Dragonfly Pose - Yin Yoga Pose Breakdown with Dr. Truth Robinson and LIVING YIN

Transcript

[Music] we're gonna break down dragonfly pose now and so dragonfly pose can be done just seated there is an easier variation up against the wall which i will show you at the end but usually with this position i like to turn sideways on my mat so it allows me to have my heels on the mat and so it just creates a little bit of extra cushioning you don't have to you can stay facing any way you like i just find this more comfortable personally on my heels now some students will have difficulty coming forward in this position and so they'll sort of be stuck a little bit more upright just because they'll lack a range or even just their skeleton so generally i'll say place a block underneath your bum and so by placing a block underneath your bum you're helping them to come forward just a little bit this may create a compression point in the knee so you can start to get the tibia pressing into the femur bone and then just get this little pressure at the front of the knee just pinches on the meniscus in there so you can just place a block underneath the knee like so and that's just going to enable that knee to soften a little bit and through softening of that knee um we're not going to get that compression point anymore other students they won't have that that's choice that's their choice they don't need to worry about it i generally would recommend it though so when i come into this position hands next to the hips just a little bit and just shift your hips forward and that enables you to just find where you really want to sit in this position and from here make sure those feet are nice and soft and relaxed we're not engaging any any muscles of the target area in yin and then we're going to have the bolster out in front of us and we're going to encourage flexion of the spine and so you want to create this rounding of the spine so just as you know a flat back creates a flat back we want to make sure we're getting a nice rounding moment coming forward to get a flexion just as we look for extensions in other positions we need to get flexions as well to get a nice big uh open mobile back so we're using the bolster here to create that flexion of the spine i generally just double it over like so and then just roll over so front ribs in lift the back ribs up really pour yourself over the bolster and drop your head down you're going to get a little bit of sensation now onto the inner thigh and this is your main target area and this is yes going to get into adductors a little bit if that's where you're tight but then quite likely you're going to more get into your semimembranosus semitendinosus which are part of your hamstrings more linked to your kidney pathway adductors of course is going to be your liver pathway now as you're coming forward you're going to start to get a sensation potentially in your outer hip this is going to be your glute max glute made area and that's going to be getting into your gall bladder and as you're coming forward you feel it coming up laterally a little bit through your thoracolumba fascia it's also going to be your gall bladder pathway and then as you come forward drop the head and flex the spine you're going to start to get a sensation all up the direct to spin a up into the back of the neck semi-spinalis etc coming over the back of the head top of the head from the head and this whole pathway is the back line of the spine and that's going to be your bladder pathway over time you'll have a little bit more space and you enable yourself to eventually come further and further forward just so you make sure that most of the sensations are in that inner thigh and we're not finding it in a cute little spot in the lower lumbar trying to get more of a distributed sensation along the spine by flexing it now some students even if you place something underneath their bum place something underneath their knee they may not be able to come forward so then you're going to use the wall then so same thing applies here you're just going to well same position just up against the wall i mean so with your bum up against the wall like so legs are going to be spread really wide and then maybe even just place a little block underneath the knees or thighs if you're getting a compression point in your outer hip in here if not don't worry about it if you're having trouble coming into this position you just bring your bum further away from the wall and that's going to help those students particularly the ones that are having trouble coming forward to have that range to come forward to actually find a position that's going to work for them coming out it's kind of easy enough students you just have legs up a wall or knees into the chest and with your other dragonfly just roll yourself back up and then come to lie back into your um rebound pentacle pose and that's your dragonfly pose