Yin and Yang Yoga-
Find Balance On and Off the Mat
By: Rita-Marie Murphy
The word “yoga” means to “yoke” or unite the mind, body and breathe. In our fast paced, western world we typically practice “Yang” or active Vinyasa Yoga. Hot Yoga is also very popular for its intense stretch and calorie burning benefits. It is wonderful to practice in conditions that aid your ability to eliminate waste and toxins from the body, not to mention that the heat totally enhances your flexibility! Students gain strength, improve their balance and develop a greater sense of self contentment and well being. Just getting through a Hot Yoga class often makes you feel like a hero!
I am a certified Vinyasa and Hot Yoga Instructor, and I love practicing in the heat! I’ve been told I that I was a sensation junkie. Like any yogi, I must be mindful of how I show up on the mat, and tune into where the need to overzealously strive for my edge each and every class comes from. I believe in practicing what you preach. If I am constantly encouraging my students to be mindful of their thoughts and actions, and to connect with what is really triggering their emotional response, then I must ask the same of myself. So I did some soul searching and surfing. I left New York to spend a few weeks on the West Coast. I was teaching yoga at a resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, and then I attended a seminar at the University of Southern California. I ended my travels in Venice Beach, California where I happily stumbled upon the coziest little yoga sanctuary a yogi could ever hope for. After a morning spent learning how to surf, my professor (and surf instructor), drove me back to my hotel, en route I noticed what looked like a beach house. I changed into my Cozy Orange Virgo tank in raven black and raven black and dusty violet Libra shorts, knowing that I could go from class to the café looking and feeling elegant and graceful.
I am delighted to report that I found balance, contentment and grace at the Yoga Nest, “a locally grown yoga studio” in Venice Beach. I was warmly welcomed by owner and instructor, Sara Falugo and to the “Yin” Chill Yoga style. It is amazing how profound an impact one class can have on you. In this 90 minute restorative class, I was able to release and let go what was no longer serving me. I arose from my final Savasana rejuvenated, feeling as if I had reunited with my true self and had shed away the dead skin, or labels that I learned to place upon my self. It has since changed my approach to my personal yoga practice and has thoroughly complimented and enhanced my teaching style.
“Chill Yoga” or “Yin” Yoga is a restorative practice. There are fewer poses and poses are held longer. A true restorative class would involve the use of many props, and therefore fewer students or more teachers to adjust each student according to their individual needs. Any way in which it is practiced, “Yin” yoga is designed to release tension and calm the nervous system. With the use of props (such as blocks or blankets), students passively stretch and energize the deep connective tissues of the body, open the joints and restore alignment.
“Yin” Yoga nicely compliments the more active “Yang” and Hot Yoga because it improves flexibility and balance, enabling the student to move with grace and ease. “Yin” Yoga is especially beneficial to those recovering from trauma or injury, as it releases emotional and psychic toxins as well. “Yin” Yoga offers benefits are universal to all. It should be added to the practice of every yogi. It brings balance not just to the body, but to the mind and spirit as well.
Yin and Yang is the ancient Taoist concept of balance. The “Yin” represents the divine feminine, the soft, nurturing qualities of nature. The “Yang” represents the divine masculine, the hard, strong qualities of nature. The desired goal is to achieve harmony, or balance of the divine feminine and the divine masculine. The two are interconnected; one can not exist without the other. Isn’t that what we are all striving to achieve in our lives, whether on the mat or off- balance? Who amongst us doesn’t struggling with living with one foot in the light and the other in the darkness? We all have shadow sides; we all have karmic scars and have been wounded by life, thereby altering our perception of how we see the world and ourselves. Practicing yoga provides us with the opportunity to make an offering to something greater than ourselves, to connect with the divine using our body as the instrument and the breathe as the gateway. Yoga becomes our sanctuary, offering a beacon of light in an increasingly darker world. Shouldn’t we bring balance to our yoga practice as well? “Yin” restorative yoga practiced along with “Yang” active yoga will bring greater balance to the mind, the body and the spirit, on the mat and off.
Find Balance On and Off the Mat
By: Rita-Marie Murphy
The word “yoga” means to “yoke” or unite the mind, body and breathe. In our fast paced, western world we typically practice “Yang” or active Vinyasa Yoga. Hot Yoga is also very popular for its intense stretch and calorie burning benefits. It is wonderful to practice in conditions that aid your ability to eliminate waste and toxins from the body, not to mention that the heat totally enhances your flexibility! Students gain strength, improve their balance and develop a greater sense of self contentment and well being. Just getting through a Hot Yoga class often makes you feel like a hero!
I am a certified Vinyasa and Hot Yoga Instructor, and I love practicing in the heat! I’ve been told I that I was a sensation junkie. Like any yogi, I must be mindful of how I show up on the mat, and tune into where the need to overzealously strive for my edge each and every class comes from. I believe in practicing what you preach. If I am constantly encouraging my students to be mindful of their thoughts and actions, and to connect with what is really triggering their emotional response, then I must ask the same of myself. So I did some soul searching and surfing. I left New York to spend a few weeks on the West Coast. I was teaching yoga at a resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, and then I attended a seminar at the University of Southern California. I ended my travels in Venice Beach, California where I happily stumbled upon the coziest little yoga sanctuary a yogi could ever hope for. After a morning spent learning how to surf, my professor (and surf instructor), drove me back to my hotel, en route I noticed what looked like a beach house. I changed into my Cozy Orange Virgo tank in raven black and raven black and dusty violet Libra shorts, knowing that I could go from class to the café looking and feeling elegant and graceful.
I am delighted to report that I found balance, contentment and grace at the Yoga Nest, “a locally grown yoga studio” in Venice Beach. I was warmly welcomed by owner and instructor, Sara Falugo and to the “Yin” Chill Yoga style. It is amazing how profound an impact one class can have on you. In this 90 minute restorative class, I was able to release and let go what was no longer serving me. I arose from my final Savasana rejuvenated, feeling as if I had reunited with my true self and had shed away the dead skin, or labels that I learned to place upon my self. It has since changed my approach to my personal yoga practice and has thoroughly complimented and enhanced my teaching style.
“Chill Yoga” or “Yin” Yoga is a restorative practice. There are fewer poses and poses are held longer. A true restorative class would involve the use of many props, and therefore fewer students or more teachers to adjust each student according to their individual needs. Any way in which it is practiced, “Yin” yoga is designed to release tension and calm the nervous system. With the use of props (such as blocks or blankets), students passively stretch and energize the deep connective tissues of the body, open the joints and restore alignment.
“Yin” Yoga nicely compliments the more active “Yang” and Hot Yoga because it improves flexibility and balance, enabling the student to move with grace and ease. “Yin” Yoga is especially beneficial to those recovering from trauma or injury, as it releases emotional and psychic toxins as well. “Yin” Yoga offers benefits are universal to all. It should be added to the practice of every yogi. It brings balance not just to the body, but to the mind and spirit as well.
Yin and Yang is the ancient Taoist concept of balance. The “Yin” represents the divine feminine, the soft, nurturing qualities of nature. The “Yang” represents the divine masculine, the hard, strong qualities of nature. The desired goal is to achieve harmony, or balance of the divine feminine and the divine masculine. The two are interconnected; one can not exist without the other. Isn’t that what we are all striving to achieve in our lives, whether on the mat or off- balance? Who amongst us doesn’t struggling with living with one foot in the light and the other in the darkness? We all have shadow sides; we all have karmic scars and have been wounded by life, thereby altering our perception of how we see the world and ourselves. Practicing yoga provides us with the opportunity to make an offering to something greater than ourselves, to connect with the divine using our body as the instrument and the breathe as the gateway. Yoga becomes our sanctuary, offering a beacon of light in an increasingly darker world. Shouldn’t we bring balance to our yoga practice as well? “Yin” restorative yoga practiced along with “Yang” active yoga will bring greater balance to the mind, the body and the spirit, on the mat and off.
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