Okay, welcome to class. You're going to need a chain with two loops in it. So I just used my two carabiners to make candles for my hands.
today if you don't have the chain I highly recommend you get one but you can do the class with a yoga strap it's definitely not the same but it's better than nothing and so you will make a big loop in it and shorten it to whatever length you need to create the length of arms that you need and then it you'll you'll use it that way and then the third option if you don't have a yoga strap or a chain is going to be that you're going to use a blanket which is even less of specific but again better than nothing okay so we are going to use the chain specifically and this is all about strengthening the tone and connection through our back body through our occipital ridge so when you go to the back of your skull that notch the back everybody has that pointy kind of bird's beak that's our occipital ridge ridge and that's where we're going to be working the chain from today. Okay so we are going to start by coming to hands and knees. You can have the tops of the feet on the floor to start with. Hands will be slightly wider than what the knees will be. And then just take a second here to notice, you know, the pressure through your wrists, pressure through your knees, kind of the sense of your spine and your head here.
Okay. Let me do a couple of just cat-cows. It's the quality of your, the movement of your spine where it kind of moves first and most and last and least. Okay.
Then we are going to tuck the toes under, um, rock weight back into that. joint come back down and we're going to think about being active through that MTP joint again come into some cat cows you might notice that quite naturally you've got like a bit more range or a sense more of that range again notice where you move first the most through your cat cow and last and the least parts of your spine okay having done that a little bit of a check-in and just chain and it's going to come and rest on that occipital ridge. Okay again tuck the toes under just so you've got a good anchor through the legs okay and again we're going to move into some cat and cows.
and obviously the way we move our head will be changed so that we don't drop the chain. Now the next time you move into cat when you come out of it I want you to start the pelvis and move more segmentally here kind of vertebra through vertebra until you end up into your cow and then start the pelvis again move back into a cat Now one more time cow and one more time cat. Okay and you'll feel how that chain informs those cat-cows. Now we're going to take that chain and we're going to sit back on our heels so that we take the pelvis out of what we're doing.
Here, okay. So again, starting with the bottom of the rib cage or that bottom of the sternum, you're gonna start to come into your cow arch. Okay, maybe you put the hand on the back of the head and then from the sternum you're gonna go back.
the other way, head bows. So we're just gonna move through those a couple of times. This next time once we're arched, we're actually gonna turn.
If I can do this with my glasses, you can. Then we're going to switch the hand that's on the floor, bring the other hand onto that and again moving from the bottom of the breastbone to the top of the head. I'll just do a bit of an angle change here. So pressing back so that my hips sway back onto my heels.
Okay and the next time I arch we're going to rotate and then come back. I'll set that to the side. Just come up to standing for a second, walk around a little bit.
What I want us to start to get from this class is that that thought of being tall actually doesn't come from the top of our head it comes from this occipital Ridge So running tall, standing tall, sitting tall is actually from this point of the back of the skull, not from the top of our head. So as you're walking around, just have a sense of lengthening back and up from that point and notice how that feels. The beauty of that is it also lets us remain really grounded through our contact.
with our feet and the ground. Okay so we're going to come back on down and this time we're going to lay down on the on the floor on our belly. So we're coming prone. I like to let the ends kind of lay out in front and then we're just putting the hands kind of under the shoulders. Elbows are reaching back towards the hips and then from that point, that occipital ridge on the back of the head, and you could place a hand on it to kind of keep it there, I want you to.
start to peel up the head but you're nodding and reaching from that point and then we bow the head again. Okay then you're going to nod and lift from that point. And we're only coming up so that our collarbones lift but that our sternum doesn't start to lift up off of the floor yet. So really just a roll of the head, a nod and a roll of the head.
Okay, we're going to take that off and just take a rest there for a second. Three breaths with the head turned one direction. Maybe you're focusing on that occipital ridge that point at the back of the skull to rotate the head so it gets heavy towards the floor and nods towards the back of the neck of the neck. And then we're going to go the other way again.
Once your temple comes to the hand, focus on that occipital ridge being what rotates and nods to turn and face you the other way. With each breath just focusing on that nodding and turning of the occipital ridge, that little beef on the back of our head. Okay and then we're going to come back center and place that on the occipital ridge again. This time though, hands are going to reach forward. and they've got the chain, our hands are through those loops in the chain, okay?
Elbows are on the floor. And we're again going to work that head nod and up, but the hands... are going to come with us. We don't have to roll up super far but we are going to take collarbones and just the top half of the breastbone is going to come up with this one.
Okay one more time. Reach those hands forward, press the head back. Into the chain, okay. This next one before we go, I want you to shrug your shoulders up around your ears before you nod north up. Okay, this time shrug the shoulders towards one another as you come up.
And then the last one. you're going to think about drawing your shoulder blades down as you come up and you'll feel how each one of those imparts something different into the spine and the shoulders. We're going to bring the hands underneath the shoulders with awareness of that occipital ridge. Imagine that chain still on it.
We're going to reach the elbows back down towards the floor and bring ourselves up. You lift all the way up to the pelvis, comes off the floor. if that works for you okay but we want to feel the whole spine and back body involved in that bow the forehead to the floor we're going to come up one more time again focus on if we still have that chain across the back of that occipital ridge that is peeling up shoulder blades come towards one another and down reach into the floor Maybe you lift up to the top of the thighs. Maybe you don't lift up as high.
That is a-okay. Okay, and then take a break. Forehead just rests on the backs of the hands. Back body is likely feeling quite energized here.
Okay, we are going to move from being prone and come on up to standing. Okay, bring your chain on up with you. Okay, so in standing we're going to take our chain and place it on that occipital ridge, palms.
are forward kind of find that little beak that little notch okay uh some of us might be more kind of reaching out on a 45 some of us might be pushing more forward but we want the head reaching back into the strap or into the chain and just stand here have weight kind of be in the midfoot but a sense of you being able to reach back and down through the heels while still having pressure in that midfoot Occipital ridge reaches back, hands reach forward. Just take a couple of breaths here in this variation of Tadasana. And we stay rooted through that mid-foot and inhale, take our gaze up and exhale.
Fold. Keep pressure back into that chain. It's going to help you keep movement being at that hip.
Just come to like a jackknife position here. Okay, and then reach down through the heels, but don't squash the heel bone into the floor. Come back up to standing. Good. One more time.
Inhale. Take your gaze up. Exhale, fold. Watch that the weight in your feet doesn't have your toes gripping or grabbing.
Okay from here we're going to lower the hips. Heels will come up whenever they need to into this low low squat keep pressure into the back of the head keep the toes from gripping we're going to stand up okay take that chain down little bit of a break there, shake out the arms, walk around your space. Again, seeing if you can find this sense of length, regalness, uprightness through that occipital ridge.
Okay, back body should feel quite enlivened and energized. Okay, we're going to build on to that flow. So we don't have to use the chain all the time but we want to use the chain to help us better organize and to move more intelligently. Okay so It's not about practicing with the chain all the time but it is about doing some practices with it that then has me be able to go to a public class somewhere and I'm able to better organize myself without the chain.
um as I'm moving through things in that class okay so taking a nap again this is going to come back onto that occipital ridge Okay play with kind of the hand, the press, find the sweet spot for you okay and then again find that Tadasana where we're kind of over the midfoot we're going to inhale Take our knees up, exhale hinge, make sure the heel can reach down without squishing the skin of the heel on the ground. Forward fold, jackknife, press back into that chain, inhale. Lower the hips, let the heels rise up when they need to. With the thighs, yaw. We don't want to grip the toes.
Now press up through the back of the skull using that back body and the legs. legs to bring us back up to standing. Good. Take a bit of a break.
Shake those arms out. Okay, we're going to add on this time in that flow. So after that melasma squat, when we come up, we're going to hold in a chair pose and then move into a warrior three and a half moon on our right leg as our stance leg. Then we'll take another break. We'll flow through the sequence again, this time on the left side.
Okay. So when we are ready, bring it back up to that occipital ridge. This is what happens when you're like class planning before the class. I'm like my arms that are like, they're out of gas.
Okay. So here we go. Find that tadasana. Inhale.
Have the occipital ridge come with the eyes. Exhale, fold. Make sure you can reach back and down through the heels without squishing the skin of the heels.
Inhale, don't grip with the toes, exhale press up just to chair pose. Good, shift the weight onto the right, long through the occipital ridge, out through that left heel. Good.
Use the back of the skull and the chain. Press, press, press. Find yourself in half moon and then step forward. Take a break. Okay we're gonna go through one more time on that side.
Okay once we are in half moon, once we're on half moon using that occipital ridge to organize us. We're going to pull through into a little bit of a tree with a bit more control this time and then into Tadasana and then we'll go through twice on the other side. Okay this is when I wish my Lighter gauge chain was separated so I could use it now at this point.
I'm like, ah! Okay. Find that occipital ridge. Good. Weight to the midfoot, inhale, exhale, inhale.
Watch that the toes don't grip, let the thighs yaw. Press back into the skull, press into the ground, fine chair pose. Good.
Shift weight into the right. Going to our warrior one. Back of the skull, back heel. Good.
Let yourself organize. Hands, back of the skull, heels. Find your half moon, come up through tree and find your tadasana. Good.
And I'm going to flow through that exact sequence on the other side. Any questions? Look good?
Okay, awesome. You know the drill, so we're finding our tadasana, taking our knees up with an inhale, exhale, jackknife forward fold, make sure there's space at the back of the legs, can reach down through the heels without squishing the heels, okay, inhale, lower the hips, heels rise up when they need to, we don't want the toes to grip, press back on the skull, rise up into chair, shift the weight left, reach heel and back of the head, find your warrior three and then Use the heel, use the chains, use the back of the head to reach out from center to find your half moon, pull up through into tree and find your standing into vasana. Whoo!
Okay walk around your space a little bit. Again notice a sense of length or elongation. I want you to find that for yourself not through the top of the head but through that beak at the back of the head.
How are we feeling? Awesome.