©Caitlin Rose Kenney ~ please do not distribute without consent and credit to the author
Within the layer of our physical body, Yin Yoga focuses on nourishing, regenerating, strengthening and mobilizing the connective tissues of the joints and fascia.
Yin & Yang Tissues
Nearly all forms of fitness including popular styles of yoga, cycling, running, swimming, weight lifting, etc. emphasize the health of yang tissues — primarily the muscles, cardiovascular system and the organ of the skin.
Muscles are elastic, full of water, they expand and contract easily and they make us move! Muscles are full of yang qualities: they are pliable and warm (due to higher levels of blood flow than yin tissues) and closer to the surface of the body.
In contrast, connective tissues have yin qualities: they are more plastic and have less movement and are typically located deeper in the body (more hidden). Connective tissues include myofascia-tendon complexes, ligaments, bones and fascia.
Fascia is a yin tissue that is dispersed throughout the entire body; it wraps around every cell and every structure in the body connecting everything to everything else. Fascia is part of the interconnectedness found in-between the other structures of the body — the spaces between. Fascia also holds the cumulative patterns (or unconscious postures) of our body — the way we sleep, the way we sit and stand when we’re not paying attention. Fascia also solidifies the ways in which we’ve compensated from natural misalignments like scoliosis or injuries.
Healthy Stress
Just like our muscles need exercise to be strong and flexible our yin tissues need practices that encourage both stability and mobility. Exercise is the word we use to intentionally stress our muscles and cardiovascular system. Stress is not a bad thing! Muscles respond well to a yang regimen of dynamic movements that alternate contracting and expanding — this builds the muscle’s strength, and in the case of dynamic stretching, strength and flexibility.
Yin tissues require a yin approach. A Yin practice intelligently stresses the joints and fascia to stimulate the repair response in these tissues— this is a good thing! Yin technique is different from yang technique: apply gentle stress to the connective tissue through extended periods of “loading” which can be done through compression, traction or a combination of both. The joints and fascia learn from the experience and adapt by becoming more mobile and resilient.
In Yin postures, some parts of the body will be opening or lengthening while other parts of the body are compressing. The combination of compressing and re-opening facilitates detoxification of the tissues and brings blood flow to the targeted area. When a compression is released there is an infusion of fresh blood flow to the area that was being compressed. Alternating compression and expansion in a targeted area can be a potent way to rehabilitate and rejuvenate a specific region of the body. This process encourages mobility and increases circulation in the connective tissue.
While holding a yin pose, relaxing the muscles shifts the gentle stress to the myofascia-tendon complex, ligaments and fascia. Supporting the body with props can create more opening or meet our bodies where they are at to relieve muscular tension and gripping. Once the muscles soften, the healthy stress moves to the yin tissues. Using props can also help the nervous system relax, which is a powerful dictator of the pliability of our body.
Modern medicine also uses the intelligence of a yin approach to align and heal bones! Braces work slowly over time to straighten teeth and steady traction is applied to broken bones during the healing process to encourage a healthy, functional skeleton. These are great examples of how yin approaches can realign the yin tissues of the body.
Stressing tissues (both yang and yin) regularly and smartly, maintains and improves the wellbeing of your physical body. Your living body is made of cells that have intelligence and are learning and adapting to your physical routines and nervous system responses. Applying healthy stress in alternation with periods of rest teaches your body to be both stable and mobile, strong and flexible, sturdy and agile. A body where both yang and yin tissues are cared for is less prone to injury and more resilient.
While a yin practice will focus on stretching and strengthening the yin tissues of the body it is important to also exercise the yang tissues (muscles, cardiovascular system and skin). Our body is an intricately woven system that is optimized when we balance yin and yang activities appropriately throughout the seasons of our lives.
The Fuzz
If we don’t use it, we will lose it.
As infants and children we have a wide range of motion and organically explore uninhibited forms of movement. Our bodies are plump with fluid, our skin is soft and smooth, we move freely without the fear of aches, pains and strains. During childhood and adolescence, yang activities foster a growing understanding of our bodies, stimulate our minds and put good use to the seemingly endless supply of youthful energy.
As we age, we develop patterns of movement and restriction. The directions and patterns of movement we neglect become less and less accessible. A “fuzz” can build up between our tissues, especially in the places and directions we don’t move often, which inhibits our mobility. This is evident after one night of sleep! We have to stretch and move the body before we feel “normal” again. Think about how a morning yoga practice feels different from a midday or evening practice. A desk job or an injury can make this “fuzz” even thicker as the fibers of the fuzz start to intertwine with each other resulting in stiffness and immobility.
A common trajectory as we age is to develop habitually restrictive patterning and/or a sedentary lifestyle. This results in a “shrink wrapping” effect that reduces the mobility in our joints. The movements that we once took for granted, like sitting cross legged on the floor or twisting our spines, we no longer have access to because we haven’t been using that range of motion. The “fuzz” has gotten thick and stubborn. We start to dry up, there is less blood flow in our joints and extremities, our skin loses its healthy glow and the cumulative patterns of our lifestyle reveal themselves in the hunch of our spine or the stiffness of our gait.
We are all subject to this natural process and it takes a proactive approach to continually explore different types of movement. Even yogis are susceptible to adhering to patterns of movement that neglect certain ranges of motion or forms of strength. As we get older, yin yoga becomes increasingly important if we value physical health and vibrancy.
Yin Yoga helps us maintain or reclaim mobility in our joints, improve blood circulation and synovial fluid and unwind the limiting patterns held in our fascia. In combination with gentle movement and yang exercise we can “melt” or liquify the “fuzz”. If we’ve lost mobility and strength due to an injury or a sedentary season of our life, yin poses will rehabilitate our joints, break down scar tissue and re-expand our fascia.
