So,
Welcome to your rest practice.
Find that comfortable seated position,
Whatever that means for you.
And I know sometimes we just want to lie down.
We're going to do so much lying down soon.
We're just going to get the seated stuff kind of out of the way.
Then we can bring the energy right down.
So if you don't feel like having a totally tall spine today,
That's cool.
Just sit like yourself.
Keep breathing like you're breathing now.
And just keep an eye on your breath.
If there's any spots that are holding or bracing,
Try to soften them up a little.
Usually that's shoulders,
Jaw.
Maybe your hips can soften a little.
Easier said than done.
Right here and right now,
You are exactly where you're meant to be.
You can turn down the volume on everything else happening.
Press pause and just be here with your breath and your body.
Notice where your mind is at today.
If it's moving around a mile a minute,
Or if it's slow and steady and focused.
And just set down whatever else you need to set down.
We're going to start with some dusting.
So just start by bringing your hands together.
Rub your hands together.
Generate some heat between your palms.
And once your hands are nice and hot,
Just place them over your eyes.
If you don't like having your eyes closed,
Place them beside your eyes.
Feel the heat.
Feel the heat and weight of your hands.
And feel how that softens the muscles around your eyes.
Let that go.
Just flick out your fingers.
And then take your hands and place them on the top of your head.
And just dust off.
Like you walked through a cobweb where you're literally taking dust off of your body.
Dust off your head.
Imagine there's two little trash bins here.
Dust it off.
Dust off any old thoughts.
Dust off your face.
Any expressions you've had to wear.
Any masks.
Dust off your throat.
Any unsaid words.
Dust off your neck and shoulders.
The weight of the world on your shoulders.
Your own expectations.
The expectations of others.
Dust off your heart.
Anything sitting heavy on your heart.
Dust off an arm.
Your hands,
Your fingers.
And try to feel your heart.
Try to get every part of your arm.
All the doing.
And then dust off the other arm.
And if this feels silly,
Just bear with me.
At the very least,
It's bringing your awareness into your body.
Dust off your abdomen.
Any unprocessed emotions.
Dust off your back.
Anything giving you instability.
Then choose a hip,
A leg,
And dust it off.
Any emotions you've been pushing down.
Any feelings you've been sitting on.
Dust off your legs.
Well,
One leg.
Your foot,
Your toes.
Anything stopping you from grounding.
Dust off the other hip,
Leg.
Your foot.
Toes.
And then once you feel like you've dusted yourself off enough,
Just flick out your fingers one more time.
And then come back to that seated position from the start and take a couple breaths.
Sometimes that dusting brings up feelings.
Sometimes it settles you.
Whatever it is,
It brings you into your body.
We'll start to find a more restorative breath here.
We'll breathe in for a count of four and breathe out for a count of six.
It just helps to relax us.
You don't need to be rigid with it if it doesn't serve you.
Start with an easy breath in.
Breathe out that way too.
Try to breathe through your nose.
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
In one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Out five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
In one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Out six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Keep that pattern of breath going and make your way to hands and knees.
You can add support under your knees if you're on a pretty cushy surface or you just want to be kinder to your wrists.
You can do forearms and knees.
Inhale to arch your back.
Exhale to round.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Come back to center.
Eventually sweep your left arm up with an inhale.
Exhale,
Thread your left arm under your right for thread the needle.
We'll stay here for a few breaths.
You could turn this into a child's pose or the seated variation,
Just pulling your arm across.
Keep breathing.
In for four,
Out for six.
Come back to center with an inhale.
Soften there with your exhale.
Right arm up as you breathe in.
Exhale to thread through.
Whatever variation you like,
Breathe there.
Come back to center with an inhale.
Exhale to soften.
Then just go ahead and tuck your toes under.
You can rock forward and back.
You could come towards more of a child's pose with your toes tucked under.
If you're feeling really bananas today,
You could come up with your toes tucked under to a kneeling.
Wherever you are,
Take three rounds of your breath.
1,
2,
3,
4,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
1,
3,
4,
6,
5.
Come out of that.
Maybe you move your ankles.
You could do the opposite and just kneel with your feet normal.
But doing these little things that kind of challenge your relaxation and doing that with your slow breath is a little bit of that restorative magic kicking in.
Staying calm even when there is discomfort.
Speaking of that,
We're going to try out a pigeon pose.
You can stay up in hands and knees if your knees are cool with it.
Slide your left knee to your left wrist.
Maybe crawl your foot over to the right.
You can straighten out that back leg.
Stay up or fold down.
If you don't feel like doing a pigeon today,
Then you can skip forward and lie on your back here.
Place your left ankle over your right thigh.
Maybe you pull your right leg in.
Try a few slow rounds of breath.
Keep that exhale slow.
Try one more cycle of breath here.
When you've had enough,
Come out of this.
If you were in pigeon,
You can come back to hands and knees.
If you were in figure four,
Maybe just lie on your back like I am.
Resist the urge to rush to the other side and just take one more full breath in this transition period.
It's not forever.
It's just a transition.
Then head over to your second side.
That's going to be your right leg forward or right leg on top.
Keep breathing.
One more slow cycle here.
When you've had enough,
Let it go.
You can lie on your back or wiggle around through tabletop and some cat-cows.
Eventually,
Make your way onto your back if you're not there already.
Lift your feet up and drop your knees over to your left side.
You can reach your arms wide.
If you want support underneath or between your knees,
You can tuck some pillows or blankets there.
If you want a little bit more for the front of your hips,
You can slide your left foot back and maybe catch a hold of it with your right hand.
That way,
You'll feel a stretch into the front of your left thigh and then,
Of course,
That nice twist through your back.
You might find that in a pose like this,
It's a bit easier to extend the exhale.
Not always,
But sometimes.
Try two more breaths here.
Make your way onto your back You can take a little breath or two and butterfly here.
Again,
It's not forever,
It's just a transition.
Resist the urge to skip past the transition.
Knees bent,
Feet up.
Drop your knees to your right side.
Choose your variation here.
Maybe you bring that right leg back,
Pull the foot in and just enjoy some chill,
Slow breaths.
Notice if you're holding on more than you need to and try to soften.
Just two more cycles here.
When you've had enough,
You roll onto your back and take a great big stretch like you just woke up.
Feel your low back peel up off the mat and then just soften here.
Keep your arms overhead.
Shift your hips over to the right.
Keep both butt cheeks on the floor and walk your hands and feet over to the left.
You're making a big banana shape.
Banana asana.
Nice side body stretch.
The next time you inhale,
Turn that into another morning stretch.
Then shift your hips to the left,
Hands and feet to the right.
I like to cross a foot over,
Hold opposite hand.
Just a few more breaths here.
Come back to center.
Bring your hands down.
Bend your knees and we'll settle into our first restorative shape here.
Grab a pillow or two or you can use a yoga block if you like to use that for this.
Bend your knees,
Push your feet into the floor so you can lift your hips up and slide your prop underneath your hips.
You could stay right here.
This is a really sweet pose.
Your supported bridge.
Depending on how your back is feeling,
This might feel fantastic.
It creates a bit of traction in your spine like your spine is being gently pulled in two directions.
If you want a little bit more opening through the front of your hips,
Then you could stretch your legs long.
If that feels crunchy through your low back,
Then that's your sign to come back to supported bridge.
Otherwise,
Legs can be long and you get to choose what you do with your arms,
Whether they're resting on your body,
Out to the sides or overhead even.
Let's try to slow our breath down even more.
We'll do a four count inhale and an eight count exhale.
The trick for this is to really slow down the beginning of your out breath.
The slowest part of your breath is the start of your exhale.
Breathe in 1,
2,
3,
4 out 8,
7,
6 5,
4 3,
1 Keep breathing like that on your own.
Notice where you can soften.
If your legs were straight,
Bend your knees.
Bring your hands down beside your hips.
Eventually,
Push into your heels Slowly lift your hips up and push your props down so they land under your knees.
Let your legs chill draped over your cushions or blocks or whatever you're using.
Give your spine some time to settle and get heavy again.
You're perfectly set up for our next shape which is a butterfly.
Bring the soles of your feet together and your knees wide.
You can keep that support under your legs.
Really gentle butterfly here.
If this feels too open,
You can place a blanket over your body.
Even a folded blanket is lovely over your hips or belly.
Again,
Your choice what your arms do.
You can do any of the breathing we've done so far letting your body breathe in for 4,
Out for 6 or even out for 8 or you can join me for a 4,
7,
8 breath.
For this,
We breathe in for 4 hold for 7 and breathe out for 8.
I'll guide you through 5 cycles of this and you can continue if you'd like or you can let those 5 cycles be enough.
So as usual,
A ton of options.
Start with an easy inhale a little pause in the fullness and an easy breath out through your nose.
Inhale 1,
2,
3,
4 hold 1,
2,
3,
4 5,
6 7,
8 7,
Breathe out 8,
7,
6 5,
4 3,
2 1 In 1,
2 3,
4 hold 1,
2 3,
4 5,
6 7,
5 4,
3 2,
1 1,
2 3,
4 hold 1,
2 3,
4 5,
8 7,
6 5,
4 3,
2 1 In 1,
2 3,
4 hold 1,
2 3,
4 5,
6 7,
Out 8,
7 6,
5 4,
3 2,
1 Last round 1,
2 3,
4 hold 1,
2 3,
4 5,
6 7,
Out 5,
4 3,
2 1 Good job If you're still doing any breath work start to just let it go and bring the soles of your feet down onto the ground It might feel good to have your knees touch and your feet a little bit wider than usual The last pose is totally up to you You can do a traditional Shavasana just lying flat on your back or you can get good and cozy and do whatever you want Lie on your side,
Your front to go curl up in bed Once you are good and comfy let the ground hold you Let yourself just be all here Feel how your body just breathes for you how your heart beats for you how your body does all these thousands of things all day long just to keep you here Feel how your body loves you how you love it Feel how the ground holds you how it loves you how you love it And just for a few moments here put down anything else Put down the fear that you're doing it wrong that you're not enough that you're behind that you're in some way lacking Put down any thoughts that don't serve you And just let yourself feel the joy of resting Being here is enough You are exactly where you're meant to be Let your body feel that You are exactly where you're meant to be You deserve this rest You deserve to feel good You deserve to feel held and supported We're all here breathing with you Place a hand or two over your heart And just think about your hands and that kind of healing power they have When we're hurt the first thing we do is we go to touch that area There's something innately healing about our hands And think about that healing energy your hands carry And feel the heat and weight of your hands over your tender beating heart And send a heartfelt thank you to your body to your hands to your heart And send a heartfelt thank you to the roots of our yoga practices all the teachers who came before us and passed these practices down to us A heartfelt thank you to the earth that holds us And send the biggest warmest thank you to you for carving out this time in your day to rest And just sit with this gratitude this feeling for five more breaths exactly as you are Thank you so much for being here with me I hope you can stay in Shavasana for a long time Otherwise,
Thank you so much Peace
