Flying Bird Postures + Sound Meditation
Fly Like A Bird!
Written by LJ M.
We love to peek at our yoga practice through binoculars and focus in on… birds?! Well, yeah, this month the Funky Buddha studios are taking flight with Bird postures (what a hoot! 😉). From Heron Pose to Flamingo and the vibrant Bird of Paradise, we’re shape-shifting into variations and sooo many companion poses!
This season is all about stillness and lift while the trees shed and the birds migrate; we’re all about the duality of both/and. Let’s break it down and see the ways grounding down can lead to rising through new flight paths of our yoga practice.
The Funkin’ Anatomy
Everything in our practice on the mat begins with a supported foundation, connection to earth giving access to air. What do you notice when you pay attention to:
💎 Hip Mobility: The pelvis acts as both a perch and pivot point. Poses like Figure Four Chair or Lizard Lunge help create the stability and range to explore more dynamic balances.
💎 Core integration: A soft and strong core gives you the lift to unfold with control. Try initiating movement from your low belly rather than your limbs.
💎 Spinal extension: Think spine = wingspan, extending and expanding. In shapes like Heron or Bird of Paradise, try to imagine lengthening from sternum through crown.
3 Steps to Be a Bird:
- Gather: Build a nest of support with props, blocks are great to add height + straps offer length!
- Hop a Bit: Take note from chicks who hop before they fly! Move into a posture with more ease by offering a little shimmy to position yourself.
- Soar (on the floor): Seriously, get a feel for an unfamiliar posture by giving it a couple trials while seated/laying on your yoga mat!
FUNKY TIP: Child’s Pose and Supine Twists are two of our favorites for a gentle rest between more demanding postures. Plus, we love tending to hamstrings and hips with Reclined Figure Four and Happy Baby!
At the end of the day, balance is all about adapting to movement and we invite you to evolve your practice in ways that support your body, spark joy, and let your spirit soar. There’s so much curiosity to explore in the Funky studios! Heron asks for steadiness in the hips and hamstrings before the heart expands forward. Each shakey rise into Bird of Paradise might practice patience. And Flamingo has so much grace in the lil wobbles! Whether you take flight on your arms, unfold your wings from your standing leg, or simply breathe a little taller, this November’s practice is all about the art of returning to center again (and again).
See ya on the mat!
From Bird Poses to Bird Songs!
Written by LL
Have you ever had a piece of music “tug at your heart strings”? That tug can come from a poignant word or phrase, but often it comes from the sound alone–a certain instrument at the perfect moment, the silence or the crescendo that follows–sound affects us at a deep and powerful level. This month Funky’s daily meditation focus is quieting into listening and finding support.
Funky Facts about Sound:
💎 Our brains actually process auditory input and sound faster than visual input.
💎 Babies are born with 2 innate fears/startle responses: fear of falling and fear of loud noises.
💎 Our brain’s emotional and fear center (the amygdala) is triggered by loud sounds, sending us into fight-flight-freeze mode. Certain low frequency sounds can create feelings of power, or tension, and many other emotions.
💎 Our emotional state can affect our sound experience: a certain bird call might sound funny and light when you’re in a lighthearted mood, and ominous when you are feeling down.
💎 Sound moves faster through water, and not at all in space.
💎 Bats use sound to see; snakes can hear through their jaw bones; elephants can hear much longer waves than we humans, so they can actually hear the clouds moving as rain clouds gather together. Elephants can also hear their own herd up to 3 miles away, thanks to special nerve endings in their feet and ears.
It’s endlessly fascinating to consider how our fellow earth creatures can take in this world!
What Do You Notice?
Try these small ways to notice how much sound affects, moves, and connects us.
💎 Take a moment right now, close your eyes (after you read this :), and listen to the most obvious sound you hear. What can you hear beyond that? What does it feel like listening to silence? What’s beneath the silence?
This mini-meditation can help you hear and feel things you might not have even noticed a moment ago. It helps increase your concentration skills, gives you a moment to regroup or refocus your mind, and can give you a reset if you’re feeling agitated, restless, or sleepy. See if you pause like this 3 times today, just notice the layers of sound around you, then see how you feel as you continue about your day. These tiny resets can change everything!
Sound can also support or change our emotional state and increase our emotional awareness and emotional clarity. Sound is even being shown to heal us by moving our brain state into higher/lower waves, cellular repair, moving your fascia! We are intrinsically affected by and connected to sound.
A Few More Sound Meditations We Love:
💎 Listen to your favorite song, without distraction. Close your eyes and just listen. What do you notice about something familiar and enjoyable to you? How does it make you feel? Where can you feel sensation in your body as you listen?
💎 Plug your ears (fingers or ear buds work 🙂 and listen. Notice what kinds of sounds are enhanced internally. Your breath, digestion, heartbeat, what else do you hear and feel? Now try humming; what do you notice now?
💎 Put your ear up close to the ground or tree. There are no words to interpret and no particular sounds to look for. How do you feel as you allow your thoughts to settle so you can listen beyond words?
All of this is a form of meditation, and you are honing your concentration skills, developing better awareness of how you feel, and gaining better listening skills as you practice. One bird song, pausing to hear one heartbeat, learning how to really hear your own body-these small moments are what truly change us– small daily noticing’s, and just one moment, one breath at a time 🙏
We invite you to a bonus sound-healing practice this month! Our newest Funky Buddha offering is Kirtan Circle! This is a time to enjoy a form of yoga called Bhakti (meaning devotion), which includes chanting and singing as a community. You don’t need to be a “singer” to join us; you might simply enjoy the sound, vibration, and community. Save the date for Sunday, November 16th at 2:30pm.
We can’t wait!
If you’d like to dive deeper, we invite you to join us for our monthly meditation circle!
Check out our Youtube for an overview of these concepts or a meditation practice to try them on <3
As always, we hope that you join us M-F at 7:30am for Funky Buddha Yoga’s free, live, virtual meditation to learn more practices, nuances, and dive deeper into a plethora of tools that can bring your practice off your mat and into your daily life <3
