Thanksgiving Somatic Yoga

🍁HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y'ALL!!🦃🍂

As the holiday draws near, we open up our homes to our family and friends or we travel to spend time with family & friends. It's a special time of year to hug, laugh, reconnect, tell stories, catch up on our lives, even forgive, let go, and begin anew! It might feel a little (or a lot) chaotic, we're rushing to the grocery stores, cleaning our homes, making sure everyone else is taken care of. Our kiddos might be out of school already, or only attend the first half of the coming week. It can be ALOT. Keeping track of schedules, routines, times of flights, food requests or diet limitations, the volume in our homes increases, and space decreases. This might affect you in small ways or larger ways. So today, we created an hour for ourselves, before the week begins, before family arrives into town, for our own soothing self care, before we give all of our energy and love to others! For many, our happiness is directly dependent on the health of our nervous systems. When our body and mind are at ease, our soul is at ease. 

🍂We began in a child's pose, with a bolster underneath, cradling the arms around the top of the bolster, one cheek grounded, settling into our space. We brought our favorite childhood Thanksgiving memory to focus, or maybe our favorite when the kiddos were little, whatever our most loved memory, holding it close, bringing a smile to our face, honoring the season of family and gratitude. The head and shoulders are heavy into this pose of safety, of home, and protection. Each vertebrae began to release anything heavy we're holding, allow it to roll off the spine. The arms and legs soften. During this airy, light, breezy, very active social season, it's important to ground, so we don't get swept away! Our pranayama was our 3-part breath, deeply inhaling through the nose, from the toes all the way up into the belly, filling it up, expanding, taking up space, pausing at the top of that breath, and slowly exhaling through the mouth. We repeated this two more times, the inhale lengthening from the abdomen to the chest, filling the lungs, expanding the ribs, and slowly exhaling through the mouth. The final round travelled from the abdomen, to the lungs, up to the crown! Each time, the exhale becoming slower and longer each time, calming the nervous system. We became present in the body and the space we're in, and allowed all of our past stresses to melt back to the earth, transformed into something new, something for our greater good. Our future schedules and to-do lists floated away, into the breeze, no longer needed, carried further and further away from us. Nothing to do, nowhere else to be but right here in this moment for ourselves. I found the perfect quote for our Thanksgiving class!

“thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude, gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. it’s those little things, those little moments in life, keep them close to your heart, for they are really the big things.”

🍁We shifted from our busy minds into the body to remain present in the moment, scanning through the 5 senses, connecting to Thanksgiving Day! We find gratitude for the eyes and the sights we see, delicious food being prepared, family and friends smiling and hugging one another. We find gratitude for the ability to hear, laughter in the room, music being played, children squealing, a dog barking with excitement. We find gratitude for what we smell, savory dishes cooking in the oven, pies freshly baked.  I sprayed "Sacred Space" in studio, so we inhaled notes of Palo Santo, Sweet Grass, and Rosemary. On to our taste, mouth watering for that first bite, softening through the jaw. Lastly, we noticed our sense of touch, what we feel against the skin, the warmth of a fire, the warmth of our hot drink in our hands, the coziness of our blankets and sweaters wrapped around us. We began to flutter the eyes open to bring our awareness back to the room, back to the body, feeling the stickiness of our mat underneath us, supporting us, holding us, bringing us back home to ourselves.

🍂We rolled up and back toward our heels, long through the spine into our Hero's pose, sitting onto our heels, inhale hands reach up overhead, cactus the arms, exhale fold in, cradle the head, one more round, reach the hands up, right hand falls to the earth, right side of the hip, side bend left arm overhead, through center, sidebend to the left. Hands plant behind us, a little backbend, gaze to the sky, shoulderblades toward one another, exhale walk the hands forward, melting onto our bellies. We form a pillow with our palms, and rock the pelvis left to right slowly, massaging the organs in the abdomen, releasing tension held in the lumbar spine. Inhale hands plant under the shoulders, we lift into our low cobra, 3 times, floating hands and feet, and melting back down. Inhale left hand reaches out to the left, roll onto the left hip, Broken Turkey wing, right foot plants behind the left leg, point and flex the toes, roll onto the ball and heel of the right foot. Inhale through center, right hand stretches out to the right, roll to the right hip, left foot plants behind the right leg, Broken Turkey Wing. Inhale through center, forearms ground into our Sphinx, melt the chin, inhale through center, exhale to the right, inhale through center, exhale to the left, melt back into our Childs pose. Hands wander to the right, hips melt back to the left, through center, hands wander to the left, hips melt back and to the right, through center, inhale right hand to the sky, exhale thread it under to the left, grounding the right temple, right shoulder. We're twisted open just like a Cornucopia! We fill it with good food, good intentions. Left hand in toward the face, unravel the right hand up to the sky, float off the left hand, right hand to the right heel, left hand up to the sky, opening the heart. Exhale the hands melt through center, and finding our Cornucopia on the left side. We met in a comfortable seat, crossing the legs or finding a Half Lotus.

🍁We brought the palms together, rubbed them together to create some heat, some healing energy, and cupped the hands to the eyes, sending healing energy to the soul. Hands floated to the crown, sending healing energy to the mind, calming the chatter. The mind can become stuck in the past, ruminating over things that have been, or travel too far forward into the future with worry, but the body is always present, so here we connect and stay present. One hand floated to the forehead, and the other to the base of the skull, pressure into our vagus nerve, sending messages to our brain, that the body is safe, finally bringing the hands to the heart sending gratitude to the heart and lungs. We set an intention for our class, and released it, reaching the hands to the sky and to the right for a twist, peeling the right shoulder back to open the chest 5% more. We arched the right hand to the sky and toward the opposite knee to open the side body, and then brought it to the left knee, crossing the arms, arching the back and dripping the chin. We twisted to the other side, and then came through center, planted the fingers behind us, opened the chest, arching the spine into a backbend, and then into a forward fold. We walked the hands in toward the knees, into our Table Top.

🍂 Our cat cow flow followed as we warmed up the spine, adding in organic movement, hips swaying side to side, or rolling forward and back into Childs pose waving back and forward into our table top. We moved to our breath, our own pace, making our cat cow our own. We came into our neutral table top, placed a block onto the low back just at the pant line, and floated the right leg back, sole of the foot toward the back wall, left arm reaches forward, Spinal Balance, imagine the block is a favorite dish or casserole, we don't want it to fall and spill! Inhale we lengthen, exhale we crunch in, 3 times, and remove the block, left hand reaches back for the right foot, open the chest. Release with control, right toes to the back of our mat, left knee up into the chest, curl the back, left knee down, right leg crosses to the left of our mat, gaze over the left shoulder, gaze through center, right leg through center, plant the toes, left knee up into the chest, curl the back, left knee down, right foot out to the right side, melt the hips back, 1-legged Childs pose. Roll forward, right leg through center, plant the toes, left knee into the chest, curl the back, left knee down, supported side plank, right hand peels to the sky, float off the left hand, right hand to the right leg, into our Gate, left hand high, and cartwheel the hands around, left hand down, right hand reaches overhead. Hands and knees through center into our cat cow flow, and honor the left side!

🍁We flowed through downward dog- plank waves, pranam knees chest chin, into a low cobra, and up into our downward dog. We floated to the top of our mats into a forward fold, root to rise, we slowly lifted up, one vertebrae at a time, the head the last to come through, into our Tadasana, our mountain pose. We felt the grounding energy from the earth pull at the soles of our feet from the toes to the arches to the heels, like roots of a tree pulling us into he soil, anchoring us. This energy circled around the legs, to the pelvis, the hips, around each vertebrae of the spine to the shoulders as they melt down from the ears. The crown reaching for the heavens, we are stable, rooted, and anchored. 

🍂Our Tadasana flowed into our Crescent Moon sidebands to the right and to the left, through center, exhaling into a forward fold. Inhale up into our chair, sitting deep at our Thanksgiving Day table, we twist to the right, smiling over at our family member, through center, to the left, smiling through the bad joke another family just made, through center, high onto the tippy toes, melting the chest forward into our Diver pose, diving into those mashed potatoes, hands reach back, heels melt down, floating up into our chair, hands bind behind the back, open the chest, and exhale forward fold, bind reaching to the sky. Hands plant, left knee bends, right hand to the sky we twist, through center, right knee bends, left hand high, hands plant, we moved through a flow, pranam or chaturanga, meeting in our downward dog. With the inhale, we extended the right leg, and tapped the right knee to the left elbow, extended, tapped the right elbow, extended, tapped the chest, hovering here, and planted the right foot between the hands, back foot sealing to rise up into our Warrior I, shoulders drawing down from the ears, hips squaring to the top of our mat, hands interlace, pointer fingers connect toward the sky, like we're holding carving knife ready to slice through through the turkey, exhale we humble in, inhale lift, exhale humble in, slicing through any stress or negativity, 3 times total, we floated forward into our Warrior III, left leg floating back, arms reaching toward the back of our mats into our Airplane! Welcoming in our family and friends to our home from their travels!  Softly we land the left foot to the back of our mat, left hand down, right hand high, Twisted Lunge, right hand to the back of the head, just like a turkey wing, inhale we open, exhale elbow to elbow, inhale we open, exhale we curl in, 3 times, and thread the right hand under the left arm, to the left foot, Skandasana, floating the hands at the heart in gratitude, or walking them forward melting the heart, through center, to the right foot Skandasana, through center, Wideleg fold, heels turn in, rising up 5-pointed Star, exhale into our Goddess, hands to the heart, inhale float into the right foot into our Family Tree, extending branches, connecting to our ancestors, through center, float into the left foot into our Family Tree, through center, 5-pt Star, interlace the hands behind the back, and melt forward into a fold, bending into each knee, chest melts toward the right thigh, and to the left. Release the bind, hands walk to the left foot, left toes pivot to the back of our mat, right hand down, left hand high, Twisted Lunge, left hand behind the head, Turkey Wing, exhale elbow taps elbow, 3 times, float forward Standing Splits, right toes to the sky, exhale curtsy tap right toes behind the left foot, 3 times, right leg floats back, Warrior 3, hands reach back, Airplane, picking up more family members at the airport! Soft landing right foot to the back of our mat, Warrior I, hands reach up, interlace the fingers, pointer fingers to the sky, slicing the turkey and slicing through negativity, 3 times, melting to the right foot, Skandasana, pivot to the top of our mat, left knee down, Low Lunge, hands reach overhead, palms together, elbows bend, hands drip down the nape of the neck. Hands plant, tip the hips back, Quarter Splits, inhale roll forward, pivot to the left, Supported Side Plank, right leg extends out to the right, right hand high, float off the left hand right hand to right leg, left hand overhead, cartwheel the hands around, extending right hand overhead. Melt the hands forward, tuck the toes, lift the hips downward dog, roll forward into our Plank, move through your flow, to meet in Tadasana to honor the left side! 

🍁Our Somatic practice will hopefully prove to be very useful for any moments we need to self soothe during all of our Thanksgiving festivities! Our Somatic practice gives us tools to regulate our nervous system, to stimulate the vagus nerve that begins at the base of the brain and runs down the neck, and throughout the body touching every organ system, communicating between body and brain! 80% of these messages are from the body to the brain, so when we intentionally stimulate the vagus nerve, we're telling the brain that the body is safe, not under threat. We agitated emotions stuck in the body, to help them release, and to serve as a reset button. I usually alternate between these tools each week! We rubbed the palms together to create some healing heat, and we brought the fingertips to the crown, massaging the fingertips all over the crown and behind the ears, even the base of the skull, directly into our vagus nerve. We moved into the temples, massaging circles here, relieving migraines, we dripped the fingers to the jaw, the hinge where we open and close the jaw, the perfect release for jaw clenchers like myself, and maybe you too. We pulled down on the ear lobes, pulled the middle of the ears out to the sides, up to the top of the ears pulling toward the sky. With one hand to the base of the skull, pressing into the vagus nerve, the other hand brought the index and middle fingers to the hairline at the forehead and began rolling the fingers down the forehead, between the eyebrows, down the bridge of the nose to the tip, repeating 3 times, and switching out the hands. We brought our fingertips to the base of the skull, pressing into our vagus nerve, and melted the fingertips toward the ears, along the jawline, and down the front of the neck to the collarbone. We repeated this 2 more times, releasing tightness in the throat. We tapped into the collarbone, with slow rythmic taps, all fingers in unison, into one of our acupressure points in the body. We brought this tapping to the sternum, center of the chest. We slowly tapped here, some of us hold tension here, creating tightness in the chest, shallow or rapid breathing. The tapping sends messages to the brain that were not in danger, to slow down the heart rate, and encourage deeper, longer, slower inhales and exhales. We can continue tapping with the fingertips or Bilateral Butterfly taps using cupped hands over one another on the chest, activating both hemispheres of the brain, continuing as we inhaled, paused to bring the hands to the heart, stacked on top of one another, and as we exhaled we audibly hummed a "OM" sound connecting to our universal sound of unity. Our bee breath🐝! If you hold tension here in the chest, this is a nice release! Humming is a somatic release, also good for respiratory infection season to break things up in the lungs, and humming has shown to reduce anxiety better than sleep! We crossed the arms at the chest, and squeezed into opposite shoulders, down to the biceps and triceps, and into the forearms. We brought the hands to the shoulders again for a squeeze, and swiped the hands down the arms, chest, abdomen, low back, and legs, making sure anything heavy or unwanted that is still tethered to the body is fully released, we send it all out into the wind to be carried far away. On the way up, we formed fists, pounding into the body, until in Tadasana, swaying the arms left to right, ending in Tadasana. We noticed the effects, feeling heat, cool, tingling, maybe even a yawn, all signs we've moved closer toward regulation in the nervous system. The goal is not to simply feel calm, it is to use these tools off of our mat to hold larger capacity for stress, to better cope with stressors and triggers, sitting with these difficult emotions, for longer periods, allowing ourselves to FEEL, rather than run from them or mask them with unhealthy things. We can help ourselves come out of a state where we feel stuck or stagnant in a fight or flight or freeze state. We need these states at certain times of our lives, for survival, but we don't want to live there. We can pendulate in and out as needed using these important tools. We released everything from last year, last month, yesterday, that we need to let go of, swipe it away, let yourself be free of it, so we don't carry this heaviness any longer! Allow it to melt down your back! Let it drift into the breeze, the water, no longer needed in this moment! We found lightness, balance, and freedom.
 

🍂We came into stillness, then swayed right and left, and found stillness again, noticing the effects: we can feel cool, heat, or tingling sensations, even a spontaneous yawn! All signs of a regulated nervous system. We removed anything stuck, anything harmful & toxic still attached to the body! We stimulated the vagus nerve, the super highway of information from the brain to the body! We sent messages to the brain that the body is not under threat, it does not have to exist in a continuous active state (fight /flight/freeze mode). We helped our body to experience a larger capacity to sit in discomfort, and not immediately reach for unhealthy soothers, or run from it. We welcome space for triggers to be felt and moved through. We have the ability to help our nervous system shift fluidly between states when each are needed, the sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous systems! Both are useful and 100% needed, but we do not want to become stuck in one state for too long. These practices are so useful off the mat as we encounter stress or triggers in our daily lives! We find balance! We find freedom!

If we need to excuse ourselves from the table for the bathroom and self hug, squeeze, tap, massage the jaw or chest, hum, feel free to do whatever is needed to take care of yourself, to regulate our overactive nervous systems! Share these tools with those who might need them too! It's better than arguing or holding it all in!

🍁Our cool down began in Tadasana, we inhaled hands overhead, and planted the hands as we stepped back into our downward dog. Inhale right leg floats, exhale knee to chest, 3 times, right foot threads through to the left, Fallen Star, right leg unravels, bend the knee open the hip, some of us might flip, Wild Thing, back through center, right foot meets the left, walk the hands in toward the feet, heel toe out, into our yogi squat, choosing to arch the back, melt the hands forward, fly our crow, today it's our Turkey, maybe your're a vegetarian and want to set your turkey free! Let him fly! Or we can open the chest into twists. We planted the hands, lifted the hips into a wide leg forward fold, and extended the hands to the sky for some twists. We walked the hands forward, into our plank, right knee to right elbow and back, left knee to left elbow, and back, right knee to right elbow, and right shin forward to melt into our pigeon, today, another Turkey. All the birds are turkeys. ahaha. We rested our Turkey, and melted the hips and heart toward the earth. We inhaled into the palms, unraveled the right leg to the sky, opened the hip, and the right foot met the left, in our downward, knees twist to the right, hips melt back, through center, knees to the left, hips melt back, through center, knees ground, hips melt back to the heels, Hero pose, inhale hands reach up, right hand down, left overhead, sidebend, through center, sidebend to the left, through center, cactus the arms, exhale melt forward into our Puppy pose, don't let the family dog eat any leftovers with bones! Inhale forward into the palms, lift the hips downward dog to repeat this little flow on the left side. 

🍂After resting our turkey on the left side, in our pigeon, we lifted through the chest, pivot on the left hip toward the right long side of our mat, into our Fallen Tree, right leg long, left foot into the right thigh, side bend, right hand reaches for the right foot, left hand overhead. Hands cartwheel around, left hand down, hips lift, right hand overhead, Rainbow Arch. Hips melt down, feet come through center, windshield wipe the knees left to right, and honor our Fallen Tree and Rainbow arch on the left side. Spin to face the top of our mat, feet plant hip width apart, palms plant behind us, hips lift, Reverse Dining Room Table, a sway forward and back, side to side. Hips melt down, feet float, hands reach forward into our Gravy Boat, exhale lower hover, inhale lift, exhale hover, 3 times, down to our backs.

🍁We lengthened long, hugged the knees into the chest, extended our feet to the sky into our T-pose, crossed the right leg over the left, bent the knees, hugged the thighs together and reached for shins, gently pulling the knees toward the chest. This lengthens the IT band, and helps to soften where the sciatic nerve travels, releasing any pain we may have there. We released our shins, planted the bottom foot, hips scooch to the right, knees fall to the left for a supine twist! We came through center, extended the feet to the sky, T-pose, crossed the left over the right, bent the knees, hugged the thighs together, and reached for shins. We twisted to the opposite side! We lengthened long, hugged the knees in, coming full circle in our practice. We made time to come into any final poses we needed before our final rest, such as legs up the wall, bridge, plow or wheel, or coming into Savasana early! 

🍂We made it to our PEAK POSE: Savasana! Together, we completed a full body cleanse! We found meditative peace, a calming of the mind, removed masks, heavy burdens, found insight into ourselves, we experienced expansion, fearlessness, release, and freedom. Yoga helps us shed what we no longer need, so we may see our most purest selves! We connect to divinity! To slow down means to heal! That is why savasana is the peak pose, the most important pose, the goal, the pinnacle. To find peace. In the stillness! We surrender. We discover ourselves again without the layers, the armor, the walls. They all come down, revealing our divine self. 

🍁This class was really so incredibly fun, and I loved it so much! So much fun energy in the room, and I'm filled with SO much gratitude for you all choosing to practice with me, I'm humbled and so thankful!  And of course, our Thanksgiving playlist was all about family, travel, gratitude, and thankfulness for our loved ones, either by genetics or friendship! Listen here!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7DnNaBviadVrm8BUplqXiS?si=Z6N6P_kQRhiJtIlZi7BsKA&pi=u-aj5eD2GBTSen

🍂I wanted to share my favorite pie recipe with yall for Thanksgiving!! For decades, pumpkin pie has been my top choice, but it may have fallen to the number 2 spot after I made this incredibly delicious chocolate bourbon pecan pie!! Here’s the recipe link on my blog if you’d like to try it!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Be safe and be well!🥧🫶🏻💕

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie Recipe here! 

🍃Come practice with me on Fridays for Gentle Somatic flow at 11:30am, and on Somatic Sundays at 10:00am!🫶🏻 ✨🌿