We're going to start just lying down here.
If your low back is feeling tight,
You can have a bend in your knees.
It might even feel good to bring your knees to touch and your feet nice and wide.
Do whatever you want for your arms.
I thought I wanted a pillow,
But I don't.
Maybe you're doing the opposite.
Maybe you're grabbing a pillow for under your head.
And just give yourself some time to settle here.
Maybe you close your eyes.
Just let yourself get heavy.
Feel the support of the ground beneath you.
Notice if there's anywhere bracing or resisting and try to soften those spots.
Sometimes it takes a moment.
You might need to consciously relax your shoulders.
Soften your jaw.
Let your low back melt down.
Let go of anything else you need to let go of the day.
Maybe things that happened before,
Things that are going to happen later,
Might happen later.
Just for our time together today,
You don't need to do anything.
You can put your phone on do not disturb.
You don't even need to look at the screen.
You can just listen and maybe even have your eyes closed.
And start to feel your breath.
You don't need to change it.
Just feel it.
You might find that your breath naturally slows down and smooths out as you send your awareness there.
And as your awareness moves more and more inwards,
You might notice that there's more to your breath than just the inhale and just the exhale.
There's those subtle pauses as your breath changes direction.
So there's a moment where you naturally pause in the fullness of the air.
The end of your inhale.
And there's a moment where you naturally pause at the end of your exhale in the emptiness.
Now these are more subtle than the inhale and the exhale.
You don't need to change anything.
You don't need to rush your breath.
See if you can just be aware of those natural little pauses.
Bring your feet flat onto the floor if they weren't already.
And just do some gentle windshield wipers here.
So drop your knees to the right,
To the left.
Just a little bit of a low back love here.
You could extend your arms wide and look in the opposite direction of your knees.
And eventually just land in center.
Stretch your right leg long.
Bring a cushion or something over to the left or sorry,
The right.
Lift your left leg up and pull it way over to the right side.
You're in a twist.
You could stay here.
Maybe you extend your arms.
You could gaze to your left to bring this twist up into your neck.
And you can play with how you've got your legs.
You don't need the bottom leg straight.
You could have both knees bent with a pillow between your knees.
I want a little bit more support than what this throw pillow is offering me.
So I'm going to grab my holster.
It's just a bit more dense.
Now the thing with yin is,
You know,
We hang out here for a while.
We spend a few minutes in the pose.
So you want it to be the right amount of effort.
So it shouldn't be so deep that you're struggling.
But not so gentle that you're bored.
Now I'll just show you here from the other side.
If you were hoping for a bit more love for your quad,
Then you can bend your bottom leg.
So that would be your right leg.
And maybe catch hold of your foot with the left arm.
So technically you're now in cat pulling its own tail.
But it's just a twist with a quad stretch.
Once you're in the posture,
Try to be still.
We're human.
We're never going to be perfectly still.
But,
You know,
See if you can find stillness.
Resist the urge to itch your nose or wiggle around.
Once you've found that shape.
The exception to that,
Of course,
Is if something feels painful or not right.
Then you change it,
Of course.
Let go of any bracing.
Then start to find your breath.
The inhale.
The exhale.
And those natural pauses in between.
Those pauses are really subtle.
Sometimes it feels like they just last like a third of a second.
You don't need to change it.
Just notice.
Maybe move a little deeper into this.
Whatever that means for you.
As mindful as when you're in the pose.
Come out.
Be slow.
Move with intention.
Just take some time in center.
So maybe you're in shavasana.
Maybe you've got your knees bent.
So again,
Just like those pauses between the breath.
This is a pause between the postures,
Right?
We're not rushing.
We're noticing.
Lingering in the stillness.
If you're tempted to hop into the other side.
That's very human.
See if you can challenge yourself to find some stillness here.
The time after the pose is just as important.
And then we'll switch sides.
So you can bring your whatever you're using over to the left.
Straighten out your left leg.
Pull your right leg across.
You can choose what you do with your upper body.
Maybe you want to bend that bottom leg.
Whether you're reaching for your foot or stacking it underneath the top leg.
It's all up to you.
You're the one in charge.
I can't see you.
I have no idea what you're doing.
And I say this every time,
But please don't just mirror exactly what I'm doing.
Unless,
Of course,
That feels great for you.
See if you can listen to your body more than you listen to the things outside of it.
That's me at outside.
You don't need to do what you did on the first side if it's not serving you.
This isn't a practice of doing more and more and more.
This is a practice for just finding comfort.
Where you are.
Or at the very least,
Finding neutral where you are.
Once your body's pretty settled.
The pauses in between.
You've got it.
Slowly come out of this.
Now our next shape will be more kind of upper body focused.
If you love a child's pose,
Make your way there.
I'll give you a few options for this one.
So if you're moving slow,
That means the practice is working.
You can widen out your knees.
Sink your hips towards your heels.
If you don't like child's pose,
I'll give you another option here.
We're going to slide the right arm under the left.
You can rest the right side of your head down or your forehead down.
If child's pose bugs your knees or your ankles,
You can lie on your tummy.
Same thing,
Right arm under left.
You can rest the side of your head down,
Maybe on your left arm.
If neither of those are your jam,
Then you can pull your arm across,
Hold it in place.
If this gets tiring,
You don't need to hold it for the whole length fit.
You do if you're facing down.
We're aiming for a stretch through the back of the shoulder,
The upper back,
Maybe a little something,
Something through your neck.
I'll let you know when it's time to switch sides.
You might find that your body lets you know when you're done before I do,
So listen to that.
Your intuition is a lot more important than my timer.
It's not a race,
It's not a marathon,
It's not a sprint.
It's nervous system regulation and listening to your body.
See if you can feel your breath.
Come up into the back of your right lung,
Into your right shoulder blade.
Come on up and switch sides.
Breathe into the back of your left lung.
Come on up.
Do whatever you would like to release that posture.
Whether you move,
Whether you find stillness,
It's all up to you.
Now,
This next pose has a ton of options,
So bear with me.
This is because this posture,
It can kind of be funky on your knees or your low back,
So that's why.
Option one,
Lie on one side,
Bend your top knee and reach for your top foot with your top hand.
You can pull your knee back,
Pull your heel in towards your bum.
And the bonus of this is not only do you get a stretch through your quad and your hip flexor,
But you also get a little stretch through the front of your shoulder there into your chest.
So this is a beautiful option.
Option two,
Come on up,
Bring a pillow behind you.
Bonus points,
If you've got a couch or something nearby,
You can kind of prop it up on an angle.
Bring one foot down,
So you're kind of like half kneeling.
You can sit on your heel or you can move it out to the side.
Your knee can be straight forward or out to the side.
And then you just lean back any amount until you feel a stretch through your hip flexor or your quad.
So this is a bit of a bendy bolster,
But it's actually quite comfortable.
If you're looking at this and thinking,
Yeah,
My knee would pop in half if I did that,
Do option one.
You don't want to feel it in your knees.
You want to feel it in your thighs or the front of your hips.
Option three,
You can have your knees together or apart.
You can sit on your feet however you'd like,
And you would do that with both legs and you can lean back as far back as you want.
It's all up to you.
I'll let you know when we're halfway through so you can switch sides if you like.
And remember,
We're not aiming for stretching our knees.
We're aiming for the hips.
If you do like this one,
Sometimes people reach their arms up and overhead.
Even though this looks like,
You know,
The most intense variation,
I'm not actually getting that much of an opening through my chest here.
I'm really just feeling it through my legs and my hips.
So I guess all is to say,
The most intense looking posture isn't always the most beneficial.
Today,
I'm just really aiming for stretching my legs.
My upper body feels fine,
So that's why I'm choosing this option.
Some people's knees come up off the ground here.
That's okay as long as it's not bugging you.
Notice if you're gripping your jaw.
If you're tensing anywhere,
You don't need to be.
If you were doing one side at a time,
You can switch.
Keep finding your breath.
No spaces between.
You made it.
Let's come out of this.
You can push yourself up onto your elbows,
Then your palms.
Sometimes it feels like you need someone to lift you out of it.
A child's pose might feel nice.
Maybe you want to curl into a ball on your side or whatever.
We are going to come to a butterfly.
So you can have your feet together,
Knees wide.
The closer in your feet are to your hips,
The more you'll feel it through your inner thighs.
The further forward they are,
The more you'll feel it through your hammies.
So take your pick.
You can stay up.
You can sit up tall.
You can lean forward.
Whether you do that with a straight back or rounded is up to you.
Now,
My knees stay up pretty high,
So I'm actually going to support them here.
So I'm tucking a pillow under one leg,
A bolster under the other.
If I was feeling really energetic,
I would grab the matching pillow so that I had even support.
But this feels just fine.
You don't need it to be perfect.
You just want your legs to be supported enough that they can relax.
They don't feel like they're going to drop and feel uncomfortable.
So it's a stretch for your legs,
Your hips.
Maybe a bit through your back.
You can even let your head be really heavy here.
Some people like to rest their head on some pillows.
You could stack those up.
Nothing magical happens if your head touches the floor.
Try to let go of,
You know,
Thinking about the future and how perfect your life will be if your head can touch your toes.
And just enjoy the process of the stretch or just,
You know,
Be neutral with it.
This is the stretch for you today.
Cools are,
Of course,
Fun to have,
But it's also just really good for us to be present and to be cool with being present.
Easier said than done.
You did it.
Come on up.
Stretch,
Wiggle,
Move.
You might need your hands to bring your legs up.
Take a few breaths out of that shape.
And then we'll come into a supine posture,
So lie on your back.
We're going to come into banana asana here,
Which sounds like I just made it up,
But I promise I didn't.
So reach your arms up overhead like you just woke up.
Shift your hips to the right,
Walk your hands and feet to the left.
So both butt cheeks are still on the floor.
I like to cross one leg over the other and catch hold of the right wrist with my left hand.
It's a nice side body stretch,
So you might feel it through your waist,
Your ribs,
Maybe even your right hip,
Right shoulder,
Armpit.
I just set the timer for two hours.
That's too long.
So just let your breath do the work here.
Feel how your inhale expands everywhere you feel the stretch.
That little pause lets you linger there.
The exhale relaxes.
Softens.
And you hang out there just for that little tiny beat as your breath changes directions and starts all over again.
And come back to center.
Maybe lower your arms,
Give them a little rest.
And then you can reach your arms up,
Shift your hips to the left,
Hands and feet to the right.
And then asana,
Second side.
Breath helps you.
Your patience helps you.
Gravity helps you.
Time.
Come back to center.
And find any comfortable shape where you can rest for shavasana.
We'll do a little bit of breath work together here to just make sure you are comfy and can breathe.
We'll do a square breath where we breathe in,
Hold,
Breathe out,
And pause on empty.
All to the same count of four.
Just like with the physical practice,
We're not pushing,
We're not forcing.
We're not judging ourselves for,
You know,
Our ability to hold or not hold our breath.
Go gently,
Be patient.
Start with an easy breath in,
No numbers.
Hold it.
Breathe out.
And pause on empty.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three.
Four,
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Out,
Three,
Two,
One.
In,
One,
Two,
Three.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Three,
Two,
One,
Three,
Two,
One.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
One.
Last round in,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Out,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
In,
Pause,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Keep breathing on your own.
Let go of the count.
And watch how your breath naturally evens out.
It feels so good to just let your body take over the breathing for you.
Place a hand or two over your heart.
And send a heartfelt thank you to your body.
All it does,
Day in and day out.
How it breathes for you.
Day in and day out.
Thank you to our yoga practices.
And a big,
Warm thank you to you for carving out this time in your day to do something really sweet for your mind,
Your body,
Your nervous system.
Thank you for being here with me today.
Peace,
Everyone.
