Ganesha's Longing for Sweetness

Namaste, welcome dear yogi friend. Today we're going to explore some of the teachings that Manoj shared with us about Ganesha. So Ganesha is traditionally known as the one who removes obstacles from our path and as Manoj pointed out these obstacles are actually nothing but the thoughts in our own mind. So one of the teachings of the statues of Ganesha is he has this big belly. So just maybe place your hands on your belly, take a deep breath in and exhale, just making this sound allowing the the energy to soften down into the belly. Again deep breath in, exhale, let your belly relax. Just allow the backs of the hands to rest on the thighs, perhaps the thumb and the index finger lightly touch. Take a deep breath in and exhale, release through the mouth, let the belly relax. Beautiful, so maybe just allowing the eyes to close. As we drop the awareness down into the belly, down into the body, we move the energy away from the mind and the thoughts and naturally as we we find this present a moment awareness in the body, our path clears, the obstacles are removed. So that's our intention today is just to clear our path by releasing the energy of the mind, the busyness of the mind and softening down into the body. Another deep breath in, exhale, release the belly. And just feel the sit bones on the earth, feel the feet, the legs on the earth becoming aware of the base of the spine. Let the tailbone soften back and down. Another deep breath in, exhale, softening down. We're going to inhale as you press down through the base of the spine, reach the crown of the head up and feel the spine lengthen. Exhale, soften, inhale, draw the shoulders up slightly, hug the shoulder blades back and feel the chest, the heart open. Another deep breath in, exhale, release the belly. Just allowing the mind to settle down into the body. So another of the teachings of Ganesh, he is often represented with big ears. So you might just want to take your fingers to your ear lobes and just gently start to massage and open the ears. Just working your fingers up around the edges of the ears. Just opening, stretching, finding these big ears. A couple of breaths as you're doing this. Beautiful and then just releasing the hands down, allowing the inner ears to relax, to soften and open and honing in this capacity to listen. Listening to the relaxation in the belly, listening to the breath as it comes in and out. Listening to the hands, allowing the palms of the hands to soften. And then the third detail that we're going to play with today is that Ganesh often holds a sweet in one of his hands. We've given him a couple of cupcakes today because he likes sweets. And this sweet represents Sat Chit Ananda, which is truth, consciousness and bliss. And the sense is when we drop out of the mind into this presence, we listen deeply to the presence in the body, we discover the truth, the consciousness and the bliss that's always here. Just allowing yourself to drop into this feeling of presence in the body. One more breath in, exhaling. Gently allowing the palms to touch in front of the heart center. And maybe there's a path or a journey that you're on at the moment or something that a journey you're going to be taking. Maybe physical or metaphorical, maybe this journey of discovering the truth, the consciousness and the bliss of our true nature. We're just going to set our intention that this practice supports us on our journey today, calling in Ganesh to clear the obstacles. Deep breath in, exhale. Setting your intention.

And then we'll alm together. Inhale. Aummmmmm. Gently releasing the hands. Let the eyes softly open. And just move on to all fours. So coming on to hands and knees. So just finding the wrists directly underneath the shoulders. Press down firmly through the hands. Spread the fingers. Press down through the finger pads so the arms are engaged. Look back at your knees and make sure they're hip-width apart. Slightly behind the lower back so you get a lengthen lower back. And then as you inhale, begin with the base of the spine. Tilt the spine up. Send the heart forward, shoulders back. And then as you exhale, begin with the base of the spine. Tilt the tailbone under. Press the belly up to the sky as you press down through your hands, rounding your back. Inhale, beginning with the tailbone arching the back. And exhale, beginning with the tailbone tucking it under, rounding the back. Press the belly up towards the spine. A couple times like this. Inhaling as you arch. And exhaling as you round. And see if you can close the eyes. Continuing to inhale as you look up and exhale as you round. And just drop the awareness into the spine. Feeling the movement of the spine.

So you might want to slow it right down. So you can feel the vertebra as they move, beginning from the base of the spine. Moving to the top of the spine. And beginning this sense of listening deeply. Listening in to the movement of the spine. Dropping the awareness out of the mind and into the body. And seeing how slow you can make it, how present you can be. One more round. Inhaling arching. Exhaling rounding. This time tuck the toes under. Press down through the hands. Lift the hips. We're going to come up into a downward dog. So bend the right knee. Straighten the left leg. Press through the back of the left leg. Deep breath in. And then bend the left knee. Straighten the back of the right leg. Deep breath in to the back of the right leg. A couple times here. Just alternating the breath. Letting the backs of the legs gently open. Just allowing it to feel good. So again looking for the sweetness in this moment. Looking for the what actually feels good to your body. You can drop the hips as you bend the knee. Just gently opening the body. And then eventually coming back to stillness. Press down firmly through the hands. Bend the knees. Tilt the tailbone up to the sky. And here press down through the hands. Lift the hips away from the hands.

So you lengthen the back body. And then let the heels come down towards the earth. Deep breath in. And exhale. One more breath here. Exhaling. Inhale. Look forward and we're going to walk the feet up towards the hands. And then bring the hands onto the shins. Thumbs rotate inwards. Fingers rotate outwards. And inhale. Look forward with a flat back. So here feel this strength in the feet and the legs as you anchor them down into the earth. Lift the kneecaps. Send the shoulders back towards the hips. Inhale. Chest, heart forward. And then exhale. Folding all the way over. Let the knees bend. And just let the head and the neck be heavy. Let the upper body flop like a rag doll. Deep breath in. And exhale. Just softening down. Releasing the head and the neck. Maybe find the hands. Find the opposite elbow. And again breathe into the base of the spine. The lower back. And as you exhale with a sigh, just allow the thoughts, whatever the shoulders have been carrying to drop down to the earth. Releasing the mind. Deep breath into the bottom of the spine. Lower back. Exhale. One more time. Just giving it all up. Deep breath in. And exhale. Beautiful. And then bring the hands onto the hip crease. Inhale. Look forward with a flat back. Slowly coming all the way up to standing. Just release the hands. Pause here. Deep breath in. And exhale. Release. Maybe just close the eyes here and feel the connection between the feet and the earth. Allowing the awareness to drop down into the legs and the feet. One more breath in. Exhale. Beautiful. Gently open the eyes. And then we're just going to step the right foot back a little bit. Not too far. And imagine you've got to weight your hand. Your right hand is a weight on the end of your right arm. And just let that hand just swing your arm as you rock gently back from the front foot to the left to the back foot. I'm just going to start to swing at a little bit of momentum here. And then inhale and reach that right hand up. Come onto the tiptoes of your right big toe and let that right hip move forward. So you get a little bit of a stretch down the right side of the body. Deep breath in. And then exhale. Release the arm back. So just starting to open the channels on the right side of the body. One more time. Let's inhale. Reach the arm up. I like to just bend the left knee a little bit and reach through the fingertips. Let that right hip come forward. Deep breath in. Exhale. Release.

Beautiful. And so now just see if you can bring your awareness into the left shoulder. So maybe again just closing the eyes. It's always helpful to listen in to the inner body. And just see if you can feel into the left shoulder and continue to allow the arm to swing. And as feels good for the left shoulder that right arm might come all the way up and go all the way back in a circle. It might make a circle in the other direction. And just playing with it. Allowing the arm to flow as guided by the shoulder. And just you might notice a little bit of crunching in the shoulder here. And just beginning this deeper listening. Listening into the body. So we can move towards that sweetness, that presence within the body. Beautiful. One more round here. And then just releasing the arm. Come back to the center. Feet hip width apart. Close the eyes. Take a deep breath in. Exhale. Drop the awareness into the right shoulder, the right arm. Just see if you can perhaps compare it with the left side and notice the space that's been created in the right shoulder. Just feeling the spaciousness of releasing the tightness, the contraction. And letting this shoulder bring your awareness away from the mind and into the body. One more breath in. Exhale. Beautiful. Eyes open. Step back with the left foot. Let the left hand be heavy and just begin to swing the arm. Just really easily and naturally. And then allow that left arm to come up. Come on to the big toe, the tippy toe of the left big toe. Reach through the left fingers. Let that left hips often forward stretching down the left side of the body. Inhale. And exhale. Release. Beautiful. One more time. Inhale. Reaching up there. Dropping that left hip hip forward. And just you find your way that your body likes to open here. So there's no right way. Again, it's listening into the body.

And exhale. Release. And then start to drop the awareness into the left shoulder. And just feeling what feels good. Maybe the arm comes all the way up. Maybe it makes a circle behind you. Maybe it makes a circle the other way. There's no right or wrong way here. Just dropping into the shoulder and listening. How does it want to open? And just noticing maybe there's more or less crunch on this side. And then eventually starting to bring this to a close. Bringing the left foot forward. Closing the eyes. Deep breath in. Exhale. Drop the awareness into the left shoulder. Notice the results of opening the shoulder. What does it actually feel like in this moment? Maybe comparing the left and the right side. And starting to bring the awareness into the present moment by resting it in the body. One more breath in. Exhale. We're going to step the feet wide. Bring the hands onto the hips. So this is a little something that I've been inspired by Patricia Sullivan watching her video on yoga anytime. And so what we're going to do is just tune into the energy in the legs. So feel your hands on your hips like someone's come along and they've just put their hands on your shoulders and kind of just, you know, just settled your whole being. So your hands on your hips are just settling your being. Settling your legs down into the earth. And as you exhale, feel the energy running down the outside edges of the legs down into the earth. Just feeling the outside edges of the feet dropping down into the earth. As you inhale, feel the energy running up the inner legs from the earth and then up the front of the body. You might even feel your chest open a little bit. As you exhale, send the energy down the back body and down the outside edges of the legs down to the earth. Inhale, feel this energy line drawing up the inside of the legs. You might feel it coming up the front of the body opening the chest and then exhale sending the energy down the back and down the outside of the legs. Again, inhale drawing the energy up the inside of the legs. Feeling the chest open and as you exhale, send the energy down the back body down the outside of the legs. Deep breath in, exhale. So here you might start to notice the feet and the legs really anchoring down into the earth. We're going to inhale gently look up gentle arch and then exhale coming forward and you want to keep a flat back here. Allow the fingers to come down to the earth. You might want a block or a couple of books to rest your hands on to keep a flat back. Take a breath in, exhale and tune into the energy in the legs. Draw the energy up the inside of the legs, up the front of the body, chest opens forward, exhale send the energy back down the back body and down the outside of the legs. Inhale and exhale fold all the way forward. The hands might walk back towards you or they might come to the calves or the shins. Inhale draw the energy up the outside of the leg, up the inside of the legs, up the front of the body and exhale sending it down the back down the outside edges. One more breath in and exhale and just take a moment here just to let the head and the neck relax even more. Whatever thoughts or busyness in the mind as you've been carrying just drop it down into the earth. Let the shoulders relax whatever they've been carrying. One more breath in, exhale beautiful and then inhale look forward bend the knees slightly bring the hands up the legs, pause with the hands on the hips. Deep breath in, exhale feel this strength in the feet and the legs. We're going to turn the back foot in 45 degrees and send that front foot forward keeping the head over the heart.

We're going to rotate the shoulders forward palms face back let their hands interlace behind the back and the palms press together. I'm just going to step this way so you can see it. So palms press together send the hands down to the earth and bring them slightly away from the sit bones. Send this back shoulder back towards the back of the mat, inhale and then exhale bend the front knee and send that front knee which is my left knee to the left. So sending your left knee to the left, right shoulder to the right, feel the chest open and become aware really of these legs and these feet pressing strongly down into the earth so all the focus is in the in the legs. One more breath in and then exhale that super light arms just float up finding warrior two and just pause here and feel what it's like to have the energy resting down in the legs and the feet the belly with this deep inner listening deep presence. One more breath in and then exhale bend that front knee we're going to reach the top arm back looking down at your back ankle inhale exhale burn that front knee and then we're going to just come back to standing with the hands on the hips. I'm going to turn back around and face you. Just coming back to center tuning in again to this energy flow up the inside of the legs up the front of the chest and exhaling down the back body down the outside of the legs. One more breath in and then turn the back foot in 45 degrees right foot turns forward let the hips be even here so send this left hip towards the right ankle. We're going to rotate the shoulders forward palms face back and interlace the hands behind you interlacing the fingers the opposite way this time press the palms together elbows together so the arms are straight inhale and exhale send the hands down towards the earth you feel the chest open the shoulder blades hug send this left shoulder back inhale and then exhale the right knee bends and send the right knee to the right so it's like the left shoulder and the right knee are trying to hug behind you draw the belly in towards the spine and just allow your awareness really to drop down into the earth so you feel strength in the legs and the feet. Beautiful one more breath in and then exhale and let super light arms just lift up into warrior two and gently turning the head looking over the middle finger and just pausing here with this awareness down in the base of the spine the legs the feet deep inner listening and be hearing feeling the breath moving in and out and then inhale reaching that right arm back looking back at your back heel ankle exhale bending the right knee forward and then we're gonna bring the hands down either side of that front foot stepping back into a downward dog and pausing here and feel the connection between the hands and the earth the feet and the earth finding your breath and then coming on to the toes the tops of the toes we're gonna round the upper back bring the shoulders over their wrists and then just gently let the knees come down the hips come down tops of the feet press down onto the earth and finding a cobra one breath here chest opens and exhale coming all the way down just allowing yourself to rest on your belly for a couple of breaths deep breath in exhaling inhale bring the forehead to the center and we're going to extend the arms out and just let the hips wobble slightly side to side I'm just releasing the lower back and then we're just gonna very easily just turn over onto our back body and just rest here on the back deep breath in exhale and just notice where the body is touching the earth allow the bones to be heavy allow the body to really relax let go its tension and see if you can just develop this inner listening listening into the inside of the hands drawing the awareness up the inside of the arms drawing the awareness down through the torso into the hips feeling the inside of the legs the feet the neck and the head and just noticing and experiencing the aliveness in the whole body arresting the story of me and just being here in the present moment experience of the body maybe even tasting a little bit of the sweetness in this moment deep breath in exhale everything gonna hug the knees into the chest and gently wobble side to side we're going to release the left foot down onto the earth bring the right knee into the chest and I should have said at the beginning it would be good to have a strap so maybe you have one maybe you don't if you do you can just bring the strap around the sole of the right foot and straighten the leg otherwise you can just hold the leg wherever your hands come to and we're going to begin by just let go of the strap and let the upper arms just rest on the earth so your shoulders are relaxed your upper arms are relaxed and then gently holding the strap close to you going to inhale draw this right leg in as you press down through the left foot exhale sending the right leg back inhale drawing the right leg in exhale sending it back one more time inhale pressing down through the left foot bring the right leg in towards you keep the head down or if you like inhale lift the head up to the knee exhale head down and keep the right leg where it is just let the tailbone soften back and down deep breath into the back of the right leg and exhale soften bring the strap into both straps into the right hand place the left palm onto your left hip to anchor the left hip down inhale exhale let that right leg come out to the right slide the left heel away from you so the left leg straightens we're going to inhale lift the head look up at the left foot left toes and reach the left fingers down towards the foot one more breath here and exhale soften down inhale lift the right leg straps come into the left hand and just allow the leg to come over to the left I like to reach through my right arm pressing the palm down flex the left foot left leg is engaged deep breath in and exhale inhale bring the leg back up to center release the strap shake the leg out of it and then flex the right foot and slowly lower that right leg down to the earth and just resting here deep breath in exhale now your awareness to move down into the right leg just for a moment just noticing the release of contraction in the right leg see if you can actually taste it nose to sing comparing the difference between the left and the right one more breath in exhale inhale bring the knees back into center and just wobble gently side to side we're going to place the right foot on the floor hug the left knee in and bring the strap around the left foot extending that left leg up to the sky so again begin just by releasing the strap let the upper arms rest on the earth shoulders relaxed bring the hands onto the strap close to you and then inhale press down through the right foot and bring the left leg in towards you exhale sending the tailbone and the leg away from you press down through the right foot inhale draw the left leg in exhale sending it away one more time inhale drawing that left leg in either keep the head down or maybe looking up on an exhale inhale exhale softening down keep the left leg where it is and just release the tailbone back down onto the earth and then soften the leg away from you bring the straps in to the left hand inhale and bring this right palm and place it on your right hip so you anchor that right hip down and as you exhale let the left leg come out to the left slide the right heel away from you flex that right foot and then we're going to inhale lift and look up at the right toes deep breath in here exhale head and shoulders back down and then inhale bring the left leg up straps come into the other hand and allow the leg to come all the way over to the right reaching with the opposite direction with your left hands flex the right foot right leg deep breath in and exhale inhale leg comes back up to center release the strap shake the leg out just to release it and then flex the left foot slowly lower that left leg back down take a deep breath in and exhale so using your big wide open ears and listening down into the left leg and just noticing the results of releasing contraction in the left leg comparing it with the right so you can experience what's actually happening in the body like tasting the sweetness eating the cupcakes one more breath in exhale and then if you want to one final time you can just hug the knees into the chest wobble gently side to side and then just release the legs and we're going to pause here for a moment in Shavasana arms just lying away from the body palms face up deep breath in exhale again just allow yourself to rest into the aliveness in the body in the hands in the feet in the legs the hips the torso neck and head one more breath in exhale gently inhaling and reaching the arms overhead pointing the toes to stretching the body exhale curling over onto one side gently finding your way up to a comfortable seated position and let the hands backs of the hands rest on the thighs thumb and index finger lightly touch closing the eyes just finding a comfortable position allowing the backs of the hands to rest on the thighs perhaps the thumb and the index finger lightly touch closing the eyes take a deep breath in exhale through the mouth and let the belly soften and relax again and feel the tailbone drop back and down let the pelvic floor muscles soften and relax I'm just feeling where the body touches the earth as you inhale allow the spine to find its alignment allow the heart to brighten just for a moment just resting into the body no agenda just simply being here I'm taking a deeper breath in exhaling gently let the hands find each other at the heart we'll finish with one on inhale clearing breath exhale inhale for on namaste thank you for joining me blessings on your journey