What is yin yoga?
A personal perspective on the principles, practice and potential of yin yoga.
By Simon Low
T
he very word ‘yin’ is open to a plethora of modern day
interpretations, although its origins appear to date
back to the I Ching (about 700 BCE) as the balancing
and seemingly contrasting and yet complementary and
inseparable energy of ‘yang’, perfectly represented by
the ancient and most often portrayed image of the swirling white
and black circular symbol commonly used in illustration.
Yin-Yang theory is central to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
and Chinese philosophy, and yet today is a commonly adopted
term to describe an approach to yoga practice where the active,
dynamic, solar, muscular asana are balanced by a more passive,
grounding, lunar, less-muscular approach to yoga asana. I use
the term myself very deliberately, while registering that as a label
to describe an approach to yoga it can never be a term in this
context that encompasses all aspects of yin-yang’s potential
meaning. This is particularly the case with the term yin yoga. I don’t
always use the masculine (yang) feminine (yin) words to describe
the complementary opposites of yin and yang as this language is
sometimes misinterpreted.yin yoga
In the context of worldwide yoga today there is a certain amount
of confusion surrounding the understanding of the meaning and
practice of yin yoga. It has been adopted, even to some degree
commercialised as a specific methodology, theory and practice
which is less representative of the term’s original and more broad
meaning. While I have immense respect for the rich teachings and
skilful teachers who choose to adopt this term in a more ring-fenced
perspective, I feel it necessary to make it clear that I regard (and
encourage you to regard) yin yoga as a generalised description
of a much broader and more inclusive approach to yoga theory
and practice, closer to a descriptive terminology for asana, breath
awareness, pranayama, mudra and meditative practices (to name a
few of yoga’s broad spectrum of offerings) such as passive, relatively
non-muscular, relaxing, grounding, internal, recuperative and yet
profoundly re-energising, revitalising and restorative.Restorative yoga
Restorative yoga, an approach that perhaps the late BKS Iyengar is
most respected for his enormous contribution to, has on occasion