Flow with Everything

Okay, well, here we are. And I'm gonna take you through a longer sequence now which I hope is enjoyable and fun and touches upon many of the points that we've been playing with already. But even if you don't remember any of that, you'll still have a good time with this. So we're gonna start in a way that I often do myself in the morning after I've made my coffee. It's a series that's done kneeling.

And I know that some of you may not be able to do this very well. There is a way that you can do it sitting in a chair. And if you ever wanna know what that is you can get hold of me and I'll try and explain it to you. But it requires a nice rolled up blanket. You can use towels.

Towels, I find are not as effective as a blanket because they tend to flatten and you wanna try and keep the roundness of the roll. So this is a typical yoga blanket. If you don't have this, it's fine. You can use afghans, any other kind of blanket. The idea though, is that whatever it is, you don't want it to get too flat as you put your weight into it.

Okay, so you've got your roll. And what is helpful is if you can lean forward, you can even put your head on the floor and try and get the roll as up into the back of your knee as you can. So it's way up there. And then you come back and you're kneeling but you've got this space. I could go a little more here.

You can see, you have the space in between and if your calves are tight, you're gonna feel it. Different people are gonna fill it in different ways. The bigger the roll, the harder it will be on your calf. And if you have any tension or discomfort in your knees that is just like a tightness it's okay. Sharp pain, not good.

But when I come down and I do this, I try to align myself so that my toes are pointing straight back. It changes over time. When I first started playing with this, it was harder for me to get my ankles to open, harder for me to get my toes down. But this very first part is really just to gently start to open up the knee joint itself. So you can relax, play with your breaths, enjoy the sensations that your body is experiencing.

And I don't really know how long to tell you to stay here. I would say for myself, I stay until I feel a change, a change for the better. I won't make you sit here that long with me today. It's up to you as you play with these things to decide what's right for you. So then you're gonna lean forward, take the roll out come onto your hands and knees and tuck your toes under and do this little clapping.

My friend, Norman Allard calls this the Dorothy. There's no place like home. There's no place like home. And then push yourself back so that your heels are resting on the roll. And you're obviously in this little squat.

For some people you're gonna want to build that up quite a lot. It depends on your flexibility and your range. It is important though that you have that support under your heel. And then, you relax in this position. Try not to collapse your weight down, but be up enough.

So there's energy in the position. I'll tell you what I think about when I do it. I'm always curious if my toes are behaving themselves and staying long and not crunched under. So each toe has its own place in the world. I allow myself to really acknowledge that there's something under my heel, even if I don't necessarily need it because I wanna feel that suspension in that lift.

Pulling up a little on the shin, so there there's the support of the lower leg bones coming up into the knee and then allowing a release back and down into the hip. And then I try to think of a bit of suspension a little bit like I've got a sling under my pelvis so that I'm not just collapsing down into my joints. And that should probably be enough time to let the sacrum release, let the tail release. But like I said, not falling back into the lower back. And then again, come forward onto the hands and knees.

There's no place like home, no place like home. And then the next part, you're gonna shift back and just sit back onto your toes themselves. This one, not necessarily entirely comfortable but it changes over time, just like everything else. And what I like to do is take hold of my heels and encourage my heel to reach back. So that again, I'm cultivating the ability to bend at the toe and be more on the ball of my foot and not forward on the tippy toes which is gonna put a lot of pressure down in my knee.

So again, this changes over time if you wanna practice it. Opening the toes forward, reaching the sole of the foot, elongating it into the ball of the foot. And then obviously the more you sit back, the more weight is gonna go on the feet. So if it hurts, you're gonna want to lean forward to take the weight off. So better to sit up higher put something under your butt than to lean forward.

Again, clap, clap, clap. This opens up the knees, frees them up. And then the last part is to turn the toes the other way try just to have the toe on the blanket not the whole foot ankle. And then again, come back into the position. And I think I do this kind of just to work with my mind because it's uncomfortable.

So I use my fists and I massage through the sole of my foot and encourage that. So that at least, I think things are moving around. And I get the bend in my toe and the openness in the front of the ankle and the release in the sacrum, (Debora exhales) (Debora inhales) and practice softening my mouth and my jaw and give into that opening through the front of the ankle on the top of the foot and the bending of the toes. And the circulation and the hydration and the nutrition all into my feet. And then come forward.

Last time, tuck the toes under again what a relief and clap, clap, clap. So I'm gonna just move the blanket off to the side and straighten myself out on the mat. Coming onto all fours now, reach one leg back. So you're on the ball of the foot back there and start to just shift. It's nice to feel the result of what you've done.

And then I do a circle kind of like the massage that we did sitting down, where I'm rolling over the top of the foot, trying to bend each toe and feeling the connection all the way up into my hip. And then the other way, rolling over and around and feeling the connection of the foot and the ankle all the way up into the hip. And then the other side press out push enough into the ball of the foot so the knee is supported. Don't sag, get some energy into it and then roll around. I think of it like the gear, like shifting gears in your car, if you drive a standard. (chuckles) And again, different on different sides.

And then stay there, find the strength of the push through the arms, up into the shoulder push through the ball the foot, lift the knee cap feel the force coming up into the hip and then add the other leg. So for a moment, look at you, you're in a plank. Put the first knee down, the second knee down and then start maybe with the second side. Press the foot back, push through the arms, feel the strength all the way from the leg up into the hip. Add the second, come down and down and then go ahead and cross your ankles and come forward.

You can get rid of your blanket roll and then just sit and clear out your knees pressing down on the leg above the knee, the middle of the thigh, the top of the thigh. Open the chest. Take a nice deep breath and then go ahead and lie down. Ah, okay. So, here we are on our backs, relaxing the back of the head, the back of the shoulders, the shoulder blades, bottom ribs, pelvis, nice release of the thigh into the hip.

Feel the feet nice and open and warm and alive. Arms lengthening off of the shoulders. Take some nice deep breaths. Let's review the imprinting. Inhaling, allow the spine to float and exhale release, just a couple of times.

Inhaling the spine, releasing up and exhale, releasing down. One more. Let it float up and let it float down. And then let's bring in the head tail. curl the tail, lift the chin, release the chin, release the tail.

Tail up, chin up, tail down, chin down. And just tracking the movement, the flow of the breath through all the connections that we've been making. Letting it move gently through you feeling the push pull of the feet, rocking and rolling, curling and lifting, making the connections through your body. And on the next one, curl the tail, roll through the pelvis, lift the hips, take the arms overhead, reach the thumb. If you can, take a nice deep breath and then lengthen the spine down segment by segment, by segment, reaching the sacrum toward the heels and bring the arms back down.

And let's do that one more time. Curl the tail, roll through the sacrum. Feel the back of the ribs. Rolling up toward the shoulder girdle. Little bit of strength down there in the feet.

Maybe think about the inner heel, the outer hip reaching the arms overhead to enjoy the length, the lift the potential for more space and breaths. (Debora inhales) The freer the chest, and the stronger you can stand on tour upper back. Is nice, the hips can flow higher. The throat is open the jaws soft. Don't push on your head and then elongate back down through the spine segment to segment opening through the lumbar, reaching the sacrum to the heels and letting the arms come back down.

And then let's go off to the side. Shift the hips to the right and back to the center and shift the hips to the left and back to the center and allow the head to roll the opposite way of the knees. And back to center. The head roll is the opposite way and back to center. Couple more times allowing the shoulder to be heavy the chest to be open and center and shift and center.

And then the whole connectivity. Shift to the side, tail up, chin up, roll through the center shift to the other side, chin down, tail down. Roll through the center, roll to the side, tail up, chin up. Roll to the center, roll to the side, chin down, tail down. Let's reverse.

Curl the tail, lift the chin, roll through the center roll to the side, chin down, tail down, roll back to the center, roll to the side. Last one, chin up, tail up, come to the center and just shake it out. Okay, one leg drop. Take the leg out to the side. Allow the shift of the pelvis.

Keeping the, let's say you've shifted off to the left. Keep the right foot firm. Feel as you press through the heel, you could think, "Wow! Sort of like a sideways half-bridge." And then lift the outside of the left knee, roll yourself back to that in the middle. Taking the left thigh out to the side. When you encounter any tension or restriction let the pelvis shift until the whole outside of your right thigh gets to the mat, pressing gently through the left heel, not into the lower back.

Feel that half-bridge quality all the way up into the shoulder blade and then lift the outside of your right knee and thigh and roll yourself back to the middle. And now let's add. Reach the right arm up to the ceiling. You remember that puppet. So lift and drop and lift and drop.

And now start with the left thigh. Let it drop off to the side. Shift the pelvis, maintain the pressure on the center of the right heel. But this time allow the reach of the puppet arm to take you a little further onto your left thigh. And now you can really feel the quality of a half a bridge.

To come back, let the pocket arm release down into the socket and let the shift of weight through the upper body begin the sequence of bringing you back through the center. One more time. Right arm is up, left thigh drops. The pelvis shifts you onto your left leg reaching up through the right fingers, let that roll you toward your left side. Feel into the position of the right knee.

Don't let it drop, keep it centered. Keep that foot strong and suspend and then release. The puppet arm on the right. The shift comes back through the upper body this time till your centered and let the arm drop. Lift your left arm.

(Debora inhales) Take a nice breath, right leg off to the side, shifting through the pelvis until your right thigh is to the floor. Reach up through the left arm. Allow that to roll you over. Keeping the strength and the connection in the back of it left heel. And then the puppet arm releases back down shifts the weight through the upper body through the middle body, and then finally the lower body.

And then again, the right knee, the right thigh, the pelvis shifts. Keep breathing, roll to the side because you have suspended and lifted. Let the head go, let the neck go. And then release that arm back down, connect across your upper back, your middle back and your lower back. And then let that arm come down by your side and release So slide your right leg down the mat, lengthen out through the heel.

And then imagine that string on the bottom tip of your shoulder blade, give it a gentle tug. And it's as if your shoulder blade was chasing down the backside of your body, into your sit bone. And then your sit bone is chasing your heel. And then reach the top of the foot long the toes long soften the back of the knee, soften into the hip and then come back and take a gentle fold. We'll do that one more time.

Slide the leg down the mat, lengthen the whole backside, shoulder blade chasing the sit bones, sit bone chasing the heel and this time, add the arm. Feel the whole length of your body. Opening, opening, opening, and then bring the arm back down reach through the toes, soften the knee, soften the hip and then just bring the foot back to standing. Let's try that on the left. Slide the left leg long, keep breathing.

Shoulder blade chasing the sit bones, sit bone chasing the heel. Reach through the top of the foot and the long toes soften the back of the knee. Deep in the hip and let the knee fold. And one more time. Slide the leg down the mat, shoulder blade chases the sit bone, sit bone chases the heel.

Reach the arm up overhead. Put a little pressure on your right foot to help open the left side. Bring the arm back down, reach to the toes, soften the back of the knee, the hip and come back to standing. Let's try both. Slide the legs down the mat, reaching through the heel.

Shoulder blades, chase the sit bones sit bone chases the heels. Arms reach up overhead. Open the body, feel your length, your space. Feel yourself in the room. Bring the arms back down, lengthen the toes, soften the back of the knee, deepening into the hip.

Bring the legs back up and give yourself a little hug For this next part, lengthen the left leg down and just gently pull your right knee in towards your chest. Give it a little bit of a squeeze and release in a squeeze and a release. Keep the length on the left side and then just hold your right knee shin with your right hand. Let your left arm come down and gently start to take that thigh out to the side. Only go to the point where you don't feel like you're gonna get rolled off.

Gently pull, tug soften, and then switch hands. Take the left hand to the outside of the right knee and begin to cross that side over. Opening the hip going as far over as it feels nice allowing the spine to twist. Not yanking on the right shoulder, make a little adjustment so that you can feel nice and broad across your entire chest. Perhaps reaching more out through the right hand to balance out the the rotation in the body.

And then roll back to the center bend the left leg up and place the right ankle on top of the left thigh. Pressing through your foot, curl the tail, roll up through the pelvis as high up towards your shoulder blades as you can, and then extend yourself back down lengthening. Let's do that two more times. In with the breath, step onto the left foot, roll through the pelvis onto the upper back. Keep the jaw soft, the neck easy, try not to push into the back of your head at all and then roll yourself back down.

And one more time, in with the breath, press through the foot, step through the foot. And when you get to the top, this time, reach your right leg up toward the ceiling, hold on, where you can. And then using the pressure of the leg into the hands, feel the weight come into the sternum and gently lift your head off the floor and then roll it back down. And two more times. Release through the sacrum, feel the circularity of the pressure of the leg to the hand into the back of the shoulder girdle.

Bending and releasing, and then roll the spine back down keep your leg where it is. Lift up your left knee and then hold the left knee with the left hand, you've got the right leg with the right hand and separate both thighs now out to the side, one bent one straight or almost straight and then reaching out, circle that right leg down to the ground and bring your left knee in. And guess what we do the whole thing on the other side. So gently tugging the left knee the left thigh towards your body. And then just hold on with the left hand take the right arm out.

Start to take the left leg out to the side. Only as far as it wants to go where you're not yanking yourself off the opposite leg and then switch hands. Crossover, begin to open up the outside of that hip. You can allow for the rotation adjust through your upper back, so you're not getting pulled off of your shoulder. Can rock back and forth a little if that feels good.

Roll back to center come up to standing on your right foot. Curl the tail, then roll up onto the shoulders and then roll back down. Couple more times. Step onto the right foot. Opening up the hip, opening up the spine the chest and roll back down.

And one more time. Inhale, roll up onto the upper back, extend the left leg, hold somewhere where you can and then using the lift and the press into the hands, shift the weight onto the sternum lift the head and then roll back down. Feel the weight shift into the sternum. Don't yank on your head, roll back down. And one more time, curl and release.

Leave the left leg where it is, bring the right leg, hold the right with the right and the left with the left. Take them out to the side and circle the left leg back and down. And we could stay here all day and just keep going side to side but we're not gonna do that. Bend both knees up. Press the top of the knee up into the hands, take a breath inhale.

(Debora inhales) And as you exhale, press the knees up into the hands and then let it go. Feel the power of the load of that thigh bone deep into the pelvis. Feel the activation of your core muscles. And one more time, press the knees up into the hands. As you resist back down and then sneak the Palm of the hand to the outside of the knee, inhale (Debora inhales) and exhale, press and resist.

You can just stay, or you can allow the knees to open and close. Sometimes it feels good just to keep the knees directly over the hips, inhale and press. Maybe opening and closing and then bring the hands to the internees. The inner thighs fists back of the hand, palms press in and resist. Inhale, press and resist.

You can press open and press close, press open and press close. Take the hands to the front of the thighs. Take a deep breath (Debora inhaling) and exhale, press resist and release. Inhale, (Debora inhales) and exhale, press thinking of lengthening the thigh up making space in the knee, reaching, massaging up out of the tightness in the hip. And now take your hands to the shin below the knee.

Relax, and then as you exhale, press the shin up into the hands. Allow the head to come up and then nod forward feel a little rocking and then come all the way up to where your feet are on the ground. Stay here. Your elbows are a little bit bent. So, lean back until your elbows are straight.

Find the weight just back of the tail on the sacrum and then pull your heels in a little bit closer so that it shifts your weight even further back onto the sacrum and then let your feet float up. There's a bit of pressure of the shin into the hand and you're gonna start to rock. Not as easy as when we were lying on our back but you feel the tail curl, the sacrum roll and then you reverse. And just allow yourself to see where can I go? Can I go to the top of my sacrum?

Can I open up my lumbar? Can I bend through those bottom ribs a little bit more, softening the chest, softening the jaw and then coming back as far as I can without popping. One more time. Roll back, roll up and now flex the ankles, let go your hands, put the heels on the ground and here we go again. Sits bone slide release the back of the blade down through the sit bone through the back of the knee, through the back of the heel.

See if you can roll yourself right to the T 12 spot, the bottom edge of your rib cage and then tap, tap your sternum, lift up, sit up and then bend your knees and start again. So you lean back, relaxing the shoulders. Slide the feet back towards you a little bit so that the weight shifts more onto your sacrum. Not heavy, float the feet and begin this gentle rocking. Feet, knees, hips, sacrum, bottom ribs, blades, occiput, happy face, sternum, just a little bit of rocking, opening things up.

Come to the center, let go, flex the heels down to the mat. Slide it out. Release back to T 12, tap, tap the sternum, lift it up and then come back to sitting again. Okay, let's come on to our sides. Lie out as long as you can at first.

So instead of the more traditional hand under the head try to make one nice line of yourself along the mat. The other hand is in front of your chest for support and then take the top leg bend the knee and place the foot in front of your thigh. Think of lengthening that fly right out from the hip and then gently just press and release, press and release, press and release and press and stay. And now make a big circle of your hand sweep it up overhead, roll onto your upper back. See if your hand can come all the way down to the back of your body and then reverse up and over and length and come down.

And again, reach the hand, big circle, opening the shoulders, opening the chest, let the head roll come all the way around to the back and reverse it. Reach the hand out and up and round. Last time, big circle up and around and open. And now stay back. See if you can bend your back knee.

Take hold of the top of your foot and here we are again, in some half bridge, figure four, shoulder roll, brain rolling in your head, all of and everything off, expand, feel the connections, feel the openness and the breath and then release and come back to the center. Stay on your side, lift the knee. When you do a little pulse, take the knee up into the shoulder and then turn it down to the inner knee. So up, up and to the knee down, take it up up and down, down and up, up down. Last one, and up, up and now we add a little pattern.

Touch the knee, touch the ceiling, touch the knee, turn in and reach the arm and the leg away from one another, return. And touch the knee, touch the ceiling, touch the knee, knee to knee, extend out and pull it back in. And touch, knee and touch, ceiling and touch knee and extend stay here and bend the elbow. Bend the knee and cross and look back and bend through and reach to the front and bend through and open to the back. Last one.

And reach and relax. Roll onto your belly. Come on to an extended forearm position. Shake your bottle a little, wiggle your hips side to side take a nice deep breath. And as you exhale, curl the nose to the navel and the pubic bone to the navel.

Take a breath, and as you exhale, reach the pubic bone and the nose away from the navel and again. Nose to Naval, pubic bone to Naval, pubic bone releases away and you bend your knees. Curl, nose and pubic bone to navel. Naval and nose away from pubic bone and stay with the knees bent and shift and shift, shift and shift, shift, and shift. And we're gonna come up onto the other side.

You can just roll to your side. I'm gonna turn around in case you want to see me better. So lengthen out through your arm as best as you can. One line for your body, bend the top foot and knee and stand in front of your underneath thigh. And gently open the hip and let it go.

Maybe your gait is a little less rusty now. Open, let it go, open and stay and reach the arm over open the chest, roll it through and reverse, and come around and again. Reach the arm forward and up roll through the shoulders and the upper back. See if your hand can come all the way down to the pelvis and reverse and lift and lengthen up out of the hips and come down. One more time.

Take a breath, make a beautiful circle, open out. See if you can stay, reconnect to your feet, bend the bottom leg, take hold of the foot, open the chest, all open the shoulder and release. Come back to the middle and place your hand. Lift the knee and up into the shoulder and down to the knee and up into the shoulder and down to the knee. And it's nice and easy pulse.

Freeing the joints, bringing circularity and warmth. Here we go. Touch the knee, touch the ceiling, touch the knee, knee to knee and extend out, reach, pull back. And touch and lift and touch knee to knee and reach out and pull it back. Last time and touch up, touch knee to knee and stay reaching this time.

Bend the elbow, bend the knee, cross over, ah bend through and reach (Debora inhales) and bend through. And each, last time. Bend through and reach. Come on to your side, roll onto your back, bend one knee and come up to sitting. Have your feet flat to the mat.

This time, have your hands behind you. Push down into the hands to open the chest. Feel the opening of the chest tugging all the way through to the belly, the pubic bone, lift the hips, reach the hips back down and curl and give yourself a little hug. And then take the hands back and open the chest. Open the chest and lift it so much that it picks your pelvis right up off the ground and then reach the hips back and come forward and give yourself a hug.

And then let's swing around. Come back onto all fours and review Old Gray Mayer. Take a nice deep breath, exhaling reach the top of the head, the tail away from each other. Take it into an extension and then inhaling reach the top of the head, the tail, the sacrum and the skull. Curl as deeply into yourself as you can, and then reverse it.

Lengthening out through the ends, carving your circle and then take a breath, reach out long and curl. Take your fingertips now and point them toward one another. For the lion drinking, arrange yourself, take a breath. And as you exhale, squeeze the shoulder blades gently toward one another at the same time that the elbows reach out to the side. Take your face, your mouth directly down to the ground.

That's your river, take a drink. (Debora inhales) And as you exhale allow the shoulder blades to widen and separate and almost like they're gonna slide right off your arms coming up into this high curve. Take a breath, exhaling the same time that the elbows reach out to the side, the shoulder blades come toward one another take a breath and exhale and open up the back. Soften the throat, let the chin come back up and press through the tops of the feet. Now bring the hands forward and we'll take the donkey wax trying to stay as even as possible on your legs. Take a breath and as you exhale, look out over your right shoulder, at the same time that you bring the right side of your hip up.

Look, where's my tail?. Inhaling in the head and the tail away from one another and exhale over to the left. One side is lengthening. One side is shortening. Inhale, come back to the middle.

exhale over to the right. One side is shortening, one side is lengthening and opening. Inhale back to the middle (Debora inhales) and exhale, last one. Over you go, come back to the center and thread the needle. If you need to come off your hands, take a break, inhale, open to the right see if you can feel the bottom arm helping to steer your top chest and then release all the way down to the ground.

Allow your neck to go, your ear, your cheek. Let everything go for a moment and then gather your energy from the ground and exhale, open it up.(Debora exhales) Reach so much it picks you right up off those bottom fingers. Pull the arms out to the wide, open your chest, take your hands behind your pelvis. Interlace your fingers. Remember which thumb you have on top.

Let your elbows be a little bent. Take a breath and as you go towards straight try not to push down on your elbow wrist but lift the upper arm up into the shoulder. Feel that connection. And then if you have your arms straight, and it's okay with you any amount, bring the hands off the back a little bit pulsing and pulsing and then let that go. Switch the interlace of your fingers.

Little bend in the elbow, inhale, exhaling. Try not to push into the front of the hips or into your back or lean back. Just stay straight up and down. Tops of the feet, shins, thighs, hips, et cetera, and allow the straightening of the arms to ring power to the shoulders, to the upper back to the opening of the chest and then lift the hands any amount and let that go. Come back down onto all fours and roll.

Repeat the thread, the needle to the other side. Take a breath now, open to the left up you go. Use the arm, the right arm, steering you through that shoulder girdle to open the chest. Lift and exhale thread the needle. I'm not going all the way down because of the microphone but you can totally let your cheek and your ear rest down to the mat.

Let your elbow go, let everything go. Gathering some power, gather the energy and then up you go again, opening the chest, reach so much that it pulls you right up. Come to the center, place your hands tuck your toes, shift your weight. And we're gonna roll up to standing and roll up. (Debora exhales) Okay.

So here you are again. Look around, locate yourself in the environment. Let's take a quick journey back through our whole body. Feel the ground under your feet, feel the energy in your body, feel the fullness of your body. Maybe wonder how many new connections have I made?

How much is communicating inside me right now? You have your vertical tracks, your six limbs, your legs, your arms, your head, your tail. You have your horizontals, your eye focus. You look around, you take in the information. The shoulder girdle, the ribs, the pelvis, the knees, the ankles and you allow your verticals to hang, your horizontals to float.

You look around, you see where you are, and then where does that end? Where do I start? And all the fullness of the life inside you. So it's been a real pleasure being with you. And I hope that you've enjoyed yourself and I look forward to seeing you again.

And if you have questions or would like to discuss your experience with me, feel free to contact me. Thank you very much.