Yin Yoga for a Full-Body Stretch

Let’s be honest: you likely spend hours of your day slightly hunched. All that sitting, slouching, and screen time can leave your back stiff and drained. Yin yoga can help.

You’ll gently move your spine through all its ranges of motion—extension, flexion, side bending, and soft rotation—to melt tension along your neck, shoulders, and lower back.

The caveat of this practice is that it’s only 15 minutes long—great for your schedule but brief for traditional yin yoga. Once you get the hang of it, you can choose the poses that feel right, use your own watch or timer, and take yourself a little deeper into each stretch by remaining in each for 5 minutes or more.

But today, in only a few quiet minutes, you’ll release the stress that builds from modern life and feel yourself standing taller, breathing easier, and moving with more freedom.

By the end, you’ll feel grounded, open, and reset—ready to carry that ease into the rest of your day.

Yin Yoga for a Full-Body Stretch

Each long, mindful hold opens space, improves circulation, and helps your nervous system slow down. Although you don’t need props for this class, a couple of blocks (or something similar, such as a small stack of books) can come in handy for extra support and ease.

Crocodile Pose

Begin lying down on your stomach in Crocodile Pose. Stack your hands on top of each other beneath your forehead for a pillow effect. Feel free to bend your knees and sway your legs from side to side before coming into stillness.

Stay here for 2 minutes or as long as you’d like.

Broken Wing

Still lying prone on the mat, take your arms out wide into a T-shape, palms facing down. Look left and right to ensure that your hands are in line with your shoulders. Bring your left hand back in toward you, positioning it beneath your left shoulder. Press into your left palm and begin to roll your body onto your right side.

When you’re read, step your left foot behind your right leg, bending your knee and placing your foot flat on the mat. Keep the side of your head on the mat and your right arm extended straight out. Find a level of intensity in the stretch that allows you to keep your breath steady. Stay here for 2 minutes or as long as you’d like.

When you’re ready, come back through center on your belly and switch sides. Stay here for 2 minutes or as long as you’d like.

Sphinx Pose

Slowly come back to center, resting for a moment in Crocodile Pose. Stay here for 3 cycles of breath.

Come into Sphinx Pose by lifting your head and chest away from the mat. Bring your elbows beneath or slightly in front of your shoulders and your forearms parallel in front of you, palms facing down.

Stay here for 2 minutes or as long as you’d like.

Child’s Pose

Lower your head down, pausing briefly in Crocodile Pose again, before pressing yourself back to Child’s Pose. Stay here for around 1 minute or as long as you’d like.

Constructive Rest

When you’re ready, lift your chest off the mat, shift your hips off to one side, and bring your legs straight in front of you. Bend your knees, place your feet flat on the mat, and lie back in Constructive Rest.

Stay here for 4 cycles of breath, taking some windshield wipers with your knees or bringing your knees toward your chest for extra release.

Banana Pose

For Banana Pose, extend your legs long. Slide your feet over to the right corner of your mat and do the same thing with your shoulders, sliding your upper body toward the top right corner of your mat. Imagine you’re making the shape of a crescent moon or a banana. Take your arms overhead and relax them or grab opposite elbows.

Stay here for 2 minutes or as long as you’d like.

Come back through center and repeat on the opposite side.

Closing

Come back through center and bring your knees toward your chest. When you’re ready, roll to one side and gently press yourself up to a comfortable seat.

Bring your hands to heart center and take a deep breath, exhaling with a big sigh. Thank yourself for showing up on your mat today.