Yoga for Nervous System Regulation | Spring Class 7

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Yoga for Nervous System Regulation is a unique program combining yogic tradition with neuroscience to help students engage with the nervous system, calm stress responses, and cultivate peace and resilience in body and mind. Learn more about the program here.

Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of this practice.

Please complete the entire Spring Series in order before moving on to subsequent series, regardless of the current season. Each series builds upon the material covered in previous seasons, so doing them in sequence is important for your understanding and your safety.
Yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach, which means no food for 2 hours prior and no beverages for 30 minutes prior. Follow your practice with food and plenty of water. Review the complete Yoga Safety Tips here.
Each weekly class consists of a playlist of 3 practices to be completed in order. The asana (yoga poses) prepare us for pranayama (breathwork) which prepares us for meditation, which prepares us for life!
This course is designed to accommodate a range of learning styles. Below the video playlist you’ll find additional visual aids and links to resources that enhance the learning experience.
Yoga is a very individualized experience, and it’s normal to have questions or concerns. I would love to hear yours! Please submit a comment at the bottom of the page, or follow KMKyoga on Instagram, where I share additional insights, support, and resources with a growing community of fellow practitioners.

Thanks for being here!

In this week’s class, we’ll be working with the concept of brahmacharya, which for our purposes means “a lifelong study of (one’s own) creation (life)”. We’ll end the class with a yoga nidra meditation.

Remember, yoga is best practiced on an empty stomach. Review the complete Yoga Safety Tips here.

Please don’t hesitate to ask questions in the comments section at the bottom of the page, or by sending me an email at kath@kmkyoga.org. I’m happy to help with clarifications or modifications to ensure your practice is safe, comfortable, and enjoyable.

Find a quiet space with room to move. You may wish to pause notifications on your digital device. Gather your mat, a sturdy chair, some water, and a blanket. When you’re ready, hit Play on the first video in the playlist – asana – to begin.

Enjoy your practice!

Before you begin, please review the Yoga Safety Tips.

Yoga is safest when practiced on an empty stomach, which means no food for 2-3 hours prior to beginning. Please do not drink liquids for ~30 minutes before beginning. Follow practice with water and food.

In this class, we’ll be working with the concept of brahmacharya, which for our purposes means “a lifelong study of (one’s own) creation (life)”. We’ll end the class with a yoga nidra meditation.

Enjoy today’s class!

In This Series

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Spring Class 7 Video Instruction

Each class playlist consists of three videos to be practiced in order:

Asana ➙ Pranayama ➙ Meditation

The purpose of asana (yoga pose or “seat”) and pranayama (breathwork) are to prepare the body and mind for meditation, where the real magic happens! I strongly suggest you try the classes in sequence, but after you’ve completed the entire sequence at least once, feel free to revisit individual parts as you’d like.

Once you complete a video, the player will automatically advance to the next one in the playlist. You can skip to the next video at any time using the next/previous arrows at the bottom of the player window, or by clicking the icon in the top right corner.

Asana (Pose) Descriptions

The following diagrams are offered as a supplement to today’s asana practice. Use them to quickly reference specific poses in the video, review verbal instructions in written form, and clarify details from the class. Scroll within each text box for transcript excerpts with time stamps indicating when each pose is demonstrated in the Asana Video for today’s class.

00:02:06:00 – 00:02:36:08

…So same seat. It’s always going to be the same seat. Sits-bones, thighs free, hip width apart and knee over top of the heel. Take a long, gentle inhale. And on exhale, close your eyes, if that’s comfortable. Soften.

00:02:36:10 – 00:02:46:01

Bring your attention to the breath in your nose.

Throat.

Chest.

Belly.

And that little triangle where you can watch your diaphragm move.

00:03:21:21 – 00:03:29:14

And then one long breath. Whole torso.

Then inhale. Eyes open. Notice how you feel. That probably took maybe three minutes, maybe four. And you’ve transitioned already from how you felt when you got here to how you feel now. Breath is the great nervous system regulator when you learn to respect it and appreciate its benefits. Let’s warm up our upper backs, make sure they’re happy enough to do some asana today.

00:03:57:00 – 00:04:14:10

Let your arms hang. Exhale here. Turn the palms forward and inhale up. Your arms and hands are not in your peripheral vision. And then exhale takes you down.

00:04:14:12 – 00:04:30:15

Try a couple of those on your own at your breath pace. Watch yourself creating your own life.

Let’s go wide and check out our backs. We always want to be sure our backs are ready to play.

00:05:02:13 – 00:05:36:04

So inhale here and – hinging at the hips – exhale forward. Stay straight as long as you can. Curve down when you need to bend. Hang. Take a long, gentle inhale that goes all the way to your tailbone and as you exhale, soften lower back, mid back, upper back and feel your head hang a little deeper and your neck a little softer

00:05:36:06 – 00:05:44:21

and then press down with the feet and big inhale coming up.

00:05:44:23 – 00:06:11:17

Walk your knees and feet back to hip width apart before you stand up.

00:05:44:23 – 00:06:11:17

…I’m going to move my chair and roll out my mat. You don’t need to move your chair if it’s in a good position, just see the screen. I’m just doing it so you can see me. You do want to anchor down your mat with the front legs or front feet of your chair coming forward.

00:06:11:17 – 00:06:35:23

So come in close to your chair again. Hip width apart, feet parallel. My knees are almost touching. Inhale here and stick your bottom out to exhale down. Hold on to your chair. Soften that belly. Use your exhale. You know how to do that. Now, use your exhale to soften and then press down with the feet

00:06:36:00 – 00:06:55:10

and inhale back up. Try a couple of those at your pace until it’s just nice and smooth and easier. Each one should get a little bit easier than the one before. Try a couple of those.

00:06:55:12 – 00:07:25:11

Take a moment to notice, because if that was particularly difficult, you might want to choose to repeat it instead of going on to the next step that I’m doing. You really need to make good choices and respect your body. If that felt pretty comfortable this is what we’re doing next. We’re going to add the lunge. So inhale here and exhale, stick your bottom out.

00:07:25:13 – 00:07:52:11

Take hold of the chair. Come all the way down and let all of your air go. I’m doing my noticing now. Now shift your weight onto your right foot. Bend your left knee and throw that foot way back there. Shoulders away from ears. Bring your knee over your heel, keep that back leg straight and bring your chest and face up.

00:07:52:13 – 00:08:19:15

You’re going to feel some lengthening along the front of the body on the left side. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Now lie down on your front thigh. Your face will be close to the chair and exhale as you straighten the front leg as much as you’re able to. And then as you come forward, inhale up.

00:08:19:17 – 00:08:29:07

And then down. Exhale down. Inhale up.

Pause the video to try a few of those. And when we come back, you come back, I’m going to show you how to get out of it.

00:08:49:20 – 00:09:13:17

Okay. This isn’t the spot to notice for this one. I’ll tell you when noticing is a good idea. So lay on your thigh again. Straighten that front leg. But this time, bend the back leg. You’re looking at your right foot. You can see where you want to put your left foot when you come in. So jump and place that foot down.

00:09:13:17 – 00:09:34:14

You can soften that whole belly and inhale up. This is the noticing place. Check in hips, particularly. Are your knees happy?

00:09:34:16 – 00:10:03:16

Let’s add the other side. So same brief. But remember, we are not symmetrical creatures. So you’re going to need to treat the second side, every day that you do yoga, with respect. Inhale here. Stick your butt out. Exhale down. Take hold of the chair. Down You come. Let go of all that air. Let your back lengthen off your tailbone.

00:10:03:18 – 00:10:35:17

Shift your weight onto your left foot. Bend your knee and throw that right foot back. Shoulders soften down. Bring the front knee forward and feel that right hip lengthening. Lie on your front thigh, your left thigh. And straighten that leg. We’re keeping the back legs straight too. Inhale brings you forward and up. Exhale takes you down and back.

00:10:35:19 – 00:10:43:18

Stay within your comfort range on this one. Don’t push too hard.

00:10:43:20 – 00:10:51:16

Try a few more of those at your pace. And then I’ll remind you again how to get out of this pose.

00:11:02:11 – 00:11:34:03

To come out, we do it exactly the same way. But on the other side. Lie on your thigh. Straighten the front leg, and then bend the back leg again. You can see where your foot’s going to go and jump. Place the foot. Down you come. Inhale up. Notice, notice, notice.

00:11:34:05 – 00:12:05:07

And then we’re going to come to lying on the floor. To get from standing to lying doesn’t have to be elegant. It just has to be safe. You can use your chair, one hand or both and kneel down. Whatever works for you. And then we’re aiming for flat on our back with knees bent and feet flat.

00:12:05:07 – 00:12:35:06

Perhaps you remember how we flattened the low back last time. Fingers in the knee crease, not on top of the knee, both sides and rocked back and forth a little bit. Let that lower back be flat, one foot down gently, the other foot down. Walk your knees and feet together. Imagine that you’ve glued your knees together and glued your feet together

00:12:35:06 – 00:13:07:05

because we don’t want them sliding as we lower. Arms around in a tee position, palms down to keep our shoulders in a safe position and to discourage our lower ribs from angling up as we twist. They still will a little bit, but this is safer. We’re going to inhale in this position and exhale, both knees glued together, down to one side. As we exhale,

00:13:07:07 – 00:13:30:19

soften your belly at the bottom and then inhale up. If you have any trouble lifting your legs up in this position, you can push down with the same side hand if you need it. If you don’t, the hand can be limp. Inhale back up,

00:13:30:21 – 00:13:36:09

exhale down to the other side.

00:13:36:11 – 00:14:03:12

Soften your belly and inhale back up. Couple of little points: If the shoulder on the side on the opposite side is coming off the mat, that’s okay. If you feel a little bit of separation here at the bottom, the top, the bottom leg will go down more than the top. That’s okay. Just bring them back together before you bring them up.

00:14:03:14 – 00:14:17:14

I’d like you to try a couple of those at your pace. So please pause the video and try a few of those.

00:14:44:02 – 00:14:56:13

So bring your arms alongside your body. Palms down, and place your knees and feet hip width apart again.

00:14:56:15 – 00:15:24:20

The first half of this is one of the best tricks I think yoga’s ever taught me. If you inhale in this position and press down with your feet, your pelvis automatically tilts to press your low back against the mat. And then on inhale, you ease up on your feet, you rotate back and the tailbone goes down and the pubic bone goes up,

00:15:24:22 – 00:16:04:22

Goes towards your feet. Press down with the feet and the tailbone comes up and the pubic bone comes rotates down. Try a couple of those just because it feels so wonderful in your low back. You feel maybe a little bit like you’re stretching out anything that was ever achy in your lumbar spine. Then bring that to stillness. We’re going to use that trick to get into bridge pose as effortlessly as I have ever done it.

00:16:05:00 – 00:16:33:18

I learned this, combination within the last 2 or 3 years, and it just makes bridge much easier for me. Your hands are still down. You might want to watch one of these before you try. So I press down with my feet and flatten my lower back. Then on an inhale, all I’m doing is pushing my knees away from my head.

00:16:33:20 – 00:17:02:16

So I’m not trying with bridge to lift my chest. I’m not trying to lift my belly. I’m not even trying to lift my hips. What I’m doing is straightening this bent line between my shoulders and my knees by pushing my knees away. Maybe you have to try it to understand. So exhale and then on inhale, the knees go away and up you come.

00:17:02:18 – 00:17:29:11

When you come down -this is also fun – come down one vertebra at a time. Those little bones in your back. Almost as if you’re giving yourself a little back massage. A couple of tricks. One, if you get a cramp in your hamstring, bring your knee over your chest, take hold of your foot and straighten the leg as much as you can.

00:17:29:13 – 00:17:49:10

Just give it a little rub. That happens a lot in bridge because we’re using our hamstrings a little bit differently. The other trick is if your knees are uncomfortable as you’re going up, you might try different knee positions. Some times.

00:17:49:10 – 00:18:15:08

A little pigeon toed with the feet will make the knees happy. Sometimes a little bit more of a duck foot so it’s going out. So in out, play with your foot placement. Important caveat. Do not play with it while you’re moving. Play with it at the beginning and see how that goes. Ooh, I like that one. No. Try a different.

00:18:15:13 – 00:18:42:22

Never change the position of your hands and feet while you’re moving. So I like mine parallel. Let’s try one more time and then I’ll have you try a few on your own. Inhale here. Exhale. Press down with those feet. Feel that low back. It’s so happy to be flattened out for a blink. And then as you inhale, push your knees away and straighten that line.

00:18:43:00 – 00:19:14:21

And then as we come down, very gently exhaling, feel each vertebra touch the mat. And when your low back is there, you’re there. And you can relax and roll up again. I’d like you to try a couple of those at your own pace. Your own breath. Pace. Rewatch the instruction video if you need to, but try a few and see what happens.

00:19:24:10 – 00:19:48:02

Okay. You know, I want you to notice how you feel. Particularly, what are the backs of your thighs doing? Are your knees happy? Check. Check out the parts of your body that work the hardest. And notice how they’re responding. And then we’re going to have some fun. So notice for a moment.

And then again, fingers

00:19:48:02 – 00:19:50:04

in the knee crease.

00:19:50:06 – 00:20:15:02

Knee over the chest. Both sides rock back and forth and get it a little bit flatter, that low back. And then this is probably the most fun yoga pose of all. I’ve heard it called Happy Baby. We’re going to put one hand in between the knees. And your choices are multiple. If possible, put the first two fingers around your big toe.

00:20:15:04 – 00:20:24:09

I recognize that that’s not possible for everyone. If you can take hold of the whole foot, if you can take hold of the ankle, if you have to

00:20:24:09 – 00:20:46:02

take hold of the calf. It doesn’t matter. Just hold something and we’re going to do the same thing on the other side. Walk a little back and forth, and then stretch out one leg at a time, and then soften the foot, stretch out the other leg and soften.

00:20:46:06 – 00:21:07:02

You’re not really softening the foot so much as the heel, the sole of the foot. And you’ll get a nice stretch across the heel as well. You can rock a little back and forth like this. You can really tell where your spine is and you can come in, back out again. Can’t you just see a little baby playing with their toes when you watch this pose?

00:21:07:03 – 00:21:34:12

You could straighten one leg at a time. Bring it down. Now I want you to take the arms back out. Hand in the knee crease, arm outside, hand in the knee crease. One knee goes down at a time. And we’re going to use our lying-to-sitting maneuver to make sure we take good care of our backs.

00:21:34:14 – 00:22:20:00

So wrap your right arm around your head and roll over onto your right side. Take a moment there. Make sure that everything’s okay. Notice and then both hands go flat, and I use the hands to walk up to a seated position. From there you can use the chair to get up. You can get up on your own. Just make sure you do what you need to do to come back up to a seated position.

00:22:20:02 – 00:22:55:04

Sits-bones, hip with knees and heels. Same, same every time. Let’s close out Asana number seven. Do you realize you made it past the halfway mark? Pretty cool. There’s 13 altogether, and I hope you’ll stay with it. But let’s close out with our little breath awareness practice. So long, gentle inhale. And on exhale, close eyes, if that’s comfortable.

00:22:55:06 – 00:23:16:14

Bring your attention to the breath in your nose. Just feel it. And on exhale soften your cheeks, forehead and those little muscles around your eyes.

00:23:16:16 – 00:23:23:23

Bring your attention to the breath moving through your throat.

00:23:24:01 – 00:23:39:14

And on exhale, soften the space between ears and shoulders. Let your neck be soft and your chin might come up a little bit. Bring your attention to the breath moving your chest.

00:23:39:14 – 00:23:52:20

And on exhale soften that shoulder -arm connection so arms can be more limp.

00:23:52:22 – 00:24:40:01

and then bring your attention to the way breath moves your belly. And on exhale, soften that hip-leg connection. Feel the torso balanced on your tailbone and on your pelvic floor, and then find that little triangle with your palm or with your inner perception. Your interoception. Feel the diaphragm go down on inhale, up on exhale and know that each time your diaphragm gently and slowly moves up and down, it’s telling your vagus nerve that all’s right with the world.

00:24:49:10 – 00:25:13:23

And then with your next inhale, bring eyes open.

Comments or questions?

I’d love to hear about your experience with this week’s class and address any concerns you may have. If you’d prefer to reach out privately, send me an email at kath@kmkyoga.org.

Yoga for Nervous System Regulation | Spring Class 7

In This Series

In This Series

Spring Class 7 Video Instruction

Asana (Pose) Descriptions

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