Viniyoga approach as balancing yang practice?

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Shantaram
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:57 am

Viniyoga approach as balancing yang practice?

Post by Shantaram »

Hey Bernie!

I am practicing yoga 2 times a day with 20-30 minutes asana practice.
I used to do the Rishikesh sequence with slight modification for about 3 years, but I needed a change, so I started yin yoga only a few weeks ago.

After some time I felt I need some yang practice again. I tried the yang excercises from Paul's DVD. I like the the Flying Dragon very much but I cannot do this on a daily basis yet. The other two flows did not feel very good because it put too much stress on my knees.
I consulted Sarah Powers book, but the yang excercises are too long to do in a 20 to 30 minutes row except for the sun salutation. But just doing the surya namaskar doesn't feel to be enough for me.

So I was seeking for a gentle yang excercise with a variety of asanas and found that the Viniyoga practices from Gary Kraftsow's DVD are nice and gentle and fit into my timeframe.

What I'm doing now is 20-30 minutes yin yoga in the morning and some gently yang practice (Viniyoga) and now and then some more intense flows like Surya Namaskar or the Flying Dragon in the evening also for 20 to 30 minutes.

Would you consider the Viniyoga approach or a gentle more dynamic approach in general as an adequate yang practice to balance the yin practice?

Or do you think an yin practice needs an intense yang practice to balance it out?
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

How much yang?

Post by Bernie »

I hesitate to advise you. It all depends. It depends on your age, your physical conditioning, what you really intend by doing yoga, on your biology and your biology.

There is no mandate to do lots of yang yoga: you don't need to do tons of vinyasas to be healthy. The key is -- what is your intention? If it is to regain or maintain optimal health, then really strong, yang practices may not be a good idea. So, my advice would be--get clear on what you want, start kind of easy, work towards what feels like a good "Goldilocks" balance" and just do that. It doesn't have to be the same thing all the time either: some easy viniyoga some days could be perfect, then a long walk another day, then some Golden Seed or easy Dragons, Mini-sun salutes...who knows? Experiment, pay attention and check to see if you are getting your intentions met.

Good luck
Bernie
Shantaram
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:57 am

Post by Shantaram »

Thank you, Bernie!

Yes my intention is to maintain or regain optimal health. I dont know how, but I there was meme in my mind, that a powerful vinyasa practice is needed to balance yin practices. Thank you for clearing that out!!
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