Hey everyone,
It's Nina.
Today,
I'm just gonna go over a few poses that you can do to help calm the mind.
These are things that you can do at any time during the day.
I highly recommend right before bed,
Especially if you have trouble sleeping.
So with this class,
We're gonna focus on not just the stretches,
But also our breath.
Our breath is incredibly important for calming the body and calming the mind.
So when we use our breath in a way that calms the body,
Then that's what helps to calm the mind at the same time so they kind of really work hand in hand together so i'm going to teach you a special breathing technique something that i tend to use when i feel like i'm under a lot of stress or my mind goes a little bit crazy this is also the type of breath that i use as i go throughout my entire yoga practice so this is called more diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing so the way this works is when we inhale we push the belly out and we push more of the air into the lower belly.
On the exhale,
We almost contract the abs and pull them in.
So it seems a little bit backward,
But this is actually more the proper way to breathe and to utilize our breath,
Breathing into that lower belly versus breathing into our shoulders.
So we're actually more efficient using our breath,
Breathing in this way.
And just the science behind this,
Because it's really helpful to understand how our bodies work,
We have something called this vagus nerve that kind of starts all the way from the back of the neck and goes all the way down through the front of the chest and down to the belly.
And this vagus nerve.
.
.
Is what activates our parasympathetic nervous system.
And when we breathe into the belly,
It presses against that vagus nerve.
And when we do that,
It activates that parasympathetic nervous system,
Which actually helps to slow the heart rate down,
Slow the breath down,
And takes us out of that fight or flight mindset or feeling within our body.
So it's really important to put that attention into that lower belly.
When we're inhaling and then contracting and pulling the belly in on the exhale.
So let's try a few rounds of this.
Just inhaling in,
Pushing the belly out.
You might want to put your hand on your belly if this is a little bit foreign to you.
And exhale pulling it in.
Inhale,
Push out.
And exhale,
Bring it in.
Just two more times.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale,
Push the belly out.
And exhale,
Bring it in.
All right,
So it may take some time for you to implement this.
Sometimes it takes days or weeks or months,
Just depending on how much you're putting your attention on,
Because if we're breathing in more of our chest area,
It's going to take some time to retrain our brain and our body to breathe in this different way.
But it is definitely a more efficient way to breathe.
It helps us stay calmer,
And it's just overall much,
Much better for our health,
And we get deeper breaths this way as well.
So focus on this breath.
Into the belly if you don't get it right away that's totally fine like i said as long as you're putting your attention on that eventually you'll get it and it'll be something that you can do without thinking so the first posture that we're going to get into is lizard pose.
So come onto your hands and your knees.
And then from here,
Just step the right foot forward.
In between your hands,
Tuck your back toes under and just shift your knee back a little bit more.
So from here,
You're gonna walk your foot out to the outer edge of your mat,
Bring your hands to the inside.
So if this is as far as you can go,
You can hang out here.
If you'd like,
You can roll into the outer edge of your right foot.
And you can also come down onto your forearms.
So wherever you're at,
We're going to spend about 30 seconds here.
Again,
Focusing on the breath and whatever posture that you're in.
So inhaling through the belly and exhaling,
Pulling that belly in.
Just relax as much as you can here.
Relax your head and your neck.
And then from here,
We're going to start to walk the right foot over to the left hand.
We're coming into pigeon pose.
So depending on how open or closed your hips are,
You might want to pull the heel in.
If you have a block or a pillow,
You can place that underneath the right hip.
So find your variation and what feels right for you,
Pulling that left hip forward and the right hip back.
So you want both of your hip points to be facing forward.
And we'll spend about 30 seconds here.
So sit up as straight as you can here and then begin to fold forward,
Relaxing your head and your neck.
And coming back to that belly breathing.
And so they start to come out.
And we'll just switch sides.
So bring that right leg behind you.
Actually just roll that hip.
In circles forward and back a few times.
And then set that left foot forward and bring it to the outer edge of your mat.
And tuck your toes under,
Scooch that right knee back a little bit more so you feel that deeper stretch in the hip flexor.
And take your variation here,
Maybe rolling onto the outer edge of your left foot.
Maybe coming down onto your elbows.
So find your variation where you feel like your hip is really starting to open up.
We'll be here for 30 seconds.
Remembering to push the belly out on the inhale.
And bring in on the x-half.
Send that air to that lower belly.
And exhale,
Bring it in.
And slowly start to come out of this lizard pose,
Making your way into pigeon.
So bring that left hand over to the right side of the mat.
Maybe you need to bring the heel in a little bit closer.
Maybe you're a little bit more open on the side.
Or you grab a block or a towel to place underneath that left hip.
Pull that right hip forward and the left hip back.
And just sit up as straight as you can here.
And then start to fold forward.
We'll be here for 30 seconds.
Coming back to your breath.
Being aware of that belly breathing.
And slowly start to come out.
Make your way back into that tabletop position.
Roll that hip around a few times in each direction.
And then come onto your backs.
Our last posture is happy baby.
So come onto your back,
Bend your knees.
You can reach for the outer edges of your feet or the insides of your feet,
Whichever feels more comfortable for you.
And just lay your head on the ground.
Really think about pulling the knees into the armpits as close as you can.
And if you feel like your hips are lifting up off the ground,
Just start to push the tailbone down into the ground.
Try to get that back nice and flat.
So it'll really help to open up the hips here.
And you can just rock from side to side.
Maybe straighten one leg or the other leg.
Taking any variations that feel good in your body.
And then hug your knees into your chest.
A couple options here.
If you'd like to lay on your back in Shavasana,
You can do that.
If you'd like to sit up for this,
We're just going to end with a little bit of breath work.
This is something that I recommend you do if you're lying in bed.
Or you're having issues falling asleep.
So this is just a breath work pattern to help you get more present within the body and to focus more on that belly breathing and on just calming the entire system down.
Find your position wherever you would like to be.
And just close your eyes and begin to relax the entire body.
First,
We're just going to get really present within the body.
Start to shift your attention to the inside of your body.
It's almost like.
.
.
You're in your body and you're observing the insides of your arms and your legs and your torso.
And just get really present in that space.
So often we're putting our attention on things outside of us.
So now we're going to put the attention inward.
The next step is focusing on that belly breathing.
So just really inhaling,
Feeling the belly rise.
And exhaling,
Feeling it fall.
And the final step here is to do a five count inhale and a five count exhale.
Especially if anyone's just lying in bed,
This is something that's really great to help you drift off into sleep.
By regulating the breath.
So let's just do a couple rounds together.
So inhale,
Filling that belly for a count of five.
Two One,
And exhaling for five.
Four.
Three two one inhale to the belly for five one,
And exhale for five.
Three,
Two.
One.
Inhale for five.
One Exhale,
Bring the belly in for five.
One one more time inhale into that lower belly for five One,
And exhale,
Bring it in for five.
Four Two.
One.
And come back to a normal breath,
Whatever that means for you.
Thank you guys so much for joining me today.
Hope you feel a little bit more relaxed.
And are able to use these tools throughout your day to help calm the mind,
Calm the body down,
Because we tend to be in a really constant fight or flight state.
And these are just some tools that you can use throughout the day.
They take literally 30 seconds,
A couple minutes,
And they can transform your entire day and just make life a little bit more easier.
I will see you guys on the mat in the next video.
Bye guys.
