WORDS BY KELSEY BAERG

CHECK OUT KELSEAERINYOGA.COM

Looking for a transformative Yin Yoga practice in the comfort of your own home? Check out this sequence by Kelsey Baerg. She offers Yin Yoga classes every Monday night at Shanti Yoga.

“This weekend, I began to write my class plans for the upcoming week, designing sequences for welcoming spring.  As I was writing, I looked out the window at the snow that was falling, and it struck me that I was on auto-pilot, programmed to believe a change in season was occurring simply due to the date on a calendar.  Was I really this out of touch with the natural world?  I put my notebooks away and decided to take a walk.

While walking, the cold air biting at my ears, I began to reflect on what this long, drawn-out winter was trying to tell us.  In Chinese Medicine, winter represents the most Yin time of year.  Yin is the cold, slow, inward energy in comparison to Yang, which is light, fast, outward, and hot.  The Yin organ associated with winter is the kidney.  Our kidneys are vitally important organs, storing our body's most fundamental energy, our qi, and directing it to places in the body that are running low.  Kidneys require rest to be revitalized and conserve this important energy.  Winter is the time for us to slow down, to turn inward, and to partake in activities which enrich Yin, temper Yang, and allow the kidneys time to replenish.

In the Canadian Kootenays, it can be difficult to take the rest that our bodies require during wintertime.  The endless opportunities for mountain adventures, apres-ski beers, and other Yang-inducing activities can be all too appealing.  So instead of bemoaning this long winter, let's look at it as an opportunity to detach from the excitement of the ski hill and take the time to truly slow down and turn inward. 

With that in mind, here is a Yin sequence designed to clear out blockages along the kidney meridian line and give yourself the time to rest and replenish those kidneys properly.”

Yin Sequence for the Winter

1.  Seated Meditation  

Prop yourself up on a pillow, or a folded blanket, and find a comfortable cross-legged position.  Bring your hands palms down on your lap.  Close your eyes.  Begin to follow your breath as it travels in and out of your body.  Each time you exhale, feel the energy traveling downwards, as your body becomes heavier.  Stay here for at least 10 breaths to prepare for your practice.

2.  Half Happy Baby

Remove your mat of any props.  Lie down on your back.  Bend your legs and plant the soles of your feet beneath your knees.  Check in to make sure that your sacrum (the flat bone at the end of your spine) is pressing into the mat until you feel a slight lift to your low back.  Hug your right knee into your chest and then draw the knee towards the right armpit.  Take your hands to the back of your thigh and extend the sole of the foot to the ceiling, stacking the heel directly above the knee.  Hands stay on the back of the thigh, or your right hand can reach up for your ankle or your foot.  Left leg can stay bent, or can extend out, pressing firmly out through the heel.  Stay here for 15 deep breaths and then repeat on the second side.  Once finished, lie in Savasana for 1 minute to allow the tissue to rebound.

3.  Butterfly (with acupressure)

Find a seat.  Before moving into this shape, take a moment to point your toes and find the spot that depresses to the medial edge of the ball of your big toe.  This point is called Kidney 1.  It is commonly referred to as the "Yin point" and it helps to ground and to add this slow, inward Yin energy to the body.  Remember that spot. 

Now, slide the pillow or the folded blanket beneath your sitting bones again and draw the soles of your feet together.  Allow the knees to drop open to either side.  Lengthen your spine, lifting the crown of the head up towards the ceiling.  Take your hands to your feet and use your thumbs to begin gently massaging Kidney 1.  Do this for 20 deep breaths.  Once finished, lie down in Savasana for 1 minute to allow the tissue to rebound.

4.  Wide Leg Forward Fold

Returning to a seat.  This time turn laterally on your mat and sit up on your pillow or folded blanket.  Take your legs out to the sides.  For most of us, just sitting with the legs separated allows for a deep stretch across the inner hips where the kidney meridian runs.  If you feel you are rounding the low back, or struggling to sit up tall, take your fingertips behind you and push down to lengthen the spine.  Close your eyes and take 10 deep breaths.  See if you can draw your belly towards your spine to restrict the flow of air into the front body and push it into the low back to stimulate the kidneys.  If after 10 breaths you want to deepen, feel free to fold forwards, but keep the spine long!  Stay for another 10 deep breaths.  Slowly come out of the posture and transition into child’s pose with the knees mat width and big toes connected. Rest here 30 seconds > 1 minute.

6.  Toe Squat

Come onto all fours.  Then bring your knees and feet together.  Curl your toes under and walk your hands back until you are sitting on your heels.  This posture is a beautiful way to open the fascia of the feet, all while stimulating the Kidney meridian, which begins it's journey in the feet.  Close your eyes.  Stay here for 15 deep breaths.  This feeling is intense!  Once you are finished, come forward to all fours and lightly tap the tops of your feet on the floor to release the energy.  Lie down and rest in Savasana for 1 minute.

7.  Supported Bridge

Bend your knees, place the soles of your feet beneath your knees at hip width.  Push into the feet, and place a blue foam block beneath your sacrum.  Arms relax by the sides of the waist.  Allow everything else to soften.  Stay here for as long as you need, working with a deep, full body breath.  When you're ready to come out, push into the feet, lift the hips to move the block and relax into Savasana.    

8.  Savasana

Lie on your back.  Let your feet flop out to either side, let your arms relax beside you.  Let your thoughts quiet.  Relax your heart, everything is okay!

I personally love to practice Yin to music.  Check out my 30 minute playlist Winter Yin to accompany this practice.  https://open.spotify.com/user/kelseabaerg/playlist/7xQpeL0AuAiHEWuQTSFjvt

Words by Kelsey Baerg

Check out kelseaerinyoga.com

People are flocking in the thousands to Yoga studios, to meditation classes, to float tanks, all with the purpose of getting out of our heads. But how many of us have had the experience of sitting in one of these environments and still feeling trapped in the mind?

Maybe this is because we are simply unsure where else we can go if we are not in our minds.  How are we supposed to get somewhere if we do not know where we are going?

Luckily, we have been left a clear road map in the Upanishads to help us understand our journey to this abstract destination.  It’s called the Pancha Kosha Theory, the theory of five sheaths. Human beings are conceptualized as having five sheaths encasing the soul, not unlike the layers of an onion.  Included within these five layers of our embodied self is the monkey mind, where our society seems to be stuck.  Although the other four layers are active at all times, most of us are unable to consciously access them. So perhaps the trick to getting out of the mind is to get into something else. Let’s begin with a quick explanation of each of the five sheaths.

1.      Annamaya Kosha – Physical

Annamaya Kosha is the outermost sheath, the physical body.  It includes our bones, tissues, muscles, and organs.  Anna translates literally to food.  This can be considered the food sheath, because not only does it require food to be sustained, but also when we die, this vessel becomes food for other animals.

2.      Pranamaya Kosha – Energetic

This sheath consists of the Prana, the vital life energy that exists within and around us.  Within the body, Prana is not only the breath, but also the energy that controls multiple functions, including the circulatory system and nervous system. 

3.      Manamaya Kosha – Mental

This is it – the monkey mind, this place that most of us call home, where thinking, daydreaming, and processing takes place.  It is through this sheath that we perceive the world through the five senses and infer meaning.  It is also within this sheath that we perceive the concept of ‘I’ and ‘mine.’  This is apparent everywhere in our society; the endless documentation of ‘my story’ in social media, the constant pursuit of material things to satisfy ‘myself’, the worry that others may not like ‘me.’ 

4.     Vijnamaya Kosha – Wisdom

You can think of Vijnamaya Kosha as intuition, inner knowing.  It is considered to be these higher levels of consciousness that govern our ethics and morality.

5.     Anandamaya Kosha – Bliss

Yes, at the end of it all, Instagram hashtags aside, we are bliss.  Bliss, is the highest level of vibration of life, and it is the destination point of all these spiritual endeavours.  It is the moment where we unite with the divine spark that exists within all of us.  Where we no longer separate ourselves from the rest of creation. 

To get out of the mind, the easiest way to begin is to connect to the first two sheaths; Annamaya Kosha and Pranamaya Kosha. 

The next time you feel your mind taking over while you are in the middle of your Yoga practice, try to focus your attention on your body.  If you are new to this practice, start by noticing which parts of your body are working the hardest.  For example, feel the quadriceps firing as you hold Warrior II, or notice the heat building in your hamstring as you fold forward in Pyramid. As you gain familiarity with this, see if you can go a bit deeper.  For example, in Warrior II move past the feeling in the glutes and see if you can notice the inner hip muscles in the back leg opening.  In Pyramid, notice what happens to your stretch as you tilt your pelvis forward, lifting your sitting bones up towards the ceiling.If the mind continues to wander, see if you can find an anchor point on your breath.  The breath is the most obvious way to connect with that flow of Prana in and out of your body.  As a beginner, simply observe the movement of air within the body.  Feel the belly, ribs, and chest expand on the inhales and contract on the exhales.  Then, perhaps moving deeper, try to feel this energy moving from the upper body out to the fingertips and the toes.Over time, as we become conscious of the first two sheaths, the mind slowly begins to quiet.  When the mind begins to quiet, Vinjamaya Kosha, wisdom, can be heard.  Have you ever felt like you were releasing some of the expectations you place on yourself in a deep forward fold?  Or maybe you realized some way in which you close yourself off from the world during an invigorating backbend?  This is your Vinjamaya Kosha speaking. The more we take the time to syncopate our body, breath, and mind, the more opportunity we have for wisdom to shine through.  As this wisdom begins to shape our lives through our decisions, our communication patterns, our relationships, etc., we get one step closer to seeing the fifth sheath, the bliss sheath, even if it’s just a glimpse.