Go All Yin

It’s Your Practice

The best way to enjoy my Yin yoga classes is by just following along without much concern for the correctness of your postures. Wait. What? That’s blasphemy! Burn him! Well, before you do, please hear me out.

While the greatest obstacle to yogic understanding might well be the unwillingness to set aside any notion of there being particular postural alignments that apply to all yogis, that is our starting point. For now, release what you know about correct postural alignment, and allow yourself to grasp the possibility of other possibilities.

So-called proper alignment, as it’s generally believed, and as it’s typically taught, is simply arbitrary. Why? Because correct alignment is, and can only be, unique to each yogi’s bony architecture. (See Paul Grilley’s example bones.)

All too often, the idea of the individual is paid lip service, but subsequent yoga-class-cueing tends to disregard that reality, relegating all yogis to the same frame. And, myths persist. For instance, while it may be the case, it isn’t necessarily: that women are naturally more flexible than men, and that if you practice long enough you’ll eventually accomplish that currently impossible asana.

In Yin yoga, and in any yoga, the practice is inherently different yogi to yogi. A forward fold is a forward fold is a forward fold, but each yogi’s experience differs because a yoga practice, and any other physical endeavor, is downstream from skeletal structure. And that’s okay. No matter the experience, it’s all good. Let that sink in.

You see, postural precision isn’t the idea anyway. Rather, by using generally familiar positions to effect particular joint actions — folding, bending, and twisting, to whatever degree — you safely stimulate joints and surrounding tissues. No posture must look any certain way, so forget striving for some arbitrary alignment. Proper alignment exists solely in context of your own skeletal individuality. Again, such variances result in significant differences in experience, yogi to yogi. Adjust shapes and expectations as needed.

Expectations

The full aesthetic expression of yogic postures, typically understood in terms of soft tissues, must ultimately be tempered by each yogi’s unique bony architecture.

For instance, after years of practice one yogi’s forward fold — as in Caterpillar — may close like a clam shell while another’s resembles a candy cane. It’s normally thought that Clam Shell’s soft tissues are fully compliant, and that Candy Cane suffers from tight hamstrings or adductors, but will eventually “complete” the posture. And that could be the case. Or not.

What’s Happening?

Clam Shell has reached compression — upper body to legs — the legitimate endpoint of any posture, while Candy Cane is still working through the tensile limits of the soft tissues on the backs or insides of the legs. Of course, right?

Well, not so fast. Maybe Candy Cane is actually running into compression, too, deep in the front of the hip joints well ahead of the full aesthetic expression of the fold. That is, the shape and orientation of the femurs and their sockets may prevent further flexion, whether or not the “hamstrings” are tight. This is an important distinction. But, how do you know?

Tension / Compression

Tension is a pulling sensation, in this example, on the backs of the legs. Naturally, it increases in intensity with the depth of the posture. This is a soft boundary, and can change. As soft tissues adapt to postural demands greater ranges of motion follow. (Keep doing yoga.)

Compression is felt as the pressing together, in this instance, of the abdomen and the thighs. Or, perhaps a squeezing, pinching in the fleshy area at the crux of the hip joints. Or, ultimately, as a dull ache deep in the front of those joints themselves. The latter is bone-to-bone compression, and is a hard boundary. Yoga won’t change that. (Even so, keep doing yoga).

Yes, a yogi can trim their waistline, manually move flesh out of the way, and then fold farther forward. But when bones come together — like fully extending your elbow — that’s it. Done.

It Is What It Is

The good news is if the postural limiter is tension there’s room to grow. However, if it’s compression, the posture is complete no matter how it looks. And that too is good news. Candy Cane may never be a yoga magazine cover model like Clam Shell, but both their postures are equally effective and valid — stimulation is occurring at their joints’ outer limits.

For yogis this reality is liberating even within their inherent bony restrictions. Compression equals completion.

So approach each shape here as a vehicle in which to explore your body’s postural limits, all while relaxing. As noted yogi Bernie Clarke says, “If you’re feeling it, you’re doing it.” That’s it.

Now, let’s move on to the Moon and all that other esoterica.

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Shootin’ the Moon

Not So Obvious

A long-time student of mine once commented that while he knew the significance of how lunar phases and Bagua trigrams figured into my Yin yoga classes, newer students might not. He had a point. Short of doing my classes for months, and without reading my book, A Righteous Stretch, my Yin yoga class theming could seem confusing. Let’s change that.

Dynamics

Christopher’s Yin Yoga classes are organized around the 29.5 day synodic lunar cycle. Why? Because each lunation provides a consistent, stepwise progression of events that lends itself to, for instance, understanding a process-oriented endeavor such as physical fitness.

Yin yoga is a physical practice. For everything else it is, and there is much, it is first-and-foremost, fitness training. (Paul Grilley, the progenitor of this sort of Yin yoga, devised it as such.) So, the lunar cycle covers about a month of workouts, generally twelve or thirteen, at thrice-weekly frequency.

The training load varies over the weeks, with increases and decreases prescribed by the eight lunar phases. New Moon classes are slow going, Full Moon classes are rather fast-paced, and Quarter Moon classes lie in-between. Intermediate phase classes are generally just basic Yin yoga, but leave room for some whimsy.

Even within the standard frame of Yin yoga’s long-holds, dynamics are crucial to healthful conditioning, and are easily included by utilizing the lunar phases. Long holds aren’t just long holds, as stimulation varies and produces different effects. Without a plan, though, it’s all haphazard. The lunar cycle offers as good a plan as any.

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Lunar Cycles

Eight Phases

You’re probably already familiar with the eight unique lunar phases, but, to remind:

Each lunation starts with a New Moon. This happens when the Moon is directly in-between the Earth and Sun. That’s syzygy. The Moon progresses in its 29.5 day orbit, increasing then decreasing in daily steps of illumination, before starting over again with another New Moon.

These eight phases include, in order, the New, the Waxing Crescent, the First Quarter, the Waxing Gibbous, the Full (another syzygy, but with the Earth in the middle), the Waning Gibbous, the Last Quarter, and the Waning Crescent Moons.

I might point out that, in the Northern Hemisphere, waxing moons are illuminated on their right side, and waning moons on their left.

Something else, the New Moon resides in the daytime sky, more or less coordinated with sunrise and sunset. Of course, ya can’t see this moon except during a solar eclipse because it’s between the Sun and Earth. It’s not reflecting sunlight to Earth, but casting a shadow. This is an example of how the New Moon is considered Yin, as it is hidden and concealed in the daytime sky.

Then, during a Full Moon, where the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth, we see it reflecting sunlight from around sunset to sunrise. Though bright in the night sky, and thus Yang, the Moon remains Yin. It is not incandescent, like the Sun, since it doesn’t produce its own light.

Eight Trigrams

As well, an octagonal arrangement of trigrams known as the Early Heaven Bagua, or the Eight Changes, perfectly overlays the lunar phases.

The trigrams are combinations of solid and broken horizontal lines used to describe greater or lesser amounts of the life force, Chi. Here, with regard to the lunar cycle, Chi flow can be viewed as the varying levels of light that fall on the lunar surface over the weeks of any lunation.

This reveals a life cycle. The ancient Chinese gave names to each of the trigrams, and imbued each with significance that’s rather arcane.

Mostly the meanings of the trigrams correspond to a society far removed from ours, but even so, they include immutable natural conditions and processes, including human nature.

So, you see, there’s a lesson in this lunacy, and it’s far from arbitrary. Below find brief descriptions of the trigrams, lunar phases, and other points pertinent to the streaming and On Demand classes on this site.

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Yin a Nutshell

As it happens, the series of Early Heaven Bagua trigrams — the Eight Changes — perfectly parallels the phases of a lunar cycle. My Yin yoga sync with the lunar cycle as a way of ensuring optimal training dynamics.

Cycles of Life

While each class is certainly Yin, altogether they express the inherent dynamics of synodic lunations. That’s Yin and Yang in context of a greater Yin. Ultimately, we’re celebrating natural cycles. The Tao. ☯️

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Farther Yin-side

New Moon | Earth

Receptive, feminine, dark, cold, quiet, still … Yin. A new beginning. Birth / rebirth.

• Focus on setting some meaningful direction for the weeks ahead. That is, welcome, as the fertile Earth, new seeds of intent and the nourishment of the Creative Force, or ambient Yang energy. Let them begin germinating.
• This Cardinal point class uses only a few very passive postures maintained for a longer period. For instance, 4 shapes each of 12 minutes duration. These postures alternate between a forward fold, a back bend, and left & right twists.
• The breathing ratio is a twelve second, 4 : 6 : 2, nasal breath. An infant’s breath.
• A symphonic gong opens and closes the class.

Waxing Crescent | Thunder

Shaking, quaking, upsetting, inciting energy meaning something is a foot. Change is coming.

• The Yang creative force begins asserting itself. Recognize how your efforts are already starting to take hold. Actively reach into the postures.
• This Intermediate phase class generally consists of eight postures of five minutes each. Typically forward folds precede back bends which precede twists. A pretty basic arrangement.
• The breathing ratio is a ten second, 4 : 6, nasal breath. A Yin breath.
• A metal singing bowl opens and closes the class.

First Quarter | Fire

Refers to a clinging energy, radiance, and the Sun. As well, Fire represents a departure, and change of state.

• Consider the trigram, and imagine the Yin log tossed into the Yang flames. As heat is applied the wood is transformed into smoke, light, heat, char, and ash. Let the Yang energy effect physical change by giving yourself to these postures.
• This Cardinal point class is comprised of usually eight postures of five minutes each. Postures alternate between folds and bends or between unilateral left & right iterations. As seen in the half-illuminated Quarter Moon, like the Taiji symbol, this represents effectively a balance of Yin and Yang. Or a tipping point.
• The breathing ratio is a twenty second, 5 : 5 : 5 : 5, nasal breath, aka Box breathing. A “tactical” breath.
• A symphonic gong opens and closes the class.

Waxing Gibbous | Lake

Its calm, windless facade is reflective from afar, and up close reveals all the teeming life under the surface. Yin concealing Yang.

• Here’s an opportunity to look at your practice as you’re doing it, and to recognize just how much energy is now roiling below the stillness of your Yin postures.
• This intermediate phase class is typically made up of eight postures of five minutes each. Requisite folds, bends, and twists in succession.
• The breathing ratio is a ten second, 4 : 6, nasal breath. A Yin breath.
• A metal singing bowl opens and closes class.

Full Moon | Heaven

The complete manifestation of the Creative Force. The culmination of the lunation. Yang! It is imposing, masculine, bright and hot. Fulfillment.

• This is an especially active class, well, for Yin yoga. While not quite Vinyasa, these postures are linked and could be said to flow. The class is intense, as it should be. Bring the appropriate attitude, and celebrate the Yang … within a Yin context. (These are, nonetheless, still three minute holds.)
• This Cardinal point class boasts twelve postures of three minutes each, alternating between unilateral, and bilateral forward folds, back bends, and maybe left & right twists, too.
• The breathing protocol might be, at the outset, two rounds of Wim Hof-style deep breathing. A dynamic, Yang breath. That’s two, one minute, rounds of brisk one second in / out nasal breaths, followed by a lengthy hold. Or, not.
• A symphonic gong opens and closes the class.

Waning Gibbous | Wind

Considered gentle, the Wind trigram is seen as a breeze blowing over grassy plains. But, gentle or otherwise, the grass sways with whichever way the wind blows, all the while holding fast to its substrate, the Earth.

• Wind itself suggests flexibility, at least surface conformity, while maintaining essential values. The focus here is on calm amidst chaos, and that begins with the breath.
• This intermediate phase class contains eight postures of five minutes each. The standard fare of sequential folds, bends, and twists.
• The breathing ratio is a ten second, 4 : 6, nasal breath. A Yin breath.
• A metal singing bowl opens and closes class.

Last Quarter | Water

Abysmal and dangerous, Water is appreciated in terms of its depth instead of its surface.

• Water lends itself to exploring the profundity of experience, seeking its own level, seeping into the farthest reaches of whatever nooks and crannies. Immerse yourself in your own bathymetric endeavor during this Yang class.
• This Cardinal point class is comprised of usually eight postures of five minutes each. Postures alternate between folds and bends or between unilateral left & right iterations. As seen in the half-illuminated Quarter Moon, like the Taiji symbol, this represents effectively a balance of Yin and Yang. Balance is fleeting.
• The breathing ratio is a twenty second, 5 : 5 : 5 : 5, nasal breath, aka Box breathing. A “tactical” breath.
• A symphonic gong opens and closes the class.

Waning Crescent | Mountain

As old as the planet itself. Eternally earthbound, yet touching Heaven. Stillness.

• While motion always exists — even at absolute zero — the Mountain is effectively still, indicative of repose, rest, and regeneration. At the end of the lunation the idea is to unwind, recharge, refresh in anticipation of the upcoming cycle.
• This intermediate phase class may use six or eight postures of five to eight minutes each, in successive folds, bends, and twists. A rather typical class. Let whatever postural intensity occur on its own, no need to help it.
• The breathing ratio is a ten second, 4 : 6, nasal breath. A Yin breath.
• A metal singing bowl opens and closes class.

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Yin-finity, and Beyond…

Is there more? Of course. Lots. But there doesn’t have to be. With just this little bit of insight you can remove whatever mystery may have shrouded your perception of Yin yoga, get right into the practice, and derive tremendous benefit. Ultimate Reality? Meh. The physical practice could be all you need. And, while the higher consciousness of enlightenment is destiny for some, for you, for me, even if not spiritual awakening, Yin yoga is at least a righteous stretch!

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Yin for the Win

You’ve come this far, so why not take a class already?