The Deep Front Line, or DFL, is the foundation or ‘core’ of your body, and is what stabilises and aligns you both in your yoga practice and everyday life. It is basically a long set of interconnected muscles and connective tissue starting from the ankles, travelling up the inner line of the legs, the pelvis, the trunk, the front of the spine and ending in the tongue.
In a more active or yang form of yoga, a core-based class usually means a session focused on muscles. In yang styles of exercise, the movements are often repetitive and rhythmic so more suited to exercising muscles which have elastic properties. This means that after they have been stressed (stretched for example), they basically return to the same state as before. In Yin yoga however, we concentrate more on connective tissue, particularly joints and fascia, stressing them in different ways to help them become stronger and healthier. Connective tissue in general is not as elastic as muscles, and the type of exercise it tends to respond to best is what we call ‘Yin exercise’ i.e. long-held and relatively still poses.
Here are the poses we will be using in this class:
Sitting Caterpillar (with optional side neck stretch)
2. Crossed Caterpillar
3. Arm adduction (in seated position of your choice) - no image
4. Angel Wings - includes variations based on the rotation possibilities of your arm
Please note that all variations of Angel Wings are BEHIND the back. This is in order to open up the front of the chest, shoulders and inside arms.
PROPS: You may want a blanket and props such as blocks, books or cushions for this session. You can listen to the session here on YouTube. If you would like it either as a downloadable file or without the background sound of birds, then please email me at uceleyoga@gmail.com I provide the audio and Facebook live sessions for free but if you enjoy my work and want to support me, consider becoming my 'patron' through Patreon. Depending on the tier you choose, perks include: longer, more in-depth online workshops; access to my Facebook live class archive; being the first to learn about new audio sessions; and one-on-one virtual sessions.
Main image by Myriam Zilles from Pixabay