30 min Gentle Yoga (Safe, Soothing Stretches) - LOWER BACK & HIPS RELIEF

Transcript

Hi everyone. Thank you for joining me. My name is Cassandra and I'm going to take you through this gentle slowflow class for your hips and your lower back. So, this is really meant to be a therapeutic practice. If there's any pain, discomfort, tension through hips and lower back. Hopefully, by the end of this class, you'll feel a lot more comfortable in your body. This is suitable for all experience levels, very much beginner friendly, and I'm choosing to do this without props just because I know a lot of you don't own props at home. But of course, I always encourage you if you do own some, always a good idea to have them within grabbing distance, but otherwise, I'm trying to make this super accessible. So, all you need is your yoga mat. We are going to start lying down on our backs. So, you could just ease your way down. And we'll start by pulling the knees in towards our belly. So already just from here, maybe you rock a little bit side to side as a way to massage your lower back and make this first point of connection. Checking in to see how this part of your body is feeling. And one of my favorite movements is to just add a little knee pump. So you can just bring your hands on the tops of your knees, quiet down the hips, and you're going to inhale, straighten the arms, move the knees away from you, and as you exhale, pull them back in. So just a very light pumping motion. Try to relax your legs fully as you do this so that your arms are doing most of the work for you. And this is such a simple little movement, but I know whenever I'm feeling any kind of like kink or discomfort in my lower back, this really is my go-to move. Take about three more like this. and keep your right knee where it is. Extend your left leg out to the mat. Think of flexing through that foot, pushing down into your heel so that we're opening a little bit into those hip flexors. Relaxing head and shoulders on the floor. So, we're not curling or lifting ourselves up. Just trying to find this length through the left side of our body. Breathing in and out through your nose. We'll carry this over into a twist. So you can guide your right knee across your body towards the left. Maybe with the help of your left hand to help press it down and reach your right arm out to the side. So my right shoulder and my right hip are moving away from one another in opposite directions. I'm trying to stack my right hip on top of the left one. One more deep belly breath here in the twist and come all the way back through to center. Bend your left knee so your foot can be flat to the floor. And we'll find our halfappy baby pose. Grab a hold either of your calf, your ankle, or your big toe with your two-piece fingers. We're going to try to stack our ankle on top of the knee. I like to keep my elbow to the inside of the leg to help push it open a little bit more. And I'm going to let my left knee and thigh kind of flop over to the side just to help provide a little bit of a counterwe stretching a little bit more into our hamstrings deep into the hips. But being mindful of not tipping on one side more than the other. Keep pushing down through your left shoulder. We'll come into our reclined pigeon pose. So you can guide your right ankle to the top of your left knee. Find this figure four shape. So really focus on pressing your right knee and thigh away from your body. Keep a flexed foot and then reach through with your arms. Either hold on to the back of your thigh or the front of your shin as you pull that left knee in towards you. Head and shoulders again are staying down on the mat. Just use a little bit of arm strength to bring that knee in. Focusing a little bit more on the outer hip. Getting into the glutes. and give it one last little squeeze here. And we'll bring both feet flat to the floor. Setting ourselves up for bridge pose. So feet are hipwidth distance apart. Have your heels fairly close in towards your seat. Palms flat to the floor. Think of pushing down into your heels. Tuck the tailbone. And from here, lift the hips, low back, and mid back off the floor. Hug through your inner thighs so that you're not rolling onto your little toes. And think of lengthening your tailbone towards your heels so that you're flattening out your lower back, pushing into the backs of the arms a little bit. Always notice, are you letting the knees spllay out? Think of hugging them in, pressing a little bit more into your big toes, squeezing through the seat. And as you exhale, roll down inch by inch. Really take your time. Feel each part of the spine connect bit by bit until the tailbone comes down to the mat. Let's bring our left knee in towards the chest and straighten your right leg out in front of you. Flexing through that right foot. Pushing out into the heel. Getting into the hip flexors on this side. So focusing on gentle movements in this class. Often, you know, I've been practicing and teaching a long time now, and I've really found that usually the simpler the pose, the more effective it tends to be. We'll carry this over into a twist. So the left knee can guide or be guided over towards the right side of your mat. With the help of your right hand, extend your left arm out. Press that left shoulder blade into the floor. Collar bones facing up. So this time I'm trying to stack my left hip on top of my right one. And the more you can kind of pull the belly button in and up, the deeper you'll be able to rotate. Keep reaching out long through your right leg. We'll come all the way back through to center. Bend into your right knee so your foot can be flat to the floor into halfappy baby pose. Grab a hold of that big left toe with the two-piece fingers, stacking the ankle on top of the knee, keeping the elbow to the inside of that leg. And let your right knee kind of flop over a little bit, just so you can push into your right hip and into your right shoulder. So we're not rolling over onto the left too much. Carrying this into reclined pigeon pose. So the left ankle will cross over the top of the right knee. Think of pressing that left knee and thigh away from you and reach through this figure four shape with the legs. Trying to pull our right thigh in towards the belly while keeping our upper body grounded. Just a little bit of arm strength to hold ourselves in this pose, but relaxing every other part of our body that does not need to work right now. One last big squeeze and we'll release. Setting ourselves up once more for our bridge pose. Feet hipwidth distance apart. So, think of aligning your seatbones with your knees and ankles rather than widening towards the edges of your hips. And have the heels fairly close in towards you. As you push into the heels, lift the hips, low back, and mid back. Push down into your big toes. Think of reaching the knees over that second and third toe. pushing into the backs of the arms and into the palms to find a little bit more lift. And we'll slowly roll down inch by inch. Tailbone is the last to connect down to the mat. Pull both knees in towards your belly. And we're going to rock up. Come to take a seat and we'll sit cross-legged. Bring your right shin stacked just staggered a little bit in front of your left one. And we're going to walk our hands forward. Think of pressing back through your seat and then find a counter reach, lifting out of your lower back. And maybe you're just staying up on your palms or you might be going a little bit further down like what I'm doing here. Just getting a nice stretch through that right hip, right glute. Big breath in here. And we'll walk our hands in, lifting the chest up. Take a little twist before we do this to the other side. Right hand to your left knee. Left fingertips behind you. Lift and lengthen and then rotate. So, no slouching, no rounding. Think of growing a little taller even as we twist and releasing back through to center. Change the cross of your legs. So, you have your left shin slightly in front of the right one. And same thing, we're going to fold down. So, think of pushing the hips back, reaching the chest forward. and going to any any variation of the fold. You don't need to be all the way down. The benefit of the pose is the same. And we'll lift ourselves up. Finding a twist to the other side. Left hand to your right knee. Right fingertips behind you. Lift and lengthen. And then twist. Pull that right shoulder back. Draw the low belly in and up. And think of sliding your shoulder blades down your back. Releasing to face forward. Let's find tabletop pose on hands and knees. Palms under your shoulders. Knees underneath your hips. Just a few rounds of cat and cow here. Spread the fingertips wide. As you inhale, drop the belly, lift the gaze, curl tailbone up. Exhale, round and contract. So, keep going in and out of those two poses. Trying to get this motion through your upper back, mid back, and lower back. We'll add a little bit of stability work. So, find this last exhale as you round and contract. And then come to a neutral tabletop pose. So, I'm pulling the lower belly in. Flat back here. I'm going to extend my right leg back behind me. Roll that right hip down. So, the entire front of that leg is facing down towards the mat. And maybe you just want to stay and hold here as you are. Or you can add on by reaching that left arm forward. So, what we don't want is like a cat and cow where I'm dropping the belly and lifting up. Really think of maintaining this flat back. So there is core activation here. Even strengthening through the back of that right leg. Take one more full deep breath. Bring your left hand down to the mat. Drop the right toes down. Roll to the inner edge of that right foot and extend that right arm up. Modified side plank. And you can reach your right arm up overhead. So, taking a big side body stretch. Think of reaching your right hand further away from your right foot. And we'll come from here into downward-facing dog. So, continue to roll that right hand down. And then reach both legs back. Feet are hipwidth distance apart. Lift the hips up and back. It's our first downward dog. So go ahead and paddle out the feet, bending one knee, straightening the opposite leg, rocking through the hips a little bit. Don't worry about whether or not your knees are straight or whether or not your heels are touching the mat. Instead, focus on lengthening through your arms, lengthening through your chest, lifting the hips up nice and high. And we'll come all the way forward into plank pose. So strong through your core here. Bring your knees down to the mat first and lower all the way to your belly. Elbows in as you come down. Take a little spinx pose stretch. So slide your forearms out in front of you. Think of pushing into the tops of the feet, pushing into your hip bones and into your pubic bone, almost as if you were lifting your stomach off of the mat. And then lift the heart up a little bit more. So, we're making this a really active pose. No jamming in the lower back. Instead, think of pulling your heart forward. Getting a little bit longer here. and exhale to release. Press back to child's pose. Big toes together, knees as wide as you would like them to be, hips towards your heels, and folding down. So, the wider away your knees are, the more intensely you'll feel this through your hips. If you're working on flexibility and really want to work on getting a stretch, just make sure that it doesn't feel like pain or pinching in your lower back. This is meant to be a therapeutic flow, very gentle practice. So, we need to find a good balance between effort and ease. Two more breaths here. And we'll lift ourselves back up. Tabletop pose. Bring the knees back in line under your hips. Hands underneath your shoulders. Cat and cow. A few more times here. Inhale. Drop the belly. Lift the gaze. Exhale. Round and contract. See if you can put a little bit more of your body weight into your fingertips and knuckles, taking it out of the wrists. And can you even push into the tops of your feet a little bit to take some of the weight out of your knees? One more full cycle. Inhale and exhale. Neutral tabletop pose. So, find a flat back. And then we're going to extend that left leg up and back. Roll the left hip down. Really stay stable here. Engage the lower abdominals. And maybe extend your right arm forward. Bicep along the ear. We're just holding. Again, this is a simple looking pose, but there really is a lot going on here. Just breathing through it. And your right hand can come back down to the mat. Drop the left toes down. Roll to the inner edge of that left foot. Left arm reaches up towards the sky for your modified side plank. And let's stretch a little deeper. Bring that left arm up and overhead. Big side body stretch. Let's continue to roll this down. We're finding our downward-facing dog. Hands are shoulderwidth distance apart. Feet are hipwidth distance apart. Bend your knees as much as you'd like here as you reach your chest towards your thighs. And we'll do things a little bit differently this time. So, we won't be lowering down onto our belly. Instead, walk your hands to the back of the mat. Find your ragd doll fold. So you can bend your knees even more, maybe holding on to the elbows as you sway a little side to side, letting your head be heavy. Release your hands back down to the floor. Bend your knees even more and push into your heels to roll all the way up to stand inch by inch. And we'll widen the feet. So, step the legs out with the toes turned out pointing towards the top corners of your mat. As you inhale, you can straighten the legs, reach your arms up. Exhale, hands come together, and sink down into this wide squat. So, we're focusing on opening those knees up a few more times like this. So, inhale, circle and reach up. Exhale, sink down a little bit lower. Keep your shoulders back over your hips. Trying to get a little bit lower each time. Last one here. Holding in this deep squat. You can bring your hands to rest over your knees. Let yourself lean forward a little bit here. We're going to drop right shoulder down, left shoulder back. And you can use your hands to kind of push the knees open a little bit more. And we'll twist to the other side. Left shoulder drops down. Right shoulder pulls back. Coming back through to center. Press and lift yourself all the way up. And we'll stand at the top of the mat. Feet are hipwidth distance apart. Let's inhale. Arms reach up. Palms come together. Exhale. Fold all the way down. I'm bending my knees as I'm doing this to protect my lower back. Halfway lift. fingertips to the shins. Reach the crown of the head forward. Exhale. Plant your hands. Find your plank pose. So, step the feet back. Either the knees can come down first or you can lower all the way down. Chaturanga. And we're going to find sphinx pose again here. So, same thing. Slide the forearms out in front of you. Think of lifting the lower belly off of the mat. Reaching the heart forward, lifting up through the crown of the head. Press your shoulders down and away from your ears. And we'll press back. Child's pose once more. Big toes together. Knees as wide as you would like them to be. Melting down here. Five deep breaths. You can walk your hands in. Let's just come to take a seat. We're going to come into our butterfly forward fold. So the soles of the feet can come together to touch. Knees are apart. And I'm going to make this a passive style forward fold. So rather than finding a flat back and hinging from there, I'm going to let my spine naturally round. No pushing, no pulling, just letting gravity get me into the shape. So getting a nice stretch through the lower back, deep into the hips. See if you can soften a little bit more in the pose. and use your hands pushing into the floor to slowly roll yourself back up. And we'll take a little twist from here. So you can cross your right foot over the top of that left thigh. So my left knee is pointing directly towards the top of the mat. Think of pushing down into that big right toe. As you pull your knee in towards your chest, use this to lift and lengthen up a little bit more. And then wrap your left arm around that right knee, hugging it in to twist, pulling that right shoulder back. So twists are really great types of poses to do whenever there's low back pain or discomfort. and releasing to face forward. Before we twist to the other side, maybe just bring your feet flat to the floor and drop the knees in a windshield wiper motion from side to side. And when you're ready, we'll twist the other way. So you can wrap and step that left foot over. Getting both hips or both sitbones down on the mat to push into that big left toe. Think of lifting up taller through your spine. Hug your thigh with that right arm. Left fingertips go back behind you as you open here. releasing to face forward. Same thing. Little windshield wiper motion with the knees. and we'll lower ourselves down to the mat. Sort of finishing with a variation of what we did at the beginning of class with this knee pumping. Instead of just pumping straight forward and back, we're going to circle this around. So, with your hands on your knees, you can trace big circles. Inhaling, moving the knees away from you, and exhaling to pull them back. So I am kind of rocking side to side from one hip to the other. And you can reverse the direction of those circles. About two more. Widen your knees towards your shoulders. One last little stretch here and we'll come into shavasana, our final resting pose. Because the focus has been on low back and hips, I'm going to do shabasana instead of having my legs straight like we normally would. That can put a little bit too much pressure on the low back. So you can instead keep your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and just let your knees fall in towards one another. So like a little internal hip rotation. And think of pressing almost the low back down into the mat to arms by your sides. So there's almost like a little bit of a traction, a little bit of a gentle pull. softening through your facial muscles, through your jaw. This final pose is a great way to check in with yourself to see how you feel, what the effects of your practice have been. We'll take a few minutes here of final rest and relaxation. Closing the eyes, settling in, and I'll let you know when it's time to come out. We'll reawaken moving a little bit. Just see what feels good to you. Maybe a windshield wiper motion with the knees side to side or pulling your knees in towards your belly. Might feel good to reach your arms up overhead, straightening the legs. And we'll come up to take a seat. Rolling onto one side. Use your arms pushing into the floor to lift yourself up. Sitting up nice and tall. Closing your eyes once you're there. Your hands join together at the front of the heart showing yourself a moment of gratitude. And we'll close by chanting Om together one time. Let's inhale to chant. Breathe in deeply. Oh, [Music] thank you so much everyone for doing this gentle flow. I hope you do feel really good especially through your hips and your lower back. Do leave me a comment before you go. I hope you and maybe we will practice again together very soon. Have a wonderful day.