Yin Yoga For Menstruation And PMS Support

This verbally guided Yin Yoga class was designed to support menstruation and PMS symptoms. If you're experiencing anxiety, cramping, insomnia, exhaustion, or irritability you may enjoy this class.

For this class, you may want a bolster, pillows, blanket, and strap. Wear your favorite sweats - BE COZY!

Yin yoga is a style of yoga that emphasizes slow, passive poses held for extended periods (typically 3-5 minutes or longer). It is a quiet contemplative practice. In this class, we focus on stretching the deepest tissues of the body, the connective tissues (ligaments, joints, bones, the deep fascia networks of the body and the meridians). Props are used to either deepen or ease the stretch.

We invite you to eat a small meal and stay hydrated prior to class. This is 60 minutes to slow down. Embrace comfort, relaxation, and tension release. You deserve it.

Transcript

Welcome to Yin Yoga with Planet and Peace of Mind by the Athenaeum Collection.

In today's Yin practice we will be focusing on poses that can help support a woman during her menstrual cycle.

So these can help support or ease any menstrual pain or discomfort.

This practice can be completed on the floor on a mat or can be completed in a bed for more comfort.

So take a moment to collect your items.

You'll need your mat or the bed and then you'll want some support items like a bolster,

Pillows,

Extra blankets and it will be very helpful to have a strap that has a loop in it or you can even use a t-shirt or a t-shirt if you do not have a strap.

So finding yourself ready for class,

Go ahead and come into an easy seat.

So we'll cross the legs,

Finding a tall straight spine.

Connect into the breath.

You can place your hands on your lower abdomen and then gently allow the natural rhythm of your breath to take over.

In your mind gently say to yourself,

I am relaxed.

I am comfortable.

You can repeat these mantras to yourself again.

I am relaxed.

I am comfortable.

Then slowly preparing for the next pose.

You can gently flutter the eyes open if they were closed.

Go ahead and uncross the legs and extend both feet out straight.

Give them a shake.

Next we will come into a supported butterfly forward fold.

So when you're ready,

You can draw the soles of the feet together and pull the heels in as close to the body as is comfortable.

Your hands can rest around the feet if you choose to not use a support and you can simply hold a butterfly pose.

If you would like to support this pose,

You can place your feet as close to the body as is comfortable where you can fold forward without creating too much tension in the lower back.

Then take your pillows or your bolster and place it over your feet so that you can simply lean on to the support item and allow the weight of your torso to be rested on the bolster or pillow.

If you're choosing not to use a bolster or pillow,

You can simply inhale and create a tall straight spine.

As you exhale,

Pivot forward at the hips to a point of comfortable tension and then exhale and fold forward,

Releasing tension through that lower back.

If you are using the support bolsters,

We'll do something very similar.

We will inhale,

Create length through the spine.

As you exhale,

Pivot forward through the hips and then you can slowly and gently release onto the pillow or bolster in front of you.

Allow each breath to help you find more release through the lower back,

Through the shoulders.

Slowly and gently release and melt into your support item.

Allow the breath to remain natural and easy.

Do not hold your breath for any of the poses during this class.

Using the breath to inhale and create space through the spine and then exhale settling deeper into your supported butterfly forward fold.

I'm preparing to come into your next pose.

You can slowly flutter the eyes open if they were closed and then gently use your hands to walk yourself backwards out of the forward fold.

Coming to an upright position.

Next,

We will move into a reclined butterfly pose.

You can extend both of your feet out straight.

Give the knees a shake.

For this pose,

You will want to support.

You'll place your bolster or pillows behind your back on an incline.

So if you have a bolster,

You can use the bolster,

Possibly putting a block underneath it or a blanket underneath it so that it's a bit of a inclined ramp.

Then once you have your bolster or your pillows set up,

You will scoot to the edge of the pillow so that if you lean back,

Your back can rest on the incline of the support item.

Make sure that the items will not slip away if you place weight onto the support.

And then when you're ready,

Take a large inhale in.

Expand through the ribcage,

Through the spine and then as you exhale,

Gently lower your spine onto your support.

Once you are secure and stable on your support item,

You can then allow the soles of the feet to kiss,

Coming back into a butterfly pose.

If you need extra support under the knees,

You can take an additional two bolsters or two pillows and slide them on either side of the body so that the knees of the butterfly pose can rest onto these pillows or supports.

This is a fully supported reclined butterfly.

You may also choose to remove the bolsters from your back and lie completely supine on the floor and just maintain the supports under the knees.

Take a moment here to figure out which version of supported reclined butterfly feels best for you and then when you are ready,

We will hold this pose for a few moments.

When you're ready and settled into whichever version or modification of this pose works best for you,

Take a deep inhale,

Placing the hands on the lower abdomen or they can be connecting into the mat or the bed if you're sitting on a bed.

Then simply melt into your support items.

We will remain in this pose for a few minutes.

Allow the items surrounding you to completely hold and support you so that all of your muscles can slowly and gently relax into the support items.

Allow the breath to create space through the spine and through the chest with each inhale and as you exhale,

Settle into your support item just a little bit more each time.

Slowly preparing for our next pose,

You can gently flutter the eyes open,

Bring your awareness back into your body,

Wiggle the fingers and then gently draw the knees back together.

You can use the hands to support the knees together.

Whether you're lying supine on the floor completely or in a supported reclined position,

Just draw the knees into the chest for a moment.

Give yourself a tight hug and then as you exhale,

You can allow the legs to come out straight in front of you.

Give the legs a little shake.

If you're laying completely on your back,

Turn to your left side and slowly walk your way up to a seated position using your hands.

If you're in a supported reclined position,

Use your hands on either side of your body to help yourself return to an upright seated position.

Our next pose will be a supported child's pose.

So go ahead and take this moment to grab your bolster or your pillows and keep them nearby.

You can choose to hold a regular child's pose without supports if that is comfortable for you.

So begin to come into a child's pose.

If you will be using supports,

Make sure that you widen your knees so that your support item will fit between your knees.

Draw the support item close to your body so that when you fold over,

You can fold on top of your support item and rest your weight into it.

So take a moment to collect your item and get situated.

Then when you're ready,

Inhale your hands up overhead.

Then exhale,

Slowly release,

Coming into child's pose,

Folding over your support item.

As you inhale,

Allow the spine to lengthen as if you were creating space between each vertebrae.

Then as you exhale,

You can release through the shoulders and the lower back,

Folding deeper over your support item.

Ensure that you are following a natural rhythm of your breath.

Do not hold your breath in this forward fold.

The hands can lie on either side of the bolster or pillow.

They can be extended overhead,

Resting on the floor or the bed in front of you.

Or they can be resting under your forehead,

Connecting into the breath,

Inhaling to create space and length through the spine,

Filling the ribcage.

And as you exhale,

It's as if your body is slowly melting even further over the bolster or pillows or into the mat.

Then slowly preparing to come into our next pose,

We can begin to release child's pose.

Allow the palms of your hands to connect the mat or to the bed,

And then slowly using your hands to support yourself,

Come to a seated position or tall spine.

So stay in a kneeling position,

But come upright out of child's pose.

From here,

We will transition into a saddle pose.

So once you're in an upright kneeling position,

You can remove the bolster or pillows from in front of you,

And you'll want to place them behind you.

We will be remaining in the kneeling pose,

And then gently lowering ourselves onto the support behind us.

So if you're on a mat,

You may want to place a blanket under the toes in your kneeling position for more comfort.

And if you have tightness through the front of your hips or your hip flexors and psoas muscles,

You may want to stack more than one pillow behind you to increase the height of your support,

Which will decrease the amount of space between you and the surface,

Which will create a less intense stretch to the front of the body.

So establish your support items.

Figure out which method will be the most comfortable for you.

One bolster,

Two bolsters,

Maybe two pillows.

And then when you're ready,

From an upright kneeling position,

Inhale your hands up overhead.

Create space through the chest,

Opening through the heart,

And then as you exhale,

Lower your hands and allow your hands to connect with the bed or the mat so that you can slowly and gently lower your spine to connect with your support items,

Coming into supported saddle pose or supported hero pose.

Take a moment to ensure that you are comfortable with your support items,

That they can allow you to fully rest your weight into the item for full support.

The hands can be resting out towards the sides of the body,

Or you can have the hands over the abdomen,

Or one hand on the abdomen,

One hand connecting to the bed or the mat for grounding and support.

When you're ready,

Inhale and exhale,

Slowly sinking deeper into your supported saddle pose.

Remember to allow the breath to flow naturally in this pose.

Then slowly taking a big deep inhale,

Filling the chest filled with air,

Fluttering the eyes open if they have been closed,

And then gently begin to allow your hands to support you on either side of the body as you slowly make your way back up to an upright kneeling position.

Then in your upright kneeling position,

You can inhale your hands up overhead,

And then exhale,

Slowly take a child's pose for just a short moment,

And then inhale,

Slowly rise,

Remove the bolsters or pillows from behind you,

And gently come into a supine position.

So we're going to be coming to lie on our back,

On our mats,

Or on our bed.

We'll be preparing to come into our next pose,

Which is a supported bridge pose.

So from our supine position,

Laying on our back,

We can allow the soles of the feet to connect into the bed or the mat with a slight bend in the knee.

The closer you draw the heels of your feet to your body,

The more stable and strong your bridge will be.

Then when you're ready,

You can inhale,

And as you inhale,

You can send the hips towards the ceiling,

Lifting the pelvis off of the surface that you're lying on.

At this time,

You can place your bolster,

Blanket,

Or pillows underneath the hips,

And then as you exhale,

You can gently lower your pelvis onto the support item,

Coming into a fully supported bridge pose.

Inhaling and exhaling,

Settling deeper into our supported bridge.

The arms can be on the abdomen,

Or they can be by the sides of the body connecting into the mat.

The gaze is straight up or towards the chest.

The eyes can remain open or closed.

Allow the weight of the pelvis to be completely supported by your item,

Pillow,

Bolster,

Blanket.

Allow each breath to help you find deeper relaxation and release through the pelvis.

Allow your breath to maintain a natural rhythm.

Then when you're ready,

Slowly on your next inhale,

Lift through the hips so that you can remove the bolster or support from underneath you.

Gently slide it out to the side,

And then when you're ready,

Exhale.

Slowly lower the pelvis to connect with whatever surface you're lying on.

Take a moment here to relax,

To breathe.

You can place the hands on the abdomen.

Feel the breath as you inhale,

Expanding through the abdomen.

Exhale,

Releasing tension.

You can take a moment to windshield wiper the knees for just a moment,

And then when you're ready,

You can turn to your left,

Coming into fetal pose.

Then use your hands to gently walk yourself up to an uprighted seated position.

Our next pose will be dragon fly forward fold to the left.

So when you're ready,

Find yourself in a comfortable seated position.

We will be in a straddle position.

So open the feet out wide,

And for our first forward fold,

We will be folding to the left.

So you'll want to grab your pillows,

Bolster,

Or blanket,

And you can set it over the left leg.

Then when you're ready,

Inhale your hands up overhead,

Rotate your torso to be facing the left leg,

And as you exhale,

Hinge at the hip forward,

And then slowly round out through the spine as you completely fold onto your support item.

Allow the item to hold the weight of your torso.

Let the breath carry you into deeper relaxation.

We will remain in this forward fold,

This forward dragonfly,

For the next few moments.

Remember to allow your breath to flow freely.

With each exhale,

You are melting over the bolster or pillow,

Deeper into relaxation and tension release.

Every inhale creates space,

Every exhale releases tension.

Then slowly preparing to come out of our dragonfly forward fold.

On your next inhale,

Use your hands to walk yourself up to a seated upright position.

So using the hands,

Lifting the torso off of the support,

Finding a tall,

Straight spine.

Once you're in an upright position,

Inhale your hands up overhead once more.

Exhale,

Rotate the torso to the center.

You can go ahead and move your support items from the left leg to the right leg.

If you need to at this time,

You can draw the legs together and give them a shake before returning back to a straddle position.

When you're ready,

Place the bolster or pillows or blanket on your right leg in your straddle pose or butterfly pose,

In a straddle or dragonfly pose.

When you're ready,

Inhale your hands up overhead.

As you exhale,

Rotate your torso to be in alignment with your right leg.

Inhale again,

Creating space and length through the spine.

As you exhale,

Hinge at the hip and fold over your support items.

You can round out through the spine once you have reached a comfortable tension in the hinge of your hip.

Allow the support items to fully support the weight of your torso.

The hands can be on either side of the pillow or reaching towards the foot.

You may also rest your hands on top of the support item and then rest your head on top of your hands.

We'll remain here for a few moments.

Continue to breathe naturally,

Allowing each inhale to create expansion through the spine and through the chest and the ribs,

Through the shoulders,

And each exhale release tension through the body.

When you're ready,

You can slowly begin to allow the hands to connect with the surface you're on top of.

Support yourself as you walk your hands and walk your torso into an upright seated position.

At this time,

If you need to,

Go ahead and remove the bolster or the pillow to the side.

You can draw the legs together and give them a shake if need be,

And then return back to a dragonfly pose or straddle pose.

You want to take your bolster or pillows and place them between the legs,

Close towards the body.

Next,

We will be doing a center dragonfly forward fold.

So with your bolster or pillow at the center between the legs,

You can inhale your hands up overhead.

As you exhale,

Hinge at the hips to a comfortable tension and then as you release the exhale,

You can fold forward onto your support item,

Eventually rounding out through the spine to make full contact with your bolster or pillow.

Allow your support item to carry the full weight of your torso.

On your next inhale,

Create length and space through the spine,

Open through the shoulders,

And as you exhale,

Allow all remaining tension in the spine to melt out of the muscles.

Allow the breath to create expansion on every inhale and release on every exhale.

We will remain here in a forward fold dragonfly for a few moments.

Let the breath remain natural and comfortable.

Then when you're ready,

Slowly preparing to move to our next pose,

Flutter the eyes open if they were closed and then gently use your hands to walk yourself to an upright sitting position.

You can inhale your hands up overhead,

Create length through the spine,

And then exhale,

Lower the hands back to the mat.

Remove the bolster,

Placing it off to the side.

Draw the legs together,

Give them a shake.

You can even hug the knees into the chest for a moment and just give yourself a hug.

And then slowly,

When you're ready,

Find your way to a supine position or lying flat on your back.

Next,

We're going to come into the cat pulling its tail pose.

We're going to do this in a supported way.

This is a pose that if you have your strap or possibly a hoodie,

You may want to have it close to you.

So as you turn onto the right side of your body,

You'll want your bolster on your right leg and then you want to have your hoodie.

Place your toes inside the hoodie or stick your foot through a hoop in your strap for your left foot.

So you will rotate onto the right side of your body,

Left foot hooking the strap or the hoodie.

Take the bolster,

Place it against your right leg.

Bend the right foot and go ahead and stick your foot through the hoop of the sweatshirt or through the hoop of the strap.

Draw the left leg across the body and allow it to rest onto the bolster.

Using the right arm for stability,

Allow the left hand to reach for the right foot or the strap or the hoodie.

This is cat pulling its tail.

Allow the weight of the left leg to rest completely into the bolster.

You should a gentle opening of the hips.

We will remain here for a few moments,

Remembering that these classes are never about perfection.

They are about presence and progress.

So we're showing up and making small progresses each day.

So if you do not have a strap,

Finding something similar will work perfectly.

Our yoga classes are not about having the perfect support items,

The perfect bolster or strap.

We can use pillows,

Blankets,

Sweatshirts,

T-shirts,

Anything really that allows us to modify the poses to help us be the most supported and relaxed.

We always say it's important to just show up as we are and not worry about perfection.

Then gently preparing to release,

Cat pulling its tail from the right side,

We will begin to transition to the opposite side.

So uncross the leg from the body as you are releasing the strap or hoodie in your hand.

Allow yourself to come back to a supine position.

You can reach the hands overhead,

Extend the legs out straight,

Take a full body stretch if needed,

And then reverse your support items.

So bring the bolster or the pillows or the blanket to the left side of your body and you want to make sure your strap is moved to the right side.

Next you will rotate onto the left side of your body,

Bending the left knee and drawing the right leg across the body to rest on top of your bolster.

The left leg is bent at the knee and now is a time you want to have your foot in the hood of your sweatshirt,

The sleeve of a t-shirt,

Or through the hoop of a strap and you can hold the strap in your hand as if you were a cat pulling its tail.

The left arm is supporting the body,

Stretched out.

Rest your right leg completely into the bolster,

Pillow,

Or blanket you have.

Allow it to fully support your leg so you can deepen the twist,

Finding a great opening through the front of the hips.

Remember to allow your breath to flow naturally.

Do not hold your breath in these twists.

We'll remain here for a few moments,

Allowing each breath to create space as you inhale and release tension as you move deeper into this twist.

Slowly beginning to release this pose,

Straightening through the left leg,

Releasing the strap,

And then allowing the right leg to come out of the twist.

Extend both legs out straight.

Make sure you're rolled onto your spine in a full supine position.

Inhale the hands up over your head.

Extend through the feet,

Creating a full body stretch.

Inhale and exhale.

Release the arms to the sides of the body.

You can leave your hands stretched out towards the sides,

Palms facing up to receive,

Palms facing down for grounding.

Or you may even place your hands on the lower abdomen for comfort.

You can even take bolsters or pillows and place them under the elbows to support the hands if they are resting on the abdomen.

We are going to come into Savasana for the next few minutes.

So allow your breath to have a natural rhythm,

Inhaling and exhaling,

Allowing every exhale to release any lingering tension through the hip space,

Through the shoulders,

Finding total relaxation as you connect into the surface you're lying on.

Remembering to carry with you the thought to show up for the rest of your day or for tomorrow.

Show up as you are.

Leave the judgment of perfection behind and remember that presence and progress are always what we're aiming for.

Showing up for ourselves and for others and making small progress each day.

Things don't have to be perfect to be good.

Allowing the rise and the fall of the chest and the abdomen to achieve total relaxation.

Each inhale always creating space and expansion.

Each exhale removing tension or tightness.

Imagine a warm glow around your entire body covering you like a blanket,

Supporting you,

Comforting you.

Each breath creating warmth,

Relaxation,

And comfort.

You can remain in Savasana as long as you'd like or when you're ready you can turn to your left in fetal pose and gently use the hands to walk yourself back up to a seated position.

Inhaling deeply,

Exhale slowly.

Inhale,

Hold the breath,

Exhale slowly release.

Flutter the eyes open if they're still closed.

Remember it's never about perfection.

It's always about presence and progress.

This vinyasa flow has come to an end.

Thanks for joining us.