Yoga for your Cleanse - 3/5

Transcript

okay so are we recording we're recording hello welcome to yoga for your dosha today's class we're going to be uh focusing on what we call the ambuva also known as the udaka vahasrotas these are the water caring channels in the body the root of the uppas word is up and it means water and often times when you look for it in the classical text it's actually under uh under the use because uh the sound so today we're going to be focusing on these channels what's their function and how we can like help maintain and nourish them through our through our yoga practice so let's take a moment first just to calm and settle ourselves take a moment to find your breath relax your shoulders and close your eyes and just begin with that very even three to three or three to four whatever your ratio is but inhaling for as many counts as you exhale so i like to start with three or four just use your breath as a way to connect and start to observe your body and mind good and that was part of our just getting ready for our chanting i want you to take a few breaths by just pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth and take three breaths here this activates the core red plexus which is a part of your brain which is pretty much right in the center of your brain and it's where we produce cerebral spinal fluid and it's part of the ambuva srotas it's part of the water carrying channels so just activating that activity in our body with our breath and then relax your tongue into the lower jaw and slightly separate the lips and take three breaths in through the nose out through the mouth and this will help to activate everything from the belly button down so getting that first and second chakra getting the hips and this area which is a major part of our body that holds these water holds the water element and now gently close the mouth and return to an even rhythmic breath one of the major organs that carries a water-like fluid throughout the body is our heart and our cardiovascular system so to work with that system this morning we're going to chat the sound ah which i've really gotten excited about referring to this sound as a digestive churner for the heart and it helps the heart to process all of those feelings and emotions and thoughts versus having to logically try to digest them with our sadhaka pitta in the brain we're going to use our sadhaka pitta in the heart so go ahead and place your right hand over your heart and your left hand over your belly button and let's invite a deep breath in to begin our ah sounds we'll do it three times together [Music] ah [Music] ah [Music] good you can return your hands to your lap but continue to breathe rhythmically and if you're familiar with uujai breathing where we gently constrict the back of the throat to make that ocean or conch shell-like sound i really encourage you to do that in practice today that's another way that we can connect with the water element because we can hear the sound of the ocean through our breath so let's just take a few moments to connect with the oojai sound as you continue to practice your oojai sound i'm going to share just a little bit of information about these very important channels and if you'd like to pause that oojai sound so that you can hear this information that's fine but do your best to come back to this sound as we move through our asana practice this morning so i'd like to start with the idea that there are many channels in the body can i see those notes please so there are many channels in the body right so we've got the food carrying channels that starts with the mouth and moves through the the digestive system you can think of these channels like rivers in the body and like a river in our natural environment they have a an origin where they start like the the high high mountains where the water or the rivers begin and they flow through these channels which are the actual rivers and then they let out hopefully eventually into the ocean and that would be its opening and in hawaii here we have all over because the ocean and the mountains are so close together you can see these um these channels from their beginning their pathway and their opening very very easily it's really really cool to see so in ayurveda we refer to these as the mullah marga and muka the mullah is the opening where the channel begins the marga is its pathway that the river or nadi and the mukka is the opening where it releases or opens into the into the river into the ocean so for the ambuva specifically the route where this channel begins its mula is considered to be the pancreas which is called cloma in sanskrit the soft palate of the mouth which is called talu and the choroid plexus which is that inner part of the brain where the majority of our cerebral spinal fluid is produced cerebral spinal fluid is definitely one of the ways that we can witness or see the water channels and the water substance in the body the pathway the marga of this is mostly the gi mucous membrane so anywhere actually there is a mucous membrane that is a pathway for ambuva has rota so even in the respiratory system there's the mucous lining on the alveoli that's a pathway for sure and then all over the body we have a we even have the mucous membrane starting in the mouth with our bodica kapha it's alive in our tarpaka kapha and and of course it's governed by the movement of the values the five pranavais or five vatabayas and the muka the opening where this channel releases is considered to be the kidneys which are called vruka in sanskrit the tongue which is jiva and the sweat glands so one of the main functions of the ambuva srotas is to release and help to move out excretory processes so it helps with our bowel movements it helps with the sweating process and it definitely helps with our ability to release urine some of the other functions for ambuvarotis are its ability to regulate the temperature in the body it helps to govern the process of osmosis which is the movement of nutrients from one side of a cell to the other it helps to again eliminate waste and it nourishes nourishes the body some things that can disturb this system are obviously a lack of being properly hydrated which is really important in a cleansing process and all of our classes again this month are kind of directed towards that cleansing process and when we get dehydrated that slows down the body's ability to eliminate waste and we can start to feel very sick we can get very headachy the bowels will become disturbed and we'll be holding versus flushing flushing that waste out and so we want to through our yoga practice today explore some of the ways that we can help to nourish these channels other than making sure we're properly hydrated so let's start by opening up some of these channels in the body we call them the the joints right so all of the fluid in the body has to travel through these systems so just go ahead and extend your arms and legs out in front of you i know you're very familiar with this process and just open and squeeze the toes and fingers stretch and squeeze so we always want to start with the smallest of joints when we're when we're going going through our joint freeing series good and then just go ahead and rotate the wrists and the ankles good and go the opposite direction good and then sitting up tall just go ahead and draw the fingers underneath stretching this whole part of the body this is a one of the meridians or knotty lines in the body that is connected to the kidneys so we want to get that nice and stretched out so that the kidneys can help to filter and eliminate waste so we're just kind of switching back and forth keeping some fluidity in all of our movements this morning today good and then extending the fingers out in front of you we're just going to tap the tops of the shoulders and extend the arms back out starting to open up the elbow and again this elbow the joint is connected to the kidneys there's a number of marma points right around the elbow that helps to make sure that the flow of nutrients in those channels is not disturbed the tops of the fingers to tops of the shoulders big circles back with the elbows good really stretch across the front of the heart and then reverse go ahead and tap the elbows out in front of your nose stretching across the back of the shoulder blades good and then just bring your hands down set them back behind you we're just going to draw one knee in and then out and then the other good so now we're starting to move into the knee joint which is often connected with our colon dr ladd would often say that any knee pain precedes colon difficulties so we want to make sure this joint is nice and lubricated lubricated and can move without any hindrance great okay now sitting up nice and tall making sure you're on your sits bones flex your feet and we're just going to open the toes and slide that leg open turn the toes back and close we switch to the other side leading with your toes i always find this makes my jaw do really funny things okay let's do one more time on each side great and then from here go ahead and move on to your hands and knees there's so much information i have gathered to share with you guys today and i might not get it all in but i'm going to do my best so let's start by just tapping out the tops of the feet this helps to remove lactic acid which can build up in the lower extremities as we sleep good and then turn your toes under oh this is my co-host today tiny and then send your hips back to your heels and walk up onto your knees and just get a nice stretch across the backs of the feet and see if your toes are nice and fanned out hi tiny good okay take another breath or two here good and then back onto the hands and knees all right so let's start by first just finding that ujjay breath so make sure you're not locking your elbows hopefully you're not sinking into your shoulders and a nice rhythmic breath go ahead and push the floor away from you engage your abdominal muscles i'm going to let you continue your breath but i need to speak so i'm not going to be able to continue with you good and on the next inhalation go ahead and lower the belly and start to draw the chin up and away from the chest and the floor good and then exhale gently start to round the back drawing your tailbone under bringing the chin towards the chest as you push the floor away from you good inhale lower the belly lift your chin exhale round even better if you're moving slowly through the spine kind of thinking or putting your attention on the vertebrae as you move the back up and down let's do that two more times good and now we'll add in our child's pose so inhale lift the chin lower the belly exhale round the back into this angry cat-like position and then send the hips to the heels and come into child's pose we're going to keep this fluid inhale lift lower the belly lift the chin draw the toes under exhale release the tops of the feet round the back chin to chest hips to heels inhale up draw the toes under lift your chin push the floor away from you exhale round the back tops of the feet to the floor hips to the heels good let's do that one more time beautiful now we'll incorporate downward dog so inhale lift the chin draw the toes under and this time exhale press back and up into your downward dog really gentle keep the knees nice and bent we're going to keep coming back to the knees lower the knees down lift the chin exhale round the back tops of the feet to the floor child's pose and so we're just building on everything we've been doing inhale coming up draw the toes under exhale back to downward dog nice bent knees good inhale lower the knees lift the chin exhale round the back tops of the feet to the floor come back to child's pose let's do that one more time inhale lift the chin toes are under exhale back to downward dog inhale bring the knees to the floor lift your chin lower the belly exhale release the feet send the hips to the heels and come into child's pose good and in child's pose just rest here let your arms relax let your forehead rest on the floor and take three deep breaths and really try to direct your breath to the lower back to the kidneys and to the adrenals one of the things that also disturbs the water caring channels is fear fear creates dryness in the body and it disturbs these very vital organs take three more breaths here good and then just start to turn your head side to side on the mat getting a little massage across the forehead activating that ajna chakra also known as stapani marma good and then reach your arms out in front of you draw your arms up or your hands up onto your fingertips lift the elbows and shoulders away from the floor take a deep breath here exhale completely palms down and then inhale draw yourself up to your hands and knees go ahead and lift the chin lower the belly draw the toes under send the hips back to the heels and exhale into downward facing dog go ahead and in down dog let's just pedal out the feet i don't know about you but for me this is my first down dog today so i'm going to be really gentle it is also for me towards the end of my cleanse so i can start to add back in some gentle inversions inversions are really helpful in keeping the vectors of the wind that moves through the body all moving in their right direction good lift up onto your tippy toes send your heels over to the right and then really press down through the left hand lower your left elbow and shoulders so that you don't lift up there and stretch along the left side of the body and come up through the toes and then over to the opposite side now press down through the right arm and elbow and stretch the whole right side of the body i love this stretch it feels so good i can feel it from the outer right ankle all the way up to my right shoulder and coming back to down dog just pedal out the feet a few more steps good and then inhale look up at the space between your hands exhale look at the space between your feet inhale look at the space between the hands exhale look at the space between the feet inhale look up at the hands exhale walk the hands back to meet the feet as you back up into your hips bend your knees and let the belly find its way into your lap good so nice bent knees here and just let your torso drape over the legs go ahead and take a few deep breaths here and then shake your head no no stagnation in the water channels good and then shake your head yes nutrients flowing easily to all parts wonderful bend your knees nice and deep take a hold of your hips the hips are one of the major places in the body we store emotions emotions are connected to the mind and to the water element so from here draw the elbows and shoulders back press into your feet as you stand all the way up reach your arms up at the top reach up through the pinky and ring fingers and then exhale open the arms nice and wide as they come back down by the sides so one of the things i want to share before we go too much further is this concept of the elements being connected to our fingers and a lot of times we talk about the thumbs being connected to ether index air middle finger fire ring finger water and the pinky earth element so there's also another system it's in the tantric system and dr lat also teaches this so i'm very excited to share but it's that the thumb is the fire element uh the the index finger stays the air the middle finger is akash the ring finger is earth and the um pinky finger is connected to the water element on your hand each of your moons i'm yeah each of your mounds is connected to an uh planet and the mound that's underneath your ring finger is connected to the moon and dr ladd always says that in india when there are school children they raise their hand to go to the bathroom they always raise their pinky finger and he thinks that's con because of that connection to the to the water element i say all of that to share that as we move through our practice today in some postures i'm going to ask you to hold a mudra and it's called varuna mudra and it's where we connect the thumb to the pinky finger and this activates all of the water channels in the body so go ahead and come up to the top of your mat step your feet so that their hip distance apart and go ahead and place your fist in between the ball of the feet so that you have a very clear indicator of what hip distance means and then bring the thumb and pinky finger together palms forward and take three breaths we're going to practice our chandra namaskar this morning again because of that connection to the water element the moon regulates the oceans and tides not only in our physical ocean but in our emotions of the oceans our oceans of emotions oh my gosh i love that okay okay so from here go ahead and bring your hands to your hips and just heel toe the feet out a little bit wider than hip distance apart good relax your arms at your sides take a deep breath in as you exhale press the palms together at your heart center and make sure you unlock your knees good from here inhale reach the arms up focusing on reaching up through the pinky fingers and then exhale soft knees hinge at your hips as you fold over as you flow over your very strong legs good hands come to the floor besides the feet now inhale lower your hips down slowly bring your hands together in front of your heart coming into malasana good from here plant the hands inhale start by sending your left foot back and lower the knee to the floor good inhale reach the arms up keep the arms nice and wide this will help to activate our vianna vayu which is connected to the water element this is the pulsation of nutrients and blood and plasma throughout the body good exhale the hands to the floor draw your right foot back and lower the hips down into child's pose from here with a very fluid movement we're going to start to shift forward as we inhale lower the elbows to the floor and kind of slither through into your oops i probably just had a bad mic situation draw the elbows back and lift into this very baby boujan doesn't exhale press into the hands and knees back to child's pose from here inhale sweep the arms up overhead as you stand up on your knees and come into this very gentle chakrasan good and then exhale as you step your left foot through and the hands come down to the floor good we can add in another arms up here taking a nice deep breath in and then exhale the hands down as you turn the back toes under lift that back knee and squeeze the hips together as you step your right foot forward hands to the front of the shins inhale take a halfway lift up and then exhale tuck your thumbs into that hip crease draw the elbows and shoulders back and inhale to come all the way up release the arms reach up at the top look up and exhale to your heart beautiful step the feet back apart so they're wide enough for your malasana and then inhale reach the arms out and up opening across the front of the heart soft knees exhale flowing as you fold over the legs hands come to either side of the feet good from here inhale lower the hips down into molassen bringing the hands together in front of your heart find some activation between the knees and the elbows and then place the hands down and send your right foot back as you exhale inhale arms up nice and wide reach out through your pinky fingers exhale the hands to the floor step back into balasana child's pose inhale finding that slither through into burjungasan lowering the hips to the floor little lift in the heart my ribs and hips are still connected to the floor so it's a really gentle cobra pose take a deep breath in and then exhale shift the hips back into child's pose following the breath inhale sweep the arms up overhead into this gentle chuck cross on maybe even finding a little bit more of a back bend behind the heart and then exhale as you step your right foot through hands gently touch down and inhale lift them right back up reach up through those arms exhale your hands down turn the back toe under lift that back knee squeeze the hips or activate the hips to step this left foot forward and empty the breath as you fold over the legs hands to the shins inhale lift exhale fold thumbs to the hip crease draw the elbows and shoulders back as you stand all the way up reach up look up and exhale to the heart beautiful one more inhale taking the arms up and then exhale flowing over like a waterfall falling towards the pond good hands to the fronts of the shins inhale lift your heart exhale plant your hands and just walk your feet back into downward dog good come forward onto your hands and knees bring the big toes together take the knees wide and send the hips back into this wide legged child's pose and then stack your hands on top of one another and rest your forehead on the floor take three deep breaths here great inhale drop onto your hands and knees bring the knees back underneath the hips all right so one of the muscles we want to focus on in our class today is the psoas muscle because the kidneys sit right underneath the psoas if we can stretch it we can activate and have some effect on the kidneys so take a deep breath in draw the toes under press back to your downward dog and then bring your feet together at the back of the mat so that you're more in a diamond i'm sorry pyramid shape and then inhale the right leg up but don't lift it higher than then you so if you have to open your hips up and you can't keep your hips squared then don't take it any higher beautiful from here shift forward into like a high three-legged push-up draw the knee forward and step that foot through lower the back knee to the floor good we're going to hang out here so you can release the back foot down if you have a block or something to support you that can be nice here and we're just going to take a few breaths in this really deep lunge good if it's comfortable for you you can even come down onto the elbows and as you do that your knee will start to open which is fine just keep pressing down through the outer edge of this right foot let's take two more breaths here this is some really deep stretching for that psoas good go ahead and press that foot down come back up onto your hands frame your right foot set the block out of the way if you had one turn the back toes under and step back into downward dog from here shift forward into this high push-up position make sure you're not locking your elbows but you are activating those shoulders and then start to bend the elbows lower your thighs and your hips to the floor release the tops of the feet and then slowly come down into abujangasana good take a deep breath in here and then exhale pressing up to your hands and knees and back to downward dog beautiful step the feet together and then inhale lift the left leg up remember we don't want to compromise the breath or the joint so keep your hips squared now from here shift forward into this three-legged push-up kind of position or plank draw the left knee through and step the foot down and then lower the right knee to the floor again if you have a block bring that on the inside of your left foot and just place the hands there and just take a few breaths here in this higher kind of lunge even though we're still pretty deep in the hips two breaths and if that feels okay you can on an exhale lower the forearms to your block or elbows to the floor i'm going to let this left knee start to open as i come onto the outer edge of the left foot still opening across the collarbone so i'm not finding any roundness in the back nice and open in my heart and chest for two more breaths i'm starting to press back up sole of the foot pressing down i'm going to frame this left foot now lift the back knee and step back into downward dog empty the breath here and then inhale let the breath draw you forward into this high plank position bend the elbows and then lower the thighs feet and start to lower the belly down baby boo jungasan let's take two breaths here keep drawing the elbows and shoulders back and then on an exhale turn the toes under come up to your hands and knees and from here let's just shift back into child's pose for three breaths always coming into the resting pose of balasan it's a great pose for these channels because it activates the pancreas and the front of the body and the kidneys in the back of the body and of course the whole asana practice brings a little sweat which helps to maintain temperature and release toxins through the sweat glands beautiful inhale up onto your hands and knees and exhale back into downward dog and bring the feet together starting with the right again we're coming into kaputasana so inhale open up this right leg and this time open up the hip if it feels good for you but make sure that you're pressing evenly through your shoulders the shoulders should remain square to the mat no matter what's happening in the hips good and then parallel the hips draw the right knee forward and place it down behind your right wrist and then walk that back foot down i'm going to really encourage the use of a towel or a blanket under this right hip today even if your super flexible in the hips just to support the cleansing process and part of the cleansing process is purging emotions and so support that process right now don't push yourself surrender and and encourage the body to release any any stagnation in the emotional channels good lift up onto your fingertips find a nice deep breath lifting the heart and the chin and then exhale walk down onto your elbows and let's just stay here for today no need to go any further we'll take three nice long breaths try not to let your head hang down so keeping the whole spine in a nice beautiful line one more big beautiful breath let's take one more and then start to walk up onto your hands go ahead and shift that blanket out of your way turn the back toes under and then shift back onto your hands and knees good and then from here kind of strange we're just going to step that right foot through again and shift the hips back and draw the toe up so that we come into this runner stretch or arta hanumanasan and just do a couple pulsations over that right leg something else that's really nice here is to have your hands on blocks that's really supportive if your hamstrings are tight and then after three little pulsations release the back of the top foot down and let that torso drape over the right thigh press into your right heel start to drag it back towards you activating all these little muscles around the pubic bone all around our reproductive organs that carry lots of water like fluid beautiful now bring your hands onto the inside of your right foot sweep your right foot back and from here start to walk your hands forward lowering just the heart to the floor into ana asan we'll take two breaths good start to walk your hands back coming back onto your hands and knees turn the toes under and back into auto bring the feet together at the back of the mat and inhale to lift that left leg up keep the shoulders squared to the mat and open up that hip make sure you can still maintain a nice rhythmic breath here square the hips shift forward draw that knee forward and place it down behind the left wrist and walk the right foot back good again i'm going to support this process by placing a blanket under the right hip release the back the top of the back foot down and just come up onto your fingertips lift your heart take a deep breath in and then exhale slowly walk down onto the elbows and we'll settle in for four deep breaths this is a great place to do some open mouth exhaling because we're really working on this first and second chakra here that helps to allow them to open it encourages them to spin in the right direction one more really nice long breath here great and then just start to walk up onto your hands go ahead and turn that back toe under pull that blanket out and just shift right back onto your hands and knees make sure the knees are underneath the hips and again walk yourself forward lowering the heart to the floor you can rest your chin your cheek or your forehead down whatever feels most comfortable for you beautiful and then from here just shift yourself forward coming through sphinx and then walk your arms all the way out palms together into pranam bend your knees and let your feet sway side to side releasing any tension from the low back good lower the feet down bring your hands by your sides and just press up to your hands and knees all right so one thing i forgot to mention there's actually a few things i forgot to mention but you can do this anyways even if i if you don't have time so i have a rolled towel and if you have a rolled blanket even your fists will work but the idea is we want to set this blanket down about mid mat and then we're going to lie down on our belly with the blanket right underneath the low rib so it would be right below the lowest rib but right above your belly button so right in that space where your pancreas lives the pancreas helps us to process sugar and glucose in the body so i'm going to walk all the way down lower my belly onto that spot i'm going to start with my hands in sphinx so my elbows are underneath the shoulders the tops of the feet are on the floor i'm just going to take a few deep breaths here make sure you're in the right place just below the ribs and just above your belly button good and then from here we're going to walk the hands out again into this pranam position and take three breaths and really as you inhale really focus on pressing the belly into that blanket and then as you exhale releasing all those muscles as you fold over and kind of encapsulate the towel or blanket three more breaths and let's incorporate that varuna mudra out with a hand so bringing the pinky and thumbs together in both hands foreheads on the floor beautiful come back out nice and slow coming back through sphinx taking a few deep breaths here good and then go ahead and walk yourself up onto your hands and knees we're gonna just slide that blanket out of the way if you have a blanket i mean a block keep that close we're just gonna come all the way down just roll over onto your back into this supine position take your feet a little wider than your hips your hands a little wider than your shoulders and release some of that heat that we built up lying over that folded or rolled towel you might start to get hungry now because we're really activating agni as well as up us fire and water they're together everywhere in the body or at least they should be good from here go ahead and bring the knees i'm sorry yeah bring the knees up place the feet on the floor take your hands out to a t and just start by swaying the knees gently side to side keeping some nice fluid movement in the hips good and after a few movements side to side then start to incorporate the head and neck so looking away from the knees so if the knees go to the left you roll your head to the right and switch the other way nice and slow nothing fast happening here oh there's my there's my ugly good and then come right through center knees up head up good bring your arms along your sides and bring the heels a little bit closer towards the glutes if you have a block bring it next to you you can also lie over that rolled towel that we had or you can even lie over your own fists that won't be as comfortable though all right so from here just coming into a really gentle satu bandasana so pressing into the feet lifting the hips up towards the ceiling this is a nice gentle inversion especially for a cleanse and then bring your block underneath you on its lowest position and set your sacrum down so this is the triangle bone at the bottom of your spine and then from here walk your feet out if you feel any pinching in your low back or spine area you can try separating the feet a little bit and let the toes roll out or you can just stay with your knees bent whichever feels most comfortable for you but let's take three breaths here and let your chin fall away from your chest let the shoulders and hands roll away from the body again supporting that first and second chakra and the hips which is the holding space for a lot of our unprocessed emotions we like to pack them down into that hip area two more breaths good and then go ahead and slowly start to bring the feet back knees bent walk the heels as close as you can to that block and then press into the feet lift the hips up slide the block out set the hips down good i'll just take a moment and come into puff and muktus and so draw both knees into the chest beautiful now set your left foot down and come into this figure four stretch placing the right ankle on top of the left knee and draw the left knee in towards the chest you can thread your hands through take a hold of the back of the hamstring we want to keep both feet flexed and draw the left knee towards the heart you're doing great beautiful so i can see that some of you have chosen not to take this hold which is totally cool i appreciate just using the strength of the leg so that you don't overdo it in the hip so sometimes we can let our pitta rule the show and make us think we need to go further than we really need to good go ahead and gently switch sides bringing the left ankle on top of the right knee keeping both feet flexed draw the right knee in towards your right shoulder you can either thread the hands through take a hold of the back of the hamstrings or just use the strength of that right leg to draw the knee closer to the chest beautiful okay go ahead and set that hip or foot down good i'm keeping the knees bent one more thing we're going to do with this block and again if you don't have a block a ball would work like a soccer ball would work for this or a little medicine ball would work but we're going to place the block in between the knees and what we're going to do here i learned this from my sisters they're both physical therapists so they they give me lots of tips we're going to release these little tendons and muscles around the pubic bone so what you do is you squeeze the heck out of this block or whatever you've got in between your knees so just squeeze squeeze squeeze you might even feel a little pop which is great squeeze a little tighter a little tighter and release good go ahead and take that object out of the way draw the knees up take your hands to the tops of the knees and then just do big circles let the knees fall away from each other yay our ambuva has rotis is very happy they'd go the opposite direction good and then just hug those knees in one more time this time draw the chin to the chest and tuck yourself into a nice little ball give yourself a big squeeze say thank you water carrying channels oh mine are talking back to you good and then set the feet down and walk the legs out keep the the feet a little wider than the hips and your hands a little bit wider than your shoulders and take a moment here to settle in and find or reconnect with that ooh jai breath continue with that ooh dry breath and start to scan over the body relax your toes and your feet your ankles shins and calves knees thighs and hamstrings all relaxing hips relax belly and back relax chest and shoulders relax biceps triceps all softening and relaxing elbows relaxed forearms wrists palms and fingers all soft and relaxed relaxing through the neck and jaw relax the tongue the nose the eyes the forehead and the crown of the head even relax that space behind your ears and then let your awareness start to focus on that screen behind the eyes and in that space i want you to place your favorite water object if it's a river or the ocean or a lake high in the mountains i want you to imagine that you're sitting right next to that water can notice the other objects of the natural environment around you the trees and the birds and the breeze but taking a moment to gaze at this water that is referred to as both terrestrial and celestial in the vedas this omnipresent element is everywhere in our universe and as you're sitting next to this water source you notice your guru your teacher arrives and sits down next to you that guru that teacher is your highest self and they came to witness the water with you after a few more moments you notice that child like part of you that inner child sits down next to you plops down with a little bit more joy surrounded by your own beauty in your own light and your own wisdom take a few more breaths to enjoy this space connecting with up us the water element take a moment to thank your inner child and your highest self for joining you and then however this occurs to you i want you to see the three of you merge into one as your highest self and your inner child come into your physical body take a moment to be grounded in your body to be grounded on this beautiful planet earth this planet of water and then take a few deep breaths and start to offer some gentle movements to the fingers and toes to the ankles and wrists elbows and knees and go ahead and reach your arms up overhead and get a nice deep stretch into the intercostal spaces and then very slowly roll on to your right side pausing for a moment and then gently pressing back up coming into a seated position for a little bit of pranayama so i encourage that if you've got any tightness in your hamstrings or your low back that you're always propping your tushy up on a little cushion a tuition cushion tiny okay so for the uppers of the hostroches the water carrying channels there are a few pranayama that are really helpful but because this class is focused on supporting the cleansing process we don't want to do anything that's too vigorous but i do want to share that according to dr ladd one of the best pranayama for the upbus channels is bastrika which is that bellows breath so a very forceful inhalation and forceful exhalation it really helps to clean the the lungs which are a main area of up us in the body all those alveoli are covered in the mucous membrane all in the lung lung area the other um pranayama is of course ujjai which we've been incorporating but is narishodna or anulama valoma so a really gentle alternate nostril breath so that's what we're going to practice today so if you'll just kind of relax your shoulders make sure your chin is parallel to the floor and then raise your right hand i promise to always be nourishing to my uppas no i'm just kidding we're going to go ahead and make vishnu mudra which is a sustaining mudra so we drop the index and middle finger leaving the ring and pinky which are the earth and water elements free and take a deep breath in empty the breath all the way out close the right nostril with your thumb and inhale through the left big breath in gently close both at the top then release your thumb and exhale out the right inhale through the right close them both release the ring finger exhale through the left okay so on your own pattern your own rhythm we're going to inhale left exhale right inhale right exhale left the next time you exhale through the left go ahead and return your breathing to normal finish that breath bring the hands back to the lap and just take a few more normal breaths in through the nose out through the nose noticing or feeling that the channels of water are open that nutrients are being carried easily to all of the tissue systems cells are passing nutrients easily through that membrane our temperature is steady our emotions are calm just blink the eyes a few times coming gently back into this space sometimes it's like my eyes don't want to open i should really pull them up so thank you for joining me in this practice this morning i want to share just a few more things i know that we've gone through a really nice sequence with our yoga practice to help nourish these water carrying channels but i just want to touch on the idea that if you're cleansing you should be so so so so careful to make sure that you're properly hydrated it's a really easy time because we're flushing the whole process of the body is to pull nutrients from the tissue and get things out so it's not really a time when the body's nourishing the body until you get to the ends of your cleanse it's more of a flush and so it takes a lot of fluid for the body to do that and for people that i've noticed in in cleanses over the years with me that's kind of the number one sticky point is that they won't drink enough water so besides your yoga practice other ways that you can keep your up ambuvase rotus nourished is to incorporate hydrophilic foods into your diet post cleanse to make sure that you're drinking lots of water and on your cleanse that you incorporate things like really simple electrolytes so something like for every four cups of water you have one teaspoon of um of like maple syrup and one half teaspoon of rock salt and mix that up shake it up and sip that use that during your cleanse to make sure that you're really properly hydrated thank you for joining me if you have any questions about how to support yourself through your cleanse or just through your water carrying channels please always feel free to reach out i love to connect with people we'll just share one om three shanti's shanti means peace we share one for us one for our community and one for the universe inviting a nice deep breath in for um [Music] [Music] chanting [Music] thank you tiny that was very sweet have a wonderful wonderful friday