WEBVTT 00:00:19.268 --> 00:00:25.530 Hi everyone! Welcome to this session of what I call energy flow yoga 00:00:25.990 --> 00:00:31.871 This yoga class is designed to support you in your meditative practice 00:00:33.373 --> 00:00:37.373 When we're speaking about yoga we're also speaking about non-duality 00:00:37.373 --> 00:00:42.776 because yoga itself is a non-dual system, which a lot of people, 00:00:42.776 --> 00:00:45.876 especially in our modern culture, don't realize. 00:00:45.876 --> 00:00:49.876 where normally our focus is on the posture, as though the stretch 00:00:49.876 --> 00:00:54.286 is what yoga is. But of course if you've looked into yoga even a little bit 00:00:54.286 --> 00:00:59.746 you'll realize that the first limb of yoga is posture not even necessarily stretch. 00:00:59.746 --> 00:01:03.956 Often it's referring to sitting in meditative posture. 00:01:03.956 --> 00:01:08.159 And the other seven limbs are all pointing to deeper States both within 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:14.389 our energy our psychology, referring to the breath and ultimately to Consciousness 00:01:14.389 --> 00:01:20.227 and so this practice is really designed around incorporating the Asana, 00:01:20.227 --> 00:01:24.357 which we will be doing. Which will be various postures and flows, 00:01:24.357 --> 00:01:29.117 with the most important aspect of the practice which is concentration 00:01:29.117 --> 00:01:33.117 awareness, non-resistance. Just like in the meditative practice. 00:01:33.117 --> 00:01:37.151 So we can learn to actually go into our yoga postures flows, 00:01:37.151 --> 00:01:40.387 whatever it is we're doing, using the same principle 00:01:40.387 --> 00:01:43.544 and so that is the most important part of the practice 00:01:43.544 --> 00:01:46.239 you could kind of say the stretch is secondary. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:51.117 So for this session we're going to go into a format which I often use 00:01:51.117 --> 00:01:55.117 starting with breathwork which in yoga is called Pranayama 00:01:55.117 --> 00:01:58.947 and then we'll be moving into body stretches or holds. 00:01:58.961 --> 00:02:06.427 Normally from a Yin perspective. So Yin stretches and also Yin flows I call them 00:02:06.427 --> 00:02:10.926 that build up Prana in the body. Prana actually refers to Life Force energy 00:02:10.926 --> 00:02:14.926 and if you've heard the word Chi, then it's the same thing except that 00:02:14.926 --> 00:02:18.156 would be the word used more in the Chinese system. 00:02:18.156 --> 00:02:24.184 And so as we're working that the mindfulness concentration feeling 00:02:24.184 --> 00:02:28.563 are a priority and then the stretch is just something that's going to happen 00:02:28.563 --> 00:02:33.143 So, we'll laid in, we'll begin lying on our back so let's just take a moment 00:02:33.143 --> 00:02:37.533 and find your mat I'm going to be sitting while I give you the instructions 00:02:37.533 --> 00:02:42.033 when I teach, what I'm trying to do is teach clearly enough where you don't have 00:02:42.033 --> 00:02:47.925 to open your eyes often, that way your attention is focused inwards on feeling. 00:02:47.925 --> 00:02:51.495 So I'll give you another moment here to just find the mat, lying down 00:02:51.495 --> 00:02:57.014 in shavasana posture, you can lie down with your hands facing up preferably 00:02:57.014 --> 00:03:01.014 with an open heart posture, but if that's not good for your shoulder then just 00:03:01.014 --> 00:03:05.504 lie down with whatever position works best for your body. 00:03:05.504 --> 00:03:11.094 In the case of prana, that we're talking about on a deep level of practice 00:03:11.094 --> 00:03:15.094 pranayama sometimes is referred to only as the very natural breath 00:03:15.094 --> 00:03:17.384 that occurs when you're in deep meditation 00:03:17.384 --> 00:03:22.121 But for the sake of these practices Pranyama will refer to any way 00:03:22.121 --> 00:03:25.871 of working with your breath. so we'll be manipulating the breath first 00:03:25.892 --> 00:03:29.153 and then we'll eventually be going into the natural breath. 00:03:29.166 --> 00:03:33.476 So as you're lay there, the first thing you want to do is notice your entire body, 00:03:33.476 --> 00:03:38.388 and just feel into what's going on right now from head to toe 00:03:38.388 --> 00:03:42.424 kind of taking in information not labeling anything 00:03:42.424 --> 00:03:46.104 so if there's tension you can acknowledge that if you feel good 00:03:46.104 --> 00:03:49.804 maybe there's something like anxiety you can acknowledge that and 00:03:49.804 --> 00:03:54.589 these things, these feelings, these things that we're noticing inside the body 00:03:54.589 --> 00:03:58.029 and the mind and in the emotional system are part of our practice. 00:03:58.029 --> 00:04:01.869 And so we'll do our very best to just allow them to be there as we go through. 00:04:01.869 --> 00:04:06.773 So let's begin by noticing the breath rising and falling at the navel, 00:04:06.773 --> 00:04:10.773 you're just going to notice the belly expanding and contracting 00:04:10.773 --> 00:04:17.120 like a wave, and just allow your attention to notice that as you breathe 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:22.680 there's an expansion in the belly and as you exhale there's a release in the belly 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:26.220 going back down. And we'll just stay there for a couple breaths 00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:30.654 before we begin to deepen it. So as you're feeling into your breath 00:04:30.654 --> 00:04:34.404 now begin to deepen it towards your collar bone 00:04:34.404 --> 00:04:38.904 so you're going to inhale from the belly, once the belly feels full 00:04:38.904 --> 00:04:43.791 you're filling up the sternum and then the upper chest right to the collar bone 00:04:43.791 --> 00:04:48.979 so when you're into a full exaggerated breath, your inhale feels like a vessel 00:04:48.979 --> 00:04:53.236 from the bottom to the top, and the collar bone being the top of the glass. 00:04:53.236 --> 00:04:57.236 now we're going to exhale and release from the collar bone all the way back down 00:04:57.236 --> 00:05:01.275 until you get to the lower belly. So this is called diaphragmic breathing, 00:05:01.275 --> 00:05:06.267 and one of the main areas we want to hone in on, is the diaphragm itself moving 00:05:06.267 --> 00:05:11.810 as you inhale and exhale. So you're going to feel that underneath your rib cage. 00:05:11.810 --> 00:05:15.814 So for this first breath, think about it more as you're not trying to sink in, 00:05:15.814 --> 00:05:20.791 you're trying to unlock the physical breath structure, by using a little bit of 00:05:20.791 --> 00:05:25.039 strength here on the breath. And you'll feel the ribs opening. You'll probably 00:05:25.039 --> 00:05:30.026 notice where you may be holding some chronic tensions. Let's just take 00:05:30.026 --> 00:05:35.325 a couple more of those, helping us get into the body to prepare for practice 00:05:42.675 --> 00:05:47.143 Something that can be helpful while you're doing this and throughout the practice 00:05:47.143 --> 00:05:52.343 is to relax all your face muscles. So relax your jaw, relax your forehead 00:05:52.343 --> 00:05:58.803 and your eyes, your mouth, just let everything go and try to feel more 00:05:58.803 --> 00:06:04.547 into a surrendered state. And then we'll go into the second breath. 00:06:04.547 --> 00:06:10.332 So we've started to get into the body. The second breath is focused much more 00:06:10.332 --> 00:06:13.927 on activating the parasympathetic nervous system. 00:06:13.927 --> 00:06:19.164 This is part of the goal of this practice because when we're in parasympathetic 00:06:19.164 --> 00:06:22.569 everything's working right and we're in a relaxed state. 00:06:22.569 --> 00:06:26.569 So to help augment that, I'm going to focus on a prolonged exhale 00:06:26.569 --> 00:06:29.329 so let's begin still doing your diaphragm breathing 00:06:29.329 --> 00:06:34.409 we start start with the count of 3 3 6. So the first number is your inhale. 00:06:34.409 --> 00:06:37.742 You're going to inhale to the count of three, filling up. 00:06:37.742 --> 00:06:40.912 You don't have to fill it to the point where you feel strained 00:06:40.912 --> 00:06:44.017 and once you fill up, you're going to hold your breath for three 00:06:44.017 --> 00:06:47.257 and let everything relax. So when you're holding the breath 00:06:47.257 --> 00:06:51.067 don't try to force anything just let it settle and then exhale 00:06:51.067 --> 00:06:55.067 to the long count of six out the nose. So you're inhaling three, 00:06:55.067 --> 00:06:59.067 holding for three, and exhaling for six. 00:06:59.067 --> 00:07:03.756 And I know there's many of us at every level of practice here, 00:07:03.756 --> 00:07:08.016 so some of you might right away move up to 4 4 8 or 5 5 10 00:07:08.016 --> 00:07:12.016 if you find that your natural breath control is much deeper, 00:07:12.016 --> 00:07:16.816 but the key here is don't move up by straining, you would only add a number 00:07:16.816 --> 00:07:22.036 if it feels like that's softening into your body, and you're not having to force it. 00:07:23.203 --> 00:07:27.203 So inhaling first number, holding the second number and the exhale 00:07:27.203 --> 00:07:33.714 equals the inhale and hold. So let's say you eventually moved up to 6 6 12 00:07:33.714 --> 00:07:38.800 then you would always have the exhale equaling the inhale and hold. 00:07:40.379 --> 00:07:44.979 And this is a great breath to do whenever you need it. Even during the day 00:07:44.979 --> 00:07:51.199 you can take a couple minutes and do this, and it will help to reset your system. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:55.199 We'll just stay here for another minute or so 00:08:07.961 --> 00:08:16.097 Noticing where your tension is. So one of the other key points 00:08:16.097 --> 00:08:19.537 of the practice that we're doing and about to go into is 00:08:19.537 --> 00:08:23.377 we want to find the tension. So it's a little different than 00:08:23.377 --> 00:08:27.872 what we're used to, which is trying to get away from the tension normally. 00:08:27.872 --> 00:08:30.962 In this type of practice you're going to allow yourself 00:08:30.962 --> 00:08:34.962 to sink into the tension, and be present with it as you find it. 00:08:34.962 --> 00:08:38.962 So let's finish one more of those complete breaths, 00:08:38.962 --> 00:08:43.628 whatever number you're at and then you're going to let it go. 00:08:43.628 --> 00:08:49.860 Once you let it go, simply notice the body from head to toe to fingertip 00:08:49.860 --> 00:08:53.365 and you will already notice that you're a little bit more in your body 00:08:53.365 --> 00:08:57.365 most likely even after doing this for about 5 minutes or so 00:08:57.365 --> 00:09:02.245 Now as we move into the stretches, we're going to do this practice 00:09:02.245 --> 00:09:07.269 mostly on a lower body sequence we're going to be working the hips 00:09:07.269 --> 00:09:12.629 and the legs and the spinal column and then we'll be doing another practice 00:09:12.629 --> 00:09:17.718 after this, that will focus more on the upper body. 00:09:17.718 --> 00:09:24.218 So you're lined down you're just going to turn over, or I'm going to turn over 00:09:24.218 --> 00:09:28.968 and we're going to bend the knees we'll have the feet flat 00:09:28.968 --> 00:09:32.968 going to have the palms down by my side, so we're going to work into what's called 00:09:32.968 --> 00:09:36.603 spinal breathing. So I've got the shoulder blades underneath me 00:09:36.603 --> 00:09:39.923 now notice where your hip bones are and you want to have your knees 00:09:39.923 --> 00:09:44.833 the same distance apart and your heels so that creates a straight line of energy. 00:09:44.833 --> 00:09:48.833 Another big aspect of this particular practice is we're going to build up 00:09:48.833 --> 00:09:52.833 a lot of energy and Prana circulating in the body. 00:09:52.833 --> 00:09:57.043 I've got the palms down shoulder weights underneath me I'm going to pull my chin 00:09:57.043 --> 00:10:01.043 into my throat slightly, so the back of my neck is open 00:10:01.043 --> 00:10:05.800 and then the last thing is to tuck your tailbone all the way between your legs 00:10:05.800 --> 00:10:09.290 until there's no arch in your back and you're going to see that's already 00:10:09.290 --> 00:10:14.400 a fairly deep internal stretch on the back of your abdominal cavity. 00:10:14.400 --> 00:10:19.400 This position here is what it feels like when you complete your exhale. 00:10:19.400 --> 00:10:23.400 Chin tucked, tailbone tucked, palms and shoulder blades down 00:10:23.400 --> 00:10:27.400 and there's two parts of this breath. The first part is just the spine, 00:10:27.400 --> 00:10:32.880 as I inhale, come into a deep arch in my spine, pull the breath all the way 00:10:32.880 --> 00:10:36.200 to the upper chest and squeeze your shoulder blades together. 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:40.862 and as you exhale, tuck your chin and tailbone pull the diaphragm up, 00:10:40.862 --> 00:10:43.642 and squeeze the breath out of your body. 00:10:43.642 --> 00:10:47.812 Okay so we're going to inhale expand and arch. 00:10:51.293 --> 00:10:55.293 Exhale release, tuck the chin and tailbone. 00:10:57.813 --> 00:11:02.689 Right now you're still working the breath that means we're not really concerned 00:11:02.689 --> 00:11:07.146 with the natural breath yet, we'll be doing that more in the holds. So here 00:11:07.146 --> 00:11:13.675 you're deepening the breath and utilizing the breath to move your spinal column. 00:11:13.675 --> 00:11:15.655 We're just going to do a couple of these 00:11:15.655 --> 00:11:18.365 and then we will be adding the upper body to it. 00:11:18.365 --> 00:11:21.136 Make sure I'm not going to get hooked on the mic. 00:11:21.136 --> 00:11:25.234 So on your next inhale, you've exhaled tucked everything in, 00:11:25.234 --> 00:11:28.714 on your inhale I'm going to start to float the arms up like this, 00:11:28.714 --> 00:11:33.547 now as I do, I want to splay the fingers wide, rotate the palms outwards 00:11:33.547 --> 00:11:38.347 and then reach all the way up into a full arch of my spine like that, 00:11:40.969 --> 00:11:43.171 [ this cord is kind of pulling up short ] 00:11:43.171 --> 00:11:48.414 We are now going to exhale, as the exhale happens the palms are down, and notice 00:11:48.414 --> 00:11:53.241 that as I exhale further and further down, I tuck the chin and tailbone, 00:11:53.242 --> 00:11:56.752 I flatten everything out and press the palms into the floor. 00:11:56.752 --> 00:12:00.752 And then you release, relax, inhale, receive the breath. 00:12:04.138 --> 00:12:09.257 Expand, open the ribs, rotate the palms out, exhale. 00:12:09.257 --> 00:12:13.257 Palms are facing the floor coming down 00:12:17.197 --> 00:12:22.120 Notice how deep of an elongation that is to your spine as you tuck the chin 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:25.380 and tailbone and bring the arms down. 00:12:25.380 --> 00:12:27.734 It's actually one of the deepest spinal stretches 00:12:27.734 --> 00:12:31.734 because you really can't get any further on elongation 00:12:31.734 --> 00:12:36.976 unlike a forward fold, when you're bent. When I do this and I draw the chin in 00:12:36.976 --> 00:12:40.387 and pull the tailbone through the whole spine is lengthened 00:12:40.387 --> 00:12:45.387 and being pulled up and down, so you're decompressing the discs. 00:12:45.387 --> 00:12:49.387 Let's work that for one more. 00:12:59.085 --> 00:13:05.505 Exhaling, tucking and then just relax everything now and simply notice the spine 00:13:05.505 --> 00:13:09.205 So throughout the practice we'll be checking in and just noticing 00:13:09.205 --> 00:13:15.235 what's going on. Feel your body and be aware of any sensation of 00:13:15.235 --> 00:13:21.839 internal energy which normally is going to feel like flow, expansion, tingling 00:13:21.839 --> 00:13:27.918 in the body, sometimes heat. We're going to go through a full Yin stretch 00:13:27.918 --> 00:13:33.151 for each hip now. So from this position I'm going to take my left knee 00:13:33.151 --> 00:13:38.221 and pull it to my chest and I'll explain one thing here on Yin stretching. 00:13:38.221 --> 00:13:44.885 The more you let go, the more you're in a Yin stretch. So when I'm in a true Yin 00:13:44.885 --> 00:13:51.131 stretch, I'm not flexing the target muscle I'm allowing it to expand and release. 00:13:51.131 --> 00:13:55.451 So what that looks like is I would take my left hand and wrap it around the outside 00:13:55.451 --> 00:14:00.268 or the inside of my knee and I'm going to pull the leg open to the left side 00:14:00.268 --> 00:14:04.868 as far out as I can and then just let everything settle, and then 00:14:04.868 --> 00:14:09.508 your right leg is just going to hang over to the right side on its own 00:14:09.508 --> 00:14:13.848 I want my chin tucked in a little bit and you don't have to do anything here. 00:14:13.848 --> 00:14:18.266 You can keep the arm down by your side or maybe even better would be bring the arm 00:14:18.266 --> 00:14:24.086 like that at 90° and it creates a counterweight for the left leg. 00:14:24.086 --> 00:14:31.475 Now my job is to simply focus my attention on the area that's being stretched 00:14:31.477 --> 00:14:37.598 So my awareness is on the left groin and on the breath at the same time and 00:14:37.598 --> 00:14:41.872 this is the most important component of the practice is maintain 00:14:41.872 --> 00:14:46.558 the awareness focused and whenever you notice that you're back in your mind, 00:14:46.558 --> 00:14:50.558 which will happen, find your breath and find the body part. 00:14:50.558 --> 00:14:55.115 So my attention is over here on the left groin, and what I'm attempting to do 00:14:55.115 --> 00:14:58.895 is simply be present with it, and not resist anything that's occurring 00:14:58.895 --> 00:15:03.284 just like you would do when you're meditating you're witnessing it 00:15:03.284 --> 00:15:07.808 and allowing it to naturally unfold through the weight of your arm 00:15:07.808 --> 00:15:11.808 you don't even have to pull the leg down. 00:15:11.808 --> 00:15:16.582 And after about 45 seconds or so the tendons will start stretching so in the 00:15:16.582 --> 00:15:23.612 Yin stretch you're actually opening up the connective tissue not just the muscles. 00:15:27.262 --> 00:15:33.570 We're going to draw the left knee in now. Inhale and just feel that stretch that 00:15:33.570 --> 00:15:38.680 just took place in the drawing. Exhale, pull the left knee to your chest, 00:15:38.680 --> 00:15:44.040 and then sit your left ankle on your right knee and we're going to get ready to go 00:15:44.040 --> 00:15:49.004 into the hip opener. So I'll give you two options here. The first one is slightly 00:15:49.004 --> 00:15:53.667 more intense than the second. Your left hand is going to slide between your legs 00:15:53.667 --> 00:15:57.667 and grab the back of your right knee. Your right hand meets it, you allow 00:15:57.667 --> 00:16:02.044 the right knee to hang loosely and then you pull the right knee towards you 00:16:02.044 --> 00:16:06.804 until you hit a level that you think is a maximum of 95% 00:16:06.804 --> 00:16:11.759 So again, you're not forcing any stretches. This is often a misconception in 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:17.509 modern yoga where it becomes really more like a competition against yourself 00:16:17.509 --> 00:16:22.244 or other people. You want to listen to your body so if I'm at about 95% 00:16:22.244 --> 00:16:26.244 that means there's a little bit of room to give, that means the muscle is not locked 00:16:26.441 --> 00:16:32.687 now my attention goes to my left glut and immediately I find my breath and I begin 00:16:32.687 --> 00:16:37.337 to allow the breath to really take on a natural rhythm which will be a little 00:16:37.337 --> 00:16:41.337 deeper than when you started so you're both aware of the natural breath 00:16:41.337 --> 00:16:45.337 coming and going and you're aware of the left hip. 00:16:45.337 --> 00:16:49.609 Now the alternative if this was too much for you is to keep 00:16:49.609 --> 00:16:54.397 your right foot down, reach up and grab your left leg in the same position, 00:16:54.397 --> 00:16:58.397 like this, and just pull the leg towards you, so it's almost the same stretch 00:16:58.397 --> 00:17:04.270 not quite as intense. And we'll be here for a few more breaths. 00:17:04.270 --> 00:17:09.163 Something else that's helpful is to keep the chin tucked into the throat 00:17:09.163 --> 00:17:15.827 that's always lengthening your neck and spine. So remember that you're not trying 00:17:15.827 --> 00:17:20.870 to change anything, you're simply allowing the awareness to sink into 00:17:20.870 --> 00:17:24.801 the area that's being stretched and over time that awareness is what will do all 00:17:24.801 --> 00:17:30.491 the work for you. As you know, you can't force yourself to relax and you can't 00:17:30.491 --> 00:17:35.774 force yourself to release tension. You can try with the thinking mind 00:17:35.774 --> 00:17:40.394 and normally all it does is the opposite which is create more tension. 00:17:43.661 --> 00:17:47.241 These stretches can easily be held for 5 minutes if you want to do 00:17:47.241 --> 00:17:51.241 this on your own and that's typical in a Yin practice 00:17:52.813 --> 00:17:57.389 Then from here I'm going to allow the right foot to come down and 00:17:57.389 --> 00:18:03.187 I'll bring my arms out palms up in tea posture. I'm going to wrap the left leg 00:18:03.187 --> 00:18:06.428 around the right leg and then hook the ankles. If you can 00:18:06.428 --> 00:18:10.638 and if you can't that's fine. When I'm twisting I want to do it on the exhale, 00:18:10.638 --> 00:18:17.135 so I'm going to take a deep breath in and then exhale drop your legs over to the 00:18:17.135 --> 00:18:22.315 right as you turn your head to the left and just let everything again settle, 00:18:22.315 --> 00:18:25.825 surrender to gravity. 00:18:27.518 --> 00:18:32.454 In this position now, obviously you're opening the outside of your hip 00:18:32.454 --> 00:18:37.177 but you're also opening up your chest and your starting especially the chest 00:18:37.177 --> 00:18:41.824 on the left side so if you notice your left shoulder one little thing you 00:18:41.824 --> 00:18:45.824 could add here, is to slightly contract your left shoulder blade towards your 00:18:45.824 --> 00:18:52.541 spine opening your chest a little further. And your head is turned away from the legs 00:18:53.474 --> 00:18:57.474 If this gets a little intense on your hips you would place a pillow under the outside 00:18:57.474 --> 00:19:02.924 of your leg supporting, so that you're not going too far over. 00:19:03.642 --> 00:19:09.123 Your awareness is directed to the outside of the hip and also the left rib cage 00:19:09.123 --> 00:19:13.123 or the left shoulder. So this whole general area. 00:19:17.265 --> 00:19:21.845 Always check in make sure you're relaxing your face muscles they're not clenching. 00:19:24.994 --> 00:19:30.118 So remember what you're doing is you're meditating while you stretch, 00:19:30.118 --> 00:19:34.958 and truthfully that's much more clear definition of yoga, as yoga means to 00:19:34.958 --> 00:19:40.777 bring together or coalesce. I'll talk a little bit more about that later 00:19:40.777 --> 00:19:48.367 in another class. From here we inhale center, unwind the legs, and then we'll 00:19:48.367 --> 00:19:53.737 just release them and give the hips a break there for a second. 00:19:53.737 --> 00:19:58.246 You're going to place the hands down over the hip bones. I'm going to take 00:19:58.246 --> 00:20:04.317 a breath into the hip bones, and exhale down and out my legs like a wave. 00:20:04.317 --> 00:20:08.718 Okay so just breathe where you feel the hip bones and then follow 00:20:08.718 --> 00:20:14.991 your attention down your legs and out as you exhale this is called sweeping, 00:20:16.260 --> 00:20:20.260 sometimes it's called flushing, there's different names for these techniques 00:20:20.260 --> 00:20:24.670 and they're all based on your ability to concentrate. The more that you can 00:20:24.670 --> 00:20:28.260 concentrate, the more you can have an effect. 00:20:29.445 --> 00:20:33.445 And notice how different the hip you just worked on feels to the side you haven't. 00:20:34.738 --> 00:20:38.738 Then from here we're going to bend the knees, feet flat. 00:20:38.738 --> 00:20:45.313 I'll begin by opening the right groin. So pull your right knee to center 00:20:45.313 --> 00:20:50.700 and then wrap yourhand around the inside, the outside or another alternative is 00:20:50.700 --> 00:20:55.100 to bring your arm up underneath the leg like that, so it's really up to you 00:20:55.100 --> 00:20:58.235 they're all going to do something quite similar I'm going to draw 00:20:58.235 --> 00:21:03.139 the leg out to the right side and then allow the left leg to just flop over 00:21:03.139 --> 00:21:09.911 and hang, then bring your left arm 90° palms up, tuck your chin, and surrender 00:21:09.911 --> 00:21:15.251 into the floor, surrender to gravity. begin to be aware of both 00:21:15.251 --> 00:21:20.231 the right groin and your breath. 00:21:23.175 --> 00:21:28.845 Notice what is a deep but smooth breath, when you're not controlling it you'll 00:21:28.845 --> 00:21:33.685 notice that your breath is slowly taking on a deeper rhythm without having to do 00:21:33.685 --> 00:21:40.179 anything. And you may also notice that now and again you require a deep breath 00:21:40.179 --> 00:21:44.246 so listen to that if all of a sudden your body wants to take an exaggerated 00:21:44.246 --> 00:21:48.246 deep breath. maybe you're aware of some tension then go with that. 00:22:00.890 --> 00:22:04.760 And you'll see that little by little the longer you hold these the more 00:22:04.760 --> 00:22:11.200 that the area opens. So in a future class we'll perhaps explore during the full 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:16.421 five minute holds. We're going to bring the right knee back to center now. 00:22:16.421 --> 00:22:20.875 And then take your right knee, just bring it into your chest for a sec and take a 00:22:20.875 --> 00:22:27.215 breath and then we'll sit the right ankle on the left knee, and as you did 00:22:27.215 --> 00:22:31.612 on the other side, thread through, put the right arm between your legs, 00:22:31.612 --> 00:22:36.758 grab the back of your left knee, left hand meets it, relax the left knee, 00:22:36.758 --> 00:22:41.928 tuck your chin in, and pull the knee towards you until you hit a maximum 00:22:41.928 --> 00:22:48.978 of 95% then hold steady and begin to sink your attention and breath into your 00:22:48.978 --> 00:22:53.968 right glute. And the alternative is the same if this gets too much 00:22:53.968 --> 00:23:00.800 you have your right foot down and you're carrying your left leg towards you. 00:23:00.474 --> 00:23:04.354 I didn't emphasize this on the other side but make sure that your knee the 00:23:04.354 --> 00:23:08.474 one that you're grabbing is completely relaxed so you're not tensing up. 00:23:08.710 --> 00:23:12.710 If you were to flex your left knee even a little bit, notice how that starts 00:23:12.710 --> 00:23:18.550 locking up your hips so just keep that leg hanging loosely. 00:23:18.917 --> 00:23:23.400 keeping the chin tucked in, you could also try drawing the shoulder blades 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:28.700 a little bit towards the floor and that will help open up the chest. 00:23:33.728 --> 00:23:38.861 When I'm practicing my eyes are almost always closed, because then I can feel 00:23:38.861 --> 00:23:44.105 much more than when they're open. And notice that when the eyes are open, 00:23:44.105 --> 00:23:48.105 how that might take your attention away from your body. 00:23:49.775 --> 00:23:55.007 And then from here the left foot is going to come down and then I'm going 00:23:55.007 --> 00:23:59.727 to bring the arms out 90° palms up or down if that's better for you. 00:23:59.727 --> 00:24:05.302 Wrap the leg over, the right leg over the left, take a deep breath in 00:24:05.302 --> 00:24:10.344 and then drop over on the exhale just allowing it to release as you go over. 00:24:10.344 --> 00:24:15.018 Your head's going to turn away from the legs and you want to keep 00:24:15.018 --> 00:24:18.719 your right shoulder on the mat. So if you were to go too far over, 00:24:18.719 --> 00:24:23.018 you might see that the right shoulder is pulling up. Try to use this right shoulder 00:24:23.018 --> 00:24:27.518 as a gauge. If it's on the mat I'll allow myself to go over. And then what will 00:24:27.518 --> 00:24:30.945 happen is you'll not just feel the hip opener you'll feel the stretch 00:24:30.945 --> 00:24:35.303 move up to here. And this is where you can also slightly squeeze 00:24:35.303 --> 00:24:39.303 your right shoulder blade inwards if you prefer. 00:24:40.408 --> 00:24:43.701 Couple more breaths here. 00:24:43.701 --> 00:24:50.605 Being aware of the feeling in the stretch and the breath itself. 00:24:57.705 --> 00:25:03.186 And then inhaling next inhale we'll bring the knees back up to center. 00:25:03.186 --> 00:25:09.476 Unwind the legs and just let your legs go here. 00:25:11.251 --> 00:25:19.101 Bring the arms down, feel into your entire body line from head to toe. 00:25:24.584 --> 00:25:28.404 What do you notice different in your body now? 00:25:28.512 --> 00:25:34.709 After having done, I believe probably around 25 minutes. 00:25:36.258 --> 00:25:40.258 So 25 minutes goes pretty quick when you're mindful. 00:25:40.258 --> 00:25:44.258 And notice how you can feel your body. 00:25:44.258 --> 00:25:48.258 Probably quite a bit more than when you started. 00:25:48.258 --> 00:25:52.711 The most important thing to remember is that that feeling of embodiment 00:25:52.711 --> 00:25:56.711 is not coming really from the stretches, 00:25:56.711 --> 00:26:00.581 it's coming from your awareness, that you've been bringing 00:26:00.581 --> 00:26:03.194 and cultivating into the body. 00:26:03.194 --> 00:26:08.670 The effect of that, is it opens up all the Nadis which is another word for meridians 00:26:08.670 --> 00:26:13.270 in the system and you'll be able to feel that. 00:26:13.270 --> 00:26:18.774 Notice any areas that you can't feel yet and that might give you an indicator 00:26:18.774 --> 00:26:22.774 where the energy is not flowing as strongly in the body. 00:26:23.921 --> 00:26:27.661 So we're just going to do a little scan for the next couple minutes 00:26:27.661 --> 00:26:30.501 before we finish up. 00:26:32.527 --> 00:26:38.100 There're many forms of scanning and if you've done Yoga Nidra, 00:26:38.100 --> 00:26:42.100 I highly recommend it, It often involves body scans. 00:26:42.100 --> 00:26:45.740 Then the deeper ones will go into some of the energy rhythms in the body 00:26:45.740 --> 00:26:48.856 which we'll explore over time. NOTE Paragraph 00:26:48.856 --> 00:26:53.016 So let's just do a generalized scan with our breath. 00:26:53.016 --> 00:26:58.336 First thing I'll do, is notice my right hip and the right hip joint, 00:26:58.336 --> 00:27:02.336 and you're going to take a deep breath into your right hip. 00:27:04.207 --> 00:27:08.207 And then exhale slowly down, and out your right leg. 00:27:12.758 --> 00:27:17.808 Noticing all the sensations and again same thing. 00:27:26.422 --> 00:27:32.174 And as you do that pay attention to what are the sensations . 00:27:32.176 --> 00:27:35.406 it's quite interesting. If you've never felt energy before, 00:27:35.406 --> 00:27:38.377 it's not as hard as you think. 00:27:38.377 --> 00:27:41.797 Same thing on the left hip. Bring your attention over and we'll be doing 00:27:41.797 --> 00:27:45.797 two breaths into the left hip. 00:27:47.401 --> 00:27:52.687 Breathing into the hip socket exhaling down as though it all just flushes down 00:27:52.687 --> 00:27:56.687 and out your foot on the left side. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:13.770 Finishing the breath you're on now, notice both of your legs 00:28:13.770 --> 00:28:21.170 let the breath just breathe itself now and just simply notice your hips and your legs 00:28:21.204 --> 00:28:28.204 and what do you feel. Do both legs feel equal or can you feel the circulation 00:28:28.204 --> 00:28:33.394 more on one side, which is more common as the energy circulates in our body often 00:28:33.394 --> 00:28:38.185 not in balance. Normally one side we'll have more energy, and one side 00:28:38.185 --> 00:28:42.891 not quite as much. Just like one side of the body is often weaker 00:28:42.891 --> 00:28:46.891 and one side is tighter. 00:28:48.764 --> 00:28:52.764 Okay now take one or two hands and place it over your navel 00:28:54.253 --> 00:28:58.253 and bring all of your awareness to the belly button. The the belly button is 00:28:58.253 --> 00:29:02.253 considered the life force center of the whole body another way that 00:29:02.253 --> 00:29:06.343 we learn to ground our energy is by focusing at the belly. 00:29:06.343 --> 00:29:13.293 So as you inhale, using your imagination, imagine a little ball of energy expanding. 00:29:15.674 --> 00:29:20.438 Maybe a little sun and as you exhale, it just settles there. 00:29:20.438 --> 00:29:25.758 And again as you inhale, even more energy comes to the navel. NOTE Paragraph 00:29:25.807 --> 00:29:29.807 We'll do this a couple times. 00:29:34.046 --> 00:29:38.898 Always noticing when the Mind tries to wander. If it does, gently come back 00:29:38.898 --> 00:29:42.968 to what you're doing, or what you're not doing. 00:29:50.245 --> 00:29:54.508 So finishing one more breath, let that go and we'll get ready 00:29:54.508 --> 00:29:59.408 to close out the practice, which in this style that I'm teaching we always do 00:29:59.408 --> 00:30:04.221 that in sitting. So if you can, just roll over into fetal posture on one side. 00:30:12.365 --> 00:30:18.840 And then we'll make our way back up to sitting. If this was a longer practice 00:30:18.840 --> 00:30:23.985 then often we would sit in Savasana for a longer period of time just allowing the 00:30:23.985 --> 00:30:29.488 integration factor. but after doing all that, you probably will notice 00:30:29.488 --> 00:30:34.753 that sitting is a little bit easier than when you began. 00:30:37.123 --> 00:30:42.231 So try to find a good stacked posture, the sit bones are in place, 00:30:42.231 --> 00:30:46.231 there's not an exaggerate forward or rear arch in the lower back. 00:30:46.231 --> 00:30:51.381 Shoulders are up and over brought into place, the chin is tucked in gently. 00:30:51.381 --> 00:30:56.145 Looking forward, just feel into this strong posture for a moment. 00:30:56.521 --> 00:31:00.521 Once again, closing the eyes. 00:31:01.727 --> 00:31:08.670 Take a couple of deep breaths in and deep breaths out, letting it go. 00:31:16.530 --> 00:31:19.970 And then we're going to finish with the closing movement, 00:31:19.970 --> 00:31:24.390 I'm going to bring my arms out to the side and we'll do this three times. 00:31:24.390 --> 00:31:30.160 Inhaling up, imagine you're gathering energy between your arms, and exhale down, 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:35.776 sweep it through both your body and the energy field around the body. 00:31:35.776 --> 00:31:41.453 If you want to bring in a visualization, you could visualize the energy or a color 00:31:41.453 --> 00:31:45.773 or just try to be in the feeling center. 00:31:46.803 --> 00:31:52.633 The key as always is to be present, and when you're present then something magical 00:31:52.633 --> 00:31:56.633 can happen that normally doesn't happen when we're stuck in our mind. 00:32:08.264 --> 00:32:12.054 And the next time you come up the palms come together. 00:32:12.054 --> 00:32:17.504 When you're ready, then you'll come down into prayer posture in front of the chest. 00:32:17.504 --> 00:32:22.784 We always close focused at the heart. Taking a moment here, noticing your heart. 00:32:22.784 --> 00:32:26.784 Maybe there's an intention or prayer. 00:32:31.581 --> 00:32:37.081 And then we'll close taking a bow. 00:32:38.062 --> 00:32:42.062 Namaste. Thank you.