5 Days to Restore: Day 5

Day 5: Decadent Rest

There's rest, and then there's decadent rest. Decadent rest means you're giving yourself permission to be as supported as possible. To be held with all the props, with all the care and love. 

In a regular restorative yoga pose, you'll use props to support you. In today's class, we're going to take it up a few levels and use as many props as feels wonderful. 

This is why it's "decadent," because we often don't take the time to be abundant in our self-care. 

Many of us may have a habit of putting other people first, or being ok with "fine" or "good, and it can also feel challenging to receive support.

But in decadent rest, fine or good isn't the final destination. For example, when you're setting yourself up in the pose, you'll place a bolster or pillow in its usual spot and it will likely feel good. But today, we want to explore moving beyond good into a feeling of "aaaahhhhh that's perfect." 

The best part is that we don't know what that perfect position will be until we play around with different props and different ways of using the props. It's a really fun practice to do because we give ourselves permission to be picky, to find something a little better when it comes to feeling supported and rested. 

So go ahead, give yourself permission to receive and experience what full support feels like in your body. Enjoy not just settling for ok, but instead, prioritizing your needs and saying yes to as comfy and cozy as you can be. It's a powerful practice!

Key Tips:

We'll discuss how to find the perfect position in the video but here are a few things to keep in mind as you're exploring and experimenting with your decadent restorative position. 

• Support your joints. Your joints and nervous system love feeling supported and if you set yourself up in such a way that your shoulder, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles all have some sort of prop to hold them, you'll be amazed at how good it feels. 

• Don't rush it. Finding the perfect support takes a bit of time. Give yourself permission to pause the video and take all the time you need until you find the most fabulously supportive version of the pose.

• More support than you think you need. We tend to minimize our needs and make do with "ok." This is your chance to go beyond just ok and invite more support than you initially think you need.  

• Try all the props. In order to find more support than you think you need for your body and especially your joints, experiment with different props than you're used to. What would it feel like to have all the pillows under your joints? Do you need to change the angle slightly? 

• Moving from good to aaaahhhhh. There's something really cool about this practice of finding the perfect support in your pose. You'll notice that some ways of propping will feel good, but then you add something different or change it up slightly and all of a sudden your whole body does this involuntary relaxed ahhhh feeling. It's a really magical process. So keep exploring until you move from "this feels good, or alright" to "ahhhh that's the spot!"

What you need:

All the props!

- Soft blankets: Soft blankets create soothing feeling.

- Heavy blanket for placing over body. Either full body or folded over core, shoulders, or midsection.

- Sandbags. For extra nervous system support. Make sure the joints are supported from beneath when placing sandbags.

- Eye pillows, both used in the traditional way and as little fillers for joint spaces.

The goal is to create the coziest, most decadently supportive nest for yourself. 

If you enjoy calm music in the background, you can also add that as well.