My First Yin Class!

[vincent]

Yin classes are offered at our studio once a week, and today I finally tried it. I didn't know what to expect, just had an idea the postures would be held for a long time, and it ended up being longer than I expected sometimes, and sometimes it was quite intense. Also, I had the feeling that my legs turned into noodles, and wondered if that could be a good thing, and felt very fragile at times. I'm supposing all this is normal, and somehow I managed to bounce back am back up walking around again and feeling pretty good about the first class, and am looking forward to the next one.

Any suggestions as to how much yin one should do vs "regular" yoga?

If a class could be so constructed--would it make any sense to do 45 minutes of yin followed by 45 minutes of vinyasa?

[Jessica Powers]

Hey Vincent! Glad to hear you had a positive first Yin experience! I got the privilege of leading two of my friends through a Yin routine this weekend and hearing how much they enjoyed it was really delightful. I did tell them, part way through, that feeling fragile was an indicator that they were practicing appropriately, so you shouldn't be alarmed at that. As for how much Yin...that depends on you, your mood, and your life style and what you need from your yoga. I think I recall being told that 3 times a week was a good amount of Yin, but I think that assumes you're practicing in a Yang way another 3 times a week or more. As for mixing styles - so good! I used to teach Yin/Yang classes. One was, as you mention, 45 minutes of Yin followed by 45 of Yang. Another, because it was at a gym and they were weird about schedules, was a 30 minute Yin class followed by an hour long Vinyasa/Flow class. Most of the Yinsters stayed for the second class, but we were able to welcome more people into the flow class without them feeling left out or 'not warmed up'. When I stopped teaching that class, folks were sad, but I needed my Sundays back by then. (Which, since I saw your other post I will add - I had a few students who came for my class and worked with me to complete Savasana early so that they could make it to their church in time.)

[Bernie]

Vincent, you might find it interesting to read some earlier posts on this topic:

http://www.yinyoga.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=521

http://www.yinyoga.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=410

http://www.yinyoga.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=453

http://www.yinyoga.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=398