Day 1: Release Stress

Welcome to our Vitality Reboot Kundalini Yoga Spring Challenge. I am so thrilled to be here with you. I love the topic of vitality and today we're going to go right into it on day one to release any stress that we're dealing with physical mental emotional Kundalini Yoga is an experiential yoga so through these postures and these movements and these chants you'll get an experience of what it is to just release to get back into your breath and to really welcome this vibrant spring energy that is so much about rejuvenation that is about rebirth that is about vitality so without further ado let's begin on our challenge with day one we'll do a kriya to release stress we'll do some lovely warm-ups before then and we'll end with a chant so please let's begin by tuning in with Aung Namo Guru Dev Namo that simply means I bow to the divine teacher within me so we're focusing on bringing in the whole lineage of Kundalini Yoga and really connecting with that teacher that lives within us all please bring the palms of the hands together wrap them at the heart center and we'll tune in you can just follow along or hum along if you're not familiar with the mantra take a deep inhale to begin take a deep inhale hold the breath and just focus at your brow point with planting that seed of intention for this practice for this challenge just one word keeping it simple and exhale good let's begin very simply by grabbing the shins legs across and we're going to inhale open the heart exhale spinal flexes close the eyes and you just want to inhale sat which means truth exhale nam which means name this is dealing with the mental stress that we might experience so the breath is powerful and the mantra is steady within the mind to allow yourself to really experience that one-pointed focus let's inhale nice and tall give a slight pull at the navel just to seal the breath and exhale let's grab the knees and we're just going to circulate the torso this is called Sufi grind just work out any kinks in the lower back opening the heart up on the sit bones as you come up and exhale back on the sit bones and continue again i'm going to invite you for the whole class to stay focused at the brow point unless otherwise stated and we're inhaling sat exhaling nam if you have your own mantra or an english mantra that feels good for you like i am or i am love go ahead and do that really just make it work for you moving the body with intention to just soften and relax lego of the stress and let's switch directions and inhale center hold the breath focus at the brow point and exhale let's bring the right leg out as far as you can and we're going to grab the big toe or the shin whatever it's comfortable for you going to inhale up and exhale down just opening the hips the lower back inhale up exhale down and now let's bring the arm out inhale open exhale down just a few more and inhale open up wide twist the lower back and exhale that should feel just lovely and let's go to the other side left leg out and we're going to inhale up exhale down let's start there in powerful breaths please the more piranha you'll take in the better you will feel the more stress you will release let's bring that right hand out and in inhale exhale now really opening the chest saying yes to this beautiful vitality that we're going to activate together over the next seven days and inhale and open open stretch as far as you can and exhale beautiful okay let's do a couple more things and we'll go right into our kriya come up on all fours please and we will do a few cat cows so inhaling lifting the head up and the lower back and exhale curve and drop the head inhale exhale let your breath be strong and deep deep really stretching in a way that feels good for you don't over stretch let's really listen to your body you're your own best teacher and let's inhale look up up and as you exhale let's come into a little downward facing dog and just stretch out that lower back and just pumping the heels one at a time opening the hips just a nice deep breath stretching the body good and let's just bring that right leg forward lunge it forward be mindful to not bring the knee past the ankle and we're just going to rest the left knee here and we're just going to inhale and open up those hips take some deep breaths right here this should feel really lovely a great daily movement to open up those hips and stay flexible in that area and now let's inhale here and we're going to exhale and straighten that right leg and bring the head down and again inhale and exhale couple more and exhale last one inhale exhale let us swap legs so now we're going to bring the left leg in front again be mindful to keep that knee in line with the ankle open take a few breaths here let's take a deep inhale as we lunge forward a little bit more and exhale stretch it out inhale exhale inhale exhale and last one good and now please come into a rock pose so you're sitting on your knees and we're going to get ready for our korea korea to take away stress it says it all right so just throw yourself into this let's have a good time do what you can if you need to modify the poses it's absolutely okay you'll just do what you can okay let us begin so the first posture we're going to straighten the arms we're going to lock the right hand over the left and lock the thumbs right so we're in this posture right here i'm going to turn to the side so you can see and we're going to put a little blanket here if you want or you can stay as you are and then simply you're going to move forward at a slight angle you're going to pull out the tongue as far down as you can and you're going to do a breath of fire which is a pumping of the navel let us begin so keep going the tongue out is a very detoxifying breath so just know that you're really detoxing at a deep level here challenge yourself keep up a little bit longer so breathe strong and fast this is working on your nervous system rebooting your nervous system and inhale hold the breath briefly hold stick the tongue out as far as you can and please exhale and relax the arms good let us come on to our second exercise we're going to work on mind strength and again the nervous system come into a crow pose if your challenge with not being able to put your heels on the floor please roll up something behind you this is a two-part exercise we're going to bring the arms up 60 degrees and clap the hands for a little while and then we're going to start to crisscross the hands with a breath of fire let us begin eyes closed at the brat point and begin crisscrossing the hands with the breath of fire keep going you're doing great work on your mind strength use the breath to fuel you can do it come on we got to move this energy to throw off the stress let's go and inhale squeeze a root lock rise the energy to the brat point and exhale good job oh yeah nice little stretch there shake out the legs and let's get to the next exercise you'll love this next exercise we're going to lie down and we're going to crisscross our legs now at 90 degrees let me demonstrate come lying down on your back and bring up your legs about 90 degrees it's always nice to support the lower back and we're just crisscrossing right here and this is working on the second chakra the energy system and also the sex organs so let's be right here and breath is just long and deep make it fast as fast as you can remember we got to move the energy to move out the stress it's called the issues in our tissues and it gets stuck in the physical body as well as the physical and emotional so these kind of exercise that challenge us are so good for us that's why it's called a challenge let's go for it let's be committed it long deep breath just a few more moments let's really feel it just feel a little bit of a burn and inhale deep and exhale just drop your legs down and just rest for just a moment and i'll explain to you the next exercise so this is a really fun one this is the most challenging posture and i'm going to show you what it is and then i'm going to leave it up to you to modify if you need to modify we're going to do a shoulder stand but what we're going to do is we're going to lean the legs as far 60 degrees as we can and let's add a breath of fire to that to really help us focus in this posture we won't be here for long give yourself a challenge let's give it a go together let's come up into the posture first come up into the shoulder stand and then adjust yourself and see how far forward you can lean the legs and begin breath of fire you're doing beautifully wherever you're at let's be gentle with yourself we're working on the gray matter of the brain keep breathing keep going and inhale deep and slowly very gently drop the feet behind your head and just unwind your spine one vertebrate at a time as you come into a lying down posture good and just relax for a moment bring yourself gently up and just go right into a baby pose so you're going to be on your knees and you're just going to come down with your forehead to the ground please stay there and i'll just talk you through the posture so you're going to take your fists and gently start to tap all along the lower vertebrates all the way up to the kidneys you're giving yourself a massage this is such a healing thing to do your lower back your sacrum just tap away any place that feels good make sure you get the kidneys and we'll just go for a moment here long deep breaths nice and gentle keep going gentle but firm keep up just a little bit longer and take a deep inhale and exhale lovely and just very slowly when you're ready bring yourself up and back into an easy pose so let's bring the right arm over the left you're going to keep the spine very straight tuck the chin in slightly close the eyes we're going to chant monotone ong o-n-g so hung simply mean creative consciousness i am thou and begin ong And last one, inhale and relax. And please just come down and lie down on your back for a little shavasana before we finish with our chant. Lying down, relaxing the whole body, palms are open to the heavens, legs are slightly open and just rest, feel like you're saving the moves and the breath into your cells, letting go of the stress, rest. And we can go up and down. Take a deep inhale, stretch the arms up and stretch the feet in the opposite direction and bring your right knee over your left and grab your left hand and just open up that lower back and then swap knees and hands and bring the left knee over the right with the right hand, stretching the left arm overhead and just move every part of the body for a moment.

Move the shoulders, move the digestive system, move the hips, open and close the eyes, move the mouth, open and close. If you're just like bringing and shaking the body a little bit, bringing everything to life. Good. Grab the knees to the chest. Let's roll up and down on the spine a couple of times and please come sitting up into an easy pose. So we'll close our beautiful class with a short chant to access our ecstasy and our radiance. I'll just bring the harmonium on over. So the movement is very simple. You're sweeping the hands up as you chant, and sweeping the hands down as you chant, use the tip of the tongue. It simply means we are we, we are the great universe. Let us begin. Eyes are closed. We are the great universe. We are the great universe. We are the great universe. We are Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Amniham Brahma Inhale deep, hold that breath, seal that prayer within you to come back to your vitality and your well-being, releasing the stress, and exhale. Beautiful. What a great beginning. Let us bring the hands together in prayer pose and inhale for a long sat and a short naam. Sat Naam