Tension Releasing Flow with Lydia

Talk

Well, I'm still in training with all of you. I just want to clarify that. And one thing that really helped me, I spend so much time in my yoga practice. And those are the yoga practice teaches me so much about staying grounded. But I noticed on that trip that with my two kids around me all the time, and we had space outside, but when we were in our little container, very little space, I noticed that I could just feel my feet on the ground, something that's quick, and just feel my body feel get embodied, get grounded. And that could really support me in almost feeling like it could take time to myself when there are other beings in close proximity to me. Another one of those is just taking a bigger exhale. So I kind of ended up in that year boiling down my practice to those two things, even though I was just so thrilled when I got the chance to take a bit more time in an actual practice space with nobody around me. Okay, so I'm going to take those with me just that more clear intention of feeling grounded and take a bigger exhale. So tell us a little bit about our practice with you today. What are we going to be doing today with you? Okay, so I am, I myself have been spending a lot of time on a screen. I don't know if a lot of other people can relate perhaps. So my heads coming forwards, my wrists have been getting tighter than usual. So I thought I would lead us through a mellow practice where we address some neck and shoulder tension, and then also some hip flexor tension. So slow seated start mellow flow will end up on our backs. Nothing too energetic. It's about slowing down and getting into these sticky areas. Ah, that sounds wonderful. Thank you so much again, Lydia, for being here. It's all yours.

Practice

You can take that arm as much as you like behind you, perhaps feeling some stretch across the front of the chest. And we're gonna oscillate through that two more times. So coming across into that slumpy twist, seeing if you can breathe into those upper back muscles and maybe even in between your ribs. And then we'll open up on a diagonal and reach, maybe look behind, maybe flip your hand so that the fingers point down towards the floor, reaching across the front of the chest. One more time like that, curling across, rounding the upper back. Let's take another breath and on your exhale you might invite in a little bit more of a twist. And then reaching up and away, out on a diagonal. I really like this flipping of the hand. You can check that out and then release. Okay, left ear towards left shoulder, come across into the twist, right hand across, maybe touching the floor of the knee, round. And then across on a diagonal, opening up the right arm, maybe flipping your hand so the palm face is up, twisting as much as you like, looking behind you. And exhale coming across, slumpy twist, rounding into the upper back. Up and away on a diagonal, flipping the hand, reaching each finger away from the chest. Last time like this, exhale across, round. And away from you, twisting, revolving to maybe look behind you. And let's release that. Beautiful. Let's come on to our hands and our knees. So I'll just shift props of the way. And come on to the hands and the knees. And we're just going to start by shifting forwards and back. So maybe you keep your arms straight in this movement. And feel into the wrist joints. So this might not be a big shift forwards, just enough to feel a little into the wrist joints, a little stretch across the base of the wrist. Let's come to neutral and turn the fingers away from center. So laterally reaching the fingertips out to the sides and then also shifting side to side. And if you want a little more sensation in this one, you could walk your hands a little closer, almost till the wrist touch. And then shift a little side to side, just moving the emphasis point around as we warm up through the hands and the wrists. And then let's see if we can turn our fingers so that they point towards our knees. If that's too much sensation, walk your knees in a little bit. And we'll again shift forwards and back. And if you want more sensation, you could walk your knees back. You might even round your spine on your way back. Sometimes that can be a little more sensation. You might even press into the knuckles under your fingers and peel the heel of your hand off the ground. Okay, let's shake that out and firmly plant your right hand. Take your left hand forwards and to the best of your ability, we'll do some circles with your left shoulder. So we're going to sweep forwards. You might graze the ground, open up into sort of an awkward twist and come forwards. And for this first exploration of these movements, allow your spine and your hips to move with it. And you could look down in this. That's one way to do it. And you could also follow your hand with your gaze, which might give you a bit more upper back and cervical movement. So that could be interesting. Nowhere to go. This is an exploration. It's kind of like you're swimming with one arm and let's switch direction. Just bringing a little more mobility and movement into the upper back and maybe the lungs. Okay, now just for fun, let's see if we can stabilize the torso a little bit more and create those big arm circles without so much movement in your torso and your hips. Then you can go one direction and then the other. And of course, you're all connected. So maybe you're moving a little bit, but just minimizing it. So you're just having an awareness of the shoulder joint a little bit more. Okay, we'll let that go and we'll switch sides.

So I'm just going to turn so you can see me a bit better. So left arm plants and then right arm makes these big circles and you can move your hips, allow your hips to move, allow your rib cage to move. If you want to stay looking down, that could be nice. Or you could watch your hand. Sometimes I'll rotate my arm in for a circle and then out for a circle. So lots of options just to start to get some movement through the shoulder, upper back, neck, other direction. Maybe you feel some clicks and pops in your shoulder. Okay, let's try it stabilizing a little more through the hips and the rib cage or rib area. One direction and then the other. Okay, release that. And let's go into our cat cow movement. So perhaps you come down onto your forearms. If you're tired on your wrists, you could do that. And we'll arch our spine and round our spine, pressing the shoulder blades apart and squeezing them together. Okay, neutral spine. Again, let's let our right arm come up into this sort of awkward twist where you could move your hips back and then let your right hand come under your left wrist and start to slide it out until your right temple comes to the ground. Maybe you move your left hand a little bit out to the side. Also, you could put a blanket under your neck if you need that. Once you get down, we'll take a few breaths into the upper back. This is a really nice way of getting into space in between the shoulder blades, the places in between the ribs. I'll offer you with a little variation if you like. You could interlock your hands here and with your top hand, pull your right hand away from the wrist joint. So maybe you're feeling a little traction in the wrist joint. Some people really like to take the left arm up, maybe turn the palm away from your face and take it, wrap it behind the back. Maybe rolling open through your left shoulder. You might think moving your hips back and sometimes that can take a little bit of weight off of your neck. Okay, we'll slowly come on out. So left hand down in front of your face, press down into it, come back up onto all fours. And maybe a cat cow there, an arch and a round of the spine just to feel like you're neutralizing everything. Now we'll take our left arm up into this kind of awkward twist. Press down through your right hand, lift up and out.

And exhale, thread it underneath your right hand, your right wrist until your head comes to the floor. Maybe your head comes onto a blanket. You can press into your right hand to help that revolution in your upper back. Maybe move your hips away from your head so there's less weight in your neck. And maybe if you like that variation of tractioning through your wrist, you can interlock your hands, hold hands with yourself and reach the hand away from the wrist. Let's allow for some time to take a couple breaths and perhaps you accentuate your exhalation here. You might find that by straightening your top arm, if you're in this clasp variation, you'll also get a little more twist coming into your upper back. Okay, let's slow release out of that. You can find that arching and rounding of the spine again. Couple of times. Okay, let's tuck our toes and reach ourselves back into a downward facing dog. Maybe after all that bent knee work, you'd like to pedal out your feet. You can press your hands down and forwards and release your hips up and back. And then let's walk forward. So somewhere in that movement, you might pop up onto your fingertips or put your elbows on your knees if you like. And exhale into a forward fold. If you're feeling a little stickier this morning, take a bit more space in between your feet. So you've got a little wider stance. Maybe big generous knee bend. Maybe letting your arms ragdoll. An invitation to take a long exhalation. Okay, let's root down through the heels. And you could take your arms forwards to help you come up, reach all the way up. And exhale your hands down. I'm just going to turn this way so you can see me a little bit better. So reach our arms up. And if your shoulders allow it, grab a hold of your right wrist and come up and over to the left. You could also do this holding onto your forearms or your elbows. Maybe pull a little bit on that top arm. And you might feel that tugging all the way down your right side. You could look up on your right armpit. You could also look down. One more long exhalation. Okay, pull yourself up. And we'll cactus our arms. So elbows out to the side. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and drag them down your back.

Release. Arms up. Grab a hold of your left wrist or forearms or elbows and come up and over to your right. You could take a longer exhalation. You could look up. You could look down. One more big breath. Press down into your feet to help you come up. Cactus your arms. Squeeze your shoulder blades together. Maybe that brings your chest forward. And exhale, drag the shoulder blades down the back. Couple shoulder rolls. Feel your feet. And standing at the top of the mat, this is where you might want your blocks. Inhale your arms up. Reach and exhale. Fold forwards. Let's find the earth. Right foot back into a long lunge and start to shift forwards and back a bit. You might do that with your breath. Maybe you're feeling this in the bottom of your right foot. Alright, let's roll over the right toes and drop the right knee and you're welcome to blanket it and come up. So when we come up, we end up in this sort of 90-90 lunge where the legs make 90 degrees. Hips over the back knee. And let's take our right arm up. Left hand on the left thigh in front and side bend again. So come up and over. See if you can stay steady in your legs.

Maybe there's an opportunity for a little bit of a longer exhalation. Okay, let's reach up and exhale, release. Find the floor. And you might find a child's form where your hips come back and you take your hands forwards, elbows wide and let your head rest. Or you could come into downward facing dog, pedal out your feet, whichever way you'd like to rebound from that. Just noting we're going to end up in downward facing dog. So if you're not there yet, take your time to arrive and then we'll walk our feet forwards. Maybe come up onto your fingertips, reach and exhale, dangle forwards. Press down through your feet. Come on up and exhale your hands down by your sides. Beautiful. Other side. Inhale your arms up. You could reach up and back if that feels nice. Exhale, bend your knees and fold. Fingertips touch the earth. Inhale your left foot back into that long lunge and let's start to shift a little forwards and back. Maybe exploring the sole of the back foot. The front hip crease. Okay, let's roll over those back toes. So you're on a point, drop the back knee down, come on up. And you could put a blanket underneath your knee. So it's kind of a 90-90 fashion with the legs. And let's let our left arm come up, right hand on the right thigh. You could push a bit down to help you reach a little more space into that left side. An option is to come on over to the side bend, up and over to the right. This takes a little bit of stability through the legs. So maybe you're feeling that press down with your legs. You could take some long exhalations. Let's inhale, come up. And how would you like to rebound from that? So you could come into a child's form or a downward facing dog. You're always welcome to exhale out of your mouth or close your eyes. Whatever brings you some release. Okay, let's pad forwards into a downward facing dog. Reach back, press your hands down and forwards. Let's walk forwards, pop up onto the fingertips, maybe onto the knees. Reach the spine long and fold in. Let's push down through the feet, come all the way up. Maybe a little bit back if that feels good. And exhale, arms down and standing. All right, we're going to work with an arm movement and take it into a lunge. So from your standing position, take your hands forwards and touch the backs of your palms together. And let's see if we can round our spine, almost tucking the pelvis under. So tucking, tucking the chin, tucking the pelvis under, you can bend your knees. And then we'll flip the palms up and reach the hands back, almost like you want to touch your thumbs behind you. And you can let the chest come forwards and the pelvis come forwards a little bit, maybe even look up. So let's do that two more times. Back to the hands, touch, tuck the pelvis under, almost bending the knees, tuck the chin. And then thumbs back behind you. It's like you're trying to touch your shoulder blades together. You could do this with bent elbows too, and your thumbs want to touch behind you. One more time, backs of the hands touch, curl, under tuck the chin, and then open it up, lift chest bones, maybe look up, squeeze shoulder blades together. And then let's release that top of the mat. Inhale, reach up, maybe up and back. Exhale, fold in. Fingers touch the earth. Right foot back into that long lunge. And this time, let's crawl up out of that. So you could put your left hand on your left knee, sort of neutralize your pelvis. So maybe you stay here with a little bit of straightening feeling through your back leg. Or you can join me in those arm movements we just did. So almost feeling like you can tuck the pelvis under even though it feels impossible. Backs of the hands touch, tuck your chin. You might linger there, and then pelvis rocks forwards. Thumbs reach behind you, chest bones move forwards and up, maybe you look up, squeeze your shoulder blades together. You might linger there, or two more times tuck the pelvis under, maybe you even bend your back knee, round tuck your chin.

And I like to inhale on this pattern. So hands behind, chest lifts, maybe look up. One more time if you like. Round tuck, open the back, and then arch. I like to straighten my back leg here, look a little bit up, keep the back of the neck long. And then to neutral, one breath right through the center, reach up, get super lifted off your pelvis, and then exhale, find the floor. Okay, so your rebound might feel like downward facing dog, or child's form or something else. But take a few long exhales. Come into contact with the ground. Notice what's touching the ground. So nice. Okay, let's take the other side. So if you're not already there in your downward dog, walk forwards. Lengthen, lengthen, and fold in. Press down through your feet, come up, maybe slightly up and back. Then exhale your hands down. Inhale, arms up. Exhale, fold in. Left foot back. Maybe walk your hands back, crawl up so you're in that long crescent lunge. You could work with straightening the back leg a little bit here. If you like, we'll three times move through those arm oscillations. Exhale round. And then inhale, flip the palms up, squeeze the shoulder blades together. And you could linger in any of these variations. Or you could put your arms straight up through the middle. Find a bit more stillness. Exhale pattern rounds the body, maybe bends the back knee. Inhale pattern, maybe straighten the back leg, lift the middle of the sternum up.

Maybe the gaze. And when you're ready, if you'd like, arms straight up through the middle. Active reach, press down through your feet, and exhale. Come on out. Finding your rebound, pedaling out and down dog, or coming a little closer to the ground. Listening to one long exhalation if that's available for you. And then let's come down onto the knees. And we're going to transition onto our back. So coming all the way down onto the back body. We'll work with the front of the hips a little bit. So we're going to start with some activity in the hip flexor, and then some release. So let's start with drawing the right knee in towards the chest, and keeping the left leg planted. Let's try this without the use of our hands. Take your hands instead behind the back of your head. Squeeze your knee close into your right armpit, and curl up like you're doing an abdominal. Let's really engage the hip flexor area, the right hip flexor, trying to bring the knee close in towards the right armpit. You might even engage your foot and squeeze your heel in towards your right buttock. One more breath, tight little package here with the right thigh towards the right chest. And then release everything out and take up a lot of space. So slide the right leg out, and you could shake it out. Maybe close your eyes and just notice if you can fully release that right hip flexor. And notice the heaviness of your right side, really making contact. Okay, we're going to do that two more times. But this time when we bring the right knee in, let's take it out to the side. So it's not directly in towards the armpit, but just out to the side a bit like it's trying to touch your right elbow as you do that little abdominal. And if your neck doesn't like doing this, you can keep it on the ground. So we'll draw everything in, see if we can really engage that right hip flexor. Notice if when the knees out to the side, there's a slight different engagement. Maybe you even press into your left foot and curl your pelvis above the floor. And then let's fully release it out. And your arms can be wherever you can roll out through that leg rocket side to side. Either keeping your eyes open or closing them if that feels safe and just noticing the release, the letting go through that right hip flexor. Okay, so last one. And this time, we'll bring the right knee across almost like it wants to touch the left armpit. So we're scrunching up a little bit through the right side, you can lift your head up in that abdominal, curl across, squeeze in. And then full release, let go, slide that leg out, shake it out, if that feels good. And you could close your eyes, even exhale out of your mouth. Okay, let's plant both feet. And before we do that on the other side, windshield wiper your knees over to the left. So that the right knee is the one on top, the right hip is off of the ground. And then you can reach that right knee away from you, almost like you're trying to traction the right thigh bone away from the pelvis. You could take your right arm up overhead too. And maybe you each exhalation, you work with taking your lower spine closer to the floor. Let's take a few more breaths. And I'm just switching so you can see my foot if you're looking. But for some of you, if you lift it up the right foot and tucked it under, you could take the top of the foot on the ground, it's okay if your knee is floating.

And maybe for some that gives a little bit more of an experience of stretch through the front of the thigh. Totally optional. Let's dial into one more long exhalation if you like. Okay, slow release of that side. Both feet plant and let's draw the left knee right in towards the chest, curl up and sort of squeeze everything in towards the center. See if you can feel this right in the front of the hip, curling everything in, maybe pressing into your right foot, curling the pelvis off the ground, and then fully slide out. Maybe shake out, roll out that left leg. See if you can sense into full release of the front of the hip. And if things are still grabbing on, just it's okay. Some days that happens. Maybe we practice patience, long exhale and finding the ground. Okay, we'll draw everything in again. So this time the left knee out towards the left elbow, curl everything in, squeeze the heel towards the buttock, curl the pelvis up off the floor, and fully let go. Slide it out. Shake it out if you like. Sense into some release or some relief, whatever's there. Okay, and then we'll draw it in and take it across to the right armpit, scrunching up the side waist a bit if you like. Don't worry about what it looks like, just find that contraction in the front of the hip, squeezing in, thigh close to the body, and then let it all go. Slide it out, shake it out. Notice the ground. Notice what you notice. Any relief, any release. And then planting both feet and allowing this knee drop over to the right. So the left hip is on top and reach the left knee away from you. Maybe each exhalation, you have an opportunity to take your lower back closer to the floor, maybe twisting a little bit as you reach that left knee away. You could even take your left arm over your head. And for some, if it feels appropriate and the hero's pose or the hero's form is something that you practice, if you curl up and you take the top of the ankle on the ground, allow the needle lift. You can find all of those actions with that top of the ankle stretch. It's okay if your pelvis is a bit lifted, as long as there's not any sharp feelings of pain that's kind of activating your nervous system. Okay, so we'll slide out of that feet plant. Let's take our right ankle over top of our left knee. You might grab it and move it. You might even stay here in this position. Or you can curl up. It's like you're doing that little abdominal and take your hands behind the hamstring, maybe on top of the shin. And then if your upper back allows you to take your head back down to the floor, go for that. You could also take your prop your blanket and take it underneath your head. Here, there might be a little wobble side to side. If you'd like a little more sensation out of this, if you can reach your hands on top of the knee a little bit more, and then aim your left knee for your left armpit instead of the chest. So it's coming across and a little bit more down into the left armpit. You might take a few long exhales there. It's okay if you tip left a little bit. Okay, you can release that out. Take your arms out to the sides. And the invitation here is to let this whole unit fall to the left. So you're coming into a twist. So let it fall. You could put something underneath your foot if it doesn't want to come all the way to the ground. And if it's too far away from you, you could also draw the knees in a little bit before you let that descent of your legs to the left. Sometimes, and some people might take their left hand, grab a hold of the right ankle or even push away right the thigh. This could be a nice sensation of tug in the right side body.

Yeah, sometimes it feels chaotic. And even in those times, can we feel our body on the ground? Okay, let's draw the left. And let's switch. Ankle comes on top of the right knee. Stay there. And if you want to find a little bit more of that sensation of stretch around the left hip, you could aim your right knee, move your hands up a bit more to be on on the base of the knee, and aim that right knee towards the right armpit. Allowing yourself to topple a little to the right. And maybe this exposes your left hip to your attention a little bit more. Certainly does for me. All right, let's let that land. And then we'll allow the legs to fall over to the right. So that whole unit. Also, if this doesn't work for you, this leg orientation, come into a twist that will work for your body. There's many different ways to twist. But if this feels nice, you can allow the legs to fall, maybe putting something under them. You could use your right hand to grab a hold of your right ankle, even inching it closer to your chest, maybe pressing the left thigh away. And releasing from that so you can unhook your legs, center out your pelvis, land in the middle. Feel free to make any little movements, rebound movements to come out of that. Also, if there's any other little movements that your body's craving, go ahead and find those movements. One of the most beautiful things about practicing at home is that's what you can do. Do what you need to do. And then we'll slide out into our relaxation, in which I'll offer a breath practice. So you could take it or leave it. You might take your shoulder blades, inch them a little away from your neck. You might pull on your mat a little bit and kind of drag your ribs away from your pelvis so that you feel really broad and long through your back. If it feels safe for you, you could also close your eyes. And here might be a nice opportunity to take a breath out of your mouth, a cleansing breath. And then the breath practice I'll offer you is to breathe in for three counts and exhale out for six.

So your own counts. I won't count the breath for you because I don't want to interfere with your own breath count. But the idea is breathe in for three of your own counts and exhale for up to six. And if that feels useful, you can stick with that. Or you might just allow yourself to drift and attend to whatever sensations, whatever thoughts, whatever feelings arise. Thank you. Thank you. And you might want to stay in your lying down position for as long as you like. But I'll invite you if you like to come up for a short few minutes of meditation. So perhaps you stretch out your arms, stretch out your legs, give yourself a nice wake up stretch. You roll your wrists and your ankles, maybe roll over to one side and take your own time to come up to a seat in which you might prop yourself up. You might get the alignment just right so that you can commit to relaxing into the still body as still as dynamic stillness and just letting the dust settle. You could tuck your chin and then noticing perhaps even tethering your attention to the breathing process. Sometimes it's useful to take a few bigger breaths just to make that contact with the breath. Then once you've made contact, you might even let the encouragement, manipulation, control of the breath go and just allow the natural breath to be your focus of attention. Maybe you even bring your attention to the place where you enjoy feeling the natural breath the most. That could be around the nostrils, the chest, heart, back or abdomen.

Maybe even in the tips of the toes, the back of the skull. And for our last few moments finding that joyful place of attention. And if it's a gesture that you like. Take your hands together at your heart. Thank you so much for practicing with me today. With this frog in my throat at the end, I honor each and every one of you that's here.