Spine Yin Yoga 60-Min: Posture & Deep Release

And then what we're doing is calming the nervous system down so we can get the most out of our practice. Last deep breath. Slowly gather both knees into the chest, holding the shins, feet together. Notice what this does for the lower back.

It can feel really nice on the lower back. Gently rock side to side, massaging the spine. Coming to center, create three or four really big circles with the knees and noticing how this feels on the back. Switch directions.

Coming to center, lower the left foot to the floor, knees stays bent. Moving into our figure four, the right ankle on the opposite quad, making sure it's the right ankle or maybe even the right foot. Reaching through the thighs to interlock the fingers behind the leg, stretching through that right outer hip. And coming back to your five second inhales to fill up.

Five second exhales to empty. Stretching the outer hips because it's good for the hips, but also this helps release the hips so we can move into our twists for the spine more effectively. Because if we were to do a session with only the spine, it actually wouldn't feel good because the legs that are attached to the spine and the arms that are attached to the spine would be tight and they would restrict the movement and the work we need to do for the spine. So we will use loosening up the areas that are connected to the spine and affect the spine so we can get the most out of the practice for the spine.

In releasing your figure four, both feet on the floor. Take a moment. Take a moment, allow the body to process that between the right and the left leg. Notice the difference between the right and left leg already.

Bringing both knees above the hips, knees are in line with the hips, lower the knees all the way to the left side and allow the entire body to follow. So, knees are stacked arms are stacked and hands palms are together. Reach the right hand up and behind you. And then, palms together, inhaling arm up and behind you.

Exhale, close the palms. So moving through this at your own time at your own pace, and the right arm it'd be nice if you can keep the right arm straight the entire time. I'm bending it into a cactus arm at the end just because I have the wall here. We are gently bringing some movement to open the shoulders, allowing us to access the thoracic spine between the shoulders and this is really hard to get into the thoracic.

So we will do a few things today to assist that to get into it. And even if we don't get into it today, over time, this will help. Quite often it takes more than one yoga session. So the next time the right arm is behind you, I want you to keep it behind you.

Allowing the weight of the shoulder, the weight of the arm to create a gentle spinal twist. And make the spine long. So visually not much may change, but make the spine as long as you can through the top of the head, reaching through the top of the head. And even if it makes a small millimeter, that still accounts.

Small millimeter of space. The left hand can be stacked on the legs. And the right hand can either be straight or cactus. And this should be a nice spinal twist and opening through the front of the right shoulder.

In your last few breaths in this posture, find the deep inhale. When I say deep, I want a five second inhale. Exhale to release into the stretch. This allows the nervous system, conscious work telling the nervous system that it's okay to release.

It's okay to relax. Because sometimes what holds stiffness isn't just the physical muscles. It can also be the nervous system. Deep inhales.

Exhale to consciously relax. Last deep breath. Use the inhale to slowly find your way to center. Feet on the floor.

Do what you do. Do what you need to to recenter the spine. Close the eyes. Take a moment.

Let all of that work settle for a moment. Notice the difference between the left side and the right side. And sometimes when we move out of the posture, sometimes it doesn't feel good right away. The work needs to settle.

The body needs to process it. The body needs to integrate it. And then after a while, after a few moments, it'll feel really good. And that's why I remind people that after this practice, don't go do a big jujitsu tournament or a 5k run.

Right after you do this practice, this practice is meant for after training for active recovery day, rest and recovery day, or before you go to bed. Because the body needs a little bit of time to process. Hugging both knees into the chest. Gently rock side to side, massaging the spine.

And as you're doing this, notice the right and left side. Notice the difference. And how only a few minutes of stretching can make such a big difference. We haven't done a lot and we haven't been in the postures long, but it makes a big difference.

Body's very receptive. Coming to center, lower the right foot to the ground, left ankle on the quad, more towards the foot side, maybe even the left foot to the quad. Reach the hands through the legs, interlocking the fingers behind the leg. And once you've found the posture, become as comfortable as possible.

Sometimes it can be intense. And find your breaths. Use the inhale to find where the tension is. And exhale to release that tension.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Last deep breath.

Both feet on the floor. Take a moment. Notice how that feels. Bringing the knees so they are above the hips and lower them to the right side.

And then allowing the rest of the body to follow. Hands, knees are stacked, hands are together. Lift the left hand. Lift it all the way up to the sky, then behind you.

Then return and open. Adding your breath. So the next time the hands are together, inhale to open. Exhale to close.

Inhale to open. Exhale to close. And it's nice if you can have that left arm straight. Again, I just have that wall behind me so I have to cactus the arm, but both are really good.

And the next time you open the arms, keep them open. So left, allow the weight of the left arm behind you, the left shoulder pull you to the ground. Make the spine a little longer. Reach at the top of the head up.

Maybe we only create a millimeter of space, but that still accounts. A good friend told me she's been doing yoga forever. She's been doing yoga for a long time. And she says that I really like it where you create space, you create a potential for healing.

And that has a lot of layers to it. Whenever I say creating space, even if you can't see it, just creating that length through the spine, there's potential for healing. Maybe we don't need healing. Maybe we simply need to bring it back to balance, which in a sense is still healing is still good.

So finding those intentional breaths, deep inhale, exhale to release the tension. And then we're going to take a deep breath, exhale to release the tension. So finding those intentional breaths, deep inhale, exhale to release the tension. Telling the nervous system that it's okay to relax those those muscles.

And sometimes I'm looking up, but I'm looking at our timer because I'm timing each posture that we're in to make sure we're even on both sides and to make sure we fit everything that we need to end today. There's always so many good things to do that it's very hard to choose what to do. But pick the best ones for what we need today. Taking your last deep breath.

Taking your last deep breath. Taking your last deep breath. Use the inhale to slowly come to center, feet on the floor, re-center the spine, hands beside the hips, palms up. Take a moment, allow that posture to process, allow the body to process it, allow it to move through you.

I sound like a hippie, don't I? But in a sense, that is what we're doing. Especially when we're in a posture for a while, the body needs to process it when it needs to. The fascia is what surrounds the muscles and it needs to reorganize and it needs to move because we did pull it out of what is our normal alignment.

And so it needs to reprocess, it needs to move. That's literally what is happening. Rolling to your favorite side, use the hands to push yourself up to a sit. And sit cross-legged if you can.

If that's hard on the knees and you can put the soles of the feet together, it's nice to sit cross-legged if you can. Hands on the knees, create circles with the upper body. And finding those deep breaths. It doesn't matter how big or small the circles are, we're simply releasing the work that we did and bringing gentle movement into the spine.

Switching directions. And coming to center. If they aren't here already, place the sole, soles, the bottom, the soles of the feet together, the bottom of the feet together. And inhale to lengthen the spine, maybe even reach the arms up.

Exhale, fold forward. This is a really nice release through the lower back. And it doesn't matter how low you fold, you fold forward. All that matters is that the head's allowed to hang, that you're allowed to be as comfortable as you can here.

And the feet can either be closer to the hips or further than the hips. It doesn't really matter where they are, just find a place that's comfortable. Because I want to focus on lower back. And with the feet together like this allows us to surpass hamstrings that might be tight.

They are tight, do my in session for hamstrings. That's yours. So find a comfortable place for the feet. And I actually want your hands in front of you.

Because as you release, the body will slowly continue to fold forward. This is a really nice stretch for the lower back. Allow the head to hang. We will be here for just under five minutes.

And come into your deep breaths. Inhale as deep as you can in this posture. Sometimes it's hard in the forward fold. Inhale as much as you can.

Exhale to release more into the posture, to fold forward more into the posture every single time. Even if it's a tiny, tiny millimeter. That still makes a difference. So keeping the mind on our intentional breaths.

What we're doing right now. Allow the head to hang. Release any tension in the neck. Which is really nice for the cervical spine.

About two minutes in. And I'll let you know that I'm still here. The video didn't freeze. Everything's still working good.

Moving into our last minute. You can walk the hands more forward if you like. Last three breaths. Moving very slowly.

Use the hands to sit up. To prop the torso up. Rest the hands behind you. Find a gentle backbend.

So pushing through the arms to lift the chest. Both feet on the floor. And push the belly button forward a little. Extension of the spine.

Really gentle backbend. And from here, move into almost a seated cat-cow. So round the spine. And arch the spine.

Just really, really gently. Feet can be on the floor. Legs can be straight. Wherever is comfortable for you.

And bringing both feet to the floor. Really gently moving through a few windshield wipers. With the knees not all the way to the ground. Just to move the knees left and right.

Bringing some movement into the hips to loosen up that spine. Because we just did some pretty intense work with our forward fold. My intention is to work on a few counter poses. To release that.

And coming to center. Find your way onto your hands and knees. And this time actual cat-cow. So posting through the hands.

Posting through the feet. Arch the spine towards the ground. Lower back, the middle back, the upper back. And round towards the ceiling.

Lower back, middle back, upper back. Again, towards the ground. And the ceiling. If you want to add breath as you arch towards the ground, inhale.

Exhale as you round towards the ceiling. Inhale arch. Exhale round. So continue moving through this if this feels good.

Or create circles with the spine. So three big circles one way. Noticing where it might feel a little tight. About three or four big circles one way.

Changing directions. Three circles the other way. Coming to center. Moving through an actual few back bends.

Walk the hands forward. Sear and sphinx. Pose elbows under the shoulders. Engage the quads.

Engage the glutes. Engage the butt. And use the hands and elbows to pull the torso up and forward. And if this is too intense, sometimes it is after such a long forward fold.

Then walk the elbows forward a little. So the elbows are just in front of the shoulders. This can also feel really nice. And for me, this feels really nice.

So this is where I'm going to stay. Or you can be an actual sphinx with the elbows right under your shoulders. It's not that one is better than the other. It's just that they're different.

And I always say what your body needs every day is going to be different. And to release, hands under the shoulders. So elbows out, hands under the shoulders. Using the strength of the arms to push yourself to a wide legged child's pose.

And take your time. Move slowly. Once you've found your child's pose, you can either stretch the arms forward or rest the forehead on the hands. Rest the forehead on the ground with the hands beside your legs.

Use the inhale to find where there's tension. And exhale to release. Last breath. Last breath.

Coming onto your belly again. So the last posture, the sphinx, was to target to the lower back. This one's more out of the way. So you can use the strength of the arms to push yourself to a wide legged child's pose.

And take your time. So the last posture, the sphinx, was to target to the lower back. This one's more active. But it's to see if we can feel your upper back.

So cobra, toes together, sorry, heels together. And toes together if you can. Pushing all ten finger, ten fingertips, no, toenails, toenail tips into the floor. Hands under the shoulders.

And lift the upper body into 90 degrees, looking up, using the hands to pull your torso up and forward. So really nice traction of the spine. And you should feel this in the upper back, anywhere in the upper back. That's your thoracic.

Lower down. Child's pose. Find your variation in child's pose. We've done a really nice back bend for the lower back.

We've done, it is a bit of a back bend and engagement through the upper back. So the nervous system, the body knows what we're trying to target up there. One last time, moving to the belly. And I want you to take the variation you would like.

Either you can move into your sphinx pose or you can move into your cobra. So whichever one that you liked. I'm going to do cobra again. So I'll walk you through cobra.

Toe nails on the ground, heels together, hands under the shoulders. Use the hands to lift the torso, pulling the upper body forward and up. And look up, arms at a 90 degree angle. Shoulders down.

And release. Hips to heels. Child's pose. Pick the variation for your arms.

Maybe after that it feels nice to have them reaching forward, head on the ground. And I know that's not really yin posture, cobra. But I also know it's really important and we needed to target through that upper back. So we're able to target the entire spine.

So we did. And coming to tabletop. Reach the hands forward. Hips stay above the heels.

Reach the arms forward, moving into melting heart posture. Resting the forehead on the ground. This is really nice to stretch through underneath the shoulders. And perhaps even targeting through that thoracic, a gentle, gentle back bend.

Forehead on the ground. See what it's like to push the fingertips in the ground. You can activate through the fingertips. Now bring the right hand to your midline.

And bring the left hand to your left. And bring the right hand to your right. Now bring the right hand to your midline. Left hand over top.

Turn towards the left. Return to center. Moving through the other side. Left fingers in the midline.

Right fingers on top. Active through the fingers. Turn towards the right. Returning to center.

Elbows underneath the shoulders. Child's pose. Allow that to rinse out. And finding your way to tabletop.

Lower the entire belly to the ground. Moving through a shoulder opener. So again, we can target that thoracic spine. The arm is cactused.

So you want the arm cactused. Elbow in line with the shoulder. Then walk the elbow above the shoulder. Not a lot.

Just barely, barely quarter of an inch. Left hand is posted on the ground. Turn the body towards the left side. Feeling the front of the right shoulder stretch.

And you can play with that stretch of the right shoulder. You can lift the elbow a little higher. Or move it a little bit lower. Maybe you might not need to.

The stretch may be enough. Last breath. Come to center. Moving into your other side.

Left arm is cactused. Walk the elbow so it's barely above the shoulder. Maybe a quarter of an inch. Turn to the right.

Use the right hand to post. And turn the body. You may find that one side is tighter than the other side. And that's okay.

That's why we're doing this. Last breath. Come to center. Move to tabletop.

And actually come all the way to a sit. Come to a sit on your shins. And allow the right heel to be snuggled up. That's my professional term.

Snuggled up just to the outside of the hip. So I can barely see that right heel. Not all the way out. That's not a good angle for the knee.

But just right on the outside of the hip. Step the left foot on the floor. And it's okay if your hips even go to the ground. That's okay.

Just keep the ankle close to the hip. Post the hands behind you. Fingers about at the 45 degree angle out. Then lift the chest.

So this can be a stretch through that right quad. And you may find you might want to move a little more on top of the quad. That might be better. So find a variation.

Refill the stretch through the quad. And engage the glute. And engage that butt. Keep the knee on the ground.

And if it's there for you, you can also move down onto the elbows too. And this is a stretch for the front of the hips. Because if the front of the hips are really tight, it can pull the pelvis out of alignment, which affects the back. Finding your last breath.

Slowly coming up to a sit. Onto your knees. Moving into the other side. And if you find this bothers your knees, the flexion, which means that the knee is bending.

If that bothers it, you can grab a towel and actually put it underneath the bend of the knee right behind the knee. If it bothers ankles, you can put a towel on the floor where your ankle is. And that just makes the angle less until you're able to do it. So I've got that left heel snuggled up to the hip.

Hands posted behind you. Lift the chest. Engage the right butt cheek. And you have the option to stay here or move down onto the elbows.

And I know this one doesn't feel the absolute best in the whole world, but it's so important to stretch those glutes. You don't want to go to 100% intensity, even if you just go to even 60. This is still doing some good work, whether it's through the front of the ankles or front of the quads. For me, I feel it in my ankle, which actually the ankle is part of the front chain of the body.

So, of course, if the front ankle is tight, that'll create tightness through the front of the body, too. It's all connected. I'm only keeping you here for a minute because I'm a nice person. Am I, though?

It's a pretty intense stretch. Okay, slowly transitioning out of it. And this time you can find a seat on your hips. So, posting the hands behind you and gently when she'll wipe those hips left and right.

Now, this last posture for the back of the hips. It's not our last posture. We're almost there. We're almost there.

But the last posture for the hips is stack the knee so it's underneath the hip. Okay, so knees underneath the hip, post through the fingertips and walk the left foot forward. Hamstring stretch. So we've created a strong frame.

The knee is above, the hip is above the knee, posting through the fingertips, left leg extended. And this can be a really intense stretch. And for now, if it is intense, don't worry about the spine being rounded. Sometimes it has to be rounded, right?

But eventually, we'd like to get the spine straight, then you can lower the torso down. But remain within a 70% intensity. If it's too intense, go ahead and bend the knee. Nobody cares how far you go into each posture.

Nobody. All I care about is that you feel the stretch and that you are respecting your body and taking care of it. And these sessions are timeless. You'll come back to them again and again and again and again.

Because yoga is like brushing your teeth. You should be doing it every day. When you don't do it, you notice it. Just like brushing your teeth.

So we're stretching the hamstring because everybody needs to stretch their hamstrings. And also, if the hamstrings are tight, the back of the legs, it can pull the pelvis out of alignment towards the back. So we've stretched the front and now we're stretching the back. Slowly bend the knees.

Release. Moving into your other side. So for me, I'm just going to walk my hands to the other side. Facing the opposite direction.

Hip is stacked above the knee. Walk the right foot forward. Until it's straight or almost straight. Pressing through the fingertips.

Remaining at 70% intensity. I do not want this at 100% intensity. Because there's opportunity to pull the hamstring and there's no reason to do that. So you're responsible to stay within that 70%.

This will not get released in one session. It's no magic session. It's consistency. It's doing it over time.

Over time. Again and again and again. And when you keep showing up, the results take care of themselves. Okay.

Slowly bending the front knee to move out of that. And finding your way onto your back. Take a moment on your back. It may feel nice to have legs extended.

It may feel nice to have the legs bent. Knees resting towards each other in the midline. And again, sometimes when we do such important work. Because we are in our alignment every day.

And I say carefully our alignment. Because that doesn't mean necessarily that's the correct alignment. It's just our alignment. What our bodies have learned to adapt to through our lifestyle.

And so the work we do on the mat, we're doing on the mat. We're doing on the mat. And so the work we do on the mat can be really intense. So it may not feel good right away.

It might take a few hours, minutes, maybe hours to process and integrate. And then you'll find you feel like a million bucks. So moving into our side bend for the spine. Extend the legs.

Move this overhead. Make a really big stretch. And walk the legs towards the right. And walk the hands towards the right.

Making a banana shape. And not crazy intense. This will intensify over time. So walking the legs towards the right, the hands towards the right.

Right hand holds the left wrist. And legs can stay exactly where they are. Or you can cross the left leg over the right. Feeling the stretch through the side body.

So we move the spine through every range of motion that it can move. We've done forward flexion. We did that in our...when we were sitting, bottom of the feet together, folding forward, that was our five minute pose. Forward flexion.

We did extension in our Sphinx pose. And in our Cobra extension of the spine. We've done twists. We did twists at the beginning of class.

And we did twists at the beginning of class. Those are really nice. The left and right side. And our last one is side bending.

And in the side bend, see if you can make sure both those hips are still facing... still on the ground, still on the ground, facing up. Slowly come to center. Walk both feet towards the left.

Arms towards the left, creating that banana shape. This time the left hand holds the right wrist. Option for the legs to stay exactly where they are. And we're going to do a side bend.

And we're going to do a side bend. Option for the legs to stay exactly where they are. Or you can cross the right leg over the left. And if the arms are talking to you a little bit, if the shoulders are talking to you, getting a little irritated for being above the head, that's okay.

That's no big deal. That's okay. Honestly, it's good for them. Slowly come into center.

Taking any last postures you'd like to before we move into Shavasana. Might be nice to do happy baby or gathering both knees into the chest. Rock side to side. And then we're going to do a side bend.

Rock side to side. So finding any last postures, any last movements that you need. And as we settle into our Shavasana hands beside the hips, palms up, option for the legs to be extended or feet on the floor a little further than the hips, maybe even to the edge of your mat. Knees facing in, resting each other.

Resting against each other. Close the eyes. And allow all the work that we did to integrate, allow the body to process it. And then we're going to do a side bend.

And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend.

And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend.

And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend. And then we're going to do a side bend.

And then we're going to do a side bend. So if you're working within the 60 minutes, this is it. This is our time. Or if you're able to stay here longer, you're able to rest.

So if you're able to rest, this is our time. If you're able to stay here longer, I really recommend staying here longer, as long as you can, because this posture is just as important as all of the other ones. So I'll continue to stay here and I'll fade the screen out so you can continue to stay here. Coming back to the deep breath.

Five second inhales, five second exhales. Allowing yourself to move out of the mind, out of the thinking, and into the feeling body. Just noticing how the body feels. ...

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