Day 9: Drop In to Keep Moving

(waves rushing) Hello, and welcome back to day nine. We're in it, we're day nine, we're over the hump. We're past the honeymoon phase. We've got the rhythm, we've got the repetition. So today, we're gonna start to flow a little bit more, continuing to build heat, to cultivate energy.

So, I'm gonna ask that you also start to recognize the places in between your thoughts. So, going a little bit deeper in our practice, see if we can find those gaps while we're feeling nourished, as well as while we're being active. So, we're gonna start right at the top of the mat. And just start grounding again. Hand on heart, hand on belly, just to arrive to presence ourself.

Coming into this routine of feeling our heartbeat, feeling the rhythm of our breath. And exhale, the hands come down by your sides. On an inhale, returning back to Chair Pose, so sliding knees back reach up. So, we're gonna stay down low in Chair, and on an exhale, bring your arms, your wings back, crown forward. Inhale rise up just with the torso, so legs still stay active.

Exhale, wings back, crown forward, spine long. Inhale to rise slight back up. Exhale. Inhale rise, still staying in Chair. Exhale.

Inhale, legs don't change, heart lifts. One more, take a pause, reach the hands back, press the palms towards each other a little bit, so arms are active, heart is soft and lifted. And inhale, rise up, lengthen legs, exhale, take the arms down. And we're gonna do that one more time. Inhale, lift the arms, sit down, Chair Pose.

Exhale, bring the crown forward, wings back, give a little action in the palms pressing towards each other. And then inhale, just peel the torso up, staying deep in your Chair. Exhale, arms back. In. Good, exhale.

Good, in, arms lift, two more, exhale. In. Good, last one, exhale, and pause. Again activate through the arms, reach the arms back, press the palms towards each other. Inhale, peel up the chest.

Legs lengthen, arms by your side, ahh. Take big inhale through the nose. Open the mouth and just let out a ahh. Good, starting to move through our lunges. Inhale, take the arms up.

Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, come half-way up. On an exhale, take the right leg back, lower the back knee and shin down and see if we can rise up with one breath. Inhale, the arms sweep up. Exhale, hands come back down.

We're gonna step right into Downward-Facing Dog. Great, slowly walk forward, just consciously and mindfully. Inhale, take the heart forward. Exhale, left leg comes back. Left knee and shin down, arms sweep up, one breath.

Exhale, hands back to the floor. Curl the toes under, step back, Downward-Facing Dog. Walking the feet forward to the hands. Inhale, rise up half way. Exhale, fold.

Inhale, rise up Utkatasana, just to sneak another one in. Standing all the way up. Good, inhale, Chair Pose. Exhale, fold forward, one more round just as we just did. Inhale, half-way rise.

Right leg steps back, right knee and shin down as we rise up into a Low Lunge just with one breath. It's gonna picking up the pace, cultivating a little bit more energy as we lift the hips, step back, Downward-Facing. Walk the feet forward towards the hands. As you arrive, inhale, come up half way. Exhale, left leg back, Runner's Lunge.

Back knee and shin down, arms sweep up, one breath. Exhale, hands down, step it back, Downward-Facing Dog. Good, from here, walk the feet forward. Inhale, come up half way. Exhale, fold.

Inhale, Chair Pose, knees bend, arms reach. Exhale, hands at the side, taking a pause. Good, hands to hip, moving into out standing poses. We're gonna introduce Triangle Pose. So, root though the right foot, step back into High Crescent, back heel lifts.

So, we know this transition, open up into Warrior II, and then lengthen through your right leg. Right, so right heel, kinda toe heeled over so it's in line with the inner arch, and then bring the left hand to hip, reach forward, shift the hips back, and start to bring your right hand down to your shin. Right, staying light through the right hand, spin the right thigh like you're spinning your knee towards the right, but it's actually in line with the middle toe. Left arm reaches up. So light through the right hand that the shoulders draw back, and you might be able to reach the floor.

You might use a block if that's handy. Right, so again with the gaze, you can take gaze down towards the big toe. You can bring it neutral. If you wanna add a little bit of balance in, draw the chin back a bit, start to turn the gaze upward towards your thumb. And it's light through the eyes, light through the jaw.

Right, so imagine someone's pulling your left hand all the up, come all the way up. Turn the right toes in, hands to the hips. Inhale, lift up, exhale, fold forward. Hands to the floor. Inhale, lift up, long through the spine, and on an exhale, we're gonna bend the left knee, taking the left sit bone towards the left heel, and travel the hands across.

On your inhale, travel across center, walk the hands, right knee bends, right sit bone dips towards the right heel. Same thing, inhale, travel slow. Exhale, left knee bends, dip towards the left heel. One more to the right, travel across. Dip to right, right knee bends.

And heart's still pulling forward. From here, lift up to center. We're gonna turn the left toes forward, turn the right toes forward, so the hips start to come forward. Come into a lunge. Bring the hands down, step back into Downward-Facing Dog.

Then begin to walk the feet forward. Feet to hands, inhale, come up half way. Exhale, fold. Inhale, come all the way up, arms sweep up to frame the ears, and exhale, hands come down to your side and then travel to the hips. At this time, root to the left foot, right leg comes back.

So coming right into High Crescent, lift up through the back heel and then open up Warrior II. Start to lengthen through the left leg, and lets toe-heel the left foot, so left heel's in line with the middle arch. Lengthen through the left leg, shift forward like you're trying to reach for something. If it helps, bring your right hand to your hip, and then exhale, let the left hand come to the shin, floor, maybe a block, but light, light, light, not like you're holding yourself up with your leg strength. Right arm comes up.

Right, so spin, spin, spin the leg to the left, so the knee's right in line with the middle toe. And just a real, sweet lightness through the shoulders. And then the gaze again is up to you, you can take it up, keep it neutral, or keep it down. Few more breaths here, feel, press the outer edge of the back foot, but then feel a draw of the inner thighs towards each other. Staying light, soft on that right hip, one more breath.

Good, inhale like someone's pulling you up from the right arm. Come all the way up, turn the left toes in. Hands again to the hips, draw the elbows inward. Lift up through the chest, just like a mini back bend, just to find some space, and then exhale, come forward. Good, same thing we did before with the hip exploration.

On an exhale, bend the right knee, travel to your right, right sit bone towards right heel. Peel the heart forward, and then travel across center. On an exhale, bend the left knee. Pull the heart towards the wall in front of you. Inhale, travel across center.

Exhale, bend the right knee, dip towards the right. One more, inhale, travel through center. Exhale, bend the left knee. Good, come back to center, and then start to turn your right toes to the front, left toes bend, then left knee as the hips come forward. Step back, Downward-Facing Dog.

Then inhale, come forward to Plank Pose. Soften the knees down. Lower down onto forearms as if we're gonna set up for Dolphin Plank. Elbows under your shoulders, wrists in line with elbows, curl the toes under, but instead of going into Dolphin Plank, we're gonna lift up into Dolphin Pose. So, slowly walk the feet in, right.

So, from the shoulders to the heels, it's like Downward-Facing Dog. So, your hamstrings will dictate how far in you can walk the feet. You can keep the heels up or start to press the heels down. Press through the palms, press through the inner wrists. Right, so just like Downward-Facing Dog, we're trying to split the weight between our legs and our arms.

This is a really lovely shoulder opener. The gaze can be down or slightly forward. Few more breaths. Nice, and then see if you can walk back into our Dolphin Plank. Remember, you have the option of bringing knees down, start to bring the gaze forward, heart light and a little pressed between the shoulder blades.

Tail bone draws down just lightly. Right, we've been here before. We could probably be here all day. (chuckles) So then exhale, lower to the knees, lower to the belly, and then press right back into Child's Pose. Just for transition.

On an inhale, we're gonna rise up through the torso, sit off to the side, and we're gonna come all the way down onto our backs. So, on the lower, see if you can dig the heels in, reach the arms out, and just see if we can play again with the same action we did in one of the first few practices. Right, maybe at some point, it just, poof, you fall down, whew, beautiful. Bring the knees into the chest. Give a little side-to-side rock.

Return back into Happy Baby, so either grabbing back of the thighs, calves, outer edges of the feet, or inside arches. That's it, just taking about three breaths here. Good, then draw the knees in. So, from here, take the arms straight up, press the palms as if you got your hands planted on the ceiling, good. On an exhale, start to curl the knees in, see if you can touch the back of the arms by, by like lady-bugging your upper back, like you're a little beetle, and then relax, release.

Same thing, lift up, see if the knees even come close to the arms, and if not, it's not a big deal. Soften down, good. Three more, curl in, beetle the back. Soften down, good. Exhale, round.

Release. Last one, see if we can hold it. Curl, see if you can draw the knees in to touch the arms, and maybe they can crawl up towards the armpits. And relax. Bring the feet down.

So, that was a little teaser to what's to come tomorrow. Press the palms down, start to lift through the hips, just a little brief Bridge Pose. Start to turn the palms up, draw the shoulders under. Alright, lift the chin a little bit away from the chest. And rooting through the feet.

So, see if you can relax the bum, but there's still a little bit, not overtone, but just a little bit of engagement. But just lightly. Exhale, slowly lower. Take your arms out to the shoulders and release. And let the knees drop off to the right, to the arms out wide, let the gaze fall out to the left.

And slowly coming up to center. The knees drop off to the left, gaze to the right, just start to turn the eyes down. And come up to center. Lengthen the legs as we come into Resting Pose. So, the plain Resting Pose today is focusing on our breath, as we have been, but to see as thoughts arise if you can just let them go, not hook in.

Catch those gaps between thoughts. Hang out in the stillness and in the silence. And slowly beginning to wiggle the fingers, toes. Mmm, taking the arms up over head. And just rolling on to one side.

And we're comfortably neat in a seat. (breathes deeply) Great job, we'll see you tomorrow.