Yoga Book Reports: The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark

I've done and loved a lot of yin yoga (thanks Andrea!), but before reading The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark, I never really understood why yin is so important or how it benefits the body.  Perhaps my biggest misconception was the yin yoga was meant to be restorative.  Clark popped that balloon by page 2.  Yin is meant to stress ligaments, facia, and other tissue that yang practices (think the typical vinyasa class, ashtanga series, etc.) usually can't get at.

"Stress" is a big word to Clark.  He writes that all tissue, not just muscle, needs some amount of stress to grow strong.  The trick is that the stress one puts on ligaments, face and other yin-targeted tissue has to be even more careful than that placed on muscles in even the most deliberate practice.  One simply can't "go for it" to get deeper into a pose that targets a knee ligament and expect anything but disaster.  Type As need to lose their expectations.

As I have made the space in my life to reintegrate yin yoga into my practice, I've reflected on the relationship between restorative and yin.  One can certainly do a yin class as restorative yoga, or one can pursue the gentle stress that Clark describes as the heart of yin.  However, given the sensitivity of the tissue yin stresses, the relationship can't be either/or.  One has to take a relaxed, inquisitive, careful approach, and Clark himself subscribes to the "if it feels good, you're doing it right" motto.

Either way, highly recommended read.

In Defense of Duck Dynasty Dude (Sort Of)

Unless you think all speech against homosexuality is hate speech, there is nothing hateful about what dude said.  Read for yourself.  Robertson doesn't couple the standard insane comparisons to bestiality with language calling for a jihad against homosexuals.  He's just a dude stating what he "knows" to be true.

I completely understand why people who agree with Robertson would be very, very upset that he is being punished.  American pop culture has just made it crystal clear that they only want to see rural whites at their most buffoonish.  Yes to an offensive caricature of rural life.  Yes to dudes out in the wilderness taking all kinds of stupid risks.  Yes to words with two syllables or less.

Sharing an opinion that challenges the dominant narrative?  Shut the fuck up, redneck.  We don't pay you to think or to have opinions.  We pay you to be a stereotype that makes the dominant class say, wow, my life could be worse, I could be those guys.

Now get back to cooning.

Moving With Intention

Ran Prieur linked to a comment the other day on the myriad of ways we distract ourselves from the present.  For the comment author, productivity was his distraction.

"I have a strong dislike against "wasting time." I don't like myself when I spend time on nonsense. And so I fill all of my day with "constructive things." My walk to work is filled with podcasts, the time waiting for the food to bake filled with news articles. While eating I entertain myself with shows or Ted talks or whatnot."

My distraction of choice is not so high-minded.  I like to mess around on the Internet.  I can't even be bothered to read a quarter of the articles I skim.  I tweet and post to message boards without taking any time to consider what I am reacting to or formulating my own arguments.  I flit from thing to thing without fully engaging in any of it.  I am fully present for none of it, and the comment made me think that this pattern of behavior compromises my happiness.

My new intention is to move with purpose through both the "real" and virtual world.  I am not at a place where I could fully unplug, nor do I want to.  What I can do is to try to make sure I am fully present for everything I do in front of a computer.  If I am writing a blog post, I need to concentrate on that blog post, and not rush over to Twitter or Okayplayer or wherever.  No.  Be with the blog post.  Be fully with the blog post.

And, yeah, for those moments where I can't even remember why the computer is open, I'm going to try to close it.

Letting Go

To let one's self go to the currents of the world is the path to liberation.  To stop trying to force the world to be what one wants it to be and to surf on what actually is can free us all.

And for a recovering overachiever at Step One, it is completely terrifying.