Day 28: Extra Spicy

Hey, welcome back to yoga anytime. I cannot believe it. This is day 28. Really good job. We've only got a few more, so stay with it.

I'm right here with you. This practice is going to be a little extra spicy, let's say. We've done the opening three times prior to this, and the middle, this will be the last time. Together anyway. So, let's take advantage of this time together.

Let's meet in Tabletop. Day 28, Tabletop. See how you feel. I'm sure you've got some different feelings in the body by now. Let's go through Cat-Cow.

Let the belly drop, sit bones lift, chest forward, gentle gaze forward, exhale, Cat-Pose. Good. Inhale. Move slowly through Cow Pose. We'll do about three or four.

Make sure we don't jump in recklessly into the practice. Exhale, round it out into Cat-Pose. Good. Inhale, drop through into Cow. Like I said, gentle gaze, you don't have to look up.

Exhale, Cat-Pose. One more time, breathe in. Cow Pose, let the sit bones drop the belly, arch the back, and exhale, a little emphasis on the low belly core there. Good work. Back into a flat back.

Send the right leg back. Lift the right toes up off of the mat. You can curl the left toes or keep the left foot flat. I like to curl them personally. There's a choice for you.

Extend the left arm out, that nice, long, extended bird dog. Pull the belly up and in, extend your tailbone back. Now exhale, draw the right knee toward the left elbow and get that Cat-Pose kind of sensation in the back body and core. Now extend out, gentle Cow Pose, extended table combo. Exhale, core strong.

Good. Three more. Inhale, extend, exhale, knee to elbow, inhale, extend, exhale, knee to elbow. Last one, extend out through both limbs, exhale, contract, nice. Now extend all the way out, left hand down, right toes down.

Spin the right heel down. For this one here today, try seeing what it feels like to not slide your left toes out. What that does is it gives it a little bit more support. If you don't slide the toes out, you have to use your core a little bit more for balance. Now take that right arm high.

Good. Open up the chest. Take a little side bend with that right arm. Good. You know, in the future, if you're ever offered a side plank, like the full version, this is a wonderful place to go if you're not really in the mood for working really hard.

Still difficult though. Reach the right arm high, inhale. Let's exhale the right arm down, the right knee down, and come into Forearm Plank, also known as Dolphin Plank. Elbows below the shoulders, good. We're pushed through the heels.

Pull up through the belly, those little ribs hugging up and in. We're going to do two rounds of simply pressing through the right arm to plant the left hand and then push through the left to come up to the right. Good. So full plank. Now back down on two forearms.

Good. Other side. Right hand, left hand, good. Right forearm, left forearm. All right, nice.

Push back up onto your hands, push the knees down. Inhale Cow Pose, exhale Cat Pose, nice. Inhale back into a flat back, extend your left leg out, align yourself where we're going, right? Extended Table, also known as Bird Dog. Lift the left toes up, exhale, knee to elbow.

Inhale, extend, exhale, knee to elbow. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, let's do two more. Breathe in, extend, breathe out, contract. Last one, extend, good work, exhale, extend all the way out. Left foot down, right hand down, spin the heel down, that left heel, and open up into the side plank with the left arm high.

Good. Another option here is to, instead of curling the right toes, press the top of the right foot down into the mat, and it'll add a little bit extra support there. Take the left arm, stretch it overhead. A little wobbly because I'm not bringing that right foot out, just like the other side. Good.

Let's bring the left hand down, left knee down. Arm plank, dolphin plank, for 10 seconds, for nine, eight, seven, six, extend long through the neck, four, push through the heels, two, knees down, hips down, sphinx pose. Get out of the shoulders for a moment, lift the chest. Roll through the neck and head, good. Lower the belly, lower the chest, slide the hands underneath the shoulders, lift up for a casual cobra pose, and push back into child's pose.

Nice little opening there for you, probably feel a little bit better already. All right, dynamic go-to flow. Come up into tabletop, encouraging you to bring your blocks into play here. Place the blocks where your hands would be for downward facing dog. All right, so curl the toes, lift up into downward dog, oh man, that feels good.

How does that feel for you? How are you feeling today, day 28? I personally am a little bit sore, so some of this stuff is feeling really, really nice. Let's get right to this. Take the right leg, lift it up high on the inhale, exhale, bring the right foot to the outer edge of the block on the right, try to step it as quietly as you can.

All right, so that foot is out wide, exhale, let your hips drop down a little bit, and while you do that, you're letting your chest, or you're encouraging your chest to lift. Inhale, lift the hips, straighten out your right leg, that long pyramid pose, and then exhale, settle back down in the hips, good. Inhale, straighten out the right leg, move it around a little bit, move it, meaning like move your hips from side to side, move your foot around, like get into the body and trust those feelings, right? Day to day, the body changes, so each pose might be a little bit different from day to day. Let's get into some of the rotation now, so right knee over that right ankle, bring the right hand behind the head, and let's get as open and spacious in this twist, opening to the right, good, so that left bottom ribcage is reaching in the direction of your inner right thigh.

Left leg is strong. Let's do two openings here. So on the exhale, pull the belly in and bring that right elbow towards your left forearm. Stretch out your back a little bit, and now inhale, roll open, good, exhale, right elbow to that left forearm, and roll open, make it your own, right? You might even take that right arm high to finish off, and the right hand down to the block.

Try to lift your right foot up to step back, so you have to engage the whole core body there. Nice. Drop into a breath or two in dog pose, and you lift the heels up, squeeze those quads as I've talked about before, push the heels back down. Left leg lifts on the breath in, doesn't have to go too high. Inhale, knee to chest, core strong, step quietly to the outer edge of the block on the left.

Nice. Let the hips sink down, lift the chest, maybe look up, inhale, straighten out the left leg. You can see my left foot now a little bit better, the block's not blocking it, but you see what I'm doing? I'm kind of moving, like move the top, like lift the toes and the ball of the left foot, and roll it open to the left, and let the hips kind of sink to the right. That's that trust, right?

That creativity, that interest in exploring concept, we keep weaving in and out. Open up the chest, drop the hips, let's do one more, straighten out that left leg, find the long pyramid, good. Find some big lunge, twist here, left hand to the back of the head, roll open, roll open. So this time it's the right ribcage. The bottom right ribcage is reaching in the direction of your inner left thigh, and your left elbow's reaching up high.

Now exhale, the left fore, our left elbow to the right forearm, stretch out the back, get a little rounded there, inhale, rotate open. Find some space in this twist, and last one, exhale, elbow to the forearm, inhale, expand. Stretch the left elbow up, release the left arm high as you breathe in, and now the left hand down to the block. Step the right foot up to meet the block on the right for squat pose. Move the blocks out of the way, let the hips drop down safely, good.

Push the arms into the inner thighs as I'm always cueing you to do. This gives you a little leverage to lift the chest and lengthen the upper spine, good. Now press down, rise all the way up, take a big full body, stretch and breath in, little stretch to the left, a little stretch to the right through the spine, good. Reach up, breathe in, exhale, bring yourself down into squat, bring back the blocks, good. Now step back into plank pose, adjust the blocks back where they were.

So plank pose, bring the knees down, one push up, lower down, inhale, exhale, push back up, full plank, downward dog. Take the right leg up as you breathe in, little spice here, little core love, knee to the elbow. Keep that right foot lifted, toes pointing forward, inhale, send it up, exhale, step it quietly to the outer edge of the block on the right, pause, inhale, exhale, left foot squat, keep the blocks there, boom, inhale, rise up, take that little side stretch again to the left, side stretch to the right, inhale back up to center, exhale, squat pose, keep good form, step back, use your knees if you'd like or do one low plank to high plank, pushing all the way back into downward dog. Left leg lifts, breathe in, exhale, knee to the left elbow, maybe hold it there for a moment, point your left toes forward, push back through that right heel. Now inhale the left leg up, exhale, step it up and out wide, pause, inhale, exhale, right foot out wide, squat, inhale, rise all the way up, side stretch to the left, side stretch to the right, back up to center and exhale the arms all the way down by your side, alright, let's move the blocks out of the way and tree pose, so I'll face you, love any opportunity I can face you, so we're going to get on the right leg first, palms at the heart, you know where a tree is for you, so let's pop right into it, I'm going to place the left foot on the right calf, not on the knee, above or below the knee, find your steady gaze, my steady gaze is right toward you, so I'm wobbling a little bit, maybe I need to harness a little bit more focus, so it's that steady gaze that really makes a big difference with these balancing postures, good, push the left foot into that right calf, right calf into the left foot, take those arms up, one big full breath here, and exhale, exit on down, okay, regain focus, who cares about what happened just now, let's rock the left side, find your position, right foot, left calf, or higher, your choice, or even lower, right, palms at the heart, steady gaze, maybe a little, little smile, right, can't hurt, as soon as you smile it kind of lightens the load anyway, so let's bring the arms up if that's what you'd like, nice gentle little gaze, a little smile, a little hey, what's up, how are you, good, now breathe in, let's exit, right foot down, palms at the heart, grateful for exactly what happened just now, boom, okay, so bring your feet as wide as you would a squat, take the arms up overhead, and exhale, come down through a squat, place your hands back behind you, bring your seat down, and we're going to prepare for a little low back relief slash love slash love, okay, grab your block, we'll use this block, your block, roll down to your back, ah, draw the knees into the chest, roll around for a moment, set up for the block on the lowest level, if you know you love it a little bit higher, bring it up higher, I like it on the lowest level, we're going to place it strategically, and it's really, this one is a good test in how does it feel, right, so don't place it in a place where it feels terrible, it's a low back sacrum area, that flat bone structure at the base of the spine, so the block is not digging into the vertebra vertebra vertebrae, however you say it, okay, so the block is comfortable, let's bring the bottoms of the feet together, bring the arms out alongside the body, lengthen through the neck, we'll take a couple breaths here, as long as the block is super comfortable, the invitation for you here is to just completely let go, almost as if you're in final relaxation, you can toy around with lifting the block up on the medium height, see if that gives you a little bit more flavor, more spice, and then it'll be up to you, whether you like it on the medium or the low.

Stay here, or as we've done before, I like to adjust the block up a little bit higher my back, and then take the legs out for a few breaths, kind of like roll through the ankles, opportunity for the legs, even though it takes a little bit of work, I think we are resting the legs quite a bit, so figure out some ways to move your feet around, to kind of like add some mobility and movement to the ankle joints, your toes, take a big breath, that always feels good, take another breath, and release it out as you bend your legs, bring the feet down as wide as the mat with your legs bent, stay here or release the block, place your low back down, make sure the blocks are completely out of your way, take the arms out wide, and the windshield wiper movement from side to side, the knees follow one another, so let the left knee track to the left, right knee follows it, and then you kind of ease your way over to the right as your gaze gently turns to the left, knees to the left, gaze gently to the right, what's up? Good, knees to the right, let's go one more time, over to the right, gaze to the left, pause there, take a full breath, exhale, good, bring it back up to center on the inhale, exhale to the left, gaze to the right, close the eyes for one full breath, beautiful, back up to center, straighten out the legs, keep your arms where they are, bring them closer to your side, which one feels better, trust in the feeling, right, soften the brow, all the muscles around your eyes, your cheekbones, let your head drift casually from side to side, and as always we want to acknowledge the commitment you are making, the honoring of the body as it is, so you keep showing up, if your body is sore, your energy is low, show up to the mat, take a few breaths, move your body around in these different shapes, practice genuinely feeling through the experience, ah, the reluctant exit, ha ha ha, draw the arms out, above your head, stretch through your legs, take a deep big full body stretch, draw the knees in and roll up to sit, all good things come to an end, but, but, but, day 29 is right around the corner, thank you, thank you, namaste.