Mindful yoga for stress movement practice The following sequence is more or less what we practised in the workshop. You can do it all if you have time, or if you just have a few minutes do one or two poses or movements, whichever ones you find most helpful. Sitting You can make the following movements sitting on the floor or on a chair. Either way, it is helpful to raise your hips a little bit by putting a folded blanket or cushion under your sitting bones. This will help you to sit upright with better posture and less effort. If you are sitting on the floor, begin in any sitting position that is comfortable (kneeling, sitting cross legged, legs extended and softly bent). Find your posture: Bring your attention to whatever is in contact with the ground. Allow your seat to relax and feel the ground underneath you. You are supported. Bring one hand to your belly, and one to your heart. As you breathe in, lift the crown of your head and lengthen the back of your neck. As you breathe out, let your shoulders relax. Find some space between the back teeth. Scan your body and notice where you are holding tension right now, and see what might be able to let go. Breathe. Shoulder rolls releases tension in the neck and shoulders As you breathe in, draw your shoulders up towards your ears. Roll them back, and as you breathe out, allow them drop slowly down. Continue for a few rounds of breath. Arm breaths mobilises shoulders, connects you with your breath Allow your hands to rest by your side. As you breathe in, allow your arms to begin to rise away from your body and out to your sides. If it feels good you can stretch the arms all the way out and up in a big circle. As you breathe out, bring the palms together and down towards your heart. Allow the movement of your arms to connect you to your breath. Tabletop Begin in a tabletop position. Bring your hands to rest underneath your shoulders and your knees under your hip bones. We want the arms and thighs to be vertical. If this is uncomfortable for your wrists or arms, you can begin on your forearms, with your elbows resting under your shoulders. If this is not right for you today, the seated pelvic tilts described above are a good alternative. Cat/Cow stretches and strengthens the front and back body, strengthens shoulders On an out- breath, press into your hands (or forearms) and begin to round your spine let the tail- bone reach down, release the weight of the head and draw the lower belly in towards the spine. Breathe here and feel the back body. When you are ready, arch the back by tilting the pelvis and lifting the tail- bone, and sliding the shoulders back away from your ears. Keep the back of your neck long and open. You can move with your breath here try breathing out as you round your back, and in as you arch your back. Move through the whole length of each phase of the breath.
Child s pose stretches the hips and low back From all fours, bring the big toes together to touch and let the hips move back in the direction of the heels. If your belly meets your thighs quite quickly, you might want to experiment with bringing the knees wider to give yourself more space. When the hips are as far back as feels comfortable, let the head rest down. If the head doesn t make contact with the mat, use a brick, cushion or your hands to rest it on. Feel your contact with the ground, and feel your breath in the back of your body. You can rest here as long as feels good, and move on whenever you are ready. Gate circles & twist (stretches the inner leg, twists spine, opens upper back, strengthens shoulders, challenges core) From all fours, take one leg out to the side in line with your hip joint, sole of the foot on the ground if you can. Experiment with lifting the arm on the same side forwards, turning the palm in towards you. As you breathe in, you can begin to circle this arm forwards and up, then back and down as you breathe out. Take this movement slowly and see how your back responds. Allow the movement to take place in the whole body let your body stay fluid so your hips and spine can respond to the movement of your hand and arm.
When you feel ready, you can settle into a twist reaching the top hand towards the sky, palm facing out away from you. Breathe and feel the space between the shoulder blades, in the upper back, expanding. Take a few breaths here and then return to all fours to make this movement on the other side. Rolling up to stand releases tension in the back of the body Keep the feet hip width apart and parallel, softly bend the knees and let the upper body drape down towards the thighs. If this brings pain or discomfort into your low back, you can modify by resting the forearms on the thighs and keeping the spine longer rather than rounding it.
If it is comfortable to release the upper back all the way down, imagine the creases at the front of your hips deepening and your belly moving towards your thighs. You might want to take hold of the elbows, or hang your arms. See if you can keep some space for the sides of your neck, if your shoulders tend to shrug towards your ears here. Take a few moments to feel the subtle movements of your breath in your body, and release the spine. When you re ready to come up, spread your toes, keep your head heavy and begin to roll up. Take your time, see what you notice on the way up. As you arrive, you might like to circle your shoulders or take the hands up and over the head. If that felt good, you can work through this movement a couple of times rolling up and down in your own time before you are ready to begin your standing poses. Standing Mountain pose grounding, balancing Stand with your feet hip distance apart use the hip bones at the front of the body as a gauge. If it is uncomfortable to stand with the feet this distance apart, bring them a little wider. Try to keep the feet parallel. Shift your weight into your heels, lift the toes and spread them out. Get a sense of the ground beneath your feet and a sense of how the weight is spread between your feet can you bring yourself towards more balance by gently shifting the weight side to side and eventually settling into centre? Feel from your feet all the way up through the body towards the crown of your head. Let the crown lengthen up to the sky, lifting the base of the skull and settling the shoulders. Stand tall and breathe. Warrior 2 stance strengthens and stretches legs, strengthens shoulders From mountain pose, step one foot back and ground the back heel. You might experiment with a slightly longer stance than the first warrior stance, and turning your back foot out slightly more. Again, rest somewhere where both legs feel strong. Keeping your front knee facing forwards and over your ankle, bring your hands to your heart and begin to open the upper body in the direction of the back leg. Twist just as far as feels comfortable, and then lengthen up through the crown of the head and expand your arms out wide if that is comfortable. You can always keep your hands at your heart. Feel the space in the upper back nice and broad.
Warrior 2 with breath Begin in warrior 2. As you breathe in, bring your arms up and over your head, straightening your front leg. As you breathe out, return to warrior 2 by bending the knee and bringing the arms out wide. This is a good way to practise the alignment in your front leg can you keep the front knee over the toes each time you return to Warrior 2? If this doesn t feel good for the arms, you can practice moving the legs whilst keeping the hands at your heart. Tree pose challenges core stability, strengthens hip, ankle and foot From mountain pose with your hands at your heart, shift your weight into your left leg and spread the toes. Lengthen up through the crown of the head and bring the right foot to rest either heel on ankle and toes on the ground, or the sole of the foot on the inner calf or inner thigh. Turn your hipbones so that they face forward, and then turn the right knee out as far and feels possible whilst keeping the hips steady. When you are ready, push down into your standing foot and lengthen your arms all the way up, lengthening from both sides of the waist. You might prefer to keep the hands at the heart if your arms need a rest. Breathe here and notice how much effort and tension your body is putting into maintaining the balance. Soften anything that feels unnecessary, and allow a sense of fluidity into your
body. Trying to hold still and hold your breath makes it harder for the body to balance. If you have done some standing poses, it is a good idea to do a seated pose or two before you finish, to allow things to quiet down after the effort of standing poses. Lying down Psoas release releases tension in the front of the hip, can ease lower back pain Bend one knee so the foot is on the floor, and lengthen out the opposite leg. If it is comfortable, you can bring your bent knee into your chest and hold it here while the other leg is long and heavy. If that is not comfortable, stay resting with one foot on the floor. Pause here and breathe for a minute or two. There s no need to make any effort. You can experiment with making small circles with the knee here. Supine Twist (twists spine, stretches back body side body and hips) From CRP, bring your arms out by your side with the palms facing up and shift your hips to the right a little. Then let the knees drop in the opposite direction. You might want to bring the top knee in a little closer to the body (you can rest the left hand on it) or extend the leg so that it straight. You can explore with the position of your right arm to find the best stretch for the front of the right chest and shoulder. Settle in here and stay for a minute or so, staying with your breath and allowing yourself to keep releasing into the ground. Return to centre in your own time, and move onto the other side. Final relaxation Conscious relaxation is one of the most important elements of yoga. Giving ourselves a real opportunity to rest deeply is a great gift. I always include five minutes in savasana, and ten minutes if I have time, at the end of my practice. You might find that you prefer other poses to rest in a well- supported restorative pose; lying in your side; sitting. Find a position that allows you to settle as much as possible. Supported child s pose stretches low back and hips, soothes anxiety If your mind feels very busy, resting on your front can be helpful. Use a sofa cushion or two or three pillows to make a bolster. Kneel and bring the bolster in between your knees, and then lay yourself down over it. Rest your head to one side if that is OK for your neck, and let yourself settle in. It is important to have some contact between your belly and the surface you are resting on; if there is space there, just add enough folded blankets or cushions until it is filled. Let yourself rest here for 2-3 minutes, then turn your head and rest again for the same length of time. If this is a comfortable place to be you can always spend longer here.
Savasana Lie on your back with your arms comfortably away from your sides with the palms facing up. Let your legs be long and fall open a little. You might like to have something under your knees if there is any discomfort in your lower back.