practice session complete

7.9. Practice Session - Complete — Transcript (English)

Summary:

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Transcript

We are going to start from an Ignition practice.

From a standing position, we will bring the feet to slightly wider than hip width apart and the feet are roughly parallel.

Bend your knees lightly here, make sure that the weight is on the heels.

The knees can be bent more or less, but as we are going to spend a couple of minutes position, make sure that there are not bent too much.

You don’t want to get tired.

That’s not the purpose.

The ribcage and the pelvis are mutually stacked, so there is no pelvic tuck or back arching.

The shoulders are relaxed.

The arms are also completely relaxed.

So your knees are lightly bent, but otherwise try to relax as much as possible.

Now imagine that there are strings tied to your wrists and someone is pulling on those strings and that results in your arms lifting to about shoulder height.

So your wrists first are completely relaxed, arms relaxed, shoulders relaxed.

And then from here we’re going to activate the fingers as if we’re gripping rubber balls in our hands.

But otherwise the shoulders are relaxed.

And then we’re going to torsion our wrists slightly forward and you should feel slight activation in your forearm as you do so.

So from here we’ll spend maybe under a minute in this position.

We want the breathing to remain calm, so if your legs get tired you can extend the knees just a little bit more.

If your arms get really tired, at any moment you’re free to let them down.

You should feel relaxed in this position.

So the shoulders, the arms are relaxed.

The only part that is active here is your fingers.

The neck is relaxed, the breathing stays natural as much as possible, and you’re trying to relax your muscles into this position as you remain in it.

Then from here we’re going to change the position of our arms.

We’re going to start the movement of the arms diagonally up, as if you are touching something which is in front of you slightly above like a cloud or pillow.

You can imagine that you’re lightly pressing into it.

So your arms are at a degree maybe 45 degrees to the floor as you can see in the video.

The shoulders remain relaxed.

Your fingers are lightly active.

That’s the only part of your arm which is really consciously activated.

Shoulders are just heavy falling towards the floor.

The knees remain micro bent.

Again, if your arms feel tired, you can lower them.

Otherwise, try to relax in this position.

Maintain stillness, don’t back arch, and then just focus on how it feels in your body.

How do you feel right now?

Keep your breathing calm.

The shoulders stay relaxed.

Feel where the weight is in your feet.

You should feel that the weight is close to your heels or maybe just in the middle of your foot. fingers are lightly active.

And then we’re going to move our arms again.

As if opening a curtain, we will move the arms very slowly out, first thinking that the arms will return to about shoulder height position, extended to both sides, keep spreading the fingers.

And as you slowly extend the knees, you will bring the arms to the sides of your body very slowly.

Now that the arms are just hanging completely relaxed, if you are comfortable try to close your eyes.

And try to completely let go of any tension you feel anywhere in your body.

Your breathing is relaxed, the shoulders, the arms are relaxed.

You might feel a light sway in your body if your eyes are closed.

If you find it difficult to balance, you can keep your eyes lightly open and just gazing at the floor in front of you.

And just stay here for a moment and focus on how you feel.

And now open your eyes, and we will begin the main body of the practice.

We are going to stand with feet hip width apart.

Arms next to the body, the shoulders are drawn down.

Looking at your feet from above, the outside edges of the feet are parallel.

You’re lightly gripping the floor with the toes.

Draw the shoulders down, spread the fingers, extend the spine upward as much as possible.

The rib cage is just above the pelvis.

The back of the neck is in line with the rest of the spine.

You can move your neck from side to side to make sure there is no tension.

And then as you spread the fingers and draw the shoulders down, we are going to start lifting the arms diagonally up.

So first lift the arms, draw the shoulders down, and then we are going to tilt a little bit forward, pelvis goes back, we bend the knees, we shift the weight onto our left foot, and the right foot goes far back, no momentum, onto the tiptoe.

The front knee is now above the heel, and we pull the feet away from each other, the right knee completely extended, shoulders down.

We wiggle the spine from side to side, trying to extend it.

And as we draw the shoulders down and continue to pull the legs away, we begin to slowly lift our upper body without feeling any compression in the lower back.

If there’s any compression in the lower back, lean a little bit forward, keep pulling the legs away.

The front knee doesn’t move, it stays above the heel.

And then we open the arms to the shoulder height.

And lean a little bit forward to find this completely straight line from the right heel to the right shoulder.

Now imagine your spine is the axis of rotation and from the center of the chest, we’ll twist to the left without breaking the line of the arms.

So wrist, shoulder, shoulder, wrist line is completely straight.

We draw the shoulders down, we pull the legs away, legs remain in the same position, right knee extended.

As we draw the shoulders down, pull the legs away, we return to center.

And then arms go forward so that we can offset the weight, shift the weight to the front foot, leaning a little bit more forward.

And then without momentum, really slowly return the right foot back to hip width apart.

And then we will extend our spine, the knees, and bring the shoulders down to return to standing position once.

So slowly bringing the arms down.

We’re undoing the movement that we did when we came here.

Back of the neck longs, spread the fingers, the entire body remains active.

Then we’re going to do the same movement on the other side.

So arms go diagonally forward and up first.

Don’t move the rib cage.

And then as we bend the knees, we tilt a little bit forward and then we shift the weight onto the right foot now.

And the left foot goes far back, tiptoe, extend the ankle, no momentum.

So the foot lands.

The front knee is above the heel.

We pull the legs away, making them strong by doing that movement.

So traction the legs away from each other.

Wiggle the spine from side to side, first finding straight line from the heel to the neck.

And then we begin to wiggle the spine as we lift the rib cage higher, but make sure you don’t change the position of the front knee.

So it’s Fix-Separate-Isolate.

Right, we’re separating the upper body, the lower body.

Now open the arms to about the shoulder height.

Keep spreading the fingers, drawing the shoulders down, creating this arm line.

Lean forward to create a straight line one more time, heel to top of the head.

And while aware of the line of the arms, we will twist to the right from the center of the chest.

Make sure that the right arm doesn’t go too far back so we don’t break the line of the shoulder.

Pull the legs away, legs remain strong.

Back knee is extended.

Keep drawing the shoulders down, back of the neck and line with the spine.

And then as we keep that arm line, we’ll return the torso to center, and then arms go forward to offset the weight, shoulders down, spread the fingers.

Without snapping, leaning forward more, shifting the weight onto the front foot, and then no momentum, with control, bring the back foot forward, back to hip width apart.

And then first we’ll extend the knees, extend the hips, extend the spine, and then we will slowly lower the arms down.

Lightly drawing the shoulders down.

Don’t forget to keep spreading the fingers so that the entire arm is active.

So let’s draw the shoulders down one more time.

Relax the neck.

You can wiggle the rib cage a little bit.

Make sure there is no tension.

So move the head from side to side.

The entire body is active, but the neck is relaxed.

You’re lightly gripping the floor with your toes, gripping the heel slightly in.

Then one more time, arms diagonally forward without changing the position of the ribcage, draw the shoulders down.

And then pelvis goes slightly back, we tilt forward, bending the knee, shift the weight onto the left foot.

And then the right heel goes back, so the heel will land on the floor.

And you want your pelvis to continue facing forward.

Extend the front knee, bring the arms to your hips.

Make sure that the pelvis is looking forward.

And from here, really be aware of the midline, which crosses your entire body, separating into left and right half.

Tilt forward over that midline.

Keep drawing the shoulders down.

The spine first is completely straight.

There should be no burning in your left hamstring.

And then we’ll begin to round the spine.

So chin in to the chest, roll over, over the midline, not towards your left leg.

Keep pulling the legs away to keep the legs strong and keep moving the ribcage from side to side.

The elbows are lightly pulled back.

Don’t let them fall to the sides.

Keep drawing the shoulders down and then we’ll begin to extend the spine.

We want to find a completely straight line.

Lower back, upper back, neck, they connect into completely straight line.

So your chest is open, the upper body is flat.

You keep pulling the legs away. try to really be aware of the midline in this position.

You don’t have to come so low if the hamstrings are burning.

And then let’s round the spine one more time, chin in.

And then as we are going to come up, press your legs into the floor.

So the pelvis comes up first and the rest of the spine follows your pelvis.

So we unroll to a position where the upper body is in line with the back leg.

And then we release the arms down with control, no snapping.

Bend the left knee ,and then with control return the right foot forward to hip width apart position one more time, and let’s bring the arms up one more time.

So our ribcage and the pelvis are stacked, draw the shoulders down, spread the fingers and then we do this movement one more time.

So as you bend the knees you now shift the weight onto the right foot and then you bring the left foot back and the heel lands on the floor.

You need to make sure that the pelvis is looking forward as you straighten the knees.

The stance can be more narrow, just make sure that both feet are parallel.

Bring the arms to your hips.

Focusing on the midline, you begin to tilt forward above the midline, not above the leg.

Bring the chin in and start rolling in over that midline.

If it’s difficult to balance, don’t go so low.

Keep drawing the shoulders down, Keep pulling the legs away, aware of the midline, wiggling the rib cage from side to side.

And then thinking about your lower back, bring the rest of the spine to a position where the spine becomes completely straight.

The neck, the spine, extend into one line which connects to your pelvis.

Keep pulling the legs away, keep drawing the shoulders down, make sure that the back of the neck is long, and then round the spine one more time, rolling in.

And then to unroll, we start from the pelvis.

The pelvis lifts, the rest of the spine follows.

The neck extends in the very, very end.

We find a position of a straight line from the back heel to top of the head, and now release the hands.

And then we’re going to bend the knees as we shift the weight onto the front foot, bringing the back foot forward.

One more time, arms go up one more time.

Wiggle the rib cage, draw the shoulders down.

And then from here, we will move into a squat.

So first the pelvis will shift back.

First the knees remain straight.

And when the weight is as far back as it’s possible to bring it, you begin to bend the knees, keep drawing the shoulders down.

Arms can be slightly opened out next to your head.

Don’t arch the lower back.

Keep spreading the fingers, keep drawing the shoulders down.

The weight is on the heels.

The knees are above the feet.

You don’t have to go too low.

You can keep the knees more extended.

The thighs shouldn’t be burning.

And now let’s bring the hands onto the calf muscles.

Hug your legs with the elbows.

Relax the neck completely.

Keep drawing the shoulders down towards the hips.

Wiggle the ribcage from side to side.

As you press your palms into the calf muscles, you should feel how that slightly pulling motion feels very good between your shoulder blades.

As you wiggle the ribcage, there’s a slight resistance.

And then we extend the spine.

You continue pressing the palms into the calf muscles.

As you extend the spine, draw the shoulders down, wiggle the ribcage.

So you should feel your back muscles lightly active as you do so.

Neck is in line with the rest of the spine.

And then chin in, round the upper spine, keep pressing the hands into the calf muscles.

And then we begin to unroll from the pelvis, arms down towards the floor.

As if somebody is pulling on your arms as you roll up, the neck comes straight in the very, very end.

And let’s bring our feet now to wider than hip width apart.

And we’re going to come here into another squat.

And again, the goal is to keep the spine completely straight.

So bring the arms forward.

So the pelvis goes back, then we begin to bend the knees.

Try to keep the feet parallel.

Make sure there is no pressure or pain in the knees.

Bring the elbows in between your knees and press.

So the knees and elbows are pressing into each other.

Keep your spine completely, completely straight.

Okay, don’t collapse in the chest.

If it’s available, if you can do it without snapping, you can lower your pelvis like what Satoko is doing.

But if the movement is not available for you, then you keep doing what I’m doing here.

Or if your thighs are burning, you can keep your pelvis much higher.

So remember, the main goal here is to keep your spine straight and chest open.

Now bring the arms forward and try to lower your pelvis on the floor.

Again, if you don’t have enough mobility to perform this movement, you can just sit on the floor, and then just come to a position where we are on the forearms.

The spine is straight, so the chest is kind of up, draw the shoulders down and extend the legs forward and up.

So the knees are extended, ankles are extended and spreading the toes.

Then we will slowly bring the feet onto the floor and right hand goes onto the right knee, left hand goes onto the left knee.

Shoulders are drawn down.

We hang from the knees.

Just imagine that you’re hanging.

As you hang, let the feet come off the floor.

Immediately activate them, extend the ankles, push the balls of the feet, shoulders down.

Release the hands without changing the position of the legs.

Right palm presses forward, left palm presses forward.

We draw the shoulders down, extend the ankles, push the balls of the feet.

Without moving the knees, we are going to start extending the knees.

The goal is not to extend the knees completely, but to keep the knee where it is.

So depending on your mobility or flexibility or strength, maybe you won’t be able to extend the knees completely.

Also, if you shake, micro bend the knees, but keep extending the ankles, pushing the balls of the feet.

Keep drawing the shoulders down, keep spreading the fingers.

If you feel tired, bend the knees more here, but keep spreading the fingers, pushing the balls of the feet, drawing the shoulders down.

And now bring your upper body onto the floor, the back of the head onto the floor.

Arms are slightly away from the body, maybe V shape.

Make sure that the lower back is completely grounded.

Draw the shoulders down.

And from here, extend the legs up.

You can either have them completely extended or if it pulls on your hamstrings, you can keep the knees bent like what Satoko is doing, but keep extending the ankles and pushing the both of the feet and spreading the toes.

Keeping the lower back on the floor, drawing the shoulders down with natural breathing.

Imagine that first the feet are trying to move away from your pelvis and then they go away and down.

So we slowly lower the legs maybe about 30 degrees or however much you feel comfortable without lifting your pelvis and then slowly return the legs to the central position.

Push the balls of the feet, legs go away and down.

Push the balls of the feet, extend the ankles, draw the shoulders down.

And then as if scooping something with the top of the feet, return the legs to center.

Legs go slowly down, keep extending the ankles, push the balls of the feet, keep drawing the shoulders down, scooping something with the top of the foot, return the legs to center.

And we will bend the knees from here, bring the knees to the chest.

You can rock your pelvis from side to side a little bit.

Make sure that the lower back is on the floor.

And then extending the legs up one more time, push the balls of the feet, extend the ankles, lift your head, press your palms forward.

And then while you keep rounding the spine, drawing the shoulders down, you start lower your legs.

And you’re looking for this moment where the weight of your legs allows your upper body to come up as you keep rounding, then suspend with the knees bent, and then return the forearms onto the floor. elbows kind of close together, extend the knees, extend the ankles, push the balls of the feet.

Then from here, we will cross the shins in the middle.

Your left shin is above the right shin, knees 90 degrees, ankles 90 degrees.

So you can see from here that the shins are crossed in the middle, ankles 90, knees 90.

And in this position, we will lower the legs onto the floor and come up.

You can readjust slightly the position of your legs.

You don’t want your ankles too close to your body.

When looking from above, the shins are roughly parallel and you might have to walk your feet in or out so that the heels are kind of the position of your knees.

Arms forward and we lean back, drawing the shoulders down.

With the edges of your feet, you want to keep pressing forward and down as if resisting the movement of your upper body.

So draw the shoulders down, spread the fingers, chin in, and start rolling forward, rounding the spine.

Remember, the legs continue, the edges of the feet continue to press forward and down, resisting the rolling in movement of the upper body.

Relax the neck, wiggle the spine from side to side.

The hands are just gently cupping the floor.

And then from here, we begin to extend the spine from the lower back to the back of the neck.

We create a completely straight line.

The shoulders move away from each other so your upper body becomes completely flat and the edges of the feet continue to press diagonally forward into the floor.

Neck in line with the rest of the spine, we wiggle the rib cage, trying to really feel the straightness of the spine here.

Don’t forget about the legs.

Legs remain active, shoulders down, and we continue these micro movements with the ribcage.

And then chin in, we’ll start rounding the spine one more time.

And then as if being pushed into the stomach very slowly, you lean back, arms come forward to offset the weight and then legs become light, they come off the floor and then we bring the forearms onto the floor, extend the knees, extend the ankles, push the balls of the feet, chest up.

We’ll do this movement on the other side.

We bend the left knee, bend the right knee, So now your right shin is above the left shin.

The knees are about 90 degrees, ankles 90 degrees, and we lower the legs in this position.

Upper body comes off the floor.

Look at your legs one more time.

Shins are roughly parallel and heels are close to the knees.

So you may want to adjust the position of your legs.

Hands forward, draw the shoulders down, leaning back.

Edges of the feet are pressing diagonally forward as you bring the chin to the chest and you begin to roll forward, rounding, rolling in while you continue to press the legs forward and down.

So your entire body is active here, only the neck is relaxed.

You draw the shoulders down, you wiggle the spine from side to side, wiggle the ribcage, feel the broadening between the shoulder blades, hands are just gently cupping the floor.

As you wiggle the ribcage from side to side, focus on your lower back and then from here we begin to extend, adjusting the rest of the spine to match the line of the lower back.

We draw the shoulders down, the shoulders are away from each other, the neck is in line with the rest of your spine, edges of the feet continue to press forward and down.

Relaxed breathing but the entire body stays active here.

Maybe your knees will be slightly higher than what you see in this video, everybody’s bodies are different.

Then we bring the chin in, we round the spine and again we begin to lean back with the rounded spine.

Arms come forward, the more we go back the lighter the legs become, they come off the floor, we balance, we bring the forearms onto the floor, extend the knees, extend the ankles, push the balls of the feet.

Then we’ll bring the legs wider than hip width apart, maybe about 30 degrees, not too wide.

And then slowly lower the legs onto the floor.

Make sure that the top of the foot is looking up.

Right hand forward, left hand forward.

Draw the shoulders down, keep extending the ankles and pushing the balls of the feet, chin in and begin to roll in rounding the spine.

Keep extending the knees keeping the legs strong and active, so ankles extended pushing the ball up the foot and again rounding as we round the spine where we go the rib cage.

We draw the shoulders down, we broaden the shoulder blades and while keeping the legs active we will begin to extend the spine once again from the lower back to the back of the neck, keep extending the knees and extend the spine into a completely straight position.

Now everybody’s angle will be different.

You may be more vertical, your upper body may be more vertical.

Just make sure that your lower back is completely straight.

So the angle of your upper body is determined by where your lower back is.

You may be completely vertical.

If you feel like you even need to lean back in order to be able to extend the spine, then just use the hands to support yourself so that it’s easier to keep the spine straight but keep the knees extended, ankles extended, push the balls of the feet, not even for a moment forget about your legs.

Legs should be very very active here.

And then bring the chin in around the upper spine and again leaning back as if somebody is gently pushing you in your stomach.

Arms come forward as you lean back the legs become light and they come off the floor with balance.

We bring the forms onto the floor, knees extended, extended ankles, neck in line with the rest of the spine.

And then from here you can cross your legs and come to a comfortable seated position for our Assimilation practice.

You can be sitting on your heels or cross-legged or even on a chair.

You want your pelvis to be slightly, slightly tilted forward.

Whichever position you choose to sit, make sure it’s comfortable to spend a few minutes in this position with the spine straight.

If you feel comfortable, close your eyes or you can just gently gaze on the floor.

And bring the awareness to the inside of the body.

We are going to scan the body from top to bottom and if there is any tension, try to just dissolve it or let it go, or if it doesn’t happen, then you just notice that it’s there and you move on.

So focus on the top of the head, and then the forehead moving to the eyebrows, the eyes, the area around the eyes, your face, your mouth, your jaw, your tongue, your neck, your shoulders, the space between the shoulder blades, the stomach.

Make sure you’re not pulling your stomach in.

Relax it.

Relax your hands.

There is no tension in your legs or feet.

Try to completely let go of all tension, but at the same time keep your spine straight.

And then we are going to focus on the breath.

Inhale deep into the chest.

Feel how the rib cage is expanding.

And then exhale out from the mouth.

Slowly let all the air out.

Then one more time, inhale deep into the chest.

The spine is extending slightly as you do so.

And then exhale out from the mouth slowly, but fully, empty the lungs.

One more time into the chest, slow inhalation, fill the lungs with the air, and exhale out from the mouth.

Slow controlled exhalation.

One more time in, into the chest, through the nose, comfortable inhalation.

And out from the mouth, slow controlled exhalation.

One more time in through the nose into the chest.

Comfortably expand the ribcage.

And out from the mouth, slow controlled exhalation.

And then one last time deep into the chest, expand the ribcage, maybe your shoulders lifting slightly.

And then exhale naturally and return to natural breathing from here.

And then just try to remain still for a few moments while keeping the spine straight, but muscles tension free.

And then let’s open the eyes.

And we’re going to extend the legs forward.

So extend the legs forward.

Bring the arms forward.

Keep the feet active.

And then lean back.

Keep rounding the upper spine.

Bring the upper body onto the floor, but not the head yet.

So keep your arms off the floor.

This may be hip width apart.

Then move your legs and arms, so move arms from the shoulder, legs from the hip.

The goal is to really flatten the lower back.

Bring the lower back as close to the floor as possible with these motions.

Then bring the palms up and then only the arms go onto the floor.

So lower your arms, keep the legs active.

Chin is still in and then keeping the chin in, extending the back of the neck, lower the head on the floor.

So when the head landed, you should feel light traction between the ribcage and the back of the head.

If you don’t feel that, you can hold your head with your own arm and pull the head back a little bit to create that traction.

And then from here, try to completely let go of all muscular tension.

You should feel your body connected to the floor at the back of your head, back of your shoulders, back of your ribcage, the back of your palms, your hips, your calves, heels.

Imagine your body is falling through the floor.

The muscles are heavy but completely relaxed.

And just close your eyes and try to relax completely while maintaining your focus on the body.

Let’s bring the awareness back, move your fingertips and toes.

And then on your next inhalation, bring the arms above the head and then stretch up comfortably.

And then as you exhale, let go of full tension, relax completely.

And then again, on your next inhalation, bend the knees, bring them closer to the chest.

And as you exhale, tilt to the right.

And one more time, completely relax, let go of all tension.

And then in your own pace, feel free to come up to a seated position.

And this concludes this Assimilation practice and this session.