Yoga For Collective Trauma

This at home yoga practice is created for you to be able to do on your own and designed with many types of people in mind. Ideally, the title will bring many people to the yoga mat and it will provide tools for healing, understanding, connection, and recovery.

Yoga is beneficial for healing from trauma in so many ways and on so many levels. Trauma stays in the body, not just the mind. This is a space to move through it....together.

Transcript

Hello dear yogis and friends.

I am so excited to share this space with you today and to practice with you and to really give a message that feels really important to me and really imperative to my own journey at the moment.

And you know that truly I feel is the way that we teach the most effectively is when we teach what it is that we're learning at the moment.

And in very uncertain times in 2020 with COVID,

Not only you know is an uncertain time because of what is happening on the greater collective,

But it's an uncertain time for so many of us in our lives as things are shifting constantly.

And this practice today is really a practice of moving that trauma through the body,

That collective trauma,

That individual trauma.

And this doesn't have to mean some very blunt force one time act.

It trauma is what lives in the body either cumulatively or an event that can occur to us that so profoundly you know transforms our way of living that our perspectives and our lives are shifted because of this.

And I think that we're all moving through a great time of uncertainty and a great time of really trauma moving through the body.

And so it gets locked in our you know it gets locked in our fascia which is the tissues of the body.

It gets locked in our posture and in our breath and in our communication dynamic with the people in our lives.

And yoga gives us a space,

A container as you may call it,

A container for self-expression through embodiment and through that connection with the breath.

And so today's practice is going to be one of great embodiment and of opening the hearts and really not only just opening our heart to the world around us but opening our heart to ourselves and allowing ourselves to feel and allowing ourselves to feel expansive and large as we're on the yoga mat.

So as you move through this practice today you always have choice to come down to the yoga mat,

Take a child's pose or just stop in the Anshabhasana if you need to and just listen to the words,

Set some beautiful music off to the side so that you could hear something that brings you back to that safe container that you've created for yourself and give yourself a lot of love and acceptance.

This is not an easy time for anyone at the moment and it's definitely not an easy time for you.

So I invite you to let this practice to be one of self-healing and self-love and no matter what's happened to you or no matter what you've done,

Let yourself be forgiven today and let yourself forgive and just allow yourself to arrive in your body and in your breath and in your heart.

Okay,

So let's go ahead and start standing,

That being said,

You can have a yoga mat or yoga block off to the side and as you stand at the front of your yoga mat,

Let the arms fall down alongside the body,

You can shut the eyes down or look forward and let the shoulders relax down the back,

Press the feet into the earth and just begin to orient yourself to the space you may look around if you've got the eyes open.

I'm in a beautiful Japanese tea house so maybe you're in an apartment in the city or you're outside but just look at this space that you have,

The space that supports you this morning and come back into center,

Shut the eyes down and bring one hand to heart,

One hand to belly.

So just accepting that nothing magical has to happen here today and just allow yourself to arrive to be,

That is the magic.

Take a deep breath in through the nostrils,

Deep sigh out of the mouth.

Open the eyes,

Inhale,

Reach up and exhale hands to heart center,

So allowing ourselves to get expansive and then to pull that energy back in.

Inhale,

Reach up,

Expand,

Open the heart and exhale hands to heart,

Shoulder blades down the back,

Inhale,

Reach,

Expand and exhale,

Pull to the heart.

Inhale,

Reach up,

Exhale,

Twist to the right,

Right hand down the back,

Thigh,

Left arm stretching up and over.

So keep the hips,

The hip points square towards the front of the room.

Inhale,

Reach up,

Exhale,

Left hand down the back,

Thigh,

Right arm stretching up and over.

Inhale,

Reach up and exhale,

Bow down,

Slight bend in the knees,

Feet apart.

Take an inhale,

Come up halfway,

Hands to shins and exhale,

Fold.

Inhale up halfway,

Bring the hands to shins,

Flat back,

Exhale,

Fold.

Inhale,

Halfway,

Slide the hands all the way up the thighs into the hip creases and push them away,

Pause here.

Get nice and long through the lateral lines,

Slide the shoulders down the back,

Take an inhale and exhale,

Bring the hands down the sides of the legs,

Slight bend in the knees to the back of the calves and fold down.

Take an inhale,

Come up halfway onto the fingertips,

Exhale,

Plant the hands,

Step back to a plank position,

Pause here,

Slight rounding of the upper back belly pulling into the spine,

So engaging through the core to create a strong center here.

Take an inhale,

On the exhale,

Slowly lower all the way down,

Bend the elbows,

Take your time coming down to the mat,

Let your heart and belly meet the earth.

Take an inhale,

Bring the chest lightly up,

Shoulder blades down the back,

Palms just a little bit firmly pressing into the ground.

So we're engaging through the lower back,

The quadratus lumborum,

The erector spinae,

So strengthening the muscles here,

Tops the feet into the earth,

The shins are slightly lifted,

Take another inhale and exhale,

Forehead to the earth.

Again,

Inhale,

Peel the chest up,

Float the feet,

Float the palms,

Shoulder blades down the back,

Strengthening through the back line here.

Let the heart be open,

Take an inhale,

Exhale,

Everything comes down,

Tuck the toes as you shift the hips back towards the heels and press the hips back and up,

Downward facing dog.

Big toes to touch here in downward facing dog,

This V shape,

Slightly bend in the knees and let the hips drop over to the right just a bit,

Really press down through the left palm to find length through the left side body,

That right knee is bent.

Come back through center,

Bend the left knee,

Press the right foot down,

Right palm presses in,

Get nice and long through the right side.

Just feel the body beginning to open up,

This is the beauty of our yoga practice,

Not making all these cool shapes,

But finding freedom and liberation in our bodies.

Come back through center and slowly begin to walk the feet forward to meet the hands,

Take your time,

Bend in the knee,

Kind of like you're waddling forward.

For those of you with really tight back lines,

You might want to block in front of you and let's fold forward,

Slight bend in the knees,

Feet can be apart,

Let that belly have some space,

Boobs if you've got those.

Our yoga practice is an opportunity to truly drop back in with what is important and that is our relationship with self.

Take an inhale,

Come up halfway,

Exhale fold,

Step the right foot back behind you,

Right knee comes down to the earth,

Open the chest,

Come onto the fingertips,

Hands to the top of the left thigh,

Sink in here,

Feel the length of the right quad,

Maybe you want to untuck the back toes,

You can if you'd like.

Then again,

Every moment is an opportunity to befriend yourself.

Take an inhale,

Reach the arms up,

On the exhale,

Bring the arms back like you're swimming reverse here,

Hand forward,

Inhale reaches up,

And exhale sweep back,

Nice and expansive through the chest,

Inhale up,

Exhale back.

Notice how this feels across the heart space,

Inhale up,

Exhale back and move to your edge,

You don't have to be as expansive and open as me,

Maybe your shoulders are sticky,

Inhale up,

You are at choice to create your own expression.

Last one,

Inhale up,

Exhale hands to heart,

Twist to the left,

Right elbow outside the left knee,

Nice open chest here.

So as we twist this allows our sympathetic nervous system to switch on,

Brings a bit of heat into the body.

For our bodies,

For most of us,

We've gone through periods of stepping outside of ourselves,

Meaning we numb out or we might go into freeze states where we leave our bodies or experience because it's too difficult or too routine and this gives us an opportunity to switch it back on.

Inhale,

Reach up,

And exhale,

Bring the hips towards the right heel,

Come down to the fingertips,

Left toes point up,

So we are lengthening through the body,

Moving energy in order to release that trauma or that freeze state or that numbness when we leave,

We're coming back into our body,

Befriending,

Finding that self love,

That acceptance,

Take an inhale,

Come forward,

Bend into the left knee,

Look forward and exhale,

Step forward,

Fold.

Inhale,

Come up halfway and exhale,

Fold.

Send the left foot back now,

Left knee to the earth,

Low lunge,

Peel the chest up as you bring the hands on top of the right thigh,

So find what feels good for you,

Back toes tucked or untucked.

You'll feel that length through the left quadriceps and inhale,

Reach the arms up,

Exhale,

Sweep them back,

Open the heart,

Shoulder blades pulled together down the back,

Inhale,

Forward and up,

And exhale back,

Inhale up,

And exhale back,

Come back home to yourself,

Inhale up,

Exhale back,

And just really believe and bring in the belief here that you are safe.

Inhale,

Reach up,

This time exhale,

Hands to heart,

Twist to the right left elbow outside the right knee,

Do your best to lift the belly away from the thigh.

And again,

Our yoga practice is an opportunity to create that sacred bond with body,

Mind and breath.

So notice where your thoughts go,

Notice if you stay in the breath,

So equal inhales and exhales through the nostrils.

And again,

You are safe here.

Your body is your safe haven no matter how chaotic the outside world can be.

Inhale,

Reach the arms up,

Exhale,

Hips to the left heel,

Right toes point up and bring the fingertips down.

So I hope for you yoga practice is a practice for me that when the external world was dangerous and offered me no solace,

My yoga practice became my sanctuary.

So this little rectangle that I practice on became my own personal house of worship.

So let this be your church.

Let this be whatever it may be for you.

It doesn't have to be any specific religion,

But this is a sanctuary for you.

Take an inhale,

Bend into the right knee,

Look forward and exhale,

Step forward,

Fold.

Inhale up halfway,

Exhale,

Fold.

Inhale,

Rise up,

Reach up,

Exhale,

Bend the elbows,

Wave the chest forward slight bend in the knees,

Back bend.

Inhale,

Sweep the arms down and up,

Reach up,

Spinal roll.

Exhale,

Bend the elbows,

Wave the spine back and forward.

Yes,

It's a little slinky.

Inhale,

Reach up,

Wave just how your body wants to.

And exhale,

Bend the elbows,

Open the heart.

There is no right and wrong.

Let yourself play.

Inhale,

Reach up,

Open and exhale,

Bend the elbows,

Open the heart.

All right,

Last one.

Inhale,

Reach and exhale bow down side bend in the knees as you come down.

We're taking this nice and slow today.

Take an inhale,

Come up halfway.

Exhale plant the hand,

Step back to a plank position top of a push up.

So a little bit of strength here again,

Pull the core and slight rounding of the upper back,

Your body just like your mind likes to be challenged.

Take an inhale,

Exhale,

Bend the elbows in close by the ribs.

Inhale forward to the tops of the feet,

Open the heart space,

Really allow the collarbones to shine forward.

Keep your head looking forward.

Don't drop it back here.

Take one more inhale.

Exhale,

Tuck the toes under,

Use the core to draw the hips back and up like that spinal weight downward facing dog.

In your downward press firmly through the palms and the heels.

Even if you need to bend the knees and your heels are off the mat,

That's perfectly fine.

There is no goal here to look like the pictures that we see or even the yoga instructors like me in front of you.

Be kind to your body.

Do not press further than your edge.

And if you ever need come down to the knees and sit back into child's pose.

Let's take an inhale.

Bring the big toes closer together and lift the right leg up behind you.

Bend the right knee open,

Right hip stacks on top of the left,

But keep the shoulders squaring towards the mat.

So feel that opening in the hips.

So this area of the body is quite tense for most of us.

This brings up a lot of pleasure,

But also maybe a lot of frustration in the tissues and the muscles.

So be kind to yourself.

Take an inhale,

Lift the right leg back up straight.

Exhale,

Right knee to nose curl in and set the right foot down.

Reach the arms up high crescent lunge.

So postures like these,

We work with our balance,

But also expansion and openness.

So this is where us yogis like to say fluffy things like we build courage and pride by getting big and open in our heart spaces.

But it's true.

I'm not saying it just to be fluffy.

It's true.

So allow yourself to be strong here as that right thigh begins to tremble.

Sink deeper into the right knee.

Let the shoulder blades relax.

Relax your fingers.

Relax the jawline and the brow.

Take an inhale.

Exhale,

Open up to the right with the arms.

We're twisting open here.

Right arm reaches back,

Left arm forward and bring the right hand to the back of the left thigh left arm stretching up to get nice and long through the left side.

Playing with our balance here.

Are you ready for this?

If you're not,

Here we go.

So you can watch me first if you need to take an inhale on the exhale,

Bring the left arm forward and back around.

As you bend into the left knee towards the back of the mat,

Bring the right toes up.

Hands to heart center.

We come into Ninja Warrior.

Some of you might heard this as Kandasana.

Not truly the correct Sanskrit.

So I'll just call it Ninja Warrior.

But sink into that left heel.

Maybe the arms stretch out like you're holding a platter.

I like to think of it as a platter of cookies are in front of me.

Now we're going to get a little tricky again.

Take an inhale.

Exhale,

Hands to heart center.

Bend into the right knee.

Turn towards the front of the mat.

Hands down.

Step back downward facing dog.

Very good.

Let's take an inhale.

Roll forward to plank.

Exhale,

Come down halfway.

Hug the elbows and by the ribs.

Inhale to the tops of the feet.

Keep the thighs lifted.

And exhale downward facing dog.

If you ever need to skip that and just come to downward facing dog,

Do so.

I do it all the time.

Today I'm just feeling a little fiery.

Let's take an inhale.

Lift the left leg up.

Exhale,

Bend the left knee.

Stack the left hip open over the right.

Listen to your breath.

Ground through the palms.

Stay in your present moment.

If your mind begins to wander into the past or the future,

Remind it how important it is to stay right here.

Take an inhale with the left leg.

Exhale,

Knee to nose.

Set the left foot between the hands and reach the arms up.

High crescent.

Think into the left knee.

And again,

We are building that confidence and courage to stay here.

Relax the shoulders.

Relax the brow.

Take an inhale.

Exhale,

Twist open.

Left arm back,

Right arm forward.

Scissoring the inner thighs here.

Left hand down the right thigh,

Right arm stretching up.

Get nice and long through the right side body.

Take an inhale.

Alright,

On that exhale,

Reach the right arm forward and over to the right side.

Bend the right knee towards the back of the mat.

Hands to heart,

Left toes up.

Some of you will have the right heel down.

Some of you will be on the right tippy toes.

Either way is perfect.

Stretch the arms out in front of you like you're holding that platter.

My offering to you of cookies,

Imaginary cookies.

Take another inhale.

Exhale,

Hands to heart.

Bend into the left knee.

Stay low.

Hands are on the left foot and step forward fold.

Take an inhale.

Come up halfway.

Hands to shins.

And exhale fold.

Hands to the lower back.

Try to make a fist here if you can.

Can keep the elbows bent or begin to straighten the arms really opening into the shoulder heads again.

So even from this forward fold,

Still working to open the heart space.

And in our modern world,

This is where we tend to carry most of our tension in our bodies.

The fascial bunching across the collarbones and the chest can be quite painful at times and shorten our breath and bring anxiety and stress into our daily lives.

So here we are trying to create new neural pathways in the mind of ambivalence but also new openings in our fascia.

Let go of the hands again.

Inhale.

Come up halfway.

And exhale fold.

Inhale rise to standing reach up.

And exhale hands to the heart.

Bring hands alongside the body and just taking a moment here at the end of our little short practice to ground.

Shoulder blades down the back feet pressing into the earth.

Nice open heart space.

And again take a look around at your space.

Orient yourself to the beauty of wherever you're at,

Whatever space you're in.

This is the space that is containing your experience.

So finding appreciation here,

Staying present.

And then shut the eyes down.

One hand to heart,

One hand to belly,

Full breaths in and out.

And just saying to yourself here,

Something that we all fall privy to is these limiting belief systems that keep us from fully being present with ourselves or our world.

So see how these words feel as you hear them and as you repeat them in your own mind.

I am worthy.

I deserve love and kindness.

Life supports me.

The world is full of goodness.

I am strong.

And I am divine.

Bring hands to heart,

Center our palms together.

Bowing down towards self we say Namaste.

So thank you so much for practicing with me today and I hope that you're feeling a bit more grounded and centered in yourself,

Not just your physical body but in your mind and in your heart.

I wish so much ease and goodness for you in life and I know that these times are not easy and I know that we all tend to fall apart but we come back together again.

So I invite you to revisit your yoga mat at any point when you feel that the external world has become too chaotic and just come back to that perfect and divine sanctuary that is your body,

That is your mind and cultivate beautiful thoughts of goodness and of love and cultivate deep breath of compassion and kindness and nurturing and move with grace and ease and with curiosity and silliness.

So I hope to see you next time.

Feel free to subscribe below so you can get more videos with me each week and head over to my website www.

Echofloyoga.

Com for retreats and trainings.

Reviews

Hello beautiful 🌞🌼🌞🌼🌞Thank you so much for the wonderful yoga session ☮️it gives me a lot of peace and smiles🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste

Thank you kindly for this practice❣️⚛️⚘️☄️
As I still recover from surgeries & current illness,much gratitude✨️🙏🏽🖤🪔💫

Amazing 🥰

This was very much needed to start a great morning. Thank you :)

Love the playfulness in this and supportive love for self. Moving through the trauma of the time-together ❤️🙏🏻 thank you

thank you for your beautiful message of support and healing at the beginning. yoga and breath are very helpful in the processing of trauma, of which we are all experiencing at this current time. I thoroughly enjoyed the short practice and will revisit. there was some confusion in getting into ninja warrior, though I appreciated the reminder to listen to our bodies and found myself in a squat pose :)

Excellent. I appreciate every practice I’ve done with you. Hope you do more live sessions too! Ty Echo🙏🌈🌸

Excellent flow, audio only, no video, requires familiarity of basic postures. The audio is quite warm and supportive of staying with the body. I’m well grounded and filled with Gratitude for finally doing this one. Will repeat and recommend.

Thank you thank you thank you. This is the first time I've really practiced since I had a tramatic birth experience 3 months ago. I am so grateful for your words and for this practice. Thank you for the warm welcome back to my mat/sanctuary.