Welcome to Zen yoga for winter. So this time of year, the human organism
is really designed to rest. Like the trees, all the external tends to drop off and there's
a sense of nourishing the root. We're doing the same thing energetically this time of year when
we're in harmony with the seasons. The water element is the key element this time of year.
We want the water flowing – we don't want ice in the body – so mobilization is important as well.
Now, this time of year we're working, as we mentioned, with the water element. Now,
the organs in the body particularly concerned with the water element are the kidneys – which
you'll find here, okay, left and right in the spine – and the bladder or urinary
bladder – which you'll find right down here in the lower pelvis area. Now the energy channels
connected with these areas are going to be worked considerably in what we're doing,
so let's get a sense of them. So if you take perhaps an index finger,
okay. Find the corner of your eye, just inside of the eye, okay, just in line with the eye itself,
and then we're going to go up, we're going to trace over the head, left and right of the skull,
left and right of the neck vertebra. And then if you reach behind, perhaps with a thumb left
and right, and we're going to go down left and right of the spine. In fact it's two lines here
but they're both very relatively close to each other across the centre of the glutes,
right down the centre of the backs of the leg, and all the way around towards the little toe.
Okay and then if we come to the sole underneath on the inside, and then we're
going to go up – and this is the kidney line now – going up through the inside of the leg,
all the way up through the groin area, and then left and right of the sternum
(the bone at the centre of the ribs) right up towards the collarbones. Okay, so we've got
a a down-loop that runs down the back of the body, and then this up-loop runs up the front
of the body. And you'll notice these areas we're particularly going to be opening up and releasing
Now on an emotional level, when the bladder and kidney lines (or the organs themselves) are in
a bad shape or blocked or closed, there tends to be emotionally qualities of fear around. It can
go from quite heavy despair type stuff – it can go into a sense of everything seeming very difficult,
kind of almost like pushing against an obstacle in every respect – to quite light
sort of fears and nervousness, this kind of thing. When these are open and clear,
there's a sense of courage, there's a kind of a can-do attitude that begins to appear,
where we kind of have this certainty that actually we can do whatever we turn our minds to. Okay,
you may notice as we work in these areas, things kind of start to shift emotionally as well.
Okay, so now if we can turn sideways on the mat and step wide. Have your feet roughly one
leg length wide, and we want the outsides of the foot – this part of the foot – straight,
so a little bit pigeon-toed. Okay, we've still got the three points of the feet pressing down
into the floor. And now from here, we let the hands come behind onto the kidney area. We make
sure that the 'belt' between the hip bones is activated, okay, and then keeping the front line
of the body long now, we come forward. Stay soft in the knees, but very active in the legs. Make
the body into a tabletop. That's it, and now strong rubbing the kidneys. That's it, good,
really strong. The kidneys love being kept warm this time of year. This is good, and five, four,
three, two, one, good. Now just keep the hands here – keep the heat in. That's it,
let the body soften a little bit further now, coming into a stretch. So we're opening up,
that's it, coming all the way forward now, drop the head, that's it, let the body go down. Okay
so we're opening up our bladder line here, right through left and right of the spine,
down the backs of the legs. That's it, gentle stretch, and five, four, three, two, one, good.
Now soften the knees, engage the belt, let the body come up, that's it, all the way up,
up, up, good. Now, hands come onto the hip crease at the top of the leg. That's it,
not above the hip bones, but right at the top of the leg – what's called in Chinese the kwa.
Now we turn the feet out just a tiny bit – thirty degrees or so. Okay, belt is engaged,
and then we sink straight down, okay, so the knees are going to bend. Now look down and make sure the
knees are visible outside the big toe, so you can see your big toes – the knees aren't flopping in;
we want the knees extending wide here. Good. Now it's very important that you take this just as
gently as it's suitable for your body. Now it's very important that in this position you keep
your belt activated. If I loosen my belt, see what happens here. I get a curve in the lower
back and the bum sticks out. If we keep the belt activated, the pelvis stays square. Good,
now from here, hands in to a prayer position, that's it, no gap between the palms. Press up
into your fingers above the crown of your head. Let the elbows bend now so the thumbs come to meet
the back of your head, the back of your neck, possibly even between your shoulders – just as
far as seems appropriate for you. So we're moving down and back in the knees, we're opening up this
kidney line inside of the legs, we're opening up through the central line of the body. And
we can assist this opening here by looking up a little bit above your eye level. Just feel the
front line of the body long but keep your belt working. That's it, good, so down in the hips,
open through the front line of the body. And five, four, three, two, one. Now straightening the legs,
releasing the arms, arms come up over back onto the kidneys, turn the feet in, that's it,
good. And now we're going to come, on the exhale, we're going to come all the way forward and into
it. We're going to get a mobilized move here. Let the head come all the way down here Ellie,
that's it, good. Okay, so down on the exhale, now inhale, come up, soften the knees, hands together,
turn the toes out just a tiny bit, sink into the pelvis, that's it. Get your breath flowing,
keep the movement flowing. Now exhaling, coming forward, toes go in, that's it,
inhaling, coming up. Good. So we're opening up these two energy lines, we're energizing the
body. That's it, exhaling forward, nice work, good – smooth, flowing, inhaling,
coming up, coming out of it, mobilizing the body, energizing the body, strengthening the body. Good,
exhaling, coming forward, we're going to do two more. That's it, coming up, hands together,
sinking, That's it. Good. Last one. Exhale, that's right, inhaling, that's it, good.
And then on your next exhale, coming up,
coming out of it. Step towards the front of your mat here, feet come in together. Okay,
feet together, hands down beside you, eyes closed. Just tune into your body,
noticing where within your body is starting to feel warm, starting to feel energized, starting
to feel free and flowing. Noticing where within your body there's still more opening to come.