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Season 2 - Episode 5

Exhale Everything

55 min - Practice
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Description

This practice plays with the subtle feeling of exhaling everything and moving on empty. Kira begins by guiding our attention towards an experience of Uddiyana Bandha before we move into incorporating this sensation into the rest of our Yin practice.
What You'll Need: Mat, Blanket

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(water lapping) Hi, welcome back. In this practice, we're gonna play with what it feels like to exhale everything and hang out on empty. We'll start on our backs. Lie yourself on back down, heels aligned with the sit bones, arms down along your side. Big, deliberate inhale, and exhale everything.

Do that again, inhale (inhales loudly) and exhale everything. Now let's just get a little bit of movement, of awareness in the tailbone to begin with. So inhale here, and as you exhale, gently curl your sit bones under and just press your low back into the ground, and as you inhale, keeping your buttocks on the floor, roll your pelvis forward, let your low back arch. Nice, do that again. Exhale, curl the sit bones under, let your low back ground, inhale, roll the pelvis forward, let your low back arch.

A few more like this. Rounding, arching, and as you're doing this, can you be aware of how the movement down here in the sacrum, the tailbone, the pelvis, how that's affecting the movement up through your whole spine? You can feel that up through the mid, the upper back, and up through the head and the neck. Beautiful, let that relax now. And we're gonna make our way into something that we call the shimmy.

So you're gonna use your heels, so you're gonna press into your heels, and you're rocking your head back towards what's behind you, and then you're rebounding back, so you're creating a rocking motion in the sacrum, and up underneath the base of the skull. Okay. It should feel a little bit like you're riding a horse, if you happen to be lucky enough to know what that feels like. Tu tu do do do, chu chu chu chu, do a little bit looser, like, we tend to work too hard and the tendency is to kinda try to use the butt, the butt is actually quite soft, it's not a pelvic thrust. Okay, and stop.

And if that was effective, there's often this kind of sweet, euphoric warm, pleasant aftertaste. Yeah. And where gonna repeat the shimmy, but I'm gonna share a second way of doing it, 'cause, that, while I like that first way better, some people like this way better, so extend one leg at a time, till your legs are straight and they're together, and then it's a similar action we're creating, but what you're doing is keeping your legs straight, you're gonna flex and point, flex and point, flex and point your feet, and as you flex and point your feet, at a somewhat rapid pace, that's gonna create that same rocking motion in the base of the sacrum, in the base of the skull. Couple more moments, chu chu chu, little looser on the eyes, like lift your eyes feel a little bouncier. Nice, and stop.

And again, if it was effective, there's this kind of yummy, sweet euphoric, joyous feeling. Get good at resting in this big, deliberate inhale. Exhale everything. Super nice. Beautiful, now in order to prepare for a bridge rolling, which will help us with our exhale, we're gonna get a little bit of opening in the hamstrings, so bend the knees, soles of the feet on the floor again.

Lift your left leg, extend up towards the sky, soften the knee, go ahead and hold on to where it's convenient, maybe that's the back of the thigh, maybe it's the calf, maybe it's the ankle, and we're just gonna hang out here for about a minute or so, so soften the grip in the outer left hip, soften the grip on the floor of the pelvis, easy in the eyes, easy in the upper soft palate. Do be in a place where you can feel an opportunity through the back of the leg, but not so much that you're straining. So, you could even wobble the leg a little side to side, it doesn't have to be such a static hold, but we wanna to give just a little flavor of opportunity to the back of this left leg, so it's prepared. (inhales loudly) Nice. Remember the post shimmy, little gooier in the base of the skull, little kinder in the eyes.

Relax the tension in the ankle joint. Beautiful, okay, relax that leg, let the knee come bend, sole of the foot back down to the floor, pause, big, deliberate inhale, exhale everything, let the right knee start to come in, extend the leg up towards the sky, soften the knee as you find your hands around where it's convenient. Again, back of the thigh, calf, ankle. And then be in a place, we're gonna be here about a minute, so be in a place where you can feel a stretch, so the leg wants to be straight enough that you have an opportunity, but not such an opportunity that you're gripping and fighting. So, easy in the outside of that right hip, easy in the face, easy in the eyes.

(inhales loudly) Yeah. Soften the hip crease, relax the tension in the ankle to begin with (exhales loudly). It's interesting to be in a relationship with the hamstring without, like, trying to stretch it. You just, like, it's, it's slowly getting to know each other, like butter melting on warm toast. Yeah.

For the last couple of moments, though, maybe flex your foot a little bit, lengthen with the heel, just to be like, oh, hey, what's up, back of the leg? Nice. Okay. Slow, relax that, let the knee bend, let the sole of the right foot come back down to the floor, big, deliberate inhale (inhales loudly), exhale everything, super nice. So now we're gonna make our way into a Rolling Bridge Pose.

So the heels are in close to the sit bones, I'd like to suggest reaching your arms up over the top of the head, the purpose of this, as you soften the elbows a little bit, so your shoulders relax back down, the purpose of this is to assist in the inevitable chin lock, jalandhara bandha, but I find that not everybody loves this, and if you prefer to have your elbows bent, along your sides or down along your sides, palms turned up, please modify it so it feels more correct to you. Okay, spread the toes wide, we're gonna move with our breath, big deliberate inhale, (inhales loudly) exhale everything (exhales loudly), then, as you're ready, inhale, and as you exhale, press into the feet, draw the sit bones up towards the knees, and pause. Now stay here as you inhale, and as you come upon your exhale, up onto the balls of the feet, and roll on back down, exhale, upper back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land. Beautiful, inhale here (inhales loudly), and as you exhale, press into the feet, draw the sit bones under, lift up through the hips. Now stay in the shape of the bridge, as you inhale, and as you come upon your exhale up on the balls of the feet, roll back down, upper back, mid back, low back, hips land, and heels land.

Beautiful, one more time, feel the inhale (inhales loudly), and as you exhale, press into the feet, draw your sit bones under and lift, stay in the shape as you inhale. As you're ready to exhale, up on the balls of your feet, and roll on back down, upper back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land, pause. Beautiful. It would probably feel good to hug the knees into the chest and wobble. That might be enough, but most of us it feels pretty good to extend the legs straight up towards the sky, again, flex the feet, so that you're stretching through the backs of the legs, 'cause those bridge poses can be somewhat cramping in the legs, if you feel strong cramping, as we roll back down, don't come up onto the balls of the feet, sometimes that can help.

Okay, now we're gonna repeat what we just did, but we're gonna change the breath pattern a little bit. What we'll do is we'll exhale, we'll come up into the bridge, we'll inhale, stay in the bridge, we'll stay in the bridge as we exhale everything, and then we're coming back down on empty, which will result in a super strong stretch in the diaphragm which is known as Uddiyana Bandha. Okay. Snuggle in, heels in line with the sit bones, arms up over the top of the head, if that's comfortable for you. Clearing breath, big, deliberate inhale (inhales loudly), exhale everything (exhales loudly), yes, then, as you're ready, inhale, and as you exhale, press into the feet, draw the sit bones up, lift up through the hips.

Yes, now stay here as you inhale (inhales loudly), stay here as you exhale everything, gets bona fide for real, no messin' around, blue country ribbon winning, empty. Once you're really empty, up on the balls of the feet, roll back down on empty, upper back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land, relax the contractions, let for a big inhale, (inhales loudly) exhale everything (exhales loudly), and then just kind of rest in the resulting tonality of your heart. Good. Yeah. Beautiful, now, you can just stay here and chill in this space, we're gonna repeat that, now, obviously, everybody's breath pace is really different, so, if you need to slow that down, you slow that down, if you felt like you were choking at the end, you need to speed it up a little bit.

Okey-dokey, let's try again, arms are over the top of the head, if that's okay, heels in line with the sit bones, spread the toes, clearing breath, big, deliberate inhale, exhale everything, then, as you're ready, inhale, and as you exhale, press into the feet, draw your hips up, letting your knees reach forward. Yes, stay here as you inhale, stay here as you exhale everything, get super duper, for real empty, wiggle that head a little longer, once you're actually empty, up on the balls of the feet, roll on back down, upper back, mid back, you might be feeling a drag in your throat, lengthen the neck, draw your chin in, hips, heels, yes, once you've landed, relax the contraction, inhale, (inhales loudly) and exhale everything, relax your arms and rest and give yourself some time to hang out in the meadow of your heart, the, like feel the result of emptying everything. Yeah, good. So nice, now that might've been enough for you, I'm gonna suggest we do it one more time, and if it's very comfortable for you to hang out on empty at the bottom of that, you know, if it's not necessary for you to inhale right away, then hang out there. Okay, last one, if you just wanna hang out above and wait for us, we're almost with you.

As you're ready, clearing breath, big inhale (inhales loudly), exhale everything (exhales loudly). Beautiful, inhale, as you're ready, exhale, root through the feet, let your sit bones draw towards the knees and pause. Stay here as you inhale, stay here as you exhale everything (exhales loudly). Yep, once you're super empty for real, up on the balls of the feet, roll on back down, upper back, mid back, low back, hips land, heels land, as it's appropriate, relax the contraction, inhale, exhale everything. Widen your elbows a little bit, widen your feet, kneels fell together, and here, for the next few moments, just sort of study the rhythm of your breath.

Just watch, let, pick a focal point, I like the navel, and just watch. Like see that there's a rise to the inhale, there's a top of the inhale, see that there's a fall of the exhale, and there's a bottom of the exhale. And for just about another half minute here or so, (inhales loudly) can you just become more interested in the bottom of the exhale? And as you become more interested in the bottom of the exhale, sometimes she gives up a few more of her secrets. Yes.

Beautiful. Okay, like, stay here as long as you like (chuckles). It's sweet there, not only as you're ready to start to play with this in your practice, hug, draw the knees into the chest, wobble a little bit, and then as you're ready, cross your ankles, inhale, roll back, exhale, roll it up. Okay, super nice, nice work. That's not so easy.

Now, today, we are going to begin with what gets know as cow face. There are different ways to get into it, one of the easier ways is to come up onto all fours, and cross one knee behind the other, I'm gonna cross my right knee underneath my left knee, so why don't you do the same, so we're doing the same thing. Widen your feet a little bit, and then sit back down between your heels. Okay, schnuggle in. (inhales loudly) Big, deliberate inhale, exhale everything, and I'm gonna suggest we're here for about three minutes. So, I like to catch a hold of my big toes, and as I catch hold of my big toes, the play here, the invitation, because when things are difficult, sometimes, like, feel, if this is quite difficult, you might notice that your breath gets caught up a little bit in the heart, or even like up, stuck in the inhale.

So, inhale deeply here, and exhale, let a ha (exhales loudly) happen. And do that again, (inhales loudly) and exhale, let a ha (exhales loudly). And can you start to, just like, like just with some deliberateness, not forced, but with some deliberateness, start to just become more interested in the feeling tone at the bottom of the exhale. And you might stay upright, still holding the big toes, this might be the spot, like only if it's appropriate you can bring your hands forward a little bit and start to deepen the opportunity in your hips, and yet, more important than the sensation of stretching, quote unquote your hips, more useful in this practice is to just continually, like, watch the bottom of the exhale. And while you might choose to come forward, I'm gonna suggest today that you bring your hands over to the left.

And so with the knees heavy, the hips heavy, I'm gonna suggest that you let your hands walk a little bit more to the left, as you let a ha (exhales loudly) happen. The elbows are soft, you'll start to feel that in the outside of this right thigh, most of modern physical America knows the realm of the IT band. Let a ha (exhales loudly) happen, elbows might bend a little bit, rounding. And again, while you might feel the sensation in the hips, the inner thighs, the outer thighs, the invitation in this particular practice is can you maintain some study on the exhale? Bottom of the exhale, yeah.

Last handful of moments. Okey-dokey, chin into the chest, walk your hands back, roll on up. Nice, pause, and then I'm gonna suggest that we find a little ardha matsyendrasana, so bring your left foot to the outside of the right knee, snuggle in, I'm gonna suggest this we find this for about one and a half minutes once we're in it. So, first step, wrap your right elbow around that left knee, bring your left hand behind, let your right hip get heavy. Okay, so, we'll hold for about 90 seconds from here, feel the inhale open, now stay in this shape as you exhale, and really wait till the moment of empty, and you're really at that moment of empty, then let your twist happen, draw the left wing of the sacrum back, send the right wing of the sacrum forward, feel the upper palate open and the face brighten.

Then stay in your shape, allow for the inhale, allow for the fullness of your exhale, without moving, wait for the bottom of the exhale and once you've really found the bottom of the exhale, then twist. Mhm. So you're really only offering that movement when you're absolutely empty. Yes. Eventually now you'll find an inhale, allow for an exhale and then once you're empty start to lead back with the gaze, and then your upper back and your mid back and your low back.

Nicely done. Now, you could lean back, and simply switch the cross of your legs, and that might've landed you perfectly in the cow face, but for most of us, if you come up onto all, like if you bring yourself onto your hands and kinda schnuggle your knees back towards each other, it really does help, it also helps if you have very slippery yoga costume, too, it turns out. Okay. Schnuggle in here, now, we're gonna be here for about three minutes, so catch a hold of your big toes, and again, while there's a lot of sensation, perhaps, so maybe there's a lot of sensation through the inner thighs, the outer thighs, notice how when there's a lot of sensation, sometimes there's, there can be a quality of like, a heart holding anxiousness and so, the play here is, can you really focus on the breath, so instead of trying to change what's happening in the body, can you focus on the results of really being aware of the bottom of the exhale? You are not trying to lengthen the bottom of the exhale, simply through tuning your tension to the bottom of the exhale, the bottom of the exhale will respond.

Like, you know, when somebody pays attention to us, we usually stand up a little straighter. Good, so, this might be enough to simply holding the big toes, some of you might be letting your hands come out in front of you to deepen the opportunity, but again, we only deepen the opportunity as long as we can stay aware of the subtle. I'm gonna suggest that what might be interesting is to bring your hands to the right, and, as you bring your hands to the right, you're gonna deepen a lot of different points of interest, and again, the play though is like that exhale, that (exhales loudly). It might be enough to even just think about moving to the right, some of you might be walking your hands a little bit forward, some of you might be letting the elbows bend, letting the hips be heavy and the knees be heavy, particularly on the bottom of the exhale. Mhm.

Yes. (exhales loudly) Hope you let your back round a little bit, and you let your head be heavy, it might be even more effective, if you let that left elbow bend a little bit more, you'll find more opportunity through that side waist. (splashing with tongue) But again, it's only as interesting as your breath allows it to be so, just about 20 more seconds. (inhales loudly) Yeah. Really nice, slow as you're ready, chin into your chest, start to come on back out of there. Beautiful, making our way towards the spinal twist, right ankle on the outside of that left knee, left heel back towards the right hip, snuggle in a little bit.

Let your left elbow wrap around the front of that right knee, let your right hand come behind. Now we're gonna be offering ourself to this shape for about 90 seconds, and the play is to really only move on the exhale, so, or excuse me, on empty. So feel the inhale broaden, feel the exhale soften, and when you're really at the bottom of the exhale, begin to twist to the right. Allow for the inhale, and allow for the exhale, and really, when you're on empty, then you twist. Soften the upper palate, easy in the eyes.

(inhales loudly) Good, eventually now find an inhale, allow for a full exhale, wait till you're empty and then lead with the gaze and let yourself come back. Nice. Okay, lean back, free your legs, find a wide stance. Okay, wiggle a little bit (exhales loudly), nice. So, we'll make our way into a version of janu sirsasana, or half saddle, with a forward fold.

So, I'm gonna start with my left knee, so draw your left knee in, hold onto the ankle and be attentive here, so as you really hold on to the ankle, squeeze your knee together as you then let your knee open. Okay, so make sure this is comfortable and if this is demanding too much, then take the version of janu sirsasana with the sole on the inside. Okay, now you're welcomed to fold straight forward, if that would be better, in fact, let's just do that together, like, let your hands come out in front of you and just notice how this feels with your hands in front of you and your inner groin in the back of the right leg, big, deliberate inhale and exhale everything, let a ha (exhales loudly) happen, and it might be preferable for you today to simply fold forward, that might make better good anatomical intelligent sense. Okay, so only if it feels appropriate and useful, walk your hands out over that extended right leg. Now we're gonna be offering ourselves to this shape for about three minutes, and as we've been doing so far, the practice here, okay, is about getting more comfortable on empty, 'cause how do we become more comfortable with letting things go, how do we become more comfortable with the endings of things, or more sophisticated, the apparent ending of things?

(inhales loudly) Well, we have to practice (exhales loudly) emptying. So here, this might be enough, just looking down the barrel of the right leg might be enough, but some of you are gonna start to round your back a little bit, and some of you are gonna start to walk your hands forward a little bit, and as you walk your hands forward a little bit, you might be letting the elbows bend. You might be letting your head make her way towards the knee. Again, the rounding has one feeling in the back, the lengthening of the front spine has a little bit other, you decide. And allow your awareness to be more on the exhale, if it's uncomfortable on your head to just be hanging, for some of you it might touch the leg easily, for more of you it'll feel better to support the head by making fists on your shin, or using a brick or other support.

(inhales loudly) Studying the bottom of the exhale, (exhales loudly) and as you really start to study the bottom of the exhale (inhales loudly) there becomes a more intimate awareness of the rise of the inhale. Just like if you're a late night raver you really start to be aware of the sunrise. (exhales loudly) Yeah. (inhales loudly) (exhales loudly) (inhales loudly) (exhales loudly) Slowly, as you're ready, chin into the chest, let your hands assist you as you roll on back up and pause, either looking towards the leg or looking center, whatever feels natural. Like, allow yourself enough time to really take a hit of what you just did (low burping), nice.

Okay, now to get out of this bent back knee, what I like to do is hold that left ankle close and then slowly let that left knee lift (low grunt) and then extend that leg up. Yeah. Okay, super nice, so now we're making our way towards the other side and yet (exhales loudly) feels nice to sit in the middle for a beat, okay. So then as you're ready, bend the right knee, draw that heel in close, okay, and then slow let that knee find the earth. Okay, the back foot is how it's feels comfortable for you, that left leg is extended, so again, let's just do this together, so, when the hands come out in front of you, and forward, this might be more interesting and more useful, it's not like a better or worse than, this might just anatomically, today, feel more correct, okay?

Only if it would feel good, inhale and exhale and walk the hands over the left leg, this will involve more the back of the left leg, okay? Now we're gonna be here for about three minutes, (inhales loudly) so let this right hip feel heavy, let the left leg feel heavy, and again, the study at the bottom of the exhale, the suggestion isn't that the bottom of the exhale is superior, we're choosing the bottom of the exhale to study so that everything else reveals itself, just like if you were in, let's say you were an artist in your blue period, the more intimate you become with the color of blue, the more all the other colors reveal themselves. So, right here might be the spot, just staying upright and just studying the bottom of the exhale, the tonality in the back of the leg and the heart and the mind's like, what's the landscape of empty? And as we mention on the other side, as you study that landscape of empty, like, as you become more and more aware of empty, you're gonna also become more aware of what might inspire the inhale. Okay, the breath has been the focal point of study for the yogis for a very long time, some of you might be letting the elbows bend.

It's been the focal point of study, not so that we can, in advance, tell you what you're supposed to know from studying the breath, it's been the focal point of study as in, sweetheart, please, will you please investigate your own breath? Please investigate this magical life force, this always present, always changing realm. Mhm. (exhales loudly) Some of you are letting your back round and your head either rest on the leg or on the fist of your hands. (exhales loudly) Okay, from here, let your hands help you, chin into the chest, roll it on back up, (inhales loudly) pause, your gaze might naturally come out over the foot or up to more the front of you, and then when you feel ready, you're going to draw the right knee in, draw the right knee up, let that leg lengthen and pause.

Just like (exhales loudly) allow yourself to really enjoy. Yes. Beautiful. Okay, now, to get out of here, lean back, (chuckles) let your legs come together, and let's come towards the front of the mat. So, I'm gonna suggest that our next shape is saddle, with the knees open, the big toes touching, and sitting on your heels.

If you're feeling like, oh, it really like a little bit more opening to the front of the thighs, like, if that last shape we did wasn't quite enough, then you could add in a lunge here. But I'm gonna suggest that we just go right into saddle, so, big toes touch, you're sitting on your heels, as we've talked about before, it's not gonna get any easier than this, so if saddle's (chuckles) not your bag, Seal Pose or Sphinx Pose. Now we're gonna be offering ourself for this about three minutes, so step one, big, deliberate inhale and exhale everything (exhales loudly) and just get used to being at the bottom of the exhale. And then, only when you're ready, start to let the hands come behind you, I like to ship, I like to lift my hips a little bit, let my buttocks find my heels, again, schnuggle in, then, as you're ready, elbows come back behind you. This might be the perfect spot, okay, only as you're ready, you let your upper back come back here, your knees can lift, and then you'll kinda settle them back down and in, perhaps. (exhales loudly) Okay.

Arms can be down along your side, I find it way more comfortable to let my arms come over to the top of my head. I like to just kind of rest one palm and the other palm usually, you know, you could clasps your elbows, but suddenly that makes me sort of wanna work more, which you're welcome to, but this is more leisurely (mumbles). And remember, if you're in a place where it's impossible to focus on the breath, then probably you're in deeper than is useful. Like feel your ability to rest down at the bottom of the exhale (exhales loudly). And really, when you do that, the inhale takes on, often takes on this really textural interesting quality.

Like it just has this blossoming technicolor. See if that's true for you. Softer on the upper palate, kinder in the eyes. Okay, now, to get out of here, there are a couple of different dismounts that we've talked about in the past, but here's one I like, you hold on like underneath your ankles, you use your elbows to come up part way, then you find your hands on the earth, then you come the rest of the way up. Now pause, okay, now how to get out of the knees?

I like to come forward, and slide the legs back, and then lower onto the belly for a moment. Let the elbows go wide, head might rest, and just allow for a moment to like feel the results of this. Nice. Then the suggestion here is we're gonna roll onto our backs, ah ah ah, okay. Okay, wobble the knees a little, side to side.

Okay. Now the next shape that we're gonna play with is a shape called plow. Plow's not for everybody, particularly if you're working with cervical mischief so mischief in your neck, okay? So, as we approach the yin version of plow, which usually gets called snail, other options would be to bring one knee and then the other into your chest, or to take a seated forward fold, okay. I mean, if you're game, though, make sure that you have enough room behind you, okay, and we're gonna be here for about three minutes.

If you've never done this shape before, please watch, like, please watch the demo, and make me a little pinky promise that you will resist the temptation to turn your head to look, once you're in the plow. Okey-dokey, generally, it's nice to sit on the neck if you just keep your nose straight up to the sky. Okay, so here's how I like to get into it, you start to let your knees come back towards your head by using your hands to lift your hips above the floor, now right about here, if you're not so sure about bringing your feet to the floor behind you, your feet could find a wall, maybe a chair, or a low bench or a low table. Okay, and this might be enough, we're letting the back round, the weight is on the shoulders, not the neck. Okay, so only as it's like yes, that would feel good, then maybe the knees start to bend and come towards the forehead.

Maybe round a little bit more and the feet start to make their way back behind you. I like to wiggle my shoulders in there a little bit, but not too much, 'cause we're not tryin' to like, reach the sit bones up to the sky, like, in the more kind of classic alignment instructions. The back is rounding, okay, now this might be the spot, little softer in the teardrop of the throat, little softer behind the heart. Some of you, though, are gonna separate the feet a little bit and you're gonna start to let your knees bend around the ears, so this is, as we start to make our way more into the yin version of what sometimes gets called karnapidasana the translation of that literally is Ear Pinning Pose. Okay, now, you can leave your hands, like, back behind you, I usually like to bring my hands back around on top of my ankles as a weight, as I bring my hands on top of the ankles as a weight, it serves like, dunk.

Now we've already been here like half the time, soft in the eyes, letting the back round, so the play is, as you weight your ankles, you're letting the back round. Now, that was a lot of instruction, and I haven't even reminded us to remember to be focused of the bottom of the exhale. (exhales loudly) Kind in the eyes. Yeah. (exhales loudly) Soften the jaw.

(exhales loudly) (inhales loudly) (inhales loudly) (exhales loudly) Even though it's compromising, you're still bringing your awareness to that bottom of the exhale. (exhales loudly) Okay, so to get out of here, (mumbles) like this, as slowly as you can, brrr, and start to let your back roll back down on the floor. Oh, my god, if this posture is correct for your body, like if you were designed to do this posture, this part feels awesome (laughs). Like coming out of this is amazing, you know, usually you get this like sweet warm flush through the dura of the spine but, you know, find out what happens for you. I like to keep my knees bent as my feet come back down to the floor, shoulders come back down on the floor, it's like, dush, pause.

And like wait. Nice. Okay. Like be slow about this, if you're newer to that shape, it can be quite immense. Some of you're gonna slide right into shavasana from here, okay, if there's another little something that you know would happen if you're used to creating a little fish or opening, you know, after your plow, you're welcome to do that, of course.

Otherwise, if and when and as you're ready, let one leg extend straight, let the other leg extend straight, tuck your shoulders under a little bit, palms turns up, big, deliberate inhale, exhale everything (exhales loudly). Do that again. Exhale everything. And then just like find a place to watch your breath so that might be your belly button, you might feel more attuned to the heart or the, right above the upper lip. And the suggestion of just watching your breath is just like, you know, now that you, what's the result of studying your breath?

What is the breath doing now? And then eventually relax the witness and rest. If you'd like to be here in shavasana longer, please stay. If you feel ready, let your knees bend, one leg at a time. Roll to a side and pause (exhales loudly).

And then allow yourself to press up to a comfortable seat. Big, deliberate inhale and exhale everything. And just for a few more moments just like resting in the results of your study of the bottom of the exhale, these are, you know, these are just, these are practice experiments, only you can know if they're working. Thank you for being here. Namaste.

Comments

Hyejung C
1 person likes this.
I want to know yogapant brand,so cute!
Kira Sloane
Hyejung Cho! Even better, they are super comfortable! K-Deer is the brand, home grown ma shop out of NY. xok
Shannon C
What a beautiful and subtle way to get into some more of the challenging bits of practice - asana and bandha. Thanks so much to you Kira and also to Barb for suggesting this video!
Kira Sloane
Hi there Shannon, isn't that fun? Happy to be practicing together. xok
Petra L
1 person likes this.
Agree with Shannon! Such great tools/phrases that I can use for myself and my students. Happy Friday!
Petra L
1 person likes this.
It became my most expensive class ever, since I "had to" pay K-deer a visit!
Kira Sloane
Petra! hahah! !
Petra L
1 person likes this.
Kira, do you do workshops and/or retreats? Anything booked for 2017? Do you have a website, beyond yogaanytime? Hoping to meet on the mat and in person next year!!!!
Namaste
Kira Sloane
Hi Petra! Yes, but no where near Spain just yet. I'll be updating my site soon which is kirasloane.com. I too look very much to connecting soon. xok
Dori M
I enjoyed this sequence and the theme of focus on the exhale and how it relates to letting go. I would have preferred that the instructor offer more silence, as is traditional in yin yoga.
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