Sacral Yin

Hello again. Welcome back. We are going to be working with the second chakra, the sacral chakra in this yin practice. So the sacral chakra houses the low back and the hips and the low belly, and it's also home to the emotions and creativity and our playfulness, our color, our sensuality. So we're going to be really working with the hips and the low back today.

And you might want to have a bolster and a blanket to make it more interesting. Okay, so let's start with some gentle warming poses. Just going to move this off to the side, I'm going to come onto my hands and knees into tabletop pose and just encouraging the spine to start to warm, I'm rounding my back, bringing my chin in towards the chest, pulling the tummy in. And as I inhale, I'm arching the spine, lifting the chest, reaching forward with the heart and then exhale, pulling the tummy in and rounding and inhale, arching. We're just moving the energy up and down the spine a few times here.

This is also a really nice way to warm the core. So as I exhale, I'm gathering up the abdominal muscles, squeezing everything in, nourishing the spine, chin towards the chest and inhale, arching, let's do three more of these together. Deep breath, nice, last one. Come back to neutral, so there's a little tone in the belly, just support the spine and I'm going to start to draw circles around with the hips. So take your hips and draw these circles around your body and you might want to walk the hands forward and let the circles turn into a little bit more of an oval.

So I'm dropping down into a little bit of a child's pose and coming forward into a little low cobra, opening up the hip flexors, give yourself about three more of these. This is bringing the synovial fluid into the hip joints, warming up the low back. Feels good. Next time you're forward, you might want to just hang out there and do a little rock from right to left. So your hands are anchored down, your hips are dropping, you're breathing deeply into the low belly.

You might want to just hang out there for a moment, a little wiggle, a little wobble, deep breaths into the low belly here, lift the chest, lift the heart. And coming back onto your hands and knees, bring your hands back to table pose and let's do a little bit of warming with each hip singly. So taking your left knee and bringing it up and drawing big circles around with that left knee, getting deeply into the hip joint, gathering up as many muscles as you can along the way. You might feel this up into your glutes. One more of these, yeah, and then just end it with a couple small circles here.

So using gravity here to traction out the hip joint feels really good. And then other legs, so big, slow circles, anchoring your hands down, keeping the breath really nourishing your body. Let's do two more of these. Good, and then just dropping that right leg down in little tiny circles here, a couple more cat, dogs, just for fun, good. So let's get into child's pose, balasana.

If you would like to use your block or your bolster, it feels good to bring it about halfway up your legs here. And if you want to cushion, it feels kind of nice to cushion your knees. So I'm just going to come up here and I'm going to do a little bit of a blanket here to cushion my knees and feet. Feels really good. I'm going to be here about two minutes into child's pose.

So let yourself snuggle down here that you can rest your cheek to your side. Let your shoulders drop down. Let your belly relax. Feel your whole back body softening and opening here. And if it feels comfortable, you could stay right here or if you want to turn your cheek to the other side in a moment or so or your forehead straight down.

So I'm going to see what feels nourishing to you. This feels really nice and your hips are starting to really soften down. Soft in the jaw, soft in the face. Child's pose is a wonderful pose to come back to when you're in a more challenging yoga series. It helps to reset the nervous system, calm the mind and just let the body rest in that childlike state.

Sinking down into our hips brings our awareness into where we're going to be moving our energy a little more deeply here in a moment. So take about three more deep breaths here. And if your cheek is to one side, turn it to the other for the last breath or two or bring your forehead straight down. And you might want to cat paw yourself back up to a seat letting your head come up last and just circle your shoulders. Yeah, just encouraging the energy and the nourishment to move up the spine.

See I'm doing a little bit of a seated cat dog. So see if you can find a little bit of a, a little bit of a serpentine snake like energy up and down the spine. It's just a fun way to transition. Good. Okay.

So let's go to a little bit of a deeper hip opener here in frog pose. We're going to use the same blanket where it is and we'll just turn the bolster. If that was comfortable for you, you can still use this bolster. I might want to move my blanket just a little bit, a little bit closer in here. And it's a really deep nourishing inner thigh hip opener in frog.

So I'm opening my knees as wide as feels comfortable. And then drop, you can drop your, your forearms down here. You can rest your, your forearms on the bolster or on the earth. And what I like to do is to kind of rock forward and back a little bit just to acquaint my body with these sensations, can tend to be a little spicy, breathing deeply. We want to kind of stay on the sweet side of the edge so that the sensations are there, but the breath stays generous and nourishing, the face stays calm.

Now if you are finding that this feels really good and you want to move a little bit deeper, you can move your bolster either out of the way or move it kind of lengthwise here. And I'm rocking a little bit further forward onto the bolster with the knees melting a little bit deeper out to the side. And again, you're resting your cheek to the side here, staying like this with this deep inner thigh groin opening. Staying with that bolster or if you find you're wanting to sink down a little bit deeper, you can come down, you know, just play with that edge. Play with that edge where sensation is being evoked.

But the breath is very generous, the face is soft, and just keep leaning into sensations. I'm finding that my knees are wanting to open out a little bit more to the side. So you can always open your feet out so the feet are parallel with the knees to deepen the stretch. And if you're finding that it's a little bit too deep, you can bring your feet in a little bit or, you know, lift up and lean back a little bit. So let it be fluid, let it be soft.

Staying with the exploration. Good. So taking these last two or three deep breaths, you might want to come back to this little rocking forward and back and using the strength of your hands and your arms to kind of lift yourself up. I like to bring my feet together, kind of walking the hands back and easing yourself back into, ooh, just taking a moment here to let your body settle. Good.

Yeah, that's a good one. So let's transition onto our backs and I'm just going to move this blanket off to the side and come straight onto my back. So we've done a lot of inner thigh, inner groin, inner hips. So I'm going to move you to a little bit of outer hip and add a little twist to that in a moment. Before we do that, let's come back to our air bicycles, just to transition, to take a moment, maybe circling those knees in towards each other.

Nice deep breaths. Yeah, good. So getting ready for the next pose, outer thigh and hips, ankle to knee, we'll start with dropping your right knee, right foot down and crossing your left ankle over the right knee and bringing your right knee in towards your chest, ankle to knee. So while this foot is there, just take your hand and circle out that left ankle, massaging deeply into the joint, maybe giving that foot a little massage. Why not?

It feels good. And from here, taking your hands and either holding onto your shin of the right leg or the back of the right leg, whatever feels good to you and just start to draw some little circles here, massaging out your low back. You might start to feel this in the outer left hip, outer leg. You might want to rock right and left here, lots of different interesting sensations as we move in these little swirly ways. And then let yourself settle in here, keeping the left foot flexed to protect the knee, keeping your shoulders really soft.

We'll be here for a few moments, soft in the face, soft in the jaw, soft eyes, just remembering that the second chakra is home to our tender emotions. So really tuning in to not only how your body feels, but how does your whole being feel? What can you soften? What can you let go of? Feeling that space with breath.

And as tension releases, this right knee deep in in towards your chest. Shoulders can soften down your back. So why don't we take the last five breaths or so and hold on to the back of your right thigh and lift your right leg up towards the sky to give your right hamstring a little love here. It might feel good to circle out your right ankle. It might feel good to hold onto those toes and give them a little tug if that's available.

If not, just stay where you are and take another breath or two and then easy as you go, bringing your right foot back to the earth, bringing your left knee in and drawing some big circles with your left knee all the way around to encourage that hydration, that synovial fluid deeply into your left hip and drop that left foot to the ground. We'll take a moment to let things kind of absorb and settle. Drop your knees in towards each other and notice left side, right side. That is interesting. Good.

Okay, coming to the other side now. I'm crossing your right knee over the left, bringing your left knee in towards your chest. And again, you're either holding on to your shin or the back of your thigh and draw those little circles. Next, let your body warm into the pose. It's a lot to ask of our bodies, so we like to sweeten the invitation.

Maybe a little rock from side to side. Might feel good. Yeah, good. And when you're ready, let yourself just settle into ankle to knee on the right side, holding on to the back of the thigh or the shin itself. See what feels comfortable.

This side might feel very different. It's a little tighter on my right side, so I'm going to hold on to the back of my left thigh. It feels better, more supportive. Again, keeping your right ankle flex to protect that knee joint, being really kind to our knees here as we open up the hips, takes pressure off the knees. So if you're feeling any sensation in your knee, just back out of the pose, deepen your breath, flex that foot.

Let's continue this journey of letting go and softening. Breathing into the low belly and the hips. I find the hips and the jaw are energetically connected, so just noticing as you're letting go of tension in the hips what's happening in the jaw. You can wiggle the jaw a little bit, soft lips. These last couple of breaths might feel good to bring that left leg up towards the sky and circle out that ankle.

Bringing the toes towards you, maybe reaching towards the toes, pulling them in, maybe just holding onto the back of the thigh, keeping both feet flexed. Just take a big breath here with a sigh. Good. Slow and easy. Bring that left foot down to the earth, just relax your hands down.

As you uncross that right leg, just draw some circles, encouraging the warmth, really soft, warm sensation in the hips to move all the way down the legs, and then just keep the knees bent, feet on the floor, wide apart. Drop your knees in towards each other and take a moment, let your body absorb and integrate all this beautiful energy coming from the sacral chakra, sensations, emotions, and playfulness. That's good stuff. We just did a big external, big hip opener here. Let's bring this into a twist.

Crossing your left knee all the way over the right. I like to walk my right foot forward just a little bit to give my hips a little space, my knee a little space, arms out to the side, palms up feels really good. Let's rock this right leg over to the right, come back to center and over to the left. We'll do this a couple of times, again, just to equate our bodies with this really luscious deep hip opener and twist. Next time I'm over to the right side, you'll stay here on this right side, perhaps taking your right hand just on the outer edge of your left knee and nudging it down, just encouraging it down a little bit, maybe turning your head to the left to notice your left shoulder, nudging that left shoulder, soften down to the earth, left arm, left hand, really soft, bringing your head back to center.

Nice deep breaths here. You might be feeling this all the way up the left side of your body to the left glutes, all the way down that left outer leg into the iliotibial band, that band of fascia that connects the hips to the knees. This is a really beautiful opening for this part of our bodies, as well as that hip opening that's happening. You might also feel this in your core, in your viscera, in the abdominals. It's a beautiful twist to wring out the organs, cleanse, detox, it's really nourishing for our organs.

And as things start to drop away, there's more space for breath. So enjoy your deep breaths here. And so releasing your right hand down, slowly bringing yourself back up to center, you can always stay there as long as you want. But if you'd like to join me to drop your knees to the other side, so we have the same cross of the legs, we're just nudging a little stretch on the other side. It's a little bit of a different twist here, opening up the outer thigh, but it's coming into the quadriceps a little bit up into the hip flexors, which feels really nice.

You can stay with your arms resting out to the side, or it might feel really good just to stretch your arms over your head and use your left knee to nudge that right knee down just a smudge. Deep breaths into your low abdomen, take one more big breath in here. And exhale, slow and easy. Coming back to center, uncrossing that left knee, back to easy air, bicycles, arms might want to come down by your side, noticing left side, right side, knees into the chest, little rock, just giving yourself some love. Back to center and setting up for the other side.

So crossing the right knee over the left, walking your left foot a little forward to give yourself some space, arms out to the side, take a big breath in. And as you exhale, dropping the knees to the left, and inhale up to center, and exhale to the right. So riding the waves of your breath back to center with the inhale, and exhale to the left. One more full circle here, back to center, and to the right. Good.

Back up to center, and we're going to settle over on the left side, taking your left hand right in the outer edge of that right knee and just encouraging it down. Just be really gentle with yourself, finding that sweet edge. You might want to turn your head to the right and encourage your right shoulder, your arm to relax, deepen your breath. We'll be here a couple of moments. This side might have a very different experience.

I'm feeling it more right up here in the hip area. Just noticing where you feel what. Good jaw, soften the eyes. Deep nourishing breaths. When a sensation opens up, you might start to feel it down the legs.

I can feel a warming down my legs into the knee joint. It feels really good. Staying in poses for an extended period of time gives the connective tissue an opportunity to really start to soften and release, opening up energy in the joints. Let's take one more big breath here. Side out.

Release your left hand down, come back to center. Take a moment here and rock this whole package over to the right side for just a few deep breaths. You can always take your right knee and kind of nudge that left knee down a little bit. Maybe bring the arms over the head to give yourself a really good stretch. Take one more big deep breath in, exhale, come back to center, uncross, give yourself those big circles, nourishing deep into the hips.

Bring your knees into your chest here. Little rock might feel really good. If you bring your knees really close into your chest and rock side to side, you might feel really beautiful stretch in the mid back. Bring your knees a little bit further away, you'll feel that into the lower back. Just planting your feet on the floor, knees together, you're just resting your hands on your low belly and mid belly.

Close your eyes for a moment and let things absorb. Walk in. Rolling over onto your side, we'll take a moment to sit up and set up for Shavasana. Yeah, good. Let's use the bolster and a blanket for Shavasana.

You might want to take that bolster right underneath your knees and take your blanket. I like to bring the blanket for me, especially after this sacral chakra opening in the hips. I like to give my legs and my hips a little bit of weight, a little bit of warmth that feels really good. Open up your knees really wide and do a little bit of a wobble here, like a little full body wobble feels really nice. Good.

And then let yourself saddle in for your well-deserved Shavasana. Just noticing the warmth. You may be feeling in your legs and your hips, just inviting that warmth and that energy to flow through your whole body just by allowing yourself to rest and receive. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Enjoying how your energy is manifesting today. You might feel the physical sensations of warming. You might feel energetically a lightness, a joyful or happiness. Sometimes imagery opens up just noticing how your prana is celebrating with you. So you're welcome to stay in Shavasana as long as you like.

Really enjoy this pose, and if you're ready to transition, start to deepen your breath and find those little movements. If you open your eyes, keep your gaze really soft, circling out your ankles and your wrists. You might want to bring your arms over your head and give yourself a big stretch. Just if you press your feet and legs down, you could actually lift your hips up into the sky for a breath and come on down, gently moving the blanket off to the side, bringing your knees in towards your chest, little rock side to side here, rolling over to your side, pressing that top hand down, coming up nice and slow, head comes up last, finding that comfortable seat of yours, coming back into Sukhasana, tuning in once again to the energy, the warmth and the light that is celebrating in our sacral chakra. Thank you so much for joining me.