Welcome everyone and happy summer solstice! I’m so glad to have you joining in on this complete hour long practice which will incorporate lots of breathwork, yoga poses and chanting.
The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year and the international day of yoga! This day is all about celebration, abundance and gratitude. It’s a great time to tap into our inner power and look at what we’ve accomplished this year while refining where we want to go. This is a celebration of light and a time for nurturing.
We will do three different types of pranayama in this class: nadi bedhana pranayama (single nostril breath), breath of joy and sitali pranayama (cooling breath). We will have a strong dynamic yoga flow with sun salutations and standing poses as well as poses that connect with the manipura solar plexus chakra. We’ll finish by chanting gayatri mantra. Here’s a translation of this mantra I really love by Douglas Brooks:
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tatsavitur vareṇyaṃ
bhargo devasya dhīmahi
dhiyo yo naḥ prachodayāt
The eternal, earth, air, heaven
That glory, that resplendence of the sun
May we contemplate the brilliance of that light
May the sun inspire our minds
