30-Minute Yoga Sculpt and Meditation Session for World Mental Health Day

Hello everybody and happy Saturday morning. My name is Reena Vokoun and I am the founder and CEO of PassionFit. I am so honored to be going live with you all today on the Centered Instagram page. I'm gonna just give it a couple of minutes for people to start to join, but I wanna wish everybody a happy World Mental Health Day today. That is what is bringing us together for this event. I'm hoping that people will be joining from all over the world. I'm based in the US in Northern California. I know there's a lot of people in England and in Europe that could be joining in on the Centered side as well as some of the Centered audience that's based here in the US as well. But yes, thank you all so much for tuning in. The focus for today is again on our mental health. I think this day, especially this year in 2020, is now more important than ever given the pandemic and everything that we've been facing across the world this year. It has certainly been a challenging year. I think it has affected a lot of people's mental health, and what we want to do today is give you an experience where you can literally turn inward and just focus on managing your stress, managing your anxiety, and just kind of finding some joy. And so the goal today is to do two things. I want to introduce you to some of the amazing, um, Scentbird products that I'm going to feature today and talk a little bit about how they can fit into a mindfulness and yoga practice. And then we're gonna actually do a Yoga Sculpt class for the next 30 minutes. And this class is going to incorporate all of the major yoga poses, but we're gonna actually do some repetitions of those poses, um, to get you guys some sculpting and some strength training in there. And then we're also gonna go through a full vinyasa flow. And then at the very end, we're going to actually do some mindfulness and breathing, um, and meditation in savasana. So feel free to check out both the PassionFit and the Scented Instagram pages because we have some great gifts for you. So really quickly, this is the Mini Aromatherapy Kit. This will be available for free with the purchase of the Signature Aromatherapy Kit. And what I love about the Scented bombs, and I'm gonna just show you a couple of them here, but they are so nice because one, they're 100% natural, which I love. And they're not messy like you would have with aromatherapy oils. They smell amazing and they can be applied on your temples, on your neck, as well as on your wrist. So I'm just gonna put a little bit here on my wrist. And when you inhale and smell the aromas that come from these amazing balms, it instantly just makes you feel more calm and more relaxed. So a great way to use these would be right before you go into meditation, right before you maybe do a yoga session, before you go to bed or maybe even first thing in the morning because there's different scents and different balms for things like de-stressing, for gaining more energy, for sleep, as well as even just, you know, happiness. So they're, they're really, really cool. So feel free to check them out. And then in addition, if you also go to— so there's a landing page to sign up for the promo code to get those products and then get the free mini kit. And then on the PassionFit side, I have a 7-step holistic approach to wellness and I have a free downloadable overview that you can also get, which will kind of incorporate a lot of different things like mindfulness, fitness, nutrition, work-life balance, and a bunch of other things. So with that, we're gonna go ahead and get started. So feel free to take a spot on your mat, take water breaks whenever you need them. You can light a candle if you would like. I actually have a candle. I'll show you guys. And I know Centred has some amazing candles, but I just have this nice scented candle lit, and I'm going to have this in my home while we do the yoga practice. So I want you guys to focus today on getting a nice spa experience, a yoga and a meditation experience with me. Again, for those that are just joining in, my name is Reena Vokoun. I'm the founder and CEO of PassionFit and really excited to be partnering with the Centred team and live on their Instagram page today. So without further ado, I'm going to kick off some relaxing and calming music and we're going to begin our session. So here we go. Okay, so what we are going to start with is we're going to have our feet about shoulder-width apart and what I want you to do to do is focus first and foremost on breathing. So I want you to place your hands on your belly and we're going to do a little bit of diaphragmatic breathing to begin. So you're going to inhale through your nose as you expand your belly out and open up your diaphragm. And then you're going to exhale through your mouth and pull your belly back in. Again, big deep breath in. And then exhale out. A few more breaths. Feel that belly out. And then inhale and then exhale it out and pull the belly in. One more time. Big deep breath and exhale. So I want you to use that breathing technique throughout the session. Session today, inhaling through your nose and then exhaling either through your nose or your mouth, whatever feels most comfortable for you. You want to be engaging your core throughout the Yoga Sculpt session, but you also want to be able to expand the belly and then pull it back in on the inhale— on the exhale. So let's begin with our feet together now, and we're just going to do a deep breath in, stretch the arms, bring them chest, and then exhale down. And let's do that again. Big deep breath in, hands to chest, and then exhale down. And let's do one more big deep breath. Bend the knees, lift the rib cage and chest, bring your hands to heart center, and then exhale down. And now we're going to do a series of alternates with each leg doing Warrior 1. So I'm gonna mirror you guys, and so we're gonna start with one leg back. I want you to turn your knees and toes out, tuck in your core, lift your rib cage, bring those arms straight up overhead, and get into a nice Warrior 1 lunge. Good. I want you to hold this stretch for a second. I want you to really engage the core and feel the stretch all the way out through your fingertips. And then you're gonna bring your feet together and now go to the other leg. So let's go into Warrior 1 on the other side. Your back foot is turned out slightly. Again, arms are up, stretch and lift that torso really tall, and then bring your feet together. Let's do that again on the other leg. So back into Warrior 1, breathe and hold, and then bring those feet together. And then let's go back on the other leg, Warrior 1. Watch that front knee, make sure that it's not coming over your toes, and then bring your feet together. Alright, from here we're going to go into a Crescent Lunge. So it's similar to Warrior 1, but instead of turning your feet out, you're going to have them straight behind you, and we're going to flow from a Warrior 1 to a Warrior 3 pose. So this is going to take a little bit of core strength and balance. So what you're going to do is bring one leg back on the balls of your feet This is a crescent lunge, so lift those arms overhead, and then using your core, you're going to engage those muscles and come forward, lifting that leg up into Warrior 3, keeping your hips square to the front, pointing your toe behind you, engaging your core. Now come back into crescent lunge. Hold it here. Again, watch that knee, and then again lift using your abdominal muscles or your core, lift that leg up and balance. Your standing knee can be slightly bent, and then come back again. Lunge, crescent lunge, and then lift up into Warrior 3. And let's do that one more time on this leg. Good job. Keep breathing. And then come back up into Warrior 3. Find that balance, and then drop that leg and shake it out. Alright, for those of you just joining, we are celebrating World Mental Health Day with a Yoga Sculpt and meditation session. We're going into Crescent Lunge on the other side, watching that front knee, coming down, dropping the hips, and then using the core, pointing the toe behind you, come on up into Warrior 3. And take notice of which leg, which side— let's go back down— is might be a little bit more balanced or strong than the other. That's very normal. So if one side, maybe your dominant side, has a little bit more balance and strength, that's okay. So what I want you to do for your weaker side is use your core a little more. Let's come back, Crescent Lunge, and then back to Warrior 3. Lift that leg up, watch your hips, engage your core.— and one more time back. Beautiful. And then come on up. Lift. And bring your feet together and shake it out. Okay, so what we're going to do next is go into a Warrior II lunge, and then we're going to reverse the warrior. We're going to be putting all this together in a vinyasa flow in the second half of the class. So let's make sure that your knees and toes are facing in the same direction, both forward and side. Engage your core and you're gonna reach up and over, stretching your whole side body. So hold right here in this lunge. And then what I want you to do is bring your arms straight out. Good. So we're fully in Warrior 2 now. I want you to look over your shoulder, pull that navel into the spine. Good. Watch that front knee. Hold and breathe. Good. And now what we're going to do is we're going to, we're going to reach up and over, and then you're going to reverse that warrior. So come up and lift those arms up overhead, and then you're going to come back into warrior 2, and then you're going to come back down, stretch and reach, and then reverse again. So lift that rib cage engage and lift that arm up. Back into Warrior 2, hold. And then again, reach up and over, stretch your whole side body. And then reverse that Warrior, straighten out the legs, hold. Reach up to the ceiling. Let's do this one more time. Look over that shoulder and then reach up and over. Good. And then Reverse. And let's take it over to the other side. So pull the navel into the spine, knees and toes again in the same direction, arms are out. Good. Holding that Warrior 2, and now we're going to reach up and over, and then back to Warrior 2, and then reverse. Good.— and then come back down again. Hold. And now reach up and over, stretch. And reverse that warrior. We're gonna do 2 more rounds of this before we move on. Hold in warrior 2. And come down and stretch up and over. And then arms out and then bring it up. Good. And then one more time. Extend out through your fingertips, watch that front knee, and then bring that arm out, reach up and over, and reverse. Beautiful job. All right, let's bring our feet together. So what we're going to do next is we're going to have our feet shoulder width apart. We're going to go from a chair pose into a mountain pose. So you're going to bend your knees, making sure they're staying behind your toes. You're gonna pull the navel into the spine. Good. It's like you're about to sit in a chair, but you're— we're gonna decide that we're gonna move our bodies today, not only for our physical health but our mental health. And now from here, we're gonna go from Chair Pose into Mountain Pose. So just straighten the legs, stand nice and tall, keep your shoulders relaxed and away from your ears, and just reach up through those fingertips. Come back down again to chair. Good balance and hold. And then come back up into mountain. Beautiful. Your core is engaged the whole time. Let's take it down. You're continuing to focus on your breathing. That's going to help you to be stronger in the poses and more flexible as we stretch. Back to mountain. And then One more chair pose. Bend the knees, hold it here, and then straighten nice and tall and shake the arms out. From here we're going to go into a tree pose and then into eagle pose. So what I want you to do is bring one foot up. You can use your hand to help glide it up and place that foot inside of your inner thigh on the opposite leg. Engage your core, bring your your hands together at chest level, and then slowly bring those arms up overhead. And then if you feel comfortable, bring the arms straight out in Tree Pose. Find your focus, find your balance. Bring those hands back to chest, bring that leg down, and let's go to the other side. So bring that leg up, slide that foot and just take a second to lock in on the other leg. Find your balance, hands at chest, at your heart center, and then slowly bring the arms up overhead and extend out. Good. Keep breathing. Bring those hands in and down. Let's do that one more time on each side. So slide the leg up, hold in tree pose. Hands to chest, lift the arms overhead, and then separate your hands. Beautiful. And come back in and come back down. One more on the other leg. Help that foot up, lock in, find an object to focus on and keep your eyes on that object. Arms up and extend. Extend the arms out. Good. And then come back down. And shake it out. Okay, we're gonna do the Eagle Pose. So there's two ways to do this one. You can bring your leg around, tucking in your core, slight bend in the knees. You can stay here. If you have the flexibility to wrap the foot around, bring it around your leg and then wrap your arms. Good, and hold an eagle, continuing to breathe, continuing to relax, and then unravel your arms, unravel your legs, and let's go to the other side. So again, step over and hold if you would like, or come all the way around, tuck that foot on the calf muscle, and then I want you to wrap your arms in the other direction. Still holding that core. And then unwrap. One more time on each side. Leg comes around as far as you can take it. Wrap the arms. Good. Find your balance once again. You guys are all doing great. And then undo your arms and legs. And then one more time. I hope you're feeling relaxed. This is your time to focus on yourself. This is self-care right here. And unravel. Beautiful. Okay, so we're gonna now put that together into a vinyasa flow. So I'm gonna turn directions here, and what we're going to do is we're gonna come to the top of our yoga mats. Hopefully everybody has a yoga mat. If you need to grab some water, feel free to take a few sips of water and then just join in with when you're ready. So our feet are together. I'm just gonna adjust my mat a little bit. And what we're gonna do is we're going to inhale, bring your hands to your chest. You're gonna exhale and forward fold. So reach towards your toes, and then tucking in your core, you're gonna crouch down to all fours, and we're gonna step out into a plank position, pulling the navel into the spine. And then with your elbows in and back, we're going to do a chaturanga. So drop your chest to the floor, and then we're going to come up into a cobra. From here, you're going to push on the balls of your feet up into a down dog. Your head is resting in between your arms, your bottom is pointing up. Good. And your core is tucked in. And now you're going to take your outside leg and you're going to pull that knee into the chest, tuck into your core. And now you're going to lift that leg straight up to the ceiling. Good. Pointing your toe. And then from here, you're going to step that foot through. We're going to go into Warrior 1. So bring that, uh, opposite leg back, lift your arms up, lift your rib cage and chest. And then you're going to turn into Warrior 2. So continue to to watch your knees, pull your navel into your spine. Good. And then from here, we're going to take it down to the ground into a runner stretch, and we're going to go into a crescent pose. You're going to lift that back leg up, watching your hips, pointing your toe, and then taking it down and bringing the back foot into the front foot. And now we're going to do this on the other side. So inhale, and then you're going to Exhale, forward fold. Tuck in your core. You're gonna crouch down. Now the opposite leg comes back first into plank, then the next leg, and then we're gonna chaturanga from plank into cobra, back up into downward dog. Adjust yourself, make sure your heels are pressing towards the floor, all 10 fingers are sprawled out on the mat, your core is engaged. Engaged. Your head is resting in between your arms. And now pull the opposite knee into the chest, engaging your core, and then lift that leg straight up to the ceiling. Hold it here. And now step that leg through, swivel that other back foot, come up in Warrior 1. Again, lifting the chest, lifting the rib cage, and then come into Warrior 2. And hopefully now you're facing me. Beautiful. And then from here, we're going to turn, go down into that runner stretch, and then step the back foot into the front. And we're going to do 2 more rounds. So inhale, hands to your heart center. Exhale, tuck in the core, forward fold. Crouch down, step back, back with the other foot. Tuck in the core and chaturanga. Into cobra, push back to down dog. Good. Bottoms up, pull that knee into the chest. Good. And then lift that leg straight up to the ceiling, and then step through, warrior 1, reach those arms up, and then warrior 2. Hold it here. And then slowly come back down. Runner stretch, crescent. Lift that leg up to the ceiling. I think we forgot that on the last side. That's okay, we'll do it this time around. Bring that foot into the front. And then last time through, inhale at the top of your mat. Exhale, forward fold. Crouch down and now step back. Into your plank. Once again, chaturanga, cobra, and down dog. Beautiful. Tucking in that core, let's pull the knee into the chest and lift that leg straight back. Step through, warrior 1. Hold it here. And in into Warrior 2. Hold, stretch through your fingertips, take it down back into runner's lunge. Lift that back leg up to the ceiling, hold it here. Drop it down and bring the back foot into the front. And inhale one last time and exhale. All right, so we're gonna now take it down to the mat for the rest of the class. We have a few more minutes left, so we'll do some poses on the floor, and then we're going to do a little guided meditation. So what we're going to start with is I want you to be in all fours, and we're just going to do a cat-cow stretch. So I want you to have your hands apart, the knees apart about shoulder width. You're going to pull the navel into your spine and round your back, tucking your chin into your chest, and then you're going And let it go. And then we're going to try that again. Round the back, tuck the chin into the chest, hold it here, and then let it go. Beautiful. Two more. In. Good. Round that back and let it go. And then one more time, tuck that chin in, pull the navel into the spine. And release. Beautiful. From here, we're going to go into a pigeon stretch. So bring your arms out slightly in front of you. You're going to come on the balls of your feet and push up into a high plank. So tuck the, the core in, bottom is down, back is flat, and your spine is neutral. And you're going to bring one leg in to pigeon stretch. So I'm going to bring my outside leg in, relax on that —back foot, and you're going to come down to your elbows, and you're just going to rock from side to side. So slowly start to open up your hips. Good. And just hold it here. Pull that navel in. And then you can expand your arms all the way down if you want to hold in the stretch. You can also choose to stay at elbow level. So whatever works for your body. Hold it here and stretch. And then you're going to slowly walk those hands back. We're going to come back into a high plank and we're going to switch legs. So bring the other leg forward, relax on that back foot, come down to your elbows and rock from side to side. Good, holding it here. And then you can hold and Stay on your elbows or extend those arms all the way down. Good job. And then slowly walk the hands back. We're going to now slide that back leg around and we're going to go into a butterfly stretch. So I'm going to turn and face you. I want you to bring the bottoms of your feet together and I want you to use your elbows to push your knees towards the floor. You're still tucking in your core, and you're continuing to inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Good. Holding it here. And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna move into crisscrossing our legs, and we're just gonna reach with one arm up and over. Stretch and breathe. And then bring it around and forward. Let's try that again. Reach it up and over, stretch your side body, and then bring it around. And let's take it to the other side. So reach, stretch, and hold, and then bring it around. And again, all the way up and over, hold it here, and then bring it around. Good. And the last pose we're gonna do before we head into Savasana meditation, we're gonna flip around and we're gonna do the Boat Pose. So there's two ways to do this. You can keep your feet on the ground or you can lift them off the ground. But your hands are gonna come behind your thighs, so not the back of the kneecap but a little bit above it. You're gonna come down into about a 45-degree angle, pulling the navel in the spine. And you can hold here or bring the feet off the ground, and then you're gonna bring your arms up, and if you want, you can extend the legs out and hold. Good. If you want to stay here with the knees bent, that's another option, or you can even have the knees bent with your feet off the ground. So there's 3 different options here. Pull that navel into the spine, hold it, and then come back in. And we're just gonna do one more round of this. So tucking the core, extend those arms out, hold. Again, knees can be bent and feet can be on the ground. Work the core and then pull the knees in and relax. So from here, what we're going to do is we're going to lie all the way down onto our mat, and you can choose to have your legs out if you would like, or your knees bent. I want you to relax your arms at your side and close your eyes. So we're now in Savasana, and I just want you to take some time to once again focus on your breathing. It is so effective if you can learn to focus on your breath for even 5 minutes a day. You will start to see over time a really big impact in your ability to calm concentrate and focus, to calm your mind and body down, and to better manage stress and anxiety. So remember that diaphragmatic breathing that we did at the beginning of the class, where you expand your belly and on the inhale expand your diaphragm and then pull your belly in on the exhale. So all you have to do again is just Focus on this present moment. Focus on your breathing, inhaling and exhaling, allowing your belly to rise and fall, and just starting to feel your heart rate coming down and starting to feel your breath slowing down. And let's just do a really quick body scan. So starting Starting with your head, I want you to relax your jaw, relax your eyes, make sure that you're not squinting them shut. Relax your face and then start to feel relaxation through your neck and your shoulders, out through your arms and hands and fingers, and through your chest and back. Torso, hips, legs, out through your ankles, feet, and toes. Let go of any stress. Let go of any tension. Continue to stay focused on the present. Continue to stay focused on your breathing. And I want you to start to to have some positive visualization in your mind filled with hope and optimism. Things are going to get better in the world. We just have to hang on to that hope. We have to stay strong for our loved ones and ourselves and our communities. And we also have to stay kind and empathetic and help others in need during these very difficult times. Today I celebrate all of you and this ability to come together and take care of your mental health on World Mental Health Day. There's so much to be thankful for and grateful for. There truly is so much to look forward to, and we will get there. Continue to breathe. And whenever you're ready, you can open your eyes. You can pull both knees into your chest, and you're going to slowly rock yourselves up, and you're going to turn and face me, and we're just going to take 3 deep breaths. Deep breaths. On the inhale, I want you to think of inhaling positive, optimistic, and hopeful energy. And on the exhale, we're going to get rid of the stress and the anxiety and the negativity and the fear. And also— and oop, I think my screen went down for just a second. But again, I want to thank you all for tuning in. I'm trying to look at the comments here. Thank you all for your emojis and for joining. It was It was such a pleasure, and again, stay calm, stay balanced, stay focused. Things will get better, and happy Mental Health Day to all of you. Take care, and I will see you hopefully again soon. Don't forget to sign up for Centred's newsletter and PassionFit's newsletter to get some free gifts and special product promotions. And with that, thank you. Take care, and namaste.