Day 4: Surrender to Awaken

Hello, everyone. Welcome to day four of our Ayurveda Summer Challenge here. We're again here in Ojai, California, and I hope to share some of the magic of Ojai with you in our session today called Surrender to Awaken. We'll be doing a little bit more slow, nourishing work. It's going to be an inspired practice today, which means we need some props.

If you will gather a blanket, a bolster, and a couple blocks, we're going to orient ourselves to make a little, we'll call it the stone hedge with some tall blocks and your bolster. Put on top of these tall blocks. If you were at home and missing some of this set, a chair would be a good replacement or alternative. And then the blanket, if it's opened up, it just provides a little bit more cushion and padding since we'll be close to the floor for this practice. So if you come on down, when you're ready to your back, I'll be using my phone to keep track of time when we do our asymmetrical poses.

So just know if I'm talking, I'm also keeping track of time for you. So I want to recommend that you let your legs drape over the bolster prop. And then when you come down with your spine, with your head, wiggle all the clothes, the hair, everything that might become annoying in a few minutes, see if you can make those adjustments now. So you're able to be still and use this pose as an anchor to come into this present moment. So again, I'm so delighted you're here with me today.

And if you find yourself now in your seat, if we can start to make a little bit more of that formal transition from our householder duties, our responsibilities, and to be willing to potentially set them aside as we move into our yoga practice, this time we've created to maybe go a little bit more into the inquiry and discovery of our minds, to get to know the nature of our mind here. Just noticing that shift of energy from whatever you've been doing now to your practice. Maybe there are other little ritual-like things that you do to get centered, and I want to invite you to bring in what other rituals you bring in to get grounded in the first pose. And then as we settle into the seat with the legs up, arms wide, spine close to the earth, noticing what you might be willing to let go of in order to be more present, potentially letting go of some tension that might live in the face, in your eyes, your jaw. Maybe willing to let go of some tension in the shoulders, the hands.

Maybe willing to let go of some tightness in the chest or your diaphragm muscle. That's running the weight of our upper body into the ground, into our earth, our home. And then that willingness to let go of any tightness in the belly, just letting your awareness gather there for a few breaths so that we have easy flow of belly moving up and down as we practice, and then feeling the place where the buttocks meet the ground and that pressure, the buttocks moving more and more in towards your blanket, towards the earth. And can we let go of any gripping or tightening in the legs, the hip creases, surrendering the weight of the legs completely to the props. And if the body now becomes our anchor for us to rest in the spaciousness of this moment, just noticing the mind at the beginning of practice today.

Does the mind feel busy? Does the mind feel calm? And the hope as we move into this slower practice, to slow down, to potentially witness more. I think of the yin practice that we're heading into is a little bit like going out birdwatching. That requires that we first get quiet, and then requires a load of patience to wait.

And then to appreciate again the presence of the moment that maybe you see the bird or in this case maybe that we see the space between our thoughts, and just witnessing that moment, feeling the aliveness of the moment when you're really present. Perhaps we've practiced enough to know that that comes and goes, so it does require practice and dedication to be willing to come back again, to be quiet, patiently waiting as we settle into our home, the shape of our body, to hopefully again touch into the presence, the beauty of this moment. Let's take maybe three more breaths as we are in this first place, legs parallel, arriving. The next variation of this pose won't be very different, but I want to invite you to let your knees open wider like you're doing your reclined cobbler's pose. And I know for me I usually scoot a little bit closer to the props so that my feet can be touching and my knees can be almost as wide as the bolster.

So it's like I'm doing a little lifted reclined cobbler's pose. And every time I make a readjustment of my pose, even though this one is a minor shift, let's be willing again to move anything that was starting to get maybe distracting. Make sure the props feel like they're doing their job of supporting you so that you can truly surrender the weight of your body back towards the earth. And then refreshing that commitment again to set aside your householder responsibilities. And treat yourself again to this time to discover and inquire around the nature of the mind today.

Perhaps already sensing, is it busy, is it quiet, calm? And then as we resettle into this new anchor seat to get comfortable, to find our home, to be willing to adjust the breath, the wind of the breath, to help the mind that's maybe dull or sleepy in the morning time. By perhaps taking a fuller inhale and savoring that pause after the inhale. Or for the more anxious, worried mind to take the time to pause longer after your exhale. And to be willing as we go throughout this entire practice to really be willing to adjust the breath, to help bring you into that place of balance where the body calm, the mind clear.

So imagine again that we're going out and doing our bird watching, but we're doing this here in our practice and the same steps are required. What's it like to get quiet? How does it feel in your whole body to be quiet? Being patient, knowing some areas of the body take longer to be quiet, or some days the mind takes longer to be quiet, some days it takes longer for that bird to arrive. That bird for me when I relate this to the end is really that spaciousness, that gap that shows up between the thoughts, the planning, and there's that aliveness in the present moment.

And it might be a temporary state, but I feel like the more that we experience that open state of aliveness, the more we realize we have a choice to stay there. Or do we swing back into the more, maybe habitual nature of the mind to be busy, to be thinking? Then perhaps we notice that that state leads to maybe a little bit more suffering, the mind that might be more judgmental or critical, negative in some way. And the more that we're aware of our mind and maybe how it ships to different states, remember we have that choice to go back to that open, alive state, fully present, reconnected to our whole self, and what's it like to choose to stay here longer? What does that feel like when we're completely here in your body?

Completely sensing again when to make adjustments, shifts, if something doesn't feel safe, that willingness to shift your breath to a different rhythm, holding different pauses, and getting to know your intuition in this practice. Feeling what feels right. And we're going to stay just three more breaths, delighting in this shape, this moment, and thanking yourself for all the effort you've put into holding your attention here. Now our next shift is to maybe let your body scoot back away from the bolster an inch or two or three, so that you can put your feet up on the bolster prop. Okay, so for some of us we'll keep our heels perhaps here for a moment, and let's hang your left foot into the top of that right knee, so that classic figure four shape.

And for some of us we'll keep the right heel on the bolster prop, or maybe your foot if that's a better way for you to relax. And some might reach forward and catch you through the back of your right leg, or the front of your shin, or maybe you grab a strap if you had one around, again you can do hands free version, or making a bind holding onto your leg. Okay, so see if you can discover which position, which shape is best for your body on this sides. And please again perhaps rock a little bit right to left to kind of give your back body a little bit of a massage before we settle. Just feeling if there's some spots that might appreciate a little bit of rolling or movement before we commit again to this position, this next opportunity to practice meditation and observing the nature of our mind.

And again coming back into that awareness of coming home to yourself, be easy as you come home to yourself here. Might we kind of yield a little bit more into this posture, soften places that feel stiff or hard, and then imagine again we're going into that adventure and going out to do some bird watching. And our case just going into the state of meditation, and as I settle here in this pose here in Ojai, there's lots of little bird sounds all around, reminding me again my place here belonging in this environment. So may you also feel that sense of belonging in your environment. And the breath that brings your prana, that conscious energy closer to your center, that place then that allows us to be more nourished, to really deeply nourish your nervous system as we move that conscious energy towards our center.

So there might be sounds in your environment that you include in this meditation. And then we practice a little more listening, and patience, if we notice there's some restlessness or if we notice there's some activity in the mind, just being patient, this is all a process. This is just a practice. And then with enough patience, without us really trying, we just organically arrive in that state of space, clarity, wholeness. In that moment, maybe if you've been bird watching and you see the birds for the first time, there's that awe.

May we stay in that state of wonder and awe, curiosity, and just observing this moment without evaluating the moment. That's really what I want us to do in this practice, is just being an observer without evaluating the moment, without adding any story or drama. So how can we relate in this way to a sensation, is it deep, is it superficial, is it dull, is it sharp, is the mind alert, is the mind awake, is the mind sleepy, is the mind restless. Can we observe, and just coming back again to this moment now, is this moment spacious? Am I clear?

And then being open to the surprise of surrendering to this moment and the beauty that exists right here, with nothing to change, nothing to fix. Let's have three more moments right here as you are, nothing to change, nothing to do. And when you're ready to release out of that position, you might move back, retracing your steps, putting both feet, both legs for a moment in neutral, and just kind of sense the changes that have occurred from doing that asymmetrical pose. Any feedback to pay attention to here to inform you how you might approach your second side. And then whenever you're ready, let's hang the other leg over so your right leg would be hanging over to the left, and you might keep your left heel on that prop, you might hug that left leg in closer towards your body, and then again, choose how you might hold yourself here.

Again, since we're doing the new side, I might invite you to rock a little bit side to sides so you're not stiff or tense, and can you massage out any tension in that upper mid-back? You kind of tune into that lower back or upper buttock area that might appreciate, again, a little bit of rolling. Once you're aware of all your options, then choose where we're going to stay, where we're going to start to watch, be an observer, and then what might be willing to let go of in order to soften this physical body. Feel the actual flow of movement that happens when you're breathing in and out, feeling different pressure contact points with the earth, and eventually feeling your place of belonging right here. And then maybe, again, become an observer of this moment without evaluating it, without adding our preferences, and then moving more into that place of equanimity and balance.

And then rediscovering, again, what rhythm of breath works for you here? The way of breathing helps promote more quiet mind, quiet body. And then introducing that companion of patience that we take with us in this journey, being easy on yourself today, and hopefully most days as we practice discovering ways to decrease suffering every day, perhaps a little bit more, becoming wiser, and choosing to let go of those thoughts that increase suffering, ways that we hold our body that increase suffering. So please be willing any time to change the shape to decrease any future harm. Be aware of any thoughts that might be leading to any suffering.

Being aware of that type of thought, again, is really special. And we have choice to, again, turn that off. Coming back to be kind to yourself, coming back to your home, and the sense of belonging as we move back into our practice, patiently waiting to arrive more fully in this moment. Every here, what's it like in the whole body to be present? And when we're aware of that feeling, again, hopefully we start to appreciate that so much that we want to hold that feeling longer.

Taking a few more moments, just appreciating the support of all the other people that might be tuned in right now, also moving towards this direction of calm, moving towards this direction of awakening. I love this saying for Basant Lan, he's like, we surrender now or never. So what would it be like to be willing to surrender now? Last few moments in this shape. Let's go ahead and when you're ready, release, putting your feet on the bolster prop for a moment and just a big breath in and maybe a more audible breath out.

Let's go ahead and bring your feet down to the floor and maybe not knock over your prop because we're going to use it again as we roll over, knocking over the prop. Let's come set that back up. And then the joy of live streaming. So here's the shape I love right now where we put your feet up onto your bolster prop. You can also do this at a wall or a chair or your couch.

So the ankles are more or less supported. And then what we'll do is adjust your clothes, everything so you feel comfortable and maybe stack your hands here so that your forehead would rest on stacked hands. Belly kissing the floor of the earth. And some of you might from here decide that this feels awesome and I hope it does. And this is where we stay or you can also bring your elbows in a little closer towards your chest like we often do in yin and more of that sphinx pose.

So you might find that little lift of the head suits you today to get a little more opening through the front of the hips, front of the spine. And like you've done in the poses before, again, making those little adjustments just to check in so that you feel like you're in that place where now you can stay. This is your anchor and it's safe. So maybe the eyes are open as we made all those adjustments from the ground up right. And now if your eyes are open, might you choose one focal point for your eyes to keep track of as we move to the meditation?

And sometimes eyes open is going to be a more productive way to meditate, to let in some light if your mind in particular feels dull or sleepy. And perhaps for others, it's easier to focus and pay attention with the eyes closed. So whichever one encourages more present moment awareness. Notice what you might be willing to surrender and let go of here to be more present. Is there a way that you're holding your body that is creating obstructions or tension that decreases the prana flow?

And ideally we're feeling maybe that prana flow through the tube of the spines, the yogis might call that shishumna nadi, more of an energetic line. Perhaps we envision our prana and consciousness gathering towards that center line of the spine. And as that visual helps for your mind to become more quiet, just continue to maybe visualize that very thin line that might run through the tube of your spine. We visualize the spine and the subtle movements that it makes when we're in this shape, just waiting to see and where we sink into what new parts of your body awaken here. The backbend shape feels different than the hip opening position.

And then waiting again like you might if you were bird watching for a bird to arrive just waiting in this way to see what happens when we stay still, what parts of our body do we discover when we slow down rather than move fast? And then there are moments where we're present, our mind is clear. We feel whole, that sense that nothing is missing. So you can sense the energy, that feeling of that in your whole body on a physical level and even that energetic level. What's it like in this practice for you today to be replenishing that yin, that water element, increasing your receptivity to your intuition and the feedback it might be offering you moment by moment, continuing to potentially to guide us towards practices that help us feel better each day, each week, each season, that we learn to fall in love with those practices that actually make us feel better.

Taking good care of ourself, often it's easier for us to be still, to stay awake. And then for that organic state of meditation to arrive. Last three breaths, just witnessing this moment and the next. Looking down if you've lifted your body up and just take a moment or two just to feel again the full contact with the ground if you lifted your body up, might be surprised that there was quite a bit going on in that lower back area potentially. So just a big breath in and out.

And then others when you're ready will all maybe now start to slide your feet off carefully maybe without pushing your prop aside and we'll move away from the ground for a moment and we're going to turn towards your bolster prop, I'm just going to shift mine this way. I recommend keeping padding for underneath your knees. And if we have your setup again so that it's tall, it's here to support you. But this time if we have the knees, I'm going to keep mine more parallel, you might have your knees a little bit more apart. And to try to find that position where your elbows are on the sides of the bolster, hands are stacked and you might start with your forehead resting on your hands.

And then we have ideas, options where we might bring your elbows to the bolster, palms together pointing to the ceiling and maybe you rest your foreheads, not so much your nose but your forehead on your bolster or some people like to even drop their hands towards the upper shoulder area. So if lower back sensitivity again is there, bring your knees to touch so that you've got your ribs resting 100% on your thighs. If you need to protect the shoulders more, you might scoot closer again or have more support under your shoulders. Those are a few ideas. You're welcome again of course to make up a whole different shape, that's what I love about this yin like practice is there's no right or wrong way to do it.

Can you find a way to be in this shape that's safe for your knees, shoulders and back? And then when you sense that everything's in the right spots, for this to be the new meditation seats and that willingness to make those adjustments so that your body ends up getting quiet and going easy being easy with yourself as we come into this new home, this new shape with the hope to awaken to this moment and try to stay in the spaciousness of this moment and then being patient knowing again that every shape might deliver different sensations, might change your thought pattern. The more that we can be aware of the thoughts or body positions that might create future suffering, we then have the choice to change our shape or our thoughts to move towards a direction that promotes more health, that decreases suffering and then giving yourself that opportunity to surrender now into the shape, paying attention to your intuition and to notice when it's encouraging you to take fuller breaths or more shallow breaths, to make micro adjustments or to stay still. To be curious what happens if you stayed still longer, like if you were bird watching, if you stayed a little bit, still a little bit longer, might we catch that birds, in this case might we catch that glimpse of spaciousness and become aware of the nature of the mind today in this moment, there's nothing to change, nothing to fix, just watching patiently, and some point we arrive, reconnect to that experience of wholeness. When we do, what does that feel like in the whole body, you feel it on the surface, do you feel it more energetically, using this time together to be an observer moment by moment without evaluating or adding story to what's happening, just observing, let's take three more breaths right here, and if your breath rhythm is different than mine, stay longer, if you're ready to come on up, we're going to come on up and rearrange your props just a tiny bit, so that we might put your blocks out towards the top of your mats and we're going to use this bolster down in front of our rib cage area, so I'm going to keep my blanket here to rest my pelvis on, and as I set this down every day, you got to recreate it fresh, so that it suits you today, so I'm going to have this bolster kind of under the base of my rib cage, legs dangling behind me, and I'm going to have my elbows, think of your sphinx pose, where you've got your elbows in front of the bolster, and for some people, I observe that some really like to keep the head lifted, and some people like to bring the head forward, so you have your blocks as an option to bring your head down onto, if you like the forward position, and if you prefer your head up, you might just again find that place to be, that gives you a lift and support for your upper back, and in no way overwhelms the lower back, and one way that you might know that you're overwhelming the lower back is if your eyes get grippy and tight, and your breath gets short and irregular, okay, so if you have your head down, we commit to maybe being here, if your head is up, and what way can you hold your head up without tightening your neck and shoulders, so perhaps that gaze goes towards the tip of your nose if your head is up, and then whether your eyes are open or closed, just recommitting to our practice, to this being the next opportunity to observe the nature of our mind, and to be aware is again is it busy now, is it restless, quiet, calm, and in this practice again, we don't need to think about too much, thinking's great when you gotta solve problems, but there's generally nothing to solve here, so what would it be like to just be more of an observer back to that same idea today, body quiet, body stable, noticing if some areas take a little longer to settle, to stabilize in other parts, some poses might naturally increase your thoughts, some postures might induce a little bit more calm, just being aware of again your intuition to guide you to make shifts, to adjust the breath, to decrease future suffering, coming to this place where we choose to surrender to this moment now, which sets us into the flow of life, that willingness to let go of controlling everything, and to literally let yourself just be in the flow of this moment, really helping to take better care of ourselves, sometimes by doing the slow practice, these busy intense times, it's a wonderful compliment to the young nature of summer, so spend a little bit of time in the slow yin close to the ground practice, let's go with this pose for about five more breaths, just letting yourself settle in to the spaciousness, right here, and if your head is down on the blocks, maybe take a next moment or two to start to lift the head up, energize the arms a little bit, put your toes on the floor, and we'll move ourselves back away from that bolster, and slide it a little bit closer maybe to your blankets, we're going to use that bolster again as we move the blocks out of the way, and this is one where we put the belly and the hips on the bolster, so this is one I love to help open up the lower back area, and involves a little bit of draping of the belly and chest towards the floor, so if you don't have a bolster, maybe a big pillow will do, if your bolster is too big, fold your blanket instead, and we might stack the hands here, let your forehead rest on your hands, elbows wide, and then let the legs just be really free without needing to be in any particular shape and what place do you put your legs so that you're able to relax the muscles, the big obvious leg muscles, and then some of those smaller muscles in your ankles and your feet, that little lift under the hips, just notice what new space we're making in the back of the sacrum, the low back, that sense of surrendering the weight of the belly and the chest towards the earth, and as we let gravity take us a little bit deeper into this pose, can we feel again, the body gets quiet, you feel back at home in this pose, this sense of belonging right here as you are, and then again bringing in that companion of patience, as we observe the nature of the mind which comes and goes, continuing to be here as an observer rather than evaluate or judge or critique what's going on, just observing this moment, what actual truth is being revealed, and the nature of that type of inquiry tends to lead again towards more spacious mind, tends to lead us back to that place of wholeness, and to our true self with the capital S, nothing missing, nothing to change, and then together staying in flow with your practice, we surrender now or never as Basant Lad says, and perhaps that willingness now that we've been together, enough time you've been in practice to really trust that you might be able to let go a little bit more through your shoulders, your back, your legs, to feel into the vitality, the energy body, from that energy body starting to be more aware in the present moment, as Ram Dass says, be here now, feel the vitality of that, let's take three more breaths as you are here.

When you're ready, the head might start to lift away from your hands, you slide your hands back beside your chest and press yourself slowly up away from the ground, and then we'll take your bolster, tip it up at an angle, get the blanket out of the way and put a flat block underneath your bolster so it creates a little bit of a ramp, and I'm going to transfer this blanket over here so I can put my buttocks down on that little prop, and adjust this so then it holds my hamstrings, so when this is supporting the hamstrings and I put my spine back down on the floor, I can keep my heels down on the ground this time, so we think of a Shabasana being one of our yin-like poses, and the same way that you set up those yin poses, move your props, move your clothes, move your hair, whatever you need to, to not be distracted by the external world, and perhaps we close our eyes here, relax your gaze inwards, and perhaps feeling the benefit from all the five-minute postures we've done before Shavasana, to orient your prana in deep towards your center, towards the center line of your spine, and perhaps freshly re-visualizing that line of your spine to help move prana, that conscious energy towards your center as a way to potentially relax the nervous system. Moving our awareness inward towards our center hopefully allows the mind to stay open and clear, and then maybe relax together in the quiet, kindness, patience, and until we again experience presence, wakefulness in this moment, and perhaps we choose again that state for the next minute or so as we're together, choosing to stay awake. Thank you. And then take three last breaths. Breathing the support underneath you.

Perhaps feeling there was some things you were able to relax and let go of. Tension, burdens, thoughts, and try to let them stay down in the earth, let the earth absorb those tensions. As we begin to move ourselves over to the side, whichever side you like, into your fetal pose. And in your own time, transitioning then up towards sitting. You might find whatever props, again, are helpful for you to come up to sit, and this, like all the yin poses, might require some props.

So that we feel supported, at ease. When things feel like they're in the right place, we might let the eyes once again close or choose a focal point for your eyes. And can we commit now, after you make your adjustments, to be still here? Let this be our new anchor. As we explore that loving kindness meditation, we move from ourself, we've brought in a person into our heart minds, our family and community.

And then we let this metta ripple out now to all beings, all creatures. So reciting with me a few times together, may all beings, all creatures be filled with loving kindness. May all living beings be safe and protected. May all living beings be healthy and strong. And may all living beings live in this world peacefully and at ease.

May all living beings be filled with loving kindness. May all living beings be safe and protected. May all living beings be healthy and strong. And may all living beings live in this world peacefully and at ease. May all living beings be filled with loving kindness.

May all living beings be safe and protected. May all living beings be healthy and strong. And may all living beings live in this world peacefully and at ease. Meaning that phrase or any of those phrases to yourself, one cycle. Coming back together.

May all living beings be filled with loving kindness. May all living beings be safe and protected. May all living beings be strong and healthy. And may all living beings live in this world peacefully and at ease. The hands in front of the heart center, may we awaken for the benefit of all beings.

Namaste. And thank you for being with us in this practice today, day four of our challenge. And as we've been folding in a few Ayurveda self-care practices over the course of the week, today I wanted to introduce the idea of doing a little cool foot bath at the end of your day. In particular, if you live in a hot place or you tend to notice that you get hot in the evenings and don't cool down or aren't sleeping well. That one thing we might do is to get a bowl or if you have a bathtub that you could put a little bit of water in, cold water, maybe even a little essential oil rub with oil on your feet, put your feet in cold water and wash your feet at the end.

And then go and put your legs up the wall or have your legs up in the bed if you have a wall by your bed to help cool down and decrease any swelling that sometimes happens in the legs at the end of a long hot day. And then the legs up the wall is also a really wonderful restorative pose for a lot of people that can kind of shift you into that rest digest mode to get you ready for a good night's sleep. If there's been any lower back tension in the day, sometimes it can help minimize that. So in addition to some of the ideas that you might be introducing, again, you can go to my book for a slower paced delivery of all this, but some of the ideas that we've introduced are things to keep you hydrated, things that add oil to your skin to add a little bit of moisture because we tend to dry up a lot more in the summer, the long days. Yesterday I introduced that idea of eating more of your meals outside so that your senses get to experience the beautiful colors and smells around you in the summertime that are really quite different than any other season.

Your food might even taste better when you're eating it outside. And as often as we can, it's particular when we're in this pandemic COVID situation to try to find safe spaces to be outside, to get some fresh air away from electronic devices. And I was encouraging you yesterday to maybe investigate where you might buy your food more locally, to actually support your local economies during this time, maybe now more than ever. But the other benefit from having your food close to home is that it will taste really good and it'll hopefully be more nutritious because it didn't travel very far to get to your home. And those are some of the things that are popping to my mind right now for us to consider weaving in to grow our practice.

I know a few of you were looking for a few other ways to learn more about Ayurveda from the Q&A yesterday. And I want to encourage you to maybe go back to some of the earlier seasons that I have on yoga anytime. There's some little 10-minute, 5-minute lectures to talk about the season and the benefit of seasonal practices and why, as well as some Asana practice to help bring that more into your physical body to understand the benefit of the elements that we use in Ayurveda to maintain balance. So I hope that the introduction of some of these new things today is going to help you stay healthy. And I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, our last day together for the challenge.

So have a really safe day. Take care, everybody. Namaste.