Hey,
Everyone,
And welcome to day 25 of our 30-Day Yoga Challenge.
My name is Candice,
And today's practice is about hip and hamstring release.
So we will be using a strap.
If you don't have a strap,
You can grab a belt or a rolled up towel or something of similar shape.
And just make sure you have that right beside you.
And we're going to start lying down on our backs.
So as you lie down on your back,
Grabbing onto your strap or belt or whatever you have,
Let it unroll.
Planting through the left foot,
We're going to start to take the right foot up,
But we're going to wrap the strap around the foot,
Just kind of under the toes,
And taking the leg straight up.
And the knee might be bent,
And you're just grabbing onto the straps to hold it there.
If this is plenty,
You can stay there.
If you want a little more sensation through the legs,
You can extend the left leg straight out in front of you.
And from there,
Just guiding the right foot towards you.
Until you feel sensation.
You're not looking for the most intense stretch.
We're looking for probably a little bit more of a mild stretch.
We will be holding for quite a few breaths.
And you might notice that as you hold and you breathe into it and you relax into it,
You can start to guide the foot closer to you a little bit more.
Breathing into it,
Connecting with the breath here.
And if you're here and your hamstrings are very tight,
Your knee might be quite bent.
And then same idea,
As you breathe into it,
You might notice you can start to straighten the leg.
But we're not going to force anything.
You don't want to force too intense of a sensation.
It's not about how deep into the position you can go.
It's just about finding a level of sensation that works for your body right now.
And then from there,
We're going to take both sides of the strap into the left hand.
Take the right hand down beside you,
Palm facing down,
Guiding the knee over to the left,
But we're not coming into a twist.
We want to keep the right hip grounded into the mat and just guiding over to the left until you feel sensation through the outer right leg.
And it might not be much of a movement over.
Take one more breath here,
Soften the jaw,
The tongue,
The forehead.
And then we can bring that leg back up to center,
Releasing the strap.
If the left knee bent or if the left knee came straight,
Go ahead and bend the left knee again.
Bend the right knee.
We're going to cross the right ankle on top of left thigh.
Press the right knee away from you.
And if that is plenty,
You can stay exactly as you are.
If you want a bit more sensation,
You can wiggle the left foot closer in towards you,
Maybe lift the heel off of the mat.
If you're happy there,
Stay.
If you want more sensation,
You can pick up the left leg and clasp your hands around the hamstring or around your shin.
Softening,
Breathing into the outer right hip.
One more breath here.
And then if the left foot moved off of the mat,
You can go ahead and lower it down,
Keeping the legs as they are crossed.
Take the arms out to the sides.
Shift the hips a little bit to the right and go ahead and drop the legs over to the left in this.
Twist.
Right foot grounds onto the mat or the floor.
Breathing into the belly here.
One more breath in.
And then we can exhale,
Guiding the legs back up to center,
Slide the hips back to center,
Uncross the right foot,
Set it down.
Onto the mat,
Maybe rock the knees from side to side.
And then we can come back to center,
Grabbing onto your strap once again.
Planting the right foot onto the mat,
Picking up the left foot,
Wrapping the strap around the foot and extending the leg up towards straight.
It might not come straight.
So finding your edge,
Right knee can stay bent or you can extend the right leg out in front.
And just guiding the leg to a position that doesn't feel so intense that you're holding your breath or clenching really hard.
Still maintaining steady breath.
And take two more deep breaths here.
And then we can grab onto both sides of the strap with the right hand.
Take the left hand down and just guide the foot over towards the right,
Just until you start to feel sensation through the outer left leg.
So the left hip is still grounded onto the mat.
And then when you're ready,
You can bring the leg back up to center.
Bend the knee so that you can unwrap the strap.
If the right leg came straight,
You can bend the right knee.
You can set your strap off to the side,
Crossing the left ankle on top of right thigh,
Pressing the knee away from you.
Notice any differences from one side to the next.
If you want a little bit more sensation,
Again,
You can wiggle the right foot closer to the body,
Maybe lifting the heel.
If you want even more sensation,
You can pick up the right foot and clasp your hands around the right leg.
And if the right foot moved off of the mat,
Go ahead and lower it back down.
Keep the legs crossed,
Extending the arms out to the side,
Slide the hips over to the left.
As you exhale,
Drop the legs over to the right in your twist,
Grounding the left foot onto the floor.
You can turn your head to face the left side.
One more breath here.
And as you exhale,
Guiding the knees back up to center,
Slide the hips back to center,
Uncross the legs,
Curl the knees in towards the chest.
Grabbing onto your shins,
Open the knees up to the side and curl the knees up towards your shoulders for a kind of restorative,
Happy baby.
You can rock from side to side.
And then from there,
Release.
Gently roll off to one side.
Ground your palm into the mat to press yourself up.
To a seat.
We're going to extend the left leg out in front of you.
Bend the right knee.
And cross the foot over top of the left side.
And you can stay there,
Or if you have the space for it,
You can shift over to the left,
Bend the left knee,
And bring the heel towards your opposite hip.
Ardha Matsyendrasana.
We'll find a twist here.
Take the right hand behind you.
Inhale,
Take the left arm up.
And exhale,
Either wrapping the arm around your knee or you can hook the elbow to the outside of the right thigh.
And exhale,
Come back to center.
If your left knee is bent,
You're just going to lean over to the left,
Uncross the right leg,
Swing it behind you,
We're going to come into pigeon.
If your left leg was extended,
You're just going to uncross the right foot first,
Then bend the left knee,
Then swing your right leg back.
So take your time to shimmy into it.
Right leg is extended back behind you,
Tenting the fingertips at first,
Pressing into the fingertips,
Lift your heart.
You can stay upright if this is where you want to be.
Or you can climb down over.
The left shin.
If you have another variation of your pigeon that you love to take.
This is your permission to take it.
Soften the jaw,
The forehead.
And then when you're ready,
If you came down,
You can slowly press yourself up.
Leaning over to the left,
Swing the right leg in front of you.
Extend the right leg straight out in front of you.
Bring the sole of the left foot to the inner right thigh.
Tenting the right fingertips behind you.
Inhale,
Sit up tall,
Reach the left arm up.
Exhale,
Folding over the right leg,
Take the left hand to your outer calf,
Shin,
Or your outer calf,
Ankle,
Or your foot.
Right hand can stay behind you or you can take that forward as well.
Let the forehead come down towards the front knee.
And then we'll inhale,
Come on up,
Taking the left knee in.
Planting the left foot down on the mat first,
And then we'll cross it over the right,
Planting it down on the other side.
Staying there with the right leg extended,
Or if you have the space,
You can lean over,
Bend the right knee,
And bring the heel towards your opposite hip.
Take the left hand behind you.
Inhale,
Sit up tall,
Reach the right arm up.
Exhale,
Either grabbing onto your knee,
Or you can hook the elbow to the outside of the thigh.
Take one more breath in.
And as you exhale,
Turn back to the front of your mat.
Once again,
If your bottom leg is bent,
Lean over to the right,
Uncross the left leg,
Swing it behind you.
If the leg was straight,
Uncross the left leg first,
Then bend the right knee,
And shimmy,
Wiggle into your pigeon,
Your variation.
Again,
If there's.
.
.
One that is calling to you that I'm not cueing,
Feel free to take it.
If you want to stay upright,
You can tent into the fingertips.
Sitting upright,
Or if you want to melt down,
Walking the hands forward over the right shin,
Softening into the hip.
Take two more breaths here,
Maybe sinking down a little bit deeper.
And then we'll inhale.
Come on back up.
If you came down,
Shift your weight over to the right.
Swing the left leg in front.
Extend the left leg straight out in front of you.
Sole of the right foot comes to the inner left thigh.
Take the left fingertips behind you.
Inhale.
Sit up tall.
Reach the right arm up.
Exhale,
Fold,
Grabbing for the outside of the leg.
Left hand can stay back or you can take the left hand forward as well.
The next inhale,
We can rise up.
Bending both knees,
Plant the feet on the mat.
We're going to come all the way back onto our backs once again.
Take your time.
Planting the feet onto the mat,
Both hips distance apart,
Maybe a little bit wider,
Rock both knees over to the right side.
And back to center,
Over to the left.
Over to the right.
And over to the left and let them hang out here.
Your arms can be wherever they're comfortable.
You can stay there,
Or if you want to,
We can take the pinky edge of the left foot,
The bottom foot,
And bring it to the outer right thigh and just let the legs be heavy here.
Hands can rest on your belly or resting down beside you.
Full breath in,
Full breath out.
One more breath here.
And then we can release if your legs were crossed,
Bringing the knees back up,
Rock both knees over to the right.
And just let them be heavy there,
Hang out there.
If you want to take the pinky edge of the right foot and bring it to the outer left thigh and just let the legs be heavy there.
And then when you're ready,
You can release.
Bring the knees back up to center.
Slide the hips back to center.
If they move,
Curl the knees in towards the chest.
Give yourself a loving squeeze.
And then extend the legs out in front.
Let the legs be heavy.
Let the arms be heavy.
Allow yourself to rest here in Shavasana,
Closing the eyes.
Giving yourself the space and the time here to rest with no obligation,
Nowhere else to be,
Nothing else to do.
Let the breath be soft,
The body softer.
And I will leave you here for as long as you need or as long as you have time for.
And as always,
Thank you so very much for joining me in practice and we will see you again tomorrow.
