In this Yin Yoga audio class, we will be working on supporting and strengthening our immunity to keep healthy.
The immune system (so-named in the English-speaking world) and Wei Qi (in China) act as a force-field for viruses and bacteria. When robust, we are less likely to catch colds or the flu so for this session, we aim to get deep into the body through long-held Yin Yoga poses, and encourage our immunity and/or Wei Qi to work more efficiently.
The poses we will be using are:
One-legged Child’s Pose / Frog
Pontoon
Mermaid
I'm afraid I don't have my own images of these, so see this as good practice to simply listen and make the pose your own rather than try to copy what I look like - the beauty of audio! If you do get stuck however, feel free to email me at uceleyoga@gmail.com
NOTE ON PROPS
Unfortunately, there is a widespread conception that using props in yoga is 'cheating' somehow. If you are one of these terrible people, then please do keep reading to see how beneficial props can be in helping you get the most of your practice...
We use props in Yin Yoga for a number of reasons, but largely to help our bodies come to an appropriate degree of stress (either increasing or decreasing it), and thereby getting the most out of the pose. They allow you to get into a position that suits your individual body, be comfortable in it, and consequently relax deeper into it.
Please note here that 'stress' and 'pain' are two very different things, and I cannot bang on enough about how important it is to listen to your body and heed what it is telling you. The other key use of props I therefore want to point out is SUPPORTING the body when we feel sensations that are stabbing, pinching, electrical, throbbing... when it hurts, basically.
So for this class (any class actually), grab pretty much anything that you can raise yourself up on comfortably, and which can also be used as support - under your knees for example. I would always suggest having a blanket or two handy, and you can use cushions, pillows and books as well. If you practise yoga regularly, I would strongly recommend investing in two yoga blocks, and a bolster can be great too. I also like to have a meditation cushion as my hips quite often fall backwards, rounding my spine and making it difficult to fold forward i.e. in Butterfly or Caterpillar.
You can listen to the audio session Stay fit and healthy with Yin Yoga here on YouTube. To get email alerts of these sessions every month, email me at uceleyoga@gmail.com or send me a message.
I provide these sessions for free, but if you want to support me in creating great audio, video and live classes to use at home, then consider becoming my patron via Patreon. Depending on your tier, benefits include online one-to-one classes; monthly Yin Yoga workshops via Zoom; and access to my archive of audio and Facebook live sessions.
Photo of girls with yoga props by Gustavo Fring from Pexels