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Yin Routine · All Levels

Rest-Day Recovery

26 supported minutes on the day you don't run

26 min · 6 poses · bolster or rolled blanket, a wall

Recovery is the half of training most runners skip, and it's the half where the running actually lands. Nothing here asks much of you. You start lying back over a bolster with the knees wide, and almost all of it happens on your back: a twist, a long stretch down the side, the glutes, then the front of the thighs in Saddle, and five minutes with the legs up the wall to finish. Plan a nap afterwards if you can.

Before you press play

The 15-Minute Post-Run Reset

A filmed class with Katie: follow-along video, hold timer and written cues. Free, yours to keep.

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Press play and follow along — each hold is timed, with a gentle chime and fifteen seconds to move into the next pose. Use Skip or Prev to move at your own pace.

On Strava? Finish this routine and press Log to Strava to post it to your feed: the poses, the holds, and the body map. First, connect your Strava from your account page. It takes one tap, once.

Where it works

Front and back body map with the muscles this routine works picked out: the chest, shoulders, hip flexors, quads, inner thighs, side body, glutes, lower back and the backs of the legs
Front and back. In rose: the chest, shoulders, hip flexors, quads, inner thighs, side body, glutes, lower back and the backs of the legs.
Save this body map

What's in this routine

  1. Supported Fish with Butterfly Legs Bolster along the spine, soles together, knees wide with a cushion under each. Open what a week of running and sitting closed.
    4 min
  2. Reclined Twist Knees to one side, gaze the other way. Shoulders heavy. Slow.
    2 min each side
  3. Banana Hips stay put, feet and shoulders walk to one side. The whole side body and the outer hip.
    2 min each side
  4. Reclined Swan Ankle over the opposite thigh, a figure four. The glutes and outer hip, with the back on the floor.
    2 min each side
  5. Saddle Sit between the heels and lean back onto the bolster. Stay upright if the knees say so. The front of the thighs.
    3 min
  6. Legs Up the Wall Hips close to the wall, legs up, arms soft. Five minutes. Let the legs empty out.
    5 min

Common questions

Should runners do yoga on rest days?

Yes, if it's this kind. A rest day is for recovery, and slow, supported Yin gives the tissue and the nervous system exactly that, without adding any training load. Save the moving, flowing kind for another day.

Will this help with sore legs?

It will help the day feel more livable. Legs up the wall gets the blood moving, the twist and the side stretch unclench the bracing that soreness creates, and the long holds settle you. It won't erase the soreness, and nothing does.

What do I need for this routine?

A bit of wall, and something to lie back over for Supported Fish and Saddle. A bolster is lovely, a rolled blanket or a couple of folded towels does the same job. A cushion under each knee in the first pose is worth finding.

Saddle hurts my knees. What do I do?

Stay upright, sitting between the heels, or sit up on a block so there's less bend in the knee. If even that is too much, skip it and lie back over the bolster with the legs long instead. Saddle should live in the front of the thighs, never the knee.

Can I do this the night before a race?

The wall, yes, any time. Keep Saddle, the twist and the side stretch gentle in race week, and stay well away from your end range. Calm is the goal that night, not depth.

For your next run

The 15-Minute Post-Run Reset

✦ A filmed class with Katie — free for you

This page is a routine with a timer. The Post-Run Reset is the full thing: a properly filmed 15-minute class you follow along with me, with the hold timer and written cues underneath. Pop your email in and I'll send it, yours to keep.

No spam, ever. Unsubscribe any time. I'll only send Yin.

More routines

After the Run 19 min · A 19-minute Yin routine for straight after a run: Dangling, Dragon, Swan and five minutes with the legs up the wall. Bedtime Wind-Down 22 min · A gentle 22-minute bedtime Yin routine — soft, supported shapes to downshift the nervous system and melt toward sleep, with a built-in hold timer. Deep Legs & Hamstrings 22 min · A 22-minute Yin routine for tight legs, hamstrings, calves and feet — deep forward folds and foot stretches held slowly, with a built-in hold timer.