Freeing Sun Salutations

Family, how do you get started? Where do you begin? You begin where you are. What I would say is the first thing you wanna do in the morning, if you're inspired by watching this show, bring it. As you start to explore your own practice, run to your mat in the morning.

Run to your mat right away, and what I often do is start moving things around. There's a great line from Einstein, he says, "Nothing happens until something moves." So the great way to get things unstuck, bring your breath and start moving. And sometimes what I do is bring a mantra into it. So let me do that now. Where love flows through, where-- You can inhale.

Let your breath come in naturally. Where love flows through. Where love flows through. Where love flows through. Om mani padme hum.

Om mani padme hum. You can make it your own, right? It starts to get the energy moving, the chakti, you're up on your feet, and it's a great way to feel like you're ready, or you wanna get ready, or you pray for the willingness. So that's one way to like jump on your mat. I'm gonna introduce today, and I'm really super excited about it, these creative, I often call them, creative or playful namaskars.

So get your music on, get your favorite songs on. Music brings a lot of inspiration to your movement and it will shape how you move and also bring some energy to your practice today. So you can put on one of my Spotify playlists or rock out with one of yours, okay? So I'm gonna start with stepping from side to side. I call it One Love, remember those statues, "I love you this much!" (laughs) "I love you this much!" So this is called One Love and that's what it's all about.

And then you're moving on your breath. One Love, feet together. One Love, feet together. Step wide, step back, step, and then just bring it from side to side and it becomes a fun way to feel your rhythm, to feel your breath, feel your feet from side to side. And bring your own spin, so you start to move like you, okay?

Let's add one of my favorites, OMG. So we get a One Love, OMG party going. One Love, Oh My God. One Love, feet together. One Love, OMG One Love, feet together.

And then let it take you from side to side, like anusara it's very rhythmic. Moving on your breath, very fluid. And there's a great moment here when you open and then you bow, alright you bow to where you are today. Not where someone else is. Let yourself be where you are.

I can do these all day, I get excited, like things start shaking around through the energy and opening up, okay. I remember growing up and my dad would always say, if I would fall or something difficult would happen, he'd say, "Just get back up on the horse, kid." So I thought I'd bring in my love for unicorns. (laughs) I know sometimes it feels like I'm a unicorn having a human experience. So let's bring in the unicorn and it looks like this. It's up to you, you can have your horn here, almost like a prancing unicorn like this. So here's where we can integrate another shape into the mix.

So that you can get back on your mat, get back on your unicorn, get back to your center. Whatever it really feels like it is for you. One Love, Oh My God. Get back up on your unicorn, Kali. This is a big, fun pose.

Big, wild goddess. (exhales breath) Kali right into OMG, feet together. One Love, Oh My God. Get back on your unicorn, Kali. OMG, feet together. One Love, Oh My God.

Unicorn, Kali. (laughs) It's crazy, OMG bring it together. And then start to really move like yourself, okay? Step wide, One Love. Oh My God, your call on the hands.

It's a pretty big step right? (exhales breath) Kali Ma, shake it out fierce. (exhales breath) OMG, and then feet together, let's do one more. Who knows, something might move through your practice as you're doing it. You can open the toes a little wider and really free the hips there, fam. OMG, bow down to it, fly up, step wide. And back, and up, and out. (laughs) And back, and together.

Mmmm. (exhales breath) So no matter how many times you've fallen off the path or run away, you can come back. I remember somebody even asking me, like, "If I do this am I still on the path?" You know it's so, so, so personal. Running to the mat and getting the body moving and feeling this shift and it's a shift in consciousness, it's a shift in thinking, it's a shift in how you get to show up. So here's a fun one. You can also take that same Kali pose, these are really super energetic, and I call them Kali jumping jacks.

Kali (exhales breath) Utkatasana. Kali (laughs) Utkatasana. Which is that fierce pose, sitting deep into your power. So jump on your breath are exhausting. and exciting and exhilarating.

(exhales breath) Okay, this is a fun version. I'm gonna bring a variation of Shiva. Let me hit you with it first so you can see. Sometimes you'll see Shiva, and often the arm mirrors the knee. Shiva's a great example.

We want to be free. Something we want to experience freedom, something has to end for something new to begin. And so it's like sometimes we leave a crack in the door (laughs) kinda completely shut the door, right? So here's Shiva sweeps into your life and says okay, take a look at this. You're ready, that's what the change is.

Sometimes it's something like this. And this Shiva you're gonna bring your hands out to the side, okay? Let's move to the top of the mat. Shiva may be clearing you out for some new delight. So here's our Shiva.

Yeah, quite a bit of balance is required but check it in. Sometimes a small bend in the knee versus super straight leg, you'll see that. We'll give you a moment, you're also inviting maybe consciously, unconsciously I'll make you aware of it, that when you move, when you climb into the breath, that you can open the leg, will help you lift from your lower belly those inner lifts. So peaceful, appears out of Shiva, and then swirls around into more peace. We roll it back into Rainbow Warrior.

OMG, ride up, use the ground as momentum into Shiva. Shiva! The dance, right? You're dancing inside this change, the fire's turned up. Peaceful, peaceful. Rainbow, on your breath.

OMG, mmm, up and open. Shiva! And then weave your way back, peace. Play with the arms the way they move, there's no one way to do any of this. Rainbow, roll it back, so the front leg that's bent gets long and the back leg that's long gets bent. (laughs) It switches.

OMG, and then spring up and open, Shiva. And then turn up your music and then dissolve into the movement. Rainbow, OMG, spring up and open. Feel the softness and raise the lift in the heart, this stretch through the arms. Peace, peace.

Who knows, you might be practicing and go, "I miss Kali." (laughs) And come in here, okay? So, let yourself be drawn, pulled into the magic. Peace, peace, peace, peace. Rainbow, Oh My God. Shiva, one more.

Who knows, you can go Shiva, OMG. Peace, peace. Reach, reach, extend, expand! Let your breath open you up. Rainbow, OMG. Shiva, come to my rescue, Shiva.

I threw the OMG in. Peace, peace. Pivoting around. Shape shifting from side to side, Oh My God, Shiva. I'll exit with an OMG.

Bow to Shiva the great dancer, the dance of change. The dance of transformation. Often times the day-vid-ah sees the dancers that would dance in the temple would first bow down to the ground, touch the Earth, touch the Bhumi, and say, "Thank you for letting me stomp on you." And then sing a chant to Shiva, because Shiva was the dancer. So you always bow down with reverence to Shiva. Okay, I got another one for you.

This one, mm. Let's meet Crane Pose. So I practiced tai chi for many years, and learned a bunch of cool kung fu. Went to China with my, sounds like it looks like seafood, but I think you pronounce it shifu. And I learned a practice called swimming dragon.

And one of the moves in there was this crane. And I was like, "I want the crane, "I'm gonna take the crane with me." So play with the crane a little bit. Kinda looks like what it is, like this big reach. I love the movement up and down and exploring like this wing span. Bring your breath with you, it's big and it's bright like your life.

When we connect in this way, and it's unstoppable. Force of life. Mmmm, mmm, mm, wobble around a little bit. Okay, so I'm gonna thread that through from the top of the mat. So let's make our way, and you're gonna see some old friends in there.

Utkatasana, and usually an OMG appears but we'll see, okay. So sit deep into it, you notice, right? When you bend your knees your hips move back. Sometimes the tail bone lifts, you hear that instruction, like bring your tail bone in, you'll see if that's right for you. So you're long, and then as you swing your arms back bend, deepen and then stretch your heart up.

Feel the heart rise and float up into your arms. Now meet Diver's Pose. Diver's Pose you're gonna roll to the balls of your feet. Lift your inner arches up, reach back through your butt. Lengthen through your spine, stretch through your heart.

Then when you come bend back through your knees in that Utkatasana turn it into a Crane Pose, and then in long, long, long, you're extending. Reaching the hardest stretch and your leg is lengthening, it's Warrior III, it's Virabhadrasana III. Keep reaching through that back leg. One, Warrior I. Spin your one around, spin your world around. (laughs) Turn your world around right into three, shift to the front foot, almost like you're just slicing through.

Big bend, Utkatasana, who knows, maybe go a little deeper into the shape, feel your heart rise up out of your pelvis. Now you've got the left side, Diver's Pose, from your Utkatasana. Swoop down and up, Crane's Pose. See if you can get uncomfortable with the shakiness, just shake around, finding your center, your stillness. One from three, spinning around.

Yeah, feel how sturdy your legs are, then you're about to leave the ground, or you're gonna come and fly into your super duper moment, your super soul moment. Sink deep on your breath into your fierceness, into the self, that you're calling on to meet throughout your practice. Diver's Pose, let's check it in, zip those inner legs up. Fly up, because you're free. How free do you wanna be yogis?

Three, one, let the shape start to merge and dance. Three, three, long, long, long reaching. Utkatasana. Diver's Pose, dive in deep. Even deeper, ah! Come on up into Crane.

Three. (exhales breath) One, turn it around, dance it around. The shape shifting all the way up and through. Sink down, rise your heart up, stretch through your arms, look up and reach up. And breathe your way on up to stand. Arms down by your side. (exhales breath) Notice too, sometimes the flow goes one side and this one it went full circle.

So as you start rolling out some of these flows, you might repeat 'em and then find your self drawn to checking in one, or another. Let's take some movement with some sound on this one. Okay, let's start at the top of the mat. Your wild carpet (laughs) your flying carpet. Swing your arms up, and those you know, when I first started learning yoga I was told to keep my knee caps very, very lifted.

And so you can decide if certain things feel good in your body. The bending in the knees is very, is a lot of different things. It's tai chi, it's African dance, there's something about bending the knee that allows you to feel more of the Earth. So see for yourself. I think that's really the great thing about yoga is no one is telling you what to do.

There's suggestions, or might even be recommendations. This is what I found for my practice, like bending the knees gives me a lot more play, and a lot more support, I feel more connected to the Earth. Even as I'm taking flight in these balancing poses, right? And as you're finding this balance and stepping into your freedom, what is freedom to you, right? Really feel that even as you're falling can you be free as you're falling?

And pouring yourself into these mystical shapes that really express your spirit. So you have a chance to express yourself through the movement, that's the freedom, so you can move like you, right? So you can really make it your own. Okay, let's meet over here. Look down, see where you are, look at your feet.

That'll usually let you know where you are, okay? And there swing the arms up. OMG, we'll bring OMG into our Crane, and then weave back, interlace your hands. I'll slow this one down, we just did that Warrior III. Gonna turn it into a devotional Warrior.

So roll up the heart from your back leg. Deep bend through the knee, and empty your head on down to the ground. You can hang out or you can keep it more fluid here. Fly up through center, flying Warrior. Ah! Okay?

As you weave your way into the back of the mat, what feels like the back of your mat, peaceful Warrior. Rainbow Warrior, Oh My God, right up into your Crane. OMG as you exit, big bend in your knees. Utkatasana. Mhmm, fly on up, breathing in, Oh My God.

Up into the Crane, mmm. Really trust your breath here, uh huh. Weave your way back long, start bending that right knee, stretch your back leg. Empty your head, bow your head down, bow to (mumbles). Up, up, up, up, up, up.

Open, open, open. Flying Warrior. Peaceful. Roll it back, sink into those hips. Rainbow Warrior, OMG, feet meet.

Inhale, arms up. Exhaling, come on down. Fly up, let's check this in again. OMG in a new way, up into the Crane. Devotional Warrior, wow! (laughs) Really extend that back leg.

Fly up. Peaceful Warrior, Rainbow Warrior, OMG, bow to all of it, feet meet, flying up. Oh My God, Crane your way, queen above it all. Devotion, deep bend in the knee, empty it out. Flying Warrior, peace.

Sit into it. From a Rainbow, OMG. Feet together, get really, really low on this one. Come up on to your tippi toes. Fly up to stand, breathe, inhale.

And release your arms down by your side. In between you can feel the stillness. You can let the arms, the arms are so expressive of you and your longing and your passion. Then it might feel that you have a chance with your breath and the movement to let you feel, almost like you've gotten a new heart. (laughs) Sometimes I feel like that with the practice, like I've been given a new heart, or my heart's been given this surge of spirit. So your life is just refreshed, renewed, ignited.

So feel that here, and if you like using the arms, then you'll start to see how the arms can move you from one place to the next. And let yourself go nude and naked, without any fixed idea with how to move. So that you start following it, following the shapes, but then you find yourself feeling that you can express the shapes through you. I want you to have fun with it. I want you to tag me back and let me know what you've come up with, what you've discovered.

Let's have a seat. (exhales breath) Let's use the hands. It's a wonderful way, so we use the bigger, bolder, wild. It can seem wild but if you look at pictures of the yogis, they were experiencing great ecstasy. And they would experience this ecstasy in the moment, and in the next moment they'd experience a new bliss.

And in that moment they'd laugh, or feel this incredible awakening. So it really isn't that wild, maybe it's because our lives have become more structured or more contained. So I want you to feel that you can just let yourself be free and have that become a daily part of your life, like carve it out, run to your mat, throw your arms in the air, put on a favorite song, and if some of that structure, some of that form of unicorns and cranes and lions and tigers and bears (laughs) give you an opportunity to remember that the poses are really a mirror of the natural world. The trees, the birds, all of it. And so it gives us great reverence and great respect for everything around us and inside of us.

So check this in, I wanna use our hands and close with this invitation to be the place where love flows through. So we can take that with the big movement, remember? We did the where love flows through, and we can take it smaller as well. So the thumb and index finger, and then the thumb and the middle. And then the ring, and then the pinkie.

Where love flows through. Try that, right under your-- So it's the mantra and the mudra. Where love flows through. Where love flows through. Where love flows through.

Where love flows through. You could also sa-ta-na-ma. Kundalini mantra sat nam. To be with the truth, broken down. Sa-ta-na-ma.

Sa-ta-na-ma. Free to be me. (laughs) Free to be me. Free to be me. Sa-ta-na-ma. And as you start to feel the mind getting quieter and more receptive, and all that great big movement allows you to go deep into your source and feel this vibrant, vibrant stillness, you might find yourself repeating it inside.

Keeping the movement with the fingers and letting that repetition start to repeat you. And at the end there, you can bring all your fingers together, we did it in the Crane Pose, remember? I'm gonna bring it back around, it's called Mukula mudra. Little beak mudra. And you take these two beaks, and because you're the healer, right?

You bring as a yogi you bring healing into your own hands. You can place it wherever you need it. Your heart, your head, maybe a combination. You might've had an injury you're nursing. And bring all this energy, all this energy that you've collected and summoned from your practice.

And let it do its wonder. The word healing comes from the word wholeness. Keep your breath really like a constant companion, like you're with your bestie here, your friend, and you're staying connected. The more still you are in the poses, the more you really wanna really stay close to what's important. And I'll let that roll for you, and then when you're ready you can feel the completeness of that and then rest your hands.

And I was gonna close with a song, a mantra. I'll buzz over and get my harmonium. Let's sing together. Or I'll sing to you, lie down. (laughs) (plays the harmonium) â?« Lokah â?« Samasta â?« Sukhino â?« Bhavantu â?« Lokah â?« Samasta â?« Sukhino â?« Bhavantu â?« Lokah â?« Samasta â?« Sukhino â?« Bhavantu â?« May all beings â?« Everywhere â?« Be wild â?« And free â?« Wild â?« Free â?« Wild â?« Free â?« Almost like you're in a boat. â?« Wild â?« Free â?« Rockin' it, rockin' your own goodness.

â?« Wild â?« Free â?« It's the first mantra I ever learned, may all beings everywhere be happy and free. I had to put the wild in there, happy and wild and free. (laughs) When we practice that's how we remember, family, loving you, loving life. Namaste.