Namaste,
Welcome back to your yoga practice.
My name is Sierra and today we're in front of the beautiful Willamette River in Oregon to celebrate the summer solstice with a summer solstice yoga flow.
So our Vinyasa practice today is going to be 30 minutes.
It's going to be energizing,
Cleansing,
And clarifying for the body,
But also restorative and nourishing.
So our summer solstice is the day when the sun is the highest in the sky,
So it's the longest day of the year.
And there are so many different forms of festivals and celebrations that are meant to honor the summer solstice all around the world.
So it really is a super magical time.
Energetically,
The summer solstice is a time of confidence,
Of activity,
Of passion,
Of joy,
Of reverence for nature.
And we're going to talk about all of that during our practice here together today.
So you don't need any props,
But I might suggest a block if you have one.
It might come in handy a little bit later.
If you don't have a block,
Pillows would also work.
Maybe a thick book or anything you can find that has a little bit of height to it.
So when you're ready,
We'll start in a comfortable seated position.
So come to whatever seat is comfortable for you here.
I'm taking half lotus pose.
You can also just sit cross-legged,
Maybe sitting on your block or your pillow.
Just find a position that you can sustain that feels good in the low back and feels good in the body.
So we're going to start here with a mudra practice.
In Sanskrit,
Mudra means seal.
And they are hand gestures that work to stimulate certain energies in the body.
So today we're going to start with Surya Mudra or the sun seal with the hands.
So start with the hands on your knees,
Palms open towards the sky.
And just take a breath here,
Deep inhale through the nose.
And exhale.
Now we're going to draw our ring finger in towards your palm,
And then take your thumb and just gently rest your thumb on the top of your ring finger.
So adding a little bit of weight to the hands,
Sort of helping to keep that ring finger tucked in towards your palm.
To take the seal with both hands.
Keep your pointer finger and your middle finger together.
Pinky finger is extended.
And just take a few deep breaths here.
Begin to relax the muscles around the shoulders.
Around the hips.
Around the jaw and the forehead.
So this Surya Mudra works to stimulate the solar,
The masculine aspects in the body.
According to the ancient yoga texts.
This Surya Mudra can help to cleanse and purify the body.
Clearing away mental fog.
Clearing away chatter in the brain.
And it's even been said that this mudra can help promote weight loss in the body.
But all of that aside,
Just take a few moments here sitting with your breath.
And if you'd like,
You can visualize drawing in this vitality,
This powerful solar energy of our summer solstice here.
And as you exhale,
Imagine yourself grounding deeper into the earth.
Inhale drawing in that light.
Exhale,
Grounding down.
Inhale,
Drawing in your light.
Exhale,
Grounding down.
Good.
Three more breaths here.
And you can gently release your mudra.
Bring your palms together,
Bring your hands to heart center.
And just bow the chin slightly down towards the thumbs.
You'd like you can set an intention for yourself here today in your practice.
Or maybe setting an intention for this solstice.
Bring your thumbs up to your third eye,
That point right in between the brows.
Take a breath here.
And exhale,
Gently release both hands down.
And open up the eyes.
So we'll stay seated here,
Just coming into butterfly legs,
Or baddha konasana.
So bring the soles of the feet together,
Take the knees open wide,
And find the distance of feet away from the hips that feels good to you.
The closer they are,
The more intense the stretch will be.
Take a hold of your big toes with your peace fingers.
Take an inhale to sit up nice and tall,
Dropping the shoulders away from the ears.
And exhale,
Start to fold forward slowly.
Keep the spine straight.
And then once you notice that stopping point for you and your hips today,
Soften the chin slightly down towards the chest.
Let the shoulders soften.
And let's take five deep breaths here.
Beginning to arrive into the body.
And take one more breath.
And we'll inhale slowly lift up.
Draw both knees in towards the chest,
Up towards the sky.
And we're going to cross over our ankles so we can meet in a downward facing dog.
So bring the legs behind you,
Palms come to the top of your mats.
And when you're ready,
We'll tuck the toes,
Lift your hips up and back.
Take a few moments here in your first downward facing dog and give yourself a little wiggle room.
So bend into both knees.
Bend into one knee and then the other.
Really sway your hips side to side.
Hmm.
Take a moment to honor this freedom in your body.
Ahhhhhh Take two more breaths here,
Wherever you need them.
Eventually making your way to some stillness in your dog.
Inhale,
Look forward to your hands.
And as you exhale,
Slowly step towards the top of your mat.
Take your time coming to a forward fold when you arrive.
Bend the knees.
And soften the torso,
Soften the chest,
Soften the crown of your head.
Take three big breaths here,
Bending the knees if you find some stiffness in the low back.
Just give yourself that forgiveness there.
Let's inhale,
Lift up halfway,
Bring your hands onto your shins,
Nice flat back,
Look down at the mat.
And exhale,
Fold back in.
Forward fold.
One more breath.
Inhale,
Bend the knees,
Draw your arms out to the sides and then up towards the sky.
Reverse swan dive.
And bring your hands to your heart center.
Beautiful.
So we're going to work through three sun salutations here together and really stoke this prana,
This fire in the body,
And honor the height and the glory of our sun with our yoga practice today.
So start reading with the hands at the heart.
Take a moment here.
Close your eyes.
Take a full deep breath in.
And out.
As you're ready,
Inhale,
Sweep the arms up towards the sky,
Root down through the feet,
And reach up through the tips of your fingers,
Lengthening through the side body.
As you exhale,
Keep the spine straight and forward fold,
Reaching your hands down towards your toes or as close as you can get.
Take an inhale,
Lift up halfway,
Bring your hands onto your shins,
Lengthen the back of your neck.
We'll exhale,
Plant your hands down,
And step back to a plank pose.
Now you always have options in your vinyasa.
If you'd like a little bit more softness,
You can lower down onto the knees first.
But wherever you are,
I want you to hug your elbows in towards your ribs and see if you can get your chest to the mat before your hips.
So exhale,
Lower down,
Chest to the mat.
And then inhale,
Drop the belly,
Lift the chest,
Lift the heart,
Baby cobra pose.
Good,
Exhale,
Release the chest.
Tuck the toes,
Press up and back.
Find downward facing dog.
Good,
Take four deep breaths here,
Moving really slow and intentional with our sun salutes here at first.
Because especially with these sequences that are very repetitive,
If we're not mindful of our alignment and our body,
We can actually cause more harm than good.
So always prioritize.
Mindfulness.
Always prioritize intention in your movements.
Rather than trying to rush.
Or be fancy,
Or get as deep as you possibly can.
Let's take one more breath.
And inhale,
Look forward.
And exhale,
Slowly step to a forward fold at the top of your mouth.
Release the head.
Inhale,
Halfway lift.
And exhale,
Fold.
Bend the knees,
Reverse swan dive,
Come up to stand,
Reach up.
Exhale,
Hands to heart.
Beautiful.
Let's take that again.
Inhale,
Reach up towards the sky.
Exhale forward fold.
Halfway lift,
Inhale breath,
Hands on the shins,
Flat back.
And exhale step back plank pose.
Again,
Taking your option here.
As you're ready,
Exhale,
Chest to the mat first.
And inhale into your heart opener.
Exhale,
Tuck your toes.
Take it up and back.
Four deep breaths,
Downward facing dog.
And if you'd like to tap into the energy of this summer solstice,
Maybe you can spend some of your day today,
Maybe even some of this practice,
Reflecting.
On what beacons of light you have in your life.
So what are the joyous things that you have?
What are you grateful for?
Can be the most.
Simplest of things,
Or even just our loved ones that we're surrounded by,
But taking a moment for gratitude and joy.
At this time of year is so,
So powerful.
For our mental health.
Inhale,
Look forward towards your hands.
Exhale,
Step forward,
Forward fold.
Inhale,
Lift up halfway.
It was helpful.
Good.
Group down,
Rise up,
Deep inhale,
Breath.
Hands to heart,
Exhale.
The last one here,
Flowing with your breath.
Inhale,
Reach up.
And exhale fold.
Halfway lift,
Inhale breath.
Exhale,
Plank pose.
Maybe even taking an extra breath in your plank for that proper alignment.
And exhale,
Lowering all the way down.
Inhale,
Baby cobra pose,
Maybe upward facing dog if you're there.
And exhale.
Downward facing dog.
Four deep,
Full breaths here.
And inhale,
Look forward towards your hands.
And exhale,
Feet to the top of your mat.
So I would follow the path.
Halfway lift,
Inhale breath.
And exhale,
Drop it back down.
Bend the knees,
Reverse swan dive,
Come up to stand,
Reach up.
Exhale,
Hands to heart.
Good.
Close your eyes.
Just take one deep,
Full breath here.
Thank you.
And I release the hands,
Open up your eyes.
Now let's step the left foot back behind you,
Turn to the side of your mat,
Take your heels in and your toes out.
So coming into goddess squat here,
Bend the knees sending them over your ankles towards the middle of your feet and sit low into the hips.
You can take your arms into cactus or goalpost shapes here.
And remember to draw the low belly in and up.
Good.
Maybe a gentle rock side to side would feel good for you if you're craving a little bit of fluidity today.
Let's take two big breaths here.
Hmm.
And now on your inhale,
I want you to straighten your legs,
Straighten your arms,
Stretch out nice and bright into star pose.
Spreading out in all four directions.
Inhale here.
Exhale,
Goddess,
Sit low.
Move with the breath now.
Inhale,
Star pose.
Stretch it out.
Exhale,
Goddess.
Inhale,
Star pose.
Exhale,
Goddess.
Good.
Keep going.
Imagine that you're pulling down all the power,
All the energy from the sun.
And bringing it into your everyday life.
Two more.
Using your breath.
Last one.
Beautiful.
Big,
Bright star pose.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Hands to heart.
Point your right toes towards the front of your mat,
Step your left foot forward,
Exhale,
Tadasana,
Mountain Pose.
Beautiful.
You can release your hands.
And now we'll come into a balanced posture.
Vrikshasana or tree pose.
Feel free to stay facing the front of your mat.
I'm going to turn to face you,
Just so you can see me.
We'll start by bringing the weight onto your right foot here.
And lift up off of the left heel slightly so you're balancing on your left toes.
From here,
Really integrate your core,
Your solar plexus chakra,
Manipura.
Also related to the summer solstice,
And really find that stability through the center of your body.
From here you can rest your heel onto your right ankle,
Maybe guiding your foot up to your calf.
Or even all the way up.
To the right thigh.
Go where the balance feels best for you here.
And now take whatever arm position is calling to you.
You can rest your arms open.
You can bring hands to heart center.
Like traditional vrksasana,
Reaching the arms up nice and high like branches of a tree.
All right,
Listen to your body,
Listen to your breath.
And take what serves you here.
Three big,
Beautiful breaths here in your tree pose.
If you fall out,
That's okay.
Just come back.
Meet us when you're ready.
Good.
Slowly guide your hands back to your heart wherever you are.
Draw your left knee towards center and slowly release the left foot back down.
You can release your hands if you want to shake it out before the second side.
Wonderful.
We'll bring the weight onto the left foot now here.
Lifting up on two right toes.
Find that core integration,
Low belly draws back,
Tailbone tucks down towards the ground.
And then find your tree pose.
Heel on the ankle.
Foot on the calf.
Or foot all the way up into the thigh.
Again,
Find the arm position that you like here.
Maybe it's different,
Maybe it's the same.
One more breath,
Wherever you are.
And slowly bring hands back to heart.
Draw right knee to center and exhale.
Slowly release back down.
Tadasana.
Beautiful.
We'll take one more sun salute here to get down onto our mats and start to wind down.
So deep inhale,
Hands reach up towards the ceiling.
This is your last one.
Make it count.
As you exhale,
Forward fold.
Halfway lift,
Take a deep inhale,
Breath here.
And exhale,
Come back plank pose.
On your exhale,
Lowering down with intention.
And inhale into your heart opener.
Exhale,
Downward facing dog.
And now we'll lower down onto the knees and come all the way down to your belly.
You can rest on your elbows here.
It's a really brief Sphinx pose.
As we prepare for.
.
.
Ardha Bhaktsana,
Half frog pose.
So to start,
You'll lift the left heel in towards your glutes.
And this might be as far as your half frog goes today.
And that's absolutely wonderful.
If you're ready,
You may take your right forearm.
And square it in front of you so that it's parallel to the front of your mat.
Take your left hand behind you,
Reach back and grab for the top of your left foot.
And start to gently pull the left heel down and in towards your glutes.
If you have some extra space,
You can even reach around,
Grab for the big toe edge of your foot.
And lift the elbow up towards the sky so you really get some leverage.
Go where it feels good to you here.
We're going to take three deep breaths.
Breathing some space into the top of the left quad.
And one more.
And slowly release.
Come down to rest your forehead on top of your stacked palms for just a moment here.
Maybe shaking the heels out side to side,
Releasing the lower back.
And then as you're ready,
Lift back up.
We'll come into the second side.
So again,
Your left forearm can now parallel in front of you.
Lift the right heel up and in towards the glutes.
Take your right hand,
Reach around for the top of your foot.
And very gently pull.
The heel in towards the body.
Again,
Finding the grip that works for you.
If you have lots of space,
You can flip your grip,
Reaching your elbow up towards the sky.
Letting gravity.
.
.
Help you out here.
We'll take one more breath.
And exhale.
Slowly release again.
Lower down onto stacked palms.
Reset the back for just a moment.
Good,
Now from here you can gently press yourself up and back to a seat on your knees.
And if you have your block.
Or book or pillow,
Go ahead and grab that.
Make sure it's nearby.
If you don't,
That's okay.
We're going to roll down onto our backs here.
So keep your knees facing up.
Towards the sky here.
As you lie back,
We're going to take waterfall pose,
Which is a supported inversion.
It's much less stressful on the body,
Much more nourishing,
And you're allowed to just sort of receive the benefits of the posture.
So you're going to draw the knees in towards the belly here.
And this is where if you have a block or bolster,
You'll gently lift the hips and place it underneath the sacrum and the low back.
To give you some extra support.
If you don't,
That's okay.
Knees in towards the chest and wherever you are,
Everyone will lift the heels up towards the sky.
Now if you don't have a block and you find it really difficult to keep the legs extended,
You can use the hands behind the thighs for support.
Good.
Flex the feet up towards the ceiling if you can.
Feel a little bit of activation in the low belly.
And we're going to take 10 deep breaths here.
We're beginning to soften around the body.
Beginning to soften the muscles around your face.
Let's slowly begin to close the knees,
Bending them back in towards the belly.
If you have your block or pillow,
You can remove it,
Set it slightly off to the side.
And release both feet down.
Extend your legs out long onto your mat.
Coming into Shavasana.
Let your toes point out to the corner edges of your mat.
And let your hands rest down by your sides.
Take a moment here and just connect to the sound of your breath.
Connect to the flow of energy through your body.
Thank you.
Maybe coming back to those gratitudes,
Those beacons of light that we have.
To celebrate in our lives today.
And begin to bring soft movements.
Into the toes and the fingers.
I'll slowly take the feet to the floor,
Knees to the sky once more.
Rolling yourself over to one side.
We'll press ourselves up,
Coming back to that comfortable seat once more.
Keep the eyes closed.
And let's find our Surya Mudra one more time.
So hands on the knees,
Palms open to the sky.
Bringing your ring finger in towards your palms.
And thumb resting slightly on the ring finger.
Settle into your breath.
Spending these final few moments.
Noticing.
And listening.
Releasing your mudra.
Bring your palms together,
Hands to heart center.
Let's take one more deep inhale together.
And exhale.
Remembering that you have this strength and this power of the universe within you at all times.
Jai,
Thank you so much for celebrating your summer solstice.
With yourself and with me today.
Namaste.
