Feeling Strong and Empowered - Inner Phoenix Yoga presented by MESA (with captions)

Transcript

[Music] foreign [Music] to Inner Phoenix my name is Janine and I am the director of moving to end sexual assault and the director of trauma services at Mental Health Partners in Boulder Colorado I'm a psychologist and a yoga teacher and I have witnessed the power of yoga to help people heal from the impact of traumatic stress these Yoga practices are intended to facilitate grounding in a connection with ourselves as we move to build a sense of empowerment and resilience as we work through our journey together while I will cue you in different poses throughout the practices feel free to do what's best for your body on this day at this time for today's practice we're going to work with the theme of feeling or strength so oftentimes we can enter periods in our days or weeks where we may not feel so strong we may not have that feeling of feeling in control or feeling like we can handle situations that we're presented with we have to remember that we have the strength with us all the time we just have to do things to draw in that memory into the body and move into our strength so for today's practice let's actually begin standing so joining me here in our first pose called Mountain pose so feeling the feet on the Earth standing nice and tall maybe bringing a slight Bend into the knees so that we're not locking out the joints but feeling that fluidity right in the low body and then bringing the hands to the side Palms facing out and again working with that rooting down and rising up breathing in just channeling for a second that energy and strength of the mountain so even though things might be swirling around us that's the weather and you are the mountain from here rooting down inhaling the arms up to the sky feeling the length in the side body and then bringing the right hand down as you side bend over to the right so feeling equal weight in both feet maybe the hips bump a little to the left the head can be soft ear toward the shoulder inhale back through Center Reach up feeling the strength of the legs exhale draw the elbows together as you Cactus the arms and open across the heart so open without giving away our power inhale rise and exhale left arm comes down as we side bend over to the left so if that hurts the neck or feels difficult at all you can gaze down maybe toward the left ankle and just breathe into space in this left part of the side body inhale come up through Center as you exhale we're going to Swan Dive to come forward down into forward fold inhale halfway lift so pressing gently into the Shins as the spine lengthens and then take that length with you as you fold forward slight Bend to the knees and come down to forward fold one more time inhale halfway lift feel the strength of the legs exhale to fold and from here walking the hands forward I'm going to step the feet back coming into our shape of downward facing dog so in downward facing dog you can feel free to bend the knees we're rooting down into the fingertips right and lifting the sitting bones back and up toward the sky from downward facing dog I'm going to step the right foot forward Landing just inside the right hand and then turning the back foot down so it's parallel ish to the back of the mat rooting down rising up into Warrior Two and settle in so in Warrior Two drawing the right knee out so that it is coming toward the pinky side edge of the foot the back arm is about even with the front arm and the Gaze might be right over the fingers if that's tough on your neck you're welcome to look straight ahead and feeling again the lower body strong and engaged as you inhale we're going to reverse the warrior so keeping the legs as they are we reach the right arm up to the sky left hand comes down the left leg and then as you exhale we'll come back through Warrior Two framing the front foot we're going to step back into high plank or top of a push-up so in high plank always have the option to come down to the knees as we're building strength or if you're going to try top of a push-up if that feels in your practice today we're going to press the Earth away feel the strength in the arms and we're going to slowly lower with control down to the Earth tops of the feet touch as you inhale lift from the back of the heart exhale to fold and release bring the hands under the shoulders inhale press up to tabletop and back to downward facing dog so you can stay right where you are I'm going to turn to the opposite side a couple breaths here and down dog and then when you're ready we're going to step the left foot forward turning the right foot down root to rise to Warrior Two and settle in here so the Torso is kind of right in between your hips so you're not reading forward too far into the future or leaning back but centered right over the hips and really feel the strength of the legs holding you right here soften the shoulders inhale reverse the warrior creating space in the left side body as you exhale come back to Center cartwheel the hands to frame that front foot again your choice step back to high plank if you're on knees we get the same sense of pressing the Earth away and will slowly lower all the way down to the Earth halfway this time inhale press back up feel the strength of the arms right let's do that one more time halfway lower using the core and the arms to help you press up good and then from here we're going to turn this left leg out to the back of the mat root the right foot down to the Earth rooting down to rise up into side plank variation can gaze up at your hand you can look down if that's easier on the neck so feeling the core strength keeping you kind of centered here exhale to release come back to tabletop again I'm going to turn you can stay right where you are is we're going to turn the right foot out this time left foot draws back Root Down even the strength in the hands to root into the Earth as you inhale the left arm rising to the sky feel the breath here and then as you exhale left hand comes down bringing the left knee down back to tabletop and our strength building gets rewarded with a child's pose here so bringing the knees wide the big toes together to touch bringing the hips toward the heels and coming into this place of rest options if it doesn't feel great to have your head down you can stack the hands letting the forehead rest on the hands maybe with the intention of bringing the breath right into the back of the heart so you feel the ribcage expanding from the back body as you breathe foreign that even when we're working hard and we're building strength and feeling our power to know it's also okay to rest breathing into that letting the shoulders sink toward the Earth and then when you're ready we'll gently press back up toward tabletop and then coming to find a comfortable seat sitting in Easy pose or any other pose that serves your body letting the hands rest on the knees take a deep breath in together and slow and mindful exhale letting all the stale air come out of the body drawing the hands in front of the space of the heart just noticing if anything shifted in the practice and big or little ways thank you for being part of this practice today [Music] foreign