Restorative Yoga Flow - No Props | 35-minute Class

Transcript

hi everyone welcome to a new yoga video in today's class we'll be going through a restorative flow so this will be gentle enough for all levels we'll be holding the poses for a bit longer than you normally would in a regular vinyasa class so you won't need any props for today but if you have props you'd like to use feel free to grab those and then once you're ready we'll go ahead and meet together on our mats in a child's pose so bring the big toes to touch send the hips down and back and allow the forehead to rest on the mat so you can have the arms extended out straight in front of you here if you'd like a more restorative approach you can bring the arms alongside the thighs resting on the mat there and start to bring your awareness into this space [Music] begin to draw your attention to your breath [Music] so breathing in and out through the nose as you inhale completely filling up the lungs breathing into the front and the back of the body and also into the side so expanding the ribs and finding length in these areas and with every exhale releasing any bit of tension you might be holding on to [Music] allowing yourself to melt and softened into the ground beneath you [Music] taking one last breath here and if you have the arms alongside your thighs gently extend them straight out in front of you and then start to slide the right arm underneath the left arm coming into if thread the needle variation you can keep the left palm placed on the mat if you'd like more engagement you can come on to the fingertips continuing to breathe in and out through the nose creating space in the shoulder on the side of the body and slowly untwist the right arm extending it out straight in front of you take a breath here and then bring the left arm underneath the right arm allow the left ear to rest on the mat coming back to your breath so focusing on creating more softness in the body letting go of any tension [Music] [Music] gently slide the left arm back extending both arms straight out in front of you and then walk the fingertips towards your body slowly making your way up allow your head and neck to be the last thing to come up so you can stay here seated on the ankles or you can come into a seated pose cross-legged bringing the hands to the knees we'll start to find some seated cats and cows so as you inhale shift the hips forward arch the back open the chest as you exhale round through the spine inhale arch the back open the chest and exhale draw the chin to the chest round through the spine inhale open the heart and exhale round through the spine [Music] so move through this at your own pace moving mindfully becoming aware of the different sensations in your body as you start to warm up the spine [Music] we'll take one last inhale and exhale here [Music] coming back through the center this time extend the right leg straight out in front and bring the left foot inside of the inner thigh readjusting your sit bones here if you need to finding a nice tall spine as you inhale reach the arms up towards the sky shifting your body towards the right side and as you exhale fold forward over the right leg for a restorative variation you can release the hands and allow them to rest on the mat on either side of the right leg if you want more engagement you can reach your hands for your foot your ankle your calf anything you can grab on to but really focus on allowing your head and neck to hang heavy here so you can shake your head yes or no to release any tension in the neck and then come back to your breath [Music] [Music] taking one more inhale and exhale here and as you inhale slowly inch your way back up coming into a seated position and switching your legs so extending the left leg straight out in front we grounding yourself as you inhale reach the arms up towards the sky shifting your torso towards the left and as you exhale fold forward over the left leg allowing yourself to completely drop over your body [Music] allowing the hands to rest on the mat or wrapped around the foot the ankle the calf [Music] and seeing if you can focus on moving your belly with your breath rather than using your upper body so completely relaxing the shoulders the neck and releasing any tension in the jaw and the facial muscles [Music] taking one last inhale and exhale and then slowly walk your hands towards your body inching your way up coming back into a seated position this time draw the soles of the feet together and allow the knees to spread out wide so interlace the fingers here wrap them around the feet and begin to find a nice tall spine so you can always place a prop underneath the sit bones for more support take a deep inhale and as you exhale gently hinge from the hips folding forward and finding your limit so there's no need to push yourself here this would be a great place to have a block if you need to rest your head on something and just allow your upper body to completely relax taking one last inhale and exhale here [Music] and then gently release your fingers and walk your hands towards the front of the mat really lengthening through the arms and then begin to walk your fingers towards the right side of the mat lengthening through the left side body [Music] and then slowly begin to walk your fingertips towards the center and then towards the left side of your mat so finding length and space in the right side of your body taking one last fall inhale and fall exhale and begin to walk the fingertips towards the center and then back towards your body inching your way up and then bring your hands underneath the knees and gently draw the knees together and then slowly lower all the way down onto your back [Music] and begin to draw the knees into the chest here giving yourself a big hug wrapping your arms around the knees and begin to rock from side to side and then place the hands on top of the knees straighten out the arms and slowly begin to draw circles with the knees so moving the knees towards the left up away from the body towards the right and then in towards your body so starting with slower smaller circles and gently massaging the sacrum and the low back and really moving with their breath here so making it a moving meditation so as you inhale draw the knees in towards the chest and as you exhale send the knees away from the body and start to move in the opposite direction with smaller circles furs [Music] I'm drawing bigger circles [Music] [Music] then hug the knees into the chest once more gently drop the knees towards the right side of the body so coming into a twist you can place your right hand on top of the knees Bend the left elbow and bring your gaze towards the left trying your best to keep both shoulder blades pressed into the mat here and coming back to your breath taking one last exhale and as you inhale draw the knees in towards the chest and then as you exhale send the knees towards the left so allowing the right hip to come off of the floor and keeping your right shoulder blade grounded into the earth allow your gaze to be towards the right if that's comfortable for you [Music] one last breath here and on your next inhale draw the knees in towards the chest giving yourself a big squeeze and then keeping the right knee it hugged into the chest extend the left leg straight out in front of you and then gently allow the right knee to drop open towards the right side opening up the right hip you can bring your left hand on top of the left thigh just encouraging it to stay in place and then start to draw circles with the knee so finding a little bit of mobility into the hip and if you need to use both of your hands for this feel free to just drawing the knee in towards the chest out towards the right away from the body and over towards the left side so finding these circles moving with your breath [Music] and stopping in any places that feel extra tight so being a mindful of that [Music] then draw the knee out towards the right side once more opening up the hip and then using your left hand gently twist the right leg in and across the body dropping it over towards the left side [Music] again trying to keep both of the shoulder blades pressed into the mat here coming back to your breath [Music] taking one last full inhale and full exhale and on your next inhale draw the knee in towards the chest and bring the left knee in as well and then extend the right leg straight out in front of you keeping the left knee hugs into the chest and slowly allow the left knee to drop towards the left side opening up the left hip placing the right palm on to the right thigh and start to find circles with the knee here creating movement and mobility and the left hip [Music] again you can use both hands here if you need to just try to encourage that right leg to stay grounded into the meds and then draw the knee over towards the left side once more opening up the hip [Music] from here reach the right hand over towards the outer edge of the left knee and gently bring the knee across the body towards the right side coming back into this gentle twist breathing into the low back besides of the body creating more space and allowing the body to let go [Music] [Music] taking in one last inhale and then releasing one last exhale on your next inhale draw both knees into the chest give yourself a hug bringing your forehead to the knees and the release the soles of the feet to the mat will come into a supine pigeon so cross the right ankle on top of the left knee and you can choose to stay here in this passive pigeon if you'd like more of a stretch you can bring the right hand in between the legs and releasing the fingers wrapping the hands around the back of the thigh drawing the knees in closer towards your chest so bringing that left foot off of the mat and coming back to your breath [Music] you could start to find gentle rock from side to side just to feel a different sensation releasing any tension in the lumbar spine [Music] and taking one last inhale and exhale [Music] and gently releasing your fingers bringing the left foot back to the mat and uncrossing the right ankle switching sides here so bringing the left ankle on top of the right knee [Music] choosing to stay here for a passive stretch or for a deeper sensation you can lift the right foot off of the mat and releasing the fingers onto the back of the thigh and drawing the knees in closer towards your chest and so really being a mindful of what your body needs making sure you're not pushing yourself too hard just finding a gentle stretch [Music] and again you can choose to rock from side to side we're finding stillness [Music] breathing in one last inhale and exhale and releasing the fingers and the right foot back to the ground gently uncrossing the left leg so that both soles of the feet are on the ground and then bringing the knees into the chest and finding happy baby so bringing the arms into the inside of the knees bringing the fingers to the outer edge of the feet and gently rocking from side to side opening up both of the hips and slowly release your feet back to the mat begin to extend the legs out wide taking up as much room as you'd like bring the palms to face open you keep the legs extended here or bring the soles of the feet together here whatever variation you'd like just allow the body to completely relax draw the shoulder blades into the earth begin to soften the facial muscles the cheeks the mouth and the jaw the eyebrows the space in between the eyebrows your third eye can they close the eyes and rest here in shavasana [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] slowly begin to draw awareness back into the space coming back to your breath [Music] start to find small movements and the fingers and the toes then gently rock yourself over onto one side either the left or the right and then slowly begin to prop yourself up coming into a seated position and keeping the eyes still closed bringing your hands to a prayer position and finding gratitude for yourself for making time for your practice today and thank you for allowing me to guide you through this restorative flow well bow together namaste [Music] you