Post-Work Gentle Yoga 1

A lovely somatics-based yoga practice to ease off tension from the body after a day spent hunched over a computer or sitting at a desk, with an emphasis on the shoulders and upper back. This is a simple, gentle practice that should be accessible to all, but do modify it as you need if you have injuries or conditions.

You'll need a yoga mat, a blanket, and if possible, a couple of yoga bricks or big books.
The track has no music, so choose your favorite tunes to play in the background if you wish.

Transcript

Welcome.

This is a short little yoga practice that you can do at the end of your day to release a little bit of tension in your shoulders and the rest of your body after spending a whole day probably in front of a computer or sitting at a desk.

So let's set ourselves up.

Hopefully you've got your setup,

You've got your mats and you don't really need any other props for this practice but if you wish you could maybe grab a blanket or something else to pad your knees or a place under your head.

So just take a moment to set yourself up and find a nice comfortable seat.

You can sit cross-legged,

Maybe sitting on your folded blanket or some other little cushion that you've got or you can also kneel if that's comfortable for you and just take a couple of moments to settle.

We'll just close our eyes for a moment and bring the focus inside.

Take a nice deep inhale and on the exhale maybe sigh it out.

Let's do that a couple more times.

Take an inhale and on the exhale let your day go.

One more inhale and now let go of any thoughts of what's coming up.

Giving yourself permission for this session to be fully present in your body,

In your practice.

And just take a few moments to check in.

Notice how your body is today without any judgment or any expectation.

Notice any sensations.

Notice if there's any areas of tension.

Take a couple of moments to check in with your mind.

Noticing any sticky thoughts,

Emotions.

Again without any judgment just notice what's there for you.

And then tune into your breath.

Simply feeling the breath coming in and out of your body.

Just a natural breath,

Nothing changes.

Just feeling that gentle pressure of your breath in your belly,

Your chest,

Your stomach.

Gentle pressure of your breath in your belly,

Your chest.

Almost like a little internal massage.

And just taking just a couple more moments just feeling the breath.

Maybe setting an intention if you wish for the practice.

A word,

A phrase,

A mood,

A quality that you want to bring to your practice.

And when you're ready,

Let's start to bring some movement to the body.

You can keep the eyes closed for a few more moments.

Let's start by taking a few circles with the neck.

Easing off any tension in your neck.

And they don't need to be full circles so you can drop one ear to shoulder.

Then bring chin to chest and ear to other shoulder.

Lovely.

And then let that go.

And take a few shoulder rolls,

Rolling your shoulders back.

And rolling your shoulders forward.

And changing the crossings of your legs if you wish.

Keeping your hands on your thighs.

Let's take some seated cat cows.

So on your next inhale,

Press your hands down gently,

Roll your shoulders back.

And there's a little bit of an arch in your spine,

Opening the upper chest.

And then as you exhale,

Around the back.

Dome a little bit at the shoulder blades,

Bring your chin to your chest.

Inhale,

Open the chest,

Roll the shoulders back,

Create a sense of space in the upper chest.

And then exhale,

Round the back.

Bringing your chin to your chest.

Keep going like that.

Bringing your chin to your chest.

Keep going like that.

Following your breath.

And if there's another movement that would feel nice here,

Feel free to take it.

Maybe you want to bring some circles into it.

So circling your torso.

Slowly letting that go,

Come back to a nice tall spine.

And now move on to all four.

So stacking your joints.

Maybe bringing your wrists under your shoulders,

Your knees under your hips.

You can place that padding here now,

If that feels appropriate for your knees.

Spread your fingers really wide.

And let's take some more deep breaths here.

And let's take some cat-cows again here.

So as you inhale,

Open the chest,

Roll the shoulders back.

And then exhale,

Round the back,

Tuck the tailbone in.

Inhale,

Open the chest.

Create that space in your upper part of your body.

And then exhale,

Round the back.

Bring your chin to your chest.

Keep going with your cat-cows.

Trying to move with breath.

And again,

If there's another movement that might feel nice here,

Just tune in and notice.

And if you're not sure,

Just stay with your cat-cows.

It's a lovely way to open the body.

Beautiful.

And let's come back to a neutral spine.

So a nice flat back.

And step your right foot forward.

So bring your right foot more or less close to your right hand.

And you can use your hands to just edge it forward if it gets stuck.

And then start to shift your weight forwards and back a few times.

So you're straightening the front leg and then rebending.

So coming into a little bit like a half split.

And then stretching your hip flexor in a runner's lunge.

If you find that your hands don't quite reach the ground,

Then maybe placing some padding under your hands.

So you can use your blankets or if you've got any books handy.

Or if you've got yoga blocks as well.

And just keep going like that.

Moving forwards and back.

Easing into the leg.

Lovely.

And then coming back to centre.

Sweep your arms up.

Come into your low lunge now.

So your arms are lifted.

They're pointing to the ceiling.

The right leg is bent.

That's the front leg.

The back toes can be tucked or they can be released.

And just breathing into the shape.

Okay,

Let's bring a little twist here.

So placing your hands in prayer at your heart centre.

As you inhale,

Lift your heart.

So find a little bit of length in the chest.

And as you exhale,

Hook your left elbow on the outside of the right knee,

Taking a twist.

And depending on how dynamic you're feeling,

You can still do that.

So finding a sense of length from the inhale.

Lengthening the spine.

And on the exhale,

Maybe twisting a little bit more.

And then coming back to centre.

And then coming back to centre.

And then coming back to centre.

So finding a sense of length from the inhale.

Lengthening the spine.

And on the exhale,

Maybe twisting a little bit more.

Just a couple more breaths here.

Enjoying the twist in the spine.

Lovely.

And release.

Inhale.

Float your arms back up.

Find your low lunge.

And place them down,

Framing your right foot.

And bring your right foot back,

Finding your all fours again.

And make sure that you've got the stack joints,

That your fingers are nicely spread,

Like starfish.

And let's take a couple more spine undulations here.

A few more cat-cows.

Inhale,

Open the chest.

And exhale round.

Keep following your breath.

Keep moving your spine.

Maybe here you want to take a few circles with your hips.

Maybe something else.

And then coming back to a flat back.

Let's step our left foot forward.

So placing the left foot more or less next to your left hand.

Using your hand to move it forward if you need.

And let's take that movement again,

That dynamic stretch.

So with the hands either side of your left foot,

Shifting your weight forwards and back.

So that you're straightening the front leg into your half splits.

And then bending the front knee.

Creating a stretch in the hip flexor of the back leg.

And the front toes can be pointed or flexed.

Your choice.

Lovely.

And release.

On your next inhale,

Float your arms up,

Coming into your low lunge.

Bringing the palms of the hands together.

And imagining that your fingertips are being pulled towards the ceiling.

Lengthening through the body.

And let's twist again now.

So hands to heart centre.

Inhale,

Lift your heart.

And then exhale,

Hook your right elbow this time on the outside of your left knee.

Coming into the twist.

And then your choice again.

You can keep the back knee on the floor.

Or if you're feeling a little bit more dynamic,

Then you can lift the back knee.

Breathing into the twist.

Opening your chest towards the left side.

One more breath here.

Lovely.

As you inhale,

Release.

Frame the front foot.

Bring the front leg back so that you're in all fours again.

Stacking your joints.

And check your hands.

Make sure that they're in the starfish shape.

And let's come into a downward facing dog now.

So tuck the toes.

Lift the hips up and back into your downward facing dog.

So walking out your dog,

Bending one knee and then the other.

Feeling that stretch in the back of the legs.

Feeling your spine lengthen.

If there's another movement that you want to take here,

Then feel free again to have a little play.

You can bend both knees.

Bring your chest towards your knees.

You can move your hips a little bit so there's a bit of a sense of a twist.

And then coming into stillness in your downward facing dog.

So imagining that your tailbone is floating up towards the sky.

So you're creating this triangle shape with your body.

Pressing down through your feet.

And you can keep your knees bent if that feels a little bit more comfortable in the hamstrings.

Pressing down through your hands.

Creating a triangle of energy from hands and feet up to your tailbone.

Let's take one more breath in our downward facing dog.

And then drop down onto your knees.

Find a child's pose.

So you can take any version of child's pose,

Just for a few moments.

You can have your hands in front of you or by your side.

Sitting your hips down onto your heels.

And don't worry if the hips are floating up.

Just have that sense of them grounding down.

Take a few moments to feel the shape in your body.

Feel maybe the breath in the back of the body.

A sense of movement.

So filling up around the lower back where the kidneys are.

And then you can take a few more breaths.

Feel where your kidneys are.

And if your hands are not forward,

Then just walk your fingertips towards the front.

So that your hands are forward over your head.

Maybe coming up onto your fingertips,

But keep your hips sitting down low.

And starting to feel a bit of a stretch in the arms.

Almost imagining that you're being pulled to the opposite direction of your feet.

And let's come into a little bit of a side stretch here.

So with the hands down on the ground,

Start to walk your fingertips towards the right.

Keeping the rest of your body as it is.

You might need to move your head a little bit.

And you might want to place your left hand on top of the right.

And feeling a sense of stretch in the left side of your body.

Breathing here.

Okay,

And then let's walk the fingertips back to the centre.

And then start to walk your fingertips towards the left now.

So creating that same stretch,

But on the right hand side.

If you wish,

You can place your right hand on top of the left.

Just noticing how that changes the shape.

Breathing into the stretch.

Lovely.

And then come back to centre.

And start to make your way to lying on your back.

And then when you get there,

Float your legs up.

Bend the knees.

Slide your hands on the inside of your legs so that the knees are wide.

And hold onto your ankles or the outside edges of your feet.

Coming into a happy baby.

You can stay in stillness or you can rock from side to side.

Just allowing the hips to ease,

To release.

Just taking a couple more breaths in this shape.

And then letting it go.

Coming into Shavasana,

Your final resting pose.

Lying down on your back.

If there's another way you'd like to take Shavasana,

Feel free.

And just as we did at the start,

Take a nice deep inhale.

And sigh out,

Exhale.

One more inhale.

And let it go.

Allow your body to completely relax.

And you can stay in Shavasana for as long as you like.

So I'm just going to end the track here.

Take as much or as little rest as you wish.

Thank you so much for joining me.

And I hope to see you in a different track some other time.