Hello and thank you for joining me.
My name is Katherine and today's yoga class is focused on soothing the nervous system.
So we'll work through a short sequence in the chair.
You don't need any special props with you or a yoga mat,
Just a sturdy chair without wheels.
If you have a block or blanket or anything extra that helps to support your practice,
Feel free to bring that with you too.
If you'd like to put on some soothing music in the background softly,
You might do that.
And whenever you're ready,
Find a comfortable position.
Sitting in the chair,
Start to.
.
.
Bring the spine up nice and tall,
Maybe softening the gaze or closing your eyes.
Resting the hands on the legs or wherever they naturally fall.
Start to take a few mindful breaths here Breathing deeply in.
And breathing fully out.
You may even place one hand.
On the abdomen and one hand on the heart.
As we work to stimulate the vagus nerve.
That goes from the brain down to the gut.
Creating that communication channel for the nervous system.
So as we continue to breathe mindfully here,
Setting up for our practice,
Connecting the breath with the movements,
The body.
You may set an intention,
Maybe just a positive affirmation.
That you say to yourself here in the present tense.
With absolute certainty.
Repeating your intention to yourself two or three times.
And perhaps feeling the breath start to elongate.
Your eyes might still be closed,
Your gaze may be softened down to the earth in front of you.
You may start to feel the flow of the breath.
Deepen and lengthen.
Scanning the body to see if there's anywhere that you're holding tension right now.
Maybe tension in the gut.
The stomach.
The jaw or the forehead.
Take a moment here to soften that place,
Wherever your attention lies right now.
Taking a deep breath in.
And a full exhale to send the breath right to that place.
Softening.
Restoring.
And letting go.
With the next breath,
We'll start to flutter the eyes open if they're closed and begin to reach the hands down by your sides.
Let the shoulders roll back and away,
Feeling length through the neck.
Feeling the top of the head reach up towards the sky,
The feet ground down towards the earth.
As you do this,
Start to slowly reach the hands up to the sky,
Fingertips pointing up.
Maybe the gaze or the eyes just start to move up too.
And then begin to flip the palms,
Find length through the ribs,
The side body,
Lower the hands back down.
Moving nice and slow.
We'll do that two more times.
Inhale to lengthen.
Drawing the fingertips up to the sky exhale to lower Full deep breath.
Letting the breath be even longer.
As we inhale fully,
This time bring the fingertips to touch,
Gently pressing the palms together,
Lower the palms to heart center.
Maybe even lowering the chin down towards the chest too,
Finding length through the spine and a little bit of relief through the back of the neck.
Inhale,
Reach the fingertips back up.
This time,
Take the left hand down to the side of the chair.
Reach the right arm up and over.
Lengthening through the right side of the body let the gaze go where the neck is comfortable maybe up maybe down and be straight ahead.
Inhale fully find length Exhale,
Reach a little further over to the side.
The next breath take the hand down to the opposite knee finding this kind of sideways stretch here as the fingers press into the knee,
The upper shoulder,
Upper back.
Finds a bit of release.
Nice and slow,
We'll lift that hand back up to the sky and then sweep the arm back down to the chair.
Nice.
Starting to roll the shoulder back down and away.
We'll take both hands back up again,
Reach the fingertips up.
Exhale,
Lower the hands down to the chest,
Chin to the chest.
Inhale,
Reach the hands back up.
Taking the right hand down to the side,
Reach the left arm up and over.
Maybe noticing any differences between this side of the body.
Let the rib cage,
The side body,
The organs all open and expand.
Let the gays go.
Or the neck is comfortable.
And on the next breath,
Start to take the hand down to the opposite knee.
Press the hand into the knee gently,
The knee into the hand.
Start to round the spine just a little bit here,
Bringing the chin towards the chest.
Inhale sweep the arm back up lower the hand down and we'll roll both shoulders back and away taking the hands to the shoulders.
Finding a little bit of release here.
We'll circle the shoulders,
Circle the elbows.
And then lower the hands back down.
Nice.
Starting to add on a twist here.
We'll take the hands to the sides,
Kind of combining what we did before.
We'll reach the arms up to the sky.
Twist through the torso,
Twisting to your right first.
You can take the opposite hand to the opposite knee.
Find length through the spine.
Keep the head and neck nice and long and tall.
Feel like the top of the head is reaching up even higher as you lengthen.
Let the right side of the ribs lead you deeper into the twist.
Not too far,
But finding just enough.
Stimulation.
Through the internal organ.
On the next breath,
Keep the torso in the twist,
But start to turn and look forward with the head.
So just bringing the head forward,
Gentle twist still through the body to the right.
Take your left ear down towards your left shoulder.
Feeling the right side of the neck open.
You might be holding the back of the chair or the side of the chair depending on what type of chair you're sitting in.
Breathing here and notice if you move the eyes slightly to the left or the right.
Or up or down.
How that soft movement changes the muscles of the neck.
Everything's so interconnected.
Gently bring the head back up to neutral continuing into that gentle twist to the right listen to your body Slowly,
Mindfully unwind back through center,
Lifting both fingers up as we twist to the left now.
Take the opposite hand to the opposite knee.
Lengthen through the spine.
Feel the left ribs guiding you towards the left.
Holding onto the chair wherever it's accessible on this side.
At the hole.
Torso twist together nice and gentle.
The side might be a little different than the other.
Keep the feet grounded and start to turn just the head forward.
Keep the twist through the torso and bring the right ear down towards the right shoulder.
Doesn't have to be a big,
Big stretch.
Feeling a little length through the left side of the neck.
Drop the right shoulder down even further.
And then maybe moving the nose or the chin.
Or the eyes.
Until you feel just the right amount of release through the left side of the neck.
That traveling place of the vagus nerve down the neck.
Esophagus to the organs.
Gently lift the head back up to neutral,
Continuing that twist towards the left.
And then slowly with control,
Unwind back to center.
Reach the arms up one more time.
This time,
Full exhale,
Sweep the arms down,
Lower the heart towards the legs,
Take a little bit of a forward fold.
Keep your seat in your chair,
Let the arms come down.
Maybe let the arms sway here like pendulum arms,
Side to side.
Inhale half lift Find a flat back.
Exhale,
Fall down again.
Inhale reach the arms back up one more time And then take the hands down through heart center and down to the sides of the body.
Pausing here in what we call Mountain Pose or Tadasana,
Let the shoulders roll back down in a way.
The feet stay about hip width apart,
Grounded down to the earth.
Maybe closing your eyes or just feeling the breath here,
Feeling the flow of breath.
The movement of energy through your body.
Taking one more full inhale Nice cleansing exhale.
We'll start to extend the left leg out to the side.
So you might need to move a little bit further on your chair towards the left,
Depending on what type of chair you're in.
Keep the right knee bent and the left leg long.
Find what's comfortable on your knee.
So the direction of the toes may depend on how your knee and length of your torso and legs works in this position.
Start to reach the arms out to the side,
Gait pose,
Taking the left arm,
The one on the side of the extended leg,
Down the leg as you reach the opposite arm up towards the sky.
Maybe the gaze looks up too,
Or if it's better on your neck,
Stay looking down.
If this doesn't support your shoulder,
You could keep the hand behind the head.
Same thing,
We're looking to open up the whole side of the body here,
From the hip up through the obliques,
Through the rib cage.
Taking a deep breath here.
Start to sweep the arm back and around.
Lift the core,
Lift the torso.
Use the core strength to come back up.
And then take the hand down to the chair,
Holding the side of the chair,
Reach the opposite arm up and over.
Same thing if it's not supporting your shoulder with the big reach of the fingers.
You could keep the hand by the shoulder or behind the head.
If not,
Maybe the fingertips reach long.
Finding that length all the way down the left side of the body.
Inhale sweep the arm back around come back up to neutral taking the hands into heart center or into your hip Start to walk the foot back in.
Coming back to the center of the chair,
We'll come to the other side.
So as we start to extend the opposite leg out,
Keeping the knee bent,
You can find what feels right on this side of the body.
Beginning to reach the arm down the leg as the opposite arm reaches up and over.
Or comes behind the head.
Inhale fully exhale deeply finding the breath that supports the movement.
And the next breath start to sweep the upper arm down to the chair,
Reaching.
The right arm up and overhead try not to collapse into your left side but think of lifting and lengthening through the right side maybe taking the hand to the shoulder or back of the head If that's better on your shoulder,
Let the gaze go where your neck is comfortable and supported here.
We're looking for relaxation to follow the practice support and stability.
Sweep the arm back up lift the torso lift the heart come back up to a seat and start to walk the leg back in coming back to a neutral position maybe roll out the shoulders Taking a couple torso circles here,
Bring the ribs forward,
Back and around.
A few circles through the spine.
Through the center of the body,
Whichever way you're going,
You can start to reverse the circles.
Circling navel in towards spine,
Back and around a couple times the opposite way.
And then coming back to the neutral spine,
Finding your positioning here.
We're gonna take a high lunge.
So bringing your right foot forward will get a little bit more of an opening through the psoas and the back hip flexor.
So keeping the right leg supported on the chair,
This may look a little different,
Again,
Depending on what type of chair you're in today,
But the idea is to have the front knee bent and the back leg long.
Keep as much of a bend in the back knee as you need,
Maybe even as much as placing the knee on a blanket or bolster on the floor.
Let the hips face the bent knee,
So we're facing the side of the chair now,
And maybe the arms reach up here.
They may just come halfway.
Or maybe all the way.
Or you might feel supported with the hands resting at heart center.
Take another two breaths here.
On the next breath Either stay here or start to hold the back of the chair by taking a gentle twist to the right side.
So as we twist the torso,
This left hip might come with you a little bit.
And twist towards the right.
Holding on to the back of the chair for support.
Breathe here.
On the next breath,
Slowly start to unwind.
Take the hands back to the heart.
Hips face forward again.
Start to reach down for the chair as you guide the back foot in.
And then turn right to go into the other side.
So turning to face the other side.
Now the opposite knee is bent.
The opposite leg is stretched back.
You might even adjust your chair slightly here to find that opening in the back hip flexor.
Hips face forward,
Maybe the arms reach up.
Or stay bent.
Breathing here We'll start to twist towards the left this time or stay facing forward.
Gentle twist through the torso,
Guiding the body to the left.
Breathe.
As you inhale,
Exhale,
Maybe the ribs twist just a little bit more to the left.
Gently slowly unwind maybe reach the arms back up And then take the hands down to the center,
Reaching for the center of the chair as you pull yourself back to meet the.
.
.
Front of the chair again.
Letting the knees sway side to side here.
You could hold on to the sides of the chair for support.
Maybe even let the gaze come towards the opposite side.
The feet could be as wide as you want for this.
Finding a little bit of movement through the hips.
Through the low body.
Maybe through the neck as the gaze comes side to side over the shoulders.
And then coming back to a neutral place.
Start to bring the soles of the feet together.
If you wanna place a block or bolster or something underneath your feet to elevate the feet higher to your body,
That could be an option or you might be comfortable here.
Finding a little bit of release around the hip area,
Maybe the groin.
Maybe just letting the hands rest here by the legs or taking the hands back to where we began.
At the heart and abdomen.
Finding your breath here And either staying with this or maybe holding the sides of the chair and beginning to extend the heart forward.
Be cautious here not to lift the seat out of the chair as you slowly start to extend the heart forward.
Rather than round the spine,
Notice how it feels if you feel as though your heart is reaching down towards the earth.
Down towards your feet as the knees Find some space and stretch.
Soften through the neck,
Soften through the eyes,
And then gently work your way back up.
Slowly,
Mindfully.
Bringing the feet back down to the mat.
Or the floor.
Maybe rocking the knees side to side here.
We're circling the knees.
Coming to a comfortable resting position,
We start to end our practice here in the chair.
Taking any other movement that feels good for you if you have a blanket on the floor that you want to use to put over your body for extra warmth or if you want to come down onto the mat to a shavasana position or just a lying down position,
You might do that.
Taking as much time as you can to allow the benefits of the practice,
The soothing of the nervous system,
The stimulating of the vagus nerve.
To experience this feeling in your body,
To experience this deep settling in your mind.
Maybe softening your eyes or just beginning to rest back in the chair.
You might place your hands.
With the palms facing up in more of an accepting and receiving position.
Maybe starting to lie comfortably back,
Letting go of any control of the spine,
Control of the breath.
Control of the thoughts or the need to follow.
Any guidelines or directions.
Start to feel the natural rhythmic movement of the breath.
The breath moving.
In a way that it does to support your body effortlessly taking this time to honor your body.
Honor your breath.
Finding this renewal of the cells.
And allowing these benefits to settle in now and stay with you for as long as they do the rest of the day.
Knowing that this practice is here to support you.
At any point when you feel like your nervous system is ready for a bit,
Have a reset.
Staying here for as long as you can or would like.
We're beginning to soften out of the practice.
When you feel ready.
Maybe fluttering the eyes open,
Finding soft movement in your fingers and toes.
Taking your time to come up to a seat.
When you're ready to exit the practice,
And come into the rest of the day.
With so much love and gratitude.
Thank you.
