As each new year visits us, we are called to visit practices that feel whole, inviting, welcoming, and often times, soft. Let this be your signal to unwind, roll out your mat and move through a flow that feels intentional and restful.
Here is a practice to keep you returning to the mat when you need a little extra relaxation…
Begin with seated stretches
Starting in a seated posture is a great way to get grounded and into your body. Here is a mini warmup that will release tension and help you start to relax.
Seated Side Bends
- Begin in Sukhasana (easy seat) and lift your arms up by your ears
- Extend through your fingertips and root down through your seat
- Start to let your left hand come down to the ground as your right arm bends up and over alongside your right ear
- Come back to center with both arms up
- Switch the crossing of your legs and repeat the same motion on the other side
Seated Twists
- Sitting in Sukhasana, reach your arms up alongside your ears and extend towards the sky
- Twist over your right knee and let your left hand come down onto your right knee as your right hand meets the mat or blanket behind you (you have the option to prop yourself up on a blanket)
- Switch the crossing of your legs and repeat on the other side
Seated Forward Fold
- Start in Sukhasana and crawl your arms out in front of you just enough so that your seat doesn’t lift
- Switch the crossing of your legs and repeat the same motion
Start your gentle flow
Come forward to your hands and knees for a table top position and move through a couple rounds of cat/cow: inhaling as you drop your belly and lift your gaze and chest for cow, and exhaling as you round your shoulder blades, tucking your navel toward to the back of your spine.
Come back to a neutral position with your wrists stacked under your shoulders and knees under hips. Find child’s pose (for however long you wish) and then tuck your toes behind you, send your hips up and back for downward facing dog.
Move through a mini vinyasa
- Inhale come forward to plank
- Lower all the way down
- Walk your palms forward and wide
- Press yourself up for cobra pose
- Lower back down
- Downward facing dog
Inhale lift your right leg up high and step in between your hands for a lizard lunge. You can lower your forearms down to the mat or onto blocks. Take a few rounds of breath here, letting your body get used to the deep stretch in your psoas.
Bring your palms down inside your foot (remove them from blocks if they were on blocks) and crawl your way to parallel your feet into prasarita padottanasana. Tent your fingertips, lift your chest, breathe in and as you breathe out start to fold, letting your neck and head hang heavy as you stay sturdy in your feet. Now begin to crawl yourself to the back of your mat for pigeon pose.
After pigeon pose at the back of your mat, move through another slow vinyasa – starting in downward facing dog, coming forward to plank, lowering all the way down, and pressing up to cobra. Lift your left leg and repeat the same motions, where you’ll end up at the front of the mat.
Add some seated postures
After you’ve done lizard and pigeon along with your slow vinyasas on either side, you can begin to build on that. So, the next time you come to pigeon pose, lean onto the sit bone of the leg that is bent and swing the leg that is long behind you around so you can cross your ankle over the knee that is bent for half lord of the fishes. After you unwind (untwist), you can incorporate the following seated postures:
- Janu Sirsasana
- Revolved Janu Sirsasana
- Baddha Konasana
- Tarasana
- Paschimottanasana
Supported bridge for winding down
Come to lie down on your back with your knees bent and the soles of your feet planted on the mat. Lift your hips and send them over to the left while you let your knees fall over to the right. Cactus or “T” your arms out and gaze over your left shoulder. Repeat this on the other side. After you’ve twisted to neutralize everything, you can find a nice supported bridge.
Grab a block if you have one and set it under your seat. Keep your knees bent and feet on the floor. Feel free to lift your legs up into the air if that feels good, but if you’re enjoying being still and supported by the block with your feet rooted, then just remain there. Let your breath come back to its natural rhythm.
Don’t forget the most important pose: Savasana
Give yourself enough time to move through a 5-6 minute Savasana. This is our “peak pose” for today, as we honor a restful, gentle flow. I hope you’ve enjoyed this mini restful yoga flow and if you need any playlist recommendations to go along with these classes, find us on Spotify! â¨
