Restore & Release and Guided Meditation during Quarantine

Hi everybody. I'm a minute early. I hope this finds you well. As soon as we hit 7 30, we'll get started. In the meantime, if you've got any kind of ball, tennis ball, lacrosse ball, I found a mesh bag and I found two lacrosse balls. So I placed them together, not necessary, but yeah. And then you'll need, if you prefer, instead of a ball, a foam roller. And then of course, if you're staying with us for the guided meditation, a nice blanket for comfort. And then pillows. This time is meant to actually reset, help you to feel a sense of peace, calm, a de-stressor. Hi everybody. Hi. So good to have you guys. Okay. So if you have any very specific requests, put them in the comments. I'm biting personally, my calves. Hi guys. You're so sweet. Personally, I have some calf tightness, some quad tightness, a little bit of low back. So if you guys feel like you need some of that, feel free to let me know if there's other parts of your body that are in need as well. Okay. Much better. I was getting a little toasty. All right, you guys. So go ahead and place it underneath one leg. You do not need to lift your bum off the floor or not. You can just roll. You can also stack and roll. The stacking provides a little bit more intensity. If you have a ball, you can do the same. You can grab a pillow even. A yoga block is preferable, but if you don't have that, that is okay. And you're just going to go into the floor, same rule applies. So the ball is a little bit more flingent, if you will. Kind of gets into the fibers a bit deeper than a foam roller. Foam roller has more square footage, right? Keep going. Find that spot, shoulders and neck. Perfect. I would love to help you out with that. Good. Now, once you've found that spot, usually it's mid-joint is where the most issues are. I'm going to take, you can stack those legs or not, and we're just going to do that. You're so welcome, Margarita. Good. Flex that point. Oh, that's so nice. It hurts so good, doesn't it? After a few of those, go ahead and circle that foot. If you can't join when it's live, that is okay. I'm live on both YouTube and Facebook. And go the other direction. Oh, I found it. I found it. Good job, TikTok. I will just get a nice roll in and I'm stacking those legs, whatever works. And again, foam roller is fine. Let's get the other side. Whatever works for you guys. You can stack, unstack. Keep your thumb down. Don't put too much pressure. For today's workout, if you are with me, you probably don't want to be on your wrists anymore. Good. How are you guys doing? Makes me feel a sense of connection. Which we all miss right now, right? Good. And point and flex that point. Beautiful. With the rain today, I've been feeling a little more melancholy, a little stuck in the house. We try and find creative ways of, you know, dealing with it. Throw everybody into the garage. It's really important, actually. Self myofascial release. Science has determined that it's not, the stretching does only so much. Circle down. So stretching, yes, of course, it's beneficial. But the myofascial release is where you're taking that top layer that actually covers all of your muscles and you're getting all of the knots and the hinges, is what we call them, out of you. And you're working all those hinges. It's the layer that is on top of you. There's a fine layer of webbing that is over your entire body, underneath your skin, over your muscles. So you gotta work it out. It helps you metabolize better, makes you feel better. It hurts like hell when you're doing it. But in the long run, you're better for it, right? That's why we do it. Good. Okay. Let's move up to the glutes. So you can feel free to use that foam roller. Let me show you how to do that with the foam roller first. Go ahead and lean into the side you want to work. Bent at the knees, rolling the entire glute. Good. You can hear the rain outside. We're going to eventually figure for the leg actually that is on the floor. Get you a little bit deeper. If you've got a ball, the same rules, right? Right in the meatiest part of your glute. You're working and so trying to get after it. Do some reconnaissance. Find it. Before we go and stack the legs, go ahead and butterfly. When you're close, even if you're on the foam roller, same thing. Good. Keep going. Hi, little Carly. Wonderful to have you. Wonderful to have all of you. Good. Now, with that leg all the way down on the floor, get it close. Get you on the foam roller. You won't be flush with the floor. That's okay. You can still open and close. Good. Awesome. Now, we're going to stack. This is the fun one. Good. Stack and then move. Roll. You can also come down to your elbow. You don't have to be all the way up. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Now, we're going to try and melt. Big breath in. Swallow it up. Good. I'm going to rest the leg down if it feels better to you. Good job. Three, two, and one. I'm going to switch sides. Foam roller, roll ball, same thing. Good. Reconnaissance. Find it. Dig in. Good, you guys. Hi, Noel. Oh, I love it. All my peeps. Now, butterfly those legs. Good. For what? For health, for wellness, for wholeness, right? And then take that same foot. Again, you can come down to your elbow. You don't have to be up. Close wrists. Get in there. Some truth to that. I like to think of pain as a sign, right? Your body is telling you something. You need to listen. It's time to melt. Each breath, each exhale. The body melting over top in water. Three, two, one. Okay. We are going to get the back and shoulders. I saw that that was a request. If I missed anything, I'm so sorry. But good news, Friday, this Friday, we're going to do this again. Hope that's okay with you guys. All right. If you have two balls, great. If not, it's okay. You don't need it. You can just work with one. You can also use your foam roller. We're going to do this. If you have two, you're going to take each one on either side of your spinal column. Kind of like a masseuse running your elbow up and down. If you only have one, just focus on one side at a time. Good. Do some more promises. All the way up, all the way down that spinal column. Find where you feel it the most, where you're feeling like, okay, yes, I need to get in there. I need to dig a little. Good. Now, once you've found that spot, you can stay there and then you're going to press through your feet and try and get some small movement up and down. And then once you've done about 10 repetitions, a little bit of side to side, rotate up. This just takes it up a notch. If you can order some lacrosse balls, do it because they're a little bit more intense than tennis balls. It just gives you that little bit extra edge. Definitely worth it. You can also use these against a wall. There's so many applications. Good. Now, we're going to take the balls or the foam roller nice and high, right at the shoulder blade region, okay? Right in this region. If you have a foam roller, same thing. Try and relax your head and neck if you need to, and the neck needs a little bit of support, not too little. Place it underneath. We're going to lift the hips up. Now, from here, shim those shoulders, dig in, find it again. A little up and down. Side to side. Good. You can lower those hips back down. You can even extend those legs if it feels comfortable to you, and we're going to focus on one side. Good. All the way up, all the way down. Excellent. Good. Now, we're going to take it all the way up, and snow angel, dragging your fingertips all the way down, and then back, snow angel up, and snow angel down. Good. Next up, good. Same side. Take your hand, place it on your shoulder. Draw some circles on the ceiling. You're going to take and draw a straight line horizontally across, laying it close to you. Good. And this little extension over the head, you're going to bring it down, and then fingertips down, snow angel back up. You won't necessarily get all the way down without turning up slightly at the top. Good. All the way down, all the way up, snow angel up, fingertips down. Last two. And last one. Good. Let's get the other side. For this one, it's a nice backstroke up and down. Right? Don't forget to breathe. More than ever, we need it. Oh, sorry, Victoria. Bone roller should be right underneath your shoulder blades. You can lower your hips, though. Good. If you need a little bit more intensity, you can lift your hips up. You find what works for you. Good. Try and offset the bone roller, too, so that you're not bumping into it when you do those. The snow angels. Okay. Now, we're going to lift up and palm up, snow angel down and around. Up, up, down and around. Excellent. Now, take that hand on the shoulder and a big circle on the ceiling. Reverse the circle, other direction. Beautiful. And take that elbow side to side, horizontal drop. Nice line. Excellent. If this slide ends and you didn't make it through the whole thing, that's okay. We'll post to both YouTube and Facebook, so feel free to go back and watch if you need some more. Okay. And back down. All the way around. Up and back down. Excellent. How are you guys doing? Good. All right. We're going to go for the neck now. Okay. So, if you have the foam roller, the actual roller is going to be at the nape of your neck. Okay. If you have the balls, same thing, nape of the neck. Now, if you need additional support, I would use a thinner pillow or a hand towel. You can pause me and let me grab one just to place underneath. This will give you a little bit extra leverage. So, I'm going to turn on profile so you can see me a little bit better with the foam roller. Right here. Yeah. Okay. Got the balls. If you only have one, that's okay. You can focus on one side too. Right here, but you need a little extra leverage, so you place the pillow underneath. Sometimes, you've been folding it in half. You can add some breath to that. Inhale. And exhale. Close your eyes. Relax. So, two more. Good. Now, we're going to take the head and neck side to side. Driving that ear to the shoulder. Oh, I needed this one. You guys get kinks in here like at night? I do. I've tried every pillow under the sun. I still get kinks in there. Good. Oh, Mama Jojo's here. Thanks for joining. Good. Okay. Now, we're going to take the chin to the chest. Same idea. Inhale and exhale. Good. Inhale as you talk. Exhale as you lift. Good. We're going to switch the breathing in just a moment. Excellent. Good. Go ahead and exhale as you tuck the chin down. Inhale as you bring it up. Really stretch those neck muscles. Exhale. Inhale. Good. This should feel amazing. If you have a tendency for vertigo, those kinds of things, it starts to get a little iffy. I don't want to start something nobody likes. Nobody wants that, right? Good. Nice job, you guys. Okay. Good. Last one. Good. If you've only used the tennis ball on one side, I highly recommend that you pause, rewind back and get the other side. Just make sure you get nice and even. Great. We're going to take this foam roller vertically along the spine. You can do that with the ball or a ball of sand. The base of your skull is going to come to the edge of that foam roller. Good. This is nice, right? If you've got the balls, go ahead and place them. Okay. This is a few more movements before we head into our body rotation. What I want you to do is reach away. Reach, reach, reach as high as you can with those fingertips. And then squeeze down. Squeeze those elbows to your sides. Good. And reach. And squeeze. Excellent. Now, I want you to think of something in your life that you don't want right now. I've done this exercise with you before. Think about it. Go away. And then pull what you do in your life. Right to your heart. Right to your center. Squeeze. Now, I'm going to add breath to that. Exhale the breath. Inhale. Good. Squeeze. Good. Exhale the breath. Inhale. Good. Right. I'm so sorry, guys. My mother decided to call me just now. Keep going. Exhale. Inhale. Wonderful. All right. We're going to head into guided meditation. What I want you to do is I want you to get comfortable. Okay. Grab your blanket. Grab your pillows. Lay flat. I would highly recommend spread eagle, but comfortable. I hope you feel better after that. Good. Okay. Grab your pillows. Get comfy. You don't have to look at me. Not necessary. Just listen to my voice. Today's guided meditation is based on today's thought of the day. Okay. If you were in class earlier, I said, if you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. We cannot change our circumstances right now. It's not about changing our circumstances. It's about changing our attitude about it. Right? Because it's going to do no one any good to be negative and dwell on it and be angry. So, what's up? Now that you're comfortable, close your eyes. We're going to take some time to really focus on your breathing right now. All right. But before we do that, I really would highly recommend that you guys imagine a balloon. Okay. It's not blown up yet. It's one of those punching balloons. Okay. So, it's nice and big. What I want you to do is every time a thought comes, I want you to put that thought in the balloon. We're going to take care of it later. There's time for that later. You don't need to worry about it right now. So, thoughts were passed in your brain right now. And lose the anxiety. That's your intention right now. And that's what we want to focus on. Not anything else. All those other thoughts, there's time for that later. Right? So, imagine a balloon. You're going to put those thoughts every time one floats by into that balloon. Okay. We'll take care of it later. Okay. So, comfortably laying out now, what I want you guys to do is take a deep breath in through the nose. Out through the mouth. No. Most of us don't have huge lung capacity. And that's okay. But what we want to do is get you focusing on breathing correctly. So, place one hand on your diaphragm, one hand on your belly, one hand on your heart. This next time that you breathe in through your nose, I want you to feel your belly higher than your hand on your heart. Okay? Let's go. Big breath in to capacity. And exhale out. Let it all out. Push all that air out. Every last bit. Good. Let's do it again. Big breath in. Feel the belly up high. And exhale. Push all that air out. Good. Two more big breaths like that. Don't forget to fill your balloon, guys. Anytime that thought comes, put it right away into that balloon. Now, with your arms and legs spread out, I want you to think about your feet and tightening those muscles in your feet. Tighten the feet. Tighten the calves. For three, two, one. And release. Now, think about your quads, hamstrings, tops of your legs. Tight. As tight as you can. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. For three, two, one. Release. Now, think about your glutes. Squeeze as tight as you can. For three, two, one. And release. Now, think about your core. Squeeze tight. It's going to be harder to breathe with this one. Keep breathing. Three, two, one. Release. Now, you think about your hands, your forearms, your upper arms. Squeeze everything. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Three, two, one. Release. Good. Release your fingers. Now, shoulders. Shrug them to your ears. Shrug, shrug, shrug. Tight, tight, tight. Three, two, one. Release. Good job. Now, scrunch up your face. I know it's not ideal, but stress out the face for a second. Three, two, one. Release. Good job. Awesome, you guys. Okay, we're going to practice five more breaths again. Deep breath. Hand on the belly, hand on the diaphragm, hand on the heart. Fill that diaphragm full, as full as you can, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Press all that air out, every last bit. Part of your brain. Feel how you sleep better. I highly recommend that you do this before you go to bed at night. It's just going to help. You used any anxiety, turns off that tendency. Good job, you guys. Okay, so I'm going to remind you again of the thought brain. With that in mind, that's your meditative thought right now. We're going to go on a hike. Okay, this is guided meditation, so come with me on this journey. Now, you have your balloon with you, okay? You're bringing it. It's in your pocket. Pull it out any time a thought comes. Put that thought in and save it for later. Don't need to talk about it or think about it right now, right? Okay. It is a sunny day, the kind where after winter you're excited about. The air is slightly crisp, but the sky is a clear, clear, crystal clear blue. The sun is warm on your back, on your shoulders. You hop out of the car, lock it up. You've got everything you need with you. You take a deep breath. Probably cows in this area, lowing in the background. You feel a slight birdies. It's a little chilly, but that's okay because you're going to warm up soon. You'll be taking your sweater off and tying it around your waist because you have quite the climb right now. Good. Taking a deep breath in, you start on your journey. You're not trying to speed through. You're trying to actually take in your surroundings. Enjoy the moment. You notice how the oak trees curl and twist and create beautiful silhouettes against the blue sky. You can smell the grass, the dirt, the earth. It just rained. It's a little muddy. You begin to feel your muscles warm up as you continue your climb, one foot in front of the other. If you think about it, climbing is a sense of accomplishment. It's getting to the top of that hill, that mountain, and feeling like you've conquered something. While doing it, you've gotten a treat of experiencing nature. It's cleansing. It's fulfilling. It's a beautiful thing. You stop for a moment to grab a sip of water, and you look around. Lots and lots of rolling green hills. You're not quite to midway yet, but you're getting there. You can see a little bit further down. You can see where you've come from. Take another deep breath in. Put your water away. Slowly continue making your way up. You notice a few clouds in the distance, and you try and decide what kind of shapes they look like. You can hear the creek nearby trickling down after the rainfall of yesterday. It's calming, soothing to the soul. You've come to the middle of your hike, your journey. Again, you stop, take in the surroundings, look around, and you remember your thought of the day. If you don't make something, change it. And if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Suddenly, a dear loved one shows up on the same path as you. You're surprised. What are you doing here? And they're there to tell you a message. What is it that you can change? They're the person that can tell you these things, and you receive it wholeheartedly. You don't fight it. It's someone you trust, you respect. You know that what comes out of their mouth is wisdom. What are they saying to you? What are they saying about the thing that you can't change? Whether it is an actual, tangible change, or if it's an attitude or an adjustment in your spirit, what is it that you can change? This person loves you, and adores you, and wants the best for you, and so what they're saying to you matters. You've received the message that was meant to be said to you. You receive it with humility, with grace, to think and ponder, and actually do, actually act upon. You know that this loved one, it's time for them to go their separate way. They're going down while you're still climbing up. You continue your journey. The hike is getting a bit steeper. There's a little bit of an ache in your low back. You're walking through a covered area, trees overhead, with sunshine dotting through, shining through. It's beautiful. You feel alive. You feel free. The conversation you just had isn't heavy. It doesn't weigh you down. It actually gives you hope. Makes you feel like, I can do this. With that in mind, you continue your way up, very determined to get to the top. You can see ahead, the clearing. You're almost there. Step after step, continue to make your way to the top. Good. You come to that edge where the trees open up to a beautiful, open space. You walk out, and you can see for miles, miles and miles. What are you seeing? Personally, I like hikes that lead me to ocean views. But whatever is best for you, that's what you need to see. You can take it all in. Feel the air around you. It's alive. Big breath in. Smell all the smells that are surrounding you. You are alive, and you are well. You might even throw your hands in the air, in a victory that you made it to the top, with our thought of the day in mind. And remembering the balloon that you brought with you. If you don't like something, change it. And if you can't change it, change the way you think about it, right? I want you to take that balloon, all the thoughts that you placed in it, that can wait for later, and now I want you to add to it. Why can't you change? Put it in that balloon. Put it in. You can't control it anyway, most of the time, right? Guys, know to have helium come out of your lungs. Magical, isn't it? Tie off the balloon. Hold it in your hands. Here comes the change. Yes, when you're ready, let go. Let go. And breathe. Watch it float away. You don't need to worry. You got this. Take a few more moments, feel the freedom, feel the burden lifted off of your shoulders. It's time. It's time to walk down that hill, you've taken in the beauty that surrounds you. You begin your journey back, slowly, sure footing, keeping in mind the good thoughts, keeping in mind you feel accomplished. You feel like you've got this, because you do. Keep heading down that mountain. You've reached about midway. You stop for a moment again. Take in those surroundings. Remember what you learned from your interaction with your loved one. Take it with you. Keep making your way down. You can hear the water dancing over the rocks. Take your hand out. The grass is so high, so tall that you can run your fingertips across it. You're almost there. You finally see the end of your hike. You look back over your shoulder at where you've come from, the journey you've just been on. You are capable. You can do this. You will get through this. You climb back in your car. We're going to finish off with some more of the same breathing technique. If you don't have your hand on your belly and one hand on your heart, go ahead and place it there. Again, deep breath in, feeling your diaphragm fall through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. Let all that breath out. Inhale and exhale. Keep lifting the hand on the diaphragm higher than the hand on the chest. Go ahead and wiggle. Start to wiggle your toes and your fingers. You might want to just stay where you're at and go to sleep. If you're in bed, great. If not, go ahead and feel some movement through the rest of your body. Slowly turn to your side and push yourself up to a seated position. I hope that tonight has been refreshing, that you feel better, that you feel relieved, that that stress is at least alleviated in some way, shape, or form. Thank you guys so much. Again, I will say the thought of the day for the last closing moments. If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Thank you so much, you guys. Have a wonderful rest of your night and release and another guided meditation. You do not have to be at the live to reap the benefits. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Have a wonderful evening. Bye.