Day 10: Acceptance

Hey Yogis, happy day. What a journey we've been on. I mean, this is day 10 and in 10 days we've explored gratitude. We've explored the sense of wonder. We've channeled support and we've practiced supporting others.

We've created this sense of empowerment. We removed some obstacles. We channeled that love of the mother, that unconditional love. We explored change and how we react to change. We've done so much.

Now we're moving into just accepting all of these gifts into the heart. And it's going to take a while to really integrate all this. So the journey's not over, really. It's just the beginning and I'd love to hear what your experience is after this 10-day journey with me and with Yoga anytime. What is your response?

How have you noticed a change, a shift from living in this headspace into the heart space? And how can you keep cultivating this along your journey? Because this is where we need to be. We need more people who live and love from this space. So I invite you to keep this challenge and be that warrior for peace.

Keep cultivating and keep journeying with some of these tools and check in with me. I'd love to know what your experience is. Thank you so much for being on this challenge. Day 10 we're celebrating with just this sense of acceptance, this fun crazy character that we all hold, the name, the title, the role that we play. We don't want to get stuck in that character in the mind.

We want to just know that we're all this beautiful expression of a character on this world, on this planet, on this big play. It's just like this big play and we're the characters on the play. And when we step back and when we look at it and we get this new perspective, it's like, well, I can just really be my authentic self and play this character to this fullest, most brilliant bright color and I can feel joy here and I can celebrate that joy. So hopefully this practice is helping you become a kinder, more patient, more compassionate person and I look forward to continuing this journey with you off of the mat because you've given me so many blessings to think about myself and this journey has also challenged me in so many beautiful ways. So let's take our last practice together.

We're going to integrate it by bringing in this vibration and this sense of om, not that om, that variation that sometimes we do on the west, om. We're going to really challenge and bring it from the base all the way to the crown of the head. So we're going to take it into three parts and then when you do your om, think of that guttural sound, that uh, bring your pumps to your belly and invite it all the way down. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. And then the oh part is actually more of an ooh, like ooh, I like this, ooh, uh, uh, ooh.

You should feel that ooh right at the heart center, like ooh, I like living from this space, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. And the um sound comes right into the throat, uh, uh, uh, um, you'll feel the vibration here and you'll feel it come all the way up. Maybe add a little end sound to it, uh, uh, um, uh, um, and you'll feel that energy rising all the way up to the crown. We're going to play with a couple of these ohms today and we're going to finish with these ohms just to integrate this whole practice. The ohm is really, we're all connected.

We are all part of the source, this atman, the soul that resides here, totally connected. So the ohm just brings it all together. So let's come to the top of our mat. We'll practice a couple of those ohms together and then we're just going to flow with it. All right.

Let's do it. So come to a stand, we'll bring our palms right into prayer and let's feel one of the ohms first all the way from the belly, um, we're going to add a little gesture. So as you inhale the palms to the sky, you can think of channeling the source and bring the thumbs right to the forehead for that clarity of thought. Bring the thumbs to the lips for that clarity of speech so that we may speak our truth from our heart and bring the thumbs right to the sternum so that we live in the space. Come our ohm together, nice big inhale, ohm.

Let's integrate it one more time and inhale, send it up. Channel whatever the source is to you and bring it down into your existence all the way to the heart. Up right here at the brow, the lips, and the heart, nice big inhale, um, good. So we're going to move to the front of our mat, give yourself about four to six inches to the front of the mat. We're going to play with some pre-salutations.

This practice is we're just going to weave in a lot of the practices from the ten days and to celebrate the journey that we've been on. As you inhale, reach the palms to the sky. As you exhale, take your arms over to the right for a side bend. As you inhale, bring it back to center and exhale over to your left. Inhale back to center, nice slow swan dive to the shins or the floor.

Bend your right leg, right hand to the right shin or the floor. Straighten the left leg, left palm to the sky. Exhale the left arm up and over the ear. Bend the left leg, straighten the right. Inhale the right palm to the sky.

Exhale it up and over the ear. Inhale bring your palms to the shins, lengthen the spine. Exhale soft fold. Inhale reverse the dive. Rise all the way up and we'll go right into second round.

Exhale over to your right. Inhale back to center. Exhale over to your left. Inhale back to center, take a nice big inhale because we're going to swan dive with an arm. Big inhale, um.

Bend your right leg, right hand to the shin or floor. Inhale the left palm to the sky. Exhale it up and over the ear for that side stretch. Bend your left leg, inhale the right palm to the sky. Exhale it up and over the ear.

Palms to the shins, lengthen the spine. Exhale soft fold. Inhale reverse the dive. Rise all the way up. Last round.

Exhale it over to the right. Inhale it back to center. Exhale it over to your left. Big inhale back to center for that final om. One dive to the floor, om.

Lengthen the spine with your inhale. Bend your right leg, left palm to the sky. Exhale it up and over the ear. Lower the left hand, shin or floor. Bend the left leg, right palm to the sky.

Exhale it up and over the ear. Palms to your shins, lengthen the spine. Pause right here. We're going to walk or float back to our plank pose. Let's take that knee variation.

Lower down nice and slow. Hug those triceps in. Sphinx pose. Cotton cows in your sphinx pose. Curl the spine as you exhale.

Soften the belly to the floor. Move the ribs forward and shoulders back as you inhale. Enjoy those mobilizers for the spine. Lengthen forward with the inhale. Give yourself one more round.

Replace the palms where your elbows are. Cobra up dog. Exhale press back to your down dog. A little explore right here, bending one leg at a time or if there's something in the other practices that is calling you now, use one of those variations as you explore your down dog. Getting comfortable in the foundation.

Inactively forward with the palms, drawing the navel up and back. Bend the knees, look forward, walk or float your feet to the hands. Exhale fold. Reverse the dive. Rise all the way up.

Exhale the palms into prayer. Down two, inhale the palms to the sky. Exhale slow dive, shins to the floor. Lengthen the spine with your inhale. Exhale bend the knees, walk or float back.

Lower down. Inhale cobra or up dog, whatever feels right for you today and your body for your practice. Exhale, press back to your down dog. You can take a little spinal twist in our dog. So from here, go ahead and walk your right hand halfway to your right foot and bend your left leg and peek underneath your left arm for a little spinal twist.

Stay here or take the right hand to the outer calf, ankle or heel for your spinal twisting dog. Come on back to center, ground into the fingers, palms of the right hand, bend the right leg. Left hand comes to the center of the mat. Peek underneath the right under arm, stay here or reach for the outer right calf, ankle or heel, wherever the right spot is for you for your twist. Back to your down dog.

Come forward to your plank pose. Pivot your feet to the right, we're going to take kickstand, side plank, inhaling the left palm to the sky, pressing into the left toes. Push actively forward with the right hand. Use the left hand if you need it to help you step the left foot forward. Get the right heel to the floor, rising up for warrior two.

We're showing you the back variation because we're going to do a little bind here. Drape the left hand around your waist and reach up with your right palm. Cup the left ear with your right palm and take a little trapezius stretch here. If you want to feel more, straighten the left leg, lift the heart, move a little deeper into that side stretch and then bend into that left leg. So you're starting to move into this peaceful warrior experience.

Good, straighten the left leg, keep the left hand wrapped around the waist. We're going to take a little side bend to the left. With this side bend, this curvature of the spine, it makes it easier to slide the left hand up the spine. You can use the right hand to guide the left elbow towards the midline. You can also use a hand towel or when we reach up with the right hand, you can grab onto t-shirt or whatever you're able to reach, right palm to the sky, t-shirt or fingertips.

Back into the warrior two, go back to that shoulder blade cleavage and start squeezing the elbows, the shoulders towards each other and then we're going to keep whatever we've got, straighten the left leg and explore a little peaceful warrior variation here. Good, as you come back to neutral, keep the Gomakasan spine, pivot your left toes to join the right, keep a little bend in the knees, keeping that lower back nice and safe, lift the heart, squeeze the shoulder blades towards each other and we're going to bow forward so use your core muscles, hinge at the hips. For some of you, that right elbow is going to be miles away from the floor. For some of you, it'll touch, it really doesn't matter. It's not that amazing of an experience.

It feels like an elbow touching the floor so don't get caught up about where you are. Just accept where you are is right where you're supposed to be today, enjoy it. If you happen to be touching the floor and you want to feel more, slide the elbow forward and back up your seat and you'll get a little deeper into the stretch. Good, keep the left arm on lockdown, just leave it there if it's okay and straighten your right arm. Think of like a wide split leg down dog, walk your right hand forward and just back up the seat and enjoy that stretch through the right side body.

Walk your right hand back towards the middle of your mat, turn the left toes, walk your right fingertips towards the left toes and take a soft twist here. Lengthen the spine, your shoulder's still in that space so be very careful as you roll the left shoulder back. Lengthen the spine, roll the shoulder back. Lengthen the spine and roll. Carefully lower the right knee to the floor, heel toe your left foot off of the mat.

This is my favorite part, let the right ear drop towards the right shoulder. I love to watch people's faces in this. When you slowly release that left arm, it's just like ah, release and then flip your left palm to the sky, give it a little wiggle from side to side. Those faces and those things that we do in private moments, that's when our real character starts to shine through, right? So let that part happen.

Stay here or bend the right leg, reach back and revisit that nice so as quad stretch, you can pull the heel in for the quad stretch or move more into a so as stretch, whatever feels like the right one for you to do today. Lower the left hand to the floor inside of the left leg. We're setting up for pigeon pose. Pigeon's not right for you, you can always lie on your back and take this variation. If you're newer to pigeon but you want to move into the full pose, use the block, grab a seat on the block and draw the left heel in closer to the right quad, softer experience for your pigeon pose, lining up the heel with a knee, a little bit more intense.

Make sure your knee's happy in this pose. Back knee rolling so that the top of the knee is on the mat. You don't need the block, move it out of the way for your pigeon pose. Now for some of us, pigeon, that gripping that we feel and the hip just wants to release. So we're going to play.

We're going to play with that idea of making faces or we're going to take a lion's breath. When you do your lion's breath, see if you can touch your tongue towards your shin and then start to draw your eyes towards each other. It'd be really fun if you had family members walk in where you're doing this one. So take a nice big inhale and let it go. Should we do one more or two?

Least one. I felt my whole hip release for some reason. Maybe that's why women scream during labor. It's just like something releases here and here, just, I have no idea what I'm talking about. You can write to me about that part, ladies, and I'm sure you're going to put me in place on that one.

Walk your elbows forward and melt into your experience of pigeon pose. Just breathe into it. Be with whatever you're experiencing right now. If you want to move deeper in, have a couple more breaths. Excellent.

We're going to take the vinyasa here. Walk your palms back. Tuck the back toes under. Scale that left leg to the sky and just give it a little shake. Free it up a little bit.

If there's any organic movements that you'd like to explore right here, honor that. Move to your plank pose. Take a nice vinyasa and give yourself a little breather in child's pose to reconnect with the breath. If you're feeling a lot of energy and you want to keep that energy up, squeeze the elbows in towards each other and take your five breaths and dolphin and stay there and keep that energy up. Otherwise check in in your child's pose.

Good. Whether you're in dolphin or child's, come down to child's pose, look forward towards your thumb. We've been playing with that knees, chest, and chin variation and sliding into our sneaky up dog. You can touch it to the floor or slide it all the way forward. Send it back to your down dog.

From your down dog, move to plank pose. Pivot your heels to the left, step the right foot behind the left, press into the right toes, the right leg, kickstand, side plank, or wild thing variation. Use your right hand to guide that right leg forward for support or hands free variation. Pivot your left heel to the floor, rise up to your warrior two. Right knee over right ankle, press down into the outer left foot.

From our warrior two, we're going to drape the right hand around the waist for that soft bind, left palm to the sky, cup the right ear and enjoy that trapezius stretch. This could be the right spot for you to hang out or you can straighten that right leg, lift through the ribs, take a deeper side stretch, and then add that bend so it's more of a peaceful warrior variation with a nice massaging trapezius stretch. Good. From here, we'll straighten the right leg and as we take this side bend to the right, this allows us to move the right hand up the spine a little easier with the curvature of our spine. You can use the left hand to guide the right elbow towards the midline of the body.

You can also use a hand towel or a strap to reach down and find right fingertips. When you get into the pose, sink back into that right leg. Moving a little deeper into this pose, we're going to invite that left elbow back to this peaceful warrior experience. Squeeze the shoulder blades towards each other and you'll feel that in the deltoid and some of the muscles of rotation. Good.

Keep the arms where they are. Straighten the right leg, turn the toes of the right foot to join the left, setting up for posturita, a little bend in the knees, and then lift through the heart, pressing to the toes, squeezing your thighs towards each other. As you bow, keep a little bend in the knees for support for the lower back and start to draw the elbows in the direction of the floor. If they touch and you want to feel a little bit more resistance, walk the elbows forward. This pose you might feel like, oh, I can go a little deeper into this bind with this hang time here.

Right hand stays, left hand releases and walks forward. Think of a split leg down dog, open up through that left shoulder and press the chest back. Slowly journey that left hand over to the right foot, turn your toes forward, spinal twisting lunge, and remember that right hand's still at the spine, so as you turn the right rib cage up and over to the right, be really mindful of this experience for your shoulder. Use that technique of lengthening and creating space for, say, for rotation in the mid and lower back. Carefully lower that left knee to the floor.

Little toe your right foot just off the mat, turn the toes out towards two o'clock, and then let the left ear drop towards the left shoulder for the trapezius stretch. You're almost there, best part, slowly release that right arm. Make sure they're still feeling in that arm. Flip the palm to the sky, shoulder height, and just as you drop that left ear, you should feel this nice stretch through the upper back and shoulders. If you'd like to add that quad psoas stretch, reach back, either draw the heel in or kick the heel away.

Both are really nice and effective. Beautiful. Replace the right hand, and we'll set up for our pigeon pose on the right side. You got your block handy still if you need it. Heel toe the foot across, line up right underneath the right seat, draw the heel in so that you can internally rotate the left leg.

If you need to feel more, slide the foot forward. If you still need to feel more, you can press the block out. I hope you have one more or two more rounds of lion's breath in you. Let's find the pose. Really feel the resistance on the pose, and then notice that resistance.

When you let go through the mouth, the face, and the jaw, see if you can soften into those areas where you're resisting, even if it's in other areas other than the hips. Take a nice big inhale, stick the tongue out. Big inhale. That could be your new Facebook profile right there. Now go ahead and settle into your pose.

Lengthening and softening. Noticing any shifts, any changes. Through those lion's breaths, do you feel like you can just be a little more yourself? Accepting all of the craziness, all the silliness, and all those parts of you that want to be expressed but are suppressed. Wonderful.

Start to walk your palms back. Good. We're going to take a little vinyasa and move into our child's pose. Shake out that right leg. Move it around intuitively, and then move through that last vinyasa to your child's pose.

From our child's pose, we'll slowly make our way into sphinx pose on the belly. Prop yourself up on your elbows. For this variation, we're going to take a little different variation for the hips. Bring your left leg into tree pose and see what that feels like on the front of the hips, and then invite the ribs forward and roll the shoulder blades back like you would normally do. If this feels okay and you'd like to go deeper into the pose, replace your elbows with your palms.

Try to keep that left hip in the direction of the floor, cobra or up dog variation. Breathing into that front of the hip, we got the nice stretch in the back of the hip and pigeon pose. Now we're working into the front of the hip. Good. We're going to lower all the way back to the sphinx pose with our right elbow, and the left arm is going to thread under and through for a twist.

Take it as far across the mat as you can and see if you can soften into it. You can keep the right hand here for support or you can bring it next to the left hand and move deeper into the twist. Keep the left hand where it is, lift the chin away from the floor, look forward, and mirror what you're doing with the left hand with your right, so slide it all the way across. This is really a yoga twister pose right here. Both palms are facing the sky.

If you want to feel a little bit more, you can start to drop the right side of your jaw onto the bicep. So this sets us up nicely for those eagle arms that we're going to work with later. So you feel this big stretch, the rhomboid to the muscles on either side of the spine and also the deltoids. So slowly come out of the pose. Make a little frog leg with your left leg, so line up your left heel with your left knee.

Stay right here in the sphinx pose or opportunity to stretch a little bit more through the front of the hips, cobra or up dog. We're going to keep the leg variation as we move into table with the right leg and a single horse stance with the left. So lower back down, start to bend your right leg, and as you press up, lift the left knee off the floor. We're lining up left heel and right knee. If you want to feel more of a stretch, you can take it out a little farther here.

Left hand supports the top of the left thigh, invites that knee to track over second and third toe, and right hand comes to the sacrum. Draw the right elbow towards the middle line of the body and lift your heart. Lift the heart into a soft back bend or maybe start to move deeper into the back bend. Those of you that feel really open if you want to, you can reach back with the right fingertips for the right heel. Keep tracking the left knee over second and third toe and move into a deeper expression of the pose.

Beautiful. From here we're going to heel toe and a nice long arc that front foot to the front of the mat, and that same arm that was on the bottom when we were lying on our stomach is going to be the same arm on the bottom here for our eagle arms. Left arm on the bottom, right arm on top. Hug it in. If you're not able to touch, that's okay.

Keep the hands separated and drawing towards each other. If you're able to touch, find the inner lace, move thumbs and elbows away from the face, and sink into the foundation here. From here as you're moving elbows and thumbs away from the face, start to lift it to the sky. Big opening through the back body, upper back and shoulders, and sinking into that front right hip. Release the arms to the floor, both palms inside of the left leg, tuck the right toes under, left leg steps back to meet the right plank pose.

Lie all the way down on your belly. From the sphinx pose, replace your palms with your elbows, and replace that right leg into tree pose. The same thing we did on the left side. From here, the sphinx pose might be your spot as you open up through the front of the right hip. If you're feeling like you want to go a little deeper, same opportunity, replace the palms where the elbows were, cobra or up dog.

Keep inviting the hips forward and that right hip moving downwards so you feel that stretch through the front body. As you lower down, lower back down to that left elbow, sphinx pose, and we're going to thread the right arm under and through. Take it across the mat as far as it'll go. If it goes all the way across and you don't need the left hand for support, bring the left hand close to the right, lengthen the spine, and twist, lengthen, and twist. The right hand stays, look forward, create enough space so that you can slide the left arm on top of the right, and flip the left palm to the sky.

We're setting up for that eagle arms again, just like we were before. This could be your spot, or you could let the left side of the jaw press against the left bicep here for a little bit more of a stretch through the upper back and shoulders. Definitely a pose you don't want to stay in too long. Give yourself about five breaths and then start to work your way back to your sphinx pose. As you come to your sphinx pose, extend the right leg out so the right heel is in line with the right knee, frog variation, and stay here as you move the ribs, heart forward, or choose whether you're going to lift it up a little bit or a lot.

Make sure you're not feeling this in the lower back at all. Heart moves forward, shoulder blades move back in space, elbows move back in space. From here we'll bend the knee and we'll come up into our single horse stance variation. Right heel, left knee, line up. You can walk the right toes out if you want to feel a little bit more intensity here.

Right hand rests on the left thigh, left hand the sacrum. Lengthen through the front body, lift, lengthen through the back body. Imagine the tailbone dropping towards the floor. Great spot. Feel supported as you draw the left elbow towards the midline or moving into a deeper expression of the pose.

Left rib cage lifts to join the right. As you rise up, that right leg is going to take a nice, slow walk all the way to the front of your mat. The right arm was on the bottom when we threaded through, so we're going to keep it on the bottom here as we move into our eagle arms. Thumbs and elbows away from the face, sink into the foundation of the pose and start to lift from here. Lifting heart and ribs, going back to the breath.

Slowly, slowly unwind. Bring your palms to the floor, inside of the right leg. Tuck the left toes under, release the left knee. Right leg steps back to meet the left. Shake it out and come into child's pose.

From our child's pose, we'll return to that sphinx pose once again, lying on the stomach propped up on the elbows. Stay with the right forearm where it is. Bend your left leg and reach back with your left hand. See if you can grab pinky toe or big toe side of the foot, whichever is available for you, and then move the heel away from the seat instead of towards the seat. Away from the seat instead of towards the seat.

Stay right here if you're feeling that spot, that resistance and that perfect balance of strength and suppleness. Or replace your right elbow with your right hand and move the heel away. We're going to revisit this later. Replace your left elbow, bend your right leg, reach for the big toe side or pinky toe side of the foot. Stay low and move the heel away from the seat.

Ribs still move forward so we're not feeling any compression in the lower back. Or replace your left elbow with your left hand. Go ahead and lie down, good. Then both legs, give yourself a little rock from side to side with those feet. We're going to try to lift up and grab onto both legs at the same time.

You can grab outer or inner arcs, so big toe side or pinky toe side, and then start to press and lift up. See what the first one feels like? Give yourself a little lift. That doesn't feel good, then stay nice and low and just let the windshield wiper happen from side to side. If you feel like you're going a little bit deeper, as you inhale, move the heels away from you and lift your heart.

Imagine the inner thighs starting to squeeze towards each other and the ribs moving forward in space. Slowly lower down. We're going to make our way onto our back, so go ahead and flip over. And we'll take the feet as wide as the mat, let the arms drop out for a little windshield wiper from side to side. The next time you drop your knees over to the right, hang out right there.

Replace the right ankle on top of the left knee, so you get this nice release through the IT band, outer glute, lower back. Even while you're right here, you can start to prepare your mind for shavasana. Simply just settle in, replace the right leg wide as the mat, windshield wiper or two until the knees are dropping over to your left. Left ankle on top of the right thigh, right about an inch or two above the knee. Instead of cultivating the mind you'd like to experience in your shavasana, if there's any other movements you need before you completely extend the legs and lie in shavasana, go ahead and take those, otherwise prepare yourself for your shavasana, roll the shoulder blades softly together, sink into, melt into the floor.

And for our last shavasana together, I'm going to chant the invocation for peace to you while you're in shavasana. Feel free to join along with the Aum's and the Shanti's in any part that feels right for you. In all above unto this, may all beings everywhere be free and be happy. In all above unto this, may all beings everywhere be free and be happy. In all above unto this, may all beings everywhere be free and be happy.

Start to bring that life, that feeling, that single of energy back to the fingers and toes. On your next inhale, reach the arms over the head and give yourself a nice big stretch. On that next exhale, draw the knees into the chest for a nice, big, much deserved hug. Roll over to the right side in a ball for fetal pose. Use your left hand to slowly help you up to your seat and just receive and absorb all the wonderful effects of this challenge and our time together.

Let it settle in really, really deep into that space of the heart, that place that has no name, no title, no role, the place where we are authentically, truly ourselves. I'm so thankful that we were able to go on to this journey together. Such a lucky being, so grateful to be able to share this challenge with you. And once again, the challenge doesn't end here, right? We're just beginning.

We're taking it out into the real world and sharing and caring and being the peacekeepers. So I look forward to staying connected with you and seeing what your journey feels like. Please keep living from this wholehearted space. Namaste. Happy day.