Yin Yoga For Deep Presence

So for today,

If you have a blanket or a towel,

We're going to roll it up and lay on it to kind of open up the chest to start.

So take a moment to go gather a prop.

So I've got my blanket here,

But we'll roll it up lengthwise.

It's this nice long taquito shape.

And just to set up,

Put that in the middle of your mat.

And when you come to sit,

It'll be right at the very back,

Really right at your tailbone,

Like the bottom of your low back.

And slowly lower down onto it.

It might take a little positioning.

We're going to find sort of the tube of the blanket,

The towel,

To land right between your shoulder blades.

And you'll let your arms go out to the side.

And just enjoy a little lift in the chest.

As you get yourself set up,

Take your time.

Make sure that you're comfortable.

My aim here is to really kind of counteract a lot of the forward bending that we do throughout the day,

Especially when we're on the computer or texting on our phones,

Really rounding forward.

And so having just this really kind of basic tool to give us a very gentle backbend.

This isn't meant to be a really deep spinal extension,

But just a little lift.

Give you a little space in the chest.

As you send your arms out to the side,

The sort of heaviness of the shoulders and the weight of your arms will add to the lift in the chest.

And we'll begin right here.

Practice of yin yoga.

Really a very internal journey.

Make this time to land really fully arriving in this shape.

Beginning the practice,

Perhaps with a few deep breaths,

Really breathing in fully and intentionally until your back ribs press into your support.

As you exhale,

Inviting some heaviness and relaxation.

And we'll rely on this same pattern for every shape.

Establishing the position.

Layer by layer softening into it.

Feeling fully present with each element that comes with each posture.

All right.

If your mind feels particularly busy today,

That's not a problem.

You don't need to fight thinking or shove down thoughts.

You can let thinking be part of your present experience.

Allowing thoughts to come,

But then also letting them go.

Notice your reaction to the thoughts that arise.

Notice the kinds of thinking that your mind is prone to today.

The more we practice allowing thoughts,

The more we practice allowing but dis-identifying,

So recognizing we are not our thoughts.

Find that they come less often.

When the mind is still and the body is still and the breath is smooth,

Really get to be in touch with our connection to each other and nature and really all of existence.

Even if it's only for a brief moment before that,

That peaceful moment is interrupted by what's for lunch or a memory or a plan for the future.

That's all part of the process.

It's allowing thoughts to come.

Resting in the present moment.

As you feel ready,

Very gently roll to one side and remove your prop from underneath you.

As you turn to your back for just a moment,

Notice how that feels.

You might notice the absence of the prop underneath you.

Perhaps there's a sense of spaciousness between your shoulder blades.

Maybe there's a little more room to breathe.

As you're taking your time,

There's never any rush in a yin yoga class,

Moving slow,

Deliberately,

Roll to one side and help yourself up as we prepare for a wide knee child's pose.

In preparing for this shape,

A couple ways to prop might include,

Since we have a blanket,

You might put a blanket underneath your knees and send knees wide for a little extra support.

You might roll up your blanket a little bit and place it on your calves so that space where your bum reaches to.

Sometimes that feels nice to have a little support there.

You can bring in a block or a pillow for your forehead.

Wherever you are,

Really walk your hands far out in front of you.

Let go of any unnecessary effort.

We'll really let gravity take control here.

Yin yoga is much less about achieving a particular form.

Much more about sitting still.

And nurturing body awareness.

Noticing the length from your left hip to your left fingertips.

And all the space from your right hip to your right fingers.

Two really long lines of energy.

Feeling the crease behind your knees.

Over time,

Without pressure or effort,

Slowly becomes a little heavier.

Hips sinking to heels.

A little traction for the low back.

The side body.

Compression for the tops of our feet,

Ankles,

Hip flexors.

Very slowly here delicately use your hands to walk your torso upright.

We'll do a tabletop position for just a little wiggle.

Really any intuitive movement that feels right here.

You can rock your head left and right.

Stick out your tongue.

Here we'll get another hip shape.

Half frog.

This is another place,

A towel.

If you're on carpet it's probably okay,

But if you're on hardwood,

Having a little extra softness can be helpful.

We'll start.

It's a position where you're laying down on your belly.

We'll bend right knee and open up the hip.

So you end up with inner thigh resting on the floor.

The knee more or less in line with your right hip.

You can play with the angle to find the right spot where there's a mild,

Moderate sensation in your inner thigh,

Groin area,

But not pulling,

Not forcing.

If you're comfortable,

You can totally relax.

Bring your chest to the floor,

Make a little pillow with your hands,

Bring your forehead down.

And if it's safe for your neck and it feels okay,

You might turn your head so your right ear comes to the ground,

Looking over to the left.

And here we are,

The half frog.

Without really managing the situation or trying to control your breath.

I really like these prone postures because you can feel your belly gently pressing into the ground as you inhale.

And then a whole body sinking to the floor on the exhale.

No need to manipulate your breath.

It's happening all the time.

And practice just being with sensation exactly as it is.

Okay.

Okay.

Take about 10 more breaths here.

Re-seeing if you can give your full attention to breathing in this shape.

As you feel complete in that no hurry,

Bring your right leg long,

Rest on your belly for a moment.

Just let that settle back to neutral.

Taking a very similar shape on the other side,

Go ahead,

Bend your left knee,

Bring your hip out and open.

There's this external rotation that lets your left thigh rest on the floor while your pelvis stays neutral.

Let your left ankle more or less align with your left knee.

Again,

You can play with the angle of your knee if you want to bend it a little more.

Sometimes that can be more comfortable.

You can play with the flex of your foot,

Aiming to find a position that's sustainable,

That doesn't take any effort to hold.

But it allows you to feel something.

If you like facing down,

Stay facing down.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

There's a little more space.

Over time,

Muscles,

You realize that we're safe.

There's no need to brace or be rigid.

Connective tissue starts to respond.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Very slowly,

With lots of care,

If you turned your head to one side,

Bring it back to neutral.

Bring your left leg long behind you.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

If it's not too much effort,

If it's more comfortable,

You can gaze about a foot in front of you on the floor.

Take your towel and fold it flat and bring it right underneath your tummy.

It's like above your hip bones,

Right on your belly.

That'll help take out excessive curve and hopefully be more sustainable.

However you are,

The same process for all our shapes begins here.

Settling into your position.

Becoming aware of tension in your body through your inhales,

Noticing where breath feels sticky or hard.

Layer by layer,

Letting that tension dissolve.

It's not so much an active process of like forcing relaxation.

Just creating conditions where let go is possible.

We calm the mind.

Find stillness in the body.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Let your left knee rest on the floor.

Taking about eight more breaths here.

Checking in to notice if you were lost in thought.

And with kindness,

Bringing your attention back.

Next few breaths,

Gently release this pose coming to lay flat on your belly once again.

You might bend your knees and rock your feet left and right to kind of help release this backbend.

And in your own time,

We'll come on up to a comfortable seat and set up for shoelace pose.

Or knee pile,

Sometimes it is called.

And so let's start with both legs out long in front of you,

Sitting up nice and tall.

And then drawing right knee in towards your chest.

And then bringing right foot down to the ground on the outside of your left leg.

If you'd like more,

Bend your left knee,

Bring your left heel to the outside of your right hip.

So we're in kind of a sort of a funny pretzel shape here.

Now maybe you're feeling it in both hips.

And that's totally fine.

So places to modulate if you want more,

Walk your right foot out to the right.

Bring knees to stack on one another.

And no matter what leg position you are in,

You can choose to stay sitting upright feeling shoulders stack over hips.

Or you can experiment with walking hands forward and folding over your legs.

It's all going to depend on what level of sensation is tolerable today.

Folding forward will definitely turn up the volume.

You may already already experienced that.

So take your time,

About 30 seconds,

Just to find the position that is really the right place for you.

Enough to feel something in the outside of your hips.

But not so much that you start like clenching your jaw or gritting your teeth or efforting around your hips to kind of a swage tension.

If you find yourself really efforting,

That's a sign to come out a layer.

We'll be here for four minutes.

We don't want to suffer through it.

Find the place that's interesting.

You can nurture curiosity.

What is my present moment experience here?

Being kind to our hips.

Breathing fully.

Slowly start to come out of your hips.

And slowly start to come out of this shape.

If you folded forward,

Walk your hands up.

Unwind your legs and take any movement that feels good.

I like often a windshield wiper leaning back into the hands.

Maybe a little butterfly pose feels good.

Excellent.

Just letting all that stuff move around after being still for a moment.

And then we'll do it all on the other side without any expectation that it looks or feels the same.

So we're going to do a little bend in the knee.

Bending left knee,

Draw your left knee in towards your chest.

And bring left foot down on the outside of your right leg.

And then we're going to do a little bend in the knee.

And then we're going to do right knee bends.

Right heel comes to the outside of your left hip.

And then modulate as you need to,

Adjusting the position of your feet.

So that you can feel both sit bones on the floor.

So if you're going to feel a little bit of a sharp pain in the knees,

Be very careful there.

Really hoping for most of the sensation to be in the outside of your hips.

And this side might be very different than the other.

That's not a problem.

You can take your time to find your position either sitting upright or experimenting with the forward fold is entirely up to you.

We'll be here for four minutes.

Using each inhale to notice and identify tension and each exhale to invite softness.

Whether it comes or not is a different story.

They don't force anything,

Not even relaxation.

When we come into this place of really allowing whatever is present to be present,

All hostility falls away.

There's no goal to achieve.

We can really just be.

That's where let go can happen.

Relaxation can arise naturally,

Even in a perhaps uncomfortable position.

Know that you're always welcome to come out or adjust if sensation gets too loud or too much.

I invite you to really be discerning about movement.

Is this craving for movement because I am bored or fidgety?

Or is this craving for movement truly because I'm really in an uncomfortable or painful place?

Discomfort is fine,

But pain is to be avoided.

Relaxation can arise naturally,

Even in a perhaps uncomfortable position.

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