Day 4: Removing Obstacles

Hey Yogis, we're back. Thank you for showing up for the challenge day after day, keep the commitment happening because this unfolding, this connecting, communicating with the heart takes a little bit of commitment. We were exploring yesterday and as we explore, sometimes we find obstacles in our path and those obstacles are what we're going to look at today. As we move into this journey together, we're going to notice that most of those obstacles are in our mind, how we attach to things, fears that are brought up, situations that we may feel challenged in, but we might be able to use some of the techniques that we're going to explore on the mat today to either go under, around or over those obstacles or break through them. And some of those obstacles, we just have to accept and find peace.

And peace is our virtuous word for today. May we find peace because we always know these obstacles are going to be there. So how do we move through our practice acknowledging the obstacles and just with a sense of investigation, how do we respond? One of the obstacles that I always have are hand mudras. It's like finger yoga.

How do you get your hands to do these? So this is going to be a fun way to see how you react to a challenge. Because when we move into surabhi mudra, how you respond, how you react? What is your typical response? Is it frustration?

Is it, I'm going to do this, whether it takes me all night or is it, I give up? Or can we invite this investigation and explore and that wonder that we were practicing before and just be curious about how it all works without attachment? Always going back to the heart space, virtuous word is peace today, so think peace as we try this challenge. Both hands give those fingers a little wiggle. Feel the movements of your fingers.

Now spread the fingers as far apart as you can and bring them back together and spread them as far apart as you can and bring them back together. So we want to feel the dexterity of the fingers here and what we're going to try to do is we're going to try to cross the pinkies over the rings, pinkies over the rings, rings over the middle, rings over the middle, middle over the index, and then the thumbs you're lucky they don't have to do anything. We're going to play a little crisscross game here with the hands, a little finger yoga. So bring your attention back to your breath. Settle in, clear the mind with your inhale, let go of any resistance, any attachment, any expectations with your exhale.

This is just a fun little process, inhale, exhale, be aware of your right pinky finger and touch the pad of the ring on the left. Ring finger on the right hand, cross over, touch the pinky on the left. So we've got right pinky, left ring, right ring, left pinky. Now we're going to explore the middle finger and the index finger. Right middle, left index, right index, left middle.

One more time. Right middle, left index, right index, left middle. So we've got two crosses here and then your thumbs just come together and we bring it right into the heart. Now it can be a little frustrating but it can be fun and just like any other obstacle the first couple of times you try it, you'll notice the challenge is real and you practice and you explore and you find your way around it, through it, over it, under it and then afterwards you might even just be able to do it with your eyes closed. You've practiced it so many times because you just have to try it.

So this is an opportunity, you can rewind this and try this a couple of times. See how you respond to the challenge and we're going to explore that challenge, how we respond to obstacles throughout the practice. So let that go and we're going to go ahead and lie on the back. Get comfortable and we'll go ahead and extend all the way out with the legs and good. We're going to keep the left leg as it is and as you exhale draw the right knee into the chest and give yourself a hug.

While you're hugging and give yourself a couple of circles at the ankle and shin, a lot of our obstacles happen at areas of rotation so we're going to make sure that we really explore the rotation and kind of free up some of this energy. Same leg, we're going to explore that rotation at the hips so free the arms, give yourself a couple of slow circles right into that hip flexor, outer glute piriformis. It should feel kind of like a massaging movement as you explore and circle. Notice any areas of resistance, try not to push through it, just breathe through it, back off a little bit if you feel stuck. With a repetition you're going to start to open up a little bit more.

From here draw the right knee right towards the outer chest here, towards the armpit. Stay here if this feels like your spot for resistance or reach for happy baby with the right side. One thing that I like to feel in my happy baby pose is a little resistance so I'm going to find a new spot, I'm going to bend the left leg, I invite you to do the same and notice if the right knee will drop closer to the floor. Feel that right knee dropping closer to the floor, try not to lift it and slowly go back to extending that left leg. You may have found a new sweet spot to feel the pose.

Try it again, bend the leg, let the knee drop a little closer and then keep it there and start to extend. Revisiting the pose a couple of times with intention you might find less resistance and move through a couple of those obstacles here. Bend the left leg, place the right ankle on top of the left thigh and go ahead and draw the left knee into the chest for a little reclining pigeon pose here. Pull the knee into the chest, if you want to feel resistance, press the sacrum to the floor as you're drawing the knee into the chest. We want the right knee to slightly move away from the chest so that we're getting into that hip opening experience here.

Lower the left leg to the floor, slide the right leg on top of the left, cross the legs and then we'll slide the legs over to the left. Feeling a little twist here. If you'd like to go deeper into the twist, bring the knees all the way to the floor until the right shoulder comes off. Hold that right knee down with your left hand, use that technique that we were working with before, lengthening the spine with the inhale and instead of forcing, just soften. Lengthen and soften.

Use that softening breath to move deeper into the twist without force and just notice how you respond, relaxing in some of these challenging situations and really just breathing and softening into it instead of forcing things to happen. Slowly unwind, extend your right leg, hug the left knee into the chest, a little circular movements at the ankle, shin on the left leg. Then we're going to explore that same movement at the hip. So we're circling the knee towards us and away, trying to go a little fuller each time we circle. You'll feel this in the outer glute and the hip.

Hopefully it feels like a nice massaging movement for the glute because who doesn't like a butt massage, right? Draw the left knee into the chest, hang out right here or happy baby is the option. To find a little bit more depth, a little bit more resistance, bend the right leg and you'll notice that that left knee is able to drop closer to the floor. Go back into resistance, press the heel away from you, right? We're not forcing, we're just kind of exploring that resistance.

Going in a new sweet spot, bend it again and press the heel away. You go deeper into the pose through your efforts. Right leg bends, left ankle on top of the right thigh, draw the right knee into the chest, open up the hip, sacrum to the floor so that you feel localized, isolating that left hip flexor, good. Right leg lowers down, left leg crosses over the right, arms out to the T and let that knee just drop towards the floor. Anchor it down with your right hand, my left shoulder's off the floor.

Just be there unless this doesn't feel good on the shoulder, then keep it down. But if you can be here and just use each exhale to soften instead of force, softening and forcing, as an ex-person who used to go to the gym five days a week, softening is not part of my language and now that I've come to yoga, it's like, oh, this experience of just softening on the exhale instead of pressing and forcing is really formed, but it's a really nice experience. Slowly unwind, hug those knees into the chest, give yourself a little rock from side to side, a little clearing movement and then we're going to keep the knees hugged in and we're going to rock forward and backward, a little massage for the muscles along the spine. Rock all the way up to your seat. So we've come to our second challenge.

We want to explore how to move from this cross-legged seat back to table pose. Previously, we've swung the legs around, which is just perfect. This could be your path today. Let's see how you respond to the challenge. If it's a physical challenge and it's not working, please swing your legs around.

Otherwise, a way to swing the legs back is to pull the knees tightly into the chest, pull the heels really close up into the seat and then lift your heart. Feel that cow tilt of the spine. Keep the cow tilt of the spine, pull the heels in and then see if you can shift your weight forward. If you're comfortable rocking your weight on the tops of your feet and the shins, you should be able to step the top leg back. Let's reverse it.

Sliding the heels in, drawing the knees in, lifting your heart. I like to do this on the tippy toes because then you can really get that lift and then if you can keep the heels in, hands forward, lift, step the leg back or hop the leg back. That's your homework. Come into your table pose, clearing the spine with our cat and cows, lengthening the spine with the inhales, pressing, curling, exhale, navel up to the spine. Feel the breath.

Last round. Find a neutral table. That hip exploration that we did on the back, we're going to do right here in table pose. Extend your left leg back, draw the knee into the chest, keep it bent and start to circle it. See if you can find a slower, deeper, wider range of motion each time you circle.

Notice where you feel the resistance. The next time you draw that left knee out there to 9 o'clock on the dial, 12, 9, stay here, fire hydrant pose, extend the leg. If you want more of a challenge, shift your weight into your left hand and lift your right arm off the floor. Stand here for 3, 2, one breath. Lower the left leg over to 9 o'clock, press into the left hand, lengthen and lift.

Lengthen and rotate. Lengthen and rotate and then we'll thread that right arm under and through. If your shoulder doesn't come all the way to the floor, just keep yourself supported with the left hand. If your shoulder comes to the floor and you want more resistance, push down with the left hand or play with prayer pose. Pressing down with the left hand, maybe even lifting the shoulder off the floor.

Same concept, lengthen and lift, lengthen and lift. Replace your palms, slide the left leg back, fingertip cat and cows. Placing a little bit more weight into our fingers, feeling the strength that we can find in those fingers so we're not sinking into the wrists. Find a neutral spine, palms back to the floor, hip rotation with the right leg. Placing the difference between the legs, noticing any resistance and then when you open up that right hip over to 3 o'clock and extend the leg, notice the challenge, notice the obstacle.

Notice how you respond here. Do you just want to give up or are you going to stay here with me and lift that left arm off the floor? We're here, we're doing it together. Lift the right leg up, lift the right leg up. Two more breaths, one more, lower the right leg to the floor.

Inhale the left palm to the sky. Lengthen, exhale, rotate. Lengthen with your inhale, exhale, rotate for more space and thread under and through. The shoulder doesn't come to the floor, keep yourself supported with the right hand or take option two or three. Be where you're at, make peace where you're at.

It's probably where you're supposed to be and then come back to the table. It's our nature to always want more. Flip your palms so your wrists are facing forward. But how can we go back to that mind of gratitude and just be happy where we're at and strive for more, to make some new gains on our path, back up the seat if you want to feel more, but to be happy and to make peace for where we're at on our path makes life so much easier. Good, shake out one wrist at a time.

Good, from here we'll set up for our down dog. Walk it a print forward, tuck the toes under. Press back to the dog, draw the navel up and back, spiral the biceps forward, pull the seat back, enjoy the breath. Be in the pose, make it feel like a resting pose. Simply walk your feet forward to the front of the mat, bend the knees if and when you need to, lengthen out, pull the navel up and back, forward fold, wherever you're at in your forward fold.

So from our forward fold we're going to take a little bend in the knees, we'll place the right hand just on top of your right shin, keep the right leg bent and start to straighten your left leg, lengthen the spine, isolating that left hamstring, lengthen, bring the left hand to the sacrum or extend it to the sky. Each time you inhale find the space for more rotation. If you want to explore a little bit more, take the left hand around the waist and still going deeper, take the right hand to the outer left calf, ankle or pinky toe side of the foot and then use the inhales to lengthen the spine and exhales to rotate. You need a nice IT band, hamstring stretch here on the left side and the right sides in a real passive relaxed pose. Bend both legs.

Left hand comes to the shin or the floor, straighten the right leg. Keep the left leg bent, inhale the right palm to the sky. This could be your spot lengthening and rotating or you can bring the hand around the waist. Left hand if you're going deeper, outer right calf, ankle or pinky toe side of the foot. Use the breath, lengthen the spine from the seat to the crown and it's off and into the twist.

Inhales really active breath, exhale and just relax and into the pose without force. The muscles in my face aren't gripping, I feel like I'm on holiday right now or at least that's what we can say in our mind, right? Bring the palms to the shins, lengthen the spine, exhale forward fold. Notice the space you created by isolating each separately and then bend the knees. Use the power of your quads and core, hands if necessary to rise all the way up.

Inhale the palms to the sky and let's always just bring it into prayer through this practice because it reminds us that we're bright here at the heart center, home base. You can keep your feet hip distance or you can bring the big toes together wherever you feel more balance and stability. We're going to go into sunny A's here. Our jump back is going to be the third challenge and we're going to play with a challenge and we're going to play with some techniques to help you with the challenge. So as you're ready, inhale the palms to the sky, lift heart, chin and chest, exhale, swan dive to the floor, hinge at the hips, lengthen forward, use your core muscles.

Palms to the shins, lengthen the spine. So when we hop back, one of the biggest challenges is hopping with the feet so close to the hands. So let's play with stepping the feet back a little bit and we're just going to transition the weight over the wrists, tops of the toes and bend the knees, press the way back into the heels. For some of us, this is it. This is a great way to build muscle and to play.

For a few of us that are feeling it, when you come up to the tops of the toes, bend the knees and see if you can float the feet off the floor an inch or two. No expectations, just play. This hopping will help us get the seat high enough to shoot the legs back. So we're lengthening forward, tops of the toes and you can always walk back. This could be fun homework to work on though.

Today we're going to work on knees, chest and chin, seat high, relaxing the chest towards the floor or wherever you're at today. Slide forward, straighten the legs. Always the option of sphinx pose, cobra, let's stay at cobra right now and we'll wake up the upper back, lower back, press back to your down dog. Same challenge, floating the feet to the front of the mat. So what we're going to play with is just hopping the feet forward a foot and then hopping back.

Channel your inner child that would really like to do this, right? Sometimes when we see obstacles that's in our mind, we don't want to do it. It's like channel that sense of curiosity, explore and wonder. Seat to the sky, hop. Have a little fun with it.

Hop and then walk the rest of the way to the front of the mat. Lengthen with the inhale, soft fold with the exhale. Reverse the dive. Exhale the palms into prayer, connect with your breath. Exhale pause, exhale pause.

We're going to exhale out any resistance. Nice big inhale through the nose, let it go through the mouth. One more time, nice big inhale. We're going to turn that ah into an om as we bow to the floor. Let's call the energy into the pose.

Nail the palms to the sky as you dive, oma to the floor. Om. Bring the palms to the shins, the length of the spine. Bend both knees, walk the feet back. Play with a little hop or two or just shift in your weight forward and backward.

From here, walk or float back to your plank, knees, chest and chin. We're going to play with what I call a sneaky up dog. We're going to slide forward into cobra up dog and then we're going to press back into child's pose but we're going to keep the knees kind of tight. A little bend to the elbows outward towards three and nine, slide forward, hug the elbows in cobra up dog. If you want to envision the obstacle, you can imagine that you're sliding under bobbed wire.

Don't let the bobbed wire touch you. I don't know where that came from but it sounds like a serious obstacle. Press back to your down dog. From your down dog, go ahead and inhale that right leg to the sky. Bend the knee, open the hip, invite the right heel towards the left seat and push actively forward with both hands.

Take a nice big inhale in, exhale, step the right foot to the front of your mat. Pivot your left heel. We're going to stay nice and low on this one. Bring your palms inside. If you need blocks on this one, we can use a block inside of that right leg.

Left heel, pinky toe side of the foot, variation of lizard pose. This could be your spot right here, hang out. Or if you want to feel more depth, walk the fingertips forward, draw the right knee right over second and third toe and push into the pinky toe side of the left foot and feel the depth of the pose. Notice what it does to the muscles in the face, the jaw. Can you relax into the pose?

We're going to take this for a little walk over to the right. So without letting the right knee follow you, walk hand over hand to the left. Right knee's pointing straight forward. Walking hand over hand to the left and we're just going to pulse into that right leg. Straightening the right leg a little, pulsing into it while grounding down into that left foot.

Pulse and bend, pulse and bend and see if you find a new sweet spot to sink into the pose. From here we're going to pivot the toes of the right foot to join the left. We're going to straighten that right leg, walk the palms over to the left and bend the left leg. See if you can keep the whole right foot on the floor. Keep the seat low as you bend the right leg and shift from side to side.

This is much easier with the hands on the floor. Hands with the hips a little bit more challenging. Keeping the seat low, you really feel the muscles and the quads and the glutes working. If you have your hands on the floor, pause, bring your hands to the hips, bend both knees. Start to bring the right ribcage inside of the right leg.

As you straighten the left leg, slowly rise up, squeeze the shoulder blades together, straighten the right leg and fold inside of the left. Walk it over to the right, rise up, full circle, exploring rotation between upper body and lower body. This is a great spot to hang out if you want to get into it a little bit more upper back and shoulders, free the arms. Kind of like one of those junior high school drama classes. Feel the space, be an amoeba, move around.

This is where you can kind of get a little silly with it. Good. Give it one more forward fold and we'll pause. Both legs straight, palms right under the shoulders, lengthen the spine and then take a nice soft fold. So the idea is to move the crown of the head towards the floor, but don't get attached to it.

If it happens, easily walk your feet in. If you want to feel more resistance, flip your palms and walk your hands between the legs. Give yourself a little pull, squeezing her thighs together so you can keep the balance and give yourself a little pull here. Pressing into the pinky toe sides and the arches at the same time, firming up the quads. Walk the palms back, heel toe the feet in just a little bit and turn the toes out.

Bring the palms up to the quads, drop the seat, and we'll explore a little cat and cow tilt here. If you ever wanted to try out for an MTV video, you could do this really fast, but we'll go nice and slow. This sets us up really nicely for goddess pose. So we're keeping our knees about the height of the hips or you can rise up a little bit and then just to complete the pose, goddess pose, bring index and thumb together, roll the shoulder blades back, good. Sink into the pose.

If you want to feel more, lift your heels off the floor, breathe into it. Guys can do goddess pose too, bring your palms to the floor, lengthen the spine. Walk both hands over to the right leg. Crosshand hold on somewhere to that right leg. Draw the ribs close to that right leg.

Feel the soft twist here. If you want to move deeper, right palm to the sky or drape it around like you did in the previous pose. If you want to feel more resistance, bend the back leg, bend the back leg and feel. Breathe into it. Try to find peace in the pose.

Let go of the suffering. Find that sweet spot where you can experience the pose. Good. We're going to pivot the toes to the front of the mat. We'll lower the left knee to the floor and you'll probably want to straighten the right leg.

That's a sneaky way to get into the splits. Work hard on that right leg and you'll actually want to go into the splits. Stay here in the half split or if you're feeling the challenge, move the heel forward. I like to bend the right leg to release the back leg and then straighten. Bend the right leg to release the back leg and straighten.

You'll know where the spot is for you in this pose. See if you can find that spot and breathe into the space, wherever that is for you. Always the opportunity to use the blocks. We're going to use the blocks as we transition into our standing split, but great opportunity to use the blocks in your half split or your three quarter split. This part's fun.

Bend your right leg. Think fun. Left leg to the sky, standing split. Use the blocks. These cork blocks are great because they're a little heavier and you feel a little bit more support here.

We're going to play bending the back leg and lowering it down just outside of the front leg. Boom. Send it back to the sky. Lower it down. Feel free to use your blocks to get yourself down here or you can do the hands freestyle and just come into your twist.

Right hand behind, left palm, pulls that quad in, lengthen and twist, lengthen and twist. Come back to center. We're going to play with that rock and roll to table or to plank pose that we were working with before. If it didn't work earlier, I'm going to let you cheat a little bit and use your blocks. Your blocks are just in front of the seat.

Hug those knees into the chest, lift the heart, move your block forward and then start to shift your weight. Might be easier with the blocks. Stepping one leg back, lowering down. Move your blocks out of the way, tuck the toes under. Down dog, find it, feel it as if it's a resting pose.

At any time, you need to come down to child's pose. Child's pose would be a great time to pause right now before you do the second side. Put it on pause, come into child's pose, have a little breather and then get excited about side two. Left leg to the sky, bend the knee open the hip, press actively forward with both palms. Take a nice big inhale, exhale, step the left foot to the front of the mat, pivot your right heel to the floor, heel to heel alignment or take it slightly out to the right.

Palms inside, great opportunity or go back to your block. Feel the sink into the pose and feel steady in the pose for a little bit longer with the block. Walk the fingertips forward, melt into the pose. Make sure the breath is still there, let go of the gripping, relax the muscles in the face. Walk the palms back, move your blocks out of the way.

We're going to walk hand over hand to the right, keep moving that knee in the same direction and we're just going to slowly straighten and bend. Feeling resistance, feeling that good resistance. Keep pressing to the outer right foot, good. Let the left toes pivot to join the right, straighten the left leg, bend the right. Sink a little bit lower, option second round.

Moving deeper into the same pose, you might find a little bit more space. If you do, you can peel the toes of the straight leg off the floor, move deeper into the pose. Keep the hands down for support or move side to side with the hands off the floor. You know the options so do the right one for your body today. And fold, passarita, parottanasana.

So I like to think of this one as you flip the palms. It's kind of like you're giving birth to yourself as you walk the palms back, sliding it all the way through, squeezing the inner thighs together and really grounding in so you feel supported in the pose. Bend both legs, keep the knees bent, bring your hands to the hips, draw the left ribcage just inside of the left thigh and slowly rise up. Bend the right leg, fold inside, shift your weight over to the left, rise up, squeeze the shoulder blades back, lift the heart, stay here or release the arms and explore. Lower back and shoulders as you move into the pose a little deeper.

Good. Bring your palms to the floor, lengthen the spine, turn your toes out and your heels in. Last opportunity to try out for your MTV video, lift and lower. Do it in faster gear, I don't have the backside for this, but if you do, celebrate it, right? Think into it, reach the arms out, thumb and index, stay here or lift the heels off the floor.

Good. Lower the palms, turn the toes back, passarita and walk both hands over to your left leg. Stay here if you're feeling the resistance or lift the left ribcage over the thigh, drape the left hand around the waist or for more resistance, bend your right leg and draw the right ribcage towards your left thigh. Try to go back to that slow, full deep inhale, pause and exhale. Pivot your toes to the front of the mat, lower the right knee to the floor, straighten the left leg, arthajanum on half split.

You want to go deeper, you've got your blocks on each side. Using the blocks is a great opportunity here to feel supported in the pose. Bend the left leg, walk the blocks forward, slide the left foot forward and find your space to be in the pose, wherever that is. Notice where you're gripping, can you let go of any of that gripping? The face usually tells the story of how you're feeling in the pose, so see if you can relax there, then relax the breath and be in the pose.

Usually when we want to get out of the pose, we should stay a couple of breaths more just to feel what it feels like to be confronted with an obstacle. Be there, get used to it, because we're going to find lots of obstacles in our life, so we've got to get comfortable with this. Let's get ready for standing splits. Bend the left leg, walk the blocks forward. Right leg to the sky, hang out nice and low, or start to walk your blocks back towards the foot, or bring your palms to the floor.

Wherever you're feeling the pose, make sure you're still breathing into it. Bend that left leg, lower the top of the right foot to the floor, lift the chest, send it back up, and lower it, come all the way down to your twist. Hug the left knee in towards the right rib cage, maybe right elbow outside, or just keep the hug. Tall spine. Good, we're going to move our blocks out of the way.

We're going to make our way to our back, so I'm going to swing this way, and we'll take a nice slow massaging roll all the way down. Take your time, make it feel like each inch of the spine gets the attention. Settle into the floor, and then draw one knee at a time into your chest. Maybe this is where you're at, but we set up for happy baby earlier, now's your chance. Full happy baby pose, pinky toe sides of the feet.

As you draw the knees down to the floor, simultaneously press your sacrum down to the floor for your happy baby pose. I always like to think of happy baby as going back to the mind of innocence. No worries about all those attachments to the character, the title of the role that we play in this life, and right there that removes half of our obstacles. So I'd like to give you the opportunity to either relax into a restorative Supta Baddha Konasana, or extend the legs for your Shavasana, and just be open and receive all the wonderful benefits of your practice, and I'll sing to you. So this Ganesha chant connects with the remover of the obstacles.

When we do this chant, whenever we start a new project, whenever we travel, whenever we fail challenge. As you do this chant, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever we start a new project, whenever the love and the joy from our heart with each person that we meet. So continue to explore how these obstacles in your daily life, how you respond to them, and see if you can respond to them with more peace, with less resistance, with more acceptance, and notice how that feels, and let me know what your experience is. Thank you so much for joining day four. Namaste.