- Hi everyone.

Welcome back to Flow,
your 30 Day Yoga Journey.

You are in the right place
at the right time because it is

Day 8 and on Day 8
we take a load off.

So if you have a blanket or

a pillow you'd like to
bring to this practice,

go ahead and grab it.
If not, no worries.

We're gonna relax
a little bit today,

stretch things out and get
ready for week 2 the proper way.

So hop into something extra
comfy and let's get started.

(light rhythmic music)

Alrighty, let's begin 
on the ground.

This is a floor practice,
so it's gonna be nice and yummy.

If you brought a
blanket or two to the class,

you can use it in
any way you like.

I like to put one down
just to kind of tell my brain,

okay, today we really
are practicing rest.

And this is important for me

to be able to know
what my flow feels like

and to access that, right?

So it's not always checking

the boxes and moving and
grooving in a fast pace.

Today we're gonna slow it down.

I also made a
little pillow for myself.

You can do what we're doing
or you can do your own thing.

Also you can access this

constructive rest
without these props.

Alright, so we are
gonna end on our back.

So let's start seated here,

just dropping in to our breath,
(laughs at Benji)

lengthening through the crown.

And then bring your left hand
to the center of your chest,

your heart center, and then 
place your right hand on top.

Tuck your chin slightly,

lengthen through
the back of the neck.

Take the deepest
breath you've taken all day.

In.

And as you exhale,

just feel the warmth
of your own touch here.

Feel the shoulders relax,
the skin of the face soften.

And maybe,
if you're open to it,

if it feels safe and 
all right, you can

just allow for a
little tenderness for yourself,

toward yourself.

Whatever that means to you.

Try a little tenderness.

Inhale in deeply.

Exhale, completely.

Bat the eyelashes open.

Just gonna send the fingertips
gently all the way up and out,

all the way up to the sky.

And then exhale,
float them down

and allow the fingertips to be,

sorry, to come behind,
I already got relaxed here,

to come behind you so
we're opening up to the chest.

And it's soft and it's easy.

It's inhale, reach and lift.

And it's exhale,
maybe wiggle the fingertips and

bring the
wrists behind the hips.

One more time, inhale, reach.

And exhale, release.

This time, keep the fingertips
behind your hips here.

Keep the chest lifted,
and we're just gonna drop the

chin to the chest and
hold it here with the sternum.

Breathe deep.

And then slow and steady.

Initiating from the nose,

You're gonna start to draw
circles one way, breathing.

And then the other way,
reverse the circle.

Nice, and then allow your

left ear to rest over
your left shoulder.

Bring your right
palm to your left knee.

And if you like,

bring your left palm to
gently rest on your right ear.

Relax the shoulders,

soften the skin of
the face and breathe easy.

If this is much too much,

you can take the right hand,

bring it back
down to the earth,

or the right thigh.

Now, last bit here,

slowly lift the chin up
towards the sky just a bit,

and then release,

And we'll take it
to the other side.

Left hand comes
to the right knee,

right ear over right shoulder,

right hand gently
placed on the left ear.

Again, if you're
feeling uncomfortable,

unsafe pull in your trap,
just release that left arm.

Lift your heart. Notice if 
you've collapsed in the spine.

It happens all the time.

And then let's take
the chin up just a bit.

Breathe in,
sync up with your breath,

and then exhale,
release everything.

Alrighty, we're gonna
come onto our backs here.

I'm gonna hold off
on using my pillow,

and I encourage you to do

the same just while
we do this floor work.

But, have it close by.

Alright, coming
down to our backs.

As you're ready, extend 
the legs out long and inhale,

reach the arms all
the way up and overhead.

Exhale, cross your
right arm over your left.

Give yourself a big hug here.

Flex the feet as if you
were standing in Mountain Pose.

Inhale in, breathe into
all four sides of the torso.

And exhale out.

Inhale, reach the arms up.

Exhale, cross your
left arm over the right.

And close your eyes here.

Feel your own embrace,
whatever that means to you.

As you breathe in,
nice wide lateral breath.

Feel, feeling, yes,

more feeling all four
sides of the torso expand.

Hmm, and then release.

Palms are gonna press
down gently at our sides.

We're gonna bend the left knee,

then the right.

Prepare for Bridge Posture,

Setu Bandhasana.

Press into the palms,
press into the feet.

Toes are pointing forward.

Relax your shoulders down,
tuck your chin,

and when you're ready,

slowly begin to peel
up from the tailbone.

Inching through the low back,

then the mid-back,

and the upper back, breathe.

Pause at the top,
take a breath in.

Then on your exhale
soften through the collarbone,

sternum.

Make your way slowly down.

Until the tailbone
releases and then we'll repeat,

we're gonna do that
twice more in your own time.

And then after you're done,

you'll send the right
toes up towards the ceiling.

And you can keep a nice

generous bend in that
right knee if you need to.

Everyone can keep
a nice slight bend.

And then we'll interlace

the fingertips and
bring them behind the thigh,

behind the shin.

If you have a
strap or a dish towel,

you can use that here as a
little extension of your arms.

And if you do a lot of
flexibility and mobility work

and you want to start
grabbing towards that ankle.

That's available to you.

Go right ahead.

Breathe deep.

Sending some love into the
belly of that right hamstring.

Let's actually 
take this right thumb

and bring it to the
top of the right hip crease.

Pull that right hip crease down.

Then slowly slide your
left leg out and breathe.

Shoulders stay relaxed.

Soften the skin of the forehead.

Relax through the neck.

Lovely.

Now bend your left knee
again and let's cross the right

ankle over the
top of the left thigh.

Take a second to pull that

right hip crease down 
and we want to best,

best we can try to keep these

hips and this pelvis
level as we lift the legs up.

And then we really
get into that hip socket.

So you can even look at
your hips just notice how

they're moving
and they can torque

here in this stretch and
then find what feels good,

maybe interlacing the fingertips
behind the left thigh.

You can close your
eyes here and breathe.

Now keep the
right ankle where it is.

Just lower the left
foot to the ground.

Then slide your
right leg over your left

as if you were
sitting at a desk or something

like that and then send
your legs over to the left.

Arms are gonna go up kind of
like a ballerina, why not,

overhead as you turn to
relax on your right ear.

Now breathe into
your sweet belly.

Really relax your shoulders.

So for some this practice
is just gonna be delicious,

just the best.

And for others this
will be really challenging.

So if you're finding 
this pace and this

style challenging,

anchor in the
sound of your breath.

Reside in the
role of the observer.

Think about the vocabulary
that we've established together

thus far and just 
continue to notice

where your thoughts go,

what your patterns are

when things get a
little uncomfortable.

Can we use the tools that we're
learning here together to stay

with it and stay
focused ultimately.

Okay, let's slowly release, 
nice and slow.

Come back to knees bent.

Soles of the feet on the mat.

When you're ready,

we're gonna slowly send
that left foot up high.

Benji, let me tell you, Benji
is stealin' the show today.

Alright, interlacing the
fingertips behind the thigh,

the calf, 
finding your stretch here.

Notice how this
side could be different,

feel different,
the sensation,

pulling that left hip
crease down with the left thumb.

Hmmm.

Stay with it, breathe.

Find that wave of the inhale.

Softening with your exhale.

Maybe you extend the right leg.

Your body will tell you
if that's no good for you.

(chuckles) So just stay curious,

give it a try,
and adjust as needed.

You gotta bring the breath,
keep breathing.

Here we go, we're gonna
slowly bend the right knee,

cross the left
ankle over the right,

find your figure four.

Maybe take a peek at the hips,

notice that they
are center or not.

And then hug the
knees up to the chest.

Whenever you're ready,
continue to breathe.

You can close your eyes.

Trust that this
time is valuable.

And then as you're ready,

slowly slide
the left foot over.

And we'll release 
into this twist here,

sending the knees to the right

and taking the arms
all the way up and over.

You can clasp the fingers or

you can take it into ballerina
arms and grab the wrist and

relax your left ear
towards the earth.

Breathe.

And as you're ready,
slowly release,

come out of the posture,
bring the feet to the mat,

center your hips,
knees bent towards the sky.

And then we're gonna allow
the knees to fall to the right.

You're gonna 
take your right ankle

and cross it over the
outer edge of your left thigh.

Breathe deep here.

Deep internal
rotation of the left hip.

Inhale in.

Exhale, switch.

Little glute massage as
you take it to the other side.

And then slowly release,
bring the hips back to center,

hug the knees to the chest.

Inhale in, exhale, slowly peel
the nose up towards the knees.

Keep the shoulders relaxed,
elbows can bend left to right.

Breathe.

Then from here,

hold on to your right
knee as you release the spine,

extend the left leg out long.

So we have one leg in,
one leg out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Slowly peel it back up,
nose to knees,

left knee comes in.

And then we'll
extend the right leg out,

relax the head,
the neck, the shoulders.

One more time, inhale in.

Exhale, hug both knees in.

Lift the head,
the neck, the shoulders.

Breathe, breathe, breathe.

And then exhale.

Slowly release,
widen the knees,

soles of the
feet come to touch.

And this is when you can

bring the pillow into
the game if you like.

Hands are gonna
rest gently on the belly.

We allow the
thighs to get heavy here.

We soften any
gripping in the toes.

Can close your eyes.

Nice, easy inhalations.

And easy exhalations.

And slowly bring your
fingertips to the outer edges

of your thighs and we'll
close the knees back to center.

If you have a blanket here and
you want to end in a burrito,

highly recommended if
you've never given in a try

especially if
you're a grown adult.

You grab your blanket and

you roll up like a
little tequito or burrito.

So it could be nice to make
this moment happen for yourself.

If you're trending towards

making it happen go
ahead and make it happen now.

You know, this series kind of

picks up after this, 
so enjoy it now.

(chuckles) Just kidding.

Love you guys so get comfy.

And we'll just 
take a minute here

more together to
practice surrender,

stillness and
this constructive rest.

Let your breath be easy.

Give yourself permission
here to do absolutely nothing.

And just notice,
what are you feeling?

Do you feel like a
little inner smile?

You feel release?

That tenderness
back in the picture.

Maybe you're feeling a
little fidgety or agitated.

It's all good, just notice.

Rock stars,
all of you, all of us.

Way to take some 
time today to relax, to rest

and check in.

It's all part of the flow.

Bring the palms together.

As you're ready,
draw them up to the third eye.

Give yourself a little
massage here if that feels good.

Breathe in, 
inhale lots of love in,

and exhale to
close today's practice.

Lots of love out.
We'll see you tomorrow.

Namaste.

(upbeat rhythmic music)