Day 4: Stoke the Fire

(waves splashing) Hello, and welcome back to day number four. Today we'll add a few poses to stoke our fire, and start to ignite a little bit more energy. So I encourage you to continue to feel where the energy builds, and how we can cultivate energy throughout our practice. So we're gonna start again standing. Arms are gonna come up and we're gonna just grab opposite elbows just to start with a little bit of active energy here.

Soften the eyes and then pull at opposite elbows. Gentle through the shoulders, drawing down lightly, but you're trying to pull, pull, pull at the shoulders. And can you do this and still have a soft breath? Good. Exhale, release the arms down.

And just big shoulder rolls forward. So just moving a little bit through this energy here. Four, we'll just do three more. Two. One.

Soften. Inhale, you're taking the arms back up again, grabbing the elbows, and then change the elbows so you're grabbing opposite sides. Sorry that might feel a little bit uncomfortable. And then before we start, soften the elbows down. Soften the shoulders down.

And then pull. So it's this isometric action. Right, at the same time soft through the jaw, through the eyes. Feel the heat building a little bit. Maybe a little bit of shake 'cause you're giving effort.

One more big breath. And exhale, release, feeling the sensations there. And then just seven big shoulder rolls going back, really moving through the full range of motion. Big rolls. Right, noticing any places that you might avoid.

Right, not forcing into it, but just noticing. Good. And then just (exhales) let the shoulders soften down, and we'll meet back at the top of the mat. Take one hand to the heart, one to the belly. Just take a big inhale.

Feel your heartbeat, feel your breath. And the hands drop to the side, moving back into chair pose, which we learned yesterday. Sit down, slide the knees back, peel the hips, heart, belly, shoulders soften. And just three more breaths. So if you want a little bit more, sit a little deeper.

If it starts to pull on your low back, sit up a little taller. Light through the heart, coming forward, light through the ribs, softening down. Good, slowly pressing through the feet, let the hands come all the way down to the sides. We're gonna move into our opening salutations with chair pose added in. So on in an inhale, sit down, chair pose, slide the knees back.

On an exhale, lengthen through the legs as you start to fold over, hands come to the earth. Inhale, come halfway up. Exhale, fold in. Change up here again too, knees soften, rise up on an inhale into chair pose. Exhale, come fully to standing, arms by the sides.

One more like that. Inhale, sitting down, chair pose. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, come halfway up. Exhale, fold.

Bend the knees, sit down in towards chair pose so the heart lifts up light. Exhale, stand all the way up. This time moving into our lunges, inhale, chair pose, exhale, folding forward. Inhale, come halfway up again, finding space through the spine. Take the right leg back.

Cozy in hip distance apart, exhale, bring the right knee and shin down. Start to come up. Option to stay here, as always, or take the arms right up. Find that big reach. Activate, heel drawing in, thigh drawing in, and then exhale, take the left arm back, right hand to the knee, so we're gonna add the twist here.

Pause. As you start to lift the heart, reach back. Two more breaths. Keep it soft through the shoulders, active through the legs. Just a real light draw of the belly button in towards the spine.

And then inhale, come back up to center. On an exhale, you're gonna bring the right hand down inside the left foot. Take the left arm out. So a little different but still adding the twist. Left arm comes up.

Option to stay right here, or curl the back toes under, adding a little bit more energy, a little bit more activation through the right leg. So the lower right ribs spin around, shoulders soften down, and again depending how the neck feels, you can always take the gaze down, keep it to the side, or adding a little bit of balance, the gaze can go up. Two more breaths. Good, and then exhale, bring the hand down. Stepping back into downward-facing dog.

From here, walking forward back into a forward fold. When you arrive, exhale, fold it in. Inhale, come up halfway again, take the left foot back. Nuzzle in here, left knee comes down, climb yourself up back into the lunge. On an inhale, take the arms up.

Exhale, right arm comes back, left hand comes to the thigh, so activating the heart, lifting, left ribs forward. Trying to find the twist all the way from the tail to the crown. Good, one more breath. On your inhale, bring the arms back up. Exhale, we're gonna take the left arm down into our lunge twist.

Spin the heart towards the right. Option to stay here with the left shin down, or to pick up a little bit more fire, lengthen through the left leg and pause. Good, exhale, bring the right hand down. Step back into downward-facing dog. Line up hands shoulder distance, feet hip distance.

Taking two more breaths here. (deep breathing) And on your next inhale, revisiting supported side plank. Shift forward, bring the right knee down, kickstand it behind you as drop the back heel, lift the left arm. Three breaths. Really reach, reach, reach.

Press through the right palm, press through the left outer edge of the foot. We're gonna transition down, lifting the hips back into downward-facing dog. And then shifting right over to the opposite side. Left knee and shin come down, kickstand the foot behind you, drop the back heel, big lift. Exhale, the right hand down, right back into downward-facing dog.

Hips lift. And on an inhale, slide forward, find that ripple again into plank pose. Drawing the belly button in towards the spine, we're gonna lift the hips, press the thighs back. So starting to again activate through the shoulders, heart coming forward, exhale back. As we start building strength, as we're gonna play in a little bit with a press back up, one more inhale, come forward.

Exhale, back. This time come forward, hold into plank pose. You can soften the knees down, we're gonna lower for five. So tops of the feet can come to the earth. Five, slide forward so elbows are in line with shoulders when you start to lower for a little pause.

Three, two, one. Hang out here or try to press as you roll the shoulders back, shine the heart forward, press through the palms belly button to spine. See if you can lift all the way up. Little crack in my elbow. Exhale, slow lower again.

Good. As the forehead touches the floor, slide the shoulders back, the fingertips back under the shoulders. On an inhale, rise up, low cobra. Exhale, soften. We'll go one more low cobra.

Press through the palms, draw the shoulders back, finding space from the belly button to the sternum, sternum to the chin. 'Kay, next option, either stay in low cobra and hold, but this time curl the toes under, shift forward, let the thighs come on the floor, and then lift the chest. So elbows are still bent, bum is soft, and we're trying to create space through the low back. Peel open through the shoulders, open through the heart. You can start to lift the chin if it feels okay on the neck, opening up through the throat area.

On the exhale release all the way down. Take a moment to pause, palms down, forehead resting. Just feeling the sensations through the body. Then gently rolling over. Coming onto our backs, gonna bend the knees, stack the knees right over the hips, flex the feet, bring the hands behind the head.

So we're going to go right into our fire center, right into the core, feeling a little igniting of the energy. On an inhale, lift the shoulders, lift the chest, slowly lower. Exhale, lift, so as you exhale the breath comes out, gives you a little bit more space to lift. Inhale, lower, real slow, real mindfully. Good, exhale, lift.

Slow lower. Gonna go three more before we change it up. Exhale. Exhale to lift. Inhale to lower.

Exhale, lift. Inhale, lower. This time you're gonna take the right arm as you lift. Take it across your body, knees still over the hips, and then take the right leg long. Come back to center, knees in line with hips.

Exhale, left arm comes across, left leg comes straight, so adding the twist. So again real slow so we're feeling the belly kinda simmer. Come on up on an exhale, twist, right leg long. Come back to center. Exhale, left arm, left leg.

Back to center. Right arm, right leg. Back to center. Lift, twist, extend the left leg, feel the belly button come down towards the spine. Back to center.

Go one more each side. Lift, twist, extend. Back to center. Last one. Lift the shoulder blades, extend the left leg, reach with the twist.

Back to center. Bring the hands to the thighs. Press the hands in the thighs. Thighs press, feet flex, lift the shoulder blades. So belly button to spine, heart light, slight through the eyes, maybe a little smile, give yourself a little press harder.

Three, two, one, release. Take the arms long, take the legs long. Big stretch through the belly. Maybe a little shake. Then slowly draw the knees in, we'll just end with a final twist to just counter and actually feel really nice after all those abs.

Just two breaths each side. Come back up to center. Let the knees drop off to the left side, gaze off to the right. Come on back up to center. Start to straighten one leg at a time, arms at the side, let the feet go, coming into resting pose again.

And just see if you can let go of any tension in the body. Bring your focus right to your breath. So feel free to stay right here. If you'd like you can roll over onto a side and join me for a seat. Thank you and great job today.

I'll see you tomorrow, day five.