Day 22: Good Energy Flow

Greetings, try. Welcome to day 22. Wow, what an accomplishment. You have come a long way. We've come a long way together. I'm so happy you're still here with me and I'd love to offer you this flowing practice today that really integrates a lot of what you've already experienced but opens up towards Maha back bending, some nice open back bending for you to step into. So let's start standing and if you have your block and your strap handy that'll be helpful. Come to the top of your mat and let's set up the feet as wide as the mat and soften your knees ground down. And then just draw the shoulders up and back and we moved through this pattern several practices back as picking up of good energy of strength and then dropping off anything else that you don't need and then a full reach through the wingspan. And as you exhale, just let your arms drift down and just take that twice more as you roll the shoulders up and back stepping into this day, pick up some good energy and let go of anything else that you don't need today. I'm an inhale full body breath showing up to your practice to your life today. Once more roll the shoulders up and back as you exhale drop them down, pick up some good energy, drop off any negative energy and then inhale full body breath and exhale let the arms drift down, step the feet together, draw the hands together right at your forehead, right at your third eye. Let's take a moment here and breathe into our intention, our dedication for today's practice. It can be the same one you've been working with for this entire challenge or something unique just to today but allow yourself to have a special dedication. And then as you exhale let your hands come down the midline, pause just to touch the heart and release all the way down. Moving into some half sun salutations, inhale to reach up, exhale to your forward fold, inhale lift up halfway and exhale release, bend your knees and roll up the spine slow, draw the navel in and inhale reach to the sky right back into the next cycle, exhale forward fold, inhale to rise halfway, exhale release, bend your knees and as you roll up just dropping off anything you don't need off your shoulders and then gathering up your prana, your energy exhale forward fold, inhale lift your heart halfway, exhale release and from here let's plan our palms flat and step back to downward facing dog. We'll start to shift forward to our plank and wherever you adjust your feet to keep them there as you press back to downward facing dog. Let's take that four more cycles and allow your spine to ripple as you shift forward and as you exhale lift your hips, ground through the heels and feel that beautiful movement through the spine as you shift forward rounding and unfurling, the gaze comes forward last and then exhale to press back, arching into your downward dog twice more, inhale rippling forward, exhale shifting back, feeling into your new strength, new familiarity with all of these shapes as you breathe forward and exhale to shift back and let's hang out here for three good breaths, grounding into our downward dog today, grounding into our intention and anchoring any of the movements of your mind, your thoughts, just anchor it into the sound of your breath and one more cycle of breath and from here lowering into child's pose, take the knees wide, big toes to touch and come back into home base for a moment and walking your hands towards your knees, start to roll up onto your knees, I'd like to introduce one more vinyasa today, so just walk your knees to the back of the mat and we'll work with this vinyasa inside of our namaskaras, so bring the hands to the hips and as you inhale lift your heart, it's a high ustrasana and this is one option for the vinyasa, as you exhale hinge at the hips, reach forward and slide like a snake in the grass all the way through to cobra as you inhale or upward facing dog and then exhale back to downward dog and let's feel that again, inhale to your toes, exhale lightly, set your knees down, walk your hands back to your hips and inhale, pour your heart up and over the support of your spine, exhale, hinge at the hips, reach forward and slide all the way through like a snake in the grass to cobra or upward dog, your choice and then exhale back to downward dog. We'll take that one more time looking at one other option at the beginning of that vinyasa, so lower your knees down and depending on your knees, you can stay high coming up into that baby ustrasana or maybe walk your fingertips back coming into a baby virasana and open your chest, open the shoulders as you inhale and then from here, exhale, hinge at the hips, reach forward and slide through, so that's one other option, inhaling to rise and exhale to downward dog and you can feel in your body, in your knees which one feels appropriate to you, so we'll just work with that as we progress through our pendulum namaskar, so let's step the feet together and inhale the right leg to the sky, as you exhale, step it all the way through, we'll start with a high lunge today, so keep the back knee lifted, inhale reach to the sky, crescent pose, exhale, simple twist, left hand down, right arm to the sky, then set your back knee down and as you inhale, reach forward enough, open up your wings, spread through the fingers and exhale, hands to the mat, step back to downward facing dog, let's go right to the left side, inhale, left leg rises, exhale, step it all the way through, high lunge, inhale, come on up to your crescent pose, exhale, simple twist, exhale, all the breath out, set your back knee down and inhale, reach forward and up and really reach your wings into the back space as you exhale, hands to the mat, stepping back to downward facing dog, let's add our Virasana Vinyasa here, so set the knees down and either walk your hands back to your hips, coming up into a baby Ustrasana or back behind your feet, Virasana and inhale to open the heart, exhale, hinge at the hips, slide through nice and slow to either your cobra or your upward facing dog and exhale to downward dog, right leg rising on an inhale, let's keep flowing, exhale, step it all the way through, coming up to crescent pose, inhale, exhale, simple twist, set your back knee down, inhale, reach forward and up, exhale, open your wings, plant your palms, step back to down dog, right to the left side, left leg rising, inhale, exhale, step it all the way through, inhale, come on up to crescent pose, exhale, simple twist, set the back knee down, inhale, reach forward and up, go the back bend on the right side of the body as you spread your wings and step back to downward dog, let's add our Virasana Vinyasa, inhale to the toes, exhale, set the knees down, walk your hands back either high or low, lift up through the heart as you inhale and then exhale, hinge at the hips, reach forward and slide through, inhale, cobra or upward facing dog, exhale, downward facing dog, let's take one more round, inhale, right leg to the sky, exhale, step it all the way through, nice and strong base, rising to crescent pose as you inhale, exhale, simple twist, go a little deeper into your twist, set your back knee down, inhale, maybe lift your gaze to look up and slightly back, exhale, open your wings, step to downward dog, left leg rising, inhale, exhale, step it all the way through, inhale to rise, crescent pose, exhale a little deeper into your twist, just kind of explore your range, set your back knee down, inhale, reach forward up, maybe look back, exhale, circle the arms, step back to downward facing dog, from here inhale to your toes and really mindfully just slightly set your knees down, walk your hands back for your virasana vinyasa, high or low, I'm going to take the high road this time, lifting through the heart and then exhale, hinge at the hips, reach forward, slide through and rise, either cobra or upward facing dog, exhale, downward dog and breathe, if you'd like to rest in child's pose, you can lower down to your child's pose and take a little lunar pause, if you'd like to continue building strength, you can hold downward facing dog, couple of breaths here, it's always a nice place to just revisit your intention, revisit the quality of the breath, and then as you're ready, we'll slowly meet up in a forearm plank, so lowering down the forearms to the mat, make sure the elbows are shoulder width apart and then reaching back into a nice long line of energy from your heels to the crown of your head, feel the tailbone slightly dialed down towards the heels, the low belly in and energize your legs while you relax your face, so sometimes we get into this shape and we start gripping into our jaw and into our neck but just relax and breathe and let's lift our right leg up for a moment, a little stability through the center of the body, set it down and then lift your left leg up for a moment and set it down, walk your feet towards your elbows, come into dolphin pose just like down dog but on our forearms, press the heart back towards the thighs, relax your head and neck, breathe into the shoulder opening here and there's always the potential to lift one leg from the shape or if it's part of your practice or your experience to kick up to a forearm stand, this is a great place to do it from, we're not going to technically go into that today but you can just feel into that potential and from here, start to make your way up to downward dog and let's bring our block close to the right hand so we have it ready for the next part of our sequence here, so just bring it on in and set it to the right side of the mat, come back into your downward facing dog, let's take our right leg to the sky, big breath in, exhale, step it all the way through and set up a warrior two base but let's bring the block close to the right foot and place the right palm on the block, super slow here, open up the chest towards the left edge of your mat, reach your left hand to the sky and feel into side angle pose and notice that you can lean pretty heavily onto your block in your hand but do the opposite, make it kind of light so there's just a fingertip touch to your block and you really power up your legs, draw a little energy into the core and then slow and steady, start to bring the shoulders up over your hips, finding your warrior two, deepest breath in, exhale, turn the right palm to face up, grab onto your intention, hold it in your hand and then just pour it up and over you, let your elbow bend and like water, bring your forearm to your thigh, top arm circles right in front of your beautiful face, come back to warrior two on an inhale, exhale, turn the right palm face up, inhale, reach up and back, bend your elbow, exhale gracefully, forearm to the thigh, top arm continues to circulate right in front of your face so two big concentric circles here, inhale to warrior two, exhale, right palm face is up, inhale, reverse your warrior, exhale, elbow to the knee, top arm circles all the way around and bring your hand to your hip, I'm going to start to progress into Ardha Shandrasana so you can shorten the stance just a bit and then take your block, we'll turn it tall today as we shift into our half moon, so line up your block directly underneath your shoulder, lift your back leg and this might be where you hang out opening up into our full half moon, if you'd like to add the element of quadricep opening, we worked on that in some of our previous practices, you can bend your top knee and reach back and take hold of the little toe side of your foot and this is a challenging pose, a lot of times our foot kind of peels up and we fall off to the right edge of the mat, if that's happening, soften your right knee, try to keep your bottom foot pointing straight ahead and really ground down through your big toe and press your top foot into your hand, open up through the heart, let's enjoy one more breath here and then slowly release and simply step back into a runner's lunge, we'll set the block over to the left edge of the mat and step back to downward facing dog, so let's go directly into the second side, take the left leg to the sky, big inhale, exhale step all the way through, set up your warrior two base and move the block right next to the outer edge of your left foot, open up your right hand towards the sky, open your heart, your navel, your ribs turning towards the ceiling and then a nice light resting on the fingertips on your block, so you really power up the legs here and stay seated in the power of your legs as you lift your shoulders over your hips, finding your warrior two, scoop the left palm underneath your intention, grab onto it and inhale, reverse your warrior, open your elbow and exhale slowly carving through the space, elbow to the knee, top arm circles all the way in front of your face and you arrive back into warrior two as you inhale, exhale left palm turns face up, inhale deep in the lunge as you reverse your warrior, softening through the elbow and just connecting one shape into the next with your breath, top arm circles, once more inhale warrior two, exhale left palm face is up, inhale reverse, soften through the elbow, exhale forearm to this eye, top arm circles and let's bring our right hand to our hip, shorten up the stance, take your block, move it forward coming into your half moon, Ardha Shandrasana and really watch your bottom foot here, a lot of times it likes to turn in as a counterbalance but try to keep your bottom foot pointing straight ahead and that'll ask the adductor line to open up and become more flexible and the outer hip to strengthen, so you can stay here in a classic half moon or feel into chapasana opening up the quadriceps, again if balance feels wobbly try softening your standing leg a bit, keep pressing down through the big toe side of the bottom foot and opening through the front body, two more breaths here and then as you exhale release your foot and step back to a runner's lunge, set your block to one side and let's step back to downward facing dog, inhale through your toes, exhale lightly set the knees down, let's take one more pass through Virasana Vinyasa, lower high open your chest, big inhale, notice if it feels a little more open now, exhale hinge at the hips reach through and glide to cobra or upward facing dog, nice big breath in, exhale downward facing dog, from here let's start to walk our feet all the way up to the top of the mat and we'll take a moment for a standing balance before you come up just relax your head and neck, bend your knees and then roll up your spine, one vertebrae at a time, let's prepare for royal dancer and you're welcome to use your strap for this I really like using the strap for royal dancer because it helps open the shoulders and so you can make a little loop and place it right underneath the sole of your left foot and then really get square on your focus, let your eyes settle on one point and simply draw the strap over the left shoulder, this might be as far as you go you might hang out here and gently press your foot into the strap or reach up through your right arm, maybe both hands reach behind your head and take the strap and start to walk it down, walk your hands down the strap towards your foot and even though the pelvis does start to tilt forward keep drawing the tailbone down towards the back of your knee to lengthen the low back and you can walk your hands down the strap any amount but keep the eyes steady, one more cycle of breath, exhale let the strap slide through your hands and slowly come out of the shape, mentally stay in the posture as you physically change sides, so right foot finds the strap, center your gaze on one point and draw the hand over your shoulder, lift up through the left arm as you inhale, exhale maybe both hands take the strap behind you and start to walk your hands down the strap and again as the pelvis tilts forward tailbone reaches towards the back of your knee pressing your foot into the strap, let your elbows hug in towards your temples and feel this beautiful back bend on the right side all the way up through the center of the spine into your heart, breathe some spaciousness and light into the shape and slowly release, let the strap slide through your hand and gently set your foot down, nice work, come into an easy forward fold bend at the hips and the knees and just soften everything down and you can feel this is a counter pose to royal dancers, so hang out here for a moment with the knees bent supporting your spine. And then inhale to lift your heart halfway and set your strap aside and exhale let's step back to downward facing dog, inhale rise up to your toes as you exhale lower the knees down and let's just come to a seated position here, bringing your feet out in front of you. All right are you ready to back bend, let's back bend together so I'll offer a progression and you can choose any point along the way that you want to hang out in, we'll come on to our backs and have your block handy so the first stage of this progression is a supported bridge and I'm going to make a little adjustment here so that I can lie on the back of my head without any interruption, you can do the same move your bun or your brain and the first step on the progression is to lift your hips and support your pelvis with your block and come into a supported bridge, oh fantastic, super grounding, if you're feeling a little toast and like Shavasana is right around the corner, stay here and breathe, if you'd like to activate just a bit more into the back body, the next step along the progression would be to come into an activated bridge so you can set your block to one side and lace your fingers, we've been working with this posture a lot in the last several practices, opening up the front body and breathing, stay here or the next progression would be to come into wheel or dvadhanurasana, you can bring your hands right alongside your shoulders and then lift the chest, elbows come in, you can press into the hands and pause for a moment on the crown of your head, bring the elbows in towards the midline, puff up your chest and on a nice big inhale slowly press into your hands and feet and open up your heart, your full body mudra towards the sky and you can walk your feet in towards your hands or your hands in towards your feet but really create this beautiful bow, this beautiful bridge shape in the body as you breathe, allow your thighs to hug in, stay strong in your arms and legs, find that deep strength inside and really give it into this shape, couple more breaths, free through the neck, free through the breath and then as you exhale soften the elbows, gently come down to the back of your head, lift up onto your toes as you roll down through your spine, once your sacrum touches we can all meet up with our knees into our chest, super activating posture, incredible for our health, I always like to think of that quote, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, well a backbend a day keeps the chiropractor away, so let's counter pose with a simple twist and you can take your block and place it right in between your inner thighs and then take your knees over to the left and open up into your twist and just relax here, let go of all effort, deep breath in, exhale and let's come through the center and all the way over to the other side coming into your twist, once again just relax, let go of all effort, soften into the shape, let your feet go, let your fingers go, relax your belly, one more breath, slowly come back to the center and set your block to one side, let's stretch out for our shavasana, so spread out, make yourself comfortable and if you feel like there's any additional shape you need to draw your knees to your chest or come up and forward fold for a moment, take care of that but otherwise stretch out, turn your palms to face up, let your breath return to that natural easy rhythmic place and close your eyes and rest, digest all the benefits, all the fruit of your practice.

Okay. Thank you. Slowly start to bring your awareness back into your body, send a little movement through your fingers and your toes. As you inhale, reach your arms over your head and stretch long. And as you exhale, just slowly roll over to one side and let's come up to a comfortable seated position. You can take a couple long moments here before we formally close. So just find your most comfortable seat, either on a block or bolster, and sit tall. And let your Shavasana continue in a wakeful state, in a calm yet alert state of listening. And you're welcome to turn your palms face up, so the back of the hands rest on the knees. Let your inner eyes look down into the heart. Let's enjoy a few rounds of simply being and breathing here together. I'm peeling into this alchemy, whatever transformation that you've experienced, not just from today, but all the days leading up to this. All of your effort, all of your attention, your perseverance, your tenacity, your surrender. Feel into this heart. And then bringing the hands to the heart, place the palm of the left hand on your heart, right hand on top and open up your eyes. Feel the fullness here inside of your heart center. So wonderful. Let's take a deep breath in and exhale through the mouth. Thank you so much for joining me today. Wonderful job. Congratulations. We'll see you in the next practice. Namaste.