Yin for Inner Listening

Welcome. So glad you're here. In this end practice, we'll be honing our yogi skills of inner listening in preparation for meditation. Might be nice to have two blankets of your favorite color, one underneath you, and one nearby, and a bolster. We'll meet on our back for windshield wipers.

Ease your way down. You might draw your knees into your chest, rocking yourself, feeling into your spine, feeling into your lower back. You might stay with the rock from side to side. You might bring your hands onto your knees and begin to circle your knees together in one direction. And then massaging the perimeter of the sacrum, feeling into your lower back, your hips, and circling in the other direction, taking your time to ease into your practice.

As you feel into your body. Notice the quality of your attention, the quality of your energy as you arrive. We'll ground the feet nice and wide on the mat for windshield wipers. Arms might stretch out the sides, let the knees go side to side rocking on to the inner outer edges of your feet. As you explore movement and sensation, your head might gently roll away from your knees.

As you coordinate the movement with a breath, inhale up, exhale to a side, inhale up, exhale over to the other side. Few more side to side, and then we'll pause. Eventually, let your knees fall over to the right. Pause with your knees to the right. You might stay here.

You might bring your right ankle on top of your left thigh, feeling the right hip open. You might stretch your left arm at a diagonal towards the edge of your mat. And maybe reach for the the wrist as you lengthen. Malal for an inhale, exhale softening the jaw, the throat. Begin to draw your awareness into your left lung.

Notice the quality of the breath. You might feel and sense the breath, moving into the side body, stretching the intercostals. Be down through the diaphragm. You might trace that sensation down through the front of the left hip and into the thigh. Back up into the right lung and then draw your awareness up through your left nostril.

Notice the quality of the breath through your left nostril. And softening around the mouth, the throat. Few more moments here. Wanting our skills of Dar and a concentration. We're cultivating this steady, single pointed attention in the nostril. And then then relax the effort of your attention, free your right foot to the floor, and inhale your knees up.

Free the arms, free the legs, windshield wiper side to side a few rounds. And then over to the left, pause with the knees to the left. You might stay here. We'll bring your left ankle across your your right thigh as you feel some traction and length. And then you might bring the hand, left hand around the right wrist, find that ease and the neck.

And then internally, draw your awareness into your right lung. Notice how the breath responds. Eeling and sensing from the inside out. It surely requires a willingness to slow down and drop in. From the right lung, draw your awareness into your right nostril.

Notice the quality of the breath or just your right nostril. We're breathing together without any force or strain or technique. You more moments here. Again, softening for the eyes, the jaw, the mouth. And then gradually relax the effort of your attention and the nos stroll the lung, free your arms, free your left foot to the earth, windshield wipers side to side.

Find that freedom up through the neck. From here, we're gonna roll onto our side. I'm gonna roll to my right side and pause in a lounging buddha shape. You might start by supporting your head with your hands. We're gonna pause here.

It requires a bit of balancing, stacking the hips, stacking the legs. Pause here in the shape of repose. Saw through the face, saw through the eyes. Might stay here. If you'd like to explore a thigh stretch, begin to bend your top knee, reach for the ankle.

Here's where a strap might come in handy, if you'd like one, around the top foot. If and as you want to feel more sensation, you can play with drawing your lower leg forward and drawing your top leg back. You might support the weight of your head. If you'd like a blanket between your your lower arm and your head, you might place one there resting. You can explore kicking into the hand a little bit with the top foot, and then relaxing the effort, feeling that more passive stretch.

Awakening the fascia around the the front of the hip there, down through the leg. If there's any sensitivity or irritation in your lower back, view how you can make that kind of fine tune adjustment by drawing your tailbone towards the heel a little bit, feel the lower belly lifting up slightly. You might draw your awareness back into the nostrils. Notice if one side feels a bit more dominant or more sensitive than the other. Keeping the center gaze, the center awareness.

Breathing into sensation. And then slow, slow, slow, release your top foot, pause in your lounging buddha, and then slowly roll on to your back. We'll reorganize and roll on to the other side. And you might start by supporting your head with your hands, stacking your legs. Pausing here.

This is an invitation to practice being rather than doing. You might stay here, bend your top knee and reach back for the foot. You might work with a strap around the top of the foot. As you draw the heel closer in, lengthening through the thigh bone, making some adjustments, you might walk your bottom foot forward. And stretch your top leg back.

It looks like you're in a bow like shape as you open the top shoulder. Again, you can play with the adjustment of drawing the tailbone under, lengthening a bit more through the lower back. If there's any irritation or compression, Come might come back to resting in the nostrils. As you notice the quality of the breath, Notice here in this long, passive hold, how the sensation may change with time. The idea through these long passive yin holds bringing synovial fluid back into the tissues or juice to allow for more elasticity, flexibility, and mobility.

And the repair, the recovery occurs when we relax the effort and pause. So take your time slowly release your foot. Find your lounging Buddha. The transition from here is a prone position on the belly. Pause with the elbows wide forehead on the earth or hands, and you might shimmy your hips a little bit from side to side.

This feels pretty awesome. Feeling that natural rebound. From here, let's slide the hands underneath us and press our way up. Setting up for frog pose might be nice to have an extra blanket for padding the inner knees and ankles. And you might choose to work with a bolster in front of you for support.

We're gonna bring the legs wide apart. Few options here as we approach frogs. So you might have your big toes touch. This has a certain feeling through the inner groin and the hips. For me, it feels a little bit more protective.

You might choose depending on your anatomy and your bones. You might choose might be more effective to have your ankles in line with your knees as you sink down low into the groin, into the inner hips. You can play here with hovering your, your pelvis, or you can draw your hips back towards your heels. Customize it for you. Might lower your way down onto your forearms, holding yourself or bring your bolster underneath you. For any reason, this shape doesn't feel like the right medicine for your knees today or ankles.

You might just simply roll on to your back and find a happy baby shape as you reach for the feet. If you're here in frog, allow for an inhale, and then exhale softening the jaw. Notice what you choose to do with your head. You might support the weight of your head with your hands or with your bolster. You might surrender and release the weight of your head towards the earth.

Again, in the spirit of yin, we're offering ourself to the shape passively. For a length of time. In the interest of affecting the fascia, the ligaments, specifically around the pelvis, the sacrum, up through the spine. But as always, if and when you feel ready come out of a shape or find a different shape or a bit more support, please do so. The primary practice here is to trust the feeling.

So this practice of inner listening We're finding that appropriate edge of sensation where we can breathe evenly into where we feel it. And with each exhalation softening, maybe releasing any tension, any stickiness in the body. You are welcome to stay here in this shape longer. It feels like you've just arrived. When you're ready to transition, you might come up onto your hands, straightening the arms.

A couple of exit routes. You can mindfully draw the knees towards each other and find a child's pose. You can also bring your bolster off to the side and ease your way forward and swim your legs back, finding that internal rotation as you rest in a prone position. Okay. Finding your exit route. If you're on your belly, you might shimmy your hips a little bit from side to side.

After that deep external rotation, I like to bend the knees and windshield wiper. Little counter movement for the joints. Internal rotation. I'm releasing the low back. Beautiful.

Release the feet, bring the hands underneath you, press up. We'll pause in a child's pose. Settling back for a moment. Taking your time to slowly come up. We'll fold our blanket if you'd like support underneath you for a butterfly. Pose. Setting up.

Find your way down. You might have your bolster nearby, if you'd like it, for support. We'll bring the soles of the feet together and knees wide into our classic Ian butterfly feeder further away from the pelvis, more of a diamond shape. And allow for an inhale with the exhale, you might slowly ease your way forward and in. Maybe lean from side to side.

I'm softening the face, the mouth, the throat. You might support the weight of your head with your hands or with your bolster. You might, if appropriate for your head and neck, explore releasing the weight, healing that whole sensation of decompression through the spine. Softening through the shoulders, the hands, you'll how the ankles can open, the soles of the feet can open. And as you gradually arrive, what would it feel like to allow the shape to have a bit more of you?

Allow it to be an offering. Might allow for an exhale. Allowing the spine to deliberately round. And again, often in the forward folds, I can feel like a warm, wide, achy. May sometimes even burning sensation through the back body.

We're discerning between that kinda achy, curious feel good sensation versus anything that might feel painful, kind of sharp searing, wrong, in which case we'd wanna come out of the shape or find a bit more support. Breathing into where you feel it. Taking your time as you feel that inner stirring, slow, gaze soft as you roll up, like you're moving through thick honey. Very slow pause. Good. Supporting your knees with your hands.

Let's stretch the legs out. You might point and flex your feet, circle out through the ankles. Might feel nice to casually bring your hands behind you and side to side shimmy through the hips and the legs. Setting up for half butterflies. So a hip and hamstring combo will bend the left knee and then open the hip, bring the sole of your left foot towards the right inner thigh option to have a blanket underneath you or not.

This might be enough staying upright as you need to feel or want to feel more sensation ease your way forward. And here's where you might play with bringing support underneath you, raising your bolster up. I love the feeling of support. A little bit of pressure. Right at that third eye area, forehead brow.

Notice the quality through your hands. More intentionally allowing the spine to round here and see if you can relax any muscular effort through your right, leg, ankle, and foot. Softening through the eyes and the jaw. Forward folds, invite, the equality of inner listening, reflection, introspection. Again, allowing the shape to reveal its self and deepen with time.

It feels like you've just arrived and settled in. You're welcome to stay and kinda season in the shape. When you feel ready, just slowly round and roll your way up pausing here upright. Notice how you feel. And then supporting your outer left knee with your hands stretch your leg out for your legs, you might point and flex your feet.

And then bending your right knee, open your hip, bring the sole of that right foot towards the left and our thigh. And if you're working with support and customize it for your body, the side is might feel totally different. I know it does for me. You might stay upright. You might ease your way forward and in.

Finding that appropriate edge of sensation, and then maybe easing into a moment or two of stillness. Notice the quality of the brass, the hands. You feel the bones here? Can you listen to the bones? Dropping?

Opening. Responding. Taking your time. You feel that inner stirring slowly easing your way up. Pause.

And then supporting your right knee, stretch your legs long. And you might point and flex your feet. From here, we'll find a simple symmetrical forward fold and our catar pillar. So you might just keep your bolster where it is for support. You might play with the bolster on top of the thighs. It feels nice to round and release and support your head.

Finding your shape and the right amount of support. We're letting the spine round here softening the gaze inward. Softening the throat. I'm allowing the inner ears to open. These last few moments, what would it feel like to just allow the shade to be more, be more receptive.

There is a beautiful simplicity in these end shapes. You are welcome to stay longer. You're righty. Slow chin into the chest. I'm gonna round and roll your way up.

Pause here. Beautiful. From here, we'll roll on to our back for a spinal twist. Find your way there. If you'd like, you might bring a blanket under your head for support.

Allowing for any size and sounds. Where this will draw our knees into our chest, finding your favorite spinal twist. In this practice, I'm gonna work with a bolster between the knee and the ankle bones, and then roll over to the right side, stacking the knees, the hips, and then allow the top arm to open. Malal for an inhale. Nice full exhale.

As you breathe gently into the shape, notice where you can soften any clenching, any holding, any tension. Now I had to feel spacious between the eyebrows and the base of the skull. And the two main ingredients, and the in practiced. Time and gravity. So we're yielding towards the earth to allow for the steeper release, steeper opening.

Beautiful, slow in your own time. You can reach for your bolster there if you have one between the legs. And how lead with your top leg, let the bottom leg follow, ease over to the left side, rolling onto your left side, stacking the knees and the arms. Letting your top right arm open. Inhale, exhale, softening the belly.

Finding that ease in your neck. Notice what you choose to do with your arms. Sending in wordly for guidance. Trust in your experience and the feeling. I would have seen any subtle spontaneous releases through the spine, through the tissues.

Through the body. Giving yourself permission to linger longer. It feels like it's time to unwind, reach for your bolster and heal your top knee up. In the bottom leg. You can bring your bolster off to the side if you'd like.

You might hug your knees into your chest. An option to stretch out for Shavasana with your bolster under your knees. Or roll to your side and join me in a seated meditation. Finding the most authentic shape for your body, most nourishing shape. As you settle in.

Allow for an inhale. I use generous exhale. You're easing towards the seat, allowing for any movement as you settle. And drop in towards stillness. You've been playing with consciously resting in the space we've created, space we've cultivated in our practice, which prepares the body and the mind for meditation.

And so from within, resting here now in present moment, awareness. And as the mind starts to stir and move and wander around, just simply notice. The nature of the mind, the natural tendency to think, the thoughts moving. And then come back to resting and present moment awareness and this embodied presence. Another thought or sensations or feelings arise.

Recognize notice. I see you. Even welcoming it and allowing it to be the way it is without needing to do anything. Rest in the experience of being. These last few moments seated. You might lean ever so slightly towards the back body.

Feeling the support, the strength, might stay a bit longer here. Or join your hands together, breathing in. Rereathing out with a soft bow forward and in towards the south. Namaste. Thank you.

Have a beautiful day.