Felt truly relaxed stress just melted away I went from a size 18 to a size 8 I stopped getting sick pain disappeared in yoga yoga for real people with real problems hello I’m Deborah Devine and welcome to healing yoga yoga for real people with real problems and yes that was me before discovering gentle yoga I had a lot of real problems including chronic pain weight gain stress unhealthy lifestyle choices we’re creating lots of pain and as a result serious mobility issues based on that experience and many years of teaching I’ve put together a yoga series that can bring relief to the many Zoomers living with chronic pain even in your compromised condition you can engage the body’s healing powers. And it starts with turning off stress in a relaxing warm-up we will disrupt the pain loop by wakening the rest and digest aspect of the nervous systems then we’ll introduce healing breath into our upper bodies in the cooldown we’ll take our relaxation even deeper these are really easy poses.
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But don’t be fooled they’re highly effective you’ll be managing pain much easier let’s start the healing joining me today Diana and I we’re gonna start with a wonderful warm-up v pre to kurani legs up the wall or waterfall pose now you may want to clear some space at a wall that you have at home. And then we just get the hind quarters close up to the edge of the wall. And the floor. And then we take our legs up now one option that may feel really wonderful is to take folded blankets or a towel or, if you have a yoga bolster you can just place it underneath your pelvis supporting your low back and let the legs rest high you could also be resting your legs on a chair as diana is over here or you could be having a lower support for the pelvis haleh’s got that support and he’s also supporting the back of the neck. And the head. And then we’ll just rest here for a few breaths we have this wonderful opportunity to turn off the sympathetic aspect of the nervous system this is the fight flight component of our nervous system and we’re turning on the deep healing parasympathetic aspect of the nervous system so now you could be circling your ankles and spreading your toes taking a couple of long slow smooth and complete in and out breaths take your feet a little bit wider take the soles of your feet together and let the knees splay out to the sides rocking the pelvis back and forth. And then bringing the legs back up high we’re beginning to drain lymph that’s been trapped in the lower extremities maybe for a very long time. And we start to feel a sense of lightness in the feet a sense of lightness in the ankles. And this lymph is coming down here into the belly it’s cascading into the upper part of the chest. And the lymphatic fluid is carrying with it all kinds of toxins. And the toxins get sorted out by the liver. And then fresh lymphatic fluid goes up. And it feels wonderful we’ll take a couple of long slow smooth and complete in-and-out breaths reading the belly rise and fall letting the out breast be complete and pausing for just a moment at the end of the complete out-breath experiencing a little bit of stillness and peace there. And then when the in-breath comes it’s wonderful it feels so nourishing. So the lymphatic system carries waste and toxins away from the various cells. And when the lymph gets stuck we feel a sense of heaviness we feel stuck energy.
And it’s very important for people who are dealing with fibromyalgia and chronic pain to get that movement happening we’ve got a great relationship with gravity here pulling out all of that old lymph and there’s a wonderful sense of switching over to the parasympathetic aspect of the nervous system this fresh limp that goes in gives the legs a sense of ease that takes a lot of stress out of all of the other aspects of the the breath your mind it feels really wonderful it might feel wonderful to take the soles of the feet together just thread them through the back of the chair here and let the ankles rest down then we’ve got this wonderful sense of the legs being supported the femurs resting in the hip sockets instead of being jammed in there rock your pelvis back and forth or butterfly the knees and that is also helping encourage the lymph to come down that’s gonna give you a wonderful sense of peace and well-being at the out breast be complete and please continue to enjoy be pure to karate in any of the different variations that have been feeling good for you. And we’ll be back in a few moments to work a little bit deeper with some of our pain challenges healing yoga yoga for real people with real problems hi my name is Diana I’ve had fibromyalgia for probably about 20 years I was diagnosed formally about 10 years ago it was great to have a diagnosis waking up every morning in pain I started at the suggestion of my doctor to do yoga. And it has really helped me with the flexibility getting the blood flowing to all of the muscles being able to sleep well getting up in the morning and not having the extreme amount of pain and taking a lot less medication sometimes no medication I’ve been taking yoga for probably about eight years now and hopefully intend on doing it for many more years from now welcome back today we’re dealing with chronic pain and Diana dealing with fibromyalgia is very challenging and are you enjoying the practice so far absolutely fantastic. So we’re gonna be moving on into a couple of poses that are going to help us release a lot of tension that we find in the belly in the hip flexors on the front of the spine. And also the diaphragm will be coming down onto our backs into a constructive rest position. So the feet come this way. And the head comes this way knees are bent feet are about hip-width apart heels out. And the toes in. And then the next time an out breath comes along the knees will come in one direction. And the head will be moving over into the opposite direction and in breath we’ll take everything back to the center. And then an out breath we’ll take things into the opposite direction we’re slowing down the breasts and slowing down the movements we are getting deep underneath the belly organs here with these breaths there are some muscles on the front of the spine called the psoas muscles and these are the muscles that are charged when we are experiencing pain it’s sort of the same muscles that are responsible for the field position. So this rocking motion is giving you a wonderful cranial sacral massage so to speak. So the whole spine is starting to let go and those muscles underneath the belly organs are also starting to release pressure you may feel your legs become a little bit jittery and that’s a wonderful sign that there’s some release going on some energetic release going on deep in the psoas muscles and, if you have some chronic pain in the low back this is a fantastic way to release those muscles on the front of the spine. Because many times they’re causing some pain. And the low back now will come back to Center and we’re gonna be moving into a supported bridge pose. So the feet can be a little bit closer to the hips. And you can rest here. And this is a very gentle practice. So we’re not gonna be going into an active bridge it’s gonna be more of a supported style of bridge we press down with the feet and elevate the pelvis lifting I’m gonna slide a support underneath Diana’s low back and her pelvis you can rest your pelvis now. And then just this action of giving a very slight back bend and a support for the pelvis is also going to help release some pressure in the belly those muscles on the front of the spine have been charged up for a long time they’re in that pain and stress loop. So we’re going to lengthen the psoas by taking one leg at a time let’s start with the right leg we’ll let the right leg come long wait there for a few breaths cycles will rest the ankle down shake your leg out take a few deeper breaths and direct that breath deep underneath the belly organs directing it down into the pelvic Bowl underneath all of the belly organs down the leg.
And then the in breaths are breathing light in spaciousness and expansion and length deep underneath the belly organs into the psoas. And then the next out breath we’ll take the knee bent again. And then the left leg will come long. And you can let your leg come long in a comfortable way maybe this leg is a little bit more charged up than the opposite side you just find out what’s going on you’ll become very familiar with the different parts of your body that are experiencing different sensations you can rock the leg you can actually give your foot a sense of dorsiflexion the heel come strong the toes come back yes and that’s releasing some tension in the back line of the body as well and taking long slow smooth and complete in-and-out breaths deep underneath the belly organs deep into those psoas muscles you may even want to take your hand into the area of the hip point just massaging this area deep underneath there’s all kinds of stuff going on there’s the coal in there underneath that is the psoas the quadratus lumborum all kinds of muscles in there that are keeping things locked up underneath our belly these muscles get very tight. And we are palpating this area. So that we can release long-held tension which is causing a lot of pain when you’re ready you can bring the left knee back the right leg will come back again we’ll take a few long slow smooth and complete in and out breast into the right side and see how things have shifted. And we do repetitions every time you come back to a certain side you’ll find that you’ve made some progress and maybe some more releases been happening. And we’ll be back in a few moments to work a little bit more deeply with our pain issues healing yoga yoga for real people with real problems essential oil of peppermint helps disrupt the feedback loop of chronic pain dab some on your temples and on your third eye in the middle of your forehead welcome back today’s practice we’ve been working with chronic pain we want to find a way to come into the comfort / discomfort zone. And then work the breath there expand around there. And then reduce and eliminate the pain that we might be experiencing now we’re gonna be moving into the upper part of the body when we have pain responses we are typically seeing the shoulders rise up. So we’re gonna be working with this next practice to release some of the tension that builds up in the shoulders. And the neck Sun breaths.
So we come to Tad Asana the Mountain Pose the feet are about hip-width apart maybe a little bit wider heels out toes in ground on to the heels ground on to the heels and lean back into the back plane of the body let the sit bones and tailbone come down and here you are hands in front of the heart next time an in-breath comes along inhale the arms out and up reaching the ribs off of the pelvis exhaling hands come back to heart center inhaling moving some energy out of the arms out of the shoulders exhaling hands come back to Center inhaling one more time reaching as you ground in the heels exhaling hands come back to Center all right now we’re gonna be taking a couple of variations with our shoulders and arms well let the arms come down to the sides. And then we’ll take the shoulder blades together and down towards the waist. So we’re bringing the upper arm bones back we’re opening up the collar bones we’re leaning into the back plane of the body. And then we’re going to let the arms come up just a few degrees on either side spreading the fingers reaching out with the fingertips and we’re gonna start to energize the arms just a little bit this is a gentle practice we’re just gonna feel a little bit of muscle action happening hugging into the bones spreading the fingers and letting the fingernails draw tension is a really wonderful way to take this practice exhale completely and feel this energy moving down the arms now we’re going to turn the arm. So that the palms are facing up rise the arms up a few more degrees now reaching out lifting the heart opening the collarbones bring the shoulder blades back and down lengthening the back of the neck. And then bringing the head back towards the back plane now we’ve got a wonderful relationship with gravity here coming onto the heels feeling the quadriceps activate reaching up with the hands now, if you get tired you just come back to Tad Asana and let your arms rest recover. And then you can join us again now we’re gonna be lifting the arms all the way up and exhaling hands down to heart center let’s take this Vitruvian arms sequence again we’re gonna find a comfortable place where we can rest the arms out to the side bring the shoulder blades back and down reaching out with the fingers hugging muscle to bone with the arms. And then we’ll spin the arms rotating the upper arm bones externally letting the palms open up make a lot of room in the palms feel any pain dropping out of the fingertips let the out breast be complete bring the belly back to the front of the spine.
And then we’re gonna lift the arms up a little bit more. And we’ll take the gaze over to the left bring the head back into the back plane a couple of breaths here reaching out with the fingertips, if you get tired just bring your arms down rest recover. And then rejoin when you feel it’s the right time coming back to Center with the gaze moving the gaze over to the right couple of breaths over here we’ve got this wonderful ringing out of tension in the shoulders. And the neck coming back to Center letting the arms come down. And then we’ll just circle the shoulders very gently now please continue to take a couple of moments to enjoy a few more rounds of this idea of Vitruvian arms. And just take it easy stay out of the paint own. And we’ll be back in a few moments to cool down Healing Yoga Yoga for real people with real problems welcome back I hope you’ve been enjoying this practice for chronic pain people who are dealing with chronic pain can feel that pain manifest in a number of different areas in the body maybe it’s in the shoulders in the neck maybe in the spine or the hips sometimes in the ribs or the knees. So this practice has been about releasing a lot of tension in the psoas those muscles that give us the fetal position we’ve also been releasing a lot of tension and gripping out of the shoulders. And the arms. And now we’re going to be continuing this very very gentle theme. Because chronic pain sufferers really need to do less we need to turn on the deep healing aspects of our nervous system the parasympathetic aspect of the nervous system.
So we need to take it really easy. So we’re coming into this wonderful cooldown supported knees in shav Asana are tranquility pose. So we’ll come down to the ground using your arms to support you as you come back there’s a nice support for the back of the neck the back of the head. And then perhaps you’ve got a rolled up blanket or folded towels. And you could support your knees. And then we’ll just come to the upper legs give the upper legs a little bit of an inner spiral to set the SI joints give them a little bit more room. And then you can either have your legs long or you could bring the soles of the feet together and let the knees splay apart maybe rocking the pelvis back and forth a little bit. And then having eyebags is a wonderful way to rest the mind. So we don’t want to let the eye bag rest on the eyeballs.
Because the cornea will not be very happy. But we’ve got the brow bone and a little bit of the eyelids covered we begin to just since our parts of our body that are Hevy. And we feel the breath letting us become wider and flatter we’re letting the out breasts be complete upper arm bones rotating externally palms facing the sky and fingers unfurling like the petals of a lotus supporting the Me’s is. So Important. Because it takes pressure off of the low back. And this is an area where a lot of chronic pain can happen using the eye bags that’s optional. But it does give a wonderful rest for the brain letting go of the jaws letting go of the eyes letting the out breast be complete feeling the belly come to the front spine and maybe pausing there for just a moment enjoying that peace. And then the in-breath comes. And we feel that wonderful Parana filling up the lungs oxygen penetrating all of the cells of the body bring your awareness to the part of the body that’s experiencing the most pain right now take a long slow smooth and breath and breathe in light and spaciousness a long slow smooth out breath releasing tension and releasing gripping and surrendering any pain down into the ground see that area that you’re feeling the pain the space around expanding please continue to enjoy shav Asana for the next 10 or 15 minutes using these visualizations to create space around the painful areas I hope you’ve enjoyed your practice today. And we’ll see you again on healing yoga next time a mistake you.
