and we're talking about trust.

Hop into something comfy and let's get started.

(peaceful, serene music)

Okay my friends,

let's begin in a nice, comfortable seat today, Sukhasana.

Welcome back.

Let's sit up nice and tall.

Take your time getting here.

And welcome, Benji, thanks for joining us today.

Here we go.

Hands are gonna come together at the heart.

Thank you so much for sharing your time and your energy

with me and with all of the people practicing today.

One of my favorite things about this practice, this journey,

is that we take the time to really tend to

what's going on here, not so much here, here,

but right here.

And really ask, "What feels true?

"Am I being true to myself?"

But at the same time there's this kind of zoom out,

global connection of all the people

doing this practice together,

even at the same time now.

So whatever that means to you, you can kind of feel that

as you slowly lift the heart up to your thumbs.

So nice and open through the chest.

Open your heart if you will,

and then relax the shoulders down

and close your eyes.

Today's practice invites you

to quietly whisper the affirmation, "I trust."

Or if affirmations are not your thing,

just think about what trust feels like,

if it's important to you.

Residing in the power of trust, just trusting.

Start to deepen your breath.

And again, close your eyes.

Trust me.

Use the sound of my voice to guide you.

Then trust yourself,

thinking about yesterday's Motive practice.

Trusting your intuitive self and listening to your body.

And then trust the video, trust the yoga.

Trust the yoga.

So as we begin to grow our vocabulary on the mat

and move in and out of Asana,

or the poses,

do your best and just trust the yoga.

You don't have to get it,

and you don't have to understand everything and,

it's my series so I don't expect everyone to. (laughs)

I know I can be a little bit weird.

But the whole point is for you to bring yourself to this.

So in order to bring yourself to this

and to uncover and unveil and discover and re-discover,

you have to trust.

Trust me, trust yourself, trust the video, trust the yoga.

So take a deep breath in.

And as you exhale, bow chin to chest,

start to get that big stretch through the back of the neck.

And today I invite you

to really activate the upper back body.

So it might be kind of soft here,

hence that kind of Mr. Burns rounding forward.

So see if you can draw the shoulder blades together.

Start to breath a little deeper, more fully here.

And if you like, quietly whisper to yourself,

"I trust."

I trust.

Then slowly open the eyes.

Shift your heart over your pelvis

and then lift your head over your heart.

Ta da, and that's it.

End of day two.

Just kidding. (laughs)

Inhale, reach the fingertips to the sky.

(deep nasal inhalation)

Big stretch.

Notice what's going on in your body today,

again connecting the dots, day one to day two.

Careful not to just go through the motions.

Wiggle the fingertips, inhale,

lift all four sides of the torso,

and then on your exhale, gentle twist to the left.

(mouth exhalation).

Now think of yesterday's uniting head

and heart and center.

So we're not just pushing the body into the pose,

but see if you can work

to bring your heart and your center along for the ride.

So we're not isolating the spine and kind of maneuvering it,

we're considering the body as one moving part.

Sit up nice and tall, inhale.

As you exhale draw your navel in,

maybe look past your left shoulder or towards your dog.

And then come back to center,

bring the hands back to the heart.

Namaste.

And inhale, reach for the sky.

Big stretch all four sides of the torso lift and expand,

wiggle the fingertips, breathe in, breathe, breathe in.

And then exhale, gentle twist to the right.

Be kind. (deep nasal inhalation)

Breathe deep.

(mouth exhalation)

(deep nasal breathing)

Inhale.

One last cycle of breath here.

Sit up nice and tall.

Exhale, maybe turn to look past your right shoulder.

And slowly unravel, bring it back to center,

bring the hands to the heart, inhale.

(deep nasal inhalation)

Exhale, relax the shoulders down the back body.

(mouth exhalation).

Twice more.

Big, full breath in.

(deep nasal inhalation).

Exhale, relax the shoulders down, elbows down.

(mouth exhalation).

And one more time, inhale.

(deep nasal inhalation).

And exhale. (mouth exhalation).

Beautiful.

Begin to take if forward onto all fours.

And we're gonna move right into Cat/Cow.

Nice full breath.

Inhaling as you drop the belly and open the chest.

Exhaling as your round through,

chin to chest, navel draws up.

Now keep it going, moving with your breath.

Inhaling to open.

And exhaling to round.

Warming up through the spine.

(deep nasal breathing)

Great, then inhale, come to a nice neutral spine.

We're gonna curl the toes under.

We're gonna light a little fire,

connecting to your center, your core.

Now elbow creases are gonna shine forward,

so upper arm bones rotate out.

You create lots of space

between the ears and shoulders, then inhale.

And as you exhale, lift the knees, let them hover,

a hovering Table.

Think about drawing your upper abdominals

and your lower belly in towards your center.

Lift your front body to your back body,

and we're here for five, breathe deep.

Four,

three,

two, trust the yoga, trust, trust, trust.

And lower, beautiful.

You're gonna bring the knees in to the center line,

arches of the feet come together,

and we're gonna slowly sink the hips back

and then paint your yoga mat,

paint two lines all the way back.

Inhale to look forward.

Exhale, Child's Pose.

Now, close your eyes and listen to the sound of your breath.

This is valuable time to listen,

to pay attention and to trust.

Take one more cycle of breath here in and out.

(deep nasal breathing)

And then slowly, I swear Benji just breathed out when I did.

Slowly we're gonna trace those two lines

all the way back up, so moving with intention.

Then we'll come back to all-fours,

walk the knees underneath the hip points.

Curl the toes under.

And peel 'er up, Downward Facing Dog.

When you get there take a nice deep breath in.

And a long breath out.

Pedal it out.

What's going on today?

For me, my shoulders are a bit sore today.

My mood is happy.

But what's going on in your body today

and what's your mood like?

And really honoring what is.

What's true? (mouth exhalation)

(deep nasal inhalation)

Great, then find stillness, when you're ready.

Hug the lower ribs in.

Claw through the fingertips to eliminate pressure

for the wrists.

And close your eyes.

Then inhale, bend the knees.

And exhale, begin to step the toes, baby steps,

all the way up through the center of your mat.

What's up, creaky old floor?

I thought you'd never come.

Come all the way up.

And we'll meet in a nice forward fold.

Feet together or hip width apart, yogi's choice.

So really ask yourself what feels better in your body.

If the legs are pretty tight,

sometimes it's nice to give yourself a little extra space.

In fact I'll take that width,

with those who take that choice.

Hip width apart, let the head hang heavy-like,

let the arms be heavy too.

Then shift your weight forward and back

so you can really gather your bearings, if you will,

throughout the soles of your feet.

And for those who are not used to yogi toes

and being barefoot even,

this is valuable, valuable, (laughs) valuable time

to really set the foundation

for a lot of your standing poses.

And this could just be a great reminder

for a lot of other folks as well.

So spreading awareness

throughout all four corners of the feet.

Shifting your weight so that it's distributed now evenly.

(deep nasal inhalation)

And then shake the head yes and no a couple times.

Make sure your knees are bent

and you're not just powering through

some straight leg forward fold

because that's maybe how you think yoga's supposed to go.

And we're gonna spend three more breaths here.

And in these three breaths

you can feel your back begin to lengthen.

(mouth exhalation)

You're hamstrings begin to turn on.

And after about three breaths

you'll press into all four corners of the feet.

Tuck the chin into the chest,

and slowly begin to roll it up to standing, nice and slow.

And as you slowly roll up,

stacking through the spine,

see if you can right away find places where you lift,

and places where you ground.

Then again, just trust the process here.

You don't have to get it right

but see if you can find places where it feels good to lift,

maybe the chin slightly, the sternum, the heart.

And encounter that

by exploring places where it feels really good to ground,

maybe lengthening in the tailbone down

to support your back, your spine.

Maybe you're relaxing your shoulders,

where a lot of us carry extra tension or tightness.

And then activate through the feet by lifting the toes

and if you're feet are hip width apart

you can even imagine tearing the mat in half

from left to right.

So we kinda fire up through the legs.

And then just for a moment here

we're gonna stretch through the neck

by either nodding the head yes and no

or by drawing circles with the nose one way

and then the other.

Now start to deepen your breath here,

uniting the breath and the movement.