Day 22: Stable Core

Hey, welcome back to Yoga Anytime Day 22. Number one, that's amazing. That's so great, so awesome, so cool. Some of the sequences that we're going to move through, in fact, all of them you've done before. Let's start with core integration.

Start on your back. Day 22. What? Day 22. Okay, roll on down to the back, draw the knees into the chest.

Roll around a little bit. I'm not sure what you did before this. This may be the first bit of movement, so we're going to kind of get right to it. So if you need any extra stretching or moving, maybe press pause and come back and join as we move into core integration, all right? So that means integrating into the core.

Knee into the chest, pull that knee in as tight as you can and lift the chest high. Now extend and switch. We've done these bicycle abdominals before. We're going to warm just one more side so the right comes in, then the left comes in. Now we begin to place the hands behind the head.

Bring the left elbow to the right thigh, fan the right elbow out, left elbow to the right thigh. Good. Now switch. Right elbow to the left thigh, fan that left elbow out, good. Left to right, right to left, left to right, right to left, good, four, four.

One to ten, five, five, six, six, seven, seven, eight, eight, nine, nine, ten, ten. Beautiful. Good. Draw the knees in, stretch out the low back. Bring your feet down for one moment.

Take a breath, preparing for round two, we'll do the same thing. So draw the right knee in, lift the chest up, begin to feel the core working to stabilize you here. Okay, hands behind the head, hold it here for a moment. So the right knee is drawn in, left leg extended out, lift the chest toward that right thigh. Now turn your left elbow toward the right knee.

Good. Now switch sides, right to left. Now two, two, three, three, four, four, five, keep working, five, six, seven, that's a number just so you know. Good. So eight, eight, nine, nine, and uh, uh, uh, uh, if you were not feeling those, you may not have been working hard enough because I was definitely feeling those.

So let's draw the knees in a little rock from side to side because that might feel good on the back. Let's rock and roll up to sit. So draw the legs back, come up to sit, maybe go one time further back and up to sit. And one last time, roll back and up onto the hands and knees. Stretch back into child's pose for a moment.

Come into tabletop. This might actually feel nice as you come into downward dog, kind of stretch out the abdominals. I was expecting more, but we'll focus on the spine and the legs like we normally do in dog pose, walk it out, preparing for the dynamic go to flow. One of my favorite, favorite, favorites. Let's take the right leg up, lift it up, bend the right leg and open the hip.

If that's completely unavailable to you, keep the hip square. Good. Open up the hip, push down through that left heel and now square off the hips, right foot to the right pinky. That's the destination. So it's out wide.

Nice. You keep the back knee lifted, come up onto the fingertips. This is that dynamic go to flow, so we call it that because it's really my favorite go to flow. I love to teach it. I love to practice it.

So begin by sinking the hips down on the exhale, right? And then you lift the hips on the inhale and exhale, sink back down into the hips. Okay. Now you can start to switch the breath, breathe in once you're down here in the hip stretch. And as you exhale, straighten out the right leg, push hard through the ball of the right foot, like really hard.

Then you inhale back into the lunge, lift the chest, maybe open up the hip on the right and then begin to exhale, push through the ball of the right foot, lift the hips, straighten out the right leg. Nice. Back into the lunge. Inhale here. Exhale, long right leg, strong left leg, back into the lunge.

Left hand below the shoulder, strong left arm for stability, right hand behind the head. Now start with the big open twist, right elbow lifting up high. On your exhale, you draw the right elbow out to the right, down toward the floor and toward the left forearm. Inhale, sweep it out and up, find that lunge twist and exhale, right elbow toward the left forearm. Inhale all the way up, feel the strength and stability across your back as well as stabilizing through that left leg.

Let's try it again. Exhale, right elbow to the left forearm, inhale all the way up. And the right hand comes down, good. Step back into downward dog, whoo, good. Kind of wiggle around in downward dog and get out of the hips a little bit, prepare for the left side.

So lift the left leg up, keep the hips square or maybe bend the left leg, open up the hip, push generously down through the right heel and square off the hips, kind of lean to the right arm for stability, come up on the left fingertips, makes the transition a little bit easier. Left foot to the left pinky, nice. All right, so on the fingertips or on the palms you choose, lift the hips high, work towards straightening the front leg, exhale, sink the hips downtown, lift the chest, inhale, lift the hips and exhale, drop into the hips. Let's switch up the breath, breathe in and now exhale, ground the left foot, straighten out the left leg a bit, inhale, send the hips down and you're using your hands in whatever way you possibly can to feel comfortable and supportive, exhale, lift the hips, straighten that left leg out. Back into the lunge, left hand behind the head, stability like you're in a plank pose on that right arm, left hand behind the head, now open up into the full twist, okay?

Full meaning for you, where's your range of motion, where's your full range? Left over reaching up, breathe in, exhale, left elbow towards your right forearm, inhale, open, exhale, close it off. Last one, inhale, open up. Exhale, bring it on down, nice. Now inhale the left arm up, your full expression and left arm down, okay, good.

Step the right foot up to the outer edge of the mat on the right. Maybe wiggle around in the hips a little bit, sink the hips down, chest lifting, arms pressing into the inner thighs, nice long spine. Now push down through the heels, really strong through the heels and the ball of each foot, come up out of the pose, lift up, sweep the arms up overhead, palms to the heart, exhale. Inhale, keep the squat formation, arms up, exhale, down into squat. Step back into plank pose, add one push up, lower down, inhale, halfway and exhale, downward dog.

Lift your right leg up as you breathe in, step it to the right pinky, good, pause there, lift the chest, get a little hip stretch, exhale, straighten out the right leg a little bit, left foot steps up, coordinate the exhale with the squat, lift the chest, lengthen the spine and inhale, rise all the way up, all the way down into squat. Step back into plank, add a push up again, inhale, lower and exhale, dog pose. Inhale the left leg up, exhale, step it up, grab the hip stretch, finish the exhale, straighten out the left leg a little bit, exhale, right foot out wide, drop down and into your squat. Inhale, rise all the way up and exhale, palms to the heart, inhale, sweep the arms up overhead exhale, squat on down, your level, your range of motion. Step on back into plank pose, from plank add one push up, lower down, push into dog pose, nice.

We're going to add something here, you're going to lift the right leg up, hips square, exhale, draw the knee tight into the chest, shoulders over the wrists and try to tap your right knee to the right elbow or higher. Keep the leg tight into the body but come into the three-legged dog but it's more of like an abbreviated position, knee to the elbow again. Good inhale, now extend that right leg high, step it to the right pinky, pause, good, step back, three-legged dog, bring the right foot down, square back up in dog pose, inhale the left leg high, exhale, tuck it into your body, shoulders forward, knee towards your left arm, inhale, bring it back up but keep the knee kind of tight to the body but you're in the downward dog shape, exhale, knee to the arm, left arm, inhale, sweep it all the way up, exhale, left foot to the left pinky, good, pause, breathe in, exhale, right foot out wide, squat pose, inhale, rise all the way up and exhale, back down into squat pose, step back into downward dog, from downward facing dog, let's set the knees down and take a pause in our friendly child's pose, okay, come on out up the table, up onto your seat and we roll down, relax and release, okay, bring your feet down below the knees, now lift the hips, reach up, let's flow through a couple of bridge roll-ups, palms facing up, feel that for a moment, once you lift all the way up, can you feel the stretch in the hips, your thighs, good, slowly roll all the way down, one more time, lift up, up, up and away, keep the hips lifting, release your arms out wide and then underneath you but before you look to grab hold, if that's what we're going to do, walk the shoulder blades toward one another, you can from there draw the shoulder blades toward one another, come onto like as far the upper arms are as far under you as you can get them, the hands are welcome to rest on your rib cage or your belly or interlace them underneath you, regain your stretch across the chest, reach the knuckles toward your heels, maybe a little softening of the glutes, your bum, so you're not gripping too heavily there which might cause tension in the low back, let's take one full breath here, stretch across the upper chest, your collar bones and then slowly begin to release the shoulder blades and slowly lower down one vertebra at a time, minimal muscular effort for a breath, just let yourself be supported minimally, I'm going to introduce dead bug today, it's a new way to sort of like focus on the core, so if you bring your legs into a 90 degree angle, push through the ball of each foot and bring the arms straight up, fingers spread wide, spread your shoulder blades out, good, now it takes a little bit of coordination, try to keep your right leg exactly where it is, stretch the left leg all the way out and as you stretch the leg all the way out, press down into the low to mid back, engaging the core and reach your right arm all the way back, so the left leg is extending out, the right arm is extending out, your right knee and right leg stay exactly where it is as does your left arm, good, now exhale, bring the limbs back, push through the right leg, extend the left leg or the left arm, sorry, push through the ball of the right foot, good, really extend through both limbs, meaning the right leg, left arm and pull back to the core to stabilize, doesn't take too many to make this effective, so one more on each side, back to neutral, extend the left leg out and coordinate the right arm back, extend through those two limbs and pull into the core to stabilize, you might feel a little shaky like I am, good, back to neutral, extend the right out and the left arm, right leg, left arm, extend out, maybe even reach the right arm up a little bit more so you lift that shoulder blade up off the mat and maybe now just see what it feels like to lift your chest, lift up off of those shoulder blades, nice, bring it back to neutral, draw the legs into the body and release that effort. Keep the right in, extend the left leg out and let's take a little releasing spinal twist over to the left with the right leg, reach the right arm out, see if you can make this pose sort of accommodating to any tight spaces in the low back or waist, alright, nice, reluctantly exit, I know I wanted to stay there longer, pause in between, prep for the other side, extend the right leg out, draw the left knee in and on the exhale, twist it out, there's always that moment whether it's the right or the left side, like am I going to get one of those little snap crackle pops, release, alright, good, let's come back out, bend both of the legs, maybe like tiny little bounces on the low back, some side shifting, forward shifting, just kind of work any low back, funk out if you've got that, let's stretch the right leg out, release it, left foot out, release it, squeeze the fists of both hands, arms strong, release, lift the head, draw the chin to the chest, lengthen through the neck, place the head back down comfortably, take a full breath in, exhale everything out, day 22, soak up a few moments of relaxation, just to kind of circle back on what I started with, that idea of a deeper connection to yourself, that relationship to the feelings and sensations and the postures and letting those really be the guide, the prompts, the cues that move you in and out of your poses and out of your practice, so you begin to find more trust in the feelings and sensations in the body. Just roll to the right side, rest your head on the right arm, bend the knees, take a moment there, and then use that left arm to push yourself up, nice, find the easy seat, doesn't mean it's easy, it's just called easy seat, and we shall close together like we have done 21 other times together, day 22 comes to a close, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, have a beautiful blessed day, evening, et cetera, namaste.