Middle Aged Yoga: Yin Yoga Asana Sequence

A co-worker of mine was complaining about tight legs from her power yoga classes. I talked to her about Yin Yoga and how it really is great for stretching your hips, hamstrings, abductors, lower back etc. I thought about sending her a primer I have but decided that a post would be better.

A yin practice is one where you hold poses longer and allow gravity and not active muscles to stretch. It really gets deep into the fascia and ligaments in addition to your muscles. All poses are generally either seated or lying down.

I find it quite relaxing as you quietly move from asana to asana. I really love to do it with Tibetan Singing bowl music. When I am done, I have a great feeling of peace and calmness that lasts for a while.

I pretty much practice the same Yin sequence at home on the days where I do not do an Ashtanga or Vinyasa flow and after I take long walks in the park with my dog. It really does a great job. So, here it is. It is not patented, and I am not trained to tell you how to do the poses but I think the photos will be enough. There are lots of sites with instructions on how to do each pose. With the exception of Dangling and the final twists, I hold each pose for 3 minutes ( I use a timer on my cell phone) . I follow this sequence in order. It generally takes about 1 hour with awarm up and meditation.

Warm Up
Dangling (5 minutes)

Janushirasana - Head to Knee (both Sides)
Pigeon (Both Sides) or Shoestring (both sides) - both are great hip openers
Bodhakonasana 1 - Butterfly feet together far from Pelvis to work deep hip. Your forehead should be in line with your heels.
Bodhakonasana 2 - Butterfly, feet together close as possible to pelvis to work abductors (inner thighs)
Bhekasana - Frog Pose - Great for abductors..
Parivrtta Janushirasana - Revolved Head of the Knee Pose - Both sides
Upsvistha Konasana - Seated Wide Leg Forward fold -
Seated Forward Fold
Seal / Cobra - This has two names
Seated Twist on each side for 1 minute
Breath Meditation (10 minutes)

One thing to note is that I used to hate Seated Wide Leg Forward fold because to be honest, I really could not fold at all. That has not stopped me from practicing it and while I will never put my head on the floor, I can still feel it working.

Namaste..