Gentle Movement To Unwind & Release Back Tension

Back ache can come and go, and stress can sometimes contribute to or amplify discomfort in the back. When we're overwhelmed, anxious, or simply unable to switch off, our nervous system can move into a more protective state, and we may find ourselves unconsciously bracing or holding tension in the body.
Our nervous system can also respond to perceived threats including stressful thoughts and emotions by preparing the body to protect itself. We don't always need to consciously notice this happening; sometimes we simply find ourselves holding, bracing, or tightening.
Think of it as an opportunity to unwind, reconnect with your centre, and give your nervous system a little space to settle.
Please note that this content is educational and not a substitute for professional medical or psychological care.

Transcript

Hi there and welcome. So for today's class. . . You may have noticed I don't have a yoga mat. That's because we're going to be doing a lot of sliding. On the floor. So the whole practice will be done on our backs. There'll be a lot of sliding the heels and sliding the arms. So just to. . . Take away any restrictions. I've taken my yoga mat away so you might like to do the same but of course if your floor is cold or very, Very hard and comfortable, Then keep your yoga mat with you. The other things that you might like for today's class are a folded blanket or a small cushion just to put underneath your head if you experience tension in the neck. When you lie down on your back. And you may also like. . . A little bit later, A yoga block, Or if you don't have a yoga block, A pillow from your bed, Something with a little bit of height. And will work well. So it could even be a big thick book that could work too. Let's get started. I'm going to come on to our backs. And I invite you just for a little moment to lie down. In any way that's comfortable for you. You're just noticing what that is for a start. Is it having your knees bent? Would you like to straighten your legs? Would you like your arms away from your body or your hands on your belly? Anything. Just noticing what is comfortable. How can you get the most comfortable in your body? Might even notice. By nodding your head a few times up and down. That you suddenly find that full length in the back of your knit. When you find a place that feels just right, Just pausing here for a moment. And seeing if you can notice the parts of your body. Which are easily letting go. They're easily relaxing. And which parts of your body? Are holding on tight. And see if you can Allow these areas that are holding on tight. So just gently let go with each exhale. And I invite you to bring in curiosity. Into this practice today, Just getting really curious with your body. Noticing now the way that your body responds to your breath. What does it do on the inhale? What does it do on the exhale? Where do you feel your body expand? Where do you feel your body releasing? What's the rhythm of your breath? Your inhale longer than your exhale. Or is your exhale longer than your inhale? Are they equal? Do you have any natural pauses in the flow? Between the inhale and exhale, Or exhale and inhale. Simply noticing. If your knees aren't bent already now, Just bring in your feet. Onto the floor. Mmm, Moving with your breath. Let the head go side to side. On the exhale just let your head turn to the left. When you inhale, Let the head come back to centre. And on the next exhale, Go in the opposite direction. As you're moving the head side to side here, Just noticing. How your head is releasing into the floor beneath you. Can it release a little bit more or is it holding up? And the tongue come away from the roof of the mouth. The jaw, Can that soften a little bit more? What about the curves around the eyes? Can they soften? Bringing your awareness deep into the headspace and noticing the space here. How is it? Almost like you're breathing from your head. And then letting the awareness trickle down through the throat. Might notice a softness here. Space in the back of the neck. Let's invite the arms into this practice. When you're facing your hand. Let that palm face up. So, For example, I'm looking to my right now, So my right palm's facing up. And the opposite palm. Faces down, So the palm I'm not looking at faces down. As I inhale, The head still comes up. All bases up. And the arms start to rotate. By the end of my exhale, My head's turned completely to the left and the left palm's facing up. Continuing this movement. Now we have the head rotating and the arms rotating from the shoulders. And slowly with your breath. If you know what the ujjayi breath is, Then I invite you to bring in the ujjayi breath. If you don't, I have another video on that. So here you're able to hear your breath as well as feel it. Inviting the shoulders to relax. Can you become aware of the movement from the inside out? How are the inner workings of your body? As your head turns in one direction, Let your knees fall to the opposite direction. Now we have the head and the arms and the knees moving. The inhale bringing the head back to centre and the knees back to centre. On the exhale, Go in the opposite direction. Very nice and slowly here Being curious in the range of motion here through the hips and the shoulders. This full body rotation. Wonder if you can. . . Let yourself feel until the very end of your inhale. Very end of your exhale. You might notice that as your knees drop down to one side, The opposite fingertips. Would like to pull a little further. Away from the shoulder. You're getting this lovely diagonal stretch through the spine. And eventually bringing the knees back to centre, The head back to centre. And then on your inhale now, Letting both arms rotate until the palms face towards the back. Space behind you. And on the exhale, Letting the arms rotate. The opposite direction, Going as far around as is comfortable for them. When you do this you may notice that As the arms rotate. With the palms going towards the space behind you on the inhale. The shoulder blades draw closer together. Broadening the chest. And the collarbone. When you go the opposite direction on the exhale. You're broadening the upper back. And the shoulders. Hog in. So here we can say that the movement is supporting your breath. It's helping you to draw in a larger inhale. And helping you to release your exhale. Reaching through the fingertips here from the insides of the shoulders right through. The inside of your arms. Inside the wrists, Inside the fingers. You'll notice maybe that there's this large gap arising between the spine. The upper spine. And floor. On the inhale. And that gap closes on the exhale. How about we bring the lower back into the movement? So the next time that you take an inhale, And the arms, The palms rotate towards the space behind you, Just let your knees open out wide. Now your exhale. Let the knees draw towards each other. Let your palms rotate the opposite direction. Your feet can still be about hip width apart here. So here now you might find that the gap between the spine and the floor on the inhale become even larger. The whole front ribcage broadens on the inhale. And the exhale. Tailbone draws towards your heels. You might even notice a hugging in on the ribcage. And hugging in in the lower abdominal muscles. If you don't notice that, Don't worry about it, It comes with time. Just getting curious, What do you notice? Nice and slowly Long breath. So the next time that the knees. . . Come back up. We're going to come back to stillness here. Take a breath here. And then just straighten the legs. We're going to bring the feet together. Together. And then just let your feet. Tilt to the left. For your toes, Tilt over to the left. Take a little moment here and. . . Just notice the ripple effect. That just by tilting your feet to the left has hardened the rest of your body. You may notice that it feels a little shorter in the right side of your waist as the right hips have slightly hiked up. Towards your right shoulder. How's the breath? At this moment. Has it changed? And then from here, As you inhale. Slide your knees. Towards your left arm. Just as far up as is comfortable. And then on your exhale, Slowly sliding the feet. Until your legs are straight and for a brief moment, Toes point to the left. And then bring them back to centre again. So do that a few times, Nice and slowly, The feet tilt to the left. And we slide the knees up. Towards your arm, Your left arm And slowly sliding back again. And I wonder if you can notice here. Where abouts this movement is coming from? So we do not want the movement coming from our upper bodies. See if you can. Keep your jaw and your shoulders as soft as you can. However. . . Your head may like to roll and if it does, Just let that happen. So for example, As your knees come on up. Your head may want to roll to the right. That would be fine. This time when your knees come up. Bring them towards your chest. Let them slightly tilt to the right. And then completely reversing the movement. So letting the knees come towards the left again. And straightening the legs slowly. Feet tilt to the left. And everything comes back to centre. So we'll do that one more time. Feet tilt to the left. Bending the knees and sliding down. Towards your arm. Eventually bringing your knees towards your chest. Slightly coming over to the right. Remember your head can roll in any way it wants. Before reversing this whole movement. Slowly straightening the legs. And then just for a little moment, Finding stillness. So I'm going to choose to be in a great big star shape. You may like to do the same, Taking up lots of space, Reaching through the fingers and reaching through the toes, Reaching, Reaching, Reaching and exhale. Hmm. Little moment here now just noticing the difference between the two sides of your body. How does it feel? And the left side of your body compared to the right side of the body. Just breathing into that. And eventually bringing the feet together again. And letting your toes tilt to the right. Taking a little moment again just to notice. How your body's responded by just tilting the toes to the right. How does it feel here? How do you breathe here? And then very, Very slowly Going to bend the knees to the right. Drawing your knees up towards your right arm. Your head once again is free to go. In any direction it wants so long as you're not using You're a nut. Your shoulders to help those knees come on up. Slowly reversing the movement. Eventually when the toes come down, They tilt to the right. Before coming back to centre. Doing this a few more times slowly with your breath, Getting curious. Noticing how your body responds to this movement. Feeling those deep muscles in your core maybe switching on. And keeping the softness. In your shoulders. Not at all. Round the tongue. This time. When the knees come towards your right arm. We'll bring the knees up to the chest. Let them tilt slightly to the left. And then reversing the movements, Letting the knees come back towards the right. Sliding the feet. Away from you. So the legs are straight. Eh, Lame. The feet come back to centre. One more time like this. Nice and slowly. And then taking a moment here, Once again, Maybe in your star shape. Or any way where you can just feel into your whole body. Noticing how it responded to this movement. I'm going to create a whole circle here, So just as before the feet come together. Your toes tilt to the left. You slowly slide the knees towards the left arm. Bring the knees up to the chest. Now bring your knees all the way over to the right. And then slide your feet. All the way back to where they started. So the legs straighten. The toes will tilt for a moment to the right. And then back. To center. Do it one more time in that direction, So toes to the left. Bending the knees and sliding the knees towards your arms. Bringing the knees towards your chest. All the way over. And then sliding the feet. Towards the space in front of you. Let's go the opposite direction. So feet to the right. Knees bend to the right towards your right arm. Knees bend to your chest Knees all the way to the left. And then slowly straightening the legs. Remember your head can move. In any direction that feels right to you. The next time that your feet come back to the starting place. Find in your star shape, Pull ahead. Any position where you can pause and breathe. Into your body. Just noticing, Huh. The flow within. So from here we're going to bend the knees, The feet are going to be about hip width apart again. Bring your hand Lace your fingers. And it's almost like someone's tied a ribbon around your elbows. And as. . . You inhale like someone tucks the ribbon that's around your left elbow and pulls your elbow towards the left. Now your knees are going to stay. Where they are. That your ribcage and your head may roll along with you. Going the opposite direction so your elbow is leading. Your right elbow gets pulled to the right. Do you follow along? So hopefully here. . . You'll be feeling a lovely massage. Around the back of your ribcage and the back of your head. We'll do one more. Keeping a little softness in those arms. And eventually just. . . Letting your arms come down by your side. This is where you may like to have. . . You're blocked. Your cushion and I'm just going to place it underneath the sacrum. Around about just underneath. The lower back, A little further down, Sorry, So right about where your tailbone is and then lower than that again. So tailbone and then down. You don't want it. There on your lumbar spine, You want to pretty much be sitting on it. And here, I'm just gonna. . . Taking a super large exhale out through the mouth, Good. Just encouraging the. . . Back here to really soften down towards the floor, Especially that part that's in the air, The part that comes just off away from the block. Let your head be heavy. Let your shoulders release. Some of you might like to stay like this. Some of you may like to walk your feet. A little further forward And you might find that you feel a little bit of a stretch here around the lower belly and into the hips, That's around your psoas area. So feel free to find that place where it feels just right. You want to find that. Goldilocks Placeway. You're feeling a little something. But not too much. The moment it becomes too much, You know to back out. So you may even straighten the legs completely if that feels good. Good for you. And here we're just going to take some time. You'll notice that my feet are flopped out in this one and that's fine. Going to let the thighs here completely relax. So whether your legs are bent or straight, Every now and again just notice your back and if it's tensed up and tightened and if it has Take a large exhale out through the mouth. Reminding your back body that it can release you. You're completely supported. By the solid, Solid floor beneath you. That's going nowhere. You can just release. Adding your exhales now. Nice and long. Inviting softness. Into the face. And allowing that softness to trickle down your body. All the way down the body. Take a few more breaths here. Now if you have your legs straight. Bend your knees again. We're going to push our feet into the floor. Lift our hips. And take the support. And puts it just next to us and then slowly roll the spine. All the way back down to the floor. Take a moment to simply feel here now the connection between your back body and the floor. Your breath, The way you're breathing here. Very slowly just bringing one knee to your chest. And near the knee. Circling your knees around in one direction. And the other direction. Giving the knees a good squeeze in on your exhale. Gentle release on the inhale. Wheezing in on the exhale. Keeping your chin slightly tucked towards your chest so you can breathe. Really feel into that. Full length of your spine. From your tailbone all the way out. Back of your head. And eventually just finding a place to pause and rest. So you can. . . Really feel now into the results. All those movements that you've just done. And I invite you to stay here for as long as you want to. This is where I'll leave you. Thank you for practicing with me.