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Season 1 - Episode 8

Courageous Commited Conduit

60 min - Practice
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We receive more if we are grounded. Kate weaves together the short movement patterns explored in earlier episodes to make a complete sequence. We begin with a fluid juicing of the spine. Then with keen attention to the deep intrinsic muscles, we move through a standing sequence designed to build capacity, strength, and courage to commit. We finish with a luxurious forward fold and savasana. You will feel open, grounded, and available.
What You'll Need: Mat

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Hey y'all, so I'm so glad you're here with me and you're gonna join me in this class. I'm gonna teach today The class I'm gonna teach today. I call Gaia grounded so my home studio is Gaia yoga and the word Gaia means Mother Earth and Most of you might think of the word grounded as being rooted to the earth But instead I think of grounded as being a conduit. So being a place where love flows through I Think of grounded more in the concept of a lightning rod. So you receive gravity you receive the love from above and you accept it And bring it down into your body So I hope you get some sort of sensation of that as we move through the practice today And I'm really glad you're here with me. Namaste. So if you'll just come to a comfortable position Seated position it can be cross-legged anything you want If you have a pillow at home that you want to sit on that'd be great We're not going to be here that long a couple of minutes but if you'll just come to a seated position and close your eyes for me and Just start to come inside Maybe start to listen to the sound of the breath And what's really wonderful is the breath is like a child When you pay attention to it, it shows off a little bit for you. So you might actually feel your breath deepen and lengthen just on its own And If you'll take a moment to feel your pelvis weighted down, in other words like let your bones get heavy You might even kind of slump in your posture And just feel the weight of your bones settle down And then once you feel the anchoring of your pelvis Notice whether you're leaning into one butt cheek more than the other So could you perhaps even that out a little bit? relax And then you have the anchoring of your pelvis now So forget about your legs try to relax your legs and just feel yourself become buoyant through the crown of the head So it's like you just kind of pick yourself up. I Imagine that the pelvis is anchored to the ocean floor and the crown of the head just starts to float towards the surface So it's a real gentle lift. It's not militant And Then maybe a little link through the back of the neck just to make sure you're not just lifting the chin a lot of times We just sit up straight and puff the chest and lift the chin. So lengthen through the back of the body We'll take a couple more breaths here, and if you'll just focus on the exhales Just gently exhaling all the stale air out So as you exhale to completion, it's like you're cleaning all the old cans out of the back of your pantry So that when you buy the new groceries when you take in that next breath, it's like you have a place to put them Nice So when you're ready you can open the eyes and let's just start to come forward on to all fours So you come into a tabletop position and you'll spread your fingers wide and it can be a really balanced position wherever you feel most stable the knees could be wider than the hips in other words the Hands could be wider than the shoulders And if you'll just peek at your hands and make sure they make sense so they don't have to be in this exact placement But just they should make sense to you You've actually looked at them and acknowledge them and then reach the crown of the head forward and kind of stretch the pelvis back Just a little bit to give yourself some length. Maybe draw the shoulder blades down the back a little bit Just give yourself a second in this tabletop. So we're gonna start the class with four spinal movements And we're gonna take you through a full range of the spine. So it's full range of movement of the spine I should say so when you're ready just coming into a cat and a cow So exhaling to round the spine up towards the ceiling and an inhale you roll the pelvis forward and start to drop the belly down So just flexion and extension which is basically forward bending and backward bending So Just a couple of rounds of these and I'm not the breath police so you can take the breath into any direction you want to but just see if you can connect the movement to the breath and Can you feel your shoulder blades moving on your back? Like can you feel the shoulder blades glide away from each other and then move towards each other at times? So that brings more awareness into the upper body, but then can you also bring your awareness into the lower body? Can you pay attention to the pelvis and notice that the pelvis is rolling around the femur bones?

Your femur bones are your thigh bones So when you come into cat The next cat that you come into that's when your back is arched up towards the ceiling if you'll hold that position for me Please and just relax your head down. This is a pretty important position in this class We're really gonna work on a lot of flexion of rounding the spine So pull the belly up into the spine and try to relax the shoulders you can still push down through the hands But just relax the shoulders and relax the back of the neck so that you really let the head release down And then think of wrapping your sits bones base of the pelvis wrap the sit bones around the back of the knees so you get a little more tuck of the pelvis and You really feel the low back stretch mid back stretch. Maybe up into the thoracic spine the mid to upper back and Then as you're ready just start to slowly roll the pelvis forward and start to drop down into the cow position So the belly drops down towards the floor and you might look up I don't usually but just maybe lift the sit bones or do something that makes it more you more productive So you could kind of draw the shoulder blades together, whatever you do that just emphasizes it And then you might take a few more just back and forth So just nice and easy. This is pretty easy. You don't really need to watch me to do this So you don't really need a visual you can just kind of do it yourself And this should feel good everything. I'm doing should feel good All right, so we're coming into movement number two when you're ready take your time You always can linger with the movement as long as you need so we're come back to a tabletop position And we're gonna come into side bending so lateral flexion, and I'm just gonna turn you loose on another segment I teach lateral flexion a little more detail, but this time I'm just gonna go ahead and go right for it Alright, so let's come into movement number two and don't feel rushed at all feel free to linger in any of these movements But when you're ready, we're gonna bend your right elbow and bring your right shoulder towards your right hip So you might even look back towards your right foot and think of compressing on the right side so really think of Bending compressing in a good way like squeezing the organs on the right side and really Linking through the left side and then you can push into one hand or the other and you can get in a little deeper It should feel good remember and then you're gonna come back through center And just pause back in that tabletop position and see if you feel like a little flush like a nice sensation and Then bend your left elbow Might look back at your left foot and just pause. We'll we'll pick this pace up in a little bit, but You could look back at your left elbow your left knee your left foot wherever you want to look and maybe push into one hand Just get in there a little deeper remember squeezing the left side lengthening the right side good lateral flexion Side bending and then come back to center and just be a good yogi scientist and observe. Do you feel something? Does it feel good and now let's start to pick up the pace a little bit So you just bend the elbows and you're moving side to side So this is taking the spine through its side bending its lateral flexion movement And if you notice I'm using my elbows a lot, it's like I'm steering almost with my elbows So I get a good stretch in the wrist in here. I get a little stimulation to the fingers, so it's not just my spine I'm getting into the shoulder getting into the side ribs So that's movement number two and then when you're ready We're going to come into movement number three so coming back to a tabletop position You'll arch your spine up like a cat feel that cat position again Pull the belly up wrap the sit bones a little bit towards the backs of the knees And then you're going to move the spine either to the right or left doesn't matter which one and you just start to take These barrel rolls so the spine is like a jump rope, and I'm not going to lie this requires a little coordination So if it's not coming to you easily at first don't worry about it Make sure you switch directions You're probably bending your elbows a lot and trying to figure it out if you're brand new to this and that's cool But trust me. It's very luxurious. So it's worth working to find and your spine should be able to do this So a couple more making sure you go in both directions Remember that the if the spine is like a jump rope the head is holding one end and the pelvis is holding the other So we're kind of combining the first two movements Make sure you're breathing And then when you're ready you can come back to all fours will come into movement number four So slide the hands forward a little bit at least this is what I like and I even turn my fingers out a little bit Do your hands how you what feels right you know put them in the right place that feels good to you And then start to drop your hips back towards your heels, and you're gonna stir your pelvis around your knees So the knees stay stationary you probably didn't hear that but my knees there you probably heard that one Maybe but my knees popped a little bit. I think popping is fine if it hurts then stop But just a little bit of popping. I think is just allowing the tissue to kind of move around So I go in circles at times and other times. I do horseshoes So hopefully in this movement. We're getting the pelvis and the spine to move notice the transfer of weight from one hand to the other What we're doing is moving the femur bone, which is your thigh bone, and it's two major joints the hip and the knee This should feel really good. You might even close your eyes. Hopefully you're feeling a good stretch in the outer hip and also, maybe even some of you getting something in the inner thigh and And Then as your final movement just start to let the movement be organic and by organic I don't mean pesticide free. I mean visceral. I mean like organ So you just kind of imagine that you're inside of a ball, and you're just moving inside to touch every aspect of that ball If you don't know what to do close your eyes and Just try to let the body be in charge Sometimes we can get a little self-conscious with this but It's your mind that's self-conscious your body actually really wants the movement, so it's like a gentle writhing Couple more breaths what you're doing is finding the spots that only you can find so it's very personal. It's rather intimate almost And then eventually and remember all of this should feel good, and you're the only one who can make it feel good And then eventually you just kind of make your way back towards the child's pose So you can do your hips towards your heels some of you might not get there some days I actually just stay on my forearms. I really like that You also could prop your forehead up with your fists or your hands But just take a couple of breaths here and Try to allow yourself to Breathe into the lungs behind the heart that cue really helps me So the bulk of the lung tissue is behind the heart Feel free to change your position of your knees or your hands and sometimes I even give myself a gentle wobble here Relax the elbows relax the shoulders, and you just kind of melt into a nice heap and just feel the breath So maybe two more breaths breathe laterally a 360 degree breath where you breathe into the side ribs and Remember to exhale to completion and then just start to make your way back up onto all fours When you're ready remember never feeling rushed on your yoga mat So peek at your hands again I think a good yogi should always be if not visually mentally peeking at their hands just to kind of check them out So make sure your hands make sense and then when you're ready tuck your toes and we'll come into the first downward facing dog So you can tuck your toes and start to pedal your feet? So you can spend some time here We don't hold a lot of downward dogs in this class so you can spend a little time here. Just pedaling the feet It's nice to bend one knee press the opposite heel a lot of times We don't get a stretch in the calves in yoga So it's a really nice time to actually give a good stretch to the to the calves As well you might notice as you you could even like straighten both legs But just give a little bend you know work both legs heels towards the floor But give a little bend to the knees and start to lift the sit bones up feel how that feels on the hamstrings the backs of the thighs Sometimes I also notice that I'm pushing so hard in the hands, which is great You know I can you can push so hard into the hands that your shoulders come up by the ears and this feels good This feels good. It's just like as Eric my teacher says you're playing the note of that pose You know, but you also I think it's nice to sometimes soften the elbows just a smidge and really find the muscles in the pose It doesn't matter if your heels touch the floor. That's okay So it's fine. Just be where you are for a moment and just breathe relax the head in the neck and Then just start to ease yourself forward into a plank So just shoulders over wrists and don't overthink it just come forward find a plank and then pick yourself up and come back So let's do that three more times just kind of flowing through it and don't overthink it inhale forward perhaps So you connect the movement to the breath and you might even stay here and breathe or just lift back on an exhale? So When you come forward two more times Can you feel on this one that maybe your spine is bringing you forward like can you feel the spine bring you forward? And then the pelvis pick you up So it's not about the shoulders plank, right? The shoulders are along for the ride. It's about the spine Holding you up You might even close your eyes when you do this And then when you're ready just soften your knee joint and start to walk your hands backwards So enjoy this movement this kind of like gorilla like walking back Just walk yourself back and then find your feet in a stable position You might go ahead and bend your knees and bring your forearms to the thighs and this isn't the wussy version This is like the you know a way to really relax your back the back of your neck and relax the low back So let go of the whole back of the spine particularly the back of the neck for some of us who have Tension in the back of the neck, especially if you have like an office job, or you drive in the car a lot Sometimes the back of the neck can get really tense So let go there and then if this feels fine You could stay here or you could let your arm bones drop down and just really let the arm bones dangle So later on I'm gonna ask you to anchor the upper arm bones into the joint. So here don't just let the arm bones dangle out of the joint Just let the arm bones dangle out of the joint And really let go of the head and the neck Can you actually feel the upper spine releasing? Can you feel the weight of your skull the weight of your brain? And can you even feel like the fresh blood flowing down into the brain like the heart isn't having to pump against gravity here That fresh blood is just flowing down to the brain like a bath for the brain And then you're probably some of you back in your heels or maybe your legs are even locked out if you'll soften your knee joint a little bit And then start to shift some weight forward So be brave and dive the head down and it does kind of feel like you're being brave And you dive the head down and bring maybe 60% of the weight forward into the front of the foot So it's almost like you're tipping forward a good plotty skew actually I've heard a lot is lean into the wind a little bit And then you're gonna feel your find your feet on the mat. So feel the weight drop down into the feet But then start to pick your belly up into your spine So try to keep the pelvis over the feet try to keep weight forward into the front of the foot And start to wrap your sit bones towards the backs of the knees So the pelvis is involved in this keep wrapping the sit bones towards the backs of the knees You start to feel those muscles at the back of the body turn on and the belly pulls up into the spine See I'm rounding up almost through like a cat position Arm bones dangle the arms are gonna try to help you some of you the arms are gonna freak out Don't let them try to make this about the spine So that you're really stacking the spine bone by bone When you get to the top make sure you didn't lock your knees some of you probably did it's okay But that means you're locking your knees a lot so just try to unlock the knees a little bit Hopefully it feels good And then as you're ready just go ahead and float your arms up So now when you bring your arms up what tends to happen is I'll show you kind of like the quote wrong way So some girls you know like I say girls because this is pretty common in women But they're like who bring my arms up and that's not what I'm asking you to do So soften your knees a little bit find your feet and as you bring your arms up know that it's gonna change the ribs So if I bring the arms too far back It's gonna make me like sway the back and puff the ribs out So a position the arms in a place maybe it's in front of the torso a little bit or maybe wider like a V Where you feel like you've got a chance to drop the upper arm bones down and drop the shoulder blades down So I'll even show you from the front. I'm not here I'm here pretty big difference. So if you need to be here to get that that's fine So I'm not really concerned about your hands being directly over your shoulders That's not anything that I care about and I also don't care about whether your palms face forward Or wherever they face. I actually like to pay face my palms forward so you can do that What I'm most concerned about in this is your upper arm bone This is your humerus bone dropping down into the joint So feeling the upper arm bone anchored down into the side ribs down into the waist Some of you even feeling it down to the belly button and then the fingertips reaching up towards the sky So the opposition of the arms, it feels like the arms are really a part of the body. You're working from center And then as you're ready, you're gonna start to come up onto the balls of the feet. So try not to rock forward So this is the tendency most people have they rock forward and just lift up And kind of just stick their pelvis forward and lock their ankles out and they freak out and their calves over work I don't want you to do that I want you to try to bypass the greedier muscles of your calf and your quadriceps And I want you to try to connect your pelvis and the arches of your feet So let's try. All right, so you're gonna slowly start to lift up Imagine that you're in an elevator shaft and you're going straight up. So you don't rock forward. You just go straight up Feeling the arches of the feet beneath you arches of the feet are like another spine down there If you fall it's okay Soften the knee joint. I do this all the time. I do it while I'm pumping gas while I'm waiting for tea to boil So I'm pretty Practiced at this and then just slowly lower yourself back down land with a little balance in the knees So don't lock the knees out and readjust the pelvis when you get down the arms are probably tired So let's bring the hands down to prayer position and just draw the shoulder blades down the back So as you draw the shoulder blades down the back and you might be able to see this from the side view best As you draw the shoulder blades down some people tend to do this and they just splay the front ribs So let's work both front and back of the body So let's draw the shoulder blades down the back use the muscles of the back, but then pull the front ribs back in So you notice I went from like this To here so I'm I'm working you in a postural way deep intrinsic muscles close to the spine So pull the front ribs in draw the shoulder blades down the back and see if you can feel that Updraft up through the arches of the feet all the way up through the crown of the head Hands are in prayer position And then as you're ready You're gonna start to lift up again onto the balls of the feet and as you come up Lift your heels if you feel like you're rolling out into the outer edges and you're falling out laterally That's quite normal. We're trying with this to bring everything back in medially So meaning the center line of the body So press down into the big toe and some of you might find that that gives you more of a sense of your center More of a sense of your inner line or your inner thigh even and it's almost as if you're pulling the inner thigh Oh, I lost it pulling the inner thigh up into the pelvis Find your lower belly and then lower yourself slowly back down So strengthening the arches and the ankles of the feet So bringing your arms back up for the last one you don't have to bring your arms up if you don't want to remember your palms can face forward or in however you want them try to anchor the upper arm bones in and Try it just fix little things so that you feel your front ribs pull back into the spine relax the head in the neck focus on a non-moving spot and So this time this is a more advanced cue, but see if you can pick yourself up with your pelvis So soften the knee joint and try not to push down into the balls of the feet But pick yourself up with your pelvis You might be like what is she talking about just try it. It'll slow you down if anything So you won't go as high but some of you who get it will start to feel a connection between your feet and your pelvis Find your lower belly and then just see if you can relax your arms down So find the big toe remember the most advanced thing you can do here is relax So you should be able to move you don't have to move a lot, but you should be able to be relaxed up here. I Almost lost it. All right, so slowly let the pelvis lower your heels back down if possible So the pelvis puts the heels back on the ground and then just relax bend the knees a little bit so it's nice to get a little movement relax a little bit now, so just lean forward lean into your Thighs as if you're listening in on a huddle is the way I like to explain it So your shoulders can come up by your ears and I like to give a little rocking So you're just getting a little movement into the ankles and to the knees into the feet I haven't turned my toes out sometimes and open the knees just you know Anything that you want to do that makes your feet feel like they get to relax after that movement and then eventually Start to stop the rocking and find both your feet on the mat so you find both your feet and what I mean by finding your feet is can you find the big toe the pinky toe and The heel of each foot when I find those three corners and some teachers talk about four corners It's okay. Just today. I'm talking about three if you want to think for that's fine But when you find those corners of the feet Sometimes you might notice that it actually gives you your butt like you suddenly feel like your butt comes online and you have access to it So a little wrap of the sit bones. You're not duck butting a little wrap of the sit bones find your feet And then just pick yourself up bring your hands to prayer position. So some of you might be leaning really far forward That's okay. See if you can wrap your sit bones a little bit more and tilt your rib cage back just a smidge So this should be pretty intense work. I mean, it's almost making me shake. You're really having to work for it a little bit Keep finding that wrap of the sit bones. See if you can pull the lower belly into the spine And just really feel sturdy here as sturdy as you can if you're shaking a little bit, that's okay That's called the trimmer of truth. At least that's what my Pilates instructor calls it So it's actually a good thing to shake a little bit. You're getting into the deep muscles You're making them come online and then press down through the heels I'm sure you're exhausted and start to slowly straighten your legs So don't lock your knees and just see if you can feed it all the way up through the spine up through the crown of the head So when you're ready, let's bring the hands to the hips And I'm gonna turn to face you just so you can see this better. You can stay where you are So when you come down you're gonna start to soften your knees and just wrap the sit bones into the back of the body So you sink down and don't duck butt don't send the butt back behind you It's like you're in an elevator shaft and you're sinking right down the center. So you might feel a little compression in the ankles That's a good thing You're kind of reaching the knees forward and sinking down into the heels Hands are on the hips and that's so that you can feel what the pelvis is doing So as you're ready to start to float the right knee forward and lift the right heel up off the mat So it makes me kind of shake you can already see it maybe but it's making me shake a little bit it's making me work deep right here to hold the pelvis stable and just lift the heel up and then slowly put the heel down and Float the left knee forward and lift the left heel So what I'm asking you not is not to do this and just hike the hip up So try to float the knee forward keep the pelvis level find your lower belly find that wrap of the sit bones and then slowly Put the heel back down You're doing great shoulder blades down the back. Relax. Stay low if you can Come out of it if you need to and then wrap those sit bones again and reach the knees forward Peel both heels off the floor if you can So find your lower belly and Then keep reaching the knees forward as you slowly lower the heels back down Let's do that two more times. Just take it at your own pace So try to stay low try to keep the pelvis level reaching the knees forward as you float the heels up So obviously the heel raises we did before apply here keep thinking of the big toe Keep thinking of that wrap of the sit bones and you might hold this last one more advanced students So wrap the sit bones try to stay up there try not to lock out the ankles more advanced students So a little softness in the heels. It's making me shake. It's hard if you're shaking. That's a good thing Whoo, and then slowly release the heels down keep reaching the knees forward So you get that good compression in the ankles and Then just gently push down through the heels and slowly come up to standing. So don't lock the knees feed it up through the spine Really nice and then you might give yourself a little shake at the top. Just relax it out So I'm gonna roll the spine down and as you roll the spine down I want you to think of like the way a dolphin dives they dive like up and over. They don't just collapse and sink down. So We're gonna come up and over to dive down. So pick yourself up tall up out of the waist It's like you're picking the spine up out of the waist lifting up tall through the crown of the head You're not puffing the chest and lifting the chin you keep you Just pick yourself up through the crown of the head softness in the knees find the arches of the feet beneath you and then Start to lift up and over So it's kind of hard to do this in the beginning So as you roll down and I might not be doing this perfectly I'm not like Pilates people might be freaking out, but it's a good yoga attempt So let the arms relax and pull the belly into the spine the belly goes up and under the ribs And we're doing like the big yogi faux pas. We're rounding the spine But I'm getting a good stretch and a good strengthen of my spine So I'm gonna pause right here. And if you want to look I'm like in a standing cat position So I feel a real nice stretch of the low back, but I also feel like I'm strengthening the low back here So little softness in the knees make sure the knees stay soft Try to keep your weight even in your feet and the arm bones dangle relax the arms. They're gonna try to help you But they can't last thing wrap the sit bones towards the backs of the knees So you anchor yourself with the pelvis and then dive the head down so think head first more advanced students But keep wrapping the sit bones around the backs towards the backs of the knees So it feels like the pelvis and the belly and the spine are putting the hands down onto the mat And then land and then you can walk your hands back out Downward-facing dog Downward dog usually feels pretty good at this point It feels good to pedal out the feet and move it feels good to get out of the feet and the legs and start to Feel more strength coming on into the shoulders So now we're gonna come into three planks and we're gonna hold these planks a little bit longer So if I'm holding you too long, you can always drop one knee or both knees or just come out of it and just come back To a down dog don't feel like you have to hold it the whole time So as we do these three planks though I want you to think when you come forward of coming forward like a turtle comes out of its shell They come forward with caution. They come out with caution, you know, so don't just like Forward, you know, take it easy got go nice and slow and try to find it as you come forward So as you come forward this cue might help you think of your upper arm bones moving back as the torso moves forward And don't get aggressive about this But try to move the upper arm bones back. So as the torso comes forward There's a sensation that the upper arm bones are rooted into the spine rooted into the torso. Maybe Find your belly there's a tendency here to let the belly sag so pick your belly up into your spine You might feel like you're you're too high up, but I'd rather you be high up than dragging your spine down And then just lift up and out Pelvis picks you up and Relax take a full breath. Maybe pedal the feet You might even visually or mentally peek at your hands. Remember the hands are important where you've got them Maybe a little softness in the elbow. So you're not leaning into the bones, right?

You lock you don't lock out the arms here You unlock the arms a little bit give you turn the muscles back on and so this time as you come forward See if you can feel we're gonna try to get the feet involved So imagine that your heels are bungee corded to the floor and as you come forward You have that resistance behind you So you're pulling back gently through the heels upper arm bones pull back as you come forward more advanced There might be a sensation of the triceps pulling into the rib cage So now it feels like my legs are online My spine is online and my shoulders are working sure, but I'm able to talk. I'm able to move my head in my neck and Then just pelvis lifts you up and back Okay, so we're gonna do one more just give yourself a little pedal of the feet So if you wanted to watch quickly, I want to show you what I'm trying not to get you to do This is really common is people come forward and they just push forward like that and you see how I'm not using my feet at all I'm over extending my wrist in a way and I'm just kind of dumping into the shoulders. I'm also sagging in my pelvis I don't want you to look like this. I want you to be a little more protected than that So this last one find those heels. They don't have to touch the ground. My heels aren't touching the ground but imagine that your heels are bungee corded and then remember you come forward with caution and The upper arm bones move back as the torso comes forward So there's that connection of tricep to ribs if you can feel that there's a connection of the triceps to the rib cage It's making me shake pull your front ribs up into the spine. I'm sorry I should get my head on my spine get your head on your spine like a healthy rosebud on a healthy stem so pick the front ribs up into the spine and Then pick the belly up into the spine. Don't let them sag Good last one and then get yourself out of there You're probably tired give yourself a little break a little pedal You could always drop down to the knees if you needed to here and then as you're ready We're gonna get out of the arms to start to walk your feet forward done great So walk your feet forward to the front of the mat. Maybe about a hip distance or so at the front of the mat And let your head hang heavy. We're gonna roll the spine back up here So this should feel good. Give yourself a moment to relax the wrist relax the back of the neck Just let yourself sag and you notice here. So now I'm kind of in my heels and my pelvis is behind my heels That's not how I want you to roll up. I want you to bring your legs more vertical So shift your weight forward be brave dive the head down relax the back of the neck and Then see if you can feel this connection of the sit bones wrapping towards the backs of the knees So you give it like a little wrap of the sit bones find your feet press into the four or three corners of the feet Arm bones are dangling Start to roll your spine up slowly So belly pulls up under the ribs. It's like you're using the front of the spine to stack the back of the spine Should feel really good when you get to the top softness in the knees always check on the joints beneath the pelvis All right, so hands to the hips we're going to come into a couple of standing poses So let's step your left leg back first and we're going to come into warrior one So when you step your left leg back, you want your feet to be like they're on train tracks You're not on a tightrope here So and also a lot of times people bring their foot really far back and that's almost a warrior two stance So step your left foot a little bit further forward Maybe and make try to get your toes to finish The front left corner of the room or of the mat somewhere in there always being aware of the knee though You don't ever want to do anything at the expense of the knee and then just kind of bend down into your front leg And see what it feels like a lot of times. I shift my right foot at this point once I get my left foot set up I shift my right foot so that I feel like I'm stable. I Want you to square your hips not for an aesthetic reason But my function of squaring the hip is so that you feel like you're on the right side of the leg Aesthetic reason but my function of squaring the hip is so that you feel deep muscles of the pelvis working in this position That's why I want your feet in this position. You might not do this all the time This might not be the way you do warrior one all the time, but so these are your femur bones They're very helpful in this pose start to steer with your femur bones So if you notice if I am just in warrior one here I feel my legs engaged, but now I'm gonna press into my feet and steer my pelvis So as I push into my feet and steer with my femur bones, I feel much more connection now with the pelvis Pelvis and feet are connected steering with these heavy thigh bones So sinking into the right leg a little bit more make sure you turn on the muscles of the right thigh And then as you're ready, you're gonna float the arms up So remember the arms change everything so you've got to think about the arms coming up You don't just sling them up there find the front ribs find the back body shoulder blades down the back Push into the back foot and get hot get longer get taller up through the crown of the head You might be shaking keep fighting for your pelvis and trying to it's like you're pulling the femur bones back into the joint into the pelvis and Then you're gonna lift up out of the waist So maybe a little lift the pubic bone here to turn on the lower belly you're gonna lift up out of the waist and tilt forward to 45 degrees and Then as you're ready you could stay here and that's a little harder or maybe bring your hands down to prayer position and just relax Back of the neck long find the front of your spine here if that makes sense find the front of your body Anchor into that back foot It's like you're being shot out of a cannon really tall through the crown of the head long through the crown of the head And now the pelvis is gonna tilt me back up So I'm gonna commit to this deep bend of the right leg and let the pelvis tilt me back up So staying really strong and then come on to the ball of the back foot for some of you This might feel like a relief now for the ankle but others of you this might be too much You can always keep the heel down and just do as needed with the foot at this point But if you can come on to the ball of the foot What it's gonna do is allow you to square your hips more towards the front of the mat But it's gonna be harder to stabilize so we're taking it up a notch as far as working on a deeper level So this isn't easy to stay here. Obviously, you're really having to work on a deep level So on the ball of the back foot and then start to slowly straighten your front leg So this is called the carousel lunge So you come all the way up up through the crown of the head one of my teachers named it this I used to always say it's like you're on a carousel pole, but she started calling on the carousel lunge So you square your hips towards the front of the mat. It's easier to square the hips right fight for your pelvis Come up onto the ball the foot as high as you can on that back foot try to unlock both knees But more advanced get your knee legs as straight as possible without locking the knees And then it's like you're that bamboo stock quivering in the wind. It's very hard. It's almost scary So back off the left heel a little bit if you can more advanced and relax the back ankle and Now bend into your front knee and push back through your left heel you go straight down Fight for your pelvis. The pelvis is like I don't want to make it do it make it stay and then start to slowly straighten the front leg and Back down find your lower belly So the lower belly is the quarterback. Can you feel this coming from the lower belly? I mean, this is making me shake. I'm working hard and If someone walked in the room, they wouldn't think I'm working that hard, but it's hard More advanced. Can you find the big toes of both feet find the inner line? So we do three more we do four total I Think I'm on the fourth you're gonna drop it down sink it down Push into your right foot find your right ass find your right glute and then float your arms up Remember the arms change everything so fix things working hard This is your tada moment take a nice deep inhale and now exhale open into warrior two So everything peels open notice how I'm moving my feet a lot. I'm letting the feet move as they need to So hands come to the hips. Let's take a little break straighten your front leg. Let your body move a little bit We work this deep and this focus is nice to like relax in between I always let my students shake it out a little bit So now your right heel should be in line with your left inner arch I should also say some of this stuff might start to cause a little cramping just take a break when you need to I Have seen that eventually that cramping goes away as you build the strength of the deeper muscles So the hands come on the hips and I'm gonna get my pelvis level to the mat So in other words, the pelvis wants to do this and then I come into this and I don't want you to look like that So get the pelvis level you got your pelvis on waistband parallel to the floor is a way to think about it And then as you bend your right knee, I think of like a hot air balloon So you land a hot air balloon like straight down? You just come straight down if that didn't feel like that was happening in your own body Your stance might be too narrow so widen your feet a little bit and allow your feet to be where they want to be I don't really care where the left toes point somebody else might get mad about that, but that's not my thing I want your left toes to feel comfortable based on your knee and based on where you are And then just arms out to the side. This is like your warrior two, right? You could bend your elbows. You can have your palms up All people love to do all kinds of things do whatever you want with the arms and then Be really diligent about this. See if you can keep everything, you know, you're open to the side wall now So keep everything this way and just turn your gaze to look out over your right middle finger Nice and then hands come to the back of the head So I like to stack my hands like pancakes, I don't really do them I don't interlock my fingers But that's up to you and draw your elbows So you notice I kind of have my shoulders up by my ears and you can take a break if you need to If you draw your elbows back, it's gonna stretch the chest You can see how it's stretching the chest, but it's also really feeling yucky in my back So draw your shoulder your elbows forward and let the shoulder blades drop down the back Come back into the bent knee if you lost it come back into that bent knee and then we're gonna lift up and over To the right so it's coming up and over. You're picking the spine up out of the waist coming over to the right Good and then come back to center and Up over to the left. So find the lower belly find the front ribs because again, they're like I don't want to and Then the left hand can come down It doesn't do much don't lean into it too much right arm comes up because this is about the spine We're making the spine do this try to draw your right shoulder blade down the mat down the back for a moment And you might look forward you might look up try to get the head as a part of the pose head and neck Good and then you're gonna straighten the right leg get a nice big stretch on the right side body sometimes I even bring my bicep towards my cheek and Then you're gonna bend your right leg bring your right forearm to your right thigh and let your left arm drop down So take a break rearrange the feet as needed and let the left arm just swing So I'm really relaxing around the left shoulder blade I mean, I literally just like yeah flop it around and swing it so that I really let go and Then you can start to move it. So you're using the arm bone like a lever to stretch the muscles of the chest the back the shoulder and You can even tuck it under that leg. You have access to both wrists So I really like to spin my wrists Reach through one finger at a time and y'all it doesn't need to look pretty I mean if it if it's something you've seen in a book, then you didn't make it up So try to find something that works for you that feels productive And then let's just find a place where you can linger for a while and again, it doesn't have to be anything Perfect. It's just a place where you're like, oh, yeah, there's the spot. I need to hold it there maybe three breaths And then bring the left hand back up towards the sky That'll get you kind of back in line Open your eyes if you had him closed find your feet beneath you try to stop leaning into the right arm as much and now Let's tilt back warrior two. So it's like you drop down into the warrior to the pelvis moves Turn the right palm up. At least that's what I like to do and now tilt lift your spine up out of the waist nice deep inhale exhale windmill your arms to either side and Let's just drop the back knee down and just for a moment straighten and bend the front leg So what you were doing took a lot of effort and so you're probably you were holding your breath a little bit So instead of thinking of this so much as a stretching movement just allow it to be I hate to use this word But almost a little sloppy You know just more relaxed where you're just moving forward and back trying to release any tension in the legs and the hips in the low back just allowing those muscles to relax and Then next time you're forward into your right foot if you'll just hold it there Sink down for a moment. Let's tuck the back toes if that feels okay and try to stay low But lift the back knee get a good stretch for the left hip flexors This Sometimes turns on the breath you can really feel it hip flexors at the front of the thigh where the pelvis and the thigh meet And now I'm gonna send the right leg back to plank You could also go straight to down dog So maybe kind of lift your hips up and send the foot back to plank pose I think it's harder to go to plank than down dog So if you wanted to go to down dog and meet us in plank you could Find your plank remember heels back a little bit toes forward It's like you pull yourself taught like a clothesline here, and I'll try to keep the belly lifting away from the floor Which is hard because the belly wants to drop, but lower the knees as you lift the belly away from the floor Mm-hmm and then press the back child's pose give yourself a little break So we're gonna take a movement for the spine now. It should feel really good. I like to wobble a little bit in the child's pose All Right so this is a little bit more of a deeper version of like a cat and cow So when you're ready you're gonna lift up It's like you just lift off out of your child's pose, and you come into that cat position So you probably some of you might want to bring your knees wider and adjust things But find that cat pull the belly up into the spine relax the head and then start to slowly shift forward So the pelvis moves forward into a modified up dog move your hands as needed Be gentle don't go all the way in this first one Push down through the hand some of you might be sagging like this push down through the hands draw the shoulder blades down the back Like lift yourself up and now lift your pubic bone up towards your chin So you go from kind of sagging here pick the pubic bone up towards the chin and that fires up the lower belly and Then the lower belly picks you up and back into child's pose We'll do that two more times If you know the movement you could go faster and do it three times So you round through a child's pose Flexion of the spine and then come into extension this time those of you know modified up dog You might just drop a little deeper, but keep the knees down if you would and then pubic bone lifts up picks you up Lower belly picks you up and puts you in a child's pose, and I usually just kind of touch down in the child's pose It's just like a quick touch, and then I pick myself right back up So there's a little bit of energy to the movement even though. It's more flowy and yin and slow and luscious Last one you might hold it for a breath or three you might look up if that feels okay again push down through the hands feel The openness of the chest don't drop the pelvis too far So it hurts lift the pubic bone up fire up the lower belly and pick yourself up and back Into a child's pose. This is a good child's pose where you can just relax So maybe separate your knees wide Relax the head give yourself that wobble if you like that Give yourself any movement you're craving or lack of movement sometimes. It's nice to be still Breathe into the lungs behind the heart Two more breaths make sure you exhale completely And then start to make your way back up on to all fours peek at your hands make sure they make sense tuck your toes downward-facing dog Gonna give yourself a little pedal of the feet as needed and start to walk your feet forward come to the front of the mat So when you get to the top of the mat feet are you know good distance but apart? I like them that way if you like your feet together, that's cool But just get yourself in a place where you feel stable Let the head relax remember try not to rock the hips too far back behind the heels instead dive the head down And get your weight so that the pelvis is over the feet and then you pick yourself up with the belly So it's like you feel the belly come into the spine you feel the sit bones wrap around the back of the body The pelvis is almost like a crank arm bones dangle. You'll feel yourself freaking out You'll feel the knees trying to lock you'll feel the arms trying to lock out Try to relax that and make this all about the spine gently pushing down through the feet Front of the spine stacking the back of the spine Feels really nice when you get to the top. It's like your own spine you you built it again you created it All right, so hands come to the hips and we're gonna step the right leg back coming into warrior one So again feet like a train track more So a little wide right to left and we're trying to get the right toes to face approximately the front right corner of the mat Or the room somewhere in there so get that situated if it bothers the knee figure it out You know get it to a place where it feels good And then bend into your front leg and position your left left foot as needed you know get your left foot into a place That feels stable So hands can come on the hips for a moment, and you just sink down into that front leg Push off the back foot so sometimes I actually straighten the front leg find the weight in the back foot Lift up tall through the crown of the head, and then as you bend into the front like keep that weight anchored in the back foot All of this should be energetics. I want to remind you. I'm not doing this for aesthetics I'm doing it for functionality so at this point. I don't feel much going on in my pelvis. I feel my legs I feel my feet so now I'm gonna try to find action going on in the pelvis So steer with your femur bones push into your feet pull the femur bones into the body like you pull them into the pelvis And steer the pelvis square and now you start to feel like deep muscles in the hip are starting to work It gives you a sense of your pelvis it gives you a sense of first and second chakra I really believe that just that primal stability survival So you're you found it in the feet float the arms up remember that the arms change everything Find your breath find your front ribs find your lower belly a little lift to the pukebone if you can and then lift up And over so pick yourself up out of the waist and tilt forward and by that. I mean don't come to this Don't round here. I ask you to round other times I'm not asking you to here so your spine just tilts forward because the pelvis tilted forward The spine is long and strong and along for the ride Look down at the floor back of the neck long healthy rosebud the head is a healthy rosebud on a healthy stem You're keeping awareness of it And then hands down to prayer as you draw the shoulder blades down the back Can you feel a connection of the shoulder blades drawing down the back and that press into the back foot?

Get longer through the crown of the head so find the length in the spine my pelvis is already forgotten about it So push into the feet steer the pelvis square fight for your pelvis Fight for that first and second chakra try to find it again You know and then the pelvis tilts you back up hands can stay in prayer pelvis tilts you back up Commit to the deep end of the front leg Whoo, it's hard work and then come on to the ball of the back foot and I even kind of bounce here So give yourself a break, you know move your feet as needed Shake it out if you need to So I bounce a little bit because I'm testing my balance as I bounce my feet arrange themselves to a place that feels Most stable. It's like I just do the bouncing and the feet are like whoa whoa and they figure it out So it's kind of nice. All right, so hands come to the hips and that's so that you know what your pelvis is doing It's like there's my hips. There's my pelvis. All right, so start to straighten your front leg and Try not to lock out the knees So y'all if you lock out the knees, it's like whoa, you can just be here all day You know don't do that soften the knees a little bit It's really easy to lock the knees and lean into the bones So I'm asking you to soften the knees try to straighten the legs as mmm I almost went down try to straighten the legs as much as possible without locking the knees Let the energy flow up from the earth up through the legs So I'm pushing off the ball of the back foot, but I'm a little freaked out in that back ankle I'm being a little weird so back off the back ankle just to smidge relax the back ankle let the energy flow through there Steer the pelvis square pull up through the crown of the head. It's so hard You're starting to quiver the whole body is coming online and working together as an organism and it's like I don't know if I can do it But just keep yourself up there for a little bit longer your heads like above the clouds you're getting to see the birds This is awesome. It's worth it. It's worth it and then bend your left knee push back through your right heel sink it down Good answer three more so you go up and down like you're on a carousel pole and by that. I mean don't just That's lazy, so it's like you're sucked up through a straw and then back down Can you find the big toes just a little bit it's not aggressive Find the inner thighs find your lower belly fight for your pelvis Good last one sink it down. You might be really tired. Just stay with it fight for it arms come up It's your tada moment. You totally earned this find it for a moment steer the pelvis take a nice deep inhale and now exhale open way or two so everything peels open to the side wall and Then relax hands to the hips so just take a little break Get your pelvis level relax move your feet as needed and then so waistband parallel to the floor You're gonna bend your left knee and sink down and remember you're gonna take the pelvis straight down So the pelvis kind of wants to do this don't I Don't care if your pelvis is directly facing that side wall But that is what you're facing so think about that see if you can feel your pelvis spread to the side wall to the side of your mat and Then float your arms up when you're ready So the again the pelvis is like a flower pot and the spine is growing out of it So we're always thinking about the pelvis and the spine and that way everything is working from Center Maybe turn your head But it's very deliberate and Then hands come to the back of the head Mm-hmm, and you're gonna lift up and over to the left Shoulder blades down there. Let me show you here actually so if I draw my elbows back like this you can see now that I'm really like kind of congested my My upper back so draw the elbows slightly forward drop the shoulder blades down the back mm-hmm And then lift up and over so pick yourself up through the crown head the spine gets up goes up longer and up and Over to the left. It's hard Find the lower belly find the front ribs and then come back up to Center see my pelvis isn't moving the spine is moving now lateral flexion true lateral flexion pick yourself up out of the waist so peaceful warriors about the spine or it can be right hand down Not much leaning into this left arm up because it's about the spine my true core strength is turning on Find your breath head on the spine Straighten the left leg give yourself a little release Stretch it out and then bend the left leg Left forearm to the left thigh, so now you're leaning into the bones y'all you are like really leaning into the bones and relaxing You get a little break swing the right arm relax around the shoulder blade move the foot as needed I'm gonna turn my right toes out to relax my right ankle for a moment So this should be really relaxed, and then just right arm starts to lift up and move around So there's these big like sunrise to sunset movements you notice. I'm kind of sticking my butt out now It doesn't matter. There's no and we're not trying to look aesthetically good right now The function is to move the arm To give the arm its full range of movement and to feel how the arm is so connected to other parts of the body The whole body is connected. There's no Insertion or origin right it's all together all one piece And Again this should feel good, and then just start to find some semblance some place where you're like yep That place needs a little time Give it about three breaths relax Find your center and relax And then the arm goes up towards the sky Palm faces the side of the mat if that's okay shoulder blade draws down the back Take a little weight out of the left arm so start to use the muscles again push into the feet It helps to find the feet and now we're gonna tilt back to warrior two, but it's like you drop down into warrior two whoo Pelvis moves to bring the spine back up. I like to turn my left palm up here and tilt Nice deep inhale exhale windmill your arms to either side big stretch drop the back knee down You totally have earned it straighten and bend the front leg So the way I think of this class is that you're working smarter not harder I Realized in my own practice that I I Was moving so fast that I was missing a lot of the key elements So remember maybe two more you're connecting the movement with the breath and we're just gliding forward and back It's like we're calming ourselves down with some movement Okay, and then sink into the left leg Tuck the back toes lift the back knee and try to stay low So you can really I come onto my knuckles sometimes to y'all and then so lift the back knee and try to stay low Oh my goodness stretch through the front of the right thigh where the pelvis and the thigh meet Breathe and Then hands come to the mat lift the hips. See if you can step it right back to a plank. Heesh. Oh Pull yourself taught like a clothesline So I'm lifting the front ribs into the body. I'm lifting the belly up because everything wants to do that So pick it up And now belly lifts away from the floor Let's try to touch the knees last real efforted thing will do touch the knees. Whoo and then lift back up I know you hate me right now. I kind of hate myself two more For making us do two or three Triceps pulled to the back of the room a little bit if you can feel that Oh my goodness and last one lower all the way down Give yourself a child's pose relax Sometimes it even feels nice to bring the arms back beside you it lets the shoulder blades really separate and spread And it also really helps sometimes I feel like for people to relax the wrists Like you actually need to mentally relax your wrist here, make sure you're letting go of them And then the hands come back out forward And we're gonna come So hands forward you're in a child's pose Maybe a little more active with the elbows lifted you might even come up onto the fingertips like little spiders like you've got tennis balls underneath the hands And just really feel a stretch some people feel a stretch some not I almost feel a better stretch when I walk my hands forward And then just slide your hands back on the mat palms stay facing down fingertips facing forward So palms down and your hands are basically about beside your knees Somewhere in there. It's like you got cobra arms, and then you reach your elbows towards the back of the room and That's gonna give you a little pressure into your hands So you kind of push into your hands, but you don't even have to push into the hands if you draw the elbows back so you feel how that rearranges the neck like I was here and Then it draws the elbows back and it changes my neck gives me a little pressure into the hands little resistance that I'm looking for And then I'm gonna wrap my tailbone around the back of the heel So that fires up the butt right you feel your butt fire up when you wrap your tailbone around your heels And that gives you a good anchoring at the base of the spine So we're gonna start to curl the forehead in towards the knees Little pressure in the arms little pressure in the hands tailbone wraps around the heels take your time Think nose to pubic bone as you roll up, so you're keeping that rounding of the spine eventually the hands have to slide to the thighs Keep rolling up kind of milking it on the way up. It's like you're unfurling like a firm frond If this bothers the knees you don't have to stay here, but it feels pretty nice Okay, so when you're ready, we're gonna come on to either hip and you can just come on to either hip and face the same direction I'm gonna turn around so that you can see me so Coming on to either hip and you're gonna bring your legs out in front of you and Your feet are gonna be about I usually say about matte width because some people are like don't like to bring their legs that wide So I encourage you to bring them like matte width apart And then you notice there's a good bit of space between my heels and my hips So if my feet were in like this y'all I'd be like rolling back behind my sit bones And that's not where I want you in fact that's usually what happens is people come into forward folds They're up here like this and then they come down they go they roll backwards to come forwards And that's not what I want you to do. So when your feet are on the mat wide It's like we've taken the hamstrings out of it We're not having to worry about the hamstrings now So you can grab onto the backs of the thighs or I like to grab onto the shins and just kind of pull yourself up Out of the waist so lengthen yourself tall through the crown of the head you really lift up and you see I went from being Here back behind the sit bones to here Hopefully you can kind of use the the arms to help you pull yourself up out of the waist if that makes sense So really lengthening long and then you could stay here And this might be really good for some of you to kind of build a little strength and just start to get you forward And on top of the sit bones or in front of the sit bones But some of you might like to come forward and come between the legs and come into a rounded forward fold So I'm really rounding the spine here And then let the head drop down and relax the back of the neck You might close your eyes because your view is your crotch, so you might want to close your eyes And just relax for a moment So it feels good sometimes here as well to tuck the chin to the chest and I also really want to encourage you to Really think about the back of the body like can you feel the back of the body opening up? You Sometimes just our awareness to the area can really help So I'm trying to stretch the whole back of the spine a Lot of thick tissue thoracolumbar fascia all over the back of the body It's a lot of thick tissue to protect the spine, but it needs stimulation. It needs stretching on a regular basis If you haven't done it already you might tuck the chin to the chest and that can be a little humbling because sometimes it's like pretty intense Don't do it if it's too much And then slowly start to bring yourself back up I use my hands to come back up, so I make it really easy for myself at this point to come back up It's kind of a nice sensation And then scoot yourself forward on your mat, so you have some room behind you we're gonna roll down So we've done a lot of rolling of the spine, so we're gonna finally roll the spine down onto the back So your feet are about hip distance apart you can see that they're about the width of your pelvis You've got a good view here to see that and if you I'm gonna cue the big toe again a little bit Can you feel the big toe and how it connects with the center of your body the? Medial or the inner line of your body and the inner thighs even here and then hands to the backs of the thighs That's where I like them at least and sit right on top of the sit bones So you actually use your hands use your biceps even to try to help you sit up tall and use the arm muscles to sit Up right on top of the sit bones And then if you notice I'm gonna roll back behind the sit bones, and it's you just barely roll back behind the sit bones So in other words I went from up here to there not much But it hopefully gives you a little access to the lower belly for some of you it even might help to release this area Right where the pelvis and the thigh meet so you're trying to turn off the hip flexors and find the lower belly You're trying to go underneath the hip flexors if that makes sense to some of you So I didn't collapse in the chest I was up here I rolled back behind the sit bones and then lift your arms up for just a moment So imagine that you know like if a kid was jumping to you out of a pool you would reach for them of course Don't let them jump to you You know so don't pull the arms out of the joint draw the shoulders into the body like draw the upper arm bones into the body roll back behind the sit bones a little bit and Then you're gonna start to come down if this is too much just bring the hands to the backs of the thighs And I'll do it with you if you're doing your arms up keep the arm bones anchored into the joint It's not this you're keeping the arm bones anchored, but if you're rolling down bone by bone slowly And don't freak out on it being bone by bone some people might not get this it doesn't matter Try to find that access to the big toe in the inner thighs and just slowly bring yourself down think of rectus abdominis If you're familiar with that muscle you're using rectus So you might even pause here think nose to pubic bone, and we're using rectus because we're in heavy flexion right now But we're trying to lengthen the rectus abdominis as we go down So creating that length in the spine as you go down and then coming all the way down onto the back, maybe give yourself a stretch bring your arms overhead reach yourself long in two directions and Then you might pull one knee into the chest and one one leg will just kind of be like me first and let that one come in first So at this point you could take it into a twist you could open the leg out wide There's all kinds of things you know you just kind of start to work out the kinks You might bring the opposite leg in or you might bring both legs into the body Twist would just be bringing it across you could open the leg out And There really are no rules if your body is asking for you to do something like bend the knees and Windshield wiper that's great. It's just like take a moment to to do what your body is asking for right now You're being a really good steward of your body in this moment You've asked it to work hard what we've done in this class is we've asked the mind and the body to really work together Which is very hard. We're not normally doing that in fact normally. We're driving our bodies like well We're not driving our bodies. It's like we're in a cab, and we're letting someone else drive our bodies So it's like for the past hour or so you drove your body You are in the driver's seat So any movement you're craving All right, so when you're ready you can just start to extend your legs out and bring yourself into your final Shavasana position So any positions, okay I had a teacher one time tell me that you had to come into this specific Shavasana position I don't seem to feel that way I think you can be and you think you just need to be comfortable and let's face it You're lying on the floor like you might not choose to relax this way So don't expect the pose to relax you Try to be Responsible for your own relaxation So you get yourself situated you might close your eyes And if your mind is still busy then keep it busy By relaxing And if you can hopefully find a place where you can be still This pose is the corpse pose Shavasana So see if you can be as still as a corpse Because if you're as still as a corpse it's in this stillness That you really feel how alive you are You can feel the breath moving with the lungs, the diaphragm, the heart, the blood And maybe some of you even something deeper, chi, prana, energy And I would encourage you to stay here a lot longer if you have time It's so worth it There are very few moments in our day when we're still and not asleep But if you do decide to gently wake yourself up I just want to let you know I'm really glad you were here with me. I really enjoyed it, and I hope you felt some of the benefits Namaste y'all

Comments

Tesa Urbonaite Dunn
Great practice! Thank you. Where did you get those cool pants?
Kate Smith
2 people like this.
Thanks, Tesa! Gotta give all the credit of the pants to Black Milk. They are based out of Australia but now have distribution in the US. //us.blackmilkclothing.com Cheers and love, Kate
Jody T
1 person likes this.
thanks for a brilliant class. heels banded to earth in plank is a game changer! soo goood. love!
Kate Smith
So glad the plank cue helped, Jody. Sending love your way…;)
r2sj
1 person likes this.
Time goes fast in this practice. Enjoyed it!
Kim M
Great class. Found all the prompts super helpful.
Kate Smith
Kim Mills! Thank you so much for your comment. Made my day. I've been traveling so I apologize for taking a while to get back to you. Sending love your way. Loved that we shared class together cosmically. ;)
Judy S
More more more more more??
Kate Smith
You are so awesome, Judy. Thanks for brightening my day with your curiosity for more. ;) Let's manifest it. I'd love to do more on YA. But I know there are plenty of others in line before me. So much LOVE coming out to YOU, Sister.
Judy S
2 people like this.
Your practices are what my body craves. I am only 52 and have already had a total knee replacement and total hip replacement, so I find great comfort and freedom in the way you teach. I am ok with not ever getting my foot over my head, but your clear instruction is amazing and I feel like you are teaching to the students.
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