(30-min) Yin Yoga for Tight Hips - Restorative Flow with Breathwork led by Belinda Pearl

Namaste, hello, my name is Belinda Pearl and welcome to this short yoga practice where we'll be focusing on the pelvic area, the pelvic girdle and the inner thighs to create space that you can find your fluidity in life. So let us get started, easy seated position, maybe on a cushion or in a chair, something that's under your hips so that your knees are lower than your hips. Take a moment here just to settle into the space. Eyes can be closed and bring your awareness to your breath. As you're breathing in, just notice the breath as it sails in through the nose. And as you breathe out, you can even sigh the breath out just through the back of your throat. And inhaling, feeling the delightfulness of breath as it pulls you. And then exhaling, allowing the breath just to move out. One more deep breath in, completely emptying yourself of breath, just allowing the breath to move out. Cup your hands onto your knees and we're gonna curl our spine like a C-shape. Stay here so you can feel your pelvic girdle, your whole pelvis rolling backwards. Your tailbone's gonna be tucking underneath you. Hold onto the knees as you inhale and allow the front of your pelvis to move forward. And then again, exhaling, rounding your spine, pelvis moves back. Inhaling, moving the pelvis forward. We'll undulate through that a couple more times. Forward and back. And as you're exhaling and bringing the pelvis forward, you feel the pelvic floor naturally lifting up and into the body. And then as you're dipping the pelvis forward, there's an awakening and an opening. It naturally moves with your breath. It's easy to exhale as you roll it back. Easier to inhale as you move it forward. A couple more. Just allowing the pelvis to feel free as you move the body forward and back and forward and back. And now slowly come to neutral. And just notice the weight between the left and the right sit bones as they're placed on your chair or on your cushion. How does that feel? And now move your spine side to side. And as you're moving side to side, you may feel one sit bone lifts up and that's okay. You want that to happen. And so we're just stretching the sides of our hip as well as the sides of our waist. And if you want to, you can add in one side as you inhale towards maybe the left and exhale towards the right. There's a little bit of a dance. You can let your head move too. This is also good. Your whole spine becomes fluid like seaweed in the ocean. Gently begin to slow the side to side motion down, making the motion smaller and smaller until you find yourself perfectly seated. Turn your palms up on your thighs. Eyes are closed. Take a deep breath in. And again, sigh the breath out. Bring your hands behind you. If you're seated, just release your feet. If you're on a cushion, move your cushion out the way. Bring your knees together and round your spine here. And then inhale, lift your chin and your chest. Again, exhale, round your spine. Inhale, lift your chin and your chest. Exhale, round your spine. Inhale, lift your chin and your chest. Exhale, round your spine. Now you're gonna round your body all the way down towards the mat. Let your spinal column come all the way down. Your hands can rest next to you. See if you can gently touch your heels and then move the feet towards each other. Hands at about a 45 degree angle, and then we're gonna open the legs all the way up so the knee's gonna fall down. Even if they're hanging in the air, that's okay. As we inhale, we're gonna come maybe halfway up. Then exhale, let the knees fall out towards the side. Again, inhale, halfway up. Let the knees fall out as you exhale. A couple more. Inhale, halfway up. Exhale, knees all the way down. And you want them to come down and reset. So then when you inhale, you come halfway up. And as you exhale, let the knees fall all the way down. A couple more. Inhale, up. Exhale, all the way down. And make your knees rest and reset as they come down. Two more. And down, reset. One more. Down and reset. Now we're here to bring the knees three quarters of the way up. Put it all the way together and then all the way down. And then reset. Again, three quarters up and reset. And again, three quarters up and reset. Again, three quarters up and reset. Let's do two more here. Inhale, up. Exhale, down. One more time. Inhale, three quarters up. Exhale, all the way down. Now we're gonna inhale. Bring them all the way up together. And then all the way down to the mat and reset. Inhale, up all the way. Exhale, down all the way. Couple more. Inhale, up. Exhale, down. Inhale, up. Exhale, down. Reset. One more time, up. Exhale, down. Reset. Just notice how your hips feel and your groins. And now bring, use your hands to bring the knees all the way up and then into your chest. You know, gently just rock side to side so you can find like the back of your spine, the back of your sacrum, the joints where the sacrum meets towards the spine. You can just rock that out. Hands on the knees, pull the knees into your chest. And as you inhale, press the knees away, straighten your arms. As you exhale, pull the knees in. There's a little bit rounding of your pelvic floor and sacrum away from the mat. Inhale, press the knees into your hands. Exhale, knees back into chest. Again, inhale, press knees into your hands. Exhale, knees into chest. Let's do two more. Knees into chest. One more. And then knees into chest. Give them a nice hug. Bring the soles of the feet back down to the mat and then heel toe them wider than your hips. Keep the knees together. You can place one hand on your heart, one hand on your belly. And let your knees fall into each other so the whole opening through your sacrum is there. Inhale into the navel first. Let your hand rise and then your hand on your heart rise. And then as you exhale, from the heart all the way down. Again, hand on the belly, hand on the chest. And then exhale, heart, belly. Keep breathing that way. Inhale, hand on the belly, hand on the heart. Exhale from the top all the way down. A couple more. Down and down. One more, belly, chest, and then out, chest, and belly. Bring your hands down to the mat. Heel toe your feet back towards each other and knees into the chest. Give them a nice squeeze. We're gonna take first two fingers behind the creases of the knees. We're gonna rock just one time from the base of the spine to the nape of the neck to bring the body all the way up. Cross your ankles, bring your hands out in front of you. Bring your big toes to touch. Now you can place a blanket over your heels and grab your bolster and you place your bolster, maybe a cushion on top of that. Knees on either side. You can take a moment here just to rest down. Turn your head to one side and close your eyes. Allow yourself to melt into the bolster. Maybe the bolster is actually supporting your navel. Allows you to feel a lot more supported and grounded. It allows you to feel a lot more present in your practice and in your body. And as you're breathing, allow your belly to expand as you press into the bolster. And then as you're exhaling, allow your belly just to soften. Inhaling, expanding. Exhaling, allowing. A few more deep breaths. Feel your body releasing. Allow your nervous system to reset. Two more deep breaths. One more. Bring your hands on either side of your bolster. Gently press yourself all the way up. You can move that blanket that's underneath you. Maybe you can place that on top of your bolster so you can make this higher. Bring your hands forward and move your knees out towards the side. Now, if you're on a hard floor, you may want to put a cushion under each knee or a blanket. And then bring your feet out so that there's a 90 degree angle from your knee and your hip, and then your knee to your ankle and your foot. On both sides, look at that. And then you can place the bolster so it's supporting your navel. And then you're going to lean down into the bolster. Maybe make a little cushion here for yourself. And then allow your body to relax. And as you relax in this place here, you can do a little bit of that cat-cow in your pelvis. Maybe some micro movement. There's a gentle, as you exhale, a gentle tucking of the tailbone underneath you. And then as you inhale, it's a gentle lifting. It's like you're working maybe just on the pelvic floor. As you're exhaling, it's drawing it in. As you're inhaling, it's allowing it just to balloon, just gently. Maybe you don't even see the movement. Maybe at the movement, you're just creating it in your mind. But gently, curling under and lifting. So as your pelvis was moving up and forward and back and down, just stay here. And as you're inhaling too, as you're exhaling, just feel how the groins begin to soften. As you inhale, you're lifting. You may even press the inside of your knees and ankles into the mat. And then as you're exhaling, soften. A couple more, maybe one more. And then just allow yourself to be in that space. Allow your belly to expand with your breath. Allow your breath to move all the way through you. Take another full deep breath here. Complete exhale out through the mouth. You're gonna bring your hands down on either side of your bolster. Gently feel your heels come towards each other. As you press yourself up, you can continue to bring your feet towards each other here. You can move the bolster. You can keep it out in front of you, but you can take one of your blankets and you can place one of the blankets underneath your hip. So you can sit on that or a nice big cushion or the bolster. Maybe you bring your big toes to touch. Mandukasana, hands on your knees, eyes are closed. Gently turned up to the point between your eyebrows and a little up. Can bring the tip of the tongue behind the two front teeth and thumb to the index finger. Roll your shoulders up and back. Sit up nice and tall and find your breath. Breathe into your body. And I hear the same thing. You can do that little tilting forward of the pelvis and tilting the pelvis back. Just gentle rocking through the pelvis forward and back. And so we're finding more mobility, flexibility, even adaptability in your body. Now, if you can't sit like this, you can also place the bolster underneath your sit bones to lift yourself even higher up. And take a couple more deep breaths. Just allowing the pelvic floor to move forward and back and forward and back. Couple more forward and back and forward and back. Now you can stay seated like you are or pull your bolster closer towards you. Grab your other blanket or cushion, place that on top, maybe all the way to your navel. And now if it feels good, you can just lean forward on your bolster. This can be like a resting position, a little bit of a yin, restorative. Allow yourself to be. If you want to, bend your elbows, take your first two fingers. And right behind the ears, you'll find this nice round bone here. You can hook your fingers there and then pull on your head just gently forward. There's a little bit of traction in the neck. And then here, big belly breath. Just allow your breath to expand with every breath that you take. And releasing and expanding and releasing. Maybe if it feels right for you in your practice, you can lay down. You can just fold your arms. You can even make double fists. Bring your forehead down. Allow yourself to breathe. Allow yourself to enjoy. Allow yourself to be present. Allow yourself just to be. Let's take two more deep breaths. Feeling your breath. And hands down onto your bolster. Peel your body all the way up. And now gently bring one knee a little closer and your next knee. And then again, closer and closer. Here you can move your bolster out the way. You're gonna come forward into a tabletop position. You can actually keep your blanket where it is right there. You're gonna move through a couple of cat-cows. You're gonna round your spine, tuck your tailbone underneath you. And inhale, you're gonna lift your chest. You're gonna exhale, round your spine. And then lift. One more time, round and lift. Find a neutral spine. Extend your right leg back behind you. Pull knee to nose so you can touch. Expand that leg back. And then out towards the right side. Toes are gonna point forward. Tuck your left toes underneath you. And bring your hands out in front of you. You're leaning your chest down. Now you're gonna find a nice stretch through your inner thigh. Just find that breath as you breathe into the underside of your leg. Let's take two more deep breaths. Just feeling into that space. One more. Bring your body lightly forward again. This time you're gonna point your left toes and sit onto your blanket. So it's gonna be under your hips. Can also be your bolster. You're gonna expand and flex your right toes up towards the sky. Bring your right arm down. You can take your left arm up over your right left ear here. Inhale to lengthen. And then just allow your body to melt over the thigh. You can also bend your right elbow and bring like your hand and use it as a kickstand to hold your head up. Sometimes that works too. Or you can allow your right ear to drop to your right shoulder. If that feels good on your neck. Let's take about three deep breaths. All the way through the side body. This top side of your body is getting a nice deep stretch. Enjoy that stretch. Inhaling, exhaling. One more. Use your bottom hand to lift your body all the way up. Bring yourself forward again. Now you're gonna take this right leg back and cross it behind your left leg. So we're gonna come into Gomukhasana. Here you can grab your bolster or your blanket and place it like over your legs so you can sit back onto the bolster or the blankets and give yourself a little bit of elevation. Here your right arm's gonna go up and bend the elbow and use your left hand on the elbow to stretch through the side of your tricep. Inhale, reach up to the right elbow and then little side body stretch towards the left. So you feel a deeper stretch all the way down here. Squeeze your inner thighs towards each other. We've been working them. So really feel that engagement in your inner thighs. Take another fresh breath and then come all the way up, hands out in front of you. You can move your blanket out the way again. Uncross your legs. Let's do a couple of Cat-Cows. Rounding your spine, opening your heart. Now come to neutral spine. Extend your left leg back behind you and then bring the leg out towards the side. Tuck your right toes and lift. You want to get your blanket ready. Your left toes point straight forward and then walk your hands out in front of you. Now you feel that nice inner stretch on your left leg, the inner thigh. Remember to breathe, breathing deeply. You can use your mind here too. If it feels like it's straining too much, just breathe a little bit deeper into that place and imagine all the muscles softening with your breath. Another fresh deep breath here. Maybe sigh the breath out through rounded lips. Let everything go. Bring yourself a little bit up. Point your right toes, position your bolster or your blanket where your hips are gonna go. Your left toes are gonna face straight up towards the sky. Bring your left hand on the inside. Right arm's gonna reach up inside, body stretch. Inhale here, exhale here. Again, breathing in and exhale. And if you wanted to, you can bend your left elbow, make a little kickstand for your head. Stay here, breathe. Or if you wanted to, just let your left ear dangle down to your left shoulder if that feels good on your neck. If it doesn't, just use your fingertips to lift your head back up. Inhaling, exhaling. Let's do a couple more deep breaths. One more. Use your bottom hand to lift the body all the way up. Bring your hands out in front of you, lift your hips and then take this left leg all the way towards the right side. Bend the knees, take your blanket and put it over your, just between your legs so you can be seated onto the blanket. So go Mukasana. This time we're gonna take left arm up. Bend the left elbow, right hand on top of that. Inhale, lengthen here. And then a little side body stretch. Feel that nice, deep stretch all the way from your left elbow down to the top of your left hip. Opening that space, take another fresh breath here. Enjoy the spaciousness. One more deep breath. Inhale, coming all the way up. Release your hands towards the sky. Bring your hips forward. Remove your blanket, place it back on the other one. And then bring yourself back into a tabletop. Exhale the breath out around your spine. Inhale, lift your chin, your chest. And exhale around your spine. Inhale, lift your chin, your chest. Bring your big toes to touch. Open your knees out wide. And then here we're gonna take a blanket again between our legs so we can sit on the blanket or on your bolster. You can make your knees a little bit wider, Mandukasana. We're gonna do a round of alternate nostril breathing. Your left hand's gonna be on your thigh. Index finger to the thumb. Bend your right elbow. You're gonna take your first two fingers right between your eyebrows and a little up. Make a little circle here in one direction, then the other direction, and then gently press. Your right thumb's gonna rest on the outside of your right nostril. Your ring finger and baby finger together. Find your breath in your body and press it all the way out. Seal your right nose or nostril. Inhale through the left. Seal both nostrils and then out through the right. In through the right. Seal both nostrils. Out through the left. In through the left. Seal out through the right. In through the right. Out through the left. In through the right. Sorry, in through the left. Out through the right. In through the right, out through the left. One more round, in through the left, out through the right, in through the right, out through the left. Release your right hand down. Eyes are lightly turned up, inhaling, exhaling. One more big breath here. Softly open your eyes, grab your bolster again. You're gonna place the bolster out in front of you. You're gonna bring the body forward here. Take your feet out again, so you're at those 90 degree angles here. So the feet and the ankles, knees and ankles, knees and hips on both sides. You wanna make sure here you can place the bolster, make sure it supports your navel. Knees slightly out, you're gonna drop down here. And then here you can notice, how does it feel? Does it feel different from before? Does it feel easier than before? For the next few breaths, as you inhale, press the insides of your knees and ankles and feet into the mat. As you exhale, let it soften. As you inhale, you're gonna press. You're gonna exhale, soften. Inhale, press. Exhale, soften. One more time, inhale, press. Exhale, soften. Take a fresh breath in. Sigh the breath out. You can stay here if you want, or see if you can bring your big toes to touch behind you. Different position, different sensation, slightly different stretch. See what that feels like. Let's do two more deep breaths just in the space. One more. Then hands on either side of your bolster. You're gonna press yourself all the way up. As you press yourself up, you can pull your right knee in, left knee, right knee, left knee. You can sit back on your blanket. Now move your bolster out the way. Bring your weight onto one hip, and then bring your legs out in front of you. Here, we're gonna just squeeze the knees into each other. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. And then slowly, you can use your hands and your knees. You can round your spine down towards the mat, and then pull the knees into your chest. Just wiggle your spine side to side. Bring the feet down towards the mat, hands next to the hips. As you inhale, just open the knees all the way up towards the mat. We're gonna come all the way back up a couple of times. We need to bring the knees up together, and squeeze back down, and open all the way up, reset. Bring the knees all the way back up, and squeeze. Exhale, open up, and relax, and reset. Two more times, all the way up, and squeeze. Really purposely squeeze at the top, and then exhale when you reset. All the way down, reset. One more time, all the way up, and squeeze. Keep the knees squeezing. As your heels are your feet away from each other, broken bridge. Again, one hand on the heart, one hand on the belly. Inhaling, you're gonna let your belly rise at your hand. Exhaling, heart, belly. Inhaling, belly, heart. Exhaling from the top down. Inhaling, belly, heart. Exhaling, top down. Let's do a couple more. Let's do one more. Heel to your feet, back in line with your hips. Pull the knees into your chest, give them a nice squeeze. Put your first two fingers behind the crease of the knees. You're gonna rock back up. Now bring your blankets out in front of you, or cushions. You roll them into equal sizes, or maybe your cushions are of equal size, or blocks of equal size. You make a little diamond shape. Now you put your feet over them, but make the diamond nice and big. It doesn't have to be close to the body. Place your bolster right behind your spine, lengthways behind your spine. And then imagine it's like a big beach ball, and you want to lift your body up and over it. Once your back comes down, take your hands behind your head, lengthen out your neck, and then allow your arms to drip onto the mat. Make sure they're completely supported. Maybe you need a little cushion behind your head. Make any small adjustments. Now it's Shavasana. Now it's time to release into the mat. Find your belly moving with your breath as you inhale. Exhale, just softening into the earth. And allow your breath to be connected. So as you're inhaling, full and deep breath. As you're exhaling, all out into the earth. Keep that rotation, the roundness of your breath. Keep breathing. Now you can just allow the body to melt and completely rest. Rest for another five, 10 minutes. Allow yourself to be, allow yourself to reset fully and completely. Thank you again for practicing with me. May you have a beautiful day. May your body feel wonderful and well. From my heart to yours, may you always be blessed. Namaste.