Gentle Kundalini Spinal Movements: Seated Or Standing

This 14-minute practice is for all practice levels. It is the perfect warm-up before meditation or breathwork. It can also be used to get out of cocoon mode. The practice can be done seated or standing. Salimah guides you through all 4 directions of the spine to help you feel flexible, relaxed, and ready for practice or whatever the next moment holds.

Transcript

Today's practice is an opportunity to explore simple,

Straightforward movements of the spine,

And these are really beneficial for a number of different things.

Number one,

If you are coming out of a cocoon moment,

You just need a little bit of movement to get you back up and running on your feet again.

Number two,

If you're preparing for either breathwork or meditation,

It's always a good idea to warm up the spine a little bit before you do any kind of seated meditative practice,

Because once your body is relaxed,

It's so much easier to get into the flow of your mind.

So before we begin,

My name is Salima.

I'm a yoga therapist,

Trauma-informed,

And also the lead mentor for Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training.

Let's jump in now.

And with this simple practice,

You can either do it seated on the floor,

Or you can take a seat,

Or you can even do it standing.

So all the movements that we'll do today are straightforward and can be done in a number of different positions.

So let's begin now.

Find yourself in a comfortable position.

So again,

That could be standing,

That could be on a chair,

Or that could be down on the ground.

We'll start now by paying attention to your posture.

And so as you do this,

Take a moment now to roll your shoulders back and down,

And do your best to lengthen your spine.

We're focusing on the spine today because the spine holds the conduit,

The messenger avenue between the body and the brain,

And the brain and the body.

And so when we focus on the spine,

We really have an opportunity to make sure that our nervous system is regulated.

So as you sit now comfortably,

Take a few long deep breaths.

You can even keep one hand on your navel center over your belly button,

And one hand over your heart,

And take three deep breaths,

Inhaling for a count of four.

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And exhale,

Two,

Three.

Next breath,

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And then last one,

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Take one more inhale here,

And squeeze your hands into fists.

Inhale,

Squeeze,

Tense,

Hold,

Tense all your body,

All your body parts,

All your muscles.

And now very powerfully through the mouth,

Let it go,

Exhale.

Beautiful.

Great start.

So as you sit or stand,

The movement that we're focusing on today is really around the spine.

And we'll begin with a movement called spinal flex.

This is a foundational practice in Kundalini Yoga,

And a really great way to move all 26 vertebrae of the spine,

And including all the nerves that run in between the spinal column.

So here,

Putting your hands on your thighs,

Inhale,

Press the spine forward,

Lift your chest,

Lift your chin slightly,

And then exhale,

Round the spine,

Look towards your knees,

And then continue this movement,

Inhaling as you open the chest,

Open the heart,

And exhaling,

Curving,

Looking downwards,

So that you can bring the opposite type of flexion into your spine.

Inhaling as you look up,

Chin is up slightly,

And exhaling as you roll all the way down.

I'm going to take the next few seconds to really concentrate on that movement.

So continuing now,

Inhaling as you look up,

Exhaling as you look down,

And concentrating the movement in the spine.

Spinal flex is a really powerful way to get energized as well.

So if you notice that you're feeling all of a sudden a little more alert,

That's perfect.

Just about 30 more seconds,

Just like this,

Inhaling,

Pressing the spine forward,

Exhaling as you round the spine.

So we're flexing,

This is the first movement of the spine is flexion.

Last two,

Last one,

Beautiful.

Inhale very deeply,

Come to center,

Hold the breath for just a moment,

And exhale.

Good work.

We're moving on now to a rotating movement of the spine.

This is to send energy in a spiraling motion,

And the name of it in Kundalini Yoga is Sufi Grinds.

So sitting on your chair,

Sitting cross-legged,

Bringing your hands onto your knees.

If you're standing,

You can put your hands on your waist.

And here we want to take the chest,

Move it all the way forward,

Making big circles,

Upper body over the lower body,

Inhaling as you circle forward,

Exhaling as you circle all the way back,

Making big,

Big wide circles with your hips if you're standing.

And if you're seated,

This is moving the upper body over the lower body.

It should feel like a moving meditation.

Just a few more seconds in this direction.

Sufi Grinds is really good for helping with digestion.

It's really helpful for opening up the hips,

Which is where we store a lot of emotions,

And also allows us to massage the reproductive organs in a gentle way.

So all those areas are getting a gentle massage.

The movement should feel really soft and gentle.

And if it's not working for you today,

You can simply listen,

Imagine yourself doing it perfectly in your mind,

And still reap all the benefits.

Good.

Here's the last one in this direction.

So take a deep inhale,

Straighten the spine all the way up,

Hold the breath here at the top,

And then through the nose,

Exhale.

And as you reach for the next inhalation,

Move in the opposite direction.

You know what we're doing now.

Inhaling as you circle all the way to the back,

Exhaling as you circle all the way to the front,

And giving yourself a chance to really lean into the movement.

So again,

If you're standing,

See how far forward you can go comfortably without losing your balance.

And if you're seated,

Put your hands on your knees and really use your knees as levers.

So you press against your knees so that you can push yourself all the way forward and lean all the way back as far as you can.

If you're sitting on a chair,

A good idea to sit on the edge of the chair so that you have full and maximum capacity to move.

All right,

Good.

Move here last few seconds.

So do your best.

Tap in.

Good.

Inhale very deeply.

Hold yourself steady in the center,

And exhale.

We're moving on now to the next part of the movement sequence,

And that is to bring your hands on top of your shoulders,

Forefingers in front and thumbs to the back.

Here,

Inhale as you twist all the way to the left,

And exhale as you twist all the way to the right.

Inhale,

Twisting left.

Exhale,

Twisting right.

And you can tell by the name of this twisting motion is that we are creating a spinal twist.

This is good for detoxing the body,

Cleansing.

It feels really nice to stretch and release.

Good way to give your body a little relief,

Especially if you've been sitting or lying down for a long time.

Inhaling,

Twisting to the left,

And exhaling,

Twisting to the right.

Keep up a steady movement.

You might be going a little faster or a little slower than what you're hearing from my end,

And that's totally fine.

Each of us has our own personal and unique body rhythm,

And as you move to the tune of your own rhythm,

You start to reap your own benefits.

Just a few more rounds here.

Start to slow down the movement,

And then gently bring yourself to center.

Keep your hands in place.

Take a deep inhale.

Slightly look up.

Reach up with your chin.

Stretch your eyes,

Your eyeballs,

And softly exhale.

Release your hands all the way down so that they're down by the sides of your body.

Take a moment now and just notice how you feel.

How did that set of movements sit with you?

Notice how you might be feeling a little bit more loose,

Or you may be noticing a little bit more now of where there's tenderness or need for a little bit more movement.

From here now,

We're taking a side-to-side bend,

And this is another directional movement of the spine.

Keep your left hand down by your side.

If you're standing,

You can press it against your leg,

And if you're seated,

You can put that right down on the chair or on the floor.

With your opposite hand,

So your right arm,

Bring it all the way up and over so that your arm moves over your head,

And you're tipping over slightly towards the left.

Then we're reversing the movement,

So dropping the right hand all the way down,

Placing it down on the ground or against your thigh,

And then using your opposite hand to come all the way up and over,

Leaning in slightly to the right as much as your body will give you.

That's a good way to go,

And then continuing from side to side.

And again,

This should feel really comfortable.

If putting your arm all the way up over your head is a little bit too much,

You can simply keep your hands down by your side and lean from side to side.

And so when we add in the arms,

We add a little bit more weight and a little more counterbalancing,

And that's good for some bodies,

And maybe for you today that may be not what you need or not what you'd like to do,

And that's totally fine.

You can lean from side to side and still get all of the great benefits with a little less pressure.

Taking some time to notice your breath,

Making sure that your eyes are closed,

Focusing in between the eyebrows.

This adds a little bit more gentle relief.

We're allowing the body to focus all of this release of energy internally rather than using the eyes to release the energy outwards.

We're on our last few rounds here.

You're doing great.

Last one on each side.

Beautiful.

That's it.

Come back to center.

Lower both hands down.

You can place your hands on your knees or on your thighs and take a breath here,

Noticing what this short series of movements has developed for you.

And we'll do one more just to do a great big stretch of the body.

And here,

Press your palms together and bring your arms all the way up over your head.

And reach up,

Reach towards the sky,

The sun,

The clouds above you.

Reach,

Reach,

Reach into the rainbow.

Do your best to give yourself a little more length and a little bit more height.

And then softly with control,

Separate your hands,

Float them all the way down and settle your fingertips down towards your,

On your thighs or either on the chair or down on the ground.

Take a few long deep breaths here.

We're finished the sequence and now it's reaping the benefits of that concentrated movement style.

Inhale very deeply.

Exhale completely.

Inhale,

Exhale,

Inhale,

Squeeze all the muscles of your body,

Squeeze,

Tense,

Hold,

Locking in all those benefits,

Resetting your nervous system and powerfully through the mouth,

Exhale,

Let it go.

Thank you for joining in.

My name is Salimah,

Yoga therapist.

Until next time,

Lots of love and I look forward to working with you again.

Bye for now.

Reviews

Amazing, such great instructions which lead to a beautiful feeling in my body. Peace to you.

The most fabulous union of body mind spirit …. Ready to meditate and write my book!!

Excellent morning routine to stretch and awaken. Thank you.

Great way to start my day thank you!
Simple but so beneficial. Loved it!!

Invigorating! I will be keeping this one in my practice with gratitude. 💖
✨🙏✨

So gentle and soothing, great for bedtime and winding down as well as energizing :)

I love it, thank you Salimah🙏🏽🩷

Amazing very knowledgeable and extremely well organized 10 stars if possible

Love Salimah. I was certified years ago, AND I discovered her yogavision channel. All brilliant ❤️❤️❤️

What a lovely way to start my practice. Thank you!

The wake up I needed at this moment Thank you

It was perfect
Thanks alot 🙏🙏

Wow. That was great. Thank you 💕🙏🕊️

This was excellent. I actually feel taller lol thank you so much!

excellent pre-yoga warmup. thank you for this practice. 😌🙏🏾

Not what I expected but great, more than I expected😊

Hello beautiful 🌼🌷🌼🌷🌼Thank you so much for the wonderful movements 🌺I enjoyed your inspiring words and all the glimmers in my body and mind 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Satnam

I felt very secure in your instruction and guidance.

Perfect pacing & tone & instructions, thanks Salimah