Water Element Yin Yoga | Winter | Kidney Meridian

This practice focuses on postures that target the Kidney Meridian, which, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is responsible for our courage, wisdom, and gentleness.

We practice reclining butterfly, butterfly, dragonfly, sphinx, child's pose, legs-up-the-wall, and savasana, holding the postures for five minutes each.

Relaxation Music by Good B Music.

Transcript

We're going to begin our practice in reclining butterfly pose. So come to lying on your back and bring the feet together so that the knees open out one to each side. Bring your arms a little away from your sides with the palms of the hands facing upwards. We're going to be here for a few minutes so if you need to support yourself to feel more comfortable, Take any support that you need. You might like to support your legs by placing blocks or cushions under the thighs or you might like to take a block under your head. Once you've settled into the posture, Close your eyes and feel into your body. Notice how your body's feeling today. Observe any sensations that are present as you begin to arrive into your practice and just feel whatever your body is feeling. There's no need to think about why anything is the way it is, Just watch and feel. In our practice today, We're working with postures that work on the kidney meridian line, Which in traditional Chinese medicine is connected to the water element. Water is the element of wintertime and is associated with coldness, Slowness, Withdrawal and stillness. It's the most yin of the elements, So we're going to be especially yin in our practice today. Quietly holding the postures for five minutes each to give ourselves the time to be still and turn inwards. The kidney meridian is the yin meridian line of the water element and it runs on each side of the body from the outsides of the little toes, Under the feet, Over the inner ankles and up the inner legs and up the front of the body to the bones. So our postures today are targeting this energy pathway and encouraging a smooth and healthy flow of energy through the kidney meridian. And now bring your awareness to that passage of the kidney meridian and notice what you feel in these places. From the outsides of the little toes, Under the feet, Over the inner ankles, Up the inner legs, Up the front of the body, To the collarbones. And there's no right or wrong or better or worse things to feel here, Just observe any sensations or feelings if they're there. And now let's send a breath along the kidney meridian line. As you breathe in, Inhale from the outsides of the little toes, Under the feet, Over the inner ankles, Up the inner legs, Up the front of the body, To the collarbones. As you breathe out, Exhale from the collarbones, Down the front of the body, Down the inner legs, Over the inner ankles, Under the feet, To the outsides of the little toes. Now slowly bring the knees up and take the feet to the mat at hip distance and gently rock the legs from side to side. Take a few breaths to observe any sensations, Any feelings or effects from the posture. And bring the knees together, Roll to one side and come to sitting. Next we are coming into a seated butterfly pose. So bring the soles of your feet together again, With the knees coming out to each side. And if your knees are very high up or your legs feel uncomfortable here, Take some support under the thighs. You might also like to sit onto a block or a folded blanket if that feels best for you. We'll be five minutes here, So make sure that you're comfortable. And when you're ready, Take a breath in to lift the spine up and exhale to fold over the legs, Dropping the head towards the feet. As you fold forwards, There will come a point where everything suddenly starts to feel more intense, As if your body is asking you to stop. When that point arrives, Stop here. In yin yoga, This point is called your edge and it's where you will receive all of the best benefits from the posture in the safest way. When you've found your edge, Relax into the posture. Scan over your body to see if there are any places where you can relax the muscles, Perhaps around the hips or the thighs or in the shoulders. Relax the muscles as much as you can and observe the sensations that you feel as you rest here. In Chinese medicine, The kidney is responsible for our courage and wisdom and healthy kidney energy brings us clear perception, A rational mind and gentleness. When there are issues with the kidney or with the flow of energy along the kidney meridian, We can experience excessive fear or paranoia and feelings of loneliness and depression. So as we work to harmonise the flow of energy through the kidney meridian today, We're encouraging those positive qualities of courage, Gentleness and wisdom. Prepare yourself to slowly come out of the posture. Walk the hands up the legs to bring the spine back to straight. Bring the knees up and the feet to the mat and gently rock the legs from side to side here. Observe any effects from the posture, Any sensations, Any perceptions of energy moving. Next we'll come into dragonfly. So now open your legs out wide. Bring the legs to a comfortable wide distance where you can feel that there's something happening but where you'll be able to stay for several minutes. If you find it challenging to sit with your spine upright and your legs open like this, Sit on to a block or a folded blanket and if your knees lift up when you straighten the legs or if it feels very tight on the backs of the legs, Place some blocks or cushions under the knees so that the legs can relax. Relax the feet, Relax the thighs and now inhale to lift the chest and exhale to fold forward. Again coming to your edge, That place where it starts to feel more intense. Bring your hands to the mat in front of you. Relax your neck and your head and relax into the posture. Observe the sensations that arise as you rest into the posture here and if there are any places that feel a bit more tense or uncomfortable, You can always use the breath to encourage those areas to release and relax. As you inhale, Send the breath into those tight or uncomfortable areas and as you exhale, Feel the exhalation carrying some of that tension away. As your body gets used to being here, If you find that you begin to lose sensation, Walk the hands forward to fold yourself further forwards until you feel that edge again. Stay sensitive to where your body wants to be. We've got another two minutes here. Take your time to slowly come out. Walk the hands in to bring the spine to straight and bend the knees to bring the feet to the mat. Gently rock the knees from side to side and observe any effects from the posture. Observe any sensations in your body and observe your mind and emotions as well. Take a few breaths just to watch. And from here, Make your way down to lying on your front for Sphinx pose. For Sphinx, We bring the elbows under the shoulders and the forearms parallel to the sides of the mat. If this feels very intense for your back, Moving the arms forwards will decrease the intensity. So move the arms forwards to a comfortable place and opening the legs out wider can also be more comfortable for the lower back if it's feeling tense here. You can either keep the head looking forwards or drop the chin to the chest to encourage more of a stretch into the back of the neck and relax into the posture. As we move more deeply into our practice and encourage the energy to flow more smoothly through our meridian lines, It's possible that stored emotions can be released along with the physical tension as our bodies let go of what they don't need to hold on to any longer. So if you do feel any emotions coming up, Perhaps those connected with the kidney or perhaps something different, Just observe them in the same way that you observe the physical releases, Knowing that it's all a sign that the practice is working. Remember to send the breath into any uncomfortable areas and carefully make your way out of the posture. Bring the hands under the shoulders to push yourself up onto your knees and from here we'll come into a wide child's pose. So bring the big toes together and open the knees towards the sides of the mat. Sit back onto the heels, Bring the upper body down between the thighs and take the forehead to the mat, Stretching the arms out in front of you. If you'd like some support you can take a block or a cushion onto the heels or under your head and relax into the posture. We'll have five minutes here. Slowly walk your hands in to come back up and before our relaxation we're going to take the legs up the wall. So bring your mat so that the short side is up against the wall or if you don't have a clear wall space available you can also use a door or a flat piece of furniture, Anything that's tall and flat for you to rest your legs straight up on. Come onto your side, Bend your knees and bring yourself right up the wall so that you can swing your legs up to straight against the wall. If it's more comfortable for you, You might like to sit onto a block or a blanket to help elevate the hips and choose where you would like your arms to be today. You might like to keep the arms at the sides or you might like to bring them into a cactus shape with the upper arms in line with the shoulders and the elbows bent to a 90 degree angle. And just scan over your body again to check if there are any places that you can relax a little more. We'll be here for five minutes. To come out, Bend the knees and roll to the side to bring the legs down and it's time for our relaxation. So come to lying on your back and take any support that you need to feel warm and comfortable. Perhaps a block or a cushion under your head or a blanket under your knees and feel your body beginning to let go into complete relaxation. Now bring the awareness back to the kidney meridian line, The energetic pathways running from the outer little toes and the feet over the inner ankles, Up the inner legs, Up over the abdomen and the chest to the collarbones. Observe the pathways of the kidney meridian and now let the awareness drift away from the kidney meridian and for the next few minutes allow yourself to completely relax and slowly prepare to end the practice. Take a long deep breath and begin to make some movements with the hands and the feet, Gently reawakening the body. Bring the arms up over your head and give yourself a long stretch down the sides and now bend the knees, Bring the knees into the chest and rock gently from side to side, Easing out the lower back. When you're ready roll to one side and come up to sitting. This brings us to the end of our practice. Thank you for joining me today.