Dharma: Find Your Purpose

No mistake. Welcome to practice. Today's practice will be our Dharma practice. And for this, you will need 2 blocks. And we're gonna start off with the Mudra.

So go ahead and rub your palms together, and we're gonna come into dharma Chakra Mudra. So you'll bring your index fingers and your thumbs together on each hand. With your left hand, face it inwards towards your chest. With your right hand, it's gonna face away from you. And you're just gonna attach your right hand to your left middle finger just like this, making the wheels of dharma. So once you've got that set up for yourself, let your eyes close, take a few deep breaths, and let yourself just feel the mudra Find your seat.

Feel the breath moving through. Just give yourself this one tiny holy pause here at the beginning of practice. To get centered and grounded or centered and grounded is you can be in this moment. And trust that if you're not feeling centered and grounded in this moment, trust the process, trust the practice. We'll chant the sound of ohm three times to begin.

Breathing in. Oh, and take a very full breath in, retain it at the top, feeling the lift and the swell of the chest, pulling up through the side ribs, and then exhale everything out. Settling into the drop of the sits bones, the release of the shoulders. Next breath is there for you when you need it. Breathe in.

And breathe out. And then you can blink your eyes open, give your hands, your legs, a little shake out if they need it. We're gonna start off on a block today. You can grab a block to sit in Vedrasana. So sitting on your heels, knees are together, as best you can. They can also be in line with the thigh bones if that feels a little bit better for your for your body today. Take a glance back at your feet.

Make sure your toes are spread open. And then you can use the inner edges of the feet to squeeze around the outer edges of the block just to give that sensation of hugging in towards the midline. Once you've got that, step your right foot down to the ground with your right knee bent. Stretch your right leg out long in front of you. And do just a few rolls of the ankle, and your hands can just rest on your thighs, and you'll roll it in the opposite direction.

Good. And then step your right foot back down to the ground, inhale and hook the thumbs, lift up, take a full breath in, And on the breath out, gentle twist left hand to the outside of the right thigh, right hand back behind you. You can turn the neck to look over the right shoulder, taking a full breath in, twist a little deeper with your breath out. Just one more breathing in. Twist a little deeper with your breath out. Keep your left hand where it is and lift your right arm all the way up.

Cross your right wrist over your left and just let your hands drop there and then drop your head, chin towards your chest. Upper body stays lifted. Take a full breath in and a full breath out. Press down into your wrists, roll your way up, and replace your right foot right back where you found it. Let's try the left side.

Step your left foot down to the ground, left knee bent. Extend your left leg out long in front of you. Hands can rest on your thighs and you'll roll your left ankle out. And then roll it in the opposite direction. Just opening up the feet and the legs, that first chakra area, You'll step your left foot back down to the ground.

And on the inhale, hook your thumbs, lift up. And on the exhale, take a twist. Right hand to the outside of the left side, left hand back behind you this time. And you can use the right hand on the outside of the left side to deepen the twist turning, turning, turning, breathe in. Twist deeper with your breath out.

One more breathing in and twisting up. Keep the right hand where it is. Lift the left arm all the way up. Cross your left wrist over your right wrist. Let your hands drop.

Drop your head down. Take a full breath in. Full breath out. Press down into your wrists. Roll your way back up.

Step your left foot back down, coming back into your Vedrasana, back into your dharma Chakra Mudra, index fingers and thumbs come together, touching the middle finger, of the left hand full breath in full breath out. And then we're gonna repeat that and just build on it. Step your right foot down to the ground, straighten your right leg out long in front of you, roll out your right ankle. Roll it in the opposite direction. Step your right foot back down to the ground.

Hook your thumbs and lift up. And on the x, I'll take your twist left hand to the outside of the right thigh right hand back behind you looking back over your right shoulder, full breath in. Twist deeper with your breath out one more time, breathe it in, and twist it out. Keep your left hand where it is. Lift your right arm up.

Cross your right wrist over your left and drop your head. Chin to chest. Full breath in. Full breath out. Just opening up the back of your neck. Push down into your wrists.

Roll your way up. Little different this time. Step your right foot forward. Come on to your right hand onto your hands and step your left foot back. You're in a lunge.

Lower your left knee down, and you could keep that block exactly where it is and just turn on your left knee to face the side. I'm stepping into my right foot and lifting my left arm up. Take a side bend over towards your right thigh. Reaching. So it's almost like an extended side angle on your left knee. Same work here. Right? So you can press into the right forearm turn the underside of the chest up and even glance underneath your left arm.

Do your best to keep poking the left hip out to the left So you get a nice stretch from the crest of the left hip all the way up to the bottom of the ribs. From here, come up to like a warrior 2 on your left knee, and you can take a glance right down through your right middle finger. And open through the chest reaching the arms as far away from each other as possible. Bring your hands down right in front of you and step your left foot wide, so you're in a big goddess squat, you're still facing the side. Arms come up into goddess arms like a cactus shape, spread the fingers open, elbows are in line with the shoulders, thighs, press back, toes are turned out, Drop the tailbone, sink the creases of the hips, tip your chin up a little bit.

Take a couple of breaths there just to feel this powerful shape. Opening through the chest, opening through the hips, from here straighten out your legs, and turn your toes in. Interlace your fingers behind your back. Squeeze the shoulder blades together. Lift the head and the chest.

Look up lean back. On the exhale, soften your knees and fold forward into prosari to Pado to Nasana. When you get down to the bottom, drop your head push down into your feet and see if you can straighten your legs any amount. Now if hands interlace doesn't work for your body, you can just stretch your arms back without interlacing them. If you've got the palms interlaced, perhaps try to press them together.

Releasing your hands down to the ground. Crawl your way back towards the front of your space and come back into a lunge. From here, lower your left knee down, point your left toes, hook your thumbs, and lift up into a crescent lunge, reaching up open up, cactus the arms, full breath in, full breath out. Bring your hands back down on either side of your right foot. Step back plank pose. Block can stay exactly where it is.

And push a little forward and back through your heels, just opening up through the soles of the feet, pressing the fingertips down, feel your connection to the ground. And then you'll drop your knees hips to heels, child's pose, and your head can just rest on your block there. Give yourself a breath in. Breath out. Come back on to hands and knees.

Bread in. Tuck your toes. Lift your hips. Downward facing dog. Adomukasfanasana. Spread your fingers out. Spread your toes.

You can bend one knee and bend the other, and then reach your right leg up. And step it forward. Come into a lunge. Bring your left knee down like Vedrasana. Take your right leg back.

You're back in your Vedrasana. Let's try the left side stuff. Your left foot down, left knee bent. Stretch your left leg out long and roll your ankle out. Hands can rest on thighs, can roll it in the opposite direction.

Step your left foot back in, hook your thumbs, lift up, breathe in, take your twist on the breath out, hand back behind you, right hand to the outside of the left thigh, full breath in, twist a little deeper, one more time like that. Breathing in. Twist a little deeper. Keep your right hand where it is. Lift your left arm up.

Cross your left wrist over your right wrist. Drop your head. Full breath in, full breath out, pushing down into your wrists, roll your way up, Step your left foot forward, shift into your left foot slide. Your right leg, back hands are on the ground. Lower your right knee down.

Turn on your right knee to face the side. Stepping your left foot down to the ground, lift your right arm up. Left forearm can rest on the left thigh, and you'll take your side bend over towards the left that, like, extended side angle variation on your knee. Right? So just to get some, direction for the upper body, turn. Look underneath your right arm. Reach through your right arm.

Get all that nice space down through the right ribs. Opening up the whole right side body. From here, we come up to the warrior 2 on the knee. Reach your arms away from you. Gaze can be right down the left middle finger stretching in two directions.

Press your arms down here, like, as if you're pushing into some to engage the muscles through your back. Good. And then bring your hands down and step your right foot wide so you're in a big gotta squat again, arms come back up, cactus like shape, pull the elbows back, stack the wrists on top of your elbows, little bit of a glance up there. Open, receptive to whatever's coming in. Full big full breath there. Straighten out your legs and turn your toes in, interlace your fingers behind your back.

Opposite interlacing, pull the fist of the hands down, lift the chest up lean back, and on the exhale, soft, and the knees bow your way down, Prasari Dipata Tanasana, drop your head, relax your neck, You might shake out the head there if that feels good. Again, big, generous breath here. Release your hands down, walk yourself over towards the front of your space, come back into a lunge hands on either side of your left foot and lower your right knee, point your right toes. Reach your arms back up. Crescent lunge.

Bring them back into cactus and lift, open, bright. Bring your hands back down on either side of your left foot, step back plank pose. Take the gaze slightly out in front of you. So really working with the Dristy with the gaze can be so helpful in our practice. It just helps to focus the senses.

You can push back and forth a little bit through your heels here to open up the feet. Keeping a little lift through the navel, and then drop your knees. Hips to heels. Childs pose your head can rest on your block again. You might be on your fingertips, walking your fingertips forward, tugging the hips back.

Come back onto your hands and your knees and tuck your toes. Lift your hips. Downward facing dog. Pedal through your feet, bend one knee, bend the other. Inhale your left leg up. Exhale stepping forward, come into a lunge, lower your right knee down, coming back to that half.

And then left leg comes back. And you're back in Vedrasana. Find your Mudra one more time. Darwin Machakra Mudra. Take a full breath in.

Full breath out. And then you know how it starts, right foot to the ground. Extend your right leg out long. Roll your ankle in one direction, and roll it in the other direction. Step your right foot back down to the ground, inhale lift up.

And on the exhale, take the twist left hand to the outside of the right thigh, right hand back behind you. Again, glancing back over your right shoulder, perhaps even turning the eyes a little more towards the right ear. Keep your left hand where it is. Lift your right arm up. Cross your right wrist over your left, drop your head.

Press into the wrist and roll your way up. Step your right foot forward again. Your back in your lunge, sending the left leg back, lower your left knee down. Turn on your left knee to face the side and step your right foot down to the ground, lift your left arm up take your side bend over towards the right, pressing into the right forearm, and you can turn and look underneath the left arm, full breath in, full breath out, come on back up, open up your arms, warrior 2, looking right over your right middle finger, steady gaze, full breath. Bring your hands down right in front of you, step your left foot wide, come back into your goddess squat, open up the arms, cactus, tip the chin up, broad chest, full breath in, full breath out.

From here, straighten out your legs this time. Open up your arms real wide to the side. Stretch your fingers away. Right toes turn all the way forward. Left toes turn just halfway forward coming into a triangle pose. Reach the right arm forward.

Lengthening out through the right side to bring the right hand down to your shin. Left arm reaches up. Taking the gaze up towards the left hand, lean the head back, give some space for the throat. One more breath in. Under side of the waist pulls forward out of the hips.

One more breath out. Take your left hand to your left hip. We're coming into Artichendrosanous. So if you'd like to use a block here, block can go to the right of the right foot far enough in front of you that when you lift up through your left arm, you can stack your shoulders, reaching up through your left arm, pull out of your right leg. Full breath in, full breath out.

We're sliding back to warrior too. And, yeah, your blocks there are. It's okay. You'll you'll find the ground, opening up the arms, straighten out your right leg. Turn your right toes in to meet the left. We're coming right back into the sequence, interlace your fingers, behind your back, lift your head, lift your chest, lean back, soft knees to fold forward. Presari DiPato Tannasana dropping the head, relax the neck.

From here, if you want it, hands come down and you'll come into a tripod headstand. If you need to slip your block off to the side, you'll do that pressing into the hands, pressing into the feet, lift the legs, And if you're not coming up into your headstand today, you'll stay in your press area. You might grab your big toes with the first two fingers of each hand. If you are coming up into your tripod, squeeze the legs together, fan open the toes. Keeping the elbows as best you can in line with the shoulders.

If you came up, feet come right back down where you found them. Open the legs. Bring the feet back down. We'll come back up onto the hands. If your blocks slid away, bring it right back. And walk yourself into a lunge front of your space, hands on either side of your right foot.

Lock can move off to the side there. Lunge to the front. Plant your palms down plank a little different this time. Plank with your right leg off the ground. And then here's the work. Press into your right hand and see if perhaps you can lift your left arm up.

Give yourself a little final balancing moment. And if you need to keep both hands and feet on the ground, you'll do that. Fall in triangle from here. Your right leg comes underneath your left arm. Right leg out to the to the left side.

Leg can be on or off the ground. Lifting up, down dog split, right leg up, bend the knee, open up your hip, and flip yourself right into a rock star, right foot behind the left, leaning the head back, Reaching the right arm over. Full breath. Press yourself up a little higher. Breath out. Coming all the way back around, right leg up high, down dog slit, stepping through, come into a lunge, Drop your left knee down and point your left toes.

Hook your thumbs. Lift up. Open up your arms into that cactus lean back here. Coming back up, prayer your hands and take a twist, left elbow to the outside of the right thigh. Poms can come together here, push into your palms, twist from the waist.

You're welcome to stay exactly as you are, or tuck the back toes under and see if you can straighten out your back leg. These can turn up towards the ceiling, leaning back. Full breath in. Full breath in. Bringing your hands down on either side of your right foot push off standing split, erdvapresari to echo Padasana.

It's a mouthful, but it's a great pose. So walk your hands back. Chin in towards the shin, drop your head, work to keep the hips as even as possible here, right, even if means the leg doesn't go as high, reach through the left leg pushing down into the right foot. One more breath here. Exhale it away.

Soften your knees and step your left foot down to meet your right with bent knees. He'll toe your feet about 2 fist distance apart. And reach for your big toes with the first two fingers of each hand. Press your thumbs into the ground. On the inhale, extend your chest forward length in your spine.

On the exhale folding forward into your legs coming into your pot and goostasana. Right? So the the head drops down You're lengthening the crown of the head towards the tops of the feet. Elbows can widen out to the sides. What's what's easy to have happen here is sometimes the weight shifts back into the heels. Right? Try to bring it forward over the balls of the feet, pushing the balls of the feet down. Lifting the creases of the hips up.

One more breath. From here, release your feet, come back up onto your fingertips. He'll toe your feet back towards each other. Divers pose. Reach your arms back. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and see if you can lift your heels.

Legs can be straight here, or knees slightly bent if that feels better on your hamstrings or lower back. From here, Ute Ketasana deepened of the knees, fingertips can even brush the ground, reaching up through the arms, and come all the way up to stand, draw your right knee up towards your chest and just give it a little squeeze. Reach for your big right toe with the first two fingers of your right hand, left hand, left hip, push down into your left foot, and begin to lengthen the right leg out long in front of you. Plug the right shoulder blade back. And even here, right, awareness in the feet.

So see if you can bring the pinky toe side of the foot back towards you and press the big toe side away. Lift your left arm. Lift your right arm and try to hold your right leg up, wobble if you need to. Reaching up, push into your left foot, pull out of your left leg as best you can. Right foot meets the left.

There might be one big reach up breath in folding forward breath out. Hands can come right through a prayer. Back down to the ground, step your left leg back into a lunge, lower your left knee down, have a seat on your block, and bring your right leg back. That was a lot. Let's do it on the other side.

Step your left foot down to the ground. Straighten your left leg out long in front of you, roll your ankle out, and roll it in the opposite direction. Step your left foot back down to the ground, hook your thumbs, lift up. And on the exhale, take a twist, right hand to the side of the left side left hand back behind you looking over your left shoulder, full breath in, twist deeper with your breath out, One more like that, breathe it in, twist it out, lift your left arm up, Fold your left wrist over your right, drop your head, full breath in. Exhale away.

Push into your wrists and roll up. Coming back into a lunge, left foot steps forward, shift your weight, slide your right leg back, lower your right knee, turn on your right knee to face the side, stepping your left foot down, lift your right arm up, side bend over towards the left, reach to the right side body, pressing into the left forearm, Inhale your way back up. Warrior 2 on your knees. Reach your arms open. Pressing down into some, like, give go go for the resistance. Right? It will create more strength.

Hands come down. Step your right foot wide. Come back into your god of squat. Open up your arms. Lift your chest.

Lift your head. Full breath. From here, straightening out your legs, stretch your arms out wide to the sides. Left toes turn all the way forward, right toes turn halfway forward. You're back in your triangle pose.

Shift the hips back. Lifting up through your right arm. Lean the head back. And work to keep the legs engaged there, right, lift through the quads knee caps climbing up towards the thighs. Full breath in.

Open up the arms even wider, breath out. Right hand, right hip. Walk your left hand forward. Block if you need it, artichendrosana, picking up through your right leg, strong flex in the right foot, So if we're talking about first chakra, right, a lot of awareness in the feet and the legs, and that doesn't mean that things don't get shaky. Of course, they do. Right?

It just means that we work to try to find the stability. One more breath. We're sliding back into warrior 2. Straighten out your left leg and turn your left toes in to meet your right. Interlace your fingers behind your back, opposite interlacing, lift your head and your chest back.

Excel folding forward. If you're working on the tripod, your block can move off to the side. Hands come down there's another hand variation that you'd like to do for your headstand, you're welcome to try that. Legs come up. You know, sometimes it's fun to actually come up onto the tips of your fingers.

You could walk your hands away from you if you're feeling like getting a little fancy today. And if you need to keep it nice and steady, you're in your susana b squeezing the legs together, And then coming down, open up the legs, feet come right back where you found them, coming back up onto your fingertips, lengthen your spine, walk yourself over towards the lunge, front of your space, Hands on either side of your left foot coming into a plank with your left leg off the ground. Reach your right arm forward. Find your spinal balancing. Why as much as you need to here.

And then right into your fall in triangle, left leg comes underneath the right arm lift the right arm up, lean back leg can be on or off the ground, down dog split, left leg up, Been the knee, open up your hip, flip yourself inside out, rock star pressing up. Left arm reaches long over your head. Come all the way back around. Left leg up high down dog split. Stepping through, come back into a lunge, lower your right knee, down point your right toes, lift up into your crescent lunge, and open up your arms.

Give yourself that pause moment. Just lifting the chest, tipping the head back, arms nice and wide, heart lifted, and then hands come back into a prayer, and you'll take your twist right elbow to the outside of the left thigh, bring the palms together. And then you're staying there or tuck your back toes under. Straightening out your back leg. Give yourself a breath.

Our outer hips pull in towards the midline. Foundation stays steady. And bringing your hands back down on either side of your left foot, push off standing split, right legless. Dropping the head, crawl the hands box so they're more in line with the toes, working to keep the hips even here. Right? So it's like you're trying to lift from the upper inner corner of your right leg. My whole back body gets strengthened.

Bend your knees and step your right foot to meet your left. He'll toe your feet a little wider, about 2 fist distance between them. And this time, we'll step on our hands for Pada hastasana. So lift up your feet, slide your palms underneath as much as possible, inhale lengthen the spine, exhale to fold in dropping the head down. Full breath. You know, especially in these forward folds, the sound of the breath in the ears, right, as you close into yourself, becomes a little bit more noticeable.

Left the spine unravel a bit. Crawl your hands back out, stepping your feet all the way together, diver's pose, reach the arms back, coming halfway up, ninety degree angle as best you can here with the torso and the thighs. Squeeze the shoulder blades together. Would get us on a deep end of the knees. Reach up through your arms.

Coming all the way up to stand, draw your left knee up into your chest with two hands, pull the shin in, and reach for your big left toe with the first two fingers of your left hand, right hand, right hip, sending the left leg out long in front of you any amount. Out or left hip drops down. Take the right arm up. And the left arm up and hold the left leg up, hold it up, hold it up. Can you prioritize the length of the right leg pull up out of your standing leg?

Left foot meets the right. One big breath in. Look up. Reach up. Maybe even a lean back. And on the exhale, big, fold forward, hands can come right through a prayer.

Step your right leg back into a lunge. Lower your right knee. Block. If you need it, you're sitting back in your Vedrasana. Left foot meets the right. We did it. Dharmaachakra Mudra.

Index fingers and thumbs together. Full breath in. Full breath out. And then our last pose, we're gonna end with 1 Estrasana. So you can come up to stand on the knees If you like to use blocks for this, you can put blocks right outside of your ankles coming to stand up on the knees, Take your hands to your lower back.

Pull the elbows back. Heavy the chest down. Send the tailbone down and the chest up lean back and your hands might just come to your blocks there, right, and you use the steadiness that we've been building through the legs to keep the support and lift of the chest. If you'd like to reach back for your heels or your ankles, you can do that. Send the pelvis forward.

Lift the chest. Maybe let the head fall back. Full, open, receptive breath, and then pushing into the shins to inhale your way up. And on the exhale, blocks can move off to the side. Cross your ankles.

Have a seat. Shavasana. Shavasana. Come on down. Settle in.

And let go. Let's your next breath come in a little bit more deeply. Exhale it away. Make some little movements with your fingers, with your toes. One foot at a time.

Step your feet down to the ground. If you need one more sigh, give yourself one more sigh there. Rolling onto your right side, press into your hands. Come on up to sit. Finding your seat one more time, your hands come into your mudra, left palm facing in, right palm facing out, Give yourself just one settling breath there and the stillness and the silence.

Soaking in your practice. And what chance the sound of Olm just wants to close, breathing in. Thank you so much for sharing your practice. Namaste.