Yin Yoga is a slow paced style of yoga with postures or asanas that are held for longer periods of time.
This type of yoga is especially effective for deep relaxation and can help with stress reduction,
Increase circulation and improve flexibility.
Let's begin on our mats or maybe in your bed,
Wherever you are,
In a kneeling position,
With our big toes touching together,
Sitting back on our heels,
Palms of the hands rest on the thighs or in the lap,
Sitting up nice and tall,
Taking a nice deep breath,
Tuning in,
Welcoming yourself to your yoga practice.
From your kneeling position,
You can choose to keep the knees together or maybe bring the knees out wide,
Placing the palms of the hands onto the surface beneath you,
Walk them forward,
Melting the heart,
The belly down to the floor,
Extending the arms out long.
Maybe the forehead rests down onto the earth,
Coming into this child's pose,
Balasana.
We'll be here for a couple minutes,
Settling in,
Allowing gravity to draw the hips closer to the earth,
Noticing how you feel,
Noticing how where you start in the posture may not be the same as where you end.
We'll take three more nice long deep rounds of breath here in this child's pose.
When you're ready,
From our child's pose,
We'll keep the arms stretched out long,
Planting the palms of the hands onto the earth,
Beginning to slowly move the body up,
Peeling it up off the earth,
Shifting forward,
Hugging the elbows in towards the ribs,
Lowering down onto our bellies,
Softening the lower back,
Bringing the forearms out in front of us,
Parallel to one another in the shape of a number 11,
Coming into this sphinx pose,
The crown of the head reaches tall and the heart shines forward,
The elbows are beneath the shoulders.
We breathe here in this little back bend,
Noticing how you feel,
If there's any pinching in the lower back,
You can always widen the legs,
The feet,
Send the elbows out to the top of the mat just a little further,
And we'll be here for three more nice long rounds of breath.
From our sphinx pose,
We'll bring the palms of the hands beneath the shoulders,
Pressing the body back up,
Shifting our hips off to one side or the other,
Coming into a seat,
With the legs extended,
Our bodies in the shape of an L,
As we root down through the sitz bones,
Finding a nice straight,
Tall spine,
Soft bend in the knees,
The legs are extended,
The palms of the hands rest on the lap,
From here we'll take a nice big inhale as we begin to glide our hands down the legs,
Reaching for the feet,
Maybe you touch the toes,
Maybe the hands rest by the side of the shins or the knees,
Round the spine,
Allow the head to hang heavy,
Coming into the seated forward fold,
Tuning in with the breath,
Relaxing here,
From your forward fold,
Begin to walk the hands slowly back up the thighs,
Coming back into our staff pose,
Dandasana,
Planting the hands behind the seat,
Coming on down to the forearms,
Lowering the body to the floor,
Finding ourselves on our backs,
Getting comfortable here,
As we bring the soles of the feet together,
Bending at the knees,
Allowing the knees to draw closer to the earth,
As they become heavy,
Gravity takes them,
The arms rest comfortably by the sides,
Staying here,
Now in this reclined butterfly position,
We'll be here for 3 more nice long rounds of breath,
Settling in,
Checking in with the lower back,
Giving the body permission to totally melt into the yoga mat or the surface beneath the body,
We'll take 3 more nice deep rounds of breath here,
When you're ready,
We'll bring the palms of the hands to the outer edges of the knees,
Guiding them up slowly to the center,
Bringing them in,
Giving them a little hug with the arms,
Resting the soles of the feet back down onto the earth,
The knees are bent,
The feet are hips width distance apart,
We'll allow the knees to drop off onto one side or the other,
Coming into this reclined spinal twist,
Making any adjustments that you need to find comfort,
Resting the hands on the top hip or maybe extending the arms out to a T,
Finding space,
Relaxing the shoulders down onto the earth,
We'll be here for 2 more nice deep long rounds of breath,
When you're ready,
On your next inhale,
We'll gather the knees back up,
Bringing them to center,
Adjusting the hips,
And allowing the knees to fall off to the other side,
Coming into this reclined twist on the other side,
Noticing how you feel,
Making any adjustments for comfort,
Placing the hands on the hip,
Or maybe bringing them out to a T,
We'll be here in this shape for 2 more nice long deep rounds of breath,
Pausing,
When you're ready,
Bringing the hands to the outer thighs,
Guiding the knees back up to center,
Maybe wrapping the arms around the shins,
Giving yourself a nice little hug,
Maybe rocking from side to side,
Taking one final nice deep round of breath,
On the exhale,
Extending the legs out long,
Coming onto your back,
Finding your final resting shavasana,
Whatever that may look like for you,
Maybe the legs are extended out long,
With the feet relaxing,
Falling out to the sides,
The arms straight by the side,
The palms facing up,
Maybe the eyes are closed,
Begin to tune in on the breath,
Inviting total relaxation,
Just taking a moment to reflect on our yoga practice,
You can stay here in shavasana just as long as you'd like at home,
Or join me by bringing any subtle movement back to the body,
Maybe wiggling the fingers and the toes,
Rocking the head back and forth,
Rolling over onto one side or the other,
Pausing here for a breath or two,
Before pushing the body back up to a seated position to close our practice,
Resting the hands in the lap,
Or joining me by bringing hands to heart center,
I thank you so much for sharing this mini yin yoga session with me,
May you be happy,
May you be healthy,
And may you be well,
Namaste.
