Day 25: Chill Out

Greetings tribe, namaste. Welcome back. It's day 25. Wow. This has been a journey, and I always tell my kids when we go on trips, long trips, and we're coming through customs and those last little bits before we get to go home, you prove your salt as a traveler when you're coming home, those last little moments when you just want to get home. And it's the same thing with the challenge. These last five days really finish strong. I want to encourage you to keep showing up to these last couple of practices. I know you will. I will too. And this practice channels my son Nate because it's super mellow. It starts grounded. You can do it in your jammies and then we'll come up just for a bit and then we'll go back down. So if you have a couple of blocks and a strap handy, that would be great. And let's start in child's pose. So take your knees kind of wide, big toes to touch and just drop in and down into any comfortable version of child's pose that you like. You can stretch your arms forward or stack your hands, relax your hands alongside your legs and just take a couple of breaths here and feel your shoulders relax open and breathe. And as you breathe, feel the back of the heart open up. Maybe roll your head from side to side, relaxing into the neck. Just getting into that easy like Sunday morning feel of your breath and your practice. Slowly stretch your arms forward and then slide all the way through into Sphinx pose. Land lightly, slide your elbows forward and lift your chest. And as you lift your heart, relax your head and let the back of your neck breathe here. You can even just oscillate your head side to side, opening up through the back of the shoulders, neck and heart, even up into the back of the skull. And just super relaxed and mellow as you move and breathe. Listening to your breath. And then coming back to the center once you feel even and let's extend our left arm out to the side, bend your right elbow and your right knee and then roll onto your left side for a simple open twist and shoulder opener here. You can kind of rock yourself gently in this shape if that feels good to you. Just a really subtle, gentle ebb and flow of the hips and the spine, easing your way into your practice. And then as you're ready, just peel back through the center and roll to the other side.

Stretch your right arm out, bend your left elbow, your left knee, and come onto the second side and just nice and easy through the hips and low back, rocking your own body like you're rocking a little baby. Close your eyes and maybe breathe here. For sure, breathe. Don't maybe breathe. And then from here, stay on your right side, but let's bring our top knee forward and let's turn this pose into an open twist. So just sneak your right arm underneath you and then open the left half of the shoulder girdle, left arm towards the sky and relax into your twist. And notice how the feel of this posture totally changed. The twist now down in the lower back and the hips. And again, if it feels good to you, just rock and roll a bit here, kind of ease your way into it, massage your way into it. Exhale completely. And to go to the other side, we'll transition through the belly so you can reach your arms up over the top of the mat, reach the left hand across, draw the right knee up, and then open up the right side of your shoulder girdle and arm like you're peeling open towards the sunshine. And breathe, maybe rock the hips a little bit, super subtle. Feeling into the twist here. And then slowly come back through the belly, onto the belly, reach your arms forward.

And let's just do an alternate arm and leg lift to activate the back core a bit. So lift the right arm in the left leg and exhale, slowly lower down and lift the left arm in the right leg and slowly lower down. It's feeling a little almost locust action, shalabhasana action in your body as you lift and lower and lift and lower. Let's add one more element onto this just to start to feel into the back body a bit more. As you lift, bend your knee and reach your right hand back and just see about touching your foot. You may or may not touch it, and then reach it back forward and long and lower down. Inhale, lift the left arm, the right leg, bend your knee, reach back and then forward. And it's just this tracing of a pathway as we do it again, right arm and left leg lift of a half bow pose. As you reach back towards your foot, you may or may not touch it, but we'll come up to standing a little bit later and be in a very similar shape as this. So just a couple more times, feeling into that range. Notice if your foot's there. Is it reachable? Is it not? No big deal. And once more each side, lifting the left arm in the right leg and reaching back and then taking it forward. And from here, slide your hands right next to your rib cage and let's lift the heart up into a baby cobra. Big inhale. Exhale, pull your heart forward and do that again. Inhale, lift up through cobra, activate through your legs, maybe come up a tiny bit higher, but keep your hips down and then pull the heart forward. Once more like that, inhale, drag the hands back, pull the heart forward and down as you exhale, and then press back to child's pose. Empty all the breath out and let's come onto our back for a little bit more core work, a little bit of opening through the back of the body, through the legs. And if you have your strap handy, go ahead and grab it and just loop it around the sole of your right foot coming into our Supta Padagusthasana. So you can hang on with the right hand holding onto the strap. And if you're feeling a little more open and you'd like to ditch the strap and just take your piece fingers around your big toe, you can do that as well. It's totally up to you, strap or with your hand. I'm going to just opt for my hand today and draw your leg in any amount. Notice how the back channel of your right leg feels today. We'll take a deep breath in here. As you exhale, curl up, look into your navel center, hold on behind your right leg, either the calf or the hamstring, try to keep it straight, and then float up through the left leg. And then take a slow motion change to the second side and a slow motion change. Just easy, leisurely side to side. Generating your energy in a steady, kind of mellow way. Next time your left leg is up, let's release down, hold onto your left leg with your strap or your fingers and draw it in.

Maybe relax your opposite arm, take a deep breath in here. Exhale, draw it in a little deeper. And then once again, coil up, look into your navel center, take your hands to the calf or the hamstring. If we hold onto our knee, it kind of encourages it to bend. Try to keep your legs straight and float the opposite leg. And then we'll just scissor back and forth a few times, getting into a little depth, opening up the hamstrings and activating your core. So working with a breath and starting to build your rhythm, back and forth, side to side, keeping the legs nice and straight as best you can. And then the next time your right leg is in your hands, relax your head down. You can take your left hand to the outside of your foot or hold the strap with your left hand. I'm going to bring my strap back into play here and then bring it across into a twist, Supta Padagusthasana C. And just like we did when we were lying on our tummy and we reached back opposite hand to foot, just see if your foot and your hand can communicate with one another and maybe even your hand touches your foot. But just reach down in that general direction, feeling the shape. If you can grab your foot, hold on to it. If not, just keep your hand reaching flat on the mat and open up your shoulder into the twist. It kind of feels like a twisted hurdler stretch, but it's basically a half bow pose. So we might find ourselves in this shape standing in a little bit. Take one more breath. And as you exhale, release your bottom foot first, slowly bring your right leg back to the center and let's sneak the left foot up into the strap and lower the right foot down. Hold on with your right hand to the strap or the outer edge of your foot. And let's bring it all the way across into our twist. Stretch out in the opposite direction and just reach down. See if your foot's handy. And if your hamstring starts to cramp when you draw your heel up, it's totally normal. You just don't bring it up so high. Shake your leg out a little bit.

Either let your hand rest on the mat with your bottom knee bent, feeling into this shape or grab onto your foot and open up. A couple of breaths here. One more breath. And then slowly release. Again, just warming up slow, taking our time. Super typical of my boy. He loves to take his days slow and easy. And then he's usually the last one to leave the playground or the mountain if we're skiing. Draw your knees into your chest, rock a little bit from side to side. And then let's rock along the length of our spine, forward and back. So you can hold on behind your knees and just start to rock forward and back a bit, massaging your back on your mat.

And then come on up and we're going to turn around. We'll sit tall for a moment. And then exhale, turn around onto your hands and your knees. So from here, we're about to go to downward facing dog, but let's take our blocks forward to the top of the mat because we will definitely be working with them in the standing sequences that are coming up. So set them up nice and tall. And then let's curl our toes under and press back to our downward facing dog. And just take a moment here, bicycle pedal into the feet and knees. Notice how this downward dog feels now that you spent a little time on your back, opening up the hamstrings in the back body, a little bit of twisting. And just go ahead and walk your feet all the way up to the top of the mat, coming into a forward fold. Relax your head and neck. And then inhale through the heart halfway position. Exhale forward fold. Let's come all the way up to standing. Take a deep breath in. Exhale hands to your heart. We're standing up. Yes. Step the feet together and let's shift our weight into the right foot and draw the left knee up into the chest and just let it float here for a moment. You can reach your arms to the sky as you inhale. And on an exhale, slowly start to dial it back through warrior three. So just passing through some shapes that we've already learned and visited many times. Open up your wings nice and wide. We're here just for a moment. And then as you exhale, land for pyramid pose. So step your foot back about two or three feet and let's take our blocks and frame our front foot on an inhale. Lift your chest as you exhale forward fold and let's take that twice more rippling through the spine. Inhale to lift the chest. Exhale forward fold. Once more inhale rippling through the spine.

Exhale forward fold. The next time you come up, stay lifted. Draw the block close to the inside edge of your front foot. Left hand grounds down and let's take a moment and visit twisting triangles. So just reach your right arm to the sky. Nice deep breath in and we're just here for a moment just saying hello to twisting triangle. As you exhale, bring your hands back to your blocks. Put a little bend in your front knee. Shift forward and lift your back leg up towards the standing split. It doesn't have to lift so high. You don't have to be in a full split. Just lift your leg and we'll take a couple of moments here to bend both knees as if you were going to sit down on the ground but then reach your left leg straight back up like an arrow. Some of my teacher friends call these Shiva squats as you lower down and then reach back up and let's feel that one more time activating in the right hip, extending long through the left leg and then come back to your forward fold and release and let it go and hang out. Inhale to lift the heart halfway. Exhale, relax. Let's come on up with a flat back. Big inhale to rise. Exhale, hands to your heart. Shift your weight into your left foot. Lift your right knee and from here let's reach our arms to the sky once again. Slowly making your way back through warrior three. So extending your right leg back, opening up the arms nice and wide. Feel how the back body activates and then stepping back about two or three feet. Bring in the blocks with you for your pyramid pose. Exhale, melt it down. We're just moving in and out of these shapes without making a big deal of it. Just enjoying moving like water. Exhale, melt. Inhale, ripple and lift through the spine. Exhale, melt. Inhale, lift. Now stay lifted. Draw the block close to the right edge of your foot and let's take a visit to twisting triangle on the second side. So opening up through the left side. Just here for a moment. Just saying hello as you inhale and then exhale, sweep it down. Take your blocks forward and lift your back leg. Standing split. Bend both knees, aim your right knee towards the outer left calf and then thread it back up into the sky like an arrow. Let's take that twice more, softening through both knees. As your right leg lifts, relax your head down once more. Bend your knees. Inhale, reach it back up to the sky and then set it down. Forward fold, let it go. Lift your heart halfway and then exhale, release. Let's take a moment here and stand on our hands, padahastasana. Take the palms of your hands to the soles of the feet. Look forward on an inhale and then exhale, relax it down.

Take your shoulders and lift them up towards the sky as the crown of the head drops down and hang out here for another breath or two. And then slowly release your hands and let's come all the way up to standing. Once again, nice big inhale. Exhale, hands to your heart, step your feet together. We'll pass through the standing sequence one more time with a couple little progressions. So lift your left knee, lift your arms up. Exhale, slowly glide back through warrior three, extend wide and then let's just add a moment into twisting half moon. So we'll take our right hand to our hip, grab the block on the left side, turn it tall and keeping your left leg lifted, open the chest and reach your right arm up and feel into the twist, twisting half moon. It's a really big meaty posture, but show up to it with some fire just for a moment. And then as you exhale, release and you don't need to make a big deal out of it. Just let it go. It's a memory. As you inhale, lift your heart and now take the other block and place it underneath to create a little bit of a taller setup. And from here, we'll slide it so that it's underneath our right hand, take the right leg back and bend your right knee. This is where we come into our shape that we felt on the floor. The left hand reaches back to take hold of the big toe side of your foot, or you can place your hand on your sacrum, soften your standing leg knee a bit. And then as you inhale, lift through the chest, lift through the thigh. If you have a hold of your foot, lift the foot in the hand up and feel that shape bit of a twist here as possible, but try to keep your shoulders and your hips square. Coming into this half back bend, super delicious posture. I love the way this one feels, but it's not without a little bit of challenge. And then as you exhale, release and come into your forward fold, set the blocks flat, maybe turn your palms face up and let your head go and breathe. It's kind of interesting what's required for an asana like that or like those twisting half moon and standing half bow pose. It requires for us to really show up to it, to be strong, but also to surrender inside of it. So let's try the second side with that in mind. Go ahead and lift up through the heart. Come all the way up to standing. Exhale, draw your hands to your heart, center your gaze. This is our last standing sequence before we come back down. Go ahead and lift the right knee up, reach your arms over your head, and then slow and steady, make your way to warrior three. Arms nice and wide, reaching across the chest out to your hands. Then as you exhale, left hand comes to the hip, bend your standing leg and we'll turn that right block nice and tall. Keep lifting through the right leg and start to open your chest, left hand to the sky. Oh, twisting half moon. We're here just for a moment. Really show up to it with your breath, with your enthusiasm, and then let it go. Oh, it's a memory. Stack the tall block on top of the short block and let's take our left leg to the sky, bending the left knee and reach your right hand back either to your sacrum or grab the big toe side of your foot. Soften both knees and inhale, lift through the chest, lift through the side, hang out here for a breath or two. And these types of postures, I always think of my two little ones because one of them is like water, easy like Sunday morning, and one of them is fiery and shows up. So feel the ability to do both, to show up to this and to surrender inside of it.

And then as you're ready, let it go. And let's set the blocks flat, separate the feet wide and bend your knees to come down to a squat. And you're welcome to bring your hands to your heart or you can take your blocks and stack them up and have a seat. That feels good. And let's breathe here. Nice little counter pose to the balance, to the back bend. So let's stay grounded from here. Let's release to our hands and knees and we'll come into a nice wide open seated position, but let's use both of our blocks for it today. So you can take your blocks. A bolster also works really well for this and can turn your block sideways to create a little bench for yourself. You can also stack it up if you want to have it a little higher. And then we'll sit on top and open up the legs nice and wide for our straddle, keeping the knees and the toes facing the sky, activate your legs and try to gently roll the thigh bones away from the midline. So a little external rotation in here as you walk your hands forward. We call this one Upavishta Konasana, which is a nice long name for a wide straddle sit. You can come down as low as you like or not at all staying seated and just feel into the tilt of the pelvis and then pouring forward of your spine here and just enjoy a couple of breaths. Maybe relax your head, let the back of the neck breathe open, but do keep the legs active and feel that dance inside of showing up to this enthusiastically and also softening inside of it like water. One more deep breath here. So walk it back in slow and we'll come into a simple side bend in this shape. But let's bend the left knee and you can either bring the sole of the foot to the midline or you can place the sole of the foot flat like you would in Malasana. You might try one or both of these variations. I'm just going to take this one today, but come into your side bend over the long leg and you'll notice that the left hip will probably lift up, but try to just anchor it down as best you can as you reach over the long leg. Relax your head. Notice if you're holding tension in your neck and just relax your head. Sometimes I even like to take a hand behind my head and press into it and open up through the chest, shoulders. Take one more breath here wherever you are and then slowly come on back up and let's change sides. Extend the left leg long, bend the right knee and either sole the foot right or back of the foot right at the midline or sole the foot on the mat and let's side bend the opposite direction. You feel your right hip coming up. Just give a little press, anchor it down as best you can. Feeling into the opening through your side waist here as you reach, head and neck totally relaxed. Perhaps close your eyes and just breathe and then as you're ready slowly come on up and we'll go ahead and come off the blocks and get ready to come down onto our back. Use your blocks for your shavasana today just as a suggestion. You can place them approximately where your calves will be and then come down onto your back and we just give our legs a little float in our shavasana today. So I always like to check it out first. Okay that seems like a good spot and then lower down and open up your palms.

Maybe take your hands over your head today and bring your arms into a diamond shape if that feels good on your shoulders. Otherwise any position for your arms and allow your legs to rest in a natural relaxed position. If that's slightly turned out that's absolutely fine. And breathe into both the fire and the water in your heart, in your body. All the elements that are present inside of you and grounding it down into the earth, into the earth element that's inside your body. Resting in the support of the earth beneath you, of the earth inside of you, grounding down. So slowly bring your awareness back into your body. Send a little movement and circulation through your fingers, your toes, your ankles, and your wrists. And then let's slowly draw the knees in and roll on over to one side. Come on up to a comfortable seat. We'll take a moment to just sit quietly before we formally close our practice today. So if you'd like to sit on a block feel free or comfortable cross-legged position. Just come on up and let's bring our left hand to our heart center, our right hand to the navel center.

Close your eyes and again feeling into that space in your heart, in your belly. The ability to show up with absolute enthusiasm to whatever it is that's going on fully. The ability to be like water, easy like Sunday morning. All those elements and more are present inside of you. Feeling into how our yoga practice really nourishes not only the strength and flexibility of our body but more so the strength and flexibility of our mind, our spirit.

Let's bring our hands together in front of our heart center and open up your eyes. Thank you so much, Mitras, friends. I'll see you in the next practice. We are in the home stretch. Namaste.