Besides the importance of digesting food and detoxifying the fysical body, a yogic perspective also includes the mind and the importance of digesting thoughts and feelings.
This yin yoga practice is designed to boost your metabolism, aid digestion and has detoxifying effects on the fysical body, to release toxins from organs and tissues. This sequence also provides an opportunity to cleanse and detox the mind, to release any thoughts or emotions that have a toxic effect o your well-being, opening up the body and mind for new opportunities, positive energy and self empowerment.
1. Cat Cow. Begin standing on all four, hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips. Inhale to arch the spine and lift the gaze, exhale to round the back. Follow your own breath for 8 rounds of cats and cows as you create greater circulation in the body before the static yin yoga poses.
2. Thread the needle. Return to a neutral spine, inhale to raise the right arm up, exhale to thread the arm and lower down the shoulder towards the mat. Either keep the left fingertips on the mat for support or to deepen the twist, inhale to raise the left arm up towards the sky. Remain in the pose for eight deep breaths before returning through neutral and switch side.
3. Shoelace. Come into a seated position and bend in the right knee, stack the right knee on top of the left knee and find both sit bones on the mat, option to sit up on a folded blanket. If the lower knee complains, straighten the left leg on the mat into a half shoelace variation. If the top knee complains you can try placing a blanket or pillow between the knees. If nothing seems to help, skip this pose.
Inhale to raise the left arm and side lean to the right for four deep breaths.
Return to neutral and either remain seated or if knees and hips feel safe you can begin to lower down into a forward fold, remain in the pose for three minutes, staying connected to a smoothe and even breathe.
4. Twist. Keep the knees stacked, roll down to lie on the back and lower down the knees to the left. Extend the right arm out to the side to come into a twist. If this twist is too intense you can uncross the knees and straighten the bottom leg on the mat. Remain in the pose for 3 minutes.
From this pose, rock up to seated and move through the sequence beginning from shoelace on the opposite side.
5. Bananasana. Extend the legs and raise the arms up above the head. Begin to walk the feet to the right, only as far as your sitbones remain planted on the mat. Option to cross one foot over the other. Move the arms and the upper body to the right, creating the shape of a banana with the body. Option to take a hold of one wrist, the elbows or lower down the hands on the belly. Remain 3 minutes in bananasana opening up the left side body before returning through center and coming into the pose on the other side.
6. Savasana. Extend the legs, allowing them to be apart and the feet flop open. Rest the arms away from the body, facing the palms towards the sky. Take a couple of sighing, detoxifying exhalations through the mouth to let go of any last toxic tension or stress stored in the mind or the body and rest in savasana for at least 3 minutes.
Namaste
