Hi,
Welcome.
I am Vivian Wolfe and for this video I wanted to share with you my supine leg stretch sequence using a strap.
And this is a sequence that you can return to.
Every day if it feels good for you.
And the reason why you would do that is if you have tight hamstrings,
This will loosen your tight hamstrings.
If you want to improve your range of motion,
This will help you with that.
If you have low back stress,
Low back strain,
If you want better posture,
This will all help with that.
This leg strap sequence also helps you to improve your blood circulation,
Which then leads to a lower risk of heart disease.
It builds mindfulness.
It improves your self-awareness and your self-acceptance.
It calms the nervous system.
And because of all of that,
It can even help you get some better sleep.
So.
Try it out with me,
And if you like it,
Be sure to bookmark it,
Rate,
Review.
Come back every day.
See how it improves your overall well-being.
So with that in mind,
Let's get started.
For me,
I am just using this.
.
.
Wong.
Piece of upholstery trim.
You don't have to have a yoga strap if you don't already have one.
If you have one then use it,
But I want to empower you to use whatever you already have handy.
And when you've got it.
Meet me on the mat.
We're going to start laying on the back.
We're going to stay on the back for the majority of this practice.
Start with your knees bent and your feet planted.
And if you need to lift and lower your pelvis,
So that your low back is a little more comfortable on the mat.
Take just a couple of breaths,
Giving yourself the opportunity to make adjustments to your shoulders,
To your jaw.
To arrive into this moment.
Healing your breath.
Sigh.
When you're ready,
Just pull your right knee in towards your chest.
Give yourself a hug here.
Now you can just interlace your fingers over your knee or you can already use your strap here if you like.
To help pull that knee a little closer to the center of your chest.
Let those elbows melt down.
Relax your shoulders.
If you want to do some ankle circles with your right ankle,
You can go one way for a round of breath.
And then go the other way for a round of breaths.
And then let's take one more breath right here.
Just let the hips melt down.
Ugh.
Good,
Good,
Good.
From here we're going to take this right knee.
Over to the right side,
So there's a couple of options available to you here.
You can just hold on to this knee and let your elbow rest on the mat.
Keeping that knee bent.
And just working on keeping that left hip down.
Another option is to find the outside edge of your right foot.
And stack your ankle over your knee for half circle.
Happy Babies.
Another option is to hold onto the back of the thigh while stacking the ankle over the knee.
Another option is to hold on to that foot with your strap.
Again trying to bring that ankle over the knee.
If it feels better to leave it lower,
That's okay too.
Let's take another couple of breaths here.
One more breath.
Ah good,
Good,
Good.
Now let's bring that knee back to center.
Release your straps.
Now use your left hand to pull that left that right knee.
Over to the left side,
Spinal twist.
Now feel free to adjust this.
In this twist so that it feels good for you.
Taking just a few breaths.
One more breath.
Lovely,
Lovely.
When you're ready,
Come back onto the back.
If you need to,
Lift and lower the pelvis so that you feel aligned once again.
And then pull your left knee in towards your chest,
Interlace those fingers around the knee behind the thigh,
Or use your strap to pull that knee towards center.
One more breath here.
Oh,
I'm sorry.
Let's do some ankle circles here.
Ankle circles one way.
My ankle circles the other way.
Hmmmm.
.
.
Lovely,
Lovely.
Now let's go ahead and pull that left knee over to the left side.
Same thing on this side.
Maybe you just pull that knee in towards your armpit and let your elbow rest on the mat.
It's a great place to be.
If you want to do half happy baby,
You have three choices.
You can hold onto the outside of your foot as you stack ankle over knee.
And hold the back of your thigh or you can use your strap around the foot to help pull that knee down towards your armpit.
Take a few breaths in whatever variation feels best to you today.
One more breath.
Lovely,
Lovely.
Now just release that leg,
Bring it back to center.
Your knee comes back to center.
Let's take that knee all the way over to the right side for spinal twist.
And again,
Feel free to adjust this twist so that it feels good for you.
I like putting this pillow underneath my leg.
You can do anything you like,
Pull those knees together,
Stretch them both out.
Take another breath.
Beautiful.
When you're ready come back onto the back.
Plant the feet,
Lift and lower the pelvis.
Take a breath here,
Just notice what's already beginning to shift or change for you.
Maybe you feel a little bit of temperature change.
Maybe there's a tingle or vibration happening.
Maybe it feels like where your body connects with the mat is starting to soften,
To release.
When you're ready,
Once again,
Let's pull that right knee in towards the chest.
And this time we're going to take our strap and loop it around our right foot,
Around the ball of the foot,
And take that foot up.
So you want to make sure that the two sides of your strap or even on either side of the leg,
Hold on to one side of the strap in each hand.
Stretch your left leg out long.
Now we want this to be parallel,
So even with your hips.
I'm going to turn to the side for a moment so you can see what I'm talking about.
So relative.
You want it center.
Maybe right over your hip,
Not outside of your hip.
Right in line with your hip joint.
Take another breath or two here.
Let those shoulders relax down.
So the point here is we're reaching the heel up and melting the hip down.
We're not trying to do the splits.
Not yet.
One more breath.
Ah,
And then you're gonna take both sides of the strap in your right hand,
Reach up kind of high so your arm is long,
The shoulder's still relaxed here.
Other hand is going to come to your left hip,
Hold that hip in place,
And gently start to guide that right leg over to the right,
Just as far as it feels comfortable for you.
You can keep that knee soft.
And then once you arrive where you feel like it's comfortable and you still feel even in the hips on the mat,
You're going to slide your hand down and let that elbow rest once again.
Taking just maybe three long full breaths here.
One more long breath.
Oooohhhhhh Wonderful.
Inhale,
Pull that leg back up to center.
Switch hands.
So now your left hand is going to reach up high.
And you're going to take that right leg over to the left.
Now,
Option one,
You just keep that right hip down and do a stretch.
In the outer edge of your shin.
If you want you can take it all the way over into spinal twist.
I'm going to flip so I can do spinal twists.
You just pull it over,
Maybe stretch your right arm out long.
Use your strap to keep that leg where you want it to go.
Knee can be bent as much as you need it to be.
You can turn your foot.
And bring the sole of the foot onto the floor.
Let's take three breaths,
Wherever you choose to be today.
One more long breath here.
Sigh.
Lovely,
Lovely.
Come on back up.
Back to center.
And now we are going to take our foot and try to take one side of the strap in each hand here,
Flexing that foot.
Now we're going to use the hands to pull that leg towards the top of your mat.
Here let your hands slide down so your elbows can rest on on the mat above your head here.
We're going to take three long breaths here.
One more breath.
Oh.
Good,
Good,
Good.
From here gently bend that knee,
Release the pressure on the strap.
Remove the strap from the leg and stretch that leg out long.
Notice right side and left side.
Simply becoming aware of the subtle differences between the two sides as we have stretched one side but not the other.
Just notice how they feel different.
When you're ready we're going to bring that left knee in.
Wrap the strap around the ball of the foot on the left side.
One side of the strap in each hand.
Let those elbows come down.
We're taking the heel straight up.
Not over,
Not towards the face.
Knee can be bent as much as you need to.
Think heel up.
Hip down.
Reaching those two points away from each other.
Mindful that you don't hyperextend your knee in any way.
Let's take two more breaths here.
Beautiful,
Beautiful.
Take both sides of the strap into your left hand.
Right hand rests on that right hip.
Slowly use your hand to guide that left leg over to the left side.
Knee can be bent.
You can rotate in that hip,
Bring the the left elbow down.
Taking just three long breaths here.
Take one more breath.
Beautiful.
Slowly guide that leg back to center.
You're going to take the strap in that right hand now.
Arm is long,
Shoulders relaxed.
And this time again,
You can either just take it a little over,
A little past the hip.
Keeping your left hip down and just getting a stretch in the outside of the leg.
If you want to do a spinal twist,
Continue all the way.
Until that leg comes either onto the floor or onto a prop.
Or maybe it just hovers.
Above the floor.
Whatever feels good.
Let's take three breaths here.
One more breath.
Slowly,
Slowly pulling that leg back up to center.
We're going to finish here with one more reclined split supta hananumasana.
So one side of the strap in each hand.
Take those hands overhead,
Pulling that leg towards the top of the mat.
Again,
Knee can be bent if that feels better.
We're working on lengthening here.
So bend the knee and then think about heel up.
It down.
Trying to get those elbows to rest above you.
Take two more long breaths here.
Ahhhhhhhhh Beautiful,
Beautiful.
Slowly soften,
Bend the knee,
Release the strap.
Lengthen the legs out.
Bring your hands to the side.
Let those toes flop out.
Notice what's present here now.
Just observing the temperature in the body.
Any places of tension or pressure.
Notice if any of those places are starting to shift or release.
Is there any tingle or vibration happening in your body?
Giving yourself just another round of breath or two.
To observe.
Become a witness of all of the things that are happening right now in your body,
Your breath.
Even in your mind.
Staying here for as long as you like.
When you're ready,
Just wiggle the fingers and toes,
Maybe a little stretch.
Slowly tipping over to one side or the other and use your hand to help lift you up coming into a seated position.
Thank you so much.
For watching this supine leg stretch video.
I really appreciate it.
I think that it would really be wonderful if you would return to this video Maybe every day,
If you can.
Twice a week.
Three times a week.
Whatever is comfortable for you.
But you'll notice over time,
Over the course of four weeks or six weeks,
That your range of motion is going to improve.
That your sleep is going to improve,
That you're going to feel more mindful,
More self-accepting,
More self-aware.
And because our physical well-being improves,
It also means our mental well-being.
Thank you so much and until next time.
Mwah,
Mwah,
Mwah,
Mwah,
Mwah.
Take really good care of yourself.
