Yoga with the Crab

OM Yogis.

Today we work with the Crab and her feminine magic. We look at the emotional tides of the self. We look at wholeness - ourselves as a full moon.

This is a YIN practice so please wear layers if you feel the cold. Give yourself plenty of blankets, enough to create a bolster - or a bolster is even better!

A good practice to Embrace self acceptance / be nurtured / stretch out

Please create a quiet warm space to support your experience.


Crab 1 (30 mins)
In this section we look at speaking to the first thing.

Asanas - Butterfly / straddle / Janu A/ forward fold /  Dragon
Yogis choice : Saddle with or without a bolster (see picture below)  or lying back over bolster with the legs in neutral or resting in Savasana.

Saddle pose.

Dragon pose. 

Props - bolster and or blankets and or cushions.

Crab 2 (32 mins)
In this section we revisit all poses from Crab 1 and complement this with a meditation, to help us embrace emotional acceptance.

Crab 3 (22 mins)
Balancing the emotional body.
This can be done in Savasana to complement part 1&2.
We move through the Chakras using intention and colour to release and balance the emotions.
This exercise is from Alexis Cartwright's 'beyond doorways'
Suitable for beginners.

My Musings with the Crab

"Om purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudacyate purnasya purnamadaya purnamevavasisyate'

'That is whole. This is whole. from that whole this whole came. From that whole when negated or removed what remains is whole.' - Upanishads.

It is not easy to let emotion flow, without twisting it into something low.
My emotional body is wild and watery. Tears accompany sadness, pain, anger, confusion, laughter, and happiness.

I want to open my heart. How do I know I'm in my heart?  I'm crying a lot. All day. And more.
However, I have to cling on,  amid this cascading water. I don't want to fall out of my heart be swept into the illusion that says my feelings are down to anyone else.

My feelings are mine.
My emotions are sourced from the well spring of my heart.
All emotion is part of the wholeness of self.

 I can still feel all of my feelings without dropping into a low attitude of blame and shame. So I cling to the cliffs of higher consciousness. 'You gotta so through it - to get to it.' 'breakdown to break through' feel it to heal it'.

It's incredible how the moment I reclaim my feelings - I feel Re-energised. Empowered. Whole.
I am a full moon. I stand strong in my Luna self. All my feelings are a part of the whole.

But Fragmented and broken down - thrown out into my world or projected onto those I love - my feelings can feel like lunacy. And My feelings Always pinch me first. Owch! Its ever so painful to watch myself behave like a lunatic. Forgetting 'I am whole'.

This journey, this space race, is to remember and embrace both - Empowerment and healing as equal parts of the whole . To empower my fullest, brightest, emotional, heart based, intuitive, Luna self.
And to heal the lunacy of the emotional body - when it is not felt and flowing. To heal the dams before they burst. To dredge the depths of stagnated and stuck emotion. Its not pretty but  I cant do one without the other.

Because I am whole. I am a full moon.
I create and I am guided by the tides of my heart.

I am the crab too , floating on the gentle waves in the sunshine, yet  tough enough to cling to consciousness and feel my emotions when the storms set in, in darkness.

I reclaim my feelings, as the crab. I heal.
I return to wholeness, as the moon. I am empowered.

Irrespective of how I may feel - I am whole.
I am energy in motion. E MOTION."



Many thanks to
Alexis Cartwright
Nareena Gaia
Giselle Mari
The Crab.

Please Note - Most of the asana practices on this blog are intended for the progression of an established practice of yoga. Over time I will try to add more stuff that is suitable for beginners. This will be clearly labelled as Suitable for beginners.
Its worth revisiting this blog if you are interested in this as I will be adding more beginners practices to each session From May 2020.

Namaste beautiful's,

Love Julie.