Podcast #166 - Strength in Multiplicity

This Month’s Podcast is based around the ideas from the Jivamukti Yoga Focus of the Month, “Strength in Multiplicity” which can be read in full here:
https://jivamuktiyoga.com/fotm/strength-in-multiplicity/

Live Music by Michael Joseph Burdi 
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6UZ2wF1IcOJjKl6774pdC3?si=Is3D55hfRROU9gVOyFOfxQ

TRANSCRIPT:

All right, we're gonna go ahead and get started. Y'all, so? Um, if you're new to me, my name is Jessica, and I'm very excited that my friend Michael is here to play music for us today. So, join me in welcoming Michael, yay! Also, we're gonna start a little bit differently today, so come forward onto hands and knees.

Yeah, and from your hands and knees, let's take a wide legged child's pose so you can take the knees pretty wide feet together. Press the seat back. Yeah, reach the arms forward. Reach the arms, even a little bit more forward than they just were.

And then move the. Move the right hand over to where the left hand is, and even crawl the right hand a little bit Beyond the left hand. So, almost bring the right fingertips forward of the left fingertips. And then just let this seat sort of heavy back towards the heels.

And then walk the right hand back where it came from. Walk the left hand over to the right side. Maybe the left fingertips are even a little bit Beyond the tips of the right fingers and then let the seat kind of relax and heavy down towards the heels. We're gonna move back and forth with a little bit of breath.

So, as you inhale, move both hands back over to the left side as you exhale. Sit back. Inhale, move the hands over to the right side. Exhale, sit back. Inhale, left side exhale, seep goes back and down. Inhale and exhale. You can do a couple more times. If my breath scheme doesn't work for you, you can change it to to suit you a little bit.

Yeah. Hang, hang tight, please hang on, please. I'm coming to check. I just, I just need a moment. Thank you. I can't do all three things okay.

Yeah, I don't always have, uh, have help. So, sometimes it takes me a minute between checking the chat and coming and dealing with the room, so please be patient with me. Thank you. Okay, come back to the center. Come up to hands and knees, hands, and knees position. As you inhale, Arch the back look up.

Exhale round the back. Look down at the knees. Inhale Arch the back! Exhale round. Inhale, Arch, the back look up. Yeah, exhale round the back. Look down at the knees. Inhale Arch. And exhale round. Now, move the hands one step more forward. And then, as you inhale, Arch the back and also let the hips go forward.

Pull your chest between your straight arms and let the hips just kind of hang, almost like a sloppy upward dog. And then, as you exhale, go all the way back to child's pose rounding the back. Inhale come through hands and knees and pull your chest forward and up. Exhale round the back.

Sit back on the heel. Inhale rounding forward, pull the chest forward, keep the glutes relaxed. Exhale. Press back. Inhale coming forward. Now, tuck the toes under exhale. Go all the way back to downward facing dog. Keep the toes tucked under inhale. Come forward into an upward dog. Keep the toes tucked all the way through to Upward dog, skip chaturanga, and all that other business exhale.

Go back down, we're done. Inhale, come on forward. Pull all the way forward upward. Dog variation feet knees are off the floor. Now, exhale. Go all the way back. Inhale, pulse forward, and through. And exhale. Go back good, uh, bring the knees to the floor wide knees feet together.

This time, we're gonna sit right on the heels. Okay, we're gonna practice sin, mahasana, or lion's seed so? You start, uh, it's kind of two parts. You start by kind of inhaling and pulling everything in, so you're gonna like close the hands. You're gonna curl the, uh? Abdomen inwards chin on your chest, creating almost like a series of bundas.

And then, as you exhale, you're gonna spread the fingers wide, open up the mouth, stick the tongue out as far as it goes, and look down the tip of the nose with a big exhale, ready to try it. Yes, the enthusiasm in this room is so real right now.

All right, ball up your hands into fists. Pull the abdomen in and up, almost creating like, uh, utiana, Banda chin on your chest, creating almost a jaw and darabanda inhale. As you exhale, Let It Go. Again, inhale, pull it all in. Exhale. Inhale just a little bit louder. This time, you can do it.

Exhale.

Last time exhale option to waggle your tongue side to side. Okay, come forward onto your hands and knees and press back to downward facing dog. So, yeah, so lion pose Sim has so, uh, durga, the great Warrior goddess. She rides a lion into battle. It's a symbol of her courage.

Yeah, and this practice is also this practice of simhasana is also sort of meant to stir up some of that in us. In fact, when I was when I was reviewing my study materials on this Asana, there's an ancient text called the Hatha Yoga padipika. It's like a middle ages, kind of a text, and it says it says this pose will help externalize introverted people.

And I thought that was pretty funny. Also, maybe something I need a little more of? Okay, inhale. Come forward into a plank. Exhale chaturanga. Inhale upward down. Exhale downward dog, despite appearances. I am actually an introvert. Can you believe it? Walk the feet forward towards the hands and fold forward over the legs, even though I picked such an extroverted job.

Yeah. Okay wide in the feet widen. The feet bend the knees come into a deep squatting position with the hands together at the center of the chest.

So, other than maybe practicing lion pose other than practicing simhasana. Where does courage come from? Where do we think courage comes from? Magic. Some people have some people are born with it, and some people just aren't. No, bring the hands down to the floor, raise the hips up, and fold forward over the legs.

Bring the feet halfway closer together, arms behind the back lace, the fingers together inhale, bend the knees, open the chest, and look forward. Exhale straighten the legs and fold forward inhale. Bend the knees, open the chest, look forward, exhale, straighten, and fold. Inhale bending. Look forward and exhale. Straightening to fold hands on your waist.

Inhale lift all the way upright to a standing position. Reach the arms up overhead. Clasp the hands together into one fist. Reach the knuckles up, up, up to the ceiling. Lengthen the sides of the waist and then, as you exhale, Bend to the left side. Inhale lift up to the center exhale right side.

Inhale lift up to the center. Exhale left. Inhale, lift up, exhale, right side. Inhale, lift up, exhale left side. Inhale, lift up and exhale, right side. Inhale lift all the way up. Reach up a little extra and then exhale. Release the arms. Bring the feet and legs together arms alongside the body.

Think about okay to answer the courage question let's. Let's start by answering a strength question. Where does strength come from? Resistance, right? My strength trainers in the room resistance by by lifting something heavier than what you think you can hold, right? Same with patience, courage. All of those things grow by means of resistance by means of facing something that we maybe aren't.

Sure, we can face quite yet, right? Inhale reach the arms up overhead hands to prepare exhale, fold forward hands to the floor. Inhale. Look forward to prepare exhale Hopper. Step back chaturanga. Inhale upward facing dog. Exhale downward facing dog breathing. Breathe out, one inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale three breathe!

Breathe out four inhale! Exhale, bend the knees, inhale Hopper, step forward, exhale, fold forward, inhale, stand up, reach the arms all the way up. Exhale release the arms good inhale. Reach up hands pressed again. Exhale fold all the way forward. Inhale, prepare, look forward. Exhale chaturanga. Inhale upward facing dog.

Exhale downward facing dog, good breathing. Breathe out! Inhale. Exhale to breathe in. Breathe out three. Inhale. Exhale, four breathing. Breathe out, bend the knees, inhale Hopper, step forward, exhale, fold forward, inhale, stand up, reach the arms up, exhale, release the arms, inhale, reach up, hands pressed together. Exhale, fold forward hands to the floor.

Inhale, prepare, look forward. Exhale chaturanga inhale upward facing dog. Exhale downward facing dog breathing. Breathe out! Inhale. Exhale. Two breathe in. Breathe out three inhale! Exhale four breathe in! Breathe out, bend the knees, inhale Hopper, step forward, exhale, fold forward, inhale, stand up, reach the arms up. Exhale, release the arms inhale.

Hook your thumbs, reach your arms forward and up, Arch, the back, exhale. Bend the knees, swing the arms behind lace hands together and fold inhale hands to the floor. Step right foot back. Exhale downward, facing dog inhale to plank. Exhale chaturanga inhale upward facing dog exhale downward facing dog inhale to plank exhale knees, chest, and Chin to the floor.

Inhale slide forward Cobra exhale, tuck the toes, sit all the way back towards the feet, and then extend the legs inhale, right, foot forward. Exhale left foot next to right foot. Fold forward inhale bend, knees hook, thumbs. Reach up Arch back, exhale Bend knees, swing arms behind lace hands together, and fold inhale.

Touchdown. Step the left foot back. Exhale downward facing dog inhale to play exhale chaturanga. Inhale upward dog exhale downward dog 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 downward.

Dog inhale left foot forward exhale right foot next to left foot fold forward. Good inhale bend, knees hook, thumbs reach up, Arch back, exhale, stand up, and release the arms. Bend the knees, reach the arms up. Exhale hands to the floor, fold forward, inhale, prepare, look forward. Exhale hoppers step back chaturanga inhale upward, facing dog exhale downward, facing dog inhale, right foot forward, left heel down, reach up Warrior one.

Exhale hands to the floor, step back, and lower chaturanga. Inhale upward dog exhale downward dog inhale, left foot Warrior one. Reach all the way up. Exhale hands to the floor chaturanga inhale upward dog. Exhale downward dog one more time each side. Inhale right foot forward Warrior one? Exhale hands to the floor.

Step back chaturanga. Inhale upward dog. Exhale down. We're dog inhale, left foot virabadrasana one. Exhale hands to the floor. Step back chaturanga inhale upward, facing dog exhale downward, facing dog breathing. Breathe out. Inhale. Exhale to inhale good. Exhale three. Inhale. Exhale for four breathing? Breathe out five bends. The knees look forward.

Inhale upper step feet to hands exhale. Fold forward inhale, bend the knees, reach the arms up, exhale, stand up, and release the arms inhale. Bend the knees, reach the arms up, exhale hands to the floor, fold forward, inhale prepare, look forward. Exhale chaturanga, inhale upward down. Exhale downward facing dog inhale right foot forward.

Warrior one reach all the way up. Exhale open hips and arms to the side inhale. Straighten the right leg. Reset the feet for Warrior Two, so widen out the feet. Exhale. Bend the right knee Warrior Two and hold breathe good. Try to have the right thigh moving even more parallel to the ground for two shoulders right over the hips front of the chest, lifting arms, spreading a little bit longer before.

Push the right knee a millimeter to the right, yes. Inhale straighten the right leg. Exhale bend the right knee. Place the right hand outside of the right foot. Reach the left arm all the way over the left ear extended side. Angle a good breathe. Anchor the outer edge of the back foot down.

Shrug the left shoulder down away from the left ear. Three good stretch the left arm even longer or good. Five inhale both hands to the floor step right into your plank exhale chaturanga. Inhale upward down exhale downward facing dog inhale left foot forward Warrior one. Exhale open hips and arms to the side inhale.

Straighten the left leg. Reset the feet for a longer stance. Exhale Warrior Two Vera badrasana, two one. Yeah, ever noticed how there's so many warrior poses in yoga class? So many Warrior shapes to sort of get us in the mood, right? All right. Five with your inhale straighten left leg.

Exhale Bend, left knee Place left hand outside of left foot. Reach the right arm over the right ear, extended side angle, a breathe in oh. Opera. Now, I love it, baby! Good inhale, bold hands, touch down plank, exhale chaturanga, inhale upward dog, exhale downward facing dog, inhale right, foot forward, Warrior one.

Exhale open arms, hips, shoulders to the side inhale, straighten right leg, and then keep the legs straight. Reach out into triangle, right hand down left arm up for one good angle. The back foot in ever so slightly to try to stack the left shoulder even more over the right shoulder for three.

Yeah, warm. Five with your inhale stand all the way up right. Exhale bend the right knee. Reach down with the right hand and catch the right big toe yoga toe lock left arm reaches straight up for now. Exhale move towards extending the right leg, even if it doesn't straighten all the way.

That's okay, just move anywhere between knees all the way bent and towards straight, then reach the left arm all the way alongside the left ear, left cheek for sort of an extended triangle Sheen. Push the left foot down harder into the floor and see if that can bring even more side stretch to the whole left side of the body.

Reach long through the left fingertips. Soften the left knee. I'm sorry, right, knee, inhale, lift all the way upright to a standing position. Let go of your tongue. Exhale. Bend the right knee again, this time. Place the right hand inside of the right foot and reach the left arm straight up.

Start by leaning the right arm back against the right leg, almost like you're trying to push the right leg a little bit more behind you. Move the right hand back one step, so your hand is just behind where the heel of your hand just was good. Now, keep the arm and the leg pressing together start to straighten the right leg against the resistance of the arm.

Again, bend the right knee. Lean the arm back against the leg and then use that pressure of arm against leg as you straighten the leg to help open up the inner aspect of the thigh area. One more time. Bend the right knee, this time. Reach up and over with the left arm.

Maybe you can hold on to the shin or right under the knee. Maybe you can hold an ankle. Maybe you can even hold the left big toe, the right, big toe, and then slowly start to extend the right leg. For a triangle variation. That's it. Keep turning the chest, turn, and look under the left armpit.

Four, yes. Live inhale bend the right knee hands to the floor step into a plane. Exhale chaturanga inhale upward facing dog exhale downward facing dog inhale left foot forward Warrior one. Exhale open hips and arms to the side. Inhale, straighten left leg. Exhale. Reach to the left for a triangle.

Place the left hand down right arm, reaches up for one good, both legs extending to back foot, turning slightly in three. Yeah, beautiful. With your inhale stand all the way upright exhale. Bend the left knee left hand reaches down to hold the left big toe. Yogic Tola right arm reaches up for now, slowly start to extend the left leg, a little or a lot, or anywhere in between, and then reach the right arm all the way over the right ear extended triangle.

Press the right foot down even harder, and then lengthen even more out through the right side seam of the body, right arm, even trying to touch the window side of the room. Soften, left knee inhale stand all the way up, right? Exhale bend, left knee Place, left hand inside of left foot, right arm, reaches straight up.

Lean your left arm against your left leg and then move your left hand back one whole step, so your fingertips are behind where the heel of the hand just was start to straighten the left leg, keep the arm and the leg pressing together as long as possible, even if they come apart at the end.

That's okay, bend the left knee. And again, exhale straighten the left leg against the resistance of the arm. Inhale, bend the left knee, reach the right arm all the way up and over. Maybe you could catch hold of the front of the shin or the ankle, or even the big toe, and then slowly start to extend the left leg for a triangle variation.

One good two turn and look under the left armpit three. Good for? Inhale Bend, left knee, exhale both hands down. Inhale plank exhale chaturanga. Inhale upward facing dog exhale downward facing dog inhale. Step the right foot forward between the hands. Exhale left knee down inhale arms. Reach up. Exhale hands to prayer, twist to the right side, hook left upper arm outside of right leg, bend the right knee, a little bit more, move it forward, move the hips a little more forward, and then option to tuck the left toes under.

Lift the left knee up for standing spinal twist on. Keep moving the thumbs closer and closer to the center of the chest too.

For four. One more breath inhale. And exhale. Inhale both hands to the floor, cross the left knee behind the right foot, come to sit down, inhale, reach the left arm up. Exhale twist to the right side. Aartamazi androzna seated spinal twist one inhale? Exhale for two. Yeah, inhale. Exhale for three.

Breathe in. Breathe out! Inhale. And exhale inhale. Turn the face forward. Exhale counter twist. Inhale, turn the face forward. Stack up the legs for ankle to knee. Flex out your bold feet. Exhale to fold forward one good. To breathe. And breathe out three inhale. Exhale. Four inhale. Exhale inhale lift all the way upright exhale.

Make your way back to downward dog any way that you would like.

Good inhale. Step the left foot forward. Exhale right knee touches down. Inhale reach the arms up. Exhale hands do prayer. Twist to the left side good from here. If you would like to tuck the right toes under, lift the right knee up. You're welcome to, for one, breathe in.

Okay, breathe out, inhale. Exhale three inhale? Exhale four. Breathing. And breathe out. Inhale both hands to the floor, cross the right knee behind the left foot, come to sit down seated, spinal twist, inhale right arm reaches up. Exhale twist to the left side. Good stamp the left foot flat down into the floor, including the big toe side of the foot, too.

Sit up a little taller, plug the shoulder blades down the back for three bottom of chin parallel to the floor. Or drop both shoulders down if possible. Even more than you think? Inhale, turn to face forward. Exhale counter twists. Inhale, turn, face forward. Stack up the legs for ankle to knee exhale.

Fold forward. I know how it is sometimes you like, hear you hear the teacher like drop the shoulders down, and you're like, yeah, mine are. But that, but just double check sometimes because sometimes what we're feeling in our body and experiencing is like a little bit different than what's happening.

So it's always good to chat. Yeah, in fact, I would say that's actually kind of one. It's maybe one weapon that we have against misinformation is actually just that process of being of like reality, checking ourselves during practice and otherwise of, like, huh, is my leg really straight, or do I just think it's straight, and I haven't actually checked in right.

Okay, lift all the way upright to a seated position. Exhale. Make your way back downward facing dog. Any way that you would like?

Okay, bend the knees hop or step feet to hands. And exhale. Fold forward. Inhale, bend the knees, reach the arms up chair pose. Exhale, stand up, and release the arms. Turn to the right hand side, open the feet wide apart, wide strum, push the heels just slightly out. Actually, you know what?

So, you probably hear the teachers say turn your toes a little bit in or push your heels a little bit out. You probably heard me say it a thousand times, but actually, the real point is to have this outer edge of the foot parallel to the side edge of the mat, so it might look like the big toe is a little turned in, but But it's more about making that blade of the foot parallel to the mat.

So try that set up the feet well hands on your waist, lift the chest firm up the legs, curl the tailbone under a little bit, inhale exhale, fold forward hands onto the floor between the feet, inhale a breath, exhale crown of the head, reaching down in the direction of the floor for one.

One, two, yeah, three. Try sliding the hands back so the hands are even more in line with the heels of the feet for four. Five with your inhale lift head and chest. Look forward. Come up onto the fingertips and walk the fingertips as far forward as you can without taking the weight off of your feet.

So, one way to check that is, can you lift the fingertips off the floor, even just for a millisecond. And then you know that your weight is over your feet and place them back down. Okay, crawl your right hand closer to where your left hand is. And then, with the left arm, reach underneath to hold the right leg, right shin, right, ankle, whatever you can find.

The left hand is pulling on the leg in order to pull the head more under the right armpit. But then, with the right hand. Can you almost push the floor forward away from you? Yeah, push into the floor. Okay, replace the left hand where the right hand just came from.

And then reach the right arm underneath to hold the left leg. Any part of the left leg pull on your leg and turn and look under the left armpit one? Yeah, that's it too. And then left hand push it forward against the floor. I'd reach both arms forward and then take a step back with both hands hands under shoulders.

Bring the hands on to the waist and then lift all the way upright to as seated to standing position. Well, that would be interesting. Okay. You know, okay, turn the heels a little bit in toes a little bit out now, so you want to be like, maybe 45 degrees on a turnout, and in fact, look down at your knees for a moment, and just see that the knees can bend same direction as the toes.

If you ambitiously turned your toes out way too far, then the knees won't be able to match the feet, and that could put unwanted pressure on the knees, so don't do hands on the inner knees. Push the knees back towards the wall behind you and widen the knees with the strength of your arms.

Yeah, straight arms lift your chest. As you exhale, bring your left shoulder more in towards the midline and twist a little bit. Yeah, inhale back up to the center. Exhale right shoulder towards the middle. Inhale Center exhale left shoulder twisting both arms straight inhale Center exhale, right? Inhale Center exhale left side inhale Center.

Exhale, good inhale. Come back up to Center in a moment. Your legs are going to take over for the work that the arms were helping them with, so start to fire up the outer legs, outer hips with your inhale, reach your arms up alongside your ears, hold it exhale, keep pushing the knees wider, and keep pushing the knees back to pull the arms behind the line of the ears, a little bit for three, sit a little bit lower for four, and then super pristine face, like door.

Go riding into battle, right? Five inhale stand up, reach the arms up a little extra exhale, release the arms. That's one of the Striking features. When you see depictions of her like writing her lions, she just looks absolutely unfazed by anything, right? And she's about to go fight this invincible demon.

Okay, turn the outer edges of the feet parallel to the side edges of the mat again. Inhale, lift up your chest. Exhale, fold forward. This time, Reach Out, grab hold of the front of the ankles, hold on to the front of the ankles, and pull up on the ankles to pull the crown of the head down.

One good two breathe in. Breathe the house inhale! Exhale four breathe in! Breathe out, inhale. Look forward, but keep hold of the ankles. Keep the feet flat. Exhale. Bend the right knee. Shift the hips to the right, but keep both feet flat. For now, inhale come back up to the center exhale.

Bend the left knee shift the hips to the left inhale to Center exhale Bend, right side. Inhale Center exhale, left inhale Center. One more set exhale, right side inhale to the center exhale left side. Inhale to the center. Release the hands to the floor. Exhale. Bend the right knee again, this time.

Flex the left heel and the left toes up to the ceiling. Scandasana, go ahead. Yeah, inhale. Come back up to Center exhale. Bend, left knee Flex right, toes up towards the ceiling. Inhale come back up to the center. Exhale left side, moving side to side now inhale Center. Exhale left.

Inhale to the center exhale, right? Inhale Center, last one exhale. Inhale come back up to the center. Exhale hands on your waist inhale to stand all the way upright. Exhale arms behind the back last one inhale, lift up the chest, exhale, fold forward arms, reaching away from the back one.

Let the shoulders, at least for today. Just let the shoulders shrug up towards the ears and let the arms really hang heavy into gravity. Okay, release the hands to the floor. Keeping all 10 toes roughly facing the same direction, facing the longer edge of the mat so you can take the feet wider, maybe six inches wider on the mat.

Yeah, pretty good, trying to take the feet a little wider now. Wider. Ah, holding out on me. Okay, you might be able to bring the forearms to the floor. That's okay. If not, that's also okay and bring the feet even wider now. Um, ah, yes, touch the pubic bone all the way to the floor between the feet.

Next week. Okay, find your way to a seated straddle facing the same direction so you can use your hands. You can bend your knees. You can ask friends for help, but we're going to straddle facing the same direction, sit up, tall, lift up, tall, exhale, fold forward, either reach the arms forward, or you can hold onto the feet.

Oompa Vista conasana wide angle? So, just reflecting again on courage. On courage, and what makes courage, right? What? What? What strengthens our courage well? I can say for certain. I can see for certain there have been. There have been many times over the years when I have not necessarily like felt ready to do something, but someone else has.

Like, for example, teaching my first yoga class, the manager at jiva lookedy, was, like, okay, go ahead. Go teach your first yoga class, and I was like, I don't think I'm ready. And he was, like, do it anyway, right? And that's one of those times where, like, the feeling of Readiness.

The feeling of Readiness might have stopped me because I didn't feel ready. But instead by his encouragement. I went went forth into battle, okay? No, but I did, I, you know, and I got through it, and then, after some time, he's like now, you should teach your first workshop, and I was like, I'm not ready to teach a workshop, and he's, like, do it anyway, right?

Okay, lift all the way upright to a seated position. Okay, bend the left knee into the chest and place the left heel right in against the inside of the pubic bone there. Now, keep the hips wide. Don't adjust yourself to face the extended leg. Instead, we're going to bring the fingertips to frame the right leg.

Use your fingertips to not only sit up taller, but also turn the chest turn so that the center of the chest is facing more towards the right leg and then start by reaching the left hand for the right foot. Leave the right hand there for a moment on the floor and use that right hand to keep turning the middle of the chest more towards the middle of the right leg.

Now, if you want, you could keep the right hand there. I like to do that, but if you want to reach out with the right hand and hold on to the foot with both hands. You're welcome to. More.

And lift all the way upright to a seated position. Extend the left leg out to the left side. Bend the right knee. Fold the right knee in and then use your fingertips on the floor either side of your left leg. Sit up tall, turn the center of the chest towards the left leg.

Reach out with the right hands for the left foot, the right hand only, and then use your left hand to help steer your chest more into that. Almost a slight twist action. Yes, now if you want to reach out with both hands. You're welcome to otherwise the hand can stay where it is the left hand.

Yeah.

Lift all the way upright to a seated position. Extend the right leg out to the right. Bend the left knee again and fold it in. This time, take the right hand to hold the left knee. And then reach the left arm up. Turn your shoulders to face this side of the room.

Reach all the way up and over for a side bent, yes. If your hand is holding your foot? Pull on your foot to turn your chest even more. Yeah. That's it!

And then lift all the way up right. Straighten the left leg out to the left side. Bend the right knee. Fold the right knee in left hand holds the right knee, right arm, reaches up, move it into the side Bend. Now, of course. Teaching a yoga class is. A lower Stakes sort of an example of what I mean, but there are there are certainly you know many, many more.

Many, many more times in our lives, we'll be. Will we be asked to call on our courage, our strength, our resolve, our patience, our compassion? In ways that we might not necessarily feel ready for. Lift all the way upright to a seated position. Extend both legs out to your strata.

Bell, bold knees, feet together, knees apart. Sit up, tall. We're going to cradle the right leg up into the chest, so cradle the right leg, any which way your favorite kind of a way to cradle your leg. Sit a little forward. Sit a little taller pull chest towards leg leg towards chest.

See if you can lift the right heel a bit higher, so shin is becoming more parallel to the floor and flex the right foot. All right, you're welcome to stay here, or we're moving step by step towards Compass. So, first thread the left right arm under the right leg, right hand on the floor.

Left hand switches the grip, so the left hand now holds the top of the foot, and lately I've been liking to kind of Lean Forward and back, so I kind of rock forward, straighten a little bit, Rock forward, straighten a little bit again, Rock forward, and then, once I've got a little action going, yes, that's it.

Then, maybe I can sit down, yeah, perfect.

Well, bend that right knee bring the soles of the feet together, knees apart, sit up tall. Cradle the left leg into the chest. Sit a little forward. Sit a little taller. Lift the left heel a bit higher. Flex the left foot. Either staying here or thread the left arm underneath the left leg.

Press the left hand into the floor again. You can come in into it your own way, but I've been enjoying sort of rocking forward and back to kind of help convince my leg to do it, especially the left leg needs a little more convincing than the right leg. Yeah.

On my body anyway. Yeah.

Oh, so good, oh good, oh my God, oh, yay! Okay, bend the left knee feet together. Let's draw the knees together, turn to face the front of the room, extend the legs forward. Flex, the feet sit up, tall, exhale, fold forward poshumo, tanasana, seated forward, fold one.

I left it all the way upright to a seated position, hands on the floor slightly behind, point the toes, lift up for incline plane porvojnasana, or you can bend the knees for tabletop variation head, goes back good. Try to touch the inner border of the foot down to the floor.

That's it, big toe side, exactly more. S*** into the chest, slowly release on down, and then make your way back to child's pose.

Reach the arms forward. Tuck the toes under, lift the knees up, extending the legs into downward facing dog. Look. Look towards your hands. Look toward your hands. See if you're gonna hop your feet wide to the outsides of your hands. Hop wide. And squat down, and then hop back just to a downward dog.

Yeah! And then again, hop the feet wide, do a little squat. And then hop back down. We're done. Yeah, do a couple more like that. Uh-Huh! And then the next time you're forward in a sort of squatting position stay there. Lift the hips up, push the heels out a little bit.

Soften, the knees reach the right arm between the legs and then reach the left arm all the way around behind, clasping the hands if you like. So, pause there. Try to straighten both legs against the resistance of the arm, even breathe. Now, bend both knees shift weight into the left foot, come up onto the right tippy toes.

Push the left foot down into the floor. See if you can come up to a standing position. Yeah, if you're standing, you could also work on extending the right leg. Yep, lift the chest, push the pubic bone a little bit forward hook of the tailbone underneath you. Yes, straighter.

Standing leg straighter, standing leg, yes. Bend the right knee, slowly bring the feet back down to the floor, release the arms hanging forward over the legs. Let's feet a little wider. Soften, the knees reach the left arm between the legs. Right arm reaches all the way around behind the back clasp, the hands together, if possible, or yeah, you could use a towel or a shirt to extend your arms stop, pause there, and try to straighten both legs.

Yeah. Then bend both knees shift weight over into the right foot. Come up onto the left tippy toes. And then come all the way up to a standing position. Yeah. Lift the center of the chest straight, standing light. If all that's happening, you can start to work with extending the left leg, lift the chest more.

Shoulder blades plugging down the back. All right, okay, bend. Both knees set the feet on the floor and then make your way back to downward facing dog. Okay, we've reached the part of the class that has to do with inversion practice. So, for this next portion, you could practice hands down Forum stand or headstand.

So any of the three sort of active inversions where the arms are alongside the ears. If you want a little wall space. We can probably find you some wall space. Um, otherwise go ahead and begin any combination of those three. You could practice one of them for the whole time.

You could switch it up and practice a little bit of everything. Let me know if you want help finding wall or. Help get having on kids or something. Yeah. Something. What do you want to try? We'll do that at the end, so just try hands on the floor down, we're done.

Yeah, so we're gonna walk the feet a little closer in. We're gonna bring the shoulders over the wrist, lift the left leg up, and take a little Bend and a little hop. That's it. Keep your left leg straight though. Totally straight. That's it. Do a few hops on that side and then switch your legs and do some hops on the other side.

For.

Tuck your chin! Okay, but when you're doing this one chin down chin all the way and tug here. Oh yeah. Push, push, push, push, push, breathing, breathing, breathing. Yes.

What a good save. What I could say that was amazing.

Okay. Straight leg, though straight leg chin on your chest. Straight, like, try to make a straight a front of the body as possible. Yes, strong. Strong. Yeah.

Okay, if you're still working on something all good, you can keep working on whatever you need to. When you're finished, start to come back to the center of the room.

And when you're. When you're ready, make your way into downward facing dog. Yeah, if you want a few more moments to work on whatever you're doing, that's okay to. Yes.

Okay with your inhale. Come on forward to a plank. Exhale lower all the way to the floor. Arms alongside the body, lift up head, chest, and legs one.

And exhale release on down. We'll take one more shalabasana. So up to you, it could be with the same arms. Or you could change something about the arms, keep the legs straight out behind you, inhale, lift up.

Good exhale. Release down.

Bend the knees, reach back, catch hold of the ankles, inhale lift up, head chest knees, Don your Asana one.

And exhale release on down.

Bend the knees, reach back, catch hold of the ankles, inhale, lift up head, chest, and knees one.

I'm slowly released on down turn all the way over onto the back. Turn over. Place the feet onto the floor.

No, that's all right. I was just checking okay. It, won't it froze again. So, yeah. Okay, lift the hips up. Interlace the hands behind the back into one fist.

Separate. The hands release the back down to the floor. You can repeat the same. Or you can take a full wheel, placing the hands on the floor either side. Of the ears inhale. Lift up. One.

And chin to the chest. Slowly release on down. Keep the feet on the floor.

Again, place the hands, place the feet, inhale, lift up.

Chin to the chest release down. One more Place hands and feet. Inhale to lift.

Chin to the chest and release down. Hug the knees into the chest.

And bring both knees over to the left side of the body. As you look to the right twist?

Bring the knees all the way up to the center and then go the other way knees over to the right side.

Bring the knees all the way up to the center. Set the left foot on the floor. Hug the right knee into the chest. Just hold it there. Squeeze it there for a couple of breaths.

Right hand holds the outer edge of the right foot for a half happy baby, so sole of the foot straight up to the ceiling balance your right heel directly over your right knee so that your shin is like vertical to the floor and then pull the knee down towards the floor just under the right armpit.

You can even press the left foot down a little to get the knee to go a little bit more. You're good. Okay, good. Sometimes that can get a little intense. Okay. Okay, now let go of the grip with the right foot. Bring your right arm inside of your right knee and lift your head and lift your shoulders up.

Try to get as much of the right shoulder behind the crease of the right knee as possible. That's it. Lift your head even more. Lift your head even more. That's it. Even even roll a little to the right side so that your body weight is like, helping to push your thigh more down towards the floor.

Put this foot on the floor it helps. It helps a lot. Now, you could stay like this, or you could play with extending the right leg. You could even reach the left arm up and over to hold the right foot for what I'm calling vajra, yogini Asana, who is another sort of fierce form of the goddess, and you often see her in just this shape.

Yeah. And she's more, she's more known in the Buddhist tradition. But in, um, like in Nepalace, that you see a lot of crossover between the goddesses, yeah? Yeah, totally. Okay, bend the right knee. Let go of that. Put the right foot on the floor, bend the left knee into the chest.

Hug the front of the left thigh in. That's it! Okay, half happy baby, so hold the outer edge of the left foot with the left hand. Left heel right over the knee. Try not to splay the heel way out. That's it, so your shin totally vertical straight up and down?

And then let go of the grip of the foot. Bring the left arm inside of the left leg. Lift your head, lift your shoulder blades get as much of your left shoulder just to the inside of the left knee as possible, even lean to the left side, so you're using the weight of the upper body to help the thigh go down towards the floor?

You can stay like this, or you can start to straighten out. That's the good one, right? Okay, gotcha. You remember, just making sure I couldn't remember which one, though? Yeah, nice. Okay, bend the left knee, hug both knees into the chest, hug both knees in. Full, happy baby. Hold on to the outer edges of both feet with both hands.

Pull the knees towards the floor under the armpits soles of feet going straight up to the ceiling like you want to put Footprints up there. Feet prints Footprints. Well, plurals are weird. Okay. Ooh, language is fun. Okay, keep hold of your feet. I'm like studying Sanskrit, so sometimes like, sometimes it makes you like, think about the way language is constructed in a weird way.

Okay, keep holding your feet, keep the left foot, the way it is straight in the right leg out, not keep hold of your feet. Yeah, and then bend your knee and then extend the left leg. And bend the left knee and extend the right leg, and you could go side to side a few more times like that, yeah.

And then, once you've gone side to side a few times, you could also extend both legs coming into an almost little straddle. Yeah. Even in the straddle tray to push your tailbone in sacrum, more down towards the floor exactly, exactly.

Going to bend the knees, set the feet onto the floor, let the knees open out to the sides. Which literally means reclined bound angle pose, but We, yoga teachers, often refer to it very affectionately and endearingly as goddess pose. Yeah. You're welcome to stay here, just like this. Otherwise, if you'd like to move into shoulder stand, you're welcome to move into a shoulder stand or even a legs up the wall or something else.

Yeah.

Just continuing to draw on the yoga teacher example. Another place where I draw sort of strength and courage and even creativity in my practice is from the community of teachers I practice with right. So here at Sook, you know, we're constantly getting inspired from one another and. Learning from one another and incorporating it and integrating it into our classes and, and so that that sense that we're like.

Collected, and everybody's ideas kind of build on each other. Is, is one way that I draw inspiration and strength. And I think. You know, going beyond the yoga teacher example. I think that's true of any Community. I think you could extend that. To any sort of community situation. We're stronger together, and we're stronger because of our different perspectives.

We don't all have to, you know? Think about yoga teaching in just one specific way in order to make a good team of teachers. Yeah. In fact, I brought a small piece of writing to read on that subject. It's called interconnectedness is not about merging. Experiencing The Wider identity of our connected self.

Does not mean losing our individuality. Quite the opposite. It is through finding and playing our unique role within a community that we feel more strongly a part of it. This recognition is an important shift away from the idea that cohesion and order depend on everyone thinking the exact same way.

That would simply lead to a mob of mentality in which our uniqueness is submerged and our autonomy abandoned. For a complex system to self-organize and function well. It requires both the integration and the differentiation of its parts. Complex organisms, such as our bodies. Require many different types of cells.

And a resilient ecosystem requires high levels of biodiversity. Compare that with a mono crop agriculture in which rows and rows of the same plant growing in the same way might look ordered. But are dependent on chemical inputs and are very vulnerable to changing conditions. Similar with human beings. We do not need to be like the Borg on Star Trek robbed a free will and individuality.

To experience ourselves as connected parts of a larger whole. The courage to listen to our conscious conscience? And live in our own truth is integral to joining rather than merging with the larger Circles of life we belong to. When you fall in love, you feel incredibly bonded with your loved one, and at the same time, even more uniquely yourself different from anyone else in the world.

The experience of connectedness with a healthy Community has similar qualities. It brings out our latent, distinctive gifts.

If you're still in shoulder stand? Come into a plow halasana.

And then, if you're in plow, slowly start to roll down.

If you were practicing shoulder stand, come into fish. Matzias in a crown of the head to the floor.

And then, for fish, lift the chin to the chest. And slowly release down everybody coming into.

It's hard to deepen the breath.

I'm a little bit of movement into the body.

Take a moment to stretch.

Gather the knees roll to the right hand side. Come on to a seated position.

Even meditation, right? Attention is something. Um. Might not come naturally to focus the attention. It takes a little bit of effort, a little bit of training. Just like any, just like building any muscle. Yeah.

Sitting up tall?

Lift the center of the chest shoulders back. Chin, parallel to the floor crown of the head growing up to the ceiling.

Even though it might take some training. Attention is actually very natural. So, just keep trying to find that natural, open state of awareness. Relaxed, undistracted.

Om Sri Durgayai Namah

You can put your hands over your heart and feel the heart vibration.
Om Sri Durgayai Namah

Calling for protection?
Om Sri Durgayai Namah

Calling for protection for all beings?
Om Sri Durgayai Namah

Calling on my own courage to protect all beings.
Om Sri Durgayai Namah

Just voices. For each other in this room.
Om Sri Durgayai Namah

One Om together.

Thank you all so much for making time for practice, and for this wonderful opportunity to share a practice together, it's always better practicing together, I find, and thanks so very much to Michael for playing for us today. Thanks so much, yeah, you. Um, if you have questions about class, uh, please come ask me if you have questions about music.