Yin yoga

A balm of calm

Yin is a style of yoga that can really bring up “the issues in your tissues” and like all yoga styles, has a many layered effect on the body, breath and mind.

Traditional Chinese Medicine wisdom, upon which Yin yoga is based, offers fascinating, comprehensive and practical ways to navigate through health and healing by acknowledging and celebrating how integrated we are with the seasons of the earth, the elements and the channels of energy that run through our bodies.

Yin poses are mostly floor based where we target a particular area or areas in the body while ideally relaxing the muscles around the targeted joints. By holding a shape for between 3 to 5 minutes, we allow sufficient time to “stress” the fascia*, (connective tissue) and enhance hydration of the tissues which increases their health and resilience.**

This slow practice can sometimes be confronting as we stay in stillness, potentially going beyond our comfort zone (but never, as in all yoga, into pain). We carefully and gently take our time to exit poses and balance the practice with sufficient rest and recovery time between poses so that our tissues can recalibrate and gain strength.

Through a well balanced Yin yoga practice, mental agitation may be transformed into mindful serenity, emotional trauma may be healed, our physiological functioning may improve, our energy may flow more freely and we generally feel much more relaxed. We allow our nervous system to be nourished and replenished.

If any poses feel too intense or not right for your body, softer more restorative alternatives are always an option. Listen to the signals in your body and adjust your shape to suit your needs.