Gentle yoga at home, guided by Bliss

What is gentle yoga, and why do it at home?

Gentle yoga is the slow end of yoga: poses you can hold while breathing comfortably, moved into and out of without strain, with more attention on the breath than on how far you go. Nobody is watching, nothing is timed, and the point is to feel the body rather than to improve it. At home you can do five minutes in your pyjamas, before the day has started or after it has ended, which is exactly when a stiff or restless body most wants it. A mat is nice; a carpet or a folded blanket is fine.

Two rules for every sequence on this page: never push into pain, and keep breathing. If a pose hurts, come out of it. If you are holding your breath, you have gone too far.

A five-minute morning sequence for stiff mornings

A body that has been still for eight hours wants to move slowly first. This sequence wakes the spine and the hips without asking anything of them. About a minute each.

1. Cat and cow. On hands and knees, wrists under shoulders. Breathe in and let the belly drop and the chest lift. Breathe out and round the back, chin toward chest. Six slow rounds, following the breath.
2. Child's pose. Sit back toward your heels, arms stretched forward or resting by your sides, forehead down. Breathe into the back of the ribs. Stay for eight breaths.
3. Standing forward fold, knees soft. Stand, bend the knees as much as you like, and let the upper body hang. Hold opposite elbows. Nod and shake the head gently. Six breaths, then roll up slowly, one vertebra at a time.
4. Side stretch. Standing, reach one arm overhead and lean gently to the other side, feeling the ribs open. Three breaths each side.
5. Mountain, three breaths. Stand with feet hip-width, arms by your sides, and take three slow breaths with a longer exhale. Notice how the body feels compared with five minutes ago. That is the whole session.

A before-bed sequence for restless nights

At night the aim is the opposite: not to wake the body but to tell it the day is over. Everything here is on the floor or the bed, slow, and ends lying down. About seven minutes.

1. Legs up the wall. Lie on your back with your hips near a wall and your legs resting up it, or rest your calves on the bed or a chair. Arms open, palms up. Breathe slowly for two minutes.
2. Reclined butterfly. Lying down, bring the soles of the feet together and let the knees fall out, with cushions under them if the stretch is strong. One hand on the belly. Eight breaths.
3. Knees to chest. Hug both knees in and rock gently side to side. Six breaths.
4. Gentle twist. Let both knees fall to one side, arms out, head turned the other way. Six breaths, then the other side.
5. Rest, with 4-7-8. Lie flat, legs long, arms away from the body. Breathe in for 4, hold for 7, out for 8, four rounds, then let the breath go back to normal and stay as long as you like. Many people fall asleep here, which is allowed.

Yoga and breathing together

The breath is what makes gentle yoga different from stretching. In each pose, the in-breath is where you find a little length, and the out-breath is where you let go a little further. If you only remember one thing, remember to breathe out slowly as you settle into a pose.

The breathing rhythms on this site pair naturally with the sequences above. Calm breathing (4 in, 6 out) suits the morning sequence; 4-7-8 suits the end of the bedtime one; and resonant breathing works in any long hold. In CalmSpace.ai, Breathe together has all five rhythms, and Bliss can count them out loud. All the written guides are at breathing guides.

What Bliss does in a yoga session

In the CalmSpace.ai library, yoga is a set of gentle guided sessions in Bliss's voice. She tells you what to do and when to breathe, at a slow, even pace, and each pose comes with a picture, so if you are unsure what "reclined butterfly" looks like you glance at the screen and then close your eyes again. The sessions are short, so they fit before a shower or after the lights are off. There are no classes to book, no camera, no scoring and nobody watching. You can also talk to Bliss afterwards about how the body felt, and she remembers, so a session a week later can start from there.

Yoga sits in the library beside guided meditations, sleep stories and sounds, 7-day programs and music. The basics of the library are free; Premium opens the full library and is on the pricing page. The web app at app.calmspace.ai works on any browser; the iPhone app adds the Apple Watch and Apple Health features.

Who is it for, and when should you see a professional?

Gentle yoga at home is for people who are stiff in the morning, restless at night, or sitting most of the day, and who want a few minutes of slow movement without a class. It suits beginners, because every pose on this page has an easier version: bend the knees more, use a cushion, stay for fewer breaths.

It is not medical care, and no pose on this page fixes a condition. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or an injury, have a condition that affects your joints, spine, heart or blood pressure, or feel pain, dizziness or numbness in any pose, stop and talk to a doctor or physiotherapist before continuing. A professional who can see you move is the right person for anything that hurts. Bliss can guide a gentle session; she cannot see you and does not give medical advice.

Frequently asked questions