Sean just told me about “Yin Yoga” where you very gently hold a posture for 5+ minutes. Not all postures are good for this, but he told me to experiment with it. Any thoughts?
Yoda, I’ve done stuff like that myself, without being taught. It can definitely be good. Very relaxing.
Hi Yoda,
I’ve been doing yin classes off and on for the last 6 months or so and overall I do like them, I find that you can loosen up some areas that are stubbornly tight.
The only issue I have is that it is easy to take it into excess. Because the postures are held usually up to 5 minute, what starts off as a light stretch becomes fairly intensive as you relax into the posture over time. I find that there is a lot of strain on the muscle tissue, and supporting tendons and ligaments if not done very gently. I’ve also noticed an increased risk of injury if you engage in any ballistic type movements with the same muscle groups within a day or two of the classes.
I like the classes, I just avoid doing them too close to engaging in any intensive high velocity exercise.
Oh crap, so I should stop doing Yin Yoga and then going straight to Brazilian jiu-jitsu then. 
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Yoda, Anthem,
I have found that after holding a posture for a long time, ( like five minutes) it is good to come out of it very slowly, like over maybe a period of three minutes more, that is, very gradually relieving it in stages over a while.
I don’t know if they teach this in Yin Yoga.
-D
I am a yin yoga teacher in the Chicago area. If anyone has any questions about doing yin yoga, just ask.
Yin yoga is based on Chinese Taoist philosophy. It is also referred to as “needleless acupuncture”. Yin yoga is all about stretching the connective tissue of the body where the meridians are contained in order to facilitate the flow of chi (TCM term) or prana (hatha yoga term) in the body.
“…I realized what coming here does for me – India integrates me, takes the yin and yang and pulls it together into the One that gives me peace. It is hard to describe, but when I realized it, it literally felt like two halves melting into one.”
Welcome to the board Yogagal.
Since no-one answered my question, maybe you could: in order to come out of a posture that you have held for a long time, do you teach the gradual reduction of the posture before exiting it, or do you just come straight out of it?
I have found that after holding a posture for a long time, ( like five minutes) it is good to come out of it very slowly, like over maybe a period of three minutes more, that is, very gradually relieving it in stages over a while.
Wow! I had no idea it was called this and I had been thinking this exact thing. I’ve never done a Yoga style where I could so clearly feel the meridians and also specific acupoints “talking” to each other, exactly like when I go to acupuncture. Really cool.
Sean
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yes, you always come out of it slowly and mindfully, no rushing. focus on what you are feeling.
“…I realized what coming here does for me – India integrates me, takes the yin and yang and pulls it together into the One that gives me peace. It is hard to describe, but when I realized it, it literally felt like two halves melting into one.”
From the http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1883991439 - “Yin Yoga” by Paul Grilley… gets 5* from 13 reviews…
I thought this was interesting as it has a number of parallels with Zhan Zhaung (relaxed muscles, positions held for a long period of time)…
So on this categorisation then the AYP (and all other?) asanas are Yang yoga then?
Mike
You could categorize the hatha yoga part of AYP that way. I personally would not be inclined to use the category ‘yang yoga’; there is no reason for example why the ‘yin’ approach could not be taken to the AYP asanas. So the term might be somewhat misleading, as if implying that there is a deep fundamental reason for the distinct classification. In practice, it’s only a difference in the way postures are done.
And that’s only the hatha yoga (asanas) part of AYP, which is a small part of it.