45 min Upper Body Yin Yoga - (BACK AND SHOULDERS STRETCH)

Hey everyone, thank you for joining me. My name is Cassandra and I'm going to take you through this yin yoga practice specifically for your upper body.

We're going to focus on the mid-back, upper back, as well as our shoulders.

I do recommend having two blocks for this class. We are going to use our props.

If you don't have any blocks at home, you can probably switch

this out with some folded up blankets or a couple of really dense pillows or cushions that should work as well.

But if you have your blocks, definitely have them. And just keep them somewhere close towards the top of your mat.

We're going to start laying down on our backs. We're going to begin with a breathing technique that really helps us focus on this area of the upper body.

This is a way to involve and engage the diaphragm.

And it will show you if you do have tension and tightness through your shoulders, your upper back, as well as your mid back.

So as you lower down, you can bring your feet flat

to the floor with your knees bent and we're gonna reach our arms

all the way up overhead I think I've done this breathing

technique maybe once before and another yoga

class that I taught this is something I learned from physiotherapy

actually because I do have a lot of tension

and tightness especially in my mid back so this breathing technique is super super super helpful so what I want you to do here is is to press your lower back into the floor.

So really get the entire length of your spine grounded and pushing down into the mat.

With your arms up overhead, you might already be feeling a stretch through your shoulders and through your armpits.

So it's a little hard for me to talk as I do this breathing technique with you, so I'll just explain it first.

You're going to be inhaling and exhaling through the nose.

When you inhale, you're going to try to balloon up your belly as much as possible.

So really puffing out through your belly.

And then as you exhale, you're going to try to press your chest and your rib cage down while keeping your belly lifted up like a balloon.

So every time you breathe, try to create even more of a balloon with your lower belly.

And every time you exhale, imagine someone is almost like pushing down

on your chest and at the same time you're keeping your belly lifted.

So I'll do just like a round or two to see to demonstrate what I mean because again it is very hard to talk and do this at the same time. So

I'll just

show you

a few

rounds here.

So

just like this and I feel this super intensely through my mid-back as well as into my shoulders.

So we're going to do about 10 rounds together.

I'll talk through the first few and then we're just going to, I'm just going to let you practice it in silence.

So go ahead, keep your lower back flat to the floor. Push the back of your palms into the ground.

Inhale, balloon up your lower belly. Exhale, press the rib cage down.

Try to keep your belly button up. Inhale, lift your belly button up.

Balloon through your stomach. Exhale, press the upper back down. Really contract through the rib cage.

Keep going. Inhale, inflate your stomach with the breath.

Exhale, press rib cage down. Keep going here.

push down take about three more

Inhale into your stomach. Exhale, press the ribs down.

And release. Open up your arms into a little cactus shape. Hopefully you guys felt this one.

And let's come into a twist. You can move your hips over to the right just a few inches.

and then drop both knees over to the left. Emphasize pressing your right shoulder blade down to the mat and reaching your right shoulder and your right hip away from one another.

You can use your left hand to help guide your thigh down.

And almost as if you were doing that same breathing pattern,

keep inhale deep into your belly and as you exhale, see if you can bring those ribs in and down.

This will help you access the twist and to really feel it through your mid-back, upper back and into your right shoulder.