Dive into this relaxing and rejuvenating 30 min yin yoga session designed to both relax your mood and release tension from the body! Yin yoga is a soothing practice where we hold postures for 2-7 minutes traditionally. In this class, we'll be holding these yin yoga poses for 2 minutes each.
These extended holds allow our muscles the luxury to relax into the full body stretch. Anatomically, these longer yin holds allow our fascia - the connective tissue that envelops our muscles, tendons, and organs - to reorganize into ways that allow for greater flexibility and range of motion.
Fascia that is not worked and moved is often the tissue that makes us feel tight - not the muscle. As we melt into these yin poses calmly, your fascia will release pent-up tension, while our nervous system relaxes simultaneously.
If you're seeking yoga for a mental reset or that yin yoga stretch, this class will give you the space to open your body, release tension, and calm the mind. Perfect for beginner yogis to advanced yogis who want that yin yoga stretch.
Please consult with your physician before beginning this yin yoga class. By participating in this deep stretch yoga class, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, assume all risk of injury to yourself, and agree to release and discharge Yoga with Kate Amber from any and all claims or causes of action, known or unknown, arising out of any content from Yoga with Kate Amber.
Hello friends, welcome to this express yin yoga class.
Yin yoga classes tend to be on the longer side because poses are often held from two
to seven minutes traditionally.
Now in this class, because it's an express class, we're going to hold them for two minutes
each.
And the structure of this class is that the first half of our class we're going to work
through the neck, the upper back, the shoulders, and the chest, and the back end of class we
will work on the hips and the legs.
So you are going to leave with a full body stretch and feeling good and open in your
body.
I do recommend having a block for your class today.
Sometimes it's nice to have a prop to rest on and you can have a block or a pillow, anything
that is a little bit supportive for you.
And I'm Kate.
If we haven't practiced together, then welcome.
I'm glad to have you here and this is a great class to kick our friendship off with because
it's a nervous system calming class.
It's relaxing and de-stressing.
So I think you're going to leave your mat feeling amazing.
And if you've practiced with me before, then of course, welcome back.
I'm glad to see you again.
But without further ado, let's take an inhale and let it all out.
Let's get started.
All right, mindful friends, we are going to start today's class in child's pose.
Now this won't be a yin posture.
We won't hold it for two minutes.
We're just going to arrive here as I share some things about yin yoga to keep in mind
throughout this class.
So with your child's pose, you have a few options, knees wide or knees together.
And your arms can be overhead and your forehead comes towards the ground.
Or your arms can be back towards your feet.
Gently close down the eyes if you'd like.
Maybe for the first time today, you focus your full attention on your breath, your inhales,
your exhales.
Feel your body filling up with air on the inhale and gently releasing.
Maybe you even feel that the air is cooler on the inhale in the nostrils and the air
is warmer when you exhale.
Now there are three stages to tapping into a yin posture.
The first one is finding physical comfort.
So there shouldn't be any pain and I'll cue more on this later in practice.
The second part, once you're comfortable, is to focus your attention fully on your breath.
That allows your body to feel safe and to further drop into the pose.
And when your body feels safe and you can work into the pose and you feel a sensation,
then your fascia starts to realign and that's when you start to feel more open in your body
and more calmness in your mind.
And this third step, once you're focused on your breath, after a short while, your focus
on your breath just drops away and you can start to just meditate in the pose, meaning
just be without trying or focusing too hard.
So inhale up to a tabletop position, click the knees, hips distance apart, and we'll
take our first yin yoga pose where you can employ the three stages that I just talked
about.
So your knees are at a 90 degree angle and walk your hands forward.
We're going to work into the top of the body for the first few yin yoga poses.
Here we come into a puppy pose, melting heart.
So your elbows can be on the ground or off the ground.
Your forehead can come to the mat.
Or for more sensation, you can flip your gaze up towards your fingertips, your chest comes
towards the mat.
This can be a big sensation, a lot on the cervical spine, your neck, because it's compressed.
So yogi's choice here.
Now get comfortable.
Maybe that means bringing your hands wider, as wide as the mat.
Maybe that means narrow.
After you've gotten comfortable so that you can find stillness, click your attention one
click deeper onto your breath.
Beautiful.
Slowly start to walk your hands towards your body.
Come into your tabletop, and we'll just rinse that out with a sweet cat cow.
So on your next inhale, look up, tummy drops, hip bones rise behind you.
Exhale, round chin to chest, round through each vertebrae.
Inhale, look up, hip bones spread apart and rise.
Exhale, round.
One more time.
Inhale, exhale, and come to neutral.
We'll work the back of the shoulders, the middle of the back.
So press into your left hand.
Inhale your right arm up, like the wing of a bird.
And exhale, needle your right arm in between your left hand and your left leg until your
shoulder comes all the way to the ground, releasing your head to the ground.
Your left hand can be reached up towards the top of the mat,
or wrapped around the small of your back into your right hand pocket.
Again, make yourself physically comfortable here so that you can find stillness.
Once you've found it, focus your attention on your breath.
Just really simply start to bring your left hand under your left shoulder,
press into the mat, inhale your right arm up, and exhale, press it down.
Good job.
Let's switch it out.
Press into your right hand, inhale, lift your left arm up, look up, and exhale.
Needle your left arm in between your right hand and your right leg.
Your left shoulder will come all the way down to the mat.
Find a posture you can stay with with ease for two minutes.
Start to bring your right hand back under your right shoulder,
press into your right hand, and inhale your left arm up, look up,
and exhale it back down onto the mat.
That beautiful sensation you get when you release a deep yin yoga stretch
is often the circulation flowing back into that area of the body,
which is why you feel that big release, and sometimes it can feel warm.
So if you're feeling that, that's perfectly normal.
Let's come down to our stomachs.
Bring your right arm out like the letter T, and we'll roll onto our right side.
You can leave your left hand in front of you on the mat for support,
or you can push your hips forward and roll further onto your right side.
Maybe your left leg comes up like a kickstand behind your right leg.
This is a beautiful pec stretch, opening through the chest.
There shouldn't be any pain, just an opening, stretching sensation.
For even more sensation, you can reach your left hand back in space.
Maybe it even meets your right hand.
Remember to keep a soft face,
soft eyebrows, the space between your eyebrows.
Release it.
Let your jaw unclench.
Maybe you even soften the space between your upper and lower eyelid.
Beautiful.
Bring your left hand back in front of your chest if it's not already,
and come to neutral.
Bring your right hand back towards your body.
Take a moment just on your stomach.
Maybe release your forehead to the ground.
Then we'll take it onto the other side.
Reach your left arm straight out in line with your shoulder,
and roll over onto your left side.
Stretching the left side of your chest,
your right hand can be in front of your chest supporting you,
and your right leg can come up behind your left leg for support.
Start to bring your right hand back to the mat if it's not already.
Come through to center.
Bring your left arm in and take two full breaths here.
Beautiful.
Start to grip into the hands, the fingertips,
the middle of the finger, and the palms.
Tuck the toes.
Sit the hips back almost into a child's pose,
but then raise the knees and send the hips into a downward dog.
This is just a transition pose, but we'll take a few breaths here.
Pedal it out if it's your first downward dog of the day.
We're moving into the leg and hip section of class now.
And ground down through your left foot.
Inhale your right arm or right leg up,
and exhale your right knee towards your right hand,
coming into pigeon on the right.
Your heel can be back towards your body.
That's going to be the most accessible version
or it can be up towards the top of your mat,
parallel with the top of your mat,
but only if that feels okay on your knee.
We'll come down into a humble pigeon,
folding over our front leg.
So you should feel this in your right side of your glutes,
glute medius, glute maximus, your piriformis,
which is this little muscle right at the top of your glutes.
You don't want to feel this in your knee.
If you do, then take your block or your pillow
and place it under your body
so it's less of a twist on your knee.
On your next exhale,
release any tension or clenching in your hips.
And release again, melt in.
Slowly start to walk yourself up.
Lean over to the right side.
And with control, and maybe with no hands,
you bring your left leg all the way to the front of the mat,
bringing your right foot to your inner thigh,
inhaling to a really long spine just to elongate.
And then exhale, fold to whatever degree in between
your left leg and your right knee.
So you're at this diagonal.
And maybe this is where you take your block or your pillow
and you rest it underneath your head or maybe your chest
so that you can feel supported.
Don't worry about your back rounding or your spine rounding.
That's going to be natural and it's encouraged in yin yoga.
Keeping the face soft, keeping the breaths full,
slowly start to come up.
Pause here, reorient yourself,
take your legs cross-legged,
plant your hands and step back into downward dog.
We'll take a few breaths here.
Press the mat away, raise the hip bones,
wrap the ribs into each other
so they're coming into the center line
and then press into the right foot.
Inhale the left leg up and exhale.
Set up for a pigeon on the left.
So your left knee comes towards your right hand or your left hand
and your foot is somewhere in between
parallel to the top of your mat or back towards your body.
You should feel this as a hip opener on the right side
and a glute stretch on the left.
You shouldn't feel pain in your knee.
If you do, just raise your body up
or you can even take this lying down on your back.
You can fold forward whenever you're ready.
This is another opportunity to use your block
or your pillow under your head here
and really allow yourself to get comfortable.
The more comfortable you are, the more your body will relax.
Into the posture, slowly, slowly
start to come up from your sleeping swan or pigeon pose.
Take a moment upright, recalibrate yourself
and then lean over to the left and maybe with no hands
you bring your right leg all the way to the front of the mat.
Circle it around and then bring your left leg to your inner thigh.
Inhale to a really long spine just to expand
and exhale, fold forward in between your foot and your knee at this diagonal.
Again, you can use any props here that allow you to sink in a little bit deeper.
Allow your back to round, your neck to be heavy, beautiful.
Slowly start to come up and we'll extend both legs straight out in front of us.
You can have your legs together.
I like to have a little bit of a gap so I can place a prop
or you can have them as wide as the mat.
If sitting at a 90 degree angle is challenging
then you can place a block or a pillow under your body.
We'll inhale to a long spine in this pike position
and then leading as if your heart is being pulled by a string,
lead with your heart shining forward
and then when you get to your depth that feels comfortable for you today,
you relax your back, let it round and relax your neck.
Allow your feet to fall open.
Allow your legs to have a slight bend if needed.
Start to roll up vertebrae by vertebrae.
The head is the last thing to come up.
Set your prop aside if you have one.
Take an easy seat, maybe keep the eyes closed down.
Just staying calm, staying regulated.
We'll take a few last breaths together as a class.
Prayer hands at the third eye.
May we honor our thoughts.
Prayer hands at the lips.
May we honor our words and prayer hands at the heart.
May we honor ourselves and walk with integrity.
Namaste, sweet friends.
Well done.
Make sure you drink lots of water today
and if a meditation sounds good after this,
then make sure you check out the meditations in the description below.
It's a perfect way to seal a yin yoga class.
If you are feeling good right now,
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I will see you on the mat soon, friends.
