Class on Creation

Setting the theme/tone:  We co-create our reality along with divine purpose.  As we think, feel & act, we paint our world and the whole universe responds.  When we follow our divine intuition, we are creating with the acknowledgement that our creations affect the universe.  When we positively affect the universe it responds positively.  So, here is this feedback loop going on with what we put out and receive and it gains more and more power as it is used.  Ask yourself what is on your mind to see what seeds of thought you are sowing?  If you are thinking about the past, you are wasting your time because you cannot change the past.  If you are thinking about the future, you are also wasting your time because you can’t control the future.  So stop trying to change the past let go of the future and bring yourself into the present moment.  What the next 5 breaths intensely.  What’s going on here guys?  What’s your breath doing?  Is it strong, steady and deep or is it weak, erratic and shallow?  What do you choose?  You can change what you find in the breath and create your own reality.  So lets deepen the breath, make it strong, oojayi breath and take equal lengthened inhales and exhales.  Become intensely aware of what’s on your mind and realize that you can create your reality right here and right now. So dream big!  What do you want?  What’s your intention for tonight’s practice?  Why did you come here to your mat tonight?  Take 10 deep breaths for that purpose, let it settle into the body.

Reading: “The quicker you are in attaching verbal or mental labels to things, people, or situations, the more shallow and lifeless your reality becomes, and the more deadened you become to reality, the miracle of life that continuously unfolds within and around you.” - Eckhart Tolle

Pranayama/Mudra & Mantra:  Yoni mudra for creation overhead while doing Khapalabhati breathing.  Slow it down for 10 oojayi breaths bringing them back to center.  Then take three rounds of om, which is also known to be the sound of Creation.  

Asana: 

Sun A x 3 working upper body, core, then legs respectively

Sun B:

1. For obliques and Hip-openers: side plank with hips raising & lowering to work obliques, right leg goes 90” out then to Chatarunga with a side care, knee goes into the chest then spin the leg around for flipping the dog.  Leg goes up into the air then to low lunge.  From low lunge get deep into the psoas, then go to  crescent lunge & then fly forward to twisted half moon.  
2. For backbends and twists: Eagle, fly your eagle, eagle with a back bend (from crescent), WI, humble warrior with interlaced fingers behind the back, low lunge with a backbend, Camel, Fixed Firm, child’s pose.  Return to thoughts, breath, intention...mind, body, spirit.  Down Dog and hop up to the front to start from Eagle for the left side.
3. For Flow: Scorpion Flow (Three-legged down dog flowing through the serpentine cobra - works the upper body and back).  WII to reverse Warrior to extended side angle to Reverse Triangle to  Triangle (Trikonasana).

-Move to floor for backbends (5 rounds of either bridge or wheel, walk them through 1st & 2nd rounds of backbends, then help them in the last 3 rounds.

-Play time: work on whatever they want to on their own and let them know you are available for help if they want to work on something challenging. 

-Warm-down with Plow & Shoulder Stand

-Finish in supta badokonasana with hands on belly with Yoni Mudra

Meditation/Savasana:

Poem- relates to E. Tolle quote on naming things taking you out of reality.

Lao-Tzu 571?-? B.C.E.

“The Tao that can be told

is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named

is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.

Naming is the origin of all particular themes

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.

Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source.

This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.

The gateway to all understanding.”

Song- “Can’t help falling in love.” by Ingrid Michaelson

Class on Impermanence

Setting the theme/tone: 

Pema Chodron:

"Nothing is static/fixes, all that is fleeting and impermanent is the first mark of existence.  It is the ordinary state of affairs.  Everything is a process.  Everything, every tree, every blade of grass, all the animals, insects, human beings, buildings, the animate and the inanimate is always changing, moment to moment."

Pranayama: activating kundalini & with Sufi grinds, finish with 3 rounds of Om

Asana:

-Sun A x 5 with backbends from Tadasana & toes touching head from updog

-5x Sun B

1) Butterfly Flow: Mudra bend, crouching eagle to low lunge with a twist, cresent, reverse warrior, WII, extended side angle, reverse triangle, triangle, twisted triangle, star with backbend, temple and backwards.

2) Twisted Flow: Mudra bend, crouching eagle to arda chandrasana, leg out to the side, chaprasana, twisted half moon, step back into twisted lunge, vashitsthasana, step forward & up into crescent lung. Other side.

3) Hip Openers: Mudra bend, crouching eagle to twisted lunge, reverse birds of paradise, extended side angle with a bind, birds of paradise, runners lunge, 1/2 pigeon - hold a long time. Other side.

1.  Mandala Flow: Mudra bend, crouching eagle, WII, reverse with an exclamation, temple pulse, prasaritta with option for headstand, hip opener with option for arm balance, extended side angle to the back, WII with reverse & exclamation, temple pulse, prasaritta with option to bind into half moon on right side, vinyasa, right side 2xs, left side 2xs

-Warm down with plow, shoulder stand, fish pose & spinal twist

Meditation: Re-read Pema Chodron & talk about the fluctuations in life & relate them to fluctuations in the mind.  Draw their attention to their mind.  

Sing: “Answer” from Sarah McLachlin.

Class on Bhakti

Setting the theme/tone: Starting in prone Savasana with Anjali Mudra in front of the crown of the head.  “The theme for tonight’s class is Bhakti and Bhakti is one of the four major systems of yoga.  There is Jnana Yoga, or the yoga of knowledge, Karma Yoga, or the yoga of action or service, Raja Yoga, the yoga of meditation (which is where you will find the asana/pranayama practice) and then Bhakti Yoga and Bhakti is the yoga of love or devotion.  This is not the lustful or sexual type that we think of when we think of some of the ways that Tantra Yoga has historically gone.  This kind of yoga encompasses an honest search inwards for connection to that one spirit that lies within all of us and it begins with, is propelled by and ends with love.  

Reading: And what is love?  "To love is to not ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something.  This is the only way to freedom" - J. Krishnamurti.”

Mudra: Anjali (adoration)

Pranayama: Wide open arms with Khapalabatti breath

Chant: Krishna & Rama both were incarnations of Vishnu.  These names hold a lot of power in them for the simple fact that people have been using them as a tool to connect to the spiritual aspect of ourselves for thousands of years.  Right?  As the pathways continues to get used, it becomes more clear and a more defined.  Nature really seeks to go with the flow, it is spontaneous and yet still has the goal of survival.  That is our karma, its the easiest way for us to get to God, and we are all so different and yet connected to other people’s karma.  And because we all come in from such different walks of life lets connect to each other through sound.  We are going to use the Krishna Chant.

“Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Hare Rama, Hare Rama

Rama Rama, Hare Hare.”

Mantra: “I create my own reality, tonight i choose to end my own suffering”

Asana: “Move with love and devotion for your life, for your blessings for your miracle body that can do these poses and take these deep breaths for you.”

Prone Savasana: bend knees and bring toes forward to stretch quads

Floor bow with knees down & up variations

Child’s Pose

Plow, Shoulder Stand, roll forward to balancing on your ass with legs in the air pose.

Roll back to dolphin & practice bringing chin forward (in line with thumbs) & back, then forearm plank, lift hips and swoop through to Chatarunga, Updog then down dog.

Warm up upper body with 5 vinyasas & then lift then have them lift one heel, bend that same knee and twist to the opposite side of the mat (getting a stretch in the whole side of the body side of the body with the straight leg.

5 x Sun A

5 x Sun B with a step back from Arda Uttanasana & step forward with half lift in between sides.

1 - High to low lunge with a backbend (5 breaths each)

2 - Runner’s Lunge to Extended Side Angle

3 - Bound Warrior to Bound Triangle or Birds of Paradise

4- Reverse Warrior to Half Moon (Arda Chandrasana) with leg out to the side & or Chaprasana

5- Star to Prasaritta C with option for funky tripod head stand

3 xs though on their own

Backbends - wheel x5 

Forearm balance/scorpion

Warm down: plow, shoulder stand, twists and Matsyendrasana

Mantra: “I create my own reality, tonight I choose to end my own suffering.”

Say this with devotion and faith

Meditation: “ We do create our own reality and just like anything in the known universe, the law of attraction lies.  By simply bringing it into the present moment  you give your thoughts, feelings, actions and intentions power.  Tonight we had the intention of truly loving ourselves.  Did we?  It doesn’t matter, the point is that your efforts went their, they aimed at it & intended to shoot.  

Song: “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele

Class on Consciousness

Theme:  Moving with consciousness.  Taking conscious breaths linking opening poses & falling with Grace.

Chants:  

om kriyam namah

om - womb

kriya - action

namah- self reflecting upon the self.  

Translation: “My actions are in alignment with the universe.”

Asana:

Sun A x3

Sun B x3

1. To Low lunge with some deep psoas openers, then up to Crescent lunge and a flow from there.
2. To Warrior II with lots of flow from there to open the heart and hips
3. To runner’s lunge, half-pidgeon, seated spinal twist to standing split to WIII to Half Moon to Chaprasana then other side.

Backbends & Twists

Warm-down

Meditation: Knowing thy true self & connecting to the whole.  Witnessing the breath: the inhales, exhales & the gaps in between.  Take that awareness to the mind.  Witness the thoughts & the gaps in between. 

“Our natural state is divine, eternal & free. Maya, or ignorance, creates the illusion that we are separate from the divine or universe.  The truth is that we are connected to the whole.  This connection to the universe enables us to be infinitely powerful & not mediocre.” -Vedanta, A Simple Introduction

“Be afraid of nothing-you have within you all wisdom, all power, all strength, all understanding. -Eileen Caddy

-The power we hold in connection to the universe enables us to act out our karma & make change in our lives.  As we work things out lifetime after lifetime, we free our spirits of thought patterns & other emotional baggage.

Poems:

Kabir - 

There’s a moon inside my body, but I can’t see it!

A moon & a sun.

A drum never touched by hands, beating, & I can’t hear it!

As long as human being worry about when he will die, and what he has that is his, all of his works are zero.  When affection for the I-creature and what it owns is dead, then the work of the Teacher is over.

The purpose of labor is to learn; when you know it, the labor is over.  The apple blossom exists to create fruit; when that comes, the petals fall.

The musk is inside the deer, but the deer does not look for it: it wanders around looking for grass.  

p.43

Gayatri Mantra (sing to them)

Aum bhoor bhuwah swaha,

Tat savitur varenyam

Bargo Devasya Dheemahi

Dhiyo yo naha prachodayat

“May the almighty GOD illuminate our intellect to lead us along the righteous path.”

Closing prayer: For more people to come to know thy Self.  

Healing the Darkness

Theme/Setting the tone:  (Start in prone savasana) To every action in the known universe, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Light/dark, up/down, left/right, strength/flexibility, and thought/absence of thought are all equal and yet opposite reaction.  Life is not about leaning one way or the other, its about balancing and coming into equilibrium with both.  Sometimes were up, sometimes were down and both have to be ok.  One thing I have learned is that our society suppresses and hides what it does not accept, but this leaves us with no outlet for the darkness.  We need a safe container to let our darkness out and guess what, this room, this class is your container to let the darkness out.  

Reading:  Whether it drives them further away or draws them closer, if its true, its the right thing to do.... “Our wounded side is our dark side or shadow side, not because it is bad but because it is cut off from the light of God.  It lives in the darkness of fear and the heaviness of false beliefs instead of in the light of love and truth. Moving toward "enlightenment" is moving into the light of truth. When we heal our fears and false beliefs, our energy lightens. We may even hear from others, "You seem so much lighter!" - Margaret Paul

Pranayama, Mudra & Mantra/Song:  Begin with some rounds of Mmmmmmmm....  Lions breath in sphinx pose gazing at third eye, seed of intuition.  Baby, full & king cobra to serpentine cobra to child’s pose to Hero’s pose & Sing: Hey ma Kali (death of what no longer serves you), Hey ma Durga (fearlessness)

Asana:  

Roll forward through cow to up dog, then roll back through cat to down dog x 4

Sun A x 5

Sun B x 5

1. Opens lower body: Lunges (high to low)
2. Opens upper body: Warrior II with reverse and extended, 
3. Twists: Trikonasana/triangle with reverse
4. Strengthens Upper Body: Side Plank & Plank, WIII, Standing splits with option for arm balance
5. Opens Hips

Backbends

Twists

Warm-Down

Savasana/Meditation: Take them into deep relaxation, allow them to withdraw energy from the body & focus it on the mind and be the observer.  Sing to them Imagine (Eva Cassidy version).

Compassion (Daya)

Setting/Theme: Compassion in Action

Reading/Story:  Compassion is the 7th of 10 restraints or yamas in Yoga Philosophy.  Compassion comes from the 5th chakra, the heart center or the Anahata chakra.  

“Practice compassion, conquering callous, cruel and insensitive feelings toward all beings. See god everywhere. Be kind to people, animals, plants and the Earth itself. Forgive those who apologize and show true remorse. Foster sympathy for others’ needs and suffering. Honor and assist those who are weak, impoverished, aged or in pain. Oppose family abuse and other cruelties).  hinduism.about.com

Pranayama (Kapalabhati for purification) to Mantra/Chant: Om Mani Padme Hum.  Behold to the jewel in the lotus with lotus Mudra

Asana:

Core

Sun A x 5

Sun B x 5 

1-4) Crescent with Humble Warrior & Psoas stretches in the groin & come down to belly in between (baby, half cobra & full cobra) to Danurasana (Floor Bow).
5) Down dog with hip openers, flip your dog & Chatarunga with a side car), Pigeon & runner’s lunge.

Cobbler’s to half lotus with forward bend over free leg, and with leg in on both sides.  Foreward fold over full lotus if you can/cobbler’s

Bridge/Wheel/Scorpion

Plow to spinal twist & fish pose/Matsyasana

Mantra/Chant: Om Mani Padme Hum.  Behold to the jewel in the lotus.

Meditation: Compassion is what makes us human and as we become more & more compassionate towards all living things and the relationship between all living things, we  also become more evolved.  A planet, an ecosystem, a species can become physically evolved but it would be ignorant to ignore that we don’t evolve on a spiritual & conscious level.  What you do, think, feel, say and make habit holds power and a certain energy or vibration.  Like a trail that get frequently used, our easiest path through life can lead towards things that serve us or that don’t.  So how do you decide which way to go?  You take the path of compassion in action.  Practice compassion towards yourself and all life because you see God in all of life.  Forgive and forget to those who show true remorse because holding your past is a heavy burden.  Sympathize with the pain and suffering by doing what you can, but don’t let the burden be heavy, use it to inspire to make good on your actions and words instead of discourage you.  Be a warrior for peace!

Background for Pose Names

Setting the theme/tone: Knowing the symbolism behind our yoga poses and the stories behind them can enhance your yoga practice.  You can put your body into a particular shape and what?  Thats it?  Many yoga poses have a story behind them, like Matsyasana or Hanumanasana, or they resemble our surroundings in order to help us relate to the essential nature of the world around us, such as Tree pose or tortoise.  And thats is really what yoga is all about is feeling joy & as we connect to the world around us.  Tonights theme is really all about the poses, their meanings and why we care about the meaning.

Asana:

Balasana (Childs Pose):

Balasana is about the childhood play of Krishna.  Once he and his brother, Balarama, were playing & Krishna ate some dirt and his brother tried to tell on him to their mother. Krishna denied it, even though he had mud all over his face, and his mother didn’t believe him so he asked him if she could look inside his mouth.  When she did, she saw the whole universe.  The lesson here is that everything is in God & God is in everything.  There is no duality here, just play for the sake of play.   

Sun Salutations:

Sun A x 3 to Parvritta Arda Chandrasana to WII to Star to Horse to WII facing the back of the room to Revolved Warrior to vinyasa, do right leg again to get back around to the front.  Left side.

Core

Sun B x 3

1. & 2) Crescent to WII to Standing split to Arda Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose)....tell the story of Arda Chandrasana....to Parvritta Arda Chandrasana to WII to Star to Horse to WII facing the back of the room to Revolved Warrior to vinyasa, do right leg again to get back around to the front.  Left side.

Arda Chandrasana is about Ganesha and the moon.  Ganesh is the elephant head God who is known for being the remover of obstacles, his generosity & also for his love of eating, especially sweets.  So one day he was out & ate so many sweet cakes that he decided he needed to head home to do some light stretching.  So he hopped on his trusty steed, a mouse, and was ever so graciously balancing on the tiny mouse when a cobra scared the mouse and he fell off.  Unfortunately his belly was so full that it popped open & sweet cakes rained everywhere.  He got mad and began picking up all the sweet cakes and putting them back in his stomach and then grabbed the cobra and tied it around his waist to keep it all in.  To Ganesh’s dismay, the moon, Chandra, began laughing at him.  He broke off one of his tusks and speared the moon and her light went out.  After awhile, love was lost in the world because the moon could not shine at night.  All the gods came to Ganesh to compromise with him over the situation & Ganesh agreed that the moon would have to wax and wane & could only show her magnificence fully once every four weeks....

3) Flip your dog to knee to forehead, left & right elbows to Half Pigeon to Chatraunga with a  side car to Runner’s Lunge to IT band stretch.

Core

Hip Openers:  Malasana to Prone Frog Wide leg Splits to full tortoise

Backbends: against the wall (Beginner: Camel.  Intermediate: Wheel.  Advanced: Full Camel/Scorpion

Child’s Pose!!!  

Warm-down:

Halasana (Plow Pose):

Haladhara (Hala meaning plow and dhara meaning carrier) was Krishna’s older brother and was drunk off honey one day and wanted to bathe in the Yamuna river.  He was too lazy to walk over to it so he took his plow and carved a route in the earth for the river to come to him.  In yoga philosophy, there is a sutra that says just as a farmer plows his field for irrigation, so do we remove obstacles in our path toward yoga.  Plow pose leads us to liberation of the mind to reveal positive thinking.   

Matsyasana (Fish Pose):

After 10,000 years of intense meditation, Lord Shiva was telling his wife Parvati were sitting by a river & he was telling her about how he had discovered the nature of life, the secret to salvation, the path to ultimate union between the individual self and the Divine source.  Meanwhile Matsya (fish) was swimming by and thought to himself “I better listen!” and he did & became enlightened.  Shiva became the first teacher (guru) and Matsya the first student (chela).  So fish pose or Matsyasana is dedicated to this story & reminds us that nothing is more important than the relationship between teacher & student and that anyone who listens really well can follow the same path of Matsya.

Chant:

Yoga Teacher Student Prayer:

OM saha navavatu
saha nau bhunaktu
saha viryam karavavahai
tejasvi navadhitam astu
ma vidvishavahai
OM shanti, shanti, shanti

May we be protected together.
May we be nourished together.
May we create strength among one another.
May our study be filled with brilliance and light.
May there be no hostility between us.
Om peace, peace, peace.

Meditation:

According to the Bhagavad Gita & the Yoga Sutras, yoga’s purpose is to help us surrender to a higher power & bind to the divine through love.  But, in order to do that we need to let go of the ego, which is the simplest yet hardest thing for us to do.  

Poems to read during Savasana:

“Gentle me, Holy One, into an unclenched moment, a deep breath, a letting go of heavy experiences, of shriveling anxieties,

of dead uncertainties. That softened by the silence, surrounded by the light, and open to the mystery, I may be found by

wholeness, upheld by the unfathomable, entranced by the simple, and filled with the joy that is You.” ~ Ted Lode

“Just give me this: A rinsing out, a cleansing free of all my smaller strivings so I can be the class act God intended. True to my

purpose, all my energy aligned behind my deepest intention. And just this: A quieting down, a clearing away of internal ruckus, so I

can hear the huge stillness in my heart and feel how I pulse with all creation, part and parcel of Your great singing ocean. And this

too: A willingness to notice and forgive the myriad times I fall short, forgetting who I really am, what I really belong to. So I can start

over, fresh and clean like sweet sheets billowing in the summer sun, my heart pierced with gratitude.” ~ Belleruth Naparstek