Yin Yoga

Long-held postures have been used both in India's Hatha yoga and in China's Tao yin (Taoist yoga). For example, B. K. S. Iyengar recommended holding Supta Virasana (reclining hero pose) for 10–15 minutes.[2] Long-held stretches are similarly recommended in Western physical disciplines, such as gymnastics and ballet, to increase flexibility.[3] Tao yin also included poses like those of Yin Yoga in the system of Neidan (internal alchemy), intended to improve health and longevity.[4] Taoist priests taught long-held poses, along with breathing techniques, to Kung Fu practitioners beginning 2000 years ago, to help them fully develop their martial arts skills.[5]

Paulie Zink

The practice of a series of long-held floor poses was introduced in North America in the late 1970s by the martial arts champion Paulie Zink.[6][7][8][9][10][11] In the late 1970s, Zink began to teach a synthesis of hatha yoga with Taoist yoga, as well as postures, movements and insights that he had developed himself. He later called this synthesis "Yin and Yang yoga," or "Yin Yoga" for short.[12][13][14][15]

In his first years of teaching, many of Zink's students were martial arts practitioners who had developed strong but tight muscles, and he taught them only beginner level Taoist Yoga, focusing on long-held yin poses to alleviate their lack of flexibility. However, as more students came he began to teach more advanced levels. He explained that in order to develop full flexibility, the student must restore his own primal nature, through several Taoist yoga practices, as follows: yin asanas—mostly sitting or lying postures; yang asanas—more active, strenuous postures; Taoist Flow yoga—both yin and yang yoga postures practiced in continuous, smooth and circular motions; Chi Kung—involving simple and gentle movement and breathing techniques; and Taoist alchemy—based, supposedly, upon the Taoist theory of the five elements used in Chinese medicine. Taoist alchemy purports to embody the energetic attributes of various animals and to enliven the five alchemical elements believed to be contained in the body's energetic field, namely Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire. These are considered to animate distinct qualities in the body, namely calm, strength, fluidity, springiness and lightness, respectively.[12][14]

The yoga teacher Paul Grilley sought Zink out and studied with him in the 1980s.[16][17][18] Grilley studied anatomy in Montana under a doctor, Gary Parker, and then at the University of California, Los Angeles. There, he also taught conventional yoga including Ashtanga and Bikram Yoga, and managed a yoga studio.[19] In 1989, Grilley met Hiroshi Motoyama, a Japanese scholar and yoga practitioner,[16] who had researched the physiology of Traditional Chinese Medicine and written on it extensively.[20] Motoyama was interested in the physiology of the meridians, or subtle pathways and vessels, and the qi or subtle energy hypothesized to flow through or get stored in them. These are fundamental concepts in Chinese medicine and acupuncture. He related these to the parallel concepts of the nadi pathways and chakras of Indian yoga, and the prana said to be carried within them.[21] Grilley began to teach a fusion of the Yin poses he had learned from Zink with hatha yoga and anatomy, and the teachings of Motoyama.[22][16] He created yin sequences with aims similar to that of an acupuncturist.[16] Yin teacher and author Ulrica Norberg says that Grilley "evolved Yin Yoga further."[23] Bernie Clark, a Yin Yoga author and teacher[24] said that Grilley's synthesis of anatomy, Taoist Yoga, and meridian theory "resonated with many people who recognized the benefits of the practice and related to Paul's model of the body/mind/soul."[22]

One of Grilley's students, the yoga teacher Sarah Powers, began teaching yoga in his style. She incorporated Buddhist psychology and put more emphasis on targeting the meridian systems for health and enlightenment. Her book, Insight Yoga, explains Yin Yoga sequences designed to enhance the flow of qi as understood in Traditional Chinese Medicine.[25] She emphasized a conscious and systematic approach to breathing during yin practice.[26] Grilley had at first called his approach Taoist Yoga, in deference to Zink's term. Powers, noting that the yoga she and Grilley were teaching was different from Zink's, suggested the term Yin Yoga. Zink adopted the term as a short form for "Yin and Yang Yoga."[27] Powers began teaching Yin Yoga in her tours,[28] referring students to Grilley for further information. Powers, Grilley, and Zink began offering Yin Yoga teacher training courses. By 2009, Yin Yoga had become available across North America and in Europe.[29][17]

Yin Yoga is based on the Taoist concepts of yin and yang, opposite and complementary principles in nature. Yin could be described as stable, immobile, feminine, passive, cold, and downward moving. Yang is understood to be changing, mobile, masculine, active, hot, and upward moving. The sun is considered yang, the moon yin.[30] In the body, the relatively stiff connective tissues (tendons, ligaments, fascia) are considered yin, while the more mobile and pliable muscles and blood are called yang. More passive asanas in yoga are considered yin, whereas the more active, dynamic asanas are described as yang.[16]

Yin Yoga employs specific sequences of poses to stimulate particular meridians, or subtle channels, as understood in Traditional Chinese Medicine; these are the equivalent of the nadi channels in hatha yoga.[31]

In keeping with its roots in Taoist Yoga, Zink says that Yin Yoga has a deeper purpose: to "open the heart and invoke the primal self."[14] Powers says one of the primary objectives of yin practice is the cultivation of inner stillness.[32]

Although many Yin Yoga poses closely resemble the asanas of conventional or "yang" yoga, they have different names, in part to alert those familiar with conventional yoga not to perform them in the same way.[30] In general, the poses of Yin Yoga are performed with little muscular exertion. For example, in Seal pose, in which a practitioner lies face down and raises the trunk, the upward movement is gradual and entirely supported by the arms, while the legs are relaxed, whereas in Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose), the practitioner actively curves the spine upward in an arc using arms and lower back muscles, and reaches back with the legs strongly.[16] Because Yin Yoga does not make practitioners hot, the temperature of the room is kept a little higher than usual.[33]