Hello flowly friends and welcome to this soft and gentle yin practice.
This is a really nice practice to do when you just want to get out of your head and back into your body again.
We are going to be doing some of the poses down on the floor,
But we're also going to use the wall as well.
I'm actually going to use my radiator just so that you can kind of see me.
But yeah,
Be close to a wall.
You may want to have maybe a block or a pillow as well just to aid you and just add in that little bit of extra comfort.
So once you're all sorted,
Let's get started.
So we're going to start today's session in a constructive rest pose.
So come to lie down on your back.
And if you want to,
You can use a pillow here,
Maybe to support your head and neck,
Maybe underneath your low back.
See what feels good and if you've not done constructive rest before we have the knees bent feet flat to the floor and then just gently walk the feet maybe a little bit wider than your hips and just allow your knees to rest on top of each other Now,
You could place your right hand on your belly and your left hand on your heart.
But if you want to feel maybe a little bit more relaxed through your shoulders,
You might want to just take the arms out to the side,
Palms facing up.
So it's really entirely up to you.
Now when we get here,
Let's take a nice deep breath in through the nose.
And a nice slow exhale out of your mouth.
And just start to notice the back of the body starts to settle down.
To press that little bit firmer against the mat.
Take another deep breath in when you're ready.
And sigh out,
Whatever you feel you need to let go of here,
Maybe the stresses of the day.
Maybe you've just been feeling a little tension within the body.
Maybe you're feeling a little tired.
Whatever it is,
Release it on the breath.
Take another big breath in when you're ready.
And this time maybe take a sigh out.
Allowing your breath to gently return to its natural rhythm.
And just starting to turn the attention in towards yourself.
Spend a few moments focusing on the rise and the fall of your chest.
If your hand is placed here,
It makes it a little bit easier.
Filling the hands gently move up and down.
Maybe you tune in to how your clothing or the skin feels against your hand.
And then just start to notice all the areas of the body that are actually touching the floor so obviously this is going to be the back of the body maybe you start at the soles of the feet Gently moving the awareness through the leg.
Noticing the back of the hip.
Which parts of your back and spine your shoulders,
Your arms are actually in contact with the floor right now.
The purpose of this practice is to come into our yin postures but to try and find a softer side to them.
When we usually practice yin,
We look to meet our edge,
Hold this position,
We find this resistance within the body and we hold it there.
But today we're almost going to try and find that softer side of each of these yin poses.
Getting a beautiful little stretch and then a nice little release within the body.
Let's take a few moments here to just really focus on your breath.
And let your body just surrender down to the floor.
Wonderful whenever you're ready just take a little wiggle of your fingers you might want to keep your eyes closed here but you can open them if you feel you need to.
Just slowly walking the feet.
Back so they're next to each other and then inhale we're going to draw the knees in towards the chest let's give the knees a little squeeze here Nice little squeeze and then take a gentle little rock from side to side.
You can take some deep breaths here if that's going to feel nourishing.
Perfect.
And then we're going to take ourselves into a little recline twist so you can do this from knees to chair.
Or you can bring your feet down to the floor.
So whichever one feels the best for you,
It may feel a little softer to have your feet down on the floor.
I'm going to have my knees to chest just whenever you're ready,
Nice and gently,
Just lowering the knees with control over to the right side.
Now,
When you get here,
You might grab your pillow,
You might grab a block,
Maybe pop it in between the knees or maybe supporting that bottom knee,
Whatever feels the most comfortable.
I actually quite like to.
Support in between the knees a block is really nice here because it's kind of levels out that top leg a little bit so allows it to relax that little bit more rather than it trying to kind of move in a downward motion towards the bottom knee so that can feel really nice feel a little bit more relaxing we're trying to find that softness remember So just nice and gently,
If you can,
Maybe open up your chest a little bit more.
We're going to keep the head nice and neutral,
Just looking up towards the sky.
And then we're just going to take the arms out into a T shape.
Have some softness in your elbows.
Don't need to reach out too far.
And this is just allowing us to gently open the chest.
Allow your belly to be nice and soft here.
Relax your face,
Relax your jaw.
Just allowing the body to find a little heaviness.
And if you can,
Just breathing a nice natural pace.
So in yin we try to.
.
.
Resolve to be still.
And then use the breath as a way to kind of focus our attention Sometimes this is a little challenging and if it is,
That's OK.
Just keep bringing the awareness back to your breath.
Or alternatively,
What you can do is just kind of notice how your body feels in each pose,
Focusing on what you're feeling,
What feels good.
What feels maybe a little uncomfortable,
Make those shifts if you need to.
Wonderful.
Whenever you're ready,
Take a nice deep breath in,
Sigh it out.
Wonderful just bringing the arms gently down by your side remove any props And then draw your navel to your spine.
Nice big breath and gently rotate your knees back.
To centre.
Now you might just want to take a moment just to align the spine and the hips again and then if you did Draw your knees to your chest.
On that right side before you twist it,
Bring those knees in first.
If not,
You're keeping the feet flat and then you're going to take them over to the left from that side.
So just whenever you're ready on an exhale,
Taking the knees over.
To the left And then if you supported yourself.
On the other side with a block or pillow do the same on this side too And then if you can,
Opening up the chest that little bit more.
Don't worry if you can't,
If you're happy where you are,
Because obviously opening up the chest is going to take you slightly deeper into the twist.
And we are trying to soften through the body today.
Take the arms out to the side when you're ready.
Let your shoulders relax.
And just find that gentle connection to your breath.
So I said at the beginning of the practice that this.
It's a nice practice to try and get out of your head and into your body.
So if you do find the mind is wandering today,
Don't worry.
Just keep bringing it back,
Back to sensation or back to your breath.
It really doesn't matter how many times you do this.
So don't let that little voice in your head tell you that you're failing or that you're doing it wrong.
You're here,
You're on the mat.
And you're doing your best.
Wonderful,
Whenever you're ready take a big breath in.
Like a lovely sigh out.
And then gently remove any props.
Just take your time with this.
And then nice big inhale,
Navel to spine.
We are rotating those knees back to centre.
Let's just draw the knees into the chest.
Give them a nice little hug,
Nice little squeeze.
Wonderful.
And then what we're going to do is we're going to make our way over to the wall.
So bring yourself nice and close to the wall.
Have your sitting bones fairly close to the wall.
I'm going to use the radiator here.
For the purposes of the camera.
So just nice and gently get close and then bringing the legs up.
Against the wall.
So you can take your legs so they're about hip distance apart and then just fully relax here.
Let yourself relax.
Let the legs be fully supported by the wall and we're just going to stay here for a few moments.
Maybe we extend the arms out to the side.
Relax the feet.
Let the back of the body be fully supported by the floor and the legs.
Supported by the wall.
Maybe you start to feel.
.
.
All the blood starting to rush from the feet.
Through the legs,
Down towards your heart space.
This is the most gentle inversion you can do.
Upside down but fully supported.
So sometimes I do this pose when I'm watching TV.
You can do it any time.
Close your eyes,
Relax,
Maybe put on your favourite music.
It's such a nourishing pose.
And definitely a standalone pose too.
It's great when we can kind of find those standalone poses that are really helpful for the body.
Wonderful whenever you're ready just take a little wiggle of your toes just to bring a little bit of life back to the feet and the legs again maybe take a little Swish of the feet from side to side.
So what we're going to do now is a little figure four against the wall.
So keeping your left leg extended we are going to bend into the right knee and bring this right foot.
Right ankle over the top of your left knee.
Now you can have it a little bit lower below the knee if that feels more comfortable.
Then option here to stay as you are or you're going to start to bend into the left knee allowing that left foot to slide down the wall now sometimes you might find if you're quite close to the wall that suddenly this feels really super restricted and you feel like you need to kind of move back a little bit especially if you've got long legs So just take a little shift if you need to.
And then whichever position you've gone for with your legs,
You're going to take.
Your right hand and you're just nice and gently going to press the inside of the knee or the thigh away from you so this right thigh and then we're going to hold it in position one thing that is really important here is that you've got your right elbow down on the floor that's your support keeping you kind of anchored if for some reason this doesn't feel comfortable you feel like you've got to have your elbow up in the air maybe grab a block or a pillow or something to just support underneath your arm here underneath that elbow.
So just pressing the inside.
Your thigh weight arm left arm can just go out to the side really doesn't matter wherever feels the most comfortable.
Then you're just holding this position Wonderful.
Whenever you're ready,
We're going to take a little bit of movement here.
So nice and gently just start to rock the leg.
From left.
To right really really gently and you can still do this if your leg is extended just take a little rock of the hip Just keep supporting that right leg as well with your hand as you gently move.
And just notice how this soft movement Just feels really nourishing on the hips,
Feels nice in the legs.
Of course,
If it didn't feel good for you,
Then just stay as you are.
Stay in stillness.
Just for the next few breaths.
Wonderful.
Nice and gently come back to stillness.
We're going to extend that left leg out nice and gently and then just uncross the leg.
Perfect.
Just let that right leg just extend for a few moments,
Maybe have a little wiggle of that.
Foot,
The toes.
And take a nice deep breath here.
Okay,
So we're going to take that to the other side.
So keep your right leg extended.
And then bend into the left knee,
Left ankle,
Just coming above the knee onto that right thigh.
If you did it below before,
Then obviously you're going to pop the foot lower than the knee,
But keeping that right leg extended.
And then if we're going for that deeper option here,
We're going to start to bend that right knee,
Slowly sliding the sole of the foot down the leg.
Finding that little figure four position and then that left hand is just gently going to press the inside of the knee or the thigh away from it.
So same again,
If you're feeling like your elbow isn't going to be comfortable down on the floor,
Pop something underneath it to support it,
A block,
Pillow.
You know,
You can fold a pillow over if you need to.
Do whatever feels the most comfortable.
Take that right arm.
Out to the side or any position that feels good for you.
And just let the back of your body relax here.
You're gently pressing that right foot into the wall.
And then we're just getting that lovely little stretch.
Inside of the thigh,
Groin area,
Left hip,
Maybe the outer hip if we've gone for this slightly deeper,
Higher option.
Trying gently to come back to the breath again.
Wonderful.
And then whenever you're ready,
If you went for the little bit of movement on the other side,
We're going to do the same again.
Just a gentle little rock of the hips,
The legs.
From left.
To write.
Just keep it really small.
Really slow.
And just remember to keep breathing here.
We're not holding our breath.
Sometimes we.
.
.
Move and then we just automatically hold the breath in.
So it's a good idea to just check.
We are still breathing.
Perfect when you're ready just come back to stillness start to extend that right leg up against the wall And then we are gonna uncross that left leg.
Same again,
Just extending those legs up,
Let them rest here.
Maybe take a couple of deep breaths.
Nice and gently,
Breathing deeply.
Maybe take a little wiggle of your toes again.
Perfect.
And then I'm going to take us into my favourite wall pose.
And this is going to be a wall frog.
So what we're going to do is we're going to take a little bend into each knee.
Sole of the foot is flat to the wall.
We are going to take the legs then nice and wide against the wall.
So we're almost into like this kind of frog leg position.
Turn your toes outwards as well if you can.
What you might notice here is that that low part of your back starts to lift off the floor.
So this might be where you want to add in maybe a cushion underneath the low back.
So you might just want to bring your legs down for a second just so that you can pop that under.
And bring the legs back up onto the wall so you want to be nice and comfortable with the legs wide only go as wide as you feel that you can and you're gently going to be pressing the soles of the feet into the floor so you'll notice instantly how this thing creates a little bit of engagement through your legs but hopefully not too much it doesn't want to feel like you're straining through your legs you're just gently pressing the feet And then what this is doing is just allowing us to gently open up our hips as well.
We're going to take the arms up alongside the ear for this one,
Alongside the ears.
Nice big reach and stretch and then take a little softness into your elbows.
Fingertips curled up towards the sky,
Let your shoulders relax.
So let the upper body relax here.
Try and let the back of the hips sink down into the floor or to your prop.
And even though we're keeping this.
Conscious little pressure of feet into the wall.
This is still a lovely,
Relaxing pose,
Really nourishing for the body.
And it's a gorgeous little hip opener as well.
Especially if you've ever tried to do frog pose on the floor,
You know,
For some of us it can feel quite daunting.
Opening the hips quite wide.
But this way.
Get that same effect but it's fully supported and it can feel a lot softer.
Wonderful.
Whenever you're ready,
Just take a little wiggle of your fingers nice and gently.
Just bring your arms back down by your side and just turn your palms down towards the floor.
Now we're going to add a little bit of movement to this.
Pose here and Very much the same as what we did with our little figure four.
We're just nice and gently going to move the knees over to the right.
And gently we come back to centre.
And then we take the knees over to the left.
So just a little bit.
Again,
It's a slow movement.
We only take the knees as far as feels comfortable.
And your palms are just gently pressing into the floor just to support you here.
Where it is Perfect.
When you're ready,
Nice and gently come back to centre.
Let's just extend the legs up against the wall one more time.
Let them fully relax here.
Close your eyes.
Take three big breaths.
Nice,
Big breath in through your nose.
Nice long exhale out of your mouth.
Wonderful whenever you're ready really slowly make your way back down To the mat.
And you're just going to come down to lie on your back.
So you may want to support your head here.
We're not going to support underneath the back or anything this time.
We're just.
You can support your head if you need to.
Keep it a little softer.
So what we're gonna do once we get down onto the floor is we are gonna take ourselves into a banana pose.
So we're gonna walk the feet over to the right bottom corner of the mat.
Take a little shuffle of the shoulders,
Top right corner of the mat.
Arms are gonna go alongside the ears and your right hand is gonna grab your left wrist.
And then just have a little stretch of that arm,
Give it a little stretch,
A little pull and then you notice how the stretch travels down the side body and in towards that left hip.
If it's comfortable,
You can cross your left ankle over the right and then just nice and gently let the whole body soften.
Let it relax.
And you get this lovely lateral stretch here all the way down that left side of your body.
Releasing a little tension here.
Your body's in this little banana shape or little crescent moon shape.
Allow your face to soften.
And find that connection again to your breath.
Perfect.
Whenever you're ready,
Nice and gently just uncrossing the legs.
Bring the arms down by your side and slowly make your way back to the center of the mat.
So I always like to just make sure that my body is nice and straight first.
Then i can start to walk the feet over to the left bottom corner of the mat and then shuffle the shoulders over to the left top corner.
Again arms are going up.
Alongside your ears but this time your left hand is going to grab your right wrist You're going to give that arm a little stretch,
A little pull.
And then let it relax down.
And this time crossing right ankle over the left as long as that's comfortable to do.
Legs can be next to each other if that feels more comfortable.
Let your whole body fairly relax here.
And then again,
Just bringing that awareness to your breath.
If you're still finding that a little challenging,
Remember you can tune in to.
All those lovely little sensations you're feeling around your body right now.
Wonderful,
Whenever you're ready,
Nice and gently uncross the leg.
And slowly make your way back to the centre of the mat again.
And then you can take up space here with arms and legs for a full shavasana.
Or you can end the practice as we began it in constructive rest.
So bending the knees,
Feet flat to the floor.
Walking those feet a little bit wider than your hips,
Knees rest against each other.
Here you might want to maybe grab your pillow again,
Supporting your head or maybe your low back.
Whatever feels good.
For your body.
Take the arms out to the side,
Whatever position you chose,
Palms facing up towards the sky.
And then let's take a big nourishing breath in through the nose.
And then extending that exhale,
Making it longer than the inhale.
Nice big breath in.
And slowly let it go.
Feel your body just melting down into the mat.
Allow your breath to return to its natural rhythm when you're ready.
And just staying here for the next few minutes.
Allowing each of your inhales to bring a little more softness to your body.
And each exhale to be a gentle release.
Of tension.
So you can stay in your relaxing pose for as long as you feel you need to.
But if you would like to end the practice with me now.
Start to gently wiggle your fingers and your toes.
Just invite in gentle movement back to your body to gently wake it up again.
And then when you feel ready,
Just slowly bring yourself onto your side body.
You can stay here for a few moments.
And then when it's comfortable to do so,
Nice and gently bring yourself up into a comfortable.
Seated.
Position.
Take a moment just to notice how you're feeling.
And always thanking yourself for showing up for your body.
Then we take one last cleansing breath together so a nice big inhale through your nose Nice,
Gentle sigh out.
That brings us to the close of today's soft and gentle yin.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I hope that you enjoyed this practice and I hope to see you in another video very soon.
Take care.
