Welcome to this yin yoga practice.
In this practice we will focus on the principle of releasing mindfully.
Being super aware of the in-betweens so in this practice in between the poses we're going to take some time to just breathe and absorb the sensations.
After one pose and another.
For this practice,
As always,
You need a mat.
Maybe a blanket,
Maybe a block.
Pillow whatever you have been using the blanket will be especially helpful if you have any knee pains and as always let's begin Just sitting down.
Connecting with our breath.
That air coming in and out of your lungs.
The breath moving your body.
And absorbing this moment of pause.
Between whatever you were doing before and our practice that is starting.
Observe and absorb these in between.
Holding the stillness.
Of not yet starting.
But having ended whatever you were doing before.
As you stay here you can allow an intention to come up for your practice.
And let this intention drop into your body with your breath.
With your awareness.
Let this intention be the flowering of the next.
Stage of our practice.
Which will be moving into the postures.
But at the moment,
Allow this intention to drop deeper.
Go into all the corners of your body.
Really savouring this moment.
Before we go into the asanas.
Your eyes may be opened or closed.
But your attention is always present.
In this moment.
Naturally following your breath.
And following your intention.
Taking our last few breaths before moving into our next posture,
Opening the eyes and coming into all fours,
Sinking the hips down to the heels.
If you have any uncomfortable sensation on your knees,
You can always take a moment to roll a blanket and put the blanket between the calves and the back of the thighs.
Or you can also sit on a pillow and bring the blanket underneath your ankles.
We're going to bring the right hand up to the sky.
And as you exhale,
Cross the hand,
The arm underneath your left armpit.
The left hand can come and stretch forward.
Or if you feel like it,
You can even bring it behind your back.
Whatever feels best for your body in this moment.
And as you arrive into the posture,
Find that space of stillness with your breath awareness of your body and the present moment.
We're going to take the last few breaths here,
Preparing to move.
You can breathe out your mouth if you feel like it.
Let's bring the left hand in front of your face.
Push the floor,
Bring the hand up.
And as you exhale,
Just bring both of your hands to your knees,
To your thighs.
Stretch your back and come into this posture of just observing and absorbing before we move into the other side.
Taking the last few breaths,
Preparing to move,
Take a deep breath.
Exhales out your mouth.
And we're going to come to the other side.
Bringing the right hand on the mat,
Lifting the left one.
And as you exhale,
Threading the arm underneath your armpits.
Breathing here,
Feeling the sensations,
Remembering that the hand can go behind your back.
We can stay stretched on the mat.
Find your edge.
And stay here with your breath.
Last few breaths before we move.
Press with the hand the floor,
Open the chest.
And this time for integration,
We're coming into a child's pose.
So just rest your forehead on the ground.
And allow the darkness.
The visual field to take you even deeper in this moment of pause.
Between one posture and the other.
Last few breaths before we move again,
Taking deep exhales.
Bring the hands underneath your shoulders,
Press the floor,
Come on up.
And let's come to all fours and bring our belly down into the ground.
We're going to come to Sphinx pose.
So elbows underneath shoulders.
Or even a little bit to the front makes it a little bit easier.
Bring your shoulders away from your ears.
Open your chest.
And find stillness and your edge in this posture.
Listen to what your body needs.
You can always just let the head hang down.
Stretching a little bit the muscles of the neck and the back.
Listen to what your body needs and go there.
Always coming back to your breath.
To the sensation of your whole body.
Flooding this present moment with your attention.
Taking our last few breaths here.
Preparing to move,
Bring the forehead down.
Make fists with your hands and bring the hands.
To the hip joint.
Where the belly,
The hips and the legs,
Knee.
And with your fists resting here.
You can bring one cheek to the floor.
And just focus on observing and absorbing.
Before we move into our next posture.
Really just enjoying this in between.
You can change,
Bringing the other cheek on the ground.
Keep just following your breath and melting deeper into the earth.
Last few deep breaths here before we move again.
Take a deep exhale,
Forehead on the ground,
Hands beneath your shoulders and press yourself up to come and lay on your back.
We're going to bring the legs close to the hip.
Mat width apart your feet.
And allow both legs to fall towards the right.
Following your breath here.
You want to feel a stretch on the top of your left thigh.
There's no sensation on the left knee.
So if you need to put a pillow underneath it or a block,
Go ahead and do that to keep your knee safe.
And if you feel like you want more sensation,
Bring the left heel closer to your left.
When you find that posture,
That place.
That sweet spot between not too little and not too much.
Allow yourself to melt into the present moment.
Taking our last few breaths before we move again.
One more deep inhale,
Bring the legs to the center.
And stretch the legs forward coming into a short shavasana in between poses.
Really allowing your attention to observe and absorb all the goodness from the last pose.
Getting ready to move,
Take two deep inhales here,
Two deep exhales.
Let's go into the other side.
So feet on the ground,
Mat width apart,
Opening the arms and allowing.
Both legs to fall towards the left.
Then there's no sensation on.
The right knee.
If you need to put underneath the knee a block,
A pillow,
A blanket.
Go ahead and do that.
If you need more sensation,
You grab the heel and bring it closer to your right bottom.
And when you find your edge.
You release down.
Into the present moment.
Last few deep breaths before moving.
One more deep exhale.
Bringing the legs back into the center.
Allowing the knees to touch in the middle and bring your hands to your lower belly.
For this integrative pose.
Absorbing and observing.
Everything that moved with the last posture.
Holding this moment of stillness.
If we're going to our next posture.
Final breaths here.
Deep exhale.
Preparing to move,
Bringing the hands down next to your body.
Bring the feet close to the hips,
Lift the hips and put them to the right side of your mat.
Bring in the left leg forward,
Right one on top.
Bring both hands back.
And grab your left.
Risk.
And stretching your torso to the right.
As if you were making the banana shape with your body.
You want both of your hips to be pointing towards the sky.
And once you arrive into the pose,
Come back to your breath.
Allowing your body and your attention to melt in the present moment.
Last few breaths in this posture.
Preparing to move.
Bring the torso back to the center.
Bring the left leg to the mat.
Right leg joins it.
And we're going to come into a shavasana.
As integration so just stretch your feet forward relax the arms and allow the body,
The tissues,
The mind to absorb the movement of the last pose.
Last few breaths before we move again.
Bringing both legs back to the mat,
Both feet back to the mat.
Lift the hips,
Putting them on the right side of the mat.
Stretch the left leg bringing the foot towards the left corner.
Right leg will cross on top.
Bring the hands back.
Grab your right wrist.
And Fold the torso towards the left as if you wanted to imitate the banana shape.
When you find yourself in the posture,
Start to take your attention into the whole body awareness,
Into your breath.
Remembering that both of your hips want to be pointing towards the ceiling,
Towards the sky.
And as you exhale,
Let go of any thought or expectation.
And just feel and observe the present moment.
Final breaths in this pose.
Preparing our body to move,
Bringing the torso back to the center.
The right foot,
The left foot on the ground.
And as you exhale,
Coming into our final posture.
Shavasana.
In this final shavasana we're going to allow the body the mind to integrate all of this practice before we continue with our day or our night.
You can bring the pillow,
The blanket underneath your knees or not.
Or if it's cold,
You can also cover yourself with a blanket.
Once you're in your comfortable position just melt all the weight of your body down.
And allow your breath to be Allow this present moment to be.
As your body just rests in stillness.
Take a deep exhale,
Preparing to move very slowly,
Very gently.
Start wiggling your toes and your fingers.
Your head from side to side stretching back like you were waking up,
Activating all of your body.
Hugging the knees to the chest.
And letting your body fall towards the right on the fetal position.
Enjoying this position for a few breaths.
Take a deep exhale and with the help of your hands against the mat.
Come back to a seat.
If you need to sit on the blanket or in the pillow,
Go right ahead.
And just find again this moment of stillness as we end this practice.
Giving gratitude to our body,
Our breath,
The cells,
The tissues,
The organs,
The muscles and the bones.
Giving gratitude to these moments of presence,
The in-between.
Where we can integrate,
Where we can absorb.
Where we can observe.
Giving gratitude to nature all around us.
This present time,
This space.
Remembering that we can take this principle of releasing mindfully.
Into our day-to-day life Thank you so much for joining this class and I'll see you next time.
