Christmas Yoga

Hi Yogis. So i wanted to do a Christmas video for you, so this is kind of a christmas gift to you from me to you subscribers and watchers. So i wanted to base the video on the heart. I have chosen the heart because during Christmas obviously we are giving gifts, its that kind of giving. But i want to give something from the heart to you guys so i want to focus the theme throughout on the heart, to allow us to open, and be open over for Christmas to give love. Not just gifts, its not all about gifts, it is about giving love to people and sharing a special time for whats it all stems back to which is Jesus. So there is more to it than just kind of giving gifts. So i want to give this practice to you as something that is more personal, that is from my heart to you guys. So its going to be associated with the hearts. So we are going to start on our mats. So just find your sit bones. Finding a seat and lengthening all the way up your spine. releasing the hands onto the legs, knees. Shoulders drawing back, chest lifting. Just activating into your core slightly, just so the spine can grow even longer. And just close your eyes down. Just allow yourself to start focusing on your breath. Just notice where the breath is moving in your body. And then just bring your awareness down to the parts of the body that have contact with the earth. And as you inhale allow your spine to float all the way up towards the grown of the head, as you exhale allow yourself to grounds through your sits bones. As you inhale you are floating all the way up through the grown of the head. As you exhale allow yourself to become heavy through the sit bones. Just one more breath like this. And just allow your awareness to come to your heart to your chest. And just let the breath to start moving into the chest heart region. Just so we can start to fill it up with the breath and expanding releasing anything that we are holding in there, we are going to get moving into the heart centre just to allow anything that is acummilating in there just to become released through the practice. So just focus your breath into there and notice how the breath is moving into the chest, heart. Not only the front but also the sides and the back. Just see if you can allow the expansion to happen throughout that region. And then gently allow the hands to release by the sides of the body. And inhale shoulders forward and up, exhale back down. Inhale forward up, exhale back and down. As you do this just notice how it feels in your shoulders in your chest, shoulder blades. Really allow the awareness to come into the heart, shoulders, upper region of the body. Allowing ourselfs to become open at this time, giving more of ourselfves to people, to others. And reversing that cycle, Inhale back up, exhale forward down, inhale back up, exhale forward down. A few more rounds like this. Really let the breath fill the body as much as possible. Just one more. And then roll it back inhale, exhale back and down. Just so that the shoulders and chest are nice and open. And then just switching the cross of your legs if you have cross legs. And then we are going to inhale, bring the arms all the way up, gasing up if its good in the neck, otherwise keeping it forward. If the elbows cant straighten then keep it shoulder width. Exhale down. Inhale up. Exhale down. Allowing the breath to start the movement. So as the inhale come in, then the movement starts after. Then there is the pause as you fill up right at the top of the breath. Then its the exhale then the movement of the arms down. Then the pause at the bottom of the breath. Two more. Exahle down. One more. Exhale down. And just allow yourself to find length through finger tips. We are going to inhale right arms up. Shoulders staying down. Exhale tip toe that finger tips all the way to the lefts. Find that stretch all the way into the right side waist. Also the arms pit, also up into the chest region. Dropping the right hip down. One more breath. Inhale all the way up again. Let the breath guide the movement. Exhale down. Inhale lefts arm up. Exhale the fingers tips all the way to the right. Really ground that left sit bone. Really lengthen through arm pit but kep shoulders away from ears. Really long in both waist. Exhale really allow your breath to float into the waist. Feeling it expanding. One more breath. Inhale all the way up. Exhale all the way down with the arms. And we are going to move onto all fores. Bringing wrists underneath shouders, knees underneath hips. We are going to do some cat/cow. Just to get into the spine, chest, shoulders. So when you are ready exhale pushing through palms releasing the head brawing the belly button all the way to the sky. Really find them shoulder blades spreading. Inhale drop spine, shoulders draw down the back, open up the chest. Exhale draw belly button all the way to sky, push through palms, find that stretch through shoulder blades, head releasing. Inhale. Exhale. Really get rid of the breath. Let the breath start the posture. Pausing at the end of the breath, then the exhale starts. One more. The slowly come back to a nutral spine. So just to get into the back shoulders we are going to inhale bring that right arm all the way up. Exhale it down, two more. Inhale up, exhale down. One more. Inhale up, exhale your going to thread the right arm through the left, bend the left elbow and allow the shoulder to place on the earth, release the head the shoulders, letting the bum float up to the sky. And just take a few breaths here breathing into the right back shoulder blade. Finding that openness with the breath, Its great to get into the front but also to the back of the heart, that is still there we forget. Inhale left arm up, exhale place it onlt lower back or finger tips wrap around to the inner right thigh. Open left shoulder breath deep. One more breath. Inhale left arm up. Exhale down. Right arm threads all the way back up. Inhale plant the hand we are going to go the other side. Inhale left arm up. Exhale down. Inhale up, exhale down. Again let the breath guide the movement. Inhale up, exhale thread it all the way through and under, and again sliding the left shoulder down this time, resting the head. Let the head rest. Breathing into the left shoulder. And inhale right arm up, exhale onto lower back or binding it through. Breathing nice and deep. Again let the breath spread into the shoulders, lungs, ribs. Draw the right shoulder back. One more breath. Inhale all the way up, exhale melt the hand down. Back onto all fores. Lets take a down dog. Tucking into the toes, draw navel back and take yourself into your first down dog. So why you are in your first down dog, allow yourself to move gently. Heal toeing. Sit bones lifting to sky. Allow yourself to come onto your toes as you push the heel down of the other foot. Just allow yourself to feel the toes aswell as the calves, inhale onto toes, exhale heels down, a little bend in knees, inhale onto toes, exhale heels down. Inhale onto toes, exhale heels all the way down. We are going to step through with right foot. So if you need to dop the knees and help the right leg through. And the you are coming into your lunge, just allow yourself to slide your left knee slightly back. So here we want the chest again to open, so we are drawing the shoulders all the way back, we are lifting up into the back knee if its safe for you. You can always just keep it down, you dont have to bring it up. Coming onto the finger tips and really find your breath. draw the navel back and contract into the core and breath fully again. Two more breath. Really keep shoulders down. Keep the belly off. Plant the hands and all the way back into down dog. And again inhale onto the toes. Exhale down, inhale toes, exhale down, one more. And step through left foot, or drop the knees and help it through. And again if you need the back knee down, take it down. Keep it down, other wise extending the knee of the floor, drawing the shoulders back, drawing the core all the way up so you are not leaning on the leg. Really draw yourself away from the leg you are on finger tips. Draw shoulders back, chest is opening. Breathing fully. If you look back aswell, you can see that the heel is ontop of the toes so thats where you want it. You are grounding through the forward foot. Nice full beep breaths. Two more. One more breath. Step forward with foot. Little steps or full step all the way forward into your fold. So find your feet hip width in distance, again having a little bend in you knees just to allow everyhting to soften over the head. Make sure your knees are peeling open and they are not knocking in, shoulders drawing away from the ears, and just let your head melt slightly, rocking from side to side. Inhale onto finger tips, open the heart, shoulders back again, core drawing in. Exhale all the way down, bending knees if you need to, releasing the head, shoulder draw away. Again the inhale first then thr finger tips. Pause, then the exhale. One more, inhale, exhale. And we are going to come all the way up, pushing through the four corners of the feet, bringing arms all the way over. Palms touch at the top, or if elbows bent shoulders tight keep it shoulder width. Exhale down through the centre line, bring the hands to the lower back. shoulders draw back inhale open the heart, shoulders drawing away, chest opening. Exhale bend the knees slide the hands all the way down legs. Melt the body all the way over. Find the end of the breath, pause. Inhale hands all the way up the legs. Hand to the lower back, open the chest, draw it open. Finish the breath. Exhale melt yourself all the way back over, fold. One more. Inhale up. Exhale all the way down. And just take a few breaths here. Allow yourself to melt over. Finding them gentle breaths, again releasing the head slightly. And gently again, inhale all the way up. Arms over the head, palms touch. Exhale down through the centre line to prayer. And then bringing the hands behind and take a clasp. Inhale draw the shoulders back open the arms away. Again you can take a strap here if this is to much. And then exhale bend them knees all the way over release the head. Bring it all the way back over. You can always stick with the variastion we just did if this is to much in the shoulders. Inhale all the way up, bending the knees. Again arms away from body, chest opening. Exhale melt, bend them knees, belly to thighs. Arms drawing over. One more. Inhale up. Exahale over. So this time why you are over take your feet and move them so they are mat width in distance. And just have a bend in the knees, and let yourself really melt between your legs releasing your head. Bent knees, arms drawing over. And breath all the way into your shoulders, into chest. Few more breath. One more breath. And see if you can straighten into your legs optional. And again find them breaths. Again see where your feet are. You want to be on the four corners of your feet. Feet are still parallel. And draw in some nice deep breaths. Head melting, shoulders draw away from ears. And gently, slowly bring it all the way up, bending softly into your knees. All the way up, and release your arms. Step your feet again so they are hip width in distance. And we are going to step back with the right leg nice and wide. So nice and wide into wide leg fold. Hand onto the waste. You want duck like feet, toes closer that heels. Inhale take gaze up. Exhale hinge from your hips all the way over into your wide leg. Melt yourself down, release the palms, releasing yourself all the way over. Inhale onto finger tips. Again drawing shoulders away from ears, draw navel back. Exhale sink, little bend in knees if you hyper extend. Inhale finger tips. Exhale sink, let the breath guide you. Inhale finger tips. If you can get your head all the way to the floor then just bring the feet a little bit closer toward each other so the head doesnt get down there. And you are constantly active and working. From here inhale onto fingers tips. You are bringing the left hand under your chest, going to go right arm up, Inhale. Nice and long through spine, Exhale finger tips down. Two more. Inhale. Exhale down. Inhale up. From here bringing the right arm onto lower back. Drawing the right shoulder open. If you need a block underneath left hand do take a block under the left hand. And again drawing the rights shoulder open, drawing long through the spine, nice and active through the four corners of the feet. Breathing deep. One more beath Inhale arm up. Exhale arm all the way down. Right hand underneath. Left arm up inhale. Exhale it down. Inhale. Exhale down. One more, inhale up. Exhale left hand onto the lower back again. Draw left shoulder back and breath. Again gazing where ever your neck is good. Left shoulder drawing back. One more breath. Inhale up. Exhale it down. Walking your hands forward into your wide leg down dog. So allow yourself to spread through. Again nice long legs, drawing the heels down still. Shoulders spreading. Breathing all the way up into the heart, back of the legs. One more breath. And then gently and slowly bring them hands all the way back. Finger tips. Exhale hand on the hips. Inhale all the way up. And step back to the front of your mat. So again feet hip width in distance. Bring the hands all the way up, we are going to float all the way over, swan dive exhale. Inhale finger tips, exhale sink and step back into down dog. Find that length in spine. One more breath. Lets just take a rest in child. Allow yourself to soften through sit bones. Allow yourself to come slowly and gently back up. Bring your feet forward. We are just going to bring the forearms onto the floor. Bum away from shoulders, sink as if the shoulders are propping you up. Allow your head to be realeased. And melt yourself all the way to the floor, we are going to take some bridging. Take feet hipwidth in distance. Nice and parellel. Bring fingers so they touch the heels. Turn palms down. Shoulders draw away from ears. We are going to go up through the feet. Pushing through feet, inhale all the way up. Exhale all the way down. Curling the spine as you go. Inhale all the way up. Exhale all the way down. One final one, staying up. Inhale Holding for a few breaths. Again allow yourself to breath the breath all the way up into the chest. Let the expansion happen. One more breath. Slowly melt yourself down. Bring the knees into belly and take a little rock from side to side. Counterpose slightly. Keeping knes together, keep the clasp, inhale exhale head up between the knees. Inhale back down. Exhale head to knee. Inhale down. Exhale head to knees. Inhale down, keep a hold of that right knee and extend that left leg so its nice and long. If the lower back is tender then do bring the left foot onto the floor instead. Otherwise keep it long, flex into the foot. Release right arm, palm facing up, inhale, exhale take the knee over to the left. Allowing the right hip to come up as you melt the right knees over to the left. Just notice how the neck feels and if you can release it to the extending arm, right arm. Right shoulder is softening down. Both shoulders are melting down so you can allow that expansion in the heart chest to really allow the opening. Breathing up there into heart, ribs. One more breath. Bring it up, bring the other knee in to join both knees together again, just a little rock from side to side. Left leg extends, right. left arm extending or cactus inhale, exhale take the knee over to right. This time taking the gaze to left, shoulders melting down. Breathing in to the left chest. Just notice any difference in the left and right side. One more breath. Inhale all the way up. Again bring both knees into belly. Rock from side to side. Just allow yourself to stretch the legs, stretch the arms over head. Pointing the toes, stretch the finger tips. Flex. Again inhale, exhale, inhale. And bring your arms all the way over. Roll yourself over onto your front. So from your front we are just going to get a little bit more into the chest. So just bringing it into spinks. So just bringing your elbows underneath your shoulders, spreading the fingers infront the wrists are infron of the elbows. And allow yourself to contract into core, drawing shoulders draw down the back. Again allow the breath to come all the way up into the chest. Opening chest, drawing shoulders back, just allowing youself to point into the toes. nice and active taking any pressure out of the lower back. Drawing some nice deep breaths in here. One more breath. And just allow your elbows to melt out to the side, just releasing your head to the side for a moment. Take a breath. Then again coming back into spinks, and if you want to come into seal then please do. Just bringing the hands, so the hands are going to go out to the sides, towards the mat. And if you wish again, if your lower back is tender keep it in your first position spinks. Taking the hands to the side, and again draw it up even deeper. Make sure core is active, drawing shoulders back away from ears. Allowing yourself to open up into chest. Strong in core. Any tention in the back you can always bring it down. And release, take the head to the opposite way and take a breath. Gently push throug palms and send yourself to child. So just bring your knees together just so you can curl over the knees. And release the forehead bring the hand behind and take a hold of your heels. Allow yourself to curl, as if your trying to do your cat stretch but in child. Breath into back, shoulders draw away again. Inhale all the way up. Coming up just come to a nice seat. Coming to a seated position, just find your sitbones, get nice and comfortable. Just lengthing all the way up through your spine again. Hands resting on the legs. And close your eyes down. Just allow yourself to connect with your breath again. Just observing again where the breath is moving in the body. Just notive the length of the inhale and exhale and if they are equal. So from here guys we are going to do alternat nostal breathing. To balance out the left right side of the brain. So if you are familiar with different mudras, so we have got this first one where we can close the nostral off. One at a time, if you find that your arms start to ache. Or we have second which we do in class, bringing first two fingers into palm and the two end fingers and thumb. So the thumb closes off the right nostral and the other two fingers close of the left. Or you can take your mudra with the right thumb on the right nostral and last two finger and other two fingers stimulating into the brow. So its entirly upto you how ever you wish to do alternat nostral breathing please adopt the hand positing now. So bring you awareness to your nostrals, and notice the sensation as you inhale the cool air coming in through the nostrals. As you exhale the warm air leaving the nostrals. So we are going to do one round, so we know what one round is. And then continue. So take a nice deep inhale, exhale everyhing away, all the breath away. Close off the right nostral inhale through left. Close left, exhale through right. Inhale right, close right exhale through left. Thats one round. Two rounds. If you feel you are struggling, release the breath and breath easy. Three. The breath is to be easy. Finish last round just release the hands. Notice how you feel. And then gently and slowly bring yourself down into relaxation. Allow yourself to feel the full weight of your body on the floor. Draw your awareness to all the parts of the body resting on the floor. heel, back of the legs, buttocks, back body, shoulder blades, upper arms, lower arms, hands, back of the head. All resting on the earth. No matter how much you let go the earth will still support your body. Take a full deep inhale, exhale let any tention melt out of the body, melt the body even more into the earth. Inhale full breatj, exhale surrender tention. Inhale full breath, exhale allow yourself to melt. Few more breaths like this. Inhale expanding love through out yourself, for others, nature, for everything that we are. Bring movement back into fingers toes, stretch if you need to stretch. Bring knees into belly, rock side to side. Roll over to right side. Push up to a seat. Bring it back to a seat, hands into prayer. So guys i hope you have the best christmas ever and i hope you have a happy new year, and i will try to get a new year video up for you aswell. So thank you so much for watching, i really hope you enjoyed the practice with it being a little bit longer aswell. Namaste, So much christmas love. Bye