Why Yin & Why Now?

5 Myths About Yin Yoga

 

Myth 1: Yin just means you hold poses longer.

 

Well, yes…and no.

 

Holding poses longer might be the only thing you know about yin. But that is only one of the three steps in a yin yoga practice. With each asana (pose), you:

• Go to your physical edge, removing muscular effort

• Find stillness in your body, your breath, and your mind

• Wait—allow time and gravity to gently stretch your connective tissue—the fascia surrounding your muscles, your tendons and ligaments

 

Myth 2: Yin is another name for restorative yoga.

 

While both can support and restore your nervous system and both hold the poses longer than in other types of yoga, restorative yoga and yin yoga have different goals. Both remove muscular effort; both may use props to do so. Both are “quieter” and slower forms of yoga, the balance to a more active, faster-paced practice.

 

The key difference? Restorative yoga assumes an injured or ill body that requires support and rest, with all stress on the tissues removed and an intention to bring a body back to baseline, to heal.

 

Yin yoga assumes a healthy and strong body and strives to gently guide it deeper and further than its current limits. By allowing you to find an appropriate amount of “stress” or discomfort for your body in a pose, with appropriate support, yin yoga seeks to stretch and strengthen connective tissue around muscles and bones: it can get to the joints, tendons and ligaments, providing tissue remodeling on a cellular level that ultimately optimizes your body’s potential.

 

Myth 3: You have to be flexible to do yin.

 

Not at all. During a yin yoga practice, multiple adaptations are demonstrated so you find a position that is right for your anatomy and your body. Your “edge” is determined by two limits: tension and compression. Tension arises when you can’t stretch anymore: you’ve found the limit of how far you can bend, extend, twist or relax. Compression stops you when muscle presses against muscle, or bone is stopped by bone.

 

A combination of tension and compression determines how far you can go…today versus yesterday and versus tomorrow. Your edge changes daily and with regular practice, you optimize the health of your connective tissues.

 

No matter how “tight” you think you are, the pace and intention of a yin practice allows you to improve your flexibility in a way that is just right—as Goldilocks would say—for you.

 

 

Myth 4: You have to do a lot of yoga before trying yin.

 

Again…not at all. Start where you are. An older person who has never done yoga can get as much satisfaction and benefit from yin yoga as a young dancer might … the reward is proportional to the body but everyone can benefit.

 

Myth 5: Yin is the only yoga you need.

 

Imagine the Chinese symbol of yin-yang. Yin yoga is the balance to “yang” yoga and activities. “Yang yoga" would be the more active and muscular practices: Hatha, Ashtanga, Iyengar…”yang activities” are those that keep us moving, striving, using our muscles and thoughts with great effort, racing around from place to place and moment to moment.

 

Yin allows you to slow down, rest, think, release…to balance a frenetic pace.

 

If you think of yourself as someone who always needs the adrenaline rush of an intense workout, consider the satisfaction you feel when you let yourself rest. Yin is the cool drink you savor while sitting in the sun after a 30-mile bike ride, an hour swim, or a morning run.. It's the stillness of a quiet room when the music turns off or a crowd dissipates. You don’t need just one or the other. You need both to feel fulfilled. You need yin.