🎂🎈Birthday Yoga: Thru My Eras!🌈

 

🎂🎈ANNUAL BIRTHDAY DANCE PARTY!!!!  I love teaching this class around my birthday every year!! It's always tons of fun, as we move, and flow, a lil dancin, and singing along!! We brought powerful Pisces energy to class, full of water vibes, ebb and flow through life, compassion, and feminine intuition! Pisces tend to be strong daydreamers, guilty over here too as I daydream of warm sunny days in Indonesia, so I giggled that that is why I talk about grounding so much, so we don't get swept away as daydreamers! We started off with a 70s classic, then move into the 80s, 90s, and 2000s in our playlist! We moved through all my eras!! This year I wanted to do a Mandala flow, circling all the way around our mats! A full trip around the sun = mandala flow! Mandalas have a very special symbolism and meaning, as they are a sacred center, a sacred circle. They symbolize the universe in unity, completion, interconnectedness, and the transformation of suffering into joy. Mandalas also are the revolution of kinds, compassion, and understanding. For my birthday flow I wanted to include all of my, ok not all, we only have one hour, but I included a lot of my favorite poses and fluid transitions and heart openers!  And, an extra big bonus this year, my sister joined class virtually from her home in Tennessee! So fun!! 

 

🛼We began on our backs, closing the eyes, allowing the head and shoulders to melt into the earth beneath us, each vertebrae grounding, the hips and pelvis melt, and the arms and legs soften. We inhaled through the nose, from the toes up into the abdomen, taking up space, with an extra sip of air at the top of that breath, and slowly exhaled through the mouth. Each time, increasing the length of the inhale up into the chest, expanding through the ribs, and lungs, up to the crown of the head, each exhale become longer and slower from the crown to the toes, fully melting into the soil beneath us. We became present in the body and the space we're in, and allowed all of our past events to melt back to the earth, transformed into something new, something for our greater good. We sent our fears and worries and stressors out into the river, to be carried further and further away from us, no longer needed to carry, as we become cleansed, healing in action. We anchored to the peace found in this stillness. Our Ujayi breath followed, even lengths of inhale and exhale through the nose, grounding, stabilizing breath, with a gentle constriction at the back of the throat creating an ocean wave sound.

 

 🎈🎂Even though the eyes are closed, we noticed what we see beyond the lids, finding peace and serenity in this darkness. We traveled to smell, noticing what we smell around us, I sprayed "Sacred Space" in studio, notes of Sweet grass, rosemary, white sage, palo Santo, and cedar wood. We scanned to our hearing, noticing the sound of our breath, the breath of our neighbor, the hum of the furnace, pinpointing an instrument in the music. We scanned to our taste, noticing the last thing we may have eaten, or a sip of cup of tea, coffee,  lingering in the mouth, separating the teeth, the tongue falling from the roof of the mouth. Lastly, we noticed our sense of touch, what we feel against the skin, the warmth of the air against the skin, the softness of our clothes, the stickiness of our mat, supporting us, cradling us, serving as our anchor, as we shed the layers that accumulate on the body and mind from daily life, bringing us back home to ourselves, lighter, more free.

 

🛼Our first song began, an instrumental version of Dancing Queen, an homage to my first love, dancing! I began ballet at 3 years old, and continued dancing all the way thru college, into modern & contemporary dance and Irish dance! I feel most connected to dance when I'm practicing yoga! I told our class that rather than start us off with the top song of the year I was born, Rod Stewart, "DO you think I'm sexy" that I'd rather pick a favorite from ABBA instead! haha! We lengthened long, hands overhead toes reaching forward, and exhaled knees to our chest, rocking side to side, massaging the lumbar spine, circling the ankles. We lengthened long, and exhaled into our Crescent Moon to the right, through center and to the left. We inhaled through center, exhaled knees to our chest, and found our Supine twist to the right, through center and the left. We rock n rolled along the spine 2-3 times into our comfortable seat, or half or full lotus pose.

 

 

🎈🎂We anchored the sit bones, lengthened each vertebrae toward the next in line, crown to the sky. We formed our Padma Mudra, my favorite mudra, thumbs and pinky fingers staying together as the middle middles extended out. Our lotus flower embeds its roots deep into the soil of the pond, where it then journeys upward through the cold, dark, murky water in order to reach the surface of the water where the light is, in order to bloom. Our mudra lifted overhead, reaching for the water's surface to bloom, and then exhaled as our hands floated back down to the chest to meet in our Anjali mudra, prayer hands. We rubbed them to create some heat, some healing energy, remembering that our hands are tools for healing, and cupped the hands to the eyes, sending healing energy to the soul. Hands floated to the crown, sending healing energy to the mind, calming the chatter. The mind can become stuck in the past, ruminating over things that have been, or travel too far forward into the future with worry, but the body is always present, so here we connect and stay present. One hand floated to the forehead, and the other to the base of the skull, gentle pressure into our vagus nerve, serving as a nervous system reset button, finally bringing the hands to the heart sending gratitude to the heart and lungs, for the work they do every moment of every day, for us.

 

🛼We reached the hands to the sky and to the right for a twist, peeling the right shoulder back to open the chest 5% more, opening our Anahata chakra, heart chakra, sending compassion, understanding, love out into the world. We arched the right hand to the sky and toward the opposite knee to open the side body, and then brought it to the left knee, crossing the arms, arching the back and dripping the chin. We honored the other side, and then came through center, planted the fingers behind us, opened the chest, arching the spine into a backbend, and melted into a forward fold. We unraveled the legs and melted the hips back into a child’s pose, bending the elbows, prayer hands overhead, thumbs melting to the nape of the neck. With our inhale we pressed into the palms to roll back into our Childs pose. We walked the hands to the right, sinking the hips back and to the left, walked the hands through center, and to the left, hips sinking back and to the right. We created a Childs pose wave, slowly rolled through the spine, arching the back, brushing the fingertips along the mat as we rolled toward our feet, the chin dripping toward the chest, until our glutes met the heels, and then creating a little backbend, hands to the earth, the spine waving long, crown reaching to the sky, the shoulders melting back, the arms extend out and up, palms together, to the heart, and melting forward, walking the fingertips into a forward fold. We repeated this 2 more times, delighting in this spinal awakening of the body. After this fluid roll, we floated into our Table Top.

 

🎈🎂Our cat cow flow followed as we warmed up the spine, adding in organic movement, hips swaying side to side, or rolling forward and back into Childs pose waving back and forward into our table top. We moved to our breath, our own pace, making our cat cow our own. We came into our neutral table top, inhaled as the gaze and right foot floated to the sky, bending at the knee, exhaled nose to knee, crunching in, 2 more times curling in, nose to knee, on the third lift, the left hand reached back to bind the foot into our Tiger. We released our foot to the back of our mat, planting the toes as the left knee lifted to the chest, arching the back, shin melting back down as the right leg floats parallel to the mat and crosses over to the left of our mat, gaze following over the left shoulder. The right leg floated through center, and out to the right side of our mat, we floated up off of our hands into our Gate pose, hands to the sky, exhaled as the right hand fell to the right leg, left hand overhead, cartwheeling through center and to the left into a side bend, right hand overhead. The hands floated to the top of our mat, right knee in to meet the left, into our cat cow flow, then honored the left side.

 

 

🛼After we honored the left side, we tucked the toes, hovered the knees, and lifted into our downward dog- plank waves, pranam knees chest chin, into a low cobra, and up into our downward dog, a total of 3 times. We floated to the top of our mats into a forward fold, hanging heavy, and began to root to rise, we slowly lifted up, one vertebrae at a time, the head the last to come through, into our Tadasana, our mountain pose. We felt the grounding energy from the earth pull at the soles of our feet from the toes to the arches to the heels, like roots of a tree pulling us into he soil, anchoring us. This energy circled around the legs, to the pelvis, the hips, around each vertebrae of the spine to the shoulders as they melt down from the ears. The crown reaching for the heavens, we are stable, rooted, and anchored. We inhaled hands overhead, sidebend to the right, through center, and to the left! We came through center and exhaled forward into a swan dive melted into a forward fold. We planted the hands and moved through a vinyasa flow, pranam knees chest chin into a low cobra, or a chaturanga flow to upward dog, or skipped the flow completely, stepping into downward dog. Always your choice!

 

🎈🎂In our downward dog, we inhaled lifting the right leg, exhale right knee toward the left elbow, extending, curling in knee to right elbow, extending, curling in knee to chest with a hover, and planting the right foot between the hands, as the back foot grounded, rising up into our Warrior I. Hands reached toward the sky, shoulders relaxed down from the ears, hips forward, inhale we cactus the arms, exhale the hands reach forward, creating fluid waves, back and forth, like water, on the third inhale, we float into our Warrior 2 toward the back of our mat. We exhaled our warrior, right hand down, left hand up, and cartwheeled the hands down, left elbow to left knee, Side Angle, right hand overhead. The right hand plants inside the left foot, Twisted Lunge, left hand high. Left hand plants, as the left foot peels back to the right foot into our Side Plank, left hand high. Left hand down as we roll into our Plank. Right foot steps forward into our Warrior I, hands reach to the sky. Inhale we cactus the arms, and form our Eagle arms, lifting to the sky, exhale we humble in, 2 more times, and on the third humble, we float the left into our WideLeg forward fold, swaying our Ganesh Elephant trunk side to side, sweeping obstacles out of our way, clearing the way forward. We released our bind, as the left hand plants in front of our nose, right hand floats up, switching the hands for a twist, through center as the left toes turn to the top of our mat, the left hand plants inside the left foot as we build our Triangle from the ground up, right hand to the sky. We tip forward into the left foot and left hand into our Half Moon, right hand to the sky. We reach the right hand for the right foot and rise up into our Dancer! We let this go with a standing split right toes to the sky! We crunch the right knee into the chest, and step the right foot to the back of the mat, right hand inside the left foot, Twisted Lunge, left hand high, and heel-toe the left foot out into our Dragon, rocking forward and back and then peeling open toward the left, melting the hips, binding the back foot. We moved through our flow, into downward dog, floating to the top of our mat, Tadasana, Sidebends and then honored the left side!

 

 🛼Our Somatic practice gives us tools to regulate our nervous system, to stimulate the vagus nerve that begins at the base of the brain and runs throughout the body touching every organ system! We agitated emotions stuck in the body, to help them release, and to serve as a reset button. I usually alternate between these tools each week! We began in our Tadasana, brought the right hand to the left upper side of the chest, and extended the left arm forward, palm facing the sky. With a deep inhale, we kept the hips forward, as the left arm slowly traveled out to the left side, gaze following, to the back, paused at the back with the gaze over our left shoulder, and on the exhale slowly brought the arm back toward the top of our mat. We repeated this two more times, inhaled as the arms reached overhead, palms gathered at the heart. We brought the left arm to the right upper side of the chest, extended the right arm forward, palm facing up, and with the inhale slowly traveled the right arm out to the side as the gaze followed, to the back, and paused opening the chest. With the exhale we brought the right arm slowly back to the top of our mat, and repeated 2 more times!  We rubbed the palms together to create some healing heat, and we brought the fingertips to the crown, massaging the fingertips all over the crown and behind the ears, even the base of the skull. We moved into the temples, massaging circles here, we dripped the fingers to the jaw, the hinge where we open and close the jaw, the perfect release for jaw clenchers like myself, and maybe you too. We pulled down on the ear lobes, pulled the middle of the ears out to the sides, up to the top of the ears pulling toward the sky. With one hand to the base of the skull, pressing into the vagus nerve, the other hand brought the index and middle fingers to the hairline at the forehead and began rolling the fingers down the forehead, between the eyebrows, down the bridge of the nose to the tip, repeating 3 times, and switching out the hands. We brought our fingertips to the base of the skull, pressing into our vagus nerve, and melted the fingertips toward the ears, along the jawline, and down the front of the neck to the collarbone. We repeated this 2 more times, releasing tightness in the throat. We tapped into the collarbone, with slow rythmic taps, all fingers in unison, into one of our acupressure points in the body. We brought this tapping to the sternum, center of the chest. We slowly tapped here, either with the fingertips or Bilateral Butterfly taps using cupped hands over one another on the chest, activating both hemispheres of the brain, continuing as we inhaled, paused to bring the hands to the heart, stacked on top of one another, and as we exhaled we audibly hummed into our bee breath🐝! If you hold tension here in the chest, this is a nice release! Humming is a somatic release, also good for respiratory infection season to break things up in the lungs, and humming has shown to reduce anxiety better than sleep! We crossed the arms at the chest, and squeezed into opposite shoulders, down to the biceps and triceps, and into the forearms. We brought the hands to the shoulders again for a squeeze, and swiped the hands down the arms, chest, abdomen, low back, and legs, making sure anything still tethered to the body is fully released. We released everything from last year, last month, yesterday, that we need to let go of, swipe it away, let yourself be freed of it, so we don't carry this heaviness any longer! Allow it to melt down your back! Let it drift into the snowy breeze, no longer needed in this moment!

 

 

🎈🎂We came into stillness, then swayed right and left, and found stillness again, noticing the effects: we can feel cool, heat, or tingling sensations, even a spontaneous yawn! All signs of a regulated nervous system. We removed anything stuck, anything harmful & toxic still attached to the body! We stimulated the vagus nerve, the super highway of information from the brain to the body! We sent messages to the brain that the body is not under threat, it does not have to exist in a continuous active state (fight /flight/freeze mode). We helped our body to experience a larger capacity to sit in discomfort, and not immediately reach for unhealthy soothers, or run from it. We welcome space for triggers to be felt and moved through. We have the ability to help our nervous system shift fluidly between states when each are needed, the sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous systems! Both are useful and 100% needed, but we do not want to become stuck in one state for too long. These practices are so useful off the mat as we encounter stress or triggers in our daily lives! We find balance! We find freedom!

 

 

🛼Our cool down began in Tadasana, we inhaled hands overhead, exhaled with a Swan dive, and planted the hands as we stepped back into our downward dog, the right leg lifted, curled the right knee into the chest, 3 times, then bent the knee, opened the hip, and flipped our dog into Wild Thing. The right leg floated thru center, knee into the chest, and thread thru to the left into our Fallen Star, unraveled knee into the chest, and we melted the shin to our mat as the hips melted down and the left toes peeled to the back of our mat, into a modified Pigeon with the right knee forward. We lifted the chest and gaze, and then rolled onto the right hip and reached the left hand toward the left foot, into our Fallen Tree Sidebend as the right hand reached overhead. We cartwheeled the hands to the top of our mat, pressed into the right palm as the hips lifted into our Rainbow Arch, left hand overhead. We came through center into our Table Top, and floated up off of our hands, and moved through our Dancing Camel! We lifted up into our Downward Dog and honored the left side!