September marks National Yoga Awareness Month, and whether you’re sweating in a hot yoga class or resting flat out in Savasana, read up on the latest Yoga trend to hit the mat!
Can’t touch your toes? Hip flexor feeling tight during pigeon pose? Yin Yoga is a passive form of yoga where holding poses for extended periods allows you to connect to your breathing and calm your mind while the connective tissues and joints loosen to reduce tightness and bring more fluidity to your body. Yin Yoga practice improves the elasticity of our joints and our range of motion.
YogaRenew, an online yoga teacher training, offers a stretch series and invites you to take a few minutes to try these 5 Yin Yoga poses from their Yin Yoga Instructor, Lindsay Monal.
1. Toe Stretch
How To:
- Come to a tabletop position and walk the knees in towards one another. If you have knee sensitivity, place a blanket under your knees.
- Tuck your toes (little toes too!) behind you and start to walk your hands back towards your knees as your hips lower to your heels. Option to lower to forearms or keep palms on the ground rather than sit on the heels.
- To come out of the pose, bring your weight forward with your palms flat and slowly release your toes.
- Stay for 1 minute, or up to 3 minutes and breathe, keeping the upper body relaxed
- Come out slowly and move intuitively as your body integrates the changes.
Benefits:
- Everything about our posture and health begins with our foundation. If our stance is off, it creates problems in our knees, hips, spine, shoulders, and so on! Because we trap our feet in tight or heeled shoes, we prevent the feet from effectively supporting the body’s natural posture.
- Flexibility begins with the feet, and while Toe Stretch is a tough one, you may grow to like the position after you feel the immediate effects of relieving tension, and the quieting of the mind that happens when your body experiences a challenge.
2. Child's Pose
How To:
- From a tabletop position, lower your hips and sit back towards your heels.
- Option to bring your knees closer together or separate them at hip-distance apart or wider. Students who may not be as flexible can keep their knees and thighs closer together.
- Extend your arms out in front of you with your palms facing down or opt to rest your arms alongside your body with fingers resting behind you.
- If possible, allow your forehead to come to your mat.
- Hold for 3-6 minutes
Benefits:
- Child’s pose is popular for a reason. It helps to open all the major joints in the body including the ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders. Try this for some full body stress relief, and watch as your body starts to settle in over time.
3. Dragon
How To:
- Begin in a tabletop position and step your left foot outside of your left hand.
- Keep your back knee where it is or tuck your right toes and lengthen your leg behind you.
- Back toes are usually untucked here, but if it’s better to keep them tucked, do so.
- Keep both hands inside of the left foot and come down to your forearms. Hold for 3-5 minutes.
- To release this pose, come to your hands and start to guide your tailbone to your heel until you are ready to bring the front leg back to table top.
Benefits:
- Here’s a more fiery shape to try – Dragon Pose is a wide low lunge where you work to create space through the hips and psoas. These muscles can hold a lot of tension, especially for those of us who sit most of our day.
4. Heart Bench
How To:
- Bring one block to the highest setting for your head.
- For your spine (or heart), bring a second block to the medium setting, closer to you, and place it longways facing the upright block.
- Turn away from the blocks and slowly lower yourself down. Looking for the block closest to you to rest in between your shoulder blades, supporting your heart. The bottom edge of this block should rest just beneath the shoulder blades.
- Allow the top block to catch the back of the head.
- To release from this pose, bring your feet flat and slowly roll off your blocks and onto one side of your body. You can pause here before pressing down to come up to sit.
Benefits:
- If you’ve got a set of yoga blocks, this posture is a great way to open your shoulders and chest. This deep backbend allows you to undo the rounding that naturally occurs from sitting at a computer or hunching over your phone and over time will improve the flexibility of your spine, helping you maintain good posture throughout the day.
5. Supine Twist
How To:
- Begin by lying down on your back with your knees bent, feet flat.
- Adjust your hips/draw your knees into your chest and begin to let both knees slowly fall over to your right side. If the knees don’t touch, you can place a blanket or pillow under or between the knees for extra comfort.
- Allow your head to gaze in the opposite direction of your knees. Option to keep your gaze looking up or look in the same direction as your knees.
- Arms can stay on the body, rest near the body, stretch out into T or reach up above head.
- To release, gently bring your knees back up and your feet flat on the floor.
Benefits:
- Our spinal health is essential for our flexibility, and supine twist is a perfect way to stretch the spine and relieve unnecessary tension in the back and shoulders.