Latest / Master Your Yoga Teaching with MaKenzie Fly / 45 Minute Morning Yin Yoga w/ MaKenzie Fly
Transcript
- MaKenzie Fly: What's up, everybody, and welcome back to MYYT, where you are learning to level up your yoga teaching one masterful class at a time. If you're listening in real time, we're already halfway through September, which is wild. And I love September. September is my favorite month, probably because there's two birthdays in my family, and we just finished celebrating them. Last week we celebrated Colin, my husband's birthday. On the 17th, and then the very next day on the 18th, it was my second son, Jacob Bennett. We call him JB Baby. He just turned one. And so we had an amazing time celebrating those two boys. In fact, my family came in town. They flew from Oklahoma, my mom, my dad, and my 80-something year old granny, along with my fancy fancy Aunt Nancy. And we just had the best time celebrating, hanging out, spending time. And so that's what I have been doing in September. And then I'm also really looking forward to the end of September because September 29th is our ninth wedding anniversary, me and my husband. So I just love this month. It is my favorite month. And then I also love the fall. Officially, I think I learned this this year. I didn't know this, but the first day of fall is it's September 21st or 22nd. One of these one of these days kicks off fall, and we are moving into Q4, which As a business owner is just the most fun time of the year. And, you know, there's Halloween, there's Thanksgiving, there's Christmas. My birthday is in December too. So I am just in the energy of excitement and expectation and really just loving, loving life and loving work. I hope you are too. And speaking of work, something that I really didn't make a big deal in my business was restarting and relaunching my. YouTube channel. And I think I said in one of the episodes that I didn't want to make a big hoopla about it because I honestly wasn't sure if I wanted to be committed to it and stick with it. But I'm so proud of myself. I've actually published a yoga practice on YouTube for 12 weeks in a row. And I think I can officially say that I like it and I'm gonna keep doing it. So that is what I'm sharing with you. Here today, it is a yin yoga practice that's streamed on my YouTube. So you can keep listening to it here. Or if you are a person who really loves to practice with a model and a demonstration, go ahead and check out the link in the show notes to be directed there. It's a yummy, yummy yin practice. I know you're gonna love it. So turn it up and let's dive in. What's up everybody and welcome back to Theme Weaver, the virtual yoga studio here on YouTube for both yoga practitioners as well as yoga teachers who really appreciate when meaningful messages are woven into the asana so that philosophy and postures aren't so separate, but a little more seamless. Today I have a 45-minute yin yoga practice for you, although I titled it Morning, you could absolutely do this at any time. Sequentially, we've got some spinal rotation, some hip opening, some quadricep stretching, hamstring lengthening. So you'll really feel nice and free and liberated at whatever time you decide to do this. And then thematically, the theme in the message is all around self-acceptance. So I tell a really sweet story that might help transmute the way you perceive your flaws. So with that being said, we'll hold each and every posture about two to three minutes. And if you want, you could grab a bolster or a blanket. Sometimes I get a little chilly with yin as it is a little more passive, but we'll just dig right into it. I'll meet you lying flat on your belly. Make your way down to your tummy and then just settle into a reclined version of shavasana. It might feel nice to make a pillow for your face. Your cheek or your chin by bringing your hands together. Take about a minute here just to lay still and be quiet. Set up open wing stretch. Lengthen the arms out to the side, kind of like a T. And then lift the left leg up just enough. Bend your left knee and then roll into your right shoulder so that you feel your spine twist. And then your right chest open. You can either leave your left hand down on the ground with your arm straight or bend your left elbow so you can lightly push and exaggerate the twist. Some people even like to wrap the left arm around your back. There's this story of a woman who walks to a well every day with two pots. One of the pots is perfect and the other pot is cracked. So that by the time the woman gets back to her home, half of the water in the cracked pot has leaked out. Cracked Pot feels so ashamed. It says to the woman, I'm so sorry I'm letting you down. And the woman smiles and tells the cracked pot, Tomorrow on the way to the well, I want you to look down at your side of the path. Nice and easy. Use your left hand to help you roll back down to your belly, almost like a belly flop. Settle there. Take a second. And then in slow motion, change sides, lift your right leg up, bend your right knee and roll into your left shoulder. And use your right hand as leverage to push down and twist and turn a little more. As long as you feel a spiral in your back and an opening through your left pectoral muscle, you're on the right track. And so the cracked pot the next day looks down and notices this row of beautiful flowers. And the woman says, I knew about your crack. And so I planted these seeds. Because of you, you've been watering the seeds every day without even knowing. And I have these beautiful flowers to bring home. very thing that the cracked pot thought made it less valuable brought about so much beauty. Nice and easy. Use your right hand to catch yourself as you return to lying flat on your belly and pause there in the center. Place your palms directly under your shoulders and push up to your hands and knees and sink your hips back towards your heels for balasana child's pose. No particular breath. Transition to your hands and knees to set up your next in yoga position. Swan. It looks a lot like pigeon pose. Glide your right knee forward to meet your right wrist. And then bump out your left shin and left foot more to the long left side of your yoga mat. Glide your left leg back until you sink into your hips as much as possible. Stay up onto your hands so that your chest lifts and your lower back bends. story of the cracked pot is trying to teach you about self-acceptance. The cracked pot felt inferior because it was measuring itself. Standard how much water it was able to bring. If you're measuring by that, it's really easy to feel not enough. If you can, maybe drop down to your elbows and your forearms. If it's a little too much on your hips or your knees or anywhere, it's no big deal. You could keep it up. An easy press into your hands if you drop down to your elbows and forearms to lift your chest up. Rock to the outer edge of your right hip so you can pull your left leg in and connect your left knee to the in step of your right foot for dear posture. Sit on your sitz bones and try to root your left hip down, but don't worry if it flies away from the floor. If it feels like enough of a stretch through the hip, this internal rotation on the left side and external rotation on the right side, you could stay here. Or if you want, you could also twist and turn to the right. Turn your chest and your gaze to the right and even look over the right shoulder to ring through your back. Yeah. twist and then leave your left leg mostly as it is folded to the side and then back. Stretch your right leg out in front of you so we can set up half saddle position. It looks a little bit like half virasana, half hero pose. If you can walk your knees closer together and then think seal the outer edge of your left shin and left foot pinky side of the foot more to make that happen. If that's a little too much compression or bend for your left knee or too much stretching in your left ankle, it might be supportive to slip a bolster or a block or a blanket underneath your hips to raise the hips up and decrease the bend. You could stay here sitting upright, but if you want, you might also drop back to your elbows so that you feel a pull and a tug along the front left side. It's your quadricep and your psoas. You could even lay all the way down. Your yoga practice gives you so many opportunities and it's the perfect place to apply the theme of today's class, self-acceptance. Man, it is so easy to compare yourself to others on the mat. As flexible as them, I'm not as strong as them. Measure your ability against another. You said that you're just being on You said you're taking all the hits. Time Maybe this parable, this story, helps you relate to your flaw differently and invites you to see what flowers are growing because of it. Down into your elbows if you lie back. And use your belly muscles to slowly lift back up. Leave your right leg where it is for the most part. fold the left leg on top of the right, piling your knees together for half shoelegs position from a quadricep stretch in the previous posture now to an outer IT band stretch as well as a hamstring stretch on the right leg if you want to lean forward. Just the pull and the tugs on your body and Lease any need to compare yourself to other people and practice radical self-acceptance. Breathe yourself back up. Release the position and placement of your legs. Set up a reverse tabletop. Not too long, but just as a nice way to open your chest. Fast through your feet and lift your hips. Exhale, lower your hips down. Cross your shins and then roll over your legs, stepping back to your tabletop position. So the whole string of poses can be done on the other side. Starts with swan or it looks like pigeon, left knee to the left wrist, and then bump your left shin and foot out to the right. Allow your hips to sink down until you feel that perfect amount of pull. First you might remain upright, but whenever you're ready you could drop down to your elbows and your forearms and move your face towards the floor. This tendency to compare yourself to others and feel ashamed of yourself. It doesn't only appear on the yoga mat, but man, it shows up in life too. It is easy to label yourself as being too tall, too short, too fat, too small, too whatever. you're measuring yourself according to only one definition of success, just like the pot and the story. Thinking its value is solely in its ability to carry the water. You miss all of the ways in which those things that you perceive as your cracks or your flaws are actually bringing about so much beauty. Just wanna see a shadow next to mine sailing over baby. See the shape you're in from time to time. I just wanna see your shadow next time. wanna see the same things you can see, understand the meaning. Yeah, good. Just wanna see the same things you can see. You drop down to your elbows and your forearms. Go ahead and push back. Notice the outer edge of your left hip, rock into it so that you can pull your right knee and you're setting up deer posture. So the left the right knee kisses and caresses the bottom and sole of your left foot. Try to sit on your soots bones. In this case, the right hip tries to drop a little more, but it's okay if it floats away a bit. And you could either remain sitting facing front or if you want to add a little twist and a turn, this time you twist to the left and look over your left shoulder. and easy. Release your twist so that your chest faces the front. Your half almost viarasana or half saddle pose, your right leg pretty much stays the same. It's your left leg that extends out in front of you, and you might need to use your right hand to pull the right leg in a little narrower or even pick your hips up so you can internally wrap. top of the right shin and your right foot are flat on the floor. Remember you can always wedge something under your hips if that'll make it feel a little less if it's too much for your joints. If you want, you could drop down to your elbows or even lie all the way down. If you lie it all the way down on your back, use your elbows and the right amount of belly muscles to help lift you back up. Shoelace is your next position. Release the fold of your right leg and then slowly hook the right leg on top of your left. It's like piling your knees. Right knee on top of left, and you might already notice a bit of a stretch along the outer edge of your right leg. But if you want a little more, walk your hands forward and think fold your chest over your legs. your chin towards your chest and your right knee. Move slowly and breathe your back upright to stack. And place your feet flat on the floor, set up your reverse tabletop. Not too long and definitely not too strong, but just the right amount of counter. Thrust your hips up and roll your head back if that's okay on your neck. Exhale, lower your hips down. For your last yin yoga position before a shavasana, dragonfly, as it's known in yin, or straddle stretch. Open your legs out to some semblance of a V. If you need, you could prop up your knees or your hips to help you make your way down to a forward folds. Gleaning in until you feel a pull on your adductors, your inner thighs, near your groin. And because of your time spent on your mat, may you be less interested in fixing your flaws and more curious about the flowers that are growing because of them. Adopting the perspective of self-acceptance might help you see something that you've never noticed before. Real. Nice and easy. any props out of the way if they were between your legs and set up a cozy version of shavasana corpse pose. Sometimes it's nice to put a folster underneath your knees. It's nice to put a bolster along your backside so when you recline back, you're lying on top of it. Whichever version you choose, go ahead and settle into a place of embodiment and integration. invite the quality of self-acceptance. It's shape, its size, its ability. sense and a feeling of preci of appreciation for your body. That extends out to feeling appreciation and self-acceptance for an aspect of your personality too. Especially parts of your personality that might feel like a crap. Go ahead and take a deep breath into your nose. Open your mouth and exhale. Again, inhale through your nose. Open your mouth. Exhale. One more time like that. Inhale through your nose. Open your mouth. Exhale. Easy, normal breathing in and out through your nose with no particular pattern, and some small movements in your hands and your feet, your arms and your legs. Before either rocking off to one side or straight up through the center for a seat of meditation to close the practice intentionally. Close your eyes and meditate on the story shared today, the story of the cracked pot and the message of self-acceptance. May it change the way you relate to your flaws today and help you see the flowers that are being watered because of them. Take your hands together at heart center, breathe in. And exhale, bend forward, just this sign of sealing your practice. And inhale, lift back up. Namaste, everybody. Thank you so much for being here with me today. And if you are a teacher who loves this message and you want to share it with your yoga students, check out the description because the class plan is there for you to swipe. Theme Weaver Weekly will save you so much time in trying to plan theme centered classes by giving you the thematic script, sequences, playlists, everything you need to walk in ready to teach Beyond the Pose consistently. So I I hope to see you inside. And until the next video, bye everybody.