Let's Start

Today we have an awesome throat chakra yoga for you. So this is a big request. If you want to be nerdy like me, you can wear a little blue for your practice today. If not, don't worry about it, hop into something comfy, and let's get started. Alrighty, my sweet friends, let's begin in a nice comfortable seat. Come on down to the ground. And when you're ready, sit up nice and tall. Relax your shoulders down. And bring your hands together to your heart. Take a second hereto just get settled in. The hardest part is over, you selected the blog. You carved out this time for yourself. 


Trust, trust the process. Trust that this time is valuable.  And then gently lift your heart space, your heart chakra, your heart center to your thumbs. So it's ever so slight, it's subtle. But there's a little bit of a connection already brewing heart between the heart and the throat. And if you're like, "Ooh I don't know "if I should've done this blog, this is weird," Just see what you can get out of it. You don't have to get everything. Everything doesn't have to resonate. Just an experiment. Use this time to stretch to breathe and to recenter, right? Working to find an equilibrium, a feeling of balance energetically. Now close your eyes you haven't already. Trust me, trust yourself. Trust this practice, this blog. And hang with me nowhere. As you're willing. Heart lifted. Head in a reverent bow. 

 Soften your jaw. And start to gently deepen your breath. Just observe what happens. Notice if it'shard to breathe full depth of breath here today. Notice if it feels good. Let one breath cycle bleed into the next so just take once the cycle of breath at a time, not really trying to force anything or do anything, just allowing the story to unfold. And then if you like, you can repeat this affirmation quietly to yourself. I speak my truth, openly and freely. I speak my truth, openly and freely. Take a deep breath in. A long breath out. Interlace the fingertips, lift the chin. Open your eyes. Bring the knuckles right underneath the chin here. Sit up nice and tall. On an inhale, we're gonna take the elbows out, left to right. Continue this journey up by slowly pressing the knuckles to the chin and looking up towards the sky. 

Think

As sending your gaze all the way up, and not necessarily up to crunch the back of the neck but just up. Good, exhale. Round it through, elbows come together. Navel comes back towards the spine. And we look down towards the ground. Again, inhale. Lifting up, long puppy belly. Think Cobra, or upward Facing Dog here. Elbows spread left to right, we lookup. And exhale, chin to chest, elbows come together. We round through the spine. Keep it soft and easy here this time. Inhale, elbows wide, breathe deep. Exhale chin to chest. Good. Inhale to come all the way back up. Fingertips are gonna come to our sides. Inhale to look up. Exhale, right fingertips are gonna reach up and over, nice, gentle side body stretch. Come back through the center. Good, inhale to look up. Exhale, side body stretch, nice and gentle. Checking in. Beautiful, come back to the center. Inhale palms come together, Anjali Mudra at the heart. Exhale to relax shoulders down. 


Beautiful. From here, I'm gonna slowly tilt the left ear over the left shoulder. Place your left hand on your heart space. Right fingertips come to the earth. Breathe deep here, maybe walking the right fingertips back. Oop, tickling Benji's paw. Feel that stretching the side neck, that lengthening through the crown. Notice how that's connected to the shoulder and the scaps. Keep the heart lifted towards your left palm. And then slowly begin to float the right fingertips up. Press your palms into an imaginary surface and breathe deep. Spread the fingers. One more breath, inhale. And exhale, and then slowly bring everything back to the center. Palms come together in prayer. Big breath in. Relax the shoulders you breathe out. Good. Right ear over the right shoulder. 

 Right palm to the heart space. And left fingertips to the earth. Pause here, just check-in. Close your eyes. Playing with the subtle body here today. So there are some gross big movements, right? But see if you can find that subtle body connection as you breathe deep. And when you're ready, draw the shoulder blades together here, start to lift the left fingertips up. Press your left palm into an imaginary surface and notice, pay attention to the sensation here. Finding, of course, soft easing movement, as you're ready, as feels good. Staying really present with your experience, whatever it may be. Create more awareness. Cool, take a deep breath in. Exhale, release. And slowly bring everything back to center, palms together at the heart. Inhale in, check it out. 

Exhale Again & Again


 Exhale out through the mouth, cleansing breath. Inhale in through the nose. Come on now, don't be shy. Exhale out the mouth. Let something go. And one more as if you were fogging up a window as you breathe out. Inhale. Exhale. Good, from here we're gonna come on to our knees. If coming on to the knees is not suitable for you, you can modify or you can use a little blanky by bringing it underneath the knees. I think modification for this is to just stay in a cross-legged seat. But you can explore. Wow, I hope to mimic picked that up 'cause Benji was doing like a throat chakra. (huffs) cleansing breath. He's so in tune. Okay. So from the knees, we're gonna inhale in, lift the chest.  Exhale, slowly slide your hips over to your left side so your toes are towards each other or together on your right. Fingertips are gonna come down at your side. Inhale, lift the left arm all the way up to start. Reach reach reach towards the sky. Feel that lengthening from your left waistline. And then take it all the way over. Tuck the chin slightly. 

 Lengthen through the back of the neck. Feel that long deep stretch in the left side body. So you're creating a little hammock with your hands, with your palms. And the thumbprints come to kiss. Close your eyes. Make a wish. Just kidding. Close your eyes. And again, you can repeat the mantra, the affirmation quietly. This time may be adding in I choose. I choose to speak my truth, openly and freely. Quietly repeat to yourself, or whisper to yourself. I choose to speak my truth, openly and freely. Sweet. Drop the chin to the chest. Release the Mudra, open your eyes. Rock and roll. No, let's come forward to all fours. Take your time. Tabletop Position. Inhale, drop the belly, open the chest. Open your heart forward. Open the throat. Exhale with your breath, round through chin to chest. Contract navel to spine, chin to heart center. Inhale, open the heart. Open the throat, look forward to breathing in. Exhale, press into your foundation, chin to chest. Find that lock. One more with the sound of your breath, go for it. Good, then on your next inhale, come back to a neutral spine. Drop those elbow exactly where the hands were. Try to keep your forearms parallel. So your elbows are gonna wanna come out here most likely with tight shoulders, so keep the elbows right underneath the shoulders. Keep the forearms parallel. 



Pet your puppy dog, or your pet if you have one. Aww. Then reestablish your foundation, (laughs) bring your gaze back down after looking at Benji. And let's walk it back. Keep the forearms planted. Pin the elbows down. Spread the fingertips evenly. Slowly release the heart, the throat, the forehead towards the earth. Big heart opener here. Opening up through the shoulders. It's gonna be a little sticky. But keep your elbows planted in line with your shoulders. Then send the tailbone up. Create a little slide with the spine. Let the low ribs hang down. Anahatasana, Heart to Earth pose. You can ticktock the hips a little left to right. Try to keep your fingertips firmly connected, planted to the earth so lots of awareness in your foundation here. Pressing the tops of the feet, carve a line with the nose. Slide on into the home. Sphinx Pose, tuck the chin first to start here. Press into your pubic bone. Then inhale, slowly carve a line with the nose to look forward. Inhale in here. Exhale. Again inhale through the nose. And this time as you exhale out through the mouth with sound, press into your elbows. Grow a little taller. And one more. You got this. Notice what's happening the abdominal walls as you breathe out with sound. Inhale. Exhale, reestablish that connection through the elbows. Grow taller. Good, send your gaze past your right shoulder. Come to your center, send your gaze past your left shoulder. 

What's up? 

And then slowly back to center. Tuck the chin. Find that chin lock, broaden through the back of the neck. Curl the toes under, inhale in. Exhale, lift the hips, reach the heels back, Forearm Plank. Tuck the chin, press into the palms, fingerprints firmly planted. Find that hollow body here. Imagine your placing the little teacup on the back of the neck. So there's a straight line from the throat to the crown. Three, two, on the one, slowly lower the knees. Go back through that PuppyPosture, walk the knees back. So you can stay here today, Puppy Posture or inhale in, exhale, hug the low ribs in. Lift one elbow then the other. Curl the toes under and send your hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog. To start here, you can find a little movement. 


Make sure the base is nice and wide here. So walk your hands out. Spread the fingers evenly. Index fingers are pointing forward. Great, biceps by the ears. And after you've taken a couple of moments to find some soft easy movement, find stillness here. Return to the sound of your breath. Inhale in. Exhale out. Inhale in again. Exhale, slowly come back down to the knees. Walk the knees back. Bring them together. Slow and steady, come to the belly. Zip the legs uptight. Interlace the fingertips behind your tail, tuck the chin as you draw the shoulder blades together. Inhale in. Exhale, press into your foundation to slowly send your gaze forward. No need to crunch here. Great. Reestablish connection through the pubic bone, tops of the feet, inhale in. Exhale, maybe lift a little higher. Inhale in. Exhale slowly release, handsome underneath the shoulders. We're gonna curl the toes under. Press up to all fours or Plank. Yogi's choice. Deep breath in here. Long breath out. Slowly lower to the knees. Tuck the chin into the chest, just like Cat Pose. Press into the tops of the feet (clears throat) excuse me. And slowly roll it up. Great, hands come to the waistline here. 
Head over heart, heart over the pelvis. Inhale in. Exhale, press into the tops of the feet. Send your tailbone down towards the ground, lean back just a bit. Start to open your heart space up towards the sky. Hug the elbows into the side body. Draw the shoulder blades together. Little Camel variation, nothing crazy. If you wanna do Camel, it's in your body, you can. But, perhaps you're not that warmed up for Camel, in my opinion, so just keep it chill. Great. Lift the heart, lift the chin. The Crown of the head is lengthening, not collapsing. Awesome work. Slowly bring it back connect to your core to center. And then slowly we'll back onto the heels. Just find an upright spine here to start. Head over heart, heart over the pelvis. And lining from the root to the crown. Excellent. From here, we're gonna use the hands. You're gonna come onto the hands. Bring the two big toes together. Knees nice and wide. Dial the hands, excuse me, the left fingers around and back towards your body. Right fingers around and back towards your body. Walk the hands back as you feel comfortable. Lion's Breath. Inhale in through the nose. Exhale, tongue out gaze you up towards your third eye.