In this class we are going to stay seated for the whole class so that you can get some tools in your toolbox for things that you can do seated in a chair. There's a whole lot more that you can do standing with the support of the chair, obviously, and we've done some of that already, but this whole class is going to be sitting. And I think you'll be surprised how full of a practice you can have sitting in a chair. So, to start with, let's find a place where you're supporting your own spine. So come away from the back of the chair enough and that you're able to sit forward on the set spots. roll the shoulders back and down.

Let the arms relax in your lap or at your sides, whichever feels most comfortable. And if you'd like you can close the eyes here. Notice the alignment of the knees, hips and ankles with the shoulders over hips. Chin in and parallel to the floor. muscles of the face relaxed. Attention inward.

Notice the breath. You can place a hand on your belly and feel the breath expand your abdomen so that the abdomen moves out as you inhale and in as you exhale. You might place another hand on your chest and notice the pattern of breathing Between the belly and upper torso. See if you can expand that breath so it's just a little bit deeper than it was when you began. It pretty particular notice the length of the exhale. Extending the exhale engages the relaxation response and allows us to let go of stress and tension.

I'll encourage you to notice your breath throughout the class and when possible. Allow yourself to return to this full deep breathing throughout the practice. You can let your hands rest wherever they're comfortable. bring the palms together, give a little wrap. Take the hands apart and notice the heat and warmth generated by that rubbing. And then bringing the palms together again.

As you're doing that, notice any places in the body of stress or tension or holding. And take those palms, place them on those parts of the body that could use a little love and kindness. The hands and the heart emerged from the same embryonic tissue they are connected in origin. See if you can bring the love of the heart, out through your palms, into whatever place in the body is asking for that. And let's do that one. Once more, bring the palms together again.

And bring your hands to a new place in the body. That could use a little loving kindness and allow the body to absorb that to take it in to feel its effects. And then rest the hands in the lab again. Return to the breath. Notice if it's changed. If it's still full and D, and D easy.

We'll chant on three times together. With each own notice the vibration in your body. That vibration can help to break up muscular tension. And it also can bring us together as a group to practice in community, sharing this experience with each other and how Oh Hail the effects of that sound vibration in your own body and in the space around you. Take a deep breath in and sigh ah good once more inhale ah okay and a third time for good measure. Ah start by moving the head just a little bit as we begin to warm up the body So, gently lowering the chin toward the chest and looking up just slightly to where this the wall and the ceiling meet.

Moving up and down lubricating the cervical spine. Make sure that you continue to breathe that you're still sitting up nice and tall. And then bring the head back to neutral. Take one year towards the shoulder and go back and forth, side side. And then bring the head back to center. Set up nice and tall turn and look over one shoulder, just as much as feels comfortable and then the other way as though you're shaking your head now and bring the head back to neutral.

We've just moved the cervical spine in all three planes and we'll do that again moving further down the spine. So we'll start with a little seated cat cow to move the thoracic spine in the sagittal plane. So we'll start by drawing the chest in as though the sternum we're going to move toward the back ribs. Allow the back to round and then arch the back. the sternum lifts and moves forward, opening the solar plexus, the heart, the throat. And then again, x Helen round.

And Helen arching you might find that as you do this, you feel a natural tendency to slide the hands forward and back so that they move toward the knees as you round and toward the hips as you arch. allow this to happen in time with your own natural breath. And then come back to center. moving side to side, reach one hand down toward the floor on the other side, you can hold on to the chair on the opposite side for stability. And imagine that you're between two panes of glass here. So shoulder lined up with shoulder, and then come up and reach down toward the other side.

And you can move this dynamically, keeping the six bones grounded on the chair for stability. And again, moving in time with your own breath. You might exhale as you lower to the side and inhale as you come up. Or you might exhale as you go to one side and inhale as you go to the other. Whichever feels more comfortable to you. You might find As you start to lubricate the spine, that this movement becomes a little bit more easeful.

You might have a little bit more range as we work through the stiffness of the morning. And then come back to center. And roll the shoulders, shake that out, bring the hands to the thighs, lengthen through the spine, creating space between the vertebrae, and twisting the spine just a little bit, a slight gaze over one shoulder as that hand slides toward the hip. And then going the other way, look over the other side, the other hand slides toward the head. And again, moving dynamically. Twisting side to side, very gentle, not going to the end of your range here.

Just getting a little movement in the spine. And again, you can exhale as you go to one side Inhale as you return to the center or exhale as you go to one side and inhale as you go to the other. And then as you're ready, come back to center. Close the eyes for a moment here and just notice the effects of that moving sequence on the spine. Notice if you feel any differences energetically, if you feel any changes in temperature in any parts of the body, any awareness that you didn't have when we first began, then we're going to move into the upper limbs a bit. So let's start with the hands just where they are and imagine that you're playing The piano on your lap.

So you can try starting at the pinky and going to the thumb rolling through the fingers. And then maybe go the other way a little brain game, you might not be used to going that way. And then if you really want to play with your head, try to go left to right, and then right to left and then play the piano in the air. Roll the wrists one way. Continue continuing to breathe, continuing to sit up nice and tall, roll the wrists the other way. And then push the hands away from you and pull them in and push.

So you can feel that you're lubricating all of the major joints of the arms but you're also Perhaps feeling the shoulder blades sliding along the back, we have muscles on the outside and the inside of the shoulder blade. So when you do this, you're actually giving yourself a little massage with your shoulder blades. And take the arms out in front, bring the thumb toward each finger, they may touch, they may not touch, that's fine. But sequencing through one finger and then the other. And with our kids, we make this a meditation. Peace begins with me.

So you could say that in your mind as you go through the fingers, and then take the palms wide, and then bring them toward fists. just bringing the fingers in toward each other. Maybe the fingertips touch, maybe come into full fists. Anything is fine extension. contraction. Continuing to breathe fully and deeply shake the arms out for a moment.

We're not done with them yet. We're going to go for a swim. Okay, so let's do a little freestyle. Some of you might actually have formal training and have a better form than I do. But the idea is that we're removing through the full range of the joints here and it's a little bit fun. And then let's move into backstroke.

And it doesn't matter how high up your arms go here, just moving them in a circular motion backward. brushstroke side stroke. Inside struck the other way. You didn't know swimming could be yoga. Okay, can anybody do butterfly? Whew, that's a workout.

Shake that out. Do you feel warm and the arms and the torso? Let's bring that down into the legs. So now let's play the piano with our toes. Okay, now we have giant maps in our brain for our hands, because we use them so much and we articulate them so well. Not so much with our feet so that it's possible to build that.

But you might find that trying to articulate one toe at a time down to the floor is really tough because Because we generally move them together, so they take up the same space in our brain. But that's something that you can practice. And it can aid with balance, the more articulate we are with our feet, the more we can respond to changes in our stability and surfaces. Alright, so just like we did before, with our hands, we made them wide, and then we brought them together. Do that with your feet, too. So imagine that you're trying to pick up something from the floor with your feet.

So you're drawing the toes in, and you can reach the whole leg as you do that and try to grab something from the floor. Imagine that there's a pencil on the floor and you're going to try to pick it up with your foot. And as you do that, you're sort of getting a little foot massage on the floor and go to the other side. And then let that go. Rock front to back. So you're rolling back from heels to toes and the ankles might talk and that's fine, mind you.

And for brain games, if you can try one side, opposite the other, so one heel and the other toe Are you still breathing fully and deeply? Are you still sitting up tall? Do you still have an open heart and a clear mind and then roll one way and we're all the other. I think this is a dance move. And holding on to your chair, let's take the knees over to one side and then over to the other to one side, and then the other. You might just want to be on the balls or the toes of your feet here, but Now we're getting to lubricate the hip joints just a little bit and you can hold on to the chair for stability.

And then take the legs over to one side, walk them out. And then we're going to dance them over to the other side and extend them that way. Set up nice and tall. Lengthen and then dance to the other side. Set up nice and tall, deep breath here. And sit up nice and tall, deep breath.

And then bring them back to center. slide all the way back now so that you are supported by the chair behind you. Notice how that feels different. Can you see Sit up nice and tall with that support. Let's give a little roll to the shoulders backwards and forwards and then alternating one and then the other backwards and then forwards and then let that go. Holding on to the chair for support, extend one leg out in front of you flexing the foot, bringing the toes toward you, and flex and point.

Cracks every time. And then slowly lower that down and extend the other leg out. lower that down. We're now going to lengthen each leg up coordinating with the breath. So we'll inhale to raise and exhale to lower. Starting with the right.

Inhale up. Exhale the other side. Inhale up. Sitting up tall. Exhale down. Exhale.

Exhale down. Good. Give yourself a little massage of the legs. Do a little padding. And you might want to take that further down the legs if that feels good. Maybe elsewhere in the body.

Little love tafs And then release that. Take a moment with eyes closed and just feel the effects of that tapping, whether it has changed the energy in the body, the temperature in the body, how you feel. And I hear some contagious yawn. So let's just do a nice big one. Inhale. Ah, Oh, that feels good.

My back Oh, so sitting all the way back in the chair. We actually can lift both legs off the floor at once. So let's hold on to the chair for support, walk the feet out just a little bit. Flex through the heels and lift both legs, who continue to breathe. You can stay here holding on to the chair or if you'd like you can try taking the arms out to the sides. Doesn't it feel like you're flying if you'd like you can take the arms up overhead if that's available and it feels good or to cactus arms.

Lower. Take the likes to take one arm up alongside the ear or in cactus, sit up nice and tall. Take a big side, stretch over to the side and breathe into that side body. And then come up to center. Their side, lift the arm up, all the way alongside the ear or cactus or hand to shoulder sit up tall. Take a nice side stretch.

Again, opening the opposite side body pressing that hip into the seat Feel that opposition between the length and extension in the upper body and the grounding through the lower body and come back up to center and relax. Are you feeling lubricated? Send a personal question. Okay, so we're going to come into some seated standing poses. If that makes sense. We're going to do start with our sun salutation and then we'll move into some warriors.

So yesterday we did the sun salutation sitting in a chair, we're going to move through it slowly to remind you of the sequence. And we have chairs without sides. So we are able to turn side to side, but if you'd like to practice, what the sequence would be, if you had arms on your chairs, you can do that as well. So we'll move through it and I'll give you both of those options again. So you are going to come back to the front of your chair so that you have plenty of room to move the legs around. And we start by sitting up nice and tall in our seated to dossena.

And then bring the hands to the heart, either resting them in the heart or bringing the palms together if that's available to you. From there, take the arms out and bring them up overhead as high as feels comfortable. Opening up the heart, just a gentle back bend from the shoulder blades up. We're going to hinge forward so you'll hinge at the hips, keeping a nice long spine and only go as far into this hinge as feels good for you. I like to keep my hands on my hips for stability you have can have your arms out in front of you, if that feels available. And that's your forward fold.

You can take it all the way down toward the floor in a full forward fold if you'd like And then from there we move into our lunch. So coming up, you can turn sideways and bring the leg back. You can take that arm up overhead. Or if your chair has arms which won't allow for this side turning, you can stay facing front and slide the leg back and you can still take the arm up. Coming from this lunge come into downward dog. So back to center.

Extend the arms out in front of you a nice long diagonal aligned toward that scene where the ceiling meets the wall. Pressing the sits bones back as the head and arms reach forward. Bring the hands to the size, lower the head down, lengthen through the crown of head and come up into a little Cobra. Opening up the heart and throat and then lower down again. Come back into your downward dog extending out on the diagonal. And then release that come into a lunge on the other side, either sideways or facing forward.

Come back to center, forward folds. reach the arms out and up either forward or out to the side up overhead, arch slightly back hands returned to the heart and release. So we'll walk through that slowly again on the other side, and then we'll work to coordinate the movement and the breath because I know it's new to some of you. So begin into das and bring the hands to the heart. Take the arms out and up overhead arch slightly back. hinges hinge at the hips fold forward as deep as you want to go with this Turn to the other side, come into a lunge.

And then back to center for down dog. Hands to thighs, lower the head, reach forward with the crown, come up into Cobra and then lower that back down. Come into down dog. Go to the other side now for lunch and then come back to centre. Forward Fold. reach the arms out and up, arch back and bring the hands to the heart.

Release. So when you do the lunge, you can just Choose to take the arm up and arch back. You can choose to extend to this leg and get very deep into it. Or you can make it a much smaller movement. And you can choose not to arch back at all. Same thing when it comes to, to reaching up, you can reach up all the way overhead.

You can have the arms at cactus, you can have the hands to shoulders, depending on what's available for you in your shoulder girdle and how deep you want to go with the practice. So are we ready to try this with the giraffe? Oh, yeah, sure. Okay, let's actually all do it with the leg under the chair just so we can feel that because some chairs and wheelchairs especially do have arms and right and it's not possible to do the sideways turning. So starting into dossena, bring the hands to the heart. reach the arms out and up, arch slightly back, fold forward and hang over.

Slide the left leg back come into a lunge can take the left arm up. And then release that down. Come into down dog. Take the hands to the thighs, lengthen through crown of head, come up into Cobra and lower down, reach the right leg back, come into a lunge on the right side. Lower down again, come into Forward Fold. Take the arms out and up overhead arch back and bring the hands to the heart.

Okay, yeah. So with the when you're doing it with the forward facing lunge, you don't get as much of a stretch in hip flexor, right? Because you're sort of limited between needing to be far enough back on the chair for stability and wanting to be far enough forward that you actually have room for this leg. And for people who do a lot of sitting, stretching those hip flexors is so important. So if you do have the availability to turn sideways and get a bigger stretch, another option, as Susan is doing is sliding over to the side. Of course, if the chair has an arm, you can't do this either.

But this is an another way to get into the hip flexor. And we'll do you'll see that when we get to the warriors. So let's get back to the Sun Salutation and let's now do it moving with the breath. And we'll do just one time on each side because we've we've already done a few of these. So find your inhale here. And exhale, bring the hands to the heart.

Inhale, take the arms up overhead arch back. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, come into alignment. On one side and then x Hell come into down dog. And how come into Cobra exhale back to down dog in hell lunch on the other side. exhale fold forward.

Inhale, reach out and up arch back. Exhale, hands to the heart. And again, inhale up. Exhale, fold. Inhale lunch on the other side and exhale down dog in how Cobra exhale down dog. Inhale, lunge on the other side.

Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, arms up, arch back. Exhale, hands to release the arms to your sides or to the left. Finally, lengthen the spine and just notice any place in the body that's speaking to you. And what does it have to say? What would you describe as the quality of sensation that you're noticing in that part of the body or in multiple places in the body that may have changed as a result of that sequence?

Is there anything your body would like you to do in response to that information and So feel free to respond. take a nice deep breath and let it out slowly and release that. So, we're going to come into a warrior to hear and we'll start by taking the, it's my left ear right out to the side. Okay. Okay. So from here, turn the torso so that the hips and shoulders are facing forward and the arms can come out to the sides or to the hips or slightly down.

Lengthen through the spine, and turn to gaze over your right shoulder. This may be your warrior too. If you would like a deeper lunge here, release the arms down. You can slide back so that your thigh is taking up most of the space on the chair. And then your back leg has a lot of room to stretch out. Okay, now, in this position, you can go into actually what is a very deep warrior to pose, but it's not necessary to bring the leg straight back behind you, you can take it out at an angle, okay, so depending on the size and shape of your body, it may be challenging to get the leg all the way open.

It's also very deep stretch is a very deep warrior pose. So think about a sundial. And you can actually place your foot anywhere along that sundial, wherever feels most appropriate to you. So we talked about that concept of an edge staying within comfort, but where you're feeling a little bit of sensation so Your options for warrior two are here or here. In either of these positions, feel the length and strength of the warrior pose. Find a visual focus and feel the intensity of that gaze.

Notice the quality of strength, resilience, fortitude that this pose elicits. Find your breath in either of these positions, lower the left for to the thigh. Oh, for you, it's your right. Sorry, I'm terrible nearer. From here, you can take the extended arm up overhead into a Side Angle Pose. You can also bring the arm into cactus hand to the shoulder, hand to the hip or alongside the body.

So lots of options here for shoulder placement, the idea in the side angles that you really want to feel the single line of energy from that foot out to the crown of head. feel an opening in the torso, imagine that the crown of head is reaching out on that diagonal, and you can press the foot into the floor in opposition for the breath and then come up. Find your warrior to again. Now it's your left hand that's going to come to the thigh and you can rotate the palm coming into reverse warrior, only going as far here as feels comfortable and stable for you. So that you feel a nice opening in the front body. There.

What is your right side, gazing upward, making sure that the neck is comfortable. So that also may be very slight and then coming back into your warrior to find that for a moment and then release a lower down, use your hand to bring the leg in and bring yourself back to center. Shake that out. Notice any effects of that sequence in the body, make any adjustments your body is asking for you to make. And we'll repeat that on the other side. So again, finding your warrior to whether you're standing here or whether you have your leg extended.

Sitting up nice and tall. Rotate to face me with the torso, shoulders and hips facing forward. arms come out to the side as high as fields available to keeping the shoulders relaxed down. And then gaze over that left side. Soften the gaze so that the eyes aren't tense, but that the gaze is focused. Feel your inner power and strength here.

Feel the grounding through the hips and the lengthening through the spine. And then from here, lower the left forearm to the thigh. Take the arm up alongside the ear if that's available, or to cactus or shoulder. Feeling that diagonal line of energy from the foot or from the hip to the crown of hat. You can make a mudra with your available hand if you'd like. And then press up to center.

Coming the other way, reverse the warrior. Sit up nice and tall, reaching that left arm upward gaze up toward the palm killing an opening in the left side body. And then really and returned to center. Check that out. We'll come into a forward fold here. So I want you to sit back now so that your back is all the way against the back of the chair for stability And you're going to take a nice wide stance, with the feet as wide as feels comfortable for you.

And you have a few options depending on how stable you feel and how deep you want to go with this. So one is to take the hands to the chair in front of you lengthen the spine, and hinge forward just slightly, and that's very stable. You have your hands here for support. And you can feel just a little bit of a forward fold here. Another option is to take elbows to thighs, and then you're going to go just a little bit deeper, still feeling the length and the spine as you hinge forward. If it's available to you and you feel secure, you can bring the fingertips toward the floor and fold forward a little bit deeper.

You may even lower the head as long as that feels comfortable and safe. So find the version of that that feels right for you. If there's an Other variation on this pose that you would like to experience, feel free to do that instead. Listen to your body and what it's asking of you. From here, whatever version of this forward fold you've chosen, take the torso over to the left side. You might walk the fingertips over or hold on to the chair or the thigh on that side.

Again, going only as deep as feels good for you. You might think about rotating the torso just a little bit so that you're bringing your sternum toward your thigh so that the right shoulders reaching down and the left shoulders reaching back. Make sure that you're able to breathe fully and deeply here. And then when you're ready, walk yourself over to the other side. Keeping the length in the spine, the fullness of the breath. Bringing the left shoulder down and the right shoulder back as the sternum moves toward the thigh.

And then you walk yourself back to center. If they're not there already, bring the hands to the thighs. Find lengthen the spine, reaching out the crown of the head, press up to sitting. roll the shoulders back and down and shake the legs out bringing them back to center. counter that with a backbend. So still sitting back in your chair and enough so that you feel the support of the chair behind you.

We're going to hold on to the sides of the chair, lengthening through the spine and arching slightly back opening the heart. If you would like to go a little bit deeper with this, you can take the arms around the back of the chair as far as feels comfortable, so they may be just slightly around the sides. You may decide to reach all the way around and grab hold of an opposite wrist or bring the hands to the sacrum as much opening here as feels available and comfortable for you. That are just happening from the ridge rib cage up this modified camel pose. feel an opening in the throat being sure not to drop the head back all the way but just take a slight upward days to protect the cervical spine. Notice how this allows you access to deeper parts of the lungs, you're able to get a greater oxygen exchange here as you breathe fully and deeply.

Be sure that the low back is comfortable. So if you need to ease out of it just a little bit, or engage the core to protect the low back, please do so. And then as you're ready to release that, lock the hands around yourself back up to center. roll the shoulders, and now come forward in your chair and we'll come into a little twist and loosen up the lower back. You have a couple of options here for your leg positioning. So you can take one leg and cross it over the other as though you're crossing your legs.

And the other option is to come into a more open cross legged position like we've would in a figure four. So whichever of those is available to you and feels most comfortable, we're moving from here into a spinal twist. So, sitting up nice and tall, start this twist at the base of the spine. So imagine that you're just twisting with the very bottom of your lumbar spine. And you can even use your fingers on the front of the torso to move upward and imagine that you're twisting one vertebrae at a time. Slowly sequencing up through the spine.

So that the last thing to turn is the head as you look just slightly over your shoulder. If it's there and you'd like to hold on to the side or the back or the seat of your chair, feel free to do so. But we're not Pulling or torquing with force with that hand, just allowing the hand to rest gently as a way to maybe open the shoulder a little bit more. It's not necessary to go all the way to the end of your range here in order to experience some sensation. You can imagine lengthening the spine on each inhale. And then twisting maybe just a little bit deeper with each exhale.

Notice if there's any tension in the face, jaw, anywhere else in the body and see if you can let that go. And then return to center. Take hold of that lag, release it down and then move on to the other side. Whichever leg position feels For you sitting up nice and tall, and then again starting at the very base of the spine, slowly sequencing up one vertebrae at a time so that the head is the last thing to go. Just a slight gaze over that shoulder, bringing the hands to whatever position is comfortable. Again, noticing your gaze is the gaze softer, the eyes relaxed.

The other muscles of the face is the heart open. Do you feel grounded through the seat? Long in the spine is the breath full and deep and then how You're ready, return to sender. release that and check it out. Let's actually shake out the whole body router. Come on, get creative.

All right, great. Okay, so it might seem unusual to balance sitting in a chair, but you will notice that it actually does use some of our proprioception to find balance even when we're sitting in a chair. So we're going to come forward in the chair again. Okay, and you have a couple of options. Okay, so to do a modified tree or seated tree, you can come up onto four starts onto the ball of one foot. Rotate slightly outwards.

So we're opening in this hip and stay there. You might decide to bring that foot closer so that it's resting on the other ankle. Okay, this is most stable either having the foot here or here so that both feet are on the floor. You can bring the leg up higher so you can bring it to where we had it before where it's crossed over the thigh, if that's available to you, and if it's comfortable for your knee, you can even bring the foot closer to the hip. As much as feels comfortable for you. This doesn't feel good for my knee, so I like to bring it forward a little bit more.

Okay, from here, notice the alignment of your ankle and your knees as the knee gone out to the side here, track the knee right over the ankle, track the hip right in line with the knee. roll the shoulders back and down. Lengthen through the spine and then take the arms up into whatever position feels comfortable. As long as this is stable and secure for you, you can hold on to the chair. If you feel like that would be helpful, you can bring the palms together if that feels okay for the shoulders. You can have them wide.

Are you breathing fully and deeply? Okay, now we're going to challenge this by closing the eyes If you feel stable. Go ahead and close the eyes if you don't quite feel stable and keep the eyes open. So there are a few different systems that we use in order to balance there's the inner ear. There's proprioception which is our contact with the floor or repressing the foot into the floor or seat into the chair. And then there's the visual contribution We use our eyes to help us balance to so when we take one of those systems away or we, we challenge or impair it.

It makes it a little bit more interesting. And then when you're ready, release, okay, hold of that and check it out. And let's do that on the other side. So, start by just coming up onto the ball of the foot, rotate the leg out to the side, perhaps bring the foot in. And then if you'd like you can bring the leg up and across. In either position, so especially here, you might find that there's a tendency for this knee to open out to the side.

We want to feel as though the supporting leg is really strong. So that knee is right over the ankle and aligned with the hip. Sitting up tall here, roll the shoulders back and down and bring the arms into whatever position feels best for your tree this morning. And if you feel stable and secure here you can try closing the eyes. Bring your awareness inward. Notice how you're stabilizing here, what muscles you're engaging, where you feel sensation.

And then as you're ready, release, let that go. bring yourself back to center. Check it out. We'll also do a seated Eagle pose. So start by coming into To a cross legged position you may have done this for for spinal twist earlier and whichever leg is crossed over, you're going to take the opposite arm and cross that over. And depending on how open your shoulders are, you may just be crossing at the forearms, you might be taking one elbow over the other.

And if this is available, then you might start bringing the hands toward each other, maybe backs of hands toward each other. Or if you're able to come into the full expression of Eagle hands, that's fine too. If you are in this position, you might decide to choose a mode draw with your hands if there's one that's familiar or available to you, or take the palms and spread them wide. From here, sit up nice and tall ground through your supporting foot. Notice if it's wobbled No But notice what has happened with your alignment and find a visual will focus to hold your gaze feel the intensity of the eagle eye. And then as you're ready, release that and switch to the other side, switch the positioning of your legs and take the opposite arm over, coming into whatever position with the hands is right for you.

Sitting up tall, relaxing the shoulders down. Watching that supporting foot, spread the foot, press it down into the floor and then find a visual focus to hold your attention. Breathing full and deep. And then as you're ready, release and check that out. Keep your right foot flat on the floor, you can slide just a little bit back here, and you're going to take the left leg out to the side so the inside of the foot is resting on the floor. Hold on to your chair on the right side.

And we're going to take a side stretch here. So you really want to be holding on well so that you feel nice and supported. You might need to adjust a little bit so that you feel comfortable in the chair here. Taking the arm up or into cactus, take a nice side stretch and you're reaching out along that side so you're feeling a nice line of energy from the foot all the way out. Keeping the head in line with the rest of the spine, so there's a line of energy not just from foot to hand, but also from the base of the spine out through the crown of the head. Come up, take hold of this leg, bring it across as we did previously, set up nice and tall, and hinge forward, only as much as feels available to you.

You're gonna probably feel this in the outside of that cross leg. You might decide to hold on to the chair, rest of the hands on the leg. And if you've gone deep enough into this that you'd like to allow the head to relax forward, you can Notice where you feel this and breathe into that stretch. encouraging those places in the body to soften and allow. And then come back. Take hold of that leg and let it go.

So grounding through that left foot. Now, the right leg comes out to the side, inside of the foot resting on the floor, so you might need to slide over to the side a little bit to make room. Holding on to the chair on this side. Now, take the arm up as much as feels comfortable, and a nice big side bend. You can press that right foot into the floor of that field. comfortable for the ankle.

Reaching out through the crown of the head out through the fingertips. Going as deep into this as feels good for you today. Filling in nice opening in that right hip and then come up. Take hold of that leg dried in, bring it across. Adjust your sitting position. Find the alignment of the knee and ankle on the left side.

Sit up tall, resting the hands in the lab or bringing them the hands to the chair. Begin to hinge forward from the hips until you feel a nice stretch in the outside of that right leg. Continue to breathe full and deep sand into that nice long exhale to any places of tension or resistance. And then come up. Take that leg, release it, shake it out. And then take a moment sitting in this chair.

Find your two dossena and check in with the body ask the body a question. The question is, what would you like from me right now. Take a moment to scan the body and allow an impulse to rise into your awareness. Any sort of movement, or position, or breath or sound, whatever it is that your body is asking of you. And then respond accordingly. Take a minute for your own seated practice.

Perhaps it's an improvisation perhaps it's a repetition of something that we've already done in class this morning. Perhaps it's just a moment to rest in stillness. And then when you're ready, take a deep breath and come back to center. And let's just do that one more time finding to Dawson that again, thank the body for communicating with you and ask it once more. Is there anything else that you'd like anything else that would help you to feel good in this moment and then as you're ready to move into that And then when you're ready to bring yourself back to center we'll move now into a seated relaxation. So, if you would like you can feel free to bring your chair against the wall if you would like to have the support of the wall behind your head.

You could also choose to do the relaxation seated right where you are. So I'll give you a moment if you would like to move your chair notice your right leg wheezed the right leg, engaging all the muscles of that leg. Perhaps lifting it off the floor tight, tight, tight and release. Give it a little rock side to side and let it go. Notice the left leg, lengthen the legs squeeze lifted up tighter, tighter, tighter and release. Rocket side to side.

Notice the pelvis, squeeze the muscles of the pelvis clinching the buttocks and then release rocks I decide on the sitting bones and then let that go. Notice the abdomen. Take a deep breath in, allow the abdomen to expand Hold it, hold it, hold it and let it out. Draw the muscles of the abdomen in squeeze those muscles toward the back of the spine. And then release. draw the shoulders up toward the ears and lower them down.

And let's do that again. draw the shoulders up toward the ears. And then lower them down. Notice the right arm, lengthen the arm, spread the fingers, make a fist, squeeze the palm. tighter, tighter tighter and relax. Let the arm drop.

Rocket side to side and let it go. Length lengthen the left arm spread the fingers, squeeze the palm. Make a fist tight, tight tight. And then let it go. Give it a little rock side to side and let it rest. scrunch the muscles of the face toward the tip of the nose and then really spread the muscles of the face.

Why? And then release scrunch the muscles all around the head and skull and ears. And then let that go. make any adjustments to the body so that you feel balanced and comfortable in this position notice the tips of the toes and allow them to soften. A wave of relaxation travel from the toes to the balls of the feet. the tops of the feet the arches heels and ankles.

The feet are relaxed. That that relaxation travel up the legs, softening the shins and calves, the knees and thighs. The hips the legs are relaxed. Feel the pelvis sinking into the support of the chair. pelvic bowl widens the abdominal organs melt the relaxation travel up along the spine, softening all of the abdominal muscles, the lower back and the mid back. Soften the lower ribs and feel the relaxation travel up to the heart and lungs.

The ribcage widens the sternum drops. Shoulder blades melt down the back. collarbones soften. The whole torso is relaxed. Notice the tips of the fingers and allow them to soften the relaxation moving from the fingertips to the knuckles, palms backs of hands and wrists. The hands are relaxed.

Allow that relaxation to travel up softening the forearms. Elbows, upper arms and shoulders. The arms are relaxed. Soften the neck and throat, slack in the jaw. Relax the eyes. All the muscles of the face all the muscles surrounding the skull.

The head and face are relaxed. The whole body is relaxed. The whole body is relaxed. Bring your awareness now to the breath. Allow the breath to rise and fall in its natural rhythm. each breath, drawing in nourishment and letting out excess releasing the body of anything that it doesn't need right now.

Each exhale is just a little bit longer than the one before each exhale allows you to sink just a bit deeper into this relaxation. Ride the gentle wave of the breath and now become aware of the mind. Notice any thoughts that are moving through the mind and allow them to slow down recede into the background Letting the mind be open and clear and free without any obligations or demands. Just an opportunity to relax to rest in this place of your natural state that is deep inner peace slowly become aware of the breath again, allow the breath to deepen, drawing new energy into the body perhaps wiggling with fingers and toes turning the head side decide maybe a roll the shoulders or give a little strapped. Notice the body as you introduce this movement. Notice the space around you.

And as you're ready, remove any support from behind the back and shift yourself forward in the chair so that you're supporting your own spine. Find a comfortable seated position with the ankles, knees and hips aligned. shoulders are back and down spine is long. Notice the fullness of the breath the ease and the mind. Ease is in the body close with a responsive peace chant and then a minute in silent meditation with the focus of your choice shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti shanti May the entire universe be filled with peace and joy, love and light Namaste Thank you