Yoga For Sleep Apnea

In this practice, we will explore movements and breathing exercises that tone the muscles of our airways to support those living with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Observe your breath during the practice, and consider incorporating some or all of it into your daily routine You may invite your loved ones to join you! You may want to look up images of the poses in this practice before beginning: Cobra Pose, Child's Pose, Boat Pose, Lightening Pose (specify yoga if using the internet), and Bow Pose.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome.

This is a practice for people with sleep apnea.

The breathing exercises and poses we will do have been shown to maintain the muscle tone of our airways and can benefit those with sleep apnea.

I recommend doing the practice twice.

It doesn't have to be two in a row,

It can be two on different days.

The first time bringing your awareness to your breath,

To the sensations in your body,

And refocusing your thoughts back onto the breath and really wholeheartedly diving into the practices.

And then after a brief or a long pause,

Coming back and doing it again and noticing which postures and which breathing exercises really resonate with you in your experiences and what you're looking for,

Whether it's more toning,

Strengthening,

Stretching,

Or resting.

What feels like it will benefit you and your experiences with sleep apnea.

And then finding those,

Jotting them down,

Taking note,

And practicing them every day.

These exercises don't have to be done every day for long periods of time,

Maybe starting with three to five minutes for a breathing exercise,

And starting and closing with again three to five minutes of gentle movement and stretching.

So here we go.

Let's begin.

Please stand tall with your feet hip distance apart.

Notice your breath.

Observe your breath with curiosity,

Noticing its depth,

Depth,

Pace,

And without judgment,

Maybe with a little gratitude,

A little love.

When you next exhale,

Take a slight bend in both your knees.

And then as you inhale,

Press into the soles of your feet,

Extend your knees,

Stand tall,

And reach the crown of your head up.

Again,

Exhale,

Press your feet down towards the earth.

Inhale,

Lift the crown of your head up towards the sky.

Slightly tuck your pelvis towards your bottom ribs as you open up across your chest,

Moving your shoulders back and down.

Gently tuck your chin,

Lengthening out your spine.

And breathe.

Notice your breath.

Exhale here.

And then inhale,

Bring your arms up overhead,

Palms together to touch,

And lift your gaze up.

Then exhale,

Bend both elbows,

Bringing your arms down to shoulder height,

With your elbows bent,

Creating a cactus shape.

Inhale,

Reach up,

Arms straight overhead,

Palms come together to touch.

Slowly exhale,

And again,

Cactus your arms.

Two more times,

Just like that.

Inhale up,

And exhale.

One more time.

Inhale,

Reach up.

Exhale,

Create a cactus shape.

Inhale,

Reach up.

This time,

Reach your arms out either side and dive forward into a forward fold.

Bend your knees any amount to place the palms of your hands on the ground on either side of your feet.

And then step back,

Coming into a plank pose.

Your feet will be next to each other,

Grounding the balls of your feet in your toes,

Lifting the backs of your thighs,

Pressing your heels back while you reach the crown of your head forward.

And your wrists will be under your elbows,

Which are straight,

And under your shoulders.

Breathe.

Inhale,

And then exhale.

Bend your elbows,

Look forward,

And slowly,

Slowly come all the way down to the ground.

Untuck your toes,

Press into the tops of your feet,

Press into your legs,

And lift into cobra pose.

So press into the palms of your hands,

Lift your heart,

Lift your gaze,

And then exhale.

Lift your heart,

Lift your gaze,

And slightly lengthen out,

Extend your elbows.

Cobra pose as you inhale,

And then exhale.

Lift your hips,

Push into your hands,

Go back to child's pose,

Hips back to heels.

Exhale and bring your chest and forehead to the ground.

Exhale,

Child's pose.

Inhale,

Lift off,

Drop your hips as they come forward,

Bring your chest forward,

Your gaze up.

Cobra pose.

Exhale,

Child's pose.

Inhale,

Cobra pose.

Exhale,

Child's pose.

Inhale,

Cobra.

Exhale,

Child's.

Inhale,

Cobra.

Exhale,

Child's pose.

Inhale,

Come up towards cobra,

But pause on all fours,

Then cross one ankle under the other.

Walk your hands back towards your knees,

Bring your sit bones down to the earth,

And come into an easy seated pose,

A cross-legged pose.

And pause here.

Observe your breath,

And then use your hands on the outside of your knees to guide them up together.

So you can lift your feet and place the soles of your feet on the ground in front of you.

Exhale here.

Inhale,

Move your hands behind your thighs on the backs of your thighs,

And lift your feet up.

Create a long spine reaching the crown of your head up and back,

And lift up so that your shins are parallel with the ground.

Breathe.

Exhale here.

And then inhale.

Extend your knees.

Release your hands so they're reaching forward.

Lean back.

Reach the crown of your head back and up.

Reach your feet forward and up.

Boat pose.

Exhale,

Bend your knees.

Come slightly forward.

Hold your knees in.

Inhale,

Reach out again.

Extend your legs.

This time lift your arms up overhead,

And exhale.

Come back together,

Shins parallel with the ground,

Feet lifted,

Hands under your shins,

And then inhale.

Reach out.

Boat pose.

Arms overhead.

Extend.

Exhale.

Come back.

Inhale.

Extended boat.

Reach out.

Exhale.

Bend your knees.

Come back together and pause.

One more time.

Extended boat.

Exhale.

Come together.

Pause.

And then slowly,

Slowly,

Place your feet back down on the ground.

Inhale.

Lift your heart and your gaze.

Exhale.

Tuck your chin around your spine.

Inhale.

Come back through center.

Place your hands on either side of your body,

And swing your legs around to come back to all fours.

Then walk your hands back to your thighs.

Bring your hips back to your heels,

Coming into lightning pose or kneeling.

Pause here.

As you exhale,

Ground your legs down towards the earth.

As you inhale,

Reach the crown of your head up.

Slightly tuck the front of your pelvis towards your lower ribs as you open across your chest.

Shoulders back and down.

Observe your breath as you inhale and exhale.

We'll be doing three rounds of lion's breath.

I'll talk you through one,

And then we will do three all together.

In lion's breath,

We inhale through the nose,

And then exhale through the mouth.

As we exhale,

We'll stick our tongues out and reach the tip of our tongue down towards our chin.

Open your eyes wide as you exhale.

Inhale through your nose.

Exhale.

Stick out your tongue.

Reach towards your chin.

Open your eyes and exhale fully.

Inhale through your nose.

Lion's breath.

Inhale.

Lion's breath.

One more time.

And breathe.

Lift your hips to come into high kneeling pose,

And then place the palms of your hands down on the ground in front of you.

With your palms grounded,

Step back with your feet coming into plank pose and inhale.

Exhale.

Come down to the ground.

Inhale.

Press into the palms of your hands under your shoulders.

Lift your heart.

Cobra.

Exhale.

Come back down to the ground.

We'll be coming into bow pose.

Please bend both your knees.

Lift your heart,

And one at a time,

Reach your hands back and take your foot into your hand.

So right foot goes into the right hand.

Left foot,

Left hand.

And your palms will be facing in.

And then lift your heart.

Lift your legs.

Press into your pelvis as you bring your gaze up.

Press your feet into your hands and your hands pull to your feet.

You can imagine that you are trying to straighten out your legs.

At the same time,

Bend your elbows and create your bow and breathe deeply.

Three more slow breaths here.

Inhale,

Bow pose.

Exhale,

Lower back down.

Release your feet slowly,

Slowly.

And place your hands back under your shoulders and your feet back down on the ground.

Push up to all fours and cross one ankle over the other.

Walk your hands back,

Hips back down to the ground,

Coming into our easy seated pose,

Our cross-legged pose.

We'll next be doing shining skull breath.

Exhale and ground your legs and sit bones.

Lift the crown of your head and place your palms,

Palms down on your thighs,

Just back of your knees.

Gently allow your tongue to come out of your mouth.

So in lion's breath,

We've reached the tip of our tongue to our chin.

In shining skull breath,

Just to get the sense of the feeling and the pace of the breath for a moment,

We'll let it gently come out over the lower lip.

Bring to mind a dog panting and imitate that movement and breath.

On each exhale,

Bring your navel closer to your spine.

Allow your abdominal muscles to force the breath out,

To push the breath out,

To support your exhale.

Once you have a pace going,

Panting,

Please bring your tongue back into your mouth.

Close your lips but keep a gap between your teeth,

Between your upper teeth and lower teeth,

A relaxed jaw.

Keep breathing as if you were panting but through your nose,

Using your lower abdominal muscles to exhale.

If you need to pause and try panting with your tongue out again,

Please do so.

If this is new to you,

Be patient and notice and practice.

Know that in breathing this way,

We are strengthening and toning muscles.

We are also showing our nervous system that we can breathe quickly and heavily with heat and then we can ground and calm afterwards.

So a wonderful exercise for our breathing airway muscles but also for our nervous system.

So let's give it a try.

We'll do three minutes here of shining skull breath.

Continue to breathe just so for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One,

And then slowly exhale.

Exhale,

Slowly inhale,

Slowly exhale,

Slowly inhale.

Notice three colors around you.

It could be the blue of the walls,

The green of a plant,

The red of a book,

Any colors on any place.

Simply notice three colors around you and then notice two sounds.

One may be the sound of my voice,

One may be a loved one in your home,

The wind outside,

And then notice a sensation on your skin.

It could be your clothing,

Be your clothing,

Your hair,

Temperature.

Just one sensation on your skin and body and then notice your breath.

Choose to bring your awareness back to your slow breathing.

Our next breathing exercise is called a victory breath.

It's also sometimes called psychic breath or yogic breath.

And this is a calming and warming breath.

To begin,

Please bring either hand a few inches out from your face,

Close enough where you can feel your breath on your palm.

And then imagine it's either a mirror or glass and you're going to breathe on it such to fog up the mirror or glass.

Exhale through your mouth.

Feel the warmth of your breath,

The moisture of your breath on your palm.

And if you've never done this to fog up mirror or glass,

Usually so that you can draw in it with your finger,

You can go over and give it a try.

Notice when you do this,

When you exhale in this way,

As if to create fog,

To create that warmth and moisture on your hand,

You're constricting slightly the back of your throat.

Notice the sound it makes.

As you're ready,

Just as when we brought the tongue back in our mouth for our shining skull breath,

Go ahead and close your lips.

Again,

Leaving a gap between your upper and lower teeth.

Rest in your jaw,

Breathe through your nose and constrict your throat in the same way.

And you'll notice it creates a similar sound now,

Both on the inhale and exhale.

And it sounds like the ocean or wind.

Continue to breathe,

Constricting the back of your throat.

And work to lengthen out your exhales and inhales so that you're breathing slowly and deeply,

Constricting your throat,

Create warmth on your inhale and exhale,

Creating a sound like the ocean or the wind.

Again,

We'll do this for three minutes.

Place your hands on your thighs,

Just back of your knees,

Sit up tall and slightly tuck your chin.

We'll begin now.

We'll begin now.

Continue just so,

Breathing slowly,

Deeply and noticing your breath.

Take three more rounds of breath through throat constricted,

Listening to the sounds your inhale and exhale,

And then rest the muscles of your throat.

Let your breath come silently and naturally.

Inhale and exhale.

Let's take a round of lion's breath here.

So we'll inhale through our nose,

Exhale by opening our mouth,

Reaching our tongue towards our chin and opening our eyes wide,

Exhaling through our mouth.

One round of lion's breath.

Inhale,

Exhale.

Our next breath is humming bee breath.

So reach your arms out to a T,

Shoulder height,

Either direction.

Stretch fingertips out and then exhale.

Bend your elbows,

Bring your middle finger to your ears.

As we begin,

You will go ahead and press gently,

Gently to close your ears so you can really hear your breath.

And I'll cue you through it and then I'll tell you,

Okay,

Go ahead and close your ears.

And we'll do this one for just one minute.

So you can try it and know that you have it in your pocket to use any time.

So once we begin,

You'll inhale through your nose,

Then you'll exhale through your nose,

Humming,

Okay,

Hence humming bee breath.

You'll exhale slowly and consistently creating a hum that you'll hear really beautifully with your middle fingers covering your ears,

Closing your ears oh so gently.

All right,

So you can listen to me do it.

And then as you're ready,

Press your ears gently and continue for a minute and then we'll come back together.

Humming bee breath,

Inhale through your nose,

Exhale through your nose with a hum.

Here we go.

Humming bee breath.

Begin to breathe slowly and deeply.

Release your hands,

Stretch them up overhead.

Exhale,

Slowly bring them back down to your thighs.

Pause here.

Notice the sensations in your body,

Your breath,

What thoughts or emotions may have come up.

Simply notice and then bring your awareness back to your breath.

For our final practice of breath work,

We will do alternate nostril breathing.

So please leave your right hand on your thigh and lift your left hand.

So just as with our victory breath,

It's just a few inches away from your face.

Look at the palm.

Palm is facing in and then please lower the three middle fingers.

So your pointer finger,

Your middle finger,

And your ring finger will come down towards your palm and then bring your hand close enough to your face that your thumb and pinky finger can touch the outsides of your nostrils.

So thumb over the left nostril,

Pinky finger over right,

But just hovering for right now.

Inhale through your nose.

Exhale through your nose.

Pause here to cultivate a slow,

Equal parts breath.

So your inhales and your exhales have an equal pace to them.

I'll begin to cue our alternate nostril breathing,

Telling you what to do with your hands and your breath.

When you're ready,

Join in.

Inhale through both nostrils.

Then use your pinky finger to close your right nostril and exhale slowly through your left nostril.

Inhale through your left nostril with your pinky down and then put your thumb over your left nostril.

Lift your pinky finger and exhale through your right nostril.

Inhale through your right nostril,

Pinky finger down,

Thumb up,

Exhale through your left nostril.

Inhale through your left nostril.

Bring your thumb down,

Lift your pinky,

Exhale through your right nostril.

Inhale right,

Pinky down,

Thumb up,

Exhale left.

Inhale left,

Thumb down,

Pinky up,

Exhale right.

Inhale right,

Pinky down,

Thumb up,

Exhale left.

Inhale left,

Thumb down,

Pinky up,

Exhale right.

Inhale right,

Pinky down,

Thumb up,

Exhale left.

Inhale left,

Thumb down,

Pinky up,

Exhale right.

Inhale right,

Thumb down,

Pinky up,

Exhale left.

And pause.

Release your left hand down to your thigh.

Breathe through your nose slowly and deeply.

Lift the crown of your head up,

Roll your shoulders back and down away from your ear lobes.

Exhale and ground your legs down towards the ground.

Inhale and exhale.

Lengthen your knees out.

You can ground your hands down either side of your hips.

Stretch your legs out along the ground in front of you and then give them a bit of a shake.

So bounce your knees lightly.

Roll your ankles in either direction.

Wiggle your toes.

You can roll your wrists by lifting up and creating circles in both directions.

Shaking out your fingers as well.

Create two peaceful fists.

Squeeze in,

Inhale,

And then exhale.

Shake your hands out.

And then cross your legs again.

Please come back into your easy seat,

Your easy seated pose.

And from here we'll chant Aum three times,

Creating resonance in our airway.

I'll chant Aum four times so that you can hear me once and then join in.

Inhale through your nose.

To chant Aum.

Inhale.

Aum.

Use your hands on the outside of your knees please to lift your knees and bring the soles of your feet to the ground.

Place your hands on your knees.

Lift your heart,

Lift your gaze,

Your spine,

And then exhale.

Tuck your chin,

Round your spine,

Release your hands and roll all the way down to your back.

Bring your knees in towards your chest as you exhale.

Inhale,

Straighten out your knees,

Reach the soles of your feet up,

And then exhale and bring your legs all the way down to the ground.

Inhale,

Reach your arms overhead.

Take a full body stretch,

Fingertips to toes,

And exhale,

Release.

Bring your arms down either side of your body.

Feel the support of the earth under your feet,

Your legs,

Your hips,

And abdomen,

Your shoulders,

And arms,

And hands,

Your head.

Breathe deeply and slowly.

Notice your breath.

Inhale and exhale.

Exhale slowly.

It's a cue to your body to rest here.

Once more,

Inhale and exhale.

Inhale and reach your arms overhead.

Take a full body stretch,

And then exhale and bring your knees in towards your chest,

Lifting your feet up off the ground,

Placing your hands on your knees to guide them in,

And then cross one ankle over the other.

Tuck your chin,

And gently begin to roll along your spine,

Forwards and backwards.

Roll,

Rock,

Roll,

And then come all the way back up to a seat.

Place your left hand in the center of your chest,

Right hand on top of it.

Feel your chest rise and fall with each breath.

Take a moment and bring to your mind one thing you are grateful for today.

Know that these practices are available to you,

Not only for your benefit and your healing and growth,

But for the benefit of every life you touch.

I wish you healing and rest Thank you for joining this practice today,

And we will close here.

Reviews

Wow, this was a fantastic complete yoga practice! I would recommend it not just for a sleep apnoea but for anyone looking to calm their nervous system and to have a yoga practice which incorporates a short physical element and then a longer breathing practice element and relaxation at the end. Thank you so much!