Release the stress

BASED ON THE TAOIST CONCEPTS OF YIN AND YANG, THIS YOGA RELEASES MUSCULAR TENSION FROM THE BODY AND PROVIDES OVERALL RELAXATION

While traditional yoga is the culmination of physical, mental, and spiritual practices that originated in ancient India, modern yoga is a blend of western styles of gymnastics with postures from yoga, consisting largely of postures or asanas. One such form of modern yoga that is quite popular in the West is Yin Yoga. Based on the Taoist concepts of yin and yang, this form of yoga helps release muscular tension from the body and provides overall relaxation.

Yin Yoga is a slow-paced workout regime involving postures and asanas that are held for a longer time. While beginners may stay in a posture for 45 seconds to two minutes, advanced practitioners can hold an asana anywhere between twosix minutes.

“The purpose is to reach the deeper levels of tissues in the body called

fascia.

These tissues are where one generally holds tension, knots, tightness, emotions, stress,” shares yoga instructor Lakshaya who has been practicing Yin Yoga for over three years.

This form of modern yoga accesses the stressed areas when one stays in the poses for a longer time, thereby releasing the tension. “It also aids in alleviating chronic pains such as shoulder ache, stiffness in hamstring or back pain due to hardening of muscles and tissues from years of inactivity or wrong posture. So, this yoga gently stretches the muscles and tissues,” explains the 31-year-old instructor from the Netherlands.

According to the instructor, anyone can practice these asanas easily at home. “To begin with, one has to put in only 85 percent of your capacity as we stay in a posture for long. In fact, it is a great complimentary practice for anyone who does high-intensity workouts or weight training where the muscles tend to get small and tight,” she concludes.

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