Day 1: Ground Your Foundation

Hello everyone, welcome to day one of our challenge. All right, we're gonna begin our sequence on the back today. So you're gonna meet me there. All right, and as you settle yourself in, all right, there's no preference for how you lay your arms. So if you wanna stretch your arms down by your sides, that's perfectly fine, right?

If you also wanna bring the hands to the body, maybe belly, maybe heart or both, that's also an acceptable spot as well, okay? For the feet, or excuse me, for the legs today, I want you to bend your knees, right? Instead of having them long, I want you to bring the soles of your feet to the mat, okay? So as you arrive, I want you to take a moment just to let your body just pause and feel a little bit of stillness, right? If you can, let your breath be a little deeper than it was just a second ago, right?

And allowing that movement just to take your attention a little deeper inside the body, start to follow that inhale through the nose, you can feel the lift through the chest and belly, right? And as you exhale, let that release kind of soften your body a little deeper into the mat, okay? Okay, do that one more time, let the inhale fill the body up. And as you exhale, let the body relax and soften deeper into the floor, okay? Keep the breath and just shift your focus a little more to the feet.

And I feel here that there's not any unnecessary tension held, you know? Like you can even play with picking the feet up, relaxing them back down into the mat and just feeling that space to relax the floor. But feel as if you can spread through every part of the foot, there's no held effort. All right, take in one more breath. Nice, okay.

And then from here, we're gonna bring the bottom of the feet together for Baddha Konasana, let the knees spill apart, all right? And then just opening the insides of the legs a bit, but also giving a little focus to that touch and sensation of the feet pressing into the foot, okay? Again, if it feels nice, you can press the balls of your feet into each other. You could also play with the toes kind of working into themselves, all right? But let that attention just draw your mind away from the thought and just feeling a little more of the feet and grounding that awareness.

Good, all right, press the feet one more time, take a nice, deep inhale. And as you exhale, you release and you're gonna slowly transition into Down Dog on your mat. Nice, all right, and then just taking a moment to arrive in your Down Dog, there's nothing too crazy I want you to do in your body right now, especially if this is like the first kind of big shape we're moving through, all right? So allowing yourself to just pedal a little bit through the heels, start to move those muscles throughout the legs, all right? And then see if you could keep that same kind of spread of effort throughout the foot.

So again, feeling the balls of the feet kind of press down into the mat. And also that work to kind of release the toes, there's no tension, there's no like pent-up effort there, right? Nice, okay, and then from here, just pausing through the legs, let the heels relax down into the mat. And then feeling that you can also slow down the breath here too. Nice, all right, take one more big inhale.

As you exhale, bend your knees, look forward in between the hands. And then I want you to slowly walk your feet in between the hands, right? I challenge you, like if you can move slower than you want to, feel every part of your feet relax onto the mat. Nice, and then once you arrive with the body, hang heavy for a bit, right? Another space to pause, another space to just find a bit of release, okay?

And if it feels good, no specific movement. Again, this could be another spot where you just shake your head a little, yes or no, you can release the neck, right? A little sway upper body might feel nice to kind of release the back a little bit more, so take full advantage. And then big bends in your knees might feel nice and the hips all the way down into the legs as well. So again, feeling anything you need to feel, okay?

So on your next inhale, come into half lift, right? And your hands can rest on your thighs unless it feels better to stretch down to your calves. And if feeling even in half lift that you can bring a little extra focus to the foot, feel even here that there's no like excess tension in the toes, there's no extra effort around the foot, right? And even in those front parts, you can shift the weight into the heels a little bit and just ground through the balls of your entire foot. Nice, all right?

Take a nice inhale, press the floor with the feet. And then as you exhale, forward fold, let the body relax over front of the legs. Good, y'all. All right, so on your next inhale, you're gonna stand all the way up. You can stretch your arms forward and up overhead.

And then as you exhale, let the hands pass the heart and you can relax with the arms down by the sides. All right, pause it for a moment in your practice just to feel a breath, okay? Take a nice inhale in. And as you exhale, let that soften the shoulders, right? Let your exhale kind of be a reminder that you can let go a little more, okay?

Okay, so as you stand in your tadasana, I just want you to bring a little more awareness to the feet, okay? Commonly, there's parts of our foot where we're like really strong and aware of that we can like ground those parts really well. Then there's parts of our feet where we're like not too conscious of that just remain a little dormant in the daily activity of our feet, okay? So for today, I just want you to bring some attention there so we can work in a just a real equanimous way so the whole foot is activating, okay? So starting first with the inner arch, I want you to press through the base of the big toe, right?

Like that part where the toe and the ball meets. And you feel that inner arch of your foot just light up a little bit as you shift the weight in, okay? And then do the opposite. Press down through the base of your pinky toe and then just feel that outer arch work on the foot a little bit more, okay? Okay, notice that.

And I want you to shift the weight into the heels, right? Not so much as your fall. That's why like we have heels. Keep that grounded, okay? And then feel that you can press through the whole foot, okay?

So keeping that in mind, I just want you to work through those three points like really well. So coming back to it, press down through the base of the big toe, inner arch lights up, okay? Also ground down through the base of the pinky toe outer arch joints, okay? And then press that with the heel of the foot to kind of create that triangle. So now we can kind of lift up with that awareness of those points in the foot, okay?

Keep that attention. We're gonna move through salutations. Okay? So arms down by the side, ground and down. Take a deep inhale, stretch arms forward and up.

Nice, as you exhale, fold forward, hands can pass through the heart, relax the upper body. Nice, take a nice inhale, press through the feet, let the heart lift up. Nice, as you exhale, fold forward, let the neck and shoulders relax as well. Good, do that one more time. As you inhale, stand all the way up.

Big stretch over her. As you exhale, let the hands relax to the sides of the body. Good, okay? Keep that connection to the feet one more time. As you inhale, press down as you stretch out.

Good, as you exhale, release the body over the fronts of the legs, let that be reminded to soften the feet too. All right, inhale, half lift, press the floor with the feet and lift. Exhale, fold and relax again. Find that space to let go of the extra. Good, as you inhale all the way up, feeling that groundedness as you stretch.

Good, as you exhale, hands relax to the sides of the body. Good, one more time. If it feels nice, you might close your eyes just to take that attention deeper into the feet. Okay, inhale, press through the corners. Good, as you exhale, feel those arches again, work together to let the body come down.

Good, as you inhale, press through the floor and lift. Nice, as you exhale, relax and soften, let the body come down. All right, inhale, arms forward and up, stand tall and reach. Exhale, let the hands relax to your sides. Good, all right, pause it for a moment, just taking a breath to come back.

Take a deep inhale in. Nice, as you exhale, press through the points of the foot, let the body be heavy. Good, okay, one more time. As you inhale, arms forward and up. Nice, as you exhale, let the body relax again, just keeping that pace in the breath.

Good, as you inhale, come up for half lift, heart forward and up. All right, this time you're gonna take both hands to the mat as you fold, and you're gonna plant both hands into the mat and step both feet back for plank this time, okay? So, feeling for a moment that the weight is on the toes, so you can lift the heels up high if that feels nice. All right, but similar to the feet, if you can spread the work through the hands like you were doing the same effort through the foot, feel grounded, all right, pressed, right? Take a deep inhale.

As you exhale, come down halfway for chaturanga. Good, up dog, you're gonna inhale over the toes, lift your heart forward and up, let the shoulders relax back a bit. And as you exhale, find your down dog, hips up and back, we pause. Nice, okay, so feeling for a moment in your down dog that you can invite that same awareness to the feet, okay? Even though the heels are lifted, you can still press down through the base of the big toe, base of the pinky toe, and you feel that kind of spread of like softness and effort around the toes, right?

There's no crunch, there's no excess. Good, all right, take a deep inhale. As you exhale, bend the knees, look forward. From here, slowly walk or hop. Your choice, I choose to walk just to train that in the feet.

All right, you can be real gentle today. All right, forward fold for a moment. Good, take an inhale for half lift. Exhale to release and soften. Nice, all right, inhale to stand tall, big stretch through the arms over the head.

Nice, as you exhale, take the hands to the sides of the body, okay? Keeping that awareness, keeping that breath, last one. Inhale, arms over the head. Nice, as you exhale, soften and release. Let everything go.

Nice, okay, as you inhale, half lift. Exhale, hands on the mat, step both feet back, and then from here, halfway. If you wanna come all the way down to the belly for any variation that might feel nice as well, always good. All right, down dog when you're ready. Take a moment.

Nice, okay, and from here, right leg first, you're gonna inhale, stretch your right leg up and back. Nice, as you exhale, step forward in between the hands. Setting up high lunge, you're gonna keep your back heel lifted. Hands come to the heart to set up, unless it feels good. Maybe you stretch the arms up and overhead, okay?

And then feeling for a moment, simple high lunge, right? Just the back heel is lifted off the mat, same awareness of that work in the front foot. So same feeling here, big toe presses down, right? Base of the pinky toe, same idea, grounded. And as you ground through the heel, feel that press down to kinda lift up a little higher from those three points.

Good, keep that awareness soft in the shoulders. And then just feel the breath with that work. Nice, take a nice inhale to stretch up towards the ceiling. And as you exhale, let the hands pass through heart all the way down to the mat, find your down dog, right? If it feels good, you can flow all the way down, right?

If it feels better to skip a flow throughout the sequence, take the things that feel good for you, nothing forced. All right, but if it feels inviting, I would want you to move, allow your body to take what it needs, okay? Second side when you're ready, inhale, left leg up and back. Good, as you exhale, step forward in between the hands, back heel lifted, hand to the heart or overhead. Okay, and then again, just feeling that sense.

If you want big challenge, you can close your eyes. That changes the game, trust me, okay? But it might take your awareness a little deeper into the foot and I just want you to feel that same work. Press into those three corners, feel as if you can ground through your arches and kind of lift up a little from the center of your foot. Right, small stuff that make a big difference if you pay attention, okay?

Take a big inhale, stretch up, maybe back. Good, as you exhale, hands pass through all the way down. Right down dog, your choice to flow. If it feels good to pause and catch the breath, you know you got options. All right, heart up.

Good, down dog, exhale. All right, staying smooth in your breath for a moment, pausing in down dog, just try to slow things down. Nice, okay, deep inhale to feel the belly. Exhale to bend the knees and look forward and then slowly walk or hop, your choice. Nice, okay, forward fold once you are up.

Inhale into half lift, exhale to fold and relax. All right, as you inhale, stand tall and press through the feet. Nice, as you exhale, let the hands relax to the sides. Good, pausing for a moment just to come back to breath, take a deep inhale in. Exhale, soften any unnecessary tension, right?

Drop that off. Good, okay, so remaining at the top of the mat. All right, we're gonna balance a little more. All right, so start with the right foot first, simple tree pose, okay? Shift the weight over to your right foot, you're gonna bend your left knee up into the chest.

Okay, and then just notice, right, like one of the foot, one of the foot, one of the feet are off the mat, okay? So even just the heel off the mat made a big difference, but now with the foot off the mat, you have to work a little harder on that standing foot. The same idea, right? Work your three points and as you push, feel a sense of lift in that right leg, good, okay? Left leg if you can, you can open it out to the side and then maybe you plant the foot today, sole of your foot to the inner thigh, okay?

And with that added effort, hands to the heart. If you want a little more, maybe the arms over the head, right, that challenge if you want mentally, close your eyes, big one, okay? But again, just keeping that focus on the ground, ground, literally. And as you push down, feel a sense of lifting up, right? And just giving yourself a sense to just tap in and just get out of your head, really just into your foot, right?

Take a moment, take a deep inhale. Nice, exhale, left foot down to the mat, release the hands to the heart or maybe there by the sides, take a moment, okay? This is the part where like I'm grateful I have to, right? Like I don't have to do this all the time, so, right? Feel that, a little bit of gratitude for the feet and how they work, second side, okay?

Shift the weight over into the left foot, right leg lifts up, okay? Same idea, to me I just imagine like a triangle, like a dome, right? Two points of the foot, that heel they connect, push, lift. Right leg, we open it out to the side and then shoulder the foot to the inner thigh, okay? Hands together at the heart, okay?

And then just noticing like what part of your foot is strong? What part of your foot do you feel like you can work a little more on? And as you can like spread that effort, push and lift. That's general idea, okay? Arms over the head if you want, close your eyes if you want to challenge, right?

This all might be challenging, but take a moment, okay? Grounding through the feet, take a nice deep inhale. Exhale, hands to the heart, good. Right foot onto the mat, pause. Grateful for two, all right, take a moment.

Good, all right, and then back into the rhythm of your breath for salutations. Inhale, arms forward and up. Good, as you exhale, come forward over the legs, we come right back into rhythm, okay? Inhale, half lift, press through the foot. Nice, as you exhale, hands to the mat, step back.

Your choice, you either pause and down dog unless it feels good to move through a full flow, right? Halfway, inhale for up dog, let the heart open. Good, as you exhale, down dog, we lift. All right, and again, just taking a moment to pause. Like if you notice your mind just kind of like getting into the practice, it's a little louder, just chatting, you know?

Use the sensations of the feet just to ground your focus. All right, whenever you're aware, just think, base of big toe, base of pinky toe, right? It's just using your body as like an access point to just stay mindful, all right? Take a deep inhale, right leg up and back. Nice, as you exhale, step forward in between the hands, set up high lunge one more time.

So right heel, excuse me, right foot on the mat, back heel stays up, hands at the heart unless you want that extra reach to stretch the arms. Okay, and if you're feeling for a moment that you can just stabilize, again, pressing through those corners in that little arch and lift, hands come down to the heart. Good, all right, and it's setting up for warrior three, another balancing pose. You're gonna lean the weight forward, try to ground as much weight as you can on that front foot, let those three points work, and then find that space to just lightly lift off back leg, nice. Okay, so once you got that, again, different orientation up top, same idea of work at the bottom, okay?

A lot of your weight is forward, so the base, excuse me, the toes might work a lot. This is that idea where we spread the effort, press the points, and then lift. Okay, your choice, if you wanna stretch the arms over the head, you can. If you wanna reach back, that might feel nice as well, or you just stay where you are, hands at the heart. Okay, feeling the foot for a moment, take a nice deep inhale and press.

Good, as you exhale, bend your front knee, float the toes back down to the mat. All right, finding a breath, take a deep inhale, stretch up, catch your balance, catch the breath too. Nice, and then as you exhale, hands on the mat, down dog, step back. All right, full flow, inhale chest forward, exhale halfway down. All right, inhale up dog, exhale down.

Good deal, all right, pause in if you need to, just to keep that steady, all right? Second side when you're ready, inhale left leg up, nice exhale, step forward to the, excuse me, between the hands, back heel high, high lunge. Nice, okay, just gonna feel it for a moment that you can go around, okay? Like when you move fast, your body has to adapt fast, all right, so if you can take your time, you give yourself a little more awareness to strengthen and ground those points, okay? And from here, move slow, maybe slower than you want to, right?

Try not to make it like a push, but you can lean, ground, ground and then lift, nice, okay? Top leg lifts, heart lowers down just to level out the body and again, your choice with the hands, but feel same awareness in the foot, all right? Balance is not a static thing, it's a choice you have to make over and over again, okay? It's such a metaphor, but instead of you just trying to hold it for one, you have to keep choosing to stay, keep working through those points, keep grounding, all right? Take one more inhale, press and lift, good, okay?

Bend your front knee, back toes find the mat, all right? From here, take a breath to stretch up, you might go back, if that feels good, good. And as you exhale, hands pass through, down to the mat, down dog one more time, all right? Full flow, inhale, exhale halfway, up dog, inhale, down dog, exhale, all right? Pause in for a moment, all right?

And just check back in, okay? How's the work in my feet? Am I working more than I need to? Is there some space that I can probably like find a release, right? I can let go from the extra, good.

Okay, from here, bend your knees, look forward, all right? Slowly walk or hop to the top, good, all right? Fold and release, all right? Inhale for a half lift, exhale to soften that work, good. Inhale to stand all the way up to stretch, exhale, hands to the sides of your body, good.

Pause in for a moment, again, just to bring the awareness back in, big inhale, all right? As you exhale, spread the work through the foot, feel heavy all the way to the bottom of your body, okay? So from Tadasana, I want you to take your feet a little wider than the hip. So maybe just about hips width is fine, okay? And then hands come to the heart.

I want you to take an inhale, press through the feet and lift the heart. And as you exhale, sit the hips down and back for chair, okay? So we're gonna have a little fun in chair, which crazy, stick with me though, all right? Fun in chair, it's possible, okay? So shift the weight over to the right foot, right?

And then real simple, right? Left leg is gonna lift, just to feel, maybe you start with just the tippy toes on the mat and just notice, right? One foot is not fully on the mat, so this right foot has to ground, right? Feel those three points, you feel those arches, okay? But with that awareness as you plant, let that left leg lift a little higher and then come into a figure four setup.

So that left ankle is gonna plant on top of that right knee, right thigh, and then sit down and back a little more, okay? So a little more weight, and it's a temptation to kind of put a lot of that weight on the outer arch, especially because the leg is going that way, okay? Feeling so that you can ground that inner arch base of the big toe, sit low, okay? Your choice if you want this work, if you wanna bring the arms over the head, that might feel inviting, take advantage, right? If you wanna close your eyes here too, true, do your thing, okay?

But again, feeling that space, and again, if it allows you to take the awareness of the foot, sit a little lower, all right? Press through the ball of the big, excuse me, press through the ball of the right foot, lift the chest. Good, take a nice inhale. Good, exhale, hands to the heart, left legs to the mat, pause, okay? Feel the after effect of the pose, and just notice where the attention goes if you don't set it where you want it to go, all right?

And again, maybe the resting point today is the foot, okay? Just feeling that again, you could just create a gap between that constant stream of this, okay? One more time, feel a little wider on the mat, all right? And you're gonna sit the hips down and back one more time, okay? So again, feeling that you can shift the weight over to the left foot, and you might start slow, all right?

Just lifting the heel up just to feel that slow kind of transferring of the weight. Okay, and then right ankle on top of left knee, figure four one more time, okay? And then sit down and back once you've got that set up, and then just notice, right? One part of your foot is probably really active, and the other part of your foot is probably a little dormant, okay? So pressing through that inactive space, ground to lift, and also as you push through the foot, lift the heart a little higher as well, right?

If you want, arms out, again, your choice with the eyes closed, right? To the little lower if possible, right? Feel grounded through the foot, press the heart up, take a deep inhale, nice y'all, right foot down, all right? Hands to the heart, we pause for a moment. Good, okay?

Back in the rhythm for salutations, you're gonna inhale, stretch the arms forward and up. And as you exhale, come in a forward fold one more time to release, all right? Inhale for half lift, and then exhale forward fold one more time, okay? Real quick, real simple, utkatasana, chair pose, sit the hips down and back, hands at the heart, all right? Taking inhale to lift through the heart, and then as you exhale, just sit all the way down and back to a seat, okay?

I'm gonna turn towards you, feel a little rude if I was the other way, all right? And in similar to how we started class, right? Baddha Konasana, the soles of the feet are gonna come together, but we're just not laying back. We're gonna take this in a sitting upright position, right? Hands can rest on the feet unless it feels good to bring the hands together.

You could also bring the forearms to the knees, right? Taking a moment just to let the inner hips open, all right? And if it feels nice, maybe you close your eyes for a bit. All right, and again, just training that focus. Like if you don't have anywhere to set your focus and attention, use your body.

And today, more specifically, it's just feet, all right? Press them into each other, let those sensations kind of take the focus, good. All right, and then take an inhale, lift the heart up. And as you exhale, curl the hands forward and out in front of you, all right? You can use your mat to your advantage.

It's definitely your friend, all right? And in keeping that press through the feet, feel as if you can kind of ground through those outer arches a little bit more and then send the heart a little more forward to the top of the mat. Nice, all right? Ultimately, it's just this feeling of grounding down to help you collect, to help you focus, and also to help you lift and rise. So many ways we can approach it, all right?

Take one more deep inhale. Nice, as you exhale, release the hands, slide your body up to upright, all right? And then stretch your legs long for Shavasana. All right, so as you set up, get no personal preference, similar to how we started class, especially here. Arms can be down by your sides.

If it feels a little better to bring the hands to the body, you're welcome to it, right? It may feel good to end class the way we started with the soles of the feet on the mat, especially if you wanna keep the focus in the feet, right? If it feels a little better, stretch your legs, okay? But feel for a moment that everything that you've done in your body, you can take a space to just send a little gratitude. Feel the effects of the work you put in.

And just understanding that if you leave, you could always come back. Your body's here for you. Nice, everyone. So I just want you to take a moment to literally just let your mind rest where it is. And usually left up to its own behaviors and accord.

It'll go anywhere if you allow it. And if you feel like your mind is somewhere beyond here, somewhere beyond your body, see if you can use your body, all right? Maybe the feet, just to focus your awareness and just stay right here as much as you can. Take as much time as you like here, you can choose to stay if you have the time. Or if this is the closing of your practice, feel free to just slowly wake the body up, all right?

Start small, fingers move, toes may flex just to wake up the body. And again, keep it simple. All right, and you're gonna gently draw your body up. And then you're gonna start to move your body up. You're gonna start to move your body up.

You're gonna start to move your body up. All right, and you're gonna gently draw the knees up and into the chest. All right, feel free to bring the arms around the legs if that feels nice. Good, all right, roll over to the right side of your body to pause. All right, you might bring that head over to the right arm.

And then slowly coming up to a seat, if it feels nice, maybe keep the eyes closed. All right, hands rest where they're relaxed. Eyes, same way. All right, thank you so much for sharing yourself, sharing your practice with me and everybody else involved. I'm grateful and I'm thankful.

Namaste.