This is a full body somatic yoga routine.
We are going to start on the floor,
Gentle,
And then shake everything out.
These are somatic moves for lowering cortisol and helping your hip,
Neck,
And shoulder pain.
To begin,
Come to a comfortable cross-legged seat up on a cushion.
You could even be in a chair,
Whatever works for you.
Take a moment to just welcome your body to the space.
So stroking from your thigh down to your knee,
Maybe circling the kneecap.
And stroking back up to the thigh.
Maybe rocking a little bit forward and back.
Slowing down your breath.
And then letting your right ear drift towards your right shoulder.
Extending the left arm out to the side.
Finding stillness here.
Letting the head be heavy like a bowling ball.
Relaxing the shoulders down the back.
Maybe just playing with where your extended arm is in space.
Maybe making figure eights.
Or circles.
Ah,
Maybe exhaling out the mouth.
And then take the hand that's on your thigh to your temple.
Gently press the head up.
Inhale,
Big roll the shoulders back.
Other side,
Ear to shoulder.
Opposite arm extends maybe Play with the air with your fingertips.
Maybe taking the arm behind you.
Head heavy,
Play with the position of the chin if you're not feeling a nice juicy stretch.
Sighing out the mouth.
Ugh.
Maybe a figure eight motion with the extended arm and then.
Pressing into your temple.
To support the head as it comes back up.
A little temple massage.
Take two fingers to each temple and just make some circles.
Tracing down your jaw,
Your neck,
Your torso.
Right hand to the ground,
Reach the left arm up and over.
Big side stretch.
Slow your breathing down.
Open your chest towards the ceiling.
Exhale,
Draw your elbow in towards your belly button.
It's like your little clamshell opening.
Ah,
And exhale,
Closing.
One more.
You Yawn if you can.
Mmmmm.
And reaching both arms up,
Rolling the wrists.
Just gently waking up the whole body side stretch other side.
Breathing into the side ribs like they were an accordion.
You're opening your heart.
Towards the sky.
You roll the top wrist as you exhale.
Elbow comes in.
Huh.
Playing with this movement.
Opening and then it's like you're rounding into yourself.
Reach up,
Roll the wrists.
Arch the chest,
Make a big yawn if you can.
Take the right arm across the body.
Look over the shoulder of the arm you're pulling.
And then exhale,
Let your head glide back to center.
Two more times,
You're gonna look.
Don't strain,
No pain.
Ah,
Sigh back to center.
You got it,
Look over.
Inhale.
Ah,
Exhale,
Side back.
Reach out.
Maybe some reaches.
Reach,
Reach,
Reach,
Reach.
Other arm.
Pulling it across the chest,
Gliding the shoulders down and back.
Inhale,
Look over your shoulder.
And exhale,
Let the head gently come back to center.
No rush,
No strain.
Huh.
Looking over the shoulder.
It's just like you unwind,
Opening the jaw,
Sighing out the mouth to come back to center.
Beautiful,
Reach the arms up.
Let's do some reaches again,
Reach.
Which.
.
.
Reach,
Little twist,
Right hand to left knee.
Reaching out.
Opposite way.
How loose can you make your jaw?
If you want to wag the jaw from side to side.
And then reaching up,
Take the palms to prayer,
Have that prayer made at your head and this time do the same massage we did before but with the whole hand on the temple.
And now the whole hand on the jaw.
And the hands tracing down the neck,
Down the torso,
Soothing yourself with your own touch.
Coming into a Sufi grind.
It's like your torso is stirring the bowl of your pelvis.
Inhale to come forward.
Exhale to come back.
Rounding back on the sits bones.
We've done a lot of spinal movements already.
I want you to now fold just over one knee,
Place the hands.
And just let the head drop,
Chin into chest.
And see how I'm making just some micro movements in this fold.
Just swaying side to side,
Maybe moving the chin around,
Relaxing the shoulders down and back,
Maybe exploring,
Seeing if there's a juicy spot in the low back here.
Just keep moving.
Think of being kind of like seaweed.
Again,
If you can walk this over to the other side.
So you're framing the knee with your hands.
Or wherever feels good to you on the diagonal of your mat.
Exploring side to side.
Ideally looking for a stretch in the opposite side of your low back.
Doesn't need to be a big movement.
Keep the jaw moving.
Keep the head and neck kind of moving.
Walk the hands forward.
Sliding into your version of an all fours position,
Shoulders over wrists,
Hips over knees for cat cow.
Same thing.
Think about moving a little bit side to side,
Just shifting the weight.
So it doesn't have to be a traditional inhale broadening the chest and exhale rounding.
Pause in each of these positions.
Moving a little side to side as you round back.
Navel up towards the ceiling,
Tailbone almost touching the heels in your cow pose,
Maybe some shoulder rolls.
Maybe you want to make figure eight,
Shifting the weight to each knee and then to each palm.
So tune in now and do what feels good for you.
You can always be on fists.
Or forearms to explore these movements.
Going inward,
Choosing what feels like the spaces that you want to explore.
Oh,
A yotic thing.
And then curling the toes under.
This is a full body,
So we want to stretch the undersides of the feet here.
Sitting back on the heels,
Butterfly hug.
Just stroking the arms,
Feeling this big toe stretch.
Stroke down the torso,
Stroke down the thighs again.
Your touch is so healing for your body.
And now coming into downward dog.
Use this music to pedal the legs.
Feeling into the hamstrings.
Now bend both knees generously as if you wanted to kneel on the ground,
But you're still in your downward facing dog.
And just invite in a little bounce.
So the seat is just bouncing.
This is releasing a lot of tension around the sacrum and the tailbone.
A lot of work for the upper body.
Press down through the index finger and thumb.
Just gonna bite a little bit more bouncing.
Oh,
Yeah.
Now walk the feet and hands together.
Feet are hip width apart and keep bouncing.
Let the torso be super heavy,
Head heavy,
Chin into chest,
Like a ragdoll,
But bouncing,
Bend the knees.
Keep moving the jaw,
Side to side.
Wag the jaw.
Maybe make some silly noises.
We hold a lot of tension in the face,
But can you make some silly noises as you bounce here?
Crazy faces.
Nice.
And then bouncing your way up to stand.
Head is lasting to come up.
Find this mid position where you're just kind of bouncing.
With your knees bent,
Little bounce,
About halfway up.
Peeling into the low back,
Upper back.
Hands to hips.
Take a wide,
Wide stance with me on your sticky mat.
Here we go.
Circle the hips.
Circle the hip.
Nice wide stance.
We're going to turn right toes forward.
Butterfly hug.
Come into your warrior two and we're just gonna bounce.
Feeling the caress of your own arms?
You feel some strength in the lower body.
Just gentle bounces.
Make sure the knee is over the ankle.
Reach out.
It just moved the fingertips!
Ugh,
Keep making funny faces.
YARDIE!
If you wanna let the elbows come back Exploring the South.
Huh.
And then straighten the leg.
The same elbow as leg that's turned forward.
I want you to hold the elbow if you can.
Press the head back in space.
Little bicep stretch and side stretch.
Take it back.
And now forward.
Ah,
Triangle pose.
Your choice.
What feels good?
Do you want to stay still and roll the wrists?
Do you want to make a circle with that top arm?
Bicep strokes the cheek and comes around.
What feels good to you?
Tune inward.
Roll the top wrist wherever you are.
Engage the core.
Press down through the feet.
We're coming up.
Imagine someone pulling you up.
Turn the right toes forward.
Little hip circle.
Maybe full body shake.
Yeah,
Let's do a full body shake here.
Just shake it out.
Shake it out.
Shake it out.
Click the wrist.
Left toes forward.
Butterfly hug to start.
A little bounce.
Bouncing in your warrior two.
You can kind of lengthen the stance as you do this.
Ah.
And then reaching the arms out.
Making every single weird motion you can with your hands and your fingers.
Feeling into all those spaces.
Maybe letting that elbow.
It's like you're just sighing out the exasperation of your day,
Your week.
Let it go here.
Uh,
Uh,
Yeah.
Now holding the same elbow as the foot that's pointed forward.
Big stretch,
And then option to take it into a little side bend.
This is a balance.
Engage down through the legs.
Press down through the big toe mount and the heel.
Engage the core.
Oh,
Big yawn if you can.
And then reach up.
Let's roll the wrist down as we go to triangle.
Yeah.
Oh,
What feels pleasurable.
How active can you keep the legs?
And soft.
Can you keep the face,
The heart,
The upper body?
You want to make circles with that top arm.
It's like you're the inside of a giant clock.
You want to bounce that back knee.
Stay still and hold the wrist.
Roll the wrist.
And give yourself permission to explore.
Like someone's pulling you up.
When you are.
Turn the toes forward,
Toes in,
Heels out.
Come forward for a stretch.
Wide-legged forward fold.
And again,
Think of the upper body.
Seaweed.
Legs are super strong.
So hopefully you're feeling a stretch on the outer shin.
Bend into one knee and then the other if that feels good.
Just rocking out in your little forward folds here.
Which feels good,
Stillness or movement?
Does it feel good to have the legs straight?
And fold forward and let the torso move,
Or does it feel good to let everything move?
It can be different every day that you come back to this routine.
Honor what you find.
Dancing your way up to stand wherever you are,
Moving the shoulders side to side,
Right to left.
Rolling them back.
Heel towing the seat in.
And now just doing a little shake.
Think of it being initiated from the tailbone.
So you're just going to shake,
Shake.
Shake and now we're huh huh huh Shaking the legs,
Flicking off whatever you don't need.
Come to standing with the feet hip width apart.
And to heart and belly.
Notice the beating of your heart,
Noticing the sensations and the shins or thighs or ankles or feet,
The whole body that we've woken up,
The neck.
The shoulders.
Relax the jaw,
Let the shoulders drop,
And we'll inhale together.
And let out a AHH.
H-A-H.
Once more.
Huge breath in,
Make a sound,
Make a sound.
Challenge yourself to use your voice.
Reaching the arms up.
Final stretch.
Rolling wrists and ankles.
And giving yourself so much acknowledgement and love.
Namaste.
