Yin Yoga · Stress · Nervous-system · Flexibility
Props doing the work, and a strap for the last one
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This is the one for an evening when you want a proper deep stretch and have no intention of working for it. Katie says as much at the start: it’s for the times you don’t want to put much effort into your practice.
Reclined Butterfly for five minutes, head on the bolster, feet as far from the pelvis as feels right.
Saddle for five — feet either side of the hips rather than under them, leaning back onto the bolster if you’re invited to, half saddle if not.
Half Butterfly for five minutes each side with your forehead resting on blocks, which is what makes five minutes possible.
Supported Bridge for five, blocks under the tailbone, walking the feet away for more.
Knees hugged in for five, becoming Happy Baby for the last two if you like.
Supported Fish for three, a block behind the shoulder blades and another under the head if the crown reaching the floor is too much.
Then the strap comes out: a two-minute hamstring hold with the leg straight up, then the leg carried across into Cat Pulling its Tail for three. Both sides.
Five minutes in Corpse.
The line she keeps returning to, and it’s a good one: no catastrophe will unfold if you don’t think about that for the next hour.
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Two blocks and a strap. The strap can be a belt, a dressing gown cord, anything of that kind. A bolster is used throughout but is genuinely optional — a pillow or a sofa cushion stands in, and Katie shows the version without it.
Behind you, to lean back onto — and Katie notes she's one of the people who prefers to sit straight on the mat rather than up on a block for this one. Sit with the feet either side of the hips rather than on them, prop the hips higher if the knees object, and take half saddle if the full version is too much.
For the last pose. It loops round the foot so you can hold a straight leg up for a two-minute hamstring stretch without hauling on it, then you take the strap into the opposite hand and carry the leg across into the twist. It makes the whole thing accessible without any flexibility to start from.
A reclined twist with the bottom knee bent and that foot caught in the opposite hand, so it reaches the quad and the front of the hip as well as the spine. Both shoulders stay on the mat. Katie's advice is not to worry about how straight the top leg is.
Closer to eight or nine, depending on how you count the hug and Happy Baby. The spirit of the title holds though — the holds are long, mostly five minutes, so there are few shapes and a lot of staying.
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