Day 3: Release Tension

Welcome back to day three of the Shavasana challenge. Let's build on our skills of drawing our attention towards our breath, moving with our breath, becoming more comfortable and intimate with that feeling at the bottom of the exhalation as we begin to explore and release layers of tension through the body, especially around the skull, base of the skull, the mouth, the jaw, the neck and the shoulders. And the purpose of this is to help begin to free our minds, the habitual thought patterns of the mind that can get woven into the neck and the shoulders and the head. So let's find a comfortable seat. You might sit up on a blanket and just start by crossing your ankles. We'll dive right into the neck. So begin to draw your chin towards your heart. We'll start by bringing our right ear towards our right shoulder and then reach and lengthen through your fingertips, those left fingertips. You draw them down towards the floor. You might start by looking towards your right knee. Notice the quality of your breath. You might stay with this. You might explore some gentle movement through your neck and through your head and maybe beginning to look up towards the right. Wow, keep reaching through your left fingertips. Notice if you can soften a little bit through the back of your body, if there's any hardening through the low back, through your sacrum, softening through the face, the eyes, the lips. Let's take another breath here. As you're ready, exhale. Just slowly let the chin come back to your chest and then draw the left ear towards your left shoulder. Begin to reach through your right fingertips. You might stay right here. This might be intense and strong enough, maybe looking towards your left knee. Again, notice the quality of your breath. You might stay with this or begin to invite some slow movement and investigation through your neck, through your head, and maybe beginning to look up towards the left and stretching and opening that right part of the shoulder around the collarbone, the jaw, the face. Let's take another inhale and then exhale, slow. Just release your chin back to your chest and let the head lift. Inhale, interlace the fingers, reach the arms up towards the sky, taking a moment to lengthen the front body, lengthen the back body. Inhale and then exhale, twist towards the right. Bring your left hand on your right knee, right hand behind you. Inhale, lengthen your spine and then exhale. Gently twist towards the right. Find a place where your neck and head feel comfortable. Let's take another inhale, lengthen the spine and then stay where you are. As you exhale, just let your head come over your left shoulder. Take another inhale and with an exhale, let your body unwind. How do you feel? Allow for an inhale and exhale. Interlace the fingers, opposite knuckle on top, stretch the palms away, lengthen the spine. It might feel nice to wiggle a little bit, lengthening. Find space and length on the front body as well as the back body. Inhale and with an exhale, we'll twist to the right. So right hand finds your left knee, left hand comes behind you. Again, with an inhale, ground through your sit bones, lengthen up through the heart and if you're exhale, twist towards the left. Inhale, rooting a bit more, lengthening and exhale, gentle twist. See if you can soften the grip through the right hip a little bit. Stay where you are and then slow, let the gaze come over the right shoulder. Feeling a neck stretch there perhaps and with an exhale, let your body unwind. Just take a moment to pause and notice you might soften your eyes and allow for an exhale.

Let your eyes open. We'll transition into impressing the heart with two blocks. I find this is such a useful technique to help to begin to open the front of the body and the chest and to help release the occipital area, the base of the skull. So one block at the lowest setting and we'll start with the block under the head at the highest setting. Rolling down and bring the block right beneath your shoulder blades. The highest block right at the base of your skull and start with your knees bent. You might let the soles of the feet go wide and your knees rest together. So the block that's under your head, you might bring it back just a little bit more just to allow the back of your neck to lengthen. So there's a feeling of tractioning through there and make sure the block under your shoulder blades feels like it's in the right spot. So it's not jamming into your back but it's supporting the shoulder blades. And then let your arms release. Let the palms open. First step is to allow the weight of your skull to begin to release. And this is not an easy skill. Practice allowing your body to receive the support beneath it. Remembering that that quality you're feeling at the bottom of the exhale. So let's do that together breathing in. And allow for a nice long exhalation. Extending the breath. Allowing your shoulder blades the back of your heart to soften towards the support. And as the weight of your skull begins to release, allowing the the bones around the skull to feel a bit more relaxed and spacious. Find your eyes like softening into your skull. As the eyes soften into the skull, releasing through the mouth, the jaw, feeling the tongue relaxed on the floor of the mouth. This wide open quality through the back of the neck, the base of the skull, shoulders releasing down towards the earth. And following or tracking your exhalation to the bottom. You're welcome to stay here. If you'd like to lower the block to the second side, go ahead and do that. So the back part of your skull is supported by the block. And you might even reach your arms out a little bit further, maybe exploring the shape of what we call cactus. With the elbow soft, the palms open, the shoulders wide, the chest nice and wide. And continuing to soften layers of tension. The shoulder blades releasing, the back of the heart, shoulder blades releasing. Maybe you can even feel or sense that ease or spaciousness through the back of your eyes. Now the back of your heart and into your hands. And gently allowing the neck to move and unwind. So letting the head, the skull come over to the right, keeping the head heavy on the block. Let that left shoulder stay heavy. And then let the head come back up to center and over to the left. Keeping that right shoulder and arm heavy. One more time on each side, letting the head come back up through center and over to the right. Feeling the exhale here. With an inhale back up through center and last time over to the left. Eyes soft, head heavy, arm releasing. Beautiful, back up through center. Pause for a moment here. Nice, full exhale. You're ready. We'll roll off the blocks onto our side. Push yourself up for just a moment. We're gonna roll onto our back to begin to feel and sense the results from that. Come onto your back. So here as you lie on your back you might keep your knees bent, feet on the floor. You might stretch your legs out and take some time to draw your attention, your awareness towards the back of your body. Just notice your relationship with the back of your body and the ground, the earth. And for a few moments let your attention rest at the base of your skull. The space between your shoulder blades where the block was supporting you. We've been calling this the back of the heart. Can you perhaps feel or sense the impression of the support? Noticing the quality through the chest, through the heart. You find that same sense of ease and spaciousness through the back of your eyes. Again, back of your heart, out through the center of your hands. From here as we begin to ease into our Shavasana, stay where you are. You might bring a blanket or a bolster under your knees to support you. I'm gonna make my way up and guide you through it. So allow yourself to rest here and allow the weight of your body to get heavy. And feeling the weight of your skull. As you soften your sensory awareness, the eyes, mouth, the ears. You can even feel or sense your your brain softening in the skull. We allow the ground to have all of you. Relaxing any effort through the muscles, the bones, even the breath. You might even become aware of your body just naturally being breathed without any effort. From your skull through the back of the heart, inviting this awareness of ease to wash down the spine through the belly, the lower back, the sacrum, the pelvis down through your legs, soles of your feet, heavy, held, supported, grounded. Allowing your mind or any thoughts to rest in the spaciousness you've created. Allowing your mind or any thoughts to rest in the spaciousness you've created.

Allowing your mind or any thoughts to rest in the spaciousness you've created. Allowing your mind or any thoughts to rest in the spaciousness you've created. These last few moments here in Shavasana. Beginning to feel the support beneath you, beneath your body. Gradually draw your awareness towards your breath. As you feel the stirring of the breath slowly, gradually invite some movement through your fingers, through your toes. You might feel nice to stretch and lengthen or let your head gently move and explore from side to side. Allowing your knees to bend, roll to your side and you might pause there, just savoring these last few moments on your side. And as you keep your eyes soft, allow your transition to be an extension of your Shavasana. Caring this spirit, this mood, this flavor of ease and rest. Making your way up towards the seat. As you make your way up towards your seat, begin to draw your skull back, right over your spine. Feeling the back of the neck lengthen, widening through the base of the skull, softening through the jaw, the eyes, quality of impressing the heart. Feeling that resilience arise and buoyancy.

Drawing your hands together at your heart. Namaste. Thank you for your practice, your willingness to explore and investigate some of those areas and patterns that might have us in their grip. So we'll continue our investigation day four. Thank you.