Day 26: Keep It Simple

Hey. Welcome back. Day 26. You're here. I'm here. Let's begin. But before we begin, reminder. These are shapes. These are simple shapes. Not easy, but different shapes that we're putting our body into and taking them out of. What do they feel like? And how can you really begin to trust the feelings that you feel in the shape, that inner listening, that inner guidance and trust, trust, trust. Make it your own. This is your practice. Okay. So do what you can to pay attention to how you feel. I'm here with you. I'll give you some options. Let's begin. So standing salutation, standing salutes, moving into some side facing action into cozy sea. You've been to all these places. Let's have some fun. Okay. Let's go right into it by taking the arms up overhead. Get that nice big full body stretch and exhale. Come down into a relaxed forward bend. It's just a shape, right? Inhale. Lift the chest. Lengthen the spine and exhale. Fold. Inhale. Rise all the way up. Stretch up a little gentle back bend and come all the way back down. Exhale. Inhale. Lift the chest. Lengthen the spine and exhale. Fold it out. Inhale. Rise all the way up and exhale. Fold all the way down. Inhale. Lengthen the spine. Exhale. Right foot back. Bring the knee down, that right knee. Tent up on your fingertips. So let's actually like kind of sink into this shape now, right? So this lunge shape. We'll add one little piece to this and that's letting the hips come back just enough for you to straighten out that left leg. Lift up onto the heel. Maybe fold over. Then we cycle back into the lunge. Lift the chest. Exhale. Straighten out that left leg. You do not have to straighten it. It's just go to that point where it's straightening a little bit and you feel that intensity or that feeling in the hamstring.

Good. Come back. Curl the back toes. Step the right foot up to meet the left forward bend. Inhale. Lengthen the spine. So it's this traction and lengthen the spine with the knee soft for you to fold a little more comfortably in your forward bend. Let's step the left foot back. Bring your left knee down. Tent up on those fingertips and let's see what it feels like to straighten out that right leg. You can lift up on that right heel and fold over a little bit. You can also bring your hands back a little bit farther and lift the chest and do so. I didn't offer the blocks but if you want the blocks go for that. Bring yourself back into the lunge and then on the exhale look to straighten out the leg again. Nice. Back into the lunge. Let's come out of this shape. Left foot forward. Forward bend on the exhale. Inhale. Half lift. Every time you do this it's a meaningful position because we're dealing with our spine and then you exhale. Fold back down and rise all the way back up on the breath in. And exhale. Palms to the heart. Let's move into the side facing sequence. Breathe in. Reach the arms up overhead. Big stretch. Exhale. Forward bend. Good. Inhale. Lift halfway. And a nice exhale takes you back into a plank, a high plank. On your next exhale with control lower down your way. Upward dog or cobra on the breath in. Heart forward. Shoulders back. Strong legs takes you into downward dog on the exhale. Lift your right leg up. Breathe in. Let's tap the oboe one time. Knee to elbow. Little core there. Inhale. Send it back up. Exhale. Right foot to the right thumb. Spin the back heel down. Warrior two. Good. We've had the palms down quite a bit. We're going to take the palms up in this warrior two and we're going to add a little movement. Three times. What we're going to do is straighten out the front leg. Reach the arms up overhead as you breathe in. And exhale. Warrior two. Palms up. Nice. Two more. Inhale. Reach up. Straighten the right leg. Exhale. Land back in your warrior two. One more time. Breathe in. And breathe out. Nice. Right forearm lands on that right thigh. Go ahead and sort of like just take that left arm and reach it up nice and high. Maybe take a little side bend for extended side angle. Hug that right hip back. Roll the left ribcage toward me right or toward the left and open. Let's come back into warrior two. Set up triangle pose. Straighten out that right leg. We're going to go without blocks today. So you're going to straighten out the right leg and maybe even shorten your stance a tiny bit. From here hug that right hip back and reach long through the right arm. Reach long, long, long left hand rest at the hip for now. Now bring the right fingertips to the right shin, ankle or floor. All are correct. Which one feels best? Right. And then by taking that left arm, bring the left arm up but then rotate the left shoulder in to take the left hand, the back of the left hand to the low back or over toward your right waist. Now though open up the chest and shoulder of the left side and rock out a little triangle pose here.

You could take the gaze up. Keep the position. Well take your left hand actually to your left hip. Bend the right leg. Come back up. This is without block. Use it if you'd like. So we're going to launch right up into half moon. So from here bend the right leg maybe once or twice. Find your positioning for your eye gaze and when you're ready lift the left foot up. Hinge your body forward and maybe it's hands free maintaining the left hand on the hip this time or your fingertips can graze the floor. You could put a little bend in the right leg. Good. I'm going to stay here today. Keep my gaze downward. Push long through the back foot. The back leg is strong. Put a bend in the right leg. Step with control back into warrior two. Not easy. Inhale. Reach up and back. Good. Exhale. Windmill the arms down. Step back into plank pose. Good. Side plank on the left arm. So shift your heels over to the left. Stack the left hand under the left shoulder. Peel the right arm nice and high. Take the right arm. Put a big angle on that right arm as you emphasize lifting through the hips a little bit higher. You might feel it in the low left waist those obliques those obliques the side core kind of muscle action. Good. Right hand comes back down. Square off in plank. Heels over to the right now. Get the foundations. The set up the support and then peel the left arm up. I like to stagger my feet. So see what that feels like for you. You can also stack your feet left on top of the right. Lift your hips. Take that side bend in the left arm. Find a gazing point. Find your breath. Simple concept. Super difficult. Right. So acknowledge that. This is not easy for me at all. But it feels pretty nice. Let's come through a little vinyasa. Lower down halfway. Pull your heart forward and through and up up up and away. Upward dog and downward dog. Good work. Keep listening. Listen. Listen. Try not to go into a shape that overwhelms you so much that you can no longer listen. Find some space in the pose. Take the left leg. Lift it up. Exhale. One time. Need an elbow in the direction. Inhale. Send it high. Exhale. Left foot forward. Back heel down. Now rise all the way up. Warrior II. Unfortunately, I cannot see you now. But you have a different view of the posture if you're looking at the screen. So Warrior II with the arms or the palms facing up. You can see how if you're looking at the screen you kind of draw the shoulder blades toward one another so you have some upper back stability.

Straighten the left leg. Reach the palms up as you breathe in. Exhale. Palms remain up. Warrior II. Inhale. Two more. Straighten the left. Arms reach up. Exhale. Warrior II. Last one. Breathe in. And breathe out. Warrior II. Even pressure in both feet. Left forearm on your left thigh. Bring the right arm. Maybe rotate through the shoulder blade a couple times and then when you're ready just peel that right arm all the way up. Put a side angle on that right arm. Hug the left hip back. You may see that little adjustment there. Left hip back. Right hip forward. Big stretch through the side body. Triangle pose. So come back up. Straighten out the left leg. I like to shorten the stance just a little bit. A little bit more stable for me. See how that feels for you. Straighten. Don't lock the left leg. Reach long through the left arm and then place the left fingertips on the shin, angle, or floor. Right arm reaches up. We've done that quite a bit. We've also done the arms up overhead but again we'll take the back of the right hand by rotating that right shoulder forward and then the back of the right hand at the low back or toward your left hip. So once you've rotated the shoulder forward, rotate it now up and open. Keep strong in that left leg. If you feel it super intense behind the knee, back away. Nice. Bend into the left leg. Come back up. Slide the right hand on the right hip. Take your gaze forward. Now half moon. Bend and straighten that left leg and when you're ready, when you've got the focus and you've got the balance, let's come forward and up. Lifting that right leg up. You didn't see that. Extend long through. Actually you did see that because we all fall out and it's okay. My left side's a little bit weaker. Pay attention to your sides. Which one is a little bit weaker? What side could use a little bit more work? Left fingertips graze the floor, hover, or your palm, or you use a block. Extend long through the ball of the right foot, the heel. How's your breath? Warrior two. Good. Straighten your left leg. I'm still my back to you, but I'm still here with you. Wide stance. Put a little bend in your knees. Hinge at the hips and bring your body forward. Fingertips to the mat. Let's stay upright here. Focusing on hamstrings. You can come down to the palms. You could even push your hips back a little bit if that heightens the stretch in the hamstrings. Turn the feet open 45 degrees or so and now lean to the right. So you're in this big side lunge.

So if you're looking at the screen, check it out. The left foot can remain down or you can come up on that left heel. Different sensation. Okay, now come over to the left. Stay on the heel or push those toes toward the floor. So when you're over to the left, you might feel this really deep long stretch in that inner right thigh. Come back over to the right one more time. And to the left one more time. A little flow. Really nice. Back over to center. Realign the feet. Lift the chest. Breathe in. And on the exhale, begin to walk yourself over to the front of the mat. Bring the right knee down. Bring the left knee down. And let's square everything up and take a little pause and child's pose to prepare for the final descent into cozy seat. Okay, transition. Cozy seat. I'm going to choose not to use a blanket today. If you'd like to use a blanket, take this time to grab it. Prop your seat up on the edge of the blanket. And maybe we can connect this way here. So easy seat. Cross-legged seat. Criss-cross applesauce. Whatever you want to call it. Here we are. Palms to the chest. Good. Take the right arm out. Left arm. Reach the left arm up high. Side stretch. Little side stretch over to the right. Good. Let's come over to the other side. Left hand stance. Reach the right arm nice and high. So the emphasis is on that right side. Bring it back up to center. Now take the arms up overhead. Left hand to the right shoulder. Right hand to that elbow. Let's grab a little side stretch like so. Pull up through the left elbow. Good. Right from here, switch. Left hand on the right elbow. Right hand on the left shoulder. Pull the shoulders back. Shoulder blades down to the back and rotate to the left. So this portion of the short sequence is about kind of stretching and sitting and breathing and continuing to keep it simple. How does it feel? Bring the arms out. Sweep them all the way out. Back behind you. Chest open. Shoulders back. Maybe even lift the head. Chin to the chest. Stretch out the upper neck. Good. Spinal twist to the right. Left hand on the right thigh. Right hand back behind you. Just to keep like the little flow will come out three times. So you come out of the pose just a little bit. Just enough to breathe in and exhale. Twist to the right. One more time. Breathe in. Minimize the shape.

Exhale. Change the shape into a deeper twist. Nice. Bring it back over to center. Bring the arms. Right hand to the left thigh. Left hand back behind. Lift the chest. Lengthen the spine. Exhale. Rotate. Let's do two more. Breathe in. Release the twist a little bit. Breathe out. Twist it out. Good. One more time. Breathe in. Pull the belly in. Rotate to the left. Nice. Slowly come back out. Maybe take it over to the right. One more time. A little counter twist. Let's add one other flavor today. Take the arms up overhead. Breathe in and exhale. If you've got it. Arms out in front of you. Fold forward over your lap. If this is a no go for you, take the arms back behind you. Press the chest upward. Empty out another breath here. Good. Beginning to slow it down. Bring yourself all the way back up into a nice upright seated position. Hands rest on the thighs. Chest up. Spine long. If you're comfortable with closing your eyes, close your eyes. I'm gonna close mine. We'll take a couple breaths here. I want you to really focus on the inhale. Lengthening through the spine. Maintain the inhale. Maintain the lengthened spine. Exhale. Relax all the way down into the seat. Two more. Breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in and breathe out.

Use this time as our relaxation, as our sort of intimate moment with ourselves to close out these 20 minutes. Press the palms together at the chest. Forehead draws in the direction of the fingertips. Namaste.