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Back in B.C. (Before Covid) times, I used to leap away from bed, grab my tennies, and head out for a 5K walk with friends just a few times per week.
Things are different now. I take my time as I roll away from bed, sleepily drag myself to the lavatory, and possibly, just possibly, change clothes before I head to my mat to practice morning Yin yoga.
My body and mind are speaking in a different way lately, and Yin yoga gives me the prospect to exercise some deep listening. After I make the space to listen within the morning, I can hear the entire places in my physical body gently wake as I move into long hold after long hold.
While Yin Yoga is practiced in a wide range of settings, taking time for it early within the day, when your muscles are cold, lets you access the deeper fascia. That depth, that stillness, is what I seek. It prepares me to listen slightly more deeply and be slightly kinder to myself, even after I’m off the mat. For me, that kindness looks like giving myself grace to maneuver slowly, to not be tethered to devices, and to create silence and stillness for myself.
A morning Yin yoga sequence awakens that innate connection between your body, your breath, and your mind. Once you bring some breathwork and exploratory movement to your poses and the transitions in between them, you’ll be able to fully open the dialogue with yourself very first thing within the morning.
A morning Yin Yoga sequence
Your only goal with this practice is to attach together with your body and with yourself. Step into the invitation of the morning.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Easy Seat with Adhi Mudra
Come to a cushty cross-legged position in Easy Seat, sitting on a bolster or a folded blanket should you like. Take a while here to hook up with yourself and your breath. Bring your thumbs to the palms of your hands and wrap your fingers around them in adhi mudra. This mudra reminds you that you just are manufactured from layers and also you turn inward to search out a way of grounding every time you wish. Settle into this connection and remain here for several breaths.
Release your legs and find some gentle movement.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Easy Seat with Nadi Shodhana
From seated, switch the crossing of your legs and are available back to Easy Seat and practice Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Respiratory). Bring your right hand in front of your face. Place your pointer and middle fingers on the third eye (center of your brow), while your thumb and third finger rest on either nostril. Pinch your left nostril shut. Inhale through your right nostril and hold the breath in. Then release your left nostril and pinch your right nostril shut before you exhale and hold the breath out. Breathe in through your left nostril and hold the breath in, then release your right nostril and pinch your left nostril before you exhale and hold the breath out. Proceed respiratory on this pattern for 3 more rounds.
Release your right hand and repeat together with your left hand. Add longer holds before and after each breath.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Kundalini Circles
From Easy Seat, begin to rotate yourself slowly at your hips in a circular fashion for seated Kundalini Circles. Rotate just a few times in each directions.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Graceful Bow
Uncross your legs, and are available to seated in your heels with untucked toes. Let your left arm rest alongside your body as you wrap your right arm behind your back, bringing your right hand to the within your left elbow and clasping it. Bring your right ear toward your right shoulder for a simple neck stretch. Send breath awareness to the left side of your neck. Stay here for 1 minute.
Release your left arm. Flex and extend your spine in a version of seated Cat and Cow by arching the spine to open across the front of your body, then rounding the spine to open across the back of your body for 3-5 times. Repeat Graceful Bow with neck release on the opposite side and stay here for 1 minute.
Add any movement you want to before you transition to the following pose.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Toe Squat
Tuck all 10 toes and sit back toward or in your heels. The intensity of this pose is set primarily by the positioning of the burden of your body. In case you lean forward, you’ll experience less stress in your toes. In case you center your weight directly over your heels, you’ll feel more stress in your toes. Make a conscious decision to take heed to how much load your feet want today, then allow yourself to stay in stillness for two minutes.
Release by leaning forward, untucking your toes, and gently patting them against the ground.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Butterfly Fish Pose
Arrange at the highest of the mat with 2 blocks and a bolster or a pair firm pillows. Bring one block on medium height, which can go under your heart, and one other, also on medium height, a couple of foot and a half behind it, which can go under your head. Sit a foot or so in front of the second block, facing away from it. Bring the soles of your feet together, knees bowing out to the side. Bring the bolster beneath your thighs to support your low back and supply a more gentle opening on this morning practice. Slowly lower yourself back, first onto your forearms, then lower yourself onto the blocks. Adjust their placement if needed. Feel for opening along the hips, inner thighs, chest, and neck. Send breath awareness to any a part of the body that’s asking in your attention. If it feels best for you this morning, you could turn the block under your head down one level to create more opening across your throat. Remain here for five minutes.
If it resonates with you, offer yourself an affirmation, comparable to “I speak my truth.” Notice your breath around your throat. Over the course of your time on this pose, you could opt to remove the block from under your head.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Constructive Rest
From Butterfly Fish, roll to 1 side, move the blocks out of the best way, and return to your back together with your knees bent and the soles of your feet on the mat in Constructive Rest.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Reclining Big Toe Pose
Keep your left leg bent as you straighten your right leg toward the ceiling. Drape a strap around your right foot. Allow in your elbows to rest on the mat as you guide your right leg closer to your body. Stay here for 1 minute.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Walk your hands up the strap, bringing your right hand closer to your foot. Remain here for just a few breaths.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Guide your right leg out to the best side. Stay for two minutes.
Bring your right leg back into the centerline of the body and step your left leg into the strap alongside the best. Take just a few breaths here, then release your right foot and produce it to the mat. Allow in your bent right leg to supply grounding as you repeat Big Toe Pose in your left side.
Bring your left leg back to center and take your right foot alongside the left with each legs prolonged toward the ceiling while supported by the strap. Feel the grounding across the sacrum.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Half Pontoon
While in your back, bend your knees and produce your feet to the mat. Slide a bolster underneath your sacrum for Supported Bridge and stay here for a moment to feel grounding across the sacrum. In case you need, adjust your bolster so you are feeling supported. Extend your right leg straight while the left leg stays bent and grounded for Half Pontoon. Stay here for two minutes.
To release, bend your right knee and produce it back to satisfy the left. Take just a few breaths before repeating on the left side.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Pontoon
From Half Pontoon, release and straighten each legs to come back into Supported Bridge for just a few breaths. Extend each legs straight and release your arms alongside your ears for Pontoon. Stay here for 3-5 minutes.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
If you have got any loud feedback out of your low back at any time, walk your legs back to Supported Bridge.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Tucked Twist
From lying in your back supported by the bolster, bend your knees and produce your feet back to the mat. Lift your hips enough to slip the support off to the side. Lower your back to the mat and take just a few breaths in Constructive Rest, taking in latest sensations of release and rebound along your back. Hug your knees into your body, then roll onto your left side. Let your legs stay to the left while bringing your shoulders back toward the mat in a reclining twist. Stay here for 3 minutes. Welcome any movements that feel good here.
Roll yourself onto your right side and release your shoulders back toward the mat for Tucked Twist on the opposite side. Stay here for 3 minutes. To release, roll within the direction of your knees and are available onto your belly.
(Photo: Tamika Caston-Miller)
Belly Savasana
Still lying in your belly, bring your legs apart a cushty distance, bend your elbows, stack your hands, and rest your brow on the backs of your hands. Gently roll your brow just a few times from right to left after which find stillness. Allow yourself to rest for five minutes.
To release, bring your hands beneath your shoulders and are available through hands and knees after which shift your hips back toward your heels in Child’s Pose. Take your time here. Once you’re ready, come to seated again. Sit within the residue of your practice. Bring this sense of connectedness with you throughout your day.
Practice more yoga and meditation with Tamika Caston-Miller on YouTube.
About our contributor
Tamika Caston-Miller, E-RYT 500, is the director of Ashé Yoga, where curates yoga experiences and trainings in service of collective healing and community repair. Having begun her yoga journey in 2001 with a house practice, she now holds advanced certifications and training in Trauma-informed Yoga, Somatics, Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Yoga Nidra. Tamika’s journey has been informed by chronic pain and injuries, social justice for QTBIPOC communities, the battle between shame and compassion and quest for ancestral healing, and the love for the practice and philosophy of yoga.