Gentle Yoga to Destress From Work | 25 min

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Welcome to this week's 20-25 minute gentle yoga class where we're going to keep the vibe mellow, work on opening up the body in a real gentle way.

[00:00:13]Not an overly strength focused class, but hopefully real relaxing. Perfect for maybe if you've had a stressful busy day or you're feeling tense and low on energy. This is the class for you. So, we're going to begin seated. We'll move through some things in a from the seated position and then we will move down onto our backs and enjoy lots of twists, lots of hip opening. So, all right. Find a comfortable seat and that may look like sitting up on a block or a bolster. If you find that your knees are riding really high and it's just this sitting isn't comfortable. So, find a seat that's comfortable for you.

[00:01:04]Root down through your sitting bones, those little bony parts of your bum.

[00:01:07]Engage your core. See if we can grow a little through our spine. Have those shoulders lightly rolling back. Let's have the hands come out to the side and then slowly walk your right fingers off off off and then sweep the left fingers, arc it up and over. Pressing down through that right hand to help give you a little lift in that side body.

[00:01:38]Breathe into the sensations. You can look up or if your neck bothers you, you could just rest it down.

[00:01:58]>> [snorts] >> And through center and we're going to reach up with the left fingers now.

[00:02:06]Press down and away with that hand and sweep the right hand up and over.

[00:02:16]Sending your breath to any tight [music] places or any sensational places you feel.

[00:02:38]And then inhale back through center.

[00:02:42]And we're going to inhale both fingers to the sky.

[00:02:46]And as we exhale, we're going to twist to the right bringing the hands down looking over your right shoulder.

[00:02:55]And then inhale through center, fingers to the sky.

[00:03:00]Exhale twist the other way, look over your left shoulder.

[00:03:06]And we're going to flow with our breath.

[00:03:09]Inhaling through center, exhale twist.

[00:03:17]Few rounds just like that.

[00:03:32]>> [sighs and gasps] >> One more round.

[00:03:52]Focusing on breaths.

[00:03:59]Filling up and emptying all the way out.

[00:04:10]Come back through center.

[00:04:12]Switch the cross on your legs.

[00:04:14]This is going to be my new yoga area working on a We'll be fencing here eventually so you won't see the the traffic and hopefully won't hear it as much either.

[00:04:24]All right, you can rest your hands on your knees and let's begin moving in a circle here. So you can use your hands to sort of help direct you around as you complete your little spinal circles here.

[00:04:41]Enjoying the movement, letting it feel nice.

[00:04:51]And then switch directions.

[00:05:16]Beautiful.

[00:05:18]Bring your hands a little bit behind you so you can bring your feet out in front now.

[00:05:23]Knees up and then you can just let the knees windshield wiper off one way.

[00:05:31]Inhale through center.

[00:05:33]Exhale the other way.

[00:05:38]Inhaling and exhaling. [music] >> And then come to one side and turn.

[00:05:59]Twisting.

[00:06:02]And then twist the other way.

[00:06:10]And release the twist. Let the knees come back through center and drop the other way and then twist to the right.

[00:06:26]Come through center and twist.

[00:06:30]Should feel a little harder twisting to the left.

[00:06:34]Let the twist come all the way from the base through the upper back.

[00:06:42]Looking over that left shoulder.

[00:06:46]And then come undone.

[00:06:50]Let's move around onto all fours.

[00:06:53]So we can get in some cat cow here. So you want your wrists under your shoulders, knees under your hips, but you want your fingers spreading brightly. So you want space between None of this.

[00:07:05]Like a high five with like I guess you could see all the little space between your beautiful little fingers there. And sway the hips outside to side. Get real comfy in this position and then press down strongly the hands, engage your core. So you have nice neutral position here. And then begin to tuck your tail under, round behind the back of the heart, let your head drop, chin tuck.

[00:07:33]And [snorts] we have our cat.

[00:07:37]Really press down and see how much expansion behind your heart you can get.

[00:07:46]And then we're going to reverse this whole action. Keeping the hands pressing down firmly though, we're just going to >> [snorts] >> let the belly start to tip towards the floor, tailbone tip towards the sky, and as we do the chin lifts for our cow.

[00:08:10]And then go ahead and rock back and forth here at your own pace using your breath.

[00:08:41]And come to a neutral spine.

[00:08:43]And we're going to take a little puppy pose, so let the hands come out in front of you now. Let your heart start to melt towards the floor. And then let your forehead drop down.

[00:08:58]Take a couple breaths here.

[00:09:03]>> [sighs] [gasps] [sighs and gasps] >> And then come back to all fours.

[00:09:22]Sway out.

[00:09:25]And then we're going to raise our right hand to the sky, look up at that hand, and then you're going to thread it through our the opening here. Let your right shoulder head drop all the way down.

[00:09:39]And you can use your left hand as a little bit of a kickstand to help twist open through the upper back. Mostly stay level in your lower.

[00:09:52]Couple breaths.

[00:10:13]And then come on up.

[00:10:18]Find your center, sway it out.

[00:10:22]And then we're going to switch sides.

[00:10:25]So, reach the left hand up, twist open, look up, and then thread that hand through, drop the shoulder head about halfway.

[00:10:37]And then use your right hand as a little bit of a kickstand to help you roll open through the upper back. Take a few breaths.

[00:11:14]And then come on down.

[00:11:17]Back to all fours, send the knees wider now for child's pose, sending your hips back towards your heels. Or if that bothers your knees, you can keep your toes curled under in more of a all fours kind of a shape.

[00:11:35]And and only coming back as far as feels acceptable to you.

[00:11:41]Rest your forehead down, take a few breaths.

[00:11:48]Using your hands to create that tension by pushing away.

[00:12:30]And then go ahead, use your hands to push yourself back to a seated position.

[00:12:35]Let your hips drop over to a side, and draw your feet out around in front of you.

[00:12:43]And we're going to prepare to lay down onto our backs now.

[00:12:50]Let's cactus the arms, send the feet as wide as the mat. And like we were doing sitting with the knees, windshield wiper off one way, inhale through the center, exhale off the other way.

[00:13:05]Getting a little flow here with your breath.

[00:13:09]Inhaling and exhaling.

[00:13:29]Mhm. through center and exhale pause at a side.

[00:13:37]If you want to add a little more juice to it, you can put your right foot on top and just above your left knee to help draw it down.

[00:14:16]Release.

[00:14:19]Come through center.

[00:14:21]And then let's do the other side. Let the knees drop.

[00:14:26]Pausing.

[00:14:31]And then if you wanted to add a little more, you place the left foot now on top and just above that right knee.

[00:15:11]Come on up.

[00:15:14]And now let's do reclining pigeon. So, you're going to make a figure four shape with right ankle just above your left knee, flexing your left right, [music] sorry, right foot strongly. Pick the left foot off the earth, right hand through the opening, the hole.

[00:15:34]And then you can clasp around the top of the shin or under the thigh, [music] whatever feels more comfortable to you.

[00:15:45]And breathe.

[00:15:47]You can roll a little on the low back if that feels good or just hold still.

[00:16:22]I swear I live in the tiniest town possible, but I feel like as soon as I start to do a yoga practice, everyone feels the need to drive.

[00:16:30]>> [laughter] >> Like I feel like every person in town has has driven by so far.

[00:16:34]>> [laughter] >> All right, go ahead and release.

[00:16:38]I'm done.

[00:16:40]Re-center yourself also we can do the other side, so left ankle just above our right knee. We flex strongly, pick the bottom foot off the floor, left through the hole, either under your right thigh or around the top of your shin.

[00:17:01]Just taking a few moments here.

[00:17:49]>> And go ahead and come on down.

[00:17:53]Hug both knees into your chest. You can add that roll again if you'd like.

[00:18:08]Hands under your knees.

[00:18:10]Exhale, we're going to press the knees away, straightening the arms.

[00:18:16]Inhale, hug the knees in.

[00:18:20]>> [snorts] >> Exhale, press away.

[00:18:24]Inhale, hugging in.

[00:18:28]Couple more rounds.

[00:18:44]And cactus your arms.

[00:18:46]Place your knees over your hips and we'll do a little 90 here. Engage your core and let the knees drop with control to the right.

[00:18:58]You can place your hand on top of that left knee. Look to the left.

[00:19:23]>> And then, release the hand, pull the knees back through the center.

[00:19:28]And then, we're going to go off the other way.

[00:19:34]Place that left hand on your right thigh, if you like. Look to the right.

[00:20:10]And now, through center.

[00:20:15]And let's grab a little happy baby, grabbing the outside edges of the feet or your shins.

[00:20:22]Drawing the knees down towards the outside of your torso. Relaxing your head, upper back, lower back, hips into the mat.

[00:20:35]Finding that roll, if that calls to you here.

[00:21:11]>> And allow the feet come together as you come out, letting the knees open wide, hands rest on your inner thighs.

[00:21:19]Supta Baddha Konasana, or the reclining butterfly here.

[00:21:27]Also, our last little posture before we take a final relaxation [music] or shavasana.

[00:22:09]As you're ready, begin to lengthen your legs long on your mat.

[00:22:13]And for shavasana, there's several options cuz you want to be as comfortable as possible, as little as sensations as you can. So, sometimes lying flat is not so easy. So, you could bend your knock your knees in towards one another. You could place a little pillow under your knees. You can also perhaps rest your head on a little pillow. You decide.

[00:22:39]Find your comfy place and then take the next few minutes to completely let go, drop out, allow all the tensions to melt away into the earth that supports you.

[00:22:57]And I'll guide you out in a few minutes.

[00:24:58]>> Deep in your breath.

[00:25:03]And [sighs] as you feel ready, roll to a side.

[00:25:09]Let's pause for a moment.

[00:25:15]Keeping the energy low as you gently using your arms, push yourself up to a seat.

[00:25:30]Thank you for this beautiful practice. I hope you [music] feel very relaxed now, enjoying your evening or rest of your day or whatever else you may have in mind. The light within me sees and [music] recognizes the light within you.

[00:25:44]Take care.