I am connected

Hi there. Welcome to the Fill Your Cup series. Today, we'll be focusing on twists. When you're ready, join me in a comfortable seat where you can set the spine tall. Take a second as you need to to allow your body to get any little extra energy out so that you can arrive into a certain level of stillness. Set your spine by pressing the hips down into the floor feeling a little length, space up between the vertebras, soften the ice to close when you feel ready, and just start to arrive for your practice. Give yourself a second to just watch your experience, unaffected, undoctored.

Notice the natural breath moving through you. The current sensations moving through the physical body and acknowledging, accepting any present thoughts, stagnant emotions. Draw your hands to heart center, value your gaze and reverence and gratitude. Take a moment to maybe offer up your efforts of your practice to someone you know, or someone you don't know, or maybe a grand collective of people, places, or things, this idea of everyone and everything. With that in mind, we'll take the sound of union, the sound of If you'd like to add an intention to your home today, I offer I am connected.

Inhale? Take another moment here to deepen your breath practice, ujjayi Praniyama, inhale and exhale through the nostrils only, restricting the space in your throat so you hear the deep ocean sound within you, feel it very palpably in the body. From there, we'll start on our backs today. When you're ready, lie down. Maybe just start in a nice mini Shavasana, legs long, arms long, connecting into the earth.

Keep deepening your breath here. From here, grab your block and then draw your knees into your chest and put the block on the skinny side right in between your thighs with the long end closer to the groin. Squeeze the block and draw the knees into the chest. And then slowly let your knees fall over to the right side. You can use your right hand to help hold the legs and stretch the left arm over. Just start to get into this nice twist here, maybe look over to the open arm, take a breath or two, continuing to warm up the body.

Slowly come back to center. Go to the other side. Keep squeezing the block and let the knees fall over. Look to the open hand. Take a breath.

As you come back to center, take both arms. Place them face down on the floor in line with your shoulders. So you're creating a t shape and then lift the shins up table top legs. Building a little core strength through the twists here, start to bring your knees over to the right again, and hover as low as you can with the knees while squeezing the abdomen up and in, feel that side core start to light up. Take a deep breath in here. And exhale come back to center, inhale to the other side, go as low as you can hover, and exhale back to center. One more time, inhale to the right, hover as low as you can, hollow the core.

And exhale through center, inhale to the left, hollow hold, and exhale back to center. Slowly release your feet to the floor, put your block off to the side and roll to one side, meet me in child's pose. Bring your knees as wide as you'd like to the back of the mat, sit back on the heels. From your child's pose, rise through tabletop, tuck your toes first downward facing dog, take a second to find it using the feet and the hands, and then see if you can walk your feet a bit closer until your heels are grounded a little shorter, but not too short. Take your right hand, reach it diagonally behind you, grab the outer left ankle, and start to pull on the ankle as you drop the head and maybe look under the left arm, but then take a nice down dog twist here.

Switch the hands, right hand back forward. Left hand reaches around, grab the outer right ankle. Same thing. Pull a little bit. See if you can look under the right armpit. Take a deep breath. Keep pushing the shoulders back.

Back to neutral down dog. Lift the heels and tiptoe your way to the front, easy forward fold, ragdoll position, shake the neck out as much as you want to, bend the knee, is really connect to the earth here using the arches of the feet to lift the tailbone. Other breath or see any other little movements that help you kind of get the spine released. As soon as you're ready, bend the knees, roll slowly through the spine to stand. Tarasana mountain pose.

Really drop into the connection of the floor so that you can engage the body all the way up to the crown of the head, roll your shoulders open, down your back, palms open, chin parallel to the earth, just present yourself for your asana practice. We'll take a a twisting modified sun b today. So start with your legs together to touch, inhale chair post at low reach up, exhale chair twist, reach the right arm back, reach the left arm forward, look to the right. Inhale back to chair reach arms up, exhale left arm back, right arm forward, look to the left. Inhale back up, chair pose, exhale fold forward straighten the legs.

Inhale halfway lift, lengthen heart. Exhale, step-hopper float, chaturanga, and a lower down. Inhale, pull heart through, up dog. Exhale downward facing dog, hips high and back. Inhale, lift your right heel up, stretch the foot back, inhale.

Exhale, place the right foot at the top of the mat, high lunge, keep your left heel lifted, inhale arms up to the sky nice, strong back leg, exhale open twist, right arm back, left arm forward, look to the right. Inhale back to high lunge, use that strong core. Exhale hands down, step back Chaturanga, lower down halfway. Inhale heart opening up dog. Exhale downward facing dog.

Inhale left heel up, reach the foot back, long leg. Exhale, place the left foot at the top of the mat high lunge, strong back leg as you inhale arms up, exhale open twist, left arm back, right arm forward, find your mid body. Inhale, reach arms up. Exhale, hands down, step back and lower halfway. Inhale, up dog. Exhale downward facing dog. Take about three or four good breaths here.

Moving a lot already in the beginning. So take a second to restudy the breath if you need to, find the engagement to the floor, lift through the low pelvic floor up and back. Always finding longer, steadier breaths when you can. One more inhale here. As you exhale, look forward, step hopper float to the front of the mat.

Take a halfway lift inhale. Exhale fold forward, inhale chair pose, low reach up, exhale stand, tadasana pose, arms by the sides. Take a nice full steady breath here. So, fold forward over the legs now and then sit low enough to bend your hips towards your heels and then find a little bit of a toe stand. Lift your heels up.

Try to balance on the balls of the feet. It's a good place to kind of stay and build some, stability. As you want to, we'll play with a little side pro here, so you can walk your hands over to one side, see if you can get your elbows outside the knee. Keep squeezing. Maybe the work is just kind of leaning into the elbows one or both, if you can. And then maybe you shift so far, you start to play with shifting your hips over, digging a little mini side crow.

You can go as high or as low as you want, building that stability. And then once you get that walk to the other side, see how much you can get the elbows outside the the outer thigh there, one or both elbows into maybe a little build of a side core, or maybe you go all the way up into a little lift. You come back down softly, you go back to a forward fold, release that out. Take a halfway lift inhale, and exhale step hopper flow Chaturanga Danasana. Inhale heart opening up dog.

Exhale downward facing hips high and back. Take a nice breath here. Inhale, lift right leg up to the sky, exhale place right foot forward. Round your back foot open all the way, cartwheel open warrior two. Take a moment to find that nice long lunge, open that inner right thigh. Press through the back outer edge of the foot and find the arches really into the earth.

Take a nice, steady long breath, long armed, maybe gaze at the fingertips. Slowly take that front arm, reach it forward, stretch your side body, bring the right hand down inside the right foot, side angle b, hand on floor, or block, and then stretch your left arm up to the sky, and feel the midline of your body start to twist open, so the gazing at the top hand helps your center body twist open. You can stay just like this already a nice long deep twist, or you can turn your left palm behind you half wrap around your back, reaching for the inner thigh as much as you can, and you can stay just like this or if you feel ready, you can work towards your full body, taking that bottom arm underneath the leg. You can grab the fingertips wrist, or use a strap if it's difficult to get the hands there. You can stretch the arms back from there, and then continue to reframe the gaze up to the ceiling, opening the chest as you feel able to. Take another good breath here in this twist.

And then as you release, release the hands to the floor, drop your left knee to the earth and then walk your hands up your right thigh will go right into the counter twist here, the low lunge twist to the other way. So once you get your hands nice and tall, use your hands to twist your chest over to the right, see how low you can get your left elbow down the outside of the outer right, calf there, and the armpit goes closer to the knee as best you can. The palms come to prayer, and you press down into that bottom arm into the knee, and use that to help lift your side ribs and twist into that right leg. You can stay in the prayer here as well, or slowly open the arms, bottom hand to floor, block, right arm up, looking up, if you can, staying here, half binding from there. Staying here or full binding from here. Same thing, fingertips, or wrists, and if you don't have the ability to get your hands, you can use a strap here.

Take another breath or two here, really lengthening the spine to make this space and really exhaling into that twist. Take one more here. With control, release your hands back down, it can really slings out. So be careful there with that pressure. Lift up your back heel, take a breath in the low lunge, exhale crawl through the middle of the mat to your wide legs, turn the toes in parallel or or more turned in, and then continue walking over to the back leg. So left leg, right hand, once again, grabs the outside of that left ankle, stretch your body forward like a halfway, lift and then reach your left arm up.

Take a little counter twist there. Looking up to the left hand, trying to lengthen the spine and even the hips as much as you can. One more deep breath like this. With control, release your hands to the earth, take one single breath through the center just to even yourself out. And then continue crawling back the way you came to the front of the mat. Step your left foot to the front of the mat, forward fold, find your chair post at low reach up, and then bring your hands to heart center, twist over to the right again, bring that left double again down as far as you can outside that shin.

You can stay just like this pressing and lengthening, dropping the hips further, or maybe you open the arms and move into that full side crow this time. You reach that right arm out as far as you can and shift over, pulling that left elbow under as you stack and balance. If you feel comfortable, you can straighten the legs, and then try to come back as smoothly as you came in the first time. Fold forward, let it go. Take a halfway lift inhale.

Exale chaturanga, step hop or float, inhale heart opening, exhale downward facing. Nice, big breath here. Other side, inhale left leg up, exhale left foot at the top of the mat, round your back foot all the way open. Cartwheel open Warrior two, really the highest point of this first part of the sequence. So take your time to really get settled from that length and spine as you drop into that front knee, nice long arms, deep breath as you gaze forward. Nice long reach for that front hand, and then bring that bottom hand down inside the foot floor block or fingertips, look up to that right hand, take a breath to settle into the twist.

And then decide if you want to move into the half bind. And then decide if you want to move into the full by with or without a strap stretching the arms long as you feel able to to deepen that length through that mid torso. Take another good breath here. With control unravel the hands, down frame that front foot drop the knee, untuck the toes. Walk your hands up that thigh to a lifted chest and then use your hands as leverage, if you want to, to get a little bit deeper.

You can start high or go further inside arm pit to knee aesthetic. Hands, prayer, stay here and use the leverage of the arm to open up. Or start to fly the arms open, or go into a half bind, or go into a full bind, and you take a nice, long steady, deep breath or so. Using the breath to find a space, you can see how the the, voice gets a little strained, right? You keep breathing through that resistance. With control, release your hands to the floor.

Lift your back knee, take a breath in the lunge to find the space again, and then crawl through your wide leg fold, turn the toes slightly in, and continue to walk your hands to that back leg. Left hand grabs right ankle, and you stretch like a halfway lift forward, reach the other arm up kinda try to keep your hips even. Look up. Take a deep breath here. Little counter the other way. As you exhale release the hands, crawl back through the lunge, and step your back leg to the front of the mat.

Bring your legs together, chair pose as you inhale, arms up, sit low, hands to prayer as you exhale, twist over to the left. See how low you can get that elbow for leverage, press open and breathe, maybe look up. And stay here if you want, or slowly open the arms, or slowly reach the hands out to the side and shift over, maybe lean, maybe lift the feet, maybe straighten the legs if that feels possible. Coming back the way you came, releasing the feet to the floor and folding back forward. Halfway lift as you inhale, exhale Chaturanga, inhale up dog.

Exhale downward facing dog. Nice breath here. Back at the mat inhale, lift your right leg up. Exhale right foot top of the mat, low lunge, keep your heel lifted, left hand on the inside of the right foot, open the right arm to the sky, open twist in your low lunge, take a breath to settle in there, and then look down to the bottom hand, take that left hand on a floor or block and reach it forward in arms length till you can shift forward, twist it half moon as you go into that front leg, try to keep your bottom leg, reaching back, and then point the toes down, and then open the chest back to the right side. Take a nice long breath, long, leg, long arm, and then exhale forward fold top of the mat.

Roll through the spine to stand. Take a moment to find your balance on both feet, and then we'll go right into weight on the left foot, rising your right knee into the chest. Hold on to your right knee. This variation, you're gonna twist in just like we did in the half moon parallel with the body will take the left hand either to the outer right knee and start to reach the right arm back in the twist. Or if you want, you can grab the outer right foot and start to stretch that right leg long, creating a nice t shape with your body.

You can stay just like this or slowly open the gaze to the side, or even see if you can reach and look to the back hand. Really challenging the stability and the core strength here. We'll take one more breath. Trying to come back as smoothly as you can pulling the knee in and releasing the right foot back down, breath in tadasana, vinyasa to come out, reach the arms up, inhale. Exhale fold forward, halfway lift inhale, exhale chaturanga, inhale updog, exhale down dog.

Inhale lift, left leg up to the sky. XL left foot forward, low lunge twist, right hand down, left arm up, take a moment to find the center, twist right at the naval center, keep it if you can, as you look down, reach that right arm forward, shift forward until you're in your twisted half moon, the work is to try to use the bottom floor to twist in your body, working your hips and legs, as even as you can, one more breath, maybe look up. And then release forward fold. Roll through the spine to stand. Take a breath.

Shift into the right foot other side. Draw your left knee into the chest. Find your balance. Starting with the right hand on the outside of the left knee, reaching the right arm back. Staying here or maybe grabbing the outer left foot trying to stretch that leg forward.

Stay forward with the gaze or slowly open to the side or slowly try to look back. Take another breath. Back to center as you pull in, and release it to the earth. Tarasana. And then we rinse it out, inhale reach the arms up, exhale fold forward, inhale halfway lift, exhale chaturanga, inhale up dog. Exhale down dog.

And let's take a child's pose, drop your knees to the floor, and take a moment to rest. After you've settled your breath, glide forward onto your belly. Meet me in a wide armed cobra with the tented fingertips. So take your fingertips outside the mat like spider legs almost, a little bit of a rolling back of the elbows. We'll just wake up a little bit of the shoulders, get a nice stretch through the chest.

Press through the fingertips, inhale roll through the spine, lift the chest. Exhale roll back down. Adding some twist inhale roll up. Exhale drop the left shoulder, look at your right back foot. Inhale back through the middle, exhale drop right shoulder, look at your back left foot.

Inhale back to center one more time. Look up as much as you want. And then exhale release. Make a pillow with your hands. Rest the forehead on the pillow for a moment.

Let the spine settle. And we'll take one nice neutral cobra to even ourselves out. So bring the hands by the shoulders a little bit lower, if you feel ready, press the palms, and think about rolling the elbows in and back, and pulling the mat back as you roll through the spine, press your hips, press your legs, and take your time to find any version of a cobra, engaging your legs and stretching through the mid body. Another breath or two here. You can keep the gaze low or open it up playing with that connection of the heart opening through the neck spine. One more breath.

From there, slowly let yourself go back down, make a pillow with your hands and rest the forehead on the pillow. Let the spine release. Press your palm, sit back to child's pose. Rise up to your tabletop, swing your legs around, find a nice seat with your legs facing the front of the room. Draw your right knee into your chest place your right foot outside your left leg.

If the hips are better grounded with the leg long, stay like that, or bend your left knee in, reground the hips, take your left arm, wrap it around the left leg, or hook the elbow, and use your backhand like a kickstand, and start to twist around the body here. Keep your hips nice and grounded and lengthen your head over the tailbone. You can stay like this. If you want to add a bind, you can take your hand, reach it through the legs, through that hole around the outside, maybe the fingertips, wrist grab is available, or you use your strap here, either way pull and stretch as you inhale, and release into the twist as you exhale. One more breath here.

Back to center, counter twist a little bit for yourself, for the other way, and then undo the legs back to straight. Switch to the other side, draw the left knee in. Place the left foot outside the right leg. Stay here or bend the leg. Wrap the arm or hook the elbow.

Back hand is a kickstand. Nice and tall inhale. And then decide to stay or add your little wrap a little you is kinda getting that internal rotation with the other hand support, fingertips, or wrist, or strap, two deep breaths here. Inhale lengthen. Exhale twist. One more.

Around the spine we twist. Slowly unravel, counter twist the other way, and then release and meet me on your back. Once you arrive on your back, draw your knees into your chest, use your hands pressing into the floor to bring your legs up overhead, and then use your hands on your low back or mid back to help you get the feet as close to the floor as you can. From here, you can stay in the middle if that feels really nice to relax into, or play with a little bit of side twisting here, walk your feet over to one side, see how much you can get a little half circle through those legs, get a nice upside down inversion with that twist engagement. And then crawl through the middle back to the other side.

Take a breath. Back to center, and then use your hands again. Control the spine as you roll all the way back, letting the leg slowly also release down to the floor. One final, passive twist here to cleanse everything out, right knee into the chest, left leg long, and let your right knee fall over to the left. You can stay like this as you look over to the right hand, or stretch that right leg out, grab the outer foot that we did earlier standing, get nice and long in all directions and take a nice breath.

Allow your body to rinse out all this effort here as we move towards rest. Slowly come back to center. Switch the legs, left knee into chest, right leg long, twist over to the right, use your hand to help support, reach your left arm open, stay with the knee bent, or grab that outer left foot, stretch the legs long. Take another two slow breaths here. Releasing on to your back, both knees into chest, a soft opening of your knees, pull everything in, take a deep breath in, and then let it all go, Shavasana corpse pose.

Let the body completely release of all effort, let the mind follow, allow the breath to just happen. Feel free to stay here longer, if you'd like. Soon as you're ready, roll over to one side. Maybe stay in a fetal position for a moment. And then rise up to a final seat, maybe the same seat as you started, augmenting as you need to.

Just setting the spine nice and tall, one last time here in the practice, returning to stillness as soon as possible so that you can save the rest of the energy to just watch, watch what might have been uncovered. Try to witness yourself unaffected by the doing. Bring your hands to heart center, bow your gaze and reverence and gratitude, thank yourself, honor your efforts. And we'll finish with a single ohm. Thank you for your practice.