90 MINUTE PRACTICES
90 MINUTE PRACTICES
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Attuning to INformation: In a world of information overload, how can our practice create a context in which we cultivate our capacity to attune to the inner information that is flowing forth within? In this 90 minute practice we play with this gentle inward turn, through a slowly unfolding practice that brings awareness to the intelligence centres along our axis: brain, heart and gut.
Integrate Opposite Forces: Sneak into a strong practice that explores the foundational movement principle of yield. How can finding an integration of opposite forces offer us choices? To rest, to move, and how do these opposite qualities exist within each other? A slow and strong movement exploration. Enjoy!
Rhythms of Balance: A practice exploring the relationship we all have to the earth and sky via our sense of balance. What is the sensation of balance? What is the rhythm of balance? How does challenging my balance magnify that rhythm so I might notice it's more subtle expressions in less challenging places? Props: Blocks / Bolster or any items that can support you in a balancing practice.
Soothe your Nerves: In this practice we tend to our nervous system by working directly with he nerves, using a range of different pathways of release and containment. We begin with a basic orientation and grounding, and chant to call in the Goddess as our capacity to navigate challenge and move through density towards spaciousness and wisdom. We then open into some somatic floor work gently open into a nerve flossing sequence before finding rest. The chant at the end of this class class was cut off due to some tech issues, so I have added the Goddess chant for Durga in the recommended videos below for you to close your practice if you wish.
The domes of our architecture: This practice explores the integration of our limbs through our centre as we move with fluidity and strength. We explore the dome like shapes that repeat within our architecture and attune to what it means to align these domes to find a sense of centre, and of anchored spaciousness. We start softly and sneak into a strong practice with opportunities to balance, backbend and handstand along the way.
Body of Water: A slow exploration of the fluid body and the internal patterns of motion that precede our movement through space; cellular breathing, sponging and pulsation. Explore how attuning to this micro flow of motion beneath the surface initiates fluid, strong and soft movement of our whole body. We work with a focus on side seams, outer legs, spirality and figures of eight and close with a lovely rest.
Follow your Gut - Backbend Flow: A practice attuning to our gut intelligence and bringing awareness to the soft support along the front of the spine. We move from the ground into a strong flow working with backbends in a variety of contexts, whilst finding a sweet sense of support, containment and freedom. A good one when you could do with a reminder to follow your gut and trust your instinct.
Heart Attunement: A practice supporting attuning and connecting to the rhythms of presence through embodiment of the lungs and heart. Starts with a supine backbend over blocks which slowly mobilises and frees up space in the arms and upper back before unfolding into a strong practice playing with balance and arm- over -head backbends. Closes with a long rest and one of my favourite poems. This class closes while you are in savasana so you can stay as long as you like. Props: Two Blocks
Waking up the periphery: Wake up awareness in your hands and feet and play with how this opens up communication to our centre and through our whole body. A strong and playful sequence that explores the mobility and sensitivity of hands and arms, crow pose preparation, strong leg work, camel variations and a long seated hip release sequence before a relaxation to close.inversions along the way if fancy.
Form & Formlessness: A journey into exploring the relationship between form and formlessness through our movement. A flowing practice that weaves hip release work and balances into a creative twisting sequence. Find the feeling of your own unique vibration that brings you home to yourself in a gentle and profound way.
Cultivate Heartfulness: A practice dedicated to cultivating heartfulness. What does it mean to perceive from our heart? How does initiating movement from our heart shift our experience of being? What does it take to re sensitise to a fully feeling heart, and how do we cultivate the strength to do that? In this practice we awaken into the heart and explore our movement from there. A slow meditative start unfolds into a strong, grounded somatic vinyasa that builds our power, resilience and sensitivity.
Inner Ear & Balance: A practice exploring the vestibular mechanism, and how our inner ear relates to our sense of self, organising our relationship to space and ground via balance. We start with sound, and move slowly into a flowing practice that stimulates a heightened awareness of our balance system, weaving backbends into our flow and playing with dynamic standing balances and half moon variations.
Tend to the Soil: This practice tends to the soil of our being. We slow down, ground, and tend to our feet, and the ground of our awareness. A wonderful practice to gather energy and turn inward after the outwardness of summer, but could be used any time of year that you would like to slow down, tune in, and take stock. We explore though meditation, movement, chanting and journalling. (Note: This was a live Monthly Gathering, and I have my baby with me for parts of the practice so you can hear some of her snuffles at times.)
Integrating Flow - Vyana Vayu: A practice that explores a sense of integration and wholeness via the energetic flow known as vyana vayu. This is said to be the subtle movement of prana through our system that organises and connects, and can be sensed most clearly via the vascular system, the flow of our blood. This practice focuses on finding a sense of balance, and begins on the ground with supported bridge variations, supine tree pose and builds towards a strong and steady flow that cultivates a felt sense of continuity and inner spaciousness. Options to play with a variety of balancing postures including tree, half moon, standing splits and handstand should that tickle your fancy. Opens and closes with mantra and stillness. Enjoy!
Spiral Flow - udana vayu: Exploring the spiral flow of energy in the body known as Udana Vayu, through the spiralling emergence, growth and articulation of our limbs. Udana vayu is said to also spiral up into our organs of perception, and thus connect the inner with the outer world. The practice starts slowly with a restorative posture while we cultivate awareness of Udana’s pathways and moves steadily into a flow practice with hip and shoulder explorations as preparations for inversion practice towards the end.
Radial Flow - Samana Vayu: Exploring the integration of the downward and the upward flows of energy on the body that give rise to the radial flow, and support coordination between our centre and our limbs. Begins with a somatic meditation practice that we then build our movement from, and progresses into a strong and fluid vinyasa practice to support a sense of integration, strength and cohesiveness through our whole body.
Upward Flow - prana vayu: A class exploring the upward flow of energy that is offered referred to as prana vayu. An exploration of how downward becomes the upward movement, a somatic exploration of ascending energy through touch, movement, breath, bandha and imagination. We start slow and subtle and move into a flow to explore how we can find harmonious movement and tone in the body-mind as we lean into ground force reaction/levity/that which ascends.
Downward Flow - apana vayu: A class exploring the downward flow of energy in our body, otherwise known as apana vayu. This class supports slowness, and will massively allow your nervous system to down regulate and sink into rest and digest mode. We start slowly with some somatic meditation, continue into a long floor based hip release sequence and eventually find our way into some more dynamic movements to find strength and support in the legs and hips which will also support our sense of connection to ground. Ends with a yummy rest and some chanting. Enjoy :)
The Vayus - exploring the energy body: This was a Monthly Gathering talk, and is a dive into the vayus- otherwise known as the pranic winds or energetic flows in the body. The map of the vayus offered to us by the Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a wonderful spring board to explore our felt sense of our inner state of being. This talk breaks down what the vayus are, how the 5 main directions relate to our experience of moving, breathing and experiencing, and how all of this relates to our day to day experiences living in the world. Begins with a short meditation practice and moves into lecture/discussion format. Feel free to write to me with any questions or insights ;).
Restful movement, stillness and chanting: This nourishing class will offer you a gentle movement practice to release and unhold especially through your neck, shoulders and jaw, before moving into some stillness with restorative postures and opening into a chanting practice to close. Super soothing and settling for your nervous system to rest into. Enjoy.
Into the Stillpoint: A return to centre. This practice explores gathering towards where feels like centre, and how our sense of centre can shift and morph during our practice. What does it mean to abide with our awareness in the innermost? Through postures that gather to midline such as eagle variations and tree pose, we play and move through a vinyasa flow practice that begins slowly and warms up into a strengthening standing sequence before returning to the ground for a big chill and chanting. A great practice to focus scattered energy or agitation.
Moving into winter: A practice to support transitioning into the colder and darker portion of the year, that focuses on allowing tiredness and slowly builds into a steady practice with some longer holds to deeply ground and soothe the nervous system to support nature’s call to hibernate :). A good one for if you feel tired but still want to move.
Soft Axis - The Gut Tube: Our gut tube runs along the front of the spine, gently tethered and offering support for spinal movement since we were just learning to move in the world. This fluid practice brings awareness to this relationship and explores a variety of movement contexts to find freedom and space to spinal/gut tube movement; not only to facilitate ease in the gut tube, and digestion but so that we can truly open into clear listening of our gut instinct and bodily intelligence.
Weight & Levity: A return to weight to find levity. This practice starts on the ground with practices to release holding and tension from the tissues and opens into a circular flow exploring backbends, side planks, lunges, and strong leg work to find a sense of rootedness as we find expansiveness through the spine, lungs, heart, chest and arms.
Freedom in Backbends: A thorough exploration of spinal extension and twists. We look at the spirality of the upper arms as they come over head to find depth in the armpits and appropriate constraint around the joint as we lengthen the front of the body with arms overhead! Play with over head backbends, twisting balances and wheel pose towards the end. Props: Two blocks if you have them.
Balance, Inner Ears & Awareness through Listening: How does awareness of our inner ears affect our movement? In this practice we start on the ground and move towards progressively more challenging balancing explorations that will offer our systems new patterns to play with. Woven throughout are opportunities to hone awareness as we tune into the sensory experience of receiving outer and inner sound, and how this can open a space in which we can truly hear ourselves.
Purna - whole, complete, satisfied: A satisfying multi modality practice, with a focus on the felt sense of fullness in our body via embodiment of the lungs. Somatic explorations bring awareness into our lungs and then we flow from there outwards through to the rest of the body, exploring natural breath patterns and offering our system the possibility of moving with more time than we need. Flow and relish expansive side body work, integrate strength and spaciousness, and dive into applied yoga philosophy that you can feel in your own body. Begins and closes with chanting. Enjoy!
Levity through the axis: Finding levity through out axis in rotation via a small bone called the ethmoid that lives in the front portion of our skull. A total game changer! We play with a strong twist sequence that leads us in the direction of side crow whilst deepening our relationship to a spacious axis.
Feet as proprioceptive antennae: A practice dedicated to attuning to the proprioceptive intelligence of our feet. Wakes up through the feet in a variety of ways and plays with different movement rhythms and textures. We play with moving weight through different surface areas of the feet and explore what it feels like for our feet to instigate whole body movement. Closes with a yummy supported bridge sequence.