A grounding, calming, and healing yoga sequence

Okay, we'll wait a few minutes for people to join. For now, just sit quietly with your spine tall, eyes closed, breathing in through the nose and out through the nose. Okay, we'll wait just another minute. People are still joining. It's great to see everyone. So while we wait, just sit quietly.

Maybe take your attention to your root chakra if you know where that is—the base of the spine, perineum.

Taking deep breaths, grounding. It's raining here. I don't know if you can hear the rain, but, uh, it's quite nice, very cozy. Okay, we'll just wait one more minute. Today we're going to be building on, um, this idea of grounding in this uncertain and tumultuous time. And, um, with that, we're going to be working with the first chakra and then Starting to, through the course of the sequence, starting to move into working with the 2nd chakra as well, which is, as you may know, the seat of creativity, the seat of our sensual pleasure and desires, and oftentimes a place where some trauma can be stored. So we'll be working with that energy as well in a gentle way. We'll be building, building a container around that. So. Okay, well, let's get started. So you'll need to be sitting on something, a comfortable seat, you know, sort of a cushion, a block, a blanket, something that can help elevate the hips, especially if you have tight hips. You want to, you want to get to a place where you're able to sit comfortably without much effort. We'll be doing some seated practices. For those who are new to practice, this is elemental yoga where We start with some stillness and some seated practices, and we work our way through pranayama kriyas into a more active standing and asana sequence. And then from there, we come back down slowly into some seated practices, and then we end in stillness. So, as always with these live streams, I'm really enjoying experimenting with the technology and I'm finding it very, uh, very sort of helpful to share the practices, but also a great way to connect with a lot of people in the community and, um, to offer something a little bit different perhaps. And I'm learning about the technology, what works, what doesn't work. And, uh, what I've been noticing, some differences like, uh, YouTube and Facebook, people tend to tune in and then stay for the whole practice. People on Instagram are just dropping in, but that's cool too. Drop in, you know, participate as much as you want. I know everyone's probably busy joining every livestream that's happening, right? So, okay. So, um, yeah, last thing I'll say is in this practice we don't practice shavasana together. I figure since it's online, you guys can take that after we finish, and I'll just cue that at the end of the practice. So close, and then I'll cue you to either stay in meditation or take shavasana. Okay, so we'll begin by rubbing our palms together, closing your eyes, and take a deep breath in through the nose.

Inhale through the nose. We'll open with 3 ohms. Take a breath. Lower your hands to your knees. Okay, opening your eyes. So like I was talking about last time, We're in a time right now when obviously so much is happening, and astrologically too, this is a time when there's a lot of intense energies kind of coming in. So with that, I thought it'd be— you know, I was actually part of a Zoom gathering yesterday in the plant medicine work that I do, and this guy was talking about how the whole world right now is kind of in a global ceremony in a sense, and I like that idea. Yeah. And so I'd like to be part of that global ceremony by offering some of these practices. And so with this new dimension that's being created through this time, I think it's important to notice how we're feeling and to sort of get in touch with those feelings and to work with that in different ways, because being vulnerable and getting in touch with how you're feeling is actually a very powerful practice and can result in great change in your life. If you, uh, if you stick with that practice. So, um, let's start with, uh, grounding practice. This is just a yogic 4-part breath. We'll be inhaling through the nose, holding the breath, exhaling through the nose, and holding the breath out. And so each of those 4 parts are roughly the same length, and so it's also known as square breath. And as you are holding the breath in, You want to take a root lock, the mula bandha, if you know that, and then let that go as you exhale out. And then when you're holding the breath out, you also take the root lock, the mula bandha. Mula bandha is where you just draw the perineum up and hold.

Okay.

Let's begin inhaling.

Hold.

Exhaling. Hold the breath out. Root lock. Inhaling, release root lock.

Hold.

Oh, hey, Alessandra, are you still there? Join whenever you can. Continuing at your own pace, inhaling, holding, exhaling, holding. And after this round, breathing normally, keep your eyes closed. Okay, opening your eyes, we'll continue with Muladhara awakening. So in this one, we're going to use Amitabha mudra. So this is where you overlay the middle ring and pinky fingers And then you slide your hands together until you can align your index fingers this way, and then you bring the tips of your thumbs to the tips of your index fingers. And then we're going to gently rest that in our lap, tall spine, close our eyes, and we're going to chant the mantra for the root chakra: Lam, L-A-M, emphasis on the M. Okay. Inhaling through the nose.

Lam.

Lam.

Lam. Lam. Lam.

Lam.

Lam.

Lam.

Lam. Long, long, long.

Just stay here with your eyes closed, breathing. You can let go of the mudra, place your hands on your thighs. If you hear that sound, it's my heater. I should probably turn it off. Okay, so continuing from there. We'll practice prana shakti. So this is going to wake up the prana in the body and start to move the energy a little bit more as we move more deeply into the practice. Okay, so in this one, we lift our arms up and then we inhale through the nose as we lift our arms up, and then we exhale as we bring the hands down. So it's inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth in a very vigorous movement. We're just pulling the elbows down by our sides. We're not striking our rib cage or anything. We're just pulling our arms down. Okay. Okay, so we'll be here for a couple minutes. Prana Shakti. Now the arms up, open the palms, hold the breath. And lower the arms, exhaling. Deep breaths here, deep breaths, feeling the prana moving.

Okay.

Keeping your eyes closed. Breathing, feeling the energy moving through the body, coming more fully into the body.

Okay.

So we're going to continue to work with the chakras, going to move up to the 2nd chakra. This is, uh, Swadhisthana chakra, and here we'll be working with, um, a mudra that's basically just forming a triangle with our hands, resting that in front of the 2nd chakra, roughly, so in front of the lower abdomen. We'll be chanting the mantra, the bija mantra, Vam. V-A-M. Vam or Vam. Vam is the traditional pronunciation. So bring your attention to that area, to the 2nd chakra, closing your eyes, inhaling through the nose.

Om.

Om.

Om.

Let go of the mantra. Bring your hands to your thighs. Sit quietly, keeping your attention at the 2nd chakra. Notice how you're feeling. Okay, opening your eyes. I'm gonna try something here. I haven't been using music in these journeys so far, but I'm gonna try that now. Hopefully you can still hear me. I'm not going to be talking much over the music, but if you do, you know, if it's if it's too loud or you're having issues, feel free to leave a comment. But yeah, we're going to be doing Hu Kriya, and so Hu Kriya is based on a Sufi practice, and this is working with the Hu mantra. H U H U is the sound of the longing of the universe to realize its true nature. And so we all can connect with that energy, and we're going to be continuing to work with the 2nd chakra on this one. And so we're going to have our left hand resting on the 2nd chakra, so again, lower abdomen, and we're gonna have the right hand just resting on the thigh. Eyes will be closed. We'll be chanting along with this song the Hu mantra, and so we're going to be chanting.

Hu.

And so at the end of the who, we pump the navel. So you move the abdomen towards the spine, pump the navel. Okay, so we'll be here for a few minutes. Tall spine. Take a deep breath in through the nose, exhale through the mouth. And then let's begin. So inhaling through the nose.

Inhaling through the nose. Ooh.

Okay, and then let go of the mantra. Bring your hands to your thighs. Keep your eyes closed. Take a breath, keeping your attention at the 2nd chakra. Lower abdomen. Bring your hands both— bring both hands to the lower abdomen, to the 2nd chakra. Keep your attention there. Visualize a strong healing light.

Deep breaths.

Bring in the element of water. Water is the element of the 2nd chakra. Breathing into that area, experiencing deep healing here through the practice. Okay, opening your eyes. Starting to move, you can move your props out of the way. We're gonna come to Tadasana. So moving at your own pace, just come to Tadasana. Bring your feet together, grounding through your feet. Bring your hands to your heart, so lay both hands on the heart center. Close your eyes and take a breath here, grounding more into the earth. Your feet are like roots of a tree. Okay, we're gonna move the energy some more here, so Coming into Warrior Breath 1. This one, we take a wide stance. The feet are about 45 degrees out, and we just kind of move the hips a little bit, dropping into this pose. And so here we're going to work with a 2-part inhale, 2-part exhale. And so we're going to start with our hands open facing each other in front of our face. We're gonna inhale in 2 parts as we take the arms out to the sides and to fists, and then exhale through 2 parts in our mouth— through our mouth as we come back to the center. Okay, so it's like—

Shh, shh.

Straighten the legs, open the palms towards the front. Deep breaths. Keep the eyes open, gazing forward. Today we're tapping into the power of vulnerability as we create space around our emotions in order to start to get in touch with what we're feeling, ultimately who we really are. The way forward, the way through, is through your emotions, not through your thinking mind. Okay, coming to the top of the mat once again. Samasthiti, feet together, Tadasana, legs engaged, standing tall, palms open towards the front, breathing. Okay, inhaling the arms up. We'll come through Surya Namaskar. Exhaling, folding forward, and then stepping the right foot back, coming into low lunge. So lowering the right knee, staying here. It's a modified runner's lunge, stretching into the right hip flexor, and then stepping back to plank. Lowering the knees, chest, chin. Stay here for a breath. Coming up into cobra, low cobra, and then pushing back, tucking the toes, Adho Mukha Svanasana. And then step the right foot forward. Lowering the left knee, dropping into those hips, breathing deeply, and then tucking the left toes, stepping to the top of the mat, exhaling forward, and inhaling all the way up. Classical Surya Namaskar, Sun Salutations. Inhaling the arms up, exhaling, fold forward, stepping the left foot back, grounding through the left hand. Back leg is strong, twisting to the right, easy twist. And then coming back, lowering the right hand, stepping back— oh, sorry, lower the left knee, low lunge. We'll inhale the arms up this time. Breathing into the hips, lowering the hands, stepping back to plank. We'll hold plank for a breath. And then once again, knees, chest, chin, coming through to cobra. And pushing back, downward facing dog, adho mukha. Set the left foot forward, ground through the right hand, easy twist to the left. And then lowering the left hand, lowering the right knee, coming into anjaneyasana, low lunge. Lowering back down, tucking the right toes, stepping back to the top of the mat. Inhaling, look forward, long spine. Exhale, fold forward.

Inhaling all the way up.

Okay, stepping the feet wide once again. Coming into— back to Warrior Breath 1. Straighten the legs, palms open, breathing deeply. Eyes are open. Okay, we're gonna practice rock throwing kriya. And so in this one, you imagine that you're standing on a path, just like your yoga mat is forming a path, and we're going to imagine that we're encountering these large rocks in front of us. So we're going to bend forward from the hips, long spine. We're going to reach down and pick up the rock, and then we're going to lift it up and throw it behind us as we chant ha. H-A, ha.

Okay.

And so this is a great kriya for letting go of what no longer serves you, for letting go of fear and removing obstacles from your own consciousness.

Okay. So here we go. Ha ha ha!

Inhaling through the nose as you come down.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈 Keep going.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Be as loud as you want.

Ha!

Ha! Ha!

Ha! This is also great for the lower back, for strengthening the thighs. Keep going. Ha! For the spine. And come back to standing. Straighten the legs, palms open. Deep breaths. We're moving, moving to a time when So much in our lives is falling away. It's a perfect opportunity to surrender to that process and just stay open, open to whatever's coming, and to see this whole thing as an opportunity, not an obstacle, not Something that's happening to you, but something that's happening for you, you know.

Okay, coming back to the top of the mat.

Inhale the arms up. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, look forward, and then step both feet to the back of the mat. Come to a chaturanga. Upward facing dog and downward dog. Now inhale the right leg up behind you, and then step the right shin forward, coming into pigeon. So in these, in these classes this weekend, we haven't been doing a whole lot of asana. Practice has been focused a lot more on the energetic practices, the kriya, the pranayama. Lengthening the spine. And then folding forward over that foot. You can flex the right foot to protect the knee. Coming— just coming as far forward as you can. You can rest the forehead on the floor, breathing into the hips. Your left leg is straight out behind you, breathing here. Just dropping into the present moment. Notice how you're feeling. I mean, I realize that vulnerability isn't always comfortable, but it's like any other practice. The more you do it, the more you start to be able to Be with it fully, and that's the key. That's the key to everything, really. Pushing back up with the hands, tuck the left toes, bring that right leg up behind you, bend the knee, open the hip, and then straighten that right leg. Come back to your down dog. Stay here for a breath. And then inhale the left leg up behind you, bring the left shin forward. That right leg is straight out behind you, lifting up through a tall spine and coming forward, flexing that left foot if you need to. If you feel any pain or discomfort in your knee, you should back off. If you have really tight hips or this is hard for you, um, An alternative is to come into figure 4. So you come onto your back and then you cross the ankle over the knee and you grab a hold of the shin and just start to pull that leg towards you. You can do that on both sides. Okay, okay. Coming from pigeon, walking your hands back towards your shin, stepping the— tucking the right toes, stepping that left foot behind you, up and back. Bend the left knee, open the hips, and then straighten the left leg. Bring your left foot to meet the right. Coming back to downward facing dog, and then lowering your knees out to the side, coming into a child's pose from here. Pausing, breathing, surrendering. In my own life, I found that surrender surrender to be one of the most powerful practices. It's this. It's this Taoist concept of wu wei, right? You, uh, you don't try to control every single thing that's happening in your life. You actually, uh, surrender into the flow of life. So you're still making decisions, you're still exercising your will, but you're doing that from a place of almost like collaboration with the universe. It's this idea that you're sailing a ship, so you're directing the ship with the wind The wind is already blowing a certain way though, so you're kind of going, you know, again, in collaboration with the wind. You're not in a rowboat forcing, forcing the direction, right? So, or if you are in a rowboat, you're rowing gently down the stream, right? Okay, coming back up to sit on your heels and then scooting your hips out to one side to bring your feet around. Coming into Dandasana here. Inhale the arms up and exhale, coming into your variation of Paschimottanasana. You can take a hold of the big toes or the peace sign fingers. You just want to have a long— you want to have a long spine here. So the goal is not to force yourself to come as far forward as possible. It's just to feel the stretch in the hamstrings and the calves. You're flexing the feet. You can stay up high if you want. Breathing into the hamstrings. Okay, inhaling arms up and exhaling down. So Now we're going to return to our seated position, Siddhasana or Sukhasana, or any variation that you like. We'll be finishing with a few seated practices here.

Okay.

So comfortable seat, tall spine. Dropping back into your seat. We're going to return to Hu, the Hu Kriya, for a few minutes. So once again, taking the left hand to the 2nd chakra, placing the right hand on the thigh. We're going to be chanting who, and at the end of the who, we pump the navel. So it's who. Okay, we're gonna be going along with this music. And inhaling through the nose. Exhale through the mouth. Now inhale through the nose. Let's begin. Now bring both hands to the second chakra. Keep your eyes closed. Keep your attention at the second chakra and just notice what's coming up, if anything. Notice how you're feeling, being okay with whatever is coming up, accepting and loving yourself fully. Starting to get in touch with the perfection of this moment. Okay, letting go of the second, second chakra. Bring your hands to your thighs. We're going to practice bowing, which is a very powerful practice, an act of surrender, an act of devotion, an act of allowing. And so in this one, we're going to inhale through the mouth as we take our attention from the 2nd chakra all the way up through the spine to the 3rd eye. Okay, we're going to be holding Khechari Mudra. And so that's— if you don't know that one, that's where you take the tip of the tongue towards the back of the mouth, gently resting it there towards the soft part of the palate. Okay, so inhale, and then we'll hold the breath as we bow forward, just going as far forward as you can. If you can bring your third eye to the ground, that's good. The breath is held in, and as we rise back up, we exhale through the nose. And then we're going to take 3 deep breaths, and then we'll do it again. Okay, so we'll just do this a bunch of times, about 12 times. It's a powerful practice. So just surrendering into this bowing. Okay, so inhaling through the mouth. Catch your mudra the whole time, holding. Coming forward, back up, exhaling through the nose, holding Khechari Mudra. Now 3 deep inhales and exhales. Inhaling through the mouth.

Bowing.

Coming back up, exhaling through the nose. 3 inhales and exhales, 3 deep breaths. Through this bowing, we're also integrating the energetic benefits of the practice that we've been engaged in today. Inhaling through the mouth, attention goes from the 2nd chakra to the 6th, the 3rd eye.

Bowing forward.

Holding the breath and coming back up and exhaling through the nose. 3 deep breaths. Once again, inhaling.

Holding.

Exhaling through the nose. And 3 deep breaths. Let's do 2 more. So inhaling through the mouth, holding the breath, bowing forward. Coming back up, exhaling through the nose. 3 deep breaths, still holding Khechari Mudra.

3 more.

Okay, one more time. Inhaling through the mouth, holding, bowing forward. Coming back up, exhaling through the nose. 3 deep breaths. Through this practice, not only are we discovering the power of vulnerability, but Starting to develop the staying power and the courage to turn, as Pema Chödrön talks about, to turn directly towards whatever is truly terrifying us, or whatever emotion is truly seeming too intense almost for us, turning fully towards that and working with that energy. Okay, so sitting quietly here. We're going to chant a mantra to Ganesh for a few rounds. So keeping your awareness inward and your attention still at the second second chakra, Ganesh is one second. I have to restart the Instagram feed. Okay, yeah. So Ganesh is the is the god of the— he's associated with the 2nd chakra, which is also associated with Jupiter. And right now we're coming into this time of Jupiter deeply, uh, expanding, expanding all possibilities, putting us through potentially huge changes, right? So we're working with that energy today. And so we'll be here, just keeping your attention inward, your awareness at the 2nd chakra. The mantra is Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha. Okay, so tall spine, closing your eyes, inhaling through the nose.

Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha. Om Gan Gan Ganashaya Namaha. Om Gan Gan Ganashaya Namaha. Om gangana ganashyaya namaha. Om gangana ganashyaya namaha. Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha. Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha. Om ganga naganashaya namaha. Om ganga naganashaya namaha. Om gangana ganashaya namaha. Om gangana ganashaya namaha. Om Ganganaganashaya Namaha. Om Ganganaganashaya Namaha. Om Ganganaganashaya Namaha. Om Ganganaganashaya Namaha. Om Ganganaganashaya Namaha. Om Ganganaganashaya Namaha. Om Ganganaganashaya Namaha.

Namaha.

Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha. Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha. Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha.

Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha.

Om Gangana Ganeshaya Namaha.

Om Namah Shivaya.

Let's do 3 more silently to ourselves. And let the mantra fade away. Sit quietly, keep your eyes closed. Feel the energy of expansion, possibility. Notice how you're feeling. Take your attention down the spine towards the 1st and 2nd chakras, and then bring your attention back up again to your 3rd eye. Slowly opening your eyes, we'll continue with Aham Prema. In this one, you have your fingers interlaced, your palms are facing down towards the top of your head, shoulders are relaxed. We're just going to be chanting the mantra Aham Prema. Ah, hum, prema, which is a mantra in Sanskrit that means I am love. I am love. Okay, and we're making small circles with our hips, tiny circles, moving the whole torso and arms in tiny circles. Okay, let's begin closing our eyes.

Ah, hum. Aham Prema. Aham Prema. Aham Prema. Aham Prema. Aham Prema. Aham Prema. Aham Prema.

Aham Prema.

Aham Prema. Aham Prema.

Aham Prema. Aham Prema.

Aham Prema.

Aham Prema. Aham Prema.

Aham Prema. Aham Prema.

Aham Prema.

Aham Prema. Aham Prema. Aham Prema.

Okay, lower the hands to your knees. Let the mantra fade away. Keep your eyes closed. Take a deep breath, tapping into the experience, the reality, the truth that the whole universe loves you.

Breathing, breathing here.

Okay, we'll finish with one more practice, Hu meditation. Hu meditation. So again, we're working with the mantra Hu, but in a more meditative way. We'll have the hands facing each other, shoulders are relaxed. And we'll be chanting Hu in layers, so overlapping Hu. So just as you chant Hu, you're moving gently side to side, so twisting from the waist, from the core, to the right, back to the left. Okay, so as you finish the mantra, just continue inhaling and chanting in your own rhythm and going at your own pace. Inhaling through the nose. Let the mantra fade. Come back to center. Keep your eyes closed. Deep breath. Deepest breaths. Now, like I said, we'll close the practice here, but you— I invite you to continue sitting in meditation for about 10 minutes or so, or coming into shavasana. And I hope that you can take this feeling, this surrender, this grounding, this feeling that the whole universe loves you. Take it all back to the rest of your day and the rest of your week. And whenever you have the opportunity, I invite you to tap in and just notice how you're feeling and just embrace how you're feeling and just allow that to be with great spaciousness. Okay, so we'll close the practice. Take your hands to namaskar.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti. A Di Om Tat Sat.

Thank you so much for joining.

Namaste.

You can check my website, my Instagram, my Facebook for notices about my next class. So until then, be well, and I'll see you soon.