Point by Point Release

Hello, everyone. Welcome to your practice today. And thank you for choosing this practice of rest. This powerful yoga, Nidra practice. That really offers an opportunity to heal.

So if you're feeling any kind of physical discomfort or mental strain and pressure and stress, and or emotional, stress, this is a great practice for you. We'll be doing what is called the Marma points. And the way that I like to describe this practice is I'll be guiding you through different points of your body, energetic points in the body that are considered sacred. So when you do this practice, imagine that you are going to visit these sacred sites within you, and we'll be placing attention at each point drawing an inhale, creating just a little bit of pressure to that point as you draw the breath in, like your hugging or squeezing that point in the body with the inhale. And on the exhale, you'll be releasing that pressure.

So this is a practice to help release any tension that is stored in the body. You'll need a bolster, two blocks, a blanket, a journal, and a pen. And our prompt for the day is what are you ready to release? And you can use this practice to gain insight and write about it at the end of class. Before we begin, I'd like to start with the yoga, Nidra, and vacation.

If you know it, this is a sacred mantra and you wanna chant along, you can. Otherwise, just listen with an open heart and open ears. Let's join our palms together. Close your eyes and bow your chin. We'll begin with one ohm. So inhale deeply through the nose.

Yeah, Davey Shanti shanty. And then as your chin bows towards, the light within you honoring that intelligent force and rest that lives within you. Go ahead and lift the chin, lower your hands. We'll begin in a reclined supta baddha konasana today. So you'll need your two blocks setting up the two blocks in an l shape.

And at the top of your mat. Grabbing your bolster, placing the bolster on top of the two blocks. Please make sure you sit all the way up against it. And I'm gonna give you options for your feet today. You can join the soles of the feet together.

Part the knees wide, or just keep your feet on the mat, bending the knees if that's more supportive for the lower back. And then once you're laying on the bolster, just right away, begin to notice your breath. And notice the rising and the falling of your belly and your chest as you breathe. So to experience tension and pressure on an inhale, we're gonna do a breath practice today called Veloma one. So inhale deeply fill the chest, fill the lungs, breathe in.

And just let it out through your mouth, exhale. And the next time you breathe in, just feel about a third of the way into the low lungs and pause. Fill another third, mid lungs, pause. Fill all the way to the top of the lungs. Pause the breath.

Feel that slight pressure and tension created by that inhale in the hold and exhale the breath out. Just take a deep inhale, a regular breath in. A regular breath out. We'll do that again. Inhale a third of the way in and pause.

Inhale another third. Pause. Inhale all the way to the top of the lungs. Pause the breath. Hold.

And exhale let the tension and pressure go. Deep inhale. Full exhale. And we'll do one more. Inhale a third of the way in.

Pause. Inhale another third. Pause Inhale all the weight at the top of the lungs, hold the breath, release the pressure and tension, exhale. And just take two cycles of regular breaths. And as you're doing this, apply a slight hold at the top of the inhale.

Like you're just drawing a little pressure to the lungs as you fill them up, you hold the breath in. And with the exhale, you let it go. So notice what it is that is already being released from within you. If your knees are parted wide, use your hands, bring them to your thighs, draw the knees back in, place your feet on the mat. We're gonna come off the bolster, lifting yourself up.

And I'd like to invite you into your setup for Shavasana. So use your bolster for Shavasana, please, which you'll place underneath your thighs. And then you'll also grab your blanket and place the blanket underneath your heads. So the blanket can be folded, like a pillow, or you can unfold it. It really depends on the shape of your cervical spine.

So take a moment to set this up and make sure you're really comfortable. If you don't want anything under your head, you can also take that blanket and place it over your body. So no rush, set up your yoga nidronest, And then once you are on your back and you feel you have all of the right support, you can close your eyes and we'll begin. So all the necessary adjustments that you need to make, please do so now. And if you are lying down in Shavasana, close your eyes if that's comfortable.

Take a moment to feel the backside of your body. And how you've placed your body in a special way. Vinyasa in Sanskrit is a word that means placing your body in a special way. So we apply this here as you're inviting rest into every cell of your being. We tend to the physical body first.

Now begin to notice that your body is breathing for you. Your belly and your chest rises and falls with every breath. Beginning with the very first Marma Point. Drawing your attention now to your toes. And when you draw the breath in again, imagine bringing tension to the toes.

Like, there is a slight hugging action or contraction at the toes as you breathe in. And you let the tension and the pressure go, that contraction, go as you breathe out, there's a release. And we'll do that two more times at the toes. Inhale as you draw the breath to the toes. Feel tension released from the toes, and the toes energized and healed.

One more time inhale into the toes. Exhale the tension out of the toes. We'll move one breath in the remaining marma points of the body, bringing breath into the ankles, feeling tension, and a contraction in the ankles. Exhale releasing the pressure and tension from the ankles. Calves.

Inhale one breath, exhale one breath. The backs of the knees, drawing the breath into the back of the knees, feeling tension released from the back of the knees as you exhale. Front center of the knees. Inhale. Rease it, exhale.

Middle of the thighs. Base of the spine. Draw the breath and tension at the base of the spine. Let it release as you exhale from the base of the spine. Center of the hips.

Front of the pelvic bowl. Draw breath at the front of the pelvic bowl. Release it on the exhale. Naval Center. Heart center.

Base of your throat. Route of the tongue. Base of the nose. Draw the breath in. Pressure tension at the base of the nose.

Release the tension at the base of the nose. Center of the eyes. The mid way point between the eyebrows. A third eye point. Center of the forehead.

Top of the head. And let your attention rest at the center of your heart. Breathing in and out, the center of your heart for one minute. Take an inhale to fill your whole body. Let the whole body exhale.

Draw your attention back down to the toes, move your toes, and up to the fingers, move the fingers. Stretch your body, start to invite bigger movements, eventually making your way to seated position, Your eyes can stay closed, or you can open them softly, but we'll join our palms here together in front of our hearts bowing the chin. And gratitude of this practice. And coming back to that reflection of what it is that you are ready to release. Take a deep breath in through your nose.

Big exhale. Namaste.