Yin Yoga for the Chest, Belly & Back

Namaste yogis, I'm Pallavi Rajankar, and we are in our third episode of the Yoga & You Yin series. In today's episode, we're going to be stretching out our chest, our belly, and our back. This is the torso portion of the body, right? Our chest, according to yoga philosophy, has the heart chakra, so that kind of goes into the feeling of calmness, the feeling of balance, and also the center for love, right?

In our belly is what we call our solar plexus, which is the center for power, where our self-confidence comes from, where our self-esteem comes from, right? That's just giving you a little bit of background on the emotional, mental part of what the physical practice of Yin is mostly like. And when we go into the back, it's super important, because we know that the youth, or the health, of the spine is very much almost proportionate to the youth and the health of the body, right? So we'll move into it.

Today we are going to need a couple of props. If you have yoga blocks like this one, you can grab them. If you don't, that's perfectly alright, you can find a box, you can find a stack of books that you can use. And also we're going to use a cushion or a pillow, today I have this one. If you don't have blocks, you can even grab maybe three to four pillows, and we'll move into it.

Okay, so to start off with, meet me in Baddha Konasana. In Baddha Konasana, the heels and toes are touching, it doesn't need to be super close, get into a nice comfortable posture, the knees go as wide as the mat, right? You're going to grab the blocks, or if you have a cushion, you're going to grab the cushion and place it right below your hips, right? I'm going to move a little bit forward so I have more space. I want you to fold the cushion so you have even more support on your back, and you can place one block behind you as a headrest.

Okay, so fold the cushion, fold the cushion, lengthen through the spine, and on your back, exhale, just drape your back on the cushion, adjust the block so that you can rest your head on it, whatever feels comfortable for you. And once you're here, allow your hands to go to either side of the body, palms facing the ceiling, allow the eyes to close and stay. Stay here for another four, four, three.

When I started this Yin practice, this pose was the most difficult for me. Oftentimes when we're in this pose, it's kind of opening up all of our chakras, and it can feel quite vulnerable. You may even feel certain emotions coming up, and that's your cue to stay, don't just leave the pose, don't try to run away from what's coming.

Just stay for another three, allow your shoulders to sink deeper into the earth, allow the eyes to close, just rest in this posture. Notice this stretch that you feel in the front of the body. Remember we're using the pillows and we're using the blocks and all of these other props so that we're trying to get the body as comfortable as possible. Don't forget to breathe, last few breaths here, sink lower, imagine your muscles are just melting into the earth, last couple of breaths here, and for one.

Don't move out of the pose too fast, very slowly use your hands and your elbows to prop yourself back up, bring your chin to your chest, and then slowly come back into a neutral spine. Gently move the pillows and the blocks from behind you so that you have more space. Your back is neutral, hands are on the ankles, inhale with me, take a deep breath, and on your exhale, with a straight back, lead with your chin and forward fold.

Your hands can come in front of you, or they can stay with the feet, go as close to the earth as possible, try to lead with your chin, back is straight. On your exhale, don't move your back, don't move your shoulders, allow your hands to move all the way to the knees, hold on to your knees as you push your shoulders apart, and we're going to draw these waves two more times. Ready, inhale, make this big wave with your body, leading with your chest, come down to the earth, and then exhale, don't move the back, allow the shoulders to go apart, notice if there's any tightness, any kind of discomfort in the back.

One last time, inhale, shift your weight forward to the front of the room, you'll feel the stretch even in your inner thighs and your outer thighs. On your exhale, don't move your back, hands come to your knees, stay there for a few seconds, notice what that's like, you'll feel some tension, you'll feel some tightness in the back, give yourself permission to release it. And for one, slowly come back into center.

We're going to straighten out the legs now, legs are facing the front of the mat. With your left hand, place it underneath your left hip, sit on the left hand, right hand goes underneath the right hip, sitting down, elbows are straight so that the back is straight as well, and I'm going to lean back now. So inhale with me, exhale, slowly bring your shoulders — I mean your elbows — down to the floor, toes are pointing to the front of the room, and on your exhale, slowly allow your head to come down to the earth, coming into Matsyasana.

Now in this pose, I want you to imagine there's a string attached to your chest that's pulling your chest up to the sky, and almost like that same string is pulling your head down to the earth, so it's like you've been pulled in opposite directions at the same time. It's a bit hard for me to talk, so stay here for another three, four, two, open that chest and neck out, last little breath here, and for one, slowly bring your chin into your chest, lengthen up through the hands, release your hands from underneath your hips.

From here, slowly cross your legs, coming onto your knees, right, you're on your knees, and you're going to stand on the knees, right, we're going to go into Ustrasana, or camel pose. So from here, inhale with me, straightening out the spine, exhale, hands go behind your thighs, if it's possible stay here, if you feel like you can go even lower, hold onto your ankles or hold onto the soles of your feet. With every inhale, exhale, push your belly out, gaze to the back of the room, feeling that stretch across the entire front of the body.

Staying here for another four, four, three, four, two, just a little bit longer, push the belly out, push the hips out, and for one, slowly bring your chin to meet your chest, bringing your hips down, knees go as wide as the mat, toes touching, walk your hands to the front of the mat, staying in Balasana. Especially in the last couple of poses we've been opening out the chest, opening out the belly, Balasana is a very safe pose for most of us.

Staying here for another two, catching your breath if you need to, last little breath here, and for one, from here gently grip the mat with your hands, lift off of your ankles, doming the back, breathing in, breathing in, breathing out, breathing out, breathing out. And then slowly allow the hips to come down to the earth, rolling the shoulders back, bring your toes almost like they're trying to touch your head, look up to the ceiling, and we're going to draw two more of those waves.

Ready, slowly dome your back, make your way back into your Balasana, couple more times, ready, inhale, lift the hips up, moving through the spine, allow the shoulders to go apart, bringing your hips down to the earth, looking up at the ceiling, staying here for a second, rolling your toes towards your head almost like they're trying to touch, and exhale, roll way back into your Balasana. One more time, a little bit quicker, inhale, move to the front of the mat, open out the shoulders which are getting flexible in the back, and exhale, come back into your Balasana.

Slowly come back into center, adjust your hands so that you're in a nice comfortable all fours, we're going to do some cat and cows with the back. Ready, inhale, looking up to the ceiling, dropping the belly down, exhale, dome the back, gaze at your belly button. One more time, inhale, looking up to the ceiling, exhale, doming the back, gently cross your legs behind you and sit back down.

From here, right knee comes to the center of the mat, left foot goes over and across your right knee, left hand goes behind you, inhale, allow the right hand to stretch up to the ceiling, bend at the elbow if possible, hook around your knee, straighten out your arm, look to the back of the mat, coming into our twist, Sendriyasana, staying here for another three, four, two.

All of that undigested food, all of those toxins that are stored in the belly, in the food pipe, we're essentially wringing all of that out from the body, allowing those toxins to release, last little breath here, look at the back of the room, back is straight, and for one, same thing on the opposite side.

Come back into center, left knee goes to the front of the mat, okay your left knee is bent, right foot comes over and across your left knee, face the front of your mat, right hand goes behind you, lift up to the ceiling with your left hand, hook around it and twist, look to the back of the room, coming back into our twist, Sendriyasana, good, staying here for three, four, two, if it's easy try to spot the opposite corner of the room, back straight, that's something I also tend to forget, last little breath here, and for one, releasing it out and unravelling your legs, coming back into seated.

We've come to the end of our third episode, yogis, thank you so much for practicing with me. We stretched out our bellies, our chest, and the back. In our next episode we're going to go into the hips and the legs. I'll see you then, namaste.