Yin Yoga for the Upper Body

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Hi Jenny’s and welcome back to be in a yoga. Podcast

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Nyk Danu Yoga: if you’re new around here, welcome for those of you that are return listeners welcome back

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Nyk Danu Yoga: a solo episode today on the topic of upper body and Yin yoga.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: This was requested, and I can understand why, because it’s a bit nuanced, so we’ll talk about

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Nyk Danu Yoga: the upper body in yen. Can we do upper body poses in yen? If so, the who, what, when, where, why, and how of all of that?

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Nyk Danu Yoga: But 1st thank you for joining me. If you’re new welcome, if you’re a familiar welcome back

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Nyk Danu Yoga: before we get into today’s episode. I just want to share a little bit of love that I got from my teacher training program. So for those of you who don’t know, I do offer a therapeutic yin Yoga teacher training program.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Previously it was 50 h. Then it became 60 HI always kind of knew

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Nyk Danu Yoga: that it would get longer and guess what now? It is 100 h. So it is 78 h with me. Live on the zoom, and then 28 h of assignment equal, 100 total.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So that’s new, just as of

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Nyk Danu Yoga: at the time of this recording. We are in winter of 2024. By the time this comes out it’ll be 2025. So the spring round in 2025 will be the next round. That is longer. So I’m super excited about that. And the reason I decided to do this is because

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I’ve always felt this way, but especially with the last group

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Nyk Danu Yoga: that people were just so keen for more information. It also gives us more repetition time, and just a whole bunch of other little things. So when there’s a you know a a group

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Nyk Danu Yoga: that’s really keen

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and asks really good questions, gives us a lot more time to go over that stuff to review stuff. And I’m gonna add a few new little

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Chinese medicine nuggets in there as well.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So this is some feedback from the most recent training that I took.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So this is some feedback from the most recent training that I just offered.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: My hesitation about joining this training was the cost and the worry that it would be yet another Yoga training that did little to enhance my learning or my teaching.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I was wrong, it was totally worth it.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I had previously completed a 20 h yin Yoga training. But it was very basic and pose specific. There was no Chinese medicine content and very little understanding of fascia, and it also wasn’t live like Nick’s training.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So there wasn’t an ability to learn through discussion and demonstration.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: My knowledge and understanding of Yin Yoga has grown from this training exponentially. I have a solid grounding in all things, yin

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Nyk Danu Yoga: in an acquired knowledge and an embodied in my own practice, which is key. Yeah.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Completing this training gave me solid confidence as a yin.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Okay. Edit all that. Oh, let’s begin again. Testimonial. Take 2.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So here is some feedback from one of the students that just finished the last round of my training.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Jenny Wright.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: My hesitation about joining this training was the cost and the worry that it would be yet another Yoga training that did little to enhance my learning or my teaching.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I was wrong, it was totally worth it.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I had previously competed, completed a shorter 20 h yin yoga training. But it was very basic and pose specific.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: There was no Chinese medicine content and very little understanding of fascia. It also wasn’t live like Nick’s training. So there wasn’t an ability to learn through discussion and demonstration.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: My knowledge and understanding of Yin Yoga has grown from this training exponentially.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I have a solid grounding in all aspects of Yin

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Nyk Danu Yoga: in an acquired knowledge, and an embodied in my own practice

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Nyk Danu Yoga: completing this training, gave me a solid confidence as a yin teacher, that I was able to apply right away

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Nyk Danu Yoga: a strong foundation in all things, yin as well as takeaway knowledge of how and where I could pursue more learning if desired.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Nick’s passion for yin and for yin, and for

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Nick’s passion for yin and for training good yin teachers is clear from the very 1st class it’s contagious.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I enjoyed all aspects of the training, the schedule worked well for my busy life and my ability to learn and retrain.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I enjoyed all aspects of the training and the schedule, worked well for my busy life

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and my ability to learn and retreat, retain the full curriculum.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I enjoyed all aspects of the training, and the schedule worked well for my busy life

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and my ability to learn and retain the full curriculum.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: My biggest takeaway. Unlike other teacher trainings, I felt empowered, expanded, and ready to teach.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I would highly recommend this training to other Yoga teachers. There was enough time to explore the different aspects of Yin from a Chinese medicine, the shapes, philosophy, and ample time for discussion and tons of resources.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Nick offered access to her public classes as a support for our learning as well, which was so critical

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Nyk Danu Yoga: for the integration of the material. Take this course, you will be transformed.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Wow! Thanks, Jenny.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I gotta say I’m a little declint. That’s that’s very powerful testimonial. And it’s exactly what I I hope and aim to do with my teacher training.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: If you already have a Yin training, and you’re looking to do a little bit more, dive a little deeper. I would love to have you join the wait list for my training.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: You can do that by clicking the link in the show notes that says, Join the wait list, and once you’re on that page, if you just look way up at the top

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Nyk Danu Yoga: or way down at the bottom, there are 2 opportunities to add your name and email. There’s also, if you’re there long enough reading, there’s going to be a polite pop up that’ll slide in from the side.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and you can add your name and email.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: The bonuses for people that are on the wait list are, 1st of all, they get 1st access to registering. So right now, for example, at the time of this recording.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: anyone who’s on the wait list has access to register for the spring round. It’s winter right now, as I’m recording. This

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Nyk Danu Yoga: may not be by the time you hear it. As I’m recording this, this is December 2024,

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and so anyone who is on the wait list got 1st crack at registering, and they will so until January 3, rd in which case then I will open it up to the public. So it’s not available on my website. I’m not sharing it on social media. It’s only for people on the wait list.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: They get 1st crack at it. So not only do they get 1st crack at registration. But there’s also a 1st 5 to sign up discount code that’s only available to people on my wait list, because I know that trainings can cost money, and they should, because if they’re good trainings they should, but also that that’s an investment. So that’s there to help those people out that have been waiting on the wait list, and they’re ready and they’re eager. There’s a a discount code for the 1st 5 that sign up

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Nyk Danu Yoga: on the way to the training while you’re on the wait list first.st As soon as you join, you’re gonna get a a free sequence and a video

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and then you’re gonna get little nuggets along the way from me, you’re gonna get these podcast episodes in your inbox, little sneaky peek videos of the training little behind the curtain. Views of kind of what we go over in the training

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Nyk Danu Yoga: invitations to classes and free workshops videos, Yin videos and all that. So you get all that stuff

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Nyk Danu Yoga: along the way to registration

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Nyk Danu Yoga: opening. So if you’ve been following, the podcast and you would like to join me for training, whether it’s your 1st in training, or your second, or your 3.rd I’ve had people that have taken, you know, trainings from some of the well-known folk in the Yin training community and still get plenty out of my training. So

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Nyk Danu Yoga: if you want more information about exactly what is covered. And all of that, it’s on that same page.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: The link is in the podcast

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Nyk Danu Yoga: platform that you’re listening to this on says, join the wait list. If you click that, you can see all the details of what’s in the course

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and all of that, and then you can join the wait list. If if registration isn’t open when you’re listening to this, then join the wait list because you’ll get all kinds of perks along the way.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Alright. That’s that. The other thing to remind you of, my dear friend.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: is that although I have the soul of a mermaid, I also have the mouth of a sailor. So if you have small people around, take a moment to grab some headphones and pop those in. Now.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: one more thing I’m gonna mention this is for those of you on Youtube. I just got kittens

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Nyk Danu Yoga: littles. They’re

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Nyk Danu Yoga: freaking, adorable. I’m madly in love. However, they’re also crazy because they’re kittens. So right now. They’re sleeping.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Now that I’ve said this will probably be just fine. But if you are watching this video, and suddenly you see me

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Nyk Danu Yoga: doing weird movements, and you know, grabbing small kittens, you’ll know why.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Now that I’ve said that, of course they’ll probably just sleep through the whole thing.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: but just an Fyi for those of you watching the video, you see me doing weird, random things. It’s probably because there’s a kitten running around my lap.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Okay, shall we get to the topic at hand. Yes, okay. The other thing I want to mention is that

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Nyk Danu Yoga: for this episode, because it’s it’s very challenging to talk about

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Nyk Danu Yoga: poses in an audio format right? Like I can describe things, but it’s it’s not really that useful visuals are better so as a

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Nyk Danu Yoga: complement to this episode.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Hmm!

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Nyk Danu Yoga: The other thing I want to mention is that as a compliment to this episode, because

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Nyk Danu Yoga: talking about poses in an audio format is a bit tricky, right? Like it’s kind of hard to

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Nyk Danu Yoga: verbally describe poses and so, as a complement to this one, I will include a visual to some of the poses. This is not going to be all of the upper body poses that I’ve ever done or ever would do. But I’ll give I’ll make a little tummy. If you’re not familiar with tummy

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Nyk Danu Yoga: online, you should, if you’re especially if you’re a Yoga teacher. So they have like these little poses that you can kind of make sequences, so I will make a little upper body. Kind of sheet in tummy, and I will link it

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and I will link it in the blog post that accompanies this episode.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So you’ll have to hop over onto my website to see that you’ll get a link to it, or actually, I might be able to include it in the show notes. There will be a link

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Nyk Danu Yoga: to the tummy thing which will show some of the upper body. Yin stuff. Now, again, this won’t be an exhaustive list.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Because you know that would be impossible. But it’ll just give you a few ideas for those of you that are new to doing yin yoga for the upper body.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Okay.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So 2 resources there for you. The other resource that’s always there for you is I started this, I think, on the second or 3rd season there is a link to a Google Doc which will show you all of the previous episodes. So if you just are new around here. Hi! Welcome! Nice to meet you.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and you’re like, Oh, my gosh! I love this. I want to binge them all. There’s a Google Doc link there says all episodes at a glance and all it is is literally the season, the episode, number the topic and a link so that you can.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: You can skim through those, and you can listen to your liking. Of course you can do that in your app, too, but sometimes it’s a bit tricky, because they only show you so many, and then you gotta backtrack, and you know, can be a whole thing. So I created that. So it’s there for you. You can just see all the episodes at a glance. Read through, see which ones you want to check out, and the links are all there for you.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Okay, with all that said, let’s get to it, shall we?

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Upper body Yin? Is that even a thing some people would say no.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So when I studied with Paul Grilley, my teacher.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: there was no upper body poses at all.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: It was just from the waist down, kind of lumbar spine down.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I fell in love with this practice many years ago at a 2,007 is when I did my 1st workshop with Paul.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and when I 1st fell in love with, begin to practice. And so right after that workshop it was like a weekend workshop. I of course I bought his at the time. DVD, because, you know, things weren’t streaming yet back then, really. I bought his book I bought Sarah Powers book. I bought Sarah Powers, DVD. And I just kind of started diving in to practicing in a few times a week.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and then did that for many years, right and then fast forward to. I’m now finally getting to go study with Paul in person, in a teacher training as opposed to a weekend workshop. I’m beyond excited. Off I go to California, to land of the medicine Buddha, to study with Paul.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And again, we’re doing all this, this beautiful practice. Those trainings were amazing land of the medicine. Buddha was incredible.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Probably one of the highlights of my

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Nyk Danu Yoga: not just professional life, but life in general was being able to be there with good community with Paul and Susie, and studying yin in depth at

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Nyk Danu Yoga: at Lmb. As we call it. Those of us that have been there a few times.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So I’m at Lmb. For my 1st time doing the yin. It’s great. I’m loving the training. I’m like

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Nyk Danu Yoga: madly in love with Paul and Susie and Lael and Bee, and the yin, and all the things.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and then I go home, and I start doing the practice more and more, and then I kind of start guiding my students. But something always felt missing.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: What felt missing for me was the upper body.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: because, as a former hairstylist, former bodybuilder, I have some very tight

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Nyk Danu Yoga: kind of persistently tight areas in my upper body, tight trapezius, trite deltoids, tight rhomboids.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: neck etc, etc.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And so, you know, I really was loving how the yin was helping my from the waist down. But I wasn’t getting anything from the waist up.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and I just thought, Well, why couldn’t I take

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Nyk Danu Yoga: some of these other poses and shapes that I’ve learned through my studies of previously as a an Ayungar trainee.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and some Hatha. Yoga, why can’t I take those things and do them in a yin way?

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Grab some props if I need, you know and do these things in a yin way, like what would be stopping me from that

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Nyk Danu Yoga: turns out nothing.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And so I started experimenting. I started doing what in Hatha you would call Eagle Arms, but I started doing them for 2 min aside.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And I just kind of took all of the little shapes that I knew were really good, that I did in my more half of classes, that I was teaching, that I did shorter holds, and I started lengthening the hold and doing them in a yin way.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And of course

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Nyk Danu Yoga: that was magic, because it started to create that same spaciousness in my body and also relief of chronic tightness, pain, discomfort that I had been experiencing once I started doing them in a yin way. Now I am not alone in this.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I know for a fact that there were several Paul Grilley, trained students that were also doing this.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: But what about my upper half thoughts? And we’re experimenting with poses and things like that. And so, you know, sometimes these things

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Nyk Danu Yoga: sort of

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Nyk Danu Yoga: happen with like a collective energy. So there was many of us studying with Paul, and then going home and trying to like.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: you know, make this practice our own, and, you know, do upper body things and make different versions of poses that he had taught us, and Paul completely celebrates and welcomes that he is very much not dogmatic. He’s not attached to us doing things exactly the way he does, etc.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So this started happening, I started doing

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Nyk Danu Yoga: more and more also for the upper body as well in a yin way.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Then fast forward to a couple more years later, so I think I was in my second or 3.rd

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Can’t remember now training with Paul

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and we had a question box that we could put questions in, and then in the evenings they would do. QA. Time.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And one of the questions that I asked was, why aren’t there any poses for the upper body?

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And the answer that I got was just that they didn’t find them needed in their own bodies. So when they were going through and deciding, okay, which of the which poses? Because they were half the Yogis before yin yogis? Obviously when they were going through their poses and trying to figure out what they were going to focus on as the the Yin shapes.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Upper body stuff just didn’t feel as necessary to them personally in their own bodies. So that’s why they didn’t have upper body. Yin.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: It was just that that simple.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and of course, as always, they said. But you should definitely, you know, if you want to do that, do that as well

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Nyk Danu Yoga: do upper body as well.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And there was mention of the fact that and this is true, that the fascia and the myofascia in our upper body is not as dense

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and sturdy and sort of

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Nyk Danu Yoga: yeah, I guess dense is the best word as it is in the lower body. So, for example, if we think about the fascia and the connective tissue in our low back in our sacrum and our hips. That is way more sturdy and dense, and would take more time

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Nyk Danu Yoga: before it begins to yield than in our shoulder. And so they did suggest that if we’re doing upper body that we do slightly shorter holds for the upper half than we would for the lower half, but other than that they were like party. On with yourself. Go, do that!

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And then by the last year that I studied with them, they had introduced one upper body thing that they called Graceful Bow. It had never been there in the previous years that I’d studied, which was just a little like neck thing, a little sweep of the chin over towards your shoulder, and tucking your chin in a little to get a stretch through the neck. That was the only upper body thing I was ever taught

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Nyk Danu Yoga: by my 500 h with Paul and Susie.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So I just want to mention this, because this is why sometimes people think there’s no upper body in, because

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Nyk Danu Yoga: either they’ve been trained by Paul, and they’ve never branched out past that in their own practice.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: or they’re looking at some of the the books like Paul and Sarah’s books and going

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Nyk Danu Yoga: well, there’s no upper body poses in there so clearly we can’t do yin yoga for the upper body.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Now I will say that Bernie’s book, especially the latest version of his book, because it’s been published like

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Nyk Danu Yoga: twice under the same name. And then there was a version before that, anyway. So Bernie’s book has has been an ever evolving, changing thing, and I do know that in the most recent version he does have some upper body stuff in there. He’s got several poses. But I think how much upper body Yin

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Nyk Danu Yoga: will be in your training by your teacher depends on them and their practice.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So, as I mentioned as somebody who comes from a body with a stiff upper body.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I got a lot of upper body stuff, I think, proportionately compared to probably the average gin training. Or so I hear

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and I think that having more upper body and also more waist stuff, more side body stuff. That was also something that wasn’t

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Nyk Danu Yoga: really a big focus. When I did my training with Paul. Because it was kind of waist down. There wasn’t a ton of sort of side bending things as well.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and

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Nyk Danu Yoga: the twists were also there was less twisting as well, so there were twists, but there were less variety of twists. So these are all things that I’ve added on since then

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Nyk Danu Yoga: One of my very 1st side bend experiences was, I’m gonna get his name wrong. I have a feeling

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I think he’s either Australian or New Zealand, and his name is Simon Lowe or Lau.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: He used to have a DVD.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: That you could get on Amazon. I don’t know if it’s streaming anywhere, but he had a yin practice, and

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Nyk Danu Yoga: he had a couple of shapes, because, of course, you know, when you’re in obsessed, you go get all the things, all the books, all the Dvds. You practice with all of them. And he had a couple of poses that I that I had never tried with Paul that I really liked. One of them was a side, a side bend over a bolster mermaid, which was lovely. One of my top 3 poses always forever and so I got a couple of cool ideas from him, and then I just

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Nyk Danu Yoga: again started playing with my body and my practice, and taking what I knew from my previous Yoga training.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: As a

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Nyk Danu Yoga: you know, my 1st training was all I younger based, but I was mostly teaching. I would call more of a Hatha practice than an Ayungar practice.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and taking those poses and then playing with them and making them into yin shapes.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So this is why some people will say that Yin is not for the upper body.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Now, I want to be really clear that the people that are saying that are not. Usually, you know Paul or Bernie. It’s usually some Yoga teacher who’s taken a 50 h training and wasn’t introduced to any yin poses, so they say. Yin yin is the waist down only, and there are no upper body. Yin poses.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And I think this really comes from a

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Nyk Danu Yoga: lack of understanding of like what makes a pose? Yin, yeah.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So if we think about a yin pose as something that you can do that while you’re seated or laying right? So floor, based either sitting or laying on the floor.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: where you can do a moderate amount of sensation and a longer hold.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: Then that’s a yin pose.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So again. Sometimes these

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Nyk Danu Yoga: messages about this not being about yin not being, for the upper body come from a lack of

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Nyk Danu Yoga: experience beyond their 1st initial yin exposure.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and some people are just evangelical, and they just, you know.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: don’t want to be open to new things.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: That’s fine, I suppose. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am a yin purist in the sense that

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I’m not a big fan of mixing in with a bunch of other things, and confusing like I don’t love yin and restorative practices mixed together. For example.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I think if you’re doing a yin class, let’s do a yin class. Now, I am sometimes a fan of a Yin Yang class

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Nyk Danu Yoga: how to skillfully teach a Yin Yang class, that is, you know.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: topic for another time. But you know, movement into stillness or stillness into movement or movement within stillness. Which is the 3rd way that I teach it.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: that I’m I’m a big fan of, and I do often. So all of my classes, even if they’re not yin classes, include a few yin shapes at the end, even if they were more of a therapeutic, movement-based class. And then obviously, all

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Nyk Danu Yoga: of my yin classes are yin.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So

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Nyk Danu Yoga: I just wanted to mention that that sometimes this idea comes from either somebody who did one yin training or read one yin book, and they just stopped their knowledge at that point. They haven’t been looking around. They haven’t been playing. They haven’t been practicing at home. They haven’t been kind of keeping up with, like what’s been happening in the Yin yoga verse.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and so they just are kind of stuck in their in their ways, or and whether that’s stuck in their ways because they aren’t open and flexible mentally to kind of include other things, or whether that’s stuck in their ways because they just lack of lack of exposure.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: But I do want to say that

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Nyk Danu Yoga: where on your body the shape affects is not what makes it a yin pose or not a yin pose.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: so is there a yin for the lower body? Yep. Is there yin, for like our waist, and kind of midriff and torso, yup is there yin for our upper body also? Yep.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: there are yin shapes for all of the body

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and if this is something that is news to you, for your 1st training didn’t include upper body in my apologies. Or if you haven’t taken a training yet, but you haven’t

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Nyk Danu Yoga: noticed any of this upper body yin stuff again. It’s just because you’re kind of not exposing yourself to a wide variety of yin practices and teachers.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: So can there be upper body in practices? Yes, should there be, in my humble opinion? Yes, because most of us are sitting at computers typing all day, sort of hunched over

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Nyk Danu Yoga: are on our phones. So the lifestyle that we lead can leave a whole bunch of tightness in the shoulders and the upper back, and the trapezius and the chest and the rib cage. All of that can be super tight just from our sedentary work at an office desk lifestyle.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: And so I think that having a yin practice

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Nyk Danu Yoga: for the upper body makes amazing sense because those areas are chronically, persistently tight, and sometimes in pain or discomfort, because of these work habits. So why wouldn’t we use the magic of yin

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Nyk Danu Yoga: for all of our body, so

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Nyk Danu Yoga: just a short and sweet one today. But there was a question about this. Can yin even be done for the upper body? The answer is, yes.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: and I will again, in the episode notes. Put a link. I’ll create a little document of a few upper body in poses again. This is not going to be an exhaustive list.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: But just a few ideas for those that are like this is new to me. I’ve never really thought about including upper body stuff in my yin practice or in my yin classes.

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Nyk Danu Yoga: so that you can try them out

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Nyk Danu Yoga: all right. That’s it, for now, until we meet again bye, for now.