So it's no surprise that yoga is great for stress relief.
So if you're feeling a little bit of tension,
A little bit of stress has crawled on.
There's a way we can dissipate that very quickly.
Join me on the mat.
My name is Andrea.
I'll be your guide.
If you're already ready to go,
Let's get started.
Otherwise press pause,
Get into something you can move around in comfortably and we'll get started right away.
So come on up to the top of your mat.
We're going to start in mountain pose.
You can either have your toes together or you can have your feet slightly apart,
Maybe hip width apart.
Just make sure that you have your knees facing in the same direction as your toes.
As you inhale,
Roll your shoulders back and allow your hands to face forward,
Nice big inhales in deeply into the low back and belly.
And exhaling fully and completely.
And I'll cue you to be taking those nice deep inhalations and exhalations because we can get rid of a lot of stress just with proper breathing.
I have that in another video I will show you in a moment.
Take a big inhale.
And a full complete exhale as you bring the navel back toward the spine,
That's the way.
Just linger here for one more cycle of breath on a big inhale.
And a full,
Complete exhale.
That's the way,
Just centering on your breathing,
Centering on your balance.
Becoming nice and still,
That's the way.
Now on your next inhale,
Take your arms right on up overhead.
On a big long lingering inhale stretch right on up at the top and on the exhale now start to swan dive down towards the mat go ahead and bring your arms down towards the mat bend your knees and drape yourself right over your thighs so you might want to take your feet out a little bit More.
Both hip width apart,
Drape yourself right over your thighs.
Just allow yourself to hang.
If it's available to you,
Go ahead and pick up your arms and hold your elbows with opposite hands.
Allow your head and neck to go soft.
Take those nice deep inhalations into the low back and belly.
And exhaling to lengthen it up.
Now allow the spine to just lengthen up.
Really take your time on this.
Take another big inhale.
And a full,
Complete exhale as you lengthen up the spine and release all the tension on the back.
Good,
Inhale now to plant your palms.
Shoulder right below your shoulders and step back with your left step back with your right come into a downward dog Take another big inhale.
And exhale just to let your head and neck go soft once again.
Allow the chest to bob towards the floor.
The floor.
If your heels don't land on the mat,
That's okay.
You can certainly be on your tippy toes and just be working them down as part of the tension that's in the body.
So just take your time on this.
This is a very good pose for tension because The downward dog stimulates our vagus nerve,
Which is a very important nerve governing our movement.
Blood pressure,
Heart rate,
Breathing rate,
And digestion.
So we wanna make sure we pay attention to the vagus nerve and the downward dog is one of the best ways of keeping it toned.
Take those big inhales.
And full,
Complete exhales.
Good,
And you stick your toes in.
Tailbone out and have your legs nice and straight.
That's great too.
Just feel it out for yourself.
On your next inhale now,
Look up at the top of your mat.
Exhale,
Tap down onto your knees.
Tap down onto your knees and bring your knees to right below your head.
Readjust your hands now to make sure that they're just right below your shoulders.
We'll come into the tabletop position.
And as you inhale now just lengthen up the spine looking down at your mat.
Exhale to keep the elbows nice and soft we're going to work into some cat cows beautiful on the inhale now drop the belly and lift the head Exhale as we curl it forward.
That's right.
Curl it on down.
Press,
Press,
Pressing into them as you go.
Really arching the back up to the sky.
Inhale,
Dropping the belly,
Lifting the head.
So we're going to sync the breath with the movement.
Feel that beautiful stretch across the chest and exhale as you come forward.
Come forward.
Come forward.
That's the way.
Press,
Press,
Press,
Press,
Pressing the mouse.
Tucking in the tailbone.
Inhale to release,
Drop the belly,
Lift the head.
And exhale as you bring your forehead down toward your thighs,
Really pressing into the magic arch your back up to the sky.
Even squeeze your navel up toward your spine.
Good work.
Inhale,
Last time,
Drop the belly,
Lift the head.
And exhale to curl it on down into cat.
That's the way,
Press,
Press,
Press,
Press,
Press.
Doesn't matter.
Tuck it in.
Really arching up to the sky,
That's the way.
Good.
And inhale now to neutral.
And exhale it out.
But from here,
We're going to go into an extended waiting puppy.
So on your inhale,
Take a step forward with your left foot.
Take a step forward with your right hand.
Exhaling now to drop down to your elbows where you're comfortable.
Hands were and follow all the way down to the mat either with your forehead or you can go ahead and take your chin down to the mat,
Whichever is available to you.
Take a big inhale,
Really filling up that chest area.
You can feel all those little muscles between your rib cage start to expand.
Now the little intercostal muscles,
We're gonna send them some love.
Take the big inhale.
And a full,
Complete exhale.
Allowing the shoulders to sink down.
Inhale one more time.
And a full,
Complete exhale.
Beautiful work on your next inhale,
Come up onto your elbows and walk your hands back.
To just below.
Your shoulders once again.
From here,
Go ahead and tap your big toes together.
Sit back on your heels.
And drape yourself right over your thighs.
Come on into child's pose.
You're going to bring your forehead back.
As close to your knees as you can.
And you can now either have your arms up overhead.
Or if it's better for you,
You go ahead and curl your arms down by your sides and just allow your shoulders to roll.
The tops of your knees.
It's very relaxing,
Very relaxing.
Take those nice deep inhalations into the low back and belly.
And exhale to take the tension out of the body as much as possible.
And just let it release,
Release.
Another nice big inhale.
For complete access.
Another nice big inhale.
Oh,
Complete accident.
Just sync it down.
Beautiful.
Go ahead on your inhale now.
Raise your upper body.
Upright And lean forward now to land your hands.
Directly below your shoulders once again,
And take your hips down.
Your knees out to be built directly below your pelvis.
Your.
Hips.
Now just walk your knees back slightly.
Get right up over your shoulders.
We're going to lower ourselves down onto the mat.
Keep your elbows tucked in nice and tight.
I'm going to swoop up into a little cobra.
So on the inhale,
Now swoop the nose up toward the sky.
Pull yourself up as far as you can on your own and then engage the arms and press up just a little bit more.
Just nice little mini cobras,
Nothing serious.
Is to release any tension on the low back.
Exhaling as we come forward.
Good.
Inhale once again,
Swoop the nose up toward the sky.
Press up a little bit more.
Exhaling as we come down.
Last time,
Swoop that nose up toward the sky on an inhale.
Press up a little bit more.
And exhale to return to the mat.
Beautiful.
From here,
Go ahead and tap those big toes together once again.
Keep the elbows tucked in tight to the body.
Looking straight down at your mat,
Take a big inhale.
Exhale,
Press up,
Press up,
Press up,
Come all the way back onto your haunches once again into child's pose.
There you go.
And you can stack your hands as well.
In front of your body and place your forehead on top of your hands.
You can also do that Whatever feels good for you.
In this moment.
Child's pose.
Take another big inhale.
Full,
Complete exhale.
Beautiful.
Inhale to spread.
Come back up to.
.
.
Sitting on your haunches.
And from here,
Take your hands directly in front of you.
Unweight yourself slightly and pull your knees out to the side.
We're going to go do what's called a wide child's pose.
And from here,
You're gonna take a big inhale.
Exhale,
Walk your hands forward.
Keep the low back nice and straight.
Just walk the hands forward.
That's the way.
Come on down.
One down as far as you can go.
Go ahead and stack your hands,
One on top of the other,
And place your forehead on your hands.
Elbows out to the side for stability.
As you take a big inhale.
And a full,
Complete exhale.
Have a nice big inhale.
Ah,
Complete exhale.
Allow yourself to sink down,
Allow the.
.
.
Hip area to release any tension.
Tension that we've got stored in the hip area.
Another nice big inhale.
And a full,
Complete exhale.
And on your next inhale,
Go ahead and straighten your arms up.
Walk your hands back slightly for stability.
Bring your knees together.
Once again,
We're just going to counter stretch that very deep hip stretch and just bring the knees slightly apart.
They don't have to be right together for child's pose.
Just come back into regular child's pose and bring your forehead to the mat.
Once again,
Arms up overhead,
Arms down by your sides.
Hands stacked in front of the body.
The body,
Whichever works for you,
You just go ahead and do it.
Pinewood.
What's the best position for you to be taking tension out of the body?
Big inhales and exhales,
You sink it down and release right over the legs.
Inhale and full complete exhale.
Now you can stay in child's pose for as long as you like.
Otherwise,
We can.
.
.
Gently come out of the pose Walk your hands forward,
I'll get you back on your feet.
Go ahead and dig in your toes.
So once you're back in the tabletop position,
Inhale as you look down at your mat.
Exhale,
Press up with your core.
And lift your hips.
Knees above the mat,
Walk it forward.
Big inhale,
Full,
Complete exhale.
Once again,
In downward dog.
Grammar.
Taking any tension out of the hamstrings and the calf muscles.
Stimulating the vagus nerve.
I'm also just oxygenating the brain.
Downward dog,
Beautiful.
Inhale now to look up at the top of your mat.
Exhale,
Take a walk,
Skipper,
Jump.
Come on up,
Jump.
The top of your mat,
Now come into a half lift,
Keeping your hands just right below your gums.
I'm going to do an L shape as you look down at your mat.
Exhale into a little forward bend little uttanasana we're just going to tap down boom,
A little tap down and forward bend,
And then inhale,
Come on up to standing.
And if you need to bend your knees coming back up to standing,
You may certainly do that.
Kick it right on up overhead.
Little stretch,
A little back bend.
And then exhale now to interlace your fingers behind your back.
Press your hands and wrists down toward the floor,
And then on the inhale,
Just pick your hands and wrists up toward the floor.
The sky and allowing now the shoulders to be drawn back and the chest to open.
Big inhale.
Full,
Complete exhale as you release.
All is out.
Ugh.
And then check out any of the other videos I might have to help you to release tension,
Especially if you're packing tension in the hips.
Or the legs,
The back.
There's ways of handling that through yoga.
Thank you for joining me.
We'll see you again.
