Inspired Quiet

(waves) Welcome back, in this sequence we're gonna become more intimate with the qualities of inspiration and expiration and the play of mantra and how that can help quiet the mind. So we will start supine on our backs. Knees bent, heels in close to your hips, reach your arms up over the top of your head, soften your elbows so your shoulders relax back and down. And we'll begin with just some easy windshield wipers. So inhale and as you exhale roll onto the edge of your feet, knees come to a side, and as you inhale come back center.

Exhale over to the other side and inhale come back center. And just let this continue, exhaling to a side, inhaling come back center. Exhale to a side, inhale come back center. Just let it start to feel more leisurely, easy, moving at your own pace. If you feel like your feet wanna be wider or more narrow, honor that information, nice.

Beautiful, kinder in the eyes, easier in the upper palate. Now, next time the knees come over the left stay with the knees to the left, lengthen a little bit on the right side and start to feel how you can move your mind's eye, your awareness, into your right lung and let the feeling tone of your breath hold you here. Become a little bit more aware of the back of the lung, the bottom of the lung. Beautiful, let an inhale bring your knees back up center and as you exhale let the knees come over to the right and same idea, lengthen a little bit on your left side, feel your awareness move towards your lung and let the breath help you be here. So feel the expansive quality of the inhale and the soft holding quality of the exhale, yes.

Be a little bit more aware of maybe the back of the left lung. Gorgeous, now inhale, bring your knees back up center. Let's do that one more time each side. Knees come over to the left, lengthen a little bit in the right side and just become aware of how you can tune your attention into the lung, your lung holds you as the breath quiets you. Yes, become more curious about this magical aspect of yourself.

Yes, inhale, bring the knees back center. Exhale, knees over to the right, same idea. Like can you become more fascinated with what we take for granted? Really let your attention start to be held by this. This is the play today, gorgeous.

Okay, next time you're ready let an inhale bring your knees back up center. Widen your feet a little bit maybe let your knees fall together. If that's not comfortable try feet together, knees wide. Reach your arms up towards the sky, let them come back down a long your side, palms up if that feels good. And now just be aware with your mind's eye, see now how you can bring your mind's eye right into your left lung and just notice how you can have a sense of breathing just into your left lung.

Knowing that's not really true but feeling like it is. Nice, now move your mind's eye over to your right lung. Can you be aware of your right lung? Just hold your awareness in this right side. Beautiful, now come back to your left lung and see if you can start to be aware of the left lung's relationship with the physical heart.

So the physical heart, which sits center but leans left, she snuggles into the left lung. Can you be aware of this gentle caress? And the heart through the pericardium and her other connective tissues is intimately tethered to the diaphragm, this big, beautiful, bowl-shaped sheath of muscles that sits just beneath the lungs, attaches usually about the fifth rib. Can you be aware, as you inhale, can you feel the movement of the diaphragm? The widening and the softening, yes.

Use your attention, yes. And see if this is possible. Let your awareness drop just below the diaphragm to this little space right below the diaphragm, right in the center of you, this area that our dawas brothers and sisters refer to as the true heart that the yogis refer to as the wish fulfilling tree and you'll know you've found the spot when there's almost like a hollow feeling, almost like there's just a sense of you found the spot. If it feels to esoteric what I'm suggesting come back up to the more tangible diaphragm or even to the physical heart. Now let your eyes be closed and together let's just start to play with a mantra.

So as you come upon your next inhale, as you come upon your next inhale can you hear the word love? And then let it be quiet on the exhale and as you come upon your next inhale it's like hear the word love as you inhale, it's like let the word love be the vibration to which you are inhaling. Let it be quiet on your exhale. A few more like this and the play request of you yogi scientists is to just see if the word love inspires your breath at all. Does it help your breath deepen?

Does it help your breath open? Maybe, maybe not. Yes, maybe just one more breath like this. Beautiful, relax, this experiment rests. Nice, an we'll begin our practice here supine.

Let the feet widen about hip distance. Let your right knee come in towards your chest. Interlace your hands right about where the knee and the shin meet. If that's too much pressure in the knee joint interlace right underneath the knee, okay? Ardha apanasana, inhale let the knee move away from you, arms go straight, exhale knee comes in.

We'll do this about four more times. Inhale knee moves away, exhale knee comes in. Three more, inhale knee moves away exhale knee comes in, two more. Nice, on this last one knee moves away let the outside of your right hip relax, let the right inner thigh relax and then let the knee come in and we're gonna hold the knee here for about 90 seconds. Soften a little bit in the upper palate, relax the shoulders, easy behind the heart and then so gently remember your mantra.

Hear the word love as you inhale and allow for that big, quiet exhale. Hear the word love on the inhale and allow for the quiet exhale. Soften the eyes. Relax any strain in the hands. Now slowly extend that leg towards straight towards the sky.

Wrap your hands around the back of your right hamstring. Some of you might prefer to have the hands around the calf or the ankle or the foot but most of us can find the back of the hamstring. Give a little bit of juju through that leg. You're not trying to straighten the leg in an aggressive way but just give the slightest little bit of juju. Soften the shoulders.

You're gonna either keep this left knee bent or you're gonna let the left leg straighten. Okay, one of those is gonna work out better for you and we're gonna be here about 90 seconds. Now this mantra, we've started with the mantra of love but if you're not finding that it inspires your breath, if you're not finding that it helps your breath try the word freedom. So as you inhale you might hear the word freedom and as you exhale you might soften. You might hear that word freedom and if that doesn't seem to work like probably you know what the word is, like you've probably gotten a hit of what the word is, might be joy, home, connection.

You're just trying to find that word that allows the breath to feel a little bit fuller to then allow for a deeper exhale. Nice. Relax the ankle, relax the toes. Offering your self to this shape in a more passive way can reveal these tiny little tensions that you didn't know where there when you're working it actively. Okay, eventually now relax that leg and I'm gonna suggest that you just bend the knee, let the foot come back down on the floor, pause.

Big deliberate inhale, exhale everything. Either keep the knees bent or one leg at a time let them draw straight so that you can just like (exhales) assess, remember the mantra. Beautiful, now we're gonna repeat that same thing on the other side, bending the knees, let the left knee come into your chest and again you're gonna decide. Maybe holding behind the knee is superior for you, maybe wrapping around the top as we make our way into ardha apanasana. Inhale, knee moves away from you, arms draw straight, and as you exhale the knee comes back in and inhale knee moves away from you, arms draw straight, and as you exhale come back in, super nice.

Three more like those. On this last one let the knee move away from you. Soften down through the hip like let the outside of that left hip relax. Let the hip crease, let the hip pocket area open and then as you're ready you're gonna let this knee come into you and we're gonna be here again about 90 seconds. The knee is drawing in so you are using some of your arm strength.

You're not like (choking) okay, it's like soft hold like you're snuggling a little one. It's a soft hold like you are drawing that knee in towards the heart and you're allowing yourself to experiment with the mantra so you allow your word to be in the vibration of your inhale and then like really feel yourself cycle into the exhale. So start to feel your breath a little bit more circular. So as you round the corner of your inhale hear your word, maybe it's joy. Maybe it's something like vastness and as you exhale feel yourself circle cycle back.

If your knuckles or hands are tired, unnecessary grip tension, soften. As you feel ready start to release that leg towards straight, straight towards the sky. Find your hands where they belong. For most of you it's just simply behind the back of that hamstring, back of the left thing. For some of you it might feel more natural for the calf or the ankle, just gotta find out.

We're gonna be here for about a minute and a half now. So either this right knee stays bent or the right leg is straight. You don't have to do the same thing on both sides. And then come back to the mantra. Like feel what you're feeling and start to align your attention.

Like so you're letting your attention align with that word to help inspire the breath. And you're playing. Like if this experiment isn't working, nothing's wrong with you. Some of us are more visually inspired or kinesthetically inspired. The play of the mantra is just one of one million, billion, trillion techniques.

Relax your ankle a little bit. Let the space between your toes widen. You're not forcing the inhale you're letting it be inspired, yes. Okay, as you're ready slow let the left knee bend. Let the foot come back down to the floor releasing the hands.

If you'd like you can keep your knees bent but if it feels okay, one leg at a time, let your legs draw straight, relax the grip in the thighs, relax the back of the heart, upper palate open. Yes, so nice, beautiful. Only when you're ready one knee at a time bend the knees. Draw the knees in towards you and wobble a little bit. And we're gonna come up to sitting.

You might prefer to roll to a side I most usually prefer to rock and roll up. And we're gonna find our way towards janushirasana. I'm gonna choose to extent my right leg and let my left sole of the foot find the inner thigh. Now your knee might easily find the floor but this is why it's sometimes nice to have bricks near you. So if your knee doesn't quite find the floor maybe a brick or a mat or something like that underneath the knee if that relieves any tension in the hip crease or groin.

So as you turn to janushirasana you might choose to go down at an angle. This is a much more natural place for the body. If you're interested in adding the element of the twist you're gonna let your heart face more down this front right leg. If that's straining or stressful it's not really working so you find out where your body wants to go and we're gonna be offering our self to this for about two minutes. So as the hands come out in front of you let a bit of a (exhale) happen, let your back round.

If it feels okay relax your ankles, relax your toes, and then feel how you can just start to allow yourself to move into the shape and then remember the mantra. So the play with the mantra, right, is to feel how that inhale, the buoyancy of the inhale, the buoyancy of the inspiration takes you out of the situation a little bit and how the exhale drops you in. And so find the word that allows that feeling of inhale, of openness, it kind of buoys, there's a buoying sense, and then feel how the exhale drops you in. You'll be particularly aware of the quality and tonality of the breath in the back of the body and you might be playing with feeling that buoyancy more at the back of the heart, more at the region of the kidneys, or more in the region of the sacrum. I like to let my chin drop and I really like to let my head drop.

For some of you that head will very naturally and easily find the legs. For some of you you will have the opportunity to admire your shin. And the play is can you look with kinder eyes. So when we can see, can we let our vision be kinder, nice. Okay, that's about two minutes.

Chin into your chest. Let yourself roll back up and then we're gonna continue this very similarly. We're gonna move into half cow face. So draw this left knee in, wrap her on top of the right knee. If this is too much repeat the janushirasana.

So there's an opportunity through the inner groin and the hip, again we're gonna be here for about two minutes, so feel the inhale. Remember the quality of the inhale and then feel the exhale, remember the quality of the exhale. This is more demanding in both the hip and the back of the right leg. So almost the inhale offers a relief and the exhale like invites you in. Some of you might be rounding over a little bit, the elbows might bend, the head might drop, this is a strong weight in the back of that right calf, in the back of the hamstrings underneath the right knee and so it's not for everybody.

And you're mantra might change, trust that. Like if suddenly you find yourself on something else go with it but do allow yourself a quality of presence with it. Let it help quiet the mind. This is the meaning of mantra, ma to measure which is associated with the word manas, mind, tra, protection. The mantra provides protection from our own minds.

Okay, beautiful, chin into the chest. Let yourself roll on up, feel the belly, heart, and throat. And then the play for the final part of this particular sequence is a little spinal twist. Bring the sole of the left foot to the floor, the left knee up towards the sky. Hug this left knee with that right arm.

Bring the left hand behind you. We're gonna be in this for about a minute. Feel the inhale as it opens and it lifts and it inspires you up. And then really follow the exhale as you twist like reaching the right leg a little bit forward, letting the left wing of the sacrum draw back. Letting the inhale, that mantra and as you exhale like feel the right wing of the sacrum reach forward.

Feel the left wing draw back. Quieter up in the upper palate, yes. Either keep the gaze over the left shoulder or if it would feel good maintain the twist in the upper, mid, and lower body let the head and neck come back across the right shoulder for the last few moments. Yes, inhale here, exhale slow. Unwind, upper back, mid back, low back and pause.

To get out of there let that left leg release. Now you have a choice here. For the minute rest you could stay seated and allow yourself to like feel the effect or some of you might choose to roll on back down and if you roll on back down supine it usually gives you an easier place to assess, like assess the feeling tone in the hips and the legs and to just really see if that medicine was effective for you. Yeah, excellent, okay. If you're seated stay seated.

If you're supine, knees into the chest, cross the ankles, and roll on up. And so we'll make our way to janushirasana on the other side. Again, I'm gonna use one of my bricks underneath my right knee. My left leg is extended, the sole of my right foot is on the inside of my left knee. I've got the brick underneath my right knee.

Wobble around a little bit and allow yourself to assess if you're gonna choose to kinda come down through the middle or if it feels good to come over the leg. This requires some effort. So play with it. Now again, we're gonna be here about two minutes. Hands are out in front of you and again we're tuning to this quality of letting the inhale lift us out of a situation and letting the exhale drop us in.

Letting the inhale kind of lift us out of the situation and letting the exhale drop us in. I like to wobble a little side to side. You could stay up on the fingertips and let your back round. You could come down onto your elbows. The play is that you're in a comfortable enough spot that you can still really let your attention be held by your skill of dharana.

That's really what we're honing here. Dharana, steady attention that you're honing your capacity to be able to let your mind be single pointed. So notice the effect of the truth on the breath and to study the quality of the inhale and the exhale. Again, this might feel good. You might round a little bit more if it would feel good.

Some of you might let your head come to rest down on the leg. Allow it to salt to taste and be appropriate for you. Yeah, a little bit of shaking is fine. Beautiful, okay, as you're ready chin into the chest. You're gonna let yourself roll on back up and we're gonna make our way into the half cow face.

So one hand underneath the right knee, you draw that leg across. If this is more than the back of your left leg or your inner groin or your hip want then you can repeat the janushirasana. I'm gonna move my brick back out of the way. We're gonna be here for about two minutes. Hands are gonna come out in front of you.

Inhale here, and as you exhale you're gonna let yourself round a little bit, wobble. Inhale, let yourself remember the mantra. It's like so really the instruction isn't so much inhale the instruction is really hear your mantra and let that inspire the breath. Yeah, again let this side be different. So if it's appropriate to stay up a little bit do so.

When we rush, all we get better at is rushing. Sometimes wobbling a little side to side helps a lot. Sometimes letting the elbows bend, bringing the forearms down to the floor is appropriate. Notice if you have unnecessary tension in that left ankle let it soften a little bit, feel the space in between your toes easier. Can you have a sense of letting your legs be heavier?

Like can you literally have a sense of giving some of you up to the earth and so let that happen on the exhale? So hear your mantra on the inhale and as you exhale soften. Beautiful, little less than half a minute. Nice, as you breathe snuggle in a little more. Gorgeous, okay slow chin into the chest, roll on up.

Yes, and we'll complete this seated sequence with a spinal twist. Right foot on the floor, right knee up to the sky. Hug your right knee with the left elbow. Bring your right hand behind you. Now we're gonna be here for about a minute so feel the inhale that inspires and lifts and rises and as you exhale feel the left wing of the sacrum reach forward, let the right wing come back.

Inhale, feel the rise in your heart a little bit. And as you exhale reach a little bit through that left leg, let the right hip roll back as you twist, yes. Now for some of you keeping your gaze out over the right shoulder is what feels best. For some of you keep that low, mid, and upper body twisted allow for the inhale and as you exhale turn your gaze back over the left shoulder, maybe looking down at the right toes, nice. Beautiful, inhale here, exhale slow.

Unwind upper back, mid back, low back. Extend the right leg straight, pause. Beautiful, and then from here start to make your way onto your back. Knees bent, arms reached out in front of you and roll it on back down, hug the knees into the chest. We're gonna play with the supine spinal twist.

I'm gonna suggest the eagle wrap because we've opened up through the hips and we've started to twist. If the eagle wrap is more than is necessary simply keep the knees together. Here's the play. Wrap your right leg over your left, hook your right foot back around your left calf perhaps. Arms reach out from the sides, inhale here, and as you exhale bring your knees over to the left, bring your right palm on top of the left palm, get kinda organized there, and then as you're ready inhale circle your right arm over the top of your head and back over to the right.

What can feel good here is to let that right elbow bend a little bit. As you let the right elbow bend the shoulder will roll back and down. Now we're gonna be here about three minutes and so this might be the perfect spot. Some of you might choose to reach this right arm over the top of the head and some of you it might feel perfectly delightful to have it straight out from the shoulder. Let the knees be heavy and then allow the mantra to occur.

And so it's a bit of a counter-pose to be focusing on the expansion of the inhale within such a quiet yin-like practice. The play of that is to start to become more intimate with being awake within the quietude. Start to feel the ground from where the creative source arises and really feel how after a big burst of inspiration there's such sweet relief. The gentlest gaze is towards the left knees, or towards the left. Neutral is generally up towards the sky.

It's the most intense to gaze towards your hands, your right hand, so you decide. So to get out of here, first step if you're in the eagle wrap is keep the knees to the left but unwrap them, letting your right knee rest on your left. Once that feels settled in your sacrum draw the right knee up towards your chest and then up towards the sky, let it unwind you back to the center and rest the soles of your feet on the floor and pause. Feel the effect. Like be aware of how it feels down through the right hip, the pelvis, the spine, yes, beautiful.

Nice, let the knees come into the chest, wobble a little bit, and we'll make our way to the other side. So same idea, maybe it's left leg over the right, maybe the left knee is resting on the right knee. Let everything come over to the right. The knees come over to the right. The left palm comes on top of the right palm.

Once you feel organized, like hips and spine in a line, circle the left arm back over to the left. I like to let the elbow bend a little bit, it just feels more correct in my shoulders. You may or may not decide that's for you. We're gonna be here about three minutes and so you do wanna make sure you're in a spot that you can eventually soften into. So if it's too much to work in the low back or sacrum region unwrap the legs.

Okay, feel the vibration of your mantra, of your word and then feel how the exhale drops you back in. Like feel how much the breath loves to be inspired. And it's like you don't have to take a deeper breath. In fact, that's quite effortful. You let the relationship between the breath and the attention and the mind allowing the breath to deepen.

Yes. It's like we can take a deep breath when things are clear, when things are truthful, when they're not muddled. And usually, for most of us, the state of the mind can be quite muddled trying to figure things out of which it has no business trying to figure out. Instead just let the mind be held by a quality of truth letting that inspire the breath. Eventually, with steady attention, dharana, it takes less mental effort to stay focused and we start to train the mind to be held within the focus like curious to the situation.

Again, if it's stressful in the neck try gazing towards the knees to the right or the hand to the right. Middle of the road tends to be up towards the ceiling. Most demanding is over towards that left hand which is not usually all that great for most people. So you choose. Kinder in the eyes, more open in the upper palate.

Now to get out of there you keep your knees to the right, you unwrap left leg on top of the right and then eventually once your sacrum feels settled you draw that left knee up towards your chest to the sky, the rest of you will follow, left foot comes back down to the floor, knees are bent. Settle yourself on your lily pad. So you're centered, pause, like feel the effect. Then you choose. It'll just be kind of a natural thing.

Your feet will either widen and your knees will fall together or your feet will come together and your knees will widen or your legs will go straight and just settle, like just (exhale) and just feel where the breath has landed. Usually after this long a period of deliberate, attentive letting of the breath be bigger and fuller and a little longer, usually she's settled into a very quiet, soft, even state. It's like you know you've done your breath work properly when you barely need to breathe. Yes, and you might choose to slide into shavasan from here, extending your legs and resting. I'm gonna choose to draw my knees into my chest and come up to a seat so you can join me sitting or you might find shavasana, whichever would feel better.

Roll to the side and pressing yourself up. This would also be a perfect time to turn off the lesson if you were gonna lie there for a while. Okay, snuggle in here. Now allow for an inhale, maybe let the mantra assist, and then exhale everything, really like the quietude of your state will reveal if your practice has been effective. Soften the belly, easy in the back of the heart, open up in the upper palate.

Let your hands find their placement so that it feels good to you. This afternoon it feels good for me to have one hand resting in the other. And you've been so attentive to the breath. The play now is as best you can just relax any control, restrain, or effort allowing for the resulting quietude. Together.

Let's be like this for just about another minute. Maybe let your hands find each other in anjali mudra. Palms pressing together near the heart. Thank you for your practice, namaste.