Lessons

Lesson Info

Full-Body Yin

welcome to full body in in this slow, deep practice will target the whole body and start to work with the fascia and the really tight connective tissue so that we can release some tension, increased mobility and improved performance. As we restore for this class, you can use as many props is you want. We've got blankets, pollsters, a block and a strap. If you're at home pillows, cushions, belt books, you can sort of make whatever you have work as long as it's supportive and it gets the job done. It's just fine weight class today in a reclined soup robotic innocent. So grab yourself, Luffy props, and we're gonna make things really comfy. So a bolster is great to support the back, and that's gonna go with the back of your Met. If you want a little bit of height more like an incline, you can take a block. Put that underneath the head, sort of where pillow would be. That's usually a pretty good start, right? Take your time and set up so you make sure it's nice and comfortable because we're...

gonna be here a little while. So So it's the feet come together, bought a can. Ascena. The use of the bolster blanket is kind of right about it, your tailbone, and then gently lower yourself all the way on to your little ramp your pillow. And then once you get here, instead of letting the handstand the legs or keep them really active on the belly, and I want you to just sort of let him plop down, let the knees sink open. There's no need toe. Actively press the feet together or do a lot of work in the legs. The lovely thing about Yin yoga is that while we're here for a long time, it's very much gravity doing the work right. It's that time doing the work instead of more dynamic stretching where you're actually contracting the muscles. Here, we're just sort of letting things soften, letting the practice do its work on us instead of us trying to do the practice so much. And if this feels like it's too big of a back bend or it's a little intense in the low back, you always pick up the hips, lengthen the tailbone forward and drop them back down. She wants us to be really useful and start your practice here with a little deeper breath. See if you can imagine that breath sort of spreading wide across the collarbones, sternum, the top of the chest, right. And then imagine that breath moving down into the middle of the lungs, sort of the mid range of the ribs and expand all the way out through the sides of the ribs, into the armpits and then eventually the breath moving all the way down into the belly. It's a full body breathing here, allowing it that space along the inner thighs. The internees, even to the soles of feet, just sort of drape wide. If it ever becomes too intense on the knees, you can use your blankets or blocks to sort of prop up underneath the edges of the knees so they have a little support, especially if you're really, really mobile, really flexible. It may be good to have some support there, so you don't dump into that hyper mobility right? We need to maintain the structure, the strength, even as we open. Just be here for about 10 more breaths. I'm feeling each inhale drag across the chest, across the ribs, all the way through the belly allowing your exhales to trace the same pattern in reverse. So you press the air out on, then with your next breath, or to start to bring yourself back to life. Maybe wiggle the fingers toes, and instead of lifting the head on the neck up first and sort of cranking it, I just want you to bring your hands to the outside edges of your thighs and just gently press the legs together. Give him a little boost, and then you can roll off to one side, come onto the farm and press your way all the way up to a seat. So once you're upright, you're gonna take those same props, and we're going to come into a wide legged forward full So those props or again, gonna be your pillow. So in this wide like it, forward fold come out into a straddle right and again different than maybe a more active practice of any Ossa practice where your typically going for a bigger range of motion? Right? Instead of worrying about how wide your straddle is, find something, it's comfortable right again. We're gonna be here for a little while, so if you go to 100% in the 1st 30 seconds. Still have two minutes and 30 seconds to stay there. Yeah, so started about 75%. 70% maybe even less. And see where time and gravity takes you throughout the stretch. So once you find that comfortable straddle again, it could be a V. Could be all the way open And take your pops and create yourself a little bit of a ramp, a little bit of a pillow that you can lean and relax into depending on your mobility, your body shape this maybe way propped up. And you may just sort of be up here. Right Couple blocks, couple bolsters Create yourself a little fort or you may be dropped down a little further wherever you end up. The most important thing is that you are very supported, that you're able to relax and release. You're not holding yourself up or clinging on because what we're trying to do is get that really sick connective tissue in the fashion, particularly in the low back and in the hips. To start to sort of sheer and release right. It likes a sort of cling on, and the more we sit in the same position every day, right? It sort of starts like almost calcify, and that's the shape it's gonna hold rights. You have to encourage it with a little bit of time, a little bit of gravity to sort of let go of that death grip it's got. You can let the feet just be soft here. They turned out to let the legs flop all the way in. But that doesn't need to be crazy energy through the feet or anything like that. Remember, the key here is ease. That's the breath. And as gravity and the posture starts to take you a little bit deeper right, you might notice that it becomes easier to let go. Easier to relax if that means you need to adjust your props so that they are a little lower to support this new shape in your body. Continue to allow that to happen. Wow, the stretch feels and seems like it's just about the hamstrings or thighs. I want you to focus all of your breath into the back body and see if you can puff up that sort of kidney band across the mid back and move some space into that region. Give it some life and some breath spending. About five more breaths joining a bit more softness with every exhale A bit more. Ease with your next few breaths, right? Take your time. You're in this big vulnerable position to take your time to work your way out of it. Use a little strength in the belly as you pull your way back up and then it just like you did with your body. Canasta, use your hands to sort of give your legs a little bit boost. You can sort of scoop underneath the kneecaps and those guys in and pull the knees into the chest. And once you got the knees in the chest, just give yourself a nice big hug. If you can sort of round, puff out the back side of the body and drop the chin to the chest, maybe drop all the way down. So it's like you're giving yourself a big hug. Sort of cradle it in. Does he drop your chin to your chest? See if you can feel that line of the spine stretch all the way up so it curves up into the brain so you get that length through the back side of the neck, but it's almost a dramatic sized tuck of the chin. So you get a little bit more stretch there. Well, in gently lift the head back up and you're in a scooter. Bolster in your block. Out of the way! We are going, Teoh, come onto our backs into a fairly deep hip opener. So you're gonna take your strap or your belt and take it into a nice big loop right with you. And then there's always a little bit of prep involved. Sometimes it takes a village to get yourself all set up, but I promise it is worth it, right? So getting yourself set up nice and comfortable allows you to stay in the poses longer and makes them more effective, right? If you're squirming and wiggling and trying to get out of it the whole time, we're not going to get the full benefit. So you got their shopping, this nice big loop, and I'm gonna take it over my head, and this strap is gonna basically cinch down your need to your chest is similar to that hug shape you're in. But one day at a time, So I'm gonna start to tighten, tighten, tighten And instead of just need to chest, I want you to let it come out to the side a little bit. So it's almost like me, the armpit, and gently start to roll up to your back. So once you get down to your back, it might take a little finagle ing. You can keep tightening the strap to intensify, right? It's gonna be different for all of us. How close in this really is. Of course, if you don't have a strap, you don't have the props. You can always use your hands to pull in. But the beauty of props is that you don't need your hands anymore so you can relax your arms, right? And then all of a sudden, this stretch in this work moves from just hips and back and allows the upper body to release a swell right for many of us. We live in the state of tension here in upper body anyways, so any chance you get to not use your arms, I'm gonna encourage you to not use your arms. But since that guy, until it feels nice and comfortable, the opposite leg can stretch out long. If that's way too intense, you can bend the knee right. Find a place that feels reasonable again. You've got a little bit of time here, so make yourself at home and then just release. I find that turning the palms up helps me to sort of release the shoulder blades. Encourages me to stop trying to do things with my hands in my arms right now as you lay back consort of feel that tension, that squeezing between the left thigh and the left hip. If it ever feels like it's bone on bone or you're forcing yourself into a range of motion, that's not part of your anatomical makeup, right? Feels feels really, really, really uncomfortable. Come out of it, readjust right. Find a new angle. Take the time you need so that you're getting the most out of the stretch, right? Don't stick with it just cause you think you're supposed to be sticking with it. I mean, it's sort of the lovely thing about yoga is that whole no pain, no gain rule. It just doesn't apply here, right? So if it doesn't feel good, we adjust. We find a way to make it feel good or feel better. I'm trying to relax muscles way deep into the hip, going to encourage that weight of the left leg all the way down onto the side body, maybe into the armpit, so that you're not resisting up against the strap in any way. Men. With your next breath or two, you slowly start to loosen that strap just a bit. So pull up on the lever on the strap or the belt so that you can slip your knee out and then really slowly, right cause these air big poses, even though they're gentle, straighten that left leg out, stretch it long, breathe all the way through the length of that left hip. So see if you can breathe way down into the hips, create some space, and so as it flexes there, lengthen it out and then second side so right knee comes into the chest, adjust the strap is you need to write and try not to get attached to how deep or intense one side is versus the other, because our bodies are not balanced and in all likelihood it will never be balanced, right so we can do what we can to remove imbalances in strength and it musculature. But there are certain anatomical principles and things in the way we're built and what we did when we were five and 10 and 15. That just makes certain things matter of fact, right. So allow yourself to find instead of the same aesthetic of oppose or the same depth, right? Need to armpit whatever it is. Instead, see if you can find the same level of sensation, but it may look very different, same level of effort and of work. Now, as you spend a little more time in these postures, you might notice that other things start to take the brunt of the work. It might be your jaw, that sort of furrow between the eyebrows, right? That's where I usually get it. So if the discomfort or the intensity starts to show up somewhere else, see if you can just bring some attention to it. Usually just noticing it will change. It will soften it. Just spend about five more breaths here on the side. Then, when you're ready, a slowly unravel on rap side, too. Loosen your straps, straighten that right leg outs. Only gently reach through the toes through the whole front side of the foot in the leg. And then, as he reached that right side a little bit longer, you might notice the left side gets short so they do the same on the left side. It's almost like you're sort of crawling, tiptoeing both legs. Ford's You stretch out a little bit longer, good and then both knees into your chest. A nice big squeeze. Noticed they come a little bit closer than they had before. And then easy, supine twist. Sony's together, scooch the hips to the right, just a touch and then dropped the knees over to the left. It's totally fine that the strap is still hanging out around you, right? Don't worry about it and then open the chest up. Arms could be straight or bent. This is just meant to be really easy, sort of create some extra space and unwind from that long, deep stretch. You're not trying to push and pull and lengthen and find this perfect twist here, right? Really? Just let your body sort of go where it wants to go and let things unravel could make your way back to center, Schiff those hips to center and then shift him a little over to the left and then needs to the right. In this time, your left arm is gonna open up gays to the left or the right. Whatever feels natural on your neck, there's no rules. And then back to center, hug those knees into your chest, just gently rock up to a seat. So once you found your way up to a seat, you can get rid of that strap. No more of that for now. Set it aside and we're gonna set up for one last deep, long stretch here, which is artists who did your Rocinha or in lay terms, you're gonna lay backwards. We're gonna stretch our quads. So you're gonna take your bolster and set up similar to how you do at the beginning of class. It's gonna come back behind you. So if you have ah, regular yoga practice and you know that we're all sinners, Sivarasa is in your range. By all means, adjust. Your pops is need to. It might be lower. Might be just a blanket. It might be nothing, but I am going to encourage you because this is a longer hold, and it's less about the intensity and more about creating that space to let the ego go. And even if you can lay all the way to the ground, just decide. Do we need to write? Would this feel better with a blanket underneath it? Probably. It probably would no matter who you are, right. Blankets are nice, so if you have one, I encourage you to use it right. Make this comfortable. So we're going to start. And it's just like when we're sitting on our heels, oftentimes the beginning of class, and it's almost like you're going to sort of back your way up to the bolster so the edge of your sit bones are right on the bolster tops. The feeder on the ground, right, the knees, the inner thighs, air hugging together as much as possible. And you're pressing those pinky toes down to the shin sort of wake up, and it's almost like their rebounding against the Earth and this upright verus Anna might be plenty. So if this is a lot and this is really intense, whether it be on the tops of the feet, right cause oftentimes with flexibility stuff, they're going on or whether it be on the knees. Very sensitive joints. It's not mess with them or whether it be on the quads already. But if that's the case, stay close your eyes, relax the shoulders and hang out. If you've got more room in your body, you want to go further. We're actually going to lay all the way back. So we're going to do one side of the time. I'm gonna keep the right foot as it is, and I'm gonna unhook the left. I'm just gonna planet in front of me and then slowly creep my way down onto my back. So depending on the size, the bolster, whatever you have, if your head's hanging off the end, you can grab a block, another blanket. I want your head to be supported, right? No matter how flexible you are, whatever it is, we want to be supported. And then this sort of half the Rocinha, the right foot is down that left foot Nikkan Point to the sky. It feels comfortable. It can always straighten out, right. Let this leg sort of just be your rudder. It can control you. Keep your balance. And then, as before. You can almost sort of tuck the shoulder blades underneath and let the arms roll open so that you get that broadness across the chest at the same time. So if you've got really open hips, this front, hip area, this may feel like not much, right? So if you need to adjust, adjust for most of us for the tenure general population, this is gonna be pretty intense. So if you need to lift it up again, right at as much as you need and what you're envisioning is this length across the front of the right hip, almost as if you're sort of pulling apart and moving the hips away from the top of the me and then dropping that right thigh bone down towards the earth. Especially if you're propped up. It's not gonna touch. Doesn't matter, Right? But imagine it sinking heavy so that those muscles on top of the thigh bone on top of the hip, those big, thick bands, right, so that those consort of skim the surface right, lengthening out, creating a little more space throughout this. See, in practice, I don't necessarily need some big, strong Jujuy breath going. The whole time, but you do need to be paying attention to make sure that you are still breathing, and it's easy to sort of stutter to get stuck in the long holds. Start counting down the minutes, so I encourage you. Instead of counting down on the clock, count your breaths. Chicken on the length of the inhales. The exhales. Notice the effects that inhale has on the stretch on your body versus an exhale. Have you thought about a minute more on the side. See if you can stay in the posture. Keep encouraging yourself to feel what's going on toe. Actively feel the changes, the drops, the sensation, just as you would with intense physical work with running, you noticing the change in your speed, your sprints with anything with biking, climbing a hill versus going downhill. Whatever it ISS right, you've to pay attention, and there's nothing different here with this practice. Yeah, slowly to come to the other side. I like to bring the hand of the leg that spent sort of bring it onto the sole of the foot and use that to help press my way up. So you come up. It's easiness, even as possible. So you're not sort of twerking one way or the other, and you've got some space on then second side. So you're gonna help to pick up that right foot. If the knee needs a little bit of space, sort of breathe into the back of the knee caps. You remove that flexion for a second, right? By all means really intense on the knees to take your time. And then you're ready side, too, so that left foot is gonna come back and underneath you. Sometimes I find that it's easier to start in the full posture. So you know you're in the right spot and then unravel and then work your way all the way down onto your backs again. Each side may be different, so just is necessary. Feels intense in your low back, right? If there's this big space underneath your low back and it feels like a back bend, you can add more padding, right? Another blanket, and you can also sort of press the top of the left foot down, pick the hips up, lengthen your tailbone forward and then set it back down again, right? So lengthen things out and really aside to just thinking about all of the physical activities or even physical in activity that might be a part of your life that leads to this portion of the body. These muscle groups getting so tense, right, often very overworked, and these muscles on the hips, they tend to get shortened. It's kind of like use it or lose it. And that's what happens here if we sit all day long, right? Or when we do squats when we throw wall balls, when we do all that sort of stuff that tensions up the hip while it builds a lot of strength, which is crucial, crucial, crucial. It also starts to shorten these muscles, right? So we have to go back and find that balance because the strength without the mobility or the mobility without the strength right, it's not efficient. We want efficient, effective bodies to prevent injuries to keep us in tip top shape, and staying in tip top shape means also cultivating this practice of self care. Sometimes dialing the not back a few notches is exactly what we needs. Our body and our minds sticking with the stretch, keep pressing the top of the left foot down into the Earth's The knee doesn't pop up off the man. You got about one more minute here on this side, men with your next few breaths. So to bring yourself back to life, you can use the left hand on the soul. The left foot sort of fits in nice and easy. They're impressed that foot down so it stays nice. An active as you lift yourself away. Up. Give that leg a little help to unravel. Excuse yourself off of your bolsters. Just set it aside. Straighten out the legs so you can sort of give him a little movement, maybe sort of massage into those muscles, bring some blood flow back in. That was a long one. And then we're gonna end this practice in v burrito Caroni so v Berita Caroni can also work as legs up the wall. So if you're in a space, we have a wall next to you. Go ahead and take your bolster blocker blanket to the wall and you're gonna stick your legs all the way to the wall so they have some support. If you don't have a wall. Totally fine. You're still going to use your bolster come up nice and close. Come on to your back. And that's almost as if you're just gonna lift up in the bridge and then slide that underneath you. So you've got some support. Relax your head in your neck. Almost this. If you're gonna pin your shoulders underneath you again, arms out nice and long and then use into the chest and then legs all the way up to this guy. So as you lift the legs up, they might feel a little bit wobbly at first. Sort of like they don't know where to live, right? And that's totally fine. You could just let them be easy. There's no point or flex or anything that needs to happen. We're just sort of letting the blood in the limb for train all the way out of the legs. Planning some relief here. It feels easier to have a little bit in the knees. You can if you got the wall, just let the legs rest up. Right against it may seem easy. Take this time to just sort of find some ease all the way into the face in the jaw. Create a little more space between those back molars. So you're not clenching, elevating the hips, switching that blood flow up just a little bit. And then if you've got the wall, you can probably stay here for a very long time. If the feet start to feel tingly or like too much blood has run out of them, just gonna bring the knees into the chest. I speak. Squeeze on either Finish your practice in Shiva Sena with your legs up the wall. We're into the chest. You might find your way into your regular show. Vlasta. Whatever feels best, set yourself up for comforts. Allow the body to totally relax and release spending as much time in your Shiva Sena Aziz, your day will allow and encourage you to at least give it a few minutes not to skip it. That everything dropped heavy, noticing any new sensations new space in the body and then sinking right into those. You find your final rest staying as long as you like. Thank you for showing up on your mat, taking this time. No mistake