Yin Yoga for Working with Your Shadow Side - Dark Emotions - Shadow Work

Transcript

hi I'm Kim goyett and I'm so glad you're joining me here for yoga with meditation mother today I'd like to talk a little bit about our shadow side we all have a shadow side with emotions that might not feel so good to us like anger or anxiety or sadness or jealousy all those things those are a part of our existence we need to acknowledge that side of us honor it and then maybe transform that energy into something that's really useful and positive and effective in our lives so we'll be doing a yin yoga practice to help transform that energy into something very elevating so let's get started [Music] so we're going to start in a comfortable seat whatever that looks like for you and we're going to gently close the eyes and start to tune in to how we feel In This Moment just noticing how our body feels where our mind is at today I'm starting to move into our energetic body so just noticing and sensing how the energy in our body feels today are you feeling a little congested [Music] restricted maybe agitated angry or sad or anxious just noticing bringing awareness with no judgment how are you feeling in this moment and as we notice how we are feeling this is an opportunity to acknowledge those emotions and Sensations within the body and the mind so very important to witness and acknowledge how we are feeling even when it doesn't feel so good in fact especially when it doesn't feel so good because we often like to suppress those what we consider negative and uncomfortable emotions and if we suppress those emotions eventually they get caught in our body and will turn into mental or physical ailment so just recognizing that we feel this way is so incredibly important you don't even need to get to the heart of where this emotion is stemming from just observing and noticing bring your hands to Heart Center let's just take a few deep breaths inviting the breath into our body with acknowledgment and that an exhale just surrendering allowing this just to be a part of our existence let's do it again inhaling exhaling surrendering and just allowing the side of ourselves to be witnessed good gently Open the Eyes release the hands we're going to be working into some yin yoga postures that focus on the hips the hips are where we we store much of our emotions so we're going to start on our hands and knees and what I'd love for you to do throughout this practice is just bring awareness to how you're feeling whatever emotion it is acknowledge it you don't need to label it just notice and then we're going to use our breath to transform and surrender maybe release some of that energy so we'll start on hands and knees the right knee comes wide to the right hand and then we're going to sweep that foot through just a little bit curl the back toes lift your back knee wiggle that back foot all the way back and then drop the back knee down and point the Point walk your fists in maybe on a block or a pillow get a little bit of an opening in the left hip flexor and then we're going to start to surrender into a sleeping Swan pose so we'll start to fold forward and what I'd love for you to do is come to about 60 so you don't want to go all in so you may come to your elbows or maybe you bring your elbows down and rest your forehead and your hands or maybe stack the fists one on top of the other stacking the hands whatever feels sustainable to you and then just notice where you're feeling a little bit of congestion or resistance start to send your inhale into that space inhale expand into the congestion and on an exhale maybe surrendering your chest a little bit closer to the Earth inhale direct your breath into expansion exhale softening letting go go good and just noticing what emotions come up for you so maybe it's a different emotion than you originally started with I'm just acknowledging and noticing with no judgment and then using your breath to transform that emotion and surrender letting go what no longer serves you so what we consider negative emotions like anger and anxiety a feeling of overwhelmed have a very powerful energy so it's an energy that we can transform into helping us get motivated allowing us to accomplish things if we just transform that energy into something that's more elevated so just noticing as we sit here for the next few breaths your body's starting to soften and surrender and maybe being an observer of what you would like to transform this energy into how can it be useful to you you're just here for a couple more breaths and one more deep inhale through the nose big exhale out the mouth with a silent it all goes walking the hands in and coming back to your hands and knees and we're gonna try the other side now but before we do that we're going to curl that right leg the toes come back straighten out the leg and just bring some good blood flow into the back of the knee you can even look down at your hands and then round in like a cat and then come back to hands and knees let's try the other side this time left knee wide to left hand and then sweep that foot through just a little curl the back toes wiggle that foot all the way back drop your back knee down walk your hands in for just a moment get a nice hip flexor opening on the right side this time then we're going to start to fold forward bring awareness you might start to feel a sensation a little different from right to left and maybe you have to prop yourself differently so maybe stacking the Fists or elbows on the ground or head rests on the floor wherever you need to be today to get to 60 percent over time we'll be using the breath to drop more fully into the posture and again just bringing awareness to the breath noticing how your body feels in this posture on this side and then drawing attention to what emotions are coming up for you is it fear overwhelmed whatever you notice just observing with no judgment and then start to bring some awareness to your breath where the congestion is and take a deep breath into that space creating some expansion there and on an exhale softening the chest maybe adjusting the body a little bit let's do that again inhale expand exhale surrender Let It Go allowing these emotions to process through the body and be moved out of the body so again if we never acknowledge these emotions then we can't process them and emotions are Just Energy in motion they're meant to be acknowledged processed and moved through us so now again just noticing what comes up for you and see how with your breath you may be able to transform this energy into something very useful and Powerful for you so the energy of fear and anxiety is the same energy of excitement the energy of anger is the same energy as Joy it just needs to be transformed and refocused so just working with your breath just noticing what you need in this moment let's take a few more deep breaths [Music] inhaling through the nose exhaling through the mouth a few more times good one last big breath here big exhale out the mouth and I was pushing back to your hands and knees and then extending that left leg back behind open up the back of the knee get some good blood flow there you can look down at your belly and just round it like a cat and then come to hands and knees and let's sweep the legs all the way through we're gonna do an inner thigh stretch this time so we'll scoot our bodies forward grab onto the backs of the thigh slowly lower all the way down bring your arms along your thighs feet and knees come together to touch and just allow the knees to fall open in a diamond shape so it may be more comfortable if you have a blanket or a pillow underneath the outer knee whatever feels good for your body today we're going to be here for several minutes just allowing our hips to open this time in a sign of receiving and allowing gently close the eyes and again tune in to wear your emotional state is in this moment notice if you're gripping in the hip flexors and see if you can soften that awareness bring your mind to your current emotional state and on an inhale direct your breath into that emotion and on an exhale slowly surrender letting go do it a few more times inhale and exhale good inhale bringing awareness to that emotion and exhale maybe transforming it into an emotion that is useful for you and energy that is productive for you I'll be here for a few more breaths on your own just noticing what comes up for you softening the belly relaxing the jaw one more big inhale here exhale out the mouth inhale bring the knees back to Center extend the legs all the way down for a moment and just pause allow your body to come back to a neutral state assimilating into this heart and head alignment and then bending the knees one more time I'm going to take the left ankle and sweep it back behind the right ankle and allow that left knee to fall open so the right knee points up the left knees out and the ankle is behind the right heel let's hug the right knee into the chest so you might feel a nice opening from all along your hip sucks or into the inner thigh give a nice squeeze here let everything else soften so notice oftentimes when we work with the hips our jaw gets tight so just separating the backs of the teeth maybe relaxing the eyelids closed releasing any tension in the low belly good a few more breaths here again observing what emotion comes up for you in this moment maybe you're noticing a transition or a transformation of how you felt when you first entered this class and how you feel now just observing differences with no judgment take a couple more breaths here one more deep throat through the nose exhale out the mouth get the right foot down and the left foot come back to Center extend both legs for a moment and just settle in again aligning the heart with the head our most balanced emotional state aligning the heart with the head good bend both knees again feet flat on the mat this time we'll take the right ankle and sweep it back behind the left and allow that knee to fall open like we did before grab onto the left knee and hug it into the chest let your right hand leg hang heavy relax your low belly and your jaw the muscles of the face and take a few breaths into any congestion surrendering letting go notice where there's any residual tension in the body allowing your breath to transform that energy into something of use for you one last inhale [Music] big exhale out the mouth plant both feet good and extend the legs one more time pause for a moment nice hug the knees into the chest one hand on each knee and we're just gonna allow some movement in the hips we work the hips a lot today so we're going to draw the knees into the chest and then bring your knees around opposite directions like you're rowing the boat and back to Center we'll do that several times just getting some synovial fluid flowing into the hip joint maybe feeling a little bit of a warming sensation and coming back to Center let's try the other way good a few more times like that and coming back to Center roll over to one side make your way all the way up to seated and into any comfortable seat for you and we're going to gently close the eyes and tune in again and without any stories wrapped around it just notice how you're feeling In This Moment and bringing the hands to Heart Center take them on my bow and the mind to the heart and just really honor yourself for presenting Your Shadow side those emotions that may not feel so good in the moment and just honoring them that's part of us it makes up Who We Are and who we want to be namaste thank you so much for joining me here today I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to work together and recognize and honor all of our emotions move them through the body and transform them if you like this video and you want to be the first to receive weekly videos to my YouTube channel at yoga with meditation mother and if you would like to learn about yoga retreats happening all around the world please check out my website at www.meditation m-u-t-h-a.com thanks so much see you next time [Music] foreign [Music]