This sequence is a little longer, just over 18 minutes, but it is narrated to guide the practice. Turn the audio on in settings to commentary if you want to listen.
A 12-Minute Morning Water Flow
Every morning while on our Heart of the Village Yoga retreat in Playa Grande, Costa Rica, as the surfers were arriving at the beach at dawn, I went outside and practiced before our 7:15 am guided beach meditation. I captured a morning or two on video. Here is one:
Poolside in Costa Rica
An 8-Minute Flow to Activate the Back Body and Support System
Most people in the West think of yoga as a physical practice to mobilize and stretch the body. We think of strength training to strengthen and stabilize the body. For those that desire to make yoga a spiritual practice, most yogis work towards withdrawing from the senses of the body and settling into a place of stillness in the mind. Personally, I gravitate more towards the practices which weave together the physical and the spiritual in the sacredness of my moment-to-moment life experiences. I work towards continually stretching the multiple aspects of my real life experiences towards a perspective that is more about the union of the material world and the spiritual world in the here and now. It is really about having a love affair between my conscious awareness and my creative expression of my physical existence, a love affair between the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine. And, of course, this can be expressed by through the union of real-world loving relationships. It’s about making life a divine experience. It’s about dancing in the music of the moment.
For those of you who know me, you see a medallion around my neck of Sri Yantra, a mystical diagram representing the various aspects of our Divine Masculinity (Shiva), triangles pointing upward, interwoven with the various aspects of our Divine Femininity (Shakti), triangles pointing downward. You’ll also see a tattoo on my back representing this divine love affair. They are reminders for me to always remember to find sacredness in the moment, pure love in my relationships, and great beauty in my presence. In this place of spiritual and physical unity, where my image is not just my face, there is a sense of wholeness where my heartstrings are vibrating in joy and resonance, and there is an aliveness that leaves me stunned in pulsating silence in awe of the sacred union of mind, body and spirit.
For me, the music of Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band can be the resonating sounds upon which I ride. The poetry of Rumi can be about the heart-wrenching love affair with life that grabs at my most intimate parts. And the teachings of Tantra (as conveyed by Lorin Roche and The Radiance Sutras) can be the framework around which I come to understand what I’m experiencing… and what I’m enjoying.
Yes, this is a video of a physical practice of flowing slowly through some postures which flex and extend and rotate the spine, that activate the hamstrings and the glutes and the spinal erectors (the back body, or the back chain), and which activate various core stabilizers. But, of course, it is so much more than that. With these videos and themed music, I hope to help practitioners expand their perspectives and their life experiences, not just their yoga practice. Thanks for being here! I am so very grateful for those of you in my life who have given me the freedom to be me and to allow me to explore the realms of sacred loving relationships together with you.
An 8-Minute Themed Sequence to Wake-Up the Back Body and the Support System which Brings UNITY to Life
Looking downward at the Sri Yantra statue in my home studio.
An 8-Minute Flow to Warm-up and Open-Up with the Heart of a Divine Child
Lately, I’ve enjoyed listening to a song that has meaning to me, and simultaneously creating a sequence of flowing yoga postures that relates to the theme of the music. This song, about the sacred love shared between mother and child, reminds me that wholehearted love includes having a clear heart, a full heart, a strong heart, and an open heart. It reminds me that there is nothing more sacred than the love between a mother and a child, that each of us are indeed born from a mother, or born from The Mother. And, that each of us has the potential in this human lifetime to express this love fully, and to make our lives sacred through what we choose to practice and pay attention to in our daily lives. So, here, I just begin with the curiosity of a child, open to the world with wondrous eyes, and allow myself to move in a way that is intuitive and creative. The music can often guide where my body and mind goes!
I grew up to the stories of Christ and the Mother Mary. I was born on December 25. This song celebrates another Divine Child (Baby Krishna, or Gopala) and his mother (Devaki). Or, Deva (shining god) and Ananda (joyous bliss). Can you imagine the joyous bliss of being the mother of a divine child? That is exactly the state of pure loving awareness that we are each intended to feel… and to Be. Enjoy the lullaby-like music of Sean Johnson and the Wild Lotus Band!
This morning practice had extra significance for me today. My mother passed away 3 months ago. One of the gifts she shared with me was on my last visit. She was living in a special home where she could be assisted in her daily living as she battled with dementia. As I walked in the room and she saw me, her face, her entire being lit up in pure joy. The pure joy, the pure love, of a mother (the Divine Mother) and her child (a Divine Child) was expressed without thought, without filter. This moment will be my lasting gift from her. And it will be the energy that I will practice sharing with those around me, my relations.
An 8-Minute Wholehearted Warming-Up Sequence
12-Minute Self-Awakening, Heart-Opening, Mind-Clearing Practice
I often create videos for specific clients in mind. This one is for a young man who doesn’t speak the english language well, so it is set to music. The only instruction I would add is to just let yourself be in the moment, opening your heart to life, clearing your mind of your worries and your judgments, and allowing your senses to feel what it feels like to be totally in a state of love, receptivity, and self-healing. The mantra in the music is about allowing yourself to be totally immersed in Divine Love, feeling it in your heart, and realizing that your innate super-powers rise from your devotion this Love. Jai Hanuman!
As a personal coach, whether online or in-person, it is my fundamental practice to convey an energy from my being that helps my students feel safe, seen, dignified, cared for, and yes, loved. Watching this video, I hope that you feel my loving energy. I do care. I want you to KNOW LOVE too.
A short morning practice to wake-up and move with heartfelt awareness. The music is calming and supports the theme. There is no narration to involve the thinking-mind.