Lying Down Yoga

This guided yoga practice offers a gentle way to reconnect with the body while resting supine on the mat. The practice emphasizes ease, comfort, and mindful attention to physical sensations, supporting a relaxed and receptive state. Rather than pushing or striving, you are invited to listen to your body’s signals and respond with care and curiosity. This approach supports rest, recovery, and a steadier connection between mind and body, making the practice accessible for a wide range of bodies and experience levels.

Transcript

For this guided period of mindful yoga,

You will need a quiet place,

Protected from interruption if possible,

A mat or pad to cushion you from the hardness of the floor,

And a yoga strap or belt.

As you are now listening to this tape,

You've already done the hardest part,

Which is setting aside this time for yourself,

A time for self-care,

Relaxation,

And healing.

We will be exploring different yoga postures with the intention of cultivating awareness of the body and our capacity to both read its signals and respond effectively.

This is a different approach from trying to achieve certain postures or change the body.

Paradoxically,

The limits of the body are extended not by pushing,

But rather by refining the capacity to identify the limit accurately and then stay attentive to physical sensations as they arise.

Bearing in mind that we do this through trial and error,

Pushing a little harder and pulling back until we find just the right degree of effort and intensity.

Sometimes a sensation of pain in a different part of the body from where we are focused can also be a signal that we need to back off or adjust the posture accordingly.

Please feel free to skip any postures that are too painful or too difficult or to shorten or extend postures according to the signals you receive from your body today.

You might try visualizing those postures that feel problematic to you,

Imagining yourself doing them with as much precision as possible.

If you can,

Allow the authority to rest inside the body rather than in my instructions or your thoughts about how it should be,

How it was,

Or how you would like it to be.

As you work with this tape or CD on a regular basis,

Through the integration of mind and body,

You will enjoy the many benefits which arise as a natural outcome of this practice.

These can include relaxation,

Greater physical ease,

Strength and well-being,

Increased energy,

Symptom reduction,

And more.

Each time you practice,

You are conditioning a new habit of self-care,

Which gets easier and easier to do as you both see the benefits and reinforce the habit.

So let's begin in the classic dead man's pose,

Lying supine on your back.

And if your back is okay with this,

Allow the legs to be straight out in front of you,

About shoulder width apart,

The feet falling open to either side.

If this is problematic for your lower back,

You can either place a pillow underneath your knees or bend your knees,

Placing the feet flat on the ground.

See if you can allow your arms to be straight out at your sides,

At a slight angle from the body,

With the palms open and facing upward.

You might notice that this posture feels unaccustomed or awkward for you.

As long as there's no pain or discomfort,

Simply stay aware of those sensations,

Beginning with a brief body scan to afford you a baseline as you begin this period of practice,

To get a sense of where the body is as you begin,

Starting at the top of the head and just scanning down the body,

Feeling the places of pressure,

Of contact,

The places that are balanced or imbalanced,

Where there's tightness,

Where there's numbness.

And without trying to fix it or change it,

Simply bring awareness to how the body feels as you begin and what it feels like to place this body in a very open and surrendered pose,

Breathing down into the belly.

And when you're ready,

Noticing first the intention to move and then on an inhalation,

Allowing both arms to float up overhead,

Feeling them moving through space,

Moving them mindfully and slowly,

And exhaling them down so they touch on the floor behind your head somewhere,

Feeling them make contact,

And then experimenting with finding your edge by reaching the fingertips away from the body and by backing off,

Bending the elbows,

Allowing the arms to come back closer to the body,

Feeling into the sides of the torso or wherever you have the most sensation when you do this stretch,

And then responding accordingly,

Allowing the breath to be your ally.

On an exhalation,

See if the body is willing to stretch further.

Breathing,

Feeling into the body,

And when you're ready,

Inhaling the arms up,

Feeling the effort involved and the sensations involved,

And then exhale the arms back down,

Floating through space until they make contact once again on either side of the body,

Pausing here for a moment and noticing the effects of this posture,

Using this as helpful feedback as you continue to work with the body and cultivate sensitivity,

Refine your awareness.

If your knees aren't already bent,

Bend them now,

Placing the feet flat on the floor.

You can place your arms straight out at your sides,

Palms down,

And notice what happens to the sacrum and the lower back as a result of bending the knees.

You might find that already more of the spine is able to rest comfortably on the floor.

We're going to work a little bit,

Very gently,

With the lower back.

We're going to alternate between tilting the pelvis forward and creating a slight arch in the lower back and then pressing the sacrum and the lower back down into the ground.

So let's begin by tilting the pelvis forward just enough to create a slight arch in the lower back.

And if you're not sure about this,

You can just slide your hand underneath the lower back to see if it's up off the floor.

And then gently press that sacrum and lower back down into the floor or the mat,

Pushing down through the soles of your feet.

And at your own pace,

Begin to alternate between these two positions,

Rocking gently on the base of the spine as you tilt the pelvis forward and then press the sacrum and the lower back down into the floor or mat.

You can keep this movement quite small as you massage and open the joints of the lower spine,

Or you can gradually increase the movement,

Engaging more and more of the spine with each rotation,

So that as you tilt the pelvis forward,

More of the vertebrae are lifted off the floor.

And then as you push the lower back down into the mat,

You begin to lift the sit bones and a little more of the spine up off the floor,

Pushing down into the mid and upper back.

So experiment according to the signals that you receive from your own body about how much movement is the most helpful for you today.

Using the breath as your ally,

Inhaling on the effort,

Exhaling deeply,

And then allowing the movement to gradually get smaller and smaller,

Just kind of winding down organically,

Getting smaller and smaller until it's really a microscopic movement,

Forward and back,

And then finding just that neutral point between forward and backward positions,

Allowing the spine to rest there,

Noticing once again if the spine would like to lengthen on the floor,

Or if more of the spine is able to be in contact with the floor or the mat.

Breathing and noticing how you feel.

Checking in.

Was it too intense?

Could you have done more?

Was it just right?

When you're ready,

Bringing both knees up towards the chest,

Wrapping your arms around your lower legs,

And gently beginning to rock.

Massaging the spine.

This should just feel pleasant to the back.

If you feel any pressure on the knee joint,

Feel free to place your hands underneath your shins rather than on top of your shins.

And notice that you're really in complete control here of how much exertion you place on those legs,

How close you pull them in towards your chest,

According to how it feels in your body.

You can rock from side to side.

You can rock from forward to back.

You can make circles with your knees.

The knees can move together,

Or they can oppose each other.

So if you can,

Rather than just moving arbitrarily or perfunctorily,

See if you can move according to the signals that your body sends you.

Staying connected and mindful.

Bringing the attention back when it wanders quite naturally.

Gently escorting it back to feeling the body.

And when you're ready,

Extending the left leg so that it's straight out as you gently press the right knee into the chest.

Experimenting once again with the pressure on that right leg as you bring it in closer to the chest.

Allowing your awareness to sink right into the center of wherever you feel the most sensation in the body.

This is a good position for rotating the foot around the ankle joint.

So if you like making big circles in the air with the toes of your right foot as you explore the range of movement in the right ankle.

First in one direction.

And then in the opposite direction.

And when you're ready,

Taking the yoga strap or belt that you have nearby and placing it just under the ball of the right foot.

And then mindfully lifting up that right leg.

Here you can either leave the left leg straight out on the floor or if it feels better to your body,

You can bend that left knee placing the left foot flat on the floor.

You want to experiment with lifting that right leg,

Straightening it if possible,

So that you're feeling into the large muscle groups in the back of the right leg,

Particularly the hamstrings.

Notice how your lower back and buttocks feel.

They should be completely relaxed.

Your head and neck can either come up towards that leg if it's more comfortable or more effective for you or they can be relaxed on the floor.

You can experiment with gently bending and straightening the right leg.

Bring in the right knee.

Bring the right leg a little closer towards your head on the exhalation.

If you find it helpful,

You can push through the ball of the right foot away from your hands and see what that does to the stretch.

Breathing.

Feeling into your own body.

Monitoring the signals.

And when you're ready,

You can remove the strap,

Bending the right knee,

Mindfully lowering that leg.

If you're comfortable with it,

Allow both legs to be straight out in front of you for a moment and notice the difference between the right leg and the left leg.

Does the right leg feel longer or heavier?

And then when you're ready,

Bringing the left knee into the chest now and wrapping your arms around the leg or interlacing your fingers either above or below the lower leg and gently pressing that left leg in towards the chest as you feel into the muscles in the back of the lower leg,

In the back of the left leg.

Again,

Adjusting the pressure on that left leg according to what you feel in the body.

Noticing if the leg moves naturally closer to the chest on the exhalation or on the exhalation.

And when you're ready,

Rotating now the left foot around the left ankle joint,

Making those wide circles in the air,

Lubricating and opening that ankle joint,

First in one direction and then in the opposite direction,

And then taking the strap and placing it just below the ball of the left foot and mindfully straightening up this left leg,

Raising it to whatever feels like your edge,

Checking in and making sure that you're not creating any strain in the lower back,

In the buttocks,

In the neck or the shoulders.

And if you are,

You can experiment with bending that right leg and see if that relieves the strain in the lower back or with lowering the left leg or slightly bending the left knee.

If you need more stretch,

You might want to lift your head up towards your left leg and straighten that right leg.

Again,

Bringing the left leg closer to your head on the exhalations,

Which allows you to deepen the stretch through relaxation rather than strain.

And then when you're ready,

Mindfully removing the strap,

Lowering that leg,

Placing both feet now flat on the ground,

Knees bent,

Placing your arms now,

Your hands beneath your head,

Your elbows are out at either side of your ears,

Noticing if you feel a stretch across the chest and the upper arms,

And then allowing the knees to drop over towards the left as you look towards the right,

Looking across your right elbow.

The knees don't have to go all the way down to the ground on the left.

Just let them go as far as they comfortably can,

Enjoying a nice spinal twist.

This time allowing gravity to do the work,

But still noticing what happens on the exhalation,

On the out-breath.

Notice if you can release further into the posture on the exhalation,

Bringing your attention back as patiently and consistently as you can to the sensations in the body.

When you're ready,

Inhaling up first the right knee,

Then the left knee,

Letting them drop over now onto your right side as you turn your head to the left,

Looking over your left elbow,

Breathing,

And then giving yourself permission to back off if you need to.

If the stretch is too intense across the top of the body,

You can lift up that left elbow.

If it's too intense in the spine,

You can lift up that left knee,

Breathing and releasing.

When you're ready now,

Turning back towards your right,

Turning over onto your right side,

Placing your left hand flat on the floor in front of your chest,

And using that hand to lift you up as you turn over and come around onto all fours.

From here we're going to do the cat and the cow stretch,

Placing your knees about shoulder distance apart,

Your hands shoulder distance apart,

Your fingers spread wide.

Notice first what it feels like to have a flat or neutral back,

So the back is like a table,

And you're facing down towards the floor,

The head is aligned with the back,

With the spine.

From here we're going to begin with the cat,

Like an arched cat's back,

Tucking the pelvis,

Spreading the shoulder blades apart,

And allowing the head to come down between the shoulders.

Again,

Being careful not to force the body into the most extreme position or posture you can achieve,

But instead really feeling into the posture.

From here,

Coming back through the neutral back,

Going into the cow,

Which is the inverse of the cat,

Allowing the back to become more like a saddle now,

As the shoulders push up towards the ears,

Stretching the front of the torso now,

The sit bones kind of pushing up towards the ceiling or where the ceiling and the wall meet.

You might find the elbows naturally want to turn out.

Again,

Not forcing anything,

Working gently and really giving yourself permission to back off.

At your own pace now,

Alternating between these two postures,

Coming back into the cat,

And when you're ready,

Exhaling back into the cow,

Using the rhythm perhaps of your own breath as you inhale for the cat and exhale for the cow.

Coming back to a neutral back whenever you're ready,

And then pushing back down for a moment into child's pose as you push your buttocks towards your heels,

Allowing your head to come down,

Either forehead to your mat,

Or you can place your forehead on your hands,

Just resting here,

Allowing the back to open and breathe,

Reflecting on the name of the pose,

Child's pose,

Noticing how that feels in your own body,

Resting and breathing.

And when you're ready,

Coming back up to all fours now.

We're going to do a more dynamic posture involving balancing,

Strengthening,

And lengthening.

So again,

Feel free to make any adjustments that you need to for your own body.

And on an inhalation,

Lifting up both the right arm and the left leg so you're reaching the fingertips of the right hand out towards the wall in front of you and the toes of the left foot out towards the wall behind you and breathing in this posture,

Finding your balance,

Feeling the stretch and the lengthening of the body.

It's no problem if the body shakes in this posture,

But it is a problem if you feel pain or strain.

If you do,

Please lower the leg,

The hand,

Or both,

Giving yourself permission to come out of the posture whenever you need to.

Breathing,

You can look out past your fingers on your right hand.

And bringing the right arm down,

The left leg down,

Stopping for a moment in this with the neutral back on all fours,

Noticing how the body feels.

And then inhaling up now,

The left arm and the right leg,

Feeling the dynamic pull in the body as the leg reaches out behind you and the hand in front of you.

Breathing.

Inhaling.

Making effort,

But not straining.

Bringing the hand back down and the knee back,

The right knee back,

And coming back into Child's Pose for a moment.

Again,

Allowing the back to open and breathe,

Allowing the body to rest.

And when you're ready,

Coming back around onto your back with the feet flat on the floor once again,

Arms at your sides,

Checking in with the body before you begin,

This time we're going to do a modified bridge,

Noticing first the intention to move as the mind sends a signal to the body.

But if you delay the body's movement,

You have a sense of that intention first coming from the mind,

The about-to moment in the body.

And then inhaling the arms up overhead,

Slowly and mindfully,

Moving through space,

Exhaling down behind you.

Once here,

You can either just remain in this position and enjoy the stretch down the torso,

Or you can push the pelvis and hips up towards the ceiling into a modified bridge,

So you're pushing the body,

The whole torso up,

So you're resting on your shoulders.

You might find that the hands and arms can reach out further away from the head.

Again,

The effort of the posture may create some shaking in the legs,

That's fine,

It's no problem,

As long as there's no pain.

Tightening the buttocks to permit the pelvis to be pushed up towards the ceiling.

Breathing.

And when you're ready,

Releasing the spine,

Vertebrae by vertebrae,

Or rather section of spine,

Section of spine,

Allowing it to come down onto the floor,

The mat.

And once again,

Just settle down,

Inhaling the arms back up overhead,

Exhaling them down to your sides,

Pausing here for a moment,

Feeling this,

Bringing the knees back into the chest,

So stretching the spine in the opposite direction,

And here just doing whatever is comfortable for you,

Whatever your spine is calling for.

Rolling over now to the right side,

Bending your right elbow and holding your head in your hand,

In your right hand,

Try to line up the body,

If you can,

In a straight line,

Placing your left hand flat on the floor in front of you for support.

Imagine that the body is between two panes of glass.

As you inhale up the left leg,

Straight up above the right leg.

See if you can allow your foot,

Your ankle,

Your knee,

Your hip,

Your shoulder and your head,

All to be in one line as you do this.

So you may not be able to lift the leg very far,

That's okay.

Again,

Checking in always to make sure there's no strain,

No pain.

And at the same time,

Experimenting with what's possible.

As you inhale,

As you exhale,

What's possible in that left leg?

Breathing.

Can I lift it a little higher without hurting myself?

When you're ready,

Lowering the left leg,

Stopping for a moment and feeling this.

And then turning over now onto your left side,

Bending your left elbow,

Holding your head in your left hand,

With your right hand now placed flat on the floor in front of you for support.

Your legs straight out and stacked,

The right leg on top of the left,

Getting the body into alignment as much as you can.

And then inhaling up the right leg,

Notice that the sides can be quite different from one another.

Notice again if the leg is straight up,

The right leg from the left leg.

Breathing.

Feeling your own body.

Notice if you can lift the leg a little further.

Perhaps even further.

And when you're ready,

Lowering the leg mindfully,

Coming back onto your back,

Back into dead man's pose,

Taking a blanket and placing it under your knees if you find that helpful,

Or even over the head,

Or the body if you'd like to dwell here for a moment.

Scanning down the body now from head to toes as we did at the beginning.

Notice how you're lying here.

Notice what's changed.

In the last minute or two of this practice session,

I invite you to dwell in the stillness that can come from a focused attention and a mind and body unified in the present moment.

In this clarity and spaciousness of mind,

Reflect for a moment,

If you like,

On the values and qualities that you would most like to live from.

Perhaps even setting an intention for the day that is an expression of what really matters to you.

As you move into the rest of your day,

May this intention inform your words and actions,

And may you enjoy a greater sense of ease and well-being in mind and body.