Day 12: Feel Balance

Hello and welcome back to day 12. We're in the home stretch, three days left. How are you feeling? Are you able to find places in your life, where you're giving effort, but you're still balancing with that relaxation, easing in, finding ease in our effort. Alright, so carrying in what we're working on on the mat, but being able to carry that off of our mat.

So today we're gonna continue with our standing poses. We're really gonna get into our twisting. So that way we can stimulate heat. We can move stagnant energy. And again practice in that ease in our effort.

So with that we're gonna meet at the top of the mat. One hand to the heart, one to the belly, just grounding in, feeling your breath, feeling the beat of your heart. Exhale, releasing the hands down. And then inhale, bend the knees, take the hands right to the thighs, so again like a soft chair pose. Playing with cat-cow in this pose, on an inhale, take the chest forward, lift the chin, lift the tail and then exhale round, bellybutton to spine, and try to broaden through the back body.

Inhale again, play with that back bend, tail lifts, chin lifts. And then exhale, round in. Inhale, even in this back bend we're broadening through both front and side and back body. Exhale, round, bellybutton to spine. Inhale.

Last one to round. Exhale. Inhale, and lengthen through the legs, hands just down by your sides. Inhale, come back into chair pose, this time take the arms up. On an exhale, take the left arm back, right arm forward, and see if you can slide your right hip, right knee back, and haa, settle.

Right, so the left shoulder settles in, the right hip, right knee draws back. And then inhale, come back up to center, both legs long. Sit back down into chair pose. Exhale, take the left arm forward, right arm back, see if you can really stretch, fingertip to fingertip. Right, so notice this left knee kinda wants to jet forward.

Can you draw it back from the hip? Soften through the shoulders. And inhale, come on back up. One more each side. Bend the knees, chair pose.

Exhale, left hand back, right arm open, and pause. Right, and if you want a little bit more all the way up through the neck, you can take the gaze to your back thumb. Right, still drawing, right hip, right knee back. Come back to center with the gaze, both arms up, both legs long. Back into chair pose.

Left arm forward, right arm back. Soft through the shoulders. And again, maybe adding the gaze back towards the thumb. Inhale, come on back up. Exhale, fold forward.

Inhale, rise back up. Exhale, fold in. This time, come up, chair pose. Hold this one three breaths. Slide the knees back, lift the hips.

Long through the legs, come on back up. Moving back into our lunge progression of stepping forward. Inhale, chair pose. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, come half way up.

On your exhale, right leg steps back for spine runners, and then right knee, shin to the as you inhale. Low lunge. Exhale, hands down, step back downward-facing dog. On your inhale, take the right leg high, same side, knee comes in towards the nose, place the foot down as best you can, and then knee, shin comes to the floor. Rise up, low lunge.

Exhale, hands come down, frame the front foot, curl it back, toes under, aiming to step all the way forward. Left foot meets right. Exhale, fold in. Inhale, utkatasana. Sit bones drop down, arms sweep up.

Exhale, arms at the side. Good, same movement, we're gonna pause in the low lunge, this time with a twist. Inhale, take the arms up. Sitting down into chair pose. Exhale, fold forward.

Inhale, half way. Right leg steps back. Right knee and shin comes down, arms sweep up. This time we pause, hands come down. Shift the torso forward and take a twist to the left.

Right, so see if we can press the back of the arm into the leg and lift the chest. If this just is not happening, you can bring the right hand down and take that open twist that we know. Right, so either place. Heart lifts, press through the palms to get long through the spine. Again, just tuning in and listening how the neck feels.

Good, slowly release. Bring the hands up, just a big reach through the torso and exhale, hands come down. Curl the back toes under, step back, downward facing dog. On an inhale take the right leg up, exhale, knee in towards nose, round in. And then step the foot forward, let the left knee shin come to the floor, arms sweep up.

Right, reach, reach, reach. Hands come down to the heart. Take the torso forward, and play into the twist, so back of the arm comes to the thigh, press through the palms, lift up. So remember you can bring the hand down to the floor. Shoulders are soft.

Give a little tuck of the chin. Slowly come back to center. Take the arms up, a big reach. Bring the hands down, curl the back toes under. Lift the hips, take it all the way forward, left foot meets right.

Exhale, fold. Inhale, utkatasana, chair pose. Stand all the way up, hands by the sides. So moving into a twist in our standing poses. Root through the right foot.

Take our step back, high crescent. Good, so just to start, let's move into the open twist that we did in the last practice. So back heel stays lifted. On an exhale take the left arm forward, right arm back. Right, so big reach.

And then come back to center. Option to go right there again, are exhale, hands towards the heart, shift the torso forward a bit and then start to bring the back of the arm to the thigh. Work in your twist with a press the palms and press the back arm into the thigh. Right, you can always, always, always bring the left knee to the floor if you need a little bit of a break. So fire up through the back leg.

Draw, articulate the right hip back just a bit. We go two more breaths. Come on back to center. Take the arms up. Bring the hands to the hips and then bring left foot all the way to meet right.

Settle in. Right side, root through the left foot. Step back, find your high crescent lunge. Kinda wiggle in. And then when you feel set, take left arm back, right arm forward, find the twist.

Just hold for a moment. Revisit what we did yesterday. And then inhale, come back up. Option to go back to the open twist or bring the hands towards the heart. Shift the torso forward and then find your twist.

Palms pressed, right leg strong. And then depending, you can really start to rotate the right ribs under. Maybe the gaze can go up. Right, but if that throws off your balance feel free to keep it down or to center. Good, and come back up.

Arms reach up. Hands to hips, scoot all the way forward. Let the hands just rest at your side. Bring your feet just a little bit closer. Bend the knees and then inhale, come into chair pose.

So play with joining the knees back again, lift the hips, lift the belly, lift the chest. And then either come into the open twist that we played with in the very beginning of class, or bring the hands down towards the heart. Sit a little deeper, take the torso forward and then twist, getting the back of the arm to the left thigh. So the right back of the arm comes to the left thigh, palms pressed, so press the heart up to try to meet where the hands are, the level. And then draw the left shoulder back and down.

Right, so what naturally happens is this right hip and right knee wanna shoot forward. See if you can draw it back. Right so there's the worked. Draw the right hip back. Lengthen through your right side.

One more breath. Okay, when we come up, come back into chair pose. And then exhale, come all the way back up. Just taking a moment to feel that in your legs. And inhale back into chair pose.

Left side, do the scoot of the knees back. So either the open twist or bring the hands to the heart. Take the torso, reach it way forward, and then scoot left back of the arm to the right thigh. Good, so that left knee, left hip are trying to come forward, scoot it back. And then reach the heart way forward.

Two more breaths. Coming out, come back into chair pose on an inhale. And then exhale, come all the way out. Take a moment, a pause. Moving through our half sun salutations all the way to the floor.

One, chair pose, inhale. Exhale, fold it forward. Inhale, halfway lift. Stepping back into downward facing dog. Right foot, then left foot.

Feel your palms pressing shoulder-distance apart, feet hip-distance apart. Taking three more breaths here. Feel the rotation of your upper arms, draw forward in front of you. Feel the rotation for your upper arms, draw back behind you, the outside, so like you're kinda scooping out the armpits a little bit. One more breath.

Inhale, come onto the balls of the feet, lower to the knees. Line up wrists right under shoulders, knees under the hips. And on an inhale we're gonna take the right arm forward, you just spin it so the thumb comes up at first, and then take the left leg back. So adding a little bit of balance here. Right, so on an exhale let the right fingertips and left foot come to the floor, just like a little touch, and then inhale, lift up.

Option to do that on an exhale. Knee comes in towards the elbow and we're rounding the back. Draw the bellybutton to the spine. Inhale, come forward and lift. Two more, exhale, knee towards elbow, round in, bellybutton towards spine.

Inhale, reach up. Exhale, again rounding in, abdominals engaged. Inhale, up and back and just pause. Slowly lower, right hand down, left knee down. Setting up opposite side, take the left arm out.

Settle, feel your weight in your right hand and left knee. And then right leg comes up and back. Okay and exhale, left fingertips come down, right toes come down. Inhale, reach up. Option to stay with that one.

Or exhale, knee towards elbow, round. And then inhale, reach away. Two more, exhale, knee towards elbow. Inhale. Exhale, knee towards elbow, bellybutton to spine.

Inhale, reach away and pause for a moment. Exhale, left hand down, right knee down. Stick a few cat-cow motions here, letting the belly drop, chest lift. And then on your exhale round in, spine towards the sky, chin tucked. Inhale, belly lowers.

Heart lifts, tail lifts, chin lifts. And exhale, round. Just one more like that. Your inhale inspires the movement. Tail lifts, heart lifts, chin lifts.

And then exhale, round spine towards the sky. Come back to neutral on all fours. Lower down onto the forearms. Lining up for our dolphin-dog. Wrists in line with elbows, elbows right under the shoulders, and then curl the toes under, lift the hips.

And again, depending on the happiness of your hamstrings, in terms of flexibility, is how far your feet will walk in. If you're at a point where you're back here and the back's starting to round, lift the heels to really lengthen through the spine. And then see if you can hold for three breaths. Keep feeling a press through the forearms. Shoulders are lifting towards your hips.

Thighs press back. Okay, stay with me here. We're gonna walk the feet back into dolphin plank. Remember, any mischief in the low back, bring the knees right down. We wanna try to keep the belly lifted, keep the hips lifted.

Right, if you start to create a little bit of sway back, bring the knees down. Three more breaths. So the invitation is to stay right here, or, on an inhale, take the right leg up. We'll just do one breath each side. Right foot down.

Again, the invitation, don't feel like you have to take it. Left foot lifts. Exhale, left foot down. As you come down, lower the knees, the pubic bone. And we're gonna go right into sphinx pose.

So line up, elbows under shoulders, press through the palms, almost like you're trying to drag your body through your shoulder plain. Lift up through the heart. Just stay light light light through the upper body. Two more big breaths. On an exhale lower down let the fingertips slide back under the shoulders.

One low cobra, inhale, rise up just with breath and exhale lower down. Option, to come up again in low cobra or curl the toes under, slide the torso forward and then back into upward facing dog. So revisiting right here. Remember, thighs can be supported and lower down or full pose, taking the thighs off the ground. Press through the floor like you're trying to press it away, and then relax the bum, legs active.

Try to sustain for two more big breaths. Slow lower, come all the way down. Create a little pillow for your head. Give a little shake. And we're just gonna come into one more up dog, and then we'll really start to turn our practice inward.

It's the last one. Fingertips under the shoulders, curl the toes under. Invitation is to come into upward dog, or you can stay in low cobra. Right, three breaths. Find a little sweetness in the elbows even though the arms are really active.

One more big breath. And exhale, come on down. And slide yourself right back into child's pose. Feel free to give a little wiggle side to side. Gently lifting yourself up.

Now, come on your mat, take your legs wide, bring your fingertips behind you, just as we did when we did the forward fold with the legs together. Find that lift of the hip bones. And then on an exhale start to come forward. Maybe the hands come in front. Remember, if you start to round just pause it.

We're gonna find spaciousness and length in our posture. Maybe walking the hands out. For some, your belly might come all the way down. We're just finding a place where you can stay active through the legs, but then really try to tuck the chin a little bit. Start to just to get quiet.

Inhale, start to lift the chest. We're just gonna come to laying on our backs. Slowly lower all the way down. And you can either let your arms lay out to the side, or just finding one hand to the heart, one to the belly. Really scanning the body, seeing if there's any places that are grasping holding on.

Seeing if you can let go, ease into the sturdiness of the floor or the earth. Relaxing the eyes, the jaw. Hang the space right at the bottom of the neck. So feel free to stay right here resting. Begin to take the arms up overhead.

It's a real sweet transition, rolling onto your right side. And pressing up to meet into a seat. Nice job, day 12. So as we're progressing in our practice, I encourage you to start looking in your life. Where are those places that you can have more conscious rest?

Because as we continue this practice and the next two we're gonna start to elongate our rest periods. So really look in your life, where you can get those extra three breaths, extra minute, extra five minutes, hour. See you tomorrow.