The re-emergence of slow yoga – Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra
Yin yoga has gained in popularity over recent years. One of the biggest aspects of our recent global lockdown is that many of us who were existing in a world of constant activity, high stress levels and a punishing exercise routine were suddenly thrust into involuntary passivity. Friends of mine who were gym addicts were the hardest hit – finding ways to do their old workouts in their gardens or in their homes. They were literally terrified of life with no access to the rewarding dopamine hits of vigorous exercise.
For me, my reliance on good old mindful walking and a personal yoga practice got me through, and I began teaching yoga on Zoom. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I had more students for my Yin class than my modified Ashtanga class, because it seemed that what people were dealing with was a new kind of stress brought on by enforced captivity, uncertainty over the future of their employment, and fear for their loved ones. Suddenly, high-intensity work-outs and dopamine highs just weren’t hitting the mark.
Yin yoga’s had a huge boost over lockdown, when people realised they had the time to try new things, along with baking their own bread, or finishing that novel they’d always been meaning to write. Yin has the reputation of being relaxing, which it is, but it is not to be confused with Restorative yoga, which truly is a practice of full relaxation. Many yoga teachers add what they call Yin to the end of their classes as a warm down, but in reality, their resting poses on multiple bolsters and cushions are Restorative. (I’ll come on to Yoga Nidra and how that fits in this triumvirate of ‘slow yoga’ below).
Just like Indian yoga, Yin yoga has been practiced for over 2,000 years in China and Taiwan, having been passed down to martial artists, including the founder of Yin Yoga as we know it today, Taoist yoga teacher, Paulie Zink, who began to teach Yin as we know it in the late 1970s.
Just as Indian yoga works to improve the bodily flow of prana (energy/life force) through our nadis (pranic channels), the Chinese approach uses a similar concept of chi (qi) and meridians.
Finding a balance to this flow is central to both Indian and Chinese practices, and both are aimed at improving the flow of energy, and our physical and emotional wellbeing.
Whilst Indian yoga has been turned into a work-out in the Western world where exercise needs to be punishing before it can be considered effective, Yin has retained its elements of slowness, held poses and the balancing of yin (passive, dark, cool) and yang (active, light, warm) energies.
Our chi channels, meridians, are believed to have been created by our connective tissue and this is where Yin yoga finds its focus, with poses being held for 1-3 minutes to allow our ‘fascia’ to release. (Fascia is the thin casing of connective tissue that surrounds every muscle, organ, blood vessel, bone, and nerve fibre.)
During this time, we are encouraged to sit quietly with ourselves, to make ourselves aware of all the sensations of each pose, and to find the next ‘edge’ in our bodies as the fascia releases.
Yes, we relax as much as possible in a pose, but sometimes ‘yang’ energy is required to provide a countertension, for instance, pushing into the forearms and engaging the glutes in Sphinx/Seal pose to relieve stress on the lower back.
As someone who has always been prohibitively ‘tight’ in the lower body in regular yoga, I wish I’d found Yin yoga years ago, perhaps even as a child when I struggled to lift my legs in my beloved ballet class. Someone recently told me that for them, Yin was a game-changer when it came to improving their technique in an Ashtanga class and I can fully believe it.
Let’s take Yin’s Caterpillar pose, otherwise known as paschimottanasana, the classic seated forward fold from your ‘yang’ classes. (A tight lower back or hamstrings can be supported with cushions or rolled blankets under the knees and hips.) Not only does this held pose stimulate the urinary meridian, it encourages relaxation of the mind, improving our inner strength, optimism and courage. I have found that as a teacher, talking about these physical and emotional benefits in class really helps students engage with the poses.
Similarly, Lying Butterfly pose (aka Supta Baddha Konasana) stimulates the heart and our circulation, as well as the kidney meridian. It can also help to relieve the symptoms of stress and mild depression as well as bringing you peace and calm. Once you bring your feet together and allow your knees to drop to the sides, you can choose to rest back on your elbows, lie back on a bolster or rest on the floor. One of the key benefits of a Yin Yoga YTT is to show you all the different modification options you can offer students. And in a class situation, because it is slow, there is time to find the right modification to suit.
Yoga Nidra takes us back once again to ancient Indian roots, a technique which takes relaxation to a deeply meditative level. Like meditation, the practice asks us to concentrate, to focus on what we want from it, before spending time on awareness of breath, of sensations in the body, our emotions and thoughts. We are encouraged to observe those thoughts and emotions purely as non-judgemental, unattached witnesses, as those things are not our true selves. Yoga Nidra can be taught as an extension of Savasana at the end of class, or increasingly, on its own. It can help with insomnia, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, and help release negative thought patterns.
Like many yogis out there, I am becoming reliant on a slow, self-practice, working on awareness of physical sensations and witnessing passing thoughts and emotions as I move towards meditation. I have combined the asanas of my former ‘yang’ practice and slowed them to Yin levels. I think about how many people I could pass this practice on to and how many would find it helpful. Maybe it’s time to start teaching again.
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