A (7)

54

july 2016

yogajournal.com.au

PHOTO: EMILY LEES

“Life is about balance are always striving

for this. The scale tips left and right, goes

up and down. Yin is the restorative yoga

that got left behind when hot, power yang

yoga became popular 15 years ago.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for us to

realise we need to practice both,” says

Fitzgibbon.

For thousands of years, Eastern cultures

have believed optimal health relies on free-

fl owing energy circulating the body via

invisible vessel-like pathways; forming the

basis for modalities like acupuncture, tai

chi and yoga. Yogic philosophy calls this

energetic life force ‘prana’, fl owing

throughout 72,000 ‘nadis’. Traditional

Chinese Medicine (TCM) considers it ‘chi’,

which comprises two vital forces of yin and

yang that circulate via ‘meridians’. Largely

pioneered by Japanese Scholar, Dr Hiroshi

Motoyama, scientifi c research has begun

supporting intuitive wisdom of these

complex networks. Researchers at Seoul

National University recently provided

visible evidence that meridians exist by

injecting dye into acupuncture points; a

major breakthrough following scepticism

from western medicine.

Balancing Yin and Yang

While the cool, passive characteristics of

yin and the hot, active aspects of yang are

essentially opposing energies, they are also

complementary; one cannot exist without

the other. In The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga

(White Cloud Press, 2011), Bernie Clark

contemplates the popular yin-yang symbol;

even within the darkness of yin, there is

lightness of yang and vice-versa. Clark

reminds us that even within active yang

yoga practices, yin aspects may be present;

like mindfully monitoring the breath

throughout a Vinyasa fl ow. Yin and yang

practices both have merits that cement

their union.

“Yang practices are benefi cial for

mitigating accumulated stress. We would be

much healthier if we could physically act

out frustrations, but this would cause social

chaos. Being mature means channelling

and controlling emotional expressions; but

this inevitably requires us to suppress some

of them. Yang activities enable us to release

physical consequences of suppression.

Without yang, we are likely to slowly lose

willpower and lapse into dull habits of

action and response,” explains acclaimed

Californian Yin Yoga teacher, Paul Grilley.

Contrastingly, yin yoga practices are less

dynamic and more introspective. They

involve fewer postures – predominantly

fl oor-based – that are sustained for extended

durations with no muscle engagement.

Props like bolsters and blankets alleviate

pressure, allowing full body weight to relax

completely to the earth and mindfully rest in

the raw honesty of stillness.

“Yin poses allow us time to look around

and feel things we normally ignore, and

monitor how subtle changes in muscle

tension, emotional resistance or mental

attitude alter our response to them. Once

this skill has been learned, hopefully we can

apply it effectively during our yang activities

as well,” adds Grilley.