🌷🍃Spring Equinox Flow🌈

 

🌳🌸Happy Spring Equinox!! The Earth awakens!! For most of the year, the Earth's axis is tilted either toward or away from the sun. That means the sun's warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet. During the equinox, the Earth's axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight. The light quite literally pours in, ushering in the spring season, hibernating animals emerge from their den, we rise in the morning's sunlight accompanied by birds singing, and the day becomes longer! We pause and delight in this balance of light and dark, of effort and ease. We find ourselves in the middle of a metamorphosis, a transformation, and we rest in renewal! We watch the seeds we've planted begin to sprout from the earth, green stems reaching toward the sun, blooms exploding. Life is waking up in the warm sunlight & your spirit feels ready to make a fresh start. This time of year your spirit is bright & coming alive with new ideas; hopefully you're feeling inspired & excited to try new things! We happily welcome in sunlight, warm days, and adventure outdoors!

 

 

🍃🌈We began on our backs, with a bolster underneath the knees, in our supported reclined Butterfly. 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, the Earth is awakening, inviting in Spring, growth and new life! Our pranayama was a new one, opening our chakra energy centers, connecting each of the 7 chakra colors to beautiful spring flowers! You can find this Spring-Chakra Pranayama here! 

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 hands overhead, toes reaching forward, full body stretch, exhaled the knees into the chest, rocking side to side, rolling the ankles, allowing the knees to melt to the right, into our Supine Twist. 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 White sage, sweetgrass, rosemary, and Palo Santo essential oil mist I sprayed overhead! 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 inhaled the gaze and knees through center, and melted the knees to the left. 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 poofy 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 Padma Mudra, thumbs and pinkies remain together as the middle fingers open out, we inhale raising our Lotus flower through the dark, murky water, up toward the surface of the water, where the light is so it can bloom. We exhaled our lotus down to the heart, and palms 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.

 

 

🌲🌷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 as we began to unravel, we joined the soles of the feet together, inching the feet forward to create a diamond, wide butterfly, and began to walk the hands underneath the calves, toward the top of our mat, melting into a forward fold, our Turtle pose! If the low back is feeling good, maybe even the head rests in the cradle of the arches of the feet! We unraveled, starting the lift through the chest, and balancing onto the root, floating the joined feet, pointing the toes forward, hands still underneath the calves, extending toward the corners of the mat, into our Flower pose! We look just like an Iris or an Orchid flower! We unraveled, floated forward into the palms 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. 

 

🌳🐢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 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 to the sky bending the knee, exhaled right toes to the back, left knee into the chest, left shin down, as the right foot planted to the right of our mat, floating off the hands, upright, into our Gate pose, welcoming in our new season! Hands lift overhead, right hand down to the right leg, left hand overhead, cartwheel the hand arounds to the left, left hand down, right hand overhead, and melt the hands to the top of our mat, knees into our Table Top, cat cow, then we 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!

 

 

🌳🌸In our Tadasana, we inhaled hands overhead, Sidebend, to the right, through center, and to the left, through center, exhale swan dive forward fold, moving through our flow, pranam or chaturanga, to meet in downward dog. We inhaled right foot to the sky, exhale knee to chest, inhale extend, exhale knee to chest reaching the right knee toward the left of our mat, a tucked in twist, inhale extend, bend the knee open the hip, exhale knee to chest, thread it through to the left, Fallen Star, left hand high. Left hand down, right foot unravels to the top of our mat, we rise up Warrior I. Hands to the sky, shoulders relax down, inhale we open the chest, cactus the arms, palms together, create our Lotus flower, inhale raise it to the sky, pause to make Eagle arms right over left, we lift, exhale humble in, inhale lift, exhale humble in, floating to the left, Wideleg Forward fold, swaying side to side, clearing the path forward. We unravel, rolling up into our 5-pt Star, exhale Goddess, inhale extend, left toes turn to the back of our mat, arms out like wings, we hinge from the hips, reach the left hand forward, and down, opening up into our Triangle, right hand high, our symbol of change, new seasons! We bent into the left knee, lifting the left hand high, right hand down, Exalt your Warrior, cartwheel the hands around, left elbow to the left knee, right hand overhead, Side Angle. Right hand down inside the left foot, left hand high, Twisted Lunge. Left hand down, right foot high, Standing Splits, exhale curtsy tap, inhale lift, exhale right knee into the chest, floating off the hands up into our Pillar, we wrap our right leg around the left, Eagle arms right over left, we lift, exhale crunch in, 2 more times, honoring our morning birds of robins, bluebirds, finches and sparrows, their beautiful songs awaken us, we let them fly, planting the palms, right toes high, and softly land back of our mat (really the top), as we float to the right foot, Skandasana, right hand plants inside the right knee, left hand high, opening through the chest. We walk the hands to the top of our mat, framing the right foot, left hand down right hand high, Twisted Lunge. Right hand down, we float forward, Twisted Half Moon balance, left leg lifts, right hand lifts, maybe binding for the  left foot, staying in a fold or rising up into our Twisted Dancer! We moved through a flow, 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. 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 arms behind the back, stacking the forearms, creating firelogs, squeezing into the forearms. We relaxed the arms, crossing now at the wrists, and tapped each finger to the thumbs, adding in a mantra with each tap: Transformation Begins With Me. Honoring this notion that if we want change in the world, it begins with us! 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!