One word "Yin" can make a woman of temperament

Yin Yoga combines the advantages of medicine on the basis and experience of yoga practice, and blends the essence of Chinese Taoism and martial arts. Yin Yoga emphasizes relaxation of the entire body, clearing all distracting thoughts and combining slow, natural breathing with long-term movement maintenance. With the muscles completely relaxed, it exercises the bones and their connecting tissues, regulates the nervous system, and enhances endurance to achieve a state of unity of body and mind.

Yin Yoga is a form of yoga that involves the heart. It helps achieve a state of unity of body and mind through slow breathing, stretching of muscle groups, and regulation of the nervous system.

Most of the yoga we usually come into contact with is Yang Yoga, which is to combine breathing with yoga posture exercises that enhance strength and flexibility. Yin Yoga pays more attention to maintaining body postures for a longer period of time and relaxing the muscles. The most obvious difference from ordinary yoga is that each posture is maintained for a relatively longer time, about 5 minutes. The purpose of maintaining the posture for a long time is not to make the body more flexible, but to open up the meridians during the period of stay, which has a similar effect to acupuncture and massage on the meridians and acupoints of the body.

Paul Grilley, the founder of Yin Yoga, was a Westerner who found the principle of balance between Yin and Yang in China, and then incorporated some ideas from human anatomy to develop a set of theories. In other words, he believes that after regularly practicing asanas that emphasize muscle strength training, we need to have soothing movements to stretch our muscles and tendons so that the body does not focus too much on muscles and lacks flexibility; if there are only movements, there will be less time for contact with the mind.

Therefore, the movements he designed are not difficult, such as: butterfly pose, front splits pose... These are not "heavyweight" movements for people who often practice asanas. But the difficult part is: each movement lasts for about 5 minutes. In other words, each movement is performed one after another while stretching and pausing.

Is Yin Yoga Only for Women?

Although people think of women when the word "Yin" is mentioned, Yin Yoga is actually a form of yoga that can be practiced by both men and women. Some people are very strong but cannot do soft and relaxing poses; another type of people can do movements continuously but find it difficult to maintain a static, cross-legged sitting posture. The bodies of these two types of people are in great need of practicing Yin Yoga. People who have flexible bodies are also suitable for Yin yoga.

During the 5 minutes of being still, is it completely still?

It doesn't mean to stay still, but to make slight adjustments to your body and feelings while maintaining your breathing. If you feel that your body has become soft, you can continue to deepen the movement. If you feel that the current movement is good, just maintain it. Never let your body feel strong stretching or severe pain. Instead, your body, breathing, and movements should be kept in a very well coordinated state.

Would it be boring to keep doing each movement for about 5 minutes?

It may be difficult for beginners to get into the state quickly, so they need teachers to correct their movements and guide their consciousness. During these 5 minutes, you can adjust your body appropriately and will not feel bored. And time is not taken into account. For yoga, time is the frequency of your breathing. You only need to pay attention to your breathing and not how long it takes.

Will stretching for too long cause muscle soreness?

Although Yin Yoga poses need to be maintained for about 5 minutes, they are not excessive stretching. Maybe some people find that their muscles are very sore after practicing stretching for a long time. This is because they are not doing it correctly. They are always maintaining a "stretching" state during the process instead of "opening" and "relaxing". The correct way to practice Yin Yoga is the same as the way to practice ordinary yoga. The first thing to do is to relax your body and then let it open.

Can women who are menstruating practice Yin Yoga?

During the menstrual period, many Yang Yoga movements cannot be practiced, but most Yin Yoga postures can be practiced. In addition, Yin Yoga can relax the hips and relieve symptoms such as dysmenorrhea, low back pain, and back pain.

There is one slight difference between practicing Yin Yoga and Yang Yoga, in that when practicing Yin Yoga, you need to enter the pose when your body is particularly cold, which means that no warm-up exercises are required. For those who have practiced yoga before, each Yin Yoga movement can be maintained for 5 to 10 minutes, while for beginners, 3 to 5 minutes is enough, and then slowly accept and adjust. Like all yoga exercises, breathing is very important in practice. The breathing in Yin Yoga does not need to be deep or long, but it must be even, and you must maintain a state of slow inhalation and exhalation. It is recommended to practice Yin Yoga for 1 hour each time and 2-5 times a week.