Relax and Breathe

Welcome, so supta baddha konasana is one of my all time go to classic favorite postures. I find myself doing this at the end of the day when I'm looking for more of a restorative nourishing practice. So, I have a bolster and a blanket. Bring the edge of your sacrum right up against the bolster, soles on the feet together, knees wide. This is also known as sleeping butterfly, and then bring the blanket on top of the feet, and tuck it underneath your knees, creating like a little nest for your hips, and then using the abdominals to lower yourself down, I like to press the soles of my feet together enough to lift my hips, draw the tailbone under, reset the lower back, and then as I do that, drawing the shoulder blades a bit underneath the back.

I like to interlace the fingers and then gently traction up through the spine, lengthening the back of the neck, the occiput, and then releasing the head down to the bolster. You might have a second blanket underneath your head for support, and then see what it feels like to allow the palms to open, allowing it to feel a little bit more spacious around the throat. Scanning the body, notice where you can begin to relax any effort or tension. So, here the bolster is designed to really hold and support the body. You might keep the hands where they are, you might bring the hands onto the rib cage or the lower belly.

If it would feel nice on the shoulders you might reach the arms overhead, find the elbows, and I like to lengthen out of the waist. Again, lengthening through the back of the neck, and then bring your awareness towards your breath, softening a bit more through the jaw, allowing the knees to release into the support of the blanket. You might simply observe the breath, or work with deepening your inhale, and then allowing your exhale to release, eventually allowing the arms to release, letting the eyes soften into the skull, and you're welcome and invited to stay here as long as you like. When you feel ready to release, guiding the knees back up with the support of your hands, (breathes deeply) and then eventually rolling off the support onto your side, and take a few moments here on your side, and keeping the gaze soft pressing into the Earth allowing the head to come up last, and then coming into a simple cross leg position, and just taking a moment to notice how you feel. Namaste.