Hello and welcome to this gentle yoga practice for chronic pain.
Find a comfortable spot on the floor to move around.
A bolster or something to sit on might be handy.
So go ahead and grab those things.
And we'll get started.
I invite you to start the practice sitting with me today any way that feels comfortable for you.
Gently gaze softly forward or close your eyes.
And we'll take some time here to move into some deeper breaths.
Often when experiencing pain we hold tension or our breathing is shallow so we'll Breathe deep here to try and help relax and calm the body.
Taking a nice deep inhale,
Feel the ribs and lungs expand.
Exhale deeply out through the nose.
Inhale,
Maybe going slightly deeper.
Exhale out through the nose.
Once more,
Deep inhale.
Exhale out through the mouth.
And you can flutter your eyes open if they are closed.
Moving into some gentle movements of the back and the arms.
Inhale,
Reaching those arms above your head if that feels comfortable.
Exhale,
Twist the body over to the right.
Right arm goes behind you,
Left arm goes in front.
Inhale,
Lift those arms back up above your head,
Twisting forward.
Exhale,
Twisting over to the left.
Right arm goes in front of you,
Left arm behind.
Once more each way,
Inhale up.
Exhale to the right.
And inhale up.
Exhale to the left.
Back to center.
Keeping the hands on the knees here and just gently rounding the spine a little bit,
Bringing that chin to chest.
Exhale sink further And then come back up to sitting.
Moving on to hands and knees here.
If you're sitting on a block or bolster,
You can just move it off to the side.
Coming onto hands and knees,
Some gentle cat cows here.
Inhale,
Lower the stomach down,
Tailbone goes up,
Head just looks slightly to the front of the man.
And then exhale,
Rounding throughout the spine as far as feels comfortable.
Head goes down as far as feels comfortable.
And then just move through a few more cat cows at your own speed,
Your own range.
Knowing at any point you can take a break you can stop if Your body does not feel safe doing the movements.
Moving to a child shape,
You can keep your knees together as they are or you can bring them further to the width of your mat.
And then just bring your body backwards,
Your hips back towards your feet.
Bending through the elbows.
Let those arms rest.
You can rest the head if you would like as well on the mat.
And just take some time giving your body permission to rest.
Maybe relax even further into the shade.
When you are ready,
Slowly coming back up to hands and knees.
And we'll move into standing,
Come up to standing,
However you would like.
Moving into a side body stretch here.
Taking the arms either above your head or keeping them down.
If they're above your head,
Grab the left wrist with the right hand.
Your legs can go a little bit wider than hip width.
And then just reach on over to the left as far as it feels comfortable.
And then exhale back to center repeating on the other side that left hand grabs the right wrist leaning over to the right as far as feels comfortable or option to keep the arms down as you lean Exhale,
Come up to standing.
Let those arms rest.
And then gently twist the body over to the left.
And then back to center,
Gently twist over to the right.
And back to center.
We're going to come down onto our back option to gently roll down and get some lengthening throughout the spine if you would like.
Some people feel good with some flexion,
Some people don't.
So if you would like to.
Gently reach down,
Bend through the knees as much as you need.
Just feel that back expand take some breaths throughout The body.
And then make your way onto your back.
Once on your back,
I invite you to bend the knees so your feet are on the ground.
And just wiggle your feet out so they are near the end of your mat.
And then gently let those knees come inwards.
So we're getting a bit of an internal rotation with the hips here.
Just try to relax in here.
Allow those knees to hold you up.
If at any point this feels tight in the hips or doesn't feel good,
You can always bring those feet in a little bit closer to the middle of the mat.
And then bringing those knees out,
Rocking those feet back in so that your feet are now touching together.
And then your knees are going to go out as far as feels comfortable.
And just getting a stretch now through the opposite area of the inner thighs.
And then slowly bringing those legs back together.
Bringing your knees to chest.
You can do one at a time or both at once.
Just taking some deep breaths here.
Maybe rocking those ankles up and down or little circles with the feet.
And be rocking the body side to side.
Then exhale,
Let those feet come back down,
Knees stay bent.
And you can rest here for a moment for some deep breaths,
Or you can straighten the legs into Shavasana.
Your legs are,
If it feels okay,
I invite you to place your hands on your lower stomach.
Just take some deep breaths here,
Feeling your hands rise and fall.
Knowing that however you showed up today is enough.
One more deep breath here.
Exhale,
Let it all go.
Relax.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
I hope that this was enjoyable for you.
I'll see you next time
