30 min Gentle Yoga for Flexibility & Stress Reduction

Transcript

hi everyone thank you for joining me my name is Cassandra and I'm going to take you through this really slow flow practice for flexibility and relaxation this is a gentle yoga class suitable for all experience levels and we're really not doing anything that requires strength or too much effort all of our poses are going to be done either sitting or lying down a great way to improve flexibility throughout your body and just release tension if you've been feeling a little bit stressed or anxious lately I really hope that this class will bring you a little bit of relief no props are required and we're going to start sitting up so you can do this cross-legged kneeling whatever works for you Luna is joining us I think for this class today I'm just going to be cross-legged hands resting gently on my knees and we're just going to do some half NE uh half circles with the head stretching into the neck so you can drop one ear to your shoulder and just slowly feeling into every little movement as you roll down and over to the opposite ear and shoulder and just keep going really slowly breathing in and out through your nose keeping your spine tall and lifted this is a class to really let everything go to tune into yourself to embrace a philosophy where less is more really nurturing for your nervous system and take one more each side and we can lift our head all the way up and back through to Center we'll go into our seated cat and cow so as you inhale squeeze your shoulder blades behind you Arch through your spine and then exhale round and contract let your head be heavy and just keep going in and out of those two poses feeling this in your lower back your midback your upper back taking about two more here and coming to a neutral spine keep your back straight we're just going to trace circles with our shoulders and with the upper body here you can make these as big or as small as you'd like we're FOC focusing this primarily on our lower back and drawing the lower belly in and up and you can move to the opposite direction and coming all the way back through to Center let's interlace our hands flip the palms and reach them all the way up so really big stretch and we'll just come into lateral flexion which is a side Bend so you can lean over to one side doesn't matter which one you begin with coming back up through to Center over to the other side once more each way pushing down into both sit bones and coming all the way back up and through to Center release the hands we're going to extend our right leg out to the side keep your left knee bent the left foot is to the inside of that leg my knee and my toes are pointing up we'll take a deeper side Bend from here here stretching into the hamstrings left arm will reach up and over I want you to really relax your head relax your neck and focus on rolling that left shoulder back so that you're really stretching alongside your waist imagining someone is pulling on that left wrist and at the same time pushing down on your left hip so you have that little tension of opposites here as you inhale lift all the way up and we'll find a little baby wild thing so left hand will go behind you right arm stretches up and back as you lift the hips so just a big counter stretch here inhale and exhale bring your hips back down and we're going to rotate our chest over towards that right leg and right thigh I'm going to point my toes here for the second variation and doing a passive forward fold I'm just going to let gravity take me in to the pose so I don't have a flat back I'm letting my spine round just letting gravity do the work for me here but focusing on elongating and stretching through that right leg let go of any tension in your jaw your shoulders your neck forward folds are really great for parasympathetic nervous system they just send our body this message to relax to let [Music] go and you can use your hands pushing into the floor to lift yourself up we're going to come into Deer pose on the right side so you can just bend into your right knee and send that left leg back behind you so we're finding two 90° angles with our legs the right knee is more so what we're concerned about here so my knee is in line with my hip my ankle is in line with the knee and with the fingertips out in front of me I'm going to Exhale to fold all the way down and then inhale push and round to come all the way up and just do this movement a few times exhale lowering down stretching into that glute and into that hip inhale to rise twice more and the next time you come down we're going to hold a little bit longer so you might want to bring your hands out in front of you this is very similar to a pigeon pose but just a more accessible version to begin with because we have our left leg bent rather than being straight back out behind us every time you exhale get a little heavier in your body a little heavier in the pose inviting all of this ention to melt away push your hands into the floor lift up one last little variation here so keeping that left knee bent we're going to walk our hands back at an angle so I'm not going towards the back of my mat I'm more so angling myself towards the bottom right corner and I'm pressing my left hip down so that I'm getting a nice stretch to the inner thigh you really don't need to go back too far here just a deep internal hip [Music] rotation and coming all the way up let's let's do this whole sequence on the other side it might feel good to just do a little windshield wiper motion with the knees and we'll come into that variation of head to knee adding a side Bend so I'm going to extend my left leg out to the side bending into the right knee the right foot stays in first I'm going to flex my foot knee and Toes pointing up right arm reaches all the way up and over so try not to lean forward as you do this think of almost leaning back rolling that right shoulder back pushing down into the right hip stretch it along the obliques along the waist inhale to come up into our little baby wild thing right hand goes behind you for support push and lift your hips up as you reach that left arm up and back big counter stretch here you might see some of my foster kittens moving in and out of the frame and exhale set your hips back down so this time we're going to point our toes rotate your chest over towards that left leg and find a passive forward fold I like to have my Palms facing up when I do this just to remind myself not to grab and Pull and force myself into the forward fold but I am trying to lengthen through the back of my left leg getting deep into those hamstrings while also stretching into the top of that foot by pointing my toes [Music] and walking the hands in we'll find deer over on the second side so you can bend into that left knee I'm facing the back of my mat so I have my left shin parallel to the back of the mat my right shin is parallel sort of to the longer edge of my mat and framing that leg with your fingertips as you exhale you're going to dive down with the chest inhale Ripple up so articulating through the spine here and you really don't need to be going all the way down twice more and we'll set ourselves up for the full variation of the pose folding down and you can prop yourself up making some fists or stay up on your forearms just inviting a stretch through that left hip with a big external hip rotation and just know the benefits of the pose it's all the same whether you're folding all the way flat down to the mat or whether you're up onto your elbows or up onto your palms we're all working on that left hip flexibility there's no variation better than the other it's just a different expression of the pose and we'll lift ourselves up one last little option here so make sure you have that right knee in line with your hip find that 90° angle and we're going to press that right hip down as we walk our hands back at about a 45 degree angle so towards the I guess would be the top right corner of the mat just until you feel feel that sensation through your right hip this time with an internal rotation as opposed to an external rotation walking the hands in let's release maybe a little windshield wiper motion if that feels good or it might just feel good to straighten your legs out in front of you we'll be coming into tabletop pose setting ourselves up for a little low lunge supported with our hands so tabletop Palms are underneath your shoulders knees are underneath your hips and we're going to step that right foot in between the hands keeping that knee over the top of the ankle I like to just come up more so onto my fingertips melting the hips forward and down staying long through the spine pressing the shoulders down and away from the ears stretching through the hip flexors here think of almost extending through the crown of your head like you could grow taller from doing this pose pushing into your heel come back through the tabletop we'll do the same thing to the other side left foot steps forward angling that left knee over the top of our ankle and letting the hips get heavy press your shoulders down [Music] releasing the low lunge we're going to come down onto our belly into Sphinx pose opening through the chest so you can lower down feet are about hip withd distance apart slide your hands out in front of you elbows are about shoulder width distance apart push down with your palms lift up through your chest roll your shoulders back and think of almost pushing into your pubic bone and pushing into the tops of your feet so that you're not pinching in your lower back or adding any pain or tension there and we'll come into side Sphinx from here so we're going to roll onto our right hip hip staying down on that right forarm and you can choose what you want to do with your legs I like to just stack one over the other and I'm using my left hand in front of me just for a little bit of extra support depending on your range of motion you might want to straighten the elbow and get deeper into this one if your right elbow is straight bend it again transition back through to Sphinx to go to the other side move slowly here so we're going to roll onto our left hip left form and you can keep your right hand somewhere in front of you for support so that you're balanced in the pose and maybe you straighten that left elbow remember it's just an option you don't need to take [Music] it bending the left elbow let's release raac just going to flip over onto our backs from here coming into reclined butterfly soup toosa soles of the feet together knees apart you can choose where you'd like to place your hands maybe reaching the arms up overhead or just by your side Palms can stay on your belly as well [Music] [Music] take five more slow deep breaths here [Music] [Music] [Music] you might want to use your hands to help the knees and the legs lift up we're going to pull our right knee in towards the belly and straighten your left leg to the mat I like to really Flex into my left foot to really push and extend out through that heel while at the same time I'm using my arms very gently guide my thigh a little bit closer towards the chest using only a little bit of arm strength let's move this into our twist so we're we going to guide that right knee across the body over towards the left I'm going to reach my right arm out to the side so that both shoulder blades are anchored on the floor chest is facing up and I'm using my left hand to just very lightly encourage that knee to lower down [Music] [Music] releasing all the way back through to Center and we'll go do those same two poses on the second side so this time your right leg will extend and stay straight along the mat draw your left knee and thigh in towards your belly flexing through that right foot push into the heel slide your shoulder blades down your back so there's lots of length through your neck carrying this into our twist the left thigh will cross over towards the right side of your mat using your right hand to just very gently guide that left knee down but really the emphasis is on pressing our left shoulder into the floor collar bones facing up big twist through the midb drawing the lower belly in and up keeping that length through our right leg one more deep belly breath here in the Twist and ease back through to center before we go into shavasana we'll just do a little knee pumping motion which is so soothing for the lower back one of my favorite movements to do so you can bring your hands resting over the tops of your knees pulling in and then as you inhale you're just going to straighten your arms arms moving your thighs away from you exhale guiding the legs in and as much as possible try to fully relax your legs and your hips and let your arms be what pushes and [Music] pulls imagine you can breathe directly into your lower back with this motion this is also a wonderful movement to do for [Music] digestion take one more [Music] here and we'll find shavasana our final resting pose for full relaxation mind and body take up space with your arms and your legs shrug your shoulders down and away from your ears close your eyes and we'll be here for a few minutes of silence and Stillness this is a way to integrate the work you've done and to truly give yourself this nervous system TLC so just breathe deeply here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we'll be waking ourselves up slowly first by deepening our breath letting this deep breath bring energy through your body adding in some movements through your fingers and toes your wrists and your ankles maybe stretch your arms up overhead length and out as if you were just waking up in the morning and we'll turn to one side slowly come up to take a seat sitting up tall closing your eyes let's join our hands together at the front of the heart take a moment to really show yourself some gratitude feeling the effects of your practice hopefully a little bit more at ease maybe a little bit more comfortable in your body overall and we'll chant M together one time let's inhale to chant breathe in oh [Music] thank you so much everyone for doing this gentle yoga practice I hope it felt really nourishing and wonderful in your body and that you feel a bit more at ease please do and hopefully we'll meet on the mat again very soon