How to practice Square Pose in Yin Yoga

Transcript

hi it's laura and this is alex he's here to demonstrate square pose so i'm going to start with the more modified version first so can you bring your feet a little bit more underneath your knees and sit up nice and tall and walk your hands forward into a forward fold we're looking for a mild sensation in the outer hips are you feeling anything in the outer hips no mostly my upper back okay so let's go ahead and come out of the pose and i'm gonna have him sit up on a bolster we're using a yoga mat and a blanket because we don't have a bolster and so from here go ahead and fold forward again see if you feel anything in the outer hips mostly just through my back okay that is good we do want to target the back but i also want to target the outer hips so go ahead and come up again and let's extend your legs out in front and keep that right leg straight and bend the left take the left foot on top of the right thigh and you go ahead and sit up tall and you can hinge at the hips or round the back forward whichever feels better for you and how about now are you feeling where are you feeling the sensations my right hamstring and a little bit in my head okay good and that is the targeted area um but i think he could possibly do the full version of the pose so go ahead and come back up and bend in that right knee to the right heel take that underneath your left knee you can use a block underneath that knee if it pops up it's not necessary because your knee will kind of go down a little bit when you're folding forward so sit up tall then hinge at the hips or round forward and tell me what you're feeling here definitely feel it in both hips more so on the left okay in both hips are you feeling sensation in the back as well a little bit more okay perfect um we are and what kind of sensation is it is it a sharp stabbing pain sensation or is it kind of a dull achy sensation a dull ache with a stretch feeling the stretch okay perfect that's exactly where we want you to be and go ahead and try to really relax into the pose soften the belly let the head hang you can take your chin down just let gravity do the work here so we are targeting the bladder meridian which runs down the back and there are several other meridians or channels that are embedded within the fascia of the body that connect in the spine so folding forward it's a good idea to have these in your practice at least one in the practice to access those channels and to help energy flow easier to those organs that they're connected to we're also targeting the gallbladder meridian which runs on the outer hip of the thigh if you're not able to do this pose sitting up and folding forward you can try to take this on your back and take more of a shoelace pose where you cross the knees and hold on to the feet and pull them down toward the ground you can also try this on your back at the wall so go ahead and bring your awareness to your thoughts or any images that are coming up in mind and just allow them to pass through your sky of awareness allow your breathing to become soft and gentle each exhale you're releasing a little bit more and go ahead and rise up nice and slow