40-Minute Guided Gentle Vinyasa Flow
by Rejys Cowan
In today's session, Rejys Cowan guides you through a Gentle Vinyasa Yoga flow. This flow allows you to transition easily through the poses or asanas and balances the breath through guided inhales and exhales. We will end our session with a deep, relaxing Savasana.
Transcript
Welcome to today's gentle vinyasa flow.
My name is Regis Cowan and I will be guiding you through this flow today.
We'll start with some sun salutations to warm the body up and then we'll move into the rest of our flow.
When you're ready,
Start by standing at the top of your mat,
Grounding your feet in,
Bringing your hands together to your heart and prayer position.
I'm taking a few deep breaths here,
Grounding your energy in.
Nice and gentle.
Good.
One more breath here and exhale it out.
As you inhale,
Swing your arms up over your head,
Reaching towards the sky for salute.
As you exhale,
Bend all the way down to forward fold.
Inhaling look up to halfway lift,
Exhaling back down to forward fold.
Bring your hands down to the mat and gently step your feet back,
Come into a plank or modified plank.
As you exhale,
Come down to your belly or chaturanga.
As you inhale,
Pressing up,
Lifting the chest into cobra or upward dog.
And exhaling,
Tuck the toes under,
Come back to downward facing dog.
Once you're here,
Walk or pedal your dog out,
Gently bending the knees here,
Loosening up the hips and the calves and hamstrings.
One more breath here and then slowly walk the feet up towards the hands or jump or step.
Once you're here,
Come to halfway lift,
Look straight ahead,
Flat back.
As you exhale,
Come down to forward fold.
Inhale,
Swinging the arms up to salute over the head,
Reaching towards the sky.
As you exhale,
Bring the hands together back to the heart.
Nice job.
One more breath here,
Ground your energy,
Ground your feet in.
Breathing through,
Good.
One more breath here,
We'll go through this round again.
Inhaling swing the arms up to salute over the head,
Reaching towards the sky.
Exhale come to forward fold all the way down.
As you inhale,
Come to halfway lift,
Flat back,
Look straight ahead.
As you exhale,
Come back down to forward fold.
Swinging the hands down to the mat now,
Step the feet back,
Come into plank or modified plank.
Come all the way down to chaturanga or to your belly.
As you inhale,
Lift up to cobra,
Upward dog,
Lifting the chest up towards the sky.
Slowly tucking the toes under now as you exhale,
Come to downward facing dog.
Once you're here,
Walk or pedal your dog out,
Gently stretching here,
Breathing through.
One more breath.
Slowly walk the feet up towards the hands or jump or hop.
As you inhale,
Come to a halfway lift,
Looking straight ahead,
Flat back.
As you exhale,
Come back down to forward fold.
As you inhale,
Swing the arms all the way up over the head to salute.
As you exhale,
Bring those palms together down to the heart.
Holding here in this grounded position,
Taking a few breaths.
Breathing through.
Maybe your breath's a little bit heavier now.
The joints are warmed up.
We'll do one more round,
One more breath here.
When you're ready,
As you inhale,
Swing the arms up to salute over the head.
Exhale,
Come all the way down,
Forward fold.
Inhale,
Coming up to halfway lift,
Look straight ahead.
Exhale,
Come down to forward fold all the way down.
Step back into plank or modified plank.
Come down to your chaturanga if you like.
As you inhale,
Lift up to cobra,
Upward dog,
Lifting the chest.
Tucking the toes under now.
As you exhale,
We'll come to downward facing dog,
Last time.
Gently walk or pedal the dog out,
Bending the knees here,
Releasing any stress or tension you may have there.
One more breath here.
As you exhale it out,
Slowly walk the feet up towards the hands,
Hop or jump.
As you inhale,
We'll come to a halfway lift,
Looking straight ahead.
Exhaling back down to forward fold,
All the way down.
Inhale,
Swinging the arms up over the head to salute,
Reaching towards the sky.
And exhaling,
Coming back to our neutral pose,
Hands to the heart.
Holding here,
Nice and strong,
Breathing through.
Take a few breaths here.
Nice job.
One more breath here.
Good.
Take a nice,
Big,
Deep breath in.
As you exhale,
Come to a forward fold,
All the way down.
Once you're here,
Come to ragdoll,
So gently grabbing the elbows,
Let your head hang,
Your neck relax.
Take a few deep breaths here,
Taking pressure off the low back,
Just allowing your head to hang here.
And as you breathe in this pose here,
You can gently rock yourself side to side here if you like,
Or continue to stay here in stillness.
Feel more gentle breaths here.
Taking one more breath here now,
And exhaling it out.
Now releasing the elbows,
Bring the palms down to the mat.
Step your feet back,
Come into downward facing dog.
Gently walk or pedal your dog out here.
One breath.
Then slowly come to plank or modified plank if you need to come to your knees.
As you inhale,
We'll lift up to cobra,
Upward dog,
Lifting the chest.
And as you exhale,
This time we'll come to child's pose.
Gently press up and back.
Come onto the back of the feet.
You can bring your toes together,
Widen your knees.
Gently melt your heart towards the floor,
Dropping your head down now.
Reaching the arms forward,
Relaxing here.
Grounding in your space here,
We'll take a few breaths here.
As you rest here in child's pose,
Gently allow your breath to be heavy if it needs to be.
Stretch your arms here,
Press your fingertips into the mat.
Just taking your time here as you ground into this pose.
I'm taking one more breath here and exhaling it out gently.
Now as you inhale,
We'll come up to tabletop,
All fours.
And as you exhale,
Tuck your chin in your tailbone for cat.
Stay here for a breath and exhale it out.
As you inhale,
We'll come up to cow.
Drop the belly button down,
Chin up comes towards the sky.
As you exhale,
Tuck back in for cat.
Inhaling,
Come back up to cow,
Belly button down.
Exhaling back into cat,
A few more rounds here.
Inhale up to cow,
Belly button down,
Chin up towards the sky.
Exhaling into cat,
Tuck the chin,
The tailbone down.
Last time,
Inhale,
Come up to cow,
Belly button down,
Chin up towards the sky.
This time as you exhale,
Come down to puppy pose.
So stretch the arms in front of you.
Melt the heart,
Chin,
Chest towards the floor.
Keeping your hips high over the knees.
Breathing here,
Come into a deep stretch.
We'll stay here for a few breaths,
Allowing the spine to stretch here.
Remembering only coming down as far as you can comfortably here.
You can always use a block underneath your chest or your chin for support here if you need to.
A few more gentle breaths here.
One more breath here.
And exhaling it out.
As you inhale,
Come back to tabletop,
All fours now.
We'll prepare to go into threaded needle.
As you inhale,
Taking a big breath in,
Raise your right arm up towards the sky,
Opening your chest.
As you exhale,
Dive your right hand underneath your body.
Come down onto your right shoulder.
Relax your head down towards your mat or rest on a block.
Once you're here,
You can gently keep your left hand down onto your mat for support,
Or you can cross it over your head onto your mat for support.
And if you'd like a deeper stretch here,
Reach your left arm up towards the sky,
Continuing to rest here on your right shoulder and resting your head down.
Or if you prefer a bind,
You can bend your left hand behind you here.
Gently breathing through.
Gentle twist in the spine here,
Keeping the hips high.
Nice and easy.
One more breath here.
And exhaling it out.
Slowly bring that left hand back down to the mat by your face.
As you inhale,
Pressing up with the left hand coming out of this pose,
Reach your right arm back up towards the sky.
Deep breath in.
As you exhale,
Gently release your right hand back down towards the mat into tabletop.
Switching sides.
As we inhale,
Raise the left arm up now towards the sky.
Big,
Deep breath in.
Exhaling,
Dive the left arm underneath the body here for threaded needle.
Coming down onto the left shoulder now and resting the head down.
Keeping that right hand down for support here.
If you need to,
Onto your mat.
If you'd like a deeper stretch,
Gently raise that right hand towards the sky,
Looking up towards your hand or towards the ceiling.
Here if you can.
Few breaths here.
Breathing through.
Nice and easy.
One more breath here.
As you exhale it out,
Slowly come out of this pose,
Pressing up with the right hand.
As you inhale,
Raise the left arm once more towards the sky.
As you exhale,
Gently bring that left hand down to the mat.
Nice job.
Once you're here in tabletop all fours,
Tuck your toes under.
And as you exhale,
Come to downward facing dog.
Press up and back.
Pressing the earth away from you.
Dropping the heels down here if you can.
One more breath here.
As you inhale,
Raise your right leg towards the sky for three-legged dog.
As you exhale,
Bend the right knee forward.
Come into pigeon pose.
So come down onto the right knee,
Gently bending it.
Once you're here,
Slowly stretch out the left leg and toe,
Keeping the palms down.
Keep the chest lifted high.
One more breath here.
And once you're here in this pose,
You can continue to stay here or gently come down onto the forearms or come into a forward fold here,
Continuing to stay in our pigeon pose.
We'll stay here for a few breaths,
Finding your level of comfortability here.
You're more than welcome to use a block here to support your hip if you need to or to rest your head down here.
Breathing through as we release tension from our right sides.
Let your breath be heavy here if it needs to,
Letting it guide you.
Continue breathing through,
Focusing your energy here on your right hip.
But any time you feel uncomfortable here,
Feel free to readjust or come out of this pose.
Few more breaths here.
Taking one more breath here in this pose.
And as you exhale it out,
Slowly lift the head and the chest now.
Bring the palms down to the mat.
Gently bring your right leg back.
Come into tabletop,
All fours.
Take your time here.
Once you're here in tabletop,
We'll do some hip circles here.
So balancing yourself on your hands and knees now,
Roll your body entirely from left to right,
Front to back,
Making big circles here,
Gently loosening the hips,
Bringing your body to each corner of your mat.
Big circular motions here.
And then slowly reversing the direction now or changing to the opposite side.
Continue making those big hip circles here,
Moving the body to each corner of your mat.
One more round here.
And slowly coming back to neutral in tabletop,
All fours.
From here,
We'll tuck our toes under and exhale back to downward dog.
Press up and back.
Dropping the heels down,
Pressing the earth away from you,
Keeping those elbows by the ears,
Dropping your head down.
One more breath here.
And as you inhale now this time,
Raise your left leg up for three-legged dog.
As you exhale,
Bend the left knee forward.
Come down onto the left leg now.
Come all the way down to the mat.
Stretch the right leg and toe out,
Keeping the hands down to the mat and the chest lifted high.
Take a nice,
Big,
Deep breath in.
As you exhale,
Come down to the forearms or come into a fold here.
And once you're here,
Find your level of comfortability here in this pigeon pose.
Allow yourself to stay here,
Breathing through now,
Focusing on the left hip,
Releasing any tension or tightness you may have there.
A few deep breaths here,
Grounding yourself here into this pose,
Allowing any tension now to be released from the left hip.
And just being mindful here of your breath,
Finding a nice,
Gentle rhythm here,
Guiding yourself here in this pose,
Focusing your energy.
A few more breaths here.
Taking one more breath here now.
As you exhale it out,
Gently bring the hands back down to the mat,
Lifting the chest up.
Slowly bring your left leg back.
Come to tabletop,
All fours.
And once you're here,
Come into our big hip circles,
Moving the entire body from left to right,
Moving to each corner of your mat.
Nice and easy here,
Big circles.
Loosening up any tension now,
Relaxing the hips.
And then when you're ready,
Slowly switching directions now.
Continue making those big hip circles,
Releasing the hip tension here and tightness.
Nice and easy,
One more round here.
And slowly come back to tabletop or neutral.
And then when you're ready,
Slowly come down to child's pose.
We'll take a little breather here,
Relaxing the heart and the head down towards the mat now.
Relaxing the arms,
You can straighten them out.
Resting your elbows down here if you like,
However you're comfortable here in this position.
Taking nice,
Deep breaths here,
Allowing the body to fold forward.
Now taking one more gentle breath here and exhaling it out.
As you inhale,
Come to tabletop,
All fours.
And tucking your toes under now,
Come to downward facing dog,
Press up and back.
Dropping the heels down here,
One breath.
And this time,
Bending the right knee forward,
We'll come to warrior one.
Bring the right foot between the hands,
Gently lower your left foot down behind you.
As you inhale,
Swing both arms up towards the sky.
Elbows and ears in alignment,
Balancing.
Bending into that right knee,
Hold and breathe here.
Nice,
Strong warrior,
One more breath.
As you exhale,
Come to warrior two,
Arms come parallel to the floor.
Continue bending into that right knee.
Look over your right hand here if you can.
Deep breaths here,
Nice and strong.
One more breath here.
As you exhale,
We'll come to triangle pose now.
Gently straighten the right leg.
Bring your right hand down to the mat or to a block towards your right foot.
Left hand comes up towards the sky.
Gently look up towards your hand here if you can.
Breathe here,
One more breath.
As you exhale,
We'll come into a low lunge.
So coming out of triangle pose,
Bend the right knee forward.
Come all the way down to your mat,
Both hands all the way down.
Right knee is forward,
Left leg's back.
Slowly lower your left knee down to the mat.
Straighten your left toe.
Coming to a crescent low lunge here.
As you inhale,
Bring your arms up by your ears,
Reaching towards the sky.
Keeping the right knee bent here,
Balancing.
One more breath here.
And as you exhale,
Bring the arms back down towards the mat.
Tuck your left toe coming out of this pose.
Come to low lunge.
Gently step your right foot back,
Come into a plank.
As you exhale,
Chaturanga down to the mat.
Inhale,
Lifting up to cobra,
Upward dog,
Lifting the chest.
As you exhale,
Come to child's pose.
Gently press up and back.
Come onto the backs of the feet and relax here.
Taking a few breaths here as we gently move into our next sequence here.
Always remembering we keep things in balance here.
Whatever we do on one side,
We'll always do on the opposite.
One more breath here.
And exhaling it out.
Now inhaling,
Coming back to tabletop,
All fours.
Tucking the toes under as you exhale,
Come to downward facing dog.
One breath here.
This time bending the left knee forward for warrior one.
Left foot comes down to the mat between the hands.
Slowly lower your right foot down behind you.
As you inhale,
Swing the arms up over the head towards the sky,
Warrior one.
Bending into the left knee,
Breathing here.
And one more breath.
Exhaling,
Come to warrior two.
Arms come parallel to the floor,
Looking over the left hand this time.
Breathing through nice and strong.
Keeping that left knee bent here.
One more breath.
And exhaling,
Coming to triangle pose now.
Gently straighten the left leg.
Bring the left hand down towards the mat.
Right hand comes up towards the sky.
Looking up towards your right hand here if you can.
Breathing through.
One more breath.
And as you exhale,
Coming out of this pose,
Come into a low lunge.
Both hands come down to the mat,
Keeping the left knee bent.
Slowly lower your right knee down towards the mat and straighten your right toe.
And as you inhale,
Gently swing the arms up towards the sky.
Come into this low crescent lunge.
Breathing through nice and easy.
Finding that balance.
One more breath here.
As you exhale,
Bring your hands down to the mat.
Gently tuck your right toe down.
Come into a low lunge.
And slowly step your left foot back.
Come into a plank.
As you exhale,
Come down to your chaturanga or down to your belly.
Inhale,
Pressing up to cobra.
Upward dog here,
Lifting the chest.
As you exhale,
Gently make your way into child's pose.
Relax and take a few breaths here.
Grounding your energy now.
Now slowly taking one more breath here.
I'm coming out of child's pose now.
Slowly come to a seated position at the back of your mat.
Stretching your legs forward now.
Come to a seated staff position.
Stretching the legs out in front of you here.
Spine is nice and tall.
Dropping the shoulders down.
Take a big deep breath in here.
And exhale it out.
Another big deep breath in.
This time reaching the arms up towards the sky for seated salute.
As you exhale,
We'll come to a seated fold.
So reaching the arms towards the toes,
Bending at the waist now.
Deep stretch here.
We'll hold and breathe.
Few deep breaths here.
Flexing the feet here,
Pointing the toes.
Taking one more breath here.
As you exhale it out,
Slowly walk the hands back up the legs or up the mat to upright position.
Once you're here,
Take another grounded breath in and exhale it out.
Now coming into Lord of the Fishes.
Start by bending your right knee.
Cross your right leg over your left and then gently bend your left leg behind you.
As you inhale,
Twist to your right,
Bring your right hand behind you.
Your left hand or left elbow comes onto the knee.
And as you exhale,
Twisting to your right,
Look over your shoulder or behind you.
Gently twisting the spine here.
Hold for a few breaths.
Nice and easy here.
One more breath here.
As you exhale,
Slowly release.
Come back to center.
Straightening both the legs now and crossing the right leg.
Straightening the legs,
Shake it out.
One more breath here.
Exhaling it out and slowly switching sides now.
So now I'll bend the left knee up,
Cross it over the right leg.
Gently bend your right leg this time behind you.
As you inhale,
Twisting to your left,
Left hand comes behind you.
Exhaling,
Bring the right hand onto the knee or elbow in front.
Hold and breathe here.
Gentle breaths into this gentle spinal twist here.
Lord of the fishes.
Keeping that spine nice and tall.
Gentle breathing here.
Releasing any tension in our spines here.
One more breath here.
And exhale it out.
Slowly return back to center.
Loosening up now.
Straighten the legs,
Shake it out.
One more breath here.
Now gently slide down towards the middle of your mat.
Come onto your back now.
Keeping your knees bent here.
Gently rock your knees side to side here.
Making those windshield wiper movements.
Gently allowing your back and your hips to relax now.
Leveling themselves out here on your mat.
One more breath here.
And then slowly bringing the knees back to neutral position.
Gently bring your knees into your chest here.
Giving yourself a hug or squeeze.
You can gently rock side to side here if you like.
Or stay here in stillness.
Breathing through.
One more breath here.
And exhaling it out now.
Slowly releasing the knees.
Bring both feet up towards the sky for legs up the wall or waterfall.
Drop your arms down by your side.
If you'd like to place a block or pillow underneath your hips here for a little extra support,
You're more than welcome to.
Gently allowing the feet here to point towards the ceiling or towards the sky.
One more breath here.
Exhaling it out.
Now slowly coming into happy baby pose.
Reach up,
Grab the outsides of the feet.
Allow the knees to fall towards the body.
Allow them to fall to the outsides of the body or the chest.
And as you hold onto your feet,
You can allow yourself to gently rock side to side here if you like.
However you're comfortable here in happy baby pose.
Nice and easy.
Taking one more breath here.
As you exhale,
Gently releasing the feet.
Bring both legs down to the mat now.
Coming to our final resting pose.
Coming into our corpse pose.
Allow the feet to fall open.
Relax your arms down now by your sides.
And turn your palms face down onto your mat to receive grounding energy.
Returning the palms face up to receive energy.
And as you gently rest here in our corpse pose,
Taking a few deep breaths here,
Releasing any tension you may still have.
Allow yourself to release it now.
Gently closing the eyes here if you haven't already.
Taking another big deep breath in through the nose.
Exhaling it out.
We gently begin to move into our Shavasana,
Our resting period.
Allowing your muscles and your joints to ground themselves here.
Allowing your breath to slow down.
Allowing the heart rate to gently slow down now.
As you rest here,
Slowly allow the facial muscles to relax.
Unclench your jaw.
Softening the eyes here and the face.
Moving down to your shoulders,
Allowing the shoulder blades to flatten and rest here.
Relaxing the arms,
The legs,
The hips.
Feeling the fingers and the toes curl naturally here.
Gently bringing your attention here to your breath.
Slowing down now.
Finding a nice gentle pace.
Allowing your body now to gently melt into the floor,
Becoming heavy.
Letting the ground support you here.
Knowing that you are safe here.
Continue breathing here.
Gently resting,
Relaxing in your Shavasana.
If you notice that your mind or your thoughts begin to wander here,
Just gently bring your attention back to your breath.
Focusing on a nice gentle pace here.
Now taking one more gentle breath here.
Now slowly begin to wake our bodies now,
Coming out of Shavasana.
Take a nice,
Big,
Deep breath in.
Reach the arms over the head.
Come into a full body stretch here.
Pointing the toes,
Reaching the fingertips.
And then stretching both arms over to the right side of your mat.
And then switching,
Reaching towards the left side.
And as you exhale,
Gently relax.
Bring the arms down by the side.
Blink your eyes here a few times.
Gently wiggle the fingers and the toes.
Rotating the feet and the wrists.
And then slowly bringing your knees into your chest now.
Give yourself a big hug or squeeze.
Gently rock side to side here,
Bringing some energy back into your body.
Bringing your awareness back into your space.
Becoming aware now.
Breathing here.
One more breath here.
And slowly turn onto your favorite side now.
Once you're here,
Gently bring your knees,
Ankles,
And feet on top of each other.
Come into a nice,
Easy fetal position.
Breathing here,
Allowing the body to ground itself once more.
And taking one more breath here.
Exhaling it out,
Feeling grounded and calm now and aware.
Slowly come up to seated position on your mat when you're ready.
Finding a place of comfortability here.
And once you're here,
Gently shrug your shoulders.
You can roll your neck here,
Side to side,
Or roll your head a few times.
Gently working out any last kinks or tension you may feel here.
And now we'll slowly drop our heads or chins into our chest.
Just allow yourself to relax here.
Resting the hands or the arms on the knees.
Taking another gentle breath here.
As we bow our heads here,
We give thanks to our bodies for guiding us through our practice today.
Slowly bringing your hands together in prayer position to your heart.
And gently closing out your practice here with namaste.
4.9 (18)
Recent Reviews
Amy
March 20, 2025
I couldn’t get to yoga class this evening and decided to do this guided yoga. Loved it. It was extremely easy to follow and loved the sequence. Thank you so much.
Karen
August 19, 2024
This was exactly what I needed this morning. Thank you!