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Yin Yoga as an Antidote to the Demanding Pace of Modern Life
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Yin Yoga as an Antidote to the Demanding Pace of Modern Life

by
11 October 2022

Karina Smith is a Melbourne based Doctor of Chinese Medicine…

Life is fast, demanding, and obsessed with productivity.

In a world where our worth is often equated with how “busy” we are, yin yoga provides a revolutionary antidote.

Here are 3 ways in which yin yoga gives us respite from the demanding pace of life.

  1. The practice is slow.

Sometimes life is a blur.

You wake up, race to work, try to stay afloat all day with the many tasks on your desk, and then come home to whatever needs to be tended to, and before you know it you have crashed in bed, simply to wake up and do it all over again.

Where does the time go?

A Yin yoga practice is intentionally slow. 

You might even start the class by laying on your mat for 5-10 minutes just to give your body and mind time to feel you have arrived.

The time spent in each shape is also intentionally slow.

Sometimes the busy bee really struggles with this slower pace, as they have not spent any time slowing down before and it can be quite confronting.

But with time, attention to breath, letting your body unwind, and feeling into the floor, some really magical processes begin to happen.

Needless to say, that Yin yoga classes are becoming increasingly popular with people realising that slowing down is not only magical, but absolutely necessary to sustain a life in the fast lane.

  1. The practice invites you to “be” rather than “do”.

Most of the time we are all in “doing” mode.

So much doing, so much action, so much productivity.

All of which is energy expenditure; energy being used in order to make things happen. When do you fill up your cup? Where do you have space in your life to just “be”, when nothing is required of you and you do not need to take care of anyone but your own breathing, and your own physicality.

This is where Yin yoga truly shines.

In a Yin yoga class, you are given full permission to tune all of your attention towards yourself (be mindful of the to do lists that want to creep into your mind however).

This kind of yoga is incredibly mindful, inviting the student to return back to themselves over and over and begin to establish a great awareness of self, so that when we are back in our busy bee life, we can pay closer attention to the signs and signals our body is giving us so that we can practise good self-care.

  1. You can go inward.

In a yang-oriented existence, everything is extended outward. We often think far into the future, we move our bodies through space, we look forward with our eyes, we extend all of our energy outward.

When do you get a chance to turn inward?

Some people describe their yin yoga practice like a moving meditation. It is slow movement, that could even be practised with eyes closed if you are comfortable.

The long amounts of time in each pose (and hopefully lovely pockets of silence from the instructor), give the student time to go inward, maybe reflect on their day, or notice what kind of dialogue or emotions arise when they take the time to slow down.

This inner inquiry is such an important part of keep the mind and nervous system healthy.

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Karina Smith is a Melbourne based Doctor of Chinese Medicine and Yin Yoga Teacher, Teacher Trainer & Educator. With a passion for women's health, through Yin and Chinese Medicine Karina aims to improve the health of her students, patients and clients.After years of dancing and its emphasis on performance, yoga was an unexpected beacon of self-care and restoration for Karina, where her relationship to movement shifted to something that was there to nourish her mind and body. 
  A year after commencing practice at the Australian Yoga Academy (AYA), Karina knew she wanted to do the yoga teacher training on offer there - and from thereon it has been a deep-dive into the rich offerings of this ancient practice. 
Karina has now studied and taught yoga extensively - including two 350hr Teacher Trainings (AYA and Shantarasa Institute, India), studies under the renowned Bernie Clark and Paul Grilley, over a decade of teaching at numerous studios in her home town of Melbourne, and lecturing for The Australian Yoga Academy.
In 2018, Karina launched her own 50 Hour Yin & Functional Anatomy Teacher Training and continues to run this course. Karina’s love of Yin Yoga revealed a deeper fascination for human anatomy and led her to pursue Chinese Medicine. After graduating in 2019, she now runs her own clinic offering acupuncture, herbal therapies, moxibustion and cupping treatments. 

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