My first yin yoga practice
Jan. 7th, 2010 09:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muck_a_luckI got this DVD for Christmas, Yin Yoga: The Foundations of a Quiet Practice, on the recommendation of zats_clear, who is a regular practioner of the yin style.
I have been doing power yoga, which is sort of bastardized, dumbed-down Ashtanga, and vinyasa yoga, which is... Well, it all sort of blurs together. Vinyasa is about flow, but so is power, but they both emphasize what Mr. Grilley was calling the yang focus on muscle development. Strength and balance are of equal importance to flexibility, and one of the primary goals is to build heat in the body. Basically, to sweat like a pig. Well, that depends on the instructor. But power/vinyasa yoga is a workout in the sense that most people trying to lose weight and "get in shape" are looking for a workout.
Yin yoga seems to be about opening up joints and stress repositories in the core with as little muscle involvement as possible. Mr. Grilley describes yin yoga as being about bones instead of muscles. It was amazing to work for 70 minutes and find that my fingers and toes were actually COLD. The Dragon lunges made me feel just a little warmer, but not really even flushed, much less sweaty. They aren't kidding when they say they aren't trying to "build heat" with this form of yoga. The ultimate yin posture is double pidgeon. No strength required to achieve the pose or balance in it. Just letting the posture do all the work to change your body.
I did the Hip sequence. It was a little disconcerting for me in the opening Dragon postures, how little guidance Mr. Grilley gave on how to "do" the postures, but as the practice went forward, he emphasized that in each posture the goal is to target certain areas to stretch and open, and each person is anatomically different and must position themselves appropriately to achieve the target opening, rather than try to conform to a certain way of performing each posture.
Also, the goal is to find a position, then let your body relax into the posture's power, making adjustments as needed, but also being patient, not trying to force your body to do anything, but rather to let it happen naturally.
Postures are held for up to five minutes. These are passive postures. I would call them Deep Lunge (Dragon, revolved Dragon, Gecko), wide angle seated forward bend (Dragonfly), pidgeon (Sleeping Swan and Swan), double pidgeon/gomugasana (Shoestring), and reclining hero's pose (half Saddle and full Saddle).
I can see how this could be just as addictive as the yang yoga I have been practicing. If I had more time for indulging my exercise fads, I would love to work something like this in daily, maybe to slow down at the end of the day, but I'm thinking maybe putting it into my rotation for once a week. I definitely feel that I did something in the hips area - there's exercise ache when I am still, but also I think I released a lot of tension in those storehouse areas, too. I feel very light walking.
I did not like the impact of some of the postures on my knees. I will be experimenting with the different variations presented to reduce that impact.
All in all, an intriguing experiment.
zats_clear, who is a regular practioner of the yin style.I have been doing power yoga, which is sort of bastardized, dumbed-down Ashtanga, and vinyasa yoga, which is... Well, it all sort of blurs together. Vinyasa is about flow, but so is power, but they both emphasize what Mr. Grilley was calling the yang focus on muscle development. Strength and balance are of equal importance to flexibility, and one of the primary goals is to build heat in the body. Basically, to sweat like a pig. Well, that depends on the instructor. But power/vinyasa yoga is a workout in the sense that most people trying to lose weight and "get in shape" are looking for a workout.
Yin yoga seems to be about opening up joints and stress repositories in the core with as little muscle involvement as possible. Mr. Grilley describes yin yoga as being about bones instead of muscles. It was amazing to work for 70 minutes and find that my fingers and toes were actually COLD. The Dragon lunges made me feel just a little warmer, but not really even flushed, much less sweaty. They aren't kidding when they say they aren't trying to "build heat" with this form of yoga. The ultimate yin posture is double pidgeon. No strength required to achieve the pose or balance in it. Just letting the posture do all the work to change your body.
I did the Hip sequence. It was a little disconcerting for me in the opening Dragon postures, how little guidance Mr. Grilley gave on how to "do" the postures, but as the practice went forward, he emphasized that in each posture the goal is to target certain areas to stretch and open, and each person is anatomically different and must position themselves appropriately to achieve the target opening, rather than try to conform to a certain way of performing each posture.
Also, the goal is to find a position, then let your body relax into the posture's power, making adjustments as needed, but also being patient, not trying to force your body to do anything, but rather to let it happen naturally.
Postures are held for up to five minutes. These are passive postures. I would call them Deep Lunge (Dragon, revolved Dragon, Gecko), wide angle seated forward bend (Dragonfly), pidgeon (Sleeping Swan and Swan), double pidgeon/gomugasana (Shoestring), and reclining hero's pose (half Saddle and full Saddle).
I can see how this could be just as addictive as the yang yoga I have been practicing. If I had more time for indulging my exercise fads, I would love to work something like this in daily, maybe to slow down at the end of the day, but I'm thinking maybe putting it into my rotation for once a week. I definitely feel that I did something in the hips area - there's exercise ache when I am still, but also I think I released a lot of tension in those storehouse areas, too. I feel very light walking.
I did not like the impact of some of the postures on my knees. I will be experimenting with the different variations presented to reduce that impact.
All in all, an intriguing experiment.
