Restorative Practice + Position Guide

You'll want a few things nearby, but you don't need specialized equipment. Household items work well. The goal is support, not having the right gear.

If you're joining from a space where you can't lie down or move much, that's fine. Many of these can be done seated, and Sasha will offer seated alternatives during the session.

If you are pregnant or recently postpartum, recovering from an injury or surgery, experiencing dizziness or balance difficulties, or have been given medical guidance about movement or positioning, use the modifications and positioning that are appropriate for you. Seated and side-lying options are always welcome. This guide is not medical advice, and nothing here is meant to override guidance from your healthcare provider.

These are suggestions, not requirements. Use what you have. Many people find what they need without buying anything.

These are the positions we'll explore during the session. You can return to any of them on your own. Each includes modifications — try what works and leave what doesn't.

Hold each position for as long or as briefly as you like. If something becomes uncomfortable, change it. If a modification works better than the starting position, it doesn't count less.

You'll notice the setup instructions are fairly direct — that's intentional, because it helps to know where a pillow goes. But every position also has an easy out: 'try this,' 'you might,' 'if it doesn't work, skip it,' or 'find your own way entirely.'

Lie on your back with your legs extended or knees bent, whichever is more comfortable. Place a folded blanket or pillow under your head and neck. If your lower back feels compressed, try placing a rolled blanket or pillow under your knees.

Let your arms rest alongside your body, on your belly, or out to the sides — wherever they land naturally.

Options

• If lying flat is uncomfortable, try elevating your upper body with a bolster or stack of pillows behind your back and head
• If your knees want support but don't like the pillow under them, try a rolled blanket under your thighs instead
• If being fully horizontal doesn't work, try this position in a reclined chair or propped upright on cushions against a wall
• You can keep your eyes open throughout

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor, hip-width apart. Let your knees rest against each other so your legs are supported without effort. Place a blanket or pillow under your head.

This keeps the body relatively compact. Notice whether that works differently for you than having your legs extended.

Options

• If your feet slide, try placing them against a wall or the base of a sturdy piece of furniture
• If your knees don't want to rest together, place a pillow between them
• You can also do this seated — feet on the floor, knees apart, hands resting on your thighs

Lie on your side with your knees bent. Place a pillow or folded blanket between your knees so your top leg is supported. Support your head with a pillow so your neck is comfortable. Let your arms rest wherever is natural — one may drape over your side, the other tucked under or in front.

This can be a good option if lying on your back isn't comfortable for you.

Options

• Try placing a pillow or rolled blanket against your back for a sense of support behind you
• You might hold or hug a pillow against your chest if you want more support in front of you
• If both sides don't feel equally comfortable, stay on the side that works and don't worry about switching

Sit against a wall, in a chair, or propped on cushions. Support your back fully. Let your hands rest on your thighs or in your lap. Feet on the floor or supported by a folded blanket if they don't reach.

If you're seated on the floor, sit on enough elevation that your hips are comfortable — a folded blanket, a cushion, or a bolster. There's no prize for sitting low.

Options

• If your back tires, add more support behind you or move to a chair
• If your feet don't reach the floor comfortably, place a folded blanket, block, or stack of books under them
• You can lean your head against the wall or a pillow behind you

Kneel with your knees apart and fold forward, resting your upper body over a bolster or a stack of pillows and blankets. Turn your head to one side, and switch sides if it becomes tired. Let your arms rest alongside the support or forward beyond it.

If kneeling isn't comfortable for your knees, you can create a similar supported fold seated in a chair with pillows on your lap to lean onto. You can also skip this position entirely — there's no position you have to do.

Options

• Place a rolled blanket behind your knees for cushioning
• If your hips don't want to sit back fully, try a folded blanket between your hips and heels
• If getting to the floor isn't possible, use the seated-to-pillow variation instead
• If you have any knee discomfort or simply don't want to kneel, the seated version or any other position works just as well

Lie on your back and extend your legs up a wall, or rest your calves on the seat of a chair or a stack of cushions. Let your arms rest alongside your body. Support your head with a pillow.

If being near a wall isn't possible, you can rest your legs on a couch, the arm of a chair, or a stack of pillows. This is simply one supported option — not a required position, and there's nothing special about the elevation itself.

Options

• If your hamstrings are tight, try moving further from the wall or using a lower support surface
• Try a folded blanket under your lower back or hips if that feels better
• If your feet get cold, cover them with a blanket
• If this position doesn't feel right, skip it

You may notice that stillness is not actually neutral.

Maybe you get restless. Maybe you get sleepy. Maybe your mind starts making a list of everything you could be accomplishing instead. Maybe you feel exposed, irritated, bored, relieved, or ready to be done.

You might also notice a rule running in the background: I should be able to relax. I should be getting something out of this. I should stay here because everyone else is staying here. I should be better at this by now.

You don't have to obey a rule just because you noticed it.

Move. Adjust. Open your eyes. Sit up. Get water. Stay. Leave the position.

The point isn't to prove that you can be still. The point is to notice what happens when stillness is offered.

That is The Healer's Pause.

If you offer embodied practices to others, being on the receiving side gives you information you can't get from the offering side.

You might notice how much instruction feels useful versus intrusive — and the moment where guidance starts to feel like being managed.

You might notice what happens when you're given several options. Do modifications genuinely feel like choices, or do they feel like lesser versions of the real thing? Sometimes we offer several choices while our tone, pacing, or wording quietly tells someone which one we hope they'll choose.

You might notice whether you feel pressure to make the position look right — and where that pressure might be coming from.

You might notice whether silence feels supportive, awkward, long, relieving, or something else entirely.

None of this has a correct conclusion. But noticing what you experience when you're the one being guided — rather than the one guiding — is part of what this practice is for. It can change how you offer these things to others, without needing to decide exactly how.

Every position in this guide is an invitation. You may modify, use props differently, change positions mid-practice, keep your eyes open, move, pause, or decline any position without explaining why.

If your body is telling you that a position isn't working, you do not need to override that message to finish the practice. Coming out of a position is not failure. It is information.

And if you noticed a rule about how relaxed you should be, how still you should appear, or what this should mean, that's worth noticing too. You don't have to do anything with that right now either.