- Hello, my sweet friends. Welcome back to Flow, your 30 Day Yoga Journey. It's Day 27. Can you believe it? Speak. Let's get started. (light rhythmic music) Okay, let's begin in a comfortable seat. Thank you so much for making time for this today. Let's sit up nice and tall. We're gonna interlace the fingertips. Bring them right underneath the chin. Close your eyes if you feel comfortable. Start to breathe with the knuckles pressing right up against the chin. Take a moment here to swallow. Align the head over the heart, the heart over the pelvis. And then on your inhale, we're gonna slowly lift the elbows. Draw the chin all the way up towards the sky. And exhale, return. Inhale, lift. Breathe in, expand through all four sides of the torso. Exhale, return. Inhale, breathe in. Extension through the crown. Exhale. One more time. Inhale. Exhale, this time round the spine, chin to chest. You can keep the hands in prayer if you like. You can say a little prayer if you like. And then release the palms to the knees. Tuck the chin and roll up through the spine. If it feels possible, you might tap into a little, what they call an inner smile for this next set of neck stretches. If it's not in the cards today, I'm certainly not telling you, smile. But just a little invitation to see if that window wants to open, to find a little inner smile, whatever that means to you. So nice and easy left ear over left shoulder. Maybe a little inner smile, maybe not. Breathe. Relax the shoulders with every exhale. With left ear over left shoulder, a possible inner smile, lift the chin and then drop it. Lift the chin slowly. Ooh, and then drop it. Lift the chin. And then draw it in. And one more time lift. And draw it in. Bring the head back through center. Take it to the other side. Right ear over right shoulder. Just pause here, breathe in. Shoulders relax as you breathe out. And lifting the chin. Breathe in, exhale, draw it in. Moving slowly. And then bring it back to center. We're gonna draw circles with the nose. So nice fluid circles with the nose, one way. And then the other. And then come back to center, find stillness. And then come forward onto all fours. Spread the fingertips, press into the tops of the feet. Inhale, drop the belly, look forward. Nice long neck here so we're not crunching in the back of the neck. And then exhale round through the spine, chin to chest. So when we were focusing on root chakra, remember we initiated this from the tail. Can you find this chin to chest lock here today? And then initiate from there. Just play. Continuing to gently deepen your breath. Finding that textured breath. That audible breath. And then slowly bring it back to Tabletop Position. And as you're ready, inhale, send the right toes out, left fingertips forward. Inhale in here, exhale, bend the knee, bend the elbow, keep the neck long. Inhale, extend. Exhale, round everything in, chin to chest. Inhale, extend. Exhale, bend the elbow, bend the knee, neck stays long. Inhale, extend. Exhale, round it in. Press into the knuckles of your right hand. Inhale, extend, last time. Release and switch. Inhale, right fingertips forward, left toes back. Neck stays long. Exhale, bend the knee, bend the elbow. Inhale, extend. Exhale, round it, crown to tail. Inhale, extend, slow controlled movement. Exhale. Inhale. Round it in. And last round, with your breath. Grounding through those left knuckles. After you're done, curl the toes under, walk the hands back for your Froggy Squat. And then maybe you bring the left thumb to the sternum. Maybe you bring the right thumb to the sternum. Inhale in. Exhale, walk it out to Plank. Slow and steady. Lift up through the heart space, tuck the chin, lengthen through the back of the neck. Imagine placing a little teacup on the back of the neck here. Extension through the crown. Inhale in here. Exhale to lower to the belly. Press into the tops of the feet, squeeze the elbows into the side body. Inhale for Cobra. Exhale to release. Press into the tops of the feet. Come to your knees, walk them together, and then send the hips back. Paint your yoga mat with the palms, so drag them back. Flicking some energy behind you as you rest your hands on the earth and come into Balasana. In Balasana, tuck the chin as close as you can to your chest and allow the shoulders to round over. You can take variations of this as needed, of course. We're only here for a few breaths, feeling the skin of the back stretch as you breathe in. And soften as you breathe out. Find Ujjayi breath here. And then slowly reach the fingertips forward, palms connect with the mat. We lead with the heart to come forward back to all fours. Now we're gonna widen the knees as wide as the mat goes. Turn the fingertips externally out. Maybe they go to the left and right edge of your mat or maybe they come in towards the body. Curl the toes under, slowly walk the hands back, lean back. Yep, you guessed it. Inhale, drop the belly. Open the heart, the throat, look forward. Exhale, gaze goes up, tongue goes out. Lion's Breath. Inhale in. Exhale, Lion's Breath, tongue out. One more. Let's do it, deep breath in. Lion's Breath, tongue out. Nice, walk the palms forward. Walk the knees underneath the hips and send the hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog. Breathe in. Breathe out. Finding what feels good in your body here today. Maybe allowing the breath to move you, finding a little ripple in the spine, maybe pedaling it out, stretching through the feet, the calves, the hamstrings. And then as you're ready, slow and steady, step your right foot all the way up into your lunge and lower your left knee to the ground. Fingertips get light here as you loop the shoulders, open the chest, look forward. Then slow and steady, fingertips reach forward, up and back for our Crescent Lunge. Big breath, big stretch, chin up. Interlace the fingertips here, bring them behind the head, carve a line with the nose to look all the way up. Good, slow and steady release with control. Bring the fingertips back down to the mat, nice. Lift the back knee, step the right toes back, belly to Cobra, Chaturanga to Upward Facing Dog or straight to Downward Facing Dog, your choice. Meeting spot is Downward Dog. Shoulders externally rotate, inner thighs internally rotate, hug those low ribs in. Slow and steady, step the left foot all the way up into the lunge. Lower the right knee down. Get light on the fingertips. Loop the shoulders forward, up and back, open the chest, open the throat, look ahead. Then from here, let the fingertips float all the way up. Heart lifts, chest lifts. Interlace the fingertips, bring them behind the head, carve a line with the nose, up, chin up. Breathe. Exhale, slow and with control, all the way back down, lovely. Plant the right palm, step the left toes back, Plank Pose. Inhale in here, shift forward. Exhale, slow and steady, lower to your belly. Inhale, rise up, Cobra. Exhale to soften and bow. From here, interlace the fingertips behind your tailbone and you have an option here. You can keep the feet hip width apart, just gives you a little more space, or you can practice bringing the feet together, really together. Inhale in, exhale, lift the head, the chest, press into the pubic bone. You don't have to lift up high here. Knuckles reach towards the heels. Inhale in, exhale, maybe the feet lift. Breathe. Tuck the chin, neck is long. And then release everything. Press up to all fours. Send it back, Child's Pose, Extended Child's Pose. Breathe in. Breathe out. Close your eyes here in your own private little love cave. Maybe you whisper something nice to yourself here. Say something kind. And if you're at a loss, you're not alone. Just whisper, "I love you." Lead with your heart, slowly lift back up. Come to all fours. Swing the legs around and let's come to lie on our backs. When you get there, bend both knees, soles of the feet come to the mat, palms come to the earth as well. And here we go, lifting with the tailbone, slow and steady, finding that articulation of the spine. We'll lift up, sacrum, mid-back, upper back. And then softening through the sternum to slowly take it back down, the spine. Let's go again, nice and slow, starting with the tailbone, sacrum, low back, mid-back, upper back. And cascading it down, softening the sternum. Let's do one more. This time when you get to the top, stay there and maybe take the bind, interlacing the fingertips, walking the shoulder blades a little bit closer together, lifting the chest to the chin. And then last action point here, chin to the sky. So chest to chin, chin to sky, shins forward, tugging gently back with your heels. Breathe. And then slowly releasing one vertebra at a time. Alright, from here, we're gonna snuggle the shoulder blades under the heart space, press into the palms, take one foot up, then the other. Alright, this could be our stopping point, breathing deep here, feeling that support on the sacrum. Little legs up an imaginary wall here. Another option could be to connect to our core muscles, press into the palms, inhale in, exhale, lift from the pelvic floor, take the toes over the head into a Plow. Snuggle the shoulder blades under the heart space, press the palms into the earth, or you can even grab the outer edges of your mat here. Breathe. Just play. If shoulder stand is in your practice, you can maybe take a moment to practice that, but be really mindful. And if shoulder stand is not already in your practice, save it for another day. From your Plow Pose, bring the hands to the low back. And just like we do in Bridge, you can bend the knees and just slowly, one vertebra at a time, roll it all the way back down. Soles of the feet come together and knees take them wide here, Reclined Cobbler's Pose. Walk the shoulder blades down away from the ears. Inhale in. And exhale. Let everything go. Soften the jaw. Allow your hands to rest gently somewhere on your body, wherever feels good. And just notice the thoughts that come up. Notice the way you speak to yourself on your mat. We use this time to continuously look at that and infuse more compassion, kindness into that language, that vocabulary. You will notice judgment (chuckles) on the mat. That's part of being human. And it's in the noticing, the observing that we get to acknowledge it and make a shift. Bring the fingertips to the outer edges of the legs. Let's close this chapter. Hug the knees into the chest. Inhale in, exhale, round, lifting the nose up towards the knees. Tucking the chin into the chest. Breathe in. Breathe out. Release the feet to the ground as wide as your mat. Knees come to touch. Palms come together up to the third eye here. Notice how you feel. Once again, say something kind to yourself. Say one loving thing. And if you can't think of anything to say, I got you. You're not alone, trust me. Just quietly whisper to yourself, "I love you." I love you. Great work. Thanks for staying open. Thank you for bringing your heart and consciousness to this practice. You rock. I'll see you tomorrow. 'Til then, let's take one more deep breath in and a long breath out to seal the deal for today. Namaste. (upbeat rhythmic music)