Mindful Stretching & Yoga Practice

Accept and befriend your body. Let go of "right/wrong" approaches. Instead open your heart and mind to the information your body is sharing with you. Your body is your first and wisest teacher. Let thoughts and judgment take a back seat to your body sensations. What do you feel? Bring an open non-judgmental curiosity to the experience, accepting what is true for now and letting go of what the mind thinks should or shouldn't be. Enjoy!

Transcript

This is a 30 minute yoga practice.

The first half involves very gentle stretches while lying or sitting on the floor or sitting in a chair.

The second half moves into some very gentle standing poses and the whole thing is followed by a five minute resting pose at the end.

This is a mindfulness practice and I'll ask you to notice sensations both during and after each pose.

If you currently practice yoga,

This will feel much slower and like less of a physical challenge.

The idea here is not to find your fitness edge,

It's really to find your mindfulness edge.

Think of it that way.

If at any time a pose feels like too much or you experience any kind of pain or discomfort,

Please just listen to your body and choose a more comfortable position or just sit that pose out.

This may include some of the poses we practiced in class or you may just want to simply lie down and rest in the stillness.

Before we begin,

Please find a place where you can move around pretty freely without bumping into furniture and where you can stretch up comfortably too.

Most of these poses can be done either lying down or sitting in a chair,

So choose what feels best for you today.

So finding your comfortable place,

Lying down or sitting in a chair,

Begin to just bring your awareness to your breath.

Noticing the rise and fall of your belly.

Noticing the sensations of the in-breath and the out-breath.

The coolness on the inhale.

The warmth on the exhale.

Just taking a few rounds of breath to settle in with that awareness.

Now begin to expand your awareness throughout your entire body,

Noting each of the points of contact your body is making with the floor or the chair.

Check in with the sensations of your feet,

Your heels,

Knees and legs,

Hips and buttocks moving all the way up from the lower back to between your shoulder blades.

Noticing how your body is feeling at each of these points of contact.

Even notice the position of your hands and your fingers and any sensation you may be feeling at those points.

As you breathe,

Can you notice movement in other parts of your body besides just the chest and the belly?

And shifting your awareness to the inside of your body.

See if there are any noticeable sensations there.

Maybe areas of tension or holding.

Maybe discomfort,

Even pain.

Just noticing what's there.

And then as an experiment,

Use your breath as you're inhaling to imagine that you're able to soften and soothe around any tightness or sore spots.

And then using your exhale as though you could just release and let go of any holding that's unnecessary there.

Sometimes when we're hurting or have a place of discomfort,

We actually increase the discomfort by holding and tensing up around it.

So that's what we're trying to do here with the breath.

Breathing in to soothe and soften the holding and breathing out to release.

So briefly scanning your body.

Noticing any areas that might need a little extra attention today or a little care.

And noticing any areas that you can practice that releasing breath.

And now that you've checked in with the physical sensations,

See if you can check in with your emotions,

Your thoughts.

Without feeling the need to change a thing,

Just simply accept and observe whatever it is that you're feeling at this moment.

Thoughts may come up now or throughout the practice that are full of doubt or self-judgements or wondering why we're even doing this.

Just try to just notice those thoughts.

Let them be.

Think of them as a wave that rises,

Crests,

And then breaks on the shore.

The thoughts gather,

They rise,

And then they fall away.

Without really making an effort to suppress or change anything,

Just see if you can notice what kinds of thoughts come up for you and if there might be a pattern there.

And now on your next in-breath,

Draw your right knee up toward your chest,

Clasping it in both hands around the base of your knee.

And keeping your breath natural,

Just holding here,

Noticing all the sensations of this posture.

Where do you feel it?

In your lower back,

Your thigh,

Your hip,

Even your hands.

Just noticing what's there.

Great.

Now,

Still holding onto your knee in this way,

Begin to make five or six small circles in one direction,

Gradually increasing them in size if that's comfortable.

And then drawing them back in smaller and smaller.

And then repeating those circles in the opposite direction.

Keep a while,

Seeing if you can pay attention to your breath and all the different physical sensations that you may be feeling in your hip socket,

Thigh,

Arms,

Hands,

Anywhere else.

And if thoughts or emotions bubble up,

Just observing their presence and observe their passing as well.

If it's comfortable for you,

Straighten your leg now so that the sole of your feet faces the ceiling.

You can take your leg straight out if you're sitting in a chair.

Clasping your hands behind your thigh can make this a little more comfortable,

Supporting your leg in this way.

And you don't have to have a perfectly straight leg.

It's just fine if your knee is bent a bit.

You can also use a yoga strap,

A scarf or a towel,

Anything handy to help support your leg as you're holding it up in this position.

So once you're there,

Again taking some circles,

Moving five or six times in one direction.

And if you like,

Gradually increasing the size of those circles and then bringing them back in.

Taking your time,

No hurry.

And once you've completed a round of five or six circles in one direction,

Repeating in the opposite direction.

When your leg is still again,

Take five or six circles with just your foot,

Releasing and opening that ankle joint and noticing what that feels like.

Lastly,

Flex your foot,

Drawing your toes up and away from the ball of your foot and hold for a breath cycle.

A breath cycle is a full in and full out breath.

And then try pointing your toes very gently,

Nothing extreme,

And hold that for another breath cycle.

When you're ready,

Gently with control,

Allow your leg to just float back down to the floor.

Pause here and notice if your right leg feels a little bit longer now than your left leg.

And while you're at it,

Observe any sensations that have come up as a result of these movements.

And where do you feel those sensations and are they pleasant or unpleasant,

Neutral?

And how about those emotions and thoughts?

Just noticing them as though you're an outside observer and then just letting them go.

And now we'll repeat this on your left side.

This time drawing your left knee up toward your chest,

Clasping it in your hands.

And just pausing there for a little bit to notice how things feel on this side,

Keeping your breath natural and even.

And then when you're ready,

Beginning to make small circles in one direction,

Increasing them a bit as you go and then decreasing them.

And then repeating the circles in the opposite direction.

What can you notice about your breathing?

And what do you maybe notice that's different on this side than the first side?

And not just in your leg or your hip,

But in your arms,

In your hands,

Or anywhere else?

Are your thoughts the same or have they shifted or changed in some way?

And now if it's comfortable for you,

Go ahead and straighten that leg as we did before,

Using whatever prop you might need to hold your leg up comfortably.

And then begin taking some circles with your leg.

Taking your time,

Not hurrying,

Noticing if there is an urge to hurry,

Maybe a sense of wanting to get it over with.

Just notice it and stay with it.

Try for six circles,

And then when you're ready,

Repeating in the opposite direction.

And when you've completed your circles,

Begin to circle just your foot,

Noticing the sensations in your ankle as you do these circles,

First in one direction and then the other.

And then flexing your foot,

Drawing toes up and away from the ball of your foot,

Holding there,

Noticing the arch of your foot,

The ankle,

How that feels throughout your whole foot,

And then pointing your toes to gently stretch your foot in the other direction and holding there,

And noticing the difference,

How that feels.

And then allowing that leg to gently float down to the floor,

Pausing there,

And then once again,

Noticing left side and right side,

Any differences,

Do they feel more equal now?

Any areas of tension,

Any areas that need attention,

Breathing into those spots that might be a little tight or uncomfortable,

Breathing out to release any unnecessary holding that might be there.

Coming back to the belly breath.

In a moment,

I'll ask you to come to all fours,

But first I'd like you to take a full body stretch with arms overhead and toes stretched in the opposite direction,

Stretching up and stretching your toes down as though you could touch the opposite wall with your toes and the wall opposite of your fingers.

Draw in a full breath,

Open your mouth,

And exhale with a long ah.

Good,

And try it again,

Taking in a full breath,

Opening your mouth,

And exhaling a long ah,

Letting go.

Great.

Now rolling onto your right side,

Using your hands,

Press up into a seated position,

And then come to all fours.

Taking your time,

Absolutely no hurry here.

Once you've come to all fours,

Check out your lower back and see if you find any kind of dipping there.

Go ahead and bring that lower back up so that your back is flat like a tabletop.

You'll probably find that your abdominal muscles engage as you do this.

The next pose is known as Cat-Cow,

And it has two parts,

And we'll start with the cow position.

So first let's check the position of your hands and your knees.

Hands are best placed at shoulder width distance apart and right below your shoulders.

And fingers are spread wide so that the whole palm of your hand is helping carry the weight.

Even your fingers are bearing some of the weight.

Fingertips are facing forward.

So keeping hands,

Elbows,

And shoulders in one vertical alignment will keep you feeling most comfortable.

The knees are about hip width distance apart,

And they're just below the hip joints.

And the tops of your feet are on the floor,

So toes are not tucked.

If you happen to be sitting in a chair,

Just sit a little forward toward the edge of the chair so that your spine is erect and self-supporting.

And your rib cage is aligned with your hips,

Right above your hips.

And you can let your hands just rest on your thighs or your knees.

So to begin the cow part of this pose,

On your next inhale,

Let your spine arch into a very modest back bend.

You'll do this by lifting your hips and your chest up while letting your belly drop down a bit.

If you're in a chair,

Simply lift your chest up enough to feel a slight arch in your upper back.

You may notice that your shoulder blades,

Whether you're on all fours or in the chair,

You're drawing your shoulder blades a little closer together,

Squeezing them together.

Your chin may be lifted slightly,

But be careful not to compress the bones and ligaments in the back of your neck.

This is just a very moderate little back bend.

Try breathing naturally in this position,

Noticing all the sensations that occur in your body,

As well as the thoughts that come up.

And as you're ready,

We're going to reverse this arch by pressing hands down into the floor while rounding your upper back.

So this time shoulder blades are drawing away from each other.

You're tucking your chin.

You're drawing your gaze down toward your knees.

And you're drawing your abdominals in.

Think of drawing your belly button back toward your spine.

You're creating a kind of C-curve in the front part of your body.

Breathe here for a few rounds of breath,

Once again paying attention to all the physical and emotional sensations that arise.

And now at your own pace,

Repeat this arching and rounding cat and cow pose four more times,

Your own pace,

Holding and releasing,

Inhaling as you drop the belly down,

Exhaling as you round up,

And holding each position for as long as you like,

Whatever feels good and natural to your body.

Just taking your time as you finish your last round,

Pause in a comfortable seated position,

Close your eyes,

And just reflect on the echoes of the sensations of these last movements in the cat-cow poses.

And then with all the areas that were activated in this pose,

And as best you can,

Trying to note the quality of the sensations without judging them as good,

Bad,

Painful,

Relaxing.

Instead,

Just observing areas that may have felt some tightness or,

Oh,

There was some release,

There was heat or a sensation of warmth or tingling or that was shaking at that point.

Whatever was there,

Just being present for it,

Noticing.

And of course,

Noticing what may still be present.

We'll come up now to a standing position known as mountain pose.

In this pose,

The feet are hip-width distance apart and parallel with toes facing forward.

As you come up,

Let your arms come down at your sides,

But not just letting them dangle there.

Instead,

There should be a bit of energy in the hands and the fingers.

Standing here like a great mountain,

You can close your eyes and explore the foundation of your feet,

Noticing the way the weight is carried in the heels,

The arches,

The balls of your feet,

The toes.

And notice how your balance,

Even just in this standing pose,

Is not actually static.

It involves dozens of constant micro-adjustments.

You can even play with your balance here for a few moments,

Shifting your weight side to side,

Front to back,

Maybe even taking a circle in one direction and a circle in another,

Just noticing how your toes and feet work together with your legs and arms even and your entire body,

And you can see how everything all works together to keep you standing up.

Now notice your tailbone,

That lower back area.

And just as we did when you were in cat-cow and on all fours,

Notice that there's a sway,

A kind of curve in your lower back that might be compressing the muscles in your lower back.

There might be a little pinching there.

If you find that there's a sway there,

You can draw your hips into alignment with your ribcage by pulling in your abdominals,

Remember that image of drawing your navel back toward your spine,

And slightly tucking your tailbone to straighten out the curve.

You may feel the tops of your thighs activate as you do this.

On your next inhale,

Raise your arms up toward the ceiling,

Breathing naturally in this position,

And notice the way your shoulders may scrunch up toward your ears.

If they're doing that,

See if you can relax them back down.

You may need to bend your arms a bit to achieve that.

And imagine now that you're picking some fruit off of a tree above you.

First one arm reaches up,

And then the other arm,

Alternating back and forth,

Maybe even shifting the weight on your feet coming up to the ball of one foot as you reach,

And the ball of the other foot as you reach on the other side.

Nice.

Reaching,

Stretching,

Noticing the sensations in the side body,

Your shoulders,

Your arms,

Your feet.

And now let your arms gently float back down to your sides and pause,

Taking in the effects of all that stretching you just did.

And now come back down to a comfortable lying down position,

And taking a position on your right side with your knees bent in a kind of fetal position.

And from here,

Extend your arms straight out in front of you at shoulder height so you're resting the bottom arm on the floor and the top arm is on top of the bottom arm.

Palms are together,

Left arm resting on top of right arm.

On your next inhale,

Raise your left arm as though you're drawing a rainbow,

A huge arc over your body,

Creating a gentle upper back twist and letting that arm come all the way across until it reaches on the opposite side.

If your arm doesn't reach the floor,

Just bend your elbow and let your hand rest slightly above your head,

Or you can place a pillow or a cushion under your arm for more support.

Resting here,

Noticing your breath,

Surrendering to the gravity and the passive support of the floor.

If you're in a chair,

Sit slightly forward so that your spine is straight,

And with your feet on the floor and hips facing forward,

Take your right arm and hook it around the chair back for a gentle twist.

Your left hand can hold on to the right edge of your seat or the base of the chair back,

Depending on the design of your chair.

Shoulders remain relaxed as you take your gaze over to the right,

Adding a gentle neck stretch to this twist.

Returning,

If you're on the floor,

Returning your palm back to its starting position and then gently switching sides.

If you're in a chair,

Just turning to face the other way.

Palms come together,

Right arm on top of left this time,

And using your inhale to lift that palm up and create an arc over your body.

You can follow that hand with your gaze,

Looking off in the opposite direction of your knees and holding there,

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

And as you're ready,

Returning to your start position,

Resting comfortably on your back,

Extending legs,

Arms are at your side.

You may feel more comfortable with a pillow or rolled up blanket or towel placed under your knees or thighs.

Take a few moments to position yourself so that you can be still and present as much as possible with your breath,

With the physical sensations,

With your thoughts.

And taking a full breath in,

Open your mouth and exhale a full ah once again.

And now surrendering to the gravity beneath you,

Allow yourself to let go and melt into the support of the floor,

The cushions,

The chair,

Wherever you are in this moment.

Allowing the stillness to just embrace you and the rest of your body,

And allowing your body to integrate all of the stretching and flexing,

Balancing and strengthening that may have occurred during this practice.

In a few moments,

You'll hear the brass ball chime.

You can choose to let that be the end of your practice,

Or you may wish to stay in this resting pose for as long as you like.

Whatever you choose,

Once you do decide to transition back into an active day or evening,

Please do so with a gentle awareness of the fact that it is a transition,

Moving from stillness to activity,

And notice what that feels like as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Reviews

Excellent, thank you! Lovely calm, clear voice and nice pauses. Just right 😃

Perfect mindful practice. 🙏🏻🌱💖

Wonderful, slow stretching. Used exact yoga moves my PT suggested for spine pain after auto accident. Thank you!

Loved this! Perfect way to start my morning!

Wonderful, thank you. Soothing voice and good reminders throughout to mindfully check the body and remain focused on the moment. Namaste 🙏💐

Lovely for end of a busy day 😍

Fantastic voice and relaxing simple movements

I was trying to decide if I was going to meditate or do yoga and I saw this combination which was perfect. It's only a few poses but it was enough to make my back happy. The instructor gives clear instructions and helps you get into proper alignment. This did make it a bit tedious as she was giving instructions for people on a mat and in a chair but she balanced it well.

What a great yoga meditation. Thank you!

Nice combination of gentle stretching and stillness. 😍

Thank you 🌈for this mindful and wonderful yoga. I enjoyed it very much 🙏