25-Minute Gentle Yoga To Unwind

This 25-minute gentle yoga flow is for the days when you don’t feel like moving — but your body could use something soft and supportive.

It sits right on the edge between yin and slow flow: longer-held shapes, unhurried transitions, and a steady, grounding pace. There’s no standing! There are no downward dogs! Just some fluid movement to release tension and calm the nervous system.

You will need a pillow or a bolster.

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome. My name is Suzanne. And this is a 25 minute gentle yoga class. You're going to need a pillow or a bolster. Go ahead and put that behind you. Bring your feet together, Let your knees drop open. And lay back until you find a comfortable stretch in your chest and your shoulders. And just let your arms fall where they want to fall. You might need to adjust the pillow a little higher or a little lower. Depending on how your back is feeling today. And just allow your body to arrive here. Allow your mind to catch up to your body. So notice where exactly your body has landed. The outsides of your feet. The hips. The curve of your back. And how that meets. The bolster or the pillow. The back of your head. And then inhale, Send your arms up towards the sky. Give yourself a big hug. And rock just a little bit left and right, Almost like you're trying to massage your upper back. With the bolster. I'm just letting the stroller blade slide apart, Feel that nice opening. Inhale, Open up your arms and make a cactus shape with your arms. Just let the feeling of gravity Pull on your shoulders, Your elbows, You get a light stretch in your chest and in your shoulders. Big expanse of breath into your ribcage. Then you can inhale, Reach your arms up towards the sky, Bring your knees together, Bring your feet wider. Inhale, Long stretch, Reach your arms overhead. Exhale, Use your arms, Use your core to roll yourself up to seated. You can put your pillow now to the front of your mat. We're going to need it later. And meet me in a tabletop position. So wrists under shoulders, Hips over knees, And inhale, Drop the belly, Lift the chest, Look forward. Exhale, Round your spine for cat. Inhaling for cow. Exhaling for cat. Keep going on your own. Inhale. And exhale Now inhale, We're going to send the right arm up, Twist open to the right. Exhale, Thread the needle, Put that whole arm underneath you, The shoulder comes to the floor. And your other arm goes along to the top of your mat. It can even go on top of the pillow or the bolster for a little more intensity. And really breathe here. Feel as you expand your lungs, You get a lovely stretch in your upper back. And as you exhale, Maybe you feel that twist sort of sinking and deepening a little more into your body. Feel the hips really parallel to the floor. You can even do little micro adjustments. Really even out those hips to get that lovely twist in the middle of the back. Bring your left hand back in front of your face. Inhale, Press into it as you unwind your right arm out. And exhale, Put your right hand down. Other side, Inhale, Left arm up. Exhale, Thread the needle. And again, You can put the hand, The right hand now. On the pillow or the bolster. Or just put it on the floor. For the even, Tall hips. And focus on that breath expanding into your lungs. Opening up your upper back Now draw your right hand back in front of your face. Press into it. Inhale, Unwind your left arm up. And exhale, Put it down. Now we're going to inhale, Pick up the right arm, Exhale, Thread the needle again, Send your left arm forward, And now different. Inhale, Pick up your head and look at the floor, Score off your chest. And start to slide your hips back, Keeping your arms as they are. Until you land in sort of a child's pose but with your arms crossed. And just let your arms be soft and heavy. Kind of let everything flop down to the floor. You can have your forehead on the floor as well. Come forward to tabletop. We'll do the other side. Inhale, Pick up your left arm. Exhale, Thread the needle, Right arm goes forward. And then just pick up your head, Look at the floor, Scurr off the chest and send the hips back. Until you end up in this child's pose variation. Again, Breathe deeply so you feel your upper back opening. Your lungs expanding into your ribcage. Make your way back to a tabletop position. Adjust your knees, Adjust your hands, And we'll take a few more cat-cows. Inhale, Drop the belly, Lift the chest. Exhale round the spine Take a few more on your own. Now send your right leg behind you, Bend the leg, Point your toes, Inhale for cow. Exhale, Pull your knee into your chest, Round your spine. Inhale, Kick that leg up towards the ceiling. Exhale, Round and curl. Inhale, Like you could touch the ceiling, And then exhale, Bring that leg through to the front for pigeon pose. Wiggle your left leg back. And stay up for a moment. We're just going to rock the hips left and right. Imagine you're kind of swishing a bowl of water left and right. Feeling a stretch on one side and the other as you kind of find the extremes. The extremes of the left, The extremes of the right. And then see if you can find the middle. I like to lay my chest on the bolster. If that feels good for you, Feel free. Otherwise, Come down to your forearms. Or down all the way to the floor for your version of a sleeping pigeon. Allow all of your weight to sink down to the floor. If you want a slightly more active version, You can bend your back leg, Point and flex the foot a few times. Then keep the foot flexed and let your foot drop from left to right like a windshield wiper. This turns your femur, Your leg bone, And your hip socket and it can feel really nice. Do whatever works for you. Now make your way up onto your hands and press yourself over to the right. So right hip comes to the floor. You're going to end up facing the long edge of your mat. Bring your pillow over so it's between your straight leg and your left arm. And then just find a comfortable position. Again, Really chill, Low effort. If you want you can send your right arm overhead or you can do as I'm doing and just tuck the right arm behind you. For a gentle opening on the right side of the body. Now make your way slowly back up. You can bring the pillow back to the front, Put your hands on the floor, And bring your knees back in a tabletop position. Bring them a little wider than usual for this variation of Cat-Cow. See how that feels for your low back? As you inhale for cow and exhale for cat. We'll do the other side. Send your left leg back behind you. Bend your leg, Point your toes. Exhale, Curl your knee into your chest. Inhale, Pick up the left leg. Exhale, Round and pull that knee in. Inhale, Bring it up. Exhale, Pigeon on the left. So bring that knee out to the side. Slide your right leg back and start with our rocking left and right. You might be massaging your hips with this movement. Feeling the extremes all the way to the left, All the way to the right. And then slowly finding your middle point. Once you've found your middle, Make your way down to your sleeping pigeon. Keep in mind that maybe This side feels a little different. Maybe this side needs something a little different. So feel free to make any adjustment you need so that you're really comfortable. And like we did on the other side, You have the option of an active variation here, Where you bend your back leg. You flex and point your foot, You keep your foot flexed, And then you rock. Your foot side to side. Like a windshield wiper like you're massaging your right hip socket with the bone of your leg. Bring your hands down onto the floor, Push yourself up. And rock onto your left hip until you face the other long edge of your mat. Your pillow goes over towards your right leg, Between your leg and your right elbow. Relax your head down onto your right hand and see what feels good for you. For that left arm, It could go up overhead. That's a bit more active. You could sweep behind you for a little opening, Or you could just leave it where it is. We mostly just want to feel. A gentle opening on the left side. You'll also probably feel a stretch in your inner thighs here due to the position of the legs. You can breathe deep into your belly, Deep into your inner thighs. Bring yourself back to the center. You can put the pillow to the front. Let's meet back in a tabletop position. And now inhale, Pick up your right leg. Bring that knee behind your other knee. Walk your hands forward a little bit. Inhale, Shift your hips forward. Exhale, Shift your hips back. You're going to go towards a child's pose. Inhale, Forward. Exhale back. So it's like a child's pose with the legs crossed. And this can be as big or as small as you want. As you push your hips back, You'll feel an opening in the sides of your hips. Now separate your feet a little wider and start to push yourself back into a seated position. You might want to take your bolster and put it under your hips. Or you can do as I've done and put it on your knees. Make a basket with your hands and hook the basket underneath your top knee. And just let your upper body fall forward, Your chin drop. And maybe your forehead finds contact with the pillow or with the knee. And we're not worried about a straight spine here, We're just letting gravity Bring some roundness into the back. As we sit in this hip opener. Send your breath deep down into your lower belly. Almost so deep that it feels like it's going into your hips. Especially your outer hips. Straighten up for a second. Inhale, Send your arms up overhead. Bring the hands into a basket to the back of your head. Open up your elbows wide and lean back until you feel a nice stretch. In your chest, In your upper back. And breathe deeply. Feeling that stretch across the whole body, Your outer hips, Your chest. You can release your arms down, Rock yourself forward to a tabletop position, Untangle everything. And we'll go right to the other side. Left knee behind the right, And start your rocking forward and back. As you inhale, Draw everything forward. As you exhale, Like you're going back towards a child's pose, But your legs happen to be crossed. Go as big or as small as you want. Adjusting for that amount of stretch you want in your outer hips. Separate your feet wider. And push yourself back into the other side of our Gomukhasana. Maybe you sit on a bolster, Maybe not. Hook your hands underneath your top knee. And around your head and your spine forward, Just letting everything. Land where it lands. And noticing. This side feels. Maybe this side needs extra accommodation, An extra pillow. Maybe you want to straighten your bottom leg here. See if you can really focus on the feeling of your breath coming in and out of your body. Feel your belly expanding. Feel the solidity and openness of your hips. Straighten up again and we're going to inhale, Reach the arms up. Something different, Drop your left arm and then bend both arms as if your fingers could meet in the middle of your back. And then keep going, Just switching one arm down, One arm up. Bending, And don't worry if the fingers touch. Or not, This is just a gentle way to mobilize your shoulders. Try and keep your neck neutral and relaxed. And your jaw relaxed as well. Just noticing how each shoulder feels. Then you can remove any pillows and make your way forward to tabletop, Untangle the legs. Take a child's pose with a bit of a twist. Open up your knees and then slide both arms between your legs and turn your head to one side so one cheek is on the mat. This just relaxes the chest. And feel your belly expanding towards the floor as you breathe. And that little space between your back and the floor, A little protected space for your belly and for your heart. We're also stretching the side of the neck a little bit more. Turn your head the other way for the other side. Then remove your arms. Use your hands to push yourself up nice and slow and we're going to make our way onto our back. So however you want to do that. Go ahead, I like to put my feet at the top of the mat and roll down. You will need your bolster or your pillow nearby, So make sure that's nearby. And once you're on your back, Have your feet on the floor, Lift your hips up, And place the pillow or bolster underneath your hips. For a supported bridge pose. See where your hands want to go. Maybe out to the side, Maybe on your belly to feel your breath. And just letting gravity. To pull the weight of the hips down onto the bolster. Now for a little bit of hip opening, Pull your right knee in towards your chest. And extend your left leg long. Let's see how this feels for you. If you already feel of stretch in that left hip flexor. That's great. You might need to pull your right knee in towards you more. There's usually a sort of sweet spot that you can find by pulling in your right knee and thinking really long, Long, Long with your left leg, Maybe flexing the foot, Kicking the heel forward. Breathe deep down into your belly. Into the front of your left hip flexor. Switch the sides now, So pull the left knee in. And now it's the right leg going long. So pull your left knee in. Find that sweet spot. A lot of opening on the right hip flexor. Almost like that right leg is getting longer off the top of your mat. Then bring that right leg in and we'll take a supported happy baby. So grab the insides or outsides of your feet. And the nice thing about this version is that the hips are supported, So you basically don't have to do anything, Just hold on to your feet. And let gravity pull your knees down as if your knees are going to touch the floor next to your armpits. Then let go of your right leg and similar to what we did before, Let that right leg go long off the top of your mat. And your right arm goes up by your ear. So the right side of your body is really long, Long, Long. Point the right toes or reach the right fingers. Meanwhile, The left side is really tight. And compressed we're squeezing that half happy baby in. Other side, Grab your right foot. And extend your left leg long. Your left arm is super long as well. Nice big inhales. Lengthen the left side of the body. Exhaling, Pulling that right side in a little tighter. Bring that left leg in, Full happy baby again. And maybe you want to stretch one leg, Then the other. One at a time, Really gentle. And drop your feet in towards each other. It's like a bound angle pose, But on your back. And feel the contact between your feet. Feel your back on the floor. Feel the back of your head on the floor. Let your shoulders relax down to the ground. Release your feet. Put your feet down on the floor and just push your bolster or your pillow down, Down, Down until it lands somewhere underneath your knees. Extend your legs long and this is a nice support for Shavasana. Especially if you have a bit of a sensitive low back, This supports the low back a little bit. You can even let the knees open a little bit for a gentle hip opening. And we're transitioning into our Shavasana. So any breath control. We can let go of. Any remaining tension or effort in the body, You can also let go of. And see if you can give up your weight completely. Into the ground. Feel how the breath happens entirely on its own. How the body wants to breathe. Start to deepen your breath. Wiggle your fingertips and your toes. Circle out your wrists, Your ankles. Maybe take a nice big stretch, Reach the arms, Point the toes, Big inhale. Big exhale. Bring your knees into your chest. And roll a little bit from side to side. Feel your low back. And then make your way onto one side. Giving yourself a big hug, Curling up to your body. Appreciating your body. And your breath. And your practice today. Come up to a comfortable seated position. Take your time. Bring your hands together in front of your heart center. Take a moment of gratitude. For this moment. For this day. Bring one hand to your belly, One hand to your chest. Feel the breath rise and fall. Bring your hands together up to your forehead and we bow to each other. We bow to ourselves. Namaste. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed the class, And I will see you next time.