Day 10: Grace

Friends, you've done it. You've done it. We are on day 10 of this 10-day journey we've been traversing together. Thank you so much for joining me then and now. Welcome to the final day.

Today's theme is grace, grace. What is grace? Well, it's a way that you can sort of carry yourself. Through the world, elegantly, simply, in a refined way, but it's also something that you can open to. It's a quality kind of receptivity to the support that exists all around.

So, today's sequence will tap into this quality of grace. You can choose to be graceful in your movement. You can choose to receive something as you're moving. The movements, the shapes you're going to do are pretty expansive, so it's your choice. You've explored nine qualities.

You've kind of, you know, dug into your wholeness and all the contours of your humanity. So now you dig back into your bag and you take what you need, what feels good for you right now. And, in fact, please rest your hands on your body, close your eyes for a moment. What are you on the verge of right now in this moment? My dear friend, use your breath to ask and also to receive the answer to that question.

What are you on the verge of now? And how can you move and breathe to support whatever that journey for yourself is? So, full breath in and long breath out. After that next exhale, you can release the things, all of them, release your hands, open your eyes. For today's practice, you will need a block and anything you like for shavasana.

And then we're going to begin standing, actually, in tadasana, mountain pose. So please come to the top of your mat, make your way there, find that sure-footedness that we established on day one, pause there, stand strong and clear and true, turn your palms slightly forward. Start to inhale, sweep your arms around and up right away. Start to exhale, hinge forward, bowing to your breath, inhale, lifting your chest, unfurling your spine to receive that breath in, exhale, bowing to that breath, inhale, receiving that breath in, sweep the arms around and up, look up and touch your palms, exhale, descend the hands with that descending breath, inhale, sweep your arms around and up. So just a standing sun breath, exhale, bowing to the breath, responding to the breath, inhale, lifting up so you can receive that breath in and expand, exhale, forward fold, inhale, sweep the arms around and up, exhale, palms to the center of your chest, let's add on a little bit here, inhale, sweep the arms around and up, exhale, soften the knees, long spine as you hinge forward, inhale to prepare pose, exhale, plant your palms, bend your knees, step yourself back to plank pose, peel your toes all the way back, find levity and clarity and fire and groundedness and whatever else you like that might serve you here, take a full breath in, use the power of your exhale, the fire of your exhale to lower yourself down, start to inhale, come up to baby cobra, bhujangasana, exhale, lower yourself down, press up through tabletop and all the way back to down dog, look up between your hands, soften your knees and either step or float or walk yourself forward, once you're there, inhale, lift the chest, arda uttanasana, exhale, forward fold, inhale, sweep your arms around and up, look up, touch your palms, exhale, descend the hands, again adding on, inhale, sweep the arms around and up, exhale, soften the knees and hinge forward, inhale to prepare pose, lift your chest, exhale, plant the palms, bend the knees, step back, plank pose, breathe in, this time as you exhale, lower either all the way or halfway down, pause at the bottom of that exhale, the inhale will come, you'll respond with either baby cobra or upward facing dog, exhale, downward facing dog, pause here and down dog, soften your knees, press the hands down and forward, you can pedal through the feet, anything that helps you arrive in the shape, right, always wanting to stay supple and stay curious and stay open and present and then start to inhale, lift your left leg up, exhale, draw your knee forward and step that left foot forward, lower your back knee to the floor and come up to anjanasana but this time shift your pelvis back so that knee is bent to 90 degrees so we're fairly upright rather than pelvis forward, send it slightly back to start so you may have to walk that front foot back and then release your arms, find a little scoop of your tailbone, bring your hands to your front knee and feel that right quad releasing a little bit, feel that hip flexor releasing a little bit or maybe a lot bit, scoop it forward, soften your shoulders, release your arms, shift your pelvis slightly forward, now finding a little upper back bend in anjanasana, interlace your hands behind your head, let your head rest in your hands, widen your elbows, so we're trying to lengthen the neck as we lift the chest and open to breath, every breath in, feel the chest rising, expand the chest, with your exhale feel your lower belly firm, find that scoop of the tailbone, as you next inhale sweep your arms up, keep the hands interlaced, reach up through that index finger, some folks call these steeple hands, so find your steeple hands, reach to the index finger with your next inhale, lift your chest up even more, as you exhale sweep your hands behind the back, interlace the hands, inhale to straighten the elbows and lift the chest, exhale to shift your hips back, send your heart forward, little hamstring stretch, inhale, rebound the knee, lift the chest up, great exhale, shift your hips back, inhale lifting up, once more exhale shifting the hips back, looking forward keeping your spine long, inhale come back up, sweep the arms around and up, don't snap the hands apart, release them gracefully, float your hands down to the inside of your left foot, which you may scoot over to the left a little bit, tuck your back toes under, although they're probably already tucked, lift your back knee up and pause here, press down through the palms, hug that left knee in towards the midline of your body, lengthen through the crown of your head, breathe in here, as you exhale you're going to step back to down dog and straight away come to the outer edge of your right foot, stack your feet if you like, if you want to modify you can stagger the feet or step the left foot in front of you as you open to Vasisthasana side plank, lift your hips up, sweep your left arm alongside your ear and maybe you lift that top leg up, finding a little bit of balance, quality that you also cultivated that's also in you, access it now, breathe in, as you exhale float your hand to the floor, return to plank pose, lift your hips up and back to downward facing dog and pause, inhale lift your right leg up, exhale draw that knee forward, step the foot forward, lower your back knee to the floor, keep those back toes tucked under and come up to this lunge, shift your pelvis slightly back so 90 degrees here, hands to your front knee, scoop your tailbone forward, it's not a big movement but it does create some nice big sensation, perhaps I won't project in your left hip flexor, your left quad, so feel that, explore that, get curious about that, interesting maybe you find a little pulsing and then go ahead and send the hips forward so you can descend the pelvis a little bit, release your arms, inhale sweep your arms around and up and pause there, let the center of the chest open, you can soften your elbows if that helps you access a little more broadness in the chest, interlace your hands behind the head, let your head rest into the hands, use the heels of the hands to hug the sides of your skull to lengthen your neck, inhale to lift your chest up a little bit more, great exhale draw your low belly in, reach your index fingers up towards the ceiling and as you breathe in maybe a little bit more lift to the chest, little upper back bend, let the thoracic spine coil into your chest, let the inhalation help you access more opening of the chest, take another breath in there, as you exhale you sweep the hands back behind you, interlace them, inhale to extend the elbows, lift the chest, exhale to straighten the front leg as you hinge forward with a long spine, inhale coming forward, lifting up, exhaling shifting back, do that again, inhale coming forward, lifting up, drawing the hands back, exhale shifting your hips, flexing the toes, inhale shift forward, draw the hands back, release the hands gracefully, inhale sweep the arms around and up, lift up and look up, exhale float your hands to the inside of your right foot, you can walk the right foot a little bit over to the right, plant your palms onto the floor, spread the knuckles of your fingers, lift the chest up, openness, expansiveness, another quality that you've cultivated, tuck your back toes under, lift your back knee up, hug your right thigh, your right knee in towards the midline of your body, pause there, take a breath in there, use your exhale to step back to down dog and pausing for a beat before coming to the outer edge of your left foot and stacking, staggering, your feet are stepping your right foot in front of your left hip and reaching the right arm up to the ceiling, inhale to sweep that arm alongside your ear and then maybe you hover the top leg off of the bottom, lifting the right leg up, take a nice full breath in there and as you exhale coming to plank pose, pausing in plank pose, some nice full breath in, get long from the heels through the crown of the head, can you inside of this pose that requires so much fire, can you find levity and clarity and ease, take a breath in and can you be curious as you lower yourself all the way down to the floor, start to breathe in, lift the center of your chest, the back of your skull, exhale lower yourself down and press back to child's pose, let's keep moving, start to breathe in, slide yourself forward to baby cobra, lift the center of the chest, the back of your skull so your neck stays long, exhale lower down and press back, twice more like that, inhale to wave yourself forward, finding fluidity and ease alongside a little groundedness and fire, and maybe marvelling at the reality, right, that practice, let's do that one more time, calls on you to use, you know, to fully express yourself, to fully express yourself, once you press back to child's pose, pause there for a moment, crawl the hands forward, let's keep the elbows lifted, breathe into the sides of the body as you do that, then soften the elbows, relax the head and the neck, rest the head on the floor for a moment, great, let's come forward to tabletop position, inhale, use your exhale to lift your hips up and back to downward facing dog, soften your knees, press the hands down and forward, nice full breath in and long breath out in your down dog and then please walk your hands and feet towards each other and while you're down there take a little 90 degree turn to the long edge of your mat, uttanasana, standing forward fold, relax your head and your neck, hook your big toes with your middle and index fingers, little yogi toe lock, your peace fingers, root down to the inner edges of your feet as you inhale, extend your elbows, lift your chest up with a long spine, look slightly forward as you exhale, pull up on your toes to hinge forward, let the elbows bow out to the sides if they're bending, let your knees be as soft as you need them to be to find, you know that anterior tilt of your pelvis so that the spine can pour beautifully out of the bowl of your pelvis and then please release your left hand, bring your left hand to your hip, you will slowly shift your weight into your left foot as you lift your right foot off of the floor, keeping that yogi toe lock on the right side, you will steady yourself, you'll find that quality of groundedness, you'll maintain it as you perhaps reach your heel forward, lift your chest, broaden your collarbones and maybe join me in opening the leg out to the side and extending the opposite arm, finding that quality of balance, take a breath in there, use your exhale to come to center, to re-bend the knee and to exit the same way we entered so you'll slowly float that foot to the floor and then release and let's switch sides, so hook the left toes, right hand to the right hip, slowly right away, we'll shift the weight into the right foot, start to come all the way up to standing, lifting that left knee up and steady, steady, steady, no rush, finding that quality of groundedness and balance, reaching your heel forward, maintaining that quality of groundedness and balance, extending the right arm out to the side as you now open the left leg out to the side and feeling your expansiveness, your balance, your clarity, a sense of ease and levity, brightness, take a breath in there as you exhale, bring that leg to center, hand to hip, re-bend the knee and we'll exit the same way we entered, you'll lower your foot to the floor, you'll release your arms, you'll shake yourself out a little bit, great hands see your hips reach your heart forward, come all the way up to standing, separate your feet so that their legs distance apart, interlace your hands behind your back, inhale draw the hands down, lift the chest up, exhale to hinge forward into prasarita c, so you let the crown of the head release to the floor, you let the fists, the hands descend towards the floor as you pull them away from the heart, take another breath cycle here, on your next inhale you'll lift your chest up halfway, you'll gracefully release your hands, you'll hook your big toes once more, yogi toe lock, as you inhale you'll extend the elbows, lift the chest up, as you exhale you'll pull up on the toes and hinge forward letting the elbows bow out to the sides, letting the crown of the head release to the center of your planet, take a couple of breaths here just like this, hugging the outer hips in, spilling the pelvis forward, it's isometric movement, so not a lot of movement that can be seen with the eye but it can be certainly felt in the body, as you next inhale lift your chest up, extend your spine, release your toes, bring your hands to your hips, soften your knees, come all the way up to standing with an extended spine, step your feet together, pause for a moment, little human movement and then come to stand at the top of your mat, pausing and just registering little moment of integration of all these various parts of yourself that are now expressing themselves in this practice of grace.

When your next inhale arises friend, please sit into utkatasana, sit low, extend your arms alongside your ears, start to exhale and hinge yourself forward, forward fold uttanasana, inhale to prepare pause, exhale plant the palms, bend the knees, step back to plank pose, take a nice full inhale in plank, maybe it's modified, maybe not, as you exhale lower either all the way or halfway down, start to inhale either baby cobra or upward facing dog or vamukasvanasana and then exhale downward facing dog, inhale to lift your right leg straight up and back, exhale step your right foot forward, lower your back heel, as you inhale warrior one, sweep the arms up, maybe the palms touch, exhale bring your hands to the floor, step back to plank pose, inhale as you exhale lower either all the way or halfway down, inhale to baby cobra or upward facing dog and then exhale to adho mukasvanasana, downward facing dog, as you inhale lift your left leg up, exhale step your left foot forward, lower your heel, inhale rise up, receive that breath in, exhale hands to the floor, inhale to plank pose and either vinyasa or go right to downward facing dog, it's up to you, once you are in dog pose you'll pause for a beat, look up between your hands, soften your knees and either step, float or walk forward, inhale arda uttanasana, exhale bow to that breath, inhale utkatasana, sitting low sweeping the arms around and up, exhale tadasana, again inhale utkatasana, exhale forward full, inhale to prepare pose, lift the center of your chest, exhale plant your palms, bend your knees, you can float or you can step back we'll meet in downward facing dog, traveling with your breath for your breath inside of your breath down dog and pause, taking a breath in downward facing dog and inhale will arise, I promise you and when it does please lift your right leg up, exhale step your right foot forward, lower your back heel, again virabhadrasana one coming all the way up, exhale float your hands to the floor, inhale to plank pose and pause there, exhale lower yourself either all the way or halfway down, inhale to either baby cobra bhujangasana or up dog, exhale down dog, inhale to reach the left leg straight up and back, exhale to step your left foot forward, you lower your back heel, inhale sweep the arms around and up riding that wave of breath, exhaling hands to the floor, inhaling to plank pose, exhaling this time everyone chaturanga dandasana you can modify by lowering the knees, as you inhale upward facing dog, lift the center of your chest, let's take an extra breath here soften your elbows, draw them back, inhale to lift your sternum up, exhale downward facing dog, pressing down through the palms long through the sides of your body, descend your heels, soften your knees as you do that and then keep the heels descending as you maybe extend through the knees some amount and then lower your knees to the floor, great, once the knees are to the floor please step your right foot forward, I have a surprise for you my friends, grab your block, here it is, so you're going to grab your block friends, we're going to do hanumanasana the splits, so you'll take your block, you'll place it underneath your pelvis so you just estimate, we're going to slide the foot forward to whatever degree works for you, if you have more blocks or a bolster and you want more support because you're not lowering your pelvis down so far please feel free to grab those things in your own home and then once your block is set up you will bring hands to the floor, I think that's best, tuck the back toes under and lengthen that back knee back, do that a couple of times and maybe you're here, you might like to shift your hips back to find one more hamstring stretch, shift your hips forward, flex your front foot and start to slide that heel forward, adjusting your block so that right side of your pelvis is well supported, in this variation I like us to keep the back toes tucked under just so we can keep the pelvis balance from left to right, hips square, so we'll take a few breaths here, softening that front knee if you like, if you want to extend to the knee perhaps you're all the way fully in splits unsupported, that's beautiful and lift your chest up, release your arms by your sides, lift the chest a little more, find a little quality of upward facing dog in this, can you feel that, as you next inhale sweep your arms around and up if that's possible, accessible, interesting for your body, for your practice, for your life, you take a breath in there, as you exhale you'll release your arms, you'll pause for a moment and then to exit this gracefully so press the hands, fingertips into the floor, you can slide that heel back, step your foot to the floor, let's pause for a moment and then bring that hand to the inside of the foot and we'll switch sides, we'll leave the block there so you have a nice elegant clear transition, you may move it a little bit over to the left, you step your left foot forward, let's tuck the back toes under and lengthen that knee back behind us, we'll start to slide that front heel forward, that left heel forward, resting left side of the pelvis on the block, press through the ball of your back foot, press through the ball of the back foot to bring that right hip forward, up dog, find the quality of up dog, open to grace my friend and then gracefully sweep your arms around and up as you breathe in and we'll be here for a few breaths, keep spinning that back inner thigh up towards the ceiling and then set it and forget it, breathe, give the shape to your breath a little bit, inhaling to lift the chest and sort of surrendering right to the evolution of the experience, the sensations, the shape, the breath, everything, you take one more breath in and then as you exhale float your hands to the floor, to exit this press the pads of the fingers into the floor so you lift your pelvis up, drag that heel back, great, send that foot, that knee back behind you, stay standing on your knees, extend your arms out to the side, open the chest and then let's place the block between your ankles on its lowest height, so preparing now for Ustrasana, camel pose, so hugging your outer ankles in, inner ankles in towards the block as in upward dog, pressing the tops of the feet down, bring your hands to your pelvis, fingertips pointing down, draw your elbows towards each other and use your hands to encourage your tailbone to lengthen, encourage those frontal hip points to lift up, creating some length in those quadricep muscles, draw the elbows back more towards each other, as you inhale lift your chest with the inhale, inhale naturally expands the chest and open open to breath, open to grace, you can stay here, you might like to float your hands down to your heels if that's part of your practice, if you do please shift your hips forward, keep sending the hips forward, your gaze can stay anywhere that works for your body, specifically for your neck, so if you like to drop the head back, go ahead and do that, you can also keep the chin slightly tucked as I like to do, some back of my neck stays long, we'll take a few breaths here, every breath in, expansion of the chest, every breath out firming of the lower belly, space in the lumbar spine, we'll take one more breath in here, use the power of your exhale to lift both sides of your torso up at the same time, lower your seat down onto that block that's between the ankles and pause there for a moment, softening here and then very slowly coming forward just so you can remove that block and place it off to the side and come to lie down on your back, draw your knees into your chest, Apanasana. And then happy baby pose, hold the outer edges of your feet, lengthen the tailbone, you can rock from left to right, extend through the knees, if that feels good, I was going to say useful but good is even better, come to center, keep the right leg in that happy baby pose, extend the left leg along the floor, cross the right knee over your body, reach the right arm out to the side, it's a simple recline twist, turn that right palm to face up, position the arms so the shoulder is spacious, left hand can rest on the knee if you like, it can also be extended, choose something that works best for you in this moment. And then come to center, so drawing that knee towards you, let's draw the left knee towards us and find a little half happy baby on the left side as we extend the right leg, good, and then cross the left knee over your body, reach the left arm out to the side, right hand can rest gently on the left knee, it can also extend out to the side, you choose, and then come to center, my sweet friends, draw your knees in towards your chest, re-center your hips, lift head and upper back off of the floor, take a nice full inhale there and then ride the wave of your exhale down to Shavasana, supporting yourself as you like, setting establishing conditions for total and complete comfort in this final resting pose and softening, softening, softening, softening, abiding right in this quality and this reality of grace, grace. You can begin to deepen your breath, wiggle your fingers and toes and then stretch your arms alongside your ears, get long in the body, maybe long through one side and then the other and as you're ready you'll draw your knees into your chest and roll onto one side, pause there for a breath cycle, then very carefully, tenderly, with tremendous love and grace, come up to a seated position, any seat you like, sit well once you are upright, rest your hands, palms facing up on your knees or your thighs. Bring your palms together at the center of your chest into Anjali Mudra, concluding your practice for now, bowing your head to your hands, thanking yourself, honoring yourself, honoring your breath, your body, the connection between the two and of course your wholeness, my friend.

This journey, this 10 day journey that we've been on may have come to an end but you're really just beginning, you are on the verge of something and my new challenge for you is to figure out what that thing is and surprise, it changes from moment to moment from day to day so may your practice be an opportunity for you to cultivate all of these qualities, to feel into your expansiveness and to use all the tools that are available to you in living your big and beautiful gorgeous life. Thank you for joining, take good care and I'll see you next time.