Pawanmuktasana Joint Freeing Series For Stress & Burnout

If you are feeling wired & tired, carrying work stress, or navigating the physical and emotional shifts of perimenopause, this 28-minute somatic session featuring the Pawanmuktasana joint-freeing series offers a gentle way to soften the tension and find relief from burnout. Through simple somatic exercises paired with calming breathwork and mindfulness, this practice invites you to move away from racing thoughts and cultivate acceptance & allowing, giving your nervous system the space it needs to quiet down, release physical blockages, and reset.

Transcript

Hello, My name is Vivian Wolfe. I'm a yoga therapist and today I wanted to share with you Pawan Muktasana. It's also known as the joint freeing series. And I use this practice with my clients very regularly. I use it because it helps to improve your range of motion and all of the major joints of your body. It also releases stress and tension. It cultivates a sense of peace and balance as you build mindfulness. It also helps you with your coordination, Your self-awareness, Your self-confidence. And if you feel like you have any sort of energy blockage in your body, It can help you restore that feeling of free flow. And this is a great practice for you to come back to every single day. I always recommend for my clients maybe trying this out every single day for six weeks. Notice how free you feel, How flexible you feel, Stronger, More confident. More mindful, More connected to your own body. So before we get started, I am going to recommend that maybe you gather up some supplies. I'm going to be doing this on my yoga mat, But you can lay down a blanket. You can do this on the floor, On your bed, Whatever's comfortable for you. But if you want some support, A couple of blocks and a blanket may be enough to help you out. But feel free to. . . Adjust this practice in any way that you need to. As you move through this practice, Start to pay attention to the various components of your body that are being used as we move. The bones, The muscles, The fascia, The ligaments, All of that beautiful tissue, All of that beautiful physical components of your body. And also, I want you to link your movement to your breath. So when you arrive at the end of your breath, That's when you arrive at the end of the movement. So as you inhale, Arrive at the end of your inhale. As you exhale, Arrive at the end of your exhale. Lastly, Observe how the use of your breath affects the sensations of your body. You may start to notice changes in the temperature of your body. You may feel a tingle, A buzz, Or hum. All of this should feel comfortable. Asana should be steady and comfortable. So always make the adjustment if it hurts. Don't do it. All right. I think that's it from me. Let's get started. We're going to come on to the back. So as you make your way onto your back, It may feel nice to do a little movement to get yourself situated, Lifting and lowering the pelvis. Moving things around and then when you're ready stretch those legs out nice and easy here hands are at the sides or if you want to feel your butt your breath Place your hands on the body. We'll begin right here, Right now. So with your next to inhale, Just your toes, Pull your toes back towards your face. And as you exhale, Curl just the toes under, Not the feet, Just the toes. Inhale, Curl those toes back, Reach them back towards the face. And exhale, Curl them under. Let's do two more rounds. Inhale. Exhale. One more time, Inhale. And exhale. Good, Now we add those ankles. Inhale, Flex the feet. Exhale, Extend the feet reaching through those feet. Inhale, Flex the feet. And exhale, Reach. Two more of these. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. And exhale. Now you're going to keep your feet extended here with your next inhale. Rotate and the ankles go halfway around the circle. So your feet are now flexed. And as you exhale, Complete that circle. So you end up back with your feet extended, Going in the same direction. So we're just making ankle circles. Inhale, Halfway around. Going in the same direction, Exhale the rest of the way. One more time this way. Inhale. And exhale. Now reverse it. Inhale the other way. Exhale, Complete the circle. Inhale halfway around. Exhale the rest of the way. One more time, Inhale. And exhale. Good, Good, Good. Now just let that go. Let the body soften. Take a nice cleansing breath right here into the nose. Out through the mouth. Beautiful. When you're ready, Bend the knees, Plant the feet. We're gonna pull this. Oh, Let's do. Let's do the left leg. Pull that left leg and interlace your fingers behind the thigh. If you need to, Use a strap. Or like a dish towel or something, Just to pull that upper leg towards the body. The knee is bent. And with your next inhale, Just reach that foot up towards the sky. Doesn't have to be straight. Exhale just bend the knee. We're just working on flexion and extension in the knee. Inhale, Reach that foot up. And exhale back down. Two more like this. Inhale up. Exhale, Down. Last one, Inhale up. Exhale, Bend the knee, Release that foot, Set it down. Pull your right knee in towards your chest, Interlace the fingers behind that thigh, Bend the knee. When you're ready, Inhale, Extend that foot up to the sky. Actually, I'll just bend the knee. And he'll reach up. Exhale down. Two more. Inhale. Remember to take your time. We're spending most of the time. Exhale down. We're spending most of the time between these two places. Inhale up. Good. Exhale down, Bend the knee, Release, And set that foot down. Easy cleansing breath here. And let it go. Just noticing whatever's here. Start to stretch those legs out. Now we're going to do internal external rotation of the hips. I like to do this with the legs out. Lifting the knees, Plant the heels. With your next inhale, Turn those legs out. The knees point out, The toes point out. Everything's rotating all the way up in the hips. As you exhale, Turn everything in towards each other. Inhale, Turn out. Exhale, Turn in. Two more like that, Inhale. And exhale. One more time, Inhale. And exhale. And then just release. Once again, Just notice what's here now, What's shifting. What's changing? Lovely when you're ready bend the knees plant the feet tip over to one side of the other use your hands to help press you up we're moving up the body so first we work on our toes and then our ankles then our knees now we're in our hips So we're going to do flexion and extension of the hips. So come into a table pose. You might bring some support underneath the knees. You might bring something underneath. The hand if you like and then we're going to bring our right uh our left foot we're doing our left foot first left foot in front of you just as far as it feels comfortable so as we move we're going to move forward and back in our little Padwa Muktasana, In our little movement. You want to make sure this knee doesn't go too far forward of your toes. Whenever we get too far in front of our toes like this, This isn't necessarily bad. It's just not what we're working on today. So. . . Creep that foot a little further up, Knee over the ankle, Or even a little behind it. Same thing when we're moving back. All the way back into half hero isn't necessarily bad, It's just not what we're working on right now. So keep your hips over that standing knee, In this case, The right knee. All right. Here we go. Inhale, Shift the weight forward. And exhale take those hips back flex your right your left foot Inhale, Shift it forward. Exhale back. Two more on this side, Inhale. And exhale. One more time, Inhale. And exhale. Good, Good, Good. We're going to slowly come out of this. You might inhale forward and then creep that left foot back. Bring your knees together as close together as they feel comfortable. If you're using blocks, Move them aside. Take your hands wide off of the yoga mat. If you're on a yoga mat, Take a nice deep breath in right here. Exhale, Just tip those hips over to the right as far as they'll go. Inhale back to center. Exhale over to the other side. This is adduction and abduction. Inhale back up. Axe out of the right. Inhale, Center. Exhale, Left. Inhale center, Let's do one more on each side. Exhale to the right. And he'll back. X out of the left. Good. Inhale back and now let's take our right foot forward. Coming back to your. Table pose, Bringing your right foot in front of you, Creeping that foot as far forward as you need to so that that knee is over the ankle or a little behind it. When and then if you want to test your half split, Make sure everything's where it needs to be as well back here. And then we'll begin. Inhale, Shift it forward. Little low lunge. Exhale back to half split. Inhale forward. Exhale, Back. Two more times, Inhale. And exhale. Last time, Inhale. And exhale. Good, Good, Good. Inhale, Slowly starting to make your way back. Let it go. You can rock it a little side to side. You can stir the pot if you want. And then let's make our way now. Into a seated position. So any seated position that's comfortable for you, You can cross your legs, You can sit up high, You can sit in a chair even. We've done all of the work that we need to do with our lower body, Our hips, Our knees, Our ankles, Our toes. So now we're going to focus on the spine. So you want to make sure that your lower body is as comfortable as you need it to be. I'm going to put a little support here. A little support here. Just to make sure that I just made my hips feel really good. I don't want to mess. That feeling upright. So when you're ready, Just come into an upright position. So you feel like your shoulders are right over your hips. Your pelvis is neutral. Hands are going to come down to the sides. Take a nice deep breath in. Grow long through the spine. And exhale tip over to the left sliding that left hand out so this is a little side bend. Inhale, Come back up, Stacking yourself up in center. Exhale, Tip it over to the right. Reaching over, Keeping that left hip down. Inhale, Back up. Exhale, Over to the left. Inhale, Back up. Exhale to the right. Inhale, Back up. One more time on each side. Exhale to the left, Feel that full breath. Inhale, Come back up. Exhale, Tip it to the right. Inhale, Come right back up. Now we're going to do our twist. So bring your hands together over your heart. A little bit of pressure here. Lift those elbows. Lengthening again through the spine. Think it's called axial extension when we're reaching the crown of the head away from the tailbone. Take one more deep breath in right where you're at. Exhale, Turn your heart to the left. Little twist, Inhale back to center. So we're not using our hands to torque exhale to the right. Little twist. Inhale, Center. Using the spine, Exhale to the right. I'm sorry, To the left. Inhale center. Exhale to the right. Inhale, Send out one more on each side. X out of the left. Inhale, Center. X out of the right. Good, Inhale back to your center. Exhale, Release those hands to your knees or to your legs. Let's do a little cat cow. Inhale, Lift that heart, Pull those shoulders back, Lift the chest, Arching that back, Reaching the chest up. Exhale, Round the back, Make a C shape, Tuck your chin to your chest, Tuck your tailbone. Inhale, Lift the heart. Lift the gaze. Exhale, Round the back, Chin to chest. Two more, Inhale. Excellent. Inhale. And exhale. Good, Good, Good. Coming back to center. Now let's start working on our shoulders. Bring your hands back down to the sides. And with your inhale, Little snow angel. Take those arms up, Biceps by the ears. Exhale, Back down. Inhale, Sweep it up. Exhale down. Two more, Inhale up. Exhale down. One more time, Inhale up. Exhale down. Good, Good, Good. Cactus arms here, Elbows in line with the shoulders. Elbows are bent at 90 degrees. As you inhale, Pull those elbows back behind you. Shoulder blades come closer together. As you exhale, Separate those shoulder blades, Bring your hands in front of you so your palms touch, Your elbows touch. Inhale, Open those cactus arms as wide as it feels comfortable. Exhale, Pull them together. Two more like that. Inhale, Open. Exhale together. One more time, Inhale open. And exhale together. Good, Good, Good. As you inhale, Come back to your cactus arms, Neutral cactus arms, And as you take your next inhale, Pull those elbows forward, Those palms tip back so the palms are facing the ceiling. Exhale, Reverse it, Turn those fingers down. Try to keep those elbows in line with the shoulders. Inhale, Switch to rotation. Inhale, Up. And exhale down. Two more, Inhale. Exhale. Last one, Inhale. And exhale. Good, Good, Good. Let that go for a moment. Soften the gaze, Close the eyes. Nice, Easy cleansing breath. Just noticing what's here. Let's move now to our elbows. Take your arms out to the sides, Palms up. Shoulder-high. Take a deep breath in. Exhale, Bend those elbows, Touch your fingers to your shoulders. Inhale, Lengthen those arms out, Reaching away. Exhale, Just the elbows bent. Two more times, Inhale. And exhale. Inhale. And exhale. Good, Good, Good, Good. Let those arms come back down again. If you need some shoulder rolls here, Feel free to do so. We're moving from the shoulders to the elbows, Now to our wrists. So take your hands out in front of you. If you want, You can extend those arms out. I'm going to keep my elbows down. Hands in front of you, Palms are down. And as you inhale, Lift those fingers up towards the ceiling. Exhale, Point those fingers down towards the floor. Inhale up. And exhale down. Two more times, Inhale. And exhale. Last one, And end. And exhale. Good, Good, Good. Now just like our ankles, We're going to do circles. So inhale halfway around. Exhale the rest of the way. Same direction, Inhale halfway. Exhale the rest of the way. One more this direction. Inhale. And exhale. Now let's reverse it other direction. Inhale halfway. Exhale the rest of the way. Inhale halfway. Exhale the rest of the way. One more time, Inhale. And exhale. Good, Good, Good, Good. We'll shake out if you need it. Now it's on to our hands. So we've got a bunch of joints that are in our hands. We're going to use this. We're going to make fists and stretch those fingers out. So if you have long fingernails, You might use a tennis ball or a stress ball to squish instead so that you have a little more space for those fingers. You can also just squeeze the palms this way if that feels better. Do what feels good. Take a deep breath in, Stretch those fingers wide, Feel that stretch across the whole palm. Exhale, Squeeze a fist. Inhale, Stretch it out. And exhale, Squeeze. Two more rounds, Inhale. And exhale. One more time, Inhale. Exhale. Now let's do the same thing, Just the fingers. Inhale, Stretch it out. Exhale, Curl those fingers like you're curling your toes. Inhale, Stretch it out. Exhale, Curl the fingers. Two more times, Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Good, A little shake out if you need it. Let those hands rest on the lap or on the legs and just notice again, What? What sensations are present here now? What do you notice? We're going to finish this up. With the neck. So we've moved up the body. We end with our neck. So same thing as the spine, We start with little side bends. So take a deep breath in right where you're at. Exhale, Bring your left ear to your left shoulder. Inhale, Lift the head. And exhale, Right ear, Right shoulder. Inhale, Back up. Exhale to the left. Inhale up. Exhale to the right. One more on each side. Inhale, Lift. Exhale to the left. And Helen left. Exhale to the right. We're going to move right into our twist, Inhale to center. Exhale, Just the nose turns over the left shoulder. Inhale, Back to center. Exhale, Turn the nose to the right. Inhale, Center. Exhale to the left. In health center. Exhale to the right. One more on each side. Inhale, Center. Exhale left. Inhale, Center. Exhale, Right. Beautiful, Beautiful. Inhale to center. Exhale, Bring your chin to your chest, Just your neck. Inhale, Lift your chin as high as it will go. Exhale, Chin to chest. Inhale, Lift the chin. Let's do one more like that. Exhale down. Inhale, Lift. Exhale, Release. Slowly, Slowly. Lift the knees if their knees are bent and windshield wiper those knees if that feels good. We're going to make our way into a short stretch. Shavasana. So find your way into comfortable stillness. Maybe that means laying on the back. Maybe it feels better to sit upright or to lay on the side of the stomach. Won't be here for very long. I just want you to come back into a place of observation. Let the hands rest at the sides or maybe hands on the body. Take a nice cleansing breath here, In through the nose, Out through the mouth. Ahhhh. Just let the body breathe itself for a moment. Let your awareness move through the body. Nothing to do here. You don't have to move the body, Fix the body, Do anything with it, But just notice. What do your toes feel like? What sensations are present right now in the feet? The lower leg. The knees, The upper legs. The hips, The glutes. The torso, The front and the back of the torso. Shoulders, Shoulder blades. Upper arms, Elbows. Lower arm. Hands, Palms. Anger. What sensations are present right now in the neck and throat. In the face, In the back of the head. Noticing the whole body here. Allowing the whole body to relax. Notice how soft and easy the breath is. Body breathing itself. Noticing anything else that might be present. In your awareness. In this moment. Allowing it to be just as it is. Without needing it to be anything else. Simply be with whatever sensations are here. Whatever thoughts are here. Whatever feelings are here. When you're ready, Just wiggle fingers and toes. Wrists and ankles. Maybe a full body stretch if that feels appropriate today. Maybe it feels good to pull the knees into the chest. Give yourself a hug. Tip over to one side or the other, Fetal position here. And use your hands to help press you up. Coming back into a seated position. So, My friends, That is our Palwan Muktasana, Joint freeing series. I suggest You revisit. And try this practice out every day. Maybe you try it out for six weeks and notice how much freer you feel, More confident, More self-aware. And I really do appreciate you spending this time with me today. If you enjoyed this practice, Then please consider showing that support through a small donation, Rate and review this video, Share it out to others so that they can enjoy this practice as well. And I thank you so much for your time. Until next time, Muah muah muah muah. Take good care of yourself.

Reviews

This is one of my favourite practices. I have been regularly doing the audio version but it is nice to practice with the vision. It really does give you an allover release in your joints & a lovely stretch through your muscles. Love ya work Viviane 🥰