My #1 Pose (for Every Yin Yoga Class)

My #1 Pose (for Every Yin Yoga Class)
===

[00:00:00] So today we are gonna talk about the number one hopes that I include in every single yin yoga class, regardless of season or theme, or time of day, or the people in the class. It’s my number one. This pose must be in every yin class that I teach, so stay tuned for that.

Speaker View & Screen Share: welcome back to a Yin Yoga podcast if you are new around these parts. Welcome. If you are a return listener, welcome back. So today we are gonna talk about the number one pose that I include. Every single yin yoga class, so stay tuned for that. But before we do, couple of housekeeping [00:01:00] issues. I just wanna remind you that although I have the soul of a mermaid, I also have the mouth of a sailor. And so you can expect that there may be some colorful language in this podcast.

This is an adult podcast with adult subject matter. Please plan accordingly and make a moment if you have little ones around to grab headphones now. Then before we get into the meat of today’s topic, , I wanted to mention once again my yin training, 100 hour therapeutic yin training. At the time you’re listening to this, we’ll already be, if you’re listening live, we’ll already be in session.

We’ll be in the fall 2025 round. If we’re not listening live, who knows? But for those of you that have been listening and loving the pod and have been getting insights and are feeling like, you know, I think I need to dive a little deeper in yin, whether that’s whether you already have a yin training or not.

I have both. I have [00:02:00] people that have never taken a yin training. I wanna start with a really good foundation. And then I have people who’ve taken many yin trainings and they still. And then I have people who’ve taken many yin trainings and still come to my course and get a lot out of it. So either way, if you wanna do more yin training, if you’ve been resonating with my point of view with podcast, if you found it helpful, I would highly encourage you to get on the wait list.

You could do that by looking down. In the episode notes, there’s a link that says, get on the wait list. When you click that link, if you look way up at the top or way down at the bottom, there’s. Opportunities there for you to click buttons and enter your name and your email. You’ll get some goodies from me.

When you do, you’re gonna get a, a sequence and a video. You’re also gonna get little sneak peeks behind the curtain on the way to training. You’re gonna get these podcast episodes in your inbox and other little goodies that I like to [00:03:00] share, like music I’ve discovered, or poems that I use in class or, um, once a quarter, I tend to have a free.

Yin mini workshop, you’ll get invitations to those as well. So if you’ve been resonating with this content, if you’ve been enjoying the pod, I would highly recommend that you get on the wait list, even if it’s not gonna be for the next round, that is fine. Just get on the wait list so that you know right when registration open.

You get some of the benefits and the bonuses of joining the wait list that I just mentioned, but also when registration opens, I open it first to the wait list before I open it everywhere else, and there is access to a first five discount code only to people on the wait list. The first five people that sign up get to use it, and that is only sent out on the wait list.

So if you have been. Curious about my training. [00:04:00] If you’ve been thinking, Ooh, I’m gonna put that training on my wishlist, don’t just wish about it. Get on the wait list. All right. That’s enough about that. , And then the other thing I wanted to mention is I just wanted to read a little bit of feedback that I got on.

This one’s on Spotify. It’s a Spotify comment. So for those of you that are Spotify folks, you can leave comments now. Yeah, and I’ll respond Crazy, but true. If you’re listening to this on, , apple, there is no way to comment, but you could always find me on Instagram, send me a DM either at Nick Denu Yoga or at y Yoga podcast and leave me some feedback there.

And if you’re on YouTube, you can leave me a comment below and make sure that you like and subscribe to , this channel, and to the video. And those are all ways, that we can connect. This one is by, I’m honestly not sure if it’s Alicia or Alicia. I’m a new teacher and I teach Yin a few times a [00:05:00] month and found this episode so helpful.

I love how blunt you are. It’s the episode called Yin Yoga is Uncomfortable. I love how blunt you are when speaking, and I could feel how passionate you are about yin through your words. Thank you for wonderful content. Thank you, Alicia, or Alicia, whichever it’s. Thanks for stopping by and letting me know that you’re out there listening and that it’s, uh, helping you.

Alright, my friends onto the episode at hand. Yes. So what do you think? Those of you who’ve done my training probably already know this answer is my number one always in my sequence. No matter what time of year, no matter what time of day, no matter who is in the class. Number one pose that I include in every single Yin class.

I know it’s not shavasana. It is a little shape called Dun dun, [00:06:00] constructive rest. Now, some of you may know constructive rest. If you’ve studied more therapeutically than you’ll probably know it, but you might not. And I’m gonna try my best. To include a little, , link to a tummy document. I’m gonna try to put together a little, , here’s a few versions of constructive rest, , visual ,

i’m going to put in the episode notes, the link to a tummy, little sequence, and it’ll just be different versions of constructive rest. For those of you that are not familiar. Our visual learners, I’m gonna describe them as well, but I’ll also, , I’ll also put a document there. I might just need to reach out to TUMMY and get them to draw a couple of them, because they don’t always have exactly what I do.

And if you’ve never heard of TUMMY and you’re a yoga teacher, oh, you gotta check out tummy. They’re amazing. They have so many sequences, hoses, it’s basically like a sequence builder with pictures. [00:07:00] You can totally edit the words and you know your cues and you can , add your links and your playlists and all the things to it.

It’s, really wonderful if you are a visual person. And there’s also a whole boatload of sequences already on there, so if you’re like lacking inspiration one day, you can, you know, get your cup of chai or whatever it is that you drink and scroll through tummy and be like, Ooh, that’s a cool way to do that.

I never would’ve thought of that. Yeah, tummy’s great. I’m not an affiliate, although I should be. Hmm, I should see. Do they have an affiliate program? I wonder? But definitely check them out. But I will put a constructive rest, little mini sequence together. Not that it’s actually sequenced, you wouldn’t do all of these back to back, for those of you that are visual learners, you’ll have a image that you can look at and you can explore constructive rest for yourself.

So if you don’t know what constructive rest is, well, it’s not that shocking. Actually. I never heard of Constructive Rest ever until I took my yoga therapy training and [00:08:00] then it was everywhere. We often joke in yoga therapist circles that,, it’s like, , if you’ve ever watched one of Oprah’s episodes in years gone by where she, you know, gives everyone a free this or a free car or whatever,

we often joke and we’re like, you get constructive rest and you get constructive rest, and you get constructive rest and you get constructive rest. So what the heck is constructive rest? Well, let me tell you, and I’ll also give you many variations and also some of the benefits, and then I’ll tell you why.

It’s my number one always in my yin classes. I don’t always include all the same poses. I have a couple favorites, don’t get me wrong, but like my sequence changes seasonally. A constructive rest at this point in this recording, always in there all the time. Okay, the heck is constructive. Rest. Well, it’s a posture that is [00:09:00] designed to be a fairly neutral position to help the body decompress, align, and relax.

It’s actually not, I don’t think originally yoga, I think it comes from the Alexandra technique, if I am not mistaken, according to my online sleuthing, it’s not originally a yoga thing, but yogas have stolen it and used it and because it’s amazing. So it involves lying on your back with your knees bent feet on the floor.

Now I’m going to give you a couple other variations that I’ll describe for that. If the lying on your back feet on the floor doesn’t work, I’ll give you some other variations, but that is the ideal if you can. This position minimizes the strain on the muscles and the joints, and it makes it really an ideal pose for not only pain relief, but relaxation.

So I’ll talk a bit about it and then I’ll describe some of the many ways that I include this in my class and then why, my why. But here are some of the general whys. So [00:10:00] some of the benefits are really good for people who are dealing with persistent pain or discomfort. It reduces your muscle tension by putting your body in a supported, more neutral alignment.

This can help some of those tight muscles relax, especially in your low back, hips and neck, which often are kind of stress zones. For many of us, it can ease lower back pain because it takes the pressure off your lumbar spine and allows it to decompress. This can provide relief of those who have chronic back pain or sciatica, or just general tension in the back.

Now I’m gonna add a little disclaimer here. Please don’t go around making infographics for Instagram saying that constructive rest is the cure for back pain. Please do not be that yoga teacher. Not one thi one thing doesn’t work for everybody for back pain, but for a lot of folks, it can ease back pain.

It’s not a cure for your back pain, it’s an ease. It’s a remedy. It improves your posture. So often when [00:11:00] we’re seated at a desk a lot, we get this sort of head forward posture, and this helps to gently realign your body by correcting this head forward posture and the kind of rounded shoulders and exaggerated lumbar curve or loss of lumbar curve, which can also happen.

It helps with your breathing. The diaphragm and the other respiratory muscles are in the ideal position to function effectively. This promotes a more relaxed breathing, which can help calm the nervous system and reduce the perception of pain. It can support recovery from injury. So for people that , are dealing with musculoskeletal injuries, it can add a safe, non strenuous way to realign the body without exasperating pain, and it calms the nervous system.

Woo woo. This is the one that I love. So this is the one I’m gonna talk the most about. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for your rest and digest response, which can help [00:12:00] with anxiety and also the overall perception of pain. So calms the nervous system. This is why I put this in every single sequence and class that I do constructive rest.

How in the world could laying on your back with your knees bent and your feet on the floor. Activate your parasympathetic nervous system. They wonder, let me tell you my friends, many things. First of all, I always recommend, regardless of which version of constructive rest you do, I always instruct to put a little bit of head support under your head.

That could be a little folded blanket or cushion. It shouldn’t be something too high. But just a little bit of support under the head . Blankets are great ’cause you can fold them a little higher or a little lower. Then I instruct my students to pull the blanket away from being under their neck.

So to pull the blanket away from the line of their shoulders and being under the [00:13:00] neck to catching that bony ridge on the back of your skull where your neck and skull meet your occipital area, or just below your occipital area. Why am I being so particular about that alignment? Well, let me tell you, my friends.

One of the bundles of nerves that is connected to your parasympathetic nervous system or the rest and digest or the relaxation response, whatever lay terms you wanna use for it. One of those bundles of nerves sits up inside of the skull where the neck and skull meet. So when you gently tuck that head support underneath the head, not only does it help the neck relax, which is key for many of us ’cause we have these chronically tight sore necks, but it also.

Just by the little bit of pressure and the angle starts to stimulate the nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system that live in that area. So that’s one magical thing about this unicorn pose. Next I’m gonna talk about the sacrum. [00:14:00] The sacrum, that bony triangle above your butt and lumbar area. So the lower back curve and connection to the sacrum, the bony triangle above your butt.

That is the second bundle of nerves for your parasympathetic nervous system. The nerves that connect to your parasympathetic don’t necessarily go through your whole spine. Those two are a little like clusters and little centers for the parasympathetic. So when you bend your knees and you have your feet on the floor or some of the other variations, which I’ll talk about in a moment, you put a little gentle pressure on the sacrum just slightly.

Enough to stimulate those nerves and wake them up a little bit. So now there’s two reasons why this poses a maze. Balls for your nervous system. And then the third one is that when you have your feet on the floor and your knees bent, you’re releasing a muscle culture SOAs. Your SOAs is a large and important muscle for movement, for spine health, for all the things, however.

It’s [00:15:00] often chronically weak, chronically tight, and also engaged far too often. And your SOAs is connected to your sympathetic nervous system, fight, flight, or freeze response. Your SOAs is one of the first muscles that needs to turn on and engage when you’re in your fight, flight, or freeze response because you gotta like curl up in a ball or get ready to fight or like run away.

And it is required for all of those things. So when you can lay on your back with your knees bent feet on the floor or the other variations, which I will tell you about, if feet on the floor doesn’t work for someone, then the SOAs releases notice. I said, are you listening dear? Teacher releases not stretches.

We’re not trying to stretch it in this position. In fact, it doesn’t stretch it, it releases it meaning. This shape gives your SOAs a little vacation. It tells your SOAs, Hey, you can just chill [00:16:00] and be still for a while. I’ve got this. And as the SOAs begins to release, then that sort of gripping of the SOAs in that , sympathetic nervous system starts to soften.

And so you’re more easily able to come into your parasympathetic nervous system, that relaxation response.

Okay. And then the final reason that I love, love, love, love, constructive rest is because when you have, when you’re doing the version with the feet on the floor knee bent, one of the most grounding acupressure points of your body is on the soles of, of your feet. It’s called kidney one. And so that’s making contact.

But generally speaking too, the whole sole of your foot is making contact with the ground, and that can be pun intended, grounding. So anytime you can bring your feet to the earth, even better if you could be outside walking with no shoes on, [00:17:00] but can’t always do that. But when you can bring your bare feet down to the earth, that has a grounding effect and a soothing effect on the nervous system.

So, although I just listed several different great benefits of constructive rest than a reason that I included in every single class, why it’s my number one go-to always is because of its effect on the nervous system. Why am I harping on this so much? Well, let me tell you, my friends, I’m sure you’re not aware of this, but just in case people are stressed.

So people arrive to your yoga class. If you’re a teacher or if you’re a student, you arrive often to your yoga class, stressed out. And if you immediately try to take someone who’s stressed out in their body, which means basically they are clenching and tightening and they’re in their sympathetic nervous system, and then you try to get them to soften and surrender into some passively held poses not gonna be that successful.

Eventually, they may soften over time. But [00:18:00] again, there’s gonna be that gripping and holding intenseness. If, however, the first thing you do with them, the first pose you do with them, maybe not the first thing. ’cause you might do a, a grounding or a gratitude or a meditation or something beforehand, totally fine.

But if the first pose that you do, the first physical asana that you do in your practice is constructive rest, and I’ll tell you how I use it in a moment before you do any other sort of stretchy poses. Now you’ve got your people, ideally in their parasympathetic nervous system, they’ve had an opportunity to drop in to this rest and digest this relaxation response.

Their body is now gonna be more loosey goosey and more open so that the poses that to follow are gonna be much more comfortable for them and they’re gonna have a much better practice. So not only. Does taking the time to do constructive rest physically affect the whole rest of their practice and how much [00:19:00] their body opens, but energetically, mentally, emotionally, when they’re in their parasympathetic nervous system, that relaxation response, brilliant.

It also gives them some very clear, conscious time to begin to arrive in their body with their breath. In that moment, right? So they’ve rushed and rushed and rushed, and rushed to get there. Maybe they’re really stressed, maybe they’re in persistent pain, who knows what’s going on. They get to the yoga studio, and then we’re just expecting them to immediately drop it, drop into something to stretch their hamstrings.

Not super effective, but if you can give a few minutes, 5, 8, 10, whatever you got. In constructive rest. Maybe you can guide them a little while you’re there. I guide people while they’re there. I’ll tell you about that too. , Then, you could guide them to their breath. You could use a visualization or me, I use mindfulness.

Um, while they’re there, before you start putting their body in a bunch of poses, they’re gonna [00:20:00] have, they’re gonna have a, not only a much more beneficial practice as far as the physical shapes go. Energetically, and as far as their nervous system goes, they’re gonna feel so much better.

So constructive rest, not a yin pose, not even technically a yoga pose apparently. But a key thing that I put every single person in, every single class into as not quite the beginning of class, because I usually have students sit up and we do a brief gratitude. Perhaps a breath technique if appropriate, and then I get them in constructive rest.

But it’s definitely before any other poses. So maybe not the very first thing I do, but it’s before the other poses constructive rest. Can I say it one more time for y’all? Constructive rest. It’s the most beautiful thing. Now I’ll tell you some versions and variations that you could explore. And again, I’m gonna uh, try to create a [00:21:00] little tummy document with as many of these as I can find pictures too.

And there’ll be a link to that. In the episode notes. So if you are a visual person and you’re having trouble following my words, then please, um, please click that. So I’m gonna tell you about some different versions and then, and then if you are not out at a walk or driving or at work or something, if you are, you could pause this and come back.

Near the end, I’m gonna guide you through what, how I guide my students in constructive rest. I’ll, I’ll do a brief and abridged version. Okay. So laying on your back knees, bent feet on the floor, that’s constructive rest, but let’s add some bells and whistles to this and some customizations for people who that might not be comfortable.

I already mentioned the number. One thing that I’ll do is get people to add support under their head, whether that’s a, if you teach somewhere with a chip phone block, it could be a chip phone block. It could be a folded blanket if they’re at home practicing. It could be a small cushion, but it shouldn’t be too [00:22:00] high.

Just a little support, and then I pull that support away from being right under their neck to catching that bony ridge on the back of their skull. This is what starts to stimulate that little nerve center, um, there that’s connected to your parasympathetic. Now caveat, if somebody’s neck does not tolerate that, if meaning when they pull the blanket away from being right under their neck, all they’re experiencing is neck pain and discomfort and duress in their neck, well then.

That’s a no go zone. So then I just get them to move the support to wherever they need it. But if they can pull that support away from the top line of their shoulders a little, so it’s catching that bony, um, ridge on the back of the head a little bit, this will naturally start to stimulate those nerves and vary slightly lengthen the back of the neck.

So that’s number one. Now, I recommend everybody use head support regardless of which version they’re doing from here on with the legs. Um, and I’ll mention a few leg options that I really like. [00:23:00] So feet on the floor and knees bent, support under the head. Now for this version, I prefer, and I always encourage my students to try this version first because I would say probably about 90% of students actually find this version super supportive.

Not everybody, of course, ’cause there’s no one size fits everyone. I like to do this. So head support, feet are on the floor, knees are bent. Take a yoga brick and put it between your thighs, not your knees, but your thighs. So like the meaty part of your thighs, putting it going vertically, and then a strap around your thighs so that you’re bundling your two legs.

And the yoga block together quite snugly. So snugly that when you let your legs relax out against the strap, the block isn’t gonna fall out. So not so tight that you’re cutting off your blood flow. You should be able to slip your pinky between the strap and your body, but quite snug snugger than what most people initially [00:24:00] assume.

So in this first version and my favorite version, we’re laying on the floor. Feet are on the floor, knees are bent. We’ve got a little bit of support under the noggin. We’ve pulled it away a little bit, so it’s catching that bony ridge. And then we’ve got the yoga brick wing. Vertically between our thighs and a strap to bundle the two legs and the brick together quite snugly.

That’s version number one. And my favorite, and the one that most people in my class do. Not everybody likes that. And sometimes, especially with certain trauma histories, maybe having a strap around your legs, eh, isn’t a, isn’t a good spot for some people. So here are some other options. Oh, you could also use a strap without the block.

The reason I use the block is for those people who tend to wanna bring their knees together so they lay on the floor and they wanna drop their knees together. Now, that is sometimes taught as a version of constructive rest. It’s not how I teach it, and the reason I don’t teach walk your feet wide, knock your knees together is because for [00:25:00] most bodies, your legs will still be working a little bit there.

Because you’re having to internally rotate your femurs in order to drop your knees together. And that means even if it’s subtly, there’s a little bit of muscular effort there, a tiny bit of engagement, and I’m trying to get the legs as passive as possible, so I do not recommend that version of constructive rest to my students.

And so if somebody likes that version where their kind of knees are dropping in, then having the yoga block. Is helpful because they can kind of let the knees relax on the block and it’s less effort than bringing the knees right together. So that’s one reason. The other reason I like the strap is it also helps to keep the legs from doing the opposite, externally rotating and just kind of flopping out as you relax.

So once people get quite relaxed, the legs can either fall in too much or fall out too much. This just gives us a nice structure of support to kinda keep the legs in position. Now some people that are not internally rotated, [00:26:00] meaning their knees are not gonna drop together genetically, find that just the strap is enough and they don’t use a block, totally fine.

But I do not recommend just using a block without a strap. I’m gonna say that two more times. I do not recommend using just a block with no strap. I do not recommend using just a block with no strap, because then your muscles have to work to hold the block in place. The whole point of constructive rest is trying to turn off as many muscles as possible.

So if somebody wants to use a block, I want them to use a strap, or they can take the block out if they don’t like that version. And there’s some other versions they could explore, which I will share with you now. So some people like to use the block and the strap, or just the strap. Some people don’t really like the way that feels, and they may take their yoga bolster and flip it on its edge so that it’s taller.

Slide that behind their knee pits. So, um, behind the back of their knees. Now this doesn’t [00:27:00] always work for everyone because if your legs are shorter, then your feet are no longer on the ground ’cause the bolsters kind of lifted your legs and your feet are up. Or if your legs are really long, then the knees pits aren’t really being supported by the bolster either.

So, to be really clear, what I’m talking about here is soles of the feet are still on the ground. You’re flipping the bolster up on its skinny edge to support the knees. This is not lay on your back and shavas and slide a bolster behind your knee pits while the soles of your feet are exposed. This is not what I’m talking about.

Feet are still on the ground, knees are still bent. You might just be using a bolster to support the backs of your knee pits. Some people like that version. Some people like to stand a bolster vertically on its end in between their legs so that they can walk their feet a little bit wider and let their knees fall onto the bolster.

And as long as that doesn’t mean that they’re feeling a lot of engagement or any engagement ideally in their legs. So this would only work for people that are [00:28:00] genetically internally rotated. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about with this internal and external rotation. Then my friend, you need to get Anatomy for Yoga by Paul Grilley.

There is a link in the show notes and you need to buy that and you need to watch it. Um, but some people genetically just turn in more in their thigh bones. Some people genetically turn out more. That’s a podcast for a whole other time. But if someone’s an internal rotator, which is more rare, they might benefit from putting the bolster vertically and then just letting the knees drop onto it.

Not very many people. Can relax in that version. So those are all the versions with the feet on the floor, knees bent. Some people it’s less common, but some people actually prefer to have their legs either on a chair or a, you know, ottoman or , whatever they got at home, if they don’t have a chair.

Or, um, you can also make like a little Stonehenge situation. [00:29:00] If you have two yoga bricks, you put them at the tallest height, and then you take your yoga bolster and you put it across the top of those blocks, so it looks like Stonehenge or like a little table. Some people like to put their lower legs on that.

And if you were doing that version, you would wanna snuggle the bolster right up behind your knee pits so that it’s you’ve, you’re really supporting the legs. You wanna bring yourself quite close to it. So that the legs are as close to 90 degrees as possible. We don’t wanna have that so far away that now the SOAs is engaging because the legs are moving towards straight.

We wanna keep the legs quite bent. Some people really like that version. You could, I’ve also have students that do the stone henge with the strap, but no block. I also have students that do the Stonehenge with the block and the strap. All of those could be options. And then the final version might be a chair.

Some people like to swing their lower legs up onto a chair. I still usually recommend a strap for students if they’re open to it for this version, [00:30:00] because sometimes the legs can relax out on the chair and then almost start to slide off. , But yeah, using a chair seat for your lower legs, for your calves, this is also an option if feet on the floor and knees bent doesn’t feel good for your body for some reason.

You could grab a chair, swing your lower legs up onto the chair again, get the chair seat nice and close to where your knee pits are so that your legs are at as close to 90 degrees as possible. Otherwise you’re not releasing your So as you’re engaging it. Um, and then you could use a strap as well if you feel like your legs are gonna hang at relaxed and kind of slip off of the chair.

So you could also use a chair.

. So those are some of the many, many ways that you could explore constructive rest. I’m gonna go over those again in brief, and again, don’t worry.

For those of you that are trying to visualize all this, you’re gonna have a little document so you won’t have to, uh, my favorite number one version is support under the head for all of these versions. All of them doesn’t matter, which, what I say from here on head support and then. [00:31:00] My favorite is a yoga brick between the thighs, not the knees, but the thighs, and a strap around the outside of the legs.

The strap is snug enough that the legs can relax out against it without the block falling out. That’s my favorite version, and when I teach public classes, I encourage everybody to start there and to try that version first if they haven’t tried. Now, of course, I teach a trauma-informed class. So if someone does not feel comfortable putting a strapper on their thighs, that’s fine, but then I take the block away as well.

So what we do not want to do in this, okay, so I haven’t been clear, is a yoga block between your thighs with no strap. That is absolutely the opposite of what we want because I want their legs to relax. And if you have a yoga brick between your legs and no strap, you’re, even if it’s very subtle, you’re gonna be squeezing your legs together to hold the blocking place, which is the opposite of what we want.

So if I see that somebody is using the block part but not the strap, I’ll kind of repeat my instruction and then [00:32:00] I’ll, or I’ll just say, if you’re not comfortable using the strap, then please also remove the block so that your legs can relax more. I know that some people like the version where you walk your feet out wide, no props and drop the knees onto each other.

Again, I’m not a fan of that version for 90% of the population because you have to be quite naturally an internal rotator. To have that be a passive pope. Otherwise, it’s always gonna require a little bit of effort from the thigh bones turning in. And so that’s the reason that I don’t recommend that version there is the odd unicorn.

I am one of those unicorns that is naturally, genetically really internally rotated and can do that version, um, comfortably with relaxed legs, but that is pretty rare. So that’s why I don’t recommend that version. , The next version that I like,, would be to flip your bolster on its skinny edge so that it’s taller, and put that behind your knee pits.

Doesn’t work for everybody, [00:33:00] but for those who it does, it can be a wonderful fit. Again, if your legs are, or short enough that when you do that, your feet are floating in the air, then it’s pointless. Or if your legs are so long that the bolster on its skinny edge is not supporting your knee pits, then that version is pointless.

The next version that I mentioned is bolster going vertically. So on its small end, like a little tower, and then walking your feet out and dropping your knees onto the bolster.

If somebody really, really loves to do this sort of. Feet wide knees together. I usually give them this option. It puts just a little bit of space between their knees so they’re not having to internally rotate with as much. So that could be a version Stonehenge. So using your yoga bricks at their maximum height, and then putting a bolster across the top, making sort of like a little table and then putting your lower legs on there.[00:34:00]

That’s a fantastic version. Lots of people like it. I, again, always tend to lead with feet on the floor, but for some people that’s a better version for their back or their body. It just feels better. And some people when they’re in the Stonehenge will still use a block and a strap or just a strap or not at all, and that just depends on how relaxed they can be in their legs.

And then the last version that I mentioned is lower legs up on a chair um, and then a chair. Some people like to put their lower legs on a chair, and again, you still have the option even if you’re using a chair of using a yoga brick between the thighs and a strap or just a strap so that the legs don’t kind of splay out everywhere and fall all over the place.

So that’s how I get people into constructive rest. Those are my avers that I like to explore with my students. We’ve, so we’ve talked about the what is constructive rest? We’ve talked a bit about the, why would we do constructive rest? We’ve done [00:35:00] a little now how we might choose to do constructive rest.

So all of those are good things for you to know. And then I’m just gonna walk you through a very brief mindfulness practice. I’m gonna do my abridged version. The version I do when I’m teaching a shorter class, , of what I might coax them through or coach them through while they’re doing constructive rest.

But again, you could do breath work. It’s a fantastic shape for breath work because you have so much space for your diaphragm. , Or you could do a meditation, whatever you feel fits , your teaching. But what I do is a little bit of. Kind of guided mindfulness or what I will often call dropping into center.

So if you would like to explore that with me, if you are somewhere where you can get laid down, go ahead and do that. If you’re not, you could just like pause this, come back to it later. When you’re at home, you’re not driving or out walking about, or if you’re cleaning your house even, you can take a [00:36:00] little break.

Breaks are allowed. So just take a moment to pause this and get into one of those versions of constructive rest. If you’ve never tried support under the head block between the thighs, feet on the floor, and a strap, start there and then you can all let me know how you feel about it after. So if you’ve never tried that version, try that one.

If you’ve tried that before and it’s not a fit, you could try one of the many other versions that I mentioned. So take a moment to pause this now, if you wanna practice along. Get into constructive, rest your version, and then hit play again. I’ll wait.

Okay, we’re back. So once I have people in constructive rest and they’re comfortable, this is the, the bridged version, the halfway version of what I will guide them through. First, slowly begin to bring your awareness to the [00:37:00] sounds around you.

Sounds in the far distance,

sounds in the near distance,

or maybe even the sounds of your body, like breath or heartbeat or digestion, gurgles.

And then as you’re ready, begin to shift your awareness to noticing the air on your skin. Just noticing the texture and the temperature of the air as it touches your skin.

Does it feel warm or cool, dry or humid? Heavy or light[00:38:00]

in your own way and in your own time, begin to scan the back of your body, noticing in particular the places of your body that are making contact with the support beneath you. Whether that’s your head or shoulders or parts of your arms or the sacrum and the bones of the pelvis or the soles of your feet, or any other little spots that you notice

that are making contact with the support beneath you.

See what you notice there. Is there a sensation that stands out?

Feeling of [00:39:00] heaviness or density or coolness or tingling or warmth pressure, or maybe a sensation that I didn’t mention, or maybe there isn’t a particular sensation.

And then begin to bring your awareness to breath,

and you can explore bringing your hands to these areas as I mentioned them. That often helps to anchor the mind there. You can try that and see if that works for you as well. Starting by noticing your abdomen, rise and fall with your breath, your naval center.

It’s noticing the rise and fall of your breath as you breathe. For some of you, this will be a very clear place to rest the awareness and [00:40:00] for others it’s very subtle.

Some of you, it might be so subtle that you wonder. Does my abdomen even rise and fall with breath? It does. It might just be small. And as you practice this, this will become more and more clear

and bringing your hands to your rib cage, perhaps the side ribs. And notice how when you breathe, the ribs can expand in three dimensions to the front, to the sides, and to the back. In your own way and in your own time. As you breathe here, see if you can bring your awareness to this three dimensional quality of breath in the ribs,[00:41:00]

and then your chest and heart center filling with breath. See if you can breathe all the way up to your collarbones. You could bring your hands here as well,

allowing your breath to make space for your heart.

When as you’re ready, you can let go of those more specific areas of breath and begin to bring your awareness generally back to anything that stands out for you in this moment, whether it be sounds or sensations, or. Breath or anything else of this moment that stands out to you,[00:42:00]

and then as a way to come out of this, keeping some of that nervous system nourishment that we’ve been cultivating just a little longer, what I’m about to say sounds incredibly simple, but it’s not easy. Rather than lifting your head, let your head rest heavy and lift your feet off the floor. Bring your legs towards you so that you can reach your strap or your block if you have one, and undo those.

Or if you happen to have a chair or your legs up on that stone hinge situation, then bring your knees towards you and scoot the support out with your feet. Either get rid of the chair or your blocks. Then bring the soles of your feet to the ground with your knees bent, and just see how that feels now in your body.

Without the support just comparing, how did it feel with the support of the props [00:43:00] compared to without?

Okay, my friends, that is the abridged version. Of how I do constructive rest in every class. So I get them into a physical version of constructive rest, and then we do a little bit of a mindfulness or sort of dropping into center. Again, that’s the shorter version. I do a much longer, more in-depth version when I have the time and the space, but I hope that you find that helpful either as a teacher.

If you’re really looking at ways that you can nourish your students’ nervous systems, then maybe you do one less stretchy pose and you add a little constructive rest at the start of class before you do any of the other ness or if you’re a student. Feel free to explore this for yourself or as a teacher.

Anytime you come home from a really busy day or a stressful event or something, just take a few [00:44:00] minutes in constructive rest. Bring your awareness to your breathing practice a little mindfulness, and you will be amazed at the nervous system response to this pose. So there you go, my friends, there is my number one, always included shape that I put in.

Every single y yoga class that I teach, regardless of who I’m teaching, when I’m teaching time of day, et cetera, et cetera, everybody gets constructive rest. I hope that you find this helpful. I would love to know in the comments if you are on YouTube or if you’re on Spotify, have you done constructive rest before?

Do you like it? Do you love it? Have you tried it? Did you even know it was a thing? I’d love to know. Let me know in the comments, and if you’re on Apple and you can’t comment, just find me on Instagram. You could always email me too if you want, via my website, but Instagram often, oddly enough, gets a quicker response.

And [00:45:00] let me know what you, what did you think about this? Do you use constructive rest? Do you like constructive rest? Had you considered using it in your classes? Gimme your feedback. And as always, my friends, if you have, this was requested, by the way. This was a request. So if you have other subjects related to yin yoga or about yin yoga that you would like me to cover on the podcast.

Please reach out and let me know. Unless I’ve already done an episode on it or it’s not related to yin specifically, I am more than happy to take requests. So please let me know if you have anything you’d like me to talk about that’s yin and yin adjacent on the pod. Again, you could leave it in the comments or you can find me on Instagram and send me a a little dm and I would be, again, that’s at Nick Danu Yoga or at Yin Yoga Podcast can let me know . And until we meet again, bye for now.