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Dimple Patel:
So find a tall seat. And what I mean by that is feel yourself, your spine long. Maybe close your eyes and begin to connect with your breath. Here we want both of our feet grounded onto the earth. We want to feel supported. Palms are on our thighs. And then gently close your eyes. As you inhale, fill your belly up. As you exhale, begin to release any tension.
Dimple Patel:
Let's begin with three cleansing breaths. So we're going to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth three times. Inhale together through the nose. Exhale out through the mouth. Let everything go. A few more times. Inhale through the nose. Exhale out through the mouth. One last time. Take the deepest inhale yet. Exhale out through the mouth. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
Now we're going to tap into our ujjayi breathing which is going to be inhaling and exhaling through the nose. And for today's class I want to walk us through a guided breathing. So I'm going to count to four. We're going to elongate our inhales through one through four and then on the exhale I'll count down from four to one and we'll elongate our exhale as well. So we'll do this a few times. So release, exhale, and then as we inhale breathe in for one, two, three, four. Exhale, four, three, two, one. Inhale, one, two, three, four. Exhale, four, three, two, one. Inhale, one, two, three, four. Exhale, four, three, two, one. Inhale, one, two, three, four. Exhale, four, three, two, one. Inhale, one, two, three, four. Exhale, four, three, two, one. Beautiful. Come back to your normal way of breathing.
Dimple Patel:
And for throughout this practice we want to tap into our ujjayi breath which is breathing in and out through your nose. So give that a few tries right here as you're grounded in your seated sukhasana pose. So inhale, fill up your belly through your nose. As you exhale, exhale out from your nose. And I know I've described this before. It's almost like the exhale is coming from your throat. So when you exhale from the throat you're creating a wave like sound. So try to tap into that throughout our practice today.
Dimple Patel:
Okay. Before we begin we want to create a foundation. So let's focus on our feet. Make sure your knees are parallel to one another, all 10 toes facing straight ahead. And then just bring energy and awareness into your feet. Really press down. This is a very slight and minor movement but it's still a movement nonetheless. So really push down from your feet. Now gently lift your toes up. Just your toes. Bring your toes back down. Lift your heels so your knees come up a little. Bring your heels to the ground. Press your toes down onto the earth. Lift your toes up. Bring your toes down. Lift your heels up. Bring your heels down. One last time. Press your big toes down. Firmly ground it onto the earth. Lift your toes up. Bring them down. Lift your heels. Bring them down. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
We're going to scooch a few inches from the back of our chairs so we have a little bit of space behind us. And we're going to hug the right knee in. I know some folks have said that hugging the knee right into your chest, that's not feasible and that's totally fine. So you can hug your knee right here or bend your knee or you can even place your left toe on the ground if lifting your knee is not happening today. So any variation works. This is option one, all the way to here we're you're literally hugging your knee into your chest. We're going to begin to warmup our hips. So imagine that you're drawing a circle with your knee in one direction. Gently creating some space in our right hip. From here change the direction of your circle going the opposite way. Staying connected to your breath in every single movement. Beautiful. One more circle. And then give your knee a hug or a tight squeeze wherever you are. If it's right here, totally fine. If it's right here, totally fine.
Dimple Patel:
And from here we're going to continue to add flexion to our foot. So as you inhale, lift your toes up flexing your foot and then as you exhale, point them down. Inhale, flex, exhale, point. Inhale, flex, exhale, point. Two more times. Inhale, flex that foot. Toes reach the sky. Exhale, point. Last time. Inhale, flex, exhale, point. Beautiful. Last thing we'll do, ankle circles right here in one direction. Circle your ankle in the other direction. Place that foot down. Awesome. Let's do the opposite side. So squeeze your left knee in, give it a tight hug and then from here we're going to flex your left foot. Oh, I'm sorry. Let's open up our hips. So begin to make knee circles in one direction opening up the left hip. We want to feel balanced so we try to do what ever we do one side to the other side. Stay connected to your breath here and make sure you're not folding forward. Just because we're making knee circles doesn't mean that we're going to compromise the length. But you want your spine tall. Chest open.
Dimple Patel:
Then circle your knees in the opposite direction. They could be small circles, big circles. See what feels good in your body. We're really just wanting to create some space in our left hip here. One more time in this direction. And then once you're done come back to center, hug your left knee in, and let's inhale. Flex that left foot, toes reach the sky. Exhale, point them down to the ground. A couple of more times just like this. Inhale, flex your foot, exhale, point. Inhale, flex, exhale, point. A few more times. Inhale, exhale, point. Last time. Inhale, flex that foot, exhale, point. Beautiful. From here let's just make ankle circles in one direction. Massaging out our ankles. Start showing our ankles some love. And then circle your ankle in the opposite direction so we're nice and even. Beautiful. Bring that foot down next to your right foot. Come back to neutral seated sukhasana seated pose.
Dimple Patel:
Now we're going to begin to open up our chest and try to release some tension in our neck and our shoulder. We carry a lot of tension here. So actually before we do that, let's just look from side to side giving our neck a gentle massage. When you do that, when you're even on both sides, come back to center and then on the inhale let's look up. Gaze reaches the sky. As you exhale, come back to center, chin into your chest. Stay here for a moment. Really let the back of your neck feel this relief. Breathe into the back of your neck. Inhale, come back to center. All the way to the sky. Exhale. Back to center. Chin into your chest. One more time. Inhale. Past center. Gaze is towards the sky. Exhale all the way down, chin into your chest. Beautiful. Come back to neutral.
Dimple Patel:
And take your forearms straight ahead of you. Fingers and arms are parallel to one another. From here let's interlace our palms so that they're connected. From here let's flip that palm. All right, from here we're going to maintain this length as we gently and very carefully begin to lengthen our arms to frame our face. Breathe here. Bent elbows are totally fine. This is really a wrist stretch. So make sure that you're not pushing through your fingers. That you're giving more awareness to your wrists. Breathe here. Really wiggle out your hips from the ground so that you can find some length from your torso and make sure your shoulders are not hiking onto your ears. So really relax them, circle them back and down. We already have a lot of tension in this area so we want to create more space between your neck and your shoulders. Breathe here. Gaze can be straight ahead or if it's okay for your neck you can even look up. We're here for a couple of breaths. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
If you looked up come straight ahead. And then from here lean over to the right side, opening up the left side of our body. Make sure that the left hip is not hiking up. Make sure that left hip is grounded before you lean over to the right to open up the left side of your body. Breathe here. Two deep breaths here. Come back to the center. One last stretch. Lean over to the left. Make sure that right hip is grounded, that it's not moving as you open up this right side of your torso. Breathe here. This is a great stretch all the way from your right hip to your shoulder. One more deep inhale. Exhale, come back to the center. Prayer down the midline. Shake it out.
Dimple Patel:
Having our arms in that formation can take a little ... It definitely takes a lot of strength so if you felt some heat in your arms or forearms, totally normal. So do the same thing. This time as you lengthen your arms in front of you be mindful of which thumb is on top. You're going to change the cross of the thumbs. So your non habitual thumb is on top as you flip your interlace over. So we've been here before. So make sure that you're pushing out through your wrists and not your fingers. You really want to feel the wrist stretch. And you can even push one palm forward and then the other to kind of deepen that stretch on one side and then the other. All right. You know where we're going. We're going to gently reach. Lengthen our arms to frame our face. Roll those shoulders back and down creating space between your ears, your neck and your shoulders. Deep inhale here. Really lengthen out of your waist. And then this time as you exhale let's lean over to the left first, opening the right side. Breathe here. You can always close your eyes at any point. I know that helps me feel more present so you're welcome to try that anytime. Come back to center. Inhale to lengthen, exhale to bend over to the right side opening the left. Breathe here.
Dimple Patel:
One more deep inhale. Exhale, come back through center. Inhale, lengthen your fingertips to the sky this time and then exhale. Circle your arms back and down. Let's do this two more times. Inhale. Follow your inhale all the way to the top. As you exhale, palms face out, elbows bent, circle your arms back and down. Beautiful. Last time. Inhale, lengthen your fingertips to the sky. Exhale, bend your elbows. Shoulder blades come closer to one another on the exhale. Beautiful. Bring both of your palms onto your knees and make sure again you have a little bit of space behind you. We're going to do a series of cat cows. Where it's beginning to open up the chest and now we want to also give our back a little bit of love.
Dimple Patel:
So for cat cow we're going to push the palms against the knees as you open your chest to begin to look up for a cat and then exhale. Pull your belly in, dome your back. Release your neck. Inhale. Look up. Open your chest. Exhale. Pull your belly in. Dome your back. Creating a C shape with your back. Do this a couple or more times. Following your breath. So as you inhale begin to create space. More expansion. As you exhale pull inward. Fold in. Go as quickly or a slowly as your body tells you. Let your breath be your guide. This is a really great exercise for back pain. Lower, upper, middle. And you can do it anywhere. Like giving your entire back a massage. Two more times wherever you are. Out. Just make sure you're breathing. Inhale, exhale. Beautiful. Once you're done let's meet in neutral position and we're going to begin to continue to open up our sides here.
Dimple Patel:
So as you inhale lengthen your fingertips to the sky and then as you exhale place your right palm by your chair or your right hip as you lean over to the right opening up the left side. This is option one. Breathe here. Option two is actually shifting your gaze underneath your left forearm and you'll see how that opens your chest even further to deepen the stretch. Or option three is to take your right palm and place it across your body, so holding onto the left side of the chair. So you basically have a stretch that's pulling you in two different directions. Wherever you are, breathe. One more breath. Come back through center. Lift your fingertips to the sky and then bring your hands down through a prayer. Midline. All right, let's do the opposite side. Fingertips reach the sky. Really lengthen out of your waist and then bring your left palm either on your left hip or the left side of your chair, wherever you feel supported. And grind your right hip. Really be intentional about bringing some weight to that. As you lean over to the left opening the right side of your body.
Dimple Patel:
Breathe here. Option one is to gaze straight ahead. Option two is to begin to open your chest even further as you look under your right forearm. And then option three is to take that left palm and place it across your body holding onto the right side of the chair. Wherever you are, breathe. One more deep inhale. As you exhale slowly come back through center. Exhale, prayer down the midline. Beautiful. Let's do a short twist before we continue to do some heart openers. So inhale. Lengthen your fingertips to the sky. On the exhale twist to the left bringing your right palm on your left thigh and your left hand either on the left upper chair or on the bottom. Whatever feels good to you. And then we're going to begin to twist to the left. So as you inhale really lengthen that spine and then as you exhale, twist to the left. Using this right palm and left thigh, this contact, as leverage to help you twist even further. So imagine as you inhale really lengthen that spine, grow taller. As you exhale, twist a little bit more deeply. Wherever you are breathe. One more inhale. Exhale, come back through center.
Dimple Patel:
All right, let's do the other side. Inhale. Fingertips reach the sky. Exhale, twist to the right. Left palm comes on top of your right thigh. Right palm is either on the top of your chair on the right side or on the bottom. Whatever feels good to you. Remember, as we inhale we want our spine to grow taller. As we exhale we want to try to twist a little more deeply. Gaze is either above your right shoulder or maybe even little past it. Maybe close your eyes. One more deep inhale. Exhale. Come back through center. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
Okay. So this is a fun arm chest opener that I really like. We're going to cactus our arms. Or another way to say that is we're making a 90 degree angle with our arms. So palms face forward and we're basically making a 90 degree angle with our arms. If you're here, totally fine. We slowly want to come to a place where there are two 90 degree angles. From here, as we inhale we're going to lengthen the palms to the sky. As we exhale we're just going to pull them back. A few more times. Inhale, lengthen your palms and your arms. Exhale, cactus. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, 90 degree angle. Two more times. Following your own breath. Let your breath be your guide. Beautiful. Once you're done this time as we inhale we're going to pull our arms back. So inhale. Pull your arms back opening your chest. Maybe gaze looks up. Exhale. Pull your belly in. Bring your elbows to touch. Fold in. This is similar to cat cow. Inhale. Opening the chest, arching the spine and then as we exhale we're pulling our belly in, doming our back, elbows to touch. Releasing your neck.
Dimple Patel:
Do this a few more times. Inhale, open and expand. Exhale, pull and fold in. Two more times following your breath wherever you are. As you can see once we begin to get tired, our 90 degree angles are not as clean so just take a moment to reassess. Exhale. Beautiful. Come back to neutral, then bring your palms to your thighs. I definitely feel some heat in my forearms. Maybe shake it out. This is actually a really wonderful exercise too. Bring your fingertips to your shoulders. Elbows are bent. Again, we want to maintain openness in our chest so make sure that your chest is open, you're not folding in. And then just make tiny elbow circles in one direction. Tiny elbow circles in the other direction. I definitely feel this in my arms. Beautiful. Come back to neutral. We're going to do a little bit of flow this time. So we're going inhale, high prayer, palms touch. Maybe gaze looks up. And then as we exhale we're going to come into a forward fold hinging from our hips, palms touch the ground. Palms can touch the ground or we can come up to our fingertips. Whatever feels good to you. If we're on our fingertips it just gives us a little bit more space.
Dimple Patel:
So wherever you are for the first time just let yourself feel this forward pull. Let yourself feel this release. So take your time. Maybe shake your head yes. Shake your head no. Just take a moment to let everything go. Beautiful. On the inhale we're going to come into a flat back. What that means is that we want our torso parallel to the front of the mat. And then as we exhale we'll come back into a forward fold. Let's do that two more times. Inhale. Flat back. You can even begin to feel your shoulder blades going back and down to lengthen that spine. Exhale, forward fold. Last time. Inhale, flat back. Lift and lengthen. Exhale. Forward fold. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
Now we're going to roll up into our seated position, sukhasana, but we're going to do it so slowly. Vertebrae by vertebrae. We're going to roll each part of our body up and the head is absolutely the last thing that comes up. Once you're up circle your shoulders up, back and down in one direction. Circle them in the opposite direction. Beautiful. Okay. So you should feel a little bit openness in your chest, in your shoulders, your neck and your hips and we're going to begin to build from this. So we're going to inhale. Hug your right knee into your chest. Again, if we're right here, totally fine. You can even keep your right toe on top of the ground for a little bit of support in you would like. Wherever you are is perfect. And from here we're going to actually place our fingertips underneath our right thigh. So similarly to what we did before where we interlaced our fingertips, we're going to do that right here so that we have a little extra support. And then when we inhale we're going to lengthen our spine and then as we exhale we're going to extend this right leg straight ahead of us. Breathe here.
Dimple Patel:
Flex your right toes so that they're facing the sky and then as we exhale we're going to point and bend. We'll do this a few times. Inhale, lengthen your foot, flex your foot, exhale, point and bend. Inhale. Lengthen your leg, flex your foot. Exhale, point your foot, bend your knee. Couple or more times. Inhale. Lengthen your leg, flex your foot. Exhale, point your foot, bend your knee. Last time. Inhale, lengthen and flex. Exhale, point and bend. Beautiful. From here hold onto this right knee and bring this right shin over your left thigh. We're coming into a figure four shape. If your knee is all the way up here, totally fine. Just try to ground your right hip into the seat. That's what matters, how grounded we feel. This just means that you have really tight hamstrings that we want to stretch a little bit more and it'll come over time. So when your legs are in this position they're literally creating a figure four. You want to flex your right toes so this foot is active. Palms can come to your chest in a prayer or by your side. Wherever you are is fine. This you will already feel a stretch in your right hip.
Dimple Patel:
If you want something deeper, you can hinge from your hip a few inches. Breathe here. This will intensify the stretch. And if you want something even deeper you can take your right forearm on your shin, your left forearm on top of your right forearm and then use that as support to maybe fold a little bit more. Wherever you are your spine is long. We're not curving our spine here. So you're not going very far. But even an inch can really make a stretch that much more deep or at least feel that much deeper to us. Wherever you are breathe. Wait here for a couple of breaths. Beautiful. One more breath. Gently come back to center. Give your right knee a hug. Place that right foot onto the ground. Awesome. Let's do the other side. So we can interlace our fingers and then use them as support underneath our left thigh. So lift your left thigh. Bending your left knee. And then when you're ready, when both of your hips are grounded, when your chest is open, spine is tall, begin to lengthen that left leg straight ahead of you flexing your left toes. Take a moment to breathe here. This is definitely engaging your core, your thigh muscles. So this alone is a workout.
Dimple Patel:
Okay. Ready. We're going to flex, bend, point your toes and bend your knee on the exhale. Inhale, lengthen this leg, flex the foot. Exhale, point your toes, bend your knee. Couple more times just like this. Inhale, lengthen and flex. Exhale, point and bend. Inhale, lengthen and flex. Exhale, point and bend. Inhale, lengthen and flex. Exhale, point and bend. Do this two more times following your breath. Maybe your body's telling you to go slower. Maybe it's telling you to go quicker. No right or wrong. Beautiful. After those two times bring your left shin over to the right creating a figure four on the opposite side. So flex these left toes. We want this left foot to be very engaged. Sit up tall. Palms can come to a prayer or by your hips. And I definitely feel this on the left side of my body. I think this side is a little bit tighter for me. That may be true for you. It may not be. Wherever you are, breathe.
Dimple Patel:
Option two, if you want something deeper, can be to just hinge from your hips a couple of inches. Spine is long. Option three, take your left forearm on top of your left shin, your right forearm on top of the left, and then hinge maybe one more inch further. Keeping that spine tall and long wherever you are. Breathe here. We're here for a few breaths. And then notice where you may feel tightness. Can you take a moment to breathe into that area? All right, one more deep inhale. Exhale to lift. Beautiful. Give your left knee a hug. Place that left foot next to the right. Awesome. We're going to do a little bit of a gentle twist before we come into some of our standing poses. We'll still be using our chair but there are some of the more traditional standing poses. So before we do that let's come into chair pose. We're going to inhale. Fingertips reach the sky framing our face. And then walk your feet so your big toes touch, your knees touch. And then from here we're going to hinge from our hips. So that's really important so that you maintain the length in your spine. From here bring your hands down through a prayer and we're going to twist to the right, hooking the left elbow onto the right thigh. Coming in for side chair. Breathing here.
Dimple Patel:
This contact between the left elbow and right thigh will allow you to twist a little bit more deeply opening your chest towards the sky. You'll feel this twist in your back for sure. You can look straight ahead or if you want something deeper you can look past your right elbow. Wherever you are breathe. One more breath. Exhale. Come back through center, arms frame your face. Really lengthen out from your hips and then as you exhale prayer down the midline. Let's do the left side. Twist to the left as your right elbow hooks onto your left thigh and then you use that as leverage to help you twist open to the left. Again, gaze can be straight ahead or if you want past your left elbow. That's definitely the deeper variation. And then just do a quick check that one knee is not past the other, that one toe is not past the other. Try to realign so that they're both parallel next to one another. One more deep inhale. As you exhale come back through center, arms frame your face. Exhale forward fold. Let everything go. Maybe shake your head yes. Shake your head no. Put your chest on top of the thighs of your feet so that you feel supported and so that you can really just let go of everything.
Dimple Patel:
Gently vertebrae by vertebrae begin to roll up. Head is the last thing that comes up. Once you're up, circle your shoulders in one direction. Circle them in the other. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
So we're going to work with our inner thighs now. We're going to come into goddess pose. So goddess pose is we're literally just walking your feet a few inches past opposite side. So we're here, right here. And we're just going to walk our feet out. Both of our feet are in a 45 degree angle. So this right here is goddess pose. For some folks you might already feel the stretch in your inner thighs. Totally normal. I definitely feel something. So you might just stay here. Hang out here. Palms are on your wrists or in a prayer or cactus arms if you want. You can do whatever you want with your arms if you want to add something additional. But just breathe here. If you want you can also just push your thighs back for a little bit of a deeper stretch. From here we want to bring your right forearm to our right thigh. We're coming in for a side angle. Stay here with your left palm on your left hip or extend your left arm to the side. Option two.
Dimple Patel:
Option three is to actually bend that left arm up and over. Breathe wherever you decide feels good in your body. And finally if you want a little bit of a deeper stretch you can begin to rotate your chest and your gaze to the left. Opening and creating more space in your chest. One more breath wherever you are. In order to get out of this pose if you're with me here, lengthen your left arm to the sky. Bring that down to your left thigh and then lift back up. Coming back to goddess pose. So just notice how you feel on the left side compared to the right. No judgment, just notice. We'll do the same sequence on the left side.
Dimple Patel:
So bring your left forearm on your left thigh. And then you can place your right palm on your right hip and breathe here. You'll feel some stretch right here in your right hip. If you want something deeper lengthen your right arm and fingertips to the sky. Option two. Option three is to bring that right arm up and over so you're opening the right side of your torso all the way to your right fingertips.
Dimple Patel:
Option three is to gaze underneath your right ... I'm sorry. Is this option three? Yes. To gaze underneath your right forearm. Wherever you are, breathe. And then make sure that your right knee is not coming inward. We want to feel expansion everywhere including our thighs, our knees. So make sure that is still pulling out. One more breath. As you exhale bring the right palm to your right hip or your right thigh and then gently come back to center, goddess pose. Awesome. So we're going to continue to build off of this. Again, listen to your body. Do what feels good to you. We're going to do a warrior two variation. If that doesn't feel good to you please come back to the goddess pose right here. This is totally perfect.
Dimple Patel:
Okay. So for warrior two ... I'm just going to move my chair a little here. Bring your feet and knees to touch back to center and then place your right foot to the right side of your chair. So you're basically now creating 45 degree with your thighs. From here we're going to extend and lengthen our arms in opposite directions. So left and right fingertips are pulling in opposite direction and then your gaze is going to be to your right fingertips. If it's okay for you, gently begin to walk this left foot behind you. So you see I'm taking one step at a time. There's absolutely no rush. Just see what feels good to you. There's a whole spectrum of what feels good to you so do that. Until you lengthen that left leg behind you coming into warrior two.
Dimple Patel:
So here what we want to make sure is that our hips to the best of our ability are facing forward. Are facing toward our right fingertips. So they're not facing straight. So imagine you can hold onto your hips and literally scoop them towards the right side. And there's a little bit of a twist here. Breathe here wherever you are for three breaths. Soft gaze is over your right fingertips. Feel all 10 toes grounded onto the earth. And feel yourself really being pulled in opposite directions. You're coming from your core. Your core is what's keeping you connected. One more breath. Inhale to lengthen. And then as we exhale, this time we're going to have the left palm come to the left side of our leg as our right arm comes up and over. Peaceful warrior. Let's do this two more times. Come back to warrior two. Exhale. Flip your right palm, come into peaceful. The only thing that's moving here are my arms and my torso. Come back. Last time. Warrior two. Exhale. Flip your right palm. Peaceful warrior. Beautiful. Come back in warrior two. And then make your way back into goddess pose.
Dimple Patel:
Okay. Let's take a moment to reset here. My chair moved a little to the side. You might have to fix your chair. Just close your eyes for a moment here. Palms can be on your thighs. Connect with your breath. Beautiful. Let's try the other side. So if the first side was a little confusing or a lot, it's totally fine. This is our second chance to give a go. And again, always listen to your body. So let's meet in goddess pose. So for folks who want a little bit of guidance for how we got to goddess pose, right here in seated sukhasana and we're literally just walking our feet outward step by step creating some space within our inner thighs. And how wide your goddess pose is is totally up to you. Do where it feels like a little bit of a stretch but where you still feel grounded. All right. So from here we're going to actually just keep walking this left foot to the left so that it's completely facing the left side. So you're welcome to stay here and then wing your arms in opposite directions. Soft gaze over your left fingertips. This is great. Just make sure that your left and right hips are facing the left side.
Dimple Patel:
So even I need to physically kind of realign my hips so that they're facing the left side. So this is option one. No. Goddess is option one. This is number two. And then option three is just beginning to walk your foot, your right foot, towards the right and lengthening it to whatever degree you're comfortable with coming into warrior two. Again, soft gaze over your left fingertips. Breathe here. If you've extended your right leg then really think about pulling your right hip to the center because we don't want this right hip open, we want it closed. So you might even have to do that with your arms. Totally fine. Breathe here. Close your eyes maybe. Two more deep inhales. Beautiful. We're going to do that fun vinyasa flow where we go from peaceful back to warrior. So for peaceful warrior you're going to flip the left palm and then lift that left arm up and over as your right arm comes back behind your right leg. Opening the left side for peaceful warrior. Exhale. Come back to warrior two. Inhale, peaceful warrior. Exhale, warrior two. Last time. Inhale, peaceful warrior. Exhale, warrior two. Beautiful.
Dimple Patel:
Bend this right knee if you've lengthened it and then just walk both feet back to center. Close your eyes. Connect with your breath. Beautiful. That was really great work. I know that was a little bit more challenging than what we've been doing. I just want to make sure folks have options.
Dimple Patel:
So for our final set we will come to a stand and walk about three or four feet behind your chair. I want to provide a really deep forward fold. Again, deep is however you define it. So that you can tap into this whenever you just want to let go and feel a deep sense of relief. So come to the back of your chair. We're going to create an L shape figure with our body. And you have several options here. One option is to place your palms on the top of the chair. You see how this creates an L shaped figure. But option two is also just walk a little closer so that you can place your palms ... The bottom of the chair if the top feels too far. There's no right or wrong. Just what feels good to you. So pick what feels good to you and then adjust your length accordingly so that you can really forward fold and feel supported as you do so.
Dimple Patel:
All 10 fingertips are holding you. And you'll begin to feel this stretch in your arms, in your underarms. It's a really, really nice way to let go. Maybe even shake out your head yes. Shake our your head no. And if you want something a little bit deeper, you can even walk your feet closer to the chair and then bend one elbow. Bring your left fingertips to the left side of your shoulder. Then the other. Bring your right fingertips to the right shoulder and then come into a forward fold. You'll see how this stretches out a different part of your arm. Breathe here. Wherever you are. And if you want to engage a little bit of core then you can lift one foot straight ahead of you. Bring it back down. Lift the other foot straight ahead of you. Bring it back down. Maybe keep one foot in the air. Breathe here. Bring it back down. Lift the other foot. Flexing that foot no matter what. Really making sure that our feet are active. Bring it back down. We're just letting everything go. If you bent your elbows, release them. Walk back. Take in your final inhale and exhalation in your forward fold then slowly begin to roll up into standing pose.
Dimple Patel:
All right. Let's grab our chair. Come back to a seated position. Sukhasana. And begin to cool down. Okay. Let's do the circle at our shoulders one last time. Up, back and down. Circle in the opposite direction. And then as we inhale come into high prayer. Maybe gaze goes up. And then exhale. Right palm to right hip. Leaning to the right, opening the left side. Breathe here. And this time as we exhale we're going to circle this left palm in front of us coming into forward fold. In forward fold we're going to place the left palm or fingertips by tenting up your fingers in front of us and then lengthening our right arm to the sky. And again, any variation of this is okay. If your arm is just going here or here or here, totally fine. Essentially what we want to do is find length from the left fingertips all the way to the right fingertips as we open our chest to the right.
Dimple Patel:
So again for this our spine is tall and we're being pulled in opposite directions to create that space. One more breath wherever you are. And exhale. Bring that right palm back to center. Forward fold. Inhale, high prayer. Palms touch. Exhale, prayer to the heart. All right. Left fingertips, left palm comes to the left hip as your right arm reaches straight ahead and then gently over to the left opening the right side. Breathe here. As you exhale almost circle your palm out in front of you coming into a forward fold. This time place your right fingertips or your right palm underneath your nose and then see what feels good to you. So gently begin to peel open your chest. So see where you feel like you're getting a little bit of a stretch and you want to stay there. None of this should feel painful so really listen to your body. Wherever you are, imagine yourself being pulled in opposite directions all the way from your left fingertips to your right. Spine is tall no matter where you are. One more breath. As you exhale bring that left palm back to the ground. Come into your final forward fold.
Dimple Patel:
Here you might even have some fun by flipping the palms over and giving your wrists a little bit of a stretch. See how that feels. Maybe even bringing your fingertips to face your toes. Opening the wrists in that way. Maybe doing one at a time. Play around with that. Spend so much time on computers and behind a screen. We want to find ways to stretch this part of our body as well. All right. Then inhale, high prayer. Come back up and out. Exhale, prayer down the midline. Beautiful. Bring your toes to touch. Come into a tall seat. Close your eyes and just notice how you feel. You can bring your hands to a prayer. We'll close with one round of om. Inhale together. Om. Thank you everyone. So, so happy you were able to join us today.