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Planting Seeds · Divas That Care Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's Divas that Care Radio Stories, strategies and ideas to inspire positive change.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Divas that Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: This is a global movement for women, by women engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: To find out more about the movement, visit DivasThatCarecom after the show.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Right now, though, stay tuned for another jolt of inspiration.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Namaste and welcome to the Divas that Care Network.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, gia Raquel Rose, owner of Heirs Above Yoga, and you are listening to Above the Ground podcast, if this is your first time tuning in.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Our network is going into its 15th year and is listened to in over 30 countries.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: I would like to personally thank you for giving me the gift of your time, as it is my honor to hold space with you and, as we are moving towards warmer weather and coming kind of off of the track that we've been going on with regard to cleansing, purging, keeping, we're now going to start to talk a little bit about planting seeds and what new things we can invite in and how best that we can use some asanas for this particular episode to get us to a place of receptivity, but also conscious receptivity, so a place of intention and a place of understanding and deep seated knowing and being able to choose, for our highest and best good, what to bring into our lives.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: So a couple months back in March, we talked about what we were going to release, what things were no longer serving us, what to let go of, and then last month, in April, with a lot of help from my dear friend Annie, who gave us an amazing Earth Day meditation and talked to us quite a bit about sustainability.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: So if you haven't, I encourage you to go back and check those out.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: And, you know, just having that kind of female support network with you and inviting women in your lives to be inspirational and to seek them out and find inspiration in their day to day, and in that mindset, kind of keeping right to the things that do serve us and coming from a place of what fills your cup.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: And so now this, this time, this series, we're going to start to talk about.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: What new things, what can you plant?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: What seeds are you planting?
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: What new things are you bringing into your world, whether they be, you know, hobbies, whether they be something related to your work, maybe to your love life, maybe to your friend group, your network.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: What new things, what inspiration?
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: What serves you?
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: What can you invite in, build on and create that lifts you up to your highest and best good, that inspires you and maybe even becomes an inspiration for some of the people around you?
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: And so, using yoga to help you to create the space in your body to come into that receptive place and also a little bit tongue in cheek and just to be kind of slightly too much on the nose.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Mother's Day is approaching and I've shared in the past it can be a challenging day for me.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I lost my mom when I was younger and I know for anyone Mother's Day can be a very challenging day, whether you've lost your mom, whether your mom is ailing, whether you want to be a mom and are having issues.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Mother's Day can really you know, it's a, it's a soft button or I should say a soft spot, and can be a trigger for a lot of people.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: It certainly has been for me over the years and it's a rough day.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: It can be a rough day.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: It can also be a beautiful, wonderful day for, you know, expected mothers for first time mothers for you know, grandmothers and women surrounded by their family who are blessed enough to have happy and healthy family and positive relationships.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: So I do want to touch on the fact that we're going to.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: The nice thing that lines up about the asanas that I've kind of chosen to align with this methodology and this kind of train of thought is that they also happen to be great for prenatal yoga.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: So it'll kind of kind of again tug in cheek, maybe a little too on the nose, talk about the idea of you know sustainability with regard to yoga practice as you move through the stages of pregnancy.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: So I am not I will say I am not a prenatal yoga instructor, but I do know that these postures, for the most part, are safe to practice, at least you know early on in a pregnancy.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: So, and again thinking of ways to align yourself with your next best steps, the new things that maybe you haven't experienced yet, and how you can set your body up to be a vessel for these new things to enter into your world and invite them from a place of consciousness and really deep rooted truth within yourself and how they may serve you.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Place of consciousness and really deep rooted truth within yourself and how they may serve you.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: So, to that end, one of my all time favorites and I know we did touch I will say that we did touch on this pose in the past, but we talked about reclined bound angle posture, sometimes known as butterfly.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: But I'm a big fan and I practice it every time I work out and more often than not, probably every time I practice yoga, and the wonderful thing about it is it is it kind of taps on many of the lower chakras, at least the bottom two the root and the sacral chakra.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: And when we're talking about creativity or we're talking about receptivity, you know your sacral chakra and your root chakra are very important.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: And one of the reasons for the root chakra's importance is because you need to feel safe anytime you're creating or bringing in something new.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: If you don't have that element of security within yourself, it's very hard to create.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: When you're coming from a place of survival rather than thriving, survive rather than thrive right, it can be challenging to really get into a place of pure creative.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: We talked about being in that zone, in that kind of flow state.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: It can be a challenge if you are too focused in the I'll call it 3D but in the to do, in the need to, in the fear of.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: If you're in that fear-based place and you have any root chakra imbalances, issues that may or may not cause some fear, lack of stability, lack of safety in the mind and then, as so, in the body, then it's hard to come from a true place of receptivity and creation because we're in, we're in fight or flight mode and that is not conducive to our highest and best good, while it comes from a good place of, you know, escaping dinosaurs and saber tooth tigers and you know that kind of Darwinian evolutionary reason why it's inherent in us.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: You know, in the in the day to day it takes on a very different turn.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: I think the closest thing might be, you know, getting into a car accident or, god forbid, having a brush with some sort of, you know, dangerous scenario, and we never wish that on anyone.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: But those are kind of the true survival issues.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Unless you're dealing with, for example, like a natural disaster, be, you know, in a relatively safe existence where you have a yoga practice and this is something that you can bring into your life and into your day, then by all means we want to make sure that we ground down through our roots, so thinking about how best we can create, and not only a safe space within ourselves but a safe space around us, and making sure that anytime we are coming from that place of what we are planting, what is new coming into our lives, that we do so from a very grounded place.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: So thinking about the equal and opposite reaction of that from the grounded place in the root chakra, you're also going to want to have an openness to your higher self, the divine, whatever it is that you that you believe in, and that rings true for you when that's going to come from the opposite, from the upper chakras, in your, in your crown chakra and in your third eye chakra, and having a balance between those two really sets you up for success in, in knowing in and in trusting.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: So in order to know, you have to trust, and the two definitely go hand in hand.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: And so what we're going to talk about with a few of the postures that I've selected for this kind of set your body up for success in receptivity of the next best thing for you the knowingness, the internal compass, if you will, of the trajectory that you can take for your highest and best good and so bound to angle, is one of my favorites because it kind of hits both chakras.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: It is very safe again, for those who may or may not be with child, and it essentially involves sitting on your the front of your pelvis and we've talked about this in the past the sits bones, the front of your pelvis, and we've talked about this in the past, the sits bones but being forward so that you are not actually rocked back on your sacrum or towards your tailbone, but actually sitting just in front of it, so that the proper stretch, the proper release comes not from your lower back, which is what we want to try to avoid at all costs in this position, but actually from your hip flexors and your inner thighs, while strengthening your glutes and outer thighs.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: So the prime position for this.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: And if anyone is familiar with the prop that a lot of yoga instructors can utilize and they may not necessarily be super available in yoga classes, but there is something called a wedge, and it's very small, I mean, maybe it goes up to one and a half to two inches at its thickest, and then it comes down on an angle all the way towards the floor, to the point of being flat.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: And what this does, if you kind of sit on it, it will lift the back of the pelvis up, drop the knees down.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: You can also use a blanket those are generally readily available to give your your tailbone although really it's just the back of your hips and elevation.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: So the knees then release and drop and your pelvis is set up in that gently sloping forward angle to get the benefit of the pose, to release any strain in the lower back and to really set yourself up for success with regard to where the posture is meant to be practiced to take the most benefit from.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: And so, to that end, your feet the soles of your feet will be together, pressing into each other, your knees will be releasing wide and then you'll be engaging through your glutes and really trying to actively draw the knees towards the floor, with your heels coming as close as you can comfortably for your knees and your hips in towards your pelvis, and then being in that very upright and tall seat, breathing deeply and just releasing and, with every exhale, releasing those knees towards the floor.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: A lot of people will do a dynamic motion in this posture and I've been known to do the same, where you actually squeeze, draw your knees in.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Your hands can be grabbing your ankles, they can be kind of gently kneading through the pelvis if you feel like a little self massage might help you.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Generally speaking, they are roughly grabbing the ankles and then you're elevating, lifting up tall, releasing the shoulders down and really strengthening through the back as you hang on to your shins in this position or ankles, and so thinking about one of the best cues I remember for this posture is taking your fingertips and if you're, if the posture supports you enough to be able to bring the calves in towards the back of the thighs and you can get your heels towards your pelvis a little bit more, actually squeezing, using your fingertips, kind of working them in there and squeezing to engage the calves, because that's a kind of a cue that not a lot of people think to do and really begins to give you the full expression of the posture in a way that you can really feel and resonate with.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: So again, so many benefits to this posture.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Not only is it grounding, not only is it releasing for your hip flexors, releasing for your glutes, it's also going to ground you down towards your root chakra and start to kind of stimulate energy in your sacral chakra to get you into that place of grounded receptivity, of safety and of being able to really relax, absorb information from your higher power into a very sturdy and stable base and, again, should be safe, you know, with barring any contraindications from a doctor for most pregnant women to practice as they move through their planting of seed.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: So then from there, talking about similar in its and I move through these postures generally, one right into the other, similar in its setup so that it can gently be able to extend the elongation from just the hip and the lower back into the leg itself is revolved head to knee pose.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: So from your bound angle you would simply take one leg out straight on a slight angle externally from the hip, again maintaining a little bit of an internal rotation through that extended leg and then moving the sole of the foot from the bound angle position to the inner thigh of that extended leg.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: And here's the trick.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: So I will say it should be safe for most pregnant women.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: You're going to angle your torso towards your legs as if you're coming into a very gentle twist and I often practice for myself and encourage, if it's safe for you to do so a gentle twist so that you aim your torso and your heart center towards the bent knee.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: What that does is it aligns the torso with the extended leg in such a way that it now becomes a side bend over that extended leg as opposed to a forward front facing fold.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: What's beautiful about this is two things.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: One, it really creates length through the side body and awareness of the hip of the bent leg and how it limits or creates space through the obliques, the lats and the side body.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: As you start to open, you take the arm over the head, hinging at the hip crease of the extended leg and extending to fold over the extended leg with your torso.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: What this does is it gets into a muscle called the QL, quadratus lumborum, and that is a muscle that often I think, plays a huge.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: It plays a huge role in our stability, the stability of our torso and kind of this, the health and well being of our hips and our lower back, and I think it's it's kind of one of those muscles.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: It's a little bit more challenging to target because of the way and I encourage you to Google it and kind of get an idea of the visual, because the visual really helps, um, to understand but this particular stretch, as you bend away from that bent leg, it opens up that QL and the QL essentially attaches to the back of the pelvis, um and to the spine.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: So it's it's a way to open and and work open and work into that and really really does feel good.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: What's nice about it is it doesn't generally because it's a side bend, not a forward fold it shouldn't in theory create any confrontation is the word I'm going to go with with the lower back or the lumbar spine.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Generally speaking, it can only be a benefit as long as it's practiced properly.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: And again, it's a side bend.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: So other postures, for example standing postures, that target this, your triangles, your extended angles, again the knee needs to be externally rotated and bent, I shouldn't say bent, but externally rotated, to kind of start to work into the QL.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: And so practicing this pose revolved head to knee on both directions.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: And I do like to start with a very, very gentle twist.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: So from bound angle, I'll extend the leg once more, aim my torso over the bent knee, maybe take the opposite hand to the outside of that knee, come into a very, very gentle twist which will then kind of awaken or prep by contracting the QL of the side that we're about to lengthen.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: And then from there, as I release the twist and bring and keep my torso on that slightly off center line in line with the knee, I will then extend side bend away from that bent knee.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: And the more you engage the glute of the bent knee and press that, that externally rotated leg into the floor, the more you'll feel the QL kind of elongate, hopefully release, and you just want to breathe into this.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: And it's for the, for the hand that is towards the extended leg.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Oftentimes you'll see people reach for the foot.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: You don't have to do that.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Can you do that?
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Sure, there's nothing wrong with it.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: That is technically the full expression of the pose.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: But just taking the hand to the inside of the leg anywhere but on the knee and just starting to roll open, remembering that you're revolving your heart center towards the sky, towards the ceiling, and really opening, it's a heart opener, it's a shoulder opener, it's a collarbone opener, it's a back strengthener, it's a QL release.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: It's a beautiful, beautiful pose and, again, is safe, generally speaking, for most pregnant women.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: And just being mindful of the twisting aspect and always limiting the range of motion if ever you find that it's a little bit tweaky for you, is again the word that I'm going to use but just limit range of motion, practice very slowly.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Always remember your breath.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: I can't emphasize that enough.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Always remember your breath.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: And so, again, coming from that place of grounding, of bringing the energy from the earth up through the lower chakras, to start to get that contact not only with the ground beneath you but creating that space of bringing the energy up so that we can have that flow through our chakras, crown to root there and back again.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: So, with that in mind, when we are focusing on the lower chakras, we're talking about our safety, we're talking about our creativity.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Again, we're moving up through the solar plexus, talking about, you know, our power center, our hearts, our seat, our bridge to the upper chakras.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: One of the postures that, frankly, I don't know why I haven't spoken more about, because it's such a yoga tradition, such a go-to posture, and possibly because it was a little bit of a challenging one and has been for me for a few years now, since I injured my neck, but also safe for the most part for most pregnant women.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: Again, I'm less contraindicated, for reasons that I am not privy to because I am not a doctor, again, unless contraindicated for reasons that I am not privy to because I am not a doctor.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: And one of the ones that is just a staple in any yoga practice, where it's accessible to you, is downward facing dog, and what I love about downward facing dog is it is a, it's all encompassing right.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: It is benefiting your entire body with both strength and and length and essentially right.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: So you are building up the strength through your upper body, you're building up the strength in your back, you're building up the strength in your legs, you're also releasing tension in the back in the legs, and your crown of your head and your third eye is aimed towards the floor.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: So for people that don't have a true inversion practice, downward facing dog is a step more aggressive than, let's say, a legs up the wall, where you're actually just reclined with your legs up the wall.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: But inversions are so beneficial for your spine to get the spine out of the typical upright compression and to release and put it upside down.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: And, as long as you're safe, for people that aren't practicing headstands and stands, those true kind of more slightly aggressive inversion shoulder stand even, for example, downward facing dog, is a great way, a stable way, to reap the benefits of an inversion practice.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: And when we're talking about planting seeds, inviting in the new A little, I guess I'll say a lesser known quote, unquote air quotes.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: For those who are not watching A secret of yoga is that, generally speaking, for crown and third eye chakras, you want to think of bringing your head towards the floor, whether it's downward facing dog, whether it's spoiler alert the next pose we're going to talk about, child's pose, bowing the head in theory is a wonderful way to stimulate the upper chakras.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: And what I love about downward facing dog is you are essentially again much like an inversion practice, inverting your chakras.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: So now you are bringing that root chakra up towards the sky and you're bringing your third eye and crown chakras down towards the ground.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: So not only are you grounding in that aspect, as you kind of reverse the tradition, but you're also beginning to stimulate and move the energy flow from the traditional to the op, to its opposite.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: And again, mindful of any contraindications in so far as blood pressure right, especially in specifically for pregnancy, but also for anyone who does have high blood pressure, I will say that downward facing dog is one of those ones, because your head is now below your heart.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Um, if you have any eye issues, pressure in the eyes, anything like that um, for me, for my neck, for example, um, due to the herniated disc, anything where my arms were up over my head has been a challenge and I will be very honest, I was practicing talk about humble.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I was practicing downward facing dog with a block under my forehead to rest my head, because my neck felt so unstable that it literally felt like it was going to my head was going to fall off anytime that I did that.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: So for me, downward facing dog has been kind of a new goal pose when I was, when I was first in my teacher training, it was always about getting your heels down and at the end of the day, honestly, that doesn't matter, as long as you're performing the posture properly.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: But now you know, as you move through life and life happens right, like Like things come up and with a neck injury it turned into, the heels were no longer the focus.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: It was making sure that my head and neck were supported in a way that I was able to access the pose.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: And I remember when I first started attempting it after my neck injury, I mean one, two, three breaths max was all I could hold and then I was dropping down into child's pose.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: So obviously, if it's in your practice and you're familiar with it, have at it and breathe into it Again.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: Always breathe.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Keep your knees bent and extend through the back of the hips and the legs.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Bring your knees into the chest and pedal out through the feet to lengthen to those hamstrings.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Make sure always that your collarbone feels wide and your shoulder blades aren't practicing downward dog with your arms up towards your ears like this, but that you're broad, you're supported, your back is lengthening and strengthening and you don't feel any pinching.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: And if you have a neck injury, obviously don't practice unless you feel safe doing so and have a doctor's warning that it's accessible for you.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: But also you can prop with a block under your head as one method.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of different ways to set downward dog up for success.
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: Another option is to come into a puppy pose as a downward dog alternative, which is where your knees are bent.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: It's kind of halfway between downward dog and child's pose.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: The issue with puppy is it can be very, very intense on the collarbone and shoulders and upper back for those who are not familiar with it, and if you have tension or tightness in your chest or shoulders, it can be a little bit even more aggressive than downward facing dog.
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: So I will demonstrate it in a video.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: But essentially your arms are outstretched, your knees are directly under your hips, as opposed to child's pose where the hips come back towards the heels.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: Your knees are directly under your hips and your hips are up in the air.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Your toes are behind you at the back edge of your mat, and then you walk the hands as far forward as you can.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: You melt the chest down.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: A lot of times your forehead will touch the mat.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: If you kind of look it up online, you may find you see people so advanced into that pose that they can lay their entire chest on the floor with their arms out stretched and have their chin open onto the floor looking forward.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: That is a very deep expression of the posture.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: I don't recommend anyone do that, but it is kind of cool to look at for those that have the openness in the chest and shoulders and the flexibility to do that.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: The other thing that you can do is you can take your forearms and elbows to the ground out in front, so almost between a dolphin posture and a downward facing dog posture for the torso and again, I will post a video upcoming to kind of give you an idea of what these look like.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: So you're not just listening to me to try to figure it out, but I do always encourage that, if you are listening, have a Google so you can see what it is that I am mentioning and moving along to again the spoiler alert of child's pose.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: So child's pose is, it's your rest pose, right and again, coming from the place of what we are bringing new into our lives, those prone positions, the bowing of the head, kind of that idea of reverence towards your upper chakras, towards your higher self, towards your divine, and still creating that spacing, that connection with the ground.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Child's pose is, you know, one of the few that does both right.
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: So you are now bringing your root chakra and your sacral chakra in contact with your legs, reaching towards your heels.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: You are now also, at the same time, bringing your all of your chakras kind of in contact with the mat, or at least very close to it, and really beginning to again ground down with that stimulation of the upper chakras due to the nature of the bowing of the head.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: So child's pose is, generally speaking, very safe for almost all practitioners, save those with really aggressive knee or foot injuries.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: The reason for that is because when you set yourself up for it, you're going to have your knees wider than your hips and you are going to put pressure on your knees as you compress them to bring your hips back on top of your heels.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: I've also experienced people that have foot issues due to the fact that you you're flat on the top of the foot angle issues, that kind of thing.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: It can be uncomfortable rolling up a towel or or even a yoga mat, depending on the accessibility, or yoga blanket behind the knees to give some extra space, or even under the tops of the ankles, can be helpful.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Also, if your hips are having issues due to the knee or even the hip flexibility, you can take a block behind you and sit your hips back onto a block in between the ankles, while still having the tops of the feet on the floor.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Generally speaking, like I said, a safe place to be for most people, even for pregnant women, right, because the knees are wide, wider than the torso, creating that space for for a belly potentially.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: And really the best thing about this is that lower back release.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: So we talk about engaging a lot of times.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: We talk about our hips and opening there.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: We're focusing on the front and on the sides, not necessarily thinking about the back, but in child's pose.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: It is such a lovely release for the sacrum, such a lovely release for the lumbar spine, and if you're in a class or you have an instructor that knows what they're doing and they take their hands, they place them on either side of the sacrum and just gently pull down, it truly feels very, very restorative, very, very releasing, relaxing.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Generally speaking, your forehead is in contact with the mat and your arms are outstretched.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: Very similar to puppy, but also one deepening that I love, that I'm going to share.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: That is a way to work into opening the shoulders for, let's say, a puppy.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: A puppy posture is taking two blocks and as you set yourself up, let's assume for our intents and purposes right now that your knees and feet are comfortable in a traditional child's pose without being propped.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Now, that's a big assumption.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: So I'm just talking about for the front and to open and deepen the opening of the chest and the shoulders, taking two blocks and taking your elbows on top of the blocks in far enough in front of you that, as you shift the hips back into child's pose, it is your elbows that are being pushed up on the blocks and so your head and neck deepen beneath the shoulders, whereas traditionally they're going to be in line with, as your arms are outstretched on the mat.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Bringing the blocks up, elevating the elbows, allows the head and neck Talk about feeling good for your neck to come in line with the blocks, which puts the arms above the head and neck in theory, and again you have to have some openness.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: So I encourage you to do this very slowly.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: And then what I like to do is I like to interlace my hands into a prayer position behind the back of my neck so that the elbows are up, the hands are interlaced behind and you want to try to keep so you don't want to be splayed out.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: For those of you watching, for those of you listening, keeping the elbows kind of in line with the shoulder blades to the best of your ability, not letting them splay out, but just kind of keeping that line and having them come up to open and breathe that space into the upper pecs, into the collarbone, and really release in between the shoulder blades.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: It feels just lovely and then you just breathe into it.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: The lovely thing about the postures save Dom or Dog, because I think it's a little bit more strenuous than the ones that we've mentioned so far, but they are focusing.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: I can't say they're not focusing on strength, because they are strengthening as they are opening, but they really are focusing on the release aspect.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Less so on the last month we talked about, you know, hip openers that were a little bit more dynamic, right, our triangles, our extended angles.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: This time this is a little bit more restorative, thinking about again what seeds we're planting, getting in contact with our grounding, connecting, if you will, our upper and lower chakras, by way of creating the space for the energy to flow throughout the chakras within the body.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: And inversions, like I said, like a downward facing dog, a puppy, a child's pose, accessible inversions are a great way to stimulate and kind of create that connection.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: And when you talk about the upper and lower chakras, I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but there is the theory of the connection between the opposing chakras.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: So, for example, your root chakra is connected to your crown chakra, in that they are the kind of equal opposite reaction of each other.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: Right, so there's, generally speaking, if there's an imbalance in one, it's going to affect the opposite.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Right, it's also going to affect, for example, the next chakra.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: Up, right or down, for example, there's a blockage, if there's a lack of energy flow, right, it's going to affect more than just the chakra in question.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: So if you think about that, the root and the crown are interlinked and for our purposes we're talking about the third eye predominantly, and the sacral right, and they are still.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: They're all connected.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: So I can't say that we're eliminating or only focusing on one.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: They are all connected.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: But to that vein, your third eye, again, and your sacral chakra are the balance for each other, in theory.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: And so, when we're talking about bringing new things into existence, focusing on what you're creating, focusing on the seeds that you're sowing, whether they be physical, as in a pregnancy, or whether they be theoretic, as in something you're birthing from your creative consciousness, something that you're inviting into your life to bring you joy, to bring you fulfillment to, to elevate your experience, to elevate your vibration, these are the kinds of things that will come from that third eye, right, your intuition, and that sacral chakra connection, your creative center.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: Just to continue, so that we're thorough about it, that then means that your throat chakra is connected, your power, to your solar plexus chakra, your power center, right.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: So, speaking your truth, being able to have the connection, and then, as always, your heart center is the bridge for all of it.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: It is your connection to the world around you, it is your true compass, your, your true north is actually right in the center of your body.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: And who knew, right?
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: So, again, these are just wonderful ways for you to be able to start to formulate your yoga practice in a way to take into consideration your, the bigger picture right your future, your seeds, what you are creating, what you are bringing into existence, what you are inspiring in yourself and in others, and so I hope that these postures have given you a little bit of an inspiration to start to create that connection between, in this instance, your sacral and third eye chakra, to make decisions from an intuitive, creative place for your highest and best good and for the highest and best good of those around you.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: And again, as always, please make sure that you practice with, with the care of a doctor, physician, especially if you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, and I wish every, every mother out there, every daughter out there, every woman there, just a beautiful and wonderful and sacred Mother's Day, a safe space for you, for your family, for your loved ones, and may you be blessed with love in whatever form it takes, even if it's self-love, Because, at the end of the day, we always have to start there, and I just want to tell you how much I appreciate each and every one of you for sharing your space with me, and so please feel free to share this with your loved ones For more goodness.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: Follow me on all the socials, at AboveTheGroundPodcast, or visit my website, heirsaboveyogacom.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: As always, definitely check out my other episodes and all of my amazing sisters at DivasThatCarecom.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: You can find us on Spotify, odyssey, apple and anywhere else that you may feel guided.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: Again, this is Gia Raquel Rose, owner of Heirs Above Yoga, and you are listening to Above the Ground Podcast, where every day is a good one Thanks for listening.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: This show was brought to you by Divas that Care.
• 35:19
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