Mindful Yoga Part II

Mindful Yoga part 2 We are going to start with standing postures The feet flat on the floor Aware of your feet Then we will stand in an erect,

Relaxed posture Your arms bungling alongside your body Aware of your breathing Aware of your feet touching the ground And aware of your body as a whole,

Just standing here We are going to move with attention from moment to moment In a non-judgmental mode we are going to explore our boundaries and our limits Not to beat the body into shape but to nurture it with special attention Aware of your breathing and just standing here Giving attention to whatever sensations you feel When you are ready,

On the in-breath we are going to raise the arms sideways,

Up Until they are reaching for the ceiling And just stretching your arms towards the ceiling with your feet flat on the floor And just feel the stretch in your arms and your chest And wherever you can feel the stretching Aware of the muscles that are stretching And aware of the muscles that can relax at this moment And when you are ready,

On the out-breath letting the arms go down sideways And bungling alongside your body And now just feeling Aware of any sensations in your arms or in your body And then when you are ready,

On the in-breath raising the arms again sideways and holding them parallel to the floor Your hands moved so your fingers point towards the ceiling And then stretching them sideways And again aware of the muscles that are stretching And aware of the muscles that can be relaxed And when you are ready,

On the out-breath letting the arms lower Alongside the body and just again feeling any sensations in your body Aware of breathing And aware of your body as a whole And now we are going to reach for the grapes as they call it So on the in-breath just raise the left arm All the way up so your fingers point towards the ceiling and then stretching out As if you are reaching for grapes that are a bit too high And if you want you can lift your right heel up And just stretching and feel the stretch in your body Aware of anything,

Any sensations in your body,

Aware of thoughts,

Emotions And aware of your mind sometimes wandering off And when you are ready you can lower your arm and put your feet flat on the floor And now just feeling,

And when you are ready on the in-breath raise your right arm towards the ceiling Fingers pointing towards the ceiling and stretching and you can lift your left heel up if you want to Just reaching for those grapes And on the out-breath let the arm come down,

Feet flat on the floor And just feeling And then on the in-breath raise both arms up again like we did before Both arms And then bend sideways to the right Aware of the stretching in your left side of the body Aware of the breathing,

Feeling more stretch when you breathe in And letting gravity do its work on every out-breath And then on the in-breath bend straight up and on the out-breath just bend the other way to the left side And feeling the stretch on your right side And then when you are ready on the in-breath get straight up and on the out-breath just letting the arms go down And bungling alongside your body And feeling sensations that are in your body right now,

In this moment Now we are going to roll the shoulders and you can see this in four stages The first stage is bringing your shoulders towards your ears up and tight as high as you can And turning them forward as far as you can towards each other,

Rolling them further down And then on the backside up again bringing them as close together as possible With your shoulder blades touching each other and then up again towards your ears And just let your shoulders roll these big circles And when you are ready changing directions And slowly come to a stand,

Just feeling how your shoulders are feeling right now And if your mind wanders just noticing where it went and just bring it down your attention back to the exercise,

To the movement So now we are going to roll our head And drop your head towards your chest,

Your chin towards the chest and then your head aside,

Your ear towards your shoulder Further rolling with your head tilted backwards And then with your head to the other shoulder,

Your ear towards the shoulder And so you can roll your head Slowly aware of all sensations during this movement And when you are ready roll the other way,

The other direction And then slowly come to a stop And again just feeling how your body is reacting to these exercises Now we are going to do a balance exercise So move your weight from two feet to one feet,

Your left foot And if all your weight is on your left foot,

Spread your arms sideways so they are parallel to the floor And then lifting your right foot Aware of all the work your left ankle is doing now,

And your foot And when you are ready bringing your right foot back to the ground Shifting the weight on both feet And then again moving the weight now to the right foot And lifting your left foot up And feeling the work your right foot and ankle are doing right now,

Your lower leg And when you are ready again letting the foot go back to the ground And shifting your weight to both feet And your arms can come down and you are just standing here right now Aware of how you are feeling And then put your hands on your hips,

Both sides And then turn your head from your hips,

Your upper body,

Turn it around to the right And look over your right shoulders,

As far back as possible And again feeling the stretch,

Not overdoing it Aware of your limits and your boundaries And then bring your nose back to the front and then turn to the left From the hips up Turning your upper body to the left,

Your head over your left shoulders And look as far back as you can And then again go back to the middle Now we are going to turn again but now from the ankles So only the feet stay still and then you go to the right,

Turn to the right From your ankles so your knees and hips and everything can turn And looking as far back as possible to the right side And then coming back to the middle And turning to the left side,

From your ankles up Your whole body can turn to the left side Put your head over your left shoulder and look as far back as possible And then back to the middle And just standing here,

Your arms bungling alongside your body And aware of your body as a whole And then we are going to raise the arms on the in-breath,

Up to the ceiling And on the out-breath,

Just bending forward slowly And seeing how far your body will go And just hanging here And if you want you can lift your right up,

So it will be parallel to the floor And then bringing it back down And raising your other hand,

Arm up,

Parallel to the floor And then let it come down again And then we are going to slowly cut back up,

From the pelvis upwards slowly So first your lower back Your higher back,

Your shoulders And eventually your neck and head will cut up And now we are going to do the chair exercise So you put your feet a bit away from each other,

On the sides And then bending your knees And just pretend you are going to sit on a chair And try to go as deep as possible,

As if you are really going to sit on a chair Arms pointing forward And just feeling how your body reacts to this pose And if you can go a bit deeper And when you are ready you can come up And just feeling how you are right now And I am going to do this once more Just sitting down again,

As far as you can Maybe you can go even deeper and keep breathing Aware of your breath right now And when you are ready you can come up again Your arms alongside your body And aware of how your body is feeling right now And if you passed any boundaries Just because you wanted to do this exercise better Or perfect So now please sit down,

We are going to do some sitting stretches And sit down with your foot soles towards each other And put your feet as close to your pelvis as possible Your hands on your feet And then moving your knees up and down slowly as you stretch And then when you are ready,

Just letting go of this pose And you can stretch your left foot out,

Straight forward And putting your right foot on your thigh As high up as possible towards your pelvis And on the in breath raising your arms up So there,

Alongside your head And on the out breath bending forwards with your forehead towards your knee And just seeing how far your body will go Maybe you find it easier to hold your leg,

That's okay And aware of your breathing and maybe aware of moving closer to your knee with every out breath And when you are ready,

Getting back up,

Your hands towards the ceiling Aware of the stretches you feel right now And on the out breath bending forward again towards your knee And on the in breath getting up again And on the out breath letting your arms down And now you can change your leg so your right leg will be straight forward And your left leg will be bent with your foot on your thigh as high up as possible And then on the in breath raising your arms again towards the ceiling Feeling the stretch and on the out breath Going forward with your forehead towards your knee And you can hold your leg if you want to And just feeling your breath And how it moves your boundaries and maybe aware of your thoughts and emotions during these exercises And on the in breath coming up again,

Feeling the stretches,

Sitting up And on the out breath bending down again towards your knee And on the in breath if you are ready coming back up And on the out breath letting your hands and arms come down And then just moving your legs,

Shaking them loose And then we are going to lie down in the corpse pose and if you want you can take a blanket or something else Because now we are going to cool down and it is important to keep your muscles a bit warm So you won't get any muscle ache And in the corpse pose with your legs straight,

Your feet falling apart from each other Your arms alongside your body and your palms up to the ceiling Shoulders down and just lying here Aware of the sensations in your body And just breathing And on the in breath you feel your body rise And on the out breath you feel your body sink a bit deeper into the mat And after all these exercises now is the time to relax,

Lay still And time to recharge Aware of your body as a whole Aware of the sensations inside your body And aware of breathing And maybe you will notice thoughts or other feelings,

Emotions And that is okay You can give them a short time of attention and then move your attention back towards your body towards the breathing And relaxation on every out breath Just breathing Just relaxing And when you hear the bell in a few moments Just taking your time to come back to the rest of your day Maybe wiggling your toes or fingers,

A bit stretching or whatever feels you comfortable And maybe you can bring a bit of the relaxation you had with this exercise into your day