The difference between YIN YOGA and RESTORATIVE YOGA
Nowadays, more and more people are suffering from chronic stress, due to the quality of our everyday life dropping. Yoga overall can help with this, especially through its gentle, slow and mindful practices, like Restorative or Yin Yoga. But are these practices similar or rather different? And if so, in what do the differences consist of?
Yoga and shadow work
The deeper we go into all the layers of a Yoga journey, the more we are bound to be confronted with both our light and shadow aspects of ourselves, a true rollercoaster of inner experiences. Like the relation between Yin and Yang, light and shadow, day and night, so our relation to life and Yoga can change or incorporate a duality, between idealization and disillusionment.
Trauma-informed Yoga in today's world
Yoga can support trauma healing by helping students reconnect with their bodies through asana, breathwork and meditation. If people start to become more attuned to their inner sensations, they could build more tolerance for physical experiences and develop healthier responses.
Where do we store tension in the body
More than just excessive physical exercise or bad posture, negative emotional experiences can also impact several areas of the body and cause muscular tension. Recognizing the connection between emotional and physical health is the first step toward releasing stress and achieving greater well-being in both body and mind.
But where do we usually store tension in the body and which areas are more common to experience tightness, tension and discomfort and why?
Yin Yoga and TCM: Spring season- main element, organs and emotions
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Spring is a season of rebirth and growth, a season everyone is longing and waiting for, after the heavy depth and coldness of winter. However, it is also a season of transitions and changes, which bring a lot of instability and uncertainty that require a sudden adaptation and flexibility. By understanding the qualities of Spring and following TCM’s recommendations for a harmonious life, we can tap into the season’s energy and wisdom to enhance physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
Making Yoga classes that are inclusive and why this is important
In my belief, Yoga classes should be designed in a sustainable way, with full awareness, in order to accommodate a diverse range of bodies and levels. How can we teach and show that diversity fosters inclusion and therefore the idea that differences are acceptable and even necessary?
Yoga for the pelvic floor muscles
The pelvic floor health is not just about strength but about creating a well-functioning, flexible system within the body. The pelvis is influenced by early life experiences and movement patterns and all of this can manifest in other parts of the body as well, the pelvis being an integral part of our whole body. Ultimately, Yoga complements pelvic physical therapy or other physical exercises by offering a long-term approach to pelvic health.
Best time for your Yoga routine
What is the best time for your Yoga practice? Is it worth building your Yoga practice routine around the time you are having most of your energy? How effective is having a Yoga routine or schedule?
Yin Yoga and TCM: Winter season- meridians and postures
In TCM, the state of nature reflects what quality our everyday life should have in order to be in harmony with the energies. Winter is therefore the perfect time for introspection and introversion, time to ask the right questions and find the real answers. Time to breathe more and create more space in our minds and hearts. It is a time for slower, gentler practices, where one can really go within.
Yin Yoga and TCM: Winter season- main element, organs and emotions
Stagnation, laziness or a general heaviness in moving and thinking are downsides of this winter period. The death of nature around us as well as lack of stimulation and excitement, in comparison to the rest of the seasons, make one prone to feelings of loneliness, depression or isolation. However, it doesn’t have to be like this, if we can mindfully switch this perspective into allowing more space and dedication for more inner work, connecting to ourselves more and finding the necessary time to do the healing.
Yin Yoga and TCM: Autumn season- meridians and postures
Autumn season represents the transition between Yang and Yin, from the expansive and solar energy of summer, to the more introspective and slow one of autumn and later winter. Summer energy might be the best season to juggle many things at the same time, but Autumn is definitely the time to harvest the fruits of our actions and also narrow our focus to one thing at a time, finding a balance between doing and resting.
Yoga and Gratitude
Gratitude is more than saying thank you out loud; gratitude is a way of seeing life, leading us to be more mindful about our thoughts, actions and speech, in order to attract more positive occurrences, people and situations, aligned with our values. Being thankful exists in the mind but gratitude comes from the heart.
Why Yoga is not always the answer
It could be that the reason for learning Yoga, like being able to touch our toes for example, grows to be completely different in a few months or years; just like we evolve constantly, so is Yoga and what Yoga was for me yesterday, might not mean the same today. Improvement is not always a straight line or clearly defined; often, the smaller, more subtle things are the real clues of our development or progress, maybe the quality of our breath, the posture of our backs or the capacity to listen more.
The REBOUND feeling in YIN YOGA - what it is and how we can experience it
This sensation in the body of both fragility yet flowing energy is often referred to as the rebound effect or the echo of the pose, a bridge between poses that carries forward their resonance and that can last from one minute to as long as it feels good.
The role of a teacher
The relation between a student and a teacher is not something hierarchical or forced, I view it as a natural, organic bond between two individuals willing to learn from each other in the end, sharing a safe space of practice and presence and joy.
Yoga and perfectionism
It is important for a perfectionist to embrace being a beginner at something and not to expect immediate mastery, Yoga class included. To first find the edge, get comfortable there and then move past it, all this without taking oneself too seriously.
Yielding in Yoga practice
When we yield, we are adaptable in our bodies, thoughts and speech: firm but able to bend without breaking. We respond adequately to any situation, be it in our everyday life or in a Yoga practice.
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