Welcome to day five of the trauma-informed yoga for nervous system relaxation series today is about breath using the breath as we move through different yoga shapes All you'll need is a mat,
A block,
Or bolster.
It might be handy to sit on,
So go ahead and grab that.
And we'll get started.
As today is all about breath,
You can join me in a breathing exercise to start sitting any way that feels comfortable for you.
You can gently close your eyes or gaze softly forward.
Taking a moment to breathe as you normally would,
You don't have to change anything at all.
And as you sit here,
Getting comfortable with the breath,
See if you can breathe a little bit deeper,
Imagining your body is a nice round cylinder and you're trying to get your breath in every area.
In the front body,
In the side body,
And the back body.
And taking a couple nice deep breaths like this.
As you breathe deep,
Giving gratitude to the breath and the body today to being here with you during this practice.
If your eyes are closed you can gently open them.
Maintaining this seeding shape.
Moving through some arm movements here,
Stretching out the back,
I invite you to take both arms in front of you and cross them.
And then you can cross them again so that they're grasping.
If it doesn't feel good to grasp,
You can leave them uncrossed.
Eagle arms here.
And once again,
Just nice deep breath in and out.
Maybe feeling that back expanding as you stretch here through the front arms.
On an exhale,
Unwrapping the arms,
Switching whichever one was on top,
Place that one on the bottom.
Same thing,
Once again,
Wrapping the hands around,
Maybe grabbing them,
Holding them in front of your face.
Breathing in and out here.
On your next exhale,
Uncrossing the arms,
Moving into a seated twist.
I invite you to take your left hand,
Place it on the right knee and twist over to the right as far as feels comfortable for you.
You can gently place your right hand behind you on the mat.
And as you breathe in once more,
Try maybe see if you can go a little further.
Exhale coming back to start repeating on the other side the right hand can go on the left knee left hand can go behind you for extra support if you'd like and twist over to the left on your next breath,
Maybe seeing if you can get further.
And on an exhale,
Coming back to center.
Joining me on hands and knees for some cat cows.
If you are sitting on a block or bolster,
You can just place that off to the side.
Shoulders over wrists hips over knees you can go through cat cows at your own pace here arching through the body that tailbone goes up for cow Exhale,
You can round throughout the spine.
Your chin can go to chest as you move into cat.
Breathing in,
Switching back to cow,
Tailbone goes up.
Exhale,
Round throughout that spine,
Chin to chest,
Just like a cat.
My nails actually have little cats on them right now.
Once more at your own speed.
Using that breath to follow with you.
And then coming into a puppy shape right now.
So for puppy,
It's bringing the hips backwards towards you.
You're going to go down on your elbows.
And then the hips move back as you're on your elbows here.
You can have the toes.
Turned or you can rest on your toes,
Whatever feels comfortable for you.
Taking a moment to breathe here,
Relax the jaw,
Relax the face.
Allow your body to hold you as you rest.
If you are with me in puppy,
One more breath here.
And then you can follow me into co-breath.
So coming back onto hands and knees and then just lowering right through onto your stomach.
Your forearms can rest a little bit in front of your body.
Your hands are resting on the mat.
And then you'll have a nice little arch in the low back here.
And you can go as far as feels good for you.
You can bring your forearms closer to you if you want to go up higher.
You can bring them a little further out if you want to go lower.
Find what feels good.
And then I invite you to look over your right shoulder,
A little bit of a twist here once again,
Maybe feeling a different sensation through the spine in the back here.
And then looking over the left shoulder,
Same thing,
Perhaps a different sensation on this side.
And then back to center,
One more breath here in and out.
When you are ready,
You can turn over and join me on your back.
Taking a second to settle in on your back,
Noticing your feet on the ground,
The back of your head on the surface.
Moving into a figure four shape to stretch out the hips if you would like to join me take your left foot place it on your right knee and lower that left knee towards the ground If you want more of a stretch,
You can lift that right leg up You could clasp your hands behind the right leg too.
And then once again,
Breathe.
So breathe in and out me,
Be sinking deeper into the hips.
Allowing your breath to guide you into the shape.
You notice you're holding your breath that there's tension that might be a sign to come out or to not go quite as deep into the movement.
On an exhale,
If your hands are clasped,
You can let go of your leg.
Draw off that right foot down.
Take that left foot down and we're going to switch sides here.
So now the right foot can rest on top of that left knee.
That right knee goes down to the ground.
If you would like more sensation,
You can pull that left leg up,
Maybe clasping behind the leg.
And again,
Breathing.
Few more breaths here if it feels like too much you can always switch the shape go to a different version or come right out On your next exhale,
If your arms are clasped behind your leg,
You can let them go.
Bend your knees so that your feet are on the ground and just gently rock those knees side to side.
Windshield wiping the legs.
Different sensation in the back than the other stretch we just did.
Ending here,
You can take your arms into cactus arms.
So the elbows go to 90,
The backs of the arms resting on the ground,
Palms up.
Gentle chest stretch here.
You might decide to lower the legs so they're straight.
You might keep them bent as I am doing whatever works for your body today.
And ending here once again with a breath.
Feeling your body on the surface as your breath enters and exits through the nose,
Through the mouth.
In the chest or in the stomach,
Wherever you want to focus on.
Just as we started,
Take a moment of gratitude for your breath.
Keeping you moving throughout this practice and throughout life.
You so much for joining me i hope you enjoyed this five day nervous system relaxation yoga series if you're just coming today you can go back and do the other one I'll see you next time
