All right,
Here is a short practice specifically for PTSD.
It is an adjustment of the brain,
Which means we are moving the body to a refreshed and renewed state of beingness.
And the way that we're going to do that is through powerful breath and very precise,
Controlled movements.
Okay.
And these movements are designed to synchronize both hemispheres of the brain and also to bring life force,
Bring energy into those places that might have shut down because of trauma.
And I think you'll find the effect very powerful.
Please step in slowly,
Go gently.
If you find that there are pieces that are intense and that you want to back off,
Slow it all down,
Take a moment of pause,
And then come back to it.
If you find that it's pulling up a lot of memory,
A lot of emotion,
That's okay.
That's part of it.
And we're going to build our capacity and expand our ability to feel those feelings and explore that through the course of this program.
And so if the first couple of touches with it are intense,
It's part of it.
If also there are movements that feel intense,
It's part of it.
Take breaks when you need to,
And let's dive in.
Okay.
Experience is the best teacher.
All right.
So with your tall,
Straight spine,
Bring your palms together at the center of your chest.
Take a few cleansing breaths with your hands pressed together.
Make contact with the base of your spine and inhale very deeply.
Bring the energy from the base of your spine all the way up through the top of your head and exhale through your third eye.
Inhale very deeply.
Exhale.
Inhale and let's tune in.
This is the sound vibration,
Ong,
Namo,
Gurudev Namo.
I bow to the teacher within.
Inhale,
Ong,
Namo,
Gurudev Namo.
Inhale very deeply.
Hold the breath.
Set your intention and exhale.
Awesome.
In this first part of the practice,
We're going to use,
Bring the thumb to the base of the pinky and then cross your middle finger and your baby finger over the thumb,
Holding it in place.
I'm going to raise the fingers up so the two fingers are pointing to each other and then through an open mouth,
So an O-shaped mouth.
So we're holding it out to a 90 degree angle and then bringing it back in.
So very precise movement,
Not all the way out here,
Not touching the chest at all,
But from here to 90 degrees.
Okay,
That's how we go.
Let's begin.
Inhale very deeply.
Squeeze,
Tense,
Hold all your muscles,
Press the back teeth down.
And now through the mouth,
Let it go.
Inhale very deeply.
Press the back teeth together.
Tense all the muscles.
One more time.
Inhale very deeply.
Tense,
Tense,
Tense.
Hold,
Hold,
Hold.
Exhale.
Relax your hands down.
Keep your eyes closed.
Hold steady for a moment.
In that first practice,
We're loosening up old memories,
Providing a remedy for nightmares.
And releasing numbness.
Nice work.
Allowing the energy to settle and pausing in between each of the practices is a really important way to integrate and consolidate all the energy that we have been shifting.
Moving now into the last two parts of this practice.
And here we're going to use a similar mudra,
But slightly different.
Here we're using the thumb to hold the back teeth together.
The other two fingers.
And creating a circuit with the fingers.
So here,
The same breathing pattern.
And here,
Rotating the wrist as fast as we possibly can,
In time with the breath.
If you need to slow down the hands,
Fine.
If you need to slow down the breath,
Fine.
Do your best to do your version that's going to work for your body.
And at the same time,
Seeing in the spirit and the essence of this practice.
Okay?
So bringing your hands up.
Remember that the thumbs are holding down the last two fingers now.
And we're rotating the wrist.
And beginning that same breathing pattern,
Inhaling and exhaling through the mouth.
Let's go.
Inhale very deeply.
Squeeze,
Tense,
Hold all your muscles.
Squeeze,
Tense,
Hold.
Press the back teeth together.
Exhale through the mouth powerfully.
Inhale.
We'll do that two more times.
Inhale very deeply.
Squeeze,
Tense,
Hold.
Let it go.
Exhale.
One more time.
Inhale.
Squeeze,
Tense,
Hold.
Exhale.
Let it go.
Softly lower your hands down.
Take a moment,
Sit quietly.
Notice sensations.
Beautiful.
We're at the last part.
And from here,
Same mudra.
So bringing your hands out,
And then using your thumb to cover the baby finger and the ring finger.
From here,
The next part is simple,
But not necessarily easy.
And that is to take this mudra,
Extend your arms all the way out to the side.
So I'm just keeping the palms up,
And then twisting my hands towards the wall behind me.
So you can maybe see that my chest has come out a little bit and my back is pressed forward so that I can open the chest and open the heart.
Here,
We're going to continue on with a long,
Deep breath.
Good.
So extend your arms,
Open the chest,
Close your eyes,
Breathe long and deep now.
Concentrate.
It's a little tip,
Yogi tip,
Is it's painful to hold this position for sure.
You can relax and come out of it and come back.
But just know that each time you come back to it,
It's going to get a little harder.
So pick your poison.
And at the same time,
The pain is here to serve us.
That we can go through discomfort,
Knowing that it's temporary.
And in this case,
We're almost halfway there.
And then we can breathe through it.
And so there's multi-level learning here.
One is to hold and breathe,
To allow ourselves to move through pain,
And to notice what happens on the other side.
So symbolically,
A lot is happening here.
You may notice that your spine needs a little bit of aligning.
Maybe you move back a little bit.
One more minute.
Stay focused.
Do your best.
Last few seconds,
We're going to close the same way that we did before,
Which is to hold steady,
Lock the teeth and breathe.
Hold the breath and then breathe out.
Let's begin now.
Final countdown.
Inhale very deeply.
Press your teeth together.
Tense all your muscles.
Hold the breath.
Through the mouth,
Let it go.
Exhale.
Two more.
Inhale.
Let it go.
Last one.
Tense,
Tense,
Tense.
And let it go.
Gently,
Gracefully relax your hands all the way down to your lap.
Okay.
Notice what arises.
Congratulate yourself for being here,
For making your way through the unknown and being with the known.
Press your palms together as we end this class.
Sit with a spine of steel and a heart of gold.
Long Sat,
Short Nam.
To close our practice,
Inhale deeply.
Sat.
Bowing in reverence to you as a spiritual being,
To all the teachers who have come before,
And to this body of knowledge of Kundalini Yoga.
Lots of love to you.
And until next time,
Take good care.
Remember,
Doing this once in a while is amazing.
Doing it on the regular 40 days in a row,
Life-changing.
Until then.
