Clear and Soft Heart

(waves crashing) Nice to see you again. In this next sequence, we'll be attending to reducing the defense bending at the back of the heart. I'm gonna suggest we start out with a shape that I like to call impressing the heart. Two yoga bricks of matching shape and size work best for this. This one is gonna be resting right beneath the shoulder blades.

This one, the edge is gonna wanna find its way right into the occiput, right at the edge of the skull. It takes a little bit of practice to find just the right spot. Generally, if you're in the right spot, it feels good. Okay. Okay, finding one brick underneath the shoulder blades, meaning supporting them, one brick in the occiput.

If you happen to be lucky enough to have a wall in your house, have your feet up against a wall. That's superior. If not, maybe widen your feet. Let your knees fall together. Maybe feet together, knees wide or legs straight.

Big deliberate inhale. Exhale, let a (sighs) happen. Super nice, do that again. Inhale. Exhale, let a (sighs) happen.

Here, it's not very athletic (chuckles). You're not going for a big dramatic backbend. The play is to begin to allow the back of the heart to start to sense her support. This brick underneath the skull is helping draw the gaze towards the heart. It's creating what our yogi friends call jalandhara bandha, the chin lock.

Let the upper palate open. Soft in the hands, kind in the eyes. This requires a little bit of time. You know, trusting the support is not an immediate easy thing. Let the front of the heart get a little bit heavier.

Easy. Again. Relaxation takes practice. Quietude is an acquired taste. To be able to be comfortable in quiet, what is required is a willingness to be quiet.

Yes. Just about another half minute or so here. Mm-hmm. Sometimes even though it feels like you found the right spot in the beginning, sometimes a little adjustment is necessary. Trust the new update, okay?

Now keeping the brick under the heart where it is, use both your hands to turn the brick that's underneath your head down a notch to what we call the medium setting. It's no longer gonna be in the occiput. It's gonna be supporting the back bulbous part of your skull. Once you find that, relax your hands again and rest and kinda get used to this. So you still feel the brick supporting the heart, but now the play is can you feel a little bit more attunement to the vulnerability across the collarbones?

Can you let the teardrop of the throat deepen? This might be the perfect thing and most of you will keep the brick at this setting. Couple of you might turn the brick underneath the head to the lower setting, so it matches the brick underneath the heart. If you try that and it feels stressful or straining, then it is and go back to the medium setting. Okay.

Let a bit of a (sighs) happen. Beautiful. Now if your knees are bent, slowly one leg at a time, let your legs draw straight. If you happen to be against a wall, reach the heels of your feet into the wall. Press through the balls of the big toes and through the pinky pads.

Otherwise, you're doing that more into your imaginary space. Tune your arms alongside you. Soften the shoulders back and down. Palms face in, fingers are enthusiastic, toy soldier-style. Inhale, reach your arms up to the ceiling.

Soften your elbows so your shoulders relax back and down. Now maintain that in the shoulders. As you bend the elbows, one palm finds each elbow. Inhale here and as you exhale, stretch your arms up over the top of your head, so I'm still holding the elbows. Stretch through the left heel and the left elbow.

Stretch through the right heel and the right elbow. Wiggle a little longer and generally, it's more supportive in the joints to keep your hands on your elbows. So if you're working with shoulder mischief, stay here. If it would feel okay, release your arms straight back behind you. Enthusiasm through the fingertips and wiggle.

Really nice. Inhale, reach your arms up to the ceiling. Exhale, let your arms come back down along your side. Let's do that one more time. Inhale, reach your arms up to the ceiling.

Soften the elbows so the shoulders roll back and down. Clasp the elbows with the palms. Inhale here, exhale, stretch your arms back. Soften the shoulders back and down. Stretch through the heels.

Either choose to keep the hands on the elbows as you wiggle a little longer or release the arms behind you, enthusiastic through the fingertips. Really nice, beautiful. Last few moments. Gorgeous, inhale. Reach your arms up to the ceiling.

Exhale, let your arms come back down to the side. Nice. Now the dismount's a little awkward. Bend the knees. Soles of the feet on the floor.

The request is for you to gently roll off the bricks to a side, so you roll off the bricks to a side and then you're gonna move the bricks out of the way and once you've moved the bricks out of the way, the play is to roll back onto your back and rest. For a few moments here, allow yourself to be aware of the results of removing a giant block from the back of your heart. Can you be aware perhaps of the spaciousness that might now be available? While some of you might be able to just simply hold your attention there, some of you might let the breath help you, feeling the inhale pool and the exhale ease. Gorgeous.

Nice. Really nice, few more beats. Wide at the base of the skull, soft in the eyes. Let your head wobble a little bit behind you. Excellent.

Let your knees come into the chest and wobble. Okay. So really make sure that you have a sense of that because we'll be referencing it as we practice. Cross your ankles, inhale roll back. Exhale, roll up to sitting and we'll find our first shape, which today will be child's pose.

So start out at the back of your mat and actually, I'm gonna make a decision to set, because I happen to have these two bricks, it's not necessary, but because I happen to have them, I'm going to use them. Set yourself up at the back of the mat in child's pose if your joints will allow it. I'm letting my toes touch my knees. Be a little bit wide on this first one. Wobble the hands out in front of you.

Wiggle on back. Forehead towards the earth. Few beats here. Big deliberate inhale. Exhale everything.

Do that again, inhale. Exhale everything. Gorgeous. Now we're gonna be making our way to a lunge, so on an inhale, bring yourself up onto all fours. Step your left foot forward today first.

Find your bricks if you're using them. Again, they're not necessary. So we're gonna be here about three minutes, so what I like to do on my way into the lunge is I like to back it up a little bit and sink it in a little bit and back it up a little bit and sink it in a little bit. Sometimes it'll feel a little sticky in this front hip area, so sometimes it's nice to kinda bring your thumb into there and kinda (slurps) pull down on there slightly. That'll just kinda help you kinda get into the place of you.

Once you feel like you've found a nice spot, that might be the spot to stay or like we explored in season one, you might roll it a little bit to one side or roll it a little bit to the other side. If you've been using the bricks and they're not helping, you ditch them. In fact, I think that's what I'm gonna do now. I just think it's gonna feel better today for me to be a little bit lower. Yeah.

Now as you let the buttocks get heavy, as you let that right sit bone get heavy, as you let the shape have you, can you find out what happens when you soften the back of the heart? So it's like, let yourself be a little bit more wholehearted about the situation. You know, when we're uncertain about things and we're kinda pulled back, we cheat ourselves of the experience. If you're jamming into your wrist, consider coming up onto the fingertips or being on the fists. Wobble a little bit.

Now you might be perfect with both hands on either side of this foot, but again, as we explored in season one, some of you anatomically might feel better having your hands on the inside of that foot. You might bring it down onto the elbows and since you have your bricks, perhaps you could use your bricks. Soft in the belly, soft behind the heart. Remember how to let that upper palate dome. Nice.

We're not trying to hold these postures in rigid static concrete frozen state. There is a quietude and a stillness, but as you get the hit to move a little bit, to wiggle a little bit, to soften a little bit, if we don't listen to that, then we're not really honoring the body, which is the whole purpose of these practices. Okay. Not much longer now. Again, soften through the front of that hip.

Sink in a little bit. Easier behind the heart, like can you really start to experience what happens when the back of the heart relaxes? Beautiful, now we're transitioning right into pigeon pose. So you're gonna draw your hips back. Toe, heel, this left foot over.

You're drawing that heel as close into the groin as allows you to be in a comfortable shape of pigeon, also known as swan. We're gonna be here about three minutes. So as you kinda wiggle in a little bit, give yourself some time. I mean, this is a relationship and just like every relationship, a little bit of wiggle room is nice to have. Okay, so soft in the belly.

Right away, get good at softening behind your heart. The ability to soften behind the heart is a really useful, useful tool. Yes, yes. You might come down to the elbows, you might not. You gotta just play this.

If you come down to your forearms and then you kinda wish you hadn't, you come back up onto your palms. As we've been discussing, you know how it's going by how your face reacts. Easy in the jaw. Open in the upper palate. Kind in the eyes.

Soft in the heart. The subtle details, like kindness in the eyes and softness in the heart, these are what really you can use in your daily life. It's gonna be hard in your daily life to be like, "Um, 'scuse me," and drop down onto the floor in pigeon pose, but it's relatively inoffensive to soften the back of your heart. Yeah. Belly is easy.

So nice. So nice. If you get the hit that it's appropriate to draw that left heel in a little closer or let that left heel move away a little bit more, you do it. If you get the hit that it would feel good to bend the back knee slightly to reduce some of the intensity, you do it. As you get these cues, pay attention.

Beautiful, we just have about another minute or so. You might be up on the forearms. Some of you might have already decided to let your elbows widen and let your head come down to rest, maybe on the hands or maybe on one of your bricks. Mm-hmm. Again, soften.

Let the shape have more of you. Let yourself show up more. Try softening the back of the heart again. Upper palate easy. Mm-hmm.

Beautiful. So nice. Okay. When you're ready to get out of there, you're gonna bring your hands underneath your shoulders. Roll on back up and the suggestion in this practice is to find your way back to child's pose.

Let your hips lift. Slowly slide that left knee back. If it would feel good to find something like down dog or a little cat cow on the way, you do that. That's how you start to let your own practice show up. You know, we're here together, you know?

We're here supporting each other. Mm-hmm. Resting, beautiful. Let yourself have enough time between the sides so that the medicine can flow. Mm-hmm.

Super nice. Okay, only as you're ready, we're gonna find a similar thing on the second side. So if you're not ready, hit pause. Otherwise, inhale. Come up on to all fours.

Now I'm gonna set my bricks up again in front so that I start similarly, but don't let the tyranny of symmetry get you down. Bring your right foot forward between your hands or bricks and then introduce yourself, so again, we're in this lunge for about three minutes. So I like to kinda come back and sink in and come back and sink in. Do that enough times. What you're doing here, as we've talked about before, you're communicating inwardly the sense of an exit route.

Mm-hmm. Yes. Eventually, you'll come to a spot where it feels like you're starting to find the spot that feels good for you. As I mentioned, sometimes it gets caught in that front hip crease, so I like to use my thumb. I like to pull back a little bit.

Find my thumb into that hip crease, hip pocket and kinda roll that area down a bit and just, it just sort of pulls. I mean, to be sort of base about it, it sort of pulls some of the flesh out of the way and it gives a little bit more room. Yeah, now let a bit of a (sighs) happen. So you let that back-left buttocks get heavy, like you can kinda let that left sit bone get heavy, but the play here in this practice is to start to explore the results of softening the back of the heart, so let the back of the heart soften. Remember that feeling and see what happens to the rest of you.

This is part of the yogi science. See what happens to the rest of you when you let that happen. Nice. Now let this side be as it is. So if staying lower on the bricks is the right thing, then you do that.

I've been working with some mischief in this left, so for me today, staying up on the bricks is a better choice than coming lower down onto my hands. You might come down onto your hands. You might bring your hands on the inside of that right foot. Okay, like really all these shapes, it's salt to taste, salt to taste, salt to taste. We are seeking, or that's not really quite the right word, we are allowing the true notes of ourselves to ring and so part of that is listening to what that is.

Yeah. Just about half a minute more or so. Soften down through the belly. Let the hips get heavy. Yeah.

Super nice. Beautiful. Beautiful. Hmm. Excellent.

Okay. Now as we're preparing for the swan, the pigeon, you're gonna let your hips back up a little bit. I'm gonna move the bricks out of the way for me. You back up a little bit and then you draw this right heel in as close as is appropriate for you. So for some of you, it's gonna be further away than what I'm choosing to do.

For some of you, it might be closer. We explored a whole lot of options in that first season, so hopefully you have those in your toolkit. We're gonna be here about three minutes, so wiggle around, okay? Allow yourself the time. Settle in, let your low belly relax, let your hips relax.

Again though, the play in this particular sequence is what happens when you just decide to remember. It's more like you're remembering the ease in the back of your heart. Yes. As you remember the feeling of the ease, it happens. Staying upright and lifted might be the superior place for you.

Okay? Yeah. Nice. For me on this side, just like the other side, staying upright for a little bit longer is what feels correct. Yeah.

Ooh. You'll know that you're ambitious, you'll know that you're being overly ambitious on your own behalf or if really, it's more appropriate for me to say we know when we're being overly ambitious when it feels like we're forcing and the mouth will tighten and the eyes will tighten and the jaw will tighten, so you again, as we've been exploring, you allow the face to be the dashboard instrument. Soft in the back of the heart. Soft in the jaw. Open in the upper palate.

Easy in the eyes. Yeah. I'm finding that today, it just feels really good to let myself to just kinda rock a little bit, wobble a little bit. That just feels right today. That's soothing to me, so you might try that, but it might not make sense for you.

Mm-hmm. Again, you might stay up on the elbows. Some of you might choose to be down on the hands, elbows wide. Some of you might extend or reach your arms straight. Follow your good instincts.

We've got less than a minute left. So pretty. So nice. Letting the shape receive you. Mm-hmm.

Nice. Coming up on the last few moments of this situation. Soften the back of the heart again. Beautiful. To get out of there, let your hands come underneath your shoulders.

Slowly roll on back up. The suggestion today is to find your way back to child's pose. Draw the hips back. Let that right knee come back. Big toes might touch.

Wiggle on back through the hips. Maybe that forehead finds her way towards the earth. Let a bit of a (sighs) happen. Gorgeous. So nice.

Resting. Beautiful. Okay, as you're ready, let an inhale bring you back up. Now we're gonna make our way towards frog pose. Now this one can be kind of a doozy.

So you wanna make sure you're set up so your knees can be padded. So you're either turned sideways on your mat or if you happen to practice on a shag carpet, you'll be fine. So you're on your knees and your knees start to open up, out away from your hips. Now if I keep my ankles in line with my knees, that tends to make this situation more intense. The more I bring my ankles back in towards each other behind my knees, more behind my buttocks, the less intense.

So you can kinda drive to taste there. The knees start to go wide and you start to sink down in towards your frog. Now we're gonna be offering ourself here for about three minutes. So for some of you, staying up on the hands like this is where the action is and that way, you actually get kind of a nice inner thigh opportunity as well as a little bit of a low back action. Okay, so you might keep it up here, but as you wanna focus more in the inner thigh region and the pelvic floor region, then you're gonna make a decision to come down onto your forearms.

Okay, now as you come down onto the forearms and the knees go wide, you let a bit of a (sighs) happen. Talk without the tongue and then remember your key skill. Soft behind the heart, like soft behind the heart. The heart may be the last thing on your mind right now. Soft behind the heart.

That easing of the defensive structure will allow so much more of you to be available. What I like to do in this frog is I like to kind of on an inhale, come forward a little bit, like draw my hips forward of my knees. On an exhale, come back a little bit and maybe on an inhale, bring your hips forward of your knees and on an exhale, come back a little bit. Let that happen a few times. That just, like offering these little baby movements within the shapes can really help the nervous system understand that it's safe.

Mm-hmm. Then one other thing that's kinda fun is as you inhale, roll the pelvis forward a little bit. Let the low back arch and as you exhale, curl the sit bones under a little bit. Let your tailbone round. As you inhale, roll the pelvis forward a little bit.

As you exhale, curl the sit bones under. Let that tailbone round. Nice, one more like that at least. Uh-huh. Curl under, let the situation round.

Then let the pelvic floor relax. Let the knees open. Let a bit of a (sighs) happen. You might stay up on your forearms. A couple of you might be coming down all the way onto the chest, letting the elbows widen.

Face resting, soften the back of the heart, mm-hmm. Nice, beautiful. Just about half more minute. You're doing so nice. Okay, now as we start to approach the dismount, okay, if you happen to be in the kinda situation where sliding forward onto your belly would feel best, that's one option.

Most of you however, it's gonna feel more correct and useful to use your elbows into the earth. Let the knees come towards each other a little bit. Let the big toes touch and walk yourself back towards a wide knee child's pose. Wiggle back through there. Those of you on your belly, stay there.

We'll be with you in a moment. Okay, 'cause that's where we're going. As you're ready to move, we're gonna make our way onto our belly. Let yourself press up. Turn on your mat and come all the way down onto your belly.

Move your bricks out of the way if they're in your way. Head resting on the hands and allow the knees to bend and wobble a little bit from side to side. Super nice. Okay, let the legs relax about hip distance apart. Little wider if you prefer more action in the low back and let's come up into a sphinx pose.

We're gonna be offering ourself to this for about three minutes. Up on your elbows. I like to have my elbows slightly ahead of my shoulders, palms turned up. Wobble a little bit so your buttocks relaxes. Big deliberate inhale.

As you exhale, do you remember how to let the back of the heart soften? As the back of the heart softens, you'll feel your shoulders rise. You'll feel your hips drop. What you do with your head and neck really depends on you. You might let the head drop a little bit to get that nice stretch in the back of the neck or you might let your head stay lifted.

Just depends, it's more of a energetic quality. Mm-hmm. Super nice. Now soften the buttocks again. Soften behind the heart.

Upper palate open. So again, the research here, the play is can you be aware of the effect? Can you be aware of what happens in you physiologically as you relax some of that grip, some of that protection and some of that defense? Absolutely key for transformation is equality of vulnerability. Shh, yeah.

Now as we've explored before, passive backbending can be one of the weirder aspects of this yin yoga practice, so this is really one to pay attention to the temptation to try to fight or win and really if we reach your cooking time before it's officially quote on quote over, please feel welcome to come out. Yeah. So nice. Beautiful. Kinder in the eyes, easier in the jaw.

Mm-hmm. Hmm. Notice where else you can allow the shape to have you. As you soften the buttocks again, can you notice that vigilant grip in the thighs? (chuckles) Can you let her ease a little bit?

As you soften that vigilant grip in the thighs, can you let the legs feel heavier? Yes, so nice, last few beats. Ease in the heart again. Gorgeous and now let your elbows go wide. Let your head come down to rest on your hands.

Okay, making our way to child's pose. Hands come underneath the shoulders. Slowly press your way back. This time, perhaps bring the knees together as you draw your hips back. That will allow your back to stretch a little bit more.

Forehead towards the earth, yeah. So pretty. Beautiful. Slowly as you're ready, allow the chin to come into your chest and roll on back up. We will make ourselves into a baddha konasana.

Soles of the feet together out in front of you. I don't know, I like to have them about a foot and a half away from me. Wobble a little bit from side to side and again, we'll be offering ourselves to this for about three minutes and the play in the Yin-style butterfly as we've talked about is that you actually do let your back round. So as you let your back round, elbows come down onto the feet and this might be the perfect spot for some of you. Right here, letting the elbows bend, letting the back round, letting the head drop.

Remember your key skill. Mm-hmm. Your key skill of letting the back of the heart soften. As you let the back of the heart soften, study the effect of this in the shape. Mm-hmm.

This might be the perfect spot. Some of you might let the elbows drop a little bit lower. It just really, as we've talked about, so much of how the shape looks really depends on how you came out of the womb combined with your day job with the variable of injury. This might be the perfect spot. You might support your head.

A couple of you, just because of how you're put together, might find the pillow of your feet. You let a (sighs) happen. Soften the back of the heart, that's the key play here. That's what we're really practicing with in these shapes. So nice.

Beautiful. Soften the tops of the feet. Let the ankles get a little heavier. Let the knees open. Wide across the sacrum.

Yeah. Just about another half minute or so. Okay, slow chin into the chest and roll it on back up. Feel the belly and feel the heart and feel the throat and the face. Beautiful.

If you prefer to find savasana instead of sitting, then please feel welcome to lie down. I'm gonna suggest sitting together for about two minutes, but again, that's up to you. So I'm gonna suggest finding a comfortable seat or savasana. Snuggle in, I'm choosing to bring my heels in line with each other. If you'd like to sit up on something, do that.

Big deliberate inhale. Exhale, let a (sighs) happen and soft in the low belly. Ground it. Easy open behind your heart. Let your elbows get heavy and allow your arms and hands to organize to help and assist the natural brightness of your heart.

Find the alignment of the skull, so that she's balanced and let the upper palate dome, yes. Jaw's slack. Can you have such mastery, can you have such a tender developed relationship with the softness at the back of your heart that it starts to become the norm for you? That it starts to feel more correct than when it's gripped? This is really the play.

Whatever we do encourages what we're gonna do next. Yeah. Beautiful, sit here longer if you desire. Namaste.