Sunrise Yin Yoga

Sunrise Yin Yoga is a total body Yin Yoga practice from Aprille Walker/Yoga Ranger. I needed a total body practice this morning. Yesterday I “ran” a 5K for breast cancer and my feet were (still are) in crippling pain. (background–I have 2 plates and 12 screws in each heel, so being on my feet for hours or the pounding from running always has consequences) (“ran” has quotation marks because we ran it in run/walk intervals–not straight running) I needed something that would not only take care of my chronic pain (shoulders) but my new pain (feet and ankles). This practice hit everything. However it wasn’t always comfortable! Holding some of these poses for several minutes was uncomfortable for me. The one that really surprised me was baby dragon (#7 below). I’ve done a full dragon many times and it usually feels so good–however, I never hold it for 2 solid minutes. I really didn’t expect an easier version of dragon to be so uncomfortable. And it wasn’t at first, but after the first minute, I was ready for the pose to be over! Still, I held everything the full amount of time, even when my dog, Ginger, decided she needed to closely inspect and then lick my face while I was in corpse pose.

Sunrise Yin Yoga is 26 minutes. Equipment: mat and a bolster

1. Toe flip (kneel on knees and toes with glutes on heels) for 1 minute
2. On all 4s, tap toes (transitional pose)
3. Wide knee child’s pose with elbows bent, hands in prayer with thumbs against back of neck for 1:30 minutes (this is the pose Aprille is doing in the featured picture)
4. Cat/cow (transitional poses)
5. Melting heart pose for 2 minutes
6. Child’s pose with forehead resting on crossed hands (transitional pose)
7. Baby dragon pose w/ back knee on a bolster (she calls it high dragon) for 2 minutes
8. Downward facing dog while pedaling feet (transitional pose)
9. Repeat #7 on other leg for 2 minutes
10. Repeat #8
11. Saddle pose leaning elbows back on bolster for 2:30 minutes
12. Extend legs out straight and wiggle feet back and forth (transitional pose)
13. Sit with legs extended straight in front of you, palms on floor behind you with arms wide, arch spine and tilt head back (transitional pose)
14. Twisted roots for 3 minutes
15. Lay on back, knees bent and together and feet wide on floor with hands on belly (transitional pose)
16. Repeat #14 on other side for 3 minutes
17. Repeat #15
18. Corpse pose for 2 minutes
19. Bring knees into chest with hands on knees and rock hips
20. Sit cross-leg with forearms/wrists resting on knees and eyes closed; deep breath and hands to heart

For more info on Yoga Ranger and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.