What is Yin Yoga?
My favourite kind of yoga, hands down is Yin. I absolutely adore both teaching and experiencing the practice. Increasingly, I am finding that Yin yoga is being misrepresented – does this matter? Yes, it matters a lot. If specific practices are not properly represented then how are people to find the class that is right for them? Also, the benefits of practicing Yin yoga are unique and must be accessed in a specific way, if we start blurring the lines about what the practice is, these benefits will be lost to yoga students.
In my flow classes, I like to switch things up depending on the energy in the room and what my clients need; and although we always move in a safe and considered way, often 'rules' go out of the window (so expect the unexpected!), but when it comes to Yin, I am a bit of a purist. When it comes to yoga, in my opinion the term Yin is often used incorrectly, so let me be really clear, there is yin, and there is yin. Clear? I didn't think so.
Yin – the energy
Aside from the practice of Yin yoga, there is yin as an energy, a way of being, the counter force to yang. The energy of yang (in a nutshell) is fire, faster motion, heat, the masculine, associated with the sun, the day and light. The energy of Yin is cool, slower / still, feminine and associated with the moon, the night and darkness. Most things in life have an associating with each force, or a balance between the two.
Often yoga teachers say that they will teach something like 'Vinyasa with a bit of Yin at the end': although they may be embodying the energy of Yin and the end of a practice as they slow things down – this is not Yin yoga, and the two things are not to be confused. I have also seen classes advertised as 'Yin flow' – this is not a thing, Yin yoga never flows, ever. A flow may be taking the slower, cooler feel of the energy of yin, but a flow based practice is simply not yin yoga.
Yin – the practice
Although very clearly, and aptly named after the energy of Yin, the practice of Yin yoga (in short) is defined by some important specifics:-
Postures are held for a minimum of three minutes
We extend the part of the body on which the posture is focusing on to find our own 'edge' / point of comfortable discomfort at extension, but once we are there, those focus muscles remains passive through out the posture
Although it is acceptable to take slow movements to 'rebound' in between poses – Yin is not a flow based practice, rather a series of static postures / shapes
Allow me to elaborate:-
We hold the postures for a prolonged period to allow the muscles to switch off whilst lengthened – allowing us to stretch into our cold tissues, the fascia, tendons and ligaments; this is more easily achieved when you are cold. Although practising Yin after other exercise or later in the day will still have benefits, the absolute ideal time to practice Yin in early in the day, and before the muscles have stretched, lengthened and 'warmed up', this allows us to find our 'edge' – the point where are muscles are at length and tension with greater ease. When the muscles are warmer and stretchier, we have to create more length in them before they reach their limit and give way to the cold tissues. This is why 'a bit if yin' at the end of a yoga class is fundamentally not Yin yoga – teachers may be using Yin Yoga postures, and they may be fully embodying the cool, calm energy of yin as a force, but when placed at the end of the class these postures may be Restorative which is wonderful - but it is not Yin yoga.
Usually, Yin classes are most popular in the evenings. I absolutely get it, and that is absolutely fine, nothing makes me feel more chilled out than Yin and who doesn't want to enjoy maximum relaxation before bed? The practice still has huge benefits at the end of the day, or even after other exercise if that is when the class time suits you, or you feel called to practice. But it is important that we separate out Yin Yoga from the idea of it being used to stretch out the muscles post yang practice or working out. Equally, do not let perfection be the enemy, practising Yin at a non ideal time is of course better than not practising it at all, and there are meditative benefits to the mind that are always a good thing. BUT - Yin Yoga is not a post exercise stretch, it is a stand alone practice focusing on the cold tissues, and as the absolute minimum we must have this intention in mind.
Many Yin and Restorative postures overlap. In Restorative yoga no physical exertion is happening. We are always soft, allowing deep rest in our bodies. In Yin, sometimes this is the case, but in other postures, some areas of the body may be engaged to enable the area of focus to stay switched off. Let's look at what we call Dangling pose in Yin yoga (standing forward fold to the rest of the yoga world. Yin also has different names for the postures... But to me the importance of this is less fundamental). The legs and feet are engaged to keep us standing, but the area of focus, the upper body is soft and heavy – the muscles are not engaged and stay this way for the duration of the body being fully in the posture - this is, without exception the case for the area of the body on which we are focusing on in any Yin posture. Of course, these muscles may need to move to access the posture initially, or to get out of the posture when it is finished.
Due to the nature of Yin yoga, we find stretches in our joints – so it is important to note that we can feel a little unstable, or vulnerable in the part of the body that we have stretched as we exit the posture. This is totally fine and a part of the practice, but it is vital that we unravel our Yin postures with this in mind, being cautious, moving slowly and giving ourselves or our students extra support if needed – for example whilst exiting a seated side neck stretch, I always instruct my students to cup their face in their hands, and support the head as it comes back to centre. The management of this temporary vulnerability in the joints is another reason why we must keep the lines clear about what is and is not a Yin yoga practice.
For me, perhaps the most important element of the practice of Yin yoga is the concept of working with your own 'edge'. This edge, is the point where your muscles extend to lengths that allows stretch into the cold tissue; the trick here is to find the point of discomfort that means the point of extension has been reached, but that is comfortable enough to sit with for the duration of the posture – thus the edge is something that is unique to each individual, and will likely change each time that it is practised. How does this edge feel? Here I reinforce the paradoxical explanation of 'comfortable discomfort'; we seek to find the point where the feeling at extension is strong but bearable. The sensation should never fizz, bite, be sharp or feel harmful in any way. Each person practising must be their own judge, they must stay checked in with their own bodies and work to the point that feels right for them. It is important that people teaching Yin yoga understand this fully and are adept in explaining this to their students – another reason why it is important that the practice of Yin remains properly differentiated and defined.
Working with your own edge has benefits beyond the physical. In other forms of yoga, we consciously work the body and breath throughout the active part of the practice, before finding total rest in savasana at the end. Before finding savasana, I encourage my students to take their time getting comfortable, as the aim is to find total stillness and peace from this place of absolute comfort. Although this is still the case when practising your final relaxation posture in Yin Yoga, during the other postures we seek to find this inner peace from a place of discomfort – arguably, honing this skill is more beneficial in day to day life. Meditation is a practice, one in which we usually aim to find stillness of mind from a very comfortable place, such as a savasana with pillows and blankets etc, this is wonderful and really beneficial. Often in life we need to access this stillness of mind when we find ourselves in difficult situations, and this is where practising Yin comes in. Honing the skill of being able to find a peaceful mind when experiencing discomfort is hugely transferable to day to day life.
Of course, in life we push through discomfort in other ways – the burn felt during working out for example, but it is not often that we ask ourselves to sit peacefully, and fully surrender to discomfort as we do whilst practising Yin. Not only must we surrender to, and find peace from this place of discomfort, we are not becoming distracted from it. We stay with it, feeling it and constantly check in with ourselves and our edge: does this feel safe? And when the urge to move away from the discomfort creeps in, we check in with that urge, and see if we can differentiate this discomfort from pain that is signalling harm, and if we feel safe, we either stay with it, or choose to push deeper still. This self enquiry is so important, and demands us to be truly introspective during Yin postures that challenge us. For me, the practice of sitting with, and even embracing discomfort is perhaps the most important thing of all about Yin yoga.
Between Yin postures, we rebound. This rebound is not a flow. Before moving from one posture to another, even between taking postures on one side and then the other, we find either a slow motion or spend a shorter amount of time in another restful posture. The purpose of this is not to flow seamlessly to the next posture, but to release the energy of the previous posture from both mind and body. I often choose to do this by finding slow, mindful movement such as a couple of seated cat – cows, or shoulder rolls, but we must be cautious to take these movements at a slow pace so as not to start creating heat in the body. In my Nourishing Flow class, we work with a lot of pauses in postures, flowing in between; they are a place to take rest, find introspection and check in with the body from a place of stillness. The combination of flow and stillness can be really beautiful and I love to teach it – but these are flow classes with pauses, not flow classes with 'a bit of yin', nor are they 'yin flow'.
But does it reeeeeeeally matter? I mean, really? Yes yes yes. It matters, and I can't say that enough. Yesterday someone who does a lot of running was asking me what practice would work for her (of course there were many more questions to be asked before answering in any meaningful way). During our conversation we spoke briefly about Yin yoga and it's benefits which she thought sounded like something that would be good for her. Now if that student were to speak to a teacher who professes to teach 'Vinyasa with Yin at the end' she may think that she was getting the benefits of both Vinyasa and Yin yoga in that class – which to someone busy might sound great! But, as I have banged on about for long enough now – that would not be the case.
It is so important that yoga students are empowered by their teachers to make good choices regarding their practice. Often new students will contact the studio asking which class is right for them. We always encourage people to start off with a slower class where they can build confidence. We explain that Yin is the ultimate slow practice but manage their expectations of what Yin is, and how it may not be the movement based practice that springs to mind. I always ask people to keep an open mind, because as their confidence grows, and they tune into what they need on any particular day or week they would benefit from switching up their choice of class in alignment with what is right for them at that time. Super hectic at work? Been hitting the gym hard? Maybe a slower flow or Yin. Feeling stuck or stagnant? Maybe it is Power Flow time. But if our classes are not authentically represented, we are not enabling people to have these options.
So there you have it. The difference between yin yoga and yin the energy, in my humble yin yoga junkie opinion. We all need both kinds of Yin in our lives, let's keep the important distinction between the two clear so people can find the practice that they need at the right time. (Also – if you haven't tried yin yoga, you probably should).
Ana x