The Yin Yoga Podcast
The Yin Yoga Podcast
Yin & Somatics: Benevolent Awareness for the Neck and Throat
Though the front of the neck and throat are only a very small part of the physical body, they have an oversized role in self hood. This practice is amazing for my listeners with neck pain, but especially valuable for those of us who hold stress in the throat area.
In this gentle practice you will cultivate a benevolent awareness for the front of the neck and throat. My goal is to provide a profound sense of safety for any and all movements of the neck and expressions that come from the throat. You will also find that this class is incredibly soothing. Every time I teach it live, students fall asleep! So I can guarantee that the movements and breathing practices have a powerful effect on your parasympathetic nervous system.
If you have been looking for yoga for neck pain, be sure to save this practice!
Learn how to Create Yin Sequencing Poetry
Click the link for a recorded masterclass webinar to introduce you to my sequencing model. This is the model that I use to sequence my classes and that I teach to my Yin Teacher Trainees. https://yoga.mandyryle.com/creating-yin-sequencing-poetry/
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Welcome to the Yin Yoga Podcast. I'm your host, mandy Ryle. Today I'm offering you a pod practice which is focused on a pretty small area of the physical body but a pretty big area for selfhood, that's the front of the neck and the throat. When I created this practice, it was because I myself was having some throat pain. I noticed that I am somebody who really likes to put all of my tension and angst right in my throat, and so I was really hoping to cultivate a sense of awareness and certainly a feeling of safety in this area. But as I presented it to the group who I'm teaching in the recording of this podcast, I really had in mind more individuals who are suffering with some chronic neck pain, especially if your pain is kind of in the sides of your neck, although anybody who has some kind of neck stuff, I think, would benefit from this sort of gentle awareness that we're cultivating here. For your practice you don't really need much. You need a blanket and a couple of blocks if you tend to feel a little tighter in your inner thigh region. I recently had the opportunity to do a masterclass webinar all about Yin sequencing, and it was so much fun because I got to connect with so many of you listeners to the Yin Yoga Podcast. It was a live event, so I got to hear all of the cool questions that people have about sequencing. But if you weren't able to make it live, no worries. I made a recording which I would be very happy to share with you. I think that you would really get so much, not only from the information that I shared about my sequencing model, but really also from hearing about the other pain points that other Yin Yoga teachers are experiencing with regard to sequencing. If you would like access to that recording, all you have to do is click the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for being a listener to the Yin Yoga Podcast. I really hope that you enjoy this practice.
Speaker 1:So you're gonna need for your blanket to be at the back of your mat. Your head's gonna rest on that for most of your practice. Your block, or blocks, can go beside your mat mid mat, your bolster, way out of the way. We won't use that till the very end, until we get to Shavasana, so maybe that's closer up to the front so it's not interfering with you, and when you're ready, your head is gonna rest on that blanket. Your head's gonna rest on that blanket at the back of your mat and you'll either have your feet flat or your legs long, I don't care which feet flat or legs long, and your arms are in a position where they feel like they're off. Yeah, so that could be out to the sides, it could be on, you could be in your pockets, and as you initially begin to become aware of your breath, it may be necessary to change it a little just so that your awareness can hang on to it.
Speaker 1:And I'd like for you to notice especially the front of your neck. Notice the front of your neck as you're breathing in and out, and if you feel compelled to alter the breath or manipulate it somehow so that you can get some other kind of perspective on the front of your neck, then go ahead. It's your choice, and so we will be working with this very isolated area in your practice. From your collar bones up to your jaw bone, that mandible bone, and from your ear lobes down to the place where your shoulder becomes your neck. We're gonna be working in this very small region of the body today, and so notice that if there's any movement here at all as you're breathing in and out, in this region that we've defined, there's any movement. Likewise, notice if there are any sensations already present here in the front of the neck. Maybe there is a feeling of ease and peace, your throat and your collar bones or maybe it's not quite easeful, maybe there's some tightness, even some discomfort. It's possible that any sensation present, maybe only on one side, and today we're not here to change that, we're here to observe, befriend.
Speaker 1:So if your legs are long, let's bring the feet flat and step your feet out as wide as your mat. And really, simply, as you begin here, I'm just gonna have you gently draw your chin down towards your collar bones and then do the opposite gently roll on the back of your head until your chin is lifting away from your collar bones and you find a little arch in your neck. And then you'll draw your chin down and you'll find a little roundness, a little flexion in your neck. And we're gonna go really slow here. So I'm gonna have you continue for about a minute and I want you to think about this pace. No more than five repetitions in 60 seconds, that's pretty darn slow, no more than five. And as you continue, please do allow the rest of your spine to participate. So you're using the muscles of the neck, the upper back, to move the neck, but the rest of the spine isn't just standing its ground, it's very much participating, interested in what's happening at the top of the spine.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then imagine that the back of your head is resting on the face of a clock. When you rock to 12, you are on, your chin is lifting, so the 12 is at the top, and when your chin comes down, you're pressing the back of your head gently, gently, into the six. Okay, so one more to 12, that's the chin up. One more to six, that's gonna be the chin down, and then one more time come back up to the 12. Just so gentle, and just hold, just hold here, with no effort, just let the head rest in this position with the chin lifted. So if the 12 is at the top, then the three must be to the right on the clock. I'd like you to go from the 12 to the one, so you're gonna tilt just a little bit, rolling the back of the head to the one, and then the two and then the three, so your chin is sort of tucked even as you are tilting your head, and then you're gonna come back to the center. So the part of your head which is resting on the clock is resting where the hands emerge from the center of the clock, and then come back up to the 12 and then go from one to two to three and come back to the center.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna add on here bring your fingertips to your collar bones, fingertips to collar bones, and for me, I have long enough arms that my elbows can rest on the floor even when my fingertips are on my collar bones. Some of you are not blessed with ridiculously long arms, sorry, so you may need to cross your hands. So your opposite fingertips are on the opposite collar bone and that way your arms can just sort of stay on your chest, okay. So you pick what's gonna work best for you and as you come up to the 12, maybe those fingertips can just kind of hold lightly the collar bones, just so you can see what happens. And then, as you rock your head from 12 to 1 to 2 to 3, the right fingertips are where the the really interesting stuff is happening, I think, and then you'll come back to the center on the back of your head. We'll press right there where this, the hands emerge.
Speaker 1:So let's do four more now with the right fingertips, just observing what happens at the level of the collar bone. You don't need to make anything happen. Your job is just to observe, befriend. Okay, one more. And this time when you are over to that three. So your chin is sort of tucked and tilted at the same time. You're just going to stay With your right hand.
Speaker 1:You're going to take, bring the elbow out so that you can just lay the palm of your right hand on your left temple. Make sure that your left elbow can rest on something. So is it going to rest on the floor or is it going to rest on a block and that hand isn't going to push? No, no, it's not going to push, it's just going to rest there. Your left fingertips are on your left side, collar bone Okay, and then your knees windshield wiper to the right, windshield wiper to the right, and if you bump into anything, you know, move it out of the way. Let's keep those feet nice and wide on the mat. As you know, I'm a, I'm a stickler for that. Nice and wide. And come back to the center. Let's keep the forehead tilted over to the right, the hand just gently resting on the temple, and back over to the right with the legs, okay. So use that whole warmth of your palm, let it just rest on the forehead and the fingers kind of come around to the side of your head and you want to just feel a warm support, no pressing.
Speaker 1:And back, and you might notice, as your knees tilt over and your hip is tilted with the knees, that there's a little downward pull on the left collar bone. Do you notice that A little downward pull? Totally passive? Okay, totally passive. But then from there you might feel a little extra stretch on the right side of your neck, this collar bone. Yes, knees up and then knees over. Yeah, do like the three more, and I would like to just make this note right now. So we're all on the same page. We are not stretching the front of the neck today, okay. That is not the reason that you are here. That is not my intent. You may feel some gentle stretching as we pull these tissues into some light traction, but that is not my intent. Okay, so the next time your knees are over to the right, you're going to keep your knees there, okay, and then you'll release your arms out to the sides and you'll just hold with just that very light traction on the left side of the neck.
Speaker 1:So when I talk to people about their neck pain which I do a lot one of the areas that really really gives people trouble is this side of the neck area and you can kind of feel it here Right and maybe it is a little sensitive for you. So while pain is not contained in a tissue, pain doesn't belong to a tissue, pain is a manifestation of self. But the muscle which is sensitive is the sternocleidomastoid. It's actually very powerful muscle for something so small. Starts the back of the ear, that bony, that knob at the back of your ear. It's your mastoid and it comes down into two heads. We call them one to the collarbone joins, inserts on the collarbone. The other comes immediately and inserts on your sternum, that's the center bone of your chest. Okay, so now we're working with the clivicular head of sternocleidomastoid.
Speaker 1:Use your breath just gently to explore this area under tension. This will be our final breath and then the knees return to the center, hips face, yeah, and you'll take a moment to compare the left and the right side of the front of your neck. If you need a break from your feet being flat, take a break by sending your legs out long or hugging the man or letting the knees fall together. Just take a break. Okay, now we'll have the feet wide again Standing, and we'll bring the fingertips to the collarbones. Remember, I want for your arms to be relaxed with your fingers on your collarbones.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, and then just really gently at first, just move between the six and the 12. So that's up and down on the clock. We got a little tuck, little tuck and drawing the chin up. So a little extension of the neck and also gentle flexion of the neck. Let the rest of the spine participate, encourage the rest of the spine to participate. It's possible that your spine sort of automatically responds. So when you're in that extension, your chin is lifted, you automatically kind of want to let the low back engage a little too. You want to arch it and it's possible that you sort of feel like you want to tuck your tail a little when your chin comes down. It's also possible that that is not happening. Notice any movement of the collarbones.
Speaker 1:Okay, next time you are on the 12, we're going to move to the left, to the nine. So you're going to do 11, 10 and nine. So when you're on the nine. It's sort of like your chin is tucked and also tilted. Okay, come back to the middle, the place from which the hands emerge, and up to 12. So slow, take your time. We go 11, 10, nine Back to the center. So the right fingertips are not there to do anything, but if you're curious, you could just gently press into the right collarbone and see what happens. So it's not to create a deeper stretch, it's just to observe. It's because you're curious, let's do two more. And the next time you are over there to the nine. So your chin is sort of tucked, definitely tilted, tilted. You stay.
Speaker 1:This time we take the left hand on to the side of your head, to the right side of your head. Use as much of that warm palm on the side of your head to provide gentle weight Don't push so it's on your forehead providing a gentle weight on the right side of your head. On the right side of your head, your right fingertips are on your right collarbone, the feet are standing wide on your mat and you windshield wiper your knees to the left. You windshield wiper your knees to the left and you'll feel the hip tilt with the knees right. So we're just providing a gentle pull down on the collarbone, come back to the middle. Okay, just a mild distraction. Again, it's not for stretching. Think of it as just inhaling and exhaling into the right side of your neck. Okay, windshield wiper and back up.
Speaker 1:We always in Yin think about muscles stretching, which is a pretty limited view of what muscles do. But we could even limit that more by not acknowledging the various ways that we can pull a muscle into traction. We can create mechanical tension, not just via a lengthwise stretch, but also by a torsion, a twisting, which is what you're doing here. Two more only. Okay, next time, both knees are to the left, you'll leave them there. Maybe you'll use your hand to help you arrange your chin in a way that you're really confident, comfortable and you have something to explore before you release your arms out to the sides. Release your arms out to the sides, yes, okay, now use your breath. Use your breath to explore the right side of your neck.
Speaker 1:So the sternocleidomastoid are usually not super involved in breathing, but they can be very useful in a pinch. Mostly when we see the sternocleidomastoid being used for the active breathing, it's when we're breathing very high into the chest, when we're feeling anxious or scared, right, the sternocleidomastoid can actually help you to lift the ribs to draw air into the lungs, which is probably one reason why anxious people almost always have neck pain, because sternocleidomastoid are not exactly the right guy for the job of breathing day in and day out. But they will do the job valiantly if we ask them to. Okay, let's take one more breath here. Windshield wipers and then everything returns to the middle. Everything returns to the middle and you'll take a break. However, you feel like you could take a break most productively for a short time notice.
Speaker 1:The two sides of your neck Now the feet are flat again. The feet are flat again. They don't have to be wide, unless that's just more comfortable for you and you're going to take your two hands and you're going to place them on the top of your head. I would prefer that your right hand is under your left hand, your elbows point up to the ceiling and then your fingers are just going to come down to the back of your head a little bit, so that your elbows are pointed straight up to the sky. So your palms are on the top of your head and your fingers are on the back of your head. Your elbows are pointed up because your arms are just slightly squeezed in.
Speaker 1:Guys, use your hands to gently lift the weight of the head away from the blanket and then keep pulling your elbows forward, like you could roll up one vertebra at a time, and it's sort of like the cranial clock that you were working with has gotten really big, because now the six is at your middle back. And then use your hands to support your head as you articulate your vertebra, one at a time, back down and rest your head on the blanket. Ok, so, lifting up one vertebra at a time, your chin is pressing down towards your chest, but not with a great deal of effort, and then your hands hold your head as you come back down. This time try to engage the muscles of the neck a little bit, so your arms are helping, but you're going to feel a nice firmness in the neck and then you're going to feel that firmness maintained as you lower your head down. But it also might feel a little bit like a stretch. Ok, hands do most of the lifting, but then the neck takes over too, because, guess what? It can help you to flex your spine. And then, oh, so slow, oh so slow, let's do one more, as slow as you can, because I really want you to feel the muscles on the front of your neck helping. You'll.
Speaker 1:Stay with your head up. Your right hand remains on the top of your head. Your left hand, though, reaches for your right knee, left hand, right knee. Draw your left hand, though reaches for your right knee, left hand, right knee. Draw your left knee, right knee, towards your right elbow. Tuck your tail so your whole spine is flexed like you're a snail. So your left hand holding your right knee, pulling your knee towards your right elbow Neck, is engaged. The whole spine is engaged. One more breath.
Speaker 1:Reach your right hand for your right foot. Lift that foot up and then lower your head down. Hold the foot for the half happy baby here. So your right hand holds your right foot. Your right hand holds your right foot or your right ankle or your pants. Yeah, your right knee moves out wide. Bring it out wide. Yeah, yeah, good. And then either, if this pose is already pretty challenging for you, keep your left foot flat on the floor with the knee pointed up. If you have a little more space in this pose, wing your left knee out, bringing your left foot more to the middle of your mat.
Speaker 1:Here's my favorite for this Left leg, fully extended. Use your right hand to gently pull down on the foot or ankle or your pants, and bring your left fingertips to the floor, that's, and bring your left fingertips to your right collarbone. It feels different. Now, right, there's stuff engaging. Use your fingers Just gently tapping, tap the place where your chest becomes your collarbone, where your collarbone becomes your neck, out to your shoulder, and feel the firmness, feel the strength Pulling down on that foot or ankle, feel that engagement, and then rest your left hand, just briefly. Draw your chin down, come to the six and then go from six to the left, seven, eight, nine, back to the middle. Only two more Six, seven, eight, nine. One more center Six, seven, eight, nine. Rest, bring your feet flat, rest your arms, notice the difference between the right and the left side of your neck.
Speaker 1:I want someone to tell me who and when and how did we decide that when something hurts, it's safe to stretch it but not to engage it. When did that happen? Because it's not true, I mean, it's patently false and really harmful, by the way, that for some reason we think, oh no, I'm engaging it, this feels dangerous, as opposed to oh, I'm stretching it. This feels good and beneficial. Okay, so you're going to take your hands back onto the top of your head with your elbows pointed up. Your fingers are going to come around to the back of your head, your palms stay on the top. Left hand is under. Left hand is under the first couple of times. It's just like you're going to lift the weight of your head, hold it, cradle it for just a moment and then use your elbows pulling forward to draw your chin down, rolling up to a six, which is now at the middle back, and then the arms do all the heavy lifting back down. So we can do this without using the neck. But guess what? It is safe for you to feel your neck working. In fact, it's good for you. Okay, chin tuck as you come up and then maybe feel your chin stretch away just slightly as you come back. It's very, very slight, very slight.
Speaker 1:One of these times, as you roll up, I want you to let the muscles help. It feels like they're the muscles in the front of the neck, the muscles that are actually helping. Well, it's sort of strenucleomastoid, but it's a lot of the muscles which flex your spine. They're working on the vertebra of your spine. Yes, let's do two more. I know it's hard and if you're one of those people that's like, oh my gosh, I can feel my neck, I don't feel safe Maybe you just lay and you just imagine this, but I want to remind you it is safe for you to use your neck Last time coming up and stay.
Speaker 1:So the left hand remains, the right hand, grabs that left knee and pulls it towards your left elbow, and you use that hand to help you tuck your tail. All of the muscles of the spine are participating in this flexion. So, from the back of your skull to the tip of your tail, your spine is committed to flexing here the whole spine, not one area more than another. That chin is tucked, the elbow is pulling, okay, and then you'll bring the shin to vertical. You'll grab the foot or the ankle with your left hand, lower your head down for the half happy baby. So your left hand holds your left foot or ankle or your pants. What are you gonna do with that right leg? Are you gonna keep your foot flat? Are you gonna extend your leg? Are you gonna wing it?
Speaker 1:Now pull down with your left hand and use your right fingertips, starting at your collar bone, but feel the pectoral peck, major, as it becomes the collar bone, and then feel the neck as it engages. It's working and it's safe. It's safe for this muscle to work and engage. That is its dharma Muscle does one thing it contracts. Everything else is something we do to it, just tapping, tapping. Now, if you need a break, you can take it, otherwise you'll release that right hand, you'll draw your chin down to the six and this time we're moving to the right, toward the three, so we'll go five, four, three and come back to the center. You're gonna do that two more times only, and it's not about a deeper stretch, it's just about experiencing Four, three, center. We have one more Tucking down to six, rolling to the right. Five, four, three, center.
Speaker 1:Rest, feet flat or legs long, however you feel like you can rest, arms rest. Compare the two sides of your neck. Everybody always asks me can you show me some good stretches for my neck, because I have this neck thing Nobody ever says. Can you show me some good exercises to really engage the muscles of my neck, strengthen the muscles of my neck? Actually, that's not true. I had somebody ask me to do that last week, which was kind of cool, but it wasn't because of neck pain.
Speaker 1:So, okay, guys, you're gonna bring your two feet flat, if they're not already. You're gonna use your hands to help you push that blanket back out from under your head, so it's no longer under your head, but it's still very close at hand, okay. So your head is flat, your head is on the floor, yes, and then you're gonna bring your feet really close together and as your knees open up wide, you're gonna let your spine kind of shrink into that extension so you'll feel your lumbar spine arch and also the back of your neck might arch, right, okay. And then, as your knees come back together, I'd like for you to push a little with your feet, push them forward, but don't let them move and feel your whole spine kind of flatten out onto the mat, so your lumbar flatten, the back of your neck flatten. Your chin is gonna just lightly draw down and then, as your knees open into the butterfly, you're gonna feel your whole spine kind of shrink into its arches, into its natural arches, and as your knees come back together, you're gonna push with your feet and you're gonna feel your whole spine lengthen and flatten.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's do a few more of these. So both of these movements are an exaggerated way for your spine to live in the world, right In the exaggerated arches, and also in what we call an axial extension. When you flatten your whole spine out, this is an unnatural place to be all the time. That is a movement you can make, not something you should be in all the time. Okay, let's do three more explore the arches those exaggerated arches but also explore the axial extension. That's lengthening the spine out, trying to flatten that. Neither of those are positions that you should be in all the time. Okay, but they are positions that we should do sometimes. Good, and let's see, the next time your knees are opened up wide, you're in the arches. You're just gonna stay.
Speaker 1:Now, if you would like, you can bring your blocks under the thighs in the half, in the full butterfly the spine butterfly because you're gonna be there for a little bit and I don't want you to be super uncomfortable, because that's not a practice about your hips, right? Okay? Use your breath to explore the two sides of the front of your neck. Let's take one more breath, use your hands to help you draw your knees back in and, as best as you can, allow the spine to resume a neutral position. So it's not trying to flatten out, we're not attempting to exaggerate the curves. We've just found a perfect resting position for the spine.
Speaker 1:Back of the neck, all the way to your tailbone. I'll have you draw two knees in to your chest. Use your hands to hold your knees and your chest and, with your grip pretty strong on those legs, tuck your chin and one vertebra at a time. Lift your head and even your shoulders. If you can use those arms, pull so the whole spine is flexed. You're making a little snail shape.
Speaker 1:And then here's where it gets really interesting. Use the strength of your spinal column to lower down one vertebra at a time. Let your head rest, let your feet come back to the mat Neutral curves. Draw your knees in. Hold tight, one vertebra at a time. Use that strong neck of yours to lift your head up, tuck it toward your knees and then, as slowly as you can, the whole spinal column so strong just to support the weight of your head against gravity.
Speaker 1:When your head is resting, your feet come back to the mat. Draw your knees in. This is the last one, one vertebra at a time. You can do it. That neck of yours is strong and it is safe to feel it engaging. It's necessary this time.
Speaker 1:As you're tucked, either hold your ankles with your hands or the sides of your feet with your hands. Bring your shins to vertical or vertical-ish. Slowly lower your head back down to the floor. Bring those knees out a little wider for your happy baby. Lift your chin so you come up to the 12. And then let's go to the right. Let's go one, two, three and then we're gonna go back up to two, one, twelve, eleven, ten, nine. Clockwise ten, eleven, twelve. One, two, three. Counterclockwise two, one, twelve, eleven, ten, nine. Just a couple more Really slow with the breath. Last one over to the. We need to end on nine. So last one is on nine. Back up to 12. Use your hands, just gently pulling into those feet Strong shoulders, clavicles anchored and release the feet. Take a moment to observe the front of your neck, the sides of your neck. It's safe to feel these sensations, safe to feel.
Speaker 1:So if you have a bolster, I'd like for you to use it for the next pose. You'll have your legs extended out long, so with a bolster, your thighs will be on it. Yes, anybody want a bolster that doesn't have one. Yes, it's going under your thighs, yeah, so I want you to be ultra comfortable. Bring that blanket back under your head. If there's anything else you need, you'll use that as well. We're not taking shavasana yet, though. Go ahead and bring those knees up. The heels are going to be about as wide as your mat.
Speaker 1:Whether you have a bolster under your thighs or not and your arms just resting, I want to do a pranayama with you, so we'll start out very, very simple. When you breathe in, I'd like for you to feel as if your ear holes are narrowing. Your ear holes are going to get closer together as you breathe in, and keep them close as you breathe out, and continue like that. So, as you breathe in, your ear holes get closer together, and as you breathe out, they stay close together, and maybe at certain portions of the breath cycle, you feel like you're better at this than others. That's normal. We're not all going to be great at something weird like this, especially when we just start out, so be patient with yourself and don't force it.
Speaker 1:It's so gentle. 90% of it is in your imagination. Now I'm going to add on there is a softer part of the roof of your mouth. Right there's the hard part, the front, and then the soft palate is behind. In addition to, in addition to ear holes narrowing, I'd like for you to feel the back of the top of the mouth, arch the soft palate arch and lift and see if you can keep it lifted as you breathe in and out. Okay, yes, and you'll practice it a few times.
Speaker 1:It's weird, it's very weird. It might feel like you are at the beginning of a yawn when you get it just right, and it's possible that you'll just yawn too. Sometimes that happens. I'm going to add one more thing In addition to the soft palate arching upward, the floor of your throat will drop and sink. So the top of your mouth, the bottom of your throat are moving apart as your ear holes move in, and this can be a lot.
Speaker 1:So if you feel like you need a break, you just need to take a normal breath or two, take a normal breath and then come back when you're ready.
Speaker 1:We'll do one more round and at the end of this last exhale, just let the tissues resume their neutral shape, resume the spontaneous tempo of breath, so no longer manipulating length. One more time, notice the front of your neck and the next thing to do is shavasana. So if there's any change in position or prepping that you need, now's the time. Just let the body sink and, for the ideal, deep Breath, just let the movement of the bonds sink through. Now we'll decide on which dip it in. It's time to deepen the breath, time to restore movement and, when you're ready, find your way onto the side of your choice. So lend to your hands and rise to your seat, press your palms together in front of your heart, bow your head and take in a nice breath into the front of your neck and a soft but comprehensive exhale from the front of your neck. Just one more like that. Thank you so much, everyone, for practicing today.