🏕️The Smokies🌲National Parks Yoga Series

 

🌲⛰️☀️Hey beautiful souls!! Welcome to our "At Peace in the National Parks" Yoga Series! We will visit so many incredibly breathtaking parks, created to protect these sacred lands and all the life that exists there, from Yosemite & Yellowstone, to the Smokies, the Everglades, to Olympic National Park! Last week we visited Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming! We found healing in the warm geothermal pools and hydrothermal geysers, We connected to the soil, the water, the sun, bison, mountain lions, prairie dogs, elk, moose, grizzlies, over 300 species of birds, and so much beautiful life! We found wisdom with the indigenous Nez Perce, Blackfeet, and Crow, who helped us connect back to this sacred land, flora, and fauna. This week, we traveled to the Tennessee-North Carolina border, to the Smoky Mountains National Park!

 

🌲🦌”Nature is the purest portal to inner peace. The earth longs to feel our bare feet and the wind delights in weaving through our hair. We are always connected, we are never separate. This connection to the earth gives us our basic foundation of belonging, home, and safety.” Here’s me at Yellowstone with my bison friends!!

 

 

🌲⛰️Lets go to the Smokies!! The Smokies are special to me, taking me back to my roots! I spent my childhood in North Carolina, before moving to Germany for a few years, and then to Atlanta! We lived north of Atlanta, not far from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains! The Blue Ridge and the Appalachian Mountains lie right in the middle of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park! The Smokies became a national park in 1934, and are comprised of over 500,000 acres of mountains, forests, waterfalls, streams, rivers, with forests making up 95% of the park! The Smokies see a staggering 13 million visitors per year, the MOST of any national park in the U.S. This surprised me! I thought it would be Yosemite! The accessibility and temperate climate of the Smokies make it the star every year! The Smokies are the most biodiverse national park in the U.S. as well, due to its warm, rainy, forested, water-filled ecosystems. Over 119,000 animal species are seen in the park, from black bears, elk, bobcats, foxes, flying squirrels, bats, reptiles like box turtles, snakes, over 200 species of birds, including song birds, owls, bald eagles, falcons, herons, hundreds of insect species, and amphibians like frogs and salamanders! The Smokies is the Salamander Capital of the World! Yes, that's right, the entire world!! The Hellbender Salamander is almost 3 feet long! The most diverse salamander species population is seen right here in the U.S. in the Smoky Mountains! That's wild y'all!! The Smokies attracts artists, writers, filmmakers, photographers, hikers, climbers, cyclists, horseback riders, campers, kayakers, and conservationists to immerse in its beauty, flora and fauna! All of this lies within us! The Cherokee are native to this land, and we are reminded that we are always connected to this sacred and incredible land. The Cherokee call this land, "Shaconage" meaning the Land of Blue Smoke, for those blue misty mountains!

 

 

We began our practice on our backs, and created a hammock for the legs, building two blocks at the edges of our mat, a bolster on top, and our calves resting on the bolster while our feet dangle! Our hands overhead or by the hips, we melt into our hammock tied between two trees! I read that the Smokies are the hammock capital of the US! The head and shoulders become heavy. Each vertebrae of the spine begins to ground toward the soil beneath us, the hips melt, and the arms and legs soften. We created our 3-part breath, inhaling deeply through the nose from the toes up into the belly taking up space, exhaling slowly through the mouth. Our next inhale moves up into the chest, filling the lungs, expanding the ribs, and on the third round, we extend our inhale all the way up to the crown. Our exhales become longer and slower with each round, calming the heart rate, blood pressure, and nervous system. We became present in the body and the space we're in, and allowed all of our past events to melt back to the earth, transformed by the rivers into something new, something for our greater good. We sent our fears and worries and stressors out into the breeze, to be carried further and further away from us, no longer needed to carry, as we become cleansed, and lighter. We anchored to the peace found in this stillness. Our Ujjayi breath followed, even lengths of inhale and exhale through the nose, our grounding, stabilizing breath. Even though the eyes are closed, we noticed what we see beyond the lids, finding peace and serenity in this darkness. We traveled to our smell, noticing what we smell around us, notes of citrus & wood, Palo Santo, essential oil mist I sprayed overhead, to help us connect to the summer forest! We scanned to our hearing, noticing the sound of our breath, the breath of our neighbor, the hum of the furnace, pinpointing an instrument in the music. We inhaled through center, exhaled to thread the needle to the opposite side, left hand underneath the right arm, grounding the left temple & shoulder, melting back into the earth, and scanned to our taste, noticing the last thing we may have eaten, or a sip of cup of tea, coffee,  lingering in the mouth, separating the teeth, the tongue falling from the roof of the mouth. Lastly, we noticed our sense of touch, what we feel against the skin, the warmth of the air against the skin, the softness of our clothes, the stickiness of our mat, supporting us, cradling us, serving as our anchor, as we shed the layers that accumulate on the body and mind from daily life, bringing us back home to ourselves, lighter, more free.

 

 

We inhaled the hands overhead, toes reach forward, full body stretch, exhale knees hug into the chest, circling the ankles, rocking side to side, massaging the lumbar spine. We lengthen feet to the sky, Waterfall Legs, T-pose, feet to the sky, right crosses over the left, bent knees, eagle the legs, inhale we eagle the arms, right over left, inhale we reach the hands overhead touching the earth, toes touch down, exhale we crunch in, elbows tap knees, inhale overhead, exhale crunch in, 3 times, our Bald Eagle flying overhead in our hammock! Our left toes touch down, hips scooch to the right, knees melt to the left, Supine Twist. We inhale knees through center, unravel, plant the feet down hip width apart, palm plant by the hips, inhale hips lift up into our Bridge, exhale we lower down, 2 more times, reaching the hands to the sky then overhead with each hip lift, Floating Bridge! We honored the left side, and rock n rolled to a comfortable seat!  The hands lifted overhead, and met in our Bear Grip mudra, clasping the fingers, one palm facing out, one inward. Our Bear Grip mudra connects us to our black bear friends, strong, resilient, while also slowing the heart rate. We rubbed the palms together to create some heat, some healing energy, remembering that our hands are tools for healing, 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, gentle pressure into our vagus nerve, serving as a nervous system reset button, finally bringing the hands to the heart sending gratitude to the heart and lungs, for the work they do every moment of every day, for us.

 

 

🐻We set an intention for our practice. We inhaled the hands overhead, and to the right for a twist, peeling the right shoulder back to open the chest 5% more, opening our Anahata chakra, heart chakra, sending compassion, understanding, love out into the world. 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 honored the other side, and then came through center, planted the fingers behind us, opened the chest, arching the spine into a backbend. We came through center, soles of the feet meet, inching forward, into a diamond shape, and walk the hands under the calves, inching forward, into our Eastern Box Turtle, the state reptile of North Carolina! We walk the hands in, knees open, Badokanasana, Butterfly pose,  make peace fingers with our hands, and hook our big toes, extend the feet out and up, into our V-shape, balancing on the root chakra, the tailbone, into our Balancing Black Bear, deep inhale in, and with the exhale we roll back along the spine to our backs, reaching for outer edges of the feet into our Happy Black Bear, rocking side to side. We floated the knees through center, melt the knees to the right, and left, through center, we rock n roll up into our Navasana, Boat pose, inhale hands to the heart, exhale twist to the right, inhale center, exhale left, repeating 2 more times, rock back, and forward, 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, inhale as the gaze and right toes reach for the sky, bending the right knee, exhale tap knee to nose, inhale we lift, exhale tap, inhale lift, left hand reaches back for the right foot, into our Bobcat pose! The only wild cat in the Smokies! Inhale we release the right foot, right toes plant back of the mat, left knee lifts into the chest, arch the back, left knee down, right toes to the sky, a little pushup, bend the elbows, nose to the earth, 2 times, right toes down, inhale lift the right leg, parallel to the mat, exhale cross it over to the left, gaze over the left shoulder. Inhale right knee tucks in behind the left, gaze to the palms, walk the hands to the right, and sink the hips back, crossed-leg Childs pose. We unravel through center, a round of cat cow flow, and honor the left side, meeting in Childs pose.

 

 

In our downward dog, we created plank waves, floating into our plank, exhaling up into our Downward dog, 3 times, and 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, hanging heavy, and began to 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 sand pull at the soles of our feet from the toes to the arches to the heels, 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. We inhaled hands overhead, right hand to the left wrist, bending to the right, through center, side bend to the left. We came through center and to exhaled forward into a swan dive melted into a forward fold. We planted the hands and moved through a vinyasa flow, pranam knees chest chin into a low cobra, or a chaturanga flow to upward dog, or skipped the flow completely, stepping into downward dog. Always your choice!

 

 

☀️Our flow began in Tadasana, inhale hands reach overhead,  from our Bear Grip Mudra, sidebend to the right, center, to the left, swan dive forward fold. Move through your flow, meet in downward dog, inhale right leg lifts, exhale cross tap right knee to left elbow, inhale lift, exhale right to right elbow, inhale lift, exhale knee to chest, step the right foot forward, rise up Warrior I. Inhale hands reach up to the sky, and cactus out, exhale arms reach out then forward, torso leaning forward, inhale we reach back cactus the arms, exhale reach forward, like a wave coming in and out, we're white water rafting down the river! On the third, we float around, Warrior 2 to the back of our mat, deep bend in the left knee, gaze over the left fingers. Inhale we exalt our warrior, right hand down left hand up, exhale we float forward into our Half Moon, into the left foot and hand, right leg floats, right hand peels to the sky! Soft landing of the right foot back of the mat, Sky Archer, straighten the left leg, right hand down, left hand high, maybe a bind behind the back. Unravel the arms out to a T, reach the left hand forward, hinge from the hips, and melt the left hand down, right hand high, into our Triangle, symbol of change and transformation. Right hand plants inside the left foot, left hand high, Twisted Lunge. Left hand down, Standing Splits, right toes high, exhale curtsy tap out to the left, inhale right toes high, exhale tap, third time, right shin meets the mat, lower onto our seat, left foot crosses over the right knee, we twist to the left, right arm around the left knee, left hand plants behind us, opening the chest. We float through center, left foot extends to the sky, both hands around the left ankle, into our Heron, right hand peels back, we open up our Heron. We float through center, left foot plants down, hips lift, inhale right toes high, Standing Splits, exhale right foot lands back of our mat, all 10 toes toward the top of our mat (facing the back), into our Pyramid, today our camping tent, straighten the legs, melt the heart.

 

 

🌲Walk the hands around to the right, Wideleg fold. Inhale we rise up, 5-pointed Star, exhale into our Goddess. Inhale we float into the right foot, left foot meets the right leg, into our Tree, through center, we float into the left foot, into our Tree, through center. We inhale extend up, 5-pointed Star, arms out to a T, right toes turn to the top of the mat, reach the right hand forward, hinge from the hips, right hand down, left hand peels up, into our Triangle, left hand high. We float forward into the right foot, right hand, Half Moon, left hand high. Hips pivot toward the earth, hands reach out to a T, Warrior 3, into our Flying Squirrel!

 

 

Fun Fact: Around 3am one night, I felt a creature run across me feet, on top of our comforter, then it jumped into he blinds of the windows, across the bookshelf, across our bed's headboard, and into the bathroom. My husband went to catch whatever it was, banging around, comically, just like in a movie, and captured it in a box, and set it free into the front yard. It looked just like a Sugar Baby! Those cute little creatures, big eyes, bat-like arms, stripe down its back. But they only live in Australia, unless someone's pet got loose! This was in Atlanta, and people did have them as pets. But Flying Squirrels live in the area, news to me, and look just like a Sugar Baby! So that was our creature. We think he came in through the chimney as all the windows were closed. Haha! 

Continuing on haha... in our Flying Squirrel, hands to the heart, left foot plants back of the mat, left hand down, right hand high, Twisted Lunge, right hand down, right foot peels out, into our Lizard, today our Salamander, we're in the Salamander capital of the WORLD! Options to stay high, melt the left knee, melt into the forearms, or twist out to the right, maybe binding right hand for left foot. We stepped both feet back, into our plank, moved through our flow, and honored the left side!

 

 

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 throughout the body touching every organ system! 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 began in our Tadasana, brought the right hand to the left upper side of the chest, and extended the left arm forward, palm facing the sky. With a deep inhale, we kept the hips forward, as the left arm slowly traveled out to the left side, gaze following, to the back, paused at the back with the gaze over our left shoulder, and on the exhale slowly brought the arm back toward the top of our mat. We repeated this two more times, inhaled as the arms reached overhead, palms gathered at the heart. We brought the left arm to the right upper side of the chest, extended the right arm forward, palm facing up, and with the inhale slowly traveled the right arm out to the side as the gaze followed, to the back, and paused opening the chest. With the exhale we brought the right arm slowly back to the top of our mat, and repeated 2 more times!  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. We moved into the temples, massaging circles here, 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, either 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 into 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 still tethered to the body is fully released. We released everything from last year, last month, yesterday, that we need to let go of, swipe it away, let yourself be freed 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 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!

 

 

Our cool down began in Tadasana, we inhaled hands overhead, exhaled with a Swan dive, and planted the hands, heel toe out, hips melt into our Yogi Squat, hands to the heart, elbows nudge the knees open. Inhale plant the palms, lift the hip, Froggy Hop back, into Yogi Squat, 3 more times back until we're at the back of our mat, meeting in Yogi Squat. Inhale hips lift, heel toe in, left hand down, left knee bends, right hand high we twist, through center, twist to the left, through center melt the hips into our toe squat, our Owl pose, inhale hands reach up overhead, and T out, chest twisting to the right, knees stay forward, through center, hands high, arms reach out to a T, twist to the left, through center, hands walk forward into our Downward Dog. inhale right leg lifts, knee to chest, thread right foot to the left, Fallen Star, right knee to chest, right shin down, peel the left toes back, hips melt, roll onto the right hip, Fallen Treen reaching left hand for left foot, right hand overhead. Cartwheel the hands around top of the mat, right hand down, hips lift, Rainbow Arch, left hand overhead. Float through center, Table top, lift the hips, Downward dog, honoring the left side, this time meeting in our plank pose, melting down to the belly.

 

 

On our bellies, we find our Low Cobra, today our Water Moccasin Snake, inhale we lift, exhale left ear taps the mat, inhale center, exhale right ear taps down, inhale through center, forehead down, left arm reaches out to the left, roll onto the left hip, Broken Wing, right foot plants behind the left leg, right knee to the sky, through center, Broken Wing to the right, through center, forehead grounds as the right hand reaches back for the right foot, we lift the chest, gaze and right toes high, Half bow, through center, Half Bow to the left, through center, Full Bow, both hands reach for both feet, honoring our Cherokee, and this blue smoke land, "Shaconage," our blue misty mountains!  We release the feet slowly, form a pillow of our palms, forehead to our pillow, inhale right knee floats up toward the right elbow, Half Frog, right hand reaches forward, left arm threads under the right, roll to the back, Supine Twist. We float through center, Half Frog on the left side, and to our backs, Supine twist, and meeting on our backs. Inhale we reach long, exhale knees to chest, and reach for feet, into our Happy Black Bear! We release the feet, knees through center, lengthen long, find our Crescent Moon to the right and left, envisioning we're in our hammocks under the clear night sky, sky full of stars and the moon!

 

 

We create space for anything else we may need before our final rest, perhaps another twist, shoulder stand, bridge, plow, wheel, legs up the wall. We made it to our PEAK POSE: Savasana! We could stay at the wall, or find the full length of the body on our mat. 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 we shed, much like the reptiles we embodied today, removing the armor, the walls. They all come down, revealing our divine self.