MBSR Floor Yoga

This gentle yoga sequence, drawn from the 8 week MBSR course at UMASS Medical School is done lying down on the floor. It combines movement, the breath and deep relaxation.

Transcript

This recording of MDSR floor yoga was created by Lisa Sheehan.

Welcome to floor yoga.

Please note that these exercises are not designed to replace medical care.

Before beginning any new mind body program consult with your physician.

At this time you will practice gentle yoga combining movement,

The breath and deep relaxation.

Gentle yoga is considered a formal meditation technique that we practice in MDSR.

We do it with patience without striving or forcing.

It consists of gentle stretching and strengthening exercises done very slowly with moment to moment awareness of the breath and physical sensations that arise as you put your body into various poses.

Pay full attention to how your body is feeling in each moment.

What do you notice in each posture?

Ask yourself what is my body feeling right now?

Perhaps you might notice a sense of warmth,

Tingling,

Pulling,

Tension,

Tightness,

Tiredness,

Opening,

Lengthening,

Releasing or softening.

Notice if the mind is reacting as you practice.

Noticing the thoughts and letting them go.

Come back to the body and the breath again and again.

Practice accepting your body as you find it without judgment from one moment to the next,

From one pose to the next.

Every time you intentionally assume a different posture you are changing your physical orientation and therefore your inner perspective as well as you experience things from a different vantage point.

Every body is different.

Explore,

Be aware of and respect your limitations.

If there are movements that do not feel appropriate for you for whatever reason simply refrain from doing that pose.

This is an area where you have to use your judgment and take responsibility for your own body.

Allow your body to be your guide in what movements and poses you choose to do and how long you choose to hold the postures.

Always back off and release if there is pain at any time coming to rest in child's pose.

Remember to always breathe freely and through the nose as much as possible.

If you choose to skip a pose simply bring your attention to the breath in the belly as you listen to the guided instruction.

And now to begin,

In a quiet place with your yoga mat set up and wearing loose comfortable clothing begin by lying down on your back and following the sound of the bells all the way until you can no longer hear the ringing sound.

We'll begin our floor yoga practice with a few moments of relaxation at which time there is no special way to breathe allowing the natural flow of the breath to come and go inhaling and exhaling.

Take a moment here to check in and notice points of contact where the body is connecting with the support beneath you.

Perhaps the back of the head,

The shoulder blades,

The muscles in the back,

The buttocks,

The back of the legs,

The heels,

And just noticing where these body parts connect with the mat beneath you.

Surrender everything down,

Any areas of the body that are arched off the floor,

Muscles flexed or active,

Just let it go,

Let everything drop down and rest in stillness.

Now noticing the position of the chin,

Notice if the chin is jutting up towards the ceiling or if it's all the way down and touching the neck.

And if so,

Find a neutral position for your neck,

Lengthening the cervical spine,

Not arching the neck in any way,

Just finding a neutral posture for the neck allowing air to flow comfortably in and out here.

Now dropping the shoulders down and away from the ears creating space and length in the sides of the neck,

Shimmying the shoulder blades toward one another under the back,

Bringing them closer together in the center of the back,

And opening the chest in the front body to allow the breath to flow freely.

Allow the arms to rest comfortably about 8 to 12 inches away from the body with the palms face up.

If this isn't comfortable,

Rest the hands with the palms face down on the belly and watch the hands float up and down with each in breath and out breath.

Now checking the low back,

Making sure there are no gaps between the low back and the mat,

Making sure the low back isn't arching up off the floor.

Let all the vertebrae in the lumbar spine fall down to the mat and surrender,

Relaxing the muscles in the low back.

In this relaxation or corpse pose,

The legs are outstretched and the feet may splay out to the sides a bit.

If you have low back discomfort while lying flat in this position,

Place a pillow or bolster under the knees.

Now that we're here mindfully with our body as fully supported as it can be by the earth and its representatives in the form of a yoga mat,

Cushions,

Pillows,

Bolsters,

Etc.

Take a moment to scan the body and notice any muscles that may be active or gripping or holding on.

Wherever you find any muscular activity,

Let it go.

Surrender the body down.

Soften.

And now let go even more.

No special way to breathe here.

Just inhaling and exhaling,

Observing the breath in the belly and the chest,

Rising up on the in-breath and floating back down on the out-breath.

And now we'll begin some gentle movement by reaching the arms overhead.

And we're going to take a big long inhale as we reach the arms up,

Big long stretch.

Fingertips and toes reaching to opposite sides of the room and just observe the breath here.

And then exhale,

Bringing your arms back down alongside the body.

And then again,

Inhale,

Reaching the arms overhead,

Stretching big and long.

Exhale the arms float back down alongside.

One more time,

Inhaling the arms overhead,

Observing the breath in the belly and the chest and exhale the arms down alongside body.

And now we're going to hug both knees into the chest,

Rocking side to side,

Perhaps closing the eyes here and just gently swaying,

Massaging the low back.

Noticing any physical sensations in the body as we practice and what you notice may be pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or it may be neutral.

Just observing with a sense of curiosity,

Noticing,

Noticing the thoughts that pop in to your field of awareness and just letting them go,

Coming back to the body and the breath again and again.

And now bending the knees and putting the feet flat against the floor with your low back pressed against the floor.

We'll begin by taking a big inhale,

Notice the rise of the belly.

And then on the exhale,

Pull the belly button down to the spine.

Again inhaling,

Exhale,

Pull the belly down to the spine.

Inhale,

Notice the low back may arch off the floor a little bit.

Exhale,

Draw the belly button down to the spine,

Down to the floor.

And again,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Draw the belly button down.

Now keeping the knees bent and the feet flat on the floor,

Move the feet to the outer edges of the mat.

And we're going to let both legs drop to the left here.

And then we're going to come back up through center and we're going to let both legs drop down to the right.

So you can move out your own piece here.

We're windshield wipering the legs through center,

Back down to the left.

Coming back up through center and dropping both legs down to the right.

Coming back through center,

Legs drop to the left.

Coming back through center and dropping both knees down to the right.

Now bringing the knees back to center,

Hugging the knees into the chest,

Rocking side to side,

Releasing the low back and checking in with any sensations that might be present here.

Coming back to stillness in the center,

Hugging the knees into the chest,

Lifting the head,

Neck and shoulders off the floor as you exhale.

And then release down,

Head back down on the floor.

And again,

Lifting the head,

Neck and shoulders off the floor,

Exhale.

And releasing the head,

Neck and shoulders back down onto the floor,

Inhale.

A few more rounds here,

Working at your own pace.

Inhaling and exhaling.

Now with the head resting on the floor,

We'll hug just the right knee in,

Extending the left leg out and resting the leg down on the floor,

Hugging the right knee in.

And then perhaps just circling that right knee,

Making circles on the ceiling,

Perhaps moving the right knee side to side,

Just bringing some movement into that right hip joint.

And then coming to stillness in the center.

And as we exhale,

We'll lift the head,

Neck and shoulders off the floor,

Hugging the knee into the forehead.

And then release down.

And we'll do the same movement on the other side.

So we'll switch legs now,

Extending the right leg out nice and long,

Hugging the left knee in.

The head is resting on the ground.

And again,

Making some circles with the hands on the knees,

Or perhaps just swing that left knee side to side.

Some gentle movement,

Just noticing any sensations that might be present.

And then hugging the knee into the nose,

Lifting the head,

Neck and shoulders off the floor as you exhale.

And release everything back down,

Stretching out both legs and pausing here.

And now we're going to roll over and we're going to make our way up onto all fours into table pose.

Table pose,

Our back will be nice and flat.

We're going to start moving through our cat cow exercises,

Working the breath in with the movement.

So to begin,

We're going to come into a gentle back bend,

Turning the tailbone up towards the sky,

Lifting and opening the chin and the heart up.

We're going to inhale.

And then as we exhale,

We're going to curl under and curl our back up like a Halloween cat exhaling here.

And then again,

Coming back into cow,

Opening into a gentle back bend,

Inhaling and exhaling,

Curling under,

Curling the back.

Again,

Inhale,

Gentle back bend into cow,

Turning the tailbone up,

Exhale,

Curling under,

Arching the back like a Halloween cat.

And just a few more rounds here,

Moving at your own pace.

Inhaling into the back bend and exhaling as you curl under and contract.

Inhaling and exhaling.

Inhale back bend and exhale,

Curl under.

Now making your way back into table pose with a flat back,

Neutral spine,

We're going to work our way into a balance exercise.

So we'll start extending the right leg back,

Lifting that right leg off the floor.

While we're here,

We'll draw the belly button up to the spine so the weight of the belly isn't hanging down,

Causing the undue pressure on the low back.

So the whole time the belly's engaged.

The right leg is extended back and then lifting that left arm up off the ground.

That left hand is going to face in towards the left ear.

Breathing here,

Balancing,

Belly's drawn up.

And then exhale,

Releasing the leg and the arm down.

Take a few breaths here and then we'll switch to the opposite side.

This time we'll extend the left leg back,

Lifting the left leg up in the air,

Belly's engaged,

Pulling the belly button up to the spine.

And then coming into the balance,

Lifting the right arm off the floor,

Extending that right arm straight ahead and that right palm faces in towards the right ear.

Holding it here,

Breathing in and out through the nose.

And exhale,

Release the arm and the leg back down,

Pausing here and catching your breath,

Checking in with any sensations that might be present.

From here we'll come all the way down onto the belly,

Making a little pillow,

Stacking our hands,

Resting our forehead on the top of the hands and bending the knees,

The feet come up in the air.

Then again we'll windshield wiper the legs,

Dropping the legs from side to side,

Just releasing the low back here.

And then we're going to make our way onto our left side.

So rolling onto the left and then supporting the head with the left hand,

So kind of propping up on the elbow.

And the right hand is going to be on the floor for support.

And we're just going to lift that right leg up in the air.

We're just going to hold it here.

We're going to breathe in and out through the nose,

Noticing any sensations that might be present.

And then we're going to release the right leg down.

We're going to roll back onto the belly,

Again making a little pillow with the hands,

Resting the forehead,

Releasing the legs down,

Just breathing here,

Checking in with the breath in the belly,

Maybe turning the head side to side here,

Just rolling across the forehead.

And then we're going to make our way onto our right side.

Lying on your right side,

Propping up the head with that right hand supporting it,

Bent at the elbow.

And that left hand is going to rest on the floor in front of the chest to help us with balance.

And then as you're ready,

Lifting the left leg up into the air.

Just lifting,

Doesn't have to go so high,

Just lifting,

Breathing,

Holding it here.

And then releasing that leg down,

Rolling back down onto the belly,

Resting here,

Resting the forehead.

And then as we're lying here on our belly,

We're just going to lift the right leg back behind us,

Just lifting it a few inches off the ground,

Holding,

Breathing,

Releasing the right leg down,

And then switching sides,

Pausing for a breath or two.

And then when you're ready,

Just lifting that left leg off the ground,

Foreheads resting down,

Relaxing the muscles in the face,

Making sure that you're breathing here and not holding the breath.

And then releasing that left leg down,

Pausing for a few breaths.

And then bringing the arms down alongside the body,

And the palms will face in,

The upper thighs kind of around the hip area.

And we're going to start just lifting the upper body only.

The legs will stay relaxed down on the ground.

So inhaling,

Lifting the upper body,

And then exhale,

Release down.

We'll do this two more times.

So the lower body stays connected to the ground,

And we're just going to inhale,

Lifting the upper body off the ground,

Exhale,

Release down.

And one more time,

Inhaling,

Lifting the upper body off the mat,

And exhale,

Releasing down,

Pausing here,

And again,

Checking in with any sensations.

Now flipping over,

Making your way back onto your back,

Hugging both knees into the chest,

Rocking side to side.

Sizing the low back as we hug the knees in,

Massaging the low back as we just rock left to right,

Noticing any sensations present in the body,

Relaxing the muscles in the face,

Releasing the jaw,

Allowing everything to soften.

And from here,

We're going to just drop both knees down to the right,

In our knee down twist.

So both legs drop to the right,

And we're going to extend that left arm out nice and long with the palm faced up towards the sky.

And if it's available,

Looking over towards that left hand,

Creating space and length in the right side of the neck,

As long as it's okay for the neck.

And then maybe closing the eyes here,

Observing the breath in the belly,

In the chest.

And then bringing the knees back across through center,

And we'll drop the knees down to the opposite side this time.

This time extending that right arm out,

Palm face up.

And then as long as it's comfortable for the neck,

Turning the head and facing over towards the right hand.

Just breathing here into the twist.

Bringing the knees back through center,

Hugging the knees in,

Rocking left to right.

And then keeping the knees bent,

We're going to put our feet flat on the floor.

We're going to come into a bridge flow here,

Where we're just going to inhale and lift the hips up into the air,

Lifting the arms overhead.

And then as we exhale,

The hips will float down and the arms come back down to the ground alongside the body.

Again flowing into bridge,

Inhaling,

Hips come up,

Reaching the arms overhead,

Inhale.

And exhale,

The arms float down,

The hips float back down to the ground.

Exhale,

Releasing.

We'll do a few more rounds here.

Inhaling the hips come up,

Arms come overhead.

Exhale,

Releasing,

Rolling down the spine,

One vertebrae at a time,

Coming all the way down until the tailbone is back down on the mat.

And again,

Hips come up,

Inhaling when the arms are overhead and the body is open and long.

And exhale,

Releasing everything back down to the ground.

Hugging both knees into the chest,

Rocking side to side.

Just pausing here.

Now,

Keeping that left knee bent,

Bringing the left foot down to the floor and we're going to extend that right leg up straight up in the air.

Holding it here,

Circling the ankle to the right.

Just noticing any sensations with this movement in the ankle joint,

Circling to the left.

And then flexing and pointing.

And then we're going to reach up and the hands are going to reach back around,

Kind of around the calf muscle.

And we're just going to bring the head,

Neck and shoulders off the floor and bring the knee to the nose.

And then we're going to release.

Everything comes down.

And we're going to switch sides.

So bending that right knee,

Right foot goes flat on the floor.

And this time extending the left leg straight up in the air.

Bring the ankle on the left side here.

And switching the direction of the circle.

And then pointing and flexing that left foot.

Bringing the toes towards the nose and then pointing the toes up,

Pointing and flexing.

And then we're going to reach up,

We're going to reach back behind the calf and we're going to lift the head,

Neck and shoulders off the floor,

Bringing the head up to the knee,

Pausing.

And then releasing everything down.

Hug the knees in,

Rocking side to side.

Now as our practice winds down,

We'll make our way back into our relaxation pose,

Into corpse pose.

So maybe extending the legs out,

Hands alongside the body.

We're finding that bolster or pillow again and propping it underneath the knees.

Getting comfortable here.

And then taking a moment and checking in with the body.

Noticing any physical sensations in the body.

Starting at the feet and working your way up the body.

Aware of the effects of having done these gentle body movements.

Letting go of the thoughts again and again.

Noticing sensations.

Awareness of the breath as it moves into the body.

And the chest and the belly rise,

Nourishing the body on the inhale.

And as the breath moves out of the body,

The chest and the belly float back down.

Releasing tension,

Tightness and tiredness on the exhale.

Letting everything go.

Releasing all muscular activity.

Realize that you have taken this time for self care.

That you have connected the body,

The mind and the breath.

And become more aware of physical sensations in your body.

Lengthening and opening the body.

Increasing its flexibility.

And perhaps later,

Taking this practice of mindful awareness of the body and breath off your mat and out into everyday life.

But for now,

Simply allowing the body to soften and rest.

Absorbing the benefits of your yoga practice.

Allowing the body to relax,

To lengthen and open and melt down into the support beneath you.

Resting here for a few moments until you hear the bells ring.

And now inviting a deeper breath into the body.

Coming to wiggle fingers and toes.

Expanding the awareness outward.

Coming back out into the room.

And as you're ready,

Rolling onto your left side and pausing here.

Pausing on the left side will maximize the blood flow and the oxygen to the heart and the brain so we don't get dizzy when we get up.

So pausing here and then in your own time,

Putting your palms out on the floor in front of you,

Pushing up to a comfortable seated position.

Simply opening the eyes,

Allowing the body a minute to adjust to being upright.

And then eventually making your way back up.

And Namaste.

Reviews

Excellent narration with really clear instructions

Thank you Lisa! It was lovely and just what I needed this morning - needing to slow down and be.

Very slowly working my way through this,as an recovering from surgery It us so helpful, thank you

Very sweet and soothing voice. Gentle way to begin moving for the day. I am 75 so slow is good!😊

I really like this gentle session. Just what I need as I'm getting over a bad flare up of sciatica. Thank you 🙏

Just love this, I can truly combine meditation and gentle yoga. Thank you 🙏

Love the slow pace and instruction

That was a wonderful meditation and yoga 🧘‍♀️. I will definitely be returning to this one again and again and again🙏❤️🌹. Mahalo so much❤️

Excellent, well paced instruction - thank you so much 🙏🌺🌸😃

A lovely way to start my day. Thank you 🙏🏻 🧘🏼‍♀️

A very relaxing and gentle yoga practice. I enjoyed it very much. 🙏🕉❤️

Perfect!! Thank you!!

I loved it. I’m going to use this as a guide for a yoga class. I’m a new teacher that likes to try new things.

Gentle. I'll do it again. 🙏☯️🕉

Excellent gentle yoga practice—all laying down or on hands and knees. Perfect for beginners or anyone looking for a full body stretch without breaking a sweat.

Thank you 🌺🌺🌺for sharing this wonderful movement 🙏Namaste