When talking to students about the stiller practices, people say to me, ‘I just can’t sit still in the yin poses’ or ‘I just like the flow yoga more…’
YIN can be a challenging because it demands of us something that is so opposite to how most of us live our daily lives. Due to the many demands of modern living; supporting children, pets, elderly parents whilst maintaining jobs, keeping up a movement routine, cooking real food, we are constantly in motion, constantly multitasking and YIN invites us to slow down so that we can reflect, take stock and check-in.
From the outside YIN can look easy…
You get in a pose and you hold it…
But holding it and staying STILL in the shape, sitting with the discomfort is where the challenge comes.
Part of YIN is about letting go - the irony being that as we shy away from YIN we are perpetuating our need to control life.
As we continue to try to control we, in essence, hold ourselves back, or at least some part of ourselves.
We listen to the brain rather than the body.
We fear what we might find inside if we allow ourselves to sit still long enough to look.
Yet this is where the magic is…
This is where the learning is...
This is where we can, with gentle compassion, sit with what scares us.
There are so many physiological benefits of a YIN practice! To be honest I really feel they are endless but I wanted to spell out a few here to really highlight the YIN power:
BALANCE in the bodies TENSEGRITY SYSTEM : we are a continuous net of tension (think of it like a trampoline). If one spring of your trampoline becomes weak or broken and cannot support you this could put tension somewhere else in your tension system. That then places unwanted pressure on joints and joint structures (leading to herniated discs, joint degeneration etc).
HYDRATION OF THE FASCIAL TISSUES - for our fascial tissues to be adaptable and pliable they need to be hydrated - they depend on water for their integrity, providing resistance, resilience and structure. The water cushions the body from physical trauma and supports mechanical functional movement. If we are dehydrated there is more friction (due to a reduction of fluid) between the crosslinks of the collagen fibres in the fascia which limits our ability to move and the (ROM) around the joints. This can also interfere with biomechanics messengers. In a YIN practice targeted pressure / compression in certain areas of the body i.e. leveraging your own body weight onto yourself in poses helps to draw fluid (water) back into the fascial tissue via the GAG's which act like little sponges. This protects, lubricates, relives joint compression, supports transmission of information through the nerve fibres, supports blood flow and reduces joint inflammation.
RESTORES normal RANGE OF MOTION (ROM) - In a YIN practice we are PASSIVELY stretching i.e. there is little or no muscular contraction. This is really important as we can't make active ROM without passive ROM. Passive ROM helps prepare the muscles for active use.
YIN can stimulate your PARASYMPATHETIC part of your NERVOUS SYSTEM i.e. your relaxation response which in turn helps to release muscle tension and we all need a little bit of this! There are sensory receptors in the fascia called Ruffini Endings that respond to the slow constant pressure of the held YIN poses. Why is this important? Well living more in our PSNS will help improve our mood, strengthen immune function, improve digestion, reduce blood pressure and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.
If you are one of those people that tends to shy away from YIN then have another go after reading my TOP FIVE TIPS for beginning a YIN Practice:
Prepare your room & atmosphere, SET THE SCENE:
make sure the room is warm
set the lights to dim, or just light your space with candles
if you think music would help you find some softer music to play in the background you can check out my Spotify for some suggested yin playlists
practice yin towards the end of the day
use as many props as you can, making sure the body is supported
BACK OUT of the pose a bit : you don't need to come into each shape at 100% of your stretch capacity. With this practice less is more. So come into each shape around 60-70%. Just to a point where you can feel a gentle tug underneath your skin.
Use DIRECTIONAL BREATHING whilst in the shape. If your mind runs away with you whilst you are in a hold practice breathing into the part/s of the body that is challenging you. Every time your mind wanders bring it back to your breath.
Start with SHORTER HOLDS i.e. 2-3 minutes rather than 5-10 mins : this will make the challenge of staying still in the shapes more manageable - set a timer!
Always TAKE A COUNTER POSE when you come out of a shape. This will help to rebalance your system, move any stagnation, help circulation.
Recently I have been asking myself three times daily how can live more permanently in my parasympathetic nervous system?
I recognise more and more that we, as a human race, are unable to switch off and this practice of YIN is one of my go to tools to cultivate stillness!
In 2024 we are humans trying to live in a world which is now, more than we realise, controlled by machines.
We have to actively be the caretakers of our consciousness otherwise we will, over time, be shaped by these machines living our lives distracted, veiled, unconscious.
It is not easy, but if it were it would be boring. All Zen practices require tremendous willpower. We have the choice to move through the challenge.
To still the mind, we must still the body first.
We must still the breath.
Stillness cannot be forced; it arises spontaneously of its own accord.
However, we can create these conditions through commitment and dedication and inviting ourselves into this practice of YIN.
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