okay uh let's get going we're gonna work on some um balance stuff a little bit of play and then we'll finish with a couple of restorative poses and um a nice bit of a longer shavasana since it's Friday today and we're coming off of a long weekend last week weekend um okay so come uh just come to standing and take a second you can have your eyes open or eyes closed but over the next kind of three just slow inhales slow exhales you don't need to make them any deeper I want you to focus on the exhale just letting yourself get a little heavier to the ground feeling a little bit more pressure through that transverse Arch okay we're going to bring our feet a little closer together and bring our hands onto our hips and again kind of we're just going to bend and straighten the knees and hips just a little bit finding kind of this Dynamic through the tripod of the foot so where you'll feel the heel kind of touch down and where the heel gets light maybe you're going to play with a little bit of the pelvic position by either engaging and drawing that pelvic floor thinking of um coxic to pubis or pubis to coxic kind of either rotating the pelvis back or rot ating the bottom of the pelvis or the top of the pelvis forward so just kind of play with those and then find somewhere where you feel like you're kind of in a happy medium between all of those Dynamic and you've got some pressure into the feet and the feet are kind of working here in active so are the ankles we're going to shift our weight onto one leg okay and then what I'm going to invite you to do is just kind of explore that other leg you know take it behind take it across kind of find the sweet spot where you feel just really steady and connected through that stance leg and you're just going to hang there for a couple of breaths you could also play with the pitch of the Torso and again finding that spot where no one part of the leg is like screaming at you but you can feel the foot the ankle the muscles of the leg like toned to keep you steady there and you're going to bring that foot back down to the ground okay so now this is going to be our stance leg and we're going to do the same thing take that other leg and just move it around and feel for where it feels like you're able to just stay steady in the on the spot you're on and you're not fighting with anything any part of the leg any part of your structure again play with the the pitch of the Torso forward or back to find that sweet spot where you feel the joints kind of adapting to shifting balances here but that stance leg just feels steady and strong and where you put that swing leg was probably different on your sides based on what's your up leg and what's your down leg we're going to go back to that first leg again find that sweet spot where it's like ah I can like hang here and then I want us to play once you're there for a few breaths with where does That Swing leg and/or torso what's the change that need needs to happen that has us want to go forward off that stance leg so maybe you come in you find that balanced steady point and then again play with what has to happen with the Torso where's that swing leg got to go to really quickly get off of that leg some of us might need to relax and think of just letting the toes be long or adding a yacht of the toes to help get them out of the way to get off that balanc stance leg and then we're going to do the same thing on that other side so again find where you just feel like boom I can stick The Landing here on this one leg and then pitch or play with what you do with that other leg in the Torso to have it be really easy that you roll off that leg quickly that you go to balance on your other leg good and then you're going to come just to standing again eyes can be opened or closed and just notice what you notice there might be a a sense of blood flow or liveness kind of further up from the feet up the body you might notice a sense of the inhale and exhale having changed where the pressure is in your feet and just your sense of verticality so just notice what you notice okay so we're going to come to that one leg being The Stance leg again and this time the task that we're going to explore is that same hand as The Stance leg we're going down to the ground to pick something up with it know that you have an the other half of the body to help you do that and coordinate that so go down and pick it up and don't just pay attention to the picking up hand notice what you do with your other hand and other leg to help it to help you easily get down and easily get up to easily get down and feel like oh okay I not going to fall on my face and easily get up and then I want you to switch hands so with the opposite hand to the stance to The Stance leg you're going to bring it down and come up so we're putting a different rotation in the system yeah so again what does that other hand do to help this feel easy steady like I can adjust to the changing Center of mass good okay so we still got that stance leg but now the leg in the back is the leg that we're actually going to load so that back leg so we're going down again with the same hand and as what's now our stance leg I'm going down and back up again what do I do with the other half of the body to make it easy to make it so that I can get down there okay putting more load into what is our back leg here good so we're going to switch our stance leg so now it's that other leg and again the task is we're going down with that same hand oh I actually have a little piece of paper the cats were in here shredding for me if I don't feed them on the hour they find paper and shred it use the other half of your body to help you do the task it's not not just the hand going down to pick up what if that hand instead of going to the outside of that back weighted leg it comes to the inside good okay come on out just stand in both legs take a second notice what you notice there okay so I'm going to give us kind of some tasks that we're going to do and the whole thing is you have a whole body that can do it you also have two hands and two legs that like to do things differently right I hold a fork with one hand and a knife with the other they do different things when I write I hold the paper with one hand and I write with the other hand they're doing different things if I pitch a baseball one hand is throwing the ball and the other arm is helping create this rotation that I go around okay so the task that we do we're not trying to make them symmetrical we're letting our right arm arm and leg and left arm and leg coordinate them the way they want to okay so what uh we're going to do is come down into chair pose so a little deeper than what that athletic stance is we're just likeing a little bit of a squat watch that your heels aren't pinned to the floor here okay because that'll make it harder for for you to move the center of mass here in a second when we do we're going to shift our weight into a leg Having learned where it helps us be more stable on that stance leg do what you need to do with that other leg as you reach down to the floor with that same hand okay that other leg is up the in the air behind us so we're in balancing Half Moon yeah you're doing whatever you need to do with your opposite hand to Be steady and stable here you're going to bend that stance knee and bring that leg that was in the air those toes to the ground and then that knee to the ground good come back up to standing so now that you have a sense of what the T ask is if this leg that is our stance leg is our up leg in order for us to kind of stay balanced on it we need the down leg to be more in line with it so as I come down over this leg I'm going to be helped if this is my up leg by letting my down leg drift across I won't fight my stance leg to get to the floor if this is my down leg I'm going to probably be helped by keeping that up leg a little bit more bent and under me as I come down and then reaching it out okay so let your legs work work together so if as you're going down you're like I'm just fighting that leg there's no space for me to move down to the floor you got to do something different okay so with that stance leg let that other leg if you feel like you're fighting yourself left it let it drift behind find the floor with the hands or find a block with the hands okay just let yourself be be there for a second really get steady in that stance leg and then you're going to play with opening up towards that long edge of your mat that top arm might not need to reach to the ceiling it might need to reach somewhere else in order for you to maintain being on that stance leg okay now you're going to take that leg that's up in the air bend the knee you're going to drop it down behind that front leg lower the toes and then the knee to the floor release the top of the foot to the floor we're going to sit back extend out that leg long then we're going to rock forward back foot comes off the ground we're going to try to pull that heel to the bum we want to get some tension through the thigh stuff good release the top of that foot to the ground sit back on that heel you can keep the top of the foot down on the floor or you can let the top of the foot come off okay rock forward again this time we're gonna spin that knee that's on the ground so now we're facing the long end of that mat okay from here we're going to rock to the short end back up Rock to the short end back up so I'm yawing over that Shin the thigh is pitching out to the side or rolling I guess technically out to the side and I'm reaching in the direction of that forward knee good now I'm going to bring the hands forward and on the ground in front of me and I'm going to walk that leg out further turn the toes to face the same direction I am okay from here we're going to sit back towards that heel and then Rock forward sit back towards that heel and then Rock forward keeping the inside of the foot towards my opposite leg so rather than rolling onto the heel then we bias the inner thigh stuff more than the back of the thigh stuff good hands come forward again this time we're going to turn towards that extended out straight leg play with how you do that with the reaching arm it might be that you need to reach forward above your head and then up to the ceiling some of us might find it works better to take the elbow in the direction of our hip and then open up towards the ceiling some of us might find it works better to go along the inside of that opposite hand and across the chest so give that hand that's coming off the floor a task a direction that you want it to take see which one agrees with you today good that hand's going to stay on the floor same thing but now we're going the other way again this side because we're going to be really loading up the inner thigh stuff you're going to have to change how you create that rotation what you do with that other arm you might even need to change where you place that hand so you get the right kind of Leverage to once you get into position it's like okay I feel like I'm I'm held here I'm supported here good then walk the hands back bring the knees together we're going to rock back whoops into my closet door we're going to rock back get our feet underneath us heels don't have to be down and then press yourself come on up to standing you can roll up vertebra by vertebra or just press yourself on up okay going to try to remember that and we'll do it on the other side and then we're going to do something else so we're going to shift our weight into that other leg is our stance leg okay bring that hand down to the floor now if this is your up leg you're probably going to need to take that back leg in behind in order to have it let you down if this is your down leg to help it keep you up what you might want to do is keep your other leg tucked in until you get a hand to the floor now I've got two balance points now I'm going to work on reaching out that leg and where I want to put that arm okay now I'm going to fold up that leg again bring that knee or the toes first to the floor and then the knee to the floor and I'm going to rock back on that heel you can put the top of your foot on the floor I could let the sole of the front foot come off and I'm just going to rock forward and back back a couple of times next time I come forward I'm going to pick up my back foot bringing that heel towards my bum your front heel might lift depending on how much you can lift up that back foot keep trying to bring your back heel to your bum to your bum to your bum you might get a calf or hamstring cramp to your bum good and you're going to release it Rock back now I think we spin on the knee that's on the floor so we're turned to the long edge of the mat and we're just going to rock in the direction of that front knee again the heel will come off the floor when it needs to don't try to keep that front heel planted on the ground especially if you like running and hiking and things you don't need more ankle Mobility it will make those things actually harder and feel worse good okay we're going to pause here we're going to spin that heel back so now we've got that long lever out we're going to walk the hands forward and rock back towards that heel and forward good we're going to plant the hands here the same hand as the the the knee that we're on are going to stay planted and that other arm is going to do something to turn us towards that extended leg you don't need to keep your hips pinned where they are let things move as they need to okay now we're going to plant that opposite hand and take that hand as the same as the uh knee that we're on it's going to move in a way that starts starts to rotate us away from that extended leg just ease yourself into that rotation this is a lot of slack is out of our system with that leg extended out to the side good let that go I think now we just bring both legs together tuck those toes under Rock back onto those feet and bring ourself all the way up so you can roll up or you can just press up now get yourself a door frame or a counter ledge or a door knob something that feels secure in front of you and we're going to just play here with the whole idea of how fast can I make space and drop down into that space so maybe the feet are turned out slightly but the whole point is I'm going to let myself come down and then I'm going to use my muscles to bring myself up so that's where if you're nervous about dropping yourself down hang on to the door knob or to the counter something so that you're not worried about falling back onto your butt okay so we're just going to let the heels do what they need to do let the the knees the thighs do what they need to do and it's about get down the work comes when we stand up gravity is rotating us down we come back up gravity is rotating us down we press back up think of the thigh Bones the shin Bones the feet they're all levers and with those shorter levers we can move quickly okay the Torso is another lever so we can move quickly if you know which is your down leg leg I'm going to invite you to tense it up this next time before we drop down and yaw your up leg slightly away from your down leg and you'll feel how you're more over that down leg to come to go down and then I want you to tense the up leg and bias it to come up so tense your down leg come down up leg to come up down leg up leg so we're kind of squatting in a circle one more good now you can keep tensing the down leg and the up leg like we just were but the other piece I want you to play with is when we go down thinking of the pelvic floor muscles drawing from Back to Front when we come up they're drawing front to back okay it's not squeezing the anus just think of like Saran wrap from the back of that Coxx pulling to the pubis and then from the pubis pulling to the coxic okay good good let that go I just want to check in with those of you live on the class if any of those kind of directions that I gave helped a feeling of more space as you went down and or Andor more clarity when you came up in terms of how to get yourself up awesome yeah I I agree with that yeah yeah Okay cool so and the legs want to work as a team whereas if they're both tense it can sort of disrupt the coordination or not make it as clear of how how's the best way to move this Center of mass quickly um if you watch powerlifters you'll see they get under it with the one side and they bring it up on the other side and it's not that muscles aren't working like then our muscles become unbalanced they don't it's the SE the order of sequencing just changes is all okay I want to check 10 okay we're good okay so we are going to come down to the floor uh on our bellies just laying down you can put the forehead on the box of your hands for a second here and just take a minute maybe wiggle the pelvis or roll the pelvis side to side maybe like lengthen the low back and Arch the low back a few times tap the tops of the feet on the floor maybe even bend and straighten the knees and then just arrive here on our bellies on the floor we're going to take our hands from underneath our forehead out to the sides and then our forehead is going to come just onto the floor those of us with a facial geometry that has our nose maybe larger than what the forehead can accommodate you might need to put a towel underneath your forehead so you don't squish your nose here in a second I'm going to take my glasses off okay so hands are on the floor elbows are up towards the ceiling and out to the side kind of like scarecrow arms except for the hands are on the floor forearms perpendicular with the floor so what we're going to do is push and pull with the hands so that we roll to one side the head and then push and pull so the head rolls to the other side okay now as you're doing this I want you to play with where your fingers point where your elbows Point as you push and pull and play with these just lines of Direction and tension and find the one that for you has the neck really just relax and a sense of being able to roll P across that forehead that might mean that one elbow comes down towards the floor even as you look away from that side maybe one hand needs to come in closer to you and one hand needs to be further out okay and then let yourself rest in Center again place the backs of the hands underneath the forehead just take a couple of breaths there to not and take take a second to notice what you notice okay I'm going to get you to slide the right big toe away from the pelvis get long and then the left big toenail away from the pelvis so you get nice and long down the inner seam of the leg and out into those big toes and then reach the pinky toes wide okay hands are going to come up underneath the shoulders and we're going to think about reaching the elbows towards the floor forearms towards the floor as we peel up the chest collar bone bones and then lowering yourself back down and we're going to peel ourself up again and then lower ourself down okay with this I'm going to keep my down arm in closer and I'm going to take my up arm and reach it out in front so I'm up on those fingertips and again I'm going to reach my down elbow towards the floor and press up through those fingertips so there'll be some rotation or a yaw of the chest as I'm lifted up here and I'm going to lower myself back down I'm going to play with kind of the reaching of the elbows as I lift and lower up into Spinx then I'm going to take both hands out long up on the fingertips and again try to slide like the fingertips away from the pelvis as I lift up into Spinx pose and I want to find where I can get into my mid and upper back and that this isn't a active EXT exension just from my lumbar spine so play with where those hands are where the elbows reach think of rolling the shoulders down your back as the chest lifts and just play with some different configurations of those hands okay then we're going to come back down rest the back of the head on the back of the hands just take a couple breaths there notice what you notice going to slide the hands underneath the shoulders tuck the toes under press yourself up onto your hands and knees walk the hands back sit back onto those heels grab my glasses okay you're going to need a if you've got a felt pad because car I know you have one of those you'll grab that and a pressed foam block otherwise you need a couple of blankets and we're just folding a couple of blankets or towels so that you have a a platform for your torso and a platform for your bum torso and head so it could be to to pads or a couple of blankets folded and then either a couple of yoga blocks or a long jump band I've got like the light resistance here so pelvis is going to be on the pads and then the Torso now depending on the L length the head could be off and on the floor or you could shimmy down if once you get here it feels a little weirder or like your head's kind of falling off um then shimmy down so that from head to pelvis you're on that kind of torso wide rib cage wide blanket that you folded okay and just have the blocks and the jump band kind of handy so first placement is we're going to have the elbows on the floor and we're going to bring the hands to the front of the pelvis the the pelvis okay then you're going to leave your right hand on the pelvis and your left hand is just going to come out to the side and rest on the ground with the Palm open to the ceiling so if I turn my head I'll kind of look at my elbow crease my forearm just take a about three more slow breaths here with one side hand on the front of the pelvis elbow on the floor the other side Palm to the ceiling elbow on the floor forearm on the floor okay we're going to turn our head back to Center bring that hand that's up to the ceiling back to the pelvis and we're going to switch Sid so now that other side the elbow's going to come up along kind of out from the ear and when you turn to look you'll look at that elbow and that forearm and the Palms open to the ceiling we're just going to take about five nice slow breaths here e okay we're going to turn that head back center now this is where you'll either take your yoga blocks or your band so yoga blocks are simply we're going to use them either on just below the knee or just above the knee bring the soles of the feet together the legs will open up and then whatever height you need you're just going to rest the thigh bones Andor The Shins some of us the below the knee is going to create more of a like contained kind of sense and supported sense some of us above the knee on the thigh is going to if you've got the band you could try it with the band um the other day when I was playing with this I really liked how it felt below my knee on The Shins and opening the legs up we're not going for for a sense of stretch in the inner thighs again we're going for this sense of kind of support and containment through the lower body you can play with how far the feet are from the pelvis and then go back to whatever arm position you kind of felt like as soon as you took a couple bre breaths it was like oh this this is good here um and if you're not sure there was no difference between them just pick one but if there was a difference go to that arm position that kind of had had you just have an extra little like sigh oh yeah this is where I need to breathe today e take three more breaths here and then spin your head back if it's turned reposition the arms bring the soles of the feet to the floor if you've got the blocks you'll scoot them out of the way if you've got the band you'll slip it off off and we're going to roll to the left or the right side whichever and just scoot those that little torso pelvis to head platform out of the way if you want you can leave a fold underneath the head and we're going to take those legs out long or maybe once you're on your side you're feeling like oh I actually want to do shasa on my side today and that's a okay too take us couple of moments here to like slip socks on if you want to get a blanket to pull over you just get yourself nice and cozy and settled as your set Ling in relax the muscles around the eyes let the forehead smooth out relax the cheeks the tongue and your gums let your attention wander we going to practice just sitting back and observing where the attention goes you don't need to change where that attention goes you don't need to direct it just observe e with the next exhalation just let your attention sit with your breath paying attention the breath in and the breath out noting the qualities of the inhale is it warm is it cool it's smooth or Jagged soft or stiff full or empty with the completion of your next breath in let your attention move now to the qualities of the exhalation as the exhale passes through the nostrils as it co cool is it warm is it smooth or jaggedy soft or stiff slow or fast let your attention move from the breath to feeling the body rest on the support the ground feeling areas of pressure tingling numbness you're going to start to bring movement back to the body that might be by way of wiggling the fingers in the toes or stretching the legs and the arms out long or tucking the legs and the arms in like a ball or rolling rocking a body part side to side take the next few moments to bring movement back and to find your way onto your side and just take a second on your side before using the hand and the arms to press yourself up to a seated position let's just bring our palms together and we'll gently rub the Palms just until you feel some warmth come to the palms of the hands to the fingertip tips and then bring those Palms up just maybe cupping the eyes I like to let my fingers wrap around my forehead and just come onto the crown of the head let's breathe in and out and as the warmth dissipates and maybe move those heels the hands to the temples to the cheeks and then Palms back again together thumbs just to the left of the breast bone at Heart Center and angelim mudra breathing in a sense of okayness and breathing out a sense of Om Shanti Shanti peace