bridge pose | Shannen Roberts Yoga

I took a restorative yoga class tonight with Dani Ibarra at YogaWorks Valencia.
I was pretty much ready to take a nap afterwards. It was amazing.

The whole class was at the wall and consisted of 4-5 poses with the lights dimmed, almost dark.

1st pose: Relaxation pose.

Place 1 block at the tallest level for your head.

Another block at the medium level for your ribs right above the shoulder blades.

Lie a bolster on top of these blocks.

Fold a blanket in half, and drape it over the bolster as a pillow for your head.

Fold two blankets into squares for your arms. Place the blankets to the sides of the bolster.

And roll a blanket to be placed underneath your knees.

Lie down on the bolster, extend your legs forward and place the rolled up blanket underneath your knees. Adjust the square blankets for underneath your arms. Snuggle the ends of the blanket draped on the top of the bolster around your head like a little nest.

Close your eyes. Stay for 8-10 min.

2nd pose: Spinal twist.

Move the square blankets aside (the ones your arms were laying on.)

Have the R side of your torso face the bolster, knees bent. Inhale elongate, exhale turn your torso to face the bolster and lay down for a twist. Your head can be to the right or left – looking to the left will be a greater twist, but be careful of your spine is tight or your neck is tender.

Stay for 8 min. Repeat on L side.

3rd pose: Hip opener.

Either: Sit cross legged. Place a block, bolster or block on top of a bolster in front of you. Extend your torso forward and have your forehead rest on the block or bolster.

Hold for 8 min, switch cross of legs other side.

***If your knees hurt…

Open your legs into a V-shape. Extend torso forward, rest forehead on props.

4th pose: Assisted bridge pose.

Face the wall.

Place a blanket to the extent of your mat.

Place two blocks at medium height against the wall for your feet (the blocks should be touching each other short side to short side)

Prepare a loop in a strap about the width of your hip bones for your thighs.

Fold a blanket for your head. (may or may not use)

Lie down. Bend your knees. Place the strap around your thighs.

Take bridge pose. Place the bolster underneath your tailbone. Extend your legs so your feet press into the wall and are lying on top of the blocks.

If you want, you can place the blanket underneath your head.

Stay for 8 min.

5th pose: Legs up the wall (Savasana variation)

Place a folded blanket by the wall.

Take legs up the wall, but, make sure your bum (the cheeks to be exact…) are off of the blanket.

The blanket should be placed more by the tailbone, up to the frontal ribs.

Stay for 10 min.

My neck has been acting up a lot. I had one of those ridiculous moments where I looked down too abruptly and something pulled in my left shoulder. So now I can’t turn to the left very well, and walking/driving is uncomfortable.

But I’m still continuing to workout my muscles

My sequence today was a restorative yoga practice to open up the low back, hips, and relax my muscles through a moving meditation.

1. Started out lying down knees bent hip distance apart. Let them lazily drop to the left, and then the right to relax the low back muscles gently.

Repeat x6

2. Inhale, I extended the legs up feet flexed while lowering the arms almost down to the floor
Exhale, lowered the feet back to the floor, knees still bent, and placed right palm over the the left hand and allowed the back of my right hand to place pressure on the forehead.

***I’ve been getting headaches due to spasming in my neck, so pressure on the forehead helps calm and rid of the headaches.

Repeat x6

3. Knees bent, still lying down. Extended the right leg up, pointed the toes, ankle rolls. Repeat other leg. 5 sets.

4. Hugged the knees into my chest for apanasana
Made circles with the knees to the right, then the left
Then, keeping the knees bent, let the thighs spread out the sides, and made circles with the thighs in, and out.

5. Happy baby

6. Yesterday I did stair master, squats with the smyth machine, grand plies with a kettle ball, calve raises, and donkey kicks (none of which bothered my neck!!!), so my hamstrings felt very good, but hips were tight.

Because my hamstrings felt wonderful, I sat in a side “splits,” let my right arm reach toward my left toes, and left arm extend over my ear, left fingertips reaching for right toes. This felt WONDERFUL in my low back. At one point I let the lower arm act as a kickstand to support my neck.

7. Crossed the legs in a seated position with the ankles flexed and, with a flat back, let both arms extend forward and head gently relax down (the neck muscles are very tight in the back of my neck right now…)

8. Sat in Baddha Konasana (knees bent, backs of feet touching) with my back supported against my couch. Held this pose while I watched Jimmy Fallon with my family (jajajaja) and let my hips restoratively open.

8. Opened my upper back in a similar fashion as Bridge Pose would, but without the pressure on my shoulders/neck.
Knees bent, snuggled my body down until my shoulders, but not my head/neck, touched the top of the couch. I bent my arms, kind of like in fish pose, and lifted my heart toward the ceiling.

Ice, heat, peppermint oil.

Goodnight

Shannen Roberts Yoga

Tagged bridge pose

Restorative Yoga

Yoga on the Floor – Restorative Sequence