Yoga with Melissa

Restorative Yoga Masterclass Today’s restorative yoga class explores the difference between a round bolster and a rectangle bolster. We begin with a guided relaxation to center you and bring your focus inwards. From there we move your spine in all four directions with a supported twist, backbend, side bend and forward bend. There are restorative […]

Restorative Yoga Masterclass

Today’s restorative yoga class explores the difference between a round bolster and a rectangle bolster. We begin with a guided relaxation to center you and bring your focus inwards. From there we move your spine in all four directions with a supported twist, backbend, side bend and forward bend. There are restorative yoga postures to open your hips and lengthen your hamstrings. Classic restorative postures such as legs up the wall and child’s pose renew energy.

Put simply, the rectangular bolster provides stability while the round bolster supports the curves of your body. Throughout this class we will interchange the rectangular bolster and the round bolster. The round bolster will support the curves behind your knees, and the curves of backbends and side bends. The rectangular bolster will be used when stability and a firm foundation is required. Throughout the class I will sprinkle in quotes to inspire the metaphor of stability and curves. The class will end with a poem that speaks to both the metaphor of stability and curves in our lives.

Props Needed: blanket, blocks, round bolster, rectangle bolster, wall, chair

Yoga Props/Asanas: Sahana Vavatu mantra or Peace Mantra, Guided Relaxation, Reclined, Sphinx Pose or Salamba Bhujangasana, Pigeon or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, Side bend, Supported Downward Facing Dog or Salamba Adho Mukha Svanasana, Supported Backbend or Salamba Matsyasana, Child´s pose or Salamba Balasana, Janu Sirsasana or head beyond knee pose, Legs up the wall or Vipariti Karini

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

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Thank you for your donations: Rowena, Diane (read her testimonial at the beginning) and Donna.

Thank you for your continued kindness and generous support. It helps us to produce this show and offer a free one hour yoga class every Friday.

Today’s question to answer in the comments is: Where do you value stability in your life? Where do you value the curves of life?

If you would like an infographic of my 3 favourite restorative yoga props and their benefits then type in your email address below. We will send you a beautiful infographic of my 3 favourite restorative yoga props and their benefits.

If you would like more restorative yoga classes then I highly recommend our membership community. We have several restorative yoga classes (2 long ones and 3 short ones) in our membership community, but our 2 hour Surrender with Sita Restorative Yoga Class takes the cake.

This two-hour long restorative class is designed to allow you to surrender with compassion and unconditional nurturing love to the fertile, renewing energy that is available when you take deep rest. By turning inwards to release what no longer serves you and receive the nourishment of recovery, rejuvenation and restoration you will experience resilience. This class draws on Sita the Goddess of forests, the womb, and unconditional nurturing love along with gorgeous poetry of hope and renewal to refresh and replenish your soul.

Become a Member Today: Click Here

May your joy be as deep as our pacific ocean

May you be as rooted as the trees in our forest

Complete Beginner Yoga Today’s yoga class is a beginner’s yoga class for complete beginners. In this yoga class I will offer lots of modifications and explain the benefits of each pose. We will begin with a guided relaxation so that you can check in with your breath and your body and decide what you would […]

Complete Beginner Yoga

Today’s yoga class is a beginner’s yoga class for complete beginners. In this yoga class I will offer lots of modifications and explain the benefits of each pose. We will begin with a guided relaxation so that you can check in with your breath and your body and decide what you would like to receive from your yoga class today.

Our easy to follow, step by step yoga poses today will open your hips, stretch your spine, lengthen your hamstrings, strengthen your legs, help you with your balance, restore your energy, boost your immune system, strengthen your upper back, release stress and provide relaxation. All this will be provided in an easy going environment that is simple for beginners to follow.

Props Needed: chair, wall, yoga mat or something comfortable to lie on, blanket

Yoga Poses/Asanas: Guided Relaxation and Centering, Knee Sways, Figure Four Stretch, Cat Pose or Marjaryasana, Lunge Pose or Anjaneyasana, Parsvottanasana, Chair Pose or Utkatasana, Tree Pose or Vrikshasana, Legs up the wall or, Sphinx Pose or Salamba Bhujangasana, Marichyasana or Marichi’s Twist, Janu Sirsasana or Head beyond Knee Pose, Savasana or Corpse Pose

Did you like today’s show?

* Share it with a friend, family member or email it

* to a coworker.

* Like

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* Please leave us a 5-star review on Itunes

* Leave your comment below.

Thank you for your donations Victoria and Hilary

If you would like to make a donation to Namaste Yoga you can click here. You can also contribute through your time by commenting in the comments section.

Today’s question to answer in the comments is: How were the modifications today? Were there any poses where you could have used more or better modifications?

If you benefited from today’s class we have over 30 beginner yoga classes. Click here

Yoga with Melissa 333 Photos of Yoga Pose

Three Mountains in One Day! Thank you so much for your support for our epic video campaign. Tim and I are filled with gratitude and appreciation for your support in purchasing a new drone and gimble. We are so excited about the new content that we are going to be able to create for you. […]

Wisdom Namaste Yoga 332 Awaken Your True Self Series, The Six Paramitas or The Six Perfection, Prajna Paramita or The Perfection of Wisdom The sixth perfection, the perfection of wisdom is the direct and intimate realization of emptiness or boundlessness. Prajna Paramita are the teachings that all phenomena are without essence. We basically go back […]

Wisdom

Namaste Yoga 332 Awaken Your True Self Series, The Six Paramitas or The Six Perfection, Prajna Paramita or The Perfection of Wisdom

The sixth perfection, the perfection of wisdom is the direct and intimate realization of emptiness or boundlessness. Prajna Paramita are the teachings that all phenomena are without essence. We basically go back to where we started back at Namaste Yoga 325, and the First Perfection of Generosity. Perfect giving according to Mahayana Buddhism transcends traditional ideas of giving with the idea of a gift, giver and a receiver. This is giving beyond giving. There is a belief that one cannot give anything because everything is already given.

The essence of the Bodhisattva path and the reason for the teachings on the six paramitas is love and concern for others. We know at some level that ordinary life is not working. Self and other are just positions. From this perspective, altruism is not self-sacrifice, but the recognition that self is no different from other. From this perspective we come to see that the only way we can love ourselves is by loving others and the only way we can love others is by loving ourselves.

Pranjna Paramita can not be understood on its own, but through all the other paramitas: generosity, morality, patience, energy. and meditation. As I reflected back on the last eight weeks we have spent on the 6 paramitas I can see that it has been a powerful exploration of the six paramitas through breath practice, energy practices and meditation.

As I said at the beginning, we began with the perfection of generosity, which is in itself a practice of emptiness, allowing the flow generosity when connecting living the experience of the idea that there is no gift, giver and receiver.

From there I moved to the second perfection, morality with yoga and breath practices that promoted clarity to remember the longer you practice, the more your practice purifies you and you recognize that there is a direct connection between your actions and the discomforts that you experience physically and emotionally. You begin to realize that your yoga and meditation practice becomes easier, your mind becomes calmer, you experience more acceptance and patience when you live a life of right ethical conduct and morality. As I mentioned at the beginning, this mindfulness and honesty opens from the inside as you develop a deeper and deeper relationship with your Self. You begin to develop a deeper sensitivity and, you recognize your own suffering and that others experience the same suffering as you and your conduct is naturally elevated.

With the third parimita, ksanti paramita we recognized the three kinds of hardships that we will face.

* Personal pain and hardship both physical and emotional

* Pain caused by our personal relationships or interactions with others

* The painful truth about our life

We also practiced alternate nostril breathing as a cleansing practice for one of these classes. With the perfection of energy we recognized we do not have to cultivate anything that is not already within us. We already possess as much energy as we need. Through our yoga and meditation practice we can bring awareness to the energy that we have within us and guide it with discernment and wisdom. We brought awareness to that energy through nadi shodhana. Finally through the class on meditation, we practiced focus and concentration. Through a practice of focus we can cut through the layers of confusion. All of this culminates in prajna paramita.

Resource: Prajna Paramita Norman and Kathy Fischer:

Mantra for Screen:

Prajñaparamita mantra

Meditation In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the fifth paramita or the fifth perfection, dhyana paramita or the perfection […]

Meditation

In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the fifth paramita or the fifth perfection, dhyana paramita or the perfection of meditation.

There are many misconceptions when it comes to meditation. In our current time and place, it grows out of a culture of expectations and collective belief system that our activities should be results oriented. Interestingly, meditation is a practice, a process and not results oriented. This is where the “perfection” of meditation arises for so many practitioners.

You may even wonder what meditation has to do with yoga? In Patanjali’s yoga sutras the second verse states: Yogas-citta-vrtti-nirodhah which translates as:

* Yoga is the restriction of the fluctuations of consciousness. Georg Feuerstein

* Yoga is vigilance, awareness and stillness of the mind Alberto Villoldo

* Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness Chip Hartranft

* Yog is the control of the (moral) character of thought Shyam Ranganathan

I think I like this one the best: 1.2 Yoga is the control (nirodhah, regulation, channeling, mastery, integration, coordination, stilling, quieting, setting aside) of the modifications (gross and subtle thought patterns) of the mind field. (yogash chitta vritti nirodhah) Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

Meditation is a practice in concentration and focus. I get questions all the time about focus. We can all relate to our energy being scattered. We are worried about the future, we have regrets about the past, replay events from the past over and over again. Through the development of a concentration practice we are able to gather a lot of energy that is available to us. It is energy that is flying all over the place right now in the past and in the future. Through a practice of focus we can cut through the layers of confusion. In this way, meditation is also a path of healing that allows you to move into wholeness and your center and away from this constant state of fragmentation.

So meditation is a practice of focus. Meditation is a practice of concentration. We gather our attention around an object and hold that object in balance. Usually the object of concentration is your breath. Why is the object of attention and focus your breath? Because you don’t have to believe in anything to meditate on your breath. You also don’t have to reject any beliefs to focus on your breath. You can pay attention for the sake of cultivating your steadfastness of attention.

When practicing concentration it is a balanced concentration. It is not stressed or too relaxed. Sharon Salzberg uses the example of holding a precious piece of glass in her hands. If she holds it too tightly it will break, if she holds it too loosely it will fall out of her hands and break. When we focus on our breath we must be present in a sustained way. There is balance between ease and alertness, energy and tranquility, relaxation and alertness.

What happens in your meditation practice is much less important than how you relate to your practice. I love how Sally Kempton says thougthswillcomethoughtswillcomethoughtswillcome. This is the nature of your mind. What is more important is how you are in the moment that you come back from distraction. Does your inner critic immediately berate you for being distracted? Sharon Salzberg says the moment you come back into focusing on your object of attention, your breath, is the opportunity for kindness. You get to start again.

Yoga for Energy In our Awakening Your True Self Series we are exploring the Six Paramitas or Six Perfections. The intention behind cultivating the six perfections is for the development of compassion. It is considered a path of the Bodhisattva. Today we are reflecting on the fourth paramita or the fourth perfection, the perfection of […]