Computer Stress Relief

(waves crashing) Namaste. Thank you for joining us. Today we have Nia assisting to demonstrate the poses. And I'll be offering a session that's really good for unwinding after work and releasing the tension that accumulates when you've been spending time at the computer. It's great for your back, it opens up your hips.

There's even a little self massage, as well. It's a longer practice, so it's a really nice deep experience between some moving, strengthening, and also releasing into the restorative postures. For the practice, what's interesting about this practice is you can actually do it with no props at all. With your mat, and maybe a blanket or two if you've got it. But if you do have props, I invite you to play with your props today.

The props that you'll need for this practice are one bolster. Let's say you don't have a bolster at home. You can always use two folded blankets instead, or even two folded blankets and a pillow on top can work nicely. Sometimes in hotel rooms, I even use things like towels. You can always go back to the prop tutorial from the first season if you wanna see how you can create props wherever you are.

Then, three blankets is handy. An eye pillow, and a strap you may need if it's hard for you to clasp your foot in bow pose. You can have that handy towards the front of your mat before you begin. And then aromatherapy and an eye pillow. I always put that also close to where you can easily reach it.

Go ahead and you can do that now if you like. Then, we're gonna start by positioning the props. We'll place one blanket, actually let's keep that folded. You'll place one blanket where your knees will go. This creates a little additional padding for the knees.

You'll place one blanket in that half fold, so it's thinner up here. And you'll place your eye pillow right on top. That's where your head will be, kind of like a massage table. Once you've positioned the blankets, you'll take your bolster and put it lengthwise at the middle of the mat. This is where your chest and your pelvis will be.

And then you can come onto all fours on the mat. You want your knees about at the middle of the blanket. And you'll just lower yourself down so your pubic bone is here, your chest is here. That's it. One thing to be aware of is that the bolster, you want it under your pubic bone but you don't want it pressing into your thighs.

You just want to feel it holding your hips evenly and your pelvis. If this doesn't work for you, you can always remove the bolster and do it with your belly flat on the floor. Just put a blanket down if that feels more comfortable. The forehead's resting on top of the eye pillow. And the arms can actually walk out like a crocodile's.

This is crocodile pose. You're not propped up on your elbows or forearms. And the legs can be hip width apart. Can be just comfortable distance away from each other. And then take a few moments as you arrive in this pose to feel the support under your chest and your belly.

Crocodile is an excellent pose to do to feel the movement of your diaphragm when you're breathing. So the dome shaped diaphragm muscle is about here. It draws down as you inhale and actually pulls air into the lungs, and as you exhale it moves up. As you take a few deep breaths, feel the movement of the diaphragm. And also notice the feeling of the back body, free and open.

A lot of times when we do deep breathing, we practice on our backs. This is a completely different experience of feeling the breath with pressure in the belly. And feeling the back body expanding. So take a few breaths here and take a few moments to feel how you're feeling in this moment. Noticing, scanning, sensing.

Into your inner body. And you may become aware of places where stress has accumulated. In your body. Just take a moment to notice where it is for you. And now as we continue to explore some deep breathing, I invite you to do a cat cow right here at the bolster.

It's a little different breathing than we do when we're doing a cat cow more with the front body. As you inhale, you'll actually press your tailbone down into the... Or your pelvis down into the bolster, opening the low back and visualizing the breath flowing up the spine. And as you exhale, you'll breathe all the way down the spine, bathing it and tilting the tailbone up. Feeling as if you're exhaling through the tailbone.

And as you inhale, you draw the pelvis down. And you breathe up through the space you're creating in the spine. And as you exhale, feel the breath flowing out. There's something nice that happens as the hips are hooking into the bolster. It really stretches the low back.

If you have back pain, this can be helpful. I broke my tailbone once, and I came into this pose naturally to find comfort and a way to help to heal my back and breathe energy into the tailbone, the low back. So this is a great healing pranayama. Breathing up and down the spine with this gentle movement. Just a few more at your own pace.

Noticing how it feels to breathe and move in this way. Good. And then just allow yourself to relax for a moment and feel the effects of the movement. You may feel a subtle flow of energy. One thing I recommend is don't feel like you have to hold still.

You might feel like shaking out a little bit here. I'd like to just do a few hah breaths, too, which can be so good once you've got energy moving to just (exhales) cleanse accumulated tension. We're gonna inhale through the nose and with sound, which also helps to tone the vagal, tone of the vagus nerve, which releases stress. We're gonna make a hah sound as we exhale. Just let go of any tension or stress that you've experienced, here we go.

Inhaling through the nose, exhale through the mouth. (inhaling) Hah. (exhaling) Letting the jaw open as you do this. Inhaling through the nose. (inhaling) Hah. (exhaling)

Releasing, letting go with each exhalation. Two more. (inhaling) Hah. (exhaling) One more time, deep breath. Cleansing breath, exhale.

Hah. (exhaling) Let the jaw stay soft, relax the eyes. It's a great breath to do any time you've been under stress. With sound, sound's very powerful. Great way to clear and move energy.

For our next pose, shoulder shrugs, you're gonna slide your hands right down along your sides with your palms facing the sky. And this is a pose to help strengthen some of the muscles in the upper back which get very weak from our computer time. This helps to strengthen them, which therefore helps to open heart and pull the shoulders back. You're gonna keep your neck as relaxed as possible. Your weight going down through your forehead.

But you're gonna contract your rhomboids, contract your upper back muscles and squeeze the shoulder blades together. Holding here for a moment, and then releasing and draping down. Little by little as you do this, coming up again, squeezing as if you were squeezing a pencil right between your shoulder blades and then releasing, you'll get stronger in this area. And again squeezing, lifting the shoulders up. Really opening the front body as you activate the muscles, softening on your exhalation.

Good, two more. And this begins to awaken some of those areas that we're gonna stretch out in just a moment. Good. Lifting, tightening, strengthening. Pulling the shoulders back, and release and soften forward.

Just take a breathe and let that whole area behind the heart relax. The whole spine softening. Feeling the support beneath you. Under your head, under your torso, under your legs. Letting go for a moment into that support.

Now we're gonna move into some opening poses for the chest. Which if you've been working on anything in front of you, computer... Some people, when they make things with their hands also really need this heart opening movement. We're gonna show three different variations. So you can choose which one feels best for you.

And you can start with coming up and putting your forearms down on the floor in Sphinx pose. You'll walk your elbows forward so they're right under your shoulder joints. And you can kind of hug the yoga bolster with your elbows, unless you have broad shoulders, and then you can walk them out just a little bit. And then once you're here, feel into that feeling of anchoring down a little bit through the pelvis. Telescoping the ribs forward a little bit.

And this is sphinx. If you have any neck issues, you can let your head relax. This is the gentlest of the variations. Next would be seal, where you straighten your arms. I like to take the arms a little wider for seal.

It makes it easier on the shoulders and actually makes seal flippers by turning the hands out a little bit, good. And you can see this is a deeper back bend. It's more of an opening for the front body. If it's too strong, you can come back to seal. Or you can choose the next variation, which is going to be half bow on both sides and then we'll do full bow.

But remember, you can go back and do any of the variations that work for you today. To come into bow, we're gonna start by elbows back into sphinx pose. Bringing the hands in so they're parallel. And then reaching back and clasping your left ankle, the top of your ankle with your left hand. And then as you do, you'll anchor down through the pelvis.

You'll start to telescope your ribs forward. And you'll slowly straighten the right arm. As the foot kicks back into the hand, this is what helps to open the chest. And you want both sides of your chest facing forward. As you start to pull your left shoulder forward, that will also really open the muscles nicely in the heart center.

Taking a few more breaths here. Really deep breaths. Feel free to focus the breath into anahata, the heart, into these areas where you might be aware that there's tension. Good, last breath, beautiful. I sometimes like to spread my toes and really get lots of energy going through that back foot.

And then you'll release slowly and you'll bend your right elbow and you'll come back down. Then, you can take the right foot up. And as I mentioned in the first part of the video, if you need to use a strap here don't hesitate. Around the ankle or foot. Clasping, or clasping with a strap around the top.

And then starting to telescope the ribs forward. Pressing the left arm straight. Allow the heart center to open. As the heart turns forward, you'll kick your foot back into that right hand to really open the chest. As you're holding, begin to direct your focus and your opening of breath and awareness into the chest, the heart, into any tight areas.

Feel the energy this pose holds. It's a great energizing pose. Opens the energy through the front line of the body. The chakras here, but also the conception vessel in Chinese medicine. Good, just a couple more really deep, full breaths.

Feeling the heart opening with each breath. Beautiful, and as you're ready to release, you'll take a deep inhalation. You'll release the hold, and you'll slowly come back down, and you can rest for just a moment. Kind of draping down, forehead on the eye pillow. Let your body rest for a breath and see if you can feel the subtle flow of energy moving.

Moving through the spine. One of the things I like about some of the back bends in yoga is that it actually creates an acupressure massage as you're holding that pose, pressing some of the points in the back. Then as you release, there's this incredible flow of energy that moves through the chi. Breaks open any blocks. And in the perspective of Chinese medicine, those blocks can contribute to pain, back pain, or to various challenges, physically.

Want to keep our energy very fluid. Sitting is very stagnating for our energy. So this sequence really helps to free those areas that especially get tight. Now, you're welcome to come back here to sphinx or to seal. Or to full bow, where you now take ahold of one foot an then the other.

And keeping the pelvis really anchored. Telescoping the ribcage forward, the heart opening. And feel that wonderful lifting and spaciousness in the chest here. The feet are kicking back into the hands. And wherever you are is your perfection, whichever pose.

If you're in seal, enjoy where you are. Enjoy what your body needs and listening to it. Choosing just that perfect pose for your body in this moment. This may be too strong if you've been really sitting for hours and hours, like on a plane. You may wanna do the gentler variations and then build up into this.

Feel into what feels right for your body. Take one more breath and feel the heart expanding. Beautiful, and then release. Releasing down slowly and relaxing for a couple of deep breaths. And feeling the effects, the energy flowing.

If you wanna return back to your pelvic rock, you can. Or just completely rest. Feeling the flow of chi, the flow of prana. Really washing through the spine. Awakening (speaking foreign language) and chakras.

Sliding your hands now under your shoulders. Engage your stomach muscles and slowly come up. As you come up, you'll bring your knees open to the corner of the blanket. But it's really nice to have padding under your knees, so don't take it over the blanket but rather keep it right on that corner. And you can slide your toes together.

And if you know that you have some ankle discomfort when you sit back in a child's pose, you can put a roll under your ankles. For those of you that are saying uh oh, that's not gonna be a good pose for my knees today, you're welcome to come onto your back and draw your knees into your chest as an alternative. Or you can always bring yourself up higher with your additional blankets for more comfort if that works for you. Then as you come back, you'll take your blanket right on top of the far end of the bolster. You'll sit back, and you'll pull that bolster in just so if feels just right.

And the blanket and the eye pillow are gonna go right under your head. If that's too high, you can always just use the eye pillow. Depending on the size of your blanket, your eye pillow, your breast size. You may need a little extra or less propping. So take a moment to get yourself really comfortable.

The other thing I like to do, especially if the hips are higher than the head, is to add another blanket under the chest. Adding a blanket right under the chest can make it feel even more cozy and supporting. If you have large breasts, you can always put a blanket under the head, which will create a little more space. Good. And then sitting back as far as feels comfortable towards your heels to open the low back.

This is a counter pose after our bow pose that we just did. And while you're here, the reason we have the head facing down and not turned to one side is it opens the space of the occiput to massage. You're gonna bring your thumbs right to either side of your neck, your cervical spine. You'll feel that there's a bone. And the right under that bone, there's a soft point to either side.

And you'll push up and in. If you find some tenderness, that's okay. That means you've really located that gateway of energy. We wanna release any accumulated tension here. As she's doing that and as you're massaging, one of the things I wanted to show you is that sometimes when we're sitting at the computer, we have a tendency to do this.

And it crunches and compresses the base of the skull. So as you're massaging, you want to also traction and lengthen that area and work out any tension that's accumulated. And hopefully when you return to your computer again, you'll draw your chin back, you'll bring your monitor in view, and your chair up to the right height and everything so you don't have to reach your head forward to see or to work at the computer. Breathing deeply, giving a few moments for your back to stretch. This is a great pose for bringing flexibility to the knees and the hips.

Sometimes I prefer to do this pose with the bolster, sometimes without. If your knees are tender, you can always do a regular child's pose and leave your hips up right over the knees. So there's no extra weight or pressure in your knee joints. And then take a couple moments just to pull your head away from your shoulders. Beautiful, feel how good that feels to massage yourself.

If you don't have time to get to a masseur or a masseuse, there's a lot of self massage techniques that can be wonderful. It's not quite as delicious as relaxing and having someone work out that tension. But doing this a few times a day can really help if you have headaches or neck pain. And then just relax your arms down by your sides. And take a few more moments here to enjoy your child's pose.

Child's pose is also calming, cooling pose. It's a relaxing pose. So feel how your body's calming, your mind is quieting. And taking another long, deep inhalation. And as you exhale, you'll slowly come up.

And as you come up, you can take your bolster. You may want to do it from your seated back position. Take your bolster across your mat this way for either half dog, or if you want to do a full down dog you can just leave your bolster where it is lengthwise, and come into down dog for those of you that would prefer that. We're gonna demonstrate half dog. Half dog is a nice alternative if you have any wrist problems or shoulder injuries.

You're gonna come onto the bolster with your, bring that up just a little bit, with your elbows right underneath the shoulder joints and your hands in prayer position. And your knees under your hips, good. I might just scooch forward just a little bit. You wanna have your back leg on the sticky mat so you can hook your foot in. If you're not far enough forward...

There we go, good. You'll want to come forward a little bit, good. And then go ahead and straighten your left leg. Turn the toes under, hook them into the sticky mat. You'll want to keep your shoulder right over your elbows.

And you can press down through the elbows a little bit and get some activation of the muscles of the shoulders. Take the elbows a little wider apart, but you can keep your hands together. And the stomach muscles are slightly engaged, watching that you're not arching a lot in your low back. Good. Breathing deeply.

Some recent studies on this movement, it can be done at the wall if you're dealing with a shoulder injury. It activates a lot of the intrinsic muscles in the shoulder, and it can be a really good healing pose for a shoulder issue. Also, if you spend a lot of time with your wrists at the computer, they can be tender. This can be a nice alternative. Then you'll change sides.

Bend your left knee, bring it back into position. Straighten your right leg, turn the toes under. And if you find yourself jutting back a little bit, come forward, walk the toes forward so you can get a really good stretch all the way down through the Achilles. Again, watching that you're not sinking your low back, the stomach muscles are a little engaged. The forearms, the elbows are working here to lift out of the shoulders rather than just sinking in the shoulders.

And the breath is your energy source. You want to keep your breath deep and long. And after child's pose, this is a nice way to open the backs of the knees. As is down dog if you're doing down dog. You can bicycle your legs if you're in down dog and take a few moments there to enjoy.

We're gonna take just a couple more breaths in whatever pose you've chosen. Beautiful, and then slowly release. Good. From here, you can either bring your legs up and over the bolster and blanket. Maybe adding a blanket underneath you if you like.

I'm gonna bring the bolster to the other side for this next pose. And we're gonna take the blanket that was on top and you can roll it up. If you didn't want to bring everything over, you can just be doing this on the other side of your mat. We're gonna open up a blanket for the back. I like to do that if you've got them and if it's not too cold in your practice space.

If it's cold in your practice space, you may save your third blanket to actually go over you at the end. But it's a warm day here, so we're gonna use that. And this is gonna go where your head will be. You may want to start with it flat. I'm gonna bring that up just a little bit.

You'll take your legs right over the supports that we've created, the blanket roll and the bolster. And you'll use and engage your stomach muscles as you slowly roll back. You want to make sure that your spine is fully supported by that blanket. I'm gonna have you scoot down just a little bit. Scooting down if you need to so you're not coming off your blanket.

Little bit further down. And just making sure that you feel it under your whole spine, good. From here, you'll draw your knees into your chest for a moment. Drawing the knees in, and it can be nice to just hold either the tops or the backs of the thighs. And breathing as you draw the knees in towards the chest.

If it feels good, feel free to rock for a moment from side to side. For this next sequence, we'll be focusing more into the hips. Some deeper stretches for the hips. You can use your eye pillow over your eyes, but you may wanna see some of the things that we're doing. So you could always put it over your forehead for a little bit of support there.

And you can bring it down later once you see what we're doing. You'll bring your feet to the top of your blanket and bolster combination. And if for any reason it's not feeling like it's in the right place, or the bolster or the blanket roll isn't working, you're welcome to kick it off. But you can also keep it in position if you want to have it there for the final relaxation. Then you're gonna take your right foot and place it over and across your left thigh just below the knee.

I think it's helpful to flex the foot. It helps to take it a little bit deeper into the hip, this next movement. You want to make sure that the outside protruding bone of the ankle's far enough to the left that it's not pressing and making this right leg uncomfortable. And then you're gonna bring your hands and you're gonna hook your thumbs right into the top of your right thigh. Let your shoulders stay relaxed, if you can, and you traction down.

It's hooking into the top of the thigh bone. And this tractioning technique is a technique that's really helpful for releasing the QL. One of my friends who's a doctor showed it to me, and I just love bringing it into this pose. And it's a really nice way when you get really tight through your QL, quadratus lumborum, it's the hip hiking muscle. And when we sit, it gets compressed.

It gets tight, and it often is a silent culprit of low back pain. Take another breath and just lengthen that whole right side, good. And then you can clasp ahold of your left knee with both hands. You'll take your right hand right through the space between the legs. That's why it's called thread the needle, you're threading the needle.

You can hold the back of the leg, the top of the knee, whatever feels best for you. Take a moment with your eyes and just notice your left knee. Make sure it's not coming right over your heart, but rather it's pointing up towards your shoulder. So right about there is good. Keeping your right hip down, and your sacrum down.

For those of you that are super flexible and your knee is almost touching your chest here, you can arch your back a little bit to deepen the effects of the pose. If this is really tight for you and you say, "Boy, I can't even "comfortably get ahold of my back of my thigh." You can use your strap here under the back of the leg. Or you can bring your foot to the bolster and start really gently. There's lots of different variations that you can choose depending on where you are today and how you're feeling. Good, and now rocking a few inches to your left, now we're gonna take it a little deeper into the piriformis muscle.

Piriformis muscle is one of our stabilizing muscles. Every time our heel strikes it contracts, and it's working a lot. All these large muscles in the hips and thighs, they work really hard and they're large. So holding the stretch for a few breaths is often helpful. Let your jaw relax.

I've often noticed that when I'm working with people in their hips, there's a tendency for the jaw to tighten. So you might even stretch your mouth and just release any tension that you feel in your jaw. Smiling can also release the jaw, and the cheeks. And now you'll come back through center, you'll release your left foot down, and then your right foot down. And just pause for a moment, before the next pose.

Feeling what happened, and then you can walk your feet over to the right side of your bolster. And go ahead and cross your right leg over your left. You can take your arms out to your sides, and like a t shape so they're nice and open. Take deep inhalation, keeping that left foot on the bolster as you exhale relax your knees to the left side of the yoga mat. And you're welcome to keep the head facing forward, or if it feels good to turn your head to the right you can do that.

And opening the outside line of that right leg, bringing out the torso. Releasing the back muscles. And as you breathe just feeling the sense of the breath. Creating a flow of Prana within you. Long, deep inhalations.

Softening the shoulders down. Feeling the pull of gravity gently bringing you deeper into the pose. Good, and then when you're ready to come out of the pose you can either just let the legs come up and then unwind them. Or you may enjoy bringing the right leg up first and then the left. And then you'll undo the cross of the legs, and take a breath or two.

And then coming into our position for thread the needle, you'll put your left foot over the top of the right thigh just below the knee. You'll move it far enough to the right, so you're not resting on that protruding bone. You'll flex your left foot. Good, and then you'll hook in, tractioning the left hip down to open the Kual. That's it, as you draw down notice the space that you're creating here and breathe into it.

Let your shoulders stay relaxed, your face soft. And you may notice one side may feel completely different than the other. Depending on how you stand throughout the day. If you cross your legs a lot, being aware, which I think is something that comes with the practice of yoga as we start to become so much more aware of our body. Even in the times when we're not practicing.

So trying to be careful how you're sitting. How you're positioning yourself. Good, and then when you're ready you can release. And you can reach your hands through and clasp a hold of your right leg. Either the back of the leg, or the top of the leg.

For full thread the needle, and you can draw the knee up towards the right shoulder. And you can anchor your sacrum down into the earth. And if you're really tight, and it's too hard to get your knee strapped into the back of the leg. Or you're welcome to bring your foot back to the bolster blanket combination. Especially if it's feeling too strong for you.

Sometimes we have to start with baby steps and we can always go deeper. Always choose those deeper paths, but if we take too strong of a pose too fast and we push our bodies. Sometimes they just tighten more. So you want to really listen. Kind of rock a few inches to your right now.

And getting into the piraformis, working with that larger muscle. And you'll find it gets quite strong. It's quite a strong sensation. You'll know when you find that sweet spot. And then let the jaw relax.

Let the face soften. Beautiful, giving those muscles time to open. When I do strong poses, that create a lot of intensity and intensity in the stretch. Which I always tell my body Im inviting you to receive this pose. To not fit against it.

So watch that you're not tightening, that you're really letting go into it. Good, and taking a deep inhalation. And as you exhale you can release when you're ready your right foot down. And you're gonna walk your right foot all the way over to the left side of the mat now. And now you'll cross your rather to the bolster.

Cross your legs, take your arms out to your sides. Take a deep inhalation. And as you exhale, you can relax the knees, as far as feels comfortable towards the right side of your mat. You may notice a deep stretch through the IT band. And then as you let your shoulders soften, and you let gravity really draw you down.

It creates a nice feeling of release through the whole spine. Through the chest and shoulders. Ringing out the body. Similar to the acupressure points that happen when we're doing back bends and then release. And a twist when we're holding the twist and then we release there's a flushing.

That's one reason it's a good idea to drink a nice big glass of water. Make sure you're hydrated when you're practicing. Because we can also clear and free toxins and the tissues. Ringing out, massaging the organs. Good, last few breaths here.

Enjoying a nice deep twist. And then you'll slowly release your legs, either unwinding before. Or coming up and unwinding, and you'll walk your feet. And your hips back to center. Sometimes you get a little askew when you're practicing.

And a little more to the right. Good, and taking your knees towards your chest for a moment. And rocking from side to side. If you're shorter, and you find that the blanket under your knees. Your feet aren't quite touching the floor, then you might want to put your blanket towards the other side of your bolster.

So it catches your heels. And for people that are shorter, that often feels better. So if you have longer legs, having that extra height under the knee can be a good choice. And this is our preparation for deep relaxation. You can take your legs and when you're ready extend them over the support.

And we're gonna take a little drop of aroma therapy now if you have it. To give yourself additional relaxation. For stress lavender is great. One of the things that I recommend is if you're using an aromatherapy in your deep relaxation. Bring that same oil to work with you.

Put it in your desk, or put it in your bag so that when you're having a stressful day you can pull it out. Anoint yourself and take a few deep breaths. And your body will respond, because it's been smelling that scent as you have been going into your relaxation. So we'll do some self massage. And some clearing for tension in the eyes.

You might want to take your eye pillow. And for a moment, place it on your belly. And that might be nice for those of you that don't really like eye pillows. When it's on your belly, it's nice. You can feel the weight as you breathe in and out.

And then you'll take your hands together. And you'll rub your hands until they feel warm. Charged with energy. And so we're gathering that energy. Gathering the warmth, and when they feel charged, you'll take the center of the palm right over the iris of the eyes.

Both eyes, covered around the orbital bone with the fingers pointing up towards the top of the head. And then feel right away how the darkness how it rests the eyes. There's nothing to have to look at. Your eyes can just completely soften. Feel the corners of the eyes relaxing.

Feel all of the intricate muscles of the eyes. Letting go. Feel this warmth flowing from your hands into your brain. And feel your mind softening, going quiet. And then you'll take your hands up to the center of your forehead.

And you'll slide your hands apart and down the sides of your head. And you can do that a few times. And this is nice opening for the third eye. We're gonna be doing a meditation. Bringing light through the third eye today.

So just preparing it for that here. And releasing any mental worry, concern, fatigue. And just wiping it away. And then taking a moment to massage your scalp. And any tight or tender places in your scalp.

It's amazing, how many points there are. There are in the head. And, how beneficial it is just to relax the scalp. So feel the whole scalp softening as you massage it. It can be nice here as well to massage the ears.

There's many acupuncture point lines in the ears. And some of the trauma treatments, which they use many acupuncturists that do special work in the field with people who are trauma survivors. They do complete acupuncture just through the ears. But you can also massage those points. Acupressure existed before needling.

You can stimulate them through touch as well. And then when you're done, you can take your eye pillow. And you can place it over your eyes. You can have a little drop of aromatherapy. In your hand, and breathing it in.

Double dose if you'd like. And noticing the breath now, the smell, the scent. How it changes throughout your practice. You can anoint yourself, there's any place you'd like to touch the oil too. And then when you're done you can either rest your hands on your body.

Or you're welcome to bring your hands out to your sides with the palms turned up. And of course if you feel at all cool, you can place an additional blanket over you. Or if you feel warm, just resting as you are. And visualize now, in your mind's eye. A beautiful radiant golden light.

Streaming down from high above. And gently and softly flowing into the center of your forehead. Into the third eye, Ajna chakra. As this light begins to softly fill your forehead. Like liquid honey, it soothes and relaxes everything it touches.

You feel your eyes floating in the light. Your face bathed, in pure energy. You feel the gifts this light holds for you as it softly flows from your face down into your neck and shoulders. Releasing tension, and stress. Freeing, opening, everything it touches.

The light cascades down through your shoulders. Into your upper back and chest. Warm, and soothing. Relaxing as it flows freely now, through the arms. Large muscles of the arms, letting go.

Forearms, and feeling the light as it flows into your hands. Radiant and warm, notice the tingling sensation in the tips of your fingers. And taking a deep breath, and drawing that light from your hands and your arms. Back into your heart. Feel your heart, softening.

And feel the warm glow as it softly moves down through your torso. Feel it flowing through every cell of your body. Bathing the organs, the spine. Radiant energy. You feel your organs floating in golden light.

It flows down, into you low back. Freeing any tension. Soothing and healing everything it touches. Flowing into your belly, bathing the organs here and in the pelvis. Feel the warm glow, relaxing your pelvis and your hips.

Feel the sensation of light. Illuminating and flowing down through your legs. Flowing through the knees. The knees drinking in this soothing energy. The calves, shins, and the feet now.

Filled with golden light. Your whole body floating in this pure high vibration of energy. Feeling peaceful. And relaxed. Allow your breath now to gently deepen.

With each breath, coming back from your deep relaxation. With renewed energy, feeling clarity, peace, and calm. And you can start to awaken some movement. Moving your head from side to side. Wiggling your fingers, and toes, and stretch in whatever way feels good to you.

If you feel drawn to reach your arms over head, or down by your side. So whatever feels good. And then you'll gently draw your knees towards your chest. And you'll roll slowly onto one side. Whatever side feels most comfortable.

You can fold your blanket under your head. Another notch so it's really supporting your head and neck. And while you're here, just take a moment to bring your hands to your heart. Sotus, the gifts of your practice. All you feel in this moment.

When you're ready, you can slowly make your way up to seated. And take a seat wherevers' comfortable for you. Finding a comfortable position for just a moment of meditation. And we'll close practice by chanting a sacred sound of ohm for three ohms today. So bringing the hands into Angulie Mudgra, and you'll direct that ohm and sigh, feeling the vibration of it within your body.

That connection to the light. The source of all light. Take a deep breath. (chanting ohms) Namaste.