YIN YOGA
Perhaps you’ve heard of Vinyasa Yoga, a Yang (masculine energy) style of practice that heats the body, stretches the muscles and connects your pose to your breath. Vinyasa yoga is a powerful practice that seeks balance with a Yin Yoga class (feminine energy).
In a Yin practice we slow down - poses are held between 2-5 minutes, we learn to slow and lengthen our breath, we learn to keep the mental chatter at a minimum. This practice incorporates longer held positions in order to open up the connective tissues in our body to allow for greater flexibility. In order to hold yoga poses for longer periods of time, we use props to support our poses to ease our body into a comfortable position. Once this shape is found, we learn to soften and find our breath to seek a meditative mindset.
You may be thinking, ‘this sounds a lot like your Restorative Yoga class…’ and yes, they are similar but still very different. Restorative Yoga is allowing your body and mind to surrender and deepen into the comfort of restful, easeful poses. In Yin, we work to surrender and deepen our understanding of our thoughts and our mental space because the poses in a Yin practice can be somewhat uncomfortable if new to you. Mentally, if all you focus on is the discomfort or fact that you ‘cannot do this’ or you ‘are not flexible enough’ the mind will not be in support of a restful body. There are always modifications for every body and every experience level is welcome. Examples of Yin poses would be supported forward folds, supported backbends, hip openers and shoulder mobility exercises.
This is a beautiful practice for anyone with an over stimulated mind, stress, tightness in the body and an overall feeling of being worn out. A regular gentle Yin practice will open up your body to simply feel better. This practice will quiet your mind to feel true presence and at peace within your body.
Yin Yoga is an effective practice that you will be guided and supported from Kaleigh, our 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher. For her, regular Yin Yoga has made her realize how important it is to slow down her yoga practice to learn how to ‘just be’ in life and on the mat. Her hamstrings, hips, neck and shoulders always feel amazing after a class and her mind more open and receptive to the world outside the door.
ABOUT OUR YIN CLASS
Our classes are small~ 3 people is our maximum. Our space is warm and inviting. We allow space to find your postures and relax with adequate attention detail. Our space is calm, colorful, dimly lit, and enhanced with aromatherapy that compliments the practice.
Join Kaleigh and mke MindBody Wellness for this new weekly class on Tuesday’s 5:30-6:30pm, $15. Any inquiries, please message Kaleigh at info@kaleighatkinson.com