Yoga with Melissa

Restorative Yoga Sequence Receiving Grace

In this restorative yoga class for grace we will focus on the receptive qualities of grace such as yielding, opening and flowing with all of life. By resting deeply in our bodies and experiencing the sensations without effort, force or trying we can yield to the healing qualities of grace. Allen Snapp says that “grace needs to be the air we breathe and the atmosphere we live in.” In this restorative yoga class, grace will be the air we breathe and the ground that holds us. Join us for a restorative yoga class that invites you to open to grace with readings, quotations and poetry that will inspire grace to enliven your soul.

Savasana, Standing Forward Fold, Reclined Goddess, Reclined Twist, Savasana

Props Needed: 2 blocks, bolster, eye pillow, yoga strap, blankets

Member Bonus:

Our members will have the option to meet directly after the livestream for a reflective journal writing in their yoga journals. We will begin by collectively reviewing the front of our journals. From there we will do a journal writing practice that will support us in contemplating how we can personally expand the themes from the class based on the yoga journaling we are doing in our community.

Yoga Nidra

This 30 minute yoga nidra sleep meditation for deep rest. Yoga nidra powerfully heals and restores your body on a physical level giving you an opportunity for deep rest in 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, your brain and 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.  

Members Only Audio Link

Chair Yoga for Balance

Join special guest, Sherry Zak Morris, who specializes in Yoga for people with movement limitations, chronic conditions and age-related degeneration.

Today's Chair Yoga class is focused on Improving your Balance. Balance is one of the first things that degrades as we age and it is something we can improve with practice.

A special thanks to Dr. Melissa West of Yoga with Melissa for sharing this video on her channel. Come on over to Sherry's YogaJP's channel and enjoy a Beginner Yin Chair Yoga class with Melissa that will help release your fascia and connective tissue so you have less pain and stiffness.

In this Balance-focused class, we will work on 3 aspects to good balance:

1. Your Vision and Eye Health - so you can see and anticipate your surroundings

2. Your Proprioception - knowing where your body is in space so if you stumble, you won't fall

3. Your Muscular Strength - to keep you strong, steady and sturdy

As always, check in with your doctor before starting any new exercise program. We will be using a chair throughout this class, so find one that is sturdy with no arms, and let's begin.

​ Check out Sherry's YogaVista.TV streaming Video Library with over 500 videos ​ Click Here

​ Chair Yoga Dances with Sherry with no commercial or ads ​ Click Here

Throat Chakra Yoga

This 30 minute hatha yoga class will unblock your throat chakra and support you in following your truth. It is a 30 minute hatha yoga sequence that is suitable hatha yoga for beginners or hatha yoga for intermediate. This hatha yoga class is a that yoga level 1 or hatha yoga level 2. 

The hatha yoga sequence includes: 

* Supported fish pose with blocks

* Neck and Shoulder Release

* Cat Pose with Lion’s Breath

* Thread the Needle

* Eagle’s Pose with Options and Modifications

* Wide Legged Standing Forward Fold

* Sphinx

* Reclined Twist

* Savasana 

 

Lots of options and modifications are given in this throat chakra yoga. Big thanks to Anodea Judith for her teachings on the throat chakra

Restorative Yoga for Autumn

Slow down and align with the autumn season with this restorative yoga sequence for fall. These autumn restorative yoga poses will prepare  you to restore for winter’s long rest. With readings and poetry from John O’Donohue, Mary Oliver, David Whyte and Melissa West’s forthcoming book: The Elemental Self | Five Element Yin Yoga you will be soothed in fall restorative yoga poses while slowing down to prepare for a season of hibernation. 

Member Bonus: 

Our members will have the option to meet directly after the livestream for a reflective journal writing in their yoga journals. We will begin by collectively reviewing the front of our journals. From there we will do a journal writing practice that will support us in contemplating how we can personally expand the themes from the class based on the yoga journaling we are doing in our community.

Let Go

In this yoga nidra for letting go, I will lead you in a guided meditation through the layers of your body into a calming sleep-like state. Your brain waves will let go of mental activity such as problem solving, thinking and decision making. Your brain waves will slow down to the deeply relaxed theta state associated with sleep while still maintaining a trace of awareness. This form of meditation will allow you to let go of physical tension and emotional stress by calming your nervous system. It may also improve the quality of your sleep, improve your mental focus, let go of resentment, control, anger and guilt. We will begin our yoga nidra practice with a beautiful letting go quote by Jeff Foster. 

Readings from: 

Jeff Foster, You Were Never Broken Poems to Save Your Life 

Amazon.ca https://amzn.to/3AMObmJ 

Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3jNTyuY

Yin Yoga for Letting Go

In this yin yoga practice for letting go I will provide you with yin yoga poses for letting go alongside yoga quotes for letting go. The quotes for letting go will support you in letting go of the past, letting go of fear, letting go of resentment, letting go of shame, letting go and moving on. While you are in your yin yoga poses for five minutes at a time I will read you beautiful, meaningful and moving quotes and poetry on letting go. 

 

Yin Yoga Sequence for Letting Go

Centering - 5 mins 

Revolved Child’s Pose - 5 mins each side

Reclined Cow’s Face Arms - 5 mins each side 

Savasana - 5 mins 

 

Readings from: 

Jeff Foster, You Were Never Broken Poems to Save Your Life 

Amazon.ca https://amzn.to/3AMObmJ 

Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3jNTyuY 

 

Daring to Take up Space by Danielle Koepke 

Amazon.ca https://amzn.to/37XasSx 

Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3iLVGUB

You Are Worthy

In this meditative restorative yoga class for self worth we will allow beautiful quotes about self worth to wash over us as we deeply rest and let go into our restorative yoga poses for self worth. These self worth restorative yoga quotes will act as self worth affirmations in the context of a restorative yoga class. Consider this a self worth meditation in the setting of a deeply restful restorative yoga class. We will explore the meaning of self worth as we rest into a sequence of yoga poses for self worth and listen to the beautiful, poetic words of John O’Donohue and Danielle Koepke reminding us that we are worthy, no matter what. 

 

Restorative Yoga Sequence for Self Worth 

 

Supported Savasana - 5 mins 

Restorative Frog - 5 mins 

Supported Child’s Pose - 10 mins 

Supported Pigeon Pose - 5 mins each side 

Supported Reclined Twist - 5 mins each side 

Gentle Reclined Twist - 5 mins each side 

Supported Savasana - 5 mins 

 

Readings: 

 

John O’Donohue,  Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Amazon.ca https://amzn.to/3AKy0GC 

Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3iLVGUB 

 

Daring to Take up Space by Danielle Koepke 

Amazon.ca https://amzn.to/37XasSx 

Amazon.com https://amzn.to/3iLVGUB 

 

Yoga Nidra

We are not at our best when we are depleted. This yoga nidra is designed to revitalize your body from the inside out, breathing new life and energy into your being. Restoring your mental, emotional and spiritual landscape. Welcome to the power of being well-rested.

This 30 minute yoga nidra is a guided meditation practice that will take you through a full body scan. You can find my full yoga nidra playlist on YouTube here: Yoga Nidra Playlist

In this 30 Minute Yoga Nidra for rejuvenation, I will guide you through a body scan that will leave you feeling re-energized when you are depleted.

Yoga Nidra is a form of meditation that helps with insomnia, anxiety, stress, adrenal fatigue, PTSD and so much more.

Through this guided meditation I will lead you into a form of conscious sleep where you will be physically, mentally and emotionally relaxed and yet aware. You will move through your waking state, travel through the dreaming state and enter into a deep sleep state, all while remaining fully awake. In this state of deep relaxation you will receive clarity of mind, stillness and calm. The restorative quality of this meditation often leads to deep insight.

Research on yoga nidra suggests that just one hour of yoga nidra is equivalent to four hours of healthy sleep. Prepare to release tension and anxiety while being rejuvenated to a state of inner calm in this 30 minute guided yoga nidra meditation full body scan.

What is the best time to practice yoga nidra?

According to traditional Chinese medicine, from 1-3 pm fire element and your small intestine meridian is most active. Your small intestine meridian is often overworked from “sorting the pure from the impure.” This is an excellent time of day to bring in conscious rest, such as yoga nidra, to provide your mind a break from all the mental processing you do through the day.

What are the stages of Yoga Nidra?

These are the stages of Yoga Nidra that I teach, however I sometimes vary the order and may not include every stage in every yoga nidra.

* Centering/Permission/Introduction of Theme: Allows students to become comfortable and Prepare for Practice

* Sankalpa or Intention Setting

* Body Sensing/Body Scan/Circulating Awareness Through the Body

* Breath Awareness

* Awareness of Opposites

* Resting in Yoga Nidra

* The Return

What happens if you fall asleep during yoga nidra?

It is not a problem. It means that you need sleep and I am glad that you got the rest. When your body is rested you will experience yoga nidra as sleep with awareness. Dr. Sarah C. Mednick, a Harvard trained research scientist and a pioneer in nap research found that even if you do “fall asleep” in yoga nidra, you will receive the same nourishment to cognition and wellness as a full night’s sleep.

What happens in Yoga Nidra?

Yoga nidra is a guided meditation that allows you to rest deeply in a state of consciousness that is somewhere between waking, dreaming and sleep. Through this guided meditation your attention is drawn inward through a body scan, breath awareness, and awareness of opposites, inviting your mind into a conscious deep sleep.

What is the difference between yoga nidra and meditation?

Yoga nidra is a form of guided meditation where you rest back and you are guided into a conscious sleep. With meditation you often practice seated and your awareness is often on a single point, such as your breath. Generally in meditation the hope is that you stay alert and conscious, whereas in yoga nidra you go into a sleep-like state.

Yoga Abs for Women Over 40

In just 15 minutes I will take you through an easy and doable yoga sequence to strengthen your abdominals. These are beginner yoga poses that will help you strengthen your core. It is designed for women and men over 40.

This is a 15 minute yoga routine that you can do daily as a great way to strengthen your back and core. Contrary to the instagram six pack models, your core muscles are not just pretty muscles. They help our back to stay strong and they also support us in having good posture all day long.

When you have strong abdominals you will prevent back pain, protect your internal organs, and have better posture.

Add this 15 minute yoga abs routine into your rotation and notice the difference yourself!