Inspired by a talk by Ram Dass about karma yoga (yoga of action) we will try to move through a familiar practice of sun salutations with a deeper sense of presence and fresh eyes. In meditation, we’ll remind ourselves that we need not compartmentalize our practice from our everyday life. Every action and interaction is an opportunity to tune in deeply to our lived experience. With each task, may we do so with great intention and compassion.
This practice is perfect for coming back to the mat after taking a break from your practice. Whether due to travel, vacation, injury, or illness, it’s important to start with a grounding practice before moving into a more vigorous flow.
For the month of August, we’ll be building a summer “first aid kit” — each class will have tips, poses, and techniques that you can pull out whenever you find yourself in need. Today’s class will help relieve neck and upper back tension — it’s a slow-moving all-levels class that will allow you to release in the neck, warm up the upper back muscles, and hopefully ease into your day!
FULL BODY EXPANSION: Neck, back, shoulders, legs, and arms — a full body practice!
It is often described that our sympathetic nerve responses of fight, flight, or freeze can be attributed to our ancestors needs to quickly determine whether or not there is a threa – to save themselves from being eaten by a tiger. Today, most of us are not worried about tigers but our sympathetic nervous system still responds to daily stresses as though the threat is real. Our brains can not tell the difference between perceived threat and a real threat. Using the mantra “there is no tiger” can often be helpful to remind our body that a stressful work or family situation may be uncomfortable but it is not as dire as having to flee or fight a tiger. In today’s practice, we embrace BEING the tiger with a tiger series of poses and a contemplative meditation.
“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.” — Rumi
While it’s important to remember the interconnectedness of all beings, sometimes feeling the ‘entire ocean’ can be a bit much. Today we learn to use body awareness to drop into the space of right now, a place where we can feel safe and nurtured, a place away from fear, sadness, shame, anxiety…we also move through poses to release tension in our hips and backs – two places where we often tend to hold our emotions.