Yes, Vinyasa Yoga Clblockes Can Be Trauma-Informed. Here’s How.

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I teach a lot of meditation. I’m also a power yoga fanatic. Although these may not seem to go together, I’m an anxious human who needs active movement before I can find stillness. It’s that simple.

But I haven’t encountered many trauma-informed yoga clblockes that aren’t focused on removing major efforting. The physical practice of yoga holds tremendous capacity to provide self-awareness and evolution. Yet with the latest buzzwords in the yoga world being “somatics,” “nervous system regulation,” “trauma-informed yoga,” and “rest,” it can seem that doing less equates to being more.

This signals to those of us who struggle with nervous system dysregulation and gravitate toward intense yoga practices that if we want to experience trauma-informed yoga, we are required to move slowly or to be still.

After years of training in and teaching somatics, I’ve come to understand that any sort of yoga practice can be a powerful way to feel grounded and safe in our bodies—including physically intense clblockes. It’s simply an active approach to bodily empowerment that’s designed for those of us who prefer our healing to come with movement.

So What Does Trauma-Informed Vinyasa Mean?

I’ve been researching and teaching trauma-informed yoga and somatic practices exclusively for the last five years, with a focus on vinyasa yoga as a vehicle to create not only a safe space but self-awareness. This exploration began when I noticed that I would sometimes come close to having a panic attack in certain poses.

I knew from somatic training that our vagus nerve sends signals from body to brain more often than brain to body. So I began to adjust my practice, experimenting with using my body to send signals of safety back to my nervous system. Eventually, I tried avoiding postures that ask the body to come into more constricted or closed shapes, such as binds and intense twists like Eagle and Revolved Triangle, thinking they might reinforce a sense of threat to a nervous system that’s already activated by a workout.

After I decided to skip these poses and swap them for more less constrictive poses, the panic attack feeling disappeared almost completely.

Since then, I’ve been exploring taking myself and students through an intense yoga practice that follows a lot of the guidelines of conventional trauma-informed yoga but with a focus on poses to open the body rather than close it. We move from active states into expansive postures, such as Warrior 2 or Half Moon, and avoid constrictive poses that could incite the nervous system of some students.

My theory is this style of sequencing can help retrain the body to feel safe when in an active state and to healthily downregulate when in fight or flight, things we need for navigating life off the mat. Following are the ways I try to create a more conducive vinyasa practice environment for those who tend to experience heightened nervous system responses:

1. Choice

People processing trauma need some measure of control. Frankly, this isn’t always available in power yoga clblockes that encourage you to move quickly and push through resistance.

Trauma-informed vinyasa yoga constantly reminds students they always have choices—to sit, move quickly, adapt a pose, opt out of a pose, push hard, or do nothing. Also, as in any trauma-informed yoga clblock, choice is encouraged verbally throughout the entire clblock and isn’t just something that’s mentioned beforehand as a disclaimer.

2. Embrace Movement

Nervous system regulation can happen through movement and not just stillness. By focusing on intentional movement and self-awareness during exertion, teachers can encourage students to move their bodies through active and even strenuous challenges while also reminding them that moderation as well as rest are always options.

3. Intentional Sequencing for Nervous System Navigation

After establishing safety in our bodies through choice and movement, we rely on specific types of poses to further signal safety to the brain. That means rather than taking the body into intensely constrictive or closed shapes such as twists and binds, we come into more expansive and open shapes, such as Half Moon Pose and Fallen Triangle.

I also include other elements of conventional trauma-informed yoga in my practices, including informing students of what’s coming and how long we’ll stay in each pose. My approach basically follows the ASPIRE yoga method, which incorporates elements of power yoga styles, including Ashtanga and vinaysa, along with mindfulness, somatic experiencing, nervous system regulation, and embodied awareness.

50-Minute Trauma-Informed Vinyasa Yoga Practice

Following is the approach I taught in a recent vinyasa clblock. Ready to practice?

Lying on Your Back

You’re going to start lying on your back in a Savasana-like shape. Just start to notice how are you showing up? You can start at the top of your head and notice any sensation there. Travel down through the face, through the chest, through the shoulders, your gut, your hips, your pelvic area, all the way to the toes. What is your body telling you?

Let’s release all our breath together fully. Exhale, start to breathe in through the nose. Inhale, fill up, open your mouth. Sigh that out, let it go again. Breathe in. Get as much air into the chest, into the diaphragm, as you can maybe tense up by squeezing your fists together, clenching your guts, clenching your pelvic floor. Take in a little more air and then open your mouth, side out, relax all those muscles, let it go, beautiful. Breathe in through the nose. Constrict the back of the throat. Breathe out through the nose

Knees to Chest

Your next inhalation, bring your knees to your chest. Give yourself a little hug. Start to rock a little bit side to side, mblockaging that lower back, bringing awareness to what your body feels like in movement. When you’re ready, start to rock along the length of your spine, taking a few rocks until you fully transition up to a seat.

Seated

Find your sit bones connected with the earth. Find that crisscross with your legs. Pull your chest forward, your belly in, inhale, and reach as your hands come out to the sides and your shoulders soften. Gaze between your fingertips.

Twist to the right as your left hand catches the outside of your thigh and your right hand goes behind your back. Gaze gently over your shoulder. Pause for a second here. Drag that right hip forward a little, breathe in, breathe out.

Inhale and bring your arms back overhead, soften your shoulders, and exhale. Twist the opposite way, same thing, gazing over your left shoulder, pulling your belly in, breathe in, breathe out, inhale, exhale.

Bring your hands back to center, soften, and stay for the inhale. Then exhale, twist, inhale, up arms reach, exhale, twist. Take it a few times on your own, maybe you even close your eyes to see what it really feels like to move.

I want to remind you that all of this is optional, so you have a lot of choice in your practice always. You could instead sit and breathe and you’re also doing yoga. But if you’d like to join in for the other things, it’s available.

Take it one more time on each side, come back through center when you’re done. There’s no rush ever.

Tabletop

Find your way to Tabletop, stack your shoulders over your wrists, bring your hips over your knees, and tuck your toes or keep them untucked. Use blocks beneath your hands if you prefer. Beautiful y’all. Spread your fingers and push into all 10 fingertips. Feel that connection with the earth.

Cat-Cow

Gaze slightly in front of your hands. Pull your belly button toward your spine and squeeze that pelvic floor. Exhale as you tuck your chin round your back, and push yourself away from the mat for your Cat Pose.

Inhale, let your belly hang, pull your chest through, gaze up toward the ceiling in your Cow Pose.

Release and start to take this on your own. You’ve got about 10 breaths. So maybe you want to add in some hip circles, some neck circles. As you’re tuning in with that awareness, you might notice what you really want. And I want to invite that freedom to move in any way that feels good to you this morning into your practice. Your body is the real teacher, right?

Sometimes it’s nice to Thread the Needle, so your right arm can reach up and then slide between that space on the left side or take a Gate Pose. You might decide that Child’s Pose or seated breathing is what you need to get started with your practice.

The most important part is you keep that inhale and that exhale and that awareness of your body.

Toe Squat

We meet back in a neutral Tabletop. From here, tuck your toes and sit back a little for a stretch. So bring your heels over your ankles so you start to feel that stretch. You might feel a burn right away, if so, I invite you just to come back into Tabletop a little. Otherwise lift your chest. Hands can come to heart center, if that feels good, or stay on your thighs. We’re gonna stay here for 5 breaths. You might close your eyes.

Breathe in and out, inhale, exhale. Three more. Breathe in, breathe out, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.

Shift forward, find that tabletop, and tap the tops of your feet on the mat.

Downward-Facing Dog

Tuck your toes and lift your hips in your Downward-Facing Dog, finding that upside-down V. Take a second to settle into this, just like you did in Tabletop. Spread your fingers, yes, push into all 10 fingertips, and maybe notice if you’d like to shorten or lengthen your stance. Can your chest get a little closer to your thighs? Can your shoulders soften a little so they can slide down your back? Gaze toward your belly button and bend one knee and then the other. Do whatever feels good for this next breath.

Find some stillness. Inhale as you come onto your tiptoes or the balls of your feet and send your hips towards the ceiling. Open your mouth, sigh, and sink your heels down close to the Earth. Inhale, lift the hips, exhale, sigh it out and sink it down. One more time take a big breath in, lift, and then open your mouth, sigh, and release it out.

Plank Pose

Let’s find our way to Plank Pose. You have so many options here, including blocks under your hands for wrists or knees down. If you stay with the knees up, can you bring your ankles over your toes and keep your shoulders stacked over your wrists and your belly in?

If the knees are up or down, focus on that strong core activation and finding what that little stress on the body is for you. If that means lifting a foot for these next 3 breaths, do it.

Focus. Two more breaths. Breathe in, breathe out.

Locust Pose

Inhale as you shift forward, exhale as you lower all the way down. Keep your elbows close to your chest. Untuck your toes and keep your feet plugged into the Earth as you inhale, lift your chest just a little bit off the ground in Locust Pose. Hips stay pressed in. Exhale as you melt back down. Inhale as you lift a little higher and hover your hands. Keep your toes plugged into the mat. Exhale as you melt back down.

Bring your hands to the outside of your mat so they’re on the ground. Tense up on your fingertips. Inhale, lift, maybe straighten the elbows. Exhale as you gaze to one side. Stay lifted as you inhale back through center. Exhale as you turn toward the other side. Inhale back through center.

Maybe lift your chest a little higher. Exhale as you release all the way down to the mat. Bring your hands back close toward your chest.

Downward Dog

Find your way to Down Dog, either through Plank or Tabletop, always your choice. Inhale through the nose. Open the mouth and sigh it out.

Standing Forward Bend

Look between your hands. Find your way to the top of the mat in any way that feels good—tiptoe, hop, walk. And then find some space between your feet. Maybe two fists fit there. Bend your knees. Can you surrender into this first Standing Forward Bend? Relax your head. Y’all gaze toward the belly button. Rest your belly on your thighs so you can really release your spine here. Maybe catch opposite elbows, sway a little. You’ve got 2 more breaths here. Inhale and then perhaps with an open mouth exhale.

Mountain Pose

Inhale, drop your hands, heel toe your feet to touch, and slowly roll yourself up to standing. Once you get there, roll your shoulders back, open your hands toward the wall in front of you, pull your belly in, lift your thighs off your kneecaps, and maybe close your eyes in Mountain Pose. Breathe in, breathe out.

Upward Salute

Inhale and reach your arms overhead. Exhale and bring your hands to heart center. Plug your thumbs into your chest, either close your eyes or gaze down. Take this next breath to set any other intention. Option to bring awareness to your body for your practice.

Sun Salutation A With Standing Twist

All right, let’s flow.

Inhale, each your arms overhead, open your arms to a T as you twist toward your right. Keep both hips pointed toward the front of the room. Pause this first time. Drag that right hip back. Gaze toward your right thumb. Inhale, stretch your arms a little bit more. Exhale, come back through center.

Inhale, twist open toward the left as your left hand goes behind you. Left hip still point towards the front of the room. Open the arms a little more with the next inhale. Exhale come back through center as your arms come overhead and then cactus your arms as you lean back and open your heart and send your hips forward.

Exhale bend forward.

Inhale, halfway lift, find that flat back. Pause this first time. Hands on blocks or your shins. Pull your shoulders away from your ears, send your heart forward, send your weight into the balls of your feet. Breathe in, open the mouth, sigh it out, inhale a little more.

Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, halfway, lift, exhale, plant your hands, step or hop back to that Plank.

Options here you can lower all the way down like we did before. Take a Chaturanga if that feels good to you today. Inhale, lift your heart. Thighs are up for Up Dog. Thighs are down for that Cobra variation

Find your Downward Dog. Breathe in. Open mouth, sigh it out.

Inhale, look between the hands. Exhale, step, hop, float, come to the top of the mat. Inhale halfway lift. Exhale forward fold. Inhale lengthens you, brings you up big, big movement, arms come up overhead. Exhale, twist open toward the door you came in. Inhale through center. Lift, exhale, twist toward the left. Inhale through center and lean back, open the heart.

Send the hips forward and exhale as you forward fold.

Inhale halfway lift. Exhale plant your hands and take your vinyasa. What does your vinyasa want to be this morning? What do you need in your body? It might be going right to Down Dog. It might be knees up, knees down, it’s going to change from day to day.

When you come back to Down Dog, you have a breath or two here, and then we’re going to start to move on our own. So trust your body. You know this variation of Sun A.

I’m going to cue you faster than you move. You’re going to take it 2 or 3 times after the first round and then I’m not going to cue you. Alright. Inhale, look between your hands, step up or float to the top of the mat with the exhale.

Your inhale lifts you halfway, your exhale forward folds you.

Grow tall, breathe in, and then take your two twists, moving to your own breath.

After that you have your heart opener, your forward fold, your halfway lift, your vinyasa. Once you get to Downward Dog, one to three breaths before you do it all again two more times.

Guess what? If you don’t like something, take it out. If you want to add something, do that. It’s your body, your practice. What do you want? What do you need? Remember, the only thing that I ask that you to do is breathe with awareness.

After your last round, we meet back in Plank, in Down Dog, on our knees Child’s Pose, whatever feels good after this third round. When you get done, come back to that real, intentional awareness, that mindfulness of what is your body telling you. Beautiful y’all.

Notice how your Down Dog or whatever pose you’ve chosen feels. Your heart’s beating a little faster, your breaths are a little more rapid. If you’re ready to join in, we’re going to move again, but it’s optional. Remember, the only thing you have to do is be present.

Three-Legged Dog

Take a breath in. Sigh that out. Lift your right leg toward the sky. Find some length here. Point your pinky toe down, hip bone down, lift it a little higher.

High or Crescent Lunge

Inhale, exhale, take your knee to nose, round your back, like you did with Cat, and then plant your foot between your hands. Find some balance here, some stability by squeezing your thighs together, your right knee stacks over your right toes, and then lift your heart high as you come up into High or Crescent Lunge.

Can you pull your belly button in and relax your shoulders and notice how that feels? You always have an option to drop your left knee or to plant your left foot, if that feels better. Stack your right knee over your ankle if you’re looking for some clblockic alignment and sink a little more to open your hip flexor.

Twisted High or Crescent Lunge

Relax those shoulders, breathe in, open arms, twist toward the right, keeping both hip bones pointing towards the front. Gaze back at that right thumb. If it feels good, open the arms a little more. Breathe in, breathe out. Inhale, exhale.

Reverse Triangle or Sky Archer

Big transition coming up, inhale, exhale, pivot and plant the left foot as you straighten the right leg, coming into a variation of Reverse Triangle, catching your right wrist with your left hand as you lean back in Sky Archer. Push into your right big toe, pop your left hip toward the back wall, and open your chest a little more toward the ceiling. Gaze up, breathe in, breathe out.

Vinyasa

Inhale, stretch a little more through that side body. Exhale, cartwheel your hands down around your front foot. Step back to Down Dog or take a vinyasa if that’s what your body likes with one leg up or both knees down.

As we meet back in Down Dog, we have a breath together. Inhale through the nose. Open that mouth. Side out, lift your left leg up, point the pinky toe down, hip bone down, pushing into both hands as you lift it a little higher. Inhale, exhale. Then repeat those same three poses—Knee to Nose, Revolved High Lunge, and Sky Archer—on your other side.

We’re gonna do it again linking breath to movement. All right, same three poses. Let’s take a breath together. First, inhale, open the mouth. Does it feel familiar in your body? Can you do it again on your own? Move on your own pace. If something feels good and you want to hang out, hang out. Something doesn’t feed good, skip it.

Toe Squat or Child’s Pose

Come back to Down Dog and I invite you to drop your knees, tuck those toes, sit back, get a little foot stretch in or Child’s Pose or anything else that you’d like for these next 10 breaths. You’re bringing that awareness into your body, feel your heartbeat, feel that sweat, that heat you’re building, that activation in your system. Stay present.

It’s real easy to be in your body when we’re moving quickly, when we’re balancing, but it’s a challenge when we find this stillness. So stay and maybe anchor into your hands or any space that’s really just calling to you for these last 4 breaths.

Sometimes this compression in Child’s Pose can feel like something you’re not loving when your heart rate is elevated. If that’s the case, just sit up.

Two more breaths.

Downward-Facing Dog

If you’re ready. We’re going to add on to that sequence, but we’re going to slow it down. The breath to movement part is pretty much over. Of course. You can always do it if you’d like. So if you’re ready to move again, let’s find your way back to Downward Facing Dog, and just take a second as you get there to see how your body’s feeling. You again, reminding you all this is optional. Let’s breathe together. Release your air. Inhale, fill up. Open the mouth, sigh it out.

Three-Legged Dog to Fallen Triangle

Lift that right leg toward the sky. Inhale, knee to nose, hold it this time. Really curl that back and slide your shoulders over your wrists.

Inhale come back to Three-Legged Dog. Then exhale knee to same elbow or that general area, sliding your shoulders over your wrists.

Inhale back to Three-Legged Dog. Find the length this time.

Exhale knee comes to your opposite elbow. Option to hold or lift that left arm toward the sky and as you thread your right foot through, find that Fallen Triangle or Fallen Star as your hips lift up beautifully. Breathe in.

Exhale drop your left hand back down. Inhale find your way back to Three-Legged Dog.

High or Crescent Lunge

Exhale, knee to nose, plant your foot between your hands this time, lift your heart, return to that High Lunge or High Crescent. Notice how that feels. We’re here for 4 breaths. Option to find some stillness, drop the back knee, or stay. Maybe you want to take that exhale and hover the back knee and cactus the arms.

Twisted High or Crescent Lunge to Exalted Warrior

Twist open toward the right. You can stay like this or maybe you wrap that right arm behind you or let it trail as you lean back for that backbend as the left arm reaches for the back wall in Exalted Warrior. Breathe in, push into that front big toe for balance. Exhale, come back to Twisted Crescent.

Reverse Triangle or Sky Archer

Inhale, Sky Archer. Big movement, big transition, opening up toward the left, continuing to push into your right big toe as you lean back and open that side body. Breathe in, breathe out.

Runner’s Lunge to Dragonfly Twist

Here’s where we add on, inhale, exhale. Cartwheel your hands down around your front foot and find a low runner’s lunge, pivoting both feet to point toward the front of the room. Stack your right knee over your right ankle. Option to drop that left knee, if you’d like, or find blocks underneath your hands. Inhale, stay for the exhale. Left hand stays planted, right hand lifts up, Dragonfly Twist toward the right. Can you look up toward your fingertips and maybe spread them? Feel that sensation opening through that heart, twisting through the spine. Breathe in, breathe out.

Standing Split

One more inhale, exhale, drop your hands back around that front foot in a low runner’s lunge and then shift your weight into your right foot. Lift your left leg up for a standing split, straightening the right leg, lifting the left leg, and letting your nose fall toward your toes.

Option to stay just like this or your hands might grab the right ankle. Can you lift your left foot a little higher but keep your hip bones pointed down? Option to take a few hops. You’ve got 2 more breaths here. Breathe in,gaze toward the belly button or kneecap, and breathe out.

High or Crescent Lunge

With your next exhale, land softly back in that High Lunge or Crescent. We’ve been here a few times. See how that feels. Arms come up. Shoulders are soft. Stay for the breath.

Star Pose

Breathe out as you come into Star Pose, so pivot and turn everything toward the long side of your mat. Arms wide open, shoulders still stacked over your hips, maybe your hands come to your hips and you take that nice variation where your elbows squeeze towards one another. Make your body big. But the most important part is the breathing. We’re gonna hang out here for a few breaths. What feels good?

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Breathe in, breathe out.

Warrior 2

Bring your arms to a T and point your right toes toward the front wall, finding Warrior 2. So bending into that right knee, maybe aligning your right heel with the inner arch of your left foot. The space between your feet is what impacts the feeling in our hips, so you might shorten or lengthen your stance, depending on how much sensation you want. Clblockical alignment says stack your right knee over your ankle but that might not feel good to you today. Try to keep your shoulders still stacked over your hips. Puff your chest up, open your arms a little more. Breathe in, stay for the breath out.

Reverse Warrior

Flip your front palm, reverse your Warrior on your breath in. Keep that bend in your knee, unless you want to make it a Reverse Triangle. Push into your right big toe as you lean back a little more with the inhale.

Half Moon Pose

With the exhale, we’re transitioning into Half Moon Pose. So you might grab a block as your hand is going to come to a block or the earth slightly in front of you. I like my block on the highest setting. It just creates more space so we can open our body.

As you find your balance here, can you stack your left hip over your right? Flex those lifted toes, and then maybe extend the left arm toward the sky.

You might also decide you want to bend your left knee and reach back and catch your foot with your left hand or hover your right hand or you can stay right where you’re at for these last 2 breaths. Breathe in, pull the belly in, squeeze the pelvic floor for balance. Breathe out.

Standing Forward Bend

Breathe in, releasing any binds. Exhale, landing in a forward fold. Go ahead and find some distance between your feet, just like we did at the start. Bend your knees, surrender, maybe sway a little side to side. Inhale, open mouth, sigh, inhale, heel toe, your feet to touch with your exhale.

Plank Pose

Inhale, halfway lift, exhale, plant your hands and step or hop back to Plank and pause. Option to drop those knees if that feels good in your body or come into Forearm Plank. We’re holding it for about 10 breaths. We’re trying to get that heart rate back up again. So breathe in, breathe out. If you’re finding this is not giving you the activation in your body that you want, you can take some hip dips or you can lift your feet off the ground, one foot at a time. You’ve got 6 more breaths. Breathe in, breathe out, inhale and exhale.

You’ve got it. Keep going. 4 breaths. Reminder again, there’s no prize at the end, right? What does your body want? What does it need today? If it’s done with this, let it be done.

Beautiful. Y’all. 3 more breaths. 2 more, 1 more.

Downward-Facing Dog

With that exhale, come into Downward-Facing Dog.

Let’s keep this heat. Let’s keep this activation. Left leg comes up. Inhale. This is our last side,  you’re going to repeat the previous sequence on the left. Except you’re going to come into a Squat instead of Plank from your Standing Forward Bend.

Squat

Find that Squat. Hands can come to heart center or you can sit on a block. Invite you to close your eyes or gaze down and just tune back into your body, noticing how it feels for these 10 breaths. If there’s something else you want to do in this space, I invite that. See if you feel like you can find that stillness, just stay there. Have an awareness of this moment in your body.

Beautiful y’all. 2 more big breaths in, maybe open mouth, let some heat out with that breath out. Inhale, exhale.

Downward-Facing Dog

Release your hands down to the earth, bring your hips back up, heel toe, your feet to touch. Inhale, halfway, lift, exhale, last vinyasa, if you want it, or just Downward-Facing Dog.

From there, drop to your knees, grab some water, whatever feels good as we start to do the hard part of our practice, which is the slow part. Keep your strap nearby.

Pause

Take a second just to be aware of how it feels to know we’re going to be a little more still Sometimes, even after a power or vinyasa practice that’s really intense, I still can’t find stillnesst. So I want to invite that awareness. Does your body still feel this urge to move? Does your body still want to keep going? One thing we can do now in our practice, and anytime we’re out in the world when we feel that energy, that fight-or-flight-like rush of adrenaline, is shake that energy out so that we can then try to keep our body as still as possible. And you can do this with your hands. And sometimes when I’m standing, I start to shake my whole body. You know, yogis are weird. And then I pause and I notice. Maybe I’ll do it again and again and again until I feel really ready to be still. Take this next 30 seconds for whatever you need.

Reclined Hip Opener

Find your way onto your back, so you might want to scoot your bottom toward the front of your mat and find your way down.

Again, just like with the standing poses, all of this is optional. Go ahead and bring your knees toward your chest. We’re just going to rock side to side and notice the difference from when we started. You can release your controlled breathing, but if you notice you’re suspending your breath by holding it, I want you to consciously come back to intentional inhales and exhales.

Lift both feet toward the ceiling and try to stack your ankles over your knees over your hips and flex your toes toward you and then point them toward the ceiling. Try to stay aware of these sensations in your body. Feel that stretch along the backs of your legs as you flex your toes toward you, and then feel the different muscles that are moving as you point your toes.

We’re going to drop our left foot down to the ground, keeping a bent knee. And then you can take your hands behind your right thigh. I like to bring my right hand to my foot, but I have really long limbs, and I’m hypermobile, so it just depends on how you’re feeling. And we’re going to take this right leg and let it fall off to the right. There might be a desire to put a block under your foot or under your knee to give you a little support or you might be okay with letting it hang in the air or your leg might come all the way down.

I want to invite you to try to keep your left hip and buttocks pushed into the earth. Feel that opening through the right inner thigh, and then maybe your left hand. Close your eyes or find something to gaze at That’s not distracting. We’re hanging out for 5 breaths.

You might feel a little bit more of a release as we hold this foot. Might drop a little bit more for this last breath, and then bring your foot back through center. Take your time. We’re going to take your leg across your body to the other side. Options here are to keep your right hip down, or you might roll even a little onto your left hip for more of a reclined twist with that leg extension. What feels good for you if your left hand’s on the strap your right arm come out nice and long and Again, invitation to close your eyes, come back to the breath.

Then come back through center, right leg comes overhead, I like to take both hands on the back of the thigh and draw it slowly toward me. You might flex and point your foot for these 5 breaths or just stay here.

Take your left foot back up toward the sky. Pause for a second and just bring awareness to the difference in both legs right now. Then do the same thing on the other side, finding some space in your body.

Savasana

So there’s so many options here, y’all, I invite you to maybe go straight to your final rest or to take whatever your body would like that’s going to invite in that really supported stillness.

Settling into your final rest, yogic sleep, finding whatever feels the most supported for you as you release any little tension that you’re holding. I know it might come right back, but just have that awareness if your shoulders are tight so you can soften them. Is your jaw clenched or your tongue pushed to the roof of your mouth.Take a moment to notice your body, we’re returning to where we started our practice laying in stillness. What’s the story now? It might be the same. There might be some additional ease. There might be some additional want for movement. It’s all just paying attention to ourselves, trying to hear this story we’re telling over and over again through these sensations,

Breathe in nice and slow, and as you let that go, take rest.

When you’re ready, start bringing awareness back to your body, lying on the floor, you don’t have to move yet, just noting that you’re here. Eventually, start taking small movements, wiggling, circling, maybe stretching. Please take your time. There is no rush as you come to a seat. We’ll meet there in the next minute, two minutes. You can also stay exactly where you’re at for this last little communal portion of our practice.

Let’s take a second to breathe together and to honor this community, honor the roots of this practice that’s thousands of years old and that traveled from the East to provide us with the ability to move consciously in community in this way. So inhale and then breathe out. Let’s do it again. Breathe in. Breathe out. Okay, y’all go forth.