Props for Pulling Yourself Together

Thank you for joining me today. This is what I do to feel better and to pull myself back together. So join me. We're gonna start on our backs. So I'm gonna start on my back and right away I'm gonna grab a strap hugging my right knee into my chest Give yourself a nice big squeeze. I'm gonna draw some little circles here.

The knee with the thigh bones, moving things around. And then we're gonna take this strap around the ball of our right foot so the padding right below the toes I'm gonna flex this left foot, relax my shoulders as much as I can, and then gently begin to lengthen the right leg up to the sky. Feeling all the feels, especially if it's first thing in the morning, flex the foot, find the breath, and allow the breath to move into the back of the right leg Feel that space as it opens up. And then I'm gonna put both ends of the strap in my left hand. I'm gonna take my right leg over to the left lesses more.

Flex that right foot and keeping the right side of my low back down as best I can and just breathing into that outer right leg line. And then let the right leg come back to center. Right hand is gonna get both ends of the strap and take my left hand and really ground my left side down. Open the right leg up to the right. Again, less is more. Doesn't need to be huge.

Few breaths here into that right inner thigh. And then the right leg comes back to center. Bend the knee. Let's take the strap off the foot. Squeeze the knee in towards the chest again. And then let the right leg go long and I just like to take a minute here and just feel the difference between the right and the left side.

Think that right leg feels about 3 feet longer than the left. So now let's give that love to the left side. So hug your left knee in. Rap your hands around the shin. Give the knee a gentle squeeze into the chest.

And let's draw some circles. Just stir the thighbone around. And then we're gonna take our strap around the ball of our left foot Flex your right foot, right thigh is down. Extend the left leg up to the sky. Relax the shoulders.

Breathe into the belly. Breathe into the belly of the leg, which is the hamstring back of the leg. Nice solid flex to left foot and to right foot. Couple more breaths. And then my right hand is gonna get both ends of the strap.

Left leg goes over to the right. Again, less is more. Wanna try as best we can to keep the left side of our lower back down. Nice flex to the left foot. Breathe into that outer left leg line. Few more breaths.

Last one. Now I'm bringing your left leg back in. Left hand gets both ends of the strap. I'm gonna take my right hand to my right side, ground the right side down And from here, I'm gonna open the left leg out to the left and again. Less is more.

It's breathing into that inner left leg line. Couple more breaths. And then bring that left leg back through center. Rebend the knee. You can take the strap off. Set it off to the side.

Give the knee a gentle squeeze into the chest. Let the left leg go long. Just take a moment here just to feel all that space in the low back and the backs of the legs. So now I'm gonna bring my feet onto the mat Grab a block. Place it in between your thighs.

So below the knee. And we're gonna squeeze the blocks. And this way you feel squeezing of the blocks. So we put some space in the sacrum and then the low back. On an inhale, we're gonna press into the heels, keep squeezing the block, lift your hips, and float the arms up overhead. And as you exhale, keep squeezing the block, lower the arms, lower the hips down nice and slowly.

3 more times just like that. Lift up. Squeeze the block. Exel. Keep squeezing the block lower down. In how lift, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, exhale lower.

And last time, inhale, lift it up Squeeze the block. Keep squeezing as we lower. And then take the block out bring your feet wide knees together. Just pause for a moment. And just feel all that space in the low back. And then let's carefully roll over onto our left side into a little fetal position.

Just pausing, rounding through the upper back slightly, relaxing the forehead, And then take your time. Let's come up onto our hands and our knees. So let your hands come under your shoulders. Let your knees stack under your hips. Very slowly inhaling arching the back.

Dropping the belly, sending the heart forward. Exhale. Tuck the tail. Curl and round. Let's do a few more just like this. And then adding something a little different, especially if the hips feel cranky.

My favorite things to do. I'm gonna swing my right leg around the front of the left leg and find gomukhasana legs. Move your right hip back and left hip forward and then just start to circle your hips. You can kind of feel every corner, every edge of the hip joint here Just spending as much time as you need to as you circle just awakening all of those corners and all of those edges And this could be a whole practice in and of itself. Couple more.

And then we're gonna switch sides. So we'll unwrap our right leg. Swing the left leg around the front of the right leg, and let's go counterclockwise. And you'll notice a difference between going clockwise, counterclockwise, and also the right and the left side. If my hips are feeling particularly tired, I've been sitting a lot and this is always a go to for me.

Couple more. And then when you're ready, let's unwrap that left leg. Couple of regular circles. Other direction. So from all fours, let's come into a seat.

You can sit back on your heels, knees, and thighs together. And I'm gonna reach my left arm up to the sky and just find a very simple seated twist. Turning the left side of the belly over to the right side. And then come back through center right arm reaches up. Right hand finds the left knee, left thigh, left hand behind you.

Right side of belly over to the left. And then we'll come back through center. Inhale, circle the arms out and up. Ex, hell bring your palms to your heart. Place your right hand on your belly, your left hand on your chest.

Close your eyes. And feel your breath moving into the belly and rising all the way up into the chest. Exhale at the breath leave from the chest and out the belly one more time inhale belly all the way up to the chest Excel release, opening your eyes, Thank you.