Yin Yoga
Yin yoga class Thursdays at 7.15pm
Most forms of yoga today are dynamic, active practices designed to work only half of our body, the muscular half, the "yang" tissues. Yin yoga allows us to work the other half the deeper "yin" tissues of our ligaments, joints, deep fascial networks and even our bones. Yin yoga is like strength and conditioning for the joints and fascia.
Put simply, Yin yoga is relaxing and disengaging your muscles, going to the gentle edge of a pose where you feel a mild to moderate stress on your tissues and sustaining that pose from 2 to 10 minutes, while staying present and aware.
Alarms bells may ring when you hear yoga, which for many equals stretching, and ligaments. Yin yoga is more about gentle stressing of ligaments and other yin tissues rather than stretching. Injuries easily occur in any joint subjected to a fast hard stretch. The key to Yin Yoga is that a gentle pressure is applied for a sustained length of time. This gentle pressure stimulates your yin tissues to grow stronger.
Yin yoga also has a very different mental attitude compared with the yang active forms of yoga. Yin yoga is about allowing, yielding and just being where you are in any pose. Yang poses are full of actions and doing, "Engage the core", "ground through your feet". Developing this attitude of acceptance in your practice can be useful to take off your yoga mat and into your every day life. This attitude helps you to allow and accept things that happen in your life that you can't control.
During the Yin poses, you are guided through different breathing and awareness techniques to help you cultivate this attitude and stay present with your awareness. These methods also help to circulate the energy around your body to keep you healthy and vibrant. Many people find these techniques to be a good stepping stone from asana, the physical practice of yoga, to meditation. Furthermore the freeing up of the joints also physically prepares the body for sitting in meditation.
Yin yoga targets the energy meridian lines of the body. Different series of poses affect different meridian lines as they apply stress to the tissues containg the meridians, for example the Kidney or the Liver line. Energy meridians in yin yoga come from the Daoist, ancient Chinese medicine tradition. They sometimes have a bit of overlap with the Western view of the organ but are more related to an energetic function. The meridian lines affect our mental and emotional state as well as our physical energy.
The Liver for example from a Chinese point of view controls the amount of blood in circulation and as such is important for the vitality of all parts of the body. Weakness of liver can be seen in the eyes and tendons and we can suffer from anger problems. Practicing a Yin liver sequence prevents Liver energy weakness or helps to restore it when it has already been depleted. No matter which yin sequence or meridian the yin practice focuses on they all result in your energy flowing easier around the body. This is sometimes very obvious when the circulation returns to an area that had become a bit blocked.
At the end of a Yin Yoga session you are likely to feel deeply relaxed. If the body has been burnt out and depleted Yin yoga can result in a very deep healing sleep. On the other hand if the energy in the body had just stagnated Yin Yoga can result in a burst of energy.
Yin Yoga and Yang Yoga are complementary practices and it is great if you have the time to practice both during your week. Yoga is all about balance and finding out how much active practices, be it flow yoga, running, sport and how much Yin Yoga you need depends on tuning in and listening to your body.
Overall, Yin yoga results in feeling more blissful, peaceful, more fluid movement around joints and more vibrant.
Most forms of yoga today are dynamic, active practices designed to work only half of our body, the muscular half, the "yang" tissues. Yin yoga allows us to work the other half the deeper "yin" tissues of our ligaments, joints, deep fascial networks and even our bones. Yin yoga is like strength and conditioning for the joints and fascia.
Put simply, Yin yoga is relaxing and disengaging your muscles, going to the gentle edge of a pose where you feel a mild to moderate stress on your tissues and sustaining that pose from 2 to 10 minutes, while staying present and aware.
Alarms bells may ring when you hear yoga, which for many equals stretching, and ligaments. Yin yoga is more about gentle stressing of ligaments and other yin tissues rather than stretching. Injuries easily occur in any joint subjected to a fast hard stretch. The key to Yin Yoga is that a gentle pressure is applied for a sustained length of time. This gentle pressure stimulates your yin tissues to grow stronger.
Yin yoga also has a very different mental attitude compared with the yang active forms of yoga. Yin yoga is about allowing, yielding and just being where you are in any pose. Yang poses are full of actions and doing, "Engage the core", "ground through your feet". Developing this attitude of acceptance in your practice can be useful to take off your yoga mat and into your every day life. This attitude helps you to allow and accept things that happen in your life that you can't control.
During the Yin poses, you are guided through different breathing and awareness techniques to help you cultivate this attitude and stay present with your awareness. These methods also help to circulate the energy around your body to keep you healthy and vibrant. Many people find these techniques to be a good stepping stone from asana, the physical practice of yoga, to meditation. Furthermore the freeing up of the joints also physically prepares the body for sitting in meditation.
Yin yoga targets the energy meridian lines of the body. Different series of poses affect different meridian lines as they apply stress to the tissues containg the meridians, for example the Kidney or the Liver line. Energy meridians in yin yoga come from the Daoist, ancient Chinese medicine tradition. They sometimes have a bit of overlap with the Western view of the organ but are more related to an energetic function. The meridian lines affect our mental and emotional state as well as our physical energy.
The Liver for example from a Chinese point of view controls the amount of blood in circulation and as such is important for the vitality of all parts of the body. Weakness of liver can be seen in the eyes and tendons and we can suffer from anger problems. Practicing a Yin liver sequence prevents Liver energy weakness or helps to restore it when it has already been depleted. No matter which yin sequence or meridian the yin practice focuses on they all result in your energy flowing easier around the body. This is sometimes very obvious when the circulation returns to an area that had become a bit blocked.
At the end of a Yin Yoga session you are likely to feel deeply relaxed. If the body has been burnt out and depleted Yin yoga can result in a very deep healing sleep. On the other hand if the energy in the body had just stagnated Yin Yoga can result in a burst of energy.
Yin Yoga and Yang Yoga are complementary practices and it is great if you have the time to practice both during your week. Yoga is all about balance and finding out how much active practices, be it flow yoga, running, sport and how much Yin Yoga you need depends on tuning in and listening to your body.
Overall, Yin yoga results in feeling more blissful, peaceful, more fluid movement around joints and more vibrant.
BENEFITS OF YIN YOGA
- Strengthens and conditions the Yin Tissues, the ligaments, fascia and bone.
- Creates more fluidity in the joints
- Slows you down in a busy world
- Cultivates an attitude of awareness and acceptance.
- Prepares your body and mind for meditation
- Helps the energy flow around your body
- Improves your overall health and immunity
- Makes your body, heart and mind vibrant
- Allows you to deeply relax
