Deep Rest for Stress | 40-Minute Restorative Yoga

Breath based restorative practice to move from overwhelmed to regulated. This is a practice to use your breath to move you into relaxation. This 40-minute restorative yoga class is designed to help you soften, unwind, and gently calm your nervous system.

Through slow, supported shapes and mindful breath awareness, we’ll release tension from the hips, shoulders, and low back while creating space for deep rest. This is not about stretching deeply or doing more — it’s about allowing your body to settle and your mind to quiet.

Transcript

Hello and welcome. My name is Shauna and this is our little friend Luna. And tonight we are going to do some restorative yoga together. This yoga is to help you reduce stress, To calm your nervous system, Giving you tools and healing to approach your day or your evening or your week or your month or your year with more regulation, More calm presence, Steady grounded. We are going to use some props today. Check out my intro to props video if you're not quite sure what props to use. I'm going to use a variety of props today, But please know you do not have to go out and spend a bunch of money. If you have a variety of pillow sizes today and perhaps a couple of larger books, I would pause the video and then get ready to go. Let's get started. Come to a seated position, Whatever feels comfortable for you today. Your eyes can be open or closed. We are starting with breath work, Giving ourselves the opportunity to transition from whatever our day has held for us to our practice and to our mat. Bring your awareness to your breath. You don't need to change or fix anything. Awareness to your inhale, Awareness to your exhale. Now begin to deepen the breath a little bit. Inhale for two, Three. Exhale for three, Four. Longer inhale, Longer inhale. Use this awareness on your breath to bring you into this moment, To bring you into your body, To notice how you are right now. Take three more deep breath in like that. Three more extended exhales. Feel yourself arrive, Landing in this moment. One more deep breath in. Exhale out through the mouth. Through our practice, We use our breath to move us into our bodies, To guide us into our bodies. Let's start today with a child's pose. In restorative yoga, I encourage you to have all of your major joints supported by pillows or bolsters so that your body can receive that nurturing support and you can allow yourself to deeply rest. In child's pose, There's a couple of different ways you can enter the pose. I like to use a bolster. Bolster between chest and belly. Head to one side. If child's pose hurts your knees, You can put a bolster between your hips and your heels. Or if it really hurts your knees, You can grab a chair and put your feet up on the chair. Let's rest here. I'm going to be nice and quiet so you can move into your body. Feel your shoulders relax down and away from your ears. Head is heavy. Hips drawing back towards your heels. Child's pose is a shape that asks us to surrender. To be held. Allow yourself to be held by the earth below you. By your pillow or props. And as you settle in, Breath guides you into your body. Deep breath in, Awareness. Exhale, Softening and relaxation. Take a deep breath in. And as you exhale, Turn your head the other direction. Notice with curiosity how this side of your neck and body feel compared to the first. We are being curious in this practice. Meeting ourselves exactly where we are. Letting go of what is not serving us breath by breath. Deepening into relaxation with every exhale. Three more deep breath in and out. Perhaps your exhale coming out through your mouth. Release. After your next exhale, Push yourself up to seated. You can push those props over to the side for the moment. Come onto your hands and knees. And let's move through the body, Noticing how the body is feeling. Inhale, Looking up, Belly drops, Hips lift. Exhale, Chin to chest, Round through the spine. Go with your own breath. Exhaling, Rounding. Inhaling, Opening. Two more, Moving through the body. Using the breath to bring you into the body. Come to seated. Let's move into a forward fold. I am not a naturally flexible person. And props really help me to bring the floor to my body. I'm always going to sit on a pillow. This is my soft foam block. It just helps me to access the pose a little bit more gently. Take pillows or bolsters and put them underneath your knees. You can either lay them flat or maybe bring them up a little bit higher for more support. As you come forward into your forward fold, I would encourage you to have your head supported so that your neck can relax. My favorite is elbows here, Head in my hands. Maybe you'd like a block or a book underneath your head. I'm going to keep the block today as I have a bit of a headache. I'm prone to migraines. So I'm going to really have some deep support. As you settle in, Get yourself comfortable. Inhale tall. Exhale fold. Allow yourself to land. Readjust if your body is not quite comfortable. As you settle and arrive, Bring your awareness back to your breath. Long, Deep inhale. Slow, Relaxed exhale. All awareness to your inhale. All awareness to your exhale. Shoulders soften. Head is relaxed. Relax your arms, Your hands, Your fingers. Sit bones are heavy. Take three more deep breaths in and out. Exhale coming out through the mouth. Let stress leave your body with each exhale. Providing deeper and deeper layers into relaxation. After your next exhale, Slowly unwind. Gently moving your body with purpose. Take a moment. Sit tall. And move your spine from side to side. To side intentionally, Gently, With love and compassion. Let's open up through the chest now. Relaxing the back body. There are two ways that I like to access this shape. My preference is to use two blocks. I'll show you how this works. The blocks are going to look like this. This block is underneath your shoulders. This one's underneath your head. If you prefer not to use blocks, I will also show you how to do this shape with the bolster. If you're using blocks, This block is between your shoulder blades. So it's in the upper part of your back. This block is supporting my head. And as you move into the pose, Knees can be bent with your feet on the ground. Maybe your legs are straight. Perhaps you've got the soles of your feet together, Knees wide. If you would prefer to use a rolled up blanket, Or a bolster, Then you are putting the rolled up blanket, Bolster, Or whatever support along your spine. Your sit bones are on the floor. Give yourself a few breaths to settle in. Choosing the best shape for your legs. Your head is resting and supported. Allow yourself to be held. You don't have to hold on to it all. Each inhale, Your chest rises. Each exhale, Your back body softens. If you have an eye pillow, You might want to place it over your eyes. If you have a pillow, If you have something heavy like a sandbag or a blanket, You could put it over your hips. Give yourself permission to rest. Affirmation for today. I deserve deep rest. I deserve deep rest. Notice where your thoughts are, And gently bring your awareness back to your inhale, And back to your exhale. Last three breaths in and out. Maybe you'd like to exhale out through the mouth. Letting go of something. Letting go of stress and tension with every breath. Remembering that ultimately, We are the ones who choose what we hold on to and what we release. Take your time. Removing your eye pillow if you have one. Sandbag can go off to the side. I'd like you to roll onto your side body, Just being really nice and gentle and careful of your spine. Pause here on your side body, Noticing your body, Noticing your breath. Bringing yourself back to the affirmation, I deserve deep rest. I deserve deep rest. We have one more shape before we move into our resting pose. You can either put your legs up against a wall if you have one, Or putting pillows or a bolster underneath your hips. We're going to come into legs up the wall. Anytime we bring ourselves into an inversion, It helps our immunity, Our blood flow, Helps move our lymphatic fluid through our bodies, Can help us to balance our hormones. I'm going to grab my eye pillow again. As you pause here, Feel any stress or tension draining out of your legs and feet into the earth below you. Head is heavy, Shoulders relaxed. Take five more deep breath in and out. Invitation is for the breath to come out through the mouth. Release. After your next deep breath in, Draw your knees into your chest. We're going to move into our final resting pose. I'm going to take that bolster, Lift up my hips, And put the bolster underneath my knees. Take whatever shape feels comfortable for you today. On your back, On your stomach, On your side. Maybe put a blanket over you. Get nice and cozy. Eye pillow, Sandbag. Take a moment here and create your nest of relaxation. Readjust your body. Make sure that you are in your most comfortable position. Whatever is right for you today. Take three deep breath in and out, Allowing yourself to settle in. Bring your awareness through your body now. Relax your feet, Your ankles, Relax the bottoms of your legs and the tops of your legs. Bring all awareness to your legs. Take three deep breath in and out of your legs, Relaxing. Move your awareness to your hips, Front of the hips, Side of the hips, Back of the hips, Relaxed. All awareness to your hip space. Take three deep breath in and out, Relaxing your hips completely. Shifting your awareness to your belly. Belly softening, Relaxing. Three breath in and out of your belly. Move your awareness up to your rib cage and your heart center. Three breath in and out of your heart center. Awareness down your arms, Into your wrists, Your hands and your fingers. Three breath in and out of your fingertips. Awareness shifts up to your throat. Three breath in and out of your throat center. Awareness moves to the skull. Relaxing the back of the skull and the neck. Top of the skull and the forehead. Bring your awareness between your eyebrows to your third eye center. Three breath in and out here. Awareness moves down your face, Relaxing the eyebrows deep into your eyes, Cheekbones, Jaw, Tongue. Inhale awareness to your whole body. Exhale whole body relaxation. Five breath like that. Inhale whole body awareness. Exhale whole body relaxation. Take a deep breath in. Bring your awareness back to your body. Begin to awaken your body, Wiggling your fingers, Your toes, Maybe stretching from one end of you to the other. Taking your time. There is no rush. Rolling onto your side body. Pause here. Notice your breath. Notice your thoughts and notice the relaxation in your body. Taking your time. Support yourself. Coming up to seated. Bring your hands to your heart center. Closing our practice today with gratitude. Inhale gratitude. Exhale gratitude for whatever you are most thankful for today. I wanted to say thank you for being here with me. This is my first online yoga class after 20 years of teaching yoga in person. First, I was terrified, But here I am. So I want to say thank you to you for sharing your time and your space with me today. I look forward to seeing you in my next video. Luna is pretty relaxed and she says thank you for being here too. Take care my friend.

Reviews

Lovely. Just what I needed to restore myself after a stressful week. Thank you.

Congratulations on your first recorded video! It was a lovely practice!

Thank you so much I really needed this tonight to help me to unwind loved it 💕💕