You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Mary Oliver.
Hello and welcome to episode number 341 of Yoga with Melissa.
Thank you so much for joining us today and thank you for welcoming me into your home
as we journey into our innermost home over the next hour.
Today we are in Machozen at Witte's Lagoon in this beautiful location.
The tide is low and there are some parts of the ocean here still behind me in this little
what would you call that Tim and Eddie maybe or an estuary.
So it's really pretty and then there's some Arbutus trees behind us and that somebody's
dark and their personal stairs up to their home there.
So we just thought it was an interesting backdrop for our filming today.
We are going to be our topic today is perfectionism and we're going to be doing yoga to marry
Oliver's poem Wild Geese which you knew that was going to be in this series.
So I'm going to get you set up for the opening.
We're going to do Matsuyasana, supported fish pose, Salamba Matsuyasana.
So you can set up your blocks, thanks to dusky leaf for our props.
One tall block, one long block and you can lie back over them.
So the long block is on your upper back and the tall block is on your head, behind your
head and you can rest back here to open your chest and your shoulders.
This is a great counter pose for your day to day life for being rounded over computers
and cell phones and tablets, handheld devices for all the keyboarding and texting we do.
And you can stay here and I will take you through the opening of our show.
So thanks to Squeezed Yoga Clothing for my clothes today.
I'm wearing a long sleeve purple dancing Ganesh top and gray capri leggings with a triple
goddess symbol on them.
And also I was going to wear this t-shirt underneath which I'll show you because it's
so great.
It's the Phoenix, Ann Marie, she's a colleague, she's an artist, a fellow artist, a fellow
yoga teacher as well.
She lives very close to where I used to live in Ontario and she designed this Phoenix and
it's on a bamboo, blue bamboo top with a surge stitching.
This cap sleeve and it's a wonderful t-shirt so but I've chosen to wear the long sleeve
so that I can keep the sun off me and it's a little cooler down here by the ocean too.
I have a testimonial from Alice from our membership community about our new short restorative
yoga for anxiety class and it's a restorative yoga for anxiety class in our membership community.
And she says, hi Melissa, I felt so good in caps after this class, thank you so much.
Before this class I felt anxious about the future, I felt tired and I felt a middling
energy.
I even yawned when you were asking about that on the video.
After words I feel calm and joyful, I feel energized and refreshed and ready for anything.
This class is amazing smiley face, for me it is as profoundly effective as the intelligent
core class.
That is a long video that we have in our membership community.
She says the intelligent core class is relaxing, where this one is joy inducing.
So thank you Alice for leaving your testimonial in the membership community, I appreciate
that.
I want to thank to all of you who leave your comments in our membership community on YouTube,
in iTunes, on Facebook, Instagram and SpeakPipe on my website and I always love hearing from
you wherever you leave your comments and we respond to you wherever you leave your comments
as well.
So thank you so much for that.
Let's bring ourselves together with our Shava Sahanavatu mantra, our peace mantra.
Om Sahanavatu Sahanobunaktu
Sahavir Yama Karva Vahe Tejas Veenavadita Mastu
Mavid Visha Vahe Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
So that mantra asks that we be protected together, student and teacher, that our studies nourish
us together, that we work together for the union of the good of all, that our learning
be luminous and purposeful, that we live in harmony and that we have peace, peace, peace
beyond to all.
So our class today is about perfectionism and our poem is Wild Geese by Mary Oliver.
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on, meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of rain are moving
across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese high in the clean blue air are heading home again.
Wherever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls
you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting, over and over again, announcing your place
in the family of things.
So bend your knees, roll to your side and you're going to take your blocks and put them
off to the side and lie down on your back again and feel the difference in your upper
back, neck and shoulders from lying with that heart opening, okay?
And you're going to stay lying on your back, we're going to do a few poses just to prepare
you for what's coming in the class.
So you'll be lying on your back with your knees bent, your feet flat on the floor, just
take your feet as wide as your yoga mat, your arms up to the side and we'll begin by releasing
your hips by swaying your knees from side to side, breathing and swaying your knees
from side to side.
This is really good for lubricating your hip joint, it's great if you have arthritis, it's
just good for mobility of your hips and then come back to the center and cross your right
ankle over the top of your left thigh and then draw your left thigh in towards your
chest and you're going to hold on behind your knee, use your right elbow to open your right
knee and feel something happening in the outside of your right thigh and into your right glute
or keyhole stretch, just to release your hips, breathing here, and then come back to the center
and then take your right knee and cross it all the way over and you can hold on on your
shins or your ankles and draw your legs all the way in.
So this will start to prepare you for something that's coming at the very end of the class
which is cow's face pose and I was thinking about how you only have to let the soft animal
of your body love what it loves, so allow a softness to come into your body here.
So this will start to prepare you for something that's coming at the very end of the class.
And then you're going to release that side and we'll repeat that sequence on the other
side so you'll cross your left ankle over top of your right thigh, open your left knee
out to the side, draw your right leg in towards your chest, reach your hand through the keyhole
hold on behind your right thigh and use your left elbow to open your knee, feel something
happening in the outside of your left glute, relax your shoulders, space between your teeth,
breathe here, feel that release happening in the outside of your left thigh and into
your left glute.
So again this is really good for releasing your glute, this just gets tight from going
up and down stairs, from sitting, from being active, from being inactive.
So good one just because you're a human being.
And then we'll take this into that recline Gobakasana, so cross your left leg all the
way over your right leg and then draw in, you can hold on at your knees or your shins
or your ankles and just let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Relax your shoulders, space between your teeth.
And let's take this into this recline Gobakasana.
And then release that out of your body and we're going to do a little bit of shoulder
releasing here.
And I want you to hold on to your elbows and just inhale lift your shoulders up off
the ground and then exhale drop them into the ground.
Inhale lift them up, exhale drop them down and then lower your elbows from side to side
just to release your shoulders and I'm going to move those out of the way a little more.
Inhale center, exhale to the side.
So this made me think of the line in the poem, meanwhile the sun and the pebbles of the rain
are moving across the, I want to say the ocean, is that right, we're moving across the landscapes
I knew that wasn't right, meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving
across the landscapes. I'm changing this poem to suit my environment. Okay, then you're
going to circle your elbows, meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are
moving across the landscapes.
Go the other way.
And then from here, we're going to roll to your side and come up onto all fours and we're
going to do some cat pose.
So with cat pose, you're going to place your hands underneath your shoulders, your knees
underneath your hips. If you have any wrist issues, you're going to come down onto your
forearms or onto your fists and you're going to exhale, round up to your back and shift
back. And then you're going to inhale and arch and come forward. So exhale, round back,
shift back and inhale and shift forward. Exhale, round and shift back and inhale, arch and
shift forward. You only have to let the soft and more of your body love what it loves.
So think about, just allow your body to be soft here and love what it loves.
And then I thought we would do some crawling because there's a line in the poem about you
do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles repenting.
So actually crawling is very good for you. And I'll talk to you while we're crawling
about why crawling is good for you. It improves the neural connections and pathways in your
brain and the brain body connection. But let's just start crawling. You want to make sure
you're crawling with your opposite arm and leg. So you guys can crawl more than on and
off than on your mat. So you can move off your mat as well. For me, I'd get very dirty
and the ground isn't very hospitable for crawling, but just crawl forward and backwards and in
all directions. You don't have to just so you can go sideways to this ground is very
dirty here opposite arm and leg. So you're establishing neuronal connections in your
in pathways in your brain. It allows your brain to become more efficient at communication
between your left and right hemispheres in particular. Keep crawling. The better your
brain can communicate and process information, the better your body is going to move. Crawling
also unites your sensory systems. It integrates your vestibular system, which is responsible
for your balance. So in our membership community, we have a whole brain yoga class that is has
crawling in it has other brain yoga exercises in it as well. And it's the whole class is
designed to help you with balancing yoga poses. It also improves your proprioception
system. That's your sense of self and space and your self awareness system. It improves
your visual system to improve your hand eye coordination. And it also improves your core
strength as well. So crawling is incredibly good for you. It's something that if you could
do it every day, you should do it every day. There's no reason why you can't do it every
day. So you do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for 100 miles
repenting, but you could crawl for a little bit every day. And it would be very good for
your brain. You just don't have to do it repenting. We're also going to do kneeling, sun
salutations today for you do not have to be good. You don't have to walk on your knees
for 100 miles through the desert repenting. So walk your hands back towards your knees
now and come up so that you're standing on your knees. I first learned these from Michael
Stone at Esther Meyers studio. And this was before he had his own space. So many, many
years ago. And he was guest teaching at Esther Meyers studio in Toronto. And he's called
them sun salutations for when you live in an attic. He says, start with your hands in
Anjali Mudra at your heart center. And you're going to inhale, reach up. Then you're going
to exhale, you're going to fold forward, come down into child's pose, rest your forehead
on the ground, inhale, peel your spine off your legs and reach back up. Your arms come
overhead and then exhale your hands come to your heart center. So inhale, reach up, lift
your heart up. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, reach back up. Exhale, your hands come to
your heart center. Inhale, reach up. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, reach up. Exhale, hands
to your heart center. We'll do one more like this. Inhale, reach up. Exhale, down into child's
pose. Inhale, peel your spine up. Exhale, hands to your heart center. And then you can take
one hand forward on your knee and come up to standing. And from standing, we're going
to do some, oh, sorry, come back down. We're going to do the teachings now. Oh, I thought
I'd chosen a mood drip, but I didn't. I'm sorry. Okay, you're going to sit. Okay, let's
sit with our palms one on top of each other, left palm on the bottom, right palm on top
and bring the tips of your thumbs together. And then draw your shoulders back over your
hips, your ears over your shoulders, close your eyes and allow yourself to be in a receptive
state to receive the teachings and the poem for today.
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your
knees for 100 miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your
body love what it loves. Tell me about your despair, yours and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile,
the world goes on. Meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across
the landscapes over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile,
the wild geese high in the clean blue air are heading home again. Whoever you are, no
matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the
wild geese, harsh and exciting over and over, announcing your place in the family of things.
In our culture, and especially in the context of social media, there is a tremendous amount
of pressure to perform. Please and be perfect. Social media puts the pressure on us to show
that we can create the perfect meals, the perfect homes, have the perfect hairstyle,
makeup, clothes, body and go on the perfect vacations. We crave the praise and approval
of our followers, looking for likes and comments, believing that when we gain the approval and
likes of others, we ourselves will feel happy and light up from inside.
In this poem, Mary Oliver reminds us, you do not have to be good. You do not have to
walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let
the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about your despair, yours and
I will tell you mine. Meanwhile, the world goes on. Meanwhile, the sun and the clear
pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep
trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile, the wild geese high in the clear blue air are
heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your
imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting over and over, announcing
your place in the family of things. You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk
on your knees for a hundred miles. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love
what it loves. The world will go on. As we remember from the inner critic series, when
it comes to perfectionism, there are no priorities. Our inner perfectionist will require us to
be perfect in all areas of our life. This poem reminds us that our self-worth is not
dependent on our productivity, accomplishments or outward appearances. We can become aware
of negative internal dialogue and practice appreciation for ourselves within the natural
world as the wild geese do. This poem reminds us that the wild geese announce our place
in the family of things. We all have our place in the natural world, our place of being,
not doing, and our interdependent world is dependent upon our being.
So reflect on this poem and the teachings offered today in your experience of the yoga
class so far and begin to form an intention of what you would like to receive from the
rest of your yoga practice today. What is it that you would like to create, sustain,
or let go of, or rebirth in your life and how could your yoga practice best help you to
do that?
Okay, once you've formed your intention, we're going to make our way up to standing.
So you can stand at the top of your mat, place your feet underneath your hip bones, lift
and spread your toes, reach your legs long out of your pelvis, allow your spine to lengthen,
bring your shoulders over your hips, your ears over your shoulders, let your arms be
heavy. So this is Tadasana Mountain Pose. You want to feel all four corners of your feet
like the old fashioned four wheeled rollerblades. Meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of
the rain are moving across the landscapes over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains
and the rivers.
Okay, from Mountain Pose, we're going to go into Rikasana Tree Pose. So stand on your
left foot, turn your right toes out. You can keep your toes on the ground below your knee
or above your knee, focus on something on the ground that's not moving. Bring your hands
to your heart center, you can leave them here or you can take them overhead. And you may
find that your balance is a little better because we did that crawling which would help
your vestibular system which helps to improve your balance as I said before.
So meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes
over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. So let's do tree
pose on the other side. Stand on your right leg, turn your left toes out, place your foot
above or below your knee, focus on something on the ground that is not moving. Bring your
hands to your heart center, you can leave them here or you can take them up overhead.
So stand on your right leg, turn your left toes out, place your foot above or below your
knee. And we can let that fall out of your body.
And from here, I believe now we're going to do sun salutations. We are, we're going to
do sun salutations with some cloud salutations in between. So we'll start with cloud salutations
and then we'll do a round of sun salutations, cloud salutations in the middle, sun salutations,
you get the drift. So you're going to inhale, reach up, exhale, bring your palms together
and lift your knee. This is the cloud salutations, it's like clouds floating in the sky. Inhale,
reach up, you lower your foot down to the ground at the same time that your palms come
together overhead. Exhale, lift your opposite knee, bring your hands to your heart center.
Inhale, bring your hands overhead, your foot reaches down at the same time as your hands
come overhead. Then you're going to exhale, fold forward into standing forward, fold,
bend your knees, standing forward, fold, inhale, walk your right foot back. Your left foot
comes back, you can bend your knees, lower down. Inhale, lift your head for cobra. Exhale,
third facing dog. Inhale, walk your right foot in. Exhale, walk your left foot in. You're
going to inhale, come up. Exhale, lift one knee, cloud salutations. Inhale, lower palms
come together at the same time as your foot comes down. Exhale, lift your other knee, hands
come to your heart center. Inhale, lift up, hands come together at the same time as your
foot comes to the ground. Then we're going to exhale, sun salutations again, fold forward.
Inhale walk your left foot back. Exhale, right foot back. Lower down. Inhale, lift up, cobra.
Exhale downward facing dog. Inhale, left foot forward. Exhale, right foot forward. Then you're
going to inhale, come up. You're going to exhale, cloud salutations. Inhale, arms overhead,
lower your foot down. Exhale, cloud salutations. Inhale, arms overhead, and hands come together.
Exhale, you're going to fold forward. Inhale, step your right foot back. Exhale, step your
left foot back. Knees down, lower down. Inhale, lift your chest for cobra. Exhale, downward
facing dog. Inhale, step your right foot in. Exhale, step your left foot in. Inhale, come
up. We'll do cloud salutations. Exhale, knee up. Inhale, lower your foot down, bring your
palms together. Exhale, other knee up. Breathe in, lower your foot down. Then we're going
to do sun salutations on the other side. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, walk your left foot
back. Exhale, walk your right foot back. Lower down. Inhale, lift your chest. Exhale, downward
facing dog. Inhale, walk your left knee in. Exhale, walk your right knee in. Inhale, reach
up. Exhale, cloud salutations last time. Inhale, reach up. Palms together, lower your foot.
Exhale, and then you're going to bring your hands together to your heart center. Meanwhile,
the sun moves on across the landscape, over the prairies, the deep trees, the mountains
and the rivers. Turn wide on your mat. Take your feet wide. We're going to do Goddess
Victory Squat. Meanwhile, the wild geese high in the clean blue air are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination. Calls
to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting, over and over, announcing your place in the
family of things. We're going to do Goddess Victory Squat legs with wild geese arms. I'm
going to kind of layer this. We'll build up and you can stay with whatever version makes
the most sense to you. You might want to stay with just the legs, which is Goddess Victory
Squat legs. You might want to inhale up, exhale down, inhale up, exhale down. You might want
to do this version of wild geese. You might want to add on and do more. Inhale up, exhale
down, inhale up so you're gathering all the energy of the earth and coming up. If you
want more of a balance challenge, when you come up, you're coming up onto your toes and
lifting your heels. So that's the third and final option. So do whatever works best for
you. And release that and you're going to come and come into downward facing dog after
that. So stand at the top of your mat, inhale, reach up, exhale, fold forward, step your
feet back into downward facing dog and let your head hang here. Really just relax, lengthen
through your spine, relax your head. And then lower yourself down. For this final one, you're
going to need a strap. So I'm pretty sure I did not bring my strap over here. You're
going to need a yoga strap. I have a yoga strap in my bag, darling. Okay, you're going
to cross your left leg over your right leg for Gomukhasana. You only have to let the
soft animal of your body love what it loves. And if this is feeling really tight, you can
always sit up on a block for this one or a cushion. And we're going to use your strap
because we're going to do the arms for this one as well. Let's just do a twist here first.
So it doesn't matter which side we're going to twist to both sides. I'm going to twist
the other side. And then take your left arm internally, rotate your shoulder, bring your
left arm up your back. And you're going to bring your right arm up and over. And if your
fingertips meet great, if not, you're going to use your strap to walk your hands toward
each other more in your back. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what
it loves. Then you can release this side and we'll switch legs too. So you can take the
other leg on top and you will internally rotate your right arm and bring your right arm up
here back. And then lift your left arm up and over and meet your hands. Allow this to
be soft without grasping. So let go of perfectionism. Just let this unwind in its own time. You
only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
And then release that down. And go ahead and lie on your back for Shavasana.
Just let your body really sink and rest into the ground. And you can stay here and I will
sit up and redo the poem one last time today. Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. You do not have
to be good. You do not have to crawl on your knees for 100 miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about your
despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile, the world goes on. Meanwhile, the
sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes over the prairies
and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile, the wild geese high in
the clean blue air are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the
world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting,
over and over, announcing your place in the family of things.
So reflect back on this class on your experience of your yoga practice and the poem and the
teachings. So what stands out to you? What seems most important? And how does that relate
to the rest of your life right now? What's one small thing you're going to take with
you off your yoga mat and into your life? Then you can gradually allow your breath to
deepen, wiggle your fingers and toes, bend your knees, roll to your side, and pause there
for a moment. Just remember what you're going to take off your mat and into your life, and
then slowly make your way up to seated. So we're going to finish with our mantra, lo-ka
samastha sukhino bhavantu.
lo-ka samastha sukhino bhavantu
lo-ka samastha sukhino bhavantu
May all beings be happy and free and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life
contribute in some way to the happiness and freedom for all. So thank you so much for
joining me for episode number 341 of Yoga with Melissa. If you liked today's show, please
give it a thumbs up. And if you're new to our channel, we put out a free show every
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clicking below here. And you can also donate of your time by leaving a comment. Today's
question to answer in the comment is, what's one small way you are going to release the
grip of perfectionism this week? What is one small way you are going to release the grip
of perfectionism this week? And if you would like an infographic of my top three benefits
of engaging with poetry, then you can go to melissos.com slash 341. And when you scroll
down to the bottom, there will be an opt-in box. You can type your email in there and
we will send you a beautiful infographic of my top three benefits of engaging with poetry.
Today we did some crawling and I shared with you the benefits of crawling from improving
the connection between the left and right hemisphere of your brain, allowing better communication
between your brain and your body, the neural pathways, your nervous system, uniting your
sensory systems, integrating your vestibular system, which helps you with balance. I get
so many questions about balance. You want to improve your balance, do some crawling,
improving your proprioception, your sense of yourself and space, and improving your
visual system, including hand-eye coordination. Crawling has so many benefits and we actually
have a whole class on brain yoga to improve your balance in our membership community.
Not only that, that's a 30-minute class, but we have 14 membership classes with brain yoga
in them. So I've linked those for our members in our show notes today, just so that you
know about them. But also, if you'd like to become a member to have access to our best
and value-added content, there's a link to that below here as well. I'm sending you
much love from beautiful British Columbia. May your joy be as deep as our Pacific Ocean,
may you be as strong as our mountains, and may you be as rooted as the trees in our forest.
I'm Shanti Namaste.
