Hello and welcome.
Thank you for joining me for this somatic wind-down.
You may like to have with you a strap Like a yoga strap.
If you don't have a yoga strap,
Then you can use a long scarf or a tie.
Anything that's long enough to hook around your foot a bit later on.
The other thing that you may appreciate is a couple of pillows from your bed.
Or a bolster or a block.
I'm using this today.
So.
If you don't have these things with you now,
Maybe you'd like to just put the video on pause and then I will meet you on your mat.
When you're ready.
We'll start.
On our back.
So just taking a moment here.
Just to find.
Wear your body.
Feels the most at ease.
And taking a nice,
Large breath into your body.
The day unless mentioned.
See if you can breathe through your nose.
Of course,
If it's not comfortable to breathe through the nose,
Then please go ahead and breathe through the mouth.
Try and see if you can breathe through the nose here.
And just for a little moment.
Let's come into our bodies.
And notice the contact.
Between your back.
And the floor beneath you.
Notice where's easily.
Releasing.
And worth holding on.
And see either by movement or with long exhale.
If you can encourage those areas that are holding on.
To just let go.
Sometimes it can help by just gently.
.
.
Pulling the arms away from the shoulders or lengthening the tailbone a little bit closer to the heels.
Just that gentle movement sometimes can help the body release tension.
A little more.
And then just becoming aware of the rhythm of your breath.
Noticing the natural length of your inhale.
The natural length of your exhale.
And seeing now if you can.
.
.
Allow your exhales to become longer than your inhales.
And this is going to vary for everyone,
So some people have an exhale that's naturally longer than their inhale.
So their exhales may be longer again.
So notice what's comfortable for you.
For example,
It may be that your exhale is about to.
.
.
Or three counts longer than your inhale.
If your inhale is a length of five,
Your exhale will become a length of 7 or 8 counts.
You may find that you can easily exhale for double the amount that you have inhaled.
The key here is that it is effortless.
Notice.
Yeah.
The exhale that feels right for you.
We don't want to push that exhale because Then we'll come into the sympathetic nervous system.
By having a long,
Natural exhale.
Will come into the parasympathetic,
That place where we can.
.
.
Rest and release.
Now with the rhythm of your breath.
Let your head get extra heavy.
And slowly.
Allow the head to roll side to side.
On the exhale it will roll in one direction.
On the inhale,
Coming back to centre.
With the next exhale,
Go in the other direction.
Just continuing this movement nice and slowly.
And you might notice that with time and repetition.
That you find there's more range of movement.
And the neck.
See here if you can just allow the jaw to soften.
Notice if the tongue might like to fall away from the roof of the mouth.
You might also notice that the eyes would like to soften.
You could even close the eyes so you're really feeling into the movement within.
Allowing the creases around the eyes to soften.
And the whole weight of the head releasing.
You may even notice.
That there's a ripple effect of softness going down the spine.
We can now invite the lower spine into the movement.
By allowing the knees to fall.
The opposite direction to the way the head is going.
So if your head's turning to the left,
Your knees will go to the right.
And on the inhale.
Bringing the knees and head back to centre.
And then go in the opposite direction.
All well's keeping.
The rhythm of your breath.
Nice long exhales.
You might notice here that When you draw the knees back to centre,
If you push your feet deep into the floor,
Then your back gets a nice massage.
Just doing a few more like this.
You may also notice that When your knees drop down,
So for example if they drop down to the left,
It can be nice to reach through the right hand,
So through the opposite hand.
You might find a lovely diagonal inner stretch across the spine.
Feel free at any moment to pause in a position that might feel interesting.
Yeah a little deeper.
Eventually we'll bring the knees and the head back to centre.
Take a nice long exhale out through the mouth.
Encouraging the back.
Soften down.
Towards the floor beneath you.
Might be nice here now to have your strap and your block nearby.
Bringing your right knee towards your chest.
Giving a little squeeze in.
You might like to point and flex your foot a few times here.
Maybe even circling the ankles.
Feeling into the space here.
And then bringing your straps and bring it around your foot.
And lifting your heel up towards the sky.
Dropping your elbows down towards the floor.
We want to keep those elbows down.
As much as we can.
Don't worry if they're not touching the floor,
You want them hanging,
Weighing down as much as you can.
So that your shoulders can soften.
And you feel space in the collarbones.
From here now,
Using your straps.
To guide your legs.
Around in any which way.
It would like to go.
You could keep your left leg bent or you may like to straighten it.
Guiding your leg around,
Noticing here.
The space in your hip socket.
How does it feel?
And eventually coming to stillness,
Bringing your heel up towards the sky.
And as you exhale here,
See if you can notice space arising in the back of your thigh maybe.
Maybe it's in the lower back.
We'll pause here for a moment.
See if you can keep your chin slightly dropped towards your chest.
Is full.
Range of space here in the back of the neck.
Along the spine.
Nice long breaths.
In the inhale,
Noticing the length.
From the hip to the foot.
In the exhale noticing where it softens and releases.
As you may gently guide your toes towards your forehead.
Take one more breath here.
And bending your left knee.
With a flexed right foot,
Guide your foot over your left thigh.
Here now just.
.
.
Encourage your right thigh to pull a little further towards the front of the room.
And you might find a stretch rising in the outer right hip.
If that's the case and it feels quite good.
Strong.
Then you may like to stay here.
If you're not really feeling anything.
The second step would be to put your pillow or your block underneath your foot.
And if you're still not feeling anything,
You may like to bring your left thigh towards you.
Your chest.
Some people like to keep their arms down on the floor.
Others would like a little bit more support so here you can either hold around the back of your thigh if that feels like it's compromising your shoulders and making you hunch up.
You could use your strap again.
And place it around the back of your thigh.
To support you,
Dropping the elbows down towards the floor.
Nice long breaths here now.
With the option of staying with the knee bent.
Or you might like some movement by inhaling.
Lifting your left heel to the sky.
And exhaling.
Pointing the toes and bending the knees.
So there's not one option that's better than the other.
It will depend on the day.
There are days when we really appreciate stillness.
And there are days when we like to move.
Just notice what feels beneficial for your body today.
If you are moving the leg now,
Come back into stillness.
And if you're holding around your leg,
Just let your arms come to the side.
And either now with your foot,
The left foot off the floor or on the floor.
Just let your legs go side to side.
Letting the head go the opposite direction.
I'm just going to move this.
Yummy!
Continue going side to side here That's with the foot on the floor or off the floor.
You do have your foot off the floor.
You may like to see about creating large circles.
With your legs as they are.
You can go one direction.
And then go in the other direction.
You'll notice I'm giving lots of variations and all these variations there might be one day that you'd like to do one type variation and another day Another.
There's not one that's better than the other,
It's just different.
Different ones are suitable on different days.
And Bring back into stillness if you're not already.
Place your foot down if it's off the floor.
Cross your right leg over your left leg.
Nudge the hips over to the right.
And use your left hand to gently guide your knees.
Over to the left.
Now you can see here my knees have landed on a prop.
And that feels great as that's happening.
Keeping my right shoulder on the floor.
Some people might not want the prop,
So you could let the prop go.
And encourage your knees to go further again.
If it feels too intense to have the legs bent,
Then you can stack the legs.
And you might like to put the prop between.
The knees here between the shins.
And let the weight of your hips drop down towards the floor.
Wherever you choose.
Keep your breath nice and long.
Your head might face towards the ceiling.
We may look the opposite direction to your knees.
Find what feels right for your body.
You may like to do a few long exhales here.
Out of the mouth.
Encouraging the weight of the body.
To release further down towards the floor.
Letting the muscles release.
Noticing how the muscles that protect your spine realize that after a while they can let go.
Creating space here to breathe.
Nice long exhale.
We'll stay for another five breaths here.
And this next exhale will be the last exhale in this position.
And slowly.
Bringing yourself back to center.
Letting the head and the knees.
And back to centre,
Uncrossing the legs if they were crossed moment here to simply feel the difference.
Between the two sides of your body.
You might like to do a nice large star shape for a moment.
Reaching through your hands and through your feet.
Inhaling,
Inhaling and exhaling out through the mouth.
Oh my.
.
.
And coming to the other side.
So holding your left knee towards your chest.
Doing a few gentle points and flexes.
Maybe even some circular movement.
One direction and the other.
Bring in your strap now.
Around your left foot.
Drawing the heel towards the sky and dropping your elbows down.
Noticing if you would prefer to keep your right leg bent or straight.
And then just.
.
.
Guiding your leg around.
With your straps.
Feeling into the space in the left hip.
Almost like you're exploring a new room.
In all its little corners.
Noticing how far around you can go here Cross your legs.
Out Y.
Eventually coming into stillness by reaching your heels.
Up towards the ceiling.
When you inhale,
And on the exhale,
Softening the muscles here in the leg.
Feeling the weight of your femur,
Your thigh bone,
Dropping into the hip socket.
And with curiosity seeing if your toes may like to come closer to your forehead.
The key word here is curiosity.
We're not striving to get into a particular shape.
We are using this movement to feel.
Into the body and sense it.
Sensations deep within that we may not necessarily feel throughout the day.
And eventually.
.
.
Bending the right knee.
And flexing your left foot and bringing it across your right thigh.
No two sides are the same,
So.
.
.
Treat this whole side like it's the first time you've done this.
So once again,
Noticing.
How happy is your left thigh moving?
Towards the front of the room.
This might be where you stay today.
Or you can bring your blocks and put it underneath your foot so you're a little higher.
And this might feel just right.
Keeping the chin tucked in.
So you feel the full length of your spine.
Or you may like to bring the right thigh up towards your chest.
Either keeping your arms out wide or holding around the thigh.
Or bringing the strap around the thigh.
Nice long exhales here,
Feeling your back.
Heavy on the floor And again,
The option of staying here in stillness.
Simply feeling into the position.
Or as you inhale,
Pushing your heel up towards the sky.
The sky And the exhale,
Pointing the toes.
And guiding the toes towards the floor.
And simply feeling into your body with your breath.
Option to stay as you are now or open the arms out wide.
If they're not already,
And starting to let the legs go side to side,
So either with the foot on the mat or off the mat.
The head going the opposite direction.
Again,
Hear now the option to continue as you are or.
.
.
Creating large circles.
The legs.
Not worrying about which direction you're going in,
As you can go in the other direction in a moment.
Letting your head move along with you.
And then going in the opposite direction.
Now if you are moving.
Bringing yourself back into stillness.
Let your foot come onto the floor if it's not already.
And then just shift your hips over to the left.
Crossing your left leg over your right,
The left thigh over the right.
Use your right hand to guide your knees over.
To the right keeping your left shoulder on the floor.
Your left hand can be out wide or it might be on your ribcage or your hip.
Anywhere that's comfortable.
Remember here now.
If it's not comfortable to have your legs crossed,
You can put your left leg on top of your right leg.
And use your prop between your legs.
For extra comfort.
Taking nice large breaths now.
Feeling the response of your body to your breath.
Noticing the space within the body.
On your inhale.
And the way the body gently releases.
On the exhale.
Can you notice where releases?
Whaaat?
Feel spacious.
As we pause here for another five breaths.
Might like to let this next breath in.
Come out through the mouth,
Taking a large inhale.
Through your body.
Exhaling ah and slowly Bringing yourself back to centre.
Unwinding the legs they were crossed.
Inhale here,
Now push your tailbone and your head into the floor,
Creating a nice arch in the spine.
On the exhale,
Lengthen the tailbone towards the heel.
Closing the gap between the floor and the spine.
Just a few times.
And then this time,
Rolling the hips up off the floor.
I'm bringing your pillows or your blankets.
And the knee.
The sacrum dropping the sacrum up.
Down onto the support.
I'm feeling your whole back here.
Releasing down towards the floor.
Letting your exhales be nice and long here.
Letting your shoulders release.
The back of your head.
Because of ribcage.
The lower back.
And butter back to the side and all the way down to the soles of the feet.
Letting your back body completely release.
Closing here for another five breaths.
Every now and again noticing any areas start to gear up to hold you up.
Just reminding them that they don't need to hold at the moment.
You're being supported by the floor and your props.
Let them hold you.
Taking a large inhale through your body now.
Large exhale out through the mouth.
Then lifting your hips up and bringing your support.
Port bringing it by your side and slowly now Letting your spine roll down slowly.
Slowly.
Slowly.
You arrive taking some breaths here.
Then hugging the knees in towards the chest.
Into what's called Apanasana.
Dropping the chin down towards the chest.
Squeezing the knees in.
You may choose to stay here.
Or you may like to come into happy baby,
Which is when we either wrap the index and middle finger around the insides of the big toes and then.
.
.
Circle around to the thumbs which are on the outsides of the big toes.
Or you hold around the outer edges of your feet.
Your knees come out.
Either side of you.
And as you push your hands into your feet,
Which with the weight of your hands your knees will be dropping further down towards the floor.
Your feet are pushing into your hands up towards the sky.
Whether in Upanasana or Happy Baby,
Feel your back.
Weighing down into the floor.
Just allowing yourself to be held here.
Mmm,
Over choosing.
Sustain stillness.
Or in either position.
You could also allow movement.
By rocking side to side.
Letting the head roll along with you.
Getting a nice massage into your back.
If you are in happy baby and there's a lot of range of movement in your hips,
You may also like to reach your heels far away from you.
As you can.
We are simply exploring into the space of our body.
So we're not fighting with the body here.
We're not pushing it to do something it's not willing to do.
It's the end of the day.
We are giving it a little bit of DLC.
And that permission to release.
And soften.
Bring back to stillness if you chose movement.
And if you're in happy baby coming.
Into up and a final now and then circling our knees in one direction.
And then in the other direction.
And then eventually.
.
.
Letting the feet touch.
Come onto the mat.
Maybe straightening the legs here,
Letting your hands come down.
Reaching through one foot.
Then through the other foot.
Reaching through one hand.
Then through the other hand.
Then inhale,
Reach through both feet,
Both hands.
Inhale the fullest inhale you can do.
Top that inhale up.
Exhale through the mouth.
And again like that.
Inhale,
Fill the lungs.
Top them up.
And exhale.
And that's us coming to the end of our practice.
And I wish you a very good night's sleep.
