Originating from India more than 5,000 years ago, the benefits and connection of yoga to the mind and body continue today.
Fast forward thousands of years to today, yoga in the western world has certainly caught onto the many powerful benefits which so many people enjoy today.
There are many styles of yoga, some are more active, robust and energetic working on strength and stamina, whilst others such as Yin yoga focus on a slower and deeper practice concentrating on the deep release of tension held in muscles and tissues whilst relaxing the body to connect the mind and body as one.
What is a Yin yoga class and what can you expect?
A Yin yoga class is therapeutic, mainly practiced on the floor either lying or seated on a yoga mat. Postures are typically held much longer for between 2 to 5 minutes, even up to 10 minutes, which creates a sense of relaxation and calmness in the body to access the muscle, ligaments, joints and fascia.
A Yin class would consist of a yoga teacher guiding you through a series of postures holding each one between 2-5 minutes. Yin yoga is more about quality than quantity of poses, therefore more time is spent on a range of postures working on different parts of the body. Classes would also start and end in Savasana, a resting posture to prepare and cultivate the practice. Interestingly, although a Yin practice may look quite sedentary, the deep stretches can be quite challenging until the body and mind connect and the body releases. As with all yoga classes everyone is individual and you are always encouraged to go at your own pace and listen to your body.
In addition to the postures the focus on your breath is equally important, for my own yoga class I take at feeling wholesome, we start the class with a pranayama, a breathing exercise to calm the mind and connect the body as one. Throughout the practice our attention is focused on the breath, lowering the heart rate and cultivating stillness and relaxation in the body.
Props such as yoga blocks and straps are also often used to provide additional support to the body allowing the muscles to relax more deeply in the postures.
What are the benefits for the body and mind?
The fascia requires at least 2 minutes of consistent pressure to exhibit change, hence the benefit of this deep and releasing practice have many benefits on the body. These include improving flexibility, range of motion, and assisting in releasing stiffness, whilst improving circulation. Muscles benefit through deep stretching and releasing, again assisting flexibility, balance and an overall sense of well-being.
Yin yoga also activates the parasympathetic nervous system which is beneficial by lowering stress and tension in the body, reducing blood pressure, regulating sleep, together with balancing hormones and the immune function. The practice of yoga is also medically proven to assist stress, anxiety and depression as we work with the parasympathetic nervous system.
This is opposite to the sympathetic nervous system our fight or flight response, which sadly too many of us spend our time in. This fatigues the mind and the body and has a detrimental effect on our health over time due to the higher level of cortisol in the blood stream that the fight or flight response generates.
Yin yoga paves the way for self-connection and reflection promoting loving self-compassion by bringing mindful awareness to the body through the practice, nourishing the soul with the therapeutic benefits of relaxation. Holding each posture generates deeper healing through mindfulness and peace found within the body. Finding stillness in each posture is where the magic happens.
In my Yin class I always like to teach my students to be the observer of their thoughts, not a participant of them which opens up a whole new world to how we actually speak to ourselves, our self-talk. When we notice what we tell ourselves we can start to learn to set ourselves free from limiting beliefs, our outlook and more importantly how we view ourselves and others.
Yin yoga is a wonderful practice to include as part of your lifestyle for your total health and well-being. As a keen runner myself I include Yin yoga for deep stretches and relaxations as well as other forms of yoga for overall fitness.
At feeling wholesome, my Yin yoga classes are lovingly named “feeling chilled”, why not come along and experience the benefits with me.
