Focused and Clear: A 7-Day Yoga Challenge Artwork
Season 1 - Episode 8

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30 min - Practice
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Join Linda Baffa in a transformative class centered on the theme of commitment. This class encourages you to lean into your needs and wants, moving with certainty and actively committing to the process of growth and discipline necessary for personal development. Remember, "Intention without action is simply intention;" dedicate yourself to this commitment and discipline to truly allow yourself to grow.

While this class is a part of Linda Baffa's Focused and Clear: A 7-Day Yoga Challenge, it can also be taken outside of the challenge at any time.
What You'll Need: No props needed

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Hey, friends. Welcome to day 7. I'm so excited to share this final practice with you. This is what it's all about. Let's come to the front of the mat.

Land into Dossana, feet about hip distance, palms flaring forward, shoulders rolling back, close your eyes. To Dasana, mountain pose, just feeling a sense of steady stillness. From your feet into your whole body, come back to that image of light inside of you, filling up into every cell and radiating out. So I wanna share one of my favorite quotes with you as we begin this practice as we lean into a sense of commitment towards what we need, what we want, our focus, this clear, clean clarity that we have developed through this sequence. And it is this.

Intention without action is simply intention. So we must actively commit to the process of growth and discipline that is needed to create what we want and what we need. Bring your hands to your heart. Buy your chin. Take a big inhale. And a long exhale on your inhale, sweep your arms all the way up as you exhale bow forward and fold over the legs.

Take a halfway lift inhale to a flat back and exhale as you fold. Inhale as you rise up, reaching through the arms, just a half salute here, exhale or prayer back to the heart. Maybe close your eyes. Inhale reaching the arms out and up. Exhale as you bow forward.

Inhale halfway lift, flat back, exhale fold, inhale, rise, root, reach, prayer to the heart. Connect. One more time. Inhale. Reach up. Exhale bow forward and fold. Inhale. Halfway lift.

Exhale. Fold deeper. Stop your way back to plank pose, and let's hold. Commit. Commit to your strength. Commit to this body, commit to this practice, Commit to your breath.

Maybe close the eyes here. And even through committing, you can still make choices to lower the knees. To honor yourself as you are. Right? Let's take about 3 more slow deep breaths, push the floor away, reach the top of the head forward, the heels back, pull in through the belly, last deep breath. Good. And then slowly come down to the belly.

Maybe the knees first, all the way down. Reach your arms behind you, maybe wiggle your legs back, interlace your fingers, and on the inhale, lift into Shalabasana, and just hold. Hold the space of the heart, hold the strength in your back, maybe lift your legs up as well. Stretch your body in 2, toes back, heart forward. Stay with your breath and commit.

Root through the pelvis. So this part of life is often the most challenging for people. It's easy sometimes to brainstorm and create and have ideas and harness our focus, but to stay committed, to really honor the discipline of commitment is often the hardest part. Let's take 2 more breaths. And then lower down, hands by the ribs, push up and go to down dog or child's pose.

What do you need more and hold it? Any little wiggles, feel them out, but then hold it. Drop into the stoneness. Drop into the breath. So commitment often takes a laser focus, right, that focus on committing.

Be here now. 2 more breaths. Good. And then walk your feet up to the front of the mat. Take a halfway lift inhale to a flat back. And as you exhale fold, inhale as you rise up.

Reach your arms to the sky. Exhale. Drop a prayer to the heart. Chair pose. Take your arms wide. Sweep your right elbow under your left elbow, eagle wrap.

You're welcome to stay here, or put the weight in your left foot. Lift your right leg and take your right leg over your left. Squeeze your inner thighs. We're going right into balance because balance helps us harness our focus, and it instills a sense of disciplined and commitment to stay here through the wobbles. Maybe there's a fall.

To just keep coming back, to keep showing up. Squeeze your inner thighs, squeeze your elbows, maybe sit down a little deeper maybe the elbows wanna round towards the knees, take 2 more breaths, soften your face. So commitment discipline doesn't have to feel rigid. It doesn't have to feel so intense, right? But it can you can soften into it. Right? Ease in the effort. Sweep the arms out and up.

Release your foot back down inhale here. As you exhale, bring a prayer to the heart. Take a breath. Come back to chair, widen your arms, Left under right. Left under right, eagle wrap, root through the right foot, lift your left leg, squeeze it over, inner thighs connect, your version of Eagle, and then just be here.

Study your gaze on one spot. Sit back into the hips, maybe a little more squeeze everything to the center line. Right? So just like an eagle, laser focuses on their prey ready to go get it. Not that you have to kill something to get it, but Feel that sense of focus. And then again, soften into it through the face, through the breath, And then on your inhale flying out, reach your arms all the way out and up, And then drop a prayer down to the heart on the inhale sweep the arms out and up.

And just dive forward, exhale. Let it go. Take a halfway lift, inhale to a flat buck. Exhale vinyasa or step back plank pose, make it mindful, full of breath. From downward dog, take your right leg up in the air.

And just step it all the way through. Warrior 1, ground the back heel, reach your arms up. Good pause here and hold. Live through the heart space. Some of you might bring your palms to touch your squeeze your biceps in, and maybe also a steeple mudra.

So release your index fingers and just like a beam of light point up towards what you want, towards what you need, immense focus coming in through your breath, through your feet, all the way up into the heart, into your hands, Last two breaths. Good. And then just hover over your front thigh. Stay in the strength. Good. And then release your hands down. Pause here.

Lift your left heel and swivel all the way over to the outer edge of your left foot right arm to the sky, the right foot can just wiggle back for a side plank variation or take a full side plank and root through that left palm. Stack your feet, unwavering discipline, stay with it, 2 more breaths, Could I come back to plank pose? And you choose Vinyasa or downward facing dog. Left leg rises, reach it back, and step it forward. The are bedrassana 1, rise up, reach the arms to the sky, and pause.

Land into the feet. Whatever variation you did with the hands, honor that draw the shoulders down the back, and be here 1000% be here. Not just a 100, 1000. Feel the heat, feel the effort, feel the discipline, and stay with it. Start to hover over your front thigh, pull the belly in, and then release.

Right hand down. You're gonna swivel all the way to the outer edge of your right foot, left arm up, Maybe that left foot just wiggles back, get some support there, or stuck it on top. Hold your side plank, push into your right palm, lift under your right hip, couple more breaths. Release, come back to plank pose, down dog, Vinyasa along the way if you want. Take a big inhale and a long exhale.

Let's just come into a steady awareness of the bra the wispy sound. Saw focus. From here, lift your right leg up. Step it all the way forward. Crescent lunge this time.

Stay on the ball of the left foot. Reach the arms up. Good. So this is gonna be some work as if we haven't worked already. Lean forward and really dig that right foot down. Try this out. Step your left foot up to your right foot chair pose.

Step your left foot back into lunge. Step your left foot back chair pose. Oh, step it back. Okay. So if this isn't working for you, just hold one or the other. Otherwise, try 2 more. Keep that right leg, right foot so strong.

Feel the effort. Feel the work. Good. Pause in your crescent lunge. Take another full deep breath. And circle the arms down. Okay.

Down dog split right like back in the air. Give it a shake. Give it a kick. Give it a circle. Good. And then walk your hands towards your left leg and just feel a standing split here, bowing into your left leg.

Take a breath. Had yourself back out, find your down dog, feet, meet together, that hip distance apart. Take a pause. Take a breath. Good. Take your left leg up. Step it forward.

Rise up crescent lunge. Good. So it's through our efforts. Through our actions that we commit, that we grow towards our intentions. Right? Step forward chair pose. Step back, crescent lunge.

Look at one spot. Step forward chair pose. Step back, Chris, and lunch. Few more. Can you find some ease here in the face, in the inner shoulders, maybe in that space between your palms, Last one.

Alright. Hold it. Crescent lunge. One more breath. Hands release down. Down dog split, swing that left leg back in the air.

Give it a shake. Give it a kick. Move it around. Standing split. Walk your hands back towards your right leg. Bow and do it. And then walk yourself back.

Down dog. Maybe child. So important to take rest. One more breath, please. Alright. Just a little bit more to go here.

Staying in this commitments Right leg up, down dog split, bend the knee, open the hip. Step it forward. Warrior 2. Flex your palms in your warrior 2. I want you to pause here, maybe close your eyes if it feels safe, and visualize a sphere All around you, flexing your palms.

This is your sphere of agency. This is your container. And you only allow inside what serves you, what feels right, what feels needed, what feels supportive, and everything else gets to stay outside. Block it. Push it away. Stop it.

It doesn't need to come in. The outer edge is your choice, right, your choices. Few more rounds of breath, commit to your center, commit to this internal sphere, Relax your hands, soften your face, and float your hands down. Just go to down dog. Take a breath.

Left flag up. Step it forward. Warrior 2. Good. This time, palms up. Palms up.

A lighter quality here. A deep sense of trust, committing but softening into it. Right? So trusting that only what is for your highest good will come through. And everything else, all these things that you keep outside of the circle are reflected outward back to their own sources with so much love Like, thank you for trying.

Thank you for coming, but no, I'm good. Right? So let's take a few more breaths. Feel the strength, feel the commitment, but also the soft, loving quality, of trust. Dently release, hands float down to the earth, down dog, All the way the child's pose. In child's pose, let your palms face up.

Take a big inhale. Take a long exhale. Okay. Slowly roll up. Last couple little bursts here, we're going to come to a seat in the center of the mat. Let's take a Novasana.

So we'll get up the arms and the legs. Yay. Lift the heels. And maybe you're holding here. Maybe this is your Nevestana today, or you could reach your arms forward, lift your heart, maybe some of you will straighten out your legs. Good. And then if you'd like, come to Arden of Asana with me.

So the lower back comes down. The shoulders stay lifted. The heels stay lifted. Breathe here. And then if you wanna float between the two, a nice challenge, inhale back up, exhale lower down.

Inhale back up. Exhale lower down. Come it. Inhale. Back up. Exhale lower down. Last two.

Good. And then come all the way down onto your back for a moment, hug your knees into your chest. Alright. One more little core burst here. Hands behind the head. Right leg out into the air, right shoulder to the left knee. Switch your leg.

Left leg out right knee in left shoulder to the right knee and just go side to side. Bicycle, shoulder towards the knee, stay with it. Let's go for 20. 19 commit, 18, 17, You're stronger than you think you are. Keep going.

14. 13. 12, 11, 10. I gotta commit to counting backwards. Geez. 8. Stay with it.

Keep going. Keep going 5, 4, 3, 2. 1, you made it release arms over the head, stretch down through your legs, big, long body stretch. Good. Alright. Let's come back up.

You can rock yourself a roll to the side. Come to your hands and your knees. Good. Downward facing dog. We're gonna use that belly strength for One last little peak pose here. So let's walk the hands to the back of the mat Widen the feet and sit down in Malasana squats.

So if you need a block or 2 under your seat and you just wanna hang out in that squat. Beautiful option. Great. You have the mat in front of you as a little bit of padding. We're gonna play with Cussed in a crow pose, but we're really gonna commit to it today. So some of you maybe float through this pose in other sequences for, like, a taster, but I want you to try if you've got it down to hold it and commit to it. So it's a lot of core strength.

We just turned on the core. So feel that Hands about shoulder distance apart, hips up, knees to the outer upper arms, one footless maybe both breathe here and commit. Study gaze, soft focus. Push the floor away, pull in through your belly. Couple more breaths if you can.

Slowly. Lower down. Take a pause. Back to squat. Maybe roll your head around. Alright. Good.

So next shape, another possible birth. So I'll give some options. So if you have a headstand practice, come into headstand, try to hold it for about a minute. If you do not have a headstand practice, Come on your back and play with shoulder stand. So the feet come up and over the head, support the lower back.

And then lift up your legs and just pause there. So the knees could be bent a little or the leg straight up. And then if shoulder stand doesn't feel good or you have any neck issues, you could also just take your legs straight up in an l shape. Or even find a wall to put your legs against, legs up the wall. We're gonna hold it for about a minute.

So whatever you're choosing here, choose to commit, choose to stay, Breathe into it, breathe through it, maybe feel a sense of your center, right, your center line supporting you, this beam of light, radiating into every cell, stay with it, Just about 10 more seconds. A few more breaths. Good. And then those of you in a Inversion, you're gonna just slowly release and lower yourself down. So if you did head stand, maybe child's pose. If you did shoulder stand, just land on your back.

Take a pause. Good. And then let's all meet in a comfortable seats. And I want you to maybe face sideways on your mat for this one. Wide straddle. Feel free to sit up on a blanket. Bend your knees.

A little. Maybe straighten them out. Reach your arms up. Inhale. And as you exhale, pour your heart forward, reach your fingertips out. And start to bow in.

So after all that effort, and all that work, all that discipline, all that commitment, just land in a place that feels soft, a place where you can just simply allow for everything to unfold in the way it will unfold, in the way it is supposed to unfold. You know, we can focus our energy and get really clear But sometimes the universe has other plans, and that's okay. Whenever I make a vision board, or I try to manifest something in my life, I just say this or something better. This or something better. And no matter what, there's growth, no matter what there's learning, no matter what you're evolving.

Stay with your breath here. Where can you soften? And then slowly start to walk your way back up. Well, let's come into Shavasana. Go ahead and land on your back.

If there's any final little movements you need honor that, and display your body out on the earth. And just soak in the stillness. Soak in this ending. And yet, It's just a beginning as well. Let your thoughts spread out and move to the side a little.

I'm just feeling some space between your thoughts. You are welcome to stay where you are, or you can start to come back. Little wiggles in the toes and the fingers and maybe reach your arms all the way up and over the head. Bend the knees, roll to the right, pausing the fetal position, Come up slowly. And find a comfortable seat.

Bring a prayer to your heart. Let this prayer be a dedication towards yourself and towards this moment moving forward. This beginning, the commitment, the discipline, the focus, the clarity. May you take it all with you? Shine your light so bright.

Please stay well. Thank you so much.

Comments

Jenny S
3 people like this.
This was deceptively challenging for me today…but I followed along (with some modifications) and when I entered savasana I felt so happy for what I’d accomplished.  This 7 challenge brought me back to myself.  What a gift! Thank you Linda, and may you and everyone practicing here be well 🙏🏻❤️
Catherine A
Felly enjoyed all seven sessions, Linda! Many thanks and best regards 😍
Rosie B
I've really enjoyed this series. Thank you so much Linda! I'm glad so to have discovered your teaching
Lina S
I’ve really enjoyed this yoga challenge and the way you interspersed nuggets of wisdom into the practice.
Sandra Židan
Thanks for this great energizing practice and for the great challenge, Linda! I have really enjoyed doing it! Namaste! 🥰🌹💜
Brigitte M
1 person likes this.
I really enjoyed this particular class and the challenge in general. Thank you very much. Some of the cLasses I repeated to feel comfortable to go foreward. Your thoughts, quotes and pieces of wisdom were always on point and deeply inspiring! Thank you so much!
Kim I
I have really loved this challenge.  I have not been able to commit everyday but have gone through them all.  I love your classes.  Keep up the great work.  
Laura G
Just wonderful Linda - a refreshingly different take on a group of practices which work wonderfully alone or in a sequence. Really enjoyed each one, and will definitely be coming back to them in my regular rotation. Love and blessings from England X
Jilk P
This was such a beautifully healing and strengthening yoga sequence, Linda! So wonderfully balanced in every aspect; Spiritually, mentally, and physically, that I so much needed in my life at this time! You're a wonderful teacher, and I am so thankful for you! Peace and Blessings!
Kate M
Great ending to a wonderful challenge! Thank you, Linda! : )
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