• 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.

3-part breath, pressing the calm button (nose, belly, ext exhale)

Session dates 5/3/24-5/24/24

Centering with breath and body awareness
Foundational breath instruction/In-depth integrating info and practices from pranayama workshop
Gentle warm-ups, spinal movements, strength movements from strength class
Cross crawl movements
Feet and leg movements, boat
Chair sun sals
Standing poses with chair (eg. sun sals, DD, triangle, Warriors, lunge)
Seated hand movements (brain yoga integrations)
Chair relax. w/option to sit, have 2 chairs, lie on floor, or legs up chair
Relax. With tense and release, body scan
Pranayama (eg. Joy, HA, ext exhale, humming, pursed lips)
Stillness
Meditation (eg. 5 senses, gratitude, mantra)

Therapeutic yoga for Better Breathing included:
Breath awareness / in-depth breath assessments (found one reverse breather)

Explanation of diaphragm - location and function, demo and examples of poor breathing due to poor posture, stress, weak exhale, mouth breathing, vertical breathing

Practiced Diaphragmatic breathing; low, slow, deep, quiet, more regular

Reviewed 3 components of Calm Button - nasal, belly, extended exhale *HW*

Explanation of inefficient exhale and consequences - used Hoberman sphere to demo / emphasize

Practiced
pelvic rock and roll
Intercostal stretch
HA breath
Coherency breath - basic explanation from HeartMath

We had already relaxed during the first part. At the end here we did coherency breath to integrate.

Q&A throughout + great questions! Many shared experiences of improvements from practicing in class, using techniques at the doctor to lower BP

Addl. questions and discussions about stress - SM workshop coming soon!!

Chair Yoga for strength included:
Explanation of benefits of yoga / chair yoga
3-part breath instruction - focus and barometer of exertion - revisit throughout *HW*
Warm-ups: cat/cow, twist, knees to chest
Poses: Chair cobra (as outside 90); arms up w/lateral spinal flex; Chair Chair w/opt to lift heel; Boat dynamic and hold; Elbow cross to knees
Cool down: seated pigeon; slide twist; tic toc; 3-part recovery breath with arms
Rest w/ coherency breath
5 Senses awareness practice

Clients continue to show increased engagement, ability to settle, participation in all aspects of class. They report how much better they feel. Clients report practicing breathing practices at home. I observe less fidgeting. They are looking forward to the focus on stress and sleep.

I still love how this is evolving, including the additional workshop time and focus of classes. I continue to get to know these folks on a deeper level and have conversations after class. I’m contemplating whether to “start over” (repeat assessments, repeat topics) or whether to go deeper in some way, after the sleep workshop.

The next in-depth focus is stress mgmt, and then practices for better sleep. The classes will be similar, with more focus on practices to support release/regulate/recover. The outline of those 2 workshops will be included on the next report.