Welcome to this yin yoga class where we will be focusing on the principle of holding.
For today's class,
You will need a blanket or a pillow,
And please bring your mat next to a wall as we will use it for many of our poses.
And let's begin using the wall.
So scooch back if you need to and allow the wall to hold your back,
Your head,
Your shoulders.
However it feels more comfortable.
With our back being held by the wall,
We're going to start and focus on our breath.
Just bringing attention on the breath coming in and out of the body.
And as you breathe,
Allow your awareness,
Your attention to melt down into your back,
Into the back body.
And down into the hips.
So you allow your attention to sink into the back body and into the hips.
Allowing your attention to melt into your whole body.
Not only your head.
So start perceiving your whole body.
The feet.
The knees,
The thighs.
The hips,
The back,
The arms,
The head.
Expanding your felt sense,
Your awareness into the whole body.
From this space.
Allowing an intention to come up with your practice.
And allowing this intention to melt with your whole body awareness.
We're going to take two more deep breaths here.
Take a deep inhale.
You can sigh it out the mouth.
Slowly open our eyes and let's come into our next posture.
So you want to sit next to the wall with your hips touching the wall and leave the pillow or the blanket to support your hips once you lie down.
Bringing the feet up.
Allowing the legs to come hip width apart or a little bit wider.
Rest the arms wherever they feel comfortable.
And we're going to be in this posture for a few minutes.
Coming back into the principle of holding.
So we are setting the space so that we can hold the posture with great ease and comfort.
And as you settle,
Just focus on your breath.
Keeping your attention wide,
Feeling your whole body.
And allowing the wall the floor to hold the weight of your legs and your torso.
We're going to take Three more deep breaths in this posture before moving.
Exhale,
Bend the legs.
Lift the hips and scoot yourself back.
You want to create a 90 degree angle between your knees and your hips.
And your ankles and your knees.
From this space we're going to cross the right leg on a four.
And just rest in this position in a gentle hip opener.
If you need to,
You can walk the left foot a little bit higher on the wall and that can soften the posture.
As you settle in,
Feel that your right knee wants to separate a little bit more from your chest.
And again,
Melt your attention into your whole body.
Feeling all the sensations of your body.
And with every breath,
Allowing your intention to be expanded.
In this whole body awareness.
We're going to take three more breaths here.
One more deep inhale.
Exhale side out and bring the right foot back into the wall stretching a little bit the knees and just observing.
Feet are flat against the wall.
Getting ready to go to the other side,
Right leg in the 90 degree angle.
Or a little bit higher and left knee bends.
Remember you want the left knee to be Sort of pushing or opening away from your chest.
Find that comfortable position.
Where you feel a stretch on your hips.
And when you arrive there,
Just focus on being present.
With this moment.
With the sensations,
With the breath.
With the letting go.
We're going to take three more breaths.
Two more breaths.
Getting ready to come out of the posture.
Inhale.
And as you exhale,
Bring both legs to the wall,
Leaving the soles of the feet touching the wall but stretching a little bit more.
Just observing,
Absorbing,
And feeling.
We're going to open the hands wide to the centre,
Bring the knees to the chest.
And as you exhale,
Little twist to the right,
Knees come to the right.
If you need a support for the knees,
You can bring the pillow or the blanket underneath them.
Be sure to be comfortable and to have your left shoulder straight.
Relaxing down to the ground.
If you want to feel an extra stretch,
Make sure that your knees are stacked on top of each other.
And when you find that posture,
Just breathe.
Observing,
Holding the stillness.
And dispose.
Taking three more deep breaths in this pose.
Taking the breath,
Moving the body.
Take one more deep inhale.
Coming back to center.
You can hug the knee.
You can also hug from above.
The thighs underneath the calves.
Just observe the sensations here,
Allowing the body to integrate.
Opening the arms once again and twist it to the opposite side.
Again if you were using the blanket or the pillow underneath the legs go ahead and do that.
And if you want to feel a deeper twist,
Make sure your knees are stacked on top of each other.
Allowing the right shoulder to soften into the ground.
As you focus on your breath.
And the present moment.
We're going to take three more deep breaths in this posture.
Coming back to centre,
Hugging the knees,
Whichever way feels best for you.
And allow the body to fall to one side in a fetal position and using the help of the hands come back to a seated position.
You're going to touch the wall with your hips and come back to lying down.
So your hips,
Your buttocks is touching the wall.
And you want to open wide the legs.
We're going to use the support of the wall in this straddle position.
Just melt the weight of our legs,
Hips,
Torso and arms down into the ground.
Connecting with the breath.
The whole body awareness.
Bring in your intention in this present moment.
We're going to take three more deep breaths here to come out of the posture.
As you exhale,
Bring your hands to your knees,
Bend the knees and close gently the legs.
Stretch the legs on the wall and just allow the body a moment to feel and integrate.
Bending the legs.
Falling to one side on the fetal position and coming back to a seat.
We're gonna come into our last pose,
Shavasana,
With the blanket or the pillow underneath the knees.
And just lying down.
Allowing the pillow to hold the weight of your legs.
Breathing here and melting all the weight of your body down.
We're gonna take three more deep breaths in Shavasana.
Bringing your awareness back into the body.
And gently start to wiggle your fingers and your toes.
Your head from side to side.
You can stretch back like you were waking up,
Activating all the muscles of your body.
When you're ready,
Hog the knees.
Into the chest,
Falling to the right side in the fetal position.
With the help of your hands,
Come back up.
If you need to sit on the blanket or the pillow,
Try and do it with your eyes closed.
As you come to the comfortable seated position,
Just become aware of how your body and your mind feel in this moment.
Bringing a gentle smile to your face,
Giving gratitude for everything that you hold and everything that holds you.
Gratitude for everything that you have let go of and that you are letting go of.
Gratitude to life all around us.
Take one more deep inhale,
Opening your eyes.
Thank you so much for joining today,
And I'll see you next class,
Where we will dive into the final principle of yinlongga.
