Carpe Diem: Seize the Day!

Welcome to Carpe Diem, a morning practice dedicated to allowing you to wake up and seize the day, the opportunity and this whole day that we have in front of us to really live to the fullest. And especially if there are challenges or if there are obstacles in your path that you tend to avoid, this practice will get you to be as open to those challenges and take risks. So we're going to start with a short meditation to cultivate courage, to face whatever it is that's in our lives. And it contains the Abhaya Mudra. So you're going to place your right hand up, your elbow can kind of release down naturally by your side and then your left hand is in Varada Mudra, which is that acceptance.

So we're creating a brave space to kind of welcome. I like this because it's kind of saying like, hi, whatever's in my path instead of rejecting. And cultivating courage on the yogic path is as important as cultivating compassion and cultivating the qualities of peace. As we think about those, about being the most important, but first to be able to have the courage to be able to show up to our practice, show up to our lives is as equally important and balances them out. So we'll start by sitting up tall, make sure you have some padding underneath your sit bones comfortably rooted down into the earth, that your chest is open nice and wide, the chin in towards your throat, the back of your neck is long.

And also you can begin to hear the sound of your own breath. That Ujjayi breathing, the victorious breath, Jayi is a celebration. So it is victorious and it's also say Jayi, like a mantra, a victory. And so by even tuning into the sound of the breath, the warrior's breath, you can sit up a little bit taller and take a couple moments to invite what perhaps you fear in, you can breathe it into your heart, if it's wide and open and exhale a great surrender, a great Tibetan meditation master Chogyam Trumpa even would say smile at fear, so maybe you can try that too, smiling, befriending, those obstacles, challenges and fears. Take one more deep breath in here and a deep breath out and from here you're going to begin to stretch your arms up and again it's going to create this V for victory.

Our practice today is going to include inversions, challenging twists, so we do want to begin to stoke the fire at the navel a little bit which also awakens the quality of courage so you can curl your fingertips in towards the pads of your hands and stick your thumbs up and into the sky which represent the ego and as the shoulders melt down the back we're going to practice what's called the ego eradicator, one of my favorite kundalini kriyas. So this arm gesture is done along with the bellows breath or breath of fire, so the navel moves in and out pretty equally like a bellows, it's not fast, it's certainly not aggressive but it is fanning and pumping and awakening this great center within our navel. So you can take a deep breath in, a deep breath out, if you find that your arms get tired in the middle, better to take them up and above you and then take them back into the V than to completely release, it will be really hard to get them back up. So let's go for it, it's going to be about a minute, these are timed, some yogis do it for 30 minutes so we're going to do it for a minute. So take a deep breath in again and then exhale to let go, inhale together and let's go for it.

Keep it going, see if you can go a little bit beyond any limitations in your mind and then slow it down on another exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale and then breathe your arms high up to the sky, pause the height of your inhale, you can have your thumbs touch, drop the chin in, hold for just a breath and then as you exhale you're going to take it right into a cleansing twist over to the right side, so wringing it all out, you can inhale naturally up into the chest and then exhale from the belly to twist a little bit deeper back, inhale one more breath in and then using the exhale wring everything out, breathe in and rise up towards center and then exhale to twist over to the other side, sitting up tall as you breathe in and then exhale to twist looking back, inhaling and breathing out right from your navel center and this time as you come through center you just simply place your hands onto your knees, we're going to begin to take a few cleansing circles here with the spine, so you're going to breathe the chest forward as you inhale and then exhale circumambulate right around your center, so you'll inhale forward and then exhale back, inhaling forward and exhaling back, breathing in and breathing out and then take it around to the other side, inhaling, exhaling, sometimes we like to call these Sufi circles, the great Dervishes, another big breath in and a big breath out and then come on up through center and then you can move your padding out to the side, even shake your legs out in front of you, you need to and then bend through your knees, plant your hands to the floor behind you, and root down into your hands and your feet so that you can lift the chest and then stick out your tongue for another purifying exhale, release your sitting bones to the ground, cross your ankles, begin to make your way forward onto your hands and your knees, walk your way back and then spread your fingers wide into the ground, I like to really grip all 10 fingertips into the earth and root down through the inner edges of the thumb and index finger and at the same time roll the shoulders away from the ears, the arms are really alive and rooted and then tuck your toes under as you begin to lift your knees and pour yourself back into downward facing dog, you can begin to move your hips a little bit from side to side, pedal out through your feet, feeling a nice warm belly and beginning to wake up the energy in your whole body, from here roll forward into a plank pose, stay here for the exhale so you can feel that lift, the wings of the navel lifting you up and then staying lifted, begin to lower yourself down onto your mat, your knees can come down first for support or you can lower down in one piece and then point your toes, spread all of your toes onto the ground, rooting down to lift your chest up into a baby cobra and then exhale right back onto your hands and knees, tuck your toes under and exhale into downward facing dog, inhale your right leg high to the sky and as you exhale you're going to draw the right knee in towards your nose, see if you can stay there and hold that same feeling of stoking and then again inhale the right leg high up to the sky, exhale draw your right knee in towards your nose, so one more time like that with a big breath in, exhale come all the way forward so that you're using the power of the breath to step your right foot between your hands, you can always help it along if you need to with your hands, take it into one more twist, so moving right from your centre opening up, always with that hand ready to greet whatever it is in your life, appealing open, here you'll step right back into downward facing dog, roll forward into your plank pose again the breath out should be a little bit like a parachute so that the belly can lift up and then you can slowly with great control lower yourself back down, point your toes peel your chest open, look up, hug the elbows in and then exhale your way into downward facing dog, breathing everything out, inhale your left leg high to the sky, as you exhale draw the knee in towards the nose, shoulders over the wrist and hold, big breath in as you reach your leg up and then exhale come forward and hold, last time like this as you breathe in exhale come forward and then plant your foot down, peel the left arm up this time, so your left hip really does draw backwards and then expand nice and open and wide, what's up exhale into downward facing dog, from here you'll begin to take a nice slow walk forward towards the top of the mat so that we're present for each moment that life gives, no matter what it is, begin to breathe in lift the chest and then exhale to fold into your two legs, rise up to stand by pressing down through your feet and slide your hands to your heart and your arms by your side into tadasana, mountain pose, again this great greeting the day, openness, acceptance, your palms open and a readiness, inhale the palms up to the sky, you're going to take a round of surya namaskar, we're going to use that same stoke the fire feeling in the legs, so from here I'm going to step the right leg back and right away take the left leg up to the sky, as you exhale come forward so that you can feel that lift up in the navel as you send your legs back, maybe you'll hover over the ground for chaturanga for a breath, you can lower down into cobra or upward dog with lifted thighs and long arms, exhale into downward facing dog, breathe your right leg up to the sky, step forward between your hands, we're going to use that same twist as you breathe in, release your hand down and step forward, inhale to rise up, exhale your arms by your sides, big breath in, exhale to pour forward and down, inhale your left leg back and the right leg is going to keep stretching high, exhale to come forward and pause, inhale back into your plank pose and then exhale to lower cobra or upward dog, downward facing dog as you breathe out, inhale your left leg high, exhale to plant it between your hands and peel the left arm up right away, release your hand down and step forward, rise up to breathe in, release your arms by your sides, ready to greet the next exciting moment, so from here you want to make sure that you have a couple blocks near you for some standing poses that we're going to explore, so like to have two, one can go either side of your mat and then also a little bit further back onto your mat so that you have the wall behind you which we're going to use for inversions and it'll also be there for one particular standing pose that will be nice and helpful to support you if you're new to this particular pose. So we'll come back into tadasana, the top of the mat and then prepare right into utkatasana, into powerful pose to gather all of our energy inside, all of our prana to channel, so you can begin to draw the tailbone towards the ground and this will right away ignite the lower belly or these bandhas that we have, eight locks and storehouses of energy that we can use, sink in at one more big breath in and exhale to fold over your legs, from here you can step back into a plank pose and move through your vinyasa or anytime leave it out for downward facing dog, we'll meet together, aware of the wall behind you, inhale your right leg up to the sky and then step forward between your hands and this time root the back heel to the ground, you can line up your heels or a little bit wider and begin to draw your right hip back even manually into the left foot so that you're rooting down through both feet as you rise up into your warrior wand, so there is this internal revolution that happens in the pose to gather everything in towards your centre, you can press your palms together as you sink down and then lift the back heel up so you're turning inward again as you begin to shift the weight forward and we're going to come up into an early warrior three, so this is where the blocks may be nice for you to use on their highest level as you begin to shift the weight forward and float the left leg up, so you're internally rotating that left hip and beginning to find that balance and then you can play with taking one arm up, taking the other arm up, feeling the lift up through the navel and great focus and concentration and then come on up to stand giving a hug to your left knee up and in towards your chest, draw the shoulders back, here you can interlace your hands underneath your right thigh and perhaps begin to lengthen out through your leg, again you can lift one arm, you can lift the other arm and then bend through your knee again to come into eagle pose, so your left toes can come to the ground or they can wrap around once or twice and then the left arm comes under as you begin to reach up a little bit and then fold forward over your legs in this variation, keep drawing the right hip back and look past your hands as your vision begins to expand, the lens opens up, unravel right back into katasana, fold forward over your legs, step back into your plank to lower or right back into downward dog, inhale a cobra and exhale back, you can step the right foot forward a little bit as you reach the left leg up, step forward, root the back heel, get mindful of the right hip as you begin to rise up for your warrior one, taking the palms together, the right hip back but if it's uncomfortable they can open up, it creates this dynamic energy as you continue to sink down and float your back heel up, shift your weight forward with this great taking a leap feeling and then you can find your blocks here to first structure the legs and find stability as you reach the inner right thigh up and then play with lifting up one hand, find the lift up to the inner belly as you extend the right hand and then rise on up to stand, hug of the right knee in towards your chest, draw the shoulders back so that the heart is always wide and open and from there you can extend your right leg, you can extend the left arm, extend the other arm and then wrap the leg around yourself once or twice, draw the right hip back, the right arm under and then fold into yourself with a bow, katasana rise up and last time like this to fold over your legs and step back to lower down or right back into downward facing dog, inhale your right leg high, step forward between your hands, seal the back heel down, we're coming back up into warrior one and then this time right up into that high lunge again but you're going to take your hands to your heart and then find a rotation or a revolution over to the right side so your left knee can come down first so you can begin to find the thumbs towards the center of your chest, draw the right shoulder back and the right hip back and then you can begin to extend a little bit further back through that left heel towards the wall, take one more inhale, breathe out to twist a little bit deeper and then here we go with your right hand to your right hip, reach for a block with your left hand, you can even take your right foot back a little bit so that as you lift your back leg again you may have to play a couple times to find the wall. To plant your left hand down onto the block, your right hip back and then I don't know, you want to high five this one, take that same mudra, abaya to begin to open up. For me this is one of the most challenging poses, to breathe into, to open up, as you root down you'll find the great support of the back leg and then you can release both hands down maybe even grab another block to begin to come into a standing split over your right leg. You still want the inner thighs moving in towards each other, the legs can move away from each other, you can even play with lifting up onto the ball of the right foot a little bit in preparation for our inversions.

And then you'll come right into a seated twist, you can move your blocks a little bit out to the side and then plant your right hand to the floor behind you, extend the left arm high and twist, come back, sit up tall and revolve outward so that the shoulders can really draw back, really the heart can open and then of course your left hand can open, a befriending gesture and so the floor behind you, feet in front of you, lift up, exhale through your mouth, this time as your sitting bones come down give a big hug of your knees in towards your chest and then open up so really the mantra is how can my heart stay open in every situation or we'll say most for today, it doesn't have to be every and then both of your hands can open up as you rock a little forward, feel the great wakefulness in the body and then cross your ankles, you can use your blocks if you like to step back into downward facing dog, the vinyasa is optional, anytime you can move them a little bit out to the side and extend your left leg high, step forward, warrior wand to rise up, float the back heel up, hands to your heart in prayer, twist over to the left and softening the knee down gives it a little bit more stability so that you can move the whole right side of the rib cage over towards the left and once you've established the chest open, you can begin to re-engage that back leg by letting the hips sink down but reach up through the inner right thigh and allow the crown of the head to open up, breathe all the way in and then breathe out and reach your right hand to a block again play a little bit with your stance with your left foot drawing back, you can inch back towards the wall, find your heel against the wall and then from there pop the right foot up, I have to kind of inch forward a tiny bit, I'm even going to come a little bit higher on this one, draw the left hip back, press the right foot into the wall and open up, so you can really open up from the chest, shoulder and then the arm is the last thing to come up, so if it's uncomfortable in your neck, you can keep it on your hip but see if your chest can turn open, one more breath in and then release down into your standing split so there can be a little drawing in of the knees before you extend the legs away from each other to this great inversion of flipping our perspectives, have a seat with the right arm up and twist, once you've hugged the left shin in towards your chest and the left hip is sinking down maybe your elbow will move a little bit past the right, the left knee and then your hand can open up into Abhaya Mudra, a blessing of fearlessness and bravery, come through center, plant your hands and open it up and exhale, hips down, a hug of the knees in towards your chest, lengthen the legs, extend open your hands, cross your ankles and step back into downward facing dog and then from here you can step forward towards the center of your mat and we're going to prepare for Crow Pose or Bakasana, so if this is relatively new for you there's a little trick, it's kind of fun to perch up on a block, so you can take the block just this flat way, release it onto the ground and this will give a little bit of height so if you can come up, your toes come together, your knees can widen a little bit out to the side and then I already have this height and it makes it a little bit easier to pitch my weight forward onto my hands, so root your fingertips into the ground again, kind of squeeze your sticky mat so you're drawing up all the energy from the earth into your arms and then hug your elbows in with your knees, so you're drawing the energy in and up and then just play with shifting the weight forward, you can rock back and forth a couple times and maybe lift the feet up a tiny bit, boop, maybe one more time and then hold if you can, deep focus and concentration and then release down, you can take a step off your mat and move it out to the side and so now we're ready for our inversions, we're going to take two variations of handstand which actually translate in Sanskrit to upside down tree, it's literally flipping our roots over and sometimes when life offers that of course it's natural response to want to recoil when something's challenging but that's where these practices come into handy and open up our perspective of invitation and see what's on the other side, what's this opportunity for growth instead of staying in those safe spaces, so you can take your blocks and place them over to the side, we may use them again towards the end of class and then walk yourselves back so that you can flex your toes and you're on your hands and knees, there's lots of different ways to measure this but for me it really, the body has its own natural beautiful alignment so with your hands right underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips and your feet actively pressing into the walls is a perfect alignment and then draw your shoulders back so again you want everything stacked with the elbows and your wrists, use the fingertips by gripping them, it'll awaken the muscular energy of the arms to protect your wrists and then begin to lift your hips, you're going to be in a tiny puppy dog so your knees can be really bent and then from here begin to take your right foot up the wall right in line with the left knee, you want to draw the inner thighs together and then by pressing into the right foot the left leg will lift right up to meet it and then you can press your feet into the wall actively to draw the chin in towards your chest and allow the back of the neck to grow long and hug the ribs in, you can take one leg up the wall, we did this pose and wore your three lots of different variations and now upside down, switch your feet, take the other leg up, maybe even see if you can see your toes, take a walk down the wall, give yourself a moment, feel a whole clearing out through the mind and the lightness and then you can take that variation again or let's check it out this way, you're going to take the same pose but this time play with all of that knee to nose swinging action and see if we can take a couple hops to lift ourselves up, so same way hands to the ground nice and rooted, shoulders drawing back, lift your knees, take your left leg center and your right leg up and then shift the weight into the hands with the shoulders over the wrists, bend through the knees so that you're going to use this momentum, the only thing you have to do is play with lifting up your left leg, your right legs up so you can breathe in and then exhale, inhale to lift up, exhale and then one more time as you exhale you want to play with lifting both legs up, your chin in towards your chest, you can play with lifting one foot up the wall, everything gathers in towards center, maybe lift the other leg and then come on down and if you didn't come up today you'll try it again tomorrow and then again the next day and the next day we can approach things that are challenging in our lives, so allow all the blood to kind of contain backwards, sometimes I get a little lightheaded, everyone tends to until you're grounded and then you'll spin around back to the front of your mat and lie down on your belly, take a little rest, so the blanket's always nice to place underneath your hip bones for some of these back bending and back bending is so wonderful after inversions because the spine gets so long the chest opens up, before you come up let your hips rock, breathe into your belly and your heart, take a big breath in and then breathe everything out and from here begin to take your forehead center and stretch your arms back by your sides, you can begin to roll your shoulders up and back so that before we come up you're really setting up the structure of the body, so first interlace your hands behind your back, if you can they can be open but it's more geared towards drawing the inner wrists towards each other so that you're really wrapping the shoulder blades and lifting them up and drawing the shoulders away from the ears and the foreheads on the ground, the back of your neck is long so that as you inhale you begin to peel your chest off the ground using your arms and then you'll use the legs, so it's this great flight to begin to open up the chest, your chin moves in towards your throats, take a big inhale, let the arms go and fly for a moment and then release down, you can take your head to the other side, shake out your hips, enjoy the release and then this time begin to put a bend in your knees, if this is all uncomfortable in your knees you can take the same variation with your arms behind you and the legs long but otherwise you can begin to reach for your ankles, slide your heels in towards your hips for bow pose or down your asana and then find some length through the low back by really pressing down through the pelvis, so it doesn't matter how high up you go but that the knees stay towards each other and you're using the legs to peel open through the chest, I like to rock here back and forth a little bit and take another inhale and then lengthen the legs, maybe reach your arms forward and then as you lower down, plant your hands down on either side of your ribs and then begin to walk your hips back towards your heels to have a seat for a moment, you can move your blanket out to the side and then reach for your blocks, so we're going to explore making our way into urdhva dhanurasana, full wheel pose, blocks are going to be nice especially if it's newer or if you have any tension in your shoulders or your neck, so you'll place them onto the wall kind of with, if you have a lip on the moulding generally it's here, you can place the blocks at a vertical, if not it's fine if they're here on the ground, the wall is nice that they won't slip and then lower down onto your back, we'll take one half wheel and then check out coming up into this full open hearted explosion and expression of welcoming everything into our lives, so root your feet down, you can check out your heels moving in towards your hips and then your toes move parallel, if not a little bit pigeon-toed because the tendency is for the feet to turn out, so if you've already set them in moving inward by the time we come out maybe they'll be towards parallel, then by rooting down begin to lift up, find your hands underneath you, the legs are really active here rooting down so that your chest can lift, the chin moves in towards the throat creating that deeper ujjayi sound, that breath of victory, so small victories, whenever we show up, when we have fear, when we have resistance towards something and we do it anyway, these moments for me are like throughout the day and take one more inhale and then release your hands, release your hips, drop the knees in towards each other, you can rock them a little bit from side to side and then we'll prepare for Urdhva Dhanurasana, so you have your blocks here, you can inch backwards a little bit so that your head touches the wall and then your hands can find the blocks upside down, you can even grip them, so that by pressing down into your feet you can first come up to the crown of your head and hug the elbows in and then begin to lengthen the arms, allowing your head to release towards the ground, take a couple of breaths there and whenever you're ready to lower, chin in towards your chest and come down slowly, you can move a little bit away from the wall, rock your knees a little bit from side to side, release the low back and then the next time you rock over onto your right side, eyes on it to sit and you're going to swing your legs around one more time, you can take your blocks over to the side, we are going to use them one last time for a final restorative inversion, so make sure they're close by but then lower down onto your back so we can take a supine twist, so you'll wrap your right leg over your left, scoot over onto your left hip, the right leg will naturally draw it down towards the ground, you can begin to open up your right arm and take a few breaths to simply surrender into gravity, into your breath, into a passive shape, allowing the body to find the ground again after being upside down and then come on through center, peel open through the right knee, as you're allowing the right hip to open then we're going to take it into half a happy baby, not a full happy baby, just half, so the knee comes down, you begin to allow the hip to sink, every exhale you can play with releasing the knee back towards the armpit and the sole of the foot coming towards the sky, you can lengthen the left leg, one more breath and then bend through both knees, give them a hug before you wrap the left leg over the right, again a little scoot so that you can swing the right hip underneath you, allow the left arm to fall towards the ground as you twist with your knees towards the right and close your eyes and come back into the sound of your breath, that constant mantra, um, jive, victorious, come through center, peel open through the hip, and then as you draw the right knee in reach for the outer edge of your left foot, lengthen the right leg, both shoulders really sink into the ground, and just play with isolating each hip joint, allowing the right thigh bone to heavy and the left knee move towards the armpit, and this time as you lift the right leg you'll take it into a full happy baby, you'll stretch the tailbone long, press the low back to the ground, shoulders to the ground, remove your legs and play around here straightening one leg and bend the other, and then take the soles of both of your feet together, lift your head up for a moment, you can touch your toes to your nose, and then rock a little forward then backwards to come on up to sit, and then flip on over into downward facing dog, and on your way do make sure that you have a blanket nearby, you can place it folded up towards the center of your mat, as we set up for pigeon, inhale your right leg high, and then we're going to come forward towards pigeons, you want to find that same parallel shin towards the top of your mat, and draw your right hip back, you can fold the blanket up as high as you need to really support your hips, and protect your knees in this pose, especially that can be a little vulnerable, so however high you need to make it so that there's some grounding through the hips, and you can create a little bit of symmetry out of this somewhat asymmetrical pose, you can start by lifting your chest high, and then begin to walk your hands forward for another passive release, into your pigeon pose, you can rock your hair forehead from side to side, you can move around as much as you like, or simply take a few breaths to release into your hip, and slowly rise on up, then lean a little bit into the right hip, you're going to swing your left leg right out and in front of you, and from here take a twist over to the left by taking your left fingers behind you, your right arm to the sky, you can put a big bend as big of a bend as you need into your left leg, so that as you come forward you're really resting your chest on top of your left leg, there can be a little bit of a twist with the right ribs, and then you can reach a hold of your foot with both hands, as you come forward for Janu Sarsana, you can lengthen your left leg as far as it'll go today, and bow in, closing your eyes and turning within, and finding your breath as a way of this liberation, and from what we fear, and begin to rise on up, circle the right hand to the floor behind you, you'll press down, open up, release your hips down so that you can come back into your downward dog, and switch your legs, so inhale your left leg high, slide the shin forward towards the top of your mat, readjust your blanket, each side is different, so you may need a different height on the left side, roll the right hip forward, walk your hands back, and then bow on down, and sway, and keep reconnecting to your breath, and into a rise, and up as you press down through the hips again, swing the right leg forward, take your right hand behind you and your left arm up, and begin to come forward over your right leg, twisting, and lengthening, extend your left arm forward, circle it all the way up and back behind you, plant it into the ground, and then lift yourselves up as you arch backwards, great opening, and release your hips down, we're ready for our next to final pose, there's a couple choices and variations that you can take, it can be shoulder stand, the preparation of it is plow, to begin to make your way into one last inversion, where you can hold it for a little longer, and the images of an upside down candle, so this fire that we've lit throughout the practice, now it can begin to flip over, and we get to burn away all those blockages, everything that keeps us from living our fullest life, so the variation I'm going to take is a more restorative variation today, with all of the same benefits, but your legs are going to be up the wall, so in Sanskrit it's called Viparita Karani, or simply legs up the wall, it's a wonderful wonderful pose to do any time of the day when you need a complete reversal of energy, removes fatigue through the legs, so your hips do want to be a little bit elevated, so some padding is nice, you can take blocks, you can take blankets, and then coming into it is a little interesting, because you're going to come over onto your side, close in towards the wall, and then lower down onto your back, and from here you can flip your legs up the wall, you'll release your sacrum, which is this triangular shaped bone at the base of the spine, right onto that padding, and then your legs can extend upward, and your arms can turn out, so again the hips are elevated, and the heart is over the mind, and as you release the weight of your hips down, your legs up, you can begin to slow the breath down, especially on that exhale, this begins to slow everything down, especially that flight or fight response that we have, and the slowing of the breath, especially on the exhale, the signals are rest and digest, and so this courage that we've been exploring isn't that we don't have fear, it's that we have fear, but we show up anyway with this open heart, and stay here just for a few more moments, you can stay here, even for your final relaxation, if this really feels great to have the legs elevated, you're welcome to stay here, or you can begin to inch your way away from the wall, and release your body down into shavasana, final relaxation pose, I think I'm going to choose to stay here for a few more moments, just for a few more moments, so we begin to bring your awareness back to your breath, begin to make it more conscious, a little more alive, begin to walk your feet down, if you've still been up the wall, roll over onto your side, you can pause there for a breath and fetal position, and press into the ground to make your way back up to sit, and take your hands into your heart and prayer on your way into your day, and I'm grateful for anything that shows up in your path, thank you for joining me today, namaste.