A rejuvenating sequence for women who do too much.
A wonderful practice to do when you don’t even feel like you have the energy to get on your mat. Therapeutic for the exhaustion commonly experienced by new mothers as well as for all ‘women who do too much‘!
As you do this nurturing, restorative practice to soothe those ragged edges remind yourself of the mantra so beautifully encapsulated in the book “Meditations for Women who do too much” by Anne Wilson Schaef: “As I love myself , it is only a short step to the loving of others”.
Note, that timings are only approximate and suggested – stay in each pose for as little or as long as you feel.
1. Legs up the Wall – 5 – 10 minutes
2. Baddakonasana at Wall- 3 minutes
3. X-leg at wall (change cross legs after a minute or two) – 3 – 5 minutes
4. Child Pose on bolster (raised with blocks – one under each end ) – 5 minutes
5. Down Dog with forehead/ crown of head on block – 1 – 4 minutes
6. Child pose with block – 2 minutes
7. Pigeon Pose with bolster – 3-5 minutes each side
8. Supta Virasana with Bolster – 5 minutes (do supta Baddha Konasana if Virasana is too strong)
9. Seated Virasana Twist – 1 minute each side
10. Supported Bridge Pose on Bolster – 5 – 8 minutes
11. Halasana with feet on chair – 5 – 10 minutes
12. Savasana with double bolsters at the wall – 5 – 10 minutes.
Visualisation:
Imagine yourself in a beautiful forest – green, soothing colours – with a sparkling forest-pool and waterfall.
Imagine that you dive into the pool and sit on a rock in the warming, soothing sun, underneath the waterfall, allowing the refreshing waters to cascade over your head and body.
Feel washed clean, fresh and renewed.
13. Finish by sitting quietly for a minute or two – one hand on your heart and the other on your belly.
And silently consider this mantra, from “Meditations for Women who do too much” – “I will sit with this feeling of being enough and let it be with me today”. Auummm.
Ana Davis, Founder and Director of Bliss Baby Yoga, is the lead teacher on our Online L1 & L2 Restorative Yoga Teacher Training courses, which offer beneficial and nourishing practices to assist in restoring the nervous system during stages of depletion and exhaustion. Restorative Yoga also features as an important tool for self healing in the Bliss Baby Yoga Online Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training Course and the Online Level 1 Yoga for Fertility Teacher Training Course. Ana Davis is also available for online on-on-one mentoring to support women in their teaching and/or their personal yoga practice – with sensitivity and awareness of the unique stages of a woman’s life and monthly cycles, and to share her expert support and advice with teaching or practising restorative yoga.
Ana has a passion for a feminine approach to yoga, and supporting women with yoga through all ages and stages of their life, and is the author of the groundbreaking ‘health bible’ for women, “Moving with the Moon – Yoga, Movement and Meditation for Every Phase of Your Menstrual Cycle and Beyond”.
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