If you’re anything like me, the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas is madness. Between the baking, cooking, shopping, wrapping, plus all the daily routine chores that have to get done, and don’t forget the long work days… it can be overwhelming at times. I’m blessed to have amazing family and friends, but I know there are plenty of people who also add relationship stressors to the already huge pile of stress this time of year.
I put together a short list of yin yoga poses and stretches that I hope will help you to nourish your body, mind, and spirit this time of year. These aren’t complex poses or long flows, but rather a mix of simple stretches that you can do with a minute or two in between all of the tasks packed into your schedule. Yin yoga is wonderful for this hectic season, as it encourages us to breathe deeply and hold the poses so that our body can relax and stretch. For each pose, you gently move your body, slowly, to the position. Breathe in a full inhale, filling the lungs, feeling the diaphragm stretch downward, and expanding the whole core. Feel that you have made a space for your body to stretch, then slowly exhale while moving deeper into the pose, stretching into that available space. Don’t crank, yank, force, shove, but rather just move into the stretch as your body allows. Feel the lengthening of those stressed body parts, the relaxation, the release.
PLEASE remember to listen to your body and use common sense. If you have medical issues with your body, don’t do a pose that will aggravate your condition. These are meant to help and relieve, not harm and add additional problems to what’s already on your plate!
For the Back (great for when you’ve been standing in lines at the store, or had an extended day of shopping):
I love a good cat/cow pose. It can be as static as you need, if those back muscles are “seized up”, or more dynamic if you’re just sore from overdoing things and need some mobility. Start in a tabletop position, on your hands and knees. Inhale slowly and deeply, while moving your head upward, slowly moving your eye gaze up to the ceiling. At the same time, move your tailbone upward as well. Feel the lengthening of the entire front body. Don’t think of compressing the back, but rather feel the sensation of lengthening along the front, like making a big smile with the front of your body. Keep your shoulders down away from your ears and lengthen from the crown of the head, down the neck, along the torso, and into the tailbone.
With your slow exhale, move the opposite way, slowly transitioning to a cat pose (like a black Halloween cat with its back arched). Tuck your chin inward toward your chest as you lift the lumbar spine and ribs up toward the ceiling. Again, don’t “scrunch” the belly area together, but rather stretch out between the shoulders, feel the expansion of the whole back, between the ribs, down the spine, like making a rainbow with your back.
For a more dynamic stretch, if you just need to release some stiffness or tension, you can move along all planes of motion, not just up and down. Try to move side to side, like slowly wagging your tail, or diagonally, stretching out your right shoulder across and down to your left hip and reverse. Or move your lower spine in a coil, up, over, across, and down, to mobilize the spine and lower back.
For soreness rather than stiffness, just hold each position for a longer amount of time, so you can feel those muscle fibers lengthening and releasing the tension they’re holding.
I do this stress standing up as well, if I need a quick stretch between client meetings, or if I’ve spent a bunch of time baking, or even if I’m standing in a long line. It’s not as “stretchy” but it’s way better than nothing if I’m in a pinch.
For the Back and Legs (for when you’ve spent extra time on your feet, bustling about, or spent hours making traditional holiday food in the kitchen)
Legs Up the Wall is my all-time favorite yin yoga pose! I can literally feel all that heaviness move out of my feet and legs, and reinvigorate my head.
For this one, sit sideways along a wall. I sit as close as possible, right next to the wall, but the distance from the wall will depend upon your flexibility.
Now turn sideways and lay down, bringing your legs to rest up on the wall. If you’re less “bendy,” you can move further away from the wall, and if you have more flexibility, shimmy closer to the wall. Relax into the pose, creating space as you inhale, and moving into that space to stretch further as you exhale. When you’ve shimmied into a position that is comfortable and also where you can feel a good stretch along the ankles, calves, hamstrings- all along the back of your whole leg is lifting and lengthening- then just melt your torso, shoulders, neck, and head into the floor. Move your shoulders back to expand your chest, and down away from your ears. Lengthen your neck as you expand the crown of your head to stretch out the spine. Rest comfortably in this lengthened position for as long as you like. To come out of it, just slowly move your legs down the wall and turn your body sideways, the reverse of how you started.
For the Neck and Shoulders (for when you’ve spent hours online shopping, or sitting at your desk working overtime)
When we’re at a desk hunched over work, or sitting at a computer, or lounging on the couch with our laptops or phones, we’re compressing the front body and putting a lot of strain on our shoulders and neck. Stretching out the front of our chest and elongating the neck can help release all of that unnatural positioning and tension that arises from it.
We’ll call this one “Chest Opener”; I have no idea what this is really called, but I use it often when I’m at my desk! It really helps undo that traditional “computer posture”.
Stand up, legs comfortably positioned under you, toes forward. Stand up straight to lengthen the spine. Pull the crown of your head toward the ceiling as your heels root to earth. Inhale to feel the expansion all around your torso, breathing into all areas of the chest, belly, back as you feel the length along your spine. Pull your shoulders back and down to feel the expansion across your chest as your shoulders move back, as well as along your neck as the shoulders move down away from the ears.
If you’re tighter and less flexible, grab a towel a strap, a belt, or anything sturdy, long, and thin enough to grasp in your hands. As you expand your chest and lengthen the spine, move your hands along the object, closer to each other, until you feel a good stretch across the front of your shoulders, then hold. Remember to keep that chin up in a neutral position (if you’re tight, that neck just moves downward until your chin is tucked).
If you have more flexibility, you can clasp your hands behind you and try to get your palms to touch while you expand your chest forward, your shoulders back and down. Pull your clasped hands down, down, down, to feel the chest expand upward and the front of the shoulders stretch.
If comfortable, you can try to tip your chin up and you GENTLY bring your eye gaze upward to stretch and lengthen along the front of the neck as well. BE CAREFUL as this can be very straining on the neck and shoulders if you are too forceful. You’re not cranking your head backward all the way, just tipping the chin up and head back a small bit to expand the stretch.
Another shoulder and neck stretch (great for releasing emotions and stress that are held in the neck and shoulders, also great for when you’re sore from rolling or pressing/ pounding dough, or if you’ve hung a lot of ornaments and lights high up on your tree): This is a simple stretch that’s easy to do in a short break time. I tend to carry my emotional stress in the muscles along the back of my neck and shoulders, so I do this one often each and every day.
Sit or stand up straight. Lengthen the spine by bringing the crown of the head toward the ceiling while reaching the tailbone downward. Bring your head to a neutral position, eye gaze directly in front of you, chin neither up nor down. Slowly extend the crown of your head up, then along the ceiling to the left wall. This is not trying to touch your left ear to your shoulder, as it looks, but rather think of drawing an arc with the crown of you head so you keep that length and extension instead of “squinching” your neck. At the same time, roll your shoulders back and down. Extend your right arm straight and feel it pulling downward, as though pulling your straight arm out of the shoulder socket. You should feel an amazing stretch all along the neck and shoulder of your right side. Use your breath to expand on an inhale then deepen the stretch on your exhale.
If you need a deeper stretch, you can CAREFULLY take your left hand up and over to the right side of your head and GENTLY press down, further lengthening the stretch. Repeat on the other side, moving your head up and over to the right while your left arm reaches downward.
You can play with the angles on this stretch to achieve your greatest release. Get into the traditional position, then slowly and gently move your head, looking more downward, more upward, more left or right. You should feel the stretch move to different places along your neck and top of your shoulders- when you find that “aah” point, stay there for a few breaths and feel that tension release. For me, I get the most from this stretch by looking to the left and keeping my chin almost into my left armpit. But when I stretch to the right, it feels best for me to look upward to where my chin is angled toward my left shoulder. On days when I’m aggravated by a difficult person, I find the most relief while looking upward with my chin toward the crown molding of my office. Your positions will be your own, so play with the movement and find what works for you.
There are some additional poses in my “heart opening” post, linked HERE.
If you’re looking for additional poses, or want to know what will work best for you as an individual, or if you need some live demonstration or someone to help you stretch, I can help!! Reach out at any time HERE. I’d love to help you in your journey!
Blessings,
Melanie
