Yin Yoga and Meditation, Wed 7pm

5 Peeps


Talked again about Injury sharing about my shoulder.

Pigeon, 5 min
Childs Pose
Pigeon, 5 min
Childs Pose

Sphinx, 5 min
Childs Pose

Reverse Prayer Shoulder Opener, 3 minutes
Rest
Repeat Other Side


Spinal Twist, 5 minute
Rest, 2 minutes
Spinal Twist Other Side
Rest and play with alternate nostril breathing

Roll up to Sit.

25 minute sit.
Best ever.
Everyone was so in it.
No one layed down for savasana
My sacrum felt like a hot plate.

Yin Yoga and Meditation, Monday 7pm

5 peeps

I was super talkative tonight.  Yin was more entertaining perhaps than relaxing.  But I had fun.  We laughed a lot.  A lot of attention to the chakras and the elements.  The final sit was directed at focusing on each of the chakras, specifically the earth, water, fire, air and ether elements.


Swan, 5 minutes
Rest and Sit.

Repeat Swan
Repeat Rest



1/2 Shoelace or 1/2 butterfly, 4 minutes
Rest
Repeat Pose
Repeat Rest

Lunge, 5 minutes
Rest
Repeat Lunge
Repeat Rest

Choice:
Seal or Saddle

Rest on Back
Knees to Chest

Spinal Twist, 3 minutes
Rest
Repeat Twist
Rest

Roll up to Sitting

15 minutes
Optional Savasana for 5 minutes or continue to Sit

SWG Sunday 10:00am

9 Peeps

Mostly Women.

We did not film today cuz I could not find the microphone and cuz it was mostly women, I allowed the class to be more emotionally focused and I even used the word, "cervix".  Haha.  

Opening Restorative Heart Opener with Legs up on 2 Bolsters

Toe Strapping

Ankle Strapping 

Brick Squeezing

Navel to Sacrum Awareness

Uttanasana

Roll up to Standing

Strapped and Blocked Tadasana

Tadasana

Ujayyi Breathing

Muladhara Awareness

LAM

3 Rounds 1/4 Salutations

3 Rounds 1/2 Salutations

2 Rounds Lunge Salutes with Hamstring Work

VAM

Wide Legged Stance with Pelvis Awareness

Forward Fold towards Hammock

Round up to standing

Tadasana

Warrior 2 Dance

WLFF

Hammock

Tadasana

Side Triangle Both Sides

WLFF

Hammock

Malasana

Uttanasana

Tadasana

Side Angle Pose Both Sides

WLFF

Hammock

Malasana

Transition to Earth

Windshield Wiper

Bridge Pose x 2

Knees to Chest

Easy Spinal Twist

Restorative Jalandhara Bandha Sacrum Opener

Savasana

Sweet Vinyasa 8:30am Monday

20 Peeps

5 Drop Ins

I was not sure what we were going to do.  I anticipated working on Bakasana and eka pada bakasana again, but we didn't.  Play with Swamp and Hallelujah Acton to create opening moving towards camel, ustrasana.

Sukhasana or Box

Forward Fold

Side Forward Fold

Easy Spinal Twist

(Switch Legs and Repeat)

Transition All Fours

Cat/Cow

Barrel Rolls

Childs Pose

Plank

Dog

Plank

Easy Side Plank Sequence

Plank

Dog

Sequence 1

Knee to Forehead Abdominal Curl Play

Lunge

Twisting Lunge

Hammock

Lunge

Dog

Repeat Other Side

Vinyasa 1

Dog

Rounded Plank

Dog

Plank

Locust 1

Rocket Cat

Childs Pose

Plank

Dog

Uttanasana

Malasana

Mouse Prep

Malasana

Uttanasana

Roll up to Standing

Shoulder Rotation

Swamp Monster/Hallelujah Sequence

Wise Guy Neck Sequence

Tadasana

Ujayyi Pranayama

YAM

Sequence 2

Sun to Lunge

Swamp Warrior

Hallelujah Warrior

Lunge

Vinaysa 2

Dog

Rounded Plank to Updog

Roll to DownDog

Repeat Sequence 1 Other Side from Dog

Repeat Vinaysa 2

Uttanasana

Malasana

Mouse Pose

Malasana

Uttanasana

Utkatasana

Tadasana

HAM

Sequence 2

Sun to 

Lunge

Swamp Warrior

Hallelujah Warrior

Parsvottanasana

Warrior 3

Standing Splits

Pigeon

3 Legged Dog

Revolved Dog

Dog

Repeat Vinyasa 2

Repeat Sequence Other Side from Dog

Repeat Vinyasa 2

Childs Pose

Vajrasana Meditation

Ustrasana Play

(rolling into it)

Counter pose with Squat/Uttanasana

Vajrasana Meditation

OM x 2

Half Lord of the Fishes

Cow Face

(Switch Legs and Repeat Other Side)

Favorite Forward Fold

Savasana

Sweet Vinyasa 8:30am Wednesday

18 Peeps

5 New Drop Ins

Again, I am really wanting to dig into mula bandha, and again the crowd and the mood was not right to start using words like anus and genitals.  So went with what we have been working with lately.  Class is a little slow cuz of all the new peeps.  I was hoping at one point to move towards a Side Plank Sequence.  Didn't make it.  Talk was around Sutra 1.2 and 1.33.

Yin Baddha Konasana

Chest Press Dandasana

Easy Sukhasana Side Bend Sequence with Schiffmann Tipping

Transition to All Fours

Plank

Dog

Easy Side Plank Sequence

Lunge Hammock Pattern 1 (both sides)

(Lunge, Hammock, Twisting Lunge)

Uttanasana

Roll up to Standing

Shoulder Rotation Awareness

Wise Guy Neck Sequence

Tadasana

Ujayyi Breathing

YAM

Standing Sequence

Sun to 

Lunge

Hammock

Warrior 2 Dance

Slinky Lunge

Hamstring Stretch

Vinyasa 1

Dog

Plank

Locust 1

Rocket Cat

Childs Pose

Plank

Dog

Uttanasna

Roll up to Standing

Tadasana

HAM

Repeat Sequence 1 Other Side

Vinyasa 1 with Locust 2

Uttanasana

Roll up to Standing

Tadasana

Heart Hand Prana Extension

OM

OM

Crescent Moon Pattern 

Sun to 

Lunge

Crescent Moon

Lunge

Vinaysa 1 with Locust 3

Repeat Crescent Moon Other Side

Dog

Side Plank Play Both Sides

Vinaysa 1 with Locust 4

Rocket Cat

Childs Pose

Vajrasana Meditation

Half Lord of the Fishes

Cow Face

(Both Sides)

Forward Fold

Savasana

Patricia Sullivan Day 1

I love Patricia Sullivan. Completely.
I love how geeky and specific she gets but in a way that opens us to the mystery within each of us. She makes sure that we understand the rules and concepts and then sets us free to play.

We began in a circle chanting vowel sounds.
Sweet and open and relaxed.

Then, using a spine and pelvis model, she gave a lecture on the movements of the sacrum and the pelvis and the interrelationship.

The most profound moment for me here was the realization of the connection between the words sacred and sacrum. Patricia was very profound. I found this online tonight:

THE MEANING OF SACRED
Established patriarchal religions have defined sacred as being separate from nature. It is no coincidence that the word sacred is related to the sacral region of anatomy; the sacrum the triangular bone at the base of the spine. The Greeks called it the "hieron osteon", "hieron" not only means sacred but also "temple." It is a temple in the sense that the sacrum creates the dorsal wall of the pelvis. In the female the sacrum protects the ovaries and uterus, the organs of creation. The Romans called the bone the "os sacrum," which literally meant the "holy bone". "Sacrum" relates to the Latin word "sacer" meaning "sacred", or "sacra" meaning "holy, consecrated". The sacrum is the last bone in the body to decompose therefore it was believed that someone could be reassembled in the afterlife from its remains. The sacrum consists of five separate vertebrae that fuse together between ages 18 and 30, to become one bone. The last sacral vertebra sits just above the coccyx, which in many animal species is the beginning of the tail.
The sacrum is also known as the vertebra magna. The closely related words of "magma", referring to molten rock within the earth, and "magnus", meaning great, can be of interest, especially when thinking about "from dust you came, to dust you shall return." We can obviously summarize that the sacrum is an important "root", a seat of special power that stems back to stories of origin.

After the lecture, we started with a Cat/Cow on the forearms. She guided us to play with the squeezing of the thighs towards each other and apart to play with the relationship in the hips and the pelvis. Then we also played with the drawing in and widening of the arm bones to change the relationship of the shoulder blades in the posture.

We came to downward facing dog and played with the same actions and added the "twist".

Slow deliberate Child's Pose (the delay of the inevitable).

Seated Dandasana with easy Twisting Action to understand leg and Sacrum Connection.

Twisting from Uttanasana we explored the drawing back of the sacrum and the drawing "forward" or "lengthening" or "backbending" of the other side.

We then explored Standing Sidebending with the Xhandor Style Arms.

Squat Play. The delay, the creation of resistance to create more space.

Easy slow repeatable movements to start to get a relationship with how we are put together before moving towards more complicated postures. And as is always revealed, different actions are required for each body which is why the internal understanding is so critical.

We played with the actions in Warrior 2, Triangle, Parsvottansana and Twisting Triangle, Warrior 1 and Revolved Side Angle Pose.

It was super fun to watch Patricia work and tune each posture and understanding.

In Warrior 2 and Triangle we geeked out on using the drawing back of the sacrum on the back leg to create the lift and space.

In Pyramid and Twisting Triangle, the drawing of the back sit bone down to ground and give the sacrum leverage to open and twist up.

We did Warrior 1 like dancers, playing with keeping the back knee bent to allow the front curve to be more fluid like water. Then we used a side bend to move from Warrior 1 to Revolved Side Angle Pose.

Upavishta Konasana Play

Revolving Head to Knee Pose

Janu Sirsasana (This was my favorite. The drawing up and back of the sacrum on the extended leg side, combined with allowing that hip to externally rotate a bit by allowing the front foot to drop open was so sweet. The backbend on the side of the bend knee was kept soft with a little extra navel action and so there was barely any need to fold forward cuz there was so much cool geeky stuff happening in the pelvis.)

Bridge Pose x 2 with emphasis on keeping ribs soft and "knit" until very last moment.

Savasana

Sit

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.

1:1 Monday, March 10

My regular Monday 10:30 client.

We worked the breath today. Played with bandhas and holds and using sound as a way to increase the breath capacity.

Supine.
Breath Awareness.
Emphasis on hanging out at bottom of exhale.
Got easier and easier for her with each attempt.

Hamstring Stretch with Strap

Transition to Standing

Uddiyana Bandha Work
I was not sure if this could work with a heavier body. We found success by starting out with just holding out the breath and then gradually adding the navel to spine contraction.

Transition to Wall
Splat
Right Angle
(with Awareness on Breath)
Uttanasana

Shoulder Opener @ Wall

Splat
Right Angle
Uttanasana

1/4 Sun Salutations
Om Work
A - U - M play to extend the breath
1/4 Sun Salutations with OM
Found Huge increase in breath
Amazing. Not sure why this works so well.

1/2 Suns with Bija Sounds of the Chakras.

Transition to All Fours.
Cat/Cow
Childs

Plank
Down Dog
Plank
Sphinx

Rest.

Sphinx to Low Cobra

Rest
Childs
All Fours
Plank
Dog
Plank

Sphinx to High Cobra 2x

Roll onto Back
Knees to Chest

Eye of Needle Stretch
Half Happy Baby Stretch
Rock the Baby Stretch
Extended Leg Abdominal
Both Sides

Roll up to Sitting

Uppavista Konasana
1/2 Lotus Paschimotanasana (both Sides)
1/2 Lotus Forward Fold

Bridge 2x

Low Back Release
Easy Spinal Twist

Savasana