Yoga-Snack: Great Connections!

Today was my fourth day of yoga in room #304 and when I entered the room, I immediately felt a great connection to my students. There it was, right on the daily schedule “yoga with Eve: 9AM”. I was greeted cheerfully by the room’s staff and the students came up to me individually to say hello. Room 304 is very peaceful and there is a definite feeling of kindness and respect.

I presented some new elements today and we dove in enthusiastically. The students were smiling and laughing and really enjoying themselves.

Class started by creating the “heart mudra” (Mudra is a potent hand positions or finger-posture that profoundly influences and focuses the body's energy). You start with the “om mudra” (thumbs and pointer fingers joined in a circle) bring your middle fingers to touch and then taking the circle of the right hand (middle fingers pointing down) touch your heart. There we did 3 large relaxing breaths. The second breathing exercise was hands relaxed, cupped inside each other, on our laps and on our inhale we sat up a little more upright and then with our exhale, we relaxed and slouched a little.

Lying down, we did full body stretches with our feet pointing towards the center of the room and our arms stretched over head and reaching towards the outer walls. Next, we pulled our legs in, and gave ourselves a big yoga hug. Holding our right leg, we stretched it to the ceiling for a gentle hamstring stretch and then rolled our ankles both clockwise and counter clockwise. We then repeated that n the left leg and then one more legs in hug.

Next:

Bridge Pose

Rock and Roll to sit up

Seated forward bend

Reverse Table Top

Butterfly

Star Pose and opposite hand to foot windmill (hand would reach down to foot)

Triangle pose

Tree Pose

Savasana

Namaste!

Yoga Snack: Humility

The beauty of yoga is not only is it not a competition with anyone else in the room, it also not a competition with yourself. You must know humility to practise yoga (Humility: The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in spirit and deportment). We have to accept in ourselves that every day dawns a new experience on our yoga mats and that if yesterday you were able to balance in tree pose with your leg high on the thigh, your arms embracing the sky and your head laid out, that today might be a day to back off and keep your leg low, secure your balance and have your hands at heart center. Or the analogy I used for the kids was "If yesterday you could jump as high as the school, today you may only be able to frog hop, and that is OK. Be happy and focused inside yourself and find peace with your practise)

Today's Yoga Snack:
3 Bumble Bee Breaths (hands over ears) buzz, hummmmm, ripple lips and a final Balloon Breath with a satisfying "ahhhhhhhh" at the end.

To warm up our spines, we started with Bumpy Camel (riding through the desert). We flipped onto our stomachs and did 3 cobra's hissing in the sand, ending with a King Cobra, feet to head. Back up onto our feet, and we did a series of Camel's. After slipping our feet out from under us, 3 Bridges and then we rode our "air" bikes, forwards and backwards.

Then as a series of asanas: Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)-Tree (Vrksasana)-Eagle on a Mountain (Sitting on heels , arms by sides, full arm flaps like an eagle)-Jog in place (We'll be running up the mountain, when we come; we'll be running up the mountain when we come; faster...we'll be running up the mountain; faster...we'll be running up the mountain; faster...we'll be running up the mountain when we come...ahhhhhh huge balloon breath and bring breathing back to normal-strecth up , hands clasped and fall forward and up, swing your trunk for Elephant-full stretch in upward Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

We then sat and put our thumb and pointer finger together for Chin Mudra* and in total silence, stillness and focus, we meditated for one whole minute! It was incredible!

Of course we ended with Happy Jio!

Namaste!

Chin Mudra
This gesture symbolises the connected nature of human consciousness. The circle formed by the index finger and thumb represents the true goal of yoga – the merging of the individual soul with the universal soul. It is a gesture of receiving. When the finger touches the thumb a circuit is produced which allows the energy that would normally dissipate into the environment to travel back into the body, and up to the brain. When the fingers and hands are placed on the knees the knees are sensitised creating another pranic circuit that maintains and redirects prana within the body. In addition placing the hands on the knees stimulates a nadi, which runs from the knees up the inside of the thighs and into the perinium. Sensitising this channel helps stimulate the energies at the muladhara chakra. When the palms face upwards in the chin mudra the chest and heart area are opened up.

15 Minute Yoga Snack: Our Hands Are Important

Today's 15 Minute Yoga Snack:

Seated in Easy Pose, 3 large Balloon Breaths (fill belly on the inhale)Bumpy Camel (Balloon Breath at the end of every exercise)Washing Machine (saying Sat Nam: Truth is my identity) & Dryer. Slowly rise up into Tadasana, hands over head and then hands to heart center. We did 3 calming ohms (pronounced "ong" like the word "gong" without the first "g"; you can make your ohm sound like a ancient gong)

Still standing, we did "We're The Rockin' Yogi's". We started by stamping our feet "right, left" then one clap. It is a real sense of accomplishment and coordination to be able to keep the beat and sing at the same time.

The kids were very energetic and full of excitement today. We definitely found concentration to be a challenge, but I was so happy to see how much participation I saw and that they kids were genuinely happy and engaged!

We bent over into Uttanasa, because during times when you feel over excited, bent over poses are the best to bring a sense of calmness and peace to your mind.

Our final pose was Nataranjasana (Dancer's Pose).

The end of the class, we did our Sa-Ta-Na-Ma meditation (4x Out Loud, 4x Whisper, 4x In Head, 4x Whisper and 4x Out Loud).

Namaste!

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What is the meaning of Sa-Ta-Na-Ma?

SA= Infinity (You are infinite)

TA= Life (You come here)

NA= Death (You leave here)

MA= Rebirth (You remember that)

These are the five primal sounds of the universe (S, T, N, M & "A")

How to perform the mediation with the mudra (hand position):

On Sa touch the index finger to your thumb; on Ta touch the middle finger to your thumb; on Na touch the ring finger to your thumb; on Ma touch the little finger to your thumb. Apply a two pound pressure every time you touch the fingers. Continue moving the fingers throughout the exercise, even during the silent part.

Sa - Index finger to thumb – This means Wisdom and Knowledge
Ta - Middle finger to thumb – This means Patience
Na - Ring finger to thumb – This means Health and Energy
Ma - Little finger to thumb – This means Intuitive Communication

The thumb is associated with the fire element, the lung meridian and the planet Mars and represents willpower and logic. The index finger is associated with the air element, the stomach meridian and the planet Jupiter. It represents the mind and the power of thought. The middle finger is associated with the ether element, the circulation and gallbladder meridians and the planet Saturn. It represents our spiritual path. The ring finger is associated with the earth element, the liver meridian and the sun (or Apollo, the sun god). It represents vitality and health. The little finger is associated with the water element, the heart meridian and the planet Mercury. It represents communication, sexuality and personal relationships.

"Everything grows and then it changes, Comes back around in another form, The seed to the tree, tree to the earth, Earth to the seed and then it's reborn" Lyrics by Shakta Khalsa.

**A note: The word Namaste seem to be made up of the 5 primal sounds of the universe Na-Ma-Sa-Ta....