Learning Patience from Yin Yoga

I’m not going to lie, the first two Yin yoga classes I took here were absolutely miserable. I had never taken a Yin yoga class before, and in it you basically hold poses for 5 minutes each, aiming to relax into the pose to get a deep stretch into your connective tissue.

The first class was focused on hip opening, and it was absolute torture. Because of the tightness in my hips and lower back, I was unable to properly do literally every single pose. I was supposed to be relaxing into each pose, but I could hardly get halfway into the poses, let alone relax into them. As we moved through the class I was frustrated and was again losing hope in my ability to do yoga.

Since we have Yin yoga class every night, I was hoping that I’d be able to figure out a way to enjoy it at some point, and last night I finally figured it out!

I’ve been working all week on accepting my body for what it is and appreciating what I can do instead of what I can’t. The thing I finally realized about Yin is that I need to let go of my expectations and embrace the use of props to meet my body where it is.

Instead of looking to see how everyone else looks in each pose, I close my eyes and focus on what I can do to get my body as close to the pose as possible, even if it seems unattainable. As you can see in the picture below, forward folds aren’t easy for me.

While some people are able to easily bend forward and touch their heads to the floor, it’ll be a while before I get there, if ever. So instead I use as many props as it takes for me to be able to relax into the pose and breathe.

While Yin yoga isn’t my favorite, I’m grateful that I finally found a way to get through it and even enjoy it. Last night I left class feeling hopeful, because even though it takes a bolster and two blocks to support my forward fold, at least I can relax enough to breathe and slowly move further with each breath.