reach up, reach back peaceful warrior. Flow your hands down downward facing dog.

Inhale forward to plank with control, come all the way down to the belly. Push your feet, lift your chest. Four head comes down. One more time. Push into your feet, lift your chest. Four head comes down.

Tuck your toes, navel in. Press into your hands. Push up into plank. And back to dog. Inhale fully, exhale completely.

Send your left leg high. Left knee, left elbow tap. Inhale the leg high. Left knee, right elbow tap. Inhale the leg high.

Me to the nose, left foot forward, high lunge. Reach the arms up, left hip back, right hip forward, low belly in, low ribs up and away from the pelvis, find the ball of your left foot, push into it, inhale straighten the left leg, exhale re bend the left knee, inhale straighten, exhale bend, last time straighten. Exhale bend. Open it up nice and wide, warrior two. Relax the shoulders.

Front low ribs down towards the pelvis. Left me moving forward. Flip the left palm up, reach up and back, keep moving the left shin forward. Carbale your hands down. It's downward facing dog.

Big breath in. Big breath out. One more time. Inhale. Slowly walk the feet forward to meet the hands at the top of the mat. Once you're there, feet hip bone are wider.

Take a moment. Grab the elbows and just swinging side to side. Go ahead and release the elbows. Slow roll up. One piece at a time.

At last. All the shoulders at the top. And then just pause standing, feet, hipbone, or wider. Take both hands right into your low belly. Close your eyes.

Take a moment. Since the fire that you've stoked for yourself today, and acknowledge your efforts, acknowledge your practice with gratitude. Namaste.