Detox sequence

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yinNadine
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:43 pm
Location: Nederland

Detox sequence

Post by yinNadine »

Hello :D

I am looking for some inspiration for a yin (yang) yoga practice to detoxify the body, since Spring is on it's way!
I couldn't find other topics about this. I know that all postures effect the meridians and organs, but I am looking for a nice flow/sequence.

Suggestions?

Thank you! :)
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Detox with Yin and Yang Yoga

Post by Bernie »

Stefanie Arend wrote a whole book on this very topic, called Detox with Yin and Yang Yoga. You may want to check it out, however, she wrote it in German. Maybe she will let us know some of her thoughts about your question.

Cheers
Bernie
Stefanie Arend
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Oct 21, 2011 11:40 am

Re: Detox with Yin and Yang Yoga

Post by Stefanie Arend »

Hi yinNadine, Hi Bernie,

thank you for the recommendation of my book, Bernie! :-)

Spring is a good time to detox your body because over winter a lot of people feel sluggish for different reasons, e. g. eating heavy foods over Christmas Season, lack of sunshine, the yin energy at its highest level at winter solstice, lack of being outside in nature and moving too little and so on.

With spring, the element of wood takes over and this corresponds to the meridians of the liver and gallbladder. You could focus on these meridians in the yin-sequence then, e. g. integrating Half Butterfly, Butterfly, Dragonfly, Crane, Squat or Frog for the liver meridian and Sleeping Swan, Shoelace, Square Pose, Eye of the Neede Pose, Happy Baby Pose or Deer Pose for the gallbladder meridian. In addition to that it is useful to do twists like Twisted Roots, Windshield Wiper or Cat Pulling its Tail to waken up and energize the small and large intestines which are super important for detoxing. But also Sphinx Pose is a good idea because you massage your belly organs by lying on them and breathing deeply into the stomach area. You could also place a bolster or a blanket underneath your upper belly to give some soft additional pressure. Also side bends like Bananasana make sense because they stretch the large intestine and lungs very well on both sides of the upper body and also stretch and compress the liver and gallbladder as well as the spleen. If you put up a sequence in which you move the body in all directions, forward and back bends as well as side bends and twists you get a great benefit for the organs which are essential for detoxing. If you stretch all sides of the legs in the same sequence you get an additional positive effect on the meridians which also nourish the organs, of course. If you want to detox, then put the focus on the outbreath which should be longer than the inbreath. One of the sequences in my book is the following: Bananasana, Sitting Twisted Roots with a bolster, Eye of the Needle Pose, Squat, Sphinx, Lying Half Lotus with a bolster under the spine, Cat Pulling its Tail, Child's Pose, Shavasana. If you have enough time you could add Lying Butterfly, Saddle and Caterpillar before Child's Pose and Shavasana.

In my first book "Yin Yoga" which also came out in Dutch last December you find a whole bunch of sequences for the different meridians. My book "Detox with yin and yang yoga" is currently only available in German.

Hope this helps a little! :)

Blessings, love and light,
Stefanie Arend
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