When I first started this project, one of the things I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to try was hot yoga. Well, the end of the semester is coming up fast so I decided I would finally do that goal and brave an in-person yoga class (it wasn’t as intimidating because I made my roommate tag along with me)!
What is yin yoga?
Normal yin yoga is “Yin Yoga is great for everybody! We live in a crazy busy world! This is a stretch/release practice that targets the tendons, ligaments and fascia within the body. Each posture is held for extended periods of time to encourage the slow and safe connective tissues of the hips, pelvis, and lower spine to stress and create a counterbalance to more active style(Yang) yoga”
Warm yin yoga is “Heated up to 36-39 degrees and 35-40% humidity. Warm Yin class with soft music to relax your mind and spirit is great for beginners. Gathering the benefits for your joints, ligaments and connective tissues to refresh and rejuvenate your body from the inside out”
How did it go?
I actually really enjoyed this class! It was very laid back and there was no pressure, you were only expected to do the pose the best that you could. I also really liked that there were variations of each pose to decrease or increase difficulty. The instructor prompted us to find our “goldilocks pose” where we could feel a nice stretch but also so there were no shooting pains or numbness. One of the things I really liked about the class was that my instructor kept saying that no matter what variation of the pose we needed to do, as long as we were focusing on controlling our breathing we were doing yoga. I feel like this was very nice to hear since that just happened to be what this learning project really turned into. She explained that controlling and extending breathing is such an important skill in and out of yoga because when we get stressed our breathing is one of the first things to be disrupted and it usually turns into very short breaths.
The instructor also talked a lot about our bodies fascia which is our “is a fibrous tissue that ‘connects’ every cell in our body. This connective tissue forms a 3-dimensional web of our body, extending from our head to our toes. Fascia surrounds and infuses every muscle, muscle fibre, bone, blood vessel, nerve and organ in our body. It also directly affects our body systems like our muscular and neurological systems.” The instructor explained how we need to take care of our fascia because “When we have a restriction in our body, our fascia becomes dehydrated, stiff, weak and stuck. Along with hydration and other healthy lifestyle choices, Yoga (especially slow yoga-like Yin Yoga), changes our connective tissue.”
I feel like it was not only a good physical stretch and very relaxing but I also learned so much that I didn’t know before!
Here is a picture of my roommate and I all stress-free after our first “hot yoga” class!
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