Jupiter: Inner Teacher

Namaste, welcome. This will be your Jupiter class and in Ayurveda, Jupiter is known as the guru planet and so this practice will be one to turn us inside to get us in touch with our own inner teacher. Take your seat, take your hands into utara bodhi mudra, mudra of highest enlightenment so you can press the index fingers together. Take the thumbs as far away from the index fingers as you can and press the thumb pads together and then interlace the rest of your fingers and you can let that rest kind of right between your heart and your navel. Let your eyes close, have a moment just to breathe there and we'll do the mantra to call in the energy of the guru planet, the energy of Jupiter.

It is om bhrim bhrihas pataye namaha. We'll do it 12 times. Om bhrim bhrihas pataye namaha. Om bhrim bhrihas pataye namaha, om bhrim bhrihas pataye namaha, om bhrim bhrihas pataye namaha, om bhrim bhrihas pataye namaha, om bhrim bhrihas pataye namaha, om bhrim bhrihas pataye namaha, om bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim bhrim and take a full breath in, exhale it away and then you can release your mudra. Give yourself a little shake out if you need it and we're gonna meet up on hands and knees.

Wrists under shoulders, knees under hips, real simple to start off with. Cat-Cow on the inhale, arch your spine and look up and on the exhale at the spine round, drop the chin to the chest, pressing into the ground. A few more like that, inhaling, arch the spine, look up, exhale, rounding the spine, chin to chest and then stay with that for a few more rounds and again like use your own inner teacher meaning if you need to make some circles for the spine or move a little from side to side whatever feels right for you today. And then at some point in the next couple of breaths let's meet up in a downward facing dog so you can tuck the toes under, lift the hips up, press the chest back towards the thighs. Take a few breaths in your down dog and this might be pedaling around making some little movements or some I know feel nice with a little bit of stillness here so again use your judgement.

I think one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is to find what works for us, what feels like medicine and really honor that inner teacher. Let's begin to walk the feet forward. We're going to come to Uttanasana, standing forward bend, top of the mat. Can separate the feet about two fists distance and soften the knees, catch your elbows, give a gentle sway. And then you can change the crossing of the arms and do that again and again knees can be slightly bent here.

It'll give you a little bit more space for the lower back and hamstrings if you take the feet a little wider. And then release the arms, bending the knees, tuck the chin, rolling up to stand. Pull the shoulders back and down. And then coming to your Tadasana here, you can take the hands back into Uttara Bodhimudra right there at the center of the chest. Moving into practice from a grounded place.

One more cycle of breath here, inhale and exhale. And we'll begin our Surya Namaskar, inhale, reach the arms up and on the exhale folding forward bow down over your legs. Step your right foot back into a lunge, downward facing dog with your breath out. Roll out to plank pose and either Chaturanga or you can lower to the ground, upward facing or stay with cobra, downward facing dog with your breath out. Reach the right leg up and step it between your hands coming into a lunge, a little different today.

Have a seat on your left heel right at the top of your mat. Take your hands back into Uttara Bodhimudra this time right in front of the third eye space, right in front of your forehead. Bring your hands down and step your left foot to meet your right Uttanasana standing forward bent, top of your mat drop your head. Rise back up with your breath in, right through the middle folding forward, prayer down towards your feet. Send your left leg back into a lunge, down dog with your breath out, inhaling out to plank pose, exhale to lower your way, inhale rise up, lift up, up dog, downward facing dog with your breath out.

Stretch the left leg up, step it between your hands. Have a seat on your right heel top of your mat. Take your hands back into Uttara Bodhimudra, Mudra of highest enlightenment. Hands down, step your right foot forward to meet your left and bow in towards your legs. Back up on your breath in, high prayer, look up, see it.

Exhale coming right back down, same thing, one more set, right leg back. Right into Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward facing dog. Inhale to plank, exhale Chaturanga if you want it there. Forward facing dog, Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, exhale back, Adho Mukha Svanasana. Reach the right leg up, step it between your hands, bring the left knee forward, have a seat on the left heel, Uttara Bodhimudra, come back to it, reset intention.

Hands down, step the left foot to meet the right and fold into your legs. Pressing back up on the breath in, right back down with the breath out. Last time like this, send your left leg back, right into down dog. Plank pose with the breath in, Chaturanga, elbows pull in, rise up to upward facing dog. Pressing back, downward facing dog.

Reach the left leg up, exhale it between your hands, have a seat on your right heel, top of your mat, hands to Uttara Bodhimudra, reconnect. Bring the hands down and step your right foot forward to meet your left folding in. All the way back up on your breath in to Dasana with your breath out. And let a cycle of breath pass by, aware of any shifts or changes in the body. And then step your left foot back into a short warrior stance with straight legs.

Left foot about 45 degree angle and then right toes point directly forward. I like more of a heel to heel alignment on this. I feel like it gives me a little bit more room for the hips. And then reach your arms out to the side shoulder height. Take them back behind you and either you're going to do a reverse prayer here or you can press your fists together.

Wrap the shoulder blades in towards each other, press down into the feet, lift the head of the chest, lean back, breath in. Coming forward, parsvottanasana on the breath out, folding your way down. And as you're here in your parsvottanasana, do what you can to keep the legs as active as possible. So allow this to be, yes, it is a big stretch for the hamstrings, the side waist, the lower back. It's also strengthening for the legs and for the core.

So draw the navel in towards the spine, tuck the chin in and lift the kneecaps up. From here, let your hand slide down to the ground, block if you need it here, we're coming into parvartatriconasana, a revolved triangle. So left hand can come down to a block or the ground and open up your right arm. And again, use your own inner teacher here, meaning block can be higher or lower. You might also even take the left hand on the inside of the right foot if that feels better on your shoulders today.

Stay for one more breath in, extend the spine forward, one more breath out. Coming into a wide straddle forward bend, prasari dapadottanasana, all ten toes face the left side of your mat. Taking the feet a little wider if you like that, walk your hands over towards your left ankle. Catch your left ankle with both hands, this could also be your left calf. And then bend your right knee wide out to the right.

And get that nice stretch down the right side. And then pressing into your right foot, lengthen out your right leg. Let's take a walk back towards the front of the mat. Coming into a lunge, looking forward, have a seat on your left heel, top of your mat, hands to uttara bodhi mudra. One cycle of breath, breath in and breath out.

Bring your hands down and step your left foot about two fists distance from your right foot and catch your big toes with the first two fingers of each hand for padangusthasana. Pressing the thumbs down into the ground on the inhale, lengthen the spine forward, reach out from the hips and on the exhale elbows widen out to the side, send the hips up as the head drops. Now your knees can bend here if that's a better fit for your hamstrings or your lower back. Take a few breaths and see if you can shift the body weight a little further forward into the balls of the feet and this, you know, this is an inversion right here, hard above the head, changing perspective. To release, let's walk the hands forward, coming up onto the tips of the fingers, soften the knees if you need to, take hands to hips, pull the elbows back, press down into your feet, come to stand all the way up.

Drop your hands down tadasana and be there. And then we'll step the right foot back into a short warrior stance with straight legs. Push the arms out to the sides and stretch through the fingers, get open across the collarbones. Take your hands back behind you, either again, reverse your namaste, reverse your prayer or pressing the fists together. Lifting up through the head and the chest, lean back and on your exhale folding forward parsvottanasana, one more time, left side and take a couple of breaths right there.

And you might notice that one side feels a little bit more open, one side feels a little bit stronger. Generally the side that is a bit more flexible has a little less stability and vice versa and that's our sthiram sukham asana, effort and ease. Let your hands come down from your parsvottanasana, grab a block if you're using it, inside or outside of the left foot, revolved triangle. And oftentimes for me it's that back leg in revolved triangle, see if you can keep a hint of external rotation in the back leg and then draw your left hip back against that and you get a nice stretch all the way down the outside of the left leg. One more breath in, one more breath out.

Wide straddle, forward bend, all ten toes facing towards the right side of your mat. Even out your feet if you need to and crawl your hands over towards your right ankle, catch your right ankle with both hands and bend your left knee wide out to the left. It's almost like catching the ankle or catching the calf gives you a little self-assist so work against that by pulling the left hip back. Pressing into the left foot, lengthen out your left leg, walk your hands back towards the front of your mat and come back into a lunge. Have a seat on your right heel, top of your mat.

Taking hands into uttara bodhi mudra. Breathe in, exhale it away, bringing the hands down and step your right foot forward to meet your left and then separate the feet about two fists distance again and this time you can either step on the hands for padahastasana or you might again reach for the big toes or any other grip that feels right for you. On the inhale lengthen the spine out and on the exhale bowing the head down, send the hips up. Again think of taking the creases of the hips up a little bit higher, wrapping the navel in with every exhale gives you a little bit more room to fold in. Full breath up and down the spine here.

Into the place that feels safe for you. And then release the hands out from underneath your feet, again walking the fingertips forward, take hands to hips, pull the elbows back, press down into the feet and come on up to stand. And then step your feet together. Good katasana, deep bend of the knees, reach up through the arms, sink the hips back. And hands can either be all the way together, gaze can be up at the thumbs or if it feels better for your shoulders, a little bit wider through the arms.

From here let's begin to come a little bit lower and a little bit lower and a little bit lower, reach the arms forward, we're going to land in navasana, dropping the hips down and reaching the legs up. Turn the palms up in your navasana and knees can be bent or legs straight here. See if you can press the stake room forward a little bit and on me that makes my legs a lot heavier, so I work to kind of squeeze the inner thighs together, lift the chest up, one more breath. And then you can cross the ankles and you'll step back into a plank pose. Taking it through your vinyasa, upward facing dog to downward facing dog.

And then you're going to need blocks for this last part. We're going to take the blocks, I like the medium height here and put them one on either side towards the front of your mat and then coming back into your downward facing dog. Inhale your right leg up, on the exhale bring the knee towards the nose and see if you can squeeze the right heel up towards the hamstring, feeling the back of the leg turn on. Swing your right leg back up, breath in. Bring your right shin forward but it's not a pigeon here, track the knee straight forward and the heel straight back, grab your blocks, one on either side, walk them back, point the back toes and walk the blocks even further back.

So some call this an arthajanimanasana and I'm wrapping the hips inward, that gives me a little charge upward. And just a nice opening in the front of the left hip. And then keep the right knee where it is and bring your left knee forward so you're having a seat on your heels. Move your blocks back slightly. We're coming into lolasana, so if you press down into the blocks, take a full breath in, breathe everything out, lift your knees.

From here you might lift the feet up and lower yourself down. And then shake out your wrists and we'll do it one more time. Hands on the blocks, press down into the blocks and there's a forward bend in this one, right? Keep breath in, breathe everything out, lift up through the knees and then see if you can lift up through the feet. And then place yourself back down, you can move the blocks more towards the front of your mat and step back downward facing dog and then you might just pedal through the feet for a moment.

And we'll try the other side, lift your left leg up, bring your knee in towards your nose and find that hamstring, pull the left heel up towards its own sit bone, swing the left leg back up, breath in, bring your left shin through, have a seat on your left heel, grab your blocks, walk them back, pointing the back toes and then it's a pulling in and up. So outer hips narrow in towards the midline and that might pull you out of the shape a little bit, that's okay. Find that lift there, that charge up through the midline, the opening in the front of the right hip. And then releasing out of that, bring your right knee forward to meet your left, having a seat on your heels, blocks can move back slightly. Deep full breath in, breathe everything out, hold the breath out and lift your knees up, lift your feet up, squeeze the navel back, lift the heels towards the sits bones and then release yourself down and shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out.

We'll try it one more time, here we go. Hands on your blocks, deep breath in, breathe it away, press down into your blocks, hold the breath out, lift your knees, lift your feet, squeeze the navel up and release yourself back down. Blocks can move off to the side here, swing your legs around, stretch the mat in front of you. Dandasana, that should feel good if your knees need a little shake, give them that. And then Paschimottanasana, walk the hands forward and fold your way in and you might take the Padangustasana hands again, wrapping the first two fingers of each hand around your big toe, widening the elbows out to the sides.

And this could be a shape that evolves and shifts with every breath, bowing the head in. If you need to bend your knees, bend your knees. And then at some point, let this not be a pose, let it be a bow, let it be an offering to your own inner teacher, to the one that got you to your mat today, to the one that guided you through practice. Just a couple of breaths here, and then roll yourself back up. And let's find a final seat together, you can sit on a block or a blanket.

You might take your hands back into Uttara Bodhimudra, letting the eyes close, staying upright and follow your breath. Allow yourself to be breathed here. We'll close with Om Brim Brihas Pattayet Namaha three times. Om Brim Brihas Pattayet Namaha Om Brim Brihas Pattayet Namaha Om Bowing always to the true teacher, the one inside, namaste. Thank you so much.