The Stillness With(Y)in
Yin yoga is quiet. It is still. It is soft and gentle. However, that should not be confused with easy. The challenge is the stillness.
As someone who for a long time loathed savasana at the end of yoga class, I am a bit surprised at myself for now practicing more yin style yoga than any other form of yoga. The stillness. The silence. Oh my goodness, how I used to be so very uncomfortable with it. Hence, the loathing of the end of every yoga class when savasana took place.
Yin yoga is quiet. It is still. It is soft and gentle. However, that should not be confused with easy. The challenge is the stillness. In yin yoga, we stay low to the floor; we rarely stand. The majority of the poses are done while seated or reclined on the back. Muscles are relaxed, not engaged. Sounds kinda nice, right? Chilling on the floor. Well…
During a yin yoga class, poses are held anywhere from 1-5 minutes. In some cases, longer. Not only are the poses held longer, we try to remain still within the pose. No wiggles and fidgets. Stillness is the goal. There are physical advantages to this style of yoga. However, the mental, emotional and spiritual advantages are what has kept me coming back to it.
I was originally drawn to try yin yoga for the physical benefits. As I’ve gotten older, stiffness and pain have started to creep into my body. I am longing for more stretching-something I’ve never been particularly drawn to. I’ve always been into working out but stretching is something I always skipped. I found it boring. I love to move. However, over the last few years, my body is not accepting my former forms of movement as well. I am running less often, doing less high impact workouts, less power yoga. I’m slowing down. Learning how to be okay with stillness and silence.
I didn’t fall instantly in love (or like) with yin yoga. I appreciated that it helped with the stiffness and pain I was feeling in my hips, back, shoulders and neck, but I was bored. BORED. And when I’m bored, I fidget. I find a reason to move. Got an itch, scratch it. Hair in your face, move it. Uncomfortable, wiggle around and get comfortable. But this is not how yin yoga works. We are meant to remain still in order to reap the physical benefits of the practice. I may have been bored and fidgety during those initial practices, but I kept at it because I was feeling relief from my aches and stiffness.
Slowly but surely, I began learning how to be okay with the stillness of yin yoga. The silence and stillness started to feel as nice as the physical benefits. I eventually began using my yin practice as a place to focus on my breath and pray. The more I practice in this way, the more capable I am becoming at focusing on my breath and praying during normal daily activities or interactions that may start to feel uncomfortable, awkward or potentially upsetting.
The point of yin yoga is not stretching to your absolute limit. It is to come to the point where you begin to feel sensation in the pose and then allowing the muscles to relax rather than engage. I’m starting to feel this is the approach I should take in my daily life. Put effort into it, but do it relaxed. Relaxed effort. I’ve begun to slow down and have a more peaceful approach to life in general. I’m becoming disciplined in chill. Even my thoughts have slowed down-what a blessing! My brain used to be such chaos. It was like I a had a drill sergeant living in my head half of the time and a mean girl living in my head berating me the other half of the time. Now, when either of those two come knocking, I’m more capable of slowing my body down, slowing my breath down, relaxing my muscles and allowing my brain follow their lead. It may not happen immediately, but eventually my brain starts to slow down. It can’t compete with a relaxed body and gentle breath.
Improved flexibility, strengthening ligaments, hydrating joints and fascia and help in preventing loss of mobility in joints are just a few of the physical benefits of yin yoga. However, if you are anything like me, you’ll stay for the mental, emotional and spiritual benefits: learning to take a more relaxed approach to life, making peace with uncomfortable moments, allowing gentle breathing and prayer to become habits that carry you through the day. Making friends with the stillness and silence of yin helps you find the peace within.
Meet me on YouTube where we will become disciplined in chill together :)
