Hey Everyone! Today I thought I would do a yoga-related blog post, as its quite a big part of my life and its helped me deal with a lot of problems. I first started Yoga in September of 2014, when I started uni. My friend Becky introduced me to it and I honestly can't thank her enough. I'm used to doing ashtanga yoga, involving lots of sun salutations and warrior variations. But recently, my Uni's YogaSoc have introduced a new class called Yin Yoga, so I thought I'd blog about it.
The first thing I will say is that Yin Yoga classes tend to be shorter than Ashtanga yoga, as this class was an hour long. I find this much more practical as you still feel the benefits but don't have to give up too much of your day (especially when you factor in travelling to and from classes)! But don't get me wrong, I do absolutely love ashtanga and will continue going to it.
Yin Yoga is very different and you don't even need any yoga experience to do it. Its significantly slower too as you only do four or five poses on each side, holding each for several minutes. If you've ever practiced meditation (Which I used to daily and really must get back into), then you'll find the transition much easier. You basically meditate through the whole practice.
There are no sun-salutations, no balancing and no shoulder stands. As I can't do shoulder stands to save my life, I was really glad about this, although I know it's bad to just avoid them entirely because then I'll never do them... Instead, Yin Yoga is largely focused on hip-opening poses and lengthening the spine.
Due to the speed and the meditation, it was much more relaxing. The down side is that you don't really sweat, so it feels much less like you're exercising. Nevertheless, I did struggle to walk home and getting up and down the stairs the next day proved a huge challenge!
Yin Yoga is definitely a class I want to keep up and attend regularly, alongside my other yoga classes. If you're into yoga, or if you're interested in trying it, I'd hugely recommend attending a yin yoga class, you will feel the benefits!!
Thank you for reading, peace and love xo
Labels: Lifestyle, Yoga
