Compassionate Heart Flow

Namaste. Thank you so much for joining me today. We're going to journey into the beauty of the heart and the symbol of the lotus flower. We're going to chant the Tibetan mantra om mane padme hum. And the image that we are invoking is that of the jewel within the lotus flower of the heart shining and radiating. Just dropping into that heart center, take a deep breath in and exhale out through the mouth of the long ha. It's welcoming yourself calling yourself home into your heart. So I will begin the chant and you just join me as you get it. Letting the sounds open the heart center. Om mane padme hum, om mane padme hum. Om mane padme hum, om mane padme hum. Om mane padme hum, om mane padme hum. Om mane padme hum, om mane padme hum. Om mane padme hum, om mane padme hum.

Letting the eyes gently open if they're closed, bring the palms together at the heart. I'm just going to touch the little fingers together and the thumbs together and spread the other fingers wide. So you find this lotus mudra with the hands like a flowering lotus at the heart center. Touch your thumbs to your heart, breathe into the heart center and then exhale. And then we're going to let that lotus flower up, inhale, reach it up and as you exhale, drop the tailbone down into the ground. Imagining you've got roots going down, down, down into the mud. The lotus is such a beautiful teacher that the mud, the dark stuff underneath the surface of the water, all of the uncomfortable experiences and parts of ourselves all feed the beauty of this flower blossoming in the heart, opening through the arms, lifting the chest and exhale bringing the palms back together. Find that lotus mudra and inhale lifting up and exhale opening the heart wide. Just drop the fingers slightly behind you and we're going to bring that right shin in front of the left. And just again, bring the palms together, inhale, reach it up and exhale offering the heart forward. Two breaths here. Inhale, lifting it up, fingertips behind you, lift the chest and exhale, release the legs, cross them the other way. Bring the palms together and then find this lotus mudra, little fingers and thumbs touching, connecting with the heart. Inhale, press through the tailbone, root down into the mud, embrace that mud and then reach up and blossom through the heart and offering it forward. Deep breath in. One more breath here. Beautiful. Inhale coming up at the front of your mat, just bring your hands behind you and place your soles of your feet on the ground. I'm just going to swivel around this way and then we're going to lift the hips and exhale, drop the hips. And one more time, inhale, lifting the hips and exhale, dropping down. Bring the feet a little wider and then just coming up into malasana or some version, thumbs touching, inhale, lift the heart and exhale, place the hands on the ground, bring the feet hip width apart and finding a forward fold, uttanasana. Bring the hands to the opposite elbow, just nod the head, yes, swinging the upper body and side to side, no, releasing the head, neck and shoulders, deep breath in. Exhale, let the knees soften, press through your feet, find those roots down into the mud and then inhale, reach the arms out, lifting up and exhale, bring the hands down to the heart center, finding that lotus mudra in the heart. Nice. Lean a little more into your right foot, press the weight down into the right foot, deep breath in, exhale through the sole of your right foot and then back to center. Lean a little more into the left foot, deep breath down into the sole of your left foot, exhale, send your roots down into the earth and then back to center, press through the soles of the feet, sending your roots down into the earth, inhale, lifting tall and then let that lotus flower blossom from the heart, lengthening as you reach up and opening as you exhale, fold forward. Inhale, lift the chest, step back with the left toes, come up onto your fingertips, deep breath in, moving a little backwards and forwards, easing into this hip here. And then placing that left hand on the ground, lift the right arm up to the sky and turning to your left, feet parallel, inhale, lift through the chest, exhale, fold it forward, release the hands forward, lengthen through the back. You might just bend one knee, move the hips to the side, bend the other knee, move the hips to the side, it's coming here, couple of breaths, center, letting the heart drop down to the earth. Inhale, lift it up, walk the hands back. We're going to place the hands on the ground and then just allow the head to fold forward over that right leg. Inhale, bend the front knee and exhale, fold it forward, coming forward and then lifting that right leg up to the sky, bending the right knee, opening the hip up and dropping the foot down. Inhale, coming forward into a plank and then exhale, dropping the knees, lengthening through the spine and leaning forward, coming onto the belly. You're going to lift through the chest, reach the arms behind you, interlace the fingers, lift the toes, draw the belly in, lift through the heart, deep breath into the front of the chest and exhale, bring the hands down, come back into a child's pose. Feeling the breath moving into the torso. As you exhale, offering any tiredness, any tension down into the earth. One more breath here. Gently lift up, come up onto hands and knees and exhale, round the back. Inhale, arching and exhale, tuck the toes under, lifting up into a downward dog.

Just allow yourself to walk your dog out a little bit here, just maybe dropping the hips, letting it feel good. Just taking a deeper breath in, exhaling, lift that left leg up to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip up and then exhale. We're going to bring the foot forward between the hands, coming up onto the fingertips and just moving backwards and forwards a little bit here. Placing the right hand on the ground, inhale, lift through the left arm, press out through your back heel, draw the belly in. We're going to turn round to the right, bring the feet parallel, inhale, lift up and exhale, drop the head, reach the hands behind you, interlace the fingers, press the base of the palms of your hands together, allow the head to come down towards the ground, draw the shoulder blades together on the back, breathe into the heart center and exhale, dropping the head, activating the heart with your breath. One more breath here and release the hands down, inhale coming up, coming back to the front of the mat and then just folding forward, stretching through that left leg, inhaling, bending the front knee. One more time, leaning forward, we're just going to step forward with that right foot, inhale, flat back and exhale, bending over. Bend the knees, send your roots down into the earth and then bring the hands to the heart, find lotus mudra. Beautiful, we're going to offer the heart flower out as you lift up into utkatasana and come all the way up and bringing the hands down to the heart center. Press your feet down into the earth, lift up through the crown of the head, let's close the eyes, feel your breath moving through the body, feel the heart beating. Nice, and then finding lotus, so fingers, little fingers touching, thumbs touching, spreading the fingers into a flower shape and press through the feet, inhale, lift up tall, exhale, bend the knees and then bringing the hands back to the heart. We're just going to offer our heart out into the world, offer blessings of compassion and love. Bring the hands back into lotus, sending it to anyone you know who needs it right now at this time. Offering out compassion and love. Beautiful, bring the hands together and exhale, fold forward.

I'm going to step back with that left foot, placing the heel on the ground, so you might want to use a block here or you might just have your hand on the earth, depends, and we're going to inhale, lift that right arm up to the sky and then exhale. If you're using a block, bring it over to the other side of the foot and then we're just going to bring the feet a little further apart and lifting up. Trikonasana and then press strongly through the feet, inhale, come all the way up and lean it back. Bend that front knee and exhale, bring the right forearm onto the thigh and the left arm alongside the ear. Strong through the feet, inhale, come up into warrior two and then bring the palms together and we find lotus mudra at the heart. Nice. As you inhale, press down through your feet, send your roots down into the mud and then lift up, feel that heart blossom and open wide. Nice. Deep breath in and exhale, folding forward. Lift the right leg up to the sky and then exhale, we're going to come down one legged plank and inhale, up dog or cobra, exhale, downward dog.

Find a couple of breaths here, in through the nose, out through the nose and we're going to look forward and step forward with the left foot and just bring that right foot in a little bit, place the heel on the ground. You're going to bring the block if you used it underneath the right hand and then inhale and lift the left arm up and releasing that left hand down, either the fingers on the ground or maybe using a block and stepping that back foot back a little bit. Inhale, lifting up into trikonasana, press strongly through the feet, lift the arms and reaching back with the left arm, bend the left knee and bring the left forearm onto the thigh, extend that right arm alongside the ear, pajvakonasana and then bring it back for warrior two. Bring the hands together and find lotus mudra at the heart, out, press through the feet and inhale, lift the lotus and let it flower out, expanding through your pose, heart light shining, beautiful, bring the hands down. I'm going to lift that left leg up to the sky and exhale, coming down one legged plank, inhale up dog or cobra and exhale down dog. I'm going to inhale, we're going to hop the feet forward and come onto the sit bones. I'm going to swivel around this way but just cross your chins, hold onto the edges of your feet and roll back down and just moving a little side to side, press the feet up into the hands, lengthen through the backs of the legs, deep breath in, exhale and then rock back up, extend the legs, keep the legs crossed and you're going to reach forward with your hand, your right hand and hold the bottom foot so the right foot and then take the other foot with your other hand, lengthen through the spine and exhale, fold it forward.

Releasing, bringing the hands behind you and crossing the legs the other way, bring the hands to the outer edges of the feet and this is the fun bit, we get to roll back, ready and rolling side to side, just massaging the lower back, press the feet up into the hands, breathe into the backs of the legs and then rock and roll it back up, extend the legs, keeping them crossed, take hold of the bottom foot first and then with the opposite hand, the top foot, lengthen through the spine and exhale, fold it forward, deep breath in, exhaling and then releasing, coming back onto your back, bring the knees into the chest, wobble side to side, place the soles of the feet on the ground, wider than the hips, knees rest against each other and take a deep breath in, exhale, letting it all go with a big bring the soles of the feet closer in, so the hip width apart just below the sit bones, we're going to lift the hips, reach the arms behind you and then keep the hips lifted, bring the arms back down, walk the shoulders towards each other underneath the back, maybe interlacing the hands, so either choose to stay here or if you would like to take wheel, bringing the hands over the shoulders and lifting up here, wherever you are, press through the feet, lift through the heart, breathing into the front of the chest and feeling that heart come into full bloom, beautiful radiant heart, one more breath here, exhale, everybody coming down, just allowing the back to soften down onto the earth, rest the knees against each other, take a deep breath in and exhale, finding happy baby and rocking a little side to side and then bringing the knees together, the arms out wide, you can either just drop the knees to the right like this or lift that left leg, wrap it around the right leg, just allowing the knees to come down to the ground, you might just lift the shoulders and move them slightly to the right, deep breath in, exhaling, one more breath here and then inhale, unwind the legs if they're wound, bringing the knees up, flexing the feet and we're going to wrap that right leg around the left and drop the knees over to the left or just bring the knees together and drop them over to the left, reaching out through the right fingertips, deep breath in, exhale, let the pelvic floor muscles relax and soften, the jaw relax, the legs relax, one more breath here, beautiful, let's unwind the legs if they're wound, let them come back up to center and gently just hug the knees in towards you, wobbling side to side and bring the soles of the feet together, the knees wide, rest one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart, let's breathe into your hands, breathing from the belly up to the heart and softening on the exhale, just feeling, seeing that lotus flower in the heart in full bloom, receiving the fragrance of the lotus heart, the fragrance of compassion, of gentleness, of kindness, and softening through your hands and holding yourself tenderly and compassionately, just seeing yourself in your life, knowing you're exactly where you need to be and you're doing the best that you can, and just acknowledging your journey, yourself, your heart, but knowing that compassion begins at home and once we find it for ourselves then it flows out naturally to those around us, bringing the hand from the belly onto the heart, and silently saying the seed sound of om in the heart, om, om, om, and then releasing the knees, bringing them back up to center, hugging in one more time and letting the legs extend out for savasana, and deep breath in and exhale just resting into the heart's light, sweet, gentle energy of the heart, dissolving any fear, any tension, any tightness in the body, letting the body just drop into the earth, and the jaw is relaxed, palms of the hands are soft and open, the soles of the feet soften and open, and it's feeling soft and open through the chest, the heart center, bright and illuminated, deeper breath in, exhaling, and again inhale, and let it all go with a big ah, it's wiggling the fingers and the toes, drawing the knees in, rocking side to side, and then slowly binding your way up into an easy seated position, and resting the hands on the legs, closing the eyes, deep breath in, as you exhale draw the belly in, feel the heart lift, the spine tall, and we'll bring the hands into lotus mudra at the heart, see this beautiful bright jewel in the heart shining, and we'll sing together, Om Mani Padme Hum. Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Hum Namaste.