Day 5: Brave

Welcome to Day 5. So we're here in our last day together and we're going to explore this theme of courage. So what are some of the things that maybe hold you back from living with your most courageous heart? Sometimes fear can be a wonderful teacher and sometimes it just holds us back. So let's explore fear a little bit in this practice. We might look at some postures that typically may bring up a little bit fear, maybe not. But let's move through that together and we'll begin with a mudra. So we're going to bring the hands together like this for Ganesha mudra and then let the elbows go out to the side and then just take a moment here if it feels comfortable to close the eyes. You can settle in and we'll take a few cleansing breaths together. So allowing a big full breath in through the nose and then open the mouth and let something go on your exhale. Beautiful. Take two more like that. Big breath in, sigh it out and again big breath in and let it go. Beautiful. And then just sitting with this mudra for a moment and this mudra is a mudra that opens up through the heart chakra. It also calls in courage and compassion. So just noticing if you can tune into those qualities. Beautiful. And then as you're ready we'll get started with some windshield wipers. So rolling down onto your back I'll meet you there. So just to start to warm the spine. Come onto our back, step the feet as wide as your mat. We've done this pretty much every day now. So on an inhale just reach your arms up over your head and then exhale drop the knees to the right side. It might linger here for a couple of breaths, noticing how the left side feels. And then inhale draw the knees back through center. Exhale, let the knees drop to the left. Maybe lingering here for a few breaths. Notice if this side feels any different. And then with your breath we'll start to just windshield wiper the legs from side to side. And notice how that feels. Notice if after those first four days you're feeling a little sore in the body. I know I am. So just noticing that. Notice if you feel any different from day one when we started. Just honor that. Meeting yourself wherever you are. Good. And then just taking one more round wherever you're at. Let your knees drop to the left for the last time. Good. And then we'll meet back in center. Let your arms come down by your side. And then finding that figure four shape with the legs. So crossing the right ankle on top of the left knee, find that figure four shape. Draw the legs in and without clasping let's reach the arms straight up to the sky. So the heels of the hands reaching up toward the ceiling. And the legs are in that thread the eye of the needle posture. And then we're going to move into some core work here. So on an inhale let the legs come in toward you. Lift the head, the neck, the shoulders up toward the ceiling and reach the arms up toward the ceiling. So you're crunching everything in towards center. Good. And then exhale just release everything back down. Shoulders down. Legs can stay in that figure four shape. And then let's just take that a few more times with the breath. So inhale as you lift everything up. Hug in. And then exhale release. Good. One more. Inhale lift up. And exhale release down. Good. And then we'll counterbalance with the bridge pose. So soles of the feet to the earth, press the palms of the hands down and just take about 50 or 60% of your effort to lift the hips up. Just a gentle bridge. Feel that nice stretch across the front of the body. Beautiful. And then go ahead and release all the way back down and we'll set up for the other side. So crossing left ankle on top of the right knee. Find that figure four shape. And then just draw the legs in without grasping onto the legs. And then again we'll reach the heels of the hands straight up toward the ceiling. Relax the shoulders for a moment. So it's almost like you're plugging the shoulders down into the earth. Flex both feet actively so you're protecting the knees. And then with the breath on an inhale, reach straight up with the hands toward the ceiling as you draw the legs in towards you. Good. And then exhale, release everything back down. Good. We'll take that a couple more times. So inhale, come up. Exhale, lower down. Nice. And last one. Inhale, lift up. And exhale, lower. Great.

And then again, find that gentle bridge. So feet down, hands down, lift the hips. Let the chest come up towards your chin. And just allowing that to open up through the front body for a couple of breaths. Nice. And then when you're ready, just nice and slow, lowering down. And then we'll hug the knees into the chest and just start to rock a little bit. You might rock side to side, massaging through the low back and then start to take your rock up and down along the length of the spine, maybe holding on to the backs of the knees. And we'll build momentum to come to all fours. So crossing at the ankles and we'll meet in our tabletop position. So coming into some cat cows on an inhale, let the belly drop with the heart lift, let the gaze lift and then exhale navel to the spine. Tuck the tailbone, drop the gaze, press the floor away and taking a few more with your breath. So inhaling as you arch, exhale rounding, navel to spine. Again, inhaling, arching cow pose. Exhale into cat. One more inhale arching, heart lifts. Good. Exhale, press the floor away and round. And then find a neutral spine. We'll walk the hands in front of the shoulders a little bit and then tuck your toes like you're coming toward down dog, but just lift the knees up off the earth a couple inches and then round through the upper back. So you feel that cat pose in the upper back. And then from here, start to lift the hips up and back coming into your first downward facing dog and start to lengthen out through the spine. Let's take a couple breaths here together. So on an inhale, rise up onto the toes, put a big bend in the knees and then as you exhale, straighten out the legs and let the heels drop toward the earth. Good. One more inhale, rise up onto the toes, big bend in the knees and then straighten out the legs and let the heels maybe go a little bit lower toward the earth. Beautiful. And then glide forward to plank pose. So we'll meet in the top of a pushup. Let the shoulders come over the wrists, hips in line with your shoulder blades. And then in your plank pose, we're going to take that cat in the upper back. So start to round through the upper back, press the floor away. And then as you exhale, just come back to your plank pose.

So you'll feel that work in the upper body. Again, on an inhale, round through the upper back. Find cat in the upper back. I can feel the shaking and then exhale, come back to your plank. Oh, just one more like that. Inhale, press the floor away. I promise this will come in handy later. Feel that rounding in the upper back, cat pose in the upper back and then find plank pose. Get out of there, lower your knees, let your hips sink back and then breathe into the back body as you let yourself come into a nice child's pose. Let the head relax down and just take a few breaths here to just notice all that is occurring within. Good. So again, feel that expansion in the back body so you can feel that puffing up of the back body which will come in handy as we move toward some arm balances in our practice. Allow just a couple more breaths right here. And feel free to stay here as long as you like. Otherwise, we'll move on and come back to downward facing dog. So hands and knees, tuck your toes, lift the hips all the way up and back. And from your downward facing dog, let's sweep the right leg up to the sky. And then as you exhale, just draw the knee in toward your nose. We'll hover in the top of the pushup. And again, feel that rounding in the upper back. And then reach your leg all the way up and back, three leg downward facing dog. Good. This time, step your foot all the way through between your hands, lower your back knee down and sweep the arms forward and up coming into anjali asana or low lunge. And in this one, we're going to take the elbows wide. So put a bend in the elbows and allow that opening to expand across the chest. So it might feel nice to lift up through the gaze if you'd like. That doesn't feel good in the neck. You can always look straight forward. But see if you can really feel that opening here. Good. And then on an inhale, reach the arms all the way back up. And then exhale, frame the front foot, bring the fingertips down to the earth. And we'll step back to downward facing dog. So flatten out the palms, right foot steps back to meet the left. And then on an inhale, come forward to plank pose. Let's lower all the way down to the earth. Inhale cobra pose, draw the shoulders away, lift up, lengthen. Nice. And then meet back in downward facing dog. Tuck the toes, lift the hips up and back and hold for a breath.

So allowing a big breath in and let it go. Sigh it out. Exhale. Beautiful. Left leg. Inhale the left leg up. Exhale, knee to nose, round through the upper back. Inhale, three leg downward facing dog. Exhale, step your foot through between your hands. Lower the back knee down. Low lunge, arms sweep forward and up. Inhale. And then again, bend the elbows to open up through the chest. Maybe lift the gaze. And then allow yourself to tune back in to the breath. Good. And then on your next breath in, reach your arms all the way up. Exhale, lower the hands down to the earth. Step back, downward facing dog. Good. From down dog, we'll come forward to plank pose. Move through your vinyasa, lowering halfway or all the way down. Cobra, maybe up dog. And then exhale back to downward facing dog. And we'll meet right there for a breath. So allowing a big full breath in. And then open the mouth. Sigh it out. And let it go. Beautiful. And then rise up onto the toes. Bend your knees actively at the bottom of your exhale. Step, or you can lightly hop to your hands. Come to the front of the mat. And then inhale, lift halfway up and lengthen through the spine.

Exhale, fold in uttanasana. Good. And then from your uttanasana, root down to rise all the way up to stand. Inhaling. And then gather your hands in front of your heart. Exhale. Good. And then coming into chair pose, uttasana. Sink the weight into the heels. Sweep the arms up. Draw the shin bones back. And then take a big full breath in here. As you exhale, lower the hands down. And then straighten out the legs, bowing over your legs. Good. And again, come halfway up. Inhale, arta uttanasana. And then your choice. Step, or you can lightly float it back through chaturanga. Move through your vinyasa. Inhale to lift the heart. And then exhale, we'll meet in downward facing dog. Good. Inhale the right leg up. Exhale, step through between your hands. And then open up to warrior two. So spin the back heel down, circle the arms open, and just take a moment here to arrive in your warrior two. Beautiful. And then relax your shoulders, soften your gaze, and breathe. Yeah. And then from your warrior two, straighten out through the front leg. Parallel your feet. You might shorten your stance just a little bit. Bring your hands to your hips. And then toes out, heels in. We'll start to bend the knees coming in toward goddess pose. So as you bend the knees, make sure the knees are kind of tracking out over the ankles to protect your knees. And let's find eagle arms. So right arm underneath the left. Start to draw the elbows away from you. And then let that sink in a little bit more. Beautiful. And then that mudra that we started with, we'll come into ganesha mudra. So let the right hand come on top of the left.

Let the fingers link, and then let the elbows go out to the side. The shoulders relax. Good. Nice. And then come on out of there. Parallel the feet. Inhale, sweep the arms up. And then diving forward, let your hands find your legs as you come toward your forward fold into prosaureta. And then we'll start to come into skandhasana. So walking the hands forward slightly, start to bend through your right knee and then walk your fingertips over toward your right leg. So really getting into that right hip and then moving to the other side. So bending left, straightening through the right. And then one more time toward the right, bending right, straightening toward the left. Beautiful. And then this time, let yourself come all the way to the left to face the back of your mat. Good. And then as you're there in this lunge, start to heel-toe the left foot over to the left a little bit. Hands on the inside of your front foot, of your left foot. And then if it feels okay, start to roll to the outer edge of your left foot, but keep your left knee tracking over your left ankle. And just feel that opening through the groin, through the outer hip. And you stay up on the hands. If you want to come a little deeper, you're welcome to lower the forearms down, but this might feel like enough. Beautiful. And then from here, we're going to bring the left knee toward the left tricep, hover there, and then we'll come through a vinyasa. So lowering, inhale to lift the heart. Exhale, downward facing dog. And then take a big breath here. Inhaling, inside out. Exhale, and hold for just a couple more. Full, deep breaths, letting that first side go. Nice. And taking it all to the left side. This time we'll begin facing the back of our mat. So inhale the left leg up. Exhale, step through between your hands. Spin the back heel down. And then again, open up warrior two this time on the left side. Good. And check out your view. Settle in. Feel the strong legs. Lightness in the heart and the upper body. Nice. And then as you're ready, we'll straighten through the front leg. Again, parallel your feet, toes out, heels in. Feel free to adjust here. And then sink it down. This time left arm underneath the right. Eagle arms. Draw elbows away and then allow that to sink you in a little deeper. But maybe enclose the eyes. Feel the heartbeat. Beautiful. And then coming back into ganesha mudra for confidence, clarity, and opening that heart chakra. This time left hand on top. Elbows out. Relax shoulders.

And breathe. Beautiful. And then come on out of there. Straighten the legs. Parallel the feet. Inhale, sweep the arms up. And then again, dive forward. Maybe the hands find the ankles. And then let's hold on this side for just a couple full deep breaths. The crown of the head melts down. Shoulders relaxed. Breath nice and deep and smooth. Nice. And then when you're ready, just walking back toward the front of your mat this time, come back into your runner's lunge, someone to the ball of the back foot. And then keep heel toeing the right foot to the right a few times. Bring your hands on the inside of your front foot. And then if it feels okay, point your toes toward the corner of your yoga mat. And then start to peel the foot up so that you're rolling to the outer edge, the nice edge of your right foot. And then let that open up through the right leg. So that outer right hip groin. It's a nice stretch there. Nice. And then when you're ready, maybe play with lifting the knee up toward the right tricep. And then we'll come back through a vinyasa if you want it. Cobra or up dog to open the heart. Inhale. Good. Downward facing dog. Exhale and breathe. Be right here. Feel free to rest if you need it, or even if you just want it. You don't have to need it. Honor where you're at. Beautiful. And then as you're ready, we'll rise up onto the toes, bend your knees, look forward, step, hop or fly front of the mat. Inhale, lift halfway. Exhale, fold in. And then heel toe your feet all the way to the outsides of your mat. Toes out, heels in. And then bend your knees and sink your hips down toward your heels. Coming into malasana, hands to the heart. And you might sit on a block here or come up out of it a little bit. If there's any pinching at all in the knees, just come on out. Otherwise, if it feels okay, close the eyes and just check in. Notice what's coming up for you. Be with that. No judgment, no attachment. Can you just allow? Good. So feel free to stay here in malasana. You might even take this into a fold by walking the hands forward and letting the crown of the head melt down and staying here. Or if you're up for playing with an arm balance, we'll move into crow pose. And you can just come into the prep, so you don't even have to do the posture today. But wherever you're at, we'll play. So it's all about just playing with where you're at. So bringing the hands down to the earth, spread the fingers nice and wide. And just like we did throughout the practice to this point, you really want to feel that cat pose in the upper back, so that pressing the floor away, rounding through the upper back as we come into this. So hands flat, lift up onto the toes. Big toes and heels are together. Knees are wide. And then let your knees come as high up onto the triceps as you can. And we're going to build that shelf. So chaturanga with the arms. Round through the upper back. So find cat in the upper back. Make sure the gaze is forward. And then maybe lift one toe up off the earth, one foot, and you can place the foot back down. Or maybe both feet lift up today. Bring the heels in towards you. Keep gazing forward. Keep that cat pose in the upper back. Beautiful. And then as you're ready, we'll step it back down into your squat, into malasana. Meeting there. Good. And then hands to the earth, parallel the feet, fold over your legs. And just take a moment to let everything release down here. A couple breaths. And then the hands can dangle. You might hold opposite elbows, or maybe it feels nice to get some shoulder love interlacing fingers. Just letting the arms hang down. Beautiful. And then releasing. Bend your knees, tuck your chin, and let's roll up slowly. One vertebra at a time. Coming to stand at the front of the mat and we'll meet in tadasana. So stepping feet together, bringing hands to the heart. And just take a moment, maybe check in, close the eyes and breathe. And for this next standing sequence, you may want to have two blocks. So I'm going to grab my blocks and I'll meet you back at the front of our mat. So bring the blocks toward the front of your mat and bring them to the lowest height. And then be about hips distance apart. And then step your feet, hips distance. So we're going to set up for temple dancer and we'll come into it from this wide leg chair pose. Good. So from here, let's come to chair. So bend the knees, scoot the weight back into the heels, sweep the arms up and then know that you can stop anywhere along the way as we move into this. So you're welcome to stay here. Or like we did on our back, cross your right ankle on top of your left knee. Find that figure four shape with the legs and then let the hip shift back.

We'll bring the hands to the heart for temple dancer. Now you might stay right here. This might feel like enough for you today, just playing with that balance. If you want to go a little deeper, you can always take it into a nice stretch. So the hands might find the blocks on any height. And if you want to play with flying, we can come in toward a flying pigeon. So I'm going to use the blocks today. You're going to take your shin and hook it to the backs of your arms. And again, find that rounding through the upper back and we'll hook the shin to the upper arms as you start to build that shelf with the upper arms. And then maybe the foot just lifts an inch off the earth. So you play with shifting a little weight into the hands. Maybe the leg lifts up, keep looking forward, keep the gaze forward, maybe extend the leg up toward the ceiling. And then come on out of there. Good. And then from there, let's come into standing split. So you can let the blocks come out toward the side a little bit more. We'll get back to them in a moment. And then just let everything melt down over that front leg. And then here you can stay in standing split. If you'd like, you might take a couple hops up toward handstand. So flattening out the palm, shoulders over wrists, and really it's just a little bit of weight transfer onto the hands. So maybe the foot lifts an inch. Maybe you start to lift up a little bit more. Just playing, keep the gaze forward, arms nice and straight. Good. And then maybe you catch some airtime and come on back, come into your forward fold and just let it go. Let that side go. It's all play and be where you are. Beautiful. And then we'll roll up nice and slow. One vertebra at a time. Bring my hands to the heart. Check in and breathe. How did that go? Good. All right. So again, just stop anywhere along the way. All of this is meant to be optional. Take what works for you. Leave what doesn't. Okay. So let's get the blocks again. If you use them on the first side, again, you can bring them to the lowest height. About hips distance apart. And then we'll start with that wide leg chair pose. So inhale, Utkatasana. Sink the weight back into the heels. Bend the knees. And then pick up the left foot. Cross the left ankle on top of the right. Bring your hands to your heart. Shift the weight back. And then maybe stay right here. If you want to go a little deeper into the stretch, into that left hip stretch, the hands can come down toward the blocks. Sometimes it's nice to bring the blocks on the high level. If you're just staying with that hip opening stretch, that can feel a little more accessible sometimes. And then maybe this side's different and you want to stay right here. If you want to play with coming toward the arm balance, we'll flatten out the blocks. Place the hand on top of the blocks and then hook the shin to the backs of the arms. And then maybe it's just shifting a tiny bit of weight into the hands and coming back. Maybe you're lifting one toe up off the earth. Maybe the leg lifts up. Just be where you are. Maybe you take a couple breaths.

Beautiful. And then as you're ready, we'll come into standing split on this side. I'm going to move the blocks back out to the side and fold over that front leg. Good. And again, maybe you're staying right here. Or you can start to play with kicking up. And really, it's just a little bit of weight transfer. Keep the gaze forward, arms straight. Yeah. Good. And then come back to your forward fold. Whenever you're ready. And this time, if it feels okay, step the feet into the palms of the hands, bring your toes up towards your wrists and let everything melt down. So giving the wrist some love after all that arm balancing work and just letting go. Beautiful. And then release your hands from underneath your feet. Heel toe your feet back together if they're not already there. And then we'll sink it back down into chair. So weight into the heels, sweep the arms up and then lower, lower, lower, lower so much. And you might use your hands to help you get there. We'll come into Navasana boat pose. So bringing the hands to the backs of the knees, lengthen up through the spine, and then it's lifting up through the legs. So maybe bringing the toes in line with your nose and then reaching the arms forward, draw the shoulders back, lift the heart and just building for five, just for fun. Four, three, good, two, and one. Bring the soles of the feet down. Let your hands come behind you. Let the fingers splay out a little bit and then inhale, lift up through the hips. Take a big full breath in and then stick out the tongue, lion's breath, let it go. Beautiful. And then lower your hips down and come to a seated position. So we're going to set up now for a hip opener. Let's move the blocks out to the side here. So from your seated position, cross your right knee on top of your left and then start to draw the heels in towards you. Now, I know that this pose is not accessible for many of us. So if that's the case, you can always modify by sitting on a block. You can always put a block underneath that right foot. This is a nice way to modify as well if that feels better for you. And if it's just simply not the posture for you, then go ahead and just cross at the shin. So come into Sukhasana and you can take your hip opener and forward fold from here. So if you're in Gomukhasana, again, the knees are stacked. We'll take right knee on top of the left and then start to draw the heels in towards you. You might wiggle in side to side a few times just to kind of find your rooted connection with the earth. Good. And then it might feel nice to stay upright here. You might give your feet a little bit of a massage or sometimes I like to walk the hands forward. And then as I walk the hands forward, recommit to letting the sit sitting bones come back toward the earth. And you might stay right here. This might feel like a good stretch or any amount start to walk the hands forward that will deepen that outer hip stretch a little bit. And then wherever you're at, can you relax the head, the neck, the shoulders and just come in to the sensations that you're feeling in the body and then allowing your breath to create space by deepening the breath and sending the breath to wherever you feel this in your body. Hold here about five more full deep breaths. Beautiful. And then as you're ready to slowly start to peel your way back up, take a moment at the top and then uncross the legs and come right into the other side. So you might take a moment in between, shake the legs out. If that feels better for you, feel free to set up with the block. Or again, if this isn't the posture for you, then you can take this time the left shin in front of the right and come into your fold from here. If that feels better. Good. Otherwise, Omukasana. So this time, left knee on top of the right, heels in, maybe staying upright, maybe wiggling in a few times. You can draw the heels in towards you and it might feel like enough to just sit upright, close the eyes, breathe.

Maybe this side feels completely different from the first side. Again, just respecting the difference between the right and the left. They're always going to feel a little different. Can you notice the differences? Can you be aware of where you feel these differences? Deepen the breath. Maybe you've decided that you want to go a little deeper. You can start to walk the hands forward, maybe press back through the sitting bones. Maybe coming into a fold, but wherever you're at, you soften any grasping and come back to your breath. Looking for three or four more breaths here. Good. And then slowly start to peel your way up, coming on out of that side. We'll bring the legs out in front of us, shake the legs out for a moment just to let go of that opening and then setting up for a forward fold. So legs nice and straight, flex through the feet and then inhale to sweep the arms up with lengthen the spine, leading with the heart and we'll fold over the legs. So just letting the hands come wherever they land. And then on an inhale, lengthen through the spine and as you exhale, we'll fold back in for five breaths.

So feel free to stay here in your forward fold for as long as you like, or if you want to come into plow pose, we'll come right up from Paschimottanasana and then take the legs with you as you bring them up and over your head. So tucking the toes, maybe start to roll the shoulders underneath you. You can press the palms of the hands into the earth. You might interlace the fingers wherever you're at, feeling this forward fold but on your back. If it feels good, you can untuck the toes. Good. And then as you're ready, let the shoulders come out from underneath you and then slowly begin to roll your way out of this, one vertebra at a time. And as the legs get over your hips, let your hands come underneath you so that your butt actually lands on the tops of the hands. The palms of the hands are down and then straighten the legs all the way down to the earth. Start to bend the elbows, lift the chest up and we'll come into fish pose. So letting the head come onto the earth, lift up through the heart, opening up through that throat chakra. Feel the support of the earth beneath you, feel that big opening in the heart, big courageous heart. And then to come out of this, you can wiggle the arms out from underneath you first and then tucking the chin, let the back of the head find the earth, release your hands. Okay. And then from here, let's step the feet as wide as your mat and then scoop down a little bit. We'll reach the arms up over the head and then dropping your knees to the right side, coming into a very easy spinal twist. And if you want a little bit deeper here, feel free to pick up your right foot, place it on top of your left thigh and you can kind of use that to encourage that left leg to come down toward the earth. It's a really nice stretch in the outer hip, just like we did in Gomukhasana. Maybe gaze toward the left and just allowing a few full deep breaths here. Beautiful. And then releasing that side, step the feet back down to the earth and then drop your knees to the left side and you can stay here in this easy spinal twist if that feels good to you or if you want that outer hip stretch, pick up the left foot, place it on top of your right thigh and then just use that to encourage that right leg to come a little bit closer down toward the earth. And then maybe gaze toward your right this time and holding here for just a few full deep breaths. Beautiful. And then come on out of there, step the feet back down to the earth and just take a moment, bring your hands down by your sides and then feel that rooted connection beneath the soles of the feet. You spread the toes wide and then come back to the heartbeat. And then whenever you are ready, you can start to transition into your final Shavasana. So straightening out through the legs, let the feet roll open, the legs relax and then maybe flip the palms to face up for a receptive quality, calling in any last intention here that you'd like to call in for your practice, for this challenge and for our time together. Take one more full breath in through the nose and then open the mouth inside out, let it go. Just transition into your rest Shavasana. Alright? Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And slowly bring your awareness back in. Begin to deepen the breath.

And invite any movement back into the body. Fingers, toes, ankles, wrists. And then reaching your arms up over your head take a nice full body stretch. Take a big full breath in. And open the mouth and let it sigh out the mouth.

And then take your time to make your way into a comfortable cross-leg seated position. We'll meet there and see if you can keep that ease of Shavasana as you come on up. And find your seat. Gather your hands together in front of your heart in Anjali Mudra. And just take a moment to bow in towards your hands in gratitude for showing up for you for this five-day challenge.

Thank you so, so much for joining me. I'm honored to be on this journey with you. I'd love to hear from you. Please check in, let me know how it went for you. And again, thank you so much.

Namaste.