Less Effort, More Gain With Yin Yoga

There is more to yoga than physical postures. In fact the physical practice is a tiny part of what its all about! Yoga no matter what style or form it takes has the capability to take you on a journey. A journey of the mind, the body and the emotions. A journey back to yourself.

From years of practice I have seen it gently strip away the layers of who you think you are and what you think you should be to reveal something very special that we are all seeking in one way or another. Let me explain what this is and how yin took me there. 

In our western world we expect a lot ourselves. We are a whirlwind of effort and doing. Not just the physical effort and doing of getting things done, taking care people, keeping up, making it happen, meeting the deadline. But also the internal effort of trying to figure it all out and make sense of it all. To get away from what we don’t like and to what we want. Fighting, controlling or pushing away negative emotions and striving in one way or another to feel better. Phew!

Enter Yin Yoga! 

Yin Yoga (and other Yin practices) is allowing so many to tap into their ability to flow with life rather than against it. To resist less, strive less and push less. But to ultimately find more peace, energy, health, ease and balance from the inside out.

Yin and Yang are totally opposite but complimentary energies. One cannot exist without the other. Yang (masculine energy) is moving forward, creating, doing and trying.  You are in your Yang energy when you are putting any energy out into the world to get things done or make things happen. 

So Yin (feminine energy) is receiving and allowing energy to come in. It is introspection and being in your internal world (thoughts, feelings and intuition.) Instead of doing or changing it is about being and allowing. We learn to be present with what is and allow the moment to be. Yin is an energy that deeply nurtures.

In a Yin class

I guide my students to be aware of this now moment without trying to change it or wanting it to be different. To enjoying the nice experiences without grasping on to them when they inevitably move on and to be with the not so nice without labelling it, resisting it or fearing it.

What you eventually experience is that suffering comes from the struggle against what is and not what is itself.

Apply this to your life. How often do you allow your body to stop and let go?  When you do stop, does the internal effort of your mind stop too?  Do you find peace in the journey or allow and accept the changing states and challenges of life? Do you even believe that thats possible?

Balance

Know that we must have balance between the two energies. That balance point is ever changing. Too much yin energy and we stagnate and lose our ability to create. Too much yang energy and we become stressed, worn out and out of touch with ourselves.

This is why we need to cultivate our Yin energy. I guide my students to relaxation and stillness. We stop and bring our attention in. The delicious long held postures work deep into the body. While we get the chance to be still, be with ourselves fully and just breathe. We remember not how to fight or push or strive but to soften and allow and just be.

It is the perfect antidote to a busy, yang like, out of balance existence. There is a stillness in every moment to be had. Yin Yoga can help us to access that and I am happy to report that it is available to everyone.