Stretch Your Back, Again!

Welcome. This is a gentle floor practice designed to offer relief for your back. We will be stretching and strengthening to promote some ease and mobility. So for this practice, it'll be nice to have two blankets, maybe a bolster, two blocks, and a strap. So a bit of everything.

And you might start with your blanket on your mat just to offer a bit more comfiness. So meet me on your back as you're ready. You might bring an extra folded blanket under your head for support. Just start by drawing our knees into our chest. Just allow yourself to rock from side to side feeling into your body in this moment.

Wodising how it feels through your spine. Be across your shoulder blades down through your lower back and your sacrum. From here, you might bring your hands onto your knees and begin to make a circle with the knees in one direction. Keeping it relaxed through the shoulders, through the face. Just massaging the perimeter of the sacrum.

Circling in the other direction. Begin to notice the quality of the breath as there's more sensation arising. Be softening a bit through the jaw. Nice. And then eventually ground your feet on your mat. Arms alongside the body, we'll begin with some pelvic tilt. So keeping your pelvis on the floor, begin to draw your tailbone under, keep your hips scrounded, feel your naval draw towards your spine.

And then with your inhale, begin to tilt your pelvis forward, tilt the pubic bone down arch your lower back off the floor. How you can lengthen the front of your body. And then with your exhale hips stay grounded, curl your tailbone under, navel to spine. And as you inhale roll your pelvis forward arch and lengthen, few more times at your own pace with the breath. You might soften your gaze inward, and you might even visualize the, kind of, fluid nature of the spine.

Initiating the movement from your tailbone all the way up into your neck. So feel how your cervical spine, the occiput, can move freely. Few more rounds, inhale arching the back, lift the lumbar spine, exhale, curl round, navel to spine. Nice. Notice how the range of movement might begin to change with repetition, breath, and increasing awareness. Beautiful. And then relax the effort pause.

From here, we'll interlace our fingers behind our head. And then allow for an inhale as you x sail, manually lift your head up with your hands, like you're doing a curl, a crunch. Draw your elbows towards each other, curl your tailbone under. Lower back down. Let your elbows draw towards the floor. Inhale, let your lower back arch Exale, lift your head up elbows together, curl your tailbone under, feel that that that gentle squeeze, lower back down, inhale arching, Exhale lift and curl, so warming the body, and articulating the spine, inhale arch, elbows draw down, full breath in, exhale lift and curl, navel to spine stretching the back of the heart shoulder blades.

Let's find one more to gather inhale to arch, exhale curl round lift, lower back down. Take a moment to pause. From here, it might bring a blanket under your head for support if you don't have one there. Feel the shoulder blades settle down. And then from here, draw your right knee into your chest.

As you draw your right knee into your chest and then soften down through the shoulders, softening through the jaw. You might stay right here. You might slide your left heel out long as you lengthen through the leg. Just allow for a gentle inhale and exhale. Feeling into your right hip, feeling into the joint, feeling into the hip flexor, you might let your right knee go a little bit wider as you kind of feel into that area.

Let your left hip and thigh bones stay heavy. And can you feel a sense of the breath moving down into your lower back? I'm gonna nourishing your kidneys. Just a sweet, simple way to stretch and release the lower back. Take an inhale together, exhale release your right foot down, and draw your left knee into your chest, interlace the fingers, softening the shoulders, and then sliding your right heel out.

Allow for an inhale and exhale. Keeping your right leg long and active is you feel into your left hip and the feeling into the joint, the hip flexor, you might bring the left hand on the left knee as you let the knee open out a little bit to the left. Keeping that right hip and thigh bone heavy. Breathing. Again, can you get a sense of breathing deep down into your lower back?

Towards the kidneys. Notice where you can soften through the upper body a bit. Inhale. And then exhale release your left foot down. Ben both knees. From here, If you'd like, we're gonna press down for the feet and bring the bolster.

You can also use a folded blanket underneath the pelvis. So we'll explore this again with a bit more support underneath us. As you're ready, draw your right knee into your chest, stay here, stretch your left leg long. Now if you're working with support underneath you most likely, it feels a bit different. You might support your right knee with your right hand as you let the hip open out a little bit back to the center, feeling that nice long stretch and opening for the front of the left hip.

Hip flexor into the psoas. Taking a few more breaths here. If you'd like, you might even choose to stretch your left arm long. Feeling that laying through the left side of your body. Breathing.

Allow for another inhale and then exhale bend your left knee, round both feet. Pause. Draw your left knee into your chest. Hands might interlace around the knee or even the back of the leg, and then you might extend your right leg long. Feeling into the support on this side. Again, you might support the left knee with a left hand as you kind of explore range of movement in your left hip, feeling that big nice opening and stretch through the front of your right hip hip flexor, so as muscle, and soft and easy through the jaw.

If you'd like, you might stretch your right arm overhead. Just feeling that long line of energy. Breathing into where you feel the stretch. You allow for another inhale, exhale, lowering the right arm, bend the right knee, and release that left foot down. Take a moment to pause.

Notice how you feel. As you're ready, press for the feet, lift your pelvis up and just remove the blocks that or the bolster slide it out from underneath you and just slowly lower back down. We're gonna look for our strap. And from here, bring the strap around the bottom of both feet. You're gonna loop the strap. You're on the bottom of both feet.

Feed about hips width apart. Spread your toes wide. You can bend your knees a bit here and soften through the shoulders. So if you have your shoulder blades can release down, find ease in your neck. As you spread your toes and bend your knees, if you like, begin to feel how you can reach the bottom of your foot, both feet up into your strap.

Perhaps feeling that connection from your sitting bones, and your sacrum all the way up into the soles of your feet, reaching through the inner heels, reaching through the outer heels, If and as you want to feel more on your hamstrings, you can kinda play with extending your legs towards straight. Maybe with a soft bend in the back of the knees here. You might stay right here. You might play with bringing your feet out wider, opening up through the hips and the legs. From here, I like to root through the outer edges of the feet and just begin to rock from side to side.

Genai's sweet way to massage the lower back and the spine. Again, finding ease through the shoulders and the face, breathing into where you feel the stretch. Feeling that connection through the outer leg lines into the outer edges of your feet. You more moments side to side. Rresting in the experience of being here now.

You might stay with this a bit longer if it feels good. As you feel ready, bring the legs closer together, we'll take a moment to pause with the feet about hips width apart. Inhale, take your time with this exhale, bend your knees, ground your feet. You can just remove the strap. Bring the strap off to the side.

We'll use it a bit later in our practice. Might draw your knees into your chest and rock from side to side before we transition up. When you're ready, you might roll to your side pause there. Head heavy, use your hands to press yourself up. From here, we'll transition towards tabletop position.

You might bring your blanket off to the side that was supporting your head. As you arrive in your tabletop, we'll work with our two blocks. Bring your blocks onto the lowest setting and begin to draw your hips back towards your heels. So more variation of a child's pose here, releasing the head a bit, getting a nice full breath into your mid lower back. And then as you inhale, feel the shoulders draw over the wrist, the hips draw over the knees, we'll explore cow pose.

So feel how you can drop the belly, lift the heart and feel that length and space through your collar bones and sitting bones. And then as you exhale, press into your blocks around and stretch your back, see how this feels with the support of the blocks as you draw your hips back towards your active child's pose. Softening the chin towards the chest. Oh, maybe getting into the upper back here around the shoulder blades, back to the lungs, shoulders over the wrists, hips over the knees, drop the belly in how moving into your cow, your extension, feeling that length in space. And how exhale stretch the back.

And can you feel that sensation move from the upper middle, lower back? As you draw your hips towards your heels. Chin towards the chest, few more like this at your own pace. Sholders over the wrist, hips over the knees, lower the belly, lift the heart, feeling that extension, that space. Inhale exhale, curl, curl, curl slowly feel that that nice traction through your spine as you lower down towards child. So maybe two more like this.

Inhale, moving into your extension, your cow lengthening long through the neck, exhale round and curl nice and slowly back towards child. Last one, inhale, lowering, lifting, feeling that space, exhale, round, curl into your active child. Beautiful. And then from here, you can bring the blocks off to the side. We will use them in just a moment. We're gonna lower for a backbend series here.

So as you lower down, let's begin in our sphinx pose. Coming on to your forearms, feet about hips width apart, arms about shoulder width apart. We'll start with an active sphinx. So feel how you can lift and lengthen out of your lower back here. Broaden through the collar bones and use your arms to help draw the chest forward.

Feel how you can lengthen and create space, find ease in your neck. Well, inhale together, and then exhale. Let the elbows go wide and just rest your forehead on your hands for a moment. Inhale. Exhale. Keep your arms where they are and begin to lift up. Okay. We're gonna explore an active cobra here.

So keep your forms where they are tuck your toes under and begin to lift the legs. So lift the kneecaps and really engage your quad muscles. Yeah. Feel how you can stretch your heels away from your hands. So you're engaging your hamstrings, your glutes. The legs are super active. And then use your arms to help draw the chest forward. Feel how you can lift and lengthen out of your lower back.

So the back is strong. Breathing. Just find a place where your neck feels good. Maybe gazing down. Inhale lifts you up a little bit, and the exhale lowers you down, releasing the forehead point the toes, pause here.

And then as you're ready, we'll explore that shape more time together. Just start by tucking your toes under and then lifting your knees so engaging your chod muscles, engaging your hamstrings and glutes, feel the strength of your legs, heels reaching up towards the ceiling and away. And then as you're ready and how lift the chest, I'm gonna press down for your forearms as you lift. And then feel how you can draw your chest forward. Feel that traction through your spine, long through your neck, active through your legs.

Reach your heels away from your hands as you lengthen through the crown of your head. You'll all that strain through the spine, paraspinal muscles. Beautiful. The inhale lifts you up and exhale lower down, forehead finds the hands. You might shimmy your hips a little side to side to relax the effort. One more series of back bends here.

Let your forehead come down to the floor. Sweep your arms alongside your body in preparation for locusts, palms up. Bring your legs a little closer in together. Find that internal rotation through your thigh bones. We're gonna keep the tops of our feet on the floor ground through the pelvis, feel that you can draw the tailbone down.

And as you're ready, just begin to lift the chest and the head. Look down so your neck can lengthen feel the strength through your spine, back body. The inhale brings you up. The exhale lowers you down forehead or one cheek and ear to the floor pausing. You'd like to join in second round, grounding through the feet.

If this feels good stay here, or inhale lift the chest, lift the head, keep the feet grounded, or begin to lift your legs up. Feel how you can lengthen through your whole spine, reaching through the arms, the fingers, the toes, again, long through your neck, inhale brings you up broad through your collar bones, exhale lowers you down, pause, forehead, or opposite cheek and ear to the mat. Might shimmy your hips, you might bend your knees or reverse windshield wiper your legs. When you're ready, bring your hands underneath your shoulders, draw your elbows in, tuck your toes under. Press your way up, and then round back towards your child's pose.

You might bring the big toes to gather knees wide towards, so feeling that active energy. Softening the forehead. You might even bend your elbows. Rest your forehead on your hands. Maybe a little sway from side to side.

Breathing into the back body. Good nourishing the lower back, the kidneys, the hips, softening the belly, softening the jaw. Take your time to come up. We'll fold the blanket. If it's long and bring the blanket under the knees, we're gonna work with our blocks here.

Set your blocks up on the second side. We're gonna explore downward dog with the blocks under the hands. Kinda nice because the the fingers can wrap around the blocks. If you have the shoulders can draw down, tuck your toes under, we'll inhale together, exhale lift up. Oh, let the back of the neck release.

You might walk your feet back. Just find a distance that feels good for you, feet might be just slightly wider than the hips. Again, feel how you can bend your knees and wiggle and lift your sitting bones up towards the sky, back of the neck, soft, and long. Spine lengthening, thigh bones drawing back and up. You might play with walking your feet, about hips width apart, and come high up onto the balls of your feet.

As you press into the hands, drawing the heart towards the earth, back of the neck long, and you can bend your knees here, wiggle and lift your sitting bones up, exploring this shape, inhale exhale lower your knees. Beautiful. Let's bring the right block a little closer in towards the midline. We're gonna bring our right foot out wide for a wide lunge. Tuck your back toes under, draw your back knee back a little bit.

So you're coming into kind of a wide lizard lunge. Oh, allow yourself to lean from side to side. Feeling into sensation, and it's nice to have that back knee padded. And then as you inhale, draw your hips back extend through your right leg, little hamstring action through the right side and then exhale, lower, bend the knee into your lunge. Just do that two more times.

Draw the hips back. Maybe releasing through your head and neck. Bend. Oh, lunge. One more, inhale drawing back, exhale lower down, soften the jaw.

If you're working with quite a bit of sensation, sometimes a little bit of movement and solation can feel good and just kinda communicate with the nervous system that there's a way to come out of the stretch when it feels very intense. You might stay here for a few more breaths if you'd like to play towards a little bit of a twist, you can ground your left hand on the block, maybe turn your right toes out, your right foot out, maybe bring your right hand onto your right hip as you explore what it feels to rotate your spine to the right. You might keep your back toes tucked or you might release the top of the foot down. Finding that appropriate edge of stretch and sensation for your quad, your hips, breathing into where you feel the stretch. You can always lower your left forearm down to the block if you'd like.

And then just take your time slowly bring your right hand back to the block, orient forward. And then together as you're ready, we'll inhale draw the hips back, flex the right foot, feel the hamstring singing again. Good. And then then the knee, we'll bring the block wide. Toe heel, the right foot back in, and then just bring it back.

We'll find another down dog between sides. Spread the fingers wide blocks about shoulder width apart. Take your toes under. Inhale, exhale, lift up into your down dog shape. Again, you might pedal out the feet, walk them back a little bit, soft bend through the knees, reach up through the sitting bones, long through the neck. And how exhale lower, find the other side, bring the left block in towards the midline as you bring the right the left foot out wide. And then slide the right knee back a little bit.

And then just begin to lean from side to side. So exploring the landscape of sensation through the back right thigh. Hip flexor, so as soft in the jaw. List where you can relax a bit through the face and the shoulders. You might keep your back toes tucked here.

As you inhale draw your hips back extend through your left leg, feel the hamstrings, and then exhale wide lunge. Two more inhale draw your hips back extend through your left leg. And then exhale lunch. One more. Inhaled brings you back. Exale lunch.

Can settling in maybe a little side to side. If you wanna explore the twist, right hand stays on the block, begin to rotate towards the left. And you might turn your left foot out. So feeling that x turnal rotation, maybe release the back foot down, maybe bring your left hand onto your hip. If you're dropping into your right shoulder, feel how you can find a bit more length and space here as you breathe.

Chris, you can certainly come on to the right form if you'd like to really customize the shape for your body. Breathing into where you feel it. Few more moments. Take your time, left hand finds the block, reorient towards the front of the mat, and then inhale draw your hips back extend through your left leg. Nice. You can bring that left block on the outside as you bend the knee, and then just come back into your lunge.

One more down dog. So come on to your knees, lift your toes, lift up. Again, soft bend through the knees, wiggle and lift your sitting bones up back of the neck, releasing, inhale exhale lower the knees. Maybe a child's pose would feel good. Softening the hips back, you might lower your blocks. Bringing your forehead down or bending your elbows, forehead resting on your hands.

Your own time will transition towards a seat. You might fold one or two blankets and bring them underneath your sitting bones. You can bring your blocks off to the side. We're gonna extend through our legs. We'll work with a strap here.

From here, as you're ready, we'll bring the hands underneath the left knee lean back. Bend the knee, and then open the hip. Bring the sole of your left foot in towards the right inner thigh. You might even bring a blanket or a block underneath your left knee. I'm gonna wrap our strap around the bottom of the right foot. And feel how you can lengthen your spine.

So drawing your your right lung and ribs back. As you begin to lengthen long through the neck. You might stay an extension. You might allow your back to round. You might choose to bring support under your head.

So you might even bring a block underneath your forehead, find what feels right for you. I've got the strap in my right hand, and I'm releasing the left arm down, the block supporting the head. And you might bend your right knee a little bit. Can you explore breathing into the back of your body? Nice and wide through the lower back.

Few more breaths here. If your head is supported, allowing the weight of your head to release, You are welcome to stay here longer. In your own timing, just slowly round and roll your way up. Take a moment to pause and notice. And clearing breaths. And then bringing your left hand underneath your left knee, drawing your left knee up stretching the left leg long on the floor.

You bring your block to the other side and then wrap your strap around the bottom of your left foot and bring the hand behind the right knee, bend the knee, open the hip. Again, you might bring a blanket or a block underneath your right hip, squaring the hips. Let me start by lengthening. So inhale lengthen your spine. And then exhale slowly begin to fold.

If you're working with quite a bit of sensation through your left hamstring, back the knee, you might bend the knee a little bit here. Again, you might choose to support the weight of your head with blocks. Inhale to lengthen. And then exhale, you might round here. You feel how you can draw your left ribs back, your right ribs forward.

Breathing into the back body. Softening the jaw, softening the belly. Breathing into sensation. Perhaps allowing the inhale to create some space and the exhale to soften. You are welcome to stay here longer.

Listening to your body, your timing, when you feel ready, slowly round your way up, and we'll remove the strap and bring it off to the side. And from here, we'll transition on to our back. So as you transition onto your back, it might feel nice to have a blanket under your spine again. And you might have a folded blanket under your head. Might have your bolster nearby.

Once you roll on to your back, hug your knees into your chest. Rock from side to side. We'll explore happy baby variation, bring the hands on the inner legs. And just rock from side to side here. You might play with extending out through your right leg and circling out through the ankle a few times in both directions, drawing your right heel and extending through your left leg and circling out through your ankle a few times.

Maybe side to side as you kick and rock and kick. Find that ease in the neck. Yes. From here, I'm gonna bring our bolster onto our right side. Extend your, right leg long. Bring your left knee into your chest. And then from here, we'll find a spinal twist bringing the left knee across the body onto the bolster, rolling on to your right side and maybe circling your top arm up and open.

Inhale, exhale softening the belly, finding ease in your neck, and a sweet release for your lower back and spine. Might even bring your right hand to the outer left knee. Breathing into where you feel it. You are welcome to stay longer listening to your body. You're ready slowly unwind.

Bending both knees. Bring your bolster over to your left side. You can also use a folded blanket. Draw your right knee into your chest, left leg long, and then we'll bring the right knee across the body to the bolster. So your knee, an ankle, or on the bolster, stretch your arms out wide.

And then circle your top right arm up and open. For a single legged twist, inhale to lengthen, exhale soft in the belly, find ease in your neck. Can the left hand might find the outer right thigh? Canna, as you breathe into where you feel the stretch, the side might feel different. I think it feels spacious between your eyebrows and the base of your skull.

Softening the belly with the check sale. Can honoring your time, and you're welcome to stay longer. You feel satisfied and complete, just slowly unwind. You might bend both knees for a moment. When as you move into Shavasana, you might slide that bolster.

Or blanket underneath the back of the knees for support, allowing for any movement that would feel good before you release into your Shivasana. Feeling the support beneath you as you inhale, exhale allow the weight of the body, the weight of the bones to drop and release towards the earth. Resting in a in a wide open awareness. Notice what you choose to do with your hands. Giving yourself.

Permission to stay and rest longer. Whereas you feel ready, slowly inviting movement back and you might inhale stretch your arms overhead and lengthen. With your exhale, bend your knees, pause. Might roll to your side, pause there, curl up and savoring the sweetness of this moment. And then just slowly press your way up.

Easing into a comfy seat. Just allow for a gentle inhale. You might bring one hand to the heart, one hand to the belly. ACCail. Namaste.

Thank you so much for your practice.