Ease: A Full Practice

This serves as a time to rest, relax, and restore. It is a gentle yoga practice beginning with grounding, soft movement with breath, then finally, settling into longer held restorative postures. A pillow or blanket is recommended.

Transcript

We're going to start our class today laying down.

So this could be laying down on your back.

Maybe your side is more comfortable.

Just any place that feels comfortable and easy to you.

If you're on your back,

Sometimes it's comfortable to use a pillow under the head.

You could always use a folded blanket under the head.

Maybe some support under the knees.

You could use a pillow here or a bolster if you have one.

You can use a folded blanket placed over the body,

Maybe chest,

Abdomen or thighs.

You could also just use a blanket normally to keep you warm just at the beginning of our practice here before we invite some movement in.

Take your time to shift,

Move around,

Get comfortable.

Just finding a nice place to bring in some stillness.

Once you get comfortable there,

Let's take a full breath in together through the nose.

Open the mouth and sigh out.

Let it go.

We'll take another full,

Slow breath in.

Open the mouth,

Sigh it out.

Last one.

Maybe the longest,

Fullest breath in you've taken all day.

And big sigh,

Let it out.

Let your body just melt down.

And then just coming back to your natural breath and see if you could keep the breath moving in and out through the nose.

Nice slow,

Natural breath.

I do have a dog in the space here right now.

So you might hear some pitter pattering of feet and a bit of movement.

It's part of our home practice here is getting used to different distractions than we have in the studio.

Hopefully you found a place that's as quiet as it gets at home.

Just settling in,

Getting used to our practice,

Being a little different than usual.

But knowing that we're always coming back to the same place on the inside.

This place of peace and calm and quiet.

Now that we're nice and comfortable here and we found that steady,

Natural breath.

Let's let the face soften.

Smoothing out the forehead.

Smoothing the space between the eyebrows.

Could you soften the temples?

Let the eyelids get heavy.

Maybe so heavy that the eyes close or they're almost closed.

If they are closed,

Maybe you feel that space where the eyelids touch.

Upper and lower lash line.

Are the eyelids fluttery?

Are they more still?

Just noticing.

Softening the cheeks.

No need for expression on the face right now.

Letting the jaw release.

Maybe you open and close the mouth a couple times,

Wiggling the lower jaw.

You could even soften your tongue away from the roof of the mouth.

Maybe swallowing helps release the throat.

Feeling gravity land on your shoulders.

Arms are effortless and heavy.

And softening the palms of the hands.

Maybe you notice if the hands are out to the side that the fingertips curl in a little.

This is normal.

It happens naturally as we relax.

Just noticing the shape the hands are making.

And we soften the chest and belly.

Just letting the breath gently rise and fall.

Noticing that your spine is supported by the mat or earth beneath you.

Softening your hips get heavy.

Softening the legs,

Knees.

Even softening at the ankles.

Maybe the toes start to point out to the sides.

Even softening the soles of the feet.

Taking a moment here.

Just noticing any other places you might be holding a bit of tension in the body.

Could that maybe release with a breath out?

I'll give you a couple moments here to do your own scan using a sigh or a slow exhale to release.

Once you feel a bit of ease here,

Bring your awareness to the back of the body.

The place where you're touching the floor.

If you're laying on your back,

Maybe you feel this on your hips,

Back of the leg,

Spine.

If you were laying on your side,

Noticing where the side body makes contact with the earth.

Could you let yourself feel even heavier here?

Knowing that the more you let go,

The more you are supported.

Noticing any places that aren't touching the floor.

Maybe the back of the knees.

That dip in the low back or back of the neck.

Kind of as if your body was a stamp and you were dipped in ink and you were laying on a fresh white piece of paper.

What's the imprint your body would make on the floor?

The places that are heavier,

Leave a darker mark.

The places that are touching lightly,

Leave a lighter mark.

There's places where you aren't touching at all.

As we breathe,

Does this change the shape at all?

Do certain places press a little more.

Maybe some places start to lift,

Just noticing.

As we breathe in,

We draw air in through the nose,

Down the throat,

Expanding the lungs and ribs and abdomen.

As we breathe out,

This softens,

Releases.

Can you feel that expansion starting at the lungs,

Creating all this space,

Ribs move and expand and not just the front of the body,

The side ribs,

Back ribs,

Creating all this space,

360.

Can you feel a little more pressure hitting the mat as you breathe in?

As you breathe out,

That gentle contraction requires no effort.

It happens naturally all day long as we breathe.

Even though breathing happens in the lungs,

It affects the rest of the body.

You notice the abdomen rising and falling.

Could you feel this in your shoulders?

Hips?

Maybe you can feel this ripple all the way down the arms to the fingertips,

That little movement,

So subtle.

What about all the way to the toes?

Maybe today it's so subtle that we don't feel it at all.

Maybe another day you'll come back to this and it will be more clear,

Or maybe not.

Just seeing what we can feel here.

And seeing if instead of thinking about the feeling,

We can let go of the thinking mind for just a moment and just feel it.

Feeling the breath in,

Rippling through the whole body,

Feeling the breath out.

Letting go of words or trying to describe the feeling.

Sometimes words don't really do it justice.

There's so much happening.

Just trusting the body to breathe for you.

Noticing how your body knows just how much air to bring in,

Where the breath goes,

How long to breathe and how much air to breathe out.

Just watching the natural breath.

Smooth,

Slow and steady.

Let's see if we can keep this same connection to the breath as we start to add a bit of movement into our practice.

Just before we begin adding any movement here,

Remember that this is your practice and everything I say is just a suggestion.

Part of working with audio here is that you can't see me and you're just really following along with my voice.

That might mean that sometimes things don't translate fully and maybe you're doing a pose a little differently than you've done in class.

Take this time to just explore trying out this whole different side of your practice.

Maybe you could add on to this and keep the eyes closed as much as possible.

Just feeling out your practice.

Eventually,

I'm getting ready to add some movement in.

Wiggling fingers,

Toes,

Wrists and ankles.

Maybe you move the head a little side to side.

Sometimes that big morning stretch,

You know the one where you reach your arms overhead,

Stretch the legs long,

Maybe the low back even peels off the mat.

Breathing out,

Just softening here.

You could do that a few more times if you like that big inhale to stretch you long and that soft exhale.

A few more times,

Follow your own breath.

Stretch as much as feels good.

Eventually,

We'll land with the hands back beside the body.

We'll take a full breath in.

As your exhale arrives,

Just bringing your chin towards the right side.

Your inhale will bring your chin back to center and your next breath out will bring your chin to the left.

Inhale to center.

Exhale to the right.

Hold the whole breath,

Just as the inhale arrives,

The chin starts to come back to center.

Breathing out,

Left.

Coming in,

Finding center and out to the right.

Inhale to center and exhale,

Last time to the left.

Use your inhale to come back to center.

I'm just softening here for a breath or two.

Then we'll just slide the right foot in a little closer towards the body so the sole of the foot is on the mat.

And then slide the left heel along the mat until the sole of the left foot is on the mat.

Knees are bent,

Soles of both feet on the floor.

If you had a pillow or bolster under the knees,

You can move back to the side or if you'd like,

You could just rest your feet on that prop.

Just noticing here how maybe a different part of the back is touching the mat.

And then one at a time,

We'll bring the legs in,

Bending the knees a little more,

Reaching for thighs or shins,

Knees together or apart.

So you're kind of in a ball shape here.

Maybe it feels good to squeeze in tight.

You could even lift your head off the floor,

Bringing the forehead to the knees for a breath and then softening back of the head onto the mat or pillow,

Wherever it was before.

And we'll start to add in that rock.

Maybe you've already started to rock.

It tends to be a bit of an intuitive movement once we get here.

Rocking side to side.

Maybe you cross one ankle over the other and you feel a bit more stable in this shape.

And as you rock slowly,

Left to right,

Right to left.

We're massaging our back against the mat,

Shifting this point of pressure side to side.

And you can play around a bit here.

If you bring the knees in closer,

Does it change where your back touches the mat?

If the knees move a little further away,

Maybe that shifts it again.

You could start to make circles with the knees.

Eventually slowing the movement down.

And could you make that movement smaller?

So you're just moving a couple inches side to side.

And even smaller than that,

Just one inch to each side.

And eventually we'll slow it down so much that we land exactly in center.

And weight right side to left side.

Let's just take a moment here.

You can let go of the legs and let the soles of the feet come back to the mat or rest on that bolster pillow.

And from here,

We'll bring the knees in again.

And this time,

Let your palms rest on your knees.

Left palm to left knee,

Right palm to right knee.

And we'll imagine that our hands are glued to our knees for this next one.

See if you can soften the shins and ankles.

Take a full breath in.

And as you breathe out,

Bend the elbows so you're drawing the knees in.

As you inhale,

Straighten the arms and the knees will move an arm's length away.

Exhale,

Bend the arms,

Knees come in.

Inhale,

Palms staying glued to the knees,

Straightening the arms like you're giving yourself space to breathe.

Exhale,

The knees come in like you're pressing the air out.

Inhale,

Giving yourself space to breathe into the lower abdomen.

A few more times following your own breath,

Let your breath guide the movement.

Just as the breath changes,

So does the movement.

This is apanasana.

And while we get so focused on the legs here,

This is actually a great release for the low back.

We're massaging the back in a different way against the mat,

The floor.

You could start to get a bit more creative with your movement here.

Maybe you draw the knees wide away from each other so you're making circles with each leg.

You can change direction of the circles.

Whenever you've had enough,

Give the legs a good squeeze in and let the feet rest on the floor.

Knees stay bent.

And from here,

Let's walk the feet to the edges of the mat and we'll let the knees fall in towards each other here,

Constructive rest pose.

You could keep your hands beside the body or join me here in placing one hand over the chest or heart center and one hand over the abdomen.

Keeping that same natural breath you've had throughout class,

Just feel the weight of your hands here.

Notice maybe this feedback in your hands as you breathe in,

The hands rise a little.

As you breathe out,

The hands fall.

Just noticing the rising and falling.

Maybe you start to feel the warmth of your hands.

Just a couple more breaths,

Just like that.

The eyes are closed.

See if you can keep them closed.

See how little effort it can take to just roll to one side.

Just resting,

Laying on your side.

Nothing to do,

Nowhere to go.

Just resting.

Maybe it feels different to breathe on your side.

And if the eyes are still closed,

See if you can keep them like that or keep the gaze downward towards the earth and make your way to a table top.

So on hands and knees,

You could use a blanket here underneath the knees just for a bit more padding.

And maybe your hands are a little wider than usual,

Knees a little wider,

Just giving yourself a bit more stability.

If this doesn't feel good on your wrists,

You can always come down to forearms or take rest when you need it.

We'll try to keep the spine neutral here,

So in that table top position.

And we'll take a couple breaths here.

Just getting used to breathing in this table top.

Breathing against the back.

Full breath in,

Full breath out.

Can you feel all that space you're making in the lungs,

Abdomen?

And as you breathe out that softening,

That gentle contraction.

This time let's exaggerate it as you breathe in,

Bring the heart forward,

The gaze lifts.

And as you exhale,

Rounding.

Inhale,

Arch the back,

Heart moves forward and up,

Gaze lifts.

And as you breathe out,

Rounding your back like a Halloween cat.

Breathe in,

Creating all this space along the front of the body to breathe.

Breathing out,

Rounding the back,

Pressing the air out.

A few more,

Following your own natural breath.

Just as the breath changes,

So does the movement.

After a few rounds of this,

You can start to bring in your own movement.

So that's maybe bringing one shoulder to one hip and the opposite,

Kind of like a dog wagging its tail.

Maybe it's moving your spine like a skipping rope.

You could make circles or figure eights.

Just moving around any way that feels good,

Getting into your spine a little.

And sometimes you find this place that needs a bit of extra attention and care and you could just stay there.

Take a full breath in and send the breath to that area.

And as you breathe out,

Feeling that tension release,

That softening.

Maybe it takes a breath or two there.

And a few more just like that.

When you feel you've had enough,

We'll lower the hips back towards the heels,

Letting the forehead come towards the earth.

You could rest your forehead on stacked palms or stacked fists.

And if child's pose isn't serving you,

You could always keep the hips over the knees and come to your forearms and just let the head hang down.

Just finding a place to rest.

Child's pose can be a grounding place to be,

Connecting back to the earth,

The mat and rounding forward,

Protecting the heart,

Protecting the soft front of the body.

It's not always that simple.

I'm just noticing how it feels for you to be in your child's pose,

Balasana,

Today.

Maybe you can hear your own breath against the mat.

Maybe as you breathe,

You feel the abdomen expand.

Maybe you feel the belly against the thighs.

Maybe you feel the breath more in the back body or the side ribs.

Just noticing.

Just feeling,

Not thinking.

We'll take another three breaths or so here in your child's pose.

And eventually we'll take that final breath in here.

Open the mouth and sigh it out.

And we'll slowly come up to any comfortable seated position.

Maybe this is kneeling or sitting cross legged.

You could sit up on a pillow.

Just any way that feels comfortable for you to be seated.

No need to have a perfectly straight spine here.

Just think of your inhales as creating a bit of space.

And your exhales just helping you soften shoulders,

Meltdown.

On your inhale,

Maybe lifting the crown of the head just a little.

And exhales,

Letting go.

Just feeling like you're breathing like yourself here.

Sitting comfortably but not rigid.

Just noticing how it feels different to breathe sitting upright as opposed to laying down on your back or side or in a tabletop.

How does your breath feel different?

Is it subtle or more clear?

I tend to feel it in my shoulders a bit more when I'm seated.

Notice where you're at in your breath.

As your next breath in arrives,

Reach the arms way up high.

And the moment that exhale arrives,

Bring the palms together,

Hands down through heart center.

Inhale,

The arms come wide,

Reaching all the way up.

And just as that exhale arrives,

The palms come together and down through heart center.

A few more times,

Following your own natural breath.

That follows breath.

The next time you reach your arms up,

Use your exhale to twist to the right side and just let the hands fall wherever they land.

And take your next inhale to reach the crown of the head towards the ceiling.

And your exhale to twist a little more.

Try not to use the strength of your arms here,

Just using the spine and core to help you twist.

Inhales,

We find length.

And exhales,

Twisting a little more.

Last one,

Inhale here.

Exhale to twist a little more.

Next breath in to slowly unravel,

Reach the arms up and your breath out to twist to the opposite side.

Hands fall.

Inhale,

Find the length in the spine.

And exhale,

Twisting a little more.

Just using the breath here to find that length and that twist.

Not using the arms,

Just the strength that's in the spine and core already.

One more full breath in.

Full breath out.

Exhale,

Come to center,

Reach the arms up.

Exhale,

Palms come together down through heart center.

And this time,

Let your thumbs just rest on your sternum.

Maybe you can feel your breath as the chest rises and falls.

Maybe you can feel your heartbeat.

And we'll let that go.

And we'll make our way back to laying on our backs.

Once you get onto your back,

You can bring the legs in,

Give them another good squeeze.

And then from here,

Let the feet come down to the mat,

Knees bent.

And we'll walk the feet out to the edges of the mat,

Knees stay bent.

And we'll just windshield wiper the knees side to side,

Nice and slowly.

And then we're just going to let the knees land the next time they fall to the right side.

You can stay right here or you could stack your left knee on top of your right,

Maybe deepening the twist a little.

You could look in the direction of the ceiling or over the left shoulder.

The arms can be wherever is comfortable,

Whether out to the side or resting on the ribs.

Maybe you use a pillow here between the knees or underneath the knees for support.

Nice gentle twist.

We'll stay here for another 10 breaths or so.

I'm just watching where the breath goes.

Is it even side to side?

Or does it move to one side more?

One more breath here.

Use your next inhale to bring the gaze back to center.

Just exhale there.

And the next inhale to bring the knees back to center.

Just exhale there and just rest in center,

Knees bent,

Feet on the floor.

Not moving to the other side quite yet.

Maybe feeling the lingering effects of that pose.

Can you feel any difference in the breath?

Does it move to one side differently than the other?

From here,

Take a full breath in.

With your exhale,

Let the knees fall to the left,

Twisting to the other side.

Maybe your knees stay apart here.

Maybe they stack one on top of the other.

Arms out to the side or resting on the body.

Should you look in the direction of the ceiling or over the right shoulder?

And just finding the breath,

Watching its path.

Just a few more breaths here.

Smooth,

Steady breath.

Just like at the beginning of class.

Let your next inhale be full.

Exhale here.

Next inhale brings the gaze back to center.

Inhale there.

Inhale knees to center.

Exhale there.

You can stay in stillness or maybe it feels good to stretch out,

Give the legs a hug in or windshield wiper the legs.

Whatever you need here.

It's up to you.

Once you've had enough of that,

We'll stretch the arms overhead and the legs long.

Just like that morning stretch,

Except we're going to keep the arms overhead this time.

And we'll keep the hips just where they are and we'll reach the arms over to the right side.

Maybe wiggle over with your shoulders as well.

Keep the hips grounded where they are in the center of the mat.

And then we'll start to walk the feet over to the right.

You can cross one ankle over the other and maybe you reach for the opposite wrist.

So we're in this banana like shape,

Kind of like a moon here.

Getting this nice stretch at the left side of the body.

Feeling all this space along the left side ribs,

Waist,

Leg.

Just feeling the breath,

Create all this space with your inhale.

And as you exhale,

Just soften.

We'll take three more breaths here.

Last inhale.

And final exhale.

Walk yourself back to center.

Maybe another morning stretch.

And then we walk the shoulders and arms over to the left,

Keeping the hips where they are.

And then we walk the feet to the left.

Again making this banana like crescent moon shape.

Feeling a stretch of the right side body this time.

Slow,

Steady breath in and out through the nose.

And a couple more breaths here.

And then we'll walk ourselves back to center.

Any movement that feels good,

Whether it's that morning stretch or bringing the legs in.

You can rock side to side or windshield wiper the legs.

Whatever you need here.

And then I've left about two minutes here for you to do any last pose of your choice.

Maybe that's a happy baby reaching for the back of the knees,

Ankles or feet.

Maybe it's a butterfly like pose with the soles of the feet together,

Knees wide.

And just finishing off your practice with whatever pose you need before Shavasana.

About another minute and a half here.

Maybe instead of thinking about the pose,

Just listening to your body,

Feeling where it wants to move.

Pose doesn't need to have a name.

Just any way that feels good in your body.

About three more breaths.

Whenever you're ready,

Make your way into Shavasana.

Final rest.

Take up as much space as you'd like.

Stretch out your arms and legs.

You can rest any way that feels good.

Wherever feels easy and comfortable.

Make sure there's no props you aren't using touching your hands or feet.

Push them to the side.

It doesn't seem like much,

But it makes such a huge difference.

If your hair is in a bun or ponytail,

Feel free to take it out.

It feels so good.

Take off any tight elastics around the wrist or watches.

Before we really settle into Shavasana here,

Give yourself permission to let go.

Let go of this practice.

Any labels we tend to give our practice or ourselves.

Let go of any thoughts that came up during our class.

Just see if you can tune in to sensation in the body.

How different we feel after practice.

The practice still lingering in the body.

Letting go of any control over the breath.

Letting the body breathe for you.

Letting go of any control over the breath.

Letting go of any control over the breath.

If you'd like more time in Shavasana,

Feel free to stay here and pause this recording.

Otherwise,

Let's start to deepen the breath.

Wiggle fingers and toes.

Any movement that feels good.

And we'll slowly make our way to any comfortable seated position.

Once you arrive,

Use your inhale to bring the arms up and overhead.

Your exhale to bring the palms together,

Thumbs to heart center.

And just connecting to your heartbeat once more.

Thumbs to sternum.

Once you've found your heartbeat,

Send gratitude to yourself for carving out this time in your day to practice.

Carving out the space.

And continuing with your practice,

Even from your own home.

So much gratitude to you for joining me in this practice.

Namaste.

Thank you.

Reviews

I love your live yoga classes, and this slow gentle rest practice is also great 😊💚

Thank you so much for holding such a generous space to explore and feel and rest🙏🏼

Ahh... so soothing and feeling relaxed. A much needed self care time. With much gratitude, Hannah.🙏❤🙏

Very relaxing 🙏❤️

Thank you. Lovely practice.

So full gratitude for this practice 🙏🏼✨ I’m suffering with post concussion syndrome and this was exactly what I needed 🙏🏼✨ 🙏🏼 Namaste

Thank you Hannah for making this practice available! I needed it and feel much better ✨🙏💕

A perfect, long gentle and relaxing practice!

TEN stars⭐️‼️ Every part of me is awake to sensation but deeply calm and relaxed. This session is perfect for any time of the day. Thanks and blessings!🙏🏼❤️

This accessable, restorative practice is such a blessing!

This one is my favorite! Powerful. Thank you very much for your generosity sharing this practice with us.

Great to practice as an evening stretch before bed. Loved it!!!

Love it!

Wow amazing! Thank you so much for this recording!!! I love doing an audio only practice. I feel more able to listen to my body. It would be great to have more audio practice like that. Your voice is so soothing. Many thanks again 💖

I wasn’t sure I could get into a just audio version of a class, but this was great. Gentle. Relaxing. Would do again before bed or after a stressful day. ❤️

Beautiful Resting Practice❤️

Your yoga practices have been so beneficial for me! Thank you for what you do! These practices have become routine for me before bedtime. I absolutely love them & you & how you conduct your classes💜🙏🏾

Thank you Hannah :) This was just what I needed! This helped me deeply relax and just let go, even if it was just for a little while. Thank you so much, and please put out more of these yoga related practices :)