Escape

Namaste everyone and welcome back to episode three. I have the most relaxed sequence ready for you to let go of whatever tension you might be carrying as of today, okay. This is a daily thing you need to — first, carry tension in our bodies, you and me included. This is what I do for myself, and I'm sharing that love with you. I hope you enjoy it. For today, all you need is a wall, which is what we're going to be practicing against. We're going to take the asanas and modify them so that it helps relax you and restore you, okay. So just keep your mats in this nice long-ways position and set up near a wall, and we'll get started.

Okay, so once you are here close to the wall, I want you to come sit with your knees bent. Let the side of your hip joints touch the wall — that's really important. Once you get the body to touch, lie down sideways, and you can see there's a gap between your bum and the wall, right. We go the bum closest, so that the bum touches the wall, and then elevate both your legs up against the wall, okay. So now the spine is really nice and straight, the legs have a lot of support, the upper body feels quite comfortable, okay.

So when you just start today by keeping your feet up against the wall, you can start by placing one hand on your belly and one on your chest. Allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to mentally go through everything that happened today — big or small, happy or sad moments. If they were challenging in heart, remind yourself you survived them and tomorrow is a brand new day, and you get to start the day and let go of all the old. The sequence is a chance to surrender and release.

Let's take one big inhale, letting our bellies and our hearts expand, and one exhale through the mouth — just open the mouth and let's do that again. Inhale, pushing the belly out, don't hold back, open the mouth, and just go — beautiful guys.

Slowly from here, with your legs up the wall, I want you to just bend the knees and pull the feet as close to the hip joints as you can. Slide them out wide, as wide as you can, and you start to feel a strain in the inner thighs. Toes slightly pointing out, and then bend the elbows and bring them to the inner thighs. If I'm in like a little Namaste, use the force of the palms to push down to the center, and you can see that my knees are going out a bit more. This is Malasana, and we're just inverting it. What it does is straighten the spine and helps open up the inner thighs.

Relax your shoulders — much like me, you might have the tendency to lift up, but relax it down if you like. Keep your eyes closed. Keep pushing the tailbone down — if you don't understand what that means, imagine the edge of your spine has to touch the floor. Feel the body stretch, feel the mind slow down, feel the breath calm down. Just here for another five. Relax, release. Try not to hold on, okay. Four. Breathe through every count. Three. Just a few more seconds, trying to push the knees out a little bit more as your body gets comfortable. For two. Last little breath here for one. Release the hands.

You might feel the stickiness and the heaviness in the thighs. Just bring your legs a little bit closer, okay, wiggle them. This time toes are pointing upwards to the ceiling. You're going to lift the left leg up — you might need to rise the hip up and place the left ankle on the right knee, because that's the only way you'll get the space. Once you've got the ankle on the knee, slowly push the hip joints down, and then, just like you're rocking a baby, just move the legs from side to side.

You'll feel the stretch on the side of the left hip. It's another spot a lot of us, myself included, hold tension, and much like me, your bum might start to levitate off the floor, but slowly try and push it down as you gently rock. At a certain point you'll feel the pressure on the side, and that's the spot you're working towards. This is like the body's dustbin — long hours of standing and sitting, and the tension builds here, and that's exactly what we're trying to release. Just swinging the leg from side to side for five. Still maintaining the length of your spine for four. Opening, stretching, releasing for three. Swing a little bit more for two, and final breath for one.

Straighten the right leg up against the wall, okay, so the left ankle is right here. Now slowly straighten the left leg as well. Take your hands underneath the knees or above the knees. Don't do it on the knees, because the knee will bend and you won't get much of a stretch. So try it below or above — I'm going to go for above — and then gently pull. Pull as much as your body will allow you to, till you feel the stretch here.

From there, start to flex your toes down to the head. I'm easily able to grab my toes, but if you can't, it's okay, use a belt, a strap, a dupatta, or whatever you have lying at home to pull. Work on straightening, and you'll feel the strain from the heel all the way to the back of the bum. Keep pulling, dropping your shoulders down, just feeling the stretch and the relaxation behind the left leg. Remember, before the relaxation comes you need a stretch, okay — so I feel a bit tense, so it's challenging, but it will get easier, I promise. For three. Pull a little bit more for two, and the last second here — stretching, lengthening, pulling the toes down, heels up — for one, relax. Good.

Now time to bend the left knee. Once again, remember, lift the butt, right ankle on the left knee. Once you've got this position right, slowly drop your hip joints down. The bum might want to float, but slowly push the tailbone down to the air, and then just sway from side to side, again feeling the openness on your right hip joint. If you're not feeling the openness, it's because the leg might be too high or too low — just going to find the right medium spot and sway, just like you're waving, or like putting a small child to sleep, right. Just move it from side to side, feeling the stretch for another five.

Four. A few more seconds, yogis, for three. Work through it, okay — as human beings we have this way of always running away from things that are challenging, but the more you work through them, calmness comes easier. For two. One, good job.

Straighten the left leg up to the sky. Now straighten the right leg, toes flexing towards you — flex means just pointing down — hold on to the big toes if possible, if not, dupatta or strap, okay, or even behind the shin just above the knee, and pull the legs close. The toes will tend to face down — if you're feeling really tight they'll want to go up, but don't, keep flexing them down and pull. The knee will want to bend because it's a long, deep stretch — engage your quads, push back, and pull. It's a conscious pushing back with the thighs, with the hands — however, if you are consciously aware, keep flexing your thighs as you pull the toes closer and feel that stretch, or use the hands equally, okay, for four. Three. Relax your shoulders. Two, you might feel some shivers, like the whole body is starting to vibrate — it's very normal, okay, don't freak out, it means you're doing it right. Last breath here, pulling a little bit closer, and for one, release. Good.

For the final pose of today, both legs stay up, or the option is to open them really nice and wide, as much as you can. Keep the hands parallel to the ears, or by the side, or if you like, how we started — one hand on the belly, one on the chest. Close your eyes and take a few last seconds here, feeling the lowest spine push into the floor, feel flat, feeling the inner thighs open up, and feeling your mind and body really, really calm down. Wherever you are, adjust for another five, four, three — allow the breathing to become deep, okay, for two. If your legs are starting to slide down, naturally let it go, just let it go, don't hesitate, don't pull back, allow the body to do its thing, it's a lot wiser, and we choose to believe. Last breath here, and for one.

Slowly, just whichever side is comfortable for you to turn into — I'm going to use my left — just bend the opposite leg, like pulling it closer, and slowly allowing your body to curl to one side, just wanting this little fetal shape. If you can, hug your knees, if not, that's okay, just resting the head for a few seconds, and the spine feel comfortable. And slowly from there, using your palms, lifting yourself up into a nice seated posture. The wall is there, so you're welcome to sit with your spine against the wall if you like. Just bring your eyes to close, but the mind and the body must be feeling more relaxed. Allow yourself to feel centered. Remember, the day is over, and we have a brand new start tomorrow — we can only do our best if we let go of everything that no longer serves us here and now.

Thank you so much for sharing your time, your energy, and your beautiful, beautiful practices, and I will see you next episode.