Join us for a class of Yin Yoga on Monday evenings.
What is Yin Yoga?
It’s a great way of getting into slow, deep stretching. In Yin yoga we allow the body to guide us slowly and gently into the posture, and moving in this way we start to reach the deepest layers of connective tissue, the place where we hold residual tension, emotion and stress. Connective tissue (fascia, ligaments and tendons) is considered Yin body tissue (rather than yang body tissue – muscles) and we approach this practice slowly and mindfully allowing the muscles to relax so that we can access the deeper Yin body tissue.
All poses are down lying or sitting on the mat using just gravity to assist us into the pose and props where necessary. Poses are held for a few minutes at a time so that the body can naturally open and stretch in its own time and way. The poses can produce some fairly intense sensations. Therefore there is no forcing, no pushing, we let go of striving and effort and move towards our ‘edge’ or full range-of-motion mindfully, watching what arises from moment to moment.
When we listen to and feel the body’s reactions to the pose we are encouraged to let go of our stories and ideas about how the body should look, feel and move and we start to tap into the body’s innate wisdom. Once we learn to cultivate the quality of listening to the body’s wisdom, it can then guide us to much deeper levels in our practice. In this respect it’s a very empowering practice as the poses bring you face-to-face with your self and all that entails: mind, thoughts, emotions, body, sensations, and as a result, we have the opportunity to become more self-aware and more self-accepting.
Yin Yoga also works on the meridians in the body, releasing stagnant energy and assisting in energy flow throughout the system. The meridians are associated with the organs. The organs have different emotional qualities when the meridian is both in balance and out of balance.
