Focused and Inspired

I want to welcome you whether it's live or pre-recorded wherever you are in the world June 16th today so summertime beautiful weather most likely and this practice is we're gonna end up starting starting standing but I just want to kind of remind you what I think is important what's important is the long game like create a sustainable long-term practice that you can keep showing up for you know and there's discipline involved and it's about being consistent it's not about hacking your way to you know great abs this is about doing that work on a daily basis or every other day and so consistency think about that consistency and prioritizing your health okay so you can take that throughout the practice if you'd like you've made it a priority today so it's already a huge win so without further ado let's come to the front of the mat and we'll get we'll get started here we'll get rooted grounded centered right here right now and just breathe and move and feel grateful to have what you have be who you are and know that this yoga practice is really about investigating that constant excavation and investigation of who am I what do I care about how can I grow how can I thrive how can I find more happiness peace strength all right so focus on your breath focus on your body try to set aside unnecessary thoughts clear the mind as much as you can so you create an environment where it's like oh who knows who knows what can happen ground your feet spread your toes the more you lift your toes here the more you feel your low legs start to kind of fire up and engage okay so this is an example of when I say press your feet into thin air or press your feet into the ground it's to stabilize and root through the legs okay pull up through the quads knees might lift get those quads engaged and then make a deliberate effort to get the pelvis into a neutral position so the pubic bone lifts up tailbone draws down glutes engage core engages roll the shoulders up and back drop the head back a little bitch and down good strong present committed posture mountain pose take three breaths here but with the breath we'll take the arms overhead breathe in reach up take a big big big big breath in and breath out hands to chest hands to your heart inhale bring the arms up overhead so just start kind of vibing with the breath in the movement exhale the hands to heart breathe in reach up take a big stretch in in and up and exhale the hands to the heart put a soft bend in the knees and take a little forward fold so fold down slide the hands up the shins toward the knees take the heels of your palms into your hip creases bend your knees a little bit more and push your hips back this is one of my favorite adjustments for this half lift so you're half lifted and by pushing the hips back and reaching out through the crown of your head you're giving your spine a good chance and your low back to feel good in the forward fold so keep the knees bent push the hips back and exhale you can even reach like you're reaching forward and down and really looking to get those hamstrings opened up and use an exhale to toward that space let's do that again but just bring the hands to the shins pull the shoulders back chest up and alive exhale forward and down keep those feet really grounded okay inhale half lift one more time push the hips back lengthen the spine and a big kind of clearing breath out forward fold inhale rise up that knees strong all the way up straighten the body get super tall reach reach reach and exhale the hands back to the heart just warming up here breathe in reach up and back breathe out forward and down unlock the knees push the hips back forward forward forward and down good inhale to the half lift let's get those forward fold rotations so straighten the front the right leg bend your left lock that left arm inside your left leg take your right hand as encouragement to lift the chest okay that's gonna lengthen the spine pull in through the abs and rotate as you exhale to the right reach your right arm nice and high send some breath to this shape you've created in your body all right now bring the right hand down to wedge into that bent right leg straighten out the left leg left hand lifts the chest a little reminder and then rotate and open and stretch and feel it make a difference immediately nice bring the left hand down both arms down a little ragdoll so hold on to opposite elbows and stretch one leg out at a time so when I say stretch one leg bend the opposite you can send say like if you're straightening your right leg bend your left and drop your hips over to the left and then bend the right straighten the left and drop your hips over to the right nice back to center and then power down to rise up I like to bring the arms straight out and up like a big steeple position reach up reach up reach up and a releasing exhale back to the chest already I feel different I feel better breathe in reach up and back breathe out forward and down taking no nothing for granted every breath matters inhale half-lift let's exhale the right foot back bring your right knee down take your hands up onto your left thigh for a moment and push up and then take those arms up overhead so you get into a little low lunge and you can kind of like when the left foot is forward it's great to reach the right arm up and to take a side bend over to the left so you get a big side bend in that right side that'll like open up and maybe release or stretch that so as a bit or your hip flexors and then bring the hands back down push the hips back and look to straighten out your left leg to a degree that feels like okay I'm getting a nice little stretch there that feels good but don't hang there move back into the lunge and it's almost just like you're kind of like oiling and lubing up the joints right the muscles so it's the little movement in and out and do this once back into the lunge curl the back toes and step your right foot through forward fold inhale half-lift and left leg back knee comes down and rise up for low lunge open up you can take your right hand on your right thigh take your left arm reach it up and get that side bend so all these movements in the beginning are just sort of like these little like knocking on the door like hey what's up we're gonna start some movement here we're just preparing you we're warning you right getting you prepared bring the hands back down so we don't force our way into a body that's just not ready push the hips back straighten out your right leg a bit okay feel that sensation through the right leg and then maybe drop back into the lunge as you inhale you might lift the chest and exhale you could round the back a little bit like cat pose as you're straightening out your right leg then you come back into the lunge good job exhale push back half split is what they call it okay nicely done come back into the lunge curl the back toes if they're not lift the left knee and step the right foot through forward fold exhale nice all the way up breathe in reach up big tall mountain steeple pose and exhale hands come back to the heart it's like coming back home every single time to your intention to your breath to your body breathe in reach up and back and breathe out forward and down unlock the knees push the hips back and fold half lift inhale exhale walk back into downward dog okay so one of my favorite little cues that might be helpful for you for downward dog especially in a vinyasa style environment is to come into plank pose you stack your shoulders and elbows over your wrists somewhere around there you may have some wrist issues that prevent that so maybe don't bring them as far forward now here put it unlock the knees push your hips back towards your heels push the chest toward your thighs without really moving your hands and feet too much send your tailbone high and then press one heel say your right heel down while you bend your left and then your left heel good and go back and forth so this class is labeled as level two you may you know that's hard thing to really label so it's a very general kind of you know general guidelines so I'm gonna sue assume some things you know and feel good about like right now coming into plank and lowering down I want you to make that call but for now I'm always going to lower down chaturanga halfway down exhale arms brush that side body elbows stack over the wrist and then inhale upward dog really pull the shoulders back lift the chest open up and from your core in fact let's try this you may or may not have ever done it but don't change your feet the tops of your feet are gonna plow down into the mat lift your hips into a plank but you're not curling your toes push the earth away through the arms through the hands so you're not curling your toes the tops of your feet are still there and this really forces you to use your thighs and your core muscles your belly abdominals lower back down open up for upward dog and exhale squeeze those abdominals and thigh muscles boom and then curl your toes under you're welcome now I think whatever you can do to find those abdominal muscles walk forward front of the mat half-lift inhale exhale fold rise up breathe in arms reach up reach up reach up and hands back down to home base breathe in reach up and back and breathe out again forward fold breathe into your half-lift breathe out walk back into plank lower yourself down in an intelligent way for you giving your body inhale upward dog shoulders back chest proud and again squeeze those abdominals and thigh muscles lift up up up up up up and then curl the toes downward dog good work bring the knees down okay we're gonna do this little push-up child's pose combo so push back into child's pose and what I want you to do it's one inhale you can watch me for the first round if you'd lot like or follow me you're gonna inhale reach the arms forward draw your body forward lower down halfway quarter way up to you and then push up back into child's pose you get that immediate rest so it's a little way to kind of like warm up the arms and shoulders inhale through lower down and exhale push back breathe in breathe out push back I like to move it a little bit faster even feels like a little bit of like energizing movement so you breathe in breathe out breathe in push up and back breathe out good keep going ten times so I'm gonna say we've done five inhale lower and six child's pose inhale lower push up and back seven inhale lower exhale eight inhale lower exhale nine inhale lower exhale ten yes cat cow for this cat cow just to kind of honor the wrists turn your fingers palms facing down back toward your thighs see how that feels if you don't like it change the hands back no problem Oh inhale just through cow pose arch the back exhale cat pose push the ground away feel that big stretch up through the forearms and biceps inhale and exhale breathe in last one breathe out cat pose pull those abs up and in up and in up and in back to center switch the hand position back to downward dog good no little more core work here and it's the same concept as the push-up thing we're not gonna hang out and plank and do these knee taps you get the rest in downward dog so it begins like so breathe in move into plank and draw your right knee to your right elbow step back downward dog left knee exhale doing ten on each side exhale to downward dog exhale three or two downward dog good three so I'm just gonna call out the numbers three exhale four exhale four good exhale five this will build a little heat exhale five you can do this from your knees if that's better for you six six bring those knees nice and high seven seven get the blood flowing eight nice energy up eight nine nine ten and ten push back to downward dog take a deep breath in exhale everything out lift your right leg high as you inhale step it through to the front of the mat as you exhale all right feet hips square or feet are hip width hips are square rise up high crescent lunge nice now this is high crescent lunge with cactus arms the purpose of cactus arms for me is if you go to the gym right and there's that kind of reverse fly to get your back muscles engaged that's what we're looking for draw your elbows back chest forward and get those back muscles nice and lit up keep your breath going okay now this is going to be rocket lunge so take the arms up overhead stay strong in your legs and committed in your core body forward 45 degrees so you're forced now to hold tight through the abdominals as well as your right leg push your left heel back a lot see if you can get some super strong and straight action going in that left leg and of course breathe and smile and enjoy the experience be so focused on the task at hand there's no space for negative thoughts okay now hands back to the chest straighten out the right leg shorten your stance just a tiny bit standing split okay so you're going to exhale reach the hands forward and down toward the floor and lift your left leg up now you might even push the ground away with the hands to lift the left leg and draw the forehead toward the knee sometimes you can bend the right leg a little bit even bend the left like you're doing a knee to elbow and then if you push through the right hand and open the hip a little bit and send that left leg high it opens up a little bit right bend the left spend the right like crouching tighter and then lift up and open the hip like you're almost exploring half moon test those muscles in those legs right they need to go to that threshold of uncomfortable lift that left leg up one more time and step the left foot down whoo right leg but T half-lift breathe in rinse it out forward full nicely done walk back into plank pause take a breath in as you breathe out lower yourself down one unit all the way down one piece of board right strong plank inhale upward and exhale downward dog take your left leg lifted up breathe in step it through as you breathe out inhale high lunge cactus arms again right so bent arms arms pulled back chest proud really strong upper back so we want to create this like scapular stability a feeling in our upper back muscles mid back muscles that help with standing upright and keeping good posture I'll reach the arms up lean the body forward as you lean the body forward get strong and long in that right leg push through the right heel and push through the left heel to get these muscles in the left leg and butt fired up it's all you that's what's crazy about this practice there's very few props and if you want to quit you just quit right but I'm here to support you so I encourage you to stay with every uncomfortable moment as long as it's safe hands back to the heart lean your body up a little bit shorten your stance just a little bit standing split so lean forward hands to the mat or blocks lift your right leg up and start to stretch independently this left leg you can draw your forehead in the direction of your left knee you can also bend that left leg bend the right and then shoot that leg up and open the hip a little bit like you're giving like this like hyah sidekick to the sky or to the side wall whatever is available try it again open up it's important to create balance strength and mobility on each side nice right foot down inhale half-lift and flush it out again rinse it out gone done inhale reach up and exhale hands back to your heart reach up breathe in breathe out forward and down breathe in half-lift breathe out plank pose pause let's take our heels to the right stack up on that right wrist or right hand unfortunately it is the wrist right and sometimes it's just like ouch so come to your right forearm if your right wrist is feeling funky today lift your hips side plank look up if you'd like look to the side you can take your left arm and reach it up and overhead get a side bend very nice other side left hand down plank fortify your mind with peace and strength and willingness that's it right nothing else enters unless it's in that tribe of good feels right lift the hips reach the right arm up alongside your ear test those low left obliques amongst other muscles bring the right hand back down find plank inhale exhale chataranga inhale upward facing dog and exhale downward facing dog good work okay so take your left leg bring it left center a bit lift your right leg up and begin to bend your right leg so you're gonna open up the hip a bit draw that left heel toward the floor so your left leg is strong stay here or lift up on your right fingertips this will give you a little more space to kind of play around in that hip and maybe even flirt with flipping the dog pose over so you take that right leg bring it back behind you keep it bent shoot your left leg out check in with your left arm it should be a healthy side plank kind of left arm and lift your hips high and reach your right arm up and back behind open the chest got a little back bend quality to it push through the right heel lower the hips slide your left foot to the left side of the mat come back into three legged dog another little treat for you here come into plank and draw the right knee in the direction of your left elbow spin your left heel down lean to your right arm shoot your right leg out so it's kind of the opposite now left leg is bent right leg is strong and long and you lift nice I think this is fallen angel the other one was flip your dog somewhere in there is a rock star I don't know I can't keep up it's just movement it's just putting your body in a position breathing letting everything else go if you can lower the hips okay not too far though lift the right leg if you can boom bring the right knee into the body swivel up right leg high inhale and boom bring the right foot to the floor take a clearing breath because that can be a lot of work we just did shake out the wrist so you enter high lunge feeling refreshed and ready high lunge cactus arms again so if you follow any of the videos I do I am always focusing on stability strength accessibility right nothing to bendy but enough enough essential flexibility okay so always know that that's what you're gonna get a little core work a little bit of strength feels good bring the arms overhead bring the arms into that rocket lunge again our arms and body right hand to your right thigh breathe in try to hug those belly muscles up and in and hook the right elbow across your right thigh okay now press your palms together this is a pretty deep lunge and spinal twist so if you need to bring your left knee down for a little support away you know check in with your breath the breath will tell you right the breath will tell you I mean it okay get one more good quality breath here breathe into the belly the ribs chest and when you come out what I want you to do is come back up even that right leg is working hard reach up reach up and hands back to the chest straighten out the front leg and drop that left heel down huh boom just like that so here we are triangle pose that's the next phase put a little bend in your right leg squeeze the quads of both feet ground through the feet reach long through the right arm which will then in turn stretch the right side of your body out pull in through the abs fingertips of the right hand to the right shin the ankle or the floor then that left arm flies high and you open the hips you open the groin up a little bit keeping tension with the left fingertips right so like open up that hand so it's not just sort of like okay when are we gonna like in this man it's like boom I'm in this I'm not sure when we're gonna end but I'm here and I'm breathing present okay now it's a reverse triangle put a little more of a bend in your right leg left hand slides down the left leg and you reach the right arm nice and high reach up stretch up and back now always got to move back just a bit half moon everyone's favorite my favorite yours too so as you're coming back into like what might be a triangle find your gazing point set it left hand on the hip launch off that left leg and then here you are half moon or half moon fingertips hovering or half moon fingertips touching the floor and you kick through that left foot so that left leg is fired up okay left arm can go high you switch your gaze we're doing it together wherever you are right now I'm right there with you we're buds we're pals practicing yoga together okay you're inspiring me just as much as I hope I am inspiring you okay so here's the thing your hips are open here right bring the left hand down square off your hips and step your left foot way back bring your left knee to the floor low lunge for a little relief breathe in take the arms back cactus arms if that works for you or a little clasping action behind your low back maybe drawing your hands down your back leg bring your hands to the floor now you're gonna walk your right foot over to the left this will be possibly a moment of rest and recover okay flex through the right foot push through the big toe mound whatever it takes to get these right knee muscles engaged protect the knee I mean slide the left foot back feel the sensation pigeon offers you you can stay right here because you're like no more or you can just completely give into it if you're that person right you just lay flat out as you adore this pose if it's a struggle for you stay up tall here breathe as long as your knee is protected you're good to go if you are right now and you're comfortable stay there but I just want to offer up if you don't know and you're not familiar with it and you're sitting here struggling wondering when it's gonna end plop over to your right hip bend your left knee up towards your right heel right now you're a little less like less intense and now you can walk forward and maybe even get a little more value benefit by walking forward and folding over your inner right thigh this is I know it is the yin yoga version a pose you can probably hold for several minutes whichever one you're in start to come back out all right now we exit curl the back toes lift the left knee plant the palms like you're in a plank pose and lift the right leg up shoot back into plank now I have a little gift for you all right we're gonna go to three up to three and back down to zero so one push-up knees whatever you'd like or just hold plank the whole time one push-up forearm plank for a few seconds you hold here and grip through the core again fortify the mind I got this all day that's you speaking in your mind mantra I don't have it all day okay back up onto your hands two push-ups lower inhale exhale push one exhale push two back down to the forearms full commitment here bring your knees to the mat if that assists but not as your first give them I'm done right nope only when you absolutely need it okay back up under your hands three push-ups breathe in exhale push-up exhale push-up forearm plank good job hold bounce a little I find like bouncing in it distracts me a little bit okay back up to push-ups lower one press up one lower to press up to good job so you've been in your core the whole time super valuable here promise you promise you stay with it last one best one yet lower press downward dog good job beautiful now come into plank we'll do the opposing muscles lower yourself down point your toes back slide the hands back alongside your rib cage keep your head neutral with your spine lift your palms only when you do this you feel that upper back area I've been talking about ignite okay stay here and just pull the elbows up and back you're gonna feel some muscles back there say thank you if you want a little more lift the head lift the shoulders or chest I'm sorry so it's a no-hand cobra pose which I find super valuable reach the arms back palms facing down thumbs flare up and open the chest keep reaching reaching reaching back through it towards your heels and take a momentary rest rest your hands on top of one another and your forehead straight down onto those hands take a couple breaths through your heart beating pulsing you're alive and you're super present in this experience of being alive and you're investing in yourself reach the arms forward one more little exercise here lift the arms lift the chest reach back like you're trying to touch your fingers so if that's one right oh inhale sweep forward exhale number two of ten inhale reach forward exhale inhale watch your low back you don't really even have to lift up that's four to make this effective you can stay low and just be really intentional with the arm movement into the shoulders into the back muscles let's call this seven good job reach back exhale eight reach forward inhale exhale nine exhale ten hands in cobra lift the chest up a little bit drop the hips from left to right a little back body core right now push all the way back to a child's pose just so we can kind of adjust the low back so you push the hips back toward the heels stretch out that lumbar portion of your back low back so we've got the left side to do all right we've got those fun poses to start the flow and the standing poses balance so prepare yourself for that let's get after it okay you and I and the rest of the group practicing right now remember we're part of a little bit of a squad here a team a community so you are part of something even though you may be alone at your house that's what's amazing about these pre-recorded and live experiences left leg lifts bend your left leg you can stay here and just circulate a little love and blood flow and energy around that left hip and push the right heel toward the floor so you get that big stretch in the right leg come up onto your left fingertips breathe up into the left side of the body keep pushing back so you're in a downward dog but it's a downward dog with the leg lifted now you're gonna mindfully right step the left foot back behind shoot the right leg out straight and then lift your hips remember that right arm right look at your right arm right now it's plumb up and down give or take left arm reaches up and back and you're like yay flip the dog rock star you can lift your left heel that might bring a little more life into it and then lower slide the right foot back to the right side of the mat so it's in the right placement swivel up left leg up hip square plank pose left knee toward the right elbow shoot the right heel down shoot your left leg out I'm gonna modify just a bit because my wall and then right leg is bent push to the right heel and lift up for this fallen angel I think that's what it's called little circles through the right shoulder maybe you can lift that right heel and push up through the hips a little bit more good job lower try to lift the left leg up use your core to pull the left knee into the body and then swivel it back up inhale and exhale step it through okay exhale exhale exhale exhale reset stretch the wrist and then brand-new opportunity cactus arms then you're gonna take those arms high take it through rocket lunge that means your body comes forward 45 degrees now the benefit of this you may be feeling it is you can straighten out your right leg without low back problem and you can really stretch long through the spine so that maybe you can exhale pull that belly up and in and hook your right elbow across your left thigh wiggle around in there find it press the palms together and safely rotate and open a nice little glistening going on here it's like mild warm ish hot ish yoga here loving it okay I'll come back out high lunge like it's the first one ever use all those muscles in the legs rise rise rise spin the back heel down shorten your stance just a tiny bit straighten the left leg lock it but then unlock it just a bit reach the left hand forward stretch the side body begin to feel those friendly hamstrings left fingertips to the left shin or ankle and then this nice intentional right arm into the wrist into the fingers stretching up and opening try to find the fluidity of the breath the fluidity of the breath and sometimes it's gonna seem like I'm a little bit off with it it's really because I'm multitasking so ideally it's even breath in even breath out keep plowing through the feet to stabilize through the legs makes it a safer experience then the left knee just a little bit reverse triangle so use your core to hinge up and back and open and open and open and start to get a bigger preparation for half moon I like to step back right hand on the right hip look forward out in front of your left foot and find that gazing spot this could be it right here you can bend your left leg a lot bend your right leg and you're just kind of holding right here or it can kind of get a little more expansive long in the limbs and you can bring there's a wall I got the wall left fingertips toward the floor what I love about balancing poses is it does require 100% of your attention so give it all you got loosen up the tension and stress right arm might lift if you haven't already okay now you're gonna step the right foot back square off your hips and bring your right knee to the mat good low crescent lunge so send those hips forward as much as your low back allows and this is a little recovery moment here arms can reach up cactus interlace your call your body gave you a couple options there you choose for a few breaths okay you've got pigeon coming up hey John bring your hands to the floor maybe get one more little hip stretch there okay now heel toe your left foot across to the right side of the mat bring your left knee safely down to the mat so push like really flex through that left foot like you're trying to reach your left toes back towards your shin okay slide the right foot back if you know this position isn't working plop down to your left hip bend your right knee toward your left heel and fall forward lazy pigeon but very effective okay you choose take three to five breaths depending on the rate of your breath one breath in and out equals one moment in time in my mind expand the moments breathe a little more full hold the breath from time to time I like to think of it as I'm really capturing this moment holding on to it for a few moments and just like anything else you've got to just let it go can't hold on okay this transition is going to be a little bit different my good friends or prop the heat the left hip to the left and sweep the right foot around and we come into this bent leg kind of upright position okay so we've done these before if you practice with me both arms out in front of you what I want you to do is reach the left hand as far back behind you as you can and then reach the right arm straight forward and then way over like you're trying to actually reach for that left hand so you get a good twist the upper back and then the same thing on the other side and then one more time to the left and one more time to the right back to center okay propping up on your sitting bones lean back and pull those knees in tight to the body creating a v-shape with your knees your thighs and your upper body okay you can hold your legs at any point you can also tap your heels down at any point okay so we'll hold boat pose here I like to keep them bent it just feels nice straightening good also secure tight through the core and try to I have a tendency to let my left quad muscle flare out it rotates outward so the work is to internally rotate those thighs and keep those legs nice and strong now bring your hands down to the mat bend your legs and pull the knees in with an exhale inhale extend out lean back a little bit and then exhale ten I think they call these like v-sits v-sits nine eight keep the legs engaged feet engaged seven six got to get a little core work in five four three two one boat pose so check it out you can stay here I'm not sure exactly where you are with this right so give you options stay here feet grounded feet lifted you can go back to the rotations if you'd like or stay in boat or join us join me in lowering down and took a new okay canoe nice and strong your low back is grounded it's your upper back you're lifting cores engaged only five but nice and slow come back into boat five send out canoe for a little balancing act two three nice and two and one lower down hug your right leg and extend your left leg all the way out for time purposes you know I would do more rounds of the core because it just it's kind of nice and when you're you can switch to the left leg so hug the left leg and extend your right leg out and but with this one-hour session I'm trying to give it a full body experience okay so if anything really spoke to you once you're done or even during you know you can do more of it okay both legs in hands underneath your seat for leg lifts if you'd rather do single scissors do this inhale right down exhale inhale left and scissor like so okay or double legs straight or double leg bent tap the heels and lift back up good ten times you choose exhale one exhale too I like to lift the upper back off push through the elbows and really get tight through the core let's go three four you're gonna feel this in your hip flexors and thighs no doubt six seven eight nine ten drop both legs in tight to the body and then what we're gonna do is you're gonna rock right back up to sit you're gonna send your right leg straight out in front of you take the left foot inner right thigh okay we won't spend as much time as I normally would here but enough time I'll say forward bend over your right leg okay nice start to become familiar and engage with the hammies the hemstrings okay you can stay here or come up take a little angle on that right leg keep the left foot inner right thigh reach and take hold of that big toe if you can or the ankle somewhere around there turn the left shoulder and chest open reach the left arm high and side bend that might be one inch that you go side bend you feel it there in the low back yes that feels nice what I like to do is I like to cheat it just a little bit I'm not the bendiest of guys out there so what I like to do is I actually like to start to reach and then tip the left shoulder down a bit then I might be able to get the full hold and I'm getting the full hold meaning I'm getting a big giant stretch up the left side and some days it's more available than others for me just as I'm sure it is for you now the counter pose is reaching up and back left hand comes back behind you you're gonna want to ground your right foot and come up onto your left knee which is gonna slide below your hip now push the hips up and away from you in the right arm back this is like a knee version of like flip dog or fallen angel shoot the left leg out right foot inner left thigh propped up tall on your sitting bones approach the forward fold with nothing but where I land I land it's all good forward fold exhale you know forward folds you know growing up in high school you did like the sit and reach thing and as a guy it was always just like you almost made fun of it because you knew you're only gonna be able to barely touch your knees you know you weren't taught great form and you just had tight hamstrings because you were growing I guess and you just never really stretched so the sit and reach for a long time was like a negative thing like I can't touch my toes can't do this pose and I know a lot of people out there still think that so don't worry about touching your toes it doesn't matter come back up left foot open body opens to the right left hand reaches to the left foot take that right arm nice and high good and you get the little side bend go to the place with the side bend I'm not going to actually cheat it this time I'm just gonna reach up take a little side bend and maybe even take the back of my hand my right hand to the back of my head and lead the stretch on the right side with the elbow good job reach back behind you spin the left foot fully down up onto your right knee push the hips like thrust the hips forward and reach the left arm up and back okay lower the hips I'm gonna spin toward you you still have some time together so let's make the best of it so spinal twist can look like this right a seated cross-legged spinal twist just make sure you're sitting up up on your sitting bones or even on the edge of a blanket okay so lifts you and you can take I'm gonna offer two options here we're gonna go to the right left hand to your right thigh right hand back behind you okay so there that's very accessible if you want to grow it lean back a little bit slide your left foot toward underneath your right hamstring and hip draw your right knee in and step it step the right foot across your left thigh okay so you're kind of like sitting like so then you pull the leg in you're gonna feel a little pigeon stretch up to the right side most likely then take the right arm up twist back behind you you can just hold like this or you can take the left arm up now and hook the left elbow across the right thigh and use that left elbow as a little leverage to deepen twist no matter what though you're always upright neutral and healthy and that's fine okay come back out you can do a little dive to the left always feels kind of nice and then if you want the first one go with the first one second one you're gonna lean back and simply switch the leg position you might find one side more accessible than the other pull the left knee in get that little pigeon stretch right and the left arm back behind you right elbow across the left thigh and leverage strengthen your way safely into a twist relax your shoulders make sure both sit bones are plugged down good and you can come back out take that little counter twist to the right it's almost like you're praying or devoting yourself to yourself of course why not come back up lean back just two three breaths bottoms of the feet together and exhale fold forward for a little bada konasana or bound angle as we call it exhale back in you can stay there if you'd like feels kind of nice I'm not gonna lie down on my back for this relaxation I'm gonna stay seated upright you can join me and stay seated if you'd like like a meditation kind of a feel or you can lie down on your back and go flat out and I'll talk you through some relaxation for about two minutes or so so if you're lying down on your back or seated take a nice deep breath with me breathe in fully exhale everything out one more time breathe in and breathe out if you ever want to relax slow your heart rate minimize stress exhale for an extended period of time several rounds and you'll notice an immediate effect let the breath flow evenly relaxed just kind of like water in and out around your body you made this priority today I want to acknowledge it even more important acknowledge it yourself we have a habit all of us from saying I didn't have time I'm sorry I didn't have time to call you I'm sorry I didn't have time to go do this I'm sorry to myself I didn't have time to go work out or eat the right food what you're really saying is that I'm sorry you weren't it wasn't a priority for me to call you it wasn't a priority rather than I was too busy checking with that next time you decide to and again we all say it it's a nice habit I think I was just too busy and it wasn't my priority don't let your yoga practice or your health don't let yourself be too busy for that make it a priority as you've done today that's my tough love feel free to relax like you're in your own space I have no idea where you are that's the fun to imagine you know where everyone's practicing but you'd like to lie down just lie down and enjoy and just sort of bask in the work you've done if you're seated with me make awkward eye contact for a few moments so I'm gonna bring my hands to my heart that place of commitment for myself always checking in here best quality is right here within myself so I want to thank you so much for practicing with me today and any other day you do namaste peace may the force to be with you enjoy this day this life everything namaste namaste namaste