Highly Sensitive People (HSP) and Yin Yoga

Audio Only – All Participants: Welcome to a Yin Yoga podcast. If you are new around here. Welcome. If you are a return listener, welcome back., At the time of the rec, the recording this, it’s still summer, but you of course will be listening to it in the fall if you’re listening live. And if you stumble across this later, who knows?

And I should say fall if you’re in the northern hemisphere. And I wanna forget about my Australian and New Zealand friends down under who are in a totally different season than I. Today’s episode is going to be, something that’s quite near and dear to my heart, but was also requested., And it was interesting when the request came in because I was like, oh, duh, why didn’t I think of that?

So today we’re gonna talk about being HSP or [00:03:00] highly sensitive person or persons or people. , And why a yin yoga practice is ideally suited for people who are highly sensitive. HSPs from now on, I’m just gonna say HSP, to make our lives quicker and easier. But just know that means highly sensitive person.

So not only are we gonna talk a little bit about what the heck is HSP, because it’s probably not what you’re thinking and how does that show up. And then why in yoga is ideally suited for those that are highly sensitive and also teaching tips, , so that you can make your classes more accessible and more nourishing for those folks that may be there that are highly sensitive.

So we’ll get into all of that in just a moment. But before we do a couple of things. Number one, disclaimer, my friends, I have the soul of a mermaid in the mouth of a sailor. [00:04:00] So if you’re new around these parts and you didn’t know that if you have small people around, grab some headphones. I can’t guarantee there will be any colorful language, but I also can’t guarantee that there won’t be.

And then the other thing I wanted to just touch base on real quick is my teacher training. So some of you know I have a, at the time of this recording, it’s now a 100 hour therapeutic yin yoga teacher training program. And, , at the time that this comes out, we will be, if you’re listening live, we will actually be in full swing of the fall 2025 round.

Um, but never fear. If you would like to join, you should get on the wait list In every single episode notes, there’s a link. If you scroll down that says, get on the wait list, click that link, and at the bottom of the page or the very top of the page, you can click a button in my picture or go all the way down.

There’s a little banner at the bottom and you can enter your name and email and that will get you on the wait list. Or you can just, if [00:05:00] you’re reading for a moment, a little polite popup will slide in from the side saying, Hey, do you wanna be on the wait list? And at this point, at this time of this recording, when you do join the wait list, you get these things, this may change in the future.

First you’re gonna get a little sequence just as a, Hey, welcome. So you’re gonna get a full body, like a head to toe yin sequence that you can use for yourself and for your students. You can check that out. , You are also going to get this podcast regularly emailed to you directly in your inbox, as well as other yin goodies.

So when we’re on a podcast break, I’ll send out little snippets. Um, I have some video snippets of, uh, past trainings that I’ll send out for you that you can sample. It’s like the little, when you go to the ice cream shop and get the little spoons that you can sample. It’s like that, it’s like little samples of my training.

I only put those , on the wait list at this point. , You’re also going to get, other goodies, like sometimes I just randomly send out poems that I’ve been loving for [00:06:00] yin or music playlists. , You can get those. You’ll also get, invitations to my free, I usually do a quarterly free class.

You’ll get invitations to that. They’re more like a mini workshop that a class, they’re a couple hours or two and a half hours, somewhere in that range. You’ll get invitations to those as well as invitations to join my public Zoom classes, which are not free, they’re paid, but you’re gonna get all of that stuff.

And when registration opens, the wait list gets to know first. So before I release it out on the social medias or tell, start talking about it and telling people about it, I send an email to the wait list first to get first crack at registration. And on top of that, the first five of you, at least at this time of those recordings, may change in the future.

The first five people to sign up also have access to a 25% off. Discount code. So it’s not a use this code from this date to this date. It’s not an early registration discount in that [00:07:00] sense. It’s a, Hey, you saw the door open, you ran through it, here’s your 25% off. So the first five people that sign up that, , sign up, we’ll get a access to that code.

And that’s a good way for those of you that are teachers that, , let’s face it, trainings are not cheap. And, , good quality trainings are the price they are because they’re worth it. But also, if you can save a few bucks, then why wouldn’t you? So hanging out on the wait list is a good way to get first crack at registration and access to that first five discount code, as well as other bonuses and goodies along the way.

So if you’ve been enjoying the podcast, if you’ve been resonating. With these episodes, if you found them helpful and you think to yourself, huh, I’d like to join Nick’s 100 hour therapeutic in training at some point in the future, then dear yoga teacher, get thyself on the wait list.

Okay, so let’s talk about [00:08:00] being highly sensitive. So first I just wanna say I’m not a psychologist or a therapist, that everything that I share with you is based on my own experience and my own research and what has helped me and what I discovered when I discovered that I was highly sensitive. I’m not diagnosing you, nor am I offering you any treatment advice because that would be well beyond the scope of my practice.

So I am sharing from one, highly sensitive to potentially another. And if you’re not highly sensitive, you may have one in your life and I guarantee you’ve got some in your classes. So this information will hopefully be useful to you whether you that yourself. Are the highly sensitive or whether, , it’s someone in your life or if you just wanna make your offerings more friendly to those of us that are HSPs.

So, I wanna first talk about what HSP is not. I do have notes I should say as well for those of you on YouTube. So if you see me glancing at my phone and then, you know, looking at [00:09:00] my notes on my screen, I have a DD welcome to my brain. If I don’t have notes, I will get well off the beaten path and I’ll forget to circle back and I’ll forget to give you all the points that I wanted to give you.

So you may see me looking around if you’re watching the video. , So the first thing I wanna say is that HSP was coined by a psychologist, , by Elaine. Aaron, Dr. Elaine Aaron and I will put, , a link in the show notes to a quiz on her website. It’s different than the quiz that I did. I did the quiz many years ago.

I got the book Highly Sensitive Person, that’s her book, and I did the quiz in the book and it was a game changer for me. I don’t remember what sparked me picking up this book. I don’t remember if it was a friend that said, you might wanna check this out, or how it came into my, my world. I really cannot remember.

But I remember [00:10:00] anyways, picking up the book, highly sensitive person and reading it and just being through the whole thing like, oh my fucking God. Why? Why did I not know this before? I had spent my whole life until my thirties as a highly sensitive person, having no idea that there was a name. For the things that were unique about me and that other people who were also in this category had these interesting, unique characteristics as well.

And so it really felt like not only a pink permission slip to just quit thinking I was too sensitive in air quotes, but also it gave me the ability to understand in a much deeper way who I am and what kind of things I may need to do in my life to support my sensitive nature. So I read the book, I had the [00:11:00] ahas.

It was pretty epic, I think at the time. And I don’t know if it’s the same in the book now, or if the quiz online is the same, things change, you know? But I think at the time there was 23 questions and I was a yes to 20 of the 23. So that’s one thing to mention here is that a highly sensitive person, it is a bit of a spectrum, right?

So some people will say yes, yes, yes to all of the characteristics. Some of you will have some of them and not others. So for example, , a couple of the things that they will often say about highly sensitive folks is that we are, less likely to watch like violent movies, like whether that’s, true crime or horror or whatever, because we get so deeply affected by them, not the case.

For me, in fact, two of my favorite genres. , So that one wasn’t accurate. , There was another one or two that I can’t remember right now. Oh, I’ll talk about them more when we get in. I remember what one of them is. So anyways, just [00:12:00] so you know, if you take the quiz and you’re not like all of the things, it doesn’t mean you’re not highly sensitive.

Now I also wanna just take a moment, I’m gonna talk a little bit more in a moment about like what actually is HSP, but first I just wanna talk about a big myth about being HSP. Sometimes people hear highly sensitive or the word sensitive, and they assume that that means that the person takes things personally.

That is not what I’m talking about. So when I say I am highly sensitive, it doesn’t mean that it’s the all about Nick show. It doesn’t mean that when people are around me or interacting with me, that I take every action or thing that they do or don’t do and make it about me. That is not what I’m talking about here.

It doesn’t mean that I’m overly emotionally sensitive in situations where no harm was intended. That is not what I’m talking about. It doesn’t mean taking things overly personally. It [00:13:00] doesn’t mean thinking that everyone’s against you. It doesn’t mean any of that. Okay? Now, you could be a highly sensitive person and also lean that way, but I know people that are not highly sensitive, that still think everything’s all about them.

You know, that every, everything everyone does has to do with them, right? There’s even whole, , anxiety styles and attachment styles where people are like, you know, if somebody doesn’t text them back right away, they think that has something to do with them rather than just maybe the person’s busy, right?

So that’s not what I’m talking about here when I’m talking about being highly sensitive. You may also have that tendency, but that does not necessarily, because you’re a highly sensitive person. So I just wanna clear up that misconception because a lot of people will sort of diss this definition of highly sensitive.

Think that it just means that people are overly sensitive to feedback or, take everything too personally. And you may or may not do that as a highly sensitive person. It’s not necessarily a highly sensitive [00:14:00] characteristic. It could be, you could not be highly sensitive and take everything personally.

Okay. Let’s talk a little bit about what it is. And again, remember this is just my highly sensitive lay person, , description. I am not a licensed medical professional in any way, and you should not be taking any of this as advice unless you find it helpful. Okay. What is an HSP? First of all, it’s a neurodivergent style and it’s a sensory processing sensitivity.

A sensory processing sensitivity. So we have increased sensitivity. Our nervous systems respond to stimulus more easy, so that could be physical, mental, or emotional. Simply put, we feel things more deeply and in a much bigger way. Being HSP has challenges and also superpowers. We’re about 15 to 30% of the population as current stats go, and [00:15:00] 70% of the people that identify as highly sensitive are also introverted, which makes perfect sense.

There’s also a large percentage of highly sensitive people that are empathic, but that is not the same as being an empath. You could be an empath and not an HSP. You could be an HSP and not an empath, just like you could be an HSP and be in that 30% of people who are not introverted. But it’s much more likely that if you are an HSP, that you are introverted.

It’s about 50 50 split between men and women. In the past, a highly sensitive person would’ve actually been highly prized and praised in their culture, in their village culture or their tribal culture. They would’ve been the person that people went to for advice and solace. They probably would’ve been a healer and people would’ve been seeking out their intuition.

But of course, in our culture, where we live, where everything is big and loud and external , in our highly [00:16:00]sensitive nature, is often considered a deficit. And you, yourself might even consider it a deficit instead of the secret superpower that I believe it actually is evolution, is one of the reasons that people are, HSP people that are HSP, , have an increased chance of survival because they’re more likely to be out , on the lookout for predators or dangerous situations, and to notice them more quickly than are non HSP counterpart.

The flip side of that coin is that that can lead to people that are HSP, to have more anxiety than other people, and also more sensitivity to your environment. Unsafe environments or environments that feel unsafe can lead to somebody becoming HSP. So if you’re constantly scanning your environment to stay safe, so if you were raised, for example, [00:17:00] in a home that lacked routine or had a lot of chaos, or where there were perhaps mental, emotional or physical violence, or your needs weren’t met, and or where you weren’t seen, those can all be factors of HSP that can lead to HSP.

The opposite can also happen, um, an over controlling parent or parents that were emotionally unavailable or emotionally volatile. So early childhood trauma can make our nervous system more sensitive and lead to HSP. It can also be genetic. You might have one or more parents who are HSP. I know, for example, in my life, my mother is for sure, without a doubt.

In HSPI now know, , and my father might be too. I’d have to ask him some more questions to get a accurate read. When your HSP you have lower levels of dopamine, and this can be something that HSP folks struggle with. So [00:18:00] we may need to be more aware of are dopamine levels and finding healthy ways to increase our dopamine.

It is a spectrum, right? So some people will be, again, when you do the quiz, some of you might be like, yes, yes, yes to all of them. Some of you might be part of it. It really just depends on the individual. Being HSP can lead to overthinking anxiety and rumination. Another sign, this is one that I have all of these so far.

By the way, I’ll let you know when any of them are not appropriate for me. Difficulty being overly busy without space between tasks. So one thing that I will find really triggering as a highly sensitive person is having tasks back to back to back without extra buffers of space in between. So one way, for example, that this used to come up all the time long before I knew that I was HSP, is that I like to always be [00:19:00] early for things because I like, I need that little window of time from the journey of me getting to the place or the event, and the event starting as a bit of a buffer.

When I just kind of roll up into a situation and then whatever the event or the place is, we’re already beginning, I can find that jarring. And this used to show up with me being chronically early to work still is. But even when I was a hairstylist, long before I became a yoga teacher, I was always a minimum of 20 minutes early to work, often 30.

In fact, I aimed for 30 and sometimes even more. And my coworkers, used to tease me about that because hairdressers are not really known for being on time and be like, why are you here so early? But the journey getting there and then having the time to sit and ground and perhaps drink my coffee or whatever it is, before I start my day to be able to look at what’s coming up for the day, what clients were coming, what did I, what was I expecting [00:20:00] that really helped my nervous system, as someone who was HSP.

And I didn’t know that’s why I did it at the time. But now in hindsight, I know, and I’m still the same way. If I teach at the studio that I teach at, there’s no strict requirement. They do have a recommended how early we should be. Most yoga teachers are like most hairdressers in that they’re not necessarily known for being always early, but I am.

And so I’m usually a minimum of 20 minutes early, , often 30 before my class., So that I get a chance to have a little bit of space between my journey to get there and the next thing beginning, and I find that is extra grounding for me as someone who’s highly sensitive. So difficulty being busy without space between tasks And I, if I ever am running late and I kind of roll up to the studio, only say 15 minutes before class start time, that I really don’t feel grounded when I do that.

I like to be early enough that I can sit, I can breathe. I can take some [00:21:00] time. I talk more about this in the episode on how to teach exceptional yin yoga classes on the advantages of arriving early. There’s more than just my own selfish advantage. You can listen to that episode if you want more on that, because of my HSP nature or your HSB nature, if this sounds like you, you will feel things more deeply emotionally.

Now, again, I wanna make sure I’m very clear. That doesn’t mean that you’re taking everything personally right? I can feel things very deeply emotionally without thinking that everything that happens around me has to do with me. So I feel things more deeply emotionally. So, for example, my best friend and I will often say it’s her word, I just stole it, that we’re leaky meaning we’re easily moved to tears.

I can watch a TV commercial and be moved to tears. That’s what I mean by I’m more deeply moved emotionally. And this can be a [00:22:00] positive or a negative. Uh, so not only will you feel perhaps anger, aggression, or violence more deeply if it’s around you, but you’ll also experience joy, love, and resonance more deeply as well.

And this is why so many HSPs spend a good amount of their time once they discover that their HSP sort of remolding their life and their self-care routines around this secret superpower of our sensitivity so that we can thrive. HSPs also have heightened senses. This could be the feeling of fabric on your skin, sounds around you, smells, lighting, et cetera.

You might be that person who notices the things in your environment long before anyone else notices them. This happens all the time in my personal relationship. I’m constantly saying to my partner, can you hear that? And he can’t or What’s that smell? And he can’t smell [00:23:00] it yet. Lighting also a big effect.

Kind of background noise, all of these things. I’ll tell you a couple of stories in a little bit about how my,, highly sensitive nature has gone out of whack and you know what I had to do about it, it a little while. Alright? We tend to need more sleep and we may have to difficulty staying asleep because we’re so sensory aware.

I have some tips coming up for ways that , I found to cope with this, , that might be helpful for you as well. Some HSPs can also be highly sensitive to caffeine. That one doesn’t really affect me as much. Now, if I’m in a state of anxiety in my life in general, it’s a good idea for me to avoid espresso or coffee.

But, matcha for example, tends to always be fine. And if I’m not in an anxious state, I can caffeinate with whatever I want and it doesn’t affect me [00:24:00] in a negative way. But I have heard from many highly sensitive folks that they have to avoid caffeine altogether or be really, really mindful or go for things like tea as opposed to coffee, , in their caffeine choices.

You can also be really sensitive to hunger and have a tendency to lean towards hangry if you’ve never heard that term that’s hungry and angry together. , There will be a point in me if I am. Too hungry where I actually am not functional anymore. I can’t hear what you’re saying to me. I can’t respond to my environment.

It’s like, everything just shuts down. , And I have some skills and some tools that I use to avoid that from happening, which again, I’ll talk about some of my kind of things that I’ve put into my life, um, since finding out that I’m HSP in a little while. HSPs, , for example, may avoid, , violent movies or TV shows because it may affect them long after the show is over.

That doesn’t personally affect me, but I hear that it is quite [00:25:00] common among my Hs p brethren. , And so they may become really particular about things they watch and listen to because it will affect their mood. Eventually over time when I dis understood my sensitivity more. I was able to start to plan my life around my highly sensitive nature to keep me more regulated in my nervous system.

So I’ll talk a little bit about what I’ve done personally as a highly sensitive person coming up. And then I’m gonna talk about like, how is this even relevant to a podcast about yoga, let alone a yin yoga podcast. I promise you. Friends, stay tuned. I’m getting there. For those of you that are highly sensitive, you’re probably waiting on bated breath for all of this, but for those of you that are like not highly sensitive, you’re like, what is, with all this talking, let’s just get to the part about yoga.

We will get there, I promise. Okay. So as I mentioned, I found out later in my life, like in my mid, I think it was [00:26:00] mid thirties, that I was highly sensitive. Now when I look back with that lens, I can see that obviously I was from my whole life, my childhood was,. A lot of the things I mentioned . And so it makes perfect sense that I am, I’m a highly sensitive person.

Also, I have genetic link with my mother. So one of the things that I will do as a highly sensitive person is I will avoid large groups and large, loud events. I’m gonna tell you a story about that in just a moment. I just, I prefer to spend time with people one-on-one, and that actually is kind of a gift because it allows me for a deeper connection to the people in my life.

So, although I may have fewer people in my life and fewer at a time, it actually allows me for a much deeper and richer connection. Um, because of my sensitivity, [00:27:00] I’m able to more easily attune into myself, but also into their feelings. Because of the one-on-one nature of their relationship. So I wanna talk, just give you a little brief story about when my highly sensitive nature is gone into overdrive and how actually, dysfunctional and handicapped it can make me if I’m not wise and skillful.

So there’s many stories like this, but I’m only just going to share two. I don’t remember what I was doing, but I must have been overdoing in my life. , Too many schedules. Too many events, too many things, not enough self care. And I was out with my partner and we had stopped in this little local, , restaurant, like a, like high quality fast food you could say, to get some food before we were gonna go sit outside in the park.

Going to sit outside in the park with just my beloved. That is a very highly sensitive, friendly thing to do. However, on the way there, [00:28:00] I didn’t realize it until I got into the restaurant that I was already really dysregulated. And again, it was probably because I was not taking as much self-care as I needed, been around too many people or too busy, not enough buffer time, et cetera, et cetera.

And I remember just as I walked in, the sounds and smells and lights became overbearing. Everything. If you’re not a highly sensitive person, imagine it like this. Imagine that somebody takes your sense of hearing and then they turn it up by tent. Or imagine that someone’s taken your sense of smell and now turned it up by tent.

Or imagine that the lights coming into your vision are now jacked up tent by tent. This is what a highly sensitive person feels when they go into these environments. Everything is just way too much. So it was way too loud, too many smells, too many people, the room, the building itself didn’t have [00:29:00] great acoustics.

And then lots of people talking. So lots of , sounds, bouncing off the sounds and loud voices and, , all of that. Lots of smells because we were in a little burger place and, , also, , bright lighting, all of the things, , noises from cutlery, from trays, all of it.

Just too much, too much, too much. And I could feel myself starting to shut down. And my partner is used to me being pretty, , picky about how I want things and pretty decisive. And so he was asking me like, do you want to eat inside or outside? And I was so shut down and dysregulated at that point that I actually couldn’t make choices.

I couldn. Come into sort of the logic center of my brain. I was in total fight, flight or freeze. And in that case, flee. So fight, fight or freeze. I was in flea mode, like, get me out of here. And I remember just saying to him every time he asked me and he was confused. ’cause of course he was [00:30:00] asking for, he was expecting a response.

And I just kept saying, wherever it’s quiet, wherever it’s quiet, wherever it’s quiet, wherever it’s quiet on repeat. So every time he said, where do you wanna eat? Inside or outside, it was, wherever it’s quiet. Wherever it’s quiet. Wherever it’s quiet. , So I think that was the first time that it got kind of that way out in public when I was with somebody else.

Usually if that would were to have happened on my own, I would’ve just removed myself from the situation as soon as I noticed it happening. But because again, I was with him and we were ordering food it got a little further before I could get outta there. And then it happened actually recently, I was at one of my favorite little local haunts.

Shout out to a little cafe here, a little place called Just Matcha. So it’s like a coffee shop except they only serve matcha. Thus the name just matcha. So it’s a place that I love. I love mi some matcha. I actually used to work there part-time, so fond place for me. And I went to go and work [00:31:00] for a little bit before my class.

And when I got there, it was nice and quiet. So just a little background music, one other person working quietly. So I was able to work on my computer. And then all of the sudden, within probably five minutes, there was two or three tables of people that came in that were like loud talkers. Now I am a loud talker, so like I get that, but when you have two people going for coffee or tea, in this case matcha and they’re really loud, and then you have another table of people that are really loud and then they’re all trying to talk over each other and over the music.

The volume was already starting to get up there. And then this place has regular food tours. So then the food tour walked in. So the host of the food tour with , 15 other people and his booming voice booming over the other two tables of people talking loudly. And then the background music, I think you can see where I’m going with this.

It was like I cannot even focus anymore on what I’m doing. I couldn’t focus on what I was reading and so be, but because I [00:32:00] was on my own and I didn’t need to explain this to anybody, I just closed my laptop, put it in my bag. And took my drink with me and I left the cafe, and I went to where I teach and sat at their little lovely patio outside to finish the work that I had planned.

So that’s even a very recent example of if I’m feeling a little bit depleted, if everything’s quiet and peaceful, it’ll be fine. But if I’m feeling a bit depleted, my self-care game hasn’t been up to snuff, or I’ve just been doing more than I would normally, then those situations can be way too intense to the point where I can’t actually function.

So hopefully from hearing my stories, either as an HSP, you’re resonating, you’re like, oh, hello, preach. And if you’re not, maybe you might get an idea of what it’s like to be HSP. Imagine being in the world and having every sensory thing turned up by 10. Every noise is 10 times louder. Every smile is [00:33:00] 10 times stronger, every light is 10 times brighter.

You get the idea. So one of the pluses of being a highly sensitive person is that I can feel things deeply. So this means myself, the world around me and others. And this allows me to be available in a different way to people than I would be able to if I wasn’t highly sensitive.

. Once I understood my sensitivity more, I was able to plan my life around my sensitivity and put in habits and make choices to keep me more regulated in my nervous system.

I prefer to spend time with those that I love one-on-one, which allows me for a deeper connection with those people.

And so I have fewer people in my life, but the connection with them is much richer. And this is an advantage not only to me as a highly sensitive person, but also to the people in my life because I am far more present [00:34:00] and, , open and sensitive to them also, when we’re having interactions, because we have more difficulty regulating our nervous system than the average person.

And because the world is this very extroverted, loud, busy place. This is why I strongly believe as an highly sensitive person that you really need to have some structure and routines around your self-care. These are extra important for people that are highly sensitive, and I’ll talk about a few of the ones that I do.

And then we’ll talk about,, the relationship between yin yoga and being highly sensitive, and also some teaching tips so that you can, , adapt your classes more for people that may be more sensitive and in y And my opinion, why yin yoga is probably the ideal practice for somebody, , who feels everything too much too often and too loud and too big.

So if you have a deliberate and conscious [00:35:00] scheduled self-care routine, this is crucial for people that are HSP. If we wanna thrive in the world, putting self-care on the back burner until you’re already in a state of overwhelm. Go back to the two stories I just shared. , Can lead to burnout, fatigue, depression, and anxiety, as well as full on shutdown.

So full on nervous system shutdown, freeze response or flight responses when you’re out in the world. So I just briefly told you a couple of stories where that’s happened in my own life. And because I have always done an extroverted job as an introvert and a highly sensitive person, I need to take extra caution and care with my self-care to make sure that I am more likely to be in a regulated state with my nervous system so that I can deal with the world that is not really created for me.

So here are things that I avoid, large crowds and group events. This could include something as small [00:36:00] as,, intimate, small group get togethers at someone’s house or potlucks. I don’t do them, period. The end. No parties, no potlucks. Not gonna happen. . Don’t do, , festivals.

I don’t mean, , like concerts and things, but I won’t do every neighborhood has a, Fest where, they shut down the roads and there’s all these vendors and that kind of stuff.

Uhuh, Uhuh, no, no Art Walks, no, no situations like that where there may be a big community event with lots of people and dogs and noise and all the things. No, none of those happen in my life. I used to try to do those because I felt like I was missing out on something and my friends wanted to go and I always had such a sort of energetic hangover after them when I went home that it just became not worth it to me.

Like whatever fun thing might happen at that. Event, isn’t worth the two days of me feeling like crap afterwards, so [00:37:00] I just don’t go anymore. So no, like group, big group events. I don’t even do small parties or potlucks. I much prefer one-on-one or maybe one on two other people type of situations where we’re talking.

And this is just crucial for my self-care. Now, my ex, I do make exceptions to that for certain things. And the exceptions that I make for these certain things is because these things mean so much to me personally and my personality, that they’re worth it.

So I would say concerts, going to a gig or a concert because my love of music and live music outweighs. My sensitivity in my choice there. But I know that when I go to a concert or a gig that the next day I’m gonna need to amp up my self-care even more. So I would never, for example, go to a concert or a gig and then plan like a social event the next day.

I know if I’m gonna go to a concert or a gig or something, or other event, which I’ll talk about in a moment, that the [00:38:00] next day, that means I’m gonna be one-on-one only time. Okay. So concerts are an exception for me because my love of music and live music outweighs my at least sensitive nature.

There is something and anyone who loves live music knows what I mean, transformative about the experience of live music that makes it worth it for me. Sometimes I’ll go to trade shows. So if there’s like a crystal or mineral show, those kinds of things. I love going to stuff like that. I have a very strategic approach when I go to these things.

I’m in and out very quickly and I know that I’m gonna need downtime afterwards. Same thing for, , an estate sale or an antique show. Those are things where I will make an exception and I will go, but I usually go alone because I know how I’m best gonna be served in that situation. And it usually involves walking fairly quickly in the least trafficked area and glancing at booths, and then only going into [00:39:00] booths that, have something that I’m interested in looking at closer.

So for example, if there’s the ability to walk behind booths, I’m gonna walk behind them and peek over things like that. So those are events where I make an exception. , But again, I always, I’m very strategic about them. Even in concerts, I’m very strategic about where I stand and I’m not gonna meet up with people before or people after.

And I’m not gonna plan a social event the next day after these events because I know I’m just gonna need a little more downtime. So those are my personal exceptions. And every HSP might have other exceptions or no exceptions. I avoid noisy situations as much as possible. Now, I can’t always control that.

I live inner city. It’s, hello, noisy here. I hear sirens all the time. , But as much as I can, I will use some of these tools. To avoid them. And then when I am out and about, I will give you some tips on things that I use, , to help me as a highly sensitive person. If you’re watching this on [00:40:00] YouTube right now, you might notice that I am always wearing these very big headphones when really I’m not listening to anybody.

I could just put on little AirPods or Apple earbuds. But the reason that I use these big headphones, which were bought for me for my birthday by my fella, thank you baby,, is because they have a huge amount of sound canceling ability. So on Zoom, I have my sound cancellation enabled so that you’re less likely to hear background noises or little things from my environment, which is key because sirens, people talking outside, all the things could happen.

But I will still hear them. So even though you don’t hear them on the recording, most of the time I still hear them and I find them dysregulating or distracting. So I wear these a very lovely big headphones. So that it blocks out a lot of that noise, or at least puts it further into the background so it’s less intense.

So I do that when I’m podcasting so that I can stay [00:41:00] focused. , I will often listen to things even when I’m out and about, so that again, I have something else to focus my hearing on than like everything. So it’s not at all uncommon for me to be listening to a podcast or some music if I’m out so that I can focus on that one thing to listen to instead of all the sounds everywhere.

But I also will often put in headphones, even if I’m not listening to anything for two reasons. One, as a way to, , muffle external noises. They make all kinds of things now, like little ear things. They’re like, not really earplugs, but they’re. I don’t, I’m not sponsored by this brand. I have no idea if they’re any good.

I’m just gonna say the name of it ’cause it’s the only one I know. There’s like this one called Loop, and I know a lot of my neurodivergent friends have bought those loops and they’ll just put them in their ears and walk around with them. And it just takes out some of the volume of the noise around to make it more tolerable.

I don’t have them, , but I might wanna get some, [00:42:00] but I’ll often put in my earbuds and either just walk around that way, or I may be listening to something so that I can focus on what I’m listening to instead of all the sounds everywhere. So if I need to be out in the world, which I do, , often need to be out in the world because some of the things that fill me up as an HSP are outside of my house, so I do need to go out into the world.

, I will often have headphones,. I will often wear sunglasses. And if it’s weather appropriate, you will often see me out with a big hood sometimes. All of those things at once. Sunglasses, big hood, and something in my ears. And that just helps to take that sort of extreme external, sensory that is happening around me, and it softens everything.

So that’s some of the things I do when I have to be out into the world. If I am out somewhere, like at a cafe or a restaurant or something like that, and it starts to get too [00:43:00] loud,, if I’m by myself, I usually just leave. , I’ll pack up and leave. Most of my friends are also neurodivergent or at least aware of it.

My partner , is aware at this point. And so if we start somewhere for lunch, for example, and it’s quite quiet, and then slowly it gets busier and busier and the volume gets higher and higher, I’ll often plug one ear. So that I can listen to my friend without being distracted by the whole environment. Or sometimes I’ll just say, Hey, do you mind if we take our coffees to go on a walk to finish this conversation?

And most of them get it ’cause they’re similar. , So leaving the environment, if it gets overly noisy. So that’s some of my, if I have to be out in the world, and I’ve also done all kinds of other things,, including wearing crystals. If you wanna get a little woowoo, , I’ve worn crystals.

Those, I, those are actually helpful as well. , But this is not an episode about crystals in which crystals are good, , blah, blah, blah. And lots of people don’t even [00:44:00] believe in those. , Take it for what you will. .

Rose quartz. Smokey quartz and black tur Moline are my three go-to. So obviously my self-care routine as a yoga professional includes y yoga and meditation. I’ll talk again a bit more about why yin yoga is so key for me as an HSP and how you can help your students with it in just a moment.

But just know that those are automatically givens, that my self-care routine includes y yoga and meditation practice, a daily bath. , There is something very cleansing. Restorative about a bath versus a shower for me, and I mentioned crystals. Sometimes if I’m feeling extra depleted, I will take a smooth or polished one, a small one because water amplifies.

And I will put that in the bath with me. , And that is something that I do every single day to start my day, , before I deal with anybody else other than a brief kiss goodbye to my partner in the morning and my sweet little kittens. , I take a bath and that [00:45:00] is my way of setting the foundation for my nervous system and my energetic state before I even talk to or engage with the world.

The only exceptions to the daily bath are if it’s, if we’re in a heat wave, then I’ll skip it and go for a cool shower because it just can’t take the heat. But otherwise a daily bath crucial for me.

, I’m regular with my meals. Not necessarily scheduled to the hour, but or to the moment, but within an hour. So it’s like I’m having brunch at this time. I’m going to have my midday meal somewhere in this window, and I’m having my dinner around this time because if I’m irregular with my meals, that can lead to not only me being hangry, which we talked about earlier, but also for me personally to sugar cravings.

, Remember I said that those of us that h have HSP have lower dopamine and low dopamine and sugar addiction or sugar cravings can go hand in hand. And so I will often have [00:46:00] very intense, , like addictive level sugar cravings if I’m not nourishing myself properly with my meals. So I eat my meals not necessarily at exactly the same time, but within an hour of those same times, each day.

HSPs need extra sleep. I remember hearing people say, , they were okay with six to seven hours, and me just looking at them like, what?

I’m an eight hour minimum girl, like eight to 10 sweet spot for me. I can survive on eight but get less than eight. Even if it’s just seven for more than one day in a row. It’s not gonna be good for me. I’m gonna start to feel dysregulated. So in a perfect world, for me, eight to 10 hours of sleep is essential and it’s always been this way even when I was a child.

And also a sensitivity to being able to sleep deeply can really affect people who are HSP. So some of the things that I include are a sound machine. Again, as I mentioned, I live very [00:47:00] central, near a busy road and hearing traffic and voices and all this stuff outside can wake me up.

And then I have trouble falling back asleep. So I use a sound machine. . We just keep it on ocean and I play that every night. I also have blackout curtains and I also sleep with an eye mask, a really good eye mask. Those are crucial things for me for sleep. , And again, I’m not a medical herbalist. This is not a prescriptive advice. This is just what has worked for me.

But, if I do need something to take, something to help me with sleep, , I prefer to take passion flower. Because it’s natural, it’s herbal. Again, check with your medical herbalist or your naturopath about that before you do that. I’m not recommending it, I’m just saying it’s what I do. And I like the fact that it helps me sleep, but it doesn’t.

I’m not groggy the next day. Some of these more kind of prescriptive or pharmaceutical sleep aids or things you might buy in a drugstore could really knock you out to the point where the next day you feel like a zombie. Passion flour does [00:48:00] not do that for me. Other people I know, like sleepy time tea that has like valerian root or catnip, all of those things could be a super great to your nighttime routine to help you with sleep.

Again, you should always, check with your naturopath or medical herbalist if you have one, just to make sure that they’re not gonna interfere with any medications you’re taking or allergies or anything like that. Time in nature is crucial for me. Walks in nature are probably, dare I say, even more essential than my yoga practice. So if I only had one hour a day, I would probably choose to walk in the woods. If, , I didn’t have time for both yoga and nature. , Time in nature in the woods or by the ocean, super crucial for me.

So those are daily self-care things that I do. And then. As often as I can afford to, I find acupuncture excessively helpful. I sometimes people [00:49:00] think acupuncture is just for things like back pain or musculoskeletal and that is not the case at all.

Acupuncture is an incredibly powerful tool for helping to balance out your energies. , And then also massage. So those are my two go-to things that I’ll do, not daily. ‘

So I hope that gives you at least a framework of what is HSP, some of my own personal experience so that hopefully those of you that feel that our HSP could be like, oh my god, yes. Thank you residents. Preach. I feel you. And those of you that aren’t, hopefully we’ll have a little bit of a better understanding of what it is like to be HSP.

So now let’s get to the yin yoga part, shall we? This is a Yin yoga podcast, after all. So why yin yoga specifically for people who are HSP? Now, I do wanna say there are other yoga practices that can be very helpful also for people that are HSP, like restorative yoga or yoga nidra. , But those deal with sort of [00:50:00] the nervous system, , aspect, but they don’t deal with sort of the physical, mental, emotional part, which yin yoga does, which is why I think yin is the number one.

So quiet time to explore your inner landscape. To practice Introception. I did a whole episode on that. If you wanna listen to it, you can. And by the way, if you are looking for these episodes in the show notes, there’s a see all episodes at a glance document that will list all of the episodes I’ve recorded and take you to my website to listen to them if you’re interested.

So it’s just a Google doc, you can check that out. But I did do one with Pamela Crane on Introception. But if this is a new word for you to briefly summarize, introception is an awareness of what’s happening inside of you. So when we’re doing a yin yoga practice, we can explore our inner landscape deeply and practice introception.

This is [00:51:00] not only because of the style of yoga, meaning that we’re doing long holds and still in quiet, but also we’re often being encouraged to explore sensation in our body. So it helps to allow us to remove our. Sensory awareness from the outer world and to drop back into our inner world, which is super restorative energetically.

And by restorative I don’t mean restorative yoga, I mean as in restoring our nervous system for those of us that are sensitive. , These still, the stillness, the long holds gives us an opportunity to explore not only just the physical sensations in our body as an anchor, but also our mind and our emotional bodies, as well as a highly sensitive person.

When you’re out in the world, you’re constantly be being bombarded with external stimuli, and it can be difficult to drop into ourselves and to notice the things that are there for you, which could include wisdom and intuition and sensations, and the little [00:52:00] stories,, that your mind and your heart are telling you and your emotions.

So practicing y Yoga regularly allows you an opportunity to befriend your body for an extended period of time in each of the poses. That we can really drop in and get curious before we’re now moving on to something else. Okay, so this is why yin yoga can be so good. For those that are highly sensitive, the long holds, the stillness and the quiet give us a unique opportunity to practice introception.

When you’re doing a restorative practice, you’re resting and you’re working with your nervous system, but you’re not actively exploring your inner landscape, you’re just floating. Whereas in a yin practice we are bringing ourselves back to our bodies, back to our minds, back to our hearts, back to our emotions again, and again and again.

This is why I think it’s such an ideal practice for those of us that are highly sensitive. [00:53:00] So that’s the why yin for highly sensitive people. Now, if you are a teacher and you’re not highly sensitive. I’m gonna give you some tips here. For those of you that are teachers that are highly sensitive, some of these you may have already intuitively done just because it would be your own preference.

But for those that aren’t, these things might not be as obvious. So things to consider when leading classes as a teacher to make them more accessible for highly sensitive people. Things like lighting, so dimming the lights, maybe even a little dimmer than you might think is dim, can be really good for someone who’s highly sensitive.

So it might even be slightly dimmer then you think is appropriate. If you’re choosing to use music, I would highly recommend that you use some sort of ambient or sound scape music, hopefully with very few interruptions in the music. Rather than your typical playlist where it moves [00:54:00] from one song to the next song.

So as someone who’s highly sensitive, we are keenly attuned to music. Music is something that can be super therapeutic to us. But if you’ve got a playlist where you’ve got one song and then it doesn’t immediately fade into the next song, and the next song is energetically different or the melodies are different, that is something that will pull somebody out of their body repeatedly.

Every time there’s a song change, we are gonna notice it as a highly sensitive person, but if you can get some kind of sound scapes, , long, ambient stuff that may be on a long loop, , this can be , really good. Not just for highly sensitive people, but actually for everybody in your class.

And I will add a link in the show notes to, . My ongoing, it’s on YouTube. So just be aware of that. That’s where I get my music from, , my ongoing, yin yoga music list. Just know that everything that I’ve added to there, I have not necessarily listened to. This is where I go and when I see one that shows up in [00:55:00] my YouTube feed, I just click the click it and save it to this list.

But I’m happy to share that with you in the episode notes, it’s really helpful to have a long piece of music that will fill the whole class time without stopping and starting going from song to song. So like those of you that are old enough to remember when we had CDs and we had those CD players that would play three or six or eight?

So like one CD would go and then you’d hear the pause, and then the little click click, we, we, when the, it would pull up the next CD to play and then you’d start to hear music again. So that’s sort of an exaggerated, example of what an HSP person will feel when they’re in a class. And there’s a playlist where there’s like a song and then a pause, and then the next song, we’re very aware of the pause and then the next song happening and it requires us to refocus in again and again.

So a long sort of soundscape can be much better, not just for highly sensitive folks, but you’d be surprised at [00:56:00]how many of your regular students would prefer that as well. In fact, I actually had a student come up to me and tell me, she said, where do you get your music? And I was like, YouTube. And she said, because you have the best music, because they’re on a loop.

They don’t stop and start. So this will really stand out to people who are sensitive to this. So that’s a tip you could find. , Longer ambient music that’s , on a loop or a soundscape as opposed to, oh, I like this song and I like this song and I love this song, and now this is my Sha Bossan song and this is my getting started song.

That kind of, , can feel really choppy to someone who’s sensitive or you could choose not to use music, at all. , and now let’s talk about smells. So we’re al also gonna be highly sensitive to smells, so sounds, lights, smells. And so if you love essential oils and incense, , you might wanna do those long before [00:57:00] your students arrive or long after the class so that they have a chance to dissipate before the students arrive.

I actually just think this is wise practice for any students, not just highly sensitive people. Um, but for highly sensitive students, we will notice smells much stronger to a much deep, bigger degree than the average bear. And, they can be overwhelming or just distracting from what we’re there to do, which is to be practicing self-care and be with our body.

Now, if you are a person who combines essential oils in your class, just make sure you clearly label that on your classes. This is also helpful though, just for anybody who has sensitivities to smells or even allergies. So I don’t use any of those things in my classes. Sometimes one of the studios I teach at, there will have been some while they were cleaning the space in between classes, but by the time I arrive it’s, it’s quite soft in, in the background.

Notice your tendency [00:58:00] to try to talk too much. I did a whole episode on this. Dear, dear Yin yoga teacher or dear yoga teacher, please shut up. So I would highly recommend that you check that episode out. , But notice your tendency to try to talk all the time and dial it back as much as possible to just the bare necessities, just the words that are absolutely necessary to create the space and to move them safely from one shape to another.

If your words are not that initial space, creating, like maybe sharing a reading or, , talking briefly about yin, if people are new, okay, that needs to happen in the beginning, but then as soon as that’s done, stop talking so much. , And just allow people to be. And if you struggle with that, again, that episode, dear Yoga teacher, please shut up.

Fantastic resource for you, gave you all kinds of things you can do instead of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, [00:59:00] blah, blah, the whole time. So if you struggle with that, which we all do, I did as well still do. If I’m not conscious of it, that’s a good episode for you to check out. , Because I give you some real practical skills on, okay, but I’m feeling the need to talk.

Ask yourself when you feel like speaking, is this adding to the experience or detracting from the much needed quiet.

And just know that for those that are highly sensitive, the more quiet time, the better. I would also argue that generally culturally, this is essential for us because even for those of us that are, those of you that are not highly sensitive. We, especially if you live in a city, we live in an overly stimulated world for everybody.

And then for those of us that are highly sensitive, it’s like times 10. So everybody could do with a little more still and quiet time. It’s restorative to the nervous system. But for those of us that are HSP, it’s not a nice to have. It’s a, I must have. [01:00:00] Okay, friends, I think that’s enough. Talking about HSP, what it is, my own personal experience of it and examples, and what do we do as far as our yin practice with that?

So again, the reason I think yin is ideal for a highly sensitive person. Not that there aren’t other styles that are also complimentary. Restorative can be helpful for the nervous system. Yoga nidra can be helpful as well, especially if it includes body scan. But for me, hands down, yin is the number one style for those that are highly sensitive because of this ability to experience interception to be.

Gently coaxed back again and again to your internal landscape, to noticing your body sensations, your feelings, your thoughts, emotions, all of it. And to be present with it, , so that we can not only take that much needed time to regulate our nervous system, but also to be able to listen to our inner self, which often is drowned [01:01:00] out by the external noise.

Okay, my friends with that, let’s call that a wrap. I hope that you found this episode helpful. If you’re watching this on YouTube, please leave me some comments below and let me know. Was this helpful? , Are you HSP? Do you know an HSP? Do you love an HSP? , If you’re not, was this helpful for you as a teacher, if you’re a teacher, to figure out how to, , hold brave space for those that are hearing everything 10 times louder, smelling everything 10 times stronger, seeing everything 10 times brighter, et cetera.

You can always get at me at ag on Instagram. For those of you, , if you’re listening on Apple, feel free to Instagram me, leave me a dm, let me know what you thought. Let me know your takeaways. And if you’re on Spotify, you can leave comments now, which is awesome.

So I’ll actually see them and reply to them, , on Spotify. So please feel free to leave me any comments.

Let me know, what you thought of this episode. Were there any ahas? Was it helpful? . And until we, we meet again, my friends. Bye for [01:02:00] now.

For those of you who stick around until the very end, thank you. If you love this podcast, I’d be grateful if you gave it a review. It really helps other yin yoga lovers find it. If you’ve already given a review, would you consider sharing a screenshot in your Instagram stories? And don’t forget to tag me at Nick Danu Yoga or at Y Yoga podcast so I can share the love.

Before I sign off, some gratitude first for you, the listener, for spending time with me today. Big gratitude and deep reverence for my teacher, Paul Grille. Thank you to Fred Westra for the Hang Drunk Samples. You can hear more of his music by clicking the link in the show notes. A big thank you to my beloved for mixing the intro and outro tracks, [01:03:00] and until we meet again.

May you be well, may you be content. May you be at peace. May you be free.