Today's deeply restorative practice is tailored for the vagus nerve,
So there's a few techniques in here to help you improve your vagal tone.
We will be using a yoga bolster.
If you don't have a yoga bolster,
You can improvise with two or three pillows on top of one another,
Or a thick blanket that's rolled up nice and tight.
I've also got two yoga blocks.
If you've only got one block,
You can improvise with a rolled up towel nice and thick.
If you don't have any blocks,
Then you can have a rolled up towel and a really thick book about the same sort of thickness as the block.
When you're ready,
Let's begin.
Have your bolster or your pillows running parallel to the short side of the mat and we'll take a laying side bend to begin with.
So sitting on your right side,
We want that prop right underneath those ribs so that you can bring your right shoulder to the mat and your head.
Now,
If you need to support the head,
By all means,
You can place your block.
Or your towel underneath.
If your hips need support,
You can position the block in between the thighs.
And so we'll begin with both knees bent and left palm on top of the right palm.
Let's commence Ujjayi breath.
Begin to tone through the back of your throat.
Keeping the jaw relaxed.
And gently placing the tip of the tongue where the teeth are.
Made the roof of the palace.
And on your next inhalation,
Let's slowly lift the left arm above the head.
So keep the fingers low on the floor.
Take a moment to pause,
And then as you exhale,
Slowly lower that left arm back down the way it came.
Begin the breath before the movement.
So start to inhale and then lift the arms.
Maybe rotate the heart a little more to the ceiling.
And then exhaling to lower down.
Next time you lift that left arm,
Let's keep it above the head.
If there's no concerns with the shoulder,
If that doesn't feel good for your body,
Then just bring that arm back down.
A little deeper if you straighten out the legs here.
And a sense as though we're rotating the heart towards the ceiling.
You might like to take a mudra with your right hand,
Connecting index finger and thumb for chin mudra.
An option to continue on with your ujjayi breath.
Or if you'd like to introduce a little hum as you exhale.
Feel free to do so.
Whoa.
Home.
Noticing that internal vibration.
One more.
You and when you're ready,
Lower the left hand down.
Let's gently press ourselves up to seated.
Then we'll change sides straight away.
Bringing your left ribs over the prop,
Left shoulder and ear to the mat.
Begin with knees bent,
Palms touching.
In your own time follow the inhalation,
Right arm lifting above the head.
Heart rotating towards the ceiling,
Just a little.
Exhale to float the arm back down.
Slow movement,
Slow breath.
And then coming to stillness with the next one.
And once there,
Feel free to straighten out the legs.
Take a mudra through your left hand.
And feel free to hum out just a few exhalations.
You you you Well done,
Yogis,
Lower the right arm down.
Gently press yourself back up to seated.
And then from here,
We'll turn the bolster so that it's parallel to the long side of the mat.
Coming up onto all fours.
So we're taking a variation of our sphinx pose.
If you prefer not to use the prop,
You can lay flat on the mat.
Otherwise,
Bring your belly button down onto the bolster.
And then bend your right knee out to the side.
So the knee will be at about hip height.
Head can turn left or right.
Or even in the center.
Feeling the body move with the pulse of the breath.
The navel gently expanding against the bolster as you inhale.
Drawing in towards the spine as you exhale.
And let's change sides,
Bring the right leg in,
Left leg out.
If you had your head turned to one side,
Moving to the opposite side now.
Wonderful pose to stimulate digestion.
And also to release the psoas muscle.
And when you're ready,
Gently pressing yourself up.
To bring left knee in and pressing up and we'll keep the bolster where it is.
Just sitting now with your left hip touching the bolster.
Inhale to lengthen the spine and then bring as much of your navel down as you can.
So it's a prone twist.
Head can turn left or right.
And of course you can position the block in between the thighs if the hips need support.
Now count your next two exhalations here.
We'll exhale together to a count of five.
But we'll let the inhalation move at its own pace.
So let's breathe out together now.
And then inhale smoothly.
Deeply.
And pull.
And exhale for five.
Oh.
Three.
Two.
One.
Inhale smoothly,
Deeply and pause.
And exhale for five.
Fool.
3.
Too.
One.
Follow the next inhalation out of the pose.
You can either come to tabletop and change sides or maybe a brief downward facing dog.
Before pivoting feet and bringing your right hip next to the bolster.
Lengthening the spine before you lay yourself down.
There's nowhere to be but with the breath,
Moving the body.
Let's breathe out together.
And then inhale smoothly.
Deeply and whole.
And exhale for five.
Four.
3.
2.
Worm.
Inhale smoothly,
Deeply.
And whole.
And exhale for five.
Oh.
Three.
2.
1 And let's lift up out of the pose,
Coming up to a seated position.
Well done,
Yogi.
So just spin your bolster around now so it's parallel to the short side of the mat.
We'll come back to that in just a moment.
We will be sitting for the next minute or two,
So you might like to elevate your hips,
Sit yourself up on your block.
Don't be too concerned with the legs,
Just make yourself comfortable.
You can kneel,
You can straighten the legs,
Whatever it is you need to do.
A little neck stretch here.
Take our left hand behind the back,
Left fingers reaching to the right.
And allow the right ear to drop towards the shoulder.
Option to stay there,
Otherwise lift the right hand.
And gently lengthen the neck.
So we're not pushing the head down.
Very subtle tractioning happening here.
And then turn the gaze down now,
Take the hands to the back of the head,
Slightly different next stretch.
And let's release.
We'll do that on the other side.
Left ear to the left shoulder.
Feel free to stay there or include the left arm as well.
Ujjayi breath.
Turn the gaze down now,
Bring the hand to the back of the head.
And let's release.
Well done,
Yaragi.
Do a little bit of tapping now,
Let's take our hands behind the ears and just some gentle tapping there.
Continue the tapping,
Just come down underneath the collarbone.
And bring the hands down to the diaphragm.
You might like to tap a little around the navel center there.
And relax.
Well done,
Yorkies.
Let's come down now into an upper back bend,
Our supported fish post.
So we're going nice and high under the shoulders if you can.
So if you're using the two blocks,
See if you can go the second height under the shoulders.
Eyes to hide under the head.
If you're using the towel,
Then it is what it is.
You'll just make sure that the block or the book are higher than that elevation you're getting from the towel.
If this is too high and you've got the blocks,
Then go lowest height,
Second height.
We're going to have our bolster or your pillows underneath the knee.
When you're ready lining yourself up,
One block underneath the shoulder blades.
One block a little higher.
Underneath the head.
Arms out to the side.
Option to take your mudra.
And of course if you've come into position and the props don't feel comfortable,
Feel free to come out and make any adjustments that you need to.
Well done Yogi,
So from here.
We're going to remove the block from underneath the shoulders.
Keep the block under the head,
Though turn it to its lowest height.
And line up the edge of the block with the base of the skull.
And then we'll very slowly start to move the head with the breath.
As you exhale,
Let the head turn to one side.
And then inhaling back to center.
Exhaling over to the other side.
Begin the breath before the movement.
And if you would like to take a few more rounds,
Feel free to do so.
Be sure to finish on the opposite side that you started.
Otherwise coming to stillness when you're ready.
You might like to leave the block in place for Shavasana or remove it altogether.
And when you do make it down to Shavasana.
Let's place one hand on the belly,
One on the heart.
We'll take three breaths here and as you exhale hum out the exhalation.
Home.
Noticing that internal vibration.
That healing resonance.
Om.
You Move into Shavasana when you're ready.
Softening the forehead.
The tongue and jaw.
And as you drift into Shavasana.
Leave no traces with your thoughts.
Just as birds leave no tracks in the sky.
Let your thoughts float off.
Into the distance.
Without a tray.
And be the quiet observer.
Inhale a little deeper.
Feeling the breath touch the nostril.
Notice the sounds meeting the ear.
Bring the tip of your thumb to touch the tip of your pointer finger.
Begin to trace little circles with your thumb around the tip of the pointer finger.
Feeling that light touch of skin on skin.
Move the thumb to the middle finger,
Continue the circle.
Into the ring finger.
And the little finger.
Following any urges to move or stretch.
In your own time rolling onto your preferred side.
And taking as long as you need to there.
That nice moment,
In-between moment.
Really coming up to seated when you're ready to continue on with your day.
Thanks for practicing with me,
Yogis.
I hope you enjoyed our deeply restorative class.
Wishing you a lovely day.
