What is yin yoga? Where does it come from? Here are few points you can take a look into for a clear view of yin yoga benefits.
Yin yoga
What is Yin Yoga?
Yin yoga is a Chinese traditional form of asanas and exercises incorporated with the tradition.
Yin yoga benefits are very noticeable. A little stress to the muscles for connecting tissues like ligaments, tendons and fasciae can increase blood flow and flexibility.
It is more of a meditative form of yoga, bringing enlightenment to your soul. Introduced in the last 1970s by Paulie Zink, yin yoga is derived from the Taoist concept of yin and yang, which are opposite yet complementary principles.
Encouraged by Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers, Yin yoga is taught across Europe and North America.
Join a free yin yoga class today to know more about yin yoga benefits.
The nature of yin could be described as immobile, feminine, cold, passive, etc.; whereas yang is more masculine, fast paced, mobile, changing, etc.
In the human body, the connecting tissues which are the tendons, fascia and ligaments are in the category of yin. Even more passive yoga patterns and exercises fall under yin yoga. The following are the key elements of yin yoga benefits:
1. Self-Compassion
The inner wellbeing of ourselves is highly backed up by our physical, spiritual, mental and emotional aspects.
The practice of yin provides us with wide range of opportunities to develop, nurture, observe, calm ourselves and store emotions. It is said that taking postures calmly and carefully for a given duration is an act of self love.
See also self love tips for better understanding.
2. Restoration of The Body
A body must have a healthy range of motion and flow which results in tissues and muscles to move over each other.
Past injuries, aging, and other factors can create a blockage into these deep connecting tissues and restrict the movements of the muscles. These blocks cause pain and limit mobility, restricting the flow of energy and nutrients throughout the body.
Yin yoga works on holding postures to gently stretch the muscles to allow fascia to break the blockages and apply a little stress on joints and tissues to elevate the motion range.
3. Gratitude Towards Your Body
The base of yin practice teaches us to return focus onto our bodies and see what we are really capable of.
This journey to dive into ourselves and understand the inner part of the body including respiration, blood circulation, internal organs, sensing the joints and muscles and how they work is remarkable and makes it easier to understand yin yoga benefits.
4. Helps With Patience
Yin yoga helps in developing stillness as it is a practice of long durations. Allow yourself to stay put and experience spiritual connection with your body holding a yin posture.
Busy schedules, to-do lists, commitments will subside leaving you calm and focused.
We store emotions and it is not uncommon for them to come forth while practicing yin yoga. Yin yoga helps to be patient, gentle and nonreactive to those thoughts, enabling us to practice yin yoga peacefully.
5. Resilient to Stress
Holding poses for several minutes can give rise to anxiety. We need to approach with tenderness and surrender, which is a common theme in yin yoga.
Giving up on control of situations at times can be really helpful in day-to-day lives. The capability of managing both the ups and downs in life can lessen the amount of stress.
6. Triggering Parasympathetic Nervous System
Belly breathing or diaphragm breathing is the most effective way to trigger the parasympathetic nervous system.
It is said that stress, sleep, blood pressure, immunity, digestion, and hormones are ways to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.
Belly breathing is a simple pose that can be very easy to change the overdrive caused by the parasympathetic nervous system.
A change can be noticed immediately. Relaxations will splash onto the body, softening deeper layers of the belly and calming the brain.
Moving deeper into the yin yoga practice helps in drawing relaxations helping to boost digestion, healing, and eliminating toxins.
7. Meditation – Prime Among Yin Yoga Benefits
We have a lot of storms going on inside us and ignoring them is unhealthy. Yin meditation practice helps to gain insights to understand your inner world over a period of time. This cultivates a practice pf stepping outside your daily responsibilities, thus giving you a calm and soothing state of mind.
Seat yourself in a comfortable position on a bed or couch and set a timer of 5-10 minutes. During this while, you will feel a lot of distractions hovering around your mind. Also you need to be in a quite environment to do this. That means you need to be free from distractions like honking cars or garbage vehicles, etc.
At sometime your body can itch or feel heavy while performing meditation which can break the concentration. Be still and think of something which will draw your attention back to meditation.
You must stay still and be receptive towards the distractions. Experience the feeling when the session ends.
Conclusion
Inspired from Taoist concept of ying and yang, Yin yoga has been slightly off the limelight from the other yoga forms.
It was Paulie Zink who introduced yin yoga in the late 1970s to the west, followed by Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers, who were the yoga teachers who then spread it across Europe and North America.
Yin is considered to be more feminine, cold, immobile in nature. Therefore, yin yoga mostly consists of non-stressful yoga and meditation which are passive yet effective in nature. It emphasizes mainly on connecting tissues like tendons, fascia and ligaments and releasing the tensions between the muscles in a relaxing way.
It really helps in building inner wellbeing, restoration of broken tissues and muscles from the past. Let’s help you learn to understand your body, developing patience and stillness as it is not intense and stressful.
One must do meditation for at least 5-10 minutes everyday as it is a vital portion of yin yoga benefits.
