How Often Should You Practice Yin Yoga

How Often Should you Practice Yin Yoga
===

[00:00:00] Welcome to a Yin Yoga podcast. Today we are going to answer one of your questions. The question was, how often should, could somebody practice yin yoga? And of course, as soon as we ask that question, there might be all kinds of overly simplified answers that might pop into our head, but actually there’s a lot more.

It goes into answering that question, then first meets the eye or the ear, and as of as often in a yin practice or in yin circles, the answer is, well, it depends. So that’s what we’re gonna dive into today. Stay tuned.

Welcome my friends, or welcome back to a Y Yoga podcast if you’re new around here. Welcome, welcome. If you are a familiar [00:01:00] welcome back y’all at the time of this recording. Last week the podcast reached 100,000 downloads. Holy crap. So I just wanted to say a big thank you. Each of you who have subscribed or followed the podcast, who listen from week to week, who have been sharing the podcast with other yin lovers, whether they be teachers or experienced yin students that you know, , who’ve been sending me dms with topic ideas, which is how a lot of these episodes come around, by the way.

So if you have topic ideas. Few ways that you can get those to me. If you’re watching this on YouTube, leave it in the comments. If you’re on my website, there’s also comments. Each of these episodes has a blog post that goes with it, so you can leave me comments there. Let me know what it is that you want me to go into.

What do you wanna answer?

Also, on Spotify, you can leave comments. The only place you cannot leave [00:02:00] comments is on Apple. And so if you are an Apple listener, just find me on Instagram at Nick Daniel Yoga or at Ian Yoga Podcast and let me know what questions you have that you want me to cover. I’m more than happy to do that, so I wanted to just, again, I did thank you in the last episode, but I wanted to thank everybody again for all your support.

For your comments, for your questions, for your ratings. For those of you who have given the podcast Five Stars on Apple or Spotify, thank you so much for those of you who’ve also offered a written review on Apple. Thank you so much. , Really appreciate it and I could not do this without y’all, that’s for sure.

Otherwise, I would just be talking into the void and never knowing if anyone was listening. So my thanks to you. If you’re new around here, welcome. If you’re kind of sort of new, not [00:03:00] really new, but like not, I’ve listened to every episode and you haven’t done any of those things, like give it a five star review either on Apple or Spotify or on YouTube, like the video subscribe, leave me a comment.

You can leave comments again on Spotify, on my blog or get at me in the dms if you’ve got requests. So if you are sort of newish around here and you’ve been enjoying the pod. Please consider that my invitation to you. All right, my friends, couple of things just to mention super quick before we roll into this.

Number one, if you are new, I have the mouth of a sailor and the soul of a mermaid. And so you can or may expect some colorful language, uh, perhaps sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. I refuse to be censored. And for those of you that are watching on video, again, I’m in a less than ideal location, so please bear with me if you see the [00:04:00] camera jiggle like I just did right there.

If you see that happening, my apologies. I’m not trying to give you seasickness, it’s just that the table that I’m at is not so stable. So even if I just put my hand on it, the camera moves. So I’ll try to. Resist my A DHD urge to fidget to try to keep this camera as stable as I can, but just know it’s probably not gonna happen.

Okay, so let’s dive into today’s topic. Should we, . The topic was how often should we practice yin? And the answer you’ll often see if somebody asks this in a Facebook group is a, it’s a good answer, but it’s not very nuanced. And as you know, for those of you who have been with me for a while, I am a yoga therapist.

And so in my opinion, there is always nuance. So the first thing to consider, most people will say, and here’s sort of the blanket rote answer to this, [00:05:00] but then there’s the whole, it depends section what I’m, which I’m about to get into. . Most people will say, well, yin and yang are meant to harmonize each other.

And so you would wanna make sure that you were practicing yang yoga and yin yoga in equal parts, right? That kind of seems logical. And again, on the surface that’s a really good answer. But if we dig a little deeper, maybe not so much. First of all, I wanna mention that, , yes, yin and yang are.

Supposed to harmonize each other. That’s one of the beautiful things about yin and yang. And if you’re not familiar with Yin Yang theory, I have done a whole episode on that, which I will link in the show notes. Um, but yes, they are supposed to compliment each other to harmonize each other. Yes, true.

However, remember. The question was isn’t necessarily, although [00:06:00] people answering it, assume that when someone says, how often should I be practicing in yoga, people assume that they’re saying in comparison to young forms of yoga. But what if, dear listener, that actually there are many kinds of yang in life that aren’t related to yoga.

And so somebody might be doing a lot of ying in their life, if I can turn that into a verb, and it might have nothing to do with active forms of yoga, and they might be using their yin practice as that harmony. To their life and their lifestyle. So that’s one thing to consider. There’s others to consider as well.

And we’re gonna get into those right now., , so if you are watching the video, you may see my eyes moving up and down a little bit. That’s because I do have some notes in order to keep my . A DHD brain on track.

Otherwise I go on side quests and I forget to circle [00:07:00] back to the subject. So this is essential for me and you, the listener. So how often should someone practice yin? , I just told you the stalk answer, right? Yin and yang are not meant to be practiced separately, that in order to have harmony, we would have yang and we would have yin.

And most of the people that would give that answer would be assuming that the person is doing a yang yoga practice. And I was just pointing out that actually yin and yang harmonize each other in your life. That doesn’t necessarily have to relate directly to a yang yoga practice. So as with all things in, , yin, the answer is often, well, it depends.

So first of all, I think that one of the issues with this stock answer that like, , if you’re doing a yin yoga practice, you should also be doing a y yoga practice depending on how you define yang. Which again, it’s a spectrum. So good luck picking one answer for that. [00:08:00] One of the problems with that answer is that it assumes that everyone has the same physical capabilities that everyone is of good health able bodied, and they’re just asking because they wanna know how many times a week to do vinyasa and how many times a week to do yin.

And maybe that is why they’re asking, but there’s a lot more nuance that could go into this. So how healthy is someone that will determine how often they do yin? So for example. There was a stage in my life where I had chronic fatigue and I was teaching, I think 12 classes or 13 classes a week, and in order to be able to actually still teach.

I had to switch my yoga practice because there’s no way I could do my sort of ha a flow, which is essentially what I was doing in teaching in my own practice, and then go out and teach, you know, 12 to 13 ha a flow classes a week or therapeutic classes, [00:09:00] but movement based classes a week and not be completely exhausted and end up not being able to work at all.

So what I had to do then when I found out I had chronic fatigue was I. Didn’t do any active yoga practice at all. All I did was yin restorative and yoga nidra because that is what I needed in order to be able to function when I was teaching. I also should mention that I tend to be a walker and a cyclist, you know, and back then when weather permitted, ’cause I live somewhere with real winter.

, I had to cut back on pretty much. 90% other than gentle walks of my physical activity so that I could still teach my yoga classes and be able to demonstrate, not do the whole practice with them, but to be able to demonstrate some stuff and then come out and then use my words. So the only practices that I could do were the ones that are what you could say, yin like in nature.

And [00:10:00] again, if that, if saying yin yoga and then practices that are yin like in nature is already kind of starting to mess with your head, you can listen to the Yin Yang episode. That’ll make a bit more sense. But even though restorative yoga and yoga nidra are not what we call air quotes codified yin yoga, they are yin like in nature.

So that’s all I was able to do if I wanted to still keep a job. So someone’s health definitely affects this, how able-bodied they are. Maybe they’ve got a, a handicap of some sort. We don’t know, right? And so they’re not super able bodied. They’re not able to do a like active yoga class. So maybe that’s case where somebody might be moving towards the yin side of things.

So depending on someone’s health, whether or not they’re able bodied, , if they’ve got an injury, for example. If they [00:11:00] are in recovery, and I don’t just mean recovery from an injury, it could be recovery from an injury could be recovering, say from, for example, from a battle with cancer or some other serious illness.

They could be in substance abuse recovery. When people have been, drinking and drugging for , many years, their body really needs a lot of love. And so expecting people to do a really active sweaty yoga class when, , sometimes they can barely stand up straight. Not realistic, but assuming they can get on the floor or a couple chairs, they can do a yin practice.

The other thing to consider here is the stage of life of the person. For example, if you have parents of small children. They don’t need any more yang in their life. They got small people. They’re young in all day, they’re running around, they’re sleep deprived. They’re doing all that, you know, to take care of these little humans.

And maybe what they need is actually just a class [00:12:00] where they can be still and quiet and sit and lay on the floor. Maybe that is the absolute best thing for them, for their nervous system as self-care, right? Getting them to a mat and asking them to physically do a whole bunch more when they’re already

physically and mentally exhausted from raising small humans. Not very realistic,

so that’s something to consider. What stage of life are they in? The other thing to think about is seniors. And oftentimes, , people teach practicing with seniors, with kid gloves, like they’re fragile and they’re gonna break. Now, that being said, there is a chance that a senior may have osteopenia or osteoporosis.

I’ve done a whole episode on that. We will link it in the episode notes. So there may be some modifications you need to make based on their bone density and their age, but. Fascia actually tightens up over the years. Like the older you get, the more you tighten up in your fascia. And so, you [00:13:00] know, for seniors, maybe yin practice is ideal.

You know, especially if they are, you know, not super active or able bodied. Does that mean they can’t practice yoga? Of course they can. They can still practice some of these more quiet forms of Yoga, yin being one of them. And then we wanna think about things like how active are they on outside of yoga.

Maybe they are a triathlete or a swimmer or a runner, or , I don’t, there’s a million sports really that they could be doing, but maybe there’s some other physical activity. , Weights. That’s another one. People who lift. Spend a lot of time lifting weights, slinging weights around.

So maybe they already have all that young activity in their life. And what they’re looking for is the sort of, , recovery aspects of yin. So maybe on their day off or after they’re done training, they’re really gonna love that [00:14:00] recovery aspect of yin after being so physical. And there’s an episode that we did.

On that as well with Tiffany k Crookshank on Y yoga for athletes. So you know, maybe exactly what they need is the opposite of a hot moving, sweaty class because that’s what they do all the time. And that’s whether it’s they’re actually an athlete or even just a weekend warrior or someone who’s really active.

They may already be ying a lot and maybe now they need a little yining. So that’s something to consider. Another thing to consider is how physical is their job. And this is something that people often forget that not everybody sits at a desk and works all day. And I would argue though, that people that sit at a desk, they also still need yin, maybe just not to the same degree.

Else. You know, if somebody is sitting at a desk for their job and they don’t have another physical activity that they do or sport that they do, then yes, they may want to do an active yin cla, an active class in a yin [00:15:00] class. , Either together in one class, a yin yang or , a few days a week they do their yin and a few days a week they do their yang.

Right? So that might be a good example. . The desk warrior who might need. To have that two different styles if yoga is the only way they’re getting their exercise. But what about those people who have really physical jobs? Right? Like my partner is a perfect example. He works in a warehouse, he’s a warehouse manager or supervisor and is lifting and squatting and bending and like lifting heavy shit.

All the time for his job. He also is a committed cyclist, so he rides his bike to work and from work and for his errands. And he also does, weights at home, uh, you know, anywhere from two to to three days a week. So his yoga practice is yin ’cause he’s already ying all the time. And so in order to harmonize.

How physically active [00:16:00] his life is, his lifestyle, his job, and, and what he does, you know? Um, as far as transportation and doing weights at home, yin is the perfect compliment for him ’cause he’s already doing all that other yang activity. So that’s something to consider. What about if somebody actually is drawn to yoga for the quiet meditative aspects?

What if, I know they’re rare, but they’re out there. Somebody is actually coming to their yoga practice to learn, to anchor their mind, to maybe start to explore meditation and some of these more quieter practices. What if that’s the whole reason they’re coming to the yoga practice from the get go? Well, if that’s the case, then Yin yoga’s gonna be their jam.

Sometimes we assume that people are coming to [00:17:00] yoga just for the physical benefits. And so that’s why that answer of, well, in order to be in harmony, you wanna do as much Yong yoga as you do. Yin yoga , it’s a very simplistic answer. Because once again, that’s assuming that everyone’s coming to their yoga for the physical benefits.

But what if they’re not? What if they’re coming to their yoga journey because they want to quiet their mind, they wanna learn how to meditate, and they need some stillness in their life. It’s another reason why somebody might not do an equal amount of a Y form of yoga and a yin form of yoga.

Then let’s talk about the nervous system nourishment. If a yin class is taught skillfully and providing the person isn’t struggling with PTSD, the nervous system nourishment that you get in a yin [00:18:00] practice is nothing like what you get in a movement-based practice. It just isn’t. It’s the time, the stillness, the quiet.

Being on the ground, literally grounding, , and also starting to switch into that parasympathetic nervous system that can be incredibly healing for people, and they’re not gonna get that to the same degree in a movement based class where you have a kind of brief shavas and at the end it takes time often for the nervous system to switch gears.

And so yin is often ideally suited for that. Because they have all this time and stillness in their shapes in order to start to drop into that parasympathetic nervous system response, that relaxation response. So that might be something to consider even with trauma. Depending on the person, because, trauma again is, we sometimes hear [00:19:00] the word trauma and we think there’s like one set of rules for people who have trauma.

That’s not the way it works. , Depending on where they are in their trauma recovery journey, sometimes yin is exactly what they need because they’re at the point where they’re learning to stay. So I’ll give you , a story as an example. I had a friend who had, PTSD from a bus accident, and she was, late teen,

she was on a school bus with a bunch of other people her age. I think they were going to some sort of event. And they were in a huge accident, massive accident. She had lots of physical injuries, but then also just the trauma, the mental, emotional trauma , of that accident, that bus accident.

And so she was unable at for years to go anywhere near that road or that location where that accident happening without having flashbacks. And then as she was working with her therapist, they [00:20:00] gradually started to get her to build a tolerance to being able to go to that location again. And they did this very slowly.

They did this with, of course she did this working with a therapist. But, one time, for example, maybe for a couple weeks, she just went a few blocks within that range, and then that was it, to build her resilience, right? And then gradually a block away, and gradually, gradually, very slowly with help of a qualified therapist, she was slowly able to go to that location.

And stay with the discomfort that was coming up about it and any of the flashing back that might have happened. And she was able to heal that part of her trauma history slowly over time because she learned that she could go there and then she could leave. Right? She could go close and then she could leave, and then she could go a little closer and she could leave, and then she could go to the location and she could leave.[00:21:00]

And eventually she was able to be there and stay. So in this way, if somebody is working with somebody and they’re healing their trauma and they’re in this phase where they’re trying to learn how to go to what’s uncomfortable and then stay, then a yin practice is brilliant for that because they’re in a pose for, , three, who knows, two and a half, three, five minutes, and then they can leave and of course they can come out.

Earlier if they need to, but they’re in a container where brave space is being held and they’re able to go into their body and then go out, go into their body and come back out a little. In trauma circles, they often call this befriending the body. So , for some people, depending on what’s happened for them in their past, in their trauma histories, , the body might not feel like a safe space.

So sitting on the floor and just dropping into a practice might not feel like a safe space. But if they’re [00:22:00] in the phase where they’re working with somebody to try to befriend the body, to try to learn, to stay, to try to create this, , this healing that they eventually learn that they can be in their body and it is safe, then a yin practice can be an ideal place to do that.

Now, if somebody was not in the phase yet where they were working with somebody and they were trying to build resilience to , their triggers of going inside their body, then I would say a yin practice probably is not ideal for them, but for people who are trying to heal that trauma. Learning that they can, go to the, go into their body and then we get to move a few minutes later, we come out and they can go into a shape and they can come out so that what’s what is called titration, moving in, moving out in a yin practice can be super helpful in healing for somebody.

So maybe that’s why they choose. A yin practice [00:23:00] as opposed to a movement-based practice because they need that time and the shape to visit the sensation and then come out if they need to, and then go back in. They need that time and stillness in order to help to heal that part of their, in their trauma journey.

So that’s something to consider. Nervous system nourishment, whether that’s just because you’re totally exhausted. You really need some rest and some nervous system love, which I would argue most of the world does right now because we live in such a young dominated culture. So maybe that’s what they’re coming to yoga for, and in which case, insisting that they must therefore now do a power class to the equal amount that they do their yin class.

Again, it’s a bit shortsighted. Some people come to yoga specifically looking for the inward journey. They want a better understanding of their mind, of their heart, of their [00:24:00] body. , They may even have a little journal beside them. So as they come into their practice and their shapes, , they may be writing down notes about how that felt in their body or what came up for them.

And for that person who’s really looking to dive deep inward, a yin practice is far more suited to that than a movement-based practice. What about our dear introverted friends? You know who you are. I see you. I am you who are always in the world being stimulated, having to be forced to be extroverts, always too much talking, too much small talk, too much noise, too many people, et cetera, et cetera.

A yin practice is an introverted practice. So for introverts who are burnt out from extroverting, maybe that’s the best practice for them. We could also argue that maybe they would like a yoga nidra or restorative practice as well. Those are also very [00:25:00] introverted practices, very solos and soothing practices for introverts.

Not everybody is gonna wanna go to some yoga class where there’s a pump and playlist and a bunch of sweaty people all breathing and moving together. , That might be way too engaging for them. And they might want something a little bit more chill. Ooh, I just thought of another one. People who are highly sensitive people, my goodness.

There’s gonna be a lot of episodes linked in the show notes for this one because we did a whole episode on being highly sensitive. That’s another person who will do so well in a yin practice compared to a more active practice, is somebody who’s highly sensitive, especially if this person is counting on yoga studios, especially this introvert person, that person looking for the inward journey and the HSP, the highly sensitive people, if they’re mostly going to studios for their practice.

They’re definitely gonna want to take in [00:26:00] some of these quieter practices like a yin practice. , Because if they go to a class and it’s packed full of people and it’s really, , extroverted and Yong energy, that’s gonna be just too much for their nervous systems. So that’s also something to consider.

So I would say that the question, how often should someone practice yin. Then the stock answer that you always hear from other yoga teachers or yoga practitioners is, well, yin is not designed to be practiced on its own. So you should do a yin practice and a yang yoga practice, both so that you’re in harmony.

And I would say that that is a bit of a oversimplified and non nuanced answer to that question because of all of the things that I just mentioned.

So the real answer to how often should someone practice yin [00:27:00] is, well, it depends. How healthy are they? Are they able bodied? Are they recovering from an injury at serious illness or substance abuse? What stage of life are they in? Do they have small children? Are they exhausted? Are they a senior who really can’t maybe do like a super active class but still wants to stretch out their ever tightening fascia?

How active are they outside of yoga? How physical is their job? What is their goal from yoga? Let’s not assume, as we often do that people are just coming to the practice for the physical benefits. What if they’re coming because they want to learn more about their mind and learn to meditate, or they’re there for their nervous system to be nourished or to have an inward journey, or they’re an introverted or highly sensitive person and they desperately need some quiet time and some still to nourish and to recharge their little batteries that are always drained.

What about all of those things? Can we not take some [00:28:00] of that into account before we answer the question? How often should someone practice in? Okay, my friends. I hope that was helpful. ’cause your students will ask and you’ll have teachers ask as well, how often should I be doing this? And hopefully that allows you to tease out a little more information from them before you jump right to the, , the answer of, , you should be doing 50% yin and 50% Yong.

Because remember, we live in a Yong world out there, my friends. And so sometimes right now a little extra yin is the antidote. It is the harmony. It doesn’t mean that somebody has to be doing like a power flow or a vinyasa flow and a yin practice that is overly simplified answer to a very complex question.

Okay, friends, I hope you found that helpful., Sometimes even the simplest questions are actually far more than they appear. And, , if [00:29:00] you have topic ideas, remember please get at me either in the comment section or send me a message on, Instagram. Let me know if you have things that you want me to cover, and until then, bye for now.