Full-Body Tension Release: 61-Min Yin Yoga Class for Grapplers

Close the eyes if you like. Find your deep breaths. Last breath. Slowly come to center.

Uncross the feet. Hands by your sides. The right hand, place the back of the right hand along the spine. So you'll have to shift your upper body over a bit.

And the higher up the center of the right hand is to the center of the spine. So you can either have it on the lower back or move it up. The more towards the head that you put that hand, the more intense the stretch will be. So find a place to tuck it in that you feel it and this will intensify with time.

So don't worry if you feel it a little bit, that will intensify. So you'll feel this stretch through the front of that shoulder. Once you've found it, you can close the eyes if you like. Come back to those deep breaths.

You can always adjust more. If you want to bring the hand more or less up your back, go ahead and do that at any time in this posture. Deep inhale. Exhale to consciously release any tension you might feel in your body.

So moving out of the thinking mind and into the body, how we feel. Deep breath. Release the right hand. Re-center the hands, palms up.

Take a moment to notice the difference between the right and the left side. Reaching the arms overhead. One more stretch. Make the body long.

Walk the hands and feet towards the left side. Left hand holds the right wrist or the right elbow. And the left foot is crossed over the right. Making sure both hips are on the ground.

Making sure both shoulders are still on the ground. So you're facing up and in that banana shape. Anytime in this posture, you can move into your banana shape more or less. Remember it will intensify with time.

So once you've found the posture, close the eyes. Deep inhale. As you inhale, find the tension. Exhale to release it.

Exhale to release it. Exhale to release it. Exhale to release it. Exhale to release it.

Exhale to release it. Exhale to release it. Exhale to release it. Exhale to release it.

Exhale to release it. Inhale to release it. Exhale to release it. Slowly find your way to center.

Hands by the hips. This time the left hand, so the back of the left hand will go into the center of the spine, not the center of the, yeah, center of the spine, not all the way up, but just the midline on the lower back, center of the back, center of the spine. And then if you would like, you can walk the hand up the back. So towards the lower back will be less intense and the more you walk the hand up the spine, it will become more and more intense.

So once you've found a spot where you feel that stretch to the front of the shoulder, settle in and it won't be a hundred percent. It's another stretch that will intensify with time. If it's bothering you, if it hurts, you've gone too far. I was going to say loosen up the stretch a bit.

Back off the stretch a little bit. Bring the hand lower down the spine. Once you've found this, breathe. If you're holding tension in the left shoulder, let it go, let it release.

Find your deep breaths. Inhale and as you inhale, be aware of where it feels tight. Inhale and as you exhale, be aware of where it feels tight. Inhale and as you exhale, be aware of where it feels tight.

Inhale and as you exhale, be aware of where it feels tight. Inhale and as you exhale, be aware of where it feels tight. Last deep breath. Release the hand from underneath you.

Place both hands by the hips, palms up. And take a moment to notice the left and right side, the difference. Maybe the back of the shoulders sit more comfortably along the floor now because the front has that nice stretch, had that nice stretch. Gathering both knees into the chest, gently rock side to side.

Feeling this through the entire spine, but especially the lower back. This can be really nice if you sit a lot, if you sit a lot for work or school. Even if you stand a lot, the back can get really sore. Moving into our figure four, lowering the left foot to the floor, right ankle, the left quad.

And you can stay here. If this is enough for you, stay here and push the right hand into the right knee. Or if you would like more, reach both hands through the thighs, interlocking the fingers behind the leg. And then rest the head.

So nice outer hip stretch. Last, last breath here. Adding to this outer hip stretch, keeping the legs exactly where they are. Release the hands, left hand on the ankle, lower towards the left side, rolling to the left side and right hand reaches up then behind you.

So a revolved figure four pose. Don't say that three times, it's terribly confusing. And a nice spinal twist. You can either continue holding onto the ankle or you can release it.

Up to you. And this can be really intense for the outer hip. So good for it though. So coming back to those intentional breaths.

Inhale. Exhale to release any tension through the body. Deep inhale. Exhale to release.

Inhale. Exhale to release. Inhale. Exhale to release.

Inhale. Exhale to release. Inhale. Exhale to release.

Inhale. Exhale to release. Inhale. Exhale to release.

Inhale. Exhale to release. Inhale. Exhale to release.

Inhale. Exhale to release. Inhale. Last deep breath.

Slowly find your way to center. Both feet on the floor, re-center the spine. Take a moment. Notice the difference between the left and the right.

Gathering both knees into the chest. Gently rock side to side. Moving into our figure four. Right foot on the floor, left ankle on the quad.

Make sure it's the ankle foot, not the shin, but closer to the ankle foot side. And you can stay here. Left hand pushes on the knee. This is enough for you.

Or if you would like more, reach the hands through the thighs, pulling the leg towards you. Relax the head. Find your deep breaths. Last deep breath.

Keeping the legs exactly where they are. Release the hands. Lower to the right side. Right hand on the right ankle.

Left hand reaches up, then behind you. So figure four with a gentle spinal twist. Either continue holding on to the right ankle or release. So recognize anywhere you're feeling tension.

You may feel tension without knowing it in the right leg. So not the one we're stretching. We're stretching the left, but in the right leg, the bottom leg. And if you do, release.

Then move into the left leg. You're feeling tension through there. Release it as much as you can. Find your breath.

Last deep breath. Slowly find your way to center. Re-center the spine. Legs extended or bent.

Feet on the floor. Or legs straight. Close the eyes. Take a moment.

And recognize how good you feel, even after only a few postures. Finding your belt. Hamstring stretch. Loop the belt around the ball of the right foot.

Then loop the hands around the belt. You want to loop the hands around the belt, allowing the grip to relax. If you need to bend and straighten the leg a few times, moving into this hamstring stretch the first time can be quite intense. Left foot on the floor.

Left foot on the floor for this set. And when you're ready, when you can, go ahead and straighten that right leg. Find a grip with the belt, with the hands, so you can relax your arms as much as possible. Obviously they will be working a little bit to keep the belt, but relax them as much as possible.

Inhale. Exhale. Release through that entire right leg. Inhale.

Exhale. Release the heel to the ceiling a little more. Inhale. Exhale.

Release the calf. Inhale. Exhale. Try to release the whole back of the leg.

So continuing with the inhales to find the tension, exhales to release. And if the whole leg is pretty tight, then that's okay. You're going to release tension through the whole leg. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.

Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.

Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.

Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.

Inhale. Inhale. Inhale. Inhale.

Inspiration. Inspiration. Inspiration. Last deep breath.

Take the belt in the right hand and lower the leg to the right side. Option to stop with the elbow on the ground if this is really intense through the inner thigh or if you're feeling good, right like all the way to the floor. Take the left hand on the left hip and it's okay if the left hip lifts a bit, not a big deal. We don't want to be going all the way over to the right side though.

Majority of your torso, hips and shoulders still facing up. Once you've found your posture, close eyes and breathe. Use the inhale to fill up. Use the exhale to release the tension.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale.

Exhale. Thirdまで. Last deep breath. Find your inhale to slowly come to center.

Right foot on the floor, knee bend. Make any movements so you're comfortable and take a moment. Now the blood to rush back to the right hand. Close the eyes.

Notice the difference, the feeling of the right and the left leg. Right foot on the floor, loop the belt around the ball of the left foot. And wrap the hands around the belt a few times so we can relax the grip. If you need to, bend and extend that left leg.

And when you are ready, go ahead and straighten that left leg. If it feels pretty intense, that's okay. Use the breath to release it. And those deep breaths, what we are doing is using the breath to calm down the nervous system because sometimes that tightness, there's a phrase that's called what holds me back.

And we think a lot of the time it's in flexibility, but sometimes it is the nervous system that's tense or the nervous system is not comfortable letting go that much. So because the legs are so commonly bent, they're never really straight, straight, not commonly the nervous system is a hard time allowing us to do that. I do a lot of these postures and so that is why I'm using the breath to let the nervous system know that it's okay to release those muscles along the back of the leg. And at the same time, the deep breaths allow the nervous system to calm down, to relax because so often there's so much going on during the day and busyness and training that we're on gear 8, 9, 10.

It is really, really important to allow ourselves to slow down, to go to gear 1, to go to gear 2. It's really healthy, it's really important for the body, for the nervous system, for the mind to allow ourselves to be on this gear because this is how we reset and we recharge so that when we go back to our gear 10, we can do it better. If we stay on gear 10 all the time, we're going to get burnt out, going to get tired. This allows us to go back there better.

The rest for recovery is just as important, the act of recovery. So that's the purpose behind me focusing on the deep breaths and the purpose behind the intentional work of releasing those muscle parts, those muscle groups because it works. Obviously, if you're doing this video and following my directions, not ignoring me, not putting me on mute, if you're listening then you'll notice that things do start to slowly loosen up. Having said all that, notice that through my blabbering perhaps the leg has already loosened up a little.

Find those deep breaths. Keeping the right foot on the floor, take the belt in the left hand, bringing the belt to the left side. Elbow can be on the floor if that's enough for you, enough of a stretch or lower all the way down to the left side. Right hand on the right hip.

Remember you want the two hips, the two shoulders to be mostly facing towards the ceiling. We want it mostly facing up. It's okay if the right hip comes off the ground a little. That's okay.

We want everything mostly facing up. Once you found your posture, find your breaths. Deep inhale. Inhale to release the entire body.

One place is tense, it can carry you to the other areas of the body. So release. Come back to your breaths. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.

Exhale. Inhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.

Inhale. Last deep breath. Slowly come to center. Release the foot.

Both feet on the floor. Take a moment. Let everything re-center the spine. Let everything process that.

Let the body process that. Notice the difference between left and right. Rolling to your favorite side. Slowly push yourself up to a sit.

You don't need the belt. I'm going to put the belt to the side. Feet together. The bottom of the feet together.

Inhale to straighten the spine long. Aligning it, realigning it. Exhale to slowly fold forward. Hands can be behind legs where they are here.

Closer to my hips. Hands can be in front of you. Posting a little. Or you can frame the feet with the hands.

So whatever is comfortable, find your posture. Let the head hang long. You don't need to hold it up anymore. And we're moving into a really nice forward fold to release the back.

Release tension through the back. The reason why the legs are bent is so the focus can be on the back. Otherwise, if the legs are together, then the hamstrings can play a role. If your hamstrings are tight, it can play a role in the back releasing.

And I want just the back to be at this party. Find the deep breaths. Inhale, exhale to release. Being aware of where you feel this in the back body.

Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release.

Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release.

Inhale, exhale to release. And as your back slowly releases, go ahead and walk the hands forward a little more. We are here for two more minutes. Inhale, exhale to release.

Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release.

Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release. Inhale, exhale to release.

Last three deep breaths. Use the hands to push yourself up. Post the hands behind you, behind the hips, fingers facing forward or almost forward, both feet on the floor. Use the hands to push the chest up and slowly windshield wipe the knees left and right.

Knees don't have to touch the ground. The purpose of this is to simply bring movement into the hips to counter our last pose. Coming to center, move to your hands and knees for tabletop and in tabletop cat cow. Arch the spine towards the ground, the lower back, middle back, upper back and then round the lower back, middle back, upper back towards the sky.

Then reverse towards the ground. Continue with this movement or if it feels good, go into freestyle. In my freestyle, I like to do three big circles one way with the spine and three big circles the other way. Come to center.

Walk the hands forward until the entire body is on the floor, well almost on the floor, moving to sphinx. So elbows under the shoulders, palms on the ground and use the hands to pull the torso up and forward, making the spine long. Pull the belly button to the spine a little. Doing your best to relax within this posture, really healthy for the spine, creating this back bend and really healthy for the front body.

Stretch those abs. And release. Left ear on the floor, look right. And right leg up.

So you're in what's called basically a half frog, but it's a nice release for the back after that stretch. Moving into a shoulder stretch with the left arm. Moving into a cactus arm. So elbow is in line with the shoulder.

Take a look, check. Then move the elbow a little higher than the shoulder, just a little higher than the shoulder. Looking right. Post the right hand to push off the right side, turning towards the right, stretching the left shoulder.

And of course the right leg can move to assist with this movement. And if you don't feel a stretch with the left arm, move the elbow up or down a little until you feel it. And release. And release.

Release. Come to center. Moving to your Sphinx pose, but this time elbows under the shoulders, but right elbow forward a little more. Tuck the left arm underneath, palm up, stretching.

You'll feel the stretch through the front of that left shoulder. Where you're tight, you'll feel it. See if you can re-center both hips to face the ground again. And breathe.

Slowly come to center, prop the elbows underneath you, finding your Sphinx pose, elbows under the shoulders, palms on the ground. And use the fingers to pull the torso forward and up. Release. Look left, right ear on the floor.

Look left and left knee up. Take a few moments. And this looking left, looking right with your ear on the mat. Well last time we looked right, this time we're looking left, is a nice stretch for the neck.

So you may notice that one side is tighter than the other. You might notice that one side, both sides, or no sides. But either way, it's good for your neck. Creating a cactus with the right arm.

Check to see that the elbow is in line with the shoulder. And go ahead and walk the elbow a little higher than the shoulder, just a little higher than the shoulder. Look left again. Use the left hand to push off the ground, turning your torso to allow more of a stretch through that right shoulder.

And release. And release. And release. And release.

And release. And release. And release. And release.

And release. And release. And release. And release.

And release. And release. And release. And release.

And release. And release. And release. And release.

And release. And release. And release. And release.

And release. And release. And release. And release.

And release. Finish. Slow. advertisement Slow 120 happiness I've got everything to set out, minutes.

Do duration. Equality. Within a moment. I've got time and everything.

I've got the good experience. allowing the right arm to go underneath the left palm up, turning the torso to face the mat, to face the ground. Feel that stretch through the right shoulder. You can either leave the left arm out or if you found yourself resting your head on the arm, that's okay too.

Feel the stretch through the right shoulder. Feel the stretch through the left shoulder. Feel the stretch through the right shoulder. Feel the stretch through the left shoulder.

Feel the stretch through the right shoulder. Slowly come to center. Both elbows under the shoulders again. Find your Sphinx Pose.

And this time release. Find your way to a Wide-Legged Child's Pose. So feet together, knees wide, and in your Child's Pose, find your way to a Wide-Legged Child's Pose. So feet together, knees wide, and in your Child's Pose, anywhere that's comfortable, propped on your elbows, arms outstretched in front of you, forehead on the ground, or forehead on the ground, elbows beside you, hands beside you.

Coming back to your Deep Breaths. Coming back to your Deep Breaths. And from here, both elbows on the floor, hands together, palms together, palms behind you. Nice stretch through those triceps.

It might be subtle, but that's okay. Slowly releasing the hands and moving to the Wall. Now if you don't have a wall, you can do Shabasa on your back, but I hope you do. And this might even work if you have a couch or chair, but scooch your hips as close as you can to your Wall, Couch, Chair, and feed up the Wall.

This is such a nice way to finish class. Hands out to the sides, palms up. Now we'll time us in Shavasana. I'll let you know when you've reached your 60 minutes.

I'll let you know when you can also stay longer. Remembering that this is still one of the postures. This is still part of class, and the purpose of the postures we've done before were to stretch, or to either stretch, or to take a moment to notice the effects, the results of the stretches did. And here, this is for the body to process the work that we did and to integrate the work that we did.

And it allows us to move out of the mind and into the body now that we've used the breath to calm down the nervous system and to release. So allow yourself these few moments to close the eyes, to breathe, to relax, and to just be. So if you're working within that 60 minute time frame, this is it. Or if you have more time to stay, I really encourage you to stay.

And if you find you fall asleep here, even better. So take a few moments and breathe.