My Favorite Yoga Style at the Moment
When you think of yoga you probably think about contorting your body into all sorts of unnatural positions. For some of you, that might sound appealing, but for the mass majority of folks, it’s a huge barrier to entry. That’s why I want to share with you a Youtube channel, and style of yoga, that I think is super accessible to ALL bodies and fitness levels, Yoga with Kassandra. While I’m sure all of her videos are good, I am specifically promoting her Yin Yoga classes today.
I used to be a Yoga with Adriene fan. I don’t know what happened but one day I just couldn’t take it anymore. I felt like her approach was a bit too “entry-level”…not in the technical sense per se, her routines can still be challenging at times, but more in the way she delivered the information. I found myself dropping out of my groundedness whenever she’d tell a joke or share a silly anecdote. I wanted a teacher who was empathetic and gave clear instruction but with minimal words and explanations.
And so I began searching for another style of yoga that would help me get out of my head and into my body. During the lockdown, I fell in love with Kundalini yoga finding the repetition of kriyas to be oddly satisfying (and head-emptying). If that’s your cup of tea, I can highly recommend Refeel yoga’s channel.
But once the world started opening back up and I began participating in activities again, beach volleyball, ecstatic dance, and biking/walking from here to there, I needed to find a type of yoga that was more soothing and stretchy, hence why I am LOVING Yin Yoga at the moment.
So what is Yin Yoga? A slow-paced style of yoga that incorporates principles of traditional Chinese medicine, with asanas (postures) that are held for longer periods of time.
I tend to do Yin Yoga before bed and let me tell you, on the nights I do that, sleep comes much easier and I find that I sleep deeper and wake up feeling refreshed. I am guessing it has something to do with the fact that I am releasing bodily tension accumulated from sitting at the computer and moving around in daily life - which allows me to drift into slumber with ease.
The moral of the story - if you have tried yoga and didn’t like it, keep searching for a style (and teacher) that better suits you. I promise that you will find one that resonates!!