Restorative Yoga + Meditation | No Props 35-Minute Relaxing Practice

Transcript

hello everyone welcome to your 35 minute restorative yoga class you won't be needing any props for this class you can grab a blanket or a pillow for added comfort but know that it isn't necessary we'll be holding each pose today for about one to two minutes with a gentle warm-up and cool down sequence and a short meditation at the end this is a slower paced practice designed to help reset your nervous system and assist you with any anxiety or stress you may be feeling so this is a great class to do at any time of the day we'll start in child's pose by bringing the big toes together knees can be spread wide or if you're experiencing any type of discomfort and the hips or low back you can bring the knees together extend the arm straight out in front of you and rest your forehead gently on the mat gently rock the head from side to side shift the hips just taking your time to get settled in here allow your body to be in a completely comfortable position and then right away start to bring awareness to your breath so without changing anything just noticing your inhalations and your exhalations and breathing space into the front of your body the chest feeling the belly expand and contract and breathing space into the side body the ribs and bringing your awareness to the base of your skull down your neck your shoulders your spine breathing space into the low back in the hips feeling your body soften here as you continue to breathe and taking one more breath here and slowly walk your hands over to the left side of your mat placing your right hand on top feeling a gentle stretch along the right side body I'm continuing to breathe and walk your hands through Center all the way over towards the right placing your left hand on top feeling the left side body open and expand and walk your hands back towards center taking one breath here gently lift yourself up coming on to all fours hands and knees shift your hips from side to side letting go of any tension any tightness and find stillness in your tabletop pose wrists under shoulders knees under hips will move through a few rounds of cats and cows moving really slowly and with the breath so as you inhale drop the low belly towards the ground lift your gaze lift the tailbone exhale tuck the tailbone round through the spine bring your chin to your chest inhale spreading the fingers wide dropping the belly and lifting your gaze and exhaling pressing the floor away with your hands rounding through the upper back inhale to live and exhale inhale and exhale find three more rounds here at your own pace and then go ahead and find a neutral spine here in your tabletop coming into thread the needle placing the left hand at the center of the mat inhale reach the right arm up exhale thread the right arm underneath the left arm bringing your right shoulder and your right cheek to the mats you can extend the left arm in front of you keeping the hips lifted another option here is you can come up on to the left fingertips maybe walking the fingertips over towards the right corner of the mats you can also find a bind reaching your left arm across the low back lifting the left shoulder up we'll find three more breaths here and gently placing your left hand back down inhale to reach the right arm up gently unthreading exhale right hand comes down at the center of the mat inhale reach the left arm up and exhale thread the left arm underneath the right arm placing your left shoulder and left cheek on the mats and finding your variation here whether extending the right arm straight out in front of you coming up high on the fingertips walking towards the left corner of the mats or finding a bind and bringing your awareness to the different sensations that you feel in your body gentle stretch in the left shoulder maybe the chest breathing space into the low belly see if you can soften your face and place the right hand down inhale lift the left arm up exhale left hand comes down keep the knees where they're at walk the hands forward into puppy pose extending the arms in front of you resting your forehead and forearms on the mats and gently dropping your chest closer towards the ground and your belly towards your thighs see if you can send your breath towards the sides of your body the ribs and along the backside of the body and see if you can soften with simply your awareness so bringing your attention to your shoulders allowing your chest to feel heavier on your next breath slowly lift your gaze coming on to the forearms lowering your hips and your belly to the ground go ahead and lower your left cheek onto the mats we're going to move into our next position finding half of frog pose so keeping your left cheek on the mat you can extend the left arm alongside your body using your right hand to gently prop yourself up to extend the right leg out to the side bending the right knee at about a 90 degree angle [Music] keeping your foot flexed here if you need to readjust so that your knee is more comfortable you can move over towards the left side of the mat so that your knee is on your mat or you can place a blanket underneath your right knee for more support once you've found a comfortable position go ahead and soften your belly and your chest back down and you can create a pillow with your hands to rest your head on and just allow yourself to settle in here opening up the right and her hip and you don't have to force this posture or push the right leg down to make it deeper all you need to do is relax into the shape and see if you can find more heaviness into the right hip crease simply with your awareness completely relax the inner thigh and taking three last intentional breaths here gently transition by coming back on to the forearms removing any props to the side keeping your right leg exactly where it's at we're just going to slide the left arm directly underneath the right arm coming along the left side body and then all the way to the back so reaching the right shoulder to the mats coming into a supine twist position and now just adjust here by sliding the left hip over to the left side of the mat just a few inches or so adjusting here so that you find yourself in a comfortable expression of this posture if you need to lessen the twists you can shift the hips and if you'd like some extra support you can pull your left knee underneath the right knee to allow the knees to stack comfortably go ahead and close your eyes and settle in doing a slow scan here with your awareness see if you can feel the rotation in your spine feeling out the twist see if you can feel more heaviness in the back of your right shoulder notice the stretch in the front of the right shoulder and in front of the right chest and see if you can notice the length and the right side all the way from the right fingertips down to your outer right knee breathing space into this rotation and into this link softening the body completely and we're going to transition back the same way we came into the pose so extend your left leg place your right hand down coming on to the belly extend your right leg straight behind you and rest your right cheek on the mats transitioning to the other side here and I'm just going to get up and change so you can see me better but you can stay where you are so again your right cheek is on your mats you can prop your left knee out to the side coming back into our half frog position using a blanket underneath your knee if you'd like or just moving over it towards the right side so your knee can rest on your mats maybe creating a pillow with your hands and allow yourself to rest here see if there's a way that you could invite your body to let go even more and taking notice of your breath and feels nourishing to have the Front's of the body against the earth so focus on finding deeper breaths and bringing your awareness to the ground and the support beneath you and taking three more breaths here and gently lift yourself up to transition into our next position coming on to the left forearm removing any props to the side keeping the left leg where it's at and sliding the right arm underneath the left arm coming on to the right side body and then turning all the way onto your back bringing your left shoulder to the mats coming into our supine twist and readjusting your hips here if you need to shifting your hip over towards the right side and if you'd like a little more support you can bend your right knee stuck in your left knee on top close your eyes here and rest your head wherever it's comfortable take a few moments to allow your body to absorb this shape feeling the heaviness in the left shoulder the stretch in the left chest and notice the length from your left fingertips all the way down to your left outer knee and that's all we're really doing in this practice is just feeling the sensations in our body and bringing awareness back to our breath using these mindful tools to bring us into a deeper state of relaxation I'm gently transitioning into our next position rolling all the way onto your back keeping the knees bent from here place your hands on top of your knees keeping the elbows straight start to find gentle circles with the knees here massaging out the low back the sacrum so drawing the knees into the chest over towards one side away from the body to the opposite side and back in towards your chest moving in the opposite direction as well and then find stillness here hugging the knees into the chest go ahead and rock yourself up coming into a seated position we're going to find butterfly pose so bring the soles of the feet together bring the heels either further away from the hips or closer in towards your body if you'd like deeper sensation close your eyes inhale lengthen the spine and exhale fold forward slowly hinging from the hips letting the arms relax and letting the upper body hang heavy breathing here creating space in both of the hip joints lengthening the backside body and taking one last breath here slowly lift yourself up and extend one leg extend the other to come into a straddle from here close the eyes again inhale to lengthen the spine and as you exhale just slowly walk the hands forward I'm just going as far as is comfortable for you again not pushing ourselves into any specific shape or stretch using our breath to soften into our edge and bring your awareness to the stretch along the backside body the back of the legs and notice if you're holding on to any tension in other areas of your body relaxing the shoulders the face the jaw take one last breath here and slowly walk your hands back towards your body bringing the legs together coming into a seated position so we'll end our sequence with a few seated postures inhale reach the arms up overhead palms touch exhale side body stretch bring the left hand down and reach the right arm up and over big inhale carries you back up into a twist right hand comes to the back of the mat left hand to your right knee you inhale carries you back to centre reaching the arms up overhead palms touch exhale side body stretch right hand comes down reach your left arm up and over and continuing to focus on your breath as you inhale reach the arms up exhale right hand comes to the left knee left hand behind you for a twist in one last inhale here reaching the arms up overhead palms touch exhale the hands back down to heart center and gently release your hands on top of your knees and start to roll out the neck left ear to left shoulder chin to chest right ear to right shoulder and lifting the chin continuing to find these slow circles with the head moving in the opposite direction whenever you're ready and gently bringing your head back up to a neutral position we'll end our class today with a simple meditation so you can choose to stay up right here in the seated position or you can lay down on your back in shavasana if you'd like go ahead and close your eyes down feeling into your body and feeling into your breath and as we prepare for this meditation whether you're a seated or lying down go ahead and give yourself permission here to let go so know that there is nothing you need to do accomplish or control during this time simply allow yourself to experience these next few moments where you can just feel be and observe without the need to do anything physically or mentally so take these next few moments for yourself bringing your awareness back to your breath back to your body and back to this present moment and if the mind starts to wander gently bring it back to your breath I'm preparing to take when cleansing breath here to end our practice exhaling why you are take a big breath in through your nose and open your mouth exhale it out bring your hands together at heart center keeping the eyes closed I was taking this moment to find gratitude and to acknowledge the stillness the inner peace that you've cultivated on your mat today bring the thumbs to the forehead and together we'll bow our heads namaste thank you so much for getting on your mat with me today and for finding time for this restorative class I hope that you enjoyed this practice and I hope to see you in the next class soon