The idea of tantra is to find the absolute right here in the everyday.

Join Clara for a rhythmic vinyasa practice inspired by her teacher, Shiva Rea’s Prana Flow. Prostration Namaskars start your class with a moving meditation to open the heart and side body as you breathe. The sequence is peppered with fluid and rhythmic motions for you to ride a vinyasa wave to Shavasana, a corpse pose. There is no peak pose for this class; the invitation is to soften your gaze and expand your awareness as you dance with breath.

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QjZndx8GAPtpXTFzG30ng?si=MTFtNyarSuG8RpmCBLLZ0w

Style: Slow Flow

Duration: 70-mins

Level: open

Props: 1 block, 1 blanket

Focus: A Prana Vinyasa Yoga class as inspired by Shiva Rea’s Prana Flow.

Location: Lila Familia Production Studio, Vancouver, BC

Opening Meditation

Come to a seat of your choice and close your eyes. Take a couple of deep breaths to ground and arrive in the here and the now.

Your meditation opens with a reading from The Spandakarika, an ancient text of Tantra as translated by Daniel Odier:

“…[the idea of tantra]…is to find the absolute, right there within the every day–not to wait for fleeting revelations and so-called altered states of consciousness. Wonder occurs when we succeed in tasting the nectar of the loving relationship that we develop with each thing or person or object that is before us at this very moment. This is what changes life completely because otherwise, we are always in search of something more. And when we obtain it, we are still unsatisfied. We then seek something even more spectacular, and this is how we end up being continually unhappy.

This does not mean, of course, that we must be satisfied with something that absolutely does not suit us. We must not confuse lifeless resignation with this ideal. If we can communicate completely with all the ordinary aspects of life, we are great mystics. The details then become much less important, as wonder, constant joy, and the sacred tremor are maintained by continued contact with the every day, which ceases to be ordinary at the moment we really taste it.”

The idea of Tantra is to embrace the present by accepting where you are in each moment. This passage asks us to examine all the ways to discover the absolute, the Divine, in the mundane tasks we experience and must do every day.

Tantra embodies all of the body’s sensations to fully experience the moment; unlike the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali through Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), Tantra asks us to revel in all that we feel to greet and awaken the Divine within.

For this meditation, sit in or lie down as we explore the senses.

Questions for you to consider:

• Bring your awareness to your skin and examine the sensations you feel on the surface of your skin. What do you feel? Observe the temperature of your skin and as the mind wanders, come back to the temperature of the skin.
• Bring your awareness to your nostrils. What do you smell? How can you become more present and attune to your surroundings through the scents and aromas around you?
• Bring your awareness to your ears. What do you hear? How can you develop your awareness of what is right now by listening to the shapes and sounds around you?

May we taste the nectar of this moment through the senses.

Opening Flow 

10-15 breath to move as you like, options:

• Balasana (child’s pose)
• Adho Mukha Shvanasana (down dog)
• Uttanasana (forward fold)
• Bidalasana (cat pose)
• Bitilasana (cow pose)

Come to Uttanasana (forward fold) at the back of your mat for Prostration Namaskars.

2x Prostration Namaskars

Tadasana (mountain pose)  with hands at heart

• Inhale and take your hands wide to either side,
• Exhale and bring your hands to your low back,
• 2x breath here to lengthen the spine and lift your chest.

Uttanasana (forward fold) for 2-3 breaths

Ardha Uttanasana (half lift)

Uttanasana (forward fold)

Phalakasana (plank pose) for 2-3 breaths

Prostration pose

• Come onto your belly and rest with your head against your hands on the ground.

Bhujangasana (cobra pose) OR Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana (upward dog)

Balasana (child’s pose) OR Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Come to Uttanasana (forward fold) at the back of your mat

Repeat this cycle; after the second cycle, stay in child’s pose or down dog.

Wave 1

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)

Anjaneyasana (low lunge) variation

• Inhale and take your hands to the sky,
• Exhale and bring your hands through prayer,
• Repeat several cycles.

Ashta Chandrasana (high lunge) variation with the 4-parts of lunge from Prana Flow:

• Keep your fingertips on the ground,
• Inhale and lengthen your spine like cow pose,
• Exhale and round your spine like cat pose,
• Repeat several cycles.

Phalakasana (plank pose) for 2-3 breaths

Chatarunga

Bhujangasana (cobra pose) OR Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana (upward dog)

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Repeat the same cycle on the other leg.

Wave 2

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)

Virabhadrasana ||  (warrior 2) variation flowing with Durga’s Sword:

• Inhale and reach the back hand forward to meet your front arm,
• Exhale and sweep your arm backward behind the head,
• Repeat several cycles.

Trikonasana (triangle pose) variation floating with arms at heart:

• Inhale and bring hands together at your heart,
• Exhale and extend the arms wide to the top and bottom of the room,
• Repeat several cycles.

Utkata konasana (goddess pose) variation from Prana Flow:

• Inhale and take your arms wide to either side,
• Exhale and wrap your arms in eagle arms,
• Repeat several cycles.

Prasarita Padottanasana (wide-legged standing forward fold) variation

• Bring your arms to clasp at the small of your back,
• Inhale and bend one knee and lean over to one side,
• Exhale and come to the center,
• Repeat on the other side and switch.

8-breath to stay in a wide-legged fold OR Sirsasana A if you have an inversion practice.

Take your hands back to the top of your mat.

Eka pada adho mukha svanasana (3-legged downward dog)

Patita Tarasana (fallen triangle)

Phalakasana (plank pose) for 2-3 breaths

Chatarunga

Bhujangasana (cobra pose) OR Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana (upward dog)

Adho mukha svanasana (down dog)

Repeat the same cycle on the other leg.

Floor Series 

Ustrasana (camel pose)

Dhanurasana (bow pose) OR Shalabhasana (locust pose)

Come to tabletop pose for cat/cows OR child’s pose for a few breaths.

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (pigeon pose) variation

• Inhale and lift your chest,
• Exhale and lower to press your forehead to the ground,
• Repeat several times.

Baddha Konasana (seated bound angle pose) swirls

Savasana or seated meditation to close.