Day 6: Inner Freedom

Welcome to day six. You have done a lot to strengthen. You've had a day to replenish. And now we're going to take flight, a little eagle pose exploration. And to begin, we're going to work with the Garuda Mudra, just hooking the thumbs, fingers spread wide, soft bow of the head, let eyes close or gaze soften, drop into the breath. This mudra, this pose is about inner freedom. So feeling into those qualities of rebirth, regeneration, renewal, letting the old go, giving birth to something new. Whatever cultivates that quality for you, bring that into the mind's eye, distill your intention. And as you're ready, go ahead and let the eyes open. Let's take a big inhale, spread your wings, arms go wide. And then exhale, walk it forward. Let's come up onto the hands and the knees, really root down through the hands. Take a big inhale, tuck the toes. And with your exhale, go up and back into downward facing, pedal it out just for a couple of breaths. And then settle into stillness. And with your next inhale, ripple forward into plank pose. And with your exhale, come all the way to the earth, knees first or chaturanga style. Then draw the arms alongside the body. And with your inhale, lift into a gentle shalabhasana. Exhale, release hands outside of rib cage. Inhale, press back to hands and knees. Tuck the toes. Exhale, down dog. Let's do that again. Inhale forward into plank. Exhale all the way to the earth, knees first or not. Exhales alongside the body. Inhale, lift, rise through the heart, rise through the arms.

Exhale, release hands outside rib cage. Press to hands and knees. Inhale, tuck the toes. Exhale, down dog. And one more cycle. Inhale forward to plank. Exhale all the way to the earth. Inhale, arms alongside the body and rise up. Exhale, release hands outside rib cage. Inhale, hands and knees. Tuck the toes. And exhale, back to your down dog. Good. Give this one breath, center. And then slowly inhale. Walk the feet forward to the front of the mat. Easy fold. Just for a couple breaths. Soft through the neck. Let the head go. Let whatever it is go. And then we're going to heel toe the feet together and just cross your right ankle over your left. Moving into the IT band a little bit. Hips can ease to the left as the upper body walks to the right. Stay in the fold. Keep the head heavy. Breathe into that outer left hip IT band area. And then inhale, draw it back to center and exhale. Just switch so the left ankle is in front of the right. And then ease upper body to the left. Let the hips move to the right a little. Soft through the neck. Another breath. Just ease upper body back to center. Uncross the ankles, feet, hips, distance. Keep the soft bend in the knees and the head heavy. And slowly rise on your inhale all the way to stand. When you arrive, exhale, roll shoulders back and down. Let's keep the feet about hips distance. Inhale, reach the arms out and up. And then hook the thumbs and as you exhale, ease up and over to the right. Anchor the left foot. Soft gaze to the earth or up and under left arm. Spacious through side body. One more breath. And then inhale back to center and exhale up and over to the left. Really root through right foot. Breathe into right side body. And inhale back to center. Lift a little through your heart. And as you exhale, let your arms drop and just sway back and forth. Let it all go. Good. Feet together, hands to prayer, heart center. Take a big inhale. Ground with the exhale. And then inhaling, reach the arms out and up. Exhale to bow out and down. Inhale, it's lengthened halfway. And then with the exhale, step your left foot back. Simple low lunge. Release that knee.

And then lift from center. Inhale, arms rise. Exhale, deepen into it by guiding the hips forward. Lift from deep center. Hold three. Two. Yeah. And then with the exhale, just release hands to earth. Tuck the back toes, lift the back knee. Inhale, reach the right leg up to the sky. And then with the exhale, just let it go. Downward facing dog. Then with the inhale, lift the left leg. And exhale, step left foot forward. Release the right knee down. Inhale, rise into low lunge. Second side. Exhale, ease the hips forward. Lift the deep belly. Three. Two. Yeah. And then with your exhale, release the hands down to the earth. Tuck back toes, lift knee. And then we'll step forward on the inhale. Right foot meets the left, lengthen halfway. And exhale, return to your fold. From your center, inhale, rise. All the way up. Exhale, hands to the heart. Again, inhale, reach out and up. With the exhale, bow out and down. Inhale, halfway. This time with the exhale, step the right foot back and it's your choice. Low or high lunge. Ground through the feet, lift through the center. Inhale, rise. And then interlace the fingers, exhale, press palms to sky. Keep descending through tailbone, lifting through belly. Neutral here or a little bit of a side stretch again. Ease to the left. Open through right waist and ribcage. One more breath. Inhale to center. And then with your exhale, release hands to the earth. Inhale, keep the left leg to the sky. And exhale, release. Downward facing dog. Back inside. Inhale, reach the right leg up. Exhale, float the right foot forward. Grounding into the earth, low or high lunge. Inhale, rise, rise, rise. Exhale, really drop through tailbone, lift through belly. Interlace the fingers, press the palms. Keep it neutral or ease to the right. A couple breaths. Just making space in the body. Yeah. Back to center. Inhale, exhale, release hands to the earth. With the inhale, left foot steps forward to meet the right. Halfway up. And exhale, fold. Strong center. Inhale all the way up. Complete that cycle. And exhale, hands to the heart. Excellent. From here, bending the knees, inhale, scoop the arms out and up. We're going to play with variations of this. So keep your foundation and just release the hands down to the thighs and open the feet about hips distance. Then with the inhale, lift, lift, lift through the heart. And with your exhale, round a little belly to spine. It's like a cat cow in Utkatasana. Inhale, lift heart again. Exhale, round. Inhale, lift the heart. Exhale, round. And then just come back to a neutral spine, heel to a feet back together. Keep that strong bend in the knees. Inhale, reach the arms up. Keep foundation really strong. And exhale, take the hands to prayer at the heart. Here we go. Keep grounding through your right foot. Pick up that left leg. Use the center strength. Wrap the foot around. Maybe tuck it behind the calf muscle and stabilize here for a moment. This is enough. It's enough. Otherwise, inhale, arms go wide. And with your exhale, swing the left elbow under, interlace the forearms. Stay tall here or curl in. Yeah, gathering the energy. Feel that strength. And then when you're ready, we're going to take flight. Inhale, arms go wide. Exhale, unwind the legs and extend the left leg straight back for warrior three. The arms can stay wide. They can reach forward. They can draw back. It's your choice. Shine through the heart, press back through the heel, holding three and two. And then with the exhale, let's release the hands to the earth and reach that left leg to the sky for standing splits. Reach, reach, reach. Feel that expanse. Then let's stay here for a big inhale. And as you exhale, bend both knees, curl down towards the earth, tiny little ball. And then unfurling, inhale, reach, left leg back to the sky. Exhale, curl it in. Almost like you're blossoming. Inhale, reach, left leg to the sky. Exhale, curl down and in.

Once again, inhale to reach. And this time, as you exhale, you're going to come all the way down and tuck that left knee behind the right ankle to land in Arda Matsindrasana. With the next inhale, reach left arm to the sky. Exhale, twist, elbow outside of knee. Spiral the spine, gaze back, breathing three and two. Good. Stay in the twist. Inhale, turn to look forward and then exhale, counter twist just for a moment. All right, let's unravel all of that again. So turning forward, take the weight forward onto that right foot, plant the fingertips and inhale, reach the left leg back to the sky. Imagine you're warrior three and begin to transition. Draw the hips to neutral press, press back through left heel, lifting through the torso, take the arms back or any other variation. Stabilize and then see your eagle. We're going to draw back into it. So shifting, drawing that left leg forward, wrap it around again, easing down, draw left elbow under again, land in it. Take a couple of breaths. Excellent. Then inhale, just unravel all of it, shake it out, let it go and come home to samasthiti. Beautiful work, really strong. Take a breath here and second side, bending the knees. Inhale, utkatasana, really strong through foundation. Draw hands down to the heart, steady your gaze. The drishti helps the balance so much. Root through that left foot, pick up the right leg, wrap it around. Maybe the foot talks, maybe it doesn't, doesn't matter. Then inhale, arms go wide and exhale, take right elbow under, interlace. You're welcome to stay tall here or you can kind of curl in a bit. Breathe. Feel the strength and the energy of the eagle about to fly. Then inhale, arms go wide, unravel the legs and exhale, easing back into your warrior three. Arms forward out or back. You can even clasp hands behind the back. Reach through the heart, breathing three, two. Nice. Then we release hands to the earth and begin to reach the right leg to the sky, standing splits. Take a moment here, feel that length and expanse. Big inhale. Exhale, curl in, bend both knees, come almost all the way to the earth and inhale, reach, reach, reach it up again. Exhale, curl down and in, inhale, reaching up. And then with the exhale, we come all the way down to the earth and tuck that right knee behind the left ankle, landing in your seated twist.

Root down through the sit bones, inhale, reach right arm up and exhale, twist. Take the elbow outside of the knees, spiral the spine and gently gaze back over the shoulder. Three, two. Stay in your twist. Inhale, turn to look forward and then exhale, just unravel. Let's rewind the whole experience. Tip the weight forward, hands to the earth and shift the weight up onto that left foot. Inhale, reach right leg goes back to the sky, steady here for a moment. See your warrior three and then for the transition, draw the hips to parallel. Press that right heel straight back, reach through the heart. Any variation with the arms forward, out or back a moment here. And then we're going to rise into eagle again. Lift, lift, lift. Take that right knee across the left, maybe the foot tucks. Draw a right elbow under left arm and settle. Another breath or two. Nice. And then we unravel from the whole thing. Inhale, spread the arms, spread the wings, shake out the legs and release. Very strong. Nice work. Plant the feet, hands to prayer, heart center. Samastitihi. Take a breath. And then inhale, reaching, arms out and up. Exhaling, we bow out and down. Inhale just halfway. Exhale, hop or step into your plank pose and lower knees or chaturanga.

Inhale, lift the heart. And exhale, downward facing dog. Good. Take a moment here. Just come back to your center. Back to your breath. And again and again, back to intention. Alright. Keep pressing hands deep into earth. With the inhale, reach the right leg to the sky. With the exhale, open the hip and the knee. Give it a little moment. Yeah. And then inhale, reach right leg to the sky. And with the exhale, we're going to step the right foot forward between the hands. Release the back knee down to the earth. And then inhale, reach right arm to the sky. Kind of playing with the simple twist. Now open through the heart. Open through the right shoulder. And then feel it out in your own body. You're welcome to stay right where you are or the right hand goes back for the left foot. Ease into it. Breathing into left quad muscles, the foot can draw in or open back. Three. Two. Yeah. And then if you do have the foot, gently let it go. Release the right hand back down outside of the right foot. Tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, step straight into plank. Pause, engaging the whole body. Big inhale. Exhale to lower. Inhale, cobra or up dog. Exhale, take it back. Downward facing dog. One breath here. And then inhale, reach left leg to the sky. Exhale, open the hip and the knee. Inhale, reach. And again with the exhale, we just step that foot forward between the hands and release the back knee down to the earth. Root down through right hand and inhale, reach left arm to the sky. Open through the chest. Open through that left shoulder. Again, you're welcome to stay right here or left hand goes back for the right foot. Bring it all out. The legs have worked hard for you in this flow. So give the quad muscles a nice, deep release. Stretch it all out. Three, two. Yeah, if you have the foot, let it go gently and then draw that left hand outside of the left foot. Tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, step straight into plank. Pause, take a big inhale here. Exhale to lower. Inhale, lift the heart shoulders down the back. And exhale. Downward facing dog. Good. Let's pause here. Breathe into the entire back body and take a few breaths just to come back to your center. A couple more breaths here. Landing in your center. And then at the bottom of an exhale, soften in the knees. Let's hop or step through to sit. Land on the earth for Dandasana, seated staff. Flush out from under sit bones. Nice firm foundation. And then press the hands just outside of hips. Let the shoulders ease down. Gazing tip of nose or top of thighs or close the eyes. Feel into the length and the vitality of the spine of the central channel. A few more breaths here. From here, we're going to move into Gomukhasana just by bending the right knee and taking the left knee across. And of course, this can be kind of intense if you're working with any funkiness in the knees. You're welcome to take pigeon or thread the needle on the back or really any hip opener you prefer. Once you're settled, rest the hands, soften the gaze or just close the eyes.

If that feels like enough sensation, then stay there. Otherwise, inhale, reach arms up and exhale, add the fold extending out and then down, allowing the back to round and the head to fall. Breathing into those outer hips. Five, four, three, four, five, six. And slow rise if you're in the fold. Inhale to walk it back in and up. And then to transition, exhale, take the hands back and just kind of lean back a little and then unravel the legs and take the left knee under the right. It can also be helpful to move the calf muscle a little bit and then settle root hands on top knee, soft gaze. So if there's a lot of sensation, then you have enough to work with right here. If you'd like to inhale, reach the arms up and then exhale, extend out and down, letting the back round, letting the head fall. Breathing into any stickiness wherever you find it. Five, four, three, two, one. Slow rise on the inhale, walking it back in and up. Nice work. And then exhale, just unravel and gently make your way all the way down onto your back. And when you land, hug your knees in towards your chest and kind of rock the body gently side to side. A little more release. Feeling into it as you rock, if there's anything you feel for before your final rest, nice, deep restorative pose, maybe even an inversion and take it in your own time. And then just make your way into Shavasana as you're ready. So extending the legs. I'm just gently roll open from the hips, rest the arms alongside the body, palms rolling open. Yeah. And then feel the weight of the physical body kind of sinking into the earth. Maybe imagine the rich, dark soils, the fertile soils of springtime. Let yourself land there and really absorb, integrate the practice. So as the body relaxes into the receptive earth, the mind, the heart, the subtle body follow, letting the whole system replenish and regenerate here. We stay soft, take a big inhale through the nose and then open the mouth and exhale. Let it go. Whatever it is, as much as possible, let it go for the time being and let yourself renew. Alright.