Daily Practice

Hey there. Welcome to yoga anytime. My name is Robert, and I'm here to share with you one of my favorite style practices. It's a practice that you can do every day. You can do it in the morning, the afternoon, the evening, It's all good. I like to use a couple of blocks and a strap.

If you have anything else you'd like to use, bring it in. For now, we're gonna roll out the mat, and we'll get started. Okay. So if you'd like to sit in a cross legged position or a kneeling position using a blanket or a block, you choose. So get yourself comfy.

If you'd like to close your eyes, close your eyes, And we'll just suspend a few moments for locating the breath, relax your shoulders, sit up nice and tall without stressing about it. So find your alignment, lengthen through the neck, and out through the top of the head, and we'll begin to breathe in through the nose and out through the nose. It's a nice, comfortable 3 or 4 second inhalation followed by a 3 or 4 second exhalation. Inhaling and exhaling. Inhale.

Get long. Expand the rib cage front side and back. Exhale. Grounding. Arriving. One more time.

Breathe in. Nice and full. And exhale. Let it go. Okay. Let's move into a tabletop position. And as best you can, as we move through the practice while I'm giving you cues and we're moving in and out of postures, see if you can stay connected and committed to the breath in through the nose, out through the nose.

We're gonna start with cat cow, so the hands, below the shoulders and elbows, begin to drop the belly, lift the tailbone, draw the chest forward gaze forward, inhale cow pose, and exhale cat pose. So pull the belly muscles up, round the upper back. Exhale there. Inhale cow pose, and exhale cat. Inhale through cow pose. And exhale cat.

So change up. Come back to tabletop, but turn either one or both of your hands the opposite way. So the wrists are facing forward, fingers pointing back. And now curl your toes under, and we'll just add a little bit of like wrist and toe stretch. So while we're kind of leaning forward and back, you can continue to work the cat cow. So when you lean forward, cow pose, drop the belly, pull the shoulders back, lift the chest, and exhale cat pose, maybe lean back a little bit.

You have to feel that out for yourself. See where your toes and wrists are. Inhale. Cow pose. And exhale cat.

Good. I'll turn your fingers back towards center. Keep the toes tucked. Walk back a little bit onto the mat. Walk the hands forward for puppy pose. So maybe for the first version of this, drop the elbows down to the mat.

So it's a little less work on the shoulders. The hips stay up above the knees, and the chest, the heart, kinda soften down toward the mat, maintaining the inhalation and exhalation. Inhale. You can come out of it a little bit when you inhale. And as you exhale soften back into the pose.

One more time, inhale, and exhale. Come out of the post just a little bit. Breathe in. Lift the elbows. And exhale. Settle back into the posture.

Puppy pose. Okay. Come back up. Bring the hands back a little bit more toward you. Keep the left hand where it is. So your arm is at like a forty five degree angle.

Take the right arm, reach it up, open up, expand, and exhale. Bring the right arm underneath the left. And if you can, bring the right shoulder down to the mat. So it's a little like puppy pose thread the needle combo. I like to use my left hand as a support and as a way to kind of like manipulate and maneuver myself a little deeper into the pose. Sensations, feelings, your body sends you are what you might wanna pay most attention to when you make your own personal cues off of that.

Okay. Use that left hand. Use your core. Come back out. Slide that left hand back a little bit more. Let's reach up, inhale.

And exhale the right hand down. So now we'll try the other side. So take the left arm, reach it up. Take a big opening breath here. Use your exhale to weave that left arm under and through, maybe slide the right hand forward a little bit.

And then if you can, bring that left shoulder down to the mat. Now, what happens a lot here are the hips get a little bit out of whack, we'll say, or out of alignment. So see if you can pull the left hip forward, right hip back. That way it'll sort of, like, keep the spine in a good alignment. And you can always come out of the pose a little bit. Breathe in Breathe out, soften back into the pose. That's that exhale that can assist in releasing tension or resistance.

One more time, inhale. Exhale. Just kinda lean into the stretch. Perfect. Taking our time here. Slowly back out.

Slide that right hand back again. This is more for like support so that you can get that full opening, bringing the left arm high and exhale back to your tabletop. So, now you're in kind of an extended table. Keep the hands in that extended table. Push the hips back into child's pose. So as far back as your knees, ankles, hips allow.

Keep the hands really long and out in front of you about shoulder width. We'll do this little flow in the big fan of. You're gonna inhale into table. Exhale. The hips drop down.

As soon as your low back says or your hips say that's enough, Bend the elbows to release it, bring the hips, the belly, the chest down. So a little reverse cobra, then use your core, use your back muscles, and a little assist in the hands to lift back up through cobra, a little kind of abbreviated updog all the way back to child. That's the exhale. Inhale table. Exhale lower.

That reverse cobra. Inhale cobra. Maybe up, dog. Back to cobra or back to child's pose, exhale. Alright. Let's do two more rounds together.

Inhale table. And exhale lower down. Inhale cobra and exhale child. One more time. Table top breath in. The breath out lowers you. Perfect. Inhale, cobra.

And exhale child. This time we inhale our way back to table, curl the toes, maybe push the seat back a little bit. Emphasis is on the toe stretch. So you're in, like, a long extended arm position, abbreviated child's pose as you're pushing back to get that toe stretch to prep for down dog. Now from here, Left the knees.

Keep pushing the seat back. Lift the seat up. Nice and high downward dog. Now for the first dog pose, you might take your feet out wide. This might help with just kind of, you know, opening up the low back or the hamstrings and calves. Walk it out.

So press one heel down. So let's really push the left heel down toward the ground. Bend your right leg. And make it a little more of an, like, an effort to push through the right hand. The right hand and left heel.

That kind of cross body pressing downward feeling. And then do it same with the other side. So bend the left, straighten the right leg, pushing through the left hand, pushing through the right heel. Perfect. Walk the hands back toward the back of the mat.

Forward fold. Half lift breath in. And forward fold breath out. Straight in the front, the right leg, bend the left, Come up onto your fingertips. Maybe even a little bit higher. Take the left arm inside the left knee, calf area.

Right leg straight, as I said. Now turn and twist open, reaching the right arm nice and high. Breath in, always on the opening, breath out on the release. So as you're releasing down, you're bending the right leg straightening the left, lengthening the spine to twist on the inhale open to the left. Reaching the left hand high to the sky.

Exhale. Reverse it down. One more to the right Sidoti. So straighten the right leg, bend the left, twist open to the right. Big breath in and bring it down. Good. Bend the right straight in the left. Twist.

Open to the left. Offer yourself up a big smile. Healthy breath, exhale. Bring it down. He'll toe the feet out toward the edge of the mat. So the heels stay on the mat.

The toes come off. Drop the seat down to your first squat. Right? That might be Up top. It might be super low. Just kind of feel it out. Maybe wander a little left, a little right.

And then you're gonna come back into a forward fold. So, as you lift your seat, Keep your feet the way they are or point them forward and fold. Breathe in here. Breathe out. Open the feet. Drop the seat. Squat. Malasana.

Very nice. One more time. Breeze. So, breathe in here. So, you have the exhale to take you into the forward fold. Walk the hands back out toward the front of the mat. Land in dog pose.

Feel it. And we're gonna tiptoe the feet to the front of the mat. So walk nice and slow. You might, as you step the left foot forward, push the left heel down, get that strong stretch to the back of the leg. And then step the right foot a little further, do the same thing. Push. You're kind of coming into a a long forward fold now, so you might have to come to your fingertips to assist or the blocks I mentioned.

Continue to step, tiptoe, walk with intention. Good. Both feet to the front, about hip width, finish with an exhale as you arrive, inhale to a long spine, half lift, and exhale fold. As you're folding, maybe you have your your blocks nearby. Put them on the medium height. It's to the outside of the feet, so we have them there as we continue on.

So let's breathe out one more forward fold breath here. Bend the knees, rise all the way up, reach the arms up to the sky, and exhale the hands to your heart. Perfect. Shoot the hands straight up. Breathe in.

Breathe out. Forward fold. Half lift. Maybe the fingertips are on those blocks now. Bent knees. Push the hips back, lengthen the spine. Step the right foot all the way back. Bring the right knee down.

I like to, when I first come into low lunge, have those blocks now up on the highest level. That way, arms can kinda stay straight. The toes can be the right toes can be curled or flat up to you. And then just sort of like see where the hips are specifically your hip flexors on the right. And you might kind of come in and out like pulse using the breath. Inhale away. Exhale in.

Inhale away. Exhale in. Now if you come back out and you make it a little bit more of like a ninety degree front leg, ninety degree back leg, take the left hand to the left thigh, and the right arm reaches straight up and then tip over to the left, and you may just feel a really nice, long, strong stretch through the right side of the body there. And the benefit, keep the toes of that right foot curled and really push into the foot stretch the entire foot and toes specifically. Perfect.

Back to center and now twist to the left like those arms nice and open. If you want a little a sists. Take the right hand to the left knee or thigh and open up that left arm. The big wing. Keep the core engaged.

Back to center, grab that trusty strap of yours. So this is one of my favorites. So grab the strap or whatever you have. The palms facing forward and maybe for this one, you can take them about shoulder, hip width, drop into the lunge, untuck the toes, And now draw the shoulders open, the chest open. Take the gaze gently upward.

And slowly out. While we're here, we'll take the strap now overhead. Find that ninety ninety position. It's another way to Get that lateral stretch for the spine. That's so as stretch. Tipping over to the left.

And you can bring the strap out in front of you as well and rotate a few times. So exhale twist to the left. Inhale center, exhale. You can do it a little more vigorously. Good. Inhale. The arms up overhead. Get that last big opening.

And then set the strap down off to the side. We'll use it on the other side. Take the hands to the block. Step forward forward fold. Inhale half lift and fold exhale. Inhale.

Rise up, reach up, stretch up, and exhale hands to your heart. Inhale. Shoot the arms up. Open up baby backbend there. Exhale. Forward fold. Inhale lengthen. Exhale. Step that left foot back.

Bring your knee down. It's gonna move in and out a few times. You can untuck the back toes. Kinda like get into the ankle, the knee, the left hip. It's nice to have the blocks.

You don't have to hunch over too much. Right? And lift the chest, draw the shoulders back. You can stay here as long as you'd like. And come out of the pose. So, you're in more of a neutral position. Tuck the back toes.

Bring the right hand to the right thigh like a stabilizer. Bring the left arm high. Now, push into the left toes like you're trying to lift that left knee. Don't lift it, but just create some stability there and then tip over to the right So you're not just over stretching. There's like a combination of like stability and stretch through that. Well, through maybe where you're feeling it.

The left leg and hip. Perfect. Bring both up. Open everything up here. Now, open the arms, bring the left hand to the right knee. The right arm opens out.

So you have this nice big open arm twist both arms or using this left hand to support. Perfect. Back over to center. Grab the strap. Okay. Take that again about hip width.

Palms facing forward. I'm gonna untuck the toes for now. We're gonna lean into the pose a bit. Straightening the arms. Good. Drawing the fist down toward the ground.

This will straighten the arms, move into the shoulders, move into the chest. You can gaze upward a bit, Just make sure you can get some good, healthy, fulfilling breath. So important to keep those shoulders open. We round and round and round. Let's stay open.

Okay. Slowly back out and then I'll just show you the 2 other poses that we did, but with strap. So arms up. Let me fix my strap. Kind of obsessed with straps these days and keeping them nice and aligned and tidy. Okay. So arms up overhead.

So same thing. Toes curled left leg engaged. That's lift up and over to the right. You can go in and out, right? Come out of it, inhale, exhale up and over to the right. Up to center and over to the right. Pulling hard on the strap. Now, to center with the strap, breathe in and exhale.

Good. You can breathe out of the mouth. If you'd like, just try to breathe in through the nose as much as you can. Alright. One time overhead. Big generous breath in and out. Good. Come out of that position. Set the strap down.

You can keep the the blocks there for now. In fact, let's put the blocks on the medium. Step back into downward facing dog. So we have the little assist of the blocks. You may notice a big difference in what's available in the legs here with the hands a little bit higher on the blocks.

Maybe even put them on the lowest level. Mindful of your balance as you're doing that. I think blocks get a bad rep, you know, that seems like you are a beginner or you're weak or you're, you know, something negative, but it can be such a positive to use the blocks. Brings the ground up a little bit higher. Now, just do this as like a nice little practice.

Move the blocks out of the way. We're gonna lower down. So move into plank pose. Are one and only plank today. And if that's the case, let's hold it for a few moments.

So, wrist, elbows, shoulders aligned, legs engaged, lift your seat up a little higher than you think Try not to drag it down or drop it down too much. The core muscles nice and engaged. Breathe in. As you breathe out, lower all the way down. Let's move the blocks off to the Sidoti.

Maybe put them off in front of the strap there. Lower all the way down. I'll take your right arm out to the side. Reach it as far open as you can. Keep the left arm, bent alongside the body.

Now, use the left hand to roll yourself over onto that right arm. Take the left, the bent left leg back behind your right leg. So this might be an intense shoulder stretch. You might feel it in your low back and your hips. If it's too much on the shoulder, you can change the angle. You can bring the arm down.

You can bring it up. You can bend it, but that's gonna be even more intense in the chest muscle. Lots of options. Good. Slowly roll out. And as you're rolling out, slide your left arm over.

Reaching over as far as you can and then use a little assist on that right arm and open up. Right foot back behind the left. Keep feeling. Being aware of what's happening in your body. That's gonna be the best way for you to cue in and out of postures. Listen. Listen.

Pay attention. Be kind to yourself. Beautiful. Let's come back out. Good. Now, inhale through a little cobra pose.

And exhale back to child's pose. You can stretch the arms long along out in front of you toward the front of the mat. You can take the arms alongside your legs. Forehead down toward the mat. Roll the forehead from side to side.

Good stretch. The arms back out in front of you. Come into tabletop, and we'll just kinda kick right on over onto our seat. Spin around. Okay. Take the arms out in front of you. Almost like we're gonna come into a boat pose, but we're not. We're going to tuck the chin, roll down onto your low back, mid back all the way down.

Hug the knees in. I like to grab hold of behind the hamstrings. Grab hold of a wrist or your fingers. Rock a little side to side. And bring the feet back down. Feed are below the knees.

General alignment would be to reach your fingertips towards your heels. This might give you the sense of feeling like your feet or your ankles are below your knees and press up for bridge. As you're pressing your hips up, walk the shoulders. Keep your arms straight for now alongside the body. Walk the shoulders and shoulder blades as close to one another as you can.

Press into the feet evenly. Press the hips nice and high. And then bend the arms like a robot arm. Right? See if you can push into the arms just even more to get that opening across the chest. Then the fingers can rest on the belly or the rib cage or the hips. Pushing to the big toe mound, the heel, the pinky toe side. Stay lifted with the hips here.

Undue the shoulders. Shoulder blades reach up to the sky You get that sense of feeling the center of your back. Now lift your heels and try to roll down one, like, upper vertebra to the lower to the lower to the lower to the lower to the lower to the lower. Arms out wide, bent knees, legs, 90 degrees, double knee twist to the right. So as you're resting your knees over toward the right, try to create some space between your shoulder blades.

Maybe take the right hand on top of the left thigh. Give yourself a little extra. Twist. As you're exhaling, you're guiding the tummy inward. Continuing with that even flow of breath as best you can.

Now slowly come back up to center. You can just take the knees right on over to the left. Reach the right arm out. Again, organize the shoulders and shoulder blades in such a way that you feel really kind of flush and grounded there. And then the left hand can rest on that right thigh to give a little extra stretch.

The gaze is upward, maybe over to the right. The breath is even and calm. And as I said in the intro, right, it's a practice you can do every day. These postures are very helpful in kind of creating balance in the body, the legs, the spine, chest, and shoulders. The awareness of the breath of the practice reminds you to breathe throughout the day.

Good. Bringing these back up to center. The feet down to the ground and then slide the legs all the way out. Bring the arms alongside the body, but create some space there. So the palms facing up, legs as wide as the mat. Lift the head, drop the head back down. Just kind of like do all the things you would need to do to make yourself feel very comfortable Take a deep breath in.

Hold it for a moment and exhale everything out of the mouth. Again, inhale. And exhale. Allow your body to rest. That feeling of letting go of all muscular tension. Expectations.

Right here right now. Rest. Resting. You're welcome to stay as long or as little as you'd like. If you'd like to join me at the front of the mat, Make your way up. Right. Where we started.

You can sit up nice and tall. Hands rest at the knees. Maybe the eyes close for now. Just take a moment, your own personal moment. Press the palms together and allow the forehead to drop down toward the fingertips and just If it aligns with you, just feel nothing but gratitude, you know, just for being able to move and breathe for that alone.

And maybe if you would like to take some time to create an intention for the day, quality you'd like to carry throughout patience, kindness, letting go. We end with Namaste. Thank you. Have a beautiful day. I'll see you next time.