🪷Saraswati: Ancient Hindu Goddess Wisdom 🦢

 

 

🌟Welcome to our Ancient Goddess Wisdom Yoga Series!! This idea came to me last Fall as I listened to my daily morning meditation, one day selecting one focused on goddess energy. It spoke to me so much that I knew I had to create a yoga series, drawing from our ancestral feminine energy! My minor in college was Anthropology, so I've always loved and been fascinated by cultures from around our incredible planet! Goddess energy, divine feminine energy lies within each of us, guiding us through our daily lives with strength, passion, resilience, inner power, peace, love, understanding, beautiful flowing energy that is rooted in our sacral chakra, our Svadhisthana. Our lives have become more hectic, more chaotic, we've accumulated so many layers creating an armor, and sometimes we no longer recognize ourselves. We arrive on our mats to shed these layers, so return home to our truest selves, reconnecting to our buried Goddess energy.

🪷I've chosen 6 Goddesses from various regions including Indian-Hindu, Nordic, Amazonian, Greek, African, Celtic (sprinkled in on my birthday class, and Indigenous American!

✨🦢Today, we dove into our FIRST of our 6 Goddesses, SARASWATI! This ancient Hindu Goddess is bathed in white as she rests upon a beautiful swan, symbolizing purity, elegance, innocence, and wisdom.(I’ve never worn a white top, but today called for it!🤍) Saraswati has 4 long arms, each hand holding a lotus flower, a book, and a musical instrument. She governs knowledge, learning, understanding, creativity, music, and the arts! She is known to purify water, and is a deity of healing. She reminds us of our inner wisdom and intuition, connecting us to our Ajna chakra, our third eye, and to our Visshuddha, throat chakra, encouraging us to speak our truth, and use our voice for our higher good. We brought ALL of these beautiful qualities into our practice today, and soothed our soul with her wisdom and strength.

 

🦢She is the muse, inspirer of creativity, seeker of knowledge, inspirer of the spirit. To unearth grace, is to know the beauty within each of us, we embody wisdom, intellect, and eloquence. 

 

🌟To truly honor our Ancient Goddess Wisdom series, we began in Tadasana, not often cued at the beginning of class. We enrich our lives with learning and trying new things, creating new neural pathways in the brain, keeping us on our toes, improving cognition, stepping out of our comfort zone, knowing our bravery to try new things will enrich our lives! We created our BREATH OF JOY pranayama! Deep inhale as the arms lift overhead, reaching toward the heavens, exhale as we bend the knees, arms float toward the earth, fingertips brush along our mat, inhale rising up reaching to the sky with our inhale, exhale the body melts forward, repeating one more time to fill our lungs with joy! Joy as we connect with our Goddess, Saraswati!

🪷We then melted into a toe squat, and to our backs to ground into the earth below us, recalibrating the body, mind, and soul to the rhythm of the natural world around us, still resting during winter. As humans, we've become out of sync with the living beings around us, we've sped up our activity when we should be resting. So, we take these moments to resync to the earth. 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!  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. We anchored to the peace found in this stillness.

 

 

 

🦢We closed the eyes, and traveled through our 5 senses, to connect to the body is to become truly present. 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 "Women's Balance" in studio, notes of peppermint, geranium, and clary sage, cooling, invigorating, releasing scents. 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. On 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, bringing us back home to ourselves. We inhaled lengthening long, arms overhead, toes reaching forward, exhaled the knees into the chest, rocking side to side, circling the ankles, lengthened long, exhaled into our Crescent Moon to the right, left foot crossing over the right, connecting to our moon, yin, cool, slower, feminine energy, our Goddess. We honored the left side, and then hugged the knees in, dropping the knees to the right for a twist, and to the left. We rock n rolled along the spine into a comfortable seat, crossing the legs or finding a half or full lotus.

 

 

 

 🌟We anchored the sit bones, lengthened each vertebrae toward the next in line, crown to the sky. We created our Padma mudra, our Lotus flower, of which one of Saraswati hands are holding. Our lotus flower, roots anchored in the soil of the pond, has to journey through the dark, cold, murky waters to reach the surface where the light of the sun is in order to rest and bloom, reminding us of our own journeys through darkness, we are strong, resilient, as we travel toward the light. We inhaled lifting our lotus toward the light overhead, exhaled bringing it to heart center, closing the hands into 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.

 

 

🪷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, 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 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 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. 

 

 

 

🦢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, our spine reflecting the spine of a book, honoring Saraswati's love of knowledge & learning, we inhaled right hand to the sky, opening the pages of our book, exhaled threading to the left under the left arm, grounding the right temple and shoulder, extending the left toes back or to the left. We unraveled with the inhale right hand to the sky, into our supported side plank, floating off of the left hand into our Gate, right hand to the extended right leg, left hand overhead, cartwheeling the hands to the top of our mat, into a cat cow flow, then 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. Inhale as the hands reach up, side bending to the right, center, and to the left, Swan dive exhaling into a forward fold, hanging heavy.  We stepped back into our plank, moving through our own flow, pranam, chaturanga, or skipping completely to meet in our downward dog.

 

 

 

🦢In our downward dog, inhale 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, planting the back foot to rise up into our Warrior I. We inhaled, cactusing the arms, exhaled forming our Eagle arms, strong, inhale lifting the hands to our ajna chakra, our home for wisdom, intuition, exhale humbling forward paying homage to our Goddess Saraswati, two more times, on the third floating forward into our Warrior III with our Eagle arms, lifting through the chest into our Pilar, wrapping the left leg around the right into our full Eagle, crunching in 3 times, and releasing our binds, allowing our Eagle to take flight, planting the palms, left toes high into our Standing Splits, adding in curtsy taps with the left toes to the right side of our mat, and softly landing the left toes to the back of our mat, to rise up into our Warrior II, left hand down right hand overhead as we exalt, paint the sky, connecting to our creativity and the arts! We cartwheeled the arms around, right elbow to right knee, Side Angle, left hand overhead, left hand down inside the right foot, right hand high into a Twisted Lunge, exhale thread the needle two times under the left arm, and walking the hands to the left long side of the mat into our Wideleg fold. Inhale as we turned the heels in, slowly rolling up to stand, 5-pt. Star, exhale into our Goddess, creating ocean waves to the right and left, keeping our spine healthy and fluid, honoring Saraswati's purification of water, and healing power. We pivoted to the back of our mat as the right hand planted inside the left foot, left hand high Twisted Lunge. We heel-toed the left foot to the mat's edge, melting into our Dragon, into the forearms or peeling open to the left, choosing to bind the foot. We inhaled stepping the let foot back into our plank, walked the hands back to the toes, to sink into our Yogi Squat. Lots of hip-openers to open our sacral chakra, connect to our Goddess, divine feminine energy. In our yogi squat options to fly our crow, melt forward, open our heart, or twist. We lifted the hips, heel toed the feet closer together for bent knee twists, then circled around to the top of our mat into our fold. We rose up slowly into our Tadasana, regrounded, and 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. 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! 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, this morning 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!