The Alchemical Mix#1 | Earth | Slow-Flow Vinyasa

The first of a 5 class series devoted to the five elements of the yogic tradition, the Panchamahabhutas and it was recorded live.
A deep dive into the first element and its qualities and the many strategies yoga has to offer to address any deficiency or excess.
A dynamic and engaging asana sequence that will take you on a journey through the best standing poses to balance the Earth element as you move 360 degrees around the mat, mandala style.
Expect a little background noise.

Transcript

So this series is called the Alchemical Mix as the idea behind it is to provide you with a few tips,

A kind of a tool toolkit that will allow you to discern which elements are lacking and which elements are in excess present in our body and start changing the proportions,

So adding or taking away whatever is not present in sufficient quantity,

Whatever it is present in excess,

Thus becoming your own alchemist,

Which is why I named this series the Alchemical Mix.

So the idea is that by the end of the series you will know which elements are missing or present in excess and what you can do to restore balance.

We will move around the mat mandala style,

So 360 degrees,

The mandala is a circle and again this type of sequencing has been chosen deliberately as I believe that moving around the mat and shifting our perspective and also shifting the way we do things and you know doing things differently is good for the brain and it teaches us to inhabit our bodies fully,

Which is really one of the key teachings of the earth element and we will learn more about this as we go through the practice.

So it's a dynamic practice but it's a slow flow,

We begin from here,

So finding a comfortable seat,

If you have a couple of blocks,

I strongly recommend it,

If you don't,

Don't worry about it,

So finding a comfortable seat whatever that might be and closing the eyes,

So either cross-legged or sitting on the shins or even sitting on a block,

And we take up one moment here in silence to allow the dust of everything that I have said up until now and it's already a lot,

To settle,

Perhaps closing the eyes and taking the first few moments of this class to fully arrive in the here and now.

With your eyes closed,

If that works for you,

Turn the palms up and connect the thumb with the ring finger,

Thumb and ring finger of each hand,

Resting the back of the hands wherever is comfortable.

This is a Prithvi Mudra,

A hand gesture,

The word Prithvi means earth and this hand gesture activates the earth element,

The first of the great five known as the Pancha Vaha Bhutas,

The whole of creation on which we are also part of,

It's not made of five billion elements,

Not even five thousand or five hundred but just five,

Which is truly a miracle.

So as part of nature we're also made of these five elements and we connect and we experience the natural world all around us through the five senses.

So as you sit here at the grounding portion of this class,

Perhaps with your eyes closed,

Take a moment to connect with the earth element beneath you and with the sense of smell,

Perhaps taking in any smells,

Maybe you have some incense burning in there as well.

Connecting to the earth element by feeling the earth underneath you and taking in any smells that might be present in your sacred practicing space,

Your temple space.

Take a moment to swallow and connect with the water element inside you,

The hormone blood,

Wet,

Ears,

Actual fluids,

Natural fluids,

Eyes open or closed,

Visualize a bright red flame burning steadily in the middle of your belly and connect with the sense of sight,

Visualizing this bright red flame burning steadily in the center of your belly.

Place one hand onto the heart and the other hand on top,

Take a deep breath in and connect to the air element through the process of breathing and the sense of touch.

Release the hands,

Take rittvi mudra again,

Connecting thumb and ring finger,

Thumbs are up and start to connect with the space element all around you and with the sense of hearing,

Taking in any sounds near or far and as you're ready,

Release the mudra,

Open your eyes and come on to all fours first with the knees together,

Sit back onto your heel,

Begin to lower onto your torso with the arms reaching out,

See if you can hold the arches of your feet,

Releasing the forehead onto the earth,

Planting the seed of intention as you're laying in embryo pose.

The earth,

It's a very ground we walk upon,

Provides us with an endless bounty of beauty,

Food,

Color and fragrance all around us,

It is a playground.

As you're ready,

Begin to re-emerge from embryo pose and come on to all fours,

Tabletop position,

Hands and knees,

Tuck your toes under,

Stretching out the arches of the feet and we move through cat cow stretches,

Inhaling as your arch,

Exhaling as your round,

Arch,

Exhaling as your round,

Chin to chest,

Cat your spine and continue finding a rhythm that works for you,

Rounding and arching,

Synchronizing breath and movement,

And starting to connect with the earth beneath you and with all of the body parts that are touching the earth,

Three more rounds,

Last one,

Three,

From here walk your knees three inches further back than the hips,

Further behind,

Keep the toes tucked under and begin to draw circles,

Drawing the hips towards the right heel,

Doing a full circle coming up the left heel,

Sufi grinds,

Drawing circles with your hips around your knees,

Three in one direction and three in the other,

There's no right or wrong here,

So feel free to move naturally as your body wants to move,

Last one from left to right,

From here walk the knees under the hips,

Setting up for our first downward dog,

Close the mat with your finger pads,

Toes are tucked under,

Fill up with breath here,

Take a deep breath in and on the exhalation lift up and back into tiger dog,

If you don't know what tiger dog is,

No problem,

It's an invention by one of my teachers and it's with the knees bent and heels lifted,

Tilting the sit bones up and this will really allow you to lengthen your spine,

It's a great primer for asana practice,

So knees generously bent,

Heels lifted and sit bones tilting up,

Lengthen,

Lengthen,

Lengthen,

Four breaths here,

Ujjayi Pranayama,

Brushing the breath at the back of the throat on the inhale and exhale,

Two more breaths here,

Practice being still and quiet,

It's a super skill to have these days,

If you're ready you can start to reach the heels towards the earth or in that direction,

On an inhalation come high onto your toes and hinge forward into plank,

Shoulders over wrists,

Bodies parallel and begin to feel into the strength of your legs and your feet,

Exhale knees,

Chest and chin down,

Ashtangasana,

Bat his eye,

Elbows squeezing,

Release your body to the earth,

Press everything down,

Release your toes,

Reach forward and up for cobra,

Using the middle of the back,

Exhale lower,

Go through bent knees,

Back into downward facing dog,

Two more times like that,

Inhale hinge forward into plank like a wave,

Shoulders over wrists,

Exhale knees,

Chest and chin down,

Ashtangasana,

Inhale into cobra,

Release everything down,

All ten toe nails pressed down,

Exhale lower,

Go through bent knees,

Back into downward facing dog,

One more time in your own flow,

We'll meet in downward facing dog,

Two breaths,

Look forward and step your right foot to the outer right hand with the toes in a turnout,

Setting up for Malasana,

Left foot to your outer left hand with toes in a turnout and heels in,

Squat down,

Hands in prayer,

Use the elbows to pry the knees open,

Stay upright as best you can,

Again calling onto the power of the roots,

The legs and the feet,

The earth element governs all of the solid parts of our body,

That's the bones,

The teeth,

The nails,

The hair,

The large intestine,

The anus,

So the legs and the feet are the primary body parts governed by this element,

They are our roots,

That's what allows us to stand and so the key action of this class is a root to grow,

Which is also the key teaching of the earth element,

The stronger the roots,

The more stable the tree and the posture,

Release your hands down and turn your toes forward as you come into a forward fold,

Dutta Nasana with feet at distance makes it a lot easier on the low back and knees can stay bent but let the head go,

Three breaths here,

Again drawing strength from the earth,

When the earth element is lacking we feel ungrounded,

We feel scattered,

We feel anxious,

Which is very prevalent at the moment,

Especially after the last three years,

The feeling of ungroundedness is like somebody's taking the ground,

Has taken the ground from under your feet,

So take a moment to feel your feet firmly planted into the earth and draw strength from the great mother,

Zip up your belly,

So pull your belly in and up and start to come into standing,

Reaching the arms out and up as you come into standing,

Using the core and the legs primarily,

Join your prayer above your head and lengthen,

Exhale,

Prayer to the heart,

Equal standing pose,

So one of the most basic practices that we can do to ground the earth element and ground our energy is to have our feet on the ground,

Go to the beach,

Go to a park,

Take your shoes off,

Take your socks off and that will reduce inflammation immediately,

It's an incredible practice and it's free and it's available to everyone,

On an inhalation release the hands down,

Reach the arms out and up,

Hold your left wrist with your right hand and side bend to the right on an exhalation,

Press the left foot down and see if you can straighten both arms,

Inhale,

Come back to centre,

Hold your right wrist with your left hand and on the exhalation reach up and over to the left,

Move the chin away from the chest,

Press the right foot down,

It wants to get light in this pose,

Inhale,

Come back to centre,

Separate the arms,

Reach up,

Upward salute,

Exhale,

Bend your knees and swan dive down,

Stay high onto the fingertips,

Inhale into a halfway lift,

Exhale,

Step your right leg back,

Bring your right knee down,

Inhale,

Come upright with your torso for low lunge,

Hold your right wrist with your left hand and reach up and over to the left,

Pressing the left foot down,

Gentle twist towards the left ear with your torso,

Notice how this takes the stretch in a different part of the hip and the thigh,

Come back to centre,

Release the arms,

Reach up and on the exhalation both hands inside the left foot,

Listen up,

Lift your right knee up,

Do a quarter turn to the right and come to face the long edge of the mat,

You're in a wide-legged straddle,

Inhale into a halfway lift,

High onto the fingertips,

We press through the legs,

Exhale,

Bend the elbows if you can and bow a little bit deeper or keep the knees a little bit bent,

No problem,

Stay low to the earth and crawl to your right foot,

So turn your right foot forward,

Spin your left heel up,

Bring your left knee down,

Inhale,

Come on up into low lunge,

Hold your left wrist with your right hand and exhale,

Side bend to the right now,

Gentle twist of the torso towards the right,

So it's almost like a twist and a back bend,

Breathe deep into anything that you're feeling right now,

Turn your torso back to centre,

Reach the arms up,

Lengthen on an inhale,

Exhale,

Bring your hands down either side of the right foot,

Step back into plank,

Hold the plank for a moment,

Rebounding off the earth,

Feeling into the strength of the legs and the feet and the root to grow action,

The stronger the legs and the feet,

The more stable plank is,

Take another deep breath in and on the exhalation,

Knees chest and chin down,

So now you're facing the back of the mat,

Inhale into cobra,

Don't rush it,

Exhale go through,

Bend knees back into downward facing dog,

Lengthen,

Breathe,

Practice being still,

Return to your Ujjayi Pranayama,

Last breath,

Look forward and step your feet to your hands,

As many steps as it takes,

Inhale into a halfway lift,

High onto the fingertips,

Exhale fold in,

Inhale up to stand,

We go,

Zip up the belly,

Belly in and up,

Reach the arms out and up,

Join your prayer,

Exhale prayer to the heart,

Second side,

Inhale reach the arms out and up,

Exhale swan dive,

You can keep the knees bent,

Forward fold,

Inhale into a halfway lift,

High onto the fingertips,

Exhale left leg steps back,

Left knee down,

Inhale come upright with your torso,

Reach the arms out and up,

Hold your left wrist and on the exhalation side,

Bend to the right,

Gently twisting the torso towards the right,

Release,

Reach the arms up,

Separate the hands,

Look up and then bring both hands inside the right foot,

Lift your back knee up and again do a quarter turn,

Facing the long edge of the mat and this time if you can hold your ankles,

Inhale into a halfway lift,

Exhale maybe bending the elbows and folding a little bit deeper,

Maybe not,

Feel it out,

Release the hands down,

Crawl to face your left foot,

You're now facing the front of the mat,

Spin your left toes forward,

Right heel up,

Bring your right knee down,

Inhale arms reach out and up,

Hold your right wrist with your left hand and exhale,

Side bend to the left,

Gentle twisting of the torso to the left,

Come back to centre with your torso,

Separate the hands,

Reach up,

Release the hands down,

Lift your back knee up,

Step back into plank on an inhale,

Exhale knees,

Chest and chin down,

Inhale into cobra,

Pressing everything down to lift everything up,

Root to grow,

That's the key action and exhale,

Go and exhale,

Go through bent knees,

Back into downward facing dog for two breaths,

Take them as slowly as you possibly can,

Smoothing the transition,

Smoothing out the transitions between the inhale and the exhale,

Take two more breaths in stillness and quiet,

Exhale,

Look forward and step forward,

Fold forward,

Inhale,

Reach the arms out and up,

Join your prayer and exhale,

Prayer to the heart,

Namaste,

Equal standing pose,

Feet at distance,

Close the eyes and see if you can equally distribute your body weight between the right and left side of the body,

Feel your feet,

Your roots firmly planted onto the earth,

Feel the earth rising up to meet you,

No matter what,

When the earth element is present in excess,

With your heavy gravity bound,

Weighed down,

The earth element is the most dense of all elements,

Of all elements and so we need to add a little air and fire to the alchemical mix,

If the earth element is lacking we need to add water and space to the alchemical mix,

Release the hands down and take the drishti,

A focal point out in front of you,

Something that doesn't move,

Where you can fix your gaze,

It will help with balance,

Release the arms down,

Bring the hands onto the hips and bring your left knee into the chest,

Hug it in,

Hug it in and again firm up your standing leg and feel the earth beneath you,

Feel the strength of your right leg and right foot,

Pull the belly in and up and stay upright as best you can,

From here see if you can hold your ankle and three options here,

We're setting up a tree pose,

Left sole of the foot inside your inner right thigh or the calf or keeping the foot down with the toes down and the heel by the ankle,

So do what works,

Avoid the knee joint,

Wherever you are press the foot into the thigh and the thigh into the foot and engage your right glute as the tendency is to push the hips out to the right,

On an inhalation lift the arms out and up,

Overhead,

It's your left arm releases onto the left leg,

Side bend to the left,

Leaning tree,

Right arm is alongside the right ear,

Here you really need to push the thigh into the foot and the foot into the thigh,

Come back to centre,

Release the right arm down,

Bring your hands onto your hips,

Bring the left knee into the chest again,

Make sure you're breathing,

Bend into your right knee and begin to lean forward,

Reaching the left leg behind you,

Straighten the leg,

Push through the heel and spread through the toes,

Variation of warrior three,

Bend into your right knee,

Step your left leg back into a high lunge as gracefully as you can and bend into your right knee a little bit deeper,

Arms are by the side of the body,

On an inhalation reach the arms out and up and begin to lean forward with your torso in a diagonal with arms alongside the ears,

Exhale come upright with your torso and open the arms out to the sky,

Palms up and we do this three more times,

Inhale reach,

Torso in a diagonal,

Right foot is pressing down,

Right leg is strong,

Exhale come upright and open your wings,

Palms up,

Two more times in your own flow,

Last time,

Release your hands down at either side of the right foot and step back into three-legged downward dog with the right leg up,

Bend your knees,

Keep the shoulder square,

It's only the right pelvis that opens to the right,

Exhale,

From your inhale straighten your right leg,

Exhale bend,

Inhale straighten,

Exhale bend,

Inhale straighten,

Exhale bend,

Square your hips,

Straighten your right leg towards the sky and on an exhalation step through with your right foot,

Spin your back foot flat,

Warrior two feet,

Bend into your right knee,

Left arm carries you up,

You are in warrior two,

Take a moment,

Settle in,

Again feel into the strength of your roots,

Your legs and your feet,

Anything that touches the ground,

Bend the elbows and hold the opposite elbows with the right forearm in front,

Belly is super strong here,

Take an inhalation and try and bring your right elbow to your right knee,

Exhale left elbow towards your left hip,

So it's like a tug of war,

Continue,

Side bending to the right and to the left,

Keep your core strong,

One more time on each side,

One more time to the right,

One more time to the left and stay leaning back,

Release the arms,

Right arm up,

Left arm down,

Reach the arms in opposite directions,

Take all the space that you created into the right side and place your right hand inside your right foot or onto a block,

You can stay high onto the fingertips,

See if you can spin the left thumb down and wrap it around behind you,

Finding your inner right thigh,

Perhaps wrapping the right arm around and finding your left hand or bound parasvakonasana,

If you have the bind,

Reach the left shoulder towards the sky,

Move the chin away from the chest,

Release the bind and place your right hand below your right knee,

Straighten your right leg to your own degree,

Reach your left arm towards the sky,

Trikonasana,

Standing poses literally teach us to stand on our own two feet,

So that the best pose is to balance the earth element,

Take one more breath here,

Release the left hand down,

Frame your right foot,

Which means hands on either side of the right foot,

Spin your left heel up,

So now you're onto your left toes,

Step back into plank,

Exhale knees,

Chest and chin down,

Release your body to the earth,

Listen up,

Release the toes,

Hands are by the side of the chest for cobra,

Draw the shoulders down and back,

Bend your left knee,

All five toenails are pressing into the earth and reach forward and up with your chest,

For this variation of cobra,

With the left knee bent,

Two more breaths,

From here,

Keep the legs as they are,

Left leg is bent,

Roll onto your right hip,

Bringing the left foot behind you,

With the left leg bent,

Come up onto your right arm,

Exhale right toes to shins,

Right leg is super super straight,

Release the left hand down for now as well,

Walk the right hand two or three inches further forward than the shoulders,

Fingertips are pointing straight forward and again,

Root to grow,

Press everything down to lift everything up,

Lift your hips,

You're on the outer edge of the right foot,

If available,

Reach the left arm alongside the left ear for wild thing,

Again,

Feel into the strength of your roots and root to grow,

Release,

Come back into plank,

Hold the plank and exhale downward dog,

From here,

Shakti waves,

If you don't know what they are,

No problem,

You're coming high onto your toes,

Hinge forward into plank,

Shoulders over wrists,

Bend the knees and press back,

So you're melting waves with your spine,

Take two more,

Flashing out the sequence,

The last one,

Downward facing dog on an inhalation,

Lift your right leg straight up and back,

Keep it straight as an arrow,

Spread the toes and push through the heel and on an exhalation,

Step through,

Stay low to the earth,

You might need some blocks here,

May want to put two blocks in front of you on the highest setting,

Place your hands onto the blocks,

Step onto your right leg,

Lifting the left leg behind you at the height of the glute,

So it's a standing split variation,

Right knee can stay bent,

Level up the hips though,

Place your hands onto your hips,

Perhaps releasing into airplane arms,

Warrior three with airplane arms,

Perhaps going for the full pose,

Reaching the arms forward in line with the ears,

Embrace the trembling and the wobbling,

It's part of the practice and without changing anything,

Start to come upright with your torso,

Bringing the left knee into the chest,

Arms are still alongside the ears,

Hug your left knee in,

Hold your left ankle,

The left foot in your inner right thigh,

Left arm onto the left leg,

Right arm alongside the right ear,

Leaning three,

Reach both arms towards the sky,

Join your prayer,

You're still in three,

Still lower the arms and lower the foot,

Back to home base,

Samasthiti,

You take a deep breath in through the nose and exhale out of the mouth,

Do this one more time,

Go to cell suite and the assuring is to have two feet,

Two legs onto the earth,

There is nothing more effective than taking something away temporarily to make us appreciate it a little bit more,

So after balancing on one leg,

The whole of this wave,

Notice how sweet it is to feel stable with two legs and two feet on the earth,

Bring your eyes open,

Getting ready for the second side,

Perhaps moving a little quicker,

On inhalation,

Reach the arms out and up,

Exhale,

Bend your knees and forward fold,

Inhale into a halfway lift and exhale,

Forward fold,

Inhale,

Reach the arms out and up,

Come into standing,

Join your prayer and lengthen,

Exhale,

Create refreshed and renewed to the second side,

Take a focal point,

Super important for balance,

It gives the mind something to do,

Place your hands onto your hips and bring the right knee into the chest,

Now hug it in,

Stay upright as best you can,

You can have a little bend into the left knee but the left leg is strong,

Hold your right ankle for tree pose,

Right sole of the foot in your inner left thigh,

The calf or the earth,

Right arm releases onto the right thigh,

Left arm alongside the left ear,

Take a deep breath in and on the exhalation,

Side bend to the right,

Leaning tree,

Pushing the foot into the thigh and the thigh back into the foot and back to centre,

Both arms reach,

Release the foot,

Bring the right knee into the chest,

Place the hands onto your hips,

Bend into your left knee and begin to hinge forward,

Reaching your right leg behind you,

Straighten it as best you can,

Bend into your left knee and step back as gracefully as you can into a high lunge,

Arms release by the side and here we go with our flow,

Inhale,

Reach the arms out and up and lean forward with your torso,

With the arms alongside the ear,

So you're in a diagonal,

That's your inhale,

Exhale,

Come back up and open the palms to the sky,

Arms are in a T,

Three more times in your own flow with your own breath,

Last time,

Release the hands down at either side of the left foot and step back into three-legged downward dog with the left leg up,

The knee stack the hip but keep the shoulder square,

So it's only the pelvis that opens to the left,

Inhale,

Bend,

Inhale,

Straighten,

Excuse me,

The left leg,

Exhale,

Bend,

Inhale,

Straighten,

Exhale,

Bend,

Inhale,

Straighten,

Exhale,

Bend,

Draw the knee towards the earth,

So square your hips,

Re-extend the left leg,

On an inhale and exhale,

Step through,

Right foot spins flat,

Warrior two feet,

Right arm carries you up,

Warrior two,

Take a moment,

Take a moment,

Arms reach in opposite direction,

Check your alignment,

Remember the more stable the roots,

The more steady the asana and the structure,

Bend the elbows with the left forearm in front and here we go with our tug of war,

Inhale,

Left elbow towards the left knee,

Side bend to the left,

Exhale,

Side bend to the right,

Three more times,

One more time to the left and to the right,

Stay leaning to the right,

Release the arms in opposite direction,

Right arm down,

Left arm up,

Reach,

Reach,

Reach,

Take all the space that you created onto the left side,

Waist,

Place your left hand inside the left butt or a block,

Stay high onto the fingertips,

Reach your right arm behind you,

Spin the thumb down and see if you can half bind,

Maybe full bind,

Wrapping the left arm around and finding your right fingertips,

Wherever you are,

Reach both side ribs towards the sky and move the chin away from the chest,

Taking this time to feel,

Release the bind,

Place your left hand just below your knee and straighten your left leg to your own degree,

Reach the right arm up,

Trikonasana variation,

Radiating from all limbs,

Notice that the stronger your feet are pressing down,

The more you can expand and blossom,

Just like a tree,

Release the hands at either side of the left foot,

Spin your right heel up,

Step back into plank,

Fill up with breath,

Exhale,

Step back into plank,

Fill up with breath,

Exhale,

Knees,

Chest and chin down,

Release your body to the earth,

Release everything down,

Bend your right leg,

Press the top of the left foot down and inhale,

Reach forward and up for this variational cobra with the right leg bent,

Draw the shoulders down and back,

Take an extra breath here,

Squeeze the elbows in,

Again press everything down to lift everything up,

Root to grow,

It's the key action and roll onto your left leg,

Stepping your right foot behind you with the right leg bent,

Come up right with your torso,

Walk the left hand further forward,

Keep the right hand down for support for now,

Feel left toes to shin,

You can stay high onto the right toes and press everything down to lift everything up for wild thing,

Really straighten that left leg and push the left heel up,

Reach up and back,

Release,

Come back into plank and lifting from the strength of the core,

Press back into downward facing dog,

Shakti waves here,

Inhale,

Hinge forward into plank,

Bend the knees and press back,

Making waves with the spine,

Three more,

Notice what's happening to the breath and normalize the breath,

Last wave,

Downward facing dog,

Inhale,

Left leg lifts,

Exhale,

Step three,

Blocks or non-blocks,

You may want to wish to place the blocks or do this sequence without the blocks,

You can stay high onto the fingertips,

The hands are right in front of the left foot,

Step onto your left leg with the right leg behind you,

Variation of standing split,

Reach your chest forward and push the right heel out,

From here you may be able to bring your hands onto your hips and lift your torso so your body is parallel to the earth,

From here you may be able to reach the arms all the way forward for the full pose,

Warrior three,

Stay as you are and come into standing pendulum,

The right leg next to the left foot,

Keep the leg floating,

Bring the knee into the chest,

Hug it in,

Right sole of the foot in your inner left thigh,

A tree,

Right arm onto the right leg,

Left arm alongside the left ear,

Fill up with breath here and exhale,

Leaning tree,

Leaning to the right,

Come upright with your torso,

Reach both arms up,

Join your prayer and exhale,

Lower the arms and the foot,

May feel nice to shimmy and shake a little bit here,

It may feel nice to take some breath in through the nose and out of the mouth,

And really taking this time to revel in the stillness,

Noticing the contracts,

The contrast between the two movement and stillness,

So perhaps sensing still,

Some movement in the stillness and some stillness in the movement,

So you can balance the earth element with asana practice,

With food,

Time in nature,

Animals,

Anything that connects you to the earth and to your physical body,

So just like the earth is our home,

Our bodies are the homes of our spirit,

And so to lose the connection to the earth and to our bodies is to become spiritually homeless,

The words of Anodya Judith,

I feel there is a huge disconnect between us and the earth,

We somehow lost our way,

We're no longer in tune with mother nature,

Your asana practice,

Your yoga practice is one way to re-establish the sacred union,

Release the hands down by the side of the body,

Inhale,

Reach the arms out and up,

Exhale,

Bend your knees and come into a forward fold,

Inhale into a half windmill,

And exhale,

Step back into your last downward facing dog,

Lengthen,

Growing strength from the great mother,

From here,

Bring your feet to touch behind you on an inhalation,

Lift your right leg up,

Straight up and back,

See if you can keep it straight as an arrow,

And exhale,

Step your right leg through for a low lunge,

Hands on either side of the right foot,

Take an inhalation and on the exhalation,

Slide your left knee to your outer right foot and come into a seated position,

Ardha Matsyangasana,

Ensure that both sitting bones are rooted,

I actually like to root them with my hands,

Right hand is behind you,

Left arm reaches towards the sky on an inhalation and exhale,

Twist to the right,

Bringing the left elbow to your outer right knee or simply hugging the right knee in and twisting to the right,

Place your hands to your outer left thigh,

Super fun thing to do here,

It may work or it may not,

Have some fun with it and then lift up,

Lift up and do a full circle towards the back of the mat and come back down and you should have the left leg on top now and if you don't,

Just lean back,

Open your legs Broadway style and cross the opposite leg on top,

Ensuring that both sitting bones are rooted,

Left arm behind you,

Left hand behind you,

Use it as a backrest,

Inhale,

Reach your right arm towards the sky,

Exhale,

Twist to the right,

Either right elbow to your outer left knee or simply hugging the left knee,

Left,

Unwind,

Bring your hands down and lift up and step back one more time into your downward facing dog,

Lengthen,

Inhale,

Hinge forward into plank and bring your knees down,

Bring your whole body down,

Face down,

Belly down,

Release the toes,

Reach the arms forward with the palms up,

Rest the third eye onto the earth,

Full dandapranam,

Full prostration,

Offering it all out,

Back to the earth,

Offering the merits of this practice for the benefit of all,

Bowing also to this great mystery of life,

As you're ready,

Roll onto your back,

Setting up for bridge pose,

Option to take a supported back bend with a block under your sacrum,

If you're coming with me,

Release the arms by the side of the body,

With the palms down,

Legs and feet at distance and the legs are parallel like railway tracks tracks and here we reconnect to a key action,

Root to grow or root to rise,

So take a deep breath in and on the exhalation,

Press everything down and lift your hips,

Lower back,

Upper back,

Middle back off the earth for bridge pose,

Engaging your inner thighs,

So the legs and the feet and the roots,

More than the glutes to lift up,

You may have the space to shrug one shoulder and then the other,

Clasping the fingers and again pressing everything down to lift everything up,

Root to grow,

Simply breathe here,

Eight breaths,

Ujjayi Pranayama,

Brushing the breath at the back of the throat,

Last two breaths here,

Perhaps getting a little more lift,

Perhaps not,

The last breath,

Release the bind if you have it and lower down slowly,

Upper back,

Middle back,

Low back,

Open your feet as wide as the mat and bring the knees to touch,

One hand on the heart,

One hand on the belly,

Close your eyes,

Pose and feel,

Feel,

Without opening the eyes,

Cross the right leg over the left,

You may be able to do a double wrap,

Wrapping,

Crossing the ankles as well,

Do what works and then right arm under the left eagle arm,

Double wrap or single wrap or holding opposite shoulder,

Again do what works,

Take a deep breath in and bring your elbows towards your knees,

Lifting your torso towards your knees,

Keep the feet lower than the knees and crunch,

Release the shoulders back down,

Keep the legs as they are,

Unravel the arms,

If you've got a double wrap,

Take it out,

Take one cross out but keep the right thigh over the left and drop your knees to the left,

Turn the head to the right,

Come back to centre with your knees and switch,

Left leg over the right eagle legs,

Double wrap,

Single wrap,

Feel it out and left arm under the right,

Same thing,

Choose your variation,

Take a deep breath in and on the exhalation crunch,

Bringing the elbow towards the knees,

Lifting the shoulders off the earth and keeping the feet lower than the knees,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Release the feet down,

Keep the legs as they are,

Take the double wrap out if you have it,

Open the arms in a T and drop your knees to the right,

Turn your head to the left and as you're ready,

Come back to centre,

Arm level and settle into Shavasana,

Your final resting pose,

Allowing your body to melt into the earth,

Feeling the earth molding itself around the bony contour of your body temple,

Allowing yourself to become heavier and heavier,

Knowing that you're held by the nurturing embrace of mother earth,

As you lay here,

Allow yourself to receive this form by sadguru,

This particular poem honours the earth,

The soil that you walk upon,

Soil that you treat as dirt,

The magical material that turns into leaf,

Flower and fruit,

All that you know as life,

Was at one time held in the eternal pregnancy of the sacred soil,

Mother to some,

Dirt to some other,

The sacred source of all,

The life encasing cage of the body is but the soil,

The soil,

Allow these words to marinate,

To sink in,

Take this time to simply rest,

Just offering anything that does not belong in your body temple to the earth,

She knows what to do with it,

I invite you to stay in Shavasana as long as you can,

Mindful of time,

We have overrun a little,

I don't want to steal anything away from you,

But you can stay in Shavasana or you can slowly start to bend your knees and roll onto one side and please pose in fetal position,

If you're coming out,

Notice how you feel,

And before you get up,

Send the earth and all of its inhabitants,

Which includes yourself,

A silent blessing,

May all beings everywhere be happy and free and that includes me,

That includes all of us,

As you're already coming to a seated position,

Perhaps the eyes are closed,

Bringing the hands in a prayer position in front of the heart,

Bowing the head to the heart,

Thank yourself for showing up,

Thank you for practicing with me,

Namaste