Hi,
So my name is Matt Bingham and this is an acoustic slow flow yoga practice.
So the acoustic part means that I'll play a song on my acoustic guitar during Shavasana.
And for this low flow practice,
We'll really take our time,
We'll be on our back the whole time.
I always feel great afterward,
And I hope you do too.
So as far as the props go,
You may or may not need them as always,
But if you'd like just to have a couple blocks set up near each hand,
So once you're lying down in a Shavasana shape.
You can just easily grab them if you need so they're near your hands.
And then also just have a blanket rolled up also nearby just in case.
So we'll get started as I mentioned lying down.
And just start from the beginning.
By taking your time to get there.
So the name of the game for this whole practice.
I always feel like yoga in general,
But especially this kind of practice.
It's just paying attention to the transition.
Once you come to lie down.
We'll bring one hand to the belly and one hand to the heart.
And we'll just take about five breaths,
Just at your own pace.
Just notice how you feel.
Notice how your breath feels right now.
Maybe also notice that once you bring your attention to your breath,
It just naturally wants to deepen on its own.
Just about two more breaths in this space.
As you're ready,
With your next inhale,
Take a more three-dimensional inhale,
Breathing through your nose.
Once you're ready to let that go,
Take a long,
Soft sigh out your mouth.
We'll do that two more times for that long three-dimensional inhale through your nose.
That long,
Soft sigh out your mouth.
One more inhale.
One last exhale,
Sigh.
Now take about two breaths,
Again just at your own pace.
So notice if you feel any different now.
We can relax a little bit more.
Drop a little bit more weight towards the earth.
And next we'll do something called the hoop breath.
So that's where you'll take an inhale through your nose.
And then with your exhale,
You just purse your lips and exhale out your mouth.
And you just make a soft,
Slow gust of wind sound.
Just do that at your own pace.
Inhale through your nose.
Exhale that pursed lip.
Soft gust of wind sounds.
So we'll just do this for about a minute or two.
Again,
Just continuing that,
Just at your own pace of breath.
To really get the hang of that.
Notice the effects and the quality that it has not just on your exhale,
But the length of your inhale.
Five more breath cycles.
After you complete your next exhale.
We'll just let that drift into a soft ujjayi breath cycle.
So now I'm breathing in and out through your nose.
You're just making that soft ocean wave like sound with each breath cycle.
We just want to keep that elongated hoo-breath pace the whole time.
So keeping that strong connection to your ujjayi breath throughout the rest of this practice.
Start to add in some movement.
Slide your legs together.
Reach your arms up overhead.
And then before we stretch more deeply,
Just let gravity do the work.
So like I mentioned,
We'll take a lot of moments to pause in these poses.
So a couple of breaths.
Letting gravity do the work first.
And you can stay in that more passive stretch way.
Now actively stretch your toes away from your fingertips.
If you'd like to add in a bit more movement,
Start to hover your arms off the earth and then point and flex your feet fast enough that you just rock yourself forward and back.
Next time your toes point,
We'll keep that.
Inhale maybe rock or stretch a little bit longer.
And with your next exhale,
Bring your arms out wide.
And bend your knees,
Plant the soles of your feet down in front of your hips.
We'll take about one to two breaths here.
Notice the change,
Not just for your legs,
But your low back.
And staying connected to breath.
Your next exhale,
Let your knees fall to the right.
Now if you're inhaling,
Bring your knees back to center.
We'll turn that into a flow.
So with your next exhale,
Knees to the left.
Inhale,
New center.
Exhale knees to the right You can go at your own pace or with me.
XCL news left.
Inhale,
New center.
Exhale,
Knees to the right.
Inhale,
Knee center.
Exhale knees to the left.
Just keep going with that.
Inhale,
Knee center.
Exhale knees to the right.
Inhale,
New center.
Exhale,
Knees left.
We'll do one more time each side.
Inhale,
Knee center.
Axial knees to the right.
Inhale,
New center.
Exhale,
Knees to the left.
Next time they fall to the left,
We'll keep them there.
We'll hold for about five deep breaths.
And if that's enough of a twist,
You can stay.
Bring that left foot on top of the right leg.
You're using the passive weight of that left leg to pull the right knee more towards the earth.
And once you're there,
Take about four or five more long breath cycles.
As your body starts to release more and more tension.
Maybe for these last couple breaths,
Each exhale you can feel that right knee pulling more,
Just releasing more towards the earth.
It's ready to come out.
Outer edge of that left foot back down.
Next inhale bring these back to sky.
With your exhale,
Knees to the right.
And once you're there,
Check in.
So maybe you stay.
Maybe that right foot goes above on top of that left leg.
And once you're there,
Land with about five deep breath cycles.
Last two,
Maybe each exhale you feel that left knee dropping more towards the earth.
To feel even versus that first side.
Release that right foot back down.
Inhale,
Bring knees back to center.
Again,
Pause there,
One breath or two,
And notice the change.
And we'll find baby pose.
Bring your knees to chest,
Keeping your hips moving towards the earth.
You can keep them in that same position,
Grab the outer edges of your feet,
Otherwise grab the inner edges,
So either ankles,
Or index and middle fingers wrap around big toes,
Catching your thumbs.
My favorite version there.
And then take a breath in the center.
So we'll re-pull knees and hips down more towards the earth.
You have the option to stay here,
Baby,
Or happy baby,
Taking your time to rock side to side.
I like to straighten through one leg as I bend the opposite knee.
And then just take that side to side.
And then each round I can get each leg a little bit more straight each time.
About three more cycles.
Once you're feeling even there,
Bring it all the way back to the center.
We pull knees and hips down,
One breath.
Maybe you can pull knees and hips down more towards the earth this time.
From there.
We'll hug in the right knee towards the chest.
If you have no low back pain,
You can stretch that left leg long.
Do you have any low back pain or even just More discomfort,
You can bend the left knee,
Plant the left foot down.
But either way pull it in the right knee more toward your chest.
If that left leg is long,
Press that left heel away from that right knee at the same time.
Take about two deep breaths in that space.
Keeping that left leg at least a little active and grounded.
Stay or make some slow circles at the sky with the right knee.
You're really moving from the right hip.
And as you are moving in those circles,
Just notice those directions that feel more open.
Some of them feel less so.
Two more circles in this first direction.
And then,
As you're ready,
Change the direction of those circles.
Last circle or two in the second direction.
So re-hugging that right knee back towards chest,
Re-press that left heel long at the left leg straight.
Take a breath there.
Maybe with your exhale you can point the right knee more towards you.
And then from there,
Again,
You can stay.
That right knee hugged in.
Or now kick the right leg to straight.
Keep a little bend through the right knee as much as you need.
And then interlace fingers behind the right thigh.
And then pull in the right knee more towards you until you just feel a nice,
Gentle,
Good feeling stretch for the back of that right leg.
So we'll start here for about three deep breath cycles.
And then from this foundation.
I'm going to add in some circles at the right ankle.
Red big toes drawing circles at the sky in one direction Move nice and slow with that as well.
Maybe there's some angles with that right foot that feel good,
Like it hurts so good in a nice way.
You can stay there and breathe.
Otherwise continue that circling.
And then change the direction of those circles.
Once you feel even in both directions,
Circle that right big toe all the way back around so the right foot is at least a little flexed.
And then point and flex that right foot about three or four times.
Take your time with that.
Just notice the effect that that has on the back of your right leg.
And then choose,
So either right toes point,
Right foot flex,
Or somewhere in between,
Whatever you need for the back of that right leg.
Take one deep inhale.
And then with your exhale,
Pull in the right knee more towards you until you feel a nice feeling stretch for the back of that right leg in kind of a more deep way.
So we'll take about five deep breaths there.
Once you get the hang of that,
Last two or three breaths.
Maybe each exhale you can feel that right knee pulling more and more in towards you.
Maybe that last exhale is pulling in the right knee the most,
Maybe even just in an energetic kind of way.
Take your time to transition,
Re-hugging the right knee,
Repress left heel long,
Take a breath.
And we'll set up for a supine and pigeon pose.
So bend the left knee,
Plant the sole of that left foot down.
And just outwardly rotate at the right hip to place the right shin or ankle below that left knee.
We'll take a breath or two with that left foot grounded first.
And this may be great,
So you may want to stay here.
Otherwise,
Lift your legs towards you in that configuration.
And we'll do a flow first to come into a deeper stretch.
So right hand to right knee,
Left hand to the bottom of that right foot.
Once you have that,
With your inhale,
Press your legs away from you like you're moving underwater,
So coming out of your stretch.
With your exhale coming towards you into your stretch from that outer right hip.
We'll do that four more times.
As we inhale,
Press away.
Exhale pulling in back towards you.
Inhale away.
Exhale back towards you.
Inhale away.
Exhale back towards you.
Last one,
Inhale away.
Exhale back towards you,
Find your edge.
Stay there.
And then interlace fingers maybe behind that left thigh,
Or if you can reach without too much tension.
In front of that left shin.
Keep the right foot at least a little flexed as you keep the left knee pulling in towards you at the same time.
We'll pause and breathe here for about five deep breath cycles.
You're just trying to find that place between effort and ease.
So about two more deep breaths.
Maybe that last exhale you pull in the left knee the most,
Again maybe just in an energetic kind of way,
It just feels like a release,
So no forcing.
With your inhale,
Just bring your legs away from you to succumb out on interlaced fingers.
And hand back to knee and foot.
And once you're there,
This time we'll just rock the hips side to side.
Taking your time with that rocking can really slow that down.
Noticing how each side feels.
And we'll use that momentum to find a twist back to the left.
So legs are going to stay in that configuration as best as possible.
So you're in the outer edge of that left leg and the sole of that right foot.
With the arms,
The left hand goes to that right thigh.
Press that right thigh away from you.
And then either right hand to heart.
Right arm out to the side.
Either gazing up or over at your right fingertips.
And again,
About five deep breaths.
Once you've really landed in your pose here.
Maybe each inhale,
That three-dimensionality stays.
With your exhale,
As your body releases more and more tension,
You can just feel that release with that right thigh moving away from you.
The last couple of deep breaths.
Your last exhale is the most of a release.
And so come out.
Press to the outer edge of that left foot.
Bring your legs back to that start.
Supine pigeon pose position so the left foot's on the earth right shin or ankle still below that left knee.
We're back where we started.
Take a breath there and notice how this feels now.
And again,
If that feels great.
.
.
I always love kind of staying longer in some poses if it feels like you just need more time to breathe there.
Stay,
Otherwise we'll find supine true posts.
So it's tree pose,
But we're just lying down.
Slide that left leg long.
And either keep the right ankle on top of that left thigh or now bring the right foot to the inner edge of that left thigh.
So here's where you may need to block.
So if this feels great,
But if you feel any kind of pulling or tension for that right knee,
Maybe grab a block,
Place that underneath that right thigh or right knee.
Gonna do without today.
And we'll be here a bit longer,
So about 10 to 15 breaths.
With the arms,
Right hand to right thigh.
Left hand to left thigh.
And either using the passive weight of your arms or more actively but gently pressing thighs away from each other to aid yourself in a deeper pose.
About five more long,
Good,
Deep breath cycles.
Three-dimensionality stays with your breath.
Really tapping into that sense of stillness.
Maybe with each deep breath cycle.
Inhale you can really just feel that moving down towards your porcelain.
All the way down to your hips.
Now with each exhale,
That sensation just kind of opens up a little bit more with your hips.
You feel that right knee and left knee just move in opposite directions.
I can just feel nice and subtle.
Let's do that two more long breath cycles.
And staying as long as you need.
To come out.
Use the right hand to close the right knee like a book.
Lancing the sole of that right foot back down,
Left leg still long.
Take a breath there and notice.
Re-pulling right knee back to chest.
Repress that left heel long away from that right knee.
Take a breath there,
Notice.
And stay.
Or re-kick that right leg back to straight.
A little bend through right knee though as much as you need to.
This time bring your hands around your hip bones.
Thumb and index finger wrap around hip bones.
Elbows out wide,
They're on the earth.
And then we'll do a slow flow core practice.
So this can be enough,
Just put that right leg lifted.
We'll inhale,
Press out through both heels.
And then with your exhale,
Nice and slow,
Float the right heel towards those left toes.
That's one of four.
So inhale all the way back up.
Exhale again,
Lower back down so maybe they touch.
Inhale,
Lift back up.
Exhale,
Lower back down.
And last one,
Inhale,
Lift back up.
Exhale,
Lower back down.
So next inhale,
Your right leg lifts all the way back up.
Reinterlace fingers behind right thigh.
We pull a knee back towards chest again until you feel that nice feeling stretch for the back of that right leg.
Five deep breaths.
After all that,
Noticing how the back of your right leg feels now.
For me,
I always feel like each exhale I can really just pull in the right knee more and more.
Again,
It just feels like I'm just really using my breath.
And not much else.
Two more good,
Deep breaths.
Maybe that last exhale you pull in the right knee the most.
From there,
Take your time to re-hug in right knee,
Repress left heel long,
Take a breath.
Bringing left knee to join right knee,
So both knees hug in.
Stay in the center stillness or rock the weight side to side.
Noticing how you feel side to side,
Last couple rocks.
And then once you're back to center,
We'll switch sides,
So left knee hugs in.
Maybe interlace fingers with the opposite pinky in front just to change it up.
And either right foot plants down or right leg long if there's no low back pain.
So take about two deep breaths to pull in that left knee,
The right leg is long,
Press the right heel away at the same time.
And stay as long as you need there.
Or make those slow circles at the sky with that left knee.
Right leg stays active and grounded,
So a little flex through the right foot to make those circles.
The last couple circles in this first direction.
And then change direction.
Your last couple circles are your biggest circles.
And re-hugging that left knee back towards chest,
Repress right heel long,
Take a breath.
So maybe pulling in the left knee the most this time.
And again,
Stay as long as you need there,
Or now kick that left leg to straight.
A little bend through the left knee as much as you need.
Reinterlace fingers behind that left thigh.
And then pull in the left knee until you feel that nice,
Enjoyable feeling stretch for the back of that left leg.
Do about three deep breaths.
And from that foundation.
Get those slow circles moving from your left ankle area.
So left toes drawing circles at the sky in one direction.
Again,
If there's any angles for that left foot that feel good,
You can stay there and breathe.
This feels nice too if you've been walking or running a lot.
To bring that blood flow back.
And then change the direction of those circles.
Once you're even in both directions,
Circle that left foot all the way back so the left foot's a little flexed.
And then nice and slow about three or four times,
Point and flex that left foot.
And then just seeing what that does for the back of your left leg.
And then choose,
So either left foot flexed.
Left toes point,
Or somewhere in between,
Whenever you need for the back of that left leg.
Keep that.
We pull in left knee back towards you.
Five deep breaths.
Maybe these last couple breath cycles,
Each exhale you can feel that left knee pulling more and more in.
Maybe last exhale,
It pulls in the most.
And then taking your time to re-hugging left knee.
You press right heel long.
And there that starts supine pigeon pose position.
So we bend the right knee.
We plant sole of right foot down.
Outwardly rosated left hip.
Bring left shin or ankle below the right knee.
So start there and see how you feel now.
And that may be where you might want to stay.
Otherwise,
Lift your legs in that configuration towards you.
Left hand to left knee,
Right hand to the bottom of that foot.
And then we'll use that flow.
Just find a deeper stretch.
With your inhale,
Press your legs away from you.
Your exhale back towards you into your stretch.
And we'll do that about four more times.
So inhale,
Pressing away.
Exhale towards you.
Inhale away.
Exhale towards you.
Inhale away.
Exhale towards you.
And last one,
Inhale away.
Exhale towards you.
Two landed there.
Feels good for the outer left hip.
You stay.
Interlace fingers behind right thigh,
Or if you can,
Without too much tension,
In front of the right shin.
That left foot at least a bit flexed.
Pull in the right knee more towards you at the same time.
Finding that balance between effort and ease.
And my five deep breaths.
Again for these last three deep breaths or so.
Maybe each exhale you can feel that right knee pulling more towards you.
Pull the right knee the most,
Last exhale.
From there,
Bring your legs away from you just to come out.
Keep your legs in that configuration.
Left hand,
Left knee.
Right hand back to the bottom of that foot.
So you're set up there,
Rock side to side.
The last couple of rocks.
And use that momentum to find your twist to the right.
The outer edge of that right leg,
Sole of that left foot.
With the right hand that comes to that left thigh,
You press that left thigh away from you.
And then either left hand to heart or left arm out to the side.
Either gazing up or over at your left fingertips.
And once you're there,
About five long,
Good,
Deep breaths.
Maybe each inhale you can feel that three-dimensional expansion.
Each exhale,
That release,
That left thigh presses away more easily.
Staying as long as you need.
Once you're ready to come out,
Press at the outer edge of that right foot.
Bring your legs back to that start supine pose position,
Right foot on the earth.
Left ankle still below right knee.
And again,
Notice how you feel now.
And then staying here.
Or slide it out to that fallen or supine tree post.
Right leg straight.
Left shin or ankle on top of right thigh,
You can stay or grab the block on the opposite side.
To place underneath that thigh or knee.
And maybe that left foot comes to the inner edge of that right thigh.
We'll be here a bit longer,
So about 10 to 15 long breaths.
We'd like to add in the arm option.
Right hand back to right thigh,
Left hand back to left thigh.
Pass away with arms or more actively pressing thighs away from each other.
About five more long,
Deep breaths.
Maybe each inhale,
That three-dimensionality travels all the way down to your hips.
With your exhale,
You feel that just deepen the pose.
So knees and thighs just moving away from each other,
Maybe even just in an energetic kind of way.
About two more long breaths.
Once you're ready to come out.
Use the left hand to close that left knee like a book,
Planting the sole of that left foot back down.
Take a breath there again,
Just notice.
Subtle changes.
Hugging left knee,
We press right heel long,
Take a breath there,
Again notice.
Again,
Holding that.
Left leg back to straight,
Thumb and index finger wrap around hip bones.
So,
Slow flow core practice again.
And again,
This may be enough or inhale,
Press that through both heels.
Your exhale,
Left heel floats towards right toes,
Maybe they tap,
Touch.
And hairy lifts.
So three more.
Exhale,
Lowering back down.
And here we lift.
Exhale,
Lower back down.
And how we lift.
Exhale,
Lower back down.
The last one to inhale just relifts,
Hold there.
Re-interlace fingers,
Maybe same pinky below.
We pull in left knee back towards chest until you feel that nice and feeling stretch for the back of that left leg.
Five long breaths.
Maybe each inhale,
That subtle pressing out through both heels.
Exhale,
That left knee pulls in more and more.
Last couple of good deep breaths.
Maybe that last exhale is pulling in the left knee the most for you.
That most release Take your time re-hugging left knee,
Repress right heel long,
Take a breath.
Bringing right knee to join left knee,
So both knees hug back in.
A sensor,
Or once again,
Rock side to side.
Now noticing how you feel side to side,
After that on both sides.
Knees come back to center.
Back to baby pose,
So inner or outer edges of feet.
Knees and hips down.
Take a breath there.
Again,
Stay centered.
Or happy baby,
Rock side to side.
Again,
Maybe straightening through one leg at a time as you bend the opposite knee.
And if you took that the first time around,
Notice how the back of your legs feel now.
And not just your legs,
But how those are connected to your low back.
About two more cycles.
Once you've completed that last cycle.
Back to baby in the center.
We pull knees and hips down,
Take a breath there.
From there,
We hug in knees towards chest.
This time.
The forehead towards knees.
Give yourself a little hug squeeze with your exhale.
With your inhale back to that stretch long position.
So arms and legs reach away from each other.
And then this time we'll use that for a supine half-moon pose.
So we'll walk the torso and arms and over,
I'm going to suggest the left side.
You can start on the opposite side if you'd like.
So legs and torso to your left if you're taking the same side as me.
And maybe stack one ankle on top of the opposite ankle.
And just gaze up underneath that right arm.
And just like that supine tree pose,
We'll be here a bit longer,
So about 10 to 15 breaths.
Those deep breaths into stillness.
Each inhale,
You feel that sense of expanding.
Exhale that sense of lightness and grounding.
And about five more deep breaths.
The last breath or two.
Once you're ready to come out.
Unstack the ankle.
Lock yourself back to center.
Take a breath in the center,
Stretch long,
Passive or active.
And then again,
Use that lengthening.
And the same pose on the opposite side.
Stacking opposite angle on top.
Gazing up underneath that opposite arm,
So left arm.
For about 10 to 15 long,
Good,
Deep breaths.
So that three dimensionality really stays throughout each breath cycle.
Each inhale,
That expansion.
Each exhale,
That release,
That calm sense of grounding.
Five more deep breaths.
Last breath or two.
And once you feel even versus that first side,
Your time to unsack the ankle.
Yourself back to center.
It's a very active,
Long stretch.
From there,
Slide out.
To a Shravasana.
Arms and legs out as wide as you're comfortable.
And so maybe no props,
If that's best.
So you're just kind of in this starfish position.
But you do have that blanket roll.
So you can use that.
To place underneath thighs.
And that helps us keep your knees bent.
The blocks can go underneath your hands.
And it can feel nice just to have that extra bit of support so you can relax deeper into your Shavasana.
Take your time to really land there.
After all that we've done,
Just feel all that integrate into a sense of lightness.
A sense of relaxation.
A place where you have no other responsibility.
Just relax,
Just let go.
And either at your own pace of breath,
Or with me,
Take a long inhale through your nose.
Let that go with a soft sigh out your mouth.
So just let go of your ujjayi breath cycle.
Just let your breath happen naturally.
And you have no other responsibility right here,
Right now.
But to relax.
And find your space.
This is a song called Stardust.
Can't pretend that I know the answers to life Mystery deep in me,
Can't we wait and see?
In this hand I've lost my heart I want,
I want To get back to this place With all this time And the mystery of grace Where I could learn to make mistakes And take my time and find my place Hold my breath to say goodbyes Where life was simple The mystery deep in you,
You just won't control.
Of all the things that you can't see,
You just have to know.
In this head You've lost your heart I want,
I want To get back to this place With all these stars and the mystery of grace Where I could learn to make mistakes And take my time to find my place Hold my breath to say goodbyes Where life was simple We are just stardust We're trying to find our way home Without these earthly lessons All for me and you of me and you.
Of me and you.
I want,
I want To get back to this place With all these stars And the mystery of grace Where I could learn to make mistakes And take my time to find my place Hold my breath to say goodbyes When life was simple Taking some deeper breaths again.
That awareness has come back and that presence come back into your space.
And then as you're ready,
Start to make some movements.
Maybe moving fingers and toes.
Be rolling wrists and ankles.
Really anything else that feels good and intuitive.
Just bring back an even sense of energy for the rest of your day.
That's the intention.
From there we slide the legs back together.
Arms up overhead.
They're in that passive way,
More actively stretch the toes away from fingertips.
Pull in knees towards chest.
Say center or rock side to side.
Use that momentum to roll to A-side.
Your choice.
Whatever side feels most balancing to end your practice.
Just take a breath on the side.
Use your hands.
Once you're ready,
Press yourself up.
Into a Sukhasana,
Which is this easy,
Comfortable feet position.
Your time to get there and land.
Through there,
Bring your hands to heart.
So one last moment to pause before you end your practice.
Just notice how you feel now versus when you first started.
Just give yourself a thanks.
Making the time for yourself and your own sense of well-being.
Just appreciating those ripple effects to everyone around you by doing that.
And we'll just end this practice with one collective breath.
As you're ready,
Inhale through nose.
Soft exhale,
Let go out mouth.
We'll end there.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Namaste.
