Be Here Now: Hatha Yoga For Present Awareness

This stimulating guided yoga practice will take you out of your thinking mind and ground you in your experience of the present moment. Become absorbed in the awareness of your body and everything around it as you move through both standing and seated postures, while fully participating in conscious breathing.

This track was recorded live. Some prior experience with hatha yoga is helpful but not required.

Transcript

Welcome to your Hatha Yoga practice for present awareness.

In this practice,

We're really going to drop into the present moment.

We're going to drop into the awareness of the body,

And we're really going to use this practice to be here and now,

Allowing our thinking mind to release all thoughts of prior engagements,

All tasks or future plans,

And just allowing ourselves to be in the here and now.

So if you would like to use any props for this practice,

Now is the perfect time to go ahead and grab them.

Perhaps a bolster,

A thick folded blanket,

Or a set of blocks,

Whatever you need or would like to help modify any poses that we'll move through today.

This will be a fairly stimulating and energizing practice,

So we won't be relying on props too much,

But you're always welcome to use them whenever you feel the need to.

So we're actually going to start this practice standing at the top of our mats in mountain pose.

So mountain pose finds us with our feet firmly grounded and rooted to the earth,

To the floor beneath us,

Grounding down through the three edges of the feet,

Grounding down through the big toes,

Pinky toes,

And heels,

Feeling the entire surface of the bottom of the foot,

Making contact with the mat.

We're going to engage through the quads,

Energizing the legs,

Slightly lifting the kneecaps.

We're going to slightly tuck the tailbone under,

Firming through the core,

Finding shoulders stacked directly over hips as we roll the shoulders down and back,

Pulling the shoulder blades together behind the back and shining the palms toward the front of the mat as well as the chest,

Gazing forward,

Allowing yourself to be fully present in every area of your body,

Energizing through the arms,

The biceps,

The hands,

The fingers,

The core,

The hips,

The quads,

The calves,

And the feet,

Allowing the earth to accept the weight of your body while simultaneously reaching the crown of your head up toward the sky.

And just begin to take notice here how this pose feels in your body.

And once you begin to become really anchored here in your body,

You can start to let your awareness turn outward slightly,

Taking notice any sounds that you can hear,

Any sensations from your current surroundings that you can feel,

Any smells,

Any sights,

Taking in everything that is right here and now and giving the mind permission to let go of anything that is not here and now.

And then beginning to find the breath,

Inhaling deeply into the belly,

Feeling the ribs and the chest expand and exhaling out of the mouth with a sigh,

Perhaps an exaggerated sigh as you let yourself settle here,

Become aware of everything that is here and letting go of everything that is not.

Let's do this three more times,

Inhaling deeply into the belly,

Feeling the entire cavity of the chest expand and exhale out of an open mouth,

Sighing all of the to-do lists,

All of the thinking mind,

Busyness,

The chatter,

Letting it all go,

Telling yourself that it doesn't need to be there now.

It can be there later,

But right now we are nowhere but here.

We are not in the before,

We are not in the after,

We are not in the what ifs or the what if nots,

What if this happens,

What if this doesn't happen,

What will I do?

That is a thought for later.

That is a mindset for later.

Right now,

That is not our mindset.

Our mindset is being here,

Experiencing now.

One last deep inhale and exhale,

Sighing out of the mouth.

On the next inhale,

We'll sweep arms up overhead,

Extending up toward the sky,

Slight back bend if that's within your practice.

Then we'll exhale to hinge forward from the hips,

Coming into a forward fold,

Fingertips or palms come to the mat while sit bones shine up toward the ceiling.

We're going to flow through a few half salutations.

We'll inhale to bring fingertips to the mat or perhaps hands to the shins as we come into halfway lift and exhale fold forward.

On the inhale,

We'll bend generously into the knees,

Pressing feet down into the earth as we sweep arms up overhead on our inhale.

Exhale,

Hands to heart center.

We'll inhale again,

Arms up overhead,

Gazing up toward the sky.

Perhaps thumbs come to touch and exhale,

Hinging forward from the hips,

Forward fold,

Really shining the sit bones up toward the sky,

Finding length through the back of the hamstrings and seeing if you can find some softness,

Some generosity in the hip joints here as you aim to bring your palms toward the mat.

If you're on your fingertips,

That's perfectly fine.

Wherever you are,

Meet yourself where you are.

Inhale,

We'll come to halfway lift.

Exhale,

Fold.

Inhale,

Bending into the knees,

Activating to the legs,

Pressing to the feet as we rise up,

Arms overhead.

Exhale,

Hands to heart center.

One more time,

We'll inhale,

Arms up overhead,

Standing toward the sky.

Exhale,

Hinging forward from the hips,

Forward fold,

Feeling how each salutation brings further elasticity into the hamstrings.

Inhale,

Halfway lift.

Exhale,

Fold.

And inhale,

Bend the knees,

Rise up,

Arms overhead.

Exhale,

Hands to heart center.

On the next inhale,

We'll raise arms up overhead.

Exhale to fold again,

Planting the hands down on the mat.

And then we'll step back with our right foot,

Staying up on the toes of the back foot in a high lunge position,

Aligning the ankle of the left foot directly under the knee.

You can bring your hands to your hips,

Stabilize yourself here,

And then begin to rise up,

Pressing through that front leg and arriving in your high lunge.

Hips are square to the front of the mat.

You may need to pull left hip back and right hip forward.

You may need to pull left hip back and right hip forward to find that alignment.

And you can choose to raise the arms up overhead and broaden the shoulders with the fingertips spread,

Or you can choose to keep the hands planted on the hips or remaining active and engaged through both legs.

And then we're going to begin to do some high lunge pulses here.

So on the inhale,

You'll straighten your front leg and kind of press through the toes of your back foot as your heel raises up.

And on the exhale,

You'll allow your hips to sink down as the knee aligns over the ankle of the front leg.

And you come more onto the ball of your back foot and your heel extends down toward the mat.

Inhale,

Front leg straightens,

Hips rise up,

Exhale,

Hips sink as knee aligns over ankle.

Inhale,

Straighten,

Exhale,

Sink,

Driving that back heel toward the mat.

And just continue your own pace,

Inhaling to straighten the leg and raise the hips,

Exhaling to bend the knee,

Lower the hips down.

Seeing if with every round you take,

You can get your hips sink down just a little bit further.

Maybe the heel of your back foot gets a little closer to the mat.

Just noticing the shifts,

Noticing the openings that present themselves to you with the movement of your body.

Keeping your awareness completely grounded,

Completely centered on the sensations of the body.

The next time that your hips are raised and your front leg is straight,

We're going to swivel the back foot so that the toes are pointing for the long edge of the mat.

We're finding our warrior two positioning here for our feet.

So heel of the front leg,

Or front foot rather,

Aligns with the arch of the back foot.

We're going to send the arms out parallel to the ground,

Straightening through that front leg.

We're going to come into triangle pose.

So we'll slightly shift the hips backward as we reach the left arm forward toward the front of the mat.

And then allow yourself to drop the hand down,

Perhaps to the thigh,

The shin,

The ankle,

The foot,

Finding your level of flexibility here and meeting yourself where you are.

We're going to aim to bring that right arm stacked directly over the left.

Shoulders are stacked.

And then if it feels right for your neck,

You're going to gaze up toward the ceiling or the sky up toward your hands,

Remaining strong through both legs,

Remaining strong through the core,

Remaining strong through the shoulders and the arms,

Feeling the muscles engage in your body,

In your limbs,

Feeling the ground beneath your feet as you are firm and stable in this posture.

On the next inhale,

We'll cartwheel hands down to the mat,

Framing the left foot,

Slightly swiveling onto the toes of the back foot.

Take an exhale here,

And then we'll inhale to float,

Hop,

Or step the back foot to meet the front.

So right foot is coming to meet the left,

Finding yourself in a forward fold.

We'll inhale to halfway lift,

Exhale to fold.

And on the inhale,

We'll sweep arms up overhead,

Rising up,

And exhale,

Hands to heart center.

Let's repeat that on the other side.

Inhale,

Arms come up overhead.

Exhale,

Fold forward,

Hinging from the hips.

Inhale,

Hands to heart center.

Exhale,

Fold forward,

Hinging from the hips.

Inhale,

Halfway lift.

Exhale,

Fold,

Plant the hands to the mat,

And this time,

Step back with the left foot coming up onto the toes of the left foot and bringing the knee of the right foot directly over the ankle,

Checking in with your body,

Finding your stability,

Finding your balance,

Bringing your hands to your hips,

And pressing through your front leg to rise up,

Checking the balance of your body.

And then we'll inhale to stretch the right hip forward,

And then we'll inhale to stretch the left hip forward.

And then we'll inhale to stretch the right hip forward.

And then we'll inhale to stretch the left hip forward.

And then we'll inhale to stretch the right hip forward.

And then we'll inhale to stretch the left hip forward.

And then we'll inhale to stretch the right hip forward.

And then we'll begin to do our pulses.

So we will inhale to straighten the front leg,

Press through the toes of the back foot,

And raise the hips.

And exhale to drive the knee over top of the ankle,

Sinking the heel of the back foot down toward the mat as hips sink down.

Inhale,

Rise up,

Straighten that front leg.

Exhale,

Continue at your own pace,

Placing all of your awareness in the working muscles of your legs,

The calves,

The quads,

The feet,

Every muscle that is assisting this movement,

Bring your full awareness to it,

And feel it entirely.

We have a tendency to send our awareness outside of ourselves when we are experiencing any difficulty,

Anything that is not easy,

Anything that doesn't feel good.

But allow yourself to be present with this sensation.

And your mind might think,

I don't like this very much.

I don't want to feel this.

I'd like to place my awareness elsewhere.

But let go of that narrative.

Let go of that idea that,

Oh,

This is a bad sensation.

This is an unpleasant sensation.

This is not an easy sensation.

Let go of that judgment of your thinking mind and simply witness it as sensation.

No discrimination of bad or good.

No judgment.

Simply sensation.

The next time that your hips are raised and your front leg is straight,

We'll go ahead and adjust the back foot,

Pointing toes out to the long edge of the mat and arranging our feet so that heel of the front foot is aligned with arch of the back foot.

We'll inhale,

Arms out to the sides,

Parallel to the ground,

Straightening through that front leg,

Tilting the hips back almost so the left hip is going to be rising up and the right hip is going to be sinking down.

So we're kind of tilting our hips toward the front of the mat.

We'll extend through that right arm,

Reaching forward toward the front of the mat,

And then exhale to drop the hand down,

Finding the quad,

The shin,

The ankle,

Or the foot,

Meeting yourself where you are,

Stacking left shoulder directly over right,

Extending hand toward the sky.

And if it's within your practice,

Looking up toward your fingertips,

Remaining strong,

Remaining present,

Remaining engaged,

Witnessing every working muscle in your body.

If the mind tries to wander and tries to escape the sensation,

Gently direct it back.

And on the next exhale,

We'll cartwheel the hands down to the mat,

Framing the foot,

Swiveling the back foot to come onto the toes,

And then we'll hop,

Step,

Or float the left foot to the top of the mat,

Meeting the right in a forward fold.

And we'll just hold this forward fold for a few breaths here,

Witnessing any changes in the body,

Any sensations that were there before that perhaps are not there now or vice versa,

Witnessing how your hamstrings may feel different now than they did at the beginning,

Just taking notice and taking inventory of the differences between this forward fold and the one that you did at the very beginning of the practice.

And once you've completed this round of breath,

We're going to come onto our bums.

So we're going to bend generously into the knees,

Coming into a sort of squat position,

Perhaps your heels lift off of the mat,

That's perfectly fine.

And then using your hands to support you as you slowly and graciously come onto your behind.

So once we're here and seated on our mat,

We're going to come into a cross-legged posture,

Perhaps easy pose,

Sukhasana,

Any easy cross-legged posture that is accessible for you,

And grounding down through the sit bones,

Feeling them firmly rooted to the mat,

To the floor,

To the earth.

If there's any flesh that is getting in the way between your sit bones and the mat,

You can always go ahead and pull it out of the way so that you can firmly feel yourself grounded.

From this position,

We're going to come into a spinal twist.

So we're going to inhale the arms up overhead,

We're going to initiate the twist from the base of our rib cage.

So taking care not to engage the lumbar spine or lower back in any way,

Simply initiating the twist from the base of the rib cage,

Turning to the right,

And stopping at that point where you can no longer twist,

Finding your edge,

And then dropping your hands down to assist you in the twist.

Left hand comes to the outside of the right leg,

While right hand drops to the floor behind you.

And all your hands are doing here is just holding you in place.

They're not forcing you into the twist,

They're not trying to push you further,

They're just holding you here,

They're just supporting you.

And if you choose,

You can look over that right shoulder and finding your breath here,

Breathing into every sensation.

We'll inhale,

Arms up overhead as we twist back to center.

We'll do one full round of breath here,

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

On the next inhale,

We'll extend crown of the head up toward the ceiling,

Perhaps we reach our fingertips up as well.

And then we'll exhale to twist to the left,

Initiating the twist from the base of the rib cage,

Finding your edge,

And then dropping the hands to hold you in place,

Supporting you in your spinal twist as you gaze over the shoulder,

If that's accessible for you,

Allowing the awareness to shine inward into the body,

Feeling the sensation in your spine,

Your ribs,

Anything and everything is worthy of your awareness.

It is worthy of your perception.

Allow yourself to witness it without judgment,

Simple awareness.

And then we'll inhale,

Arms up overhead,

As we begin to twist back to center.

Exhale,

Hands down through heart center.

And our last pose here for our present awareness path of practice is going to be a butterfly fold.

So we're going to bring the soles of our feet to meet in front of us,

Bringing the feet as close into the groin,

Or sending it as far away as is comfortable,

Taking notice of the sensation in the hips,

In the inner groin and in the quads,

And doing what your body is asking for.

Not trying to force it into something it doesn't want,

Or force it into something that doesn't feel right for you.

So bringing feet together,

The outer edge of the feet will touch while the soles open up toward the sky like a book.

We'll bring the hands to the shins or the ankles as we straighten the spine,

Extending crown of the head up toward the sky on the inhale.

And on the exhale,

We'll hinge forward from the hips,

Driving the navel toward the feet and stopping at your edge,

Stopping at that point where you can no longer comfortably fold.

And at this point,

You can simply hold on to the feet with a flat back.

Or if your body is calling for it,

You can send the arms out in front of you,

Palms face up toward the sky as you round the spine and fold over the feet,

Crown of the head turned down toward the earth.

Allow yourself to really breathe into the hip joints here.

Each inhale sends your breath directly to the hip joints,

Directly to the inner groin and the quad area.

And every exhale allows that area to soften,

To release and to surrender.

Notice how with each breath,

The hips soften and open up just a little more.

Maybe your body invites you to fold deeper.

And as we hold this static asana,

You can begin to bring your awareness to all of the points in which your body is making contact with the earth.

So bringing your awareness to the sit bones,

How the earth is supporting and holding you there,

Feeling your quads on the earth,

Feeling your feet,

The backs of your hands,

Still allowing the earth to hold you,

To support you,

Feeling it rise up to meet you where you are,

Allowing yourself to surrender to it.

Surrender to every sensation,

Everything that makes up your current and present experience of now.

Allow yourself to melt into it and become one with it.

You can slowly begin to straighten the spine now.

If you had your hands extended out in front of you,

You can bring them back to your feet or perhaps your ankles or shins.

As you find a flat spine,

Raise the torso back up.

Let's take one last full inhale and exhale together,

Breathing deep into the belly,

Feeling the expansion of the chest,

The expansion of the belly,

And exhaling out of the mouth,

Out of the mouth,

Sighing and relaxing into this present moment.

Whatever you go on to do,

Whatever activity you will pick up after this practice,

Try to see if you can keep yourself present in whatever it is that you're doing,

Keeping your awareness grounded in every sensation,

No matter what it is,

What you're touching,

What you're seeing,

What you're experiencing.

Allow yourself to just be grounded in that and see how that changes your experience of what you're doing,

Not allowing the mind to go elsewhere while your body is here and your mind is there.

Bring your mind into the same place as your body in everything that you do.

And in everything that you do,

I wish you harmony,

Peace,

And bless.

Namaste.

Reviews

Challenging for me as restarted yoga after many years but will add to my daily practice. Thank you

Just what I needed. Thank you so much.

Lovely class! Just the right length and level

Hello beautiful 🌺🎈🌺🎈🌺Thank you so much for the wonderful yoga session 🦋I’m feeling sweet presence and I’m smiling and enjoying 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste