Restorative: Forgiveness

Hi, everyone. Here we are. This practice, I think, is probably the most important practice of the series. It's a practice where I'd like us to contemplate forgiveness. The world is a hard place. It's a harsh place. Sometimes, in order to be able to exist and to not become cynical and jaded, we need to find forgiveness with ourselves for the mistakes we've made, and sometimes with the world, when the world has given us a beating which can happen. That's my hope for us. This practice is that we can find the space to forgive all of the things or some of the things or let go of some of the things. All right? Take a tall seat. I'm sitting on a bolster. You can sit on a block or on a blanket if you don't have a bolster. And do have for this practice, you might want a pillow or a bolster, two blocks, a blanket. Grab all of your goodies. It's going to be low to the ground, and we're going to stay kind of in a more internal place with our inner work. Sit up nice and tall. Close your eyes. Bring your awareness to your breath and start the Ujjayi breath. Your ocean-like breath. Take the time you need to land in your seat. Gently open your eyes. You'll take the left palm face up with your thumb and your index finger in the OK sign, organamudra. And then you'll take the right hand into Vishnu mudra, the first two fingers hugging in. You'll make a pincher with your ring finger and your thumb, and that pincher will come to that bony ridge of your nose. Slide it down a little bit so that it's in the soft tissue, and you don't need to push super hard. Just have the hand there for now. Take a deep inhale. Close the right nostril. Exhale left. Inhale through the left nostril. Exhale right. Inhale right nostril. Exhale left. Inhale left nostril. Exhale right. Keep going. Inhale right. It switches at the top of the inhale. Exhale left. Keep going on your own. If my breath is too long, make your breath a little bit shorter and find a place where this feels really sweet so that you're not frying your nervous system with a loud ujjayi. You're not frying your nervous system with a breath that's too long. You're finding a place that feels really like the sweet spot for you.

And then start to sense how your right hemisphere and your left hemisphere start to relate to one another, how they start to dance and intertwine. And see if you can let the goal of this practice, this pranayama, this breath practice, be to meet yourself in the center so that you're letting the right side and the left side kind of come together in that neutral place, the place that's almost like a still point between the two so that you're balancing out your sense of activity and your sense of receptivity, your sun side and your moon side, your pingala and your eda. The next time you exhale through the left nostril, let your palms rest on your thighs face up. You can have the okay sign or not. You can also rest your palms face down if you're feeling a little overexposed. Without disrupting your state too much, you're going to open your eyes. And then I'm going to take the bolster that I have. If you don't have a bolster, you can use a blanket or some pillows. We're going to come into a restorative twist. So in restorative poses, we hang out for a few moments for maybe three or five minutes and I won't speak too much during it. I'll get you into it, but then you're on your own for a little bit. And the idea is to just let yourself be there. You don't have to control your breath, so it's not an ujjayi breath. You're really letting yourself be supported by the ground. That's the whole point of it. So you're going to bring your right hip next to the bolster or the blanket. Your seat is on the ground and then from there, face the bolster or the blanket, turn your chest so that it's facing the whatever you're using and then fold forward and come onto your chest. Now I'm going to turn my head. Choose a direction to turn your head that feels nice. Don't choose the direction that's the hardest just for the sake of it being hard. And then once you've found a place to land there, simply land there. Good. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A super simple way to come out of this is to lift your knees up, turn them over to the other side, and then your left hip will be facing the bolster. I'm going to switch sides so that, again, you're not facing my back.

We're doing this on the other side. Left hip meets the bolster or your pillows, whatever your situation is, and then turn your chest, recline, and then the head turns. We're doing this on the other side. We're doing this on the other side. We're doing this on the other side.

We're doing this on the other side. We're doing this on the other side. We're doing this on the other side. When you feel ready, come on out of this nice and slow, and then leave the bolster where it is. I'm just going to shift the bolster to the other side or your setup where it is.

I like to add a little something extra underneath the head because you'll want to have the chin in a slight jalendara bandha. That means that your chin is slightly tucked into your chest, just slightly. That's going to help the nervous system know that it's releasing. Grab your two blocks. We're going to set up for supta bada konasana.

The blocks might dig into your legs. In order to not let that happen, you're going to tilt the blocks at an angle toward you. Bring the feet together. The butt is on the ground. Then from there, recline back onto your bolster.

You can release your palms face up. You can release your palms face up. You can release your palms face up. You can release your palms face up. You can release your palms face up.

You can release your palms face up. You can release your palms face up. You can release your palms face up. You can release your palms face up. You can release your palms face up.

You can release your palms face up. Deepen your breath. Slowly turn your knees up toward the ceiling. Roll over onto one side. Come out of this.

And come to sit upright on your block or your bolster or your blanket. We will end with a little maitri meditation. Maitri meditation is a kindness meditation. You'll see as it unfolds, it really helps with the seat of forgiveness. Close your eyes and sit up nice and tall.

And imagine a being, it could be a human or a four-legged that makes you feel love. And then invite them into the room with you. Try to imagine them as closely as you can. Sit them in front of yourself. And then in your mind's eye, say to them, may you be happy, may you be happy, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be healthy, may you be safe, may you have ease, may you have ease.

may you have ease. Let that, whomever you've chosen, kind of fade away. And then bring into the space someone who feels more like a stranger in the sense that you may know them from your rounds getting coffee or you may know them from running into them at the grocery store or a building door person or someone that you've not really had time to sit down and talk with. And can you imagine them as closely as you can and ask them to sit in front of you and then to them say, may you be happy, may you be happy, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be healthy, may you be healthy, may you be safe, may you be safe, may you have ease, may you have ease, may you have ease. Let that dissolve and then bring into the room someone you consider an enemy, and that might be a strong word, but someone who has caused you pain. Imagine them as closely as you can, invite them to sit in front of you, and to them say, may you be happy, may you be happy, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be healthy, may you be healthy, may you be safe, may you be safe, may you be safe, may you have ease. May you have ease. May you have ease. Let that person dissolve, and lastly, imagine yourself as clearly as you can.

Ask yourself to sit in front of yourself, and then to yourself say, may I be happy? May I be happy? May I be happy? May I be safe? May I be safe?

May I be safe? May I be healthy? May I be healthy? May I be healthy? May I have ease?

May I have ease? May I have ease? And let yourself kind of melt away and see what is left. And be present with whatever is alive inside you right now. I'm beautiful in my way, cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way.

I'm beautiful in my way, cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way. Om Shanti Om, Om Shanti Om, Om Shanti Om, Om Shanti Om. I'm beautiful in my way, cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way. I'm beautiful in my way, cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way. Om Shanti Om, Om Shanti Om, Om Shanti Om.

Last time, I'm beautiful in my way, cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way. I'm beautiful in my way, cause God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track, baby I was born this way. Om Shanti Om, Om Shanti Om, Om Shanti Om. Palms to the heart, deep inhale. Om.

Love and light to all beings everywhere. No exceptions yogis. Namaste.