Yoga for beautiful strength in body & mind [Yoga for Beginners]

1. Intro - A Warm Welcome To You [Week 1]: A very warm welcome to the first class of our yoga for beginners course. We're starting gentle in our first session today with some basics focusing on the spine and the hips. Looking at the importance of stability and freedom of movement when you are running and training. We'll do a short warm up, and then I will introduce you to some variations of this sun salutation sequence for our ability to find lengths within the hamstrings and the rest of our legs as well. In fact the other whole body, of course. Some people say that the sun salutations offer a complete workout in itself, stretching and strengthening the whole back body as well as the whole front of the body. For today's practice, all you need is your yoga mat and maybe a pillow or blanket to support your head. Enjoy. 2. Your Class Project.: Next up, your class project. The class project for each class is the following. Share your biggest insight and take away from this class. To help you with that, here are some questions for you to consider. What did you find difficult? What was easy? What did you think you could manage easily but then turned out rather tricky? Did you notice any areas in your body that may need a little more TLC going forward? Which area within your body appreciated the practice the most? Another really important one is, compared to before the session, how did you feel afterward? Are you able to walk and move a little more gracious? A little lighter as a result? Note anything that comes up for you and share it in the class project area. Know that any difference and sensation that you feel, is a wonderful and very welcome signal towards a deeper awareness. Finding that awareness within our body as well as our mind, is a huge step to more mindful movement and also living a stronger, more centered life. One way you more easily let go of distractions and the dreaded, busy monkey mind. Let's go and get started. 3. 1.1 Focus your intention & find your breath: Just roll onto your back. If you just for a few moments, just completely stretch out. Bring your arms by your side, just relax your legs and just take a couple of deep full breath in and out. Exhale through the mouth. Just for today, just remember to always adjust if and when you need to, just be mindful and just kind to your own body. Yeah, if you've got any lower back niggles, there's an easy way you can simply bend your knees, maybe bring your feet a little wide and let the knees knock in towards each other. Just give you a lower back a little bit of space so easier. Also if your neck is tilting back all feel free to take a blanket underneath your head or pillow underneath your head. Sometimes when our shoulders a little rounded forward, it may not be as comfortable to lie in this position here. Again, just adjust as much as you need to. Lying down is one of my favorite ways how to start our practice. It gives us a chance to really stop and disengage from any previous activity, take some time here to tune in breathe, center yourself and of course, notice how you feel today. Let's take a moment here to focus on our intention for the first session today, our intention on finding awareness and creating some ease within the body with the help of our breath. Let's see how we can mindfully release some of the tension without creating new tension within the body, maybe within the mind. Even trying to muscle our way through it and see how we can start to avoid that. On our journey through these eight weeks, I invited you to just really noticed the beauty of the effects of the practice and how you are starting to just cultivate the ability to really dive a little deeper and refine your experience on your mat, as well as when you're training when you're running. Nobody has wonderful feedback mechanisms that send us signals and every moment of our day. It's our task to interpret those signals rather than ignoring them and running through the pain, working through the pain. We want to start working with and adjust and draws back just before aches and pains turn into injury. Notice how you feel here, there's anything obvious that pops up either physically or mentally or maybe emotionally as well. Can you feel anything, ripples through your body. Notice the energy within maybe any buzzing through the body. Let's come back to our breath, taking a deep full breath in and gently release. maybe you want to place one hand on to your belly. As you inhale really draw the breath all the way down into the lower lungs and notice your hand rise as you inhale. Then as you exhale feeling your hand sink back down towards the spine. Let's take a couple of these breadth or really fill up and expand all the way down into the lower lungs and then exhale, some deep release. Let's take one last deep breath yet really fill up, then exhale, same release. Let's take this up one step. Simply take both hands here to the sides of your rib cage maybe with your middle fingers touching even, if you can just feel the bottom of your rib cage there. Again, with your breath, see I can breathe into your hands and feeling your hands expand out to the side, maybe your middle fingers moving away from each other and then as you exhale gently going back touching. Again inner finding that expansion out, then exhale. Then as you really find that strength within the breath, into the side body, into the rib cage expanding and then release. Notice the change here of your breath as you breathe deeply. Let's take one more step up here. Just place one hand wherever it feels comfortable and the other just underneath the collarbones on top of your sternum, right next to your heart here and then breathe into that space. Notice the change once more. Notice the difference between the ability to expand fully. Notice how we're a little less able to breathe deeply into that space because it's protected by the rib cage. Our lungs, our heart are protected by our rib cage. Also notice whether you may potentially use your neck and your shoulder muscles to deepen the breath. If you do, simply drop the shoulders here. Let's take one more deep breath into your chest. Finding a little expansion there and then release. Let's combine those three parts of the breath together. Just place your hands wherever they feel comfortable, maybe on your belly, maybe by your side. Then within it inhale breathing deeply into the belly first finding that expansion there into the rib cage, into the chest. As you exhale, no particular order release completely. Again, belly, ribs, chest and release. Let's take one last deep breath, really draw it down into the belly, make this the biggest one yet the rib cage, maybe a little more into the chest and then exhale. Release. Noticing how these first few moments of tuning in and focusing on your body and your breath may have allowed you to just become a little more present. 4. 1.2 Gentle Warm Up & Core: Slowly starting, just bring your arms above the body here? We joins away which other reaching a heels away. Let me make one leg a little longer than the other, and I completely relax your arms by your side and then bring those knees into your chest from here. Slowly spiking up the spine, maybe find a little rock from side to side. Maybe find a few circles with your knees, most directions. Maybe being an easy away from each other. Remember together making a few circles like, guineas and nice and close, a little bit of that compression of the hip flexors and the front. Now take you feet place them down to the floor and bring your feet about, not width-distance, and again, let the knees not intuit each other. Again, nice and easy, maybe notice the position of your spine here for a moment and your arms by aside and let your knees move over to the left and bring him back. We'll go over to the right. You'll see I can find a little bit of that, windshield wiper actions, I need to gently mobilize the spine here. Make sure your shoulders can stay stilled-grounded. Just letting that movement go into the lower back isn't easy? Certainly, and then slowly bring your knees back into it your chest here and give it a little stretch, a little squeeze, and then place your feet back down to the floor. All we're going to do is again, find a little bit more than awareness of the spine here in the lower back. Depending on the curvature, you have your lower back, your low back maybe lifting up of the flow ever-so-slightly, maybe it's simply flat down on the floor. Take your hands, your fingertips just right onto the hip bones here. I'm going to just take a couple of pelvic tilts, so all we want to do is tilt the pelvis forward. So you see tilt the pelvis forward your lower back may lift up off the floor even more or maybe it's lifts off if it's been on the floor, and as you exhale you tilt pelvis back, led your lower back, move down to the floor again. Inhale, tilting the pelvis forward. You don't need to exaggerate right here, again just to find that movement or the awareness of how much movement is possible here within the hips of course always noticing whether you feel any sensation. I need discomfort and then wanted just slightly move away from. As we're tilting our pelvis back and forward, let's bring out breath in as well. When tilt your pelvis forward, take a big full breath, inhale already opening up in the front. As you exhale, tilting the pelvis back so you can slightly engage the core here from the bottom of the pelvic floor drew all the belly in down towards the [inaudible] around the waist and then inhale again, nice and smooth and then exhale everything. Tilting back then see how you can use your breath here to support yourself, support the lower back, find strength and stability there in very simple movements like this pelvic tilt here. From here, I invite you to find a neutral spine so we're not tilting forward too much, but also not tilting back too much either, so you find that natural spine engine around the waist drew the belly in down towards them out and then simply take your right knee up, so it's going to be lower like somewhat parallel to the floor. With the exhale simply tap your right foot down to the match and an inhale slowly, bring it back to a couple around here, and again, keep that support around the lower back. We simply moving from that place of strengths within the core, when just finding that movement isolating for that right leg. Go let's change sides here. Nice and stable through the hips, the core. Notice if and when we first find that stability within the core, the effect it has on the hips and that control movement within the leg. Go nice, and then slowly place the left foot down and then bring both knees into your chest as one little squeeze and then bring both knees somewhere right on top of the hips. See how again, maybe placing hands onto your belly, onto the hip bones here and draw the belly in centered around the waist and find that same support once more, take a big full breath. With the exhale take your right foot down to the floor as well and then in house slowly bringing back excel, let's take the left foot down, I'll bringing back, exhale right, and I'll bring it back exhale left, I'll bring it back, to continue with this for a few more rounds, and if you find this quite easy, if you want to challenge yourself a little more, start to tip that foot back as are further away from you little more. Some of you have been doing that already, and again, always keeping that awareness of length within the spine and that support around the belly. Notice if you belly goofing up into your hands you gently draw back down towards the floor. Extending that left leg completely and again, right leg. Extend it completely. If your back is not happy for you to go there, simply take a step back and just work with whatever you've got right now, and slowly building up. Let's say two more. Let me bring both knees back into a chest, give it a little squeeze. Who's going to find one last little twister. Take both feed down to the floor, shuffle your hips a little over to the right and let the knees move over to the left and find a gentle spinal twists, you can always take your left hand on to your right knee and gaze over to your right and little lifts through the rib cage. Take a deep full breath, I exhale completely and then slowly being both knees back. Again, nice and easy, shuffled the hips over to the left, that the knees relaxed to the right side, and same here I'm really finding that deepness that does the breath into the rib cage. Filling up, finding that space from the inside out, and then slowly bring itself back there, bring those knees in, seen how you lift your head up and forward until you come all the way up, I'm going to come straight into all full position from here, so come onto your hands and knees and bring your hands about hip, shoulder width-distance and your knees about hip-width distance away from each other and then in half, we're going to find that same movement within the hips again so in half, tilting the palace for this time looking up, finding our cat Coulomb movement. With the exhale tilting of his back, drew the belly and push the floor away with your hands and inhale again, looking up, rolling the shoulders back, exhale slowly curl it out a couple more times. Yeah, big inhale and an exhale completely. Finding that natural spine puts it back into a Charles pose, stretch your arms forward find a look from side to side now bring yourself all the way back. 5. 1.3 Half Surya Namaskar: A gentle transition, tuck your toes, sit back, final stretch for the soles of the feet here, and then, we'll leave the knees up and slowly lift it back. But all we 're going to do is simply walk the feet forward to meet your hands at the top of your mat or in the middle of your mat, wherever you are. [inaudible] For now simply bring your feet about hip-width's distance away from each other. Let your head dangle here. If your knees aren't completely straight, that's completely fine. Just keep them bent for now. Just relax your shoulders, relax your head, maybe sway from side to side a little bit, and as you inhale, let's come halfway up [inaudible]. Bring your hands to the shins, the knees maybe a little higher here, and when you exhale slowly, fold again, and again a couple more times inhale. Notice the way you feel the sensations here within the back of your legs, maybe the hamstrings, or the calves. One last one here. Big inhale and exhale slowly release. Again, just soften through the knees. I want you to just take out your feet here. Something I don't really want to do a lot of times. But here you can really press down through the four points of your feet just right underneath the big toe, right underneath the little toe, and the two sides just outside the heels here. I want you to really press down equally. So sometimes we tend to dip into the middle, dip into the outside so you can find those four points pressing into the mat nice, and firmness, and even. [inaudible] root down, maybe bending the knees a little bit more, and maybe bouncing a little bit here so really finding that grounding effect there. Again, as you inhale, come halfway up. Take your hands to the knees. Soften the knees a little bit more, and then, bring both arms nice and wide to come all the way up, lifting, our palms touch, and then, exhale, relax your arms by your side. With your next inhale, we're going to do this one small [inaudible] , and now reaching up, exhale slowly, fall, softening the knees, come all the way down again. Inhale halfway, exhale to fold. Inhale, bring your arms up, let's come all the way up again, lifting them, and then exhale. Relax your arms by your side. Let's take one last one here. Big inhale, reach both arms nice and wide. Exaggerate those movements. Exhale, dive forward all the way. With the inhale, come halfway. Exhale, release with that last one, calm yourself, open yourself all the way up again, and then, exhale. Relax the arms by your side. Interlace your hands here for a moment, squeezing the shoulders here together, find that opening through your chest, reach through the shoulders, and then, release, maybe a little shake. 6. 1.4 Flow & Cool Down: Let's come towards the front of a mat. You can find that phone rooting down of your feet, pressing down into the mat, maybe soften the knees a little, find out strength, draw the belly in. For a Sec and notice the position of your lower back and the hips again here to see if you're tilting about pelvis forward too much, maybe a tilting it back a little too much, notice again that effect then that may have on the lower back as well as the upper back here. So find out neutral spine where your spine is at its longest. So if you inhale, draw the belly in, find that same support again, reach both arms up. Then maybe exhale slowly, fold yourself forward, softening through the knees. Inhale, reach halfway, maybe hands touch, maybe on your shins, maybe the knees, and an exile slowly fold. With that breath, take your right foot back, take your right knee down to the floor and you'll find our lunge here. So you want to be mindful of that that left knee is right above your left foot. Mean lunge forward at all, but then reach your chest forward. Find that length within the spine, and just take a moment here. Exhale, maybe relaxing into that leg a little bit more of that feels good. Allow it to feel it good and you slowly lift your right knee up off of the floor, so you're just getting into the hip a little more. So reach your right heel back but still reach your chest forward, so stretching in both directions here. Take one more deep breath, and you slowly lift the hips and make that giant step forward to meet you left foot in how finding a link, exhale slowly fold. I'm going to step, strike back with our left foot. Left foot steps back, take your left knee down to the floor and again staying here. Pause here for a moment, notice what's happening within the hips. Maybe you feel it in the left side of hip flexor, maybe the right hamstrings here, means literally lift your left knee up. Same here. With your left heel back, reach your chest forward, redefining that length here, drawing in both directions within your body. Take one more deep full breath and slowly lift your hips, and then step forward again, find an a in health, I'm halfway and exhale slowly fold. Then come straight back, stepping back with our right foot again. So step you write that back to your right knee down and that's it. So as you inhale come on up,bring your hands onto your thigh. Press a thigh away, so bring a belly away or can draw your belly away from the thigh and find that length net openness women the shoulder is yeah, maybe lunging a little deeper depending on what you feel and how where you at today. So if you want to you can either stay here, may be taking both arms up, lifting up and really find that links of your side body reaching up, maybe softening the shoulders down, but staying strong through both arms here. So keep your right arm nice and long, take your left-hand, back down to the hip and then move the hip back so they upset someone right on top of that right knee and then stretch your right arm over to the left and breathe into this stretch. Really lean into the stretch and again, wherever you feel that the most maybe the thighs knew the hip flexes, maybe alongside your rib cage and take one more deep full breath into that area and then slowly, bring yourself back. Stay nice and low, and take your right elbow to the outside of that left knee. There you go, so don't want you to make it like a super deep one straightaway. So stay nice and opening over there on the right side, on your left hand or being a palms together here and then roll the left shoulder back. So you find that openness within the chest, and then breathe in deeply into the rib cage. Finding that twist, maybe for a moment, notice that lower back. I'm still nice and long and slowly release like that, lift your right knee and then stepping back into your downward facing dog from here. Let us walk it out for a moment and a little movement. Then take your right foot and step it forward and take your left knee down to the floor. The same on the other side, nice and easy, slowly bring yourself all the way up and then find that, spaciousness here again within the hip and the front. Just going to notice how your hip 1-2, hips One, Two, and a face forward. Imagine their little flashlights on the sides of your bones that I want to point forward rather than kind hanging into the lunge here. Press away, drew all the belly in me, we found a little more depth. Maybe bring your arms up towards the ceiling. If you look up maybe Let your pinky fingers talk to each other, draw them towards each other. Find that broadening of your shoulders, your upper back. As it nice, take your right hand to your thigh, the nice and long slowly, bring it back a little, and then stretch your left arm over your head over to the right and again, really leaning into the stretch wherever you feel it the most. Nice and smooth and then slowly bring it back and again, stay nice longs through the left and bring your left elbow to the outside of your right knee. Bring both palms together, then push your right hand into a left, rolled that right shoulder away. Maybe find a little resistance by pressing into your knee, pressing back out, again and slowly looked back down, take both hands back down to them mat, lift your left knee and slide it back downward facing down. Just work it out there for a moment. Just notice here fingertips here for a moment. You want to spread your fingertips nice and wide. Hug your elbows virally towards each other and then lengthen that space between your shoulder blades and your ears so broad and that space of find more even if they're within the upper body as well. Let's take one more deep breath, and in slowly from here. So to walk you feet forward, maybe find a little help, to the front of your mat, and bring your feet about hip-width distance, maybe a little wider with a toes pointing out, and they're going to sit down into a squat position here. There you go, I'm going to just find a little movement here first, then bring out palms together. Yeah, let's do that. Instead of he likened them push the legs way drew all the thumbs towards your heart. So if your heels are lifting up here, that's totally fine. You may notice a little bit more of that engagement of the muscles around the shin bones. You can always roll up your mat and place it underneath the heels to find a little elevation there to make it a little easier to begin with. You can always lean against the wall as well and hang out there for a little while and find a length within the spine, how can you find that openness within your upper body to breathe deeply and breathe fully here. Last and nice. I always like to say let's hang out here for another five minutes, you don't mind. Let's take one more deep breath. Then exhale slowly, release. Lets lift the hips up again, come forward into your forward fold. Just shake it out a little. That's it, and then slowly bend your knees, soften your knees spread both arms nice and wide. Come all the way up and lift it up, palms touch then exhale. Relax your arms by your side easy inhale, reach both arms up and exhale relax, that's it, press your feet down, route down into the mandrel, the belly and lifting up. If you exhale its fold forward here all the way, maybe bending the knees a little inhale come halfway and then exhale. Take both hands down to the mat, step back into downward facing dog from here. There you go. Now with that next inhale, rock forward into a plank position here, so rocking forward and as you exhale then you go straight back, downward facing dog. Lifting the hips inhale, draw the belly in. Rock forward into your plank, exhale downward facing dog. Now with your next inhale you're going to rock forward into a plank. You're just going to pause here for a moment, you're just going to hold it. So press your fingers, you hands down into the mat, again hug your elbows towards each other and if there's some opening within your upper back roll the shoulders away from the ears, maybe rock forward. You can push forward on your feet a little, but then press your feet down as well, find a little fire within the core, you always take your knees down to the floor here. We'll take one more deep full breath and then you exhale. Shift back downward facing dog. So nice take a deep full breath. Rock forward into a plank. You're going to take the knees down to the floor, bring your elbows in lower yourself all the way down. Inhale find your baby cobra and then exhale really. So press the tops of the feet down a couple more times big inhale. Find a little opening to the front of the body exhale release, inhale last one and then slide your elbows just underneath your shoulders here for a moment. You are going to come into our Sphinx pose. I can find that pelvic tilt back. Your tail bone presses down towards the mat, again strong through the legs and then reach your chest forward, finding that same opening in the front and take one last deep full breath. Then slightly you slide your hands back underneath the shoulders. You tuck your toes, draw the belly in, hug your elbows in towards the waist, tension around the waist and gently push yourself all the way back up into yet downward facing dog. Take a deep full breath here, exhale completely and then slowly walk your feet forward again, all the way to the front of your mat to meet your hands. Take an inhale, you want to link them halfway exhale, slowly find a little more of that stretch forward. Inhale, reach both arms wide, come all the way up, lift up, palms touch, exhale relax your arms by your side. Big inhale, bring both hands up. Exhale lets fold forward all the way. Inhale halfway exhale slowly fall, place your hands down, step back into your plank straightaway. Take your knees to the floor. Just going to notice the hips here. They're nice and long and are tipping down here, push the floor away hug your knees in and then all we want to do is reach forward. You're going to bring the chest forward, your elbows in towards the waist and then inhale push it back. Exhale halfway and then inhale push it back. Slowly come back here for a moment. So sit down on your heels. I'm going to do this and do a little dry run here. You bring your arms out to the front. Basically all we want to do is just find a little natural position there for the shoulders and bring your elbows in towards the waist. So that motion brings the shoulder blades down the back and then inhale slowly, bring it back. Exhale elbows move in, shoulders move down the back, and then bring your hands to the outside. Notice that engagement of the shoulder blades or the muscles between the shoulder blades and the spine hugging in really giving you that support around the rib cage also connecting your shoulder blades to the rib cage. See how you can maintain that and then slowly bring your arms forward again. Exhale elbows down and notice that's our chapter Angola our half push up or yogi push up movement of our arms or shoulders. Keep the shoulders low, elbows in, keep reaching your chest forward, keep drawing the valley in and last one, there you go, elbows in just for good measure, bring your hands off once more, and then again, keep that engagement around the waist. And you check it out, keep that. As you slowly come back onto your hands and knees here, again reach forward a little to extend the hips ever so slightly. Draw the belly in. How can you find that same engagement here within your rib cage and your shoulder blades. Hug your elbows in, shoulders move away and then slowly, bring your elbows down again and then inhale push it backup and exhale. Inhale there's a new chill on your lower back last one, cozy for a moment push the floor away and come all the way down. Inhale into your cobra, maybe little higher exhale released and again slowly push yourself all the way back up and downward facing dog, three rounds of breath here. Draw your breath all the way down into the lower belly to the side body. Heels don't touch the floor, simply keep your knees a little bent there. You want to always find that links within the spine first and then eventually your legs are going to be able to link in a little more. Slowly walk your feet forward to the top of your mat. Take an inhale you want to link then exhale slowly fold. Inhale reach both arms all the way up, bringing it all way palms touch above your head. Exhale relax your arms by your side, inhale last round big breath reach both hands up. Exhale slowly fold yourself all the way forward. Inhale halfway, maybe come all the way up here, exhale plank to your arms have step back into your plank. Let's hold it for one full breath with the exhale. Take your knees down, bring your elbows and big inhale into your cobra exhale push it back. Downward facing dog, lifted up nice and strong. Once more three rounds of breath. Finding that stillness within the movement, now with the next inhale, reaching your right leg up any amount, with exhale, look forward, stepping right foot forward into your lunge. Take your left knee down for a moment. Then as you inhale slowly bring yourself up, so you can take this variation here, or what you can do, is lift your left knee up, and then come into a crescent lunge or high lunge to start with here. Same variation maybe take your hands on to your thigh, maybe reach both arms up. Again, just notice the lower back here, if you're hanging into your lower back, maybe bending that left knee little, tilting of pose forward so your tailbone can draw towards the front of your right foot, maybe a little lengthening that left leg back. Big inhale reaching up, and as you exhale come halfway forward straighten that left leg as much as you can, inhale reach both arms up. Rooting down through both feet, come halfway forward, press that right heel down into the mat, inhale, and reach your arms up, and that's it. Now, take that left elbow, bring it to the outside of your right knee. If you need a little bit more balance to stop this, you can take your left knee down and then bring it back up. Again, just support yourself as much as you need to take a deep full breath, keep reaching the right hip back. Only slowly, take both hands back down to the mat, and slide it back downward facing dog and just give it a little shake if you need to. As you inhale, lift your leg like up behind you, exhale, step your left foot forward into your lunge. Again, choose your option, you can either keep your right knee down on the floor today. Maybe come bring yourself all the way up. If you want to bring a left foot or your right knee, and you're got to keep with distance, rather than going on a tight rope here. Again, to have a little bit more balance and again, notice the hips. The hips want to be pointing straight forward rather than lunging out here, and then reach your arms up here, draw the belly in. Find that support around the whole upper body here, [inaudible] sensory neuron,the waist, as you exhale slowly come halfway forward, super strong in that right leg, inhale reach both arms up, exhale come halfway. Inhale, reach both arms up. Last one, exhale, rooting down through that left heel nice and strong, inhale, reach both arms up, and saying yes. Take your right elbow to the outside of that left knee. Your palms together and draw your palms towards your heart. You can notice that right hip dips down a little, reach your right thigh bone back and up, that's it nice. Then slowly looked down, take both hands back down to the mat, slide it back downward-facing dog. Take a couple of deep full breath, and then slowly take both knees down to the mat, and bringing down, I don't know wide away from each other, maybe not with distance and then sit back towards your heels, into a wide legged child pose here. Take deep full breath. Exhale simply, relax into the hips. Release for their shoulders and your arms, slowly from here bring yourself all the way back up. I'm going to finish with a few rounds of hip openness, so simply lift back into your downward-facing dog. Just transition and bring your right knee forward, then place it just right behind your right hand. Depending on how tightly on the hips, that right shin bone somewhat diagonal here, maybe the foods quite close to the hip. You're going to always walk that left look, left leg back a little, and then check the left leg here. The left leg wants to be somewhat parallel to the mat, and that's going to give you a little benchmark here again to square the hips towards the front. Draw the right hip bone back. Think about those flashlights there if you inhale, or lengthen up, and then exhale. Maybe stay up here if that's a lot for you already today. [inaudible] There's be Stan, in your hands and maybe to get elbows down towards the mat. You can always reach your arms out to the front if that feels good as well. Again, just to support yourself as much as you need to, take a deep full breath really fill up, and if you exhale, how can you find a space to surrendering to? Notice if you feel any resistance anywhere, I can you slowly start to soften a little bit. Last deep full breath. The exile completely, and slowly bring yourself all the way back. Find a little strength there within you hands to the belly and take your left toes, and then push yourself all the way back again. Same, here maybe find a little release for that right leg, and then inhale slowly bring your left knee forward, left shin bone and somewhat diagonal there. Check that right leg, you want to lengthen the right hip draw the left hip bone, and then slowly as you keep that length within the lower back, and find a little bit of that softness there. I'm going to notice if and when we move into deepest stretches. How when we hold them in a place where it's somewhat easy to let go, you can start to soften and open up a little easier. How over time you find a point where your body just relaxes into that, that strong sensation. Go into this with the attitude of really allowing yourself to let go to open up. Let's take one last deep full breath. Exhale completely, and then gently, press yourself all the way backup. Now we simply roll onto the left side, bring your right leg all the way up to the front, and we're going to find a wide legged foot fold here. Wide legged stands and wide legged seats, to stop it, to make it nice and easy doesn't have to be a huge stretch here, and again support yourself here. So take your hands behind you. You can always pop yourself up on a blanket, or maybe a block. If you got one from, I don't actually like sitting on a block in this position, on a block in this position, but find that length, so support yourself here. Maybe notice to stop with, when you take your hands away, the position of your lower back and the position of your pelvis. Then, as you support yourself, find that lift through your upper body, and gentle tilt forward through the hips. We're starting to go a little deeper into the hamstrings here and obviously the hips and the adapters here as well. As it nice and, strong through your legs to your, where to find the sensation of your heels, drawing towards you. Little engagements through your thighs, to press them down. My guess is at one point, you'll find that, that stability to sit up nice and nice and happy in this position. If this is super easy for you. Let's take the hands to your legs. Maybe you can start to work your hands forward, which we're going to do in a moment, so to see, in how you want to link them. Then with the exhale, may be tilt forward a little deeper. Again, obviously, if this is enough for you already, if this is a lot to work with for you, just simply stay there. Let's close the eyes here, maybe bow your head down for a moment, take a breath, and again as you exhale, may be sink into that sensational a little bit more. You're finding that even flow of your breath, again, unraveling the spine as you inhale links and as you exhale, relax a little deeper, one big full breath and release. Let's pause here, linger in the exhale. Notice what's happening within the mind as well as our tendency to push one to go deeper. See you can allow yourself to make it easy to relax. I'm slowly getting ready to come back. Bring yourself all the way up. Simply lean back, bring your hands to the knees, maybe bring them together one at a time, and then roll onto your back. Bring those knees into your chest, give it a little squeeze. I think I'm going to find out happy baby pose from here. You're going to bring both knees away from each other and bring your legs up. The feet ought to be somewhere right on top of the knees, and then you can either hold on to the hamstrings here. Maybe you can hold on to your ankles or maybe, you can find your big toes, with the index finger and your middle finger, or you can hold on to the heels as well, that's another option. See, I can find a little bit of that connection of your hands to the feet or the, the ankles. Then relax the shoulders, relax your arms. If you hips are lifting up a lot, draw the terrain down towards the floor. So you really want to find, again links within the lower back first, where we found a little sway from side to side. You can always find a variation here and extend one leg at a time and a little bit of a deeper stretch for the toes. You really want to get into that, external rotation within the hip and groins, obviously the hamstrings as well. We stretch both at the same time and then slowly bring both feet back together and hug the knees and say, I'm going to slowly bring the feet down, and you counter balance, phenol counter balance here, in our branch pose. So bring the feet about hip width distance away from each other. Find that neutral spine. Let the knees point straight up. To prepare, we're going to snuggle the shoulder blades towards each other, and then lifting the hips, finding that lift through, the hips strive down through the heels. Strive down through your, shoulders, maybe into lazy hands underneath the back and then breathe into your rib cage. Here one small redefining that expansion and to the whole front body. Let's take one last deep full breath and then slowly roll the spine back down again, release your hands. Bring both knees in, let's find one last spinal twist. Extend your left leg down to the floor. Hug your right knee in and then guide your right knee all the way over across to the left. You may want to shuffle the hips over to the right side a little so both hips are stacked right on top of each other. Then look at what your right side, maybe with your right palm up, your right shoulder joint down towards the mat, take a deep full breath. Nice. Relaxing on the right hip and gently breathing into the lower back. Then slowly bring it back, I'm changing sides. Even now, the hips bring those knees in, extend your right leg down to the floor. Again, maybe a little off that shuffle of the hips over to the left side first and then guide your left knee all the way over across to the right. Bring your left arm out to the side and draw that left shoulder, down away from me. Just going to notice the difference here between the left and the right side. Maybe there is one maybe there isn't. How can you work with whatever you've got, going on right now? How can you challenge yourself, and also, in terms of allowing yourself to simply be? Then slowly bring your left knee back. Bring your right knee in as well, and then simply extend both legs down to the floor. Give them a little shake, a little wriggle. 7. 1.5 Shavasana Bliss: If you would like a little bit more of that hip opening, you can always take the soles of the feet together with your knees relaxed to the outside. Let's take a moment here. Slowly bring both knees back together and then extend both legs down to the floor. Give them a little shake. Let your palms roll up. Drop in completely. Maybe exomes sinking a little deeper. Relaxing your feet, relaxing your legs, relaxing your hips near lower back. Relaxing your whole upper body, your arms, your shoulders, your neck. Relax your face once more. Enjoy your cheeks, your forehead. Every breath you find that nourishment, re-energizing just flooding your whole body with light and spaciousness and openness. You exhale relaxing into that space you just created within the last hour allowing yourself to process the activity and come around full circle and linger in that silence. There's gently feeling that even flow of energy within the body allowing the ground to hold it, support you. You can simply drop in heavy and slowly starts to become aware of your breathing again. You start to become aware of your body, trigger your toes, your fingers. Slowly bring both arms above your head, you deserve really good stretch [inaudible] throughout the whole body waking up the rest of your day and relax your arms, bring both knees into your chest. You deserve a little squeeze, broke from side to side and then slowly roll over to one side and join the presses serve all the way back up into a seat. Find a nice long spine maybe with your eyes closed, maybe a little sway, a little movements of the spine and awareness of your core again, to support yourself to sit up nice and tall, maybe sit up on a block or blanket here. I'm going to take one last deep full breath in here, really fill up. If you exhale, just open your mouth and really is completing. Watch your breath become natural again, and slowly bring both palms in front of your hands, gaze down towards the fingertips. Let's take a moment. Is always of that gratitude towards ourselves, our practice, our body, more beautiful style for taking care of ourselves and taking the time to step onto your mat and practice in creating the ability to dive a little deeper and find more awareness. Which is so precious and it helps us to notice what's going on inside the body as well as the mind. You get to work with our bodies rather than fighting against besides reading our body signals. Please pause here. For another moment, notice the beauty of the effects of your practice. Take a deep full breath, exhale completely and slowly callow the ends of your mouth into a big smile. Namaste. Thank you so much. I might keep that. Thank you. You may need a blanket or bolster or a pillow. I'm going to cut this video out. Get over the giggles. 8. Well done! Where to go from here.: Hello my friend, and how are you feeling? How does your body feel now? How does your mind feel? Did you enjoy the shavasana at the end? Soak it all up and really take it with you into your day or the rest of your week as well. If you've got another few moments, take your diary and make a note of how you're feeling, how the session went, and then schedule your next yoga class in the sequence for next week. Ideally, the same day and same time if that worked for you. Lock it out in your diary, create a remind so you can really stay committed to yourself and follow through with creating some magical changes within your life. Give me a little review and a thumbs up, much appreciate that. It will really help me get this class seen by more people and help more people tune into their beautiful selfs, gets stronger, feel better, and relax a little more, and just really live the life they love to live. Thank you so much. Namaste. Bye, bye. See you next time.