Mindful Yoga Part 1 During this exercise we will experience some simple body movements with relaxation.
You should follow along as best you can,
Doing what you feel capable of,
And refraining from anything that does not seem to be appropriate for you at this time.
Let your own sensibility to your body overwrite my indication of how long you hold a position.
We are working on the limits of what we can do at any sense of movement.
It is important to be aware of these limits,
And to dwell as these boundaries long enough to experience them.
But it is just as important not to push beyond.
Instead we are going to look deeply into them,
Each moment with full acceptance of them,
Not trying to force ourselves to be different from how we are right now.
If you do this work regularly,
With care and attention as we are learning how to do it,
You will soon notice that your limits are changing and dissolving by themselves.
The best results will be achieved by not trying to achieve anything at all,
Even relaxation.
It is enough to simply do what is said,
To do as best you can.
Paying full attention to exactly how your body is feeling in each moment.
If the stretches produce sensations of tingling,
Pooling,
Feeling pins and needles,
Hot feelings or burning,
Radiation,
Penetrating or anything else,
Just feel what it is,
Try and really notice what your feeling is precisely as it is.
Even ask yourself,
What am I feeling right now?
What is this feeling in my knee,
My back,
Etc.
Exactly where is it?
What quality does it have?
How is my mind reacting to it?
Or maybe responding to it?
If you wish to skip something we may be doing,
Just try assuming a comfortable position,
Closing your eyes and visualizing or sensing yourself doing what is described in as much detail as possible.
Try to remember to breathe through the nose as much as possible and to work with the eyes open and sometimes closed,
Experimenting with a level of concentration you can achieve.
So now,
Try to make a comfortable position on the floor or something that will protect you from the hardness of the floor and allowing your body to settle into what we call the corpse pose,
Corpse position.
Just lying on your back,
Your legs stretch with your feet falling away from each other and the arms alongside your body with your palms towards the ceiling,
If this feels comfortable to you.
Just bring your attention to your belly,
Noticing the abdomen expanding on the in-breath and deflating on each out-breath,
Like you have a little balloon in your belly and it was just expanding and deflating gently on its own pace and you are not forcing it.
Allowing the eyes to be gently closed at this point,
If you feel comfortable with it and just letting your body sink into the mat each time you breathe out,
As your muscles let go and any residual tension or strain or stress left over from what you have been doing leaves your body on each out-breath.
And on the in-breath just breathing in the sense of vitality,
Lightness,
Renewed energy.
And let's begin now.
On the in-breath just taking a deep breath in and as we do so,
Stretching the arms up over the head for the entire duration of the in-breath.
So it's a slow purposeful stretch and when you reach the floors with the hands just holding the breath for a moment and stretching the entire body out,
The fingers in one direction and the heels in the other.
Not too strenuously,
But just feeling your entire body stretching right through the fingertips and wrists,
The elbows,
Armpits and shoulders,
Ribcage.
The entirety of your body stretching every joint and then on the out-breath just letting the arms slowly and mindfully come back down so that you are in touch all the way,
Even though your eyes are closed,
You feel your arms in the district point just experiencing making contact with the floor and experiencing relaxation,
Letting go of the muscles,
Relax and the floor takes over the work of holding them up.
And just coming back to your belly and to the flow of your breathing.
Now let's bend both knees so that your feet will be flat on the floor and spread approximately a foot apart.
The knees are pointing up towards the ceiling and your arms are still relaxed alongside your body.
And we'll do our pelvic tilts by first contracting your belly and just lifting the tailbone slightly off the floor,
Pushing the base of the spine and the lower back down into the floor and then tilting the pelvis the other way so that you are making a space between the floor and your back.
There is a nice little archway there.
You can put your hand underneath and if you can keep your hand there,
Once again tilting the pelvis the other way so that you are pushing down on the hand and just the tailbone is slightly coming up off the floor,
But not the pelvis.
And just gently rocking back and forth,
Moving the pelvis,
Just tilting the pelvis back and forth,
Doing this on your own pace.
As you breathe naturally.
And then when you are ready,
Just slowly coming to a stop and wrapping both arms around your shins,
Throwing your knees up towards your chest and just squeezing gently,
Lovingly squeezing your knees down towards your chest.
And if you like rocking a little bit from side to side as you breathe.
And if you want raising the head up.
So you are basically massaging the muscles of your back.
You should do this on the muscles at either side of the spine.
You can try making circular motions.
You should do it round in both directions,
One after the other.
And then try just shifting so that you are holding onto one knee and stretching the other leg out.
Starting perhaps with the left leg and just stretching it out on the floor as you squeeze the right knee down towards the chest.
Holding both hands on the knee and one on the shin.
And if you want bringing the head up in the direction of the knee.
And perhaps if you can putting the forehead on the knee or stopping wherever you wind up.
Just experiencing this is your limit at this particular time and not immediately backing away from it.
But just breathing with it.
So let's just breathe here now.
If you notice any intense sensation in any point,
Just directing your breath to those regions in particular.
Each time you breathe in and on the out breath just letting go of those sensations and let it,
If you will,
Letting them or imagining them flow out with the out breath.
And now switching so with the head down on the floor.
You are drawing the left knee up towards the chest and stretching out the right leg all the way.
And again if you want raising your head up and breathing wherever you happen to stop.
Listening to the messages that your body gives you about what your limits are and where you need to stop or even back off.
But if you can staying at this limit and experiencing them a little more deeply than you might ordinarily.
And then when you are ready just stretching back out,
Lying down on the floor,
Resuming the corpse pose.
And bringing your attention back to the breathing.
The abdomen expanding gently on the in breath and falling back downwards to the spine on each out breath.
Now when you are ready,
See by rolling over and coming up to on your hands and knees.
And in this position we are going to breath out and arch the back letting the head come down and do our cat stretch.
And really arching the back as really high up as it can go.
And the head goes down between the arms and then after a moment or two reversing it.
On the in breath letting the belly come down,
The pelvis tilt down,
The head come up.
And as you breath in feeling that stretching up with the head looking back and then exhaling again and arching the back once more.
And then once again breathing in and lowering the belly making a curve in the back to the other direction and looking up.
And then exhaling once more arching the lower the back,
Lowering the head.
And then this time as you breath in and lower your belly,
Stretching the right leg up in the air.
Lifting it behind you as well raising the left arm and stretching out so that you are basically breathing and balancing the head.
Lift it up and the left arm and right leg and just stay here breathing.
And take some muscle strengthening in the back and the shoulder.
And when you are ready lowering the knee to the floor and the hand and begin exhaling arching the back up and feeling the stretch reversing.
What we just did stretching those muscles now instead of strengthening them,
Letting them relax and lengthen.
And then again on the in breath lowering the belly,
Raising the head and this time the left leg and the right arm.
When you are ready and breathing.
And you require a certain amount of balance and just breathing as you do so.
Feeling the sensations,
Experiencing your body in this particular posture,
Strange as it may seem.
And just accepting yourself as you are with your limits as they are in this particular moment.
And breathing in and out with them and with your experiences.
And when you are ready once again lowering your knee and the arm,
Hand and knee on the floor and arching the back as before.
Head down and really getting a good stretch in your back.
Without overdoing it,
Just easing up your limits.
And when you are ready lying down back on your back.
And when you are back for a moment with your hands along side your body and your feet falling away of each other.
Just feeling what the consequences of having done this are.
Just noticing yourself and your experience just as it is and not because you want to change something.
And now let's do the half bridge pose which again involves bringing the feet to the floor and the knees up to the ceiling.
The feet a little bit closer to the buttocks as they were before.
Your arms along side your body on the floor.
And when you are ready now lifting the pelvis.
This is not tilting but really lifting your pelvis and lower back off the floor and staying in this half bridge pose.
With the body resting on the back of your head,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Arms and on the feet.
And the rest of the body is arched and you are just breathing here.
Then you may begin to feel your thigh muscles as they fatigue a bit.
Then just stay here with the breathing,
Experiencing the sensations of being in this particular posture.
And as much as possible letting the arms be completely relaxed.
Your face,
The back of your head,
Your neck.
And as you stay here breathing,
If you need to come down at some point before I say to,
Just come down to the floor and when you are ready bringing it back up.
Taking responsibility for doing this your way and the way you will get the most benefit out of it.
And feeling the abdomen as it expands on the in-breath in this posture.
There is a lot of room for expanding and how it deflates on the out-breath.
And when you are ready,
If you haven't done so already,
Bring your pelvis back down to the floor and stretching out the legs.
Allowing your body in the corpse pose.
Just to relax,
Let go and sink into the mat.
Being willing to present notes,
The thoughts that flip through your mind and the content of them.
Maybe telling you what you should be doing,
What you need to do next.
And maybe about the future or about the past or whatever they are.
Just letting them come and go through your mind without being particularly disturbed or distracted by them.
Or in fact giving them any energy at all and instead focusing on your experience of the present.
And the fact that you are here now lying on the floor and nourishing yourself in this way.
Contributing to strengthen your body.
Freeing yourself from stress and tension.
And developing a sense of your own capacity to control your health to some extent and to direct your life and improve the quality of your health and wellbeing.
Now let's do a simple twitch stretch where we lay the fingers together behind the head.
Draw the feet up towards the buttocks again.
Put this time together.
And knees together as well breathing in and out a few times and when you are ready letting the knees go over gently to the right as far as they go to the floor.
The left foot will get off the floor and will be on top of the right foot and then turning with your head and looking to the left beyond your left elbow.
And just feeling the stretch across the chest and into the left armpit or wherever it is you feel it and breathing in and out with this posture.
As you try to relax into it drop down into a state where you are just allowing gravity to pull you down and you are not resisting.
And every time you breathe in you feel your abdomen stretch and every time you breathe out just sinking a little bit more into the stretch.
As you relax and let go.
And on the in breath bringing your knees back up to the middle and letting your knees fold to the other direction to the left.
That will bring your right foot off the ground and onto your left and turning with your head and looking to the right.
And again just stretching,
Settling in and out breath letting your body fall on the floor straight down each point going straight down as you accept the stretch.
Accept your body being in this position,
Full awareness of each moment,
Full awareness of breathing and the sensation associated with being in this particular situation.
This particular position.
And when you are ready bringing the knees back up,
Releasing the hands and stretching back out in the corpse posture.
Just slowly bringing everything to a pause.
Noticing how your body feels and noticing the effects these movements have with your thoughts,
Your emotions.
Now let's bend the left knee so that the foot is on the floor alongside the right knee and we will just take a deep breath in and breath out letting the right leg come up with the knee straight as far as it will go.
All the way up towards the ceiling but if,
Just wherever you wind up it's fine,
It's exactly where you are supposed to be right now.
And then maintaining this posture and breathing and if you notice that your arms are getting involved,
Pushing on the floor and your shoulders are tight or your face is tense.
And just letting these parts of your body completely relax as they are not involved in what you are doing.
Focusing your attention to your belly and then even though your belly is somewhat contracted,
Involved in lifting the leg it can still expand on the breath and deflating on the out breath.
And notice that in fact it's true for you at this time and if you like you can move the foot,
Just crank the foot around the ankle a few times in each direction.
And feeling the muscles as they are involved in moving the foot.
You can intensify this on your own by lifting your head up to your knee.
And then when you are ready letting the leg come back down,
Taking your time,
Letting it come back slowly and totally mindfully so that you are really aware of it all in the way down.
And when it does make contact with the floor experiencing the wave of relaxation that flows through the leg,
Flows through your body ultimately leaves out with the breath.
And as the muscles let go from having done some lifting,
Contracting and they release and lengthen and then reverse the position of the legs so that the right foot is on the floor next to the left knee.
And you are ready to take a deep breath in and allowing your left leg to come up as far as it will go.
And settling in the air,
Experiencing the leg being up,
Letting your back relax and your shoulders,
Your arms,
Your face.
And if you like,
Cranking your feet around,
Foot around.
And then those of you who are doing the more intense stretching,
Just go ahead,
Just doing that on your own pace if you feel like it.
And whatever it is you are doing,
Just being totally present,
Experiencing all sensations in your body while you have this leg up,
You are noticing the belly and the contraction of the abdomen muscle,
Do part of the lifting and your body slowly let the left leg come down.
You may have to close your eyes in this point or open or just feeling your leg as it comes down and when it does make contact with the floor.
Again just experiencing the wave of release as the muscle let go and you sink deeper in the floor.
Just stretching out the other leg and coming back on the belly and to the flow of your breathing.
Full awareness in each in-breath for its entire duration and full awareness of each out-breath for its entire duration.
A willingness to be totally present right now with what you are doing,
With what you are experiencing,
Feeling in this moment,
Allowing yourself to really fully experiencing being.
And when you are ready we will now roll over to our left side and prop our head up using your left hand and putting your right hand on the floor in front of your belly now.
Look at settle for a moment just breathing and when you are ready on an in-breath slowly lifting the right leg up to the side,
Straight up and holding it where it winds up and just breathing so you can feel exactly in a concentrated state what this feels like.
Raising it perhaps a bit higher and breathing and experiencing the intensity but asking yourself if you can handle this in terms of your own body and your own limits in this time.
And if it is too intense,
Backing off and if it is okay,
Breathing to the intensity.
And if you are ready slowly bringing your leg down,
Taking your time and when it does come down experiencing the wave of release.
And if you like on the in-breath raising the leg back up and slowly letting it come down.
And then rolling over to the other side,
Propping your head up with your right hand now,
Lying on the right side and when you are ready lifting your left leg up as far as it may go.
A left hand on the floor in front of your body and then lowering slowly in touch the whole way down.
And when you feel up to it,
Raising it once up again and slowly back down and then rolling over onto your belly.
And in this position lying on one side of your face,
Your arms alongside your body and your palms open towards the ceiling.
In this position you can feel the belly pressure against the floor each time you breathe in and relaxing from the floor each time you breathe out.
Allowing your whole body to sink into the floor with each exhalation.
In this position we are going to move the head now so that the chin is on the floor,
Not using the hand at all and slowly as we breathe in lift the right leg up straight and just holding it here as you breathe.
Just breathe,
Feeling experiencing your leg and when you are ready let it come down.
Lying on the side of your face now and then with your chin on the floor once again raising the other leg up.
Keeping your arms as much as possible completely relaxed,
Face completely relaxed and just letting the back muscles do the work.
And again slowly down and relaxing.
And now when you are ready bringing up your chin once again and then just lifting your head up just slowly and the neck and the shoulders and just keeping the feet on the floor and just lifting.
Not using the hands but just lifting as high up as you can in what we call the lower cobra.
As if you were a snake and had no arms and legs and using the trunk muscles,
Particularly the back muscles to just lift up,
Breathing high up in the ribcage as you can get.
Feeling the belly rise a bit higher each time you breathe in and just breathing when you are ready,
Really slowly slowly coming down.
And resting on one side of the face and again allowing your body to sink into the floor as your muscles relax and let go.
And now you are ready roll over to your back into corpse pose,
Arms alongside your body,
Palms up towards the ceiling and if you are comfortable and just being aware of lying here.
Allowing your eyes to close if that feels okay.
And becoming aware of the wave like movement of our breathing at the belly.
And as we lie here just letting go of the thoughts and memories of what we have done and what we have asked our body to do to this point and just becoming aware of being right here,
Right now.
Centered and focused,
Riding the waves of each breath.
And letting go of the out breath,
Sinking deeper into the floor and into a state of relaxed stillness and awareness.
And it is stillness aware of things as they are.
The experience of your body as a whole and the sensations of feeling in your body as pure sensations and feeling.
And as we come to an end now you might want to take a moment to give yourself some credits and acknowledgement having taken the time to do this.
And recognize that by doing this with care and attention as we have been practicing that compliments implies the naturally healing process of our body.
And that this is very much a time that you are using to work on yourself to develop great strength and flexibility.
Not simply in your body but also in ones emotional life.
And becoming more flexible and more creative in our relationship to life itself and developing a deeper appreciation for ones life and the feeling and the limits associated with it.
So just now experiencing this in stillness,
A fullness and a depth of each moment.
