The day after I took my first yin yoga class, I remember waking up amazed. My body felt incredible – like I’d just had a massage! That was it - I was hooked. I learned to practice yin, then I learned to teach it. Now I’m teaching others how to teach it.
What is yin yoga? The description for our class at MSY reads:
Yin Yoga is a quiet practice focused on flexibility. It involves holding and exploring poses for longer periods of time in order to target deeper connective tissue and calm the nervous system.
That’s a pretty superficial explanation of what can be a very deep, meditative, and rejuvenating practice.
In our Western society, we’ve been programmed to think that exercise should be fast paced. It should make us sweat; it should make our hearts beat faster. “No pain, no gain,” right? It’s no wonder that “hot yoga” and “power yoga” have been so popular in the United States. Using the Eastern concept of yin and yang, vinyasa – a movement-based practice that involves flowing through postures, sometimes at a fast pace - is a yang practice. So it makes sense that yin yoga would be the opposite of that – remaining still in a posture and noticing sensations.
The concepts of yin and yang are relative terms that can be applied to almost anything:
Yin: calm, still, inner, dark, hidden, cold, winter, feminine
Yang: active, moving, outer, light, exposed, hot, summer, masculine
In relation to our physical bodies, muscle tissue is yang; connective tissue is yin. Most types of “exercise” affect our muscles, which are easily strengthened and can become very flexible when warm. Yin yoga affects our connective tissue, which takes longer to become pliable and can become “shrink wrapped” as we age, leaving us less flexible and more prone to injury in our joints.
Both yin and yang practices are essential for achieving balance in our bodies, our minds, and our lives. As a society, we’re pretty dialed in on yang: we value activity, productivity and multitasking. Keeping still, even in a very simple yoga pose (śavasana, for example), for several minutes can be extremely challenging. So how do we approach a practice that asks us to be still in pose after pose after pose? Here are a few helpful suggestions.
1. Let go of the “pose” mentality: On the surface, yin poses look a lot like poses you might see in any other yoga class, but in yin, they’ve been given new names. The purpose of that is to shift the focus from an alignment-based “Am I doing this right?” mentality to a state of observation that can allow us to detach from our ego and just be.
2. Focus on the breath to get past the “freak out” phase: Although yin yoga doesn’t utilize any special breathing technique, focusing on the breath can help us move past our initial urge to resist a pose and allow us enter a state of relaxation and receptivity.
3. Find your first edge: To create lasting flexibility in connective tissue, find your first “edge,” the first place you feel an interesting sensation. Stay there until the sensation subsides before allowing yourself to relax more deeply into the pose. In this way, you will avoid activating the “stretch reflex” that causes the body to contract.
4. Take your time moving out of a pose: After creating space between your joints, you will likely feel a bit fragile. Move slowly and be mindful of sensations that arise as the body returns to a more neutral position. Focus on those sensations until you transition to the next pose.
In addition to the physical benefits of the practice, yin can act as a “reset” button for the mind and the emotions. An hour of a relatively still and quiet practice that is so antithetical to our daily lives is a powerful tool for achieving balance and a sense of ease.
If you’d like to learn more about yin yoga, I’m offering an all-day workshop on Sunday, October 16th where we’ll take a deep dive into the what, why, and how of yin yoga. The workshop will include practicing three very different yin sequences, an exploration of individual yin poses, the how-tos of practicing and teaching yin yoga, four done-for-you sequences, and instruction on how to create your own yin yoga sequences. Yoga teachers can earn seven continuing education hours with Yoga Alliance.
Not into yin? Wanna explore the yang side of yoga? I’m also offering a three-hour inversion workshop this Saturday, October 15th. The rest of the month is filled with special events! Check them all out here. And feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
See you at the studio!
Angela