YIN IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A STRETCH…

I taught a flow & yin class today, and one of my yogis really struggled in the first pose. She struggled physically, but it was way more than that- she was struggling in her mind to stay in the pose. And that’s yin!

I call it yin-rage! When you get into a pose that is deeply uncomfortable (not painful though just fyi!), as you want to punch the yoga teacher in the face. It feels like you have been there for 800 minutes when she says softly ‘half way’

HALF WAY? LADY I AM DYING OVER HERE AND WE HAVE HELD THIS POSE FOR THREE CENTURIES, CAN YOU NOT COUNT?!

Don’t feel shame, we all have these thoughts!

This is why yin is so much more than a stretch-

It teaches us how to hold ourselves steady when we are challenged.

It reminds us that the pose is not permanent.

It brings us back to our breath, as the only thing we have control of in that moment is how long our exhales are!

And all the above? Yeah, we need that for life too. When life throws all the shit in our way all at once and we have that moment where we just want to stand on the edge of a cliff and scream WHY ME I DON’T WANNA DEAL

But we have to.

And we do.

You know why?

Because we CAN hold ourselves steady when we are challenged, by keeping ourselves regulated.

Because this situation too will NOT be permanent- even when we are telling ourselves that it is.

That sometimes, the ONLY thing that you have control of in the moment is your breath, and that is all you need.

You see, that’s what yin teaches us AND it stretches our muscles, our tendons, our fascia (and our ego 😉).

I have said it before, but yoga is as much off the mat as it in on the mat.

Patanjali teaches that us that we are our life’s work, that it is only through compassionate self-enquiry (swadyaya) that we learn and grow and evolve.

And you can do all of that in a yin class, believe!