Day 7: Core Integration

Hey there, welcome back. This is day seven. This is one week together, you and I. I'm really interested to see how you're feeling. Feel free to leave a comment.

I'd love to engage with you, see where you're at. So this new opening is called Core Integration and we begin by lying on our back. So let's you and I find ourselves on the mat, on our back. All right, from here, go ahead and roll on down and keep your legs bent. Take a deep breath.

Let's take one full breath. And on the exhale, draw the legs in, both knees in, hug onto the hamstrings or the shins. Take the knees a little bit wider, slide the arms inside the thighs and hold on toward the ankles as you bring yourself into kind of a mild, moderate, happy baby. You can push the arms into the thighs, push the knees out wide and the feet up over the knees and get a little rocking from side to side. You can straighten the right leg, you can straighten the left.

Good. You can play around there for a little bit, but can't play too long because it's time to integrate into the core. So we're going to do those bicycle style abdominals. Start by bringing the right knee into the chest, extend the left leg out, push through the ball of the left foot and really engage that extended leg, the left in this case. Now lift your shoulders, your chest up to meet your right leg, right?

So now when you start to release the arms, you've got to use your core here. We're going to do 10 to begin or 10 total, sorry, we're not going to do 10 rounds or three rounds even, one round. So exhale, switch, right leg out, left knee in, lift. That's one, one. Now we're going to 10.

So two, two, maybe even take the elbows or hands behind the head, elbow reaches to alternate knees. Okay. Left elbow to the right knee for three, exhale, three, four, four, five, five, six, six, seven, seven. Make sure you're breathing eight, eight, nine, nine, 10, 10. One more bonus, one, whoo, yes.

Definitely felt that. You did too. Good job. Let's rock and roll a few times. Back and up.

Good. Roll back and up. One more time. You roll back and all the way up. Come on to your hands and knees.

On the exhale, push the hips back, child's pose. Those flow right into the next sequence, which is the lunge salutations with some backbends. We've done this one before. So we'll start by curling the toes and get up into downward dog. We'll take downward dog, take a little stroll.

So walk the dog up to the front of the mat. This is like the little transition space. Exhale, lift halfway, extend the spine, and then exhale, fold. From the forward bend, let's make our way all the way up. So a little bend in the knees, some strength in the legs, strong core, rise all the way up, reach the arms out, up, and wide, touch the ceiling, a little baby back bend, and the palms to the heart.

So this is that lunge salutation with some back bending. So we're going to move right into that. So breathe in, reach the arms out and up. This time, exhale the arms out wide, that swan dive style. Bring it all the way down on the exhale.

Inhale, lift the chest, half lift. Exhale, step back into downward dog. Good. Inhale into plank pose. Today I'm going to use my knees.

So exhale knees, bend the arms, come all the way down, point the toes back and drive the feet down for cobra. I'll take it through cobra today. And exhale, push back into tabletop. Inhale, curl the toes under, exhale dog pose. So that transition can always be modified and changed and shifted based on how you're feeling.

We're always talking about that. How do you feel, adjust, adjust, adjust. Nice. Come up to the front of the mat. Get the half lift on the breath in, breath out, forward bend, rise all the way up.

Reach up, touch the ceiling, a little baby back bend, and exhale, palms to the heart. Good. You're not going to use the blocks this time. So from here, bring the arms out and up. Obviously, feel free to use them if you need them.

Swan dive, exhale the arms down, inhale, lift halfway, exhale, step the right foot back, bring the knee down. Here's the new offering. When you bring the knee down, ground the right hand and take the left arm up. So just one big breath, so a little lunge twist. On the exhale, left hand comes down.

Inhale, bring the arms up, sweep them back behind you and let's really exaggerate this like opening in the front of the body. So clasp the hands, roll the shoulders back and push the chest forward. Draw the tailbone down and maybe even sink the hips forward a little bit. You can lift the chest, take the gaze gently up, release the arms up, breathe in, exhale, the hands come down, step the right foot up to meet the left, exhale as you do so, inhale, lift half, exhale, fold, step the left foot back, the knee comes down, ground the left hand, roll open to a twist to the right, exhale the right hand down, inhale, both arms up, sweep the arms back behind you, get the clasp, open the front of the body while still finding some benefit in the lunge, right? You can get even further into that left hip flexor region and into the back bend.

Figure out where your threshold is always, release by bringing the arms high on the inhale, exhale the hands down, good, step the left foot up to meet the right, forward bend, inhale half lift, exhale, fold, inhale, rise all the way up, palms to the heart, exhale, inhale, bring the arms out and up, on the exhale, forward bend, inhale, lift half way, exhale, bring the right foot back, good, the right knee comes down and let's from here come up onto the fingertips, again if the blocks, if you become accustomed to the blocks please use them, from here let's send the hips back, stay up on the fingertips, kind of fold over that left leg, lifting the toes like I'm doing here, maybe pointing the toes forward, I mean this stretch through here feels so nice but it also adds a little cramp under the foot sometimes, good you can come in and out, so this is where you begin to explore, you find your way, right? That's what we're looking for. Now come back, sit on the heels, sweep the arms up, similar to the lunge we were just in, now the arms are back behind you, push the chest up, open up, good, stay here or camel pose, curl the back toes, sweep the arms up overhead, reach back behind you, grab hold of those heels, tuck the tailbone and boom, your camel pose or hero's pose with the hands behind you, beautiful, good, left hand on the back, right hand on the back, hands come down to the mat, cat pose on the exhale, gentle extension into cow pose on the inhale, very nice, let's take another cat pose on the exhale and inhale back into a flat back, nice, so let's kind of lean to the left and step the right foot forward, come onto the fingertips, grab the lunge and then maybe slide back a little bit, point the toes forward, so what we're looking for here is that hamstring in the right leg, you're pointing the toes up, you're pointing them down, you're wiggling around in the hips, you're figuring out in this position, like let's see what this feels like, put the hips back, now point those right toes forward and fold over that leg, good, nice, okay, now let's step back, let's do that hero's pose again, sit down on the heels, sweep the arms up on the breath in, bring the arms back behind you, boom, chest up, some liberation, some space in the heart, some breath always, stay here or camel pose, sweep the arms up, take the right hand to the right heel, left hand to the left heel, make sure you're always doing the work in the pelvis, throw the hips forward, pull up on the heels, breath in, breath out, so good, left hand on the back, right hand on the back, from here untuck the toes, draw your legs together, let's like come into a super nice tight child's pose, so butt back on the heels, forehead in the direction of the knees, hands on the heels and round it out, good, stay here and we'll begin to slowly come up onto the heels, pausing in that upright hero's seat, let's move into the final closing, the stretch your back closing, so that's done on our seat, so we're gonna start in bound angle pose, so you wanna prop yourself up on the sitting bones, right, get that adjustment in the pelvis, draw the bottoms of your feet together, you can choose to bring the heels tight or farther away from your body, it's up to you, okay, make sure the knees are comfortable, ankles are comfortable, now sit upright to begin and you can stay right here just like this, just kinda play around with wherever your knees are, you can take the arms back behind you in the same kind of shape that we've been working with, this whole practice really, or you can begin to fold your body forward and if you're folding your body forward maybe it's nice to inhale, lengthen, lift the chest, exhale, fold forward, inhale, lift, lengthen and exhale, fold forward, when I do this it's really like, you just wanna open up the feet, round out the back almost like a cat pose, wherever you are with this, take another breath in and another breath out, if you're folded forward like I am, bring yourself back up to sit tall, good, cross the legs, let's move into a spinal twist, so cross the legs comfortably, easy seat, take the arms up overhead as you breathe in, as you breathe out twist to the right, bring the right hand behind you, left hand to the right, thigh and rotate, good, gaze comfortably toward the right shoulder, and similar to bound angle you can cycle in and out, instead of forcing and holding and gripping you can minimize the pose, breathe in, lengthen, exhale, rotate, good, sweep back to center, inhale, bring the arms up overhead and exhale, right hand to left thigh, left hand back behind you, prop up, lengthen the spine, inhale and exhale, rotate to the left, inhale, come out of the pose a little bit, exhale, come back in, one more time, breathe in, just release a little bit and exhale, rotate, nice, sun's coming out, okay, come back over to center, maybe to the right one more time, back to center, here we are, now let's roll down to our back, so come on down to your back with me, hug the knees in, bring the feet down and we'll do a couple bridge roll ups, I believe we've done these before, so feet grounded, inhale, lift the hips, sweep the arms all the way back behind you, exhale, roll down the length of your spine and press your palms down alongside your body, inhale, lift up, doesn't have to be super high, just lift up to wherever you can lift and exhale, roll back down, last one we're going to stay up, so go ahead and lift up as high as you can, make sure your knees and your feet are all about hip width, now from here sweep your arms underneath your body, interlace your fingers, walk your left shoulder blade under you, your right shoulder and shoulder blade, good, so this is kind of capping off a lot of the same movements and same shapes we've been going in and out of for this practice, opening the chest, opening the heart, extending the spine, breathing, are you continuing to listen, are you continuing to pay attention and I bring this up over and over and over because that, I promise you if you haven't already figured it out, that is the answer and the key to really finding your own practice, okay good, let's begin to slide the left shoulder blade out, slide the right out, connect to the center of the back, lift your heels on the breath in and slowly roll down one vertebra at a time, great, draw the bottoms of your feet together, rest your arms alongside your body, but before we actually rest the arms, take the hands behind the head, lift your head like you're trying to draw the chin to the chest, do what you can to stretch out the back body, especially the neck and place the head back down with the chin kind of like tucked in a little bit, right away accomplished, I set out to do day seven, I've done it and now I deserve to rest, so let's take a few moments together with the legs in this shape or the legs straight out, to rest, find some space for positivity, for gratitude, for trust, keeping an open mind with the practice and whatever yoga does for you, beginning to let go completely, sweep the arms up overhead, draw the knees into the body or use your feet and roll over, kick the hips to the left and roll over to your right side, pause, take a breath, from here push back up, we were just sitting, so now we'll meet sitting again, we'll close out together, you and I, this is one week together, that's a big accomplishment, so let's keep it simple, namaste, have a beautiful, awesome day, I'll see you for day eight, bye.