In an arguably average sized Yin Yoga class, say fifteen to thirty students, the teacher is going to focus on the average condition of the majority of students: catering to the extremes is rarely a successful strategy for teaching yoga – if you offer poses that only the most advanced student can do you risk boring or possibly injuring everyone else however, if you make sure the poses are safe enough and easy enough for everyone to be able to do you risk boring the majority. In short, and it is always dangerous to make short dogmatic definitions but here goes, Restorative Yoga takes an unhealthy body and brings it (hopefully) back to normal, while Yin Yoga takes a normal healthy body and brings it up to optimum. Now all Hatha yogas can help heal broken bodies but we can think of the main intention of Yin Yoga to be maintaining or improving the current state of health to optimal levels. It may include props and it does include long holds and mindfully reducing stress but it is not intended to heal broken bodies in the way that Restorative Yoga does. Yin Yoga, as a style of yoga popularized by Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers, is not intended to be Restorative Yoga: it encompasses long held, static stresses of the deep connective tissues allowing them to be remodeled. And it is ‘yin’ in this respect, but is it Yin Yoga? This does sound very ‘yin-like’ compared to the ‘yang-like’ Hatha yoga practices that include dynamic movements, muscular engagement, active breath-work or energizing music. It involves the use of props (sometimes lots of props) to allow the body to feel totally supported, to allow the body to relax and release long holds of these gentle postures, postures often selected to address specific challenges and deep mental and visceral relaxation. Let’s begin by defining our terms for clarity: Restorative Yoga is a form of practice directed towards students who are injured, stressed or ill, who need a very gentle practice and who are looking to regain the quality of life that they used to have, but have lost. What should we say to people asking these questions? “I had a vasectomy can I do Yin Yoga?”. “My doctor told me to come to your class because I have sciatica – is that ok?”.“I have osteoporosis should I do Yin Yoga?”.Is Yin Yoga the same as Restorative Yoga, or is Restorative Yoga the same as Yin Yoga? There are three correct answers to this question: yes! no! and maybe! This question has many relatives: Is Yin Yoga appropriate for someone with significant health challenges?
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