Yin Yoga?

[shananigans4966]

Has anyone ever tried yin yoga? An instructor that I take classes from every now and then is offering this new variety and I'm interested to see if anyone else has experienced it. I tend to hold a lot of tension in my body that stretching and massage don't really alleviate.

Here's the description:

Yin Yoga is a practice of holding yoga stretches for 4 to 5 minutes. These long held, deeply relaxing "stretching" poses target the deeper connective tissue of the body, the fasciae, stimulating and opening the meridians, or energy pathways in your body, restoring youthful joint mobility as you harmonize your body and mind, restoring and recharging your batteries.

This yoga is for you if you are interested in stretching and opening parts of the body that have been holding tension and stress causing lower back pain or constriction in the hips.

 

[moni_stout]

I used to practice yin yoga once a week and now choose not to. My teacher of yin (and other teachers that I have spoken to) advise that it is an advanced practice because the student must have body awareness to avoid injury in a yin practice. I have been practicing yoga for many years and thought that I was somewhat advanced, but I still injured my back doing this practice. It is not for me. Yin yoga is done cold and typically followed with some yang or more dynamic poses for balance. I think that I really liked yin for the quiet meditative aspect of the practice, but don't actually like the poses.

I have one yin yoga DVD from Sarah Powers that is good, she has a couple of vinyasa practices on the DVD too that are great. I don't really use the yin practices on the DVD anymore. I do recommend though that you take classes with a teacher first. Make sure your teacher has really studied it is qualified to teach it so that you can avoid injury.

 

[Vee]

There are two styles of yin yoga from what I have gathered.

One school (Paul Grilley of pranamaya has a DVD and is one of the leading teachers of this style) is pretty advanced. I agree with Moni-Stout about needing to listen to your body - I did this type of yoga a few times and it pretty hard to know when to pull back. Holding a pose for a long time pushes your flexibility to the point of pain depending on your range of motion.

Another yin school is more gentle and restorative. They use props extensively so that the challenge to flexibility is more gentle. Here too, poses are held for a long time.

The first kind is controversial because of the propensity for injury unless your are learning from someone who really knows their stuff.

I would do yin yoga more if I could find a way to fit it inot my schedule. Traditional yoga is my priority. I find it challenging enough to be regular at traditional yoga and fit in styrength and cardio - so I have given up on yin. I dont hold poses beyond a certain pain threshhold when I practise yin. I back off even if the pose is only at half time on the long hold, if I think the discomfort is too much. The only dvd I have is Grilley's and it the only guide I use.

 

[shananigans4966]

Thanks so much for your input. I think I'll definetely proceed taking the classes with an instructor for now.