Embodied
Self-Compassion
Bonus
To accompany your self-care experiments, you may find this additional full yogic practice useful as you try out different self-care acts that could fit in to your routine. Personally, I do not do 30 full minutes of yoga, breath and reflection each day, but it is something that I aspire to. In reality, most days, I engage in at least 10 minutes of movement and 5 minutes of breathwork with about 1 minute of stillness (aka my version of meditation) at the end. Sometimes, my times for each segment are more, and occasionally, I do nothing at all. Everyone is on a journey. I am currently working on meditation, but without having recorded or live guidance, I find quite difficult. So, I'm working on setting myself up for success by having recorded guided meditations ready for after I finish my breathwork OR engaging in recorded breathwork sessions that lead in to guided meditations. That's where I am right now, and it's sad that I even feel guilty, as a yoga facilitator, to tell the truth. I hope that in doing so, it can help to contextualize how the practices provided in this series can be incorporated into your life.
Full disclosure, below is the first practice I ever created. As a result, there are many alignment cues. These are in no way meant to be prescriptive, but more to ensure a safe alignment, while offering options. I had not yet fully stepped in to invitational language, but I think that what is provided here is still valuable. Thank you for getting this far!
Practice Notes
Grounding Breathwork, Mantra, Felt Sense Balancing Flow (Active/Yang) & Self-Compassion Guided Meditation
This is an active flow. While it is trauma-informed, trauma-sensitive language is not used throughout. If you are feeling or have recently been triggered or have acute trauma, consider exercising self-care and do not do this practice unless you have been approved to do so by your mental health partner. Feel free to contact me for information on alternative trauma-sensitive practices.
To accompany this sequence, here is a PDF of the shapes, their names in English and Sanskrit, as well as a (semi-accurate) breakdown of the poses according to varying categories. The reason I say “semi-accurate” is that the repetitions for each side and the breath and reflection practices were not used to calculate these percentages. Nevertheless, I still find them interesting, so perhaps you may as well!
It can't be emphasized enough that for those who have recently experienced a traumatic event, have been acutely triggered, are prone to flashbacks or frequent extreme disassociation, or someone with an active eating disorder or body dysmorphia, yogic practice is best done under the guidance and cradle of a mental or physical healthcare practitioner or treatment facility, or at least with their approval and with someone specifically trained to offer such sequences, like Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitators or Certified Yoga Therapists with a co-speciality in Trauma-Informed Clinical Psychology or related field. As disassociation can be a defense mechanism, please do not engage in the practices suggested here if you feel you need this defense to function right now, and reserve this for work with a therapist or other professional qualified to hold this experience with you