45 Min Gentle Movement: Liberating Energy From The Ground Up

This 45-minute gentle movement practice invites you to liberate stagnant energy and return to a felt sense of vitality, spaciousness and ease - without asking too much of you.
Moving systematically through all major joints from the ground up, slow circular movement gently frees what has been held or stuck - physically and mentally. The result is a body that feels more awake, more fluid and more alive.
We begin with a short breath and body awareness check-in, then move methodically from the feet all the way through to the neck and face - unhurried, accessible, close to the ground throughout.
Wonderful to begin the day with, and equally supportive any time you could do with more energy but have little to spare.
You will need a yoga mat or something comfortable to sit on, and a folded blanket or cushion to support an upright seat.
Inspired by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli's Series for the Liberation of Energy. Music by Aroshanti.

Transcript

Hello, My name is Pavlina. And welcome to this movement sequence to liberate energy in your body. We will be moving in a systematic way, Paying attention to all the major joints, Starting from your feet and making the way all the way up towards your head and your neck. This practice is beautiful when you feel like you want to feel a bit more spaciousness. For the energy to flow a little bit more freely. That you can experience. Sensation of being a little bit more alive and energized without the need to exert yourself or put too much energy into the movement itself. It's a beautiful sequence to begin your day with. To shake off the stuckness from the night or at any point during the day to give yourself in a moment too. Liberate anything that might have accumulated throughout your day. We'll be staying quite close to the ground, So make sure that you have enough space on the floor to move in seated and also into all fours and where your arms can move in all directions. It's quite nice to have something a little bit softer, Either like a sheepskin or yoga mat or something similar. And it's quite handy to have either a pillow or maybe a block or a book, Something to sit on. Because we'll be spending a bit of time seated before moving into different positions. So if you're ready to join me, I would like to ask you to find a comfortable seated position. I am kneeling with a squished up pillow in between my knees, Sitting on that. But you can find also a comfortable position, Perhaps seated cross-legged. Whatever your place is, Make sure that you can really be present and maybe rocking a little bit forward and back until you find a nice starting point where you feel grounded through your lower body and at the same time kind of suspended, Elevated through the upper part of your body. To begin, You might want to close your eyes for a little moment, Or maybe your eyes remain open, But the intention, The awareness, Is starting to move itself inward. To simply notice. Your starting point. At this moment, There is nothing for you to change, Nothing for you to actually actively do. Simply inviting your awareness to travel inwards. To get familiar with your inner experience. In this moment in time. Noticing. What is present. Feeling into what is felt. With open mind and curiosity. Simply marking the starting point. This moment in time. Messengers. Pieces of information about your current state could be. Your breath the coming and going of the air through your nose or maybe it's through your mouth. When you pay attention to your breath, Where in your body do you feel it? Where do you notice it? That could be the entry point to your nostrils, Maybe there is. . . The rise and fall of your chest. Maybe there is. The harmonium-like movement in your ribcage. Maybe all the way down, Like a balloon inflating and deflating in your belly. Could you be with your breath without trying to change it or make it any different or better? First noticing your natural breath in this moment in time. And could there be any other parts of your body that are giving you information about what is going on. Could there be any tightness that you can feel somewhere? Maybe a little knot in your belly. Maybe a bit of crunching of your shoulders. A bit of tightness in your skull or in the back. Maybe there is some delicious sensation. If you notice something and you feel like you want to respond to it and move it, Feel free to do that. I encourage you first to notice what is present before you respond or change in any way. And also noticing the quality and the state of your thoughts. Without judgement, There is no good or bad thoughts, Simply noticing the rhythm, The flow of your thoughts. Do they come in a very steady, Busy stream or do they pop up? And go like. . . Soap bubbles. Knowing that all that is present now will keep on shifting and moving as we move our body. You don't need to pay particular attention. If you could return to your breath right now. And see if you could breathe in and out through your nose. That might naturally start slowing down your breath. Could you see if maybe you could match the duration of the inhale and the exhale? There's no need to breathe for a specific duration, Simply matching the time it takes for the air to come in. And the time it takes for the air to come out. Might feel quite nice to take a couple of audible exhales through the mouth to mark the beginning of. Transition towards the movement. So taking an inhale through the nose. Opening your mouth and exhale. Taking another inhale through the nose, Feeling the air come into your belly, Into your chest, All the way up. Maybe a little pause on top. And then an exhale through the mouth. Little pause at the bottom. Before you take the next inhale through the nose. Air into the belly, Into your ribs, All the way up into your chest. Little pause on top with your lungs and your torso full of air. And then a big releasing exhale through the mouth. Little pause, Little waiting at the bottom of the exhale. And then allowing for the air to come in. And find a more natural rhythm in and out through your nose. Natural and yet mindful. I'm not trying to contain it or control it too much. But seeing if you can be present to your breath. As we start moving through the body. So finding a seated position but with your feet extended. I'm going to move the pillow to the side. But if you prefer to have support beneath you, You can stay there. And finding a position where your spine can be quite upright. So for many of you, It could actually feel like a nice idea to actually sit on something to elevate. So that your spine doesn't need to have too much effort. And there isn't too much rounding. You can lift yourself up even a little bit more, Extending the legs. And feeling yourself grounded through the sitting bones. You might even want to touch the little bony bits. Hiding beneath the layers of muscle and fat. And letting yourself really feel into the stability of your bones, Letting the bones be pulled towards the ground. Feeling the heels. Another bony part of you touching the earth yourself. And we're going to begin with. . . The feet themselves so pressing the heels down and all the movements we'll be doing will be movement together with the breath. Energy and breath are connected so as we allow for the air to move through with awareness you're also directing the energy in the same direction. So every part of the body that we start physically moving, You can imagine that the breath is actually traveling to that part of your body. And whether the energy is flowing in the same direction. With your feet, Starting with each inhalation, You point the toes. And with exhalation, You bring the toes towards you. There's a bit of a stretch at the back. Inhale, Pointing the toes. Exhale, Toes towards you, Heels forward. Moving in that direction. With your own breath a couple of times if it helps you to place the hands behind you so that your spine isn't rounding too much. We can do just that. Moving. Quite simple movement. It's the whole ankle and the feet moving. And then pausing and focusing now only on the toes. So with an inhalation, You press the toes towards you. And with exhale, You start crunching the toes towards each other as if you were making a fist with your hand. Inhale, You open. XLU Crunch. Keep moving that way. And you can even imagine that it's your breathing. You open the toes. And it's as if the air, Your breath was actually moving in between the toes. Of tickling the spaces in between the toes. Moving in this way over and over without rushing. So the movement and your breath happening at the same time and the time, The rhythm will probably be different to mine. Getting maybe a little bit of warmth there. Releasing and now starting to move towards the ankles. Is you start drawing circles with the ankles. And again, There is an inhalation for half of the cycle. And exhalation with the other half of the cycle. Moving in that direction. There might be some sounds happening throughout the body as you start. Liberating some of the bones. In the joint. Moving in the opposite direction in the circle. And remember. To keep on paying attention to which part of your body is getting the most action right now and directing the breath there. And pausing in the centre. I would like for you to check which of your nostrils is a little bit more open. So often it keeps on actually changing in a way. Regular cycles throughout the day, But if you close one of your nostrils. . . And then do the other one. For me, It's the left side that's a bit more open. If you feel like both are the same, You pick one and that will be your starting point. For me it's the left one, So I'll start with my left side. If it is for you the right one, You start with the right side. So starting with your dominant side at the moment. And with inhalation you extend the leg and with exhale you bend the knee and hug the knee towards your chest. So with inhale, You move the leg nice and long, And with exhale, You hug it in. And here the options are for you to be creative. Leaving and dragging the heel on the ground. And using the hands to help you. If you would like a little bit more activation, You can lift the leg off the ground and keep the leg floating, Activating a little bit more through your hip flexors, A little bit more through your lower belly, Through the core. Just making sure that you are keeping your balance. A nice rhythm, Breath, Inhale. And exhale and hugging the knee nice and close, Almost towards your armpit. One more time. Extending the legs. Noticing how one side might feel a little bit different to the other. And then moving to the other side for me now, Moving on to the right side. With exhale, You hug the knee in. And then how you extend. And you might do it completely hands-free. Really hugging the knee towards your armpit. Or you can use your hands as support. Here you might be feeling a little bit of awakening to the knee joint, But also more heat coming into your thigh and into the hip. One more. And then ready to use the same. We're gonna start opening the legs a little bit wider into a bit of a v-shape. It doesn't need to be the biggest one possible, Kind of. Little bit wider than regular yoga mat apart. And you can interlace your fingers. Remember the side that was open or the side you chose, The same side, Thumb will be on top of your interlaced fingers. We're going to start moving in that direction. So for me, My left thumb is on top. And I'll start circling towards the left side. If your brain is a bit confused, Just move in one direction and then you're going to move in the other direction. And so with each inhalation you move forward as if you were stirring a big pot. And exhale, You move a little bit backwards. So drawing these circles with your wrist. And keeping the legs really active. So the legs aren't just soft and hanging out here. You press through your heels, Active through the feet, Active through the entire leg. We're going to actually exhale forward. And inhale backwards. I know I said it the other way around, So exhale forward. Inhale backwards. What's important is to move with your breath. And the circle can be quite big. Like I'm moving and I'm feeling really a stretch through the back of my legs, Through the back of my back as well, The whole back body. And also an activation through my core. And also a little bit of awakening into my arms. But if you would like to, You can make it also a little bit smaller. The level of intensity. How big your circles are, It's really up to you. And notice if. . . These cycles feel very smooth throughout or if there is a part that feels a little bit stuck. Where it kind of like jumps over a groove. And notice if with repetition, Maybe that. Smoothens out a little bit more. Start making the circles smaller and smaller. As if you were drawing just a tiny little circle. Over the center of your pelvis. Smaller and smaller until you're making these circles so small that nobody can almost notice them. And then changing the edge length. And moving the opposite direction. So exhale forward, Inhale back. Notice how different it feels. Depending on the size of your circle. Sometimes it's an active choice and sometimes the boundary is set by your physical body. That could be. The structure of your body, Of the bones, Or. . . The level of flexibility. The muscles and the tendons. So notice if the size is dictated. By the physical structure or by the decisions of your mind. And notice if the smoothness is similar or different from one side to the other. There is no need to be rushing. Imagine that whatever you're stirring in this pot that's in between your legs is quite dense. I like to imagine a pot of delicious fake hot chocolate. Or honey. I'm starting to make the circles a little bit smaller. Smaller and smaller, Spiraling. Towards the center point so that your spine ends up just during these concentric cycles around the very base of your pelvis, The base of your spine. And then landing in the center. Starting to bend both of your knees, Placing the feet on the ground quite wide. And with inhalation you start moving the heart forward. And with exhale, You start rounding the spine. And again, Here the decision is how big are these waves? It could be quite. Really moving so much so that maybe even your neck starts moving. We're moving from the hips, But also starting to wake up the spine. It could be much smaller. Exhale as your chin comes in. Inhale as your heart moves forward and up. And there's this rocking motion that's happening in the hips. And the rest of the spine follows. So think about the movement originating from the rocking of the hips forward and back. And the rest of the spine is following the movement. And the hands on your knees. Can support you and maybe make the movement a little bit larger. Or give you a little bit more containment. And one more round in. Both directions. And then finding a centre, Keeping the feet exactly where they are and starting to allow for your knees to move into your side, So the middle being to the left, Keeping the hands on either side to start with. So as you inhale, You're in the center. And exhale, You move your knees towards one side. And the arm that is starting to naturally peel off the ground can continue the cycle. So we're spiraling on exhale. With inhale, You come back to the center. And with exhale, Your knees fold towards the side, The torso follows. And with inhale, You come back. So you're moving. Your knees start the movement and the spine and the upper body follows. Your bum will be probably shuffling forward like mine is. And you can make it quite small, That could be just the knee movement into the hips. Or you could move so much so that your spine starts going all the way around and the arm that's Moving in the direction can actually even stretch across. So you're still moving with your breath. Inhale is in the center. Exhale moves you into the twist and you can start going even lower and deeper as your spine starts coming into the ground. Or you can stay a little bit more upright. So taking a couple of. Movement. Here we're starting to move more into the hips. And into the whole spine. Again, Making sure you find a little bit of a rhythm, Your rhythm there. It's a bigger, Longer movement. It's a longer trajectory. So maybe your breath. Has to slow down a little bit to allow this. And then eventually finding the centre. And here you can use your hands behind you. To press yourself up. Onto your feet, Knees start moving forward and here I like to hang out a little bit in this time, In this position. It's a transitional position where you're just rocking forward and back. So onto your toes, Knees are moving forward and then back onto the heels, Bum is moving back. We're transitioning into all fours, But before we make it all the way to all fours, This can feel like a really nice stretch to the front of the thighs and also the front of your belly. Until eventually you feel like. . . You're ready to move all the way. So your knees start moving towards the ground. Hands peel off. And you find your all fours. Where your hands are approximately underneath your feet. Shoulders your knees are approximately underneath your hips in a nice all four position Making sure that you separate your fingers nice and wide like starfish and first you land here we're changing positions so Checking in, What does it feel like to be on these six points? Your hands, Your knees and your feet. You can either tuck your toes like I have, Or you can point your toes. Whatever feels like it gives you a little bit more stability on the ground. And we're going to repeat the movement we've done before. Where with inhalation you start thinking about your hips tilting forward, Your belly is moving towards the ground, Your chest is moving towards the ground, And your chin is moving up towards the sky. And with exhale, You press into your hands, Press into your knees. And your belly starts moving towards the sky. So we're rounding. Inhale, Your hips start moving up. Your belly towards the ground. As if the back of your head was getting curious about your tailbone. And exhale is the chin that's getting curious about your pubic bone. So in these ways, It's. . . The back of your head. Sacred, Getting to know each other. And with each exhale is the chin and the pubic bone. So moving in the rhythm of your own breath. Making sure that there is stability through your hands and your knees. And starting to bring another dimension to this movement. So you start bringing your hands closer towards you as you exhale you round the spine with your hands nice and close. And then you move your hands forward, Inhale, And you bend your elbows and sweep a little bit forward, Like a cat drinking milk. Exhale around the spine, Walk the hands closer towards you. Hips towards your heels. Inhale, Walk the hands forward, Bend the elbows as if you were trying to lick the milk. And lift. Exhale. Hands towards you, Hips towards your heels. Inhale, Walking the hands forward, Bending the elbows. The sweeping motion. Exhale, Bringing you back and round. Inhale, Hands forward, Bending the elbows. Closer towards the ground, Sweeping forward and up. Thanks a lot. Couple of times just like that. Starting to feel that there is a little bit more. Space perhaps, Or maybe a little bit more heat. And this movement doesn't need to be big. The bend of the elbows can be quite small. Or you can make it deeper by bending the elbows. Just above the ground and getting very close, Chin almost touching the ground. So you are. Deciding the intensity. One last round. And then from your all fours, We're going to find a nice comfortable seat. So that could be back kneeling, Maybe with support. Or you could move more towards. Cross-legged position in which case I'm going to place my pillow underneath my seat. And in this a little bit more upright position, I'm going to start moving into the upper body. So as you move towards the upper body first, Check in with. Your lower body, The foundation that we have been tending to now. Feeling really grounded and the heaviness is gone. And aliveness. In your legs. And your hips and your feet. There isn't any passivity. There's the attention, There's the breath. There is. The energy moving through. Stability in the foundation of your body. We can start moving a little bit more consciously upwards. So whatever side you're working with first, For me is the left side. I'm going to start extending through that arm, Over my head, The other hand on the ground. So little side stretches. And not staying here for too long, We're going to be moving with breath. So inhale you're through the center. And exhale you move towards the side stretch. And how you come through the center. Exhale the hand on the ground is nice and steady and the other one goes over your shoulder and you really feel this two directions from the fingertips moving up and over and then through the sitting bone down. Moving through the center in both directions. The hand on the ground is not passively collapsing, But there is a pressing into the ground. And ground pressing back into you. Depending to the side of the body that tends to be often forgotten. Notice if your head wants to be released as well or if you feel like you want to have a little bit more control and holding the head a little bit more in line. Making the decision here. One more in both directions. And then coming upright, I'm going to move into a little bit more twisting motion. So again, Moving in your direction. So I'm going to be moving towards the left. And placing my left hand, So the hand of the direction behind me and the other hand on top of the knee. You can do that also when we're kneeling. Same principle, Same movement. With inhale, You're through the center. And if exhale, You are moving into the twist. And notice when you go into the twist, Can you still breathe? Can you still expand your ribcage? If you feel like the breathing is constricted, You soften a little bit more. You don't need to go into the extreme. And keeping this movement. With your breath, A little bit of a rhythm to it. Coming back to the center. Moving now into your arms and your hands. So bringing the hands in front of you. And keeping your arms quite nice and steady, You can bend your elbows a little bit or straighten them out. With your inhalation, You place the thumbs to the middle of your palms. With inhale, You bring the fingers over, Close it in. And turn the palms down. So that's an inhale. Exhale, You open the fists and feel the air, Your breath to move in between the fingers. Inhale, You close the fist. And round. Exhale, You open and really stretch out through your fingers. Inhale. Squeeze it in, Nice and active. Exhale, Open. And really feel there is quite a lot of action here. It's like a small movement, But you want to give it your presence, Your energy. There's a real squeeze on the thumb and all the fingers very active. And when they open. You really stretch them out so that there is the space. For the air, For the energy, For the breath to move through and in between. One more. It's also the rotation that's moving through your arms. And this time with inhale, You start bringing the fingers towards your shoulders. And with exhale you stretch them out and you can even continue stretching out so there is even a stretch into your wrists. So inhale, Bringing the fingertips onto your shoulders. Elbows nice and lined. And exhale, Opening nice and long. Inhale. And again. With inhale, You're bringing the fingertips onto your shoulders and really activating through your arms, Through your biceps. And with Excel, You are finding the length. It's not just waving through, There's a real movement. Engagement as you move the fingers towards your shoulders. There's an activity through the entire arm. It's S-A-F-I-N-G. The air that you're breathing and the energy that follows. Is washing over the entire arms and sliding off the fingertips. Now starting to open the arms nice and wide. And we'll be the same movement. So inhale, Fingertips onto your shoulders. And exhale, Extending. And notice if you have a tendency, Like I do, To arch into your back. And if you do. . . See if you can bring your belly in, Not necessarily tightening it, You still want to be able to breathe, But finding a little bit of alignment, So maybe a little bit of rocking forward and back until you find what feels like. . . Nice lining up of your spine and then continuing the movement of your arms, But on top of a stable base. Next time you pause halfway in this sort of form. Cactus arms. And we're gonna be moving a little bit of a twisting action. So with inhale, You move the palms down, Fingers pointing downwards. And with exhale, You return up and move maybe a little bit back. Again, Without arching too much into your lower back, But there is a little bit of a leaning back through the upper body. So moving down with inhale. And exhale, Fingertips towards the sky, And a little bit of a leaning, But without it coming from your lower belly. It's more into the upper spine, In the thoracic. Remember, You can be doing the exact same movement but sitting cross-legged. As long as, And you might even want to shift in between the two positions. I mean, Stability through your base. And. Movement. Through the upper body. Last time you might be feeling already quite a lot of heat in your shoulders. I am. Releasing. Maybe giving a little bit of a shake to the shoulders, A little bit of a shake to the arms. I quite like to release my wrists and the hands by interlacing the fingers and giving a little bit of a twist. Um. . . I've shaked through. The wrist here in this way, Not kind of clenching the fingers, But allowing them to be very soft. And water in the fluid and then checking it out. Noticing what is being felt right now. There's a little bit more movement, A little bit of more space in your arms, In your fingers, In your hands. We're gonna move into your neck now. So starting to bring whatever your side is, Maybe checking if it's still the same. May still the same side. So I'm going to start bringing my left ear towards the left shoulder. Feeling the stretch on the right side of the body. This might be enough for you. You can also extend the opposite hand. So wherever you feel the stretch on the side of your neck, You extend the fingers. Away from you. And here, What might feel quite nice, It feels like a flossing for the neck. Starting to bring the chin towards the shoulders. And then bring the ear towards your shoulder. Chin towards your shoulder. Ear towards your shoulder, Making sure you're still breathing. In a way that is unrushed. Making sure that there is still nice support and stability through your spine. And then maybe there might be one part of this trajectory where you feel like, Oh, I want to rest here. For me, It's a really juicy moment here where I feel a really deep stretch on the side of my neck. You can pause there, Maybe it's a little bit more on this side. And if you would like to intensify it, You can place the other hand. Not necessarily to pull on the head, But just using a little bit more weight. To support this. Pull of the gravity. So your hand is not necessarily pulling, It's just weighing down in the direction of the earth. And hear the breath. Is being directed to the part that is feeling the intensity. So you're breathing into the side of your neck, Maybe it's even through the arms. And releasing the hand that has been on your head. Rotating through the center. Pausing in the center where your chin is towards your chest. Coming through the center, Noticing one side compared to the other, They might feel quite different. Then bringing the other ear towards the shoulder. First, Simply allowing the ear to drop towards the shoulder. The shoulder is staying weighted down. It's the ear that's moving towards the shoulder. Maybe it's the opposite hand, That the fingers start walking towards the ground. They might be hovering. And starting to find this movement of your chin finding the shoulder and the ear finding the shoulder. As if you were listening to your shoulder and smelling your shoulder. What does your shoulders sound like? What does your shoulder smell like? Moving in between these two. Nice and slowly until you find a space that feels interesting. And he rests there for a little moment. Maybe the hand supports this process of release. And what definitely supports this process is your breath. So directing your breath in the air. Into the area. Where you feel. The intensity. And slowly releasing starting to bring the chin towards the centre of your chest. Starting to move in between those two. So now it's the chin that's starting to get curious about the sky above and maybe even beyond. Becoming magnetized by your heart. With inhale, The chin moves up and over. And with exhale the chin moves in and down. This movement can be quite small. Or it can be quite big. But while before we were moving in a similar way, The arching and rounding in the breast of the spine. Here, See if it can really come more from the neck, From the upper part. And here on top, Maybe you want to open your mouth, Allow for the jaw to open and release. Coming back to the center. The final movement of your head is coming to the side. If you were looking over your shoulder. Through the centre on inhale. And with exhale over the other shoulder. Inhale through the centre. Exhale through the other shoulder. And notice if there is any difference from one side to the other and if there is this fluidity. If there's smooth movement or if it feels a little bit tick, Tick, Tick. As if they were steps. They're being interrupted. Eventually finding the center point. Winding and settling into your breath. Seated position, Maybe running your tongue in the space in between your gums and the skin of your mouth. I'm running the tongue around. In circles, It might look ridiculous. No worries, Nobody's looking at you. And allowing for the tip of your tongue to really press into the space in between the gums. Stretching it out. With quite a lot of intention there. So it's not just like a soft licking over, But you're really using the muscle of your tongue to stretch out the space around your mouth. There'll be more saliva being created, The watery element in you. And then changing direction of these sexes. You might feel that release coming all the way down into your jaw. And I think this goes following all that new saliva. And just releasing a bit of the jaw. Whatever way feels like you were chewing something or moving the jaw from side to side. Making some silly faces, Scrunching your face. And releasing, Opening really wide. Sometimes helps actually to do with your hands. So you're kind of scrunching your face and your hands. And then opening everything nice and wide. Scrunching at all. And opening nice and wide. Might do it a couple more times and then when you feel like you've done enough settling into. Your body in this moment. You might want to close your eyes for a little while or with your eyes softened. By turning your attention inward. Maybe it's never really left, Might have gotten a bit distracted. And simply paying attention again to what is. Paying attention. To your breath that might have. Changed as it has traveled through the whole body. Noticing. There is maybe more attention, More aliveness. More heat, Perhaps? Was the quality of your soul. And what are you taking with you. Might reopen your eyes and if you have something ahead of you that you feel like you want to really be fresh in life, Or I like to finish sometimes with a little bit of a shake. And the shaking can happen. Simply through your arms. Kind of releasing and shaking off anything residual. Now that you've created and opened up quite a lot of pathways and moved the stagnation, This might be an opportunity to really let it. Kind of shake off you. It might be very nice to do that actually standing. So transitioning to standing position with your feet firmly on the ground, Feet more or less hip distance apart and shaking through your hands. The arms, But also through your legs, Taking one foot and the other. And giving your whole body a nice shake. And then when you feel like you have really shaken off anything that might have moved on and like moved through you. And you can find a little moment of stillness. Further away from the ground and yet connected to the stability, Finding your center point. And I would like to thank you for your practice. Thank you for your intention, For your attention. And I wish you a beautiful day.