00:00What are you going to show us today? Yoga is a practice in a system that brings all
00:05the things together, all the important things, our body, the breath, and our mind.
00:10So we're gonna start on the mat on your hands and knees. Okay. So you want to
00:14bring your wrists shoulders-width apart and your knees hip distance apart. Okay.
00:18Do three of what we call cat-cow. You can bring your knees a little wider. Okay.
00:22So as you inhale you're gonna lift your eyes up to the ceiling and then lower
00:26your belly button down, arch the back. It's called cow pose. Now take a deep breath in
00:30and as you exhale round the mat the back and push into the mat as much as you
00:34can. Lift your navel up to the ceiling. One more time. Inhale lift your tailbone.
00:38We're tilting the pelvis opening up the hips the shoulders and chest. As you exhale
00:42round the back press into the mat. Feel the shoulder blades lift and spread. Now
00:46inhale again. Lift the eyes up to the ceiling. Lift your feet and tuck your toes
00:49underneath you. And then as you exhale bring the hips up and back to your
00:53downward facing dog. Good. This is very familiar posture for everyone that
00:58practices yoga. This is a wonderful introduction to building that upper body
01:03strength and stretching out the entire body. So go ahead and lift your heels up
01:08as you breathe in. Good. Feel your kneecaps and your inner thighs lift your knees
01:12whole body and awaken every cell in your body. So lower your heels down very slowly.
01:17Shift your weight forward to plank which is a like a push-up position. You want your heels,
01:22your hips and your shoulders to be in one line. And think of lifting your navel up
01:27and holding that space. Exhale lower your knees and then you can lower yourself all
01:33the way down to the mat on the belly. Good. Now bring your forehead down to the
01:39mat. I just want to go through this really quickly. Point the toes all the way
01:42behind you. The best, one of the best ways to find that alignment and that
01:45strength throughout the whole body is to have the support of the floor or the
01:49support of the wall. Alright, so we're going to engage the whole body. Lift your kneecaps
01:54off the mat. If you can bring your heels to touch, that's wonderful. If you have any
01:57back issues, bring your feet a little wider apart. Squeeze your outer hips and your
02:02glutes towards each other. And then lift your belly button off the mat. Even if it's
02:06not literally lifting, your forehead stays down but just the belly button lifting.
02:10And feel, you notice how that lengthen out your lower back. Yeah? Alright, now lift the forehead,
02:14your chin, and your chest. And then just try to empty the back of your neck here so you feel nice and
02:23long. No tension where we don't need it. Now take a deep breath in. Breath is the most important
02:27thing. Exhale lower to the mat. Again, tuck your toes under as you breathe in. Anyone want to do plank?
02:33Anyone feeling strong? Exhale, push up to your plank. Nice. Strong women. Then bring the hips up and back to
02:39your downward facing dog. Alright, now lift your right leg up towards the ceiling.
02:46And then bring your right knee to your chest and step forward as softly as you can, as far as you can
02:51in between your hands. Bring your left knee down to the mat. Untuck your left toe and then take your
02:57hands on top of your right thigh. Good. And again, feel your belly button draw in. So as we're in our
03:03deeper back bends, we want to create that support in the front body and then bring the arms up to the
03:07ceiling. Eyes looking up towards the ceiling. Nice balance. Even though we're not looking forward,
03:13we're grounding into the heels. Take a deep breath in. And now exhale, reach out as far as you can,
03:19like someone's pulling you forward. Forward and then palms down to the mat. Straighten out your left leg.
03:25You can tuck the toes under and lift the knee and then sweep the arms forward and up on your high
03:30lunge. Nice way to open up the hip flexor and find that balance and opening of the chest. Now straighten
03:37your right leg as you breathe in and then spin your left heel down to the mat. Nice. And then straighten out
03:45your right leg. Take your right arm forward, left arm back. Reach out as far as you can in front of you
03:52and then take your right hand down to your shin and then take your left shoulder over your right.
03:59This is one of the best postures for stretching out the lower back. We've got our side bend. We've got
04:04our twist and you take a deep breath in and then exhale a little twist. And one more time. Inhale,
04:12open both sides of the body, extending. Exhale, empty the belly button and twist. Inhale,
04:18come back up to standing. Exhale, bend your right knee and then cartwheel your arms down to the mat.
04:24And then go ahead and step back to your downward facing dog.
04:29Take a deep breath in through the nose and release all that work. Exhale at the mouth.
04:34Lift your heels up as you breathe in. Exhale, bend the knees deeply. Bring your belly to the thighs.
04:39Look forward and stick your buttocks up to the ceiling. I'm like, what are we doing?
04:42Now look forward at your hands. Tiptoe your feet or hop to your hands at the top of the mat.
04:49Good. Bend the knees and just fold over the legs. Bend those knees. Just release the lower back.
04:55Shake out the head. Shake out the shoulders. Flutter your lips. Release this morning. All right.
05:01And then bring your chin to chest and we're going to roll up to standing for the count of three.
05:05Feel every vertebrae stack. Two. And then empty the shoulders down for one. That feels yummy.
05:16Isn't it yummy? It feels very yummy. And now you're also going to teach us a little bit of meditation as
05:20well? Absolutely. Yes. Both go hand in hand. We're going to take our blankets. And if you don't have
05:26blankets, you can have a pillow. You can have, you can sit on a chair. But one of the most immediate
05:32things you can focus on is your breath. So if you, uh, let's practice this. Sure. Take one hand two
05:38inches below the belly button and one hand on top of the other knee and sit up as tall as you are.
05:45And then go ahead and soften or close your eyes. Take a deep breath in and a breath out.
05:54Quiet yourself enough to feel the energy flowing through your body.
06:02You can feel the lungs expanding and contracting, filling and emptying.
06:09And just focus on your belly expanding as if it was a balloon with air.
06:15And focus on that journey of the navel drawing back in towards your internal organs towards the lower back.
06:21You can bring your right hand to your knee. I'm going to give you both a block here.
06:36All right. You might not even need a block, Elsa. I'm not sure. But sit up as tall as you can.
06:42Lean back away from the legs. Lift the chest up. Lift the eyes. Take a deep breath and exhale. Hinge
06:47forward from the hips. First, bring your belly in between your thighs, your chest in between your
06:52knees, and then your forehead towards your block. If your hips are very tight, you can bring it on
06:57two or three blocks. Feel that your sit bones are grounded to the mat. So always think of that
07:03foundation first. Staying rooted. You can walk the arms out in front of you. Right? Once you've got a
07:12little movement, you've got that restlessness out of you, you can come back up to sitting
07:19and continue your meditation. Thank you so very much, Grace, for leading us through that practice.
07:24You're very welcome. Thank you so much, Elsa, for joining me.
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