A rebuilding gentle and abdominals- focused flow that invites you to receive restoration through awareness of your "center"- drawing breath, attention and physical strength to our "core" area that is symbolic of our personal power, boundaries and self-worth. Nourishing depletion of energy and motivation through movement, breath and present-centred focus.
In May's workshop, I offered you a bounty of ideas for helping you to start your day vibrant and tranquil.
We explored an exercise where we examine what we already do each morning, and where we could add in small new habits that can add up to big changes over time.
Workshop notes:
-New habit ideas from bed: Breathe into right side nostril/right side body to encourage a new day of energized activity, eye exercises, joint freeing. Cultivate a thought as your feet hit the floor, like: "May something wonderful happen today".
-Let the light in, a ritual while opening blinds, windows, standing joint freeing and shake off the night's sleep.
-5 essential yoga postures: Plank, Cobra (or Locust), Leg Lifts, Bridge Pose, Bow Pose (with modifications and options. Body Brushing
-Turning aspirations into reality through habit change (written exercise)
-Prana Nidra: a supine guided meditation intended to encourage presence, (the wellspring of vitality) and balance our energy.
We begin with three brief breath techniques intended to calm a distracted mind, invigorate and increase focus. The breath leads a rhythmic flow through a full body strengthen and stretch. Closes with more gentle concentration and overall ease for mind, body and heart
A 30 minute movement and breath practice that focuses on creating mobility and strength for the hips while inviting an intention to increase the ability to experience pleasure through movement and go with the flow of life.
Strengthen your wrists, arms and upper body in a sustainable way by learning to mobilize joints and strengthen muscles without load, preparing the arms for appropriate challenge. In this 75 min invigorating therapeutic class, you'll warm up before weight-bearing movement and explore how focus on arms and chest can enhance breath and the connection with qualities of the heart.
While this 60 minute hatha class is conditioning for the whole body, there is enhanced focus placed on therapeutics for the feet and knees. To keep the feet and knees healthy and happy, we need to keep them mobile and free while strengthening and stretching the big muscle groups around them like the glutes, quads and hamstrings. Throughout the experience, there is also an invitation to offer focused appreciation for these hard working parts of our anatomy! Low body love!
A useful practice anytime you feel like you need a reset for the body and mind. Explore a breathe technique that can in itself create a shift in your state, followed by a refreshing full body movement sequence (with an appearance by my malti-poo Bowie near the end). Close with a renewing meditation.
For those who wish to include meditation and movement in the morning routine but aren’t able to create a habit, here’s an efficient way to add short and simple practices that can make a big impact over time.
A practice that begins with a breath technique intended to restore depleted energy, followed by a fluid sequence of asana meant to be approached with effort and ease. The experience closes with guided imagery to continue to rebuild and nourish.
This practice invites you to question habitual stories you tell yourself with specific questions designed to soften self-loathing tendencies. It features a breath technique that symbolizes linking the heart to the mind and movements that strengthen the upper back, countering rounded shoulders, allowing us to feel more "open" at the chest and maybe even open at the heart.
This 30 minute yoga nidra (yogic sleep) is an experience of guided, deep relaxation. Throughout, your body will be invited to the restoring experience of sleep, while the mind rests, yet is still awake. You will be guided to notice areas of the body, the breath and various imagery to help you sink into a state of profound rest. Yoga nidra is known to support the healing of stress, anxiety, depression, sleep issues and hormonal imbalances.
Here are three more ideas for tiny, easy habits that you could connect to activities you already do each day. This week, I offer inspirations for shower time, the moments we spend waiting and a quick pre-meal ritual that can turn eating into a sacred moment of gratitude.
Many come to yoga to create stronger bodies, which is one of the many benefits of the physical practice. However, we soon discover that we also strengthen our ability to question our habitual thoughts, hold broader perspectives and cultivate more compassion for ourselves and others. This 60 minute practice strengthens weak areas of the body where we often feel discomfort (neck, upper back, core, glutes) while offering a breath visualization and inspiration to strengthen our kinder inner voice.
Throughout the month of May, I will be offering simple, accessible ideas to add to your daily routine to help you stay connected to your wellness goals, even in tiny ways. Watch this resource page each Monday this month for a new short video inviting you to sample small habits that can add up to big results.
A calming, grounding 60 minute therapeutic hatha practice that intends to connect you to the undercurrent of peace that exists within us no matter what is happening around us. Expect to explore mindfulness and presence throughout mellow movement and breath and relax deeply with a guided meditation.
A practice that focuses on three of our "centers", our heart center, power center (abdomen) and the concept of a center of peace within. Sample a breath technique that visualizes placing peace in "the heart" throughout a physical sequence that seeks to stabilize the power center while creating freedom for the shoulders and making space for “the heart”.
A 60 minute therapeutic hatha sequence beginning with a breath visualization intended to clear the mind, followed by a concept to help with presence, acceptance and contentment and a flow that can contribute to greater freedom in the low back and hips.
This 20 minute practice offers a technique to shift the mind away from habitual morning thinking to inspiration, presence and thoughts that welcome you wholly to a new day. You'll receive a poem to promote a more expansive mindset and a joint freeing sequence matched with breath and ideas to awaken while cultivating a kinder inner morning landscape.
A 60 minute breath and movement experience that invites you to sensitize yourself to the felt sense of your body, a practice that cultivates presence, the doorway to healing.
A movement practice intended to uplift and cultivate self-compassion when you’re spending a lot of time with yourself, or, to foster a more loving connection with yourself.