Ever Fresh

Hi everyone, I'm Myles Barreiro, welcome to Yoga Anytime. I'm so happy to be here with you today and I'm in studio, yay! We are going to be looking at an idea, a philosophy that I love in Sanskrit, it's called Nitya Anyatum, it's this idea of ever freshness. So today we might do some things that you've never done before and we'll also do some things that you may have done hundreds of times and the idea is to find not only this idea of beginner's mind but almost like the crispness of that ever freshness of the teachings. So it's really a way to look at it from the inside out and create space around the experience. Alright let's get to it.

You're going to start with your right leg out and then bring your left ankle over your right knee and then you're going to thread your fingers through your toes. It's a super weird feeling and if this feels almost like you, like it makes you a little bit queasy, that's okay, it makes me a little bit queasy, it's hard and then you're going to start to move your foot and your toes and just kind of manipulate them a little bit. Notice if your jaw is clenching and try to unclench your jaw, get your breath going. What I mean by that is start to cultivate the ujjayi breath, that breath that sounds like the ocean and move the toes and the ball of the foot, just give it about two or three more breaths here. Notice for me this brings up a lot of my neck tension and my jaw tension so just stay easy with yourself.

And then from there we'll take the sole, sorry the ball of the foot and then we'll kind of open it and close it so we'll bring the pinky toe toward the big toe and then widen them apart and just kind of spread them and bring them together, close it together. And then you'll take your thumbs and you'll knead through the arch of the foot. Make sure that you don't only hover around the inner arch but go a little bit more toward the outside as well. And then you'll grab your right hand and cup it around the heel of your left foot, squeeze it, close your eyes for a moment, let your shoulders soften and see if you can bring yourself to that heel. So it's not just that you have a heel but you are your heel, if that makes sense.

You might even squeeze it as you inhale, you can squeeze it a little bit. And on the exhale release it. One more time playing like that, inhale squeeze. And exhale, release. Take your left foot, place it on the floor, it might feel like it spreads a little bit better like it has more sensation and then extend the leg out, switch feet.

So you start with that interlacing of the fingers and the fingers. In Spanish we only have fingers, we don't have toes and fingers so it's like your toe fingers and your finger fingers. And then start to move the ball of the foot and the toes. My jaw wants to lock immediately so see if you can soften the jaw, breathe, get your ujjayi breath moving. And perhaps there can be a sense of wonder in the newness of the sensation if you've never done this before.

Some of you might have those toes separators, those yogi toes separators. This is really good for you if you have bunions for your feet. And then we'll take the ball of the foot and we'll kind of hug it in and out or open it and close it kind of like a book so the big toe comes a little closer to the little toe and like that spreading. The arch with your, you can knead your fingers into your arch and those of you who know arturo, you can, he always talks about letting your fingers meet whatever tissue you're pressing so you're not hurting your fingers, you're actually pressing, you're really meeting the foot with the thumbs. Go outside, left hand cups around your right heel, squeeze the heel, soften your shoulders, see if you can really feel the feet of the pelvis, the sits bones pressing down and then as you inhale you can kind of gradually squeeze as if your squeezing was really bringing the inhale into the body.

And as you exhale you release. Place the foot on the floor, just feel it for a second and you'll probably really experience this when you stand and then take a nice tall seat. You might sit on a blanket or on a block so that your hips are a little bit above your knees, that just makes it so that your spine can be upright so that you're not leaning forward or leaning back. And then we'll start with a little bit of mantra practice, close your eyes. You can let the drone of the sound give your breath a little boost, a booster so that it's almost like the sound is part of that ocean like breath.

Listen, the words are radhe, radhe, govinda, govinda, radhe, radhe, gopala, gopala, radhe, radhe. Don't worry about it, don't worry about doing them correctly. You can just listen or you can chant with me. Radhe and govinda are sort of the feminine and masculine aspects of compassion. So we're ringing, we're calling to that part of ourselves.

We'll do call and response so I sing, then you sing, then I sing, then you sing and like that. Now you, radhe, govinda, radhe, govala, radhe, radhe, radhe, govinda, radhe, gopala, radhe, radhe, now you, radhe, govinda, radhe, govala, radhe, radhe, radhe, radhe, radhe, radhe, radhe. Palms gather at your heart. Feel the right hand pressing to the left, the left palm pressing to the right. See if you can meet yourself right at the center.

Take a deep inhale. Let your eyes open gently, almost like you're keeping a softness in your gaze so that you don't shock your nervous system. Welcome everyone. We will start on your hands and knees. So if you have your two blocks, set the blocks on either side of, toward the back of your mat.

So you have them just in case. And then spread your fingers nice and wide, fingers underneath the, or sorry, heels of the hands underneath the shoulders, knees underneath your hips. On the inhale, open your chest, cow pose. And as you exhale, round your spine. Inhale, open your chest, cow.

Exhale, round your spine. Let your head really go. One more time, inhale, open your chest, cow. As you exhale, round your spine. I'm going to turn around to show you what we will be doing.

You're going to cross your left ankle over your right leg. And then from there, cup your fingertips and pull your butt back. And you can waddle your booty a little bit side to side. You're going to feel probably some action in your calf, almost like a shiatsu massage. And then you can pull out of it a little bit, slide the foot a little higher.

And then pull back. And this can be rather intense. We don't really worry or think about our calves too much. For some reason, a lot of our focus goes into the hamstrings. I think it's because the hamstrings are really loud.

They like to be very dominant in their voicing. But they're not the only culprits to making the backs of your legs short. Then you're going to lift that foot up a little bit higher, lean back again. Ooh, yeah, my eyeballs are sweating right about now. So if that's you, you're in good company.

Move a little side to side. Let your jaw go. The jaw really likes to get involved in everything that happens, but you can tell it to back off. Left foot back. Right foot now.

I'm going to turn back around. You already know where we're going. So the right ankle is going to come to the lower part of the leg. Cup your fingertips and lean back. Lean toward the left a little bit and kind of wag your booty side to side.

Then lift up a little bit, slide that right leg up about two-thirds up toward the left leg and then wag around a little bit. Go easy. If it's too much, pull up out of it a little bit. Then again, lift up and then you'll take the foot a little higher and then press back. Ooh, gremlins.

I'm finding gremlins. And lift up, slide the right foot back. From there, you're going to tuck your toes under and press back into a short downward facing dog and then walk your hands back. You can slide your blocks underneath your shoulders so that you have them there. Now you're going to walk your left foot forward about a foot and then pluck the left toes up off the floor, bend your right knee so you pull your booty back.

Inhale, lengthen your spine, walk your blocks way, way, way forward. Again as you exhale, fold, let your head go. One more breath. That brings a stretch into the lower leg. Now listen, this one's a little hard.

You're going to press the ball of your left foot down, straighten both legs. Come high up onto the ball of your right foot. I know, it's specific. Inhale, lengthen your spine and then on the exhale, fold. Your hip is above your left heel and now you're coming more into the insertion or the attachment of the hamstring.

Let your head go. So you might be allowing yourself to sense these sensations in a more nuanced way. That feeling of ever freshness or crispness to your practice. Inhale, lengthen your spine. You're going to step your right foot behind your left foot directly, bend your right knee and then weed, not weed, that's not need, your right knee into your left calves and walk it down the leg a little bit.

Good times. And then step the right foot about a foot forward, pluck the ball of the foot up off the floor. Keep your weight in your left foot, bend your left knee, pull your sit bones back, lengthen your blocks forward, lengthen your spine, take an inhale and on the exhale, fold. I'm hoping you may feel like you have a new set of legs after this kind of work. Now bring the pelvis over the right leg, ball of the foot anchors, come high up onto your left tiptoes, lengthen your spine and again fold over that front leg.

Stay with whatever the sensation is, try not to leave the body but try to stay present with whatever is showing up. And then lengthen your spine, the left foot steps directly behind the right foot, bend your left knee and you're going to bring it into your calves and work it down the calves. Oh, good times. And from there, step, step the feet toward the front of the mat. Bring your blocks out in front of you at the highest height, shoulder distance apart on the inhale, lengthen your spine and then as you exhale round, slowly, slowly we're going to round up into utkatasana, chair pose.

Keep your knees bent, knees point over the toes, reach your arms up. Try to lift your chest but soften the back body down. And as you exhale, stand tall. Notice how you feel in your legs, it might feel like you have a greater support underneath you, it might feel like the feet are spreading a little bit, almost like you have duck feet or Donald duck feet. And we'll take a little B series just to kind of play with the new legs.

Inhale, bend the knees, reach the arms up. On the exhale, you're going to stand into your right foot, pick up your left knee and then slowly step the left knee way, way, way back for warrior one. Bend the back heel down and then make sure that you're not on a tight rope, widen your feet out a little bit. From there, the arms will lift. Can you bring a little bit more weight into the back foot?

I don't mean lean back, I mean plug that foot back and down and then take an inhale here. On the exhale, extend the front leg, arms down, inhale, bend the knee, reach the arms up, exhale, extend the legs, arms down, inhale, bend the knee, reach the arms up, stay for three breaths, soften the shoulder girdle, lift the front of the body. If you send a little energy through the pinkies, that'll help. One more inhale. And as you exhale, hands onto your hips, extend your front leg.

You might have to walk the back foot in just a little bit. Now spin the left hip forward, lift your chest and as you exhale, fold forward over your legs. You can grab your blocks here, you can keep them forward or you can bring them a little bit more underneath. You really square that left hip forward, lengthen your spine. I'm going to walk my blocks forward today and on the exhale, fold a little deeper as you pitch the right hip back a little bit.

One more breath here and inhale, bend your front knee, step your left foot forward, lengthen your spine and as you exhale, fold over your legs nice and slowly, rounding up the length of your spine all the way into utkatasan, chair pose. Exhale, stand into your left foot, pick up your right knee and slowly, slowly bring that right foot way back. Take the whole transitional space. Almost as if it were a bunch of poses that you're filling each pose at a time. And then from there, plug that back heel down.

From the plug of the back heel, you can lift the front of the body, take an inhale. As you exhale, extend your front leg, arms down, inhale, bend the knee, lift up, go slow as if you're moving through molasses. Exhale, extend, arms down. One more. Inhale, bend the front knee, lift your arms.

Exhale, extend, arms down, inhale, bend the knee, lift the arms, stay for three breaths. You can slightly move your head to make sure you're not locking at the occiput. The occiput is the place where the skull and the spine meet. From there, hands onto your hips, extend your front leg. Maybe you bring your back foot forward just a smidge.

Lift your chest, wrap the right hip forward, and then fold forward over your legs. You can keep your blocks forward or walk them back. Inhale, lengthen, pitch that left hip back a little bit. And on the exhale, fold a little deeper. One more.

Inhale, bend your front knee. This time, bring your blocks out to the sides. You might need them, step the right foot a little further back and then bring your left foot back into a downward facing dog. And then see how it feels to be in your down dog. Can you press through the hands, lift the sit bones way high, and just notice what's happening with your legs and the backs of the legs.

Is it possible for the heels to release a little bit more toward the floor? It does not mean the heels need to touch. In fact, I have really long Achilles heels, so do not take it off of my legs. But these are your legs. It's just a feeling of length in the back of the leg.

And then pull forward into your plank, lower your knees down, and sit back. And from Vajrasana, we're going to come to a seat so you can slide your butt over to the side or whatever works for you. Extend your right leg forward, and then you're going to try to pile your left knee over your right knee. Sometimes this is hard, so sometimes you have to use your hands to manipulate it a little bit. It may be that the right leg is no longer so much in front of you, but off to the side a little bit.

That's okay. And then you can bring the heel close to your bum, or you can bring the heel a little bit away. It's just two different ways to practice. For today, we're going to play with bringing the heel away so that it's parallel to the side of your mat. The shin is parallel to the side of your mat.

Up your fingertips next to your hips. Now if you're still rounding in your lower back, this is probably an indicator that you need a block or a blanket underneath your seat, so go ahead and take that and slip it underneath your booty. And then use the extra height to lengthen your spine. Take a big inhale. And as you exhale, you'll bring yourself forward.

Try to move the breath down into the hips and almost into the legs if you can, like a toilet plunger, moving the breath down and deep. Let your jaw go, uno mas. Inhale, lift up. This is full service yoga. You learn your Spanish as you go.

Extend the left leg. Shake the legs out a little bit. Now we're going to the other side. So right knee stacks over the left. And look at your right heel.

Try to bring the right heel out so that it brings the shin parallel to the side of your mat or the front of your mat, depending which way you're facing. And then plug your sit bones down, lengthen your spine. And from there, think that you're hinging from the hips. So it's not this. It's not rounding the spine back.

It's really hinging from the hips and fold yourself forward. Keep growing the, what I like to call your whale spout, the kind of top of your head forward, your crown. Two more breaths. Inhale, lift up. Take your right leg straight out.

Wag your legs out a little bit. And then flex your feet, lengthen your spine. And fold forward over your legs. Three more breaths. Inhale, lift up.

You're going to roll onto your back. Shavasana. If you need something underneath your knees, you can roll your blanket up and bring it underneath your knees. Close your eyes. Let the weight drop into the floor.

Inhale, lift up. Inhale, lift up. Inhale, lift up. Inhale, lift up. Inhale, lift up.

Inhale, lift up. Deepen your breath. Wiggle the fingers in your toes. Bend your knees, soles of the feet onto the floor. Roll over onto one side.

And take your time to come up to sit. And once you're there, close your eyes, see how you feel. Maybe there's a sense of new possibility, or a sense of openness, or even just a sense that your guard has melted just a tiny bit. Bring your palms to your heart center. Take a deep inhale.

Love and light to all beings everywhere. No exceptions. Thank you so much for joining me, Yogis. Namaste.