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classes & workshops | videos
Stability and Spaciousness: working with doubt and judgement
This practice of standing poses invites us to create and maintain space and stability, so that the breathing body can move with naturalness and ease. These qualities of stability, spaciousness and ease offer a home for destructive mind-states such as doubt and judgement to be held in safety, while our attention stays close to the breath. It is a powerful way to return our attention to what is real and true in our experience, and remember our potential and power.
Optional props: 1 or 2 bricks (or a chair) and something to sit on if needed.
90 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIB6pFCETqI
The Courage to Grieve: transforming anger into compassion
This quiet restorative yoga practice begins and ends with a self-sourcing meditation, which connects us to body, breath, Earth and Sky. This helps us grow in the confidence and courage needed to meet truth with love. The yoga postures open our lungs and stimulate the lung meridian to help us meet life's inevitable grief with this courage. As grief opens our hearts, the energy of anger begins to transform into compassion, which is the true foundation of nonviolent action.
Props: a blanket (or towel) and a bolster (or cushions).
80. minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElyRJIJJt1A
Sacred Anger, Sacred Action
A well-rounded practice with postures to support becoming grounded and aligned in presence, followed by slow sun salutations to move stuck energy, and yin yoga to cultivate self-compassion.
This practice invites us into a healthy relationship with anger, remembering its energy to be a call to sacred nonviolent action.
No props needed, but a chair and brick are useful.
60 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx_cCqKD6pY&t=2966s
Shoulders and Upper Back: Realign Body and Mind
This is a short yoga and meditation sequence that can be done at your desk if necessary. The practice releases tension in the shoulders and upper back, allowing deeper breathing. It helps to revitalise by increasing "prana vayu", the subtle energy within us that relates to the element of air. With this vitality, we realign and reconnect our body and mind with the energy within and around us.
30 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=unFwuESB0Pg&t=338s
Dawn Chorus Yin Yoga and Meditation: Receptivity
This "dawn chorus" yin yoga and meditation practice supports receptivity and balance. We follow a kidney and bladder sequence to enhance authentic listening, as we are guided by birdsong and the words of Kalu Rinpoche:
"We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality. We are that reality. When you understand this, you see that you are nothing, and being nothing, you are everything. That is all."
No props needed, but 3 or 4 foam blocks (or a brick, several hardback books or firm cushions) may be useful.
50 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6EKecLOEJ4&t=1705s
Yin Yoga and Meditation: Short Kindness Practice
Prioritising kindness has been transformative in ways I wouldn't have imagined. I have chosen it to be the first attitude I turn towards when I wake up, holding with kindness any early morning thoughts or feelings that surface. Returning to kindness throughout my day, as I pause and soften. I am watching the way movements of mind that create suffering in me, whether comparison, expectation, judgement or shame, begin to fall away in kindness. That feelings of sadness, isolation and confusion also find a home there. It is an inner atmosphere that not only effortlessly holds suffering, but equally easily celebrates ease. I am noticing that joy, gratitude, and love rest in gentleness and softness when kindness is present. It is the fabric that unites all experience, calling us to return to being held by the fabric itself regardless of what arises.
30 minutes
Yin Yoga and Meditation: From Fear to Connection
A yin yoga and meditation practice to balance the kidney and bladder meridians, returning us to an inner gentleness. We begin by cultivating an atmosphere of kindness, as we feel what is here in our immediate experience. Reconnecting with body, heart and mind, with spirit (through vertical alignment with earth and sky), and with soul purpose (who we are and why we're here), brings us into right relationship with all things.
No props needed, but a bolster or cushions may be useful.
90 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=68JgvGLJAZw
Yin Yoga and Meditation: From Fear to Connection
A deeply balancing yoga and meditation practice to help quieten the mind, relax the abdomen and open the heart and lungs. This practice supports us to transition from argument to trust, and surrender into the healing potential of opening to the aliveness within and around us.
The props used are a yoga mat at the wall, a bolster, 4 or 5 foam blocks, 2 blankets or cushions, a chair and a strap.
Here are some ways to substitute some of these yoga props with everyday items:
foam blocks = large hardback books
chair = any chair without arm rests and with unobstructed space under the legs
strap = belt or dressing gown cord
bolster = tightly roll several firm blankets or towels together into a cylinder and tie together in the centre and at both ends
* please do not practice inversions if you are menstruating, but follow the alternatives offered *
90 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqlcHJ_hAOE&t=7s
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