Zen Yoga For The Fire Element

In this class, we'll be working with the energy of the Fire element, connected with the yang energy of summertime, and the organ systems of the Heart and Small Intestine. Whether or not it's summer outside where you are right now, this is a class for helping you stay internally cool (both physically and emotionally) and encouraging a sense of compassion, care and connection.

In this class, we'll be working into the Heart and Small Intestine meridians, emphasising the front and back of the heart space (chest), and exploring the spine-to-hand connections via the shoulders down to the little fingers. We'll also be working with a number of important acupoints on these channels. In the meditation practice, we'll be cooling the fire of the heart, and cultivating a deeper sense of connection by allowing our heart energy field to extend out into the universe.

45 mins of movement, 10 mins of meditation.

Transcript

So we're going to step towards the back of the mat to start this class. Feet about hip width apart. We're going to start with three bows so traditional zen bows and the um um the thing about bowing is that these days we just don't ever do it you know in our normal western life we never have any reason to bow um perhaps back in the past i don't know perhaps people did it more often but these days we don't really bow and bowing is a action where we put everything down on the ground. We, If you like, Pay our respects. We create this sense of gratitude, Of humbleness towards something. And what are we going to bow to? So what I'd suggest is bowing to yourself knowing that our self is more than just this individual body here that our self is something much more inclusive the self is universal as a way so in a sense we're kind of bowing to all that is or perhaps you might want to choose something or someone that you want to offer your practice to today so just bringing that to mind before we come into these bows so we're going to be putting our whole body down three and then coming back up. So the way we do this is the hands start palms together the center of the chest we bow from the waist and then we bend the knees we bring the hands down onto the ground we're going to make a kind of diamond shape like this on the ground and then we bring our forehead down into that space in the middle of the diamond we turn our hands over and we bring them up to the level of your ears and then the hands come back down and we push all the way back up. To standing. So bowing from the waist, Bend the knees, Hands down into a diamond. Forehead down, Putting everything down, Turn palms over, Lifting up the level of the ears. Palms back down, Pressing back up. And then one more bow and then stepping back towards the centre of your mat. So in this fire season, In this fire element, We're working with the energy of the heart and the small intestine, Which is very much connected with the summertime, The fire, The yang time of the year. So the heart energy line let's find it ourselves starts in the armpit and runs down the arm to the little finger so all the way down the soft part of the arm all the way underneath the little finger and then the small intestine runs up the outside so from little finger up the other side of the arm the back of the arm over the shoulder side of the neck it comes into the side of your face and then finishes just in front of your ear okay and on the other side so together we find from the armpit down to the little finger and then from the little finger back up the arm outside of the shoulder up the side of the neck to the cheek and then to the front of the ear. So that's our small intestine energy line. We're gonna be working with these energy lines and also with the energy of the fire element, This summery kind of like hot yang quality. Okay, The other energy lines that we're going to be working with in this season, Two connected energy systems. So the pericardium, Which sits around the heart, And of the triple heater, Which is also a kind of organ in the Chinese sense, But in the Western sense, It's not really so much of an organ, It's more of a system. Anyway, The pericardium energy line, Again, Runs down the front of the arm, To the middle of the arm, To the middle finger, And then the triple heater line runs up from the ring finger up the back of the arm over the side of the face. I'm just going to check my notes. It comes around the back of the ear to the side of the eyebrow. So that's our triple heater line. Again on the other side. So front of the arm down to the middle finger. That's a pericardium. Triple heater comes up the back of the arm across there and around the back of the ear to the side of the eyebrow. So two extra energy systems that we're going to include in this fire season. Feet hip width apart, Taking the hands out wide to shoulder height. We're going to bring the hands a little bit behind the line of the body and just allow the head to tilt, Looking up. Getting a sense of broad and open the whole front of the chest through the whole front surface of the arms to the middle finger And then we bring the hands crossing one over the top of the other, Wrapping around, Hold the shoulders and then let the head drop down. Now it depends on how much flexibility you have. You might be able to reach around with the fingers and grab hold of your shoulder blades, Or you may not be able to quite reach that far, But just letting the head hang down and just getting a sense of back of the shoulders, Back of the neck. Okay taking the hands out wide fingertips just a little bit behind the line of the body looking up broad open front and then cross the hands the other way around holding the shoulders let the head drop down sensing the back of the body Okay. A little bit faster now. So breathing in, Open, Breathing out, Close, Breathing in, Open, Breathing out, Swapping around, Closing the other way around, Breathing in, Breathing out. One more time, Breathing in, Breathing out, Wrap around. Good, And then taking the hands out wide, We're going to make a fist and then extend into a little finger on both sides. Remember the heart and the small intestine come to the little finger. So extending wide into the little finger, Rolling palms, Fingers face up, Look up. And then rotate around the little finger, Rotate down and back, Looking down. And then rolling face up, Look up. And then rolling down looking down Okay, With the breath breathing in. Looking up, Roll up. And breathing out, Rolling down. Then we're going to come back into the centre and floating the hands down. Now we're going to find the front of the heart in the chest here. So if we bring the fingertips into the center of the chest, Your sternum bone runs down the front here and just have a little tap into the front of the heart. This is an area you're going to work with to help to find some space around the heart itself. Okay. First of all, Guiding the chest backwards. So letting your fingers sink into that space, Elbows round forwards, And it's like the whole body sinks into this. So here we're opening the back of the heart, Back of the space around the heart. Now the opposite movement, Send the chest forwards, Elbows go backwards, Expanding into this space, Looking up slightly. So with the breath, Breathing out, Elbows forwards Breathing in, Elbows back. Breathing out, Expanding the back of the heart. Breathing in, Expanding the front. One more time. Breathing out, Send the chest backwards. Breathing in, We come forwards. Now we're going to pause here and we're going to reach the chest, Front of the chest, So far up towards the ceiling that we're going to lift right up onto tiptoes. Now, If you're tricky on the balance here, Maybe just keep the heels down. But if you feel okay with the balance, Imagining someone lifting up through the center of the t-shirt, Through the center of your close, Pulling you up towards the ceiling, Let the hands drop away. Send the hands, Palms face down towards the floor, Fingers facing forwards and press the heels of the hands down towards the ground so the wrists elbows back now we're really broad and open in the front of the chest press down to the floor drop the heels down keeping the chest really broad we're going to fold forward from the waist elbows back looking forwards looking forwards looking forwards now we'll feel a stretch down the legs as we do this okay as you've come as far as you comfortably want to come take the fingertips we reach them backwards towards the back And then we bend the knees, Tuck the tailbone underneath and send the hips forwards and underneath and the chin is down. So we're looking down to the floor, The hands are reaching behind. Bringing energy into the belly into our small intestine all the meters of tubing the intestines are in the middle here we're bringing energy into the center fingertips reaching backwards chin is down a couple of breaths Now we're going to keep the body in this exact shape. All we do is take the hands forwards, Down, Forwards. And up. Then from here we press on the ground with the feet and lengthen all the way up so chin is down we're looking down to the floor press your feet firmly flat into the ground and allow that to extend the whole body all the way up into the fingertips. Chin is down, Reaching to the fingertips. Two more breaths. Keep breathing. Reach, Reach, Reach the fingers. Yeah. And then on the breath out, Float the hands down. Just allowing the body to stay nice and long, Eyes lowered, Maybe even closed for a moment and sensing how does that feel. Could. So we're going to come towards the front of the mat. We've got a little bit of space behind, Same set of movements. Okay. Fingertips into the center of the chest, Guide the chest backwards, Elbows forwards. Opening the back of the heart. Send the chest forwards opening the front of the heart space elbows go back like someone's grabbing hold of your t-shirt pulling up we're going to come right up onto tiptoes drop the hands down palms face down to the floor, Elbows back, Shoulders roll back, Drop the heels to the ground, Bend forwards from the waist, Look forwards, Look forwards. Send the fingertips back, Bend the knees, Tap the tailbone. Chin is down, Hips go forwards, Engaging the belly, Working into our small intestine area. Keeping the body in this shape, We take the hands down, Forwards and up. And then it's like a coiled spring we uncoil and lift press on the floor lifting all the way up to the fingertips two breaths really long through the body chin down fingertips Flat feet on the ground, Pressing into the ground. Good. As you breathe out, We're going to take the hands out to the side and fold forwards. Two hands come down to the floor. Taking the right foot long step back on the mat and bring the back knee down to the floor. Take a moment just on your front knee, Sinking into a lunge and just getting your alignment here. Knee over the foot. Good. Tuck your back toes and as an option, If you wish, To lift the back knee up off the ground and come into a high lunge. So just as you wish. Take the fingers, Bring them down by the side of your chest, Elbows up. We're going to imagine we're a bit like a bird flapping our wings. Okay, So the elbows go down as the hands lift up. This is working into our heart and small intestine channels. Breathing in, Elbows up, Breathing out, Elbows down. Breathing in, Breathing out. Nice full breaths breathing in and breathing out. Good, One more time. Breathing in. And breathing out. Okay, Hands on the front knee, Just take a little moment. If you want to bring the back knee down to the floor, Have a moment to rest. If you want to bring the back knee up and come into a high lunge at this point, Please go right ahead. Taking the hands out and above the head. You're going to make a big wide capital U shape above the head and particularly bringing your attention to your little fingers. So we don't have to make a fist but just bringing your attention to your little fingers and imagine your little fingers extending off to infinity into the universe above your head and making a giant like hugging the universe kind of shape above your head. Back leg is strong, Sinking into the front knee, Into the elbows, Breathing here. Good, One more breath. Long, Infinitely long little finger. Okay now the right hand is going to come down to the hip, The left hand is going to turn palm face up over the top of the body and now we're going to imagine a little finger extending over and down towards the floor like a big arch down towards the floor and we're going to let that hand drift over the top of the body Oh, Fuck. Done it the wrong way around. Okay. Now the left hand is going to come down to your hip, The right hand, We turn palm face up and imagine that little finger is now extending out like a big archway all the way down to the ground, Extending out from the little finger. So letting the hand drift over the top of the body and getting a sense from armpit, Elbow, Little finger, And all the way down to the ground over the top. We can carry on going so gradually gradually beginning to turn Let the hand guide the movement. Beginning to turn and follow it with your eyes. Little finger extending around towards the back. Armpit, Elbow, Little finger all the way around to the back of the room. Couple more breaths. Good, And then when you're ready, Release to the front. Two hands down to the ground stepping back and coming to sit back on your heels so tucking your untucking your feet coming to sit on your heels feel free to take your knees a little bit wider coming down to rest letting your head rest down towards the ground maybe on your hands maybe straight to the floor just take a few moments to notice and to sense Good, And then breathing in, Coming up. Hands underneath the shoulders tuck your toes lifting the hips and then we're going to step the right foot forwards in between the hands. Bringing the back knee down to the ground and we'll come up into our lunge position. Two hands on the front knee and just sinking into it here, Adjusting your positioning so that you end up with a knee directly over the foot and you've got a bit of space between the front knee and the back knee, Front foot and the back knee. Okay now invitation if you wish to tuck the back toes and to lift the back knee coming up into a high lunge This is, After all, Our Yang time of the year. A great time to be working more strongly into the body to kind of bring our body into alignment with that strong energy but in such a way that we're totally aware we're totally sensitive and we're really trying to work appropriately and safely beneficially with the body. Okay so we bring the hands fingertips down elbows up sinking into your front knee strong in the back leg with the breath Breathing in, Hands up. Breathing out, Elbows up. Breathing in. Breathing out. Breathing in. Breathing out. One more time, Breathing in. Breathing out. Ah shite. It's okay, No, Just keep that rolling, It's fine. It's fine, I'm gonna do that again. Okay, So we're going to bring our hands, Fingers face down, Elbows face up. Strong into the back leg, Sinking into the front knee. When you're ready, Breathe in, Lift the elbows. Breathe out, Dropping the elbows. Breathing in, Lift. Breathing out, Release. Breathing in lifting breathing out okay one more time breathing in lift elbows ribs breathing out release Good. Having a little moment to pause, Maybe hands on the front knee. Maybe if you like, Drop the back knee down. Let's have a little moment. Sensing and feeling. Okay, When you're ready, Either with the knee on the floor or the knee up as you need, Taking the hands up above the head. Bending the elbows and imagining that giant cup shape above your head little fingers extending like giant buckets reaching up into the into the universe like you're imagining you're giving it from the heart here heart opening through the hands giving the universe this giant loving hug like i tell you when i was doing my degree in astrophysics we'd never do this kind of thing hugging the universe absolutely ridiculous but here we are in our yoga practice hello universe come i want to give you a giant hug good nice okay so from here the right hand comes down to the hip and the left hand turn palm face up and how we're going to imagine this little finger extending out and down towards the floor making this giant arch shape and then just allowing the hand to float over the top Following that arch, Looking up towards the ceiling underneath the arm. Armpit, Elbow. Little finger. Armpit, Elbow, Little finger. Now we're going to carry on going. So letting the hand float further around, Following with your eyes, That little finger extending now around towards the back. Turning, Turning. Now it's armpit, Elbow, Little finger, But now it's really pulling down into the rest of my body, Around my hip and the side of my waist, Including more of my body in this turn. Couple of breaths. Good. And then we release back to the center. Two hands down. Then stepping back into a child's pose. So tucking your, Untucking your toes, Resting back, Taking the knees perhaps if you like slightly wider, Resting down towards the floor, Forehead coming down. A moment to sense, To feel the effect our practice to feel this fiery strong summery yang energy beginning to flow easily and freely around the body Good. And then coming up into sitting. So we're going to come to all fours. Tucking your toes underneath and then if we sit back onto the heels like this okay now tucking your toes like this is um not the easiest of things to do in fact for some people it's almost excruciating but so be here as long as you feel is going to work for you kind of nice stretch for the soles of the feet and then when you feel ready We're going to drop the weight back onto the heels and come up into a squat. Now it might be for you that the squat, You know, You can sort of roll back into a squat like this, Or it might just be for you that you want to roll back and come up a bit higher. So bringing the heels down to the ground and keeping the heels on the ground, You might want to be up here. Might want to just sink slowly a little bit in. Sometimes turning the feet out slightly wider is helpful as we sink into our squat. I'm not so worried about how deep deep we come into the squat because we're going to do some other work using our heart and small intestine energy system. So wherever a squat feels comfortable to you, We bring the hands into the side of the waist and then we bring the elbows to the inside of the knees. Okay. And you might find that taking these out really quite wide to start off with is where we need to come. Absolutely works fine up here. So then as you find as it feels appropriate, We start to squeeze the knees in and we start to bring the elbows closer. And this is a movement which is quite unusual. We don't do this one very much. Perhaps this might be the first time you've ever done this kind of movement, This feeling to the shoulders. So it takes a little bit of time to sense into it, To feel into what feels appropriate, What's going to be safe, What's the way to work with it in my body. Mm-hmm so as I say even way up here It's absolutely fine. We don't need to worry about how deep we come into the squat. Just a couple more breaths. Being curious about how we can squeeze the elbows in. Towards each other. Quite a lovely opening for the back of the shoulders, Right into the shoulder joints. Okay, And then as we release, Coming out in front, Maybe coming up into standing if you like, And having a good old shake around. Shake into the shoulders and your legs. Okay, And then coming back down into our squat position. In fact, It might be helpful, You might find it better to come right down into kneeling for this one, For this next one. So we're going to work with an energy point which is on the pericardium channel. This is pericardium 8. And it's called, In Chinese, It's called the laogong point, In Japanese they call it roku point. So it's right in the center of the hand and if you make a baseball mitt kind of shape like this, It's like the dip right in the middle, Yeah, Center of the palm and we're going to work with this energy point on the ground. So if you just bring your hands and hover them just in front, Just above the ground, I'm going to come into a squat. So just a gentle hovering of the hands above the ground, Bringing your attention to that center of the palm. Not touching the ground. Okay, Now if it's difficult to feel anything at all here, What I'd suggest is taking a little fingernail and having a little scratch into that point, Center of the palm, Just a little tiny scratch on both sides. And that helps to bring our attention there. And it actually creates a sensation which persists for a little bit of time. So now you bring your hands back down, Hovering just above the ground. It's like, Oh yeah, I can now feel that point. I really sense that point. And I'm just tuning into how that feels. Can I connect? With a sense of the ground underneath. I'm sensing into earth energy here. Sensing into the ground underneath without physically touching see if I can make an energetic connection now there may be something really obvious it may be really subtle so we really need to listen or it may just be very difficult to feel anything at all and that's absolutely fine It's just a question of asking, Inquiring. Seeing if it might be our experience. Okay now we're going to use the energy this connection between this point and the ground in the next pose so we let the hands come to rest on the ground the fingers can be reasonably well spread but just not tense spread so like kind of wide and then we're going to bring the uh the backs of the knees onto the backs of the tricep muscles on the backs of the arms. Now this, This, We're going to move towards a crow pose here and the simple version or a simpler, I should say simpler version would be having the knees on the outside of the elbows and squeezing in here as we come forwards into this. But I'm going to specifically see if we might be possible to bring the elbow and the knees onto the back of the arms. So let me just turn a little bit to the side. Small intestine energy line runs up the back of the arm into the tricep muscle. So by placing the knees on the triceps we're directly stimulating our small intestine line. We've got this connection which runs all the way down to the little finger and we've also got the connection which runs into the center of the palm and into the ground here. So we're really making use of all of this energy connection. Now when the elbows are a little bit bent, There's a kind of platform on the back of the elbow, Which is kind of helpful to bring your knee into. So let me just show you what that looks like in reality. So we just tuck the knees in behind the elbows and we shift forwards. Now from here, Once we found a stable platform for the knees, It might just be that one foot wants to come up. It might just be that two feet wants to come up. It might just be that we're kind of moving towards it. I know that a lot of people feel worried that they're going to tip forwards. So if that's the case for you, It's, It's quite unlikely. The body is quite good at being safe like that, But if you want to put a pillow or something like that in front of you just to practice with this one, Then that can work well. So. Yourself tucking your knees in just behind the elbows stimulating our small intestine line up the back of the arms shifting weight Maybe one foot comes. Maybe we find the balance, Maybe the second foot comes. And then once we're up here, We're really focusing on the connection between the hands and the floor. Through a Little finger. Through our pericardium eight, Center of the palm. Finding the earth energy, Finding that stability. Finding that routing connecting fire and earth. The up and the down. For as long as feels like it's going to work. And then we just drop the feet to the floor and release out of it. Just when you feel ready. Okay. We're going to come into a child's pose. So tucking, Untucking, Untucking the feet. And then before you come in, You're very welcome to have a little shake out in the wrists. If it feels like it's, If it'd be helpful to you, Just shaking out the wrists and then coming down, Forehead down towards the hands or maybe straight onto the floor. And once you come down. Taking that time to sense in What's the effect of. . . Movements we've done so far how does the energy feeling in the body what's the flow like Does it feel more of a downwards flow or an upwards flow? Does it feel like strong intense or is it subtle? Is it like a wave? Okay, Breathing in and coming up. So we're going to come into a kneeling for all fours position, Kneeling all fours, Bringing the hips above the knees and then walking the hands forwards. So we're keeping the hips above the knees but just walking the hands forwards so that the armpits come down towards the ground, The foreheads coming down towards the ground. Now this one can feel quite intense as you come down to bear in mind to stay in control. Stay aware stay sensitive of what's happening and if you want if you find yourself a little bit flexible here and you want a little bit more space just if you find that's helpful you can come up onto uh fingertips and give yourself a little bit extra height just if you feel that's helpful yeah sinking down armpits chest forehead releasing down towards the floor You're welcome to have also the elbows down on the ground or the elbows up. Or as I say, Come up to fingertips. Lots of places to work. And the softening into this sensing the level of stretch where it's feels most intense. Three more breaths. Good and then gently lifting up. So coming back into all fours hands are underneath the shoulders and the knees underneath the hips so we want a nice square box shape the right hand we're going to reach out to the side and then we're going to tuck that hand underneath the left and bring the side of your shoulder and the side of your face down towards the ground. So let's say the outside of the shoulder, The outside of the arm, This is our small intestine energy line, And it can be helpful, This arm that's tucked underneath, If you rotate it palm face down, That might feel quite different to if you have it rotated palm face up. Just kind of playing around, Seeing if that feels different anyway. Okay now normally we might reach around and up towards the ceiling but in this case what we're going to try and do here is lift the head and turn the head in the opposite direction and then again let it rest down so this is strong intense for the neck shoulder so being really aware using the other hand for support to be in control Make sure it's safe. That intensifies this outside of the shoulder Stretch. Breathing here. Mind. Moving through all the different sensations doing your best to be really acutely aware of it. What the signals are the body is telling you the connection to the body. Relationships between the different stretches and positions. One more breath. Okay and then slowly starting to come out do really take your time to come out it's been a very strong stretch so really taking your time coming up out of it. Come back to all fours. A moment just to sense how do you feel. Okay and then when you're ready the left hand reaching out tucking underneath placing the side of the shoulder and side of your face down to the ground and just preparing so letting the chest sink down onto your shoulder. Adjusting the other arm so it can be of help and then we're going to lift the head turn in the opposite direction and let the head slowly gradually release its way down to the floor. Staring your body. Find its way into this one with the palm that's out to the side you may want to try to rotate it in such a way that it's moving towards palm face down and just see as you turn the palm how does that change the feeling in the shoulder. How does that change the relationship? Connection. Listening Insight. One more breath. And then we're going to slowly and gently start to come out of it. Release back to all fours take a little moment eyes lowered maybe even close for a moment sensing right side left side Okay, Now from here we're going to come back to the same position as we did a moment ago. Keep the hips up above the knees and slide the hands forwards and bring in the armpits and the chest and the forehead, Chin down towards the floor. Okay now from here if you lift the head a little bit and bring the ear right ear down towards the right bicep and just lean down onto the top of your arm and just let the weight of the head sink down into that side and you'll feel that real deep Stretch through the armpit. Down along the arm to the little finger, Using the weight of the head to sink into it here. Two more breaths. What's the appropriate level of weight to put on the arm that's going to be of benefit. Good, And then we come up to the center, And again, We'll rest the head down on the other side. So ear down to the arm, Weight of the head on top of the arm, And just sinking down. It's like, Ooh, That goes really deep into the armpit. Into the arm down to the little finger. Again what's the appropriate level of weight to put on that's going to be really helpful to the body and not too much Two more breaths. Good and then coming up and walking our hands back, Coming up into kneeling. So just have a little shake around in the arms, Releasing the shoulders and just have a little moment to sense eyes lowered, Perhaps sensing shoulders, Chest. Arms. Space around the heart. So we're going to be working with the energy that runs up our our arm to our little finger as a way of creating stability as a way of connecting to the ground. So the way we're going to do this is bring the elbows now down onto the onto the mat and if we reach over and touch the opposite elbow with the ends of your fingers that creates the right spacing then we release the hands and interlink the fingers in front of you now the underneath little finger wants to tuck out of the way like this so that we then have a really flat sense of connecting with the ground. A real firm connection. So interlink the fingers, Tuck the little finger out of the way and flatten the arms down to the ground. We have a triangle, Which we know now is a very strong and stable shape. Now, If we lift up the hips, We're going to start by just shifting the weight ever so slightly forwards towards the floor in front of your hands and backwards towards the floor behind the hands. So with the breath, Breathing out forwards, Breathing in back now it doesn't have to be too far forward and too far back just enough to start getting a sense of how the arms from the elbows down to little fingers are connecting with the mat, How they press in and then they release a little bit. Waking up this sense of stability and connection through the heart energy lines Connecting with the ground, Creating this sense of stability. And grounding. Okay now from here we're going to move towards a headstand. So lots of different ways to move in towards a headstand and it doesn't necessarily mean we have to sort of jump up into it straight away. So starting from the top of your ears, Running the fingers over the top of the head to find the point on the top of the head, Not to the crown and not at the forehead but right in the middle at the top of the head. This is the place where we're going to just place on the ground and with the hands just gently touching the back of the head, Almost like a cradle around the back of the head. So again finding the spacing elbows touching Interlink the fingers, Tuck the little finger out of the way, Placing the top of the head onto the ground just behind the hands. Now, If you've got any particular blood pressure issues or if it's the time of your cycle where this just doesn't work to go upside down or any other problems that feels like any neck issues, Any eye issues, That kind of things, Which is going to mean that this posture is not good for you, Then that's absolutely fine. We can experiment with just lightly placing the top of the head on the ground and just sensing, Is that pressure okay? Am I just going to sense into that? And just really working on that stability through the arms. And then if you want to feel like you want to go a little bit further, I can guide us through that. Or if you're feeling comfortable with a headstand, You can just kind of go right ahead. Okay, So from lightly pressing the top of your head into the ground, The next step would be to lift the knees and shift the weight up over the top. So we're bringing the tail up over the top of the hands. Now, In no sense do we ever want to jump the legs, Yeah? So it's really moving very slowly in until perhaps one leg wants to come up and we're just finding the balance until two legs can come up. And then we're in this half headstand, Place. To be and practice being in the stability. In no way do we need to lift the legs. This is a very nice place to work on our headstand. When you feel ready to come out of it, One foot down, Second foot down, Coming out of it very controlled and gradually, And then we lift the head. Now, It's very important that we don't come up straight away. We keep the head down for a few breaths. Until you're ready to come up. That way we don't get a rush of blood to the head. Okay so I'm going to leave you to it for a couple of moments just practicing with this either with the stability top of the head moving in towards it just whatever feels like it's going to work for you it's a time to practice connecting the heart to the ground finding stability in the heart on the ground. Okay so slowly coming out of the headstand making sure your head is down and the blood pressure feels even. Then when you feel ready we're going to come to lie down on the mat. Now as we come to rest down on the mat take the right knee bending the right knee and then letting that knee begin to fall across the body. We can use the hands to help the knee to move over and down towards the floor. Now, Normally we would stretch out the opposite hand as a counterbalance in the opposite direction, But this time what we're going to do is to take that right hand, Turn it palm facing away from you, Up along the floor, Away above your head. And imagining the line of connection armpit elbow little finger Oh, Fuck. Wrong side. Okay. Okay, Now we're resting on the ground. We're gonna take the right leg, Bending it up. Using your hands to help the knee across the body and coming down into a twist. Okay. Now, Normally we'd extend the right hand out at shoulder height. It's a kind of counterbalance, But we're actually going to do something different. You're going to take the left hand. So right leg is coming over the top, But the left hand is coming up above the head. I'm going to bring the bend the elbow and bring the mind to the armpit elbow little finger line of connection. Palm faces up along the floor away from you. Above the head. And then begin to extend here. Into the little finger above the top of the head. Okay, So right knee is moving over the body down towards the ground and here the left hand is stretching in a nice curve above the head. And if you like, You can even roll the head to look away from your knee. Keeping your mind's eye, Your attention in this heart energy line, Armpit, Elbow, Little finger. And just allowing the body to feel its way in to this position right here. Breathing and listening. Palm facing up and away from you. Extending into your little finger. Like as we imagined earlier, The little finger can reach further out like a big arch, Out the middle finger along the floor and down like a rainbow. Two more breaths. Yeah. And then if we release and rolling our way out of it, Yeah. Switching over the legs. So lifting up the left knee. And then just in your own time, When you feel ready, Letting that left knee come across the body and down towards the floor. Beginning our twist, Letting the knee drift downwards now. Left knee's moving towards the floor, Right hand. Comes up above the head, Bend the elbow, Make it into a nice curve shape. Turn the palm to face up and away from you, Along the floor, Up above the head. And then. . . Imagining that little finger. Armpit elbow little finger extending out all the way beyond the little finger making a big arch down to the side of the other side of the body maybe turning the head to look away from the knee and settling into this letting the posture seep its way into all the different areas that brings into focus Breathing. Reaching a little bit more into that little finger if that feels appropriate. Two more breaths. Okay and then we're going to gently release and roll back into the centre. So lifting up your two knees, Two hands around the knees, And then just for a moment, Hugging them in towards the chest. Maybe if you like lifting the head up towards your knees, Rounding the back a little bit. Before rolling forwards and backwards, Bringing yourself eventually up into sitting. We're going to finish this class with a little bit of sitting meditation practice. So first of all, Establishing your comfortable meditation posture. So if you might want to sit on a chair. You may want to sit on a floor, Maybe kneeling over a cushion, Maybe cross-legged in a cushion. Just whatever feels like it's going to be the most comfortable place for you to sit for a little bit of time, Allowing the body to be effortlessly upright. In a way that allows us to grow and align into the center of the spine, Crown of the head. And balanced and even. Now the heart is an area of the body which in the summertime can kind of get a little bit hot. So may not be a temperature hot, But sometimes can emotional heat and an emotional hot heart can feel like a shortened temper, Like a little bit kind of agitated, Kind of, You know, Like when you get really, Really hot and you just feel really hot and bothered, That kind of thing. And so we're going to be doing a practice to start off with, Which is all about intending to cool the heart, Intending to send the heart energy kind of down, Like watering it down, Like bringing it down to the body. And then we're going to work with this with breath and with movement of the arms. So the first tool, As we breathe in, The arms come up above the head, Like imagine you're gathering energy and space from above you. And then we're going to breathe out, Bring this energy down to the body. It's like washing down to the body, Helping the energy of the heart sink and to release okay so breathing in the hands scoop up above the head breathing out it comes down through the front of the body down through the center of the body sense of releasing and cooling. So we're going to do 20 breaths together. Breathing in, Breathing out thinking. So we don't have to stay in sync, You keep a count for yourself. Now it starts to feel a little bit. . . Strong in the arms just make a smaller movement do less Maybe even a very small movement. Heart energy sinking down. All right. Yeah. Once you've done your 20 breaths, Just letting your hands come to rest down. Allowing your eyes to lower or close. And sensing. How do you feel? So we're going to work with an energy point on the hand, A very important energy point on the arm, Along the pericardium channel. We were previously working with pericardium 8, This is pericardium 6, So it's just up on the arm. So if you make a fist and bring your fist in like this, You'll see the two tendons running up the inside of the arm. The point is in between the two tendons, About three fingers up from the wrist crease. So we're going to place a thumb on that point and then your index finger goes on the opposite side on the top of your arm. Okay, This is pericardium 6, One of the most important energy points in the body for kind of general well-being. And then it's called the inner gate. And on the other side, This is on the triple heater channel, This is triple heater 5, Called outer gate. And seeing as gateways in towards the wrists. So if we just place the hand down in a way that feels comfortable holding this point, These two points, Maybe just allowing the eyes to close. Now the heart is one of the most important producers of electrical energy in the body. The brain produces also a lot of electrical energy Impulses move through the nerves. But the brain has pulses moving front to back, Back to front, Left to right and they all kind of cancel each other out. But the heart produces a coherent pulse every time that it beats. And the sum result is actually more powerful than what is produced by the brain. Every time the heart pulses it gives off an electrical field which emanates into the body. And you can detect this by placing electrical sensors on the skin, And we get this heart pulse, Like beep, Beep, You know, In the hospital. Okay, Let's switch over to the other side. So three fingers up from the wrist crease, Just in between the middle there, And then on the other side, Same point. Like allowing energy to transfer or coordinate between these two points. And again, Just resting the arm down. So now we have this electrical field produced by the heart which emanates through the whole body and actually emanates out of the body. An electrical field is not stopped by the skin. Extends beyond the body into the space around and actually We can also detect that electrical field using very sensitive detectors. So it's the most amazing thing to think that your heart produces an electrical field which is detectable outside your body. This is your heart energy. So we're also working with the pericardium channel here. Now pericardium is like the the sheath or a sack around the heart it's a It's a layer of connective material, Like fascia. That wraps around the heart. Okay, We can release our energy point and just come to rest comfortably sitting, Allowing the eyes to lower or close. Now the pericardium being made of fascia. Fascia is a very. . . Important and very exciting kind of material. It can conduct electricity under certain circumstances and is an electrical insulator under others. They call it a semiconductor. The fact that the pericardium is a semiconductor and the heart inside it produces this strong electrical pulse. He started to think, Well, Maybe the pericardium has some kind of influence on whether that electrical energy can emanate from the body or indeed can be felt from other bodies. And in the Chinese energy system, They call the pericardium the heart protector. They see it as like the soldiers surrounding the heart. So you think well if the soldiers are strong and forceful maybe it's like protecting the heart is holding the heart closed and it's like It's like having a closed heart, Not being able to feel or connect. If the soldiers are relaxed and. . . Allowing the energy of the heart to flow out and allowing other people's heart energy to be felt. And we have an open heart. We feel connected. So what might it be like as we sit here to allow the soldiers surrounding your heart the pericardium to have a moment to relax. It's a moment to let your guard down. And allow the energy of your heart, The electrical field to flow outwards. And also to be sensitive to the electrical fields of other people's hearts. Maybe there are people physically close to you. But nevertheless, Energy fields, Physics tells us that they don't have an edge. They just fade more and more with distance. It's quite possible that people that are quite far away from you can still feel their presence. Where you can still sense their heart energy. So our pericardium is soft and relaxed. And we're sensitive to the heart energy around us. Allowing your own heart energy to be felt by others. Sometimes it's important to protect the heart. But right now, We're in this safe space practicing our yoga. Exploring what it's like. To release that protection, To let go. And to feel connected. Okay as we come to the end of our practice together, We're going to very gently begin to sway the body a bit from side to side. If you like taking a deeper breath. Having a little wiggle into your fingers and toes. And then just when you feel ready, Allowing your eyes to lift. Bringing your hands together in front of your forehead, Take a little bow, Honouring your own practice. Coming up here, Making this diamond shape on top of the head, Laying it down over the crown. Coming out to the side, We scoop up a bit of the energy of the space, Bringing it into our chest, Bowing to this energy we've made together, Practicing together. And then from the chest we go forwards and down towards the floor bowing and saying thank you to our teachers and all the people in history who have passed things down for us to learn today.