with love , Esta

Grounding Meditation

A grounding meditation 🧘🏻‍♀️ to settle in, find your balance and start from a place of stability.

This meditation can be done standing, seated or lying down. Just make yourself comfortable.

Take a deep breath and as you do, see if you can find any extra length in the spine.

Exhale slowly and fully. Taking a brief pause at the end. Get curious about how and when the next breath comes in. Where do you feel the air move within you?

One of my favourite quotes is to let the air breathe you. See if you can hand over control for a second. Let your lungs fill and empty as they need. Soft and easy.

Bring your awareness to where your body meets the surface beneath you.

Is your weight distributed evenly on this surface? Can you feel fully, the support of the bed, chair or floor beneath you? Holding you up. Steady and sure.

If you want to close your eyes, go ahead and flutter the eyelids closed. Draw your attention in to yourself.

Imagine roots are sprouting from your base, flowing from you to the earth. Have fun imagining these roots play over the surface between you and the planet. Winding down a chair leg or seeping through the mattress to meet the ground. Take a moment to see if you can visualize yourself rooting in.

Let yourself feel heavy. Drawing on that stable energy below. Imagine you can pull energy up from the earth, much like a tree with a rich root system.

Let’s take a few deep breaths here. As I guide you through the inhale and exhale, practice building out this image of yourself grounding in to the earth. Expand your imaginary roots ever deeper.

Together we will inhale – in through the nose.

And exhale – out through the mouth.

We will do that two more times.

inhale – in through the nose.

exhale – out through the mouth.

And last one. Inhale, through the nose.

And exhale. Out the mouth with a sigh.

Let’s take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to yourself for taking this grounding pause. Thank you to the earth, for providing support and assurance.

Bring someone close to your heart into mind now. Someone who helps you, encourages you, cheers you on. Send them a thank you too.

Love is better shared.

Thank you for joining me.

With love,

Esta

Body Scan Meditation

Find a comfortable seat.

Take a big, deep inhale and let it out with a sigh.

Close your eyes and drop the shoulders.

Try to release any thoughts and commentary on the day, as you take this moment to come home to yourself.

Inhale.

Lift your heart space, and settle your tailbone.

Exhale.

Bring your chin down towards your chest.

Inhale.

Bring your chin level to the floor.

Exhale and find a neutral sitting position.

Notice how your jaw feels. If your eyebrows are lifted or furrowed. Or relaxed.

We will do a brief body scan. Just checking in with the incredible vessel that carries you through your day.

How do your feet feel? Are they sore? Tired? Rested? Happy?

Notice your ankles and feel into the muscles of your calf.

How are your legs today? Powerful? Achy? Asking for a stretch? Take a pause and let the whole leg. From hip to heel. Just relax.

While we’re at the hips, see what these points of movement feel like. Can you relax anything around them? Ease back into yourself.

Let’s see where the breath is. No need to change how you’re breathing. Just noticing. Where does it go?

Is your tummy moving with the air? Is the air filling the top of your chest? I sometimes find the air here or at what feels like the base of my throat. When I notice I try to deepen the next breath just a little bit. Then the next breath, a little bit more.

See where your shoulders are today. Are they moving with your inhale and exhale? Are they taut or holding onto the day? How about your arms? Can you relax the wrists and the elbows. Letting the arms just be.

How about your neck? The head and the muscles and wiring running up the back of your neck and down your shoulders. Maybe try moving the head in a circle and feel how that feels along the back of the neck.

Lastly. How is your heart today? Is it light? Heavy? Take a moment to be with yourself and just acknowledge how you are in this moment. You can be totally honest with yourself. Be gentle and know that every day the answer to this question will be different.

With one final inhale – and exhale – together. Thank you for joining me.

With love,

Esta

YTT 200

Feb. 1st 2021 I signed up for Brett Larkins Yoga Teacher Training Course. It was an inspired decision and she popped out of the woodwork for me.

I did my research mind you. Explored her website, the program itself, downloaded the brochure, looked up real people’s reviews.

Brett even has a video explaining how to vet your Yoga Teacher Training course. (Linked here.) The words she chose and the way she laid the course out encouraged me. She speaks my language. When I got the syllabus and each video had a little tick box beside it I knew… this was a course for me.

I’ve always loved yoga. I’ve dabbled here and there. Discovered Tara Stiles to start and then Yoga with Adrienne. My partner gifted me a hot yoga gift certificate for Christmas one year. Moda Yoga was a beautiful place. I loved the experience.

There was a video my partner and I saw, maybe from a Ted Talk, asking what you would do if you could do anything. If you were free from guilt and expectation. If you could release all history and obligation. What would you do? And for me. It’s yoga.

I wanted to be a teacher from a young age. I moved provinces just to attend U of W for their B. Ed. Program. I was quickly discouraged however. The department was overflowing. Jobs weren’t a reality upon graduation. Floating as a substitute would last years after graduating.

I dropped the dream. I had an opportunity to work a “real job” and so I stopped attending university. I didn’t give up learning. I pursued my industry designation and finally achieved that last year. I attended First Aid training and MB Safe training. I love to learn.

This course was therefore. A perfect fit. Things begin to click into place for me. Serendipitously, almost! 😉

So what is the YTT 200 exactly? It means that I’ll be putting in 200 hours of Yoga Teacher Training. From anatomy, to history, to correct pose names… I am diving in.

Here’s to a year of svadhyaya 🙏

The Saturday these textbooks arrived was sunny and FREEZING. Perfect to colour and learn.

In February my textbook arrived. I’m loving the lectures so far and discovered pose flash cards with the Sanskrit and English names on the back, at the back of the Anatomy Colouring book. They too, are colourable and highlight which muscles and joints are active in each pose.

May Update. I’ve attended my orientation week. It was nerve settling and nerve inducing all at once. I met people in my class who are calling in from around the world. It all feels more real and exciting!

5.22.2021 The greasy faced real time excitement is here.

I’m excited to share this journey. It’s been a rally of back and forth in my mind, whether I would share as I go or just focus on the course and share once I’ve learned. I concluded that I will never be “done” though. So why not share as I go? There won’t be a time that I stop learning and growing and expanding perspectives. So I would love to start the conversation now. Now is when yoga can happen after all. To be present allows you to experience more fully.

Eep! Thank you for joining me on this journey, for however long you are here for. You can follow along here, on my Instagram and more will come I’m sure. I’m bursting with ideas and I can’t wait to share. Easy does it.

With love,

Esta