Saraswati Flow w Sean

Talk

And so it's an album of mantra-based music with a lot of other influences woven in that we'll be releasing in the new year that will hopefully give people a chance to really touch into the mystery inside themselves in their own lives, you know, through the music that we'll be sharing. Oh, I can't wait. And tell us a little bit about our practice with you today and what we can look forward to. Sure. So the form of yoga that I most connect with and that really, you know, helps my heart to sing is called Bhakti Yoga. And Bhakti Yoga is the yoga of devotion, of emotion, of the heart. It's a yoga that really puts our emotions and our moods, you know, first. And all of Bhakti's practices are art forms, are creative practices that are really open for anyone to do. It's very much kind of a folk-oriented, you know, form of yoga for the people, for everyone. And so today's practice is going to be about really embodying a particular goddess from the Hindu and the yoga tradition whose name is Saraswati. And she is the goddess of art and creativity and science and knowledge and imagination. And we're going to be playing with how to connect to her symbolism, which she represents. So whether we're a practicing Hindu or someone who loves yoga or someone who has never even heard of Saraswati, I believe that she represents something that is just so deeply universal and deeply human. And I'll be sharing some ways to really feel those qualities in our body through our voices, through our breath. It'll be a pretty mellow, all levels Vinyasa yoga practice. We'll start sitting. We're going to do some little dharma and a little chanting together. And then we're going to begin to flow and move on the ground for a little while. We'll rise up to standing again and then we'll close things out back on the ground with some reclining postures into a nice deep, sweet rest in Shavasana. And if there's time left, we'll do a little bit of singing at the tail end of the practice today. Just hearing your voice and hearing your description of your practice, I'm already starting to swoon. And just before I turn it over to you fully, I just want to give an extra thank you to Jeff on our production team for really working hard to make sure that we can include the harmonium and all the things that help make your practice so beautiful. So it's all you, Sean, love. Thank you so much, Kira. So I'm so happy to be with y'all today. I'm sharing this practice from

Practice

And he interacted with it all. But at a certain point, he found himself feeling lonely. He wanted to have some companionship, some company to share all of these amazing things with. So he decided to create a daughter and he named her Saraswati. You'll also hear her name pronounced Saraswati. And she became the goddess of creativity and music and art and also get this science and scholarship and knowledge. And there's different versions of the relationship that she had with her father. One of them is that her father, at a certain point, began to cross a line with her, a boundary with her, and she had to run away from her father. And so she ran and he chased after her, but she escaped. And from that suffering, from that trauma of being chased by her father, she finds a place to rest and to retreat and to dwell. And she sits inside of a lotus flower. So can you make a lotus with me? We can bring our palms together and rest our wrists and our pinkies and our thumbs to one another. And then we can open the middle fingers wide. This is called Padma Mudra, Padma lotus. She sits inside the lotus next to a river. And she's perfectly content to sit there and to study, to read books and further her knowledge. She also, as you can see, I have her image on the altar next to me. She has a musical instrument called a vina. You put one hand on your chest and extend the other arm out. And she strums and practices her music, her vina. And she has the companionship of a swan. Sometimes a peacock is depicted as her vehicle, as an animal being that helps her to travel from place to place. And she becomes this incredible representative of our capacity to be perfectly content alone in nature. Her name actually translates as essence of the self. Essence of the self. And she actually once was a river that existed in India, that civilizations lived upon and thrived upon, that fertilized the land, you know, and people bathed in and had rituals in a living embodiment of the goddess Saraswati was this water, this river. But a long time ago, that river dried up, but there's good news, y'all. It dried up on the physical plane, but it still exists. And you can feel her right now if you close your eyes and put your hands to your chest or to your belly and inhale sweetly and exhale gently. She's in your breath now, y'all. There's these beautiful stories about goddesses seemingly disappearing, but they're just hiding. They're just concealed, hidden in plain sight. So she's hiding in your breath. She's right here and you can connect with her with a sweet sound, the song of your breath. I'm going to continue to share more with you about who Saraswati might be for you. But before we do that, speaking of songs, I would like to invite you to sing with me. One of the most ancient and powerful forms of yoga is to sing. And unfortunately, we live in a culture that is, I would say, pretty self-conscious and somewhat dysfunctional when it comes to all of us honoring our voices and singing with abandon, without restriction. So let's see if we can rebel against any conditioning we might have around our voice and just really move energy through our bodies through the power of mantra. The one we're going to sing together mostly is so simple. And the words are J. Can you say that with me? J ma ma ma meaning mother in so many different languages. Saraswati in her stories doesn't actually have children. Her children are students.

Her children are yogis. Her children are artists and musicians and teachers and scientists. So we are all her children. The other mantra that we'll sing together is om. Can you try that? Om. Aym. Aym. Saraswati. Saraswati. Swaha. Swaha. Om. Aym. Saraswati. Swaha. I invite you to close your eyes. I'll sing a phrase and you can echo it back. And then once we get going, if you want to just sing right along with me, you're welcome to. J. Ma. You say J. J J ma. J ma. J ma! J ma! J ma. J ma! J ma! J ma! J ma! J ma! J ma! J ma! J ma! all together. Let's try it again. Jee-Maa-Jee-Maa Jee-Maa Jee-Maa, Jee-Maa Jee-Maa, Jee-Maa Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Ummayim Saraswathayiswaha, Ummayim Saraswathayiswaha, Ummayim Saraswathayiswaha, Ummayim Saraswathayiswaha, Ummayim Saraswathayiswaha, Ummayim Saraswathayiswaha, Ummayim Saraswathayiswaha, Ummayim Saraswathayiswaha, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Jheemah, Seemab, Seemab, Seemab, Seemab, Seemab, Seemab, Seemab, Seemab, Deva, Deva Om maimsara swatayi swa Om maimsara swatayi swa Om maimsara swatayi swa Om maimsara swatayi swa Om maimsara swatayi swa Swa Quieter Chima Chima Chima Chima Chima Chima Chima Chima Last time Chima Chima Chima Chima Chima Chima Chima Chima Deep, sweet inhale through the nostrils and a big beautiful omen Fill the room you're in with that sound Om Take a moment just to feel and notice if the singing the sound of that mantra moving through your cells your muscles and bones and tissues had any kind of an effect on your consciousness so many of the practices of yoga are related to the relationship between sound and our mood our state of consciousness so test that out for yourself here and sit together for a moment put a little trace of volume on your breath so our breath becomes the soundtrack for our practice today and then ground your hands to your knees as you softly crack your eyes open and with an exhale lean your body forward belly towards your feet and with an inhale tip your body back slowly circling here exhale forward inhale back feeling that current of creativity flowing through our breath circles gradually expand wider and wider few more rounds in this direction and then easily reverse directions glide the other way feel the whole waistband massaged by this movement polishing that whole area of your body no strain or force here y'all. Saraswati's name also translates as flow so I like to think of her as the mother of vinyasa yoga which is flow yoga she is our capacity to flow like a river from moment to moment in our lives and when it comes to our asana practice from shape to shape paying attention to the space between the poses just as much as the poses themselves and then we'll center our body and once again return to that padma mudra pinky's thumbs base of the wrists the Buddhists say no mud no lotus inhale push your lotus up through the mud and the muck of your life which is fertilizer for your own growth and then exhale swoop the arms down full circle the hands reunite lotus mudra inhale draw the hands up little baby back bend and exhale glide the arms down continue at your own rhythm a few more times feeling free to close your eyes and to listen more to your breath that holy music of your breath into my voice next time the arms glide upwards pause and just from the root of your seat your connection to the ground that lotus that you're sitting in dance the torso move the arms around and like so many of the incredible depictions of gods and goddesses from the yogic tradition Saraswati is often depicted with having more than two arms so you can imagine that you have more than just your two arms here and you're bringing all of them to life all the different capacities inside yourself each hand holding a different gift and then elevate the arms a little bit more and exhale go ahead and slide your right hand just lightly delicately down the inside edge of the left arm until you can plug that right palm into your chest and just buff the heart a little bit extend the left arm out and you just created a lute with your own body and I want you to just play that instrument that lute buff your heart from your chest with your hand close your eyes is it possible that our lives could become more musical paying attention to the rhythms of our life to the melodies of our life the way things flow together the lyrics our speech our words how we communicate how we express ourselves how we bring the internal outward through communication so jamming out on your lute here y'all it could be a vina or a satara or maybe yours is a banjo an electric guitar a bass whatever it is let's let our imaginations come to life in this practice and then exhale eagle arms slide the right arm underneath and around the left and then hug the arms around each other if you're a little tighter the backs of the hands can press together like this or if your arms are really long and you got a little bit more space the palms may be able to come together whatever works for you inhale steer the elbows up a little bit of a back bend and then exhale dip the elbows down a little forward fold nice stretch across the upper back upper arms let's follow that a few more times y'all inhaling up and exhaling down sara swati essence of the self your breath your voice the muse within you next time the elbows come down to your chest I invite you to wrap your hands around your back and like you're doing a slow dance here hold your body with great love and affection and just rock like a slow dance here y'all and I invite you to hold and to welcome all of yourself the pretty things the mistakes your triumphs your mediocrity everything hold it all center on an inhale lift the arms upward cross the wrists bring the pinkies in the thumbs together elevate the upper back shoulder blade muscles engage a little bit yeah and then exhale release the left hand to the earth the right arm up across your side and just swirl the sky with that right arm oiling the shoulder joint big beautiful circles breathing and releasing any stickiness around that shoulder and reverse directions creating some fluidity beautiful bring your awareness to someone who inspires you who's been a teacher to you a Saraswati figure in your life a teacher a professor an artist a musician a poet and then with an exhale fold across your left knee and just bow say thank you for that presence and then trace the hands back to center climb the hands forward a little bit lengthening through the lower back and then like you're brushing your hands across a river sand just slide the fingers back towards your shins across the legs in the opposite direction and we return to Padma Mudra coming back to that sweet flow inhale the arms up the lotus pushing up through the mud exhale the arms down continue a few more cycles your own breath y'all next time the arms rise just a little dance here through the torso some playfulness willing to surprise yourself and then sensually slide the left fingers down the skin of the right arm and then glide the left palm to the center of your chest extend the right arm out to create the neck of your body lute and then a little sway a little dance play your heart here y'all well our greatest instrument perhaps is our body moving the breath through the body this inner music and then the left arm reaches underneath and around the right as we bend into both elbows eagle arms inhale the elbows up exhale down follow the breath a few more times inhaling up exhaling down Saraswati we might see her mirrored in so many ways she could be a reflection of her could be our favorite yoga teachers go ahead wrap the hands around your back hold yourself lovingly rock from side to side she could be a professor who like turns you on to something that you've never forgotten that maybe has even become a part of yourself maybe a teacher who showed you something about yourself that you didn't know is there and then it just changed your life forever she could be a poet or I like to think one of the most popular pop examples of Saraswati right now in our culture of Beyonce incredible queen of music and art and fashion and then inhale send the arms up how does she show up for you exhale tap the right fingers to the floor to your right side and roll out of that left arm big peaceful graceful breath reverse directions bring your awareness to another form that Saraswati takes that really you can relate to in your life with a nice deep sigh exhale fold across the right knee and say thank you and walk the hands out in front of you and just keep walking the hands forward until you just softly float up onto your hands and your knees root the palms underneath your shoulders the knees underneath your waistline roughly and then we begin some sweet cat cow rolls exhale round the back tucking into yourself inhale slowly curling up into cow moving your spine like a river exhaling down oiling the spaces between the vertebra inhaling up enjoy that simple sweet connection y'all couple of more here and then exhale child's pose press the feet back to your heels belly across the thighs widen the knees if you need that space and swim the arms forward the forehead can move towards the ground little rock from side to side taking a moment to connect to your own inner muse whether that part of yourself right now is feeling hidden or dull or cloudy or feels a little bit more present faith in the mystery of that which inspires from the inside out even when we don't believe in it we don't have evidence for it I invite you to slowly turn your palms to face up like two little lotuses floating on the top of the path and then exhale sweep your arms across your sides and on an inhale slowly roll up take that cat cow movement in the spine to rise to stand on the shins arms lift up and then exhale right back down to the bottom of the river folding forward into child arms behind you inhale rolling up vertebra by vertebra arms lift up baby back bend no strain exhale pour yourself right back down again and then see can you bring some gifts up from the depths to the surface as the arms rise some treasure and then exhale dive right back down again into that river into the depths of your being a few more rounds like that y'all beautiful dance like movement when we bring bhakti yoga into asana practice there's so much room for us to be more imaginative and to turn the asana into kind of this dance prayer the next time you find yourself rising up standing tall and bold from the shins once again dance the arms dance the torso around be willing to surprise yourself here to allow some be part of yourself that you don't normally get to express in your day to day life to come out to the surface here and then exhale we'll release the arms down to our sides and gently step the right foot forward ground the hands to either side of the right foot and with an exhale hinging from the heel just slowly move the leg towards straight it doesn't have to go all the way straight and just bless this whole leg with a sweet stretch and then inhale come back to the lunge you could keep your fingers grounded if you have blocks at home there you could plant your hands to blocks with the top of the right thigh or we can draw the hands up and then praying the hands together exhale glide the hands down fingers to either side of the right foot lengthening moving in and out like that a few times inhale towards your lunge and then exhale towards runner pose good and the next time you come forward into the lunge sustain for a few breaths just be here if you'd like to tuck the back toes under that's an option exhale the hands to either side of the right foot step the right knee back and you choose either lower down from here thighs belly or a little chaturanga perk the toes back inhale cobra shoulders roll back and down exhale melt the chest down to the floor a few more like that y'all what do you want to open your heart to today what do you want to make space for so the back bin becomes so much more than an exotic exercise move cobra it becomes a ritual what are you making space for in your heart tuck the toes downward facing dog let's keep our dog really loose and fluid today sometimes you know depending on the type of us on the practice we're doing it can feel a little bit more rigid and a little bit more stilted so in honor of Saraswati let's just keep things really loose and fluid and moving like a river yeah with an exhale release the knees down to the ground and just swing the seat from side to side a little bit from warmth to either side of the body and then we'll bring the left foot forward to the inside edge of the left hand run her pose with an exhale hinging from the heel pull the toes back and fold forward gently inhale come to your lunge hands grounded block stop with the thigh or arms overhead I like to slide my thumb knuckles across the center of my face it just for me creates this little bit more of a sense of prayer and flow devotion you're welcome to try that or really tap into your intermuse to bring a little extra spirit to your practice your own kind of handwriting the left leg beginning to glow with energy next time you come to the lunge sustain breathing deeply feel that that river within you exhale hands to either side of the left foot a sweet little step forward stepping into yourself more deeply inhale for some room come part way up and then exhale fold long inhale Ardha Uttanasana come part way up the hands can rest to the shins if you'd like and then exhale full with the option to bend the knees a little or a lot couple of more rounds like that next time you exhale and fold forward hook the hands to opposite elbows or hold the hands to the base of the neck or the skull and just swing a little bit from side to side long heavy through the elbows open and close the jaw a few times releasing any tightness there and then exhale drizzle the fingers down to the ground bend the knees inhale like that lotus growing up through the mud draw the arms skyward and come into a little dance here there's no wrong or right thing to do here y'all Saraswati is about connecting to our inner muses our creativity and sometimes we've got to get out of the way to let the rational mind step aside in order to make space now with an exhale float the arms down to your side standing tall and bold we'll turn the shoulders a few times inhale roll them up to the ears exhale roll them down with each exhale shedding some baggage now beautiful I invite you to take a big step back the right foot and then spin the feet so your feet point towards the long edge of the mat turn the right foot 90 degrees and watch your beautiful toes your lotus pedal toes spreading and widening take a deep bend in the right knee be stacked right over the heel make a little bowl in your lap with your hands and on an inhale lift the arms up and pivot the right foot parallel to the left little back bend and then exhale turn the left foot 90 degrees warrior two hands trace down it's like a warrior two flow we call it flying warrior here inhale arms up fingers touch exhale hands trace down fingers touch down below your lap continue at your own rhythm inhaling up exhaling down and through this simple movement not only feeling a physical release in your hips some energy in your arms and shoulders but tuning into the pranic element of the practice the energetic element of the practice and just really blessing the space around you filling it with your presence love the music of your breath one more time side to side next time your inhale carries you feet parallel arms overhead big sigh fold forward to the space between the feet wide legged straddle kindly bend into one knee lengthen through the opposite leg and trade off from side to side inhale center exhale to the other side bless these legs yeah beautiful legs humming come to center feet parallel inhale spring up to the fingernails or bring the floor to you with some blocks and then exhale fold once again hands to opposite elbows to the skull or to the feet of the ankles long sweet breaths good climb the hands up to the legs the top crease of the legs and with an inhale rise turn the heels in point the toes out goddess pose bend into the knees nice wide legged squat once again make that little bowl in your lap and with an inhale draw the breath in so rich through the nostrils as you lift the arms overhead and then exhale out through the tongue and the mouth inhale love exhale fear inhale courage exhale doubt inhale compassion exhale judgment inhale creativity exhale cynicism I like to think of those as opposites and then a few more rounds your recipes naming the energies you want to call forward into your life releasing transforming those that are keeping you from connecting to your inner Saraswati your wisdom your knowledge next time you sit down and goddess just a little fluid movement side to side or around legs buzzing here and then come up to center hopefully you feel some humming in your legs we'll step back to the top of the mat the palms root as you do this is like the two sides of yourself unite instead of fight imagine that the left and the right really coming together with an inhale like a torch lift that unity that friendship overhead and then exhale hinge from the hips and fold forward inhale for some space exhale step the left foot back either low or a high lunge exhale and pair the hands down step the right foot back either chaturanga or the knees down inhale a cobra buoyant heart exhale either dog or child's pose reach in child from child's pose slowly roll over onto one side just nestled into yourself knees full smooth go ahead and roll onto your back plant the soles of the feet to the floor root your arms along your sides the word yoga translates as union unity healing wholeness if that's true then it makes each of us who practice yoga potentially a bridge builder one who unifies so name a bridge you want to build in your life right now or in the world a connection and when you got it construct that bridge with your own flesh and breath and bone snuggle the shoulder blades towards each other in friendship with yourself you could connect the hands together bracing the outer edges of the pinky fingers to the ground there's other variations here as well you might want to explore and then dedicate each breath each breath like a a thread a sutra a stitch that helps you to create this connection this bridge you're seeking like a river that connects one place to another and then send the arms up with a sigh melt the upper back down to the floor exhale release your arms down and just swish the knees side to side into each other yeah pick up the right leg and just straighten it across the left thigh a nice little reclining twist here your version dip the knees to the ground on your left tee the arms out turn your face across your right shoulder close your eyes like Saraswati sometimes hidden the mystery concealed from us I like to think of a twist as a way of practicing being in more than one realm at the same time half of our body and one world the other half and another our breath just joining unifying uniting the two and then inhale steer the knees back to center untangle the legs realign your seat with your shoulders and other side left leg just dangles across the right thigh knees tip to the ground on your right chin across your left shoulder if this creates a little bit too much of a pull in your lower back or your shoulders just uncross the legs and rest the knees side by side or extend the right leg long and just tuck the left knee towards the ground on your right easy breath practicing the kind of by location or multi location half of yourself in one realm the other half and another merging those two worlds with your breath you feel balance to either side leisurely steer the knees back to center reset your feet to the width of your shoulders and then exhale hug the knees into your chest and belly and if it works fold your forehead your face towards your knees bowing honoring this one precious eccentric body you've been given this vehicle and then exhale release the shoulders and the skull down and slide the legs long and light across your mat release the arms at a comfortable angle along your sides palms turned up as you soften your eyes and return to the beautiful silky flow of your breath imagine that you're on a raft just floating smoothly down the river trusting its current completely letting it carry you breath to breath to breath breath to breath to breath I'm going to count down from 10 to 1 and as I count down I invite you to soften a little more have faith in the sweet holy current of your breath the river Saraswati flowing inside you seven six five four three two one staying here lengthening more and more and more deeply in my team in my chain in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team feeling free to stay here and just continue to rest or if you'd like and slowly begin to rise and come to a gentle seat sitting once again in your lotus if you'd like to sing with me go for it team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in my team in such a joy to be able to share this practice with you today I hope that you receive something from it that you can weave into your life and perhaps help others we're going to close our practice with one big deep rich home here we go y'all inhale inhale thank you so much I look forward to reconnecting with you again in the future many blessings