Australian Yoga Journal — July 2017

I’M NOT SUREI would still be here, both

teaching and practicing in the yoga world,

had I not found Yin. More than ten years

ago on a romantic weekendaway in the

Blue Mountains, over two wintry nights

exploring Yin with experts Paul and Suzee

Grilley, I awakened to a completely

different way of being in my body and my

spirit. As my passion for snuggling with

champagne and strawberries in front of a

roaring log fire began to fade, another one

was well and truly lit and it has burned

brightly ever since.

After having many injuries and

issues in my spine throughout my life,

starting with a broken back when I was

15 years old, I shudder to think where I

would be today without the magic of my

Yin poses to bring relief, healing energy,

space and regeneration to the deeper

connective tissues of my spine. These

same qualities soothe the fluctuations of

thoughts and emotion, in my mind and

heart, as I hold each pose.

In this season of my life – post

injuries and after 15 years of yang-style

teaching and practice – Yin Yoga,

Taoist philosophy and the acupuncture

channels and organs have become the

comfy old jeans that I slip into every day.

These practices are my slow-pressed,

cold-drip medicines of choice.

What a revelation it was to me to

make shapes with no aesthetic agenda,

to be with myself in a place of stillness

and contemplation for five minutes or

more of uninterrupted attention and to

experience myself in a more feminine,

soft, patient, and receptive way. Yin

Yoga doesn’t necessarily look impressive

on an Insta-feed as its magic is found

internally, needing to be felt rather than

simply conceptualised. Once tasted, the

practice speaks for itself and becomes a

juicy consort to our ‘yang’ practice of

choice.

Mostly, I choose Yin these days.

I haven’t abandoned the stronger,

muscular, stable practice of yang yoga

(or any other yang-style practice). Yin

has simply become my ‘go-to’ for my

own personal balance. The longer-held PHOTO: EMILY LEES

and mostly floor-based postures offer a

coolness to my fiery spirit, teasing apart

the connective tissues and all they hold

with patience and courage. This deep

release throughout my being is what has

kept me returning to Yin in the midst

of a career and practice of hot style

yang flow. The relief I have felt

throughout my body by releasing the

long fascial trains has been a profound

change in perception. It has allowed

me to feel my body as a whole connected

expression rather than individual parts

needing alignment, improvement or

release. I have discovered how tojust

let it all bein one big mosh pit of

sensation, pulsation, mindfulness and

allowing.

Understanding Yin

The long, deep holds

The shapes we make in Yin are

practiced without a sense of pushing

and striving. In fact, we should only use

about 60%-70% of our overall effort for

the practice to be effective and safe. Once

in the poses, we sit with intention and

attention, to target and focus upon either

body parts and joints, certain meridian

channels and organs, or a particular

chakra. We are releasing the connective

tissues of the body and moving anything

held in them including tensions, toxins,

past experiences and energy. This makes

space for introducing more hydration,

blood and energy into an area keeping

us moving, youthful and healthy in all

directions so we have the ability to keep

doing. As anatomy and Yin Yoga expert

Thomas Myers said, “It will be a sad

day when I myself can’t sail my boat any

more!”

Meridians and Qi

You may like to think of meridians as an

‘energy highway’ in the body, and Qi as

the vital energy flowing through that

highway. Although we cannot see

meridians and Qi like we can muscles

and bones, they can be felt and

experienced through our practice.

The meridian channels we are

influencing in the fascia (the body’s

connective tissue) relate to organ

and tissue balance, health and

communication in our physical and

energetic bodies. The channels exist

as conduits and pathways for Qi

(vital energy). We are stimulating,

creating and encouraging Qi when

we tension (stretch) or compress the

fascia in our bodies, breathe well,

nourish well and practice mindfulness,

rather than depleting Qi with worrying

thoughts, fear, stress and fatigue.

Tensegrity

This is fascia and its tension integrity.

This balance of discontinuous

compression elements, connected by

continuous tension forces and allowing

balance is known astensegrity. This

ubiquitous, collagenous ‘webbing’

that creates our form and strength,

and contains and connects everything

to everything, is an omnipresent

communication throughout our body

from our embryological beginnings

to who we are today. This tissue has

been our constantpotential for

changewithin and has

expressed and

changed with our

growing or

shrinking,

habits and

patterns,

thoughts and

feelings.

The role of

the chakras

Because our chakras

are organising centres

strung along the central channel

ofSushumnafor the reception,

assimilation, and transmission

of vital energy (Qi), for yogis the

ongoing work of not only

awakening the chakras but eventually

transcending them, becomes

pivotal in a mindful, understood,

enlightened life.

THE Yin side

30

july 2017

yogajournal.com.au

Yoga teacher Mel McLaughlin explores her love of a magical practice that brings

peace, balance and stillness to her body and healing energies to her whole being.