🦃🍁 Thanksgiving Somatic Yoga!

 

 

 🍁HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y'ALL!!🦃🍂

As the holiday draws near, we open up our homes to our family and friends or we travel to spend time with family & friends. It's a special time of year to hug, laugh, reconnect, tell stories, catch up on our lives, even forgive, let go, and begin anew! It might feel a little (or a lot) chaotic, we're rushing to the grocery stores, cleaning our homes, making sure everyone else is taken care of. Our kiddos might be out of school already, or only attend the first half of the coming week. It can be ALOT. Keeping track of schedules, routines, times of flights, maybe the volume in our homes increases, and space decreases. This might affect you in small ways or larger ways. So today, we created an hour for ourselves, before the week begins, before family arrives into town, for our own soothing self care, before we give all of our energy and love to others! For many, our happiness is directly dependent on the health of our nervous systems. When our body and mind are at ease, our soul is at ease. 

 

 

 

 🍂We began on our backs, and allowed the head and the shoulders to become heavy, and melt into the earth. Each vertebrae began to ground down, one at a time, to the hips and they became heavy. The arms and legs soften. During this airy, light, breezy season, it's important to ground, so we don't get swept away! We brought one hand to the belly, one to the heart, connecting to our heartbeat, and to our breath. Our pranayama was our 3-part breath, deeply inhaling through the nose, from the toes all the way up into the belly, filling it up, expanding, taking up space, pausing at the top of that breath, and slowly exhaling through the mouth. We repeated this two more times, the inhale lengthening from the abdomen to the chest, filling the lungs, expanding the ribs, and slowly exhaling through the mouth. The final round travelled from the abdomen, to the lungs, up to the crown! Each time, the exhale becoming slower and longer each time, calming the nervous system. We became present in the body and the space we're in, and allowed all of our past stresses to melt back to the earth, transformed into something new, something for our greater good. Our future schedules and to-do lists floated away, into the breeze, no longer needed, carried further and further away from us. Nothing to do, nowhere else to be but right here in this moment for ourselves. I found the perfect quote for our Thanksgiving class!

 

 

 

🍁We saw our first SNOW a few days ago, so I thought it would be fun to guide us through a Bonfire Visualization for our scan of the 5 senses: We envisioned us circled around a bonfire at night, and first we noticed what we see around us, looking up at the night's sky, shades of deep navy blue melting into black, with bright stars lighting up the dark sky. We see our friends and family in a circle, smiling faces, curled up in blankets and sweaters. We traveled to smell, noticing what we smell around us, the smoke of the fire, the pine of the trees surrounding us, maybe our cup of chai tea beneath our nose. I sprayed "Sacred Space" in studio, so we inhaled notes of Palo Santo, Sweet Grass, and Rosemary. We scanned to our hearing, the crackling of the fire, laughter of our neighbors, maybe the howling of the wind and the hoot of an owl. On to our taste, noticing the last thing we may have eaten, or a sip of cup of tea, coffee, hot cocoa, lingering in the mouth. Lastly, we noticed our sense of touch, what we feel against the skin, the warmth of the fire, the cool breeze of the November air, the warmth of our hot drink in our hands, the coziness of our blankets and sweaters wrapped around us. We began to flutter the eyes open to bring our awareness back to the room, back to the body, feeling the stickiness of our mat underneath us, supporting us, holding us, bringing us back home to ourselves.

 

 

 

🍂We lengthened long with an inhale, hands reaching overhead, toes reaching forward, exhaled knees to the chest for a hug, rocking side to side massaging the lumbar spine. We extended our feet to the sky, T square pose, a roll through the ankles, crossed the right leg over the left, bending at the knees and hugged the thighs together, reversed cow face pose, reaching for the shins with a gentle pull of the knees toward the chest, maybe rocking side to side. We unraveled the right leg out to the right side of our mat, cradling the leg with the right hand, the left hand on the left shin, gently pulling the left knee toward the left shoulder, opening through the hips. We then folded the legs back in, right leg over the left into our cow face, and then planted the left foot on the mat, scooched the hips to the right as the knees fell to the left, into our supine twist. If this twisted roots twist was a bit much, we could unravel and stack the knees in our twist. We smoothed out the shoulder blades, came into our Ujayi breath, and grounded the body. We honored the left side, and began to rock and roll along the spine to the top of our mat, moving toward a comfortable seat. We anchored the sit bones, spine lengthened to the crown, crown to the sky, and crossed the legs or found a half or full lotus, and closed the eyes, with our hands resting on the knees. We brought the hands into prayer at the chest, and with the inhale opened the arms out toward the walls, exhaled as we wrapped the arms around us for a hug, arching the back, dripping the chin toward the chest. We repeated this 2 more times filling the lungs with prana energy, and love with our Hug Breath!

 

 

🍁We brought the palms together, rubbed them together to create some heat, some healing energy, 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, sending healing energy to the mind + body, finally bringing the hands to the heart sending gratitude to the heart and lungs. We set an intention for our class, and released it, reaching the hands to the sky and to the right for a twist, peeling the right shoulder back to open the chest 5% more. 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 twisted to the other side, and then came through center, planted the fingers behind us, opened the chest, arching the spine into a backbend, and then into a forward fold. We unraveled the legs and melted the hips back into a child’s pose, walking the hands to the right, center, and left. 

 

 

 

🍂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, the spine waving long, crown reaching to the sky, the shoulders melting back, the arms extend out to the earth, 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. 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, peeled the right toes to the back of our mat, rocking forward and back, lengthening through the calf, opening the ankle. We floated the right leg parallel to the mat, flexing the foot, and crossed it over to the left, gaze following over the left shoulder. We floated the right leg through center, and out to the right side of our mat, melted the hips back into our 1-legged Childs pose, opening the hips. We floated the right leg to the back of our mat to open up into our supported side plank on the left knee, peeling the right fingers to the sky, circling the wrist, opening the chest! We came into our table top, into our cat cow flow, and then honored the left side!

 

 

 

 🍁We flowed through downward dog- plank waves, pranam knees chest chin, into a low cobra, and up into our downward dog. We floated to the top of our mats into a forward fold, 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. 

 

 

 

🍂Our Tadasana flowed into our Crescent Moon sidebands to the right and to the left, through center, exhaling into a forward fold. We moved through a flow, pranam or chaturanga, meeting in our downward dog. With the inhale, we extended the right leg, and tapped the right knee to the left elbow, extended, tapped the right elbow, extended, tapped the chest, hovering here, and planted the right foot between the hands, back foot sealing to rise up into our Warrior I, shoulders drawing down from the ears, hips squaring to the top of our mat, fingertips reaching for the heavens. We inhaled cactusing the arms, opening the chest, exhaling as the arms reached out to the walls and then forward, creating this wave forward and back, bringing healing energy toward us, pushing negative energy away. We embody the energy we want to bring to our Thanksgiving Day dining table! Loving, accepting positive energy! After the third wave, we floated forward into our Warrior III, arms reaching toward the back of our mats into our Airplane! Welcoming in our family and friends to our home from their travels! (Also, as we were in our Airplane pose, the timing of my playlist was perfect, as "Big Jet Plane" played overhead in the studio, hahah! That made everyone giggle) Softly we land the back foot to the back of our mat and float into our Warrior II toward the back of our mat, gaze over the left fingertips. We straightened the left leg, right hand down, left hand up into our Sky Archer, cartwheeled the hands around into our Side Angle, left elbow to the left thigh, right hand overhead, planted the right hand down, inside the left foot, left hand to the sky into our Twisted Lunge, melting the hips toward the earth. The left hand came down, and we walked the hands around to the left long side of our mat into our Wide Leg fold, allowing the head and shoulders to hang heavy. We slowly rolled up one vertebrae at a time, head is the last to the lift, extending into our 5-pointed Star. We exhaled into our Goddess, connecting to our Ancestral family wisdom, all of the mothers and grandmothers before us, dancing side to side, bending into the knees. We came through center, and with the inhale floated into the right foot, into our tree, left foot meeting the right leg, extending our branches of our Family Tree! We swayed, came through center and into our Family Tree into the left foot. We came through center, extended out into our 5-pointed Star, and circled the left arm around as we pivoted toward the top of our mat into our Crescent Warrior. We inhaled cactusing the arms, and on the exhale floated forward into our Airplane, Warrior III once more, and stepped the feet together to sit deep into our Chair, seated at our Thanksgiving Dining Table. We twisted to the right, elbow hooks the knee, remember to say something nice to your family member to your right at the dining table, through center, and twist to the left, say something nice, or tune out negativity! (Lots of giggles in the studio, that made me smile! )We moved through center, into a forward fold, and through a flow, to our Tadasana and honored the left side!

 

 

 

 🍁Our Somatic practice will hopefully prove to be very useful for any moments we need to self soothe during all of our Thanksgiving festivities! Somatic experiencing 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. 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. 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, 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! 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. Maybe there is a conversation between a family member that was hurtful 10 years ago that we need to let go of, swipe it away, let yourself be freed of it! That seemed to resonate in class today, so maybe it does for you too! Swipe it away! Let it drift into the breeze, don't hold onto to it! It's likely affecting you more than them. 

 

 

 

🍂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!

If we see people excusing themselves from the table for the bathroom and hear humming, or see people tapping their chest or massaging their jaw at the table, know we're just regulating our overactive nervous systems! Share these tools with those who might need them too!