You Good evening.
Namaste.
Welcome to this gentle evening practice to help you unwind after a long day.
We're going to move really slowly and mindfully.
We're going to stay pretty close to the ground and really take lots of time to connect with the breath.
Feel the body.
And just create more space for peace.
Let's just start in a seated position You can sit on a block.
A bolster or a pillow.
If you'd like a bit more support for this class,
A bolster,
A nice big pillow will be really amazing.
Otherwise,
Just make yourself comfy.
Sitting on your sit bones and lengthening through the spine.
Feel free to close your eyes or just lower the gaze and then exhale for longer.
And inhale for a deep breath.
Exhale,
Letting go of the day.
Inhale,
Just open now to receive take a moment to really check in with your body.
Noticing how it's feeling now.
I was feeling today.
We're just going to start with a gentle face massage,
Just start rubbing your hands together.
Bringing them close to your heart.
Start feeling that warmth,
That gentle heat.
And then on the exhale covering your face just with your fingertips.
Without massaging gently your forehead.
The temples.
Sides of your head.
Your jaw and your cheeks.
Just with your thumbs or just the tops of your fingers Feeling your jaw muscles.
Just gently.
Massaging them in a circular motion.
Totally relaxing the jaw.
Just take one more full breath in.
And exhale lower the hands down onto your thighs and then from here we're going just to extend the legs so if you are sitting on something you can keep it underneath the sit bones or just put it to the side feel your toes and your ankles,
My ankles are always clicking but yeah just add a little bit of that nice movement just to feel the joints give some love to your feet,
Maybe you spend some time Lots of time today on your feet.
And then just shake it off,
Just tap your calves gently down to the floor.
I love doing this movement especially in the end of the day just to stimulate some more blood flow.
Okay.
And then from here We're going to just straighten the legs and see if you can slightly start lifting.
The right leg of the mat so hands are supporting you just engage that leg lift Hull and then let go.
Engage the left one Flex your toes,
Lift,
Hold.
And let go.
Just one more time on each side,
Just a little bit of warm up for your calves.
For the hamstring,
For the whole leg muscles.
And then let go from here just widen that space between your feet,
Between your legs,
It doesn't have to be too wide and then inhale we'll lengthen,
Exhale fall all the way down so here if you have that pillow a block or a bolster it's nice to just use for some support just turning the pelvis forward so that Your belly is going a bit closer to the abs.
Relaxing your upper body,
Flexing your toes.
Just softening any tension from your shoulders.
From the back of your head.
Take three soothing breaths.
And then inhale.
Very very slowly bringing your hands closer to you,
Hands behind you and then point your toes,
You can bring the feet just a bit closer.
Point your toes and open.
Through the front body.
Shake off the legs.
Just notice how it's here.
Okay and then from here We're going to move to sit on the heels.
Sitting like that is uncomfortable.
Maybe if you put a pillow here for some more support it's better otherwise just keep sitting normally on your glutes okay we can always adjust then from here we're just going to start rolling the shoulders back right and laugh.
Right.
And left,
Just nice and soft and you can follow your shoulder with your gaze You can just keep the head in the center.
And then adding the arms,
So stretching the arm all the way like a big circle around and then the AAVA.
Starting to float your arms through the air.
Softly.
Forward and back.
Just create here a bit more space for the shoulder through the chair.
The rib cage.
The next time your left hand lands behind you,
Press it down and see if you can slightly lift your hips off the mat.
And then if you're just sitting,
Bringing hand behind you and again just trying to lift a little bit those glutes.
It's a little bit funky movement but it's nice to open the front of your thighs.
So slightly left,
Maybe lift the opposite arm.
And then lower.
Other side hand,
Right hand behind you Lift the hips just a little bit.
And low.
One more time on each side.
Lift and lower.
And then again,
Lift,
Open.
And low.
And then from here bring in the hands in front of you,
Working them all the way down onto your belly.
So we're going to stay now.
In this gentle sphinx pose,
Extending the legs all the way to the back.
And then the elbows underneath your shoulders,
Pressing the hands down.
Feeling that slight extension through the front,
Growing tall with your spine.
Opening through the shoulders.
Through the chest.
Keep your head pretty relaxed here.
This is a really nice decompression for the chest.
For the shoulder.
Just take two more breaths here.
And then slowly chin to chest Bring the elbows outside.
And just lower down onto your forehead.
So relaxing totally,
Relaxing your head,
Relaxing your upper body.
Dropping down to the earth,
Letting it hold you.
Relax your toes.
And then maybe you can slightly shift the pelvis side to side.
Just move it side to side.
Noticing your lower back here.
You may be bending the knees as well and just lifting one hip at a time.
Very slowly.
Softening the space around the hips and the pelvis.
And then come back to center and just stay here for three grounding breaths.
Lovely and then from here very slowly bring yourself back onto the forearms and then bring hands closer to your chest on both sides Slowly lifting to a full cobra or pan.
And exhale release to downward dog.
This time stretching the back of your legs again.
Lowering your head down,
Nice and long through your whole back,
Bending one knee at a time.
Pressing the heel down.
Just really lengthening here.
You can even shake all of your glutes,
Your hips slightly.
Just stay for two more breaths.
And then lower down onto your knees.
Opening the knees a little bit wider And lower down again.
To this child's pose with arms to the back.
Your forehead can be supported by a pillow.
Just start softening more and more.
Feeling that space around your lower back,
Your middle back and the upper back.
Maybe even placing your hands on the lower back,
Feeling the warmth of your hands.
Take two more breaths here.
And slowly let go.
Bring hands closer to your face.
Lifting yourself all the way up.
With a lot of forward thoughts but they're so good for softening the anxiety.
Just fully relaxing a bit more.
This time stretch the legs in front of you.
Scoop yourself forward,
Bending the knees.
We're going to land onto the back.
And then from here just bring the knees to your chest.
Give yourself big hugs.
Gentle movement right and left.
Let a bit of that opening.
Shoulders staying soft here.
Then from here lifting the legs all the way up to the sky.
I always love doing this in the evening,
It's so good for the legs,
For the blood flow.
So just lift them up and then point and flex if this really feels uncomfortable.
Just bend the knees more or even lean them onto the wall.
It might be nice and supportive Otherwise,
Just stay here for three more breaths.
And then bending the knees in.
We're going to add a gentle twist keeping the knees together.
You can also bring a pillow or a block in between the knees.
For the lower back as well if we add that.
So stay here,
Knees on the height of your hips and then turning your left arm to the left.
So the arm can be slightly bent or just fully straight.
Turning your head to the left if that feels good and just stay here,
Three deep breaths Then slowly coming through the center.
Move your pelvis more to the right side and letting the knees drop to the left.
And opening through your right side,
Right arm grounded on the floor.
Turning your head to the right and just staying here.
Breathing deeper into the space of your spine.
And then slowly coming back to center Just release the block to the side.
And then keeping the feet together,
Open the knees wide Slightly press with your hands downwards.
Pressing the thighs away from your lower back.
Take one full breath here.
And a full breath out.
And then just release the hands onto your belly.
Are your heart's pay.
Maybe you even want to stretch them all the way to the back over your head.
Just notice what feels good here Just extend your breath,
Soft and nourishing breath.
Then after your next exhale wherever you are just bringing your arms alongside the body bringing your knees slowly in together.
And then you can stay with your knees bent or extend them all the way.
To our Shavasana.
The body fully relax.
Let it be supported now.
Let yourself rest in this peaceful space.
There's nothing you have to think about now.
Just your breath.
The air.
And your body totally resting and surrendering.
Beautiful my lovely,
Feel free to stay here for longer in this Shavasana,
Maybe slowly drifting off to sleep.
Or otherwise just start very gently moving.
Your toes and fingers.
Bending your knees and landing onto the right side.
And then slowly making your way to left arm Landing just how we started.
Feeling the ground underneath you and just know that you can always come back to this peaceful,
Sacred space within let's take one more breath together,
Inhale all the way open and exhale,
Bringing the hands down.
May you be guided by love.
May you rest well today.
May you be guided by peace.
Namaste.
Thank you so much for this practice.
Thank you for connecting.
Let me know how you feel afterwards,
If you feel a bit more relaxed,
A bit more spacious.
And I hope to see you soon.
Thank you.
