* Is Yin Yoga Right For Me
| WRITTEN BY TJ MAHER
| FOUNDER & LEAD TEACHER @ YUJMU
| READING TIME ~10 MIN.
This article will look through several YINhibitions people have in deciding if they should try Yin Yoga. First let’s give a little overview of what Yin Yoga is for context.
When deciding if Yin Yoga is right for you I find a metaphor is helpful. The practice of Yin Yoga has a similar quality to water; when you jump into water it disperses and adapts itself to your body as you plunge into it, whatever your shape, size or age water adapts to you, just like Yin Yoga.
“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. […] Be water, my friend.”
- Bruce Lee
Perfect for beginners or experienced practitioners alike Yin Yoga is based on balancing our intense (Yang) weekly activities with experiences of stillness, depth and calm (Yin) activities. We all may know we need these more calming activities but seldom train ourselves to have or pursue them.
In a Yin Yoga session you receive a deep stretch and targeted awareness of your anatomy. It is a practice that helps to train your mind and body to become aware of and regulate tension. Over time, with persistent practice, the body and muscles relax intuitively and release at your mental cue.
Yin Yoga helps to settle the mind and rejuvenate the tissues throughout the body. Sessions consist of floor poses and releasing into each pose for several minutes allowing time for the muscles and mind to let go.
Now that we are on the same page about the basics of the practice, let’s look at some questions or inhibitions that people come to Yin Yoga with.
“I’m not flexible is Yin Yoga right for me?”
Yin Yoga is a great, perhaps greatest, practice for bringing renewed range of motion and flexibility into the body. While flexibility is not the only reason to practice Yin Yoga, there are many other benefits, but it is a practice of stretching so that is an important element that it develops.
Keep in mind as well that if you consider yourself “not flexible” don’t be intimidated by Yin Yoga as it is not about being or becoming a contortionist. It is about meeting your body where it is and working with that.
Try it and see how it makes you feel, not how far it makes you stretch ;)
“I’m not stressed out is Yin Yoga right for me?”
If you are naturally a fairly chill person without tense muscles or stress in the body/mind then you may not need Yin Yoga, you might need more intense Yang practices to balance your chill vibes.
Yin Yoga has other traits that it is helpful for though such as development of the mind in a meditation-like quality, refined awareness of the body, a more attuned control of muscle tissue and a working of the fascia in a beneficial way, just to name a few benefits.
A side note as well is that how we define “not stressed out” may not be as relaxed and revitalized as the body can actually be. If you try out a Yin Yoga session then you can evaluate where you are at and if you need more of that kind of practice.
“I prefer a sweaty workout is Yin Yoga right for me?”
Yin Yoga is not a sweaty practice and typically would not even be categorized as “exercise” so if that is what you want this wouldn’t provide it. The question though is, is a sweaty workout all that you and your body needs for optimum health?
An important aspect of life that Yin Yoga highlights is the benefits of balance. Yin Yoga is not intended to be your end-all-be-all practice, it is intended to be a balance for your more intense practices; Yin & Yang.
Our body is designed physiologically to have a need for intensity and chill, its one of the functional structures of our Nervous System; rest-&-restore and fight-or-flight.
So all of that is to say that, even if you found your jam in sweaty intense workouts of some kind, you may be surprised how making space for a Yin Yoga practice could noticeably boost and benefit those other activities.
Try some Yin Yoga on some of your next rest days and see what changes you start to notice to your other practices, in recovery time, in mind-muscle connection, in ability to focus while working out, in muscle knots reduction & pain reduction, etc.
“I’m more interested in meditation is Yin Yoga right for me?”
Yin Yoga is an excellent practice for meditation enthusiasts or those who would like to try meditation. It is also good for those who struggle with meditation.
This is because Yin Yoga provides a meditative experience as it is a practice based on focusing the mind, just like meditation practices, and in this case that focus is on the sensations of the body.
The focus on sensations can be, for some, a more anchored experience of meditation as the asana tend to elicit strong sensations.
It should be noted though that it is not the same, meditation and Yin Yoga are different practices and one should not be viewed as a verbatim replacement for the other. However they pair very well together and are worth exploring one if you like the other.
“I’ve never felt like I fit in at Yoga classes is Yin Yoga right for me?”
This is a very important one because Yoga is for everyone, everybody and communities, studios and teachers should be making every effort to help you fit in.
Some places, styles and teachers we just don’t vibe with and that is ok too but the great thing about Yin Yoga is that it focuses on your inner world. The key is to search around and find what you like.
Yin Yoga uniquely emerged from traditions outside of Yoga in addition to the Yoga traditions. Taosim, Kung Fu, Chinese philosophy & methodologies are as much, if not more, a part of the Yin Yoga tradition than the Yoga part.
Depending how a Yin Yoga teacher teaches and who they are as a person you may find a Yin Yoga class significantly different than what other classes you have tried.
Find a Yin Yoga teacher you vibe with and you might soon find yourself becoming a YINtrovert.
“I feel too shy to go to classes is Yin Yoga right for me?”
A strong case can be made that Yin Yoga asana were designed by and for shy people hehe.
During a class while practicing Yin Yoga everyone is almost entirely looking down at the floor or up at the ceiling.
So for those of us that are shy or introverted you are just kind of chilling and not paying any attention to others around you and you can feel comfortable knowing they cannot be paying any attention to you :)
In Yin Yoga we are all focused internally to the sensations within us.
The experience should feel more about yourself than what is going on around you. You are feeling inside, analyzing sensations, enjoying the vibes your body gives you when you are gentle and loving towards it.
Also Yin Yoga is not a practice that strives to dazzle. So in a class of Yin Yoga practitioners there is no way to calculate or measure advanced practitioners or beginner practitioners. We are all together navigating simply what our body can do on that day, in that moment.
Yin Yoga is a beginner’s mind practice and for those that often feel they aren’t where other students are, Yin Yoga welcomes you with open arms as you are.
“I have injuries or limitations is Yin Yoga right for me?”
We are always having experiences or events that impact our body and its capacity to do certain things. Yin Yoga is a practice that honors the unique limitations of our body.
A strong Yin Yoga practice is a practice where we learn to yield as needed. It is a practices that teaches us how growth and development happens more from strategic yielding to limitation rather than pushing beyond capacity.
For this reason Yin Yoga is highly suitable for learning about our injuries and what our body can and cannot do. It teaches us to accept who and what we are; perfectly imperfect.
Yin Yoga is intended be slow and respectful of injury but always consult with your doctor or professionals that know your situation before exploring new activities.
“I have recent trauma is Yin Yoga right for me?”
During a Yin Yoga practice many feelings and emotions can come to the surface of our mind & awareness.
“Our issues are in our tissues.”
-Bernie Clark
For these reasons knowing well your situation can be helpful so that you have some readiness for what the practice may bring up.
In Yin Yoga there is a sustained mental awareness on the body and varying areas of the body for extended periods of time. These factors can trigger trauma for some.
Yin Yoga is certainly a healing practice and indeed can help process things that you want to process. To ensure it is safe for your situation, we do recommend that you consult with your therapist or the professionals who you entrust with any trauma or mental/emotional concerns.
“I can’t sit still and focus at all is Yin Yoga right for me?”
If you don’t want to sit still and focus then Yin Yoga is not something you will want to partake in. Having said that if you want to be able to sit comfortably still and focus your mind then Yin Yoga may be one of the healthiest ways to learn to do that.
Not being able to do something that you want to do logically requires you find a practice that will train you to do the thing you want, but currently can’t, do.
I can, quite confidently, state that Yin Yoga is a wonderful path to learn to sit still and focus. It won’t be easy but learning any skill takes time and effort even sitting still and focusing.
Why is Yin Yoga so ideal for learning this? Simply because it is exactly a practice of sitting still and focusing. To learn to do something you practice doing it ;)
“I’ve never done Yoga is Yin Yoga right for me?”
There are many Yoga classes out there that specifically are offered for beginners. Many studios offer mini-series or workshops with titles like “Yoga For Beginners” or “Beginner Yoga”. This is important for other styles of Yoga because it can be daunting to try for the first time. They are vast practices where you learn to coordinate and strengthen your body safely for the first time.
Yin Yoga is a whole other jam! You likely will rarely see a “Beginners Yin Yoga” class, why is this? Quite simply because Yin Yoga is inherently ideal for beginners.
It is a practice where we are all invited to engage with our body each day as it is. Proper Yin Yoga practice is as if we are meeting our body for the first time, each time, in each asana no matter how many times before we have practiced it.
This is one of the best ways for a beginner to begin to become familiar with their body. It is ideal for a beginner to safely explore what different sensations in the body could mean and to learn about your body’s boundaries and thresholds.
Never done this “Yoga” thing you have heard is so good for people? Yin Yoga is a fantastic place to start.
Side note for experienced Yogis: Yin Yoga is great for you too ;)
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We invite you to not take our word regarding anything above, explore Yin Yoga for yourself, see how you feel.
If you want a soothing, supporting, fun and inviting space to to do it in,
consider our retreats or for more depth try our 100 hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training, which is designed to be accessible even to beginners.
There are no prerequisites for either our 100 or 200 hour offerings. There are always beginner attendees who have never trained or taught before. We bring you through a carefully designed curriculum to create confident, effective and thoroughly informed Yin Yoga practitioners and teachers regardless of your starting point when you come in.
Take a look at upcoming training options on our homepage.