Planting Seeds

Hi. Welcome to your practice. My name is Ashley, and today we will be planting seeds. To plant said seeds, grab two blocks, a blanket, and a bolster. Have your two blocks in reaching distance as you come to lie on your back. Bend your knees, grab your two blocks, put one in each hand.

Take the soles of your feet together, open your knees to the sides, and then set your blocks underneath your outer thighs at any height that allows you to get the opening for the hips and inner thighs without exaggerating the arch in your lower back or stressing through the inner thighs. Once you've found the sweet spot for your body, you can either rest hands along the front body or alongside your body. What feels best in this moment? Settle in, soften the mask of your face. And tune into the quality of your breath.

Perhaps inviting in the image of the breath flowing down to the root of your pelvis and tracing a pathway through your inner thighs. Perhaps take a moment to layer in an intention for our time together today. Once you have that gathered, If you'd like, you're welcome to join me in an opening home. Nice full breath in. Link your eyes open if you close them.

Take your hands to your outer thighs, support your legs as you draw your knees toward each other. Move your blocks off to the side and then separate your feet as wide as your mat. Open your arms straight out to the side so your hands are about the height of your shoulders and then keeping your feet wide as you exhale, send your knees to the left like windshield wipers. If it feels alright in your neck, turn and gaze to the right. Inhale come back center, and exhale knees to the right, turning gaze to the left.

And inhale center, and take a few rounds side to side. Flowing at the pace of your breath. The next time that you come up from your right side, pause there, or pause center, I should say. And then heel to your feet. Back toward each other until they're about the distance of your front hip points.

Sweep your arms up and overhead stretch the sides of your waist. And as you exh, I'll draw your right knee into your chest. Take your right foot, cross it past your left thigh, and then smooth open from your groin all the way to your inner knee, opening your hip for thread the needle. You may keep your left foot on the ground the whole time. If you can do so without stressing through the knee joint, pick up your left foot, and either thread your hands behind the leg, or you can always use a towel to give yourself a little more length of space to work with. Either holding the stillness or exploring a little rock side to side. Find your way back to stillness if you're in movement.

Release your hands and return your left foot to the ground leave right foot where it is. Scoot your hips over to the right a few inches. They're a little crooked on your mat. And then again, leaving your legs in the setup, lower them to the left. So that your outer left thigh comes to meet the mat and your right foot comes to stand on the mat.

Now if the legs don't quite carry that far or taking the foot in the thigh to the ground is stressing the back or the hip, Put your bolster or even a block underneath the bottom leg and top foot to anchor you to hold and support you at a height that's kinder for the body. Take your left hand to your inner right thigh close to where the thigh meets the groin. And then gently resist your inner thigh away from your pelvis open your right arm to the right. And if the next is okay, turn and gaze to the right, continuing your twist. Inhale come back center, scoot your hips back into the midline.

Keep right foot where it is, and this time heeltoe left foot toward the outer edge of your mat. Slowly. Take legs to the right. Now if your inner knee is not a fan, if your low back is saying too much, I'm hook the foot. And see if that helps relieve any of the tension.

If your body says, no. You can bend both knees towards your chest, stack your knees, stack your hips instead. Reach your left arm long in line with your ear and place your right hand on your front ribs. Try your front ribs lovingly down and into your body as you focus on the length through your left side body. Again, open right arm out to the right, and this time turn your head the same direction as your knees. So once again, look to the right.

If you haven't already unhook your right foot, inhale, bring your knees back up, reach both arms up, and now heel toe your feet in. Told her once again about the distance of your front hip points. Exhale hug left knee into your chest and then take your left foot cross it past your right thigh. Flex through your foot to help protect your knee. Take left hand to inner thigh and smooth all the way from your groin to your inner knee.

You can stay right here. You might pick up your right foot. If doing so stresses the knee or it feels too aggressive in the outer hip, please feel free to put your foot down at any point in time. Neither hold the stillness or maybe explore small rock side to side. So once the earth has been tilled, turned over, comes the exciting piece of planting seeds.

Saddleback center if you're in movements separate your hands and return right foot to the ground. Keep left foot where it is. And this time, scoot your hips over to the left several inches or a bit crooked on your mat. Take your time, rolling the legs to the right until outer right thigh meets the mat and left foot comes to stand on the mat. And again, if taking the legs all the way to the side is pulling through the back, the hips, or anywhere else, try bringing the earth a little closer to you.

You can use your bolster, your blocks to give them a place to land. Take right hand to inner left thigh close to the groin, open left arm to the left, and use your right hand to lovingly press the root of your thigh away. If it feels alright in your neck, turn and gaze to the left. And Inhoc, come back up? Scoot your hips back into the midline.

Again, keep your left foot where it is. He'll tow right foot over to the right till it gets closer to the outer edge of your mat. And then exhale, send your knees to the left. Reach right arm in line with the ear. Open left hand to the left.

And once again, turning gaze to the left. If the hook of the foot is stressing the knee unhook, if this isn't a kindness still, stack the knees, stack the hips instead. So there are a couple things that I love so much about planting seeds. One is the journey of figuring out what you're gonna put into the earth. The second piece of it is it's this beautiful practice of possibility. What could spring, what could grow forth from this planting? Unhook the foot if you haven't already, and then in how bring your knees back up.

Open arm to the side. He'll tow your feet in until they're about the distance of your front hip points, and once again reach both arms overhead. Acts. I'll hug your knees to your chest, cross at your ankles and hook your hands to the back of your thighs. Rock yourself up to seated. Bring the soles of your feet together, open your knees to the sides, and instead of drawing the feet in close, as we sometimes do in this shape, walk the feet away from you until you're drawing more of a right angle with your legs.

Rock to your right, bring your left knee up. Take your left foot back. So you're creating almost a 90 degree angle in both of your legs. Set your hands down behind you like kickstands and lift through your heart center. You may stay here.

Working a focused bit of length through the front of your left hip and thigh. If the hips and knee say okay, Swivel your legs to the left, lift your heart, and then swivel back to the right. And do this a few times. Moving at a pace that feels right to you in this moment. This may be the perfect pace to stay at.

Perhaps the next time you come to the left, you bring hands down in front of you lift onto your shins, move the bum away from your waist and reach up to the sky. And then sit your bum back. You can use the hands to aid you. Travel with the knees over to the second side. Come forward.

Smooth bum away from the waist, lift heart, lift hands. Sit back. We'll explore this once more on each side. Travel over to the left. Maybe you explore picking up without the hands. Maybe the exploration tells us, no hands are good.

Sit back. Traveling back to the right, root down in helping get up. And then sit it down. Stay facing to the right. And now revolve your torso a little bit more toward your right knee.

Lift through your heart and with the exhale, fold forward. If the thigh or the knee isn't allowing you to get the hands or forearms to the earth, bring the earth to you. Gently guide the right hip back as you reach your chest forward. If the bony aspect of your back knee is feeling pressure against the earth. You can open a blanket underneath it for more padding.

Inhale, heart forward, walk yourself back up. If you're using your blocks, take them with you as we pivot over to the left. Lift through your heart center and then walk it forward. Fold in. So metaphorically, we're planting seeds all the time, consciously or unconsciously.

I like to think about the conscious seeds as intention and maybe some of the unconscious ones as, weeds. The seeds of weeds just circulating out there in the air. Lock yourself back upright. Bring your knees center and heel toe your feet in till they're about the distance of your front hip points. Set your blocks off to the side and now make your way to your hands and your knees.

If knees are tender, take a moment to pad them. Walk your hands a few inches ahead of your shoulders and then glide your body forward and lift your chest. Exhale tuck your toes. Lift your knees. Take your hips up and back downward facing dog.

Feel free to paddle your heels up and down. You can shift your hips side to side. Or even lift a leg if you'd like. And once you've had a few moments here to work through those initial pockets of resistance, try to reclaim a bit of stillness. Inhale high onto your tippy toes, exhale deep bend to your knees.

Look toward your hands and walk your feet forward to meet them. Come to fingertips in line with toes or hands lightly on your shins as you draw your chest forward. And then exhale fold it back in. Let your head and neck go. Root into the earth as you inhale rise up reach up. Maybe look up and exhale join your hands at your heart.

Alright. Take a peek down at your feet. Separate your feet about the distance of your front hip points, those little bony protrusions at the front of your pelvis. And then lower your inner thighs back until you see your knees and your toes pointing forward. Keep the reach of the inner thighs back as you scoop the pit of your abdomen in. Press down as you inhale reach to the sky.

X, I'll wait a bit forward in your feet You're welcome to bend the knees a bit as you fold in to relieve stress through hamstrings and back. Inhale reach your heart forward, coming either to fingertips, or you can follow my lead and grab your blocks to create more length of space. Bend your knees enough to get your hands securely down and then step back with your right foot. Sit your front thigh parallel to the floor, elongate through your spine, and then take back knee all the way to the earth, pat it with a blanket if it's tender, uncurl your toes, inhale rise to greet the sky. If you feel a little wobbly here, move left foot to the left to touch.

Acts, I'll bring your hips forward, return them to the earth or to your blocks. Tuck your back toes under, lift your back knee. Walk your hands and or blocks around to the right, parallel your feet as you go. Rock weight a little ahead of your heels, draw your chest forward, and now take your hands to your hips broaden your collarbones. Root down and stand up.

Open your arms out to the sides, angle your right toes slightly in. And from your left hip socket, rotate your entire left leg open. Align your front heel with the center of your back arch straighten through your front leg and lower your arms by your sides. Now if you're feeling a little unsteady here, instead of heel to arch, feel free to go more heel to heel. Widen your base.

Take your left hand to your inner left thigh and now lengthen from growing to inner knee as you bend the knee. Trace from the outer knee to the outer hip as you restrate. Do that again. Length and open for the inner thigh and then firm back through outer thigh and outer hip. One more time, lower in and lengthen. This time, keep your front knee bent as you slide the hand back.

Place your hand on your cheek and actively scoop left cheek under you as you press your right thigh straight back toward your hamstring. If that caused the pelvis to dip forward, lift your hip points, smooth your bum down. Leave your hips as they are as you try to turn your chest a little more parallel to the long end of your mat and now sweep your arms open to the side Vira badrasana two, warrior two. Press into both feet straighten your front leg parallel your feet once again. Take your hands to your hips.

Inhale, up the front of your body, open your chest. And as you exh, how shift weight a little forward in your feet as you fold yourself in half. Bring hands to the earth or to your props, grow your heart straightforward. And as you exh how walk your hands and or blocks around to the front of the mat, pivot on your feet finding your lunge. Hop, back foot up to meet your front foot. Press your thighs back as you grow your heart forward.

And then exhale fold forward. Press down as you inhale rise up, reach up. And exhale, join hands at your heart. Second side, inhale again, or the hastasana upward hands pose, exhale, fold forward, oh, tanasana. Inhale, heart forward, heart, uttanasana.

Bend your knees enough to get hands to earth or props, step back this time with your left foot. Sit into your front thigh, elongate your spine, and then set the back knee down. Unurl your toes root down, inhale, rise up, reach up. Go wider with front foot if you're feeling wobbly. And then exhale, take it forward.

Place hands back to the earth or blocks. Tuck your back toes under, lift your knee, and now walk your hands and or blocks around to the left parallel your feet. Reach forward and try to bring your hips a little more in line with your outer ankles. Take hands to hips, broaden chest, root down, and as you inhale, rise up. Open your arms straight out to the sides, angle your left toes slightly in.

And from your right hip socket, rotate your entire right leg open. A line heel to arch or go more heel to heel for greater stability. Take your right hand to your inner right thigh and lengthen from your groin to your inner knee. Trace back from outer knee to outer hip as you straighten the leg. Do that again.

Open your inner thigh. X how firm your hip under. One more time, lower in and lengthen. This time, keep the knee bent as you trace back to your right cheek. Scoop right cheek under you, press your left thigh straight back towards the hamstring.

Leave legs and hips as they are, scoop the pit of your abdomen in, and now leaving your hips where they are. Try to turn just your chest. Open arms out to the sides. And if it feels alright in your neck, turn and gaze over your right fingertips for Vira badrasana two, warrior two. Press down, inhale, straighten your front leg, reach up, parallel your feet and take your hands to your hips.

Inhale up your front body, Ex how hinge from your hips fold in. Take hands to the earth or to your blocks and then stretch from tailbone to crown of head. Exhale, walk your hands and or blocks around to your right foot, pivot on your feet, find a lunge facing the top of your mat, lengthen your spine. And then hop your back foot up to meet your front foot. Inhale heart forward, exhale fold root down, inhale rise up.

X, I'll join hands at your heart. Alright. Here's the part where I lose friends sometimes. You do a little dynamic work coming in and out of chair pose. Keeping your hands at the heart or returning them there if they left while I was babbling. Said have you to your heels, bend your knees, and then circle your arms overhead.

And notice if your weight is drifting. That's so hard for me to do towards your toes. Instead, can you sit back into your heels like you were actually sitting your butt down to a chair? Press down. Straight in legs and lower your arms. Maybe you're like, Ashley, you're gonna do it a couple times, and I'm going to do it once and then watch you. That's okay too.

Maybe. Sit heavy to the heels, bend your knees, circle arms overhead. Press down. Lower arms by your sides. One more. Happy to the heels. Coil the abdomen in as you lift your heart and hand skyward.

Press down, stand up, lower arms by your sides. So with all the excitement of planting seeds, It's still work. There's still effort that is required inside of it just in the same way that, you know, I keep doing this yoga thing because I enjoy it, but also things like chair pose exist. And I'd be lying if I told you I enjoyed it. But I appreciate the benefits that grow from it.

Okay. Bring your hands to your hips. I've turned to face you so you have a better vantage point of what's going on with my legs. You're welcome to stay facing whatever direction you're currently facing. Shift your weight onto your left foot, come to the toes of your right.

Open your hip. You may stay right here, heel against opposite leg, Notice how for many of us, the left hip wandered? Can you hug it back in? Perhaps. You take your right foot and you cross it past your left thigh.

Just like we did lying down for thread the needle pose. You may say, oh, it'd be amazing to hold on to something in which case you're home, grab a chair, grab a wall, grab a piece of furniture, a bookshelf, what do you got? Sit heavy to the heel of your standing leg foot like you're returning to your chair. Maybe you offer your hands forward to counter your balance. Those of you that were with me for tilling the earth, we did this actually seated in a chair. Imagine there was a chair for your butt to come meet right now. Bring your hands into your heart, press down, stand it up, hug knee to chest, and then put your foot down.

And sometimes nice to give a little shift side to side following that, and then settle back center. Shift your weight this time onto your right foot and come to the toes of your left. Open your hip. And maybe you started down that road last time and came back here and we're like, grounded tree. I'm down for it. You can stay here. You might take your foot, cross it past your thigh.

Flex through your left foot the whole time to help protect your knee. Bring your hands into your heart center. And then maybe reach the hands forward as you sit heavy into the heel. Once you've met a purpose, we'll edge for your body. You can invite hands back into the heart.

As you take the bum back and down, lift through your heart center, And then press down. Stand it up. Hug your knee to your chest and set your foot down nicely done. I can't see you, but I feel you, and I know it was nice. If you ventured from the top of your mat, find your way back there.

Tadasana mountain pose. Press down, reach tall. How fold ribs towards your thighs, let head and neck go. And how dry your chest straightforward, elongate through your spine. And now, exhale bend your knees enough to get your hands down.

Step back with your right foot. Step back with your left foot. You can keep your hands on blocks as I'm doing shift back to your down dog. So sometimes the added height underneath the hands will help us get a little more into the legs and a bit out of the shoulders and arms. Inhale, lift your right leg, lead from inner thigh.

So toes point down. And then exhale hug your knee toward your nose, float your shoulders over your wrists, step your foot between your hands. Added bonus of height underneath hands, it often creates more space to bring the foot forward. Set your back knee down. Take time to pat it if it's tender.

Uncurl your back toes. Press down for the top of your back foot, and as you smooth your bum away from your waist, lift through your heart center. So here we're looking for a bit of focus link through the front of the hip, the front of the thigh. Sometimes the low back wants to take on the brunt of the effort, So instead of letting the pelvis spill, can you scoop your abdomen in? Move your bum toward the back of your knee.

That knee. And now shift your hips back off for a moment in the opposite direction. And then lift your chest, walk your hands under a block's back to touch. Re bend your knee. Grab your bolster. I'm going to set my blocks to the side for a moment here, but not too far in case you discover you'd like to use them again.

Take your bolster and slide it back until the edge touches your back thigh. And now heel toe your right foot over to the left until your right heel is more in line with your left knee. Slide heel to touch the other side of the bolster, and now either hands to the earth or to your blocks in front of you as you come forward. Set the outer border of your shin down. So the bolster underneath the root of the pelvis here can be a helpful aid in leveling the hips and avoiding stressing too much through the hip flexors and quads or through the right hip joint itself.

Now if you're here and you're like, Ashley No, and also my knee, ow. Instead, come back to the thread the needle that we started with at the beginning of class, and you can put your foot on your bolster so that you're not having to hold the leg here while still getting a similar opening through the outer hip. Options. You got options. What kind of seeds are we planting today? And are the choices that you're making in this moment?

Ones that might be growing weeds for you to weed out later? Or are they things that are going to bloom into something that you'll want to look at in your garden? From here, bring yourself forward. Forms may meet the earth, or perhaps you follow my lead and split the difference bringing the earth to you. Welcome a little draw off the right hip back.

And the left hip forward. And if there are particular areas of the body that are calling your attention, Can you meet those pockets with the patients of your breath? Alright. Reach your heart forward. Look at the earth out in front of you.

Walk back up to straight arms. And now remembering back to the top of class, can you roll a little to your inner back thigh. I'm actually moving all of my weight a bit more towards my right hip, bend the back knee. So you're in a wide version of your ninety, ninety, and now take your hand to the back of the knee and thoughtfully invite the foot forward. Okay. Shretch your legs out in front of you.

I'm gonna shimmy myself back a little bit. I'm choosing to sit on the edge of my bolster because it helps me find a bit more length through my spine returning the natural curve to the lower back. I'm also a hyper extender, so you may have noticed my knees are going beyond straight. So if you've added height and you're experiencing pressure through the back of the knees, take your blanket roll underneath the knees. And then your right knee.

Gonna move my blanket over like a little typewriter so that I can bring the right foot in a hair closer. Make about a fifth swerve of space between your thigh and your foot. And then bring your hands to the front of your right shin. Check-in with your left leg. And if it's gone on holiday, spin your inner thigh down until your knee points up and flex your foot, draw toes back towards your shin.

Press hands into leg. From shoulders against your back, lift your heart. Inhale, sweep your right arm up. And as you exhale revolve, place right fingertips to the earth behind you, or if you've raised yourself so high that the earth is no longer there, put your hand on a prop. With every inhale lengthen from naval to top of sternum, with every exhale revolve.

If you're feeling pressure through your back or through the back of the pelvis, instead of keeping your hips square, try sliding your back hip forward a little bit so that the pelvis comes with you into this twist, and it will often help relieve pressure through the lumbar spine in the si joints. Planting seeds of growth. Stopping the weeds. One more breath in here, and exhale, and wind. Alright. Ben both knees.

Set your blank get to the side. And then make your way to your hands and your knees. Set your bolster to the side. Sometimes planting seed requires managing a lot of tools, aka your many props. Make your way back to your hands and your knees, and we'll stretch it up and back one more time here for downward facing dog.

Inhale this time lift your left leg. X, how left knee to your nose, foot shoulders over your wrist, step, left foot forward. And if the foot didn't quite make it there without blocks under the hands, grab the foot, try to help it forward. Set back knee down, pat it if it's tender. Uncurl your toes.

Press down to the top of your foot, shift your hips forward. And as you do so, can you smooth your bum down and lift your chest. I find here that I'm feeling a little constricted as I try to find the lift in my heart. Just wanna grab my blocks. What choices are you making in this moment?

And how do they affect you beyond this moment? Mhmm. Shift your hips back. Until right hip is smore over your right knee straighten your front leg soften. Re bent. And now move your blocks a bit forward.

Slide your bolster underneath you and bring one side of the bolster against your thigh. Heale toe. Left foot over to the left, until left heel is more aligned with your right knee, and then slide your left heel back until it touches the bolster. And I didn't mention this on the first side, but I find it helpful to actually lift my left heel as I'm making this transition so I can swivel or pivot a little bit more on the ball of the foot. Come forward.

And see if you can bring the outer border of your shin and the pinky edge of your foot towards the bolster. Alright? Again, if you get here and immediately your body is like, this is not the shape for me. Come lie on your back. Take thread the needle.

Smooth your bum down, brief lift of the heart, and then as you're ready. Walk it forward. Either bringing forearms to the earth or two year props. Roll the inner back thigh up so that the top of the foot is evenly down, pinky edge and big toe edge. Find an energetic draw of the left hip back toward the back short end of the mat.

And the right hip forward towards front short edge. When can you soften and smooth the edges of resistance? With the evenness of your breath. So with your next inhale, walk yourself back up. And rock a bit more to your left.

Turning right toes a bit out. Take hand to back of me and bring your right foot thoughtfully forward. Shut your legs out in front of you if you find that you keep creeping off the mat like myself. Feel free to shift yourself back a little bit here. Shretch both legs out long for a moment, lift your heart.

You may stay. If the knees are doing their knee thing, Locking or hyper extending, put blanket roll underneath your right knee this time, bend your left knee. Make about a fist worth of space between foot and opposite leg, roll in her right thigh down so that toes point up. Bring your hands to the front of your shin. Press your hands against your shin as you firm your shoulders against your back.

And then in house, sweep up. Exhale revolve. If hand doesn't comfortably meet the earth, use a prop to elevate the earth. This is a variation of Marichyasana c, a twist named for one of the many sages of yoga. One more full breath in here, exhale unwind.

This time, Shretch both legs out long. Again, you can use the blanket roll now underneath both knees if it's an aid. Bring your hands along your hips, lift your heart and broaden your chest. Dandasana staff pose. As you root through your sit bones, lift your heart, and then draw your chin subtly back and down. You may opt to stay right here.

If you'd like to explore re first table top, which is I was gonna say a bit of a backbend, but a bit seems underwhelming. It is a backbend. Alright. Bend your knees. Place your feet on the ground about the distance of your front hip points. Plant your hands.

If fingertips pointing forward is stressing your shoulders or your wrists, try instead. Rotating your arms and pointing your fingertips away from the midline. Lift your shoulder blades up and in toward your chest and now press down through your heels. Lift your hips. Work to parallel your thighs as you smooth your bum away from your waist and lift through your heart center.

Ah, now set your bum back down. Scoot. Be mindful if you have a block behind you. Set the block off to the side, and then scoot yourself off the back end of your bolster. Bring bolster forward.

That it's underneath your knees, if you decide you'd like it that way for Shavasana. Before we fully let go into our Shavasana, place your feet on the bolster just like we did at the top of class, bring right knee into chest. Left knee into chest. Take your knees wide. This is different than the top of class adding on. You may opt to stay right here.

You might bring your arms inside the legs, bring the base of the feet toward each other. And if they're there without stress or strain, hold on to the front of your ankles, the front of your shins. You can use your arms to gently lengthen inner thighs away from you. From here, maybe grabbing big toe, grab big toe, and then see if you can bring your heels and base a feet parallel to the sky for happy baby pose. Read release your feet.

Stretch your legs out over your bolster. And if you find that this is more of a bother than a help, feel free to slide it out of the way. Allow your arms to spill wherever you feel the greatest ease. And walk shoulders under your chest offering a subtle lift to your heart as the rest of the body melts away from that point. The seeds you plant today may be the things that nourish you in the future.

Be that literal food that we ingest, or feeding some other aspect of the senses, something beautiful to look at, a lovely fragrant scent, a texture to run your hands over. And so while there is a lot of unknown, how long will it take to grow? Will it sprout at all? It's important to be thoughtful on when and where and what seeds we are planting. Can we do so with full intention? Can we follow through with care?

And may what you plant today? Grow into a delight as opposed to a weed. If you'd like to stay here longer in Shivasana, please do. Otherwise, welcome a little movement to fingers to toes. And if you feel called to do so, maybe you reach your arms overhead, And as you exhale bend your knees, and then roll on to your side.

And pause a few breaths here. Having planted the seeds of your practice, press the Earth away. Finding your way back to seated. Join your hands at heart center. With much love and gratitude, thank you for sharing your practice today.

And may you have a beautiful rest of your day?