Focused Flight

how do you own family and welcome today we're going to be chanting to Shiva and he is known as the Lord of yoga and the the transformer we often know him as well as the destroyer but it is this eradication of what gets in our way of being happy and experiencing joy from deep within so that's what he's destroying right so through working a little bit more intensely a little bit more steadfastly a little bit more focused right he's known it like I said it's the Lord of yoga the great meditator right so we're gonna just weave that into the practice a little bit and be a little bit more drawing into that third eye that higher consciousness as he awakens those higher states of consciousness so weaving that through the practice and the mantra very simple is om namashivaya Shiva Shambo so om namashivaya right om namashivaya is a way that we revere when we say om namo salutations to Shiva right the transformer and Shiva Shambo is regarding him as the auspicious one it's another name for him Shiva Shambo so om namashivaya Shiva Shambo I'll do a couple rounds and then please feel free to join me and we'll start together with the sound of om and sitting up comfortably tall relaxed awake let your eyes flutter closed and as the physical eyes close allow for the inner eye to begin to open let's take a big breath in ah om namashivaya on the mashi Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Siva Shambho. Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Siva Shambho. Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Siva Shambho. Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Siva Shambho. Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Siva Shambho.

Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Om Namasivaya, Siva Shambho. Om I'm just taking a couple moments here, breathing, exploring the inhale, and its fullness, and the exhale, nice release, creating space from the inside out. And then you can begin to open your eyes, and we're going to explore some three part breathing here. So what we're going to do is we're going to breathe in to the belly and hold. Breathe in into the upper chest and a little pause there, and then we're going to take the breath right up to the third eye and a little hold there.

We'll hold, hold, hold, and then release the breath. So again, bringing everything up, up, up, but pausing in between. So taking your comfortable seat, hands just resting, and let's take a free breath in, and exhale everything out. Okay, take your breath in and breathe into the belly, and a little pause there, like a little meditation. Sit the rest of the breath in up towards the upper chest, and then the rest of the breath up towards the third eye, and then hold there, please relax your shoulders, you can soften the chin in towards the throat a little bit, and just hold, contain the energy here for a moment.

And you'll lift the chin and exhale everything out. And take a couple more of those breathing in to the belly and hold. Breathing in and up towards the upper chest, and hold. And breathing the rest of the breath in and up towards the third eye, and hold here. Relax the shoulders, chin softens in, back body is long and strong.

Lift the chin and exhale everything out. And last one, breath in to the belly, and hold. Breath in and up towards the heart, and hold. And the rest of the breath in and up towards the third eye, hold the top of the inhale, relax the body. Lift the chin and exhale everything out.

And just welcome the slightly energizing effects there, pausing on the inhale. Okay, from here, family, we're going to take the arms nice and wide. Full breath in here. On your exhale, bring your right arm underneath the left, so a little eagle arm, karudasana, and then lift the elbows. Maybe the thumb touches the third eye here.

Take a breath in, lift up, a little arching back. And then as you exhale, arms like wings, just reaching forward and back as you come forward and down. And then take a breath in, and left arm is underneath on the exhale. Lift the elbows and line with your shoulders, thumb towards the third eye, a little arching back. And then on the exhale, arms reach back as you come forward and down.

And then coming to sit up, lengthening through the spine. We're going to take the right leg out to the side, take a little breath in, lift the arms, and a little twist over to the left side. Take a little breath in here, spine long, and then exhale, soften your gaze towards the left. Reach out through the right heel, point the toes up, and breathe. From here we're going to reach the right arm up and lean back as you press into the shin, and arch back, and exhale to release down.

And then we'll switch sides. Arms lifting as you breathe in, look up, and then exhale, take the twist to the other side. Use your fingertips behind you to help support the back of the body so you can be nice and bright through the front of the chest there. Nice breath in to lengthen, and then a little deep twist there. Shoulders soften onto the back.

Breath in, and breath out. Take another breath in, and breath out. You're going to lift up through the left arm, press into the right leg, and lift up and arch back, and exhale to release. Bring both knees in, and then lift up, and you're going to remove the blanket from underneath, and then bring the hands and the feet to the floor. I'm going to lean back a little bit, press down into the hands and feet, and we'll lift up into alter pose, and a big breath out.

From here, what we're going to do today is we're going to walk the hands forward. You're going to get a nice stretch in the quadriceps there, the front of the thighs, and then bring the hands forward, press the palms down, and then begin to lengthen your legs as you drop the heels back and down. Utanasana. You're more than welcome to grab blocks if you'd like, or a block, and just let your hands rest there and let the head go. Take a breath in, lift up halfway into a flat back.

From here, you're going to bend your knees and let your tail move back. Now, take your hands behind your legs, and take a little breath in, looking forward, and then from here, you can straighten the legs as much as you can and allow the crown of the head to drop. So the hips are lifting and the crown of the head drops. We'll do this a few times. Hips move back, lengthen your spine forward, and then exhale, press the heels down as the hips lift, and the crown of the head drops.

You can hold onto the elbows or just hold onto the wrists. Again, breath in, pressing down, exhale, lifting and releasing at the same time. And last one, full breath in, hips back, and then exhale, release. And then release your arms, a little sway from side to side, a little soft bend on your knees, and we're going to sweep the arms forward up and arching back. And exhale, bring the palms to the center of your chest.

And the hands to the side. And prepare for sun salutations. So we'll move these and stand at the top of the mat here. And from here, taking the arms up, and from here we're going to bring the prayer to the center, passing through the third eye. And then to the heart, you can bend your knees and touch the earth, lengthen the legs on the exhale, bend and step the right leg back, lift the eyes of the heart, and downward facing dog as you breathe out.

Plank pose on the inhale, and then drop the knees down and lower to the floor. Good, take a breath in to lift up and look up. And exhale, downward facing dog. Right leg is going to come forward, left leg will meet it right away, full breath out, and then rise up, reaching the arms up. And then palms meet at the center, exhale.

Inhale to lengthen and lift. And then from here, exhale, exhale, folding forward and down. Bend the knees, left leg back, look up, downward facing dog. Palms pressing down, hips are lifting. Plank pose as you breathe in.

Lower all the way down or halfway down. Breath in, cobra pose, or upward facing dog, legs engaged and lifted, and then exhale, downward facing dog. Lifting up to the left leg, step it forward on the breath out, right foot to meet it. Inhale to rise all the way up, and the prayer to the center, exhale. Inhaling, lifting up, this time bending through the knees.

Exhale, inhale, reach your, the palms forward for Arda Utkatasan. And then from here, we're going to come into diver's pose. So you're going to lengthen your legs and lift your heels at the same time. And then back to diver's pose, drop the heels down, or Utkatasana rather, and lift up through the arms. Good, and then fold forward as you exhale.

Stepping back into plank pose here, either leg reaches back and then lowering halfway down or all the way down. Breath in, and exhale, downward facing dog, full breath out. And take a little breath in here and empty out through the heels. Breath in to lift your heels, bend your knees. Exhale, hop, step, jump, or walk forward.

Lift up halfway, and then release on the breath out. Utkatasana on the inhale, and come all the way up with a little arch back. And exhale, the palms to the center. And release the hands down, and Utkatasana. Soften the hips back, reach the arms up, interlace the hands, reach the palms up, and then exhale, reach the palms forward as the tail moves back.

Full breath in, and then diver's pose. Lengthen your legs and lift through the heels, reach the arm bones back. And then from there, drop the heels, reach the arms up, and exhale the hands forward and down. Lengthen your legs. Bend your knees and step the legs back into plank pose from there.

Lower down halfway, bending through the elbows. Shift the hips forward, shoulders back, and exhale, downward facing dog, full breath out. A little breathing here, inhale, pressing the heels of the hand down, lifting through the shoulders, and letting the heels sink down. Now lift your heels as you breathe in, bend your knees. Exhale, hop, step, jump, or walk forward.

Breath in, and release as you breathe out. And sweep the arms up, and arch back. Inhale, and exhale. Okay, one more. Utkatasana on the breath in, interlace the hands, reach the palms up, and then exhale halfway, full breath in, and straighten and fold as you breathe out.

From here, lift the left knee, the left foot up, so the heel is moving towards your buttock, and then press down to that standing leg, and lengthen through the left leg. Now you're welcome to use your block if you'd like. Bring your hands onto the block so you can lift your chest a little bit. And then from there, exhale, let the head release down. If you're flirting with taking things a little, if you're feeling adventurous, I'd say you can take your palms together or reach your hands towards your ankle.

See if you can keep the outer left hip dropping forward and down rather than opening up. Good, hands come down, bring the feet together. Utkatasana on the breath in, and exhale. Rise up, inhale, arching back, and then the palms meet. Utkatasana on the breath in, interlace the hands, exhale halfway, full breath in, and then exhale, straighten and fold.

Bend your knees a little bit, bring the hands onto the block, lift the right knee and left right foot, and then exhale to lengthen back. Couple of breathing here. Again, you can flirt with a little balance if that's something you're working on or just keep your hands on the block. Full breaths here, and then the feet come together, and rise all the way up. Palms at the center.

Utkatasana as you breathe in, and exhale, folding forward as you breathe out. Open the knees, step the legs back, downward facing dog, full breath out. Plank pose on the breath in, and lower down halfway all the way, inhale, up dog or cobra pose, and then exhale, downward facing dog. Right leg lifts on the breath in, draw the knee in towards your nose and step the foot forward, warrior one. Press into the back foot and then rise up.

From here, warrior three, so we're going to lift the back leg, take the arms back, point the toes towards the floor, take a couple breaths, so great focus here. All right, full breath in, heels reaching back. And then warrior one from there, slide the foot back, lengthen through the right leg, through center, and then warrior one to the back. Now lift the back leg up and wrap it once or twice, and then the right arm is under. You can always bring your toes to the floor for a little support and let your hips sink back and down.

Exhale, the elbows in, gazing past the middle finger. And then rising back up, warrior one, right leg back. Breath in here and warrior one, we're going to lengthen through the left leg. And then as you exhale, bend and come forward. Reach the back heel towards the wall, point your toes towards the floor, arm bones reaching back, and then from there, warrior one.

Lengthen through the left leg, parallel your feet, and then you've got warrior one again towards the front, and then from here, Garuda, left leg around once or twice, left arm under. Again, toes can come to the floor, lift your elbows, spread the back of the body, and then let your hips sink a little bit more. Breath in, now bring the elbows in towards your belly. Strong gaze past the middle finger. Great, and then from there, rise up, and you've got warrior one again.

Inhale, and the lengthening. Let's parallel the feet and take a pause here, asarita padottanasana coming forward and down. Make sure your toes are pointing forward, and a little breath in and out. You can take your hands out in front of you and lengthen your spine a little bit, and we can take the hips over to the right side, to center, and then to the left. And one more time, to center, and to the right, to center, and then exhale to the left.

To center one more time, and then to the right, and then swivel around, you've got downward-facing dog, so take the right leg back. A little pause here, and bring your knees to the floor. And just sitting on your heels for a moment. A lot of work on the legs. So just pausing here, strong, long spine.

From here, let's bring the hands back onto the hands and knees. Tuck the toes under, downward-facing dog, and today we're going to walk the feet forward, and rise up. Palms meet at the center. So from here, we're going to take Shiva Nataraj. You're going to bend the knee and catch the outside of the foot.

You can just hold onto the foot here, a little soft micro-bend in the standing leg, and then take your left arm up. So you can just reach up as you press down, and then press the foot into the hand, so you're opening up that right shoulder. And with that soft little micro-bend in the standing leg, you'll begin to hinge forward. You just come as far forward as you can while pressing the right foot into the hand. Just let the chest open.

You can lift your gaze, or you can teeter forward a little bit more. And then we're going to let go of that right leg. Find Virabhadrasana III one more time, and then the hands are going to come down into a standing split. I'm going to take a little bow here. Lift up halfway, and then from here, exhale the feet together and release.

And then sweep the arms up, and exhale palms at the center. Bend to the left leg. Bring the knee in. Reach for the outside of the foot. Holding onto the foot, lift the right arm.

Pressing down with a little soft bend in the knee. And then from there, reaching back, and exhale. So find that lift from your belly up towards your heart. Soften the left hip forward a little bit. Lift up, full breath in, lengthen through the leg.

Lengthen your arms back, point your toes towards the floor. And then on the exhale, the hands come down. A little standing split. Let the head soften towards the floor. Breath in to lift up halfway, and then exhale the feet together.

A little pause here, softening through the knees. And then reaching the arms up and back. And the palms meet at the center. And left foot comes back. From here, stabilize your feet and your hips here.

And take the arms up, and then exhale, folding forward. Pyramid pose. You're welcome to use blocks here underneath the hands. If you like, it just feels nice, that support. And let the head go.

Soften the right hip back a little bit towards the left heel. And you'll lift up halfway. And then exhale, take a little further forward. Dive down. And then you're going to lift up again.

Bend the right knee. Bring the left hand a little further forward. Walk the back foot in a little bit. And then from here, we're going to take the right hand to the hip. And then soften that hip back as you press down into the foot.

And maybe the arm lifts. Maybe the gaze lifts. If you have any shoulder stuff or it's a little too much on the shoulder, just hold onto the hip, rotate the chest, and then release forward and down. And then reach up. Step forward.

Left side. Right leg back. Lengthen and lift through the arms. And then exhale, pouring forward and down, holding onto the blocks here. Let the head release down.

Feeling stable in the legs. A little breath in to lift up halfway. I'm going to reach the block in front of my foot, press the hand down, walk my back foot in a little bit, and then encourage the left hip back. So I can lengthen my spine and the left arm will lift up. Breathing in and breathing out.

Soften the shoulder blades onto the back of the body. Really engage with your feet and that left hip back. Nice big breath in around the front of the chest, and then big belly breath out. Release the hands down. Take a little breath in, bend the knee, and then step the foot forward, and a little exhale.

And reach up and arch back. Okay, so now we're going to play with some hops. We spent a lot of time working the legs, so we'll move the blocks out to the side. And a coming downward facing dog. And from here you're going to walk your hands back a little bit.

So this is just a little playtime here. Bring the legs a little closer together and find your standing split variation just by lifting that left leg. So feel that lift up through the inner thighs, press the heels of the hand down. And then a little micro bend in that right knee, and then as you spread the fingers wide, you just flirt with little hops, keeping the arms engaged. And one more.

And coming down. A little pause here, you've got the right leg lifting up, bend through the left knee, and on the inhale, lifting up. And exhale. Breath in, and breath out. And one more.

Breath in and out. A little downward facing dog. Soften the knees to the floor, and please take a moment to sit on your heels and soften the hands onto the upper thighs. And a little pause here. So from Vajrasan here, we're going to reach for our blanket.

And take the blanket so the fringe is on the side, and then roll it up like so. I'm going to take this and then just rest it right at your hip crease. You're going to lift up and then exhale, reaching forward and down. So you're going to feel a little pressure on the belly. If you're pregnant, you will not do this pose.

And you can sit up for a few moments on your heels in Vajrasan. Otherwise, the arms are reaching forward, the hips are moving back, and then let the head go. This is a nice variation to Mayurasana, where you have your elbows in the belly there. This gives a little massage to the internal organs. And take a few moments here, soften the elbows a little bit, relax the shoulders.

All attention goes into the abdomen. You can feel the heartbeat there, feel some pressure there. And then from here, you'll walk the hands back. And then move the bolster to the side there, grab our blocks. Actually, we will use the blanket again because it has really nice to have a little support underneath the knees and then the blocks to the side.

And I'm going to come to prepare for Ustrasana, camel pose. So toes are tucked under, knees and hips aligned. And I really want to focus on this lifting quality. Think of lifting, lifting, lifting like we did even with the breathing. Even as we take the arms up, creating length rather than just arching back and dropping into any sort of backbend.

See if you can create the length and then from there allow the backbend to manifest. Okay, so let's take the palms to the center. And then from here, lift through the arms. You can create some space there in the hands, nice breath in. Now as you exhale, take your right hand back towards the block.

You can take a little breath in, steering the left shoulder back so the spine and the chest is neutral. Find that lift, feel the tops of your quadriceps lift, groins towards your belly, belly up towards your heart. And then on your next inhale, lift the arm. And then exhale the left hand back and down. Alright, a little breath in here, soften the right shoulder back.

Find that lift at the front of the chest, support of the back body. And then reach up on the breath in. This time as you exhale, right hand back and down, take a little breath in and then on your exhale if you feel ready, bring the left hand to the other block. Alright, take a little breath in, shoulders soften onto the back of the body to support the front of the body. Maybe it feels good to let the head roll back, open the throat.

And then from there, lifting both arms up. And exhale, untuck your toes and have a little seat between the blocks. Now we'll take the blocks to the side. You can keep your knees on the blanket, keep the knees very close together here and then reach the arms forward and take your arms over to the right side. So you're really stretching that left arm past your right arm if you can and a little gaze underneath the left arm.

Let the hips sink back and down. And then to center and then over to the other side. So nice big stretch, the side body, breathing in, a little gaze underneath as you breathe out. And coming through center. And pressing down to the hands as you lift up.

So now I'm going to take the blanket and have a little seat. I've doubled it up so it's a little bit higher. I'm going to bring the soles of the feet together and then slide the heels in. You're welcome to take blocks and rest them underneath the thighs. The outer edge here, take a little breath in, hold on to the big toes and then elbows move back as you hinge forward and down.

Create some length in your spine, breathing in, lifting up halfway and then exhale to fold forward and down, letting the head soften towards the heart. Enjoy the space between the shoulders and your ears. You can even let the tongue rest behind the bottom teeth so the face is really soft. And then slowly begin to rise up. You can bring the knees in, bring the legs together, crawl the feet a little further out in front of you and just wrap the arms across the wrists and let the head go.

And then you can begin to sit up, you can take the legs long, sitting on the edge of the blanket, take a breath in to lift up and then from here exhale folding forward and down. Create a little softness in the knees, keep the heels reaching forward and the toes pointing up and then create length on the inhale and then release on the exhale. And then reaching forward with the arms, lifting up, little arch back and then exhale your hands down. You can bring the feet to the floor and a little alter pose, press down, lift up and exhale. Lower the hips and let's cross the legs.

For a few moments in meditation, right? So Shiva really does symbolize that stillness. He is also known as the cosmic dancer, right? And in this moment, stillness, bring the thumb and index finger together. You can point the other fingers down towards the earth so the palms are open and there's a receptivity.

Enjoy the vital energy that's moving through you, again in you and as you. The intimacy with the breathing and intimacy in general is the most transformative elixir. A couple more breathing. And then please take a moment to take your hands behind you, wrap the left hand around the right wrist, take a breath in and then bowing forward and down. And rising up and exhale, release.

And preparing for Shavasana. So you can place the blanket and the blocks, any props you have off to the side and come to take rest, lying down, legs widen, arms widen, palms up. Soften the chin in towards the throat a little bit. Remembering that it is through dying that one awakens, right? So through this ability to really let go.

And this surrender. This is what bhakti yoga is centered around, the great surrender. And in that surrender one is strengthened. To allow the weight of the body to really sink down into the earth. Feeling held here.

You can start to deepen your breath a little bit, bringing some more consciousness into the body. Your fingers and toes. And bending your knees and slide the knees in towards your chest. And roll over to your right side. And then pressing down to that left hand so you can lift yourself up.

Finding your seat one more time, palms rest on your knees. And just take a moment. One more round. Please join me. Last one.

Big breath in. One more round. Om Namah Shivaya.