yin

Å bo i California er så digg. Det er nesten slik at man ikke kan gå glipp av en eneste mulighet. I hvertfall føles det sånn for meg. Etter snart et år her var planen min den siste tiden å slappe av litt, fullføre boken jeg skriver for Cappelen Damm, få med meg så mange solnedganger som overhode mulig. Men så dukker Yin opp.. Hmm, jeg mailet Adrienne Smith, eieren av Power of your OM, et av mine favorittsteder å henge rundt både i hunden og katten. Og hun svarte: «Braxton is one of my favorite teachers…. he is extremely knowledgeable, passionate and relatable! » – Ok, det var umulig for meg nysgjerrigper å ikke høre på henne. Så da skjedde YIN!

Braxton and Adrienne at the teacher training!

Hele året har egentlig vært litt sånn, uker og dager fylt opp med kurs, workshops og møter. Samtaler om trening, intensjoner, livet og meningen med alt det vi løper rundt og skal gjøre. New York baserte Braxton Rose ble en av disse møtene. Vi hadde det megagøy og lærerikt under Teacher Training i Yin og disse dagene føyet seg nok en gang inn i rekken på hvordan mine drømmeuker og dager er. Alltid på jakt etter kunnskap, spørsmålsstilling og rett og slett bare være bevisst.

Yinning up with Braxton in a 120 minutes class….

Vi fant tid til en lite prat. Yin er ganske nytt for meg, men for dere Yinfriker der ute, det er jo alt mer å lære!

Does`t hurt that Braxton is hensom too….

In your opinion, what is yoga?

Yoga is whatever it needs to be. This is what makes Yoga so powerful: It means different things to different people.

And what is yin then?

In every Yoga posture there is Yin and Yang. We feel this in a posture like Warrior Two, where we are active and engaged in our legs core and arms, but our eyes are soft and face relaxed. Yin Yoga is a practice where instead of being mainly Yang with a little Yin we are mainly Yin with a little Yang. It is designed to stimulate the connective tissues of our bodies (tendons, ligaments, fascia) in hopes of creating range of motion in the body.

Why is this good for us?

Physically it allows us to release tension, heal injury, create deeper range of motion, stretch our deep connective tissues and detoxify our organs. Mentally and Spiritually it allows us to heal past trauma, release stress and anxiety and open our minds in preparation for mediation.

Striking a pose here

Since I live in California and its always warm here, and I have noticed that there are many studios who offer Warm yin, could you explain the differences in the effect of Yin doing it with a cold body or a warm (hot) body?

When your muscles are warm the stretch primarily goes into your muscle. For instance, if you are tight in your hamstrings doing a stretch in a heated Vinyasa class may give you more range of motion.. However, when your muscles are cold, instead of the main stretch going into your muscle, the stretch goes into your connective tissue. This lubricates the tissues which allows your joints to move with more fluidity.

How do we avoid injuries in the Yin practice?

Listening to your body is crucial in the practice of Yin Yoga. As you practice is it is important to not have the sensation you experience in the posture to go too high. If you think of a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest try and keep yourself around a 7. If we listen to our need to go further and push past this level of sensation this can cause injury. Think listen to your body not your ego!

Think listen to your body not your ego!

My Yin sisters and brothers

What effects does Yin have on our mental state?

In the Yin practice we hold postures for up to 5 minutes. As we hold these postures it creates a therapeutic environment for your mind to be still. As our mind becomes still our para-sympathetic nervous system takes over; which creates a relaxation response inside our minds. Our muscles start to heal, the food in our stomach and digestion track starts to get processed and our bodies start to recover from all the action of day to day life.

Dersom du er nysgjerrig på denne Teacher Training er du velkommen til å kontakte meg, fordi jeg – tro det eller ei, vurderer sterkt å ta med meg Braxton hjem i min spirituelle koffert 🙂

Yinny and sunny smiles all the way,

Monica

PS: Her kan finne Braxton:

@braxtonroseyoga

Yin Yoga New York Style