Hi yogis,
I'm Nicole,
Thanks for joining me today.
Today I have a slow somatic yoga flow for you.
We will need at least one yoga block.
If you've got two,
Grab the two,
Otherwise just the one will be fine.
And during this practice,
I'd like you to take this time as self-inquiry.
There's no right or wrong,
Just notice how you're feeling through the posture.
We'll be doing lots of repetitive movements before we come to stillness in the pose.
So just notice how your body is responding.
Be the witness of the tension unfolding.
Be ever so mindful of the breath.
The magic in your practice lies with the breath,
Not with physically forcing the body.
So when you're ready,
Come to stand.
Let's have those feet about hip width apart.
Let's gently place the tip of the tongue where the teeth meet the roof of the mouth.
So you'll feel a little space between top and bottom teeth.
We'll keep the jaw relaxed.
So begin to tone the very back of your throat for ujjayi breath.
And when you're ready,
We'll inhale,
Bring the arms up.
Left hand will take the right wrist,
Bend the left knee and exhale side bend.
Inhale back to center,
Change sides.
So you'll bend the right knee,
Lean over to the right.
Inhale back to center and as we exhale swan dive forward,
Little bend in the knees,
Stack the palms on your low back.
As you inhale,
Come halfway up looking forward.
Exhale to bow.
Chair pose on the inhalation,
Bring the arms up,
Bend the knees,
Drop the weight back into the heels.
And then inhale to stand,
Press the hips forward,
Hands down.
Let's do that again.
Inhale,
Arms out to the side.
Side bend,
Left knee bend.
Back to center.
Other side.
Placing the movement with your breath.
Exhale,
Swan dive.
Stack the palms.
Strong in the back as you inhale halfway up.
Control the shoulders back.
Exhale to fold.
Inhale,
Chair pose.
And exhale to stand.
Well done,
Yogis.
Let's take the feet a little bit wider now.
Feet are on a very slight angle pointing out,
But there's really no right or wrong.
Do what feels best for your hips,
Knees and ankles.
Inhaling the arms out to the side,
And then as you exhale,
A little bend in the left knee,
Take the right hand to the left leg,
Left hand to the low back.
And then inhale to press up.
Exhale,
Other side.
So little bend in the right knee.
As you fall forward.
Pressing the floor away as you come back up.
Just doing one more on the other side.
And then hands to hips or step to the top of the mat.
So coming into warrior one leg,
Svirabhadrasana.
Have your back foot on a 45 degree angle.
Today we'll have the feet a little bit wider,
Tracking at about hip width,
Or you can even go mat width if you like.
So you may need the blocks here.
If you've got the two,
Have them either side.
If you've only got the one just on the inside of that right leg.
Gently continue to press the feet away from one another as though you're stretching the mat.
Hands to the heart and as we inhale,
Bend the knee,
Little back bend.
Exhale,
Arms forward around the spine.
Inhale,
Arms up,
Warrior one.
Folding forward,
Hands to the blocks.
Half lift,
Look forward,
Lengthen the spine.
Exhale to bow down and we want the belly to meet the thighs.
So bend the knee a little if you need to and squish your belly into the thigh.
Then inhaling warrior one,
Pressing into both feet,
Strong in the legs.
Exhale,
Hands to the heart.
Return to the start.
Let's do that two more times.
See if you can slow the breath.
The movement.
Begin the breath before the movement.
Inhalation,
Arms up.
Exhalation Forward Fold.
Half lift,
Lengthen the spine.
Exhale,
Cleansing breath,
Squeeze it out.
Inhale.
Find softness in your strength.
Exhale,
Hands to heart.
Last one.
Half list.
And then as you fold down,
We'll stay down for an extra breath.
Again,
Feel free to bend that right knee a little.
You can either keep your hands on the blocks or just light touch with those fingertips on the mat,
Reach the fingertips back towards the back foot.
Bring your belly to your thigh.
Breathe into your bath.
Well done,
Yogi.
Stepping up into warrior three here.
So option to use your block.
As you raise the left leg and also flex the foot.
Rounding the outer hip down and tucking the tailbone under.
Now you can stay here with your blocks or you can bring one hand to prayer or maybe both hands if you're looking for a little more heat in your practice today.
Shoulder blades roll back onto the spine.
Well done.
Left foot down.
Come to stand.
Tadasana.
Inhale,
Arms up,
Heels up.
Exhale,
Return to Tadasana.
Let's bring those blocks back and we'll practice that same sequence.
Other side,
Right leg back when you're ready.
Of course you can make this a high lunge if there's any concerns with your back knee.
Or for pregnancy,
Make it a high lunge when you're ready.
Move with your breath.
Be mindful of the tension you're feeling in the body in this first repetition.
Lengthening the spine half lift.
Exhale to fold,
Cleansing breath.
Inhale,
Warrior one,
Pressing into both feet.
Exhale hands to the heart.
Frame the movement within the breath.
Last one.
Folding down either with or without ear blocks.
Bringing your belly to touch your thigh.
And then puffing out your back with your breath.
Warrior 3.
With or without your blocks.
Outer right hip rounds down.
You ever so gently lift that inner thigh.
And then come to stand.
Same as before,
We'll inhale arms up,
Heels up.
And exhaling arms down,
Heels down.
Well done.
Hands to prayer.
Left leg back.
Preparing for warrior two legs.
We won't move there just yet.
Right heel intercepting the arch on the left foot.
And just kick the right heel out a little so that the foot's not quite parallel to the short side of the mat.
It's a very slight angle there.
Arms out when you're ready.
Inhale,
Arms up.
Exhale,
Warrior two.
Either stay there or bend the left leg,
Right toes up to the ceiling.
Return to Warrior 2.
Reverse the warrior.
And as you exhale triangle pose,
Straighten the legs,
Press into both feet.
Just bring the right hand down to about knee height.
Then as you inhale,
Take the left arm up.
Exhale,
Return to the start.
Let's do that again,
Inhale.
Exhale.
Option to bend the left knee,
Straighten the right leg.
Return to Wario 2.
Reverse.
Triangle posts.
Left arm up as you inhale.
We're going to hold our triangle pose this time.
And again,
You want to gently press into both feet as though you're stretching the mat and lifting up the arch on the back foot.
If there's any concerns with this left shoulder,
Just keep the hand on the low back.
Otherwise,
We're going to move the arm with the breath.
Inhaling looking up As you exhale,
Bring your left hand to the collarbone.
Trace your left hand down the right arm and look down.
So my hip is rolling down here a little as well.
Then as I inhale,
The fingertips trace along the inner arm and back up.
Exhale,
Close the twist.
Inhale,
Expand.
A triangle pose is an open twist.
Exhale to close.
Staying all the way up in our triangle pose this time.
Inhale.
As you exhale,
Reach the arm overhead,
Look down towards the floor.
And then press all the way back up.
Well done.
Let's pivot the feet.
Do that on the other side.
Arms up on the inhalation.
Exhale,
Warrior two.
Option to bend the right knee,
Straighten the left leg,
Left toes up to the ceiling.
Return to your warrior.
Reverse triangle pose.
The inhalation takes the right arm up.
Exhale,
Return to the stuff.
Last one,
Inhale.
Ride me Benz.
Warrior 2.
Rovettes.
All right,
I'm on.
Looking up a Senec permit.
As you exhale,
Right hand to the collarbone,
Tracing down that inner left arm.
In how to come up.
Exhale.
Last one.
Option to take the arm over the head and look down.
And press to stand.
Well done,
Yogis.
Let's pivot the feet now parallel to the short side of the mat.
You can either take your hands to the hips and slide the hands down the legs,
Otherwise interlace those fingers behind you.
Let's lift the chest as we inhale,
Press into both feet and exhale,
Fold forward.
Gently lifting through the arches of the feet.
Let the head hang,
Give in to gravity.
Maybe even turn the head from side to side.
And let's har out the breath through the mouth.
Doing another one of those,
And notice how the body responds.
As you breathe away that tension along the backside of the body.
Let's lower those hands down.
Transition into a lunge,
Hands framing the right foot.
Step back into your downward facing dog.
Let's hold here as we inhale.
And then exhale,
Knees to the mat.
Inhale,
Drop the bill,
Eva.
How around the spine downward facing dog let's hold it here this time for an extra breath And then from here,
Coming forward into plank.
Now,
Of course,
You can always bring your knees to the mat.
Otherwise,
We will chaturanga our way down.
Untucking those toes.
Let's take the hands out a little bit wider than the shoulders and a little further in front and those feet can be about hip width or mat width apart.
Tail bone tucking under.
And as you inhale,
Lifting up through the shoulders.
Exhale to lower down.
Striking cobra.
Well done,
Yogi.
He's coming down now.
Make a pillow with the hands.
And just begin to alternate those legs,
Either taking the heels towards the bottom one at a time,
Otherwise bending both knees and a little swish from side to side.
Whichever movement feels best.
For your body.
And then we'll roll over onto our back.
Once on your back,
We'll have those knees bent,
Feet fairly close towards the bottom,
Hands by your side.
Gently press down and away through the feet.
As you inhale slowly,
Lift the arms and the hips.
Bridge pose.
As you exhale,
Lift up the heels.
Take the arms out to the side and down as you slowly lower the heels.
Heels coming down last.
And then inhale,
Arms up,
Hips up.
A moment to pause.
And then lift the heels.
Exhale.
Hands coming back down,
Hips lowering down.
Let's do another two.
And this time we'll keep our hips up.
Bring the arms down by your side.
You might like to interlace the fingers and tuck the shoulders under,
Otherwise you can just rest with your arms overhead or out to the side.
Lifting up the heels,
Lower down one vertebrae at a time.
When you touch down,
Lift the feet up,
Stack the knees above the hips,
Imprint the lower back into the mat.
An option to lift head and shoulders off the floor.
Hands to the knees lower down.
Inhale,
Heels up,
Arms up.
Bring the feet a little closer to the head.
Exhale,
Hands to knees,
Hug it into the chest.
Two more.
Inhale,
Heels up,
Palms up.
Exhale,
Hug it in.
Last one.
This time we'll keep the arms up.
Take your hands to the outer legs or maybe the big toes.
Inhale the legs nice and wide.
Exhale back together,
Cross the left leg in front of the right,
Squeeze the knees together,
Lift head and shoulders off the floor.
And then lower it.
Keep the legs crossed if you can.
Hips move a touch to the left.
And then we're twisting knees over.
To the right If this is too intense on your hips and knees uncross the legs and take the block in between the thighs instead.
Let's take the right arm out to the side Bring your left fingertips to the right elbow crease or thereabouts.
Making a circular movement with the left arm.
As you inhale,
Take the arm above the head.
Turn the head.
To the left as the arm comes out.
And then exhaling the arm down past the hip.
Returning to the right arm.
Inhaling arm above the head.
Exhaling the hand is below that shoulder line.
Well done,
Yogis.
This is your last one.
Inhaling the arm up and out,
And then we'll rest there.
If you can,
Turn your head to the left.
Invite the breath a little deeper.
Into the lower belly.
The lower back.
And let's bring those legs back to center,
Changing sides,
Center the body on the mat,
Lifting the feet up to the ceiling,
Hands to the legs or maybe the big toes.
Inhaling nice and wide.
Exhaling,
Right leg over the left,
Thighs squeezed together,
Head and shoulders lift.
And let's lower down.
Take your twists.
Right palm meeting the left elbow crease.
And then sweeping circular movements with your breath.
Well done,
Yogis.
So last one now.
This time your rest.
The right arm out to the side.
If you can turn the head to the side.
And soften around the engine.
Letting go of any muscles that are holding on,
That are gripping.
Where can you let go?
Well done,
Yogis.
Let's gently bring those legs back to center.
Centering the body on the mat and uncrossing the leg.
So we're coming into Shavasana and you might like to lay flat.
Your back otherwise if you do have the two blocks sometimes it's nice to have them underneath the hamstrings so bottom is still on the mat just one block under the legs shoulders tucking under.
Option to take chin mudra connecting index finger and thumb.
As you close the eyes down,
Soften the forehead.
The tongue and jaw.
And taking a few moments to just be.
In the spaciousness Quiet.
Inhaling a little deeper now as you guide your awareness back.
And take a deep inhalation and breathe down your right arm to those fingertips.
And then breathe down the left leg to the tips of the toe.
Send the breath and the prana down the left leg.
And lastly breathing down the left arm Let's wiggle toes and fingers.
Following those urges to move and stretch.
In your own time,
Roll to your preferred side.
Taking as long as you'd like the amp.
In that nice moment,
In between moments.
Coming up to seated only when you're ready to continue on with your day.
I hope you enjoyed that slow flow and you were able to find more space in the body,
Clarity in the mind.
Have a lovely day.
