Welcome to this yin yoga practice focused on the hips.
In this practice,
We'll move through some poses and we'll stay a little bit longer in each of these poses to create spaciousness in the thighs,
Hips and the groins to release any stuck tension,
Any feelings of achiness,
Any feelings of stuckness in those areas of the body.
Let's start by coming into a lying down position with your belly face down,
Prone onto the yoga mat and your arms out in a T-shaped position.
Turn your head to face towards your.
.
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Right side and let the palms face down flat onto the ground Let them feel the earth.
No,
The uh.
And trust the earth.
So both palms are out,
Roughly at the height.
Of your shoulders.
From here,
Slowly and gently we'll bend through the right elbow to place your right hand underneath your right shoulder.
Push through the palms so that you roll and lie completely on your left side.
You'll start to feel some sensation in the chest and shoulder area of your left side.
Remember to keep your shoulder,
Your head and your neck relaxed onto the ground.
As you're lingering here,
You might feel or start to sense in to the feeling that you're listening to the sound of the earth.
If you want a little bit more,
Feel free to bend your top knee,
Your right knee,
And start to step that leg,
The right foot behind you.
You might stay with this option.
You might also slink that right foot a little bit further away from you.
So you add some twist.
In the lower half of your body and you'll start to feel it in the belly and the hip area as well.
Another option might be to reach your right arm up to the sky,
To bend the right elbow and place it behind you,
Or to reach the fingers or interlace them if that is accessible for you.
We'll stay here for about 20 more breaths.
You're very welcome to stay here if this feels nourishing for you.
If you feel ready to transition into the next position,
If you have your right hand behind you,
Place that in front of your chest so that you feel the connection of the earth.
If you have your right leg behind you,
Let that come back.
And you can softly bend both knees and then slowly straighten them to come back to the starting position.
You might stay with your palms flat on the ground or you might bend your elbows and let your hands form.
A pillow for your head to rest on.
Now,
When you feel ready to transition to the other side,
We'll roll so that you lie on towards the left side.
And this time you can use your left hand to support the back or the side of your head close towards your ear.
And bend both knees so that the knees come right in front of the hips.
The first option might simply to be staying here.
Noticing how it feels as you linger on the side.
Now,
If you'd like to add some sensation in the outer hip and thigh area,
We're going to come into a side reclining figure of four position.
So start by moving the knees slightly further away and then bring your right ankle on top of the left thigh.
And start to move the right knee away from you.
You can adjust how intense you would like this to be by either bringing your lower body closer to your upper body or bringing it further away from you.
So find what feels good for you.
And for the right hand,
You can use it to gently Guide your right knee away from you.
As you linger in this position,
Noticing how it feels.
See if you can really soften.
Through your shoulders,
Through your head.
At any point of time if your left wrist feels tired you can always rest your head down.
On towards your left bicep.
We'll stay here for about 20 more breaths.
Again,
You are welcome to stay here if this view is good for you.
If you feel ready to transition out from the position,
Slowly and gently Push yourself up using your right hand.
And from here,
See if you could slide and let your left ankle come right on top.
Of your right knee.
So apologies,
Right ankle on top of left knee,
If that feels good for you.
Now,
If this is not accessible for you,
Feel free to let the ankle come in front of the knee.
So you come into a loose shoelace position.
If Fire Lock is accessible for you,
We'll take a breath in to lengthen the spine.
And then as you breathe out,
Begin to walk your palms forward.
I like to have a yoga blog or a Christian ND as form of support,
You might do the same.
Or if you can easily let your forehead touch down to the ground,
Then go ahead and do that.
Or if you don't have access to blocks,
You can also stack your hands into loose fists and let your.
.
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Hands begin to support your head.
We'll stay for about 20 breaths here as well.
Draw your awareness to the sensation in the outer right thigh.
Exhale to soften the shoulders.
Again,
You are welcome to linger here if this view is good for you.
If and when you begin to feel ready to transition out from the pose,
Let your inhale guide you to rise up.
And then as you exhale,
We'll come on to the same sequence on the mirror side.
Now begin to lie flat once again with your arms in a T-shaped position.
And this time we'll turn to look towards your left side.
As you turn to look towards your left side,
Let the palms begin to touch down to the earth.
Exhale and release the weight of your body down.
Then slowly begin to bend your left elbow and place your left palm under your left shoulder.
Your right arm is flat,
Face down,
Roughly at the height of your shoulder.
Push and roll so that you lie completely or at least partially on towards your right side.
Notice how it feels in your right shoulder and chest area.
Exhale and relax your head,
Your neck close towards the air.
You can stay here.
You can also bend your left knee and step it behind you.
If you have the foot behind you,
Really let the whole foot touch down to connect with the earth.
And if you want a little bit more slide that foot.
Far away from you to add some twists,
A little bit of rotation in the spine,
A little bit of stretching through the hip flexor and thigh area,
Maybe even your psoas muscle.
If you want even more,
Let your left hand float up,
Bend your left elbow and place it either behind you,
Or you can interlace your fingers if that is accessible for you.
Similar to the other side,
We'll stay here in this open wing position for the next 20 breaths.
Again,
You're welcome to linger here if this view is good.
If you feel ready to transition out from this position,
If you have your left hand behind you,
Let that reach up to the sky.
Let that come softly right in front of your chest,
Reaffirming that connection with the earth.
And from this connection with the earth,
Maybe you guide your left foot if it's behind you to gently rest on top of the right leg and then slowly roll back to lie on your belly.
Again the option is to come back to the starting position.
Put the arms in a T shape.
Or you might stack your palms one on top of the other,
Forming a pillow for your head to rest on for the next three to four breaths.
If and when you begin to feel ready to transition to the next position,
Use your right palm to support the side of your right head and then roll so that you lie completely on your right side.
As you lie completely on your right side,
Preparing to come into the same stretch we did on the other side.
Maybe you stay with your knees bent.
Maybe you start to let your left ankle come on top of your right thigh.
Coming into the figure of opposition.
Just like we did on the other side,
You can adjust how intense you'd like this position to be by either moving.
The foot closer to you or moving it further away from you.
You might let your right hand Guide your left knee away from you in this position.
Now as you stay in the figure 4 position,
We're going to softly release the weight of your body down towards the earth.
Relaxing your head and neck.
Relaxing your whole body against the ground.
While guiding your left knee away from you.
At any point of time,
If it feels tiring for your head,
You can always rest your right ear or your head on towards your right bicep.
Again,
You're welcome to stay here if this feels good for you.
Really feeling into the sensations of your outer left hip.
If and when you begin to feel ready to transition into the last pose.
On this side,
As well as for this practice,
Use your palms to push yourself up and then slowly we'll come into fire lock position.
On this side.
On this side,
We'll let your right ankle come on towards your.
.
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Left ankle come on towards your right thigh.
Apologies.
When I come up,
I'm always a little mixed up with the left and right.
I'm your mirror image.
So your left ankle is on your right thigh.
And you're in firelock position.
If this isn't accessible for you and you find your left knee quite high up,
You're always welcome to place your ankle just in front of your right knee.
And you get similar benefits for this position.
So if you are able to choose the option that feels good for you and we're really aiming to target the outer.
Thigh and hip of this top leg.
So you can take a nice long deep breath in to lengthen the spine.
And as you breathe out,
Softly begin to fold forward.
And find your itch.
Find what feels good for you.
You might let your eyes flutter closed.
You might soften your shoulders down towards the air.
You might breathe spaciousness into the outer left.
Fine hip area.
Again you are welcome to stay here if this feels good for you.
If and when you begin to feel ready to transition out from this biolog position,
Let your next inhale guide you to rise up.
As you rise up taking a moment.
From here maybe transitioning into a cross-legged seated position.
Or maybe propping a block right underneath your sit bones.
We're going to take a moment to close your eyes.
And as you close your eyes,
Draw awareness to the spaciousness of your hips.
Notice the sensations in the outer bum and thigh area.
The areas where we really worked on as well as the inner groin.
Feeling and connecting with that sensuality,
That fluidity.
That sense of rootedness as well.
Connecting with that part of you.
And then bringing your hands in towards your heart center.
To close today's practice we'll do a gesture to send your breath down towards the hips.
Take a breath in.
As you create a downward facing diamond right in front of your heart space.
As you breathe out,
Send the breath down from the heart all the way into the hips,
To the root of your being.
And inhale,
We bring it back to heart.
Let's try this two more times.
Deep breath in.
Long breath out.
Send the breath down to the root of your being.
And inhale back to high.
One last time,
Deep breath in.
Long breath out,
Send the breath down to the root,
The source of your being.
And this time,
Maybe you linger a little bit longer.
Let that diamond shine and illuminate.
The hip area.
And then when the breath is full,
Harvesting a little bit of that shine.
Bring it back into the space of your heart.
Slowly and gently letting your head bow down towards your heart,
Taking a moment to acknowledge everyone and everything that made it possible for you to be here and practice today.
Thank you so much for joining me.
For this practice.
I hope you enjoyed this hip focus practice and looking forward to seeing you in the next video.
