Yin Yoga for Pain Relief: Your Gentle Path to Healing

Why This Class Will Change Your Mornings (and Your Body)

Wednesdays at 7am might feel early, but imagine starting your day not with rushing or stress, but with deep relief flowing through your body. Our new Yin Yoga for Pain Relief class isn't just another yoga session - it's a sanctuary for bodies that hurt and hearts that need holding.

What Makes This Class Different

Led by Bri or Ustina, both specially trained in therapeutic yin approaches, this class understands that pain isn't just physical - it's emotional, mental, and spiritual too. They don't just teach poses; they create a space where your body can finally exhale and your nervous system can remember what safety feels like.

The Beautiful Benefits Waiting for You

Physical Relief That Actually Lasts

• Gentle, sustained poses that release deep tension in connective tissues

• Improved circulation to areas that hold chronic pain

• Natural reduction in inflammation through mindful movement

• Enhanced flexibility without force or strain

• Better sleep quality (yes, even from a morning class!)

Emotional Healing You Didn't Know You Needed

• Permission to feel whatever comes up - tears, frustration, or unexpected joy

• A space where your pain is witnessed with compassion, not judgment

• Community with others who understand the weight of chronic discomfort

• Tools for emotional regulation that you can take into your day

Nervous System Reset

• Activation of your body's natural healing response

• Decreased stress hormones and cortisol levels

• Improved mood and mental clarity for the entire day

• Grounding techniques that help you feel present in your body

How We Hold Space for Your Healing

At Nurture, we know that bodies in pain need different things. Bri and Ustina create an environment where:

• Props are abundant (bolsters, blankets, blocks - whatever your body needs)

• Modifications are normalized (lying down instead of sitting, taking breaks, leaving your mat entirely)

• Your pace is honored (if a pose doesn't serve you, you don't do it)

• Silence is sacred (this isn't about chatty morning energy - it's about deep inner listening)

• Tears are welcome (sometimes pain needs to move through us, not around us)

What to Expect in Your First Class

You'll arrive to soft lighting and gentle music. Bri or Ustina will check in with you personally - not to fix or diagnose, but to understand what your body needs today. Poses are held for 3-7 minutes, allowing your fascia and deeper tissues to slowly release patterns of holding. There's no rushing, no pushing, no performing.

Some days you might feel immediate relief. Other days, the benefit might be the simple act of showing up for yourself when everything hurts. Both are perfect.

Who This Class Serves

• Anyone managing chronic pain conditions (fibromyalgia, arthritis, old injuries)

• Bodies that feel stiff and stuck from desk work or repetitive movement

• Nervous systems that run on high alert

• Hearts carrying the emotional weight of physical discomfort

• Anyone who's been told to "just push through" the pain and is ready for a different way

Your Invitation to Begin Again

Wednesday at 7am isn't just a time slot - it's an appointment with your own healing. It's 75 minutes where your pain gets to be seen, your body gets to be heard, and your spirit gets to remember that you deserve gentle care.

Ready to try? Your first class is on us. Because healing shouldn't have a barrier, and every body deserves to feel what relief can feel like.

Drop-in: $18 | New student special: 3 Class Pass for $30 | Members: Included in all memberships

Come as you are. Your pain, your hope, your hesitation - all are welcome here. Bri and Ustina are waiting to hold space for whatever you bring.

The Beautiful Balance: Accepting Where You Are While Growing Forward

I hear it all the time-that voice that whispers “you're not good enough” when you roll out your yoga mat. The one that compares your warrior pose to the person next to you. The one that apologizes for taking a modification or beating yourself up for falling out of tree pose.

Here's what I've learned in creating Nurture Studios: the fear of not being "good enough" at yoga isn't a problem to solve. It's a doorway to something much more profound.

The Paradox That Changes Everything

We live in a culture that tells us acceptance equals giving up, that if we're okay with where we are, we'll never improve. But research consistently shows the opposite is true. Self-acceptance actually increases our motivation to grow and creates the foundation for lasting progress.

When we stop fighting where we are right now, we create space for curiosity. When we quit berating ourselves for our limitations, we can honestly assess what's possible. When we treat ourselves with the same kindness we'd offer a good friend, we build the psychological safety necessary for sustained learning and growth.

This transformation is real and possible. When we soften our self-criticism, we create space for genuine exploration.  Now, avoiding poses we "can't do," becomes about asking, "What happens if I try this?" The fear doesn't disappear overnight, but it stops controlling our practice.

What "Not Good Enough" Really Means

That voice telling you you're not good enough isn't usually about yoga. It's about safety. For many of us, perfectionism developed as a survival mechanism: if I do everything right, maybe I won't get hurt again. If I work hard enough, maybe I'll finally be worthy of love.

Your body holds these old stories. That tension in your shoulders during warrior poses might be about more than alignment. The way you hold your breath in challenging postures could be connected to times when breathing freely didn't feel safe.

This is why traditional "just try harder" approaches often backfire. We can't shame or push ourselves into self-acceptance. We have to create the conditions where it naturally arises.

How We Practice Differently

At Nurture, we channel our desire to grow towards what actually serves you. Here's how that looks:

We offer choices, not commands. Instead of "Do this pose," you'll hear "You might explore..." Every instruction is an invitation. Your body gets to decide what feels right today.

We celebrate process over outcome. Did you notice when you started holding your breath? That's progress. Did you choose to rest when you needed it? That's yoga. Did you stay present with discomfort without going to war with it? You're mastering the practice.

We normalize struggle. Some days your balance will be off. Some days familiar poses will feel foreign. Some days you might cry. All of this is part of practice, not evidence that you're doing something wrong.

We redefine "good at yoga." Being good at yoga is about showing up as you are, listening to your body's wisdom, and treating yourself with compassion, especially when things feel hard. This redefinition creates space for the kind of consistent practice that leads to real, lasting change.

Your Practice, Your Pace, And Your Progress

I watch students transform their relationship with challenge when they realize growth doesn't have to come through force. You can want to get stronger and still honor your body's limits today. You can have goals and still find peace with where you are right now.

The most sustainable progress happens when we focus on process rather than outcome. Rather than asking "Why can't I do crow pose yet?" we learn to notice: "My arms are getting stronger each week." Instead of comparing ourselves to others, we track our own journey: "I used to need blocks in every pose, and now I sometimes choose them." Replacing the rush toward advanced postures, we appreciate the subtle developments- steadier breathing, less self-judgment, the ability to laugh when we wobble.

This approach accelerates your progress. When you're not spending energy fighting yourself, that energy becomes available for actual learning. When you're not paralyzed by fear of failure, you're free to experiment and discover. When you trust your body's wisdom instead of forcing it into shapes, it responds with surprising capability.

Maybe your goal is to hold crow pose someday. The real victory, though, might be in how you talk to yourself when you fall. Maybe the strength you're building isn't just in your arms, but in your capacity to stay kind to yourself when things feel hard. These internal developments create the foundation for all external progress.

The poses will evolve as they're meant to. Your body will open in its own time and way. But the relationship you build with yourself creates the conditions for growth that lasts.

Starting Where You Are

If the fear of not being good enough has been keeping you away from yoga, or making your practice feel like punishment, I want you to know: you belong here exactly as you are. Not when you're more flexible. Not when you're stronger. Not when you've figured out how to quiet your inner critic.

Right now.

Your practice doesn't have to look like anyone else's. Your growth doesn't have to follow anyone else's timeline. Your yoga is about you learning to come home to yourself, breath by breath, moment by moment.

Growth happens when we honor both our longing to evolve and our need to be accepted as we are today. This balance between striving and accepting, between reaching and resting, creates the conditions where sustainable transformation becomes possible. When we stop seeing self-acceptance and progress as opposites, we discover they're actually partners in the same pose.