During these longer days of physical isolation, are you feeling an inner restlessness? Do you find yourself doing more physical exercise, just a little bit or none at all? Are you struggling with finding a healthy balance for your body? When there is not a defined schedule in our lives, there may be underlying, low-grade stress and a tendency to be hard on ourselves.
How do we find a sense of balance? Resting, especially during this time, is actually helpful… and how about consciously resting? How about listening to what is happening inside our bodies? Taking time to explore the balance of yin and yang.
Yin is the contextual opposite of yang. If yang is hot, yin is cold. If yang is light, yin is dark. If yang is the sun, yin is the moon. There is yang yoga, where the muscles are engaged and active, and there is yin yoga, where the muscles are relaxed and still. The two work together to bring about balance: yang (vinyasa, ashtanga, hatha) in the morning, yin (yin, restorative, yoga nidra) in the evening for a balanced day of practice.
In yin yoga, the poses are held usually from 3-5 minutes. The idea is to settle into the poses and find an appropriate depth, and then hold the pose and let gravity have it’s way with you. Your mind may try to find every reason to come out of the pose, and your body will persist and gently go deeper. Over time, this willingness to stay in the uncomfortableness instead of running away from it, reconditions the mind to be able to cope with uncomfortable life situations without running away from them. We learn that we are resilient, despite our mind convincing us otherwise. In a long-held pose, our issues are also being released from our tissues, and energetic pathways, or meridians, are being reopened and pockets of old, traumatic energy are being released.
It could be said that ALL yoga stimulates the meridian lines in the body, and yin yoga is a key component in this. Opening these channels for Chi (a Traditional Chinese Medicine term for life-force energy) to flow can bring improved health and vitality to the body. Stagnant blockages can be released, opening space for something new to come in. Flexibility and strength increase, and over time, the joints have a wider range of motion. The central nervous system also has a chance to down-regulate and come back to a place of feeling calm and balanced. Ahhhh….
Why wouldn’t you want that for your one and precious body?
With love and gratitude for the practice of yoga,
~ Leah
Photo of Cassandra Ross, RYT 500
Leah Marie Serna, RYT 500, is a devoted yoga practitioner, meditator, and co-owner / yoga instructor at Studio Nine. She teaches the Tuesday and Thursday noon Flow classes, Wednesday Kundalini as well as the Thursday morning Foundations class. She also serves as the yoga studio manager.