- Howdy do, everyone and welcome to your 31 day Yoga Revolution. It's day 18 and today we practice balance. Let's get started. (lively orchestral music) Alright, let's start standing today. Great work so far, everyone. Today is day 18, so we're going to, I feel like it's time for, first of all, a little creaky old floor, and for a little balancing flow, so today's gonna be tight, swift, and feel good. Stay focused on your breath. We're gonna start with a little warmup of the ankles, so shift your weight to one foot, doesn't matter which one, bring the hands together, you can bring them in prayer. Start to breathe and just rotate one ankle one way and then the other. And right away, start to create a little full body experience. Notice how you're working on your balance and finding support from within right away. And then we'll switch, other ankle, one way and then the other. Think about drawing circles with your toes. Fabulous, then shift, we're gonna shake that foot out, shake, shake, shake. Really shake the whole leg. Let go of the day thus far. Look at me, I'm gettin' really into it. Shake it off and then other leg, shake it off, nice and easy. Just connecting to the muscles of the abdominal wall here as we balance. Woo, alright, and then bring the feet together, really together, and then we'll just take the hands for a little ride, wrist circles one way. And then the other. Wonderful, then shake it off. Great, then come to stand at the head of your mat, feet together, and right away we'll move with the breath. Inhale, reach for the sky. Feel a big stretch here, so we're not just inhaling and reaching the hands for the sky, but we're embodying, right, this full body stretch, so stretch, stretch, stretch. Make the most of this stretch. Really tall. And then exhale, cascade it all the way down. Bend the knees generously. Bring the belly towards the tops of the thighs and then take a couple seconds here to stretch out, stretch out through the hips, the legs. Let the blood flow to your brain here. Soften through the shoulders. Start to breathe a little deeper, fuller. And then when you're ready, inhale, lift up, halfway. Loop the shoulders, pull the elbows back, find length. Exhale, soften and bow. Bend the knees, fingertips come to the mat. We'll slide the left toes back. Lower the left knee gently down to your yoga mat. Inhale, loop the shoulders. Look forward. Press into the top of the back foot. Take one more breath here. Inhale in. Exhale, pull the right hip crease back, half splits. And as you work here, keep your right knee bent. So really stretching, not just in these muscles that get overworked, but in the big part of the muscle. Bend your knee. Then rolling through, lift your back knee up. Inhale, look forward. Exhale, plant the palms. Step the right toes back, our first Plank of today's practice, nice and strong. Clear the thinking mind. Stick with your breath. Inhale in. Exhale, feel free to lower the knees here and we'll come all the way down to the belly. Inhale, baby Cobra. Lift up through your heart, tuck the chin. Exhale to release. Great, curl the toes under. Power up, lift the knees, tone the quads. When you're ready, inhale, press up, top of a pushup. Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Take your dog for a little walk. Continue to warm up through the body. So we're playing, balancing out yesterday's beautiful practice of stillness. We're finding a little more movement today. And then when you're ready, step your left toes all the way up. Lower the back knee. Thought I saw a little big. And then loop the shoulders, open the chest. Press into the top of your back foot. Breathing deep here. Inhale in, open the chest. And then exhale, send the left hip crease back. Again, bend that left knee. Breathe here. To intensify the stretch, you can reach the fingertips towards the front edge of your mat. Start to really stoke the fire, breathe deep. And then we'll roll on through the left foot. Big inhale to open your chest, look forward. And then lift the back knee. Plant the palms, and we step the left toes back. Plank pose. And you can lower the knees here if you like. Big inhale. Exhale, lower all the way down to the belly. Bring the legs together, arch to arch. Squeeze the legs together. Press into the tops of the feet. And this time, swim the fingertips around to interlace behind your tail. Then again, keep trying your best to press the tops of the feet down into the earth. Press the pubic bone down into the earth, and then draw the knuckles towards your heels as you slowly lift the chest up. Keep the chin tucking into the chest here and try to lift your heart space up a little more. Now breathe into your belly. And release, gorgeous, hands come underneath the shoulders. Curl the toes under, lift the knees, tone the quads. Claw into the earth. As you inhale, press up, strong Plank. Exhale to your Downward Dog. Alright, we're starting to warm up here. Again, give your thinking mind a break. Check in with your breath. Check in with your body. And when you're ready, inhale, lift the right leg up high. Today bend the right knee. And then turn your right toes over towards the left. Try to keep the hips level, so if you want to take a moment to stretch here, really stretch, you can, but then try to keep the hips level and try to press into both palms evenly. Again, welcoming stability to the joints here. Inhale in. Exhale, right knee to right tricep. Gaze straight down. So upper body's in Plank. Inhale, Three-legged Dog. Exhale, step it all the way up and into your lunge. Lower the back knee. Inhale, fingertips reach forward, up, and back. Big stretch here. Exhale, bend the elbows, thumbs back, pinkies forward. Then inhale to rise up. And exhale, all the way back down. Curl the back toes under. Open the chest, inhale. Exhale, step it back. You can move through a vinyasa here or take it straight to Downward Facing Dog. That's where we'll meet. Big breaths. When you're ready, drop the right heel down and inhale, lift the left leg up high, Three-legged Dog. Press into both palms evenly. Then bend the left knee. And open, left toes over towards the right. So you can stack the hips here if it feels good for a second, but then make sure you're not dumping all your weight into your right shoulder. So square it off. Find the integrity. Then pressing into your fingertips, think about drawing a line up and over, so instead of cutting through, go all the way up, draw a big rainbow with the left knee all the way up and over to the left tricep. Gaze straight down. Press away from your yoga mat. Then inhale, Three-legged Dog. Nice work, exhale, step it all the way up into your lunge. Lower the back knee and inhale, sweep the arms forward, up, and back, big breath here. Exhale, bend the elbows. Thumbs back, pinkies forward. Really lift up through your chest. Then inhale, head over heart, heart over pelvis. Hug the lower ribs in. And exhale, all the way back down. Awesome work. Curl the back toes under. Inhale, look forward. Exhale, plant the palms. You move through a vinyasa here or go straight to Downward Dog. Yogi's choice. Moving with your breath. Big inhale to open your heart. Big exhale to send it back. Nice work. Now, here we go, press into both palms evenly in Down Dog. Then hug everything to the midline. Use your imagination to really hug into that center plumb line, and slowly see if you can reach your right fingertips all the way up to touch your heart space. Then release it down. Left fingertips, see if you can do it without moving the hips, touch your heart. And release. And right. And release. And left. Woo, it's tricky. And one more time on each side. Try to keep your hips where they are in space. And one more time. Fabulous, lower the knees. Take a break, Child's Pose, or you can move through a vinyasa. So you move through a vinyasa or you're in Child's Pose. Wherever you are, you're breathing. And then we'll meet in a little Hero variation. So, lower your knees, come here or roll up from Child's Pose, come here. This is where we'll meet. Send your left hand, palm face up on top of your, excuse me, your right hand on top of your left, and then lift up through the armpit chest. Breathe deeply. Nice, even breaths. Then slowly walk the knees as wide as your yoga mat, a little love for the wrists, we're gonna swim the fingertips around, so right fingertips are gonna go towards the right. We open that pickle jar we've been doing, and then to the left. And then we're gonna come down to the earth with the hands, and if this is too much, you can lift the bum to ease up on the stretch but in time you might be able to send the hips all the way back. Now open the chest, play with that rotation of the shoulders, so we're not here, but we're dropping it down, plug it in. And then let's balance out whatever might need a little tending to. Sometimes we don't even have to ID it. We just come into the moment, clear the channels with awareness and with breath. So big inhale. Exhale, lion's breath, tongue out. (exhaling breath) And so you inhale, find that buoyancy, and the exhale, you draw it in as we've been doing, hugging all the muscles of the abdominal wall in, in, in. Stick your tongue out and look up at the sky or your third eye. Your inner teacher, your point of intuition. Let's do it, keep pressing away from your fingerprints. Inhale in. Exhale, lion's breath, don't be shy. Great, one more on the exhale. Really plug those shoulders in. Big inhale. Have some fun and exhale. (laughs) And then release. Fabulous. Walk the hands out. Walk the knees in. Downward Facing Dog. Wonderful. Big inhale to lift the right leg up high. Exhale, knee to nose. Cross the right ankle over the top of the left thigh here. Send your hips back, Downward Dog. Peek at me if you need to. Breathing deep. Tug the shoulders in, you got this. Inhale in. Exhale to release, knee to nose. Inhale, right leg up high. Exhale, all the way up and into your lunge. Lower the back knee. Inhale, sweep the arms up and overhead, you got this. And then exhale, thumbs back, pinkies forward. Open the chest, bend the elbows. Inhale, lift your heart. Exhale, rain it down. Plant the palms, lift the back knee. You can move through a flow here or straight to Downward Facing Dog. Move with your breath, just depends on your energy level today. From Downward Dog, take an inhale. And exhale. And then on your next inhale, lift the left leg up high. Exhale, knee to nose. Cross the left ankle over the top of the right thigh and send the hips back again, Down Dog. You got this, big breath in. Then exhale, knee to nose. Inhale, Three-legged Dog. And exhale, step it all the way up into your lunge. Lower the back knee down. Big breath as you sweep the fingertips forward, up, and back. And then exhale, open your heart. Lift up from the pelvic floor. Find the opposition. Balance out those two opposing forces as you lift your chest. And then inhale, tuck the chin, reach up. Exhale, rain it down. Plant the palms, curl the back toes under. Straight to Down Dog or you move through a little vinyasa here. In Down Dog, we're gonna walk the hands all the way towards the toes. So you'll walk your hands all the way to the toes. I'm gonna come to the center of my mat just for you, but you can end up wherever. And then you're gonna walk the fingers, the hands under your toes, so that the toes meet right where the wrist creases are. And you can stand a little wide for more stability. And then wiggle your toes and rock front to back. Shake the head loose here. We'll be here for a couple breaths. Nice, therapeutic posture. Bring the breath. (exhaling and inhaling) And then slowly releasing one hand and then the other. Bend the knees, inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, soften and bow. Keep those soft knees as you roll it all the way up. Loop the shoulders, lift the chest. Take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. Great, draw your hands together at your heart. And slowly, bring the feet together, and nice and slow, lift the right knee up again. Careful not to catch it right away, so we're working these muscles nice and slow, maybe even you lift it up and down a couple times. And then when you're ready, we have a couple options here. So we can practice in Tree again, maybe keeping the toe on the earth, below the knee, or grabbing and bringing it above the knee. Or, another variation for today is we might lift the knee, cross the right ankle over the left. You can even use your hands to lift it up a little bit. Keep active toes if you're gonna practice this variation. And then we lift the heart. Squeeze everything into the midline. So really we're balancing the energy. We're using the balancing posture to play with all this sun and moon energy, right, the masculine, the feminine. I always talk about it as places where we can lift and places where we can ground. So you can stay here or maybe you're working in Tree. If you'd like to go a little deeper today, loop the shoulders, keep your heart lifted, active toes, maybe you take it over into the forward fold. Whatever variation, you're breathing deeply. If you're in the Forward Fold, you'll want to practice a toe stand, you might lift the left heel, come down, keep that piece of paper between your bum and your heel, so find that lift, and then you'll work to bring the hands together here. Okay, there's also an arm balance here. You can plant the palms, work to bring your leg up to a little shelf here. So we are working in all different levels, all different energy levels, that is. Exploring who we are and where we are today. Big hip opener here. Please breathe deep. Careful not to grip in the toes. And then slowly make your way back to Mountain Pose. Nice and slow, being mindful the whole way through. Then everyone, kick your right leg out, as if you're kicking your foot into a wall, hi-yah. And then release, woo. Shake it off. Other side. So we're working in Tree Pose. Lift the left knee up couple times, engage. Create a full body experience. So again, what I mean by that is we're not just grabbing and hoisting and then holding, and praying for dear life. We're really coming to the role of the observer, observing how we get in and out of things, what needs listening, what needs connecting, what needs balancing? We're working in Tree Pose or you can cross the left ankle over the right thigh. Feel free to use your hands. Active feet. Strong breath. And then maybe you stay there, holding onto your focus. Or maybe you take it into a Forward Fold. Soft bend in that standing leg. Breathing deep. There's a lot going on here and every side is different, so be present, maybe it's an arm balance for you. Maybe it's coming down to the toe stand, but whatever it is, nice, present, full breath. If your breath gets restricted, come out, ease up. Be sweet. Then wherever you are, take one more big inhale in and use your exhale to connect to your standing foot and slowly roll back up. Then everyone inhale, paint the wall with your left foot, paint the wall. And we come back to Tadasana. Awesome work. Bring the feet together, shake it out if you need to. Big inhale to lift your heart. Big exhale to relax your shoulders down. Inhale, reach for the sky. And exhale, forward fold. You're gonna walk your hands out to Downward Facing Dog. So you just get centered on your mat wherever you are, nice and soft and easy. And we'll from here, big inhale as you shift forward into Plank, last Plank. And then exhale, lower all the way down to the belly. Bring the feet together, legs together, squeeze. Interlace the fingertips behind. This time opposite thumb on top than you did before, so the weird one. Press into your foundation and inhale, draw the knuckles away, open the chest. Breathe into your belly here, big balloon breaths. And then here we go, chest lifts back, throat lifts back, and then maybe send your gaze forward. And release everything. Awesome, you're gonna turn to rest on your right ear. Let your hands release and then let your big toes come together and your heels splay out left to right. Relax your shoulders. Should feel good here. You can even shake the hips a little side to side if it feels good. Start to relax. Shake the hips. Wonderful. Then turn onto your left ear, even it out, shake the hips. Listen to the sound of your breath. Wonderful, slide the hands back up underneath the shoulders. Bring the head back to center. We'll come up through tabletop position. And then swing the legs around. Send both legs out long. Heels as wide as your yoga mat. When you're ready, sit up nice and tall. So for a lot of people just sitting up tall here is active. If you need more, lift the heels. And if you need more, press into the palms, lift your bum. It's helpful to have blocks here. Maybe you do that a couple times. Maybe you're just working with the breath here. Wonderful, then draw the left heel in, Janu Sirsasana. We'll send our center to look past the right toes, so I'll shift my weight here a little bit. So you pull the right hip crease back, so you're facing your right toes. Then inhale, reach for the sky. And exhale, think up and over. Fold, you can grab the outer edge of your foot. You can grab your shin. Use your hands to frame the ankle. Breathe here. Active toes. Then stay here, carefully bring your right elbow or your right arm to the inseam of your leg. Sometimes it's nice to lift the earth up with a block here, but for the Yoga Revolution, I've decided to not use the blocks since not everyone has them, so we can just work here. So if you're feeling like it's a bit tough, you can bring the elbow to the foot even as a little lift. And we're gonna open up, left fingertips up towards the sky. Find that maybe here. And you might just stay here feeling big, grand stretch in the left side body, open through the heart. Or you might take it up and over. And you might even be able to grab your foot one day, especially with that block and breathe here. So just check it out, one more breath or two here, exploring. And then release, come back to center, and we'll switch the legs out. So drawlll. Whoa, talk about a drawl. Draw the right heel in. Extend the left leg out long. And then shift your weight so you're facing your left toes. And take a deep breath in. Reach for the sky. Move with your breath, think up and over as you exhale. Play here. Stay present. Top of the right thighbone is melting down. Top of the left thighbone's melting down. (laughs) Take one more breath here. Then shift your left elbow towards the inseam. You might even lift it up onto the foot or maybe on the thigh. If you have a block, you can grab it and put it underneath. Then here we go, inhale, opening up, right fingertips towards the sky. You might just stay here using that inhale to find buoyancy, expansion. And you might take it all the way up and overhead. Spiral your heart towards the sky. Pull your right thumb back. Inhale. Big stretch, be mindful. As you exhale, release all the way back down. Awesome work. Bring both feet together, heels together. Grab the ankles. Open the feet like a book here and then inhale, hug the heels in as close as they can get without you finding curvature in the spine. So may not be that close. May be far out. Far out, dude. Inhale. And exhale. Big inhale, lift your chest even more. And big exhale. One more time, lift your heart even more. Ground down through the tops of thighs. And then we'll release. Awesome work. Come onto your back. Windshield wiper the knees back and forth a little bit, side-to-side, and then we're gonna move into a reclined twist, and it's your choice if you want it to be heavy and still or if you want it to find movement. So you'll lift the knees up and you'll either pause to one side and then the other, or you'll keep rocking back and forth, back and forth. And come back to center. Extend the legs out long. Tuck the chin. Lengthen through the back of the neck. And bring your arms gently to rest at your side. Get situated here. Maybe snuggle the shoulder blades underneath your heart space. Soften through the fingertips and toes. Take a deep breath in. And exhale out through the mouth. Inhale, lots of love in. Exhale, lots of love out. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your energy with me. We are killin' it together. So wonderful to be on this journey with you. I'll see you tomorrow. Great work today. Namaste. (lively orchestral music)