Yoga with Melissa

🧘 Dive into the healing practice of vagus nerve restorative yoga 🌿

Find peace amidst the chaos of overstimulation by embracing slow, still movements that ground you in your body. 🌟 In a world constantly pushing for hustle and achievement, restorative yoga offers a sanctuary to activate your parasympathetic nervous system and embrace rest and digest mode. 💆‍♀️

Moving slowly is an intentional practice, especially in a culture that values speed and constant advancement. 🐢 In restorative yoga, we quiet our minds by being still in our bodies, nurturing our well-being with compassion and gentleness. 🌸Yoga is powerful medicine, but it works slowly. When we regulate our nervous systems, life becomes more spacious, allowing us to connect deeply with our hearts and express our truth authentically. 💖

As we slow down and care for ourselves, we model this possibility for others, creating environments of safety and resonance for collective healing. 🌿 By taking time for these gentle poses, you're not just nurturing yourself but also shifting the frequency of your community towards co-regulation. 🌱 By embracing softness and kindness, we inspire others to live from their hearts as well, fostering a frequency of trust and co-regulation. 🕊️🙏

Vagus Nerve Reset - Basic Exercise 

Restorative Twist 

Diaphragmatic Breathing

Restorative Side Bend 

Restorative Locust - with blanket on diaphragm 

Restorative Child’s 

Savasana 

Poem: On a Day When Stillness Seems Possible  by Rosemerry Whatola Trommer

You guys LOVED the first 45 minute Daily Hatha Yoga Routine 12 Poses You Should Do Daily | Yoga with Melissa 479

It has over 46K views, so I made a second one 12 Poses You Should Do Every Day in 30 minutes - Wrist Free YWM 639 and it has over 7K views.

I hear from so many of you that you put these 2 classes into your regular rotation.

So, I decided to create yet another version of daily hatha yoga poses that you should do everyday.

The way I think about yoga has changed a a little bit over the years, and this class reflects that thinking. It includes more mobility practices for your joints. It focuses on strengthening your body. It focuses on connecting you with your spirit. It has a focus on pranayama and regulating your nervous system.

However, I still care about making sure you are rested and that your spine moves in all directions, it is just that I understand better about how to move your body so that you are not in pain and so that your nervous system stays regulated.

So here is my gift to you, an updated, 12 poses you should do every day!

Props Needed: Block, Wall, Yoga Strap

12 Poses You Should Do Every Day Sequence:

1. Centering with Nervous System Regulation

2. Abdominal Strengthening

3. Cat Pose

4. 90/90s

5. Lunge Pose

6. Standing Twist

7. Standing Side Bend

8. Shoulder Flossing

9. Shoulder Clocks

10. Cobra

11. Malasana

12. Savasana or Legs up the Wall

Poem: One Big Perspective by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

You Deserve Rest! This 30 minute yoga nidra sleep meditation is for deep rest. Yoga nidra powerfully heals and restores your body on a physical level giving you an opportunity for deep rest in a reclined meditation. 

This yoga nidra is designed to give all parts of your body deep rest. All the organs and systems of your body from your ventral vagus nervous system, your heart, your lungs, your kidneys, your liver, and your brain rest and rebuild.  It is a deep rest meditation that will guide you for 30 minutes into a yoga nidra healing experience. Allow Melissa West to guide you on this healing yoga nidra journey into deep restorative sleep and into a deep rest frequency. 

Yoga Nidra meditation is easy because it takes your brain into the same frequency when you are in deep sleep even though you are awake allowing for deep rest. Your body will naturally begin its process of rejuvenation and healing. Your vital, rested, and restored body is the first step towards releasing stress and finding inner peace. This guided yoga nidra meditation will take you to brainwave states where your entire body and mind will have a chance for deep rest and rejuvenation.

Yoga nidra is a guided meditation where you lie down and are led through a calming experience that is a mix of a nap and reclined meditation. It is a way for your body and mind to take a break that feels super relaxing. 😴💤🌙😌

During yoga nidra you focus on your breath and sensations in your body. This helps your brain take a break from constant external stimuli and find joy in simpler quieter moments. It is like giving your brain a little rest. It will help you enjoy the smaller and more peaceful things around you. 

Yoga nidra creates a deep restorative state that triggers the brain to release neurotransmitters including dopamine. Studies show that Yoga Nidra techniques increase the endogenous release of dopamine in the system by up to 65%. Dopamine helps us to feel pleasure, feel rewarded and helps us to maintain focus. It is an antidote to depression and amplifies your motivation and positive outlook on the world. 

When your body releases its own dopamine, it heightens your body’s ability to manage the impulse to act on unhelpful habits and addictions. Things like constant digital stimulation from social media. 

Through the sense withdrawal of yoga nidra, you are giving your brain a chance to recalibrate and restore sensitivity to more subtle and natural sources of pleasure.

This calming vagus nerve restorative yoga will support your parasympathetic nervous system, in particular healthy ventral vagus and dorsal vagus activation of your nervous system so that you leave feeling “zenned out, ” meditative and contemplative.

Calming Vagus Nerve Restorative Yoga Sequence

Vagus Nerve Reset

Restorative Twist

Eye Yoga

Restorative Down Dog

Diaphragmatic Breathing

Psoas Release

Mudra for Emotional Balance

Props Needed: Bolster, 2 Blocks, meditation cushion or chair

Surrendered Heart Hatha Flow is an all-levels hatha yoga class, suitable for beginners, dedicated to cultivating love, healing, and opening your heart through the practice of bhakti yoga.

In this session, we'll embark on a soulful exploration, focusing on yoga for heart opening, heart healing, with mobility for your shoulders and hips. The fusion of asanas such as Supported Fish Pose, Dancer Pose, and Standing Twist will create a beautiful flow that encourages the awakening of your heart chakra.

Bhakti yoga, the path of devotion, will be woven throughout the class, making it accessible for beginners while offering an enriching experience for seasoned practitioners. Together, we'll explore the profound impact of bhakti yoga through a heartfelt flow that includes elements of surrender, self-compassion, and devotion.

Our practice will delve into shoulder mobility and hip mobility, enhancing your range of motion and bringing fluidity to your movements. The incorporation of Tejas Mudra, a gesture representing the inner fire of transformation, will add depth to your journey, fostering a sense of surrender and connection.

This yoga class is a sacred space for healing and heart opening. We will allow our practice to be a celebration of bhakti, of love that unfolds when we surrender to the wisdom of our hearts through yoga.

Props Needed: Yoga Blocks

Surrendered Heart Hatha Flow - Sequence

Supported Fish Pose

Shoulder Mobility

Hip Mobility

Spinal Mobility & Hip Strength

Half Bow

Locust

Cat

Boat

Down Dog

Standing Twist

Dancer

Tejas Mudra

Poem: Self-Compassion by James Crews

This yin yoga class is a beginner’s guide to fully body stretching. But actually in yin yoga, stretching is not the goal. We're not trying to stretch our tissues; we're trying to give them a gentle stress. This stress helps our body make important changes at a small level, keeping our joints and tissues healthy.

Most types of yoga focus on our muscles. But in Yin Yoga we go deeper into our body to affect the ligaments, joints, and deep fascial networks.

In Yin Yoga, we do things slowly. We sit or lie down on the floor and hold poses for a longer time, like 2 to 8 minutes. In this beginner’s guide to full body stretching, we will do 6 yin yoga poses, taking short breaks between them. This helps stress the connective tissues in our body.

Now, let's talk about stress and stretch. Stress is like the pull or push we put on our body parts, and stretch is how much they get longer because of that pull or push. But here's the thing: just because we stress something doesn't always mean it will stretch. Ligaments, especially, can be stressed in Yin Yoga, but they are not as stretchy as muscles. So, we're not trying to make them stretch; we're trying to give them a little challenge to stay healthy.

Gentle Yin: A Beginner's Guide to Full Body Stretching Sequence:

Supported Fish

Bananasana

Butterfly

Deer

Dragon

Half Dragonfly

Reclined Twist

Poem: Hold Out Your Hand by Julia Fehrenbacher

Props Needed: 2 Blocks

🌌✨ Winter Night Sky Yoga Nidra, is a guided meditation where we'll immerse ourselves in the beauty of the stars, the moon, and the quiet of winter.

To circulate your awareness through your body, we will illuminate each part of your body like stars lighting up the night sky. Poetry from Mary Oliver and John O’Donohue will inspire our winter journey. 

As we approach the end of 2023, this yoga nidra is a reflective pause. We will illuminate our body with bija mantras, or seed sounds like soft snow falling from the winter night sky. 

This will be the last Yoga with Melissa and last yoga nidra of 2023. It is the perfect way to say goodbye to 2023 and plant the seeds of intention of 2024, enveloped in the beauty of the winter night sky.  🌙❄️ #YogaNidra #YearEndReflections

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Inspired by the wisdom of nature, this restorative yoga class embraces the stillness and darkness of winter season. This restorative yoga class will create a warm and cozy sanctuary for you to burrow into a den of relaxation. Just like animals hibernating in burrows, we'll draw from the cocooning qualities of winter, preserving warmth and promoting internal contemplation.

In winter, yin energy is most dominant. The kidneys and bladder meridians are the key organs of water element season. Resting and conserving your energy during this season will support your overall vitality. When we attune to the short days and long nights, we can make adjustments to our practice. This is a reflective and introspective practice that aligns with the stillness of winter.

You will emerge from this Winter Cocoon of Comfort Restorative Yoga class feeling replenished, grounded, and ready to welcome the approaching seasons with a revitalized sense of energy.

Props Needed: 2 blankets, wall, bolster

Poem: Snow Day by Billy Collins

🍃 💚 🌿 🍃 💚 🌿 🍃 💚 🌿 🍃 💚 🌿 🍃 💚 🌿

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This Yin Yoga class designed for Winter Rejuvenation is practiced entirely at the wall. As we descend into winter and water element season this practice focuses on the kidney and bladder meridians.

This yin yoga class focuses on winter rejuvenation by encouraging introspection and replenishment. We delve into the essence of the winter season, exploring its connection to the water element and the organs associated with this time - the kidneys and bladder.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the concept of jing, emphasizes the importance of preserving our life force. This class explores several ways of focusing on smart energy use to nurture our well-being.

Yin yoga is one of the best practices we can offer our bodies in winter to replenish our kidneys (our internal batteries).

Legs Up the Wall Yin Yoga Winter Rejuvenation Yin Yoga Sequence

Legs up the Wall

Keyhole

Broken Wing

Dangling

Dragon

Squat

Legs up the Wall

Props Needed: Wall, Blanket

Reading: ― John O'Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings