FEELING LAZY? TRY SLOW YOGA

LOOKING for something that’s the counterpoint to dynamic ashtanga or sweaty Bikram yoga? CLAIRE COLEMAN puts Yin (also known as slow) yoga to the test. IF YOU’RE a yoga novice, this might be the class you’ve been looking for.

There are no downward dogs, sun salutations or planks here. You barely move off the ground, only do around five poses in a class and rather than having to balance, you have blocks and cushions to help keep you in position while you hold each pose.

That’s not to say this is yoga for slackers, though. Far from it.

Yin yoga is about intense stretching — opening up tight hips, letting your back elongate and your mind relax — because each pose is held for anything from two to 20 minutes. Yes 20.

Fortunately, the class I tried — Calm By Candlelight at Virgin Active, which is a version of yin yoga in a candlelit room — only made us hold the poses for five minutes at a time, but that was enough. Even with the support of a bolster or a cork block, holding a lunge for five minutes can be excruciating.

As the class progressed — with simple poses like just bending forward at the waist while sitting on the floor with legs straight — it made me realise how rare it is these days that we actually sit still, with no distractions. I could see how doing these poses regularly would help to iron out the parts of my body that, thanks to a desk job, seem permanently kinked.

It forces you to relax; to still the racing chatter of ‘to do’ lists, meetings, plans and stuff that constantly seems to clog our heads.

The final guided meditation alone sold it to me. Lying on my back, covered by a blanket, I listened to the teacher gently intone various scenarios for us to imagine (‘Waves on a beach, waves on a beach, waves on a beach, clouds in the sky, clouds in the sky, clouds in the sky…’) and felt more relaxed than I’d been in weeks.

Virgin Active ( virginactive.co.uk) and Yoga Haven ( yogahaven.co.uk) run yin yoga classes. Or go to the British Wheel of Yoga website ( bwy.

org.uk), and put in your postcode and ‘yin’ as a keyword to find more classes in your area.