Back, Hips and Twists Yin Yoga

Just the satisfying release you're looking for! Yin yoga melts away stress, anxiety and tension from the body and mind, as we hold postures on our mats for 2-5 min. Open to all levels, this class is a big sigh of relief.

Transcript

So we will start practice over on the mat here so you can slowly make your way over. And we'll start with a little bit of movement so you can find a seated position on your mat. Before we get into the longer holds. And once you've found a comfortable position, Just gently take your hands towards your knees, Towards your shins. And as you inhale, Start rocking forward on your sit bones. As you rock forward, Feel your pelvis come forward. Feel your shoulders drop back, Your chest open. And as you exhale, Rock back on your sit bones, Feel your pelvis tilt back, Your upper back round, And feel that space in between the shoulder blades. Inhale, Rock forwards. Exhale, Rock back. Inhale, Rock forward. Exhale, Rock back. You can follow your own pace, Your own breath. Allow this motion to start to allow your awareness to drop more into your physical body. And to allow you to get connected with your breath. Notice how it's feeling. It may feel kind of soothing to move through these. Cat cow sheep. Very soothing for the vagus nerve which is Very harmonizing on the entire body, Physically, Emotionally, Energetically. Good, And then we'll find that neutral spine. Take your right hand down, Reach your left arm up and over and breathe out. So we're moving through the different movements of the spines. We just went forward and back, And now we're doing the side bending of the spine. And you can feel that into your side body there as you breathe. A little bit deeper. Inhale back up. Exhale the other way. Moving through these spinal movements is really nice. Especially because we tend to be seated or standing a lot, And it can be really, Really helpful to release the whole body, Feel that connection. Health of the spine. Good. Take one more full breath. And then inhale, Rise back up. Bring your arms up. And then twist to the right. Send your right hand behind you, Your left hand to the thigh. Lengthening through your spine as you breathe in. Find a little deeper twist as you breathe out. Good. Take one more full breath. Then inhale your arms back up. And exhale, Twist the other way. Feel your spine lengthen as your shoulders soften. Feel your breath flowing into your body. Feel this nice releasing, Detoxifying, Wringing out experience to the physical body. Also affecting all other experiences within. During the yin practice, We're just becoming more curious and more aware of what's happening on the inside. Trusting that we're always feeling what we're meant to be feeling. Thinking what we're meant to be thinking. It's all just a process. Of moving out, Energy releasing from the body. Good. Take one more breath. And then turn back to center and we'll put all the movements together. So take your hands to your thighs. Inhale, Rock forward. Exhale, Rock back. Inhale your arms up to the sky. We're coming to that side bend. Exhale. Inhale back up. And exhale the other way. Good, Inhale back up and twist. And arms back up. And twist. One more, Leaning into your edges here, Deepening the breath. Inhale, Forward. Exhale back. Inhale, Arms up. Exhale over. Inhale out. Exhale over. Inhale up. Exhale twist. Inhale arms up. And exhale twist. Good. Come back to center. You may feel that looseness of your spine. Take your hands back, Your feet to the mat. Slowly start to drop your knees side to side. Feel this release through your hip space. You may lift your heart a little bit up to the sky as your legs drop side to side and you feel that release through your lower body. You Good, And then we'll come back up. Gently straighten out your legs. And then you may have a little bend in the knees or you may have a bigger bend in the knees and your feet could even be planted on the ground if that feels better for you. So we're going to lengthen through the spine here. And we're going to start to tilt, Hinging from the hips. And you'll feel yourself tilt just a bit. Keep that spine really nice and long to begin with. And then you can keep your hands to the sides beside you and you may fold forward a little more. Or you can wrap your arms underneath your legs and you can start to roll. In so your upper back starts to round. You can keep your feet more on the mat or you can slide your heels forward as far as you'd like. And as you come down, You'll probably start to feel a lot for your legs, Your spine. The whole back line of your body. You may let your head round and drop or you may hold your head more straight. If that feels better on your neck. So just tuning in. Where does your neck feel the happiest? And then as you sigh your breath just allowing yourself to Find stillness as you hold space for the body. To do its effortless healing. Experience of sensation emotion thought energy just moving out of the body Just one breath at a time. Grounding in that breath. Then start to take a few deeper breaths. You may sigh it out. And then very slowly start to unravel your arms if you're holding your legs. Slowly begin to rise yourself back up. And take an exhale. Alright. So now we're going to move into our hips now that we've opened up our hamstrings. So you're going to lean to your right for deer pose. So as you lean to your right, Your outer right hip. Will be on the earth and your left leg will be back. Your right leg is forward. They're both bent. At the knee Your right. Shin can be more straight or it can be more diagonal into the body. Good. Then let's sit a little bit taller first, Breathing in. And take a nice little mini twist to the right. And we'll stay there and take a full breath. And then slowly turn yourself back forwards. And now as you fold down, You may send your left leg back a little more. That will deepen the posture. And then you can use your blocks or your pillows if it makes sense for your body to rest your forehead down. And allow yourself to arrange your upper body any way you'd like. Your arms, Your head, Your shoulders, Whatever feels the best. Now if you're not feeling it in your right hip, Glute, You may send your left leg back more. You may also shift your weight, Like how your torso. . . Is maybe a little bit to the back to the right little micro movement. Noticing how that feels in the body. And start to take a few more deeper breaths. And when you're ready, Slowly start rising yourself back up. Good. Very slow. Slowly leaning to the right. Bring your left leg forwards. You can straighten out both your legs. Just letting them flush it out. Take an exhale. And then start to lean over to the left. Sending your right leg back, And we'll just move to the other side. So we'll start with that little bit of a twist. Take your time getting to this side. Your hips may be slow moving because it was quite deep. So lengthening your spine, Breathe in. Take that little twist to the left, Breathe out. And take one more full breath. And then turn forward slowly when you're ready. Start folding over your left leg. You can arrange your blocks any way you'd like beneath your head. As you come down, If you're not feeling it into your left glute hip area, You can send your right leg back more. You may just take a sigh and let everything relax into the ground. It's feeling hard to breathe at any point Simply sigh it out. Keep the energy flowing. And take a few deeper breaths. Very slowly start to rise yourself back up. Slowly. Slowly leaning to the left, Bring your right leg forward. Straightening out your leg. And just lean back on your hands. Take an exhale. Take a few deep breaths. Good, And then you'll slowly come back up and we'll just swing our legs back behind us and come into a tabletop position. Once you're there, You may do a few cat-cows, Dropping the belly, Lifting the heart. And the tailbone. Exhale, Rounding the spine, Pressing into the hands. It's flowing with your breath. And then neutral spine when you're ready. And we'll come to child's pose. You can either have your knees closer together or you can have your knees wide or apart to whatever feels better for you. As you sit back to your heels, Release your. . . Forehead down to the ground or to a block. Gently breathe out. Take a few more full breaths. And then very slowly start rising yourself back up, Lifting your hips. Sliding your knees back in if they're out. Take an exhale. When you're ready, I'll send your legs back and lower down to your belly. Once you get down, You may stack your hands resting your forehead. Or you may place a cheek on the mat. You may gently sigh your breath. Bending your knees so your feet come up to the sky. Carefully drop your legs side to side nice and slow, Breathing into your lower body. Feeling that release through your lower back. When you're ready, Straightening your legs back out. We'll bend our right knee up to the side body so the inner thigh, Inner calf is on the ground. Your knee, Right knee is bent up there. Take your left cheek to the mat. Take your arms out to a cactus shape like this or a T shape so your arms can be straight if that feels better. We'll stay here for a bit allowing the inner right thigh to open and also stretching out the neck. And then what we're going to do is we're going to take this position. Into a twist So move very slowly. So you're going to keep your right leg as it is. You're going to slowly press yourself up so your left arm comes under your chest, Palm up to the sky. Right hand on top of your left. Engage your core a little bit. Take an inhale. As you exhale, Open up your right arm. Into a twist and your right arm can dangle in the air. Or it can come down to the mat. And if your arm is dangling and you'd rather have it on the mat, You can always keep rolling. So your shoulder comes down and then you can place a block or pillow. Under your right knee so your hip can relax there. Into the twist. Feel your shoulders relax down your back. Your forehead, Jaw soften. Go ahead and take one more full breath in. And out. Slowly bring your right arm all the way back to your left. Removing any blocks and then carefully straighten your right leg. Turn yourself all the way back to your belly, Nice and slow. Then you may rest your forehead on your hands and take an exhale. Feeling that all settle down. When you're ready, Bend your left knee up to your side body. Take your right cheek to the mat, Arms out to cactus or T-shape. When you're ready, Slowly lift up, Sliding your right arm under the body. Take your left palm on top of your right. Take an inhale. Engage your core a little bit. And then as you exhale, Open into a twist. And your left arm can dangle in the air. Or it can keep coming down to the mat. And if your left knee is off the mat, Just placing a block pillow there so your hips can relax. Twisting out the body. And take one more full breath. And when you're ready, Carefully bring your left arm back. Removing any blocks This time, Bend your right knee beneath your left knee so you're in a fetal position on the right side of your body. Just pause there for a moment. And when you're ready, Start rolling yourself over to your back. So you're on your back now. No rush. Once you get there, Take a sigh. Then walk your feet together. Let your knees fall out. It's a butterfly shape and then take your arms to a cactus shape. That feels good. Bent at 90 degrees beside the body. Gently sigh. Then take one more full breath into your belly, Nice and slow. Then sigh it out. Bring your arms down so your hands are on the outside of your thighs, Helping your legs back up. And then draw your knees into your chest. Squeeze them in one last time. He may rock a bit. And when you're ready, Release your legs into Shavasana. Spreading yourself out, Whatever feels most comfortable. Taking a slow, Deep breath in. And sighing it out. Again if you'd like inhale And exhale. Feel the earth holding up your entire body. Receiving the support fully. As you enter a completely effortless state of receptivity ease and inner peace And gently. Gently bring your awareness to your breath. Slowly making a little movement into your body. Gently bending your knees, Rolling to the left into fetal position. Taking an exhale. And then slowly pressing yourself up to seated position. You can sit on the ground or on a block or pillow. Allowing your eyes to close. Or your gaze to softly Stare at one spot with your eyes open. Whatever feels more comfortable for you. Just noticing the energy around you in the space. Then noticing the energy within you. Recognizing the space, The edges of your body. Maybe the edges of your skin. Noticing that place where you meet the air around you. Noticing this. Connection or kind of blurred. Lines in the energetic field between yourself and the space around you. Maybe there is a sense of a unifying energy. That the peace or the stillness you may feel around you is also within you. Connecting one of your hands to your belly. You witness that natural, Gentle rise and fall of breath that's happening all on its own. And even in every simple breath, You are an intimate exchange with your environment. Breathing in and breathing out. Recognizing the connection that you have to all of life simply by being alive, Simply by breathing. Recognizing the connection you have to the space around you, The people around you. People of the earth. As you feel that maybe sort of blurred line between your energy, The energy around you, Somebody else's. The energy of a plant, The energy of an animal. And in this shared space, There is a union. That we can play and dance as separate for sometime but we always jump back into that connection. It's always that yearning to be together. Be close to the earth, Animals, People, Life. Because in that we know ourselves. And we know existence and love in such a deeper level. Take a gentle, Deeper, Loving breath into your palm. And sigh. Again breathe in And breathe out. Connecting your palms together. You have your hands together, Your thumbs on your chest. You may feel your heartbeat. And then gently rubbing the hands together, Feel the warmth, The energy, The aliveness, The life force between your palms. Bye. And gently place your hands on top of your chest. Nice deep breath of unity connection into your body And exhale. Slowly open the eyes. Namaste.