If your mind feels like a chimpanzee in a cappuccino bar, then this beginner yin yoga class on mindfulness is for you.
Hi, I'm Melissa from Yoga with Melissa, and this is real yoga for real people.
We're all about connection, connection to a teacher and teachings that allow you to connect with your true nature
and a community of people that are dedicated to a genuine path of spiritual transformation.
If you're brand new here, I put out a new class every single Friday at 9 a.m. Pacific time,
and on the last Friday of every month, we have a live stream at the same time.
So be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications. I have some great content coming up for you.
Let's see what that is. On December the 8th, we're going to have a yin yoga over hips.
December 15th, yin yoga for sleep. December 22nd, we're going to do a yin yoga for neck and shoulders.
And December the 29th is our next live class at 9 a.m. Pacific, and it will be a yin yoga class for lower back and hips.
So be sure to subscribe, turn on those notifications so that you'll be the first to know when those classes come up on your YouTube stream.
If you like today's class, let me know by pressing that like button so that I can know to make more content like this for you.
And let me know what you like about it in the comments.
If you're brand new to yoga or yin yoga, don't worry. This is actually a beginner's class.
I will go slowly. Yin yoga is slow anyways. I will give lots of modifications.
I will tell you what you're doing. We'll go step by step and I'll take you through the process.
I'll explain everything. This isn't like a lot of other beginner yoga classes on YouTube that are too difficult, too hard to follow,
and are basically not for beginners. This is actually a class for beginners.
That being said, if you are new to yoga, then you need to speak to your medical doctor and just have a quick conversation with them first,
especially if you have any medical conditions or injuries and ask them,
what movement should I avoid so that I don't make my medical condition or my injury worse?
And that way, when you come to the class, you'll know how to care for your body.
I'm going to give you a preview of the class in just a moment so that you know if this is something that you'll be able to do in your body.
But first, I have a testimonial for you today from Bonnie from Facebook.
Bonnie says, Yin yoga is my favorite style. It's more like meditation.
Thanks for all you do.
So thanks to Bonnie for that testimonial. Thanks to all of you that take your time to leave your comments on YouTube, on Facebook, on iTunes,
on Instagram, on my website, and as always, our most in-depth conversations happen in our membership community.
Thanks to squeeze yoga clothing from my clothes. Today I'm wearing long black yoga pants and a black bamboo top with the flying heart design on it.
And thanks to dusky leaf for our props.
Today you are going to need a wall.
It would be useful to have a blocks and a strap and a folded blanket underneath you, a second folded blanket to sit up on,
probably some cushions nearby. But if you don't have blocks or a strap, those kind of yoga props, don't worry.
You can use the cushions from your couch and for a strap, you can use the tie from your bathroom.
So as I said, I'll give you a preview of the class, what to expect in today's class so that you know if this is something that you can do in your body.
And if you can't, then you don't need to waste your time with the whole class.
So today we're going to be doing butterfly pose to begin.
Then it will be followed by sphinx pose, broken wing pose, half stirrup pose, followed by stirrup pose, melting heart pose.
We'll be doing a seated twist, half dragonfly and legs up the wall.
And we'll start and finish with the centering, which just means lying on your back on the ground.
Okay, so if that seems like it's doable in your body, then let's begin by lying on your back.
If you have any low back issues or back issues, it's always a good idea to lie with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
So start by feeling the sensations in your body.
Notice any tightness or gripping, any points of tension.
And then feel the back of your body resting against the ground.
So feel your feet, the two sides of your buttocks, your mid back, your shoulder blades, your elbows and your head.
From here, if your knees aren't bent, you're going to bend your knees.
And you're going to roll to your side and come up to seated.
I'm really going to have to pay for that app that's got a nice timer.
It's a Tibetan bell app, but the ads are getting worse and worse on it.
Like, can you imagine a Tibetan bell meditation app that has like ads that come up like that?
It's ridiculous.
Okay, the next pose is butterfly pose.
As ridiculous as me not paying for the app, actually.
Okay, we're going to put the blocks underneath my knees.
It's probably less than a timer at Value Village.
You're going to have a diamond shape on your legs and then you're going to fold forward over your legs.
And this affects the six major meridians in your lower body.
You're probably going to feel it on your inner thighs.
I often feel it back in my lower back even.
So Norman Blair says, our mind is like a chimpanzee in a cappuccino bar.
Intensely stimulated in our consumer culture, that advertisement on my meditation bell is a perfect example.
And this stimulation makes us want more, makes us want to buy more and consume more.
We're inundated with commercials that keep our mind occupied with messages that preoccupy our mind with feelings of unworthiness and the need for more shiny things.
As Norman Blair says, we are enormously practice in distraction and discontent.
I'm going to put the blocks underneath my legs.
I'm going to fold forward over my legs.
So you're going to come up, release this pose from your body.
And you're going to lie down on your back to feel the energy flow through your body.
You're going to bend your knees, roll to your side and come over onto your belly.
And on your belly, you're just going to wiggle your hips from side to side to release your low back.
Tuck your right toes under, lift your right knee, reach back through your heel.
Tuck your left toes under, reach back through your left knee, your left heel and feel how that creates space in your low back.
And then walk your elbows underneath your shoulders or slightly in front of your shoulders to come into Sphinx pose.
This pose, if you have any issues with your neck, you can use a block here and rest your head on the block.
So this pose stimulates your kidney meridian and it gives you the energy that you need for your practice, but also for your life.
Often we believe we can find resolution in our minds.
Our mind is very good at judging, labeling, analyzing, comparing and it does so in an endless loop.
We try to think our way through life and figure it all out.
We try to get rid of our pain by thinking our way out of it, by interpreting it, by limiting our life and by controlling our experiences.
Thank you.
So you're going to slowly lower down from this pose and you're going to rest on your belly.
Then feel the movement of energy in your body.
From here you're going to take your right arm out to the side at the level of your shoulder.
You're going to place your left hand underneath your shoulder, press your body away from you and draw your knees up to a 90 degree angle for broken wing pose.
This pose affects your heart and your small intestine meridians.
So feel the sensations in your body and let your attention rest on those sensations.
So you're going to take your right arm out to the side at the level of your shoulder, press your body away from you and draw your knees up to a 90 degree angle for broken wing pose.
So you're going to take your right arm out to the side at the level of your shoulder, press your body away from you and draw your knees up to a 90 degree angle for broken wing pose.
Very slowly you're going to make your way out of this pose to lie on your back to feel the effects of the pose.
Now you feel the rebound and feel the energy moving through your body.
You're going to bend your knees and lie on your stomach with your left arm out to the side this time.
This time you'll bring your knees up at a 90 degree angle on the right side.
So today we're focusing on mindfulness and when I speak of mindfulness I'm talking about a practice called shamatha which basically means placing your attention on a specific object.
And then the lineage of meditation that I'm trained in and in which I practice.
This is the lineage of Chogyam, Trampa Rinpoche, Reggie Ray and Jaya Oshen. The object of attention is our body.
So I practice the style of meditation called somatic meditation and as we're practicing in yoga I encourage you to place your attention for your shamatha to be in your body.
The sensations in your body right now.
So very slowly you're going to come out of this pose and you're going to make your way onto your back.
And again this time you're going to feel the flow of energy in your body from doing that pose.
Okay our next pose is going to be half happy baby pose or half straddle or half saddle or something like that and then what we're going to do is start.
They all have different names.
We're going to start by drawing your knee into your chest and then you'll draw the sole of your foot up and hold on to the sole of your foot while drawing your knee in towards your armpit.
A couple of options here you can bend your left knee particularly if you have low back issues is a great option.
Another option particularly if it's difficult to reach and it's causing strain in your neck is to use a strap here.
Remember it doesn't matter what the pose looks like it's in yoga is not an aesthetic practice so you can do like this.
Another option that I find quite helpful is to elevate your hips so press into your hips you can place a cushion or a block or a bolster underneath your hips.
Draw your knee into your chest and then draw your leg in.
So whatever works best for you in your body we're going to hold this pose for two minutes.
So in in yoga we come into the pose.
We hold the pose for a while and we resolve to be still.
Because we're affecting the deeper tissues the connective tissues that wrap around the joints and the bones.
So we want to soften so we can access those deeper tissues.
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And then go ahead and release this side of your body.
This is like trying to make a point today, huh?
And feel the energy on the side of your body.
And then we'll do the other side.
So you're going to draw your left leg in and you're going to hold on to the bottom
of your left foot.
Remember the options.
You can bend your right leg.
You can have something underneath your pelvis, but you come into the pose and you resolve
to be still.
This pose affects your urinary bladder meridian, your liver meridian.
And then you're going to do the other side of your body.
And then you're going to do the other side of your body.
And then you're going to do the other side of your body.
And then you're going to do the other side of your body.
And then you're going to do the other side of your body.
And then release this pose from the side very slowly and feel the effects.
The echo, the rebound, the energy on the left side of your body now.
So now we're going to do the full pose.
We're going to do both legs at the same time.
So you're going to draw both knees in towards the armpits and then hold on to the bottoms
of the feet and find some stillness.
Option in this pose is to bring the soles of your feet together and your knees wide.
And you can also use a strap here on your feet if it's hard to reach with your hands.
So you're going to go ahead and release.
Release this pose slowly from your body and feel the echo or rebound, the energy moving
through your body, particularly your legs, your inner thighs.
We're going to bend your knees, roll to your side and come up onto all fours.
And on all fours, we're going to do melting heart pose or puppy pose.
You might know it as.
Okay, so we're going to set our legs up to a 90 degree angle to the ground and we're
going to open our heart to the ground.
So I'm going to give you a couple of modifications here because actually this pose can be tough
if you have neck issues.
So one is you can raise the ground a bit.
You can do that with a cushion or a block.
So that's nice.
That's less.
And even that can be too much pressure on people's necks if they have neck issues.
So think about what meridian channel is the heart small intestine meridians along the
arms here, the underarms.
So you can just actually take a different pose as well.
Don't.
So you could go back to broken wing pose or you could take another pose where you get
into those same meridians.
Like I really like banana as not too.
Okay, so do what works best for you in your body.
I know that that puppy pose can kind of be crunchy in the neck if you've got neck issues.
So look after yourself.
Okay, let's try this.
Okay, so very, very slowly you're going to make your way out of this posture and you
can either lie on your stomach or your back and feel the rebound, the energy movement
through your body.
Okay, we're slowly going to make our way up to a seated position and you're going to
sit.
And if when you sit your back curls under like this because of a tight posterior chain
then it's really important to sit elevated on a folded blanket.
So sit so that your pelvis is lifted and you'll find it a lot easier to sit up straight and
you're going to bend your right leg in and cross it over your left leg and you're going
to wrap your right arm around your left leg and turn towards it.
Now if this is challenging for you, like if it feels like there's a lot of flesh in the
way, then you can do an open twist and turn away from your leg.
So see what works best for you in your body today.
So in the stillness and quiet of yin yoga, we practice coming into the direct experience
of our bodies.
This subtle energetic and inward practice invites us to feel our bodies from the inside.
We are tuning into the basic awareness of our bodies themselves and we'll get distracted
by all kinds of things like right now I'm distracted by the sound of the rain coming
down outside because I know I want to go out and do a photo shoot outside after this.
But that's not going to happen.
So I keep coming back to the felt sensation of the experience of my body, the experience
of the rotation of my spine, the experience of my outer thigh, the tugging on my outer
thigh into my glutes.
Okay.
Then you're going to come back to the center and just pause for a moment in the center
feel the rebound and then you're going to bend your left leg in cross your left
leg over your right leg I'm gonna wrap your right leg right arm around your left
leg and turn towards it and again if it feels like it's really all the flesh is
getting in the way and it feels really uncomfortable then you can turn away do
an open twist instead so do what works best for your body today so when we pay
attention to our bodies we pay attention to a few things we pay attention to the
physical sensations so for example right now I'm feeling the sensations all along
my spine maybe along the back of my leg along the outside of my thigh into my
glutes we pay attention to the subtle energy that flows through our body so
quite often after the pose we pay attention to the energy that flows
through our body that's paying attention to the subtle energy and then also
quite often in yoga practice we pay attention to the experience of the
boundary of our body within space so for example here I feel the way my leg
feels against the ground the way my torso feels against my leg when we are in
Shavasana at the beginning in the end of class I feel how my body rests against
the ground that's feeling my body against space against the earth and when we
open our awareness into our body we do so with openness kindness tenderness
compassion and without a judgment or agenda so oftentimes when we come to a
yoga practice we come with an agenda we come with an idea of how the practice is
going to be and with a goal in mind or we impose a plan onto our practice but
when we are practicing mindfully we simply arrive and listen to what our
body has to say to us not what we know any kind of agenda or plan or goal that
we're going to place on our body so very open-ended non-goal oriented practice
okay and then you're going to untwist and come back and feel the flow of energy
in your body feel the movement of energy and then we're going to be doing half
dragonfly pose so for this pose you're going to have your left leg bent the sole
of your foot on the inside of your right leg and you're going to fold forward
over your right leg now if you have any back issues you don't want to do
straight-legged forward folds so you can bend your knee and I would encourage
you to place a cushion underneath your your leg again it's a great idea to sit
up on a folded blanket when you're doing these forward folds so we come into the
posture we stay for a while and we resolve to be still so as my teacher
Reggie Ray says mindfulness is how to come with attention to the body and with
awareness we surrender and open to whatever the body wants to show us so
first we come to and into our body and then we open our consciousness into the
interior wakefulness that is going on under the surface
okay so you're slowly going to come up
and then we're going to switch sides so this time you're going to bring the sole
of your foot to the inside of your left leg again if you have any back issues
going to bend that left knee so that you're not doing straight leg forward
folds and then you're going to fold forward over your bent left leg and I
was so focused on that straight leg if your right leg is hanging out in mid air
here because your hips are tight then you also want to fill that space with a
cushion or a block so that it's not unsupported so just raise the ground so
my hips tend to be quite open so I don't need to the space is already filled
but if most people's hips are tight and your legs going to be up here fill the
space with the cushion or a block okay so we're going to fold forward so yin
yoga can act as a bridge towards a meditation practice because we're
actually meditating during the long holds in the yin yoga postures then
meditation can seem less daunting as we develop the confidence to meditate
during the long holds each time we come into a yin yoga posture so in beginner
yin yoga classes we're holding our poses for two minutes in a regular yin yoga
class that I teach we're holding the poses for five minutes we may even
sometimes hold longer so you're building up the confidence that if you can
meditate for that long in a pose then you can actually do a meditation practice
you're slowly going to come up and today we're going to do legs up the wall
before we do shavasana so thought it'd be a nice pose to access the urinary
bladder meridian today so you'll need to take your mat and turn it perpendicular
to the wall
if you don't have a wall you can use a chair or you can put your legs up the
couch that works really well especially if you have back issues because this is
again another forward fold so you're going to come and put your hips right
against the wall and then you're going to swing your legs around so that they
come up the wall and once they come up the wall then you can stay here like
this if you don't have any back issues if you have any back issues you're going
to bend your knees and place your feet flat on the wall so that you're not
doing a straight leg forward fold so do what works best for you in your body
okay so from here you can finish your practice here if you want or you can
transition to lying on your back in shavasana okay so when you take shavasana
as always if you have any low back issues you're going to take it with your
knees bent in your feet flat on the floor it can be nice to take your feet to the
wide edges of your mat and let your knees fall together
and here you can continue to practice somatic mindfulness by feeling your
back body against the ground
moment or two longer I'm going to sit up and read you a poem this poem is called
the astronomer by Khalil Jaban in the shadow of the temple my friend and I
saw a blind man sitting alone and my friend said behold the wisest man of
our land then I left my friend and approached the blind man and greeted
him and we conversed after a while I said forgive my question but since when
has thou been blind from my birth he answered and I said and what path of
wisdom follow us now said he I am an astronomer that he placed his hand on
his breast saying I watch all these suns and moons and stars
so gradually wiggle your fingers and toes take a deep breath bend your knees
and roll to your side and slowly make your way up to seated so thank you so
much for joining me for this beginner yin yoga class on mindfulness this
completes our beginner yin series if you liked it please give it a thumbs up and
let me know in the comments what aspect of mindfulness was most helpful to you
was it coming in and feeling the sensations of your body feeling the
rebound of energy after the poses or feeling your body the boundary of your
body whether that be lying on the ground or you know when your body touches
your body so let me know which aspect of that was most helpful for you in the
comments our next live class is December 29th at 9 a.m. Pacific and it will be a
yin yoga class for your lower back and your hips thank you so much for your
donations Lorraine Diane from Nova Scotia who's one of our members it was great
to spend time with you last week and our live indulgence workshops those are
really in-depth Marina and Donna thank you so much for those donations right
now we're saving up for it's not a slider you've gone against the slider
it's like it's almost like a little robot isn't it Tim so it can it's gonna go
is to do these like sliding shots it's gonna go around only smooth but it's
gonna arc do arcs around the poses which will be really cool because the thing
is cinematically yin yoga classes are like so boring right nothing is
happening on the screen so in order to make them interesting the camera needs
to move of course what's interesting is what's happening in your bodies right so
but we can cinematically we want to improve on that so it's gonna cost us
about I think is it still around 300 us dollars yeah so if you'd like to make a
contribution to what is it's not called a slider honey what is it called we'll
call the slider then you can make a donation just let us know in the
comments that you want it to go towards the slider and we'll make sure we can
put it towards that by mentioning that in the donation now yin yoga is not
something you can just learn in one class and to me it's a way of life you
know we can do yin yoga for an hour but if we head off our mat and then just hit
our lives at a hundred miles an hour then it's not really something we've
incorporated so I feel like there's a good better and best way to really be
able to embody mindfulness and into your whole life so one a good way to do that
is to make sure you're subscribed to our channel so make sure you subscribe and
press that bell so you get notified when our classes come out and that way you'll
get our class every Friday and you'll be able to join us for our live classes on
the last Friday there every month better way would be to make sure you're
signed up for something like our anxiety series so if you go to Melissa West comm
slash anxiety you can get seven days of my best classes and Ayurvedic tips and
short tutorials on how to deal better with anxiety so that would be a better
way if you go there put in your email we'll send that to you and then you will
stay in touch with you that way the best way would be to become a member of our
community you know being a member of our community there are many great perks for
example this morning I spoke one-on-one with two of our members you know with
our more dedicated members I mentor them twice a year on the solstices winter
solstice and summer solstice I reach out to them I ask them to reflect on their
practice we meet we speak and we just take some time to reflect back on the
that the last six months their year where they're at with their practice what
they want to develop with their practice so you know it's you you can
potentially get a lot out of your your membership so that's just one perk that
you know the more you put into your membership the more you get out of it so
I'll put the links to that in the show notes as well so I am sending you very
much love from the wet West Coast today may your joy be as deep as our Pacific
Ocean may be as rooted as the all growth trees in our forest and may be as strong
as our mountains Om Shanti Namaste Melissa would love to hear your
questions and thoughts please leave your comments below the video thank you for
your reviews on iTunes and YouTube your reviews help us to share yoga and a
yoga lifestyle with others around the world if you have a question for Melissa
you can leave a voice message at Melissa West calm and Melissa may answer it in
an upcoming blog
