Sunshine Day

Hello. My name is Aaron. Welcome to class. Today, we will be using two blocks to get into the shoulders, the upper thoracic, the tricep muscles, the lats, and perhaps play with going upside down if that's in your practice. But the theme of practice is sort of rain or shine. It is a sunshine day. So, you know, we have the choice to connect to that joy within in play, even when things get harder when they're a little bit gloomy and rainy, so we will begin in a child's pose. If you could grab your two blocks, and we'll have them on the medium setting, and you'll sit back onto the shins then you may have to kinda come forward and play with this. You don't want them too wide.

So come forward, take the elbows to the block, and then sit the hips back And you can walk your elbows forward and sort of get a little deeper into that upper back, let your head heavy, and then drop the prayer behind the head. Take a moment to just breathe here maybe adjust a little bit deeper. And if you have any intention that you'd like to set for your practice, go ahead and get clear. One more breath. And then extend the arms, lift your chest, and we'll move the blocks forward about shoulder distance on the low settings towards the top edge of the mat. Now palms onto the blocks.

Sit back into that extended child's pose resting the forehead either on the mat or you might be hovering. Take a breath here and a full exhale. We'll come forward to a tabletop position, inhale, and exhale sit back into that extended child's pose. We'll do that one more time. Inhale shift forward, maybe arch exhale, go back to your child's pose.

We're gonna do a little bit of mobility work. So keep the left palm on the block, bring your right hand into a fist, take the fist to the forehead, and the forehead to the ground. So press down through your left palm and see if you can extend and lift that arm. The first one you may have to hover, but see if you can keep the fist down on the ground, press through the left palm. We'll do it twice more.

And then lift and extend reach. Try to keep the arms straight and the ribs square. One more time, press down. Extend and lift. Good. Set it down.

You might notice the difference on side two. So right palm to the block, left hand makes a fist, fist to forehead, forehead to mat, press down through the right palm, and then extend to see if that arm can stay straight. Two more, press down. Again, if you need to huff or do so, but try to stay down. It doesn't have to lift very high at all.

It's just the action of that engaging the back of the muscle one more time. Press, and then reextend. Go ahead and set it down. And then come forward to a tabletop. We'll take a cat cow just briefly. Inhale, exhale around.

And then stay on the block's downward facing dog, heel of the hand can be at the edge of the block, press the chest back, and then inhale forward to plank pose. You can take the feet a little bit wider try not to tilt the pelvis as you tap your right hand to your left shoulder, set it back down on the block, and again stabilize the pelvis, left hand to the right shoulder, set it down, One more time, you can always lower your knees, right hand left shoulder, set it down, left hand right shoulder, set it down, press back downward facing dog, take a breath here. And then one more time, inhale shift forward to plank a little different this time. See if without shifting too far left, you can pop up to your right fingertips. Option to stay right here.

If you'd like, add the hover of the left foot, Maybe reach and extend that right arm and then set the hand and foot down. Same thing without shifting too far to the right, pop up to the left fingertips, If you wanna add on, hover the right foot, try not to let the hips dip. So roll that outer left tip down as you extend your left arm forward. Set it down, set the right toes down, lower the knees, and we will move the blocks off to the side coming down to sphinx pose. So four arms to the ground, lift the chest extend long through the legs, inhale, exhale let your head heavy.

One more time, pull the heart forward, push through the forearms, lift the chest. And then this time, widen the elbows and bring your hands behind your head like you're doing a sit up, and then lift your head and shoulders up if it's okay, extend along through the legs, rolling the inner thighs up towards the ceiling. Lower down. We'll do that one more time. Elbows slide, lift the chest. If it's okay, lift the legs and lower down.

Slide the hands next to the ribs for cobra. Roll the shoulders back low or high to child's pose, hips to heels. Take a breath. Exit. And then see if you can gaze forward. We're gonna try to stay low in the shoulders.

So instead of coming forward and back to downward dog through tabletop, try to stay low, tuck the toes under keep the chest low and lift back downward dog. So you're getting a little deeper into your upper thoracic when you do it that way. And then let's inhale the right leg up and back, exhale, step your foot forward, lower the back knee and inhale reach your arms up. Take the hands slightly forward, press the palms together. Now first, drop your chin, drop the prayer behind the head, and start to imagine that you had those elbows on blocks, press into those imaginary blocks, see if you can open up your chest and then lift your chin.

One more breath. Good hook the thumbs, extend the arms up, get even taller, and then bring your hands down, frame your foot, and just breathe into your left hip flexor for a moment. Take an inhale. And exhale. Good plant the palms, step back to plank, and then downward facing dog as you exhale.

Let's lift the left leg This is a long sequence open to hit bend the knee, so we're not quite repeating yet. Take another breath and square off. Step your left foot forward. Good. Come to a lunge, and then grab hold of the blocks again. Frame your foot.

This time, blocks will be on high setting. So you're in this runner's lunge. Now stay here. Or add the reach of the left arm, the bicep lifts, the palm faces in, and then set the palm back down, pull the belly in, add the reach of the right arm. Try to extend through the elbow. Set it down, either add the reach of the left arm again, or both arms extend inhale, set it down, hop the back foot and straighten both legs pyramid, take a breath to lengthen the spine and exhale to fold.

One more breath. Good fold here. Ben your left knee turn the blocks on medium and step back downward facing dog. Lift your right leg third part of the sequence. Step your right foot forward and then hold on to the block in between your palms, come up to a crescent pose, extend your arms forward, and then bend your elbows back like a dolphin shape and your back knee.

So ninety, ninety bend in your legs and then extend the arms and legs inhale. Good exhale bend. Inhale extend. One more time. Exhale bend. Inhale extend.

Take the block to your right thigh. Bring your left forearm to the thigh. Push the forearm down into the block, turn your ribs, reach your top arm overhead, wrap the bicep to the cheek, see if you can push out of your left arm and turn. One more breath. Good release.

Move the blocks to the side. Step back to plank, your choice, knees chest chin, or maybe your vinyasa. Take a breath. Exhale downward dog, drop your knees, take a child's pose, deep breath, full exhale. Good.

Look towards your thumbs. See if you can lift enough to just tuck your toes, keep the chest pushing towards the floor, biceps rolling towards the ceiling. And instead of shifting forward before you go to downward dog, see if you can stay deep in your shoulders. Take a deep breath. Open the mouth, exhale.

Second, part of the sequence. So left leg lifts on an inhale, exhale, step your left foot forward, lower your right knee, inhale reach your arms up on Janae asana. Now drop the arms slightly press the palms together, seal the prayer, and then drop the chin and the prayer behind the head. Right? Start to imagine that your elbows are pushing into blocks, pull the belly in see if you can open through the triceps, the lats, the shoulders, lift the gaze one more breath, hook the thumbs, pull up, inhale, exhale hands to the ground, stay in that hip flexor stretch for a breath.

Full exhale. Good. Step back, downward facing dog, Part two. Right leg lifts. Open the hip, bend the knee, breathe. One more breath here.

Good square off on your inhale. Step your right foot forward, take those blocks on high, frame your foot in the runner's lunge. This time, either pause here, ground your energy, or extend your right arm forward. Keep the gaze down so your next stays long. And then set the right hand down.

Good. Inhale the left arm forward. See how much mobility you have. Set the left hand down pause here or reach right, maybe both arms. Inhale. Oh, exhale hands to the blocks, straighten both legs pyramid.

Find some length inhale. Exhale fold deeper. One more breath. Exhale. Little bend in your right knee, turn the blocks to medium, step back downward facing dog.

Deep breath. Open the mouth. Left leg lifts, inhale. Step your left foot forward. And then we're gonna grab hold of the block, press it between your palms, reach your arms forward, bend your elbows like a dolphin, drop that behind the back, bend your bottom knee, ninety ninety bend in your legs, and then inhale extend, squeeze into the block, exhale bend elbows and knees.

Twice more. Inhale extend, exhale bend. One more inhale extend. XL re bend. Good extend. Take that block to your left thigh. Bring your right forearm across the block.

Start to lengthen the spine, turn, press that thigh bone down with the block, and then extend your left arm overhead, wrap the bicep to the cheek, and turn using that block. And one more breath, and release. Bring your hands to the blocks. Step back to plank. Take a vinyasa on the blocks, exhale lower.

Inhale upward facing, and then child's pose. Alright. Slide the hands off the blocks. We're gonna keep the blocks there for later, so we're just gonna modify back a little bit. So hands behind the block, step to plank position, and then lower your right elbow down, spin to the outer right foot. If you need to modify, you can lower a hip or keep the hand down.

Reach the left arm up for your baby Fashisthasana with joy. Plant the left palm, swivel all the way around to a full side plank on the left outer foot. Take a breath here. Release the right hand swivel back downward facing dog, reach the left hand back to the right ankle, twist looking under your right arm pit. Step the right foot forward warrior two, windmill the arms up.

Reverse tree on asana. Right leg straightens, reach up and back, and then reach forward, land your hand on the shin if you need to block, grab it, left arm to the sky, big breath, circle the hands down to the block. So I'm gonna show you a modified transition. So bend your right knee. The elbows will bend back like you're going towards a dolphin and the right leg will kick back.

Now if you wanna go into a full dolphin with a kick up, move the blocks to the side, bend your knee enough, squeeze the upper arms in, start to kick the right leg back, land both elbows. If you want, try jumping up into a stag pinch a ninety ninety bend, kind of like when we were holding the block behind the head, and both knees were bent. If you're in your dolphin, you can just set the right foot down, lower the knees, find tabletop. And then let's set the blocks back where they were, the top edge of the mat, set up for the second side. So hands behind the blocks, fine plank, and then left forearm comes down, outer edge of the left foot. You can stay here with the right fingertips down or reach up baby Vashi Stasana.

Coming all the way up to that full side plank, right hand down, swivel around to the outer right foot, inhale, and then exhale left hand down, down dog cross your right hand to the outer left ankle, reach underneath or gaze underneath your left armpit, and then step, left foot forward, warrior two, straighten the left leg, big breath reverse, trichonasana, inhale. Exhale reach forward, land your left hand down, reach your right arm up, treat on asana. Take a breath. It circle the hands down to the blocks. Again, maybe we'll try two versions, So hands about shoulder distance, bend your left knee enough. Just the blocks give that extra height to step through like you're going into a mini dolphin.

Option two, you move those blocks you bend your left knee enough to plant the palms, squeeze the upper arms in, kick back as your elbows land. That top knee bends. You might take a little hop kick Both knees bend. We into your stag pincher. Breathe. If you're in your dolphin, your left leg is extended, set the left foot down, lower the knees, child's pose.

Big breath. Exit. Roll up. Alright. If you're coming to your back for a thread, the needle, you can do that. Otherwise, we'll step the right shim forward. Single pigeon.

Extend that left leg long, wrap the outer right, hit back, and breathe. We're just here for about four more breaths. Deep inhale. Full exhale. You're welcome to stay in the fold. If you wanna upright your torso, bend the back knee, maybe catch the back foot.

You can reach overhead. Take that backbend variation. And then we'll just lean to the right, swing your left shin around to the front, extend your right leg back, and then try to square off. So if you need to pull your left foot back, wrap the outer right hip down, and then full deep breath. Full exhale.

We're here for about four more breaths, soften the jaw, the eyes, find that little bit of joy. Even if things were challenging, rainy, so to speak, maybe it was a bright day. If you're coming upright, you bend your back knee, you can reach back, catch the foot, maybe go up an overhead for the backbend version, although this is still a backbend when your leg is an extension. And then lean a little to the left. I would suggest ending in a supported bridge with legs up or just supported bridge.

So you're gonna lie on your back with your block, bend your knees, lift your hips, you can go low, medium, or high on the block. Place it right under the sacrum below the low back. Give your shoulders a tuck. If it feels good, extend one or both legs. You might take your Shavasana here.

If you prefer extending the legs and moving the block, that's absolutely fine. So take a deep breath. Full exhale. Stay where you're at. Taking a moment to just settle.

Softening the jaw. Please stay as long as you'd like. And thank you for sharing your practice. Have a beautiful sunshine day, namaste.