Hello and welcome.
My name is Allison.
We'll be doing a yin yoga sequence for low back relief.
For more yoga and meditation practices,
You can follow me right here on Inside Timer.
So for today's session,
You may want to grab some yoga props.
If you have a blanket or a pillow,
You might want to grab that.
If you have yoga blocks You might find this helpful.
And lastly,
If you have a bolster,
Or a firm cushion.
You also will need that for this practice.
So feel free to gather those things now.
Or if you don't have those,
You are fine.
We can do this all without props.
I will show you without props and then how to use the props.
But just know for low back release,
A bolster or a pillow is really good just to place your knees on when you're lying down to really support that lower back.
So if you do have time,
I would maybe grab a bolster or pillow for that.
But with that said,
We're going to begin.
With just a pillow or blanket under your head.
Or you could decide to just not have anything as well.
So folding your pillow up to your desired height.
We're just going to lower down onto your back here.
Bringing your feet wide,
Maybe even as wide as your mat,
And then bringing your knees together.
Again,
You can adjust your feet,
However feels comfortable.
Your arms can be by your sides with the palms up.
Or maybe out to the side like a T.
You could even goal post your arms having that bend in your elbow.
And once you've found your shape,
Just go ahead and settle in here.
Maybe you gently close your eyes.
And just begin to notice your natural breath here.
Just feeling your belly rise with every inhale.
Your belly softening with every exhale.
Notice the ground beneath you.
Holding you.
With every exhale.
See if you can soften just a little more.
Relaxing your forehead Softening your jaw.
Let's begin to practice our Ujjayi breath.
Also known as ocean breath.
I'll explain first and then we can practice together.
So what you're going to do is take a deep inhale through your nose.
And then as you exhale,
Sigh it out of your mouth.
But constrict your throat just a little bit so it's almost like you're fogging up a mirror.
So let's try that together.
Wherever you are,
Exhale all the air out of your lungs.
Take a deep inhale through your nose.
Exhale,
Opening your mouth like you're fogging up that steamy mirror.
Again,
Take an inhale.
Exhale,
Fog it up.
Go at your own pace here.
Maybe you begin to hear the sounds of the ocean in this breath.
The inhale as it comes into your body.
And the exhale as he breathes out like waves coming and going.
You can keep this ujjayi breath throughout the duration of our practice.
Or if you'd like,
Maybe you seal your lips.
You can either continue the Ujjayi breath with your lips sealed.
Or return back to your natural breath.
Keeping your eyes closed.
We're going to slowly bring your knees into your chest.
So maybe you just heel toe your feet back towards center.
And just hug your knees in using both hands.
You can gently rock side to side here.
Just feeling a nice little massage from the earth.
And moving slowly.
There's no rush.
Let's take three more rounds of breath.
And then if it calls to you,
You can come back to stillness,
Back to the center.
From here,
From center,
We're going to take a supine twist.
So using both hands,
Hug that left knee in.
And on an inhale,
Just lift that right leg long up extended up towards the sky.
And exhale,
Lower that right leg down onto your mat.
Take an inhale,
Squeezing your left knee in towards your armpit.
And then exhale supine twist.
You're going to use your right hand to guide that left knee up and over your body.
Maybe you shift your hips towards the left a few inches.
Maybe you extend that left arm long.
Maybe you gaze over that left shoulder.
You want to make sure that both shoulder blades are rooted.
And to the earth.
So that might mean that your knee is kind of floating in the air.
So you can keep it here or if you have those props You can place yoga blocks or maybe your bolster.
Under that knee.
You have time to make adjustments.
And once you're in that shape,
If you're not already,
You can close your eyes here.
Just coming back to your breath.
Relaxing your forehead And with every exhale just letting go a little more.
There is nothing to fix.
There is nothing to figure out.
There is only this moment.
Where can you soften?
Take one more round of breath.
And slowly come back towards center.
Maybe bringing both soles of your feet onto your mat with a bend in your knees.
Centering your hips.
And if you had that yoga prop on the side,
Go ahead and now place it on your opposite side.
As we're going to take that supine twist So on your next inhale,
Hug that right knee in with both arms.
Inhale,
Extend that left leg high up towards the sky.
And then exhale,
Lower your left leg long down onto your mat.
Inhale,
Squeezing that right knee in.
And then exhale using your left hand,
Guide that right knee up and over.
Again,
You can extend that right arm long.
And maybe now you gaze over your right shoulder.
And send your breath to any part of your body.
It's maybe feeling tension.
And with every inhale,
See that part of your body expanding.
And with your exhale,
Feel it softening.
Letting go.
Relax your jaw.
With every exhale.
Where can you let go?
Just a little more.
Take a deep breath in.
And a long breath out.
And when you feel ready.
.
.
We're going to slowly come back to center Let's hug both knees in towards your chest just rocking side to side again,
Getting that nice massage.
And then when you feel ready,
Just rolling over onto one side.
Coming into the fetal position using that bicep as a pillow for under your head.
Take a moment here.
Feel the earth holding you.
You are safe to soften.
When you feel ready Gently press yourself up.
We're going to come into a tabletop position for a cat cow.
But if you had any props,
Like if you had your head on a pillow.
Go ahead,
You can remove it from your mat.
And just coming up onto all fours.
If you do have yoga blocks,
You may want to place them towards the top of your mat.
In firm table top,
Your knees should be under your hips and wrist under your shoulders.
We're just going to take some breath to movement here.
So we're going to begin on your next exhale,
Rounding your back,
Tucking your tailbone in and bringing your chin into your chest.
This is your cat pose.
And then on your next inhale,
Dipping that belly down,
Bringing your tailbone up,
Gaze goes up towards the sky.
This is your cow pose.
So bringing some breath to movement.
We're going to exhale cat rounding your back and inhaling cow gazing up.
Just moving here with your own breath.
Taking your time.
Keep moving slow.
If you want to take any other organic movement here.
Maybe it feels good too.
Take some spine circles or figure eight motion.
Maybe it just feels good to hold still in a spot,
Whatever is calling you.
Trust your inner guidance and take it.
Let's take three more rounds of breath here.
And then when you're ready,
Just meet me back in that neutral tabletop position.
From this neutral tabletop position.
We're going to come into a sphinx pose.
So begin to just walk your hands forward just a little.
Walk your knees back.
And then begin to lower the tops of your feet.
The tops of your legs.
Down on to you,
Man.
Bringing your elbows under your shoulders.
So your forearms are extended straight and your elbows are kind of propping you up.
Your gaze is forward.
Or if you have those yoga blocks.
You can play around with the height.
Placing it in between your forearms.
And maybe you gently lower your head down on it.
And you can stop.
Stack the blocks.
If that's better for you.
Or just get it,
Play around with whatever height feels good.
However,
If you don't have yoga blocks,
Continue to gaze forward.
We won't be in this pose for too long.
But you can go ahead and close your eyes.
Just come back.
To your breath here.
Maybe you come back to that Ujjayi breath.
In this shape you're opening up your heart center.
Your abdomen.
And you're also lubricating your lumbar,
Your low back.
Soften your forehead.
And take deep breaths here.
When you feel ready on your next exhale.
Slowly begin to bring your palms under your shoulders,
Lowering your chest.
And we're going to come back into a child's pose.
So just slowly pressing yourself back up to that tabletop,
Up to all four.
There's two ways to do child's pose.
First way you can bring your knees out wide,
Maybe even as wide as the mat.
Bring in your two big toes to touch.
Bringing your seat down towards your heels and extending your arms out long,
Lowering your chest,
Maybe your forehead touches the mat.
It's natural to have space between your seat and your heel.
So if you want to use your blanket or even yoga blocks.
You can place that in between if that feels better for you.
If this isn't feeling good with your knees being wide,
Then you have that option to bring your knees closer together.
Bring your arms behind you with your palms facing up.
And then lowering your forehead down onto the mat.
So whichever shape works for you.
And once you're there,
Just begin to close your eyes.
Just allowing your spine to drape forward here.
Noticing your backside body.
Expanding with your inhales And then your belly softening towards the earth.
The sky above.
The earth below.
Where can you soften?
Take a slow and deep inhale through your nose.
And exhale,
Let it go.
When you feel ready Slowly lifting your head and chest.
Bringing your arms,
Your hands towards center.
We're going to come into a caterpillar pose or it's also known as a Forward seated.
Fold forward seated fold so you can Cross at your ankles.
Bringing your seat back.
Extending your legs out long.
So we have options here.
You can stay just like this.
Or if you have that pillow or blanket,
You could sit on it to elevate your hips.
That might feel nice or if you want to have a bend in your knee.
Or maybe you even put that blanket under your knees.
You can do that as well.
Once you have it figured out.
We're going to fold over your legs,
Keeping them nice and relaxed.
Just begin to walk your hands down towards your feet.
Hinging at your hips.
And just allowing your back to round here.
Allowing your neck and your head to be heavy.
I'm just finding your edge.
In yin yoga,
You don't want to Take the full expression of the pose.
You maybe only want to do 70 or 80%.
Of what you're capable of doing.
Because as you've noticed,
When we hold still in these shapes,
It allows for gravity to do all the work.
And to gently bring you deeper into the pose.
When this happens,
When you're not forcing it It allows for your connective tissues to open.
And to release.
If your mind begins to wander Just come back to your natural breath.
Take a deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
And slowly begin to walk your hands back in towards center.
We're going to lower down onto your back to come into a reclined figure four.
So if you have any props under your knees or if you're sitting on any of them.
Go ahead,
Slowly remove them now.
And then we're just gonna bend your knees,
Soles of the feet on your mat,
Gently lowering your back down.
Maybe you bring your arms out to the side like a T and let's just take some windshield wiper movements with your knees.
So just swaying your knees side to side.
Again,
Just moving slowly.
And then coming back to center.
We're going to take that reclined figure 4 starting on your left side.
In yin yoga,
We always start on the left.
So you can just begin to lift that left ankle up towards your right knee.
Relaxing the foot.
But maybe just bringing that left knee out just a little bit so that you feel a nice little active stretch.
No muscle engagement,
But just a nice little stretch.
If this is,
If you're not really feeling it,
You can.
.
.
Always float that right foot up,
Maybe grabbing behind your thigh on top of that right shin.
Just figuring what works for you at this moment.
And if they're not already,
You can close your eyes.
Breathing into any sensation.
With every exhale,
Releasing.
If you have your right foot floating.
Go ahead,
Gently release it back down to the mat.
And then lower that left foot back down.
So both knees are bent.
Towards the sky.
Maybe you take those windshield washer motions again.
And then when you're ready,
Coming back to center.
Taking that now on your opposite side.
So bringing your left ankle to meet your left or your right ankle to meet left knee You can stay just like this.
Or you can float that left foot up.
You may notice one side feels different than the other.
It's all completely normal.
If any thoughts appear.
Just let those thoughts float by like clouds in the sky.
And come back to your natural breath.
Your breath is your anchor.
If you have that left foot floating,
Gently bring it back down towards the ground.
And then take that right foot back down to the ground as well.
And if you want to take those windshield wiper movements,
You can.
And then the next shape that we're going to take It's going to be a happy baby.
So coming back to center.
You're just gonna lift your feet up.
So that the bottoms of your feet are pointing up towards the sky.
You can grab here onto your calves or ankles,
Or maybe the outer edges of your feet.
Keeping your tailbone rooted onto your mat.
Just gently press here.
If you'd like,
You could maybe take that little side-by-side rocking motion.
Get a nice little massage or maybe it feels good just to hold still in a spot.
Can close your eyes if they're not already.
And just allow your body to release.
Maybe you notice some shaking motion if you're holding still.
And that's okay,
That's normal.
Just allow it to let go.
Take a deep breath in.
And exhale,
Let it go And slowly bring your knees back in towards center,
Hugging your knees into your chest with both hands.
If it feels good,
You can rock side to side.
And then we're going to come into the most important yoga pose.
Your Shavasana.
So if you don't have any props.
You can go ahead and just extend your legs out long.
Keeping your legs nice and relaxed.
Bringing your hands towards your your arms towards your sides with your hands facing up towards the sky If you do have yoga props.
I highly recommend placing that bolster under your knees.
So kind of scooting that bolster.
So it's touching your back side.
And then just allowing your legs to drape over it.
This allows for any tension in that low back.
To release.
Again,
Just arms by your sides.
Maybe you place a pillow under your head for a pillow or a blanket under your head just to elevate your neck.
And if they're not already,
You can close your eyes.
Just noticing your natural breath here.
Softening your forehead.
Relaxing your jaw.
Your throat.
Allow your shoulders to be heavy.
Your arms.
Your hands,
Allow your fingers to naturally curl in your fingertips.
And softening your torso.
Open your pelvis.
Your legs and your feet.
If there is anything else that you are holding on to.
Allow it to melt from beneath your body.
Going into the earth below.
It no longer belongs to you.
There is nothing left to do.
But to enjoy this rest.
I will wake you when time is ready.
You can stay here.
For as long as you would like.
There is no rush.
But if you're with me.
Maybe you slowly begin to wiggle your fingers,
Your toes.
Maybe you gently rock your head side to side.
Keeping your eyes closed,
But just gently reawakening.
And then when you feel ready,
Rolling over onto your left side.
Coming into that fetal position.
Your biceps supporting your head.
Take a few moments here.
Feeling the earth beneath you.
Supporting you.
In every single way and you feel ready can gently Bring yourself back up into that seated position.
Moving any yoga prop that you may have had.
And once you're in that seated posture,
Your hands can be wherever you'd like.
In your lap or on your knees.
Or if you're with me,
I'm going to inhale the palms of my hands up overhead.
Bringing the palms to touch.
And exhale,
Lowering my palms to my heart center.
Let's take one more.
Breath together.
Exhale all the air out of your lungs.
And take a slow and deepest breath that you've taken so far today.
And once you're at the top See if you can sip a little more air in.
And exhale,
Let it go.
You can silently repeat.
I let go of what no longer serves me.
As I create space.
For new beginnings.
The light in me.
Sees and honors the light in you.
Namaste Thank you so much.
And you can follow me right here on Insight Timer.
For more yoga and meditation practices.
Thank you.
