Whether you’re relatively new to yoga or an experienced yoga teacher, the qualities of the sea can be a powerful guide while you develop your yoga practice. As you stretch out and go within, the ocean calls you to access the flow, energy and diverse moods and gifts of the sea. It connects you to the natural world more deeply – to universal energy.
Today, I’ll talk a little about my own yoga journey and how yoga lovers are using the Sea Soul Blessings cards to deepen their practice, and I’ll share a wonderful 15 minute yoga practice inspired by Sea Soul Blessings created by Helen Faliveno of hmfyoga that you can try yourself at home – I highly recommend it!
My yoga journey
Yoga has been part of my life ever since I started taking pregnancy classes with Leif Olsen, 13 years ago – before that, I’d always assumed it was something for other people – bendier, stretchier, more gymnastic people – not soft, round slightly arthritic people like me…
Of course I discovered that with the right teacher, yoga is for everyone. And it’s a practice that has slowly transformed me from within. I discovered that yoga was much less about trying to make a particular shape or look a certain way than about exploring what happens in my mind and my body as I move, stretch or aspire to stillness – and being present with all of that. Staying on the mat.
Over the years, yoga has helped me to practice deeper self compassion, and to find strength, resilience and peace. Much as sea swimming and using the Sea Soul Blessings cards do too. So one thing I’ve especially loved about sending Sea Soul Blessings out into the world is seeing them grow in popularity amongst yoga teachers and yoga-lovers as a way to bring a splash of sea into their daily yoga practice…
How yoga teachers are using Sea Soul Blessings
My own beloved yoga teacher, Leif Olsen, uses the cards regularly (I’m sure they’ve been part of her inspiration to start sea swimming in the past year too…!). She has them on display in her Penzance studio at Garbo House so that students can choose themselves a card whenever they need a little extra encouragement or guidance.
I’ve heard from others who read their students a sea blessing at the start of their classes as inspiration to build a flowing, strengthening, or soothing practice in the session ahead, during the class just before leading a meditation, or at the end, that blissful moment of slipping into Savasana – as some gentle encouragement to focus on self kindness and our connection to all the energies of the natural world.
So last week, I was thrilled to receive this wonderful film from yoga teacher, Helen Faliveno of hmfyoga, in which she uses Sea Soul Blessings to inform her yoga session for the day – choosing a card, journalling her response to that and creating a practice inspired by one particular Sea Soul Blessing: “May you be WILD”.
May you be WILD
The sea acknowledges the raw beauty of the animal within us all. Recognising the desire to feel it all, to be it all, to run free and unencumbered, it calls you into the wild. May you cast off constraints and inhibition. May you embrace spontaneity. May you roar into the waves, dance with joyous abandon, and express all that you are.
It’s a gentle, nurturing and empowering 15 minute session that illustrates all sorts of ways that you could use the cards to inspire your yoga session – in the selection of poses, in the flow of the movements themselves, and in the attitude and particular focus you bring to these. Give yourself a moment to stretch out by an imaginary sea and enjoy Helen’s video below.
A wonderful introduction to sea-inspired yoga from Helen Faliveno
Yoga by the sea
Of course, perhaps the easiest way to bring the sea into your nature practice is to practice yoga by the sea – but that isn’t always the easiest situation to arrange…
Living by the sea, I’m lucky enough to be able to experience my yoga classes in a studio with a view of the water, and sometimes even on the beach itself. Looking out at the water, listening to the sounds of the waves, and feeling the sensation of the sea breeze on my skin and the sand or pebbles beneath my feet, I can tune into the energy and quality of the ocean, and bring my awareness to all of the messages and gifts that the sea offers.
By the sea, I can choose a Sea Soul Blessing to guide my experience, and connect to my own essence and instincts – listening to my body, and my sea soul, to discover what kind of yoga practice would serve me best in that moment.
Bringing the sea into your home yoga practice
When I’m at home, in a busy living room full of kids’ toys, work from home office materials, and the noise of cars from the street beyond, it isn’t always as easy to connect to the sea.
What helps me is to imagine myself by the sea. I can do that simply by bringing the sea to mind, or listening to the sound of the sea, and bringing all my sensations into play – noticing what I might be able to smell, taste, touch, sea and feel.
An easy way to create a sea soundtrack for yourself is to visit our IGTV channel on instagram where I’ve saved lots of longer recordings of the sea for you to sink into. Playing this will create a lovely relaxing soundtrack for your yoga practice – and for life in general! It also provides a soothing and grounding background for meditation – or you might enjoy a short guided Sea Soul meditation instead.
You could also try choosing yourself a Sea Soul Blessing as Helen does in her video above, and using that to shape your practice, tuning into the sea within.
What will the sea guide you towards in your practice today?
Feeling a wave move through you as you stretch and extend into downward dog (Adho mukha svanasana) , imagining yourself as a pebble on the seabed in child pose (Balasana) as Helen shares in the practice above, or feeling the force of a wild sea within you as you stand, a water warrior, in warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)…?
Or perhaps, drawing a Sea Soul Blessing card like “May you be SOOTHED” will encourage you to offer yourself a gentle restorative yoga practice, “May you be RESILIENT” will guide you to build your stamina and rest your body fully in the lulls, or “May you STRETCH” will be a call to extend and go a little deeper, encouraging yourself to find greater suppleness and strength.
How are you bringing the sea into your yoga practice? I’d love to know in the comments below.
And huge thanks to Helen for her wonderful video – you can find her on instagram and at her website hmfyoga.com – right now she’s sharing a free yoga practice every day over on You Tube, so offer yourself the gift of that too.
