Innate Knowing: A practice exploring the sensation of innate knowing. What does it mean to connect with a visceral intelligence that is simple and profound? How can attuning to this felt knowing invite contexts for presence and connection? A practice that begins slowly and plays with harnessing energy and then getting out of the way as we explore clarity of direction and freedom through movement. Builds into a strong flow and closes with supported backbends. Props: 1 block / rolled up towel
Clearing flow and stillness: A practice to find clarity and stillness. We begin slowly, shake things out, and then work into a powerful flow cultivating strength and steadiness in the legs to find a sense of clarity in our connection to ground and cultivate apana vayu (the energetic downward flow). Closes with a long rest and one of my favourite mantras.
Gentle shake up & release: A short and gentle practice to shake things up and shift stuck energy. Helpful for moving things through, processing, and releasing pent up stagnation or agitation, so that you can soften and release. Shake it out and rest in pockets of stillness for an energetic refresh in a short amount of time.
Rest into breath: A moment of your day to rest into the flow of your breath. This gentle awareness practice works in a subtle way to attune to presence through the ongoing rhythm of our own breathing, building familiarity and friendship with our breath so that it becomes a familiar refuge to return awareness to.
Mini power flow: A 15 minute movement snack that gets going straight away building into a mini power flow with opportunities to balance, shake things up, ground with standing postures and build strength through your legs, and if you like, opportunities to practice handstand. Find a sense of strength at your centre, and to drop into a continuous flow.
Om mani padme hum: This beautiful buddhist chant is said to cultivate compassion. It references the jewel (mani) that sits in the lotus (padme) which some say is referring to the soul sitting in the body. The lotus famously grows through mud before it can flower, and so this idea that as we grow through there mud may we slowly recognise the spark of divinity that we hold within our body - and in recognising that in ourselves, we are much more able to recognise it within each other, at which point compassion naturally arises.
Om mani padme hum: This beautiful buddhist chant is said to cultivate compassion. It references the jewel (mani) that sits in the lotus (padme) which some say is referring to the soul sitting in the body. The lotus famously grows through mud before it can flower, and so this idea that as we grow through there mud may we slowly recognise the spark of divinity that we hold within our body - and in recognising that in ourselves, we are much more able to recognise it within each other, at which point compassion naturally arises.
Hare Om Namah Shivaya: This beautiful chant is for Shiva, amongst other things calling to shiva we call to the aspect of ourselves that knows how to remove our own ignorance (the misunderstanding that we are somehow separate from the whole of existence itself). Melody: I learned it from Lina & Joaquim here in Portugal but not sure on authorship.
Cultivate Compassion: A practice focusing on finding diagonals and fine tuning our contralateral movement, in order to support a return to a sense of centre. We start slowly finding diagonals in a variety of movement contexts and then move towards backbends across diagonals, with balancing postures and side body openers to find a sense space and length dotted throughout. We close with a mantra for compassion.
Wholeness comes from wholeness: A quiet and simple practice for your to attune and receive. Starts slowly with spiral movements on the ground and opens into a gentle flow exploring a sense of fullness in movement, and contemplating an ancient poem that is said to hold the power of allll of the teachings within it.
Clear away the dust: In this practice we explore movement through the side seam of our body, as well as spirals - from micro to macro structures. We start on the ground and unfold slowly into a varied flow that moves around the mat and cultivates space and strength. Through breath, movement and a shift in awareness we play with clearing away the dust to attune our perception and receive presence. Please begin this class lying down in a comfortable way.
Grounded & Strong: This practice is slow, grounding, strong and quiet. With minimal instruction, we move through a balanced sequence with slightly longer holds to cultivate steadiness, slow down, find our strength and gather ourselves energetically. There are options to take inversions throughout which you can modify as you please, and key philosophical concepts are explored in a felt-sense way. You might want two blocks to hand.
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.
