Yin Yoga To Help You Feel Connected

This yin yoga practice is here to help you reconnect to yourself, your breath, and to your communities. It's a slow-moving, yin-based practice that's suitable for all levels. Get a yoga block or book and a blanket or towel for this practice. Settle in, open your heart, and enjoy.

Transcript

Let's get ready for some yin.

You can grab a mat if you have a block,

Fabulous.

If you don't have a block,

Harry Potter 4,

It's about the same size.

And if you don't have Harry Potter or a block,

You can always grab a towel or blanket and roll it up into a little tube.

So you just roll it up so you have a nice cylinder that you can use.

And we'll get started lying on our backs.

Again,

You can put this block right underneath the middle back,

So it's like your shoulders hook on the sides of the block.

Again,

You can use the block the same way or the book the same way or also take that tube blanket and put it through the middle back just so you can find a nice open chest.

If you have none of these lying on your back,

We'll do the trick as well.

So we kind of begin at the end.

We kind of begin with a Shavasana.

So let's take a deep breath in.

And a long breath out.

Inhale deep.

And exhale.

Full breath in.

And full breath out.

And start to settle into,

Or inhale and exhale through the nose.

Inhale.

And your soft shoulders.

Heavy heart.

Relaxed hips.

Then your connection to ground.

And the support of earth underneath you.

And really feel that support here.

You don't have to hold your body up anymore.

This is your time to let go.

Let each exhale drop you a little bit closer to ground.

Just soften your body just a little bit more.

And then each muscle,

One after the other,

Relax.

You get to be present in your body.

This is your gift.

Take a deep breath in.

A long breath out.

You have a block or blanket underneath you.

You can slowly prop your body up onto the forearms.

Remove the block or blanket and lay back down onto your back.

So you're nice and flat on your back.

Notice the ways that lifting the chest off the earth has molded you,

Has changed your body.

And slowly bring the left knee into the chest.

You can hug in that left knee on the shin.

Softening the back body,

Feeling the shoulders and head relax.

And you take the left knee over to the right for a spinal twist.

So the hips will turn over to the right.

The shoulders stay heavy on the ground.

You can even take the left arm over to the left.

Palm faces up.

And gaze can even come up and over to the left.

And then again,

Practice,

We spend time in our poses.

So please give your body time to settle into your deepest expression.

There's no rush to get anywhere.

There's no big destination with shiny,

Flashy lights.

There is simply where your body wants to rest.

And you can allow that to be right here,

Right now.

And get soft behind the shoulders.

And simply breathe.

Right,

Stopping or even just slowing down,

It can feel really uncomfortable sometimes.

I invite you to stay with the desire to fidget,

To move,

And maybe just choose to stay even for one more breath,

Two more breaths.

Seeing your softness here and appreciating it.

And getting rid of all of the negative connotations that go along with the word soft.

And instead,

Filling them up with the positive ones.

It can be all puppies and bubbles in your head right now,

If you'd like it to.

Let that be the softness in your heart.

Your next breath,

Come back into your center,

Slowly hug the knee into chest.

And then lay the left leg long down the mat.

You can hug the right knee into your chest,

Gently pull the shin in.

And then right knee over to the left side,

Finding your twist once again.

Right shoulder on earth,

Right hip is perhaps lifted,

And gaze can come over to the right.

A new direction,

New side,

And a new opportunity to allow the body to slowly sink in,

To not be in a rush.

A slow release to the earth.

Take a deep breath in.

A long breath out.

Slowly bring knee back into center.

And this time,

Hug both knees into the chest.

Let the shoulders relax on the ground,

So the shins just gently drop towards the body.

So the head is heavy.

So you relax down right here.

And you soften in right here.

Slowly roll forward and back,

Forward and back on the spine,

Coming all the way up to your seated position.

When you find your seat,

We'll take the right leg out long and left foot into the inner right side.

So Janu Shrasana,

Folding over the right leg.

So make sure the body is straight facing over the right leg,

And just gently walk the hands forward nice and slow to drop the head down.

And again,

Remember,

Our yin practice,

We have time.

So this is not the need to get as far as you can,

To force anything,

To rush.

We're going to let our breath and our slowness,

Our heartbeat and gravity,

We're going to let that do the work here.

Each breath is what brings us a little closer.

No destination.

The yin itself can feel uncomfortable.

And that's OK.

Slowly walk the hands back to lift the chest back up.

Bend the left leg and bring the right foot in.

Second side for your Janu Shrasana,

Again,

Walk the hands forward.

You stop when you stop.

That's totally cool.

There's no rush to get anywhere,

And then you breathe.

Present right here.

Each breath taking you a quarter of an inch further.

Giving yourself permission to slow down.

How nice is that permission to not have to go anywhere?

Krishnamurti?

Right?

Take a deep breath in.

Along exhale.

Slowly walk the hands back up to seated position.

And we're going to take a reverse tabletop just to stretch the front body.

So bring both feet onto the ground,

Knees are bent and hands are going to come right behind the hips.

The hands fingertips facing towards the feet.

So fingertips face forward.

If you have a lot of shoulder stuff,

You can have fingertips face towards the sides of the mat as well.

You're going to press into the feet and the hands lift hips up to sky.

Here's your reverse tabletop.

Feel the shoulders pulling back,

Opening the front body.

Big lift in the hips for two and one.

Slowly lower all the way back down onto hips.

Okay,

Let's take another fold,

Baddha Konasana or butterfly.

So me soles of the feet together,

Knees wide.

And no pressure to bring the hips super or that heel super close to the hips.

You can have some space here.

And we're going to just round over head towards the feet.

You have your block handy.

I love a block underneath my forehead.

You might have to do a little bit of play to find your sweet spot in this pose.

Allow yourself time.

What a luxury.

What a luxury.

I truly believe in the time bending properties of presence and concentration.

Give yourself permission to slow down.

Feel your head seeking earth.

Seeking that connection,

That groundedness.

It's right here available to you.

We think things are so complicated,

But here they are laid out simply and simple right in front of us.

Just take one breath after the other.

One breath after the other.

All in the mouth.

One breath after the other.

Take one breath in.

One breath out.

Simply lift the body back up.

You can straighten out the legs in front of you to stretch them out here.

Take your time.

Take any small movements that will support your body.

Support your needs.

From here let's get ready for shoelace pose,

Which is also known as Gomukhasana.

So what you're going to do is you're going to bend the left knee so that the right foot comes near the right hip.

So left knee points forward on the ground.

Left foot comes towards the hip.

And then you stack the right knee on top of the left.

So again,

Both knees pointing forward,

Feet out to the sides.

If this feels super uncomfortable,

You can always take this as a half Gomukhasana.

And so your bottom leg,

Your left leg will straighten out and the right leg will be on top.

You can also sit on a block here as well to give you a little more spaciousness in your hips.

As always,

If you feel a big pulling in your knees,

You just create a shape that is more comfortable for you.

From here let's start to fold forward if that's something that your body needs.

I like to put a little pressure into the hands so that I feel the hips pushing back and spreading out,

Creating space.

Stay with this pose.

Stay with this shape.

Grateful for the pause.

Uh huh.

Feel the evenness of your breath.

And start to lift the chest up.

Unwind and let's come to the other side,

Taking your time.

Please take your time.

We're going to have right leg underneath this time.

So right knee points forward,

Left knee stacks on top,

Both feet pointing either towards the edges of the mat or even pointing towards the back.

We'll sit up tall.

And when and if you are ready,

Leaning forward.

Knowing this side is different,

So if you need to take another variation,

Please do.

And on this side,

Let's really stay with the breath.

Can you feel and try to make the inhale and exhale as even as possible?

Even as possible.

All the way down.

Instead of coming out.

And next inhale,

Slowly lift up,

Unwind the legs,

Shake them out,

Take any movements you need.

And let's lay down onto our backs.

Shavasana pose,

Our final rest,

Our corpse pose,

Tuck the shoulders underneath,

Let the palms face up.

The feet splay out to the side,

That means softness from feet all the way up to hips,

All the way up through belly and into shoulders and around the neck and head.

Let the calm,

Strong energy of your breath just travel all through the body,

Unencumbered,

No hiccups,

No snacks.

It can be this simple.

Let's allow it to be this simple.

Let's breathe.

Let's take a deep breath in.

And long breath out.

Start to bring movements to your fingers and to your toes,

Gently waking your body back up once again.

And you'll bend the knees,

Walk the feet to the hips,

Roll to the right side.

Pause here.

I think you can feel your heartbeat.

The movement,

The activity of your body that is real,

Really,

Really real.

Remember this anchor.

Remember this truth of who you are.

Press into your hands,

Come up to a seated position.

Your eyes can be closed,

Hands can press together at your heart,

This Anjali Mudra,

The symbol of connectedness,

Of strength,

Of bowing to the other.

And take a deep inhale.

And a full exhale.

The light in me very heavily bows,

That same light in each one of you.

Namaste.

Thank you so much,

Everyone,

For practicing with me,

For listening in.

I hope you have a beautiful day full of light and love.

Talk soon.

Reviews

Light and Love - besutiful sequencing, inspiring beginning - feeling relaxed and connected. Thank You!

This is perfect for me to stretch thank you! Namaste! 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Hello beautiful 🌺🌺🌺🌺Thank you so much for the wonderful yin yoga practice 🎈I’m feeling smiles all over like feeling the sun on a rainy day ☀️be well 🙏Namaste

❤️

Wonderful 🙏💫🌻

Wonderful. It was not always easy to figure out the poses I wasn't already familiar with, but the pacing and instructions are perfect and there's a calm energy to the voice that's nicely communicative. Thank you!