Yin Yoga

[fit155]

Has anyone ever heard of or practiced this?

The theory behind it is that you hold the asanas (poses) for 2-5 minutes, thereby stretching and lengthening connective tissue. (As opposed to stretching and lengthening muscles during traditional yoga practices.) The areas stretched and lengthened are along the yin meridians, so the yin meridians get stimulated as well.

Most yin yoga practices focus on the hips (which is actually the area from the lower back to the knees), the spine, or both.

I wanted to try the hip asanas because of several lower body injuries that have affected my ankles, knees and hips. All I can say is WOW. I didn't realize how tight I was/am. And I could tell that my meridians really got stimulated as well. Also, I am nowhere close to holding the asanas for 2-5 minutes. 15-20 seconds is where I am at now.

Here is a link to a web site that provides photos and descriptions of some yin yoga asanas.

http://www.yinyoga.com/ys2_2.0_yinyoga_asanas.php

I really like how this site maps the asanas to specific meridians and organs they benefit.

Be careful, as I don't think all of the asanas are good for everyone. Some are particularly tough on the ankles and knees, which is ironic since this practice is supposed to help those areas.

I also got a DVD and book from the library by Paul Grilley on yin yoga called Yin Yoga - the Foundations of a Quiet Practice. He really focuses on the fact that every body is different and has different capabilities. However, despite that, he has people on his video in all sorts of pretzel positions that very few mortals will be able to attain. lol. But it's still an excellent program. Again, not everyone should attempt all the asanas he shows. Also, he talks A LOT during the asana demonstrations. That is great for the learning phase, but I think it would get annoying after you've learned the asanas and just want to pop in the DVD and do the practice. Also, this program doesn't do as good of a job as the above web site in mapping the asanas to specific meridians and organs they benefit. You might want to see if your library has this before going out to buy it. Also, if you're library doesn't have it, see about an interlibrary loan and they might be able to get it from a different library.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you all in on this. It might be a good supplement to any of your other practices.

[vamos]

8 peices of brocade will do this and/or pressure point healing.try hitting gb34 or 37 cant remeber of top of my head.master point for tendons.it will help you stretch more easily.tiger forms will help too.

[internalfist]

Ah I have The Yin Yoga Kit: The Practice of Quiet Power by Biff Mithoefer.
It comes with book, flash cards of the poses and an instructional cd, I believe its 75 minutes, I havent done it yet but Im planning on starting the book this weekend. My girl friend got it for my bday in August and I just havent had the time yet.

But Ive been doing the "normal" yoga practices along with all my training so I think this will be a nice balance. Plus I mstarting Xingyi (for about 2 months now) and its mainly focuses on the Yin organs, so the Yin Yoga kit will go nicely with my Xingyi.


Ill post more after I start the kit.

[internalfist]

Well been practicing my Yin Yoga for awhile now. I do 30-45 min in the morning before my Zhan Zhuang training. I find the yin yoga perfect for the morning before my qi gong. It is a nice light exercise that loosens the muscles and the affect on the meridians is wonderfull for getting your qi flowing nicely so its perfect before qi gong,I think so atleast. And also alot of emotional tension and energy past and present gets stored in the hip area therefore making that area stiff. So yin yoga is also nice for getting rid of stored emotional tension and balancing the emotions bringing a whole sense of calm over you, which is very refreshing.

[Josh Young]

You won't find any moving set that can confer what holding asanas can. Yin yoga is a choice yoga, or integration exercise.

These asanas are tremendously valuable.

[Dvivid]

I agree, I love Yin Yoga.

You learn to stretch deeply without collapsing on your joints. It stretches the muscles, tendons, fascia very well.