After Work Restorative Yoga

Unwind after a day at work with this restorative yoga practice. This 18 minute guided yoga class is designed to help you quiet your mind, and allow your body to release after a day of work. A bolster or pillow is needed for this practice.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this after work relaxation restorative yoga practice. We are going to be doing five poses today and I would recommend having a pillow, A bolster and set up close to a wall or the headboard in your bed. So we're going to begin with our first position which will be a legs up the wall pose. So sit up close to a wall and lay yourself back putting your feet up the wall. As I said you can also use a headboard in your bed. You could do this whole practice in bed if you want but we'll be using the wall for the majority of our practice. Once you've settled here point and flex the feet a few times maybe circle out the ankles and then find stillness with the legs. Just feel yourself resting in this position. You might feel a bit of a cooling or tingling sensation in the legs. This is good. This is that return of fluid moving back towards the heart and your circulatory and lymphatic system working hard after a long day and getting a little bit of a break of a recharge. And as you breathe imagine on the inhale you're sending your breath all the way up to the tips of your toes. And as you exhale feel the breath move back down the legs. Just breathing down low as you rest imagining the breath reaches all the way up to the tips of the toes helping you to soften and release any tension from the toes and the legs the feet. Maybe you've been on your feet all day letting your feet and legs have a nice rest here allowing your upper body to be heavy as it sinks into the surface beneath you. And now slowly bringing your legs back down by bending the knees keeping the knees bent plant your feet firmly on the wall. You may have to slide back a little bit further away from the wall. And we're going to move into a supported pigeon with the wall. So to do this you will take your left ankle cross it over the right knee and you'll find that figure four position. And if it feels a little bit intense here just move yourself farther away from the wall to help de-intensify the sensation in the hip and the glutes. And once you have settled into stillness breathing deeply every inhale expands the hips and release tension from the low back. And just noticing any areas that may feel tight here imagine they expand on the inhale and soften and release tension on the exhale. Taking a few final moments just to be in this position. And when it feels right to you you'll switch sides just by uncrossing your one foot and switching this time right ankle over the left thigh finding that figure four position once again on the other side. And just checking in here noticing there's any areas that feel tight or if this side feels different than the other side. Perhaps if you spent the day sitting at a desk the hips might feel a little bit tight and that's okay. Ascend your breath down low into the belly. Noticing the hips expanding on the inhale and softening releasing tension on the exhale. Continuing to breathe. Upper body is soft and heavy as it rests on the surface beneath you. And now unwinding from this position keeping the knees bent but bringing both feet onto the wall. We're going to move into a twist. So if space allows bringing your arms out to a T and walking both feet all the way over to the right side of the wall until you find yourself in a twist. Once you're here breathing down deeply into the belly feeling that internal churning that internal massage the massage of your inner organs the softening of the small muscles that run up and down the spine. Allowing gravity to do all of your work here. Every inhale expands the abdomen and every exhale allows you to soften a little bit more into this twist. And now switching sides just by walking your feet up through center and over to the left side of the wall. Finding the twist on the other side and just noticing if it feels different here. Noticing if this side feels tight or not so tight. There's not anything that you need to do about it but just notice these signals the body's sending you. And allow yourself to melt under the gentle hug of gravity. Breathing down low into the belly. There's nothing you need to do and there's nowhere you need to be except for here in this moment in this posture. And now slowly easing out of the twist. Coming back through center. We're going to do one more position with the wall. We're going to do a frog pose against the wall. So to do this you will hug the knees into the chest and then spread the knees apart from one another as far as you can and then plant the feet back on the wall. So this is a supporting position. Hip opener with the wall. You might want to take a moment to move and adjust a little bit. You may be feeling this mostly in the inner thighs or inner hips. That's where we want to feel it. And just allowing yourself to breathe and be. Allowing the hips to soften with time but also checking in with the spine. Feeling those small muscles that run up and down the spine soften. You find you may lengthen through the torso just a little bit here. Giving yourself the gift of a few quiet moments as the hips release from a long day. Now slowly easing out of this position. Maybe helping your knees back in towards one another. Taking your time. And then when you're ready you roll over to your side and press yourself up just enough to move away from the wall. And if you have that pillow or bolster going to take it and place it underneath your torso. Coming to a supported heart opener. So laying over the bolster or a few pillows from your bed will work just fine. Bringing your arms out to a T or goalpost arms. Bending the knees. Stepping the feet out wide and letting the knees rest in towards one another. Coming to our final position. Breathing into the belly and allowing the heart center to open. The intercostal muscles between the ribs soften their grip. The throat opens. Everything releases. Allowing your mind to quiet and everything to be still. As you transition away from your day at work and into your evening ahead. Giving yourself the gift of time just to simply be. Now beginning to awaken by wiggling fingers and toes. Maybe deepening your breath or finding a full body stretch. And slowly making your way off of the pillows or bolsters and back up to seated. And taking a big deep breath in and out. Thank you so much for joining me for this practice. Have a beautiful day.