Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.
Join yoga and meditation teacher Jonathan Relucio for a trauma-informed practice combining mindful movement and breathing to reduce tension and build resilience to stress.
How To Do This Practice:
- Get comfortable: Sit or lie down and notice the support beneath your body, keeping your eyes open or closed—whichever feels comfortable.
- Connect with your body: Bring your attention inward and notice how your body, mind, and heart feel in the present moment.
- Release tension: Inhale as you gently shrug your shoulders toward your ears, then exhale as you relax and release them.
- Move with your breath: Inhale as you reach your arms overhead, then exhale as you gently bend from side to side, noticing the sensations in your body.
- Breathe into your belly: Place one hand on your belly and notice it expand as you inhale and relax as you exhale, following the natural rhythm of your breath.
- Pause and notice: Return to your natural breathing and take a moment to notice how your body and mind feel before continuing with your day.
Today’s Happiness Break Guide:
JONATHAN RELUCIO is a trauma-informed yoga and meditation teacher with 20 years of experience in community organizing, social services, training, and leadership development.
Learn more about Jonathan here: https://www.jonathanrelucio.com/
Related Happiness Break episodes:
Embodying Resilience: https://tinyurl.com/3d2ma8tw
Visualizing Your Purpose: https://tinyurl.com/mwze59jx
The Healing Power of Your Own Touch: https://tinyurl.com/rrtpje2x
Related Science of Happiness episodes:
How To Feel Better About Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/3jave7h2
What To Do When Stress Takes Over: https://tinyurl.com/yxf3jawn
The Contagious Power of Compassion: https://tinyurl.com/y6bpvbv5
We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.
Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap
Help us share Happiness Break! Leave a 5-star review and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap
Transcription:
DACHER KELTNER: When we’re under stress, our bodies often shift into a state of alert. Our heart rate rises, our muscles tense, and our nervous system prepares us to respond.
One way we can help our bodies return to a calmer state is through mindful breathing and movement.
Welcome to Happiness Break, from The Science of Happiness, where we try practices from science and contemplative traditions to help us feel better and live better. I’m Dacher Keltner.
Research suggests that slow, intentional breathing can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps us rest and recover.
And mindful movement can improve mood and mental health, while helping us notice what’s happening inside our bodies.
When we combine mindful movement - like yoga or stretching -- with mindful breathing, we become more aware of our internal experience.
Today, yoga and meditation teacher Jonathan Relucio will guide us through a trauma-informed practice that combines mindful movement, breathing, and centering to help us build resilience to stress and trauma.
Here's Jonathan.
JONATHAN RELUCIO: Greetings, folks. My name is Jonathan Relucio. My pronouns are he, him, sha. I live on unceded Ohlone land, Oakland, California. I'd like to share a little bit about how I came to mindfulness and meditation practice. My first point of entry into work life was as a community organizer focusing on racial justice and immigrant rights.
In my first nine years of organizing, I had burnt out twice, and after my second burnout. I began to explore yoga as a way to support my health and wellbeing.
That inspired me to begin shifting my life purpose to supporting folks on the front lines who are working for justice to support their health and wellbeing through these practices that supported my own recovery. This practice will include an integration of mindful action, mindful breathing, and mindful centering for stress and trauma resilience.
Let's go ahead and begin by just feeling the connection of our feet connected with the floor, which is connected with the earth. Feeling the support of our body on the chair and bringing our attention inward. We can practice with our eyes open, the easy gaze, or fully closed.
Inviting us to bring our awareness to our shoulders. On the next inhalation, inhaling, squeezing the shoulders towards the ears, shrugging the shoulders. And then on the exhale, relax and release the shoulders away from the ears. You can move slowly or you can move fast. Breathing in, squeezing the shoulders towards the ears. And then exhaling, relaxing and releasing the shoulders. Just continuing for a few rounds at your own pace. Using the exhalation to release any tension from the shoulders. And then on your next breath out, just taking a moment to pause and feel. Allowing the shoulders to find a neutral relaxed place. Noticing sensations of the shoulders from the inside and the outside.
Invite us into some lateral bends on the next inhalation, inhaling the arms high towards the sky. And as we exhale, taking your right hand to your right hip, and then allowing the left arm to arch over your head, bending towards the right, opening up the left side of the body. On the next inhalation, inhaling arms towards the sky. And then as we exhale, placing the left hand on the left hip, allowing the right arm to arch over the head, bending towards the left, opening up the right side of the body, we'll continue for a couple rounds just like that. Breathing in, arms high. And as we exhale, leaning towards the right, bending towards the right, taking your right hand to your right hip, opening up the left side of the body. Inhaling, arms high. And then exhaling, bending left. And inhaling, arms high towards the sky, reaching through your fingertips. And then as we exhale, taking the palms to the chest. Invite us to take one hand to the heart and one hand to the belly. Just noticing any sensations in the sides of the body from doing those side bends.
I'm gonna transition into some breathing practice. With the hand on the belly, on the next inhalation, allowing the belly to expand as we inhale. The belly relaxing on the exhale. Breathing in, the belly expands. And breathing out, the belly relaxes. Just continuing at your own pace, belly breathing. just allowing the belly to move with the breath. Feeling sensations of the belly on the outside. And if it feels okay, feeling sensations of the belly from the inside. The movement might be small or big, perhaps not even visible to the eye. Just giving permission for the belly to move with the breath. And then on the next exhalation, coming back to the natural pace of the breath. Breathing naturally. You can keep your hands there or relax them wherever they feel good. Just taking a moment now to notice how the body feels. Notice how the mind feels. Notice how the heart feels. May the rest of your day be easeful. Thank you for your practice.
Comments