Muladhara💢 Anchored in the Roots

 

🌳🌷 Hello Beautiful Friends!!

 

💢A few classes ago, we finished up our series about the 8 Limbs of Yoga! It was incredible to create classes around the Yamas, Niyamas, and the remaining limbs of yoga, something not often discussed in yoga classes today! Reminding practitioners in the studio that yoga is an ancient, 5000+ year old practice, and sharing all the components, beyond the poses that many of us do not know about, was impactful for both me as the instructor, and for my friends in class! What an honor it was! I'll never forget it! 

 

 

❤️ I had a pause after the 8 Limb series with Mother's Day Class, and some subbing classes, and when my class resumed, I knew I wanted to dive into the 8 chakras, my second favorite area of study! So, on Monday, we dove into the first, the Root Chakra, Muladhara!! The end of May is ALWAYS an insane time for so many of us, the end of school, whether you yourself are in school, your children are in school, final exams, graduations, last summers before entering college, some beginning their careers, some experiencing their first empty nest moments. Our society celebrates exhaustion, fast pace, constantly on the go, hurried days, full schedules. I'm the exact opposite. It's a lot, too much, and it feels like we're getting swept away, just in flight, scrambling to find a safe place to perch and rest, only to get swept away again. One day our body is going to tell us when to rest either with injury or illness. I knew this hour was meant for a huge slow down, for rest, for grounding, for connection to our Root Chakra!! Somehow, the timing of my classes always coincides with life. 

 

 

 

 

🎈Our Muladhara chakra is a swirling energy center located at the base of the spine, is red in color, its element is earth, and is where we find our survival instincts, where we feel safe, grounded, where connections to the earth, and to family as an infant are created. It's where we build trust, our belief systems, discover loyalty, and where we feel at home.

 

 

🪭Connected Crystals: Hematite, Jasper, Obsidian, Tourmaline, Garnet

Connected Essential Oils: Cedarwood, clove, frankincense, ginger, myrrh, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver, ylang ylang.

When *In Balance*:

We feel confident with change, trust our judgement, aware of past events but not emotionally connected. Able to sit still & are peaceful. We feel centered.

When *Out of Balance*: 

We have safety & trust issues, afraid to make changes, greedy behavior, often in fight or flight state, conflicting family beliefs, feel there is not enough time/money/fun/love.

🍓We opened in a half lotus, or comfortable seat, intentionally connecting our root chakra at the base of the spine into the earth, and formed a Muladhara mudra with the hands! Beginning in Anjali, prayer hands, then folding the pinkies and ring fingers inward, middle fingers stay high, and the index and thumbs circled around each other, fingertips touching. We moved into our Pranayama practice with our mudra, deep inhales through the nose, long slow exhales through pursed lips as if slowly blowing out a candle, to lengthen and slow down our exhale, calming the nervous system! We released past events & future schedules as we enter this busy month of May. We took time just for ourselves, present in this space, in this moment. We extended our breath work into hands behind the head, bent elbows with a deep inhale, opening through the chest, gaze lifted, and with the exhale, curled inward, forearms and elbows come together, cradling the head. We moved into twists to the right and left, a mini backbend, and a forward fold. 

 

 

🍒We unraveled the legs, and melted the hips back into a child’s pose, extending the fingertips to the tight, center, and left, and then floated up into hero pose, connecting the root chakra to the earth, knees together, sitting onto the heels for our self-healing reiki practice. We softened the body, released jaw clenching, forehead tension, chest tightening. We focused on our mental health, sending healing energy to the mind: often a time traveler, becoming stuck in the past or traveling too far forward into the future. We connected to the body, which is always present, releasing the past frustrations & future to do lists. 

 

 

 

 

 

🍎We set our intention, moved into sidebends, a mini backbend, into our puppy, melting the heart. We brought the hands together to form our “Muladhara Bowl!” We filled our bowl with those beautiful moments that help us feel safe, grounded, connected to the earth and family & friends, where trust lies, where we feel at home. We brought those moments of rootedness into our hour as we moved from pose to pose, in the tough still, quiet moments, to connect to ourselves, to bring us closer to peace! 

 

 

🍉We moved in yummy ways, with a yummy warm up flow of Cat-Cow, adding in organic movements, melting the foot back, stretching through the calf, rocking back & forth, then floating the foot over to the opposite side, coming through center, then to the opposite side, melting the hips back into a back into a 1-legged child’s pose. We floated forward, brought the foot back through center, and opened up into a supported side plank, then into a mini flow of melting the seat, the root chakra, to the earth, side bending to reach for toes, lifting up into a supported side plank, and repeating once more. Super delish!! We opened our heart & lungs, lengthened, twisted, extended, flowed linking breath + movement, opened our hips, releasing tension & tightness to release negative energy & nourish the body.

 

 

 

🌹Our first flow spiced up our energy, kept us warm, and rooted to the earth as we flowed from our downward dog, into plank, pranam, low cobra, downward dog, into our tadasana, rooting the feet into the earth, feeling that grounding energy all the way up to the crown. We flowed through side bends, forward folds into chair (a strong root chakra pose) twists, plank, chaturanga, upward dog, downward dog + knee to tricep taps, and knee pushups with extended toes, into through Crescent Warrior. We cactused the arms as the knee tapped the earth, bringing the root chakra toward the earth, two times, then grounded the knee on the third tap, coming into a low lunge, backbend, into a quarter split, again drawing the root to the earth. We floated forward into our Pyramid, squaring the hips, lengthening the hamstrings, rocking into he toes and heels, and forward into our Half Moon, and in those tough moments, brought our Muladhara Bowls to mind to help us be content in the moment! We walked the hands to the long side of our mats, into a WideLeg Forward Fold, rolled up into a 5 point star, into a Goddess (another strong root chakra pose), a little dance side to side, then floated to the right foot into our Tree, through center deep bend into the knees, and floated to the left foot, rooting into our Tree, through center, straightened the legs, folding forward, letting the head and shoulders hang heavy.

 

🩸We melted the hips into Skandasana on each side, and to our seat for a Fallen Tree fold and then lifted the hips into a Rainbow arch! We floated into a Wideleg fold, options for twists or headstand, and then walked the hands to the top of our mat for our Dragon, melting the root to the earth, option to bind the back foot! We flowed through vinyasa to honor the left side. We encircled the healing space on our mats!

 

 

 

🍄Somatic experiencing gave us tools to regulate our nervous system, to agitate those emotions, to help them release, and to serve as a reset button. We began at the crown, massaging the fingertips all over the crown, into the temples, the jaw, the perfect release for jaw clenchers like myself. We tapped into the collarbone, and into the sternum! We inhaled through the nose as we tapped into the sternum, and stacked the hands at the heart as we exhaled while audibly humming! If you hold tension here in the chest, this is a nice release! We ended with one hand pressing into the base of the skull where the vagus nerve begins, and the other hand pressing the index + middle fingers at the hairline, and slowly moving down between the eyebrows, down the bridge of the nose! We often do this massage for our cats, dogs, horses, perhaps you've done this as your child is waking up. It's a nice calming tool, so today we nourished ourselves with the same gesture! We swayed noticing the effects: coolness, heat, or tingling sensations! We removed anything stuck, harmful & toxic still attached to the body! We stimulated the vagus nerve, the super highway of information located at the base of the brain and runs throughout the entire body, touching every organ system! 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 mode). We helped our body adapt to triggers. 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!

 

 

🐦‍🔥Our final flow began in Tadasana, and moved into our Downward dog, a few knee to chest taps, bent the knee, opened the hip, circling through the hip, or flipping our dog! We extended the leg, hovered the knee at the chest, extended, and thread the foot through into our Fallen Star, Side plank, and finally melting into our pigeon! We took time for King Pigeon or Mermaid before melting our heart in our pigeon. We unraveled the leg back up up to the sky, rolling through the ankle, then setting down to meet the other foot. We walked the hands back to the feet, melted the root chakra down into our Yogi Squat, with options for Crow, headstand, twists, melting the heart. We lifted the hips for bent knee twists, and walked the hands forward into our downward dog, to do the left side! 

 

 

🦀Our cool down moved us from our pigeon, into our cow face, stacking the knees, with a bind behind the back, or eagle arms, melting forward for a fold. We inhaled upright, unraveling the arms & legs into a straddle, V-shape of the legs and forward folding. We rolled upright, hugged the knees in for a seated Childs pose, and moved into the other side! After the seated Childs pose, we moved into Butterfly, and Balancing Bear, hooking the big toes and opening into our straddle, balancing on the root chakra. We gracefully floated back into our Happy Baby, with a little sway side to side. The feet unraveled to the sky, and then into our favorite twists, either stacking the knees, twisted roots, or cat pulling its tail! 

🐞We made it to our PEAK POSE: savasana! Together, we completed a full body cleanse! We found meditative peace, a calming of the mind, insight into ourselves, we experienced growth fearlessness, release, and freedom. Yoga helps us shed what we no longer need, so we may see our most purest selves! Connect to divinity! 🙏🏻To slow down means to heal! That is why savasana is the peak pose, the most important pose, the goal. To find peace. In the stillness! We surrender. We discover ourselves again without the layers, the armor, the walls. They all come down, revealing our divine self.🙏🏻

 

 

💢I loved creating our Muladhara playlist! Listen here!! 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/092AVjzELgeuHG9uplVZow?si=xpE3oLOqTrS_nlV69LxMew&pi=u-Be3muk48T3Ky

 

🍃Come practice with me Mondays at 8:15am!🫶🏻 ✨🌿