Hanuman: Devotional Flow

Namaste. Today we're going to begin with a chant invoking Sita, Ram and Hanuman. So Hanuman, if you haven't met him before, is a flying monkey with incredible powers. And he really serves as a symbol for that within you which has incredible powers. So Hanuman is completely and utterly devoted to Ram and to the establishment of yoga in the heart which is symbolized by Rama and Sita, the divine masculine, the divine feminine meeting in the heart. And so the example of Hanuman is he serves Ram, he will do anything for Ram and there's a long story about how he brings Sita, Ram's lover, back to him. And in this journey, this little monkey Hanuman, because he's so devoted and so in service to the divine, he suddenly remembers these incredible powers that he has, that he had when he was a child but he forgot as he grew up. And in his act of devotion and dedication to Ram, these powers come back to him. So it's really a teaching of what are we devoted to in our lives and what are we serving? And the more that we can start to focus on that which is true, that which supports health and well-being and peace in the heart, the more it actually starts to activate our capacities to live a healthy and livened and life of service. So now we're going to sing to Sita, Ram and Hanuman. Just repeat the words, I'll sing once and you sing back to me. Just join me as you get it. Sri Ram Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram, Sri Ram Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram, Sri Ram Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram, Sri Ram Jai, Sri Ram, Sri Ram, Jai Sita, Ram. Sri Ram Jai, Siri Ram, Sita Ram, Jai Sita Ram, Sita Ram, Jai hanuman, Jai hanuman, Jai Hanuman, Jai Hanuman, Jai Hanuman, Jai Hanuman, Jai Hanuman, Jai Hanuman, Jai Hanuman Please join me at the front of the mat. So we'll start with malasana, just bringing the feet wide and coming on to the feet, bending the knees, bring the palms together. So this isn't so comfortable for everyone. You might lift the heels and put a blanket under the heels or sit on a block or find some other version. Just bringing the palms together and inhale, lift the chest, roll the shoulders back and I kind of feel like a little monkey here looking up at Rama and saying, how can I serve you?

So maybe you're just finding that in your heart as well. How can I serve? Show me. And then we're going to bow the head and feel that offering, that bowing, release the arms forward, just creep your fingers away from you, drop the tailbone down and release the head and breathe into the back of your spine. Breathe into the back of the neck, deep breath in, exhale, nice lengthening through the spine.

Another breath here, let the head drop, let the tailbone drop. Fold the hands back, bring the palms together, inhale, lift the chest and then place the hands down and we'll come into Uttanasana. So bring the fingertips just in front of you, feet parallel, inhale, lengthen through the spine and exhale, fold forward. Inhale, lengthen through the spine, we're going to step back with that left leg, just come onto the toes, fingertips alongside the foot, the front foot and just pulsing a little backwards and forwards. Dropping that left knee down, inhale, lift up and exhale, Uttanasana, just folding forward over that right knee, breathing into the back of the right leg.

Inhale, coming forward, we're going to bring the hands onto the right thigh, lift up and just drop the hip down, just a couple of times here, inhale, lifting up and exhale, dropping down. We're going to tuck the back toes under, lift through the left arm, press through your right hand, draw the belly in and lift up, nice. Then we're going to send that left arm back behind us and make a nice big circle. And again, inhale, send the arm back and lifting it up. If you're wobbly, you just move your right foot a little to the right, makes it a bit more stable.

Bring both arms up, nice, deep stretch through that left side, press out through the back heel and then exhale, bring the hands down, lift that right leg up and dropping the foot down, come forward into a plank position, drop the knees, press through the hands, lengthen through the back, dive through the hands and inhale, reach the arms forward and find Dandapranam. The whole body is extended, the forehead is on the ground, wiggle the hips side to side and just feel as you reach through the fingers, extend through the toes, this full body prayer, this full devotion, full offering and deep breath in, exhaling, beautiful. Bring the hands behind you into place the fingers and lifting the chest, breathing into the heart, exhale hands alongside you and gently come back into a downward dog. Two breaths here and just maybe finding that sense of devotion to the breath, really focusing on the breath. And then we'll inhale and step forward, flat back and exhale folding over, again lengthen through the spine and then step back with the right toes, come onto your fingertips and just start to move backwards and forwards here, dropping that back knee down, inhale lift the chest and exhale, fold forward for Adahara Manasana, deep breath in and coming forward, bring the hands, actually first just walk your left foot a little to the left, tuck the back toes under and then bring the hands onto that left thigh, inhale come up and exhale drop down, nice, inhale coming up and exhale dropping down, gonna reach that right arm up, press your left hand into your left thigh, tuck the back toes under and lift up through the back leg, nice, so nice big stretch, reaching through those right fingertips as you drop the right hip and press out through that back heel, lift that back thigh, nice beautiful deep breath in and exhale send that arm back behind you and find a couple of circles with the arms, so you might even bend that back knee a little and then inhale, reach it up, press out through the back heel, draw the belly in and lift the arms, one more breath here and then exhale coming forward, we're gonna lift that left leg up to the sky, point the toes and then exhale drop the foot coming down through chanaranga, inhale up dog or cobra and exhale down dog, looking forward and walking or hopping the feet to the hands, inhale flat back and exhale bowing forward, press through the feet and reach the arms out wide, bring the palms together and bring it down to the heart centre, one hand on your heart, one hand on your belly, take a deep breath in and exhale everything out with a big haaa, nice and for a moment if it's comfortable close your eyes, just feel your breath moving into your hands, to the life force that moves within the breath, that governs all things, what would it be in this moment to just be fully devoted to that, so as you breathe in feeling the body expand, as you exhale feeling the body soften, slowing down the breath if you know ujjayi breathing in through the nose, out through the nose, one more here, lovely and then just release the hands, inhale reach the arms up, lengthen bring the hands down to the heart centre, we're gonna press the hands out, roll the shoulders forward, interlace the fingers behind you, base of the palms press together, inhale lift the heart and exhale bend the knees and folding forward, breathe into the front of the chest, as you exhale draw the belly in lengthen through your spine and drop the head a little lower, one more breath here and then inhale bend the knees and reach the arms up, exhale folding and forward, we're gonna step back onto the left toes, walk the right foot to the right a little bit, reach the arms back behind you, draw the belly in, inhale come up, nice, we're gonna hold on to that left wrist and lean over to the right, press out through your back heel, lift the back thigh, inhale come up, drop the back heel, walk the right foot over to the left a little bit and bring the palms down to the centre, just find your warrior too here, open the arms wide and then bring that left arm forward, you're gonna bring your fingers into the palms of your hands with the thumbs up, look ahead of you and imagine you're pulling a bow, you've got a bow and arrow, you're pulling your arrow back and you've got a target ahead of you, so this target is whatever you're devoted to, you're gonna draw the tension in that bow as you aim, drawing that elbow back, left elbow back and then allow the shoulders to soften and let all of your attention rest on a point on your thumb, so I'm looking at the white in my nail and let your attention really focus on one point, you might have some thoughts going on, you might have some sensations happening in your leg, your thigh, let all of your attention come into that one point on your nail and then take that focus and bring it into your heart and open the arms wide, release your arrow, stay in the heart, focus fully devoted to the heart, beautiful, reach it back, deep breath in and exhale come forward, gonna lift that right leg up to the sky, bend the knee, open the hip up and exhale down through plank, inhale up dog and exhale downward dog, find your breath and then look forward and step the left foot forward, we're gonna walk the left foot a few inches to the left and maybe even step that right foot in an inch, feel grounded, feel strong like when you reach your arms back you can stand up and feel supported, nice, just pulse a little as you come into this, adjust and then holding onto your right wrist and leaning over to the left, press out through your right heel, lift the back thigh, inhale back to center and bring the palms down and we're gonna drop that back heel down, walk the left foot to the right and find warrior two feet, open the arms wide, bring that back arm forward, bring the fingers into the palms, the thumbs face up and again, light it up, so here's a real question, what are you focusing on in your life at this time?

Let that be your target and then draw the bow, bring the arrow back and focus, bring all of your attention into one point on your nail, notice how the mind wanders and bring it to that one steady point, letting the sensation be there in the leg, relaxing the shoulders, bring that focus into your heart, you might even just start that silent chant of ram, ram, ram in the heart, open it wide, extending back, deep breath in and exhale, folding forward, lifting the left leg up, taking a counter pose with the knee bent and then coming down into a plank position, take a breath here, exhale lower, slowly down and inhale up dog, exhale child's pose. Coming back to that devotion to the life that moves within your breath, just feeling the breath as it comes in and out of the body, deep breath in, exhaling, lift the head, walk the hands back towards you, bring the legs forward, bring the flesh from underneath the sit bones, so as always with any forward fold, if it's not easy for you, you might want to bring a bolster under the hips or a blanket, just to help you fold forward a little bit more easily, flex the feet, engage the legs and inhale, reach the arms up and then as you exhale, lengthen and allow the arms to come forward just to wherever they come to, again by inhale, lengthening through the chest and exhale, draw the belly in and let the head come forward, you might hold the edges of the feet or just let the hands rest on the ground, you can bend the knees if you need to to take pressure off the lower back, dropping the head and the neck, deep breath in and exhale, feeling that breath moving in and out, feeling that sense of devotion, of bowing the head to the heart, releasing my will and my agenda to something greater, deep breath in, exhaling and inhale, lift the head, bring the hands back alongside you, place soles of the feet on the ground, the hands just behind the hips and just lift up, exhale, come down, we're going to find our bolster now and take a supported reclining heart opener, so just bringing your bolster onto your mat and setting up with the soles of the feet together, the knees wide, bring the bolster into the base of the spine and then just lying back down onto the bolster, you might like to have a blanket under the head or you might be happy just as you are like this and let the arms come out wide, the palms face up, deep breath in and exhale, letting it all go with a big heart, just adjust, make those micro movements so that you actually feel really comfortable here, your legs are not comfortable like this, you can bring the feet onto the ground, the knees rest against each other or have the legs extended straight, just choosing whatever feels best for you, deep breath in, big long exhale with a heart, ah, and again inhaling and dropping on the exhale, feel the pelvic floor muscles relax and soften, feel the breath moving all the way up to the heart center, activating that heart's devotion, heart's light and the heart's powers, allowing your head and your mind to release back into the bolster, with each breath feeling the heart start to shine brighter and brighter. Two more breaths here, and then as you are ready, just allowing the soles of the feet to come onto the ground if they are not there already, knees resting against each other, take a deep breath in, exhale, gonna roll off of the bolster, just move it off the mat, come back to lying on your back with the knees resting against each other, soles of the feet on the ground, deeper breath in, letting it go with a big ah, inhale, reach the arms overhead and exhale, let the knees fall down to the right, inhale up to center and exhale over to the left, one more time each side, and then bringing the knees into the chest, gently wobbling side to side, just lift the head up towards the knees, exhale, release, allow the legs to extend, just coming into final relaxation, shavasana, deep breath in and exhale, releasing everything, allowing the body to be heavy, to rest down into the earth, feel the jaw relax, the hips relax, the shoulders relax, the soles of your feet relax, and just picturing Sita and Rama in your heart, united in love. Deep breath in, exhale everything, and drawing the knees in towards you, gently hugging them one more time, and then in whatever way works for you, making your way up to a comfortable seated position, just resting the hands on the legs, close the eyes, inhale down into the base of the spine, and exhale out through the mouth of the long ah, and again inhaling, and exhale softening, gently draw the belly in, lift up through the crown of the head, feel that beautiful tall spine, feel the heart bright, open and broad, and shoulders melt down the back, and just finding that alignment within your heart, with what you're truly devoted to, truly in service of, that may awaken powers of love, of strength, of courage within you, in service, in service of all beings, bringing the palms together. Deep breath in, and we'll finish with a Shri Ram.

Deep breath in, and we'll finish with a Shri Ram.