Yin Yoga For Stillness And Support

Join me for a yin yoga practice designed for stillness, support, and deep release. We’ll begin in seated meditation and move through slow, supported postures held for a few minutes at a time to help you soften tension and turn inward. This is a grounding, meditative practice. Bring any props you have, such as a blanket, pillow, bolster, or blocks, to help build the floor up to meet you.

Transcript

Closing your eyes for a moment. Taking a few deep breaths. Sending the breath in downward into your body. And exhale, Just send it all the way to your feet. Grounding into your sit bones and letting your body start to get heavy. Drawing to your mind and intention for this time. Letting it sit softly. And side. The space of your mind. And body. And now you can open your eyes. We'll start our first pose. Which is a supported child's pose. And I'll give you a recommendation for how I like to set the set. I like to take a rolled up blanket, Or you can use a towel for this. It also works great. And put it on top of your calves. And then. . . I like to make a nice tall bolster for myself. So I'm going to use these blocks because my bolster is a little soft. So I'm just going to make it taller and a little firmer. And then taking my body. Laying it over the top. When I bolt through. And then turning the head to one side or the other. Child's pose is a really nice pose for Listening to the breath. Allowing the attention to turn inward. Closing the eyes. And allowing everything to soften. Allowing the body to continue to get heavy. Allowing those big muscle groups to relax. Allowing the nervous system to settle and shift. Coming back to. . . What's happening right now. And now we're about halfway through. You can stay where you are. Come out of the pose if it's not comfortable for you. Or you can deepen. By removing some or all of your crops. Now the body has opened. And settling into a deeper version. Or I'll feel. Potentially really nice, Although there's no need to move. If you're happy where you are. Again, Settling into your breath. Listening to the sound of the inhale. And the sound of the exhale. Just allowing the breath to be exactly as it is. In many styles of yoga, The yang versions of yoga, We practice controlling the breath and in yin yoga, We practice not controlling the breath. But I'm serving the breath. Breath awareness. And now as you're ready, You can slowly start to Walk your hands back underneath you. Remove any props you might have. And place your wrists underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips. And take a few cacao. Shapes. Just moving slowly, Dropping the belly, Lifting the hips, Looking up. And then slowly winding into a cat. Arching the back, Drawing the chin to the chest. One more time at your own pace. Good, Now sitting back onto your heels. And we'll come into butterfly to seated forward fold position. I like to sit with my hips on a blanket. For two reasons. First, It's supportive. And second, It helps me tip my hips forward. So if you sit on the edge of a blanket or a block or a bolster would also work. It helps to tip your hips forward. So when you bring the soles of your feet together, You're already in a forward motion with your hips. And then take your blocks. At whatever level is good for your body. Placing them underneath the legs. So that you have a gentle stretch. But. . . It's fully supported, So you're not using the muscles of your legs to hold yourself up. You are. Giving yourself a nice sensation of stretch, Something very comfortable to begin. And then supporting with the blocks. I'm done. If you have any more props available. I really like to. Rest my head on something in this pose. If you don't have blocks, Another way to support yourself is to straighten your arms. Out in front. So you're using your straight arms to support the body so that you can allow your head to release. And once you find your comfortable position, Find stillness. Wherever you are, Release your head. Let it go heavy into a block. Or just drop and release the back of your neck. Not trying to hold the head in place any particular way. It's okay to allow the spine to round. In this pose. Returning to the flow of your breath. Breathing into the sensations you feel in the body. And then this pose becoming heavy. Allowing muscular tension to melt from the body. And now we're about halfway through. So you can come out of the pose if you are not feeling comfortable. Or you're welcome to stay where you are. And if you'd like to come deeper. You can remove some of your support. Drop your blocks to a lower level or potentially move them out of the way. And find your next edge, That next comfortable place. Where you feel Sensation in the body, A gentle stretch. But you can still breathe. You can still relax. And coming into your next position. And once you're settled, Find stillness. And drop your head. Return to the flow of your breath. And now slowly as you're ready. You can bring the head up, Straighten the arms. And start to walk them. Back up underneath you. Coming to a seated position. You can remove anything you're sitting on. So you can lean back onto your hand. And windshield wiper the legs. To the left. To the right, Feet are hip distance. Taking a few windshield wipers to each side. Gently releasing. Our next pose is Half Butterfly, Similar to Jani Shashasana or Head to Knees pose. So you can bring your legs out straight. And then. I should bring your feet about hip distance apart. That's a better cue. And then take your left foot. And bring it on the inside of your right thigh. You can take your blanket and place it. Underneath your right knee, Underneath your hips, Anywhere you feel you can use that extra support. You could even place it underneath your left knee if it doesn't go all the way to the floor. Again, Finding those places where you can build the floor up to meet your body. And then a bolster or something similar is really nice to go over this extended leg. And then kind of place your ribs on top of it. You can even have a block to put your head on. As you're folding over that right leg. And then placing the head on the block or any supported place where you can completely release the weight of your head into the block. The hands can rest softly on the floor. Or in any comfortable position. But there should be no strain in the hands, No strain in the feet. Relaxing both your feet, Including that. Right foot. And then once you're comfortable, Find stillness. Not the head, Get heavy. Let the sit bones get heavy. Find your breath. Witness it move in and out of the body. Give all of your muscles permission to release and soften. No holding. Now we're about halfway through. You can come out of the pose. Stay exactly where you are or deepen. By removing some of the props. And then allowing yourself to move to your next comfortable edge. Releasing the head down. Once you're comfortable, Find stillness once again. Return to the flow of your breath. Breathe into the sensations you feel in your body. The opening. The release. And now slowly as you're ready, You can lift your head. Straighten your arms and walk your hands back underneath you. Remove any props. Lean back onto your hands for one moment. Windshield wipers. Straighten the legs. Soften out the muse. And switch sides. Half butterfly on the other side. Setting up the same way, Feet are hip distance. You can place the blanket underneath that left knee if you did on the other side. Bend the right leg, Place the sole of the foot on the inside of the left leg, And support under that right knee if you need to. Your body might be different side to side, So set up how suits this side of your body best. I'll place the bolster here and also the block like I did on the previous side. And then I'm going to take my ribs and kind of place them on top of the bolster. As the hard drops down. Making any adjustments to feel really comfortable on this side. And when you're stacking crops like this, It's really important to Let your head get heavy into them because it creates a sandwich effect and holds all your props in place. It also sends the signal to your mind that it's safe to relax. Resting the hands softly. And finding stillness once again here. Stillness in the pose. Stillness in the mind. Witnessing the flow of your breath. Noticing if it's changed. From one side to the next. Breathing into the sensations you feel in the body. Now we are about halfway through. You can stay where you are. Come out of the posts. Or deepen into it. Whatever you choose. Once you're comfortable. Thanks Thomas again. Relax your muscles and allow them to be heavy. And return to the flow of your breath. Now as we're ready, You can slowly lift your head. Walk your hands back underneath you. Remove any props. And windshield wipers. Straightening the legs, Shaking out the knees. Maybe a little stretch, A little forward bend. And we will move our props out of the way. And come onto our bellies. For Sphinx pose. You may want the blanket underneath your forearms. Personal choice. Just a little extra kush. And if you come onto your belly. Prop yourself up onto your forearms. And you can modulate the intensity of this pose by where your elbows are. In relation to your shoulders. So if you'd like a little less intensity. This is a great place to start. Or you can come into the full version of Stinks. Which is elbows underneath the shoulders. Just rock your hips. Let them get settled evenly onto the mat. The feet can be hip distance and relaxed, Toes are pointed. And then just gently drop the shoulders down and Open through the front of the chest. Feel the hip points grounding into the floor. And then breathe into the sensations you feel in your lower back. You can softly close the eyes and find stillness once again. Sending your attention to the flow of your breath. Noticing. How it's different in this pose compared to the previous one. Or F, It's different. Again, Witnessing the breath. Observing it. Not to control it or change it. But to notice. And now we're about halfway through. You can stay where you are. Come out of the pose. If you feel any discomfort. Or if you'd like to deepen, You can strain the arms. And come into seal pose. Again, The hips stay grounded into the mat. And as you straighten the arms, The support is coming from your straight arms. And then you can start to walk your hands. A little closer to you based on. How your body moves and the sensations you feel, But find your next comfortable edge. Release any tension you might have created in moving. Check the muscles in your legs and the muscles in your glutes. The muscles in your face. And then return to stomas. Return to the flow of your breath. Breathing in the sensations you feel. Getting permission to all your muscles to relax. We'll be seeing your jaw. The muscles around your eyes. Your forehead. And now slowly as you're ready. You can walk your hands away from. Underneath you. And Drop your. . . Cheek to the mat to one side or the other and draw your arms alongside your body. It's allowing everything to soften and release. And you turn your head to the other side. And now slowly go ahead and flip over. Like a pancake? And we'll come into supported bridge. In this pose, You'll want your block. And. You can start by lying down on your back. And bending your knees. You don't necessarily need to bring your knees, Your heels all the way to your glutes. You can have a more relaxed. Position for your heels. You want to be comfortable. So find a place where your spine is completely supported on the mat, Both shoulders are supported, And both hips. And then press into your feet. Lift your hips. And place one or two blocks underneath. I'm using two blocks on the low setting because for me that feels more supportive than having one block on the medium setting. It's set up however is. Most comfortable for you. You should have. Some sensation. But it should be very comfortable. And you should feel supported enough by your props to completely let go. Through your legs, Letting your hips drop into the support. The hands can be open to the side, Palms facing up. And then once you're settled. I am Thelma. Maybe scanning through the body, Looking for any remaining tension. Giving permission. To your body to soften and completely release. Following the flow of your breath. Allowing your upper back to be broad. Into the support of the floor. And now we're about halfway through. You can stay where you are. Come out of the pose or deepen into it by taking your blocks. And moving them to a higher setting if you'd like to. Or I'll also give you a second option. To extend one leg. Or potentially both works. If you extend one leg, I'll give you a cue to switch. If you extend both legs. Ensure that you're still feeling very supported. By your blogs. Whatever you choose. Fine stoners once again. Return to the flow of your breath. Scanning your body or. Any tightness or holding. And giving it permission to soften. Go ahead and switch legs now. You had one leg extended. And now if you have. . . One or both legs extended, Go ahead and slowly. Bend your knee and place your feet underneath your knees. And you can lift your hips. Remove your props. And return your hips to the floor. Drawing your knees into your chest. Option to take a happy baby pose. If you are unhappy baby, You can roll from one side to the other. Massaging your back muscles. And now we'll come into a reclined spinal twist. You can take your block and place it in between your knees. You can take your bolster and leave it to the left side of your body. Have it about hip height. And then draw your knees into the chest. Bring your knees down to the left side, Resting on the bolster. And then take your head to the right. If the bolster or the block aren't working for you, Feel free to adjust. In a way that feels good to your body. We're looking to have that right shoulder on the floor. So that we're having a very nice twist through the right side of the body. You can place your left hand on the floor. Bring your right hand. Out in a t-shirt. Palm facing down. And gently turn your head to the right. Closing your eyes. Feel the gentle sensation in the right side of your body. Returning to the flow of your breath. Noticing in the shape how the breath moves. This is our halfway point. So if you're using props. You can feel free to adjust as needed. Now as you're ready. You can remove any props slowly. Combat Center. Draw your knees into the chest. And take your props to the other side. Preparing. To switch sides, Find a twist on the opposite side. Again, Making sure the hips are grounded, The shoulders are grounded. And the spine is supported by the mat. Draw the news up. And drop them down to the right. Using the block in between the knees, The bolster underneath the knees. Whatever feels good to your body. Placing the hands comfortably. Ensuring that that left shoulder stays down. And turning the head to the left. And once you're there, Find stillness. When you turn to the flow of your breath. And bringing it into the sensations you feel. This is the halfway point, So. Please adjust your props. As needed. And then return to stomachs and the belt. And slowly. Remove any props. Bring your knees back to center. Bring your head back to center. You can draw the knees into the chest. Give yourself a hug. And R. And I'll pose before Shavasana will be waterfall pose. This is a really nice pose to do with a block. Or if you have a wall available, You are more than welcome to go to the wall. I'll show you the Glock version. Come into a bridge position and place the block at the lowest height. Underneath your hips. Or option to use it at the medium height if you feel supported enough in this position. And then draw the knees up, Straighten the legs. And your hips are fully supported by the block. The arms come down by the sides, Palms facing up. It's a gentle, Supported inversion. It's the same shape if you take it at the wall. You can place one hip. Your left hip or your right hip at the wall and then rotate. And place your legs up the wall. If you're at the wall, You wouldn't use the block. Just have your hips on the floor. And once you're subtle. I'm Star Wars. Feel the breath as it moves through the body in this shape. Feel any sensations in the body. Simply notice what's there. In this moment. Slowly as you're ready. You can. Release the pose. Bring your feet back down to the floor. Remove the block if you're using it. Turn it to one side. And set up for Shavasana. Shavasana and yin yoga can be. Just as comfortable and luxurious as you'd like it to be. So grab any props you'd like to use. You can make a bolster out of your blocks if you have enough of them. You can also take your. . . Blanket, Roll it up, Place it under your knees. If you're using a bolster or the blocks as a bolster, Go ahead and place it at the sacrum, Lie it down on top of it. Allow it to. Gently open your chest. While supporting your head. Letting the shoulders drop down. Opening. Hands up to the sky. Closing the eyes. This is the pose where all of the practice leads to. This is the pose where you completely let go. Every pose you practiced today. Was about letting go. A little bit at a time. Slowly teaching the body to surrender to stillness. Slowly teaching the mind to Let go and soften. Creating safety. For that softness. And Shavasana becomes the place where it integrates. Where you can let go of everything. And just be. Take a deep breath in. And let it go. Will they bring them back to the body? I've got fingers and toes. And taking your time. Slowly make your way onto one side. And then pushing up to a seated position. Taking a moment to Remember the intention. We placed at the beginning of this class. All that softly in your mind.