An update+What is yin yoga aside of the poses in the asana p

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YogiBalance
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:33 am

An update+What is yin yoga aside of the poses in the asana p

Post by YogiBalance »

Yin yoga became an important part in my life. I feel the benefits it gives me everyday and the progression i gain through trial and error, a lot of it thanks to your wonderful website Bernie. I think that the asana page and the tips you give in this forum are wonderful. Its somewhat an orgasmic feeling and of course relaxation, flexibility, progression, improved posture, etc. and some pain as well which is drastically reduced. I think that most of the pain i feel in my practice is "ok" pain like a level of pain which is acceptable like you mentioned in one of your articles here and i'm still trying to figure out how to reduce it further more. The electrical feel is also drastically reduced and hopefully my progression and knowledge gain through trial and error lead me to feel no electrical feeling at all. It seems that i'm on the right track to fully understand the limits of my anatomical structure and work according to it.

Yin yoga also teach me to relax my body throughout the day. Up until a few months ago i was initiating muscle exertion of some muscles in my body unconsciously and consciously, especially the belly muscles. I learn to let go of holding muscles which i'm not suppose to hold and let go of holding my breath, especially letting my body to fully exhale, before this i was stopping my exhale in the middle before its full length and also initiate fast breathing like stressed breathing, unconsciously consciously, at least this is how it felt like. Now i feel much less out of breath.

New questions:
1. What else is yin toga (more of the style you teach, less of what Paulie Zink teach) aside of the poses presented in the asana page? Are there poses missing from the asana page which are yin yoga as well? For example, i see this "dragon sequence" and "bow tie pose" on you tube. Bow tie feels like yin yoga because the muscles are not being held, if so then why is it not presented in the asana page?
2. Are there certain poses (not necessarily only yin) that you would recommend doing after waking up in the morning and before sleeping at night?
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Post by Bernie »

For your first question, may I direct you to a post here where I describe the differences between Yin Yoga in the style created by Paul Grilley (which I call Yin Yoga (G)) versus the style that Paulie Zink much later started calling his Yin Yoga (which I call Yin Yoga (Z)). Let me know if you still have questions after reading that. Many postures can be yin-like, but since we hold the postures for so long, we don't have time in one practice session to do very many. We don't need many. (Paul often says, "20 is plenty".) the 25 or so postures I list are enough to work the body's main targeted areas but you are free to add to this list if you like and many have.

For #2: I would not want to do any postures first thing in the morning: wait for the body (especially the spine) to recover from lying horizontal for many hours. If you had only one pose to do, do Cats/Cows or spend 30 minutes meditating. Once the night's creep has been reduced, do what you need. I often do my yang practice then, but some people prefer a yin practice. It depends upon your intention. Same thing at night: what do you intend? To calm down before sleeping, yin would be nice.
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