Venus

Welcome to your practice. Today, we are calling in the energy of the planet Venus, which represents love and appreciation for all that we have and sensuality and pleasure. So it's kind of a yummy, juicy, kind of, watery feminine energy that we're gonna play with today. We're gonna start with the heart. That's one of my favorite rhymes.

Start with the heart. Two blocks. One is going to be at either the middle or lowest level, and then the other one's gonna be slightly higher either at the tallest level or the middle level. Depending what you did with that first block. And then you'll lie back on top of the blocks, making a little heart bench.

So you want that first block sort of right under the mid shoulder blade area, and the second block just under the head. And you should feel like you're in the right position because there's no pain or strain in the back. You can land on the blocks comfortably. The arms play out to the sides. The palms face up.

And then options for the legs, you could bring the soles of your feet together. And let your knees open wide, maybe inch your hips towards your heels a notch, or you could just lay the legs out comfortably long in front of you, and we'll close the eyes. When you might bring a Mudra thumb and index fingers together to feel your internal wisdom here in the space of your hearts. And in the space of your heart, feel your breath, feel your lungs expanding, sort of pressing out into the ribs and into that block. As you breathe in, lungs expand.

And that long soft exhale releasing energy. I'm just feeling the earth hold you here. So Venus Energy wants us to feel comfortable. And it wants us to feel held, and it wants us to feel soft and romantic even. It wants us to feel pleasure.

So hopefully as you move on the mat today, you can feel that sense of pleasure and comfort and quality care in everything you do in every move you make in every shape that takes place. So here now, breathing into all the sensations, right, really feeling into your body. And feeling into your breath. And meeting all of your responses with nurture tender loving care. So maybe even the phrase comfort and discomfort can come up for you, which is a really big part of the yoga practice.

And Venus Energy wants you to feel that. Let's take a few more slower, deeper breaths here. Maybe you can soften a few of your hard edges in the mind and the body, one more big breath in through the nose, out through the mouth. We'll gently start to come off these blocks with as little drama as possible. So you can use your hands or elbows to press yourself up, use your core muscles, gently, gently slowly coming all the way to a seated position.

And once you get to a seated position, just go ahead and bring your hands to your knees, comfortable cross legged seat, and maybe adjust your seat a little. Just make sure you can feel grounded in your sitting bones here, and we'll start with some sufi rolls. So chin and chest is gonna go to the right knee, circle around and forward to the left knee, and then round back through the spine, and then circle back to the right knee, and back to the left, and then just keep circling around and around here. You can close your eyes. And you can make these circles deeper or more subtle.

Right? Really just feeling into your body. Don't worry about what it looks like. Wor about what it feels like. Right? Investigate the sensations. And what I love about Sufi roles is we really get So many sensations. Right? We get the back. We get the hips.

We get the side body. We get the shoulders. Maybe even into the neck. In the face, the jaw. So let it feel smooth.

Right? Feel the breath, guiding the movement, inhaling as you come forward, exhaling as you round back. You can use your hands on your knees to sort of push and pull. Good. And then let's seamlessly switch the direction. And as you move through these sufi rolls, you might think of yourself sort of unwinding or unraveling any tension, anything that has felt a little sticky or closed off in your body or your mind.

Right? So we're trying to feel a sense of freedom, right, a sense of spaciousness so that we can find a little bit more ease. And comforts and quality breaths, quality moments. Right? So when we get out of our own way and out of sort of some of these dense patterns, we can start to really feel some of the luxury that Venus provides. But one more. And then come to neutral spine, take a big inhale, hold it in.

Open mouth exhale sigh out. Go ahead and switch the crossing of your legs. I'll create a little balance here. Take your right hand just over to the right. Take your left arm up and over towards the right.

Good. Sort of like a little rainbow here. Right? From your left hip to your left underarm, you can push into your right hand, maybe bend your right elbow, little or a lot, find that perfect shape for your right hand to support the lift and opening in the left side body. Feel free to move your head around your neck. You can even move this left arm around a little bit, sort of feeling into some extra space in your neck and your stress muscles as I like to call them. We'll take two more breaths right here.

Good. And gently roll your spine back up to neutral. Feel the differences for a moment. And then take your left hand over to the left. Take your right arm up and over Just landing into that space of feeling. Again, little movements can really help us to explore, to get curious about all the many, many, many, many, many, many layers in your body. Right?

So feeling comfortable in our skin, in our body is a big part of Venus Energy. Right? We wanna be able to invite in sensuality and touch and really taste and feel all these beautiful things. That life has to offer through the body, through the breath, right, through our awareness. Let's take one more breath. And slowly, travel your spine all the way back up to center.

Take another pause, take a big breath in, and let it all go. So just close your eyes for a moment and notice how you feel. Notice how the energy in your body and your mind and your heart is shifting. And as you're ready, we're gonna come to the hands and the knees and spread your fingers nice and wide so you feel a nice solid foundation in your palms. We'll move the heart forward into cow pose, inhale as you exhale gently round the spine back.

Just a nice slow, steady pace here, inhale the heart forward. And exhale, push into the palms and round the spine. Keep moving like that, and let your breath really move your body here. So the entire length of the exhale draws you back. And the entire length of your inhale sends the heart forward.

So you might think today in this practice, moving meditation The breaths and the body and the transitions are one and the same, all linked together in this beautiful present moment. So we can be sweet and savor it all. One more. Alright. And then from here, you're gonna come to neutral and just walk your arms forward as far as you can into to a puppy pose. I can't think of anything more cute and cuddly and soft than a little puppy.

Hopefully, it's not a crazy puppy, but even if it is, just think of the softness. Right? Think of the sweetness of a little puppy And melt your heart. So opening that space of the heart again, chin or forehead might touch the mat one more breath. And then slide all the way down onto your belly, and we'll move into some wide cobra rolls. So you'll have your fingertips just off your mat.

Elbows point up, shoulders roll back on an inhale, lift your heart. And as you exhale, just lower it down. And we'll move like that a few more times. Inhale, peel the chest up. Long exhale, lower it down. One more inhaling up.

And exhaling down. Good. Hands by your ribs, press yourself all the way back to child's pose for a few breaths, hips to heels. Just feel that softening in child's pose. Alright. And then start to come back up to hands and knees, tuck your toes, and gently transition to downward facing dog. And then just find a little comfort here.

Be curious, maybe bend the knees one at a time, paddle the feet. You can nod your head a few times. Yes and no. Nothing should feel too stalker stagnant or rigid or perfect here in Venus Energy. Right?

You can do that too. You can do a lot of audible size, like, mhmm, and ah's, and feel into some of that. Walk the feet all the way up to the hands. Just a nice, slow stroll. Inhale for a halfway lift, flatten out the back.

And then fold and round. And just dangle for a moment here. Maybe grab your elbows. Do a little sway side to side. And then rolling up, rag doll up.

Take about three breaths to get all the way to standing. And once you get up there, take a few shoulder rolls. And a few neck rolls sort of thinking like self massage here. Just getting into that place of comfort and ease and unwinding. Yeah. And then you can bring a prayer to your heart, and we'll do a few very yummy, slow Artanamaskar half salutes, inhale the arms reach out and up.

Follow the breath. Exhale bow and fold all the way down. Inhale halfway lift, really off for the heart forward. And as you exhale fold and round back down. Inhale rise and reach, arms to the sky, follow that breath, exhale bring a prayer to the heart.

Inhale as you reach out and up lengthen. Exhale as you bow and fold inward. Inhale halfway up, flatten out the back. Exhale, fold and round. Inhale rise and reach, really lifting through your heart.

XL a prayer to the heart. One more. Maybe close your eyes. Inhale, reach up. Exhale bow and fold all the way down. Inhale halfway lift. Exhale fold and round.

Good. From here, we'll step the left foot back. And gently lower the knee. Pause on your fingertips here. Really reaching through your heart, sinking that left hip forward. Take another inhale.

As you exhale, step back to downward facing dog. Take a deep breath in here. As you exhale, lower the knees, lower the chest right between the thumbs, and then the chin lightly rests. We can think of this called crocodile pose, and it's heart opening transition and a little milder than a chaturanga. And then we'll slide forward onto the belly into cobra pose, inhale, lift your heart.

Exhale lower down. Inhale, push back up to your hands and knees. Exhale to downward facing dog. Bring your left leg up. And then step it all the way forward to meet your left thumb, lower the right knee.

Come to your fingertips, pause here in this low lunge. Reach through your heart. Take one more deep breath in. And as you exhale step forward to the front of the mat, inhale halfway lift, flat back, and exhale fold and round. From here, we'll step the right foot back. Big step.

Lower the right knee. Stay on your fingertips. Lift your heart. Take an inhale. Exhale downward facing dog.

Good. And this time, maybe lift your heels high as you inhale. And as you exhale lower down the knees and the chest right between the thumbs, the chin, slide into your cobra for an inhale. Exhale downward facing dog. Right leg reaches up and back, and step it all the way forward. Lower your back knee, come to your fingertips.

Inhale. Exhale step forward front of the mat. Inhale halfway lift. Feel the heart lengthening and exhale fold and round. Let's do that again.

Step your left foot back lower the knee. High to the fingers, inhale reach your heart, exhale downward facing dog. Inhale, lift your heels up as you exhale lower down, knees, chest, chin. Inhale into cobra, exhale downward facing dog. Inhale, left leg up and back.

Exhale step it all the way through. Lower the back knee, hide the fingers, inhale, exhale step forward and fold. Inhale halfway lift. Exhale full. Just keep feeling the breath. Step your right foot back.

Lowering the knee, high to the fingers. Inhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, lift your heels, exhale lower, slow, knees, chest chin. Inhale cobra, offer the heart shoulders back. Exhale downward facing dog.

Inhale, right leg reaches back. Exhale step it all the way through. Lower the back, knee, fingertips, inhale. Exhale step forward front of the mat. Inhale halfway up, exhale fold and round.

Let's rise all the way up now reaching through your arms, lift the heart, exhale, bring your prayer to the heart and pause. Bow your chin down here. And now take your hands just one on top of the other and hold your hearts and just feel the space of love and compassion. Feel this place of pleasure and joy. Feel this place of honoring love.

Good. And on your next inhale, release your arms all the way back up to the sky as you exhale, pour down forward fold. Inhale, take a halfway lift, exhale plank pose. Feel free to put your knees down. Take an inhale as you exhale lower your vinyasa.

Right? If you wanna do chaturanga, cobra or updog, and then find your way back to downward facing dog. Send your right leg up and back, bend your right knee and open up the hip. And let's just do a few hip circles here. Getting into that beautiful ball and socket joint. So we can think of Venus Energy in the heart and the hips, in the body.

Because the hips are where sensuality lies, and some of that sexual energy, but also where, like, our creativity and freedom and feminine energy lies. Our sense of really seeking pleasure, bring your right knee to your chest as you're ready. Step it all the way through. Lower your back knee here and wiggle your right foot over to the right. So it's just on the side edge of your mat.

Take your right arm into the air and just open up here into the space of your heart. And then just pretend like you have a big wing here. You're gonna take your right hand all the way down and just tap the floor next to your left hand. And as you inhale, you'll just open it back up into the air. Xhale slowly tap it down and inhale open it back up.

So think of that heart energy sort of like a very light flowy wing here. Right? Couple more moving with the breath. Last one. Good. And then right hand comes down. You're gonna just crawl slightly hands over to the left.

Maybe just off your mat's a good spot. Kick stand that left foot behind you. And you can wiggle that right foot in a little if you need to, and we'll start to just circle around the hips. So think about the pelvic bowl just circling around, getting into some of those deeper layers and attachments in the right hip. You can use a block or two here if you need to if the floor feels far away. Close your eyes and sort of like those sufi rolls.

We're just feeling it. We're feeling it and opening it up. Good. And then from here, you're gonna crawl your hands slightly forward back to the front edge of your mat and wiggle that right foot so it sort of lines up just with your left knee. And we'll come into a warrior two on the knee, on the left knee. So the left arm goes back, the right arm goes forward. And we're gonna hang out here for a few moments.

If your left knee is getting tender, put something under it, give yourself some support because hello, it's Venus, and we want you to be comfortable. Right? You don't have to muscle through or, you know, work too hard here. That's another planet. We'll get to that one. Okay? So pause here, breathe and feel maybe even a softness in your arms. Can bend your elbows a little, let the shoulders roll down the back.

And then we'll lightly reverse that warrior on the knee. The left hand goes down the left. Like, the right arm reaches up softly. Good. And then you'll bring your right forearm to your right thigh and just gently wave that left arm up and over the ear for a version of extended angle. Let's take one more full deep breath. And slowly come back to that warrior two, maybe sink a little deeper into that right knee, right thigh, feel into it.

And you'll just cartwheel your hands down to the earth to frame your right foot. Wiggle your right foot to the right a few inches and kickstand that left foot straight back for an Ardahanuman half split. Here, you might want your two blocks again. I am a big fan of Again, finding comfort, right, letting the pose work for you. And then maybe point flex your right toes, little or big bend in that right knee, and you can start to undulate your spine as your ready.

So it's sort of like a cat cow, you send your heart forward on the inhale, and as you exhale round towards your right leg, inhale, send the heart forward, exhale as you round. One more like that. Inhaling, follow the breath. And exhaling round. Good. Let's bend that right knee. Move your blocks to the side.

Step back to your hands and your knees. Wag your tail a little, your puppy tail, and sit back to child's pose, or you can go to downward dog and just notice some of the shifts in the right side versus the left side. Take a deep full breath in through the nose, and again, sigh it out your mouth. Good. From downward facing dog, Take your left leg up into the air, bend your knee, open up the hip and start to circle it around and around, exploring that joint and maybe think of really lubricating the joint, like, really getting in there, like WD 40 on the tin man and just, you know, let it all sort of snap crackle pop a little bit. Mhmm.

And from here, go ahead and step your left foot all the way forward. Wiggle it towards the left side of your mat, hands are inside lower the back knee. And then we're gonna take your left arm and reach it up into the air and find that big, open spacious place of your heart, inhale. As you exhale, the left hand taps right down next to the right hand. Inhale, lift it back up, open, and exhale, tap it down.

Keep going. Keep breathing. Just let it be a nice, gentle flow, maybe close your eyes, sweetly, softly nurturing through that space of your hearts. One more breath. Good. And then from here, you're gonna take those hands just off your mat to the right, kickstand your right foot behind you a little bit and bring that left in a little and start to circle around the hips.

So make this yours. You can make these pretty deep again or subtle. Just feeling into it. Maybe feeling the breath and that silky smooth sound of breath here. Right? Everything is fluid.

Few more breaths. And then we'll go ahead and come back forward with the hands. Wiggle that left heel so if you drew a line, it would line up with your right knee and will come up slowly for that warrior too on the knee and land softly. Right? So having our warrior on the knee just gives us that permission to not have to work so hard, not to feel so strong. It's a soft warrior. Right? It's a it's a pleasurable warrior. There's a sweetness here through the shoulders, right through the face. Take your left arm up as you're ready.

Find that reverse warrior, right hand just to lightly touch as your right leg, lift the heart, and then bring it forward, left forearm to the left thigh as the right arm comes up and gently over the ear. Keep feeling your breath. You might come back through your warrior too, maybe sink just a notch deeper into the hip. And then just cart while your hands all the way down, and we'll find our way to that half split, pivot your right foot back, maybe wiggle your left heel over a notch as you pull the left leg straight. Again, maybe grabbing your supportive, comfortable blocks, inhale the heart reaches, exhale you round.

And just again playing with similar movements, maybe adjusting that left foot, left knee. Couple more breaths. Good. And then go ahead and bend that left knee. Move your blocks to the side. Step back to hands and knees.

Any movement here that feels good. So maybe back to cat cow or a rib circle. I like to think of these rib circles like a cement truck, right, trying to keep the cement from hardening. Many times, I know. We feel like cement. So just move it all around. Fluid and free.

Mhmm. Maybe the hips, maybe the head, couple more, explorative movements. Good. And then land yourself either back to child's pose or down dog, whichever feels more comfortable for you. Right? Whichever feels like you can just really pause and breathe. And nurture your body.

Alright. Let's all meet back together in down dog. Moving a little deeper into our hips. Right leg will come up into the air, bend your knee, open the hip. Bring your right knee between your hands. So listen carefully.

The right knee comes to the floor between your hands. And then you'll pivot onto your right hip and face the left side of your mat. So your left leg kinda straightens out here. You can bend your left knee if you need to. The right heel's in. Okay? So you're in sort of a half wide straddle, and you're gonna slide your left hand to your left leg and take your right arm and reach it up and over, finding that sort of beautiful rainbow again.

So Venus Energy is all about beauty as well. Right? So the aesthetic, the quality of your surroundings, the quality of arts, music, So maybe visualizing a rainbow here and just feeling that beauty above you and around you. Let's take one more breath. And then just slowly rolling yourself up. And then we'll crawl the hands back forward.

Come to the ball of your left foot and step your right foot back into downward facing dog. Let's go to the other side, left leg up, bend your knee, open the hip, and then slide that left knee just between the hands. Sit onto your left hip, and start to face the right side of the mat straightening out your right leg, and we'll start to move into that side bend, adjust your hips a little if you need to, and start to wave that left arm up and over. And breathe here. I'm breathing beautiful breaths, spacious, sweet, nurturing breaths.

Where can you soften here? What can you breathe into and release a little bit more through the exhale? Let's slowly roll the spine back up. And face the front edge of your mat, plant your palms come to the ball of your right foot and step your left foot back into downward facing dog. So if you feel the need for a vinyasa, feel free to shift forward to plank or hands and knees, taking a traditional vinyasa or even another cat, cow, just moving your body in any way you'd like.

Good. And then we'll meet back in our downward facing dog. Maybe close your eyes here and just take another deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Alright. Let's take the right leg back up into the air, bend the knee open up the hip. If you'd like to flip your dog for a couple breaths, you could do that. Just get into that heart space.

Open wide. Take a breath. And then right hand down, and we'll step the right foot all the way forward into a warrior one stance. So ground your back heel and slowly rise up. So warrior one, while it's a strong pose, we can also think of lightening up and really lifting the space of the heart here. Right? Maybe soft in the face and bend your elbows a little bit.

Good. And then you're gonna bend your elbows a fair amount, maybe about halfway down and just slide your hands to the back of the head, and we'll feel a little bit more of this energy. Like, we're laying in a hammock somewhere beautiful and luxurious. In the upper body, I want you to feel your heart lift, your head and your hands, holding each other, squeezing and supporting that freedom in the face, in the heart, Take one more breath. I know. Maybe you could just stay here forever. And then we're gonna reach the arms all the way back and release the fingers at the lower back and come down for a humble warrior. Getting a little bit more shoulder here and really releasing the neck, if that's okay on the head. Just really let your head hang.

Two more breaths. Maybe coming back to those audible size. Release your hands all the way down. Let's pivot to the ball of the left foot and lower the left knee right foot's gonna go back to the right edge of your mat. You can stay right here, hands inside for a lizard lunge, maybe even dropping down to your elbows, or you could reach with your right hand and try to grab your left foot.

Getting a little deeper into the hip flexors in the quad, and then you can kinda let your head hang back here, get into the neck. Maybe feel sort of that. Relaxing vacation feeling in the upper body and the neck and the shoulders. Let's take one more breath. Good. And then gently release.

Step your way back to your hands and your knees. Take any little movement here, and we'll find our way back to downward facing dog. Left leg will rise up, bend the knee, open the hip. You can flip your dog here, couple breaths, opening up through the heart. Good. And then left hand down. Left knee to the chest.

Step it through. Warrior one. Ground your back heel. And reach your arms lightly up towards the ceiling. Feel the space of your hearts. Feel the space of your breath.

Bend your elbows and start to find that little hammock, interlacing your hands behind your head, hold the head, hold that space of receiving and letting go in the heart in the face, in the brain, little mini vacation here. Your lower body is supporting you. Alright. And then slowly release your hands all the way back, interlace your fingers, maybe switch up the grip and pour the chest forward into a humble warrior. Breathing deeply and completely into the sensations to let them unwind and unravel. And then the hands release all the way down.

Left foot's gonna go over to the left, hands inside the foot, lizard lunge, put your back knee down, wiggle it back a little if you need to. And then just honor what you did on the other side, maybe reaching back, maybe coming to the elbows, and just feeling these words, pleasure, luxury. Love. One more breath. Gently release. Go ahead and step your way back hands and knees.

And then sit on your heels. And we'll face the side edge of the mat and take a wide straddle. So spread both legs out nice and wide. Feel free to sit up on something here. Maybe pull the flesh from your booty from your sitting bones a little, bend the knees any amount.

Take your fingertips out in front of you and just gently crawl yourself down and round your spine any amount. Drop your head. We'll spend about 10 breaths here in the space of the hips, in the backside of the heart, really rounding through the shoulders here. If you feel like you need support, those two blocks are nearby, you could put your elbows on them. Maybe got a few more breaths.

Really softening inward, letting yourself feel cozy and comfortable and safe and supported. Meeting yourself with love. Last, Deepra. I'm slowly coming back up. Let's bring our legs together, and we're gonna roll onto the back.

Once you get onto your back, you'll just gently hug your knees into your chest and give yourself an actual hug. Maybe it's the first hug you've gotten today or in a while. So really feeling this act of love towards yourself and this act of gratitude and appreciation for taking this time to connect to the beauty and the nurturing and the luxury that Venus provides. And when you're ready, release your arms, your legs out for Shivasana. Get yourself nice and comfy and relaxed and let your arms just splay out to the sides, shoulders away from your ears. Maybe even wiggling your shoulders a little bit wider so that your heart feels nice and open.

The legs play out. Let's take one more breath as we enter deep inhale. And a nice sigh as you exhale. And just allow yourself to bask in this pure relaxation Shavasana is like a vacation. It's an opportunity to just let everything go.

And to feel into a sense of space. Appreciation and gratitude. Sweet, loving energy towards yourself. Feel the ease of your natural, effortless breaths flowing in and out. My invitation for you is to rest here a little longer and just let yourself go.

Take as much time as you need. We'll end our practice here. Namaste, and Be well.