Hey friends,
I'm Ali.
I'll be practicing alongside you for this one.
If you spend a lot of time in your day just sitting in a chair for work,
This short yin practice is especially for you.
We'll get started in a hands and knees position on your mat.
And as you come into this shape just take a moment to stack your shoulders over your wrists,
Your hips over your knees,
Spread your fingers wide,
And just a couple of slow easy breaths right here with a neutral spine.
And take a deep breath in through your nose,
Filling up your whole body.
And a big breath out through your mouth,
Exhale letting go.
One more time,
Deep breath in.
Big breath out,
Exhale.
Next we'll move into cow pose with the inhale.
So as you breathe in drop your belly down,
Draw your shoulders back,
Lift your chest.
On your breath out,
Cat pose,
Round your spine,
Bring your chin to your chest.
One more of those,
Take an inhale as you lengthen,
Belly drops,
Look up.
On your exhale,
Round your spine,
Draw your navel up and in.
Back to a neutral spine and we're going to lower right down to lay on your belly on the front body.
So go ahead and do that and as you do you can create a pillow by stacking your hands right underneath your forehead so your elbows are out wide.
And just notice this initial settling in the body as you lay on the belly so you might feel a little bit of a settling in the low back.
Observe if there's any tension in the shoulders or if you're hugging in through the belly or engaging through the glutes.
We want to start to shift into that yin mindset of letting go of effort.
Sometimes it's easier said than done.
But see where you can soften in this shape.
Now notice if there's any compression in your low back.
If you're feeling that a lot you're welcome to stay otherwise we'll prop up onto the forearms for sphinx pose.
So you can pretty much start by stacking your shoulders over your elbows.
Forearms are about parallel,
Palms are flat and just hang out here.
You can always bring your arms a little wider if that's uncomfortable for your chest or shoulders.
If you'd rather have some support for your neck in this shape you could bend your elbows and place your chin in your palms.
Now once you've found your sweet spot we're just going to hang out here for a while and breathe.
Minimizing the physical effort in the body.
And just allowing time and gravity to take over for you.
They'll do the work.
As you're doing this,
You're going to feel the energy and the energy that you're feeling.
So let's start with the hands.
And just allowing time and gravity to take over for you.
They'll do the work as we get to just relax here and create some space across the chest and shoulders.
And just let them breathe.
Notice if the face gets tight at all.
If you're clenching in the jaw or tightening in the brow or cheekbones.
Just try to soften those areas.
Now let's check in with the low back.
Observe how you're feeling there.
If you're getting a good amount of compression,
That's awesome.
You just hang out and stay there a little longer.
If you'd like to add on a little bit more,
I'll give you the option to bend your knees and let your knees rest in the same place.
And then you can just stay there for a little bit longer.
Just add on a little bit more.
I'll give you the option to bend your knees and let your feet kind of float up toward the back body.
You can bring your knees a little bit wider if that works best.
And wherever you are,
We'll hang out for about 10 more rounds of breath.
And we'll start to release this shape and lower the upper body back down.
You can see how the back of your knees is kind of floating in the same place.
So let's just go ahead and just hang out for a little bit more.
And let's get started.
So we're going to start with the lower back.
And we'll start to release this shape and lower the upper body back down.
You can either place your forehead flat on your hands again,
Or gently slide your arms down by your sides and bring one cheek to the mat.
Switch it up,
Bring the other cheek down.
Hands under shoulders again.
Let's press back up to hands and knees.
And once you're there,
Moving through one more round of cat cow just to get the blood flowing back through the spine.
On your inhale,
Drop your belly down.
Lift your heart up.
As you exhale,
Round your spine,
Chin to chest.
Back to a neutral spine.
And we're going to be bringing this into dragon pose,
A low lunge.
So what you can do is tuck your toes under and take a gentle downward dog.
It might be easier to move into it from here.
Remember,
We don't need to use a lot of effort in this shape.
Your right leg will lift up behind you.
Doesn't need to go high.
Look forward and step that foot all the way between your hands.
And as you do that,
Drop your back knee down to your mat.
We'll start upright here.
So place your hands on your right thigh or knee.
Just to get some length into the spine to start allowing your shoulders to soften back and down away from your ears.
There's just that little bit of effort or activity holding yourself up in this position.
And we're getting a sweet,
Sweet stretch into the front of the left hip flexor and that psoas muscle.
You want the front knee to be about over the ankle.
Take a few breaths here.
Now you're welcome to stay or we'll bring this into a twist which will give even more space into the upper body and the spine again.
So if you want to do that,
Walk your right foot out to the outer edge of your mat.
And you can start by bringing your right foot up to the outer edge of your mat.
And then you can bring your left foot up to the outer edge of your mat.
And you can start by bringing your right palm onto the right thigh,
Left hand down to your mat,
Opening the chest up to the right side.
And now in this shape,
Just explore where you can soften here.
It could be the shoulders or if you're holding back,
The sensation in your hips.
Just keep breathing into that.
And I'll give you one more option.
If the knees are feeling pretty good here,
We could move into a stretch for the left quad muscle,
The thigh.
So for that one,
You'll reach your right arm behind you.
And bend your left knee,
Maybe reaching back enough to catch the left outer foot or ankle.
Don't have to catch it.
Just see what works for you.
Again,
Bringing as much ease into the shape as you can.
Wherever you are hanging out here a little bit longer.
Right here where you are,
Let's take a deep breath in through the nose.
Try to clear some stuff out.
Let it go out the mouth.
Exhale.
Release that back leg if you have it.
Bring both hands back to your mat.
And walk your front foot back into the center.
Now we're going to move right into Swan or Deer pose.
So this is a passive pigeon.
Now we're getting into the outer hip on the right side.
So you'll start to shift your front toes toward the left hand.
And bring your right shin right down to the mat so the right knee is behind the right wrist.
Maybe shimming the back leg back a little bit so that your hips sink onto your mat.
And when you're ready,
We'll start to hinge forward.
And you could stack your hands again,
Bringing your forehead flat down.
Or bring one cheek to the mat if that feels more natural.
If you're feeling pretty tight in the hips here,
You can always bring it into Deer pose.
Bend your back knee to more of a 90 degree angle.
Our hips tend to get really tight when we spend a lot of time in a chair.
So both of these shapes are so great to counteract that.
They might not feel so great in the moment.
But trust me,
It's worth it.
If it feels comfortable,
You could close your eyes or just soften them.
Notice if there's anywhere in the body that you're tensing up that you might be able to relax a little further here.
And wherever you are,
Taking one more deep breath in.
Exhale out the mouth.
Release that heat,
That strain.
Gently press back into your palms.
Lift your upper body up.
And we'll come back through hands and knees.
Curl your toes underneath you and come back to that downward dog for that sweet relief.
Take a moment here to pedal out your feet.
Bend one knee,
Bend the other.
Feel the shift on one side.
Probably in a couple of different places at least.
And we'll go ahead and balance that out now with dragon on the other side.
So your left leg will lift up gently behind you.
Look forward,
Step it all the way through between your hands to start.
Hands land on the top thigh or knee.
Starting with some length in the spine as you soften into the hips.
Just slow,
Easy breaths here.
And if you twisted on the other side,
We'll bring that in here.
You can bring your hands down to the mat.
Start to walk your left foot outward to the left.
And then left hand on the thigh.
Let's start there,
Bringing all of that nice space into your chest as you take your twist to the left.
And then you have some option to try out that thigh stretch on this side,
Bending your back knee,
Reaching your left hand behind you toward the outer foot.
No expectation,
No judgment.
Just see what works in your body today.
Keep breathing.
If you're in the twist,
Let's release that.
Let everything come back to center.
Hands to your mat.
Walk your foot back to center.
And we'll come into the outer hip stretch,
Swan or Deer,
Shifting your toes toward your right hand,
Knee toward your left hand,
Shift your back leg behind you so that you can melt your hips down toward your mat.
And there,
Lowering the upper body down as well.
Stacking fists or hands if you need that,
Or bring one cheek down if you did on the other side.
Just do the opposite.
Notice if you're hugging in at the belly,
Or clenching the jaw or scrunching the fingers and toes.
Question Staying with your slow natural breath.
Even when the thoughts come in to distract you and to pull you out of the practice.
Just let your breath gently guide you right back in.
Let's take one more deep breath in through the nose together here.
Open your mouth,
Clear it out.
So you'll press into your hands,
Lift your upper body back up and this time just shift right around to lay on your back so you can shift through that left hip.
Turning around to lay on your back as you get there.
Take any last little shift or movement that your body might be craving here.
And let's bring it right into our final Shavasana.
The final chance to be still and observe without reaction,
Without expectation.
Giving your body a chance to soften one more time in stillness.
Feel a little tuck with your shoulder blades underneath you.
Let your feet land a bit wider apart.
Allow a softness to wash across the face.
Relaxing your fingers and toes.
All that's left to do here is breathe.
Let's take a deep breath in through the nose.
Yale University College And of course,
You're more than welcome to stay as you are.
But if you'd like to finish off the practice in a seated position with me,
You can start to wake up your fingers and toes.
Take any stretch that feels good and natural in the moment.
Rolling through one side of the body,
Come up to a comfortable seat.
And if you have the time,
Maybe hanging out here for a few minutes to meditate and observe any shifts that have happened in the body or the mind.
I want to thank you for having the courage to show up and find peace within.
Namaste.
