Full Body Stretch & Relax

In this track, we will stretch through the thoracic spine, opening the chest, and improving lung capacities. We will stretch the hamstrings & the glutes to help with tight hips. Of course, nice spinal twists are included too. The entire sequence is on the floor. It’s good for all levels, and for any part of the day.

Transcript

Hello everyone,

I'm Luqian.

This is a class to stretch and relax.

We could use a strap.

If you have one,

Go ahead to grab it.

If you don't,

No worries,

We can do without.

Let's get started.

Begin in a seated cross-legged position.

We will start with warming up the spine.

Five sets of seated cat and cow.

Lengthen the chest forward and then round your spine.

Tuck your chin.

Follow the rhythm of your breath.

Ground through your sitz bones.

One more.

Now bring your spine back to neutral.

Hover your chest over the left knee.

Try to draw the right shoulder towards the left knee and then rotate your chest towards the right.

Bring the left shoulder closer towards the right knee.

Gaze up a little.

Slowly reverse back towards the left and turn and gaze up.

Three more rounds.

Slowly return your spine back to neutral.

Open the legs out wide for a open arm twist.

Some of us got knee issues,

Might not able to sit cross-legged very long.

Inhale,

Reach the arms up.

Exhale,

Open.

Twist to your left.

Pull the left arm back.

The tendency is to leaning forward.

Pull the back arm and keep the spine nice and straight in the middle.

As you inhale,

Bring the arms up.

Exhale,

Turn and open to the right.

Keep the arms leveled.

Parallel with the ground.

One more time on each side.

Open to the right.

Torso erect.

The crown of the head pointed up.

Bring the arms back.

Release the arms down.

Now we're going to come into a seated position one more time with seated side body stretch.

Arms up.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Right palm down.

Left arm along your ear.

Inhale,

Rise.

Arms up over your head.

Exhale,

Plant left palm.

Active movement.

Three times on each side.

Press into the palm.

Try to press the shoulder away.

Turn the triceps towards your face and bring the arm closer to you.

Open the chest slightly more towards the ceiling.

Plug in the head of the arm bone into the shoulder socket.

Last one.

Bring the arms up and release them down.

Send the right leg out.

Flex the ankle.

Arms out to the side.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Right arm down.

Press the arm or the elbow against the inner thigh.

Reach the left arm up.

Turn the palm facing back.

Pinkies facing down.

Elbow against the thigh.

Opens the chest slightly more up.

Inhale,

Reach the arm up.

As you exhale,

Step the right foot over the left leg.

Try to keep both sitz bones down.

This is a modified cow face.

If this is hard on the knees,

Lengthen the bottom leg straight or place your ankle on the thigh.

Bring the right arm up.

Turn to the left and twist.

Back fingertips supporting the spine.

Lengthen the spine first,

Then twist.

One more breath.

Float your arms out parallel to the ground and turn all the way to the right,

Turning from the lower back.

Then rest the elbow against the thigh.

Bring the palms together.

Prayer twist.

Really press down the elbow.

Keep the distance between the left shoulder and the knee.

Then gaze to the right shoulder.

One more cycles of breath.

Release the palms.

Switch up the legs.

Send the left leg out.

Bring the right heel in.

Remember to flex the left ankle.

Arms out to the side.

Inhale.

Exhale,

Left elbow down.

Right arm along your ear.

If your elbow doesn't go down quite that low,

Press the forearm against the inner thigh.

Also press down the back of the left foot.

Bring the right arm closer to your ear.

Open the chest slightly more.

Deep inhales and exhales.

Inhale.

Reach through the fingertips.

Bring the arm down.

Exhale.

Step the left foot over the right leg.

Root through your sits bones.

Extend the bottom leg straight if that feels better.

Left arm up.

Line it up with the left shin and twist to your right.

We're gonna change.

Load your arms up.

Turn all the way to the left.

Press the elbow against the thigh.

Bring the palms to prayer and twist.

The tendency here is that the shoulder drops down.

Really press the palms against each other.

Lift your chest.

Lift the shoulder.

Chest open.

Spine straight.

Twist through the lower spine.

One more breath.

Release the hands.

Open the legs out wide.

Shake the legs and then bring the hands behind your glute.

Press the fingertips down to the ground.

Feel the shoulder blades squeezing towards each other.

Lift your chest.

Press your thoracic spine forward.

Gaze ahead and release.

Roll your shoulders up and back a couple of more times.

Inhale.

Reach the arms up.

Good job.

Exhale.

Hinge your hips.

Lengthen your chest forward.

Reach your arms forward and then plant palms down on the mat.

Hold here for the deep hamstring stretch and then slowly draw the elbows a little closer towards the mat.

Press into the palms and lift your chest.

Lengthen your spine.

Inch your fingertips forward and then try to draw the elbows down one more time.

Get your feet engaged by pressing down the back of the heels.

Feel the deep stretch through the inner hamstrings.

Through persistent practice we will become more flexible.

I'm more flexible today than I was in my 20s.

It's not about how deep you can go.

The stretch and the flexibility builds on with each day of practice.

Slowly push into the palms.

Walk your hands back and lift your chest.

Bring the legs together facing the short edge of the mat.

Prepare for the boat pose.

Feet hip width.

Spine nice and tall.

Relax your shoulders.

Tuck your chin slightly.

Engage your core.

Start to lean back.

This is boat pose.

You might stay here or lift one leg up.

Second leg up.

Lengthen the arms up.

I found it easier with moving of the arms as if we're pumping more energy into this practice.

Inhale open the arms.

Axial squeeze them together.

You feel the core is really working hard.

The arms here are assisting the effort.

Last three.

Two and one.

Good job everyone.

Lower the feet down.

Place your arms inside of your knees.

Hands grab onto your feet or your toes.

Rest your head between your biceps.

Take a breath Rest your head between your biceps.

Take a breath in.

Rounding the spine a little.

Open mouth.

Let the breath out.

Feels nice stretching the back of the shoulder.

Now try to send your breath to your lower back.

Also gently rock your head left to right a few times.

Spine back to neutral.

Walk forward a little with the core engaged.

Very slowly roll yourself down onto your mat.

This is where we're going to use our yoga straps but if you don't have one it is perfectly okay.

Lengthen the left leg long.

Hug the right knee to your chest.

Give this knee a nice squeeze.

Keep both ankles flexed.

Then roll the ankles clockwise.

Now change it counterclockwise.

When the ankles are flexed,

It's rolling up the ankles.

There's more restriction but it is more effective.

Bring your attention back to your legs.

Squeeze the knee one more time.

Press the heel up towards the ceiling.

Knees can be bent or straight.

You will find a very nice stretch on the hamstring.

Hug the knee to your chest.

Give a nice squeeze.

This left leg is doing a lot of work as well.

Keep the foot flexed.

Pressing the entire leg down.

You feel the left side of the hip crease are lengthening.

Press the heel up.

One more time.

Hug the knee.

In this time,

Press the heel up.

You could use a strap.

Make adjustment to the length of the strap where you can lower your elbows down on the ground so the shoulders are relaxed.

Feel the nice stretch on the hamstring,

On the back of the leg.

Flex the ankle.

Point the toes towards your face.

Elbows down.

Shoulders relaxed.

Stretching the leg.

If you don't have the straps,

It's perfectly okay.

Hands grab onto any part of the leg.

Calfs if you can.

Continue to use your strap.

Or with the support of the right hand,

Open the leg to the right side.

Left palm pressing down the left hip.

Keep the hips square.

Hold for three more breaths.

Slowly bring the leg up to center.

Swap your hands.

Guide the leg across the center line slightly.

Now stretching into the IT band.

It can be quite uncomfortable but it's so important to stretch through the IT band.

Bend the left knee,

Left foot on your mat.

Over the right leg on top.

Knees are stacked.

Drop the knees to the left side.

Gaze to the right.

You can bring the left leg flush with the ground.

Left hand holding down the top knee.

Gives a little deeper stretch.

Spindle twist is so beneficial for our health.

Improves the digestive systems.

Slowly bring your knees back to center.

Switch the legs.

Lengthen the right leg long.

Hug the left knee to your chest.

Ankles are flexed.

Grow the ankles.

One direction and change the direction.

Now give the knee a nice hug.

Press the heel up towards the ceiling.

You can always gently bend in the knee but the stretch is there.

Hug the knee.

Give a nice squeeze.

Then press the heel up.

Ankle is flexed.

Toes pointed towards your face.

Hug the knee and press up.

Use the strap if you got yours.

Otherwise hold in the leg.

Holding the calf.

Accentuate the right leg.

Pressing down the entire back of the right leg.

Ankle flexed.

Left hand guiding the leg.

Open it all the way to the left.

Right palm pressing down the right hip.

Keep the hips square.

Slowly bring the leg up to center.

Switch your hands.

Guiding it across the center line.

Slightly bending the right knee.

Lower this left leg on top.

Arms out to the side.

Sending the knees to the right side and face to the left.

Enjoy this spinal twist.

You could use the right hand holding down the top knee.

Bring the knees back to center.

Roll yourself to your right.

Palms stacked.

Knees bent at about 90 degree.

So now think of your shoulder that like this top shoulder as the center of a big nice clock and your arm is the hand of the clock face.

So we started to moving the top arm up by keeping the fingertips in contact with the floor.

Drawing this nice circle.

Getting the full range of motion in the shoulders.

Opening up the thoracic spine.

Improving our lung functions.

This seemingly very easy movement really gives you a lot of workout for the shoulders.

I got bad shoulders when I first started this.

It was really hard,

Like surprisingly.

Once you finish your circle,

Palms stacked.

Slowly lifting the top arm up.

Gaze follow the fingertips.

Pressing down the top knee.

Keep the hips stacked.

Feel the gentle twist on the lower spine.

Bring the arm all the way down to the ground.

Use your exhale breath.

Pressing down the left shoulder.

Hold here for three more deep cycles of breath.

You might extend the leg.

Top leg long.

Right hand grabbing onto any part of the leg.

Stretch the leg and lengthen through the glutes.

Slowly lift the arm up and back.

Gaze follow the movement.

Return the top knee back to where it was.

Hands together.

Roll onto your back.

Prepare for a bridge pose.

Feet hip-width.

Walk your fingertips closer towards your heels.

Press down your palms and pull up pelvic floor.

As you inhale,

Start to lift one vertebrae up at a time.

Core engaged.

Continue breathing.

Feel your spinal muscles re-engaged.

Continue to press down the palms.

Options to interlace the fingers.

Press the pinkies down.

Send the knees towards the direction of your toes.

Keep the space between your chin and your collarbones.

I didn't cute using a block today,

So imagining there is a block between your legs.

You are pressing down that imaginary block.

The key here is to press down the big toes.

The inner thigh will automatically get engaged.

Here for three.

Lift your heels up in two.

This is easier when we're lowering down the spine.

In one.

Lower one vertebrae down at a time.

Hug your knees to your chest and rock yourself a little.

Left to right.

Release the feet down.

Then roll onto your left.

Knees bent at 90 degree.

Stack the palms on top of each other.

Now this nice big clock,

A giant circle,

But it's counterclockwise.

So moving the right fingers along the floor.

Slowly giving the shoulder joints a full range of motion.

Try to keep the fingertips down.

Bring it back and start it again.

Continue to circle.

Right hands meeting the left.

Lifting the top arm up.

Slow and mindful movement.

Follow your fingertips.

Working on the thoracic spine.

Bring the shoulder down.

Options to lengthen the top leg straight.

Left hand grab onto any part of the leg.

Continue using your exhales to press down the shoulder.

We're going to change.

Slowly bring the right arm up and back.

Gaze,

Follow the movement.

Return the top leg to meet the bottom one.

Roll onto your back.

Lock the knees up.

This time grab the feet.

Tappy baby.

Rock yourself a little.

Left to right.

Lower the left foot down.

Placing the right ankle over the left leg.

Supine bend the left knee.

Left to right.

Lower the left foot down.

Placing the right ankle over the left leg.

Supine figure four.

Reach the hands through this figure four you created.

Between the legs and grab onto behind the left leg.

Hold the left knee towards the left shoulder.

Right shoulder pressing against the right knee.

Mindfully pressing down the right hip.

Keep the ankle flexed.

Feel the difference when the ankles are relaxed versus are flexed.

You feel getting more of a stretch on the glutes and the hamstring.

This supine figure four is a great hip opener.

Often used as a modification to half pigeon.

Half pigeon is a wonderful hip opening pose but if you got knee issues it might not be the right pose for you.

In those situations you can always flip over onto your back to do a supine figure four.

Three more breaths here.

Over the foot down.

Switch up the legs.

Left ankle on the right leg.

Holding the right knee towards the right shoulder.

The left elbow is pressing against the left left leg.

Now draw the left hip or left glute towards the ground.

You found the stretch is more intense with that intention or effort.

Flex the ankle.

See the difference?

Another good modification for this pose is to if you are right against a wall just right foot pressing against a wall.

That really wall that really give a deeper stretch.

Observe three more cycles of breath here.

Over the right foot down.

Both feet down.

Bring the feet to hip width or slightly wider.

Arms out to the side and drop the knees to the right.

Hold for breath before bring the knees up then send them to the left.

Feel the tip of the hip.

Get a nice stretch.

Two more times on each side.

Bring your hands to your knees.

Lock yourself front and back.

Give the entire spine a nice massage.

Curl yourself up like a ball.

Take a deep cleansing in breath.

As you breathe out,

Extend your body back down.

Lying on the back and extending the legs wide.

Arms long by your sides.

Palms facing up.

Begin to tone into your breath here.

Notice how you feel physically,

Energetically,

Also mentally.

Coming back to your natural easy breath.

Finding peace and stillness.

Gradually bring back your awareness.

Wiggle your toes and your fingers.

Roll yourself to your right into a little fetal position.

Cradle your head in your arms.

With your eyes remain closed.

Assist yourself up to a comfortable seated position.

Bring your hands to heart center.

Gently bow for our time together on the mats today.

Bring your thumbs to the third eye.

May this practice and beyond bring you peace,

Joy,

And contentment.

Namaste.

Thank you for sharing your time to stretch and relax with me.

I hope you do feel a little more relaxed.

Reviews

Hello beautiful 🌸🎀🌸🎀🌸Thank you so much for the wonderfully stretching practice ☯️it makes me feeling sunny and energized 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste

This sequence is very helpful to my tight hips and hamstrings as well as the rest of my body. There are a few poses that are not clear to me yet, but I just guessed at them and still got good results. Thank you very much for this practice—I will return often!

Easy to follow. Relaxing voice.

Absolutely wonderful! I did this just before turning in for the night…every muscle is warm and alive, yet I am completely relaxed.
Thank you LuChin! This will become a favorite alternative when I am unable to attend your Live class🙏🏼❤️