Gently Opening The Hips

Join me for a slow flow yoga practice that guides you to centre and ground whilst creating a sense of spaciousness through the hip space. We'll begin connecting to our breath and slowly move through a gentle flow to stretch in and around the hips ending with a short savasana. Please grab a block if that's included in your practice and feel free to play some relaxing music in the background at home. This practice is for anyone, no matter your experience level.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to your slow flow yoga class today. Thank you for joining me. We'll begin in a child's pose towards the back of our mat. So allowing your knees to come to the outer edges of your mat, Your big toes will gently touch one another. And then walking your hands down, Melting your forehead to the earth. Sinking your hips back down towards your heels, They don't have to touch, But just in that direction. Softening the heart space down towards the earth, Lengthening through the spine. Softening through the face, Your jaw. And beginning to notice your inhales, Your exhales. Noticing that rhythmic pattern of your breath over the next few moments, Allowing it to naturally deepen and lengthen without any force or judgment. And then allowing that rhythmic flow of your breath to center and ground you. Take one more grounding breath, Slow and steady. And then gently rolling up into your tabletop, Bringing the hands underneath your shoulders, Your knees underneath your hips. And we'll gently find our cat cow movements here, Finding your cow pose, Dipping the ribs, Gazing forwards, Bringing your heart space through your shoulders as much as you can. And then finding your cat pose, Pressing your hands up and away from the mat, Arching up through your back as you tuck your chin in towards your chest. And just flowing in between these two movements, Perhaps linking it with your breath, Finding your cow on an inhale and your cat on an exhale. And perhaps you may like to close down your eyes and really sense in towards the body, Noticing how the breath is flowing in and out as you move. And just noticing how your body feels today. And you can keep with the traditional cat cow movements here, Or you may like to find any other movements that just feel nice in the body. You can kind of look over your shoulder, Stretch out the sides of your body. You can tuck your toes, Stretching the feet. Any other movement is welcome. And then just taking one more breath wherever you are, And finding your tabletop once more. And we'll gently keep with the cat cow movements, But we're going to add in a leg. So we'll begin with the right leg. So we'll lift it up. I need to come forward. Lifting it up as high, As comfortable as you're kind of in this cow shape with your spine. And then tucking it in, Arching the spine up. So inhaling as you open up. And then exhaling as you curl inwards. And just doing what you can here, Engaging through your core. Taking one more on this side. And then just bringing that knee down. May like to just shift the hips from side to side, Releasing any tension in the glutes. And then we'll come on to the other side. So left leg extends as you're lifting up, Or lifting your heart space up. And then tucking and curling in as you arch the spine. Inhaling as you open, Exhaling as you curl. So one more here. And then just bringing your legs down, Finding your child's pose once more. Just releasing out through the lower back, The spine. Resettling into your grounding and centering breath. And then we're just going to take the hands about a hand span in front. And just circling the hips and the back of the head as you open up. In circles. So you may like to come forward and around on an inhale. And then back and down on an exhale. The circles can be as big or small as you'd like. I'm going in the other direction. And then one more here. And grounding your hands down into your mat. Really grip the mat with your fingertips. Pressing your knuckles down, Your hands down. So you're creating a nice safe joint lock in your wrist. And then tucking your toes under, Coming up into a downward facing dog. If you don't really feel like down dog, You can always stay in that tabletop position. So up to you what variation you would like to take. And you can bend your knees as much as you need to here. You may like to even pedal out through the feet. And taking one more breath in your down dog. And we'll take our right leg up to the sky. We're going to gently bend the knee, Opening up through the hip. And just getting your knee up towards the sky or in that direction as much as possible. Taking another deep breath in. And then bringing that knee behind your right wrist, Setting up for pigeon pose. Lengthening your back leg along your mat. And just coming up onto fingertips, Lengthening through the spine. And you can stay upright here. Or you may like to come down onto forearms. You may even like to just stack your fists on top of one another and rest your forehead on your fist. So up to you where you'd like to take it. Always honouring your body and finding your variation where you can still breathe. Deeply grounding yourself. Softening through your jaw. All the little muscles around your eyes. On your back. You soften in the glutes, Around your hips, Your legs. Take one more grounding, Centering breath. And then we're just going to come onto that hip. And then keeping that front leg where it is, We're just drawing the left leg up. So our legs are in this kind of shape. And it doesn't matter if that right foot touches your left thigh. You can have them close together or further away, Just depending on how comfortable it is with your hips and your knees. And then from here, You can either stay upright, If this is enough of a stretch, Through the thighs, The hips. Or you can bring your hands, I'll just turn over a little bit so you can see. You can bring your hands over to the right side, Bringing a little twist in, Twisting through your waist. And then from here, You can stay here, Or you may like to come down onto forearms. Soften through the head, The neck. So up to where you would like to take it, As always. And even if you start in one position, You can always move in and out of variations, Just depending on what's comfortable. Closing down your eyes. And softening through the shoulders, Through the hips. That rhythmic breath. Listening to your inhales, Your exhales. And allowing your breath to ground you in these not so comfortable poses, Perhaps. They can be quite intense when we work around the hips and the glutes. Grounding, Soft breath. If you were in that twist, Laying down, You can gently help yourself up and untwist. And then we're gently going to bring our left leg out in front, And our right sole of the foot will be against the left leg. When you're ready, Reaching your arms up to the sky, And then just falling over that left leg. So hands can land on your shin, The mat, Or you can grab onto your toes if you can. And gently tuck your chin in towards your chest, Softening your eyes down. Softening through the shoulders. And take one more breath in and out. Then slowly just rolling yourself back up. And we'll find stargazers pose here. So we'll bring our right hand nearby or beside the right hip. And we're going to roll onto the right knee as we push into the right hand, Lifting ourselves up. And then the left hand will just sweep up and over. Take another deep breath in. And then gently lowering your hips back down and your left hand towards your toes. And we're going to sweep up on an inhale. And then gently sweeping down on an exhale. Following your breath. And then the last one here. Lifting up. Holding. Taking another deep breath in. And then bringing yourself back down. Lengthen both legs out in front of you. And you might just like to give them a little shake, A little rock from side to side. And then when you're ready, Finding your downward facing dog. And settling back in, Bending your knees if you need to. Softening through the head and the neck. Hips lifting up towards the sky. Taking one more full breath. And then we'll take our left leg up towards the sky, Bending through the knee, Opening through the hip. And your knee is pointing up towards the sky as much as comfortable. Taking another deep breath in. And then bringing yourself back down. Lengthening the knee behind the left wrist. Setting up for your pigeon pose. Lengthening your right leg back behind you. Lengthening up through your spine. And you can stay upright here. Or you may like to come down onto forearms. You can stack your fists and rest your forehead on your fists. Settling into your variation of the pose. Trying to keep your hips square and level. Closing your eyes. With your rhythmic breath. That breath that comes and goes easily, Fluidly. That grounds and centres you in your practice, In your day. And take one more slow, Even breath. And if you were down towards your mat, Just gently lifting yourself up. And we're just going to roll onto the left hip. And just drawing the right knee up a little. Again, I'll just turn around so you can see. And so your foot can touch your thigh, Or it can be a little bit more separated. Just depending on your hips and your knees, How you feel today. And you can stay here with your hands, Just gently behind you, Lifting and lengthening your spine. Or coming over to the left, Finding a gentle twist in the spine through the waist. You can stay here, Or you can bring your forearms down to the mat. And then just soften through the head and the neck. So up to you, Where you'd like to land. And when you get there, Just closing down your eyes. Softening through the jaw, The shoulders. Through the spine, The hips. The glutes and the legs. And take one more slow, Grounding breath, Wherever you are. And if you were folded down, Gently lifting yourself up. Coming out of the twist, If you were there. And then we're just gently going to lengthen out through the right leg. Finding Janu Sirisasana. So when you're ready, Lifting your arms up towards the sky. And then just folding over that extended leg. And hands can land on your shin, They can land on your mat. Or if you can comfortably reach your toes, They can land there. Tucking your chin in towards your chest, Lengthen through the back of your neck. And just holding here. And gently rolling yourself back up. Finding Stargazer's Pose on this side. So the left hand will be beside the left hip. Rolling onto the left knee. And then lifting your right hand up and around. Pressing your hips up. Taking another deep breath in. And then rolling back down on your exhale. Hand comes to your toes. And then lifting up as you breathe in. And softening down as you breathe out. And just moving with your breath. Finding your own rhythm. Last one here. Rolling up and holding. Taking another deep breath in. And then rolling all the way back down. Extending your legs out in front of you. And again, You might just like to do a gentle wiggle or rock from side to side with your legs. Taking a deep breath in through the nose. Just sigh it out through the mouth. One more time. Deep breath in. And just letting it all go. Finding your Downward Facing Dog. And if you have yoga blocks, You may like to get them out and have them nearby. You don't have to. It's just an option. And then meeting in your Downward Facing Dog. Lifting up onto your toes as you inhale. And then sinking the heels down as you exhale. Twice more. Lifting on a breath in. And sinking on a breath out. One more. Taking another full breath. And then dropping down into a tabletop position. So knees are on your mat. I'll just turn around so you can see. And then we're just going to bring our right leg out beside us. And here you may like to have your block. One near your, Your knee. Went a bit blank then. And then just rolling yourself up. Grounding that foot into the mat. And then we'll lift our arms up towards the sky. I'm going to find Eagle Arms here. So right arm will come underneath the left. And either hands kind of together. You can clasp fingers. Back of hands. Or you can just bring your hands on top of your shoulders. So whatever works for you today. And then we're just lifting the elbows up towards the sky. And then curling in. Elbows draw in. Engaging through the core. Lifting up. And then curling elbows in. Coming back up to centre. Arms come out to the side. Take a deep breath in. Reaching in opposite directions. And then finding a little side stretch. So hand can be on your block or your leg. Other arm just comes up and over. By keeping your chest open. So we're not bending or closing. We're opening. So you may not get as far into the stretch. But that's okay. Take another deep breath in. And out. Coming back up to centre. Reaching your hands to the sky. Breathing in. Drawing through hard as you exhale. Take another deep breath in. And then hands to the mat as you breathe out. Bringing that leg back in. And just taking your left leg out this time. Engaging through the core. Lifting yourself up. Reaching your arms up to the sky. And this time, Left hand will go underneath the right hand. And again, You can kind of clasp fingers. Back of hands or hands to shoulders. Lifting your elbows up. And then tucking and curling in. Lifting up. Perhaps on a breath in. And tucking and curling. Perhaps on a breath out. Just one more here. Coming back up to centre. Unravelling your arms. Hands out to the sides. Take a deep breath in. And then coming up and over. So if you'd like to use your block again on this side. Just bringing it in front of your knee or thereabouts. Otherwise, Your hand is on your leg. And try not to have too much weight into your hand on your leg. Taking one more deep, Slow breath. Coming back up to centre. Hands to sky. Inhale. Hands to heart as you exhale. Take another deep breath in. And hands to the mat. Bringing that leg back into tabletop. And then just finding a child's pose. So knees come to the outer edges of the mat. Forehead melts down. Softening through the hips, The heart space. The shoulders. Noticing your inhales, Your exhales. Noticing that rhythmic pattern of your breath. That helps to ground and centre you in your practice. Take one more full breath. And gently just walking your hands in towards your body. Rolling up through the spine. And coming down for your shavasana. So if you like to grab a blanket or anything like that, You're more than welcome to. Once you get onto your back, You may like to hug your knees in towards your chest and take any little rocks from side to side or circle through the knees. And then when you're ready, Lengthening your legs along your mat. Allowing your feet to roll open. Arms by your side, Palms facing upwards. Following that rhythmic sound of your breath. Allowing it to guide you deeper and deeper into yourself. Into that space of groundedness. Of softness. Inviting in some small movements to your toes. Your fingers. You may even like to rock your neck, Your head from side to side. Taking any last movements or stretches that you'd like to take. Ready, Just rolling onto your right hand side in a little ball. And just pausing. No rush. Taking another full breath. And then gently helping yourself up. Finding a comfortable seated position. Either on your knees or cross-legged. Sweeping your arms to the sky. Palms meeting and then drawing your hands down to your heart. And you may like to bow your head to your heart in honour of yourself, Of your practice. The light within me honours the light within you. Namaste. Thank you for joining me for your practice today. If you have any questions, Please let me know. But otherwise, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you again next time. Thank you.