Day 24: Twist It Out

(ocean wave crashes) Hey, what's up? Welcome back to Yoga Anytime. This is number 24. We're on the home stretch. 24, we're gonna twist it out.

We're gonna twist a little bit, all right? So, let's have a little fun. Number 24, it's a new day. It's a new day to practice, a new day to feel. Who knows what'll happen, all right?

So... Press your palms together. You and I together, once again. We're friends. We're pals. Breath in, moving up the heart.

Breath out. Breath in, get long and tall. Stay tall and exhale. (exhales slowly) Okay. We're gonna start at the front of the mat like we do from time to time. So, join me.

Take a moment here to stand. (breathes deeply) Stand on your own two feet. Ground down, lengthen up the rest of your body. Palms rest at your heart, at your chest. (breathes deeply) Breathe in. And breathe out.

When in doubt, pause and breathe. Let's warm up a little bit. Inhale, circle the arms high. And exhale, forward bend. Inhale, lengthen up through the back body.

Exhale, step back into Plank Pose. Let's do the knees for the first time. On the exhale, lower down. Move through Cobra on the breath in. Table top on the breath out.

Curl the toes under, breathe in, and exhale, Downward Dog. Walk up to the front of the mat. Fold, exhale. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, fold.

Strong legs rise up, breathe in. And breathe out, palms to the chest. Inhale, circle up. Exhale, forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway.

Exhale, step back into Plank. Lower down your way. Upward your way, Cobra, Upward Dog. Exhale, Downward Dog. Take the right leg, lift it up.

Get a little core action by bringing the knee to the elbow. Inhale, send it high. Exhale, all the way up for Lunge. Fingertips, look back. Feet are square.

Hips are square. Rise up. (inhales) If you're ready for it, let's just lean the body forward, palms to your chest. Now on your exhale, bring your fingertips up towards your temples and twist over to the right, all right? Now, from here, take your right hand on your right thigh. Pull the stomach up and in and take that elbow over and across your right thigh.

Your left leg is strong and long, okay? Now press your palms together. Steady feet, steady breath. Twisting and rotating, okay? Your spine is meant to rotate.

So find your degree of rotation. Good, now slowly come out. Stay long, no rounding here, long. Back heel down, right hip back. Bring the right hand down on the inside of your foot and then slide that left arm up.

(breathes deeply) Bring the left arm down. Lift the back heel, and now open up the other way. Twist, right arm reaches. Right arm down, exhale. Step back into Plank.

Pause here, breathe in. And as you exhale, lean forward a little bit. Lower down. Inhale, upward. Exhale, Downward Dog.

Left leg rises, breathe in. Exhale, knee to elbow. Core. Every time you do this you're getting stronger. Good, inhale, send it high.

Exhale, send it through. Lunge, all the way up. Lean forward about 45 degrees. Temples on your exhale. Again, to rotate toward the left as far as you can.

Good. Now take your left hand on your left thigh. Use that as a little stability. Pull your stomach, your belly, in. Cross it over.

Elbow over the left thigh. Pull the stomach in as much as you can. Good, now palms to your chest. Or palms pressed together. Pull the shoulders away from your head.

Breath is strong and relaxed. (exhales strongly) Good, slowly come back out. Bring the back heel down. Left fingertips to the mat. Right hip draws down toward the mat.

Open up. (breathes deeply) Good, right arm comes down. Lift the back heel which will help to square your hips. Left hand brushes across the body to encourage the twist. Twist open.

Then that arm reaches up. Left arm down. Step right foot up to meet the left, feet hip-width. Forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway.

And exhale fold. Strong legs, strong core, rise up, breathe in. And now sit back into the Chair. Feet are hip-width. Bring your fingertips once again, temples or kind of behind the head.

Pull your stomach in. 45 degrees or so in that back body, the trunk of your body. Now on your exhale, twist. Keep the left knee pulling back. It's gonna wanna come forward like so.

Hips square, knees square. Breathe in and exhale. Twist left. Breathe in and exhale. Good, over to the other side, exhale.

Back to center. Rise up, arms up. Breathe in, get tall. Palms to the chest, breathe out. Walk your feet together.

Bring the arms out in front of you and sit your seat back, Chair Pose. Palms to your heart. I like to take my right hand onto the thigh like we did before. On the exhale, you kind of pull your stomach in. Keep your left knee back in line with your right and twist the left elbow over.

You might have to kind of like work it a little bit. Left knee back. Hips aligned. Working mostly up through the like thoracic upper part of your back. If you have it in you, lean to the right a little bit, lift your left heel up and step back into Lunge.

You might have more space. Create a deeper lunge, twist. Okay, now you're gonna step the left foot back up into that Chair. (exhales) Come out of the twist. Try this.

Spine long, core tight. Lift your left leg up and step all the way up. (exhales strongly) Good job. Let's do the other side. Feet together.

Arms up, breathe in. And exhale, Chair. Palms resting at your heart. Inhale. Exhale, left hand to the thigh.

Twist with the long spine, hook it. Pull the right knee back, feet together. Oh, yes. Good. Twisted Chair.

Lean to the left a little bit, feel supported. Right leg back. Now I've got a little more space that I'm gonna create. Pull the stomach in. Right elbow hooks over a little bit farther.

(breathing deeply) Look at your left foot. Step the right foot up to meet your left. Good. Undo the twist. Lift the right heel, lift the right foot, and come all (laughs) all the way up.

I cheated a little bit on that, there's that. (sighs) Take a moment here to take your feet about as wide as the mat. So let the arms casually. I'll do it in front of you. Take the arms.

The loose relaxed twist. Let the arms slap the body. Okay, I'm gonna step back up. Feet hip-width, soft knees. Bend my knees more and more and more.

Tailbone draws down. Round out like a Child's Pose, but I'm standing, right? (exhales deeply) Fingers underneath the foot. See if you can get this. Toes resting on your wrists.

Knees bent as much as you need to to get that. Then you play around with, of course, using your breath, straightening your legs without really letting your chest leave your thighs. (exhales strongly) Good work. Good, undo the hands. Bend the knees more.

Walk your feet out toward the edge of the mat. Bring the feet off of the mat and then drop back into Squat Pose. (breathes deeply) Pressing the elbows into the thighs. Okay, from here, land softly on the seat. I'll face you.

Cross the legs for now. Take one moment to kind of fall forward. Bring yourself back up. A couple deep breaths. (exhales) All right, so the right heel. Take the left leg into your body.

Right heel stays close to your left seat. Now, figure out a way to get that left foot on the other side of the right thigh. Okay, now most likely this left hip is kinda drawn up, so figure out how to get that hip back down square. Square hips, sit bones grounded. Take your right arm and either just hold onto the knee, which is a nice stretch up through the left hip, glute.

Maybe even wrap that arm around like so. Pull the stomach in, very similar to the twisting we've already been doing. And then reach the left arm back. You're also welcome to reach that right arm high, hook it like we've been doing in the other twists. Take the gaze forward first.

Slowly back to center. Take a little casual counter-twist to the right. So first twist up and over just a little, little tippy tip to the right. Okay, up to center. Lean back, cross the legs.

So now, as always, get those sit bones planted, sit bones plugged in, spine nice and long, okay? I think I've got that going on. (breathes deeply) So once again, left hand hold the knee in and to the left. Rotate open. A little more of a hug.

And then a little bit of a hook. You choose. (breathes deeply) Look forward first and then let the unwinding kind of happen on its own. Sit up tall, counter-twist. Tip.

Woo, man, that's a lot of twisting. I definitely feel like rinsed out in a sense. So let's roll down to our backs and kinda close this out, okay? When you land, what might feel best is if you take the arms, left arm around the hamstring, right arm around the hamstring. Interlace, hold onto opposite wrists, and let yourself sort of just collapse and rest.

Legs resting. Rocking side to side. There's also, the hands can rest on top of the knees, and you can create these circles. Circular motion one way. The other.

You can let the knees, for one final twist, come over to the left. Over to the right. Both knees to the right, twisting. Back up to center. Bring the feet down to the mat.

Take your hands behind the head. Lift your head, length of the neck. (exhales slowly) Stretch both legs out, lying flat on the mat. Try this. Engage every single muscle in your body.

So if you lift your arms, make a fist. Lift your legs, squeeze every muscle in your legs. Lift your shoulders even like squeeze your face, like every muscle is just (groans), and then one, at one exhale everything just collapses. So ready. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.

And (exhales a sigh). Zero effort. The only real effort is convincing yourself that it's okay and very necessary to relax. Once you've allowed yourself that relaxation, you begin to feel different body parts begin to let go, dissolve, and melt. As important as we feel it is to exercise and work hard, it's just as important to relax.

Relieve and let go of stress. Notice any stress or tension around your forehead or eyes. (exhales deeply) Relax. Start to move your fingers and toes. Reach your arms up overhead.

Get a big, big wake up stretch. Roll to your side. Head resting on your left or right arm. Knees bent and curled up. Take one full breath here.

And then go ahead and push up with minimal effort. Ah, we meet again. So, close out. That was a very twisty practice, number 24. Thank you, thank you, thank you for joining me.

Have a beautiful rest of your day, your night. I'll see you for practice number 25. What? Namaste.