Yin

Cradle Baby

Cues:
  • Sit in a comfortable position that will allow you to lengthen your spine from tailbone to the crown of the head
  • Extend both legs out in front of you
  • On an inhale externally rotate your left hip allowing the left knee to come away from you
  • Hold onto your left foot with your right hand and lift the foot off of the ground bringing it in towards the midline of the body
  • You may have the ROM to place your left foot on the inside of the right elbow and wrap your left elbow around your left knee cradling your leg like a baby

banana

Cues:
  • Begin by lying flat on your back
  • Shift your hips over to the right side a few inches
  • Bring your arms up over head on the ground
  • Start to walk your legs over to the left keeping your hips where they are
  • Then start to walk your arms and upper over to the left keeping your hips where they are
  • Come into the shape of a crescent moon or banana stretching through the right side of the body

butterfly

Cues:
  • Sit in a comfortable position that can allow you to lengthen your spine from tailbone to the crown of the head
  • On an inhale place the soles of your feet together allowing the knees to come out wide feeling at stretch through the inner thighs
  • On exhale keeping the spine and leading with your chest begin to fold forward at the hips
  • Once you come to a sticking point you can allow the back to round and allow the head to hang​
  • If you move deeper into the stretch ensure the movement comes from the hips

Half Happy baby
Cues:
  • Begin by lying flat on your back
  • On an inhale bring your knees into your chest 
  • Hold on to the shin of the right leg
  • On an exhale extend the left leg out long
  • On an inhale bring your right arm on the inside of the right leg
  • Keeping the right arm on the inside of the right leg hold on to the outside of the right foot bring your right knee towards the outside of the body and in towards the chest
  • On an inhale extend your left arm out wide like an airplane wing

happy baby
Cues:
  • Begin by lying flat on your back
  • Inhale bring both knees into your chest 
  • Keeping the tailbone on the ground bring the knees out wide with the soles of the feet facing the sky
  • Reaching with arms on the inside of the legs hold onto the shins, ankles or outer edge of each foot 

child's pose
Cues:
  • Come onto your knees with the top of the feet on the ground
  • Bring the big toes together and the knees out wide
  • On an exhale fold forward at the hips bringing the forehead down onto the ground while stretching the arms out in front of you
  • On an inhale walk your fingers out in front of you extending your arms until you feel a stretch in both sides of your back 
  • Once you have reached your make ROM press your finger tips down into the ground and feel as if you are pulling the mat back towards your armpits engaging the musculature surrounding the shoulder blades
  • If it is uncomfortable for you to have your knees wide you can bring the knees together

cow Face arms
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale bring your arms up over head
  • On an exhale bend your left elbow placing your hand on your spine
  • On an inhale bring your right hand back behind you along your spine with the palm facing away from you 
  • Bring your hands towards each other with the full expression of the pose being where you can interlace your fingers
  • Ensure that:
    • Your spine is long 
    • You are subtly engaging the core
    • You are pressing your head back into the left arm lengthening the neck

Dragon fly

Cues:
  • Sit in a comfortable position that will allow you to lengthen your spine from tailbone to the crown of the head
  • Extend both legs out in front of you
  • Keeping a long spine start bring your legs out as wide as your ROM allows keeping the knees soft
  • Curl the toes of both feet back towards the shins
  • On an inhale feel your spine lengthen from your tailbone to the crown of your head
  • On an exhale leading with your chest begin to bend forward at your hips bringing your upper body down towards the middle of your legs
  • You can place your hands on your legs or you can bring your arms in front of you on the ground
  • Once you come to a sticking point you can allow the back to round and allow the head to hang​
  • To move deeper into the stretch ensure that you are folding forward from the hips

half dragon fly

Cues:
  • Sit in a comfortable position that will allow you to lengthen your spine from tailbone to the crown of the head
  • Extend both legs out in front of you
  • Keeping a long spine and your chest pointed straight foward bring your left leg out wide and curl the toes of the left foot back towards the shin
  • Bend your left knee and bring the sole of the left foot to the inside of the right leg
  • Curl the toes of both feet back towards the shins
  • On an inhale feel your spine lengthen from your tailbone to the crown of your head
  • On an exhale leading with your chest fold forward at your hips with your upper body coming straight over your left shin
  • You can place your hands on your legs or you can bring your arms in front of you on the ground
  • Once you come to a sticking point you can allow the back to round and allow the head to hang​
  • To move deeper into the stretch ensure that you are folding forward from the hips​

dragon
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from a runner's lunge
  • Ensure that your:
    • Foot is pointed straight foward
    • Knee directly in line with the ankle and that you can see your toes in front of your knee
    • Hips are square
  • Place your back knee down onto the mat keeping the back toes tucked under
  • On an inhale heel toe your front foot to the outside edge of the mat placing both hands on the inside of the lead leg
  • On an exhale shift your front knee forward or bring your back knee back until you feel an intense stretch in the hip flexors of the back leg
  • To deepen this stretch you can also bring the forearms onto a block or onto the ground

upright dragon
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from a low runner's lunge
  • On an exhale shift your front knee until it is about an inch in front of the toes
  • On an inhale bring your left knee back enough that you feel a stretch in the hip flexors of the back leg
  • On your next inhale bring your upper body up to an errect position and place your hands on your thigh
  • On an exhale press the heels of your hands down and forward on your thigh so that you feel a stronger stretch in your hip flexors
  • Ensure that your upper body is as it would be in mountain allowing the shoulders drop back and down while keeping the neck long

Dragon with Hip Opener
Cues:
  • Come into a low lunge position
  • For more padding under your back knee you can use a small foam block or fold the side of your mat in
  • Inhale bring your lead foot to the outside of the mat placing your hands on the inside of the foot
  • Feel the front hip come back and the back hip pull forward so that the hips come into a more neutral position
  • On an exhale start to bring the knee of the lead leg forward towards the toes
  • On an inhale turn the lead foot to a 45 degree angle pointing the toes to the top corner of the mat
  • Exhale and allow the lead knee drop out to the side externally rotating the hip

seated forward fold
Cues:
  • Come to a comfortable seat where the spine is long and the hips are in a neutral position
  • Bring both legs out in front of you extending them towards straight curling the toes towards the shins 
  • On an inhale feel the spine lengthen
  • On an exhale leading with the chest while keeping a long spine fold forward at your hips
  • Once you hit a sticking point in your ROM you can then allow the spine to round and the head to hang while placing the hands onto your legs or feet

seated forward strap
Cues:
  • Come to a comfortable seat where the spine is long and the hips are in a neutral position
  • Place the strap around the balls of the feet
  • Bring both legs out in front of you extending them towards straight curling the toes towards the shins 
  • On an inhale feel the spine lengthen
  • On an exhale leading with the chest while keeping a long spine fold forward at your hips
  • Use the strap as leverage of the strap to bring the upper body towards the thighs

single legged seated forward fold
Cues:
  • Come to a comfortable seat where the spine is long and the hips are in a neutral position
  • Bring your left leg towards straight and your right foot to the inside of the left thigh
  • Turn your upper body towards the extended leg
  • On an inhale feel the spine lengthen
  • On an exhale leading with the chest while keeping a long spine fold forward at your hips
  • Once you hit a sticking point in your ROM you can then allow the spine to round and the head to hang while placing the hands onto your legs or feet

eagle arms
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale bring your arms up over head
  • On an exhale bring your right arm under your left
  • Start to bring the forearms towards each other with the full expression of the pose crossing being where your forearms are together and the right wrist crosses over the left and you can press your palms together
  • Keep the traps relaxed
  • You want to feel a stretch on the outside of the left shoulder and feel the space between the shoulder blades widden

easy pose

Cues:
  • Come to a comfortable seat
  • Find a set where you can lengthen your spine from tailbone to the crown of the head
  • You may need to elevate your hips to allow you to straighten your spine
  • Sit in a crossed legged bending each leg with one shin in front of the other

figure four
Cues:
  • Begin by lying flat on your back
  • Bring the soles of your feet flat on the floor hip distance apart
  • Have your knees pointing towards the cieling and hip distance apart
  • On an inhale bring your left ankle onto your right thigh allowing your left knee to come away from you and externally rotating the left hip
  • On your next inhale if you have the ROM you can start to bring your right knee in towards you chest and hold onto the back of the leg or the front of the shin​
  • You should feel a stretch in the outside of the left hip and in the glutes
  • There are two ways to feel more intensity in this streatch
  1. Move the right knee closer to the chest
  2. Move the left knee away from the chest

figure four twist
Cues:
  • Begin by lying flat on your back
  • Bring the soles of your feet flat on the floor hip distance apart
  • Have your knees pointing towards the cieling and hip distance apart
  • On an inhale bring your left ankle onto your right thigh allowing your left knee to come away from you and externally rotating the left hip
  • On the next inhale bring the arms out wide like airplane wings with your palms down
  • On an exhale drop your right knee and left foot to the right side keeping the hip externally rotating so that your left knee will pointed towards the cieling
  • To intensify the stretch in your left hip bring the right knee closer to the right armpit

frog
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Bring the knees out wide as wide as you can
  • You should have close to a 90° angle in your knee joint
  • Curl your toes towards your shins and have the outside edges of your feet point down towards the ground
  • Come down onto your forearms
  • To increase the intensity of the stretch you can:
    • Press your seat back towards your heels
    • Bring your knees out wider
  • To lessen the intesity of the stretch you can shift the body forward bringing the seat away from the heels

half frog
Cues:
  • Start by lying flat on your stomach placing your forearms in front of you and lift your chest a few inches off the ground
  • On an inhale keeping your left leg on the ground start to slided your left knee forward towards your left armpit keeping your hips in the same position as your knee moves foward
  • Engage your foot curling your toes towards your shins and allow the inner part of your foot come close to the floor
  • Keep the right leg extended behind you​

neck stretches
Cues:
  • Inhale and bring our arms up overhead
  • Exhale and interlace your fingers bringing your hands behind your head
  • Press your hands into your head and your head into your hands until you feel your neck lengthen
  • Keeping your core strong and your spine in a neutral position inhale and bring your elbows back stretching through the chest and shoulders
  • Exhale drop you chin towards your chest and bring your elbows towards each other stretching the backside of the neck

square

Cues:
  • Begin in easy pose
  • Start by have both shins on the ground with the right leg in front of the left
  • If you still have more mobility you can bring your right shin on top of the left with the right foot at the left knee
  • An alternative is to bring the left leg out long and place your right foot on your left thigh right above the knee

pigeon
Cues:
  • Your front leg should out towards a 90 degree angle at the knee, with the outside of your shin placed on the ground and the hip externally rotated
  • Ensure that the toes of the front leg are curled towards your shin 
  • Fully extend the opposite leg behind you straight from your hip joint
  • Depending on the length of the hold the toes of the back leg may be tucked or untucked
  • If you are open enough to you can start to bend forward at the hips bringing the upper body close to your front shin possibly coming onto your forearms or resting your head on the ground
  • If this pose creates pain in the knee of the lead leg an option is to come into figure four pose
  • You can also place a bolster under hip of the front leg

sphinx
Cues
  • Come flat onto your stomach
  • Place your elbows directly under your shoulders with your forearms pointing straight forward with the palms flat on the ground
  • Bring your chest and shoulders off of the ground coming into a gentle back bend
  • Allow the shoulders to relax back and down
  • You can either have your chin up facing forward or you can allow the chin to drop and relax the neck

seal

Cues
  • From sphinx pose
  • Bring your elbows an inch or two in front of the shoulders and turn your forearms to a 45° angle
  • On an exhale press into the ground with the hands and begin to bring the arms towards straight

Lying chest stretch
Cues:
  • Starting flat on your stomach bring your right arm out wide from your shoulder like an airplane wing with your palm down
  • Place your left hand under your left shoulder push into the ground slowly lifting your left side off of the ground and come onto your left side stretching through the chest and shoulder
  • For stability you can also bring you left foot flat on the ground in front of you with your knee pointing towards the ceiling
*Be extremely careful as you do this because the shoulder is in a vulnerable position

half saddle
Cues:
  • Place the top of the bolster at a height that you are comfortable with.
    • You can place a block under the top of the bolster at its lowest height or second highest height
    • You can place the bolster flat on the ground
  • From a seated position bend one knee bringing the foot back towards the hips with the top of the foot on the ground
  • Lie down with your back on the bolster feeling a stretch in your quads
  • Ensure that you knees are as close to even as possible
  • You should feel no knee or back pain. If this happens back off the stretch coming up from the bolster
  • Another option is to do a supported full saddle with both knees bent bringing the foot back towards the hips with the top of the foot on the ground and keeping both knees as even as possible

saddle

thread the needle
​Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Press strongly into your left hand and on an inhale bring your right arm up and out to the side stretching through the chest and shoulder and twisting through the spine
  • On an exhale bring your right arm under your left placing your right cheek or right side of the forehead to the ground
  • An option is to bring the left arm forward as if you were in child's pose stretching through the left side of the back

Cat Pulling its tail
​Cues:
  • Start on your left side
  • Support your head placing it into your left hand
  • Bring your right leg out in front of your towards a 90 degree angle
  • Bend your left knee bringing your left heel towards your seat and hold onto your left foot with your right hand stretching the quads of the left leg
 

Melting Heart

​Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Contine to keep your toes tucked and your hips high
  • On an inhale fold forward at the hips bringing your forward down towards or onto the mat
  • At the same time extend your arms out in front of you slightly wider than shoulder width and have your fingers spread wide with just the finger tips touching the ground and the palms elevated
  • On an exhale push your chest down towards the ground stretching through the chest and shoulders
  • To intensify this stretch reach out further in front of you and increase the width between your arms