The Yin of Yoga

On a recent study trip of mine to Thailand, I had the privilege of taking a yin yoga workshop with Victor Chang at one of Bangkok’s premier yoga studios Yoga Elements. It was like entering into a different realm of yoga asana practice.....
In our daily typical city life existence we are constantly in 'yang ' mode or the more aggressive, dynamic masculine action and goal - oriented mode of existence, which if one thinks about is so much our own general yoga practice - with the teacher 'directing' you to 'perform' asanas... The  yin mode is feminine, passive, hidden,  slow- moving, very  much translating  into the yoga practice as well, where the teacher allows, rather than directs  the practitioner's body  to fold, hold and open into poses for  almost five minutes-and in a more advanced practice- even 10- 20 minutes!  Slowly sinking into the poses allowing the practice to happen to you rather than you making them happen. Yin  works according to Chinese medicine on 12 major energy lines in the body which correspond to the major organs in our body including the heart, lungs, gallbladder, liver, spleen -  very much like the 'nadis' in our Indian yogic physiology.
Yes  I have to admit  some of the poses were excruciatingly painful, especially  the hip openers -as one holds the posture it allows the fascia to slowly open creating more space in the sacroiliac region - where the pelvis connects with the lower back .
 One breathes a sigh of relief, almost smiling as one unfurls from the posture but leaving one’s body transformed with a certain openness and free flow in the blocked and tight areas. The class finishes generally with a meditation to feel the 'chi’, 'prana' or life-force that one has created in the hour and a half. 
 The aftermath of the practice is a feeling of peace, calm and more importantly – a feeling of being better equipped to deal with life outside your yoga class!

 

 

STATIC VERSUS DYNAMIC

This is the age old debate between the 'yogi classicists ' staunch followers of Hatha yoga and  new age hybridised , ever - evolving  power , vinyasa flow yogis .
Firstly what  precedes what  is a common question...  the classical practice  or flow - this question is as paradoxical  as  answering  which  came first the chicken or the egg !
 Through experience one  needs to have a strong classical  base which focuses on alignment, the basic stacking  of joints one on top of each other so that one actually  does a dynamic breath linked pose to pose practice like a vinyasa flow one automatically through  muscle memory align themselves even though  moving through a faster  pace .
Although  the neophyte might be more attracted to a faster more interesting sequencing of the vinyasa  or power practice  - as a classical practice  definately requires  more  concentration and a strong will to hold postures !This some times works better for the beginnner or the very stiff practitioner for eg  in  a paschimottanasan/ seated forward bend reaching dynamically bending  down  and up several times with the breath  could  warm up the lower back muscles and hamstrings also keeping the mental faculties engaged and occupied through the dynamicity to then eventually hold the pose -  can make it a less ardous  and more achievable for the practitioner !
This brings  us back to the aim of all yoga practice " sukham sthiram asanam" which literally means  comfortable steady position .  To experience a posture in its complete steadiness and comfort  is a huge challenge and sometimes a  process  in even  simple poses like shavaasan / corpse pose - where ones body can achieve stillness but the mind is constantly in motion .
There fore  preparation   for the body by doing asanas or  surya namaskars/sunsalutations are a good method  to create  heat and generate prana/ energy in your body  to remove  blocks of tension  in the energy  body , and to make the  joints  muscle  flexible and strong  to hold poses .
Eventually  practicing according to ones age  , conditioning (mental and physical ), ones will and ability is the key to choosing ones methodology of practice - as they  say  the paths are many the goal is one !

 

Enjoy your body , its the only instrument you will ever own - Baz luhrmann

The body is  a vehicle which  needs to be kept healthy to be enjoyed - as Baz Luhrmann the famous movie maker (moulin rouge) proclaims !  The primary way to do that is to bring the body in to total balance - balancing out the yin yang  or the masculine/ feminine energies within oneself .Hatha yoga is the  one of the oldest simplest and  most gross way to do that  - where one sees  and senses  the changes almost immediately by  just purely  working on the right and left  sides of the body  - eventually leading to intense purification  . - through  yoga asan and pranayam. When  I look  back at my  physical  yoga practice  this has been  the constant and  ongoing struggle .
One is constantly reminded  in ones self practice - about the imbalances in ones own physical body -  for examply if the right hamstring is tighter    the left hip is more open  or if the  right shoulder  is more open  than the left  then  the left shoulder might be the stronger one  -  this the beauty and challenge of  a  regular yoga practice which  constantly brings one back to the mat again and again   for that quest for  balance . within oneself  . Where by ofcourse this leads one to subtler journeys  to further balance out the emotional and mental  imbalances  and conditoning .