By Sarah Henderson, Summersalt Yoga teacher

Yin yoga is a very slow, passive yoga practice, that increases the range of motion in your joints, and cultivates mindfulness and emotional well-being. Yin poses were designed to prepare the body and mind for deeper and longer periods of seated meditation. If you’ve thought about beginning a meditation practice, Yin is a nice introduction and will give you a taste of the benefits of meditation.

The benefits of practicing Yin yoga can be felt in your body, your mind, and your heart. After practicing Yin you may experience reduced anxiety and stress, greater balance and connection between your mind and body, and increased flexibility and mobility in your joints. Consider Yin yoga as a complement to the “yang” aspects of your life – vigorous exercise, Vinyasa yoga, or a hectic and busy day.

Yin is considered a cooling practice and works to actively stress and strengthen the connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, fascia) in and around your joints. These tissues are known as your “Yin” tissues.

Why would you want to stress your Yin tissues?

The fibres that make up your ligaments, tendons, and fascia in and around your joints can become “wrinkled” over time, leading to decreased mobility and range of motion in your joints. We want to smooth out these tissues, ironing out the “wrinkles”, making them thicker and stronger. Yin tissues are not elastic like your muscles; they are plastic, and can only safely stretch 4-11% of their length. We need a slow, deliberate, supported physical practice to safely stress and strengthen the fibres making up the Yin tissues. Yin yoga poses provide safe, effective, and gentle pressures to the plastic tissues of your body.

So how do we “stress” these tissues?

We physically access the Yin tissues by supporting the skeletal body with props, which keeps your muscles inactive. Every time you move, your muscles contract or lengthen. You need to keep your body supported so your muscles are not active during a pose, so your Yin tissues can absorb the “stress” of the pose.

What should you expect during a Yin yoga practice?

Yin poses are and held for significantly longer than in other forms of yoga – typically 1-5 minutes, with some poses being held up to 15 minutes.

• You will first move into a pose, finding your first edge – an appropriate point of resistance in your body. How will you know where that is? Listen to your body and your breath – they will let you know. Your breath should stay smooth, natural and even. If it becomes short, forced or unnatural, you are too deep in the pose.
• Check in with yourself – are you feeling anything resembling pain, electrical feelings, numbness, or tingling? If you are, back out of the pose immediately. You can expect to feel discomfort while holding a pose, but should never feel any resemblance of pain, or continue to stay in a pose while feeling pain.
• Support your body with props. You want to make sure that your muscles aren’t engaged for a long period of time in an effort to support your skeleton. As you can imagine, if you tried holding a pose for 10 minutes without anything to rest on, your muscles would be burning!
• Resist the urge to fidget. Once you’ve found an appropriate depth in your body, allow your muscles to become inactive. Remember that to access and stress the yin tissues you need to keep your muscles still. Relax and let your body sink deeply into your props and your mat.
• While holding the pose you may feel all sorts of sensations: impatience, boredom, calm, or contentment, to name a few. Don’t judge your feelings – simply be aware of them. Stay present during your practice, and mindful of what you’re feeling for the duration of each pose.
• If your mind is wandering, bring your attention to your breathing. As your body becomes still, so will your breath, and as your breath becomes still and quiet, so will your mind.

With continued practice, you can expect to feel positive changes in your body, mind, and heart. Because Yin yoga demands your attention to your breath, emotions, and the sensations you’re feeling in your body, the practice cultivates self-awareness and a strong mind-body-heart connection.

While holding each pose, you will have time to feel all your emotions as they arise, and you’ll learn to sit and breathe through them. The slow, steady, rhythmic breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, fostering feelings of peace and calm. You may notice improved sleep quality, reduced stress and anxiety, and increased emotional well-being. Physically, you may begin to notice an improved range of motion in your hips, pelvis, and spine, and overall increased mobility and flexibility within your body.

There are also energetic benefits to practicing Yin yoga – a subject of its own that I will have to detail in another post!

If you’re curious about the physical, emotional, and mental benefits of Yin yoga, or if you’ve been considering starting a meditation practice but don’t know where to start, give yin yoga a try!

Start or deepen your yin yoga practice with these resources:

References:

Clark, Bernie. (2012). The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga – The Philosophy & Practice of Yin Yoga, White Cloud Press, Ashland, OR. 
Yin Yoga 50 Hour Teacher Training & Intensive course notes. Bernie Clark & Diana Batts, Semperviva Yoga, Vancouver, BC.

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Yin Yoga appeared first on Summersalt Yoga Retreats.

By Sarah Henderson, Summersalt yoga teacher

What’s the difference between the active, yang classes and restorative, yin classes practised at the retreats and elsewhere? Let’s take a look!

Yang/Sun sessions: Hatha Flow/Vinyasa:

Greet and salute the sun with movement timed to flow with your breath. Feel the fluidity and connection of moving your body with your breath, and oxygenating your blood with deep breathing.

Find a lighthearted sense of play in your practice, challenge yourself, and find a deeper progression in your practice over the course of the retreat. Tune into the quality of your breathing to find your edge, and cultivate a balance between effort and ease. These classes will challenge, awaken and energize you. Honour yourself, your body, and your energy with choices in your movements, modifications, and options. Strengthen your arms, shoulders, and core by playing with supported balancing poses and inversions. Feel a progressive opening in your hips, hamstrings, and spine as you stretch your muscles daily, and develop a keen sense of body awareness. Find an inner focus in these moving meditation classes themed for introspection, balance, and self-awareness. End each morning session with a well deserved Savasana and Meditation that allows space to feel the effects of your practice. Leave feeling refreshed and ready to meet your day.

Yin/Moon sessions: Yin/Restorative:

These classes are designed for restoration, relaxation, surrender, release, and stillness. Continue to explore your inner landscape with curiosity, vulnerability, and love.

Embrace your moon energy during these classes to balance out the fiery sun energy from our morning class and from your day’s activities. We will work through supported, long-held pose sequences for lower back and spinal tension release, hip opening, and heart and shoulder opening. We will use props so your muscles and body can fully let go and release any tension. These sessions will activate your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest), with Yin poses that will increase the range of motion in your joints, and Restorative poses that allow you to be as comfortable as possible so you can “restore” your nervous system and prepare for a blissful and restful sleep. We close the day in gratitude and appreciation. There will always be a blissful Savasana to close each evening session. Float away feeling fully renewed and restored.

During the retreat week:

I invite you to let go of expectations for yourself, let go of the stresses of your day to day life – from work or other, be present for yourself, and consider this to be a week of self-care and discovery, and play. I will hold space for you to explore and tap into your own inner wisdom. Find freedom and space each day to explore your truth, honor your body, and live in alignment with your natural rhythms.

We will work on easing the chatter in the mind, cultivating stillness, and fostering self-study through our daily practices. Exploring the spaces in between – the silent moments in between breaths, the breaths where you close your eyes and move deeper into a pose, the incredibly powerful Savasana at the end of each practice. Through our daily meditation, we will centre and ground, learning to witness what we are feeling at that moment, practising acceptance and non-attachment, observing whatever arises without judgment.

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By Brigid Brennan, yoga teacher

There is a soft underbelly to yoga, which remains less explored than the flowing vinyasa style found in studios worldwide. Restorative yoga is the yin to the yang, the soft and subtle versus the active and dynamic. This practice calms the body, the mind and the spirit. Developing restorative yoga as a practice leads one to a place of greater peace, clarity, and acceptance of life as it is.

Restorative yoga is the slow and steady, sweet surrender that comes with holding poses for a prolonged period while grounded and supported on the mat. Props such as blankets, blocks, bolsters, and straps are used to allow the body to fully relax – something we don’t often give ourselves permission to do. The sense of release that occurs in each posture is similar to the feelings of contentedness and bliss experienced during savasana at the end of any style of class.

Within the restorative practice, compared to vinyasa or power yoga, there is a slowing down of the senses that occurs. Pausing in each position, we are able to take into account our true feelings in the present moment, instead of trying to escape them. The key is to sit with any thoughts or feelings that arise. Staying connected to the breath and slowing down the thoughts enough to analyze and release them is the inner working of restorative yoga.

While the body remains still, the steady flow of air in and out of the body becomes the main focus of attention. This slows the heart rate, which creates a shift into a state of processing and healing. The body is given a chance to recuperate, relaxing the sympathetic nervous system to allow for more ease of digestion, respiration, cellular regeneration, and other bodily functions.

This state of relaxation provides an opportunity for healing as well, whether from an injury, trauma, or intense emotional experience. We shift into harmony with ourselves and come to terms with exactly what is happening in the body, mind, and spirit. Fully supported by props on the mat, we enter into a state of acceptance of everything as it is.

Simply being, rather than doing, is the aim and purpose of this practice. In this space of ease and comfort, something magical happens. We let go of thinking we need to go somewhere, do something, or be someone. We simply allow ourselves to BE exactly as we are – magnificent in and of ourselves.

Don’t be afraid to dive deep into your darkness and explore unknown corridors of your soul. Many people avoid slowing down because then true thoughts and feelings surface and make themselves known. However, this is the only way to gain clarity on your life’s situation- by fully realizing what the body stores, and finding ways to release.

Letting go of what no longer serves you brings greater clarity and presence into your daily life. Developing a regular practice will help you feel content within your body, more at peace, less reactive, and more able to take on challenges as they come your way. Taking time to slow down is the best way to benefit your health, and truly be the best version of yourself. Restorative yoga is an ideal practice to incorporate these benefits into your whole being- body, mind and spirit.

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