Podcast #129 - Connection/Community

The theme of the class is based on the Jivamukti Focus of the Month, which can be read in full at jivamuktiyoga.com Donate to the podcast: https://yogastickler.com/donate-now

TRANSCRIPT:
00:00
Welcome. I'm Jessica and this is. Jivamukti Yoga with Jessica Stickler. I have found I don't know if you've found this. I have found in some ways it's harder to keep in touch with people with so many social mediamedia platforms going on at the same time Facebook Instagram tick-tock patreon all this stuff YouTube and I'm starting to get the hunch that it's going to be easier to keep in touch with y'all by traditional old email which means I need your email, so if you're enjoying the podcast if you want to hear more see more learn. More participate more deepen your practice in any kind of way and you want to be privy to all that content including videos audios blog post all that stuff. I need your email so if you could just do me a favor and take one action today even before you start your class like well I'm still talking you can even do this go to yoga stickler.com and you can either click subscribe or you can scroll all the way to the bottom of the homepage and just clock your email in Right there so that I can stay in touch with you and then you could be the first to know about future goings on whether it be online classes or virtual retreats or in-person retreats or travel schedule and content content content galore, so if you want to have. You know more classes for example, if you want to know about the handstand workshop so I'll be doing it etc then you're going to want to put your email into yoga stickler comm so that I can reach you with all that valuable information again. I'm just finding this sort of swirling social media world it's very inconsistent shall we say it's hard to like get messages out and know that the people that want those messages are seeing them. More often, they're not okay so without further ado, here is your November class.

02:30
Okay, so. Here we go, let's start in downward facing dog.
Okay, come on forward to a plank and lower the knees the chest and the chin down to the floor. And slide forward into Cobra point the feet, tuck the toes under move the seat back towards the feet and then extend the legs downward dog. Come on forward to a plank. Lower halfway down chatturunga. Upward facing dog. And downward facing dog. And soften the knees and start to a walk the feet forward towards the hands, uttanasana, folding forward over the legs.

03:50
So a lot of times especially in sort of modern yoga discourse a lot of times we talk about like my practice my personal practice this and that um and it and on some level it. And it is an individual thing in that you're you know, sort of reconnecting with your breath and reconnecting with your heart and your mind and so in that sense it is an individual practice, however. I think sometimes we take it a bit too far, um and make it almost like too individualistsic to cover practice because remember the goal of yoga philosophy and yoga practice is to be able to understand and recognize and really know our interconnectedness with all beings and things. So there is a part of that process that's individual but really to bring about not just the concept that we're all connected to one another but to bring about the real felt experience. Means that we have to. Means that we can't just stay focused on the individual experience of the yoga practice. We can get kind of caught up in that you know. Widen the feet bend the knees come into a squatting position. Even the yoga sutras and other texts sometimes they warn against getting too caught up in the sort of immediate sensations or feelings or even like visions that might arise like they say, you know, sometimes in meditation, you might feel things in the body, you might serve see lights or some kind of thing and there's a tendency to maybe Assign a little bit too much import to those moments of breakthrough, but that really we have to be able to kind of look.
Now bring the hands to the floor and raise the hips up and fold Forward. And then bring the feet all the way together and hands on your waist lift all the way up right to a standing position.

06:36
So. The from the wisdom teachings of David Byrne. In the show utopia he makes this beautiful connection between the brain like the way the neurology, the synaptic connections work and sort of that interconnectedness of the web of the brain and then he expands that and he says what if sort of other people are our synaptic connections so that it's not just sort of what's stuck inside my head but it's about the quality of the connection and, Communication that I'm having with others that that sort of expansion from the self as an encapsulated individual to self as everyone that affects me and who I in turn effect, right?

07:34
So same with the yoga practice like even when it's difficult to think of the yoga practice as a collective experience like sometimes it's a bit hard to imagine when we're online although for me. I feel very connected to. you But even in a classroom like it's not just about me it's also about how you know, what's the experience everyone else in the room is having and how do we mutually uplift? So bring the hands together at the center of the chest. And just in some way in your in whatever way resonates with you. Kind of honoring that principle that like the energy that I bring to class and the intention that I bring to class directly or indirectly affects. Everyone having the experience together. And bring the arms down alongside the body to exhale a full breath out inhale reach the arms up overhead palms of hands press together, look up. Exhale fold forward hands to the floor beside the feet. Inhale halfway lift to prepare. Exhale hop or step back to chatturanga. Inhale upward facing dog.
Exhale downward facing dog, breathe in. Breathe out inhale. Exhale to inhale. Exhale three. In him. Exhale four. In. Exhale bend the knees look forward inhale hopper step feet to hands. Exhale fold forward inhale stand up reach the arms of overhead hands press together exhale release the arms, but inhale reach up hands press together look up exhale fold forward hands to the earth.

10:31
Inhale halfway lift. Exhale hop or step back, chatturanga. Inhale upward facing dog. Exhale downward facing dog, breathe in. Breathe out one. inhale. Exhale two. Inner. Exhale three. Inhale. Exhale four. Inhale. Exhale bend the knees look forward inhale hop or step forward, feet to hands exhale folding forward inhale stand up reach the arms of overhead hands press together exhale release the arms one more time inhale reach up. Exhale fold forward. Inhale look forward. Exhale chatturanga. Inhale upward dog. Exhale downward.

11:49
Inhale. Exhale two. Inhale. Exhale three. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale bend forward inhale hop or step forward. Exhale fold inhale stand up reach the arms of overhead. Exhale release the arms inhale hook your thumbs reach your arms up and arch back. Exhale bend the knees swing the arms behind the back lays the hands together folding forward.

12:33
Inhale hands to the floor step the right foot back to lunge, look forward. Exhale step back downward facing dog. Inhale plank pose. Exhale chaturanga. Inhale upward facing dog. Exhale downward facing. Inhale to plank. exhale knees chest and chin to the floor. Inhale slide forward into cobra, exhale tuck the toes sit back towards the feet and then extend the legs. Inhale right foot steps forward. Exhale left foot follows, right foot fold forward. Inhale bend knees hook thumbs reach up arch back straight in the legs. Exhale bend knees swing arms behind leaves the hands together and fold. Inhale hands down step the left foot back. Exhale downward facing dog. Inhale forward into playing exhale chaturanga.

13:40
Inhale upward facing dog. Exhale downward facing dog. Inhale forward into plank exhale knees just into the floor. Inhale slide forward into cobra, exhale tuck the toes sit back towards the feet and then extend the legs. Inhale left footsteps forward. Exhale right foot follows left. Inhale. Ben knees with thumbs reach up arch back straight in the legs of the top.

14:13
Exhale stand up. And good deeply bend the knees reach the arms overhead. Exhale hands to the floor fold forward uttanasana. Inhale look forward. Exhale hopper step back to the wrong map. Inhale upward facing dog. Exhale downward facing. Inhale step the right foot forward to in the back heel down reach upward. Exhale hands to the floor stepped in into blank and lower tread around that. Inhale upward dog. Exhale downward. exhale hands to the floor step back and lower. Inhale upward facing. Exhale downward facing inhale right foot forward for your one. Exhale hand to the floor step back down lower. Inhale upward dog. Inhale your left foot since forward your dress no one. Exhale hands to the floor step back and lower. Inhale upward tasting. Exhale downward facing breathing. Breathe out one. Inhale. Exhale three inhale. Exhale. nExhale bending your knees look forward inhale hop or step feet to hands. Exhale pulled forward inhale bend the knees reach the. Exhale stand up and release the arms. Separate the feet of few inches apart hands on your waves with an inhale lift up your chest and arch back. Exhale hold forward reach down and grab hold of the big toe with the peace sign fingers of the hand inhaler breath look forward to having a chat exhale pulled forward top of the head reaches down. Exhale. Inhale heading just left looks forward now slide the palms of the hands underneath the soles of the feet.

17:47
Exhale inhale lift head and chest look forward release the hands out from under the feet and then separate the feet about mat width distance or wider so bend the knees come down into a deep squatting position hands together at the center of the chest. Now reach the left arm out in front of the left leg, press the left hand down into the floor reach the right arm up and back be using towards the right hand you can either stay like this or bring the right arm behind the back or you can bring both arms behind the back and make the bind here lift the chest bring them in.

Now press the left and down reach the right arm up back tracking. Exhale hands together at the center. Reach the right arm in front of the right leg left arm reaches up and back. Could either stay like this or left arm behind the back only or both arms behind the back. Good inhale back tracking right hand down left or. Exhale together at the center of. Bring the hands down to the floor. It's up and.

19:28
Full bring the feet about a halfway closer from where they are now. Walk their hands about 10 or 12 inches more forward from the scene and then place the hands all the way down into the floor even if you. 've been placed the knees high up onto the backs of the upper arm. Shift the weight forward into the hands and you can either work with the feet on the floor where you can start to lift one foot or both feet off the floor. crow pose/bakasana.

20:14
Wherever you are a hop or step back to chaturanga. Inhale upward dog. Exhale downward dog inhale step the right foot forward warrior. Good exhale open its arms to the side. Inhale straight in the right leg exhale reach to the right board triangle post right hand down left arm.

21:10
The inhale lift all the way up . exhale bend the right knee for warrior two. Inhale straighten the right leg. Exhale bend the right knee place the right hand down inside of the right foot and reach the left arm straight up. That's it. So lean your right arm back against your right leg to help sort of open up that hip and try to pull your left shoulder back even more so that you're attempting to stack your left shoulder over your right shoulder even if it isn't happening all the way.

22:08
With an inhale lift all the way upright to a standing position. Exhale bend the right knee again this time place the right hand down outside of the right foot and reach the left arm all the way over the left ear. For extended side angle.
Inhale place both hands to the floor. Exhale step back downward facing. Hail step the left foot forward your watch
Exhale open to the side. Inhale straighten the left leg exhale reach.

23:21
A lift all the way up to a standing position, exhale bend the left knee virabhadrasana 2. Inhale straighten the left leg. Exhale bend collecting place the left hand down inside of the left foot. Reach the right arm straight up and then lean your left arm against your left leg. Try to spread open the chest as you sort of push the left knee a little bit.

24:17
Inhale lift all the way up right to a standing position. Exhale bend the left knee again this time place left hand down outside of the left foot reach the right arm over the right ear. inhale both hands down exhale step back.

24:55
Inhale step the right foot forward between the hands now keep the back foot doing what it's doing reach the arms up overhead.

25:07
That's it, so the back heel stays raised to the ceiling and you're gonna do your best to keep the back legs straight with it inhale straight in the right leg the front. Exhale bend. Inhale extend. Exhale bend. Inhale extend. Exhale bends now lean the upper body halfway forward, bring the arms alongside the body like you're reaching back towards the left heel. Balancing on the left. Still reaching back. And now soften the right knees step back to your low lunge, but hands on the floor. Start to straighten the right leg and move the Foot inhale bend to the right knee, exhale step back downward facing dog. Inhale step the left foot forward, keep the back foot doing what it's doing reach the arms of overhead high lunge. Good exhale inhale straight in the left leg. Exhale bends the left knee. Inhale straighten. Exhale bend.

27:18
Inhale straighten. Exhale bend. Inhale straighten. Exhale bend and then stay there lean halfway forward arms alongside the body as if you're reaching towards the right heel, and then push off the right toes lift up into warrior 3. The soft and the left knee step the right foot right back where it came from. And Start just. The front leg. If you need to adjust the back foot a little closer, you're welcome to and then pulled forward. So bend to the left knee look forward and then step back downward facing.

28:59
Okay. So now bring the knees to. The hands and knees. Now, bring your right knee up to almost touch your right elbow. Even if it doesn't physically touch try to make it touch. And then go ahead and take the leg back touch it five times. To Now touch again, touch your knee to your elbow and then try just using your sort of leg strength in your hip strength and your abdominal strength to glide your knee higher up the back of your upper arm like you're trying to get towards your armpit hold there. And relax.

29:57
Other side, bring your left knee to your. Elbow. No, same side. Yeah left to left. That's it. So five times.

30:20
And then on the last time go ahead and try to lift the knee higher up towards the tricep or even towards the armpit and hold that's it. Good.

30:35
But both knees to the floor press back downward facing dog. Good. So like sometimes in yoga class people will stop me after something like that and they'll go like That's core right? We're working on core there, right? And you know, I vary in how I answer but as you can probably feel it's not only core.

31:01
It's also leg strength. It's also arm strength if you didn't have enough strength to kind of keep you in place and to hold yourself up. I mean, you don't. So it's almost unintelligible to just say like, Just one part of the body. A whole part of the body. Burns the whole part of the body that wasn't how I meant to say that but it just kind of came out okay, then the knees look forward upper stuff to heat to the hands.

31:28
Exhale fold. Inhale bend the knees reach the arms up. Exhale stand up release the arms good turn to face the side and open the feet wide apart. Hands on your waist lift up the chest and arch back exhale fold forward hands to the floor reach the top of the head down in the direction of the floor.

32:01
Same I find it tendency sometimes people want to like sort of isolate A muscle right like oh this is so as this is the so as doing it or this is piriformis doing it. Um, Or even like systems of the body, oh this this isn't muscular this is myofascial, right? But in doing so we're we're trying to dissect the anatomy in a way that it doesn't it doesn't actually function that way right it's it's a whole system of muscles and whole systems of systems working together the fascia and the muscles are inseparable in their in their operation, right?

32:53
Inhale look forward reach out and grab hold of the ankles and whole up on the ankles to pull the head down in the direction. The inhale look forward release the hands onto the floor. Hop or step your feet together.

33:25
Keep the feet together bend the knees a little bit heel stood down reach the arms forward towards the wall across from look towards your hands so arms like parallel to the floor and you're looking at your hands clasp your hands together, you'll look forward instead of down and then keeping the heels down bend the knees as much as you are able to without lifting. And without dropping to the floor. The arms are reaching forwards.

34:04
With your inhale stand all the way up reach the arms of overhead, but exhale bend to your left side. Inhale lift up to center. Exhale right side. Inhale center. Exhale. Inhale center exhale rights. Inhale to center exhale release bones. Just as the the concept of self, in terms of like an encapsulated individual inside this body is also kind of unintelligible without right the the systems that bring me water and food and the other communities that I'm a part of and the friendships are part of in the relationships of her right there, there is no sort of self without the whole.

35:01
Okay bend the left knee into the chest. Open the left knee out to the side left foot against the right inner leg for tree. Start with hands together at heart center. That gave straight ahead.

35:29
Good now reach the arms out to the right and left side. Now without using your hands to help you see if you could lift your left knee towards your left elbow, like you want your left knee to touch your left elbow. And then again, press down hard into the standing foot to see if you can lift your left knee a bit higher cold.

35:54
Third times a charm lift your left knee as high up as you can even try to touch your elbow. And then slowly release feet and legs together. Then the right knee into the chest. Open the right hand side. Good hands together at heart center lifting up tall in the upper body.

36:33
Good now reach the arms out to the right and left side and then lift your right knee in the direction of your right elbow. So the foot lifts off the leg and you're trying to kind of hike that need over towards that. Again lift higher, it helps me to think of pushing my left foot down in order to lift my right knee higher.

36:54
Good yeah. Third time's a charm traded to touch the knee the elbow. Oh and that's slowly released feet of next together. Good turn to face the front again. Inhale reach the arms all the way up overhead. Exhale fold forward hands to the earth. Inhale halfway lift exhale make your way back to chaturanga.

37:24
Inhale upward facing dog, exhale downward facing dog. Okay, here we go now walk the feet like just two inches or three inches towards the hands, so just shortening up the downward dog a little bit. Then reach the right leg up and back to behind you. Hmm now bend the right knee towards the right upper arm try to touch like the tricep or even the armpit good look forward start to bend the elbows and carry your chest forward and let the weight of the right leg rest on the right upper arm rest the leg on the arm that's it good now take your chest so far forward that the left toes start to lift higher.

38:16
I mean start to feel lighter and then see if you can lift your left toes off the floor for echopada cuisine. That's a mouthful. Part of to say it then do it. Kidding.

38:33
Okay, relax, relax.

38:38
Alright a couple of key ingredients here. One one is. You got to bend the elbows a lot and carry the chest forward almost like almost like you're going into chatturanga. Second is you got to you you have to kind of be willing to let the right leg rest on the right. Holding up the weight of that right leg.

39:05
Should we try the other side?

39:11
Looks I'm getting oh good. Okay, so shorten your dog ever so slightly reach the left leg up and back. Right now bring the left knee all the way up towards the left tricep or even the armpit and then start to bend the elbows touch your knee to your arm let the weight of the leg rest on the back of the leftover arm bend the elbows a lot like a chaturanga hmm.

39:52
All right if you've had just about enough of that. Then rest.

40:02
Yeah, don't worry it takes um time and it takes some experimentation to kind of feel where the weight distribution is and where the alignment is and all that right, so it's gonna take kind of a lot of of different sort of exploring around and feeling around before it comes together.

40:24
Okay downward dog. Step the right foot between the hand. Lower the left knee down to the floor. Lift up prepared. We're gonna twist to the right side hook your left upper arm outside of your right knee. Good if you like you can lift up the back knee standing.

41:05
Good both hands to the floor. Step back downward dog. Let's foot forward. Right knee down lift up prepared to twist and twist to the left side option to lift up the back knee.

41:52
I'd bring both hands down to the floor and then step back downward facing dog. Good we're gonna practice inversions next so if you want to move or adjust your space feel free to.

42:22
Yeah, you can practice any combination of the three sort of active inversions or shoulder stand as active too, but for now the ones with the arms overhead so handstand forms stand or head stem or a combination of those three.

42:59
I find myself kind of wishing that we more often interacted with the learning process in that way too like. Like what if we didn't think of mistakes as bad but mistakes were just like one of the little explorations that we needed to make to get closer. To the answer.

43:24
Of it so that sort of. The entirety of the of the process is the learning process and mistakes aren't off track they're just you know, another way in which you kind of corrected course and learned something and.

43:49
Part of the some total of the ecosystem of. Learning rather than kind of like. Bad or. Antidote, of course not and I think we intuitively know that but somewhere along the way we got a funny idea about what it means to make mistakes or what it means to. Explore.

45:35
Okay, whatever you're working on come on down.

46:13
And then come back into downward facing dog.

46:28
Inhale to plank. Exhale chaturanga. Inhale upward dog. Exhale downward dog.

46:44
Inhale to plank exhale lower all the way to the floor. Arms alongside the body. Inhale lift up head chest and legs for shalabhasana.

47:17
To exhale release on down.

47:23
Then the knees reach back catch hold of the ankles dhanurasana

47:30
Inhale lift up head chest and knees.

47:56
Click seal release on down.

48:12
Bend the knees reach back catch hold of the ankle again inhale lift on up head chest neat.

48:39
Exhale release on down. Could roll over onto the back.

48:50
Place tthe feet on the floor parallel hip width distance apart. And inhaling lift up the hips exhaling lace the hands behind the back into one fist.

49:46
Separate the hands release the back down and then place the hands on either side of the head forward, but on your asana. with an inhale go ahead and lift up.

50:19
And slowly release down.

50:26
Again place the hands place the feet. And inhaling lift on up.

50:50
And exhale release on down. Third time's a charm place the hands, please defeat. And pressing down lift all the way up.

51:17
To chest come down and then hug the knees into the chest.

51:41
Bring both knees over to the left side of the body as we look to the right.

52:25
Bring your knees up to the center and go the other way.

53:14
And bring the knees up to the center and come on up to a seated position. Straighten the legs forward out in front of you and fold forward. Pacchimottanasana.

54:23
All the way up. To chins and the left knee into the chest open the left knee out to the side and fold over the right leg. janusirsasana.

55:16
Now lift all the way up right switch the legs. And go other side.

55:54
Lift all the way up right straighten both legs forward. Bend both knees into the chest and open both knees to the sides. Now before you hold your feet, let's do this enough nice and tall. Put your hands right on top of your knees there. That's it. And with your hands imagine you're trying to push the knees down.

56:20
But you're also going to push your knees back up into your hands. So you're like resisting with your hands and you're trying to push your knees up keep going cold like that keep pushing in both directions. Don't stop. Although in a moment, don't do it yet. In a moment, we're going to relax the legs and just keep pushing with the hands.

56:41
So ready? Go relax the legs and push down and then try to keep the knees in that new place you just made Hands are pushing down and the knees push up but don't let the hands move. So nothing is moving but you're pushing down with the hands and up with the knees at the same time, hold hold.

57:02
And then relax the work of the legs and push down with the hands. Last time hold the knees in that new place and push up with the knees, push up hard.

57:25
Right and then relax the work.

57:31
Forward.

58:03
Lift all the way up and then go ahead and lay down on your back.

58:25
Good. Make your way either into shoulder stand or you can stay here on your back with your knees out to the sides peak together.

59:42
Ah. And then make your way into plow halasana.

1:00:02
And then slowly start to roll down out of it.

1:00:13
Fish mozzie asana.

1:00:42
When chin to the chest. And slowly release down. Setting up for shavasana.