Clear Vision

Blessings beauties. Welcome to your practice today, and we're gonna take it down quite a bit and move to a more restorative, relaxed place, but we are still leading up the chakras from the root through the crown of the head, and this class is about the Ajna chakra or the 6th chakra, which is the 3rd eye center right in between those little eyebrows in the middle of the head. So as we move into the Ashna chakra today, We're gonna begin with one of my favorite practices, which is a pranayama technique known as Noti Shodana or alternate nostril breathing because This is the point where we start to take all these tangible parts of ourselves and move them up to the spiritual realm where we're marrying both the intellect with the intuition of understanding our mind body and spirit. So you need a bevy of props today. We've got a blanket that we're gonna use.

Obviously, your mat And then I have a secondary mat that I'm gonna use for a couple myofascial techniques, but you can always use the mat that's underneath you. We also have a strap for some flossing through the shoulders and legs and two blocks, always two blocks. But let's begin sitting on top of something. For our breathing practice. So any which way that is comfy for you today, prop your sitting bones up.

Let the knees and the hips fall downwards for me so you can really feel the sitting bones ground you in a seat. And then from there, you can start to lift up and find that crown chakra. And keeping the natural curves to the spine, Let's take the hands to the knees, and we'll start with the right hand for our note issued on a practice. So let's bring the hand forward and bring the index in the middle finger together. And then the ring finger as well as the thumb are gonna help to close off the nostrils.

So take the hand like this and then set it to the right knee, shrug the shoulders back and down, So let's begin by closing the eyes, shrugging the shoulders up and down, taking a smooth breath in, The exhale let it out. Pulling you into the present moment. The breath. Empty. Let's take the index and the middle finger to that third eye space.

Right in the center of the forehead. Close off the left nostril with your ring finger and inhale through the right. The top of the inhalation pause, close the right nostril off with the thumb, and exhale through the left. The bottom of the exhalation, pause. Inhale through the left.

Use the ring finger to close the left nostril off. Open the right and exhale. Release all the breath. Pause at the bottom of the exhale. Inhale through the right.

At the top, pause, close the right nostril off and exhale through the left. Inhale through the left. The top, pause, close the nostril. Exhale through the right. Inhale through the right.

Pause, close, exhale through the left. Inhale through the left. Pause, close. Exhale through the right. Inhale through the right.

Pause, close, exhale through the left. In to the left. Pause, close, exhale through the right. Bottom of your exhalation. Please lower your right hand down.

Releasing the nostrils in, Ellie, through both nostrils again. The exhaling through the nose. Taking a couple sweet full rounds of breath, anchoring you into the body. Into becoming the witness. So you can use this class as a tool to suss out Everything you feel from the inside out, allowing you this lens and perspective to yourself.

Fold the hands to the heart and take about in. When lifting through the crown of the head, open the eyes, stay with that even breathing for me, and release the bolster when you're ready. You can bring it back behind you and grab a blanket. We're gonna open the blanket up. This could be a towel as well.

And then from the edges of the blanket, I want you to roll it up as tight as you can getting it nice and long so it can port your upper back. And then from here, I'm gonna drape it across my mat. So it's in line with the short end to the mat. Flip around, and then grab your strap with me, and we're gonna unfold the strap. Now as you unfold it, Make sure that you grab that opposite end and then loop it through the buckle so that you can pull it all the way through on the opposite side. Now really make it a tight little strap because you're gonna place this part of it behind your head just like my microphone here.

And this part, the buckle will go around the arch of the foot. Now as we roll back over the blanket, we're gonna use the blanket for support around the diaphragm region so we can breathe really well into the belly. So grab that end that isn't the buckle, and let's place it delicately behind the back of the head. And then from there, as we start to roll back We'll hit that blanket with our ribs, send our right foot up into the strap, and here's the fun part. You can use that extra strapping part to make it tighter or to give yourself a little bit more give into it. Extend that left leg out and then push your right leg forward for me so that you get this nice stretch through the back of the neck. Now take your arms out super wide.

Drop the hands down, whether palms down or facing the sky, and close the eyes and take a couple deep breaths as you just drain the back of the right leg. So I don't have a particular way in which I set up for this. Except for knowing that the blanket's gonna help me to find some lift to the upper spine so that all this tension we get throughout the day In the cervical cord, in the sides of the neck, in the shoulder heads, the shoulder blades can start to dissipate And as I get that release through the upper chest and I'm supported by the strap, I can also start to get this beautiful stretch through the back of the leg. From here, I'd like you to slowly start to just move the leg side to side. Feeling a little rinse through the hip socket.

As you move the leg side to side, I have that slight little pressure of the heel going forward to keep my head up and then take that right leg as much as you'd like over to the left flex through the foot and start to get a little more stretch. Through that outer seam of the right leg. So where that IT band is. And the IT band is so interesting because it'll immediately give us some feedback, some sensation through the outer leg. And then inhale come back to center, start to take that right leg over to the right just enough to stretch minimally through that inner upper thigh through the back of the hamstring.

You wanna create a little bit more sensation here. Flex through the heal a lot, and you'll feel more nerve sensation from the sciatica kicking in, the sciatic nerve itself. Then inhale, back to center, flex the heel, and kick the leg forward just a bit to lift up even more through the head, maybe Move the head gently side to side. Getting a little rinse through the neck. And then let the head go back and pull the leg in towards you a little bit more, finding more intensity through the hamstring on the back of the knee.

And then we're gonna switch legs here by adding the left leg to the right, And then taking the right leg out nice and slow and extending it onto the mat. Feel free to adjust grabbing onto that slack with your hand and either pulling it tighter or loosening it up a bit to help with the tension in the left leg. And then take a moment to close your eyes and just breathe naturally. You can start to add that sway side to side feeling the back of the leg open, breathing into the belly, so that you have that awareness going on in the diaphragm, even though there's no big breath practice here. Then I'd like you to start to take that left leg towards the right.

Go nice and slow so you can feel the tension from the outer ankle bone all the way up through the outer portion of the knee. Into the outer hip, feeling how that IT band really fastens and holds everything in. It's such a huge tendon of support. And I love this one because it's also hard to get to and to release the simplicity of these practices can do a lot and getting rid of some of attention that acquires through sitting, through using our legs actively, Then inhale come back to center. Take that left leg to the left and start to stretch through the inner thighs.

Getting that mild opening and feeling that stretch on the back of the leg in the hamstrings themselves. I love this one because it's also supporting the neck, supporting the head, and allowing all these nerves from the brain traveling down to get a nice little stretch. A nerves need flossing too. They're quite sensitive and then come back to center with me kicking the leg forward a bit. This is great.

Again, with those nerves, they don't like a lot of pressure on them. We have a lot of pressure on the nerves. They start to feel like pinched nerves. So in order to regulate our nervous system, just again, releasing them helps them to work properly so that they don't feel bunched up, crunched up, smooshed, and then let the head go back and get a little more stretch through the back of the leg too. The nerves are fickle.

We can often feel them fall asleep when they're not getting enough length enough opening. That's when we can start to feel pins and needles or just numbness. And then pressing that left leg forward just a bit. We're gonna add that right leg up back and in. It's a great one for that.

First chakra, the feet, the legs. Take your hands with me before we release from the strap, and let's just do a little pat to the back of the legs. Specifically around the back of the knees where we've got a ton of lymph nodes that are draining, but you also have lymph nodes in your feet. So getting your legs up overhead allows a bit of a drainage support for those lymph nodes getting out any cellular waste we no longer need. This is a great one for boosting our immunity naturally and for getting out inflammation.

And we all get a sense of edema or swelling in the ankles over time, so releasing that too. Not from here. After you quit patting the back of the legs, actually feels quite nice. Open the feet just a bit in the strap. Reach up, see if you can grab in between them and give me a modified happy baby.

And I'm literally cooling from my hands, my thumbs towards the forehead. Dropping the knees to the side, and then give it a little rock side to side right on the SI joint. So those 2 pelvic calves at the low back, you'll feel yourself move from side to side on them. You've got a ton of ligaments attachments there where the sacrum attaches to both of the hips or to the back of the pelvis. And then from here, we're just gonna release the strap.

So pull it out delicately from behind the head, maybe take the legs up for a moment, pulling down, and getting a nice stretch through the calves, let the toes go up, get into the ankle mortise, which is right there on the front of the foot. And then, again, that pressure just on the ball of the foot helps to release those lymph nodes as well. And then we'll bend the knees and release the strap, hold it up so that you can put it nice and neatly to the side and grab it again. In just a few moments. Then from here, put the feet down onto the ground.

Roll over to your right and press yourself. Right on up. We're gonna switch gears a bit and move this blanket over to the side. So I set it over to the side. You'll grab onto that in just a bit, but what I want you to do is I want you to flip around and grab your second mat if you have it so you can roll that mat up really tight.

You can roll the mat up that you have on the ground really tight, but we're gonna come into hair pose to place that mat right behind the back of the knees. Getting into those lymph nodes again and getting into the calves. So this one's really tightly bound up And if that doesn't feel good, you can unroll the mat just a bit. But how I'm gonna get into this is I'm going to come to the top of the head, and then I'll take that mat and shove it right behind the back of the knee joint. Into the crease, then I will use my hands onto the ground to lift myself up and sink back and down. No. Depending on the thickness of the mat, your butt might touch the heels.

It might not. But once I do that, I'm pushing down through my sitting bones, lifting up through my belly just a bit for support. And then I like to shift a little side to side. And it's quite quite intense as I press down onto the meaty part of the calf. This muscle is quite important.

You have a huge, huge tendon attached from the calcaneus all the way up, and that Achilles tendon really helps with our gate and our ability to push off on the journey of our life. So stretching into this muscle provides us a lot of support as well as stability. To stand confidently in our bodies, in our truth, in ourselves. Then as you rock back to center with your hips just a bit and roll it down a couple inches so you're more towards the middle of the calf now, And then again, sit back. Just take your hands to your thighs and rock side to side.

And the racking will help you to find these nice little trigger points that you might wanna lean on just a little bit more. Not so much where you lose feeling and sensation again. We're not trying to aggravate the nerves. But getting into those places that are tight that we wanna just press out, giving them a little massage. What's also nice about this is that pressure sends a lot of blood into the skeletal muscles.

And because they are striated muscles, they take that blood and it helps to heal them, elongate them, and make them feel really good again. And then coming back to center, one more time, lift your butt and roll it down just a couple inches. So it is very close to the Achilles tendon now. And then sit your butt back and give it a little sway. As you get to the Achilles, you might have quite a bit more sensitivity again from your gate, from potentially the shoes you wear, So as you move side to side, this entire exercise is about needing out some of those trigger points or sensitive spots.

And if you need to lean in a little bit more, feel free. If you need to back off, I understand. Do that. But just giving it a nice sense of overall release as you press into that tension. And while this might magnify it, the idea is over time through consistent practice, will find more and more space, more opening.

Then come to a place where you can just sink for a moment. Potentially, the butt will hit the heels, and I like to lean back with my torso just a bit. It will intensify it and take a couple deep breaths there. Then coming forward with me, You can bring the hands down or even come right back in to that hair pose to take the mat out. Unfold your mat if you use the one on the ground and then set this to the side nice and neatly for me. And as you do that, you're gonna come on to hands and knees.

And right away, give your feet a tap because while I made that look really okay, you know, it was pretty intense. From here, we're gonna begin with a little calf opening. So tuck the right toes at the back of the mat. Press that heel back. Go for elongation through the calf.

And then gazing forward to the top of the map, step your right foot all the way up outside that right hand. So go nice and wide for me today. Pat up this left knee if you need. That blanket is there for that. And then walk it forward when you're ready and zinc into the hips for just a moment. Now if you need to pop your hands onto blocks, feel free. Sometimes this in itself can just take the edge off of getting into the hips.

They are quite complex. They do hold a lot of feelings and emotions. And if you need the strap, it's also here for you because you're gonna keep your left hand down and reach your right arm back grabbing on to the outer edge of that left ankle for me and then sinking into the hips a bit more. So your right on top of that left quad instead of the kneecap itself. So try to get off that knee and get really deep into this Hit flex or complex as well as the quadriceps.

Then from here, we're gonna release that right hand from the left foot, bring it forward with me, and wrap the blocks up use them for support as you roll over that left knee with your right leg in a diagonal half Hanam on. I like adding a little pulse to really stretch the back of the leg out. Then rock it forward with me. Sweep your right leg back, but take the right knee behind the left So I crisscross those legs for a moment, spin your heels to the side, and then use the blocks and back yourself up. Again, you've got a plethora of props.

So if you want to put your butt on a blanket and or the bolster, feel free. But I'm just folding over to get a nice stretch through the outer glutes, taking a couple deep breaths here. This too really helps to open up that low back region where that sciatic nerve is. Giving you some space and some length. And then we'll keep the hands on the blocks.

Start to shift the weight forward again, walk the blocks forward, and uncross the legs. Move the blocks to the side for just a moment. Hands come down. In Halcow. On an Excel, lower your forms, down and round your back into a small little kitty cat.

Inhale lengthen the chest forward and not. Press into the hands, lift the elbow simultaneously and round your back into a big old cap. And then chest comes forward on the next in breath, left toes tuck, stretch that calf. Feel into that. And then pick that left leg up as you shift the weight forward for me and step it super wide out side that left hand, walk your fingertips forward and start to sink into the hips.

Take a moment. Notice if you're clenching the pelvic floor and really soft in there. Grab the blocks for support if you need. And then from here, we're gonna reach back potentially using that strap to grab the outside of that right foot with our left hand. Now I'm not on the kneecap itself.

As I said on the first side, I roll more to the quads so I can drop into the front of the pelvis. And then breathe into that. You can roll out the leg a bit. Letting the pelvis soften, letting the belly soften. I'm just noticing the sensations around it.

So we get so cranky in this lower half from sitting, compression, that it can take quite a bit of work and a lot of consistent routine to start to feel some real length and opening here. And take that left arm up, bring the hand down, roll over the knee safely, Stretch that left leg out. It's on a bit of a diagonal from the hip, so maybe add that little up and down movement. And then bending that left leg. Draw the chest forward for me.

We're gonna sneak this left knee all the way back and cross it behind the right. And then as I criss cross through the legs, I let my shins, that's the lower leg open wide. Walk the blocks back and sit myself down in between them, potentially grabbing one of the other props to assist. Go in and stretch those outer hip muscles and take a couple deep natural breaths here. So as we are making our way up the body to release, we start to see that these things do take consistent practice to open, to stay open.

The more that they are shut off or shut down the harder it is to really access the power of each of the chakras. And those subtle qualities within ourselves. And then pressing into the hands, start to lift the hips up, roll back over in the knees, walk your blocks forward and uncross the legs for me. This time, I want you to keep the blocks on their 2nd highest level. But bring them shoulders distance apart.

Keep your knees hips distance. Let's bring the elbow tips down onto the block. Make that sweet little prayer with your hands, walk the elbows forward, and instead of letting the buck go back to the heels, pointed up to the sky as you drop your third eye. That sick chakra all the way down towards the grow. And then the hands can slide to the nape of the neck adding a little more stretch through the triceps.

As well as the upper back and lats as you close your eyes. See again if you can release the pelvic floor from gripping. Softing your belly and invite in a couple natural breaths. Unlocking some of this hidden potential in the upper chest to expand and open. Then using your elbows, press down. Let the sweet little prayer hands come up to the sky.

And then lift up through the crown at the same time. Hands will come one at a time right back onto the blocks. And try a big cow with the hand supported now. XL round and sink it back into a child's pose keeping your hands on the block so you get a nice stretch through the outer rims of the shoulders. From here, we're going to slowly lengthen the gaze forward towards the hands.

And move your blocks out of the way. Grab onto your strap. And let's just fold it in half so you can keep it buckled up from here as well. With the strap folded in half. We're gonna work with this to get a little bit more into the upper back.

So I'm gonna hold the strap within my index symptom. Take the arms up. Say on your shins or sit on your buttocks and drop the shoulders down. And then take the arms all the way back to stretch your chest out. Now my thumbs are turning to the sides, as you can see, And I want you to take a couple soothing breaths into the center of the chest.

Close your eyes and receive this. As you go in notice right away, if you start to get a little bit of numbness through the arms, Again, those nerves can get quite compressed from us hunching potentially over a desk all day. Or even driving. And then take the arms to the sky. You can open the eyes and pull the arms down and relax.

Let's do that a couple times. So flossing through the shoulder heads, trying to keep the hands as wide as we can to support tugging on the strap and keeping the wrist the elbow and the shoulder as long as we can, not bending them. Next time the arms go up to the sky, I want you to pause and braid. Let's add a little bit of a lean. So lean towards the right, but then take that right hand and push it back, and you'll feel a very generous stretch through that entire left side of the body.

So you start to get into this very important muscle around the pelvis, around the sacral chakra called your QL, your quadratus lumborum. And this one's always the culprit of low back pain or sciatic issues from side to side. Then inhale sweep it up to the sky, even out the arms overhead, lean towards the left, but take that left arm back. Oh, yeah. And you'll feel it right away. This intense stretch that runs from hip through the shoulder blade. From, again, these very important attachments in the back.

The back musculatures made to be strong to provide A lot of inevitable support for the spine. And then inhale come back to center with me. Let's ark the chest up. So I pull my heart into extension, open the throat, maybe gaze up towards the third eye. And then pull the arms forward and down. Release the strap to your knees or the ground for a moment.

Close the eyes and just let the arms hang and feel all these sensations through the shoulder blades, through the shoulder heads, and the collarbone region. Then you can open your eyes, take that strap, once again. Let's move it out of the way and have some fun with this. So now we're gonna get into that 3rd chakra area, which is the manipura. And into the support of the core itself.

So I'm grabbing again that second map. You can roll this one up or use that blanket that's to the side, but I love this one. It's quite intense. I'm also gonna use this with a block to get a little bit more into my shoulders. So have one walk towards the right, one towards the right there and one towards the left so you can grab them on each side. So I'm gonna spin around so you can see.

This is gonna go in the quarter. So when I'm talking about the abdominals in the trunk, not the upper erectus abdominals that we were supporting with the with the mat underneath the shoulder blades, but towards the low belly now. So underneath your navel to the pubic synthesis is where you're gonna wanna put this one. So I come up and over, and then I let my belly come over so that just that low region presses down. Into the mat.

Again, I've got a really nice thick mat for this. You can unfold it. You can really, really fold it tight. You can use something a little bit lighter, but I love the intensity I feel here because it's so good for the intestines. Now we're gonna add a little bit more onto this.

So grab that block to the right of you, and we're gonna use it underneath the forehead. I'm gonna take my hands forward in front and press into the palms to lift my elbows up and then take your left hand and glide it all the way towards the right. Take your right hand and bring it all the way to the left side. Stay here or move that block down and use it for the forehead as you lower it down. So I get this nice big stretch of an x.

That's gonna immediately tune you into the shoulder blades and the rotator cuff muscles. And you can close your eyes and support your forehead on this, but it should be pretty intense. In fact, I know you will feel it. And right away, notice where your attention goes. Do you feel more of it in the core, in the abdominal region, or in the shoulders.

And that Matt folded up in the digestive track is just helping that third chakra with this role, which is to eliminate and process like the fire, the agony of the digestive system. Allowing us to feel more confident in our decision making. And allowing all these healing nutrients we get from how we feed our body to a bee. Fully absorbed and processed. And I love the pressure on the abdominal region as well because it relates to the stability to feel the heartbeat from the vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve, running into the belly, pulling us into this place where we can relax.

And in the nervous system, we call this rest and digest or parasympathetic. And the more we can use these practices to modulate that, to take us into this parasympathetic system, The more we heal. Quite literally, we heal from the inside out. Physically mentally, energetically, emotionally. And I need to keep your belly just as it is on an inhale lift up through the head.

And then slide your right arm out. Just the right. Just the right. Take that right hand next to your ribs. Prop that left forearm forward for me and reach back one more time. Grab that right ankle and pull the heel in and give yourself a little quad stretch.

Then let that go. Right hand comes down. Press into the left. Woah. Grab that mat and move it away for just a moment.

I'm taking it forward in front of me just so I can come on to that outer right hip grab that block and then stick it at second level into my armpit. I have my knees bent, and I'm gonna bring my shins in line with the long end of the mat. Bring my right elbow down, my left hand down, and this is already pretty darn intense and then use the court block to push into the flesh of my lot. From there. Take your head into the hands and rock back so you can come onto the edge of that right shoulder blade. And then rock forward for me and just start to release any stickiness you feel in that upper chest inside body.

So, again, repairing the range of motion in that heart region, making that space that allows us to feel more intimately into this connection with ourselves, building respect for our bodies, loving ourself, and recognizing that when we can benefit ourselves, that's when we become a benefit to everybody else. But it starts with this self work we do. Take a moment. Just lean back. Take a couple deep breaths. Feel that.

It can be intense. And that's okay. Doing the intense work is literally what helps us grow. To transform. And to make space for new things, for the potential that we've yet to even manifest.

And I love that with the 5th chakra. And the sick chakra, the ability to dream and call it in, and then use our voice to put it into action. And then roll forward, lower your right forearm down, press into the hands, lift up, Move that block out of the way, and let's swing it around to the other side. So I come back onto hands and knees, grab my bolster for my mat one more time and put it to the low portion of my belly. Once I'm on top, relax the buttocks, relax the legs, grab your block, and we're gonna begin with the hands forward again.

Press into the hands, elevate the elbows for me. Feel into that. And then slide your right arm all the way to the left this time. Slide your left arm to the right, criss crossing the arms the other way. You can lower that block down and bring it right underneath the forehead.

You can also just rest your chin to the elbow if you'd like. The idea here is to find that deep cross where you can feel that nice stretch around the back of the shoulder blades themselves. Back of the heart and repairing this range of motion that oftentimes gets cut off. And then from the intensity of the shoulders, move it towards the belly and notice that too, that pressure the pushing into the intestinal track. And each time you do, it's like little loving hands, just reminding the intestines of their rule.

Again, to nourish you with food, to nurture you, The more that we tune into this place where we can get still and become the witness, connecting to how we truly feel in this internal landscape. The more we understand these subtle tools, to make ourselves happy each and every day. But it's not so much about the external things, but the simple, mindful, beneficial things that make our bodies feel great. And then we crave those things. Because of how they satiate us mentally, physically, emotionally.

That is the work of the chakras. With the nervous system itself. I'm here. We're gonna gently start to lift up through the head and just pull that left arm. How oh, yeah. Push into the hand and bring the right forearm forward for me. Bend your left knee.

Reach back. Grab that ankle and give your off a little quad stretch. It will probably intensify what you feel on the belly, but that's okay. Again, that little pressure is so good. To move things through you.

To release anything stuck inside of you. Remember, there is a mind gut connection. The belly is seen as the second brain. Release your left leg. Bring the left hand down, right hand down.

Press on up one more time. Let's move that mat both or blanket, whatever you used completely out of the way, and come on to our outer left tip now to end with this side. So prep that block up onto its second level. Stick it underneath your armpit for me. Bring the elbow down, head into the hand, stack your legs, and then just rock forward and back a few times. Feel into that tension in the shoulder blade itself.

So, man, we can really hold on to tension in areas that we deliberately avoid. In fact, we can make a lot of our movement practices, just movements that feel good. That were like, oh, yeah. That felt great versus doing this stuff. That's uncomfortable.

But the reality is so much of life is discomfort. So why not dig in to those areas where you really need to take a lens and shift what you're feeling. Shift your attitude towards it. Lean back. Go into a part that's a little dark. In yoga, we call this the ducca It's not just all sweetness.

We all have shadows within us. And digging into those emotions really helps us to regulate the nervous system. So it's not just comfort. Discomfort can show us a lot and can really teach us. From here, we'll start to roll back forward a bit and Just notice it from side to side.

Those minute differences. Then we'll lower that left forearm down, press into the hands, lift up, and take the block out. Let's end. We're gonna use our bolster for a nice supportage fossil. I like a block as well. You can stick it underneath so your head is propped up.

And then as I flip around, my low back gonna come towards that bolster edge. You can grab that other blanket and or the mat and slip it around the feet for a little supported, you can slip it underneath the knees for an extended long shavasana, and that's what I'm gonna do. I've also got one more thing. I love a block right on my belly to feel a sense of grounding. As I drop in.

So now I get this elevated sense through the heart. And expansion through the throat. The release of that 3rd eye center where all day long, I'm thinking ruminating. And for most of us, just overworking. Mental fatigue is a true thing.

Burn out is very real. Oftentimes, all of that work gets stuck. Inside of us, and these practices are about becoming less sticky. More open to receive. Take a smooth breath in and let it out.

Relaxing down. As you feel yourself release. I encourage you today to stay here. Meditating on the feeling of being in a place of ease. Comfort, relaxation, giving yourself As much time as necessary to fully drop in.

And to feel complete from this practice.