Balancing our Yin & Yang

They say that the yoga mat is a mirror that reflects back to us who we really are. I am someone who likes to move, to achieve, to push forwards, and so this is (was) reflected back to me in my practice. 

When I began my yoga journey in 2010, I was initially drawn to the stronger styles (Bikram and Power Yoga) I would sweat and flow in 30+ degree heat until my mind finally felt calm enough to enjoy the final few minutes of stillness in Savasana. Around the same time I was also working out in a pretty hardcore way with a bootcamp-style training that I would do religiously a few times a week. I loved it at the time, but as I continued to practice over the years, my mat began to reflect back to me just how much of my life was dominated by this very Yang energy - in my career, in my social life and in my movement style. 

Everything I did was about striving, achieving, moving forwards. I was so focused on getting to the next step that I rarely stopped to stand still and enjoy the moment I was in.

This is when I decided to bring some power to and embrace my Yin side. I began to incorporate more soft and flowing classes into my personal practice as well as the occasional yin class and I soon realised that this constant striving wasn’t actually my natural energy. It was a learnt response to the society I was in. I felt like I needed to push my body to relax my mind and that I needed to workout hard to balance out any pleasure I took from eating and drinking the things I enjoyed. I needed to achieve in my career to prove that I was intelligent enough, good enough, worthy enough. For what exactly I’m not sure. 

So I delved deeper into my Yin practice and began to soften my style of movement. I found that I didn’t need to push my body to the point of exhaustion to feel balanced, in fact I’d been simply burning myself out. It wasn’t until I literally experienced a period of burnout that I realised my lifestyle needed to change. I stopped commuting to the office, I gave up a couple of the classes I was teaching at the weekend and began to spend my Saturday in a leisurely fashion instead of springing out of bed to race across London to (ironically) teach others how to bring themselves back into balance. My classes resonated with the students because I lived the same life that they lived; working too hard, and working out too hard. But I realised that I didn’t want to resonate with them, I wanted to inspire them to believe that there is another way. A more balanced way.

If you’re reading this and thinking “that’s me” I am on that treadmill running myself ragged but I don’t know how to get off. I encourage you to begin a practice of self-enquiry. Start by introducing some yin yoga into your life. If you’re anything like me, you’ll hate it at first. “What a waste of a workout simply lying on the floor and stretching for an hour”, but yoga isn’t supposed to be a workout, it’s a work-in. And as time goes on and the lessons seep in and your energy begins to shift slightly, you’ll soon begin to incorporate some of this softness into other areas of your life. A softer way of living, a gentler way of being, a happier existence. At least, that’s what it has done for me, and my wish is to share that with you too. 

Practical ways to bring more Yin energy in: 

• Slower, more flowy yoga practices

• Yin Yoga

• Wearing softer and more floaty fabrics

• Dance