Benefits of Mindful Yin Yoga for Your Body & Mind

Both Yin Yoga and meditation remodel our physical body – the connective tissues as well as our brain tissue and circuitry. All living tissues need a balanced amount of stress to be healthy, and our regular activities exercise our muscles, the Yang part of our body.  Yin Yoga is that exercise for the hidden yin side, which includes the internal body stocking of fascia that holds you together, your bones and joints which allow you to move, walk, run, and enjoy all the other activities you love to do. In the Yin poses, we apply appropriate stresses to our Yin tissues, helping to reorganize and strengthen them, as well as restore their natural length, which can become compromised due to daily life, stresses, injuries, and aging.

Similarly, through your meditation practice within Yin Yoga, you can remodel the brain. Many studies have demonstrated that the brain can remodel, rewire, and reshape itself based on training and environment. Meditation helps to strengthen the areas of the brain involved in decision-making, memory, and emotional flexibility. By practicing mindfulness meditation, we can essentially change our brains, much like a muscle. So, on the Yin mat, we have the opportunity to cultivate this quality of mindful and friendly attention. We can practice replacing any judgment or striving with kindness and compassion, knowing the choices we make on the Yin mat keep our practice beneficial and can create a more enjoyable, peaceful existence for ourselves.

If you'd like to go deeper, I invite you to join me for my live online 40HR Yin Yoga & Meditation Teacher Training. You might also check out my book- Yin Yoga & Meditation available on Amazon!