Guided by a Goddess, a 6-Week Series
Each week in the series we will meet a different goddess. This allows you the time to learn, practice, reflect, question and invoke her energy. Storytelling is ancient and embedded in us. When information is provided in a story format we understand it and remember it more easily which is a huge part of why each week starts with a Story Time Restorative practice. A chance to settle in, listen and process. It allows you to get a better sense of her energy as we move forward with the week.
While the stories are just that - stories - they have helped me process some of the most uncomfortable parts of my life, embrace different aspects of myself and gain a new perspective. These myths bring about connection and power. Some have brought me to tears and others have brought me boldness and courage. I think they will do the same for you.
The thought is that these moments throughout your week will make small shifts in how you think, act, and perceive. You’ll invoke her energy, learn from her and recognize the parts of her that you see in yourself or want to develop. Let yourself be guided by the goddess.
Every week has five practices along with journal prompts but it’s set up in a way to be infused into your life even if you’re busy. Most have three shorter practices from 6-15mins with two longer practices ranging from 30-45mins. You might start off with the Story Time Restorative in bed one night to help you wind down or do a 10 minute meditation during a lunch break on a busy day. I encourage you to break the rules on what you think a yoga practice should look like and make this series work for your life and schedule.
I’m a firm believer that there will always be a part of a story we can learn from, resonate with or simply be intrigued by. Are you ready to dive into the myths and energy?
We will explore the following goddess...
Sita
Kali
Dhumavati
Saraswati
Durga
Parvati
WEEKLY BREAKDOWN + WHATS INCLUDED
Below you’ll find what’s included each week, class themes and sample schedules of how to break up the week with the amount of time you’d need to dedicate that day. You can do a little each day or stack up practices. You might like to check your calendar and plan out your week with an ideal schedule. Deviate as needed but I find this helps me so much with sticking to my practice.
Sita
For week one you’ll get access to…
one 45 minute story time restorative practice to meet the goddess
one 35 minute yin practice on enduring with patience
one 30 minute vinyasa practice for receiving the love of nature
one 10 minute pranayama practice for unconditional love
one 15 minute meditation on compassion
journal prompts
Sample Schedule
Monday night story time restore and journal prompts in bed (65 mins)
Tuesday meditation when you wake up (15 mins)
Thursday vinyasa practice after work followed by pranayama practice (40 mins)
Saturday yin practice in the afternoon (35 mins)
Kali
During week two you’ll get access to…
one 45 minute story time restorative practice to meet the goddess
one 30 minute vinyasa practice designed to burn through limiting veils
one 15 minute surya namaskar practice for transformative strength
one 15 minute practice for awakening kundalini energy
one 10 minute meditation for purifying the heart
journal prompts
Sample Schedule
Monday night story time restore before dinner (45 mins)
Thursday lunch kundalini practice (15 mins)
Saturday night salutation practice, vinyasa class and meditation closing (55 mins)
Sunday morning journal prompts with tea as a weekly recap (30 mins)
Dhumavati
In week three one you’ll get access to…
one 45 minute story time restorative practice to meet the goddess
one 35 minute yin practice to nurture letting go
one 30 minute flow practice designed to challenge our feelings of unworthiness
one 10 minute meditation for celebrating aging
one 10 minute meditation for mourning
journal prompts
Sample Schedule
Tuesday post work story time restore (45 mins)
Wednesday morning meditation and lunch flow practice (10/30 mins)
Thursday journal prompts (25 mins)
Sunday morning yin practice followed by a meditation (45 mins)
Saraswati
In week four you’ll get access to…
one 45 minute story time restorative practice to meet the goddess
one 40 minute yin practice on eloquence in speech
one 15 minute restorative meditation to nurture intuition
one 15 minute surya namaskar practice dedicated to learning
a mantra meditation for insight
journal prompts
Sample Schedule
Monday morning mantra meditation and lunch story time restorative (8/45 mins)
Thursday evening yin and journal prompts (60 mins)
Sunday evening surya practice followed up with the restorative meditation (30 mins)
Durga
For week five you’ll get access to…
one 45 minute story time restorative practice to meet the goddess
one 30 minute vinyasa practice to nurture your willpower
one 10 minute pranayama practice to face your ego
one 15 minute kundalini inspired practice for physical and mental strength
one 15 minute guided meditation on protecting your energy
journal prompts
Sample Schedule
Monday evening journal prompts (35 mins)
Tuesday bedtime story time restorative (45 mins)
Wednesday lunch meditation (15 mins)
Thursday morning kundalini practice (15 mins)
Friday night vinyasa (30 mins)
Saturday morning pranayama (10 mins)
Parvati
During week six you’ll get access to…
one 45 minute story time restorative practice to meet the goddess
one 30 minute vinyasa practice to deepen your sacred relationship to yourself
one 15 minute kundalini inspired practice for commitment
one 10 minute pranayama practice for embracing the mundane
a mantra meditation for devotion
journal prompts
Sample Schedule
Monday night story time restore and pranayama practice before dinner (55 mins)
Wednesday lunch vinyasa (30 mins)
Friday lunch kundalini practice (15 mins)
Sunday afternoon mantra and journal prompts (35 mins)
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Welcome to Guided by a Goddess
Welcome to the Guided by a Goddess Series! I can't wait for you to dive in and learn about all the ladies. While you can watch them in any order you please, skip around, retake classes etc. I suggest starting each week with the Story Time Restorative. This is the best way to understand the energy...
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Sita Week 1 | Story Time Restorative + Journal Prompts
A practice that explores Hindu mythology and introduces us to the goddess of the week, Sita. You need at least two blocks, a bolster and a blanket. I talk about ways to substitute props in the beginning. This is also a great class to take in bed!
Class Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlis...
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Sita Week 1 | ReceivingEnduring with Patience Yin
Sita is extremely patient. She represents nonviolent resistance, unconditional love and the ability to "suffer" well. This sequence explores postures where impatience often pops up like toe stretch, lizard and more. If you aren’t familiar with yin we hold the postures for a couple minutes to targ...
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Sita Week 1 | Receiving the Love of Nature Flow
In the end the earth is there to hold Sita - similarly the earth is always there to hold you. This practice bolsters our relationship with mother nature/lover earth. It's low and grounding with a touch of heart opening. Movement is done seated, lying down and on hands and knees. No props are need...
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Sita Week 1 | Pranayama for Unconditional Love
Let's focus on breath work that aims to open us up to unconditional love. We will move through diaphragmatic breathing, onion heart and bee breath.
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Sita Week 1 | Meditation for Compassion
We can invoke Sita for enduring hard and uncomfortable situations. This is a tonglen meditation that asks us to notice the uncomfortable. It works to connect us to others, increase empathy and compassion while bringing to light our resiliency and strength.
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Kali Week 2 | Flow to Burn Through Limiting Veils
Class starts with some repetitive movement to get into our bodies, sync to our breath and explore transformative strength. Later on we get into a bit more flow before winding down. Kali is all about letting go of outdated patterns, burning limitations and enlightenment. You'll reflect on how you'...
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Kali Week 2 | Surya Namaskar for Transformative Strength
Today we are using this 15 minute practice to inspire and bring forth from the depths of our being the capacity for transformative strength. The kind that brings us out of toxic habits, thought patterns and more. I show you two versions of this one standing + on hands/feet and the other standing ...
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Kali Week 2 | Awakening Kundalini Energy
This is a 15 minute practice to help awaken kundalini energy through the sat kriya. We will be repeating "sat nam" vocally or mentally which is pronounced like "sut nam" and it translates to "truth is my identity/essence" or "I am truth." We follow up the sat kriya with some relaxing breath work ...
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Kali Week 2 | Surya Namaskar for Transformative Strength Lying Down Version
If you need or want a lying down version peep this version before heading back to the other video to move through the cues together.
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Kali Week 2 | Meditation for Purifying the Heart
Kali doesn't bring about a gentle or calm sense of release or purification. It's fierce and radical. This is practice of metta meditation that specifically focuses on burning the limiting aspects of loving we have towards acquaintances and people we have difficult relationships with. It's the fir...
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Kali Week 2 | Story Time Restorative + Journal Prompts
Get introduced to Kali in this restorative practice that works with third chakra energy balancing. She embodies righteous anger, liberation through death and destruction, radical changes in structure and power, wildness and fierce love. While she is bold, fierce and battles demons she teaches you...
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Dhumavati Week 3 |Story Time Restorative + Journal Prompts
Dhumavati is the goddess of disappointment, letting go, and emptiness. I've jokingly called her the goddess of 2020. While there are hard aspects of sitting with her energy it is also freeing and brings a sense of acceptance. I'm asking you to take this class in bed - yup do it! No props are mand...
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Dhumavati Week 3 | Yin for Letting Go
Let’s deep release in the hips and around the lungs. Releasing pent up emotions and tension so we can breathe easier. In practice we explore how we cling to pretty much everything around us and how that really communicates a story about the fear of change. I even offer a mental affirmation to rep...
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Dhumavati Week 3 | Flow for Unworthiness
Dhumavati is invoked to work through feelings of unworthiness so today we get honest with ourselves. What do we feel unworthy of? What do we think would make us finally feel worthy? Are we the only one we find unworthy in this circumstance? This asana is inspired by the crow dhumavati is often de...
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Dhumavati Week 3 | Meditation for Mourning
A meditation for fully experiencing the sensations associated with mourning, grief and sorrow. We may not think we are in the middle of a big mourning but we experience all kinds of deaths big and small. All kinds of losses. Give yourself the space to breathe through the experience. You may want ...
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Dhumavati Week 3 | ReceivingMeditation for Celebrating Aging
Aging is something that we've been conditioned to fight and fear but your age is a marker of your ability to endure, the nourishment you've received (tangible and intangible), and wisdom. Can we reframe our perspective on this natural and inevitable part of life? Any meditation can be done in wha...
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Saraswati 4 | Story Time Restore + Journal Prompts
Let's dive into Saraswati's origin as well as a myth related to her name translation "the flowing one." We do a small breathing meditation before letting our minds wonder in an attempt to embrace our innate creative energy that is often stifled by external voices. You need two blocks, a bolster a...
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Saraswati 4 | Yin for Eloquence in Speech
Saraswati is the goddess of speech and invoked for enhancing writing, speaking, intuition and answering questions. What is your relationship with speech? How do you speak to yourself and others? Are there gifts you want to continue giving with your words or habits you want to break? Let's reflect...
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Saraswati 4 | Restorative Meditation for Intuition + Link to Mantra Meditation
We begin our meditation with breath awareness before reflecting on something you've been doubting or unsure of. Once we have our topic in mind we'll deeply feel around and listen to knowledge that comes deep from within. Knowledge our bodies already know but our minds haven't figured out. Sarasw...
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Saraswati Week 4 | Surya Namaskar for Learning
This is a standing practice that breaks down sun salutation. It covers the when and why's to the breath pattern, ways to change the sequence for your body, collective practice time and a chance to trust yourself and test your knowledge.
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Durga Week 5 | Story Time Restorative + Journal Prompts
Let’s get to know Durga the warrior goddess who is invoked for facing our ego, personal empowerment, all forms of strength, protection and fighting for justice. You’ll want one pillow and a blanket for this practice (if you aren't going this in bed where you'll have access to extra pillows just i...
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Durga Week 5 | Facing Our Ego Pranayama + Link to Energy Meditation
This pranayama practice for facing your ego taps into the solar plexus chakra. The center of our ego, will, and fire. We use the ego eradicator from kundalini yoga to channel Durga's energy for putting the negative sides of our ego in its place. It's the battle of facing an inner demon by submitt...
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Durga Week 5 | Kundalini Inspired Practice for Physical and Mental Strength
This style involves repetitive movement linked to the breath. The movement is done seated and lying down (with one variation shown on hands and knees but there's another way to do it shown seated). While this class is about tapping into different forms of strength don't forget that Durga is also ...
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Durga Week 5 | Flow for Willpower
This is a heart opening practice, with an option to build up towards wheel pose, all about the willpower it takes to be kind and loving towards ourselves. We offer up negative habits to Durga and call her to aid us. Movement is done seated, lying down, on hands/knees and has two down dogs. You ma...
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Parvati Week 6 | Story Time Restore + Journal Prompts
Ready to get introduced to our final goddess? This is a myth about pulling Shiva out of his deep meditation, sacred relationships, a yogini, commitment and desire. You’ll want two pillows, a bolster and a long rolled up blanket for this one. Class is done lying down.
Playlist:
https://open.spot... -
Parvati Week 6 | Movement for Commitment + Link to Mantra Meditation
These movements are relatively simple but they are repeated and sustained which might make it pretty challenging. You already know to stop, adjust, or visualize when what I'm offering isn't the most supportive version for yourself so I won't harp on that but wanted to remind you there's no pressu...
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Parvati Week 6 | Flow for Tending to the Sacred Relationship with Self
This class targets the second chakra which means we will have glute and hip strengthening as well as releases. We explore Parvati as a mother/creator and our own ability to birth things into the world. We think of our relationship to ourself as something sacred, essential, and worthy of attention...
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Parvati Week 6 | Pranayama for Embracing the Mundane
Our body breathes for us constantly. Most of it going completely unnoticed by us. When we do notice it we transform it. This practice allows us to cherish and spend time with our natural breath. It's ordinary magic and power. Honoring, finding joy in and craving the mundane is a beautiful practic...