Day 18: Test Your Balance

(ocean wave) Hey, What's up? Welcome back to YogaAnytime. This is Robert. We are outside. We are outside in sunny California.

We're gonna change it up for you today. Alright? So, what is this? Number 18? Number 18! Let's do this. I wanted -- Before I started this little session today, I thought, I don't know you personally. I don't know what your body type is like.

I don't know what you can do or can't do. But what I do know is that you're super dedicated to this practice. To this 30 day showing up. And that's pretty huge. So, I just wanted to acknowledge that.

Thanks for showing up again. Let's get started. In front of that mat, ready to breathe, ready to feel, ready to move. Okay, (exhale) alright. So, feet are about hip width.

Bring the palms together. Let's ground together. One breath. Take a big breath in. And a nice long breath out. Perfect.

Inhale the arms up. Stretch up. Exhale forward bend. Inhale, lift up halfway. Stretch your spine long.

Legs long. Exhale the right foot back. Bring the knee down. Untuck the back toes and then inhale the arms up for lunge. It's a low crescent lunge.

Sink into the hips. Lengthen through the spine. Open up the chest. Open up the breath a little bit. Just kind of warming up.

On the exhale, bring your hands down. Curl the back toes. Step the right foot up to meet the left. Exhale. Good. Inhale lift halfway.

And now exhale. Fold. Step the left foot back, bring the knee down, untuck the toes. Start to look forward. Your gaze comes forward. Chest forward and up.

The arms carry you all the way up into the posture. Good. Breathe in. And now breathe out. Hands come down, step the left foot out to meet your right.

Full exhalation. Inhalation, come up halfway. Exhale, come on down. Let's roll up for the first one. Tuck the tailbone, bend the knees.

Roll up. Inhale, take those arms up. Stretch, reach, and ground palms to your heart with your exhale. Okay, we'll do one more just like that. Breathe in, reach up.

Breathe out, forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, step the left foot back. Bring the knee down. Rise up on the inhalation.

Exhale, hands come down. Keep exhaling as you step the left foot up to meet your right. Fold, inhale lift halfway. Exhale, takes the right foot back. Bring the knee down.

Inhale, rise up for low crescent lunge. Beautiful, good. Now breathe in. Let one exhale, bring the hands down. Step the right foot up to meet the left.

Forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, fold. Sit back into chair pose. Get strong for a moment.

Good, now press through the feet. Rise up, breathe in. Breathe out, palms to the chest. Inhale, circle the arms high. Exhale, forward bend.

Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, step back into plank pose. Pause in plank. Breathe in. And now exhale with or out without your knees.

Slowly, all the way down. Point your toes back. Come up to a long cobra pose. Remember those elbows back, head free of tension. On the exhale, use your upper body strength, core strength, and leg strength to rise all the way up into downward dog.

Lift your right leg high on the breath in. On the exhale, step it all the way up. I know it's not always fun and you don't always get it there in one shot. Just keep practicing over and over and over. I couldn't do it when I first started.

Back knee bent, right knee stacked over the right ankle. Rise up for the lunge. Take the arms into this field goal shape, okay? What I want you to do is press the palms, elbows and forearms together as you pull the belly in. It's like an eagle variation.

And then exhale and open up the chest. Strong upper back, drawing the shoulder blades toward one another. Now straighten your right leg, spin the back heel down, lengthen your stance out a little bit. Warrior 2. Bring the right forearm down on the right thigh, left hand on the hip for now.

Good, from here, pull the right hip back and maybe let the right fingertips draw down toward the mat. You don't have to touch. Now, take the left arm and open up extended side angle. Feel free to flirt with straightening the right leg. And if you do, take the right arm, like you're holding a tray.

Bring it all the way out. And maybe even the left arm. Now you're holding like, the globe, or the earth, or something. If you can't see that well here, I'll do it on the other side as well. Keep the core strong.

Back into that triangle. Good. Back into Warrior 2 for a moment. Hands on the hips. Half moon, balance.

So begin to get your focus here. Take the left foot, bring it up just a little bit. Okay? Now reach the right arm out. Breathe in and then exhale, engage the core. And rise up.

Do not feel like you have to touch the ground. Stay lifted if anything. Hips are open. Breath is alive. Have fun with the balance, don't get too stressed out.

Left arm rises if that's in your toolbox today. Bend the right knee. Left hand on the hip. Step back slowly. Good. Warrior 2.

Take one breath here. Exhale it out. Now reverse Warrior. Reach the right arm up. You don't even have to tip back, just reach it straight up.

And now like a windmill, bring the arms down. Lift the back heel to square the hips. Now it's a rotation. A lunge with the rotation. So, rotate open.

Reaching the right arm high. I get a little kiss from the sun here. Good. Right arm, bring it on down. Step back into plank pose. Practice lifting the foot up instead of dragging it, right?

So I'll show you here. Just (sigh), So you see how I kind of have to come up on my fingertips to do so. Lift the foot, bring it on back. Okay, steady strong plank pose. Widen your feet a little bit.

Now, from here, lift your right foot up. Tent up on the left fingertips, Get light on those fingertips. Play around with lifting the entire hand. Get your left leg strong. Push the heel back, squeeze your quad.

Belly is tight. Do what you can. Good. Switch sides. Left leg extends back. Lean to the left just a little bit.

Keep your hips square. Tent up on the fingertips. Strong right leg. Both hands down, both feet down. Breathe in, exhale lower down.

Do cobra on the inhalation. Exhale, downward dog. Yes, good job. Left leg lift it high, breathe in. And exhale, tuck it into the body.

Step it all the way up. Finish the exhale. Rise up on the inhale for lunge. Field goal shape. Tailbone drawn down.

Little bend in that back knee. Draw the palms, forearms, and elbows together. Exhale, open them up. Good, straighten the front leg. Spin the back heel down, extend your stance a little bit.

Warrior 2. You've been here before, so it's just sometimes gonna take you a couple breaths to get the situation set, right? Extended side angle. Left forearm rests gently on the left thigh, right hand on the hip. So you can stay here.

When I first started, these things used to burn my thighs like crazy. So if that's happening, totally normal. Stay with it. Left fingertips down toward the mat. Bring the right arm up, keep pulling that left hip back.

Rotate open. Feel free to straighten the left leg. And also, kind of like you're holding a tray with that left arm. Brace like crazy through the core. Good. Back into Warrior 2.

Okay. Keep the left arm out, right hand on the hip. Shorten your stance. Look out. Get your gazing point. Get your breath. Right?

Here we go. Half moon. Extend the right leg back. Stay strong and long on that left leg. Reach the right arm high if you'd like. Soft bend in the left leg, right hand on the hip.

Step back into Warrior 2. Good. Reverse Warrior. Breathe in. And breathe out. Windmill the arms down. Step back into plank pose.

Let's do one push-up. I'm a big fan of that good natural body weight strength. Okay, so lean forward. Come up on your toes. One strong push-up. Lower, belly strong.

Push up. Good. Pause here, breathe in. Same motion but lower all the way down. Cobra on the inhalation. Exhale, downward dog.

Let's finish this off by walking up to the front of the mat. I like to come up under my fingertips. Keep pulling my belly up as I lift my sit bones high. Tiptoe. Land and exhale.

Inhale, lift halfway Exhale, fold. Strong chair. Rise up, breathe in. Palms to the chest. Exhale.

Balance. Here we go. Lean to the left. Lift your right foot up off the mat. Lifting your thigh about parallel with the floor.

As you do so, you're still standing tall on that left leg. Now we're gonna transition into Warrior 3. Go ahead and hinge forward. Do not round your back at all. So hinge forward and shoot the back leg back as long and strong as you can.

And what I'd like you to do, is release the hands down. And maybe look toward touching the floor, or aim toward the floor so you get that deep stretch in the left hamstring. Keep your chest up. Down down down. Now drive through he left heel to come all the way up.

And when you come all the way up, get that left glute firing. Right? It's a good way to tone the ole buttocks. Here we go, one more time. Shoot it back, shoot it back. Hinge forward. Hinge Forward.

Reach down. Reach down. And then fire from your foot all the way Ha Got it! Nailed it! All the way up. Good. See, I wobbled all over the place. It's fine.

I did my best and I didn't put my foot down. But if I did, I would have just started over. No big deal. Okay. Right foot.

Lean just a little bit. Solid right leg. Lift the left. Now begin to hinge. Put a little bend in that right knee if you feel discomfort behind the knee.

Hinge forward, hips square. Hinge forward, lifting your chest like you would in a cobra pose. Get that hamstring feeling nice and long and stretched out. Reach down without rounding. (grunts) Yes! I did it.

Oh wait. Okay. There we go. Come on down. Down down down. Regain my composure. Now go all the way up.

Remember, drive through that heel. Come up. Squeeze the right side of the old glute. Let's do it again. Let's see if I can get a smoother transition this time.

Shoot the left leg back. Body's long and strong. Tip down. Tip down. Reach down but don't round, lift the chest. Now drive through that right heel, come all the way up.

Boom! Yes! Whoo, shake out the legs. Good job. Okay. Let's take a squat. I like to get that squat -- Anytime we a squat to transition down to our seats. So, chest up, knees wide.

Lower. Take one breath here. And then as you exhale, or on an inhale lower down. Good job. Sit up tall on the seat.

Draw the right foot in towards your right thigh. You can stay just like this if the hamstring right there with a little bit of lean forward is enough for you, totally fine. I'm gonna reach up and then look toward reaching toward my foot. Even if you're reaching toward the calf, that's cool too. Just enough to get a little stretch in the left leg.

(slow breathing) Good. Come on up. Switch sides. Prop yourself up. You know, a good way to do that is just sort of push up, lift your seat as much as you can and reach your seat back.

Okay, breathe in and find your stretch. Just take three breaths. Lifting the chest, lengthening the spine, folding if that feels good. Two more breaths. Inhale.

Exhale. One more time. Breath in. Calm, relaxed breath out. Great.

Good, come up. Maybe shake both legs out for a moment. I'm gonna spin around onto my seat. From here, lower down to your back. Ahh, yes.

Hug the knees in. Rock side to side. You could try to do some circles. Anything that really just kind of makes you feel more comfortable in the low back. Low side body region.

Good. Draw the bottoms of the feet together. Bring the arms along side your body. And then move them out about a foot or so. Lengthen the back of your neck. Let's together, my friends, take one full minute and find our relaxation.

Take a few moments. If you're able to hear in the background any of the surf coming in, that's a nice soothing quality. The sound of your breath. Just relax all the muscles in your body. Relax.

(ocean wave) We tend to be very skilled at moving and getting things done. It's nice to be able to be told it's okay or encouraged actually, to relax. Slow down. (deep breathing) Okay. Let's roll on over to our left side.

I'll roll to my left, you roll to whatever side you'd like. Bend the knees. Rest your head on your upper arm, your lower arm. Push yourself up to sit. Reluctantly, maybe.

Alright. Wow. So again, welcome. Welcome and thank you for joining me in sunny sunny sunny California. Wow. I can't even express to you how good that felt for me. Thank you so much.

Have a great day. Have a great night, wherever you are. Namaste.