Day 13: Centered and Strong

Welcome to day 13. Day 13 of this challenge. This is so fun. All right. So new opening for you. New opening. Warm your core. Core. Let's do it. All right. So start in tabletop. Tabletop pose. Let's kind of integrate into the spine a little bit through some cat-cow. So drop the belly. Lift the sit bones. Chest forward. Gentle gaze. Exhale. Round it out. Cat pose. So breathe in. Cow pose. That's where you like really let the belly drop out. And on exhale, because we're going to be focusing on the core, pull up through the low, low, low pit of the belly. Round out through the shoulder blades. Tuck the tailbone. Gaze to your thighs. Inhale. Cow pose. One more time into cat. Exhale there. Inhale. Table. Nicely done.

So we're going to send the right foot back. Curl the toes under. Push the heel back like you're in a plank pose. Now extend the left arm out. Good. Working into extended table or bird dog, whichever you'd like to call it. On your exhale, lift your right foot up off the mat and exhale the right knee in the direction of your left elbow. Now it's similar to cat pose. You're kind of rounded out here. Your low belly pulling up and in. Now inhale. Extend all the way out through both limbs. You can let your belly drop a little bit. Arch the back. Exhale. Knee to elbow. Inhale. Extend out. Exhale. Knee toward the elbow. Make sure your right arm is doing some good work there to support you. Shoulder is safe. Two more. Exhale. Knee to elbow. Inhale. Extend out. And exhale. Knee to elbow.

Inhale. Extend both limbs out. Left hand comes down. Right foot comes down. Adjust yourself so you're on your mat. Take the right heel. Spin it down. Slide your left toes over six inches or so. Make sure the left hand is stacked underneath your left shoulder. And now roll open into the side plank with your left knee down. Nice. Take your right arm. Reach it far, as far forward as you can. Grab a side stretch. Maybe even lift the right foot up. Take hold of the right foot as an option. Draw the right heel toward your seat. You might feel a stretch in your quad there on the right leg. Extend the right leg all the way back out. Right arm back up. Breathe in. And exhale. The right arm down. The right knee down. Good.

Bring your left forearm down and your right forearm. Walk back onto your feet. Onto your toes for forearm plank for 15 seconds. Good. 13. 12. Pull the elbows toward your toes. Toes to the elbows. Good. 9. 8. Good work. 7. It's normal to shake. It's normal to feel a little bit like you hate this pose. Good. 4. 3. 2. 1. Knees down. Back up onto your hands. Tabletop. Extend your left leg back. Curl those toes under. Right arm reaches out. Lift your left toes now. Breathe in. Extend. So it's similar to cow pose in the back. Exhale. Knee to elbow. Similar to cat. Inhale. Extend out. Exhale. Knee to elbow. Core strong. Inhale. Extend. Exhale. Contract. Two more. Breathe in. Extend. Breathe out. Contract. Inhale. Extend. Exhale. Contract. Inhale. Extend out. Bring both limbs down to the mat.

Spin the left heel down. Slide the right foot over and say hello. Hi. Left arm reaches up. Screw that right arm down into the mat so you have some stability across your back. Let's lift the left foot up off the mat. Maybe even take hold of that foot. Good. Pull the heel toward the seat for that quad stretch you might be feeling. Very nice. Extend that left leg all the way back out. Left arm down. Left knee down. Last forearm plank. Left forearm. Right forearm. Extend the feet back. Push through the heels. Strong through the core. Good. Maybe even like as if your elbows were on a slippery surface you were trying to slide them toward one another. Okay. Down to ten seconds. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Good job. Three. Two. One. And knees down. Hips down. Sphinx pose. Ah. Okay. From sphinx pose go ahead and slide all the way down. Put the hands alongside your body. Lift up for cobra and push all the way back into a child's pose.

Good job on the core. Feel free to do more of that anytime you'd like. Good. Come into tabletop. Downward facing dog. Stretch it out. One of my favorite poses. I wonder. Interested to see how that feels for you. Downward dog. Come on up to the front of your mat. Inhale. Lift up halfway. And fold. Exhale. Bend your legs. Power from the ground. Down all the way up. Sweep the arms up overhead. And exhale. The palms to the chest. Preparing for the forward facing middle. Inhale. Sweep the arms up overhead. On your exhale. Push the hips back. Momentary chair pose. Good. Inhale. Bring the arms up overhead. Straighten the legs. Exhale. Forward band. Inhale. Lift halfway. Exhale. Step back into plank pose. Pause. Breathe in. As you exhale, shift your body weight forward. Exhale. Lower down halfway or your way. Inhale. Upward dog. Or cobra. And exhale. Downward dog. Lift the right leg up on the inhalation. Exhale. Step it to the front of the mat. Spin the back. Heel down. Rise up for warrior one on the inhalation. Good. Inhale. The arms up. High exhale. Step back into plank. Lower down. Inhale. Upward facing. Exhale. Downward facing.

Exhale. Downward facing. Inhale. Left leg rises. Exhale. Step it up. Spin the back heel down. Rise up for warrior one on the breath in. And on the breath out. Hands come down. Step back into plank. Lower down. Inhale. Upward facing dog. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Good work. Look to the front of the mat. Breathe in. And as you exhale, make your way up there. I'm going to step my right. Then the left. Fold. Exhale. Inhale. Lift halfway. Exhale. Fold. Inhale. All the way up. And exhale. Chair pose. Inhale. Rise all the way up and back. And exhale. All the way down. Inhale. Lift halfway. Exhale. Plank pose. Pause. Inhale. As you exhale, lower down as best you possibly can. Inhale. Upward facing dog. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale the right leg up. Exhale. Step it up. Spin the back heel down. Warrior one. Good. Right arm. Sweep it under the left. Eagle arms. Right fingertips into the left palm. Elbows lifting. Fingers pointing forward. Maybe grab a gradual little back bend here. Release eagle arms. Sweep the arms up on the breath in. Bring them back behind you on the breath out. Inhale. Lift the chest. Roll the shoulders back. Exhale.

Forward and down. Humble warrior. Lifting the hands away from the back if you've got that range of motion. Good. All the way back up. Release the arms high on the inhale. Exhale. Reach forward and down. Shorten your stance a little bit. Point your left toes forward just as the right arm. Come up halfway. Both hands on the shin of the right leg. Breathe in. Breathe out. Fingertips to the mat. Stretch your right leg out a little bit. Bend the right leg. Step your left foot back. Knee down. Low crescent lunge. Bring those arms up. Maybe grab a little cactus position with your arms opening up the chest. Inhale. Reach the arms high. Exhale. The hands come down to frame the right foot. Curl the back toes. Lift the left knee. Inhale. Open up into a twist to the right. Exhale. The right arm down. Step back into plank pose. Lower down. Upward dog. Inhale. Downward dog. Exhale. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Left leg. Lift. Breathe in. Exhale. Step it up. Back heel down. Good alignment in the feet. Inhale. Roll all the way up.

Left arm underneath the right. Eagle arms. Find the shape. Find the sensations. Find the stretch. Elbows lifting up. Fingers pointing forward. Little gentle back bend. Obviously always breathing. Release eagle arms. Sweep the arms up overhead. Exhale. Sweep them back behind you. Get the grip. Open up the chest. Inhale. Stay here. Or humble warrior. Forward and down. Keep the breath alive. Constantly exploring. Investigating. Make this your own my friend. Good. All the way back up. Release the arms high. Inhale. Exhale. The hands come down to frame the left foot. Shorten the stance up a bit. Point both sets of toes forward. Slide the hands up the shin. Lengthen the spine. Inhale. And fold. Exhale. Pyramid pose. Stay active in both feet. Step the right foot back. Set the knee down and rise up for your low crescent lunge. Expressive as you possibly can. Like really like search it out. Find it.

Where is that stretch? That opening, right? That benefit. Hands come down to frame the foot. Curl the back toes. Lift the right knee. Open up and do a twist to the left. So you've got the strong lunge position. Adding the twist. Left arm comes down to the mat. Look forward. Exhale the right foot forward forward. Bend. Inhale. Lift halfway. And fold. Exhale. Inhale. Rise all the way up. Exhale. Palms to the heart. We're going to flow right into warrior three. So this time lean to the right a little bit. We did a little bit of this yesterday with the day 12. Lift your left knee up. And now hinge forward with the upper body and shoot the left leg back. Warrior three. Good. Nice, stable, strong balance. If you fall out, you fall out. No big deal, right? Come all the way back up. Lift that knee high. Bring the left foot down. Pause. Breathe in. And breathe out. Lift the right knee. Upper body forward. Hinges forward. You shoot that right leg. Back, back, back, back, back. Point through the ball of the foot or the heel. Keep the chest up. Pull the shoulder blades toward one another. Have some fun with this as well.

Good. All the way back up. Bring that right knee high. Strong core. And sweep the arms up overhead. Breathe in. Exhale. Palms to the heart. Okay, let's begin to transition into relax and release. Bring the arms up overhead. Breathe in. Exhale. Forward bend. Inhale. Lift half. Exhale. Step back into dog pose. Get a little stretch out there. And bring the knees down. Come on down to your seat. Okay, let's roll down to our back and enjoy a little relax and release session. Bring the feet down to the mat. Bridge roll ups. Nice. Hips lift. Arms lift. Open up the front of the body with the big breath in. And exhale. Roll down. Two more. Inhale. Lift the hips. Roll back through the arms and shoulders. Stretch through the tops of the thighs. And exhale. Lower all the way down. Inhale. Lift the hips. Arms reach up and over. Pause. Draw the knees as far forward as you can. Stretching the thighs out. And slowly lower all the way down.

Good. We're going to do a double knee twist today. So draw the hips over to the left. Arms come out into a T formation. And the legs draw to the right. Take the gaze straight up or even over the left. Begin to relax and release. Let's try the other side. Draw the knees into the body and roll kind of tight into the body. Then slide the hips to the right. Knees in and twist to the left. Move around to the neck a little bit. It's these moments when you've got time to pause. Those are the moments when you can become more and more curious. Draw the knees tight into the body. Roll back over to center. Good. Stretch the right leg out. Stretch the left leg out.

Even let the arms be a little bit wider for this relaxation. Almost like you found that perfect spot at the beach in the sand and you just ah, soak up that relaxation. Another day done. Or not another day. We'll call it another practice. And you relax and let go. And you feel appreciative for what you have, for your body as it is. Take another breath together. Exhale everything out. Take your time. Just kind of lazily come up and roll right up to sit. Here we are again, my friend. Draw the palms to the heart.

Super blessed to have you with me during this challenge. So thank you and namaste.