Yin Yoga | Hips And Lower Body Freedom

This 30-minute Yin Yoga practice focuses on releasing tension throughout the hips, pelvis, and lower body. With long-held postures and mindful stillness, you'll create space in areas that can become tight from daily activities, prolonged sitting, exercise, or stress.

As the body gradually softens, there is an opportunity to cultivate greater mobility, comfort, and awareness. Rather than striving for a deeper stretch, this practice invites you to listen closely to your body's signals and meet yourself with patience and curiosity. Leave feeling more spacious, grounded, and connected to the wisdom of your body.

Transcript

Hi there. Are you feeling like your hips need to be released? You need some big stretches here? Well, This video is for you then. Short and sweet. We're gonna do a few poses and I just know you're going to feel so much more spacious as you walk away from the practice. I'll see you in the video. Let's just take a moment to ground and center ourselves before the practice. Finding yourself in a position that feels comfortable for your body today right now. We're just gonna take a few cleansing breaths. Closing down your eyes if you'd like to. Nice long slow inhale through the nose. I'm letting it go. This time, Make more of an audible sigh as you let it out, Inhaling. Let's do one more of those. Taking a moment to move around the head and the neck. Reaching your arms, Just doing small stretches. This can be free form for sure. I always liked you. Let's ever so gently move the body around a little bit before we cruise into all of this stillness. We are gonna get right at it today with the hips and glutes for 90-90 pose. Lots of alternatives that kind of do the same thing. So if you like pigeon pose, Which is called sleeping swan Indian, Or if you want to do this on your back as a reclined figure four, Do that. In case you want to try the 90-90 and you're not familiar with what I'm talking about. See how my legs both just bent 90 degrees, Kind of leaning over this way. Now I'm going to come forward a little more. Look who's making an appearance today. This is Milo the kitty. Then as you lean forward, So I'm kind of leaning over my thigh shin area. That's where I'm going to start feeling that nice big stretch in that front leg. So the glutes, The thigh, Maybe a little into the lower back. Gonna do some yin yoga with us, Milo. You gotta lay a little over here so they can see you. Okay. Gonna hold this one for three minutes. So in these shorter format yin yoga classes, I tend to hold things a little less time. Usually maybe I'd hold this one for five. But in our shorter format option here, We're gonna go a little less. But of course, You're at home. You have agency to stay longer if you'd like to. Welcome. Welcome. If you're just joining. We're doing 90 90 here feeling nice stretch in the glutes of the front leg, But maybe a little something something here in the inner thigh. Close your eyes and draw your awareness inward to really notice and feel the sensations you're creating. Absolutely can let your head hang. You can go much lower than me if you want to. We're here for another minute and a half. Allowing the body to soften with every exhale. Yeah. Keep coming back to your long, Slow, Deep breaths. Closing yourself up, Right? Oh, Vivian, I like that. We'll head into practicing on the other side. I also find yin yoga really soothing and friendly and loving towards my body. So that's a good thing, Isn't it? Come over here and be cute. He's laying on his back, You guys. It's so cute. Come over here. I guess that would distract him. Ha! You can see one paw. Right. Come here, Buddy. Is anybody else's animals hanging out with you while you're practicing? Yeah? Yeah? Okay, Focusing on what you're feeling. They're in their beds now. Yeah, Sometimes he stays in his bed too. But today, I guess since I've been gone this morning a little bit, He came out. Matt, Time to clean yourself. Okay. So we got about two more minutes here. Let's really dive in and. . . Notice the intensity of the sensation, Like what level is your sensation if it was 1 through 10? Are you landing in a place that truly feels like ah? Or do you need to back off a little bit? Or do you need to create more sensation? Okay. Okay, Press your way on up. And bring a little movement back to the legs and hips. Whatever you like best. Next up, We will be heading into child's pose. So setting yourself up for that in such a way that you feel like you could really let go for three minutes. For me, What that looks like is putting the bolster between my legs and hanging off the end. This is the perfect place to really observe your breath. And all those little nooks and crannies in your body that the breath encourages your body to stretch and expand. Stay with this idea or this. Feeling of the body just softening with every exhale. There might be very apparent or noticeable sensation Imagine the breath as a softening agent. I'm sorry. And perhaps for these next couple breaths, Feel your lower back area. Expanding up towards the ceiling, Even if it's ever so subtle. You One more full breath here. And start to climb your way back up. Wonderful. You might like to stretch your legs out or do some cat and cow movements. It's always nice to kind of rinse out the feeling that you just had in the body. Now we're going to do supported fish. So if you have a bolster, That's your best bet. But not everyone has a bolster. So just use something that's kind of like firm and elevated, Like a couple of folded blankets. Another thing that works well is taking a blanket and rolling it and then you could do it the long way like laying on it, But you can also do it this way. What we're trying to do here is like push open the chest and feel some gentle expansion. I'm going to use a blanket for a little pillow for my head. And then the legs can be however you want them to be. A lot of people love to do butterfly legs in this one. You can also just stand with your feet on the floor. And then be sure to pull your arms away from your body. They don't have to be like way up like this or anything. You're just a little down just enough so you kind of feel into the spaciousness happening across the chest down your arms. Again, You can have your legs however you would like them to be. A nice place to focus here is your diaphragmatic breath. So that might be the feeling that the belly is just poofing out a little bit on your inhale. But you can also feel it on the backside of your body where I suggested that you feel expansion on your inhales in the last pose. This one you can see if you can feel the breath just ever so gently pressing into your prop. Relaxing your jaw. Bye! Let's stay here for another minute. Sinking down into the problems. Legs, Hips heavy on the floor. You Mwah! Just to feel the difference. Try taking some breaths that you're kind of intending to solely seal up the ribcage. Oh, My God. Pick a couple more of the belly blasts now. From here, Bend your knees, Lift your hips. Starting on some windshield wipers here. I always like this one where I drape myself over the body. He's really frisky. Alright, So a supported twist. What I mean by that is this actually this part's optional. But if you if your lower back feels achy, Or you're just kind of trying to protect your lower back, It's really nice to have your legs land on something so it makes it a little less intense. Okay, I'm gonna put this there, Buddy. I like support from my head. But really you could do any twist that you want. This is just the one I'm highlighting today. So knees up, Legs land on the bolster. What? Oh. It just. . . Milo, Just come settle down. He just like laid his butt on my head. Okay, So if you haven't already, Be sure to turn your head in the opposite direction of your lives. And feel yourself coming back into this state of rest, Relaxation. You Can you feel one more long, Slow, Deep breath here? Ahead and release. If you enjoyed that bolster setup, Or if you used an alternative bolster, Go ahead and And then to the other side. Set the timer for us and we'll enjoy. And this little twist. Something in that right shoulder and arm. Relaxed on the floor or on a prop. So you're gonna feel held here, Supported. Same with the breath. Staying very aware of the sensation Thank you. Alright, Call for more brown. As you're ready, Rolling out. Make like a happy baby here or some more of these windshield wipers Are there any other little stretches you think would feel good? Take time to do those. And we'll have a couple minutes of Shavasana. No. Play this little chime for you while you're in Shavasana. Alright. I'll call you back in a couple minutes. You might like to take one more of those cleansing breaths. Thank you. Bye! And coming back to your breathing. Take a moment to tune into the rise and fall of your breath. Aware of this sweet space of real regulation. Of peace. Starting to wiggle around your fingers and toes. Stretching. Or perhaps staying in Shavasana for as long as you like. And again, Take a moment to notice how you're feeling. Could you put one word to this feeling right now? If you'd like to join me in closing our session. If you can find a seat again, Bring your hands to your heart center. This gesture of reverence, May we first direct it to our bodies, Our minds, Our spirits. And then sending that same sort of reverence to each other and acknowledgement that we are all cut from the same cloth. Offering the energetic greeting of Namaste. Namaste.