Gentle Yoga - Spinal Movement, Quad Stretch, and Hamstrings

We start with moving the spine in six directions, forward and back, side to side, and gentle twists on both sides. From there, we move into a quad stretch with cats pulling its tail, followed by a one legged hamstring stretch.

Transcript

All right, I think we're almost time to start. Hopefully my cueing is good today because clearly the dogs have taken over our session today. So with that said, We are going to find ourselves in a comfortable pose. Now, It may feel good for you to stay seated on the mat, Maybe sit on a chair. If it feels better for you to lay on your back or your side, I want you to find that as well. We won't stay here for too, Too long. For me today, I am going to stay seated as that's more comfortable for me. And that's what my body is asking for. Now if it feels good to close your eyes, Close your eyes. Or soft gaze somewhere just right in front of you. A lot of the times when we practice at home, It's quite different than when we practice in a studio. So if you have your eyes open, Maybe just noticing your surroundings. Maybe noticing any scent. Any sound? And whatever that you have noticed, Can you imagine you kind of put them away? Almost like have like a little bubble around you. Even though those sights, Those sounds, Those scent are still there. It seems like a little bit distant. So that you can allow yourself to arrive into this moment, Into this space. Letting yourself dedicate this next 20 to 25 minutes for you. Now we're going to start to practice by bringing our breaths together. So let's start by taking a deep breath in through your nose. And exhale, Let it go. One more just like that. Deep breath in. And long breath out. And for those of us that are laying on our backs, Starting to bring some movement into your body. And then eventually we're all going to join in a seated posture. And then if you're seated, Again, If you would like to sit on some height, Free to do so. If it feels better for you to sit on a block, A chair, Or even a stock of books at home, I find that sometimes it could be quite more comfortable. Once you have it, Start to tuck your chin down towards the chest. And on your next scene, How's it to roll your head up in one direction, Doesn't matter which way. Closing the eyes if that feels good or chasing me somewhere just right in front. And I invite you to notice any sound, Any sensation. Noticing how does the neck feel on the first day of the week. And then whenever you feel like it's the right moment, We're going to reverse this. Rolling your head in the opposite direction. Maybe even noticing any difference between the first direction and this one. About one or two more cycles of breaths in here. Wonderful. And then eventually, Making your way back into neutral. Now, If you have your eyes closed, Slowly start to open them. On your next inhale, We're going to reach your fingertips up to the sky. And as you exhale, We're going to twist over towards the right-hand side. Maybe bring in the left hand on the outside of that right hand. On your next inhale can you allow yourself to sit just a little bit taller And as you exhale, Turning your chest a little bit further over towards the right side. Letting your gaze be wherever is comfortable, Whether it's towards the right, Or for some of us, Maybe even towards the back of the room. We'll stay here for about two to three more breaths. Beautiful. And then on your next scene, House art can make a way back to center. Reach those fingertips up. And as you exhale, Turning over towards the left. Bringing that right hand on the outside of that left knee. Once again, When you found a position that feels good, Can you allow yourself to sit just a little bit taller? You can even create some space between your ears and your shoulders. Stay here for just a couple more breaths. Beautiful. And then on your next inhale, Bringing those arms back to the center. As you exhale, This time bringing that right hand down onto the mat, Reaching that left ringer tip up and over. Now noticing if that left hip is starting to lift. Try your best to keep the left hip back down. Shining your chest forward, Let your gaze be whatever is comfortable. Is that the gaze towards the front? Maybe up towards your palms, Or maybe even down towards your mouth. Stretching out the side of the body. One more breath in here. Wonderful and then on your next inhale coming back to center both fingertip reaches up as you exhale coming to the second side Once again, Noticing if that right hip has lift. If that's the case, Try your best to bring it back down. I find that it's quite helpful for me to keep pushing that right palm down onto the mat. Once you have a position that feels good, Let your gaze be wherever it is comfortable. For me on this side, It's up towards my palm. It might be different than the first. We'll stay here for one more breath. Beautiful. And then on your next inhale, Coming back to center. Now we're going to open our arms up while coming into what's called an eagle arm. So we're going to bring the right arm on top of the left. Option one, Give yourself a great big hug. Option two, Maybe the palms touch. Or option three, If it's available, You're bringing your palms to touch in front of us. Whichever option you have chosen, Can you keep lifting the elbows up, Allowing those shoulders to come back down? Now we're going to bring in some movement into this. On your next inhale, We're going to lift those elbows up doing a little mini back bend. And as you exhale, Rounding up the back, Keep pushing your elbows towards the front. A few more times just like that. Inhale, Lifting those elbows up, Doing a little mini back bend. As you exhale, Rounding out the body, Pushing the elbows towards the front. Beautiful. About three to four more of the seated cat and cat. For those of us that practice yoga quite often, Maybe you're noticing that this is not as deep as when we're on a hands and knee, And that's okay. One cycle here. And then on your next inhale, Coming back to center, Reaching those arms out wide, And then we'll do the same thing on the opposite side. This time, Left. Of someone. Turn three palms. Lifting the elbows up. As you exhale, Rounding up the body, Press the elbows towards the front. About three to four more of these cat cows. Now this time I encourage you to listen to your breath. All of the friends. Yours may be faster than mine. Yours might be slower than mine. One more cycle of breath in here beautiful and nice and hell releasing this post. Maybe it feels good to do some shoulder rolls or moving the head. I always like to start these classes with Wearing the spine six ways. Forward, Back, Side to side, And twist on both sides. And once we move this one, We're going to move into our stretch part inside of this. Actually, I might need this. So for this one. Today we're going to really focus onto our legs. We're going to start off by stretching the top of our thighs. I'm going to come into what's called a. . . Cat's pulling its tail. So leaning on one side, Doesn't matter which way, I'm going to just use my elbows for support. This top leg is going to come in front of me. Now, If there's some space in between your leg and your mat doesn't feel good, Maybe bring a pillow, Pillow blanket, Whatever that might be that helps you that can rest on. Now, We're going to grab the bottom leg, So not the top leg. We're going to grab onto the bottom ankle. If this is very intense for you and it's not available for you, Maybe grab on hold of the pant leg. And if that's still not available, Go get a strap. If you don't have a strap, Grab a belt, A towel, Whatever that might be, Wrapping a towel across the ankle, And then we're going to stay right there. Now, Noticing that if this is very intense onto the shoulders and the elbows, You're always welcome to come on down, Extending the arm out long, Or maybe even bringing a pillow underneath the head. I find that the beauty of practicing at home and you have to have a lot of props at home. You probably have a lot of blankets, A lot of pillows that you can use. Mmm. Hopefully you feel that stretch in the front of the bottom thigh. Mm-hmm. And if you don't, Can you bring that bottom knee towards the back just a little bit more? Maybe even squeeze your glues just a tiny bit so you can feel that stretch. We'll stay here for about seven to eight more long deep breaths. So I want you to check in. Is there one tiny 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, Sign it out. Beautiful. Now, If you want to stay longer, I encourage you to stay. And if you're ready to come out of this pose, Starting to release that bottom line. Now, Do whatever movement that feels good. For me, My body is asking me to roll over onto my back. Bringing my knees into the chest to rock myself from side to side. For some of us, It might feel good to find the mad and please fall from what. Whatever movement you need. Thank you. We'll do the same thing on the opposite side. I'm gonna flip myself over. You're welcome to turn onto your mat. I just find that it's probably more useful for you to see my front hand than my back. So extending the bottom leg long, This talk leg is going to come in front of us. Grab some support if you're neat. And then starting to bend into the bottom leg, Grab a hole either onto the pant leg, Onto the ankle, Or bring a towel around it. Or even a blanket. I could probably demo with a blanket. Blanket is pretty big, But. . . And it goes like this. And of course my demo, The dog is in front of us, You can see. Now option to steal your right, Option to come on down. Now just keeping in mind that there's difference between left and right. Maybe this side is easier. Maybe this side is a little bit more intense. And again, For those of us that do not feel much, We keep trying to bring that knee towards the back of the room. Maybe even squeezing your glute just a tiny little bit. And so you feel that stretch in the front. Of that bottom leg. We'll stay here for about. . . I'll just take some more long deep breaths. Doing whatever adjustment that you need Two more breaths. A lot more breathing. If it feels good, You know. Beautiful. Once again, If I want to stay longer, I encourage you to stay. If you're ready to come out of it, Starting to release that link. Once again, Doing whatever movement that feels good, My body is still asking me to roll over to my back, Bringing my knees into the chest and rock myself from side to side. Again, Yours may be different. I wanted you to. . . There's no right or wrong movement. You can probably hear that I'm also. . . Hearing those cracks beautiful. And then taking your time, We're going to come back into a seated posture. Now again, If sitting on the ground feels like it's really intense for the low back, I want you to sit on a block, Sit on a chair, Sit on a couple pillows, Whatever feels that good for you. I'm going to stretch the back of the leg. So I'm going to start off by bringing my left foot in front of me. I'm going to tuck that right foot in between my inner thigh. Now, Option to use some props. If it feels good for you, Whether that's a towel, Blanket, Bring that blanket, Towel, Strap, Belt, Whatever you have at home across your foot. Hmm. The towel is probably quite nice because it's got the whole foot. And then slowly start to bring your chest towards your big toe. Imagine there's a magnet between your heart and your big toe. When you cannot go any further, Then you're welcome to round out the back, Maybe even tucking the chin in. Now at any moment in time, If this posture does not feel good on the low back, I want you to come out of it. For some of us, It might be easier to lay back, Extending that leg out long in front of us. Mmm. This is actually the first time I use a blanket as a prop and it's actually quite nice i quite enjoy it Mmm, Alright. Now, Fine is something that you can settle into. Reminding yourself that especially with this post is never about touching the toe. It's about feeling the stretch. For some of us, We might feel that stretch in the back of the thigh, The hamstring. For some of us, We might stretch in the back of the calf. For some of us, We may even feel a stretch of the lower back. We have about six to seven more long deep breaths in here. Do more. One more breath in And it feels good, So, You know. And as always, If you want to stay longer, Feel free to stay. If you're ready, Come out of it slowly starting to make a way back up. This time, Though, We want to bring in some movement. I personally like the windshield for my legs. So I'm going to plie my feet down onto the mat, Hands in and come behind us for support, And gently starting to let those knees fall from one side to the next. And then if it feels good, Option to bring that knee to the left. It just feels so good. And then inhale coming back to center. And then come to the opposite side. Coming back to center, We'll do the same thing to the opposite legs. I am just going to demo it onto the side. Extending our opposite leg out. Mine will be the right. Tugging the left foot in between the right inner thigh. Option to use a prop. Maybe that's a blanket. A towel across the foot. Grabbing a hold of whatever is available for you. Imagine there's a magnet between your heart and your big toes. You're going to try to bring those two as close as you can. And then when you cannot go any further, Then you're welcome to round over the back and tuck the chin in. You And as always, Reminding ourselves that there's difference between left and right. And once you've found something that feels okay, I want you to notice where can you create a little bit more space. Maybe that's creating some space between your ears and your shoulders. Maybe that's creating some space between your teeth and your eyebrows. And stay here for about four to five more long deep breaths. Two more. One more thing. It even feels good. And then slowly starting to make a way back up. If it feels good to windshield wiper those legs, Doing what we did earlier, By all means, Feel free. If there's some other movement you'd like to do, You know it. Listen to your body. Do whatever that feels good for you. So for those of us that have to go, We are done with like the movement and the stretch of this class. Now, For those of us that want to stay for a little mini shavasana, A little relaxation, I'd like you to join me. But if you have to go, Feel free to go as well. Thanks for practicing with us today. So if you're joining me for a little mini shavasana laying on our back. Extending our legs out long. If you have a blanket next to you, Maybe even cover yourself with a blanket. Letting your feet be about Matt with distance apart. Letting those toes fall to the side. Perhaps maybe by your head, Palms facing up. Or for some of us, It may actually fit together to be up. Can you have a slight tuck of the chin for the length of the back of the neck? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And baits between the grounds. Thank you. Thank you. Maybe? Oh. Yeah. I just built a bird to come down towards the ground. To be happy. Thank you. Thank you. Surprise. Just to be happy. And move down towards the length. Thank you so much. Each and every tone. Beep beep. What? Stop wiggling your fingers and your toes. I just I reaching arms at the back of the room. And I'll see you up. We're to the right coming. Just stay here for a few moments and join this peace and quiet that you have created for yourself. And know that it is here for you whenever you need. You're slowly pushing yourselves back up into a comfortable seat. Mm-mm. Sitting nice and tall. On your next inhale, Reach your arms up to the sky. And as you exhale, Hand towards your heart center. Thank you for sharing your practice with me today. Namaste.