Move & Breathe - 20-Minute Yoga

One of my favorite ways to destress is to get out of my head and into my body through my Asana practice. Vinyasa yoga shifts me from states of anxiety and worry to getting into the zone through mindful breath and movement. May you experience meditation through movement in this simple minute yoga practice. Focus on your breath, your physical sensations, and notice what you see. The class ends in savasana. If you appreciate my offerings, please leave a review or donation.

Thank you,
Amelia

Transcript

Now get to your yoga mat and take a child's pose.

Child's pose with your knees out wide on your mat with your big toes to touch.

And settle into the breath.

Notice your inhales and your exhales.

So this practice today,

It will be short.

So when I do a short practice,

For me I want to quickly get into my breath,

Quickly connect to body.

And so do what you can to bring that awareness,

To notice the breath,

Notice the expansion with the inhale and the contraction with the exhale.

Empty,

Let something go.

Two more breaths.

Observe the breath.

Release with an exhale.

Table top.

Stack your shoulders over your wrists,

Your hips over your knees and take four cat-cows.

So cat,

However remember cat pose is the shape of a scaredy cat,

Pressing your upper back up towards the ceiling,

Towards the sky.

And then cow pose when you drop the belly down.

And then arch your upper back so the crown of your head is reaching up towards the ceiling,

Maybe towards your tailbone.

And then do that a few more times,

Moving the spine in cat-cow.

Cat-cows,

They create an opportunity for flexion and extension through the spine.

To gently squeeze that synovial fluid in between each vertebrae.

And to wake up the spine,

Through the spine,

The spinal cord,

Waking up the brain,

Waking up the body.

Meet in table top.

Table top with your back as flat as a table.

Now bring awareness to the core.

Pull the pit of your belly button up and back towards the spine.

Keep that gentle engagement of the core.

Two more breaths.

So as you're holding that lower belly,

The lower abdomen,

With the core engaged,

Breathe more fully into the upper chest and the upper back.

And with your next exhale,

Downward dog.

And pedal out your downward dog.

Bend the right knee,

Bend the left knee.

Bend each knee a little bit deeper and invite a twist into the spine.

A twisting the spine to the right and left as you pedal out your downward dog.

And then come into stillness and downward dog.

Look towards the big toes.

And then separate the feet to hip width apart.

Both feet at 12 o'clock.

Look at a spot in between the big toes.

Keep looking back towards the feet and walk your hands back to your feet.

Grab your elbows.

Hang long and loose ragdoll.

A ragdoll,

Exactly as it says,

Let the upper torso hang long and loose like a ragdoll.

Maybe gently rotate the neck.

Scrug the shoulders.

Loosen the jaw.

Toes to touch.

Halfway lift.

Inhale,

Lengthen your spine.

Exhale,

Bow down.

Empty your breath.

Press your feet down.

Inhale,

Reach the arms up.

Rise to stand.

Look up.

Palms together.

Exhale,

Thumbs to your heart.

And then reach the arms up.

Exhale,

Bow down,

Forward fold.

Hinge at the hips.

Halfway lift,

Lengthen your spine.

Walk the hands forward into high plank hold.

Stack your shoulders over your wrists.

Stack your heels over the big toe mounds.

Lower all the way down to your belly.

Rest your belly down to the ground.

Chest on the ground.

No pressure on the hands.

Inhale,

Baby cobra.

Lift just the chest off the ground.

Exhale,

Lower the chest down.

No pressure on the hands.

Three more baby cobras.

Inhale,

Chest lifts up.

Exhale,

Chest lowers down.

Two more baby cobra.

No pressure on the hands.

Exhale,

Chest softly lowers.

One more.

Inhale,

Baby cobra.

Exhale,

Chest lowers down.

Press back,

Child's pose.

Hold here.

Two more breaths.

Create a more active child's pose.

Forearms off the ground.

Table top.

Two cat cows this time.

Move the spine.

Flexing and extending through the spine.

Table top.

Stay in stillness.

Tuck your toes.

Downward dog.

This time in downward dog.

Stay in stillness.

Three more breaths.

Body still.

Always focus on one spot.

Walk your hands back to your feet.

Ragdoll.

Grab the elbows.

Let the upper torso hang long and loose.

Big toes to touch.

Halfway lift.

Inhale,

Lengthen your spine.

Bow down and to your breath.

Press the feet down.

Inhale,

Reach the arms high.

Extend in mountain pose.

Look up.

Palms together,

Thumbs to your heart.

Exhale.

Stay here.

Inhale.

Stay here.

Exhale.

Inhale,

Reach the arms up.

Look up.

Bow down forward.

Fold Uttanasana.

Inhale,

Halfway lift.

Lengthen your spine.

Walk the hands forward.

High plank hold.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Lower all the way down to your belly.

Tops of the feet on the ground.

Inhale,

Baby cobra.

No pressure on the hands.

Exhale,

Softly chest lowers.

Three more baby cobras.

As you move through the baby cobra and exhale,

Lower the chest down.

When you baby cobra,

Press the tops of the toenails down onto the ground.

Then softly lower the chest down.

The legs stay on the ground.

Inhale,

Baby cobra.

Exhale,

Set the chest down softly.

Fast back child's pose,

Two breaths.

Active child's pose,

Let the forearms lift off the ground.

Exhale,

Tuck the toes,

Tabletop.

Cat cow.

Downward dog.

Look towards your feet.

Look towards the space in between the big toes.

This time step your big toes together.

Shift your heels off the ground.

Come up high onto the toes.

And then press your chest closer to your thighs.

Two more breaths,

Long spine.

One more breath.

Look towards your thumb.

Step forward,

Forward fold.

Halfway lift,

Inhale.

Exhale forward fold.

Inhale sweep the arms up.

Look up.

Palms together,

Exhale thumbs to your heart.

Inhale reach the arms up.

Exhale forward fold.

Empty the breath.

Halfway lift,

Inhale.

Exhale high plank hold.

Hold with the inhale.

Exhale all the way down to your belly.

This time forehead down onto the ground.

Arms straight,

Palms face down.

And then lift up into a locust pose,

A salabhasana.

So keeping the legs together,

Palms face down.

Lift the chest up and the legs lift up.

Then exhale lower the chest down.

Lift legs and chest up.

This time hold three breaths.

So as you're holding the salabhasana,

This locust pose,

Reach the tailbone back towards your heels.

Soften the shoulders down from your ears.

With your next exhale slowly legs and head down.

One more locust pose.

Inhale chest and legs up.

Open the fingers wide,

Hands next to the hips.

Option to interlace the fingers behind the back.

Whatever bind you're in,

Lift up the chest,

Lift up the shoulders.

Stay for one more breath and slowly lower the chest down.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Press back for child's pose.

Two breaths.

Notice what you feel through this gentle movement warming up the spine,

Moving through the shoulders and the hips.

Downward dog.

Reach your right leg high.

Half pigeon right knee behind your right wrist.

Pause here and square your hips as much as you can.

Maybe pulling your right hip back.

Possibly propping up underneath your right hip if you need a block or a pillow or a cushion.

And then when you're ready,

Square your hips,

Bow down,

Hinge at your hips.

And then rest your forearms down onto the ground.

Maybe resting down on top of a block or a cushion or a chair.

The intention of this half pigeon pose is to invite an opening through the left hip joint.

You might feel it on the outside of the right hip and the right leg.

Take three more breaths and notice if you might be able to create space in the top of the right thigh,

That upper thigh,

The quadricep.

One more breath.

Sigh it out.

Slowly,

Mindfully downward dog.

Take your time,

Step both feet back.

And then walk out your downward dog,

Pedal out your down dog.

Look towards your back toes,

Your big toes.

Reach your left leg high.

And then half pigeon left knee behind the left wrist.

Pause.

Square the hips.

Maybe pull that left hip joint back.

That right leg is straight.

And then when you're ready,

Mindfully hinge at the hips.

Leading forward with your chest and your heart towards the ground,

Towards a block,

Towards a cushion.

On this side,

Maybe propping the left hip,

The left booty with a block or a cushion or a pillow.

And with these five breaths,

Allow yourself to surrender.

Invite an opening.

Invite a softening,

Maybe even in the jaw.

And notice where does it seem like there's a stuckness or something that feels closed?

Allow it to release.

Hold two more breaths.

One more breath.

Finally mindfully downward dog.

Pedal out your downward dog.

Child's pose.

Swing your legs around,

Lay on your back,

Pull your knees into your chest and massage side to side.

And then sit on the back of your hands.

So the backs of your hands will be underneath your booty,

Palms facing down.

And then swing your legs straight up towards the ceiling,

Towards the sky.

Relax your shoulders,

Head stays on the floor.

Flex your ankles.

Inhale,

Thighs engage.

Exhale lower 30 degrees.

Keep the thighs tight.

Flatten the lower back down into the ground with your next exhale,

Lower 30 degrees.

We're working the core,

Inhale.

Hover the heels off the ground.

Lift the shoulder blades off the ground.

Look to the toes.

Hold five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

And one.

Core engage.

Legs come back up.

Head is down.

Core engage.

Flatten that lower back down into the ground.

With your next exhale,

Lower 30 degrees and hold.

Keep that core engaged.

With your next exhale,

Lower 30.

Keep that core engaged.

With your next exhale,

Hover.

Look to the toes.

Shoulder blades lift off the floor.

Five,

Four,

This is the last three,

Two,

And one.

Hug your knees into your chest.

Massage side to side.

Head down onto the floor.

And then take a twist.

Right arm out.

Look towards the right hand.

And let the knees fall to the left.

Five breaths.

These are our final poses before our final resting pose,

Shavasana.

So allow the breath to slow down.

Maybe the heart rate to slow.

Allow the muscles,

The bones,

The skin to relax.

Back to center.

Both knees in and then final twist.

Left arm out.

Let the knees fall to the right.

And on this side,

Continue to soften.

We bring awareness to the inside,

The organs,

As you're gently twisting.

Noticing the spine in this gentle twist.

Maybe noticing the thoughts or the emotions.

Is there anything here that feels tense or tight?

Invite softness,

Invite tenderness.

Back to center.

One more hug in.

And Shavasana.

Straighten the legs out.

Ankles flop to the sides.

Hands face up towards the sky,

Towards the ceiling.

And bring your awareness to your lower back.

If you're noticing any tension behind your lower back,

A cushion or a pillow behind your kneecaps can be a support to release any of that tightness.

Take your time now to set yourself up to enjoy the remainder of this Shavasana to completely relax.

To let go.

Let the entire back body feel heavy.

Sink deeper.

Create an imprint into your mat.

Imagine as if you can imagine a balloon that's filled up a little bit too tight.

And to allow some softness to let out a little bit of air.

You can see that deflating of the balloon.

When you press into the balloon,

Now there's a little bit of give.

So now do the same with yourself.

With every single exhale.

Allow yourself to deflate.

Deflate energetically if there's any tension,

Any tightness.

So as you release that,

Inviting more space to soften.

More space for the breath to fill up soft lungs.

Invite a stillness of the mind to create more space to relax.

Physically,

Emotionally.

Feed your spirit,

Feed your soul.

Let go.

It's my honor to lead you through this short practice today.

I'll leave you with this message to invite loving kindness towards self,

Towards others,

Towards all beings.

Thank you for your energy.

Thank you for your presence.

Until next time.

Peace out.

Reviews

This is a powerful practice, perfect when I don't feel able to spend a lot of time on my yoga mat. Thank you 💕

Lovely quick but thorough practice, really helpful when I don’t want to engage my brain, thank you 🙏

Great short but complete practice when you are short on time. Thank you!

Very nice short practice to do at the end of a busy day… smoothed the kinks out! Very grateful 🙏

Clear instructions, gentle pace. Sweet

Thank you for recording these yoga sessions. They help me re-centre when I need it. Bliss

That was a truly delicious practice. Thank you!

A thorough and satisfying practice! (Did this one outdoors with the birds singing in the background😉)
The perfect midday break. Thank you!

Quick and great for all levels!

Great morning practice to get into my body before I get into my day. Excellent instructions and pace. Thank you!

I appreciate how short this practice is. And how easy it was to follow. I felt strong and centered after. Will definitely come back to this practice. Thank you! 🙏🏼💕

Great practice, namastè!

Excellent all round. Somewhat fast paced at times for the rhythm of my breath but this should be more comfortable with further practices.
Communicates lots of energy in a short time.
Thanks a lot!

Very nice & perfectly guided ☀️ 🙏🏻

The pacing and breath cues are spot on. Thank you for this simple and elegant short flow!

A really nice short practice. I especially liked that she leaves you in savasana so that you can continue it as long as you wish.