Day 15: Just Show Up

All right, welcome back to Yoga Anytime and the 30-day challenge that you, my friend, have showed up for. I'm here, you are there, let's do this. How are you feeling, right? You don't always have to feel awesome coming into this. Sometimes you're going to feel a little sore, a little grumpy, a little upset, but as you probably know already, you always feel better afterward, right?

So let's begin, see how we feel now versus how we're going to feel afterward. We're going to start in, warm your core, we've done this before, we're going to start on our hands and knees in tabletop pose. From tabletop, let's roll through some cat-cow movements to warm up the spine. So let the belly drop out, come up into cow pose, arch the back, might feel a little tight in the low back or shoulders, exhale, come into cat pose. Let's do two more rounds, so inhale, come through cow pose.

This is that warm your core, so we're going to get into the core a little bit, exhale, cat pose, stretch it out, day 15, wow, halfway there, that feels good, feels good. Exhale into cat pose, really nice, now come back into a neutral tabletop position, extend your right leg all the way back, begin to lift the right leg and extend the left arm straight out, get super long and extended but pull back into the core, lift the chest a little bit, lift that right leg like you're in a cow pose, exhale, pull the low belly up and in and draw the right knee to the left elbow, inhale, extend long, exhale, knee to the elbow, inhale, extend, exhale, number 3, go into 5, inhale, extend, exhale, 4, inhale, low belly contracting, good, 5, now extend all the way up, bring your left hand down, bring your right toes down, now the right heel, slide the left foot over a little bit for some balance and lift your right arm up, side plank, good, reach the right arm over your head, get a little side stretch, good, maybe roll through your right shoulder a few times, right on, nice, now bring that right arm back down and your knee, bring both forearms to the mat and prepare for that forearm dolphin plank, lift the knees, draw the tailbone back, squeeze through the core in your thighs and hold for 5, 4, good, 3, 2 and 1, good job, back onto the knees, up onto your hands, take a cat cow, lift the chest, lift the butt a little bit, exhale, round it out, inhale back into a flat back, extend your left leg back, right arm forward, maybe lift those left toes up, extend really long through both limbs, exhale, knee to the elbow, inhale, extend out, exhale, contract in, number 2, inhale, exhale, good work, breathe in and breathe out, 2 more, breathe in, breathe out, last one and squeeze it in, work that core, nice, now extend all the way out, left foot down, right hand down and just kind of flow right into that side plank, left arm reaches up, make sure you're good and stable in the right hand, the right arm and just like we did on the other side, let's just move a little bit through that entire left shoulder joint, so some big circles, back and forth, alright, so we've done this, this is like our third time together and so this little movement was what I personally needed today and what I wanted to invite you to explore, so breathe in, left arm up, breathe out, back down into tabletop, right forearm, left forearm, 15 full seconds in that forearm dolphin plank starting now, make it a little more difficult by pulling your elbows to your toes and your toes to the elbows, bringing everything to the center, good, there's 5 seconds already and 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, knees down, thighs down, hips down, find a little Sphinx pose, we've done this pose before, so you find your level of back bend and rest, move the head around a little bit, any tension in the neck you might be feeling, nice, come all the way down, slide the hands alongside the body, hug the elbows into your ribcage, lift the chest on the inhalation and exhale, push back into tabletop, curl the back toes, lift the knees downward facing dog, stretch out the hamstrings, the hemis get a little tight with all this movement, that's where I'm feeling it today, begin to walk up to the front of the mat, inhale, lift, half arch, like really long and extended through the spine and exhale, fold, let's rise all the way up, sweep the arms up overhead, as you breathe in and exhale, bring the palms to the heart, preparing for a spicy core balance, one of my favorites, place the hands behind the head and we're going to do it a little different today, it's almost like you're doing these knee high marches, we're going to alternate back and forth, so on your exhale, lift your right knee up as high as you can, inhale, bring the right foot down and left leg up, good, now switch to the right, so what we want to do is you want to keep doing this and when you bring that leg up, see if you can really squeeze through the entire left leg and through the core when you're lifting the right up and now squeeze through the right leg all the way up through your butt, right through the glutes, lift the knee up, squeeze through the core, nice, so each one is kind of meaningful, right, pulling the elbows back, keep the back nice and strong, pull the shoulder blades toward one another, so treat this as if you were trying to step over like a big, you know or like a medium sized fence, good, so you work a little hip mobility as well, nice, we'll do three more on each side, there's one, one, two, and as I'm doing these, man I can feel them from yesterday, and relax the arms down, little day 14 got me in the low core my friend, okay, now bring the arms up overhead on the inhale, palms to the chest, I take the left knee up high, step back into high lunge, as you breathe in you sweep the arms up overhead, warrior three, you know what's next, palms to the heart, leap forward, find a little wiggle, a little wobble, good, lengthen through the spine, hinge all the way back up to stand, maintaining that balance, focus, good, back into high lunge, sweep the arms up, get the full expression of the pose, and then you bring those palms back to the heart, prepare for warrior three, good, work those little muscles in the ankle, in the foot, all the way back up, bring that left knee up as high as you can, very good, step the left foot back for high lunge, alright, once you find your high lunge, we're going to take the twist again, be a little bit different, we're going to palms to the chest, lean your body forward 45 degrees, now take your left forearm, the top of your left forearm, across the right thigh, push the forearm into the right thigh, lift the chest, pull the belly in and then bring that right arm nice and high, draw the lower left ribcage in the direction of your right thigh, good work, not an easy pose, come back out, take the breath in as you reach the arms up, up, up and away, and exhale the hands down to the mat, bring your left knee down, good, inhale, bring the arms up high, and exhale the hands come down to the mat, walk your right foot over, prepare for your pigeon pose, okay, slide the left knee back, point the right toes forward, make sure your right knee is super safe, let's see what it feels like today to bring the body forward, come on down to your forearms, that might deepen the pose a little bit, it may be accessible, it may not be, okay, make sure you grab at least one full breath in the pose, bring your hands back up, begin to curl the back toes, lift your left knee, now use your core to lift that right foot, right leg all the way up into downward facing dog, three legged dog, open up the hip, push the left heel toward the mat, ah, very nice, bring the right foot back down, take a deep breath and exhale everything out, let's transition to the front of the mat, two big steps, one and two, exhale as you land, inhale lift halfway, and exhale fold, inhale with some life, breathe in reach up and exhale palms to the heart, lift your right leg, get that knee up as high as you can, step over that imaginary fence, step back into high crescent lunge, take the arms up, up, up, up, up, get the big stretch in the chest, the back, the hip flexors on the right side, palms to the chest, focus, warrior three, good, lean the body forward, keep the chest up, engage strong through the right leg, back to the knee lift, bring the right knee up high, high, high, good, back into high lunge, inhale bring the arms up once you land the back foot and now warrior three, spine is long, left leg stable, little wobbly, a little shaky is good, bring that right leg all the way back up and let's build into the lunge again, step back, bring the arms up overhead as you breathe in, lean the body forward 45 degrees or so, keep the spine long, right forearm to the outer edge of the left thigh, once you get that locked in press the right arm into the thigh, the knee into the arm and then that left arm rises up as an option, good, stay strong and sturdy in that left leg, right leg is like a plank, belly active, maybe throw a smile in, hey what's up, good, come back out, take the arms up overhead, as you inhale and exhale the hands down, bring the right knee down, a little relief here in low lunge for a breath as you sweep the arms up and pigeon pose, left foot, bring it on over, place the knee down, figure it out, what shape works for you, bring those forearms back down, wiggle around a little bit, don't allow yourself to get stuck in any unwanted or unnecessary shape, feel like I could stay here a little bit longer but we are going to move on, build back up, curl the back toes, lift that right knee, sweep it up into that three-legged dog, little hip relief there as we prepare for the actual closing called hip relief, let's bring the knees down, come on down to your seat, alright let's roll on down, hip relief, so draw the knees in nice and tight to the body and let's begin with the right leg, extend your left leg out or find more importantly find a place for your left leg to land, it's comfortable for you, draw your right knee in, draw it out wide and then maybe even take that right knee over toward like not into a twist but to the left side of your chest or your rib cage, see what that feels like, nice, open it back up, we'll take half happy baby, reach up grab hold wherever that is for you, the outer edge of the foot, the ankle, the shin, so half happy baby we're looking for that inner thigh, inner thigh groin kind of deep hip opener, alright take the right ankle on top of the left thigh, guide that hip open a little bit that being your right side, push it open, okay we're gonna take a spinal twist from here so slide the seat over to the right, arms come out nice and wide, take a full breath in and a relaxing little adventure over into twist to the left, so you're on your left hip just enough right, just enough where you get that flavor, you get that hit of the stretch and it feels good, let's bring it back out, take a breath, release the right foot, extend the right leg out, left knee in, take it out wide, take it across the body, get that confidence and that understanding and trust that it's time to explore, right it's time to figure out while lying on your back what feels best, right in that hip area, take it into the half happy baby, grab hold of the foot, ankle or shin, finding a few moments to bend and release and breathe as we slowly close out the practice, okay take the left ankle on top of the right thigh, guide the left hip away from you like a good generous push into that hip, day 15, wow so fun, take the hips over to the left, grab the spinal twist over to the right, sometimes we can get a little caught up in like the destination that 30 days, see if you can really drop into each and every session, each and every day as a unique experience, good, let's come back out, realign yourself on the mat, draw the bottoms of your feet together, take a full breath, maybe even like lift your chest up, squeeze your arms, your fists, take a deep breath here and exhale, release, all tension, all muscular effort, breath is slowing down, we're moving into that relaxing mode, so it's an immediate shift, the breath is immediately which will send the message to the body that it's time to chill out, relax and kind of enjoy some of the benefits of this 20-minute experience, check in with how you feel, you came into the practice feeling the way you felt, you either felt amazing, sluggish, sore, hurt, how do you feel now, let's take another breath together, take a full breath, exhale everything out, one more time, breathe in and breathe out, stretch the legs out momentarily and then bring them in, rock back and then rock up, here we go, here we are, I feel better, I don't know about you but I'd be curious to know, share with us how you feel, for now we'll close out, close your eyes, draw the palms to the chest, Namaste.