So… unfortunately, none of the movements in Yin actually achieve the conditions that are required to build strength. BUT! Yin can be an amazing complement to strength training. Active restoration and rest are as essential to building muscle, endurance and stamina as weight training and cardio.
This is an important practice for all of my fellow sisters and brothers in perfectionisim. If you are someone sho never feels like they can take a break, who only looks at accomplishments and sees what they didn’t do right, who has critical self talk, I hope that you sill spend an hour with me here.
This is a very gentle practice focused on the side bodies. I wanted to work with a part of the body that most of us don’t experience too many problems with so that we could really just work with observing sensation. As you move through the poses, I will add another layer to practice. Our true goal is to practice self awareness or interoception.
I think we’re all a little tired right now. Things are piling up for sure at this stage in the pandemic. This is a practice that I offered recently to bring a bit of TLC and care to some students who are dealing with some heavy stuff.
Wall Yin is by far my most requested class. It’s a sweetly intense restorative type of practice. During your postures I will cue you through a simple meditation observing both restlessness and peace in the physical body. My theme this week was inspired by the first Matrix movie which, IMO, is full of Yoga/Eastern Philosophy concepts.
Evidence informed practice doesn’t need to be complicated. This gentle practice makes use of research backed techniques to reduce anxiety during practice, but also to provide daily tools for relief. Simple, repetitive movements, breath awareness, body awareness, novelty. Each of these are very powerful, drug free methods for anxiety relief. We will focus on the hip flexors and adductors (front and insides of your legs). These areas are often very stiff and guarding in those who suffer from anxiety.