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The joys of yin yoga: students’ perspectives

It’s all well and good me saying how great yin yoga is but I thought it would be nice to hear from others to find out what yin means to them. I spoke to a couple of regular students and here’s what they said:

Reclining backbend yin yoga pose
Louise’s favourite yin pose: gentle backbend and hip opener

How would you describe yin yoga to someone who’s never practiced it?

Natalie: Yin yoga is a deeply relaxing yet energising form of yoga that encourages you to really breathe into each pose. Poses are held for around five minutes or so and are mostly seated.

Janet: I would say that it’s relaxing and calming. It realigns your body and soothes your mind. We hold poses for five minutes at a time and you only do what is good for your own body.

Louise: I wasn’t excited ahead of my first yin experience. I love ashtanga and I thought yin sounded a bit dull and easy. Not my sort of thing. I quickly realised why everyone goes on about yin being the perfect complement to ashtanga. And it’s definitely NOT easy. Or dull. I find it challenging yet peaceful. Stretching yet relaxing.

Natalie's favourite yin pose: Butterfly - forward bend, hip opener
Natalie’s favourite yin pose: Butterfly – forward bend, hip opener

Why do you enjoy practicing yin? 

Janet: I’ve got sciatica and I know it helps my back. I feel the benefit throughout the whole week! It helps me to feel relaxed, stretched and soothed.

Louise: I generally struggle to clear my mind and relax. Thoughts and tasks always creep in but yin seems to give me an opportunity to really let go and just be.

Natalie: Firstly I love it as a ‘balancer’ to ashtanga yoga. It is wholly complimentary yet completely different in approach and focus. I feel that with this style of yoga I really begin to understand the enabling power of breathing. I am naturally very ambitious and competitive and find yin makes me stop and reflect on why I am doing yoga in the first place.

After a yin session I feel balanced, relaxed and energised. I find it clears my head and helps me focus. I sleep well afterwards and feel less ‘crunched up’ in my posture.

Favourite yin pose? 

Janet: I’d have to say particularly the twists as they help my back.

Louise: When you sit on a block and then lie back over a bolster. A kind of active bliss!

Natalie: Seated, with legs over the bolster, leaning forward towards my shins. I find it invigorating and can see a real difference in terms of how much my body opens over the five minutes.

Have you practiced yin? Why do you enjoy it? Do you have a favourite pose? Feel free to comment below.

If you’d like to try yin or continue your practice:

  • I’m starting a weekly yin class at The Yoga Hall in St Albans from Thursday 17 October.
  • April and I are next teaching a yin/ashtanga workshop in Harpenden on Saturday 19 October.

    Yin pose: spinal twist
    Janet’s favourite yin pose: spinal twist
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Singing vs chanting in the wilds of Hertfordshire

Having moved to a new area, I thought I’d put myself out there and try and meet some new people. “Hmmm…. how?” I thought. Well, I’ve been going to a few yoga classes locally but I wanted to meet MORE people. MORE I tell you!

And what do I like doing apart from yoga? Well, I don’t mind singing and I have been known – just on one or two occasions – to spontaneously burst into song when someone says something that reminds me of a song title. And I am rather fond of chanting Sanskrit mantras but that can be rather niche…

“And where did this lead me?” I hear you say. Well, it naturally led me to a taster Rock Choir session in Harpenden. Cue about 60 people – mostly women of  various ages (I was probably at the younger end of the spectrum) – sitting in a school hall on a Monday evening.

I sat with the altos and tried to get my head round where to breathe in Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’. Together we didn’t sound half bad.

Then came ELO’s Mr Blue Sky. I was relieved to hear that they’d been working on it for weeks as I hadn’t the foggiest what was going on. And there were dance moves. Fingers were clicked, salsa steps were attempted, arms were waved and my voice went all over the place. To think that my mum’s a soprano soloist. It was frankly embarrassing.

Abbi the choir leader was amazing. Enthusiastic, pulling everyone together, and incredibly talented. Some people were born performers, strutting their stuff and enunciating like it was going out of fashion. But something was missing. Even if we’d been singing the songs of Julie Andrews, I’m not sure if it was me.

I came home and thought about it. It all felt a bit empty. I love kirtan and chanting mantras. When I chant, I feel like I’m giving my all. My heart feels open and there’s no need to perform. It doesn’t even matter that you might not know the meaning of all the words in Sanskrit. There’s just a great energy about them. When I lead a chant, it’s a magical feeling when an entire room says the line back to you. I love it. Singing ELO and sashaying about just didn’t quite do it for me.

Anyway, you’ve got to try these things. If you fancy Rock Choir, there’s loads of them all over the country. If you fancy spending your Saturday night chanting Sanskrit mantras, the next one at the Yoga Hall in St Albans is 22 June. I know where you’re more likely to find me.

Oh and if you’d like to come to my yoga classes in Wheathampstead and Harpenden, details are on the class schedule page of my new (yes, I said ‘new’) website!

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Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together

Some of you may be wondering how I’m settling back in to life in the UK after five months away. Well, I can say that’s going alright. I went away to deepen my yoga practice and I feel that it’s paying off.

Gratitude

Last weekend I skyped my thumb chum Laurie who I met in Thailand doing my 500 hour training. We talked about how our five weeks of learning ashtanga has benefitted our yoga practice immeasurably.
Michel adjusting me in class
Michel adjusting me in class

A year ago I was tentatively dipping my toe into a beginners ashtanga course prior to going away.  Now when I practice ashtanga, it feels like a pure meditation. Every movement flows with the breath and, ok, so I forget the sequence from time to time but it works. It makes me feel so alive.

Since being back in the UK, I’ve had teachers come up to me at the end of classes telling me that they could watch me practice all day. They’ve asked me where I learnt ashtanga and I tell them to seek out Michel Besnard. I am so grateful to him and Roslyn.

I remember him saying that the gift he was giving us was an ashtanga Mysore self practice but really he’s given me so much more than that. I’ve learnt so much about myself and I love Michel’s motto of ‘who cares!’ Who cares if you can’t do a backbend/sit in lotus/ lift your leg as high as the person next to you etc etc. Just enjoy your practice.

Laurie was saying the same thing. She’s based in St Louis, Missouri, and is now on the teaching faculty of a 200 hour yoga teacher training at the studio where she works. We feel so lucky to have had the experience.

Yoga Hall St Albans

This week I covered my first class at the Yoga Hall in St Albans. Run by Laura and Finlay, they follow a disciple of Swami Vishnudevananda’s, Faustomaria Dorelli.

I feel that everything that I’ve learnt over the past few years is coming together in my teaching. Before my time with Michel I would never have focused so much on standing postures or suggested to

Swami Sivananda
Swami Sivananda

students that they lift their middle toes to engage the muscles in their legs. In the class at the Yoga Hall I threw some yin postures into the mix, whilst also teaching some Sivananda-based pranayama and relaxation.

While students laid in savasana, I speedily made herbal tea in the kitchen for everyone after class. Swami Sivananda looked on with his reassuring eyes from a picture on a cupboard door, and a postcard of Swami Vishnudevananda was blu-tacked onto the wall above the mugs. It’s a lovely place and I feel at home there. Their satsang/chanting evenings once a month are wonderful too.

Yoga Harpenden

I’m also lucky to have met an ashtanga teacher out near me in Harpenden who is fast becoming a good friend. In jolly proper Harpenden you’d be hard-pressed to find many Californians who’ve lived in  ashrams and follow silent gurus… but I found one! April is inspiring me to keep up my daily practice and we have plans to run a local ashtanga/yin yoga workshop together.

I’ve also decided that after ten years, I’m done with living in London. I’m happy to work in an art gallery there for a couple of days a week but it feels too busy and stressful. Hertfordshire’s fields, fresh air and friendly people are a-calling. I just need to work out how I can afford a car and a flat. I can’t live with my parents forever…

Any of my 500 hour training buddies reading this? How has the training affected your practice and teaching? Feel free to leave your comments below.

Om shanti.