Soothe Yourself

In our speed-driven world, yoga is often fast paced. Yin Yoga offers an opportunity to slow down and come back into balance.

By Lisa Maria, sequence by Sarah Powers

Dina Amsterdam didn't enjoy her first Yin Yoga class. Or her second. Or even her third. Having just finished a three-year teacher training in a style that emphasized alignment and traditional sequencing, she found the practice's long, passive holds of seated and reclined postures uncomfortable, and she wondered about the lack of alignment. Yet the calm afterglow she experienced from the classes persuaded her to keep going back.

It took an unfortunate event—an exhausting illness—for Amsterdam to fall in love with Yin. As she lay in bed, weak and frustrated, she longed to move and stretch her body, but she knew that her usual active practice was out of reach. For the first time, she was grateful for Yin's surrendered approach. "When I did the Yin poses, I felt like a flower that hadn't been watered for a long time getting moisture," Amsterdam says. "It felt like the inside of my body had more space. There was more moisture, more fluid...sort of like a rusty car getting oiled." As her body opened to the experience, her mind followed. Instead of resisting the discomfort she had always felt in her body and mind from being still for long stretches of time, she was able to just sit and be with the sensations. "Emotionally and mentally I felt really soothed. I was aligning myself with where I actually was, so the energy I had been wasting struggling against the illness—and previously the Yin poses—became available to me again. For the first time, I found it deeply relaxing to be with my discomfort."

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