Gentle Yin Yoga

Yin Yoga is a slow, passive practice where postures are held for several minutes to stretch into the connective tissue. This gentle practice is suitable for everyone, including beginners. Have some blocks or cushions and a blanket at hand.
Postures in this session: Reclining Butterfly, Banana, Child's Pose, Sphinx, Butterfly, Dragonfly, Caterpillar, Reclining Twist, Savasana.

Transcript

Welcome to your yin yoga practice.

Before we begin,

Just take a moment to make sure that you have everything you need for your practice today.

You will need a yoga mat and if you're in a cooler climate make sure you have a blanket to cover yourself with during the relaxation at the end.

You may also need to support your body with props in some of the postures.

If you have yoga blocks those are great but you can also use cushions or pillows or a folded blanket to support yourself.

You may also need a strap,

Belt or tie and if you have a yoga bolster that may be useful too.

So make sure that you have some of those with you in case you need them.

Yin yoga is a passive practice where postures are held for several minutes to stretch into the connective tissues.

These tissues are delicate and can be injured if they're stretched too forcefully or intensely.

It's good to be able to feel that something is happening but you should never force a stretch or push yourself into a position and you never want to be feeling any physical pain as you practice.

Pain is a signal from your body that the position that you're in is not safe or beneficial for you so if you do feel any pain at any time come out of the pose.

You can come into a resting position until the next posture or you can move back into another posture from the class that you didn't do or you can move back into another posture from the class that you didn't experience any pain in.

If you have any injuries or health conditions make sure to consult with your doctor before starting a new practice.

Yin yoga can have many benefits for health and recovery but it's important that your body is suitably recovered that the stretches will benefit the tissues and won't potentially make the injury worse so do please check with your doctor first for your safety.

As this is an audio session I'll talk you in and out of the postures verbally but if at any time you're unsure of a posture and don't know if you're in the right position you can always pause the recording and do a quick internet search to bring up a picture.

I've included the names for all of the postures so that you can easily do this if you need to.

We'll begin today's practice lying on your back and make sure that your body is comfortable as we'll be lying here for a few minutes.

If you would like to support yourself you could place a rolled up blanket under your knees or ankles or a block or cushion under your head or place some support under any body part that feels uncomfortable and that feels better once it's supported.

Once you've found a comfortable lying position for yourself close your eyes and bring your awareness into your body.

How is your body feeling today?

Notice any feelings or sensations that are present in your body right now and see if you can just observe those feelings without analysing them or thinking about where they're coming from and why.

Just observe and feel.

In yin yoga postures are held passively for several minutes to allow a deep stretch into the connective tissue.

Because these deeper tissues are delicate we never want to force a stretch.

We come to a place where we can feel that something is happening but which is not our maximum.

We usually want to be at between 40 and 60 percent of what would be our maximum stretch and then we relax into the posture and allow gravity and the shape of our bodies to slowly and gently stretch the tissues.

So be mindful not to force your body into any position as you move through the practice as placing too much pressure on the deeper tissues can lead to injury.

If you are feeling something it means that something is happening so even the most subtle of sensations are a sign that it is working.

Now bring your awareness to the centre of your chest,

The heart centre.

And resting your awareness at the heart take a moment to tune in to how you're feeling.

What emotions do you feel right now?

Again there's no need to think,

Analyse or judge any feeling that's present.

Simply observe and feel that it's there.

And now move your awareness to the space between your eyebrows and notice what's happening in your mind right now.

Just watch any thoughts that are happening.

Observe them as they come and go.

There's no need to analyse them.

We're going to continue with this attitude of observing as we move through the practice.

As you move through each of the postures you will notice that your body is moving in a very natural way.

You will notice that your body is moving in a very natural way.

We're going to continue with this attitude of observing as we move through the practice.

As you move through each of the postures observe the physical sensations that arise.

And observe any thoughts or emotions that may also arise for you as you practice.

And just watch.

There's no need to think about why anything feels the way it does or to analyse yourself or your body.

Simply feel and observe the sensations as they are.

Now bring your awareness to your breath and watch the natural flow of your breath.

Follow the breath as it flows in and out of the body.

Observe the natural rising and falling of the chest as you inhale and exhale.

As you practice it's natural that your mind may get distracted and that you might find yourself thinking about other things or getting involved in the hows and whys of your body.

But at any time you notice that this has happened just very gently bring the awareness back to your breath and back to the sensations that you feel in your body.

And come back to observing and feeling.

For our first posture today we're going to come into reclined butterfly pose.

If you have any support under your legs or feet just move that support to one side now.

And bring the soles of your feet together so that your knees fall out towards the sides.

If your legs feel very uncomfortable or if the stretch is very intense for you here place some support under your thighs,

Either some blocks or some cushions.

You can keep your arms at your sides with your palms facing upwards.

Or if you like you can bring your arms over your head but be mindful not to overstretch the arms.

Keep the elbows slightly bent and relax.

And now relax into the posture.

Relax your hips.

Relax your hips,

Thighs and buttocks.

Relax your shoulders and your upper arms.

And observe how your body feels in this position.

Just watch the sensations that arise as you rest here.

And now slowly come out of the pose.

Bring your hands to the outer thighs and push the legs back together.

Bring the feet to the mat and gently rock the knees from side to side.

And observe any feelings in your body and any after effects from the posture.

Next we're going to move into banana pose.

So now bring your legs to straight and open the legs so that the right foot is near the right corner of the mat and the left foot is near the left corner of the mat.

If you've been supporting your upper body just remove the legs and the feet.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

You can either bring the left ankle to touch the right ankle or cross the left ankle over the right ankle.

And now bring your right foot to meet your left foot.

And now bring your left foot to touch the right ankle.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

And now bring your left foot to meet your right foot.

That you can relax.

Make sure that your hips and thighs are relaxed.

And your arms and shoulders.

And observe the sensations that arise in this position.

Slowly coming out,

Bring the left foot back to the left corner of the mat.

Release the arms and bring the upper body back to straight.

And take some breaths here to observe how your body feels.

And to feel any effects from that posture.

It's likely that one side feels a little different to the other.

So let's do the other side now.

Bring the right foot to meet the left.

Either bringing the ankles together or crossing the right ankle over the left ankle.

And be aware that often each side of the body is different.

So find where you want the feet to be on this side.

And bring the upper body towards the left into a curved shape.

Take the arms over the head.

Holding the elbows in the opposite way to last time.

And relax the arms over the head.

Relax into the posture.

And observe the sensations that arise.

If there are any areas that feel a little tight or uncomfortable.

You can use the breath to help encourage the tension to release.

As you breathe in,

Send the breath to the tight or uncomfortable area.

And as you breathe out,

Feel the exhalation carrying the tension away.

And slowly coming out of the pose.

Bring the right foot back to the right corner of the mat.

Bring the upper body back to the centre.

And release the arms to the sides.

And observe any sensations in the body.

Any feelings.

Any effects from the posture.

Next we'll come into Child's Pose.

So bend your knees into your chest.

Roll over to your sides.

And come up to your hands and knees.

Bring your big toes together.

And open your knees towards the edges of the mat.

Sit onto your heels.

And bring your forehead down to the mat.

With your arms and hands extending forwards towards the front corners of the mat.

For support here.

If you're not able to sit all the way back to your heels.

Place a cushion or a blanket onto your heels.

That you can comfortably sit back onto.

You might also like to support your head.

You can stack your forearms.

And rest your forehead onto the forearms.

Or you could place a block or a cushion under the head.

And if your upper body is a long way from the floor.

You might like to place a bolster.

Or one or two pillows between your legs.

That your upper body can rest down onto.

Be sure to support your head as well.

If you choose this option.

And now relax into the posture.

Notice if there are any places where the muscles are clinging.

Perhaps around the thighs or the hips.

And relax those muscles.

Allow your upper body to surrender down towards the mat.

And relax.

Remember that you can use the breath.

To encourage a release in any tight areas.

Inhale into the area of discomfort.

And feel the exhalation carrying the tension away.

From here we're going to come into sphinx pose.

And bring your upper body back up.

Move any props that you've been using to the side.

And come down to lying on your belly.

For sphinx,

Bring the elbows under the shoulders.

And the forearms parallel to the edges of the mat.

So that your chest and shoulders are lifted.

If you feel like this is too intense.

You can reduce the intensity by bringing the elbows forwards.

So that the chest comes down a little.

Or if it feels better for you,

Stack the forearms.

And rest your forehead onto your forearms.

If you're feeling some pressure on the lower back.

Opening the legs wider can relieve this.

And if your chest is lifted.

You have the choice to either remain looking straight ahead.

Or to relax the chin towards the chest.

And relax into the posture.

Relax any gripping around the thighs or the buttocks.

Keep the shoulder blades relaxed.

Observe the new sensations that arise in this different posture.

To come out,

Bring the hands under the shoulders.

And push yourself back up to the hands and knees.

We'll come back into child's pose.

This time with the legs together.

So bring your feet and knees together.

And bring the arms back up.

Bring your feet and knees together.

And sit back to your heels.

Taking support onto your heels if you need to.

And bring your forehead to the mat.

Or support your forehead with your arms.

Or a block or cushion.

And if your arms are not under your forehead.

Bring them to the sides of your legs.

With the palms facing upwards.

And relax into the posture.

Observe how your body feels here.

Bring the hands to the outside of the knees.

And slowly curl back up.

Vertebrae by vertebrae.

Feel each part of the spine stacking up into a straight line.

The shoulders,

Neck and head coming up last.

And now bring yourself to seated.

And relax.

Our next posture is butterfly.

Bring the soles of the feet together.

So that the knees come out,

One to each side.

And if this already feels very uncomfortable for you.

You can support yourself by sitting onto a block or folded blanket.

And or placing some support under the thighs.

And if you feel a slight pain.

You can feel the intensity sitting upright.

Keep your back straight.

And stay as you are.

Or if you want to come forwards.

Fold your upper body forwards over your legs.

So that your head falls towards your feet.

As you fold,

A point will come when it suddenly feels more intense.

Like your body is saying stop.

Stop here.

In yin yoga,

We call this place the edge.

And it's exactly where you want to be to get the safest and most beneficial stretch for you.

You may move forward an inch.

Or you may have your head at your feet.

It really doesn't matter what the posture looks like.

As long as you're at that first point of intensity.

Scan over your body.

And check if there are any muscles that can be released.

Perhaps around the thighs and the hips.

Or around the shoulders.

Keeping the palms of the hands facing upwards beside the feet.

Will encourage the upper back and shoulders to relax.

And observe the sensation.

And observe the sensation.

Now walk the hands up the legs to slowly come back up.

As we stretch more deeply into the connective tissues.

It's important to move slowly.

So as not to put any sudden stress on the tissue.

Once you've come back up to straight.

Bring the knees up and take the soles of the feet to the mat.

And just rock the legs from side to side.

Observe any effects from the posture.

Any feelings in the body.

The next posture is dragonfly.

For this one we have the legs wide.

So open your legs to a comfortable distance.

Where you'll be able to stay for a couple of minutes.

You might like to sit on a block or a folded blanket.

If that's more comfortable for you.

And if the backs of your legs are tight.

Or if your knees are bent here.

Place some blocks or cushions under the knees.

And if this is intense enough for you.

Stay sitting upright.

Or if you would like to come forward.

Start to fold forward over the legs.

Coming to that edge.

Where it suddenly starts to feel more intense.

In yin yoga we're passive.

So you can completely relax your upper body as you fold forwards.

Relax your head and neck.

And either rest your hands on the mat in front of you.

Or rest on your forearms.

Whatever is the most comfortable,

Accessible and natural for your body.

Send the breath into any areas of tension.

Releasing with the exhale.

And now slowly come back up.

Walk the hands in to straighten the spine.

Bend the knees.

And take the feet to the mat.

And rock the knees from side to side.

Observing any sensations.

Sometimes when we come out of the postures.

There can be a feeling of tenderness.

That's normal.

It's just a sign that we've stretched into the fascia.

And it should pass after a minute or two.

But if any feeling of tenderness does persist for longer than one or two minutes.

That's a sign that you've stretched a bit too far into the posture.

And a message from your body to hold back a little more next time.

To avoid damaging the tissue.

Now straighten the legs.

And this time bring the legs together for caterpillar pose.

So that you're sitting with your legs straight out in front of you.

Again,

If you would like some support.

You can sit onto a block or a folded blanket.

And you can support your knees with blocks or cushions.

If your legs are tight or your knees are bent.

You have the option to remain sitting upright.

Or otherwise fold forwards over your legs.

Coming to your feet.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

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Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Or you can sit on your back.

Come to lying on your back.

Come to lying on your back with your feet on the mat at hip distance apart and your knees facing up towards the ceiling.

Bring your arms out in line with your shoulders with your palms facing upwards,

Making a T shape.

We're going to come into a twist.

From here,

Just let your legs drop towards the left.

Let them fall down to the mat wherever they come to.

And if they don't come all the way down and you would like some support place a folded blanket,

Block or cushion under the left thigh and rest the legs onto the support.

You can keep your head facing upwards.

Or if it feels comfortable in your neck turn to look over the right shoulder.

And relax into the twist.

Slowly bring the knees back up.

Bring the head back to the centre.

And keeping the feet apart,

Drop the knees in towards each other and observe any sensations.

Now we'll twist to the other side.

So bring your hands back out in line with the shoulders and drop the legs towards the right supporting the thighs if that feels best for you.

Turn the head to look over the left shoulder if it feels comfortable and relax and observe.

This is our last posture before the final relaxation.

So we'll turn to the other side.

Slowly come back out of the twist.

Bring the knees back to the centre.

Bring the head back to the centre.

And keeping the feet apart,

Drop the knees together and take some breaths to observe.

And now bend the knees and bring the knees in towards the chest.

Take the hands to the kneecaps and make some circles with the knees gently massaging the lower back into the mat.

Make some circles in the opposite direction.

Make some circles in the opposite direction.

And release the legs and prepare yourself for your relaxation.

Make sure that you're going to be warm enough.

Your body temperature will drop so make sure you've got enough layers on and cover yourself with a blanket if you're in a cool environment.

And make your way into Shavasana.

Lying on your back with your feet a little wider than hip distance apart and your arms at your sides with the palms facing upwards.

You can support your legs or ankles with a rolled up blanket and your head with a pillow.

And if Shavasana doesn't feel comfortable and relaxing enough for you to lie in for several minutes then take another position instead.

You can come back to the position we were just in with the feet apart and the knees together.

Or you could come into reclining butterfly with the feet together and the knees opening out to the sides.

Or if there's another position that feels better for you make your way into that position now.

And now close your eyes and feel your body letting go.

Feel your body completely relaxing into the surface beneath you.

These next few minutes are your time to rest and relax.

And to integrate all of the benefits of the practice.

There's nowhere else you need to be.

Nothing else you need to be doing.

No other obligations to fulfill.

So just permit yourself to relax.

Bring the awareness into the feet and feel all of the muscles in the feet relaxing and letting go.

Feel the feet completely relax.

Feel the legs relaxing.

The calf muscles.

The muscles around the knees.

The thighs.

Feel the hips relaxing.

And the buttocks.

Feel the legs completely relax.

Relax the spine.

Send your awareness up the spine and feel every vertebrae of the spine releasing and relaxing.

Feel the lower back relaxing.

The upper back.

The shoulders.

The neck.

All completely relax.

Feel tension releasing from the upper back.

The upper arms.

The elbows.

The lower arms.

The wrists.

The hands.

And the fingers.

Feel the hands and the arms completely relax.

Feel the back of the head heavy against the surface beneath you.

Feel the head and the skull relaxing.

The face softening.

The eyes,

Nose,

Cheeks and mouth relax.

Feel the head and the skull relaxing.

Feel tension releasing from the jaw.

Feel the whole of the body completely relax.

Deeply at rest.

The whole of the body completely relax.

And now slowly prepare to relax.

And reawaken the body.

Feel the gentle rising and falling of your chest and abdomen as you breathe in and out.

Begin to make some small,

Slow movements with the fingers and toes.

Make some circles with the wrists and the ankles.

And take your arms over your head to give yourself a long stretch down the sides.

Bend your knees and bring the knees into the chest.

Hug the knees towards the chest and rock gently from side to side.

Massaging the lower back into the mat.

And easing out any remaining tension.

And then when you feel ready,

And keeping your eyes closed if you can,

Roll over to your side and make your way back up to sitting.

Come to sitting with your eyes closed.

And just take a moment here to feel into your body.

And observe how your body is feeling right now.

Notice any sensations.

Without judging or analyzing,

Just observe that the sensations are there.

And now bring your awareness to your heart center.

And notice how you're feeling right now.

Observe any emotions.

And move the awareness to the eyebrow center.

And observe any thoughts coming and going.

Just watch.

And now bring the awareness to your heart.

And notice how you're feeling right now.

And now bring the awareness to your heart.

And now bring the awareness back to the breath.

And observe the natural breath.

Watch the breath flowing in and out of the body.

Observe the natural movement of the chest.

And now bring your hands together in a circle.

In front of your heart.

And make a positive intention for yourself for the rest of your day.

When you're ready,

Slowly blink your eyes back open.

This brings us to the end of the practice.

Thank you for joining me here today.

Reviews

Beautiful peaceful yet challenging practise. Loved it! Thank you Jessica! 🙏

Hello beautiful 🥂🎈🥂🎈🥂Thank you so much for the wonderfully yin yoga🎀it gives me so much sweetness and sparkling energy 🥂happy new year 🕉️

Absolutely Awesome so needed and appreciated this practice today Thankyou so much for sharing this with us ☺️🙏❤️

I really enjoyed the session. It is a bit long in total, but worth planning. Thank you very much!