Day 17: Power 5

Hey, welcome back. Power number five. How are you feeling after the last practice, our core practice? I know that I'm definitely feeling something here from our work. I wonder what you're experiencing.

You can leave a comment to let me know. Today, on day 17 of our challenge, we are going to be moving into some twisting practices. So we'll start seated, cross legs. I'm sitting on a block so I can have a nice, tall spine. I would recommend that for you as well.

I've got another block here to help me support in the twists. But let's start with just a little check-in. Please, nice, tall spine. Level your head and close your eyes. Check in on your breathing.

How is your mind right now, in this time of day? Anything in your body grabbing your attention? That art of noticing your inner world so that you can become better and better at interacting with that world. Open your eyes, and we'll start out with some twisting. We'll turn to the right side first, a block on the right side, and we'll start with just an easy revolution to the right.

I'm going to be teaching this in a lot of today's poses, so we'll start here with the right hand, come across the abdomen, and drag the abdominal wall around to the right side. Sometimes I'll show this in classes, and people just lightly scrape the front here. You want to get hold and move that abdomen around to the right side. Then maintain that as we twist and release. Take the block to the other side.

Do an easy start to the twist. Left hand comes across all the way around as far as you can, and then actively draw the abdomen around, holding the abdomen there, turning to the left. The goal is to keep that abdomen feeling, that rotation, and come to center. Uncross the legs, re-cross the other way, block around to the right. We'll start our twist.

Right hand comes across to the far side of the left abdomen, and then draw the abdominal wall around to the right, hold there. Take a few breaths, and release. Final side. Block around to the left, start with an easy rotation. Left hand across, actively draw that abdomen around.

You could experiment with doing the twist without the abdominal draw, with the help of the hand, and then do it with the abdominal draw and see how different the feeling is. It can be quite profound. And then release and let go. We'll bring the legs out, block over to the right side, legs swept off to the left. Bharadvajasana.

Knees down heavy on the ground, we'll be turning to the right side. I'm going to bring the block around the back one more time. Going to take that abdominal support across. In this pose, we keep the left side hip down, turning around from that side, and then release. Block around to the left, sweep the legs over to the right.

We'll help turning the abdomen around, again, right side hip stays low, and then release. We'll come down off of the blocks for another pose, and we'll start here. Left leg out long, right leg tucked back. And we'll be turning off to the left side, rotation. You will lift your right side buttock, reach that right arm.

This is a lovely and deep twist. So now, can you get that feeling, I lengthen and turn again the abdomen. We don't have the hand support here to help, so we're trying to take what we learned in the previous poses into this one. Couple more breaths here, and then use your hands to come out of the pose. We'll swap to the other side.

This time, left leg swept back at kind of a 90-degree angle here, reaching to the other side. Let's start with that lift of the abdomen, the abdominal turn, and then coming into the pose. Taking a few more breaths using your exhales to help that abdomen turn. And then come on out, and release. One more seated twist.

For this one, we will use a strap. So I'll undo my strap, legs down flat. We'll start with a strap around the left leg. I'm going to reach as far as I can on that strap and bring the leg up, nice and tall, left hand behind, and now I'm turning. I'm working that same abdominal action across into this pose.

Push through that left leg, through to the strap, a nice strong feeling, connection with the strap. Couple more breaths, and then release. Let's go to the other side. Strap around the right foot, grab nice and low on that strap. As close to the foot as you can comfortably do, bring the leg up, we've got an active reach into the strap, and then abdominal turn over to the right side.

Right hand is on the floor supporting. Using your exhales to help the turn, keep pushing into the strap. And then release. We'll take the strap away, we can put it off to the side, and then we'll find dog pose. Come up off the knees.

Great time here for a little leg pedaling, and a nice chance to open up the abdomen from our first twists. Let's do some high heels, that'll help us open up and elongate even more. The highest heels you can do, sharpening the crease of the hips, lengthen your spine. And then heels down. And then walk your hands in about six inches toward the feet.

We'll start with a right hand coming across to the opposite calf. Grab the outside, and we bend that right elbow to create a little turn, a little different kind of twist. Then release, bringing the left hand across to the right side, we grab the outside of the right calf, bending that left elbow as much as you can to help revolve the trunk around to the right side. And then two hands on the floor again for your downward facing dog. Walk the hands back out just a little bit so you have some space to lengthen.

And raise the heels, look forward. We'll step the left foot forward first, lower your right knee down to the floor. Come up, hands on that front left knee, and drop a little forward into your lunge. This gives us an opportunity to open up the abdomen, lengthen the spine a little after the twists. And then coming back, right hand down to the floor.

Now we're going to do a little twist, but before we do, let's do that abdominal shift. We'll take the left hand across to the right side, actively get a hold of some of the abdomen and draw it across, and then lock your tummy to your left leg. Right hand on the floor, turn. Again you can experiment with this, where you don't use the help of the hand to turn the abdomen. See how different the twist really is.

There's so much freedom when you add that extra help. And then release the hand down. From here, press back, bring the left toes off the ground so we have a straight left leg. This is going to be kind of a half version of rotated triangle pose, turning. Use the help of the hand to turn the abdomen and left arm up.

You can push the floor with your left heel to keep the pelvis nice and square. And then bend the knee, release the hand down. We'll step back, plank pose. Big breath in, exhale down to Chaturanga. Raise the elbows in, up dog.

And down dog breathing out. Take a pause here, a couple breaths. You might notice a different feeling in the right and left side abdomens, just from doing the one side. See if you can pick anything out there. Raise the heels, look forward, right foot in between the hands.

Lower the left knee down, hands on your right knee. Breathing forward a little helps us open up and lengthen the abdomen. Couple breaths here. And then draw the lunge back just a little bit. We'll take the left hand to the floor, right hand coming across.

You can see me all the way over to that left side. Do your best there. And then drag. Don't be shy. Really drag the abdomen around to the right.

And then we glue the tummy to that right thigh, right arm up in the air. Little turn of the head, try to keep that abdominal turn. Couple more breaths. And then release the hand down. Now we go for the half-rotated triangle.

We can walk the right foot forward just a little, come off the toes. Left hand on the floor, little helpful turn, and rotated triangle pose. Little modification here. Push from your right hip to your right heel so you feel very secure in the floor. And making this turn with the abdomen.

And then release. Little step back. Plank pose. Big breath in. Exhale, Chaturanga.

Hold. Up dog, inhale. Again, a breath or two. Down dog. Holding this pose again, look inside and see if you notice a difference of space or length in the abdomen here.

And then walk the hands again about six or eight inches closer to your feet. We're going to once again reach across to the opposite calf, grabbing the outside from right hand to left leg and then turning. Bend that right elbow just a little bit to help get that revolution. And then release. Might notice a little bit more freedom on this round.

Left hand across to the outer right calf and turning. And then into your full length dog pose. Let's once again raise the heels just for a moment, get the length in the body. Keeping that length intact, slowly stretch your heels toward the floor. Raise the heels and look forward.

Step the feet forward and together between the hands. Inhale looking forward, elongate the spine. Exhale strong legs as you fold the trunk down. Uttanasana. Raise the head, release the neck.

And then inhale, look forward, hands to hips and come all the way up. Standing in mountain pose. We're going to be working into chair pose with a twist. Take the arms up, inhale, exhale, bending the knees, coming down in the squat. Let's take the hands to the knees.

First turn will be to the left. We'll shift the hands over to the left side. Use the left hand, come across the abdomen like we've been practicing and draw that abdominal wall around to the left and try to glue the abdomen to the left leg. Keeping that stuck there, inhale, exhale, slide the right arm across. One more time.

Turning from the abdomen, inhale, exhale, slide the elbow across a little further. From to palm, challenging pose at this depth. Go on turning the abdomen up towards the ceiling and maintain there. See if we can open the arms. Right arm down, left arm to the ceiling.

Holding three, two, palms together, unwind. Exhales all the way up, arms to the sky, and hands down. We've got a second side to do. Arms up, inhale, exhale, bend the knees. Keeping the spine long, hands down to the thighs, returning to the right side.

Start your turn. Two hands over to the right side. Right hand is going to help turn the abdomen around to the right. From left to right, turn and then glue the tummy to the right thigh. Couple times we inhale and exhale the left elbow a little further across.

Then palm to palm, abdomen rolling up towards the ceiling. And if you feel like you've got the extra space, we can unfurl the arms. And then palms together, coming all the way up. Definitely a powerful pose. Release the hands down to your sides.

Then arms up, inhale, exhale your hands to the floor. We'll step the right leg back and lower the knee down. This will be one more standing pose twist, rotated side angle. Last time here. We're going to take the hand and help the abdomen turn and gluing that turn to the left thigh.

We'll hook the elbow across, working the arm a little further across the leg. Then you can either go palm to palm or let the right hand down to the floor. That's the one I'll show. Curl the right toes under, lift the back leg. Holding there, check your balance.

Then left arm to the sky, abdomen turning up. Turn the left palm over the head and we'll complete the pose. And then bring the left arm up, right leg down, come out easy. Hands to the floor, step forward and together. Come all the way up.

Stretch the arms. The abdomen, and release the hands down. Arms up, exhale hands to the ground. Then we'll step back left leg, bring the knee to the ground. Like we've been practicing, we'll come up with the help of the right hand.

We're going to turn and then hooking the left elbow across, so you can get a little further, maybe the back of the armpit to the knee. And then choose if you go palm to palm or hand to the mat. And then lifting the back leg. Holding there, if you like to take the right arm up, turning the abdomen, and then turn the right hand to point over the head, palm over the head, and we'll complete the pose. Holding, breathing, and then all the way up with the arm.

You've got to release the back knee down. Come out of the pose. We'll step forward, stretch the arms up, and let's pause in mountain pose. Take the attention inward, see how you're feeling. Notice what the space is like in the abdomen.

Then eyes open, inhale, arms up. Let's float a dog pose, exhale, forward bend. Inhale long spine, look forward. Let's just step back to plank. A breath in, exhale, chaturanga, upward dog, down dog.

Then coming down to knees, I'm going to challenge a powerful pose known as parjwa bhakasana. Rotated crow pose or side crow pose. We'll step the right leg forward, and like we've been practicing, turning the abdomen around, hook your left elbow across, hand to the floor, right hand also to the floor. Back leg foot curl under and bring that leg in a little tighter. Our work here is to come down to the palms, bend the elbows, and tip as much of your body weight as you feel confident to do on the arms.

Notice I've bent the arms and the front leg, the right leg is off the floor. Hold it there and come out. Legs together, second side. Left leg forward, helpful turn of the abdomen, hook the right elbow across. Come across as far as you can, touching the floor.

Left hand also touching the floor. Curl under the right toes and narrow your stance, shorten the stance. Bring down to the palms as you bend the elbows, bringing the left foot off the floor and supporting whatever weight you feel comfortable to do. Come out, legs together, pause for a seat just for a second, breathing. So we've done the modified version and you could either repeat that both sides or I'll show an even further version.

Come up again on the knees, right foot forward, just like we did before. Little help with the abdomen, bring the left elbow across a couple times, working as much as you can, armpit toward knee. Left hand down, right hand down, tuck under the back foot and shorten your stance. We'll bring the hands a little forward away from the leg, bend the elbows, and stack once again, hip and leg on the bent arms. And if you're feeling like you've got it, you can work to stack both legs together.

Holding there, lift the feet and then land. Good job. Second side. I'll bring the left leg forward. Here we go.

Twisting. Use the little help of the hand, bring the right elbow across a couple times, working as much as you can, armpit toward knee. Right hand down, left hand down. Curl under the back toes, shorten the distance of your stance. Walk the hands out a little bit away from the leg, bend your elbows, and see what you can do to stack the body on the arms.

We're hovering that left foot. If you're ready for more, bring the right leg on, lifting the feet a little, a nice deep twist. And then land, release, back to our kneeling position. Let's take the arms up for some space. Nice big breath in, holding here, open the abdomen.

Arms down, interlace the fingers, arms up, pressing the legs down, helping to lift the abdomen. And then change the interlock of the fingers. Sometimes this is the hardest part of class, finger change, and arms up. And then release. Coming into a sitting position, legs wide.

If you know that when you sit here that your posture is like this, it's very difficult to sit upright, a folded blanket or block is very helpful for this pose. Wide legs, sit tall. We'll bring the right hand to the middle and turn toward the left foot. Then stretch long towards the left foot. Right hand attempting to grab either shin, ankle, or foot.

And again, that nice turn that we've been working on in the back bending, recovery poses, turn of the abdomen. Take some time here. You know, even if your pose is to here, that's great. Just working here today. You can go further, you go further.

Coming up, we'll do the other side. Left hand to the middle, start your turn, and working down the right side. Left hand reaches out for the calf, the ankle, the foot. Right hand helping us to turn. And then release, come up, lean back a little, grab the inner knees, draw the legs in.

We're going to turn to come down onto our back and we'll need one block. Lie down. Then we'll take the block underneath the hips like we've done before, supported bridge pose on its medium height. Not quite. There we go.

So that you feel the sacrum is flat. That way the abdomen has lots of space, then gently tucking under the shoulders to support open the chest. So you want to feel that, you've got a nice long, soft, ungripped abdomen here. Let's just take some time in this pose. If you'd like to close your eyes, please do.

Let each exhale soften the abdomen a little bit more. And with a recovery pose like this, using the supports like blocks or blankets or however we're doing the pose, the idea is that the pose is so supportive that the mind cannot help but to be drawn in, away from its own thinking noise, becomes absorbed into that space and supportedness. After a practice like today, very strong, powerful, twisting practice, building all that heat, we need to cool down, we need to calm that inner fire down, a light little inversion helps to cool everything down. If you'd like to stay up on the block a little bit longer or if you'd like to enter into Shavasana for really sweet closing, you can do that. If you're ready to come out, take the block out from underneath your hips and set it off to the side, rest your bottom on your mat for just a few seconds and turn off to your right side.

Nice and easy. Pause there for a few breaths and then use your hands to press up to sitting. Again, I'm going to sit up on my shins to help give me a nice long, tall spine. Day 17, powerful twistings, nice work today, I highly recommend coming back to these types of poses again and again to really feel that depth of space in the abdomen, this is also kind of our emotional center, so opening that area can be helpful to calm down sometimes our tumultuous emotions. Thank you for being here.

I look forward to seeing you in our final power practice, namaste.