45 Minute MBSR Standing Yoga

So,

Let's begin the standing mindful movement practice.

So,

Perhaps having a yoga mat as some of the positions will be done seated or lying down.

And just bring some intention to be fully aware and fully present inside the body as we go through this practice.

And like the lying movement practice,

Also really paying attention closely to the limits of the body.

Feeling the limits,

Making sure not to exceed more than 60% effort.

Noticing that the limits may change as we go through the practice and we do the practice more often.

So,

Just being aware of the body and knowing that today might be different from yesterday.

That we're always changing,

Never permanent or the same.

So just allowing ourselves to be today the way that we are without trying to be any different.

And just tuning into the body anytime we feel strong sensations or maybe some burning or stretching or tingling or numb feeling.

Whatever it is,

Just allowing the mind to dwell there.

Knowing that this practice,

Although is a physical practice,

The main aim of the practice is a mindful connection between the body and the mind.

So,

As we begin the practice,

Just standing here in the mountain pose.

Having the feet directly below the hips.

Standing up straight,

The shoulders back,

But without engaging the back muscles too strongly.

Allowing the palms to be facing toward the body or even in front of you.

And as we go through this practice,

You may find it's helpful to alternate between open eyes and closed eyes.

So just doing what's right for you.

So just feeling the body breathing as we stand here.

Connecting through the floor,

Feeling the feet connecting to the ground.

And just feeling through the body.

You may notice differences between the left side and the right side.

Whatever is your breathing most apparent as you stand here.

And then on your next in breath,

Just slowly bringing the arms out to the sides.

And continuing the in breath,

Bringing the arms up overhead.

And then just breathing normally when the arms are up,

Just feeling this stretch.

You may look up towards the hands if you like,

And keep the head straight.

Just feeling that stretch,

Just trying your best to take your hands and get them as far away from the body as possible,

Reaching up toward the ceiling as best you can.

Continuing to breathe here.

And then on the exhale,

Allowing the arms to slowly come back to the sides.

Being mindful all the way down,

Feeling every change in the body until the muscles can just let go and the arms are hanging by their own weight on the sides.

Just feeling that relaxation that comes over the body as the muscles let go.

And then on the next in breath,

Bringing the arms out towards the sides again,

But this time leaving them parallel to the floor.

Just letting the arms stay out,

Even with the shoulders.

And then just flexing the wrists,

Flexing the hands at the wrists,

Bringing the fingers pointing toward the ceiling and then toward the floor.

And just alternating.

You may wish to make some circles with the hands here and go backwards perhaps to begin.

And then changing,

Going forwards with the circles.

And coming to stillness,

The fingers pointed outwards,

Arms still straight out.

And then on the exhale,

Allowing the arms to come back down.

Again,

Feeling that wave of release as the arms just hang by their own weight now.

Taking a few breaths here.

And then on the next inhale,

Bring the right arm up overhead,

Reaching the right arm up as high as you can,

Just stretching out and looking up towards that hand if that's comfortable to you.

Feeling that stretch coming on the right side of the body,

All the way through.

And allowing the right arm to come back down slowly,

Letting go as the arm comes back to the side.

And then on the next in breath,

Taking the left arm and reaching it overhead.

Feeling that stretch in the left side,

The engagement in the shoulder,

And then releasing the left arm back toward the side.

And again,

Feeling that relief,

Taking a few breaths here just in mountain posture.

And then raising both hands up overhead again.

And then from the waist,

Bending over to the left side.

So with both hands up,

Changing the angle,

So we're leaning over at the waist,

You should feel a stretch in the right side,

Making sure to keep the abdominal muscles engaged here to protect the lower back.

Just breathing into this position,

Going as deep as you like.

Just making sure to stay within your own limits.

On the next in breath coming up.

Using an out breath here,

Keeping the hands up overhead.

Take another breath.

And then on your next inhale,

Leaning over to the right.

Both hands pointing toward the right.

Feeling that stretch happening in the left side this time.

And then on the next inhale,

Coming back up with both arms overhead.

And then on the exhale,

Releasing the arms back down.

And just staying in mountain posture for a few breaths.

And with the arms hanging down,

We'll just do some gentle forward shoulder rolls.

So bringing the shoulders up toward the ears,

And then forward,

Down,

Back,

And up to the ears.

Forward,

Down,

Back.

So just doing some forward shoulder rolls at your own pace.

Synchronizing your breathing in any way that works for you.

So making sure to bring enough intensity to this motion.

Just tightening the shoulders nicely as we bring them up.

And then reversing the motion.

Bringing the shoulders up towards the ears,

And then back,

Down,

Forward,

Up,

Back,

Down.

And just repeating these shoulder rolls at your own pace.

And then coming to stillness.

And now we can allow some neck rolls.

So rolling the neck clockwise,

Perhaps.

Bringing the chin down towards the chest.

Then to the right,

Back,

To the left,

Then forward,

The chin touching the chest.

So continuing this head roll.

And tuning the awareness into the neck.

Just feeling each location.

Just seeing what's happening to the muscles as the head moves around.

Then going in the reverse direction.

So that would be chin to chest.

Head to the left.

Head back.

Head to the right.

And then chin to chest.

And then coming down.

And then coming to rest.

And now we'll try balancing on one leg.

So shifting the weight to the right foot.

And perhaps bringing the left foot out,

Allowing the toes to touch the floor.

If you like,

You can bring your arms out to the side if that helps with the balance.

And bringing the left leg off the floor if you can.

And then just experimenting with this balance.

Seeing how high you can bring the left leg off the floor,

All while maintaining that comfort being within that 60%.

Just noticing what's happening in the body here.

Feeling all of those little micro movements in the right leg.

And if the left foot ever touches the floor,

What happens inside of you?

Do you notice any judgment or any thoughts?

So just being fully aware,

Completely present,

And fully in this experience.

Then on the next out breath,

Just letting the toe touch the mat again.

Bringing the arms to come back down,

Returning to our mountain posture.

Noticing what's different here.

Perhaps a slightly elevated heart rate.

Feelings in the shoulders and the legs.

Then switching,

Allowing the weight to come onto the left leg.

Bringing the right foot out,

Allowing the toe to gently touch the mat.

Bringing the arms out for balance if you like.

And then bringing that right foot up off of the floor.

Noticing again with how high you can bring the right foot off the floor.

Feeling the engagement of that outer hip area.

Just noticing what that feels like.

Then returning that foot to the floor.

Bringing the arms back down.

Returning to our mountain posture.

Just taking a few breaths here.

And next,

With the feet planted on the floor,

Just bringing the hands up to the hips.

Bringing the hands on the hips,

Then turning the head to the right.

Looking over the right shoulder.

Keeping the torso relatively square as we begin this motion.

Just seeing how far the neck can twist.

Using the upper torso to get a little bit involved.

Letting the shoulders follow the head just a little bit.

Just keeping the hips straight.

Just doing our best not to move the hips,

Keeping the hips facing the front.

And releasing,

Letting the shoulders come back first,

And the head come back to neutral.

Then switching to the left side.

Looking over the left shoulder.

Allowing the shoulders to follow a bit,

If you like.

Just really feeling that twist.

And then on the next exhale,

Returning.

Allowing the shoulders to come back.

And the head to come back.

And then once again,

Looking over the right shoulder.

So bringing the head,

But this time unlocking the shoulders,

The hips,

Unlocking the whole body.

Just allowing yourself to twist as much as you possibly can to the right without picking up your feet.

Just leaving your feet where they are.

Just twisting.

Seeing perhaps if each out breath can allow you to soften and deepen that twist.

And then on the next inhale,

Coming back.

And the reverse order that we twisted there.

So the hips coming back,

Shoulders coming back,

And then the head.

And then looking over the left shoulder.

Unlocking the shoulders.

Unlocking the hips and the legs.

Just allowing that full twist.

With each inhale,

We can elongate the spine.

And each exhale,

Twist even deeper.

And then on the next inhale,

Coming back.

And feeling the effects of those twists on the body.

Taking a few breaths here.

And then unlocking the knees slightly so there's a little bit of movement and just bending forward to touch the toes with the intention to touch the toes,

But we may not necessarily make it there.

So allowing the hands to come to the knees or the shins or even all the way down to the toes.

Allowing the head to hang down.

Maybe you're looking between your knees.

You might have your eyes closed.

Just feeling what it's like to be here.

Hanging like this.

Some experiment with straightening the knees.

So bending the knees more and bending a little bit farther forward.

And then next,

Placing the right hand on the right knee or the right shin or the right foot.

And flattening out the back.

The back is straight.

You're parallel.

Your spinal cord is parallel to the floor here.

And reaching the left arm out.

So the left arm is also parallel with the floor.

Just allowing the head to be looking down if that's comfortable for you.

Keeping the neck straight along the same line as the spinal column.

And then on the next out breath,

Returning that hand down and going back into that bend.

Just relaxing here.

So that our bodies hang down.

And pressing the left hand against the knee or the shin or the foot.

Hanging out the back once again.

And this time bringing the right hand out parallel to the floor.

And just letting the hand be here and breathing.

And on the next exhale,

Just letting that hand go back down.

Hanging once again.

And then on the next inhale,

Just coming up slowly one vertebra at a time.

Starting with the lower back.

And stacking the vertebra up.

Keeping the head hung.

Allowing the head to come a blast as we return into our mountain posture here.

And really feeling into the body now.

Feeling what might be different in the lower back and the legs.

Just noticing whatever's happening for you.

And next we'll do a chair posture.

So bringing your feet together.

Perhaps the big toes.

Having a slight space in between the heels.

And bringing the hands out.

The arms straight.

Arms parallel to the floor.

Palms down towards the floor.

And just bending the knees.

So perhaps having the knees together.

Just bending the knees as deeply as you like.

So sitting down in this chair pose.

If you look down,

You might be able to see your toes.

Just trying to let the shoulders be relaxed even though the hands are out.

Engaging the abdominal muscles a little bit might be helpful in this posture.

Just observing inside the body what's happening.

And then straightening the legs slowly.

Allowing the arms to come back down to the sides.

Getting the feet return to underneath the hips.

And resting once again.

And next we'll do the tree pose.

So beginning by bringing the weight to the right foot.

And experimenting with taking the foot off of the floor.

And seeing what's comfortable for you.

You can begin at the ankle.

So placing the foot on the ankle.

You may still even have the toes on the floor if it's comfortable.

Or maybe you can bring that foot up and touch the knee.

Or perhaps it's possible to get your foot up even farther and have the heel touching the perineum.

So just knowing what's okay for you today.

Just doing that.

Your hands could be on your hips.

Or perhaps you could bring them out to the sides for balance.

Or you can even bring them overhead.

Perhaps the palms could touch.

Or you could twist your hands so the palms are touching.

The hand's inverted so you can look at the diagram.

If you haven't done this before to see what the hands can do in this posture.

So just feeling into the body.

Feeling all of these micro movements that are happening.

Especially in the right leg and the right foot.

And as we exhale,

Letting go with the hands first.

Bringing the arms back down if they were out.

Hands on the hips.

And then release that left leg.

Allow the left foot to touch the floor.

And feel that release in the right side.

You may want to bring your right foot off the floor a little bit and move it around.

And coming back to resting for a moment before we do the other side.

So again bringing the balance this time to the left foot.

Pressing the left foot down and rooting into the ground.

And the right foot can come up placing it against the ankle or the knee.

Or bringing the right heel up into the perineum.

The hands on the hips.

And then perhaps bringing the hands out to the sides.

Experimenting with bringing them overhead.

Straight arms perhaps.

Reversing the hands.

Interlacing the fingers if you did it on the other side.

And just feeling the difference between the two sides.

May have more strength in the left foot than the right.

Seeing what thoughts may be around with these sensations.

With this knowledge.

And then the next exhale.

Starting to go over the arms,

Slowly bringing the arms back down.

Placing the hands on the hips.

Releasing that right foot.

Back down.

Touching the toe and then the foot.

Using the weight and feeling that release out of the right foot or out of the left foot this time.

And moving the left foot in any way you may need to to help release.

Just taking a few breaths here.

As we come to sitting.

Sitting down on your mat.

Placing the soles of the feet together.

With knees bent.

So doing this kind of butterfly position.

And so on the inhale sitting up straight.

And on the exhale with the spine relatively straight.

Folding forward.

Just a little bit.

Just feeling what that feels like.

The heels can be close to the groin.

Can move the knees up and down if that's comfortable.

If that helps.

And then just feeling where this stretch engages the body.

So feeling in the hips.

Maybe a bit in the groin area.

And feel some lower back stretch as well.

And then on the next inhale coming back up.

If you were bent over at all.

And then extending the right leg out.

So the right leg straight out along the mat.

And the left foot perhaps touching the knee.

Or if you like the left heel in the perineum.

And flexing that right foot.

And as you breathe in.

Bringing the hands up overhead.

Feeling a straight spine.

And as you breathe out slowly folding over.

Placing our hands on our right knee.

Or our right shin.

Or our right toes.

So keeping the head up here for a few moments.

You may look towards your right big toe if you like.

And then on the next exhale.

Just allowing the head to drop down.

Allowing a little bit more curvature in the spine.

Feeling as that stretch comes into the lower back.

You'll feel the stretch as it crosses through the body.

You'll feel the stretch a little bit more in the left side.

Of the lower back.

And then on the next inhale coming up.

Flexing the hands and switching.

So extending that left leg out.

Shifting on the buttocks perhaps.

And bringing the right leg in.

Touching either the knee or putting the right heel in the perineum.

And stretching up on the in breath.

The arms overhead,

The spine straight.

And as we exhale folding towards our left foot.

Bringing the hands to the left knee.

The left shin.

Or perhaps even the left toes.

Keeping the back straight for now.

The head up.

And then on the next exhale,

Folding towards.

Allowing the head to drop down.

The spine to curve.

Feeling the stretch in the lower back as well as the leg.

And then on your next inhale,

Returning up.

And then lying down on your mat.

So finding that resting posture.

Just making each movement,

Each transition into this resting posture very mindfully.

As we allow our bodies to come down and rest completely on the mat.

And noticing what it's like to lie here.

Feeling the consequences of those actions that we've just completed.

Just lying here breathing.

Having full awareness of the body.

And as we draw this practice to its natural close.

Making sure to give yourself some credit.

Bringing some gratitude to yourself for having done this practice.

Nourishing yourself in this way today.

And perhaps bring some intention to go about the rest of your day mindfully.