Welcome to Yoga for Witches,
As we seek a little sense of clarity,
Renewal and awakening and to treat our bodies,
Our hearts and our minds with tenderness and love,
And with these longer days brings brightness,
Sunshine and warmth.
And with this growing warmth arrives a sense,
An opportunity to grow,
To unfurl.
We will take our practice from an easy seated position,
So cross-legged if that's comfortable for you,
And you can do this anywhere you like,
It can be on your bed,
It might be on cushions or just upon your living room floor.
And perhaps you gently rest your hands upon your knees or in your lap,
And we'll begin with soft and easeful breaths,
And sit within a sense of opening,
Of beginning and of arriving.
A simple invocation that you can say aloud or in your mind's eye might be,
I arrive in this moment,
I begin again.
I arrive in this moment,
I begin again.
From here we'll begin our gentle movements,
Just from the seated position and just in our own time.
We might begin with some little shoulder rolls,
So we might draw the shoulders up towards the ears and roll them away,
Gently bringing in that rolling movement,
Clearing away any tension or imagining that you're shrugging off any weight that might be settled upon your shoulders.
You can roll your shoulders backwards or forwards or any combination you wish.
Then as we let the shoulders relax,
From our seated position we will take a few of what we call Sufi circles.
Now it might be easier to imagine that you have a hula hoop around your waist,
And we're just going to take some little spirals,
Little circling movements of the body as if you were ever so easily rolling that hula hoop around your waist.
We'll just pick a direction,
Gentle movement,
And when you feel ready we'll hula hoop in the other direction,
A circle the other way.
When you feel ready,
Come back to centre,
Back into that easy seat.
From our seated position we're going to take a very gentle twist.
So I invite you to take the left hand and just rest it upon the right knee.
The right hand can just rest on the earth behind you.
Spiral the heart,
The shoulders and the gaze around to the right.
We're creating a gentle spiral twist through the spine,
Easing through our centre.
From here we'll gently journey to the other side,
So it might be right hand upon left knee.
You can take the left hand to the earth behind you and again that spiralling of heart and shoulders and gaze around to the left side.
If you've done the opposite side it doesn't matter.
So the spine is still tall but we're creating a spiral twist.
Come back to centre,
Back into that easy seat.
What we'll do is we'll reach both hands high towards the sky as if we're reaching skywards.
Lovely extension through the spine,
Through the arms,
All the way up to the fingertips.
Maybe the gaze floats skywards as well if that feels okay for the neck.
And then what we'll do from here is we're just going to let the right hand fall to the earth to your right side and we're just going to take a little side stretch over to the right.
It doesn't have to be a huge movement,
Be as gentle as you like.
So the right hand is on the earth,
The left is reaching tall and slightly over to the right,
So the arms are almost making a little crescent moon shape.
From here what we'll do is we'll reach the right hand back towards the sky,
So once again we're reaching with both hands high to sky.
And then we'll take it to the other side,
So we let the left hand fall to the earth,
The right hand is reaching tall and just over to the left a little,
Creating a little space in the body,
Perhaps an idea of reaching into the potential of the day.
From here we'll once more come to reaching high to the sky,
So both hands reaching tall,
A final reach up skywards.
And then from here what we're going to do is we're going to hinge from the hips and we're going to reach those arms now towards the earth,
So taking our time from that reaching high,
Gently hinging over to bring the hands towards the earth.
So a gentle forward fold,
Perhaps over cross legs,
You can unravel the legs if you prefer and reach them out in front of you.
We're seeking to release any little bits of tension or stiffness if you want to give the head or the shoulders a little wiggle as we settle into this forward fold,
Softening and soothing into place.
And then from the forward fold let's gently rise just back to our easy seated position.
I'll invite you just to move the neck a little bit here,
We'll take this really gently,
We're just going to drop the chin to the chest as if you're looking down towards the ground.
And then we're just going to do some little half rolls,
So what we'll do is we'll take the chin over to one shoulder and then along the front line of the body as if tracing a little curve along the collarbone and then the chin comes to the other shoulder.
And we're just going to roll side to side,
So just little half circle rolls,
Shoulder to shoulder,
As slowly as you like,
Especially if you've woken up with any tension in the neck.
Or if you prefer just to be still you can just let the head rest to one side,
So feel free to listen to the neck,
This can be quite personal,
So we'll just take any movement or stretches that feel okay.
If we're taking those little half rolls what we'll do is we'll bring the head back to upright and we're just going to do exactly the same,
Letting the head fall back,
So we let the head fall back,
The gaze go skywards,
And again we're just rolling the head from one shoulder to the other in a little half circle.
And once more we can bring the head just to neutral,
So we'll just come back to that forward seat.
So from here I invite you just to bring both hands and rest them upon the heart,
Just a lovely moment to bring our awareness to our heart space,
To feel the breath underneath the hands,
And to greet the light.
We're going to reach the hands skywards for one last time,
So we're just going to reach them up tall,
You can take a little wiggle and flex with the arms if you like,
Reach to the sky,
Reach to the sun.
And from here we can just let the hands fall away.
Now I invite you to rest the hands once more,
Either on your legs or upon your lap,
As we take a little moment,
We'll take a moment to visualise the sun that may shine upon us,
And the sun rising within you,
A warm glow in the centre of your heart and chest.
We're going to take one more big inhale and reach the arms skywards,
Reaching tall.
We'll bring the palms together and we'll just exhale the hands to heart centre in prayer.
From here if the eyes are closed we may gently open them.
And here we may bow to ourselves and to each other.
Namaste.
Thank you so much for joining me to start anew.
May your day be bright and light and filled with hope,
And I look forward to journeying with you again soon.
Farewell for now.
