The True Self

Hello, everyone. I'm so excited to share today's practice with you. Today, our focus is gonna be around the idea around, well, what is how do we trap ourselves and keep ourselves separate from others. And, it's another branch of the Avidian, or like we said, the roots are in the ignorance of who we are. And then today, our focus is on, well, how do we separate ourselves? And so it's underneath the umbrella of us meet up, or we can translate it loosely as ego. Sometimes we think about ego as arrogance.

But it's not so much about feeling even that we're better, but that we're separate. And the differences that keep us bound, our worldviews that we see can cause so much harm and separation. And then the antidote to that, I feel like with the Yamas is directly translated to truthfulness or Satya. And that's when we begin to look a little bit deeper into who we are. Where our thoughts come from and this honesty that we develop within ourselves, not necessarily telling lies all the time, but the pause that we can take and say, well, where is this coming from? Is it from my true self?

Or again, is it based on, this false sense of the identity that I've created? So, who to come to the rescue today, but Shiva, who is the destroyer of our ego and our illusions by throwing change into the mix, into our lives, that again shakes us out of our strongly held perceptions of who we are. So let's go ahead and get started. We're gonna start by raising the right hand up. This is Avaya Mudra.

And the left hand is this offering or the letting go. We can do this. Today, we're gonna play a little bit around with, preps for inversions, which is a different perspective than our own. There's no right and wrong that we can get into so many fights with ourselves and each other. So with your or right hand facing up, you can even welcome in as we begin to kind of test who we think that we are by letting go and the right hand keeps us open. And so we'll take a couple breaths here, again, in and out of the belly.

Let's see if you can hold the breath out for a little bit longer as the naval kisses the spine. And then take one more deep breath in, right, into the naval, let it move away from the spine. That's right where this fire is. Of change of transformation. And then take your left hand directly onto the belly.

We're gonna play a little bit around here with kapalabhati breathing. So that's sharp exhalations through the nose and the pumping of the belly. It's not fast. It's not aggressive. But we are clearing out skull shining breath. Breathing it halfway, and then begin with me.

Take another about 10. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one, and hold. Hold the breath out. Even contracting the pelvic floor chin towards the throat for a moment, feeling the spaciousness. And then exhale, release the hands, and let out a little sigh, feeling some clarity in our minds.

And then go ahead and make your way forward onto your hands and your knees. You're always welcome to keep your blanket nearby when we're on our knees. If there's any sensations as there's no better way than to, I feel like, to get to know who we are and move honestly than with our us in a practice. So you can stretch the right leg back behind you, you can stretch the left leg, and then soften your head to the ground. Let's ego into the earth out of the beehive of thoughts and past and the future right down to the moment.

And take a couple of breaths, every exhale, allowing yourself to release, and then that little gentle holding of the breath out. And then come into your Uji breathing, The victorious breath. Jai. It says clearing and cutting through all of our perceptions about who we are. And then follow the next breath in right up onto the hands and knees. Drop the belly as you breathe in to look up, right up towards the third eye, and then exhale and round in towards yourself.

Moving with the flow of the breath and inhaling, lifting the chest looking up, And then exhale, allow the breath to guide your chin towards the throat one more time just like that breathing in, looking up, and then take your toes under, let the exhale lift you up and back into downward dogs. Our first inversion of dropping the mind, the ego right into the heart, the surrendering of a different perspective, and then roll out into your plank pose, reaching back through the heels, forward through the chest, you find that lift up from the belly. And then lower yourself's knees, chest, and chin to the ground. Drop onto the belly pointer toes, bow your head to the ground and then inhale, lift the heart up, baby cobra, breathing in to look up. Towards the third eye, and then exhale the head back down.

Inhale again like that, breathing in. And then exhale. One more time, just like that. Inhaling, looking up. And then come back up onto the hands and knees and send the hips to the heels. From here, you're gonna rise up and then circle the arms up, gathering up of the mind, and then exhale to bow the head back on a couple more times like that, breathing in. And then it's clearing out as you breathe.

You've got one more time just like that breathing in. And then exhale to fold forward. Rise up one more time. And then you're gonna wrap the right arm underneath the left coming into eagle arms, see if you can drop the ribs down so that you can breathe into the back of the body, and then shift the weight into the left and stepping the right foot forward. Take a little arch back as you breathe in.

And then unraveling the hands on either side of the front foot, tuck your back toes under and take a twist open to the right. From here, release your right hand down and step into downward facing dog with that little bend into the knees, press out into a plank pose as you inhale, And then lower yourselves to the earth as you breathe out, smoothing out the vinyasa, moving with the breath, inhaling, and then send your hips back to your heels for your child's pose, and then rising up as you inhale. The exhales can get a little bit more dynamic and cleansing, destroying this illusion. And then one more time as you breathe in pausing at the height of the inhale and then wrap the right arm underneath the left. Drop the ribs down so that you can move into the back body a little bit.

And then right from here, stepping forward with the left foot. Take a little arch back and then frame the front foot with your two hands tucking the back toes under to twist open to the left, drawing the left hip crease back, and then allowing this clarity to shine through. Stretch your left arm forward, and then step forward with the right foot to join the left. Slide your hands up your shins and breathe in halfway, and then exhale and fold with a little bend into the knees. Alright. From here, you can tent your left fingertips.

Maybe even you'll step back a little bit into the ground. And then begin to bend through the left knee as you twist open to the right, and then take your right arm underneath the left, wrap your arms around so that they can begin to rise up through center, kind of when we have these blinders on. Take a big breath in arch back a little bit, and then exhale the arms by your sides. So we're gonna play around here a little bit. She was seen in this wild dance, the Tandava, and allowing ourselves to kinda lose our ego a little bit into the dance. So it looks like this.

You're gonna inhale to lift the right leg up, but you have to bend the knees a little bit and then let yourself get a little tipsy. Just noticing what happens to the mind so that you're twisting and your balancing, and you're gonna kind of back stroke as you inhale to lift the arms up, and then take a little shiva twist to the side, not trying to perfect anything. And then put both knees down as you inhale to lift the arms up. And then we're gonna take our bow forward from there as you breathe out, uttanasana. Put a bend into the knees inhale to look up You can step back into your plank pose or even use that powerful exhale right into Chaturanga.

Dropping into your cobra, upward facing dog as you breathe in. And then exhale into your downward facing dog as you breathe out. Inhale the right leg up to the sky. Exhale and take your twist open to the right. And then take your right hand down.

Step forward with the left foot. Take your right fingertips down and peel the left arm up. You're gonna come up in that same way, wrapping the arms around. I'm taking a big arch up and back. And then arms by the side. Circle the arms up and breathe in.

We'll play with that one more time. Yeah. Like yourself kind of be a little bit soft here in the dance, a little tipsy, and then feet together in the arms up, and then right over to the other side. Losing yourself in the dance. And then arms up to the sky as you breathe in, praying forward in through center, bend the knees, inhale to look up, plant the hands, bend the knees stepping or jumping. Cobras are upwards. And downward facing as you breathe out, inhale, and lift the left leg, exhale to step forward.

You've got your twist of change. If you open up, and then step forward as you breathe out. Inhale your hands up your shins this time, exhale to fold forward. And then root down through both feet as you inhale to rise up, hands by yours to the heart, and then by your sides. I'm gonna take a moment here.

Standing up nice and tall. When we close the physical eyes, as we see this reflection yoga is all about Swagia. Self study, becoming more self aware and more honest with who we are, not what we do, not what we have that identifies us. And there, bend the knees. Reach your arms up.

You're in, you're in, you're supposed to take a couple breaths, but you can send the hips back with the shoulders soften of dropping into the fire a little bit. Taking one more big breath in, and then exhale the vinyasa's always up to you. You can always skip it, or you can plant your hands down to step back or jump back in your own way. Copras are upwards. And then downward facing dog. So we're gonna add on to that.

You're gonna lift the right leg up. Step forward. Rising up into Horier one is this bravery to be who we are. You can open up through the chest a little bit as you breathe out. And then from here, you're gonna come on forward, wrap the arms, kind of forward, and then see if he can step into it.

It's like We want you to fall today instead of keeping it together. And then step back as you breathe in, catch the hands behind you and exhale to bow forward for a devotional warrior dropping the head. Rise up warrior two, so you free your arms up, left arm reaches back. You can take a little moment to take the right knee out to the side, allowing the hips to sink down, and then extending all the warrior poses. Have Shiva's destructive nature in them.

It's a story for another time. And then you're gonna straighten through the front leg, bend through the back knee. So you're coming towards your skandasana. So it can be halfway, but You can explore what it's like to flex through the foot and lean into it a little bit deeper playing with your balance. And then coming into Arta Chondraasana, maybe in a new way.

You're gonna bend through the front knee grab your block if you have one to begin to lift the left leg up to the sky. Maybe even letting go of the ground for a moment. And then drop back into a peaceful warrior. You've got a big breath in here arching back, and then straighten through the front leg for triangle pose. Chin towards the throat, hearing again the sound of the breath, right at the throat is vishuddha or this energy center of our true nature.

It's purification. So take a couple of breaths, really, hearing the sound of the breath, and then bend through the front knee for a side angle. You can find your hands around you anytime or forearm to the thigh if that's more honest, taking a couple breaths before letting it go into the flow of this rhythm of the dance. And these cycles of creation and destruction. As you inhale, begin to extend the left leg to the sky, and then take a big step forward, anchoring into the back heel, and then rise up into your warrior one.

I'm taking a moment here to drop into the front shin. Again, It's courage to be exactly who you are. And then from here, begin to wrap the arms around yourself so that you can begin to rise up into your shiva again in a flame of ring of fire, burning away illusions. And then step back, find your heel to the ground before catching your hands, and then dropping your head towards the earth, this humble warrior to release. Free the arms and circle the left arm all the way, right arm all the way up and back as the left arm lifts, and then melt into your warrior two.

Taking a couple moments. To adjust the hips a little bit, aligning the joints, knee over the ankle, and then begin to straighten through the front leg, and then through the back knee towards your skandhasana. You can find your fingertips to the ground listening to the joints and the muscles might have a lot of sensation. You can lean into the inside of that back knee and then begin to re bend through the front knee so that you can burst out into your Arda Chandraasana. Taking a couple moments here and opening up Again, releasing all the veils, sometimes like snakes shedding their skin to grow.

Let go at the ground for a moment of trusting before you land in your peaceful warrior. Straighten through the front leg for your triangle, adapting the pose to your body in in the moment as our bodies are constantly changing. We get to adapt. I'm gonna take one more big breath in. And then bend through the front knee and check out your side angle on this side.

You can lean back and open through the chest. You can play with a bind or not. Extending the arm up and over your head as you breathe in, and then frame your front foot with your hands, stepping back into your plank pose, lowering down, or again, anytime taking a child's pose to bow down to what is. And then take another deep breath in. A lion's breath out the mouth.

That's a purifying exhale. As you inhale, lift the right, like, high to the sky as you exhale step forward. I'm gonna take that same pattern one more time as we switch up our patterns in our lives. Take a little big breath in, and then exhale right into your shiva twist. And then you're gonna wrap the left leg around the right once or twice and the left arm under towards a full eagle pose and then play with your balance here. Allowing the hips to sink down as you reach up, and then coming forward so that our lens opens up kind of through the third eye to see a bigger picture.

Then from here, let the hips sink down, swing the arms up to the sky. You're in, and then take a big old twist over to the right. So left elbow to the outside of the right knee, press the palms together. And then see if you can pick up the left foot perch and balance for a moment before sending your left leg back behind you. You can always release the back knee for some stability.

You can open up through the arms. And then from here, frame the right foot with both of your hands. Stretch the right leg up to the sky for a moment. Three legged dog. You can give it a shake, and then see if you can carry the right knee over towards the left elbow.

And then slide the right foot out to the side, go ahead and soften the left foot down towards the ground, and you can explore picking up the left hand, and then maybe even that right leg. Fallen triangle, and then circle the hand down. Take one more step forward between your hands, opening up into the right with the right arm up and then slide your right hand to the hip. You're gonna pick up the left leg for a moment into a revolved Arta Chandrasena, and then have a seat back in towards yourself. Coming into Artamati andrasena.

Half seated spinal twist, sitting up nice and tall in yourself again. As we ring everything out, right hand to the floor behind you left onto the sky, and then you can take that Avaya mudra. Kind of like a mirror and a reflection on who we truly are. You can take a counter pose over to the other side, let your head, release towards the ground, and then take your hands to the floor behind you, your feet in front of you, alter pose, breathing in that lion's breath. Clearing out all the untruths, soften the sitting bones down, hug the knees in towards your chest.

And then, Nava, so now you can keep it supported for the first one. Let yourself come forward to the friends of the sitting bones as you lift the chest. And then you can play with reaching the right arm out, the left leg out. Maybe lengthening the legs or I'm gonna shake and do all sorts of things right here. Having this experience, one more breath in.

And then bend your knees, you can tap the toes to the ground fingertips to the earth. Maybe even taking a little rock back towards halasana. Getting a little momentum come all the way up here in uttanasana. And then fold forward uttanasana. Breathing in to look up.

And then again, it's your way into downward dog. I'm gonna step back. You can jump back. You can move through a vinyasa. And we'll all meet here with a big breath in, and a vague breath out through the mouth anytime.

Inhale the left leg up to the sky. When you're ready and step forward as you breathe out, anchor the back heel and then rise on up for your warrior one. You've got the big breath in and then swoop the right leg forward taking a little twist. Wrap the right leg over, the right arm comes under, preparing for your eagle pose, sending the hips back, and then coming forward. You can wrap that right leg all the way around or keep it on the earth taking a couple moments, seeing the truth. Take your feet together.

Sweep the arms up. You're in utkatasana as you breathe in, fierce pose, and then twist over to the left, taking your right elbow to the outside of the knee, see if you can exhale and pick up the right heel. And then send it back behind you. If you fall out of it, let yourself, you can release the knee. You can take your twists over to the left.

And then when you're ready to let it go, it's your left leg up to the sky, three legged dog, breathing in, and then carry the knee over towards the right elbow, slide your leg out to the side. So in line with that right hand, drop the right heel down, and then maybe pick open the right arm. Oh, maybe it's the left leg. And then step forward between your hands to take one more twist. Over to the left.

Lifting the right leg up, parvita Arda Chandrasana. Okay. Taking a breath antics. Open up through the left arm for a moment. And then tuck the right knee behind the left ankle coming down to sit adjusting the hips at both. Sit bones are rooting into the earth.

You're welcome to lengthen. The bottom leg out and in front of you, but sitting up nice and tall. And then take your left fingertips behind you, the right arm high before taking your elbow to the outside of the knee. For your Artamatsi and Drasana twisting and looking back to see where these selves came from. Every experience, And then counter twist over to the other side.

You can bow your head, feet out in front of you. We've got one more altar so that you can release your throat and your truth. Sitting bones to the ground, navasana, boat pose, extending out, then fingertips to the ground. Take one more rock and roll up and back, letting go. Before rocking all the way forward into your uttanasana.

Uttanasana as you breathe out, and then take a little bit of a step forward we're gonna prepare for bakasana or crow pose. So if it's new, it's nice to do a couple things. You're welcome to take a block out in front of you because the biggest thing is that we're afraid of our ego, right, of falling literally on our face. So we don't do anything new, and we can stay stuck out of fear. It makes it makes sense.

So that's why our practice is a perfect place want to play with doing things that are a little bit new. So one block can be the highest height. The other one can be the lowest, so you're lifting the ground up. And then that center of where we were playing with Kapalabhati, the lifting in and up from the naval is gonna be what you're gonna focus on. You may have to change your stance a little bit taking your blocks forward and backward.

So at first, the block is here to catch your head. And then you can maybe play with lifting one foot, and then the other one. So we're letting go of these attachments, and then maybe playing with lifting your head. So that can be a place that you wanna play with your bakasana. And for those of you who have a crow practice, you don't get off.

No one does, because we always, the reason why we wanna do things that are new is so that or that looked challenging, right, the challenge is intentional so that we're kinda working with this idea of who we are, this fix self. So if Crow is in your practice and maybe even headstand, we're gonna play with it a little bit more. You can play with lifting one foot and then the other foot And then as the chin comes in towards the throat, letting yourself release to the crown of the head, for a brand new perspective. As you begin to stay connected in towards the naval, to maybe taking the legs up. For your tripod headstand, you can stay here for a couple breaths.

And then when you're ready to come down, See if you can begin to take your knees on the upper arms, walking them as far back as you can so that you can press down and then play with lifting your head. And then maybe your feet, wherever you are. Have a seat back onto your shins. You can move your padding out to the side, and then come to lie down onto your bellies. You can take a moment.

Take a make a little blanket and rock the hips a little bit from side to side. And then release your forehead to the ground. Take your arms by your side. Roll your shoulders up and back. You're still gonna stay inside of the naval as you lift the shoulders up.

And then lift your head up and the legs. We're doing the opposite movement of finding that back bend, lifting the head up, And then it's not for going up as high as possible. It's getting long so that you can free up the heart and the crown of the head, taking a big breath in here. And then release down. And you can take your head to the other side and rock the hips. And then as you come through center, welcome to take your blanket one more time. This can be nice.

As we're setting up for one more backbend, Donja Osana or Bo pose, you can start with this is another expression of ShivaA, of reaching for the back foot. And then pressing the foot into the hand so we can do these practices in new ways. Open up our minds. You can lengthen and lift the left elbow as you press the right foot down. And then release, and then play with it on the other side so that you're reaching for the top of the left foot.

First drawing the knees in towards each other, flexing the foot back to open up through the chest, and then maybe lifting up the right forearm. And that can be enough. Or if you'd like to play with reaching back for both feet, you're flexing the feet back so that the chest can lift up. And then released. You definitely can move your blanket over to the side, and then roll over onto your backs.

Taking your feet out and in front of you, always make sure you have a block near you if you need. And you can let the new knees windshield wiper a little bit from side to side. And then for some of you, it may be nice to take a simple supported shoulder stand with the legs up to the sky this way. And this is, again, it really stimulates the throat chakra, which is our center of truth, vashuta, and If you would like to take the full shoulder stand, I'm a fan of using blankets for our last pose. To take your head on the ground and your shoulders right to the edge of the blanket.

Mensing if you'd like to take your feet up and over for one more plow pose. Maybe this time interlacing the hands, and then supporting the back of the body as you lift your legs up. See if you can lean back a little bit so that you're not cutting off the throat completely and take a couple of breaths. And you can play around here. You can take eagle legs.

Creativity in your practice and doing things that are new. And when you're ready, you can take your legs over your head, And then slowly lowering yourself down. I'm using your fingers as a break. Take a couple of breaths there. As you lower down and then let the knees move a little bit from side to side so that you're releasing the spine.

Roll over onto your right side for a moment as you come up, and then take the blanket underneath your knees. We're gonna end in a nice long forward bend. So reach your arms up to the sky, put a little bend into the knees, and then bow forward reaching for the feet or the arms can come underneath the legs. As we bring our awareness past the ego and in towards the truth, getting to know who we are. And sometimes by recognizing who we're not.

These false guises we leave assumed over the years. Not of the fear of change. Every day, for a more big breath in as you reach the arms up to the sky. Intense, the fingertips of the floor behind you. As you dig your heels into the ground, you can bend your knees if that's more comfortable or float the hips up as you breathe in, and then exhale out through the mouth.

Maybe release your hips back down to the ground. And we'll prepare for shavasama, which is corpse pose. As we let parts of ourselves go, squeeze everything tight, lift your head up, and then exhale, allowing the body to release. Can take one hand to your heart, one to your belly lengthening those breaths out. The exhale is the cleansing breath.

You've been holding the breath out. So perhaps we can create new responses based on our truth. Out of the destruction comes creation. Creating a life more aligned with who we are. Let me get a nail that.

And exhale, go as you release your arms by your sides. Even letting go of the breath, of all control. Slowly begin to bring your awareness back to your breath. And begin to make it more conscious that every exhale draws you in towards your source, your truth, Now, like, a wave in the ocean drawing in. And every exhale, every word we say is from that source of honesty.

Moving in to move your fingers and toes and come back into your body. It's true expression in this world, and stretch your arms up and over your head. And then slowly bend your knees in towards your chest giving yourself a big hug. It's all embracing hug. You've heard who you are. And then you can rock over onto the right side or begin to make your way up to sit.

Take a couple moments in a seated meditation, often how you see shiva who's renounced everything. Covered in ash as a symbol of the destroying of the ego. We take time every day to get to know who we are and live a life that's aligned with that truth. Developing the bravery to be who we are. Enjoying your hands together at your heart in prayer.

Bowing of the ego. And with chanting the sound of ohm together, breathing in. And bowing down and honoring one another. In our practice today. Thank you so much for joining me.