Mini flows for 2020

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
After teaching some Christmas restorative workshops I am reminded of the profound effect of consciously bringing the body to a state of complete relaxation. My intention for 2020 is to incorporate more restorative poses into my home practices, starting with these three simple mini flows. These three sequences give plenty of variety for the new year and help you settle at the end with a different restorative pose as an alternative to Savasana. Savasana is one of the most beneficial of the yoga poses but it’s all too tempting to roll up your mat at the end of a short home practice and jump back into your busyness. Incorporating a restorative pose will give you all the additional benefits of restorative yoga and help you to take that important pause to assimilate the practice before you move on.

BENEFITS OF RESTORATIVE
A lovely way to think of restorative yoga is ‘our body sleeps and our mind watches’. Our muscles can still be firing in different stages of sleep, particularly in a dream state. In restorative we consciously scan for any little bits of held tension in the body and mind and send signals to melt it away.

One of the main benefits of yoga, restorative yoga in particular, is that through the nervous system it strengthens the immune system. It does this with the breath which stimulates the vagus nerve, bringing the body into the rest, digest and restore response. This creates optimal conditions for the functionality of the organs of the body and strengthens the immune system, relieving symptoms of chronic stress, fatigue and tension.

EXPLORING MINI FLOWS FOR 2020 IN YOUR PRACTICE
These mini flows give you three new versions of the most downloaded themes from the website – stress relief with some hip opening and forward folds; energy bursts with twists and arm balancing poses; and immune system with plenty of twists and backbends to stimulate the digestive system where 80% of the immune system is made.

ALIGNMENT CUES
Below are the alignment cues to help you navigate the restorative poses. Comfort is king when practising restorative. Use plenty of props to find ultimate comfort. You don’t need to have an array of official yoga props. You can improvise with household items that can do just as good a job. The props you’ll need for these restorative poses are – a bolster, or use two stacked cushions; two yoga bricks, or two thick dictionaries; two to four yoga blankets, or regular blankets. I’m a big fan of blankets even if you are not feeling cold. The added weight on the body triggers sensors on the skin and tells you that you are safe and secure.

STRESS RELIEF - RESTING SAVASANA
Start lying on your back with a folded blanket under your head, a bolster under the creases of your knees and a blanket over you. Legs and arms extended, palms facing up, lift your buttocks and slide the flesh of the buttocks downwards. Feet gently flop out to the sides. Shoulders melt to the floor. Eyeballs become heavy in their sockets, skin on the forehead smooth as silk. Soften the temples and find ease in the tiny lines around the eyes.

ENERGY BURSTS - BLISSFUL BANANA
Make a pillow with a brick and a blanket on top of it at the top of the mat, place an additional brick above this at arms reach. Place your bolster horizontally on your mat with a space between your bolster and pillow. Sit with your right hip next to the long edge of the bolster, knees bent. Lengthen the spine along the mat and nestle the bolster into the curve of your waist. Place your head on your pillow, your shoulder in the space between your props and extend your right arm forward. Extend your left arm overhead and place it on the brick. If the raised arms doesn’t suit you bring your arm down and place it on your right arm. Repeat on the left side.

IMMUNE SYSTEM BOOST - BOLSTER TWIST
Place your bolster vertically along the left side of the middle of your mat. From lying, with a blanket under your head, extended both legs out along the mat and roll your hips to your left, bend your right knee and place it on the support of the bolster, left leg remains extended. To feel this twist let your upper body and right shoulders settle down onto the mat. Bring your arms to cactus position, with arms lifted and elbows bent either side of the body, gaze over your right shoulder. If the twist is too intense add a folder blanket under your knee on the bolster. If the raised arms doesn’t suit you bring your arms either side of the body palms facing up. Repeat of the left side.

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Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

10 benefits of twists

WINTER TWISTS
When the temperatures drop and we start to move towards to depths of winter twists help to calm the nervous system, balance hormones, release tension, and help the body to adjust to the sudden change in season. They also stoke your internal generator to help you stay warm when there is a nip in the air, warming you from the inside out.

While Springtime is a time for getting into some deeper twists, Wintertime is more suitable for gentler twists to keep the spine supple over the winter months without going too deep into potentially seasonally tight muscles. Try this simple yoga sequence to get some twisting benefits into your day. Explore giving yourself permission to not go into your deepest twist and pause to take a few extra breaths in each twist to build strong winter ready lungs. Here are 10 benefits of adding these twist into your practice:

1. Aids digestion - twists penetrate deep into the body, stimulating the organs of the abdominal region. One of the most important organs which benefits from twists is the digestive system, also known as the enteric nervous system, or the ‘second brain’. Twists stimulate maximum nutrition absorption and distribution throughout the body.

2. Eases constipation - the digestive system is happiest when it is kept regular. Constipation can leave you feeling sluggish and bloated. Twists wake the digestive system up and gently squeeze it to help keep everything moving efficiently. When practising twists turn to the right first to stimulate the ascending colon, then twist to the left after, to stimulate the descending colon.

3. Aids detoxification - twists temporarily constrict blood flow in the bowel, liver and kidneys. In releasing the twist a surge of fresh oxygenated blood rushes back which flushes out unwanted toxins.

4. Increases metabolism - your metabolism is the rate at which your body process matter to create energy. Twists boosts the metabolism by aiding good digestive. The metabolism also functions best in a stress free environment – twists soothe physical and emotional tension in the body through triggering the parasympathetic nervous system.

5. Boosts immune system - a healthy immune system starts in your gut. As 80% of our immune system is generated in the gut it makes sense that twists are a very powerful tool for a strong immune system. Along with the digestive system, twists also stimulate the circulatory, the nervous and the endocrine systems – which all have an important part to play in building the immune system.

6. Increases circulation - good circulation brings oxygen and nutrients to the whole body. Sitting at a desk all day is one of the main culprits of poor circulation. Yoga, twists in particular, increase your circulation – with the additional benefit of adding a healthy glow to your complexion after your practice!

7. Energising - the increased circulation from twists of oxygenated blood to the brain gives you a fresh boost of energy. They also stir up your internal prana (life energy) and increases energy flow throughout the whole body.

8. Eases stress & anxiety - a healthy gut has a strong link to our moods and emotional well-being. Stress leads to gut issues and similarly gut issues lead to stress. As 95% of serotonin (the happy hormone) is produced in the bowel, stimulating the gut through twists release these happy hormones into the system.

9. Balances nervous system - the sympathetic nervous system (fight & flight) is in constant alert in our busy lives. Sometimes we may need a bit of ‘fight & flight’, but most of the time it’s a result of our brain being overwhelmed and leads us to make impulsive decisions. Slowing down and taking some deep breaths in your twists rewires the brain to pause before it reacts, and triggers the parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest).

10. Improves spinal health - last but not least, twist help maintain a healthy spine by wringing out and lubricating the connective tissue of the spine – keeping them strong, supple. They stretch, strengthen and release tension from all the muscles of the spine.

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Ruth Delahunty Yogaru

The posterior chain

THREE DIMENSIONAL BEINGS
We are very conscious of our front bodies. It is what looks back at us in the mirror and primarily what we communicate with too – it’s much harder to read a person from their posterior! We concentrate most of our movement patterns on our front body too and the back body gets ignored, until it makes itself heard through shoulder, back, glute or hamstring pain or injuries. ‘The posterior chain’ refers to the whole back body, starting from the back of the heel, the calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower back (lumbar spine), upper back (thoracic spine), the neck (cervical spine) and end just under the back curve of the skull. This chain of muscles are designed to hold us upright. If they are weak they can become fatigued more easily and we collapse and curl forward in the front body. The posterior chain become weakened from lack of use or from long periods of sitting where parts are in a static slight stretch and there is very little strengthening and stabilising. A strong posterior chain protects the back and allows more freer fluid movement.

FORWARD BENDS VS BACKBENDS
In our practice we naturally come into more forward bend poses than backbends. In a Classic Sun Salutation you will take six forward bends (where the upper body is moving towards the lower body) and one backbend (where the upper body is moving away from the lower body) on each side which means twelve forward bends to two backbends to a full round of a Classic Sun Salutation. As with everything in life and especially in movement balance is best. Adding more poses that actively strengthen all or part of the posterior chain and will ignite the muscles of the back body.

EXPLORING THE POSTERIOR CHAIN IN YOUR PRACTICE
This sequence intermittently adds poses that will strengthen your whole back body. Salabhasana/Locust is one of my favourite poses for strengthening the posterior chain from the heels to the top of your neck. Ardha Uttanasana/Half Forward Fold is also very easy to add into your sequences and will help to counteract long periods of sitting and improve posture by strengthening the back. To concentrate the actions into the back strength keep your knees slightly bent and press your hands strongly into the tops of your knees to reach your chest forward and up, taking care not to bring too much flexion into the back of the neck.

ALIGNMENT CUES
The sequence starts lying prone and connecting with all the muscle groups of your posterior chain. The peak pose is Urdhva Mukha Svanasana/Upward Facing Dog. When you find yourself in this pose lift up with the back body and work on taking as much weight off your hands through the strength of your back as you can. Press into the tps of your feet and reach them back as you hug to the midline and lift through the core to protect your lower back. It is not a pose to stay in for too long, but you can add a few more of them in between mini flows if you are enjoying finding your back body strength.

• From Chaturanga Dandasana, inhale, reach your sternum forward and up, roll over your toes onto the tops of the feet, straighten your arms, hands either side of your ribs.

• Press into your hands and tops of feet, lift chest and hips up. Broaden through the collarbones, firm your shoulder blades onto your back.

• Reach your toes back, firm your legs, hug your outer hip to the midline

• Pull your hands back, draw your sternum forward and up, draw your navel towards your spine. Gaze forward or arch your head back and gaze up.

To save the images for personal use click and hold down the image until the ‘save image’ option appears; on Mac hold down ‘control’ and click the image to get the option box; on PC right click on the image to get the option box. Scroll down in the ‘option box’ and click ‘save image’.

Ruth Delahunty Yogaru