Day 13: Engaging Stillness

(waves crashing) Welcome back. Day 13, only two more practices to go. So today we're gonna continue with out lunge sequence. We're gonna continue with our standing poses and then really start to incorporate some seated quiet time so we can really explore stillness and silence. So let's meet at the top of the mat.

Doing our start here with one hand on the belly, one on the heart, eyes closed. Three grounding breaths. On your next exhale, just let your arms come down by the sides. We're gonna move right in with our half-sun salutations with chair pose. On an inhale, bending the knees, rising the arms, chair.

Exhale, start to fold forward, legs long. Inhale, halfway rise, hands come up the shins. Exhale, fold in. Then inhale again, dropping the seat, coming up, chair. Exhale, come to standing.

Inhale, chair. Exhale, fold. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, fold back in. Coming back up on an inhale, chair pose.

Exhale, come to standing. Two more, inhale, chair. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, halfway. Exhale, fold.

Soften the knees, chair pose on an inhale. Exhale, come to standing. Inhale, chair. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, lift the heart halfway.

Exhale, fold. Bend the knees, inhale, chair pose. Exhale, come to standing. We're gonna continue and just go right into our lunge sequence. Inhale, chair.

Exhale, fold. Inhale, lift the chest, step the right foot back, runner's lunge. Exhale, lower the right knee and shin. Your inhale, a big lift. Exhale, hands come down.

Step back, downward-facing dog. So a new option here, hang out right here. Inhale, shift forward into plank pose. Option knees up or down. Lower all the way to the floor.

Inhale, low cobra or upward-facing dog. Your choice, just one big breath. Then we're gonna exhale, lower back down to the floor. Curl the toes under, lifting up either knees or legs up, back into downward-facing dog. Three breaths here.

If you've been holding downward-facing dog, feel free to come down onto the knees and hang out until we move. Okay, on an inhale, right leg's gonna come up. Exhale, knee to nose. Step forward into your runner's lunge. Back knee, shin comes down.

Big inhale to lift. Exhale, hands come down. Curl the back toes under, step forward. Exhale, fold. Inhale, chair pose.

Exhale, come to standing. Inhale, chair, one more time through. Exhale, fold. Inhale, lift up halfway, step the left leg back on your exhale. Left knee and shin comes the floor, inhale, low lunge.

Exhale, hands down, step back. Downward-facing dog. Option stay here, option rest on the knees, or inhale, shift forward, plank pose. Lowering all the way to the floor, nice and slow and controlled. Low cobra or inhale, rise up, upward-facing dog.

One breath, press the floor away. Gonna lower back down to the floor. Curl the toes under, either on the knees or straight through the legs, come back up into plank, and lift into downward-facing dog. Three breaths here. Inhale, take the left leg up.

Exhale, knee to nose, round in. Bellybutton to spine, and then place the foot down. Right knee and shin to the floor, inhale, rise up, low lunge. Exhale, hands come to the floor, curl the back toes under, stepping all the way forward. Exhale, fold it in.

Inhale, chair. Exhale, come to standing. Moving through our standing poses. Root through the feet, hands to the hips. Left foot lifts up and steps back.

Find your high crescent with the back heel lifted. Again, a little wiggle to get in. Then drop the back heel, open that warrior two. So find your place, settle in. If you need to press in and out, go for it, or just stay here three breaths.

Arms reaching, shoulders softening. Keeping the right knee over the ankle. Keeping your eyes soft. Inhale, press out, right leg long. Just take a moment break.

Then we're gonna go back in. Take the right palm, flip it open, moving into reverse warrior, so the left hand goes lightly down the left leg, right arm reach up so you're getting long through both the right and left side. And again, just as we did in the last practice, you have a choice. You can press out or just stay right in. One more big breath.

Inhale, lift the torso, lengthen the right leg, take a moment break. We're gonna toe heel this back foot in just a scoot or two. Start to reach forward, shift the hips back, reach, reach, reach, reach, reach, and then coming into triangle pose. Right hand to the shin or floor. Option to keep the left hand on the hip or take it straight up.

So again, three breaths. On your next inhale, like someone's pulling at your left arm to come all the way up. Hands to your hips, start to turn your right toes to come forward and then step all the way forward. Take a moment to settle in between. Hands come back to the hips.

Root through the left foot. We're gonna take the right leg back. Find your high crescent. Back heel stays lifted. When you settle in, finding left knee over the ankle, drop the right heel, outer edge of the back foot presses as you find warrior two.

And again, staying, holding. Find your movement with your breath, pressing out. Just making little adjustments, finding the spine right in the center. Checking that you're not reaching too far forward or too far back. Next on the inhale, lengthen the left leg, just take a moment break.

And then we're gonna come right back in, playing with reverse, so the left palm lifts up, go up, go up before you go back and then real light through the right hand. This should be real sweetness through the shoulders. Just as much length on the right as there is the left. And then again, the option is to stay in it, or if you need to, you can press out and then exhale, come back in. Two more breaths.

Inhale, come on back up, lengthen the left leg. Toe heel the right foot in about a scoot or two. Right toes are on an angle. Reach, reach, reach, reach forward with the right hand on the hip, and then come down into triangle pose. Option of taking the right hand up.

With your left leg, finding a spin of the upper thigh towards your left. Your next inhale, lift all the way up. Hands to the hips, turn the hips towards the front, step all the way up. Let's take a moment, palms down, eyes closed. Great, we're gonna move into tree pose.

So find yourself on your mat. Feet about hip distance. Just take a moment to feel your feet. Root into your left foot and then just create a little kick stand with the right foot. Maybe bring your hands to the hips.

So option to hang out right here, option to start to take the foot onto the calf. Maybe hang out right here. Maybe I can balance today. That's the beauty of balance. Some days it's there, some days it's not.

Option to take the right foot all the way up into the inner thigh. So there's a press, if you're moving up above the knee, right under the groin, there's a press of the foot into the thigh. So it's this action of like, whoo, in towards the mid line, and then drawing up. And the hands to the hips, soften the right hip down and just play your hips even, front to back, side to side. Maybe bring your hands towards heart.

Notice the mind starts to hook in like, oh god, can I do this? Oh god, I'm doing this. Oh god, I fell out. Right? It's all perfect.

If you fall out, just come back in. Option for the last few breaths, if you wanna take the arms up. Again, right hip soft. Eyes are steady on one point helps. And then coming out, hands to heart.

Let the right foot find the floor. Let the arms just fall to the side. And then just close the eyes. Then try on the other side. We'll root through the right foot.

Find first that kick stand. This might be your happy place. Maybe hands to hips. And maybe trying foot to the calf, on the inner calf. That might be fine.

And then maybe bring it above the knee or right under the groin. It helps to kinda have a steady gaze. One spot. Use your hands to adjust your hips. Left hip down just a bit so they're even.

Maybe hands to heart. Just notice your balance, if it's there, if it's not there. Not judging, just kinda being with it. In the last few breaths, maybe taking the arms up. Let it play, the reach of the fingers.

At the same time, shoulders falling down lightly. There must be a breeze in the room. (giggles) Good, one more big breath. Yes, hands back down to heart. Knee comes in and then finding both feet on the floor, hands at your side, eyes closed down.

If we'll all meet back at the top of the mat. Take a sun salutation to come all the way down. On an inhale, take the arms up. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, halfway lift.

Exhale, step the feet back, downward-facing dog. Just four breaths here. Keep pressing through the palms, lengthening through the spine. Inhale, we're gonna come up onto the balls of the feet. Exhale, come down onto the knees.

We're just gonna sit back, swivel the feet, come on to our bum. So revisiting boat pose. So depending which version worked for you, maybe it was forearms down, maybe it was grabbing the back of the thighs, and maybe it was arms reaching. So find your place. We're gonna hold, three breaths here.

Shift into reverse table, four breaths here. Reverse table, five breaths. So we know how great I am at counting, so. Two more. Last one, stay lifted in the low back.

Exhale, bring the feet to the floor. Bring your palms down, fingertips facing your heels. Press through the feet, lift the pubic bone, lift the heart, and we're gonna hold here, so if you'd like, you can take the gaze up or start taking the chin up and back, but not letting the head go completely. Two more breaths. Feeling the shoulder opening here.

That's gonna prep us for our pose on our final day. Slow lower down, which we'll start playing with some more back bends. Come back into boat. Again, your version. Here, supported, or arms out.

Remember the focus on the lower back and the upper back, just lifted, staying lifted. Try for three more breaths. And if you go here and you're like, ugh, it's just too much, come back here. If you're like, ugh, this is too much, go back to supported. One more big breath.

Good, feet to the floor. Fingertips face the heels, root through the feet as they're hip distance apart, lift the pubic bone. Four breaths here. Great, tuck the chin if the head's back. Slow lower coming down.

Right back in, last boat. Find your place. Five breaths. Lifting up through the spine. The eyes can stay focused right on the toes.

You got it, two more breaths. Last breath, real light through the heart. Exhale, bring the hands down, lift back up into reverse table, press down through the feet and hands. Chest lifts, and then again, if you like, chin can go up. So with each breath, see if you can re-root through the feet, repress the hips towards the ceiling or the sky.

Two more. You got it. Your last one, bring the chin up. Slowly lower the hips down. Ahh, legs long.

Let's go ahead and bend the left knee. So the left heel, if it comes in maybe a couple inches from your left sit bone. We're gonna take the left arm behind us. Finger pads reaching away from you, and take the right arm up. So get real long through the right side body.

Then on an exhale, bring your right arm around to hug your left leg like you're hugging it in towards your chest. And then peel the heart towards your left. So can the neck start to take the gaze over the left shoulder. Just like a real sweet hug in. Gentle twist from all the way down at your seat.

All the way through your crown. On the next inhale, come back to center. Ahh, let the left knee fall out to the side. Left foot's gonna come to the right inner thigh. Bring your fingertips, actually, we'll start with them behind us again and then lift the chest.

Do that like where you spin the finger pads behind you to life, and lift the hip bones at the heart. So stay here, if you're feeling any rounding, or start to crawl forward. So there's a little twist in here as you're starting to move the torso over the right leg. Whatever works for you, hands to the floor. If you like to touch the shin here.

Maybe for some, hands can start to come out towards the foot. Just a real gentle reach of the heart forward. Just to create some space and some length through the spine. You can feel kinda with the pulse of your breath, maybe the exhales a little release. Inhales, there's a little shining, a little brightness, a little lengthening.

On an inhale, slowly lift the torso. Bring the left knee in, lengthen the left leg and then bring the right knee in, heel's just an inch or two away from the sit bone, or however far it'll come in. Take the right hand behind you, left arm reach it up. Find all this space. And then reach around your right leg just hugging it in.

Readjust with the press of the fingertips, the lift of the heart. So spinning your torso towards the right. If that feels okay on the neck, taking the gaze towards the right shoulder. Just like in boat pose, we're trying to lift up, lift up through our low back. Slowly come back to center.

Let your right knee drop out to the side. Left foot comes lightly, right foot comes lightly into the left leg. Start to bring your fingertips down to the floor and spin your torso over your left leg. Same thing, lift the hip bones and then start to take the heart forward, so the whole upper body comes forward. Hands can come in front, kinda helping yourself down.

Just move in slowly, so the heart comes forward, spine lengthens. You ride the pulse of your breath. The inhale's long. Exhales folding in. As we fold into ourself, just notice kinda energetically the calmness.

Serenity, the equanimity. Next on an inhale, rising up. Still keeping your eyes soft. We'll slowly just lower ourselves down into our final resting pose. Feel free to ease yourself down.

I'm choosing palms up. Let them fall where they're comfortable, maybe to the belly, maybe to the heart. Following the rhythm of your breath. Awareness to the four parts of your breath. The inhale, the pause, the exhale, the pause.

The invitation is to stay right here continuing into some deep conscious relaxation. Begin to move fingers, feet, and then the arms. As we travel onto our right side. Pressing up into a comfortable seat. Great job.

One more day. Let's continue to bring our practice off our mat into our life, finding those places that we can discover more conscious rest and those areas where we need to move stagnant energy. We're getting the tools here, so we know how to use them off our mat. See you tomorrow.