• Check in, centering, balanced hatha yoga set considering contraindications, relaxation (with imagery as appropriate),
• Balanced pranayama considering contraindications, meditation/centering.
• Include at least one suggestion from Karma, Bhakti, Raja, or Jnana Yoga tailored for this client.

Gratitude & shower meditation
Continue to stretch at home with the strap as we had done in the session.
Continue to deep breath and move during the day

Check in: Client's low back pain has been acting up all last week. He was in pain, but it's getting better. self reporting pain scale - he's an 3. Past week pain scale of 8. Shower meditation 3x, gratitude practice 5x. He came to my gentle yoga class this week. Since session 13, he's been coming to at least 1-2 extra class during the week besides YT. It's usually a restorative, yin or gentle yoga class

He stated he has been doing about 5 min/day for movement and 5min/day for breathing (diaphragmatic breathing). A total of 10 min. (yay) I asked why he's remembering to move and breathe this week? He said his back was really in pain and what helped was the movement. I reminded him movement everyday is a preventative of CLP and he should continue to move. He said he probably did more than 10 min/day this week because forward folds, flat back, seated cat/cows, cactus arms against the wall felt so good on his low back.

From last week: I asked him if he can think of some ways and we can discuss next week, to incorporate it into his daily routine.

He said that sometimes his mind goes down this rabbit hole when he is really concentrating on work and the next thing he knows 3+ hours has gone by and he's still sitting. He acknowledged that it's not always a good thing because he can get dragged into other tangents but when he's really focused he loses track of time. He came up with the idea of setting a timer for 90 min, every time the timer goes off, he'll do his movements and breathe. He said it might work because 90 min will allow him time to focus but not go down the rabbit hole.
**(this is a huge score for the timer because when we had started in May-I had suggested a post-it, timer/alarm, a text from me etc to remind him. He had always said it won't work because he would just ignore it because he needed to incorporate it into his daily life)

Meditation: Witness meditation-started the witness meditation. He stated it was difficult because it was hard not to get involved with his thoughts, feelings etc. (We'll keep doing the witness meditation until we finish up)

Breath: diaphragmatic breathing and breath of joy

Activities:
We took it slow and steady today (mindful of his CLB pain.

Grounding/centering, deep breathing, envisioning healing energy going to his low back. Envisioning the low back tension and pain slowly release and relaxing.

Seated warm ups: shoulder rolls, neck turns, neck stretches, lifting arm over head/back down, side stretches-moving with breath.

Standing- started with breath of joy. More warm ups - with pilates ball, with the ball in the right hand, sweeping the ball overhead and exchanging it to the left hand, and reverse. Rounding the spine forward with ball, bringing the ball behind the back. Cow face pose with strap. (release stress from shoulders, strengthen and lengthen. shoulder rotation)

Seated: sitting on a blanket-Lower Back Stretch with Strap-Sit with your legs extended in front of you. Looping the strap around your feet and hold the ends with both hands. Keeping your back straight, gently lean forward, using the strap to pull yourself deeper into the stretch. Seated figure 4, seated butterfly, seated janu sirsasana with strap. (releasing tight hamstrings, calves, glutes, spine, hips, low back)

Table top: cat cow, Childs pose, bird dog. Bird dog. table top with medium resistance band around foot, leg extension, lift and lowing, pulse. Pilates ball under knee, lifting opposite arm (Strengthen: balance, coordination, core, abs, shoulders, low back, hamstrings, glutes, hips, spine)

restorative yoga nidra pose.

Client was able to move better this week. He moved with care as he reached down. He was able to do 10+ min/day for YT and 5x for gratitude and 3x for shower meditation

I'm happy the client really thought and came back with a way he thinks will help remind him to move and breathe more during the day. Maybe this will be a breath through.

Continue with the witness meditation