Midday Reset Yoga Stretch

Enjoy a little midday reset with this full body yoga stretch.

This practice includes rotations to release tension from the upper back and lunges to stretch out the front body (with more upper back stretches if you've been sitting at a desk all morning). We stretch the hamstrings, and complete the practice with hip stretches and a few minutes of stillness.

This is a beginner friendly practice that doesn't need any props (though, if you feel tight in your hamstrings, blocks or books can help in your folds, and if you like cushioning under the knees have a blanket/pillow nearby).

Transcript

Welcome yogi to this midday reset yoga stretch. This is an all over stretch and you don't need any props for this practice, Though if you're tighter in your hamstrings you might like to have your blocks nearby if you have some. And if you like cushioning under your knees in kneeling poses, Have a pillow or blanket nearby. We're going to begin in child pose. So please make your way onto your mat, Kneeling, And you can place your knees together, Which is a little low back stretch, Or you can have them further apart, Which makes it a little bit easier to breathe into the belly. Stretch your hands forward. And settle your head down. Take a slow and steady breath in towards your low back. And out. Relaxing your hips. Another slow steady breath in towards your low back. Filling up as well towards the ribs. And exhale, Softening your shoulders. One more, Inhaling through your nose. Filling up as full as you can. Exhaling, Maybe a sigh. Ready to rest. And we'll come on up to a tabletop, Please. Like I said, If you like some cushioning and kneeling poses, Take a moment to place your pillow or blanket under your knees. With your shoulders right over your wrists. And your hips right over your knees. We'll send the right hand up to the ceiling when you inhale. Reach it up. And pop it down as you exhale. Take your left hand up to the ceiling. Breathe in. And exhale it down. We'll go again on the right side. Take it up. Find a twist. And release it down. Placing it on purpose. Mind full of sensation through the hands. Left hand goes up. Use your right one as an anchor. Exhale it down. This one we'll add in. Take your right hand up, Pull through at the top, Maybe a little extra squeeze. Insert the needle, Bring your right arm through, Between your left hand and left knee, Rest your hand, Your shoulder, And your head. Onto your left fingertips and press to get a rotation into your upper back. Take another full breath. Release at the end of the exhale. The palm goes flat of the left hand. The right hand can go back up. Deep breath as you do. Stretch it as big as you can for right now without forcing it. And release your right hand. To your math. Same thing on the other side, Take your left one out and just linger there at the top for a moment, Opening. Stretching everything out. And thread it through when you're ready. Left arm down to the mat. Rest your head. Relax your left hand. And use your right fingertips to help you rotate. We'll place the right hand flat, Lift your left one up. Bring as much movement into this as you can. And release down to the floor. This is a point at which you might add your blocks if you find them useful. You can have one under each hand. Nope, I told you a lie. Put them near the front of your mat at best. Keep your hands on the floor and we'll lift into a downward facing dog, Please. So hands flat, Grip your fingers, Tuck your toes and lift your hips up. Relax your neck. Look back towards your feet or to the middle of your mat. Just take a second to lift your shoulders up, To lift your hips up high. And to sink into your heels. You don't need to straighten out your legs by any means. Let this feel good to have a big stretch through the whole back body. And then we'll lower the knees back down. And this is where your blocks under your hands may be useful. You can place them there, You certainly don't have to. Right foot or step forwards to the front of the mat. Coming into low lunge, You can start to sink down. So if you've got your blocks under your hands, The height can just help you come up and feel supported. If you want to put your hands on your knee, You can. Sink into the hips. If you're doing this reset because you've been sitting a lot, This is a lovely stretch for the left hip flexors. Pick up the chest, Pick up the crown. Take your hands up, Breathe in, Stretch them up and back. Exhale, Elbows wide, Cactus pulling down near your ribs. Inhale, Reach them back up. Just move your shoulders a bit, Yogi. Exhale, Pull them down. All more time in how we church. And exhale, Pull your hands or elbows down. Take your hands up, Breathe in. Sink your hips. And bring your hands down through centre. Again, This is where your blocks might be helpful if you have them. Straighten out your right leg. Your left hip ends up directly over your left knee. Fold down over your right leg into a half Hanumanasana, A half split. Can pull the right hip back a little bit. If you've got a bend in your knee, You might have to wiggle your right foot forward some. You want to have this right leg straight without being hyper extended. So if you tend to push through the joints, Just bring a little bit of a bend into your knee. And you can play around by turning your toes to the right. And over to the left, Just rotating your leg. In your head. Come back to the centre. Stretch your sternum, Your chest. Straight over the toes. And we'll come back. Into our lunch. Lift the chest. Climb up onto the knee with both hands if you feel stable with that. I'll take the left hand to the outside of the right knee. Sit nice and tall up through the spine and let the right hand stretch to the back. Coming into a twist. Breathing through your nose. Full, Steady breath. Unwind yourself, Carefully does it. And take your left hand up to the ceiling. Sink into your hips. You've got your block if you need it for the right hand. If you don't have a block, You can put your hand on your right thigh. Side stretch, Left hand over to the right side of your mat. If you've got a very low lunge, You might be able to place your fingertips onto the floor or your hand onto the floor. Stretch into your left side body. We'll bring the hand up. Really sit down with care, Shift your hips back and slide your right foot back. Take a deep breath in. If you've got blocks there, You can move from exhale downward facing dog, Hips up and back. Again, Relax your neck, Relax your face. Enjoy an energizing inhale. And maybe a big sigh out. Let the day go. Let's come back down to the knees. You can use your blocks to help you slide that left foot forwards. If you don't have them, It's okay. Step it forwards however you can. We sink forwards and down. Start to lift the chest up. Aiming here too. Stretch into the front of your right leg. You can place your hands onto your front knee for a moment if you feel good with that. Squeeze your right glute. To help release some of the tension from the front of the right leg. We'll take the hands up overhead, Reaching up and back. Stretch out your whole front body, Especially if you've been over a desk or reading or gardening and rounding forwards. We'll take the elbows wide and down. Exhale. Inhale, Recharge and back up. Move your breath around, Dogi. Exhale, Elbows widen down. And now recharge back up. One more time. Reach up, Reach back. Finish your inhale. And bring our hands down through your centre. We'll take the blocks if you need them as we shift the hips back into your half split again. If you can't straighten the leg, Wiggle it forwards until you're in a comfortable position. You're trying to keep your back. Nice and neutral, Straight feeling rather than very rounded forward. And pull your toes towards your chest and your chest towards your toes and go as low down as you feel good. Not forcing anything or striving to be anywhere. Finding a moderate sensation. And smiling to it. Welcoming it. Witnessing it. You could turn your toes to the left and see how that feels. And toes to the right. See how that feels. Bring them straight back up, Stretch as if you could reach the centre of your chest past your left big toe. Then we'll come back into low lunge. Come upright, Climb your hands onto your front knee and sink down to where you feel stable and comfortable. Right hand holds the outside of the left knee, You've got that upright twist, Left hand reaching to the back of your mat. Taking a couple of breaths here. Keeping your legs quite strong and active. Nor carefully unravel. And take the right hand up. The left hand can remain on the knee as you side stretch. You might use your block if you've got one nearby. Or you might feel comfortable reaching for the floor. Breathe as if you could expand your right ribs. With each inhale. Maybe you can. I will come up, Release your right arm down. And slide it back. Left foot next to the right. Move your blocks off your mat. If you are using them. One more time, Lifting up into your downward facing dog. Take a reset breath, Deep breath into your nose. Big sigh out through your mouth. Lovely. Lower down to your knees. Spin yourself over to laying down. If you have a blanket, You'll move it off your mat. You might choose to put it beneath your head if you like a pillow. Take your weight all the way to lying down. Shuffle around a little bit when you get there. Bend both knees and put your feet. On the 4. And place your right ankle. Up over your left knee, Figure four shape for your hip stretch. You can remain here. If you want to take something a little bit more calm and grounding, Place your hands on your belly and rest. If you want to pull the left leg in towards you, Hold on to your thigh to pull it in a little bit more deeply. To experience maybe a bit more stretch into the right hip. Be sure to soften your low back and your shoulders. Just a couple of deep breaths here. Let's switch sides. If you picked up your left foot, Place it back down. Place the right foot back down. Left leg rests, Left ankle rests on top of right knee, Right thigh. You can rest here with your hands on your belly to feel calm and grounded. You can pull your right thigh in and hold on to it with both hands. Taking a couple, Again, Deep, Slow, Steady breaths. You feel like your chin is really lifted. Pull it down a little bit towards your chest. More of these tests. Place your feet on the floor, Knees bent. Hands onto your belly. You can keep your knees straight up or let them fall in towards one another. Let's watch your breath here. We'll take a few rounds of easy breathing, Relaxing into constructive rest to complete our practice. Trying to do a little less. Give yourself permission to. Relax your shoulders. Give yourself permission to just be. And then if there's an energy, A certain vibe, A certain way of being that you would like to embody more this afternoon or the rest of the day after this reset. Let that word or short phrase come to mind now. Accompanying it with the words, I have everything I need to be. Whatever it is. I have everything I need to be. And state that to yourself a couple of times. Okay, Let's take a morning-like stretch. Arms up overhead, Feet out long, Enormous inhale. Feeling refreshed. Feeling ready for the rest of the day? You can hook your knees up. Exhale. And rock to your side or straight up to sitting. Make your way there the easiest way you can. And sit comfortably. Bring your hands together in a preposition. If you set an intention a moment ago, Remind yourself of it one more time. Let's breathe in together. And out together. Thank you for your practice. Namaste.