Me, Myself & My Higher Power Artwork
Season 1 - Episode 4

Dancing with Our Difficulties

30 min - Practice
35 likes

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Dana leads us through a dynamic ball of a practice to help us learn how to dance with the difficulties that life may throw our way. Inspired by Ganesha—the Hindu God of removing obstacles—we explore hand and body mudras to help us let go and embrace our transformation.
What You'll Need: Mat

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(gentle waves lapping) Hello lovers. (laughing) We're gonna go into the Ganesh temple. I love how you are, as soon as you make the commitment to really dig into your spiritual path, your life, the heat gets turned up. And so I really wanted to dive into dancing with your difficulties. Making friends with your thoughts.

And the beauty of Ganesh is getting grounded, exploring your foundation, and your freedom at the same time. So before you ever enter the Ganesh temple, you gotta pull on your ears. Ganesh has those big ears so that we can listen, so that we can really, listen, and then I usually cross my arms and have to do it the other way, just in case. X o x o. So pull on your ears so you can, you might even close your eyes and go inside, and really listen to what you need everyday, you need something different.

Ah, and you'll hear, you'll know what you need, you'll know the next right step, that you need to take. I want you to meet the Ganesh mudra, another Ganesh mudra, the pulling on the ear lobes is one. Gonna swim the hands around, and hook them, and you're gonna pull a hundred miles an hour. How often are you pulled in different directions? Your heart is tugged at.

So pull on the exhale, and then relax on the inhale. Swim the hands around, it's like a big bear hook. Pull, pull, pull, my God. Everything inside of you, right, just like the struggle is how we grow. So everything inside you is like pulling, and listening and trusting and not trusting, and faithing, and doubting.

Get all behind it and then relax on the inhale. And swim the hands around one more time, let's take it up over the head. It's so fun to take these mudras in different directions. And we'll add a pranayama to it, it's called the breath of fire. So you fill up and then you pump like crazy, and you drum the universe with your breath, you're drumming, like every ceremony has drumming in it.

It's a way to awaken your heart. (short, sharp exhaling) And if this is new for you, I remember, like, feeling like, I can't figure out my breath, like, do I breath this way or that way? You can stick your tongue out, it's called simhasana breathing. (short, sharp exhaling) Might help you access it out of the bag, off the bat there. Breath in, be held, that's a retention, or kumbhaka.

Draw everything in it up, even your eyeballs, even the tip, even the top of your tongue. And then as you breath out, let your arms come on down, you'll feel this, extraordinary opening in your heart. Big breath in. And let it out. Ganesh is the lord of new beginnings, every breath is a new beginning, a second chance.

Let's get taken to the threshold. Make your way to the top of your mat. Come up to stand. Meet Ganesha. Meet Ganesha.

Big, fun, body mudra. Sometimes it's fun to come through tree pose, do something that you know, that's familiar. We like that. (laughing) And then turn it into, all these movements today are gonna shape shift, from one into the next. So instead of getting the, using the body to get the shape, you're gonna have the shape be a way to open the body.

And open you up, more truly to you. 'Cause that's who you're getting, in this doorway of shapes, is you're getting you, and the sacred energy of the universe. Big breathing, so here's OMG. (laughing) Cannot live without OMG, so Ganesh, Jai Ganesha, into an OMG, where the, it's like a courtesy, left foot pops behind your right, and then you use that momentum to come up. We're gonna turn it into a suriya right now, so Ganesh, OMG, and then feet together, arms up and back, follow your breath all the way down through your center, lunging right leg, stretch your heart forward, breathing in, hips to the sky, downward loving dog, rolling out on your breath like you're swimming, in this ocean of devotion, lower all the way down, full pranam, as you drop your head down, heart opens and swirls, swells open, and then up and back.

Downward loving dog. Catch your breath at any time. Any time you need one of these, pose of the baby. Like when you were a kid and that you played, chase and that was your safe place, your safe. Right leg up on a breath in, step right up, inhale your left foot up, big, open heart.

Stretch it out of your hips, full deep, on your breath out. What we're gonna get soft through the knees so we can come right up into Ganesh, play with that OMG, feet meet, ground down, rise up, big breath, come through you and come on down, lunging left side, take any, you can keep these rhythmic and flowing, or you can pause along the way. Reach into the legs, get super long like a bridge. Taking you across, pranam, cobra, you can get longer through the arms, upward facing dog, hips to the sky, downward loving dog. Left leg high, step right through, breathing out.

Inhale your right foot up to meet your left, fold in deep, go tadasana, standing for a bend. Swing up through, these could go on and on and on, or you might, you can decide how many rounds you want of these, up and back, really get the heart to lift up, as your legs root down, melt on down, lunging right side, hips to the sky, breathing out. Flowing really deep in the flow of your life. Halfway could be chaturanga, or all the way for that full pranam. Rising up, breathing in.

Toes tucked under, big breath up and back. This time you might be ready to jump, bring your feet forward and lift your heart when you get there. Fold in as you breath out. All the way, so you're really, the great thing about suriya is there consistent OMG, keep it flowing and get nice and warm, I'll tell ya that. Breathing out, lunging, stretching the heart forward, downward loving, roll on your breath in, hover there, take it all the way down, surrender.

It's a big part of this practice, letting go. Breathing in, hips to the sky. Hmm. Feel the lift in the legs, the reach with the arms. Bend your knees, get the belly to lift, breath in, look where you're going, jump forward, inhaling full deep, swing on up.

Namaste. You know sometimes we want to move our difficulties out of the way and it's actually a blessing. Here we go, flowing, fluid, rolling in the flow of our lives, open yourself up, again and again and again. No matter how many times you've thrown love away, you've thrown happiness away, it belongs to you, big breath and get long, full deep, fly up. Woo! Jai Ganesh! Jai Ganesh, oh my god, feet together, open up, come on through, lunge it back.

Breathing in, fall, move on your breath, that's the real teacher here. It's the only requirement is to breathe. Inhale, open, lift those thighs, hips to the sky, hmm, downward loving dog, bend your knees, you can always take a few hops right here, heart lifts, head falls, hmm, deep extra breath. Sometimes we think that we're gonna, run a headstand or a handstand when we come to the practice but we learn how to stand on our own two feet. Thank you for that.

Sweep up on your breath in, feel your heart lift, fly up between your hands, hmm, standing right where you are, oh oh oh oh oh, yeah, so I'm really excited because I wanna thread Ganesh into a standing pose sequence. So we rocked it in suriya which is such a gift, 'cause you get warm, you get heated, you get turned on, and who wants their practice to feel like it should? Right? We want to feel really spiritually turned on, versus oh I should do my practice, and feel this discipline. I want the freedom, I gotta have the discipline, you know that, you want to feel like, I'm spiritually turned on.

That this practice is summoning the energy to bring more oomph into your life. To bring more oomph, ancient Sanskrit word, into everything that you do. More oomph. Right, more vibrant, more alive in your life. That's the turn on, so I run to my mat in the morning, like literally, like, run onto it okay.

Ah, so let's roll through utkatasana, that's that fierce, sitting to your power, sitting to your curiosity, to be, to remain passionately curious right, each day, to approach each day with fresh insight, is also Ganesh. Fold over, you can walk back, you can jump back, you can fly back, so many options, yoga reminds us that all the time, so many ways to get to the top of the mountain, or the top of the mat. Let's throw the leg up in the air, in the dog, step on through, check it in, check it in, don't check it out, check it in, you're gonna come up through peaceful warrior, the point is like roll up into it, roll up into yourself, god knows you have to live with yourself, right, so you want to live, live with who you are. Rainbow warrior, check this in, peaceful becomes a rainbow so you roll back into rainbow warrior. Okay I wanted you to see that.

From that rainbow warrior, you're gonna fly up into Ganesh. Right back into your rainbow. Sw, ooh! Swirl up and back to some peace, forearm to your thigh. Support inside angle, god knows how taken care of we are in our life, feel that support, from the spreading through your feet, the pelvic floor really lifts, and then spray open, just like (whooshing), lift the veil, move everything out of the way, that's Ganesh. Whatever situation comes up to meet you, you're ready, you're like, I'm a yogi, bring it.

Bring, bring, bring it. Deep breathing here, gotta be big and deep and real. Root through the legs, swing up and open, is peace, check this in, rainbow, up and over, ah, double rainbow, ardha chandrasana, so now you're at the back of your mat, dervish style, lift that leg high, you know it holds your dreams, you gotta lift it up high, feel the, the standing leg allows this leg to really, soar, you can lift your eyes up, falling is good, if you haven't fallen out of your poses lately, fall out of your poses. Bend through the leg, really extend through that back leg, extended angle, now you're a little lower to the ground, right, some of you might bring a block here at this point, big breath in, feel that reach, the rootedness, right your foundation, and your transformation, when you feel creative when you practice, you feel close to the divine. Close to the source, close to God.

Breathing in, big breath out, let's tumble into prasarita, which is like, could be recess moment, quieting moment, where you drop your head right below your heart there. Could be while your head is close enough to the ground, you drop your hands under your elbows, and lift your legs up. Come into tripod headstand. Stretch those legs up out of the hips, lift the hips up out of the waist, keep some weight in the hands so it doesn't all translate into your head, stretch through the legs as you lower down, smile into your beautiful life. Do you know how beautiful you are?

You're so beautiful. As you weave you way around, here's a moment, you can, go right from here, halfway, take the arm up, pop the foot into the tree, could become Ganesh again, woo, or even reach for the big toe, and take the leg up, up, up, up, up, woo, rock star. See when you fall, you just like, becomes another shape. You're taken in a new direction, right, every time you practice, the direction takes you, you know you're taking in the direction that really speaks to you. That's when you go, I need to listen.

Keep the faith. And come back around, you might lower down, turn it over, let's check it in, let's blow it up, left side, here we go. Into the front of the joint, peace, roll it back, rainbow warrior, right up, so use that momentum, right up into Ganesh, woo, swirl it back, rainbow up and open, lot of arms, right, which is great, it really awakens the heart. Anytime you're using your hands or your arms, it's like the highway between your head and your heart, supported, get that waist open, breath into the back of the heart, hmm mm, spiral open, triangle pose, utthita, trikonasana, the legs are pouring down into that pouring down there's room, for the spine to lengthen. Okay up and met, let's get our double rainbow on, sometimes I call it double happiness, double, double, double, double, spring off that back leg, ardha chandra, darkness lights the way yogis, we're not afraid of the dark, darkness lights the way, darkness is the candle.

You can even nab that back foot, ardha chapasana, or let the leg float long, feel that stretch of the heart forward out of the hips as you keep extending that back leg away. One more big loving breath in, big exhale, as you start to bend the knee, the joints are so friendly, they'll, they'll support you as you stack knees over ankles. Hmm mm, and from that reach, reach from the place in you that knows that you want to be the witness, not the judge, just let yourself feel each breath as that ability to watch and to listen and to see. Now you're in this tripod situation, it could be big toes, slide your hands back, you'll explore some of this, and you know, the exploration is, is ah, is the path to wholeness. Is this adventure of self discovery that you're gonna explore, you're gonna discover, who you are.

Through the doorway of the shapes. Come back around, here we go, this one is really like, (grunting) call on it, summon it baby, summon the oomph. Summon the oomph, look at this, foot in line with hand, stack that up, move down, ooh, rise up out of the mud. Here you go, Jai Ganesha, falling into your rock star, oh this time maybe you, suddenly you fell onto marichyasana. Anything could happen, everything is possible, with your practice, anything is possible.

Swing it around, join your feet up, stretch out, beyond what the mind can even come up with, lower down, almost like you become the, you know, you do become the offering for your practice. Roll your heart up, you feel the weight in the pelvis and in your hands unless you're lifting up off your hips. Shall we? Shall we be a child of the moment? Child's pose.

Shall we be a child of the moment? Just born. Now we're gonna take this sequence into the front of the house, one more time, and throw an arm balance into it. Check this baby out. Let's go.

Right leg up, step on through, remember how we started? Peaceful warrior. Rainbow warrior. Up into Ganesh. Wow! Dancing with our difficulties.

Making friends with our minds, teaching our thoughts how to dance. Turning our thoughts, 'cause we're gonna think, into positive, being positive yogis. Lean forward, here's that flying moment, ah! Extend the leg, stretch the heart, hug in through the elbows. Awesome. Big breath in, you can drop the toes.

Remember that flip? Your rock star moment. Come on through, soft knees, you can roll it out, hit the other side, move on your breath. Ride it baby, like a big, oh, big wave, peace. Rainbow, fly up into Ganesh.

Wow, I felt that. You know, its like every step that you're gonna make, the world is gonna come up to meet you, with every step that you make, the world, that's Ganesh, the world is coming up to meet every, each and every one of your steps. You gotta trust that, lovers. Every step that you take. See, I could put my hands on the wood, what the heck, let's try it.

Next to the flowers, lean, lean, reach, breath, inflate the shape, make the body visible through the breath. So we're staying with the flip on this one, but you might jump out into something, or you might just splat on the ground. The longing brings you closer, the longing for love is love. The longing to listen better, the longing to serve. How can I serve?

How can I give back? Right, yoga gives us so much. All we want to do is give back. You feel me? I feel you.

Come around, come back around, throw the legs out in front, sometimes it's fun to spread the legs, so could be really patchi ma or it could be way out here, feel your way into a open legged forward bend. Catch your breath and just like, count your blessings, like, really. Sometimes when we started, we just were swimming our hands around, before we hit that Ganesh mudra, and you feel a touch, all the senses are invigorated. Take a cleansing breath, extend your arms up, your heart will go with it. It wants to keep opening, no matter how many times, no matter how many times, you're about to throw in the towel.

Ganesh will usually throw a pebble or two, an obstacle or two in your way, and it's not for Ganesh to clear them, it's for you to see them, for me to see them. It's in the seeing that we get to heal. It's a beautiful line from Rumi which says, that, it's the light enters through the wounds. Breath in and then bow into yourself, bow to your journey, acknowledging your path, feeling so supported, on your personal path. The one that you need to be on.

Honoring, honoring every step, right, Ganesh is in the first chakra, your feet all the way up to your pelvic floor, every step that you take the world is coming to meet it. Breath is come in deep and sweet. You, if you want more sweetness in your practice, you bring more sweetness. Can stay here for a while longer. Take a few moments to sit.

I want to, lately I've been bringing some sweet chants into my practice. I'm gonna take a moment to sit before I go get my harmonium. It's really sweet, I take some of those same mudras, right, and come at them in a fresh ways, like the way I want to live. So that I can keep seeing with new eyes and hearing. You know there's a beautiful quote from Angela ah, Angelou, Maya Angelou, there's a beautiful quote from Maya Angelou, and she says, people that might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they always remember how you made them feel.

And that's the gift that we get with these practices. The way we show up is the real scripture yogis. You can read all the scriptures you want, but every day you show up, that's the gospel. How we can make, how we get to feel, and how we can make others feel. So I take that, even coming into the Ganesh, and you can say like, I'm gonna dance with the obstacles, I'm gonna dance with the challenges, I'm gonna rise up, roll my sleeves up and breath into this, and practice responding with love and with grace, and maybe a few more skills along the way, right.

A skillful way to respond. So I take those hands, and as you nab that Ganesh mudra one more time, it actually can go from really fierce and like strong, and like, I'm never gonna give up, (laughing) but I gotta let go. Right, you gotta let go if you want to be happy. And then you can soften this, you can take that same mudra and then soften it into your lap, and then feel your connection, your link, how connected we all are. Take a moment meditating, sitting with your breathing, feeling, creating this mood.

And as you're sitting for a breath, I'm gonna go buzz over and get the harmonious miss, I call it the harmonious miss. I'm gonna sing us a chant, so we can sing it together, or I can sing to you while you rest, okay. (gentle harmonious music) â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Sharanam â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Sharanam â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Shri Ganesha â?« Sharanam â?« Gam gam gam gam gam gam â?« Gam gam gam gam gam gam â?« Gam gam gam gam gam gam â?« Gam gam gam gam gam gam â?« Sharanam means to take refuge, to take shelter in these practices. To stay on the path. And the gam is the seed mantra for Ganesh, so you just chew like a cow chews on cud.

You're just like gam, gam, gam, gam, gam, gam. Just keep chewing on it. Right, the flavor will come, the rasa will be released. â?« Gam gam gam gam â?« Maybe this will help you to remember how amazing you are. Step into magic every time you practice.

You dance with what's going on in your life. Maybe you won't get answers, maybe your questions will change. You'll definitely have an experience, I know you wanted to have an experience today. You can choose it. Let your hands come together and feel this, in the spirit of togetherness, that something greater happens, here, with us, with you, with the community of yogis gathered on mats everywhere.

That want to make a difference in their life, creating a feeling, a beautiful feeling, stepping into beauty. And then bowing, bowing to the light, bowing to the teacher within, the student within. Bowing. (laughing) Bowing to the heart, this teacher, loving you, loving life, namaste.

Comments

Marcia M
2 people like this.
I will name you ... Star ! You shine so bright
Thank you for inspiring my day
Wendy
2 people like this.
So beautiful, DTF. I love you!
Johanna L
2 people like this.
Thank you from Sweden
Colette
1 person likes this.
Wow muchas gracias from spain with love
Erin W
1 person likes this.
So beautiful, so gorgeous, so inspiring! Your teachings get me every time. Many many thank yous
Femi
Thank you, Dana. This helped me in such a difficult time. I practice at LL BK and this community has helped me change my life for the better for which I am eternally grateful
Suzanne L
I truly enjoyed this practice! I have been doing dancing sun salutations to music for several years and happy to learn Garnish, OMG and rainbow!
Suzy W
1 person likes this.
You just changed my hard day, bringing me back to my path with your silly and wonderful ways. You are beautiful and creative, I will never do yoga the same... but will play my way back to my smile
Dane N
Loving you Loving GOD Family xoxo
Erika H
I wish I could've stuck with this, but it's so. much. talking., and so much stopping to explain.
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