Hey everyone,
I'm Ali.
Today I'm sharing a yin yoga practice for happy hips.
We'll go ahead and get started laying down on your back with your feet flat on your mat.
So as we just take a moment to settle the low back and observe how the body is feeling.
Maybe the hips are feeling pretty tight.
Or you become aware of tension somewhere else in the body.
Just notice it,
No judgement.
Observing any distractions,
Either external or internal today.
You're human so those will come up.
Notice your breath.
That's your constant for the practice.
Keep coming back to your breath,
Especially in the moments where the pose feels physically intense or the mind gets distracted.
We'll come into a reclined butterfly pose here.
Soles of the feet together,
Knees fall open.
If that's a lot for your hips,
Slide your feet a little further away from you.
And just place your arms wherever it feels intuitive for you.
It can be a little more grounding to place your hands on your belly or one on the belly and one on the chest to bring more awareness to your breath.
It could be more spacious to bring your arms out to the sides or bend your elbows and bring the arms by the head.
And wherever you end up,
All we need to do here is breathe.
Feeling the belly rise and fall through each exhale,
An opportunity to soften a little bit more,
To release.
Take one more deep breath in.
Exhale to drop further into the shape.
And we'll start to gather the legs back together.
Grab your outer knees.
From here,
Hug your thighs into your belly.
Feel that compression in the front of your hips.
We'll move right into happy baby from here.
Reach through your inner legs to catch your outer feet.
Or you could hook your arms around the back of the legs,
Catching the back of your thighs.
Whichever works here now,
We're drawing the legs down toward the sides of your body and getting more compression into the front of the hips.
Allowing a stillness to wash over the body when you can.
Try to stay with that as much as possible.
Keeping your head heavy on your mat.
Once again,
Just bring your attention to your breath.
Good job.
Good job.
Good job.
So let's let the left foot go first.
Bring that foot onto your mat.
Coming in to thread the needle or figure four,
Cross your right ankle over your left thigh.
You can keep your left leg there or catch the back of the leg to draw it closer into you if you'd like more.
Now we're targeting the outer right hip.
Notice if you start to tense up anywhere like in the face or jaw,
In the fingers or toes.
Try to let that go.
Good job.
So,
So gently uncross your foot.
Release that.
Let's come to Shavasana and feel the sweet,
Sweet rebound in the hips.
We're not here for long.
So let's move back into happy baby just for a moment.
Bend your knees,
Reach through your legs,
Catch your outer feet.
Perhaps it feels a little more intense for the second round.
Can you create softness and just allow the breath to come and go?
Let's take thread the needle or figure four on the other side.
Right foot to your mat.
Left ankle crosses over the right thigh.
Same options.
Either keep the right foot down or catch the back of your leg.
Whatever feels right to you on this side.
It doesn't have to match the first side.
Slowly,
Gently release that.
Come back to a Shavasana for a moment.
Feel all the feels.
Let's take a moment here to hug your thighs into your belly.
One more quick little compression for the hips.
Maybe you rock side to side to support your low back.
And we'll let everything go,
Bringing it back into Shavasana for our final shape in this short practice.
If you need any other movement or shift,
Go ahead and take that.
And then extend your legs out.
Wrap your shoulder blades underneath you so the back of your hands get heavy on your mat or the floor.
Take a moment here just to observe the shift that has happened in less than 15 minutes.
Sometimes the hardest part is just getting to our mats,
So to acknowledge how you're feeling after a short amount of time,
I find is an important way to finish off the practice.
So just take some time with gratitude to observe what shows up.
Both physically and mentally.
And then bring that awareness right back to your breath.
And then take a moment here to observe the shift that has happened in less than 15 minutes.
You're welcome to linger here longer.
If you'd like to finish off the practice with me in a seated position,
Start to gently awaken the body.
Take whatever stretch feels good in the moment.
Roll through one side and I'll meet you in a seat.
I want to thank you for having the courage to show up and find peace within.
Namaste.
