Still Point in Shiva's Heart

Namaste the yogi friend today we're going to spend a little time with our friend Shiva so Manoj spoke to us about some of the symbology of the murti of Shiva and the teachings that are implied in that and today we're just going to to take a little bit from from one of those and that is this circle of flames that surrounds him this represents the never-ending cycle of birth and death that that the yogic philosophy speaks of that is attributed to our attachment to the ego to the small mind to me and so Manoj pointed out the only still point in this never-ending revolving circle is in the center and you can see in Shiva that the center is in his heart so we're going to spend some time today resting into the still point in the heart moving towards a sense of peace and freedom so you might want to find yourself a couple of props we're going to use definitely one blanket if you have two that would be great and maybe a chair we're going to perhaps if you have a chair and a blanket available at the end rest our legs on to the chair so just taking a moment to set yourself up with that so just finding your blanket and we're going to roll it up with the tassels away from us and just roll it tightly towards the tassels making a mini burrito and then we're going to set that down and place it we're going to lie on it so that the shoulder blades are lying on to the blanket so place the soles of the feet onto the earth the knees bent and then finding this place where the shoulder blades are resting so the back of the heart is resting down the head comes down to the earth and the arms come out I'm just going to move slightly away from Shiva so I don't knock him here bringing the head down so spend a little time just finding where it actually feels good to you if it's too high it'll feel weird if it's too low it won't feel great but when you find the middle place just underneath the back of the heart and shoulder blades you can just allow everything to soften back down arms wide deep breath in exhale inhale lift the hips slightly send them down towards the bottom of the mat so you're just lengthening the lower back and then extend the legs out legs together let the head and the shoulders relax down let the jaw relax deep breath in feel the rib cage expand feel the chest broad and feel the lungs expand exhale softening and relaxing again inhale rib cage opens lungs expand chest opens exhale soften you can just let the legs the feet fall apart here let everything relax drop your awareness into the center of the chest into the heart center just notice the sensation the physical sensation in the center of the chest let the breath move into the chest notice the breath moving out not trying to make anything happen just noticing the breath coming in and out softening the hands one more breath in exhale inhale bring the soles of the feet onto the earth the knees in the air and just gently just going to remove the blanket place it to the side just rest with the feet wider than the hips the knees rest in against each other let the back of the heart soften down into the earth deep breath in and exhale just allowing a sigh to release you I'm feeling whatever stories of me in my life busyness of the mind feeling that just melt away as you rest the awareness into the heart one more breath in exhale inhale draw the knees into the chest gently wobble side to side and then you can roll to the side and come up to sitting or if you like you can bring the hands to the backs of the thighs and let the weight of the feet just rock you backwards and forwards a couple of times just massaging the spine waking up the vertebra the discs and just playing a little bit here and then eventually making your way up and finding a comfortable seated position and resting the backs of the hands on the thighs closing the eyes deep breath in exhale through the mouth relax the belly again deep breath in exhale soften the belly inhale reach the crown of the head up to the sky let the spine grow like a tree out of the earth feel the shoulders lift slightly as you inhale and exhale hug the shoulder blades back and feel the chest open rest the awareness into the center of the chest the heart center soften the hands for a moment just notice a gentle breath moving into the center of the chest out from the center of the chest deeper breath in exhale bring the hands in front of the heart center and from the heart let's share one on together inhale gently let the eyes open release the hands I'm just going to come up into a forward fold so bring the feet just slightly apart inhale look forward and then exhale let the head and the shoulders soften down you can just bend one knee and straighten the back of the other leg take a breath in then the other knees straighten the back of the leg take a breath in just a couple times here as it feels good and then just releasing the hands from the earth let them find the opposite elbow let the head and the neck release just releasing the mind the thoughts the busyness whatever to-do list you have deep breath in and exhale with a sigh let it all go can bend the knees here if you'd like deep breath in to the lower back exhale soften the upper body down one more beautiful and then inhale and just going to slowly bend the knees and let the head roll up the back roll up just one vertebra at a time letting the spine start to grow tall shoulders back and down chest opens feel the crown of the head reach up deep breath in exhale gonna step to the front of the mat bring the feet together bring the hands in front of the heart center thumbs resting at the heart center so you can feel that center point in the chest find the breath here in the center of the chest as you inhale feel it expand as you exhale feel it soften inhaling reaching up looking at the thumbs gentle heart opener exhale folding forward inhale look forward with a flat back exhale we're gonna step that back foot back press place the left heel in line with the right heel and then inhale come up bring the right forearm on to the right knee look down at your right knee and make sure it's directly over that right ankle and then we're going to bring the left hand and place it at the base of the skull so you're holding your head with your hand and inhale press down through that back foot lift that back in a thigh press back the head into the hand so you feel the shoulder blades hug and you feel the chest open deep breath in to the heart center and exhale release that top arm overhead awareness in the center of the chest breathing in and as you exhale expand from the center of the chest reach through the fingertips press back through the back edge of the the left foot beautiful one more breath in exhale bring that top arm up we come into warrior two then inhale straighten that front leg place the hands on the hips and just take a moment to take a breath here exhale see this left hip here this back hip it's a tendency for it to turn up so bring the hips even by sending the left hip forward towards that right ankle bring the hands in front of the heart center thumbs resting on the chest and begin by centering yourself into the heart feel the breath moving into the heart and exhaling from the chest from the heart I'm going to play with this inhale into the heart center exhale expand the arms keeping the awareness in that still point in the center of your being inhale draw the breath in to that place exhale expanding from that place inhale drawing the breath in awareness in the center of the being exhale gently pausing keeping the awareness in the center of your being in that still point gently looking forward just being at rest here in warrior two one more breath in and then exhale we're going to reach back look back at the back ankle inhale exhale front knee forward and then coming all the way forward stepping back into a plank position belly in towards the spine press out through the heels shoulders move back towards the hips and the heart comes forward one breath in and then exhale drop the knees tilt the tailbone up to the sky then the elbows alongside the body and rest the chest on the earth inhale scoop the chest forward and exhale tuck the toes under lifting up into a downward dog just maybe bending one knee at a time breathing into the back of the other leg just allowing the legs to open gently here finding stillness and finding again the breath the awareness centered in the heart one more breath in inhale look forward step the left foot forward plant the right heel down bring the left knee over the left ankle left forearm on to the left knee right hand on to the right hip we're gonna bring this right hand to the base of the skull hold the head in the hand and as you press down through that back outer edge of the back foot lift the inner thigh of the back leg press the head back into the hand so you feel the shoulder blades hug and you feel the chest the heart open can soften that front knee forward a little bit so centering the awareness in the chest inhale and then exhale release that top arm overhead breathing into the heart center exhale emanating from your center point out through the fingertips down through the back foot one more breath in and then exhale bring that top arm back finding warrior to straighten the front leg hands on the hips pause here and just look down at your hips and bring that back hip down so that the hips are even bring the hands at the the heart center of the chest inhale into the center of the chest and exhale expand with the awareness still in the heart inhale draw the energy into the heart center exhale expanding from the heart center one more time resting in your still point in the center of the heart inhale straighten that front leg reach back look down at the back ankle and exhale we're going to fold all the way forward step back into a plank position your choice here you can just come to lying on your belly or if you'd like to you can just slowly lower down perhaps hovering for a moment inhale and then exhale soften everything and we're going to turn over onto our backs I'm just resting the whole body down deep breath in exhale and becoming aware of the body touching the earth as you exhale allow the body to give up its tension it's holding into the earth allow the mind to give up some of its tension and it's holding into the earth arresting the story of me the cycling of the ego and resting into the heart center let the hands soften heart softens one more breath in exhale inhale bring the knees into the chest gently wobble side to side and then we're going to place the soles of the feet down on the earth knees in the air arms alongside the body I'm going to inhale lift the hips lift the arms overhead feeling opening in the chest and exhale softening the arms and the hips back down inhale lifting the hips reaching the arms back overhead exhale softening back down inhale lifting everything keep the hips lifted bring the arms back alongside the body either keep the hands where they are you might want to interlace the hands underneath the back gently move from one side to the other bringing the shoulders underneath the back so that you can feel the upper chest open a little bit more here breathing in feel the ribs open feel the chest expand the lungs expand exhale one more breath in exhale and then inhale come on to the balls of the feet reach the arms up to the sky exhale slowly melt the back down on to the earth let the arms come back down alongside the body just pause here for a moment knees resting in against each other deep breath in exhale we're gonna take that the flowing bridge that we just took and this time we're gonna do it slightly differently we're going to come down with an empty breath so I'm gonna talk you through it we'll just come up we'll inhale exhale so that all the breath is cleared from the lungs and then we'll melt the back down onto the earth so bringing the feet hip width apart arms alongside the body knees in the air inhale lift the hips lift the arms rest the arms overhead on the earth exhale take a deep inhale feel the ribs expand the chest expand and exhale everything so you get completely empty of breath without taking another breath slowly lower the upper back then the mid back then the lower back down onto the earth and bring the feet wider than the hips knees resting against each other and allow a natural breath to return and then you can just let the arms come back alongside you just rest into the after effect of this movement sometimes there's a sweet feeling the mind softens its grip resting into the body one more breath in exhale so you may want to stay here or you try that one more time feet hip width apart knees in the air inhale lift the hips lift the arms rest the arms on the earth exhale if the hips a little higher inhale chest opens exhale everything get completely empty of breath keeping the arms where they are with no breath slowly lower the back down to the earth upper back mid back lower back just wait for a breath naturally to come back to you and then you can release the arms alongside the body maybe let the knees rest against each other feet wider than the hips take a few natural breaths allowing yourself to receive the effects the stilling within the body in the mind one more breath in exhale now I think it would be nice at this point either to rest your legs on a chair or to rest your legs up the wall so just choosing one of those begin just by bringing the knees into the chest and wobbling side to side so as you can see I have just put a blanket on the chair just to soften it rest in my shins on the chair and I've used my other blanket underneath my head I like to just roll it tuck it slightly so that it just supports the base of the neck there so once you find your position either here on the chair or with the legs up the wall take a deep breath in exhale letting the sound release the body this is a great position for releasing any lower back tension I feel that the hips and sacrum just give up their holding softening down legs heavy soles of the feet soft and relaxed deep breath in exhale release the shoulders whatever burden or stresses you've been carrying on your shoulders let that just flow off the shoulders down into the air arms heavy palms of the hand soft relax the jaw the swallow at the lips part feel whatever busyness in the mind has been there feel it shrinking and dissolving down through the back of the head down into the earth resting the awareness in the still point the center of the chest the mind wanders just coming back to the breath flowing in and out of the heart one more breath in exhale and to come out of this we're just gently going to turn to the side and rest on our side knees curling in towards you just taking a deeper breath in to the whole body exhaling and without rushing in your own timing just very gently allow yourself to press down with that top hand and come up finding a comfortable seated position rest the backs of the hands on the thighs thumb and index finger might touch lightly closing the eyes deep breath in exhale through the mouth relax the belly and again let the spine naturally find its alignment let the chest brighten and open allow the hands to soften palms of the hands drop the awareness in to the center of the chest the heart center just gently notice the rise and the fall of the breath in the chest it might not even be there so don't make any effort just resting into the heart center taking a slightly deeper breath in exhaling let the hands find each other tenderly in front of the heart and we'll finish together with one om from the heart inhale exhale clearing breath inhale for om namaste