Floor Based Mindful Yoga Practice

A soothing mindful yoga practice designed to move your whole body, reduce stress & find balance. This gentle floor-based practice will help you to rediscover your natural sense of ease. It combines gentle, flowing sequences with mindful exploration of postures, focusing on compassionate awareness of body & breath. Remember to move at your own pace and listen to your body.

Transcript

Welcome, This is a gentle floor-based practice designed to get the whole body moving and to bring you back into balance. So let's get comfy on the floor on your back. You might plant your feet or have your legs straight, Whatever feels best for your body. Let's just settle in and start to shift gear. So noticing the weight of the body on the ground and feeling a sense of being supported so that you can settle in. And let's start by taking three slow breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth and really inviting yourself to soften on your out-breath. Just noticing how you're arriving today, Just checking in. How's your body feeling? Your state of mind, Mood, Energy level? Just opening to whatever's there with a kind curiosity. And then we're going to move into a full body stretch, So lengthening your legs if they aren't already. It might mean going wide or something else that suits your body. Just really enjoying coming back home to the body. And let's circle hands and feet, Just slow smooth circles. Let's go one way and then moving back the other way. And then we'll lower our arms, We'll plant the feet, Bring the feet in towards the chest, Give them a little hug. You might feel your lower back start to decompress and then gently rolling the knees from side to side. Just let the pelvis and lower back settle. And then we're going to pop the feet back on the floor and we're going to open up arms to shoulder height. Your feet are about hip width apart and we're going to move into a gentle twist. So we're going to breathe in where we are and as you breathe out you're dropping your knees towards the right, Maybe your head turns to the left, Maybe not. As we breathe in knees come to centre and out to the other side. So finding your flow and making sure that your upper body stays connected to the ground, Doesn't matter if the knees get to the floor or not. And see if this can become one smooth cycle of breath and movement, So the breath leads the movement. Maybe you can tune in to a sense of the back of the pelvis and the sides of the hips, Getting a little massage as the weight shifts. And next time your knees are to the right, We'll stay for a few breaths. Just noticing what you can let go of. So maybe your shoulders are pulling away from the mat, Can you invite them to soften? Letting your hips, Belly soften, Maybe your jaw, Your face. On your next in-breath we'll come back to the centre and over to stay on the other side. Maybe this side feels different. That's completely fine, Just notice. And then we'll bring the knees back to the centre. We're going to bring them into the chest and then keeping them together we're going to roll onto one side and we're going to come up onto hands and knees. You might prefer to use fists if you have wrist problems, So fists with the knuckles pointing out. And we're going to move into a little sequence involving cat, Cow and child's pose. So as you breathe in you're going to glide your chest forwards, Raise your tailbone up a little bit and at the same time you're easing your hips back, Elbows come to the floor, Long neck and hips to the heels. And then as you breathe out you're arching the back the other way and you're looking back through your legs as you come back to your starting position. So we're going to cycle through that, Just noticing what is moving. You might prefer to keep your eyes closed so that you can really sense into your inner experience but you might also choose to keep them open and aware of your surroundings at the same time, So whatever suits. And again seeing if the breath can lead this, This smooth cycle. And the next time you're in child's pose we'll stay there or you could come on to your belly if child's pose isn't comfortable. If your forehead doesn't get to the floor maybe you bring your hands together for a pillow and let's just take a little pause, Just letting yourself sink into stillness, Noticing how you are right now. And then we're going to come back to hands and knees and we're going to come to sitting. Now you might want to sit up on a block or a cushion, You could also sit on a chair, Whatever feels comfortable for you. And we're just going to bring our arms down by our sides and you might just move your pelvis a little so that you feel that you are as grounded and comfortable as you can be. Just feeling the lower body sinking down and a little sense of lift coming all the way up through you, Little imaginary thread coming up through the crown of the head. We're going to just explore the neck a little bit. So we're going to breathe in where we are and then breathing out, Just letting your right ear drop towards your right shoulder. As we breathe in, Back to the centre and out to the other side. You're just going to go back and forth, Slow, Smooth movement. You might notice that one of your shoulders and neck are tighter than the other. Again that is normal, We've all got our patterns. You might want to slide the opposite arm away a little bit to deepen the stretch. When you've done an equal amount on both sides, We'll come back to the centre and we're going to move into some shoulder rolls. So we're going to start with our arms by our sides and you're just moving your shoulders. So bringing them forwards and up and then squeezing those shoulder blades together as you bring them down the back. Next one we're going to bring hands to shoulders and circle the elbows. Again those shoulder blades are squeezing together down the back. And then the next one, If this is okay for your shoulders, We're going to reach arms up and open into a big stretch, Squeezing those shoulders together. So let's do it once more. So first of all, It's just shoulders on their own, Then elbows together and then whole arms as well. In fact, We'll do it once more again. So it's just shoulders, Elbows and full circle. Really feeling your chest opening and then bringing hands down by your sides. Good. So we're going to move into a twist and side bend sequence. So we're going to bring hands down by our sides and again this is going to flow with the breath. So come with me. We're going to breathe in, Raising arms wide and up. As we breathe out, You're going to twist that way to your left or whichever way. And then as we breathe in, Coming to the centre and twisting to the other way as we breathe out. Breathing into the centre and this time as you breathe out, You're coming into a side bend. Try to keep your sitting bones grounded. Breathing into the centre and over to the other side. You can look up under your armpit if that feels okay for you. Breathing into the centre and back into your twist. Into the centre, Over to the other side. Into the centre and into your side bend. Into the centre and out into your other side bend. Into the centre and this time we're going to stay a little bit longer in your twist. So your front hand is to your thigh, Your back hand is supporting behind you and we're going to use the breath to deepen the twist a little bit. So as you breathe in, You're feeling that little imaginary thread lengthening all the way up through the spine and as you breathe out, You can just twist a little bit more. So you might very gently push into your thigh. Maybe your head is looking over your shoulder or you could gently move it from one shoulder to the other. On your next in-breath, We'll come back to the centre and rotating through your chest to twist on the other side. Again, Same thing, Lengthening all the way up through you on your in-breath. A little bit more of a twist on your out-breath. On your next in-breath coming back to the centre and then over into your side bend as you breathe out and if you can, You're going to keep your arm over your head. If it's too much, You might just bring your hand to your lower back but you've still got this lovely sense of opening through the side of the body. We're not letting our head just drop but your head is part of that lovely curve. Your lower arm nice and springy so you're not locking your elbow, You've got this kind of springiness and then if you can, You might look up or you could look out or even down and just send the breath into this side of the body and then on your next in-breath we'll come up over to the other side. Do try to keep both sitting bones grounded because then you'll feel that length from that sitting bone right up into the extended hand. On your next in-breath we'll come up and then we'll let those arms go wide. Now we're going to come down onto our backs again. So you might come to roll down with me or you might prefer just to come onto your side and then onto your back. So just finding your way down in a way that suits you. So if you're rolling down, You're feeling again that you're right up on your sitting bones and that imaginary thread is really creating space in the back. We're going to extend our arms, Start to round so you're dropping your chin to the chest. A sense that your tailbone is curling up as your ribs curl down. You can support yourself as much as you need. You might like to visualise a little cashew nut shape and then slowly unwinding as we come onto our backs and just keep your feet where they are, Your hands to your belly and just enjoying this sense of spaciousness in the back. This position is called constructive rest in some approaches because it allows your back to be really spacious and on each out-breath you might have a sense of softening, Letting the belly just sink into the back. Now we're going to move our feet a little bit closer to the hips and about hip width apart. We're going to move into a pelvic tilt that may become a bridge. So you're going to bring your hands down by your sides and then just gently pushing into your heels and letting your back flatten. You're not bringing your hips off the floor yet, Just let the back flatten and then you're going to rock the other way so you have a little bit of a back arch. So the pelvis is just rolling up and down and you might notice that this movement you can actually feel it all the way up into your shoulders, Maybe the back of the head. So even though this is subtle little movement it's actually affecting the whole spine's health. If you want to go a bit stronger next time the back is flat you're going to push a bit harder into the heels and start to raise the hips up off the mat. You might breathe in as they come up and then breathing out as they come down. You might choose to add arms, So as the hips come up you might raise your arms over the head. As hips come down, Arms come down. So finding a bridge that suits you, Finding your rhythm, Trying to keep your feet planted, Just aware of the neck, Keeping your neck long. And next time you're up, If you want to stay up you can for a few breaths, Maybe you bring your arms by your sides, Maybe you engage your glutes, Bring your hips up a little bit higher. You might even have a sense of slightly dragging your heels back towards your hips. They won't actually move but you can really feel that it switches on muscles in the back of the legs, In the bum, Into the back. So really good stabilising posture. And then we're going to come slowly down. Let's bring the knees into the chest, Little hug. Then we're going to pop the left foot to the floor, We're going to strongly flex the right foot, Right ankle to left thigh, Drop the right knee open and start to bring your left thigh towards you. Keep this right foot firmly flexed and maybe it's comfortable for you to bring your hands behind your left thigh, Otherwise you could just keep them by your sides and let the strength of the leg do the work. You might even like to shift slightly to your left to deepen the stretch into the outer right hip. And then we're going to pop that left foot down and we're going to extend the right leg up to the sky. You can take hold of the back of the thigh. We're just going to lengthen up through that right heel. If anything's a bit pinchy you might prefer to point the foot. I'm just feeling the back of the leg starting to lengthen. It doesn't matter if it's straight or not, In fact it'll probably be a bit bent, But we're just sensing the length through this leg. And then we'll bring that right foot down and we're going to repeat on this side. So now right foot stays, Left foot strongly flexed. Let's move into that hip opener, Outer hip opener. Maybe you shift your weight slightly to the right to deepen it. Then we'll put that right foot to the floor and extending up through your left leg. Feel that sense of length up through the heel. Maybe you're gently easing it towards you as well as lengthening up. And then we'll bring that leg down. We're going to bring the knees in towards the chest and then hands lightly to the knees and we're just going to extend those knees to arm's length. Glide them in towards the chest. Just last massage of lower back, Abdomen. Then getting yourself comfy, Just for a short Shavasana on your back. Just letting your feet move out to about mat width apart, Arms by your sides or picking a relaxation posture that you prefer. Now I'm going to come to sitting but you just rest there for a little while longer. We're just going to really allow the body to settle. Let yourself sink into the ground beneath. Feeling the support of the ground and just letting yourself sink into stillness for a few minutes. Now you might start to bring a little bit of energy back, Gently wriggling fingers and toes. Having a stretch or any movements that the body needs. In your own time, Rolling onto one side and using your hands to bring you back up to sitting. So thank you for joining me and hope you have a good rest of your day.