Yin vs Yang Exercise
Balance is crucial for continual growth. Innately, we know that our bodies need periods of activity followed by periods of rest. But in reality, we tend to push ourselves past our limits and end up feeling stressed, exhausted and burnt out. Many of us keep going until we end up injured or physically ill. If this sounds like you, it’s not your fault. We live in a society obsessed with achievement and it’s easy to get caught up in the flurry. The best thing we can do for ourselves is to incorporate more mindful and restorative physical activities into our daily life.
Did you know that there are different types of tissues in our bodies that benefit from different types of movements, and that they are all equally important?
We have both yin & yang type of tissues in our bodies. Yang tissues are the ones we are most familiar with. These are our muscles. Yang activities target the muscles and involve rhythmic, repetitive movements. The goal is to build strength or endurance in our muscular tissue. This includes running, weight lifting, certain types of yoga (Power Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Bikram, etc,) and most activities we consider to be “exercise”. These also tend to be focused on pushing yourself and using a lot of force to achieve the end goal.
Yin tissues are the connective tissues in the body, such as fascia, bones, joints, vertebral discs, ligaments, tendons and cartilage. Most people disregard caring for these parts of their bodies until they become painful or problematic. These tissues do not get damaged easily, but when they do they are slow to heal and can be very disruptive to your normal life. Tending to your “yin side” allows you to prevent injuries and experience greater levels of health, vitality and presence in your life now.
Yin tissues benefit from an appropriate amount of positive stress (tension/stretching or compression) held for an extended amount of time. This allows fascial contractures to relax, activates tissue repair and helps unwind deep patterns stored in the body. Yin yoga is specifically designed to do just that. It targets and heals the connective tissue by holding specific postures for 2 to 7 minutes at a time.
Exercising and activating our yang tissues has a plethora of health benefits. However, focusing solely on yang activities can wear down our bodies and increase the fight-or-flight response in our nervous systems. Yin practices invite us to slow way down, be present in our bodies and relax into our current experience. Yin yoga also helps increase flexibility and mobility by opening through the fascial tissues.
A yin yoga & connective tissue expert, Jeny Dawson, says that, “Though the practice of yin yoga is relaxing compared to other yang types of yoga, it can be challenging. Stimulating and stressing tissues to increase flexibility and mobility is far from lazy yoga. In fact, some of the longer holds can be intense, especially where the body is holding tension. Some people find it difficult to slow down and relax into the postures, not only physically but mentally as well. It is an ongoing practice of patience and training the mind and body to surrender into the present moment.”
My invitation to you is to be more intentional throughout the day about slowing down, both physically and mentally. You can take a moment to take a few deep breaths which signals relaxation and safety to your nervous system. Getting adjusted is also a wonderful way to increase rest & relaxation in your system. Plus, a chiropractic adjustment helps your body recover from physical activity and regulates your nervous system.
I also encourage you to try yin yoga! As a very active person myself I didn’t understand the benefits of this practice until I tried it myself. We are dynamic being and we need both the yang and well as the yin. One without the other leaves us imbalanced and susceptible to illness, injury and dis-ease.