SOMATIC YIN FLOW - 6 week series
feb-march 2023
Thank you for joining the full series!
I've created this page, so you'll have access to the replays until the end of March.
If you wish to join the Livestream, our Zoom link for the 6 weeks will be:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82899986266?pwd=ckpYanZyMjRMYVRLcnZqUm9iNzdyQT09
I've created this page, so you'll have access to the replays until the end of March.
If you wish to join the Livestream, our Zoom link for the 6 weeks will be:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82899986266?pwd=ckpYanZyMjRMYVRLcnZqUm9iNzdyQT09
YIN & SOMATICS - "regenerate"
PROPS: bolster
My inspiration for this class were the poems below. I call them "yin poems" - writing invokes feelings of spaciousness, aliveness, stillness and quality of innerness.
This session combines somatic movement with yin holds and really invites you to notice which works for you in any given moment - stillness or gentle movements. We cover all of the body: hips, spine and shoulders.
My inspiration for this class were the poems below. I call them "yin poems" - writing invokes feelings of spaciousness, aliveness, stillness and quality of innerness.
This session combines somatic movement with yin holds and really invites you to notice which works for you in any given moment - stillness or gentle movements. We cover all of the body: hips, spine and shoulders.
Here are the poems I shared:
|
REGENERATE (by Brooke McNamara)
If there’s a sliver of space between what you’re doing now and what comes next, let it have your attention. Let it have your energy. Let it have your heart. Void can be a scary word, but the actual act of falling through the outloud sound of it into a bottomless night sky of unconditioned openness and embrace is the love we crave under every other surface craving. That longed for love, lived. That lifelong question undressed, revealing itself undivided from its answer. The relaxation and aliveness thought to be buried at the end of whatever path, uncorked and freely served right here and now. If there’s even just a sliver of space available now, pour into it your whole heart, your energy, your attention. The difficult call will be made and the messes will be tended. But maybe they can simply flow as this sparkling emptiness, through the integrity of your own awakened backbone, and out your fingertips, silently recognizing all that they can and cannot touch. |
The Quiet Machine (Ada Limón)
I’m learning so many different ways to be quiet. There’s how I stand in the lawn, that’s one way. There’s also how I stand in the field across from the street, that’s another way because I’m farther from people and therefore more likely to be alone. There’s how I don’t answer the phone, and how I sometimes like to lie down on the floor of the kitchen and pretend I’m not home when people knock. There’s daytime silent when I stare and nighttime silent when I do things. There’s shower silent and bath silent and California silent and Kentucky silent and car silent. And then there’s the silence that comes back a million times bigger than me, sneaks into my bones and wails and wails and wails until I can’t be quiet anymore. That’s how this machine works. |
BREATH, SPINE, YIN, SOMATICS & RADIANCE SUTRAS
PROPS: rolled up blanket, bolster, block
This is one of my favorite sequences for the upper back, for freeing my breath - ribcage - upper back region.
Physically we will work specifically with the upper spine (called thoracic spine) - a part of the spine where the ribs connect with it. Even though this part of the spine has certain limitations in the ways and ranges it can move, we want to encourage and explore all the ways it CAN move. The idea being that when we practice sectionally and get the separate parts working well in isolation, the whole will work more efficiently and smoothly.
Due to modern postural habits, the upper back and thoracic spine area often store a lot of chronic tension and any holding patterns in this area will affect the breath. So good idea to offer it gentle somatic movements and some Yin shapes.
I'll then mix into our practical and physical exploration, a couple of contemplative meditations from the gorgeous Radiance Sutras - 112 gateways to the yoga of wonder & delight. These are beautiful ancient texts of the Vijnana Bhairava tantra interpreted by Lorin Roche. "This text invites us to accept every experience, sensual delight, an ordinary moment as a gateway to the divine".
To me these sutras are beautiful reminders of how to savor ordinary moments, ways to deepen our aliveness and meditate on the fullness and the interconnection of the body-mind-spirit, how the form meets the formless and our daily experiences serve as gateways to greater intimacy with the pulsating life force and the mystery.
This is one of my favorite sequences for the upper back, for freeing my breath - ribcage - upper back region.
Physically we will work specifically with the upper spine (called thoracic spine) - a part of the spine where the ribs connect with it. Even though this part of the spine has certain limitations in the ways and ranges it can move, we want to encourage and explore all the ways it CAN move. The idea being that when we practice sectionally and get the separate parts working well in isolation, the whole will work more efficiently and smoothly.
Due to modern postural habits, the upper back and thoracic spine area often store a lot of chronic tension and any holding patterns in this area will affect the breath. So good idea to offer it gentle somatic movements and some Yin shapes.
I'll then mix into our practical and physical exploration, a couple of contemplative meditations from the gorgeous Radiance Sutras - 112 gateways to the yoga of wonder & delight. These are beautiful ancient texts of the Vijnana Bhairava tantra interpreted by Lorin Roche. "This text invites us to accept every experience, sensual delight, an ordinary moment as a gateway to the divine".
To me these sutras are beautiful reminders of how to savor ordinary moments, ways to deepen our aliveness and meditate on the fullness and the interconnection of the body-mind-spirit, how the form meets the formless and our daily experiences serve as gateways to greater intimacy with the pulsating life force and the mystery.
Sutra 4
At the end of the exhale
Breath surrenders to quietude.
For a moment you hang in the balance -
Suspended
In the fertile spaciousness
That is the source of breath.
At the end of the inhale,
Filled with the song of the breath,
There is a moment when you are simply
Holding the tender mystery.
In these interludes,
Experience opens into exquisite vastness
With no beginning and no end.
Embrace this infinity without reservation.
You are its vessel.
Sutra 2
Radiant One,
The life essence carries its play
Through the pulsing rhythm
Of outward and inward movement.
This is the ceaseless throb, the rhythm of life -
Terrifying in its eternity, exquisite in its constancy.
The inhalation, the return movement of breath,
Sustains life.
The outgoing breath
Purifies life.
These are the two poles
Between which respiration goes on unceasingly.
Between them is every delight you could desire.
Even when the senses are turned outward,
Your attention on the external world,
Attend to the inner throb,
The pulsing of the creative impulse within you.
Sutra 3
Enter these turning points,
Where the rhythms of life transform
Into each other.
Breath flows in, filling, filling,
In this moment, drink eternity.
Breath flows out, emptying, emptying,
Offering itself to infinity.
Cherishing these moments,
Mind dissolves into heart,
Heart dissolves into space,
Body becomes a vibrating field,
Pulsating between fullness and emptiness.
At the end of the exhale
Breath surrenders to quietude.
For a moment you hang in the balance -
Suspended
In the fertile spaciousness
That is the source of breath.
At the end of the inhale,
Filled with the song of the breath,
There is a moment when you are simply
Holding the tender mystery.
In these interludes,
Experience opens into exquisite vastness
With no beginning and no end.
Embrace this infinity without reservation.
You are its vessel.
Sutra 2
Radiant One,
The life essence carries its play
Through the pulsing rhythm
Of outward and inward movement.
This is the ceaseless throb, the rhythm of life -
Terrifying in its eternity, exquisite in its constancy.
The inhalation, the return movement of breath,
Sustains life.
The outgoing breath
Purifies life.
These are the two poles
Between which respiration goes on unceasingly.
Between them is every delight you could desire.
Even when the senses are turned outward,
Your attention on the external world,
Attend to the inner throb,
The pulsing of the creative impulse within you.
Sutra 3
Enter these turning points,
Where the rhythms of life transform
Into each other.
Breath flows in, filling, filling,
In this moment, drink eternity.
Breath flows out, emptying, emptying,
Offering itself to infinity.
Cherishing these moments,
Mind dissolves into heart,
Heart dissolves into space,
Body becomes a vibrating field,
Pulsating between fullness and emptiness.
EMBODIED YIN
(the quality of the recording in the beginning of the recording is not so great, but that only lasts for a minute or so. My usual better quality recording method failed me this time, so this is a Zoom recording).
PROP: folded blanket
In our Yin Teacher Training manual, we define embodiment as - the ability to tangibly express, live and feel a quality, idea, value or experience with and in our body.
Often embodiment and somatics are and can be used interchangeably, there is a lot of overlap in their meaning. Again in our manual we define somatics as - practices that emphasise the internal experience of the body, and seek to regain/deepen a felt experience of self from within, especially after disruption due to habitual posture/emotional stress/trauma/injuries.
A lot of our modern life is lived inside our heads - the glorification of intellect, concepts, ideas. Embodiment happens below the reach of conceptual insight and verbal processing, yet when we approach the bodily processes primarily through the lens of conceptual thought, we loose the essence of the experience.
I know I do that as I love to learn and study about the body, the nervous system, the brain and how the mind works. I want to understand, I want to know, I read the theories, I have my insights - and often these ideas and concepts overlay and override my body's actual direct experience. Have you ever noticed that? I think I've understood it (mastered it?!:-) - but it doesn't really change or shift anything, it doesn't truly "land", until whatever it is that I am trying to learn/understand has been felt through the body. And this - embodiment - happens on body's timeline! Not when we want it, not when we rush it, not when we push it. And this - embodiment - is a lifelong process, it's not something you can tick off or master.
Inspired by the teachings and writings by Bo Forbes, I have been inquiring into my self-to-body relationship and paying attention to the way I approach my direct experience.
She refers to embodiment as the absence of mastery (meaning it's not about getting it right or achieving a goal) and she says: "Putting words to the deep experience of embodiment is a little like trying to hold a cloud in our arms; it can feel unsubstantial and hard to communicate.
She writes: "Tempting though it may be, charging headfirst (literally through cognition!) into the vulnerable spaces within us to gain insight into what resides there seldom works well; it often carries the energy of capturing or extracting knowledge. If we approach in this way, the very essence of what we pursue often simply retreats further inward. In my experience, it’s nourishing to respect the defenses erected to protect our direct experience. The alchemy often resides in waiting patiently, ... , and being with the experience of approach itself."
In this session, I was playing with incorporating her inquiry around attitude, approach and self-to-body relationship into our Yin practice. Along with building sensory awareness and the ability to present with intense sensations (and emotions), we notice how we pay attention. Does my approach feel patient? Curious? Am I willing to observe and wait even when it seems nothing is happening?
The sequence is inspired by the approaching yet still elusive spring of March in Berlin - as we tend to Wood element channels within our bodily tissues (Liver channel runs along the inner thighs, Gallbladder along the sidebody and the twisting to affect the central channels along the spine).
And to finish, here's a short poem by Brooke McNamara, that sums up the early March feel (in the northern latitudes):
Still Winter. Still
Winter. Still. So much
of me still underground.
PROP: folded blanket
In our Yin Teacher Training manual, we define embodiment as - the ability to tangibly express, live and feel a quality, idea, value or experience with and in our body.
Often embodiment and somatics are and can be used interchangeably, there is a lot of overlap in their meaning. Again in our manual we define somatics as - practices that emphasise the internal experience of the body, and seek to regain/deepen a felt experience of self from within, especially after disruption due to habitual posture/emotional stress/trauma/injuries.
A lot of our modern life is lived inside our heads - the glorification of intellect, concepts, ideas. Embodiment happens below the reach of conceptual insight and verbal processing, yet when we approach the bodily processes primarily through the lens of conceptual thought, we loose the essence of the experience.
I know I do that as I love to learn and study about the body, the nervous system, the brain and how the mind works. I want to understand, I want to know, I read the theories, I have my insights - and often these ideas and concepts overlay and override my body's actual direct experience. Have you ever noticed that? I think I've understood it (mastered it?!:-) - but it doesn't really change or shift anything, it doesn't truly "land", until whatever it is that I am trying to learn/understand has been felt through the body. And this - embodiment - happens on body's timeline! Not when we want it, not when we rush it, not when we push it. And this - embodiment - is a lifelong process, it's not something you can tick off or master.
Inspired by the teachings and writings by Bo Forbes, I have been inquiring into my self-to-body relationship and paying attention to the way I approach my direct experience.
She refers to embodiment as the absence of mastery (meaning it's not about getting it right or achieving a goal) and she says: "Putting words to the deep experience of embodiment is a little like trying to hold a cloud in our arms; it can feel unsubstantial and hard to communicate.
She writes: "Tempting though it may be, charging headfirst (literally through cognition!) into the vulnerable spaces within us to gain insight into what resides there seldom works well; it often carries the energy of capturing or extracting knowledge. If we approach in this way, the very essence of what we pursue often simply retreats further inward. In my experience, it’s nourishing to respect the defenses erected to protect our direct experience. The alchemy often resides in waiting patiently, ... , and being with the experience of approach itself."
In this session, I was playing with incorporating her inquiry around attitude, approach and self-to-body relationship into our Yin practice. Along with building sensory awareness and the ability to present with intense sensations (and emotions), we notice how we pay attention. Does my approach feel patient? Curious? Am I willing to observe and wait even when it seems nothing is happening?
The sequence is inspired by the approaching yet still elusive spring of March in Berlin - as we tend to Wood element channels within our bodily tissues (Liver channel runs along the inner thighs, Gallbladder along the sidebody and the twisting to affect the central channels along the spine).
And to finish, here's a short poem by Brooke McNamara, that sums up the early March feel (in the northern latitudes):
Still Winter. Still
Winter. Still. So much
of me still underground.
SPRING & WOOD ELEMENT
QiGong, yin, somatics
QiGong, yin, somatics
Gently slowly it feels like we can begin to welcome and feel the Spring arriving in Berlin. The winter and Water element's domain of dormancy, gestation, dream-time and hibernation, is transforming into potential, possibility and growth. Water nourishes Wood element, it is from this rest and darkness and being "underground" that the vision and plan for "where to next?" arises.
We'll explore some of the Wood element - Spring qualities in this practice and stimulate the Liver and Gallbladder energy channels within the connective tissues of the body, as these are the organs that corresponds to the Wood element.
We start with a QiGong practice for Liver channel, and aim to embody both the "Yang Wood" that is sturdy, strong, upright and enduring and the "Yin Wood" that is flexible, adaptable like a bamboo bending in the wind.
We then proceed to some Yin shapes that will stimulate the same channels through long yin holds, letting the poses sink into the deeper layers of the body.
And we finish with a soothing, rocking, twisting somatic sequence to encourage the sooth flow of Qi, Blood, lymph and energy throughout the body.
We'll explore some of the Wood element - Spring qualities in this practice and stimulate the Liver and Gallbladder energy channels within the connective tissues of the body, as these are the organs that corresponds to the Wood element.
We start with a QiGong practice for Liver channel, and aim to embody both the "Yang Wood" that is sturdy, strong, upright and enduring and the "Yin Wood" that is flexible, adaptable like a bamboo bending in the wind.
We then proceed to some Yin shapes that will stimulate the same channels through long yin holds, letting the poses sink into the deeper layers of the body.
And we finish with a soothing, rocking, twisting somatic sequence to encourage the sooth flow of Qi, Blood, lymph and energy throughout the body.
SPRING EQUINOX with QIGONG, SOMATICS & FLUID YIN
We start with ca 20 minutes of QiGong and then move into a relatively "fluid" Yin practice.
Spring and Wood element is all about movement, which inspired this sequence.
YinYang theory and philosophy (and lifestyle) embrace paradox, dynamics, and change. So "balance" is not something static - an ideal place of calm platitude - but the capacity to be with change, the ability to hold the paradox of opposites and the constant dynamic ever-changing relationship of Yin and Yang.
Spring and Wood element is all about movement, which inspired this sequence.
YinYang theory and philosophy (and lifestyle) embrace paradox, dynamics, and change. So "balance" is not something static - an ideal place of calm platitude - but the capacity to be with change, the ability to hold the paradox of opposites and the constant dynamic ever-changing relationship of Yin and Yang.
YIN & SQUATS
"just a shift in posture..."
"just a shift in posture..."
I will add the poems from this session by the end of the week.