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Season 1 - Episode 4

Gracious Triangle Pose

60 min - Tutorial
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Description

Allowing the subtler currents of the body to be revealed, Kira starts us slow and supine to tune inward. Once this interior relationship is established, we approach a standing pattern towards Trikonasana (Triangle pose). We play with letting our awareness of the breath in the side body reveal our central channel to find gracious quiet. You will feel expansive and held.
What You'll Need: No props needed

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Hi, welcome back. Thank you Megan for being here. We also have our friends again, Saraswati, Papa Shiffman. So we're gonna explore the shape of triangle or trikonasana. Tree, three, kona, angle and then the asana, the three angle pose. Now there are many ways to do triangle as there are people doing triangle. So in our exploration, the hope in our exploration isn't so much to communicate and there this is how to do it. The exploration today is designed to allow the shape and a sequence towards the shape to become more aware of who we are. You are connected to the source from where all this alignment information has come. Okay, like alignment information it's an inside out job. You know continually the temptation is to believe that if only I can get this alignment right then everything will line up and it's really the opposite. It's more letting go of how it might look like and tuning more into how things actually feel and then finding out how they express. That's more the process of yoga. That's the call of the sages and yet sometimes it helps at the same time. Okay, while that is true it also helps to have techniques to tune into what the physical being is doing because rarely do we actually know what we're doing. So many of us are really walking around like this, not really noticing what's going on until something hurts. Really that's one of the greatest benefits of pain is it's very focusing. So with my friend Megan's help what we'll focus on is mostly how to allow for an understanding of what's going on in each of the sides of the posture because Trichonasana is an asymmetrical posture. You do one side and then you do the other and so how to start to tune into what the sides are doing with an interest of finding what the yogis call the gracious channel, the central channel. So the way this practice will look is in a moment we'll stand up and Megan will show her version of triangle or at least her version today at this moment. You know this is another thing to understand that how a posture is really depends on you know where you've come from, where you are and maybe where you're going. So she'll show us how her triangle might look today and she'll just come into it the way that she would normally come into it and then we'll come back down on the floor we'll get some openings in the hips and the hamstrings and we'll get some tuning into some more subtle work in the nostrils and that's how we'll play with the side body. We'll eventually come up and we'll make our way through a sequence that comes to us again from Papa Shiffman which will involve a little bit of what we call blueprint side angle pose. We'll pile in a few extra postures in this exploration of triangle and then we'll probably come back down to the earth and find a spinal twist and would you like to end in Shavasana today? Okay we'll do that then. So thanks for being here with us and please you know what you find interesting or useful connect in, let us know, new discoveries you make because we're in this together. As we've talked often about and we'll keep talking about these teachings only exist in relationship and you know we don't exist without each other. Okay so first let's take a look at triangle so we'll stand up. Yes I can still stand up. So Megan will show us her version of triangle and just watch I mean it's really to get to watch somebody share their posture is really quite a gift. And notice what she's doing as she's as she's bending and straightening her leg how she's adjusting her stance and getting more room. Pretty. Okay so just a couple things just like so that you understand like why we might be doing things a certain way. Like just as you as you look at Megan's pose like notice so you've got something going on on this top side and then you've got another thing going on in this bottom side. Okay she's got her shoulders open. This requires a lot of hamstring flexibility. This requires an ability to roll this open or not. We'll explore that a little bit and you can see that she's got a bit of a back bend going. Okay now Megan's turning to turn her gaze up. We'll explore that choice a little bit together. Okay so why don't you come into a lunge. And then why don't you step forward. Uttanasana. And then why don't you come down to the earth from there and then turn your feet. I lied you're gonna have to turn your feet that way. Okay scoot forward and we'll we'll roll on back down. Nice. Okay hug your knees into your chest. So as we show these hamstring stretches you might want to have a strap on hand or a karate belt or a necktie or a towel. This strap doesn't serve much purpose with Megan so we've ditched it for this sequence. Okay so Megan we'll start with windshield wiper and actually you know what once you put your feet down on the ground why don't you scoot just a little this way so we have enough room for your arms over the top of your head. Yep okay and then you're gonna reach your arms up over the top of your head. Yep okay. Inhale here and as you exhale you'll let your knees come to a side whichever side you choose. Yeah and as you inhale your knees will come back up center and as you exhale your knees will come over to the other side. Beautiful. So continue like this as you inhale knees center and as you exhale knees to a side and this opening is doing a few things. One it's just it's starting to tune your awareness into the relationship okay of your body and that's not quite the way I would want to say that. Let me see if I can say that a little better. It's more like the mind can be anywhere and generally is whereas the body is right here and the breath acts as this wonderful bridge so as you tune the mind okay into the movement of the body and you let the breath help coordinate the two it starts to settle us into right here right now and and you'll feel some mutiny you'll feel some resistance to that like I'm sure Megan especially. The other thing this is doing is it's starting to give you a little sense of your sacrum so these these asymmetrical poses trikonasana, partial khanasana they can be demanding of the sacrum because she's being asked she's often being asked to like pull apart in two different directions and so as you as you play here in windshield wiper you're just starting to sensitize yourself to her and and invite her in. The body really likes to move quite slowly ultimately because the present moment is slow. Okay now pause here so next time your knees are over to your right lengthen a little bit on your left side and just feel you can stretch a little bit more on your left side so just feel the the space in between the lungs there that's not true the space in between the ribs yes beautiful okay and now bring your knees back up center and as you exhale other side knees over to the other side and so same idea now lengthen so now Megan's lengthening on her right side her knees are to the left and she's lengthening and she's just getting a little bit more space pretty okay beautiful okay now inhale your knees back up center exhale bring your knees over to the other side again okay so Megan's knees are over to her right she's lengthening on this left side so lengthen on your left side and now bring your awareness a little bit more into the lung and really start to tune your mind into this left lung and most of us will tend to tune more towards the front or center so it takes a little bit more effort to be where the back and the bottom yeah does that make sense okay and as you're starting to tune into this this left lung now inhale bring the knees back up center exhale over to the other side so now the right lung and so you can feel this on the right side and now really like really move your mind now all of you have seen an image of your lung at this point in your life you know what the lung looks like basically basically and so use your mind's eye like use your imagination yeah to feel here beautiful okay some of you might feel it more in the backside okay and and one of the magic things to really notice here is notice that as soon as you bring your awareness to an area she's available this is this is one of the key lessons of yoga that as soon as we become aware of something she responds it's it's it's really like like just tune into your own like notice what you respond to rarely do you respond to somebody's lack of interest okay inhale bring the knees back up center exhale knees over to the other side yes so we'll do this one more time and we'll just start to tune a little bit more so as you're lengthening on your left side let the lung open tune into that left lung and just start to bring some sensitivity to the corresponding nostril so see if you can be aware pretty of your left nostril nice okay really nice inhale bring the knees back up center exhale knees over to the left one more time like this so now you're just starting to connect a little bit more like so you're aware of the movement of the breath in your lungs you're perfect so perfect and you're aware of the movement of the breath in your right nostril so you're just trying to become you're widening your sensitivity this is the whole point of yoga is to widen our sensitivity my first impression of yoga was that eventually I would be so flexible that I would feel nothing oh okay nice and now bring the knees back up center reach your arms up towards the sky let your arms come down along your side beautiful okay now you could see when we were in triangle that it there was an ask in the hamstring so we're just gonna get a little bit opening there so that your right knee come in towards your chest and bring your hands around I think bring your hands around your foot if it's available yep if your foot's asking you a little bit much you'll find your ankle or your shin and then start to let that leg extend towards the sky so now Megan's hands come towards her foot okay and she could switch that right she could bring one hand to her foot often you know somebody will find you might prefer that right hand around the big toe second and third finger you might prefer your hands around your shin and actually now that I've ditched this strap I can see that it's better for Megan to hold her ankle could you see that how her shoulders was we show that again so when she holds her foot you can see how her shoulders kind of come up off the ground and she's having to work too hard there so she's gonna let her hands come a little lower the leg some of you might find the calf or the or the thigh if you also are not working with a strap today okay now big deliberating now exhale everything and remember how to relax this outer hip yep and remember how to relax the inner hip pocket is that asking too much or is it okay it's all right like barely okay flex the foot a little bit yes and then let this some of you might keep this left knee bent some of you might let it straighten just a few moments here and then we're gonna open it out to the side so find your leg in your right hand maybe hold the outer edge or the big toe and then let that leg open out to the side left hand on that left hip so you can see now maybe and you can feel so maybe you can feel maybe you can see her legs are in the same shape as they will eventually be in triangle pose okay so she's got this big opening you'll see how this hip is coming up no problem that's what that hips gonna do that's why you have yoga friends can I hold this hip for you and the purpose of me holding her hip isn't to imply that this hip has to stay down the purpose of this is just to offer some resistance that she can reach away from beautiful okay and now let that leg come back up to center gorgeous and last part bring your hands around that shin or the back of the calf and curl up bring your forehead up towards that shin navel back to the spine now let a little happen gorgeous okay keep the leg extended let the head come back down to the floor and then shake the leg out a little bit Megan and let her float back down to meet the left nice okay pause and now as you pause here can you feel the feeling of the breath in this right side or the side you just worked yeah yeah can you feel that all the way up through your nostril yeah so you may or may not that the sense is can you feel this full clearing and you and you can feel the breath tuned to that now breath according to the yogis is really the the most surface level of what the yogis called prana or another way to say that is prana is the deepest layers of breath okay bend the knees again soles of the feet on the floor we'll just open up the hamstrings on the other side a little bit and you know I should really be clear about this expression open up the hamstrings it's unclear how much you can really stretch your hamstrings does that make sense like you can't it's like it's not like you're gonna just change your whole structure right it's not like all of a sudden now you'd be like that's not gonna stay you know but it's the feeling of flexibility right it's the feeling of openness that we're tuning towards because if you can capture the feeling of openness then you can have it no matter what's happening does that make sense okay maybe okay bring the left knee in and then find out how you're gonna hold that leg so Megan if we found out in the last side on the other side Megan like to hold the shin as she extended the leg straight you might prefer to hold the foot or the big toe or you might have a strap okay now relax the outside of that outer hip okay soften in the hip pocket yes and notice how it like she's just the key is that the shoulders are soft so beautiful soft in the mouth and the eyes yeah pretty and you might choose to keep this right knee bent or you might let this right leg draw straight and the play you're writing you're in a relationship okay and like notice the relationship you're in with the back of the back of this left leg back of these these little like knee tendons and and if the relationship is continually abusive right if the language is you know that communicates a particular sentiment to the hamstrings so right here now just if there's a little grumble just change it to oh sweetheart yeah okay now when you're ready you'll find your hand around that left foot maybe it's the big toe maybe it's the outside of the foot and you'll just let that leg open out to the side right hands gonna hold her right hip down yep or oh hi look what I found can I help okay as if you're like a magical yoga buddy that appeared in the forest okay so rooting is that okay this side's a little stickier huh is that my okay so again you might not have a yoga buddy at home I could never convince anyone to do this for me at home but you could use um you know a sack of potatoes a sandbag remember the shape of triangle so here she is she's in the shape of triangle right that arms extended that hands to the foot this legs out like she's basically in triangle pose beautiful is it better if I just push straight down either way okay okay all right inhale that leg comes all the way back up and then because it usually feels nice on the back she's gonna walk her hands up curl her forehead up navel back to the spine pretty pretty then she lets her head come back down she might do a couple ankle circle shake the leg out a little bit and then eventually you'll let the leg flow back down to the earth nicely done just always like does yoga feel good or when you stop not sure and can you feel your breath in that left side now yeah through the long through the nostril so pretty and so just to get a little bit geekier on this breath now we've done this in the inner working show and and I think we've only done it in the inner working show so far but this this tuning of the nostrils okay so the question now you just for the next three minutes we want to make sure you're quite comfortable so if you're quite comfortable here with your legs straight you don't need to do anything but if you're not sure try this so Megan would you just to show will you bend your knees feet on the mat feet as wide as the mat and let your knees fall together for most of you this will be more comfortable than legs straight so you might choose this a third possible option would you bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees go wide so this would be a third possible option so choose what's most comfortable maybe stay here maybe go knees together or maybe go back to legs straight is this the most comfortable for you yeah you're kind of born to do that okay okay so you're comfortable big deliberate inhale exhale everything and now please as you're ready don't rush but please as you're ready let your awareness come in to your right lung and as you just tune your awareness into your right lung like notice how your right lung is right there feel the movement of the breath in her okay and now just please move your mind's eye over to the left lung and as you move your mind's eye over to the left lung notice how she becomes available so again it's it's our curiosity in the subtle that allows it to be revealed now some of you the nostril work may not be available and so as we start to move into the nostril work if it's not quite working you'll just stay in the lungs otherwise please start to tune into the left nostril so you just start to become aware of the breath in your left nostril yes beautiful and then just so gently move your mind over to the right nostril and as you move your mind over to the right nostril you're just seeing if there's a sense that the what might feel like the breath or slightly more subtle than the breath if there's an awareness in your right nostril that's more sensitive more subtle sometimes it feels like the breath is moving okay then so gently become aware of the left nostril and again if the nostrils aren't available today for whatever reason keep the practice in the lungs yes and then move your awareness back over to the right nostril it's just like you're moving your mind's eye and just seeing if what seems like the breath is following so nice beautiful work now just gently relax that and let your awareness rest in this little sweet hammock between the nose and the lips like I'm sure there's a name for that yeah and just resting in the results of being attentive to smaller details because as we start to move into relationship with these bigger postures what holds us close and safe is our inward tuning ready okay thanks Megan so only as you're ready you'll let your knees come together and you'll hug your knees in towards the chest and wobble now don't let us rush you if you need more time here chill hmm was that available to you then work in the nostrils from side to side okay good okay so again if it wasn't quite available you focus on the lungs okay so now I'm gonna ask you to eventually rock and roll up to sitting so you'll cross your ankles you'll rock and roll and you'll find your way up to sitting and will you please find Sukhasana in the middle of the mat facing our friends at home okay so snuggle in you're good big deliberate inhale exhale everything let a happen and what we'll do here is we'll start to open up a little bit through the sideways but tuning towards the subtler details so the request here darling is you're gonna let your you're gonna let it'll be here gonna let this hand come out to the side okay so you'll let one hand come out to the side okay and she'll start to walk these fingertips out you'll circle the other hand in front of your face and up okay nice now just pause here pause where it's still pretty easy root through this sit bone on the on the side of the arm that's extended root bloom and see how the breath feels like see how easy it is okay to feel the breath in this lung in that nostril does that make sense so feel the breath on your top side in that lung and that nostril and now see if this makes sense drop your awareness into the lung and the nostril on the underside yeah and as you drop your awareness into the lung and the nostril on the underside let that fill out a little bit more does that make sense and help yeah realign you so that you're not so compressed beautiful so it balances and then only as you can keep that balance so keep your awareness in the underside start to tiptoe that hand out to the side a little bit and maybe deepen your opportunity so pretty okay keep watching the temptation is to be all about the shiny side the key is to start to be a little bit more on the underside yeah roll this hip away pretty Megan less few moments last few moments okay take a look down at the hand on the earth let an inhale bring you all the way back up and pause nice and sit in the sauce and just feel the result of the feeling of your breath in the lungs and your nostrils gorgeous switch to the cross of your legs and we'll take that on the other side was that making sense could you okay so you bring that that other hand out to the side tip toe her out to the side you'll eventually circle your top arm in front of the face and up yes gorgeous and pause while it's still easy and like feel this side like breathe into that lung roll this hip away yeah okay so this is like this is the obvious side so let this hand be a little bit more in line with your hip yeah and then if it's right you start to tiptoe that hand out a little bit so that you start to like tiptoe tiptoe tiptoe yep and pause here and now bring your awareness to the underside right so bring your awareness to the side that's that's supporting you yeah so beautiful wide through here gorgeous bring your awareness to that lung or that nostril whichever is more available and maintain a fullness here as you move into the shape if this makes sense here when it makes me gets more complicated it will really help you so gorgeous last few moments yes okay then take a look down at the hand on the earth and let an inhale bring you all the way back up and exhale and pause gorgeous beautiful okay now we're gonna transition using a down dog to come to standing but you might have a different way of coming to standing but what we're gonna do is first find our way into all fours with your hands here and what usually feels good is a little cat cow so as you exhale you'll get round Megan drawing the sit bones under yep and as you inhale you'll arch rolling the pelvis forward drawing the heart up okay nice and just continue couple like this rounding this will help us be able to understand what the sacrum is doing in the pose and arching so the sacrum this triangular bone that sits in between the ears of the pelvis so when Megan rounds right that sacrums tilting back and when Megan arches that sacrum is compressing okay so let's see if we can that makes sense so she rounds okay she's stretching the low back the sacrum is tipping back and when she arches you get this little compression there pretty okay next time she arches stay in the arch and then find your way back child's pose so rounding the hips back towards the heels child's pose if it feels okay okay so again like I mentioned we're gonna make our way through downward facing dog if that's not such great medicine for your wrists find your way to standing in another way otherwise Megan will just very simply in her own fashion find her way back up on to all fours she'll organize her hands and her feet for her down dog and she'll tuck her toes under and lift up length it okay wiggle as you like walk that off as you like okay perfect then Megan what I'll ask you to do is just step forward as feels right for you to uttanasana forward fold and then as you're ready you'll just round and roll back up hands on the legs for extra support beautiful gorgeous okay so we'll start here at the top of our mat okay in tarasana so today because your feet happen to already be together let's do that so in tarasana you can work with the feet together or you can work with the feet apart it depends on what you're working on so with our feet together our balls of the big toes dusting and our heels are slightly separate okay big delivered inhale here and as you exhale ground let a happen this is what we've been practicing on yeah okay and then root through the sit bones and feel your heart bloom okay when we when we start to tune into the nostrils okay because we're tuning in to you know the channels that are said to sit on either side of the spine okay you'll start to get more of a sense of the central channel what the yogis called the shashumna the gracious channel okay so see if that's available like right from the the the tailbone let a happen let the heart feel generous and see if you can start to feel this current that runs up through you it'll feel gooey or at the base of the skull yeah and and some of you will even be able to feel it up towards the top of the head and and you'll know you found it when it feels like you're you're you're you're resting in the center of a river okay so we're gonna move through a simple flow towards triangles so Megan let your hands come together at your heart and jali mudra pause here and just let yourself be aware of more senses the more subtle energies okay as you're ready Megan inhale and as you exhale press your hands towards the earth inhale circle your arms open beautiful beautiful and as you exhale swan dive forward gorgeous let an inhale create a half arch and as you exhale you'll step your left foot back letting your right knee bend to the shape of the lunge now pause okay soften a little bit in this in this hip crease now turn that back foot to about 45 degrees and we're gonna make our way into what we call blueprint side angle so the left hand is going to come up onto the left waist and the right form is going to come up onto the right thigh pause now press into the feet and feel your heart generous and feel your mind light and tune into the lungs so remember how to tune into this top lung tune into that top lung and and feel the opening there yes and now really tune into the underside yes beautiful and let that realign you a bit yeah okay so as you tune into the underside you're looking for a more balanced experience and now to morph into trichonosana from here you're gonna root through that front foot let that front leg start to draw towards straight as that right hand finds the leg or maybe the earth for some of you pause and then eventually she's gonna circle her left arm in front of her face and up towards the sky trichonosana keep your gaze neutral where she is okay so now remember this opening in the legs if it's too much in your hamstrings you would let this front knee bend a little bit press into the feet let the heart blossom and tune into the lungs to help you so you can feel this top side really obvious breathe into this lung maybe the nostril yes and now see if you can breathe a little bit more into the underside and watch what happens in you or in Megan yes does that make sense can you feel that yeah you're you're you're letting the shadow side be fuller gorgeous so pretty beautiful okay inhale here Megan exhale come back into the shape of the lunge we can meal your hands down around that front foot mm-hmm roll up onto the ball that back foot pretty rock and roll a little bit you're gonna step the left foot forward to meet the right inhale half arch exhale forward fold and then slow complete your salutation to the sky so inhale circle your arms up gorgeous and then exhale hands back down to the center of the heart beautiful so we'll find that same thing on the other side so hands at the heart inhale and as you exhale you'll press your hands towards the earth and inhale circle your arms open and as you exhale swan dive forward forward fold pretty you'll let an inhale create a half arch and you'll let an exhale step your right foot back this time as your left knee bend shape of the lunge gorgeous now from here you pivot that back right foot about 45 degrees and you come into blueprint side angle pose on this side so right hand on the waist left forearm to the left thigh okay now there's a lot going on here okay but the play is can you can you remember how to find some space here yes and tune into this top side first so tune into this this right lung yeah beautiful tune into that nostril can you see how that helps you open that side yeah so you just tune into the top side and then just by bringing your awareness to the underside like tune into the underside and this side the this side gets so compressed yes yeah does that make sense now you maintain this as you let the left hand find her way towards the left leg or the earth and you let that left leg start to draw towards straight and towards the operative word you know Megan has a particular anatomical design that allows this leg to be straight that may or may not be the same for you okay circle your right arm in front of the face and up okay now in this direction you can really see in her shirt really helps us see how this side is really open so just breathe a little bit more into this side up into the top side breathe into your top side and then see what happens like just move your mind into this underside move your mind into the left lung into that left nostril and just see if you can allow that to create some more space yeah and let's just try a little trick press up into my hand a little bit like really press okay now relax that and then stop pressing yes does that make sense can you feel that yeah beautiful okay last few moments gorgeous inhale here Megan exhale come back into the shape of a lunge we mill both hands on either side of that front foot come roll up onto the ball that right foot rock and roll okay and now step forward it would turn us in a half arch exhale forward fold okay complete your salutation to the sky however that works for you whoop gorgeous and exhale hands back to the center of the heart and then down along your side and pause here in Tarasana because now you've now you've really been focusing on either side from the standing position and the hope is is this central channel starts to become more available does that make sense so you you relax the sides a little bit you ground and just tune your mind okay tune your mind to the like the base of the spine the base of the tailbone the pelvic floor and like relax the holding of the tension that's keeping you from feeling that yeah and and you'll know that you've you've slipped into this river when it starts to feel like molasses honey at the base of the skull and yeah softer at the sacrum your jaw will soften your lips will feel more kissable fluffy your eyes will feel kinder it'll just feel like you're in love yeah okay super so what we'll do now is we'll we'll move through the almost the exact same sequence but we'll take advantage of some of the opening we have and we'll move towards um utita parvakonasana extended side angle pose very similar actions does that seem okay to you are you okay good okay all right we'll start at the top of the mat hands together at the heart anjali mudra okay as you're ready inhale here exhale press your hands towards the earth let an inhale circle your arms up let an exhale carry you forward swan dive let an inhale create a half arch and let an exhale again we'll start with the left foot back right foot forward shape of the lunge so pause in the shape of the lunge and tune in a little bit more towards the central channel so just you're you're by tuning into the central channel the central channel will tune back okay blueprint side angle so you pivot the back foot place the top arm hand on the waist bottom forearm on that thigh so for Megan that's her right thigh now pause now tune into this this top lung tune into the bottom lung but only as much as you need to define the center does that make sense the difference so you're tuning both sides you're tuning both sides to allow the center to become available yes from here Megan morph towards Trikonasana press into the front foot you'll let your your right arm find that leg or earth eventually circling the top arm in front of the face and ah gorgeous and again same idea like this side will get compressed a little bit okay the underside will get compressed so you got to like overdo it yeah you gotta like breathe a little bit more through that bottom channel that bottom lung so beautiful notice how nice pop notice the wiggling that she does so important to wiggle okay but here's what we're gonna add on a little bit so now Megan let your right ear drop down to your right shoulder circle your left arm back towards your left foot in front of the face and away from you yes so now you see this beautiful long line okay and you can feel this beautiful long line this is now the shiny side okay breathe into here because it feels good to you and then remember the underside yes beautiful now from here if it's appropriate maintain this balance see if you can maintain this access to the central channel start to bend your right knee and for some of you that forearm will come back onto that thigh but for some of you as Megan is showing that hand will find her way to the ankle or the earth for parva konasana this is long this is central her heart is blossoming so pretty last few moments reach like you mean it beautiful inhale there exhale windmill back down around that front right foot shape of the lunge pause from there step forward half arch exhale utta masana gorgeous okay other side step your right foot back now let your left knee bend wiggle back okay blueprint side angle post spin onto that back foot that right hand up onto that right waist that left hand up onto that thigh now pause so the thing is is like when we get distracted in the movement you got to come back into that subtle so beautiful so this is the more obvious side so kind of breathe into here and then breathe into the underside the bottom side yes yes but enough to really find that central access does that make sense the difference okay cool now once you've found that central access then as it feels right to do so start to morph towards tree konasana again you'll let the left leg draw straight you'll let the left hand find her way towards the earth or the leg it just depends on how you're put together you'll circle the top arm in front of your face and up towards the sky so beautiful okay now as you can see again like you have this beautiful like you know this side is getting most of the opening so let her get more opening like breathe up into there and then feel though how if you tune your awareness Megan yep into the underside feel if you tune your awareness into the underside you'll get more opportunity there in order to get more length in the middle yes beautiful see how she's brought her hand did you just bring your hand up a little bit yeah see when she brought her hand up a little bit it helped okay now circle this top arm okay circle that top arm back behind you in front of your face and away from you yes so now parjva tree konasana side triangle breathe here gorgeous let this open yeah so nice now maintain this as you make your way to parjva konasana let the left knee bend elbow finds her way towards the thigh for some of you nice for some of you you might prefer to have that hand down on the inside of the foot look like it was more comfortable on the thigh is that better either way root same idea feel the breath wide here feel the breath wide on the underside and then lengthen see if you can find the central channel last few moments yeah nice gooey perfect so beautiful okay inhale here exhale windmill both your hands down around that front foot pause in the shape of the lunge step forward uttanasana forward fold and then only as you're ready complete your salutation to standing let your knees soften and on an exhale circle your arms up and on an exhale let your hands come back down to the center of your heart pretty beautiful now pause here and you might keep your hands at the heart more like samastitihi or you might let your hands relax down along your sides and just pause and tune in the way you tune in is you relax the resistance so relax the resistance to feeling what is already holding you so soften in the jaw soften in the in the pelvic floor and feel this natural current that's moving the center of the river is the quietest and yet she also moves the fastest which is why it's scary to sometimes want to be there yes couple more moments this feels super nice usually beautiful beautiful nice does that make sense can you feel that okay so for some of you if you're on your way to your day you sometimes it's nice this is gonna sound sacrilegious but sometimes it's actually nice to complete your practice standing because sometimes it's like I'm good going okay and the pets are climbing on top of you and the children are screaming so this might be where you in otherwise join us on our way towards the earth so we'll do that with a salutation so hands back at the center of your heart okay hold the hands at the heart inhale exhale hands press towards the earth on an inhale circle your arms up on an exhale forward-fold swan dive so pretty made so beautiful inhale half arch and as you exhale step your way back to down dog in the way that you would you decide lengthen in down dog again if down dogs not your bag skip it gorgeous and then from down dog let an inhale bring you forward into plank pose and let an exhale soften your knees towards the earth and lower all the way down onto your belly and then from here roll on to your back okay hug your knees into your chest and how's that feel I feel okay now obviously you could do triangle a lot more simply than that but if we continually pretend that these shapes are somehow a means to an end or something in themselves without us like if we continually pretend that these shapes don't require our participation okay and our engagement then again we have one more thing that we're not good at okay that they're meant to be containers for you how does the spinal twist sound like it would feel good that's what I would imagine would feel good a lying one are you do you like Eagle wrap okay so we'll do Eagle wrap spinal twist if that's more torque than is useful for you you'll skip it so what we're gonna do now is you'll wrap your left thigh over your right maybe the foot hooks around the back of the calf now why don't you just scooch a little bit towards me just so you have plenty of room okay reach your arms out from your shoulders mm-hmm okay inhale here and as you exhale bring everything over to the right so the knees you're gonna come to the right and your left palm is gonna come on top of your right palm does that make sense so keep going okay organize organize means get your hips and spine into one line and then let that left arm open back to the left perfect beautiful now Megan always chooses the most difficult gaze for her head it's okay but she chose to look over towards her hand which is the most demanding on the neck so some of you at home might choose to gaze up or over towards that right hand okay and then notice this side the top side is the shiny side right it's the obvious side so let your awareness be in that nostril and be in that lung and maybe even a little bit in the back body okay so be aware of the top side this is very similar to what we've been doing and now bring your awareness to the underside so now bring your awareness to the side that's that's not as obvious that's a little quieter and the play there is to start to let yourself be held by something quieter if we're looking for quiet in external conditions we will never find it the quiet is right here yeah okay beautiful now slowly slowly you're gonna unwind bring your knees back up to center yes uncross the legs and hug the knees into the chest and wobble and then we'll take that twist on the other side so scooch back on your mat a little bit and this time you'll wrap the right leg over your left and I will try to figure out how to not be in your way you'll wrap the right leg over your left hook that back around arms out from your shoulders sorry you're gonna inhale here exhale you're gonna bring everything towards me so towards your left bring that right palm on top of that left palm organized and just yeah now you keep this organized as you let that top arm come back over so letting that right arm move back over to the right yes beautiful nice now Megan chose a slightly different position for her head on this one which is great because you know what you're not the same on both sides and so starting to just notice what you're doing more than think that there's something you're supposed to be doing so breathing into this top side letting that lung open letting that nostril open yes I get a sense of the upper side and then as it's available and ready start to bring your awareness to the underside so this this left rib cage the part that's a little bit more compressed that's in the shadow yeah and and what you're wondering what we're wondering is can you find the quieter side like we tend to be drawn to the shiny side shiny obvious object and the play is to start to become more accustomed to what's less obvious what's less shiny what's quieter and to start to form a relationship here which is why in the practice of some of these postures these focusing on this smaller details you know to give you a safe place within these because these postures get more and more complex and they do the skill is not the accomplishment of the posture the skill is how are you in the posture how are you in the shape okay eventually now you're gonna unwind and let the knees come back up to center and hug the knees into the chest and wobble then you'll let your feet come back down to the floor pause with your knees bent arms along your side and just notice how you feel you know for some people Shavasana with the legs bent is a much better choice it's it's generally gentler on the back only as it would feel good then you'll let one leg slowly extend towards straight and then the other let your shoulders adjust like tuck your shoulders under palms up make sure your head is comfortable big delivery inhale exhale everything and just again like just tune your awareness towards this central channel just like yes often the floor of the pelvis and just allow your like allow yourself to be available to the possibility of her sometimes people wonder if they're really feeling something or if it's just in their mind it's the same thing soft in the jaw gooey in the base of the skull and Megan's been working really hard today so she'll stay here for longer and you might too or if you've had enough you'll eventually transition from where you are back up towards the seat take your time let it be leisurely easy sometimes there's a tendency to jolt up your your scale as a yogi is to increase your capacity for the ease once you've found your way to seated snuggle in a little bit big deliberate inhale exhale everything allow the central channel to be available let yourself be held thank you for your practice your sensitivity your attention to the small details have a sweet rest of your day see you again namaste

Comments

Jenny S
1 person likes this.
Just now (finally) embarking on this series...so lovely to practice with you again Kira. This simple but profound sequence has left me feeling open, alive, and pretty blissed out! 🏕
Kira Sloane
Hi Jenny! Sweet to see you again. Has it gotten cold back there? xok
Jenny S
Typical Connecticut November...bleak, chilly and gray - but on the other hand it's the perfect weather for making a fire and hunkering down with a hot beverage and couple of cats, a dog and a good movie!
Kira Sloane
Jenny, oh, sounds so cozy!!! LOVE
Bridgid M
2 people like this.
Thank You Kira for the wonderful insight - Trikonasana (Triangle pose) my favorite pose!

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