Move - A 30 Day Yoga Journey

Meet yourself here. The hardest part will be getting here. It won’t be any pose or bind. The hardest part will be arriving for your daily practice. So let that be named. It’s day one, and this practice invites you to come as you are. We show up as an individual, but together we can make big moves. Be patient. Small gestures, make big waves. The journey starts here, right NOW.

In this session we create open space for new discoveries. It will require your attention and focus, so start with your breath. I don’t have many rules in practice, but one I do have is this: The breath always comes first. Your brain and nervous system will be continuously regenerating as you experience the 30 days - gaining new knowledge and feedback. Build a new foundation with your breath and you will receive more benefits from your journey.

Today we take a look at expansion & contraction and how our awareness of these two gestures can vastly improve function for us mentally, physically and emotionally. This is a practice that invites you to not only stretch your body, but to stretch your mind too. I’ll be guiding quite a bit with my voice in this practice and the coming practices. Let go of expectations and enjoy this time to explore. Remember, the breath comes first.

Rich foundational work continues in our Day 4 Flow session! While we will get the blood flowing and heart pumping today - this session is an opportunity to check in with the mental and spiritual parts of yourself. This is, in fact, what the ancient practice of yoga is all about. Today’s session is a loving training for the brain and body. Perfect for those who have flow experience, but even better for those entering with a beginner's mind. Use your breath and the vocabulary we have created thus far to fall into your flow state today.

When we take time to deepen the relationship with our subtle body and breath, we are creating a sense of wholeness, of feeling complete, more true. This can then lead to us feeling more confident and more capable of loving ourselves. And that of course can have a beautiful ripple effect, a movement beyond ourselves. So as we begin to add more vocabulary and depth through visualization and imagination remember, How you move matters.

This journey is designed to create a sustainable connection and strength in your core. While today’s session successfully targets the full abdominal wall, it is not just about your physical core muscles. Your daily practice is also a tool to guide and help you distill your core values. Shine a little light in the dark places today. Connect or reconnect with what matters most. Or as the great Mary Oliver once put it, “Be ignited, or be gone.”

Today’s session is designed to tend to the mind and body with comfort and nourishment. You deserve it. Today’s practice is also detoxifying and delicious for the brain and spine. Stay on it. You deserve it. The more you show up, the more you practice receiving the nourishment that comes when you take this time for your brain, your body, and your heart. Stay tuned in and you might feel… Small flutters of joy, a strange sense of comfort in discomfort, and a small moment of your vocabulary joining - to tie the room together.

From a neurological perspective, creating a strong body and positive mindset happens one neural connection at a time. This is a beautiful opportunity in our journey to embrace and celebrate the fact that transformation and healing require some time, training, and practice. Consistency and compassion are key. Today’s practice is designed to help you embrace your process and journey by slowing down and learning how to rest. Wear something extra comfy if you can. Grab a blanket, maybe a pillow too. *If you don’t have any of these things handy and you are just squeezing this in, no worries. The important thing is that you show up for practice.

Get ready to say hello to your abdominals and your glutes, while giving your brain a nutritious boost. Today we continue to build a strong base for which we can explore, release tension, and boost stamina… and faith. This is a fun practice! Notice how your relationship with your breath changes with each day. Dig in. Stay curious. Find What Feels Good.

Need a pick me up? I got your back. Today’s session is a YWA special. It’s all about specificity, details, and how we set ourselves up to move on the mat. Because how we set ourselves up to move on the mat is how we set ourselves up to move off the mat. We are fine-tuning our awareness and our attention today. We are setting the bar for the next week of practice, and for the next season of life. If you are faltering, losing steam, feeling your limits tested - in this journey or in life, This practice was designed for you. You bring the breath, I will guide the rest!

Explore your range of motion and improve your relationship with your brain and body. This is vital in the home practice, and extremely beneficial not only for how you move throughout life but to set yourself up with a daily practice you can sustain and grow. While we have been working on core stability and hip stability, in order to balance the flexibility you are no doubt already exploring/seeking - today’s session is all about neurological control and strength. We are talking range of motion, joint health, decreasing injury, and increasing tissue health. We are talking integrity. How well can you actively move yourself? Meet me on the mat today for a mobility practice that means something.

Today’s session highlights the importance of focus in yoga, as well as the myriad of ways in which daily practice can support your mental concentration and productivity. ***Yoga is a discipline*** Focus is a practice. And the focused gaze has rich meaning both on and off the mat. This session is not about crocodile breaths, creative squats, or eagle pose. It is about our willingness to learn how to focus our attention with awareness.

The journey unfolds! We continue to add vocabulary and play with the right and left side of the brain and body. Stay open and know that you are worthy of this experience and this time. You are not alone. There are many others putting this powerful puzzle together with you. We ease into this practice with some lovely floor work to stretch, support a healthy spine, and encourage you on your journey to build core strength that sticks around all year. Just like all of these practices, we are showing up to improve function in both the brain and body. Use the breath to accentuate your experience as we explore half-moon, standing splits, crow pose and more.

Your yoga practice is an opportunity to know, understand, and enjoy yourself more. This is your time, your body, your breath, your story, your brain, your reality that you’re creating for yourself, so make it about you. When we create safe, healthy spaces for us to make it about ourselves and listen and check-in, then it has an incredible ripple effect on how we show up for others. Your practice is about you. And it’s OKAY to make it about you. So get a little bit closer now. To you.

Knock knock… it’s me. YOU MADE IT to DAY 15! Today is a mega RESET day, embrace it and watch it serve. For the next two weeks we will continue to grow our vocabulary, generate new connections for the brain and body. With all my heart, thank you for trusting me and for sharing your practice.

Today’s session is all about grounding in the good stuff. You can do this! I know it’s getting more difficult to show up. I told you it would be challenging at times. We have been preparing for this. And for all the difficult moments off the mat too. I am sharing one of my secret life tools today: A mantra to anchor you - in almost every way. “My breath is my anchor, my anchor is my breath.”

Today is a snuggle day! This session offers a beautiful blend of hip, core, and sideline work. All breath led, this practice is like a healing broth for your brain, body, and spirit. We will MOVE today, but a couple of cozy items on hand.. can’t hurt. Bring a blanket or pillow if you like. Snuggle up. Give yourself grace. Stay open to being moved. Trust the power of your consistent devotion to showing up for yourself. Day 17 ends with some breath work and contemplation you won’t want to miss. Stay with it, till the end. You must. You must. The journey is the reward.

Tasting every move. Paying attention to sensation. Staying present and not pretending. Today’s session offers an incredible opportunity to deepen your practice. Instead of working (too) hard to fit the mold of expectation, these yoga practices invite you to be present with your experience, no matter what it is. Savor the moment! Allow yourself to feel and taste everything on the mat. Honor this bit of time that you have carved out for yourself.

Your daily moves continue to connect and expand with day 19. This session is KEY for the MOVE Journey. Each day, a set up for the next. Remember, the process is the candy. Thank you for moving with me, in this way, during this time. I truly believe that through our regular exploration together we can find healing and create meaningful change inside ourselves and out in our communities. No doubt you are getting stronger and more curious as we move along. Let’s keep going.

Have you noticed how you have been getting ready for practice? What are the little things you do in order to mentally and physically land on the mat? Light a candle. Pour a glass of water. Close the blinds. Or open them. We have made it to day 20. Whether you did it in 20 days or more, there are ten more practices left in this series. And the last ten days are my absolute favorite. Today we are embracing and celebrating the intention behind showing up and the intention behind your movement, and how powerful that can be. A little goes a long way, don’t forget. Follow the sound of your breath and nurture your brain and body. The next ten days are really about embracing the ritual of the at-home practice. What makes it a ritual? Let’s explore…

It’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to the experience of connection. When you think you may not have all the right ingredients (time, energy, self-love, clean floor, clean underwear, etc) to connect to yourself in a worthy way - think again. This practice proves you don’t need a lot to find that quality connection with yourself. You have everything you need.

This session and the practices to come are devised to bring you closer to your gifts. Not mine. Yours! Find the courage within. It will carry you forward. The more we are able to recognize and move within what is, the more courageous we become by aligning with a flow state that serves us, that allows us to shine.

As you may notice, by Day 23, I start to have a little more fun in my leadership here. I hope you take it as a great reminder that this is a training designed to improve your quality of life. I find softness in yoga is a discipline. It at times feels almost like a lost art form in popular western asana. Today’s practice invites us to have fun, to notice how you feel, and soften to the present moment on the journey to find balance in opposition. If you want to get stronger and feel more secure, implement softness.

The world has changed. We have changed. For me, the 30 Day Yoga Journey is an acknowledgment of our shared deep presence and of the moment we are all in together. This session highlights that and addresses our individual and collective need for processing mode. This powerful layer of the practice is about healing. It is about honoring our growth. Create space to allow for PROCESSING. So that you can see and be safe and held in the moment, not avoid it. We are in this together.

Through daily yoga and breath practice, we develop a deeper awareness of where we are holding tension and trauma. No doubt you have at least once walked off the mat feeling as though you were carrying less stress than when you stepped on. This session utilizes movement and breath technique to highlight the powerful ways in which we can use the practice of mindful awareness to lovingly and safely tend to what triggers. We are in the home stretch of this journey. Lean in. Let go of that which no longer serves. I got your back.

Today’s session highlights what I believe this journey and these practices are ALL ABOUT. Take a breath. Learn how to fall deeply, totally, completely in love. And move from there.

Today’s strength practice is vital as we near the end of our journey. It is an opportunity for you to experience and even celebrate your WILLPOWER. This session is about recruitment of deep muscles to not only tone muscle mass but to improve brain function. It’s true! Movement and especially core work can change the structure of our gray matter. In my mind you are ready for this level of understanding and ultimately a new level of motivation. Do not be intimidated by today’s session. It is designed to carry you to a new level of understanding, and to assist you in CELEBRATING how miraculous your body is. Here we are highlighting strength based practice that helps you feel amazing. So thus far, and on into our next days of practice, keep moving, my darling. When you want to throw in the towel, don’t. Stay with it and you may have your own delightful secretion of chemicals that travel to your brain to make you feel happier, energized, and less stressed out.

Today’s session provides a little tender loving care, a little TLC, for your brain, your body and your heart. Yoga works. I have built this practice to equip you with the tools to feel empowered in the many moons of your life. Daily practice isn’t always about maximizing. It is about meeting yourself where you are. Ask, how am I feeling?*** And then ask… How do I want to feel?*** The way you respond to this question with breath and through movement is what this journey is all about. Two more days and then we will engage in our final MOVE session together, which will signify something special. Heads up, tomorrow will be our last day of guided sessions as you know them thus far - we have a purposeful surprise awaiting us on Day 30! Stay open. Show up. If you are already wondering what will happen after the 30 days is complete, don’t worry, I have us covered.

While many move to look good, we move to feel good. My loving advice for you today is to think about your yoga practice as a training for how you want to move through your life. I hope you have felt a sense of belonging on this journey. It is the foundation for the offering, and where I build from. Trust, this experience is meant to be. If you are ever in a tight spot, at a crossroads, or unsure how or where to move next… Find your breath. HEAR IT. Trust it. Trust your awareness. Your gut. Heads up, we have a purposeful surprise awaiting tomorrow for Day 30! Today’s session is a perfect set up. Do you trust me?

In our day thirty tradition, I am taking off the mic and inviting you to practice alongside me, and thousands of others in the same moment. What does that mean? It means, you won’t follow my verbal instruction today, nor should you feel the need to match my moves. You are the leader today. I am your friend practicing at my own pace alongside. This session is different - and yet, in my mind, the perfect way to seal our journey. Use the vocabulary you have to create stability and softness. Listen to your breath for cues on when and how to uplift, snuggle, savor, and explore. Cultivate love and courage with curiosity and focus. The goal of this session is not for our practice to match - but for us to celebrate our connectedness through our individuality and truth. This is the last session of our journey, choose how you want to feel. Rest when you like, breathe like you love yourself, and trust me, trust yourself, trust the process, trust it all. In every end is a new beginning