- Howdy everyone, welcome to Flow, your 30 Day Yoga Journey. It's Day 4. Let's move. (light rhythmic music) Alright, let's begin on the ground. We're gonna get moving, wink, wink right away today. So we're gonna come on down to all fours to begin. Of course, take your time getting there. Hi sweet, Benji. Really? Really sharing the mat with me today? Tabletop Position, pardon me. As you're ready, drop the belly, open the chest, take a deep breath in. Pause here. Stay for a couple breaths. You can wag the tail a little left to right. Start to feel your hands really connect to the earth, the tops of the feet. And then on an exhale, round through the spine and stay here for a couple breaths. Just dropping in, letting your attention land here on the mat for the duration of this practice. And then letting it flow with the breath. Inhale, drop the belly, look forward. Exhale, round the spine, chin to chest. Inhale, drop the belly, look forward. Exhale, round the spine, chin to chest. One last time with your breath. Now curl the toes under, send the hips back, but keep the palms where they are. Inhale, find extension through the crown of the head. Tuck the chin slightly. Exhale, stay here, try to press into your pinky toes. Peek it me if you need to here. You're pressing away from the earth with your palms. You're pressing back with your hips, pinky toes reaching towards the mat and crown of the head is extending out. Take one more breath here. Ooh, waking up the feet. Beautiful, then come forward back to all fours. Press into the tops of the feet now. You're gonna turn your fingers out towards the left and right side of your mat. Then we're gonna take small circles one way. And then the other. Take your time. Feel it out. And then maybe you stop here or maybe we keep turning the fingertips towards the body. And take our circles again here. Stretching through the hands, the wrists, the forearms. And reversing your circle if you haven't already. And then releasing. Hands come forward, knees go as wide as the mat. We send it back, Child's Pose. Deep breath in, close your eyes as you exhale, land here now in this present moment. And see if you can allow your breath to move you here. Feel the inflation as you breathe in, this expansion in the rib cage. And then this softening, the slow descent as you exhale. And try to create a little wave here with the breath. You can feel the torso rise and fall. And then see if you can exaggerate it a little more so that you're creating a wave in the spine with your breath. And this could be really, really, really small, more energetic, or it can start to manifest in a physical gesture, just play. Press back up to all fours. Walk the hands all the way back, curl the toes under, and here we are in our little froggy squat. Take a deep breath in. Exhale, lift the hips up high, Standing Forward Fold at the back edge of the mat. Bend your knees here. Let's take a couple cycles of breath here to find some movement that feels good. Keep it nice and slow. You can walk the fingertips to the right. Walk them to the left. Maybe you interlace the fingers behind the calves. Clasp opposite elbow. Just take a couple breaths here to find what feels good. Return to a deep breath. Shake the weight of the head a little bit so that you're not clenching in the neck. And when you're ready, let's slowly draw energy up through the feet, begin to roll up, bend the knees. As you stand up nice and tall, reach for the sky, deep breath in, big breath, big stretch and then exhale, dive right back down into the fold. Slowly walk the hands out to a Plank or you can lower the knees for a Half Plank today. And we'll breathe here, seeing if we can recruit a few more muscles in the abdominal wall here by drawing a navel up and in. Hugging the low ribs up and in, lengthening through the crown. Good, inhale in here. Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Pedal it out. Get really long in the side body. Lift up through the hip creases. Make sure you're not holding or clenching in the neck. And just a couple moments here to see if you can find a little wave, a little movement in the spine. Let your breath inspire it. Maybe bend your knees if that feels good. And after a couple of waves, drop the heels, inhale in. Exhale, we're gonna make our way to the top of the mat, nice and slow. This time, see if you can draw your feet together, really together, and then bend your knees so your belly comes to the tops of your thighs. Inhale in here. Exhale, slow and steady, roll up to Mountain. Stand up nice and tall, find a gentle lift in the heart, We're gonna swim the fingertips around to interlace behind the back here. You can bring the palms together or just square off through the wrist. Again, lift up through the heart space, lengthen through the crown of the head. Inhale in. Exhale, bend the knees. Send the heart, chest forward. Belly comes to the tops of the thighs, once again, as the knuckles go all the way up towards the sky. Take a deep breath. Exhale with control, best you can, release the arms. Inhale, halfway lift, find a nice long spine. Exhale, soften and bow. Step the right foot back, step the left foot back to Plank. Inhale in, exhale, knees, chest, chin, lower. Inhale, lift up to Cobra. Exhale to soften and release. Inhale to press up to Plank or all fours. Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Inhale, lift the right leg up high. Exhale, step it forward into your lunge. Pull the right hip crease back. Inhale, exhale, bend the right knee. Inhale, pull the right hip crease back. Exhale, bend the right knee. Inhale, pull the right hip crease back. Exhale, bend the right knee. Then keep this back knee lifted as you sweep the arms forward, up and back into high lunge. You got this. Bend the back knee just a little bit to get your center underneath you. Front knee's bent, legs are nice and strong and active. You got this. Inhale, lift the chest, maybe look up. Exhale, bring it all the way back down to your mat. Keep that back knee lifted, left hand comes to the ground, right fingertips trace a line. Remember, think about how you move here. Trace a line all the way up towards the sky. Think about aligning your shoulders. Think about lengthening the crown of the head and reaching the left heel back. Inhale in, wiggle the right fingertips. Exhale, slowly bring it back down to your lunge. Inhale to step it back. Exhale, knees, chest and chin come to the ground, we inhale, swim the heart up. Exhale, soften it back down. Inhale to press up to Plank. Exhale to Downward Facing Dog. Inhale, lift the left leg up high. Exhale, slowly shift it forward into your lunge. Inhale, pull the left hip crease back, straighten that leg. Exhale, bend. Front knee over front ankle. Inhale, pull the left hip crease back. Exhale, bend. Inhale, pull the left hip crease back. Exhale, bend. Squeeze the inner thighs to the midline. Slowly come up to your high lunge. Sweep the fingertips forward, up and back. Get the head, the heart and the pelvis in alignment, so you might have to bend your back knee to scoop that pelvis underneath. You inhale, lift the heart, breathe deep. Strong legs here, soft in the skin of the face. Exhale, release it all the way back down. Right hand comes to the earth. Left hip crease pulls back as we slowly trace a line with the left fingertips all the way up for our twist. Reach that right heel back, crown of the head forward. Inhale, wiggle the left fingertips. Exhale, slowly bring it back down to your lunge. Step that left foot back, we're moving and grooving now. Inhale in here. Exhale, belly to Cobra, knees, chest and chin, or Chaturanga to Upward Facing Dog. Find your flow, inhale to lift the heart. Take your time, exhale, make your way to Downward Facing Dog. Inhale in deeply through the nose. And exhale this time out through the mouth. Again, inhale in deeply through the nose. And exhale out through the mouth. Now bend the knees, inhale, look forward, and exhale, make your way to the top of your mat. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, soften and fold. Inhale, root to rise here, reach for the sky. Exhale, release the fingertips down, interlace them behind your back. This time, opposite thumb on top. So whatever thumb you didn't put on top last time. It's usually the one that feels a little funky. Draw the shoulder blades together, lift the chest. And on your next breath in, carve a line with the nose, look up. On your breath out, bend your knees generously, belly comes to the tops of the thighs and knuckles go all the way up towards the sky. Deep breath in here, as my friend Marnie likes to say, "Resist the slingshot effect here," so slow and with control, release the bind. Fingertips come down and we inhale, halfway lift, your version. Exhale, soften and fold. Step the right foot back. Step the left foot back. Inhale in. Exhale, lower to your belly or Chaturanga. Inhale, rise up, Cobra or Upward Facing Dog. And exhale to release. Meeting spot is Downward Dog. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in, maybe a little wave in the spine. And breathe out. On your next inhale, lift the left leg up high. Exhale, shift it forward, knee to nose. Inhale, kick it up. Slow and steady, exhale, left knee to left elbow. Inhale, kick it up. Exhale, cross it over, left knee to right elbow. Inhale, kick it up. And exhale, step it all the way forward. Lovely, pivot on the back foot. Nice and slow we rise up strong. Strong foundation here, Warrior II. Stacking the spine. Really reaching the fingertips out. Back toes are turned in. Engage the right inner thigh, breathe in. Then sink deep into that front leg. So keep that knee deeply bent as you reach the left fingertips up and over. We're building strength here from the ground up. Hug those low ribs in, Peaceful Warrior. Nice, and then take up space as you cartwheel all the way back down to your lunge. Right into your twist, we're moving, inhale, left fingertips reach up towards the sky, lengthen through the crown of the head. And exhale, bring it all the way back down, beautiful. Step the left toes back, inhale in. Exhale, slowly lower to your belly. Inhale, rise up, Cobra or Upward Facing Dog. And exhale, release, Downward Facing Dog. Take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. Deep breath in. And slow descend of the knees down to the earth. Cross the ankles and come through to a seat. Sit up nice and tall here. Head over heart, heart over pelvis. We're gonna bring the fingertips to your shoulders here, elbows wide. Inhale in, exhale, rotate to the right. Inhale to center, exhale, rotate to the left. Now you're gonna keep this going, but find a rhythm that works great for you. Slowly picking up speed. Sending your gaze down gently past your nose here. Drawing your focus inward. Again, maybe the pace of this movement starts to pick up. Everyone, see if you can connect to those low abs here. Transverse, drawing that low belly up out of your pelvis here. Maybe picking up with speed for 10 more seconds. Then release. And slow and steady we're gonna walk the hands out past the right knee. Relax the weight of the head. Inhale in deeply. Exhale, walk it through center, pause, breathe. Reach the arms forward. Inhale in, exhale, walk it past the left knee. Breathing into the stretch. And then roll it up. Switch the cross of your ankles and take it right back out past that left knee as you breathe deeply, soften the skin of the forehead. Stay in the moment if you can, focus on the sound of your breath as you walk it through center. And then walk it out past the right knee, the right edge of your mat. And then roll it up through the spine. Nice. Send the legs out long. Inhale, reach for the sky. Think up and over as you come into your seated Forward Fold. Relax the weight of the head over, breathe. And draw your chin to your chest and slowly begin to roll it up. Press into your hands, shift your hips to the middle of your mat, then extend the legs out long, point your toes, and slowly from here, maybe take the fingertips forward. We're gonna roll down the spine, just checking in. If we've been practicing with each other for a while, we've probably done this transition before, and your legs may fly up, and that's a beautiful moment to practice humility (chuckles) and eventually we'll come here to rest in relaxation. Take a moment here to scan your body. You can close the eyes. If you're craving a hug of the knees or a gentle twist, go ahead and do that now. Otherwise we're going to move into stillness. Take some final deep breaths here and notice how the breath moves you. And then if you haven't come to stillness yet, go ahead and make your way there now so that we can have just a couple moments of exquisite stillness together. Relax the tongue in your mouth. Relax the shoulders, the feet, the ankles. Relax your jaw. Just a moment more to simply be. Just notice how you feel. As you're ready, we'll start to rock the head very slowly, ear to ear, nice little massage back of the head. And allow this movement to inspire some movement in the arms, wrists, fingers. Allow that movement to inspire some gestures with the toes, movement of the ankles, the legs. Nice work everyone. Slowly bring the palms together, thumbs up to the third eye. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, but the hardest part is showing up, so thank you so much for being here and exploring and staying curious. I look forward to doing it again with you tomorrow. Inhale in deeply. Exhale completely. Namaste. (upbeat rhythmic music)