Ganesha: Clear the Blocks

Welcome, namaste. Today's practice is Ganesh clear the blocks. We'll be working with the energy of Ganesha. He's our elephant friend with the twisted trunk and one tusk. And it said that Ganesha is as bright as a million suns. And so from the inside, he has this beautiful inner luminosity. And so when we work with the energy of Ganesh, it's an opportunity for us to clear away the blocks, to clear away the layers that keep our inner radiance from shining forth, that keep others from seeing our radiant selves. So we'll begin today with a mantra together. And our mantra is Om Ganesha, Om Ganapati, Om. And then Ganapati Om. So find a comfortable seat. You're welcome to take a moment here to set an intention for your practice. Maybe hands come together into Anjali Mudra and you can close your eyes. And you can think of the ways in which today maybe you need to clear away some layers, some blocks in maybe your physical body or the mental body or emotional body. And we'll allow this mantra to do its magical work. So as we chant here together, you're welcome to join in whenever you're ready. Again, our mantra is Om Ganesha, Om Ganapati, and then Ganapati Om. One more. Om Ganesha, Om Ganapati, Om. Ganapati, Om Ganapati, Om.

One more, Ganapati Om, Ganapati Om, Ganapati Om, Ganapati Om. If you like taking both hands over your heart, we'll seal it in with an Om together as we open this practice. Deep breath in, help. Take a phone, you're ready, releasing your hands and opening your eyes and lifting your chin and we'll begin in Child's Pose. We'll make our way into Child's Pose. If you're sitting on something, go ahead, set that to the side. You can bring your knees apart, toes together. You'll bring your third eye to the mat and the arms can go by your sides or if you like, the arms can extend out in front of you and just taking a moment to fully arrive. Allowing the breath to, again, clear the blocks to our radiance today. So allowing your inhale to expand into the ribs. On the exhale, you soften in. Creating space in all the places you need to create space today. And then on the next inhale, come to all fours. So set up for Down Dog. So hands are shoulder width, wrist creases parallel to the top of your mat, tuck your toes, lift your hips, downward facing dog. Inner thighs back, extending through the arms, finding some spaciousness so that, again, that inner light, that radiance can shine forth. And then on your next inhale, let's widen the feet. So you'll step your feet edge to edge and we're going to walk back towards our feet for Ragdoll. So I walked back, back, back, bend my knees a lot, hook the elbows with the hands and just sort of rock it out side to side. Your knees can bend a lot or you can play straight in your legs. I like to just sort of hang out here for a few moments and allow everything to open that needs to open. And then when you're ready, well, release the arms. You'll bend your knees a lot and then slowly roll your way to standing. And then we're going to take what we call Uddiyana Bandha here together. We're going to take three rounds. And this is really all about the exhale. So as we exhale, we'll create this vacuum in the belly that helps activate the energy within. So we'll take three together. So you'll inhale, reach your arms up. Exhale.

Let's find the thighs. Now, keep the exhale. You're going to vacuum the belly up and in. Release the belly. Come to standing. Inhale, arms reach up. So it's like on the empty. Exhale. Vacuum. Release. Inhale. One more. Exhale. This is great for clearing blocks. Big exhale to vacuum. Release. Inhale. Well, forward fold. Hands through the heart. Fold in. Hands released down. Inhale, halfway lift. Walk it back forward. Downward facing dog. So find your dog pose, bringing the feet again, more hip width distance apart instead of wide stance. On your next inhale, you'll sweep your right leg to the sky. Deep breath. Exhale, step your right foot between your hands and the back foot spins to ground. Warrior one, inhale, arms reach up. Now, as we exhale, we'll take warrior one, but with eagle arms.

I'm going to wrap my left arm underneath my right. If this is too much, just hold your shoulders. As we inhale, we lift up through the heart. As we exhale, we bow in. This is humble eagle warrior. So you might pause here. You can also use the knee as like a little support for your shoulder, or you might find your forearms wanting to reach a little bit more towards the mat. Take a breath. Wrap your right hip back. Really stay in it. The strength comes from the legs. We're opening the hips, this earth element associated with Ganesha. So in the hips we go. Now, as we exhale, we hug in. As we inhale, we rise up. As you exhale, release your arms, plant your hands, step it back, plank. Inhale, plank. Exhale, Chaturanga. Up dog, inhale. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale, left leg goes to the sky. Big breath. Exhale, step through warrior one. So left foot forward, your right foot spins to ground, heel to arch, or heel to heel. Inhale, arms reach up for warrior one. Now, as I exhale, I'll take the right arm underneath the left. Eagle arms. Again, you can hold shoulders. Inhale, lift and lengthen. Exhale, bow. So you'll bow to your degree. So you might need a pause here where you start to reach the forearms down towards the mat. Breathing in and out through the nose, wrapping that left hip back. Ujjayi breath. And then on your next inhale, slowly come up. Exhale, hands to the floor of Vinyasa. Flank pose.

Chaturanga, exhale. Inhale, up dog. Exhale. Downward facing dog. You don't fall. And then when you're ready, knees land. We come to all fours. So really finding this time to have your wrist creases parallel to the front of your mat. Hands are spreading nice and solidly on the floor. You'll tuck your toes. And then all we're going to do here is inhale, lift the knees off the mat. So you're hovering the knees here. Now I'm going to take a deep breath. Inhale. And as I exhale, I'm going to take my right knee towards my right elbow. I'm going to inhale, drag the knee towards the wrist. Exhale, zip it up. Inhale, drag. Exhale, zip. Toes down, knees hover. Pause. Inhale, exhale, left knee. Inhale, drag. Exhale, zip. Again, drag it down. Zip it up. Last one. Drag. And zip. Toes down, knees hover. Inhale. Exhale, knees to the mat. Untuck your toes. Child's pose. Reach your arms forward. Breathe. Settle out the breath. And then on your next inhale, you'll come back to all fours, downward facing dog. That awakened activation of energy, right? Of Ganesh clearing the space. So we can inhale next, take the right leg up. And then again, exhale, step your right foot forward. Back foot spins to ground. Inhale, arms reach up. Exhale, left elbow under right. Inhale, lift and lengthen. Exhale, bow it in. Staying with your breath.

So on this inhale, you'll come right up into your Eagle Warrior. As you exhale, you'll unravel and you'll find yourself in Warrior II. Now for the side angle pose, you might need your block. We're heading there next. So you're welcome to grab your block. And you can set your block outside your right shin on the floor. And then come back to your Warrior II. And then the back hand finds the back leg. Flip the front arm open from the shoulder. Inhale, reverse your Warrior. And then as you exhale, right elbow will find right thigh. And you can stay here or you have your block handy. You can go the highway. You can take your block, the lower down level, if you like. The right hand will find its way into the block. You'll spin the left arm open from the shoulder. And as you inhale to arm to the air, side angle pose. Really wrap your right hip back towards the back edge of your mat. And then ignite the breath. There's like a dedication to the breath here. So see if you can really honor that. Take a deep inhale. Exhale, again. Inhale, come back to Warrior II. Exhale, hands to the mat vinyasa. Set your block to the side. Set the back plank. Inhale, exhale. Chaturanga. Inhale, up dog. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale, left leg sweeps. Exhale, step through. Warrior I. Back foot spins to the ground. A little bit of one breath per movement here. Arms reach up, inhale. Exhale, right arm candy canes on your left. Inhale, lift and lengthen. Exhale, bow it in. So once you get to the peak of the exhale, you'll inhale, rise up. Exhale, open, Warrior II. And again, set your block if you need to. Outside, left ankle or shin. Back hand to back leg, reverse it, inhale. So that ganesh radiance starting to come out here through the chest, right, the sense of expansion as you exhale. You'll reach either that hand to the block if you like, or elbow to thigh. And then the right arm spins open from the shoulder. Inhale, arm to ear. You're here for five. Scooping the tailbone just a little bit, hugging the ribs in. The sense of spinning open from the heart. Inhale, next inhale, come to Warrior II. Gaze your middle finger, pause. Exhale, hands to the floor. So your vinyasa, when you're ready, step it back to plank. Chaturanga, exhale. Inhale, upward facing dog. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Now in your next inhale, go ahead, take your knees down. You can set your block to the side. We'll be doing what we call mountain climbers. And so you're welcome to take a knee if you need to or to take a break here. Otherwise, we'll step back to plank and you're going to find a nice strong position here in your plank. So this is the abode of ganesh, right? So clearing the blocks. We'll inhale here. As you exhale, you'll tap right knee towards right elbow. Inhale, plank. Exhale, left. Inhale, exhale. Now you can stay with this pace or you can kind of jog it out. So you can do a little jog. Downward facing dog. And then knees to the mat. Child's pose. And once your breath is steady, you're in that samavritti pranayama place where your inhale and your exhale feels even. And we'll come back to downward facing dog. So we're transitioning to the top of the mat. So you're welcome to bring your big toes to touch. Maybe walk in just a couple inches and you'll inhale, lift your heels, exhale, step or jump your way to the top of the mat. Halfway lift, inhale, exhale, fold. And on your inhale, bend your knees, chair pose, utkatasana. From here, take a deep breath. Exhale, hands to heart. So we're going to the right. Inhale to lengthen, exhale, left elbow to right knee. Breathe. Option is to stay here or you might come into a little toe squat. So you can stay here or it's side crow prep, hands plant. This is stage one. You just keep the thigh on the arm bone. Stay here or start to shift your weight in balance on your hands. And then inhale, come to center. Back to chair we go. Inhale, utkatasana. Exhale, hands to heart. Let's go right on in. Right elbow, left side.

Again, this can be where you stay. Knees are even. We're coming to your toe balance. Stay here or hands reach to the side. So the hands are sort of like a chaturanga stance. Keeping the upper arm bone connected to the thigh, shifting my weight. When I'm ready on my inhale, lean forward and breathe. And feet land. Inhale, chair pose. Exhale, come to standing. Top of the mat. Balance out your breath. Maybe close your eyes. Return to your intention. Your sankalpa. And so for this next standing hip opener, going to your degree. So we'll stage this through a little bit. But we'll start on the left foot and your right ankle will find the left knee. And you might have your hands on your hips or hands to thighs. And so this could be where you stay. Or if you're feeling it, keep this ankle engaged. You might really fold in here. I like to bring the hands into prayer. And then I just sort of bow in. You can see if you can start to reach the armpits outside the shin. And then we slowly come up. Shake it out. And second side. Bending into your right knee. Left ankle to right knee. And I'm pausing here. Maybe hands to heart. Maybe there's a fold. This can become like an offering, right? As you enter into those places of resistance or tension with the breath and only going as far as it feels good. And then gently, as we entered, coming out and staying to the front of the mat. Samasthiti. Arms release. Inhale, sweep it up. Exhale, fold it in. The hands can go through in front of the heart like you're cutting through any resistance. Fold, exhale. Inhale, halfway lift. We'll take our vinyasa here. So if you like step to down dog or exhale, chaturanga. Inhale, upward facing. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale, right leg sweeps to the sky. Back to warrior one feet. Exhale, right foot forward, back foot spins to ground. Inhale, we rise up. Exhale, left arm under right. Eagle warrior. Once again, inhale, lift through the heart. Exhale, fold. So this time we're going to add on. So as we inhale, we come up. You'll lift your left heel and you'll square up like crescent pose. So we're going to transition here through warrior three towards an eagle pose. So I'll bend my back knee and then on my inhale, I'll spring forward warrior three eagle arms. Just a moment in time. Exhale, hug in. Inhale, come up. Now you'll head to an eagle pose. You can also just take the ankle to the knee and that eagle prep that we did. Or left knee crosses. Maybe toes tuck. Eagle. Gududasana. If you like to nest your eagle, you're welcome to nest in. Take a moment. Knees and elbows are in the same line. Clearing the blocks. Again, the old tension. Now as we inhale, we rise.

We're going to unravel. The arms will lift the left knee. From here, right hand to left knee. Inhale, open towards the left. Now you can stay here. An option is to hold this foot with your hands. You can take the right hand to the left foot. Extend it out. Breathe. Arms up. Inhale. Here's the fun part. Warrior three. Here we go. Bend the knee if you need to. Reach it out. Land it. Crescent lunge. Inhale. Exhale. Hands to the mat. Vinyasa. Leg pose. Chaturanga. Inhale. Up dog. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Inhale. Left leg sweeps to the sky. Exhale. Step through. Back foot spins to the ground. Inhale. Arms reach up. So our humble eagle warrior once again. Exhale. Right arm goes under left. Inhale. Lift through the heart. Exhale. Bow it in. So working with earth element and the pulse of the breath. Now as you inhale, you rise up. Take a breath in. Exhale. Lift your back heel. Get steady.

We're heading towards that warrior three. So I'll bend my back knee on my inhale. Spring forward. Back leg is strong. Some moment in time. And then on the inhale, come to standing. Right ankle to left knee. It can be here. Or again, it's eagle pose. Toes tuck. Pause. Option to nest. And breathe. We're like a little baby ganache. Nested in. And then as you inhale, we all rise up together. Arms reach up. Right knee to chest. Left hand to right knee. Inhale. Open it up. Stay here. Or hold outer edge of foot. Inhale. Extend leg. Ujjayi. Both arms up. Leg out. Inhale. Towards a warrior three. Crescent lunge. Inhale. You can do it. Take a deep breath. Exhale. Hands to the floor. Vinyasa. Think of your vinyasa like this cleansing of the palate. Right? The clearing away of all the soot, all the debris that covers the body and the heart and the mind. As you next inhale, you'll look forward. Lift your heels and just walk to the top of your mat. We're taking a version of uttanasana here. So you'll bend your knees. And option is ragdoll too. You can just hang here. Or I'm going to take my right hand behind my right calf. Hold the front of the left ankle. And then the left arm goes behind. Hold the front of the right ankle. And then they fold in. And breathe. And then when you're ready to release that, release. Bend your knees. And then inhale. Roll your way. All the way to standing. And then feet together. Hands at the heart. Get steady. Take a moment. So once your breath is steady and even, we'll set up for that figure four once again. We might go in a little bit deeper today. So I'm going to stand it back about a foot and a half from the top of my mat just so I have some space. And then it's left ankle to right knee. And again, my hands can find the hips or the thighs. Or I'm going to fold in here. Maybe hands come to prayer. Maybe start to reach the arm bones out in front of the shin. Now this foot, this flexed ankle is really important here because it's going to hook on my right arm bone. So from here, there's a bit of a lean of faith that happens. If you feel like you're ready, we'll start to lift the right heel. And I'm going to place both hands down on the mat. My shin is hooked on the arm bones. And then from there, I lift my back foot. That feels good. I push the shin down, reach the leg back, and then return to once I came back to figure four. And then we rise up together, come up to standing. If you like, shake it out. And we'll do second side. So it's important to keep that ankle flex. That's going to be your hook to stability.

Right ankle to left knee. Hands can find the hips or the thighs. I actually like to think of flying Ganesh when I'm here on this balancing pose. It's like this version of Ganesh in his dance, right? That tundava that you'll see him in. So again, you can stay here or arm bones outside of shin, right? Clearing the outer hip. And so from here, reaching your hands out in front of you, you might come onto the ball, the back foot. And see if you can really anchor in shin bone onto the arm bones, shifting your weight forward. You lift the back foot, you can stay here. Maybe you extend the back leg or you can stay here and hover. And then come back down. Downward facing dog. The knees to the floor will sit on our heels and you're going to grab a block. You might not need it for this, but we're going to come into a half your asana position. And sometimes for some of us, this can bother the front of the knee. So if you have an ACL issue, you can only skip this or modify or sit on the block. So one place to be would be here. Or you'll set that block to the side if you don't need it. And we start to lie down on our back. So you might begin by making your way into your forearms. Can lift your hips. You can scoop the tailbone. So you make your way down. So getting into this front quad. If you're cozy here, you'll lie down on your back. If you're cozy here, the option is to bend the left knee and really take a moment to arrive. Allow the breath to get spacious and declare any space that you feel like you need to clear. Now, one option, if you're feeling really comfortable here, I'm just going to scoot down just to give myself some space, is to add like a little wheel pose here. So I keep the top of the right foot down so he's nice and steady. And then the left leg is my anchor. And my hands point over my shoulders. And then you might inhale and lift your way, press your way up into a little Irvadonurasana. Keep the toes tucked. And then inhale, come down. Nothing ever happened. Pause. And then we'll reverse our path to go to the second side. So you'll come up, you'll lean to the side, swing that leg out in front of you. And then we'll switch sides. So the left knee will bend. Sometimes I like to take my hand and sort of help that calf and adjust the top foot. Again, you can use your block, you can stay here. Take a few breaths. Again, if it's feeling good, kind of lie down on your back. Again, if this is feeling really amazing, you need to go deeper, maybe you'll plant the right foot. And this allows us to get a little bit deeper into that quad. So all these places we're freeing up, it's almost like they're peeling away the layers, what we call the mullahs, the coverings of the heart, as we move our way deeper and deeper into the body. You'll stay here or tops of the hands go down. You'll take your wheel on the second side. So I get my right foot, it's going to be my anchor. So I inhale and I push my way up. And slowly lower. And then from here, maybe you lean to the side to release that leg, shake them out. Or if you're low to the ground, you might walk your way up. We're going to grab our block. We're going to set up for bridge pose with a block under our hips. And we're going to see if we can go the highway. So if you can, you'll come to lie down, you'll plant your feet, and then you'll lift your hips and then maybe come onto the balls of your feet if you need to, to get that block underneath the sacrum. And adjusting the shoulders if you need to. And you can just be here getting some really sweet traction for the back. Maybe you interlace the hands behind the back. We're going to explore a one-legged bridge. So this might be enough today or you can stay here. Or we'll step the left foot slightly to the midline. So this is our Ganesha anchor. And you'll bring your right knee into your chest. On the next inhale, you'll extend the leg towards the sky. The expansion, it starts from the navel and it goes up through the leg. Knee to chest, foot to floor. And second side, right foot steps in, left knee to chest.

When you're ready, expanding that leg to the sky. So again, from the navel to the foot. So clearing all these layers. I like the oil lamp analogy, right? We're clearing the soot so the light can be seen. And then gently bending that knee, planting your foot. And you might stay here. Or balls of feet, lift your hips. And then just gently remove the block and set that to the side for later. And then pausing here. You can set up for regular bridge. So regular bridge pose, we'll talk that through together. And then we might go into that Irvadhanurasana wheel pose. Feet are hipward distance, steady feet. Exhale, the low belly tones. Inhale, we lift. And then if you like, interlacing hands behind back, shagging shoulders. And then I really like to find the inner thighs rolling down here. And then the powers in the legs. So thinking of more of getting into the heart, less hips, more heart. Breathing. Finding your ujjayi. And then to release, I like to sweep the arms out, the heels lift, and then slowly rolling through. Like isolating each vertebrae if you can, just to see any places of resistance or tension are still left. So the bridge pose can be where you stay for this next one. Or we might make our way into our Irvadhanurasana upward facing bow or wheel. And this is really where that radiance, that clearing starts to show up, right? How can I remove the blocks to my inner light so I can be like Ganesh, right? The light of a million suns. Hands can plant, elbows up. For this version, I'm going to land on the top of my head and pause there for a moment. And that's going to give me an opportunity to adjust. And I'll talk you through it. Feet are down, hands are down. Now as I inhale, I'll lift and land. I'll hug my elbows in, whole toes towards my nose, and then inhale, lift up. And breathe. You're welcome to gaze up and create some space. And then slowly lowering down. Wasn't that the best? Go ahead, bring your knees together to pause here. Take a moment. I love these big expansive namats because they help us get into all the places that need a little bit of light and love. Stay here to rest or we'll come up for one more Irvadhanurasana together. Hands can plant.

Again, you can pause on the top of your head. And when you're ready, inhale, pause, and lift. Maybe you walk in just a little bit and ground through the heels. And then lower down slow. Nice work, Yogis. Knees together. Feet can find the edges of your mat, pausing. And then from here, I'll extend my left leg and hold my right knee in. So this is my favorite like hip reset sequence. So I'm going to find a half happy baby. Soul of right foot shines, breathing in and out through the nose, creating some space. Tailbones long. This is a great way to reset the hips after those deeper backbends. One more breath here. And then I'll bend the left knee, plant the foot, gently cross the right knee over the left as I release that foot. You can cactus your arms here like a Joshua tree. And then both knees lean to your left. I like to gaze to the right. And let the tension release out of the chest. So there's a channel in Chinese medicine called the Daimai. It's the belt vessel. And it's where we hold a lot of tension. See if you can allow this twist to release some of that deeper layer. And then as we inhale, bring the knees to center, hug both knees into your chest. This is called cow face pose on your back. A little different, but super fun. Flex your ankles, lift your shins, hands, find the shins or angles. The key to this is to sort of pop the hips off the mat a bit and then bring the shins towards the floor. So I like to lift my hips quite a bit and I'm gently reaching down with the shins. It's a nice way to get into cow face pose, Gomukhasana, without the strain of the knees. Breathe. Then gently lowering the shins, releasing the legs. Go ahead, shake them out. Left knee draws in when you're ready. Half happy baby pose, second side. Again, you can hold inner foot or outer foot, tail bones long. So they say Ganesh lives in the pelvis, right? And that abode of the Muladhara chakra, that first chakra, earth element. So we're doing a lot of hip work today to kind of clear the path. One more breath. And as I bend my right knee, the foot plants and I'll release the left. Half eagle wrap with the knees, cactus your arms. Both knees sink over towards your right, but you'll gaze towards the left. And see if you can release that vessel around the diaphragm. It's really like the energy of the diaphragm, the place where we hold so much tension and allows the prana to move up and down the central channel when we release the center. Beautiful. Inhale, take your knees to center. Now go ahead, hug your knees into your chest, flex your ankles, lift your shins. Hands find the ankles or the shins. I'm going to peel my hips off a little bit and then take my Gomugasana on my back. Breathe. Soften in where you need to soften in. And then gently releasing the feet, the legs, shake them out. So you're welcome to stay here. Maybe walk yourself up on your mat a little bit more. Just set up for Shavasana. So you can take a Shavasana here, corpse pose, where you're welcome to join me in a seated position for the Ganesha Mudra meditation. And for that, you might need your blanket. So you can grab your blanket. You'll sit in a comfortable seat. And this meditation is really sweet. You'll find a nice, comfortable seat. And then you'll take your right hand in front of the heart, but you'll turn the palm out. The left hand will go in front of the right and you'll see cup your hands together. Drop the elbows. So our meditation here is about clearing the blocks to our radiance. And we'll be breathing an exhale out of the mouth as if we're clearing the blocks around the heart. So you can close your eyes for this if you like. You'll take a deep breath, inhale. As you exhale, you'll pull on the hands and you'll exhale out of your mouth. Inhale, release some of that tension. Exhale. Again, inhale, clearing your energy around the heart. Exhale. We'll just switch the wrists. So I'll release the grip, but just flip my wrists. So we're doing the opposite now. Relax the elbows a little bit. Stacks, shoulders, hips, heart. Inhale, deep breath. If you like, close your eyes. Exhale, pull the hands away. Two more. Inhale. Exhale. Last one. Inhale. Exhale.

Close your eyes. Keep the arms as they are. And see if you can feel an upliftment in the armpits themselves. There's a sense of being supported. And then imagining from the heart itself, there's a sense of inner radiance. So we're as bright as a million suns, just like Ganesha. There's a mantra that says, Suryakoti Samaprabha, as bright as a billion suns. So finding that inner radiance. Maybe even coming back to your intention here, your sankalpa, and maybe seeing, okay, how can I honor that intention here? How can I clear the blocks the way I want to show up in the world? Can I clear the blocks to my own radiance? You're welcome to stay here and bring your hands together in front of the heart into Anjali Mudra. And join me in our closing mantra. We'll come back to that Om Ganesha, Om Ganapati practice together. So holding your intention in your heart as we chant here together. Ganesha is also involved in auspicious new beginnings. So if you're feeling like you need that fresh start or that auspicious energy around your intention, this mantra is perfect for that. And just join in whenever you're ready. Together. And close with our big Om from the heart together. Deep breath in how? Hmm. Namaste. Thank you so much for sharing your practice with me today.