This practice works through the body in layers — settling first, then building heat, then opening and strengthening — and each layer leaves something behind:

• Calms the nervous system and steadies the breath, from the very first posture

• Builds internal heat and moves stagnant energy that's been sitting still

• Strengthens the core, low back, and legs through sustained holds

• Increases flexibility through the hips, hamstrings, and spine

• Opens the chest and the heart center — physically first, then everything that follows from that

• Builds a felt sense of steadiness and inner strength that carries past the twenty minutes

Twenty minutes, four postures, and the body remembers how to open.