Day 9: Let's Go!

Hey, how are you doing? Welcome back to day 9 of this crazy 30-day adventure. I'm really curious, how are you doing? What's going on? As you are probably feeling most of the time, it's difficult to make time for this, so acknowledge right away.

Boom. I'm here. I'm doing it. Roll out your mat. Let's go.

Core integration. All right, on your back. Not to sound bossy, but come on down to your back. Okay, I'm here, you're here. Let's totally commit to this right now, 20 minutes.

Let's draw the right knee in and the left knee. So a little rocking from side to side. We've done this opening several times, so by now you might have some personalized little movements, okay? So it's knees in, open the knees, move into a happy baby, stretch out some of the tight inner groin and hip areas, the hamstrings. So you can straighten one leg, straighten the other, and then let's just go right into the core, right?

Extend the left leg out, pull the chest up into that right thigh, begin to feel the heat. All righty, beginning to work in the core, arms alongside the body, hands free, left leg comes in, and every time the knee comes up to the chest, lift up even higher, right? Make it that much harder. Exhale right, exhale left, exhale right, exhale left. Hands behind the head, left elbow to the right knee, right elbow to the left knee, left to right, right to left, left to right, right to left.

Now it's ten, ten, nine, nine, try not to yank on the neck, eight, good, seven, keep lifting, seven, six, six, five, five, four, four, three, three, two, two, one, one, bonus, bonus. I don't know about you, but I definitely felt that. So if you didn't, you got to get in there, all right? So rock and roll, get in there meaning lift up a little bit more, draw the knee in a little bit more, rock forward and back a couple times, good, last time, roll back, roll up, as we do we come on down to our hands and knees, push back into child's pose, good, come up into tabletop on the breath in, curl the toes under and exhale your way into downward facing dog pose, stretch through the heels, alternate one at a time, walk up to the front of the mat, maybe the left foot steps, then the right, then the left, then the right and the left, inhale, come up halfway and exhale, fold forward and down, let's come up halfway again. So lift, lengthen the spine, exhale, fold with a lot of energy, right, preparing for the middle sequence, rise all the way up, breathe in and exhale, palms to the heart.

So we've done this one, this is the forward facing sequence, so we're going to bring the blocks and use the blocks like we did in day eight, all right? Still leaving out the Chaturanga up dog, all right, but we do have a new arm hold for warrior one, surprise, tell you when we get there. Okay, so breathe in, reach up, as you breathe out, sit down into a little chair pose, keep the spine long, good, bend the knees, inhale, reach up, exhale, forward bend, inhale, lift halfway, exhale, downward facing dog, going to move a little bit faster than we did yesterday, inhale the right leg up, exhale, step it up, finish the exhale as you get your footing to rise up on the inhalation, on the exhalation, hands come down, you step back into dog pose, inhale, lift the left leg, exhale, step the left foot forward, ground the back foot, rise up for warrior one, exhale the hands down, step the right foot up to meet the left, forward bend, inhale, lift, halfway, and exhale, fold, inhale, rise all the way up, exhale, chair, inhale, all the way up, let's just go all the way back down, forward bend, inhale, lift the chest, exhale, dog pose, inhale the right leg up, exhale, step it up, good, warrior one, root down to rise all the way up, exhale, hands come down, you step back into dog pose, inhale the left leg up, exhale, step it up, get your ground, build your foundation, rise all the way up, breathe in, exhale, hands down, step the right foot up to meet the left, forward bending, inhale, lift halfway, exhale, fold, inhale, rise and shine, and exhale, comes to the heart, inhale, bring the arms up overhead, exhale, chair pose, inhale, rise all the way up and back, exhale, forward bend, inhale, lift halfway, exhale, step back into plank, or downward dog, sorry, inhale the right leg up, exhale, warrior one, right foot forward, rise all the way up, now here's the new arm, right, you reach up, sweep the arms back behind you, interlace, pull the chest open, shoulders back, stay here, or exhale, go ahead and come forward, there's two different ways to do this, we're gonna do this one, fold the body forward and over the thigh, lifting the arms up away from your back as far as you can, now to keep it moving, we're gonna inhale, lift the chest, lengthen the spine, pull the shoulders back, exhale, fold back down, now inhale, lift up one more time, and exhale, release down, inhale, all the way back up, maybe open the chest there for a moment, release the arms, good, reach up, breathe in, and exhale, bring the hands down to the blocks, bring the blocks up high, shorten the stance, square off the hips, inhale, lift the chest, lengthen the spine, and exhale, fold, inhale, lift the chest, lengthen the spine, hug the right hip back, exhale, fold, one more time, inhale, lift the chest, lengthen the spine, and exhale, fold, put the blocks on the medium, step the left foot back, bring the left knee down, lift the arms up overhead, hook the thumbs, let the hips come forward, draw the tailbone down a bit, and lift the heart, lift the heart, stretch, soften the shoulders down the back body, on the exhale, bring the hands down to the blocks, curl the back toes, lift the knee, we brought the hand to the low back last time, this time we're gonna bring the hand to the back of the head, and roll open just lifting the elbow up, rotating through the trunk of the body, inhale, come out of the twist a little bit, exhale, rotate open, on the next exhale, bring the right hand down, step back into downward facing dug, grab a breath or two, loosen the neck a little bit, soften the facial muscles, lift the left leg up, breathe in, exhale, step it all the way up, bring the back foot down, rise up for warrior one, circle the arms back behind you, interlace your fingers, grab a towel, grab a strap, grab something if that's helpful for you, okay, now breathe in, making sure your foundation set, exhale, bring the chest as far forward as you can, and then down, softening through the neck, be sure to press firmly into the back foot, lift the chest, lift the heart, lengthen the spine, breathe in, exhale, bring it on down, one more time, breathe in, and really good, all the way back up, press the chest up, roll the shoulders back, release the arms, shake the arms out a little bit, bring the arms up overhead on the breath in, and exhale the hands down to the blocks on the highest level, air off the hips, shorten your stance a little bit, lift the chest, pull up through the left thigh bone, like pull the thigh bone up into the hip, pull the hip back, chest lifts, breathe in, and exhale, fold, inhale, lengthen, exhale, fold, keep your feet actively pressing down into the mat, one more time, breathe in, and breathe out, fold, not forcing anything, continuing to listen clearly, pay perfect attention, step the right foot back, bring the knee down, rise up for your biggest low crescent lunge, whatever feels kind of restorative, on the next exhale, bring your hands down to the blocks, curl the back toes and fire strong through that right leg, take the left hand behind the head and rotate open into the twist, good, inhale, come out of the twist a little bit, exhale, rotate open once again, one more time, out of the twist a little bit, breathe in, exhale, hug the low belly in, and rotate, rotate, rotate, hey, good, now bring the left hand down, we're going to step the right foot up to meet the left, exhale, kind of dump it out, inhale, lift halfway, and fold, exhale, inhale, rise all the way up, and exhale the palms to the heart, today in day nine in the forward facing, we're going to add warrior three, so work a little balance into this, so palms rest at the chest, at the heart, lean to the right a little bit, let's step the left foot back, so it's almost like a little lunge position, belly in, long spine, stability in the right leg, keep it bent, now begin to lean forward and find your range of motion, I'm going to lean forward, lift the left foot up and push through the ball of the left foot, lean my body forward like a hinge at that right hip, I'm also keeping my chest up, pulling the shoulder blades together, holding, trying to square off the hips, I know it feels better to lift that left hip, but do your best to leave it down, wobble, regain composure, nice, left foot down, sweep the arms up overhead on the breath in, palms to the heart, exhale, step the right foot back, find your stability, this could be your warrior three, this could, this could, this could, this could, this could, or you come all the way forward, chest up, push through the heel this time, see what that feels like of the right foot, maybe take the arms out wide, fly, keep that focal point, bring the palms back to the heart, hinge all the way back up to stand, inhale, reach the arms out and up, exhale, forward bend, inhale, lift the chest, step back into downward dog on the exhale, almost feeling like maybe, maybe, maybe a little bit of relief, for even more relief let's begin our slow transition by bringing the knees down, you can move the blocks out of the way, do not need them, exhale into a child's pose, from child's pose stretch the arms out, come up into table and we'll begin our descent into relax and release, alright so come on down to your seat, roll down to your back and that might feel like really nice right about now, draw the knees in to the body but then bring the feet down and right away let's just rock right up into the bridge roll ups, so lift the hips, bring the arms up overhead and exhale, roll all the way back down, two more, inhale, lift the hips, reach the arms up overhead and exhale, slowly back down, doing great, inhale, reach up, hips up, arms up overhead and exhale all the way down, take one full breath here and exhale everything out, take the right ankle over the left thigh, clasp the fingers around your left shin or hamstring, your choice, you've been here before, and now draw the legs in toward the body, get that nice little pigeon style stretch in the right hip, right glute, IT band, good, bring the left foot down, slide the hips over to the right, arms up, now bring the right foot in the direction of the floor to the left, a little casual twist and of course because you are listening, because you are constantly making this your own, what spinal twist feels best for you, this is perfect for me now, what's perfect for you, good, bring it back up, undo and simply switch legs, left ankle over the right thigh, grab your hold, shin, hamstring, wiggle around into it, find your positioning, use a little muscular effort in your arms to draw the legs a little further in, maybe tuck into the pose, good, bring the right foot down, slide the hips over to the left, draw the left foot down toward the floor, nice little twist, separate your shoulder blades, make sure you've got nice spacious upper back, breath is beginning to slow it down, slow it down, slow it down, that's a word and if it's not it is now, good, bring it back out, slide back to the center, draw those knees in one last time, oh man, we're just one breath away from final relaxation, so draw the legs out, take the arms up overhead, take that big breath, that full breath filled with gratitude, positivity, exhale all the negativity out, arms alongside your body, breath is relaxed, it's casual, it's calming, you're relaxed, finding more ease, more places in the practice where you're able to relax and feel some of the benefits of yoga beyond the stretching and the exercise, so I personally would love to stay here all day but day nine is coming to a close my friends, let's rock up to sit and whether this is your morning, your afternoon, your evening, take the next part of your day, let this practice kind of filter into your day and affect your day in whatever positive way makes sense to you, so day nine, my God, here we are, thank you for joining me, thank yourself always, namaste, peace.