Yin Yoga with Props 30 minutes

Welcome to 30-minute Yin Yoga with Props. Hi, I'm Angelica, and I'm so excited that you're here today. I'm absolutely grateful every single time that I get to teach a class online. It's like so amazing that we get to do this. This was not around when I first started teaching yoga. So this is just really awesome and cool and fantastic. So thank you for being here. Please do hit the subscribe button and like this video so that more people get to see it and we get to spread the love. This class is a 30-minute yin yoga class with props, and pretty much anybody can do this class if you're a beginner or you're more advanced in your yin practice. I don't think that there's really like— there's really not like advancing in yin. Yin is very chill and calm and peaceful. Not like the dog that's barking in the background. He is not— he's not chill and calm and peaceful. Anyhow, hopefully that's not too much for you. Okay, these are some of the props I'm going to use today: a Mexican blanket, and you could use it to sit on it, you could use it to stay warm, we could use it as rolls. There's a lot of different ways that we can use the Mexican blanket. I also have some yoga eggs. These are better than blocks, but if you have blocks, you can use those. If you want to get some of these, they're really cool because we can do things that conform to the shape of our body in them, and I really like that about them because they're rounded. Uh, there's a link in the description to get some of these. I do not make any money, they are not affiliate, they're just awesome. This is my bolster. I love it, it's amazing. And, uh, if you don't have a bolster, you can certainly just take a pillowcase and stuff it with 2 pillows, but I love the bolster. And if you do have one I mean, this is Yin Yoga with Props. And if you don't have one, you need a recommendation, there's a link below. And, um, that's the exact one that I'm using and the one that I used at all my yoga studios before I sold my studios. And, um, yeah, I think that you'll love it. This has actually been washed before, so they stay— they really keep their shape. They're really nice. Let's go ahead and get started with our practice. I'm back in the tent today, so I'm really excited about that. The weather is finally nice in Colorado, uh, no snow. So I'm glad that you're here to be with me in the tent. Let's go ahead and lengthen through our spine and relax down through the shoulders and just let yourself come into an easy seated pose. Now, if easy seated for you means cross-legged, great. If it means extending your legs out that's great as well. If it means sitting up against a couch or a chair, that's also great. If it means sitting on a chair, that's also great. I am not judging you. I just want you to be here and practice with me until the end of this practice, and whatever it takes to make you feel good, then I want you to do that. All right, lengthening the spine, relax down the shoulders. Let the crown of your head come directly over your tailbone. We're going to take a deep inhale through the nose and an exhale through the nose. During our entire practice today, we're going to be breathing in and out through the nose. This is what's called Ujjayi breath. It means victorious. And we want the inhale to be the same length as the exhale. So we're breathing in for a count of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And we're breathing out for 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Good. Inhale. Exhale. You're doing fantastic. So as we breathe into our practice today, each time we inhale and each time we exhale, we're doing that in and out through the nose. And the reason why is we want to lower our fight-or-flight response. We want to get in control of the nervous system. That's our whole, our whole practice of yoga is to control the chitta vritti. Yogasanam chitta vritti nirodha. It means that we want to control the modifications of the mind. And so what we're really trying to do is just not react to them. So when thoughts come into your practice today, today, just acknowledge them and say, okay, you know what, I can think about that when we're done. Because really, 30 minutes is not a long time to dedicate to your inner peace and your calmness. So just allow any thoughts that come to you to just put them on the shelf for thinking about later. I can think about those later. It's the control of the mind, right? It's the non-reaction to the mind. It's not saying I'm gonna get rid of those thoughts. It's saying that I'm going to not react to those thoughts right now. All right, we'll go ahead and open our eyes. We'll move into our first posture today. So we're going to go ahead and if you have blocks, you can use the blocks. If you have eggs, which I hope that you do because they're amazing and they're getting harder and harder to come by, you could put them underneath of your legs here for support. We're gonna do the first pose we're gonna do is Caterpillar, and you could take your bolster and just put it right here, and you'll just inhale, lengthen, and exhale, just fold over the bolster. Now you could use all of these props in this posture if you wanted to, or you could use less of them, or you can move your bolster to be flat over It really just depends on what you want to do. Honestly, you don't need any props, but if you want to use them, I mean, that's the theme of this class, right? So when we're in our yin yoga poses, we're holding them for time. And that's the thing about yin yoga, is that we want to hold it for time, not hold it for short periods. So all of our postures we're going to do today, we're going to hold hold them for a longer period of time. The other thing about yin yoga, and the most important thing, is that we are working with the connective tissue. So we're working with the fascia, we're working with the ligaments, we're working with the joints, the bones, the things that are not the muscle. So we don't want to force this pose or try to move deeper we want to just get to a point where we feel a little bit of stress and then we hold. So there's 3 what we call tattvas to yin yoga, and the first one is that we come to a point of stress. So we come to a point where we can just feel it, and by stress I don't mean painful, I just mean like, okay, I can feel that, that's a a little bit, just a little bit. I can feel that right now on the backs of my legs. I can feel that in my low back, you know. And then the next tapa is that we are going to find a place where we can be still. So we want to find stillness in that pose. And then the third tapa is that we hold it for time. So we'll just hold this pose for some time, and we've already been holding it for about 2 minutes now while I've been talking to you, which is great. So we'll hold this for a little bit longer and breathe in and out through the nose. You're doing a really good job. I'm really proud of you, and I'm so glad that you're here, and I'll be even more proud when you make it to the end. You're doing great. Remember your breath. Mm, just go ahead and slowly roll our way up. That was awesome, you did great in that We'll just move this bolster over to the side. If you have blocks or eggs underneath your legs, you're just going to take them out and move them over to the side. Great. Now we're going to do the opposite of our forward fold. We're going to do a backward fold— backward fold— a backward, a backward bend. But I'm going to do one that's actually one of my absolute favorite backbends. And that is just using the blanket. So you're going to take your blanket and you're going to roll it up like you're making a nice little cake roll, and we're going to take that and put that in our upper back. So right here where, like, if you have a bra strap, that's where you'll put it. That's called our thoracic fine. If you don't have a bra strap, you know where they are. And then we're just gonna lay back onto that and take my hair clip out. We'll let our head just come back onto the ground, and you can keep your knees bent like I have them bent, or you can extend the legs out straight, whichever feels good to you. And we're just gonna hold here for time. So the first thing we're going to do is come to a point where we feel a little bit of stress. And you can bring your arms out to the sides, or if you want, you can put your hands on your stomach if that feels comfortable. And then once we get to this point where we find a little bit of stress, we want to find a spot where we can hold. And we hold that spot without fidgeting. And then that's our third tapa. We hold for time. So you're just breathing here in and out through the nose and holding for time. Let yourself kind of melt into the posture. And you know, it's really weird. You wouldn't think that a rolled up blanket would have this much sensation, but it really, really does. Now, if ever in our practice today you feel like— it feels like painful, I want you to back off and really get in touch with your own body. Because what we're doing here, I can't be there with you, so I can't know what it's like for you. I need you to take awareness and empowerment for yourself. So just breathing in and out through the nose. You're doing such a good job. Just letting yourself relax into the posture. I first learned how to do this back in 2002 or 2003, and I was taking yoga at a studio by my house. I lived in Phoenix, Arizona at the time, and I would go to this studio called At One Yoga, and I loved it there, and it was such a cool place. And I don't know if you're familiar with the Spiritual Gangster clothing line, but One of the co-founders of At One Yoga is actually the founder of Spiritual Gangster Clothing, but at that time that wasn't a big thing, um, and now it is. So that's kind of cool. I really love that studio. That yoga studio inspired me to open my own yoga studio later on. All right, we're going to slowly move this roll down our back. So the next thing we're going to do is is just press into the ground if you can and lift up a little bit and then just bring the roll just a little bit down further. We're not bringing it all the way into the lumbar yet. We're just hitting that tail end of the thoracic. So it's still gonna feel a little bit uncomfortable. And I remember that the first time I did this pose, it was like, man, this feels a little bit uncomfortable. I don't know if this is right. And I remember in the beginning when I first started to really do a lot of yoga that I was oftentimes afraid that I wasn't doing the right thing or that my poses weren't good or that I was going to hurt myself. Really, the body is actually pretty resilient, and the more that I worked through threw those sensations, the more I found that it was just me opening up my body. We really live these super stagnant lives where we don't move around, we don't do a lot, and I think that's super unfortunate, right? Like, we want to really move the body, we want to get the most use out of it as we can so that as we age, we continue to be limbo— limbo. We continue to be limbo. You know what I mean? Limber. Limber. Oh my goodness, you guys, those— I can't, I can't. I used to have a guy that worked for me at this studio, and his name was on Instagram, his name was Limber Ginger, and he really Wes Lindbergh. That guy could really— he really was naturally flexible. He also worked at it, but he was also a wonderful human being and I absolutely adored him. And I'm so glad that he worked for me. He was one of the— I like would only hire people that worked at, um, that took my teacher training. I host online yoga teacher training now. So I do a 200-hour, a 300-hour, and a 500-hour online yoga teacher training. And he's someone that, um, did not take my training and I hired him. And I like to— like, I'm super loyal. Like, so people who take my training, like, you are my friend for life. And all right, let's go ahead. I think we're— yeah, we're 2 minutes and we're gonna move it down. Oh, press into the feet and just move now into the lumbar. And that should feel juicy AF. That should be really amazing right now. So anyhow, but it was a good experience. So sometimes going out of our, our everyday is a good experience. But I really love teaching yoga teacher training. I love teaching people to become yoga teachers. I love sharing yoga with people and Really, to be honest, the main thing that I have got from being a yoga teacher was not the poses. It was the satisfaction and, and like happiness in life from becoming a yoga teacher and then passing that on to other people. Like people who have taken my training have gone on to open nonprofits, they've gone on to teach in schools, they've worked with at-risk youth, they're with victims of— I don't want to say the words because it's on tape, you know, and sometimes they get mad about that. We know when somebody comes and a whole bunch of people are there and then somebody comes in and does something really not nice, you know what I'm talking about, and if you don't, well, probably aren't special. Anyhow, um, it's just been really incredible to see people go out and spread love and light in the world because there's so much darkness, and being able to be a part of sharing light is so incredible. So if you're looking to become a yoga teacher, definitely check out my training. I do it all online, and I only work one-on-one with people. So it's really pretty incredible because it's just you and me every week. You get new videos and new training, and you could take my training— could never have ever taught or never have ever taken yoga before and take my training, and by the end you'll know everything. You'll know everything you need to know to teach a class successfully. It's a very comprehensive training, and I don't talk this much. Okay, we're We're gonna go ahead and just roll over onto our sides. Really nice. And just take a moment here. Now traditionally in a Yin class it would be more quiet, but I have been doing a lot of talking today. I don't know why. Go ahead and press into the ground and come up into a nice easy seated pose. Oh, you're doing really great. Okay. All right. We're going to move into some finishing postures because this is only a 30-minute class and we're pretty, pretty close to that time now. So we're going to do some easy twisting. Now you can take your blanket and fold it and use it as a pillow if you want. And go ahead and grab your bolster. We're going to use that to twist onto. I'm just going to take a drink really quick. Everybody drink. Water break. Water break. All right, go ahead and come on to your back. Pull your pants up if you got to. And so bring your bolster to your side. You're going to let your knees come over onto your bolster. To support you in your twist. And you can bring your arms up into like a cactus if you want, or you can bring your arms to the sides. You can bring your arms over your head. Sometimes that feels really good. Play with different things, try different sensations, and see what ways feel good to you and what you might want to try out. And we're just going to first tap out. We're going to find that point of stress, like where does it feel good? Find the, find the point that this feels like, okay, I can stay here. And then try to find a not fidgety spot. So we're gonna just come into not fidgeting, and then from here we're going to hold for So I'll give you a little bit of quiet during your easy twist here. Mm, I feel like I could stay here forever. And I love that about this pose, but we're going to have to move over to the other side. So slowly untwisting, you're doing great. Maybe do a little bit of roll there on the legs. We're going to bring the bolster over to the other side, but before we come into that twist, just go ahead and hug your knees into your chest a little bit. And if it feels good, you can do opposite circles, or you can circle together, whatever feels good to you. And then making our way over onto knees, onto the left side, and nice easy twist here. Again, just finding the arm position that feels good for you, and that might be different on this side. So finding what feels good for you on this side and just play with it, experiment with it. You do not have to do anything that I do. You do not have to have any expectation. You know, that is a thing that we have been taught all these years, like we have to do these perfect yoga poses, and there is no perfect yoga pose. There just is you enjoying your own body. That's literally it. That's the yoga. Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha. The modifications of the mind. Releasing all of that and just letting yourself love yourself. Love yourself. You're freaking amazing. It's amazing that you're here and that you've done this practice. So many people don't do any kind of mindfulness. They don't do any kind of practice with their bodies. They don't do anything with their minds. They don't do anything for themselves. So I'm so glad that you're here doing this for yourself, because I promise you, it makes you a better person for everyone else. Remember to bring it back to the breath, in and out through the nose. We're going to come into the happy baby. So you can bend your knees and grab on to behind your legs if that feels comfortable. You can extend one leg out as you grab on to the other leg. You can grab on to your big toe. That's what I like to do. You can grab on to the outsides of your foot. I also like that. Or you could do both sides at the same time, but whatever feels good to you. You can do a half happy baby or a full happy baby, and we're just going to find our spot in this, and then we're going to come to a stillness, and then we're going to hold it for time. Those are the 3 tatvas of yin yoga. And that's what we're gonna do. So just breathing in here. And whatever sounds come into your practice, just allow them to be a part of your practice. And just let them become part of the sound. If you're doing one leg, go ahead and switch over to the other leg now. If you feel like adjusting at all, you want to make some changes to your pose, that's always acceptable. Go ahead and release that. Maybe stretching a little bit just to get some counteraction on that posture that we just did. We're going to do a short shavasana. If you, um, don't feel comfortable doing shavasana, you can definitely just come into your easy seated pose right now. Whatever feels good to you. If you want, you can just extend your arms out to your sides and let your Palm space up. If it feels good to you to close your eyes, go ahead and close your eyes. If it doesn't feel good to you to close your eyes and you want to just stare at a point up in the ceiling, that's completely acceptable as well. Just go ahead and let that beautiful sound of all those barking dogs just be a part of your practice. We can't get rid of distractions. We can only try to allow ourselves to control our own thoughts. We can only try to focus within. I'm reading a book right now called Mindful Self-Discipline, Mindful Self-Discipline, and he talks about how if the mind mind is not challenged, the mind cannot get better. So we'll challenge ourselves with the sounds today and allow ourselves to even meditate even though we're not in a perfect situation, because that's the reality of life. There is no— Come back to the breath, in and out through the nose. Go ahead and slowly wiggle your toes and your fingers. Very gently reaching your arms overhead to get a nice stretch, stretching from your fingertips down to your toe tips. Yeah. Bending at your knees and just rolling over onto your right side into a fetal position. Very slowly pressing your way up, coming into easy seated pose. Yay, you're awesome! Pull your pants up, pull your pants up. Oh, okay. Hands to the heart center. We take a moment to reflect on our practice today. We take a moment of gratitude, thanking the universe for bringing us together. We take a moment to thank that dog for all the happiness that it gives its owner. The light within me honors the divine and beautiful light within each of you. Let's finish this class with an om, taking a deep inhale. Om. Namaste. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I super appreciate you. I absolutely appreciate you. I appreciate you for being here and taking class with me. My name is Angelica. Please do hit the subscribe button. It helps me to know that I'm on the right track and that these classes are good and that you want to come back. Definitely tap the like. And, um, if you want to become a yoga teacher, connect with me. The link is below in the description and in the first comment. I'll see you all next time for more yoga. Have a great day.