90 min Yin Yoga for Flexibility, Self-Care & Deep Relaxation

Transcript

hi everyone thank you so much for joining me my name is Cassandra and I'm going to take you through this 90minut yin yoga class it's been a while since I've offered an extra long class like this one but the 90-minute practices just give you that extra little bit of opportunity for self-care deep relaxation and this is also really going to be a great full body stretch in Yin Yoga we are holding passive poses for an extended period of time usually 3 to 5 minutes or so and my personal teaching style when it comes to Yin Yoga I don't talk too much throughout so I'll guide you in the poses but then I really try to create the space for you to be able to just connect with yourself and not have to listen to me talking too much just so that you have this opportunity for self-inquiry and true relaxation so a lovely practice I am using props today so if you have a yoga strap definitely grab it we're going to do a reclined hamstring stretch if you don't have one don't worry you can do the pose without props but you can also easily substitute with just a regular belt that you might have at home or even like a physiotherapy um Thea band would work really well and then I'm using this little meditation cushion this little small bolster um you can easily substitute this with a block so if you have block blocks at home definitely grab that if you don't have blocks and you don't have bolsters you can just go ahead and grab maybe like a couch cushion or a couple of pillows something that you can stack so we're going to use this for example in like supported Bridge so just something to put underneath your hips um so don't worry if you don't have exactly the same props as me there are a lot of ways to modify with that being said let's get right into it we are going to start off in butterfly pose so I'm not using any props for this one just bringing the soles of the feet together letting the knees fall apart and you choose how close you want to have your seat to your heels and we're going to let our spine naturally round as we lower into this forward fold and you could have some props to help close the gap between your forehead and the ground personally I like to just let gravity pull me deep into the pose and to just let my head hang in space I'll try my best to give you as many options as possible so I promise I won't talk too much throughout class but I just want to leave you with this really important to honor the three principles of Yin Yoga yoga which are finding your Edge resolving to be still and holding the pose finding your Edge means you're not chasing sensation you're not pushing yourself into a position where you feel pain or discomfort really think less is more resolving to be still means allowing yourself to relax in the pose try not to contract your muscles and push yourself against the floor that usually just means that you've gone too far and need to back out a little bit and finally holding the pose like I mentioned will be here 3 to 5 minutes okay that's enough talking for me breathing in and out and I'll let you know when it's time to come out [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] sh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] 10 more deep breath right here in the [Music] [Laughter] [Music] poses bring a little bit more weight into your hands and gently push into the ground to roll all the way back up taking a seat go slowly here really feel the effects of the pose on your hips on your lower back no need to rush and it might feel good to maybe straighten your legs out in front of you or do a little windshield wiper [Music] motion we'll be setting ourselves up for half butterfly so I'll turn to face over towards you guys right leg will stay extended out and I'm bringing my left foot in so bending through the left knee and we're going to move into a forward fold towards that right leg and towards that right knee so there's a little bit of a rotation through my chest and shoulders and then again I'm letting my spine naturally round it's perfectly fine to have a little bit of a Bend into your right knee this is really not about trying to touch the floor or get really low the benefit of the pose is the same no matter how deep you're going into it so we're just trying to find a variation that we can comfortably hold for a few [Music] [Music] minutes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] we'll begin easing ourselves out of this pose keep breathing even when you transition lifting yourself back up nice and [Music] slow and before we go and do this pose to the other side we'll come into cowface pose or knee pile so I'm going to wrap my right thigh over my left one trying to stack my right knee right on top of the left and you can always sit up on your bolster or sit up on your block if you feel like this is too much for your hips height will make this a lot easier if it's too much even with the height you can just come cross-legged with your right shin staggered slightly in front of the left otherwise from this cowface pose I'm going to go into a side Bend so I'm going to reach and crawl my right hand forward or my right hand out to the side my left arm is going to go back behind me to help roll that left shoulder back and then I'm just going to let my head drop down so a little side body stretch helps to get us deeper into that outer left hip and glute and of course you can modify in any way that you'd like if the side Bend is too much you can stay sitting straight up or even folding forward pay attention to the qual quality of your breath in the pose keep it fluid in and out through your [Music] nose this is your time to be able to practice self-care to check in with yourself and see what you [Music] need just staying present to the [Music] experience [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] let's come out of this pose you can bring your left hand in front of you sometimes just pushing into your thigh can help to lift back up really slow coming back to neutral stacking the [Music] spine let's uncross the legs we'll come into half butterfly on the second side so left leg extends out right foot comes in as you bend through that right knee and we'll come into a forward fold so you're going to rotate slightly over towards that left leg and fold on down maybe using your props or you can even hold your head up with your hand or you can just like gravity pull you deep into the pose getting just enough sensation so that you're feeling the stretch the back of your left leg and maybe also through the right side of your lower back [Music] that [Music] [Music] that [Music] [Music] see if you can relax a little bit more into the pose notice if there's any part of you that's still trying to work that's still tense just breathe and let go a little bit more with every [Music] exhale [Music] pushing our hands into the mat slowly uncurl and lift back up moving into knee pile this time left thigh wraps over the right one or remember you can always just be cross-legged with your left shin this time stacked slightly in front of the right one try to get the weight evenly distributed through both sit bones maybe sitting up on your block or on a bolster and this time we find a side Bend lateral Flex flexion to the left so my left hand and arm are going to reach out and I'm going to bring my right hand back behind me so that I'm really almost leaning back rather than curling in and rounding forward relax your head relax your neck and your jaw your facial muscles the longer we are in a pose the more your body will soften and relax so don't feel like you need to go super deep right away we'll gradually inch ourselves a little bit further just holding [Music] [Music] here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] and let's come out of this pose you can use your right hand to push into your thigh to bring your spine back up to [Music] neutral on crossing the legs so we'll give our legs and lower body a bit of a break and focus on opening through the chest I'm going to use this little bolster that I have if you're using a block at home or your cushions and pillows grab a hold of them and we'll be lying down for the rest of the class so just make sure you also have your strap close by so that you don't have to get up the bolster or whichever prop you're using is going to go underneath kind of in between your middle back your mid back and your upper back and then I'm going to stretch my arms up overhead and let my head drop if this feels uncomfortable at all for your low back you can keep your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor or you can intensify the pose by straightening your legs and you can play around a little bit with where you have your prop this is really something that's quite individual preference so you might prefer having it higher up towards your shoulder blades or lower down towards your midback we're just looking for a nice opening through the chest you might also be feeling this through your shoulders into your armpits into the arms breathe into the space you're creating and settle in [Music] here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] that [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] that [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] you can slide your arms back down maybe just cradle your head we're going to come to lay flat on our backs without the prop so you can tuck your chin to your chest and just kind of roll over to one side so that you can move either your pillow or your block out of the way and keep it within grabbing distance we'll use it um in a little bit and then lay back down just give yourself a moment to feel the effects of that pose as you let your spine be grounded and [Music] leveled we'll come into a hamstring stretch so I'm going to use my strap looping it around the sole of my right foot and some people like to hold up towards the foot personally I like to just hold on pretty far down so that I can relax my arms a little more and we're just lightly pulling that right leg in towards us the left knee can either stay bent or you can intensify by sliding that left leg straight and a little Bend in the knees is totally [Music] fine so here our arms are working a little bit because they need to keep a hold of the leg but see if you're able to relax your right leg as much as [Music] [Music] [Laughter] possible [Music] [Music] for [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] give your leg one last Big Stretch here and we'll Bend into the knee carefully releasing going over to the other side so you might want to start with that right knee bent and your right foot flat to the floor and we'll bring the strap or your belt or even just holding on with your hands if you're not using any [Music] props extend ending the left leg up and totally normal if you feel like one side is tighter than the other for me it's my left leg left hamstrings are always tighter than the right so you don't have to go exactly to the same range of motion as you did on the first side really honor your body pay attention to what you need Yin Yoga is a great way to develop the skill of learning to listen to ourselves to listen to our own needs and what our body is trying to tell us try to relax your shoulders even as you hold the pose here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] and let's release Bend into your left leg you can move the strap we won't be needing it anymore and just see what would feel good for you right now give yourself a few breaths just to check in and see maybe doing a little windshield wiper motion with the knees or straightening out both legs we're going to use our either bolster or your block or your pillows placing it underneath our seat so elevating the hips like we would do in supported Bridge so you can push your feet into the mat and just slide your prop underneath your seat here and we really aren't looking to boost ourselves up too high so if you're using a block you can keep it at its lowest level we're going to do a reclined knee to chest pose so I'm going to pull the right knee in towards my belly and then maybe straighten that left leg out so getting a nice big open through the front of our left hip into the hip flexors and a little bit through the groin as well and you can hold on either to the back of the thigh or the front of your shin try to keep both shoulder blades heavy on the mat making this as passive of a pose as possible using minimal arm strength taking a few minutes here in the pose [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] go ahead and bend your left knee sliding your foot back in let go the hold of your right leg and just let both feet come flat to the floor for a second [Music] here settling back to neutral before we go into the same pose to the other [Music] side this time we'll be pulling our left knee in towards the chest and extend your right leg straight try to reach out through your right heel really elongating [Music] here [Music] and you might close your eyes bringing your focus [Music] inwards a few minutes here in the pose [Music] PR [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] let's Bend our right knee slide that right foot back in and same as before just let your legs come back to [Music] neutral maybe taking a few cleansing breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth and we'll stay laying down on our backs but we won't be needing our props any longer so you can lift your hips up and Slide the block or the bolster out from under you and again might feel good just to stretch your arms up overhead and lengthen your legs out and we'll come into half happy baby pose so similar to what we've been doing you can keep your left leg extended out in front of you pull your right knee in towards your belly but then you're going to grab a hold of your right foot or your big right toe and we're going to align stacking our right ankle over the top of the knee I'm using my right elbow to kind of push my leg open a little bit and if you feel like you're rolling down you could just keep your left knee bent and let your left leg drop open to the side just to provide a little bit more of a counterbalance here whatever helps you stay grounded in the [Music] pose again using a little bit of arm strength but not too much we won't be in this pose for as long as the others only about two or so minutes here [Music] here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we'll be carrying our right leg over into a Twist I'll give you some options here so option one is to just bend into your right knee and cross it over your body it can help to move your hips to the right a little bit so my right thigh is going all the way down over towards the left and you can choose to keep this right knee bent and open up your right arm trying to push that right shoulder blade into the floor if you'd like a deeper sensation and a deeper stretch through the IT band you can straighten your right leg and even though I say straighten it doesn't actually need to be completely straight bending the knee is always perfectly fine in Yin we're just finding the intensity that works the best for us not pushing not pulling not chasing sensation or putting any kind of pressure on ourselves to perform or meet some kind of perceived expectation this is meant to be a class to help you feel really good in your body so do what it is that you need to do to make that happen so our chest is facing up and we're twisting from the mid back and down for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] if you had your right leg straight Bend through the knee and we'll ease out of the twist coming back through to Center if your hips have shifted bring them back in alignment with your shoulders and we'll come into half happy baby pose on the second side just going to move my props here out of the way so bringing the left knee in towards the belly either holding on to your big toe or to your left foot stacking the ankle over the top of your knee and you might just let your right thigh flop over to provide a little bit of a counterweight if you feel like you're rolling over to the left side of your mat otherwise you can just straighten your right leg out in front of you so getting deeper into our left hip a little bit into the hamstrings as [Music] well notice if there's any tension being held through your neck through your shoulder into your jaw breathe a little bit more softness into your body through this pose only about 2 minutes [Music] here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] let's carry this over into our spinal twist this will be our last pose before shavasana so crossing our left thigh over the body you might want to move your hips over to the left first just a couple inches to make it easier to stack our left hip over the right one my left left arm is going to reach out to encourage my shoulder to keep pressing into the mat and your left knee can be completely bent or any varying degree of straight if you'd like to Target through the IT band lower belly is hugging in slightly and readjust however you need to until you can find some Stillness where there is some sensation through your body some amount of stretch but not so much that you have to fight against it and tense up in order to hold the pose [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] for [Music] 10 more deep belly breath bre in the [Music] [Music] pose and we'll be coming out of this twist so roll onto your back back to neutral and see if there's anything you need before extending your legs and your arms out for shavasana shavasana is our final resting pose think of rolling and shrugging your shoulders down and away from your ears so there's a bit of an opening through your chest your palms are facing up and just let your feet flop open if there's any kind of discomfort through your lower back by having your legs straight you can widen in your feet and let your knees fall in towards one another closing your eyes you might mentally scan your body from the CR of your head working your way down mentally checking in and seeing how you feel inviting relaxation as you scan down through your neck and your chest your arms your hands relaxing down through your belly and your lower back feeling into your hips your thighs your lower legs and your [Music] feet let yourself get really heavy here in the pose and now I'll let you know when it's time to reawaken and come [Music] [Music] out [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] in [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] e [Music] take some deeper breaths so that you really feel your belly and your rib cage expand on the inhale and open the mouth with a sigh as you exhale take a few of these cleansing breaths moving a little wiggle your fingers and roll through your ankles you can stretch your arms up overhead taking a really big stretch from fingertips to toes and we'll roll to one side coming up to take a seat and just sit comfortably bring our hands together at the front of the heart eyes are closed take a moment to really thank yourself for carving out this time for your practice for your own self-care and we'll close by chanting M together one time let's inhale to chant breathe and deep [Music] oh thank you so very much everyone for doing this 90 minute Yin Yoga practice with me I hope you enjoyed this longer class please do leave me a comment comment I have a few other 90minut sequences here on my channel so I'll link to those if you wanted to give them a try I have plenty of other Yin Yoga practices as well of varying lengths to choose from leave me a comment please do and hopefully we'll be practicing again together very soon thank you again