Gentle Sunset Flow | Gentle Hatha

A grounding and calming sequence to end the day and release tension from the body in preparation for a good night's sleep.
Begin in child's pose and move through a seated flow to release tension from the upper back, the shoulders and the neck.
Lounges, side body opening and hip opening poses make up the second portion of this class and are aimed at releasing tension from the low back and the hips.
This sequence is gentle enough for practitioners with a sensitive low back.
Music by Chris Collins

Transcript

We begin this class in child's pose.

Open your knees as wide as is comfortable,

Bring your big toes to touch behind you and bow,

Reaching the arms forward and resting.

The forehead,

The third eye onto the earth.

Find your breath and begin to soften.

Follow the breath and feel yourself releasing a little bit more with each exhalation.

If your mind starts to wander as it does,

Bring it back to the breath,

Using this time to anchor and ground.

Allow yourself to soften a little bit more if you can.

And begin to come upright,

Drawing the hands towards you,

Coming upright with your torso.

Staying in this straddle pose,

Take a moment to bring in the hands in a prayer in front of the heart.

Release your right hand down,

Lift your left arm up alongside the left ear,

Lengthen on the inhalation and exhale,

Side bend to the right.

Option to hold the right side of your face with your left hand and lean into your left hand,

As if it was a backrest.

Open the chest and the throat,

Reaching the chin towards your left elbow.

Come back to centre,

Recalibrate.

Release your left hand down,

Reach the right arm up alongside the right ear,

Lengthen on the inhalation and exhale,

Side bend to the left.

Option to hold the left side of the face with your right hand and lean to the left a little bit more.

Ground your right sitting bone down.

Come back to centre with your torso,

Release the arms down.

Inhale,

Reach the arms out and up and open your chest and your throat to the sky.

The arms are in a V.

On the exhalation,

Join your prayer and draw the prayer to the heart.

Again,

Reach the arms out and up as you look up.

Your arms are spread out in a V.

On the exhalation,

Join your prayer above your head and draw the prayer to the heart.

Inhale,

Arms reach,

Open your heart,

Your chest and your throat to the sky and on the exhalation draw the prayer to the heart.

Come into a tabletop position,

All fours parallel your knees.

Stack your shoulders over the wrists,

Hips over the knees,

Inhale,

Arch,

Tilt the sit bones up,

Open your chest and your throat,

Exhale,

Round chin to chest,

Push the earth away.

Continue with these cat-cow stretches,

Arching and rounding your spine.

Synchronise breath and movement.

Focus on articulating the whole of the spine,

Noticing if there are any areas that you are glossing over or minimising and hang out there.

Come back to stillness.

Walk the knees four or five inches behind the hips and begin to draw circles around your knees with your hips.

Sufi grinds,

Reaching the sitting bones towards the right heel,

Coming up the left heel,

Drawing circles from right,

No right or wrong here,

Focus on unwinding through the tissue,

The fascia,

The muscles.

Change direction if you haven't already,

Going from left to right and walk the knees underneath the hips,

Back into tabletop,

Bring the hips to the heels and bow with the arms reaching behind you for this traditional form of child's pose.

Palms are turned up,

Forehead onto the earth.

You're taking the shape of a little seed.

Release the arms down,

Come upon to all fours,

Tabletop,

Tuck your toes under,

Lift the knees and the hips up and back into tiger dog.

Option to stay onto all fours and walk the hands to the front of the mat and bow in between your arms for anahata asana,

Puppy stretch,

An alternative to tiger dog.

Choose what works.

If you are in tiger dog,

Knees are bent,

Heels are lifted,

Focus on length.

Arms are in line with the ears and the shoulders are drawing down the back.

Navel is engaged and the breath is deep.

Begin to walk the hands towards your feet.

If you are in anahata asana,

You can just scroll back and come into a standing forward fold with knees bent at the back of the mat.

Hold opposite elbows and begin to sway from side to side.

Keep the knees bent,

Release the arms down.

Inhale,

Bring your forearms onto your thighs and squat back,

A variation of halfway lift and exhale,

Fold in,

Keep the knees bent.

Inhale,

Back into this variation of halfway lift,

Exhale,

Fold in,

Let the head go,

Keep the knees bent.

Inhale,

Forearms to thighs,

Squat back,

Lengthen forward,

Exhale,

Fold in again,

Let the head go,

Keep the knees bent.

Inhale,

Begin to unroll one vertebra at a time into standing,

Head comes up last.

When you're upright,

Bring your hands in a prayer in front of your heart and take a moment here to pause.

Release the arms out by the side,

Reach them up on the inhalation,

Hold your left wrist with your right hand,

Lengthen and on the exhalation,

Side bend to the right.

Both arms are straight,

Press the left foot down,

It tends to lighten up in this pose,

Lengthen.

Come back to centre,

Switch wrists,

Holding the right wrist with the left hand and side bend to the left now.

Press the right foot down,

Feel the space that you're creating onto your right side waist but also your left.

Come back to centre,

Separate the arms,

Reach up,

Look up and on the exhalation,

Spin the palms down and lower the arms slowly.

Inhale,

Reach the arms up,

The movement matches the breath.

Exhale,

Spin the palms down and lower the arms down,

Breath and movement in perfect synchrony.

One more time,

Inhale,

Reach the arms out and up,

Make it last a little bit longer than the inhalation.

Exhale,

Lower the arms down as if you were flying on the exhalation.

One more time,

Inhale,

Reach the arms out and up slowly as if you were moving through something sticky.

Exhale,

Palms spin down and the arms lower slowly.

Bring the hands in a prayer in front of the heart one more time,

Allowing the day to wash off you.

Release the arms down,

Inhale,

Reach the arms out and up,

Urdhva Asthasana,

Upward salute,

Exhale,

Bend the knees,

Squat back,

Forearms to thighs,

Release your hands down and walking back out to downward facing dog,

Tiger dog or bringing the knees down and going to puppy stretch.

Choose the variation that serves you best today.

Inhale,

Hinge forward into plank if you are in downward dog,

Bring the knees down,

Back onto all fours,

Step your left foot forward,

You're in a low lunge,

Inhale,

Arms reach overhead,

Exhale,

Release your left arm down and side bend to the left with the right arm alongside your right ear.

Scissor the inner thighs toward one another,

Navel to spine.

Inhale,

Come back to centre with your torso,

Reach both arms up,

Look up,

Regular low lunge.

Frame your left foot on the exhale,

Lift your back knee up,

Crawl to face the long edge of the mat,

Straighten both legs,

You're in a wide-legged forward fold,

Inhale,

Lengthen forward,

Exhale,

Bend your knees and fold in for Prasarita,

Inhale,

Lengthen,

Reach your chest forward,

Halfway left,

Exhale,

Fold in,

Knees can stay bent throughout but press the inner and outer edge of the feet down,

Hold this forward fold now,

Wide-legged forward fold,

Prasarita,

Padottanasana.

Feel the day and any stress and tension dripping off you,

So you hold this forward fold,

Crawl to face your right foot,

Bring your left knee down,

You're in a low lunge at the back of the mat,

Inhale,

Arms reach overhead for low lunge,

Release your right arm down,

Lift your left arm up alongside your left ear and side bend to the right,

Left arm is up now,

Right arm is down,

Lengthen,

Move the chin away from the chest,

Inhale,

Come back to centre,

Both arms reach towards the sky,

Look up,

Regular low lunge,

Release the arms down,

Hands at either side of the right foot,

Lift your back knee up,

Spin your back foot flat and crawl again to face the long edge of the mat,

Parallel your feet,

Interlace your fingers behind you,

Fill up with breath and on the exhalation,

Reach your arms overhead as you forward fold,

Prasarita,

Padottanasana with chest expansion,

The knees can stay bent but draw the navel to the spine,

Release the interlace,

Bring the hands down,

Crawl to the front of the mat,

Frame,

Your left foot,

Bring your right knee down,

Come back onto all fours,

Reach the arms forward,

Bow in between your forearms for Anahata Asana,

Toes are tucked under,

Hips are off the heels,

Bring your hands in a prayer without lifting the head and reach your prayer behind the head,

Option to just keep the hands down,

Release the prayer hands down,

Begin to re-emerge,

Draw the hands towards you,

You're back onto all fours,

Tabletop,

Step your right foot to the outside of the right hand and the left foot to the outside of the left hand for Ardha Malasana,

Turn the toes and the knees in a slight turn out,

45 degree angle and stay here with the forearms on thighs or come all the way down for Malasana,

Use your elbows to pry the knees open and do your best to stay upright,

Any version of this pose is great to release tension in the hips at the end of the day,

Whether you've been standing or sitting for too long,

Release the hands down and come to sit down now,

Facing the long edge of the mat with the legs bent out in front of you,

More than hip distance,

Place your hands behind you,

Drop your knees to your right,

The right shin,

Right leg is bent in front of you,

The left leg is bent behind you to your outer left hip,

Place your left hand to your outer right knee,

Right hand is behind you,

Take an inhalation as you lengthen your torso towards the sky,

Draw the belly in and up and on the exhalation,

Twist your torso to the right as you look over your left shoulder,

Vajrasana seated spinal twist,

Relax the shoulders down and loosen the jaw,

Release the pose,

Bring the legs out in front of you,

Straighten your right leg,

Bring the left sole of the foot into your inner right thigh,

Rest your right elbow onto your thigh and lean your head into your right hand,

Maybe reaching the left arm over and holding the right side of the head to deepen this side body opening,

Release the left arm down,

Inhale,

Reach the arms overhead and exhale,

Folding a diagonal between your left bent knee and your straight right leg,

As far as is comfortable,

If you have the space you may want to stack one fist over the other,

Rest your forehead there or stay upright,

Focus on length,

It's not important how far down your torso gets,

What's important is that your spine is lengthening and decompressing,

Re-emerge from this pose,

Come upright with your torso and switch,

Bring the legs out in front of you,

Knees bent,

Open them more than hip distance and re-bend the legs with the left shin in front and the right shin behind you,

Again 90-90,

Bring the right hand to the outside of the left knee,

Left hand behind you,

Take an inhalation and on the exhalation look over your right shoulder and twist,

Release the shoulders down,

Notice if you're clenching your jaw,

Release now the left leg out,

Straight out in front of you and bring the right sole of the foot into your inner left thigh,

Release the left elbow onto your left leg and rest your head onto your left hand,

Reach your right arm overhead,

Holding the left side of the head,

Drawing the right elbow towards the sky to deepen the pose,

Release,

Come upright with your torso,

Reach up with your arms and on the exhalation fold in a diagonal between your bent right knee and your straight left leg,

Again if you have the space make a pillow with your fists,

One fist over the other,

Resting your forehead there or choosing to stay upright and simply lengthening forward,

Left leg is engaged,

Curl left toes to shin,

Begin to re-emerge from this pose,

Come upright with your torso,

Release the right leg next to the left,

You're sitting in the middle of the mat,

Inhale,

Arms reach overhead,

Exhale,

Fold over your legs for Paschimottanasana,

As far as it's comfortable,

Prioritising length to depth,

Sit bones stay rooted onto the earth,

Bowing over your legs and to the end of another day,

Begin to re-emerge,

Come upright with your torso slowly,

Come to lay onto your back with your knees into your chest,

Bring the hands onto the kneecaps and begin to draw circles,

Releasing any residual tension in the hip area,

The pelvis,

The lower back,

Release the legs down,

Open the feet as wide as the mat,

Take an inhalation and on the exhalation,

Drop your knees to the left,

Turn your head to the right,

Keep both shoulders grounded,

Inhale,

Knees back to centre,

Exhale,

Drop them to the right,

Turn your head to the left,

Inhale,

Bring your knees back to centre,

Give yourself one final hug and releasing to Savasana,

Fully surrender,

Begin to deepen the breath and wake your body up slowly and gently,

Roll onto one side and rest here,

As you're ready,

Come into a seated position,

Perhaps choosing a few moments of meditation,

Bringing the hands in front of the heart as you're ready,

In a gesture of gratitude,

The more we are grateful for what we have,

The more we have to be grateful for.

Namaste.