Lakshmi: Emergence

Hello, welcome. Today's practice is Lakshmi. It's all about emergence. So Lakshmi is a goddess who is known for rising up out of the great ocean of milk on a lotus flower. She comes rising up radiant and stainless and standing in her Shakti and in her brilliance. And so today's practice is all about this idea of emerging and finding our way into this place where we feel like we're rising up out of our own depths and standing in our power, our Shakti, just like Lakshmi. So as you bring your hands together in front of your heart, you're welcome to find lotus mudra. So the thumb and the pinky finger connect and you create this space and that lotus can rest right in front of the heart. You're welcome to close your eyes. And we create this space for ourselves to emerge up out of the depths right out of this great churning of the ocean of the heart. And so as you drop into your breath, go ahead, set your intention for your practice today, your sunkalpa. How are you ready to emerge come rising up out of your own depths into your radiant self? And so today we'll be beginning with a mantra together. And so the mantra is Om Namo Lakshmi, Namo meaning like reverence, Om Namo Lakshmi. And then we say Namaha. And then the next line is Om Mata Kalima. So Mata means mother, Kali is another goddess. So we're going to call in all the goddesses. We'll say Om Mata Kalima, Om Mata Durga Ma, Om Mata Lakshmi Ma, and then Om Mata Ganga Ma. So the Ganges will be calling in the great mother Ganga as well. So you're welcome to join me whenever you're ready. So Lakshmi has this sweet ability to stand in her joy, her abundance, her radiance. So whenever you feel ready to join in, you're welcome to join in. Om Mata Kalima, Om Mata Durga Ma, Om Mata Lakshmi Ma, Om Mata Ganga Ma, Om Mata Kalima, Om Mata Durga Ma, Om Mata Lakshmi Ma, Om Mata Ganga Ma, Om Namo Lakshmi, Om Namo Lakshmi, Om Namo Lakshmi, Namaha. Again, together. Om Namo Lakshmi, Om Namo Lakshmi, Om Namo Lakshmi, Om Namo Lakshmi, Om Namo Lakshmi, Om Namo Lakshmi, Om Namo Rashmi, You're Beautiful, when you're ready, hands can be turned into that lotus mood you're at the front of the heart. We'll seal it in with an om together, deep breath in, how?

You're ready, releasing your hands and opening your eyes and we'll begin on all fours together. So we'll begin on all fours and you'll set your hands on your shoulders, knees are on your hips and you can tuck your toes. This is thread the needle. So we'll inhale, we'll take the left arm out to the side and as you exhale, go ahead, weave your left hand underneath your right arm. I'm going to take my left temple towards the floor and extend my right arm out.

It's a little stretch here into the shoulders to begin. You're welcome to tense your finger pads here. If you're comfortable here, you can also tuck the left toes and then extend into your right leg and breathe. And then gently lower that knee, slide the right hand in to support you, inhale, come all the way up and place that left hand down and inhale, right arm reaches, exhale, right shoulder to the floor, right temple to the floor, you can stay here or extend left arm out. You can extend the finger pads if you like.

So we're allowing ourselves to open into the radiance of the chest. So it said that the heart chakra on a hatta, it's like a lotus flower. So we're spinning open the lotus a bit here and pushing into left hand, inhale, take your right hand to the mat, set up your wrist creases parallel to the front edge of your mat, tuck your toes, it's downward facing dog. Just take a moment to walk out your dog, paddle out your feet. And we're taking three breaths here and using your down dog as like an activation of your Shakti.

So just like Lakshmi, low belly hugs in, it's almost like a standing pose here, I'm standing into my hands and my legs at the same time, right, standing in that Shakti. One more breath. And the next inhale, you'll look forward, lift your heels and walk to the front of your mat, Uttanasana, forward fold. So you can keep the feet hip width distance or big toes touch, little space between the heels, bowing in, hands can plant if you'd like, level with the toes or slightly in front and breathing, bend the knees if you need to. On your next inhale, bend your knees and slowly roll your way to standing, especially rolling through that heart chakra, right, creating some space there.

And we'll begin with our blanket. So find your blanket and you'll fold your blanket just like this if you can. And if you need more height, you're welcome to roll it to a deeper level, but we'll take our blanket to the top edge of the mat, the folded edge towards the top and you'll stand on your blanket edge, heels will be off or on the blanket, toes will be off the blanket. So you have a sense of space here and the hands can find the heart, lotus mudra appears, toes can slightly turn out, inhale, lift and lengthen and we're going to come into Malasana. So slowly lower down and find your Malasana or yogic squat.

Now again, if this still does not feel accessible, you can add a second blanket if you like or even double it up again and breathe, ujjayi breath. So it's from this great churning of the hips, right, this opening of the hips that we're able to rise up and emerge, right. So there's this idea of emerging from tailbone to crown of heads, see if you can find that length and then we'll stand up together. So on your inhale, slowly rise up to standing and then from here you can seal your hands, step off your blanket and we'll set the blanket to the side. We'll use it again in a moment and then feet step together, hands of the heart, lotus mudra appears, inhale, grow your lotus, exhale, fold, hands release down, inhale, halfway lift, exhale, step back to plank pose, big breath here, inhale.

As you exhale, we're lowering to the floor so you're welcome to take your knees down, and lower down slow. This is shalabhasana with your hands behind your ears. So little lotus pedals appear behind the ears, inhale, lift your feet, lift your head, lift your heart, exhale, plant your hands, upward facing dog, inhale, push your way up, take a breath, exhale, downward facing dog, inhale, right leg sweeps to the sky, big breath, low lunge, exhale, step through, back knee releases down, inhale, the lotus emerges, arms reach up on jhanaasana, the lotus appears. This can become like this offering on your inhale, exhale, come onto your back knee, hands to the heart, inhale to lift and lengthen, exhale to twist, left elbow to right thigh or knee, and you can sink into your degree, top of the foot is down, breathing, inhale to center, reach it up, exhale, hands to the mat, vinyasa, tuck the back toes, lift the back knee, plank, inhale, to the floor, exhale, it's our shalabhasana vinyasa, hands behind the ears, inhale, radiant Lakshmi, exhale, hands release, upward facing dog, inhale, come on up, downward facing dog, exhale, inhale, left leg sweeps, exhale, step through, left foot steps between your hands, take your back knee down, untucked toes, low lunge, arms reach up, inhale, it's almost like you're growing your lotus from the heart, it's this really sweet emergence from tailbone to hands, inhale, hands to heart, exhale, come onto your back knee, now lengthen through the crown on the inhale, exhale, twist, right elbow, left thigh sinking in, I like to gaze towards my big toe but you're welcome to look out or to gaze where your neck feels good, another breath here, radiant breath, inhale, grow it up, exhale, hands to the floor, plank pose, inhale, step it back, exhale, lower down slow, hands behind ears, inhale, salabhasana, lift it up, exhale, hands to the floor, upward facing dog, inhale, lift it up, exhale, downward facing dog, and take a moment to take your inner thighs back, your hands are like lotus petals, your feet are like lotus roots tapping in, next inhale, lift your heels, look forward, exhale, step or jump to the front, halfway lift, exhale, bow, inhale, rise up, swan dive up, and then the lotus appears, take a moment here, exhale, hands to the heart, beautiful, go ahead grab your blanket again, top towards the top of your mat, fold an edge towards that top edge, stepping wide, toes out, lotus at the heart, inhale to create space, exhale, sit on down, so we're going to keep returning to this place of melasana as a way to do our own churning, there's a story of Lakshmi where all the gods and goddesses, they show up and they churn the great ocean and milk to access what they call amrita or the immortal nectar, and go ahead take your right shoulder towards your right knee and you'll turn and slightly twist towards the left, so up comes rising up out of that great ocean, not only just the amrita but Lakshmi as well, so she comes rising up out of that great churning, inhale through center, left shoulder towards left knee, and then the right hand or the right elbow can tap that right knee if you like and slightly twisting towards the right, so she's associated with this idea of amrita in abundance and beauty, inhaling to center will grow the lotus, emerge to standing, inhale, reach it up, exhale, hands to heart, beautiful, and then step off your blanket, set it to the side, we'll come back to that maybe later, and then setting up at the top of your mat tree pose, so the left foot will be down, the right foot will be lifting, you can use your hand to place the foot, lotus mudra at the heart, now this might be where you stay, or you'll inhale and grow your lotus, now the option is to gaze forward, you're feeling like spicy Lakshmi, you might shift your gaze, stand in your power and your Shakti, so she stands strong in her radiance, so see if you can stand strong in your radiance, hands to heart, big toes touch, release the hands, inhale, lotus appears, hands to heart, exhale, fold it in, hands to the mat, inhale, halfway lift, plank pose, exhale, plant the hand, step it back, inhale, plank, exhale, lower down, shalabhasana, hands behind ears, inhale, lift through the heart, exhale, hands down, feet down, upward facing dog, inhale, roll on the toes, exhale, downward facing dog, right leg to the sky, inhale, exhale to low lunge, back knee down, this time you can keep your toes tucked, inhale, reach it up, lotus appears, exhale right into the twist, left elbow, right thigh, tuck your back toes, lift your back knee, now of course you can stay here if you like, or you'll hover your left knee, you're here for one and two, left hand finds a mat inside your right foot, inhale, take your right arm to the sky, big breath here, now go ahead, come onto the fingertips of your left hand, reach your right hand back towards your left heel, hug into the inner thighs, so really hug in, inhale, you're going to come up into a twisted crescent, twisted star, exhale, dip your right arm low, inhale both arms reach up for crescent, exhale, lotus mudra, here we go, so we're going to inhale spring forward towards a warrior three, so you might need to step that back foot in, and you're here, breathing, hands to the mat, leg to the sky, standing split-ish, stay with your breath, so these are little pulses and they're an awakening of our Shakti these pulses, so as you inhale you'll lengthen the leg, as you exhale you'll draw your left knee into your chest and you're going to come into this little squat position, the foot you want to draw towards that hip the best that you can, the right knee is going to bend, we'll do two more like that, inhale reach it up, exhale, squat, one more inhale, exhale, beautiful, inhale reach it up, exhale, step it back to a high lunge position, beautiful, now from here both hands down and we'll set up for side plank on the left side, so you're welcome to take the right foot into a tree if you like, I'm going to show you the modification as well, so modify here left knee down or raise your edge of left foot, right foot to tree, it's an option, we're just regular side plank both feet together, take an inhale, hand to the mat, exhale, plank pose, exhale to the floor, shalabhasana, hands behind our ears, inhale, exhale, up dog, inhale, come on up, downward facing dog, breathe, so we're doing our own version of churning in the hips to create that immortal nectar rising up right that amrita, now coming to the top of the mat we again inhale lift the heels, look forward, exhale bend your knees step or jump or walk to the front halfway lift, exhale fold, inhale rise up, arms reach up like your Lakshmi emerging, exhale hands to the heart, beautiful, let's do second side, right foot down, left foot lifts, lotus mudra, and there's a sense of like really drawing in to your own center line, your own power being accessed by the breath and you'll stay here hands at the heart or inhaling the arms reach and again you might change your gaze if you're feeling like spicy Lakshmi, hands back to the heart, feet step together to touch, arms release, inhale sweep it up, lotus emerges, exhale fold it in, hands release to the mat, inhale halfway lift, plank pose, exhale plant your hands step back, inhale for plank, exhale lower down, shalabhasana inhale lifting through the heart, little lotus wings lifting you up, exhale hands down, upward facing dog, inhale rise, exhale blow it back, inhale left leg sweeps, exhale step through for low lunge, back knee down, toes can stay tucked, inhale lotus emerges, taking the twist so as we exhale if you need to come onto your back knee go ahead use your navel right elbow left thigh twisting and breathing, now from here the back toes tuck and then on the inhale we hover the knee, so I like to look at my front big toe that helps me, hug in, take your right hand inside your left foot and then reach your left arm to the sky, big reach two, three and then fingertips right hand reach your left arm back, hug in, inhale twisted crescent, you got it, exhale dip the arm low, inhale crescent lunge, arms reach up, hands to heart lotus mudra preparing for the warrior three transition, inhale spring forward onto that front foot the back foot lifts, I'm just going to scoot myself back here so I've got some room, breathe, hands to the mat, leg to the sky, we'll take our pulses or Lakshmi or preparation to be like Lakshmi, so inhale reach the leg high, exhale bend your right knee and you're in this squat position like Lakshmi at the base of the lotus, inhale reach it up, exhale tuck it in, one more inhale reach, exhale hug in, inhale leg to the sky, exhale lunge the foot back, beautiful, so from here we'll set up for either right knee down side plank supported with right hand left foot seals or both feet stuck or if you like using that tree pose leg ujjayi for two, three, exhale hand down toes down take a deep breath in plank, exhale lower to the floor hands on your shoulders or actually hands behind ears, inhale lift through the heart, exhale hands down upward facing dog, inhale, exhale downward facing dog, beautiful take a big breath here inhale you'll lift your heels high, exhale take your heels down arms go ah ah inhale lift your heels, exhale ah ah let's walk forward together, inhale look forward lift your heels walk to the top, take a wide forward fold, if you like a rag doll even grab elbows and hands rock it out, it's almost like we're doing a little churning here too right, can I churn away everything that's blocking that emergence, release your arms bend your knees slowly roll to standing, beautiful, now from here we'll set up for malasana you're welcome to use your blanket again or we'll set the feet wide maybe toes slightly out, lotus mudra and then we'll sit down become malasana once again, again please do use your blanket if you need your blanket, thinking of sinking the hips but also lifting the heart, couple of breaths and then inhale slowly rise up arms reach, exhale hands to the heart feet step together, vinyasa hands down inhale lotus appears, exhale bow it in, hands release, inhale halfway lift, plank pose step it back, our best friend Lakshmi's bff, inhale here, exhale lower to the floor, lotus pedals behind the ears, inhale exhale up dog, inhale lift up through the heart, exhale downward facing dog, inhale take your right leg high, exhale step your right foot between your hands, now your back knee is going to release and you'll untuck your toes, inhale will rise up arms reach, so for this version of our low lunge you're going to take your lotus pedals again now behind your ears just like we did in chalabasana and there's a sense of lift up through the heart on your inhale as you exhale you'll feel like you're curling back over this pivot around the heart so breathing here to your degree my anchor is the top edge of my back foot lengthening through the heart as I curl back inhale exhale both hands release inside your right foot toe heel your right foot wide turn your toes to 45 from the hip so everything turns to 45 degrees you'll lengthen here and if this is where you feel like you should stay you'll stay here high in your hands or you'll make your way down lower only if it feels good ujjayi breath and then from here you might stay right hand to right thigh as you walk up again you can be higher on the left hand if you like this might be enough today or you'll inhale reach back with your right hand thumb up and as you exhale you'll bend your back knee and see if you can catch your foot so here's the vinyasa we kick into the bow inhale then as I exhale I'll pull the foot in so see if you're feels good to pull the foot in go ahead do that you can bow you'll do two more like that so inhale kick your foot back exhale fold one more inhale kick it back through the heart exhale fold inhale release the foot exhale hands down vinyasa step it back plank pose inhale to the floor exhale hands behind our ears inhale shalabhasana exhale release upward facing inhale it's like Lakshmi emerging exhale downward facing dog left leg sweeps inhale exhale step through back knee releases untucked toes arms reach up on this inhale so creating our lotus pedals with the hands behind the ears inhale so the the anchor for me is my back foot and then the energy the prana is spins up to the heart so I inhale here and then I exhale curl inhale exhale so I kind of let this be the offering one more breath slowly release beautiful both hands inside of your left foot toe heel your left foot wide and then from the hip itself 45 degrees stay high in your hands or go low take a couple of moments soften your eyes and your jaw then you'll step your right forearm or your right hand wide and your left hand can find your left side can be here and then the option again is to reach back with your left hand thumb up and then maybe you bend the back knee you catch the foot we'll take our pulses so inhale kick into the hand lift the heart exhale bow so this is like the descended version of Lakshmi underwater and then we inhale we kick open into the bow emerge exhale fold inhale expand last time fold it in exhale inhale find your bow lift the heart exhale release the foot plant your hands step it back plank exhale to the floor hands behind your ears inhale shalabhasana exhale hands to the mat here we go upward facing dog inhale exhale downward facing dog on your next inhale knees find the mat untuck your toes child's pose if you can be in the version with knees together feet together otherwise knees apart feet together that feels better folding in on your next inhale slowly roll up to sit on your heels and then you're going to look for your strap and we'll come to lie down on our backs so you can set your strap to the side just have it ready and come to lie down on our back keep your left knee bent take your right ankle to your left knee tailor stretch I'm gonna reach through the triangle either interlace the hands behind the thigh or the shin really flex into that right heel breathe if you feel like you're really rocking to the right try to find the midline so we're right in that aligned area so that energy can rise up merge so this might be a sweet place for you to stay we're gonna go through a little cycle here of a like a pigeon on our back and so this might be your bus stop so you can stay here this is enough or I'm gonna hold my left shin with my left hand my right hand's gonna release my right piece fingers are gonna grab my right big toe I'm gonna hold my toe and let my left leg go bus stop number two you stay here left hand to right heel you can rock your thigh side to side if that feels good despite might be your edge so you can stay here yeah or the right arm reaches out or the left arm reaches out palm up now I lift my chest and I hook my left elbow under my right ankle so this is bus stop number three and you can stay here if this is enough or elect my toe my right elbow goes behind my head we're going into a bit of a knot hands clasped by my ears so they'll be by your left ear then you'll lay back I call this Vishnu's couch Vishnu is the the divine masculine energy associated with Lakshmi he's the sustainer so we're just chilling in Vishnu's couch now this is where you might use your strap so I'll inhale lift my head go ahead look for your strap if you're gonna use a strap and we'll take the strap around the ball of the right foot and if you're grabbing the big toe with your fingers you can do that too so both hands hold this or just your right hand holds a strap take your left hand to your left thigh and breathe on your next inhale your right leg goes to the right and then you can gaze towards the left inhale through center transition the strap now into your left hand and then you'll move the right leg towards the left you might need to lift and shift this bottom leg so it feels better for your sacrum so you can play with that and then the right arm reaches out to the side breathe inhale to center with the leg and as you exhale bend your left knee put the foot down release your strap and just set that to the side I'm gonna bend my right knee like a half happy baby pose so we're gonna play here we've been doing all this preparation towards the lotus and so my left hand will find the left heel and you can take your right hand to your right knee too if you need that support just rock your thigh side to side this might feel good another option here if you want to go a little deeper is you'll take your right knee to the right pull the heel towards an evil if that feels comfortable you can set the outer edge of your right foot into the crease of your left hip and just pause so it's like a half lotus of course if your knees bothered by any of this just skip and slowly gently lifting that up and shaking at your legs then we'll switch sides so your right knee bends left ankle to right knee and release your hands around your right shin again so remember your two sides are different often and so honoring that so you might notice that one side you're able to go to a little different depth so you know you're welcome to follow your intuition here again you'll stay or left piece fingers grab your left big toe let your right leg go support the heel with the right hand stay here or right arm out and I yoga hook my elbow under the ankle I might stay here or I take the left elbow behind my head you can clasp your hands again they'll be by your right ear and then it's Vishni's couch you're on the cosmic serpent just starting that sense of space and then as I release I'll look for that strap once again so if you're not using the strap you'll just hook the toes otherwise we'll find our strap we'll take the strap around the ball of the left foot the left hand holds a strap and then the right hand finds the thigh and we breathe on the next inhale leg to the left and gaze towards the right exhale hug your navel in inhale bring your leg to start strap into the right hand again you might find yourself planting the foot lifting and shifting your hip and then we'll bring the leg over towards the side and you can extend the left arm as we inhale we draw to center so we exhale we release the strap bend your right knee and take a half happy baby on the left side this might again be your edge today so this is your edge of Lakshmi you'll stay here or I'll find my right hand to the left heel may all rock my knee side to side so you can try that maybe you take your left knee wide draw the heel towards a navel if that feels good and this is a closed joint go ahead take the outer edge of the foot into the crease it's like a half lotus artabata padmasana so padmasana means lotus pose and then gently releasing taking that out knees to chest and we'll rock and roll our way up to sit in so from here we'll find a version of baddha konasana that's more like a diamond shape so as I bring my feet apart from my hips I want to create like a square my hands will find my ankles I'll inhale to lengthen and as I exhale I'll just curl in letting any tension go that you might have take two more breaths here and slowly roll on go ahead grab that blanket of yours we're setting it for a shoulder stand so you want your blanket flat you want the folded edge towards the top edge of your mat and nice and flat my head will be off my blanket my shoulders on my blanket we'll just take a moment here as we inhale legs can go back towards plow I support my hips you can take a half shoulder stand here it's very sweet or like Lakshmi emerge from the depths a couple of breaths and then slowly knees start to bend and knees go by the ears need ear pose and then we roll our way down you can actually go through like a poshimo tenasana forward fold here if you go slowly down and then as we lower the legs take a little baby fish forearms down heartless as you exhale you'll lift your chin and set your blanket to the side we're heading towards Shavasana so sending everything to the side breathing in and out through the nose and coming to lie down on your back and imagine your heart like a lotus flower like blooming open so on a hot chakra that heart chakra like a lotus flower blooming open from which we emerge right that energy of emergence of locks of Lakshmi coming out of the heart you're welcome to stay here or you're welcome to find a nice comfortable seat and join me for our mantra together. I'm all likes me, all I'm all likes me, all I'm all likes me, nah nah, I'm, all I'm all Oh, namu laksmi, oh namu laksmi, oh namu laksmi.

J.J. Ma, oh matakali ma, oh matadurgama, oh matalakshmi ma, oh matakangama, oh matakali ma, oh matakangama, Amata Durgama, Amata Lakshmi Ma, Amata Ganga Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Jai Ma, Jai Ma, Jai Jai Ma, Jai Ma Oh, namo, like me. Oh, namo, like me. Oh, namo, like me. Nama.

Oh, namo, like me. Oh, namo, like me. Oh, namo, like me. Nama. So find yourself lying on your back and gently roll to one side and pause there for a couple of moments.

You're like Lakshmi emerging from her deep slumber. And then pushing your way to your seat, hands in front of your heart. And then we'll close our practice here together with an om from the heart, deep breath inhale. Om. Namaste.