Election Day / Week Calming Set

Okay, welcome. How is everyone feeling? Yeah, day after the election, we don't know the results yet here in the States, and I think, you know, people have had varied responses, reactions, ways of coping and dealing with it. So, you know, I wanted to offer these sessions because I think it's really important to sort of stay grounded, stay calm, and remember what's really important. And so today we're just going to do some simple practices, some seated practices that are designed to help you to, you know, calm the nervous system, tap into a feeling of hope while we're still awaiting the results today, and to, you know, to also sort of feel into this sense of protection and personal power that I think is so essential to these kinds of times, these kinds of moments. So find a comfortable seat for this session. You could sit in a chair if you need to or wanted to, but, you know, sitting on the floor with a cushion here— I've got my— I'm sitting on a cushion and my legs are crossed. And, you know, just finding a way to sit where you're Stable and your pelvis is neutral and level with the floor and all that. Okay, so, um, yeah, make sure you've turned off all your notifications and, uh, do not disturb on your phone or computer or whatever. And, uh, let's explore the power of working with the breath in these moments, tuning in our— tuning our energy, tuning our, our sense of well-being. And as we do these practices, don't worry about what your mind is doing. Just kind of let that go. It's probably going to be thinking, it's probably going to be worrying, or whatever it is. And as we continue through the practice, the mind will start to settle a little bit and will start to follow us through the practice. So just let go of that. Don't worry so much about, you know, my mind is— I haven't achieved no mind, or whatever. Just, you know, surrender into the practices and trust that they will do What they're designed to do. Okay, so let's start too by imagining that you're in your favorite peaceful spot. You know, like, I don't know, it could be a temple in India, but it could also be the ocean in Costa Rica or a crackling fire in a cabin in the mountains. You know, so just imagine that you're there, you're sitting comfortably, it's quiet.

Okay.

So, um, we'll begin with a pranayama called Breath of Light. This is a 7-part inhale and a 1-part exhale. We'll be inhaling and exhaling through the nose. And so you're sitting tall, your eyes will be closed, your attention will follow the breath. If you know the location of the chakras, you can take your attention to each chakra in each of the 7 parts of the breath. Totally optional. And so this is a pranayama that's very calming and good for relieving anxiety and helping us get centered and balanced.

Okay.

So let's sit tall. Let's take a deep breath in and begin with an Om before we jump into the pranayama. So inhaling.

Aum.

And lowering your hands, relaxing your shoulders. And let's begin. So we're inhaling in 7 parts. It's like this.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

And then holding the breath for as long as is comfortable.

Mm-hmm.

And then exhaling through the nose. Like that, okay? So just going at your own pace. Breath of light. Imagining a golden light rising up the spine as you're breathing. Okay, so 7 parts. Holding at the top. And exhale. We're not doing very much right now. We're just breathing in 7 parts. Everything is relaxed. Relax your face. Relax your shoulders.

Keep going.

Relax your shoulders. 2 more minutes. Breath of light. A golden light is rising up the spine as you inhale in 7 parts.

3.

Exhaling at 1 part through the nose. And then after this round, coming to center, breathing normally, keeping your eyes closed, sitting quietly. Start to bring your attention to your heart center and feel a softening, softening in the heart area, starting to open, a sense of expansion. In the heart. Perhaps even a slight smile inside your heart. Okay, and slowly opening your eyes, we'll continue with the practice. So we're going to practice a mantra kriya called Om Namo Narayanaya, and this is working with the energy of Vishnu, whose name is also Narayana. And the idea here is that we're going to be Tapping into this sustaining nature of the universe and feeling sort of held, you know, by the goddess or by by totality as we as we go through this practice and hopefully take that feeling with us out into the world. Okay, so here we're going to start with our hands in namaskar mudra in front of the heart, and then inhale as we chant Om Namah. Om Namo. And then as we come up to the third eye, we'll chant Narayanaya. Narayanaya. Okay, and make it kind of a rainbow with our hands. Okay, and so it's going to sound and look like this. You can just chant along with me.

Om Namo. Oṁ Nādāyā Nāyāyā.

Okay, we'll do this for about 5 or 6 minutes. So with all these kriyas and pranayama, just surrender into the practice and let yourself kind of drop into the flow of it. You know, don't, don't overanalyze it. Don't Sort of question it in any way. Just trust that it's doing, giving you the benefits that it's designed to give you. Okay, so tall spine. Close your eyes, or you can watch me for a few rounds if you need to. Inhaling.

Om Namah. Oṁ Nāmaha Nārāyaṇa.

As you inhale, the hands come back to the heart center.

Oṁ Nāmaha Nārāyaṇa. Naya, naya. Om namo narayanaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om namo narayanaya. Om namo narayanaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Aum Namah Narayanaya. Aum Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Aum Namah. Aum Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Na ya na ya. Na na na na na ya na ya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Narayanaya. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Namah Shivaya. And sitting quietly.

Letting the mantra fade away, just breathing. Keep your eyes closed, tuning into the nurturing presence and infinite intelligence of nature. Perhaps you're feeling a sense of lightness, a little bit less dense and heavy. That is my hope. Okay, we'll continue with a practice called Amrita Pranayama. And so in this breathing practice, we're going to be working with some mudras as well. And here We're going to start with Hiranyagarbha Mudra, which is just all the fingertips touching, forming a sphere. That's going to be kind of in front of the navel and kind of just in your lap as we start. We're going to be inhaling through the mouth as we bring the mudra up through the heart center, and it becomes Kamala Mudra, Lotus Mudra. And so here we've just got our hands, the thumbs and pinkies are lined up and the palms are lined up, so you're forming a lotus flower with your hands in front of the heart. And continuing to come up as we breathe in through the mouth, and the hands form a flat plane in front of the third eye. And then at the top of the breath, we exhale through the nose as we lower the hands out in front of us.

And then Like that.

Okay, so it's very slow, in through the mouth, out through the nose. And this— the benefits of this are many, but some of them are sort of continuing this theme of a nourishing feeling and a sense of strength coming from the universe, but also a sense of hope, which, you know, is something I think we could all use, especially in America right now with all this uncertainty. Okay, so Amrita Pranayama, like Breath of Light, we're gonna be— we're also imagining a golden light rising up the spine as we inhale with this one. Okay, so sitting tall, sitting well, sitting comfortably, close the eyes, take the Hiranigarbha Mudra in the lap, and inhaling through the mouth Exhaling through the nose. Keep going, approaching this practice and every practice as if it's the only thing we're going to be doing for the rest of the time today. It's not, but that's kind of the approach, right? We're not trying to get anywhere. We're just dropping more deeply into the present moment. It's all we're doing. Okay, letting go of the mudras, coming back to center, sitting quietly. Eyes are closed. Tuning back into that heart space. Just noticing what's going on there, bringing your attention to your inner spaciousness, feeling it expanding. Through these practices, we begin to tap into an infinite wellspring of joy and bliss that is inside of each of us. Such a powerful practice. For for shifting our orientation from one of seeking happiness or contentment or stability or security from outside to bringing it out from the inside, so so we become the cause instead of the effect of our lives essentially. Okay, we're going to finish with more of a simple mantra practice. We're going to work with the power of Hanuman. Hanuman is the monkey king from the Ramayana and other myths, and he reminds us that we are all far more powerful than we can imagine. And even if we forget that sometimes, we can tune back into that feeling through working with the power of Hanuman. So the Hanuman mantra we're going to work with is Om Om Hum Hanumate Vijayam. Om Hum Hanumate Vijayam. It's not so important that you understand what it means as that you just tune into the vibration of the mantra. If you practice with me enough, you'll know that I really love the power of mantra to quickly and efficiently get us into a certain kind of state or into a certain kind of feeling or to transcend certain things. Very powerful mantra, very powerful sort of archetype, this Hanuman archetype. Okay, we're going to do 27 rounds. I'm going to count on my mala, so one quarter of a mala, and I'm going to have my hand— and you can, you can do this too— in Abhayam mudra, which is simply the mudra of protection and fearlessness that you often see with With different murtis, you know, different statues. In fact, yes, Lakshmi here is doing it. This is a bayan mudra. You know, you see, you might see Buddha do it, or pretty much every deity, I think, has a variation where they're offering this protection, you know, this reminder that inside of us we have this power, this stability. This fearlessness, you know. Okay, so I'm going to be chanting with the mudra again. The mantra is Om Hum Hanumate Vijayam. You can just listen, or you can follow along, chant along. We're going to do 27 rounds. Okay, so close your eyes and have your attention on the heart space, dropping into a sense of Surrender and devotion, and we'll come into the power through surrender and devotion. Okay, so sitting tall, inhaling.

Om ham hanumate vijayam. Om Ham Hanumaté Vajrayam. Om Ham Hanumaté Vajrayam. Om Hanumaté Vidyayam. Om Hanumaté Vidyayam. Om Hanumaté Vijayam. Om Hanumaté Vijayam. Om Ham Hanumaté Vidyayam. Om Ham Hanumaté Vidyayam. Om Ham Hanumate Vijayam. Om Ham Hanumate Vijayam. Om Ham Harimata Vijayam. Om Ham Harimata Vijayam.

Starting to quiet the mantra a little bit.

Om ham manmate vichayam. Om ham manmate vichayam. Om ham. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.

Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum.

And then do 3 rounds to yourself. Okay, and letting the mantra fade away. Hands resting on your knees, eyes are closed, breathing. Through the practice of yoga, entering the state of yoga, where we learn experientially that there is deep power in presence. So the more present you become, The more powerful you can, you can become. Okay, we'll close the practice. I invite you to sit in meditation or take shavasana for at least ten minutes, especially today. And thank you so much for joining this practice. I'll see you next time.

Om shanti shanti shanti.

Hari Om Tat Sat.

Hari Om Tat Sat.