In this guided session of mindful yoga,
We will practice being in the body through movement and stillness.
We will observe the effects of moving the body into and out of gentle stretches and strengthening positions on the floor.
This practice is one of remembering to be aware,
As often as possible,
Of the body,
Body sensations,
Thoughts and emotions as we move,
Breathe and rest.
This awareness allows us to cultivate a relationship with ourselves and experience a sense of connection or wholeness that is always within us.
Begin by lying on your back on a cushion or mat on the floor in a quiet place where you feel safe.
For added comfort,
You may bend your knees and place your feet on the floor,
Hips width apart.
Feel the sensations in all the places where your body is making contact with the mat.
Take a moment to notice how you're feeling physically,
Mentally and emotionally.
Now take a few deep breaths,
Noticing the way your abdomen rises and falls as you inhale and exhale through your nose.
Each time you become aware that your attention has wandered,
Make note of where it went,
Then draw it back to the body and the breath.
Allow your breath to be your guide through the practice,
Breathing freely in and out through the nose as deeply as is comfortable.
As you're ready,
Allow your breath to come back to a gentle rhythm,
The natural breath.
As we move into the yoga postures,
Remember to listen to your body and skip or modify any poses that feel like too much for you at this moment.
Go easy as you explore your limits.
Allow yourself to let go of feeling competitive with yourself or with anyone else.
Be where you are right now.
Know that it is enough and you will receive all the benefits of the yoga practice.
Now let's take a full body stretch,
Reaching the arms up alongside the ears and straightening the legs on the floor.
Taking a deep breath in,
Feel how much of your body you can lengthen on the exhalation from your belly down through your legs and feet,
And then from your belly through your torso,
Arms and hands.
Now releasing,
Walk your feet in towards your buttocks to bend your knees and place your feet on the floor parallel to each other,
Hips width apart.
Bring your arms down alongside your body with your palms facing up.
Let's begin the pelvic tilts.
Taking a deep breath in,
Arch your low back away from the floor and reach your tailbone toward the floor.
This will create a small space between your low back and the floor.
On an exhalation,
Reverse the movement by tucking the pelvis and pressing the low back into the floor.
Continue this forward and back rocking movement,
Which brings circulation into the whole area.
Notice areas that feel tight or stiff and other areas that feel open and flexible.
Feel the sensation of pressure shift and change from moment to moment.
After your next exhalation,
Release your hips and observe what you're feeling.
Now hug your knees into your chest,
Wrapping your arms or hands around your shins or knees into the supine child's pose.
Feel any stretching sensations and then gently rock from side to side,
Noticing the pressure of your hips and low back against the floor.
Keeping your right knee in toward the chest,
Bring your left foot to the floor,
Either straightening the leg or keeping the knee bent.
And hug the right knee into your chest even more deeply.
Feel any sensations that occur as you draw your knee a little more to the right toward your right shoulder,
Stretching the hip open.
Now release the right leg and change sides.
As you hug your left knee into your chest,
Notice if you feel any difference on this side.
Is it tighter,
More supple?
Continue to observe as you draw the left knee more toward the left shoulder.
Check in with your breath,
Breathing fullness into your belly as deeply as is comfortable.
Now releasing the foot to the floor,
Feel it touch down and take this moment to notice how you're feeling.
Roll onto one side,
Now making your way into a tabletop position on hands and knees.
Feel each moment of this transition as you place your hands onto the mat and shift your weight to this new position.
Check to see that your hands are placed on the floor beneath your shoulders and your knees are beneath your hips.
If you feel any strain in your wrists,
Feel free to support yourself with your hands in fists instead.
Taking a deep breath in,
Lift your head and tailbone and lower your belly towards the floor,
Arching the back into a cow pose.
On an exhalation,
Tuck your head and tailbone and round your back into the cat pose.
Continue these movements,
Following your own breath rhythm,
Inhaling to arch and look forward and exhaling to round,
Looking back toward your belly.
Notice where you feel the most sensations in each position and throughout the transitions.
On your next inhalation,
Reach your right leg back and lift it parallel to the floor,
Finding your balance.
If you feel steady enough to do so,
Then reach your left arm forward and hold this position for a few deep breaths.
With each exhalation,
Reach back through the upraised heel and forward through the front hand.
If you notice that you're holding any tension in your face or anywhere else unnecessarily,
Allow it to soften if you can.
On the next exhalation,
Releasing the hand and knee to the floor and inhale to change sides.
Reach your left leg back,
Get steady and stretch your right arm forward.
Find the place that's not too much,
Not too little.
If you are holding your breath or if it feels labored,
You may be over-efforting,
So ease up.
When your breath is flowing freely,
It's an indication that you are balancing effort with ease.
Now exhaling your hand and knee to the floor,
Feel it touch down and roll over onto your back to rest for a moment,
Noticing how it feels to lie on the floor.
Check in to feel any sensations of tingling,
Heat,
Pressure,
Whatever's present.
Now walk your feet in about 8 to 10 inches away from your buttocks,
The knees bent,
And rest your arms down alongside your body,
Palms up.
First we'll practice some arm movements.
As you inhale,
With each inhalation,
Raise your arms up towards the sky and overhead alongside your ears.
On an exhalation,
Raise the arms back toward the sky,
Then down alongside your body.
Continue a few rounds of breath and arm movements,
Seeing if the sensations change with each part of the movement.
Notice if you can feel the expansion in your ribs as you raise the arms overhead,
Arching the low back slightly.
And after the next exhalation,
Arms down alongside the body,
Take a moment to rest.
Then tuck your shoulder blades under one at a time,
So they're laying flat on the back,
Supporting the openness of your chest.
You can do this by rolling slightly toward the right shoulder,
Tucking the left shoulder under toward the spine,
And repeating this action on the other side.
And now coming into the moving bridge pose.
Inhale to lift your hips up towards the sky,
And as you exhale,
Slowly lower your hips down to the floor.
As you repeat these actions,
Notice if it adds a feeling of stability to press down equally through the feet,
Shoulders,
And back of the head throughout the entire movement.
As you continue to move with the breath,
Feel the chest and rib cage expand on the lift,
And see how much space you can allow between the lower ribs and the hip bones.
Exhaling your hips down to the floor,
And take a moment to be aware of how you're feeling.
As you rest here,
Notice where your mind is,
And if it has wandered,
Acknowledge where it has been,
And then return your focus to the body.
Now let's prepare for the pendulum pose by opening your arms out to the sides into a T,
With your palms facing the sky.
Start with your knees bent,
Feet on the floor,
Hips width apart.
Take a deep breath in,
And on an exhalation,
Slowly lower your legs over to the right side,
Reaching your knees toward the floor,
Feeling the length of stretch between your left armpit and your left knee as you press your shoulders into the floor in this twist.
Notice the place where you feel the most prominent stretching sensation,
And breathe into it.
On your next inhalation,
Raise your knees back to the center,
And then exhale over to the left side,
Feeling the sensations now in the right side of the body,
From the right armpit all the way down to the right knee.
Breathing into the right side,
Feeling the openness of the inhalation and the release of the exhalation.
On your next inhalation,
Come back to center and rest there,
With whatever you are experiencing.
With the arms down by your sides,
The left leg bent,
And the foot on the floor,
Straighten your right leg along the floor,
Foot flexed,
Toes pointing up toward the sky.
As you inhale,
Raise your right leg up toward the sky.
Then,
Exhale to lower.
Only raise the leg as high as you comfortably can.
With the breath,
Raise and lower the leg twice more with slow,
Steady movements and smooth,
Deep breaths.
Then,
Change sides.
Keeping the right foot on the floor,
Knee bent,
Straighten your left leg along the floor.
Inhale to raise the left leg up.
No need to force your leg up high.
Simply feel the leg reaching up until you begin to feel a stretching sensation.
Exhaling the leg back down.
And after two more slow,
Steady rounds,
Feel how it feels to move and breathe.
Then,
Releasing the leg to the floor and feel it make contact.
Now we'll move into some side leg lifts.
Raise your right arm up alongside your ear and roll over onto your right side with your legs straight and your head resting on your right arm.
For more support,
Bend your lower leg so the foot is behind you and place your left hand on the floor in front of your chest.
On an inhalation,
Now raise the left leg up towards the sky.
Just enough.
Feel the breath as the motor of the movement,
Exhaling back down.
Continue with two more rounds.
Raising,
Holding a moment,
And exhaling to lower.
Using the breath awareness to bring you right here,
Right now.
And as you are ready,
Slowly roll onto your belly,
Centering yourself on the mat.
And rest with your chin on the floor.
Bring your arms down alongside your body,
Palms facing down,
Chin on the floor to prepare for the half locust.
Allow your feet to be hips width apart.
And on an inhalation,
Raise your right leg up,
Keeping it straight.
It doesn't matter how high you lift it,
Just keep it straight and long.
Exhaling the leg down,
Allow it to rest for a moment,
And repeat two more times with slow movements.
As you are ready,
Releasing the right leg,
Relaxing it,
And bringing your attention to your left leg.
On an inhalation,
Raise your left leg.
Just enough,
Growing it long,
And exhale the left leg back down.
Two more rounds.
Be with the movement of the leg.
And as you are ready,
Rest both legs and turn your face to one side.
Feel the sensations of the body in all the areas where you're making contact with the mat.
Notice any sensations inside the body,
The pulsing energy of cells.
Moving now into the full locust,
With the arms down alongside the body,
Chin to the floor,
Palms facing the floor,
Inhale to lift your head,
Neck,
And shoulders towards the sky.
Then exhale and lower down.
Inhaling,
Lift again,
Feeling the shoulder blades slide in toward your spine as you use the muscles between them to lift.
Keep the deep breath moving as you lower and lift again.
Feel the pressure at your belly as you breathe.
Release on an exhalation,
Turn your face to the other side,
And notice if there's a difference between this side and the previous side.
Now slowly roll over onto your left side,
Centering yourself on your mat with your legs straight and your head resting on your left arm for side leg lifts.
For more support,
Bend your lower leg so your foot is behind you,
And place your right hand on the floor in front of your chest.
On an inhalation,
Raise the right leg up toward the sky,
Nice and slow,
Hold a moment,
And then exhale the leg back down.
And continue with two more rounds,
Feeling the movement,
Any sensations in the body as you move,
And feeling the movement coordinated with the breath.
Then release your leg and roll onto your back,
And rest there,
Feeling the floor beneath you.
Now hug your knees into your chest,
Into the supine child's pose,
And gently rock from side to side,
Or forward and back,
Whatever feels most useful for you at this moment.
Placing your left foot on the floor,
Interlace your fingers behind your right thigh,
And allow your thigh to fall heavy into your hands.
Then,
If it feels comfortable,
Straighten your right leg up toward the sky.
Feel the stretch through the back of the right leg.
Slowly release the right foot to the floor,
And change sides,
Interlacing your fingers behind your left thigh,
And straightening your left leg up toward the sky.
Notice whatever there is to feel here.
Now release your left foot to the floor.
Take a moment just to feel.
Then make your way into the corpse pose for a deep relaxation.
Lie on your back with your arms down alongside your body,
Palms facing up in a gesture of listening and receiving.
And your feet relaxed open,
A little wider than hips width apart.
For more support,
You may bend your knees or rest your feet and lower legs on the seat of a chair.
Once you feel settled into a comfortable position,
Roll your head gently from side to side,
And let your head find its natural center.
Feel all the places in your body that are making contact with the floor or chair.
The heels,
Calves,
Hips,
Upper back,
Shoulders,
Arms,
Elbows,
Hands touching down.
Feeling the back of your head releasing into the floor with gravity.
Feel the support of the floor beneath you and follow the rise and fall of the gentle breath.
During this session,
We have been balancing doing with being.
The deep relaxation is a time to let go of all doing and just be.
Be exactly who you are,
Exactly as you are,
And allow yourself to let go of anything you've been carrying around with you that you don't need to hold on to.
Just be here in your body with your gentle breath movements in and out and observe how you feel as you rest.
.
.
.
.
.
Compared to how you felt at the start of this session,
How you're feeling physically,
Mentally,
And emotionally.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
