Day 12: Connect In

(water flowing) Hey, what's up? Welcome back, this is day number 12. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty connected. I think we can call ourselves friends. So hey friends.

Day number 12 we're gonna begin. Hope you're feeling good. You might be feeling a little sore in different areas. Totally normal. Watch what you're doing, watch how you're moving, watch how you're breathing, and all will be perfect.

So let's get back into that Ujjayi breath. You know I introduced it awhile back. So let's ground first. Palms together. Forehead towards your fingertips, take a deep breath in.

And exhale. (breathing) Now we're ready, okay. Come to the front of the mat. Let's do this, bring the palms to the chest and remember, right, the way I like to teach it is it's as if you're fogging the glasses. Your reading glasses or whatever.

So. (breathing) Through the exhalation and the same thing on the inhalation. (breathing) Now close the mouth and maintain that sensation. Feels like you're dragging the breath through the back of the throat. So you're breathing in through the nose and out of the nose.

So here we go, let's see if we can get this going on here. Let's take five breaths like that. So three seconds on the inhalation maybe five seconds on the exhalation. (breathing) And as you exhale, there's a gentle bracing of the core. Breathe in.

(breathing) Inhale, circle the arms up. Exhale, forward bend. You've got those blocks there for you. On the outer edges of your feet, prepare to use them. Inhale, lift half way.

Exhale, hands on the blocks, step back into Plank pose. Set the knees down. This is all preparation for eventually working the low pushup into Cobra Upward Dog. We're gonna do one push up here. Lower down on the breath in.

Exhale, push back up. Downward Facing Dog. Couple breaths here. Ujjayi breath, even flow. Inhale the right leg high.

Exhale, bring the knee as close to the right elbow as you can as you hover in Plank. Keep it there. Breathe in and exhale step the right foot to the inside of the block on the right. Good. Pause, breathe in and exhale the left foot.

(breathing) Inhale, lift half way. Exhale, fold. Strong legs back into a chair. Like temporary, right? You're inhaling, inhaling, inhaling.

And exhale. Palms to the chest. Inhale, circle the arms out and up. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, lift half way.

Exhale, Plank pose. I'm gonna do this without the knees. You do with knees or without, you choose. Inhale, lower down half way. Low push up into high push up all the way to Downward Dog.

Good. Inhale your left leg high. Exhale, knee to elbow in Plank. Get it up even higher than the elbow. Pull pull pull, pull your belly up, your chest up, spread the back wide.

And exhale the left foot to the inside of the block. Finish the exhale. (breathing) Soften, relax, breathe in. And exhale step the right foot up. Forward bend.

Inhale, lift half way. Exhale, fold. As you're inhaling, you're kind of sending your seat back, arms out, strong legs, rise up, finish the inhalation. And exhale. Inhale.

Arms up, palms pressing. Exhale, forward bend. Inhale, lift half way. Exhale, Plank pose. Inhale, lower down half way.

Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Inhale the right leg high. Exhale, knee to elbow or higher and step the right foot all the way up. Good job. Ground that left hand down onto the block.

Inhale, roll open, twist open. Pull the belly in, rotate, twist, breathe. Good. Get that Ujjayi breath, manage the breath and the posture. Right arm down as you exhale.

Keep exhaling, stepping the left foot up. Forward bend. Inhale, lift half way. Exhale, fold. Inhale through Chair pose and powerfully rise all the way up.

And pause, palms to the heart. Exhale. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, forward bend. Inhale, lift half way.

Exhale, Plank pose. Inhale, low push up. Exhale, all the way to Downward Dog. Nice. Left leg rises, breathe in.

Exhale, knee to the elbow or higher as you transition that left foot all the way up. And notice how I'm lifting my right heel up gaining more space, lifting my hips and done. Exhale, kind of soften but maintain the structure while softening. Inhale, open up. (breathing) You know, sometimes it doesn't feel quite right to lift that arm completely up.

You can always take the back of that hand and rest it at your low back, focusing a little bit more on rolling the shoulder open. Good, breathe in. As you exhale, left hand down, step the right foot up to meet your left, forward bend. Inhale, lift half way. Exhale, fold.

Inhale, Chair. Continue to inhale, rise up. Palms to the chest, exhale. Let's do one round of that Sun Salutation adding a high lunge to it. All right, so continue with Ujjayi breathing and we'll see how much of a flow we can get into here.

Give you a taste of what it's like to keep going and going. All right? So, ground, exhale, palms at the heart. That's that Arrival pose, right? Landing.

Inhale, circle the arms up. Exhale, forward bend. Inhale, lift half way. Exhale, Plank pose. Inhale, lower down.

Exhale, up. Let's do two more, why not? Whether you're on your knees or not, breathe in lower, breathe out. Breathe in, push back into Downward Dog as you breathe out. Right leg lifts on the breath in.

Same thing, knee all the way up into your chest. Up high off the back heel. Stepping, stepping, stepping, good. Take a moment to get yourself situated. Finish the exhale.

Squared hips, inhale. Rise up, High Crescent lunge. Little soft bend in the back knee, tailbone down. Good. Breathe in and now exhale.

Hands come down, step the right foot back into Plank. Pause. Inhale, lower. Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Left leg rises on the breath in, exhale.

Send it all the way through, so bring the knee up into your chest, lift your right heel high, high, high. Lift, lift, lift, and step. Finish the exhale, get your positioning right. Soft bend in the back knee. Rise up on the breath in.

(breathing) Good. Breathe in, reach up. And breathe out, hands come down, step the right foot up to meet your left. Finish your exhale. Inhale, lift half way.

Exhale, fold. Inhale through Chair. So sort of like a swift little transition, Chair to stand with one breath. Palms to your heart, exhale. Awesome, that is so good.

And it's so fun to get into that flow. So now take the blocks and move them off of your mat. And we'll stay here at the front of the mat working a little bit of a Tree pose with Eagle Arm combination. So to start off with what I want you to do is you can take the right arm and kind of sweep it underneath the left, underneath the left almost like you're trying to take your right hand to your left shoulder. Right?

And even the left hand to your right shoulder. You can do that or you can begin to really stack those elbows and begin to draw the right fingers toward the left thumb, kind of grab that hand. Make a connection there. And again if that doesn't happen you can just keep holding on like so, okay? Okay, so first you've got this arm positioning.

And you can play around with reaching down, reaching up, it will open up your back and your shoulders. You can stay here if you're feeling groovy with this. But we're gonna add a little balance to it so lean to the right, bend that right knee a little bit, lift the left knee, place the left ankle on top of that right thigh, find a gazing point. You don't have to bend down like crazy, right? Just find a little stable spot.

But what's great about this is you're using so much, all right? You're putting your body in a different shape, focusing on your inhalation, exhalation. And really sharpening that focus. (breathing) Good, release the arms. Release the foot, take a breath in and exhale.

Palms to the heart. Nice, let's try it on the other side. So arms up, sweep the left arm under the right. Grab hold wherever you can, right? Maybe you're just giving yourself a big hug because you love yourself so much.

Do that anyway, all right? Maybe you get that hold, maybe it's a work in progress. It's all really a work in progress, right? Now lean to the left, bend the left leg, find your stability, find a gazing point. Pull the belly in, right ankle over that left thigh.

Open the hip, begin to sit. Not too far, right? Just find the balance, like this is enough right here. Maybe there's a little opening between your wrists you can stare through. Play around with subtle little movements with the arms.

(breathing) Good, so release the arms. Inhale, circle the arms up. Release the foot and foot down, palms. (breathing) Good. So quick, right, a little personal thing, it was kind of crazy.

As I was doing my Eagle Arms there was this weird shape in my skin where it looked like an eye and I was like staring at the eye and the eye was staring at me. Maybe there's some weird stuff going on. I don't know, I don't know. Just wanted to share that with you my friends. Maybe you saw it too.

Okay, so now we're going to squat to sit, okay? So take those legs, you know squat by now. You know me, I like to get a little squat on. So, open up the feet, heels on the mat, feet off and all the way down. And when I say all the way down it's all the way down for you, right?

All the way down could be half way down. All right. Lower the seat down. I'm gonna spin around. And as we've done so many times we're gonna lower down to our back now, okay?

So go ahead and lower down. Maybe use your mid-body strength, that core strength. (breathing) Nice. Set your feet up. One thing, and I've taught Bridge with you guys a couple times, but and maybe I brought it up, I'm not sure.

I'm bringing it up now. If you reach toward your heels, generally that'll bring your feet below your knees. Actually I did bring that up so I'm bringing it up again. Okay, neck is long, even. Press your feet into the mat and your upper arms, this tricep region, push at the same time up, and then walk your shoulder blades toward one another creating a big stretch and space across your chest and shoulders, your collar bones.

Really like press firmly into your feet, maybe the ball of each foot, your heels. Get creative with where you're stepping and pressing. You can rest your hands on your ribcage. (breathing) Nice. Now lift your heels, remove the arms so that your shoulder blades move apart from one another.

Good. And slowly lower it down. (breathing) Extend your left leg long, hug your right knee in toward your body. And you can hold on to your shin or your hamstring. You can pull it in straight toward the belly or you can pull it out toward your ribs.

Now from here, bring that right foot down and shift your hips over to the right side of your mat. Kind of like as far as you can so you're on your left bum. Now the right leg in again, left hand on that right thigh, right arm out. Twist, let the left, let the right knee cross the body over toward the left, toward the floor. Stay grounded in that right shoulder, right arm.

No need to reach the knee all the way over and then sit over here sort of struggling, right? Just get a gentle twist. Okay, go ahead and come on back out. Situate yourself back to the center of your mat. Extend the right leg long, hug the left leg in.

So your left knee draws in toward the chest, the back of your neck is long. (breathing) Bring the left foot down, shift your hips over to the left. Okay, this kind of aligns the spine as you come and do the twist. So left leg in, right hand holding onto it. Left arm reaches way out, keep your gaze straight up or eventually maybe look over the left shoulder as you twist toward the right.

(breathing) Sometimes you get these little snap-crackle-pops in the low back and that might feel good for you. It's kind of normal is what I'm saying. Okay. One more breath here. Let the big exhale flow out.

(breathing) Good. Back up to center. Situate yourself back on the center of the mat hugging your right knee in, your left knee in, rocking side to side, maybe opening the hips just a little bit. Let's come up this way, right? So if you shift over onto the right side, bend your knees and rest your head for a moment on your right arm, Your left hand is planted.

Take a breath. (breathing) Finishing up here. Ready to begin your day or end your day, wherever you are with the practice, right? Push up to sit. We meet again.

So if you'd rather stay grounded, stay relaxed, do so. We'll take this time to close out practice number 12, flying by. Day number 12 done, you showed up again, that's a huge commitment. Don't take that lightly. Give yourself a little pat on the back and fold forward.

Namaste. (breathing) And remind yourself, you are awesome. Have a great day, thanks.