Dimple Patel:
Hi everyone, good afternoon. Welcome, welcome. So, as folks are slowly being pulled from the waiting room, I just wanted to go over some housekeeping. If folks can keep their audio muted, that would be really great, just so as we're moving and breathing there's no interruption. If you have any questions, please feel free to write them in the chat box and I'll leave some time towards the end to ask any questions and we'll go from there. I recognize some faces, so I just wanted to say a quick intro. My name is Dimple Patel and I'm super excited to be here with you all to move and breathe.
Dimple Patel:
I graduated from Brandeis in 2012, so really excited to be reconnected with folks. I think I'm going to give it another 15, 30 seconds, but if you're already here make sure that for this class you have a chair. We don't need any mat, or blankets, or blocks. All we need is yourself and a chair, preferably one that has no wheels because you want to feel grounded. If there are wheels, then I recommend locking that. Also, preferably a chair without any arms so that you can move from side to side. If you don't have that, totally fine, we'll work around it, but that would be the ideal.
Dimple Patel:
So, take a moment to get seated on your chair and I will meet you there. Also, actually one piece of feedback I got last time was that my screen on some people's end was super tiny, so if you also want to take a moment to just click on my screen so that it's larger and you can see it on a bigger frame. If you have questions about that I also have Courtney with the Alumni Association who can help us address any tech issues. Then as always, if you want your camera on, great, if not, totally fine. This is really your practice. I'll give you a set of suggestions, it's really you that makes the decisions. I know that folks have varying mobility ranges and limitations, so really do what feels good in your body, right? And stay connected to your breath.
Dimple Patel:
So we will begin on the chair. I just want to make sure my screen is good. Awesome. Let's enlarge this. Great. Okay, so begin to find and connect your breath. Take a moment to feel really grounded in your feet. So for this beginning part you can definitely lean up against the back of your chair. Palms are on your thighs. All 10 toes firmly grounded onto the earth. Take a moment to just feel your feet here, by lifting your knee, bring your feet to the ground, lifting your toes, doing it in the opposite direction. Take a moment to really feel the earth beneath you. From here if it's okay for you, close your eyes, or soften your gaze above your nose and begin to tap into your breath.
Dimple Patel:
We'll begin with three cleansing breaths. So we're going to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. So inhale together through the nose, fill up your belly, exhale, open your mouth, let it go. Two more times. Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth. One more time. Big inhale, deep exhale. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
Now we're going to transition into our ujjayi breathing, where we breathe in and out through the nose, so our lips are sealed. Give that a try. And for this breath work it's almost as if on the exhale you're breathing out through your throat. So you'll hear an ocean, a wavelike sound on the exhale, even though your lips are sealed. Relax your forehead, relax your jaw, your chin. Soften your eyelids. Sit a little heavier. Then bring your awareness to your core, to your heart center. Deep inhale here, deep exhale through the nose. Breathe into your right shoulder, breathing all the way down into your right arm, your elbow, into your right forearm, and out through your right fingertip. Feel your right arm heavy. Go over to the left side, bringing awareness to your left shoulder, breathing down your left arm, elbow, into your left forearm and out into your left fingertip. Breathe here.
Dimple Patel:
Come back to heart center. Inhale, feel your chest get bigger. As you exhale, imagine breathing all the way down into your belly button and then coming over to your right hip. Breathe into your right hip all the way into your thigh. Coming into your knee and all the way into your leg. Take another inhale. Breathe into your right ankle and exhale out through your right toes. Feel the right side be heavy.
Dimple Patel:
Let's come back to our heart center once again. Fill that heart up on the inhale. As you exhale come all the way down into your belly, moving into your left hip this time. Deep inhale here. As you exhale breathe out through your left thigh, knee, down into your leg. Inhale into your left ankle. Deep exhale through the nose, out into your left toes. Gently taking the time to bring awareness to every part of our body.
Dimple Patel:
At this time I invite you to set an intention for your practice. To what or to whom are you dedicating the next hour to? Bring your hands to a prayer. We will begin with three rounds of om. Inhale together. Om. Om. Om. Inhale the vibrations of om, universal sound that connects us. Exhale everything out. Gently bring your palms onto your thighs. Open your eyes and feel really grounded and stand tall. If you want to take a moment, if you haven't muted your audio, please take a moment to do that, or just double-check. Again, I want this practice to be enjoyable for everyone.
Dimple Patel:
So, we'll begin with a few neck stretches. So those of you who came last time you know that we really take our time to warm up every part of our body. So we're going to do the same thing today. Palms can be on your thighs or your knees, whatever feels comfortable, and we're just going to look from side to side. Over your right shoulder, over your left shoulder. I know some folks mentioned that they have neck pain, so really do what feels good to you. This is a very gentle form of yoga, so it's not meant to be painful. Couple more rounds on both sides. Come back to center and we'll follow our gaze up and down. So on the inhale lift your chin up to the sky. On the exhale bring the chin past through center, chin into your chest. Breathe here. Take a moment here to notice the back of your neck, let your neck feel this relief. Breathe into the back of your neck here.
Dimple Patel:
Inhale, come back through center, gaze looks up towards the sky. Exhale, chin into your chest. Do this a few more times following your breath. Go as quickly or as slowly as your body tells you, as long as you're following your breath. So on the inhale look up. On the exhale look inward. Couple more rounds just like this. One more round. We'll meet back in center.
Dimple Patel:
We'll begin to open the sides of our neck. So inhale, bring your chin into your chest, and then gently rotate your right ear over your right shoulder, opening up the left side here, breathe here. Gaze can be straight ahead or if you want you can do a slight gaze to the sky. You'll see a little bit of a different stretch here. Whatever feels good to you. Close your eyes and just breathe. Come back through center, chin into your chest. Then let's roll over to the left side. Left ear over your left shoulder, opening up the right side of our neck here. Breathe here. Close your eyes, or maybe even try to gaze a little up to the sky for a different angle. Breathe wherever you are, wherever feels good. One more deep inhale, exhale, bring your chin back through your chest, into your center, and then lift your gaze back to center.
Dimple Patel:
All right, we're going to combine all of that into neck circles. So go very slowly and be very gentle. We're going to bring our chin into our chest and then we're going to begin to rotate towards the right. So our right ear is over our right shoulder, and then bring it back through behind the wall, opening up your neck and then coming around to the left side, left ear is over your left shoulder, coming back to center. Let's do one more round.
Dimple Patel:
Stay connected to your breath here. Notice where you might feel some extra tension. Maybe give an additional breath there. We'll meet back in center, chin into your chest, and then let's do the opposite circle, so rotate the opposite direction. Left ear over left shoulder. Going back, coming to the right side, chin into your chest. One more time. Keep breathing. Once your chin is into your chest, lift your gaze and come back to neutral seated pose, sukhasana.
Dimple Patel:
So here we're going to scooch our hips a little forward so that our back has some space. We don't want our back to the touching the back of the chair, and we're going to begin to open up our shoulders and our chest. So just bring your shoulders to your ears and then circle them back and down. Do this a couple more times. On the inhale lift your shoulders to your ears. On the exhale circle them back and down. Again, your pace is whatever your body tells you, and circle it in the opposite direction. This direction might feel a little odd, that's totally fine. Just warming up every part of our body. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
So from here, let's actually begin to take our palms to our hips and then take this rotation into our hip. So, feet are firmly grounded and then we're just going to make circles with our hips. So as you inhale, stay grounded, as you exhale maybe open up your chest a little wider. Couple more rounds in this direction. One more round. Then once you come back to center let's change the direction. Hips circles in the opposite. Stay connected to your breath. Even in this minor movement stay really, really connected to your breath. Check in with your ujjayi breathing. One more round, and we'll meet back in center and come back to neutral spine, sukhasana.
Dimple Patel:
All right, we're going to add all of that together. So inhale. Lengthen your arms, frame your face, fingertips reach the sky. Exhale, palms faced out, elbows are bent and you're circling your forearms back and down. Really feel the openness that creates. Few more times. Inhale, fingertips reach the sky, exhale, bend your elbow, hold your shoulder blades closer to one another. Inhale, fingertips reach the sky, maybe gaze follows, exhale. Shoulder blades pull in closer to one another. Do this two more times following your breath.
Dimple Patel:
Beautiful. Come back to neutral seated, and then this time place your palm on your knees. Want to do a few Cat-Cows. So on the inhale open your chest by pushing your palms into your knees. Gaze looks towards the sky. As you exhale pull your belly in, dome your back. Chin into your chest. Inhale for cow, open that chest, look up, exhale for cat. Pull that belly in, dome your back. Couple more rounds just like this. Exhale it out. Again, if you'd like, you're totally welcome to go faster, go slower, as long as you're following your breath. We want our breath to be our guide. This is a really great asana for our back. If you have any back pain, upper, lower, this is a really easy and gentle way to release some of that pain. Maybe stay in cow for a little longer if you want to feel that openness. Maybe stay in cat for a little longer if you want to feel that relief from your neck. Do what feels good, one more round. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
We'll come, we'll meet in seated, and then we're going to begin to stretch out our arms. So inhale, lengthen your fingertips straight ahead, and then as you exhale cross your right arm up and over. Left palm can stay on your thigh, but if you want something a little bit deeper, take your left forearms and place it against your right forearm. Pull that in closer, you'll see how that begins to open up your right arm all the way to your right shoulder. Option two, place that left palm on your right wrist and give it a gentle push. Gaze can be straight ahead, or you can come in for a twist by looking over your right shoulder. Wherever you are, breathe.
Dimple Patel:
One more breath. Exhale, come back to center. Lengthen your fingertips straight ahead of you, let's do the opposite side. So right palm can come on your right thigh as your left arm comes across you. This is option one. Option two, take your right forearm and place it against your left forearm and pull it in towards you to begin to feel that stretch a little bit more deeply. Option three, hold on to your left wrist and give it a gentle pull. Gaze can be straight ahead or look over your left shoulder. Breathe wherever you are. One more deep inhale. Exhale release, bring your palms back to your thighs. Awesome.
Dimple Patel:
Now we're going to being to open up the torso, the sides of our torso. So inhale, fingertips reach the sky, on the exhale we're going to bring our left palm to our left hip or to the left side of the chair, whatever feels comfortable. I'm going to inhale to lengthen, really wiggle out of your hip to find that length. Then as you exhale, bend to the left, opening up the right side.
Dimple Patel:
So breathe here, gaze can be straight ahead or if you want a little bit of a deeper stretch you can look underneath your right forearm. Do what feels good in your body. Third option is if you'd like you can even take your left palm and then bring it across to the right side of the chair and use that as leverage to help you pull in opposite direction. The key thing here, no matter which variation you choose, is to make sure that your right hip is not hiking up, right? We want to make sure that that's grounded, wherever we decide. Breathe for a couple more breaths, wherever you are. One more deep inhale. As you exhale both of your fingertips and palms reach the sky. Exhale, circle your arms back and down.
Dimple Patel:
Beautiful, to the opposite side. Inhale, fingertips reach the sky. Exhale, bring your right palm on your right hip or the right side of your chair, whatever feels good, and then inhale, lengthen, wiggle out of your hips, find that length in your spine. As you exhale, go in for that side bend opening the left side of our body, from our hip all the way to our shoulder. Release here. Make sure that left hip is grounded, that it's not hiking up. It's better to be grounded and have less of a bend than to overbend and not be grounded. If you'd like to pick the third variation, you can bring your right palm across your torso and then hold on to the left side of that chair, using the pull of two opposite directions to open up that stretch on the left side. Breathe wherever you are. One more deep inhale. Exhale, come back to center, fingertips reach the sky. Bring your arms back and down in a circle.
Dimple Patel:
Awesome. All right, now let's do some twisting. So inhale, fingertips reach the sky, and then as you exhale we're going to twist to the right. So left palm comes onto your right thigh, and then right palm can either come to the back of your chair or to the bottom of your chair, it can just be whatever feels good to you. We're basically using our palms to help us twist over to the right. So as you inhale really find that length in your spine, and then as you exhale use that space to help you twist a little bit more deeply. Gaze is past or above your right shoulder, whatever feels good for your neck. One more inhale, as you exhale come back through center.
Dimple Patel:
Awesome, let's do the opposite side. Inhale, fingertips reach the sky. As we exhale we're going to twist to the left. So right palm comes on top of your left thigh. Left palm can come on top of your chair, on the back side of your left chair, or onto the bottom, whatever feels good for you. Then remember, as you inhale find that length. As you exhale use your right palm and left thigh's leverage to help you twist a little bit more so that you can look above your left shoulder or even past it. Couple of breaths here. One more inhale, exhale, come back through center.
Dimple Patel:
Let's do a few Cat-Cows to iron out our back here. Always following our breath. Beautiful. One last Cat-Cow, wherever you are. Then we'll meet in neutral seated pose, sukhasana. Okay. So we're going to continue to open up our chest here. This time if you have it you really do want to take a few inches, scoot a few inches in front of the chair so you have some space. We're going to begin to extend our arms behind it. So we're going to interlace our fingertips like so and I'll just show you. We're going to basically bend our elbows a lot and then slowly lengthen your arm. Notice what that does to your chest, right? Notice what that does to your shoulder blades. So when you're ready interlace your fingertips and then place that fist behind your back, elbows are bent, and then when you're ready begin to lengthen both of your arms and see how that really opens up your chest, expands your heart, and pulls your shoulder blades closer to one another.
Dimple Patel:
Deep inhale here. As you exhale, begin to bend over, fold over by hinging from your hip. So your spine remains tall once you're here. Any angle is great. So if this is what your body is telling you, this is all that's happening today, it's totally fine. If you feel like you have a little bit more space, then continue bending all the way down so that your fists can touch the sky. Letting go of your head, shaking your head yes, shaking your head no, and then release wherever you are your fingertips to the floor. So if you can, maybe even bring your feet to touch, palms on the ground, or you can place your fingertips by tensing up your fingertips. We just want to feel this forward fold to deep release. Let go of your neck, your head, release any tension you may be holding in your shoulders. We carry so much tension in these areas.
Dimple Patel:
Beautiful. Then slowly vertebra by vertebra, there's no rush, I want you to roll yourself up into a seated pose with your head being absolutely the last thing that comes up. Once you're up, there go your shoulders, up and down in one direction. Do then the opposite direction. Beautiful. We're going to do a quick Vinyasa flow, and really that just means connection to movement and breath. We're going to inhale, come into high prayer, palms touch. Maybe gaze looks towards your fingertips, and then as you exhale we're going to swan dive our arms and hinge from the hips, coming into a forward fold. Inhale, flat back, but come into your fingertips a few inches past your feet and lengthen your spine. I'll place my seat this way so you can see that my spine was not curved but it's tall, right? So when we inhale from here, spine is tall, right? So we don't want any curve. Exhale, come back into a forward fold, a curve here is totally fine. Let's do this two more times so we can feel the difference. Inhale, flat back, gaze is a few inches past your feet, come onto your fingertips. Exhale, forward fold.
Dimple Patel:
Release your neck. Shake your head yes, shake your head no. One last time, inhale, flat back, roll your shoulder blades back and down so that your spine grows taller. Exhale, forward fold. Beautiful. Inhale, high prayer. Bring everything up and out, exhale. Prayer to your heart. Beautiful. Let's do that flow one more time. So, find your grounding, we're going to inhale, come into high prayer. Exhale, swan dive your arms, forward fold. Inhale, flat back, lengthen that spine, exhale, forward fold. Inhale, engage your core to rise. Palms touch, high prayer, exhale, prayer down the midline. Sukhasana, seated pose. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
Now we're going to begin to add some leg and core to this class. So first let's begin with our arms, cactusing them out. So basically we're creating a 90 degree angle with both of our arms. If this doesn't feel good, you're totally welcome to kind of let your arms hang a little below. The goal is to get them here over time, right? This already begins to engage a little bit of our core, and we're just going to see how we feel here. So, with your hips grounded just move to the right, move to the left. Arms are not moving, right? That's the key thing. What we're doing is we're moving from our core, from our belly. Chest remains open, and that's the piece where our core comes to work, right? In order for our arms to stay as straight and aligned, we're really asking our core to pick up the slack and put some work in.
Dimple Patel:
Couple more times just like this. When you come back to your center after you're even on both sides we're going to add on our Cat-Cow variation. So we're going to inhale, open your arms, back behind you, and then as you exhale we're going to come forward. Forearms touch and then we're going to bring your chin into your chest. Two more times, inhale, open your arms, look up. As you exhale pull your belly in, bring your forearms to touch as you fold in your chin to your chest. Last time. Inhale, forearms open and extend and as if they were wings. Exhale, bring it all in. Beautiful. Come back to our cactus arms, to our 90 degree arms. Then from here we're going to actually begin to use our leg. So inhale, open and expand. As you exhale we're going to lift our right knee, both elbows touch your right knee. Inhale, open your arms, right foot comes back to the ground, exhale.
Dimple Patel:
Lift your right foot so that your knee and elbows touch. One more time. Inhale, open those arms, exhale, bring those forearms to touch, elbows touch your knee. Come back to neutral and then place your palms on your thighs. Maybe shake out your arms a little, because that's really building heat in my body. So I don't know about everyone else. We'll do the same thing on the opposite side. So when you're ready, come into your cactus arms or your 90 degree angle, and then inhale, open that chest, pull those shoulder blades closer to one another. As you exhale, begin to lift your left foot so that your elbows touch your left knee. Inhale, open that arm. Left foot comes to the ground. Exhale, lift that foot. Elbows and knee touch. It's almost like you're coming in for a crunch. Inhale, open and expand. Exhale, crunch. Beautiful. Come back to your cactus variation and then bring your palms to your thighs. Excellent work.
Dimple Patel:
All right, so we're going to build that heat. So from here we're going to interlace our fingertips like so, and if you'd like you can place them underneath your right thigh. So just come off the right heel, so you're on your right toe, and then when you're ready lift this foot. Before we move any further just check your alignment really quickly. Make sure that you're not hunching in, right? That your spine is tall, your shoulder blades are rolled down, opening your chest, and then lengthen your right foot straight ahead of you. We're going to flex and extend. Wait here, and then we're going to point and bend, bending that knee. The right toe doesn't have to touch the ground. If you'd like to, totally fine, but it doesn't have to. Let's do this a few more times.
Dimple Patel:
Flex and extend your right toes as if they were facing the sky. Bend that right knee, point that right toe straight down. Couple of more times. Extend and flex, bend and point. We're really beginning to get into our hip here, still engaging our core. Again, if you'd like you can also lower your right thigh to just be placed on top of the chair. That's what the chair is for, right? We want to feel supported. There's no need to go half our limit. So just notice how you feel, see what feels good to you and just breathe. One more time, flex and extend, bend and point. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
Come back, place that right foot onto the ground. Let's do the opposite side. Lift your left thigh, interlace your fingertips. Maybe the opposite fingertips come on top, and then when you're ready we're going to find that length, we're going to flex those toes, and extend our leg. Breathe here. Again, take a moment to make sure we're not curving in our spine, that we're maintaining that openness and that length, and then when you're ready bend that knee, point your toes. Inhale, flex and extend. Exhale, bend and point. Couple of more times, following your breath. If you want a little bit of a challenge you can even let go of your fingertips, right? So there is no additional support. Couple of more times, wherever you are. Last one. Beautiful. I lied, last one.
Dimple Patel:
Okay, bring your foot next to your right foot. Maybe shake it out, maybe put some pressure on both of your thighs, giving them a gentle massage. We're going to open up our ankles this time and then begin to open up our hips as well. So hug your right knee into your chest. Extend your right leg, straight ahead, again, fingertips can be underneath your right thigh. Breathe here, and just begin to roll out your ankles, your ankle in one direction. Rotate it in the opposite direction, showing our ankle some love. Then from here, bend your knee, basically hugging it in and then taking that right shin above and across your left thigh. We're creating a figure four shape. For folks who have tight hamstrings, tight thigh muscles, you may not be here, totally fine. Maybe your leg and knee is up here, totally fine. But see if you can feel some sort of stretch in your right hip. Flex your right foot wherever you are and breathe.
Dimple Patel:
Option one is to stay here with your palms on your thighs in a prayer. Option two is to take your palms on your hip and hinge from your hips with your spine being tall a few inches, not too far. We're not going too far, because if we want to maintain that length we don't want to go too far. This is option two, breathe here. It already intensified the stretch in my right hip. Option three, you can take your forearm, place it on top of one another, and then use that as support to maybe even push your right leg down. Breathe wherever you are. So this is really great for when you're behind a computer all day. If you have a desk in front of you, you can just lean on towards the desk, giving yourself a nice hip stretch. How is that ujjayi breath doing? One more breath.
Dimple Patel:
On the exhale lift and lengthen. Hug that right knee in. Place that right foot down. Beautiful, now to the opposite side. So, hug that left knee into your chest, interlace your fingertips behind your left thigh, lengthen that left leg straight ahead of you, and then when you're ready just circle out that left ankle in one direction, circle within the opposite direction. Maybe wiggle your toes. Then bend that knee, hug it into your chest, and then place that left shin on top of your right thigh. Flex that toes, all of those left toes. Notice how you feel on this side. This side might feel a little tighter, a little looser. Option one, palms stay here on your thighs. Option two, bring your palms to your hip as you were hinged from your hip, keeping your spine tall a few inches. Option three, place your forearms on top of your left leg, using that as support, deepening our stretch on the left hip. Wherever you are, breathe.
Dimple Patel:
One more deep inhale. As you exhale, hug that left knee in. Place that left foot down. Giving your feet a little bit of a shake. Again, if you want to do that massage, put some pressure on your thighs. Okay, we're going to come back to our twist. This is actually a side twist, so come a few inches away from the back of your chair. We're going to bring our forearms, frame our face, and then walk your toes to touch. So toes and knees touch. Inhale, find that length, and then as you exhale, hinge from the hip, not from your torso, from your hip. Prayer down to midline, and then we're going to twist to the right.
Dimple Patel:
So, we're going to hook the left elbow onto the right thigh. Do this as best as you can, and then wherever you are, basically the goal is to look straight ahead or even past your right elbow. You will begin to feel that twist in your spine, in your upper back. If this is not okay for you, you're welcome to stay right here, prayer in center. So do what feels good. Wherever you are, we're here for a couple of breaths. If you're in the side twist, then use this prayer, just right palm above your left palm as leverage to help you twist even further. So on the inhale we want at the head of our crown to lengthen further, and on the exhale we want to use this prayer as leverage to twist even deeper. One more deep inhale. As we exhale, frame your face. Come back to center and we're going to do the opposite side.
Dimple Patel:
So, prayer down the midline, find that length, and then twist to the left. Right elbow hooks onto the left side and then slowly begin to twist open. Gaze can be straight ahead or even past your left elbow, if that's okay for your neck, and breathe. A couple of points. Make sure one knee is not hiking past the other. We want both of them aligned. I just had to readjust myself, you might as well. Couple of more breaths. Deep inhale, exhale. Come back to a center. Arms frame your face, and then exhale. Prayer down the midline, forward fold. Let everything go. Maybe walk your feet out, hip width distance apart. Release your neck, shake your head yes, shake your head no. Let it go.
Dimple Patel:
Okay, so from here. Let me see if you can see me. From here we want to place your right palm or come on to your right fingertips underneath your nose. Breathe here, or if you'd like you can lift your left arm to the sky. Option three is to even twist to the left so that your gaze is to the left fingertip. See what feels good in your body. If you lengthen your fingertips, bring them back down to center. Come into a forward fold, and then let's place the either left palm or come onto your left fingertips underneath your nose and breathe here, extending your spine, option one. Option two is to lengthen your right arm to the sky. Option three is to begin to actually rotate your torso to your right fingertips so that your gaze is at your right thumb. Wherever you are is perfect, just breathe.
Dimple Patel:
One more inhale. If you lengthen your right fingertips to the sky, bring them back down. Come to center and come into the deep forward fold. Maybe even flip your palms so that the top of your hands are touching the ground and your fingertips are facing your toes. See how that feels in your wrist. It's a really great wrist stretch. Come back, unflip your palms, and then slowly, vertebra by vertebra roll yourself up. Head is the absolutely last thing that comes up. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
Actually, let's do some wrist stretches. I know a lot of us are also on a computer a lot. So let's lengthen your palms to the sky like you were saying stop. Take your left palm and then just pull to the back of your right fingertips. Pull them back towards you gently. See how that feels in your right wrist. Breathe here. Then from here, point your right fingertips to the ground and then do the same thing, but this time your left palm will push the back of your right hand towards you. See how that feels.
Dimple Patel:
Beautiful. Let's do the opposite side. So, both of your palms straight ahead, and then take your right palm, gently pull your left fingertip towards you. Beginning to open up that wrist. Again, super easy stretch you can do wherever you are. Then point your left fingertips straight to the ground and then use your right palm to pull that left palm towards you. Couple of breaths here. Beautiful. Let it go and then let's just circle out our wrists. One direction, circle it in the other direction. Shake it out. Awesome.
Dimple Patel:
All right, let's open up our hips and then begin to cool down. So hug your right knee into your chest and then just make knee circles in one direction. Then do them in the opposite direction. Imagine that your knee is a pencil and you're drawing large circles with your kneecap. Beautiful. Come back to center, so bring your right foot down. Let's do the opposite side. Hug that left knee into your chest. Begin to make knee circles, one direction, do it in the opposite direction. This is also opening up your hips as well, right? So as we're thinking about making knee circles, we're really getting to our hips and creating some space there. Come back to neutral and then we're going to come into Goddess pose.
Dimple Patel:
So, again, we want our hips a few inches away from the back of our chair and we're going to expand and open up our legs in opposite direction. Knees are bent and we're basically creating a 90 degree angle with our legs. So here we're going to come into a Goddess side stretch. So, right forearm on your right thigh. Find that support there and then lengthen that left arm straight ahead. Stay right here, or if you're open and want to try, come in for a thigh bend. That left forearm and arm come up and over your left thigh. You'll see that stretch from your left hip all the way up towards your left torso. Breathe here. Option three, look underneath that left forearm. Couple of breaths here. Inhale your deepest breath. Exhale, come back to center, palms into prayer down the midline.
Dimple Patel:
All right, let's do the opposite side. Left forearm on your left thigh, stay here, or lengthen your right arm to the sky. This is option two. You're going to begin to feel the stretch in your right hip. Option three is to lengthen your arm, your right arm up and over. There we're going to give it a deep stretch, opening up the right side of your body. If you want, gaze can be straight ahead or you can look underneath your right forearms. Wherever you are is perfect, just breathe. Beautiful. Inhale, biggest inhale yet. Exhale, come back through center, palms through prayer down the midline.
Dimple Patel:
All right. Walk our feet back, and we want to do a quick stretch on our feet using the back of our chair. I want us to also, I want to share that with you before our time is up. So, come on to your seat and then place the back of your chair in front of you. We want to find some space. So let's say about three to four feet you want to stand behind your chair, and then we're just going to come into a forward fold. Sometimes you want a little bit of a deeper fold, sometimes you don't. So do what feels good to you.
Dimple Patel:
We're going to begin to create an L shape with our body by bringing our palms to the back of our chair. This is perfect, this is option one. Breathe here, maybe release your neck. Let everything go. Option two is to actually bring your forearms onto the chair, the top of the chair. See how that feels if you shorten the distance. Then option three is if you begin to bring your elbows to the top of that chair. So bending your elbows. You'll see that this deepens the stretch in your right forearms. Bring your palms, your fingertips to touch your shoulders or your shoulder blades. Breathe here. Here we're basically letting our chest drop, but we're scooping up our belly, right? All 10 finger toes, all 10 toes are grounded. Knees are slightly bent, so you're not locking your legs, and your booty sticks back. Breathe here. If you bent your elbows, gently begin to lengthen one arm, lengthen the other, bring your palms onto the back of the chair, and then come back into a seated position, sukhasana.
Dimple Patel:
Okay. We're going to begin to cool down. So close your eyes, come back to your breath, and just take a moment to notice how you feel. Do you feel a little lighter? A little more open? Maybe not at all, that's totally fine. Come back to your intentions. Notice how grounded you feel. Notice how all 10 toes feel on the earth. Notice how your hips feel, your chest, your heart. We will close with one round of om. If you'd like bring your hands to a prayer in front of your heart. Inhale together, om. Inhale the vibration of om, exhale everything else.
Dimple Patel:
Thank you everyone. I kept a few minutes to see if folks had any questions, any concerns, any requests for next time. So I'll stay on for a little bit, but again, thank you so much for joining me. I hope you join me next week. I hope you feel good in your body, and I hope you have a wonderful week.