#2 REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM: Gentle Vinyasa Yoga Flow to Activate the Sacral Chakra
In class #2 of our Body Systems Yoga Series for Full Body Health, we will be focusing on the reproductive system with a 30 minute gentle vinyasa flow. While this flow will help increase blood flow to the pelvic area and reproductive organs, it is gender neutral and designed for all bodies.
We will start with a mantra meditation to stimulate our sacral chakra. Then we will get into our gentle vinyasa style flow that includes a lot of hip openers. This flow is great to help boost your confidence and creativity by opening up the sacral chakra. It also can help with reproductive tract symptoms like PMS, low back pain and hip or pelvic pain. This whole series is designed for all levels, with harder poses mapped out in stages to allow each person to choose the level they are comfortable with.
All you will need is yourself and your mat– option to use blocks or straps to help support you in more difficult poses.
Click here for a curated playlist designed specifically for this flow: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7CzGbo7Vb8KfT4rUzd1WSn?si=e8cd238907fc4d53
Full Transcript
Introduction to the Reproductive System Flow 0:00
hello [Music] I'm Dr Mariella wood and I'm a board certified family physician and certified yoga teacher and welcome back today two of our body system yoga series for full body health today we'll be focused on the reproductive system so this will be a Vinyasa style flow to really increase blood flow and lymphatic drainage to our reproductive tract our special focus of today will be the sacral chakra so chakras are energy systems that are found all throughout our body and it's thought that our Prana or life force flows through these chakras the sacral chakra specifically which is thought to be located in the pelvis is about creativity pleasure sexuality it's a more Primal part of our life force so our flow today is going to be focused on not only increasing blood flow to our reproductive organs but also we'll be doing poses that are thought to activate the sacral chakra and I want to add that this flow is not meant for any specific gendered organs non-gendered beings gendered beings it's for everyone even if you don't have reproductive organs this flow will still help stimulate your sacral chakra that being said because this flow does increase blood flow to your reproductive tract it can help with reproductive tract related symptoms like cramps PMs and other things like that because we are talking about the reproductive system I do want to give a trigger warning before we begin if you you've had sexual trauma in your past some of these poses might be triggering for you it might not everybody is different but I do want to give that warning before we begin so just be aware of that listen to your body feel free to pause this stop the flow at any time if you do start to feel triggered on the other hand doing poses like this can actually help heal the body of sexual trauma as well so just be aware and listen to your body with that let's begin our flow I'll see you on the mat thank you [Music] all right let's all begin in an easy seat position so come to any seated position that feels good for you if you feel comfortable you can place your hands on your knees your hands to pray Heart
Sacral Chakra Meditation and Mantras 2:12
Center we'll start with a couple rounds of deep breaths in and out together so flutter your eyes closed go ahead and inhale fully through the nose filling up the belly and then audibly exhale say it all out release it all again inhaling fully through the nose fill up your entire body and then exhale audibly sigh it all out continue breathing like this on your own and we'll go through a little bit of a meditation learn a little bit about the sacral chakra and then do a couple mantras to start our class chakras are energy centers in the body The Prana or life force is thought to flow through when a specific chakra is blocked the energy that that chakra rules can be blocked in your body today specifically we're talking about the sacral chakra which is thought to be located in the pelvis even though it does have a physical location for us to think about it's not something in the body that you'll ever be able to find the actual physical location for I like to think of these energy centers like thoughts we can't actually find them if you do surgery and cut open the body but they're there and they influence us the sacral chakra is located in the pelvic area you can go ahead and place your hands there now if you want to start to open it up and activate it and the sacral chakra is associated with the color orange the water element also with creativity sexuality emotions self-esteem so when it's opened up and piranha and life force can flow through can flow freely through the chakra all of those things are abundant and blossoming when it's blocked and it can get blocked for a lot for a number of different reasons from psychological to what you're eating to not doing enough yoga people might experience sexual dysfunction or blocked creativity or low self-esteem sometimes physical manifestations of this blocked life force can manifest as low back pain or worsening PMS symptoms so today I want you to place your hands in your pelvic area so just below the belly button and start to breathe some life into your sacral chakra so with each inhale imagine inhaling energy from around you and channeling it down to your sacral chakra and then as you exhale release any blockages release any feelings of low self-esteem of blocked creativity and let it all go continue like this for a few rounds of breath inhaling to send energy to your sacral chakra and then exhaling to release any blockages slow creativity low self-esteem next we're going to try a mantra meditation a mantra is a statement that you can use to induce something that you want in the body I'm going to give you three options today here and you can State your Mantra out loud you can say it in your mind so your first option is I am radiant and I am beautiful your second option is I love and honor my body and the third option is I am a creative and sensual being so go ahead and choose one of those right here and now and start repeating that Mantra in your head or out loud again I am beautiful and I'm radiant I love and honor my body I am a creative and sexual being I am beautiful I am radiant I love and honor my body I am a creative and sensual being all right from here go ahead and photo your eyes open and we're going to start with a few Kundalini circles so stay here in the seated position or find yourself in a seat like this if you haven't already and go ahead and place your hands on your knees start by gently rolling the body around you can go any direction that you want start gradually and then you can slowly make the circles bigger and more exaggerated start to open up the spine bring some movement into the spine around the spine back as you go back and puff your chest out as you go forward
Seated Warm-Up and Spinal Mobility 6:48
switch directions if you haven't already you can start small and then work your way up to bigger circles you can start to connect the breath of your movement inhaling as you reach your chest forward exhaling as you round the spine back go through a few more on this side even even it out okay bring yourself back to Center let's all meet in a tabletop position so in a tabletop position your shoulders should be stacked directly over your wrists your hips stack directly over your knees pull in the belly give a slight tuck in the tailbone and keep your shoulders down and back away from your ears we'll go through a few rounds of cat and cow here so inhale to drop the belly gaze up to the sky for cow pose and then exhale to round the spine Chuck the chin cat pose inhale to drop the belly gaze up to the sky cow pose and exhale to round the spine cat pose one more time here inhale to drop the belly gaze up to the sky for cow pose and then exhale to round the spine cat pose inhale to bring yourself back to a neutral tabletop position and then we're going to go into a wide-legged variation of child's pose so bring your feet together bring your knees out wide just as wide as your mat begin to sink into the ground here allow your head to rest on the mat and start to feel this gentle hip opener this is a great pose to activate and open up that sacral chakra it's a really crawl the fingertips forward if you can sit the hips back onto the back of the heels just take a few rounds of breath here foreign lift up you can slide the knees in just slightly and you're going to go into a
Tabletop, Hip Openers, and Bridge Pose 9:12
puppy pose so from here keep your hips lifted and start to reach your hands out long you can tent up your fingertips and if it's available for you you can place your chin down on the mat really feel this exaggerated version of a child's pose from here scoop your body forward and we'll find a cobra position for just a moment it's really broad into the chest gaze up to the sky then from here you'll find a frog's pose so start by bringing your right leg up so that your knees out to the out to the side and you start to see how that feels in your hip feel in your hips and sway from side to side start to get a stretch through your groin area here release the right leg back out long we'll switch to the other side bringing the left knee out to the side just start to bring some movement into your hips sway back and forth just a little bit all right bring your left leg back in a neutral tabletop position and then we'll stick around to our backs and we'll go into a bridge pose so lay down onto your back you're gonna have your feet planted on the ground really press your feet firmly into the ground and when you're ready start to lift your hips up to the sky really squeeze through your pelvis and your glute muscles rather than lifting through the back release it down to the ground we'll do that two more times really press down into your feet squeeze your glutes to lift your booty into the sky and then exhale to release it back down to the ground one more time here lift up to a bridge pose and then exhale back down to the ground go ahead and bring your knees into your chest now and start to rock back side to side along the spine giving your lower back a little bit of a massage and then when you're ready start to rock back and forth up and down the length of your spine and we'll meet in a neutral tabletop position when you're ready from here we'll go into a modified variation of this tabletop position so tuck your toes and lift your knees slightly above the ground just one to two inches will only hold here for a few moments bring a little bit of heat to the legs and the core and then lift up into a downward facing dog this is our first downward facing dog of the day so find some movement here pedal your feet back and forth make sure to keep your shoulders down and back and keep your hips lifting up it's always more important to keep your hips tilted up rather than to get your knees or your heels straight down on the ground let's take a big deep clearing breath here inhale to feel your body up with air and then exhale release it all out on your next inhale wave your body forward to a high plank position then drop your knees down to the ground and we'll do modified chaturanga push-up inhaling to shift your weight forward over your wrists and then exhale down through chaturanga so here we'll move back up to sixth pose so bring your bring your elbows tucked close into your side really broaden through the chest and just gaze up slightly bring yourself back down to the ground move your hands back to your rib cage press up into a plank pose and then exhale down and back for a downward
Standing Flow and Side Lunges 13:00
facing dog from here inhale to lift your heels bend your knees and then step hop or jump forward and we'll meet in a forward fold uttanasana can bring your feet out slightly for this variation and go ahead and grab your opposite elbow sway side to side for Ragdoll variation all right release your hands down to the ground widen your feet to about the length of your mat turn your toes out slightly and we'll squat down into malasana Yogi squats so you don't have to get your bottom all the way down to the ground for this one the main thing is to keep your feet planted you can lift up slightly if you need to keep your feet planted your legs pushing outwards and if it's in your practice bring your hands to prayer Heart Center and you can push each elbow to the inner parts of your thigh or knees to really open up through the hips sway side to side here feel this opener through the hips start to activate your sacral chakra a little bit more then plant your hands down on the ground and come up to a modified forward fold with your legs still out to the side inhale to lift up to a flat back and then exhale forward fold from here we'll go into another melasana squat so turn your toes out slightly and squat down again see if you can notice a difference here after doing this for the second time in today's flow all right place your hands down on the ground lift up to a forward fold this time walk your heels into touch inhale to lift up to a flat back and then exhale forward fold inhale to plants your hands on the ground step back into a plank position stay here for the exhale then inhale to shift your weight forward over your wrists and then exhale down through chaturanga dantasana inhale for Upward facing dog or cobra and then exhale to lift your hips up and back to a downward facing dog from here inhale to lift your right leg up and back for a three-legged dog and then exhale to step your right foot in between your hands for a runner's lunge then go ahead and tiptool your foot outside to the right of your hand and we'll find a lizard's pose from here find some movement in blizzard shifting your weight back and forth start to open up through your groin a little bit more and then we'll move on to lazy lizard so he'll go ahead and bring your back knee down to the mat let the top of your foot fall down into the ground and just see if you can feel the difference here in this lazy lizard pose you want to deepen the stretch a little bit more you can come down to your forearms play with some movement side to side we'll stay here for a few rounds of breath all right go ahead and lift back up to your hands if you're not already there lift back up to a lizard pose and then slide your foot back in in between your hands for your mother's lunge from here we're going to shift to the back of our mat and we'll need in an Archer's pose towards the back of your mats your hands can be a prayer Heart Center open wide you can grab your toe if that's accessible for you and then bring yourself back to a runner's lunge at the top of the mat from here Cardinal your arms open to a Warrior Two position inhale to bring your shoulders down and back lift through the spine and then exhale to bend a little bit deeper into that right knee now inhale to shift your weight forward straighten through your front right knee and then Bend forward for extended side angle stay here for a full round of breath inhaling to lift and lengthening and exhale to bend a little bit deeper into that stretch inhale once more to lifted lengthen exhale fit your foot down and we'll find a wide legged forward fold shift your weight forward from side to side see how that feels and from here lift up to a flat back and then stand all the way up and we'll meet in a star position really make yourself long expand out inhale here to lift a little bit more and then exhale to turn your toes out to the side then we'll sit down into a goddess pose find some movements sway side to side your hands can be a prayer Heart Center or out at Gold post arms really shift back and forth here find some fluid movement the sacral chakra is all about fluidity creativity so do what feels right for your body inhale to lift back up to a star position and then exhale to cartilage your hands down to frame your right foot for a runner's lunge inhale to step your right foot back shift your weight over your wrists and then exhale down through chaturanga dantasana inhale for an upward facing dog or cobra and then exhale to lift your hips up and back for a downward facing dog we'll take a full clearing deep breath in and out here and then we'll move on to the other side so inhale to fill your whole body up and then exhale to release it all out through the mouth on your next inhale lift your left leg up and back for a three-legged dog and then exhale to bring It Forward step your left foot in between your hands for a runner's lunge from here slide that left foot outside your left hand and we'll meet in a lizard lunge again find some movement here sway back and forth side to side start to open up to the other side now moving on to lazy lizard go ahead and let your right knee drop down to the mat untuck your toes find some movement here see how it feels
Pigeon Pose and Supine Twists 19:36
different if you'd like to you can bring your forearms down to the mat to deepen the stretch just a little bit more all right go ahead and lift back up if you're not already there and tuck your right toe and lift your knee back up to a lizard lunge and then pivot to your foot in between your hands again for runners lunge this time we'll move to archers to the back of the mat sliding over bending into that right leg your hands can be down in the mat at prayer Heart Center open out wide or if it's accessible for you you can go ahead and grab your left big toe on your next inhale pivot forward back to a runner's lunge and then exhale to open up to a Warrior Two position inhale to grow a little bit taller and then exhale to bend deeper into that left knee on our next inhale shift your weight forward straighten into that left knee and then fold over for extended side angle gazing up to the sky inhale to lift and lengthen and then exhale to Pivot forward and we'll find ourselves in a wide-legged forward fold you can point your toes out just slightly shift your hips from side to side do what feels good for you in your body from here inhale up to a flat back and then exhale to stand all the way up into a star position feel free to find some movement through the wrists through the hips do what feels good for you grow larger and taller inhale here to lift just to lift up just a little bit more and then exhale to sink down into a goddess pose and shift your weight forward find a little bit of play a little bit of creativity your hands can be a prayer Heart Center or open up wide to Gold post arms we'll just play here for a few moments on your next inhale lift back up to a star position and then exhale to Pivot around frame your left foot to a runner's lunge inhale to step your left foot back shift your weight forward over your wrists and then exhale down through chaturanga dandasana inhale for an upward facing dog or Cobra and then exhale to lift your hips up and back for a downward facing dog from here drop down to the knees take a moment to rest here grab some water towel off if you need to and then we'll move on to our cool down when you're ready you're going to move into pigeon pose so go ahead and bring your right foot forward make sure that your shin is parallel to the top of the mat hips are square to the ground you can move your foot slightly in towards your hip if that's more accessible for you before we lay down I want you to bring your hands back to your hips and try to sit up as tall as you can here in this position inhale here to lift and lengthen and then exhale to gently crawl your hands forward into lazy lizard pose we'll stay here for a few rounds of breath really get comfortable in this position find a place where you can just relax into this pose and find a release with each inhale focus on lengthening through the spine and then with each exhale just fold a little bit deeper all right inhale to lift back up go ahead and shift your weight forward over onto your right hip swing your left leg around it'll move on to the other side swing your left swing your right leg back behind you if Square to the max if it's accessible for you keep your left shin parallel to the front of the mat and again same thing on this side we'll start by shifting your hands back towards your hips really lift up lengthen through the chest strengthen to the spine then exhale to fold forward for a lazy lizard position and inhale to lengthen through your spine and then exhale to fold a little bit deeper and we'll stay here for a few rounds of breath on your next inhale lift back up shift your weight forward over onto your left hip swing your right leg around and then we'll gently roll down onto our backs from here we'll go into a supine spinal twist so go ahead and bring your right knee into your chest give it a little squeeze you can sway it from side to side just a little bit and then when you're ready grab your right knee with your left hand and pull it on over to the left side of your mat that's your right leg your right hand extend out long and just release here in this easy supine spinal twist position we'll stay here for a few rounds of breath
Reclined Opening and Final Relaxation 26:00
foreign your right knee back into the chest give it a little squeeze and extend it out long we'll switch the other side pull your left knee into your chest again give it a squeeze rock back and forth just a little bit and when you're ready grab your left knee with your right hand and pull it over to the right side of your mat let your left arm extend out long to the side just release into this pose here all right go ahead and inhale to bring your left knee back into the chest give it a squeeze this time pull your right knee back into needed and just rock back and forth give your spine a little bit of a massage keep your low back pressed down to the mat and then release your feet to the ground keep your feet together then open your legs out to the side for soup or reclined bound angle from here I encourage you to place your hands in your pelvic region really feel this gentle opener through the hips activating your sacral chakra from here you can stay here inasana for our final shavasana or if you'd like to move into a traditional shavasana extend your legs out long allow your arms to rest out by the side or wherever is comfortable for you and I encourage you to remember the Mantra that you chose from the beginning of this class see why they're I am beautiful I am radiant I love and honor my body where am I sensual and creative being remember the Mantra that you chose or choose a new one right here now and say it out loud to yourself on your head one final time before we move into our final shavasana you can go ahead and pause the video here if you'd like to stay in shavasana as long as you like if not I'll guide you out in a few minutes so just fully surrender and I'll guide you out when you're ready all right go ahead and start to bring some movement to your fingers and your toes maybe roll out your wrists take a full body stretch do whatever feels good to you right here and now roll over onto your side just do what you need to do and we'll all meet up in an easy seated position go ahead and bring your hands to prayer Heart Center and if it's in your practice bring your thumbs to your third eye The Light in Me honors the light in each and every one of you namaste [Music] thank you [Music]
Comments