your 30-day yoga journey.

Today is day three.

Get ready to stretch.

(upbeat music)

All righty, partners, let's begin lying flat on the back.

Yay.

Take your time getting there.

Come on down to yoga town.

And, you're gonna extend the legs out long

and then when you're ready take a deep breath in

and reach the fingertips all the way up and over your head.

So, you're taking a nice big, full body stretch.

Now, we're coming off yesterday's practice.

We're gonna close the eyes.

So, trust me, trust yourself, trust the video.

And, you're gonna hook the thumbs here, little Wu Tang

and then you're just gonna flex through the feet.

So, press into your heels, let the weight

of your hands draw down.

A big stretch through the shoulders.

Take one more big inhale.

Then slowly release.

(exhaling deeply)

Relax the hands down gently at your sides.

You can soften through the toes and the feet.

Now, make sure that you're not holding on in your legs.

Sometimes you don't realize

that you're actually holding, gripping,

so relax from the waist down.

And, then press into your head physically, literally

press into your head and lift your chest up

and then snuggle your shoulder blades underneath you

and that might allow you to open the palms.

And, just feel a broader opening through the chest.

All righty, nice and easy, here we go.

Dropping the left ear over to the Earth, pause here.

Reach your right fingertips out a little bit further.

Feel that stretch to the right side of your neck.

And, then slowly bring you back to center.

And, rock your right ear to the Earth

and reach out through your left fingertips,

just a little more, maybe just a little adjustment.

Then breathe deep as you feel that stretch

through the left side of your neck, the trap.

And, then slowly come back to center.

Take a deep breath in.

(inhaling deeply)

And, a long breath out.

Arrive here now.

(exhaling strongly)

Awesome.

Now, you're gonna press the palms into the Earth,

hug your navel down so you're connecting

to your center, kind of engaging that transverse abdominis.

Not kind of, you're engaging the transverse abdominis

by scooping the tailbone up, zipping upper abdominals

and lower belly in towards the middle.

Inhale (inhaling deeply).

Exhale, slowly begin to lift your right knee

up towards your chest.

You're gonna give your right shin a big hug.

And, try to keep this engaging quality in your center.

So, try to keep your transverse abdominis turned on here.

As you scoop the tailbone up, hug the lower ribs down

and then squeeze that right knee into the chest.

Now, if it feels better in your body,

if your body's kind of telling you to lift the left knee

and place it on the Earth, go for it.

Otherwise, we might begin to activate

through the left toes and firm down

through the left thighbone.

So, the reason today is stretch, day three,

is so many people think that they have to be flexible

to do yoga.

That is the number one thing I hear everywhere I go.

I talk about what I do or if people ask me

about my life, their first response,

their initial response is, "Well, I'm not flexible.

"I can't do yoga."

And, sometimes people know that,

you know, they say, "I should do yoga

"because I'm not flexible."

But you don't have to be flexible to do yoga.

Today, we'll introduce some movements

and some synchronization with breath

that invite more flexibility.

But, see if you can also stretch your mind.

We don't have to be flexible to do yoga.

We're creating flexibility in the mind, the body,

and the spirit.

Okay, release that.

Nice compression in the lower abdomen and in the stomach,

really great for digestion.

Now, let's squeeze that left knee all the way up and in.

Again you can bend the right knee if you like.

Lower back is nice and supported here.

Squeeze and lift (exhaling strongly).

Nice and active in your right leg.

(inhaling deeply)

(exhaling strongly)

Breathing into your lower belly.

And, just chewing on those ideas.

It's not just flexibility in your body,

but what are some things that you could maybe

open your mind to, or your perception?

Stretching in more ways than one here

on the yoga mat.

Take one more breath here (inhaling deeply).

And, then exhale to release it all the way down.

Once again, we'll hug the right knee all the way back up.

Inhale (inhaling deeply).

And, then exhale, take it over towards the left side

of your mat and open your right fingertips out.

Feel that nice opening through the right pec.

We come into a supine twist.

Turn onto your right ear, feel that stretch

in the left side of your neck.

Then close your eyes or soften your gaze

and pay attention to the sound of your breath.

(inhaling deeply)

(exhaling strongly)

Beautiful.

From your navel, draw it down.

Come back through center.

You're gonna squeeze the right knee into the chest.

You guessed it, inhale in, exhale, peel the nose

up towards the knee.

If you want a little more, you can let the left heel

hover here, again, turning on those abdominals.

(inhaling deeply)

Inhale and exhale to release everything down.

Awesome work.

With control, gently release the right leg down.

Inhale (inhaling deeply).

Exhale, connect to your center, your abdominals

turn on and from there we pull the left knee in.

So, we're working on functional movement

for our flexibility practice.

This is gonna help us throughout the whole journey here.

We'll squeeze (exhaling strongly).

Inhale (inhaling deeply).

Exhale, find your twist, guiding the left knee

over towards the right,

opening up through your left arm.

Feeling that nice stretch through the pec, the shoulder.

And, then turning onto the left ear.

Inhale in.

And, exhale to release (exhaling strongly).

Slowly bring it back to center.

Hug the left knee into the chest,

firm through the right leg.

Inhale, then exhale, navel draws down

as you peel the nose up towards your knee.

Squeeze and lift (exhaling strongly).

(inhaling deeply)

(exhaling strongly)

Then if you want, you can let your right heel hover here,

just to turn on your core (exhaling strongly).

(chuckles)

Big inhale (inhaling deeply).

Then exhale, just slowly lower everything down.

Awesome.

Extend the left leg out long.

Inhale, reach the fingertips all the way up

towards the sky.

Nice full body stretch once again.

(inhaling deeply)

And, then exhale to float the hands down.

(exhaling strongly)

From your center, from your navel,

drawing down to the Earth.

Activate, you're gonna bring knees up to the chest.

And, now hug both shins.

Feel that length in the lower back body.

And, you can just take a couple cycles of breath here

to find what feels good.

So maybe you draw circles with the knees one way

and then the other.

Or perhaps, rocking gently side to side.

Relax any tension or stress that you might be carrying

in the neck, the shoulders, the upper back here.

And then after you take a couple moments,

just get a nice little massage on the lower back.

We're gonna slide the hands to the backs of the thighs.

And, we're gonna begin to rock and roll up and down

the length of the spine.

So, you can rock as many times.

Excuse me, bud.

I'm gonna come here for a second.

Oh, sorry.

And, you rock as many times as it feels awesome

in your back.

If this is new for you, it's fun,

it's a little wake up call for your core and for your back.

I remember when I first started doing this.

Nice one.

It was impossible.

I felt like such a goof and now it's just part

of my daily routine, feels really good.

So, rock and roll once or twice more.

And, then we're gonna come all the way through

to tabletop position.

So, maybe cross the ankles, plant the palms mindfully.

And, when you get there, bring the big toes to touch

and the knees as wide as wide as your yoga mat.

And, then the right hand's gonna come to the center

of the mat and the left hand's gonna slowly peel

across the arm, across the chest, and reach

up towards the sky.

Big stretch.

Press into the tops of the feet here.

For the right arm, the upper arm bone

kinda rotates back here.

It'll give you a little space.

And, then just make sure that you're not collapsed

in the neck.

So, lengthen through the crown.

One more breath here, you got it, inhale.

Then exhale, come back to center nice and easy.

Left hand replaces the right.

Feet and legs stay the same.

(inhaling deeply)

And, we're gonna begin to open up through the chest.

Once again, right fingertips cross the heart,

we press away from the mat with our left hand

and right fingertips reach up towards the sky.

(chuckles)

Now again, careful not to collapse in the neck.

Keep it nice and long.

Big inhale, breathe into all four sides of the torso.

(inhaling deeply)

And, exhale to release it down.

Fabulous.

Walk the knees now back underneath the hip points.

Press firmly into the tops of the feet.

Drop your elbows exactly where your hands are.

And, then just pay attention to this stacking

of the bones of elbow right underneath the shoulder.

Then wrist comes in line with the elbows

so, we have two parallel lines here.

What's up, dog?

And then, I'm gonna keep that, maintain that.

So, we have this strong foundation here.

As I slowly claw through the fingertips

and begin to peel my tail up and walk my knees back.

For heart to Earth pose or puppy posture.

You can think of this kind of as a half downward dog.

So, it's the same action, it's just a little more cooling.

Big heart opener here.

Slowly begin to release heart to Earth,

forehead to mat.

If it doesn't come all the way to the mat it's okay.

And, then just take a moment to look up and notice