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
