Hi.
Thanks for joining me today.
But more importantly,
Thank you for taking some time for yourself in your busy workday.
Find a quiet seat in a chair where you won't be disturbed for a while.
Feel your feet and press them gently into the floor.
Feel your back and sitting bones press into the chair supporting you.
Keep your spine long and your chin slightly tucked.
If you're comfortable doing so,
Gently close your eyes.
Since we often carry tension in our neck and shoulders,
Let's start here by tipping your right ear towards your right shoulder,
Breathing into the stretch on the left side of your neck.
You can either stay here or,
If it feels good,
Put your right hand on top of your head and gently guide it to the right and breathe.
Head back to center.
Now tip your left ear to your left shoulder,
Enjoying the stretch along the right side of the neck and shoulder.
Breathe into the stretch and,
If you enjoyed it last time,
Apply some gentle pressure on the head to deepen the stretch.
Back to center.
Good.
Now slowly raise your hands over your head,
Arms gently straightened and shoulders down and away from your ears.
Then take hold of your left forearm with your right hand and slowly lean to the right.
Take a slow deep breath in,
Keeping your sitting bones grounded and chest lifted,
And enjoy the stretch in your left side body.
Float arms up and back overhead and take your right forearm with your left hand and gently lean to the left and breathe,
Enjoying the stretch there.
Back to center and settling down onto your lap.
Shift forward a little bit towards the front of your seat,
Making sure you feel stable and balanced.
Take a seated figure four stretch by grounding your left foot down and then lifting your right ankle up to rest on top of your left thigh.
Keep your spine long,
Crown to the sky and breathe.
And if you'd like to deepen the stretch,
You can place your hands on your thighs,
Stay long through the crown and fold from the hips over your legs,
Shoulders away from the ears and breathe.
Now rise back up and switch legs.
Left ankle over right thigh.
Feel your foot grounded into the floor and your body rooted into the chair.
Again,
You can go a little deeper if you'd like by lengthening through the crown,
Hinging at the hips and lowering your torso towards your legs.
And back up to a neutral sitting position,
Feet on the floor.
Now for a twist.
Lengthening crown to sky on the inhale and on the exhale,
Twist gently to the right.
Right hand on the back of the chair seat,
Left hand using the outer right thigh as gentle leverage,
Looking over your right shoulder.
As you inhale,
Focus on lengthening.
And as you exhale,
Gently deepen the twist.
Back to center.
Other side now.
Inhale and lengthen in your seat.
Then exhale and twist gently to the left.
Left hand behind and right hand against the outer left thigh.
Inhale,
Lengthen.
Exhale,
Twist gently,
Gazing over your left shoulder.
Back to center.
Palms face down on the tops of your thighs.
And as we close this practice,
I invite you to think about one thing that you have to be grateful for.
It could be gratitude for health,
Gratitude for employment,
Or something as simple as gratitude for having taken some time to care for yourself.
Whatever puts a smile on your face.
Thank you so much for joining me for this short break today.
And remember,
Treat yourself gently.
