It
is so ironic to admit but I have been in complete burnout twice as a yoga
teacher. Doesn’t it sound funny when you hear someone acknowledge they are
burned out and then you find out they are a yoga teacher!!! Burnout can happen
to anyone—it doesn’t discriminate from one career to another—but it’s rather
weird to hear a yoga teacher share that they are at the end of their energy!
Usually the first thing people say is, “What’s going on? You’re a yoga teacher,
you should know how to relax!” Yes, that is so true, however teaching yoga can
take a lot of energy, especially if you are not aware of how to protect your
own energy. Or you are starting your own yoga business.
In
my case I experienced my first burnout when I had my own studio—the first year
was really tough to get it off the ground and fill up the classes, but once it
got super successful after a few years, it was really challenging to keep up
the pace. I offered classes seven days a week and I was on the mat every day—no
matter if I was sick, if it was my birthday or whatever—I needed to be at the
studio.
Compounding
the stress was the fact that I am a highly sensitive person, and often when I
touched a person to help them into a pose, I felt what they were feeling. And
if they were in pain, I could feel that pain. In the first few years, I did not
know how to shield myself of other people’s energy and felt like a sponge, and
I soaked it all up. Quite often I felt exhausted at the end of the day, even
though I loved my job so very much.
Being
an empath is something that requires learning how to adjust so you don’t take
on everyone’s energies. It really didn’t matter that I was a yoga teacher, I
could have been in any career, but I happen to be a yoga teacher and I touch
people as part of my work.
I
was also burned out on a physical level because doing so many classes can
totally wear you out because your body never gets any rest. I felt flattered
that so many people wanted to come to my classes and therefore offered more and
more classes and my schedule was packed. I did not realize that I no longer had
a social life because I was on the mat teaching every night while my friends
went out to the movies or to dinner. I always had to decline when they asked me
to join because I was too busy teaching.
It
took me a few years to understand that I needed to have at least one free night
per week and therefore took one day off on a regular basis. My students were
not happy about that because they did not want to accept a substitute, but it
was necessary for my own balance and self-care.
Once
I learned techniques to protect myself before I went into a class, and also
adding some Yin Yoga poses into all of my yang-focused classes, my body slowly
started to regenerate again.
I
also find it very important to be authentic when you teach. If you pretend to
be somebody you are not, it can be very exhausting and you can burn out easily
because you are not real in what you do.
At night, before I go to bed, I practice this chakra meditation to clear myself of all the energies I picked up throughout the day.
On
a regular basis I cultivate stillness and ensure I have time where I am just by
myself, with no other people around. This is not always easy when you have a
family, but for me, it is essential. I need the time to listen to my soul. Your
soul will tell you when you are not on track anymore, and if you will not
listen, it tends to send you an ailment or a burnout, so you have to pull
yourself back and listen to it again. So my words of advice are to make sure
you care for yourself daily, so you stay in touch with yourself and your
personal needs. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t have the energy
to give the quality teachings you want to offer your students.
If
you want to make yoga your full time passion and career, I recommend you to
start slowly. If you have a steady job, do not just up and quit and expect to
make a living from teaching from day one. People need to get to know and trust
you and that usually takes some time. See if you can reduce the amount of
working hours at your main job and start offering a few yoga classes before or
after work. In this way you will still have an income if there are not too many
people showing up for your yoga classes in the beginning, and you will not feel
the pressure of having to succeed at once in order to be able to pay your rent
or mortgage.
I know enough yoga teachers who have either burned out (myself included) or are close to it because they teach so many classes every day that they hardly have time for their own practice anymore just to generate some income.
Once you have built a bigger community which stays with you and recommends you to other people, you can think about quitting your job and going full time with yoga. It helps to do workshops at different studios, to blog, also as a guest blogger for other websites, to write a book, even if it is a smaller e-book which you can give away online or to produce videos so you can get a greater outreach.
In the times of self-publishing and Internet, it has never been easier to get your message across. Just have some patience and do not rush into your full-time yoga business. It sure does take some time, especially if you plan to open your own studio. I started my own studio and it took some time to get a steady flow happening, and I had to make some adjustments along the way. We learn so much from our experiences, the positive ones and especially the ones that really help us see things in a new light. It took patience, support from my family and a wonderful community of yoga enthusiasts, but a few years later I was more than happy that I stayed with my dream. It took stamina, persistence and a willingness to be with what was until my studio took off, but it did and today I am enjoying my full time passion offering Yin Yoga teacher trainings!
When
I opened up my yoga studio many years ago, I expected the people to come to my
classes in masses because there was no other yoga studio around. However much
to my surprise, there were only a few people who came. Wow, how disappointing!
It seemed like the others were skeptical about this new thing and had no idea
what yoga was.
In the beginning there were quite a few classes where I only had one or two students show up. I questioned myself and had lots of doubts about my idea of opening up a yoga studio. At that point I was offering all kinds of classes: Yoga for kids, Yoga for seniors, Yoga for pregnancy, Yoga for beginners, Ashtanga Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga and so on… and still only few people came.
Starting
a yoga studio required lots of time and I was working hard, doing all I could
to find a way to bring the community yoga classes because I knew that they were
very helpful in many ways. I would prepare for several classes and saw pretty
quickly that it was not worth all the effort, which was disheartening to say
the least! Instead of closing down and abandoning my vision for a yoga studio,
I decided to narrow my classes to just a few different styles, reduced the
amount of classes and stayed patient. After about six months, the classes slowly
started to fill. Two years later all of my classes were packed, and I’m very
thankful to say that those early students stayed and practiced with me for many
years.
I
was so glad that I did not give up early because one never knows when success
is going to come, it might be just around the corner. I felt grateful for this
experience because in this way I could slowly grow as a yoga teacher and had
many important experiences because I was working very closely with the people
who came to my classes.
Once I specialized on one topic, which was Yin Yoga in my case, people came from all over the country to my teacher trainings. Of course, it was helpful that I wrote several books about it and produced DVDs at a time when there was no Yin Yoga in Germany. Eventually I knew without any doubts that I had found my niche.
It takes courage to stick with our dreams and visions when we don’t see an immediate response—and that’s hard—because we do not know if there will be enough people who like what we are doing—but again, how will you know if you don’t give your dreams a try?
What
was most important to me was to be authentic. I realized that I did not feel
authentic with some of the styles of yoga I had been offering, but once I
focused on Yin Yoga—which I felt absolutely comfortable with—the waiting lists
for my trainings got longer and longer.
Therefore I recommend that you ask yourself what feels right to you: what can you really feel in the depth of your heart? And once you find that, stay authentic and bring it out to the world. Surely there will be enough people who were waiting exactly for this!
When I practice Yin Yoga, I become myself completely and experience a deep feeling of peace within myself— I am fully myself and do not have to please anyone else—either proverbially or in reality. While some types of yoga specify precisely how certain positions should look, and many practitioners do their best to emulate this ideal image, Yin Yoga is oriented towards the person practicing it—you can’t go wrong. Our inner teacher is the most important yoga teacher and only considers this one individual body. I believe there is great healing potential within this as only we ourselves sense what is best for us.
I do not consider
it wise to seek out a doctor just to have a medicine prescribed for current
complaints—and to hope that everything will be fine again—without any further
questioning. Unfortunately, essential conventional medicine increasingly
focuses on combating symptoms and less on looking for the cause. Also, very few
doctors have enough time to concentrate intensively on the history of the
individual patient. Alternative medical practitioners, on the other hand, tend
to look for the origin of the complaints, and they view people more on a
holistic level, taking more things into consideration which might have caused
the issue in the first place.
In order to better
understand our particular ailments and issues, we need rest periods, and some kind of regular practice, for example
something like a regular Yin Yoga practice, which directs the senses inwards
and can bring us into deep contact with ourselves. The mind speaks very softly,
and these periods of withdrawal are absolutely vital to understand it and to find out what the body
can express with symptoms. It is said that when the mind is not being listened
to, the body sounds the alarm through illness, thereby making the person slow
down.
Ideally our energies are in balance when we both integrate Yin and Yang
energies into our life. Yin corresponds to a female, more receptive, and yang
to a male, more outgoing energy. In our current age we oftentimes have a
surplus of Yang in our environment, which can trouble us at a physical level.
Never before have there been so many hyperactive children as there are today—I
tend to find the term “hyperactive” unsuitable, and I am only using it here for
the ease of understanding—and “burnout” is just named as a fashionable
complaint, without due respect for its incredibly harmful effect on our lives.
In my experience, I find an important cause is anxiety, which can be worsened
due to an excess of intense Yang-energies.
Think for a moment how everything has changed over the years: Barely
anybody takes time out to rest in the early afternoon nowadays; due to mobile
accessibility we receive calls or text messages late in the evening when we
should actually be resting; the TV is on all day in some households, even when
nobody is consciously following it; there are fewer family meals; the
performance mentality at school and at work is ever-present; attentive
conversations without glancing at your mobile phone have also become rare. All
these things exhaust our Yin. Yin and Yang are then no longer in balance, which
has adverse consequences. If these energies fall out of their dynamic balance,
energy can no longer flow harmoniously and this creates the circumstances for
illnesses to occur.
Yin Yoga practice gives us the peace that we so urgently need in this
noisy world. We can use it to get in touch with our inner selves once again, as
well as find release in our stuck places. Our body awareness is trained and
intensified through long and deep stretches, but these also provide us with
calm so that memories or emotions can emerge again. If we become our own quiet
observer and look and listen carefully to what it is showing us, it is quite
possible that we will even be able to trace the causes of certain complaints in
time.
Our body communicates with us constantly, but many of us have forgotten how to listen to it and interpret its signs. For example, if we experienced emotional damage in childhood, we often carry this into our adult lives. Symptoms often appear—such as nervousness, anxiety, depressive malaise, or sleep disturbances—which can be treated quickly with medicines, but the actual causes of the complaints remain unrecognized and untreated. It is therefore important to become aware of what is going on inside us, no matter whether it is pleasant or painful. If we identify what is causing us stress, then we can accept it, process it, and ultimately let it go. This progression can be very liberating and is a complete contrast to the repression of unpleasant experiences or memories. A repression mechanism never works in the long term. Whatever is behind it will keep occurring until it is accepted, understood, and released.
Yin Yoga practice, with its passive stretches that last for 3-5 minutes,
we can learn, in a wonderful way about
the process of letting go. If we have learned to let go physically, we can then
also let go better emotionally and mentally. The peaceful and introverted Yin
Yoga practice gives us sufficient space to question pain or illnesses and find
out what the body is trying to tell us.
We know today that our self-healing capacities are most powerful in the
parasympathetic state which you can reach during a yin yoga practice. But
always remember that YOUR path might be very different from that of your
partner, your friends, or your family. Please be mindful with yourself, so you
can experience the power of self-healing in early states if your body is out of
balance and trying to tell you something. Then you have a good chance of
getting back on track again soon.
Here is a yin yoga sequence which focuses on stretching all meridians and ends with a tapping massage so that you can start refreshed into the day!
Enjoy your practice!
***
Adapted from Be Healthy with Yin Yoga: The Gentle Way to Free Your Body of Everyday Ailments and Emotional Stresses by Stefanie Arend (She Writes Press, August 2019).
We all experience difficult periods in life that leave us feeling sad, lonely, or scared. However, some of us deal with these emotions almost daily.
Depression is a
psychiatric condition that usually manifests in listlessness,
sadness, anxiety, and guilt. It often has internal or endogenous causes,
but can also be related to conflicts, stressful circumstances, or trauma.
We carry our
healing powers within us at all times, but sometimes they are hidden
by a lack of contact or familiarity with our inner self. Meditation,
self-reflection and the simple act of taking time for oneself, in addition to
the psychological benefits to be gained from any exercise, make yoga a powerful
component of the healing journey. Yin Yoga helps us get in touch with our emotions
and balance the energies that run haywire throughout the day.
If the feelings you
are experiencing are not just a temporarily more depressive mood, but are
indeed symptoms of depression, then treatment from a psychotherapist or other
mental health professional is recommended. Yoga teachers should never presume
to see themselves in this position. However, we can give valuable
support on the path to mental health and happiness.
Depression is
oftentimes kept secret due to embarrassment or anxiety. A diagnosis, or even an
awareness that one feels differently from the people around them, can lead to
insecurity and compound stress. Therefore, it
is particularly important to feel comfortable and confident in your yoga
practice rather than striving for a specific ideal in your poses. Because Yin
Yoga is adaptable to specific needs and capabilities, and because there is no
‘right’ or ‘wrong’ posture, the Yin method is easily accessible to
everybody. When I practice Yin Yoga, I become myself completely and
experience a deep feeling of peace and freedom with the realization that I do
not have to please anyone else.
Depression is often
related to suppressed emotions—for example aggression, grief, or anger. It
is therefore important to work through possible trauma or face your own
anxieties. Meditation can be very helpful here, but the inexperienced should
practice with a teacher who can help and support them if necessary. A doctor, therapist, or teacher can support you and open the door,
but remember that you must pass through it yourself.
Possible questions for
reflection are: Why am I anxious? Which of my emotions and
experiences wish to be seen? What issues from my childhood still need to
be healed? What is my calling, and how do I get back on my path?
Below is a series of
Yin Yoga poses to ground and comfort you in this difficult period:
Ujjayi Breathing
Ujjayi Breathing can
create heat in the body, but it can also be very relaxing. It is therefore
ideal for the start of
practicing exercises, if you feel unsettled, or your mind is very full. Ujjayi
translates as “victorious breathing,” as it triumphs over shallow
breathing. Breathe in Ujjayi as long as you like. In some styles of Yang
Yoga, Ujjayi Breathing is also practiced while doing the poses.
Sit in Easy Pose on
the mat, and straighten your spine while placing your hands loosely on your
legs. Now let the epiglottis narrow, with a deep flow of breath out into
the throat area, as though you were making a whispering sound with your mouth
closed or were breathing onto a mirror to clean it. The sound of Ujjayi
Breathing is reminiscent of a distant sound of the sea. With this sound in the
throat, you can inhale and exhale calmly and deeply. Come back into a
natural flow of breath and feel the effect.
Dragonfly (Upavistha Konasana)
1. Sit on the mat with
outstretched legs, and open your legs wide until you feel a comfortable
stretch in the sides of the legs. Take a yoga bolster or a rolled-up
blanket and lay it centrally lengthways in front of you so that your
stomach is touching the bolster when you bend forward. If you want to massage
the lower stomach organs, then lay the bolster flat on the floor. You can reach
the upper stomach organs better if you place one or two blocks under the
lower end of the bolster. If you are not very mobile, you can also place
additional blankets or blocks on the bolster to raise it. Then relax your
back and legs, and bend forward as far as your body will allow. Rest your head
on your hands or props. Direct your breath gently to the stomach and
pelvic area.
2. Alternatively, you
can also go into Half Dragonfly by stretching your leg out to the side and
bending the other one inwards, pulling your foot to
your pelvis. You can then also change the position of the leg.
3. Another variation
is Dragonfly with a side bend. Sit up straight again and tilt your upper body
to the left. Place the bolster on the left leg so that your arm is
supported comfortably. You can either take your right arm behind your
back, or lift it at an angle over the head to increase the stretch.
Remain in Dragonfly
for three to five minutes, including Dragonfly in the supine position or Half
Dragonfly, and changing sides. You can stay in the side bend for one to
two minutes per side, and in the rotation for around five to eight
breaths. Then come back to the center and relax into Supine
Position. Alternatively, you can just do the forward bend.
Dragon (Anjaneyasana)
Come onto all fours,
and place a blanket under the knees if you are sensitive to pressure
here. Then take your
right leg from between your hands and place your left knee on the floor. If
you want the position to be gentler, then pull the left knee forward
slightly; for more intensity, take it further back. The right knee can be
placed in front of, above, or behind the ankle, but this should not cause
any pain in the knee. Let the pelvis sink towards the floor very passively. Now
place the hands either left or right next to the foot, or both on the
inside. The position becomes more intense if you support yourself on your
forearms, and it is slightly easier if you use props—for example, blocks
or a yoga bolster.
Embracing Wings
Lie on your stomach
and cross your outstretched arms at shoulder height under your body. Your
right arm is in front of the left one, and your palms are facing upwards.
Place a block or folded blanket under your forehead, or a yoga bolster
under your chest if you wish. Give your weight up to the floor. If the
tips of your fingers go numb in this position, then you should change it—for
example, with the head up higher or moving your arms a few centimeters up
or down.
Remain in the position
for two to three minutes and then change sides. Release your arms again
and then relax into Supine Position.
Cleansing
Meditation
Practice this
meditation daily as you wish, as long as you feel completely freed by this.
Recall something that
made you feel uncomfortable: something that annoyed you, for example,
or an injustice that was done to you or something that sucks your energy.
Now think of an energizing place in nature, a place where you really feel
good. Sense this place precisely. Imagine gentle drops of rain
falling on you, which are colored violet. These drops are running over your
whole body, first outside and then inside too—like an external and
internal shower. The violet water flows over your hands and feet and out
of you again, and takes everything with it that should no longer be part
of you. If you feel externally and internally cleansed, then imagine your
crown chakra opening up and radiant white light flowing into you. The rays
are flowing through your whole body, and they replace everything that you
have just given up with new positive energy and strength.
* * *
This article includes
poses from Be Healthy with Yin Yoga: The Gentle Way to Free Your Body of
Everyday Ailments and Emotional Stresses by Stefanie Arend (She
Writes Press, August 2019).
Anxiety is the most common mental illness
in the United States. There are many kinds of anxieties, ranging from social
anxiety to obsessive compulsive disorder to specific phobias. Most of these are
associated with a loss of confidence, and particularly with a lack of basic trust,
which is marked in childhood. However, anxiety is also correlated with a
complex and variable set of risk factors such as brain chemistry, genetics,
life events, and personality.
Easily recognizable physical symptoms of
anxiety include quick, shallow breathing, muscle tension, high blood pressure,
and feelings of narrowness or rigidity.
Anxiety is treatable, but unfortunately the large majority of people affected never seek professional help. It is important to face your fear in order to discover its cause. Depending on the severity and depth of your anxieties, this does not have to be something you face alone—almost anyone can benefit from the support of family or friends, and for traumatized or depressed people, working with a therapist can be very helpful.
In China there is a
lovely expression which goes: “Anxiety knocked on the door, trust opened it,
and nobody was there.”In the spirit of
that wise proverb, some possible questions for reflection are: What exactly do I fear? What is the trigger for my anxiety?
Where and how can I feel this anxiety? What happens when I face the anxiety?
What happens if I feed my anxiety with trust and love? Oftentimes, though it may seem counterintuitive, the
simple act of accepting our feelings of anxiety for what they are, rather than
feeling stressed about being anxious, can go a long way toward
alleviating mental and emotional discomfort.
Yin Yoga teaches us a
simple but powerful method for soothing the worries that have become so
prevalent in our daily lives. Please join me below in a series of accessible
poses and a guided meditation to help leave our anxieties behind
and find physical, emotional, and mental equilibrium.
Full Breathing
Sit on the mat in Easy
Pose and straighten your spine. Be aware of your natural flow of breath.
Let it deepen with every breath. Place your hands on your abdomen, left
and right of your navel, and consciously direct your breath there. Then
take the hands onto the lower ribcage and breathe into your chest area. Place
your hands below your collarbone and breathe into the upper apex
of the lungs. As you inhale, lift the hands upwards or forwards, and
lower them again as you exhale. Put one hand on the lower abdomen and one
hand on the upper abdomen. Now link up the breath across all three levels.
Become aware of the small pauses between breathing in and out, and extend them
a bit further. Now either breathe with an extended inhalation, very
evenly, or with an extended exhalation—depending on what feels harmonious to
you. However, always breathe in such a way that the breath can still flow
easily. Come back into the natural flow of breath and notice whether
anything has changed. Alternatively, you can also do Full
Breathing while lying down. Place your feet on the floor and leave
your hands resting on the abdomen. This version is ideal before going
to sleep, for example, or if you are lying awake and unable to sleep
at night.
Easy Pose with arm
and shoulder stretch (Sukhasana)
This position opens up
the hips and stretches the whole back as well as the arms and shoulders.
1. Come into Easy
Pose, your right arm crossed in front of the left. Bend forward in a relaxed
way with a rounded back, and cross your arms so that your right arm is in front
of your left arm and the palms are facing upwards. Alternatively, you can grip
the opposite shoulder.
2. Then change the arm
position by placing the palms downwards on the opposite knees. Remain in Easy
Pose for three to five minutes, including both arm positions. Then straighten
up again, release the arms and legs, and move to and fro loosely a few
times. Then change sides—crossing the left leg in front of the right one, and
the left arm in from of the right—and repeat the process.
Butterfly
Sit on the mat, place the soles of your feet together, and pull the feet towards the pelvis. Let the knees drop gently outwards, or support the outsides of the legs with two blocks if this stretch is too intense for you. You can also sit on a blanket or a cushion. Relax the back, let your upper body sink forward passively, and place your arms where it is comfortable for you.
Rainbow Bridge (Modified Urdhva Dhanurasana)
This position
mobilizes the thoracic spine, opens the heart chamber, and stretches the
shoulders and insides of the
arms.
Place a yoga bolster
and a rolled-up blanket straight across the mat. Then lie down with your back
on the bolster, which supports your pelvis and lumbar spine. Your shoulder
blades are on the blanket, and your arms are placed alongside your head. If you
would like to intensify the stretch, you can extend out your legs, or for a
gentler variant, leave your feet placed on the floor.
Stay in Rainbow Bridge
for three to five minutes. Then either sit up again with activated pelvic floor
muscles, or roll to one side out of the position. Relax into a supine position.
Protective
Meditation
You can carry out this
meditation any time you need protection on an energetic level.
Concentrate on a color
that gives you strength. Now imagine a column of light appearing in
front of you in this color. Take a step forward in your mind and place
yourself into the light. You are completely protected in this column of light.
It connects you with the energy of the earth on the one hand, and with the
energy of the sky on the other hand. You can help the effect further and use
the following affirmation if it feels right to you: “May only light and loving
energies come through to me, and may all negative energies remain outside,
starting now.” Then give thanks to the universe for this energetic protection.
* * *
This article includes
poses from Be Healthy with Yin Yoga: The Gentle Way to Free Your Body of Everyday
Ailments and Emotional Stresses by Stefanie Arend (She Writes
Press, August 2019).
Traditional Chinese Medicine teaches us that Yin and Yang are inextricably linked; there is no Yang without Yin, and vice versa. Yang represents energy and activity, while Yin is calm and steady strength. We are only physically and mentally healthy when the dynamism of Yang and the nourishment of Yin work in harmony. If the body and mind don’t rest, our Yin becomes exhausted, often resulting in anxiety, burnout, difficulty concentrating, and a host of other symptoms.
The age we live in is saturated with Yang. Wedance to a draining, dizzying tempo: we creep through traffic in the mornings, toil diligently at work, then rush to tend to our daily lives and those of our families before it’s time to hit “repeat.” When we squeeze in some precious self-care time around our careers and personal obligations, it is always with an eye on the clock. There never seems to be enough time to rest, to center ourselves and to nurture our Yin energy.
For this reason, it is crucial to tune into the mind and body. This is where Yin Yoga comes in. Although many other yoga practices (ashtanga, power, aerial, etc.) can strengthen and stretch our muscles, Yin Yoga cultivates and sustains our basic energy. It therefore has a positive impact on overall health as well as many specific ailments, from back pain and high blood pressure to anxiety and women’s issues like infertility, menstrual cramping, and menopause.
The reality is that every body is different, and everybody is seeking something unique in their yoga practice. Yin Yoga is adapted to the individual; our inner teacher is most important, and I believe there is great healing potential when we listen to our bodies and trust ourselves as we practice, allowing the pose to develop as our bodies direct.
The Yin practice is intensive but also very passive. Our breathing remains effortless and our muscles relaxed as we hold each position for several minutes. These deep stretches make our tissue supple and have a positive effect on the fascia and deep layers of the body. Aside from reducing pain and encouraging mobility, Yin Yoga harmonizes the flow of energy, directs us to look inwards, and can activate our capacity for self-healing. Eventually, energetic connections become perceptible, and practitioners become aware of the links between our thoughts, our emotions, and our Chi.
In my book Be Healthy with Yin Yoga, I include a section that offers insights into both common and unusual symptoms. I explore much more than yoga poses because, as a holistic practitioner, I believe it is important to understand the deeper roots of our ailments and take a comprehensive approach to healing them. Along with breathing suggestions and questions for reflection to better understand what is going on inside, I include information on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and recommend a series of poses to alleviate symptoms and strengthen our bodies.
I do not feel comfortable claiming that individual poses can cure a certain illness. However, I am convinced that we have extremely good opportunities for healing with regard to many symptoms if different therapeutic approaches are used to complement one another. If Western conventional medicine and alternative healing techniques—such as TCM or Ayurvedic medicine—are used together, this gives individuals more personal responsibility; a great deal can be achieved overall.
When I practice Yin Yoga, I become myself completely and experience a deep feeling of peace. In Yin Yoga I am fully myself and do not have to please anyone else—either proverbially or in reality. I hope you will discover this joy as well. Today and every day, take some time to step away from the whirlwind of our Yang world. Yin Yoga puts us back in touch with our mental, emotional, and physical selves, nourishing our energies and bringing us peace of mind and spirit.
This meditation is one of my favorites. I often use it before going to bed to bring my energies into harmony. I hope you enjoy the practice!
