Do we have to be still during Yin Yoga?

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Bernie
Posts: 1292
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Do we have to be still during Yin Yoga?

Post by Bernie »

I was recently asked the following

  • A student of mine asked: How does the body know when to work on connective tissues and when to work on muscles.
    I say; when we do Yin practices this will work on the Yin tissues.

    My student wonders though what happens when we move a little during a Yin pose (long hold). I normally say; stay as still as you can so your body gets to work deep on the connective tissues. When you move around all the time you get back to the level of the muscles and then you sort of have to start again to hold long to get back into the connective tissues. Is this really the case?? I believe that when we engage the muscles and don't relax we can't really get deep into the connective tissues. If we hold still and just move a bit now and then, do we really lose all the work done on the connective tissues and need to start again? I hope you know what I mean.

    Thank you very much in advance. Namaste, Jane
Hi Jane. Thanks for sharing your question

There are no absolutes. Do you recall that 30% of what we call muscle is actually fascia? It is not possible to only stress muscle or only stress fascia. All stresses will be felt to a greater or lesser degree by these tissues. While it is not possible to isolate the stress to only one tissue, it is possible to target one tissue, but please realize, while targeting that particular tissue, other tissues will also be affected, which is not a bad thing!

During a long held yin stress, many tissues are affected: fascia (ligaments, joint capsules, tendons, the extracellular matrix), muscles, blood vessels, nerves, etc. Some of these tissues are aligned in series with the muscles (ligaments and tendons) while others are aligned parallel to the muscles (myofascia, joint capsules, blood vessels and nerves). If you engage the muscles you actually increase the stress applied to the serial tissues. For example, when you flex your biceps, its tendon experiences an increase in tension which pulls your forearm into flexion. Tensing muscles tense the tendons. If you want to target the tendons-cold, tight, engaged muscles can actually help!

However, if you want to target the joint capsules, which are parallel to the muscles, it is more effective to relax the muscles. Take the example of your right forefinger: hold it out horizontally in front of you and tighten it. It becomes stiff and has little range of motion. Your muscles are engaged and you can't move the joint. But, now relax the muscles: you can now move the finger quite a bit and near its end range of motion the joint capsule will receive a stress. In one case, relax the muscles to stress joints. In another case, tighten muscles to stress tendons.

What is your intention?

Remember, we want to avoid dogmatic assertions: never is never right; always is always wrong. It is okay to move a bit during a yin posture! There is a trade-off of course: constant movement reduces the stress on the joints because the muscles have to be engaged to move. Movement also requires more breath, and more breath stimulates more mental activities. If your intention is to calm the mind, calming the body helps. But, while stillness is cultivated, if someone is so uncomfortable that they can't focus, it is okay to move a bit to find the new position where they can relax. Because you can be still and comfortable for 5 minutes does not mean that everyone can. For others, it is more productive to be able to move a bit. What is important is what works for them.

A bit of movement is not going to negate the stress on the fascia. Creep takes time to set it and it takes time to undo again. I would not worry that 5 seconds of movement is going to undo the effect of the previous minute or two of stress.

I hope this helps.
Cheers
Bernie
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