Unwind Back Tension | Gentle Yoga

A short sequence to release tension from the back and encourage spinal mobility. We practice Child's Pose, Cat-Cow, Thread the Needle, Downward-Facing Dog, Upward-Facing Dog, neck stretches, a seated twist, and Supported Savasana. If you have a rolled-up blanket or mat, or a yoga bolster, have it with you for the relaxation at the end.

Background music by Relaxing Time.

Transcript

Welcome to this short practice to release out tension from your back. Make sure you've got some props with you. You might like to have some blocks or otherwise some cushions for support in some of the postures. And for your final relaxation you'll need a rolled up blanket or a rolled up mat, Although if you don't have those you can also do this without them. We're going to start in child's pose. So come onto your knees. Bring your big toes together and open the knees out towards the sides of the mat. Sit back onto your heels, Bring your arms forwards, Bringing your head to the mat. And if you want to support yourself here you can take a block or a cushion onto your heels. You can support your head with a block or with your stacked arm. And start to feel into your body. Notice how your body's feeling today. Notice which places are communicating to you that they are ready for some release. So most of us hold some tension in our back. We're going to be moving the spine and just easing out some of that tension, Create more freedom, More flexibility. If there is an area that feels a bit more tight today, Whether that's around your shoulders or in your lower back or your mid back, Just take a few breaths into that area. As you breathe in, Send the breath into that place of tension. And exhale to feel that area beginning to release a little. Take some more breaths like that, Breathing into the tension. Exhaling to feel some of that tension releasing. It might be that there's a different part of your body that's feeling more uncomfortable or more in need of release today. If that's the case, Send a breath into that area, Into your thighs. Into your arms or wherever it needs to go. Allowing each exhalation to encourage some release. To encourage some freedom. Now bring your hands under your shoulders and press up, Calling to your hands and knees. So taking your wrists under the shoulders and your knees under your hips. We'll start to wake up this spine with some cat-cow stretches. So as you inhale, Let the belly drop towards the mat, Bring the chest forwards and look up towards the sky. And exhale bring the chin in towards the chest and arch and round the back. So a few more of these. Inhale the chest forwards, Look up. Exhale, Round the back. And see if you can coordinate the breaths and the movements so that you begin each movement and each breath together. Can you finish the movement and the breath together? Come back to the hands and knees. We're going to come in to thread the needle. So we'll take the right arm behind the left gum first. So thread the right arm behind the left, Keeping the palm of the hand facing upwards. Bring the right ear and the right shoulder to the mat, Or if it's more accessible or more comfortable for you, Take a block to rest the head onto. You can keep the left hand as it is. Or you can lift that left arm up and stretch the fingers up towards the sky. Or if you want a bit more opening through the shoulder, Take the left hand behind the back and you can rest the hand at your lower back or you can rest it at your right thigh. Roll the left shoulder back to spiral the chest towards the left. And release the left arm back to the mat. Coming back to your hands and knees. We'll go to the other side, So taking the left arm behind the right. Keeping the palm facing upwards. And take the head to the mat either taking the left ear to the mat or to rest onto a block. You can keep the right hand where it is. You can reach the arm up towards the sky or you can take the hand around to rest at the lower back or to rest on the left thigh. Roll the right shoulder back, Spiral the chest towards the right. And release back to the mat, Bring the right hand under the right shoulder unthread the left arm, Come back to the hands and knees. Let's take a few more cat-cows, Inhaling the chest forwards and the head up. Exhaling to round the back. We're going to come into downward facing dog, So making sure that your wrists are under your shoulders, Spread the fingers wide. And just take a moment to bring your attention into your hands. And notice where the weight is pressing into your hand. Make sure that you're pushing down into the base of the thumb. The bases of the fingers. Now turn the toes under behind you, Take a breath in and exhale to lift the hips towards the sky and release the head. Come up onto the tips of your toes to begin with, Lifting the hips as high as you can. The spine is nice and long, The neck and the head are releasing towards the mat. Keeping that height in the hips, Now begin to lower the heels towards the mat. Get that stretch through the backs of the legs. Press into the bases of the hands to keep levering the hips up and away from you. And exhale, Bend the knees, Bring the knees to the mat and point the toes away and sit onto your heels, Sitting back into child's pose, Bringing your forehead to the mat. You can stretch the arms out in front or you can make a pillow with the arm. Take a few resting breaths here. We're going to come up into downward facing dog again so come back to your hands and knees. Turn the toes under and exhale to lift the hips and release the head. Of bringing the body into an inverted V shape. Pressing the hips up towards the sky Releasing the heels towards the mat. Remember to keep breathing here. This time we're going to come down and come into upward facing dog. So as you exhale bring your knees to the mat. Swing your hips forwards and bring your chest in between your armpits. Push into your hands to lift your chest. Roll the shoulders back, Open the front of the body, Look up towards the sky. Pulling up from the pelvic floor and feeling that lift through the whole of the upper body. We're going to move back into downward facing dog, So push back onto your hands and knees, Lift your hips, Release your head. So these two postures are very good for stretching the back of the body and then stretching the front of the body. Bring the knees to the mat, Take the hips forwards, Bring the chest between the armpits, Lift the chest. Open the top of the shoulders and look up to the sky. And exhale to push back into child's pose. Sitting back onto the heels, Bring the forehead to the mat or make a pillow with the arms and take a few resting breaths. And take your hands to the outsides of the knees and slowly curl up. One vertebrae at a time. Bringing the spine up into a straight line. And then bring the neck and the head back up. And from here come to sitting with your legs crossed If you need any support to sit more comfortably you can sit onto a block or you can sit onto a folded blanket. We're just going to stretch the neck. So keeping your back straight and keeping your shoulders still, Exhale to drop your chin to your chest. Inhale to lift the head, Take the head back to stretch the front of the neck. Two more of these, Exhale the chin to the chest. Inhale the head back. Exhale the chin to the chest. Inhale the head back. Now bring the head to the centre and we'll stretch from side to side. So keeping the shoulders still, Exhale the right ear to the right shoulder. So feeling the stretch through the left side of the neck. Inhale the head to the center Exhale the left ear to the left shoulder. Twice more on each side, Inhale to the centre Exhale the right ear to the right shoulder. Inhale the head to the centre. Exhale the left ear to the left shoulder. Inhale to the centre. Exhale to the right. Inhale to the centre. Exhale to the mat. Inhale the head to the centre. We're going to turn the head now. So as you exhale, Turn the head to look over the right shoulder. Take the eyes to the right. Inhale, The head back to the centre. Exhale, Turn the head to look over the left shoulder. Inhale to the centre. Exhale to the right. Inhale to the centre. Exhales to the left Inhale. Exhale to the right. Inhale to the centre. Exhale to the left. And inhale, Bring your head back to the centre. Change the cross of the legs, So whichever leg is in front, Bring the other leg forward. And we'll just finish with a twist. So now bring your left hand to the right knee and your right hand behind the back. Press into the right hand to lever the spine up so you have a nice straight spine and then exhale to twist towards the right starting at the hips. Moving through the waist, The chest The shoulders, The neck, The head. And take the eyes towards the right. Each time you inhale feel the spine lifting and lengthening. Each time you exhale, Move a little bit further into the twist. And exhale back to the centre. We'll go to the other side, Take the right hand to the left knee and the left hand behind the back. Take a breath in to straighten the spine and exhale twist to the left. Turning the head over the left shoulder, Take the eyes towards the left. Lengthening upwards with each inhalation. Twisting with each exhalation. And slowly release back to the centre. And we're going to finish with a relaxation. So for this one if you have a rolled up blanket or a rolled up mat you can use that to support your spine for a little more opening through the upper back and the shoulders. So bring your blanket or your mat long ways on your mat. And then come to sitting so that the sacrum is right up against the edge of the blanket and roll back so your spine goes along the centre of the blanket and your shoulders open out towards the side. If you don't have this support you can just come to lying flat on your back. Take your legs to a little bit wider than hip distance apart. Bring your arms to the sides with the palms of the hands facing upwards Take three long deep breaths here. With every exhalation feel the whole of your body letting go, Releasing. Any remaining tension? Releasing from the muscles. To help with the relaxation I'm going to talk through some different parts of the body. Bring the awareness to rest at each point as its name. Beginning at the eyebrow centre. Bring the awareness to rest at the eyebrows centre. Move to the right the right shoulder. The right elbow. The right career. The tip of the right hand thumb. Tip of the right index finger. The tip of the right middle finger. The tip of the ring finger. The tip of the little finger. The right wrist. The right elbow. The right shoulder. This is right. The left shoulder. The left elbow. The left wrist. The tip of the left hand thumb. The tip of the left index finger. The tip of the left middle finger. The tip of the ring finger. The tip of the little finger. The left wrist The left elbow. The left shoulder. This way. The centre of the chest. The left side of the chest. The centre of the chest. The right side of the chest. The centre of the chest. Rest the awareness. The center of the chest. Start to make some movements with the fingers and the toes. With the hands and the feet. Bring the arms over your head for a long stretch through this side Bend the knees, Bring the knees into the chest and hug the knees. Rock from side to side. Massaging out the lower back When you feel ready roll over onto your right side. And make your way back up to city. Just take a moment to sit with the eyes closed. To notice any effects from the practice. Notice how your body is feeling. To notice how you are feeling. And when you're ready slowly open your eyes. This brings us to the end of the practice. Thank you for joining me today.