Day 25: Slow and Smooth

Hey, welcome back, take 25. This is a new practice. This is a new day. We have three sequences. You have done them all, but the cool thing is the way they're strung together today is totally unique.

So let's begin. In front of the mat we're going to start with our standing salutes. So that begins in mountain pose. Close your eyes for a moment. Take the arms up overhead, breathe in, and exhale the palms, rest at the chest.

Two more, breathe in, sweep the arms out and up. Exhale as you draw the palms to the chest and to the heart and as you ground into your practice and to this moment. Next time, breathe in, reach up and exhale, take yourself down into a forward bend. Feet are hip width. Inhale, lift halfway, that half lift to lengthen the spine and exhale, fold.

Inhale, rise all the way up, sweep those arms out. Reach up to the ceiling, coordinate that with the breath in, and exhale, draw the palms together down the center line of your body into a forward bend. Inhale, lift halfway, and a full exhale out into a forward bend. Good, just kind of beginning to connect to the body with the breath. Inhale, rise all the way up, exhale all the way back down.

Inhale half lift, and exhale the right foot back. Let's find a 90 degree front leg, 90 degree back leg lunge. Take the arms up overhead as you breathe in. Good, twist to the left, take the left hand to your low back, right hand to the outer thigh, prop your chest up, rotate to the left, grab a little twist, good. Keep extending your tailbone down so that you maintain that good connection through that right hip flexor, good.

Let's add one more little sensation here, come back to center, maintain the structure of the legs, good. Take the arms up overhead, right fingers to the left shoulder, grab hold of that right elbow with the left hand and take a nice stretch over to the left. I say nice because it feels good for me. I'm not sure how that feels good for you, so I don't want to assume it's a nice stretch. But can you make it nice?

Can you alter it, modify it in a way? Good, bring it back up to center, reach up, breathe in, exhale the hands, come down to the mat, step the right foot up to meet the left, find the forward bend, don't rush through it, press down through the feet, inhale, lift halfway, maybe bend the knees a lot on this one, lift the chest, pull the shoulder blades together and exhale, fold, step your left foot back, find that 90 degree front leg, 90 degree back leg, bring the body upright, take the arms up overhead as you breathe in, exhale, rotate to the right, left hand on the right thigh, right hand at your low back, good, draw the tailbone down, you might feel that stretch through the left side this time, and as you rotate and twist to the right, really good. Let's bring it back over to center, align yourself, take the arms up overhead, this time left fingertips to the right shoulder, right hand takes hold of that elbow, reach and kind of pull that left elbow up to stretch to the right. Bring it back out to center, reach up, inhale, exhale, hands come down, step the left foot up to meet the right, forward bend, stretch out the back a little bit here, inhale, lift halfway, and exhale, fold, inhale, rise all the way up, and palms rest at the chest on the exhale, time to move into the forward facing, inhale, sweep the arms up overhead, we'll try to move smoothly through this, exhale, forward bend, inhale, lift the chest, half lift, exhale, step back into dog pose, inhale into plank, place your knees down, exhale, lower down to the mat, like a knee chaturanga, inhale, cobra, maybe even peel up into upward dog, exhale, downward dog, inhale, bring the right leg up, exhale, right foot to the right thumb, back foot down, been here before, warrior one, bring the arms up, reach back behind you while maintaining the strong leg structure, lift the chest, roll the shoulders back, good, inhale release, sweep the arms up, exhale, step the left foot back, right foot back, knees or not, lower down, get that high plank to low plank, upward dog or cobra on the breath in, downward dog on the breath out, inhale your left leg up, exhale, step it up, back foot down, warrior one, good, reach back once again, interlace your fingers, open up the front of the body while staying strong and committed to the lower part of the body, your legs, pull the left hip back, good, release the arms high, inhale, exhale, right foot back, left foot back, find yourself in plank, breathe in, exhale, lower down halfway, upward dog inhale, downward dog exhale, good work, stay committed to the breath in and breath out, letting that kind of, that concept of inner guidance, inner guidance, trust what you feel, look forward on the exhale, step both feet up to the front of the mat, inhale, lift halfway and fold, exhale, inhale, rise all the way up and exhale, palms to the heart, inhale, reach the arms all the way up, this time we'll add chair, exhale, sit back into chair pose, keep the arms long and strong, up alongside your ears or draw them straight out in front of you, maybe even sit a little bit lower in chair pose, tuck the belly in, keep the spine long, good work, inhale, reach all the way up and back, exhale, forward bend, exhale, lift halfway, exhale, step back into dog pose, inhale, plank, exhale with control, low plank, upward dog inhale, downward dog exhale, inhale the right leg up, exhale, step it up, good, strong foundation for warrior one, sweep the arms up, eagle arms, right arm underneath the left, find your hold, find that position that makes sense for your shoulders and your upper back, maybe a little twist to the right, when I say twist it's mostly like a stretch through that left shoulder, upper back, bring it out, back to center, release the arms, take them out and open, like take the palms forward, stretch the front of your body, now turn the thumbs down, reach back behind you, interlace your fingers and let the heart, the chest pull forward, shoulders back, exhale, humble warrior, for this one here we're gonna switch it up just a little bit, let the body come down, step your left foot back a little bit more and then maybe, maybe, maybe let that right shoulder come either on top or on the inside of the right thigh, might feel a little bit deeper than what we've done before, release the back of the neck and head, reach the arms up, good, all the way back up, release the arms, step the left foot up a little bit, pyramid pose, okay, so make sure that you get your set up, both sets of toes forward, hips forward, micro bend in the right leg, hinge at the hips, forward, hands resting on that right shin but not too much, don't put pressure on the knee, lift the chest as you breathe in, ground into the feet, maybe stay here or maybe even come forward a little bit, forward and down, good, inhale, lengthen, exhale, step the left foot back, low lunge, sweep the arms up, out once again, palms facing forward, sweep the arms back, interlace, one more time, a little bit of chest, shoulder opener, release the arms high, inhale, exhale, the hands come down, curl the back toes, lift the knee, open up into a twist to the right, revolve lunge twist, on the exhale right hand comes down, step back into plank pose, lower down to low plank, upward dog inhale, downward dog, exhale, take the left leg, lift it up and exhale, step it all the way up, back heel down, good strong stance, rise up, nice, left arm underneath the right, eagle wrap, figure out a good position for the hips, the more the right toes draw forward, the more the right hip will come forward, a little easier, little gentle twist to the left, release the arms all the way out and up, exhale, arms out wide, palms forward, slide the right foot back a little bit more, maybe even the left foot open to the left, sweep the arms back behind you, open up the chest, roll the shoulders back, breathe in, stay right here because this is perfect and it's a choice you're making, or exhale, humble warrior, left shoulder either lands for some support on the left thigh or you let the body kind of come forward and down on the inside of the leg, might feel good to lift the chest like you do in the half lift, right, you lift up halfway, breathe in, exhale, fold it out, rise all the way back up, release the arms, step the right foot forward, good, both sets of toes are nice and aligned, hips are aligned, on the exhale hinge at the hips, forward and down, hands on the mat or maybe the hands remain on the shin like we did on the other side, get a little adjustment in the spine by lifting the chest to lengthen the spine and then forward and down, step the right foot back, low crescent lunge, sweep those arms up, once again arms out wide, sweep back behind, you may, I don't know, feel more and more open every time you do this, you also may feel a little bit more fatigued every time you do this, good, let's release the arms up, breathe in, exhale, the hands come down, curl the back toes and lift that right knee, open up into the twist to the left, good, finding that shoulder position, arm position that feels good for you, left hand comes down, look forward, step the right foot up to meet your left, forward bend, inhale, lift halfway and exhale, kind of flush it out into a forward bend, inhale, rise all the way up and exhale the palms at the heart, good, really good, so in that forward facing we focused a lot on shoulder opening, chest opening and we're leaving out the warrior three today, we'll get back to that another day, let's come on down for some hip relief, alright, so we can step back into a little downward dog, maybe make the transition down through a child's pose, just those different poses and movements that are indicators of alright, it's time to relax, alright, hip relief, here we come, so stretch it out, arms out with that big side stretch, come forward and you know the drill, make that little transition, you can do a little boom, that transition is really up to you, we've been doing it quite the same every time, so if there's another transition that feels more interesting, fun, easier, you choose, draw the knees in, so I say that casually but you choose, that's a huge part of this practice is choice, choice based on what you feel, alright, take the right knee into the body and here begin, really begin, if you haven't already in this challenge, begin to tap into that, that feeling based placement of where you put your body, so the right knee, where is it, it's correct wherever you put it, let's open up the hip a little bit more for that half happy baby, you can take the hand to the outer edge of the foot or a little bit further closer to the knee to make it a little easier today, easier doesn't always translate into less effective either, sometimes the body will respond when the pose is not so difficult or maxed out, so you're still here in this half happy baby, let's take it into another familiar shape that you might alter today, I don't know, pigeon, so recline pigeon pose, you might stay here and just kind of feel nice about guiding that hip away from you and closer to you, you come into the actual shape interlacing the fingers on the shin or the hamstrings rocking from side to side and going for that, that place of pleasure also, you know, without thinking about the outcome, practicing just to simply practice, okay, good, stick a little breath or two in a spinal twist, take yourself over to the left, stretch out the low back, move the neck around, open up the shoulders, bring it back over to center, release, stretch the right leg out, draw the left knee in, into the center, out wide, ride into half happy baby as an option, when you get into those intense places, make sure you've got the breath, left ankle on top of the right thigh, hip open, hip closed, pigeon pose, like you're kind of moving from pose to pose like you're going through the motions, but you're not right, you've just become a little bit more comfortable with the transition from pose to pose, but you're still really tuning in, tuning into what's happening in the body, trusting that intuition you have, twist over to the right, back release there, all right, bring it back out, let's take unless you are determined to have your legs straight, keep the legs bent and let the knees draw toward one another, relax your arms, connected to your back body, grounding into the mat, your breath beginning to slow and relax, and every so often at the end of these 20 minutes together, it's nice to acknowledge the effort, the commitment, the effort and commitment it takes to show up for yourself, don't ever let that go unnoticed, breath is softening and relaxing, roll to your right side, rest your head on your right arm for a moment, bend your legs, make the transition nice and easy and we'll meet up in a sitting position, it's our 25th time here in this shape, but let's treat it as the very first time. So nice to see you, namaste.