Are you feeling overwhelmed, uninspired, or scatterbrained?
Maybe you’re processing changes in your life or worrying about something that’s
out of your comfort zone?
Try a few minutes of yoga today, to help get grounded.
Mountain Pose
Place your feet at hips width distance. Ground down onto all
four corners of your feet. Notice the weight of your body pouring down into the
earth, and the little rebound of energy that comes back up through the soles of
your feet. A slight bend in your knees, shoulders back and down. Breathe deeply
in and out through the nose. Once you feel you have established your presence
in your practice space, play with reaching your arms overhead, inviting energy
down in the fingertips, through the body, and into the feet.
Child’s Pose
Take your knees wide on your mat. Bring the big toes
together to touch. Let the hips rest back over your heels, and slowly bring the
forehead down to the mat. If this feels uncomfortable in your body, you can use
a pillow or a blanket over the heels, or even under the abdomen, to cushion
your body. Become present to the sound of your breath. Deepen the inhales and
exhales, settling down, noticing where you can soften. Stay for 10 breaths.
Cat/Cow
Place the wrists under the shoulders, and knees under the
hips. Take a moment to look down and see if your shoulders are truly over the
wrists; if they’re too far back, shift your weight forward a bit. Spread the
fingertips wide. Feel the hands grounding, the knuckles under the pointer
fingers and the pinky fingers touching the mat. You could not slide a piece of
paper under the palm; it’s that connected to your mat. On your exhale, press
the floor away, round your spine, look in at your belly (cat pose). On your inhale,
your belly drops down, shoulders drawn down the back, gaze peeks up (cow pose).
Keep moving slowly between Cat and Cow, noticing how the breath initiates your
movement. After a few minutes here, take a big breath in through your nose, and
then open your mouth and sigh it out. Let something go.
Goddess Pose
Place the feet at mat’s width distance (wider than your
hips), with your heels in and your toes out. Sink low, settling the hips down
toward the ground (if you don’t have this flexibility in your hips, you can
also bring more muscular energy into the thighs, more like a squat). If you’re
in full Goddess, shift some weight into your heels. Bring the hands together in
front of your heart, and create a little updog in your chest. Chin lifts a
little, press the elbows into the outer shins to widen across the chest. Close
down your eyes; gaze in at the third eye. Breathe normally here, 8 to 10
breaths.
Bridge
Lay down on your back. Plant your feet on the mat at hips
width distance. Gaze straight up at the ceiling, tuck the chin in a little to
flatten the back of the neck on the floor. Press down into your feet and inhale
your hips up off the mat. You may start to work your hands together under the
body, interlacing the fingers, creating a base with the forearms so that you
can press more into the mat to raise your hips up. Notice the backbend
originating from the upper back (chest); don’t worry about crunching upward or
shoving your hips—let the glutes be soft, feet pressing firmly into the mat.
Focus on your Ujjayi breath at the throat. Notice where you can soften. Find
your fullest expression of the pose and stay for 8 to 10 breaths, then lower
slowly back down.
Photo by Justin Kral.
Savasana
Lay down on your back, finding corpse pose. Legs go long
down the mat, arms by your sides, palms facing up. Press the back of your skull
into the mat and notice how that’s like a reset button for the rest of your
body. Let the spine sink down; feel the whole body become heavy and relaxed.
Close your eyes. Let go of the breath. Relax.
Namaste.
