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!
Self practice enquiry - Hyoid & Backbends: The hyoid bone has a subtle but profound effect on instigating front body support in back bending. This relationship goes right back to our infant development and movement patterns. In this class I share a few ways to explore this relationship. Awareness of the hyoid can profoundly change our experience of spinal extension, in my experience offering much more of a sense of ease, space and support as we backbend.
Actively do Nothing: A 10 minute reset for when you need to just stop and lay on the ground. Whether you are exhausted or agitated, this practice will give you a chance to rest into the steadiness of the ground beneath you and of your breath within you. A short and sweet moment of nourishing rest.
Embryology & Cosmology: Contemplating how our embryological unfolding meets the stories the philosophy tells about the nature of the universe unfolding, and how if the philosophy ever gets confusing or overwhelming we can always come back to the simple fact that we have already self assembled, emerged and performed ourselves into being from a tiny uni cellular being into what we are and what we are always continuing to become…
Bridging the Practice: How do we bridge the experiences we have in our practice into our day to day? And how can we access what we cultivate in longer practices through micro meditations later on? Does my practice exist as an island in my life? In what ways can I bridge awareness at the end of the practice for a sense of cohesive integration and grounded awareness as I move into the rest of my daily activities? Here are some thoughts on bridging the practice…
The map is not the Territory: Contemplating the importance of distinguishing the map from the territory in our study of yoga philosophy, and of holding and trusting our own direct experience. A great one to keep teachings in perspective, build trust in your own inner reference system or for if you ever feel like what you study in texts is slightly different from your experience, or you disagree or feel like you must be getting it wrong… ;)
Radhe Govinda Lullaby: A lullaby for Radhe and Govinda, young lovers that embody the essence of joy. Radha, the goddess of the universe and Govinda - the name for a Krishna in his youth. This melody evokes nostalgia and a sense of yearning for the sense of wholeness that we somehow sense is available to us even when it feels out of reach - it is a call for an integration of the masculine and feminine aspects inside our own being (not referring to gender but more to yin/yang, solar/lunar, ida/pingala aspects of ourselves that when integrated created a third thing which is a felt sense of our own wholeness and interrelatedness with all that is. Melody by Paula Andreewitch.
Creative backbend flow: This creative, slow and steady practice explores the specifics of arms moving overhead for backbends, finding the natural spiralling of the upper limbs, with just enough space and constraint for optimal join articulation! We release shoulders and upper back, and intersperse backbends with grounding warrior variations, whilst also weaving in a beautiful awareness practice to cultivate a grounded sense of presence. Props: Strap
Whole Body Core: A creative and challenging practice that cultivates supple strength from the centre outwards towards the periphery and back again. It’s a fun and varied flow of functional core work (i.e applicable and supportive of our every day movements) that will probably get sweaty and will challenge you to move in many directions and to play with balance.
Being with & Processing Anger: If you are feeling angry, this practice will give you some tools to work with seeing, being with and processing the emotion in your body. When we get into the raw sensory experience of emotion (energy in motion), it can give the emotion some space to be fully acknowledged and worked through. We will sit with it, get granular about finding where it lives in our body and will move, shake and use breath work to allow some pathways for the anger to move through.
Self Practice Enquiry - Xyphoid and Tailbone: A short class introducing a movement enquiry for you to then explore in your own practice and/or teaching. We explore the relationship between two small bones, the xyphoid and the tailbone. I find this exploration so rich, and it can really support us to cultivate a wonderful middle ground between space and containment through the torso as we move and breathe. Enjoy!
Xyphoid & Tailbone Inversion Flow: A fun exploration of the relationship between the front body and back body via the skeleton and two small bones: the xyphoid and tailbone. This practice cultivates awareness of these two bones as we move and breathe, to find a sense of containment and space through the torso. This can hugely support all of our movement as we find a sense of a ‘middle place’, and is particularly helpful in inversions. Starts slowly and builds into a challenging flow with inversion options to play with (or not!).
Sneak into a deep hip practice: We all have a unique ‘bony signature’ that gives us a particular amount of constraint and space. This class explores that range, with a particular focus on external rotation required to move into crossed legs, pigeon, figure of four and options to explore lotus (or not). Starts slow and sneaks into a varied and strong full body flow, with a hippy arm balance exploration and a wonderful, spacious seated sequence before closing with a long rest and a brief meditation. Woven throughout we play with an awareness practice exploring ‘spaces in between’; small windows that can offer a sense of the vast underlying ground of being that all experience arises from, is sustained within, and returns to.
Nurturing & Strong: Moves slowly and steadily from the ground into a satisfying flow practice exploring the relationship between our skin and nervous system, and how our hips articulate as we flow our way towards a spacious axis and half moon pose. A yummy chilled start that sneaks into a stronger practice by the end.
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.
Ganesha Mantra: A beautiful chant offering salutations to Ganesha, the remover and placer of obstacles. The graceful dancer, son of Shiva and Parvati. The aspect of ourselves that we can call upon to support us to digest difficult experiences and an example of gracefully navigating the obstacles in our lives. Beautiful melody by Edo & Jo.
