Why Yin Yoga?
How Can a Yin Practice Help My Body?
By Anna Caldwell
Why do we incorporate a yin yoga into our practice regime? What does “yin” really mean? If you have any of these questions burning in your mind, keep reading.
The yin yoga that many of us know and love today has a relatively younger history than other lineages of yoga (deriving from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika or the Gheranda Samhita, for example) and beautifully mixes traditions from Daoism, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Buddhism. The ultimate goal of a yoga practice is to still the mind and enter into states of consciousness in which we activate a state of union while healing our minds and bodies. Each.yoga school has a different means of achieving this while caring for our physical form.
Taking care of our physical vessel is an extremely important component of any yoga practice and one of the main reasons people come to yoga in the first place. In terms of anatomy, Yin Yoga is the gentle application of tension and compression to certain areas of the body to promote the health of our connective tissues residing deeper in the body than our muscles.
This practice is characterized by longer, static holds in primarily floor-based asanas (postures). In this way, we keep the muscles relaxed to allow for myo-fascial release, generally targeting the connective tissues of the hips, pelvis and lower spine but can be brought into the tissues of the shoulders and upper body as well. This stress and compression allow Qi and energy to flow freely through even the densest biomechanics of our being and is accompanied by what becomes a profound meditative focus and awareness of our minds.
This slow, gentle and consistent stimulation of our connective tissues, as opposed to the muscle rhythm and repetition in a yang-style (vinyasa) practice, gives yin it’s particular benefits for long-term health to tissues and joints in the body. This is done by consistently riding our “edge of comfort,” in which we find the depth of posture where we are not too comfortable yet not in pain. We learn to sit with the discomfort as we expand our mind and capacity for movement and energy flow in the joints.
On an energetic level, a yin yoga practice recharges our energetic systems. As we give ourselves the time and space to be present with our emotions in an embodied way, we transform our relationship with our mind.
Shanti Atma Yoga has a vast array of Yoga Teacher Training Courses to encompass all different aspects of learning, teaching and experiencing Yoga, honoring the roots and traditions of these practices. We value the true path of Yoga and are proud of offering such a diverse and in-depth plethora of training content. We honour the law of potentiality and we strive to bring as much of this into our training opportunities.
We have a variety of Yoga training’s that keep topping up your heart, mind and soul:
Yin Yoga Teacher Training Online:
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 100 hour Functional Anatomy and Chinese Medicine
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 100 hour Pranayama, Meditation and Mindfulness
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 80 hour Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 50 hour Neuroplasticity and Mindfulness
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 50 hour Essential Oils and Emotional Intelligence
Residential Yoga Teacher Training:
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 100 hour Functional Anatomy and Chinese Medicine
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 100 hour Pranayama, Meditation and Mindfulness
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 80 hour Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 50 hour Neuroplasticity and Mindfulness
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 50 hour Essential Oils and Emotional Intelligence
Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 200 hour 5 Bodies Approach
Yoga Philosophy: 100 Hour Life Management with Yogic Values of 5 Koshas
Locations:
Yin Yoga Teacher Training Bali
Yin Yoga Teacher Training Thailand
Yin Yoga Teacher Training India
Yin Yoga Teacher Training Spain
Yin Yoga Teacher Training Australia
Yin Yoga Teacher Training Guatemala
We also have a variety of Yin Yoga Retreats and Yoga Holidays:
Yin Yang Yoga Retreat Spain: Rest and Revive Retreat
Yin Yoga Retreat Bali: Sacred Space Yoga
