Tags
Daoism, dynamic yoga, metta, Paul Grilley, Paulie Zink, Restorative Yoga, sankalpa, Sarah Powers, slow yoga, Swami Satyananda, Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra
The world seems to be gathering pace with every year. We are always in a hurry, multi-tasking, trying to be as efficient as possible. Living in a constant rush puts us under enormous pressure. Slowing down seems the only reasonable antidote to this madness. The slow lifestyle revolution started with slow food movement quite a while ago but since then many other ‘slow’ trends emerged, including Yoga.
For at least the last two- three decades the most popular styles of Yoga were the ones originating from or inspired by Krishnamacharya lineage: Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, Power, etc. All those styles are rhythmic and dynamic in nature. If you have ever been to any flow class you’d know that the idea is to move from pose to pose without a rest. Most of asanas used in dynamic classes are physically demanding and impossible to hold for a longer time (think: warriors).
Dynamic branch of Yoga has been evolving constantly, with new styles popping up every year, often becoming more and more extreme. Currently most fashionable Bikram yoga and other hot yoga styles are not only dynamic but also performed in very high temperatures, causing body to sweat intensely and turning Yoga into cardio exercise. There is even Rocket Yoga where one transitions from pose to pose at lightning speed to the beat of disco music. All of these styles deviated from the original definition of yoga asana by ancient sage Patanjali who described it as a steady and comfortable pose.
Luckily, the opposite trend has recently become more and more visible. Now almost every reputable Yoga school offers Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga or Yoga Nidra as a counterbalance to the staple ‘yang‘ lot. People flock to those slower classes in hope of finding balance between yin and yang.
Yin Yoga is a relatively new style. It has been created by two Americans in the 1970s: Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley. They in turn got inspired by classes of Paulie Zink- a martial art teacher who was including in his kung-fu classes Daoist Yoga. Now, Daoism is an ancient Chinese system of practice and knowledge which is in many ways similar to Yoga. The creators of Yin Yoga combined the Traditional Chinese Medicine knowledge of meridians, energy channels with Hatha Yoga concept of chakras, energy vortexes. They came back to the roots of Yoga, teaching seated, prone and supine Hatha Yoga poses in a very slow, passive, cool, ‘yin‘ way. In Yin Yoga, each pose is held for anything between 3 and 10 minutes in a way which does not engage the muscles and so does not involve any physical effort. The poses are meant to be held without wriggling or shifting, unless joint pain or numbness is experienced.
chakras of Hatha Yoga and meridians of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Yin asana might not necessarily feel comfortable but it surely is steady, largely thanks to the generous use of props. The discomfort sometimes experienced during Yin Yoga doesn’t come from the body as much as from the mind. The mind- used to work incessantly on high speed- is suddenly confronted with an unusual task: focusing the whole attention on perfectly still body and the breath. During a Yin Yoga session you’re on your own with your breath, with your body and with your mind, further separated from the outside world by closing the eyes. You’re there only to observe whatever enfolds, not to alter it in any way. Observing and even more so accepting the things just the way they are, letting go of any striving or achievement can be a very challenging experience for people who are used to perform and prove themselves every second of their lives.
Our lifestyle is predominantly yang, therefore yin is absolutely crucial for our well-being, for bringing us back into equilibrium. The more you dislike or resist the idea of stillness in Yoga (or anywhere else for that matter), the more you actually need this kind of practice.
When I started my lifelong commitment to Yoga, I was just a young, insecure girl who found something gratifying in performing yogic feats of acrobatics. I was naturally flexible, as I learned later, even hypermobile in the lumbar area therefore many ‘advanced’ poses were almost immediately accessible to me. I loved to play with them, trying various inversions and deep backbends. It took me a long time to understand the poses I liked most were actually not good for my body. Sometimes less is more.
Luckily, by the time I discovered Yin Yoga I was ready to embrace it. I already have become a regular Vipassana meditator by then so the concept of just observing whatever arises in an equanimous way was very familiar to me. Yet, at the beginning I was still catching myself getting upset with silly things. For example it annoyed me that by really letting go I couldn’t get as far in my forward bends as during normal practice (when I was engaging the core and back muscles).
To love and accept yourself just the way you are is a difficult task, particularly with all the external and internal expectations and ambition that our culture encourages and nurtures. However, without sending metta (Buddhist term for loving kindness) to ourselves, we cannot possibly project and radiate it to others. Yin Yoga teaches us to accept whatever might arise making it a great introduction to mindfulness and meditation. Its benefits for the body are manifold but for me the most amazing aspect of Yin Yoga is its meditative quality.
If Yin Yoga sounds like too much of a challenge, you might prefer its sister, Restorative Yoga. Restorative Yoga is very similar to Yin Yoga in terms of pace, usage of props and passivity. The main difference is the level of intensity. Yin Yoga is meant to be a stronger experience. At a Yin Yoga session practitioner tries to find the edge- the position which he could ‘feel’. Restorative yoga is all about complete relaxation of body and mind. It feels blissful. Restorative Yoga is a great choice for people recovering from injuries who cannot participate in regular classes as well as for the chronically stressed. Personally, I prefer Yin Yoga but it might be simply because I don’t feel so much need of relaxation being a full time yoga teacher.
And then there is another style that has been invented roughly the same time as Yin Yoga but has been only recently becoming popular. It originates from Swami Satyananda Saraswati from Sivananda lineage who have developed this technique based on much older Tantric nyasa rituals. Yoga Nidra- literally yoga sleep- is a special deep relaxation technique during which a student is talked through various visualizations while resting in Savasana pose. A typical Yoga Nidra would involve a round of body scan where the consciousness travels from part to part, noticing or just imagining various sensations in the body and other visualizations.
An important part of Yoga Nidra is sankalpa– a resolve repeated at the beginning and end of each session. As Yoga Nidra invokes a special state of deep relaxation which is neither sleep nor being awake, the practitioner is able to tap into the subconsciousness and leave there the seed of intention to change something crucial in his life. Swami Satyananda claimed that resolve made (repeatedly over many sessions) during Yoga Nidra is bound to come true.
Yoga Nidra should not be confused with hypnosis as the practitioner remains aware throughout the session and he is not manipulated by the teacher in any way. Just the opposite- he is the creator of his own ‘dream’. The ultimate goal of Yoga Nidra is to get an insight, a glimpse of the true Self. For most people it is a deeply relaxing experience, particularly useful for those suffering from anxiety, stress- related disorders and insomnia.
I have discovered that I do enjoy Yoga Nidra, only very rarely falling asleep. However, the quality of my relaxation very much depends on the voice and tone of the teacher. I’m able to relax fully only when the teacher’s voice is calming and soothing.
I’ve tried all of those brilliant slow Yoga practices for myself and knowing their wondrous effects I wanted to share them with my students. I discovered that Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra go together very well and lead people to a state where their entire being (body-mind-soul) is relaxed and reconnected. I wouldn’t recommend practicing those styles of Yoga before having something important to do as they might leave one feeling a bit ‘spaced out’. They make a great weekend or evening practice, though. Slow Yoga styles are also suitable as a complement to traditional Hatha Yoga during retreats where the peaceful environment and lack of excessive stimuli makes them a bit more accessible.
* To try slow Yoga, you can join my monthly Yin Yoga & Yoga Nidra classes in Streatham: http://yogawith.com/yoga_streatham.shtml
or the upcoming Spring Yoga Retreat at Tilton House, East Sussex:
http://yogawith.com/yoga_retreats_TiltonHouse.shtml