Hi everyone,
My name is Katherine and today we are doing a short chair yoga class.
Great for traveling if you are in the middle of traveling,
Heading out on a vacation.
Or maybe just returning from travel and feeling a little bit tight or tired in the body,
This will be a short practice that will target the lower back,
Create some space in the shoulders,
The upper body.
Maybe you're feeling a little hunched in in the shoulders.
And just looking to create some heart space,
Some opening and release.
So thanks for joining me today.
We'll start with a bit of mindfulness,
Especially important when traveling.
Any comfortable chair that you have available doesn't have to be any specific yoga chair just a chair without wheels so something that allows you to be somewhat sturdy on the surface beneath you no additional props needed but if you have blocks or a blanket or anything else that supports your practice,
Feel free to have that handy next to your chair before we begin.
So coming to your seat,
You might start to sway a little bit side to side as you soften your eyes.
Closing the eyes or softening the gaze,
Whatever feels good for you as you start to just roll the shoulders back down and away a couple times.
Beginning to ground the sitting bones,
Lifting the heart space.
Feeling the crown of the head reach up towards the sky as the feet ground down towards the earth.
Take a couple of mindful breaths here.
Breathing in fully.
Exhaling fully out the nose few more times inhaling fully exhaling fully out the nose If it feels right for you,
You might set an intention here.
Heart's desire for this trip,
For this travel that you have.
Coming up or in the midst of or even that just finished.
Maybe it's just a one word.
Or short affirmation that you state to yourself here.
With the next breath,
If the eyes are closed.
You might start to soften and open the eyes,
Taking a couple more circles of the shoulders.
Maybe circling the ribs,
The torso,
And then beginning to reach the arms all the way up towards the sky.
Maybe the gaze follows.
Exhale,
Lower the hands,
Sweeping the hands down to your sides.
We'll take that again this time.
Reach the arms up.
As the arms come up,
Pull the elbows back.
Open the heart forward.
Reach through the front of the body,
Pull the arms back.
And then press the hands together into the heart.
Lower the hands,
Lower the chin.
Inhale press the hands open the arms to the sky reach the left hand down to the chair as the right arm comes up and over if the shoulder doesn't like that just keep the hand down by the shoulder that might feel better You don't have to reach too far from here.
Start to rotate the ribs slightly up towards the sky,
Opening up the space in the side body a little bit more.
Then rotate the hips to face forward again.
Starting to round.
Rotating down as you gaze towards the ground,
Towards the surface beneath your feet.
Take the arm that's lifted now and lower it down to the knee,
Crossing over the body and rounding through the spine.
From here,
We'll take the hand down by your side.
Reach both hands to the shoulders and pause here.
Opening the arms wide,
We'll reach the arms up to the sky.
Take the opposite hand down to the chair,
Reach up and over.
The right hand.
Inhale,
Start to rotate the ribs,
The torso up towards the sky.
Full breath as you come back to center.
Face the hips forward and then start to Gently rotate looking down towards the mat.
Taking the hand to the knee,
Rounding through the spine here.
Press the leg away.
And pause.
Taking the hand by the side of the chair,
Cross the knee,
Cross the hand over the knee.
Reach both arms up to opposite forearms or to the wrist.
From here,
We'll take the arms over to the right side,
Bringing the gaze over the left side,
Keeping the torso facing forward,
Feet grounded down.
Come back through center.
Pause through center,
And then take the arms over to the left side,
Gaze over the right shoulder.
Coming back through center.
We'll do that one more time to each side.
Arms come to the right,
Gaze comes to the left.
Coming back to center we'll switch to go the other way.
Arms come over to the side.
Meeting back at the center,
Start to interlace the hands here and circle out the wrist a little bit.
Bringing the hands together,
Circling the wrist one way,
And then changing direction to circle the other way.
Keeping the hands interlaced,
We'll press the heels of the hands up towards the sky.
Keep as much of a bend in the elbows as you'd like or start to extend the arms even higher.
As you reach up towards the sky,
Ground the feet to the mat or the surface beneath you and start to press the heels of the hands away from the body.
Pressing strong forward.
Opening up through the backs,
The arms,
The shoulders,
As you slowly lower the hands down to your lap.
Nice as the hands come down start to roll the shoulders back Coming to a cat-cow,
We'll bring the hands back towards the upper legs as the nose draws forward,
Reaching the heart forward,
Creating a little bit of an extension in the back.
We'll start to round,
Press the hands towards the knees.
Pull the navel in towards the spine,
Round the chin toward the chest.
Couple more rounds just like that.
Pull the hands back up the legs,
Nose draws up,
Shoulders pull back down and away.
Start to round the spine.
So good for the back.
With the traveling to find a bit of flexion and extension.
Taking your time to go as slow as you'd like through this.
Or you could go a little bit quicker.
If that feels good in the body.
Take one last round and then pause at a neutral spine once you've finished the next round of CAT.
Bring the hands back to the legs.
Allow the spine to be long,
Maybe soften the gaze.
Pause here.
We'll start to come to a twist,
Taking the arms back up to the sky.
We'll twist to the right,
Take the opposite hand to opposite knee,
Letting the left hand come down to the right knee.
The other hand can stay down by your side or the back of the chair,
Depending on what style chair you're in.
As you stay here in the twist,
Find length through the spine.
And then exhale maybe twist a little bit deeper.
On the next breath,
Keep the twist,
Keep the ribs drawing towards the right,
But start to bring your gaze back towards the.
.
.
Center looking towards the center take the right the left ear down towards the left shoulder A little bit of a neck stretch for the right side.
Not going too far just finding a little space in the neck where the shoulders and neck may feel a bit of tension.
Gently release the head back up to neutral.
And then unwind the arms,
Unwind the torso to face back to center.
Twist the other way,
Twisting to the left this time,
Opposite hand to opposite knee.
It doesn't have to be a big,
Big movement.
Just feel the torso twisting towards the left.
Inhale find length through the spine exhale maybe twist a little bit deeper towards the left On the next breath,
Bring the head back,
The gaze back to center.
Keep the twist through the torso.
Bring the right ear down towards the right shoulder,
Opening up through the left side of the neck.
Good.
Start to bring the head back up.
Unwind the arms back to center.
Reach the arms up to the sky.
And then exhale bring the hands down to the heart.
Taking a full fold this time.
We'll inhale,
Reach the arms up.
Exhale,
Sweep the arms down.
Let the heart come down towards the tops of the legs.
Keep the seat grounded.
The arms can flow down and you might just let the arms sway here.
In little circles or take opposite hand to opposite elbow.
Finding a rag doll here.
Keeping the seat grounded,
The feet grounded.
Inhale,
Find a half lift.
Let the hands come to the legs.
Lengthen through the spine.
Exhale,
Fold the heart down towards the legs again.
Inhale,
Reach the arms all the way up to the sky.
Exhale bring the hands down to the heart.
Coming to our lower body,
We'll start to hug the right knee in.
As the right knee lifts and hugs in,
You may put your foot on.
Anything that helps to support it if you want to put something underneath your foot.
And then start to cross the right foot over the top of the left knee.
So not on the knee,
But right over the top.
You might flex the toes back on this foot.
Staying here,
Placing the hands on the upper legs.
This may be plenty to open through the right hip.
Supporting the low back.
If you want to take it a little bit further,
You might start to extend forward.
Feel yourself extending the heart coming towards the leg.
Couple of breaths here,
Maybe gazing down towards the floor in front of your feet.
Finding length through your back as you allow the exhale to bring you maybe a little bit closer towards the legs.
In the next breath,
Start to press into the legs,
Lift the heart back up.
Release the foot down and take the heel of the left foot out in front,
Giving as much bend as you'd like to the left leg.
You might shimmy a little further.
Forward on your chair depending on what type of chair you're in.
Start to hold on to the sides of the chairs and again extend forward.
Opening up the calf.
The back of the hamstring on the left side.
Taking a couple of breaths here.
Maybe plenty with the seat with the heart lifted up over the hips and a straight back you might not want to extend forward today just extending the leg maybe enough stretched Start to walk the foot back in.
We'll take the same thing on the other side,
Crossing the opposite foot over the top of the knee,
Maybe flexing the toes back on this foot,
Placing the hands on the tops of the legs.
Either staying lifted or starting to extend forward.
Deepening the opening,
Deepening the stretch.
Finding some release from this.
Sitting of the car,
Maybe driving or being a passenger.
In whatever type of traveling.
Method you're in you may have Started to feel some tension in the low back.
Gently start to press and lift back up,
Extending that leg out and forward.
The heel can touch down,
Keeping as straight or as bent as you'd like that leg.
Maybe holding onto the side of the chair and starting to extend forward for this leg,
Getting a deeper opening through the calf or the back of the knee or hamstring.
Keep the seat grounded.
So the focus is only on the back of that left leg.
The next breath start to come back up.
Walk the foot back in.
Here.
And we'll take just a little bit of core movement.
So strengthening through the core,
Working the mid-body.
We'll take the hands behind the head.
As we do this,
We'll lift the right knee and bring the opposite elbow towards the knee.
A little bit of a twist to the side.
Lower the foot,
Come back to center.
Switch the other way.
Lift the foot,
Twist to the side.
You can start to bring the knee and the elbow closer to each other if you'd like.
Definitely not necessary taking this nice and slow and intentional,
Finding a little bit of movement in the quads.
The core.
The whole mid-body.
Let's take two more to each direction.
Going nice and slow.
As you work through the twist.
After this last one we'll lower the feet.
Lower the arms down to the side.
Let the hands rest on the legs.
Maybe lower the chin or the gaze.
Feel your breath here.
And we'll come to our Shavasana.
You could take either seated or to help with the fatigue of legs,
Maybe from whatever experiences you're having in your travel.
You might take the option of coming to legs up the wall or up the chair,
Depending on what type of room you're in.
So if you'd like to come up to the edge of the wall and let your legs come up the wall,
That may be one option.
If you want to use the chair that you're sitting in and put your legs up the chair,
It will create a slight inversion and take away some of the fatigue.
From the travel,
From the muscles of the legs.
So coming down to your floor.
Wherever you are,
Bring the legs up onto the chair.
Start to roll back down.
Let the head rest.
On the surface beneath you.
Open up through the shoulders.
A bit of relaxation through the hips,
The shoulders.
Maybe the arms extend out to the sides.
Or you might take one hand to the heart,
One hand to the belly.
Letting the body relax here for a couple minutes.
Allowing the blood to flow through the legs.
Maybe revisiting the intention you set at the beginning of the practice.
Allow for a couple moments here.
Of peace,
Quiet and breath.
When you feel ready you can start to gently make your way towards one side,
Walking your feet off the chair.
And coming back into your day.
Feel free to stay here for as long as you'd like,
Maybe even up to 20 minutes.
If you have the time and the space.
When you're ready you can walk the feet off the wall or off the chair.
Gently coming over to one side to rest on one side and making your way.
Back out of the practice and into your day.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
With love and gratitude.
