Day 17: Head to Toe Flow

(ocean waves crashing) Welcome back to Yoga Anytime. This is Robert, what's happenin'? What day is it? Tell me. Day 17.

It's day 17, practice 17. I hope you're feelin' alright. If you're not, that's fine. We're gonna work through it. We're gonna start off today in kneeling pose.

Kneeling pose with a toe stretch. So I'll show you from the side. Check it out. So it's important, I feel, to stretch the feet, stretch the toes. Okay, but if your knees are funky, you don't really want to bend all the way down, go ahead and just lean back a little bit.

And what I'd like you to do is get into the big toes, the second toe, third toe, but also don't neglect the side toes, pinkie, etc. Alright kinda get in there and, you know it may or may not feel like a lot. For some people it's pretty intense, but just kinda stick with it. Stick with it. We're gonna do all the other fancy muscles and bones.

We gotta do these guys too. Alright. If you want to sit back on your heels, sit back like so. (breathing) Bring your palms together, which wherever you are, up high or sitting back, close your eyes, let's ground. Let's say, "hey." Take a breath in.

(inhaling) And breath out. (exhaling) Good. Nice. I don't know about you, but I love that. It makes me feel like, okay here we are.

We're together and we're about to practice. It actually really reminds me of when I was growing up and my dad, we did the words. He said, okay time to say the words. It was prayer before meal, right? So it's like a little prayer before you start.

But it's not a prayer, it's just a breath. Child's pose. Child's pose, bring it on back, hips back. And we'll start right away. So stretch back and keep your hands reaching towards the front of the mat.

Maybe even bring yourself back a little farther. Okay, so now, come up into table. Keep your knees where they are, maybe hip width. Lower down like a little low push up. That's the exhale.

Finish your exhale there. Gentle cobra, inhale. Exhale, table. Inhale, table. Exhale, lower down.

Keep those elbows tight to the body, stacked over the wrists. Finish your exhale. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, child's. Two more rounds.

Inhale, table. Exhale, lower down. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, child's. Inhale, table.

Exhale, lower. Inhale, pull yourself long up into cobra. Good, exhale, all the way back to child's pose. Good. Inhale up into table.

Come into full plank pose. Push up position, plank. Now let the heels draw over to the right. Maybe stack or stagger, you choose. My right hand, take a look, if you need to break for a moment, come down.

My right hand is below the shoulder. I am fully supported and safe here, okay. You get that going on as well, and then take the left arm, reach it up. My low, right waist, core, obliques, they're helping to support me as I lift. So immediately bringing some heat into the practice.

Let's do the other side. Left arm down, situate yourself. Hand below the shoulder. Heels either stagger or you stack. Open up the chest.

Reach the right arm high. Low waist helps to lift you up. (breathing) Good. Right arm comes down. Plank pose.

From plank, soft knees, downward dog. Okay find your downward dog. As always, lengthen and stretch your spine long. Lift your right leg up. From here you can lift your left heel up a little bit as you roll your right hip open and bend that right leg.

Roll your right ankle. Then press your left heel back down. Open the hip. Sensation I might feel, or do feel is up through the right side of my body, my low waist. Square the hips, take a breath.

As you exhale, pull the belly in, transfer into plank, right foot to the right thumb. Back heel comes down, warrior one. So put a good long angle on that back foot, 45 degrees or so, and rise up. Take the arms up for a moment then let the arms rest by your side, then on the hips. Look back, your left foot, the more angle you have on it, the more it will then transition the hip forward.

Okay? So if the foot is open, the hip's open, so try to get that left foot turned forward. Okay, take the arms out, thumbs down, reach back behind you. We're gonna work into a humble warrior. Open up the chest.

Shoulders pull back. Inhale. Exhale, dive down. You can rest your shoulder or chest on your thigh or come on down a little farther as you reach your knuckles up as high as you can and over your head. Your head relaxed.

If this is too intense, rest your arms at your low back. Good. Press through your feet, use your legs, use your core, and rise up. (breathing) Good. Take the left hand behind you like so.

Shoulder open, chest open. Now from here, your hip was coming forward, right, in warrior one. Now we're gonna work into a balancing pose called half moon. It's a new one, we haven't done it yet. So let that left hip open up a little bit.

Just a little bit, like let zzz, no pressure. Now this one here, was one of the hardest balancing poses. It took me a while, so let's just see how it goes. The idea here is to maybe bring yourself up onto your tiptoes. And if bringing your hand back here doesn't work, just bring the hand onto the hip, you choose.

Alright, so from here, get soft in that right knee. When you're ready, lift. Left foot up off the mat. Start to straighten your right leg. Then without rounding or curving the upper body, start to reach down a little bit as you lift your left leg up.

Reach the fingertips in the direction of the floor. If you feel like reaching the left arm up, reach the left arm up. (breathing) Gazing point is extremely important here. Now soft little bend in the right leg. Hands to the hips.

Step back into warrior two. Good. Warrior two, the hips are open. Left foot is open. Pause, land, reverse warrior, breathe in.

And now exhale. Windmill the arms down. Step back into plank pose. On your exhale, lower down. (exhaling) Point the toes back.

Cobra pose, strong legs, hips pressed down, long spine, lift, lift, lift. Exhale, downward dog. Push through your palms, lift, and push. Good, deep breath in. Deep breath out.

Right foot is right center of the mat. Left leg lifted up and open the hip. Bend that left leg. A little freedom in the ankle of the left foot. Draw your right heel down.

Square the hips. Take a deep breath in, and exhale, left foot to the left thumb. Good, back heel down, shorten your stance just a little bit. Get the angle for warrior one. Rise up, breathe in.

Reach back behind you, breathe out. Open up the chest, shoulders, inhale. Exhale, humble warrior. Rest the shoulder on the thigh, inside the thigh, you choose. Let the back of your neck relax and lengthen.

Drive through your feet, your strong legs, and your core to rise up. Good. Relax the arms. Take the right arm back behind you. Open the shoulder and chest.

Open the right hip a little bit. Shorten your stance. Okay, so the left arm, reach it out. Little bend in that left leg. Reach it out and when you're ready, bend the right and (whooshing), take flight.

Your warrior half moon, right, which is where we are, can look exactly like this. Your back toes could also be down if it's difficult for you right now. If you wanna hinge forward a little bit more, hinge forward a little bit more. Finger tips reach down. Release the right arm high.

Extend the right leg back. Push the right heel back. (breathing) Breathing. Opening that chest. Open, open.

Soft bend in that left leg. Hands on the hips. Land, warrior two. So right now take a breath in and exhale like (exhaling) Let the arms relax. Just land in the pose.

Good, arms out now. Reverse warrior, breathe in. Exhale, windmill the arms down. This time, step back into downward dog. Good.

Right leg lifts, inhale. Exhale, right knee to the right elbow. Inhale, send it high. On your exhale, right knee toward the nose. Get a little cat pose action here.

Inhale, send it high. Exhale, right knee to the left elbow. So you're crossing it over, and once you cross it over as far as you can, extend the right leg all the way out toward the left. Good, spin the back heel down. Now it's like a side plank.

Your right hand is below the right shoulder. Lift the hips, and that left arm rises up. You can take that left arm and reach it up overhead. (breathing) Good job. Left arm comes down to the mat.

Use your core to lift your back heel. Lift that or drag that right foot all the way around and up. Breath in, breath out. Right foot down. Left leg rises, inhale.

Knee to left elbow, exhale. Inhale, send it high. Exhale, knee to nose. Inhale, send it high. Exhale, knee to the right elbow, and then send it all the way out.

Back heel comes down. Supported left arm. Rise up. Right arm comes down. Step back into downward dog.

Left leg rise up, inhale, and exhale, bring the foot down. Let's take three breaths. Last downward dog of the practice. Two more breaths. (breathing) Good, one more.

You're doing great. Exhale, everything out. Set the knees down. Another exhale takes you to child's. (breathing) Transition up and onto your seat.

Okay, we're gonna close out with a twist that we haven't done yet. So it's a seated twist, and we'll see how it works for you. Alright, so the idea is, let's start with the left heel drawn as close to your inner right thigh as you can. Okay? And then if you pull that right foot up, then cross the right foot over the left thigh.

The tendency, now the left heel is near the booty. Alright, so that's good. Get both sit bones down on the mat, down on the mat, alright. So what's gonna happen here, and my experience, is that you're gonna feel a stretch like a pigeon style stretch up through the right side. And then we're gonna twist.

So you can twist by taking your left arm around the knee or hold or left arm hooking on top. You choose which one, right? Here, twist. Here, twist. Here, right arm back, and twist.

Make sure that right sit bone comes down. (breathing) Good, slowly come out. And with this one, what I always like to do is take now the right into the left. Just a little kinda like counter-twist. Okay, good.

Let's transition to the other side. But from here, if you just kinda switch your legs like so, so the right heel comes in towards your left seat. Left foot on the opposite side of the knee. So here it is, right? Just try to do whatever you can to pull the knee in to the body, and then place the foot.

Now the right heel, bring it into the seat. Now right now, I've got my left sit bones lifted. In that design, the desire to have the foot grounded. So if I just kinda lean over a little bit more and just give, give up on grounding my left foot completely. It's fine, okay.

Now the right arm, you know it's either here, here, or here. Left hand back behind you. Stomach in. Long spine. And (breathing).

Closing out the practice with a twist. (breathing) Good. Slowly come out. Stay upright and long, and get a little counter-twist. Okay, come back up.

Now let's lie down. Let's take a little rest. A well deserved practice number 17 rest. Okay. Lie on your back.

(breathing) Good. Breath in. Breath out. Take your knees into your chest. Rocking side to side, maybe some circles.

(breathing) Okay. Bring your feet down. Slide your legs all the way out. Take your arms over your head. Reach back behind you and stretch your entire body.

(breathing) Good, now bring your arms alongside your body, but bring them away from your body a foot or even two feet. With your palms facing up, chin to the chest, and then set your head back down. Let your feet open up. Close your eyes. And begin to let that word, "rest", really begin to sink in.

Allow yourself time to rest and restore. Take good care of yourself. And by taking good care of yourself, you get plenty of sleep and plenty of rest. (breathing) Good, wiggle your fingers, wiggle your toes. Once again, stretch your arms up overhead.

Stretch your legs, get long. Get as long as you can. Whether it's morning, afternoon, night, stretch as if it's a brand new day. It's a brand new moment to begin, right? Remind yourself, all it takes is that choice.

Just, here it is, it's a brand new moment. I can do anything I want. For now, just thank yourself for showing up for 17. Roll over onto your side. Take a break, take one break there.

Breath in. Breath out. Push up to sit. Whew, good job. So that's it.

Number 17, boom, done. Bring the palms together and close out together with one breath. Just take one breath in, close your eyes. Nothing but gratitude as you exhale. Namaste.

(exhaling) Thank you.