In my 15 or so years of pr acticing yoga I’ve tried many differ ent styles with many different teachers. After I took my first class, like so many people, I was hooked almost immediately. At the time, I had a busy job and raising a young family on my own, so I craved the permission yoga gave me to just stop and focus on one thing for an hour or so. I’ve never really understood why some people don’t stay for savasana – being able to lie still and not worry that the kids would be jumping out of bed or that the phone might ring was for a long time one of the main reasons to attend the class.
After many years of different variations of ashtanga, Iyengar, vinyasa flow and Body Balance, her e I am, a committed yin yogi (or Yinster as I hear people call them). I’ve been following a yin yoga practice for 10 of my 15 years of practice, and it has gradually taken over as my preferred yoga style. The more I immerse myself in my yin – there is the regular weekly class, the monthly afternoon workshops, the annual retreats, and the books to read in between – the more I notice that everybody else seems to be doing yin as well. Hmm, I thought it was just me who was attracted by ‘the quiet practice’, the intensity of the long holds and deliciously deep stretches. I’ve notice the vinyasa teachers starting to add more restful five minute twists to the end of their dynamic sun sal utation classes. And the Iyengar devotees ar e l etting us find our comf ortable edge in some postures instead of striving for perfect alignment. What is going on in the yoga world?