Good morning.
As we settle into today's practice,
You might like to grab one or two pillows.
And while we sit and ground to begin this practice,
You might like to sit up on a pillow.
And close your eyes and take a few moments.
To feel into the body sensations.
Whatever thoughts or emotions might be present.
Arriving in this present moment.
You might like to set an intention for today's practice.
Something you'd like to move towards for the rest of today.
Deep breath in through the belly,
Deep breath out.
Deep breath in and as you exhale,
Dropping the right ear towards the right shoulder.
Feeling that stretch along the left side neck.
Continue to breathe into all of the sensations,
Inhale back to center,
And then let's exhale,
Left ear over to the left shoulder.
Stretching out the other side.
Continue to feel into all of those sensations.
Inhale back to center.
And over.
To the other side.
Inhale up.
And exhale to the left.
Now slowly making circles.
In one direction.
Just feeling into all of the little sensations in the neck.
From the night before.
Very gently waking up.
The shoulders.
Taking your time with this.
Now in the next inhale,
Rising the arms overhead.
As we exhale,
Draw the elbows down,
Pull shoulder blades together,
Looking up towards the sky,
Squeeze shoulder blades together.
Inhale,
Arms up.
And as you exhale Deep back bend,
Heart opening up to the sky,
Dropping the head back,
Squeezing the shoulder blades together.
Inhale,
Arms back up to center.
And exhale release.
Inhale,
Left arm reaches up and over.
Into a side body stretch.
You might like to place the right arm on a pillow underneath you.
And just feeling into all of the sensations in the left side torso.
You might like to face the head down or turn it to face up towards the sky.
Just feeling into whatever sensations might be slowly starting to move and open up.
And then settling on a position that feels good for you today.
On the next inhale rising back up to center let's take a gentle twist to both sides and just to release.
Placing the pillow over onto the left side,
Inhale right arm up and over,
Left elbow comes down onto the bed.
Feeling into all the sensations on the right side,
Turning the head down,
Feeling into the stretch on the right neck,
You might like to turn the head back up to the sky.
Feeling into whatever sensations might feel differently this way and then settling on whichever position feels good for you today,
Whether you're looking up or down.
Down or straight ahead.
Deep belly breaths in.
Deep belly breaths out.
Continue to move into the intention that you set for today.
Inhale back up to center and then once again very gentle twist to either side just to release into the side body.
And then let's make some circles with the torso in one direction.
Just very slowly moving deeper.
Into the left and right side bodies and into the hips as well.
Very gently moving in the opposite direction.
Now dipping one shoulder across to the opposite side.
And stretching out that shoulder blade,
Inhale back to center and as you exhale dropping the opposite shoulder to meet the opposite knee.
Really opening up and stretching that shoulder.
Inhale back up to center.
Wriggle out the body if that feels good for you.
And then moving the pillows away from you,
Coming into butterfly.
So we're making a loose diamond shape with our legs,
Soles of the feet together.
And as you exhale,
Slowly fold over.
And feel like your shoulder blades are draping over the spine.
So we're working deeply into the hips here and into the lower back,
Mid back,
Upper back,
All the way up the entire spine.
Take the first few breaths just to slowly settle yourself into this pose as your body starts to wake itself up.
You'll feel tight in some areas.
And it might be helpful to use some of the exhales.
To gently soften into the pose.
So notice where you might be holding on to any tension.
But release it on the next exhale.
It might be helpful to also simply using intention to soften the muscles.
And to where you might be feeling some tightness.
Relaxing the face.
Relaxing the jaw.
If you set an intention today,
It might be helpful.
To feel into it again.
What you'd like to embody for the rest of today.
And the next inhale,
Rising back up.
Slowly,
Gently.
Getting some movement in the legs again,
Maybe shaking out the knees and the legs.
And then let's make our way into tabletop.
Hands behind you,
Fingers pointing forwards.
As you exhale,
Lift the hips up and then lower.
Exhale,
Lift the hips up.
Inhale,
Lower.
Keeping the feet hip-width apart.
Getting some gentle movement in the opposite direction.
Now moving the pillows away from you.
Let's come into Sphinx.
But before we do that,
Let's move into a very gentle flow,
Simple heart openness,
Inhale lifting up.
Exhale lower As you inhale once again,
Lifting the heart up.
And exhale lower.
Very gentle backbends,
Inhale lifting the heart up,
Waking up the back.
Exhale,
Lower.
Inhale,
Rising.
Exhale,
Lower.
Now coming into Sphinx,
Coming onto the forearms,
Pressing into the bed.
Very gentle backbend.
Now let's hold here for a few moments.
Breathing into all.
Of the tight sensations,
Any of the uncomfortable sensations.
And noticing where you might be holding on to any tension.
Can you use the breath?
To help you.
Exhale and surrender just a little bit more in this pose.
If you'd like to take it a little deeper,
Straightening the arms into a seal,
Into a deeper back bend.
And this time noticing what sensations arise.
And then let's turn onto our back.
Coming into pigeon pose on the back.
So right ankle comes onto the left knee,
Interlacing the hands around the left knee,
Drawing the left knee in.
You might like to straighten the left leg as well.
Just for a short moment to feel into the left hamstring.
And then interlacing the hands underneath the left thigh once again.
Drawing the left knee in towards you,
But pulling the right knee away from you.
Feeling into all of the sensations in the right glute as well.
Keeping the right foot flexed to protect the right knee.
Now inhale,
Straighten that left leg,
Interlacing the hands around the calf,
If that's available to you.
Going higher or lower,
Up and down the leg.
Going into a deeper hamstring stretch on the left side this time.
Now releasing.
Crossing that right leg over the left thigh,
Coming into a side twist.
So dropping the knees over to the left And then looking over the right shoulder.
Keep feeling into all of the sensations down the right side body.
Inhale back to centre,
Uncrossing the legs.
Now,
Left ankle on top of the right knee,
Interlacing the hands around the right knee,
Drawing that right knee in.
Straightening that right leg for a moment.
Into a hamstring stretch.
And then moving back into pigeon.
Keep that left foot flexed.
As you draw that right knee in and pull the left knee away from you,
Feeling into all of the sensations waking up in that left glute.
Straightening the right leg.
Interlacing the hands around the calf or ankles,
Whatever is available to you.
And then drawing that leg towards you,
Pulling the tailbone down as you do this into a right hamstring stretch.
Deep belly breaths.
Releasing now crossing the left thigh over the right dropping the knees over to the right side looking over the left shoulder this time feeling into this left side torso stretch using the breath.
To move deeply into all of those tight sensations.
Surrendering with each exhale.
Inhale,
Knees back to center.
And crossing the legs.
And then coming into Happy Baby.
Hands on the outer edge of the feet drawing the knees down,
Pulling the tailbone down towards the bed as well.
If you'd like to pull one foot in and straighten the other leg out into a hamstring stretch at the same time,
That might feel nice as well.
Get a little playful in today's happy baby.
Or you might like to straighten both legs out.
But then come back to happy baby once again.
As you draw the thighs down into the bed,
Also draw that tailbone down.
And then soles of the feet together,
Pulling the feet towards you and pulling the knees away from you.
It's a butter canesana while lying down.
Drawing the tailbone down towards the bed as well.
Waking up those hips.
Now shake it out and release.
Let's do a couple of rock and rolls up and down the bed very slowly.
Gentle rocking and rolling all the way through the spine.
Waking up the entire spine and then flipping over onto all fours into tabletop wrists directly beneath the shoulders knees directly beneath the hips as you inhale arching looking up to the sky as you exhale rounding the spine drawing the belly button in As you inhale,
Once again looking up towards the sky,
Dropping the belly down.
As you exhale,
Round the spine.
Few more times in your own time.
You might like to get some movement in whatever direction you might feel like.
Left to right,
Moving the hips around.
Going a little deeper into your cat cow.
Making your way to a seated position once again,
Closing the eyes.
And let's just check in for a couple of moments into how am I feeling in this present moment.
What is this short movement done for my body and mind?
Touching back into your intention for today.
And embodying it with your whole being.
Hope this practice starts you off for a beautiful day.
And if you'd like another Yoga Nidra meditation for this morning,
Do check out my other videos here.
Have a beautiful day!
And I'll see you in the next one.
