Gentle Unwinding

Welcome, glad you're here. Our season would not be complete without a restorative heart opener. This gentle unwinding practice is designed to create a bit more mobility through the body, the spine, and the hip joints. So for this practice it'll be nice to have a blanket on your mat. You can also do this on a carpet or a rug. Have an additional blanket if you'd like for some support underneath you and a bolster if you have one or a stack of blankets or a pillow. And we'll start in supta vata kumasana. Bring the soles of the feet together knees wide and I have a long rolled up blanket so you might take a moment to roll your blanket up and you bring the blanket on top of the feet and then tuck it underneath the knees. So creating like a little nest of support for your pelvis. Really nice. You can also work with two blocks, one under each knee and then bringing your support, maybe it's your bolster, right up against your sacrum and then together we'll slowly roll on down onto our back. And if you find your head is dropping back you might bring an extra blanket or pillow under your head for support and just let yourself kind of wobble around a little bit, wiggle around. And you might here lift your pelvis up for a moment, kind of lengthen through the lower back and then release the pelvis back down. Feel how you might be able to kind of draw your shoulder blades down your back, finding a little bit more space through the neck. And it might feel really nice to let the palms open, the arms open. And with your next exhalation you begin to feel the back of the body softening and releasing towards the support. It might take some time here to allow for this transition as you ease into your practice. Feeling the weight of the head releasing, the weight of the upper body, and then down through the pelvis and the legs. And we're creating a bit more space and breathing room through the lungs and the heart, making a few minutes here together and feeling the support beneath you. Gently draw your awareness towards the breath. Notice how the quality of the breath changes with your attention. And in our opening here, without doing anything in specific with the breath, you simply become aware of the lungs, the body, receiving the breath, and releasing the breath. And in doing so, noticing any sensations through the body. And we're aware of the breath without force or strain or pushing. What is the quality of your energy in this moment? You feel perhaps a bit tired or fatigued, calm, energized, anxious. Noticing the quality and presence of prana, the subtle and conscious life force within.

And as you tune into the rhythm and the movement of the breath, notice where you can continue to soften and relax any tension or holding. Check in between your eyebrows. And what would it feel like to allow the back of the eyes to soften and rest in the eye sockets? You're releasing through the mouth and the jaw hinge, finding a little bit more space through your throat, between the collarbones, the ribs, feeling and sensing the soft and a supple movement of the belly. Maybe even feeling and sensing the sensation of the breath down into the pelvis and the pelvic floor. Last few moments here. Keep your arms where they are. You might even feel nice to stretch your arms overhead, finding a little bit more space through your elbows, your shoulders. And exhale and feel the front ribs softening down, back of the body releasing. You are welcome to stay here as long as you'd like, giving yourself permission and honoring your own internal timing and rhythm. Eventually when you feel ready to transition, bring your hands underneath your knees and gently draw your knees towards each other. Pull that blanket or support out from underneath you and let's take a moment to just stretch our legs out on the floor. And it might feel nice to point and flex the feet and circle the ankles and at this point you might stretch your arms overhead and just allow yourself to lengthen here, take up space. The head might gently rock from side to side. Eventually bending the knees, ground the soles of the feet and we'll just slowly roll to a side. Just let yourself pause for a moment as you roll and then pressing the hands into the floor and slowly transition up. I'm just taking a moment to clear the mat. So bring your bolster and your extra blanket off to the side and we want a nice kind of clear surface to roll around a bit here and we'll meet on our back. So finding your way onto your back and just take a moment after coming off the support to notice how you feel. Let's really feel how the weight of the bones can drop. Feeling the weight of the skull, back of the heart, pelvis, heels. Just allow for a clearing breath. Inhale. It'll be an audible exhale out of the mouth. Easing in with some hip glides. So what we'll do is we'll bend one knee, kind of slide it up into like a casual tree pose or bada konasana. The sole of the foot doesn't need to touch the inner leg and then just slide the leg back out and bring the toes straight up towards the sky. Let's do that on the other side.

So sliding the hip and the knee up and then extending out through the leg and on both sides continue finding your own pace and rhythm. So sliding up, that's the external rotation and then as the leg extends, internal rotation. Sliding up and extending, sliding up and extending and we'll continue like a handful of rounds at your own pace with the breath. It's a nice thing about having a blanket or kind of carpet underneath you so we can really kind of slide and glide. So allow for a bit more mobility through the hip joints. If you feel any popping or pinching in the hip, back it off. So maybe not slide up as high and find that ease through the neck and the head. You might speed it up or slow it down. Really let the leg stay heavy on the floor so we're not picking the leg up. And a few more. Soft through the jaw here. You feel some momentum with this and notice how the sensation changes with repetition, time, this flow of awareness as you move. A couple more. Good. Nice and then just relax the effort for a moment. I'm gonna check in. Notice how it feels through your hip joints. Keep your legs where they are and just begin to turn the feet in towards each other. Again, we're in internal rotation and then let the feet fall away. And turn the feet in and out and then move faster. So in and out. In and out. Relax the effort through the legs, the bones, the muscles, the flesh. In and out. In and out. A few more times. Kind of like a lateral shimmy. Keep going. Yeah and then just relax the effort and check in. Notice how you feel. The sensations through the body. Vibrations. Nice. And as you're ready, go ahead and bend your knees. Let's bring the feet nice and wide for our windshield wipers. Might feel nice to stretch the arms overhead again with soft bend for your elbows. Cruising onto the inner outer edges of the feet. Enjoy this movement. Let the head rock. Maybe away from the knees or with the knees. And coordinating with breath. Eventually let your knees fall over to the right. Pause. Reach and lengthen a little bit up through that left arm and down through the left thigh. If you need to feel more, you might bring that right ankle on top of your left thigh. Taking a few moments here. Tuning. Draw your awareness into your left lung. Notice how the breath follows. Tune from your left lung up through the pathway of your left nostril.

Notice the sensation of the breath through just the left nostril. The texture. The temperature. Excavating this steady single-pointed attention here. This darana. With a quality of tender curiosity. Feeling and sensing a bit more space here now through the ribs and the diaphragm. Down into the psoas. Hip flexor. You might stay with this a bit longer when you feel ready. Just go ahead and relax the effort of your attention. Free the foot. Inhale, knees come up. Exhale over to your left side. Pause. Feel how you might be able to stretch and lengthen a little bit more through your right arm. Again you might stay right with this. You might bring that left foot or ankle on top of the right thigh bone. Pause in here and then draw your awareness into your right lung. See what happens. You might feel and sense the presence of the breath, the lung gently expanding into the intercostals. From the right lung, draw your awareness up through the right nostril. Notice the sensation of the breath through the right nostril. Kneeling into the temperature, the texture, quality, the back of the right lung and shoulder blade release. Feel the release through the diaphragm area and down into the psoas, hip flexor. Here on the right side we're opening the liver gall bladder meridians. You might stay with this a bit longer when you feel ready to release. Just relax the effort. Free your left leg. Inhale, knees up and a few rounds of windshield wipers side to side after those longer holds. Nice and fluid through the spine and the hips. Just let it feel really nice. Good and then let's stretch the legs out. Moving into our spinal unwinding pattern. I love this. So go ahead and bend your left knee and we've explored this together in the season. Bend the left knee, ground the sole of the foot, the right leg's long. We're just gonna bring the left knee across the midline but keep the foot on the floor. Press through the inner edge of your left foot and kind of with the with your hip and your foot just move and turn the body. So feel that twist through the spine and then be gazing towards the left arm. Good and then just unwind. Let your left hip and knee swing open like your casual tree and then let the knee move across. Press arch the back and twist and then continue about a handful of times. You can experiment palms up versus palms down. Left knee moves across. Press arch twist. Gazing towards the left. Unwind. Take a breath in. Left hip and knees swing open. Exhale across. Press arch twist. You might feel this deep into the kidneys. Few more rounds here. Left knee swings across. Press arch twist. I've enjoyed that stretch. Finding the appropriate edge there. Left knee moves across. Press arch twist. Gaze to the left. Unwind. One more. Left hip and knee swing open and across. Press arch twist. Good. Unwind. Stretch the left leg out. Pause and notice how you feel. You might let the palms turn open and track the flow of blood and limb and circulation through the body. Let's clear it out.

Inhale. Exhale everything. Feeling into our second side as you're ready. Bend your right knee. Ground the foot. Let the right knee swing across the midline to the left. Press through the inner edge of your right foot. Begin to arch and twist gazing towards the right arm. Unwind onto the back. Right hip and knees swing open. Exhale. Right knee moves across. Press arch twist. Enjoy the stretch and unwind. Got a handful of rounds on this side. Go at your own pace and rhythm. Twisting arching. Unwind. Opening the right hip and knee. Swing it across. Press through the inner edge of the right foot. Arch the back twist and unwind. Few more. Right hip and knees swing open. Bring it across to the left. Press arch twist. You might linger. Wind. A few more. Wind. Right hip and knees swing open. Bring it across to the left. Press through the inner edge. Arch twist. Gaze to the right. Let's do about two more together. Right hip and knees swing open. Exhale across. Press arch twist. Enjoy the stretch. Unwind. Last one on this side. Right knee swings across. Press arch twist and gaze to the right. Beautiful work. Unwind. Stretch that right leg out. Relax the effort. You might open the palms in the shape of Shavasana. Receptive. Attracting the sensations through the inner landscape. Hip joint down through the leg. Clearing breath. Exhale everything. Take your time. Bend your knees.

Draw them into your chest. Drop from side to side. That feels good. And then let's circle the knees in one direction. Hands can be on the knees or you can release your arms out to your sides. Just massaging the perimeter of the sacrum. Glutes down into the tailbone. Upper sacrum. Just exploring a range of movement that feels good in this moment. And then we'll circle in the other direction. Keep it really relaxed through the upper body. You might feel warming here in the abdominals and the hips. Lower body. Come back to center. Go ahead and bring your hands in between your legs. Grab a hold of the back of the legs just below the knees. We'll come into our happy baby variation here. Softening the shoulders down. Relaxing the face. Again if your neck is uncomfortable and your head is dropping back you might bring a blanket underneath. A bit more sensation through the hips and groins. And then we'll extend out through the right leg and just begin to wake up the hamstrings here. Inner leg line. Circle out through the ankle joint. Kind of a nice leisurely stretch without trying to get anywhere or do anything. And then drawing the heel in. Let's extend through that left leg. Circling out through the ankle joint. You might find this side feels different depending on this hip joint, hamstrings, the knee and ankle. Nice. Drawing the heel in and then we'll kick from side to side.

So rocking on the spine. Kicking the legs out one at a time. Again feel this work through the abdominals. The inner leg lines. Feel the momentum as the head rocks from side to side. And we're stimulating the nerves of the parasympathetic that emanate out of our sacrum and move up our spine into the brainstem. So nice. When you feel complete with that, hug the knees back into the chest. We'll slowly transition. So take your time. Roll to your side. You might pause there. Just use your arms to slowly press yourself up. Let's transition into a tabletop and you might bring some extra padding under your knees for support here. And spread the fingers wide. Might feel really nice to tuck your toes under. Just to stretch and open the bottoms of the feet here. And moving into our cat-cow spinal movement. Inhale. Drop the belly. Nice and broad through your collar bones, sitting bones. Lift. Exhale. Let your back round and stretch. Take your time here. Nice and wide through the back body, the ribs, the kidneys. Release the head. Breathe into the back. Maybe you can feel the breath into the soles of your feet. And then shift the weight, shoulders over the wrists. Inhale. Drop the belly. Lift the heart, the sitting bones. And then exhale. Curl and round. Continuing at your own pace with the breath. Let the gaze soften inward. You might keep your hands exactly where they are. You might experiment with fanning the fingers out a little wider in your cat-cow. Or even spinning the fingers towards the knees, wrists away. Now this can be quite intense and flavorful in the hands, the wrists, the arms. So again you're finding that appropriate dosage, that appropriate edge of sensation. And then taking the hips in a circular motion. And feeling into outer hips here. Feeling the movement through the spine and the ribs. And then we'll circle in the other direction. Again taking care of your knees and your wrists. You might bring some extra padding under the knees. You can even explore this on the forearms with a bolster underneath the forearms. Good. And then from here let's take a moment to settle back into our child's pose. You might bring the elbows wide and rest your forehead on your hands or down into the earth. And allow for a little wobble from side to side here. Breathing. Take your time. We'll rise back up into tabletop and find a nice kind of easy leisurely side plank variation. Spread the fingers wide. Let's start by extending back through our left leg. Tuck the toes under and just kind of rock forward and back. A few times driving with the foot. Waking up the back leg line. You might stay with this. You might begin to transfer your weight into your right shoulder and wrist here. Stacking them. Extend through the top left leg. And then readjust your bottom hip and foot. More like a kick stand. Feel this beautiful turning of your ribs. You might stay right here. You might feel nice to reach your top arm up towards the sky. And feel that expression from your heart into your hands. You feel nice to take a few circles. Circling the top arm down to the floor. Overhead. Spin the chest. And then release it down. Spin. Opening up through the shoulder. Along the ribs. Eventually you might take a moment here to pause. Extending the arm. Rooting. Rooting from the outer left edge to the fingers. Beautiful. Opening the side body with an inhale. Exhale. Sweep that left arm down. Spin onto the ball of your back left foot. Draw the knee in. And we'll cat cow through the spine. Or maybe a child's pose would feel nice to release some of the pressure from the wrists. Easing our way into the second side. As you're ready, extend back for your right leg. And just begin to wake up the back of the leg here. Getting into the ball, the foot, the toes, the heel. And you might stay with this. You might transfer your weight energy into your left arm. Stacking shoulder over wrist.

And readjust your bottom left hip. Extend out through the right leg. And you might stay right here. Kind of rolling the lungs, the ribs towards the sky. You might stretch your top right arm up. Reaching from the heart into the hands. If it would feel nice, let's circle through the shoulder. Reaching the arm down towards your back right foot, down to the floor, and overhead. Circling a few rounds here. Arm reaches down towards the floor. Overhead and up. You're exploring a range of movement that feels good in the shoulder. Eventually you might reach that top arm overhead. Rooting through the outer right edge of the foot to the fingers. The spiraling open through the heart. Still allow for another breath here. And then exhale. Sweep that right arm down. Spin onto the ball of your back right foot. Draw the right knee in. Again, maybe cat-cow. Kind of rippling through the spine. We're eventually pressing back towards a child's pose. Releasing for a few breaths. Just notice what you prefer to do with your arms. From child's pose, as you feel ready, just slowly begin to find your way up. From here we'll ease into a pigeon pose. If you know pigeon does not feel right for your knee or hip, then go ahead and find your way onto your back in the figure four position. I'll just demonstrate that. It's this one. If you'd like to join me in pigeon, start with the right leg drawing or sliding the knee forward. You might toe heel the foot towards the left hand. Now if your hip is floating up off the floor, you might reach for your blanket or your block or bolster and just slide it underneath your left hip there. Whew. Easing in nice and slow. Listening to your hip, your knee, your body. You might stay right where you are. If and as it would feel good and useful to lean forward and in, you might begin to release onto your forearms or your bolster or blanket. Just notice what you prefer to do with the weight of your head. You might support it. You might release it. Softening eyes, jaw, belly. Breathing into where you feel the sensation. Just allow for a generous exhalation here. Of allowing the hip to release in its own way and its own timing. We're tuning in with this quality of tender listening and curiosity. Feeling the support beneath you. You are welcome to stay here a bit longer than when you feel ready to release. Slowly use the support of your arms and walk yourself back up and then finding a slow mindful transition back towards child's pose. You might tuck the back toes under and then just draw that right knee back and maybe a cat-cow would feel nice. The child's pose or even a downward dog might feel really good in between sides. Eventually when you're ready we'll ease towards the second side. It's the left side drawing that knee forward. My toe heel that left foot towards the right hand a little bit.

Eventually sliding back and you might bring support underneath the left hip if it's floating in space. Bolster, block blanket. Very helpful here. So our front left hip, thigh bone is an external rotation. The back thigh is an internal rotation. For me this side feels different than the right hip so I'm a little like wobbling from side to side just to kind of map the landscape of sensation. Really listening to the wisdom of the body. You might stay right where you are. If and as it would feel good to kind of deepen the sensation you might lean forward. Releasing onto the forearms or bolster and check in again. You might release the weight of the head here. You might support the weight of the head with the hands. Really customize it for this side. I notice the quality of your breathing allowing the inhale to invite a bit more space and the exhale to soften and release any tension, achiness, stagnation through the hip. If it feels like too much it is. Really trust what you're feeling and sensing. Really the essence of yoga. You might stay a bit longer on this side depending on this hip and your timing. When you feel like you've had enough and it's time to come out just slowly and mindfully ease your way up. You might tuck your back toes under and find a safe exit route back. Sliding that left knee back to meet the right and check in. Maybe it's cat-cow, child's pose or a nice easy down dog would feel good for your body. Eventually when you're ready we'll extend the legs out straight and you might sit up on a blanket or a bolster just to give the hips some height. Helps to tilt the pelvis forward and just lengthen the spine rather than kind of rounding back on the sitting bones. A little pause here in a staff pose Dandasana for a few moments. Feel how you can bring the hands down and kind of lift up through the chest. Really feeling the integrity, the strength of the back body, the spine and tuning towards the central channel. Feeling that gentle lift of the skull back and up. Just the chin softens down. Still out for another inhale here and exhale. Moving our way into Janu Srshasana. Go ahead and bend your right knee and then open the hip. Bring the sole of that right foot towards the left inner leg. It's kind of like our seated tree pose. We explored a bit supine and again if your right knee is floating up in space you might bring support underneath it. So I'll demonstrate with a bolster underneath that knee. You might stay right where you are lengthening and if and as you need to feel more sensation begin to walk your hands forward. You can use your hands a bit to create a bit of length through the spine. So kind of suction cut through the fingers. Feeling that extension. Definitely a lot happening through the back of the left leg. Hamstrings. You might stay right where you are. If rounding your back and spine would feel really nice to stretch your back you might explore it. Explore that. Feeling the presence of the back body. Breathing into the kidneys. Low back. Sacrum. This is such a nourishing pose. Yodasana. Last few moments here. You might have the palms facing down or up. You might stay with this a bit longer. When you feel ready just slowly roll and round your spine back up. Take a moment to pause. Feel a wave of breath come in. Exhale release. Bring your right hand support your right knee. Draw the leg in.

Stretch it out. We'll find the other side. Bend your left knee. Open through the hip. Bring the sole of that left foot towards the inner leg. Again you might bring support underneath your left knee. Take a few moments here. Feel your extension. Feel the length of the spine. Then you might stay right here. You might begin to hinge forward. Feel how the right ribs and lung drop back. As you begin to lengthen over the right leg. Again you might work the extension at first. Bring your fingers down and feel how you can draw and lengthen the heart forward. The spine. Lengthening out of the low back. You might stay with this. You might slowly begin to round and stretch your back. Releasing the weight of the head here. And Janu Shirshasana. Breathing into where you feel it. Notice what you choose to do with your hands. Palms down versus palms up. Weight of the head releasing or perhaps even supported. And if it feels like it's too much in the hamstrings, it is. You might kind of back it out a little bit. Or even kind of deepen in. Re-tuning our skills of inner listening.

What we're daring to do is we're guided to within. You might stay with this a bit longer. When you feel ready, just slowly begin to round your way up. Take a moment to pause. Check in. Notice. Feel that wave of breath come into the lungs. Exhale. Release. Bring your left hand underneath the knee. Support the knee and then just stretch that left leg out. Take a moment to pause. From here we'll transition on to our backs. Just find your way onto your back. Meet you there. Come into a spinal twist to pine. Hug your knees into your chest. Oh this feels nice. From side to side. From here we'll explore a spinal twist to our right. So any variation that would feel nice. I think today I'm gonna explore the eagle wrap. Wrapping the top left leg over the right. Then we'll roll everything over to the right side. Stack shoulders. Stack legs. And then let your top left arm kind of circle over your head and feel that opening of the chest. Kind of the turning of the lungs. And settling here. If this feels like it's too much on the back and not the right spinal twist for your body, you might just simply stack the knees on top of each other. And spacious through the throat between the eyes. Breathing into where you feel it. Exhale softening belly. And emptying. And here the twists are designed to increase circulation. Flow of blood and limp through the tissues. They kind of intentionally wring out the internal organs. You might stay a bit longer. When you feel ready to unwind just unwrap your legs. Lead with the top left leg and let your bottom leg follow. You might hug your knees and rock from side to side. And shift your hips to the right a smidge. Wrap your top right leg over the bottom. Or any variation. Roll on to your left side. Stack your arms, your shoulders.

Let the top arm and shoulder circle overhead and open. Settling in with an inhale. Deepening with an exhale. Lining that ease up through the neck. Space between the eyes. Space of skull and throat. Find that, especially with these longer holds, there's a kind of a sweet ripening that happens in the asana, in the shape. Allowing gravity to assist. And perhaps the back of the right shoulder blade and lung releasing. And any irritation or pinching through your right shoulder you might just simply let the arm lower down or bring support underneath your wing.

Taking your time. I invite you to stay longer. When you feel ready just unwrap your top right leg. Lead with it and let the bottom leg follow. Just hug the knees into the chest. Rock from side to side. You feel nice to close to just curl up into a ball for a moment. Bring your forehead towards your knees. Curling. And then just slowly lower back down. For shavasana it might feel really nice to bring a bolster under the back of your knees for support. It's worth taking the time for yourself here. And you can even you can roll a blanket on top of the bolster. You can bring a blanket under your head. Whatever you'd like to do. Take a few minutes to stretch out. Relax the effort. Rest in the space you've created. Be spacious through the pelvis and the hips. The rise of the inhale. Nice audible and generous exhale. Letting the bones sink into your earth. Letting yourself take up space. Letting your energy expand. That's a wide-open awareness. And shavasana is an invitation to practice consciously letting go. And shavasana is an invitation to practice consciously letting go.

And shavasana is an invitation to practice consciously letting go. And shavasana is an invitation to practice consciously letting go. And feeling the support beneath you. And you draw your awareness towards the breath. I invite you if you have the time and the space to stay and rest. Eventually it will make you feel nice if you have that support under the legs to bring the soles of the feet together. Let the knees go wide and a reclining elevated butterfly or bada konasana. And nourishment and circulation to the pelvis, hips and pelvic floor.

You feel ready drawing your knees towards each other and just allow yourself to roll to your side, pause and curl up. Take your time, slowly pressing into the floor and letting yourself come up and transition into a seated shape and might bring support underneath you. Kneezing into your seat, invite a quality of length up through the spine. Just allowing your inner ears to open. Staying present with your inner experience and sensations. Feel into the sounds and vibrations and the space you're in. Bring the hands together at the heart and gathering up the energy, the light, the love, the awareness and the practice and offering it up and out for the benefit of all beings everywhere. Breathing in, exhale with a soft bow forward and in. Namaste. Thank you so much for joining me on a beautiful day.