Yoga for resilience Oct 2025

Hello.

Thanks so much for joining me today.

I'm Carol Rossi, and I'm glad you could join me for this practice.

so this might be a little bit of a different approach than you've seen in other classes.

Everything here is an invitation.

This isn't about achieving a pose.

It's really about letting the breath be an opportunity to deepen your awareness and go further into your body.

make any modifications that work for you.

I will show a couple of options, but feel free to change anything so that it suits you.

Really.

The idea is to think about how little musculature can you actually use and keep it more focused on the breath as a way to really embody the practice.

We're going to start sitting.

I am sitting on a folded blanket.

and any leg position that works for you.

any height, that works for you in any hand position.

I'm just going to leave my hands here on my knees for now.

I always like to start with an observation.

I'm going to invite you to either let your gaze lower so you're just seeing what's right in front of you on the floor, or if you're on a chair, you know, your knees and the floor, below, or close your eyes, whichever works for you, and then start to notice what you're coming to this practice with.

Start by observing the state of your body.

So often when we start to observe things change, we start to change, things automatically.

Even if we're not trying to do that.

The idea is to just observe what you've got.

If your tendency is to say, my body feels normal, what's normal?

Do you have tension in your neck normally?

Do you have arthritis in your thumb?

Do you have a little backache today?

Did you sleep in kind of a weird position?

Be specific as much as you can about what's happening in your body, and then go a layer deeper and start to observe your breath.

What's your natural breath today?

Is it same kind of short, sticky, fluid, smooth, you're a little congested in one nostril.

Can't really breathe through your nose at all to see what's the beginning state of your breath, And then finally see what's the quality of your attention.

So you might be distracted by my voice.

Like, who is this person and what is she asking me to do?

You might be distracted by something that happened this morning.

You might still be distracted by some dream you had just before you woke up, some big issue that's on your mind.

Just notice what's the quality of your attention.

Again, we're not trying to push anything away.

We're not trying to change anything.

We just want to see what we're starting with.

And then start to intentionally let your breath get a little longer.

You might want to put one hand on the belly and another hand on the chest.

If that's not comfortable for you, you can just leave your hands where they were.

But what you want to do is start to notice as you inhale, the belly releases and then maybe you open the side ribs a bit and eventually the breath makes its way to the chest.

As you exhale, the chest releases a bit, the side ribs draw in and the belly contracts back.

So just notice that pattern as you inhale, letting the belly, the side ribs and then the chest open.

And as you exhale, releasing the chest, the side ribs and the belly draws in.

Just take a two, two or three breaths, letting your breath extend with that pattern.

Inhale, belly, side ribs, chest, exhale, chest, side ribs, bell.

And then finally start to add just a tiny pause, maybe a one second pause at the top of your inhale.

So the inhale would go belly, side ribs, chest, pause for a second and then exhale, Chest, side ribs, belly, pause for a second at the bottom of the exhale.

So the pattern would be inhale, pause a second, exhale, pause a second.

And as we do any poses coming up, we want to try and keep that pattern.

Inhale, pause, exhale, pause.

Letting your inhale fill from the belly to the side ribs to the chest.

So I'll be reminding you of that as we go along.

So we're going to transition to standing and so even as we start to transition out of a seated posture, try to keep your focus on that.

Inhale, pause, exhale and pause.

So we're going to move on to the hands and knees in the smoothest way possible.

And I like to have extra padding for my knees so I'm just going to double that mat.

And then.

You can have your hands either flat on the floor, hands under the shoulders.

I like to be on my fists with my thumb forward because I do have arthritis in this thumb.

And then we're just going to inhale, open the chest, let your gaze lift a bit and exhale, drop your head, let your back lift.

I like to move a little bit Back towards my feet and pause and then inhale forward.

Pause at the top of your inhale with the ribs extended.

And exhale.

Draw your belly in, lift your head back.

Keep going like this, couple times more, just warming up the spine.

Great.

Now we're going to transition again, but again, try and keep that breathing pattern.

So take one leg forward and try and get to the point where when you shift your hips forward, your knee is above your heel.

We're going to inhale here and we're going to exhale, shift the hips back kind of like we just did.

But now flex the foot.

If that's more comfortable for you on blocks, and you have blocks handy, please use the blocks under your hands.

Inhale, hips forward.

You're opening the front of the back thigh.

Exhale, release back, Inhale forward, exhale back.

One more time.

Finish the one you're on.

Go through the exhale and the pause and then bring the knee back so both knees are towards the back of the blanket.

And then shift to the other side.

Now this might be a totally different experience on this side, right?

So we're not really as symmetrical as we think.

So as you inhale, you shift the hips forward and as you exhale, back the hips up and stretch through the foot.

Flex the foot, keep that inhale, pause, exhale, pause.

And even in these poses, think inhale is belly, side ribs, chest.

And exhale releases the chest, the side ribs and the belly.

One more.

You know, I suggest pull the foot a little bit further back.

We're just going to stand up.

if standing from this position is tricky, you can have a hand on the knee.

sorry, the thigh, not the knee.

And push down on the hand for balance.

Okay, so once we're standing, find a way to stand firmly on both feet.

I think you can experiment with having your feet under your hips or having your feet directly together, whichever works best for you.

Do it.

There's no rule here, so find your footing and then take a couple of breaths, regaining your attention.

Inhale, belly, side ribs, chest, pause, exhale, release the chest, the side ribs, the belly and pause.

Okay, so we've got the inhale coming to the belly, the side ribs, the chest with the paws at the top.

And exhale.

Chest releases, side ribs fold in and belly drops the next time you inhale.

As you inhale, the arms come up.

Pause at the top of the inhale with the fingers pointing to the ceiling and exhale, the arms down and pause.

And just do this very simple movement, coordinating your movement with Your breath.

As you inhale, the arms come up.

As you exhale, the arms come down, and then you have that pause at the bottom.

Go according to your own breath time.

I'm, doing this at a certain pace.

It doesn't mean it's the best pace for you.

One more here.

And exhale over.

Great.

Now inhale, lift the arms up, and bend the elbows.

And as you exhale, we're just going to take one hand to the opposite arm and look towards the hand that's moving.

And inhale, come back to the center, and exhale.

Go to the other side.

So a little upper body twist.

Inhale to the center and pause.

Exhale and pause.

Inhale, pause, exhale, pause.

Keep going a couple times more.

Again, we're just getting the rhythm.

Okay.

Do this until you've done both sides equally.

And if you don't remember where you started, just do one more.

Not the end of the world.

If you don't remember where you started.

And when you exhale, just release your arms down again with that breath and pause at the bottom.

Take a breath here and see, now we're going to keep doing these little mini observations as we go along.

What do you experience now that maybe is a little different than what you did earlier in terms of the state of your body, your breath, and your focus?

This time, we're going to inhale, lift the arms up, and exhale the exhale about a fountain.

We're going to fly up and over to one side.

Inhale up to the center.

Exhale up and over to the other side.

Long spine.

Inhale up to the center, and exhale.

Just the arms come down.

Okay, so we're going to repeat that a few times.

Inhale, arms up.

Exhale, release over, up and over like a fountain.

Inhale up.

exhale up and over.

Inhale up.

Fabulous.

Exhale, just the arms down.

Let's do that one more time.

Both sides inhale, arms up.

Exhale over to one side.

Go at your own pace.

If I'm talking at a different pace, ignore that.

So you're doing your own practice.

Great.

And when you're finished, come back to the center, arms down.

This time, I'm going to face this way so you can see this one.

We're going to inhale the arms up.

and we're going to exhale into a little squat and bend the elbows out to the sides.

And we're going to inhale into a bigger squat.

And we're going to exhale.

Stand with the arms down.

Okay, so It's a two part mini squat and then bigger squat.

Catch our breath here.

Inhale the arms up.

and pause.

Exhale, mini squat, elbows bent.

Inhale, bigger squat and exhale.

Stand.

Inhale, arms up.

Exhale, mini squat, elbows bent.

Inhale deeper.

Squat and exhale.

Stand two more like that.

Take your time finishing that last one.

and pause.

Then take your feet.

You know, I'm going to say three feet between, but it depends on your height.

You want to feel stable.

Don't go too wide, but maybe, a bit like the width of your mat kind of distance.

And we're just going to open up the arms a little bit more in a different way.

So inhale, make a big circle and exhale the arms down.

Inhale, circle up.

Exhale, arms down.

Now, if you want to make this fancier, you can shift your weight from one side to the other.

Inhale to one side and exhale down.

Keeping a foot on the floor.

Inhale up.

and maybe the ball of my foot is on the floor.

Exhale down.

Inhale up.

exhale down.

inhale up.

exhale down.

So you're still doing that little pause, but your arms are just kind of flowing.

Not a hard stop, you know.

One more.

Okay.

Scoot your feet together and start towards the back of your mat.

And step one foot forward.

Big step forward.

And check that you have your feet are hip width apart.

You're not stepping way forward so that the feet align.

That's one way to do this, but not the way we're going to do it today.

So you're just taking a big step forward as if you walked forward.

And take a moment to feel yourself stable in that position.

If this is not a stable position, have your hand on a chair or a wall, if that's nearby with whatever you've got.

And just take a breath to really get situated here in this inhale, pause, exhale, pause pattern.

And then let whichever leg is forward, that hand just rest very gently on the thigh.

You're not pushing, it's just sitting there.

And as we inhale, we're going to open the opposite arm and bend the front knee and let the ribs come forward and exhale the arm down.

Straighten the legs and pause.

So this rib forward thing is the same position we did on hands and knees, right?

You're just kind of letting your ribs come away from your hips on, the inhale and, returning to a neutral spine on the exhale.

One more time.

Great.

And then step back.

Take a breath here.

And again, this Is an opportunity to notice what's the difference now between one side and the other.

While you keep that same breathing pattern.

Inhale, pause, exhale, pause.

Okay, Step the opposite foot forward again.

Check that.

That's just a big step forward.

You haven't crossed over to the side.

And take a moment to stabilize here.

And this might be a totally different experience.

Right?

So just notice if it's different, how is it different?

And again, if you need something to balance, then have your hand on a chair or a wall, if that's nearby, and then gently resting your front, whichever knee is in front, that hand on the thigh.

Right.

And then inhale, open the ribs, lift the opposite arm, up, and exhale down a few more times.

Inhale up.

exhale down.

Inhale up.

Exhale down.

One more.

Great.

Bring your feet together and take a breath.

with your feet together, solid on the ground.

We're going to do a little balance.

We're going to do tree pose.

You can see we.

We have beautiful trees outside here, so we're going to resemble those trees.

Now, this might be a place where you do want to have either a wall nearby or a chair for your hand.

So we're going to start by shifting the weight to the right foot.

Take the left foot and turn the leg out and just leave your foot on the floor for a second and take a couple of breaths here and see how that feels.

If you're doing this practice all the time, you may want to bring your foot way up to the top.

If you're not, you may want to leave your foot on the floor or place it on the inside of your, chin, your calf.

I would suggest not putting the foot directly on the knee because that's not the most stable position.

Inhale and exhale and feel yourself strong on the other leg.

You know, in dance, they talk about this string coming from the belly down to the floor and then pulling up through the ceiling.

You can think about that.

You can have your hands in front in the prayer position, or you can have your arms up, or you can bring your arms to the sides.

Whatever arm position works for you.

Take another breath here.

And release.

So I had a teacher several years ago who used to say, trees sway, so it's fine if we lose a little bit of balance here.

The idea is to keep working the balance.

It's good for the body, it's good for the mind.

It's a great way to see whether your breath can maintain that very clear inhale, pause, exhale, pause pattern, or, where Your breath is challenged.

Right, so now we're going to shift to, stand on the left foot again.

Start by turning the right leg out and just leave your foot on the floor and see how that feels.

Grounding through the bottom leg, lifting up through the top of the head.

And then bring the hands to whatever position works for you.

Find a spot to gaze at that isn't moving.

So take some breaths here and keep your gaze on that spot.

If you really want to challenge yourself, close your eyes for a moment.

And then exhale, Release.

Great.

Again.

Always going back to stand with both feet on the floor.

See what that feels like.

So we're going to revisit some of the poses we did earlier and turn them into a little sequence.

So just maybe watch for a second, and then, you'll see what I mean.

I'm going to turn this way.

So we're going to inhale the arms up, and we're going to exhale into that fountain.

Up and over to the side.

Right.

We're going to inhale the arms up.

I'm doing this faster just for the demonstration.

Exhale, over, inhale up.

exhale to the half squat.

Inhale to the big squat, and exhale, stand.

That's the whole thing.

Okay, Starting solid on the floor.

Inhale, arms up.

Exhale, fountain.

Inhale, arms up.

Exhale, fountain, inhale, arms up.

Exhale, half squat.

Inhale, full squat, and exhale.

Stand.

One more time.

Inhale, arms up.

Exhale, fountain, inhale, arms up.

Exhale, fountain, inhale, arms up.

Exhale, half squat.

Inhale, full squat.

Exhale, Stand.

Take a breath.

Here.

We're going to add one piece, and I'm going to turn sideways to show you the options.

So, we're going to bend forward or not.

You'll decide.

So one option is inhale the arms up and exhale.

Bend forward.

I suggest bending the knees all the way over.

Drop the head, and then inhale the arms up, and the back is flat.

As you come up and exhale the arms down.

That's option one.

Option two, leave your hands gently on your legs, and as you exhale, you're going to roll down.

And as you inhale, you're going to roll up.

So the arms are not moving.

They're just staying up.

Third option is to not go forward at all.

And exhale, Draw a knee, up, and inhale.

Release the foot to the floor, and exhale, draw a knee up, and inhale.

Release the foot to the floor.

So pick one.

Either arms up, on the inhale, flat back over on the exhale, Inhale, flat, back up.

and exhale the arms down.

Or exhale, roll down.

Inhale, roll up.

Or exhale.

It's like a march, but you're drawing the knee in with your hand.

And exhale and inhale.

Okay, four breaths on your own.

Pick one of those options.

Okay, great.

So now we're going to add that to the sequence.

So again, maybe watch for a moment.

So we're going to inhale the arms up.

We're going to exhale.

Fountain.

We're going to inhale up.

exhale, fountain, inhale up, Exhale, half squat, Inhale, full squat.

Now we're going to exhale forward and inhale.

Come up any way that you want.

And exhale the arms down and take a breath here.

If you're, not doing the forward bend at the end, you've inhaled.

Squat.

fountain, fountain, half squat, full squat.

Then you stand and draw the knee up.

Okay.

You could alternate knees and then start the whole thing over.

So let's do the whole sequence.

Inhale up, Exhale, fountain, inhale up.

Exhale, fountain, inhale up.

Exhale.

half squat.

Inhale, full squat.

Exhale forward.

Or knee up.

And inhale to stand and exhale, arms down.

One more time.

Inhale up.

Exhale, fountain, inhale up.

Exhale.

fountain, inhale up.

Exhale.

half squat.

Inhale, full squat.

Exhale forward, bend.

And inhale up.

And exhale, arms down.

Fabulous.

Take a moment standing.

Regain your breath.

So we're going to make our way to the floor.

So you may want a, blanket.

We're going to start, hands and knees.

So we're going to use that same cat cow pose to make our way onto our backs.

So, knees on a pad, hands either flat or thumbs forward.

And on the knuckles.

And inhale, chest forward.

And inhale.

Exhale.

Drop the head, let the hips draw back a little.

Inhale, chest forward.

Exhale, Inhale.

Exhale, Inhale, exhale.

Okay, so lying on the back, I am going to move myself forward so you can see me better.

Okay?

So making your way to your back in any way that makes sense to you, And once you get there.

So we just made a huge transition.

Standing onto the knees, onto the floor, you may decide that you need, another breath or two to acclimate to the floor.

And then on an exhale, just draw both knees in, and do a really simple.

Just roll from side to side here.

Then let your left foot reach to the floor.

So your knees bent, your foot's on the floor.

You still have your right knee in your hand.

Now take your right foot and place it beyond your thigh.

So you're making a figure four here.

And then you can flex your foot.

Just make sure your foot's not doing this kind of thing beyond your knee.

And this might be where you stay.

If you feel an opening in the hips, you might stay here.

And you might just gently put the hands on the thighs to.

I'm not going to say press, because we don't want to go hard.

We just want to release.

Or you might decide that it's okay to draw your left thigh toward you and have both hands around the left thigh.

You might draw that closer to get more of a release in the right hip.

But wherever you are, whether you're on the floor, up here or here, just make sure you don't lift your head up.

If your head lifts up, then just bring your foot back to the floor.

Take a few breaths here.

And you can even exhale.

Draw the knee a little closer to the left knee and inhale.

Release it away.

Great.

And release everything.

Go both feet on the floor.

And like we've been doing through the whole practice, take a breath here to assess.

Where are you?

What does this feel like?

Does it feel different now than it did before you did that pose?

And then pick up the left leg.

Same thing outside of the left ankle on the top of the right thigh.

Foot is pointing off to the side.

Maybe you stay here, or maybe you draw the right leg in.

This might be a totally different experience than the other side.

Respect that.

Remember, everything's an invitation.

And then release feet to the floor.

Take a breath here.

So we're going to twist.

you have options.

Always.

Some people like to do what we call windshield wipers.

Just drop the knees to the side, inhale up, drop the knees to the other side.

As you exhale, you can open your arms to the sides.

You can turn your head away from the knees.

You can go back and forth, or you can stay there a few breaths and then switch sides.

You may want to draw your knees in and release your knees towards your elbow.

Any of these.

Either of these are fine.

So find something that works for you.

If you're doing this version, you probably want to stay here a few breaths.

You can turn your head away from your knees or just leave your head facing up.

And then, switch to the other side, if you haven't already.

Great.

And then finish, bring your knees up and just have One knee on each, one, hand on each knee.

And you can just straighten your arms and move your knees away on the inhale.

And as you exhale, draw your knees closer to your chest.

And then let your knees go.

So we're going to set up for a short rest.

You can either leave your knees up, you can straighten your legs.

If you have a, blanket, you can put it under your knees.

We'll be here for a moment before we sit up to do a little breathing exercise.

Okay.

So actually, you're welcome to stay exactly where you are or come to seated or sit on a chair.

So take a moment to observe.

Just like we did at the beginning of the practice.

What's the state of your body now compared with what you saw at the beginning?

What about the quality of your breath?

What's the length and quality of your breath right now?

And how does that compare with what you saw at the beginning of the practice?

And what about your mind?

Your.

The state of your focus?

What's the quality of your attention?

How is that different from what you saw earlier?

And then start to bring attention back to the body.

So some people like to wiggle the toes and fingers, some people like to bring the knees into the chest, some people like to raise the arms overhead.

Whatever works for you.

And if you're still lying down, make your way to sitting.

Roll to a side and push up.

Find a comfortable seated position.

Thank you for joining me.