Welcome everybody.
Let's find a comfortable seated position.
We can pull our sitting bones,
Pull a flesh underneath the sitting bones out from under so that we can have more connectivity with the ground.
We can expand the side body and lengthen all four corners of the neck.
We can place our hands either face up or face down on our knees.
Face up is inviting this new spiritual expansiveness.
And face down represents grounding and coming back to our inwardness,
Ourselves.
Today we're going to be exploring the element of water.
I've been recently enjoying an Ayurvedic yoga therapy course and we talk a lot about these elements and the characteristics of these elements.
And water,
This fluid,
Soft,
Connective element.
The element that really represents love.
A lot of love in water.
A lot of letting go of the element of water.
That's what we'll be exploring today.
Connection,
Love,
Letting go.
So like the fluid river of breath that runs through us,
Let's start to become the vessel.
Let's try to stop living life and to let life live through us.
To stop breathing and let the breath come through us.
We'll find this river of air,
Of oxygen,
Of prana,
Of life force moving through the body.
And our body starts to accommodate expanding and contracting as this river trickles in and out.
We'll start today with a mantra.
If you'd like to join in,
Feel free.
I heavily encourage sounding,
Create sound and vibration with your voice.
Such a powerful way to enter into a peaceful and connective state.
If you just want to listen,
Just let it wash over you.
There's so much benefit in listening.
This mantra will be Om Nama Shivaya.
This acknowledgement of the divine creation around us,
The divinity in everything.
Whatever we find to be divine,
Whether it's our relationships,
Our passion,
The natural world around us.
Let's bring that into our space right now.
Divinity.
I'll sing it once and we'll do it five times.
Om Nama Shivaya Shivaya Please join.
Om Nama Breathe.
Shivaya Om Nama Shivaya Shivaya Shivaya Om Nama Shivaya Om Nama Shivaya Om Nama Shivaya One more.
Om Nama Shivaya Shivaya Shivaya Placing your right hand on your heart.
Starting to feel the resonance emanating from your heart.
The vibration.
Starting to encourage and feel this divine nature within us.
The divinity of the breath flowing in and out of each and every cell and tissue in our body with this fluid water within us.
Placing the hand back down.
And I want you now to imagine that you're in a forest.
You can feel your feet on the earth,
Grass beneath you.
Soft,
Wet grass.
And trees all around you.
And you can see as you look up this light beaming through the trees.
You can even hear a river flowing.
And you start your journey walking towards the river.
Walking,
Passing trees.
You can hear birds and other animals,
Crickets,
Enjoying their habitats.
And as you continue your journey toward this river you can hear the sound get louder and louder.
This rushing river.
And you come to the edge of the forest and in front of you lies this powerful flowing sight.
Even if you're looking at the same point in the river,
And maybe it seems like it was the same river it was a few moments ago.
But actually everything about it has changed.
The river constantly changes.
The molecules,
The particles of water.
Constantly flowing.
Constantly changing.
And you start to walk down and step into the river and you can feel the cold water on your feet,
Your legs,
Your knees.
And you walk in deeper and it's up to your hips.
And you can feel the current pulling.
And you start to notice as you resist the current pulling you away how much energy it takes.
How much contraction in your muscles work to keep you in the same place against this current,
Against this naturally flowing river.
River of life.
And in one moment you decide it's time to let go.
So you sit back,
Lift your feet,
And a rush of water takes you away.
Floating in this nourishing womb.
Feeling weightless as you travel through the forest in this riverbed.
The cool water supports you and you continue to float.
Noticing the deep relaxation.
The spaciousness that's allowed when we no longer resist.
When the current of life carries us.
And we move with it.
Noticing that all of our life is like a river.
And we get to choose which river we step into whether it's our occupation,
Our relationships,
Where we live.
If we can find a river that brings us to our highest spiritual path,
Our highest self,
And we let go and we get there even sooner.
The river takes us without any effort.
When we look at life as a river we realize that we can let it pass through us.
And we'll find that life becomes effortless.
Gently releasing without any attachment.
Releasing this practice as we tune back and take a deep breath and soften the mind.
Let's connect our hands together at heart center feeling this complete circle,
This cycle,
An energetic flow between our right and left bodies.
And the love that emanates from one side to the other.
Remembering that when we start to love ourselves,
When we really take time to love ourselves,
Our own internal river starts to overflow with love.
And we have so much to give.
Gently bowing.
Thank you for sharing your time today.
Find your river and let it flow.
The enlightened in me sees and honors the enlightened in you.
Namaste.
