Inner Fall

Welcome to class today. I'm so glad you're here. We'll need two blocks for practice, and you can set them towards the top of your mat. Meet me in child's pose when you're ready. Weigh your knees as wide as they feel comfortable, your big toes to touch, sit the hips back, walk the hands forward, and let your forehead rest down towards the earth.

Let's start to land here together with a few deep breaths. Let's breathe in through the nose, feel the belly soft, through your mouth or your nose, let that breath go. And again, full easy breath in. And a full easy breath out. I invite you to anchor into this breath.

This life force that lives within you. I invite you to anchor it in as your focal point. As we move with the intention of letting go, of honoring our yeses and our nos. I'm being very curious about what that is for you. If you want to crawl the fingertips forward a little bit more, do so and create space in the shoulders, if you want restore, if you want nourishment and surrender, just stay where you are and get a little softer.

Let's take one more deep breath in together here, and a full breath out. Keep the hands where they are reach forward. Start to roll yourself towards all fours. Keep the knees a little bit wide just like you are in child's, and start to drop the hips down, lift the feet up into this seal pose shape. Lift the heart.

As you exhale, you'll press back into that child's pose shape, hips towards your heels, bow the forehead in, and then go with the breath. Inhale, roll on through all fours. Lift the feet, drop the hips down, lift the heart inhale, exhale roll it back into your child. One more time. If you don't want to move, don't move. If you feel like moving, moving, right? We're honoring where our energy is at.

In this cycle, in this phase, and we'll meet in a tabletop all fours. Hands underneath your shoulders and knees underneath you. Start to tuck your toes, walk the hand slightly forward and fold the hips up and back. Down facing dog, leave a little petal side to side. Soften the muscles of the face.

Settle into some stillness. And then take the gaze forward and walk your feet towards your hands as many steps as you'd like as slow or as fast as you'd like. And then allow yourself to hang out in ragdoll. Keep the hands on the earth or grab for opposite elbows. I invite you here to give a nice shake of the head now.

What does that feel like in your body? And then a shake of the head, yes. What are those evoked within your body as well? Let the hands go. Let the feet be hips width.

Keep the knees bent and let the head be last. Roll yourself up to stacking vertebrae by vertebrae. Take your time. Let your heart lift once you're standing, roll the shoulders down and back. Deep breathe in and out.

So we'll sit into like an imaginary chair and our hands are gonna come onto our thighs as we go here. And then allow yourself to be loose here. Like you can kinda take a moment, feel the weight shift side to side, and your feet, your hips loose. We'll go for like a snake roll, is what I'll call it, a big body roll through the upper torso. So imagine like you're trying to dive into a pool round through the spine, drop the head down, and then inhale lift the heart roll up through the spine and tuck into the pelvis, drop the head down and inhale roll back up like you're coming up for air. Keep going. Dive in, round in, inhale roll the heart back up.

One more time. Big breath in. You can bend the knees as much as you need or you'd like. And then find that role as you come up, stand all the way up, reach the fingers up. Deep breathe in. And find a forward fold as we exhale.

Halfway lift as you inhale. Plant the palms and step your feet back into a high plank pose shape. So let's pause. The pause is sacred. It allows us to decide our yes or our no.

What do we feel in this pause? Do you wish to go right to down dog from here or do you wish to lower to your belly? If so, come on down, lift the chest into a baby cobra. If you're in down dog, we're meeting you there right now. Let's all tuck the toes, press the hips up to the sky. Give a nice walk side to side, bend one knee and the other.

So for a moment gaze towards your hands, bend your knees and plant your knees onto the earth. This is where we're gonna find our two blocks. You can place them towards the top of your mat space, plant your hands right onto the blocks, and we're gonna stay very rooted through the blocks as we move through this next sequence. Come back to your downward facing dog. With your hands on the blocks, you might find you want to walk the feet a little closer in or a little bit wider, but stay long through the spine hips up.

Your right foot Step it on through to the top of your mat space. Keep your left knee lifted. You can hop it back slightly if you need a little bit more space. And then see if you can play with the heart lifting and the hips dropping down. So this is like an active runner's lunge.

One deep exhale here. One deep inhale. Where we're going is a hovering half splits. So start to shift the hips back Ben the left knee as you go and straighten the right leg flexing your right toes up towards your face. Give a hug of your inner thighs, hug your belly button in so there's that center point of stability.

And then re bend back into your lunge. Take these blocks with you. Turn the prasarita, blocks are underneath your hands. Right hand stays on the block. Left hand is gonna go high in a big open arm twist.

Feel your left fingertips reach up to the sky and your spine really long inhale. Place your left hand back on your block as you exhale. So this left leg, it has a window it'll kick through forward to the top of your mat and you set your hips down. Take your right hand behind you, lift your hips into stargazer and lift your left fingertips up and overhead. As you exhale, lower the hips back down towards the earth.

Toppsy-turvy here, we're going to return back to the hands on the blocks. So strong core, strong press of the palms onto the blocks. Proserita is where we'll meet. Press lift, step the left foot wide, and then hang out in your fold. You just did a lot.

So may we pause, may we honor And may we relocate where we are? Where are your feet? Where are your hands? Where is your mind? Find your inhale into a halfway lift. Turn towards your left foot and bring your blocks with you underneath your hands, frame them towards your left foot. Right knee is lifted hips drop down and heart lifts up in that active runner's lunge.

Got a couple of breaths here. Coming into that hovering half splits, shift the hips back, bend the right knee, hovering up off the earth, Flex your left toes towards your face. Breathe deeply as you bow the chest down, opening up in the back of that left leg. Spring back forward into your lunge take those two blocks with you, turn to prosorita, hips high, head low. Left hand will stay on the block, and right arm is gonna peel you open into this twist.

So we're kind of contrasting these closing off shapes, these opening up shapes, so take this moment, maybe gaze up, find a deep breath in, and then close the right hand back down, come inwards to yourself. Right foot, step it all the way through towards the top of the mat, set your leg down. Left hand behind you, hips left into a stargazer, right arm overhead. With your next exhale, lower the hips back down towards the earth, take your hands to your blocks, firm, press onto the blocks, step that right foot back into prosorita, heart down. Okay. We're here for a moment.

Shake the head. No. Shake the head. Yes. Where is your mind? Where is your spirit? Are there emotions coming up with the physical practice?

Can you breathe with them as we move? We're gonna flow that side to side one time. Inhale, lift the heart forward. Exale turn towards your right foot. You're in that runner's lunge. Drop the hips down, lift the heart up.

Breatheveling half splits as you exhale. Bend the left knee straighten the right leg. Crawl through your lunge, bring the blocks with you, left arm goes high, open arm twist. Close it down, left hand on the block, kick that left foot forward and through. Right hand behind you and you lift the hips into stargazer. Lower the hips back down, turn your hands back to the blocks, press and lift step to your prosserita.

Big exhale drop the heart. Big inhale halfway lift. Take the blocks with you to the back of your mat. Drop the hips down, lift the heart runners lunge. Hovering half splits, bend the right knee straight in the left leg.

Come back through your lunge, turn through center, lift your right arm high to the sky. Bring your right hand back down towards the block Your right foot kicks all the way through, set your hips down. Let your left hand come behind you and lift the hips into your stargazer. Lower the hips. Bring your hands back to the blocks.

Press and lift step to cross the arena. A moment here ragdoll it out. Let the head come down. If you have those two blocks, right in front of you, stack them. Let your elbows come onto the blocks.

Let your head rest, your neck, release anything it's holding. And breathe deeply here. So how do we know When rest is calling to us, how do we know when the edge we're avoiding is what might benefit us if we take the step towards it? How do we know what to let go? Alright. These questions we can think of in our inner autumn I invite you to be here for one more breath, and then start to lift into your half lift.

Take those blocks back underneath your palms. Turn towards your right foot. Bring the blocks with you. You can set them off to the side of your mat. We're gonna step the left foot to meet the right in a forward fold and come on into a chair pose shape.

Bend the knees. So swim the arms forward. Let both weight be in the heels as you reach your tailbone back, settle your gaze. Start to swim the hands behind you and interlace your fingers so you find a chest expansion in this chair pose shape. So here you can stay.

This is a place where you can play with a little bit extra balance if you feel like lifting the heels, do that. Personally, I tried it on and a no came up in my body. Like, I'm embracing too much. I'm holding the breath. I'm too uncomfortable, so I'm lowering the heels. That's where I breathe deeply and I can feel and be present. So I encourage you choose what that option is for you, and together we'll have about two more breaths in this shape.

Set the heels down if they're lifted. Unlace the hands. Full chair, arms reach forward. Big breath in. Forward fold as you exhale hips high.

Bring the feet a little bit wider. Keep the knees softly bent. If you'd like, hands or, peace fingers, your pointer, your middle finger, and your thumb. Grab onto your big toes, and then it's just a little bit of an anchor to pull through that big toe and chest down hips up. Gantly unravel the hands from your feet.

Find your halfway lift to lengthen the heart forward. XL as you fold the chest back down. We'll meet in a high plank from here. So I'm gonna invite you if your blocks are off the side of your mat that you just give yourself a little bit more space and move them now and then plant the palms and step the feet back. We'll hang out and we'll meet in no rush in this high plank.

I feel the heels squeeze back. Really long spine like the heart pulling forward, the collar bones reaching forward. And then lower the elbows down into a forearm plank. We'll be here for about five breaths. If your breath is becoming very staggered, stiff, difficult to find, lower the knees.

Take a moment of rest. Whatever shape you're in will find one more deep breath in. And a deep breath out. Drop the knees down if they're lifted. Lower the belly down, and let's all meet and think. So, untuck the toes.

Sometimes I walk my feet a little bit wider to give my lower back some extra space. If it's your back is feeling pinchy, it's a variation to try on today. See if the pelvis, you can get really heavy towards the earth. But the heart to stay upright and pressing down into the forearms and the elbows helps with that bit. We'll keep the lift of the chest, but just drop the chin down.

Roll one ear one shoulder, chin into your chest, and opposite ear opposite shoulder. Let's go side to side. Invite this sense of softness in for yourself. When your ready chin comes into your chest, and then the crown of the head lifts back up. We'll stay upright through the sphinx.

We're gonna gaze over to the left and see that left knee slide up. They're in this half floor frog shape. Now, this can be something that feels just enough for your lower back. If you want to play with a variation of a twist, Your right elbow will walk forward, and your left arm is going to thread underneath you. Lower your chest down, lower your head down, and your opposite, your right hand can create a gentle little fist, to rest underneath that left temple.

I can just notice what it's like to be heavy and held on the earth. So no extra movement here after more active flow. The practice that perhaps could have challenged you mentally or physically. Rather than fighting the challenge as failure, Perhaps it can be met with compassion, confident curiosity that there is something being shown to you. Through the thoughts that come up in response to the practice.

The thoughts that tell you you're not doing it right? The thoughts that are telling you you can't do it. To nurture them with the why. Why are you here speaking to me this way? And how can I reshape to respond in a way that empowers this cycle that I am in, this space of letting go? Start to lift gently through the chest.

Lift on to the right forearm again so you can unthread the left arm and then just take a moment and let that left arm come to a tee gaze back over to your right and you can rest your head on that hand once again. We're just gonna give the left arm some love to have some blood flow back into the shoulder. Chin through center and both hands underneath your shoulders so the left knee can slide down. Walk yourself back onto your forearms into that sphinx. And then gaze over towards your right, slide the right knee up into your half floor frog shape.

This can go without the twist if you want to lower all the way to your chest from here. If you liked the twist on this side, go ahead and thread the right arm underneath you. And let's take that left fist for a gentle rest underneath the temple on your right side of your head. Tune into the breath and just see how it moves into the back of the shoulder blades, into the lower back, the pelvis, invites you to soften with each breath out. So this practice of knowing what is best for us in the moment, is something that we only know for ourselves, and we sometimes learn through trial and error. Right?

So we try on something and we're like, that didn't stick. That didn't feel what, like, I needed to hear. And I'll try something different next time, where I'll try it now. And so with this reflection, I do also encourage you to offer the grace and compassion towards doing it in perfectly always and knowing that sometimes trying something on teaches us what our yes or our no is. So if you're in this phase of just letting go, of trying on what it's like to let go of a thought, of a memory that's coming in from earlier in the day.

I'm seeing what happens in that subtle shift. If that no, if that boundary was an exhale in your mind and your body. That's your information. That's your breath right here. We'll come back to this breath.

Long exhale, and start to unfold and lift the chest. Press up enough to unthread the right arm into a tee and rest the chest back down. It's letting the blood flow back into the right shoulder. And start to walk your hands back underneath you, slide your right knee down. Let's take both hands underneath the forehead like a little pillow.

Bend your knees and windshield wiper the feet side to side. It was small or as big as feels nice to you here. Come on through center, plant your feet back onto the earth, and lift your gaze. Well, come on to our spine. You're gonna use pancake on over.

All the way onto your back. Once you land there, I'll invite you to bring your knees in and give yourself a really big hug. Perhaps even lift the shoulders. Wrap the arms around your shins and squeeze inwards. Rest your head down onto the earth.

And from here, find a happy baby. Grab onto your ankles or your feet. Let your knees be wide. Let your belly be soft. Let your exhales be an invitation to soften.

Bring your left foot onto the earth when you're ready and place your right ankle on your left thigh. So we have this figure four shape in the body. You're gonna keep this figure four shape and let it fall over towards the left into a twist. Your arms can come into a big wide tee, if you'd like. If it feels okay in your neck, let your gaze fall over the opposite side from where your legs are.

We here for two more breaths. Enjoy. Let go. Relax your face. Come, bring your knees through center when you're ready. Bring your head through center.

Put your right foot on the earth so your left ankle can come onto your right thigh. Let that figure four shape fall. All the way to the right, arms out to a t, gaze over to the left. And savor what energy you have with you on your mat here, whether it be a burst that you've walked in with today or you're feeling that sense of autumn within where the energy is starting to come back to a slow, slow pace. Let one more breath go.

And then bring your knees all the way back through center. Your head through center. Let's bring our knees back into our chest. Up your arms around your shins, bring your forehead this time up towards your knees. I'm gonna invite you to hug inwards like you are giving someone the biggest hug you've given them all day, all month, all week, and receive this hug, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze inwards and find a deep breath in.

With your exhale, start to unfold. Let yourself come towards your final rest of Shavasana. Let your legs go long. Your arms come right by your sides. Let your breath begin to release any sort of control from the mind.

Let the mind be in perfectly loving awareness? There's this observing of your body on the earth, of your breath naturally rising and falling. I'm really centering in towards the exhale here. Taking observation of the letting go. Stay soft with the breath.

Gentle through the mind. Take note if the breath showed you what letting go may come to, one day, may be as effortless as exhaling. To resist the fight of letting go to embrace the opportunity that it leads us into space of rest, of clearing, and of promise that a cycle continues beyond the letting go. Be here in this sweetness you've cultivated for yourself. Bring one hand to belly and heart if you feel called.

And we can seal here together in honor of this practice of showing up to the mat space in the way that we know for ourselves this practice radiates and ripples beyond our mat. May we breathe and seal together with an inhale, mouth or nose as you let go, settling into the exhale. Thank you so much for joining today. May you walk in peace to the remainder of your day, and to take good care. Namaste.