Yin And Gentle Yoga

This yoga practice blends mellow movement and held stretches with a supportive emphasis on breathing. It's suitable for anyone who can get down onto a yoga mat. It could be your go-to - it's a well-rounded practice that unwinds tension throughout the body (head/neck/shoulders, sides and upper back, hips and low back, etc). Thoughtful cueing means you can enjoy a guided yoga practice without video instruction.

You'll need a yoga block, blanket and a strap (or make-dos!) and any other props you enjoy. You can even work in Yoga Tune-Up balls at the beginning, if you like.

Transcript

Hi yogis,

Welcome to your yin and mellow yoga practice.

We're going to need a few props for this practice.

I'm going to definitely use a block,

A blanket,

And a strap.

So take the time to gather those things and our first neck stretch will also have space.

If you have yoga tuna balls and wanted to do a little neck massage,

You could do that to begin with.

But otherwise,

Let's begin in constructive rest pose with a neck stretch.

So you're going to lie down on your mat with your block on its lowest setting underneath your head.

You could always use a rolled up blanket here if a block is just a little too blocky for underneath your head.

And if your chin is really tucked,

That's okay,

So long as the sensation is supportive for a couple of minutes.

Your legs are bent with your knees touching,

Your feet are wide and just a tad pigeon-toed.

You can rest your arms on your body or by your sides.

Let's take a very long breath in and sweetly sigh it out.

Again,

Breathe into full.

Sigh out.

Last time for now,

Breathe into full and sigh out to empty.

And then take a quiet minute to simply land in your practice and to breathe in and out through your nose with your eyes relaxing.

And just sort of scrolling through the places that you know you hold tension and seeing if you can relax them,

Head,

Eyes,

Jaw,

Shoulders,

Belly,

Hips as you breathe calmly in and out.

Let's carefully remove the block from underneath our head and set it to the side.

And give yourself a few moments to relax your neck muscles in this new position and just get feedback from your body that everything is a-okay.

And once you have had the chance to acknowledge it's a-okay,

Turn your head left and right in a lazy gentle way for a few moments.

Let's pause the next time you come to center.

And then with your hips and knees aligned,

Knees bent,

Tilt your pelvis forward so you feel your low back curve a bit.

And then tilt your pelvis back so that you feel your low back flatten toward the ground.

Tilt your pelvis,

Feel the curve.

Tilt your pelvis,

Remove the curve.

And do that a couple of times.

It's just a-it's a lazy tilt forward and back so,

You know,

I know sometimes my instructions,

Because they're very simply delivered,

It might feel like you need to move to the beat of my instructions and it's very exploratory.

Pause and keep your legs where they are.

Reach your arms to the ceiling.

Heel toe your feet a little bit apart so there's some space between your legs if there wasn't.

And then bend your left elbow out to the left so your arm bends.

And then reach your arm back to the ceiling.

Bend your right arm out to the right,

Elbow touches the ground,

Out to the right.

Straighten your arm to the ceiling.

Now this time,

Bend your elbow out to the left and lower your right knee to the ground.

Go back to center.

Switching sides,

Left knee toward the ground,

Right elbow bends,

Back to center.

So as you go back and forth,

Your knees are definitely not touching the ground,

Even though your elbows might be.

And just a reminder that diagonal movement can be a bit more challenging for the brain,

But we want it to be enough challenge that it invites us into the presence of the movement.

So see if it can invite you into the presence of the movement rather than being about specificity for now.

Let's pause and stretch out our bodies long and see if you notice a difference from even when we started.

Keep your left leg out and relaxed and step your right foot on the ground,

Still space between your legs.

Reach your right arm down by your right foot and your left arm overhead.

And for a few times,

Really reach your arms apart,

Simply effort away from each other while your body stays on the ground and then relax them.

Reach your arms apart,

Still but strong effort,

Relax.

Do this a few times.

And then if it's going well,

You can also look at your left arm,

Push into your right foot a little bit and lift your chest feeling like you're trying to curl toward your left arm,

Chest lifts to the ceiling.

Relax back to the ground.

Look at your left arm,

Push into your right foot,

Lift your chest trying to turn toward your left arm,

Relax to the ground.

Try that one a few times or stick with the first one.

Relax,

Extend out your right leg,

Bend your left leg so your knee is bent,

Foot on the ground,

Left hand down by your left leg,

Right arm overhead.

Keep your body still on the ground initially and really reach your arms away from each other and then totally relax them.

Really,

Really reach,

Totally relax.

Do that a few times.

Then you can keep going with that one or looking toward your right arm,

Feel like you're trying to curl into a backbend as you reach your arms apart and then relax back to the ground.

Look at your right arm,

Lift your chest,

Feel like you're rolling over your head a bit,

Relax back to the ground.

Do that one a couple of times or stick with the first.

Relax everything on the ground.

Stretch out your legs,

Breathe into full,

And breathe out to empty.

Step your feet onto the ground so your knees are bent and hold the back of your head.

No,

It's not core work.

Hold the back of your head or the sides of your head if you need a little more space for your shoulders.

Bring your right elbow up to the ceiling and twist over to the left,

Rounding your upper body like you're trying to hug your head.

Go back to where you started and then switch sides.

Left elbow rolls over toward the right and then go back.

So as you go back and forth,

Speed,

We're not that interested.

We want the upper back muscles to relax and move and so it's exploratory.

You can move a little faster or a little slower.

It's up to you,

But keep a feeling of curiosity and if it feels like it's core work,

Then how can you relax in the face or soften tension in the jaw and neck so that it feels less effortful?

Let's pause when we come to center and release our arms and take a long breath in and a slow breath out while you reach for your strap.

Strap up your right foot,

Middle of the strap,

I like ball of the foot,

So the area where a high heeled shoe would put the most of its weight.

And then I also like to have for this posture,

Both straps in my right hand,

So you're going to extend your right leg toward the ceiling and then allow it to ease out to the right.

Now find a place of stretch with your right leg eased out to the right that feels appropriate for you.

For some of us,

This is going to feel more than anything like bicep strain and so you can switch and take the strap off and ease your leg out to the right and hold the outside of your leg or bend your leg or do a half happy baby type posture with your strap under your knee instead.

But if you just feel like you're hanging on for dear life,

Then change the posture.

But otherwise,

Take a few round breaths here,

Breathing into full and breathing out to empty.

Ease your way back to center,

Pause,

And then go over to the left.

So your straight leg is going to cross your center line a little bit over to the left.

You want to work your leg a little bit straight so that you sink your right hip toward the ground and you can breathe across the low back and outside of your right hip.

You can also reach up and if you're holding both straps in your left hand,

You can reach up with your right hand and pull back on the strap on the right side of your foot and you'll feel it change your hip a little bit.

Ease your way back to center and put your right foot on the ground.

Breathe into full and breathe out to empty.

Stretch both legs out and notice the difference side to side.

Step both feet onto the ground,

Bend your left knee in towards your chest,

And then strap up the ball of your left foot,

Putting both straps in your left hand and lengthening your leg to the ceiling,

And then easing your leg out to the left or taking the expression that you took,

Either holding the outside of your leg or bending your leg or going into half happy baby instead.

You can rest your right hand on your body,

But let's find a round breath,

Sending it down into the spaces that we know that we are tending to.

Ease your way back to center,

Probably swapping your straps into your right hand as your leg continues to lengthen,

But you tip it over your center line to the right with a focus on sinking as in gravity rather than pushing your left hip to the ground.

You may want to reach up with your left hand to the outside strap on your foot and pull the strap so it pulls the baby toe side of your foot down.

Coming into full and breathing out to empty.

Ease your way back to center,

Get your foot out of the strap,

And then set your strap to the side as you lengthen your legs out and breathe in and out.

Relax your body.

With your legs lengthened,

You can have your hands anywhere you feel like.

Put a big amount of space between your legs,

So,

You know,

Pretty much as big as you're willing to go,

And then flex your ankles so that your toes pull up towards you and then point your ankles so your toes point away from you.

Do this a few times and notice how much your bum cheeks want to participate.

And then we're going to keep doing something similar,

But we're going to change it a bit.

So relax the pointing and flexing,

And then just flex your ankles so your toes point to the ceiling and then they spread.

And allow your knees to bend a little bit here,

And now send your toes over to the left,

Keeping your ankles strong,

Come through center and go over to the right.

So as you go back and forth,

We're allowing our knees to bend just a smidge because the movement of our feet is actually turning our hips in their sockets.

And this movement,

While it feels so tiny,

It's actually offering lubrication and diversity of movement to your hip joints,

Which is really great,

Well,

For great hips,

But also so that you have a healthy,

Resilient spine.

So let's do this a few times.

And I think we'll say that's enough.

Relax your legs and take a long breath in,

And a slow breath out.

In whatever way you want to,

Make your way up to seated.

So you could step your feet onto the ground and roll onto one side.

If loosely rocking up to seated works for you,

That's great.

And once you get up to seated,

We're going to do a little activity before a side bend,

Before a yin forward fold.

So have your right leg extended over to the right and your left leg bent in.

And then hold your arms in front of you.

And you're going to reach your left arm overhead into a side bend as your right arm reaches over to the left in a fancy movement,

And then come back to center.

Reach overhead,

Side bend,

Right hand reaches to the left,

Back to center.

Do this a few times.

And then hold on to somewhere on your left hip,

Leg,

Lap,

Knee,

And hold the side bend for a few breaths.

You can turn your head to the ceiling,

To the side,

Or look down at your right leg.

But let's air out our lungs,

Air out our heart a little bit with some breathing into your left side.

Ease your way up right.

And rather than turning toward our right leg for our forward fold,

Although you totally could,

I'm not there,

We're going to walk ourselves forward into our forward fold.

And so it's a half wide-legged forward fold.

And so you could get a bolster here and align it up with your spine,

But put a block under the end of it so you can hug it and turn your head.

I like to hang.

Some days I push my hands or curl my fingertips into the ground to add a little length to my spine.

But wherever we're doing stretching that involves some of the smaller musculature through the groin and the inner leg,

We really do,

We want to proceed with gentleness and curiosity because there's a lot of sensation here.

And our breath and our mindset has a huge influence on whether we calm down in this experience or whether we allow the experience to wind us up.

So find your prop set up or your hanging and then return to your breath,

Maybe even close your eyes.

Take a long breath in and a slow breath out.

Walk yourself to sit upright and then extend both legs for a moment.

Put your hands by your sides and push into your hands to sit up tall,

But relaxed and sort of allow yourself to abide in evenness of body.

But see if you notice unevenness of sensation within you.

And then let's extend out our left leg,

Tucking in our right foot and doing our fancy arms on this side.

You're going to hover your arms and then your left arm's reaching to the right as your right arm reaches overhead in a side bend and then draw upright.

So you reach,

Draw upright,

Do this a few times.

And then hold on to the outside of your right hip,

Leg,

Knee,

What have you as you side bend,

Airing out the other side of our lungs and heart,

Positioning our head in a way that allows us to enjoy this posture as much as possible.

Ease your way upright and then make your way into your forward fold on this side,

Straight out.

So your hips and your spine are aligned and maybe you're reaching for your bolster and building your little hugging pillow.

Maybe you're hanging,

But either way,

Breathing into full and breathing out to empty.

Take a long breath in and a slow breath out.

Walk yourself to sit upright and extend out both legs,

Hands by your side,

Sitting up tall,

Maybe eyes closed,

Just experiencing that equanimity again.

In your way and in your time,

Let's come over onto hands and knees.

And once we come over onto hands and knees,

We're going to do a few barrel rolls.

So round your body up to the ceiling,

Slide to the right,

Toward the ground,

Over to the left,

Back to the ceiling.

So you're really just trying to mix your body around.

Your elbows can bend,

You can move forward and back,

Your hips can move around,

Can feel like you're doing more circles in your hips than your spine.

You've got options.

We're going to switch directions.

And then pause.

We're going to come into dragon pose.

It's yin yoga,

A speak for a low lunge.

So you might want to pad your back knees,

Always keep that option handy,

But we're going to step our right foot forward into a low lunge position.

And then we have a few options.

You can keep your right leg underneath your body.

And so then you can sort of feel like you're lengthening your torso a little bit over your right thigh and it'll take some of the weight off your legs.

You can also step yourself upright with blocks underneath your hands.

And this is on the more intense side.

And just remember that intensity doesn't win the day for efficiency or value,

But it's entirely up to you.

So if you have your back toes curled under,

Not entirely up to you,

Let's find our position and then put out the fire in your eyes as you breathe into full and breathe out to empty.

I can really help to count your breaths here.

Stay where you are and take a long breath in and through the nose,

Long breath out.

We're going to ease our way out of this posture and then all the way down to lie on our bellies,

Resting our head on our hands.

Once you get to that space,

That space of integration,

Just really allow yourself to relax into the earth,

Feeling your breath sort of gently lift and lower you when your body presses into the ground with your breathing.

When you're ready to ease your way upright,

Come on to hands and knees and reach for any props that you're looking for for the second side of our dragon posture,

Stepping your left foot forward and either keeping your body over your left leg so that we take some of the body weight off or you come up right with blocks underneath your hands.

Either way,

Setting yourself up perhaps to count your breath and we can keep our gaze cool by either allowing our gaze to be really gentle,

Allowing it to blur a little bit or even closing our eyes down.

Let's take a long breath in and through the nose,

Slow breath out.

And then when you're ready to ease your way all the way back down onto your belly for stacked hands and integrative breathing,

Step yourself up just to your forearms.

So your elbows are underneath your shoulders and your forearms are extending forward like a Sphinx.

It's called Sphinx pose.

Now you can do Sphinx pose the way we typically do it.

Palms down,

Elbows underneath your shoulders.

If you're feeling hunched,

Your elbows are probably too far away from you or too behind you or too forward.

We try to experiment with walking them right underneath your body,

Shoulder elbow alignment.

But you can also turn your palms over and try and spread your fingers.

This can be really good for our wrists and forearms.

And some days I make it less passive and I push into my forearms and feel like I'm trying to pull my arms toward me.

And this stretches through the abdomen,

Which does need stretching,

Regardless of how you feel about your abdomen,

It needs stretching.

So whatever iteration you're doing,

Again,

Cool eyes,

Slow breathing.

Let the lower half of your jaw hang a little bit.

The muscles of your cheeks,

Let them hang.

And then ease off.

Stack your hands again,

Last time for today.

Rest your forehead and breathe in and out.

Ease your way up to hands and knees.

We're going to do thread the needle.

And today I really prefer supporting my head in this posture with a blanket under my head.

It actually felt better for my back and shoulder than a block did,

But you can use a block or a blanket here.

I'm going to use a rolled up blanket.

And what we're going to do is set the blanket down in front of us.

We might need to maneuver a bit as your left arm is going to reach forward.

Your right ear is lowering onto the blanket as you reach your right arm underneath your left arm over to the left.

So it's the upper body twisting.

When you settle into this posture,

It can take some adjustment that is not always intuitive.

Sometimes your arm needs to come closer to your left hand,

So it needs to come further forward.

Sometimes we need an adjustment of the knees forward or back,

And you might need to try that from hands and knees again.

But I'll tell you on the second side why this posture is helpful for breathing.

So let's really focus on a round breath here,

In to full,

And out to empty.

Take a long breath in,

And out the nose,

A slow breath out.

Choose your way up right,

And at center you might want to let your head hang.

You may want to do a couple little semi-circles or full circles.

You could even switch directions,

But just respond in a thoughtful way.

And then we'll head into our second side.

Your right arm's going to lengthen forward,

And then your left arm's going to reach under your right side as your left ear goes down onto your blanket,

Block,

Or the floor.

Make any adjustments you think might be the right ones for this side.

And once you settle in,

I love stretches that stretch the lats,

The latissimus dorsi,

The big muscles that are sort of,

They come up from the bottom of your back,

And they actually go,

They attach onto your upper arm.

And they're an accessory muscle of breathing,

Really interesting.

And so if you ever feel like you have a limitation in the shoulder that's reaching into your back,

Could be your lats.

But either way,

This posture is actually supporting good breathing,

Good quality breathing.

So let's do some of that.

Take a long breath in,

And through your nose,

A slow breath out.

Ease your way upright,

And take any little movements that speak to you.

And in your way and in your time,

Go ahead and come on down to Shavasana.

If you wanted to take the time to set up a block underneath your hips,

Or if you wanted to set a bolster underneath your knees,

Or a pillow over your eyes,

Please take the time to do so.

And as you settle in,

I'll share that I was inspired to teach dragon today,

Specifically as dragon,

Rather than just Lola,

And just Harvey is going through a dragon phase.

Sometimes mama is supposed to be a good dragon,

Sometimes a bad dragon,

We're not sure totally what the difference is.

But as much as this kid loves his dragon time,

And as much as he sometimes resists going to bed,

Every parent you can tell when they switch into that actually relaxed state.

Every parent can tell the time that it sticks,

That they're actually going to go to bed.

And so,

You know,

Can you be a sleeping dragon?

Can you commit to being here for a few quiet minutes,

Aware of in yourself what actually committed to relaxation looks and feels like?

So for a few minutes,

Watch your breath,

Revel in going with gravity.

Stay relaxed exactly as you are.

Closing with John Sullivan Dwight's rest.

It is the pleasure itself cannot spoil.

Is not true leisure one with true toil?

Thou that would taste it still do thy best.

Use it,

Not waste it,

Else tis not rest.

Woods behold beauty near thee all round.

Only hath duty such a sight found.

Rest is not quitting the busy career.

Rest is the fitting of self to its sphere.

Tis the brook's motion clear without strife,

Fleeing to ocean after its life.

Deeper devotion nowhere hath felt,

Fuller emotion heart never felt.

Tis loving and serving the highest and best.

Tis onwards unswerving,

And that is true rest.

Begin to deepen your breath.

Reintroduce little movements that speak to you.

You might want to wiggle your fingers and toes or turn your head side to side.

You may want to stretch long,

And you may want to tuck in.

You may want to roll onto one side.

But in your way and in your time,

Make your way to seated.

And when you get to seated,

Stack your hands on your heart or hold on.

Hold on somewhere in a meaningful way and close down your eyes just for another moment.

And then before we move on with the rest of our day,

Let's take a very long breath in.

And gently let it go.

Thank you so much for your practice.

It's a privilege to teach,

To teach,

To teach.