A Mindful Stretch

For those of us sitting at desks all day, taking ten minutes out to stretch the body can be so helpful. We can get caught up in our daily tasks, and forget that the body needs care and attention .Take time where you are to breath and stretch. It just takes a moment to pause.

Transcript

So either sitting in a chair with your spine erect and the shoulders relaxed or Standing with your feet planted firmly on the floor about a hip distance apart. Let's start by bringing the left ear down to the left shoulder, Feeling the Stretch in the right side of the neck and then bringing the chin down towards The chest and then moving the right ear towards the right shoulder feeling the Stretch now in the opposite side of the neck and if you're comfortable with it Just rotating the head back or if that is too uncomfortable just bringing the Left ear back to the left shoulder and so taking this time to just circle your Head with awareness, Taking it slow and gently And if you like breathing into the parts of this posture where you might feel Some areas of tension or tightness. If you like you can use the in-breath to Rotate the head to the side and forward and use your out-breath to rotate the Head around and back And now just reversing the direction but keeping the same breath pattern if you Like so you're dropping the right ear to the Right shoulder and rotating the chin down towards the chest bringing the left Ear to the left shoulder and around and back Using this time simply to become aware of what's here in the region of the head And the shoulders Staying present as best you can to what you notice And then when you're ready completing the circle that you're on and in your Own way finding a way back to the center and taking a deep breath in And as you breathe out exhaling through the mouth and sighing it out and Breathing in one more time and exhaling sighing it out And now taking the left arm extended upwards so that the hand is pointing up Towards the ceiling and then bend at the elbow allowing that left hand to Touch down behind the neck and now take the right hand and just clasp the left Elbow and give it a gentle pull Holding it here with the breath And allowing this to be a time of simply noticing So where are you feeling this stretch most intensely Are there particular parts of the body where you might like to breathe in a Little bit more deeply And then breathing in deeply you might like to release that left elbow extend The arm up again and exhale release the left hand down towards the side of the Body Take some time just to notice the sensation of release or relief as you Release the arm And now taking the right arm extend the right arm up towards the ceiling so that The fingertips are extending up towards the ceiling and bending the arm allow The right hand now to reach the back of the neck or further down the spine and You can either hold it here or you can take the left hand clasp that right Elbow and just bring a gentle pull to the elbow no need to overextend simply Finding an intelligent edge for yourself as you hold And of course sometimes as we hold a pose we might sometimes hold the breath Or even forget to breathe so if you notice that see if you can breathe with The posture Allowing this to be a time where you can just drop your attention into your body And then taking a deep breath in releasing the elbow extending the arm up One more time stretching the fingers towards the ceiling and as you breathe Out releasing that arm down and allowing it to rest down by the side of The body or if you're sitting allow the hands to rest on the knees and let's Take a deep breath in And breathe out through the mouth Once again taking the time just to notice how the body absorbs the posture And now with the soles of the feet placed against the floor sitting on your Chair taking the hands and placing them on the knees and clasping the knees with The hands you're going to breathe in and as you do so you're bringing the chest Forwards and up And as you breathe out just arching the back in the opposite direction as you Sit on the chair you'll need to give yourself some space to move the chest Both forwards on the in-breath and a nice arch back on the out-breath And taking some time just to explore this movement so you're using the in- Breath to bring the chest forwards and up opening up through the region of the Heart and the chest and as you exhale you're arching the spine in the opposite Direction As you move just noticing the movement of the spine and how the vertebrae of The spine work together to allow you to do this feeling free to pause at any Particular point of the posture that you'd want to explore a little bit more Further Or just allowing yourself to flow freely with this movement inhaling forwards Exhaling back Noticing where and how your spine needs to open And giving it that opportunity to do so And then finding your way back to the center with a deep breath in allowing The spine to be straight the shoulders relaxed the chin slightly in and then Sigh it out through the mouth and one more time breathing in deeply and sigh It out through the mouth again just noticing the sensations in the body And now still seated on your chair lifting the feet off the floor so that The legs are extended in front of you let's take some time just to circle the Feet So you're allowing the feet to circle in opposite directions to each other While you hold the legs up and you feel into the sensations in the feet and the Leg Noticing perhaps how just this tiny movement of circling at the ankles can Be felt throughout the legs in some way or another And then just reversing the direction Noticing what it takes to hold the legs and to move the feet in this way Flexing the feet alternately or together Noticing the movement of the bones in the feet and the sensations in the Calves and the lower legs and then relaxing the feet take a deep breath in And as you exhale allow the feet to move down towards the floor feel the contact As the soles of the feet meet the floor once again Breathing in one more time And as you breathe out release the posture and just allow yourself to Settle back into awareness

Reviews

Hello beautiful 🌸🎀🌸🎀🌸Thank you so much for the wonderful stretching 🌞💖I’m feeling like melted chocolate and smile 🗺️much love 🕉️Namaste