For many of us, difficult and stressful times create a fog that is difficult to see through. You may have the best intentions to lead yourself, your relationship, and your community through the fog, but perhaps you can barely see through it yourself, let alone guide those you care about most through it.

This is a practice John led for a group of men in the spring of 2020 to share the tools for clearing the energetic field and connecting to the core. Often when we become stressed, we abandon our own center, rather than going into our core, and strengthening and energizing it.

He expressed the importance of clearing our fields from the energy of negative news, illness and pain. He explained that they accumulate like an energetic crust on your physical body, and in your aura about 4-6 inches outside of your physical body, so you have to crack it all open, clear it out, and brush it off. Once you do that, you can connect to your core and set a strong intention.

He emphasized how crucial this practice is in order to lead ourselves, our relationships and our communities during difficult times.

If you want to navigate yourself and your loved ones through the fog of difficult and stressful times into a clear vision for what to do next, begin with this 23-minute practice.

This two-part practice moves from standing to seated with your spine strong and feet firmly planted on the ground.

Start in a strong standing position and then begin pounding with a light fist up and down your left arm. Continue with this pounding underneath the armpit, and along the ribs. Do the same thing along your right side. Use your breath to push out everything you're breaking up. You can even stick out your tongue to emphasize this expelling on the exhale.

Then start pounding with both fists down the center line from throat to navel. Go up and down a few times. Then pound down the sides of your abdomen and vital organs. Move then to the back of your neck and skull and onto your face with open palms. Then bring your light fists to your lower back and kidneys. Next, pound down the outsides of your legs and up the insides of your legs. Finally, pound below your navel and on either side of your sacrum.

Then lower your arms to your sides and with your eyes closed, begin to bounce by raising and dropping your heels. The balls of your feet will remain on the ground. Keep your spine strong and allow the rest of your body to be limp and relaxed. Continue bouncing and with every few breaths, give a strong and powerful expelling exhale. For the last 30 seconds, get aggressive with it -- jump up and down and shake everything out.

Come to stillness, standing tall and strong. Feel yourself deeply connected and rooted into the earth from your navel down. At the same time, lift your heart up to what you want to experience and where you want to be. For 1 minute, breathe into your heart as if it were a third lung, and then strongly exhale anything that is still stuck in the central column of your body. Use the muscles of your side ribs and diaphragm to will it down the sides of your body, through your inner legs, down through the soles of your feet and into the earth. Release any fear, doubt, and self-loathing down into the earth - the earth has plenty of capacity.

You will complete this part of the practice by rubbing your palms together to generate heat and then wiping your face. Then bring your arms by your sides and take a few breaths to normalize your body and notice if you can feel a deeper cleanliness and purity in your aura.

Now you will transition to a regal, Warrior's seated position with your spine strong and feet firmly planted on the ground. Create a tripod with the soles of your feet and the base of your spine. Focus on grounding your sacrum into the earth, and then pressing down into the earth from your knees through the soles of your feet. Pull your navel in and connect to the strength of your own core. Get tall from the waist while allowing your shoulders to drop. Lengthen the back of your neck and tuck your chin down slightly. Close your eyes. Press your tongue gently into the roof of your mouth until you can feel your heart activate.

Begin to breathe into the back of your heart through a big, open back of your throat. Make the back of your throat and heart wide. Breathe through your nose powerfully, as if it is a sharp instrument. Imagine there is a fire that you are igniting in the back of your heart, like your soul's pilot flame. Feel how that flame burns stronger with every breath, purifying the back of your heart, the back of your neck, and up to your mind.

Continue to breathe into the back of your throat and heart, and expand the breath, so you can feel your ribs and lungs strong. With every exhale, squeeze your lungs as if they are muscles releasing tension down into the earth.

After about a dozen breaths like this, raise your hands up to heart level with your palms and pinky fingers facing toward you. Then continue the breath practice while beginning to pull clean,  fresh air from the sky through your fingers and into your upper heart, as if your fingers are antennae. Feel how this fresh, deep blue sky life force energy cleanses the top of your heart while you root the bottom of your heart into the earth.

For the last several breaths, amplify both of these energetics - the rooting of the bottom of your heart into the earth and the top of your heart reaching to the sky. Feel your heart, throat, neck, brain and mind become clear and bright. Then brighten your inner core and spine.

For the final minute of the practice, don't let yourself drift into thought. Inhale the earth energy up from your feet to the root of your heart while you simultaneously inhale the sky energy through your brain, throat and the top of your heart. Make yourself so strong that you could step into a battle cleanly, clearly, and with a bright heart. Use your will to amplify, brighten and strengthen the core of who you are.

From here, set an intention for how you want to show up to the world. Then slowly lower your hands down to your upper thighs, while keeping your heart and chest wide. Let your heart, feet and sacrum stay rooted, and your mind stay clear.

Do the clearing practice a few times each day to keep negative energy from accumulating. And stay with the connection between the bottom of your heart and the earth, and the top of your heart and the sky. That connection is available to you at all times. If you find yourself stuck with a decision, for example, take 1 minute to take the pose of this practice and amplify that connection. Then you can ask yourself, "What is it that I need to do next?"

Disclaimer: Although anyone may find this practice to be useful, it is made available with the understanding that we are not engaged in presenting specific medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual advice. Nor is anything in this practice intended to be a diagnosis, prescription, recommendation or cure for any specific kind of medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual problem. Each individual has unique needs and this practice cannot take these individual differences into account. Each person should engage in a program of treatment, prevention, cure, or general health only in consultation with a licensed, qualified physician, therapist or other competent professional. Any person suffering from a sexually transmitted disease or any local illness of his or her sexual organs should consult a medical doctor and a qualified instructor of sexual yoga before practicing the sexual methods described in this practice.