Lotus Love & Self Care Express Restorative/Yin Yoga Flow

This is a short half-hour restorative/yin combination yoga flow to focus on self-love and self-care. Here we set an intention and then move right into the practice with postures filled with stillness and ease of the body. The focus on the breath lets us ground and relax into the postures, recognizing how much benefit we get from becoming still and silent. Please bring any props to support you while we relax together from stress and the chaos of life!

Transcript

Hi,

My name is Hannah Rodriguez,

And this is our Express Restorative Flow.

So we are going to start in a supported child's pose.

What you will need is to bring either your bolster with you or you can stack blankets.

But coming into child's pose,

You'll start big toes together,

Knees are wide.

And then you can decide.

Blankets or bolsters are going to come in between the thighs.

Then you're just going to start to lie down on the bolster and your chin or your forehead can rest on the bolster or you can turn your cheek to one side.

And I will let you know when we're halfway through.

So you can switch cheeks.

And while you are here in this first posture,

This is a great time to start to think of your intention,

What you would like to receive out of this fast restorative flow.

Maybe you wish to calm the mind,

Calm the body.

Maybe you wish to release something,

Release stress,

Release tension,

Release any negative thoughts,

Feelings.

Maybe you're just doing something for some self-care,

Some love.

And you have half an hour,

So here we are.

But whatever your intent is,

Just start to breathe that through your whole body.

As you breathe,

Maybe repeating your intent in your mind over and over or just simply noticing with that intent what feelings come up for you and then breathing those feelings through the body,

Through the system.

And in our restorative postures,

We hold them for a couple minutes.

Just allow yourself to rest,

Relax,

And really utilize the support of the props underneath you.

And let the body restore.

And we're already halfway through this posture,

So if you'd like to switch your cheek to the other side,

You're more than welcome to.

Just notice if the arms want to stay facing forward overhead or if you want to bring the hands back by the feet.

That's an option as well.

We'll be here.

Three more breaths.

After the third breath,

You can slowly start to rise up to tabletop.

And if you'd like any cat-cow movements,

You're more than welcome.

Start to add a little movement in the spine so you digest that stillness.

And then coming into our next posture,

Whenever you're ready,

You'll come to seated.

We're going to set up for a seated forward fold.

So if you feel you need support underneath your knees,

You can bring one blanket for underneath the knees or you can even kind of roll it up so there's support there.

And then with your bolster,

You might want to find two blocks in your bolster and you can frame the blocks framing your legs and set the bolster on top of the legs.

So you have a support here.

Or you can forget the blocks and just allow the bolster to sit on top of the thighs.

And when you're ready,

We'll just gently start to hinge forward and you can reach for your legs,

Your ankles,

Your feet,

Your toes.

But the idea is to relax into the forward fold and allow the torso to rest with your support.

If you would feel better without the bolster and just have a blanket rolled up,

You can have that as well to fold forward.

Just allow the feet to be soft,

Legs to be soft.

You can round and curl in or you can keep a neutral neck.

Doing stillness when you're ready.

Tr Watt from Glue the the the the the the the the the And three more breaths here.

After the third breath,

You can gently roll the spine back up tall.

You want to add some gentle movement in the legs.

You can bobble the knees,

Shake the feet out.

You can have hands behind you and press the chest up.

Lift and lengthening the spine.

Yeah,

You can point and flex the toes or circle the ankles.

And then when you're ready,

Find your two blocks or if you prefer two blankets,

It just depends.

We're going to come down to a Supta Baddha Konasana.

So,

You can start by bringing the bottom of the feet together,

Knees wide,

And you can stick the blocks underneath your knees for support.

And then slowly lower down onto your back so that you're flat on your back or if you prefer to have a blanket for underneath your shoulders,

You can add that in.

Yeah,

And kind of angle the blocks however they feel best or if you prefer to roll a blanket,

Stick two rolled blankets underneath the knees.

You can do that for support.

Then lowering onto the back,

Just gently opening the hips.

Arms can be down by the side,

Arms can T out,

Or arms can kind of even be diagonal if you prefer that.

Allowing yourself to settle back in toward a calm and steady breath.

Staying with your intention for your practice,

Your purpose,

Your reason why,

Or staying with the sensations in your body as well.

Just observing the body,

Observing like you're in a science lab.

You're just noticing what's going on with the body,

With the breath for each posture.

We'll be here.

Three more breaths.

And when you're ready,

You can gently start to bring hands underneath the knees and slowly hug the knees in toward the chest.

Maybe rocking side to side or taking the knees in some circles.

Yeah.

And from here,

We're going to set up for a supine twist.

So if you would like support for your twist,

You can bring the bolster or a blanket or a block,

Whatever you have,

To the left side of your body.

And then as you inhale,

Hug your right knee in toward the chest as you're lying down still,

Your back is on the ground.

And you're going to exhale,

Guide your knee across your body so that the right hip is on top of the left hip.

And then you're going to melt the right shoulder down to the ground.

And you can keep your left hand on your right knee.

Yeah,

You can lay the body down.

I'm just not laying down.

Yep.

And let's see if you can melt the right shoulder to the ground.

And so in the twist,

You can think about if there's anything that you feel you want to cleanse or release out of your system.

Deep full breaths in the twist help the inside of our body to detox,

To release and to cleanse.

And it might not even be physically,

Maybe you need to cleanse mentally or emotionally and that's okay too.

And You And three more breaths on this side.

And three more breaths on this side.

And after your three breaths,

Gently come back to center,

Hugging both knees and to the chest.

And again,

Rocking side to side,

Allowing the knees to circle in one direction and then the other direction.

Or swishing your knees side to side like windshield wipers.

And then when you're ready for the next side,

If you wanted support underneath your knee,

You can move your bolster or your block or your blanket,

Whatever you had,

Now to the opposite side so that it's on the right side of you.

And as you're lying down,

Inhale,

Hug the left knee in toward your chest and exhale,

Guide the knee across your body.

So now left hip is stacked on the right.

And then melt the left shoulder,

Left arm down to the ground.

Your right hand can stay on the knee to keep that added weight there.

And you can see how you can relax in the twist.

Allowing full and deep breath in and out of the system to cleanse,

To wash.

Think about like wringing a sponge that's in the kitchen sink,

Wringing it out,

Cleansing.

That's what you're doing in the body with the twist.

And then you can see how you can relax in the twist.

So now you can relax in the twist.

Now you can relax in the twist.

Now you can relax in the twist.

Now you can relax in the twist.

We'll be here three more deep and long breaths.

And when you're ready,

You can slowly start to come back to center.

Again,

Hugging knees into the chest or planting the feet and swaying the knees side to side.

If you want,

You can stretch the legs long in front of you.

Shake out the feet a little,

Bobble the knees a little bit.

And then our final pose before Shavasana is going to be legs up the wall.

So as you're on the ground,

If you want,

You can just spin yourself or you can roll yourself up and come to seated against the wall.

Swing your legs up and start to lie down with your back flat on the ground.

Legs up the wall.

Your hips can be close to the edge of the wall or you can be about a handprint or even two handprint spaces away from the wall,

Depending on what angle you would like.

Arms can be down by the hips.

Arms can tee out at the side or arms can be overhead.

And here,

See if you can really allow the exhale to ground your body into the earth,

Almost imagining like your body is melting.

Almost imagining like your body is melting down to the ground,

Getting heavier and heavier with each exhale.

As you notice,

Gravity is helping you to reach the earth.

Maybe bringing your intention that you set at the beginning back to mind,

Noticing if you need to release anything while you're here.

Fully relaxing the face,

You can lift and lower the eyebrows.

Scrunch the cheeks back and forth.

Open and close the jaw and slowly let the face just melt down toward the ears,

Toward the back of the head,

Back of the neck.

And slowly let the face just melt down toward the ears,

Toward the back of the head,

Back of the neck.

And if you would like to stay in legs up the wall for final Shavasana,

You're more than welcome to stay.

Otherwise,

If you feel like you'd prefer to move all the way down to the ground,

You can gently start to hug your knees in toward the chest,

Roll over to the fetal position,

And gently find your way to lying fully on the earth for final corpse pose,

Allowing the movement to be slow,

To be gentle.

Feel free to use any of your props if you're making your way to the ground,

Props underneath the knees,

Underneath the head,

On top of you for weight.

You can put the bolster or blanket on top of your hips,

Or maybe just cover up with a blanket.

And allow yourself at least 10 full and deep breaths here,

Maybe concentrating on your intention or just simply watching the breath move in and out of your body for the count of 10.

Today,

We will end our practice in final Shavasana.

So you're more than welcome to stay exactly as you are,

Or as you're lying there,

You can gently bring hands in toward the heart or just place one hand on your heart or both hands,

Allowing yourself to honor this moment,

Your heart space and the self-care that you've given yourself today.

We bow and say Namaste.

Thank you for being here.

Namaste.

Reviews

Hello beautiful 🌺🌷🌺🌷🌺Thank you so much for the wonderful yin yoga practice 🌈☮️it makes my day sweet and sunny 🗺️have a blessed day 🙏Namaste