Derived from Alchemical Daoism on stimulating and balancing of energy in both its yin and yang aspects, Yin Yoga is designed to exercise the ligaments and regain space and strengthen the joints. Postures are held for longer periods between 3-5 minutes. We do not use the body to get into a body, we use the pose to get into the body. In Yin yoga, less is more. First, we must stress the tissues then we must allow the tissues to rest. The chances are if you’re feeling it, you’re doing it!

Our joints are like spaces between the bones where movement is possible. Stabilising the joint are ligaments, muscles and tendons which bind the bones together. The muscle’s job is to protect the joint. However if there is too much stress on the joint – the muscle will tear, then the ligaments and finally, the joint itself could become damaged. Thirty percent of what we class as muscle in our body is fascia and ligaments, which are predominantly yin-like – they are connecting fibres just like within our muscles. We find these elastic fibres called elastin within our yin tissues. So, there is yin and yang here too – our connective tissues contracting and shortening.

Yoga was never a competitive sport – it is an inward practice designed to build awareness, non-attachment, equanimity and contentment, building stability and mobility. To unify yin and yang we must remove all blockages that exist in the body so that the energies can reunite. This transformation involves physical and mental exercise to change our skeletal structures and mental formations. 

Applying the three Tattvas of yin yoga practice: coming into the pose to an appropriate depth, resolving to remain still and holding the pose for some time, gaining stillness in the body, stillness in the breath and eventually stillness in the mind, we can balance i.e. the Yin to our Yang. As in all things in life, harmony comes through balance. Live in Harmony with the way things are and you will benefit, struggles against them and you will suffer. 

To transform our vital energy into spirit energy, the mind must be empty of thoughts, there is no longer a subject or object, no thinker and no thought.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Grant me courage to change the things that I can change and grant me the wisdom to know the difference.”