Prana - Day 7

Hi everyone and welcome to Prana, your seven day yoga journey. We made it. It's Day 7. I want to thank you so much for going on this journey with me, for sharing your valuable time and energy with me and most importantly for showing up for you because I believe this series is all about being conscious of the ripple that we're putting out into the world. So I hope your journey continues well after today but for now it's Day 7 so hop into something comfy and let's get started. Alright, let's begin in a comfortable seat. We'll take a reverent bow of the head if you're down to start and your hands can rest wherever you like. So they can rest gently on the knees, the thighs, hands on heart, palms together, Anjuli Mudra. Maybe just soften in your lap. Tuck the chin slightly, lengthen through the back of the neck but don't allow your heart center to collapse here. Let's come into this marriage of relaxed attention here, if you will. We can close the eyelids or soften the gaze down gently past your nose. And again, this is our first posture, one that you can come to or a version of it anytime to find your breath. And yes, this idea of relaxed attention. So gently lift up through the sternum, slowly draw some awareness into the muscles of the core, the energy of your beautiful, beautiful body. And relax your shoulders. Notice how you're feeling today here. Taking in any sounds or smells. Noticing the quality of air in the room or the location where you're practicing today. In the next few quiet moments, opportunity here to set a little intention. And then slowly open the eyes, take a deep breath in. Lift the chin as you exhale, relax the shoulders down a little more. Send the fingertips out left to right, big breath in, stretch, sit up nice and tall. Think of those suspenders lifting you up. Exhale, hands to your heart space. Place the palms on the chest. Inhale to expand. Exhale, palms to the chest. Moving with your breath, inhale. Exhale. And then gently release that and let's come forward to all fours. Find extension here in Tabletop Position. Knees underneath the hips are slightly wider than the hip points. Inhale, extend through the crown. Draw the belly in. Exhale, send the hips back, melt the heart down. Now with the breath, tug the hands back. Inhale, extend the crown forward. Draw the belly in. Exhale, send it back, stretch it back. With your breath, continue. Finding a rhythm in this repetition. The next time you're up, curl the toes under and on your exhale, send it back to Downward Facing Dog. Take one or two breaths here. Stretching it out, noticing how you feel today. Inhale in, exhale, lower to the knees. Find that extension, uncurl the toes. And exhale, send the hips back to that Child's Pose once again. Putting it together, inhale. Extend, curl the toes under. Exhale, Downward Facing Dog. Inhale, lower the knees, crown of the head extends. Uncurl the toes as you exhale, send the hips back. Stretch it out. Inhale, extension. Curl the toes as you exhale, hips up high and back, Down Dog. It may take a second to get into this rhythm, but once you have it, listen to the sound of your breath and move at a pace, at a tempo that feels right for you today. And as you get into your own beautiful groove of this little vinyasa, you might start to smooth out the movement a little bit. Soften any hard edges. The next time you're in Downward Facing Dog, stay there. That's where we'll meet together. And then from Downward Facing Dog, we'll inhale, bend the knees. Inhale, look forward. Exhale, make your way to the top of your mat. Let the weight of your head hang here, Uttanasana. Coming back to your breath. And then bending the knees generously, bring the fingertips to the tops of the feet. Trace the fingertips past the ankles, the shins as you begin to roll up. Knees, tops of the thighs. And then open the palms as you lift your chest, your sternum, crown of the head high. Think of this energetic highway in the spine. Just imagine this line from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone. Then slow and steady, take the left arm all the way up, just the left arm, and over to the right. Ground through the heels, come back to center. Right arm reaches up, and then take it over to the left. And back through center one more time to each side. Left arm reaches, and right arm reaches. Lovely, both arms, inhale, reach up towards the sky. Wiggle the fingertips as you float them all the way down into a Forward Fold. Inhale, halfway lift, find length. Connect to center, and exhale, soften and fold. From here, step your left foot back, and then bring the hands to the waistline as you rise up here so the back heel's lifted and we're bent in the front knee. So just take a second to get into this shape. Inhale, reach the arms up high. Exhale, straighten both legs as you press the palms down and away, lift up on your back heel. For balance, you got to hug everything into the midline. Inhale, reach it up. Exhale, straighten the legs, lift your chest, lift your heart. Inhale, reach up. Exhale, press. One more time, inhale, reach up. Exhale, press. Both legs are straight, heart lifts. Pause here, draw the shoulder blades together. Press the palms back a little more, and then release. Bring the hands to the waistline here. Step the back foot up to the front of the mat. And then we'll step the right foot back and prep for that on the other side. Front knee bends, back heel's lifted. Inhale, we reach for the sky, front knee's bent. Exhale, press the palms down. Draw energy up from the pelvic floor. Think of your prana body here as you move, as you embody the shape. Following the breath, inhale. Exhale. How can we work to create a whole body experience here? How can the way you move change that experience, that felt experience? The next time your legs are straight, press the palms back. Hold here, lift the back heel, lift the heart. You got this. Whole body awakening, and then release. Bring the hands to the waistline, step the back foot up to meet the front. Toes pointing forward. Inhale, sweep the arms just in front of you, and send the hips back. Gather energy in through your center, navel drawing in and up. Tailbone reaches back towards the back edge of the mat. Knees track best you can over those ankles. Inhale in, exhale, press the palms back, toss it away. Inhale, reach forward. Exhale this time, toss it away. Sound effects welcome. Inhale, reach forward. Exhale. Sink a little lower, last one. Inhale, reach for the sky. Exhale, forward fold. You want to bring back this diving motion if that feels good in your spine. We'll meet in Uttanasana. From Uttanasana, bring the left fingertips down to the earth. Inhale, reach the right fingertips high as you bend your left knee. Then bring it back down to center. Right fingertips replace the left. Left fingertips reach up high as you bend your right knee. Nice, bring it all the way back. Plant the palms, step one foot back, then the other for plank pose. Inhale in here. Exhale, slowly lower to your belly. Your choice, hands on the mat by the ribcage or fingertips off the mat. Elbows up high, your choice. Inhale, we rise up, baby cobra. Exhale, soften and release. Finding this undulation in the spine as you move with your breath. Three times. Lift and lower. After three, curl the toes under. Press up just to all fours. Bump the hips to the left, the left side of the mat. Turn your gaze to look past your right shoulder. Maybe at the back corner of your mat. Feeling that stretch in the left side waist, left low back. Then through center, bump hips to the right, look past your left shoulder. Same thing. Working, using the palms really to find that stretch in the right side waist, right low back. Beautiful, then inhale, come back to center. Curl the toes under. Send the hips up high and back for Downward Facing Dog. Inhale, lift the right leg high. Exhale, shift your right knee forward, squeeze and lift. Then step your right foot up into your lunge and pivot your back foot for Warrior I. Inhale, reach the arms up high. Virabhadrasana I. Exhale, open out, Warrior II. Virabhadrasana II. Good, front knee stays bent. Inhale, right fingertips reach up and back. Reverse Warrior or Peaceful Warrior. Good, nice side body stretch here. Exhale, right elbow to the top of the right thigh. Left fingertips reach up or up and overhead here, breathing deep. Option here to take the right fingertips to the ground. One more cycle of breath here wherever you are. Then dialing it all the way back down to your lunge. Step the right toes back, hips up high, Downward Facing Dog. Breathe in. Breathe out. Inhale, lift the left leg high. Exhale, shift it forward, knee to nose, squeeze and lift. Step the left foot up, pivot on the back foot. We rise up with the breath, Warrior I. Virabhadrasana I, front knee stays bent. Inhale, get a little taller. Exhale, open it out, Warrior II. Virabhadrasana II. Breathe. Keep the front knee bent. Bend it generously as you send the left fingertips up high. Find length in the side body and then begin to tilt it back, Peaceful Warrior. Inhale in here, move from center. Left elbow to the top of the left thigh. Right fingertips find their extension. Breathe. Option to bring the left fingertips to the ground. Everyone take one more cycle of breath here. And then slowly releasing back down to the lunge. Plant the palms, step it back to Plank. Take a deep breath in. A long exhale brings your belly to the earth. Cobra, your version. Inhale, we rise up, moving with the breath. Exhale to soften and release. Forehead kisses the mat. Undulating through the spine, find your flow. Really moving with the rise and the fall of the breath. Give it a try. After three, bring the hands underneath the shoulders, everyone. Curl the toes under, inhale in. Sharp exhale, explosive exhale brings us up to Plank. Quietly whisper to yourself, I am strong. Then send the hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog. Nice, from here, lift the right leg up high. Stack the right hip over the left by bending your right knee. Let's take a nice stretch here, inhale in. Then exhale, drop your right foot and send your left leg up high. I got distracted because of my shirt. I love when this happens in yoga, though. It makes me feel like I'm in my own private little love cave. Feels good. Stacking the hips on the other side, getting that nice opening in the front of the hip crease. And then releasing, slow descend of the knees all the way down. Swing the legs to one side and send the legs out long in front of you. Feel free to sit up on a blanket or block here. Bend the knees slightly, everyone, and inhale, reach up towards the sky. Exhale, Paschimottanasana. Think up and over, drawing the belly in. As you reach forward, belly's going to come towards the thighs. Wherever it lands is good, good for today. Taking a moment here to steady your focus, calm your breath, and maybe eventually relax the weight of the head over. Find a nice balloon breath here, breathing into your belly nice and slow. And slowly rolling it up. Cross the ankles, take a little twist to one side and then the other. Extend the legs out again. Bend one knee, then the other. Hands come behind the thighs, loop the shoulders, lean back, lift one leg, and then the other. Boat pose, we meet again. Upward current of energy through the front body, a downward current of energy through the back body. Couple of breaths to play here. Maybe you extend one leg, and then the other. Maybe you extend both legs, reaching the arms forward. Playing here with what feels good. Maybe you take it to a low boat, and then up. Couple of repetitions maybe of low boat and up. If you've already taken a break, but you want to come back for this last beat, come on back into this boat. We can hold behind the legs like so. And then we'll release it and come to lie on the back. Get situated, get centered on your mat, then bend one knee, then the other. Inhale, start to peel the tailbone up. Press into the feet, lifting the hip points. Arms are optional here. If you want to play with the arms that we've been doing, you can. Or today, we can take the bind, interlacing the fingertips behind the back, lifting the hips, grounding through the feet. Think shins forward, think knees forward. Chest to chin, chin to sky. Take one more breath here, you got this. And then slowly release the bind, soften through your sternum, and lower down one vertebra at a time. Hug both knees into the chest. Allow the knees to fall to your right. Declined twist. You can close your eyes here if you haven't already or soften your gaze. Allow the knees to fall to your left. And when you're ready, come back to center. Hug the knees into the chest one last time. Inhale in, and then exhale to extend the legs out long. Arms rest gently at your side. Allow your breath to soften here. Allow your body to just be blanketed in love. And simply be aware of your presence, your own beautiful presence. Prana, this life force, this always existing energy, this continuous energy that makes us up, that makes us who we are and connects us to all things. This is part of the yogic perspective of prana, of life. Take one more quiet moment here, just enjoying being, enjoying showing up for yourself in such a beautiful way. Start to slowly, ever so slowly wiggle the toes, the fingers, rotate the ankles, the wrists. And when you're ready, bring the palms together, give them a little rub back and forth. Thank you with all my heart for going on this journey with me. Be sure to check out a sneaky little day eight bonus that if you got to the end of this, I think you should definitely check out as a little, I love you as a little extra gift. It's a meditation. But we will bring this to a final close by drawing the thumbs to third eye here. Inhaling lots of love in together, all of us practicing together around the world. And exhale lots of love out. We are connected. After this series we're hopefully more in tune with our subtle body. Thank you for sharing your practice with me. Namaste.