Day 3: Activate Ease

Hello and welcome back to day three. So as we build on the first day, second day, practice still keeping some of the foundation. We're gonna keep adding poses. But I challenge you to really start looking at where is it that you feel energized? Where is it that you feel activated in your practice?

And where is it that you can start to feel relaxed and do these happen simultaneously? So with that, let's start one had on the heart, one on the belly. Just allow ourselves to arrive right here, right now. Slowing down the breath. Starting to tune in to the sensations through our body.

Use one more big inhale and one more big exhale. Releasing the hands down by your sides. On an inhale, take the arms up, interlace the hands. We're gonna start to play a little bit side bending here. On an exhale, dip to your right, just explore with the breath here.

Just one breath. And on an inhale, we're gonna come back up to center. On your exhale, dip to the left. So palms pressed, shoulders softened on the back. Inhale, come up to center.

Exhale, kinda just dipping our toes in the water to the right here. Depending how the neck feels, you can keep the gaze neutral or take the gaze down. And then exhale to the left. And strong feet, inhale, come up. We're gonna hold this time on an exhale.

Palms shift to the right, hips to the left. And as we hold, draw the chin in a little bit. Check out what it feels like to take the gaze down, and maybe then bring it up neutral. Only if it feels okay, tuck the chin, taking the gaze upward. Again, that might start to challenge the balance a little bit.

Gotta really press through the palms, soften through the shoulders. Inhale, rise back up. Settle the shoulders down, exhale, take the palms to the left. Slide the shoulders down the back. Start with the gaze down so you can really reach with the palms.

Shift the right hip a little bit to the right. Then if you'd like, bring the gaze neutral. Maybe tuck in the chin a little bit and taking the gaze upward. That might shift the balance a little bit so choosing looking down, neutral, or up. Inhale, root to the feet, come on up.

Exhale, release the hands. I'm gonna come to the top of the mat. Coming in to a new pose, chair pose. So keep the feet hip-distance apart for variation. Sit down, take the arms up.

At first, take the gaze down. Slide the knees back so you can see the toes, and then from here, a little peel up of the hips, belly, heart. If the shoulders allow it, draw the arms back, and it's like scooping the armpits. Thumbs out from deep in the shoulders. A few breaths here.

Still keeping a natural curve of the spine. So we want to be careful we're not kicking the tail out and we're to curling it way under. Three more breaths. Just feel the heat kinda lift in this pose. See if you can have soft eyes, soft jaw.

On an exhale, stand all the way up. And then moving through our half sun salutations, inhale, take the arms up. Exhale, fold forward, choosing either to take the arms wide or right down through the center. Inhale, come up half way. Exhale, fold it in.

Inhale to rise all the way up. Exhale, arms back own at your side. One more just like that. Inhale, arms sweep up. Exhale, fold forward, heart comes forward.

Strong long legs. Inhale half way. Hands can slide up the shins for more space. Exhale, fold in. Inhale coming all the way up.

Exhale, arms at the sides. This time we'll take it through in to our lunges. Inhale, take the arms up. Exhale coming forward. Inhale, come up half way.

On an exhale, step the right foot back. And feet hip-distance, kinda cozy in. And then bring the right knee and shin down. Walk the hands up on to the thighs. This is plenty, feel free to stay right here.

It feels okay, release the hands. On an inhale, take the arms up. So finding that lift of the hips, lift of the heart. Exhale, hands come down. And you might sink in a little bit with the left sit long.

Inhale, rise the arms, light though the heart. Exhale, let the arms just kinda lengthen the breath just a little bit. In. On exhale, lower them down. On this one, hold the arms up.

Again, you can always bring the hands back down to the thighs. We'll go two more breaths. Beautiful. On an exhale, bring the hands down. We're gonna curl the back toes under and go back in to downward-facing dog.

Take two breaths here, lift the hips, belly button to spine. Soft through the ribs. Softly walk the feet forward, back to the hands. Just taking your time, moseying. Inhale, come up half way.

Fingertips to the floor, bring the left foot back. Kinda mosey in. Bring the left knee and shin down. Bring the hands up to the thighs. Option, hang out right here, release the hands down.

Inhale, take the arms up. We'll go three with the arms and then hold for three. Exhale. Inhale, sweep the arms up. Exhale.

Inhale, hips lift. Almost like you're dragging the back thigh forward. Exhale. This time keep the arms up. If that's too much, bring the hands back down to the thighs and see if we can hold here for another two.

Beautiful. Bring the hands down to the floor. Curl the back toes under and step back in to downward-facing dog. However you can get there. Hold for a moment.

Settle in with the palms. Then on an inhale, shift forward in to plank pose. Kind of ripple out through the spine. Bring the heart and gaze slightly forward. Exhale, lift the hips.

Press back in to downward-facing dog. We're gonna do this two more times. If you move through the spine fluidly. Strong steadiness through the feet, through the hands. And this really sweet, light aspect of the heart coming forward and pressing back.

Last one, inhale, wave it forward. Lower on to the knees. Come back in to our dolphin plank. This is gonna become a good friend of ours. Curl the back toes under, either one leg at a time, or both at the same time.

Heart comes forward, belly button to the spine. Remember, any mischief in the low back, come down on to the knees. Soft through the eyes. Soft through the jaw. Inner thighs spin towards the ceiling.

And see if you can hang out here for another two full breaths. And kinda enjoying any shaking of the breath, shaking of the body. Knees come down. Slowly lower all the way down. On an inhale, lift up a low cobra.

And on exhale, lower it down. Press all the way back in to child's pose. And just using this as transition, we're gonna lift up through the torso. Slide off to the side. Come on to your bum.

Place the feet down. Turn the fingertips in towards you. Good. Root through the feet and on an inhale, lift up in to reverse tabletop. So the pubic bone lifts, heart lifts, belly lifts.

Keep the chin tucked at first. And then exhale, slowly lower it down. Two more like that and then we'll hold. Inhale, lift up. Pubic bone lifts, heart lifts.

Then slow lower. Third one, we hold this one. Inhale to lift. Lift and hold. So here, legs are strong.

Heart lifts. So either keeping chin to chest. If it feels okay on the neck you can start taking the gaze up. Extend through the neck to take the head back, but it's still active. You're still staying engaged, not just letting the head completely go.

Feeling sensations through the shoulders. Feeling the action and the heat through the feet and the legs. So you can get the belly a little higher. Then on exhale, tuck the chin. Slowly lower the hips.

Take the feet a little further out in front. Reach the arm in front and we're gonna try to lower down slowly. So you might get to a point that's just like (exhales), you let go and that's okay. See if you can reach the fingertips, curl the tailbone. Reach, reach, reach, reach, reach.

Slow, slow, slow. And then come all the way down. Draw the knees in. Bring the feet to the floor. The arms out to the side.

On an exhale, just let the knees drop to the right. Gaze to the left, coming in to an open twist. Nothing to do here, just relaxing in. Bring the knees back up to center. Then exhale, let the knees fall off the the left.

Gaze to the right and you can just close the eyes. See if you can consciously let go. Letting go of the effort. And on an inhale, bring the knees back up. One last draw of the knees in to the chest.

Just light little wiggles side to side. Then one leg at a time, we're gonna bring the legs long, coming in to a resting pose. Taking the palms up, let the shoulders slide down. Let the feet just fall out to the side. So again, just nothing to do.

See if you can consciously let go of any tension in the muscles. And you just bring your full awareness on the natural rhythm of your breath. So either choosing to hang out here, so looking up to more of this yummyness. You can gently start to wiggle the fingers, toes. Rolling to the side to press up to a comfortable seat.

Thank you for joining me. Great job today. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Continue to focus in on what is curious and what is inquisitive about your practice and the energy that you feel and can activate.