By Felicia Tomasko

Yin yoga classes are spreading throughout studios, gyms, retreat centers, and spas. The emphasis of these classes is on the Yin aspect of the practice, incorporating poses that are held for several minutes at a time and predominantly done on the floor. Yin yoga is not as much a unique style as it is a method that emphasizes inner softness and stillness.

Yin yoga is understood in contrast to the idea of a Yang practice. In Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang represent the polarities, dualities, and differences in the flip sides of everything that makes up our own bodies and the universe around us. The terms Yin and Yang describe the two different aspects that together promote balance and inner healing. As prominent Yin yoga instructor Paul Grilley describes, Yin and Yang are akin to the two halves of the breath. The inhalation is the active Yang aspect of the breath, while the exhalation is related to the soft, receptive, relaxed energy of Yin. In a Yin practice, poses are held for longer periods of time. The poses emphasize creating mobility in the large joints of the body, such as the hips, as well as increasing

flexibility along the spine and in the shoulders. This is especially important with our modern lifestyle, where movements often create tightness and constriction in the hips, spine, and shoulders. Yin poses are often practiced cold, or at the beginning of a comprehensive practice; in this way they stretch not only the muscles, but the connective tissue surrounding the muscles.

Taoist yoga master Paulie Zink originated and taught the practice now known as Yin yoga in the U.S. When he describes the practice, he says that people often have the misconception that Yin yoga is comprised of sitting and doing nothing. In actuality, by focusing on stillness, relaxation, and breath, Zink says moving in a Yin yoga posture is akin to moving the way a tree grows or a flower blooms. Through this type of movement, he says, the body’s vital energy, or chi, flows with a greater sense of ease throughout the entire body. This improves flexibility and circulation, and stimulates the immune system. Toxins are released from the joints and muscles, and stagnant chi is able to move. Zink calls Yin yoga a general prescription for good health. A combination of an expansive and opening Yin practice with an active Yang practice builds both softness and strength, flexibility and muscle tone. In fact, most Yin practitioners recommend balancing your practice, incorporating both Yin and Yang elements.

Zink recommends the following seated Yin sequence for stretching the spine and opening the hips. The focus on forward folds helps to reduce stress and counteract much of the tension in our everyday lives. It is important to keep the shoulders, neck, and face relaxed during the practice. It is also important to modify the poses as needed to accommodate the individual needs of your body, which can also change from day to day. In the following practice, remain in each pose for three to five minutes and focus on relaxing the body and lengthening and deepening your breath.

1. Begin in Child’s Pose

Child’s Pose releases physical and emotional tension, allowing for deep inner surrender. It allows you to draw your attention inward and gently stretches the muscles along and around the spine.

Place a blanket underneath your knees and calves for padding. Either widen your knees, bringing your feet together and sliding your hips towards your heels, or bring your knees and feet together and slide your hips towards your heels. In order to release tension in your low back, widen your knees and bring your feet toward each other. Modify with a blanket over your calves and beneath your thighs if your quadriceps muscles (the top your of the thighs) are tight or if your knees are sensitive.

2. Seated Frog or Dragonfly (Seated Straddle Forward Fold)

Sit with your legs wide, anywhere from a narrow to a more open straddle, depending on your flexibility. This can be practiced with legs outstretched or knees bent. (Paulie Zink practices this pose with bent knees.) If your hamstrings, the muscles on the backs of your legs are tight, or if you have trouble sitting with your spine upright in the straddle, raise your hips by sitting on a blanket or a bolster. Start out with your hands or fingertips on the floor or mat in front of you and lengthen your spine. Depending on your flexibility, fold forward either by walking your hands forward, or place a bolster or stack of blankets on the floor in front of you. Then set your hands on the support, or fold forward onto the props.

3. Half butterfly

This is a very open and relaxed version of the hatha yoga asana janu sirsansana that stretches the muscles of the legs and spine. Sit either on the floor, or with your hips slightly lifted on a blanket or bolster. Stretch one leg out in front of you and bend the other knee, placing the sole of the foot near the inside of the outstretched leg. Fold forward with both hands placed on the inside of your outstretched leg (or on either side). Breathe and hold for three to five minutes, slowly come out of the pose and repeat on the other side.

Another version of this pose is one Paulie Zink calls rising wood element. Instead of setting your outstretched leg on the floor, lift your leg in the air and hold it with one hand. This is a more intense stretch for your hamstrings and hips.

4. Shoelace (Similar to the crossed-leg position of Gomukasana)

This pose stretches the hips, outer legs, and low back. Do this pose twice, once with each leg on top.

While sitting flat on the floor or on a blanket or bolster, cross one leg on top of the other, crossing your knees as tightly as possible. Looking at the pose from the front, your knees are stacked one on top of the other. You can remain upright or fold forward, depending on flexibility and the desired stretch. Since this is an intense stretch for the hips, there are a number of modifications you can use. One option is to widen the position of your legs by setting one ankle on top of the opposite knee. Additionally, you can keep your bottom leg outstretched and cross your top leg over the outstretched leg.

5. Butterfly

Either on a blanket or bolster, or flat on the floor, sit with the soles of your feet together and your knees apart. Depending on your individual flexibility, bring your feet close in to your body or further away in more of a diamond shape. Begin by sitting upright, and then start to reach your hands forward and fold forward to deepen the stretch in your hips and groin. Keep your neck and shoulders soft.

6. Savasana

Savasana is the ending pose and pose of completion. It is an integral part of any practice to create balance and regulate energy. As in any practice, savasana can take many shapes. One variation in a Yin practice is Pentacle, where the arms and legs are outstretched and wide. Alternately, if you have low back pain, setting up for savasana with a bolster under the knees can help to release tension in the back.

March/April 2007

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