Yoga with Melissa

Yoga Nidra to Calm Your Mind, Soothe Your Heart & Rest Your Spirit

In this yoga nidra you are going to move from alpha to theta to delta brainwave states to calm your mind, soothe your heart and rest your spirit.

Today you are going to need a yoga mat, blanket, bolster, and eye pillow.

There will be no close out today so that you can sink into the inner temple of your calm mind, heart and restful spirit, so thank you for subscribing, liking before watching and leaving the comment, ¨My brain waves are slowing down” in the comments.

For those of you who are following the Yoga & Simple Mindfulness Practices for Everyday Life series, this week we are focusing on the place where our spirit rests, our altars. This is the place in our homes where our heart and soul is eased and where we can express gratitude. So take the time to tidy, clean, clear the clutter and dust your altars this week.

If you would like my 7 days of yoga for sleep my best yoga, ayurveda, self massage and breath practices to fall asleep go to: melissawest.com/sleep put your email in and we will deliver that right to your inbox

I will put the direct link to the downloadable audio file for our members in the show notes and a link to become a member if you would like access to the downloadable file which is just the yoga nidra without any YouTube advertising or introduction, it starts right with the spoken guided yoga nidra that you can download onto your phones and devices to take to listen in your earbuds.

Link Here

May this guided yoga nidra meditation be of benefit calm your mind, soothe your heart and rest your spirit.

Namaste, Melissa

Yoga Mobility for Stiff Joints

30 minute Yoga Mobility for Stiff Joints with Yoga & Simple Mindfulness Practices for Everyday Life Yoga with Melissa 543

In this class we will focus on bringing mobility to our stiff joints through yoga. We will take familiar yoga postures like bridge pose, knee to chest pose, cat pose, lunge pose, mountain pose, warrior one pose, triangle pose, and forward folds to bring mobility to our stiff joints. We will focus on mobility of our ankle joints, knee joints, hip joints, spine, wrist joints, and shoulder joints through this 30 minute yoga class.

In this series we will focus on simple mindfulness practices that you can incorporate into your daily life to calm your mind and sweep the dust from your heart.

On our mats we will reflect on something that we do everyday in our day to day lives. During our practice time I will give you a contemplation that you can take with you this week into your day to day life. A way to be present with ordinary tasks.

In our yoga class we will be present with our movements. These movements will create a kinesthetic imprint of what we will be meditating on during our day to day life. When we live mindfully our mind will become calm and content, we will not be stressed with overthinking.

7 Irresistible Restorative Yoga Poses for Instant Calm at Home

I don’t know about you but between the air quality and a shoulder injury over the last couple of weeks I have been turning to restorative yoga again and again to try to find some rest and recovery.

I have been mostly settling into my tried and true favourite restorative yoga poses that I am going to share with you LIVE on Friday September 25 at 9:00 am PT on YouTube for our 11 year celebration.

My favourites are:

1. Legs Up the Wall

2. Child's Pose

3. Restorative Locust

4. Restorative Twist

5. Restorative Shoulderstand

6. Reclined Baddha Konasana

7. S A V A S A N A

I share this with you so that you can join us for an amazing class of irresistible restorative yoga poses that you can practice at home for instant calm.

Tag a friend to join us or share this post and let me know in the comments YOUR favourite restorative yoga pose.

Hatha Yoga

This 30 minute Hatha Yoga for Large Intestine will include Yoga & Simple Mindfulness Practices for your Everyday Life and is episode 540 of yoga with Melissa..

This is a new series where we will focus on simple mindfulness practices that you can incorporate into your daily life to calm your mind and sweep the dust from your heart.

On our mats we will reflect on something that we do everyday in our day to day lives. During our practice time I will give you a contemplation that you can take with you into your week and into your day to day life. A way to be present with ordinary tasks.

In our yoga class we will be present with our movements. These movements will create a kinesthetic imprint of what we will be meditating on during our day to day life. When we live mindfully our mind will become calm and content, we will not be stressed with overthinking.

In this hatha yoga class for our large intestine we will pull and pressurize the tissues of our large intestines with simple hatha yoga poses like apanasana or knee to chest pose, knee down twist, cat pose and its variations, downward facing dog, boat pose and variations, easy pose and variations, seated twists such as marichyasana and variations and wide legged seated forward fold and variations. We will finish with a long savasana for relaxation with a beautiful poem by Amanda Merritt.

qigong inspired yoga flow

In today’s class we are going to protect our hearts with a qigong inspired yoga flow along with a simple practical tip to be present to your heart with an ordinary everyday task.

This is a brand new series where we will focus on simple mindfulness practices that you can incorporate into your daily life to calm your mind and sweep the dust from your heart.

On our mats we will reflect on something that we do everyday in our day to day lives. During our practice time I will give you a contemplation that you can take with you this week into your day to day life. A way to be present with ordinary tasks.

In our yoga class we will be present with our movements. These movements will create a kinesthetic imprint of what we will be meditating on during our day to day life. When we live mindfully our mind will become calm and content, we will not be stressed with overthinking.

The qigong inspired flows in this practice will help you to protect your heart, opening your heart to experiences that are life giving and closing your heart to experiences that are toxic.

60 Minute Restorative Yoga Sequence

This restorative yoga sequences will allow you to focus on your breath. Breathing in and breathing out. You will be able to cherish moments of being-ness and let go of doing. Through this class we will be inspired by Lorin Roche’s translation of the Radiance Sutras.

A lot of you have asked what happened to verse 3 of the radiance sutras in this series. I have been saving it for a restorative yoga class. In this 60 minute restorative yoga sequence we will allow the words of verse 3 to wash over us. Our mind will dissolve into our heart and our heart will dissolve into space. Our body will become a shimmering field.

As we delve into the sutras you will hear that they are playful and exploratory. They are meant to be explored by your sense perceptions. Allow yourself to be lighthearted as you open yourself to this divine exploration. Be serious about taking yourself lightly as my friend Anita Goa says. Lorin Roche says, “Through play, find your way, freedom, revelation, illumination.” He suggests that this text will open you to being at home in the universe, “to bring radical acceptance to every intense experience, ever sensual delight, every ordinary moment, as a gateway into deep and intimate contact with the forces of life.” So without further ado, let’s go “deeply into experience, embracing it fully without reservation.”

60 min Yin Yoga for Spinal Flexibility

This 60 minute yin yoga for spinal flexibility will focus on side bends and twists. If you have back pain and back stiffness, you are going to love this class. Because our spine supports our nervous system, this class will also release stress and tension. This is a wonderfully gently yin yoga sequence that will be of benefit to your whole spine including your thoracic and lumbar spine.

This is part of our Radiance Sutra Series inspired by Lorin Roche’s translation.

Over the next several weeks our yoga practice is going to be inspired by Lorin Roche’s translation of the Radiance Sutras. I highly recommend you purchase this book. The radiance sutras are 112 techniques for enlightenment through everyday lived experience. Each of the sutras is a way of attending to the divine energy that is always flowing through us and of which we are made. It is a conversation between the God and Goddess, Shiva and Shakti. They are the divine masculine and feminine, inseparable partners and their favourite dwelling place is in the human heart.

As we take time to immerse ourselves in these sutras over the next several weeks our bodies, minds, emotions, energy and spirit will awaken to the sacred that permeates our entire being. It is important to note that the radiance sutras are not a to do list or a manual or a how to, but is a relationship that will emerge between your Self and your Lived Experience.

As we delve into the sutras you will hear that they are playful and exploratory. They are meant to be explored by your sense perceptions. Allow yourself to be lighthearted as you open yourself to this divine exploration. Be serious about taking yourself lightly as my friend Anita Goa says. Lorin Roche says, “Through play, find your way, freedom, revelation, illumination.” He suggests that this text will open you to being at home in the universe, “to bring radical acceptance to every intense experience, ever sensual delight, every ordinary moment, as a gateway into deep and intimate contact with the forces of life.” So without further ado, let’s go “deeply into experience, embracing it fully without reservation.”

Thank you to all of you who joined us for our 5 day grounding earth element challenge. The next step is to join us for our earth element retreat from Thursday September 3rth through Monday September 6th in our membership community.

30 min Hatha Yoga Chakra Flow

In this simple hatha yoga chakra flow yoga class we will begin by grounding through the root chakra with a bridge pose flow. Once we are grounded we will release the stuck qi in our pelvis with a pelvic flow. We will be spending some time in a gate pose flow to open up your solar plexus chakra and your heart chakra. Options will be given in a chair and standing if you have knee issues. From standing we will release your neck with some lateral rotations for your throat chakra and do a standing flow for your crown chakra.

This series focuses on the radiance sutras translated by Lorin Roche.

You can access the entire series here

5 Day Grounding Earth Element Challenge

So far 2020 has been physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically ungrounding. We need time to settle and calm our overactive minds and excessive worry.

In just 5 days we will focus on the main organ system of the earth element and the stomach meridian, to anchor us through this transitional time.

Each day we will take specific actions to encourage the overactive, top-heavy worry that rises up into your head and encourage that qi to anchor down and into the earth.

Go to melissawest.com/earth

Yoga for Radiant and Energetic Posture

This 30 minute hatha yoga for radiant and energetic posture focuses on energizing your spine. It is part of our Radiance Sutra series based on Lorin Roche’s translation. This class will focus on verse 5. Throughout the class we will use breath and movement to release your spine. There are some fun variations on cat pose, Goddess Victory Squat, downdog and pigeon, warrior one, and easy pose. Plan on feeling the energy move through your released spine and neck. I personally loved the way we moved from three legged down dog to a hovering pigeon. I also have another addition of our fireworks pose. Let me know what your favourite movements were in this class.

Thank you to: Carla, Ruth, Cornelia, Gabriela, Viola, Ainize, Sean, Donna, Matthew, Pamela, Christine, Sandy, Ameeta, Karen, Christin, Alyson, Fiona, Guila, Robin, Eelke, for your donations since March of 2020. We appreciate your support in helping us make these videos available through YouTube.

5 Day Grounding Earth Element Challenge

So far 2020 has been physically, mentally, emotionally, and energetically ungrounding. We need time to settle and calm our overactive minds and excessive worry.

In just 5 days we will focus on the main organ system of the earth element and the stomach meridian, to anchor us through this transitional time.

Each day we will take specific actions to encourage the overactive, top-heavy worry that rises up into your head and encourage that qi to anchor down and into the earth.

Go to melissawest.com/earth

Deeply Nourishing Meditation

Radiance Sutra vs. 4

This yoga nidra focuses on verse 4 of Lorin Roche’s translation of the Radiance Sutras. I recommend having an extra blanket underneath you and one to pull up overtop of you because your body may cool over the course of this reclined meditation. An eye pillow can help you relax your eyes more as well.

This deeply nourishing meditation is part of our radiance sutra series. Remember there will be an audio download for our members so that you can listen to this wherever you want in your earbuds.

Remember, our community is so much more than a video library, for example, in September of 2020 yoga nidra will be an integral part of our Earth Element retreat experience during the fire element/small intestine part of your day when it is an ideal time of your day for resting and napping. This is just one example of how we support each other by doing things together in our community instead of reinforcing the illusion of separateness when we practice in isolation.

Thank you for liking, subscribing and putting, "I emerged renewed" in the comments.