Pay It Forward

Namaste, family. Welcome back. Today's practice, it's gonna focus on forward bends. And so, I don't know if you remember, but there was a little trend that was started and became really big and ended up being called pay it forward. It was started by one person doing, doing a favor for another person.

And then instead of paying them back, they just ended up doing the same thing for other people. So it's this ripple effect of our actions which I think is so beautiful. About how it's contagious, that when we receive something, that we can just continue to give it back and continue to give it back. So much of the time our actions or our karma can be so self centered. And everything of what am I gonna get, what am I gonna get, what am I gonna get, it's so transformed when we think like, what can I do give and the whole act of giving, we receive so much more in return.

So in this forward bending, it is this, even using our actions to free ourselves from the karma of selfishness. Of holding on so tightly. So we're gonna pay it forward. And pay tribute to one of my spirit guides, Hanuman. Who's the monkey god, and he's half monkey and he's half human.

And his story is so wonderful and so reminiscent of when he was a younger monkey. He used all of his gifts for just for mischief and used and abused his own personal power. And was just frivolous, he could just so high. He just wanted to eat the sun. And of course he was struck down by Indiran.

And they were like, he doesn't know how to use his gifts. So he was, he forgot them. So a little spell was put them so that he forgot about his own power. But then as a little bit more grown up and matured monkey, by some standards, he began to use his powers for service. And in that way, became one of the highest revered gods 'cause he did everything to be of service to Rom.

And Sita, he was able to use his incredible gifts of flight and becoming really small and becoming really big, all of it to be able to serve. And when you know, after doing this incredible feat, Rom wanted to make him king. And even then, he was you know, he said, I don't want all this stuff. I don't want all of your labels for the things that I did. I just wanna be here at your feet.

And be your servant. It was the highest gift that he could receive. In some ways we're like that. We wanna use our own dharma and our own gifts to be able to be of service. So do take your hands to your heart in prayer.

And start by taking to chakras, two circles by joining the thumb and index fingers together. With your left you're gonna tune inward. Right into the source of who you are. You can stick out your middle finger a little bit on your left hand. And then touch this right chakra to face outward.

So in this gesture of dharma, we're tuning in to who we are and then we're offering it forward. This gift. In the bhagavad gita it says better to perfect, to do your own duties imperfectly than to perfect the duties of someone else. And then this way we're honoring the divine by being who we are. And fully being of service.

Using what we have and who we are. And so take a few moments. And drop into your breath a little bit deeper. Remembering those great gifts inside of you and how you can use them. What we've been given, we get to give back.

And take one more big breath in. And allow the inner and the outer to join there in a prayer. And bow your head for a moment. And then right from here begin to turn on forward to the front of your mat. You can remove your padding to the side but do make sure you have a couple blocks with you today because for Hanuman asana.

They're very very helpful to be right where you are. And then crawl forward onto your hands and knees. And start by this bow. First forward bend. Where we begin to move forward on our divine path.

And so exhale right here in child's pose. Breathe a little bit deeper into the back of the body. To move forward. Especially bowing to the power of your actions. And how they can absolutely liberate us from our past karmas.

And can affect the whole rest of our lives, the future. That what we do now, why we wanna become so conscious. Rise up onto your hands and your knees. Little head lift and open the chest as you breathe in and then follow your breath as you dome back in. Inhale and arch your spine.

Look up, a few cats and cows. And then breathe out as you turn in. Getting to move in rhythm and in tune with who you are. And then the next time you breathe in, look up. Exhale and pour yourself into downward facing dog.

Begin to peddle out through your feet. Breathe into the back of the legs. The whole back body which does represent the past slowly, you wanna begin to free ourself from, to move forward. So roll it out into a plank pose. And lift up a little bit as you extend back through the heels, forward through the chest.

And then drop down your knees, chest in chin. You got a full pranam. Paying it forward, giving it back. And baby cobra as you inhale to rise up, press into the tops of the feet. Lift your chest and then send your hips back to your heels.

A few of these mini sun salutations as you begin to rise up and breathe in. And then exhale to dive forward. Again inhale and rise up. And then exhale. Breathe in.

And breathe out. And one more time to rise up. And then twist on over to the right side so that you can find this deep revolution, looking back. Looking back. Our whole past experience.

And then begin to wrap the right arm so that you dive forward and in. Rise up into eagle arms and then step the right foot right out in front of you as you sink down through the pelvis begin to arch backwards. And then frame your right foot with your two hands. Tuck the back toes under, keep the left shin on the ground and then straighten out the right leg into ardha Hanuman, so a half hanauman. Or that mischievous baby Hanuman.

If that was you. The younger Hanuman. And then launch off those back toes, lift the left knee off of the ground. Peel the right arm with a sigh. And then extend the right arm forward so that you're extending through the back heel.

Into the past. Reaching forward and how it meets right here. And begin to twist the chest, open towards the sky a little bit. And then exhale downward dog. Plank pose, breathe in.

Knees, chest and chin. Full pranam as you breathe out. Cobra as you inhale. Downward facing dog as you empty all the way out. Roll forward into plank.

And then soften the knees to the ground for a few more of these, rise. And then exhale. Twice more, breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in.

Breathe out. Rise on up one more time and then have a seat so you twist looking past your left shoulder this time, big breath. And a big breath out. Wrap your left arm around your right. So that you hug inward.

And then begin to rise on up into those eagle arms. And then step forward with the left foot let the pelvis drop as you arch up and back. And then frame your left foot with your two hands. And the fingertips can come down as you begin to straighten out through the left leg. And sink back, breathing into the back of that left hamstring.

Back of your spine. Your head. And then again relaunch, bend into the left knee. Lift the left knee off of the ground as you twist open through your chest. Take a big breath in.

And then swing the left arm up and over your head. As actively as you're reaching into that back heel. Downward facing dog. Rinse it out through a vinyasa, one more time, plank pose. This time you can stay lifted as you lower.

Cobra as you breathe in. Downward dog as breathe out. Inhale your right leg up to the sky. And then exhale draw the right knee in towards your chest, step forward as you breathe in right away, pay it forward. Offer it up.

And then straight the right leg as you swing the right arm to the sky. So it's a little pyramid. And then bend again as you swing it forward. Swing it back. And then extend it forward this time both arms are gonna come forward.

As offering tray. And then rise on up into a high lunge. You can begin to sink down a little bit as you reach up. And then right from here launch forward and you're in a standing split. So plant the hands down, you can allow the head to drop.

And then step on back. Reach your right leg up and into the sky. And let's just a moment in pigeon pose. Allowing the hips to sink down. So you breathe and lift the chest.

Plank and lower. Rise up. And back. Inhale your left leg high, step forward between your hands. Pay up.

Pay it forward. Swing it open as you breathe in. Bend and reach. Inhale to open. And then an exhale to offer it up.

One more time like that. Breathing in and then breathe out both arms forward for a moment. And then rise on up, you're in that high lunge. Sinking down as you reach up. Really breathe into that inner right thigh and then launch forward in to your standing split.

There can be a little bend into both knees so that the inner thigh bones move in. And then lengthen away. Inhale your left leg up, you're in a three legged dog. Slide your shin forward. For just a drop down into that left hip as you lift the chest.

Plank pose, lower. Inhale. And exhale. From here breathe the right leg up into the sky. Step on forward.

We're gonna rise up into warrior one. And then from here, begin to lengthen your hips back. Reach your left arm up, slide the right hip back. And then it is gonna be a little bit of a deeper parivrtta trikonasana. I'm gonna reach for a block.

Place it to the outside of your right foot. Really sink down as we're beginning to breathe into the backs of the legs. And then open it up. Take one big breath in. And then exhale to release.

Right away you're gonna parallel the toes and then take your right hand to your left ankle. There can be a bend in the left knee. As you begin to peel your left arm up even snake it back behind you. So that you can twist open through the chest and the shoulders. And then take your left arm around.

See if you can find your right foot and then a little peek out from underneath your arm pit, you gotta wring it out. You gotta wring it out and then right into a low lunge, twist again to the top of your mat. Maybe grab a hold of a block one more time. And it's a parivrtta ardha chandrasana. So this is moving out in all different, you gotta really plug that back foot in.

But then wring it out from the belly as you open up. And you can just right into a seated spinal twist. Take your right hand behind you, your left arm to the sky. And then twist as you look back. Big breath in.

And again a looking back. Take one more big breath in. Lengthen up and twisting. And then as you come forward, let me move your block a little bit over to the side so it's there. You may wanna take some padding underneath your sitting bones.

And then crawl a little bit forward onto your hands and your knees so that you can open up through the tops of your feet. And then sink back down gomukhasana. So with the right shin on top, your left hand is gonna find the back body. Your right hand's gonna see if it can join it. You can find a belt if you like or your t-shirt.

And then you gotta bow forward. Pay it forward. And towards that. All of those incredible gifts. And then rise on up.

Your left under, your right arm on top. Eagle arms. Take a big breath in and here we go. You're gonna rise up right onto your shins, step the right foot forward. And your left leg's gonna wrap all the way around.

You're in eagle pose. So first take both sides away from each other. And then you're gonna bow it on down. Breathe into the back of the body. Kidneys, the hips.

Sink, sink, sink deep and then reach for the outer edge of your left foot. Open it up parivrtta padangusthasana. There can be a little bend in the knee as much as you need to really roll open through the chest. And then extend a little bit longer. Take it through center.

Maybe one more bend to take a bow. And then drop into utkatasana. Deepen into the knees. Reach your arms high. Slide the prayer to the center of your chest, parivrtta utkatasana.

Just revolution as you send the left hip back, twisting. Move the hips behind you so that the spine can get long. And then slow your left heel toward your left sitting bone. You may have your blanket still behind you, step it back. Squeeze the right foot maybe a little bit wider so it's a broad stance.

Your arms can open. Binding can happen. And then right from here, soften your left knee to the ground. Still have that blanket there, that'll feel nice. Or add one.

And then allow the top of the left thigh to come down as you begin to reach for the top of your left foot. So sink into the top of your thigh. Roll open through that right shoulder. Then your forearm can even come down to the ground. Big breath in everyone.

And then exhale to release. You're in downward facing dog. Inhale your left leg up and high. Step it forward and through. You're in warrior one on your breath in.

Lengthen out through the left leg. Slide your left hip back, your right arm forward. So you're continuing to move back and forward. And then begin to extend it forward. Again, I'm gonna use my block here.

So that you can really rotate your hip back and behind you and press against the ground so that your chest can open. Open up. Big inhale. And a big exhale. Take it through center.

You can move your block out to the side. Parallel the toes. And then you can take your left hand to the outside of the right ankle or foot. Twist and roll open through the chest. Take it back and over.

Peek out underneath your right shoulder chest. And then right into your revolved ardha chandrasana. So your right hand down to a block. Lift up and breathe in. And then peel open through the left arm.

A big inhale. And then you're gonna come on down as you breathe out. Blanket's here. To support the sitting bone. Inhale the right arm up and then twist.

Looking back. Big breath in. Big breath out. This whole concept of karma really does have to do with personal responsibility. Like little Hanuman had to you know, have acceptance and take that responsibility.

And from that comes this personal power. Of what we do. Let's unwind over to the other side. And then come on forward onto your hands and your knees. Tuck the knees.

Take the tops of the feet down. And then begin to make your way towards gomuk, this time with the left leg on top, the right arm comes up. Find the back body. Inhale to get long. And exhale to come forward.

You can shift the hips back just a little bit. Rise on up. Weave the right arm underneath the left. And then on a big old inhale you'll rise up onto your shins. Step the left foot forward and the right leg's gonna wrap around.

Once or twice. Fold forward and through. Stay here for an inhale. And then exhale. And then rise on up.

Inhaling. And then exhale come through center. There can be a little bit of a bow before you drop it. And twist. Draw your toes towards each other.

Send the right knee and hip back. So that you can twist open through the chest. And then a little perch as you lift the right foot up, send it towards the back of your mat. Broaden your stance a little bit. And then twist a little bit deeper.

You can take the whole shoulder so that you can move the right side of the belly over. And then you can take your right hand down, left arm up. Release it down, find the blanket with your knee. And then you'll open it up. Reach back for the top of your foot let the pelvis drop.

As you lift your chest. Take it a little bit deeper and breathe. And then let it go. You're in downward facing dog. You may still want your blanket here.

You're gonna inhale your right leg up. And step forward between your hands. And then your left shin is gonna come down. So it's a half virasana. We've been working with this kind of rotation in the pelvis and the hips as they come on in.

So we're gonna set up for krauncasana, heron pose, so you may want some padding underneath your sitting bone. So that they're both sinking into the earth and then sit up nice and tall. And then from there you'll begin to reach for your right foot. Roll forward a little bit. And then to start with, lean back.

You're still breathing into the back of the hamstring and the back of the spine. But you're opening it up. Into one more revolution. You can look back. You'll come through center.

And then begin to bow forward a little bit deep. As you come back through center, you can begin to hug the right shin in towards your chest, this might be enough, you can hang out here. The options are half lotus, so take the right foot like a janushirasana to the inside of the left foot. But it can come high up on top and then you've got one more bind to reach back for the top of the right foot. And then your left hand's gonna come deep to the inside of that right knee.

And then twist back towards your left shoulder. All these poses remind me of the great devoted Hanuman after he's so matured, just sits there. Looking devoted. His whole life he devotes to giving back. You may relate.

You may relate. Okay as you come back through center, stretch the right leg long, this will feel pretty good. And you can open the left knee so that you can place your right forearm to the ground, reach up and over. Twist open. And then send your left hand to the ground.

Press into the pelvis so that you can rise up. And then as you make your way through center, you can free your left leg up. Release your sitting bones down. Cross at the ankles. Step into downward dog.

Again the blanket can just be here. For the next side. So breathe your left leg up. Step forward. And then your right shin comes down.

Slide it a little bit deeper. Sit up a little bit taller. You can even stay here. Take the revolution this way if it's too much in your hamstring. But moving towards opening it up.

Twist back. A little rock forward through the front of the sitting bones so that you can really peel open. And then through center. I'm gonna keep my knee bent on this leg because of a little injury like Hanuman. You can bow your head in.

And then from here, again, it's either half lotus or take your foot to your inside of your thigh. And working on opening up the chest and the shoulders. So you can check out finding the foot or again keep the foot on the inside, slip your right hand underneath your left thigh so that you're pulling back a little bit and look past your right shoulder. Big breath in. And one more breath out.

Lengthen up through the left leg. Open up the right knee a tiny bit more. And then sway it on over. Whole side body, breathe in. And then twist and breathe out.

Press into the right shin. Lift the pelvis up. And then release your hips down. So there's one more shape I wanna explore before we move onto Hanuman. Check out maybe facing this way.

You're gonna play with hugging the right foot in towards your chest. This one takes me a minute too. That's, is this my right foot? Yeah, this is my right foot. And then your left hand you're gonna reach up, we've been playing with a lot of this revolution.

You're gonna reach for the outside of your right foot with your left hand. With your right hand, you're gonna dive it underneath to find your left foot. I call this tumble weed. We're gonna be like a twisted Hanuman. And then you're gonna reach forward and back.

In one movement and then twist underneath your armpit. Breathe in. And then breathe out. And release. I like to lift my hips up.

You can exhale it up through the mouth. And then check it out the other side. So did you kind of get that? It takes a minute or two. To figure it in.

Figure it out. Hug the shin in towards your chest. Sometimes it's like a little bit of a couple compass. But with your right hand, you're gonna reach to the outside of your left foot. With your left hand, underneath to the outside of the right foot.

And then one foot at a time, or moving in two different directions, twist underneath your right armpit. And release. Drop your hands behind you, your feet in front of you, lift up breathe in. Exhale through the mouth. And then release your hips down.

Cross your ankles. And then make sure you have your two blocks now with you. As we finish up with our Hanuman asana. I think your legs will be nice and long. And spine free.

So that you can swing it forward. Now the blocks are really nice. And actually, especially if you're on a wood floor, a blanket can be really nice. So that you can really fly. So with the blocks this high really as you want them.

It can be lower, it can be higher. Allow your hips to sink back towards downward dog. And then breathe the right leg up and into the sky. Draw it in towards your chest and then place the right heel onto the blanket. Your inner thighs still wanna move in.

Maybe you'll come up onto the highest way. And then wee. You can slide forward. And then here again, you can play with height. Right.

The whole thing is that you don't want the pelvis to open too much. It is the tapas to draw in towards your center. And then press back and forward at the same time and how it meets right in you. You can take a block underneath your right hamstring. You can breathe the arms up to the sky.

You can take it forward. And then make your way back. You've got another leg. Breathe it up high. Draw the knee in towards the chest.

Offer it, set it free and forward. Again it can start up on the stilt way. Because you want your hands in line with the hips. And then spin the pelvis forward. Even if it means you have to lift up and out of the pose a little bit.

Extend through the right leg, through the left. And then again you can place a block underneath the hamstring to breathe it up. Take it forward. And then slide it back. One and two.

And move your hips a little bit from side and then take your blanket out to the side. You can hop forward to sit through. Or those of you that wanna hop all the way through, both legs are gonna come out and then plop. Your blocks can move over to the side. Breathe your arms up high.

And then dive forward. You can breathe into the whole back body. Move forward. To let go of. Those past karmas.

One more big breath in. And big breath out. You can even stay here for a little while longer. It can be really nice when the body's really ready. And then you can begin to lower down into shavasana whenever you're ready.

So scoot on back onto your mat. Blankets may be nice to support the backs of the legs. There was a lot of hamstring. And then begin to lower down. Oh, that feels awesome.

Big breath in and then exhale to release and let go. Couple exhales like that. And let all of those actions just release and dissolve into the earth. And then begin to bring your awareness back into your breath. This prana, your life force.

Each breath that we're given and what we're gonna do with it. You can stretch a little bit from side to side. Give a big hug of your knees into our chest. Real hug. And then rock on up to sit.

And slide your padding on over. Move into sukhasana. Even with your hands just resting on your lap. Open in the pushpaputa mudra. Which is this offering bowl.

Mudra of service we're called. And as Krishna says, if you wanna be truly free, arjuna, perform every action as worship. Every action. As service. And inhale, draw your hands into a prayer at your heart.

Bowing your head in great devotion. Like Hanuman in sight of his heart had Sita and Rom just tattooed in there. We're devoted to. Devote your life to. And take a big breath in.

(chanting om) Namaste.