Why do Yin Yoga?

It's not fast, it's not sweaty and we don't even do that many poses. So why do yin yoga? I'll let you in on a HUGE secret that many people miss.

Yin yoga is characterised by long holds in supported poses

I only began practicing Yin Yoga just before the Covid Pandemic. Before that I always thought that I needed to practice much more vigorous forms of physical yoga. There was some grounding to that notion; my main reason for picking up solid yoga Asana practice about five years or so before that was because I'd injured my knee quite badly and was told I needed to do prehab/rehab for ever after.

Yin Yoga, with its use of gravity, long supported holds and invitation to relax all muscular tension was not the sort of practice that springs to mind to develop and maintain muscle strength. Yin yoga is very much more of a work in than a work out.

Somehow though I eventually found myself in a Yin class, probably bored of the endless repetition of Ashtanga primary series or Bikram hot yoga. I was amazed at how at home I felt in this type of class. I was clearly in need of something that it had to offer. As time went on and I practiced Yin more regularly, I realised that part of this was my 'inner achiever' telling me I was "good" at Yin Yoga (I'm hypermobile so can stretch really far in many poses, which honestly is not always necessary or a good thing), but there was also something much deeper going on.

Yin Yoga and the Nervous System

I've always been an anxious person and I've had bouts of quite serious depression throughout my life. I have a continuous inner narration in my head competing with random thoughts and constant planning ON TOP of the conversations I'm usually having with myself (yes, sometimes out loud). I am rarely still. I fidget constantly on teams calls. I sit 'weirdly' (so I'm told) and move between odd positions all the time. When I'm physically still I'm aware of endless internal stuff going on, mental, emotional and physical.

It took a few years after committing to Yin practice, but eventually I came to realise all of this instead of simply being inside of it. I figured out that I'd spent most of my adult life in fight/flight/fawn or freeze mode (AKA the Sympathetic Nervous System State or SNS).

When you're in the SNS mode most of the time, many things are far more difficult than they should be. For example, the alternate state (PNS or Parasympathetic Nervous System) is known as 'rest & digest' for a good reason. I could neither rest or digest well for many years. I had a leaky gut, nutrient absorption issues, autoimmune issues and IBS symptoms. I could always get to sleep (I just kind of switch off when I'm bored or there's nothing else to do 🤷🏼‍♀️) but the quality of my sleep was at times frankly dire and I would often wake up at 4am in a blind panic.

I had just gotten used to living mainly in SNS mode although it meant I often felt rubbish, couldn't think straight and made poor decisions. It affected my work life and my relationships. It affected the things I felt I was capable of both in and out of work. I was so used to it, I didn't realise it wasn't how it was meant to be!

So back to Yin practice. Yin yoga was a fork in the road where I began to realise something different was possible.

Slowing Down with Yin Yoga

Finding yin was difficult to begin with because in all honesty most of us, myself included, are trained to feel that the more active, big, obvious, most clearly effortful and outwardly successful things are the only real game in town. You know, "no pain no gain", "go big or go home" or "just do it".

There is a big part of our culture which tries to tell us if we're not doing something productive all the time we're wasting our time. And time is a resource which is running out, because everything is commodified (yay post industrial capitalism 😅).

This is a very 'yang' approach: tough, macho, active, sweaty, effortful pastimes are given more value. So of course getting round to yin would be difficult. It is the opposite: supported, still, easeful (at times) and slow. There is a well developed mental barrier to doing less.

But when I started deliberately doing less through yin yoga, something big happened. I began to feel calmer and more present across the board.

As a slow and internally focused style of yoga practice, yin yoga helps us to settle into the PNS or "rest and digest" mode more the more we practice.

To begin with this is uncomfortable. It's unfamiliar, which our bodies and minds are not good at (especially us anxious types). If we're used to being on edge all the time, suddenly being able to step away from the edge is damned weird. That's why the mind can start doing all kinds of stuff when we stop to meditate or find ourselves alone. It's trying to fill the space with familiar insanity.

From a logical point of view, heightened SNS activation serves a real purpose, which is to protect us in times of danger. So we can feel UNSAFE when stepping away from it, because we're dropping out of defcon 1.

Mindfulness with Yin Yoga

But eventually, with slower yoga and mindful practices, we can create space and and start to notice our own experiences and patterns both on and off the yoga mat, instead of simply being embroiled in them.

I had spent a long time thinking that the relentless anxiety must have been caused by something wrong with me. In the space created by slow and still yin yoga practice I realised that a calm, confident, resilient version of myself was slowly becoming more accessible. There had been nothing wrong with me. I had simply been stuck trying to pull off in third gear. Yin yoga helped me to learn where my other gears were.

On a practical level, mindful yoga practices like yin yoga can lead to physical changes in our brains by taking advantage of neuroplasticity. When we start becoming more aware of our thoughts, sensations and emotions as well as other aspects of our inner world, we not fundamentally change our relationship to them in a way which can literally rewire the brain.

With consistent practice, we really can change our experience. It's hard at first, because it might feel unproductive or unfamiliar. It might feel uncomfortable, in a way which isn't quite to do with the poses. It might feel weirdly empty, or deadly boring. All of these things are a switch ready to be flipped into a version of ourselves with greater capacity for resilience, trust, kindness, tolerance and self-direction.

Try Yin Yoga for yourself

If you want to try Yin Yoga, first of all I would say, don't expect a workout. It's a work in instead. You may or may not feel physically challenged. You may feel bored, fidgety, mildly distressed, unsure, uncomfortable - and those things are normal. In Yin Yoga we work into the "edge of comfort" (sometimes also just called "the edge") and this is one of the ways in which it helps us to explore our experience and find resilience.

A good yin yoga teacher will guide you towards finding support as you experience the practice- e.g. from the props, the sensation of gravity and the support of the ground, and from within your own body and personal capacities. Eventually you may simply be able to melt away into the support of the long held poses, dissolving many of the challenges you have found along the way. Noticing how your body, sensations and experience change throughout the pose is part of the process which guides you towards a calmer and more easily regulated nervous system, emotional and energetic balance.

No practice is automatically better or the same as the last one. Sometimes it's straightforward, other times it may feel frustrating. Over time you will likely be able to relax more and more into your yin yoga practice and notice how it is working on the intangible parts of yourself as well as your physical body. I'm confident you will feel calmer, less anxious, less stressed and more present both on and off the yoga mat.

Interested in starting a yin yoga practice but not sure how to go about it? I have a certified 100hr specialisation in Yin and offer in person and online 1-1s to give you personalised support and tailored sessions. Book using the button below.

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