Yin Yoga Morning Stretch

Join Ali for this gentle yin yoga practice and start your day feeling relaxed, focused, and ready for anything. With Ali's calming voice and the soothing sound of the ocean, this all-level restorative yoga practice can be done anytime you need a little support to bring you back into the present moment.

Transcript

Hey everyone,

I'm Ali.

Today I'm sharing a morning yoga stretch with you.

This is an all levels yin yoga practice and we're going to go ahead and get started laying down on your back in shavasana when you're ready.

And just take a moment to drop into your body as you allow yourself to settle in this space.

Feel the heaviness in your toes,

A softening in your palms and your face.

Become aware of your natural breath here without changing it or forcing it.

This is a practice that can be done any time of the day but a gentle stretch for the morning if that's something that you're looking for.

So taking your time we'll move right into banana asana.

You can start by bending your knees,

Bring the soles of the feet onto the mat.

Shift your hips up and over to the left and let your feet walk down to the bottom right corner of your mat.

So the back of the hips and shoulders will stay rooted down into your yoga mat here and from there you can bring your arms overhead,

Reaching your hands to the top right side of your mat,

The same side as your feet.

So essentially you're kind of a human banana now or a moon shape.

If you're tighter in the upper body,

So the shoulders or chest,

Just feel free to bend your elbows as much as you need to to make that shape something that you can hang out in and linger in for a while.

If you're feeling pretty open you could even cross one ankle over the other or clasp one palm in the other if the hands meet.

Now in yin yoga we want to use as little physical effort as possible so see where you can soften once you've landed in this shape.

Just bring yourself into your breath and feel how that breath moves in and out of your body as effortless as possible.

And if your mind gets full or busy it's all good.

Just bring your attention to how your belly rises and falls within the rhythm of your breath,

Softening the back of the shoulders and hips further down as we create this lengthening and stretch into the left side of the body creating some space in the left lung.

And right here as you are let's take one more deep breath in fill up both lungs and a big exhale as you release into the shape.

Moving really slowly and intentionally back to shavasana bring your legs back to either side of the mat arms down by your side hips to center.

Take a quick little moment here to observe how you feel side to side.

And we'll shift that into the other side now feet onto the mat hips move over to the right feet to the bottom left hands to the top left.

Again listening to your body to modify however and wherever you need to so that you can maintain stillness in the pose.

Adding on a little bit more if that's best for you today by crossing one ankle over the other or clasping one palm in the other.

Feel a balance of weight across the back body as it sinks further into your mat.

Allowing your natural breath to guide you through this still shape and this opening across the right side of the body.

And you may even notice as a little bit of time passes in this shape that your breath organically starts to deepen.

The inhale flows a little further down into the low belly or the exhale expands a little bit longer.

Try not to search for that but just notice if it comes up.

Take one more deep breath in.

Fill up your low belly.

Feel to let it go.

And we'll release out of this shape.

Come back to Shavasana.

Hips to the center feet apart arms by your side just breathe.

Now bend your knees again bring the soles of your feet onto your mat.

We'll move into a hamstring stretch here keeping the back of the head grounded on your mat.

Just go ahead and interlace your fingers behind your right leg so around the hamstring or the back of the thigh.

From there extending your right leg up wherever you feel a stretch.

Doesn't have to be a strain.

It doesn't have to be a place where your leg is shaking.

So if you're tighter in the back of the legs no problem just bring the leg a little bit lower or to whatever place you need to feel that stretch.

If you want to add on you could extend your left leg out on the mat.

Burning now the heaviness again in the back of hips and shoulders and the head.

Soften your face and your jaw.

As little effort as possible to hang out in this shape.

Burn.

One more breath in.

And a big release exhale.

Letting go of your leg,

Come back to Shavasana.

Again a moment here to feel the rebound or the physical echo in the body between sides.

And on the mat let's take the other side,

Interlace,

Take the opposite grip with your hands as you bring them around the back of your left thigh,

Your hamstring.

Take your time as you move into this side and notice the differences from the first side.

Try however you need,

Maybe again extending your right leg out to the mat.

Notice if there is a tendency to put yourself in a shape that brings pain or a shape that makes your jaw or your face really tight.

And just see if there are any little shifts you can make to soften a bit further here.

Yin Yoga is generally known as a practice of surrender,

A practice of letting go,

Minimizing effort.

Where can you do that here?

And notice if there are any judgments or expectations around how the shape feels or looks.

Any thoughts of comparison from the last time you took this shape or what you thought you would be experiencing here?

Let's let all of that stuff go and just instead simply be here in this moment,

In this shape with your breath.

One more breath in,

Big breath out.

Release your leg,

Come back to Shavasana.

Tune in and feel whatever shows up.

Let's reach an arm overhead now,

Roll through that side of the body.

Come to lay down on the front body,

On your belly.

You can either stack your hands and place them under your forehead or if it feels okay,

Just bring your arms down by your side and one cheek to the mat.

Taking these first few moments off of the back body to just feel that settling.

You might feel that in your lower back.

If you have one cheek down,

Switch it up,

Take the other side.

And we'll move into Sphinx pose,

A really great shape to move into in the morning or really any time of the day,

Especially if you're spending a lot of time seated in a chair.

This is great for the upper body,

So you'll prop yourself up onto your forearms,

Starting about by stacking your shoulders over your elbows,

Forearms about parallel.

And then you could always bring your arms wider apart if you're tighter in the chest or bring your arms further forward if your low back is sensitive here.

And then find your version of the shape that utilizes as little physical effort as possible.

As you just hang out here,

You can always close your eyes if that's what feels more natural for you or just find one point ahead of you to keep your focus.

And if you're not feeling a whole lot in your low back here,

Option to add on by bending your knees and letting your feet float toward the back body.

You can always try it out and see if it works.

If not,

Bringing the legs back down.

Really send your legs back down if they're lifted and we'll lay right back down either hands under the forehead or one cheek to the mat,

Either side.

Go with whatever feels more organic,

Whatever your body craves.

Take the other cheek down and we'll shift right around here to lay on your back for final Shavasana.

Take your time.

As you settle in,

Wrap your shoulder blades underneath you.

Let a heaviness wash across the hands and the ankles.

Feel any shift in the body physically or maybe in the mind and just tune right back into your breath.

Always,

Always a shape that I encourage you to hang out in longer if you have the time.

If you'd like to finish off the practice in a seated position,

Gently start to awaken the fingers and toes.

Take any stretch here that wakes the body up that feels good for you.

Roll through one side and come up to a seat either on your heels or across the leg,

Whatever feels good.

I want to thank you for having the courage to show up and find peace within.

Namaste.

Reviews

A beautiful start to the day. Thank you very much!
Namaste 🙏

I love all your practices. Thank you so much. 😊

Hello beautiful 🌺🌺🌺🌺thank you so much for the wonderful Yin Yoga practice 🌺it makes me feeling soft ☀️ sunny and smiling 🌼be well 🙏Namaste

This was lovely, thank yoi

Excellent! Thankyou - just what I needed today 😊🙏💕