Uncovering the Secrets of the Grishma Ritu Season | Ritucharya – Yoga For Seasonal Shifts

Transcript

[Music] foreign [Music] series all to do with Seasons all to do with seasonal change as we would call it in yoga so this session is focused on grish meritu or Summers This falls right after spring it's the onset of Summers and you might know this yourself that in summers there's already so much of heat outside so of course the practice that we do must manage this heat outside and be a little bit more cooling more restorative in nature this is why in Greece meritu it is recommended to do slightly lighter practices so we'll focus today more on extending and stretching out the body especially the sides of the body also it helps to use props in grish meritu or in lighter practices of this sort so just as I have been telling you in the last two sessions as well even if you're not in the midst of Summer right now you can do this practice if you feel like a more gentle practice if your body is asking for a practice that requires the support of props then this is a practice that you can join me on the mat with so let's get started so I invite you to sit up nice and Tall sit on top of as many cushions as you need try to land them through the crown of the head and let's gently close the eyes and let's become aware of our inhalations and exhalations notice if you can hear the sound of your breath and gradually begin to slow down the breath allowing deeper more silent inhalations and longer more silent exhalations [Music] and as you continue to take these slow silent breaths in and out begin to set your intention for your practice today remind yourself what brings you to the mat and once you have your intention slowly bring yourself back to just observing your breath notice if you can still stay with that silent breath in and out without too much effort from here start to rub the Palms together and gently massage into the eyes into the facial muscles then let's Open the Eyes to release so from here we're going to move into our pranayama practice and this is also known as anulong vilom this will help us to cool down and this is really a pranayama that you can do in All Seasons irrespective of the Heat or the cool outside but it has a particularly calming effect and it's excellent for a summer practice so for this we're going to use the right hand fold your index finger in the middle finger in and place it at the base of the right thumb now in case this doesn't sit right with you you could also just keep these two fingers open and just place it right at the center of the eyebrow we will be using the right thumb to cover the right nostril and the left or rather the right ring finger to cover the left nostril so I'll guide you through the first few rounds if you'd like to have a look that's fine and then eventually let's try to close our eyes and do this while turning our awareness inward so let's take our mudra I will choose to keep my index finger and middle finger on the space between my eyebrows and let's keep both the nostrils open to begin with inhale through both the nostrils and then block the right nostril and exhale through the left and now we are ready to start inhale through the left nostril for four three two one then block the rough nostril and exhale through the right or eight seven six pie CE two one inhale from the same right nostril for four and then switch the nostril exhale for eight at any point if you feel eight is too much you could also exhale for six this is one round let's take two more rounds inhale through the left of four [Music] and switch nostril exhale eight a great way to remember is we're only switching fingers or nostril while we exhale inhale from the same right nostril for four and switch nostril exhale eight [Music] inhale from the left for four and switch nostril exhale eight inhale from the right for form [Music] and then switch and exhale through the left for eight and then once you've exhale fully release both the hands and come back to your natural breath take a moment to notice if there was any difference between the right and the left nostril and from here whenever you're ready we can slowly blink Open the Eyes to come out of this great so from here let's switch up the legs maybe we'll take the other leg to the front I'm going to come into a little side body stretch here so bring your right palm alongside the right hip Slide the Palm away from the body and then bend the elbow slightly now if this is quite enough for you you can stay here or if you can reach all the way down then let the right elbow come directly under the right shoulder in case you're here and you're hovering and it causes a little discomfort in your shoulder not to worry you can always take your yoga block and you can always place the elbow on the Block like so and then from here so I will do this without the block just for now let's extend the left arm up inhale and exhale reach the fingertips in the direction of the crown of the head notice your left palm and let your left palm not just point down towards the floor but see if you can almost pull the little finger of the Palm down towards the Earth like you're trying to turn the Palm to the back of the room pull the left shoulder back and push into the Earth like you're pushing the fingertips or rather pushing the body away from the yoga mat this practice is all about finding length extending the body and being kind to ourselves through this practice now from here inhale extend the left fingertips up towards the ceiling as you exhale drop the crown of your head down and reach the left fingertips away from the body away from the crown of the head and continue to keep the head hanging down imagine somebody's pulling you up by your left wrist so we're going to slowly bring the body up but keep the head tilted very slowly making your way back up to Center and right at the end we're going to bring the head back to Center to release great and let's do this on the other side so bring your left palm alongside the left hip slide it away either slightly bend the elbow and place it on the block or elbow directly under the shoulder inhale extend the right arm up and exhale extend the fingertips in the direction of the crown of the head now once again push that right knee down into the Earth pull the right fingertips away from the body let your right palm face down towards the floor and maybe even towards the back of the room as you turn your little finger down towards the floor and think about creating length on that right side of the body notice how this side might feel different from the other side now from here inhale extend the right arm up as you exhale drop the crown of your head down and reach the right fingertips towards the right hip notice that stretch between the crown of the head and the right fingertips and now imagine somebody splitting you up by your right presses slowly as you come up Let the head be the last thing to come up and then we slowly make our way back to Center and release great so from here we're going to come into another lateral body stretch so for this particular one if you want you could actually use a yoga strap and if you don't have a yoga strap not to worry you can always use a dupatta a scarf any long thing you could even use a yoga pants to wrap it around the foot so we're going to bring the soles of the feet together first and then extend the right leg to the right side now go as best as you can if one hip starts to lift off then we know that we've gone a little too far then you may want to bring your legs slightly to the front once you're grounded evenly into the Earth take your strap scarf the Pata whatever it is and wrap it around the ball of the right foot now from here bunch of the strap or scarf in your on your right hand and we're going to slightly lean towards the right side and extend the left arm here now inhale deeply as you exhale extend the fingertips in the direction of the crown of the head now notice how my elbow is slightly bending here that's because I can reach my foot so in case your arms are bending try to reach away till you can almost straighten out the arms without quite straining the shoulder so try to soften the shoulder and then we're going to bend that left elbow take the Palm to the back of the head and push the elbow slightly back as you look up maybe towards the sky the ceiling take a nice and long breath in and a full breath out and then once again we're going to inhale to extend the arms exhale to slowly release now from here all we do is simply switch sides so take that strap bring this right leg in and now we take the other leg out again same thing we bunch of the strap on the ball of that left foot lean over to the left side and again we're not collapsing to the left side but it's more like you're pushing away from that left side of the body extend the right arm inhale here exhale extend the fingertips in the direction of the crown of the head now whether you're holding your strap whether you're holding the sole of your foot focus on stretching the right side of the body so push the right knee down option to bend the right elbow and pull the right elbow back as we look up and breathe here hopefully both your hips are on the earth both the sit bones are on the Earth once again I invite you to notice the difference between the previous side and this side and from here inhale to extend the right arm and exhale back up to Center and I bet you feel a little bit taller already as you stretch out both sides of the body today is all about stretching the side body so with this let's come on to our feet and we're going to use the help of our yoga block to come into our three konasana so take your yoga block along with you and Place One Yoga block on the right side and the other one you can place on the left side now if you only have one block don't worry we can switch sides we just need one at a time and if you don't have a yoga block just use a thick book or even a water bottle anything that elevates the floor towards you now let's take the feet a little bit wider and turn the right toes out in such a way that if you look at your right heel it should be in one straight line with the arch or the center of the left foot take a stance which isn't too too wide and let's extend the arms out now let's inhale to reach the right hand as if you're trying to hold on to something with the right hand and then as you exhale take the right hand and place it on top of the block which is in front or on the inside of the right foot extend the left fingertips up and let's look up towards the left hand try not to bend your knees too much here but at the same time we're not locking the knee joint there's a micro bend on the knee it helps to push into the big toe of the right foot and onto the outer edge of the left foot now feel free to stay here or if you want that extra length on the side body as we've been doing we can extend the left fingertips in the direction of the crown of the head or that added stretch nice and long breath in and a full breath out so this is probably the most intense pose that we'll be taking in this practice otherwise it's all about being a little bit more relaxed more seated so without being here for too too long hopefully you felt that stretch on the legs on the side body will straighten out the arm inhale slightly Bend this right leg and come all the way up exhale we can turn the right foot to the front and let's turn the left foot out so just as we did earlier align your left heel to the arch of the right foot keep a micro bend on the knee so notice how I'm not locking my knee like so there's a little micro bend on the knee extend your left arm as if you're trying to hold on to something with that left hand inhale inhale and then as you exhale bring that left palm on the Block in front of your left foot extend the right arm straight look up to the right arm now here if you had to visualize yourself from the sky then we want the shoulders to be stacked one over the other the hips to be stacked one over the other so pull the right shoulder back the right hip back and then option as you exhale to extend the right fingertips in the direction of the crown of the head keep pulling the right shoulder back let's take a nice and easy breath in a full breath out push into the victor of the left foot the outer edge of the right foot excellent and then from here inhale extend the right hand slightly bend that left leg and let's come all the way up to Center and then we're going to Simply step to the top of the mat place your block in front of you I'm going to come into a simple forward fold so from here let's take our feet a little bit wider and we're going to come down into Mala since turn the toes out Palms together inhale as you exhale let's sink down into the Earth push the knees out with the elbows pull the chest forward just for a moment to inhale and then as you exhale use the support of your hands and set yourself down so we can lie down on our back so what we're going to do is we're going to just remove the block from out of the way so we can lie down on our back and be completely comfortable as we prepare to ease out and relax so start to take your feet as wide as the mat turn the Palms up and even though our practice today may not have been as intense I invite you to just notice that length in the body some of us may want to intuitively move maybe you want to just bring your knees in just for a moment and just rock side to side maybe even Rock deeper so you get a little mild twist just listen to your body what is it that you need and then let's all completely relax in nashavasana allow the jaw to relax allow the eyelids to soften the space between the eye at the back your head think all the points of fun [Music] the lower back the back of the leg all the way to the back of the heels and that's completely relax your quiet quiet mind quiet body [Music] thank you [Music] feel free to pause the video here and just stay here for longer if you like or if you're ready to close the practice with me then start your fingers and toes let's bring the ankles together stretch the arms above the head inhale stretch the whole body and as you exhale breathe out through the mouth with a sigh and then let's bend the knees and roll off to one side pause here for a moment and then gently press yourself up into a comfortable seated pose of your choice from here let's bring the Palms together and let's take both the Palms to the forehead a reminder to have loving healing thoughts Palms are the center of the heart are reminded to have loving healing intentions and to the mouth they're reminded to have loving healing communication take a moment to Bow your head down thank your body Mind and Spirit for taking this time to practice and with this we come to a close of our session today this was all about stretching the side body and bringing more lightness lightness in your heart lightness in your mind lightness in your body I hope to see you for the next one until then bye [Music]