Relax and Rejuvenate

(wave on shore) Namaste dear yogi friends. I'm really happy to be here today with my lovely assistant Jody. To show you a really beautiful relaxation pose that's a great one to do at the end of a long day, maybe you've been standing on your feet, maybe you've been working, maybe your lower back is slightly sore, this is a really good one for easing lower back pain, and just for calming the mind in general, and it's pretty easy to do at home because really all you need is a chair and maybe a couple of blankets are nice. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go ahead and just show you how to set up with Jody and then I'm gonna talk you through a relaxation and some centering breath. So what you'll need is basically, the main thing you'll need is a chair, so just finding yourself a sturdy chair that you can place on the end of your yoga mat or somewhere that's comfortable to lie down on, and then we'll find a couple of blankets, I've put two here to cushion the chair so that it's comfortable when you rest your shins on this surface, we're gonna find another blanket to roll underneath the neck to support the neck when you're lying down, and for that you could also use maybe a small towel, that's optional.

Then we will also use the possible added extra of a strap which we're gonna loop and place around the thighs to hold the legs together. You can maybe use two mens ties tied together or a bathrobe belt, or something that you can make a strap, tie up like this, and then we'll go ahead and set up, so if you're going to use the neck roll, I'll just show you, if you have a yoga blanket, then the way to make the neck roll, is to bring the blanket in to that sort of a shape with the tassels away from you, and the main thing is to roll it firmly, so we want a firm support for the neck. So just rolling it tightly up, and it's not gonna be too thick, its just gonna be enough to support the base of the spine when we lie down. I like to then bring the top of the blanket towards the roll so that the head, the back of the head is slightly raised. Ideally the head is above the chin when we're lying down.

So finding your approximation of this and then just placing it at the top of the mat. So Jody, I'm just going to ask you to start to get into position, if you lie down on your back and rest your shins onto the mat, and then I'm gonna bring this neck roll underneath your neck. So, just taking time to set yourself up, in whatever way works. And as you lie your head down onto the blanket, just feeling the blanket supporting the base of the spine there, I mean the base of the neck there. And then you're gonna want to bring your arms out away from the body with the palms face up so that you can almost bring the shoulder blades together underneath the back so that the heart feels like it's open in this position.

Beautiful, and then, with the thighs, there tends to be a little more relaxation of the lower back, if you actually have your thighs at a slight angle, away from the chair, so Jody I'm just gonna ask you to scooch slightly up at the mat, beautiful, and then you can let your legs come forward, away from us slightly, just moving your feet slightly to the end, yeah, so you get a slight angle there in the thighs, how does that feel? Better. Good. And then if you choose to use the strap, we're actually going to place that around the thigh, so if you would lift your legs Jody, and I'm gonna leave them about mid-thigh. So these positions tend to take a little bit of work to get into, but I can assure you that it's worth it when we actually get there.

So there's a sense that the legs, there's still a space between the legs, but you can relax them out, so it just feels like you're held a little bit there, how does that feel? And then, if you have an eye bag, or a wash cloth or some piece of material or a wash cloth or some piece of material that you can lay over your eyes, that's gonna help you to drop deeper in, so once you take your time to find all of the necessary bits and pieces, then I'm going to invite you to lie the eye bag or the piece of material very gently over your eyes. And take a deep breath in, exhale out through the mouth. (audible breath) Beautiful, another deep breath in, and exhale out through the mouth. So I'm just noticing that Jody's shoulders are not, they're slightly uneven, and I'm just wanting you to check in as you're in this position with all the micro, the little details to just notice, feeling an evenness between both sides of your body, and making any adjustments so that you can be completely comfortable here, just to totally let go.

So Jody, just feeling into your shoulders there, how does that feel? It's good, they're usually uneven. (Jody laughs) Okay, beautiful. So, as we go into the rest and the relaxation just noticing all those little places where we might be slightly uncomfortable, those stop us dropping deeper, so just listening in and finding how you can get completely comfortable. Taking one more deep breath in, and exhale.

(audible breath) Beautiful. Allowing the centers of the soles of the feet to soften, Allowing the centers of the soles of the feet to soften, feeling the shins relax down, into the chair. feeling the shins relax down, into the chair. And feeling the femur bones, the bones of the thighs, soften down into the hip sockets. Allow your hips and your pelvis to let go.

Softening down into the Earth beneath you. Feeling the spine start to relax, the back body softening down into the Earth. Allow your shoulders to soften down and back. Feeling whatever it is that you've been carrying on your shoulders, whatever stresses or burdens you've been carrying, allowing that just to melt off of your shoulders down into the Earth. Allow the arms to relax, feel the centers of the palms open, and soften, and relax.

open, and soften, and relax. Inviting and allowing each vertebrae in the neck to soften and relax. in the neck to soften and relax. Feeling the back of the head, the skull, melting down into the Earth. Feel your mind, your brain, starting to shrink and soften and melt down into the Earth.

Relaxing the brow, feeling the face soften, let's gently swallow, allow the jaw, the lower jaw, to relax, the lips to gently part, and soften, to relax, the lips to gently part, and soften, allowing the tongue to relax, the root of the tongue. Allowing the eyes to soften, just allowing the direction of the eyes to move towards the lower eye lids. Feeling the inner ears soften. We withdraw the sense inwards. Bring your awareness onto your breath, naturally flowing in and out.

Gonna invite you to take a centering breath which involves a long, even smooth inhale through the nose, followed by a long even smooth exhale through the nose. But just wait for your natural next exhale. And after that exhale, take a smooth, long, even inhale through the nose, gentle pause, and then smooth, long, even exhale through the nose, and then take a few natural breaths to follow. Just allowing the breath to re-balance and refresh. Take another long, even inhale through the nose, gentle pause, then a long, even exhale through the nose.

And then a few natural breaths to follow. Feeling your whole nervous system start to settle, and relax. and relax. Allow yourself just to be here, nothing to do, no where to go. Feeling yourself fully supported and held.

Resting into that unchanging presence that is always here. Resting into that unchanging presence that is always here. As the mind starts to wander just gently bring your awareness back onto the effortless flow of breath, in and out. Feeling the deeper layers of tension start to release. Allowing whatever emotions, feelings, thoughts arise just to come and go.

Bringing your awareness back onto the breath. (light gong) (light gong) Gently bringing your awareness back onto the breath. Breathing down into your fingers and your toes. Take a deep breath in, filling the whole body. Exhale softening the whole body.

Another deep breath in. Exhale, soften the whole body. I invite you just to hug your knees in towards your chest. Moving very slowly, and as it feels right to you, just rolling over onto one side, just resting on your side, you might want to remove the blanket or the strap. The eye bag might fall off, you might want to hold it on.

Just rest on your side. Just feeling the flow of breath, coming in, and out. Taking a deep inhale, exhale everything. (audible breath) And again, feeling into your time, in your pace. And as it feels right for you, using that top hand to press down into the Earth, and just gently bringing yourself up to sitting.

Removing the strap if you need to. Just coming to an easy cross legged position, closing your eyes, resting the backs of the hands closing your eyes, resting the backs of the hands on the thighs, thumb and index finger lightly touch. Take a deep inhale, exhale out through the mouth then relax the belly. (audible breath) One more time inhale, exhale, relax the belly. One more time inhale, exhale, relax the belly.

Then allow the spine to straighten, reaching the crown of the head up to the sky. Feel the heart blossom open as the shoulder blades hug back. Resting into the effects of the posture. Deep inhale, exhaling, Deep inhale, exhaling, Deep inhale, exhaling, and then gently bringing the hands to touch in front of the heart's center. Namaste.