Welcome to this short practice of standing yoga.
This mindful yoga session is designed to help you to bring focus to your body,
Sensations in your body,
The feelings that might arise when moving your body,
And it's aiming to help you to inhabit your body fully,
Despite the feelings of resistance,
Pain,
Or perhaps just resistance in the muscles themselves.
The practice of yoga comes from the word yoke,
Meaning to yoke mind and body,
To connect mind and body.
So this is very much a practice of not just the body,
But also the mind connecting to the body.
So starting by taking your position in standing on your yoga mat and ensuring that your feet are hip width apart and that your feet are planted firmly on the floor and that your body is in a position that is supporting this intention of connecting mind to body.
So adopting a pose that feels for you alert,
Awake,
As well as connected to the ground.
So just taking the next few moments to find that posture.
Noticing where the chest is,
Where the head is,
Where the shoulders are,
And also noticing where your knees are.
And perhaps if they are feeling like they are pushed back completely,
Perhaps just seeing what it feels like to soften your knees a little bit.
So it's not a bend,
But it's just a softening of the knees.
And then gently turning the palms so that they're facing forwards,
The palms of your hands,
And holding this mountain pose for five breaths.
Noticing perhaps where you're feeling the breath the most.
Perhaps it's the nose,
Perhaps it's the mouth,
Perhaps it's the chest,
And then seeing if it's possible to watch the breath as it's coming into your body,
And see if it's possible to follow the breath down to the ground through your body,
And then watching the breath as it leaves your body again.
See if you can connect with this feeling of being supported by the ground,
Being supported by the earth,
And fully engaging your mind and your attention to the feeling of your feet planted on the ground.
And then moving into our first yoga movement,
Which is the arm movement.
Taking the arms all the way up from the sides of the body up towards the ceiling,
Stretching your hands up so that your palms are coming together at the top of your head to touch,
And then returning them back down to the mountain pose position.
Now seeing if you can coordinate your breathing with this movement.
So perhaps breathing in as you're lifting your arms up.
Notice the brief pause and then breathing out and bringing the arms back down to the sides.
And again,
Repeating,
Breathing in,
Palms touching and pausing,
Breathing out,
Allowing the arms to return back to the sides.
Bringing the arms up again,
Breathing in,
Breathing out and bringing the arms back down to the sides.
Taking a few moments to sense into the body,
Feeling into the residue of this arm movement.
Were you noticing the residue or the remnants of this movement?
If at all.
And perhaps you're not noticing anything right now.
Spending a little bit of time in between postures to focus on your breathing and escort your attention towards your breathing is a helpful way to keep reconnecting the mind to the body.
The breath is often a very easy and natural point of contact.
Resting your awareness to the breath,
Anchoring your attention towards your body.
And perhaps before we move to the next pose,
Taking a little bit of a deeper breath than usual,
Really filling up your lungs with the air around you.
So breathing in through the nose,
Noticing how the whole chest and spinal area expands and then breathing out through the mouth,
Allowing the air to come out of the body without you really having to do very much.
Then moving to the tree pose.
So the tree pose is where you rest your one foot against your standing leg.
So if we all begin by bringing our weight over to our left side,
So really putting our weight on that left foot,
Leaning onto that left side,
And then seeing if it's possible to start to lift your right leg or your right foot off the floor.
And if this is not available to you right now,
Just perhaps taking a moment and putting this recording on pause to go and fetch something that you can rest your hand on for balance,
Or perhaps make your way over to a wall so that you can hold onto the wall for support.
So bringing your foot,
Your right foot,
Onto the inside of your left calf.
So the sole of your right foot is resting on the inside of your left calf.
And again,
Like with all the practices,
If this isn't available to you,
See how you can make it available.
Perhaps rest your foot further down towards your ankle,
Or perhaps just keep your toes of your right foot resting on the floor.
You might want to explore this posture further,
In which case bring your right foot much higher up your left leg,
Resting your right foot in the top part of your inner thigh.
And then once you've found your balance,
See if it's possible to bring your palms together at the front of your chest,
Holding the tree pose as you notice the minute little changes that are happening in your body in order to accommodate you.
Taking a moment to marvel at the wonders of our body's wisdom,
How it knows what to do in order to prevent you from falling over,
Noticing the movements at the feet,
The knees,
The legs,
Perhaps sensing into the feeling of the muscles in the buttocks activating in order to hold you and support you.
Maybe your breath is changing a little bit in the effort of holding this pose.
Remembering to keep your body in a feeling or a position or a posture of alertness,
So checking into the top part of your body as well,
Noticing what your chest is doing and what your shoulders are doing.
And sometimes the shoulders can tend to hunch over when we're doing something that requires a lot of effort.
So see if there's a little bit of space in the shoulders to let go of tension,
If that is what you are noticing right now.
Spending another two or three more breaths in this position.
And then on your last breath out,
As you're breathing out,
Gently returning your foot back to the floor and returning to the mountain pose and letting go of the tree pose on the left side.
Then bringing the weight over to the right side,
We're going to repeat the tree pose,
But this time on the right side.
So moving the body weight over to the right,
Gently lifting up the left foot off the ground,
Placing the left foot on the inside of the left calf,
Or perhaps the left knee,
Or perhaps the left thigh.
Remembering to use the support of a chair or a wall if you need to.
And then once you've found your balance,
Bringing the palms together.
Checking into the posture,
Seeing if you can lift the chest up and the back of the neck up towards the ceiling so that you are supporting your intention of being alert and engaged with your body.
Holding this pose for three breaths.
And whilst you're holding this pose,
Taking a moment to tune into anything that's moving through you right now.
What's your experience right now as you holding this pose?
Perhaps it's some thoughts about wanting it to finish,
Or perhaps it's a bit of an emotion that's coming up for you if this is perhaps quite tricky for you to do.
Or perhaps it's just some neutral feeling,
Neither pleasant nor unpleasant.
And perhaps you're feeling really engaged in your body.
Just taking this moment to acknowledge what your experience is right now.
And then on that next breath out,
Letting go of the pose,
And returning back to the standing pose,
The mountain pose.
Moving now to the triangle pose.
So widening your body,
So widening your feet so that they are about the width of a yoga mat.
Keeping the feet so that the toes are facing the front.
And then starting with the triangle,
Moving over to the left,
You are going to gently start sliding the left hand down the left side of the body,
Feeling into the stretch on the right side of the trunk,
Noticing the feeling of the left side starting to squash somewhat.
Taking care not to lean heavily with the hand on the leg.
This is more about what's happening in your body and your trunk and your spine.
So we're trying to do this with as much support as we possibly can.
So it's not a leaning down and resting your hand on your leg.
It's more of an active pose,
Working into the pose,
Stretching the right side of the body,
Using your core muscles to hold you in this position.
And then if you want to,
And if it's available to you,
In this position,
See if you can then lift your right arm up away from your body so that the fingers are pointing up towards the ceiling.
Holding this triangle and pressing it down.
For a few more breaths,
Breathing at your own pace and your own rhythm,
Sensing into how the breath and the body start working in coherence.
And perhaps even the breath might encourage your body to move a little bit deeper into the pose.
Or perhaps your breath is guiding you to back off somewhat,
Asking yourself,
What am I needing right now?
What's gonna best support me in my intention of remaining in my body,
Inhabiting my body?
What can I do right now to support this intention?
And then on the next breath out,
Letting go of this pose and returning your arms back to your sides.
And now doing the same movement,
But to the right.
Gently sliding your right hand down the right leg,
Feeling the stretch on the left leg,
Feeling the stretch on the left side of the trunk and the squashing feeling on the inside of your right side of your body.
And then if it's available to you,
Lifting the left arm up so that the fingers on the left are pointing towards the ceiling.
Holding this pose for a few breaths and always reminding yourself that there's always the option to work a little bit more into the position or the pose or to back off somewhat.
And then on your last out breath,
Letting go of the pose and returning the hands back to your sides.
We're now going to move into the wide angle forward bend.
So keeping the feet in this position that you had for the triangle,
We're now going to bend our bodies forwards.
And as we bending our bodies forwards from the hips,
We're going to take the right hand and guide our right hand to our left ankle.
So you're twisting.
Now your right hand might not quite get to your left ankle and that's absolutely fine.
So see where it feels most natural for you to bring your hand.
You might only get to your left knee or maybe even just your left hip.
Wherever it is,
The idea is that you're moving into a twist position.
So twisting to the left by bringing the right hand over to the left side in this forward bend pose.
And then the left hand is going to now open up so that the left fingers are pointing to the ceiling.
Quite an intense position.
So just taking a moment to check into any feelings or emotions that might be coming up for you right now as we move into quite a vulnerable position for some people,
Especially those with back problems or back issues.
So sensing into your experience as you explore the movement,
Remembering that this is not a should or shouldn't exercise,
Not about what you should be doing.
This is about exploring this movement in a way that feels safe,
In a way that feels potentially helpful.
Holding it for a little bit longer.
And then on the next breath out,
Letting go of this pose and swapping sides.
So just bringing your body over to the other side,
But staying in this bent position.
So bringing the left hand now over to the right side and opening up the right arm so that the right hand is pointing up to the ceiling.
So we're now twisting to the right.
Checking into where your hand feels,
Your left hand feels the most supportive for you right now.
And perhaps maybe taking this opportunity to work further into the movement,
Maybe stretching the left hand further down your right leg and seeing what it feels like to open up the right side as well a little bit more.
Really working into that twisting position.
And then on the next breath out,
Letting go of this pose,
Returning your body back so that your hands are just floating above the ground in the middle position,
But you're still in the bent position so your back is still bending forwards,
But you're just allowing the arms to relax in front of you.
Feeling into that stretch in your lower back as you hang your body in flexion.
And then maybe taking a little bit of a deeper breath than normal and then on the breath out,
Slowly rolling up your body,
Curling your spine back up so that you go back into the standing position.
Keeping your feet wide apart,
We're going to move into the warrior pose.
So turning the right foot so that it's facing outwards,
Lifting the arms up to the horizontal position,
And then leaning into a lunge on the right.
So your right knee is bending,
You're keeping your left leg straight,
And your right hand is guiding your movement.
So it's almost like you're pointing to where you're wanting to go with your right hand.
So looking at your right hand whilst you are leaning on the right leg with your knee in the bent position.
Feeling into the groin area as it's stretching open and widening the hips,
Feeling the strength and the power of this pose,
Especially as we take a dignified posture of lifting the chest and feeling firm in the neck and the shoulders.
And then on the next breath out,
Letting go of this pose and coming back to the standing position with both feet facing the front,
And then turning the left foot out so that the left foot is facing outwards,
Lifting the arms up to the horizontal position,
And then leaning into the left side.
So we're going into the warrior pose on the left,
Remembering to keep the arms up at the horizontal position,
And remembering to really weight bear down on your left leg,
Bending that left knee,
Feeling that left foot planted firmly on the floor,
And opening up the hip area and the groin area.
Exploring how deep you want to go into this warrior.
And then on the next breath out,
Letting go of the warrior pose and returning to the mountain pose.
And then on the next breath out,
We're going to move into the mountain pose.
And so for our last yoga pose of the practice,
We're going to move into a half squat or a seated squat.
So bringing the arms forwards in front of you,
And then moving our hips so that we're sitting on an imaginary chair behind us.
Seeing how far you can explore this movement.
Noticing where your weight is,
Perhaps you're leaning more on the left or on the right,
Maybe you're feeling really centered.
So just taking a moment to sense into your weight distribution,
What it feels like in your thighs to go into a squat,
And maybe even exploring how deep you want to go into the squat.
You can go all the way down if you like,
Or you can just do a tiny little bend of the hips and the knees.
Noticing what it feels like to hold the arms up against gravity for an extended amount of time.
Noticing what's happening in the shoulders and the neck as we hold this pose.
And then perhaps just taking a bit of a deeper breath than normal to end this yoga practice.
So deep breath in,
And then on this last breath out,
Returning back to the mountain pose.
And just taking the next few moments to settle not just your body,
But perhaps also your mind,
Preparing for whatever you're about to do next.
And this ends the yoga practice of standing.
