Stress Release Restorative Yoga: 30 Day Challenge Day 27

Bye bye stress! These are some of my favourite restorative postures for total body stress release. We'll start with Ujjayi Pranayama and simple counting technique to find a breath pattern of exhales just a little bit longer than the inhales. Props needed: a bolster, pillow or rolled up blanket.

Transcript

Hey everyone and welcome to day 27 of our 30-day yoga challenge. My name is Candice and today's practice is about stress release. So we will be using a bolster or a pillow or a rolled up blanket, Whatever you have of similar shape. And we are going to get started on our back. So as you lie down on your back, Take the feet a little bit wider than the hips. Let the knees rest on each other. And if it's comfortable for the shoulders, Take the arms up overhead. And bend the elbows. If this isn't comfortable for the shoulders, I know it doesn't work for everybody, You can just take the arms beside you, Palms facing up. But I highly encourage you to take the arms up overhead and bend the elbows if that is comfortable for you. You can let the eyes close down. The belly be soft. Coming into the breath and into the body. You might do a little mental scan of the body from head to toe, Just kind of looking for sensations, Just noticing what you're feeling, Noticing without judgment or the need to change anything. Can you calmly and compassionately. Just take note of whatever you're feeling right now. Knowing that however you're feeling. It is what it is. You don't need to change it. If you perceive it as negative, It'll pass, Just like everything. And whatever it is you're clinging to from your day. That will also pass and maybe you can use this practice to let go of whatever you're clinging to, Whatever you don't want to hold on to. Feel yourself surrender here to your mat. And as you breathe here. And you begin to slightly engage the muscles in the back of the throat, Just very, Very gentle and subtle as if you are whispering to somebody or fogging up a mirror. This is our Ujjayi Pranayama. Just a very subtle engagement at the back of the throat, This type of breath. Is very soothing and calming. I often use it even not when I'm on my mat, Just throughout the day. I'll just take a deep breath in Ujjayi. I'm just making sure that Subtle engagement just stays soft. You can draw the breath in a little bit deeper. Wherever you are in the breath, We can empty the breath fully, Exhale. We'll draw the breath in for seven. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Exhale 8. Seven, Six. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Inhale 7, 6. 5, 4, Three. Too. One. Exhale, Eight. 7, 6, 7, 6, 7, 6. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Inhale 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. One, Exhale, Eight. Seven. Five, Four, Three. 3, To One, Continuing on your own here. Inhaling for seven, Exhaling for eight. And each round as you count. Can you allow the count to become a little bit quieter in the mind? Each round becoming even quieter. Almost like a whisper. Feeling the count become quieter and quieter until the count disappears altogether and you're just left with this natural pace of breath of exhales just slightly longer than the inhale. Knowing that as your mind will inevitably wander. You can always just bring your attention. Back to this breath, Even back to the count if you need to introduce it again, Just to have something to. Focus the mind onto. Exhales just a little bit longer than the inhale. You can start to bring some movement, Maybe wiggle the fingers, Wiggle the toes. If the arms are up, You can go ahead and take the arms down. Separate the knees and just rock the knees from side to side. Next time your knees come over to the left, Just allow them to fall and rest there. Take the arms out beside you or maybe taking hands to the belly. Next, Exhale, You can bring the knees back up to center. Take a breath in, And as you exhale, Guide the knees. Drop the knees over to the right. Let them fall. One more breath here. And as you exhale, Guide the knees back up to center. Slide the hips back to center if they moved at all. Curl the knees in towards the chest. Give yourself a loving squeeze. And we'll just roll off to one side. Use your hand to press yourself up to a comfortable seat. Take the hands down beside you. Sitting up tall, Just gently drop the left ear to left shoulder. Maybe drop the chin. Or lift the chin up and just finding a position that feels nice and you can breathe into it. Softening the jaw, The forehead. Next inhale, Bring the head up. Exhale, Drop the right ear to right shoulder. Maybe slightly dropping the chin towards the chest. We're lifting the chin up. Inhale, Bring the head up. As you exhale, Just drop the chin towards the chest. Keep the chest lifted. Soft stretch through the back of the neck. And we'll inhale, Come back up, Sit up tall. As you exhale, Just walk the hands forward, Little fold over the legs, Maybe drop to the forearms. Continuing, Coming back to the breath. If you've lost it, Exhale just a little bit longer than the inhale. Inhale, Climb the hands in. Whatever way your legs are crossed, Just go ahead and cross the opposite shin in front or on top. Sitting up tall as you exhale, Walk the hands forward and fold over the legs. On the next inhale, You can walk the hands in, Come back up. You can uncross your legs and take the legs out wide and just to a width that allows you to still sit comfortably. So if your legs are really wide, But you're rounded and hunched forward, Just go ahead and bring the knees or the legs back in a little bit and keep a bend to the knees. From there, You can grab your pillow or bolster, Whatever you have, And we're going to set it in front of you in any way that works. If you have the mobility to just lay it down in front of you and you can come down onto it and rest your forearms down, Maybe you Rest your forehead into your palms. If you're like me and you don't have much mobility there, You can take the bolster with the end down on the floor or the mat and just rest your forehead down onto it. And just whatever position you're in. Feel yourself, Your upper body fully relax forward. Don't worry about the feet being engaged, Maybe wiggle them a little bit to make sure that they're soft. Exhales a little bit longer than the inhales. And with that exhalation, So we can really feel that sense of release in the body and the mind. Energetically, You know, Exhalation. Eliminating. Air from the body, Eliminating whatever we're no longer needing from the body. And with that air leaving the body, With the breath leaving the body, We can connect that to any stagnant energy. That we're clinging to. Any emotions that we no longer need, That no longer serves us anymore. Any tension in the body and just kind of rolling off with the exhalation. Take one more breath here. And then we can slowly come on up. Can set your prop off to the side for now and go ahead and come forward onto the belly. Take the legs out wide, Maybe even turn the toes out to the sides. Laying on your belly, Stacking forearms on top of each other, Resting your forehead down on your arms. And if you have any reason that laying on your belly is not okay for you, If you're pregnant or otherwise just not comfortable, You can come back into a child's pose. So just bringing the, Coming back and bringing the big toes to touch, Knees wide, And you can take your bolster underneath of you to rest your forehead onto. But if you're on your belly, You're resting all of your weight. Onto the floor. Completely and utterly supported here. Feel how the breath moves into the back body. As the front of the body rests on the mat or the floor. Exhales a little bit longer than the inhales. And without rushing, Slowly start to climb your way out of it. And if you're on your belly, All we're going to do is just roll over onto your back. If you're in your child's pose, You can come up and then just come back onto your back however you need to. Making sure you have your bolster or pillow nearby. And we're just going to slide the bolster underneath of our knees. And take the soles of the feet together. Let the knees fall open. Take one hand to your heart, One hand to your belly. Closing the eyes. Feeling that natural breath of exhales just a little bit longer than the inhales. As you lay here, You might scan the body once again. Finding any areas, Any final areas of tension that might be clinging in the body and can you visualize and consciously soften those spaces with the exhale. Releasing any bit of control that you had with the breath, Releasing your ujjayi. Pranayama and then just allowing the breath to be natural. Maybe you might notice you're still with that exhale just a little bit longer than the inhale. Feeling yourself melt and surrender into the mat, Into the space you have. And feel completely and utterly supported by the fact that you have nowhere else to be and nothing else to do for these next few moments. And I'm going to leave you here for as long as you need, As long as you have time for. And as always, I encourage you to stay as long as you can. And thank you so very much, As always, For joining me in practice, And we will see you again tomorrow.