Relaxation & Stress Relief

Hi everyone, welcome to Yoga & You, rooted in India, flowing to you. I'm Sanjana Prasad, and this is Day 7, the last one of our 7-day series for Diabetes Management. Definitely practice Day 1 to 6 before you hop on to this one. Today is going to be all about winding down and relaxation. Let's get into today's practice.

We are going to start off with Titli Asana. So I want you to bring the soles of your feet together. Hold on to your feet, and we are just going to start flapping the thighs up and down. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Now from here, inhale, lengthen your spine. Exhale, we are going to start leaning forward, chin coming towards the mat. Once your elbows reach the thighs, start pressing the thighs down. Keep leaning forward as much as you can. Stay there and breathe. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Inhale and slowly come back up.

Now continue to hold the feet, round your back, bring the forehead down towards the feet. Baddha Konasana, breathe. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Roll your spine up, vertebra by vertebra, bring your legs together. You are going to turn to the side now, extend the legs forward, but I am not going to straighten out my knees fully — these are going to be slightly bent. Take both your arms up, inhale, exhale, and lengthen forward. Stay there. Allow your upper body to kind of melt into your thighs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Inhale and come up, exhale, release your hands, lie down on your back. Have both your knees into the chest. What you are going to do is place both the palms on the knees this way. As you inhale, you are going to allow the knees to move away from you. Exhale and hug the knees to the chest. Inhale, away from you. Exhale and hug, 2. Inhale, knees away. Exhale and hug, 3. Inhale and away. Exhale, hug, 4. Inhale, away. Exhale and hug, 5. Now you wrap your arms fully around the knees, bring your forehead up towards the knees, stay there and breathe. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bring the head down.

Now open your arms out shoulder level. You are going to lift the legs up. You don't have to straighten, knees can be soft. Drop your feet all the way towards the right side, as close as you can towards the right palm, turn your head to the left. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Press into your thighs, bring your legs back to center, exhale and drop the knees towards the left. Turn your head to the right. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Come back to center, place your feet down.

Now open out your knees, soles of the feet touching each other. Here you can place two blocks underneath the thighs if you need to, for support. You can also recline on a couple of cushions to give you a more supported recline. If you are very comfortable, you can simply lay on your mat. Palms can be on the belly here, or by the sides where you can even interlock the fingers underneath your head. Close your eyes, just focus on the breath. Allow gravity to do its work on your knees, your hips. If this feels too much, again you can use the blocks for support, or move your heels slightly forward, or simply get into Shavasana. Try to hold this for a few breaths at least, so you get that nice opening in your hip. You don't have to press the lower back down. In this position, your back might arch slightly — focus on the in and out of your breath.

Complete your next exhalation and let's bring the legs together very gently, and you're going to extend your legs forward, feet at least mat-width apart, release the hands, palms facing the ceiling, your eyes closed. Take a moment to check in with your entire body. If you have to make any adjustments — your clothes, your hair — make it now. Take a deep breath in, exhale through the mouth. One more inhale, exhale, allow the entire weight of your body to sink into the mat. Bring your awareness to your toes, soles of your feet — you don't have to make any movement, just take your awareness there — top of your feet, ankles, heels, awareness to your calves, shins, knees, back of the knees, thighs, back of the thighs, outer thighs, inner thighs, groin, your butt, outer hips, hip flexors, pelvis. Lower half of your body is relaxed, relaxed, completely relaxed.

You're going to inhale through the nose, as you exhale you're going to make a sound. Shifting your awareness now towards the belly, navel, ribs, sides of the body, chest, heart space, upper chest, awareness to the lower back, mid back, upper back, shoulder blades, awareness to your shoulders, upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, palms, fingers. Your torso and both your arms are relaxed, relaxed, completely relaxed.

We're going to inhale through the nose, exhale with the U-sound, U-kara, inhale. Shifting your awareness to the back of your neck, back of your head, top of the head, forehead, eyebrows, eyes, cheeks, ears, nose, lips, side of your mouth, your teeth, tongue, gums, your chin, jaw, neck, collarbone. Neck and head are relaxed, relaxed, completely relaxed.

Makara, inhale, relax the entire body. One time we are going to chant, "AUM." Take a deep breath in, both your arms above the head, interlock your fingers, give yourself a big, nice stretch. Exhale and relax, turn towards your right side, gradually come up to a comfortable seated position, can be in Sukhasana or Vajrasana. Sit tall, keeping your eyes closed.

Your left palm is going to rest on the knee. We are going to use the right palm, the mudra of your choice — can be Nasagra Mudra, which is the index and middle finger at the center of your eyebrows (if you need to open your eyes and watch this once, you can), or Vishnu Mudra, index and middle at the base of your thumb. Start by closing the right nostril with the right thumb.

Inhale through the left nostril, three, two, one. Close both nostrils, hold, three, two, one. Exhale right, three, two, one. Inhale right, three, two, one. Hold, three, two, one. Exhale left, three, two, one. Second round of Anulom Vilom or Nadi Shodhana — inhale left, three, two, one, hold, exhale right, inhale right, hold, exhale left. Third round — inhale left, hold, exhale right, inhale right, hold, exhale left. Fourth round, inhale left — we are going to continue by ourselves, six to eight rounds, or you can set a timer and practice this for the next two to three minutes. Once you finish your practice, take a minute of silence before you open your eyes.

So that was Day 7, the last practice of our seven-day series for Diabetes Management. Definitely practice the entire series, and I really hope the series was helpful for you. This is Yoga & You, with love and light from India. Thank you.