Rise up renewed.

First Spring Round 1 - Plugging into Root Source in MYOGA SEASONS for Subscribers, Northern Hemisphere 2024

Today I return to uni for my second term (of four) in the Master of Environmental Management program, which sounds a bit arrogant to me. Not that I’m doing it. No, that’s actually required quite a bit of humility. Rather, the naming of it. It sounds like what we humans have been doing for too long—thinking and acting as though we know best and can readily decide which species to cordon off or which to breed, which lands to extract from, and which to leave.

Certainly the science behind those choices is part of what I’m learning, yet my approach in the learning is to re-title this program as a Master of Human Management in Environmental Relations.

Learning to love living-with rather than exercising dominion over.

First Spring is when it still feels like Winter and yet the groundhog (if you have such a creature in your neck of the woods) has seen his shadow (or not) and the days are lightening. The ground thaws and then it snows and then it warms again and buds and bulbs appear but then are threatened by frost. The human moods swing just as readily, aching to be free of cabin fever. We have a need to resurrect ourSelves, to rise up again out of the dense, dark earth and feel the light, wind, and water of the other elements. We want to rise up renewed.

Red Mirror from Fairy Tales exhibit at GOMA, Brisbane, Feb 2024

I have seated Muladhara Chakra’s earth element here in First Spring because it is the most dense and primal of our elements. The colour is the red of blood, the blood of our ancestors that we evolve out of. We need earth. We are earth. Look after Earth - it’s not Uranus!

Which is actually where this energy centre is seated - in the very taboo anus and tailbone. Our base. The most base vibration in the mantras. The most basic need to feel safe, secure, and that we have a right to exist.

Song to support your inquiry here:

I highly recommend being on the actual Earth and/or using stones you’ve collected for this practice. Make a direct connection to the earth element if you can! Welcome to the ground beneath your feet! And to your feet themselves. As well as your legs, tailbone, and the more energetic and ancestral root systems. In Muladhara chakra, meaning energy centre of root or base support, we get our feet on the ground.

This 30 minute Round 1 of First Spring focuses on plugging into core strength in the actual core but also in the arms and legs, as well as in the breathing muscles. With a lot of focus on pranayams--breathing practices--you may find you need tissues to clear your nose. Spring cleaning for the insides is at hand! And if you're a woman, you may prefer Sitali Pranayam (which is also a cleansing breath) as a calmer option during menstruation. If so, ignore the Kumbhakas (breath suspensions) and simply continue with your Sitali practice.

Follow your own internal wisdom, and/or feel free to contact me directly with any concerns you have in these practices, especially if you're unsure how to adjust for knee and sacral issues.

Here's what Others have to say about this practice:

"That was great! I opened my eyes after the hums

and found my dog looking rather perplexed ;-)" ~Nathalie

I’m a big fan of acknowledging roots and origins as best I can so, next, I’ll share with you where each exercise in this Round, or my approach to it, originates. For more about me, MYOGA and my attribution to ancestors and origins, check this post.

Khapalabhati is our first port of call on this journey. Along with rocks, also gather a handkerchief or tissues to support shining the inside of your skull, which is the translation of this pranayam. We’re dynamically clearing the sinuses via the strength of the abdomen. There was a period in my life when I had such intense allergies to grass, dust, mold and dander that I developed allergy-induced asthma and could barely do my work in Manhattan as a mad hatter (milliner) for Broadway, film, dance and television. Surrounded by feathers and other dusty notions, I struggled to breathe.

I was directed to an acupuncturist on the upper East side who had trained with the man that brought acupuncture to the US in the late 1960’s. Normally he treated allergies in 6 weeks but it took 6 months of needling appointments with him and stinking up my 123rd Street apartment with hours of boiling strange concoctions of Chinese herbs. I also spent hours doing yogic breathing to help clear the mucous.

What I’ve noticed in my system over the decades is that when my digestion is off, my nose gets blocked. So while the belly seems a long ways off from the sinuses, see what correlations you discover in your own system. Here in Muladhara chakra we’re centring our attention at the very base of the spine and in the essential function of elimination. A perfect focus for the early Spring season. Let’s clear out the detritus!

As we activate the navel to clear the nose, we invoke life force in the fingers with Prana Mudra, by connecting to the earth, or your stones, like a grounding rod that channels lightning from the sky into mama Earth. Prana translates from Sanskrit to mean ‘life force’ and is connected to the in-breath. As mentioned above, do Sitali pranayam (notice how this word is made of prana + yam, which means control or restraint) as an alternative.

At the end of each round of Khapalabhati we are suspending the exhale, which you’ll recall from Deepest Winter (if you’ve just come from that Season) is called Bhaya Kumbhaka. We experimented there with what it feels like to not have breath in the body, to relax into that death space. Go at your own pace with Khapalabhati and place greater emphasis on precision and effectiveness at this stage than you do on speed. To isolate out this breathing practice (or if you’re not yet getting the Seasons modules via the paid version of my SS), do this 9 minute Sounds Module session.

Don’t underestimate the simple moves of Arm Circles and Face Shake (little moves I made up) after our invocation of the Adi (or first) Mantra. Really see, and even feel, how your ocean-sounding Ujjayi Pranayam rises up from your seat into your shoulders and arms. Stretching the tongue out long serves to stave off throat issues and relaxes the jaw from clenching, which is further reinforced by shaking the face and making sound. Horses do this to relieve pressure and we can too, if we don’t take ourselves so seriously. And that’s the point—to start out with a lighter approach by bringing some humour into the practice.

With Saphira and Duke on Waiheke Island, 2021. Photos by Russel Walder.

For it’s a sense of humour you’ll need next with Body Drops, a challenging and somewhat ridiculous exercise from Kundalini Yoga. Be mindful of your tailbone if you’ve had any injuries, and follow my guidelines for adjusting it if necessary. As with so many Kundalini Yoga practices, the challenge is in the length of time we stay with the exercise. Anything can be done for a few seconds, but we impact different bodies the more minutes we dedicate. 1 minute is usually the minimum and then it’s stepped up to 3 minutes, which affects the circulation and overall blood chemistry and stability. With increased circulation, enhanced neuroendocrine secretions are distributed throughout the body.

It’s in the moments of integration that we take after the intensity that we develop our awareness of the exercise’s impacts, so pay attention!

The integrations are key! Throughout this earth-focused sadhana (spiritual practice), we’ll alternate between levitation and lift-off practices, and re-lease-ing and integrating practices. Become adept at transitioning swiftly between full engagement and full release. Make the most of the moments of rest and recuperation. Don’t waste time foostering around. In life and on the mat, we don’t know when we’ll next need to engage so make the most of the opportunity to restore! Trust and acceptance are required here. How much do you trust the earth to hold you? How much are you willing and able to relinquish the holding-up you do so readily in the rest of your life?

Acceptance is a key word that carries us over from Deepest Winter, seated in the crown chakra Sahasrara, where we accepted unity consciousness. Samadhi is often described (as best as an ineffable experience can be described) as an experience of boundlessness or merger.

As we swoop from the crown round to our roots in feet, legs and tailbone, we are learning to accept our individual ancestors, our tribe. Who are the folks you come from? Try as you might to resist them, they are who made you. What we can differentiate though, is how we siphon goodness from our roots, leaving the poison to compost into potion.

Our reading in this rest moment is from Martha Graham, renowned US dancer and choreographer:

In a dancer there is a reverence for such forgotten things as the miracle of the small beautiful bones and their delicate strength....

Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It's a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle.

.....We have all walked the high wire of circumstance at times. We recognize the gravity pull of the earth...

Twisted Root Yogi Lifts, photo by Michael Hobbs of hippyparents.com

We’ll continue to be held here by the earth as we prepare the hips for Twisted Root Yogi Lifts, precision core work from Ana Forrest that also prepares the legs for one of our balancing poses later in this sadhana—Garudasana or Eagle pose.