🌳🐿️🌲Forest Yoga: Healing in Nature Series

 

 

🌲🌳Healing in Nature Yoga Series!! We begin in the Forest!! One of my very favorite sanctuaries lies when I step foot into the forest. Quite literally, as John Muir said, "Into the forest I go, to lose my mind, and find my soul." The forest is full of healing benefits for us! The forest is one large ecosystem, and just as surrounding trees send healing energy and nutrients out to a tree that is suffering or is ill, we offer the same in our studio, sending healing nutrients out to our neighbors, through our roots and branches, lifting up one another! Trees emit molecules into the air to cleanse and purify it, removing toxins from the air we breathe. A walk through the forest grounds the soul, calms the heart rate & blood pressure, resyncing the mind + body to the earth, reminding us that we are in fact part of this beautiful ecosystem. Animal lovers always love spotting furry & feathered friends, from caterpillars & butterflies, to chipmunks & squirrels, and deer & bald eagles, smiles and laughter filling the forest! Trees have the power to increase our immunity, proving faster recovery periods from illnesses, and have proven to decrease depression & anxiety, improving our mental wellbeing. The forest can help us reignite our creativity, and can improve our cognition. The forest is a complete sensory experience! From the beautiful sight of animals and calming green hues, to sounds of birds songs, squirrel chirps, even trickling streams or a rushing waterfall. We smell pine and faint florals, even tasting them, and we feel the warmth or cool breezes of the wind, earth and sticks beneath our feet, branches against our skin, a walk in the forest is a full body + mind + soul nourishing afternoon!

 

 

🌳🦌We began in a Deer pose! We melted into our seat, right shin parallel to the top of the mat, left shin tucked in behind us, as we folded forward over our right knee, grounding  the body and soul to the earth and soil below! We allowed the head and shoulders to melt toward the earth beneath us, each vertebrae grounding, the hips and pelvis melt, and the arms and legs soften. We feel this amazing rumbling energy below us, awakening, inviting in Spring, growth and new life! 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.

 

 

🌲🦌We inhaled walking the hands in, lifting the chest through center, as we unraveled through center and pivoting to the left side into our Deer, melting the body over our left knee. Even though the eyes are closed, we noticed what we see beyond the lids, finding peace and serenity in this darkness. We traveled to our smell, noticing what we smell around us, notes of wood & citrus hovering in the Palo Santo essential oil mist I sprayed overhead, to help us connect to the woods! 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.

 

 

🌳🌲We rock n rolled along the spine, 2-3 times, to land in our Childs pose. we widened the knees, melted the hips, the hands walked to the right, hips back and to the left, through center, and to the left, hips back and to the right, fingertips through center, we inhaled the right hand to the sky, and thread it through to the left sinking in, through center, inhaling the left hand to the sky, and thread it through to the right, melting in. We came through center, closing the knees together, and dripped the hands back toward the feet, curling the back, melting the forehead, into a little Seed🌱 pose. We lifted the chest, unfurling like a brand new leaf, sitting down onto our heels, reaching the hands up to the sky, right hand grounds, left hand overhead, into a sidebend, inhaling up through center, and melting the left hand down, right hand overhead. We unraveled the fingers behind us, into a backbend, shoulder blades drawing toward one another, gaze to the sky, and melted forward into the forearms into our Puppy pose, today, a Bunny, round little tail to the sky!

 

🌳🐇We inhaled rolling forward into the palms, to come into a comfortable seat or half lotus pose. We anchored the sit bones, lengthened each vertebrae toward the next in line, crown to the sky. We formed our Prithvi Mudra, thumbs meeting the ring fingers, remaining fingers extended out, finding stability, grounding, strength, just like the trees in our forest. The hands lifted overhead, and met 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.

 

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🌲🌳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, to land in a forward fold.

 

 

🌳🌲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 as the right knee curled into the chest, arching the back, 3 times, reaching the left hand back binding our little tail of our spotted deer! We planted the right foot to the back of our mat, floated the left knee up into our chest, melted it back down, and peeled the right toes back further as we melted the hips down, and rolled onto our left hip, toward the back of our mat, left foot meeting the right thigh, right hand reaching for the right foot, left hand overhead into a sidebend. We cartwheeled the hand around to the top of our mat, planted the left hand, and lifted the hips into a rainbow arch, right hand overhead, coming back down into our Table Top to honor 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, right hand to the left wrist, bending to the right, through center, side bend to the left. We came through center and to 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!

 

 

🌳🌙We had a full moon 2 days prior, our Worm Moon, symbolizing the emergence of life from the soil, a Spring awakening, where we see completion in our lives, and we celebrate successes and endings so new beginnings can come forth! Since our forest animals are nocturnal, we honored our full moon with a Moon Salutation!  In our downward dog, we hopped forward into a fold, meeting into Tadasana. We inhaled hands overhead, palms meeting, bending to the right, Crescent Moon Sidebend, through center, and to the left, through center, lifting the right knee into our Pilar, and into our Tree, extending branches, or binding behind the back, sending those healing nutrients out to our neighbors in class, uplifting, becoming one pilar of strength in our forest of trees! We stepped the right leg back, to open up into a 5-pointed Star, to the right, long side of our mat, prana energy flowing through our fingers and toes! We exhaled into our Goddess pose, a little dance side to side, and floated into the right foot, into our Tree, left foot meeting the right leg, through center, floating into our Tree to the left, repeating one more time to the right and left, through center, extending into our 5-pointed Star. We inhaled arms out like wings, right toes turning toward the back of our mat, hinge from the hips, reach the right hand forward to melt into our Triangle, right hand down, left hand high. We grounded the left hand down inside our right foot, right hand high into our Twisted Lunge. Right hand down, we lift up into our Crescent Warrior, toward the back of our mat, both hands to the sky. We inhaled into cactus arms, opening the chest, right over left Eagle arms, today our Red-Tailed Hawk, as we lifted the arms, and humbled in, 2 times, then floating through center to the left into our WideLeg forward fold, sweeping our bind side to side, removing obstacles out of our way, clearing the path forward! We released our bind, walked the hands to the top of our mat, planted the left hand inside the left foot, to build our triangle from the ground up, right hand high. Right hand down, left hand high, Twisted Lunge. Left hand down, back foot steps in, into our Pyramid, toes forward, melting the heart. We tip forward into our Half Moon, left foot, left hand, right leg floats parallel to the mat, right hand high. Right hand down, squaring the hips to the earth, right knee into the chest as we float up  to stand, into our Pilar, wrap the right leg around the left, eagle arms, right over left, into our Bald Eagle, we lift the arms, exhale crunching inward, 3 times, hand float down, right toes high, our Bald eagle flies, Standing Splits, right knee into the chest, then to the back of our mat, the left foot heel-toed to the edge of our mat, as we melt into our Lizard, today our cute little Newt by the stream in the forest! We can stay high, or melt into the forearms, or open up twisting to the left, melting the hips to the earth, and reaching back to bind for the foot. We cam through center moved through a plank flow, into downward dog, hopping forward into a fold, to rise up into Tadasana. We honored the left side in our Moon Salutation!

 

 

🌲🦅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!