Tuning, Sunday, March 30, 1 to 4pm

15 Peeps
Mix of Regulars and Occasional Peeps.

I had warned everyone that we were going to be geeking out on the bandhas and breath. But I did not know in advance that I was going to be suffering from an allergy attack. I am not sure that the workshop was successful. But I learned a great deal and was able to see where we need to start sprinkling some of the work we did today more throughout the classes. I felt comfortable checking in with peeps to make sure everyone was on track. What was super fun was to not feel the need to produce a "Show". This class was very technical and broke stuff down.


Brief Talk and what we were Doing.
Emphasis on the back and forth between the subtle and the gross to dial in the subtle.
Not enough about Why.
But it seemed like so much Info already that maybe that was okay.


Start Supine.
Hip Rotation Awareness
- Apanasana
- Leg Extended up with Internal and External Rotation
- Eye of the Needle Prep with Int and Ex Awareness
- Dropped Over Eye of the Needle for Side Line Stretch
- Eye of the Needle

Repeat Other Side

Neutral Hip Pose
Strap Around Thighs, Hips on 3xFolded Blanket
The trick with this one is allowing the legs to relax into the strap so hips are relaxed in neutral. We used this shape to start to bring attention to the pelvic floor.

Aswini Mudra (Anal squeezing)
Vajroli Mudra (holding in the need to urinate)
Kegel
Perineum Lift
Perineum Triangle (sit bones, pubis bone and tailbone all drawing towards each other)

Relax and roll up.

Baddha Konasana with Hip Rotation Awarness
Squat

Hammock Pose (Prasarita Padottanasana with Arms Extended and heart dropping)
walk hands over to one side for Low Lunge (Yin Style)
Hammock Pose
Low Lunge Other side
(The thinking here was to open up the nadis/merdians of the Manipura before we did uddiyana bandha)
Horse with hands on legs

Release to standing

Uddiyana Banhda Play
Breath retention, navel lock, and play with coming up to standing with contractions held.
this felt fun and playful. Everyone pulled their shirts up. Everyone totally gets U.B. I keep making sure, but I probably don't need to so much.

Wall Work to get more breathing Room and HRA
Splat
Right Angle
Uttanasana

Standing @ Wall with Butt on Wall
HRA

Tadasana with HRA
Ujjayi Breathing

(The play here was to find the alignment of the breath to feel how the 3 main bandhas are activated with the alignment and no extra attention is needed).

Warrior 2 Dance
Lunge
Dog Pose
Lunge
Half Arch
Forward Fold
Complete Sun to Standing.

Repeat Other Side.

Neck Work.
Wise Guy Stretch and Others.
Tadasana with HRA and Breath and NECK.

(The Plan had been to take the work towards headstand, bridge and supported viparrita karni. But I wanted to leave an hour for the bandha meditation and relaxation afterwards. And at this point we were almost 2 hours into it! Goodness.)

Squat
Sit

Slumpy Swami Spinal Twist
Forward Fold in Sukhasana
Repeat Other side with Other Leg on top

Cowboy Negotitian Variation on Revolving Head to Knee Pose
Yin Baddha Konasana

Set up for sitting.
Showed different ways to get comfortable.
Suggested sitting at wall with block.
Showed lots of support.

Bandha Chakra Meditation

I learned these techniques from Paul Grilley and really like them. I was uncertain about sharing them all at once, but everyone seemed interested in giving it a go. Felt like it was a little much and it might have been better to get the inversion in, the back bend in and just do muladhara, svadhisthana and Ajna...but oh well. We did them all.

Muladhara
Start with awareness on breath.
Add the So Hum Mantra. 'So' on the inhale. 'Hum' on the Exhale.
The Root of the Muladhara is the tailbone, the flower is the pelvic floor.
Bring Awareness to the chakra.
Feel the So hum Mantra in the chakra.

Eventually, exhale and engage mulabandha, holding. Allow it to release and feel the spontaneous inhale and swelling of the belly, allowing throat to stay open. Slowly exhale and repeat. I guided for a few rounds than allowed the group to find on own.

Eventually relax the effort and listen.

I guided them to tether their awareness back to the breath to move onto the next chakra.

Svadhisthana
Root: Sacrum
Flower: Lower belly, between navel and pubic bone.

Same beginning, awareness of breath and then adding of the So Hum mantra.
Eventually, exhale and pull lower belly in, drawing up on mulabandha. Hold with throat open and then release, feeling the spontaneous expansion of the inhale. Hold breath in with belly expanded and with throat open. Then slowly exhale and continue.

Eventually relax the effort and listen.

I guided them to tether their awareness back to the breath to move onto the next chakra.

Manipura
Root: L2
Flower: Between the Navel and the Sternum

Same Beginning.

Eventually, exhale. Inhale and fill the belly up. Keeping throat open and belly expanded, apply uddiyana bandha and hold. Eventually relax and exhale. Take a few easy relaxed breaths and repeat. I guided for 3. Then sent them out on their own.

Eventually relax the effort and listen.

I guided them to tether their awareness back to the breath to move onto the next chakra.

Anahata
Root: T7
Flower: Heart

Same Beginning.

The bandha for the heart is the closing of the throat. Inhale Ujjayi Breath. Hold breath in with throat open and feel the prana circulating. Exhale Ujjayi and hold breath out with throat open. Continue.

Eventually relax the effort and listen.

I guided them to tether their awareness back to the breath to move onto the next chakra.

Vishuddhi
Root: C7
Flower: Front of throat

Awareness of breath. But mantra becomes Ham Sa to pull energy up from base of spine. (I am surprised that the heart chakra is not also Ham Sa and will have to practice a bit with that).

Eventually, Inhale Fully, close throat, relax muscular holding and feel energy rise up into throat. Relax constriction and exhale. Continue. This is difficult cuz the energy tends to get pulled up into the head too.

Eventually relax the effort and listen.

I guided them to tether their awareness back to the breath to move onto the next chakra.


Ajna Chakra
Root: Base of Skull
Flower: Between Eyebrows, Third Eye

Awareness to Breath. Addition of Ham Sa Mantra.

Start to use inhale breath to pull prana up the spine and feel the descent of the prana on the exhale breath. When this is checked in, Inhale breath up to base of skull, hold breath in as you tip the head forward allowing the prana to pool in the 3rd eye. Lift head back up and exhale allow the prana to run back down the spine. (Feels like a waterfall of cooling energy). Continue.

Eventually relax the effort and listen.

I guided them to tether their awareness back to the breath to move onto the next chakra.


Sahasrara
Crown Chakra at the Crown of the head.

Apply Kechari Mudra
As an alternative to swallowing the tongue, we played with pressing the tongue up against the hard and soft pallet of our mouths and imagined the Amrit nectar coming down into our throats.

Relax and Sit.

Suggestion was then to move into either, a restorative backbend or legs up the wall.
After 5 minutes, Savasansa for 10 more minutes.

Sit

Close.