Category Archives: yoga & meditation

Yes, We Use Props in Yin Yoga!

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

Recently, I was leading a Yin Yoga teacher training, and one of the trainees shared something with us that really highlights some of the misperceptions out there about Yin Yoga.  She said that she had been emailing with a fellow yoga teacher friend about her plans for the weekend – studying Yin Yoga – and her friend’s response was something like, “Why would you want to do that? Yin Yoga is dangerous.”  Apparently, she had heard that one doesn’t use props in Yin Yoga, and reasonably concluded that it could be unsafe to practice that way. The problem with this assumption is that props are (and should be!) a regular part of the Yin Yoga practice.

2022 Update: Hi everyone – Thank you for visiting and reading this blog post! If you’re interested in more, my current website is movedtomeditate.yoga. I still teach Yin Yoga (with props, of course!), and you’ll find more helpful and inspiring mindful yoga resources there. For example, you might enjoy this Moved To Meditate Podcast episode “Yin Yoga with Props: Is This Even Controversial Anymore?”. Ok, back to the original article! Thanks again for reading. 🙂

My home practice & teaching space, complete with lots of props!

My home practice & teaching space, complete with lots of props!

Somehow this myth that props are not to be used in Yin Yoga has gained a real foothold in the yoga world. I have a few theories. One is that some Yin teachers downplay the use of props in order to make the distinction between Yin and Restorative. Personally, I think there are more substantial differences between the two styles, as I wrote about here. Secondly, flexible people are often drawn to Yin Yoga, and they may need fewer props, so Yin may have become associated with how the practice looks when really bendy yogis do it. Third, Yin Yoga can attract certain yogis that we could lovingly describe as “sensation junkies” (no offense intended if you have tendencies in this direction). For some, it is difficult to back away from that really strong edge of sensation, especially if they dig that strong stretch, but in actuality, this is a very YANG way to practice YIN yoga. For them, using props changes the practice, because they will have to learn to love the pose with a little less emphasis upon intensity.

In case you don’t want to take my word for it, here’s some advice from Sarah Powers, who is one of the originators of Yin Yoga, along with Paul Grilley.  She writes,

“There are three main tenets that help nourish the joints in a yoga pose. The first is to come into the chosen shape to an appropriate edge. This means coming into poses nonaggressively and sensitively, allowing the breath to remain slow and unlabored so we can detect the appropriate depth of sensation that we feel we can tolerate. If we attempt to take on too much intensity too soon, our inner state – or mood of resistance – will actually hinder the chi flow, causing more energetic disruptions…If we are working on an area that is fragile, injured, or hypermobile, we need to do two things. First, we should merely suggest the shape, coming into the pose just enough to stimulate chi flow without any feeling of strain. Second, we need to remain highly focused on the sensations promoted by the pose, thereby refining our meditative attention, while relaxing the rigidity around the painful joint. Of course, we may also need to use props; allowing for modifications and variations to support damaged or destabilized areas.” (p. 25 Insight Yoga)

So, there you have it! Certainly, when I’ve practiced with Sarah Powers and Bernie Clark, both are proactive about offering props to students. This idea that props are forbidden in Yin is not coming “from the top,” so to speak. And, while Sarah is mostly talking to those with injuries here, by extension, props can be an important ally in preventing injury. This is especially important for those with less flexible bodies – the props actually allow the average student to gradually and safely grow more flexible.

Practicing Swan Pose on a bolster can help make it more accessible, especially for anyone with knee issues.

Practicing Swan Pose on a bolster can help make it more accessible, especially for anyone with knee issues.

Also, consider this – one of the main principles of Yin Yoga is to hold the pose without muscular tension around the target area of the stretch. The theory behind Yin Yoga has always been that this helps us to work with the connective tissues more, rather than only stretching the muscles. So, if a student’s body is resisting a pose due to inflexibility, and is in essence, “propping” itself rigidly in space, how can that student practice the pose with disengaged muscles? In order to correctly practice Yin Yoga, this student needs prop assistance, or they will never be able to release the muscles, relax the nervous system, and gain new flexibility. The prop is hugely helpful in creating the conditions to allow a passive and thorough stretch in this situation.

Most of the students I teach are not super flexy yogis. They have real lives, real jobs, and real aches and pains. Not using props might work out OK if you are a 20-year-old gymnast (I was one once), but then again, it may tend to reinforce the muscle imbalances you already have, making you more flexible where you’re already loose and ignoring your tighter spots. This is one reason why I practice with props in my own personal Yin practice. It allows me to be more precise in where I am receiving the stretch.

Because I love lists, here are my six favorite reasons to use props in a Yin practice:

1) Make a passive stretch possible by avoiding muscular “propping.”

2) Ensure safe alignment.

3) Make the pose sustainable for several minutes.

4) Make it possible to experience the pose as a meditation, rather than distracting the mind with red-alert nuclear levels of intense sensation.

5) Practice with an appropriate amount of sensation (oops, did I say it twice?) to avoid overstretching.

6) Allow the pose to target the intended area of the body.

It is possible to overstretch…which is not very yin-like! Overdoing of any kind is missing the point of a Yin style practice. And, when we’re holding the poses for a long time, as we do in Yin, it is important that we’re in a good place. Otherwise, we could be creating imbalance, or harming our ligaments. (I’ll write more about the ligaments one of these days – talk about another area of misunderstanding in Yin Yoga!)

This is my favorite way to practice Snail Pose.

This is my favorite way to practice Snail Pose.

If you come to my class, I’m not going to force you to use a prop, but I will point out when I think a blanket or a bolster would be helpful. Not all students need a prop in all poses, and the point is not the prop for the prop’s sake. The point is accepting support when you need it. Most people are not flexible enough to practice Yin Yoga effectively without some support. Don’t struggle endlessly with the pose, or spend your time hanging out in a place of pain or potential injury. Work creatively with props as a part of your self-compassion practice, and embrace the support. You might soon discover that the kinder, gentler approach brings more lasting change to your body.

I’ll leave you with some more advice from one of the leading Yin Yoga teachers. Here’s a post from Bernie Clark about using props in Yin Yoga, including a helpful video explaining some of the ways you can employ blankets, bolsters, chairs, and more. Enjoy!

Settling – is it a good thing?

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

In life, we’re often in a state of wanting our income to go up, our weight to go down, our time to be loose, our friends to be tight.  Everyone has their own version of that checklist. The thing is, we really might be able to have each of those things in life – but probably not all at the same time.  If we spend our days worrying about the element that’s missing, thinking all will be well when we arrive at that magic day (soon!) when we’ve got it all together…we’re going to miss out on a whole lot of now.

Yoga and meditation are methods for getting comfortable with now, however it is. We learn to settle in for the ride.  And, “settle” is not meant in the sense of settling for less, giving up on trying to make things better.  In fact, the opposite is true. We keep moving forward, but we settle down a lot of the angst around not being there yet.

So, go settle in on your mat and/or your cushion and get busy just being.

Practice Notes – Simplicity

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

I am always looking for ways to create more continuity between my meditation practice and my asana practice. One way I do this is by trying to include both asana and seated meditation in the same session, so they flow into each other as naturally as possible. Yet, I find that I often get distracted during the active asana part – thinking about how best to sequence a set of poses for myself, or unintentionally turning my practice into a planning session for the next class I’m going to teach. So, today was all about simplicity.

I decided to simplify the asana practice by narrowing it down to two or three main poses, along with a couple of warm ups and release poses. Without pre-planning the routine, I just picked Downward Facing Dog and Warrior 2, following an instinct for what would feel good today, while sticking with basic poses that don’t require a lot of thoughtful warm up and preparation. I circled back to the main two poses several times, and made a point of noticing specific aspects of the pose or physical sensations each time. I also held them for a long time (maybe 10-12 breaths, but I wasn’t counting) to give the space for really being in the shape mindfully. The asana part was sandwiched in between walking meditation and seated meditation to emphasize the intention of continuity.

Here’s what it ended up being:

  • Walking Meditation with noting (10 mins) – I do this inside, making a “walking lane” just a little longer than my mat.
  • Half Sun Salutations, noting the movements (similar to the noting in the walking meditation)
  • Cat/Cow, noting the sensations
  • Downward Facing Dog – mostly noticing the feet and legs
  • Lunge – mostly noticing the foot’s contact with the floor and the sensation in the hip
  • Downward Facing Dog – more attention on the hands and shoulders
  • Child’s Pose
  • Downward Facing Dog – refining the alignment in the shoulders and arms, mindfully noticing the details and sensations
  • Warrior 2 – most attention in the back leg and foot, feeling how the muscles engage, direction of energy
  • Wide-Legged Forward Fold (Prasartia Padottanasana)
  • Warrior 2 – engaging the legs by isometrically drawing them in toward each other, feeling the sensation of this
  • Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana)
  • Warrior 2 – engaging the legs by isometrically reaching them away from each other, feeling the sensation of that
  • Downward Facing Dog
  • Legs Up the Wall Pose
  • Eye of the Needle with foot on wall (hip stretch)
  • Seated Meditation (30 minutes)
  • Savasana (10 minutes)

That’s it! This worked well for me today, so I’ll be playing around more with the simplicity of looking more deeply at just a few poses. Try it and let me know if it helps you to sustain your mindfulness a little better!

More Mindfulness, Less Meditation?

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

There was an article by Tony Schwartz (in a business section!) of the New York Times a few weeks ago entitled, “More Mindfulness, Less Meditation.”

What do you all think of this?  I know…I’m in a phase lately of writing responses to articles, and making a big deal out of other people’s opinions.  There’s definitely an element of this to it all:

someonewronginternet_duty_calls

And, I wouldn’t even presume to say these authors are wrong – we all share what we know based on our own experiences. However, it does help me to clarify my own thinking when I rub up against something that challenges my views.  And, this is the New York Times.  It is interesting, to say the least, to watch the public beginning to grapple with practices like meditation as they start to become part of mainstream culture.

This article begins by listing several famous and/or successful people who have been known to meditate – Steve Jobs, 50 Cent, and Rupert Murdoch.  After describing his own history with meditation, he states, “But the more time I spent meditating, the less value I derived from it…Meditation – in the right doses — is also valuable as a means to relax the body, quiet the emotions and refresh one’s energy. There is growing evidence that meditation has some health benefits. What I haven’t seen is much evidence that meditating leads people to behave better, improves their relationships or makes them happier.”  So, he concludes by recommending that you might want to dabble in meditation for 2 minutes at a time throughout the day, or just be mindful during daily life.  (I won’t even get into whether the individuals above are the best examples of the potential of meditation.)

carnegie-hallHis suggestions are all well and good, and I certainly support the idea that we should start with what we can do.  But, isn’t it a bit like telling a young piano student to spend less practicing scales, and more time performing at Carnegie Hall?

Mindfulness is a natural state, and anyone can do it. But, the capacity to actually be mindful throughout the day with any kind of consistency or continuity, and especially in demanding situations – that requires practice. Only consistency and repetition can create new habits.

For every example he gives of a meditator that did not become a better or happier person, we could easily produce many more who have seen positive changes as a result of practicing. Most meditators I know are pretty enthusiastic about that!

In fact, getting attached to those wonderful results can become its own obstacle in meditation (or yoga, or music, for that matter).  Here’s the thing: meditation is a process-oriented activity, rather than a product-oriented activity.  It’s worth doing because sitting with ourselves is inherently worthwhile. Process-oriented activities can be rather mysterious – you don’t think you’re getting anywhere, and then a huge insight arrives, seemingly out of nowhere. But it’s not out of nowhere – it was percolating all of that time when you thought your practice was stuck in neutral.

Recently, one of my dedicated yoga students asked out loud (jokingly) during class, “When are my hamstrings ever going to get more flexible?”  I said (jokingly), “April 23rd.”  Because no one knows!  It’s a process.  We may have things we’d like to have happen, good intentions, and aspirations, but getting hung up on them is a distraction that creates doubt and frustration, which can impede progress.

A product-oriented mindset needs to see results. That is fine for many activities, and can help us be successful in life. However, it doesn’t always apply well to the work we want to do with our body/mind.

I recently listened to a talk by the well-known meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg, who explained that the word that we translate as “meditation” is “bhavana” in Pali (the language of the early Buddhist writings).  Bhavana means “cultivation,” and was a deliberate reference to sowing seeds and waiting for them to grow that would have been meaningful in the agrarian society of the time. Notice the difference between “cultivation” and “acquisition.” Most of us modern urbanites go out and purchase our food and essential items, acquiring what we need by using the funds we acquired from the ATM, where we deposited the money we acquired from our employer for the work they acquired from us.  So, no wonder asking us to slowly cultivate something is a tall order – it’s a little foreign to our time and place.

Still, we all do have the capacity to experience mindfulness and savor our moments. Countless practitioners before us have found that we can be a lot happier if we learn to enjoy the process and take a break from the pressures of delivering a good ROI (Return On Investment)…at least when it comes to time spent in meditation.

The unconscious IS the body

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

“The great error of modern psychology has been to speak of the unconscious as though it were some kind of unknowable…But insofar as the unconscious is the body…the unconscious can be known and studied…And insofar as it is a timeless principle, the unconscious can be finally realized in an act of unitive knowledge.” – Aldous Huxley

Alignment Maligned: The Baby and the Bathwater

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

There’s been an article circulating around yogi social media circles today that’s ruffled a few (normally) well-aligned feathers: “Six Reasons You Should Stop Obsessing Over Alignment in Yoga Class” by Maya Devi Georg.  I came across it on Facebook this morning, actually through Matthew Remski’s comments on the article. It touches several nerves connected to current debates on how to make yoga safer, how we relate to our physical bodies, and what is the true significance of this practice.

The quotables from Georg’s article include:

“Obsessing on alignment keeps all the emphasis on the asana and the body. It also emphasizes a level of detail that will neither prevent injury nor make the pose more visually appealing.”

And somehow also this: “When a teacher over-talks, giving far too many details about the alignment of a pose, it takes the student out of their body and into their mind.”  (Wait, where are we stuck? Body or mind?)

And, my favorite: “If you must wait to master one pose before you can begin working on another, you will wait, sometimes for years, while your body loses flexibility and strength. Besides, how long do you want to work on tadasana?”  (Tadasana is Mountain Pose, for those who’ve forgotten your Sanskrit.)

Clearly, the article was meant to be a bit provocative (it includes a little profanity and a lot of attitude), and I admit my first reaction to it was a bit snarky. Here’s my comment on Matthew Remski’s Facebook thread: “I don’t get the sense that she’d be interested in this (see comment “How long do you want to work on Tadasana…”), but if she wants to forget about alignment and just meditate, it sounds like she should just sit down on a zafu and get to it!”

Ok, maybe that was a little harsh, because I don’t know her, and maybe she is serious about meditation. But since the article brought up Patanjali, I think it’s fair to guess that the asanas he had in the back of his mind when writing “the pose should be steady and easeful” looked more like this:

meditatingmodel-on-red-cushion1

than this:

crazy_yogapose

That’s an educated guess, because Patanjali actually did not describe any physical postures in the Yoga Sutras (c. 150 CE), and the related commentary text Yoga-Bhashya, written by Vyasa in the 5th Century, details 11 asanas, all of which seem to be seated meditation postures.

Putting that aside, I actually agree with some of Georg’s points, but not the conclusions she draws from them. Even though it is challenging to teach alignment in a well-integrated way, that does not mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.

It really IS challenging to teach alignment without being overly technical and cerebral, inadvertently encouraging students to remain stuck “in their heads.”  But this doesn’t mean alignment instruction has to be a distraction. Ideally, there is a huge sensory aspect to learning alignment. Students shouldn’t be looking around saying “Am I doing this right?” but rather feeling into the pose to discover how any particular alignment principle applies to them.

And, there definitely ARE lots of anatomical variations – ranging from actual skeletal differences that no amount of yoga will change, to injuries or muscular imbalances that may prevent the full realization of a particular alignment principle on any given day. But that’s OK, because alignment is not really supposed to be about aesthetics. Yoga teachers are not sculptors!  And alignment is not about making each person meet some universal standard – in order to truly be safe, it must make allowances for students’ actual bodies and meet them where they are.

In my experience, students (myself included) do not always know when they are misaligned in a pose. It may or may not feel “off.” Sometimes we don’t understand right away what a pose is about, what parts of the body it is targeting, and what alignment would mean in that pose unless someone teaches us how to envision and FEEL it.  And, when all the body weight is dumping into the arms in Downward Facing Dog, and a teacher helps you with that, it is an act of compassion. When a teacher makes you work on Dolphin Pose for a long, long time before teaching you Headstand, that is also compassion.  And smart. And safer for your neck, which is no small thing.

Alright…this rant is almost finished, but here are a few of my thoughts about alignment, which I hope will be the quotables from this article:

Alignment in yoga is key to safety, but it has power beyond that. Taught well, it can awaken unconscious, dormant, underused parts of the body (and mind).

Proper alignment can sometimes feel foreign, even uncomfortable, at first. “Familiar” is not the same as “aligned” because yoga is supposed to expose our habits.  This is one way in which yoga is more about undoing than doing.

Focusing in on a subtle point of alignment can be an excellent way to develop concentration, rather than a distraction. Alignment should help to bring the body and mind together, or in other words, heal the “body/mind split” most of us are living with.

I respect that there are other approaches and perspectives, and especially Georg’s intention to make the asana practice more of a meditation.

But, how long do I want to work on Tadasana?  For the rest of my life! It will be useful as long as standing upright is part of my daily repertoire…and standing still is actually a great way to meditate.

Continuity of Meditation & Asana on Retreat

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

I’ve been back from my retreat at Spirit Rock for a week now, and I’m finally finding some time to share my experiences. One of my main interests in blogging is to talk about the continuum between mindful movement (yoga) and mindful stillness (seated meditation) in my practice. I don’t always find it easy to identify that continuum, but I want to make it stronger so that my yoga and meditation practices can support each other better.

spiritrock_bell

The bell at Spirit Rock that calls retreatants to sitting sessions.

Not surprisingly, this is all a lot easier on retreat! While it was mostly a meditation retreat, alternating between 45 minutes of sitting meditation and 45 minutes of walking meditation for most of the day, we also had the opportunity to attend yoga classes at least once a day.

These yoga classes were an absolute life saver.  Whoa. Let me tell you…when you do that much sitting day after day, the yoga is huge in relieving the tensions, aches, and pains that accumulate in the body. My achiness peaked on the third day, but after that, I actually felt MORE open and comfortable in sitting.

I also found the yoga supported my sitting practice in a second major way: it built up my energy. I have the tendency when I start to get calm and concentrated, to go too far in that direction, and I fall asleep. This didn’t happen when I first started meditating, because I had all that restless agitation to keep me awake! I have been working on balancing the energy level in sitting, so that I can be calm and concentrated, but also vibrant and alert. Each time I took a yoga class on the retreat, I felt energized for the next sitting session. Much like the disappearance of my achiness, over the course of the retreat, I found I was struggling less with sleepiness.

One of the Buddhas at Spirit Rock

One of the Buddhas at Spirit Rock

The yoga practice itself felt more mindful – like a logical extension of the sitting and walking we’d been doing. I think there are a several reasons for this:

  • Continuity is supported by the retreat itself – not just concerning the yoga, but through all activities (eating, walking from one place to another, taking a shower). Everything is part of the practice.
  • Being surrounded by dozens of other students doing the same practice you are, with the same (or at least similar) intentions. This feels different from going to a public yoga class where people are gathering from all kinds of different places, each bringing in their own busy energy, and each with their own goals for the practice, ranging from the sublime to the superficial.
  • The silence of the retreat helps you to get out of your head. When you’re a yoga teacher and you attend another teacher’s class, it’s hard not to go into an analytical space as you experience their style, cues you like/dislike, etc. In a silent retreat, the students don’t speak, but the teacher does – but her words were chosen carefully, and she wasn’t just speaking to fill the space. And, probably it goes without saying, but these yoga classes were done without music. No distractions.
  • The presence of the teacher herself. The yoga teacher participated in most of the seated meditation with us, came to the nightly talks, and was really integrated into the retreat. She was operating at the same speed as us.
  • The yoga was simple.  No elaborate or super challenging poses, and the poses were given without an abundance of technical alignment cues. Normally, I teach a very alignment-based form of Hatha Yoga, but it’s always a fine line to teach with precision without making the practice too cerebral. The simplicity of this practice on retreat allowed us to just stay present with the body.
  • And, the yoga was just what we needed. The focus of the yoga was on reinforcing the themes of the retreat, and preparing the body for sitting. We were opening the hips, releasing the shoulders, and turning towards the body with kindness, rather than emphasizing fitness, technique, or the attainment of particular poses. Not that these goals are always a problem, but they can actually compete with the intention to make the asana a meditative experience.
  • The asana practice didn’t overuse one’s physical energy to the point where you collapse into savasana at the end. When I go to a more vigorous class, sometimes I leave feeling drained rather than relaxed. That’s a sign of overusing energy. I know some students are so wound up, they feel like exhaustion is the only way to actually relax in savasana at the end. But, ideally, yoga balances the energy rather than draining it. True relaxation is not the same as exhaustion or dullness.

Yin Yoga for Runners

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

Well, I’ve been back from my meditation retreat for a few days, and I’m still re-learning how to do this “every day life” thing.  It was a wonderful experience, and it’s still with me.  I’ll write a reflection or two about the retreat soon.

In the meantime, my friend and fellow yoga teacher, Erika Hall, recently asked me to write something for her newsletter about how Yin Yoga can benefit runners.  She specializes in yoga for these athletic types, so I put together five of my favorite yin poses for runners to try.  Here it is!

Erika: Boy have I been loving Yin Yoga lately. With the intensity of my daily training, Yin Yoga offers a perfect gentle balance while increasing my flexibility and stretching my tight muscles.  I know  A LOT about yoga, but even the teacher needs to take a class. When I do, I seek out Addie deHilster of TheraYoga. It is my pleasure to introduce you to my first guest contributor ever, Addie deHilster, my go-to Yin Yoga Guru. Addie happily agreed to compile her list of Top 5 Yin Yoga Poses for Runners and share it with us.  I’ll let Addie tell you more about it…

Addie: Runners are used to moving fast, so it may be a little counter-intuitive that you can benefit so much from a decidedly slow practice like Yin Yoga.  It might sound like a paradox, but spending a little extra time relaxing in a few Yin poses can often increase your flexibility more quickly than doing lots of active poses.

Yin Yoga is a soft and mellow approach to yoga.  In this practice, we hold most poses for 3-5 minutes at a time, gradually and thoroughly stretching the body.  Science has shown that it takes at least 90 seconds to begin to stretch the connective tissue, known as fascia, that surrounds our muscles.  If you have tight fascia surrounding your muscles, you’ll be limited in how much you can improve your flexibility.

The following are five of my favorite Yin Yoga poses for runners.  I recommend practicing Yin postures on your off days from running, or after a run for some wonderful recovery time.  Slow down for a while and enjoy these, and your muscles and fascia will thank you!

cattail3, cropped1) Cat Tail Pose: This is a great stretch for the quadriceps and hip flexors. Lie on your right side and rest your head on your arm, or a blanket place on top of your arm. Take your top leg and extend it out placing the foot on the floor in front of you to stabilize the body. Then, bend your bottom knee and reach back to hold the foot in your hand.  Gently pull your heel toward your seat with a steady, but relaxed, pressure.  Stay here for 3 minutes.

cattail4, croppedBefore going on to the second side, you can take this into a delicious twist.  Loosen your grip on the bottom foot, then roll your top shoulder back toward the floor.  Let the body shift back and settle into the twist for another 2-3 minutes.  Repeat on the other side.

banana12.) Bananasana: This pose stretches out the entire side of the body, including the infamous IT Band!  Lying on your back, walk your straight legs together over to the right. Keep the pelvis level. Then use your elbows to walk your torso over to the right, forming a C-shape “banana” curve. You can take the arms overhead and clasp opposite elbows, or just place one hand on the belly, one hand on the chest. Rest here and breathe into the gradual stretch for 3-4 minutes, then change sides.

rack13. Hammock Pose (aka “The Rack”): The biceps are an overlooked tight spot for most runners – while you’re running, you’re holding the biceps in a flexed position for an extended amount of time!  To practice the Hammock, start sitting with your knees bend and feet on the ground, taking your hands behind you and pointing your fingers toward your seat.  Lift your hips as if going up into a tabletop position, then shift your hips forward toward your heels and sit back down again.  Keep the elbows bent and pointing behind you.  Breathe calmly here for up to 2 minutes.

eyeofneedle44) Eye of the Needle Pose: This is an excellent stretch for the outer hip, especially the Piriformis.  Another fun variation of this pose is to practice it with the foot on the wall, rather than held by your hands.  To come into Eye of the Needle, lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor.  Turn your right leg out as you bring it towards your chest, crossing the right ankle over the left thigh.  Bring both legs in towards the torso, and reach your right hand between the “window” of the legs.  Hold onto the back of the thigh, still keeping your shoulders, neck, and head relaxed.  Be here for 3-4 minutes on each side.

suptapad15) Supta Padangusthasana with Strap: This pose will give you a nice release along the entire back of the leg, from calves to hamstrings.  Loop up a long yoga strap and place it around your torso at the upper ribs, right under the arms.  Bend your right knee to slip your foot into the strap, then straighten your leg.  The leg may be at less than 90 degrees to the torso, which is fine.  Having the strap around your torso creates a “hands free” version of this pose, which is more relaxing for your upper body.  Take 3 minutes with the leg in this position, then you can keep your foot in the strap and tilt the leg out to the right.  Let the strap help hold your leg in place, stretching the inside of the leg for about 2 minutes.  Lastly, bring the leg back up through the center and across the body a few inches until you feel a stretch along the outer leg, hip, and IT Band.  Spend another 2 minutes here.  Then change sides.

You will need a 10-foot yoga strap for practicing this pose with the strap around your torso, but just in case you only have shorter straps around (or say, the belt of your bathrobe), you can simply loop the strap onto your foot and hold it in your hands.  The great thing about stretching your legs from a reclining position is that it helps recirculate blood and fluids from your feet and lower legs.

Bonus – Legs Up the Wall Pose: If you have time and wall space, resting with your legs up the wall is fantastic for refreshing those tired feet!  Five minutes here will help you recover from miles of pounding the pavement.

And then, Erika kindly mentioned my upcoming Yin-related events (in case you’re in the LA area!):

  • Weekly Yin Yoga class – 6pm Friday evenings, TheraYoga (Montrose, CA)
  • Yin Yoga Workshop: “Slow is the New Fast” – Sunday, Feb 9, 2:00-4:30, TheraYoga.  Learn how slowing down your practice can give you a more thorough stretch and improve your flexibility faster!  More info.
  • Yin Yoga Weekend Immersion & Teacher Training – March 14-16 at TheraYoga.  Open to current and aspiring yoga teachers, as well as enthusiastic students who wish to spend the weekend immersed in all things Yin!  More info.

Here’s the link to the original article on Erika’s site.  Enjoy!

Going on retreat

Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose's avatar

I’m leaving this morning for a Vipassana retreat at Spirit Rock!  I’ll be back in a week, and I’ll be sure to post some retreat reflections here.  In the meantime, there’s no blogging during “noble silence.”

Differences Between Yin & Restorative Yoga

Posted on by Addie at Bodhi Tree Pose

When I first discovered Yin Yoga several years ago, I was drawn to it because it seemed to provide a bridge between my yoga practice and my meditation practice like nothing else had before.  Since I’ve been immersed in Yin (and have trained in Restorative, too), I’ve noticed that people often wonder – what’s the difference between Yin and Restorative?

addie upavistha photoshoot, squareOn the surface, they look similar.  Both are very mellow yoga practices done primarily on the floor, using plenty of props and holding the poses for minutes at a time.  Both styles can have incredible stress-relieving benefits, and the repertoire of poses even overlaps somewhat.  But, they are not the same!

In my observation, one of the main distinctions is that in Restorative, one is encouraged to rest both physically and mentally. In Yin, the poses are approached more like meditation postures, keeping the mind more alert and present, avoiding zoning out, so we can cultivate mindfulness. This is absolutely not meant as a criticism of Restorative.  I love both, and think there’s a time for rest and a time for meditation.  But, this aspect of mindfulness in Yin Yoga (especially as taught by Sarah Powers) is the main reason I first fell in love with it.

Along with the mental alertness, Yin Yoga also embraces a bit more sensation in the poses, stretching to a sustainable edge.  In Restorative, the objective is not so much to stretch, but to gently open the body and breath while balancing the nervous system.  I’ve heard people say that the difference is that Restorative uses props (like bolsters, blankets, blocks, etc.) and that Yin doesn’t.  I passionately disagree with that!  (I explain more about props here.)

Back to the topic at hand, Yin Yoga also works with the energy body in some specific ways that are different from Restorative Yoga. “Yin” and “Yang” are Taoist terms, alluding to the fact that Yin Yoga draws upon wisdom from Traditional Chinese Medicine, using the stretches to stimulate the movement of Chi along the body’s energy meridians.

Lastly, the repertoire of Yin Yoga poses mostly favors the legs, hips, lower body, and spine (though not exclusively). Restorative Yoga, on the other hand, is full of delicious supported backbends.  But, this is also where I tend to mix the two styles together in my teaching and practice.  Those bolster backbends are a great way of including the upper body meridians in the Yin practice, and I believe that if you practice them with the same vibrant attentiveness as any other Yin pose, then they fit seamlessly within your Yin practice.

Namaste!