- Hello, my darling friends. Welcome back to Flow, your 30 Day Yoga Journey. It's Day 29. Trust. Let's get started. (light rhythmic music) Okie doke, let's begin in a comfortable seat. Come on down to the ground. Sit up nice and tall. Draw the shoulders up to the ears. Take a deep breath in and as you exhale, maybe close your eyes or soften your gaze and allow your shoulders and elbows to draw down as you lift and lengthen up through the crown. Gently begin to deepen your breath. And notice what it feels like to be alive today. And you might be like, "Oh darn, feels hard, feels heavy." And that's all right. Thank you for sharing your valuable time and energy with me. This session is about trust. So we'll take the vocabulary that we've been learning together, put it into a dance, but feel free to find moments that are really individual to you. Trust your intuition. And maybe today, staying open to a connection with something bigger than yourself, uniting with something bigger than this moment. And if you're like, "Well, that sounds kind of good, "but I don't really know how to do that," tap into your breath, my darling friend. Let your breath be the song of your heart, the song of your spirit today. Draw the hands together. You get to choose, thumbs to third eye or thumbs to sternum. Inhale in deeply, hands at heart or thumbs to third eye, exhale completely. Let's breathe together, inhale. Exhale together. Good, inhale together. Exhale bat the eyelashes open and let's come forward onto all fours. Inhale, drop the belly, open the chest, lengthen through the crown. Exhale, round through the spine, chin to chest. Crown chakra points down towards the core of the earth. Inhale, guide it up to the sky, the stars. Exhale, guide it down to the core of the earth. Inhale, guide it up. Exhale, guide it down. Keep moving with the sound of your breath. And so you know the gross movement here. There's an opportunity here to just think a little bit outside the mat, beyond the four corners of the mat. The truth is you've already been doing this the whole time. Sending energy way out beyond the physical body. Connecting to something bigger than yourself, whatever that means to you. Now, just like we did in our Day 28 practice, start to veer off the railroad tracks, trust your intuition, listen to your body, Find What Feels Good. Maybe you take it in circles. Maybe you bump the hips left to right. Maybe it's an Extended Child's Pose or you come all the way forward into a Cobra or Sphinx. Move with your breath. And then take whatever dance you're starting to cultivate here, take it into that squat. So you'll curl the toes under and slowly take it all the way back into your Froggy Squat. And same thing here, soft easy movement. Maybe you find a sway. Maybe the palms come up. And let's take the hands forward, spread the fingertips and think about the center of your body. Navel draws back in towards the spine, lifting up as you shift your knees forward, walk the toes together. And this is it, just rocking front to back, gaze forward, extension through the crown. Lovely. Now drop the heels, crown of the head to the earth, Forward Fold. Bend your knees as much as you need here, breathe deep. Then slowly walk the hands forward all the way to your Plank, lots of energy reaching from the crown of your head here. Heels reach back, press away from your yoga mat. You got this. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out, Downward Facing Dog. Nice. Bend one knee and then the other. Find that nice audible breath here. And after some soft, easy movement in Downward Dog, when you feel satisfied, make your way to the top of your mat. And when you get there, you decide, feet together or hip width apart. Just nice conscious footing, toes pointing forward. Take some breaths here. Find some soft, easy movement, waking up the whole body. So we're not working in just isolated parts, but considering the body as one moving part. Now ground through the feet, find center, bend the knees generously and slowly roll up. Stack up through the spine, lift your heart and boom, you're ready. Think about the energy that's running from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone and let your Mountain Pose really be an energetic pose, whatever that means for you today. Maybe it goes beyond the crown of the head, beyond the soles of the feet, beyond the fingertips. And then bend your knees, sweep the arms all the way up and overhead. Exhale, Forward Fold all the way down. Inhale, extend, send the fingertips back, airplane arms, crown of the head forward, pause here. Draw the shoulder blades together and again, what if that energy moves beyond the physical body and extends out through the crown, the feet, the tail, the fingertips. Does that change the way you breathe in the posture and the way you feel? Inhale in here. Exhale to release. Nice. Fingertips come to the mat, step the right foot back, lower the right knee, inhale, sweep the arms all the way up. Big breath, big stretch here. Exhale, fingertips release, pull the left hip crease back, flex your left toes towards your face. Breathe in. Breathe out. Keep extension through the crown as you breathe in. And then breathe out, rolling through that left foot, come back to your lunge. Lift the right knee. Now inhale, sweep the arms forward, up and back again. This time back knee lifted. But if you want, you can always keep it lowered, right? We know this. Listen to your body, inhale, lift the head, the heart up. Exhale, fingertips come all the way to the mat. Plant the palms, step the left toes back, inhale in here, feel free to lower the knees. Exhale all the way to the belly. Inhale for Cobra. Exhale to soften and release. Thank you, Benji. Inhale to press up to all fours or Plank, your choice. Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Inhale in deeply here. Exhale. Inhale to look forward. Exhale to make your way to the top of your mat. Thank you, buddy. Forward Fold. Inhale, halfway lift, airplane arms find length, extend through the crown. Exhale to soften and fold. Beautiful. Fingertips come to the mat, step the left foot back, lower the left knee to the ground. Front knee over front ankle, inhale, sweep the arms all the way up. Big breath, big stretch. Exhale all the way down. Pull the right hip crease back, flex the right toes towards the face. Breathe in. Breathe out. Length through the crown as you breathe in. Breathe out, roll through that right foot. Lift the left knee. Inhale, sweep the arms up, high lunge. Big breath, big stretch. Exhale, bring it all the way down. Plant the palms, step it back. Knees can lower if you like here. Inhale, shift forward. Exhale, belly to Cobra or Chaturanga to Up Dog. Use an inhale to lift your heart, lengthen through the crown. Exhale to soften and fold. Press up to all fours or Plank. Inhale. Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Inhale, lift the right leg up high. Exhale, shift it forward, step it all the way up. Back knee lowered or lifted, your choice. Inhale, sweep the arms all the way forward, up and back. Breathe in. Breathe out, relax the shoulders. Breathe in, maybe carve a line with your nose, look up. On your exhale, slowly rain the fingertips down. Left hand comes to the earth. Inhale, right fingertips to the sky. Squeeze your right knee in just a bit as you pull your right hip crease back. So a little opposition there. Inhale in, lengthen through the crown. Exhale, right hand comes all the way down to the earth. Step the right toes back. Inhale in, exhale, straight to Downward Facing Dog. Straight to Dog. Inhale, lift the left leg up high. Exhale, shift it forward, nice and easy. Step the left foot into your lunge. Sweep the arms up, back knee lowered or lifted. Inhale, big breath here, big stretch. Exhale, relax the shoulders. Inhale, carve a line with the nose, look up. Exhale, rain it down. Right hand to the earth. Inhale, sweep the left fingertips up. So we're pulling the left hip crease back but we're also hugging the left knee in. Beautiful. Inhale. Exhale, left hand to the earth. Step it back to Plank. Inhale in, exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Nice. Inhale in here, bend your knees, look forward. Exhale, make your way to the top. Inhale, halfway lift, airplane arms. Send the fingertips back, crown forward. Exhale, soften and release. Root to rise here, bend your knees. Inhale, spread the fingertips. Reach for the sky. Take up space here. And then palms come together and slide down into home. Tuck the chin, head over heart, heart over pelvis here. Preparing for a Tree Pose. Shift your weight to the left foot slowly. And from center, navel draws in and up. We lift the right knee. You got this. Standing One-Legged Tadasana. Of course, feel free to always trust your support system around you, it's there. Then we'll open the right hip, nice and slow. Maybe right toes stay on the ground. Support system right there. Maybe the calf. Or maybe we grab that right heel and bring it into the inseam of the left thigh. Find that connection, that movement of opposing force. It's hugging into the midline here. And then maybe you play, fingertips up. Maybe you gaze up. Maybe you take a variation you've never taken before. Take a deep breath in. Exhale, slow and steady. Come back to that Standing One-Legged Tadasana. And then with so much love and care, you can place the right foot down and take it to the other side. And notice how this side is different. You might need to recruit a support system on this side. Trust that you know what's right for your body today. And trust that staying present with your breath will help guide you further in the evolution of your practice. In other words, don't give up. Don't give up. Find something new here. And then we'll meet in that Standing One-Legged Tadasana. So even if you're a dancing, falling tree, let's come back to that Standing One-Legged Tadasana for one breath. Inhale. And exhale, place it down. Big breath to reach the fingertips all the way up. Full body stretch. Exhale, fold it down all the way. Inhale, airplane arms, halfway lift. Lengthen through the crown of the head. Exhale to soften and fold. Bend the knees, step or hop it back to Plank. Inhale, shift forward, reach through the crown. Exhale, belly to Cobra or Chaturanga to Upward Facing Dog. Take a deep breath here as you open your heart. Exhale, Child's Pose, your version. Send the hips back. Melt the heart. Stretch the arms forward. Inhale, lots of love in. Exhale, actively reach the hip points back. Feel that length in the low back. Feel that length in the side body. Soften the skin of the forehead. Press into the palms, slowly come back up. We're gonna walk the knees together and curl the toes under. Sit back on the heels and peek at me if you need to. We're gonna learn Bunny Posture here. So we're drawing the knees together. We can use a block to bring the earth up to us if we like. But we can also practice without. So from Bunny Posture, I'm gonna squeeze the legs. I'm gonna draw energy up from the pelvic floor all the way up through the spine just like we've been doing. All the way up to the crown of the head. Crown of the head's gonna come to the block or the mat. Breathing deep here. And then release. Next round, we're gonna go back in. But this time we might grab the outer edges of the ankles or outer edges of the heels. Then from here, inhale in. Exhale, I'm gonna lift up just like in Cat Pose. Inhale in, exhale, straightening the arms, lifting the hips and little to no pressure on the crown of the head, not unlike headstands. We'll lift the belly up, breathe. Give it a try. And then slowly release. Bunny Posture. From here, lift the knees, come to your Froggy Squat. Hi, buddy. Crow Practice. So we're moving from Bunny to Crow. Let's do it. Fingertips on the mat, inhale. Navel draws in and up, find that core connection. This is a core exercise. We're gonna lift the hips, lift the knees as high as we can up to the armpit chest and just find that Drishti, that focal point out in front. Crown of the head is extending forward, not down. If the crown is down, you're gonna do a somersault. Maybe you lift one toe and then the other. Maybe both toes lift off. Again, crown of the head, reaching forward, navel drawing up just like in Bunny Posture. Breathing. If you have a block, sometimes it's nice in a little Crow practice play to give yourself a little perch. Just gives you (chuckles) a little lift. So you can create that fulcrum here. Rock back and forth. Hug those low ribs in. Crown of the head reaching forward. Then after a little bit of Crow play, we're gonna come back to all fours. Shake it out, let it go. Swing the legs to one side, any side, and come to lie on your back. Hug the knees into the chest. Give yourself a little massage just for a breath or two. Then extend the legs out long. You're gonna zip them tight together. Point the toes and walk the wrists underneath the glutes. So we're opening up through the front body here, pointing the toes. Palms press actively. So not passively but actively into the mat. Inhale in. Watch me first before you do it. Inhale in, exhale. You're gonna press into your forearms like Sphinx and you're gonna lift your chest. Crown of the head may come to the earth, may not. Opening up through the throat, looking back. We call this a variation of Fish Pose. Let's give it a try. When you're ready, point the toes. Press actively into the palms, elbows walk in. We press into the forearms, press into the elbows, just like Sphinx Pose. Lift the chest, crown of the head comes to the earth. Breathe. And then slowly hug those low ribs in. Keep active in the palms as you release. Tuck the chin, release the arms, and we'll hug both knees up slowly into the chest, knees wide. And then take it to Happy Baby whenever you're ready. Grabbing the outer edges of the feet or the inner arches. Kicking the soles of the feet up towards the sky. Lengthening the tailbone towards the front edge of your mat. Noticing how you feel. And then we'll take it into a Reclined Twist. So allow the legs to fall to one side, any side. Relaxing the shoulders down. Softening through the skin of the face. Relaxing the jaw. And then rolling it through center, taking it to the other side. Inhaling deeply. Exhaling completely. And slowly bring it all the way back up. Knees bent, soles of the feet to the mat. Center yourself on your mat. Palms pressed down as we slowly lift the tailbone all the way up for one final posture, Bridge Pose. Close your eyes here. Feel the connection of your feet on the earth, hands on the earth. Inhale in. Exhale, start to soften through the sternum. And roll down the spine. With so much attention, love and care. When you're ready, we can extend one leg out, then the other. Turn the palms to face up. Snuggle the shoulder blades underneath your heart space. Maybe walk your feet, your ankles out wide today. Inhale, lots of love in. Biggest breath you've taken all day. Exhale, lots of love out. Let everything go. A flash of surrender. Can we practice? Can we trust the stillness? A total letting go. And it's in this shape that we surrender. And for me, for me, unite with something bigger through that surrender. So trust the union of yoga can be of your breath and your body, your guts, your intuition and your heart. It can also be union of yourself with your bigger self. Never forget. Love you guys. Let's bring the palms together. Thumbs to third eye. Oh gosh, we have one more day of this particular journey together and in every end is a new beginning. Tomorrow will be different. And I cannot wait to share that experience with you. Thank you for showing up. Let's take a deep breath in. And a long breath out to close this practice. Namaste. (upbeat rhythmic music)