Ghanda Bherunda

Hi. Welcome to your practice. My name is Ashley. And for today's class, you'll want to grab a blanket, a strap, and two blocks. Once you have your goodies gathered, Take your blanket into what is commonly referred to as your shoulder stand fold and then make a tight roll with it. And set that roll towards the top third of your mat.

And come lie back so that the blanket roll is right against your shoulder blades. And adjust your placement so that your arms can rest above the roll without your elbows being higher than your shoulders. So we start in a soft cactus. And then take the position in the legs that works for your back. And that might be legs out like Shavasana. If that's not it, bend your knees, place your feet on the ground as wide as your mat, turn toes slightly in, coming into constructive rest.

What do you need in this moment? Breathe into the added lift, the expanse of your heart. And with each exhale, try to soften a bit more around its resistance. Take a moment to layer in an intention for your practice. Maybe that's something you're hoping to gain or let go of for the course of our time together.

Once you have that gathered, if you'd like, you can join me in an opening home. Nice full breath in. If you closed your eyes, blink them back open. If you're in constructive rest, bring feet in to about the distance of your front hip points and parallel them. If you're working with your legs long, same thing feet about hip distance and parallel, spin your inner inner thighs down.

And you may notice with the blanket roll underneath you, it not only lifts the heart, but it takes the front ribs up a bit. Try to bring the bottom of your sternum down, like you could direct it to your naval. And when the sternum comes down, notice if you lost some of the lift and expanse through your chest. Now I know your breastbone is a bone and it's fixed, but imagine that you could bring the bottom tip of the sternum down and send the top of the sternum towards your head. So that we're seeking the back bend in the upper back while still exploring a bit of support and length for the lower back.

Flex through your feet if the legs are long. Imagine you had them up against a wall. And then keeping the back of your hand on the mat for now straighten the arms till you meet a comfortable edge for your body. The shoulders may drift up a little bit with the arms don't feel the need to drag them forcefully down, but do see if you can find a little softening through that area where the neck and the shoulders meet. And then roll outer arm toward your face until the pinky side of the hand is or the thumb side of the hand is down and the pinky side of the hand is up.

You can do that with both arms. Again, breathe into the lift through the top of the sternum as you try to draw the bottom of the sternum down. And stretch actively through the pinky edge of your hands. And then exhale come back to your cactus. Bend your knees. Place your feet on the ground and roll to your side.

Press the earth away. Set your blanket roll off to the side or if you'd like to open it underneath your knees for a little more cushion. Do so. Come take a seat on your heels in Vadrasana thunderbolt pose and reach your hands straightforward. Reach the arms forward so much so that the upper back rounds and then draw the arms back, lift your chest.

And try to make circular motions, letting this come from the shoulders the arms themselves as opposed to a bending in the elbows, which often happens in our bodies. And go back the opposite way. I always think about those little rails that connect the wheels on a train, if that does anything for you. And then lower your arms down, one roll up and back. Make your way to your hands and your knees and right into your downward facing dog.

Push the earth away with your fingertips and do what it is your body craves in that first down dog of the practice. Maybe inviting in whatever movement may offer you stillness with greater ease. So today's story, like so many of our stories from Hindu mythology starts with a demon. And now, glide your body forward to your plank, shift way forward to tippy toe, bend your elbows right on top of your wrists as you lower all the way to meet the mat. Brush your toes back and take your fingertips just off the sides of your mat.

Stamp your toenails into the earth so that the front of your thighs firm. Direct the tip of your tailbone down and draw your heart forward and up. Fill the blanket roll against your upper back. Xhale, turn and gaze to the right. Do that again. Inhale.

Think bottom of the sternum to your navel, top of the sternum up. Xhale lower. Turn and gaze to your left. One more time. Inhale heart forward and up.

And exhale set yourself down center. Bring your hands back alongside your rib cage wrists right underneath your elbows. Tuck your toes under, walk them in, inhale to plank or hands and knees for the support. And then exhale hips up and back, return to your downward facing dog. Inhale hide your tippy toes, exhale deep bend to the knees, walk your feet up to meet your hands, press your thighs back, draw your chest forward, and exhale fold.

Press down inhale, circle your arms up and overhead, and exhale bring your hands together at your heart. Take your hands to the top of your bum. If the wrist will allow, point your fingertips up as this just helps to lift the front of the chest a little bit more. Take your hips a little forward and use your hands to draw your bum down. Again, find the imprint of the blanket roll against the upper back as you lift your heart and walk your gaze up the wall in front of you. The elbows for many of us want to splay, wrap them back toward each other to broaden your chest a touch more.

And then keeping the length in your back straighten your arms from shoulder socket, rotate your arms till your palms face slightly out. Lift from your back body. Invite your gaze to follow skyward and maybe touch your palms overhead. X, I'll wait a bit forward in your feet. Bin the knees if you're feeling strained through your back as you fold in inhale to fingertips or hands on shins, are uttanasana.

Ben knees enough to get your hands down, step back with your right foot, put your back knee down. Take time to pad it if it's tender. Uncurl your toes, press down inhale rise up, reach up, Arda Anjaniasana, half crescent, exhale once again, hands to the top of your bum. Use your hands to draw the bum down so much that your navel comes back. Keep the draw of the bum down as you now shift your hips forward.

And you may notice you don't need a huge shift forward to get a big opening through the front of the hip. Lift through your heart, invite your gaze to follow, And if you can keep the length in the back and do so, restrate in your arms, sweep them up and overhead again. Maybe you touch your palms. Maybe you don't. X how hips forward, hands down.

Leave your right knee down, stretch your left leg back. Tuck toes under for now. Walk hands back so they're right underneath your shoulders and grip the earth lovingly with your fingertips. Bring ribs and abdomen in, and lift left heel to about the height of the bum. Squeeze right heel toward your bum and lower your heart right between your hands, inhale, press it away. Do that twice more, heart and chin towards the earth. And lift.

So this particular demon we're talking about today, put your toes down, step it back to plank, press back to down dog, even things out. Had just finished doing a penance for Brahma. Brahma is the creator in the Hindu trilogy. We have a creator, a sustainer, and a destroyer. So he'd been paying off some bad deeds for the creator.

Inhale, glide your body forward, shift forward, and lower all the way to meet the mat. Open your right arm out to the right, keeping left hand next to your chest. Bend your left knee like you're going to kick yourself in the bum, and roll to your right. Maybe you set left hoses down behind you, if that feels a little too aggressive in the body, stack the legs, or even bend left knee resting it on the earth in front of you. Draw your chin slightly in, and then breathe into the right side of your chest, exhale through the length of your right arm.

Restrate in through your leg. Bring your right hand alongside your ribcage, open left arm to the left. Bend your right knee, like you're going to kick yourself in the bum, and then roll to your outer left hip. Pick the option of the leg that works best for your body. So the audacity of this demon, at the end of the work that it was doing to pay off bad deeds, was like, hey, I did a really great job. I think I deserve a reward.

And Brama was like, okay. What did you have in mind? And of course, the demon wanted immortality, which demons aren't allowed to have. Restrate in the leg if the knee has been. Come back onto your front body. Bring hands alongside your rib cage.

Lift your heart. Find the strengthening work of cobra. You may hold here or come into the traction of upward facing dog and then exhale take your hips up and back downward facing dog. Inhale, lift right leg lead from inner thigh so toes point down. Exhale right knee to nose, step foot between your hands.

Put your back knee down, pat it if it's tender, inhale rise up, reach up. Interlace your fingers at the top and now take them to your thigh. Imagine the handle on the top of the bum, draw it down as you take your hips forward, lift your heart. And now shift your hips back, hollow your abdomen round like you're doing an upright cat cow. And take a few rounds forward and back at your own pace.

No rush. So the demon was like, I'll just be clever. If I can't ask for immortality, let me ask for some things that might get me close to that. Come forward one more time, sweep your arms overhead. And as you exhale hands to the mat, tuck your back toes under, lift your knee up, back foot up to meet your front foot, inhale draw your chest straight forward and exhale fold.

Press down inhale, rise up, reach up, exhale hands to your heart. Once again, hands to the top of the bum, roll the top of your chest up. Shiff the hips a little forward as you draw your bum down, try to coil your whole thoracic spine, your whole upper back, up and in towards your heart. Work to keep the length from the back, straighten your arms, from shoulder socket, rotate the arms, reach to the sky. X, how weight a bit forward in the feet, firm abdomen as you fold in, and inhale lengthen.

Bend your knees enough to get your hands down, step back with your left foot, set your back knee down, pat it if it's tender. Uncurl your toes, inhale reach to the sky. Exhale hands to the top of the bum. Use your hands to smooth bum down as you take your hips forward. Maintain the length in the lower back.

Look for the backbend in your upper back. Straighten arms, rotate them till palms face out, and then once again, arms overhead touching or not. XL hips forward, hands down. Leave your back knee down, bring your right leg back and through, start with toes tucked under, make any adjustments you need, so left hip is on top of left knee and hands are right underneath your shoulders. Draw front body toward your back body, lift right heel, to about the height of your bum.

Squeeze left heel toward the bum, heart right between the hands, chin touching or close to the earth, inhale press it up. Take two more. So the demon is like, I want to make sure that I can't be killed in the daylight or in the night, and that I can't be killed by a beast, by a man, or by a god. From here, step it back to plank, press it back to down dog, even things out. And the last thing he asked was I don't want to be killed inside or outside. And he's like, I'm amazing.

I think I've done it. I think I've got the immortality without asking for it. Inhale come forward to your plank. This time, put your knees down. Keep the bum lifted.

Lower your heart right between your hands, knees chest chin, roll shoulders onto your back, and now push off your toes, draw your heart through your arms, low cobra. X, I'll set it down again, right arm to the right. Bend your left knee. Roll to your right? Smooth bum away from the waist as you open through your chest.

And come right back onto the front body. Stretch left arm out, bring right hand next to your chest, bend right knee, roll to your left, and breathe into the left side of your chest. So Braun grants him this knowing that there's always a loophole And quickly after the demon left feeling really good about what he'd done there, Brahma was like, Vishnu, I need your help. So Vishnu transforms into Come back on to your front body. Bring your hands back alongside your oh, I said, which is lion's pose, which is close.

But actually, it's not a pull back with your palms, draw your chest forward. You may stick with the cobra or press to the upward facing dog and exhale press it up and back downward facing dog. So this is a half man half lion or large cat of some being, inhale lift your left leg, exhale left knee to nose, step foot forward between your hands, set your back knee down, uncurl your toes, inhale, reach up. Ex how interlace your fingers, switch to the less natural grip and take your hands to the top of your thigh. Shift your hips forward as you smooth your bum down, lift your heart.

Shift your hips back, hollow your abdomen, bring the chin in. And do this a couple times forward and back like an upright cat cow. So In this form, in this avatar, Vishnu is no longer fully god, not fully man and not fully beast, loophole. Sweep your arms up, reach to the sky, exhale hands to the earth. Tuck your back toes under, lift your knee, hop back foot up to meet your front foot.

Inhale, heart forward elongate your spine. EX, how full forward, surrender. Press down, inhale, rise up, reach up, maybe look up, and exhale take your hands to your heart. Sit heavy to your heels, bend your knees, utkatasana, chair pose. Lift your heels, sit your bum to them and sit all the way down, boop, and roll it back.

Bring knees in towards your chest, stretch feet to the sky. Grab the sides of your mat and pull forward to help keep your lower back lengthened. Floint your feet. And then, send the left leg down as you slide your right foot toward your inner left knee. And switch.

We do this a few times, side to side, flowing at your own breath pace. So we've taken care of the not being killed by man beast or god, but there's this issue now of in day or night. So he plans his attack for dusk, neither day nor night, not being killed inside or outside. He does it in the threshold. Neither fully inside, neither fully outside.

Bring your knees into your chest, cross at your ankles, rock yourself up to seated, roll over your shins, or shift your feet behind you if that's kinder. Stay set back to your plank and choose the vinyasa your body needs in this moment. In how lift your right leg. X, I'll need to nose. Step foot forward between your hands, pivot your back, heel down, heel to heel, or a little wider for more stability.

Draw right hip back in and take hands to your thigh just above your knee. Once you feel steady here, put your hands on top of the bum This time you can point your fingertips towards your heels. Smooth your bum down as you rise up to help you keep length in the lower back, and then take your arms up and overhead for vera Bedrostano one. Exhale elbows to a right angle, bring the arms back so that maybe hands and forearms are slightly behind the line of the ears to open your chest. Can you keep your arms fixed in space?

Round the front body. It's a subtle round. And then inhale, lift your heart, lift your gaze. So again, like that upright cat cow, back and forth a few times. So the plan works perfectly.

The demon is slayed, but unfortunately Narasimha got a little bit of the blood from the battle in his mouth. Reach your arms up to the sky. Other than that just being yucky in general, it like transferred this blood lust to him, exhale hands to the top of your thigh, pivot to the ball of your back foot. Give a bit of a bend to the back knee, climb up your front leg and now take the back knee all the way down, uncurl your toes, sweep arms up. Acts, how shift forward, right hand to right thigh, left hand to the earth or a prop.

Keep coming forward with the hips, take your tailbone down as you lift your chest. You may stay here. You might bend the knee as though going to kick yourself in the bum. If it's there, grab the foot. If it's not, you can use a strap or keep pressing the foot down. If you're fairly open to the front of the hip in front of the thigh and can do so without sacrificing the length in your back or the lift in your chest, maybe you bring left forearm down.

So now Vishnu in this form is wandering around, like beastly killer. Let go of your back foot straighten through your front arm, grab your two blocks, and set them down tall in front of you about a shoulder distance apart. Right? Plant your hands right behind the blocks, tuck your back toes under, lift your back knee. Slide your right leg all the way back and through, and then hop. Left foot forward a bit. Dip forward, land your shoulder heads on the blocks, hop left foot forward a bit, keep looking forward.

Maybe you spring up. Maybe you see that's a horrible plan, Ashley. Right? Smooth bum away from your waist and then reach back with the leg right into your chaturanga. You can press through to up dog.

Me myself, I'm a bum my knees down and think about my life and my feelings for a moment in child's pose. Take the vinyasa, you need. Things are getting beastly for all of us. So people are panicking. They're like, but vision is the the sustainer.

And if there's not someone preserving what has been created, where does this leave us? If you're not already there, find your way back to downward facing dog. Inhale lift your left leg. Xhale me to nose, Step foot between your hands. Pivot your back heel down, heel to heel, hug your left hip in.

Route down, inhale, rise up. Reach up. Try not to fall. And then take your hands to the top of your bum. Draw the bum down and notices that caused you to bend in your back knee straighten the leg. Keep drawing the bum down, sit a little deeper into your front thigh.

Straighten through the arms, reach them back up. And now find your right angle, lift your chest and see if you can bring the hands back a little behind the line of the ears. Lift your chest like cow pose And then exhale, can you keep the hands back, subtle round through the back? Inhale do it again, lift your heart. Xhale try to keep your hands in place, subtle round.

One more time. So the people go to Brahma, reach up. And they're like, what do we do? What do we do? And Brahma says to them, one man's destruction is another man's preservation. Find the ball of your back foot.

Bring your hands to your thigh, climb up your front leg. Draw left hip back, right hip forward, tailbone down. Reach up. X how left hand to the thigh set your back knee down, uncurl your toes. One man's destruction is another man's preservation, shift forward.

So the preserver, the sustainer, has forgotten who he is and is out on a killing spree. Venture back knee if it's there without pain or strain, find the foot. Right? Smooth bum away from the waist, lift through your heart. You can stay here. If the body says okay, maybe you take your forearm to the earth, or you can split the difference as I'm doing on this side with a prop.

Lift your heart, open your chest. So they go looking for the destroyer, Shiva. Shiva transforms into a part lion, part bird. Think massive dangerous lion with amazing big wings. Release your back foot if you have it.

Press yourself back upright. Bring front knee to meet back knee for a moment. This time, turn your blocks down, medium height. Hands behind the blocks, shoulder distance apart. Our left leg was just forward, so we're going to come into our three legged dog with left leg up.

And similar to what we did on the first side, hop forward a bit. We've got a further distance to dip to. Do your best. Be careful. Oh, hop.

Yep. Yeah. So your nose might be eating the floor a little bit. And that's okay. We're just trying to not look back as we do this work. As you're ready spring up, I should say if you're ready, sometimes it's fleeting.

And if you find that you're a little stuck at this height, you can turn your blocks back up to the higher point. Draw heart through the arms and maybe bring feet toward the head. Reach it back. Don't talk about it while you're doing it is so much harder. And then take the vinyasa your body needs.

I'm sure this is how people were feeling about the battle in different stories this goes on for ages. So Shiva is like, yeah, we gotta get the preserver back. Oh, we'll fight. Transforms. Great battle happens. He takes down Vishnu's avatar, and Vishnu is restored.

Uh-huh. He's so thankful. Lots of praise to shiva. If you haven't already come down to your hands and your knees. Move your blocks out of the way, and then shift your feet out in front of you.

Come roll on to your back, and pause a moment in your constructive rest, separate your feet as wide as the mat, turn toes slightly in, allow your knees to fall toward each other, catching up with where you've just been. So things seem fine at first, but you guessed it, Shiva and his avatar form got a little blood in his mouth. Out now. And imagine if you're already known as the destroyer and then you get on this killing bin, destruction was wild, even worse than it was when Vishnu lost himself. So again, the people go back to brahman. What do we do? What do we do?

Separate your knees, heel toe your feet toward each other until they're about the distance of your front hip points, and then bring your right knee in toward your chest. Take right foot cross it past your left thigh. Flex to the foot to help protect your knee as you smooth your inner right thigh away from you. And you may stay right here and you might pick up your left foot. And either thread hands behind the leg, or you can always split the difference and thread a strap behind the leg for more length of space.

So the last time the people went to see brahma he said to them, one man's destruction is another man's preservation. And this time, he took that same little riddle, but reversed it. One man's preservation is another man's destruction. And the people are like, can you speak plainly? What are you saying? What is this?

Release your hands, return your foot to the ground. Scoot your hips over to the right a few inches. And then lower your legs to the left. So that outer left thigh meets the mat, right foot comes to stand on the mat. And if carrying the leg and foot all the way to the earth is a little too aggressive through the hip or lower back, you can put a blanket or a block underneath the leg, raise the earth to you.

Open right arm to the right, maybe place left hand to the inner thigh, I like to give a touch of resistance away from the torso with my hand. So if we went to the destroyer to save the preserver, the sustainer, we now need to go back again to the sustainer, to the preserver, to help save the destroyer. What? In health comeback center. Scoot your hips back into the midline and bring right knee to your chest, put the base of the right foot down.

Bring your left knee in, and they'll take your left foot and cross it past your right thigh, flex through the left foot to help protect your knee. You can stay here. You might pick up your foot and either interlace hands behind the right leg or thread a strap. So Vishnu was like, don't wanna go back to those dark times I was in before, but, you know, sheva saved me when I was in need. So I've gotta figure out what avatar can I turn into that can defeat this half lion, half bird, and he came up with the gandu Barunda, this two headed eagle that's so large, so massive that it can hold an elephant up in one talon?

That should do it. Release your hands. Return right foot to the ground. Scoot your hips over to the left several inches so you're a little crooked on your mat. And as you exhale lower your legs to the right so that outer right thigh meets the mat and left foot comes to stand on the mat.

And again, if carrying the feet all the way to the earth is not where it's at for your body, as I'm doing with my blanket, you can place a foot and outer thigh on a prop. Maybe if it helped bring right hand to inner left thigh lovingly press the inner thigh away and maybe turn in gaze to the left. So fierce battle follows another one. It goes on for quite some time, but ultimately The Gandhi Barunda, the double headed eagle comes out victorious. And having learned from previous battles kept its mouth shut was careful to do all of the slaying with just the talons and maybe the little tip of the tail that folded over just like we did in our supported chin stand when we brought the feet overhead.

We don't have two heads hence the two blocks today to help us out. And then in, I'll come back center. Scoot your hips back into the midline uncross your left leg, place the base of your left foot down. And take a moment to check-in with your body. For some of us, we're ready right now for Shavasana.

Live that dream. If the body is asking for one last hug of the knees to the chest, a happy baby pose, or any other finishing posture indulge. Return your feet to the earth. And if you're like myself after doing a lot of back bending, I like a little bit of support underneath my knees as they come to Shivasana. So if your prop is not readily available, sit up. Make a blanket roll just like we had at the beginning of practice and set that blanket roll right underneath your knees.

Come lie back once again. Allowing that support to offer a bit of gentle lengthening to the lower back. If the body is craving a little added grounding from there, maybe instead of arms by your sides, you rest your hand somewhere along your front body. So the story of brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, or sustainer, and Shiva, the destroyer, and all their many avatars and all their many battles and things being good for a while, and then not so good, and then bad, and then good again. So this all speaks to the cyclical nature of things.

It also speaks to this balance that is necessary between preservation, and destruction. Things are constantly changing. Things are constantly in flux. And where we grow, or lack growth in life is when we get stuck or we try to stop the cycle. Remembering that all of life flows in this way.

And that there are times in life where we're really about preserving and sustaining what we've created. But oftentimes if we stay too long in this space, we lack the bit of growth that is necessary to transform and eventually transcend. It's like a fruit on the vine that we leave past the point of ripe. It will eventually rot, and then there was no enjoyment in having it. And so, destruction becomes a necessary part of creating the fertile ground for new growth.

If we were always in a place of destruction, though, there is never any peace. There is never any time for growth. And so in the balance of the two, we find peace. We find growth. And if we're really lucky, we find the true nature of ourself.

If now is the time for you to sustain to preserve the peace you've created through the efforts of your practice, stay here in your Shavasana as long as you'd like, you're already home. Otherwise, welcome movement to fingers to toes. If the body is asking for it, maybe you reach your arms overhead stretch. And as you exhale, bend your knees. Roll to your side.

And pause a beat or two. Giving any residual effort from the practice to the earth below you. And then press the floor away and find your way to seated. And join hands at heart center. Lift your chest.

We bow our chins in gratitude. Thank you for sharing your practice.