This soothing gentle yoga flow is perfect for unwinding, relaxing the body and calming the mind. All you need is 15 minutes, your mat and some comfy clothes. No props necessary, unless there are any that you love to have for your practice.
Meet your Teacher
Grande Prairie, AB, Canada
Transcript
Hey, Everyone, And welcome to day 28 of our 30-Day Yoga Challenge. My name is Candice, And today's practice is a gentle flow. So you don't need any props, But you can always grab whatever you know you like to have by, And we're just going to get started in a comfortable seated position, Whatever that looks like today. So starting in a comfortable seat, You can let the hands rest on the knees. Or maybe folded together in the lap, Just for these first few moments, You can close the eyes, Connect to the breath. Without any control or technique yet, Just observe the natural rhythm of the breath, Inhales to exhales, Exhales to inhales, Flowing effortlessly. Effortlessness. That is my intention for today's flow. So if the pace of the breath that you have right now feels sustainable for your practice, You can maintain just as it is. Or if you feel you need to adjust, You can draw the breath in deeper, Maybe making the inhales and exhales equal in length. And you can keep the eyes closed for your practice if that's what you like, Or we can blink the eyes open. Slide the left hand down beside you. Sweep the right arm up. Slip the palm towards the left. Exhale, Little side bend to the left here. And be gazing up. With your breath, Inhale to rise. Exhale, Right hand comes down, Left arm up and over. Inhale to rise up. Exhale, Left hand down, Right arm up and over. Inhale. Exhale. Let's take one more each way. Inhale, Back up to center. Sweep the arms up overhead. As you exhale, Take the fingertips to the shoulders, Elbows straight out from the shoulders. As you inhale, Pull the elbows back, Pull the shoulder blades together, Lift your heart, Lift your gaze up. As you exhale, Round the spine as you round the shoulders. Elbows come toward each other in front as the chin drops. So seated cat and cow movements through the spine, But opening through the heart and through the elbows, And closing off as you exhale. Two more rounds here. And then we can inhale, Come back up to center, Release the hands down. Come on forward, Release your seat. Find a tabletop position, Not worrying about specific alignment here, Just finding what feels stable. If that's wrists under shoulders, Knees under the hips, Or maybe you need to take a bit of a wider stance through the hands and the knees. And from there, We're just going to close the eyes and start to intuitively move around. So allow your sensations in the body to guide you. Maybe you want to take some circles through the hips. You take the hips back towards the heels up. Towards the hands. Maybe you just, There's no method and you're just kind of shifting around. Moving towards areas that feel a little bit sticky, A little bit closed off. Allow the breath to soften into those spaces. Maybe you might take some circles through the ribcage, Pressing the ribs to the left, Rounding the spine over to the right. Whatever your body is needing right now, Honor that, Moving into that, Breathing into that. Keeping the jar soft. For Head Soft. And if you're choosing circles, Just making sure you're finding harmony and going the opposite direction as well. We're just going to take a few more breaths here. And then we'll slowly find our way back to a neutral spine. We're going to shift the weight into the left hand. Inhale, Sweep the right arm out and up. Exhale, Thread the right arm underneath the left side. Bring the shoulder and the head towards the mat. Pause. Inhale, Unwind. Press into the left hand to unwind all the way up. Reach the right arm up. Exhale, Thread it through. And how unwind. Exhale, Thread it through. We'll pause here, Resting the shoulder, Resting your head down, Keeping that left hand grounded, Taking two deep breaths here. Pressing left hand into the mat. Unwinding, Placing the right hand back down to the mat, Shift the weight into the right hand, Inhale, Sweep the left arm out and up. Exhale, Thread it under the right, Bringing the shoulder and the head down for a moment. Inhale to open up, Unwind. Exhale, Thread it through. Inhale. Exhale, Thread it through. Last one. Inhale, Open up. Exhale, Thread it under, Resting the shoulder and the head down. Pausing here for two breaths. And then grounding through the right hand to press yourself back up. Placing the left hand down, Bring the big toes together, Knees wide, Sink down into a child's pose. Resting the forehead down towards the mat. Softening through the elbows. Full breath in. Full breath out, Feel yourself become heavy. We'll inhale, Look up towards the hands, Lift up through the heart, Slide forward onto the belly, Extend the legs back, Lift your heart, Cobra. Exhale, Lower down, Press into the palms, Glide back, Child's pose. Inhale, Look forward, Lead from the heart. Slide forward onto the belly, Lift the heart. Cobra exhale lower down press back child's pose Inhale, Look forward, Slide forward onto the belly. Stay here. Keeping the hands beside the chest, But we're gonna take them out to the sides, Maybe they come off of the mat, Tenting through the fingertips. As you inhale, Press into the tops of the feet, Engaging through the legs, Pressing into the fingertips, Roll up. To your depth, To your height that feels good for you. Exhale, Lower down. Moving with your breath, Inhale, Roll up. Exhale. Inhale, Roll up. Last one, Exhale, Lower. Releasing your hands, Taking them back beside you, Palms pressing into the mat. Take a full breath in. As you exhale, Press into the hands, Glide back onto the knees, Tuck the toes under, Lift the hips up and back, Downward facing dog. So readjusting to find comfort in your downward facing dog. And same idea as when we were in tabletop, Allow yourself to intuitively move around, Explore different areas of the body in your downward dog that you might not have explored before. Letting go of any traditional alignment and just feeling into what your body needs right now, Whatever movement you need. And your downward facing dog. Honoring that, Listening to that. Moving and connecting with the breath. Finding yourself back to center. Shift the weight into the left foot. Inhale, Take the right leg up and back. Take a bend to the knee. Find little circles through the hip here. In, Out, And around. Keep pressing firmly into both hands. Now next inhale, Take the right leg straight up and back. Exhale, Curl the knee in towards the outside of the right hand, Plant the foot to the outside of the right hand, Drop the back knee down. Staying up on the hands, Start to shift your weight around. And again, Finding little movements here in your lizard pose. You might shift the hips from side to side. Maybe rocking forward and back. You'll be finding little circles through the hips. Allow yourself to shimmy around. Until you settle. Into stillness here. And you can roll to the pinky edge of the right foot, Rolling the knee open, Sinking into the hips. Depending on the space you have, You might drop down to the forearms. I'm going to stay up on my hands. You know your body, Honoring where you are in your practice today. If you need the depth, You can drop down. Softening into the breath, Softening into the hips. Take one more breath. And if you came down to the forearms, Go ahead and come up onto the hands, Grounding the right foot back onto the mat. Take a breath in, Sink into the hips, Lift the heart. As you exhale, Pull back towards a half split variation. So pulling the right toes back towards the knee, Keeping both hands to the inside of the right foot. Folding down. As you inhale, Rock forward, Re-bend into that front knee, Sink into the hips, Lift the heart. Exhale, Pull back. Inhale, Rock forward. Exhale. One more, Full cycle. Then we'll inhale, Rock forward. Shift the weight into the right foot. Can you pop up onto the fingertips if you weren't already? Tuck the back toes under, Lift the knee, Shift the weight forward, Step the left foot out wide, Bring the heels and toes out, Sink down, Little pit stop in Malasana, Hands to heart center, Lift the heart, Inhale. As you exhale, Release the hands back down. Lift the hips just to shift the weight over to the left foot. Step the right foot all the way to the back of the mat. Drop the right knee. Also coming into our lizard on the other side. Again, Finding little movements side to side, Forward and back, Finding circles, Whatever you feel like you need right now. Exploring different movements here. And then we can settle in, Drop into the hips, Roll to the pinky edge of the left foot. Staying up on the palms or dropping down to the forearms if you have the space for it today. And then from there, You can come back up to the hands. If you came down to the forearms, Ground the left foot onto the mat. Inhale, Press into the hips, Lift the heart, Lift your chin. As you exhale, Rock back to that half split variation, Pull the left toes back. Inhale, Rock forward, Sink into the hips, Lift the heart. Exhale, Pull back. Inhale, Rock forward. Exhale back. Inhale, Rock forward. Stay here. From their ground through the hands. We're gonna tuck the back toes under. You might shift forward a little bit to create some space. So tuck the back toes under, Lift the knee, Press through the left foot to press off, Send the left leg all the way up and back. Find those circles through the hips. Like we did on the other side. And out and around, One way and then the other. And then grounding the left foot back down into your downward facing dog. Take a full breath in. Full breath out. From there, Shift forward slightly just to drop the knees, Untuck the toes, Sit back under the heels. As you do, Sweep the arms up overhead. As you exhale, Cactus the arms and elbows straight up from the shoulders. Inhale, Pull the elbows back, Lift your heart, Lift your gaze. Exhale, Round through the upper back, Drop the chin, Hands come in front of you. Inhale, Open up. Exhale, Round. Inhale, Open up. Rounding. Inhale, Open up, Staying here, Lifting up through the heart, Lifting up through the chin, Either just taking the hands, Taking the fingertips down behind you, Or clasping the hands behind the back, Whatever's more comfortable. Squeezing the shoulder blades towards each other as you roll the shoulder heads back and lift through the heart. And exhale, Release. Shift over to one side. Go ahead and find a comfortable seated position, Whatever that looks like right now. Tending the fingertips beside you, Sitting up tall. Inhale, Sweep the arms up overhead, Joining the palms together at the top. Exhale, Pull the hands to heart center. Closing our practice. One more full breath in through the nose. Let it out with a sigh. Blinking the eyes open if they closed. Thank you so very much for joining me in practice once again, And we'll see you again tomorrow.
