Inner Cleanse

Hey. Welcome to your practice. This session's on immunity. I have a bunch of stuff. We're gonna go on all the rides, a blanket, a bowl or Two Blocks. And I have a chair, which in your house might be a bed or the couch, We're gonna start in soup of yerasana sitting between the heels and reclining, and you could take any height behind you, you could take a bolster or two tall blocks, medium, or low.

Also, if your knees or ankles are not fond of that shape. It could be nice to pull up to the couch or your bed. You'll put a block for your seat. If you're doing this reclining, don't have a block under your seat, but if you're doing this up against your bed or your couch, you could have a low block or medium, try it on and see what height The support you're gonna lean back on is it should touch you right around the shoulder blades, tip of the shoulder blades, And then maybe you'll put another block under your head or a pillow or a rolled up blanket. And it's worth it to fidget around a little bit and get this set up just right. So that you feel some nice length in the front of the body, definitely in the quadriceps, in the low belly, in the chest.

And even though you will most certainly feel something in your back, especially the lower you go, Try not to have it be too sensational because we're gonna stay here for a couple minutes. So once you get yourself situated, if you are using a bed or a couch, you can let your arms rest. On that support, you could even put something else underneath your arms. If you're on a bolster or block, you could hold your elbows overhead. You could, of course, also let your arms rest down by your side.

Open The chest will be broad here. And do take a moment whatever shape your arms are in to lift your seat and lengthen your lower back. Clicking the toenails down, pressing the tops of the feet down, lengthening the tailbone towards the back of the knees, And then letting your pelvis settle on the block or between the heels. So just even the pressure on the calf muscles can be stimulant for the digestive system. This is one of my favorite poses.

To boost the digestive system, to aid the digestive system. It gives a lot of space to the abdominal cavity And because of the shape of the upper back and chest, it also supports the respiratory system so that you can take big, long, smooth breasts in And equally long, smooth breath's out. And in fact, giving a little bit more attention or emphasis to the exhalation would be, lovely way to compliment this practice. So inviting in not just the long exhale, but also In Sanskrit, it's called Apana Vayu, a kind of downward energy, a downward wind, like a waterfall. You can imagine it or a drain.

Releasing, you know, of whatever is in the colon, the bladder, the kidneys, general cleansing of the whole system. Through an exhale, through a letting go. Might not be every exhale. It might be every other exhale or third that you can find a longer, deeper breath out, and maybe even a moment of pause, of hovering, of sinking into the space of emptiness, of openness. It's nice to have the back of the neck long with the chin slightly looking down towards the chest, signaling to the nervous system, to relax, to release, Moving your attention and energy inward and downward.

A real internalization to be with you. Take one last breath here. Reaching the thighs to the knees, the tailbone, also to the back of the knees and drawing the navel, the belly up towards the chest, the chest towards the chin, inhaling. A real luxurious exhale as you breathe out. Yeah.

Great. And then if you're all the way reclined, put your hands by your hips, behind your hips and push the floor to sit up. If you're reclining on a chair or a couch or your bed, put your hands on your feet and lift your chest up first to sit up. Either way, you'll wanna come up symmetrically, chest first, And then we'll clear the back of the knees by straightening the legs. So, you can sit facing the long way on your mat.

This the long side of your mat. And if your hamstrings are gripping, or your low back feels compressed in that way, sit up on some height, and you can also have your knees bent. You could also do this lying up against the wall just with your legs in a big wide open v And, you know, you do have a bunch of props nearby. So use something to support your head. And you can build up your props tall.

It might even be that you're putting your elbows on a block and holding your head in your hands. Whatever shape you have, it's nice to let the front of the head be supported, the forehead. And let the front of the brain cradle into that space spreading wide like a big water balloon. The front brain is the decision maker when we're in a healthy, happy mindset The back brain, the amygdala is more of an alarm system, fight or flight oriented, and the front of the brain is helping for rest and digest the parasympathetic nervous system. Mending and befriending.

Sometimes it's called all of those hormones of oxytocin and dopamine, serotonin. Stay low, but push the floor to roll yourself up. Most the way and we're just gonna twist to the right. So you can put your blanket or some other soft prop on your leg And you might be sitting up. You might just have your hands on the floor.

You might be holding on to your right foot with your left hand or No hands. It's okay if your left butt lifts up. Do lengthen through your left leg. Inner leg, to inner knee, to ball of big toe. And as you breathe in, lengthen your chest, your rib cage, your abdomen forward. And as you exhale, maybe pushing with the right hand into the floor and turning to the right.

Again, staying low, going slow, push the floor to roll yourself up to sit and hang. And just slide your support to the other leg, twist, fold, exhale. What's nice about spending some time in these shapes is that they change. They shift moment by moment, and you know, the first shape is not the last one. So you might find that initially there's some limitation And with some easy breathing, some letting go that you have access to a deeper longer, spine, breath, experience.

Lengthening again on inhale. And turning on exhale. Yeah. And then hands pushing the floor. It's nice to use your arms to sit, not cranking the neck to lift the head.

Move your blanket to the side, hold underneath the knees, lift them, bring them together, and We're gonna open the blanket. So something like this and do a trifold. So three part fold, like a fan, keeping the tassel end away from me and rolling the neat end. To the to the midline. The bigger your role is, the more intense this is gonna feel if you're pregnant or menstruating If you're pregnant, definitely don't do this.

If you're menstruating, maybe you're gonna have to see. So And if you just ate, this is not for you either, that it could be delicious. So you're gonna lie on the roll into the soft spot of the belly, not the rib cage or the pelvis, This is an amazing abdominal massage. You could rock a little pelvis left, right, and let the blanket I'm gonna say dig into the sides of the pelvis, the sides of the abdomen, you know, the top, the bottom, And if it feels alright, you can let your head rest, maybe make a pillow with your hands, or grab a block so the lower your head goes, the more intense the sensation will be. This is also a really healing modality for the lower back.

I know people with a lot of lower back pain that, find so much relief just by creating space in the lower part of the back, the sacrum, the lumbar, simply by lying over, a bowl, a a ball or a rolled up blanket. You might feel your heart beating or the pulsation of your circulation And then come to center if your pelvis is rocking and slide your right knee out to the side like you're a frog, a kind of frog leg, and let that dump a little bit of weight into your left waist and maybe take a deeper breath. As you inhale, the back widens. And as you exhale, let the blanket move more to the interior of the body. And you'll just switch sides. Sometimes, this can feel really relieving.

Pre premenstrually as the, you know, maybe some of the men premenstrual symptoms of bloating or gas digestive. Symptoms can be relieved by this simple massage. Deeper exhales, allowing more and more the blanket to move into the abdominal cavity. And if you're feeling like you can't breathe, it's too big. It's too much, you know, maybe even just lifting your head or, making the roll smaller. Side your left leg back to meet your right, pigeon toe the feet, Let the back of the thighs be wide.

The back of the waist spreading. You know, you're here for maybe 5 more brass. If you wanna move the blanket, if you're just feeling it might serve you a little more lower or higher, or one of those sides was really helpful for you. Please. Last couple of breaths. One of the other things that happens through this massage is that a lot of times in our stressful lives, we stop breathing in a certain way.

We restrict our breathing, maybe through the diaphragm, the muscle that runs at the bottom of the rib cage, and this can give it some freedom, some space, some elasticity to move again. Okay. So begin to consider coming out Hit pause if you wanna stay longer. Come onto your elbows. Rock your hips back towards your knees.

Nice. Our last pose is gonna be, shoulder, stand, or a version of that. It could be Viparini Karani. You could just lie on your back with a couple blocks underneath your butt, and you could do that up against a wall, You could take classic shoulder stand if that's in your practice. I also really love working with a chair, although in your house, this may be, again a bed, a couch, you know, a big armchair.

So if you have one of these folding chairs, you'll sit facing the back of the chair I've put a bolster at the front feet, and I've put a blanket on top of the mat so that when you come out, however you come out from whatever you're doing, You don't want your hair to get caught on the mat. If you're using a chair like this, you can swing your legs up the back, or you could just put them on the back of couch or lay them flat on your bed and then slide down until your shoulders are supported. And look, if you're on your bed and maybe you're just hanging in space, that's okay too. What we're really looking for is a shape where the heart is above the head and as much as you can find that as much verticality as you can find with the heart above the head, great. If you're in a chair like I am, you can weave your arms under and under the chair seat and through the front legs of the chair.

I'm holding on to the back rest, the back run between the back legs. And you might lift your legs up off the couch, the bed, the chair, and just have them directly above you or not. Find some way that you could be comfortable because, again, we are gonna be here for a couple minutes. If your shoulders are underneath you in a shoulder stand, fashion. Do wrap them. Do wrap them underneath you.

Walk them more underneath you so the collar bones can spread. You can get big volume of inhale. And again, you'll find the exhale So because the diaphragm is in a different relationship to gravity here, gravity is pulling the diaphragm down towards the chest instead of down towards the belly, like, when you're standing, That aids exhalation. Gravity is pulling the diaphragm down when the diaphragm sinks down It pushes breath out of the lungs. And you might feel again here on ease, an enjoyable experience to exhale.

You might be able to linger in exhale for an extra beat, an extra moment. Do let the center of your throat, the pit of your throat soften, and the sides of the neck relax. So draining the lymphatic system here, the glandular system, and the inner groins, the solar plaques, the armpits, the throat, And also, this is one of the most supportive poses for your hormone system. To rebalance the hormones, we can get really, stuck in a habitual pattern of cortisol and adrenaline. You know, the patterns of fight or flight limit our digestion, our Our respiratory system, we we're not breathing in a smooth way.

When we're agitated. So letting all of those systems come now into balance. It's also wonderful to be in a little bit of a backbend. It's so healthy for the spine to move in all directions. And our day to day life doesn't give us as many opportunity of arching the back as it does rounding.

So in this last minute here, if you wanna take any variations the legs, maybe badoconasana soles of the feet together. And if you're on a chair or a couch, they could rest on the back rest of that support. And stick the tongue from the roof of the mouth and let the eyes just drop back into their sockets. Okay. So we're coming out by coming down. If your legs if your knees are apart, bring them together, and do step your feet as close to your hips as you can so that you can if your arms are under the chair, you can free them.

And you'll begin to slide down. Be careful about your neck. If you have a bolster underneath you, will catch your hips, and you could just stay lying on your back. Maybe you have a bolster under your hips and your calf muscles on your couch or bed or chair. We're gonna move into pranayama next.

An alternate nostril breathing. And if you're super happy right where you are, please stay exactly where you are. And if you're interested in doing this sitting up, you're welcome to move into that as well. You could also do this as a visualization. So either lying down or sitting up if your nose is congested, you know, If you have a lot of mucus in this moment, it would be lovely to sit up on some support if you are sitting so that your hips are higher than your knees and that you can find real length to the lower belly, the side body, the back, in alternate nostril breathing, You inhale up one side and exhale down the other.

Bring your right hand in front of your face. The two piece fingers, the first and middle finger can either go between your eyebrows or classically into the palm if that's available. The thumb on the right nostril, the ridge, the ring finger, baby finger on the left nostril ridge, And you're touching the nostrils ever so slightly like holding a flower petal or a butterfly, not really pushing. Take a breath through both nostrils in an exhale. And then closing the right and inhaling left.

Close, left, and exhale, right. And how, right, Exhale Left let the breath get very thin, very quiet. Inhale left. And exhale. Right? And you'll take 3 more cycles on your own.

Like a very thin water consistent, steady, smooth, very refined. My teacher says as you exhale, you couldn't move a feather on your lip. Your last exhalation will be through the left nostril. Take your time to get there. Once you've completed your last round, let your right hand rest and breathe evenly through both sides. This is the most balancing pranayama we know.

Balancing right and left energies of the body, Ida Pangala, and also right and left sides of the brain. If you're comfortable as you are, please stay as you are for final meditation. And if you can get any more comfortable sitting, lying down, or even standing up, do that now. To begin, just connect to whatever is touching the surface that you're sitting on, standing on, lying on. Maybe it's your feet or your butt or your back.

This meditation is to incline the mind towards happiness. Santosha Contentment. And as you feel into the support beneath you, let your body really rest. That your physical muscles soften. Science has shown that the brain has a slight negativity bias that we more readily and regularly see challenges and difficulties, maybe 51% of the time.

So strengthening the muscle awakening the muscle of appreciation of gratitude, can also be very helpful to balancing our mind, our perspective, and our experience in this life. And start just by checking in with you. Allowing yourself to land right here as you are. And creating an intention to stay with yourself. Whatever arises, To tend to all the parts of yourselves.

If you feel that normal natural doubt or pushing away, resisting some kind of relaxation or ease or even a denial of your own goodness by highlighting, doubting parts of yourself. Reconcile, invite all of the many parts of yourselves back home, into the body, into this moment. A kind of unconditional friendship. All the parts of you invited here right now. I'm on the tune in to something very small, maybe something unnoticed.

That you're grateful for, that you appreciate maybe the electricity humming through your home, for the internet. Maybe the water running from your tap. You might think of people that you love. Or the face of a child laughing. You can remember your childhood best friend or someone who held your face sweetly and said tender, caring words.

This capacity for appreciation is always in us. It's like a radio station, and we just have to tune in to pay attention to remember This whole practice might be as simple as silently saying, thank you. Throughout your day again and again. Thank you. Oh, please stay and savor this sweetness as long as you can.

And if your time is done for today, place a hand on the heart and another one on the belly, a kind touch, maybe a soft pat, a little rub, a silent thank you, And if your eyes are closed, you can blink them open. Reconnect with your space. Thank you for being here. Thank you for doing this. I hope you feel healthy and happy.

Much love. Shanti.