Ever wonder what it was like to be a mountain,
Born from the earth rising up to meet the heavens or the sky?
The majesty of the mountain stretches far and wide over the lands,
Valleys,
And streams,
Yet the mountain is humbled in its connection to the terrestrial force.
The mountain calls our attraction to its presence,
Inspiring us to its feet in the journey up to its peak of potential.
The mountain is composed of the very minerals that inform our bodies,
An embodiment of the planet's ancestral knowledge,
Shifting,
Folding,
Faulting,
Erupting,
Metamorphosizing over time immemorial.
Practicing Tadasana Tadasana is said to be the asana upon which all other asanas stem from.
People have actually sweat in this asana before,
Because over time,
You know,
Our muscles become hard and our bones become soft.
So this practice of becoming the mountain improves skeletal alignment by strengthening the core,
Legs,
Muscles,
And bones.
Mountain asana improves balance and coordination by encouraging the even distribution of weight on the feet and can be especially beneficial for those with flat feet.
The asana facilitates a calm composure for many while also bringing about a state of mental awareness and stability.
Come to stand in an upright position where you can balance your head on top of the spinal column in a comfortable way.
Bring your heels to touch,
Big toes to touch.
Arms alongside the body,
Palms facing towards the thighs.
Now lift just the toes.
You may have noticed how that activates the inner arch of the foot.
See if you can keep that activation and then just let the toes hold the place there on the earth and rest on the floor.
For a moment now,
Bend your knees and begin to make some small circles,
Exploring how weight is distributed on the feet.
Maybe you make some circles over to the right,
Then over to the left.
You may notice how there's four kind of points there on the foot.
You can see inner,
Outer ball of foot and heel.
Now come to a neutral stance,
To an upright position again,
Bringing the arms back alongside the body.
If you could imagine that there's these invisible weights on your fingertips,
There's a subtle energy pulsing through them,
Fingers facing towards the earth.
The hands are energized,
But they're not hyper-extended or stressed,
Holding onto the body.
They're just at your side there.
You can tell a lot by the way someone stands.
Just comfortably balancing the head there.
Now close your eyes for just a moment.
Imagine you were a mountain.
What is at your feet?
Maybe there's soil,
Snow,
A bed of wildflowers.
Now bring attention up to the crown of your head,
The corona.
What is at the crown?
Perhaps it's birds,
Blue sky,
Or clouds.
Now gently open your eyes again and drishti,
Gaze.
It's a soft gaze,
Like you're looking over the horizon,
Through the horizon.
You may notice the tendencies of the eyes to kind of want to wander,
The body to fidget.
See if you can bring your awareness there through the inhales,
Whatever sensations are coming up.
And exhale,
Give it away,
Letting it go,
Like the winds over the land.
Vayu is the breath.
It's a wind bringing nourishment in and out into the world we share.
Samavrti,
Equal breaths in and out.
So inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Relax the tongue,
The jaw,
Keeping the mouth closed.
Just build heat in the body.
We tend to expel a lot of energy,
So this is a way to just kind of hone,
Work with the instrument of the breath through the body.
When you inhale,
You're filling up the thoracic cavity,
Posteriorly,
Laterally,
Anteriorly,
360 degrees.
Relax the tongue,
The jaw,
The shoulders,
And exhale all the air out.
Think expansive,
Out,
Up to your waist and soil.
Terrestrial is rooting you down through your hips,
Your buttocks,
Your feet,
Your legs,
While simultaneously,
Right at the navel there,
At the core of the body where a lot of our power lies,
Is this exchange,
This bridge between the terrestrial and celestial,
Uplifting you through the crown of the head.
So there's these two opposing,
Simultaneous movements happening.
Rooting down while also lifting up,
Bringing space and awareness to all the joints,
The organs of the body.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Continue this practice on your own.
Thank you for joining Madhava Unite.
Be well.
Namaste.
