Gentle yoga flow,
Guided practice.
Come to a comfortable standing position at the top of your mat or space.
Feet hip-width apart.
Arms by your sides.
Close your eyes if you feel balanced,
Or keep them softly open.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
And out through your mouth.
With a sigh.
Good.
Let's begin.
This is Mountain Pose,
A moment to ground and set your intention.
Stand tall.
Feel your feet rooted into the earth.
Press down through all four corners of each foot.
Big toe mound,
Little toe mound,
Inner heel,
Outer heel.
Let your legs be strong and steady.
Draw your belly in gently.
Lengthening your spine.
Shoulders roll back and down.
Crown of your head lifts toward the sky.
Bring your hands to prayer position at your heart center,
Palms pressed together.
Close your eyes.
Take three deep breaths here.
Breathe in strength.
Breathe out tension.
Breathe in presence.
Breathe out distraction.
Breathe in gratitude for your body.
Breathe out judgment.
Set an intention.
I am here to release what no longer serves me.
Remain standing,
Feet hip-width apart.
On your next exhale.
Hinge at your hips and fold forward,
Letting your upper body hang heavy.
This is Forward Fold.
Let your head hang completely.
Nod your head yes.
Shake your head no.
Release your neck.
You can bend your knees as much as you need to.
This isn't about touching your toes.
This is about releasing your spine,
Your shoulders,
Your neck.
Grab opposite elbows with your hands and let your upper body sway gently side to side.
Feel gravity doing the work.
You don't have to pull or force.
Just hang and breathe.
With each exhale.
Imagine tension draining from your shoulders.
Down your arms,
Out through your fingertips.
Release your arms.
Let them hang heavy toward the floor.
To come up.
Bend your knees deeply.
Bring your hands to your thighs.
And slowly roll up to standing,
One vertebra at a time.
Your head comes up last.
Come down to your hands and knees.
Hands directly under your shoulders.
Knees directly under your hips.
This is called tabletop position.
Spread your fingers wide.
Press firmly into your palms.
We're going to move between two poses,
Cat and cow.
This brings fluidity to your spine and releases tension in your back.
Inhale into cow pose.
Drop your belly toward the floor.
Lift your chest and gaze forward.
Arch your back gently.
Feel the stretch across your front body.
Exhale into cat pose.
Round your spine toward the ceiling.
Tuck your chin to your chest.
Draw your belly button toward your spine.
Feel the stretch across your back body.
Good.
Let's flow together.
I'll guide your breath.
Inhale.
.
.
Cow,
Belly drops,
Chest lifts,
Gaze forward.
Exhale,
Cat.
Spine rounds.
Chin tucks.
Belly draws in.
Inhale,
Cow,
Open and expand.
Exhale.
Cat Round and release.
Continue on your own for a few more rounds.
Let your breath lead the movement.
Find your own rhythm.
One more of each.
Inhale.
Cow.
Exhale,
Cat.
Beautiful.
Come back to neutral tabletop.
From Tabletop,
Bring your big toes together.
Widen your knees apart as much as feels comfortable.
Sit your hips back.
Toward your heels and lower your forehead to the floor.
Extend your arms forward,
Palms down.
This is Child's Pose.
If your forehead doesn't reach the floor,
Rest it on your stacked fists or a pillow.
If your hips don't reach your heels,
Place a folded blanket between them.
Honor your body.
This is a resting pose.
A surrendering pose.
Feel your belly pressing against your thighs.
With each inhale.
Feel your back body expanding.
Let your shoulders soften away from your ears.
Let your jaw release.
Breathe slowly here.
With each exhale,
Allow your body to melt a little deeper into the earth.
There is nothing to do here.
Nothing to achieve.
Just rest.
When you're ready.
Walk your hands back toward your body and slowly rise to sitting.
Lie down on your back.
Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor.
Hip width apart.
Heels close to your sitting bones.
Arms rest by your sides,
Palms down.
This is bridge pose,
A gentle heart opener that releases tension in your chest and strengthens your back.
On your next inhale.
Press into your feet and lift your hips toward the ceiling.
Keep your knees hip-width apart.
Don't let them splay out to the sides.
Lift only as high as feels comfortable.
Your thighs should be roughly parallel to the floor.
You can interlace your fingers underneath you and press your arms into the floor.
Or keep your arms by your sides.
Breathe deeply here.
Feel your chest opening.
Feel your heart lifting.
With each inhale,
Imagine breathing space into your chest.
With each exhale,
Press a little more firmly into your feet.
Stay for three more breaths.
To release,
Slowly lower your spine to the floor.
One vertebra at a time.
From the top of your spine down to your tailbone.
Hug your knees into your chest and rock gently side to side.
If you have access to a wall,
Scoot your hips close to it and swing your legs up the wall,
Lying on your back.
This is the traditional legs-up-the-wall pose.
If you don't have a wall available,
Or if that position isn't comfortable,
Simply lie on your back.
And lift your legs up toward the ceiling.
Knees bent or straight,
Whatever feels easiest.
You can support your hips with your hands.
This pose reverses the blood flow in your body.
It calms your nervous system.
It's deeply restoring.
Let your arms rest by your sides.
Palms up in a receptive position.
Close your eyes.
Breathe slowly and deeply.
Feel your lower back.
Releasing into the floor.
Feel your legs becoming heavy,
Supported.
There's nothing to do here.
Just receive.
Just rest.
Stay as long as you like.
When you're ready to come out,
Bend your knees.
Roll gently to one side.
And pause there for a few breaths.
Come to lie flat on your back.
Let your legs extend long feet,
Falling open naturally.
Arms rest by your sides,
Palms facing up.
This is savasana,
Final resting pose.
Adjust anything that needs adjusting.
So you're completely comfortable.
Close your eyes.
Let your whole body become heavy.
Sinking into the earth.
Supported.
Held.
Release any effort.
Any holding.
Any doing.
Scan through your body one more time.
Notice what's different from when you began.
Maybe there's more space in your shoulders.
More ease in your neck.
More openness in your chest.
Your body has released what it needed to release.
Honor that.
Just breathe.
Just rest.
Stay here as long as you like.
There's no rush.
When you're ready to come out,
Begin to deepen your breath.
Wiggle your fingers and toes.
Stretch your arms overhead if you'd like.
Roll to your right side and pause there in a fetal position.
When you're ready,
Press yourself up to a comfortable seated position.
Take a moment.
Notice how you feel now.
Your body has just moved through tension and into release.
This is what it means to practice embodied self-care.
This sequence is yours to use anytime.
The entire flow takes about 15 minutes.
You can practice it.
First thing in the morning.
To wake up your body gently.
In the evening to release the stress of the day.
Anytime you notice your body.
Holding tension.
Or whenever you simply need.
To reconnect with yourself physically.
You can also do individual poses whenever you need them.
Child's pose for surrender.
Cat-cow for spinal release.
Legs up the wall for nervous system reset.
Movement is not optional for regulation.
Your body needs to release what it holds,
And now you have a practice that helps you do that.
In the next practice.
Will continue working with the body.
Learning neck and spine,
Stress relief.
Targeted movements for the places that hold the most modern tension.
When you're ready,
I'll meet you there.
For now.
Honor what your body just gave you.
You've done beautiful work.
I'll see you in the next practice.
