Yin Yoga For Hips And Spine

Release tension in your hips and spine in this yin yoga practice. Yin yoga is a practice that blends mindfulness and deep fascial release through gentle, long-held, passive stretches, and deep relaxation. Beginner-friendly.

Transcript

Hey, It's Hannah and welcome to your yin practice. This one is really focused on the hips with a little bit of spine love in there too. You're going to want a comfortable place to practice from, Whether that's a yoga mat or a folded blanket on the ground. And then some pillows and blankets or bolsters and blocks if you have those. The more support you have, The merrier. I hope you enjoy this practice. So just lie down. Any way that's comfy. We're just using this first shape to settle in. However you want to be is great. And once you're good and settled. Take a long breath in. And breathe out. Let it go. Again, Nice full breath in. Feel free to open your mouth to let this one go. Last one. Take a thorough breath in. And a thorough breath out. Soften up your face. Let your eyes just sink heavy. Soften your jaw. You can find a little gentle smile on the corners of your lips if you'd like. Almost like someone told you a joke three days ago and you just understood it now. Doesn't need to be a big smile, But just a little one. Soften your shoulders. If you need to wiggle out your hips to soften up your back, You can do that. Notice where your mind is at. Are you settling right in or is it taking a moment? Are you in the past or the future? Distracted. War presence. Of course, You know, Present is the aim, But it's not realistic, Right? So. Try to bring yourself to your body and your breath when you can. But we're humans, We're meant to think. So be gentle with yourself when you catch yourself drifting. Just guide yourself back to your breath. Back to your body, To your practice. And we'll come into a gentle twist to start. Lie on your back if you weren't already. Shift your hips to the left. And drop your knees to your right. You can have support under your knees if you'd like. If you want this more in your neck, You can take a peek over to your left side. And if you're craving a little bit more for your hips, You can get into the front of your hips. By sliding your right leg back. And you can catch a hold of your right foot with your left hand. So that's what it looks like there. If this knee is floating up high off the ground, You can add some support underneath it. Pillow, A blanket. So you know the drill with Yin. We aim to hold the postures. To be still in them. But again, We're human, So it's tempting to move, To wiggle, And all of that. So try to find a place that is a happy medium. Not too intense. But not so little that you're not feeling anything. And then when you do want to wiggle and move and itch your nose and check your phone. Once you've settled, See if you can just delay that by one breath. And then maybe another. And then before you know it, That urge to move might have passed. And just like how every breath comes and goes. Thoughts come and go. That little voice in your head telling you to check your phone or whatever comes and goes. We just let the feeling ride out. Yoga teachers, We love to say, Let it all come and go like clouds in the sky. And while that's a really beautiful way to put it. Sometimes our thoughts or feelings are kind of magnetic and sticky and we get stuck on them. That's when watching your breath and just shifting that point of awareness from your thought to your breath can really help. We can only think about one thing at a time. So if you let that be your breath. The volume gets turned down on everything else. Over time your body might open up more and you might be able to wiggle a little further into the shape. Unravel. Go slowly. Hmm. Some people like to move. Some people like stillness. Resist the urge to hop into the next side. And just for a moment, Feel the effects of that last posture you were in. The goal isn't just to hop into the next side. To just be present. So again, Another yoga teacher thing. It's about the journey, Not the destination. All right. Let's journey over to the second side. So shift your hips to the right. Knees to the left. Maybe you look right. You can also slide that bottom leg back and catch a hold of that foot with your hands. Just if you were craving a little bit more hip stuff. Usually it takes like a minute or so to find that shape. Or it's not too much, Not too little. Once you get there, Try to find some stillness. And all these yoga teacher sayings. Even just a lot of these practices, Right? They are just words until you feel them. Yeah, Clouds in the sky. Yeah, Journey, Destination, Whatever. They don't mean anything until you kind of feel it and can apply it. Our yin practice is such a nice place to do that. And it's the same with gratitude and stuff, Right? When people tell you to practice gratitude, Especially when you're feeling low. It's like the most annoying thing you can ever hear. Oh, Just be grateful. When you're really in the thick of it. But when you do get that feeling of gratitude, Or in this case, That feeling of being present, Something does shift and something does feel really good. But again, It's easier said than felt, But when you do feel it. It's worth it. I'm sure I am preaching to the choir here. We're all on a meditation app for a reason. If you want to wiggle deeper, Go for it. Come on out of there. And you can roll onto one side. And make your way up to hands and knees. Once you're in, Hands and knees. Just wiggle around a bit. Some cat cows might feel nice. Maybe something else, Some circle-y ones, Some wiggle-y ones. And then we're going to get set up for a dragon pose, Which is a low lunge. So I like support under my back knee. So I'm going to take this folded blanket and put it under my right knee. Step your left foot up. Now there's about a million different variations for a lunge. So you could stay down, Maybe sink your hips low. You can have your hands on the ground, On some blocks. If you want a little bit more for the inner left thigh, You can let your left knee roll out. If you want a bit more for your right quad and the front of your right hip. And then you could come up. And sink your hips down. You can rest your hands on your leg if that's comfy. So find the variation that serves you. Sometimes it's nice to have your forearms down on a block or two. I can sync low. So the thing about dragon poses. . . Lunges is they get spicy pretty fast. So you start breathing fire. So see if you can stay. Chill. Keep your breath slow. You'll feel it all through that left hip, Front of the right hip. And again, Wiggle around until you find that perfect shape for you. It can be easy to dump into the wrists here. So if you don't love having your hand flat, You can bring a fist down. So with a more intense posture like this, It's nice to you know, Be gentle with yourself and soften up. So if you're a jaw clencher. Soften up your jaw. If your shoulders get tight, See if you can guide them down. So even when we're experiencing a bit of discomfort, Like holding a stretch for a while. You can still find little elements of calm and peace. You can come back to your breath. And just staying present and staying as relaxed as we can when we're experiencing a bit of discomfort is. Kind of what yoga is all about. And it's how we can really take these practices off the mat. So the next time you're feeling wound up. You've kind of practiced for it and you can remember, Oh yeah, I can soften my jaw, I can relax my shoulders here, I can find my breath. And just like your thoughts and just like clouds in the sky. This posture, This stretch is just temporary. It's not permanent. When you're in it, It feels permanent, But it will pass. Another yoga teacher phrase, This too shall pass. And just like that, This too has passed. You can come out of this, Move around. Whatever feels like a little treat. Sometimes it's cool to see and feel. How the rest of your body softens. So yeah, That was mainly for the hips. And yes, We tried to soften the shoulders, Soften the jaw, But now that you're out of it. Notice if there's any residual stuff in your shoulders and your jaw. And let it soften. And as we go into the next side, Can you remember this feeling of being chill. And can you bring a little bit of this into an uncomfortable shape? Second side. Left knee is on some support. Right foot gets stepped up. Timer goes on. And find your variation on the second side. No strict rules about your back toes, They can be tucked or untucked. If it feels good-ish, As good as a long-held lunge can feel, You're doing it right. And a little bit of discomfort, A little bit of being uncomfortable is good for us. Like going to the gym. We want it to be a little bit uncomfortable. So that we can create change. We don't want it to feel painful, Obviously. You know, A bit of discomfort is a good thing. It gives us that stimulus, That challenge. Come on up. And come out of this, Take some time for you. Then we're going to come to be seated here. Sometimes it's nice to sit up on a little folded blanket. Um, On this blanket, You're not sitting like it's the most comfortable thing in the world. You're just right on the edge of it. So your sit bones are just right on the edge of that blanket. That's going to help you to tip forward. If you choose to do that in a minute here. So let's straighten out the right leg. Bend your left knee. And bring it over. And heel toe that foot as far over as it wants to go. You can stay here. You might feel it through that outer left hip, Through the back of your right leg. That's great. If you want more for your hips, Less for your hammies. And you can swing that bottom leg underneath as well. We're gonna layer in a bit of back stuff here. So. Once your lower body is comfortable, Take a gentle twist. To your left. You can take a peek over your shoulder. You're not cranking yourself here, Just gentle twist a little bit for your back. If this bugs either of your knees. You can try flexing your feet or straighten out the bottom leg. Add some support under that top knee if you'd like. Unravel, If you'd like you can keep that right hand on your left knee. And take a side bend over to your right. So you can have your hand behind your head. Some people like to reach their arm. If you don't want to have this hand down, You can. . . Bring it to the side. And just changes up the sensation a little bit. Almost there, Just a few more breaths. And come on up. Keep your legs as they are. You can stay up or you can fold forward here. Maybe bring your hands down. You can drop your chin. Some people are really stretchy and they can crawl their hands way far forward. You might find that you can wiggle your feet a little further apart here. Again, We're aiming for A little bit of discomfort, But nothing that feels like pain or ouchy. You don't need to hold the shapes for the same amount of time that I do. Your body is more important than my timer. One more breath. Woohoo! Come on up. Unravel. You can absolutely use your hands here to help out your legs. Whatever feels nice. Everyone stoked for the second side? Straighten out your left leg. Right ankle or right foot. Bend your right knee. Place it across. You can heel toe that foot further over. You can stay here or you can bring that bottom leg underneath. Yep. Feels familiar, Feels like we just did this on the last side. Once you are satisfied with your legs, Then we layer in the upper body. And we take a gentle little twist to the right. This isn't permanent. About one more slow breath here. Unravel your upper body. You can keep your left hand on your right knee if you'd like, Or you can bring it down to the ground. And we'll take that side bend. You can extend your arm. I like to bend mine. This too shall pass. Come on up. And then option to fold forward. You can wiggle around through your feet if you want to widen them or change it up. Come up. Unravel your legs. And do whatever you want to do for a minute or 25 minutes. And then we'll do a bit of a more gentle one here. For our final shape. You could do like a classic shavasana lying on your back. Or you can. . . Take a pillow or roll up a blanket or use a bolster and put it lengthwise behind your back. Keep your bum on the floor. Recline down onto the mat. That prop and then you can do a little butterfly too with your feet together and your knees wide. I'm just going to move this blanket around so that I've got a little bit of support under my thighs there so that my legs can actually relax. Into this. If this doesn't feel like a restful, Sustainable shape, Do something else. Maybe you do just the upper body portion. Maybe you do just the lower body portion. Maybe you just lie down. Wherever you are. Come back to your breath. I know I mentioned gratitude earlier. Let's layer a bit of that in. A deep hip opening class like this with some spine stuff layered in can bring up a lot of feeling. We're, You know, Releasing energy, There's A million things about that on here. It can bring up a lot, So it's nice to really balance this out with some gratitude, With some higher frequency, Higher vibration emotion. If that's not your thing, Bear with me. So let's go on a little gratitude parade here. So for this. Start by just thinking about one thing you're grateful for. Maybe it's the fact that. You can move your body and you can do this practice. And then think of one more thing you're grateful for. Maybe we're grateful for this app. Or the internet. It brings us all together. And keep going, Keep thinking of things you're grateful for. Grateful for your breath, For lungs that breathe. For the space that you're in. The fact that you have time to do this class. That you have a device to practice off of. And these can be big things, Small things, Obvious, Even ones that feel stupid. I'm grateful for my toenails. Just keep going. Once you've found one thing to be grateful for, Think of another. Electricity. Indoor plumbing. Fresh water. Food. Maybe just think of all the things around you that people have spent so much time and effort and love. Creating. Any jewelry you're wearing. Your yoga mat, Someone had to make that, Come up with the design. Bring it into a store, Make their own store. So much love went into everything around you. And all of a sudden you might find that that little smile on your lips that you had at the start has kind of naturally started to form. Or maybe there's some warmth in your heart. Or maybe you just feel gratitude, Whatever that is for you. How lucky are we? Sometimes we require the neutral. Or the not so good things. To feel that contrast of feeling the good. All right, Like seated feels a lot more relaxing if you just held a lunge for three minutes. Lying down feels pretty nice after just doing some pretty difficult, Uncomfortable postures. We need that contrast. So it's not to say it's all gratitude all the time. Bye. The discomfort makes us appreciate the comfort. It can be both. And just think of one more thing that you're grateful for. Take a nice long breath in. Let it go. Bring your feet flat onto the floor. Roll onto one side. And gently come up to seated. Bring your hands someplace meaningful for you. And send a heartfelt thank you to your body. To our yoga practices. And to you for carving out this time in your day to practice. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I hope you enjoyed that yin practice. We do it live every Thursday at 1 p. M. Eastern Time and I've got a ton more yin practices on here in the video section. Thank you so much for being here. Have a great day.