My studio head teaches yin once a week. I rarely make it to the Thursday 6pm class, but I have been interested in this method, and have started reading up on it on my own. I have Sarah Powers' book Insight Yoga. Last night I did the long form series for stimulation of the kidney meridian. For more on the kidney meridian, click here.
The yin method is opposed to more yang styles of yoga, like Bikram or Ashtanga or even vigorous vinyasa. Yang is all about doing - Yin is all about being. I have had the pleasure of doing my yang work the last two days in the garden. I've been transplanting day lilies all over the place. It is such a pleasure to have gotten my movement in through home improvement! And a deeper pleasure last night to sit down, while my husband worked, for two hours with my mat, blanket and pillows.
Once I worked out a clumsy way to use my cell phone alarm to give me 5-8 minute long countdowns, I settled in to practice. Poses were: Butterfly (like badokanasana but heels away from the groin, and supported), saddle pose, Sphinx, Seal (this one was tough to hold for 4 minutes!), supported forward bend, spine twist, happy baby, and savasana.
I don't have pics of these unfortunately but luckily there is this resource if you are curious. Yin Yoga Pose index It took two hours to get through the sequence holding most everything for at least five minutes. The twists I did 3-5 minutes on a side. I went deep, relaxed, and I'll tell you what - I slept like a BABY for the first time in over a week. We have an oversexed and territorial woodpecker who likes to get drummin' at about 5am these days. We're going to hang some pie plates as deterrents but haven't gotten to it yet. So I was able to sleep from about 10:30 through to 7am. Wonderful.
2 comments:
ohhh there's nothing quite as delicious as a beautiful yin practice. It's something I've delved into a lot more this year - glad you're enjoying it too! x
Hi Shiny :) I can't agree more. Our internet was down, or I might have been online. I hope to make the choice to practice sometimes beFORE I find out the internet is down :)
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