Hey everyone and welcome to another Monday evening gentle yoga.
Yes,
I changed these now.
I just call it gentle yoga.
A lot of people think that when I say yoga,
It's like all the hard stuff.
So I think if I put the word gentle yoga in it,
Then that kind of gives them just like a sense of,
Okay,
This is just slowing down,
Moving the body and stretch it out.
As always,
Especially when we're practicing online is I cannot see you.
So if there's something that I'm queuing that doesn't feel good,
Feel free to skip it.
You're welcome to stay online afterwards or just message me afterwards if you have any questions of any poses that you would like to clarify.
Anyways,
So today we are going to really focus on our hips and our low back.
With that said,
We're going to find ourselves in a comfortable position.
You're welcome to lay on your back,
Lay on your side,
Your belly.
I think for me today,
It's asking me,
Or my body at least,
It's asking me to stay seated.
So if you want to stay seated,
Find some sort of support,
Whether that's.
.
.
A cushion,
A couple of pillows.
But if you do want to find yourself in a laying down position or whatever it is that feels comfortable for you.
Letting your arms be wherever is comfortable and let your legs be wherever is comfortable.
Now,
If it feels good to close the eyes,
Close the eyes,
Or maybe gazing somewhere just right in front of you.
Now,
Especially when we practice at home or wherever you are,
We tend to,
Our sight tend to be quite distracting.
If it feels okay,
Close in the eye.
And let's just start by taking a deep breath in through your nose.
And exhale,
Let it go.
Start to let yourself settle into this moment.
Maybe allowing a body and a mind to say,
Hey,
Mind and body.
It's time to settle onto our mats and practice yoga today.
And then maybe it feels good to just notice your surroundings.
Noticing any sounds or any sensations.
And then for your next few breaths,
Let's just go a little bit deeper into our thoughts.
Maybe our mind is still running 100 miles an hour.
And if it is,
That's okay.
Reminding ourselves that our mind is supposed to think.
However,
Instead of getting caught up into those thoughts,
What can you do to bring yourself back into this moment in time?
Maybe that's noticing your breath.
Or maybe let's start to tune into your physical body.
And as we're keeping on this theme of.
.
.
Low back and hip.
Just for a moment,
Noticing what sort of sensation that space is sending you.
Maybe even jot down some little.
.
.
Notes in the mind as we're going to come back to this awareness at the end of the practice and to see how it feels after.
Hour 20 to 25 minutes of class.
Let's just stay in this awareness for one more round.
Wonderful.
And then if you have your eyes closed,
Starting to flutter them open,
Wherever you are,
Eventually we're going to make our way onto our tabletop,
Onto our hands and our knees.
So if you do have some support with you,
Just bring it to the side.
Bringing your palms underneath the shoulders,
Knees underneath the hips.
Now for the next few breaths,
As always,
Allow your body to move in whatever way that feels good.
Maybe they're shifting the body from side to side.
Maybe forward and back.
And if it feels good,
Maybe even doing some circles,
Some body rolls.
Of taking an inventory of how our body feels.
In this moment.
And then eventually,
We're going to do something a little bit different.
I'm going to shift right into a child's pose first.
So bringing your big toes together,
Knees to the hip,
Width and mat with distance apart.
Starting to bring your head down onto the mat or maybe onto stacked palms,
Fist or block.
Whichever feels better for you.
And just for the next few moments,
Starting to notice.
This child's pose.
Noticing where do you feel this child's bones.
Maybe we feel it in the top of the ankles.
On top of the thighs.
Maybe we feel that sinking of the hips.
For some of us,
Maybe we even feel a little bit of a stretch onto that low back.
Just one more breath in here.
Wonderful.
And then on your next inhale,
Let's shift our way back into that tabletop.
Starting off with a few cat and cows.
So on your next inhale,
Let's lift the tailbone up to the sky.
Broadening the chest.
Float the chin if that feels good.
And as you exhale,
You can really scoop that belly button in,
Pressing the ground away,
Tuck your chin into the chest.
Let's follow that breath.
Inhale,
Opening the body.
And as you exhale,
Rounding out.
A few more of these cat and cows as always at your own pace.
Feeling that movement of the spine,
Maybe even one bone at a time.
One more cycle here.
Beautiful.
And then on your next breath,
Let's make our way back into that tabletop.
We're going to come into our pigeon pose first.
So I'm going to start off by bringing my right knee in front of me.
I'm going to sweep that right foot out to the side just a tiny little bit.
Now,
Many of us like to have that back knee bent.
But for today,
If it feels okay for you,
Can you actually have that back knee bent?
I was going to say back leg straight.
So you're almost in this like 90,
90 degrees.
90 degrees with the back leg,
90 degrees with the front leg.
So we're going to start to turn our chest towards the front of the mat and then maybe starting to calm down.
Is that coming down onto our elbows,
Onto some sort of prop?
Thank you.
Or maybe even using that prop,
Kind of like a headrest,
Resting your forehead onto that space.
Now,
Whatever pose that you have chosen.
Doesn't matter if that back leg is straight or bent.
Really relaxing.
Maybe noticing.
Where are you unconsciously holding tight?
Where can you create a little bit more space?
Now as always,
If that front leg is starting to fall asleep,
Do come out of it when you ever want to stretch that front knee.
We'll stay here for about five,
Six more long deep breaths.
Two more breaths in here.
One more breath in.
If it feels good,
Sigh it off.
Now,
There's always the option to stay longer than you want to stay if you're ready to come out of it.
This time,
We're going to do something a little bit different.
So we have that back knee bent.
If not,
Bend the back knee.
We're going to press ourselves up.
And then we're going to start to sway our body over towards the left side.
So for me,
Eventually you're going to face towards the long side of the mat.
And then we're going to let those knees fall from one side to the other.
So we stretch out the back of the hips.
And then now we're going to bring some mobility into those hip joints.
Now as you can see,
I have my arms up.
Really using my muscle and also really working into those hip socket.
However,
If the arms up is not feeling it for you,
Bring those palms down and then kind of do the same windshield wiper.
Now,
Depending on if you have your arms up or down,
If you have it up,
You might feel like that you're starting to scooch towards the front of the mat,
And that's totally normal.
Just come back and readjust whenever you need.
One more on each side.
Good.
And then this time,
We're going to start to face towards the back of the room.
So depending on where your device is,
You might want to move the device towards the back of the mat.
We're going to come back into that 90-90 degree.
So back leg 90,
Front leg 90,
Bringing whatever props that you might need in front of you.
Starting to turn our chest towards the back of the mat and then slowly start to come on down.
Maybe there's a difference between this side and the first side.
Hmm.
Does it feel good to bring some support underneath the forearms,
Underneath the head?
And as always,
If you feel like the front bent knee is not happy,
What if the front leg is starting to fall asleep?
Always listen to your body.
I'm out of it.
Adjust and then come back in.
And this time,
From the last seven to eight more long,
Deep breath.
Is there one little adjustment that you would like to do to make this pose feel even better for you?
Two more breaths in here.
One more breath in.
And if it feels good,
I,
You know.
Wonderful.
Now if your body is asking for you to stay a little bit longer,
Feel free to stay.
If you're ready to come out of it,
Start to make your way back up.
Pressing yourselves back up.
And I'm going to come back into those windshield wipers.
So maybe it feels good to bring the hands behind you for some support.
But if it feels okay for you,
For your joints and for your body,
Maybe start to sit up,
Reaching those arms up to the sky.
Keeping in mind you don't have to go low.
Maybe just halfway through.
There's no right or wrong.
There's never right or wrong.
Alizima Yoga.
The only one thing that's wrong is if you don't listen to your body.
Alright,
Let's do one more on each side.
Wonderful.
And then eventually making our way back.
Now this time we're going to lay on our backs.
It doesn't matter which way you face.
I'm going to do a little bit of a gentle massage for the low back,
And then coming into a supine twist,
Really stretching out that low back.
So starting to bring our knees into the chest.
Grabbing a hold of the knees and then we're going to start to draw circles with your knees.
Now,
Depending on what surface you're practicing on,
If you're on carpet like me.
You might not feel a lot of pressure,
Which can be a good thing.
But I know that when I practice in the studio with a harder surface.
I feel this little gentle massage,
Kind of massaging your sacrum and your lower back.
Now,
There is no rush.
Whenever you feel like it's the right moment,
We're going to reverse the directions of these circles.
Maybe noticing any difference between the first direction.
And this one.
And then whenever you feel like it's the right moment,
We're going to let those knees fall over onto the right side,
Coming into the supine twist.
Now,
If there's space,
You're welcome to open your arms all wide into a T.
If there isn't,
Start to bend at the elbow so that your fingertips are pointing towards the back of the room.
I personally like to bring a hand on top of my legs,
Almost like acting as an extra weight.
Once you have your position of the body that suits you,
I want you to play around with the position of your nose.
Does it feel good to point the nose up to the sky?
Does it feel good to point a nose in the same direction of the knee,
Stretching out the opposite side of the chest and the neck?
Or does it feel good to point your nose away from the knees so you're adding into this twist?
As always,
Doing only what feels good for your physical body.
This time let's just stay here.
We're both six to seven more breaths.
Once again,
Doing whatever little movement that feels good.
One of them to deepen it is with the opposite hand,
I'm going to grab the side of my hip and then gently push my hip forward towards the bottom of my mat.
Two more breaths in here.
One more breath in.
And if it feels good,
I,
You know.
And then gently releasing this pose,
Starting to bring those knees back to the chest.
Doing whatever that feels good.
Now this time,
My body's asking me to bring my knees into the chest and rock myself from side to side.
And then take your time.
There is no rush.
Whenever you feel like you're ready on the second slide.
Starting to let those knees fall over onto the left.
Let your arms be wherever is comfortable.
Does it feel good to bring one of the arm on top of the legs,
Holding it in place?
And once you have a posture that feels good,
Where would you like to point your nose?
It might be the same as before.
Or maybe it's different.
And that's okay.
And once again,
For the last seven to eight more long deep breaths.
If there's one little adjustment that you would like to do,
Maybe that little gentle push of the hip forward towards the bottom of the mat,
You're welcome to do so.
Two more breaths in here.
One more breath in.
If it feels good,
You know.
And then whenever you're ready,
Gently starting to bring those knees back to center.
Once again,
What sort of movement would you like your body to come to?
Vine is calling me to come and seal this with a show wiper,
So I will listen to it.
And then eventually finding that stillness.
And just starting to really notice.
Maybe it feels good to shift back into that child's pose and do a comparison.
Noticing how does your hips or glutes feel Notice how does your low back feels between now and also the beginning of the class.
For me,
I'm feeling tingling sensation in those spaces.
As my body coming back into this rebounding position.
I also hope that you feel that sense of release in those spaces.
And for those of us,
If you have to go,
Thank you for joining us.
If you would like to stay for an extra five-minute-ish of Shavasana,
Feel free to stay.
And if you're coming into Shavasana,
Let's bring our knees into the chat.
Maybe for some of us even knees into your nose,
Squeezing into all that goodness you have created for yourself.
And then as you exhale,
Extending.
Our legs long into Shavasana,
Our final resting pose.
You may want to tuck yourself with a blanket.
Or maybe you would like to have a dog next to you.
Closing the eyes if that feels good,
Or once again,
Gazing somewhere just right.
Start by taking a deep breath in through your nose.
And exhale,
Let it go.
Shavasana,
Our final resting pose.
As you bring your awareness to your breath.
Start to notice the passage from moment to moment.
Breathe in.
And on your exhale,
Let go.
Good day.
And on your exhale,
Surrender.
Allowing your eyes to sink deep into their socket.
Maybe creating that space between your teeth.
Releasing your neck.
And let your shoulders come back down towards the ground.
Allow your arms to be heavy.
Let this relaxation flow down your spine.
Releasing your upper back.
You a middle bath.
You're a low back.
Notice the rise and fall of your abdomen.
Let your hips feel supported.
And allow this relaxation to move down towards your legs.
Your legs be heavy.
Feel that release of your ankles.
And allow this relaxation to move through to each and every time.
Let yourself be surrounded by this warmth.
And by the speeds.
Reminding ourselves to fill your jar with the things that you love to do.
And as always.
Keep being you.
The world needs more you.
Slowly start to deepen your breath.
Swinging sensation back into your body by wiggling your fingers and your toes.
Rolling your head from side to side.
Rolling your hands and your feet.
Reaching your arms at the back of the room,
Let's take a deep breath in.
And next he'll say it out.
Bringing your knees into the chest will all roll over to the right,
Coming into a ball,
Maybe using your arm as a pillow.
Staying here for a few moments.
Enjoying this peace and quiet that you have created for yourself.
And know that it is here for you whenever you need.
Slowly pushing ourselves back up into a comfortable seat,
Taking your time.
There is no rush.
Clearly,
Maypole did not get the cue,
But that's okay.
Sitting nice and tall.
On your next inhale,
We'll sweep our arms up to the sky.
And as you exhale,
Hands towards your heart center.
Thank you for sharing your practice with me today.
Namaste.
