New short practice: Slide out of the stress like a swan

Do you ever wake up stiff and rigid all over, your whole body feeling brittle and dry? When we live under chronic stress, the connective tissue that envelopes the body head to toe dries out and grips, and everything starts to feel stuck together. Stretching alone does not fix it. What this tissue needs is wide, undulating, whole-body movement that encourages it to hydrate and slide, and for that we can look to a swan. When it glides on still water, its whole body moves as one long elegant ripple. When it needs to release stress, it extends and curls its neck, expands and folds its wings, and preens itself from head to tail. This is what the water practice is for: fluid movement that shows up as undulation, sweeping, reaching, and curling with the small kindness of touch.

This twenty five-minute practice moves through three phases that mirror the swan’s vocabulary of movement. The first is slow flowing motion: arms folding and unfolding like wings, neck curves, standing reaches, and spinal undulations matched to the breath. The second is preening, or gentle self-touch across the face, neck, shoulders, chest, belly, and legs, which settles the nervous system. The third is a short pranayama with Jala mudra and soft ujjayi to feel the ripples of your breath.

Channel your inner swan and see how it feels!