Yoga For Joint Mobility And Freedom

A gentle and mindful yoga practice focused on releasing tension from the joints whilst uniting the body, mind, and breath. This practice is perfect for releasing stagnation from your body at the beginning of the day, or for any time that you're feeling generally tight and stiff.

We practice neck stretches, shoulder rolls, wrist circles, hand and finger stretches, seated cat-cow, seated spinal twist, hip circles, toe and ankle stretches, cat-cow, child's pose, knee circles, and savasana.

Background music by Relaxing Time
Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva

Transcript

Welcome to your practice.

We're going to begin sitting so bring yourself into a comfortable seated position.

If it's comfortable for you to cross your legs you can sit with your legs cross or if not come to sit in any position that's comfortable for you.

You might like to sit onto a block or a cushion if that feels best.

And once you've found a position that you can comfortably stay in for the next few minutes close your eyes and bring your awareness to your breath.

Notice how the breath is flowing for you today.

Watch the breath flowing in through the nostrils and making its way down into your lungs.

Observe the chest expanding and follow the breath back out again.

And just watch how the breath flows.

Is it fast or is it slow?

Is it shallow or deep?

Where does the breath flow to when it comes into the body?

Does it go into the chest?

Or down into the belly?

Or does it go somewhere else?

Just watch and notice.

And now open your eyes and we're going to begin stretching the neck.

So keeping your spine straight on your next exhalation drop your chin towards your chest so that you feel the stretch through the back of your neck.

Inhale to lift the head and take the head back to stretch the front of the neck.

We'll do this a few times.

Exhale the chin to the chest.

Inhale the head back.

Now bring your head back to the centre and we're going to go from side to side.

So as you exhale this time drop the right ear to the right shoulder stretching through the left side of the neck.

Inhale the head back to the centre and exhale the left ear to the left shoulder to stretch the right side of the neck.

Inhale the head back to the centre and we'll continue with a few more of these taking the head to the side on the exhalation and coming back to the centre on the inhalation.

Bring the head back to the centre and now we're going to turn the head.

So as you exhale turn the head to look over the right shoulder.

Inhale back to the centre and exhale to look over the left shoulder.

Inhale to the centre.

We'll do some more of these exhaling to turn the head to look over the shoulder and inhaling back to the centre.

Bring the head back to the centre and we'll start to move into the shoulders.

So now bring your hands to rest on the shoulders and make some big circles with the elbows.

Awakening the shoulder joints.

And make some circles the opposite way.

And release the arms and bring the arms out to straight in front of you in line with the shoulders.

Make the hands into fists and make some circles with the wrists here.

See if you can keep the elbows still so that the movement just comes from your wrists.

And circle the opposite way.

And now bring the wrists back to still and inhale to open the fingers as wide as you can.

Exhale to bring the fingers back in together.

We'll do this a few times.

Inhale to spread the fingers wide.

Exhale to squeeze the fingers in towards the palms.

And relax the hands.

Rest the hands onto your thighs or wherever is most comfortable for you.

And we're going to move the spine.

We'll start with a sitting cat-cow.

So as you inhale now bring your chest forward to curve the spine.

Lift the chest up and if it's comfortable in your neck turn your head to look up towards the ceiling.

And exhale to bring the chin to the chest.

Round the back.

Draw the navel in towards the spine.

We'll do some more of these.

Inhale to lift the chest.

Arch up.

Exhale.

Bring the chin to the chest and round.

And now bring the spine back to straight and we'll come into a twist.

Bring your left hand to rest on your right knee and take your right hand to the mat behind you.

Take a breath in to lengthen the spine.

And as you exhale twist towards the right.

Moving from the waist,

The chest,

The shoulders,

The neck and the head.

Take your eyes as far to the right as they'll go.

Each time you breathe in lift and lengthen the spine.

And each time you breathe out see if you can move a little further into the twist.

And exhale to come back to the centre and we'll change sides.

Bring the right hand to the left knee and the left hand to the mat behind you.

Take a breath in to lengthen the spine and exhale into your twist.

Turning the body to the left.

Taking the head to look over the left shoulder.

Taking the eyes to the left.

Inhale to lengthen the spine upwards.

Exhale move a little more deeply into the twist.

And exhale to come back to the centre.

And now bring your legs to straight.

Have the legs straight out in front of you.

And if it feels most comfortable for you to sit onto a block or a cushion take the support that you need.

Now keeping the left leg straight bend the right knee and take the right foot into the left hand.

Take your right hand to your right knee and we're going to start to open up the hip.

So begin to make some circles with the right leg.

Starting to work into the right hip.

And make some circles the opposite way.

And now take the right foot to rest on the left thigh and bring your right hand to rest on the right thigh.

As you exhale place some gentle pressure onto the right leg as if you're encouraging the knee towards the mat.

It might not move very far and that's okay.

The important thing is just to get some activity happening in the hip.

Take the right hand to the outside of the right leg and inhale the leg up bringing the knee towards the chest.

We'll do a few of these.

Exhaling to press the leg down.

Encouraging the knee towards the mat.

And inhaling to bring the knee up towards the chest.

And release the right leg.

Bring the leg back to straight and we'll do the other side.

So bending the left knee this time.

Take the left foot into the right hand and bring the left hand to the left knee.

And begin to make some circles with the left leg.

Awakening the left hip.

And circle the other way.

Now bring the left foot to rest on the right thigh.

Taking the left hand to the left thigh.

And exhale to press the knee down towards the mat.

Inhale to lift the knee towards the chest.

We'll do a few more of these.

And release the left leg.

Bring the leg back to straight.

And just pause for a moment here to observe how your body feels.

To notice any effects from those movements.

And now make your way onto your hands and knees.

If you have sensitive knees or if you feel like you'd like some extra padding for your knees.

Take a folded blanket here to kneel on.

We're going to work into the feet now.

So turn your toes under behind you.

And as much as possible make sure that all of your toes are making a connection with the mat.

This can be quite an intense stretch.

So find the place that feels best for your feet.

Where you're feeling something happening but where it's manageable to stay.

You can stay here with your hands under your shoulders.

Or to deepen the stretch start to sit back towards the heels.

Perhaps sitting all the way back onto your heels with your hands extended on the mat in front of you.

And to deepen the stretch even further walk the hands in.

Perhaps coming to a straight spine and bringing the palms together.

Breathe into any tension.

And slowly release.

Bring the hands back to the mat and walk the hands forwards back under the shoulders.

Release the feet and just tap the feet out here to ease off any tension.

And we'll stretch the ankles and the fronts of the feet now.

So pointing the toes away from you sit back onto the heels.

It may be enough of a stretch for you to remain sitting on your heels with your hands extended in front.

Or to deepen the stretch bring the hands back to the sides of your hips.

Or to go even deeper walk the hands back behind you.

Perhaps lifting the knees off the mat.

Remember to breathe into the tension.

And exhale to release the knees.

Walk the hands forwards to come back onto your hands and knees and tap the feet out again.

And now relax the feet keeping the toes pointing backwards.

Make sure that your wrists are beneath your shoulders and your knees are under your hips.

And we'll do some cat-cows here.

Inhale to drop the belly towards the mat.

Bring the chest forwards through the armpits and look up towards the ceiling.

Exhale to bring the chin towards the chest.

Arch the back.

Draw the navel in towards the spine.

A few more of these.

Inhale the chest forwards curving the spine.

Look up.

Exhale the chin towards the chest.

Round the back.

Arching inwards.

Now bring the spine back to its neutral position.

And make some big circles with the hips here.

And some big circles in the other direction.

We're going to come into a wide child's pose now.

So bring the big toes together and open the knees out towards the sides of the mat.

Sit back onto your heels.

Bring your chest forwards between the legs and extend the arms out towards the corners of the mat.

You can rest your forehead onto the mat.

Or take a block.

Or if it feels better for you,

Stack your forearms and rest your forehead onto the forearms.

You can also place a block or a cushion onto your heels to sit back onto if that feels better for you.

And relax into the posture here.

Allow your body to completely surrender into the position.

Keep breathing into any tension.

Slowly walk the hands in to bring yourself back up to kneeling.

And make your way down to lying on your back.

Bring the knees in towards your chest.

Take your hands to the knees and make some circles with the legs here.

Feeling the lower back massaging into the mat.

Circle in the opposite direction.

And it's time for your relaxation.

So release the legs.

And bring your legs out to straight with the feet a little wider than hip distance apart.

And the toes falling out to the sides.

Bring your arms a little away from the sides of your body.

With the palms of the hands facing upwards.

Close your eyes.

And feel your body very naturally beginning to relax.

Notice how with every breath the body feels heavier.

With every breath any remaining tension releases from the muscles.

With every breath the whole of the body lets go.

These next few minutes are yours.

To rest and to enjoy the effects of your practice.

Slowly begin to make some small movements with the fingers and the toes.

With the hands and the feet.

And bring the arms up over your head for a long stretch down the sides.

Bend the knees.

Bring the knees in towards your chest and gently rock from side to side here.

When you feel ready roll yourself over to one side.

And slowly make your way back up to sitting.

We'll finish sitting with the eyes closed.

And just take a moment to feel into your body.

To notice how your body's feeling.

To observe any effects from the practice.

And take a moment to acknowledge how you are feeling right now.

And when you're ready slowly open your eyes.

This brings us to the end of the practice.

Thank you for joining me today.

Reviews

Hello beautiful 🍊🎈🍒🌸🌷Thank you so much for the wonderful movements🎀🎀they give me like unwrapping a present joy and freedom in my body and heart 💖much love 🕉️Namaste