Day 8: Stimulated & Nourished

(ocean waves crash) Welcome back to day eight, we're over the hump, so today we're gonna dive a little bit more into our side body, playing with side angle and a standing posture, which can be really stimulating, but also really sweet and nourishing. So, we're gonna go ahead and start as we did before, with an inhale taking the arms up, press the palms up, reach the palms up, soften shoulders down in on the exhale, take the palms to the right, hips to the left, So, again, tune into what feels good on your neck, you can take the gaze down, neutral or out. Inhale, come back to center, exhale, dip to the left, so again, just kind of moving with breath, almost like we're just dipping our toe into water here. Exhale, take it back to the right, and inhale, come up, exhale to the left, inhale to come up, this time we're gonna hold, press the palms to the right, draw the shoulders down, and then just hang out here, so notice, if your upper body, left shoulder starts to come forward, draw it back. Draw the chin in a little bit, keep rooting through the feet, keep lengthening through the torso, almost like you're bending over this giant beach ball to your side, then inhale, come up, palms still pressing, exhale, dip to the left, press the palms, root through the feet, roll the right shoulder back a little bit.

Inhale, come up, exhale, release, ahh, feels good on the arms. Release the hands down, see if you can interlace, I'm just gonna step to the top of the mat so you can see this, interlace the hands behind if that's available, take the fist down, so it's like, shoulders draw back, heart lifts, hang out here for a moment, and if this isn't available, you can start to grab opposite forearm. So, fist draw down, elbows are soft and on the exhale start to fold forward, so chest comes towards the thighs, arms come up and over, just noticing if the arms move too straight and move past, over hyper-flexibility, keep the elbows bent, and again, if this too hard to hook on, and it's not available, you can grab the forearms or just bring the hands right to the sacrum. Just taking three breaths here and let your head go and exhale, release the hands down, on an inhale, come halfway up, so we're gonna skip our sun salutations today and we're gonna just take the right leg back, bring back the lunges, hands come inside the left thigh, take a pause for a moment here, draw the heart forward, left hip back, and then we're gonna go back into the reaching aways so walk the hands forward and to the right, so finding a place where you can settle, so I like to bring my right palm down and start to take my left arm a little bit further, remember, if this is too much energy fire in the bag leg, you can also bring it down. A few breaths here, front of legs are activated, cultivating some energy, feeling a little bit of heat, stability, kind of walk the hands back, frame the front foot, step back, downward facing dog, pressing the palms, lift through the seat to get a nice stretch to the spine and then walk the feet forward, feet meet the hands, inhale, come up halfway, this time left foot comes back, take the foot about hip distance apart, bring the right hand inside the right thigh, draw the heart forward, draw the right hip back, and then start to take the hands out diagonal to the left, again, I like to bring my left palm down, then explore, but with this right arm.

Remember, you always have the option of bringing the knee down, you also have the option to start to explore both arms out a little bit longer and just hang out here another few breaths. Nice, lily-walk the hands back to center and you'll frame the front foot and then take it back downward facing dog and just take three breaths here, neutralizing the spine. Now, slowly walk the feet up towards the hands, inhale, rise up halfway, exhale, fold in, strong through the legs, inhale, rise all the way up, arms frame the ears, exhale, hands come down by your side. So, moving into our standing pose, hands to the hips, root through the right foot, step back, high crescent lunge, getting kind of cozy in feet, hip distance apart, take the arms up, and then exhale, open it up into warrior II, just as we did in the last practice. Bing the right knee over the ankle, heel to heel alignment, and with an exhale, bring the right form to the thigh, just light, easy, left arm up, good, so here's our new pose, side angle pose, reach down through the left arm, so fingertips reach, left shoulder softens down, outer edge of the back foot places, so it's like warrior II in the legs, and then adding on here an exhale, start to cactus the arm, just as we did in many other practices, shoulder blade draws in towards the heart to kind of give a slight back bend.

Good, inhale, reach, extend, exhale, draw it down, let the heart lift, good, one more, reach, and then draw it down, shoulder blade kind of presses in towards the back of the heart, but this time reach and hold, start to spin the left pinkie down, left thumb up from deep in the left shoulder joint, just kind of scoop out the armpit, good, two more breaths, feel the simmer of a little fire in that right leg. Excellent, inhale, take the left arm up, lengthen through the right leg, ah. Toe heel this back foot in, start to turn the hips to the front, come on the ball of the back foot and step forward. Hands to the hips, give a little shake out there, and then we're gonna step back with the right, so strong though the left foot, feel a little balance, kind of wiggle into your high crescent, and then open it up warrior II, heel to heel, arms long, and then gently shifting into our side angle, left forearm comes down, right arm frames the ear and you can come in and out a little bit. On an exhale, draw the right elbow down in and feeling almost like this little back bend in the upper spine, inhale, reach the right arm forward, good, exhale, draw it down, one more, in, exhale, draw it down, and this one, hold as you reach, find the rotation, right pinkie down, thumb up, shoulder kind of scooping out, it looks like a little helium balloon in your armpit, gaze can be neutral, down or again, if you wanna add that little balance, tuck the chin, gaze can start to roll upward, good, two more, okay, inhale, lift the right arm, lengthen through the left leg, toe heel the back leg in, turn towards the front, and then step forward.

Drop the arms down, inhale, take the arms up, exhale, folding forward we're going to transition back into downward facing dog, inhale, heart comes forward, place the palms, step back, downward facing, take the right leg back behind you on an inhale, take it up, right inner thigh lifts, exhale, reach it way behind you and slowly lower it down, same leg, inhale, right leg lifts, flex the foot, exhale, lower it down. Place the foot on the floor, take the left foot a little bit behind you, inhale, reach it up, exhale, feel the left inner thigh spin up towards the ceiling, inhale, lift it up, as the left outer thigh spins down. Good, return the foot to the floor, two breaths here. Next, inhale, come on forward into plank pose, we're gonna revisit side plank pose. So, on an exhale, let the heel drop to the right, start to lift the left arm and remember you can take the right shin, knee to the floor, kickstand the back leg out to have support, alright, we'll go full pose, press through the palms, lift through the left hand, so it's like, looks like you're being lifted up, trying to be light, be buoyant, feeling the stability, the sturdiness of this right arm, and then exhale, bring the left hand down, plank pose, press it back downward facing, two breaths, and then we'll rotate to the other side, and slowly, shifting forward, side plank pose, heels to the left, again, option to bring the left knee shin down, with our supported pose, inhale, take the right arm up, reach through the hand, again, trying to be buoyant, trying to be light through the left shoulder, two more breaths, good, exhale, bring the right hand down, lift the hips, take it back into downward facing dog, shifting forward, plank pose, slow lower to the floor, option of knees down or legs up, here we go, for five, four, three, two, one, we're gonna come back up, see if you can press straight back up, or knees and then press back up.

Right, an option, hang out here, hang out on these or on the inhale, take the right leg up. Right, so draw right into the mid-line, softness through the eyes, sometimes when we start to get way over-focused, it plays out in the eyes and the jaw. Exhale, bring the right foot down, option, stay here, or inhale, take the left leg up, so again, energy right into the mid-line. Okay, left foot down, slow lower down, last one, five, four, three, two, one and it's okay if you just fell right on your belly. Take the arms out to your side, coming back into locust pose, tops of the feet on the floor.

Let's start out with the adjustment, the right foot lifts, reach it back, lower it down, the left leg, reach it up, five, six inches, reach it back, place it down. On the next inhale, lift the chest with the legs, with the arms, kinda find like 60% right here, so light through the eyes, find a place where the breath is just un-labored, and then start to activate, lift up a little bit more through the heart, through the legs, right, so still, the breath is first, don't give up the breath, if you get to a place where the breath is like (gasps), back up or if you want a little bit more, start to take the inner thighs towards each other and up, right, two more breaths. Good, exhale, release, let's just take one ear to the floor. Again, how quickly can you let go? Kinda inhale, bring the forehead back to center, seam up the inner thighs, on an inhale, you have an option, what we did in the first forward full with interlacing the hands behind the back, if that's available, go for that, if not, keep the hands at the side.

Inhale, lift the chest, lift the legs, three more breaths, again play kind of that 60% and then (exhales), up a little bit more, okay, one more breath, exhale, release, and just roll it on over to your back. So, just taking one arm up, roll it on over, and when you arrive, let's bring the right knee into the chest, and so we just take the right leg over to the left, taking it into a twist, and back onto your back, knee in, and slowly take the right leg long, left knee comes into the chest, and slowly taking it over to the right, left arm reaches out, you can roll up onto the right hip, and coming onto your back, left knee draws into the chest one more time, and lengthen both legs out, coming into our resting pose, you need to take palms up or if it feels nice you can take one hand to the belly, one to the heart, now your senses begin to draw inward, and choosing either stay right here, starting to move a little bit through the fingers, the toes, and taking the right arm up and then beginning to roll onto the right side and we'll press all the way up into a seat. Congratulations on completing day eight, I look forward to seeing you day nine.