What Is Yin Yoga?

By Author: vedansha
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What is Yin yoga?

This practice is designed to aid you to sit longer & more comfortably, in meditation by stretching connective tissue around your joints like knees, pelvis, sacrum & spine. A passive practice, yin yoga involves variations of supine poses and seated held for 3-5 minutes, accessing deeper layers of fascia. This yoga was originally introduced by Paulik Zink. Paulie teaches a practice informed by hid background of martial arts, which over the years has been called Yin and Yong yoga. It was Paul Grilley who developed Yin yoga as we know it today. While Yang yoga practices physically target the superficial muscles, in yin yoga, we target the ligaments, bones, joints and deep fascia networks. A yin class usually consists of a series of passive floor poses held for up to 5 minutes or more and it mainly works the lower part of the body i.e. The hips, inner thighs, lower spine. These areas are rich in connective tissues.

Who is yin yoga for?

Our world bombards us with the spur, 24/7, keeping the minds constantly busy with processing all the information which is thrown at it. Whether the information ...
... is rubbish or valuable, it does not matter. The mind still needs to deal with this. Eventually, we get used to that level of stimulus & start to crave it if things become quiet. So we end up browsing it does not matter what as long as we fill the gaps. Any form of dynamic yoga caters to this aspect of keeping ourselves engage, although the mind can calm down as a result of active exercise, we are still feeding the part of us which carves intensity & wants to be stimulated. I am not saying or encouraging you to cut out the dynamic yoga, just try to balance all the occupied aspects of life. And a wonderful way to do that is by practicing Yin yoga.

Yin yoga and your body

Yin yoga works on the yin tissues also called the connective tissues. These tissues respond best to a steady and slow load which is why we hold the poses for longer. If you gently stretch yin tissues by holding a yin pose for longer in this way, your body will respond by making it a bit longer & stronger that is exactly what you want. Different yin yoga poses stimulate & remove the blockage to the myofascial meridians in your body, which in turn balances the internal organs of body and system. Yin yoga requires the muscles to relax around the yin tissue to get a stretch, so not every yoga pose can be done effectively or safely when practicing yin style yoga.
Tips for practicing yin yoga
1. Find the appropriate edge
• Move slowly & gently into the pose. Do not go straight to a maximum in the pose & never stretch so far as to cause pain.
1. Stillness
• Consciously try to release into the pose, & to remain still, without fidgeting or shifting position very much.
1. Hold the position
• withholding a pose for 1-2 minutes and progress to 5 minutes or more
To know deeply about Yin Yoga, join Yin yoga teacher training at vedansha, Rishikesh, India.