Hi,
I'm Sage Rountree.
Here's some yoga that you can do in bed or down on a carpeted floor.
There's no mat needed.
This will work you around the world of your hips and give you a chance to downregulate your nervous system by breathing deeply and being still.
That just means you'll feel more chill.
Start on your bath.
It might feel nice to add a pillow underneath the back of your head.
Feel free to do that.
Or if you are on a mat,
A yoga blanket could serve that purpose.
Let's really casually cross the outer left ankle over the right thigh.
If this feels too strong for you already,
Step your right foot away from center.
If you want to feel a little more,
Bring your right foot in closer to center and try a slow sway of your legs from side to side.
You may be familiar with the figure four version where you pull this all in towards your chest,
And that's a fine pose to do.
If you want to pause the video and go there,
Go for it.
We will head into a light twist.
Please shinny your right foot over toward your left hip.
Then lower this unit of your legs down toward the right.
The sole of my left foot has come down to the floor.
That might happen in your body as well,
Or maybe not.
Maybe your foot stays up,
Free of the floor.
My left hip has lifted up just a little.
I'm not worried about that.
We'll stay here for several breaths.
You could drape your arms out to the sides.
Maybe you could reach your hands for your ankles.
If you try it and it's a no-go,
Don't worry about it.
If you would like to increase the feeling in the front of your right thigh,
Particularly the inner quads on the right,
You could try stepping your left foot onto the top of your right thigh like this.
It's a self-assist.
Let's take a few big breaths.
If any of these poses feels like just the ticket for you,
You can always pause the video and hang out longer.
Next up,
We'll cross the outer left ankle over the right thigh again and lift up through center.
Now your right foot will move over toward your right hip.
If you're on a mat,
It moves toward the long right edge of your mat.
Flex your right ankle,
Drop to the big toe side of your right foot,
And let your knees go down to the left.
If your body doesn't like this,
Immediately detach your left foot from your right knee and stuff it underneath your right.
Inner calf,
If that makes sense.
You could also put a blanket in between your knees or between your left knee and the floor.
Notice how the work of the external rotation of your left leg and the weight of your leg is pulling your right leg into inner rotation.
Not a place that we go a whole lot,
But it's a really important thing that your hip needs to be able to do with some fluidity and mobility.
Spread your arms wherever feels good.
For me,
I like to take my right arm on a diagonal away from where my knees are facing.
Take a few big breaths.
If this is your favorite pose,
You can hang out here.
If you'd like to go into a deeper twist,
You'll come up with your center,
And now you'll cross your left knee more tightly over your right knee.
Your right foot can come somewhere near the center of your space,
Near your tailbone,
In the middle of the mat if you're on a mat.
I like to lift my hips and bump them to the left,
But that's not necessary.
Your knees will drop over to the right.
This will pull you to the big toe side of your left foot and the pinky toe side of your right foot.
Now,
If this doesn't work,
A stacked knees situation is better for your body.
If you want a little more,
You can work your knees up toward your right elbow.
If you want a little less,
You can move them down away.
Your upper body should arrange itself however feels best for you.
I've got my arms loosely spread.
I've got my face up.
But you could turn your head away from the direction your knees have gone.
Let a few big breaths come in and go out.
When you feel like you've gotten what you need from this shape,
Let it go.
Press your feet down.
Resituate your hips.
Relative to your shoulders in the way that feels most neutralizing for you,
I like to hug my knees in.
You might like to keep your feet down and sway your knees from side to side.
I'll walk you through these poses on side too.
You can stay in any of these three for the entire duration.
You can stop the video and freestyle your way from here.
You're the boss.
We started with the ankle over the knee.
Now it's your right knee that will go over,
Sorry,
Your right ankle will go over your left knee.
Your right knee will angle over to the right some.
You could loosen this up by moving your left foot away.
You could tighten it up by keeping your left foot close in toward your bottom.
A very casual,
Gentle sway.
Right and left with your leg configuration might start to tease out a stretch in your outer right hip.
For the first of the three twists,
We'll be taking the left foot over near the right hip.
Heel toe,
Heel toe,
Heel toe.
Keeping this loose configuration,
The legs go down to the left.
The sole of my right foot has hit the floor.
Ooh,
I really feel a stretch in my left quads because my left leg is always tighter than my right.
Maybe that's exactly where to stay for you.
Maybe here you can work your feet up a little bit closer so that your hands can hold your feet.
Trust me,
Nothing special happens if you make this hand-to-foot connection.
It's just a thing.
Maybe on this side,
You want to do the self-assist by gently,
Gently resting the sole of your right foot on your left quads.
Wherever you choose to go,
Stay and breathe.
You are the sole authority on how long to hold on the second side.
If this is just getting good,
Please keep going.
The next pose in this three-pose sequence is lifting this very configuration of the legs up and working your left foot over toward your left hip.
I like to say flex your left ankle.
This keeps you rolling onto the big toe side of your foot in a good way.
But if you get here and this doesn't work,
Remember you can go loosely,
More of a windshield wiper twist.
Or maybe on this side,
It's very interesting to you to keep your right outer ankle over your left thigh.
Your breath comes and goes,
Making a lot of space through your ribs,
Moving in your belly,
And your arms can go wherever feels best for you.
Notice where the work is happening in your body and consider whether that is necessary work.
My right inner thigh is doing a tiny bit of work here to hold my right ankle on my left thigh,
But you don't need to do much more than that.
The third pose in the sequence is the tighter cross of the legs,
And the legs go back to the other side.
Along the way.
And you can slide closer to knee.
Maybe you bump your hips to the right.
As you drop your knees to the left.
Maybe you shimmy your shoulders to the left as you drop your right shoulder down towards your mat.
You can uncross your legs.
You can move your knees higher.
You can open the bend in your knees a little and slide your feet away from center.
Arrange your upper body in the way that feels sweetest for you.
Let your breath come in.
Let your breath go out.
This is the last asymmetrical pose in the sequence so you can hold it as long as you like and miss nothing.
When you feel like you've had enough,
Release the cross of your legs,
Reset your hips relative to your shoulders,
And go through anything neutralizing that feels good.
That could be hugging your knees and towards your chest.
It could be a happy baby position.
It could be a reclining cobbler position or a reverse reclining cobbler,
Sometimes also called constructive ref.
I hope that feels good and I hope it becomes part of your bedtime routine.
