Prop yourself up against the nearest wall and enjoy this 30-minute practice that will release the tension we all carry in our hips. The wall and floor will offer ample support to hold you as you melt into your practice.
Meet your Teacher
Greensboro, NC, USA
Transcript
So the class I would love to offer you today is a yin based class. Um, It's kind of a mix between a yin and a restorative class and we're going to be using the wall as our prop. So you will need a wall, Um, For this practice and a wall that has a generous amount of space on either side, Right? Imagine you're extending your legs out wide on either side. So depending on the length of the bones in your legs, You would need at least that much space on either side. Um, So we can navigate, Negotiate a little bit, But we want to not be able to bump into anything from side to side. Side. And you want a nice long amount of space above your head. I would say as long as you have to your head space and let's go a couple inches above, You should be good to go because your legs are going to be on the wall at some point in time. We don't want to bump into anything on the wall above us. So get yourself situated there. You can kind of pop off, Pop back on, And then come back when you're ready. And we're gonna start with a nice, Comfortable seat, And we're gonna use the wall as a prop to support our spine. Because as most of us know, Just sitting upright can be really tiring and taxing. Often when we sit up, We probably sit somewhat like I'm going to sit right now. So if we take our head, Our skull, And press it into the earth, Our ribs naturally just sort of pop forward. So if our shoulder blades and our head are on the wall, Our ribs have dropped forward and our belly is really soft. So we're going to try to take more of the spine and allow it to sink back towards the wall. So the low back has that curve in it. We want to keep that there, But the back of the pelvis, That's a bone structure. It's right above where the soft kind of pillowy glutes are there. You want to put that bone structure on the wall. Good. Little curve in the low back. And then oftentimes the body kind of rounds itself forward. We want to unravel the spine and let the rib cage just lay lightly on the wall. Shoulder blades will touch and then the crown of the head of the head well. If crossing the legs is offering too much tension, You can just simply spill the legs long in front of you. That might be an even more comfortable seat since we're getting so much feedback from the wall. Or you can draw the feet to touch and the knees to open, Kind of depending on what's going on in your head. So get yourself negotiated, Navigated, Maybe shift a little side to side and then allow yourself to land. To ground today, Palms will rest down on the legs. And if you need to borrow a little energy from the space around you, Go ahead and let your palms flip up. If you feel comfortable, Eyes blink closed just so you can drop into your sound. And if closing your eyes doesn't work right now, Just a soft gaze diagonally down. I have my mat sort of unfurled from the wall here, So I'm gonna gaze all the way towards the top of my mat, But you don't even need a mat for this practice. So just a nice cushy space and just a soft gaze downward. Allow your jaw to unhinge, Lips and teeth part, Tongue drops. And then give yourself a moment, Maybe a roll of the shoulders, Dropping one ear to one shoulder and back again. And then let the back of your body really land on the wall and allow the wall to offer you support. So instead of muscling and pushing back in space, So this becomes really active, Just notice what parts of you are attached to the wall and what parts are slipping away from the wall. Then the parts of you that are engaged with a wall, Just add a little tiny bit more pressure, A little more engagement. And the parts that are away from the wall, Perhaps they get a little bit softer. Jaw releases again. Can you sigh your shoulders down away from your ears? Maybe you even feel the shoulder blades drop because they can slide down the wall now. And then allow your chest to get wide like you just got proud of yourself. A little more expansive from shoulder tip to shoulder tip. Take a full breath in wherever you are. Nice big sigh out. Sit up just a little bit taller. Let's do one more of those. Big breath in. Big sigh out. Good, Go ahead and seal your lips. Breath comes in through your nose. Soft breath out of your nose. If for whatever reason your nose is particularly stuffy, Please breathe through the mouth. But if you can breathe through the nose, Let's continue that path. Breath in through the nose. Slower, Deeper breath out of the nose. Good, Just taking a few moments to drop in here, Find our rhythm, Breath in. Breath out. Let's slow the breath even more. Take a breath in for a count of four. 3. Two. One, Pause. Breath out for six. 5. 4. Three, One, Pause. Breath in for four. 3, 2, 1. Pause. Breath out for 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Pause. Breath in for 4, 3, 2, 1. Pause. Breath out for 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Two, One, Pause. Full breath in. Gentle breath out. Set up just a little bit taller. Really feel that engagement with the wall. Breathe in. Gentle sigh out of your mouth slowest deepest exhale out. Lightly flutter your eyes open if they were closed. Bring yourself back present into your space. And we'll begin our asana practice. Release your legs, However they were bound up there. Give them a moment just to release. So with this practice, We'll spend most of our time on our back, Which means most of the time our legs will be up the wall. The easiest way I have found to get there is to turn around and sit sideways. So let's go ahead and put either side, Doesn't matter actually. Sit yourself so you're actually just leaning up against the wall with one of your shoulders attached to the wall. Go ahead and shift yourself over into a fetal position. So as you lay on your opposite side. You're gonna nudge your glutes, Your butt muscles, All the way up against that wall, And then gently roll onto your back, And the legs will just slip up towards the wall. We're looking for our butt, Our glute muscles to be flush with the wall. Oftentimes we're shifted back a little bit and there's quite a few inches, Right, Between our glutes and the wall. We want to get rid of that space. So hands go down like your little inchworm. You're going to nudge your hips and just walk, Walk, Walk, Walk. Nothing graceful about it, But you're going to set yourself up there. Good. And then once you're actually sitting on the wall, Some of you might have to bend the knees pretty deeply to let those glutes touch the wall. That's perfectly fine. Press into the back of your skull, Let your shoulders slide out of your ears, And then nudge your shoulder blades a little bit wider so the whole spine can melt down. To start, You'll let the soles of your feet touch, The knees will point outward, And then your heels are just gonna drop down towards your glutes, Right? So any amount, I'll get us on the clock here. Now for this one, Some of you, The feet might drop all the way down towards the butt bones. That might feel great. Some of us, The shape might look more like this, Also wonderful and great. And some of you might find a little more ease if you allow the feet to separate lightly, Right? The knees might be able to open more or perhaps the feet can drop more. How close your feet are to you doesn't matter, How wide the knees are doesn't matter. We're just looking for a place that feels manageable and breathable. So this is a shape where if you do have two nice dense props, You might want to slide them underneath the outer knees or the outer thighs for a little bit of support. And if you have anything like a towel, And you have two of them on either side, You can wedge those into the outer hips for support. Not necessary, But they're just in case you need them. And then if you're not using those props, Go ahead and shift them out of the way. Take a moment and notice, Just like when we were sitting against the wall, Sometimes the ribs push up towards the ceiling. Can you nudge your shoulders a little bit wider? And let your ribs really settle down. If your chin fell too close to your chest, It's hard to breathe here. So allow your chin to lift up just lightly. Maybe even a rock of the chin. And then as far as the arms go, Whatever makes your shoulders happy. Arms can fall wide with palms facing up. Or you can simply rest your palms down on your belly or hip bones. Eyes can blink closed, There's nothing to see. And allow yourself just to think, Sink in. Feel the back of the pelvis drop down. Send air into the inner thighs, The groin, And the outer hips. And let your jaw just soften. You're already hedging towards your halfway mark of our first part of the series. So notice how your mind is reacting to the stillness in the body. Your body itself might be giving you a lot of information. You might be noticing the hips, The low back, Different parts of the body, Or perhaps you're someone whose mind has turned on. Once the body gets still, The mind gets busy. All of those things are very normal. See if you can encourage yourself to soften and slow down even more. Add more weight to the back of the body. Let the muscles get softer, Allow gravity to take over here. Lips and teeth part, Tongue drops. Maybe a little rock of the chin or an open and close of your jaw. And just head back to your breath. Last few moments here, Can you deepen your breath? Hear each inhale come in and let your belly rise up. Here, Each exhale, Go out and allow your belly to fall down. Add more weight to the back of your head. Soften the neck, The shoulders, The jaw. You're almost there. Good, Nice full breath in. Big soft sigh out. If you chose to use any props, You'll shift them out of the way. You can use your hands to help you and then gently guide your legs. The knees go in towards each other. The legs extend back up the wall any amount. Take a moment, It might feel nice just to leave the legs extended or perhaps draw your legs away from the wall, Any amount. Little bends in the knees, Maybe you bend and straighten. You tuck the knees in as much as you can. They might not go in so much and just rock side to side. Might also feel really nice to roll your ankles one way and the other, Point and flex, Get those toes wiggling, Pops and cracks, Really normal, Right? Just air in the joints we're releasing. Then we'll settle back into our home base with our legs extended up the wall. If you found that your glutes, Your butt shifted away from the wall a little bit, Go ahead and walk it back in, Nudge it back in. So we started to open into the inner thigh and groin and into the outer hips. We're going to find a little bit more of that space now. With a reclined dragonfly shape. So this is a straddle shape. So your two long straight-ish legs, Right leg will fall over to the right, Left leg is gonna fall over to the left. And again, How far they go doesn't matter. For some of us, They won't go very far at all. They'll just kind of be nipped in there. And some of us, They'll drop a little bit wider. We're not looking for depth ever when we do this practice. We're just looking for space. This is another place if you have those two props, You can slide them in underneath the outer hips, The outer thighs, If that feels good to you. We're again trying to keep the glutes attached to the wall. And then let the knees bend as much as they need. Jaw softens, Shoulders soften. Good, So this one can be quite intense from the get-go. So if your legs just naturally fell open and everything feels pretty good and manageable, I want you to stay as you are. Everybody check in with your ribs, Push into your skull, See if you can let the ribs and the shoulder blades resettle. Perfect. If you're someone who's dropped your legs wide and you're feeling a really big tug in the inner thighs, It feels unmanageable to you. I want you to take your hands. Press into your outer thighs, Bend your knees, And start to draw the legs together any amount. You will let your feet land on the wall, Almost as if you're doing kind of a big wide squat on the wall. Toes and knees can still fall outward, But your thighs are dropping a little more into your belly, And the feet are going to plant on the wall, Right? So this might look like that, Might look like that. Things might get a little wider. Feet can be flat. Knees are bent. Good. Butt bones, Again, Are trying to stay attached to that wall, But they might shift out a little bit. So if it offers a little more slack, Let those knees bend and the feet rest on the wall. If it felt good to have the legs extended wide with just the heels on the wall, Let that happen. And remember, You are never stuck in any of these shapes. We have a good couple minutes in each shape, So you're always welcome to play around. You can try a few moments in one variation and then gently shift yourself to the other. Eyes blink closed, Jaw unhinges, And breath smooths itself out. You're well over halfway through. Take a moment and check in with your physical body. Where can you soften a bit more? Allow the bones that are resting on your mat just to sink. Soften your jaw, Lips and teeth part. Walk your shoulder blades down a little bit farther. Maybe even widen your arms and allow the palms to flip up. Let the breath just move in, Belly rises. And out, Belly falls. Let your mind unravel. And allow yourself just to float on your breath even more. Hear each inhale come in and rise the belly. Hear each exhale go out and soften the belly. Really full breath in, Feel your whole abdomen expand up and down, Maybe even side to side. Feel the ribs press into the earth. And a big soft sigh out, Let all of that go. Hands can be helpful here on the outsides of the legs, Whether your knees are bent or not. Start to soften those hip creases and knees. Gently, Slowly draw your legs together. Maybe even land the feet on the wall if they aren't already and just simply walk them in. Thighs can drop towards the belly, Little sways side to side might feel nice. Again, Rolling, Wiggling the ankles, Extending your legs towards the sky, Bending and straightening all will feel really nice. Good, And then we're just gonna lay our legs on the wall. Again, Check in with those glutes, Those butt muscles. If they've moved away from the wall, Go ahead and nudge, Nudge, Nudge yourself in so you're seated back on the wall. And for this one, Legs will be just about hip bone width distance. It's about a two fist distance in between your knees, Right? But you want to find the spot where it feels manageable, Where the muscles don't have to work too terribly hard. So about a hip bone width distance, No need to turn the legs on to flex or to point. Just let the bone stack, Little bend in the knees. For some of us, The knees will naturally rock open and the toes will point out. For some of us, It'll stay a little more neutral. And some of you, Even the toes might fall in. All of that is very normal as long as it feels comfortable. To you, Right? We're seeking ease here in this practice. So allow yourself to get set up. Palms can rest on the belly or hip bones, Or arms can spread wide, Palms facing up. Let the chin rock a little, Notice if any tension gathered there and then let that go. Allow your shoulders to walk once again out of your ears and spread them wide. All of the ribs land, The low back softens, The breath just moves deep and full in. Full and deep out. Eyes, The gaze can soften, Or eyelids just simply close, Allowing you to drift even deeper inside. And this practice is a very gentle, Slow practice. So notice the information that's coming to you. For some of us, It's the stillness that's the most challenging. For some of us, It's the busyness of the mind. Right, See if you can allow that mind to unhook a little bit more, Knowing that thoughts are going to come in and go out. Our job here is to try not to attach to them. And not to allow any one thought to be more important than the other. Breath comes in, Thoughts come in. Breath goes out, Thoughts go out. Allow the back of your pelvis to get even more weighted down. Feel your thigh bones sink even deeper into their sockets. You're about halfway through. As always, Take this as an opportunity to check in and scan. Is the placement of the legs still supporting you or do you need to draw the legs in a bit or out? Do you need a little release in the joints? So then you can settle yourself back in. Scan and notice where tension is building. Remember, You're never stuck. And then allow yourself to resettle. Feel the breath get bigger through the ribcage like a balloon expanding front to back and side to side. And then I'll let all of that soften and release. Big, Rich breath in here. Audible sigh. Slowly start to move the legs, Maybe a little windshield wiper side to side. Knees can bend any amount. Maybe you tuck your knees in towards your belly and offer a little sway. Again, Moving the toe joints, The ankle joints, The neck, All might feel really nice. Good, And then you'll settle your feet on the wall. Again, They'll drop down any amount that would feel good to you. And these can be nice and wide here. They don't have to be attached to each other. Glutes are still close to the wall, But this is an occasion where you might need to shift away from the wall just slightly. Arms go wide. We'll offer ourselves some gentle twists. So the right outer knee is going to be the one that falls towards the right. So it's almost as if you're going to roll over onto your right side. So let the legs start to fall, Fall, Fall to the right. Left knee will stack, Give or take, On top of the right knee. If you're anything like me, A little bit tighter in that back and that hip area, The knees aren't gonna perfectly stack and that's just okay. No big deal. Notice how the left shoulder lifts up here and peels away from the earth. To help ourselves out, Neutralize your spine. Press into the back of your skull. Let that right shoulder blade lift up as you push into your head and shift over to the right. And then the left shoulder blade will lay itself down. Good, You can negotiate your feet a little farther away. So to unbend the knees a little, That might feel nicer and more supportive. Or the feet can stay attached to the wall if that feels better to you. My glutes are no longer on the wall, And for some of you, You might even want to shift away from the wall a bit more. Chin can fall right if you want this to be really soft. Chin can neutralize towards the ceiling if that feels better, Or chin can fall to the left if you want to complete the twist, But that will be a little more intense. Send all of your breath into your ribs. Let the right side of your body get even heavier as it rests deeply into the earth. You're already halfway through, Not here as long as we were in our other shapes. Just letting the spine unravel itself since we were heavy on the ground for so long. Even deeper with the breath, You're almost there. Good, Full, Deep, Rich breath in. Big, Soft, Gentle breath out. Good, Your feet are gonna take a little walk back up to the wall. The knees can stay as bent as they need. We'll just ease ourselves onto the other side. This time you're rolling halfway over to the left there. So it's gonna be the left leg that'll land first, Then the right leg on top of it. Good, Arms are teed out to any amount. And this time you'll notice it's the right shoulder blade that's peeled up away from the earth. So neutralize your neck, Press into the back of your skull, Nudge your left shoulder blade over to the left. Good, And again, Gaze can fall left for a softer twist. It can go neutral if that feels better into your head, Or turn over to the right. And that right shoulder blade is trying to settle itself into the earth. No need to muscle or push it down. Unbending the knees might feel a little bit nicer so the legs are longer or keeping the feet attached to the wall might feel more supportive to you. Anything goes as long as it feels breathable and manageable. And as always here with our twists, We're not trying to really twist or crack the back. We're just trying to unravel. Notice the experience of the right side of the body feeling a little lighter. The left side of the body getting a little bit heavier. And breath smooths out. Last few rounds here as you are. Can they be some of your deepest breaths yet? Where can you release a little more? Where can you sink a little more? Good, Nice full breath in. Gentle, Soft breath out. Good to unravel this. You're going to continue your journey over to your left side. Left arm will tuck underneath the right side of your head so you're fully laying just in a soft fetal position on the left side. Allow yourself to land there with no effort as if there's nowhere to go, Nothing to do. Just let yourself land. Notice how it feels to be off of the back of the body and send breath right where you need it in the back of the body. Breath goes in. Breath softens out. Do it really gently and slowly as you're ready. Right hand will press down into the earth. You might have to nudge away from the wall just lightly. No need to even be graceful here. Just ease yourself back up to a seat. We're going to meet right where we started class. So negotiate, Adjust, Do what feels good to you. And bring yourself to a nice tall seed against the wall. Maybe there's a little more space and your legs can draw in into a Sukhasana, An easy pose. I'm gonna send my legs nice and long and extended and let them go really wide. That feels the best to me right now. My butt bones are heavy. I'm just gonna take the weight of my torso and lay it against the wall. Shoulders take a slide down the back. Once again, Palms ground down if you need to ground or palms can flip up to borrow a little energy from the space around you. And just notice what it feels like to sit upright now. So maybe eyes closed or maybe they blink down. Shoulders slide out of your ears. Notice the space in the front of the body. Feel the head get a little bit lighter. Nice full breath in. Big soft sigh out. One more breath in. Breath out. Good, Eyes can stay closed or blink open. Draw your arms up the wall all the way up towards the sky. Maybe a big stretch. Just reach, Reach, Reach, Reach, Reach. Palms touch into your heart space into Namaskar, Thumbs into the sternum. Bow your chin down in an action of gratitude for the work you just did. Take a moment here and acknowledge the effort, The energy, And the courage it took for you to slow down for these last 30 minutes. To unravel, To listen, And to be patient is no easy task. It is called a practice for a reason. You should be very proud of the work you just did. And take a moment here, As always, In gratitude for yourself. For who you are and for where you are on your journey on and off of your mat. Trust that it is enough. Because you are enough. Namaste. Thank you all so much for joining me here. I hope this practice was gentle and full of space and ease for you. If it was challenging because of the stillness and the busyness in the mind, You are not alone. Every day is different. This practice is there for you anytime. Yin in general was designed to be practiced more in the morning hours, Which is tricky for a lot of us because we're just go, Go, Go from when we wake up. I also find especially a wall practice to be a beautiful addition to your nighttime routine. So even if you only have time for one of these poses, We held each of them for about five minutes in length, But really anything, I'd say over two or three minutes, Just putting your legs up the wall, Looking yourself in, Turning on a timer for two minutes can be a beautiful way to slow your nervous system down before you head to bed. I hope you feel good. I will see you soon.
