Initial selection of Yin postures

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Mickcope
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:47 pm
Location: England

Initial selection of Yin postures

Post by Mickcope »

I am new to this (one week in !!!) and really enjoying reading the various books and articles. Apologies if the answer is out there and I have missed it - but I wonder if someone could explain how the core Yin postures were originally selected. From the hundreds of potential options why these?

Was it an inductive process - ie where experience and reflection suggested the best postures for the Yin style. Or was there a more scientific or deductive model used to bring these asanas to the fore in the Yin framework.

Thanks in anticipation - looking forward to the course in Feb

Mick
UK
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

How were the core Yin Yoga postures selected?

Post by Bernie »

Hi Mick

Interesting question! While there are thousands of yoga poses in the world, as Paul Grilley often says, "20 is plenty" when coming to yin. Yin Yoga predominantly targets the hips and lower spine. There are only 6 movements we can do in the hips and 6 directions to move the spine. You can see from that little analysis we don't need a lot of postures to work these areas in all their possible directions. And, since we are holding the postures for long times, we don't have time to do many postures in one class. There is a bit more info on this online here, but - yin is simple! We don't need to complicate it with lots and lots of postures. (Simple, of course, does not mean easy! :D )

In answer to your secondary question, the process was partly inductive and partly experiential. Determining which pose to use when is the subject of an article I wrote a few years ago called Creating Yin Yoga Flows. Perhaps that will give you a better understanding of how to select which posture to use (it depends upon your intention.)

See you in 2020!

Cheers
Bernie
Mickcope
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2019 12:47 pm
Location: England

Post by Mickcope »

That is great Bernie - can't wait to come out - hope the good coffee shops are open on Sundays!!!! I have lots of reading to do.

Mick
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