Vishvamitri Staying the Path

Hi. Welcome to your practice. My name is Ashley. For today's class, you'll wanna have a blanket, a strap, and a couple of blocks. We'll start outlining down, have your two blocks and your strap in reaching distance. We'll begin today in supta baddha konasana, reclined bound angle.

So take the soles of your feet together, open your knees to the sides, and set your blocks at any height you need underneath your outer thighs in order to avoid an excessive arch in your lower back, or to relieve any pulling or strain through your inner thighs. Once you have your props set, allow your hands to rest wherever it feels most natural for your body today. And as you settle in, maybe you close your eyes or if you prefer soften your gaze. Breathe in to the expanse of your back and exhale sweetly through your inner thighs. And as you follow this pathway of the breath, invite each cycle to grow a little longer than the one that came before it.

Until you find the place where your breath feels balanced. Maybe give yourself a moment to set an intention for your practice. And once you have that gathered, if you'd like, you can join me in an opening Nice full breath in. Blink your eyes open if you've closed them. Take the blocks that were underneath your thighs and sat them off to the side.

And then take your hands to your outer thighs, support your legs as you draw your knees toward each other. Separate your feet about the distance of your front hip points and parallel feet to each other. Reach your arms overhead as you draw your front ribs down and in. And then exhale hug your right knee to your chest. Take right foot cross it past your left thigh.

Flex to the right foot as you open through your inner right thigh. You may stay right here with the base of the left foot on the ground. If you can do so without aggravating your right knee, pick up your left foot and either interlace your hands behind your thigh or if that reach feels a little far today, take your strap behind the leg, giving yourself more length of space. With an inhale, press left heel to the sky. And exhale re bend.

Do it again inhale straight into a comfortable edge for your body. And exhale re bend. Do it one more time, inhale press heal skyward, and exhale bend. Pause a beat here and give a small rock side to side. Observing, if and how this subtly shifts the stretch through outer hip and glutes.

Find your way back to stillness leave left hand where it is, unthread your right hand and grab your right big toe with your first two fingers and thumb. Place your left foot down. Open your right hip like happy baby pose. And if holding the foot is pulling your head or shoulders away from the mat or it's feeling stressful through any other aspect of the leg or hips, you can take your strap around your foot giving yourself more space. If you're on the opposite end of the spectrum and you feel you have a little further to comfortably move into, straighten your left leg out long on the mat and flex through your left foot like you're pressing it up against a wall.

Imagine someone came by and placed a weight on your left thigh. Can you ground down through the root of the leg? And at I'll rebind your left knee. If you straighten the leg, you may hold here. If the hamstrings, groans, or any other part of your being, say, okay. Explore straightening through your right leg.

Imagine you could put your right toesies down right next to your head. For most of us, imagine is gonna be the key word in that phrase. Breathe into the resistance. And exhale, rebend your right knee, gather the knee in toward your chest, and then place your right foot down. Bring left knee in toward your chest, and now take your left foot cross it past your right thigh, open your hip for thread the needle.

And again, you are welcome to stay right here, foot on the ground. If you can do so without strain to the left knee, pick up your right foot, either interlace your hands behind the leg or thread a strap. As you're drawing the right leg in, maybe you use your left arm to continue lengthening inner left thigh away from you. And inhale right heel to the sky. Exhale rebound.

Do it twice warm. So today, we get to know this Vamitri, another sage, and we have a special guest appearance from Vashista. Rebend your right knee, return or actually leave the hands where they are. Give yourself a little rock side to side. And then pause back center.

Leave right hand where it is. Unthread your left hand. Grab your left big toe with your first two fingers and thumb. Try to keep the left leg where it is in space as you put your right foot down. And now open your left leg to the left for happy baby pose on the left side. Mhmm.

Breathe into the root of your pelvis and exhale through your inner thighs. If you've yet to meet a purposeful edge for your body, maybe you straighten through your right leg, flex through your right foot, and anchor through the top of your thigh. So Vishramitri before becoming a sage was a king. And leader of a great army. Rebend your right knee if you straightened it. And then maybe just maybe you explore straightening for the left leg.

And instead of thinking so much open to the side like we do in our extended hand to big toe pose too, think more about the foot coming next to the head, toesies down by the head. And exhale, rebind your left knee, gather it in towards the chest, and take both knees in. And yogi's choice here, you can either roll to your side to press up or cross your ankles and rock yourself up. Come find a cross legged seat. And if you get here and you discover that your knees are sitting higher than your hips, grab a blanket.

And come sit on the folded edge of your blanket. Giving yourself enough of a lift so that knees end up level with or maybe even a little bit lower than your hips. Across the close to the center of your shins as you can manage without pain or strain and flex your feet like you could draw toes back to meet your knees. Grab your strap and take the strap nice and wide between your hands keeping the strap taut. Lean to your left.

Take the left hand all the way down. Keep your strap taut and now reach back behind you really opening through your right side of your chest. Press down, sit it up. Take your right hand down. And now again, keeping the strap taut, circle all the way around in front of you.

Route down, sit it up. And do it again. Reach back. Try not to hit yourself in the face with the buckle. Let me be a cautionary tale and bring your hand down. Circle in front of you.

We're gonna do this one more time and I'm gonna snag my buckle for safety. You can do the same. And right hand to earth, left hand to sky. Bring it in front of you and pause. Lean back. Switch the cross of your legs opposite shin in front and flex through your feet once again.

Reach your arms up and this time leading to the right. Take your right hand down. Keep the strap taught as you bring your left arm back, open your chest, press down, sit it up. Take your left hand down and circle all the way in front of you. Do this twice more. So one day, Vishramitri is out running drills with his army, and the time gets a little bit away from him.

It's a bit late to get back to the castle. So He comes across Vashista's home, and some stories say he asked. Others say he commanded. That Vashista feed He and his army and take them in for the evening. Alright. Take your strap, set it off to the side. And then come meet me briefly on hands and knees.

Set blanket to the side if you were using it as well. And then right away into our downward facing dog. Walk your hands a few inches forward of your shoulders, parallel creases of the wrists to the top of your mat. Rock forward, lift your heart, tuck your toes, lift your knees, and take your hips up and back, down dog. Remember that one time when I said right away into down dog and then talked about it a lot? Things happen like that sometimes.

Breathe into it. Do whatever it is your body craves in that first down dog of the practice. Give a little movement if that calls to you. Over your next few breaths, return yourself to stillness. And then inhale, hide your to be toes.

As you exhale, send your heels to the right, your toes to the left, maybe come on to your left fingertips and really take the stretch through the left side of your body. And come center, do the same thing on the second side. The heels to the left, toes to the right. Maybe you come to your right fingertips and stretch, and then bring it back center. Come high to tippy toes and walk, walk, walk, walk, all the way up to the top of your mat.

Inhale reach your heart forward lengthen through your spine. Xhale give a little bend to both of your knees. Find your strap And take the strap about your shoulder distance between your hands. Go wider if the added space allows you to straighten your arms without strain. Bend your left knee, and now bring your arms to the left, turn your chest open to the right, and come back through center.

Bend your right knee straight in the left, turn your heart to the left, hands to the right, and come back center. Bend at your elbows. Slide the strap down your back body. And set it back off to the side. Inhale heart forward, ardhuttanasana.

Exhale fold forward, uttanasana. Press down, inhale, rise up, reach up. And exhale, bring your hands to your heart. You can stay facing the top of your mat. I'm going to turn to you so you can better see my shape here, parallel your feet.

And if the lower back or hamstrings carry a little more tension, consider separating your feet at least the distance of your hit points today. Press down through all four corners of your feet and as you inhale reach up to the sky. X, how lower your right hand down by your side, press down. Try to touch the ceiling. As you exhale shift your hips to the side and reach, share as evenly as you can once again with both feet. Revolve open through your chest and if it feels alright in your neck, turn your gaze skyward.

Press down. Inhale, stand it back up. Reach your right arm up. Lower your left hand by your side. Press down again, reach straight up.

Xhale shift your hips and reach Reconnect through all four corners of your feet. Maybe revolve open through the chest and if it feels alright in your neck, turn gaze skyward. Press down in house stand up, reach both arms up. Ex, how fold forward, bend the knees if you're feeling stress through your back body, inhale lengthen through your spine. X, how bend knees enough to get your hands down and step back with your left foot.

Set back knee down. We're gonna be on it for a little bit. So if it tends towards tender, open a blanket underneath it. Pivot on your back leg so that your left toes angle a bit off to your right And then inchworm your right foot forward, a good two to three inches forward. Draw your right cheek under you and then press down and windmill up and open, like you're coming into warrior two with your back shin down.

Grow longer through the inner thigh as you sit a little bit deeper. Scoop the pit of your abdomen in, turn open through your chest. Rotate right arm, so palm faces the eye, and then take your left hand to your back leg, reach back. Inhale come upright. Take your right forearm to your thigh, slice to the air with the thumb side of your hand.

And again, turn open through your chest. You may stay right here. If you can do so without sacrificing length through your bottom waist, take your right fingertips to the earth or a prop inside your front leg. Use the arm as a reminder to open your thigh as you lengthen tailbone toward your back knee. And top hand to the sky, look down, press down, pick it up.

Take your hands to your hips. Pivot on your left leg even more. So left toes point straight back, outer shin parallel to the short end of your mat. He'll tow your right foot forward until It's slightly ahead of the line of your left knee, straighten through your right leg, and then draw the right heel toward you, maybe an inch. Lead with the ball of your foot to the ground.

So toes stay lifted for now. And what we're doing is inviting a touch of a bin to the knee to avoid locking or hyper extending. If you're still feeling a little too much resistance through back of knee, thigh, or groin, bend this knee any amount you need to relieve the strain. Deepen the indent in your right hip crease and firm your left hip in. Route down, inhale, take both of your arms up.

X, how low are your right hand to your thigh, press down, grow taller. As you exh, I'll slide your hand down the leg and reach. The bum has a tendency to wander back. Instead, take your hips forward, smooth balm away from the waist, and turn your heart open like you could spin it up to the sky. And top hand up, press down, draw yourself up. Rebend your front knee, heel to it back to where you got it from.

And then we windmill hands to the front foot. Pivot on your back leg so your toes point back. For most of us, we'll need a little heel toe more back into the midline with the front leg. Tuck your back toes under, lift your back knee and pause. Roll to the pinky edge of both of your feet, and then heel toe heel toe right foot into the midline of your mat.

Press into your hands, lift your bottom hip away from the earth, top hand to the sky. Rotate top arm so palm faces the front of the space and reach. Imagine you could grab the top short end of your mat. So this is Artavashi Stasana. Remember our friend whose house we stopped at?

This is it. Part of it anyway. Top hand to the sky, brief stack of the legs, return to your full plank, and take the vinyasa your body needs in this moment. That might look like some version of Chaturanga updog, down dog, Maybe it's straight to downward facing dog. Pivot your right heel in and down. Bend your left knee.

Let your hips swivel. Squeeze heel towards your bum, draw left knee toward the left arm, come to right fingertips. And if you feel steady doing so take your top arm up, put the hand back down and step left foot forward between your hands. Put your back knee down, uncurl your toes. Just like we did on the first side, pivot your back leg so that this time, right toes angle a little bit off to your left.

Inch from left foot forward about three inches. So scoop left hip under as you windmill up and open. Bend into your front knee, lengthen open through your inner thigh. Take arms out to the sides. Rotate front arms.

So palm faces the sky reverse your warrior. And, inhale, bring it back up. Take left forearm to your thigh, slice to the air with the thumb side of your right arm, revolve open through your chest. You may stay here or take hand to the earth or a prop inside your front leg. Return top hand to the sky, look to the earth, press down, pick it up, Take your hands to your hips.

Come out of it a little bit, so not fully straight with the leg just yet. Pivot on your right leg, so right toes point straight back and heel toe left foot towards the long end of the mat you're facing. Until heel is a bit ahead of the line of your right knee. Straight in for your left leg. Draw heel toward you about an inch and then lead with the ball of the foot to create a little micro bend in your knee.

Set toes down, deepen the indent in the left hip crease, and firm your right hip in. Press down inhale, take both arms up. X how lower left hand down. Press down, grow taller still. And as you exhale reach Notice if the bum drifted back.

Bring your pelvis forward, smooth bum away from the waist and spin heart open to the sky. And top hand skyward press down, draw yourself back up. Rebend your left knee. He'll toad a bit more toward the midline, pivot on your back leg, and frame your front foot. Tuck back toes under, lift your back knee, hop back foot up to meet your front foot, inhale heart forward, exhale fold, root down, inhale rise up, reach up, maybe look up.

Exhale hands to your heart. Second half of this, a little different. Right. Route down inhale once again, take your arms up and overhead. This time interlace your fingers at the top. Give a little bin to the elbows, feel what that is, and restrate.

Stand in to both feet, reach to the right. Again, little bin to the elbows and turn your body open using that bin to give you a little bit more access. And then restrayten for the arms to the best of your ability. Press down inhale. Bring it back up.

Switch the interlace of your fingers creating balance and lean it to the second side. Little bend to your elbows. Use that bend to create a little bit more space to turn your heart skyward. And then restreaten through your arms and press down in how stand it up. Acts, how fold forward.

In how heart forward, bend knees enough to get your hands down Step back with your right foot. Pause. Pivot your back heel down, heel to arch, and draw your left cheek in and under you. Press down, window up and open Vira badrasana two, warrior two. Rotate front arm, so palm faces the sky reverse your warrior.

Inhale, bring it upright, take your forearm to your thigh, reach your top arm in line with your ear. And again, if you can do so without sacrificing length, bring hand to the earth or a prop inside your front leg. Make a fist with your top hand, bend the elbow, turn open through your heart and then restrate in your arm. Tape top hand to the sky, look down. Bring your hands to the front of the shin as you straighten your leg for triangle.

Rotate top arm so palm faces the front short end of your mat. And then reach your top arm long and lying with your ear just like we did in our gate pose, Paridasana. If the bum is wandering, scoop it back in, and top hand back up to the sky even the length of the sides of your waist. Rebend left knee, take both hands to the mat, find the ball of your back foot. Plant your right hand, pivot to the pinky edge of your right foot and heel toe left foot into the midline. Push the Earth away. Turn open through your chest.

Rotate top arm and reach. Yeah. Take the hand in line with your ear. Maybe you stack your feet Vashistasana, and then exhale to plank, take the vinyasa you need. So Vashista outdoes himself feeds an entire army on no notice at all. And Vistramitri is very curious of like, How'd you do that, man?

And he answers with the common response of, I have a magical cow. This time, pivot your left heel in and down like you would the back foot of your warrior. Swivel the hips a little to the right. Glide forward, bring right knee toward the arm, turn open through your heart, and then hand down. Step right foot forward between your hands.

Pivot your back, heel down, heel to arch and line, and bring right cheek under you. Press down, window up and open. Tada. Warrior two. Rotate front arms so palm faces the sky, reverse your warrior.

Inhale come up right. Take forearm to your thigh. Turn open through your chest. And reach. You may stay here.

You might take fingertips to the earth or prop inside your leg. Make a fist with your top hand, bend the elbow, try to turn your heart open and then restrate in your arm. Return top hand to the sky, look to the earth. Put your right hand lightly on your shin as you straighten your leg. Rotate top arm so palm faces the front of the space, reach long in line with your ear.

Slide right hand toward the foot, reach left hand that direction as well. If your bum wandered, bring it back in. Alright. From here, top arm up, length from the bottom waist, look down. Bend your right knee, frame your front foot, find the ball of your back foot.

Hop back foot up to meet your front, Inhale, grow your heart forward, and exhale fold. Press down, inhale, rise up, reach up. Exhale hands to your heart. Nicely done. All of us.

Grab your strap. She said that, and she is me, like we were done, and we're not quite yet. Staff your feet out to a wingspan distance or as close to that as you can find without pain or strain. Once you have your distance set, take your strap into your left hand. Engle your left toes slightly in, from your right hip socket, rotate your whole right leg open and align yourself heel to arch.

Open arms out to the sides, bend your right knee, reach over the front leg. Again, forearm can come to the thigh or hand to the earth or a prop. Reach your top hand up to the sky and rotate it internally. So your palm faces the wall at your back. Sleep your forearm along your back waist and bring the strap to your outer hip as opposed to your groin. Alright. You can stay here. Maybe you bring right shoulder blade to the inner thigh, sneak your arm underneath the leg and either grab your wrist, your hands, or your strap. Give yourself enough slack so that you can bring your outer hip in.

Press through the mound of your right big toe and try to straighten your leg. Hug the hip in. Turn your heart open and think of magical cows. So Fashistas like or Vishramitri says, I want that cow. And he actually asks for she stuff for it. Fashish does like, no, you can't have my magical cow.

Reabend your front knee, take your right hand down, your left arm up, press down, stand up, straighten your leg parallel your feet. And angle your right toes slightly in, put your strap in your right hand. Rotate left leg fully open and align heel to arch. Bend your left knee Reach out over your front leg, forearm to thigh, top hand to the sky. You can stay right here.

Maybe you bring hand to the earth or a prop. Rotate top arm internally, so palm faces the wall at your back support along your back waist. Explore, bringing left shoulder inside the leg and see if you can sneak your arm under the leg. Again, give yourself enough slack so that you can hug the hip in and turn your chest open. From here, maybe you press through the mound of the left big toe straighten the leg, revolve your heart as though you could to the sky.

So, Fistrometri doesn't like being told no. He decides he's gonna fight this man for his cow. Rebendering. Release your bind, press down, stand up, parallel your feet, heel toe them in a touch and then step or hop that last bit together. Okay. Come on down to your mat.

Leave your strap nearby someone in reaching distance. And we'll set ourselves up here on hands and knees. Walk your hands about three inches ahead of your shoulders and step your right foot forward. Pivot on your back leg just like we did earlier in the practice so that left toes angle a bit off to your left. Take your strap and loop it around your foot.

I always am a fan of a a little crisscross for security, but you do what you do. Alright? So I have my strap here and at the ready just in cases. From here, take your right arm inside the leg place your hand on your calf or the back of your heel wherever you reach without strain, hollow your abdomen and fold in like you're going to put the crown of your head on the ground. Wiggle your shoulder or as much of the arm as you can underneath your leg and place your right hand wide off to the right. Lean your whole body to the right until the right foot starts to come up on its own. Grab your strap, lift your foot.

You can stay here. You might grab your big toe or the foot itself, and from there, straighten through the leg. If you're using the strap, bend the elbow, hide the arm behind you, if you're holding the foot straighten the arm like we've been exploring earlier. From here, rebend your knee. Try to save your head in the process.

Unwind your arm. Bring your foot back. Take your knees wide. Bring big toes to touch and fold briefly into self, giving the back a moment to reset between sides. Vishramitri, this great warrior is easily defeated by Vashista. Little did he know, Vashista is a sage.

And so he used his magical yogic powers to defeat this great warrior without breaking a sweat. Vistramitra is like, I wanna do that. Done with being king. Done with being a warrior. I wanna be a sage.

Come back up, and you can stay facing the direction you are. I'm gonna turn myself around so that In my mind's eye, I can keep an eye on you. If you found the strap useful, have it in reaching distance once again, and walk your hands about three inches ahead of your shoulders. Stepap your left foot forward, and then pivot on your back leg so that your right toes angle a little off to the right. You can bring your left foot a touch more into the midline. And then if you think you might want it, have your strap at the ready in reaching distance.

Okay. Alright. Take left arm inside your left leg put your hand on your calf, for the back of your ankle, hollow your abdomen and fold in like you were going to put the crown of your head on the floor, work your shoulder or as much of the arm as you can underneath your leg and send your left hand off to the left. Now shift, your body weight to the left until your leg is being supported on the back of your arm. You can grab big toe, you can grab pinky edge of the foot, you might grab your strap giving yourself an added length of space.

You can stay here. If the body says, okay, explore straight into the leg. If you're holding the strap at quite a length, then the elbow the chest like we did earlier. Otherwise, arm can be straight. Bend your knee.

Plant your hand. Free your arm. Bring your knee back. You can set strap to the side if you were using it, and then shift your feet out in front of you. Come to lie on your back.

So as Vishramitra sets on his pursuit of becoming a sage, it is fraught with a lot of drama. Bend your knees separate your feet as wide as your mat. Turn your toes slightly in, find your way to constructive rest. If the knees don't comfortably meet, if the inner thighs are talking, put a block between the knees, give the leg something to rest against. Reach arms to the sky.

Cross left arm over right and give your body a hug and breathe into the fullness of your back. So, Vishramitri brought with him some of his warrior rage into some situations. So he would be far along on his path, gained some powers, and then he would end up using his powers to curse people. He was like cursing folks left and right. And every time he acted out of anger, he lost his powers and had to start all over again.

In how hand to the sky. Switched the cross of the arms once again finding your hug. At some point, he was on a really great streak and he was becoming so powerful that the god indra was like, oh, he might become more powerful than me. And so he sent a gorgeous lady to distract him. And it worked for a while. He was like, I'm so in love.

Forget yoga who needs it. Reach your arms up to the sky. Remove your block if you were using it and set it off to the side. Scoot your hips over to the right a few inches, cross right leg over left, tucking me behind me. Bring knees in toward your chest.

And as you exhale, lower them to the left. Now if the cross of the legs here feels a little too aggressive through outer hip or through your back, you are more than welcome to stack the legs, stop stack the hips. If that's still not a kindness in your body, put a blanket or a block between the inner thighs to support the weight of the top leg. So he spent a long time, loved up, distracted from his yoga studies, and then at some point he likes snapped out of it and was like, I was doing something and got back on the path. In how come back center?

Scoot your hips back into the midline and over to the left several inches. Bring your left leg over your right, tuck knee behind me. Bring these in toward your chest. And as you exhale lower them to the right, And again, if this twist isn't a kindness in your body, stack knees, stack hips. You can also put a prop between the inner thighs to support the weight of the top leg as needed as desired.

So it took a very long time, and I always think about Vashista's journey like climbing up a sand dune if you've ever had the pleasure. It's very frustrating because you'll climb up about five steps and then you slide back about three. A fantastic workout, but deeply frustrating. And for many of us, the journey of our practice can be the same. Sometimes we're feeling in flow, we're like, I'm never gonna not be doing this.

And then we miss a day or two, and then it turns into a month or a few years. And we're like, oh, man. What was I doing again? Yes. Back on the path. Inhale come back center, scoot your hips back into the midline, and if your legs are crossed, uncross them.

Bring both knees to your chest. Oh, breathe into the fullness of your back. Thank your body. And then return feet to the earth. Stretch your legs out long.

Take any position in the arms that feels best in your body. And if having the legs straight is stressing your back, roll to your side, roll your blanket and put it underneath your knees for more support. So the story of Vashista and Vashvish Vamitrasana illustrates a couple things. One, you may have noticed that Vashistas pose was a little less gnarly, that's our side plank than Vishwami Trasana's. In part, that's because Vish Vishfamytree had a much more challenging pathway to becoming a sage, thus making his pose also a bit more difficult.

This posture is also one that challenges us physically. And when we are met with physical challenge, we often push back with resistance in the mind or we begin to talk negatively towards oneself, which moves us back down the sand dune. Maybe beyond the five steps we walked up. Maybe we slide back seven. And so as we continue to be met with challenges on and off the mat, as we at times stumble in pursuit of our goals, the invitation is to not beat ourselves up in the process, but to keep coming back remembering that this is not a perfect It's a practice.

And if we stay the path through all our trials and tribulations, we might gain the strength of a yogi. Not so much importance on the physical strength, but more so on the strength within. And if we're really lucky, we just might get a magical cow. Wiggle your fingers, wiggle your toes. With an in, how sweep your arms up and overhead, stretch into all that beautiful space you created through the efforts of your practice.

Bend your knees, roll thoughtfully onto your right side. And then press the earth away. I'm returning to a seated posture. Join your hands together at heart center. Lift your chest.

We bow our chins in gratitude. Thank you for sharing your practice, and have a lovely, lovely rest of your day.