Overcome Stress

Welcome. This kriya is to throw off stress. So when you feel that there's conflict, there's tension, this will give you the inner strength to overcome those stresses. And so let's begin. Have your palms facing upwards in a seated position, easy pose, cross-legged, just like how I'm seated. Go ahead and close your eyes and take this moment to just notice what stresses are you bringing into your practice today? What of those stresses are you ready to overcome? May they be internal or stresses that you've absorbed from others, situations that you've been carrying with you? Become aware of them and choose to devote every asana, every exercise, every breath, every beat of your heart through today's practice to throw them off to release them to let them go. And together, let's inhale. And with this exhalation, release, say, sigh. Again, inhale long and deeply into those stresses. Gather them up with your breath and release them as you exhale. Again, inhale long and deeply. Gather up those obstacles, those conflicts. Breathe into them a little bit more and release. Relax your breath. And begin rubbing your palms together. Create that heat between your hands. Charge up your auric fields and then hands together and pray at your heart center. Shoulders rolled up, back and down. Spine is straight, hips down to the earth. Feel like you're pulling yourself up out of your hips. Neck is in alignment with your spine. Hearts lifted up to the sky. Chin is parallel to the earth. And eyes are still closed, focused, inwards and upwards into your third eye.

We'll tune in with Om Namo Guru Dev Namo the Adi Mantra. Calling in the teacher, the master, the guru that you are. Connecting to the masters, the gurus, the teachers that have existed throughout history. And then we'll chant the Mangala Charan Mantra, Adh Gurana Me, Jhagar Gurana Me, Sadh Gurana Me, Siddhi Gurudev Vana Me. Calling in that wisdom for protection. We'll chant both mantras three times each. Let's inhale to tune in together. Om Namo Guru Dev Namo Om Namo Om Namo Om Namo Om Namo Om Namo Inhale. Suspend your breath hold. Feel the vibration of the mantras resonating through you from your heart all around yourself. Expanding out towards your friends or families or communities beyond the beyond the beyond and exhale. Sat Naam. So now we'll begin with the warm up. We're going to stay seated here and cross leg in an easy pose. Let's bring our hands onto our knees. This is called Sufi grind. And so you're going to flex your spine forward and then circle yourself back and around into a rounded back position. Continue and complete that circle flexing your spine forward and then rounding your back. The flex and the rounding is very important. So you don't want to just be moving your hips and your torso around in a circle. You want to flex circle and then round your back so that you're really grinding out any of the tensions and stresses that you're holding within the spaces between the bones in your spine. And so join me here. Eyes closed. Focus inwards and upwards into your third eye and just enjoy this ride. Feel that you're returning back to your flexibility, your fluidity here. Finding where within you there is that stress. You hold it in your lower back, your mid back, your upper back, your entire back. Maybe it's in your hips, relaxing your face here. And let's switch directions. Coordinate your breath with the Asana. Inhaling forward, exhaling, rounding your back. Feel that you're also stretching through your rib cage, your shoulders, your chest. Try to keep your chin parallel to the earth. A couple more rounds here. And inhale into the center. Shoulders rolled up, back and down. Really hold onto your knees, straighten your arms. Eyes still closed. Project out through your third eye, through your forehead, through that space right between your brows.

Clear. Peace. No stress. Exhale. Gently, slowly open your eyes. And so now we'll begin the set. So this first Asana, our hands are in a very specific hand position. And so it's called a mudra. So your palms are facing outwards towards me. Your elbows are bent, just like how mine are. And you're going to be switching your thumb to touch your pointer finger, calling upon that Jupiter energy of knowledge and wisdom. And then your ring finger, also known as the sun finger. So positivity, prosperity, health. And so you're switching from thumb to your pointer finger and then to your ring finger. And so it's supposed to be what it's calling for is that in one second, you're able to switch back and forth nine times. But if not, it can be three times. So any time between anything between three to nine touches in a second works. So you could be going really fast or just a little bit slower per second. And so this is the mudra. So find yourself here in a comfortable seated position. If you need to put a bolster underneath your buttocks or a blanket, a pillow, that works as well. If you've been seated in the same easy pose position this whole time, switch your legs, whichever is in front, bring to the back, elbows bent, and you're breathing long and deeply, eyes closed, focused at your third eye point. And let's begin. So we're calling in knowledge and wisdom to overcome stresses, positivity, health, even through the stresses. And we turn those stresses into prosperous possibilities. Taking notes of what stresses are arising and what seems to be such a simple asana, such a simple exercise. You're just moving your fingers, but suddenly you start to feel the tension in your wrists, in your hands, in your arms. And instead of reacting to this, instead of thinking, why is this becoming difficult for me? Instead, can you just focus on your breath? Can you use your breath to throw off that tension, that stress, and find within you a strength? You find within you a peace? That is the practice. That's why we're here.

Keep up here in these last moments. And now as you continue moving your fingers, you're going to inhale and exhale through your mouth. Let this breath be cooling. Taking in that tension, cooling it down. Whenever you're feeling fiery from all that stress, anger, rage, breathing through your mouth helps to release that heat. Last parts. Now continue to breathe, but now with a breath of fire. Coordinating with your fingers. Eyes still closed. Focus at your third eye point. We're here just for a few more seconds. Powerful movement through your navel. Inhale and exhale. Relax your arms, bringing your right palm to your heart center and then your left palm over your right hand. Heart center means right at the center of your chest. Keep your eyes closed and just be here in this moment. Connect to your hearts, how your heart feels, having overcome the stresses that you're feeling in those last asanas. Use these hands, the energy that has been circulated and awakened within your hands to heal your hearts. Just as you would calm down a crying child or baby or a friend or a partner who's upset, he would give them a hug. Maybe you put your hand on their back or hold their hand. Do this for yourself. Hold yourself with such comfort. One of the easiest ways to throw off stress is to be kind and compassionate to yourself. Allow yourself to receive this self care. All the stresses or conflicts you may have been experiencing. Feel that as you hold yourself, all of that starts to fade away and all that matters is this. Continuing in this loving, compassionate, healing care, bring your hands to your forehead. Still, left palm over right. Eyes still closed, focusing at your third eye point. And now let this touch be so healing and calming for your mind. Ease the stresses of the expectations, the should-haves, the what-ifs. Use your breath to breathe into those stories, those scripts, the conditioning, those constructs that are creating stress. Fill them out with your breath and with such tenderness and care, hold your head, hold your breath. Releasing the judgments, releasing the criticisms. Be in that space of comfort and peace.

Thoughts, feelings, emotions may be coming up for you in this asana. It may be feeling it in your shoulders and your arms. Take this as an opportunity to find that kindness, that comfort in the discomforts, that turns that stress into peace. Use your breath. Have some Feel as though you're resting your head upon someone's shoulder, the most comfortable pillow, just relaxing into this. Maintaining this piece, bring your hands now down to your navel, down to your belly button, push deeply into your belly button, hold that tension as you push into your core, into your stomach, into your belly button, continue this long deep breathing, eyes closed, still focused inwards and upwards into your third eye. Let your hands now heal your digestive system, your core. All the nervous energy we feel in our guts, in our stomachs, from the stress, allow it to be possible that this healing touch can reverse all of that, can bring health to your body, keep that tension, breathe through it, feel as though in this asana you're clearing and cleansing, all that has been difficult for you to digest, all that's been difficult for you to eliminate, may that be information, news that you've received, other people's projections or stresses upon you, your own, those limiting beliefs, all that's been weighing heavy within your core, access it here, breathe into it, exhale it out, as you do, you treat yourself with such kindness, such care, giving yourself a hug.

Feel as though there's healing light streaming through you, through your arms, through your hands into yourself, into your digestive system, into your gut. You may start to feel tension in your arms, focus on your breath, recognize that feeling and allow it to be a reminder, a reminder for you to be in a space of care and gratitude and turn your wrists like this, eyes closed, focus at your third eye point. And feel here that you're taking those tensions that you felt in your arms and your hands, your shoulders, and you're clearing them, clearing them out of your system. Keep up here. Such a simple movement and things are coming up for you, I'm sure. Shake them out. Good. Inhale wherever you are. Exhale. Then bring your hands to your shoulders.

Keep your arms about parallel to the earth. So elbows pulled away, shoulders back, thumbs behind your shoulders, other fingers in the front. And now what you're going to do is just move freely. We call this a ribcage dance. So just move however feels good to you here. Have your eyes closed and just move so that you are breathing into and stretching the tensions so thin within your ribs and your shoulders and your core that they start to dissolve here. Then they do because you're dancing. They say that there are three ways that naturally releases these endorphins, oxytocins that we feel great. One is laughter, one is sex, and the other is dance. And so I can help with the laughter and the dancing. The other one is up to you. And so enjoy the dancing here. Dancing just really allows you to move freely, openly. Dance as wildly as you'd like to. Just return to your flow, your nature. Open up your hearts. Open up your body. And allow yourself to just move and groove to your own rhythm, your own heart speeding. Perhaps as you do, a smile comes across your face. Don't deny it. Allow it to come through. I know you don't typically dance with your hands on your shoulders like this. So have fun with it. The next time you're out, try this and see what kind of reaction you get from others. I'm sure it'll bring joy to you and to them. That's definitely a way to throw off stress. Or perhaps the next time you're in an argument with someone, start doing this and see what happens. How long will you stay in that argument with that person? Excellent. Inhale long and deeply here. And exhale. Relax your shoulders, your arms, roll your shoulders up, back and down. Now take your palms and you're just going to pound your inner thighs here. Just shaking your legs awake, but using your palms to do this. The stresses or tensions we're holding in our legs. Release it here. I love pats. Your eyes can be closed or open here. It's up to you.

Work out those tensions in your legs and being seated. Good. Just trying to feel that there's energy flushing into your legs. Good. And inhale. Stop for a moment. And exhale. Turn your palms to face upwards at your knees. Close your eyes and just be. Be in this moment of stillness and silence. Recognize that perhaps in this moment right here, right now, those stresses that you became aware of in the beginning of today's practice have faded. Don't exist in this moment. And that is all through your own doing, your own strength, your own focus, your own will. And inhale. Exhale. Gently slowly open your eyes. We're now going to move into the meditation. You've been seated in easy pose for quite a while, so feel free to stretch your legs as I share with you some of the details about this meditation. This meditation is using pranayama, which is breath. And so our hands are also in a very specific mudra, our hand position. Your fingertips are touching. You're creating pressure between those fingertips. If you see here, my fingers are spread wide. So your fingers are spread wide, fingertips are touching, and you're really pushing your fingertips together. But notice that my palms are not together. They're apart from one another. My palms are only connecting through the fingertips. So now I'm going to take my arms and I'm going to place them parallel to the earth so that my hands are at the center of my chest, my heart center. My eight fingers are focused and towards me, and so that they're pointing towards me. So your fingers are towards me, my fingers are towards you, but then my two thumbs are going to bend back towards myself. So your thumbs are towards you, your other fingers are towards me. Have your thumbs right there at the center of your chest, shoulders rolled up, back, and down. So now that you see this, come into an easy pose, your cross-legged position. Join me in this mudra, fingertips together, there's tension there, thumbs are pointing towards you, other fingers are towards me. The breath is this, inhaling through your nose, and then it's eight strokes out through an o-puckered mouth. Notice that as I'm doing that, my navel is pumping in, in, in, in.

So again, every exhale, my navel pumps in. I'm going to inhale through my nose and then exhale through my o-puckered mouth, eight strokes. So that's the breath, and this is the hand mudra, the hand position. This is all about really balancing your energies beyond stress and beyond duality. So go ahead and join me here. Hands in the specific mudra, eyes are closed, focus at the tip of your nose, so not at your third eye point, stare at the tip of your nose, and let's begin. Inhaling long and deeply, eight strokes through your o-puckered mouth. Remember that navel movement with every exhale. Inhale through your nose. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose, exhale through your nose. Inhale, hold in that breath. Allow the energy to circulate, big belly, sipping a little bit more through your o-puckered mouth, powerfully exhale. Relax your arms, relax your hands, palms facing upwards at your knees, eyes closed, relax your gaze. Just be for a moment, let the energy within you balance itself. You've done your work, there's nothing else you need to do. Let your energy rebalance, come to an equilibrium, all on its own. And feel that in this moment of stillness, you are in this space of complete peace. We call it zero space, sushunya, feeling a sense of nothingness, but it's imis nothingness where anything is possible. Everything can start and begin. And inhale, exhale, maintaining this peace, this openness, come lying onto your backs for shavasana or feel free to stay here seated, meditating in this zero space. If you are lying on your back for shavasana, feel free to place your bolster underneath your legs, underneath your head, place your blanket on you. Just come to a very comfy, cozy space, eyes closed, and allow the vibrations of the gum to continue to cleanse and purify you, releasing any remnants of stresses, instead of just vibrating the space of peace and calmness. Let your energy rebalance, come to an equilibrium.

You You Feel free to stay in Shavasana Or you can join me Seat it up in an easy pose cross-legged position Wiggle your fingers and toes And roll your ankles roll your wrists Have your palms together or the soles of your feet together And cat stretch bringing your knees over to one side your torso twisted in the opposite direction Bring your arms in the direction of your torso. Take a look at your hands And switch sides Return to center bringing your knees into the center of your chest give yourself a caring embrace Feel free to rock left and right if you'd like to and back and forth over onto one side And join me here with your hands together in prayer Eyes closed as we end class saying long time sun together May the long time sun shine upon you All love surround you and the pure light within you guide your way on And inhale to chant one long sat-nam together Sat-nam