Gentle Rest For Low Back Relief

This is a soft + relaxing yoga practice, to release tight muscles through your whole body, with a focus on your low back and hips. Be sure to bring some pillows and blankets. Be prepared for the best sleep of your life afterwards! No yoga experience needed

Transcript

Just find a comfortable seated position, Whatever that is for you. Close your eyes or gaze down and start to just feel your body. Check in. What's going on? You don't need to judge it as good or bad. Maybe even notice the noticing. Does it feel difficult to stay focused in your body? Or is your mind just dropping right in? And start to just feel your breath. You don't need to change it. But how do you know that you're breathing? Feel the ground beneath you. Anywhere you're making contact with the ground or whatever you're sitting on. Now imagine roots growing out of you into the surface beneath you. Then imagine them going into the floor. And then down through the building and right into the earth. Whether you visualize this or feel it or just think about it, It's all good. But at the end of the day, It's you connected to the earth. It's you connected to something bigger than you. And just let those roots hold you, Right? Just like a big tree. Even if there's strong winds up above, Those roots keep it grounded. Keep your shoulders heavy and gently drop your head to the left. Feel that stretch through the right side of your neck. Be patient with it. The next time you breathe out, Just let your shoulders get an inch heavier. And let your head fall the other way. It doesn't really matter what this looks like. We're just aiming for a gentle stretch through the left side of your neck now. The next time you breathe out, Drop your left shoulder a little heavier. And come up. Now you can stay right here and just drop your chin down to your chest. Sometimes you'll feel that through the back of your neck, Between your shoulder blades, Even into your low back. If you want a little bit more, Then start to walk your hands forward. You can go as far forward as you want. Nothing magical happens if your head touches the floor. But you might even feel this through your hips, Depending on how you're sitting. Come on up. If you had one leg crossed over the other, We'll give it a second go. Maybe you take a little break. If you just had your head down, Lift it up. And we'll go in for a second shot here. So again, Just crawl forward. Nothing fancy, Right? There's something to be said for beautiful, Flowy yoga practices. But generally, Simple does the trick. And you're ready. Give your shoulders a roll. And just notice if anything feels a little different, A little bit lighter. Nice. Now, Come to lie on one side. Doesn't matter which. You can rest your head on your bottom arm, Or you can use a real pillow. And just hang out here for a second. Let your body settle into the ground. And the next time you breathe in, Reach your top limbs long. Maybe your fingertips, Maybe your big toe, Or the inside edge of your foot. Touch the floor. Breathe out to come back to centre. So you can make this more intense. Maybe as you inhale, You stretch really long. Maybe keep it gentle, And you just chill and drop. Breathe out to come back to centre. And just do that a few more times. Follow your own pace rather than mine. So you might feel this through your back. You might feel this through your hip. Either way, It's some gentle side body release. Go for one more. And just real simple here. You're gonna roll over to the other side. Maybe your back is to your device. I do the on-screen flip. And again, We're just kind of practicing patience here. So you start by just chilling, Doing less. Once you feel settled, Then you wait for your inhale. As it arrives, Stretch long. And breathe out to settle back into centre. Continue to follow your own breath, Your own pace. And we're purposely doing some kind of gentle stuff first before we get into a little bit of a deeper stretch. We're just gently warming up. Go for one more. Maybe hold it in that stretch for a beat. And then just let it go and meet me lying on your back. I'm gonna spin around so I don't have Chillie's paws in my face. Now, Let's keep the knees bent to start. That's generally a bit nicer for your low back, Just a bit more friendly. Give your low back a second here. And the next time you breathe in, Send your right leg straight up. It doesn't need to be perfectly straight. And breathe out, Bent. Now, You could hold on to your leg, Reach it up, And pull it in really close using your arms. You could go hands-free. Just alternating between that hip stretch and that little bit of gentle compression in your hip. The next time your foot's up real high, Keep it there, Covered in dog fur. Now, Just bring your right foot over to the left like three inches. It does not need to be far. We're just aiming to move the stretch from the hamstring a little bit towards the outer thigh, So your IT band. Again, You can do this hands-free. If you're feeling absolutely nothing, Then try straightening out your leg more and sending your toes back. Too much for me. Come back to center. Bend your knee and place your right ankle over your left thigh. Now, You can stay here. Sometimes the magic is really just pushing your right knee forward away from your face. That often does quite a lot with little effort. If you want even more, You can take a slight lean to your left. If it just doesn't feel right without pulling your left thigh in, Then go ahead and do that. But just breathe into that nice hip stretch. It's a good one. Take a couple more breaths. And then release. Set your right foot down next to the left. Drop your arms wide. You can do cactus arms or T-shape arms. Drop your knees to the left. Now, If you're not doing twists today, You can roll all the way over onto your left side, And we'll meet you there in a second. Otherwise, Just hang out here. Enjoy the twist. Extend your left arm up so you can roll all the way onto your left side. You've got an automatic pillow there. So here, We're going to get into the front of the hip and thigh. For this, Bend your right knee so your heel's coming back towards your bum. Reach for your right foot with your right hand. If it feels miles away, You can hold on to your pant leg or your sock. If you're wearing either of those. Maybe you're doing this naked. I don't know. Anyway, You can play with sending your knee back or pulling your heel in closer. If you're aiming for more release through your chest and shoulder, Let your right shoulder get pulled back. So when our hips and legs get tight, They pull on our pelvis, And that's what can cause a bit of low back discomfort. So easing up the hips has a way of relieving some low back stuff, And it's a little less aggressive than working just directly on your low back. Think about tucking your tailbone under to deepen the stretch through the front of your hip. Even just that little thought, Like you're trying to tuck your tail between your legs. That little thought of just that slight little pelvic tilt will change everything. And just release that when you've had enough. Unravel through your twist onto your back. I'm wearing a low ponytail, And if you know, You know, A low ponytail or a low bun is like the worst thing you can wear in yoga. Unless you're doing all headstands. Okay, Anyway, Just take a second here. Notice the difference right and left. Side. Then extend your left leg up. Bend your knee. And bring your leg closer to straight. Option to hold on to your leg as it does this little flow. I like to inhale to extend and exhale to bend. Next time you send that leg up, Keep it there. Notice if you're like clenching through the right side. See if you can soften that. Do less. Then you can start to bring your left foot to the right. Just a few inches. Keep that leg straight. Breathing slowly. Come back to center. Bend your knee. Place your left ankle over your right thigh. Maybe you stay here. Maybe you push your knee forward. Maybe you lean to the right just a touch. You can pull your right thigh in. The options are endless. Now, I know sometimes you're told you must flex your foot here. You don't have to do that. The only reason we do that is if you're feeling it through your knee, Flexing your foot helps to kind of strengthen that joint a little bit in this shape. But you absolutely don't need to. If it's more relaxing for you to just let your foot be chill, Do that. You're not breaking any yoga rules, I promise. And that goes for all of this, Right? If something feels good, But I didn't give you that option, Who cares? Listen to you more than you listen to me. Really, The most advanced thing you can do is listen to your body, Especially because it changes every day, Every minute. If something feels good, You never need my permission or anyone else's permission to do it. It's just a chance to listen and adapt to your body more. When you've had enough, Lower your foot down. You can drop your arms wide, Lift your legs up, Send them to the right. Again, You can roll all the way onto your side if you're not doing twists. Slide your right arm up, So you've made a perfect little pillow for your head. Bend your top knee, Reach for it with your top hand, And find your quad stretch, Your hip stretch. If this bugs your knee, You can flex your foot. You can also play with pointing your knee up or down. Again, Endless options. You can try tucking your tailbone a little. When you're satisfied, Just drop that leg down, Roll onto your back, And come into a butterfly here. So feet together, Knees wide. You can tuck some pillows under your knees. Honestly, I'm too lazy to go get pillows right now, So I'm just making fists and putting those under my thighs. And we'll just hang out here for a few breaths. So I know we're doing a bit of like a low back focus and a hip focus. We did a little bit of upper body. But you know, Sometimes, Most of the time actually, The magic isn't in what we're doing, But how we're doing it. So it's really about your nervous system. Let's say your right shoulder's been bugging you and feeling tight. Even though we didn't do a whole lot for the shoulder, Sometimes just being relaxed lets your body soften, And it kind of sorts itself out. We can only heal when we feel safe and when we feel relaxed. So if you feel better after these kind of practices or anything like this, That means your nervous system kicked into rest and digest mode when it heals. So deep breaths, Grounding, Really resting. These are all ways to access your nervous system. Deep breaths, Slow ones, Being with your breath. Even just your mindset, Right? Of like, Yeah, Everything's okay. Or everything is okay enough that I'm in a class called rest. Or everything I'm doing in this practice feels okay, Feels safe. That's healing. That's letting your nervous system do its thing and come into resting mode. Bring your feet flat on the floor. Knees can be together or slightly apart. Let's really start to chill now. So grab a few pillows. I'm just gonna grab these throw pillows because I'm too lazy to go get anything else. And lazy is good. I'm not saying that as like a dig or like self-deprecating or anything. Truly, Like, Being lazy right now is fine. You don't always need to be productive. You don't always need to be doing stuff. Make a big pile of pillows. And then, You know, You can adjust as you want. You're just gonna put your legs up on those pillows. And that's it. Welcome to yoga. So, You know, You can have a bend in your knees. You can have your legs straight up on an angle. If you like a deeper one of these, You can do legs up the wall. But I just don't want to move that much. Again, Lazy is good. If you're close to a wall, Or in this case, Even a couch, Having your feet touching something can be kind of grounding too. And the same goes in Shavasana. If you can like put your feet against like a baseboard or a wall, A couch, It's just extra grounding for your body. It's one more point of contact. And I'm not like forcing my feet into the couch. They're just resting there. If you need a pillow under your head or anything like that, Grab one. And then the joy of restorative is that you don't really need to do anything now. You can feel the shape, That subtle change. You've got some weight out of your legs. You've shifted it into your pelvis, Your low back. Maybe you even feel a difference in your face or your chest. Maybe you bring your awareness to your breath. And maybe today even that feels daunting, Like just being alone with your breath or your body. That's fine too. Maybe you just hang out here, Let the shape do its thing. If your brain feels like it's all over the place and focusing on one thing feels too rigid or too strict, Okay, Then you don't focus on your breath today. You don't focus on one thing. Maybe you just watch your mind do its thing. If you do want a trick to focus on your breath a bit more, I like to count. So I find when I'm counting, I can't think about anything else. So what I do is I start at 10, Usually 10 is my number, And I breathe in, Breathe out, And mentally note 10. And I breathe another breath, And I mentally note nine. I try to make it all the way to zero. If I do, I start again at 10. Most days I get to about eight and I get lost, And I just start again at 10. You don't need to change your breath. You're just counting the cycles, And eventually your brain, Or at least mine, Wanders off. And then you just bring it back, Start again at 10. It's not a race to get to zero. It's not even really a goal. The thing is that you're doing it. It's not a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's yoga. You don't need to do more. Being here is enough. If you decided to count, Did you forget about it? Because me too, If that's the case, Come back to whatever you were focusing on. Notice if there's anywhere you're still not focusing on. If you're still holding, Maybe it's your jaw, Your shoulders, Just a little bit of tension. Just soften that. When you feel ready to move a little, Just make some little movements, Fingers, Toes, Maybe a little rock of your head. If you're craving a big stretch, Do that. Bend your knees. I like to rest my feet on the pillows. Now, The next restorative shape we do, We've got two options. They're totally different. They don't relate at all. So it depends. I know we've got a lot of different needs in the group tonight and different goals. So one option is to bring a pillow or a few lengthwise behind your back. And keep your bum down on the floor. Make sure your head's supported. And drop your arms wide if you like. It's just a nice heart opener, Supported fish pose. You can stretch out your legs. You can do butterfly. It doesn't matter. Option two is a more grounding. So if you're craving more grounding, And you don't feel like doing a heart opener, And then you lie down on your stomach, You can make a little pillow for your head by stacking your hands. You can drop your forehead or cheek down. So one isn't better than the other. One is more grounding. The other is more opening. Regardless of where you are, Can you be gentle with yourself? So not just, You know, Softening your body, But speaking to yourself kindly. Gently directing your focus. So just taking any of this rigidity we tend to have out. And can you surrender? And trust yourself to be held by the surface that you're on. Any props. And just be open. You know, I know this practice can be relaxing and restful and all that. And it really is a simple practice. That doesn't mean it's easy. You're essentially being your own teacher here. You're the one guiding your thoughts, Guiding your body. That's challenging. Just because it's simple, Doesn't mean it's easy. And you get to choose what kind of teacher or, You know, Guide you want to be. You can be a really strict teacher. Or you can be a really kind, Compassionate one. When you think about the teachers in your life, Which resonated with you more? And just about five more breaths here. And start to move. And do whatever you want to come out of that. And your next shape is totally up to you. So it doesn't matter. You can do a traditional shavasana lying on your back. If you were hoping we'd do like a child's pose or something like that, Then do that. If you want to go curl up in bed, Do that. You can lie on your side. You get what I'm saying. Do whatever you want. Get comfy. And we'll do a little guided meditation here. So once you're settled in, Just purposely take a few really slow breaths. Now visualize yourself in a nice, Beautiful field. The sun shining. It's the perfect temperature. You can feel the sun on your skin. You can smell fresh air. Even feel the breeze. Feel the earth under your feet. Start to walk through that field. Feel that sense of being held by nature. It feels like it's where you're supposed to be. You continue to walk. It feels easy. And eventually, You find a nice clearing. In that area that you found, You start to notice some butterflies. Those butterflies are all different colors. Some even have little speckles of gold. And as you reach out to touch or invite these butterflies to you, They scatter. And the more you try and the more you reach, The further they go. It's still a beautiful place to be. You make your way back.