Every day I discover more about the all-encompassing philosophy and practices of yoga. I think I could spend my whole life studying the history and traditions and still only uncover a tiny part.
Both yin and yang asana practices are equally important to bring balance to our life. Asana; meaning the physical practice or expression of yoga- more blogs to come about this).
Yang styles of yoga; the most commonly practiced styles of yoga (Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga). Yang style practices can vary but focus on muscular movement, strength and power. Holding postures for 3-10 breaths. Flow styles focus on uniting the breath with movement; inhale raise your arms up, exhale fold forward; head to knee.
Yin Yoga; focuses on our connective tissue and joints. We trying to soften our body, not using or contracting our muscles. Yin poses are held for a longer period of time; 3-10 minutes. In the yoga community, there is still some judgement around yin yoga- people say it is a lazy, easy style of yoga. From my own experience I can say yin is anything but easy. There is discomfort found the stillness. There is difficultly in quieting the mind, letting go and being fully absorbed in the practice.
Yin is often compared to restorative yoga. It is similar in the sense that it allows your body to reset and recharge. However, the deeper you go into a posture, the more intense it can become, making the practice more intense and less gentle than restorative.
Each practice allows us to unite our breath, body and mind in very different ways.
My yoga journey has been a journey of self-discovery. I have recognised that yoga will give you exactly what you need at each stage of your life. When I say stage- I mean we can move fluidly back and forth through these stages. Through tough “stages”; when our lives are chaotic, our body and mind may be seeking stillness. This is when yin yoga can become our main practice.
When we need inspiration or oomph, when we need strength and vigour, we may want to focus more and a yang style of practice.
This can change on a daily basis, our feelings, our emotions are fluid. When we start to tune in to how we feel, we can change our practice depending on what we need. This has been a very empowering discovery for me…
Over the last few years, my life- especially my “athletic” life has changed dramatically. I have gone from a tiny, 49 kg, long distance runner who ran 80+ a week and practiced a very “strong” type of yoga. To a person who has learned to slow down. I have had to let go of my ideas of strenuous exercise and seek balance. I have started to practice self-love through exercise not self-hate.
Yin is a beautiful yet challenging way to practice this way of thinking…
Principles of Yin
1. Find YOUR edge. Only you will know your edge, a teacher can guide a class and provide support- however, only you can feel what a posture feels like in your body. Everyone will have a different edge, this is about your body and your practice no-one else’s.
This is tough, leaving your ego at the door. Letting go of your expectations. Stopping yourself from going deeper- the hardest principle for me. Flexibility is often my biggest strength in practising asanas. I have had to relearn not to push or force my body in a posture- allowing gravity and time to deepen the stretch not my own ego.
I found this principle easier to understand when “edges” are thought of in different stages. For example, we want to find our soft edge first, tingling or tensing facial muscles will give you a good indication that you are too deep- which turns a more yang style practice. You will be invited to go deeper with gravity and time. For example, your pigeon pose may feel different from the start (finding your soft edge) to 5 minutes. Your “edge” deepens as time passes.
Use your breath as guide; if you can take long, deep breaths
2. Resolve to be still. Allowing the body to be in complete stillness as it absorbs the pose.
-To make sure your body can stay completely still. Fill the gaps between you in and the
ground; with a rolled-up towel, blanket, block or bolster. This prevents us holding ourselves in a pose; allowing the body to relax and to open. For example; if you are in child pose place a blanket or block between your forehead and the ground. Allowing your body to soften and relax without strain.
How often do we resolve to be completely still for 5 minutes in a day? Often, we can sit still, but our hands are on the keypad, our eyes moving up and down on the screen and our mind is running hill sprints.
When our body is still, our mind has permission to do full on cartwheels and backflips. This is beauty of practicing yin. As we practice, it becomes easier to find stillness in our body and our mind.
At first if your mind may be overwhelmed with thoughts.
Find an anchor that works for you- something that allows you to focus and be in the present moment.
-Try focusing on your breath…many people say that but what does it actually mean? Focus on the feeling of your breath, how does it feel to inhale through your nose and into your lungs, is it warm, does your tummy expand to receive oxygen? Connecting our mind to our breath can be a very frustrating thing at first. We try, our mind wanders, we remember, it feels “boring”, our mind wanders. However, just as our muscles build in strength and fixability our mind grows.
-Try inhaling for the count of three and exhaling for the count of five. You can play with the numbers, finding what feels good for you- make sure the number is slightly bigger for the exhale. Practice now: inhale, 1…..2….3…. exhale, 1…..2….3….4….5.
-Try scanning your body- visualise an MRI scan through your body, from the top of your head to the tip of your toes. Observing any tension or tightness washing away.
- Try focusing on the music, the melody, the rhythm.
Try all of them and find something that feels good and resonates with you- you are more likely to continue the practice if it feels good. We need controlled discomfort. The discomfort is important but not if it completely puts you off practising.
3. Holding the pose for time
I recently read “the longer you can stay in the pose the more benefit you will get” I think with in reason this is correct. You don’t want to be holding a pose for hours and hours. However, if you can build up to holding a pose for 10 minutes, your body and mind will open up in ways you have never felt before.
SLOWLY ease out of a posture, the slower the better.
Honour your body. Approach your yin practice with self-love and compassion. Only you know how a posture feels in your body. Back off when the sensation feels too intense. Yin should be passive, surrender your body and your mind. Give yourself this time to reset and recharge. Emotions and feelings may arise.
We tend to store a lot of our emotions in our hips, especially women. Our body is an archive of our full life. It stores all our memories, our emotions and our experiences. When we practice yoga, we begin to open parts of the body that hold these difficult emotions.
Be mindfully that you may experience deep emotions during or after this practice.
Journaling can be a really great way to offload some of these emotions after your physical practice. Writing has truly helped me on this journey. Grab a pen and a piece of paper and just write. With no judgement. You don’t even have to reread it. Just allow what ever wants to come out to come out. Even if you rip it up and bin it afterwards. You have let go, you allowed whatever came up to move through you. It won’t consciously or unconsciously hold you back anymore.
This can be such a cathartic healing process. Removing the stuck, unhelpful emotions and making room for so much more good things in our lives.
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