Gentle Yoga › Stress/Anxiety

These practices have been specifically created and sequenced for watching online on Movement for Modern Life to reduce stress and anxiety you may feel in your life.
Within our anti-stress and anxiety series, we have a range of practices which include:

 

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  • Prenatal Pilates - Full Body Glow (for all levels, up until second trimester) 45:25
    Prenatal Pilates - Full Body Glow (for all levels, up until second trimester)

    Vanessa Michielon

    This Prenatal Pilates class for all levels, up until second trimester). It is also just a wonderful Pilates class for all round strength, for any body. This class integrates a variety of safe Pilates exercises to engage the full body to maintain optimal mobility and stability through the joints. Enjoy different abdominal strengthening exercises in a variety of position, to target all the core muscles without uncomfortable crunches. Also activate hamstrings and build up strength in the glutes with side laying leg patterns focusing on internal and external rotation in your hip joints. This is a complete and balanced Prenatal Pilates practice to practice a couple of times a week to uplift your mood and maintain wellbeing during pregnancy, but also for all of us at any time the body needs to be given a full body glow! If practicing pregnant please contact your healthcare provider to check the suitability of this class.



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  • Gentle Somatic Movement: Easy Neck Release Lying Down14:28
    Gentle Somatic Movement: Easy Neck Release Lying Down

    Nahid de Belgeonne

    If you've been feeling stressed or full of anxiety and overwhelm, this class is perfect. It is also a great class if you're recovering from illness and injury, or have energy challenges, because the class is entirely on the back and movements in the neck and head are very subtle. Get curious about how your body moves and how your breath moves through your body. Feel release in the neck, jaw and head through this very nurturing, kind and gentle class which will make you feel human again with your nervous system restored and recovered. Find a comfortable place to lie down and let your body feel nurtured and nourished by this gentle somatic movement.



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  • Yoga to Calm and Ground36:09
    Yoga to Calm and Ground

    Margi Young

    This hatha class is great for when we're feeling tired or overwhelmed, to calm the nervous system and ground the body. Class begins with lying on the ground with a short body scan. Then we have a wonderful antidote to overwhelm and anxiety with supported forward folds, to clear the brain. After a foot massage, practice rooting standing and balancing poses. Feel the ground as a way of letting go of anxiety and find stability within. You may need 2 blocks (or books) and a blanket.



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  • Sofa Yoga17:11
    Sofa Yoga

    Jean Hall

    A beautifully calming yoga class, which is to be done with the help of a sofa. A perfect class for a sunday morning, or anytime you need to really chill, breathe deeply and take it easy. With the favourite pose of inversion over the back of the sofa. What's not to love. A great class to relax, for all abilities and mobilities.



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  • Bedtime Wind Down Yoga - Replay of Live Class01:04:12
    Bedtime Wind Down Yoga - Replay of Live Class

    Jean Hall

    This class is an antidote to the festive frazzle. Feel nurtured, nourished and supported, calmed and ready for a peaceful night’s sleep with this restorative, gentle yoga class, perfect to combat the feelings of festive overwhelm.



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  • Christmas Yin Yoga - Replay of Live Class01:29:04
    Christmas Yin Yoga - Replay of Live Class

    Andrea Kwiatkowski

    This is an extra special yin class, the perfect time of year for hibernating at home in our pyjamas and all our props. This class includes, breath work, a yin sequence to cultivate kidney energy during the winter season, soothing of the nervous system with warmth and relaxing meditation. You will need: Any props you have a home or things to use as props! A Bolster and blocks Hot water bottle ready to add warmth!



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  • Yoga for Menopause Anger: Fierce Power31:02
    Yoga for Menopause Anger: Fierce Power

    Gabriella Espinosa

    Anger and rage are common during menopause. This may surprise to you and those around you. We've been taught to believe that anger is a negative emotion that shouldn't be expressed so we bottle it up until it explodes or mask it and this can cause us internal conflict. In this menopause yoga class we learn to work with anger as a positive force for healing, empowerment and healthy communication. Using the power of breath, sound, somatic enquiry and movement we will give space to our anger and allow it to be felt, moved, and released. The class will take place seated and standing, the first part of the class takes place entirely seated. You can also lie down for this part. The second part has us adopt yoga poses accessible to most bodies. Transform your anger into fierce power!



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  • Gentle stretching to cool and unwind37:48
    Gentle stretching to cool and unwind

    Gabriella Espinosa

    This gentle, all-levels hatha yoga class works with forward bends and pranayama (breath work) to cool the body and calm the busy mind. A perfect class to take as a middle of the day work-break, if the day is feeling overwhelming, or to gently calm at the end of the day. Gentle stretching is a wonderful way to destress and enhance feelings of safety in the body. Stretching triggers a host of physiological reactions including increased blood flow and oxygen to the muscles, hydrating surrounding connective tissue, releasing feel good chemicals such as endorphins and activating the parasympathetic nervous system - the rest and digest mode. Props needed: yoga mat, chair, blanket



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  • Vagus Nerve Practices for Anxiety Relief21:05
    Vagus Nerve Practices for Anxiety Relief

    Gabriella Espinosa

    Anxiety is nervous system’s way of keeping us safe and out of danger. Due to the hormonal fluctuations in peri-menopause and menopause, women often begin to experience anxiety for the first time impacting the ability to cope with everyday life. This class is mostly seated and also includes a restorative yoga pose. The class encourages us to lean into our anxiety from a place of curiosity and compassion to listen and learn how and why it’s trying to protect us. The first part of the class is seated, and we use touch based somatic exercises to soothe our nervous system. In the second part of the class we simply lie on our backs with legs over a chair or sofa, to down regulate your nervous system and shift into a sense of feeling at ease and safe in your body. Props needed: Chair, yoga mat and blanket.



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  • Love Your Body: Affirmations, Breath and Flow56:19
    Love Your Body: Affirmations, Breath and Flow

    Gabriella Espinosa

    Connect to your body, gain more confidence with your body. In this class we work with the power of affirmations, breathwork and a gentle slow flow vinyasa yoga to learn to appreciate all the amazing things our bodies can do. Our bodies go through a lot of change during our lives and especially during menopause - so much so that you feel your body has let us down or betrayed. Yoga teaches us that our bodies are “sukrta” or well-made just the way they are. You might need a Journal, pen, yoga mat and bolster/cushion



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  • Calming Anxiety and Overwhelm26:23
    Calming Anxiety and Overwhelm

    Petra Coveney

    Low oestrogen affects ability to produce the hormones that make us feel happy and calm, and causes low brain energy that affect our mental focus, memory and make us feel overwhelm. Join Petra for this simple class to calm anxiety and overwhelm. It includes gentle movement to improve vagal nerve tone, Ocean breath with sound to soothe your nervous system, a restorative Supported Child’s pose with the option to ‘retreat from the world,’ and two breathing and meditation practices: Mind Meets The Breath and Ladder Breath.



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  • Awakening to Yourself17:49
    Awakening to Yourself

    Petra Coveney

    Oestrogen is an anti-inflammatory, so your perimenopausal symptoms can include sore joints and muscle stiffness, especially around the hips, shoulders, wrists and ankles. Join Petra for this simple morning class with somatic movement to help you limber up, lubricate joints and set a positive intention for your day ahead. You can even practice this class in bed.



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  • Self-Soothe and Ground with Touch49:55
    Self-Soothe and Ground with Touch

    Vanessa Michielon

    This gentle class is mostly a beautiful self-massage practice. Perfect for if you're not feeling quite yourself, or if you're looking to calm before bed. Use the grounding power of touch to connect to ourselves. After a soothing self-massage practice, the focus is longer held stretches, focusing on the lower back and hamstrings. This class is a beautiful way to connect to ourselves and find safe support. Experience a guided selfmassage sequence, and series of gentle postures to root through hands and feet, and passive, longheld stretches focused on your hamstrings and lower back, to help your tension unravel. Class closes with a conscious breathing practice to promote deep peace and calm. You might need a long strap or belt.



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  • Prenatal Yoga - Back pain relief (for all levels and trimesters)31:31
    Prenatal Yoga - Back pain relief (for all levels and trimesters)

    Vanessa Michielon

    A wonderful class for Prenatal back pain, suitable for all trimesters. This class can also suit most of us for most stages in life! Back pain and back stiffness is common during pregnancy, but also for all of us who live sedentary, modern lives. This class is the perfect antidote! Embrace gentle movements like thread the needle pose, open twists, oyramid pose and Happy Baby, which promote spinal flexibility and tension relief. The practice gracefully closes with heart-opening poses like Camel Pose and Bridge, leaving you feeling rejuvenated and empowered to navigate the physical changes of pregnancy with ease. Suggested props: 2 bricks. If practicing pregnant please contact your healthcare provider to check the suitability of this class.



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  • Neck and Shoulders22:55
    Neck and Shoulders

    Clive Fogelman

    Most of us experience pain in our neck and shoulders. Perhaps it from from sitting for long periods, using mobile phones and laptops or sometimes pain in the neck and shoulders can be from stresses from dealing with the challenges that we expereince in our lives. This classes targets the neck and shoulder with a combination of 10 stretches and movements for releasing tension, creating mobility and openess. A great daily practise or something you can integrate a few times a week in addition to your other practices. Can be done from sitting or standing and practised anywhere!



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  • Release Tension29:17
    Release Tension

    Joo Teoh

    A qi gong and yoga fusion sequence to release feelings of being stuck, feeling tense, or just when you’re not in your flow. With some chair variations to make all the practices more accessible, this sequence uses qi gong and yoga to clear out stagnation and shift your tension. A chair can be used in this practice to make the class accessible to all.



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  • Your Calming Yoga Practice35:41
    Your Calming Yoga Practice

    Adam Hocke

    This yoga class helps to ground and calm an anxious body or mind and bring us back to the present moment. Start with some grounding self-massage, then move gently with simple, repetitive, and breath-led movements to stabilise the nervous system. Additionally, we will pay particular attention to releasing tension in the head, neck, and shoulders to bring about a profound sense of relaxation and ease. This class is perfect after a long day or when we're overwhelmed. You will need a narrow block or a folded blanket and a brick.



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  • Yoga to Rest & Digest: The Vagus Nerve38:02
    Yoga to Rest & Digest: The Vagus Nerve

    Gabriella Espinosa

    This yoga class uses simple practices to resource and reset the nervous system using breath, sound, gentle movement and massage to stimulate the vagus nerve and encourage deep relaxation. Either follow the class in full or learn the practices which resonate with you to be done in your own time. The vagus nerve acts as a “super information highway” communicating between the brain and our body’s systems regulating our mood, digestion, heart rate and hormones. The vagus nerve balances our nervous system by switching on our parasympathetic 'rest and digest' mode and influences how we connect and feel safe with others. You will need a bolster, blanket, tennis ball and/or soft pilates ball. Gabriella uses a Yoga Tune Up Coregeous Ball.



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