So this weekend I started a new specialization on something called Yin Yoga. When I first tried it I ended up very very tired and in feeling a little bit sad, I remember that day just resting, and back then I didn't really understand why, but with the study i'm doing right now it makes a lot of sense, Yin Yoga works on a deeper level than just the physical body. As its mentioned before in thhis thread, each asana has it's own purpose and sometimes we might feel tense, anxious, sad, angry and so on in certain postures. So since Yin Yoga is all about holding the pose for 3 to 5 mins, it makes more sense that a lot of things can arise emotionally speaking.
So what is Yin Yoga?
It is said it has its roots in the 19th Century, and it is a mixture of several things, then a martial arts expert called Cho Chat Ling back in the 70's brought it more to the public sight, then this knowledge was passed to Paulie Zink, Cho Chat ling taught Paulie all about the Taoist philosophy and then it was with Paul Grilley that Yin took more of the shape it has nowadays. Paul studied anatomy and met Paulie in the late 80's and started practicing taoist yoga with him, so they combined the knowledge they both had plus what Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama taught Grilley about the meridians, chakras, and more about Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The main goal of Yin is to work on the yin tissues; ligaments, tendons, fascia in a very deep level.
Fascia 
The
rectus sheath, an example of a fascia.
Details Precursor mesenchymeIdentifiers Latin fasciaMeSH D005205FMA 30318Anatomical terminology
[
edit on Wikidata]
A
fascia (
/ˈfæʃə/,
/ˈfæʃiə/; plural
fasciae /ˈfæʃɪ.i/; adjective
fascial; from
Latin: "band") is a band or sheet of
connective tissue, primarily
collagen, beneath the
skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates
muscles and other internal
organs.
[1] Fascia is classified by layer, as
superficial fascia,
deep fascia, and
visceral or
parietal fascia, or by its function and anatomical location.
The asanas of Yin are mainly focused on working from the belly to our knees, but you can also work on the upper parts of the body.
Now what I find very interesting is that holding the postures for so long can trigger you lot of emotions, you know; anxiety, anger, and what not, so it's a very good way of working also with those emotions, listening to your body and respecting also the limitations you have. My teacher said, that when you accept those limitations and work on what's inside it's when the true power of Yin comes in.
The three main principles for a Yin practice are:
- Find your appropiate edge (come into the postures respecting your body, don't over do it cause you can injure urself!)
- Be still and let the muscles be soft (the main point here is not to tense the muscles)
- Hold the pose for a certain period of time (experienced yogis can hold them even for 20 mins! But 3-5 are just perfect to start with)
So there's many many more things in this whole type of practice and I still need to study more about it, but from this weekend I can say that it is a very powerful practice, specially if you want to find a little bit of calm in ur hectc lifes this is like a true meditation.
And of course, all forms of yoga impact the body in a little bit of the same way Yin does, but nowadays we see more yang types of yoga, like very stressful on our bodies, most of what Hatha used to be back years ago is now getting lost with all this new forms of yoga which mainly just focus more in yoga as an exercise. So Yin can be hard, specially if you have a monkey mind hehe, but the more you practice the better you'll feel.
For anyone interested here are some videos from Paul Grilley:
And this is another great video from Bernie Clark, he is a very well known Yin teacher and also has many books on the subject, right now im reading "The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga: The Philosophy and Practice of Yin Yoga", which i'm finding very interesting:
So for anyone who is interested in a more gentle, meditative type of yoga I would def recommend it. People might love it or hate it hehe, but it all depends on the person.
is very powerful to increase your inner strength and it helps a lot in concentration. Yoga is an ancient practice that not only focuses on the body’s overall well-being, but also has a structured and focused asana for each body part, both internal and external. It aims to strengthen the body, mind, and soul alike, ensuring harmony among all the elements and constituents of the human body.
