Yin Yoga For Empaths And Sensitive People

This 25-minute yin yoga session was designed specifically for empaths or sensitive people but all are welcome.
As a sensitive person, it's vital for you to take time to slow down, find quiet and space, and take time to support your nervous system as the world around you can (at times) feel overwhelming.
Get ready to relax and restore!
This sequence is an addition to Ali's course: Yin Yoga for Empowered Empaths and she encourages you to check out the course either before or after this practice.

Transcript

Hey there,

Welcome to this short yin yoga practice specifically designed for empaths or more sensitive humans like me.

My name is Ali,

I'll be guiding you through and this is a great accompaniment to my seven session course here on Insight Timer,

Yin Yoga for Empowered Empaths.

In this session today I'll be going through each of the poses that I teach you more about in the course so if you want to learn more about modifications and benefits and other information about these poses please go ahead and check out that course.

But for today we'll keep it simple,

We'll keep it quiet,

I'll give you lots of space as a sensitive person to just be you and explore the pose.

All you need for this session is maybe a yoga mat and a yoga block if you have it.

If you don't have a yoga block,

A cushion or a pillow work wonderfully as well and you can even do this yoga session directly in bed,

So whichever serves you.

Of course make sure that you modify each pose as it works for your body and come out of anything that feels painful.

So we'll get started in a comfortable seated position just to ground in from the day.

As you come into a seat you could be seated on the floor,

Your yoga mat,

Maybe on your pillow,

Cushion or yoga block.

Grounding your seat down,

Lengthening your spine,

Place one hand on your belly,

Place one hand on your chest.

Keeping that nice tall spine,

Just take a moment to drop in and be present with any emotions,

Sensations,

Feelings,

Physically,

Mentally or energetically.

As more sensitive people we can tend to pick up and absorb other people's feelings and emotions,

So taking time to recharge in quiet,

In a peaceful setting can really help with releasing and restoring the nervous system.

I'll just be here for about five more slow deep breaths.

Bring your arms down by your side,

Maybe start with a little shoulder roll up back and down.

Take any little movement that your body might crave here and then we'll move into our first pose,

Child's pose.

So you can walk your hands forward coming to hands and knees.

We'll come into a wide knee child's pose here.

You can always modify with legs together if you'd prefer,

But for the wide knee version bring the knees to about the width of your yoga mat,

Wider than your hips.

Big toes together,

Soften your hips back towards your heels,

Lower your forehead down so that it's resting either on your stacked hands,

On your mat,

Yoga block or cushion.

Let your arms stretch out in front of you and just relax here.

A great shape to open up the front of the body and the hips and really a grounding shape.

Take slow deep breaths here as you soften into your child's pose and just observe anything that shows up.

Something I love about this pose as a sensitive person is that it can allow you to tune out from the noise,

From the distractions that are happening around you and really start to draw your focus and your awareness inward.

As you take slow deep breaths in this grounding shape that might help you bring a little more calm and peace into your nervous system.

Now this is a bit more of an expression practice.

You're always welcome to pause and stay in each of these shapes longer,

But otherwise I know we don't always have a nice long amount of time for a practice so I wanted to keep this more accessible time wise.

We'll take one more deep breath in here.

Big breath out.

Start to press into your hands and slowly gently rise back through the hands and knees.

From that position it can be nice to move into a downward dock to counter so you would tuck your toes underneath you.

Gently press your hips up and back.

Stretch through the back of your body slowly.

Maybe pedaling one foot and then the other.

Bending one knee and then the other.

Feel the stretch in the body and as you're ready turn yourself around to lay down all the way on your back in shavasana.

Moving slowly with so much awareness as you settle onto your back.

It's nice to just spend a little bit of time in stillness between shapes so you can really feel the shift physically,

Mentally,

Emotionally and energetically from the last pose before we move into the next one.

Now we'll move into banana asana.

This is a sweet stretch into the side of your body.

From laying on your back you'll start by shifting your hips over to the left edge of your yoga mat.

Walk your feet to the bottom right corner and then lift your arms overhead all the way overhead so they've landed on the floor or on the mat.

Stretching your hands to the top right so you're bringing yourself into the shape of a banana or like a crescent moon shape and you should feel a stretch into the left side of your body.

So the back of your shoulders,

The back of your hips are all grounding down into the earth.

This is a nice grounding shape.

We can all use more grounding as sensitive people.

If you don't feel much in this shape in the left side you can try crossing your left ankle over your right or clasping one hand in the other and of course listen to your body.

If your hands get tingly or feel strained you can always bring them down by your sides or bend your elbows a little bit more to make it a more gentle stretch through the arms.

Just settle in and breathe.

Now really notice in these transitions if you can go as slowly as possible.

Start to move out of the shape and bring yourself back into Shavasana.

Hips to the center,

Feet wide apart,

Arms by your side.

Just take at least five rounds of breath in stillness,

Observing what shows up.

There's no rush at all as we move into the other side.

Bring your hips over to the right,

Feet to the bottom left corner of your mat,

Arms stretch straight up overhead,

Hands toward the top left corner of your mat.

Settle into your version of this shape.

It can change on a daily basis so find what you need today.

And remember just like any other yin pose,

The sensation that you feel at the beginning of the pose should grow over time so you want to leave space for that and allow it to be on the more subtle side as you bring yourself into stillness.

And just allow a natural flow of breath to move through your body as you observe the stretch and opening in the right side of your body from your right hip up through to the right underarm and anywhere else you feel it.

From here take your time and slowly move back into shavasana for a few breaths.

Just gently notice the subtle ripple effect in your body.

Now we'll move into supported bridge pose.

So start by bending your knees,

Bringing the soles of your feet onto your mat or onto the bed.

Grab whatever prop you have handy,

That could be your yoga block,

Cushion,

Or if it's a pillow you might want to fold it in half or roll it up.

You'll slide that right underneath your sacrum so you want that to land under your hips,

Not the lower back.

We're bringing a gentle inversion into this shape and so it's a little bit of a back bend but it's supported.

So we'll start here,

You can keep the soles of your feet on your mat or the bed.

After a few breaths if your body is craving a little bit more of a deeper stretch you can walk your feet away from you,

Bringing your body into kind of more of a shavasana shape,

Your heels heavy on the mat or bed.

If you're there and you want to bring a stretch into your upper body across your chest and shoulders as well,

You can bring your arms overhead again so that they're resting on the floor or bed.

So just bend your elbows as much as you need to so that the arms are supported and they're not floating in space,

They're not strained or pulling or stretching.

And then just allowing your body to settle here in stillness.

Slow deep breaths as we bring a stretch into the sacral area,

The lower belly,

Often a place where we can be known to hold emotions and feelings.

As sensitive people they could be feelings that belong to you or that don't belong to you,

But worries,

Fear and stress,

We want to clear out some space in that area and let those things go.

If you are using a yoga block here and you'd like to add on,

You can do that now by walking your feet back in and bringing your block to the next highest setting.

Just observe,

See how it feels.

If it works,

Great,

You can stay.

If not,

You can always bring the block back down.

From there,

If you want to walk your feet further out again to shivasana shape,

You're welcome to do that too.

Just notice that any shape that you choose or any variation that you choose of each of these poses,

It's really the body making the choice for you rather than your mind or your ego.

So you're not forcefully looking for an outcome or a sensation,

But instead you're surrendering into what your body is asking for today.

We'll take about five more breaths here.

To come out of the shape,

Walk your feet back in,

Arms by your sides,

Slide the prop out from underneath you and so gently lower your spine and hips back onto your mat or the bed.

Take a moment to breathe and observe the space you created in the body,

Maybe coming into shivasana for a few breaths or just staying there with your knees bent.

And with your knees bent,

If you'd like to move through a little moving twist before we take a bit of a juicier reclined twist,

You can do that,

Allowing your knees to gently fall side to side a couple of times.

Once you're even,

Let's move into a reclined twist.

So knees are bent,

Feet are on the mat,

Shift your hips to the right side of your mat and then let your knees fall to the left,

Opposite side of your hips,

Creating a little bit more space in the back.

You can take any variation that calls to you,

Maybe sliding a pillow between your knees for a little bit more support.

Really allow your shoulder blades to get heavy as they sink downward and maybe your eyes turn away from your knees.

So we're wringing out the spine,

The organs and there can be a sensation of kind of an energetic wringing out of your body.

Once again,

Just allow slow deep breaths to guide you into the shape and through the shape.

Take one more deep breath in,

Big breath out,

Slower than you want to start to lift your knees back up,

Arms by your side,

Come to Shavasana,

Extend your legs out,

Shift your hips to the center,

Breathe into the center,

And then release.

Shift your hips to the center,

Breathe into the space,

Wherever you feel it in your body,

Noticing without attaching to any shift that has happened from the first side.

Let's take the other side now,

Bend your knees again,

Feet on the mat,

This time shift your hips to the left and let your knees fall to the right.

Set it up however it makes sense for you physically on this side,

Maybe with props,

Maybe you allow your eyes to travel over your left shoulder,

And then explore where you can bring more softness into this shape,

Where you can surrender even deeper,

Release the tension that you've been carrying,

And just breathe.

Slowly come out of the shape,

Unravel your limbs,

Come back to Shavasana,

Give yourself the time and space to just be here present with whatever shows up.

Next we're moving into legs up the wall.

So there are different options here.

If you have a wall nearby,

Slide your mat to it or shift around to face it if you're in your bed.

You can also totally do this one without a wall.

So if you are coming up next to a wall,

You'll set yourself up so that you're laying right up against it,

And then start to shift maybe just away from the wall a few inches,

And you'll start to slide your legs straight up along the wall.

So your body is facing the wall.

If it's too much for straight legs,

You can shift yourself a little further away from the wall,

Bend your knees as much as you need.

If there's no wall nearby,

Just lift your legs up as if they are against the wall,

And again you can bend your knees as much as you need.

So once you're there,

If you have a cushion or maybe a rolled up blanket or pillow,

You might want to slide that underneath your hips,

Kind of like we did in supported bridge,

Just to give a little bit of elevation to the hips.

Then you can place your hands on your belly or your arms by your side,

Or wherever it feels intuitive to relax your arms.

Find that place.

This is such a lovely shape to finish a yoga practice in or to come into at the end of your day to help restore your nervous system and support the lymphatic system as well.

Get the blood flowing through the body.

So especially if you've been seated or on your feet for most of your day,

This is such a wonderful counter pose as you move into a slower pace for the rest of your day.

It also works as a break halfway through your day as well.

Now you can always pause and stay in this one longer,

Even five or ten minutes if that's what your body is craving and if you have the time for that.

And when you are ready,

We'll move into our final shape of shavasana.

So you can slide any prop out of the way,

Out from underneath you.

Slowly bring your legs down to the side and then shift your body back up along your mat or your bed so that you are back into shavasana.

Take up lots of space as you set yourself up.

Let your feet land wide,

Your ankles get heavy.

Wrap your shoulder blades underneath you so the back of the hands are heavy and the palms fall open,

Creating a little more space across your chest and your heart.

Soften your face,

Deepen your breath and just be here one more time,

Observing and feeling anything that is coming up for you.

With awareness and ease,

Stay in this shape as long as it serves you.

Thanks for practicing with me.

Namaste.

Reviews

I feel a delicious warm weightedness in my lower back, starting my day with a soothing sensation instead of stress and anxiety. Grateful for this practice.

This was so healing. Thank you. I am always seeking practices to calm my nervous system after my work day or a stimulating/crowded encounter. This was such a sweet surrender.

Nice & easy yin practice that can be done from bed

Wow 💫💫💫💫
will be returning daily thank you so much

Love this sequence as a follow up to your course ! Thank you Ali for your gentle guidance . 🧘‍♀️💖🙏

I fell asleep at the end. (My cat woke me up, lol). I suffer from chronic insomnia. Thank You.

Really felt the stretches in my hips area. Obviously I need to practice more.
Thankyou for your gentle guiding voice.
🎼🌸💖🎼

This is so wonderful I am going to make it part of my yoga practice. Namaste 💗🦋

Hello beautiful 🌼☀️🌼☀️🌼Thank you so much for the wonderful yin yoga practice ☀️🌼☀️it gives me so much sweet and sunny energy and glimmers 🗺️have a blessed day ☮️Namaste