Flow - A Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Class

Flow state is one many of us strive to find. This class includes a dharma talk, movement, exploring the EDGE, time to drop in, moving meditation, and contemplation. Bring a journal to write down your thoughts at the end. The Phoenix Rising Method is a holistic healing art used to deepen awareness and presence.
Class theme: Flow. Includes all 6 phases. Metta Prayer written by Michael Lee, expanded and read by Janay Robinson.

Transcript

So welcome to our class on flow.

Standing on your mat,

Hands on your belly,

Either close your eyes or look down.

When I was preparing this class,

I thought a lot about what exactly is flow.

And when I thought about it,

I felt that I have experienced flow when I've had a runner's high or when time had slipped away with laughter and conversation.

I've described flow by saying time flies when you're having fun,

But how do we get there?

What is the letting go process of flow?

And I believe that it's different for all of us.

Flow can feel freeing or scary.

I've reprimanded myself for wasting time in flow.

And the other thing I thought about was,

Can we schedule flow without resistance or can we experience flow without resistance?

As soon as we notice flow,

We get out of flow.

Awareness that there is flow state and grasping what it means to you when you are in it and out of it is the best place that I felt to start.

Like,

When am I in flow?

Can I somewhat grasp it?

When am I out of flow?

Can I notice when I'm out of flow,

That resistance piece?

And can I just maybe let go a little bit?

And so today I'd like to explore what it means in your body.

When is flow easy?

What is happening to you?

And there's a quote that I wanted to read and it's by someone unknown.

They said,

Like your body flows from one yoga posture to another,

So flows the edges,

The experiences of your life.

And I felt that that summed it out pretty well.

I'm gonna have you just remove your hands from your belly,

Just let your hands come to your side.

If you'd like to open your eyes,

You can.

I'm just moving to my mat.

As you take a deep breath in,

Lift your shoulders up to your ears.

And as you exhale,

Let your arms just flop down and do that a few times.

Inhale,

Shoulders up to ears,

Exhale,

Let the arms fall down.

This is your pace,

Your practice.

If you wanna really scrunch for a little while as you inhale really deeply and then let your arms go,

You can,

Or if you just wanna move up and down,

That's fine too.

And maybe this can even start to turn into a roll.

So lifting your shoulders up and rolling back or just dropping down.

Listen to your body.

If you decide to roll,

Go forward and back,

Explore one arm and then the other.

Or if you decide to just continue to lift and lower,

Do what feels best for you.

We'll do a couple more.

So if you need to feel even,

Take time to feel even and then just shake your arms to the side,

Bring hands to head and begin to move the head side to side.

Eyes can be closed or open and somehow connect breath to body.

And if you want to roll the head forward and around,

That might feel good.

Or if you want to look up and roll from behind and there's even an option to make full circles as you breathe and move your head and then come back side to side,

Come back center and allow the hands to slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly come back down to the thighs.

Like to speed it up just a little bit,

Bringing hands in front of you,

Doing one inhale,

Sip,

Arms out to the side,

Another inhale,

Sip,

Arms up to the ceiling,

Another inhale,

Sip and then exhaling,

Letting it all go as you bend the knees and just throw everything down.

So it looks like sip,

Sip,

Sip.

Those are all inhales and let it go.

Sip,

Sip,

Sip.

You can bend the knees.

You can really let go of the torso and the head if you would like,

Or if this is a slow,

Flowy movement for you today,

You get to decide.

One more time,

Sip,

Sip,

Sip.

Exhale and just let it all hang.

Let the head go.

Shake the head,

Shake the shoulders,

Bend the knees.

From here,

Grab a hold of the ankles and bend the knees down so the elbows are on the outer edges of the knees.

Belly can come down towards the thighs as we inhale,

Exhale.

We're gonna bring the hips up towards the ceiling and then we're gonna inhale.

We're gonna bend back down and we're gonna straighten knees any amount.

Last one and then slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly start to come up,

Reaching the arms all the way up and coming back down.

From here,

We're just gonna bring the arms up and we're just gonna do a nice little back bend here and then we're going to swan dive down.

So we're gonna hinge from the hips,

Bringing the hands towards the floor,

Shins or thighs,

Inhaling as we create a nice straight back in a half lift,

Exhaling as we come back down and then reverse swan diving all the way up.

Hands come to heart center and we'll do that again.

Inhale,

Arms up,

Nice back bend,

Forward fold,

All the way down forward,

Letting the hands reach toward the floor,

Shins or thighs.

Inhale,

Hands to the thighs,

Straightening out the back in a half lift.

Exhale all the way down and then inhale all the way up that reverse swan dive,

Hands to heart center.

And I'm gonna let you do this at your own pace.

I'm gonna do a little bit of a slower pace.

So if you'd like to watch me,

Then that's fine.

If there's another part of this vinyasa that you would like to add to it,

If it's already in your practice,

Feel free to go into plank,

Upward dog,

Downward dog,

Whatever it is that you would like to do.

Connect breath to body,

We'll do one more.

So either finish where you are or complete this last round.

Bringing hands to the side,

Palms facing forward,

Take a few breaths there.

I'm just coming to the computer.

Feel your body,

Feel your body and hands can come to heart center if you would like or to the waist,

Transfer most of your weight to one side,

One leg.

So we're gonna come into that one legged position.

The opposite foot,

The one that doesn't have all the weight on can kickstand next to the opposite ankle,

Or you can slide it up to the calf or above the knee to the inner thigh as you balance.

If you're feeling pretty steady and want to bring in a little more flow,

Bring the arms up and move them side to side.

See if your tree can withstand a little bit of wind.

Continue to breathe.

And if you fall out,

Come right back in and then bring hands back to heart center,

Release the leg,

Shake out the body and make your way to the other side,

Putting the weight on the opposite foot,

Either kickstanding.

And this time,

Let's see if you can find an edge.

Maybe the edge is the movement,

You know,

That flowing,

Maybe that's an edge,

Something to really focus on,

Or maybe it is that grounding down and that rising up,

Or maybe there's a different sensation altogether.

Feel into the shape and explore,

Explore for a while.

Where do I wanna be?

Where can I find an edge?

Where is it?

And when you establish where it is,

Begin to engage and notice what is all there.

What is there?

What is underneath the sensation?

Is there an emotion?

Is there a feeling?

Notice the energy that's with you in this moment.

Continue to look after your body.

And if you lose the edge,

See if you can come back to it,

Come back to the edge.

So that might mean coming out,

Might need to shake a leg a little bit,

Come back in.

And where can we soften the edge and create some sort of an embrace of this moment,

Being here in this body and then releasing it all,

Letting it all go.

And from here,

Taking a nice inhale in,

Rolling the shoulders back and opening up the arms as you press the chest forward,

Lifting up the chin.

As you inhale,

Round the shoulders,

Bringing the arms in,

Tucking the chin and creating that flow of this open heart,

Chin lifted,

Arms out,

Big inhale to chin down,

Arms tucked in as you exhale and find your way going back and forth,

Inhaling and exhaling.

Make it as big or as small as you would like.

And looking for an edge here.

Is the edge that big open hearted position or is the edge that close tight bud or is it somewhere in between?

And when you feel that you have found it,

Stay there for a little while and begin to engage your body here.

What's happening as you engage your body here?

Check in with your body.

What is here?

Can I be okay with the way that it is right here?

Can I sustain it?

Can I play in the edge?

Can I create a little bit of play here?

What does that look like?

And can I choose to accept me right here,

Right now?

Take a deep breath in as you feel this edge,

Let it go and let everything release.

Let it all release,

Wiggle the body,

Roll the shoulders,

Kick the feet.

And I'm going to invite you to do some free movement here.

Maybe there's a really great yoga pose that you really want to do.

Maybe you just wanna dance around a little bit or create that full body wiggle that we've done in past classes.

Notice what is bubbling up here.

Is that an edge?

Is that an edge to create?

Is there an edge to be different?

Or is this that flow state where you feel that freedom?

And notice what you're feeling.

Are you feeling flexibility,

Strength,

Passion?

Or are you feeling like you're really not sure where you wanna go next?

Let it all be here.

Continue to breathe.

This is you in your skin.

Hello,

Body.

Hello,

Body.

Find your way on the floor,

On your back.

Bring anything that you need.

If you need anything to put underneath your knees.

And as you are laying down,

Take some time to just kind of pat your body.

So you can pat your thighs,

Your knees,

Your arms,

Even your cheeks.

You can do this hard or soft,

Whatever feels good in your body.

Just pat your body.

Here I am.

Here's my body.

This is me.

Maybe patting turns into rubbing or brushing.

Get creative here.

Maybe there's a little sound like,

Ah,

Get creative.

What's here?

And then embrace your body somehow.

That might be just with your arms.

That could be rolling a ball,

Whatever you decide.

And begin to rock gently side to side.

Is there any amount of love and compassion that you can transfer into this body as you embrace?

And if you're in a ball,

Release your feet to the floor.

Knees are still bent.

And bring those feet wide on your mat.

And just windshield wiper the legs side to side.

And as you windshield wiper the legs,

Begin to hang out on the edges.

So you go to one side,

Hang out there for a little bit.

Feel what's there.

Come on over to the other side and hang out over there too.

What's over there?

And then you can find a pace.

If this is something you like to move quickly through,

Move quickly through.

And then come back to feeling those edges on the sides.

There's no right or wrong way to do this as long as you're taking care of your body,

Listening,

Begin to drop in to yourself.

What am I feeling here on those edges?

And then allow the body to rest,

Whatever that looks like.

What does rest feel like,

Look like to you?

Let it all go.

Let it all be.

You connect with that still point that's inside of you,

That deep place inside of you that is still.

And what's there when you listen,

When you really listen to that still point?

And is there something in the way of the still point?

There's something in the way,

Notice that too.

Allow it to be there too.

What is true here?

Notice what's happening as you engage feelings,

Thoughts,

And sensations.

If the mind is taking over,

Stay with the breath,

Stay with the body,

Stay in the present moment.

Can flow be in stillness?

Can you connect maybe just with the flow of your breath?

What is being welcomed and what is being pushed away?

Without disconnecting from that still point that is inside or the dropped in feelings that are here,

Make your way to a cross-legged position on your mat,

If that is possible.

If you need a chair,

You can sit in a chair as well.

It's best if you can be on the long side of your mat.

So the long side of the mat is stretching out right to left,

Not front to back.

And I would like for you to experience a moving meditation for our meditation portion.

You can do something different than what I'm offering you.

So you can meet this in stillness if you'd like and flow with the breath.

Or if you would like to create flow with your body in this moving meditation,

I invite you to take your left hand,

Place it onto the mat as the right hand comes up and over the head and you stretch over to that left side.

And then right hand comes down onto the mat,

Left hand comes up and over the head as you stretch to the other side.

Staying as inward as possible,

Connecting breath to body,

Creating your own moving meditation.

Again,

I welcome you to adjust,

Change or shift anything that you need as you are in this moving meditation.

As you breathe in,

Notice your body.

As you breathe out,

Be with your body.

Breathe in,

Notice your body as it moves,

As it flows.

Breathe out,

Be with your body as it moves,

As it flows.

As you slow everything down,

Come to stillness.

And again,

Breathe in and notice body.

Breathe out,

Be with body.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Follow the flow of your breath as you notice your body,

As you be with your body,

Accepting the right here,

Right now.

Bring your awareness to your feet and your seat.

Bring your awareness to the expansion of the world around you.

Bring your awareness to your hands on your body.

And place one or both hands somewhere on your body.

Might be your heart,

It might be your belly,

It might be somewhere else.

And feel into the softness there,

The warmth,

Any coolness you might feel,

Bones,

Skin or clothing.

Connect into you here and be with whatever is flowing right now.

Notice being in the flow of the moment.

And ask yourself what insight is available here?

What insight is available here?

Bring your hands down to your side or your lap.

Wiggle your shoulders a little bit.

Stretch your arms,

Your legs,

Your ankles,

Your toes.

And coming into your head,

Going forward,

What is the opportunity for great truth in your life?

And how might you act wisely to engage that truth?

And what can you release to find that flow in life that awaits you?

What is a supportive action that you can take to do that?

And as that marinates within,

Place your hands at heart center,

Head down,

Eyes closed or looking down.

I'd like to finish with our metta prayer.

May you find peace in your heart.

May you find compassion and love for yourself and your human imperfections.

May you acknowledge your divinity and the deep well of love within you.

May you find compassion for all beings and acknowledge our interbeing.

May you flourish in life and find contentment,

Equanimity,

And flow.

May I find peace in my heart.

May I find compassion and love for myself and my human imperfections.

May I acknowledge my divinity and the deep well of love within me.

May I find compassion for all beings and acknowledge our interbeing.

May I flourish in life and find contentment,

Equanimity,

And flow.

May all beings find peace in their heart.

May all beings find compassion and love for themselves and their human imperfections.

May they acknowledge their divinity and the deep well of love within them.

May they find compassion for all beings and acknowledge our interbeing.

May they flourish in life and find contentment,

Equanimity,

And flow.

You have your journal.

Take some time and write.

What is flowing right now?

What insight is available here?

And going forward,

What is the opportunity for great truth in your life?

How might you act wisely to engage that truth?

And what can you release to find that flow in life that awaits you?

And what is a supportive action that you can take to do that?

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you, this was so dear to my Heart, Breath and Pranic Body. I truly needed a sweet Phoenix Rising session.

Hello beautiful 🎀🌸🎀🌸🎀Thank you so much for the wonderful flowing 💜it gives me glimmers all over and sweet smiles🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste