Rising Up Stronger eBook pages

Rising Up Stronger eBook pages3. Wrists 6
5. Core Body
Flows 52
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About Me Hi guys! I’m Chelsea and I fell in love with yoga in October 2014. I have three kiddos so what immediately grabbed me was how still, quiet, and focused my mind became when I practiced (which is rare for a busy stay-at- home mom with three kiddos born in less than three years). I don’t have a background in gymnastics, dance, and am not naturally strong or super flexible so I’ve gained a lot since starting my journey.
My 2017 brought some major life changes. In areas I once found comfort, safety, and familiarity in, I found myself face down in the mud, single, and starting anew. These changes led me to shake up a lot of things and I started by setting down my daily ashtanga practice. I forced myself to get comfortable being uncomfortable. By sitting with emotions, taking more time to listen to my quiet inner voice, and asking my body to show up and find strength where I used to feel weak … I was Rising Up Stronger.
It doesn't take a lot of time to see big changes in your practice. Make yourself a priority. Give yourself the time. Show up. I firmly believe that if I can do this, YOU can do this too. I couldn’t be more excited that you're starting this journey with me.
love love, Chels
How To Use This e-Book
When I started these drills I committed to 5x/week and getting up before my kids did. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend on my mat so I wanted a quick 30 minutes to get my body moving and feeling stronger before the rest of my world awoke. My goal was to get stronger in hopes of making it easier to hold myself up in new ways. I found that handstands not only seemed possible but much easier to practice in a safe way which is why I believe that if you incorporate these drills into your practice you will see major changes!
Every body is very unique and this is a version of what I do, so please modify or intensify according to where you are in your practice. Always always always start with warming up your wrists. Starting out, mine were rather weak and would fatigue quickly as I worked through these drills but overtime they strengthened a lot!
You will see lots of static holds, movements, and flows in these pages but a VERY important piece is the stretches. You have to stretch what you strengthen in order to rise up.
There is a lot of freedom in how to build your practice using this ebook. You can follow the sample schedule I provide on page 72 or build your own. Start with the wrist warmups each day and plan to follow with both shoulders and core work. Ideally, incorporate 2-4 static shoulder drills and 4-6 shoulder movement flows followed by 1-2 minutes of stretching. Repeat that exact set twice and then move onto the core workout. Choose 2-4 static core drills and 4-6 core flows (with “socks and blocks” I complete all of those drills for my core work for that day) followed by 1-2 minutes of stretching. Repeat that exact set twice and find your savasana.
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Medical Disclaimer
Before beginning any new exercise program it is recommended that you seek
medical advice from your personal physician. This book is not intended as
a substitute for the medical advice of physicians. The reader should
regularly consult a physician in matters relating to his/her health and
particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or
medical attention.
Copyright Disclaimer
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in
any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by
any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—
without prior written permission of the publisher, Chelsea Seaman
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We will be on our hands a lot so warming up the wrists is necessary to
avoid injury and increase strength. Spend about 3-5 minutes working into
your wrist flexibility before starting your practice.
Page 7
the wrists keeping palms
to stretch the fingers
shoulders
side to side
• find your plank pose • roll forward on your toes, wrists
hinging forward
with the exhale
• find your table top • hinge forward, keeping arms straight to
stretch the wrists
with the exhale
wrists
• wrap the triceps in as you
straighten arms again
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dolphin pose
in my practice… this can be harder to hold than a handstand so I continue to check in and press away because it’s easy to collapse in the shoulders
• forearms down and parallel to one another
• ears between biceps and gaze back at your
shins
the ground and create as much distance as
possible between your ears and shoulders
• draw your naval to spine
• hold for 30 seconds
the shoulders. If your hamstrings feel tight keep
the knees slightly bent
elbows
• keep core engaged
shoulders and creating a lot of
distance between your ears and
shoulders (over-exaggerate this
downward dog extensions
in my practice… this can be harder to hold than even a handstand so keep checking in with yourself. continue to press away, spiral the triceps in toward your centerline, biceps in line with your ear, belly up and in. if your shoulders are burning then you're doing it right.
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• elbows track over wrists
• hold for 5-10 seconds
• when you come out of this hold try to press up to
plank instead of lowering to your knees
Page 17
super-high downward dog
• from downward dog walk feet in as far as you can
• come up high onto your toes (maybe just on your big
toes)
• press hands firmly into the mat
• hold for 15 - 30 seconds
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feet up and then slowly walk hands back to wall
• come as close to the wall as possible
• press into your hands and tuck your tailbone
• wrap triceps in
• gaze at wall
your forearms
hands
• complete 5 times
• shift gaze between
the side
• protract shoulders
dog
•complete 20 reps
in my practice… down dog can feel like a resting posture but here i feel like this is engaging everything while i only pulse the shoulders
Page 25
dolphin push-ups
•wrap triceps in and lower elbows
to your mat
•belly stays engaged
•ears between biceps
lowered down
• press away from the ground
• inhale, lift and extend your left leg
• exhale, bring knee to tricep
• repeat 10 times and switch sides
in my practice… I couldn’t bring my knee to actually touch my tricep for quite a while. As my core got stronger I could make the connection and now i challenge myself to lift and hold as high on the tricep as I can.
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dd-dolphin-chat-plank-dd
-flow through steps and return to downward dog (dd) following plank pose-
• find your downward dog and wrap your triceps in to lower to dolphin pose
• inhale, shift your gaze forward, belly in. exhale, shift weight, slither
forward, lift elbows
• find your chaturanga. keep the core engaged to create one solid line to press up
to plank (try not to let your lower back sag - if this happens your lower back
will ache), press back to downward dog
• complete 5 rounds
pose
then hinge forward to bring nose
toward hands
then to downward dog
over centerline
side
one minute on each
• belly down, left arm extends straight out
• right leg lifts and rolls over centerline
• right hand presses ground away to shift body onto left side
• right foot finds floor
• stay for one minute on each side
• flip left palm up • reach right hand over body and reach
back to take the bind
Page 34
gomukhasana arms
elbow to bring hand
bind (use a towel or strap
if needed)
then switch sides
highest setting
waist and thigh
deepen the stretch
switch sides
and squeeze both knees in to deepen
stretch
• find a seat and extend arms behind you with fingers
pointing away from body
• pick up your hips and slide forward toward your heels until
you feel a deep stretch in your shoulders
• find a seat with bent arms behind you with fingers
pointing toward your body
• pick up your hips and slide forward toward your heels
until you feel a deep stretch in your shoulders
• increase the bend in your arms to intensify
• stay for one minute
•from a seat, bring hands behind your hips, shoulder-width, and
fingers pointing toward your toes
• press hands and feet firmly into mat and lift hips to the ceiling
• draw your shoulder blades together, lift your chest, try to bring
torso parallel to floor
• hold for one minute
in my practice… it is more comfortable for me to keep my head lifted but if available to you, lower your head so the crown of your head points to floor
core -static holds-
extended ardha navasana
•glue your lower back to your mat by tucking your tailbone and knitting your
ribs together
• extend your legs and arms long
• lower legs as much as possible while maintaining lower back connection with mat
• stay for 10 seconds
in my practice… this is a very hard hold since my core has never been a strength area for me. the ability to connect my lower back to the ground has felt impossible at times but this posture has helped me a lot. Keep working the legs lower as you improve
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forearm plank
forearms parallel
• pull belly up and in
• tuck tailbone
tip… it’s easy to rely on our sticky mats to allow arms to press out but try squeezing together and pulling elbows in toward one another to fully engage
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plank pose
• wrap triceps in
• tuck the tailbone
• engage the core
in my practice… i started slow with 30 second holds and have continued to add on time as this posture has become a daily staple for me
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shoulders
of the chest
the core
forward as you can
• create a hollow body
core -socks and blocks-
• core engaged
• try to put as little weight on tops of
your feet as possible
highest setting
• slide back to hover
setting
• wrists stacked in line with
shoulders
chest
in my practice… I had to modify this way for weeks because it asked so much of my core. As I transitioned I would hold for as long as I could on the tops of my feet and finish the rest of the 30 seconds with my toes tucked
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•set your blocks to the tallest setting
• come to the tops of your feet
• lift through the center of your heart
• pull your knees into your chest - as high as you can
• use as much core as possible
with your toes
outside edge of your right
foot, stack feet, and lower
right hip toward the floor
• reset at the top of your
plank then roll to the
outside edge of left foot,
stack feet, and lower the
left hip toward the floor
(that counts as 1 rep)
• complete 10 reps
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forearm side plank lifts •come into your forearm side plank and place hand on your
hip
• lift up through your hips and engage core
• slowly, with control, lower your hips toward the ground
and then press back up to reset your side plank
• exhale, right knee to right tricep
• inhale, right knee to right wrist • exhale, right knee to left wrist
• inhale, right knee to left tricep • exhale, right knee to right tricep
complete 5 reps on both sides
1 2
3 4
5 6
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• inhale, extend right leg long
• exhale, right knee to right tricep
• hold for a count of 10
• complete 3 reps
• exhale, left knee to right tricep
• hold for a count of 10
• complete 3 reps
•find your forearm plank
• exhale, left knee to left tricep
• hold for a count of 5 seconds
• repeat 3 sets
kicks
• point your toes and lift and lower, alternating legs in little swimmer kicks
outward
taps
support
back
knees
• fingertips placed behind
you for support
and up
• complete 10 times
• exhale, right knee to nose
• come onto left fingertips and rotate right hip under
• thread right leg through, extend
• float left hand up
backbend
parallel
(to avoid knees from splaying out)
• press into palms to lift elbows
• inhale, reach arms up and lengthen
your spine
the left
crescent moon
Page 67
seated twist
• lengthen through the spine
• inhale, right arm reaches up, over, and
twists to the left
• hold for 5 breaths
• switch sides and repeat
•come onto your knees and tuck your toes under
• sit back onto your heels and plant your left hand on your left heel
• inhale, lift and send your hips forward
• right arm reaches up and over, stretching right side body
Page 69
wild thing
right side body
reach up, over, and behind
• send hips up high to the ceiling to
stretch right side body
hold • turbo dog - 10 sec hold • forearm push-ups - 5
reps • downward dog push-ups -
10 reps each side • dd-dolphin-chat-plank-dd
- 5 reps
• forearm plank - 30 sec hold
• side to side plank - 10 reps
• forearm side plank lifts - 10 reps
• knee around the clock - 5 reps each side
• knee to tricep - hold 10 secs, 3 sets
stretch • bridge pose - 1 min
repeat core 2x
shoulders • downward dog extensions
- 45 sec hold • chaturanga - 5 sec hold • downward dog pulses -20
reps • plank shrugs- 20 reps • dd-plank-dolphin-dd - 5
reps • dd-dolphin-dolphin
stretch • gomukhasana arms on each
side - 1min
core • plank pose - 30-45 sec hold
• hover knees - 30 sec hold • knee to opposite tricep - hold for 10 secs/3 sets
• forearm plank knee to tricep - hold for 5 secs/3 sets
• scissor/swimmers/heel taps - 20 reps each
• supported modified navasana - 20 reps
stretch • crescent moon - 1 min/side • arms behind-bent - 1 min
repeat core 2x
• handstand on the wall- 30 sec hold
• downward dog pushups - 10 reps
• forearm knee to tricep - 10 reps
• dolphin pushups - 10 reps • turbo dog - 10 secs
stretch • prayer drop on blocks- 1
min
repeat shoulders 2x
core (socks) • knee hovers - 30 secs • modified lolasana lifts - 10 reps
• plank pose - 30 secs • lolasana - 10 sec hold • slide thru - 10 reps
stretch • seated twist-both sides - 1min
• arms behind-straight - 1 min
repeat core 2x
Feel free to get creative and choose different exercises from each section to create your own practice. Aim for 30 minutes of drills and stretches following the wrist warm-ups. I usually follow my drills up with some handstand work and then flow later in the day to some music.
love love,
Taking a moment to be forever grateful to everyone that has supported me
fully through this process. The outpouring of love, kindness, and
friendship has been overwhelmingly valued and appreciated. Thank you for
walking alongside me.
@kathleenwilliamsphotography for opening up your home and shooting these beautiful photos!
Thank you to Alo Yoga (@aloyoga) for sponsoring my e-Book and donating the gorgeous clothing.
Thank you to Liforme (@liforme) for sponsoring this e-book and making my most loved yoga mat of all time.
And lastly, thank you to all of YOU!! Without your constant love and support I wouldn't feel so comfortable sharing what I know and love. I am
here to support you in your journey so always feel free to reach out
whether it’s an email ([email protected]) or a DM on Instagram
(@chelseasyoga).
I am so excited to watch you #RISINGUPSTRONGER so share your journey with
me! Post your progress and transformation photos on Instagram and tag
#RISINGUPSTRONGER so I can follow along!
X,
Chels

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Rising Up Stronger eBook pages