Self Love Massage

(water splashing) Welcome, today we're gonna play with just a little bit of self love, self massage. One of the most ancient yogic techniques, Abhyanga. It's traditionally done with oil, but just a little bit of time to come back to the self. So we're gonna set up in what I like to refer to as the yoga La-Z-Boy chair. So you're just gonna take two blocks, one's gonna be flat, the other one's gonna be up on its edge.

You also can play with some different heights here, depending on how your spine responds. Just gonna angle that bolster at that 45 degrees over those blocks, and we're just gonna turn around and bring the buttocks to the mat. And then just feel that bolster right up near the sacrum. Legs can go wherever they want to go. They can be long, soles of the feet together.

One of my favorites here is just a nice easy seated pose, a nice easy Sukhasana. So we're gonna bring the hands back, and just begin to recline on down. And as we recline back, getting settled, comfortable in those legs, comfortable in the hips and the buttocks, letting the arms fall back and down. Start to come in to connection with the breath. (heavy breathing) And then we're just gonna start to wake up a little bit of sensation into the head and neck by gently rolling that head from ear to ear.

And just see what's showing up. Perhaps finding somewhere along the way where there's a little bit more sensation that you want to hang out in, and then exploring to the other side. Notice the head returns to center eventually. I'm gonna start to release a little bit through the shoulders now with an inhale let those arms start to rise up, feeling that sense of reaching alongside the ears. And then we're gonna take ahold of our right wrist utilizing our left hand, and just gently start to lengthen back.

May feel nice to come into this little half moon shape, rolling a bit to the left side, and then switching to the other side, holding the wrist, and again a little extension. And then releasing that hold, we're gonna take the left arm across the front of the chest. Right hand's gonna reach up right about mid humerus, so kind of between the elbow and the shoulder on that upper arm. Let the elbow on the left hand soften, let the wrist relax, and just give yourself a little one-armed hug. So again just focusing on a little bit of self love.

Big open mouth exhales. And then release and we'll switch sides, right arm coming across, left hand coming again about mid upper arm and just give yourself a nice gentle hug. And just see where the stickiness may be. And then releasing that, coming into a little ear exploration now. So we're gonna use the thumbs and the index fingers almost like little crab pinchers, and we're gonna start here on the lower lobes of the ears.

And we're just gonna start to knead and gently pull downward. If you have earrings on, you're just gonna kinda wanna work around that. And just start to feel into where the ear connects to the side of that jaw hinge. So sometimes it feels nice to open and close the mouth a few times here. And then just start to work your way along the outer ear, so it's that sense of pulling and widening, kneading and massaging.

Just trying to stimulate that parasympathetic nervous system, that peace, relaxation, response. Working our way towards the upper ear as we pull upward, again maybe a little jaw. And then I like to use the pads of my middle fingers and start to rub up and down where the ear meets the jaw. So just up and down. You'll start to feel into some of that nice big musculature there of the jaw itself.

Lots of unconscious tension here. And then just experiment with opening and closing your mouth a few times. And you'll feel where that hinge actually is for you. And when you find that hinge, start to bring the rest of your finger pads. So I like to use the index, middle, and ring fingers, and then just start to press and gently circle into that jaw hinge.

And again a little opening and closing of the mouth. And then taking that jaw massage downward along the big strong musculature of the jaw towards the chin, softer in the cheeks. And then as we work our way down towards the chin, a little kneading of the chin, thumbs hooking under, little squeezing. Then it often feels nice to take that little gentle squeezing and pinching action up into the cheeks. It's almost as if you're trying to make your cheeks rosy, stimulating some circulation.

And then coming back to those middle finger pads again, we're gonna press inward and upward towards the bridge of the nose. And then up towards the underside of the brow bone, and so just explore that a few times, pressing inward and upward along the bridge of the nose and up towards that brow bone. And then eventually working your way out along the underside of the brow bone from inner eye to outer edge. Inner eye to outer edge. And then continue that motion up onto the eyebrows themselves, like we're spreading the energy from that ajna chakra, that third eye, that intuition, wider, eventually up to the forehead, and then you'll find yourself with those finger pads ending up at your soft spot of the temples.

Let the rest of the finger pads come into play here for a little temple massage. Softer in the mouth. And then work that temple massage towards the hairline. And as we start to massage toward the hairline, maybe even a little bit into the scalp. And then eventually let those hands start to meet back behind the back of the head.

And as we do so, let the heart open wide, perhaps interlacing the fingers and taking a sense of almost creating a pillow for your skull. Let the weight of the elbows start to drop. Feel the heart expand. Start to pull the breath awareness here up into the heart center. Exhale everything. (heavy breathing) And just allow yourself to kick back here in this yoga La-Z-Boy chair.

Slowly sliding the hands out from behind the head, let the arms return to the Earth, palms open to the sky. Big breath in. Full breath out. (heavy breathing) And then in your own time, gently turning the palms to face the Earth, bringing them in a little bit closer to the hips, and then taking the feet from wherever you took them. So if they were long, or soles of the feet together, or perhaps crossed like I had, just bringing the feet back to the Earth. Pause here for a moment, and then without straining the neck, a little bit more core awareness, we're gonna push in to lift from the heart.

So feel how that neck stays in line with the spine as we lift up. Pause here for a moment, just feeling the effects, a little intuitive movement of your head and of your neck. And then in your own time, returning to a comfortable easy seat. And as we return to that easy seat, letting the hands join at the heart. And take a moment to thank yourself for giving back to yourself.

Self love. Namaste.