Day 22: Fly, Fly Again

Hey, welcome back to Yoga Anytime. Thanks for joining me once again. Number 22, here we go. Be prepared to do this lunge salute, the sun salutations, over and over today. We're going to be doing more than we usually do.

I'll move slowly and deliberately, breath by breath, all right? Are you with me? You feeling good? Yes. All right, so you and I, as we always do, I'm going to miss this by the way, close your eyes, press your palms together, take a breath in, exhale everything out, and arrive.

There we go. Front of the mat, we'll start with the feet hip width, standing nice and tall. Close your eyes, getting to feel your toes lift, your feet ground, your legs firm up. You can work with the Ujjayi breath. That'll be really nice for this practice.

Okay. Start by bringing arms up on the breath in. Breath out, forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, Plank pose.

Inhale. Now exhale, lower down your way. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, downward dog. Three breaths.

Look to the front of the mat on your exhale, step the right foot, continue to exhale, as you step the left foot, forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, fold. Strong legs, strong core, rise all the way up. Inhale all the way up, and exhale, palms draw to the chest.

One more like that, a little faster, not too fast. Breathe in, arms up, stretch. Exhale, bow down, fold in half. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, Plank pose.

Finish the exhale. Good. On your next exhale, let's do the knee lowering into upward dog. So exhale there. Inhale.

Exhale, downward dog. So as we begin to move, and we build, when we lower down, I might lower down in that fold push up position, and move through upward dog. You can give that a try, or stay with the knees, or lower and move through cobra, okay? It's up to you. Okay, look to the front of the mat, breath in, and as you exhale, step the right, then the left.

Fold, exhale. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, forward bend. Strong legs, strong core. Rise up, breathe in.

And palms to you chest, exhale. Inhale, arms over head. Exhale, forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, Plank pose.

And I'm going to continue to exhale, and lower halfway. Inhale, pulling myself forward and through for upward dog. Exhale, downward dog. Inhale, your right leg lifts high. Exhale, step it all the way through.

Finish your exhale. Get your proper footing right for lunge. And inhale your way up for lunge. On your next exhale, you'll press the hands down to the mat, step back into Plank, and lower, okay? So breathe in.

Exhale, hands down, step back, lower. Inhale, cobra or upward dog. And exhale, downward dog. Good job. Left leg, lift it high.

Breath in. Exhale, step it all the way through. Finish your exhale. Get your feet right. Rise up lunge on the breath in.

Same thing, so when we exhale, we're going to plant our hands, step back into Plank, and lower. Breathe in with me. Breathe out, hands come down, lift the foot, step back, and lower. Inhale, upward dog. Exhale, downward dog.

Three breaths, walking it out, peddling it out, stretching the side body, downward dog. Look forward. This time we'll lead with the left foot. So lift the left foot up, breath in, and exhale. Step it.

Step the right. Forward bend, exhale. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, forward bend. Strong legs, rise all the way up.

Breathe in. Exhale, palms to the chest, palms to the heart. Good, just like that. Breathe in. Get tall.

Exhale, forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, step back into Plank, and lower. Keep good form as you're moving through, no need to rush. Breathe in, upward dog.

Breathe out, downward dog. Right leg lifts, inhale. Exhale, step it all the way through. Finish your exhale, stagger your feet. Rise up for lunge on the breath in.

Full breath out. Hands down, step back, lower. Inhale, upward facing dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, your left leg lifts.

Exhale, send it through. Finish the exhale. Rise up on the breath in. On the exhale, hands come down, step back into Plank, lower. Inhale, upward facing dog.

Exhale, downward facing dog. Good work. If you lose the breath, it's no big deal. Just pause, reintroduce yourself to the breath. Make sure you're kind of doing the best possible job of linking the breath with the movement.

Okay, now look forward, lift your right leg up, step it all the way through, follow with the left. Fold, exhale. Inhale, half lift. Exhale, fold. Strong legs, rise up, arms reach up.

Exhale, palms to your heart. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, Plank pose, lower down.

Inhale, upward facing dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, the right leg lifts. Exhale, send it through. Inhale, high crescent lunge.

Exhale, Plank pose, lower down. Inhale, upward dog. Exhale, downward dog. Inhale, your left leg rises. Exhale, send it all the way through.

Inhale, lunge. Exhale, Plank pose, lower down. Inhale, upward facing dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Three breaths.

Look forward. Take both feet, step them up one at a time. Fold in half, exhale. Inhale, lift half. Big exhale, fold.

Strong legs, strong back. Rise up, breathe in. Palms to the chest, exhale. Inhale, arms circle out and up. Exhale, forward bend.

Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, Plank pose, lower down. Inhale, upward dog. Exhale, downward dog. Right leg lifts, breathe in.

Exhale, send it through. Good. Inhale, lunge, pause. Bring the palms to your chest. Keep your chest up, long spine.

Get your steady gaze. We're going to work right into Warrior III from here. When you're ready, hop right up, and balance on your right leg. Tip your body forward without rounding. Keep the back legs strong and long.

Choose to keep your hands right at your heart, or take your arms out wide, like an airplane. Drawing your left tip down. Sometimes I like to bend my right leg, straighten the leg. Sometimes you almost fall out, that's actually kind of my favorite time, when you almost fall out, and you have to catch yourself in mid-fall. Okay, now step back into lunge.

Good. Take a good sweeping inhale. Arms high. And now transition. Hands come down, step back into Plank, and lower.

Inhale, pull yourself through, upward facing dog. And exhale, downward facing dog. Left leg rises, inhale. Exhale, send it through. Good, rise up on the breath in for lunge.

Palms drawn down to the heart, feeling grounded, stable, balanced. And when you're ready, start your flight. Little cobra, little, subtle, tiny bend in the left leg. Full breath. Hinging your body forward without rounding.

Just a nice long, strong spine, all the muscles around your spine are supporting you in this action. Take your arms out. Look at that, look at that, yes. Save. Got it.

Good. Fly, feel a moment of success, and then land back into the lunge, sweep the arms up. Breathe in, and exhale. Hands come down, step back. Now let's do this.

From here, one push up, knees or not, it's up to you. Now come down to your forearms, hold. Come back up onto your hands. Right knee, right elbow. Left knee, left elbow.

Right. Left. Right. Left. Right.

Left. Right. Left. Good, one push up. Forearm Plank.

Hold yourself, be strong, strong. Come back up for one last Plank. Three push ups. One. Two.

Downward dog all the way up and back. Good job. Okay, bring the knees down, my friends. Take a Child's pose, and let your head rest on your arms. Come on up.

Well done. Come down to your seat. If you've got your block nearby, grab your trusty block. Lie down. Place the block in between your feet, your ankles.

Make sure it's really supported, okay? So get a good grip on there. Now here, what I want you to do is first lower your legs down. This might be your first progression. Hands underneath your hip, your seat.

Look forward through the legs, lower your legs a little bit, and lift them back up. Okay, so stay here and do a few of these. Or if you want a little extra added challenge, lower without the hands, belly strong. Lift the legs, reach up, take the block. Good.

Stay here, lower down, but don't lower all the way. Lower the legs, breathe in there. Exhale, lift. Lift. Lift.

Place the block. Good. We'll do four more. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift up.

Lift, reach, grab. Nicely done. Lower the legs, lift the legs, place the block up between the feet or the ankles, keeping your core engaged the whole time. Good. Inhale, lower.

Exhale, lift, lift up and grab the block. One more after this. Lower. Lift. Place the block up between the feet.

Good. Lower. Lift. Nice. Place the hands underneath your seat.

We got five more here, okay? So if you were doing this version, stay here. Lift the shoulders and head. Lower the legs, lift the legs. One, we're going to five.

Exhale, two. Exhale, three. Exhale, four. Exhale, five. Nice.

Release the block. Bring the feet down to the mat. With the focus on the belly there, what we're going to do now is open up. So bring the feet underneath the knees, press and rise up. Stretch the belly, the abdominal wall out.

Open up the chest, walk those shoulder blades towards one another. Feel free to interlace those hands. Keep the breath flowing, watching the inhalation, exhalation. I'm going to slide my sweaty shoulder blades away from one another, lift my heels, and then slowly lower all the way down. Take your arms out into a nice wide "T" position.

And windshield wiper your knees from side to side. Nice. Just let this be an easy, kind of free-flowing movement through your hips, your low back, your knees. Bring it up to center, hug your knees in. Good.

Give it a good squeeze. Lift the head, chin to the chest. Head back down, feet down. Slide out. Reach up, deep breath in, and exhale.

Let your entire body melt down into the mat, down into your floor. Offer yourself up a couple of nice inhalations. Followed by long, full exhalation. Roll over to your side. I'll roll to my left.

Bends your knees, rest your head. One breath. Ready to start your day, or end your day. Not sure where you are with your practice, the time of day it is. But go ahead and come up, sit down.

We'll say, "Hello," face to face. Press your palms together. And once again, I think it's so important to thank yourself, acknowledge your effort. 22. Namaste.

Have a good day.