Yin yoga, the power of stillness

How everything transformed.

I have been practicing yoga continuously for about 10 years. I have always practiced Hatha and Vinyasa, because the Pitta part of me has always wanted that fire and power of active and more dynamic practices.

A couple of years ago I fully entered Perimenopause, and something in me began to change. Where I previously found pleasure and comfort with more active practices, my body began to ask for calm and stillness.

I discovered Yin Yoga by chance, the name caught my attention at the studio where I practiced Hatha yoga, and I decided to book a class to try.

When I started the practice, I realised that it had nothing to do with the yoga practices I had done previously, and there was no turning back. I was captured by the power of stillness.

As soon as I began to look inward, to confront my inner self, at that precise moment I discovered that Yin yoga would be part of my life. I had found the practice of yoga that gave me the peace and stillness that my mind could never seemed to find.

Yin yoga is a yoga modality that is not very well known. It is a variant of Hatha yoga and is practiced statically and with postures held for longer periods than in conventional hatha yoga. Most of the postures are on the floor and we use props to find the space and comfort in each pose.

During the practice of Yin, we do not search for the ideal posture, nor the perfect alignment, but rather the balance is sought between the comfort of the posture and the discomfort of facing your inner self. That specific point where you can relax and also feel how your body little by little is surrendering to gravity.

This practice is based on 3 basic principles:

1. How we enter the posture: respecting our limits and exploring new sensations.

2. Finding stillness within the posture: which allows gravity to slowly generate that space in our fascia, joints and ligaments.

3. Time in which we maintain that position: Maintaining the posture for more than 90 seconds allows the work we do to penetrate deeper layers.

I invite you to discover this incredible practice and find a space for you to stop and reconnect.

Yin Yoga is a gentle reminder that growth happens in stillness, not in haste.