Free Up Tension to Sit

Welcome back. In this practice we'll be using sound, not to penetrate layers in the body and some really fun movements. This practice for me happens to be one I return to over and over again to provide my body with space and to free up that tension that happens during the day or sometimes during the night so that I can sit for a longer period. So just so you know, sometimes I will just take one of these poses and I will move myself with the sound and the movements. So if one feels more right for you, feel free to just extract that from this practice and do it on your own time. And as always take really great care of yourself and just breathe your way into the freedom. So the opening is something in the Kundalini lineage called the ego eradicator. And what you do is you take a mudra with your hands, you spread the palms, the skin of the palms of the hands and you take the thumbs away from the index finger and then the knuckles of the hand come in and it's very tense through the fingers. I always feel a great release after that. If you have any shoulder, wrists or elbow issues, the hands rest open and forward. If that's not an issue for you, the arms come up and as the arms come up, the upper traps, the shoulders relax and the arms come forward enough that the chest isn't so far pronounced or you're hunching. Okay. So right in the middle and then we will integrate Kapalabhati, that skull shining breath where it's sharp, short breaths in and out through the nose. I'm going to tell you a little secret. Traditionally this is done for 11 minutes. Okay. We're only going to do it for one minute. So when you do those sharp, short breaths, if the arms feel slightly fatigued, just keep up the best you can and know that you can always allow the arms to rest here. So the success is just staying with it. Okay. Arms come up, take a deep inhale through the nose, open your mouth, just let it exhale and the rest of the breathing will happen in and out through the nose. So inhale and then exhale. Now as you're doing it, you're pulsing naval in and out. You're staying with those sharp, short breaths. The features of your face are soft. Your eyes can be open or closed. That's totally up to you and keep up with it. You may find halfway through your nose is getting a nice clearing and I didn't mention that Kleenex close will be helpful, but keep after it. Keep with the breath and then slowly on your next exhale, open your eyes, look up, touch the thumbs, spread the fingers. They'll feel a little crampy. Spread the hands almost like jazz hands and as you spread them, reach the arms really wide apart and then let the palms rest up and just note the way the body feels, right? Some release and some movement in the arms. You could sit with that longer. I'll continue to move. We'll do the clockwise rolling of the pelvis. So from the pubic bone to your right sit bone, tailbone and left sit bone, it's like you're stirring your pelvis. I like to rest my hands on my knees. You're in a comfortable cross legged position. If that's not comfortable for you, your legs could be extended outright. I have my pelvis elevated on the pranayama cushion. You could use a rolled up towel or a blanket and you just stay with the movement. I'm swirling the pelvis and the breath here is in and out through the nose. That wu jai pranayama, that victorious breath. So already we're stirring up some energy and for a lot of people, the pelvis houses the energy of the stuff, right? Things get caught here. The things that people say to you that you maybe are not ready to digest. So when you complete that next circle, I want you to stop for a moment, sit up really tall, take a juicy inhale and a full exhale and now go in reverse. And so for some people immediately there is this effervescence that happens in the pelvis. For others, excuse me, there's tension in the hips. So we're looking with the breath to hydrate the tissue, to lubricate and move the energy. And this is all keep in mind to get you more prepared for a nice longer sit where you feel the comfort in the stillness, where you feel the receptivity of landing there. So you have about two more rounds. You're going in that counterclock direction and then slowly again when you complete you sit up and inhale and a really sweet exhale. I personally like to switch my feet at this point. So if your legs have been crossed, you can kind of just shake them and then switch the cross. If your legs were out in front, you don't need to do that. We'll do something I call moving seaweed. Other people call it sideline mermaid. You'll just simply take your right hand to the right. And as you do that, you'll bend over to the right. You can place the left hand on the shoulder and leaning over. Head comes back and then you inhale here and you exhale. And then you inhale, come up, exhale over to the other side, land the hand, hand on shoulder, bend the elbow within the collar bones, right? That within the collar bones is the wisdom of the universe. Inhaling, come up. Now you can go at a faster rate if that serves you. When you lean over, you maybe reach the hand if that feels like it supports the lateral flexion and then inhaling up. So you're going at a pace of exhaling on the downside bend and inhaling on the up. You'll just do two more each side, balancing it out. Side bending is one of my favorite places to find the little nooks and crannies in the body where I forget to move and where it really provides the spring for sitting up tall in meditation. And then once again, palms can come up if that works for you and you just feel that. I do feel that movement in the spine. So now you will just tip your knees forward for a moment. They'll come together and feet will come together so you can round the back. That's flexion that happens on an exhale and then arch on an inhale, right? So exhaling round, inhaling arch. Two more like that. I find this gives the thigh bones a little break because you will return to that cross legged shape in just a moment. So slide the foot in, cross again. And now you'll take the arms into what I call cactus or goalpost. I like my elbows, the height of the shoulders and the palms to face in.

And personally, I like my palms always to face in because I feel like it keeps my energy, my flavor, my essence coming back to me. And it's like a nice boundary for the outer world. So when you inhale, you'll twist. And when you exhale, you'll come back to center and you inhale and twist and exhale back to center. And you look inside as you're twisting for this moment of really uprising, right? So you're grounded and you're moving these next couple. I'll just breathe with you and twist. And then you rest the arms down by the sides. So we're exploring all the movements in the upper torso, the range of side bending forward and back, and then obviously the rotation. So the final one here I like is to thread the hands behind the head. And as they thread just to note whatever thumb is leading, take the hands behind the head and the elbows are in the frame of the body. If you prefer the elbows to be wide, that's fine. And for this one, you will incorporate both of the ones that just happen before. So when you inhale, you'll go over to the side, side bending. When you exhale, you'll come up and then you'll do the other side. Inhale over. This is nice traction for the neck. That's why the hands are there. And then exhale up. Now you'll twist. This is for your brain. Inhale, twist to one side. Exhale, come back to the midline. If that's not the breath that you're doing, just do the best that you can to keep the breath consistent. Inhale, twist to the other side. Exhale, center. This is where we change. Inhale, side bend. Exhale, up. Inhale, side bend. Exhale, up. Now inhale, twist. Exhale, center. Inhale, twist. Exhale, center. Final round. Inhale, over. That could be an exhale if that feels more custom for you. Exhale, side bend. Exhale, up. And then final twist. Inhale, come through the center. I feel the back of my head pressing into the hands. And then inhale, and exhale. And then release the hands. So my spine already feels this spring rising me up. Even through the roof of my mouth, I can feel this sense of lifting. So now you will come into a seated shape so we can integrate all of what you've done with your feet forward and your knees bent, right? If you have any tailbone issues and you want to pad underneath or you want to do this on your back, just take really good care of yourself. The arms will come forward. You will add the twist here. So you will bend your left elbow and bring your right one across. And then inhale, come up through center. So I'm already in this position where I feel the low belly working that idea of Ujana Bandha. Bend the right elbow, twist away, and feel that left arm come across. And then inhale through center. Two more each side. Exhale, left elbow bends, right arm comes across. Inhale, come through center, ungrippy toes, right ungrippy mind.

Bend right elbow, left arm across. Inhale through center. Exhale as you accentuate the twist. Inhale. And then final, final, exhale. Inhale, come up through center. Now you can slowly take the hands behind you. Bring your hips to your heels and your hands forward. If it's challenging for you to touch the floor here, water bottles, blocks, whatever you need, tinted fingertips, my feet are in a nice V position, like first position in ballet. You don't have to be a ballerina to do this. I was kicked out of ballet. Heels stay nice and high up. And this is like a moving frog. So my arms are on the insides of my knees. And how far you straighten your legs is totally up to you. So on the inhale, my heels stay high and my legs mostly straighten. And on my exhale, I bend. I'll go over that one more time. Heels stay together and they're up. Inhaling on the straight, exhaling on the bend, the range of movement, movement make accessible for you. So I'm not going to talk now. I'm just going to breathe with you. You may not be counting, but I am. And that's seven. And I think nine more is possible.

Exhale, last five. Enjoy the breath. My hamstrings are talking to me. Thank you. You're welcome. Last three. Final one. And then just feel that it has a lot going on. It moves a lot of energy, anything stuck in the back of the legs. And slowly you'll walk the feet back into down dog. And I trust that when you get into downward facing dog, everything in the back of your legs will say thank you. So now that you found your way into down dog, you can peddle your feet and enjoy the movement through the back of the legs. Feel the platform of your hands anchoring you, thumb index, middle finger turning on the chest, ring finger, baby finger turning on that side body. And then very, very slowly, just step the right foot forward. And as you step the right foot forward, you could be on tented fingertips. You will feel that right leg, the right shin bones, mostly vertical thigh bone, mostly horizontal and you just breathe here. Let's take about three breaths. And then just to kind of floss that leg, inhale, mostly straighten the right leg and then exhale, bend. Inhale, mostly straighten. Exhale, bend. Inhale. Exhale. Step the right leg back down dog. Feel the heels yearning for the mat, the sit bones elevating in such a way that the pelvis feels like it accelerates up and away from the floating ribs. Tone in the navel tethering away from the waistband or your shirt and then slowly step the left foot forward. If you need the help of the hand behind the calf, feel free to use that support. It just trains the brain. Again, place your hands as you like. Back leg has vigor. Three rounds right here. And now we go from this static shape to a dynamic one. Inhaling, mostly straightening. Exhaling, bending. Inhaling, mostly straight. Exhaling, bend. If your breath is longer or shorter, tune into that. And then once again, step back down dog. Come slowly forward into the plank. We're going to be really daring in this practice. Not one Chaturanga, not one up dog. So enjoy that. Okay. Here you are in the plank, shoulders above elbows and wrists. You could be on your forearms. Lift the right leg a little bit or a lot. Your left knee could be down. If not right knee, right elbow. That's an exhale. Inhale it back. Right knee left elbow or close and back. And then to the center of the chest and back. Down dog.

Right? Continually telling the body what is to come is going to move you with sound and movement and prepare you for stillness and grace. Inhale plank. Again, the right knee could be down. You could be on your forearms. Lift the left. Exhale, left knee, left elbow. Exhale back. Exhale, left knee, right elbow. Back. Center of the chest. Back. Downward facing. Right? Then down dog feels like a respite for me. I just like start to notice, okay, how can I find long lines of breath and energy. Step the right foot forward. So this is the jump squat or the, I mean the jump lunge. And if you're not a jumper, it's a step lunge. So I will show you the modification. First, stepping left forward, right back. If you're doing the jump, it's a quick switch. You look forward and then on the inhale and exhale, stay. Or if you feel really proficient in the breath, you just continue the breath and we will do three more. Inhaling and exhaling. I like these ones because I feel like the energy moves in the legs to move in the pelvis. And then you look down and you go, oh yeah, I started on the right leg, ending on the left, downward facing dog. Come into the plank. Exhale the movement and then exhale dog. Get really excited. Step with the left foot and then ask yourself, do I want to jump? Do I want to hop? What do I want to do? Three of them. Go for it. You end with the right leg forward and then slowly you step that right leg back, down dog, right? Every ending is really a new beginning. So you just departed one pose and now you're arriving again. Step the right foot outside the right baby toe, maybe the outer edge and then the left foot outside the left hand. I call this the sumo squat. The arms come forward in my own practice. Usually I make a nice big here just like I'm throwing anything out that I don't need anymore. Hands land. The right leg goes back. The left leg goes back and then down dog. You led with the right. So now you'll lead with the left foot steps, outside edge of the mat, right foot steps. If the sound works for you, it's just preparing you for what's to come. Hands come down, right leg back, left leg back, then slowly down dog, walk the feet halfway up the mat, walk the hands halfway back to the feet and then pivot in such a way that you're in the middle of your mat, bend your knees and roll up. So hopefully right now you feel a sweet resetting happening. These next series of poses are going to bring us to the ground. They're going to involve you being a half a shade braver. What do I mean? Making some noise. If you need in that squat that is about to come malasana, that garland shape, if you need to be elevated, you can again use your pranayama cushion, a rolled up towel, blanket. I find this helps release any tension in the pelvis. So we will use the word sat and nam. It means I am that, that I am. I am truth, truth I am. I am you, you are me. On the best day, on the most challenging day. Inhale, arms up, sat, exhale, nam. Sat, nam. That's two, we're going to do nine. Sat, nam. Sat, nam. Sat, nam. Sat, nam. Sat, nam. This is the last round. Sat, nam. And then you just stay there for a moment, feel, and my whole body starts to feel like a nice moving residual uprising, right? That's part of this practice. I've mentioned it earlier. And then you inhale, come up, hands at heart. You'll step off the pranayama cushion, the towel if you've used it. I move it so that I won't trip over it because for this next one, upper arm bone, upper leg bone mirroring each other. And we've done this in the earlier practices. You will inhale, lift one leg, I'm starting with the right, up and back. I'm not worried about my stutter step. And then the left, up and back. Now I love to add sound to it. So the sound for opening the heart is he. So we'll do nine. And it's an inhale and a hee. And then inhale, hee. That's one, eight more. Hee, right? You're swiveling it back.

Hee. Lift the chest, have fun with it. Hee. It's okay to get a little happy. Hee. Hee. Hee. Hee. That's four, five more. I think you can do it. Hee. I'm not worried where I'm landing. Hee. I'm just moving it. Hee. Hee. Last two, each side. Hee. Hee. One more, lift chest. Hee. Eyes can gaze up. Hee. And then stand. So my final one is my personal favorite. In my household, just like lighting sage to clear, we do these ha's when we're stuck in a pattern. So the idea that just below the navel where udiana bana is, there's a sound. In kundalini they call it hung. To keep it short we use ha. And it's a retention of the navel. It's a snap back. It has nothing to do with thrusting your pelvis. Okay, so we orient from the GPS the guidance of the heart and the low belly, seen as the intuition. So I think of this as opening the conversation with my intuition and listening. And it's a ha. It's pretty strong ha. So just practice that ha. Now I like the lineage of jumping and adding the arms. If you have a bladder, a hip, a knee, ankle issue, you could just shake the arms. Ha. Ha. You want a little more, you can come on to the tiptoes. Ha. Right? Ha. However you land. There's no wrong way. I like a little jump. So mine looks like ha. Right? You can make a lot of noise, especially if no one is home or if everyone is home. Right? So you use one breath. You inhale. Open the mouth. Exhale. And then we go for it together. Ha. Ha. Ha. It's a cleansing breath. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. That's 18. Ha. Nine more. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Last two. Ha. Ha. Ha. Right? So it's like shaking off the day or shaking off the night and then bringing a hand to a heart and a hand to a belly and breathing. Right? And the first thing I notice, softened toes, heart rate, pace is stronger, breath flavored. Oh yeah, I'm still here, alive. And this is real good preparation. Real preparation for sitting. So sometimes that brings up a lot. The work here is to be receptive and to really feel what unpacks for you. So now you'll come into a sweet forward fold Uttanasana because forward folds really pacify the nervous system. So you can just let the arms fall, the knees bend a wide or narrow stance. And as you kind of drape, I like the feeling of bending my knees so my chest is received by the thighs, maybe bending and straightening. You get a nice sweet feeling in the brain. Oh, soften away from the skull. And then slowly come to seated. Right? Hands can come to the side. If you need to elevate the pelvis, go ahead. Sometimes after a sequence like that, sitting cross-legged is a lot more easeful. So you find that shape. So you'll prepare yourself for meditation. I like to wedge the pranayama cushion underneath the pelvis, right? It elevates my pelvis. It gives me more support in the architecture of my shape, which allows me to feel easeful in meditation. So go ahead and close your eyes. Be in the most comfortable seated shape. Elevating the pelvis, you could use a towel or a blanket. And then orienting the spine upright. Collar bones wide. Softness in the throat. If it feels right for you, you can work with I'm inhaling when you're inhaling and I'm exhaling. If you want to layer in a mantra after all that moving and that sound penetrating the layers inside, you could be repeating, may I heal?

The more upright in the spine, the more you tune into what I call your divine line. This line where the brightness of your being feels at home and the mind can soften. Continue to integrate deep, full inhales and to release with exhalations that are washing and calming you, that internal shower and cleansing, seeing each breath as a real gift. Stay very elongated. Stay very elongated through your central access, right? Your spine, your fifth line. Feel as if it's magnetism from the crown of your head through the roof of the mouth, all the way up toward the ceiling, toward the sky, lifts you at the same time that you're earthed and anchored in the pelvis.

So just over halfway, this is a longer sit than maybe you're accustomed to. Occasionally the mind gets a little wild right now. So you stay with a single pointed attention on breath. I'm using, I'm inhaling, I'm inhaling, I'm inhaling. I'm exhaling, I'm exhaling, I'm exhaling. Or the mantra of, may I heal? And when the story shows up, no shame. Just right back to breathing and mantra, right? Meditation is mind training. So stay with your breath. Even soften the eyes away from the eyelids in the final moments. If the sitting feels right for you, you can stay as long as you like. If you'd like to unravel and make your way into shavasana, or if you're already in a reclined meditation, just letting the bones be heavy. I'll seal the practice hands, heart center and prayer. Thank yourself so much for self-care, for being breathed and for sitting. Namaste.