Day 29: Spacious and Strong

Hey there, welcome back to Yoga Anytime and the 30-day adventure. You and I are still here, so why don't we just get started, warm your core. So tabletop, the invitation for you here, I have it already laid out, is to grab a blanket. It feels kind of nice under the knees. It's one less thing to have to think about if that bothers you with your knees on the mat.

Okay, so take a moment, grab the blanket, set up in tabletop, pause, take a breath, kind of arrive here in the practice, begin to move through the spine and cat-cow, so let the belly drop, take a nice casual gaze forward as you lift your sit bones, stretch the head, the neck to the side, and then you've got to push up into cat-pose, and you've done these movements so many times, but what are some subtle little movements that you can do and add as we move through them? You breathe in, cow-pose, maybe there's an extra drop in the belly, a little lift in the chest, exhale, round it out into cat, maybe a little side bend. What does the body need? So your job, right, is to kind of pay extra attention to those little areas in the body that might need a little more love, a little more breath, a little more stretch, good. Back into cat-pose, maybe push back into a long cat-style child's pose, and then we come forward, back into table, extend, now we begin to work a little bit, right, so extend the right leg back, left arm, reach it, straight out alongside your ear, thumb facing up, curl the back toes for a little more support, lift the right toes up off the mat, try to flatten out the back by extending the tailbone toward the heel, your right heel, pull up through the low belly, now from here, let that go a little bit like you're in a cow-pose, so a little extra arch in the back, maybe, look forward gently, exhale, knee to elbow like we did yesterday, and you get a little cat-pose action, stretch out the back, pull the belly up and in, inhale, do three today, inhale, extend the limbs out, exhale, contract in, inhale, extend out, exhale, hug it in, nice, now come all the way back out, bring the left hand down, your right toes down, the right heel down, slide your left foot over just a little bit, three, four inches, keep the toes curled, and let that right arm kind of rise all the way up, good, take the right arm, stretch it forward, get a big side bend, lift the right foot, take the right hand on the top of the right foot, grab one or two breaths here or there, you push the foot into the right hand, maybe you feel that stretch across the top of the right thigh, good, let's exit out, stretch the right leg long, reach the right arm high, back down into tabletop, onto the forearms, good, stretch back into that forearm plank, now step your feet as wide as the mat, let's try a new one here, press into the left forearm and reach your right hand out, tap beyond your mat, good, right arm back, stabilize, left tap, one more on each side, right, try not to move your hips too far from side to side, very good, good, bring the knees down, back up onto the hands, cow pose, drop the belly arch the back, exhale, round it out, good, back into table, stand the left leg back, right arm long, thumb up, shoulder away from the ear, lift the left foot up off the mat, lift the chest, get a little extended cow pose, exhale, knee to elbow, inhale, extend out, exhale, bring it home, good, one more, inhale, and exhale, inhale, extend out, right hand down, left foot down, build the side plank, kind of flow right up with that left arm, you can reach the left arm alongside the ear, maybe lift that left foot up, take hold of the foot, you can grab the top of the foot, roll the left shoulder open, open the chest, push the foot into the hand, get a nice big full expression, one breath here, nice, now extend the left leg back out, left hand down, left knee, back into that forearm dolphin plank, okay, for ten breaths, no maybe not ten breaths, let's do a ten count, lift the right foot up, bring it down, left foot up, bring it down, good, five more seconds, keep switching right and left, nice, three, two, one, hips down, point the toes back, Sphinx pose, nice, you can take those elbows a little wider to soften through the low back, gently lift the chest, take a big circular motion with the head, stretching out any tight areas in the neck, lower all the way down, hopefully the blanket doesn't bother your cobra, as you come up, lift for cobra, and exhale, push back into Child's pose, I'm going to put the knees up on the blanket, it just feels kind of nice.

From Child's pose, come up into Tabletop, if you'd like to leave the blanket there, that might be a good idea, I think it will be helpful for where we're going next, full body stretch, begin here and downward dog, take a few moments here to bend and straighten and move the hips around, this is one of those great poses to kind of really personalize and make your own, and mine is just right leg down, bend the opposite leg, kind of just move back and forth, stretch one leg at a time, so let's make our way up to the front of the mat, take a little stroll, step over my blanket here, inhale, come up halfway, lengthen your spine, lift the chest a little bit and exhale, fold back down, inhale, rise all the way up, take hold of your left wrist with your right hand, extend the tailbone down toward the heels, lengthen through both sides of the body, let's take that full stretch over to the right, full being, as always, your full, where is that range of motion that just feels right to you, good, come back up to center, left hand on the right wrist, lengthen up through the right side and the left side as you laterally stretch to the left, maybe you max out, you come out a little bit, roll the chest open, the right side of the chest open, lengthen and dip again, good, come back up to center, hook your thumbs, draw the tailbone down, get super strong legs, draw the hips forward and just lift the chest, just enough to get like that liberating upper body, upper chest stretch, nice, and now draw the palms back to the heart, so as we move into this full body stretch, treat it just as that, we're going through the entire body, reach the arms up overhead, come forward into the forward bend, where do you feel that, how can you accommodate, deepen, minimize, hands drive in, the heels of your palms into the hip creases, bend the knees, lift the chest, push through the hips, lengthen the spine, breathe in and exhale, let the belly kind of fall over the thighs, drape the arms down, good, let's do that again, inhale, maybe the hands are on the shins this time, chest up, exhale, fold, good, heel toe the feet out toward the edge of the mat, open the feet out off of the mat, heels maintain on, drop down into squat pose, good, elbows press into the inner thighs, lift the chest, maybe there's a little lean to the left, a little lean to the right, work the inner thighs, good, hands down toward the mat, lift your seat up and as you're lifting your seat up, point your toes forward for a little wide bend, it's not 100%, everything's about 70, 80% with wiggle room, spaciousness, squat, maybe it's an exhale as you enter, lifting the chest, take a side stretch through the neck, good, hands come down, lift the seat point, the toes forward, very good, let's take one more squat, bring it on down, place the left hand down on the mat, drive the left arm into the left thigh and reach the right arm high, see what that feels like, bring the right arm down, take the left arm high, a little rotation, good, left hand down, good, lift the seat up enough for you to step the right foot back with your right knee down on the mat, so the left foot stays out wide, maybe the edge of the left foot is on the mat, so when you come on to the outer edge of the left foot, it's comfortable, it's not on a hard surface, take the left hand on the inner thigh, untuck the back toes and so as you're opening the knee out to the left safely, you kind of at the same time let that right hip dip down and there's a little opening across the chest, you can stay here, you can bend the right leg, reach back, take hold of that right foot, little right quadricep stretch, quadricep top of the thigh, good, release that out, left hand comes back down, come up onto the fingertips, that's kind of helpful, curl the back toes and step up into squat again, nice, lift up a little bit, step the left foot back, find the knee placement, find the hip position, this shape, right, I'm always talking about keep it simple, this is the shape you're putting your body in and now how can you move around in this shape to create new sensations, to be kind of like connected to existing sensations and feelings to really like make this practice your own, find your own way there, reach back, take hold of the foot, that left foot, maybe the right shoulder, you can peel that up a little bit, the top of the left thigh getting a little stretch, you don't need to overdo any of this, it's just like waking up these little areas in the body, so you get a little attention and feel a little bit better, nice, now let's step the right foot back, both knees on the blanket might feel good, push the hips back into child's pose and now we'll focus like kind of on the spine and hips, come forward into table, down through a reverse upward dog, cobra, body's flat, good inhale, cobra, gentle upward dog and push back all the way into your favorite child's pose, one more time, table, kind of slither down, all the way back up and back into child's pose, come forward into tabletop, let's do a little thread the needle, reach the right arm high, as you breathe in and exhale, sweep it underneath that left arm, maybe touch down on that right shoulder for one moment and then push through the left hand and arm, reach all the way up, grab a little rotation through the trunk of the body, bring it all the way through and down again, good, all the way back up and right hand down, good, let's see what the other side feels like, left arm reach it up, nice and then sweep it under, touch that left shoulder down if that's available to you, try to keep your hips square, one more time, inhale, rotate open and exhale, sweep it under, inhale last time, out and up and left hand down, good, maybe roll through the shoulders, curl the toes and come up into a little groovy downward dog, kind of stretch everything out, maybe take your left foot out wide, right foot out wide, you might find that the legs are a little bit more available, might be a new sensation, a new taste, a new flavor, okay, so let's bring the knees back down and prepare for our closing, that cozy seat, one of my favorites, okay, so you can place your blanket as high or as low as you'd like, I'm going to simply fold mine over one fold, so I've got a nice little ledge to sit up on, nice comfortable sitting position, so first find that, what is that for you, how are you most comfortable sitting, we'll be here for a few poses, so take a moment to figure that out, good, bring the hands onto the thighs, lengthen through the spine and roll the head in a big circular motion to one side, good and then maybe over to the other side and while you're moving through there if you feel any interesting places you can hang out there, let the head stay to the right, so the head is actually drifting over to the right, now reach the left hand out toward the floor, toward the mat, just to get that counter stretch and you may feel that in the left neck area and then play around here, lift the chin up, lift your chin, turn, like this is really the moment here to explore, chin down, chin up, right around there for me is like whoa, so I might, where's your whoa spot, nice let's try the other side, I can casually roll it around and let it kind of drift over to the other side, counter it with reaching the right hand out to the right toward the mat, one side may feel totally different from the other, so acknowledge that as normal, good, chin up and down to the side, you can even move the low jaw around a little bit, good, bring it back over, kind of exit out of there, we'll flow right into a side bend so the right hand comes out to the right, left arm bring it up and overhead, kind of flow back to the other side, left hand grounds, right arm reaches, nice, back over to center, take the arms out really wide and then clasp all the fingers out in front of you, knuckles toward me or toward the screen, chin in, round out the back a little bit like a cat pose, good, all the way up, press the palms up toward the ceiling and one more little side stretch that may feel different with this type of hand hold and shoulder positioning, keep the arms up, open them out to the right for a spinal twist, left hand on the right thigh, right hand back behind you, good, long spine, relaxed neck, these are those moments in the practice where it's a little slower and you've given that, you're giving your own permission but I'm giving you full permission to work so hard, find the time and the space to find out what feels right and then trust that feeling, let's slowly come back over to center, feel that exit in the spinal column there, take the arms up overhead, big breath, exhale, right hand to the left thigh, left hand back behind you, prop your chest up, lengthen the spine and rotate a little bit to the left, good, use the strength of your arms to deepen your twist, if that's interesting to you, come back out, realign, sit up nice and tall, bring the arms up overhead, one last little shape before we pause for a moment, take the hands back behind you, draw the chest up, shoulders back, like more space to breathe here when your chest is open like this, neck, good, now bring yourself all the way back into a neutral position, place your hands on your thighs or on the floor, wherever it's most comfortable for you, close your eyes, soften your shoulders and begin to release all the tension in your facial muscles, your neck, just enough effort to sit upright, maybe this is a moment or a few moments for you to acknowledge like we like to do, acknowledge the commitment, the effort and the priority that you've made for yourself and the commitment to trust yourself, to trust that leaning a little bit to the right because it feels good is totally correct, maybe even letting your head drift to the left, like trust, trust, trust my friend, bring the palms to your heart, draw the forehead towards your fingertips, just as a nice little gesture of your commitment, your dedication, namaste, day 29, I'll see you for day 30.