The benefits of Yin Yoga

In a world that’s always telling you to ‘keep busy’, ‘work hard’ and then hit the gym and ‘work-out harder’ – it’s important to find a slower practice to support both your physical and mental wellbeing. Yin yoga is the perfect balance to the fast-paced, active and sometimes stressful lives most of us are living. It invites you to slow down, find your breath and bring new energy into your body.

What is yin yoga?

The practice of Yin yoga is based on ancient Chinese philosophies and Taoist principles which believe there are pathways of Qi (energy) that run through our bodies.

By targeting your deep connective tissues, like your fascia, ligaments, joints, and bones, Yin yoga helps to release and clear your Qi pathways. While “yang” yoga practices like Vinyasa flow tend to focus more on fluid movement, Yin yoga is slower and uses props like bolsters, blocks and blankets to assist you in holding poses for a longer period of time. This allows you to stretch and lengthen those rarely-used tissues and gives you space to turn inward, almost like a meditation, tuning into both your mind and the physical sensations of your body.

5 Reasons Why You Should Try Yin Yoga

With so many physical and mental health benefits to choose from, we’ve pulled together our top 5 reasons why you should try Yin yoga; from stretching your connective tissue to reducing stress and anxiety.

1. Lengthens connective tissue

Think of your fascia like a web that wraps around your muscles and bones. As you hold a yin pose, the subtle release that takes you deeper into the pose is the tissues lengthening, hydrating, and becoming more pliable. This can help reduce aches and pains, increase your flexibility and release physical tension as well as trapped energy elsewhere in your body.

2. Boosts your circulation

By breathing into each pose and targeting your deeper tissues and ligaments, you bring more oxygen into your body and to your muscles. This helps increase your blood flow and circulation.

3. Releases stored emotions

Stored deep in our tissues are memories and anxieties that have perhaps been long forgotten. Yin yoga offers a safe and accessible space in which you can slowly begin to release these emotions that may be held in various parts of your body. The practice of holding a pose for a few minutes at a time, allows us to let go of things that are no longer serving us. It can feel challenging at times but with practice, can become a truly cathartic experience.

4. Reduces stress levels

Studies have found Yin yoga to be an incredible support for relieving stress and anxiety both physically and emotionally. As you focus on your breath, your parasympathetic nervous system becomes activated, which calms your body, slows your heart rate, regulates your sleep, balances your hormones and more. 

5. Invites you to slow down

Holding longer Yin poses invites you to marinate in stillness. It teaches you to stay present and experience the sensations & shifts in your body & mind whilst you’re in the pose. Deadlines, commitments, pressing matters, and to-do lists fade to the background, leaving tremendous space for rest and renewal.