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'll 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.
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 be forcing a stretch or pushing 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 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 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 is 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 will 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 names for all of the postures so that you can easily do this if you need to.
We're going to be sitting for your postures today.
So begin by bringing yourself into a comfortable seated position.
You can sit with your legs crossed or kneeling,
Or with your legs in any way that feels good for you.
Take any support that you need under your legs or to sit on,
So that you can feel comfortable as you sit upright for these first few minutes.
And when you're ready,
Close your eyes and bring your awareness into your body.
Notice how your body's feeling right now.
Scan over your body to notice the different sensations that you feel.
There might be some places that feel a little tight or uncomfortable,
That are letting you know that they're ready to release in your practice today.
And there may be some other places that feel relaxed and at ease.
Nothing is right or wrong or better or worse than anything else.
Just observe whatever you feel.
And we'll keep this attitude of feeling and observing as we move through our postures today.
In yin yoga,
All we have to do is move into the position and stay there.
And the posture will do all the work for us.
We don't need to force anything to happen or even think about what's happening.
We just watch and allow the practice to work.
So now gently open your eyes.
And we're going to come into butterfly pose.
Bring the soles of your feet together so that your knees open out towards the sides.
And you can take some support here if you need to.
You can sit onto a block or folded blanket if it feels difficult for you to sit with the spine straight.
And if your knees are very high up from the mat,
Support your thighs with blocks or cushions.
So that you can allow your legs to relax.
If you're already feeling some intensity sitting upright like this,
Then stay as you are.
Or if you would like to fold forwards,
Take a breath in to straighten your spine.
And exhale to fold forwards over your legs.
So that your head relaxes towards your feet.
As you fold,
A point will arrive when it suddenly starts to feel a lot more intense.
As if your body wants to stop here.
When that point comes,
Stop there and see how much you can relax your muscles.
Relax the muscles in your hips and your thighs.
In your arms and your shoulders.
Allow your head to relax down towards your feet.
And observe what you feel in your body here.
If you find that there are any places that feel a little tight or uncomfortable.
Send a breath in to those areas to help encourage their release.
Inhale in to the area of tension.
And feel the exhalation carrying some of that tension away.
We'll just take a few more breaths here.
Slowly curl your spine back up to sitting.
Bring your knees together and take your feet to the mat with the feet at about hip distance apart.
Rock the knees from side to side here and observe how you're feeling.
Notice how your body feels after that posture.
We're going to come into half butterfly now.
So take your left leg out to straight in front of you.
And bring your right foot to your left thigh.
So the right knee opens to the right side.
So your right leg is back in butterfly and the left leg is straight.
You can sit on a block or a blanket again here if that feels more comfortable for you.
And you can place a block or cushion under the right thigh if it's lifting up high.
To allow the leg to relax.
And if it feels tight on the back of your left leg or if your left knee is lifting up from the mat.
Place some support under the left knee.
A block or a cushion so that the left leg can relax.
And if you're already feeling some intensity here you're welcome to remain upright.
Otherwise take a breath in to straighten the spine.
And exhale to fold forwards over the left leg.
When you feel your edge,
That point when it suddenly starts to feel more intense.
Stop folding forwards and relax into the posture.
Scan over your body to see if there are any areas that you can relax a little more.
Perhaps in the legs or the shoulders.
The neck or the head.
It's when the muscles are relaxed that we're best able to access the fascia for our deep release.
Remember to send the breath into any tight or uncomfortable area.
And very slowly begin to curl back up.
Take your time coming out of the posture.
We don't want to stress the tissues with any sudden movements.
Keep the legs as they are.
And from here we're going to move into a twist.
So take the right hand to the mat behind your back.
And bring your left hand to your right knee.
Turn your upper body to the right just until you start to feel that something more is happening.
This is a yin twist so we don't want to be forcing anything too far once you feel that edge.
The point where you know that something is happening in your body.
Relax into the posture.
Turn your head to look over your right shoulder.
And scan over your body to see if there are any places where the muscles are clinging that you can relax a little more.
In the legs or the thighs.
In the shoulders.
Relax into the posture and breathe.
If you do find that you start to lose intensity while you're here and you stop feeling like so much is happening.
You always have the option to twist a little further until you feel your edge arriving again.
We're going to be here for just over a minute more.
And slowly make your way back out.
Bring your left hand back to your left side.
And your upper body back to the centre.
And straighten your right leg.
And just pause for a few breaths here with the leg straight to observe any after effects from those postures.
Perhaps noticing any differences between the left side and the right side.
And now we'll do the other side.
So this time keep the right leg straight and bring the left foot to the inside of the right thigh.
So that the left knee opens out towards the left.
And take any support for the legs that you need.
Often one side is different to the other.
So do whatever you need for your body on this side.
And you can stay upright if that feels best for you.
Or otherwise take a breath in to lift up.
And exhale to fold forwards over the right leg.
Sending the breath to wherever it's needed.
We'll just take a few more breaths here.
And slowly make your way back up.
Keeping the legs as they are.
And once you've come back up to straight let's move into our twist.
Bring the left hand to the mat behind you and take the right hand to the left knee.
Turn towards the left.
Turning the head to look over the left shoulder.
And once you feel that edge stop and relax into your twist.
Keeping the shoulders relaxed.
The hips relaxed.
The legs relaxed.
And slowly come back out.
Turn the upper body back to the centre and release the left leg back to straight.
Take some breaths here with the leg straight to observe.
And our final posture before the relaxation is caterpillar.
So for caterpillar we keep both legs straight out in front of us.
If it feels tight on your legs to sit with them extended like this.
Take some support under the knees.
And make sure that your legs and feet are relaxed.
You can stay sitting upright or if you want to fold forwards.
Exhale to fold forwards and relax your neck and your head towards your legs.
And we'll stay a little longer in this final position.
Very slowly curl your spine back up to straight.
And we'll take a back bend here as a counter pose.
So take your hands behind your back with your fingers pointing back towards you.
Lift your chest and open the front of your body.
Taking your head back if that feels okay for your neck.
And take a few breaths here.
And it's time for the final relaxation.
So make your way down to lying on your back in shavasana.
Take your legs apart and bring your arms a little away from your sides with the palms of the hands facing upwards.
If you want to support your legs here you can take a folded blanket under your legs or under your ankles.
And you can support your head with a cushion or a block.
If you're in a cooler temperature you may also like to cover yourself with a blanket.
And once you're feeling comfortable and settled give yourself permission to completely relax.
Shavasana is the most important posture of the practice.
As this is the time when we integrate all of the work that we've done.
So for these next few minutes there's nothing that you need to do except just be here and enjoy the benefits of the practice that you've earned for yourself today.
If you have time to relax for longer you're welcome to stay here in shavasana for as long as you like.
But if it's time for you to come out now slowly begin to move your body.
Making some small movements with your fingers and your toes.
And take your arms over your head for a long stretch.
Bend your knees and bring the knees into the chest.
And rock gently from side to side here to ease out any remaining tension in the back.
When you feel ready roll to one side and make your way back up to sitting.
This brings us to the end of our practice.
Thank you for joining me today.
