Day 5: Light and New

(waves crashing) Welcome back to day five. So sometimes our approach, our perspective to a situation or experience can really give us energy or it can take our energy away. So today when we add some new poses like side plank and upward dog, just try to keep a light heart whether you do the pose or you're not, you're still amazing. So it doesn't matter. Let's meet at the top of the mat.

Put one hand to the heart, one to the belly, starting our grounding, entering into our practice. Elongating both our inhale and exhale. Your next exhale, just letting the hand soften down and then inhale sitting deeper here, rising up into chair pose so we've been here. We're just gonna hold for a few breaths sliding knees back within the chest and then we'll come out and we'll just repeat for a total of three. Alright, next inhale, rise up.

Let the arms come down in the exhale. Then right back in, inhale, chair pose, slide the knees back, lift the chest, slide the arms back by the ears. So in this place where we're finding, keep building we're getting effort. Can you find a balance of ease. Where are those places that you can soften in a little bit.

Let's rise on up, hands down by the side. Last one inhale. Chair pose, sitting down, sliding the knees back. Adding a little play with lightness of the hip bones lifting. One more big breath.

Inhale, stand all the way up, exhale, take the hands down by the sides. Take your feet a little wider than hip distance and then just begin to sway the arms side to side. So sometimes just to kind of motivate, inspire, break up a little bit of stagnant energy. It's nice to throw a little change up in. Let's see, your hands can lightly tap you as you twist side to side.

Let the opposite heel kind of rise up as your chin stays inline with this turn. And then softly slow it down with the hands just straight down by your sides. Taking a few breaths to standing right here. In your next inhale, come into a chair pose moving through a sun salutation with chair. On an exhale, fold forward, let the hands come towards the floor, hips lift.

Inhale coming halfway up. Exhale, fold it in. Inhale, rise up, chair pose against sitting down letting your arms come up by the ears. Exhale all the way up, arms by the side. One more time through.

Inhale chair. Exhale full forward. Inhale, let the heart rise up, exhale in. And then the knees rise back up, chair. Come all the way up.

Same thing but this time we're gonna add the line so inhale chair, exhale, fold it down, legs long. Inhale, take the right leg back, find your lunge, hip distance apart. Start to lower the left knee and shin down, ease on up. So where we were on the last practice, inhale, take the arms up and then exhale, start to cactus the elbow so you're going to shift the elbows forward, lift the heart so a slight back bend. Right, remember you can always come back to where we were initially.

Hands on the thighs hanging out here. See if you can just hang out here for three breaths. Creating space and length through the back and the front body. We're finding energy through the hands but not over, just lightly through the fingertips. Take the arms up, big reach, then exhale, bring the hands inside the left thigh.

From here, we're gonna start to walk the hands forward. Great so, option kind of hang out right here where you can slowly start to crawl with hands kind of out in front and then a little to the right so we got a little bit of side body action here reaching away. We're gonna hang out here for three. Checking in, knee moving in the direction over in the middle toe. Action like your dragging the right thigh forward.

Slowly walking the hands back. Take the hands down, curl them back toes, we're gonna lift the hips, take it back into downward facing dog. Just take four breaths here before you walk up forward so activating through the hands, activating through the legs. Finding sweetness to the eyes, the jaw. Then you walk the feet forward.

Then it's finding the feet towards the hands. Inhale, come up half way. Exhale, bring the hands down, this time with the left foot that comes back, find your runners lunge with the back heel, lift it, heart comes forward and then lower the back knee, shin down, work your way up into a lunge, and then take the arms up. Alright, so heart lifts, exhale, elbow start to bend, so shoulders draw down and then bring the elbows a little bit forward so almost like you have this little hand right behind your heart supporting. Remember, you can always come forward and bring the hands right on the thighs.

So here, we're gonna hang out for three. Last one. Then we're gonna take the arms up. Slowly bring the hands down inside the right leg. Start to shift the weight forward, walk the hands forward.

You can stay right here or slowly start to crawl in a diagonal to the left. You can be on your finger paths or come down onto the palm and then reaching like your reaching the right arm away so you're really getting into this right side body. You can just notice the shoulders, try to draw the shoulders lightly down the back so their not jamming up toward your ears. Bringing the hands back. We're gonna frame this front foot and step back into downward facing dog.

We're gonna kinda wiggle it out a little bit. We'll be here for three breaths. On a inhale, slide forward into plank pose, shoulders over wrist. Moving into side plank so you know your option of bringing the right knee and shin down or let the heel stuck, feet flexed, right wrist is a little in front of the right shoulder, take the arms up. Reach the left arm up.

And again the key is you can keep it neutral, you can take it down and depending on how the neck feels. When you take the gaze up, it's just a little bit more imbalanced so we got one more breath. Exhale, bring the left hand down, let the heels slide back into downward facing dog, nice job. In your next inhale come forward, side plank on the other side again, option to bring left knee and shin down or heel stack, right arm lifts. Find that press out of the left hand and lift up through the right.

Hips inline, shoulders inline, one more big breath. Exhale, right hand down. Hips lift back into downward facing dog. Three breaths here. If it becomes too much on the arms and the shoulders you can always bring the knees down.

Inhale, slide forward into plank pose. So strong, steady a little heat building here with belly button to spine. So choice, bringing the knees down, or slowly lowering all the way down. And hang out a little bit, a little longer. Two, one, lift the forehead, touch the floor, see if you can press right back up, curling the toes up or keeping the knees down and then a slow lower again, we'll go for five, four, three, two, one, forehead touches, tops of the feet down.

Inhale, rise up, low cobra. Pressing the pubic bone, draw the belly button forward. Exhale soften down. Option number two, coming into the supported upper dog that we've before or low cobra. So toes curled under, shift the whole body forward and then come on the thighs.

Peel the heart forward, light light light to the shoulders. Maybe start taking a gaze up, opening up to the throat. And then a slow lower down kind of shifting the body back. Option number three, coming into full upper dog or sticking with first or second option. Curl the toes and then shift forward.

Shoulders lift over the wrist and then peel the heart up. So we're gonna hang out here three breaths. Legs are strong, fired up, ignited. By extension, expansion in this back bend. Good, exhale, slowly lower down.

Then rolling on over to your back. Take a moment with the knees bent. Moving one hand to the belly, one to the chest. So you're bending the knees, bring the bottoms of the feet to the floor. One inch or two away from your bum on an inhale, press the feet, lift through the pubic bone, lift the body, lift the heart, press the palms onto the earth then maybe start to flip the palms up so the back of the arms press.

In here, a bridge pose, press the back of the arms down and then bend the elbows so the fingertips reach up. I'm gonna stay here, three breaths. Keeping a little space between the back of your neck and the floor. Pressing through the feet. Last breath.

Exhale slowly, lower all the way down. So you're gonna draw the knees and towards the chest which grabs the back of the thighs. Flex the feet as we move into happy baby. This might be your happy place or maybe grabbing the calves, that might be your happy place. Some might be available to grab the outside of the feet.

Then you just start to move in the direction of the floor not getting caught up with a, go that far. What I liked a lot lately is grabbing the inside letting my sacrum soften down. It's a feeling that work that we did in the lunges connect here. We're gonna softly release and the knees in and then one leg at a time, we're gonna come into our final resting pose. Drop the feet, flop out to the side, let the palms face up.

Just let the shoulders get heavy. Again, we bring our awareness right to our breath. So we have the opportunity to stay right here. Taking the arms up overhead and slowly rolling up to a seat. Leaving the eyes closed, still kinda catch that feeling.

Great job on day five. Thank you for having a light heart and trying some new poses. I'll see you at day six.