I left my career in technology to heal burnout three years ago. Yin yoga has become one of my favorite ways to calm my nervous system since I first tried it last year.
Yin yoga helps you engage your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which facilitates many restorative processes in our bodies, such as digestion, sleep, and healing.
By moving slowly, extending exhales, and holding poses for several minutes, a yin yoga practice encourages relaxation.
“Many of us are living life as a race leading us to be in the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) 80% of the day instead of 20%, causing a domino effect of health problems,” writes Dr. Thomas Ball in a 2018 Performance Health Center post.
Experts refer to SNS as our “fight or flight” nervous system and the PNS as the “rest and digest” system. We all have both nervous systems.
SNS-dominant people may have many symptoms, such as difficulty relaxing, irritability, muscle tension, headaches, anxiety, decreased immunity, fatigue, restlessness, or digestion issues.
For maximum health, Ball recommends we engage our PNS 80% of the time and the SNS 20%.
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Depending on how much pain your body’s holding, I recommend being gentle with the journey of slowing down.
As I was burning out in early 2020, I was definitely SNS dominant. I experienced excess anxiety for months, struggled to relax, and felt disillusioned or “run down.”
As someone with an extensive trauma history, it’s taken me years to feel relaxed and safe in my body. I cried the first time I tried yin yoga, and I still tear up sometimes as I release difficult emotions.
“It’s not about getting to your deepest stretch right away. It’s about feeling all the sensations along the way,” said my yoga teacher in a yin class.
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Practicing yin yoga has greatly improved my emotional wellness. Noticing subtle feelings in my body helps me feel more present, especially during any discomfort. I process pain and tension without overthinking.
“You learn to observe only the pure physical sensations of emotions, without getting caught up in the stories about those emotions,” writes Esther Eckhart, founder of Eckhart Yoga, in a yin yoga post.
Yin yoga has roots in the Chinese yin and yang balancing philosophy. Yin refers to the slower, receptive feminine. Yang represents the masculine.
With each pose, yogis find their unique shape, commit to stillness, and use breathing to soften physical sensations. We practice sitting with discomfort and distinguishing uncomfortable versus harmful.
Regular yin practice offers many benefits, including relaxation, reduced stress and anxiety, increased circulation, improved flexibility, restored energy, and balance in the mind and body.
Practicing gentle yoga definitely helps me feel more balanced. Rather than always doing more yang-like exercises, I enjoy softening and releasing.
Being with discomfort in poses helps me sit with challenging situations and allow things to be as they are. It’s a beautiful practice.
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Other ways to engage the PNS include meditation, breathing exercises, restorative yoga, singing, yawning, or connecting with loved ones.
To explore more yin yoga, you can check out class options at your local yoga studio or explore online practices with Eckhart Yoga, an online sanctuary for yoga resources.
Photo Credit: Unsplash, by Carlos de Miguel
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I publish inspiring, empowering content on self-actualization topics once a week. I include insights from personal experience, research, expert advice, and others’ stories. I use my professional journalism and research background to keep posts concise, empathic, and trustworthy.
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