Mystic Madness

(waves splashing) Namaste, family. Welcome back, thanks for taking this 30 minutes out of your day really to play. Today's practice I'm calling mystic madness. I need to do this once in a while to let go of all the thinkings that I put into my practice sometimes, right, there's so much mind, which is very important, and of course that great focus on specifics and consciousness and alignment and everything, and in my life too. But one of the greatest things is to be able to let go.

In Buddhism, they're called the Eight Worldly Concerns that keep us bound even when it comes into our practice. So, I don't know if I can remember them. I haven't been taught these since I was very young by my mother. You know hope and fear, they always go in opposites and they go together. Praise and blame.

All these things in our lives that can keep us bound. There's fame. And failure. Gain and loss. This space that we have in our third eye, right, in our brain, of course it's for thinking, but it's also for intuition.

It's space of the mystics. It's that third eye and the sixth sense that we don't have concrete proof from, so they didn't really care about getting extended angle perfect. (laughs) They wanted to be free and to raise their consciousness. They were sticking things up their nose and taking it out the other. They were flipping themselves upside down and inside out so that they could be free, not to get it right.

And I know we all probably came to our practice in that same way, but sometimes we can get rigid in our thinking, and we know what rigid thinking does, whether it's from the outside, politics, in our own lives, so today's practice is to just really not care really if you're doin' it right. I'll try to guide you in the right way, but maybe we'll do something twice on the same side, just to see what happens when we get in our own way and that thinking that's like, this isn't right. This isn't right. Whose voice is that? We want to be free, so let's go ahead and take a mudra.

This one's really powerful. It's called the Hakini Mudra. Hakini is the goddess of the sixth chakra, our Ajna Chakra or great intuition, but it's not just intuition, it balances both sides of the brain. You can even pretend you're holding your brain, yes. The mystics were far out.

They were far in. And then place those two parts of your brain together like you're holding a big brain, or even a crystal ball. That you can visualize, you can see. You can know. You can witness.

You can dream. Notice those other thoughts that come in about that could never happen. Of course it could. Of course it could. Your elbows can sink down.

I'm reminded of a line from the Great Mystic Rumi's poetry, "There's beyond right and beyond wrong. "There is a field beyond the ideas of wrongdoing "and rightdoing, there is a field. "I will meet you there." I'm gonna meet you there. That field is your mat. But every time you can press the fingertips together and even touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, and it stimulates, it stimulates this gland, pituitary.

And couple times like that. You can even close your eyes and turn your gaze in and up to that mystery of not knowing. Not having to know. The image of this chakra is a circle with two petals, indigo, indigo colored. And it's like wings, like two wings of your mind to set free beyond all those concerns, what others think.

This identity that we work so hard to build up can just come crashing down. And then keep looking in and up. And then take one more big breath in. The very sound that's there is the sound of Om. Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmm.

And then open your physical eyes and look at the world and its magic! And then come on forward onto your hands and your knees. Face the top of your mat. Move your props away. Take your third eye to the ground. Sit in a Child's Pose for a moment.

The mystics always like little kids, seeing the world through that magical perception. And then right from there, I'm just gonna begin to slither (laughs) like Alice in Wonderland. She wasn't thinking, she just followed the rabbit down the shoot. Right out into that Wonderland, which is your life. Lift your gaze in and up.

And then exhale your third eye to the ground. And then right from here you'll come up onto your forearms, so that you're in this Sphinx Pose, and slide your shoulders back as your chest begins to open, and again, really pressing down to lift up. And then you'll begin to tuck your toes under, and then kneel, begin to lift on up. So you're in a forearm plank. And you'll begin to fly up a little bit, and again, allow that visualization that you can look up.

You're this new perspective. So point in the Bhagavad-Gita where Krishna gives this gift to Arjuna to see him and he's like, "Aaah, I don't know if I want to see." Know that it's this wild mystery you can see the world through. And then send your hips back, you're in a Dolphin. Those beautiful and mysterious, magical beings. And as you begin to send your hips on back.

Allow the chest to lift, and then drop your knees to the ground. And then from here, take your hands back and straighten one arm and then the next, and then you're just gonna play with coming down and coming back up. Left forearm and right. Actually that was my right forearm, but it's okay. Left and right.

Who cares beyond the left arm and the right arm? Play around a little bit here onto your arms. And then the next time your forearms are back down, begin to press off the toes and see if you can just come forward into a plank. And then from here, you're gonna begin to lower down, so we're gonna play with that a little bit. Come back up onto your hands and knees.

Send your hips back. Take your forearms to the ground. And then as you press off through the toes, you're gonna launch forward onto your belly. Point your toes and lift the chest. And then exhale back onto your forearms.

Tuck your toes under. Burst forward. Point your toes, Cobra, look up. Exhale onto your hands and your knees. And then for sure lengthen your arms and legs.

Come back into Downward Facing Dog as you breathe in. And then breathe out. And even close your eyes for this great insight to what's behind you in everything, that's in our lives, we begin to read it and great meaning. And then begin to look forward towards the top of your mats. Put a bend in your knees.

Visualize it there and then you can step, step, or it's one big hop to the top of your mat. Lengthen your spine and peek up. And then exhale into your legs. Inhale and rise on up. And even catch that Hakini Mudra right up and above your head.

And then allow it to slide past your third eye. And be great glasses, vision, that we're gifted to see beyond duality. And then slide your hands into your heart for a moment. And then from here, you're gonna shake it out and shake it free a little bit. So inhale your arms up.

I like to always catch my mudra up and above my head. And then let it swing back and then see if you can catch the mudra behind your back, so it's like this guidance, like Einstein visualizing a ball of light. And then dive forward and down. Lift your heels. Divers find it behind you a couple more times.

Just shakin' it free. Fingertips. Inhale, swing up. Exhale, right onto your fingertips. And then from here you're gonna sink down into Utkatasana for sure.

Your fingertips can still touch, and then keep going, begin to open up your knees a tiny bit so that you come down into a Malasana. So a pretty deep one with the knees open. And then right from there, you're just gonna drop onto your sitting bones, lift your knees, open your hands and you're in Navasana. So the legs can be nice and soft so that the chest is open, and then with the fingertips down, guess what, you're gonna rock it back and let it go. A big swaha, so be it.

As you rock forward, just let it take you forward. If there's a curl there, absolutely step back or jump back and you're in Chaturanga. Inhale and rise up. And then exhale, take it back into Downward Facing Dog. We're gonna do that a couple times.

And lengthen your spine as you breathe in. Exhale, bow down. Rise up, Utkatasana. Swing it down, you're on your fingertips. Inhale, swing up.

Exhale, tippy toes. One more time, inhale. And then exhale to begin to sink down. And Malasana. Navasana.

Halasana! Chaturanga Dandasana. You can fly up for a moment. We'll rise up. Exhale your way back. And then right from here, begin to inhale your right leg to the sky.

You're gonna step forward, seal the back heel. Gather up your Hakini as you rise up. You're gonna swing it back and behind you. As you come up through center, you're gonna do my favorite pose, it's called The Thinker. You know Rodin's great sculpture?

(sighs whimsically) Just takin' time out in that field beyond right or wrong, letting your thoughts fly free. And then right into a Shiva's dance. So the knees are soft. Really just funky and asymmetrical here, there's no straight lines. You can even begin to move in his great cosmic dance, so that as you step back, it's gonna be a devotion to the back of your mat.

Sometimes you're guided to do something and you gotta follow family. Fingertips, you never know, behind you. As you rise up, it's gonna be Warrior II to the front. Follow it, don't think. Swing it back and you're in a rainbow.

Peaceful as you inhale. Lengthen through the front leg. Just pour yourself, Triangle. Good old fashioned. Open up your great vision.

Expand outward. And then just right into Extended Side Angle. And as you come on through center, reach your right leg up to the sky. You're gonna swing it out, so you're gonna fall in Triangle. Breathe open through the chest and then can you lift the right leg up?

Maybe you'll touch your toes. Float it up. And then send it back, Downward Dog. Drop your elbows. Dolphin.

Can you come right into Chaturanga? Cobra or Upward Dog. Downward Facing Dog. Inhale your left leg high. Step forward and seal the back heel.

Gather it and rise up. Swing it back. Come on up. (sighing) And just look up. That sculpture kind of had a very stressed look, but this one's more of this.

Shiva, the great Tandava. What a dance. And then step it back. Devotion. (laughs) Back, but with your mudra guiding you.

Warrior II. Right up to the front. Swing it back. Peaceful. Triangle as you breathe out.

And then expand, hold for a few breaths. There's gonna be a little micro-bend into the knees, so again it's both sides of the brain functioning together. Non-duality. Extended Angle. Your fingers can touch the ground.

And then pour it back. Ride out through your fall in Triangle, and then the knee here I've gotta pull back in towards my center to lift the foot. Can lengthen it. And then send it on back, Dolphin. (exhaling, explosive breath) Cobra.

And then Downward Dog. Take a big breath in and out. And then lift your heels, look forward. Fly forward. Inhale right up into your divers.

Utkatasana. Last time to come on down, Malasana, so that this time as your forearms come down, I call this sometimes Nasty Crow, 'cause it's very intense and it's kind of (grunts). So the shoulders come down and your forearms are down, but it can also just be funky, Funky Crow. And then you have to lift up through your feet. So it's really kinda constricted, but still lift up, and then exhale it back.

Downward Dog, you can walk. Inhale your right leg up. Step forward, rise up the same way. Fly it free. "It's a great thing," says Faha.

And so be it. Sink down. And then this time you're gonna take it all the way over to the side, so this is called Yogi Dandasana, and again it's a great sage or a mystic with a staff. Just walking without anything. Sometimes they think they're crazy.

Walking through the streets like you may think that I am. It's okay. And then from here you want to check out the hands coming down. If you want to play, there's so much asymmetry in here. Hug in and lift up.

Laying thin. Draw it back in. And then drop down onto your tuckus, grandma used to say. Legs long, rock it back. Rock it forward.

You wanna try one more? Funky Crow. The work is to take the shoulders back. Mine keep sinking down. Lift up.

And then there's a springing back into Downward Dog. And breathe your left leg high. Step it forward. Rise up. Set it free.

Thinker and then twist. So both sides may be very different. All asymmetrical. And that's the beauty. In Japanese it's called wabi-sabi.

So it's finding the asymmetry or even the imperfection as perfection. So I'm very wabi-sabi on this side. And then take your hands down, come onto your fingertips. Lift up, lengthen. Drop it down.

Legs fly. Up and over. And then take it on forward. You can always pass through another Funky Crow or come onto your hands and your knees. And then, this one it may be new for some of you.

Some of you may have seen it and I love it again, 'cause it's asymmetrical and it forces the brain to really work, meaning it wants it to be so specific, and there's just a lot that goes on which is what's always very interesting to me, my own workings of my mind, to really see it. So one hand, you're gonna take a Side Crow, but one hand's gonna be in Dolphin. And one is Chaturanga. Chata-dolphin-crow. Or Funky Crow.

So the right forearm comes down to the ground. You're twisting to the right and then the knees come. Gotta take it real tight in. The knees come to the back of the Chaturanga arm. And then you can look up, Funky Crow! You can lengthen one leg up.

Take it through center. Come forward. Lengthen it back. Anything you want to do here in the middle. Before taking it on over to the other side.

So you'll twist. Really twist like you're gonna do Parsva Bakasana. And then just play with the arms. This time your left forearm is on the ground and the right is at Chaturanga, and then line them up so this is where the rational side of your brain is gonna be so happy. It's come please give me something.

So line 'em up. And then begin to lift. Wee! You can hang out here for a while. It actually feels strangely awesome. Lengthen one leg high.

And then drop it down. Child's Pose may be in order. Rock your head, and again, this great vision. Beyond right. Beyond wrong.

And then rise on up to sit. Slide your mats over to the wall. Find a good space. For this one, a funky forearm stand. I like to have the wall, 'cause it's very, very asymmetrical and you don't want to, one side of the body be overstressing the other one, but it's the same idea there, family.

Your right forearm to the ground, your left hand onto the ground. So it's what we've been doing, kind of the play between forearms and hands. But now it's one at a time. And then begin to come on up through a Downward Dog. You'll see how you have to play to find that balance between especially this left hand, and then inhale the right leg up.

And play with a hop. Om Namah Shivaya. 'Cause when I always call on Shiva, a balance is wildly wild. And then come down. Rested.

Shake it out, how was that? Check it out on the other side. Hug the elbows in. You do want the shoulders as symmetrical even though the hands aren't, and then come up so that you can play with your weight. Oh no I just did this one.

I told you I would probably do one side twice. And this side's gonna feel totally different and new like it's somebody else's leg. And then play with it. Yaaaaaaaas. And find maybe a toe to the wall.

You're gonna be leaning, probably favoriting one side. And then take it on down. Let your head roll at ease. Exhale and take a moment here in Child's Pose, always a little wiping clear of that vision, and then rise up to sit. You're gonna spin around to the front of your mat and lie down on your belly.

So if your hip points are a little sensitive, you may wanna use a blanket and just place it on the middle of your mat. And then go and lie down onto your bellies the way that we started out. So one more asymmetrical pose before we take it down. Little bit of backbending will feel nice, so you'll start out in the Spinx and then begin to draw the left forearm a little parallel towards the ground and reach back for the top of the right foot. We're gonna move towards Bhekasana, or Frog Pose.

So, you're gonna begin to first slide the heel in a little bit closer. It's gonna take a moment or two I'm sure to warm up, and then you're gonna spin your hand so that the elbow begins to move up. And then this is again the work is to begin to draw the shoulders down and the inner knees together. And then press down to lift the chest. And then from here you can extend back, long, and then flex through the right foot.

So it's actually as you begin to lift the left elbow off the ground, you move towards a little bit of a half bow. Yeah so to open up through the chest. And then release it down. Shake it out a little bit. And then we'll take it over to the other side, so come onto the right forearm, little bit parallel, it keeps it a little bit more steady towards the ground.

Put a bend into the left knee. First reach back for the top of the foot, open up through the left side of the shoulder, the top of the quadricep. And then there's a spinning action, it's at the top of the foot and the wrists come on top of each other, and then there's a pressing down and a lifting up at the same time. It's like that old rub your belly and tap your head. (goofy sigh) And mind comes alive.

And then again, extend the right arm long. Straighten through the leg as you lift up. So again it's another half bow. And then lower it down. Shake it out.

And then come on up onto your forearms one more time. The next pose we're gonna do is that we did bow, we did Bhekasana, this pose we're gonna call Bhek-bow. (giggling) So it's a half bow, half of Bhekasana. So it's a frog-bow. It takes everything in the mind, 'cause one leg's going one way and the other leg's going the other way.

Let's see what happens even with my brain. So, maybe the right foot is in Bhek and then the left hand, I'm telling you, your brain's gonna be very (laughs). So one foot's pressing down, the other (laughs) you're gonna press up. (grunts) Bhek-bow. Press down, lift up.

Fly free. Drop down. Shake it out. And then take it over to the other side. So Bhekasana with the left hand.

You can set it up first. And then Bow or Dhanurasana with the right hand. Press down and lift up. The lifting up didn't happen so well. Press down and then reach back.

You can rock forward and backwards a little bit. Swing it forward. And lower. You can let your hips move from side to side and then absolutely roll over onto your back. And we'll twist it out a little bit.

And then take some rest. So you can move your blanket a little further forward and out to the side so it's there if you'd like to use it for Shavasana. And then hug your knees in towards your chest. Give it a little rock. Then wrap the right leg over the left so that you can drag the knees towards the ground.

And peel it open. Right back down in that field where we can meet each other. We're not so concerned about gettin' it right or getting it wrong. It's a practice. Come through center.

Reverse, scoot your right hip underneath you. And you'll twist over to the other side. I think the final line in the poem is, "You can lie down in that grass, "even the term each other doesn't make sense." Give a big hug of your knees into your chest. And set up for Shavasana. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.

Drop and let go. It's your Corpse Pose. Between birth and death, all these extremes, there's a space where we can live. Come into just a little more aware Shavasana. Keep your body completely still.

This great vast space where everything comes and goes. A great mystery. We look up into that vast sky and what's up there? And we lose these strong definitions of right and wrong. And then begin to deepen your breath.

Come back into your body. Move your fingers and your toes like for the first time. Rub your palms together, even hug your knees in. And then rock on up. (sighing) Overall, it just looks different, another great, as you can tell I'm a Rumi fan.

He says, "Wake up as if suddenly you were born into color." And it can be black and white and our vision opens and can see brightness. Then your fingertips together. Always use these gestures to remember... To take time every day to nurture this third eye as if it would be a physical presence. And perhaps to sit still and to dream beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing.

And make a big breath in. Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom. And move your mudra up. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom. And then open it up wide.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom. And take your hands back into your heart. Until next time, namaste.