Yin Yoga Training - Day 2

We arrived in good time for the session today and secured our spot. Isn't it funny how you stake your place and remain anchored to it for the duration of the course. It does of course help Josh to remember our names so we did consider, albeit it briefly, mixing it up a little to confuse him ... but that wouldn't have ben very yogic would it!

There is so much theory in Yin as Josh took us through a whistle stop tour of the Liver and Gall bladder meridian lines which is based on Chinese medicine and the practical Yin flow we would be performing this morning was intended to stimulate it in order to improve the balance of this particular area. It is quite complicated to get your head around but Josh is a certified acupuncturist and has significant experience in this area. Before we started the practise he advised us of some of the things we may experience, including headaches, weakness, irritability, amongst others and we then started to practise. Wasn't yoga supposed to be good for us?

There are 18 students on the course so the space is a little bit cramped as we all tried various adaptations of the postures to see how they worked differently on our bodies. One of the things I like about Yin is that the description of the shape you are making with the body is quite vague so you have quite a range to work with depending on how your body is feeling at that moment and your range of motion. The postures in this meridian were based in the hips and I was finding it rather challenging and I could feel irritation rising within me as I practised. I was irritated with the fact that successive poses were targeting the same area, then that the flow kept getting interrupting by chatter and explanations, then by sounds in the room and then by the proximity of my neighbours .... the list of irritations kept getting longer and longer until by the end of the class I could only be described as a 'sour puss, grumpy face!' The emotion had come on so gradually but was ever increasing and I have no doubt that the practise had stimulated my Liver/Gall Bladder meridian line and was manifesting itself in an emotional response. "Hey Josh," I shouted in my mind "I thought this was supposed to be good for me!" A walk down to the coffee shop for lunch soon restored me and by the afternoon I was more of my old self again.

The theory in the afternoon concentrated on the connective tissues, what they are, what they do and the benefits of focusing our yoga practise upon them. It was really interesting but quite dry and heavy going but the overarching concept is that active yoga practise stresses the muscles but this passive practise works deeply into the joints, bones, ligaments and other connective tissue areas. The science is moving fast in this area and it is fair to say that there is still much supposition around this subject but I suspect we will hear much more of this in the mainstream in the coming years so .... remember that you heard it here first!

Our final session of the day was a meditation practise, an area I am not very good at and one of the draws to this training was the links to meditation as well as the meditative style of the practise itself. I am hopeless at sitting still and the thought of having to do so for long periods of time fills me with dread as I want to wriggle my body and my mind to escape the boredom of the process. The practise we did did not dictate that we try and block everything out but was about observing the moment and detachedly observing the feelings, thoughts and sensations of that single moment in time. The 20 minutes flew by and inspired me to try and bring meditation into my life as a regular practice.

After class I was exhausted and felt quite drained and have a restorative bath before going out with a couple of fellow yoginis to Green's Restaurant in Cork for a fantastic meal. Check out the restaurant review for more information but it was a fantastic meal in super surroundings and I enjoyed every indecent mouthful!

My bed is calling me. I am wrecked. I feel so tired and drained, mentally and physically exhausted but I am content. Yoga can do really strange things to you as your mind and body process your day and adjusts to the release of energy from the blocked passages in your body. Shouldn't I feel great, relaxed, at one with the world, calm or serene? Not necessarily, it would appear, but although I feel none of those things I do feel that I have started my body on yet another journey of discovery and hopefully it will ultimately lead me to a place where I feel all of those things ... just not quite yet!