Yin yoga is a stretching focused class done with a cool body. Poses are held for 2-5 mins and are all low to the ground. Poses are all offered with a modification to make each pose more restorative if that is what your body is calling for at that moment. In Yin we compress the ligaments and joints with long holds and breath work to help the fascia to open. Rebound restorative poses will be added in to allow space for cellular healing and hydration. Yin works into the fascia and aids in joint mobility, flexibility and balance. The compression (the holding of the stretch) starves the joint of fluid while stretching the fascia around the joint capsule. When compression is released the joint capsule is freed, but the fascia remains slightly stretched and more open. Fluid, nutrients, and oxygen rushes back to the joint capsule and this flood of hydration is felt in the body as the rebound. Along with this more tangible shift Yin also helps to calm the nervous system (taking you back into Rest and Restore) and clear the energy channels (meridians) of the body through the fascia. This will be a 45-50 min practice with soft, instrumental music playing in the background though class. We will close with a 25 min yoga nidra meditation each week.

The practice of yoga nidra is a practice of yogic sleep that will guide you to a state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleeping. It offers you space to diffuse your triggers around past traumatic events without making you relive them. It gives your mind and body rest and restoration while tapping into your consciousness to help to rewrite the script running in your head. It is a way to drop your cortisol levels and bring optimum function back to your endocrine system. It helps you cultivate a deeper and more embodied mind, body, heart, spirit and soul connection.

The focus is to stretch your body, replenish your energy, nurture your mind, release the things that are no longer serving you and recalibrate your focus. Take the Yin pose or the more restorative modification depending on your energetic and physical needs at the time. Enjoy the peace that comes from listening to your body and meeting it where it is at, not where you wish it were.

What you need to bring to class:
Yoga mat
Yoga blocks
Yoga blanket or throw blanket
Optional props:
Yoga bolster - if you don't have one no worries, I will have enough to share.