All Spinal Mobilisations Yin

This class covers all the directions the spine can move in: elongation, extension, flexion, lateral flexion, twisting, and inversion. No props are needed, but if you have them at home, you might as well have them nearby. Enjoy.

Transcript

Welcome, This is your yin and dog class together. I don't think you're going to need some props for this class unless you have them at home. You might as well have them nearby. But otherwise you should be just fine with just a mat and your body. Because without a body, You are just a nobody. So I always use these guys. This is three, Four and five minutes send timer. I find it so much nicer than utilizing a clock or a watch or an alarm, Even worse. So you'll see me working around with this today. Cup of tea, You definitely need one. And we'll begin sitting in any way you want. Japanese seat, Cross-legged seat, You name it. Just have a really long spine. Let's bring the hands together in front of the heart right away so we can feel a little bit more centered. Close your eyes when you're ready. And look, Listen and feel very attentively to the quality of your nasal breath. Entering your nostrils. Filling up your belly, Your ribs, Your chest. In the same way, It comes up and out of your nose as well. Do your best to fill up. Those three parts. Your belly first. Then your ribs and finally whatever you got left into your chest. Take your sweet time to breathe it out, Even slower than on your inhalation. Bailu, Are you breathing as well? Yes Take two more like these, Fill up belly, Ribs and chest. And empty chest, Ribs, And belly. Last one, Make the most of it. Maybe empty the breath out through the mouth. Your intention for this class may be just to receive a good old stretch. Maybe there's something a little bit deeper than that. Seal that intention with bowing your brain towards the heart as though it is your boss, Your best friend. Bring your thumbs up to touch your third eye. Namaste. Very warm welcome okay so I was thinking we should do a Run the world. Class which means we're going to go from one side of the body And then we make our way the other way. Okay. Just like the world, Round the world, But round the body kind of class. And the first one is going to be a back bend. To energize ourselves. So I'm going to give you two choices. If you want something quite easeful, Start prone with Sphinx. I'll show you what it's like. Or you can do tabletop with heart melting pose slightly deeper. Let me show you. So option one will be your Sphinx. You'll be flat on the belly. And then you have your forearms to prep you up. Palms open spreading the fingers wide to evenly distribute the body weight and your elbows are right under the shoulders so that's the first one here you could do sphinx and mind you i'll do my best to tell you when it's halfway through it so that you there's no fear of missing out and you can play between sphinx or heart melting pose and the other one i had in mind for you is tabletop towards the back end of the massive gut space in front of you. And once you're here, Keep hips over the knees, Keep pressing heavy onto the tops of the feet, And then walk one hand at a time forward until the forehead comes nice and low. It doesn't have to touch the floor, It could hang. If it doesn't feel good, Prop it with a block flat or a bolster. So we'll start the timer together here. We'll do around three minutes and in 90 seconds or so I'll tell you if you want to go a little deeper into the back bend or if you want to move from Sphinx to heart melting pose. There will be some chunks of silence throughout the practice for you to get deeper into not only your stretch but your meditation. I like to think of swings as or tabletop with a heart melting pose as a stretch with meditation two for the price of one. And as you close on the eyes or keep a very gentle gaze You get to see within. Hopefully you can hear the birds here Feeling how you spread out this extension, This back bend all along the spine, Not just your lower back we are halfway there so if you'd like to take another version of your backbend now is a good time if you do move really slowly Notice how you treat your breath. Whether you were in heart melting pose or in sphinx, It's time to rebound connective tissues. So this rebound is going to be done prone, So onto your belly. Either you stack your hands and rest your forehead on top like so. Or you may prefer to bring your arms by your sides, Palms facing up, Let your heels turn out. And then maybe left ear onto the mat Take a moment here to neutralize, To reset your spine. Up to this back bend that we held for just over three minutes. Notice how you land and consciously take up space on the mat. I like to bend my elbows wider so the shoulders can come even lower. After this back bend you may crave a little bit of a forward bend here I'm going to give you two choices. That's shitty. I'm feeling quite generous. Let's do three choices. Let me show you. So you can prop up onto your hands and your knees for tabletop You can even sit down, So Ash, You first. First one is going to be a child's pose but the traditional one where the knees and the big toes are actually together and you lean back sit onto your heels and maybe a little bit more space if you need to but feel like you want to have a forward flexion so a forward bend with a spine so we come lower here Folding in towards yourself into your child's pose. That is one option. You can also use a prop or maybe you can stack your fist if you need more support here for the head. Another option could be Butterfly? Sitting down feet together and again we lean forward and downward we are here palms facing up And the last one you could have is wide-legged. With a forward fold with or without props yeah so choosing if you want something I don't think one is harder or easier than the other, It's just a bit different. So choosing one when you're ready, We'll start the countdown into your forward bend. Child's pose with a rounded spine. You've got your butterfly feet together away from the body though. You've got legs wide. For Dragonfly. Taking your time to arrive into the shape and to make it Some final modifications. To align. Commit to a little bit more stillness. Halfway there just in case you again want to take a different form of your forward bend. Unless you feel like you have gained a little bit more space within two fold even deeper. So think of your heart moving forward. Downward in this very order allowing the head to become so heavy Then it creates a lovely traction for the spine to stretch even further. This next rebound is actually going to be a supine one. So we're going to lay together onto our back. Pressing the palms facing down and then really slowly we come out the same way we came in. Walk your hands in closer to you, I like to walk my hands along the legs Eventually stacking head on top of your pelvis, Realign up the spine. Opening of the heart and we make our way onto our backs next time All the way down we go. If the lower back is a bit sensitive, Feel free to have feet wide as wide as the mat. Knees knocking in together, You may place your hands onto the lower belly. Ground the lower back. And take a moment to process what just happened. How your spine responds to so far the back bend, The forward bend And we'll continue. Next it will be a side bend or lateral flexion. Let's say let's do banana good news is you can stay onto the backs If props are in the way or stuff are around you and you won't need them, Move them out of your way. So you've got heaps of space here. So I think of this one as a side. Aside Shavasana really, Because the body is truly relaxed when you do this one. And we'll move the hips over to the left hand side of the mat. Then extend the legs long, Extend your arms overhead. We'll try a few things. First, It could be walk your heels over to the right side of the mat and walk the backs of the hands over to the right hand side of the mat as well. If you want more, Cross right ankle over the left. It gives a nice stability for the pelvis. But if you want more left ankle over the right, It gives you more IT band stretch. I prefer right over left but you do you of course and with your arms you could be right hand holding on to the left upper arm Maybe your wrists, Maybe your hands interlace. Anywhere you want to have your arms position is good. And finally can you turn your head also over to the right side. So now you get a stretch all along the left side but yet you still feel grounded and supported. And to make this shape even more pleasant. I like to include a conscious breath. So guys, Can you inhale from your left foot? All the way up to your left hand. And then exhale from right hand all the way down to right foot. And you continue. The controls of the body, Breath by breath. Moment to moment. Inhale on the left side, Bottom to top breath. Exhale on the right side, Top to bottom. So you really feel the inhale is here to assist in creating more pockets of space. Especially from left hip to left rib. Rape. To the armpit And the exhale is here too. Contract a little bit more. Rape to hip. If all goes well for you give another two slow breaths. Really feeling the left hand side. Expanding and extending. In all directions. And it will be a slow and controlled journey back to the center to rebound onto our backs as we are. So take your time to release your arms, Release the legs. Walking now your pelvis back to the very center of the mat. As we did before, Maybe you create a tipi with your legs. Maybe you prefer a mini baby shavasana to rebound. Noticing if you feel the left side slightly more vibrant a little bit more alive and stretched out. Maybe younger, Newer, Warmer. Holla! Notice if you feel a bit crooked at first anyway now we'll continue the left hand side here so we're not going to the right side right away that'll be for later We move into our twist or our rotation here. Same as we did before, Can you move your pelvis over to the left hand side of the mat first? Then one option could be to bring the knees in towards the chest and to let them fall naturally to the right hand side. Could be here. Maybe you open the arms wide like a cactus shape or arms wide open, Nice and long. Maybe you want to keep your hands close by. It could also be wrapping the left leg around the right if you wanted to have more rotation. And then you let the left leg be heavy on top of the right, Crossing it maybe once or twice. You may even want to place right hand on top of the left thigh. Some people like to have left hand on the left rib. And then imagine there's a teacher nearby that presses them away from each other and then down towards the floor. So it's like an auto adjustment. Once you get there I'll start the countdown, You are in your twist. The legs will go over to the right. If it's too much to do two, You can keep that right leg extended and just bring the left knee across the midline. Maybe you even turn your head over to the left now. Feel free to readjust accordingly. Really care about having a chest onto the mat. Noticing which parts of the spine add a little bit more turned and twisted. And even though we twist. Also internal organs. Can you ensure you have a slow steady breath? So we're never sacrificing the breath for the sake of the shape. We always prioritize the breath first. And then just let the posture naturally happen from there. Feel free to drag the knees a little higher. Towards your right elbow. Accentuate the rotation a little bit more. Give it one more full breath in. A really long breath out. You may want to use your hands to help the knees come back to center. May feel a bit gender at first. I always feel like I'm at least 100 years old when I come out of the yin posture. But as I spend time to rebound, But then you may also feel like you are 21 again. Hmm. Now we've just done two postures on the left hand side here. So notice how that feels along the left side of the neck. The left side of the spine. The left side of the hip. Down along the legs. Before we do everything on the second side, Would you like to bring the knees in towards the chest, One hand pushing, Maybe have a little sway, Side to side. And then we'll do the round the world again so we'll pick it up where we left off we'll do our twist, Not lateral flexion just yet, Coming into our twist. So now we move our hips over to the right side of the mat. Choosing your option, Did you wrap the right leg around or did you have the leg stacked or did you just have the right knee over the midline of the body? When you're ready, Letting our knees turn over to the left. And then opening up your arms wide. Maybe even turning our head over to the right side. Give yourself the first 30 seconds or so to relax. Do what you need. To provide comfort. And then you can be patient and present in the posture. I like to think of the three Ps in Yin. Posture, Patience, Presence. It's never too late. To make any micro adjustments throughout the body, Throughout the practice. Never feel like you have to be stuck and that you suffer in silence in you. If you did it earlier and it's possible here again maybe the knees a bit closer to the left elbow intensifying through the twist Your last breath in and out. Time to come back to center to rebound again maybe use your hand, Returning the knees to center and the pelvis do what you need. I like to ground the lower back but feel free to of course extend the legs forward. Melu is also doing a version of, I'm not sure, Some yin shapes right here. And then we get to do our side bend on the second side for the banana shapes. Let's move again our pelvis to the right side of the mat. Let's extend our limbs long overhead. With the arms and then walk your heels over to the left side of the mat. Remember which ankle you had crossed over earlier. If you want to have more stability with the left ankle on top or if you want to have more stretch with the right on top. And then maybe left hand grabs onto the wrist or maybe the upper arm, You may even turn your head over to the left hand side. Coming into the shape, Staying into the shape. And you might as well make it pleasant as you breathe better. So you think about breathing less but breathing better. Once you have settled Can we now introduce our breath a little closer? Can we inhale from the right ankle all the way up to the right wrist? And from the left wrist down to the left ankle, We get to exhale. Taking your sweet time to breathe those breaths along the head. Natural lines. If you'd like to add a mantra, A mystical medicine, Something to recite within, It could be as simple as Inhale. I am. Excel a banana You can also try that in French. Inhale, Je suis. Excel une banana. I am a banana and then all the stories can go out the window We adjust. Banana. Laying down in the sun. And wiping. Coming up to your last couple breaths. Last couple chances to feel deeply. Beneath the skin. All the way to your bones. And then we'll come out and cross the ankles. Returning the pelvis to the center and choosing how you rebound again legs flexed or extended. Take a moment to digest. Everything now that you have done. Mainly for your spine. We'll do a final posture before Shavasana and it will be a slight inversion. As you know the spine mobilizes in many directions. Elongation which we did sitting down to start the practice The spine can back bend, Forward bend. The spine can side bend and twist and also invert. So for this one, If you have no props, No problem. You can draw your knees in. It could look like a happy baby pose as an inversion. Or maybe legs and arms up, But see how I'm keeping a little bend into the knee joints and the elbow joints. And fingers completely relaxed. I also call this one dead bug in class. I don't know. Do I look like a dead bug? I hope so. Like really chilled, Really dead. Shoulders up down. It should require no effort this one. If you have props at home, Feel free to slide a bolster under your lower back. To have even more inversion, Even more blood flowing to your center. And as you come into the shape and your eyes are closed, Can you sense the temperature may change now a little cooler I hope also lighter into your limbs feeling the blood flowing into your heart and your brain a little bit more. You're just hanging or floating into space. Feel free to add any sound effects Sigh. Expressive Yin-Yin practice. The more expression, The less depression. And the more we get to rebound our tissues. The less issues we have. Can I add one more actually sorry, But this one is really good simple, But so effective this one says. We stretch so that we don't stress. With your last few breaths, If you can't help yourself, You may want to roll through your ankles, Roll through your wrist creases. One direction and the other, Cricks and cracks may happen. Maybe point and flex and floint just in between maybe have a little shake May feel good to shake actually. Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake. And then we return the arms down. You may want to hike the knees back into the chest. And then we'll make our way for Shavasana. Well, I like the bolster under the knees. You don't have to do it. Just allows the lower back to ground down even more. Coming into our Shavasana and treat this one just like the same way we treated the other shapes earlier, With a curious mind and an open body here. And if you'd like to use another mantra something you get to recite inwardly Think of this one. In this moment. All is well. Nothing is missing. In this moment, All is well. Nothing is missing. En ce moment. Tout va bien. Rien ne manque. Take a big breath in. A long breath out. Shavasana. The place to be. And begin to deepen the breath. Deepen all your senses, What you get to hear. See, Taste, Smell and touch. Maybe lick your lips. Swallow your saliva. Lubricate the mouth and throat. Rocking your head from side to side and a massage in the back of the skull you can reach your arms overhead and your legs long Big stretch and let's provoke a big yawn. I feel like it actually happens. Then we can roll to one side. Knees bent, Using your upper arm as a pillow Take a moment to recompose yourself after your yin practice. All about the spine today. Pressing back with your left hand. And you might as well sit onto something if you have it. Ah. It was a hot tea, Now it's an iced tea. Let's do the same thing, We'll return our hands over to our heart, Welcoming our groggy face after the yin practice. And I salute you for staying until the very end of your Shavasana and not skipping the hard work. If there's one thing I would love you to. . . Take away with you from this practice is this idea of posture. Patient's presence. Anytime you get on the mat, Especially within practice where the stretches are more passive, But just as effective. Let's all take a big inhalation again fill up the belly and the ribs and the chest Maybe a little pause at the top to feel full, Whole, Complete. And then open the mouth, Exhale. Bowing your head towards your heart touch your third eye with your thumbs and namaste my yogis Thank you to all Yinsters in the world. Thank you for joining us from here, Melbourne, Australia, With my looted dog. She left. And if you stay in touch with our journey, My husband and I, Nicole and I, Our baby is now five months old today. And check out my postpartum belly. Thank you for staying with us. Bisous, Au revoir!