Day 19: Launch Your Day

Hey, everyone, welcome back. This is day 19 and we're outside again in sunny California. So, I'm from California, and when I grew up ... I no longer live ... I live on the East Coast, but growing up my family and I used to camp down the road this way, down the road that way and that's where I learned to surf.

Being here and, doing this, for Yoga Anytime and for you means a lot. And it's just so cool that I'm here in this area. So I just wanted to share that with you, a little personal tidbit. We're gonna do 20 minutes, again, showing up. This time we'll be laid out a little bit different.

It might feel different, but this is how I like to do my practice every day. Everything will be familiar, we've done it before. So, Downward-Facing Dog. You ready? You ready, okay.

But let's do this, so Downward-Facing Dog, I'll face you. We gotta connect my friends, we gotta connect. So here we are. One breath in. (inhales) One breath out. (exhales) Yeah, there we go. Okay, Downward Dog.

Go ahead and come on up. This will be a a good way to start it off. Stretch it out. Get into the hips a little bit. Yeah, so get you're normal framing of it, right.

That inverted V, that tepee-looking thing. But then soft knees and then get a little groovy with the stretching. Send the hips to one side. Send them to the other. Bend even more and send those sit bones up really high.

Lift your heels. We haven't really done this. If you lift your heels up on the breath in, and, exhale, press the heels down as far as you can. Good, okay, here we go. Ten push-ups.

So, if you're a knee push-up person, bring the knees down and get the most out of your time, okay? I'm gonna do them without the knees. Here we go. Inhale. Exhale one.

Inhale. Exhale two. Exhale three. Exhale four. Exhale five, half way there.

Five more, so let's go. Exhale five. Four. Keep breathing. Three.

Two. One, nice, now bring your forearms down to the mat. It's a good way to just get the heat going right away. So form Plank, Dolphin. So walk the feet closer.

Soft knees, just like Downward Dog. Soft knees, high seat. Now, lift your right leg high. Breathe in, as you exhale, come into Plank. Knee to the back of the arm.

Good, five. Inhale the leg high, breathe in. Exhale, knee in, two. (inhales) Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Core strong. One more time on the inhalation. Exhalation.

Send it up high. Right foot comes down, readjust if you've been slipping. Take a breath. (inhales) Left leg rises on the breath in. Exhale, knee to the arm. Pull the belly in.

Get tight, get strong in the midsection. Exhale, two. Exhale, three. Good work. Exhale, four.

And exhale five. Send it up high, breathe in. Bring it down, come into form Plank. Breathe in. With an exhale, set the knees down.

Your thighs down, your hips down. Woo, shoulders probably feeling a little bit there. Mine were. Take a couple breaths in Sphinx Pose. Roll the shoulders back.

(deep breath) A little bend in the low back, mostly up in the chest. (deep breath) Okay, slowly lower down. Lift for a little Cobra and push back into Child's Pose. So these are the types of movements I feel help me to launch into my day, feeling energized, stretched out, calm and connected. (deep breath) And, then, I put that intention in there.

That intention could be a lot of different things. It could be something I'm trying to focus on for the day. Could be just, thankful, one more day here we go. Alright. From Child's Pose, go ahead and just sit right up onto your shins.

Curl the back toes under. Take the hands back behind you. Thumbs meeting one another, somewhere near one another. Hands reaching around your waist. Now, pull the shoulders back and, as you do so, draw the tailbone down.

So it's a little mellow Camel Pose. Push the chest up, maybe take a gaze up. Enter your day with a huge open heart. (deep breathing) Okay, come back up, nice. I'm gonna hit this one more time but I'm gonna reach back for my heels.

If this is enough for you right here, or even right here, you choose. Right arm reaches back. Hold onto the heel, pull up on the heel. Left arm, good, tailbone draws down, lengthening the low back, relieving any of that intense curvature in your lumbar. Now, push your hips and thigh bones forward and your chest up.

So this is that posture; it's like open heart. You've got no choice, it's wide open, it's exposed. And, maybe today, maybe in a week or so, whenever it feels appropriate, you hit those moments throughout the day when you might respond with anger or frustration and remember this Camel Pose. And remember how free and open it felt, right? And, maybe, you can approach those tricky scenarios with more of an open, spacious heart.

Just a suggestion. Not always good, doesn't always work really. Go ahead and come back up. We held that for a little while, so we'll come back down, Child's Pose. Back up onto the knees, send the left foot forward, both hands on that left thigh.

Draw the knees forward, lunge. Option to stay in that open-heart scene, right, would be reach back behind you, interlace and lunge, chest up. (deep breathing) Good, come back out. Release the hands, shake out the arms. Step the left foot back and, now, the right.

Stay right here, hands on the thigh. You can lean forward a little bit more. I'm gonna reach back, interlace, open up the heart, the chest. Forget about the heart, just rolling the shoulders open, right? We've got such rounded shoulders these days.

At least I do. It's nice for me to open up, really create more space across the chest. Okay, go ahead and come back out. Release the arms. Take the left foot, step it up to meet the right.

And fold. Come up halfway, breathe in. And, now, soft knees. Forward Bend, hold onto opposite elbows. Straightening one leg at a time.

Getting a little groovy with how you let the body roam from side to side. (deep breathing) Come up again halfway. Breathe in. Now, exhale fold. (exhales) Good, rolling up, draw the tailbone down, knees bent quite a bit. Breathe in, send the arms up high.

And, exhale, palms to the chest. (exhales) Step the right foot back and we'll get a little stance like this. You ready? So, we're going to do the Forward Bend, Side Lunge thing we've done a few times. I love it.

So soft knees, hips back, chest out, Forward Bend. (deep breathing) I just find it so much more rewarding, rather than just getting up grabbing my coffee and running out the door. This just gives me that extra 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, to create the day I want to create. And not let the day kinda happen to me. Take the left foot, open it up and draw into the Lunge.

Personally, for so many years, I kinda let it happen. I was always reacting to the day, reacting to scheduling, right. And, now, I'm much more proactive. This is how I want, this is what I want. This is how I want my day to look.

And, starting off with some stretching and breathing and kinda feeling into it, makes such a difference for me. And you maybe experiencing that now in day, what is this 19? Good job, alright, over to the other side. (deep breath) Heel can come up, you can put that whole left foot down. Keep the chest up.

Good, back over to that Forward Bend. Come up halfway, breathe in and exhale. Bring it out. Out and down. Okay, now, come up back onto the fingertips, heel-toe your feet toward one another.

So hip width would be below the hips, right? Maybe a foot out from each hip, open up the feet, draw the seat back. Squat time. So the squatting I really like to use for the mobility, keep the hips open. But, also, for the strength in the legs, the glutes, the core.

So we'll take 10 nice and slow. So reach out, stomach in. When you press up, I want you to press so firmly through your heels, you've got no other choice, really press through the heels and that will ignite all the muscles up through the legs. On the exhale, press up. You can pull the arms in or you can let them come down and open up the chest.

Breathe in, lower. Breathe out. (exhales) And, when you come up, legs are straight, strong. Glutes are active, arms are strong, chest open. Okay, we'll do eight more. Breathe in.

(exhales) Exhale, come up. That's four. (exhales) Five. Six, keep your gaze straight away. Seven, three more.

(exhales) Nine. (exhales) Ten, nice. Bring your palms to touch in front of your heart. Bring your feet back toward hip width. Close your eyes and ground for a moment.

(deep breathing) Okay, now, Tree Pose into balance on the right leg. So we're gonna bend the left, turn the hip open. Place the heel just above the ankle, use the toes for support or, if you're beyond that, slide the heel up to the calf. Just below the knee. And, now, here, press your foot into the leg and the leg into the foot and see how strong and connected both legs can be, okay?

Up tall from the waist, take the arms up. If you really want to challenge yourself here in Tree, take your gaze up, a little higher. I'm not going to take mine up now because it's right into the sun, right. But, go ahead and try it, maybe it's up toward your ceiling. Ceiling and wall where they meet.

And, if you're like, come on man, this is Tree Pose, I can do this all day, try this. We're on our right leg, right? Lift your right foot off up the mat. What? Yeah, if you can do that, let's switch places all day.

I want to be your student. Alright, good, come on out. Arms. That would be so cool, to be able to lift the right foot up while you are in Tree Pose. Okay.

Bend. Open. Ground, build your tree. Build your tree pose. I like it here, some people like to bring the foot all the way up.

I feel, for me, it's not really that necessary. I like it here below the knee. Foot into the leg, leg into the foot. (deep breathing) Arms up, steady gaze. (deep breathing) Lift the left foot up again, if you're that person.

Actually, I don't really wanna meet you if you're that person. (laughs) Just kidding, I wish I could meet all of you guys. Here, palms to the chest. Yeah, palms to the chest, foot down. Shake it out.

Good job. Bring the palms back to the chest, take a breath. (deep breath) Alright, my friends, let's finish off on our backs. So go ahead and just come on down. Roll down to your back.

Take a moment, without doing anything. Just one breath. (deep breathing) Draw the left knee into your chest, pull it in nice and tight. Maybe even explore bringing the knee out toward the ribs, way out, way out yonder. Bring it toward the center.

Bring that left foot down, now, shift your hips over to the left. Extend that right leg out, draw the left in. Separate your back, sometimes we get a little crumpled in the back. Open up the back, left arm reaches out. Right hand guides that left knee across the body toward in the direction of the floor.

Gazing straight up or maybe even taking the gaze over to the left shoulder. You choose which one feels better for your neck. (deep breathing) Nice, come on out. Situate yourself back to the center. Draw the right knee in.

Lengthen the back of your neck. Pull the knee and thighs as close to your body as you can. And, then, let it drift out toward the rib cage. It's actually called Wind Relieving Pose so if that happened, or if it does happen, good job. Pose done right.

I'll refrain from that for now. Okay, keep your knee in. Left leg bends, basically just to shift over onto your left hip. Extend that left leg out, reach the right arm out. Left hand holds onto that right thigh or the knee to encourage twist.

Gazing point is straight up or over your right shoulder. Breath is free-flowing. (deep breathing) Okay, come back out to center. Situate yourself, so when I say back to center, if you're over onto the right, bring yourself onto the center of your mat, hug your knees in. Maybe you can take a big hold.

You can either wrap your arms behind your hamstrings or around your shins just below your knees. Kinda curl up in a tight ball like a deep Child's Pose. Bring the feet down. Slide your feet out. Take a little relaxation here.

So with your legs long, feet open, arms totally relaxed. Back of your neck is long. Take a deep inhalation. Hold it for a moment and exhale. (exhales) I did it again.

Relax. Soften. Undo. (deep breath) Stretch your entire body out. Get nice and long, building just a little bit of energy to roll over onto your left or right side, bending your knees and rest your head for a moment.

Push up to sit. Get those legs nice and crossed. Sit up tall, acknowledge your effort, acknowledge your showing up. Close your eyes and don't even focus on nothing negative. I don't care if you fell a hundred times in Tree Pose.

It doesn't matter. What you did is you showed up with me, once again, for number 19, I'll see you for number 20. Yes, namaste.