The Origins Of Yin Yoga: A Beginners View

As some of you may be aware from my previous posts I’ve recently started Yin Yoga classes. Whenever I try something new I always try and find out as much as I can about the activity so I can understand what the class involves and how it may benefit my health and wellbeing.

Before I started the classes I was aware that Yin Yoga is a slow paced form of yoga that included a series of long held movements but it was only when I went to my first class that I heard it was a form of yoga derived from Taoist Flow Yoga and this sparked an interest to delve a little deeper into the origins of the practice. It has been really interesting to see where Yin Yoga began and how it has been inspired by both Hatha Yoga from India and Taoist Yoga from China.

How Yin Yoga began and evolved

Yin Yoga was founded in the late 1970s by Paulie Zink, Zink a martial arts expert who practiced Hatha Yoga for a number of years before being introduced to Taoist Yoga by a Taoist Master. Taoist Yoga is a Yin and Yang practice that includes ‘continuous, smooth, circular motions’ that promote fluidity in the body. He later combined everything he had learned from his experience of Hatha Yoga and Taoist Yoga and called this fusion Yin and Yang Yoga.

In the late 80s Paul Grilley, a student of anatomy and a Hatha Yoga teacher is said to have seen Zink on a television show and was so inspired by this form of yoga that he sought Zink out and studied with him for a year. In 1989 Grilley met Hiroshi Motoyama a Japenese scholar and yogi who had written many papers on Chinese Traditional Medicine. Motoyama was interested in the meridians, a network of channels that transport Qi (energy) through the body. He saw that there was a parallel between the meridians and the nadi pathways and chakras of Indian yoga and the way Prana (life force) is circulated through the body. Grilley, like Zink before him began to teach a fusion of what he’d learned from Zink and Motoyama.

One of Grilley’s students, Sarah Peters a yoga teacher herself began teaching Grilley’s form of yoga but with more emphasis on the meridians and this evolution of Taoist Yoga was given a new name, Yin Yoga.

Yin Yoga and the 5 elements

Yin Yoga derives from the principles of both Ayurveda and Chinese medicine that as humans we are part of nature so anything that affects our physical, spiritual or emotional wellbeing can cause us to be out of balance with the universe and that every person is made up of the basic five elements or energies that have their own distinct characteristics. In Ayurveda these five elements are Space (Akash), Air (Vayu), Fire (Agni), Water (Jal) and Earth (Prithvi) whereas in Chinese medicine and acupuncture the five energies or alchemical elements as they are known are Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire. Through the practice of Yin it is thought that the qualities of these energetic states and how they flow within the body can help improve our health, give us more energy and provide us with more freedom of movement.

What is the difference between Hatha Yoga and Taoist Yoga?

The main difference between Hatha and Taoist Yoga is the emphasis on the flow of energy. Hatha Yoga focuses on the moving energy Prana (life force) along the spine and through the Chakras whereas Taoist Yoga is based on the principle that the energy is channelled up and down the spine, through the Chakras like yoga but then it goes through the limbs and out of the hands, feet and head and into the universe beyond the body.

What is the difference between Yin and Yang Yoga?

Yin Yoga is a gentle, relaxing sequence of movements. The postures are held for longer so you can relax into the pose and stretch the connective tissue around the joint. Yin Yoga promotes flexibility in the body especially in the lower half of your body, the hips, pelvis and lower spine and can also help enhance circulation.

Yang Yoga is a more dynamic form of yoga. Hatha, Ashtanga and Bikram Yoga are all considered to be Yang Yoga. Yang postures improve core strength and muscle tone.

Whether a Yin practice or Yang practice appeals to you more like all things Yin Yang one is said to be unable to exist without the other so when it comes to yoga I like to practice both and reap the benefits of what both have to offer.