Day 27: From the Inside Out

Namaste, greetings tribe, it's day 27, super happy to see you and I hope you'll be happy to know that this is a wrist-free practice, so your wrists get a little break in this practice and the patterns with this one are more simple but the energy is full and vibrant so let's explore how our yoga really comes from the inside and expands outward. So start standing, you can come to the top of your mat and find tadasana, mountain pose and just take a moment here and imagine that you are standing on top of your favorite mountain wherever that is, bring it to right where you are and root down into the powerful earth energy that's always there beneath us and radiate, rebound that energy up through your spine, through your crown and outward and feel your breath, receive your breath as you inhale here and exhale, so simple inside of a single breath and just take that twice more, feel your breath breathing you from the inside out and I'd love for you to think of this practice as primarily a breathing practice that's accompanied by your yoga asana, so once more full breath in, as you exhale open your eyes, separate your feet hips width apart and sweep the left arm up and over as you inhale, exhale simply return it to your side, do the same thing with your right arm and feel each moment as you sweep up and over on your inhale, fingers active, palms sensitive, exhale bring it back to the side, circle the arms out and up, full breath in, exhale hands to your heart and then take a simple rotation to your right like you're drawing a bow and arrow on your inhale, exhale come back to the center, left hand draws back as you inhale, exhale back to the center, hands to the heart, just bend the knees and open the arms wide as we inhale, exhale hands come to the hips, inhale to lift your chest, exhale come back to your tadasana, so you notice all four actions and movements of the spine and this simple namaskar, so inhale side bend up and over, exhale sweep the left hand back by your side, inhale circulate the right arm up and over, exhale bring it back by your side, both arms reach out and up, receive a full breath in, exhale hands to your heart steady gaze, draw a bow and arrow to your right as you inhale maybe gaze over the right shoulder, exhale back to the center, inhale left hand draws back, exhale hands to your heart, bend your knees open the arms as you inhale, exhale hands to your hips and then grow tall, lift the heart, opening into a back bend as you inhale, exhale back to your tadasana, let's do it once more, inhale up and over, exhale bring it back down, inhale right arm up and over, start to feel this pattern as you exhale and breathe, circle the arms out and up, full breath in, exhale hands to your heart, dancing with the breath as you inhale pull the right hand back, exhale center, pull the left hand back and inhale, exhale hands to your heart, bend your knees, deep chair pose as the arms open wide, exhale hands find the hips or low back, lift your heart and just pour your head back into a waterfall and then exhale to a forward fold and bring the hands down to the earth, bend your knees, relax the head and neck, take a couple of breaths here, releasing through the back of the head, head is below the heart so empty out through the brain and then bend the knees a bit more and slowly roll up the spine one vertebrae at a time and let's take a nice wide step to the center of the mat, turn the toes out, bend your knees and come down into your temple pose or goddess pose and we'll draw the hands to the heart and let's work with that same pattern here as we start to activate in our legs. So you can bring your right elbow to your knee and inhale sweep the left arm up and over, exhale through the center and left elbow to the knee, inhale sweep the right arm up and over, exhale back to the center hands to the heart, circulate out and up as you inhale, exhale hands come to the heart center, pull the right arm back, simple twist, exhale center your focus, super powerful in the legs as you pull the left hand back, exhale center, open the arms wide, bow forward and then as you stand tall pivot the feet parallel hands to your hips and lift through the chest, exhale hinge at the hips and bring your hands down to the midline, keep the shoulder blades lifting but allow the crown of the head to release down towards your mat and activate your legs here so really energize and hug your muscles to your leg bones, maybe even lift your toes and spread them wide before setting them back down, you can oscillate your head side to side here if you like, relaxing through the head and neck, maybe a couple of nods, yes and no and yes and then inhale to lift your head, lift your heart, let's come all the way up to standing, circulating over your head, exhale hands to the center of the heart, turn your right foot out for your warrior two base and you can elongate the stance if you like and spread open wide from your wings here from your heart center all the way to your fingertips and just feel your energy moving from the inside out, from the outside back in again and let's just dance a little bit from one shape to another so as you inhale come to your partial konasana side angle pose, stay for the exhale and then straighten the front leg and come on up to a reverse triangle and let's go back and forth between those two shapes, inhaling side angle pose, exhale reverse triangle, inhale side angle pose, exhale reverse, feel into the subtlety of your movement, quality of your awareness in your fingers, in your toes, in your breath as you continue to flow back and forth and the next time you end up in your side angle pose stay there, rotate the heart towards the sky, full breath in, on an exhale come back to warrior two, straighten your front leg, draw the hands to the heart and let's go into the second side, turning the left foot open, adjusting the back foot slightly pigeon toed, reach beyond your fingers, reach down below the mat, really ground in here and steady focus, eyes on the middle finger of your front hand and let's come into our side angle pose, inhale sweep your right arm up and over, stay for the exhale, just feel into that shape and then dancing back and forth, let's reverse the breath on this side so we inhale to reverse our triangle and then exhale side angle pose and just know how that quality of breath, notice how the quality of breath feels a little different as we inhale to reach up and exhale to ground down, breathing practice accompanied by movement as you shift back and forth, exhale inhale reach to the sky, ground down below the mat, exhale once more inhale to reach, exhale hang out here in your side angle pose and turn your heart open, fully arrive inside this shape and breathe, on your next inhale come back to warrior two and then straighten the front leg, hands to the heart, we'll step back up to the top of the mat here arriving back into our tadasana and just take a moment, rooting down, rising up feeling into that subtlety of awareness, our yoga practice isn't defined by the pose or the shape, the asana we're in but by our state of awareness, let's revisit that beginning pattern as you inhale, sweep the left arm up, exhale bring it back down, inhale sweep the right arm up, exhale bring it back down, hands to the heart, circle out and up full breath in, exhale hands come to the heart center, pull the bow and arrow right hand back as you inhale, exhale left hand back as you inhale, exhale hands to your heart bend your knees, sweep the arms wide and let's stay in chair pose for a moment here as you circulate your arms forward and up alongside your ears and exhale just sweep the arms back alongside the hips, inhale sweep the arms forward and up, exhale rooting down, stay rooted as you lift through the heart on inhale, exhale twice more, allow your movements to be an expression of your breath, an expression of your presence and awareness as you arrive into each shape transitioning into the next and the next time you inhale come all the way up to standing, let's find our way into tree pose with our left foot up at the inner thigh at the calf or the ankle, so returning to ricksasana and really arrive here as if it was your first time as if it was your last time, full breath in, exhale gather your arms your hands back to your heart and just this little beautiful gesture of how our yoga practice really comes from the heart and changes everything around us, so bring your hands back to your heart center and let this movement expand from the inside to the outside and let's go ahead and take it into a floating half moon, so as your fingertips reach forward from your heart disengage the left foot let it reach back and start to float towards your half moon keep it hovering you can bend your standing leg and then slowly come back up standing tall inhale to reach exhale hands to the heart let's take our tree pose on the second side solo the right foot finds ankle, calf, inner thigh and then extend through your branches open up through the palms through the fingertips the lower body stays rooted upper body moves with the breath and bringing the fingertips to the heart and opening into that state of selflessness move through self-care into selfless and they work together and so the next rhythm when we come from the heart center let's release the right foot from its little perch on our left leg and start to drift and it's a little it can be a little wobbly you can bend your standing leg but work with the navigation work with the balance as you float into your half moon and then slowly whoops come back up to standing and bring your hands to your heart bend your knees sit back into your chair pose and then start to sink down lower and deeper and lower and deeper until you sit all the way down onto the mat whoa and lift your feet so here we are in our floating child's pose Navasana and I'm thinking that maybe we should do some things with this kind of play around with it today because typically in this challenge we've visited and then gratefully exited out but perhaps today we play around with extending through our wonderful roots through our branches and then lower and see if you can float into a low boat a low canoe really dial in through the core you're welcome to release your head down but can you keep your legs floating and then let's exhale come back up gather sometimes I have to kind of growl at it a little bit reach exhale and it takes some strength it takes some power but use your breath sometimes an exhale through the mouth inhale exhale inhale exhale whoa it's not always smooth sometimes it's messy inhale exhale one more gather it up inhale and then exhale let's relax for a moment scoot it on back and we'll come into Janu Suresasana Janu Suresasana which will feel so good after our bit of work there in our boat post so reach your arms to the sky big inhale let's rotate the spine towards the long way and then exhale take your left hand to the outside of your calf or your ankle or your foot pitch a tent with the right hand and turn so there's a bit of a twist through the spine then start to draw down any amount listening to your breath going slow deepening with each exhale softening with each inhale last breath here inhale slowly rise and exhale draw the left knee to the midline cross it over we'll keep our bottom leg straight and then just coming into your twist the right elbow hand tricep to the outside go ahead and internally rotate through the top arm and just bring your hand down anywhere towards the hip or on the hip and turn your spine and see if you can feel into drawing that whole left thigh across the midline so you get a nice opening through the IT band through the outer hip and lifting up through your spine exhale to turn sitting tall exhale one more breath I'm coming back to the center and let's just pick up the top knee we'll take kind of a seated version of pigeon today so you can bend your bottom knee as if you were going to sit cross legged but we'll keep our left foot lifted and either hold the outer edge of your foot with your hands sitting tall drawing the big toe towards the center of the chest or sometimes I like to just place the sole of my foot to the crease of the opposite elbow this is a little deeper in the hip so it may or may not be realistic right choose the one that's realistic for you if this isn't enough you can sling your shin behind your head I won't be demonstrating that today and just take a couple of breaths here and the more that you can lift up and sit tall the biggest adjustment that you can make really in any asana besides an attitude adjustment of course and a breath adjustment is the adjustment of the pelvis really lift up out of the lower back and you'll feel some nice sensation in the left hip one or two more breaths here rocking it like a baby and to come out of that either with your hand on your foot your ankle or your big toe just unfurl through the knee lift up and then we set that leg down and we're in the second side for our Janu Shrasasana so the right foot meets your inner thigh it's like a seated tree pose inhale to reach up let's turn the spine and then exhale little twist here as you bring your hand to the outside of the left leg and lengthen on your inhale let's go breath by breath as we exhale softening dropping down and in just little by little with each breath it can be the most micro of adjustments as you drop in and down softening relaxing and then inhale to lift your chest come all the way up exhale draw the right knee across your straight left leg let's reach up through our left arm big inhale and then elbow hand tricep to the outside of your thigh internally rotate press your palm hopefully somewhere along your hip or your thigh even if it's in the mid-range it's cool press your thigh across the midline just that totally changes the landscape of the pose a bit and so if that feels good stay right there you can always add more rotation in the upper body but just go slowly be super sensitive and subtle as you deepen these shapes think about how each micro movement affects not only your muscles in your bones but your nervous system the brain waves the heart waves one more breath here and then come out of it equally as sensitively consciously kindly we'll pick up our right foot set up the bottom leg like you're coming into sukhasana and keep the right foot lifted and just let your your big toe and your heart and a meet energetically maybe place the foot at the crease of the opposite elbow and draw your shin bone in whatever feels possible and then lift up through your spine lift up through your low back I always spontaneously just start rocking cradling the shin bone enjoy a couple of breaths here feeling the lift through the low back attitude breath and adjustment in the pelvis and as we exit out of this you can hold on to your ankle your foot grab onto your big toe extend long through the left leg and why not we did it to each leg we played around in our boat pose so let's go ahead and bring the other leg up for a ride and just see about balancing on your sit bones here for a moment nice wide balance and then go ahead and bring it back in all right let's come down onto our backs and set up for bridge pose so hold on behind the knees slowly roll down one vertebrae at a time and then once you're down place your feet hips width apart thigh bones stay hips width apart let's draw the tailbone into the posterior tilt just that movement is so therapeutic to the low back and then lift up into your bridge and today a little different instead of lacing the fingers behind you i'm going to move my little battery pack friend over a bit here see about experimenting with bringing the hands to the waist and propping your elbows underneath you and it's a nice little stretch for the wrists here if that doesn't feel good to you then come into your classic bridge with your palms face up or your fingers interlaced but this has been a wrist-free practice as far as putting your whole body weight on your wrist but it's kind of nice to just include a gentle stretch of the wrist and the opening of the hip flexors and psoas and stretch of the belly ribcage across the chest and then let's just slide the hands to the sides of the hips and roll down the spine one vertebrae at a time and from here gotta move that guy over reach your arms to the sky and let's take the right hand to the left fingertips and just give it a little love here pull the fingers back flip the palm over stretch the top of the wrist just take that a couple times back and forth going through flexion and extension maybe one finger at a time just a gentle bit of therapy to the wrist to the hands don't forget the thumb and then giving that left wrist a squeeze let's go to the second side pulling your fingers back flip it over and especially in our technological digital age now with all of our typing and texting and things we're doing with our our fingers and our palms there's a seems to be a pretty high occurrence of carpal tunnel syndrome and numbness and the forearms and the elbows and so this is a really nice little daily offering you can give to your overworked wrists and hands and fingers don't forget your thumb give the rest a little squeeze and then release your arms over your head and ah take your feet as wide as your mat wind should wiper your knees side to side and just roll from the inner edge of one foot to the outer edge of the other and you can let your head oscillate in the opposite direction and we're just preparing for shavasana followed by a really brief sitting practice with a little three part breath so once you feel centered in your hips and your shoulders the back of your head go ahead and stretch out long and we'll be here for a few minutes before we come up to seated so so so slowly bring your awareness back into your body send a little movement to your fingers and your toes and reach your arms over your head as you reawaken exhale to draw the knees in let's roll over to one side slowly come on up to comfortable seat and position. Let's just sit for a moment together and revisit our three-part breath so you can keep your eyes closed and stay internal but bring your hands just to rest in your navel center and take about a third of your inhale there and pause for a moment for your your power to create and then a third more of your breath to your heart hands can move to the heart your power to sustain and nurture that final third of your breath you can let the fingertips just lightly touch the throat and your power to liberate and as you exhale uninterrupted exhale and hands come back down to the belly inhale a third of the breath here creative center a third of breath to the heart your sustaining nurturing center final third of the breath to the throat center to liberate make change and exhale hands come back down and just take that twice more just on your own dividing the breath up up taking a moment just to feel the resonance fullness of your breath at each of those sacred centers sacred landmarks and then a long interrupted exhale this one more cycle to the belly to the heart to the throat and as you exhale just release your hands into your lap you can let the back of the right hand rest in the palm of the left allow your eyes to open welcome back thank you so much for joining have a wonderful rest of your day i'm so proud of you and i'll see you in the next practice namaste