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Yin yoga: be part of the yin crowd | Life and style | The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/05/yin-yoga-c...

Yin yoga: be part of the yin crowd


Forget fast-paced ashtanga or sweaty Bikram slow, simple yin yoga is the class
to choose if you want to calm the mind and stretch the body. Just make sure
you wear some warm clothes
Geraldine Beirne
Monday 5 January 2015 08.00GMT

he benets attributed to yoga increased exibility and strength,


more energy and better posture should be enough to get anyone
on the mat, especially now there is a plethora of classes to choose
from if you want to work on your core, break a sweat or even learn
handstands. But what is on oer for those who just want to relax, or
runners and amateur athletes who want the benets of stretching
without exhausting themselves for future training sessions?
Yin yoga can complement an already active life or help those who feel
distracted by mind chatter. Constantly emailing, texting and posting
social media updates has led, for some, to mental overload and a
feeling that we are not good enough or achieving enough. Yin yoga can
provide an antidote to this.
Ten years ago, there was but one regular yin yoga class in London. Now
there are about 50, and classes are springing up around the country as
people feel the need to slow down and just be.
The term yin yoga comes from the Taoist tradition. Yang relates to
movement, often repetitive movement, creating heat in the body. Yin
is about nding stillness and cooling the body. And, the theory goes,
we need both to come into balance to stay in optimum condition.
Running and cycling are yang activities. Even some vigorous forms of
yoga, such as ashtanga vinyasa and Bikram yoga (the hot one!) are
arguably overwhelmingly yang. But if you focus only on the yang,
your body can suer from fatigue and burnout.
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Yin yoga: be part of the yin crowd | Life and style | The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/05/yin-yoga-c...

Yin yoga is practised sitting or lying on the oor. There are no planks,
no warriors, no core work. No dynamic sun salutations. No standing
poses. The pace is slow, so you need to wear comfortable, warm
clothes and maybe keep your socks on. The classes should be suitable
for beginners and more experienced practitioners alike.
You can expect forward bends with legs together or apart, lunges and
gentle backbends poses that are commonly practised in dynamic
yoga classes. But heres the key dierence: in yin yoga, they are held
for a longer period of time to increase exibility in that part of the
body. Instead of holding for ve breaths, as in an ashtanga vinyasa
class, in a yin class they could be held for between two and 20
minutes, although ve is more usual.
Yin yoga also dispenses with the Sanskrit names of the poses in favour
of descriptive English. So in one class you will encounter evocatively
named poses such as buttery, swan, dragon and twisted roots.
The reason behind these longer holds involves a short lesson in
anatomy. Our bodies are made up of yang and yin tissues. Muscles are
yang, so in order to be strengthened they must be subject to yang
activity (repetitive movement, creating heat). Shorter holds, dynamic
stretching (eg sun salutations) and running, cycling etc target yang
tissue muscles.
Longer, static holds enable us to access yin tissue fascia and
connective tissue. We need the combination of yang and yin to keep
the joints healthy. Teeth are an example of a very yin part of the body.
If you wanted to change and shape the position of your teeth, you
wouldnt knock or hammer away at them quickly, but rather apply
extremely gentle pressure over a long period of time months or years
(ie bracing).
So what is fascia? Fascia is the buzzword in the anatomy world. For so
long, we were educated in muscles how to stretch them and how to
build them. But our muscles are encased in fascia, a continuous web of
tissue that weaves in and around not only our muscles but also our
organs, nerves and lymph. It is rather like a silk body stocking, only it
is inside our bodies. The whiteish, sometimes glistening bres you see
when you pull a piece of meat apart that is fascia. And to keep it

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Yin yoga: be part of the yin crowd | Life and style | The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/05/yin-yoga-c...

healthy and springy, we need to keep it hydrated and we need to apply


pressure to it with these longer holds.
Yin yoga was developed by teachers for students of meditation who
found it too painful or dicult to sit on the oor for long periods of
time. It is no surprise, then, to learn that yin yoga while being a very
eective way to open tight hips and hamstrings also goes hand in
hand with mindfulness practices. Teachers of yin provide guidance
during the class showing people how to observe the breath and use
this as a way to focus on the present moment, allowing thoughts and
feelings to arise but practising the art of sitting with them and
watching them without getting involved before letting them fade
away. The mind chatter is lessened and the volume turned down
on persistent and negative thought patterns. The hope is that we
develop mindfulness skills that can be transferred from the mat to
everyday life. When we are stuck in worry or frustration, we can bring
the same kind of attention to the sensations of the body and the
workings of our mind and stay with them for a time.
On a mental and emotional level, the practice allows the body to drop
down into the parasympathetic nervous system, and therefore
becomes deeply healing and nourishing. Practitioners report that it is
grounding, calming and revitalising, with profound energetic and
emotional eects.
Yin yoga is a simple, quiet practice, but make no mistake it is not
always an easy or comfortable one. One of the leading teachers of yin
yoga, Bernie Clark, says: Yin yoga is not meant to be comfortable; it
will take you well outside your comfort zone. Much of the benet of
the practice will come from staying in this zone of discomfort, despite
the minds urgent pleas to leave.
But if you can stick with it, people who regularly attend yin yoga
classes say it stimulates perception and awareness of the quality and
joy of the breath, and therefore of life itself.
More features

Topics
Yoga Meditation Fitness Health & wellbeing

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Yin yoga: be part of the yin crowd | Life and style | The Guardian

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