Krishna Flow

Haryong and welcome. So this practice today is going to be exploring some backbends and preparing ourselves for that and one way we'll prepare of course is through mantra and mantra is an integral part of the bhakti yoga tradition so that's why in my videos you'll see me chanting a lot right so it's a way that we prepare the mind focus the mind and most importantly allow some opening in the heart right by repeating the names repeating the names and sometimes an asana will repeat the sequences a little bit so it becomes like a mantra so it becomes a part of who we are in that moment and today we're going to chant to and awaken Krishna right using what's called the mukti mantra so om namo bagavate vasudevaya you know it's a mouthful om namo you can repeat that om namo bagavate vasudevaya vasudevaya so we're acknowledging the divinity that lives in the hearts of all of everyone and Krishna lives in the heart the hearts of all of us and Krishna is you know the the most delightful aspects of what is what is sacred right so just imagine you know the divine and with its most beautiful beautiful aspects and you get to decide what that is loving playful again you fill in the blank but we bring that alive through the practice of mantra and and so all chant and then please feel free to repeat and we'll just play back and forth a little bit and then we'll sit for a few moments and just absorb the vibration of mantra right man man is mine and tries like an instrument so it's an instrument we get to play with mine to like tune in and transcend any of the the other frequencies that get in the way of us experiencing that sense of wholeness unity connection relationship okay so we'll take a few moments here you can just sit up nice and tall let your palms rest on your knees float your eyes closed start with some alms Oh Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namunamah Your turn. Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namunamah Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namunamah Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namunamah Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namunamah Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namunamah Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namunamah Vasudevaya Namunamah Om Namah Bhagavate Namunamah Please bring your thumbs and your index finger together, creating a circle, a symbol of unity. Creating a link between the higher consciousness, divine consciousness, cosmic consciousness, and our individual self. And then bring the palms together at the center of your chest. Beautiful gesture, mudra called Anjali mudra.

You can think of Krishna and Radha uniting here. Radha is the consort of Krishna. She is the soul that longs to connect to what is sacred, to what is divine. And this is Krishna. You can see them on my shirt, Radha Krishna.

And she is who breathes life into him. It is her love, her devotion to him that really gives him life. So thinking how and where devotion is needed and necessary in your life, to breathe in a little bit more color and flavor. So let's begin. So I'm going to start sitting on my heels.

And from here, I'm just going to play with opening up the chest a little bit. And as I breathe in, I'm just going to walk back and forth first. So as you breathe in, just let the chest come forward. And then as you exhale, just round, breath in, shoulders back, chest exposed, heart open, and then exhale. Breathing in and breathing out.

I feel like most of us kind of walk around like this most of the days. So it's really nice to open up the front of the body with the support of the back body. The back body is symbolized by the feminine front by the masculine. So playing with that dance. And just a couple more.

Exhale, drawing the belly in and up and then a nice breath in to open up and last one, exhaling and breathing in. And then just find a neutral spine here. And take the hands behind you and then press down into the fingertips and let the hips float up a little bit here and open the front of the body and then exhale to release. If that's too much for you, you can just sit on your heels and puff up the chest a little bit here. And we're going to move a little bit more dynamically.

So this time we're going to breathe in and then rise up onto the knees. If your knees are sensitive, make sure you have a blanket underneath them, okay? So rising up as you breathe in. And then as you exhale, a little twist over to the left side here and then a breath in. As you press down, you can open up the chest, lift the hips, and then lower down.

And then we'll take the arms back up. Inhale, sweep them up a little arching back and then find the twist to the other side. And back and down, lifting up to the hips. And then an exhale to lower down. We'll do a couple of these.

Breathing in and then big breath out. Exhale. Again, you can just puff up the chest a little bit, gentle arch back. And then exhale, come forward, rise up. And then exhale.

A little breath in and then exhale. Let's take the arms back up one more time. Breathe in and then from here, reach the arms forward for knees, chest, and chin. So a nice plunge forward, lengthen your legs, take a breath in and open in a little cobra here. Elbows in and then release.

Make sure the tops of the feet are pressing down so the legs are nice and dynamic here. And then on your next inhale, let's lift the palms up and let the breath really lengthen and lift you organically. Take a little inhale here and then exhale. Take a breath in, a little higher, and then exhale. Okay, so we're going to go into a little shoulder opener.

It's a little deep here. Okay, so I'm going to take my right arm out to the side. I'm going to roll onto the right side. Take my left foot behind me, let the head go. And just take a couple breaths here, opening to the right side.

Full breath in, remembering that the arms are connected to the heart. So there's a little bit of awakening up here through the arms and the shoulders for sure, linking us to the heart. Couple deep breaths. Notice where there's any resistance. If you're in any pain whatsoever, come out of the pose.

All right, a couple more breaths here. Inhaling. Exhaling. Keep your left foot rooted for the support behind you. Breathing in.

And then exhale coming onto the belly, extend the left leg, and take another little cobra. Arms are a little wider than usual and a breath in. And then lower down. I'm going to take the other arm out to the side and roll over. All right, foot is to the floor.

Pressing the right hand down here for a moment. Full breath in. And exhale. Again, just breathing into the shoulder, extending to the arms. Breath in.

Breath out. Two more. Inhaling. Exhaling. And last breath in.

And a big breath out. You can roll into your belly. And then take a nice breath in. Press the palms down. And again, the arms a little more wide and then rising up into a nice wide cobra here.

So you can extend your legs a little bit. All right, again, reaching out through the tips of your toes, opening. And then from here, we're going to bring the toes together. Keep the knees nice and wide in a nice wide child's pose. So let the head soften forward and down.

So it's almost like a little heart stand. My heart is softening towards the earth and let the head go. Third eye to the floor. You can press the palms down into the earth and then forward towards the front of your mat. And that will help support the hips moving back if you want to go a little deeper.

And then a couple more breathing. And you can look forward. Come onto the hands and knees. Widen the feet. Take a gaze upward.

And then from here, lift your knees into downward facing dog. A couple of breathing here. Spreading the fingers wide, the heels of the hand pressing down. And reaching your heels back and down as well as you take the hips a little higher. You can bend to the knees a little bit and stay for a few breaths.

And take another little breath here. You can bend your knees and take your ribs towards your thighs. Really stretch open the front of the body. And then as you exhale, begin to lengthen your heels back and down. Great.

And then from here, we're just going to walk the feet forward. Soft bend in the knees. Make your way to the top of the mat. You can take your hands, interlace your fingers and reach the arms up. Let's bend to the knees and take the hips back.

Take the arm bones back. And again, opening up to the chest. Big breath in and then lengthen through the legs. Crown the head. Softens down.

Couple breaths here. Opening up the backs of the knees. And again, bend the knees. Arms reach back. Opening up the chest.

And exhale and fold. Bend your knees. And this time we're going to step or bring the right hand forward and down. And then from here, lengthen through your left leg in a nice little twist. You can even weave your left arm behind you here for a moment.

You're going to place it inside the right pocket. Steer the shoulder onto the back of the body. And then lengthen and then exhale. And then bend the left knee. Lengthen through your right leg.

Right arm reaches up. Opening up to the chest. And then a nice exhale spirals the right arm behind you for a couple moments here. And reaching up on the inhale. And down as you exhale.

Let's sweep the arms forward, up and a little arching back. And then as you exhale, let the palms just soften at the center of your chest. So we'll do just a couple rounds of sun salutations, right? Just to ignite a little bit of energy and move a little bit more fluidly and play with that dance. So from here the hands just soften alongside the body.

And go ahead and reach the arms up as you breathe in. And then exhale, wide arms out to the side. Full breath out. Right leg back. You can look up here as you drop the hips a little.

And then exhale, downward facing dog. Full breath out. Just take plank pose as you breathe in. Reach back through your heels. Drop your knees, your chest and your chin.

Then lower the hips down. Untuck your toes. Cobra pose here. And then downward facing dog as you breathe out. And you take the right leg high.

And as you exhale, step the foot forward. Drop your left knee and let's take the arms up. From here you're going to take the hands behind you. Draw the elbows back. Lengthen and lift.

And then from here exhale the hands forward with the toes tucked under in the back there. And a little lengthening through the front leg. Breathe in. Lengthen. Exhale.

Come forward. Rise all the way up. Palms at the center of the chest. And again. Inhale.

Urbahastasana. Looking up. Exhale. Uttanasana. Folding forward and down.

Left leg back as you breathe in. Look up. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Hips high.

Plank pose as you breathe in. Dropping the knees, the chest and the chin. The inhale softens the hips down and a little breath in to lift up through the chest. And then exhale downward facing dog. Left leg lifts on the inhale.

Step it forward as you exhale. Low lunge. Drop your right knee. Sweep your arms up. And then interlace your fingers right behind the head and open the shoulders.

Open the arms. Full breath in. And then lengthen through the left leg. Arms forward and down. Breath in into a low lunge.

Extend the back leg. And then from there bring the back foot forward as you exhale. Rise all the way up. And prayer to the center. Inhale.

Lifting up. Exhale. Sinking the hips back and down. Interlace your fingers. Reach up and Ardha Utkatasana.

Full breath in. And then release the hands and exhale. And step back into plank pose on the breath in. And then lower down. Exhaling.

Inhaling. And downward facing dog. Okay. From here right leg lifts on the inhale. Let's step the foot forward.

You've got Virabhadrasana I. Right foot to the floor. Bring the left heel to the floor. And then rise up on the inhale. I'm going to catch the hands behind and lift through the chest.

Open the heart. And then take a deep dive forward into devotional warrior. Letting the crown of the head reach forward and down. I'm going to lift up halfway. Take your right hand down to the floor.

The block or the ankle. And then lengthen through the left arm. So right into triangle pose. Opening up through the chest. Going to take a little breath in here.

Now pressing down to the feet. Take your hands behind you. And again opening up through the chest. Right. Rise up as you breathe in.

Parallel the feet. And then take the dive forward again. Exhale. Prasarita Padottanasana. Breathing in.

Let's lift up halfway. And we're going to take a little twist here. Right hand down. Left arm lifts up. Full breathing.

The spine is nice and long. Crown of the head is reaching forward. Great. Take your left arm behind you. Sift your hips to the right side.

Turn your right toes forward. All right. Full breath in. Hands down. And then a little lengthening through the left arm.

Hands come down. And take a three-legged dog here. And then maybe if you're feeling adventurous you can drop that right foot behind you. Press down and find a nice little arch and open up the front of the body. Downward facing dog.

Lifting the left leg up. Exhale. Step it forward. Drop the back heel. Warrior one.

Rising up. Exhale. Catch your hands behind you. Keep the left knee moving forward as you arch back. And then exhale the head forward and down.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Good.

Breath in to lift up halfway. Now it's triangle pose. Left hand down. Ankle. A block or the floor.

And then lengthen through the left leg as you peel the right arm open. So everything just blossoms open. The front of the body is supported by the back of the body. Now press into your feet. Take the hands behind you.

Interlace the arms there. The hands. And then press down to rise up. Parallel the feet. Take a breath in.

And exhale to fold forward. Let the arm bones lift. Crown the head sinks down. Lift up halfway. Left hand down.

And the right arm reaches up. Exhale the hand behind you. So again, peeling the shoulder open gently. Take the hips to the left side. Turn your left toes forward.

And then let the hips sink down. That's really important here. And then from there reach the right arm up and over. Nice little breath in here. Soften the ribs into the body.

Send the left hip towards your right heel. And exhale the hands down. And it's a three-legged dog. You'll take a breath in. And then exhale the foot behind you and open up the front of the body.

And then the hands come down. Downward-facing dog. Full breath in. Full breath out. You can soften the knees to the floor here.

And just take a moment. Exhale child's pose. Just for a breath. And we'll come back up on the inhale. And exhale downward-facing dog.

Okay. So the right leg is going to come forward. We're going to flirt with a bind. So you might have a strap in front of you here. We're going to come through warrior two.

Right? From here catch your hands. Lengthen. Parallel the feet. Take a breath in.

Actually let's nab the strap. So you have in your hand, you're going to reach the arm up. So Gomukhasana arms, cow face arms here. So we want to open up to the chest. Elbows moving back.

Take a deep breath in. Open the arms. Lift the chest. And then from here exhale folding forward. Bring a little bit more weight into the heels.

But feel free to move a little more forward into the toes. Keep the elbows moving away from the chest. Opening up. Now lift up halfway. Take the hips to the right side.

Turn your right toes forward. From here you can drop the strap from the right hand. And then maybe reach underneath the thigh. Now as you do this, slide the right knee forward. Drop the hips and revolve the chest up and back.

A couple of breathing here. You might begin to lengthen the right leg for a moment. Nice breath and you have lots of space there with the strap to really open up through the chest. I'm going to let go of the strap and then reach the right arm forward. And lift the left leg for artichandrasana.

Nice full breath in here. Lengthening out through the left leg. And then from there, peaceful warrior. So arch back as you breathe in. And then exhale, hands come down.

Right leg lifts up. Knee into the nose as I breathe out. Plank pose and then lower down. Nice breath in to lift up. And exhale.

Full breath in here. And out. Left leg is going to lift. Exhale, step the foot forward. From here, warrior one.

Catch the hands behind you. Nice breath in to lift through the chest. Dive forward and down. Exhale. Breath in to lift halfway.

And you've got triangle pose. Left hand down, right arm reaches up. Hands behind you. Reach the arm bones back. Breath in.

Parallel your feet. And grab your strap. Take a little breath in here. And the breath out grabs the strap. Open the arms.

Full breath in. And then bow forward and down. Exhale. Keep lifting the elbows as much as you can. Keep the chest open here.

And then let the head go for a moment. Lift up halfway. Take your hips to the left side. Left toes turn forward. Drop the hips a little bit.

And then release the strap. Reach underneath the left thigh. And then let the hips sink down. Spiral the chest open. Reaching back.

The pelvis is coming forward a little bit. All right. Soften the ribs into the body. And then as you exhale, lengthen through the left leg. So press down into the left foot.

Let the arms extend. Chest opens. Look up. And then bend. Release the strap.

Take the left hand forward as you lift the right leg up. And the arms extend. Warrior two from there. Peaceful from there. Arching back.

And then exhale the hands down. A little lift up. Draw the knee in towards your nose as you exhale. Plank pose on the breath in. And then lower down as you breathe out.

Inhaling. And exhaling. Take a breath in. Lift your heels. Bend your knees.

Hop forward. And utkatasana right from there. So sink the hips back and down. And take a breath in here. And right into Krishna.

You're going to take your right foot behind you. Krishna plays the flute. So we play a little flute here. The holes in the flute are said to be like the holes in our heart, creating this longing. So a little breath in there.

I'm going to take my hands down. And from here, I'm going to lift that right leg up. Both legs are bent. Reach for the inside of my right foot. And then lengthen through the left leg.

And lift the right leg. And open the heart. Full breath in. And full breath out. Utkatasana.

Breath in. Krishna as you breathe out. Hands come down. Lift the left leg. Again, both knees are bent.

So I can reach for the inside of the foot. And then begin to lengthen through the standing leg. Keep the inner thighs moving in. Press in to the hand there with the top of the foot. And then lift through the chest.

Breath in. And breath out to release. Utkatasana. Inhale. And exhale.

Lowering down. Take a little breath in to lift the legs. And release. The sweet surrender. And taking one more breath here.

Snuggle the knees into your chest and rock up. Okay, so this is where we get to have a little bit more fun. You're going to bring your blocks to the front of the mat. So much like a T shape. One across and one right on top.

And then I'm going to take a blanket so it's a little cushy and rest it there. So a couple things. If I'm taking the easy today on the back bends, let your upper ribs be supported. And you just come into a nice gentle cobra pose. It feels really lovely here.

Legs are extended. Elbows are in. Fingers are spread wide. And you can just let yourself be supported here. Take the gaze forward.

If you want to go a little deeper in your back bend, you can crawl the chest up. So the lower ribs are really supported here. Untuck the toes. Like a very high cobra. So either one that you choose here, right?

Take a couple of breathing. And then on the exhale, one leg bends. Take a breath in. And then exhale, bend other leg. Point your toes towards the back.

And go ahead and lengthen and lift through the chest. Shoulders back. Feel the belly pressing in to the blanket. Nice and open here. Lots of support.

And then release out of the pose. Tuck your toes under here. And then press the palms down. And it's kind of nice to let the crown of the head rest here. And sometimes I just like to take my arms wide.

Maybe interlace the arms, the hands there. It feels very liberating. And then a release. Hands down. Drop your knees.

And have a seat on your heels. So we're going to take it into a couple of different variations here. With the blocks for wheel pose. So, blocks to the front of the mat. Actually, I'm going to turn this way.

Blocks to the back of the mat. I'm going to bring my feet onto the blocks. I'm bringing my heels so they're right at the edge, right? They're not on the top or they're going to slide off. So I have that little bit of resistance.

I'm going to crawl my hips there as close to my heels as possible. And then come to lie down. So pressing the heel of the foot into the edge of the block. I'm going to ground down and then lift up. So really nice here supported Satubandasana.

You can shimmy the shoulders underneath you. Interlace the fingers. Rest the arm bones down and reach the knuckles towards your heels. Take a nice few breaths here. Really enjoy the spaciousness.

And the length that you've created in your legs is what it feels like. And then of course, lots of space in the back of the body. And you're welcome to take the arms above your head, a little cactusing of the arms if you'd like, or interlace your fingers and reach the palms back. And then a little lowering down. Knees in and just release here.

So we'll take another one of those. But if you'd like to go for the full wheel, we'll go for that together now. Okay. I'm going to crawl a little closer to my heels. Press down, lift up.

Again, you can interlace the hands. Stay here. If you're ready, arms will lift above the head, pressing down into my feet. Really brighten the front of the body. And then exhale the hands and line with the fingers and line with my shoulders.

Now the elbows point up, not out to the side. Press down into the index finger. And then on an inhale, I'm going to come up onto the crown of my head. Check in with my arms. Elbows move in.

Press down into my feet and exhale. Just allow a nice blossoming of the front of the body here. Arms and legs long should feel really good. Let the head go. Couple breaths.

And one more. And then as you exhale, soften the chin in towards the throat. Keep the elbows moving in and lower down. Knees into your chest. I like to cross my ankle over my knee.

And then I take the left foot over to the floor. And then move the knee away very gently. Take the left arm out to the side and soften my gaze. I'm going to bring the legs to center. I'm also going to adjust my little pack here.

And I'm going to crawl my right ankle over the left knee. And from there, take the right foot over to the side. Taking the gaze towards you. Couple breaths here. Make sure your shoulders are very relaxed on the floor.

And then you'll come up, bring the knees into your chest as you come onto your back. And then you can make little circle eights with your knees and circles. Just massaging the low back. And then from there, rock up to sit. Take the blocks, place them to the side.

And bringing the feet together. A little further out in front. I'm going to clasp the hands around the toes. Take a little breath in and tarasana. She is the goddess of compassion.

I'm going to let the head soften forward and down. Acknowledging the divinity from within. In a lot of traditions, acknowledging the feet or bowing to the feet is a sign of reverence. Taking a few moments to do that. Your own feet.

Your own divinity. Acknowledging that. And then rising up. You can bring the knees together. And today, after all the back bending, let's take the blocks underneath the knees as well as a blanket.

So you're going to make a little bolster. You can put pillows, blankets, books, whatever you've got. Make sure your heels are touching the floor. You're going to take your arms up. And then from here, exhale, just drape your front body over the legs and let the head go. And breathe into the back of the body. Relax the shoulders and the head.

Be mindful of the feet. Very gently, the heels continue to move forward, the toes upwards. Continuing to find that balance between effort and surrender at all times. And then please reach your arms up. And exhale your hands down.

Hands and feet to the floor. Take a breath in and lift everything up. And big breath out. Lower the hips down and then take your little bolster. And today we're going to have a seat on this. So you can just cross the ankles, knees are dropping down.

And take the thumb and index finger together, palms face up. And you can close the eyes here. Krishna is the Lord of love. So we are instruments of peace. So we're tuning in, using these sacred practices, mantra, asana, pranayama, to tune in and dial in to that energy.

Please bring the palms together, center of the chest. Let the head soften towards the tips of your fingers. Back of the neck is long. Emanating, sending love, compassion, kindness. Out into the ethers.

You can start right here. Let it emanate out towards your community. Your families, communities, states, countries, cosmos. Just let it expand. You can gently begin to lift your beautiful face.

Open your eyes and let the hands release down onto your knees and we'll prepare for shavasana here. So make sure you come off the mat or come off your setup here very easily and come to lie down. Really resting the body. It's important to feel relaxed. It's a lot more easy to feel, to receive, and to give love when we are relaxed.

That is a fact. It's also a quote by Yoko Ono. Your breath is completely free. Nothing to strive here for. We're not wanting to get from here to there.

It's more about getting from there to right here. Please continue to take a few more breaths here, just really releasing the body. You can stay as long as you want. I'm going to slowly make my way up, but please just take a few more moments. Thank you.

And slowly start to wiggle out of the fingers and toes. Allow the breath to deepen a little bit. Let the head soften a little from side to side. Bend your knees and bring the knees into the chest. Then soften over to your right side.

Make your way up to sit, and please join me. One more. Bring the palms together at the center of your chest. Hare Krishna.