#7 NEUROLOGICAL & PSYCHIATRIC SYSTEM: Restorative Yin Yoga to Reset the Mind
In class #7 of our Body Systems Yoga Series for Full Body Health, we will be focusing on the neurological and psychiatric system with a 30 min restorative yin yoga flow. This flow will help restore the body and calm the nerves.
We will start with a mindfulness meditation practice. Mindfulness meditation is a specific style of meditation that helps us release any judgment or attachment associated with our thoughts. It is great for anxiety, depression, and improving outlook on life. 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/2MIai2HFyV6yrTd4fDJt7z?si=7dcb5f61a49e4ae2
Full Transcript
Introduction to Mindfulness and the Nervous System 0:00
[Music] foreign wood and I'm a board certified family physician and certified yoga teacher welcome back to day seven of our body systems yoga series for full body health today last but not least we're going to be focusing on the neurological and the psychiatric system so we'll have a very Yin gentle style flow to help calm our minds soothe our whole body and really activate that parasympathetic response again that we talked about in on day four our special focus of today is going to be mindfulness meditation so mindfulness meditation is a specific style of meditation that helps us release any judgment associated with our thoughts so unlike other styles of meditation where the goal is to rid your mind of thoughts this type of meditation focuses on releasing judgment or attachment to those thoughts and this is really great for anxiety depression PTSD or just improving your whole outlook on life so if you think about it anxiety and depression comes about when we attach judgment to the thoughts that are coming in so if we have a thought and we think that makes me sad or mad or frustrated that's an attachment that we're associating with that thought on the other hand with anxiety if we have a thought and then we feel anxious or a heart rate increases that's also another judgment attached to that thought so with a mindfulness meditation practice we can learn how to release those judgments and thus release anxiety and depression along with it so how does this actually work so we have a network in our brain called the default mode Network or dmn for short and this network talks with other networks in our brain and allows us to associate personal connections to our thoughts so this is what allows us to have a favorite color or enjoy a food or not enjoy a food because we have an experience and then we associate it to ourselves as personal beings mindfulness meditation can help us detach the default mode Network when it's overactive or sometimes even underactive interestingly enough psychedelics also do a very similar thing in the mind and in fact a lot of people say that psychedelics are a crash course in what a long-term mindfulness meditation practice can do for you so when you take a psychedelic you get immediate decoupling of your default bone network from the rest of your brain this is why a lot of people experience quote-unquote ego death or feeling at one with the universe or feeling connected to those people around them because that default mode network is functioning independently and not connecting to the rest of your mind you can experience things and just let the idea of you personally go now this isn't how we should live every moment of our life but learning how to do this or experiencing this with psychedelics or going back to it each time we do a mindfulness meditation can help reset the brain it actually also helps increase new Toronto connections as well
Guided Mindfulness Meditation 2:53
so instead of going down a negative cognitive Loop that we've built over time associated with anxiety and depression our brain has actually created new connections so that we can go down new Pathways and experience life differently so the majority of our flow will focus on mindfulness meditation and then we'll also incorporate a few gentle Yin style poses to help just fully reset the body so I hope you enjoy this flow and I'll see you on the mat [Music] all right let's all need an easy seat position and this flow is going to be a really gentle Yen flow we'll just be relaxing into a lot of the poses but first we're going to start with some mindfulness meditation so go ahead and flutter your eyes closed here and start by connecting to your breath inhaling deeply and exhale to sigh it all out a couple more together inhale fully through the nose and then exhale side out through the mouth one more together inhale deeply through the nose and exhale audibly side out through the mouth now go ahead and let the control of the breath go keep your eyes closed get comfortable in the position that you're in just start to notice the breath don't try to control it don't try to rhythmically inhale and exhale let your body breathe as it needs to just start to notice the inhales notice the exhales maybe start to notice where the sensation of the inhale begins is it starting your chest in your nose in your belly start to notice don't try to control it just just where the inhales begin and start to notice how it feels to be at the peak of your breath right before you exhale start to notice what it feels like to gently allow the body to Exhale on its own continue like this noticing the breath noticing the inhales noticing the exhales I'm starting to tune in to your body if your mind starts to wander that's okay do you go back and begin again now I'll start to bring some awareness to Your Heart Center and place your hands at your heart center if that will help you or leave them down by your side just start to notice what it feels like at your heart center is your heart connecting with the breath your hands you're over your chest Can You Feel the heart beating beneath you this would feel like to really connect to your heart to be intentional about listening and noticing your heart does this make you love yourself maybe this gives you a little bit of uncomfortable Sensations or anxiety just notice any any thoughts that might arise any feelings that might arise when you bring your focus to Your Heart Center again bring the focus back to your heart center if your mind is wandered and I'll release her hands back down to your knees if they're not there already and start to bring some awareness to your thoughts are any particular thoughts arising are you thinking about your body maybe a position or part of your body is a little bit uncomfortable right now and that's a thought you're having maybe you feel peace or joy just start to bring some intention and awareness to what is going on in your mind just as we started to notice where the breath appears try to think about where our thoughts appearing in the minds do you feel them physically in your head they arise from the pit of your stomach they arise externally are they outside your mind and come in start to notice the thoughts now I'll start to notice do you have any judgments or attachments to your thoughts if you think about something like it's warm in here do you associate that with good or bad if you have an uncomfortable sensation in your body are you associating that with uncomfortable and bad or you're just noticing the sensation that you feel try to release any judgment or attachment to every thought that comes in as you notice a sensation or a thought just notice the thought for what it is release any judgment any good or bad connotations with that thought let's release it and let it all go and try inhaling breathe in the fresh air breathe in what's around you and as you exhale release any judgments just continue like this noticing your thoughts your mind ever starts to wonder again you can come back to the breath and then reconnect to your thoughts now I want to try one more thing here I want you to think of a situation that happened in the past few days that really stirred an emotion it can be a good emotion or a bad emotion can be an interaction with a loved one that made you smile or perhaps an interaction with a co-worker or someone that left a sour taste in your mouth I want you to think back to that memory replay it in your mind think about what you said what they said what happened and see if that emotion arises again their Joy anger frustration really focus on that emotion and notice where you feel that emotion in the body if it's Joy does it start in the heart it's anger have you noticed your muscles start to tense up just notice where do you feel that emotion and I want you to breathe air and send energy to that location where you feel the emotion then exhale to release that attachment inhale to breathe air into where you're feeling that emotion and exhale to release that attachment start to see the situation as just that situation release any attachment from that situation start to reconnect to the breath now noticing your inhales the peak of your breath and the exhales start to connect back to you release those thoughts bring yourself back to the present moment
Gentle Yin Flow Begins 12:19
notice where the inhales arise in your body and notice when you naturally want to Exhale continue like this for a few more moments all right go ahead and flutter your eyes open give a little shakeouts relax roll around so that was a little preview of what a mindfulness meditation is so releasing any attachment or judgment to your thoughts can help you see the world differently and respond to the world differently now this is not something you should practice 24 7 we all want to feel Joy and feeling anger is a normal part of life when those emotions start to start negative reactions in us that's when it starts to become pathological I hope you enjoyed this mindfulness meditation and now let's get into our gentle en flow so let's all start by laying down on our backs and we'll start with a gentle superbadakonasana so lay down on your back press your feet into the floor bring your feet together and then allow your legs to fall out long like so and just release and surrender here feel that gentle hip opener this is a great activator to release any tension from all of our chakras this release here and surrender we'll be holding all of these poses a little bit longer just finding some relaxation and some Stillness here all right from here bring your knees back up bring your feet out wide just a hips distance and we'll do a gentle supine spinal twists just allow both knees to fall over to the right you don't need to get too deep in this stretch this is a Yen flow here to just gently and passively relax your body stretch your body all right bring both the knees back up to Center and we'll switch to the other side let both knees fall over to the left now all right bring both knees in back to Center pull your knees in give them a little squeeze rock back and forth then gently Rock back and forth along the length of your spine they're all meets in a neutral tabletop position from here we'll go through a few rounds of cat and cow so inhale to drop the belly gaze up to the sky for cow pose and then exhaled around the spine tuck the chin cat pose inhale to drop the belly gaze up to the sky for cow pose and exhale around the spine tuck the chin cat pose inhale to bring yourself back to a neutral tabletop position and it'll go through a few rounds of thread the needle inhale to lift your right arm up to the sky and then exhale to thread the needle right arm under the left and lay your cheek down on the ground we'll hold here for a few moments inhale to plant your left hand reach your right arm back up to the sky and then exhale back down to a neutral tabletop position inhale your left arm up to the sky and exhale to thread the needle to the other side left arm under the right shoulder lay your cheek down on the ground inhale to lift your left arm back up to the sky and then exhale back down to a neutral tabletop position from here untuck your toes and lift your hips up and back for a downward facing
Hip Openers and Pigeon Poses 17:08
dog we won't stay here for too long just get a little bit of stretch through the legs to the shoulders then on your next inhale gently lift your right leg up and back from a three-legged dog and then exhale to step your right foot outside your right hand for a lizard pose drop your back left knee down to the ground for a lazy lizard and if it's comfortable for you and your practice you can drop down to your forearms and just start to gently stretch out through the hips there's no right or wrong here you can let your knee fall all the way down you can reach around back here just to find any movement or Stillness that calls to you will stay here for a few moments if anything starts to feel uncomfortable start to connect to the breath breathe oxygen and energy into any area of discomfort and as you exhale release that negative sensation All rights in gently press back up to your hands if you're not already there tuck your toes lift your knees up and then send your right leg back two or three downward facing dog moving on to the other side now inhale your left leg up and back for a three-legged dog and then exhale to step that left foot outside the left hand for a lizard lunge drop the right knee down to the ground for lazy lizards if it's in your practice you can drop down to the forearms again finding any sway side to side here and any movement that feels good for you and then when you're ready find some Stillness and we'll hold here all right start to come back up to your hands if you're not already there tuck your toes lift your knee and then step that left leg back for a three-legged dog and here come down to your knees and we'll find a wide-legged child's pose so bring your knees out wide as wide as the length of the mat or wider if that's comfortable for you and start to crawl your hands forward and allow your forehead to rest down onto the mat this is a very simple pose but it's a very relaxing and releasing pose especially if you hold it start to release to the hips allow your head to rest so you don't have to hold up your head stay here connect to your breath and they'll guide you out in a moment [Music] all right gently start to walk your hands back to your hips bring your knees to touch now and we're going to try a pose sitting on our toes so untuck your toes or tuck your toes like so and sit back on your toes like this now this can start to feel pretty intense pretty quickly because a lot of us don't stretch out our feet enough and a lot of people really hold a lot of tension in their toes so this can start to feel really intense try to hold it for just a few moments together and then we'll release again inhaling to breathe any energy and oxygen down to any points of tension and then exhale to release any negative Sensations tapping into that Mind Body Connection inhale to send oxygen and energy to that point of tension on the bottom of your feet and then exhale to release it all out Pat your feet down on the ground bring some blood flow back into the feet and then sit back on your heels from here we'll lift up to one more downward facing dog of the day so plant your hands for a down dog and let's all take a deep breath in and out here to connect together in our down dogs inhale to fill the chest feel the belly expand the ribcage and then exhale to release it all sigh it out from here inhale your right leg up and back and then exhale to bring your right foot to the left side of your mats and we'll meet in a pigeon pose so in Pigeon you want to keep your hips Square to the ground you might need to bring your foot in just a little bit like so to make this happen you want a deeper stretch bring that foot so that your shin is parallel to the top of the mats from here bring your hands back almost behind your hips inhale to give a little bit of a heart opener and then exhale to crawl forward into sleeping pigeon pose we'll stay here for a little while so just relax get comfortable always remember you can connect to your breath if you feel any points of tension in your body you do start to feel any pinching or pain then come out of the pose a little bit don't do it as deeply a little bit of discomfort is okay so just notice your body connect to your body connect to your breath and relax here I'll let it slowly start to walk up to your hands sit over onto your right hip swing the left leg around and we'll move on to the other side
Seated Forward Fold and Final Relaxation 25:48
between the right leg back behind you again hips Square to the ground so you can bring your foot closer together to make them more accessible or for a deeper stretch push your foot towards the top of the mat so that your shin is parallel to the top of the mat before you fold forward reach your hands back inhale to broaden through the chest and then exhale to crawl it forward for seeping pigeon on the other side release your body connect to your breath and we'll stay here for a few moments foreign walk your hands back up sit down on your left hip this time and swing your right leg around and then straighten your legs out in front of you move your sit bones if you need to inhale to reach your arms up to the sky and then exhale to forward fold seated forward fold with each inhale lift and lengthen the spine a little bit more these extra and with each exhale fold a little bit deeper release the neck we'll stay here for a few moments all right inhale back up to the center and then gently start to roll down we'll all meet on our backs here here we'll go into a happy baby pose so grab for your thighs your shins or your feet and make sure that your sacrum and your low back are pressed firmly into the mat find a little bit of gentle movement here and find some Stillness and just surrender to this pose all right release your feet down to the grounds bring your feet as wide at the mat and just allow your legs to fall in just gently just here for a few seconds and when you're ready put your feet together and let your legs lay out through the sides like we did in the beginning of this class in super konasana reclined bound angle and as we're laying here I encourage you to reconnect to the breath and start to notice Sensations once again like we did in the beginning meditation notice where your breath starts notice the natural rhythms of your breath notice any thoughts that might arise you have any judgments or attachments with those thoughts let's notice them try to release the attachments and observe if your mind starts to wander again just come back Begin Again focus on the breath if that helps you stay in the present moment and then from here feel free to stay in super kunasana in this flow or extend your legs out long or shavasana surrender here once more feel free to pause the video and stay here as long as you like but if you'd like to be guided out in a few moments the surrender relax and I'll guide you out shortly all right start to bring some movement back into the body wiggle the fingers and the toes we roll out the wrists roll over to one side or the other make a full body stretch if that feels good to you and when you're ready take your time we'll all meet up in a seated position once you arrive here go ahead and place your hands to prayer Heart Center bring your thumbs up to your third eye The Light in Me honors the light in each and all of you namaste [Music]
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