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.
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