Yin Yoga Reset

Hello and welcome to this yin yoga practice. You can use this video for when you need a quick reset or don't have a lot of time. Yin yoga is a wonderful way to connect to your body and regulate your nervous system. Grab your props, and I'll see you in the video.

Transcript

Hello, And welcome to this 30 minute yin yoga class. We'll do a few poses. And I'm hoping that this session leaves you in a more relaxed and calm state in your body and mind. I'll see you in the video. So let's just take a just a quick moment here to center ourselves. So just finding a comfortable position for yourself. However, That is in your body today right now, Closing down your eyes. Go ahead and take a long, Slow, Deep breath in. Softly exhaling. Two more just like that. Start to notice the feeling of your body. The weight of your hips and your legs. The sensation of your arms and shoulders. Aware of the muscles that animate your face. Let them soften your jaw, Your cheeks, Your brow. Even the space behind the eyes. Cultivating an inward gaze. Feeling your breath as you feel your body. Next, Take two sips of breath in through the nose. And a long, Slow exhale. Let's do it again. Starting to move your head and neck. Crackle, Crackle. At least that's what's happening in my own neck. Opening your eyes whenever you're ready. Start to just do some free stretching. I like the idea of a side stretch. Maybe even a little twist. Welcome, Welcome. I see several people have joined. So nice that you're all here. Again, I'm Kumari and I'm so excited to be sharing this. For me, Midday yin yoga practice. We're going to start out in child's pose. I'll show you some ways that I like to practice child's pose. One of my favorite ways is to put the bolster in between the legs and then come down. But some people prefer to just be in child's pose without any props. That's great too. If for some reason this isn't accessible because of your knees, Something you can do is lay down on your bolster or use a folded blanket, Something like this. Okay, So you just decide what is best for you in child's pose. If you want to feel a little more oomph in your arms, You can even put some blocks up. So like I said, Lots of options. And go ahead and relax into the child's pose. Whenever you're ready, You can just keep getting settled. Totally fine to refine and adjust your positioning. Remember in yin yoga, It's all about feeling sensation. Each pose that we do has an intention. And that's called the target area. So we want to be feeling an edge. And then this one, It's the whole spine. So it's very possible you're feeling some lengthening in the spine. But another huge part of child's pose in yin yoga is feeling sensation in the joints, Like the hips, The knees, The ankles, Maybe even the shoulders. Melting down in your child's pose. I'm going to stay upright since this pose usually squishes my microphone. Feeling into the stillness you've already cultivated in the pose. Can you feel a sense of relaxation in your body, Even though you might be feeling a lot of sensation? Notice how the breath gently expands on the inhale and softens your body with the exhale. Guide yourself to take a long, Slow, Deep breath, Just like we did in the beginning. And start to press yourself away from child's pose. Perfect opportunity to stretch out the legs, Perhaps even taking a downward dog here. Just making sure that between every pose, You're giving yourself a little time, Time to really feel how the pose affected your body. Time for your tissues to come back to their natural shape. We'll pair this with sphinx pose, Laying down on the front side of your body. I like to put my elbows up on something but that might be too much for some people's backs. So you can always do this with your arms on the floor, Or even a really low version, Like something like this. The purpose of this one is to feel a squeeze in the lumbar area of your back. But it shouldn't be so much of a squeeze that you feel like you have to protect that area by clenching your glutes. So just finding that place, Not too much, Not too little, Just right. Once you get settled, You'll return to feeling the breath. And in this one, Maybe you can feel your diaphragmatic breathing really tapping into that sacred flow of breath. We'll be allowing for some silence now for the next minute or so. If your mind wanders, Come back to your breath. Before we come out, Let's all take a few long, Slow, Deep breaths, Just like in our opening meditation. This sense of filling your body with breath, Charging up the body with prana. And then as we press away from the pose, That lower back area is going to get hyper oxygenated with blood, Maybe some cat and cows once you come out. Or as usual, Just anything that feels good in your body. This, This practice really is such a great opportunity to learn to follow and trust your intuition. Now, If you're one of my regulars, You know that 9090 is probably one of my favorite poses. It's a great way to work the glutes and hips, The lower back. And it's nice on the knees. But if you're really craving like a pigeon pose, You can do that as an alternative. If you don't feel like forward bending, Remember, You can do reclined figure four on your back. Okay, So pretend this is the top of my yoga mat, My shin is parallel to the top. And then my back legs also bent 90 degrees, See that. Then we lean forward and you might be coming a little more over your leg like that. Or you might come over a little more like this to see where you feel an edge. And it's not uncommon to feel something in this hip. But if it's not pleasant, You can definitely bring it in a little bit, Leave it out. Or like I mentioned, You could do this one. Okay. This one, This setup, Particularly in my body makes it so I'm feeling the stretch, But I'm not gritting my teeth because it's so intense. But yeah, You should be feeling something in your glutes, The outside of your hip, Maybe even the lower back on whatever leg is in front. Now I'm holding myself up, But you're more than welcome to come down. Something you can practice is meeting the sensations you're feeling with your breath as if you could energetically direct your breath to fill those spaces where you are feeling the stretch. We've got about another minute and a half with this one. Have drifted away from your sensations or your breath, Come back. Drawing in a full breath and then letting go of the shape, Maybe a few windshield wipers in between. We'll cruise into the other side as you're ready. Coming on into your pose, Feeling your first edge. Today for me this one, I'm feeling it more in this hip. That feels really pleasant. So I'm going to stay there. But of course, You can lean forward if you want to feel it more in the front legs hip. Noticing how most likely our sides are more like sisters than twins. At least I'm noticing that in my own body today. The practice is feeling and breathing. Keeping the sensations steady. And this is the magic ingredient of yin yoga. It's just holding these shapes. Allowing your trillions of cells to do what they do, Especially as we come out of these poses, That influx of fresh blood, Movement, Subtle movement of the tissues. The life force energy that gets amplified as we release this compression, This stretch. One more minute, We'll be silent here. One more breath, We feel your ribcage expand. Beginning to change positions. I love reverse tabletop after hip stuff. Next up, We'll be transitioning on to our backs. So whatever style of twist feels yummiest in your body, I'll show you how I'm going to do it. I'm going to pull my knees up across my legs and then let them come over. If you find that your left shoulders really floating during your twist, Go ahead and put something under your legs to lift them a little bit so your arm can be relaxed. Do turn your head in the opposite direction of your legs and your arms are free to be however you want them to be. Propping in. Of course the twists are so beneficial for our digestive system. And also for the spine. Keeping the spine healthy is one of the golden keys to vibrant health. Feeling one more deeper breath here. Unwinding from your twist. As you're ready, Cruising on over to the other side. And just like with our 9090 serving yourself, Which which positioning of a twist feels best on this side. Breath stays smooth and even. As the body lets go even more. One more breath. Rolling yourself away from your twist. Happy baby. Remember if you aren't able to grab your feet, No baby just grab the backs of your thighs. Same thing happens. And from here we're sliding into our final pose Shavasana. Make yourself in whatever comfortable position feels good to you. I'm going to slide a bolster under my knees and blanket under my head. We're spending a couple minutes here and I'd like to invite you to put your hands on your lower abdomen. Allowing the rise and fall of your breath to guide you into this stillness. This deepening your breath, Welcoming a little movement in your fingers, Your toes. These little movements give rise to bigger movements. Noticing the effects of your practice. If you'd like to join me for closing out our session, Find your way over to your side and then up to a seat. Drawing your palms together to touch in front of the center of your heart. You can even close down your eyes again, Drawing your awareness inward. An opportunity to offer yourself a kind word, An affirmation or an intention for the rest of your day or evening. An energetic bow to each other for sharing this time and this space. May we remember that practices like these that connect ourself to our true natures to that pure awareness that resides in this is our true nature. May we remember that when we do this together, We are powerful. And that we are making a step towards more peace on our planet. Because we're starting with building peace within ourselves. Bowing and offering each other the greeting of Namaste. Namaste.