Supported Yoga

Hello! My name is Silvia Jaén

Welcome to the session we are going to have today, that we are going to dedicate it to sleep, to sleep better, so that you can have a very good quality of sleep

with the postures that I am going to propose you, they are simple postures, we will need a couple of blankets or three for do passive postures and that way you can improve the calmness in them and you can feel more calm when you practice them

Let's start with the first posture

Getting on our knees and heels let's spread our knees apart hip-width apart, not much more, and slide your hands forward

and little by little stretch your arms

That's it, and we're going to give it a little bit of time

for the hips to loosen up

It is very important to have deep passivity in them

so that the whole spine can be stretched starting from from the English, from the hips, and to have more space in the spine

Well, about the fingertips walk a little more forward and then rests the whole palm on the ground

You sit up for a moment, separating your buttocks from your heels, to improve the space, or rather to increase the space on the sides

Little by little you walk more and more and more until finally you rest your forehead on the ground

Well, and once here let your breath begin to move deeply, let it be the out-breath that loosens you up inside

that loosens your hips, that loosens your lower back, very important to find the calm in the postures

Feel completely the weight of your head on the floor, if you see that your head doesn't reach easily and falls very steeply downwards you can make two fists with your hands and rest your forehead on the first fist, if it is practically close to the ground, support the point between the eyebrows

Maintain immobility and breathe deeply

With your eyes closed, you sit up, get into the cat's position and now let's put together feet and knees

Okay, and once you're here you head backwards leaving a couple of feet or so in between

buttocks and heels and walk with your hands to the right side, as far as you can

Then from the hips pull to the opposite side and feel how the left side stretches more

That, the hips pull back, arms pull forward and feel the left side

elongate as you direct your deep breath

You return to the center and we do the same on the other side, walk with your hands to the left side and the hips go to the side the opposite side, pull your arms in front and your hips back, feeling your right side lengthening now as you breathe in and out, wide and deeply

Good, and come back to the center and like before on your knees spread them a little bit apart, feet you keep them together, walk with your hands in front and this time with your buttocks away from your heels you rest your forehead on the ground

That's it, and let go and feel the weight of your head

on the ground

Notice how the breath is clearly going sideways and you can feel it especially in your dorsal area now

Keep your eyes closed

Breathe

Nice and slow resting his hands on the ground, you raise your back very round, leaving the head completely loose down the road until you finally join the road

Keep your eyes closed as you are sitting on your heels

Breathe wide and deep

At all times when your eyes are closed let them be downward at all times, i

e

do not let them point to the front or upwards always incites the gaze to be short for the brain to accompany to the eyes clearly descending

And in this way I will be inciting again and again calmness in the posture

very good, slowly we are going to sit down towards anyone of the sides

Well, it's very important that when we are practicing yoga there are different postures in which it is necessary to look upwards or forward but there are many others that require a lowered look, even to close your eyes as it is the case of the passive postures and how is the case of the postures that we are going to learn today to promote sleep, to promote the relaxation in the brain, the tranquility in the postures

When the gaze goes upward in a way it is stimulating the brain

and what we get with this is to activate it, to wake it up, to have it alert ,the opposite happens when the gaze is lowered, the brain accompanies it to this lowered gaze and increases a very clear calm in your eyes and in the brain evidently, and this is what we have to work on throughout this session other than the postures so that your you can feel calm in them and then when you go to sleep and then somehow that area is stimulated and you can rest peacefully

Okay, let's continue

Okay, so we're going to need some blankets

that we're going to fold up like this, we can use 1 ,2, 3 blankets depending on the flexibility that you have, we can even use a chair like in some of the sessions that you have been able to check

We place the blankets in this way well folded, that's it and you're going to place them in front of you, sitting on the buttocks let's stretch the left leg forward, you pull out with the help of your hand the buttock outward and backward and the leg we're going to leave it at a 90 degree angle

On other occasions we have taken the knee further back to do Janu Sirsasansa, on this occasion we are going to leave just the sole of the foot in contact with the thigh and the other foot

vertical ,this leg very active as you've been able to work on in other sessions, this leg relaxed including the foot

You place the blankets over your outstretched leg, well, and far away or how close they can be is going to depend on how flexible you are, it's very important

that you are very comfortable in this position, the back of the leg will stretch, there will be a lengthening of the trunk forwards but the important thing is that there is not a big effort in the posture, I'm going to place the point between the eyebrows on the blanket and as we were talking about previously the skin of the forehead we have to try that all the time it goes down towards the eyes and towards the nose to encourage that lowering of the brain, that calmness in your gaze

and so then the tranquility in the posture and the calmness

Okay, we're going to place the trunk in front of the outstretched leg, you hold the foot or you can also use a belt if you can't reach it easily, placing it at heel height

And once this is done, straightening the trunk in front of the straight leg

place the point between the eyebrows on the blanket, remember that the skin does not come up, that I lowered all the time and once here you keep in the posture keeping the left leg steady, the vertical foot very important, arms slightly active to gain more space on the sides and if you see that the posture gives more if direct the blankets forward and hold there

Abandon all the weight of your head on the blanket, let it go

Breathe wide and deep

And feels once again how the head falls and falls on the support

Eyes closed

Deep and calm breathing

To return with the help of your hands and without opening your eyes you get up and we repeat with the other leg

Okay, you stretch your right leg now and if you need the belt you put it back now at your right heel, yes no then you hold your foot where you get to and now you pull the right buttock backwards and outward, it is always very important this gesture, remember to be well seated on the ischia

Once here, you can that the blankets have to come a little bit more towards you or not, keep in mind that each side of your body has a different mobility and flexibility, so keep this in mind, what each side asks of you so you go adapting accordingly

So you hold the belt and the point between the eyebrows on the blanket

Leaves and abandons deeply your head on them and with the arms do this action to lengthen more the trunk, take a deep breath

And he feels the skin on his forehead and it goes to his nose

Remember to keep the firmness in your straight leg, the deep passivity in your head

with the help of your hands you incorporate ,your eyes closed, you keep a few moments looking in front of you

And without opening your eyes, you remove the blanket, cross the blankets

your legs in the easy posture, comfortably seated

Keep your eyes closed and observe the sensation that you have at the level of your eyes, on your forehead, in your brain

Breathe that feeling

Slowly open your eyes, remember not to do it all at once

, if not to raise your gaze until you look in front of you

Let's continue, we continue with the support to let go of the head and let go of the nervous system, it is very important in yoga

as I was saying in this kind of postures the gaze should be low, that your eyes are closed, especially when you work with the supports, it's very important keep in mind that the breathing has to have a rhythm, it has to have a rhythm

a depth and a softness at the same time

Let's continue, as we're going to spread our feet as far apart as you can, always

when it doesn't bother the inside of the leg, you place the blankets on your right leg

Now, you extend the other leg, trying to keep them both inside the mat so that the feet do not slip off

and come together

We pull the buttocks out to the sides and back, again we can use the belt if you don't get your foot

We leave it there

Okay, and once we're here before we get into the stance

take your back right hand resting on the floor, the other hand in front of you and your chest facing your right leg

What do I get when I place my hands like this? Well, I can easy and easy indeed the turning of the trunk so that the spine can straighten up afterwards

Very good, now without further ado usually in yoga postures there is always a rise of arms when you enter, when you exit but in this sequence we are going to avoid raising arms in the entrance and exit of the posture, simply enter holding the foot or the belt, you straighten your spine in front of that leg and then little bit you rest as in the previous posture your forehead on the blankets or on the chair, whichever there is chosen

Whenever you're going to move the blankets because you need more trunk travel

do it already with your head on them

Okay and once you're here, keep your legs steady, straighten your trunk and let your head loose on the support

Take a deep breath

Remember about the skin on the forehead to be directed toward the nose

Keep your legs steady, your eyes closed

Very good, Slowly without raising your arms, remember to rest your hands on the support, and very slowly, always very slow movements, you're getting on your feet with your eyes closed, you stay with your chest facing forward

Okay, we change the support sideways

That's it, make sure the feet stay inside the mat, you put your buttocks out again and with your left hand behind you and your right hand in front of you you turn your trunk in front of the stretched leg

That's it, you straighten the posture

Slowly you go forward holding your feet or the belt if you need to

That's it, and slowly lean your forehead on the support

Keep your legs steady, your feet active, your trunk with the help of your hands directing towards the foot and the weight of your head on the support, feel it clearly, don't hold your head, don't hold it, abandon it

Very well and slowly with the help of your hands you sit up, eyes closed until your chest looks at your chest again to the front, with the help of your hands resting on the ground behind you, straighten your posture

Breathe wide and deep again and again

Keep this inner connection with your breath, with your body to foster calmness and thus to fall asleep better

Slowly you open your eyes, let's remove the blankets, you put them aside for the moment, you leave the belt where it doesn't bother you, and we are going to place again in position from which we started, Adho Mukha Svanasana

With the feet together, you separate the knees this time a little bit more, because we are going to put the support right between the knees, between the legs, to lie on it

Then we have to make sure that the support goes quite far into the pubis

That's it, to get the position right and then a little bit at a time you're lying on it

You can make a little pillow with your hands

Support cheeks or the temple that corresponds to it and leaves the arms completely loose

Abandon your back

Leave your head on the support

, and let your breath move again and again

Feel how the whole body rests, try to have calmness and deep looseness in your body but for the moment you must not fall asleep, not now, just feel the complete passivity in the whole body, you savor that moment of rest

Very well and slowly you're going to join in, keep on with the blankets in front of you, this time you lead them to the front, slide it, that's it

and you bring your knees together a little bit and now we are just going to support again the point of the eyebrows on them

Remember, skin from the forehead to the nose

That is, that you notice that there is a lowering of the eyelids, of the eyes, dropping down and therefore of the brain also, in this way we are going to be able to calm, to let go, to relax inside, and then at night you can sleep better

Take a deep breath

soft and slowly

With the help of the hands you incorporate yourself

Keep your eyes closed, stay seated on your heels, you breathe without effort

And slowly open your eyes

Very good, let's go to use now two blankets to finish with pranayama

We are going to do a pranayama in which especially we are going to work on the exhalation, always the expiration encourages and induces more calmness and therefore to sleep

So we're going to work today in exhalation

We need to have a bigger chest opening, so that there is greater access to the full aperture of the diaphragm, the entire descent of the brain, 324 00:31:15,712 --> 00:31:17,760 and of the eyes we need a couple of blankets, two of them and this one we leave it to a little side

With a blanket of this size folded like that, we're going to double it in the shape of an accordion

You'll see that there are two sides left, this one which is the side with a little bit of the bangs which is kind of more irregular and this side which is the rounded one, the one that is going to build the posture

and now I'll tell you how we're going to place it

Okay we're going to put it almost at the end of your mat, so that when you lie down then you have your feet in it

Make sure it's straight, that's it, a second blanket we're going to put on it

for the head, which you place just at the end of the first and now you sit in front of the blanket, not on top of it, but in front of it, on the ground and little by little we are going to lie down

Okay, first you settle in

the head blanket, remember to always have contact with both shoulders so that the neck remains inside the blanket so that the neck does not bother the cervical vertebrae

Once you are lying down, you bend your legs and with the help of your hands, you direct your buttocks towards in front of you so that your entire lower back is stretched

Once here, you hug yourself, you give yourself a big hug pulling the skin of your back to the sides

and then when you have it, you rest your elbows on the floor, with your hands facing each other, both palms facing each other, you push the floor and pick up the skin of the back towards the lumbar in this way what we are going to have is more space in the chest in the clavicles and in the shoulders

As we've picked up that skin from the back towards the lumbars we now have stretch them a little bit more again, always try to keep the movements to be very slow because otherwise everything you have built before is going to crumble later

Now, you turn the upper arm outward to continue creating

that space at chest level and slowly straighten one leg out, other and let your feet and legs fall on the ground

Once you are in the posture and you are comfortable you can also use a blanket or chair even to put your legs on, be much more comfortable, especially if they bother you the lumbar

And once you're there, with the heel of your hand, you're going to put it on your forehead, the rest of the fingers relaxed on your head and with the weight of your hand you're going to to bring the skin of the forehead towards the nose and you will notice that the nape of the neck is stretched but because there is a descent from the brain, from your eyes and from the skin towards the sternum

Feel that the gaze although your eyelids are closed, is low

Remember that to stimulate the deep passivity of the brain, to stimulate rest, sleep, the gaze has to be lowered

Breathe normally

This is done, I lower my hand a little more and I continue to pull the skin gently towards the eyes

Relax the tongue and the jaw

Very slowly you place your hand on the ground

Take a deep breath in

And when you let the air out your eyes, your brain fall more toward the sternum

You do it a couple more times

And then breathe normally

Good, bring your attention to the sides of the pubis, just at that height let's describe a few lines that go towards the iliac crests climbing up the flanks to the clavicles, it doesn't have to come up to them but it is that address

It is very important that we do not insist on forcing a deep breath, I mean by this that I don't have to take in so much air as to tighten up the entire ribcage and even direct the head backwards because he wants to take more air, it is not about the more the better but what your capacity can, little little by little and as you do the pranayama exercise you will be increasing, increasing that space, for the moment if it goes halfway you stay there, if you can go up a little bit more then go up a little bit more

but you never want to take everything everything everything everything that can get into your lungs

Quietly gently and deeply you breathe in and then breathe out

Let's begin

First breathe normally while I tell you what we are going to do

Breathe gently

For the moment, do not do anything but breathe normally and then you visualize those two lines that come out at every side of the pubis heading towards the iliac crests, going up the sides towards the clavicles

That's where the air will pass through, an inspiration and then when you release the air it will be an exhalation slow, quiet, gentle

So the inspiration will be deep as it is as you might usually do it on a day in the field or when you wake up, and the inspiration is the one that we're going to spend more time on, a slow exhalation

calm, deep

Just as I was telling you when we breathe in we are not going to pull excessively, when we let the air out don't push with your muscles so that absolutely all the air comes out, because then we would already be creating tension, just let it come out

and when it can't come out anymore you take three normal breaths just as they come out and we start again, a deep breath in without pulling too much on the muscles and an exhalation in which you recreate yourself more, slowly, calm and smooth, when there is no more air ,you do three normal breaths and start again

So we are ready, leaving the body completely loose and loose

on the floor, you breathe in normally and breathe out normally

You breathe in normally

and you exhale normally

Now we start with the first cycle, breathe in deeply along those lines that I was describing to you without pulling the muscles too much to let more air in, release the air slowly, smooth, and slow

When you can't do it anymore, three normal breaths

As they come out

And we start with the next cycle

Deep breathing in along these lines from the pubis to the clavicles

And exhalation smooth, slow, deep without the chest collapsing, maintaining that elevation of the sides, take three normal breaths, take the opportunity to position the body if the head is pulled backwards and we continue with the next cycle, the last one directed, take a deep breath, abdomen down and release the air slowly, calm, deep

Without collapsing the rib cage, three normal breaths and you continue at your own pace

When you finish the cycle, finish it quietly, without haste, if you were starting finish it no problem ,take your time

When you take those three normal breaths, then you settle into a completely normal and natural breathing

And now without getting upset, take out the longitudinal support, the one that you have under your back, without opening your eyes and with the movements as smoothly as possible, leave the blanket on your head, you stretch your legs again, leaving the arms at the sides of the body in Svanasana

Just breathe normally, make sure the back of your neck lengthens, that the eyeball is descending and your brain rests

Breathe normally and let yourself be in a deep relaxation

And now take a couple of deep breaths

Gently move your body, feel it again

To turn smoothly over either side and with the help of the hands you sit up, you remain seated on the buttocks, your eyes still closed and checking that feeling you got from today's session, the pranayama

Let all that you have felt, that you have lived in every pore of your skin to settle in your body, in your mind

May the deep calm in your brain be constant throughout the day and when it ends you can rest in depth

When you go to do it take a couple of deep breaths and contact the state you created during the session, during the day

Thank you very much for being there

Namaste!