Let's take a moment today to set ourselves up.
I'm joined today by my friend Pepper.
Who's going to chill with us.
And if you have a furry friend,
Hopefully they can help you also reduce a little bit of today's stress.
Just simply by showing up and being a part of your day.
So let's start in child's pose with our knees wide apart,
Big toes touching.
You might like to place a block under the chest,
Perhaps a block under the forehead as well.
And let's take a few moments to arrive here on the map.
You might like to engage.
A breathing technique by Dr.
Andrew Huberman,
Who is a neuroscientist.
Two short inhales through the nose,
Followed by a long exhale through the mouth.
This might not be a traditional yogic breathing technique.
But it has been shown according to his neuroscience research to quickly reduce the stress response.
So as we move through today's sequence,
When we hold the poses for a little bit,
You might like to engage these two quick inhales through the nose and one long exhale through the mouth.
And as you gently watch the breath rising through the ribcage all the way into the chest.
Follow the breath.
As you exhale,
Releasing.
Down through the chest and into the belly.
Watching the inhales.
And watching the exhales.
Slowing the breath down.
And then coming back onto all fours.
On the next inhale,
Rise the right arm up towards the sky.
And as you exhale,
Sweep it underneath the left armpit,
Coming onto the right shoulder,
Placing your head gently on the mat,
Coming into a shoulder stretch on the right side.
You might like to extend the left hand out in front of you.
Maybe even place the left hand on a block.
Just to open up a little bit more down that left arm.
You might like to engage two short inhales through the nose and one long exhale through the mouth.
And then releasing control of the breath.
Simply allow the breath.
To fall back into its natural resting pace.
To take this pose a little deeper you might like to bend your left elbow.
And reach around to grab the right side of your waist to deepen into the twist.
Feeling the shoulders open.
Should feel like a nice deep stretch to the shoulders.
On the next inhale let's press down through the left hand coming back onto all fours again.
And on the other side,
Inhale,
Left arm reaches up to the sky.
And as you exhale sweep it under the right armpit.
Placing the head on the mat,
This time opening up through the left shoulder.
You might like to place the right hand on the floor.
Or extend the right arm out in front of you,
Placing it either on a block on a cushion or on the floor.
Just deepening into the shoulders,
Both on the left side and the right side.
And engaging two short inhales through the nose,
One long exhale through the mouth.
And then releasing control of the breath.
Simply watching the inhales.
Watching the exhales.
If your mind starts to wander,
Bring it back to the breath.
Perhaps you might like to deepen into the belly breaths.
And whenever you're ready you might like to bend the right elbow.
Grabbing the left waist to deepen into the stretch across the right shoulder.
Feeling the breath.
Fill the belly as you inhale,
Travel through the rib cage all the way up into the chest.
Feel the chest.
Falling,
Ribcage,
Releasing.
Belly softening as you exhale.
Inhale,
Straighten out that right hand,
Press down through the right hand.
And let's remove any blocks away from you.
And coming in to cat cow.
Wrists beneath the shoulders,
Knees beneath the hips.
On the next inhale,
Arching the spine,
Looking up to the sky.
And as we exhale,
Let's round the spine,
Tucking the chin into the chest.
Inhale,
Deep back bend.
And exhale round the spine,
Pull shoulder blades away from each other.
Waking up the entire spine.
And continuing in your own count,
Inhale,
Arching.
Exhale,
Rounding.
Taking slow movements,
Slow breaths.
If you'd like to move a little bit more.
You might like to sway the hips from side to side,
Moving into your side body,
Stretching out that right side torso and then the left side torso.
Just moving in whatever way your body feels good right now.
Sitting back down on the heels and let's take a moment to close the eyes and feel.
Into the body.
Noticing.
What the last few moments have done for the body and mind.
Now let's come into deer pose on the right side.
Bending the right knee,
Drawing the right heel in close to you and then bending the left knee with the left heel behind you.
If this is really uncomfortable for you,
You might like to place a block or a cushion underneath that right hip to raise yourself up a little bit more.
And if you're not quite feeling something within the hips,
You might also like to draw both heels away from you.
To deepen into the stretch.
Let's add a twist to this.
So on the next inhale,
Twist and turn to the right side.
You might like to place your left hand on the right knee or onto the floor,
Whatever is available for you today.
Just getting a gentle twist and a rotation through the ribcage.
Feeling that stretch all the way down the left hip flexor and the left thigh.
Looking over the right shoulder.
Now let's grab two blocks and place them alongside of you in one long row.
And continuing deepening into this twist,
Walking the hands away from you.
And then lying over the block.
Or cushions if you have them.
So deepening into the side stretch all the way.
Up the left side body.
Once again.
Two inhales through the nose,
One exhale through the mouth.
And then releasing control of the breath.
Simply watching the inhales.
Watching the exhales.
On the next inhale,
Coming back up to center.
Quick rotation to the left side as a counter twist.
And then removing the blocks away from you.
Let's deepen into the stretch,
Straightening out that back leg.
So straighten out the left leg,
Coming into sleeping swan.
And as much as you can try to get the hips level and if this is uncomfortable for you you can continue to place a block or a cushion underneath that right hip just to raise the hips up so that the right and the left hips are level with each other You might also like to place both hands on a block.
For a little bit more support and stability.
And simply breathe into all of the tight spots you might be feeling through the hips.
You might like to inhale two times through the nose,
Exhale through the mouth.
If you'd like to deepen into this stretch,
Crawl the fingertips away from you,
Coming onto the forearms,
Deepening into the hips and the hip flexors.
And you might even like to come all the way down to the floor.
You might also like to place a block under each forearm or cushions under each forearm.
Or come down all the way to the floor with your forehead on your hands.
You might like to continue with the two short inhales through the nose and one long exhale through the mouth.
And then releasing all control of the breath.
Inhale walking the hands back up to center swinging that left leg out in front of you let's shake the legs out And this time coming into deer pose on the left side.
So bending both knees,
Drawing the left heel in close to you.
If you'd like to place a block underneath that left hip to raise the floor away from you,
Whatever you did on the opposite side,
Do on this side as well.
Once again if you're not quite feeling anything.
Pull the heels away from you to widen into the stance.
And think of rolling your pelvis forwards.
Deepening into the hips.
Now I'm going to face you.
So you can see me from the front and as you exhale let's twist and turn to the left side.
Looking over the left shoulder,
You might like to place your right hand on your left knee.
Or on the floor,
Whatever is available to you today.
This time grab both of your blocks and place them lined up in front of you.
And then leaning down,
Lying down on the blocks towards your left side,
Deepening into this side twist.
Feeling that stretch all the way up through the right body,
Through the right side torso.
You might like to continue quick short breaths with two inhales.
One long exhale.
And then inhale,
Coming back up to center,
Removing the blocks away from you.
And I'll move back to where I was on the mat.
And let's do a counter twist over to the right side.
Short one.
And then let's deepen into sleeping swan.
So straightening out that right leg behind you.
And let's try to get the hips as level as we can with each other.
If this is not comfortable,
You might like to place a block or a cushion underneath that left hip.
And then placing another block or a cushion in front of your hands just for a little bit more stability and support.
Feeling the lengthening through the hips.
Deep breath.
Once again taking whatever variation you took on the other side.
Either coming down onto the forearms or all the way down onto the floor.
You might like to do the quick Huberman breath technique.
Two short inhales through the nose,
One long exhale through the mouth.
One more time,
Two short inhales through the nose.
One long exhale through the mouth.
One last time,
Two short inhales through the nose,
One long exhale through the mouth.
Releasing control of the breath and inhale.
Let's walk the hands back up to center one more time.
Shaking out the legs,
Whatever tension might have built up in them.
And this time,
Let's lie back down on your mat.
And if you're near a wall or a sofa,
That might be nice as a support but even if you don't have A support behind you,
Simply raising both legs up towards the sky,
Keeping the legs flexed.
Place both hands palms down into the floor.
And simply leave the legs raised up high to the sky.
If this isn't comfortable,
You might like to then bend the knees over the sofa.
Or have your legs up the wall.
This is a really easy inversion to help support your nervous system.
Lowering your blood pressure,
Allowing all the blood to flow back down the legs.
You might like to continue with deep belly breaths or the Huberman breath,
Two short inhales through the nose,
One long exhale through the mouth.
And then whenever you're ready.
Let's come into final resting pose,
Savasana.
I'll turn around on my mat to face you this side.
Allowing the feet to be slightly wider than hip width apart,
Palms facing up to the sky.
And allow yourself to get really comfy,
Really settled.
Noticing if there's any tension still left in the body.
Release that tension on the next exhale.
Simply relax into it.
And notice the effects.
On the body.
On the breath.
On the mind.
Ready to continue on the rest of your day.
You're so very welcome to stay in Savasana for as long as you need.
