Stay Fit And Healthy With Yin Yoga

In this session, we will be working on supporting and strengthening our immunity to keep healthy. The immune system acts as a force-field for viruses and bacteria and when robust, we are less likely to catch colds or the flu. For this class, we aim to get deep into the body through long-held Yin Yoga poses, and encourage our immunity and (or 'Wei Qi' in China) to work more efficiently.

The poses we will use today are One-legged Child's Pose, Pontoon & Mermaid.

Victoria's Yin Yoga classes are designed to release tension and bring presence to body & mind. Bring a bolster (or pillow), some blocks (or books) and a blanket. Please make sure to listen to your body during the class and if anything doesn’t feel right, come out of the pose and rest. Your body is your responsibility.

Transcript

Welcome, I'm Vicky from Uchela Yoga and today we're going to be doing a Yin Yoga session on immunity. The immune system, As we call it in the English speaking world, Or wei qi in China, Act as a force field for viruses and bacteria. When they're strong we're less likely to get ill, To catch colds or the flu for example. So in this session we're aiming to get deep into the body through our long held Yin poses and encourage our immunity, Or wei qi, To work more efficiently and help us to become healthier. For those of you who are new to Yin Yoga, Bear in mind that this is a passive, Meditative, Relatively still practice where we relax the muscles in order to get deep into the connective tissue, Particularly joints and fascia. We stay in the poses for around 3-5 minutes so do spend some time adjusting the position so that it suits your body. I'll give you lots of suggestions for this. What we're looking for here is stimulation but not pain, So make sure to listen to your body, Changing the position if you need to or even coming out completely. Finally, As this is audio obviously I'll be describing the poses to you. If you feel you'll particularly want to see them however, Then check out the poses page on my website uchelayoga. Com. You can find the link in my profile. So let's get started. Possible props for this class are something to raise your hips up, A block, Book, Cushions, Anything at all and a blanket would be great as well. So to start we're going to do a breathing exercise to help condition the lungs and maximise breathing. Find yourself a comfortable seated position, Whatever that is for you, Kneeling, Cross-legged, Anything as long as your back is straight and your chest is open. Now close your eyes if that's okay and I'll talk you through it. So the hand position for this exercise is the same as what you would use for Nadi Shodhana or alternate nostril breathing. So those of you who have done that Pranayama before, Please use the one you're used to. If you haven't, Then try placing the middle finger on the forehead, Either hand is fine, So that you can close and open the right and left nostril using the thumb and little finger. So what we're going to be doing here is slightly different to Nadi Shodhana. We'll be simply breathing in the right and out the left. That's all we're going to be doing. So breathing in the right and breathing out of the left using your fingers to close and open as necessary. When you feel somewhat settled, Bring the hand to the face. Now breathe out completely and close the left nostril. Breathe in the right for four. So one, Two, Three, Four. Close the right, Open the left, Breathe out. Two, Three, Four. Close and breathe in the right. Two, Three, Four. Close breathe out the left. Two, Three, Four. Close and breathe in the right. Two, Three, Four. Close out the left. Two three, Four. In the right, Two, Three, Four. The left 2 3 4 in the right 2 3 4 out left 2 3 4 right 2 3 4 left 2 3 4 now we'll change you get a little so right 2 3 4 left 2 3 4 now we're going to change right 2 3 4 5 6 left 2 3 4 5 6 right 2 3 4 5 6 left 2 3 4 6 ok so now continue doing this in your own time you can choose to use 4 6 or even 8 if you like just make sure you're not getting breathless and if that's the case then just go back to a lower number you notice if you're holding any tension in the body and if you feel like you are then see if you can breathe into that area and soften it see if it's possible to just relax a little take your time don't rush just feel the in-breath and the out-breath the shorter in-breath the longer out-breath encouraging our nervous system to relax to calm down and then on the last out-breath through the left keep the eyes closed drop the hands and just notice any effect and then when you're ready open your eyes and we'll move into the first pose which is basically one-legged child's pose if you're not already in a kneeling position then make your way onto your knees then I want you to stretch the right leg out to the side and fold the body forward we're looking for a stretch on the inside right thigh here so if you're already at the point where you're okay to stay for about three and a half minutes then stay where you are if you're not really feeling the stretch then move the leg a bit further back or you can rotate it forwards and backwards to see if that gives you more stretch if that's still not working then try moving the torso a bit to the right or maybe the left if you've got too much stretch then bring the leg a bit further forward and you can also play with the rotation of the leg for this additionally if you're finding that the back of the knee is putting a bit too much then bend the knee a bit and place a roll blanket underneath to lessen the extension of the leg now we'll be here for about two and a half minutes now so just allow yourself to relax into the pose feeling the sensation in the right thigh and keeping the body relaxed you another minute or so to go now so if you feel that for this last bit you want a bit more stretch again then just move the torso a little to the side to see if that gives you more or if you feel like you want less stretch then perhaps you might want to bring the torso up a bit now to come up slowly straighten the body to a seated position then drop your left hip down to the floor now take hold of the right knee and drag that leg in placing the foot on the floor and just staying here for a few moments before we move to the other side perhaps closing your eyes and noticing how different the right leg and the left leg feel so now we move to the other side go up onto your knees again and this time stretch the left leg out again adjust rotate move the leg to find the stretch that you want on the inside thigh then fold the body forward we'll stay here again for around three and a half minutes trying to keep the body soft allowing it to go deeper into the pose and trying to use as little muscular effort as possible this is where the meridian or the channel of energy of the spleen is and we're working on this as the spleen contains really important cells that fight infection so by stimulating the energy flow related to the spleen we're encouraging to work more efficiently that's a very simplistic explanation but it gives you the main idea notice if you're holding tension see if you can breathe into it and soften it and if you feel at any point that is getting too much or you've lost the stretch then do adjust the body so let's start to move out of the pose again push yourself back up to the center drop the right hip and sit on the floor then gently take hold of the outstretched leg bend the knee and again bring it in place the foot on the floor close your eyes and just notice for a minute or so how this leg feels compared to before and now we're moving to the second pose pontoon if you have something to raise your hips up on a block for example then please grab it now if you have a book then I'd suggest putting something on top of it so it doesn't dig into you first of all lie down knees bent feet flat on the floor now lift the hips up and place whatever support you have at the bottom of the spine the bony part just above the bum if you have a block then you can start with the lowest level and what we're going to do is straighten the legs out your legs can be together or separate and you can put the arms either on the floor above you or out of the sides what we're doing here is opening up the front of the torso so if this is fine for you then stay here but if you're not really feeling that much and you want to feel a bit more you can take the block up to the next level or perhaps put another book on top if you're using those instead and we're going to be in this for around three minutes you the spleen meridian that I was talking about before goes through the inside legs but it also goes through the sides of the front of the torso so by opening up that area we're stimulating those meridians and the energy that flows through them also as all the meridians in traditional Chinese medicine come in pairs then the pair of the spleen is the stomach meridian in yogic tradition it's sometimes said that getting ill can result from an energy imbalance in the digestive system so by stimulating the energy within these meridians we could say that we're encouraging our bodies to work more efficiently in building up our immunity to invaders you if at any point you're finding this is too much in the lower back and that it's hurting you try separating the legs that can be really helpful if that still doesn't work you can try bending the knees as well to come out then simply bend the knees keeping your hips on the prop or perhaps even straighten them up in the air if you like this should be in like so not too high and be careful of the lower back the legs don't need to be completely straight necessarily either what we're doing just briefly here is stimulating the lymph system which also contains white blood cells now if your legs are in the air then bend the knees and place the feet on the floor next gently raise your hips no sudden movements and take the block away slowly bringing your hips down and then going into a lying position on your back the next yin pose is called mermaid and for this I want you to bend the knees and place the feet on the floor about the distance of the mat then simply drop the knees to the left what we're looking for at this point is a bit of a stretch around the outside right hip perhaps into the leg if you're not really feeling much then you can put the left foot on the right thigh here you may feel like there's a bit too much pressure on the knee so if that's the case put something underneath the knee to support it now keeping the hips where they are then the top half of the torso to the left so you've got this banana like position ideally we want to feel a stretch on the right side of the torso here too now raise the arms up on the floor and take hold of the wrist the right or the left or perhaps even the elbows just stretch out the tops of the arms and maybe get more stimulation in the side torso move the hips around if you need to particularly if you're feeling anything uncomfortable in the back or the shoulders just play with it play with the legs play with the torso as long as we're feeling a stretch along the right side and no pain anywhere that's what we want we're also going to have a bit of a twist here so just twist the torso to the right side as well and now we'll stay for around two and a half minutes twists are believed to be great for detoxification of the body so again something pretty useful when we're trying to build up immunity notice if you're tensing anything pay attention to your breath and if you notice that isn't very natural then you're probably pushing too hard so I suggest backing off a bit so let's come up to the center bring the arms down straighten the torso and bring the knees up to the center just before we move to the other side maybe letting them knock together here just relax notice the difference between left and right now we're going to move to the other side so separate the feet again then drop the knees to the right side this time see how that stretch feels in the left here and ask yourself if that's enough and if it's okay to stay in for a few minutes as before if you want more stretch then bring the right foot on top of the left eye and if you're feeling anything in that knee stick something underneath it for support move the top half of the right torso over to the right to hopefully feel a stretch in the left side then play with the body play with the hip and make sure that nothing is painful now bring the arms up hold on to the wrists the elbows the arms whatever you want they can be over the head or they can be on the forehead if you prefer don't forget to twist to the opposite side again and now we'll stay here for around three minutes once again look at your breathing check that it's normal and if you feel at any point like it's getting too much then just make that banana shape a bit less bringing the body more towards the center alternatively if you feel like you're ready for a bit more stretch then you can bend a little bit further to that side do notice if you're tensing your body and notice if your attention is wandering to something and if it is just bring it back to the physical sensations yin yoga can be really good preparation if you're interested in mindfulness meditation in meditation for example you often use the breath as an anchor to the present moment and if your attention wanders then you can bring it back to the birth in yin yoga it's a similar idea in that when your attention wanders you can bring it back to your anchor which in this case is the feelings in the body the sensations noticing your experience so let's start moving back to the center so bring the arms down take the torso back to the center take the foot off the thigh and bring the knees up again you may feel fragile here but don't worry that's very normal now just straighten the legs and move the body however much you need to but gently as we move into shavasana lying on our backs so for shavasana spend some time getting comfortable here maybe lifting the hips and moving their legs the arms whatever you need to into the best place for you now close your eyes and simply notice the effects of the practice maybe taking a couple of deep breaths if you want to to help you relax into the ground even more let those really deep stretches we just did get integrated into the body to de-stress and help you stay calm and present having a knock-on effect on the mind your nerves your immune system and I'll leave you now in shavasana for around four minutes you you you you Now just start listening to the sounds in the room, Outside the room, Maybe within you, Out if you're even listening, If you're just starting to do some listening, Chill out or relax, Feel comfortable, Feel like you're just Strawberry Chi and you hear a little chirping from inside, From outside of you, You feel relaxed trying to feel relaxed while Circling the wrists, One direction and the other. Do the same with the feet. Pointing the toes, Flexing, Extending. Circling the ankles one way, Then circling them the other. And then just start to move your body in the way that it feels like it wants to be moved. Either stretching, Full body stretch. Perhaps bending the knees and bringing them into the chest, Rocking, Circling, Stretching out in a starfish shape, Whatever you want to do. And when you're ready, When you've done that, Roll onto your side and keeping your eyes closed, Just stay there for a few moments, No rush. And then in your own time, Make your way back up to the center to a seated position, Keeping the eyes closed. And in your seated position, Just notice how you feel compared to how you were at the start. And when you're ready, Then just open your eyes. Have a wonderful day. Namaste.

Reviews

Excellent wind down at the end of a long day. I can definitely feel the difference and improves stiffness 🙏

Much gratitude!

Love her calm voice, poses suggested are perfect for what my body and soul needs.

Great slow stretches and the explanations were great.

How perfect. Loved the detail explaining the poses and their benefits. Very soothing. Thank you!